Chapter 613: Yang Xiaohai

The resounding clang of a gong echoed from a distance. The kitchen door was suddenly pushed open, and Yang Xiaohai, holding up his trousers, rushed out in a flurry towards the source of the sound.

The prolonged gong sound quickly drew everyone in Niuxin Village. By the time Yang Xiaohai arrived, he saw a group of eunuchs delivering various goods into the village, standing before a neat procession of carts.

Among the deliveries were live pigs, cattle, and sheep, as well as rolls of silk and satin, and piles of gold and silver.

The other villagers were immediately astonished by the sight and began discussing animatedly among themselves.

"Did I hear that right? Is all this from the emperor for us?"

"No, it's not for you; it's for the Taoist master."

"My goodness, so Gouwa wasn't just bragging after all? Is the emperor truly his senior martial brother? Then we can be considered to have ties with the emperor, right?"

"What's going on? What happened?"

Yang Xiaohai, craning his neck, had just squeezed through the crowd when he saw his Senior Martial Brother Li speaking to an old eunuch holding a golden whisk: "Go back and tell Gao Zhijian not to worry about Niuxin Village; I'm here. Everything is fine, and Niuxin Village is not poor anyway."

"Instead of sending these gifts, he should learn how to be a competent emperor."

"If the Emperor of Daliang were a good emperor, not only Niuxin Village but all the people under heaven would live better lives."

"Yes, this servant has heard, and will report to His Majesty upon returning." The old eunuch, his face powdered white, bowed respectfully to Li Huowang.

When the old eunuch noticed Yang Xiaohai looking at him, he excused himself to Li Huowang and walked towards him, holding his whisk.

"Child, you are Yang Xiaohai, aren't you?" Yang Xiaohai looked at the eunuch's deliberately kind smile and nodded blankly.

The old eunuch glanced at the bustling crowd around them, then continued: "There are too many people here, and too many ears; let's find a quieter place to talk. This concerns your parents."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiaohai's mind immediately buzzed, and a sudden fear welled up in his heart, making him feel as if he couldn't face it.

"Let's go." The woman with the pear-shaped face followed from behind, taking his hand and leading him after the departing eunuch.

It was not long after the New Year, and the fields were still frozen solid everywhere. Between the field ridges, the old eunuch stopped silently, took out a piece of paper from his robe and handed it to him. "Here, take a look."

Yang Xiaohai took it with trembling hands, hesitated for a moment, then shakily handed it back to the old eunuch. "Eunuch, would you mind reading it for me? I'm a bit afraid to look."

"Oh, what's there to be scared of?" The old eunuch extended his right hand, with its long fingernails, retrieved the paper, and began to read aloud.

"This letter says your father and mother are not from Daliang; they are from Later Shu. That's why it took so long to trace back three generations: your family has always been fishermen."

"Eunuch, what is a fisherman?"

"Fishermen are people who live by the sea and don't own land. The women collect pearls, and the men cast nets to fish. Do you understand what that means?"

"I... I know," Yang Xiaohai nodded blankly.

"Then... how did my father and mother lose me?" As soon as Yang Xiaohai finished speaking, the woman beside him gently supported his right arm.

The old eunuch glanced at Yang Xiaohai, then at the letter in his hand. "In the years you were born, there weren't many fish or pearls in the sea. Your father simply couldn't afford to raise you, so he sold you."

Yang Xiaohai's face instantly turned pale, and if the woman beside him hadn't been supporting him, he would have barely been able to stand steady. "Eunuch, is that all? They just sold me so easily?"

During this time, he had imagined all sorts of possibilities, but he never imagined that the matter would be so simple—so simple it was cruel.

"What else could it be? Your family had nine children. It's normal to sell one if you can't afford to raise them. Our family couldn't afford to raise me either, which is why I was castrated and sent to the palace to be an eunuch." The old eunuch said, tucking the paper into Yang Xiaohai's robe.

"Because of years of diving for pearls, your mother is deaf, and her body is weak; she probably doesn't have many years left to live. Your father is still out at sea fishing. Of your nine siblings, two were sold, and three died young, leaving four. Half a year ago, your eldest brother went fishing and never returned. They are all fishermen too."

"The paper tells you which sea they fish and gather pearls in. If you want to find them, find someone who can read to explain it to you. We have other matters to attend to, so we'll be leaving now."

With that, the old eunuch turned and left with his golden whisk, leaving only Yang Xiaohai and the woman standing between the field ridges.

Yang Xiaohai took out the paper and looked at it carefully and intently, even though he didn't recognize some of the characters on it at all.

After reading for a while, Yang Xiaohai folded the paper neatly and put it back into his robe.

He looked up at the woman and gave a wry smile: "See, I thought I was the descendant of some important person, like Senior Martial Brother Gao, but it turns out I was sold instead."

After speaking, he turned around, ready to walk towards Niuxin Village.

But the woman suddenly pulled him from behind. "Don't hold it in. If you want to cry, just cry. There's nothing wrong with that."

As soon as the woman finished speaking, Yang Xiaohai immediately squatted on the ground and burst into a pitiful wail.

In the eyes of his other senior and junior martial brothers, Yang Xiaohai had always been sensible, but Yang Xiaohai himself didn't actually want to be so sensible.

Yet, among everyone, only this woman had noticed this.

The woman hugged Yang Xiaohai. She gently patted his back, silently comforting him.

Yang Xiaohai cried for a long time, and finally stood up again, and walked towards Niuxin Village with the woman.

"Hey! Kid, where have you been? What's all this? Look how fat these sheep are! Let's roast one tonight!"

"Ever since we ate that roasted lamb in Qingqiu, I've never forgotten that taste; it's simply too delicious when roasted."

"Great! Senior Martial Brother Cao, with so many of us, one roasted lamb probably won't be enough. We should roast a few more."

Yang Xiaohai, with a smile on his face like the others, came to the kitchen and took out his tools for slaughtering pigs and sheep.

As he brought out the whetstone and quickly sharpened the blade, stroke by stroke, his finger suddenly jutted forward onto the blade and was cut, bleeding profusely.

"What's wrong? Stand still. I'll go get you some wound medicine." Just as the woman was about to run to the kitchen, a sentence from Yang Xiaohai, holding his bleeding finger, stopped her. "I want to see them, see my family."

Looking at Yang Xiaohai's determined gaze, the woman gently nodded. "Alright, wherever you go, I will follow."