Brother Shitou’s been detained?

Xie Yuan frowned. He quickly ladled a bowl of water for Li Lan and soothed her.

"Sister Orchid, don’t rush. Drink some water first. What happened? Tell me slowly."

Li Lan took a large gulp of water and a deep breath. Once she finally caught her breath, she said in a panic:

"Yuanzi, didn’t you ask Brother Shitou to come back a couple of days ago? I had someone take a message to the county seat, but Wang Ergou came back today and said...

"Your Brother Shitou was at a restaurant and broke the owner’s vase! That vase is incredibly expensive—they say it’s worth, worth thirty taels of silver!

"How could your Brother Shitou possibly have that much money? Now he’s being held at the restaurant. We either have to find a way to pay for it, or if we can’t, they’ll report him to the authorities and he’ll be thrown in prison.

"How can I let the boy’s father get arrested? I’m so worried! But Wang Ergou said they’d accept the land deed. We can use it to get him back."

"Yuanzi, what should we do? Please, make a trip and ransom your Brother Shitou back!"

Xie Yuan had been listening with a tight frown, but at her last words, his brow twitched. He asked:

"Wang Ergou specifically said they would accept the land deed?"

"Yes. Yuanzi, what do we do? The only option now is to give the land deed to the restaurant. We should be thankful they’re even willing to take it!"

In the Great Li Dynasty, forcibly seizing land was a major crime, and regulations were quite strict, making the transfer of land deeds a tightly controlled process. But where there are people, there are loopholes. If you were bold enough, there was always a way.

Tears welled in Li Lan’s eyes. Their land was a farmer’s lifeline; a landless farmer was nothing. But to keep Wang Lei out of prison, this was the only way.

She had heard that prison was a living hell. If you went in, you’d be lucky to come out alive, and even then, you’d be half-dead. She couldn’t let Huwa lose his father at such a young age.

Xie Yuan pondered for a long moment, thinking to himself:

’Mentioning it specifically... isn’t that a bit too deliberate? Not necessarily, but Zhang the Second has always wanted Brother Shitou’s land, and this is happening in the county seat...’

His expression flickered. After thinking for a long time, he took a deep breath.

"Sister Orchid, I understand. If it’s just about the money, that’s easy. Leave it to me. But I’m worried it might be about something else..."

Hearing Xie Yuan’s calm tone, Li Lan felt a little more settled. She shook her head.

"Yuanzi, where would you get that much money? Just take the land deed. As long as you bring your Brother Shitou back in one piece, that’s all that matters!"

"Didn’t I just kill a bear a few days ago, Sister Orchid? Have you forgotten?"

Xie Yuan smiled.

"I can handle the money. How can you just sell the land deed? That’s your family’s foundation. If you feel bad about it, just consider this money a loan from me. You can pay me back slowly later.

"But I’ll hold onto the deed for now, just in case they refuse anything but the deed. At least then I can get Brother Shitou back."

If it was really as he suspected, they might refuse to release him without the land deed. In that case, he would have to think of another way...

Hearing this, Li Lan opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.

Since when could this scrawny, starved little kid just pull out dozens of taels of silver?

And he was offering to spend it on their family... All the food they had given him over the years didn’t add up to even a fraction of that amount...

Li Lan bit her lip, wiped her eyes with a swipe of her hand, and turned to go inside and get the land deed.

"Yuanzi, thank you..."

She handed the land deed to Xie Yuan. He smiled reassuringly.

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely bring Brother Shitou back!"

He tucked the land deed away and ran to Zhu Dongming’s house.

"Brother Zhu, pack up those four bear paws and the bearskin for me!"

After getting everything ready, Xie Yuan found Wang Ergou, the messenger.

"Second Brother Wang, let’s go."

...

Traveling through the night, Xie Yuan arrived in Yunzhao County for the first time, just as the faint light of dawn was breaking.

Yunzhao County was quite large and had a city gate. Even at this early hour, a line had already formed with people waiting to enter.

Xie Yuan followed the stream of people into the county seat. As he watched the street vendors hawking their wares and the shops on both sides taking down their door-boards to welcome customers, he thought:

’These county seat streets are so wide; it looks like two horse-drawn carriages could pass through side-by-side. I used to think Panlong Town was bustling, but now I see it pales in comparison.

’Hmm, I’ve already seen two martial arts schools. This world truly reveres the Martial Dao. The storefronts of these schools are much larger than the Ironclad Sect’s, and the disciples practicing inside seem to be of a higher caliber.

’If you want to reach a higher level of the Martial Dao, you really do have to go to bigger places...’

Shortly after entering the county seat, Xie Yuan found himself with a lot on his mind.

But he quickly reined in his thoughts. He wasn’t here for sightseeing today.

After walking for a while, he followed Wang Ergou to a three-story restaurant in a corner of the county seat. Xie Yuan asked:

"This is the place?"

"That’s right. Sigh, Wang Lei is so clumsy, couldn’t even hold a vase steady. Well, now, if he wants to get out of this mess, I think selling his land deed is the only way!"

Wang Ergou complained.

He was an employee here and also from Little Stone Village. In fact, he was the one who had recommended Wang Lei for the job.

Xie Yuan glanced at him but said nothing more, simply following him into the restaurant.

"Shopkeeper, the person here to ransom Wang Lei has arrived!"

Behind the counter, a plump, fair-skinned, middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache looked up. He scanned Xie Yuan and froze for a second.

’Where did this young master come from? Hmm, but his clothes don’t quite fit the part, and he’s got an axe tucked into his belt...’

He couldn’t quite place him, but to be on the safe side, he spoke politely.

"Young brother, you’re here to ransom Wang Lei? Did you bring his family’s land deed?"

"I did. Where is he? I want to see him first."

Xie Yuan said in a low voice.

The Shopkeeper nodded and led the two into the Inner Courtyard. Arriving at the door to the woodshed, he unlocked the large iron padlock, slapped the wall, and shouted:

"Wang Lei, wake up! Someone from your family is here."

Xie Yuan took two steps forward, peered inside, and his eyebrows shot up in anger.

He saw Wang Lei huddled in a pile of firewood, wearing only a single thin layer of clothing in the dead of winter. His face was blue from the cold. Not only was he barely clothed, but he clearly hadn’t been fed properly for the past two days either, and he looked extremely weak.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. What truly enraged Xie Yuan was the dog chain fastened around Wang Lei’s ankle.

He glared, taking a step toward the Shopkeeper, and said through clenched teeth:

"Are you the authorities? What gives you the right to imprison someone? What right?!"

The Shopkeeper, intimidated by his aura, took a step back, then braced himself and said:

"I didn’t imprison him, I was just afraid he’d run off. After all, he broke such an expensive vase of mine. That was my family heirloom!"

Xie Yuan’s right hand rested on his axe. He fought the urge to draw it and said coldly:

"Release him. Now!"

The Shopkeeper was about to refuse, but he felt a sudden chill run down his spine and instinctively unfastened Wang Lei’s chain.

Xie Yuan took off his own coat, draped it over Wang Lei, and helped him up, asking in a low voice:

"Brother Shitou, how are you feeling?"

"Yuanzi? You’re here... I told them not to tell my family... so your sister wouldn’t do something foolish and sell the land..."

Wang Lei’s voice was faint and weak.

Xie Yuan sighed.

"How could the land be more important than you? Sister Orchid specifically told me to bring the land deed and ransom you back in one piece."

He took out the land deed and waved it. The eyes of both the Shopkeeper and Wang Ergou lit up.

When Wang Lei heard this, his eyes flew open, and his voice grew louder:

"The land deed? No, Yuanzi, you can’t give it to them! I’d rather die than sell the land! If I sell it, how could I face my grandfather and my father? What would Huwa’Er and his mother eat? COUGH... COUGH COUGH..."

Xie Yuan quickly patted Wang Lei’s back and nodded.

"Alright, we won’t give them the land deed. I wasn’t planning to anyway. I have other money; I’ll just compensate them with that."

Wang Lei breathed a sigh of relief, but then immediately shouted again:

"Yuanzi, your money? You can’t give them your money either! I was framed!

"I wasn’t the one who broke that vase! It was this son of a bitch!"

He jabbed a finger at Wang Ergou, who was standing beside them.