Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 34 Like a Curse
He made a fortune from selling Hu slaves and another fortune from selling information. All the benefits were his. Wu Chou was very happy. He drank a lot of wine in Lanying Pavilion and staggered back home at night.

He had worried that the owner of the bounty would pursue the matter, so he specifically told Lady Xian not to come directly to him after receiving the reward, but to return to Lanying Pavilion first. He then waited outside the pavilion for a long time, but saw no one bothering Lady Xian. It seemed as if the matter had truly passed, so he felt safe to divide the spoils.

Now that he had received the reward, he felt that he was very clever and a great businessman. He returned home with a heavy bag of money, so excited that he couldn't sleep. He picked up the candlestick and went to the locked cellar of his house.

Aisha and Badan sat on the wall of his house and watched him unlock the cellar and stoop down to go in.

Soon, faint cries of frightened people were heard from the cellar.

Aisha gave a wink, and Badan understood what he meant. He jumped silently into Wu Chou's yard and followed him into the cellar.

The cellar was deep, with a small locked door inside, apparently to prevent the prisoners from banging on the outer door for help. Badan hid outside the small door, watching what Wu Chou was going to do.

There were six slaves in this batch of resale——

A pair of skinny brother and sister, the older one was ten years old and the younger one was six years old. Their parents died of illness one after another, and the two children became orphans. They were sold to Wu Chou by their greedy relatives.

The remaining four were Hu women he picked up from outside the Great Wall. Some of them were refugees who were deceived by his sweet words and signed the contract to sell themselves without knowing it. Some of them had just escaped from the looting of sand bandits and were still injured. He took them away in the name of medical treatment, but after drinking a bowl of drugs, they became slaves with nothing.

Except for the older brother of the orphans, the rest were girls.

Wu Chou knew very well that the young lady could be sold at a good price.

As soon as he entered the cellar, everyone inside became alert and agitated. Although his hands and feet were tied, the ten-year-old boy instinctively stood in front of his sister. He had seen this man bullying other young women and didn't want his younger sister to be hurt.

Wu Chou grinned and said, "What are you afraid of? I sold you to a wealthy family, to a place like Lanying Pavilion, so that you could live a good life. You should be thanking me."

A Hu woman who was arrested just yesterday begged, "Please, let me go... My grandfather must still be looking for me. He will give you money and won't report you to the police... Please..."

"Speaking of this, I've actually been a bit inspired." Wu Chou touched her face and said, "Do you know what kind of business I've done recently? Hehe, I stumbled upon something unexpected and sold a precious young lady for a good price. I also made quite a bit of money from the things she pawned, and I also earned a lot of money from the rewards from her family who came looking for her. Wow, they gave me ten silver ingots, how generous... So I'll see, who among you can help me make more money?"

"No, no, let us go..."

"You said your grandfather is looking for you? That's great. I'll search you again to see if you have any tokens..." Wu Chou said as he tore the clothes of the Hu woman. "When the time comes, I'll sell you to Lanying Pavilion first, and then sell the news to your grandfather..."

The woman cried and huddled up in a ball, but she was powerless to resist and could only let him strip her naked and grope her all over with his disgusting hands. Tears kept rolling down her face and her pleadings were incessant, but Wu Chou turned a deaf ear to her.

Finding nothing on the Hu woman, Wu Chou pushed her away. "What a shame! All your valuables were stolen by the bandits... You think your grandfather will come looking for you? Dream on! If you run into bandits, you're lucky to be alive. Does he have any money left?"

As he said this, he burped and went to grab the next target.

In the chaos, he set his sights on the six-year-old girl.

The little girl hid behind her brother, clutching his sleeve tightly, and trembling with fear.

Wu Chou came forward, pushed the boy away, pinched the little girl's face and looked at her left and right: "I didn't expect that you could be of great use... Hiccup, I heard that there was an official son in Wuwei County who loved to raise little girls. But I don't know what tricks he played on her, and he ended up playing with the little girl to death. It was such a tragic death.

"But it doesn't matter. They're rich, and even biological parents sell their daughters there, so there's a lot of money to be made. Even though you're skinny, you're pretty, so maybe you can fetch a good price... We're going to Wuwei County tomorrow to avoid the limelight here. I've been really lucky lately, hahahaha."

The boy jumped up and bumped into him: "Let go of my sister!"

Wu Chou punched him: "Get out of here! You're the most useless one. If your relatives hadn't insisted on selling you and your sister together, who would want you as a loss-making thing?" The boy's nose was bleeding from the beating, but he refused to give in: "If you dare to touch my sister, I will bite you to death! I will bite you to death!"

The little girl cried out, "Brother, wuwuwu, please don't hit my brother..."

Wu Chou's arm was bitten by the boy and bled. He immediately became ruthless and beat the boy to death.

At this moment, Badan rushed in and knocked Wu Chou to the ground in just a few blows. He couldn't recover for a long time.
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Badan untied all the slaves in the cellar, burned their indentures, let them go, and then tied up the bruised and battered Wu Chou and brought him in front of Aisha.

The night was as cool as water, and a layer of white frost seemed to have condensed on the face of Prince Mohe.

He lowered his eyes to look at Wu Chou and asked coldly, "Have you ever touched my sister with your bare hands?"

Wu Chou was already mostly sober, knowing that he had offended a tough opponent this time. He feigned innocence and said, "What, what sister? Why are there another pair of brother and sister? Your Excellency must have made a mistake. I am engaged in the legitimate slave trade. They are all sold to me, and then..."

Aisha took out the string of beads from her bosom.

Under the moonlight, the sapphire exudes a luster like the blue sea and sky.

Wu Chou was stunned for a moment, then quickly distanced himself from the matter: "What is this? I don't recognize this thing!"

"Badain." Aisha looked at his hand and called out.

"Yes, young master." Badan blocked Wu Chou's mouth with a rag and pulled out the dagger from his waist.

A silver light flashed, piercing, stirring, and cutting, and Wu Chou's two hands were torn off.

Wu Chou rolled over in agony, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, but he could only utter muffled "Mmmmmm" sounds. When the torture was over, he knelt on the ground, propped up his bloody wrists, and kowtowed to him, begging for mercy.

But Aisha had endured long enough.

He said, "Thank you for telling me where my sister is. Unfortunately, you no longer have the leverage to spare your life."

Wu Chou raised his head, humming and trying to say something to plead for mercy.

Aisha, however, didn't want to hear it. "I've suffered so much since I entered the customs. I wanted to torture you a few more times to vent my hatred... but there are children watching outside the courtyard, so I don't have the interest anymore. Just die in peace."

Wu Chou crawled on the ground, making his final struggle: "Mmmmm...Mmm!"

Bataan raised his knife, lifted his head and cut his throat.

Bright red blood splattered and stained the string of beads.

Aisha leaned over and dangled the beads in front of Wu Chou's wide-open eyes. "Alan, I'm here to avenge you. I won't let go of any of those who hurt you."

Wu Chou's eyes gradually lost their luster.

As he exhaled his last breath, he only remembered the blood-stained sapphire beads in front of him, whose beauty seemed like a curse.
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　Next chapter: Were you sold to the Tan family by him?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)