Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Do Something More Interesting

South Gate Avenue. Dozens of riders galloped through the street, leaving a trail of shrieks in the noisy market. The five men in front dressed in lavish clothes and carried themselves like they owned the road, and the ones behind were clearly bodyguards.

One of the riders called out, “Ye Rong, I heard your father punished you again yesterday and made you copy books. Not to be that guy, but that Thousand Character Classic – have you still not memorized it?”

“Don’t bring it up!” Ye Rong, the only son of Minister of Revenue Ye Zhuo Yun, got a headache the moment anyone mentioned studying. “Tell me, am I even my father’s real son? My father read a book and the words just jumped into his head. Young Master stared for a whole hour and still couldn’t remember a single line!”

Pei Yu An, the legitimate son of the Huai Hua Grand General, laughed loudly. “Then you should go ask your mother.”

“Spit. Young Master would get beaten to death by her!” Ye Rong snapped.

…

Shang Xing Yu’s horse led at the front. As the group drew close to the city gate, someone finally noticed today’s road was different from usual.

Pei Yu An spurred his horse to catch up and asked, “Shang Er, we aren’t going to the House of Blossoms today?”

Shang Xing Yu tugged the reins. His horse whinnied and turned around in place. Shang Xing Yu looked at everyone, his eyes carrying a wild, roguish swagger, and said, “Always drinking flower wine gets boring. How about we do something more interesting today!”

A few of the playboys perked up at once. One asked, “What?”

Another pressed, “What could be more interesting?”

They had already visited every famous brothel and gambling den in the capital city, and within a hundred li they couldn’t find anywhere more exciting. But Shang Er always had plenty of ideas, so they all stared at him, waiting.

Shang Xing Yu raised an eyebrow, and they immediately crowded around. Shang Xing Yu asked, “Lately, a few rare things happened outside the capital. Have you heard about them?”

Chen Bao Jing, the eldest son of Censor-in-Chief Chen Dao Tan, rubbed his round cheek and asked, “Huh? What rare things? Could anything be rarer than that farm girl, Lady Meng?”

Ye Rong jumped in, “I know! First, a fortune-teller showed up outside Chao Ming Temple. Second, the Grand Defender General’s only grandson, Han Ming Rui, disappeared with his mother.”

Ye Rong sounded a little emotional as he said it. Han Ming Rui was young and didn’t play with their crowd, but Han Ming Rui’s father and grandfather were both men of the battlefield.

Thirty years ago, Grand Defender General Han Ce had intimidated every direction. Later, Han Ce’s son, Han Zi An, also became fiercely brave, and everyone thought Han Zi An would become the second Grand Defender General.

Who would have guessed it? Han Zi An died on the battlefield. His body was even separated, and they could not bring back a complete corpse.

Han Ming Rui was the posthumous child Han Zi An left behind in the capital city. When news of Han Zi An’s death reached home, Han Ming Rui’s mother went into early labor, and Han Ming Rui was born weak.

But the Han family had thin blood. Han Ming Rui was already the only offspring in the Grand Defender General’s household.

Han Ce was already over fifty. If Han Ming Rui never returned, the Grand Defender General’s line would be cut off.

The playboys all fell silent. They were called the capital city’s five greatest idlers, and they acted wild, but they truly admired Han Ce and Han Zi An.

Ye Rong asked, “Shang Er, you don’t mean you want to go look for Han Ming Rui, do you?”

Shang Xing Yu said, “What, you don’t want to go? Think about it. If our bunch really finds Han Ming Rui, the Han family will owe us a huge favor. Then who could still call us useless? Ye Rong, your father definitely wouldn’t force you to memorize books anymore.”

Ye Rong slapped his thigh and said, “That’s right! If Young Master really brings Han Ming Rui back, not only will the Han family owe Young Master a debt, even His Majesty will praise us. Then let’s see who still dares say Young Master is useless!”

Ye Rong looked ready to charge off that instant.

Shang Xing Yu coughed once and kept his face calm. [The Han family owing them was real, and the emperor would probably praise them, but how much of that praise was true and how much was fake… heh. Just looking at how the Grand Defender General’s household had passed down through single heirs for generations was enough to tell how wary the current emperor was of the Han family. Even Han Zi An’s death had something to do with him.]

Of course, Shang Xing Yu was not stupid enough to say any of that out loud. Shang Xing Yu only nodded and looked at the rest. “What about you? Are we doing it or not?”

Not everyone was brave. Zhou Yu Zheng, the younger son of a Vice Minister in the Ministry of Works, hesitated and said, “But… what if there really are mountain bandits, and we run into them?”

Ye Rong cut in before Shang Xing Yu could speak. “What’s there to be afraid of? We’re right under the capital city, right by the Son of Heaven’s gates. What mountain bandits would dare touch so many of us? One or two is fine, but we have this many young masters. If they move against us, they’re asking to die. Besides, Young Master’s skills aren’t for show!”

Ye Rong sneered at Zhou Yu Zheng and said, “Just say if you’re going. If you’re not, then with that kind of guts, don’t follow Young Master around anymore.”

Zhou Yu Zheng clenched his teeth and said, “Fine. I’ll go!” [His father had already said it was fine if Zhou Yu Zheng was useless at learning. Being able to build good ties with this group of young masters was its own kind of skill. It was just searching for someone. Maybe there weren’t any mountain bandits at all. Even if there were, they might not run into them.]

With that, they made a quick decision. In just a moment, the whole group rode in force toward Chao Ming Temple.