Imdiately afterward, they saw a group of riders on tall horses charging forward, each one wielding a torch, and not only that but also waving their sabers while on horseback. Just then, one of the riders turned around and powerfully struck down a man who had carelessly gotten too close to his horse. Watching the man fall, he even let out two haughty laughs. It was those two laughs that caught Ye Zi’an’s attention, and he was startled upon a closer look, wasn’t that Ye Ziping? What was he doing here?
Hardly half a quarter of an hour had passed before another troop rushed over, torches in hand just like the first, but dressed in armor. Ye Zi’an carefully observed and thought that the leader resembled Old Mu.
A little over a quarter of an hour later, the inn’s door was kicked open, and shouts ca up from below, ordering all the people inside the inn to co out, co out.
Ye Zi’an listened to the voices and calmly began dressing. At that mont, there was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal Li Wen, "Young Master, there are official soldiers below, they say they are searching for pirates."
"Pirates? How could there be pirates?" Ye Zi’an exclaid in surprise. Then he thought about the geographical location of Shandong Prefecture, this remote small town, and it seed not so strange that there would be pirates. Yet, sothing felt subtly amiss. "Where’s Mr. Luo?"
"Mr. Luo and Uncle Xiao Li have already gone downstairs."
Ye Zi’an nodded and followed Li Wen down the stairs, where he saw a man leading the others in inspecting the inn and the people within.
Just then, Old Mu entered from outside.
"Uncle!"
Seeing Ye Zi’an, Old Mu too was taken aback, scarcely daring to recognize him. How had his nephew changed so much after such a long ti? He then realized why his nephew was here upon recalling that he was to participate in the Imperial Exam.
"I thought you wouldn’t arrive in Shandong for a few more days, I didn’t expect you to be so quick," Old Mu said as he stepped forward and patted him.
Turning his head to see Mr. Luo, he called out with a chuckle, "Old Luo, long ti no see."
"Heh, not seeing you is for the best, eting you ans nothing good," Mr. Luo replied coldly to Old Mu, his face stern, as he huffed.
Old Mu didn’t mind one bit.
However, at this ti he was occupied with military duties and couldn’t afford to catch up with Ye Zi’an, so he asked his Assistant General if any suspicious individuals had been found. The Assistant General shook his head.
"Uncle, I heard that you are capturing pirates?" Ye Zi’an asked, recalling the scene he had witnessed.
Old Mu responded, "Yes, this year since autumn, for so unknown reason, a group of pirates from the Wo country landed on our shores and slaughtered many people within Shandong. Not long ago, the Emperor commanded to co here and eradicate them. Those people are quite cunning. They didn’t return to their country even when winter ca, instead, they have been moving from one place to another within Shandong to survive. Fortunately, we managed to eliminate a large number of them this ti, but two escaped."
"Uncle, from my room upstairs, I saw one of those pirates who looked very familiar, yet he is one of our own from the Great Zhou."
"What did you say?" Old Mu turned and asked, with the Assistant General also looking sharply at him.
"Earlier I saw one of them and it was our fellow townsman, Ye Ziping. Logically, he should have been banished previously due to a case of abducting young girls, yet now he’s appeared here," Ye Zi’an pondered, considering how these thieves managed to run rampant within Shandong without being caught. He worried that they might not even be real pirates, and what’s more, with Ye Ziping among them, it was possible they were all people from the Great Zhou in disguise.
Old Mu, sharing the sa thoughts after hearing his words, ordered the Assistant General to investigate the dead.
anwhile, Old Mu and Ye Zi’an went upstairs. After so ti, the Assistant General returned.
He reported that only three among them were people from the Wo country, while all the rest were citizens of Great Zhou. Old Mu couldn’t help but rage.
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