chsdbacks Chapter 15: Eye-Catching Saplings
Chapter 15: Eye-Catching Saplings
East of the city,
Walking down the street, Zhang Ping noticed that the patrolling soldiers were sparse, and only occasionally did he see a demon hunter strolling by lazily. The cries of street vendors had returned, as if the city-wide search of the past few days had never happened.
After all, this is the east side of the city, too far from the west. Two different worlds.
Having found out the location of the conspicuous tree, he turned into a muddy alley. There were no paved bricks underfoot, only sharp stones and sticky black mud, mixed with puddles of filthy water accumulated from the rain of the previous two days, making one frown.
"They're all damned bastards, they should all die outside the city!" A small merchant in a hurry brushed past him, caught a glimpse of the martial arts school jacket on his body, and abruptly shut his cursing mouth, hurriedly lowered his head and slipped away.
From afar, Zhang Ping could still hear the man muttering in a low voice, "Why would someone from a martial arts school come to a place like this?"
He ignored it and stepped straight into the mud.
The difference between this place and the city center or the southern district goes far beyond high-rise buildings and shacks. What's even more jarring is the people who live here. Numb, deathly silent. Corpses huddled by the roadside, their deaths from starvation unknown, and lurking eyes in the depths of alleys. Even the children staring at him from the roadside have a cunning, jackal-like glint in their eyes that belies their age.
His boots were quickly covered in a thick layer of mud, making each step heavy and dragging. Zhang Ping frowned even more deeply and called out to a beggar huddled by the roadside, "Take me to the place that sells eye-catching saplings, and the money is yours."
The beggar timidly looked up, his gaze falling on the piece of silver in his hand. Instantly, a wolf-like greed erupted in his cloudy eyes.
Following the beggar into a narrow alley, the stench of filth was almost tangible, choking Zhang Ping's nose and mouth. He held his breath, suppressing his nausea. Fortunately, after winding through several alleys, a cluster of abandoned houses, mostly collapsed, came into view.
"Sir, there's a litter of little ones inside. They planted a bright red tree! They even know where to dig up seedlings outside the city!" the beggar said obsequiously, pointing inside.
"Okay, let's go." Zhang Ping's gaze swept over the few conspicuous trees among the ruins, confirming that he was right. He casually tossed down some loose silver coins, which the beggar immediately pounced on, clutching them tightly before slipping away without looking back.
......
Deep within the ruins.
"Big sister! Erdan's foot is oozing pus again!"
In a dilapidated shack that could barely cover their heads, seven or eight small bodies, draped in tattered rags, huddled together.
Surrounded by others, Ruan Qiuhe bit her lower lip: "How many copper coins are left?"
"There are only three. San Gou picked them up at the crossroads yesterday." A similarly thin boy next to him scratched his head anxiously. At his feet, on a pile of straw, lay a little beggar about his age, his ankles swollen and shiny, the foul-smelling pus soaking the straw mat beneath him.
The large, tattered robe Ruan Qiuhe wore was pieced together from countless scraps of cloth. She pursed her dry, cracked lips forcefully: "How much fruit... is left?"
"Not much left! Big sister, if we exchange money now, we won't have anything to eat in the winter!" Another little head shook like a rattle drum.
"Big sister! How about... how about you sell me! Sell me to a lord in the city as a maid!" A little beggar, his face covered in soot and so dirty that it was impossible to tell if he was male or female, suddenly spoke up, his voice trembling with tears.
"No way!" Ruan Qiuhe said firmly. In her eyes and those of the people struggling in the mire of the eastern part of the city, the city center and the southern district were what truly constituted "the city."
"Go beg! If all else fails... steal!" Her voice was fierce, yet it also carried a hint of despair.
They were all orphans abandoned in this mud by their parents, surviving only by begging and stealing. Ruan Qiuhe was the oldest and was regarded as the eldest sister, always protecting them like a mother hen guarding her chicks.
boom--!
With a loud crash, the already rickety wooden door was suddenly pushed open, slamming heavily to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. A tall figure, backlit by the blinding sunlight, blocked the doorway.
"Run!" Ruan Qiuhe's heart stopped, and as she screamed, her body instinctively grabbed a wooden stick from the corner of the wall and threw it at the dark figure at the door! The other little beggars instantly panicked and ran away in all directions.
Zhang Ping instinctively raised his hand and precisely caught the rough wooden stick that was being thrown at him. He looked at the group of frightened beggars with some astonishment. He had just walked around this ruin and all he saw were mature, conspicuous trees laden with fruit; not a single sapling was left. Hearing the commotion here, he had thought of coming over to ask someone for help.
"Halt!" Confused, Zhang Ping simply straightened his body, unleashing the aura of a martial artist at the Skin Tempering Realm! An invisible pressure instantly enveloped the small, dilapidated house, as chilling as the arrival of winter. The small figures who were scattering and fleeing seemed to be frozen in place, frozen in place, not daring to breathe.
He slightly raised his wrist, which was holding the wooden stick, and Ruan Qiuhe on the other end was so terrified by the sudden, suffocating pressure of the qi that she lost her mind. Her hand loosened, and the wooden stick fell to the ground with a thud.
The fear of death gripped her; her body trembled like a withered leaf in the autumn wind, and her knees buckled.
"Sir, please forgive me..."
She had seen martial artists before! She had seen a beggar be beaten to near death just for glancing at a passing martial artist twice! And she... dared to hit him with a stick!
Her tattered robe slipped to the ground as she trembled violently.
"Alright, stand up straight." Zhang Ping's voice was cold. "I have some questions for you."
He frowned slightly. In the city center, commoners respected martial artists, but not to this extent. He didn't bother to investigate the beggars' thoughts; he just wanted to find the saplings as soon as possible.
One, two, three... Eight dirty little heads lined up in a row, trembling with fear.
"Does anyone know where I can find some eye-catching saplings?" he asked bluntly.
The little beggars looked at each other, bewildered and terrified.
"It's the kind of tree that bears red berries on the outside," Zhang Ping added.
"I know! There are some outside the city!" Ruan Qiuhe answered immediately, her voice still trembling.
"Are there any within the city?"
Ruan Qiuhe shook her head: "The seeds of that tree can only sprout in the wasteland outside the city; they can't grow in the city."
Zhang Ping frowned. He hadn't seen any saplings; all the trees were already bearing fruit. It seemed he really had to go outside the city?
Seeing his silence, the little beggars fell silent. Ruan Qiuhe caught a glimpse of Erdan groaning in pain on the straw mat out of the corner of her eye. Gritting her teeth, she mustered the greatest courage of her life and spoke: "Sir! If you urgently need the red fruit seedlings… we… we can go outside the city to dig them for you!"
"You guys?" Zhang Ping looked slightly surprised.
"Yes! Those big red-fruited trees nearby were all moved back from outside the city by us! Only... only one tael of silver... no! Five hundred coins! Five hundred coins will do!"
Ruan Qiuhe's heart was in her throat; she felt like she was about to be crushed. Asking a martial artist for money? That was practically suicide! But… it was the only way to save Erdan.
Zhang Ping squinted, carefully examining the girl mingling among the beggars. Her features were actually quite regular, especially her eyes, large and gentle; if they were on the face of a woman in her early twenties, they would have been reassuring. Unfortunately, a palm-sized, almost black birthmark grotesquely covered most of her left cheek, completely shattering any delicate features and leaving only a horrifying impression.
"What a pity," he murmured unconsciously.
His gaze shifted downwards, pausing for a moment noticeably on her unusually full figure and slender waist.
Zhang Ping suddenly noticed the large, tattered robe on the ground and realized what was going on. No wonder... In this den of wolves in the east of the city, if he hadn't wrapped himself up tightly, with that alluring figure and even with that face, he would have been devoured long ago, leaving not even bones behind.
Ruan Qiuhe clearly felt that scrutinizing gaze, and only then did she realize that her robe had fallen off! She subconsciously hugged her arms tightly.
Fortunately, Zhang Ping quickly looked away.
"It's almost noon now. I need to see some prominent saplings before sunset. Once it's done, the money is yours."
A few pieces of silver, weighing about five taels, fell to the muddy ground at her feet with a "clink" sound! The little beggars' eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"Don't worry, sir! We will definitely get it done for you!" Ruan Qiuhe's voice trembled with excitement.
She was older and more shrewd; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to protect these younger ones until today. She could sense that the martial artist before her seemed different from those who treated human life as worthless…
His fingernails dug into his flesh. "This is an opportunity...if I could get close to this sir..."
......
Ruan Qiuhe clutched the few pieces of silver that were still warm from her body and immediately gave orders: two of them with quick legs went to buy medicine, while she personally led the remaining children, like a group of frightened rabbits, and rushed quickly towards the outskirts of the city.
Zhang Ping didn't leave. He found a relatively clean spot on the broken wall, sat down, and closed his eyes to rest.
Let's just wait here.
At the same time, on the eastern edge of the city.
"He's really asking for trouble, choosing the path to hell when there's no way to go!" Five middle-aged men and women, dressed in ordinary clothes but exuding a sharp and capable air, stopped at the entrance of the sewage-filled alley. The woman in the lead glanced with disgust at this slum, a stark contrast to the normal urban area just a few steps away.
"Hmph! This time, I'm going to pull that kid's bones out one by one!" The scarred man's eyes blazed with fury as he spat fiercely. The humiliation of breaking his bone with that punch last time, and the heavy price he paid for it, burned within him, making his heart and lungs feel like they were about to burst.
"Stop talking nonsense and get going! Don't let that kid get away!" the woman said coldly.
Five figures silently disappeared into the deep shadows cast by the low shack.