Great Master

But after a while, they realized that Gong Yi had a strange habit. One day, the kitchen maid told Madam Huang that there were always fewer eggs, and every few days, there would be two less. Madam Huang was amused. With such a large clan in the Huang Family, losing a few eggs was not a big deal.

The cook stopped talking about it.

A few days later, Madam Huang came to Huang Chang's bedroom in the morning to see him. She saw Huang Chang, who had just woken up, leaning on the headboard, with an egg in his mouth.

It seemed like Huang Chang had snuck into the kitchen to steal eggs. When Madam Huang found the kitchen staff members, he told them that it was not a big deal for Huang Chang to steal the eggs, but the kitchen staff seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

Mrs. Huang realized that the cook knew something, so she asked the cook.

The kitchen maid told the wife that the Young Noble did not steal the egg, but that it was Gong Yi who had stolen it. gave Huang Chang an egg to eat. This was not a big deal, why was it so secretive?

After a few days, she woke up a lot earlier. As soon as the sky brightened, she went to Huang Chang's bedroom and sneakily peeked in when she heard movement inside. As expected, Gong Yi took out an egg and gave it to Huang Chang. Then, Madam Huang saw Gong Yi's body leaned to her side, and his mouth also bulged. Huang Chang raised his neck, following Gong Yi's example.

The Madam suddenly understood that Huang Chang was imitating Gong Yi and eating eggs. The Madam immediately went closer to take a closer look and saw that Gong Yi's mouth was slowly swallowing the egg. The protrusion on her neck was the look of an egg slowly sliding down. Huang Chang was the same.

The Countess was puzzled. Why does an egg have to be eaten in such a way? After a while, Gong Yi and Huang Chang's throat simultaneously spasmed a few times, and their mouths spat out shriveled eggshells.

Seeing this, Madam Huang's heart skipped a beat. Not daring to disturb the two, he hurriedly returned to his bedroom and told them what had happened outside.

After listening to the conversation, the staff member was puzzled. This method of eating eggs was similar to a snake eating eggs. He then recalled that it had been a long time since he had a rat disease at home. Calculating the time, it was after Gong Yi arrived at the Huang Family, the number of mice lessened.

The couple shuddered at the thought. Could it be that Gong Yi had ill intentions towards Huang Chang? Ministry Councillor Huang thought back carefully. In his entire life, he had never done anything against the heavens and earth, nor had he committed any crimes against anyone. It was truly difficult to understand.

The Madam was afraid and suggested to send Gong Yi away. That day, Gong Yi's family came over to ask for him, how could they account for it? Furthermore, Gong Yi took care of Huang Chang extremely well, and there was nothing excessive about it normally.

The two of them discussed for a while. There was nothing they could do, they could only continue to defend themselves. It seemed that it wasn't just Gong Yi teaching him to eat eggs for a day or two, and he didn't run into any trouble. I might as well leave it for now.

The matter of Gong Yi eating the eggs caused Huang Family to become curious for a while. In the end, it became a public matter and gradually, no one thought that it was strange. Under Madam's instructions, the kitchen lady would just give Gong Yi two eggs every two days. Gong Yi also did not mind, as she was usually more considerate in taking care of Huang Chang.

The two got close to each other. When Huang Chang did not see him for a day, they would cause a ruckus at home. Furthermore, Gong Yi seemed to have been born into a poor family, and was very sensible since he was young.

In a flash, Huang Chang turned sixteen and still looked stupid. Zhou Dong had never come back to him. Ministry Councillor Huang and Madam Xiao were already past their prime and did not have much hope for their son's mental state. They only hoped that after the two elders passed away, Gong Yi would be able to take care of Huang Chang for the rest of his life. The two elders had already secretly planned to leave their assets to Gong Yi.

It was just that he did not expect the heavens to be so unpredictable. Ministry Councillor Huang had been safe for a lifetime, and once he became old, he encountered the greatest calamity.

Bandits.

There are many hills and fields in Fujian Province, and there have always been bandits. It was just that they rarely disturbed the Sword Arts, but in the past few years, natural disasters had occurred frequently, and either tornadoes or great drought had occurred. The mountain bandits who had disappeared for many years had now found traces of them, and this time, the mountain bandits had already spread word that they were going to deal with the Sword Arts' Huang Family. Let Huang Family prepare silver and grain as soon as possible, in case it would harm their relationship.

Indeed, two months later, a man came to Huang Family and walked into the courtyard. He indicated that he wanted to meet the Ministry Councillor Huang, and the Ministry Councillor Huang immediately came out to receive him. That man said that he was the strategist of the leader of a mountain conspiracy, and wanted to borrow five hundred silver taels from the member. Otherwise, he would bring his brothers down the mountain to personally ask for money. With that, he swaggered away.

Ministry Councillor Huang watched as the man left. He knew that the bandits were threatening him and there was no room for negotiation. In the next few days, Ministry Councillor Huang became anxious. Although he was a rich man, he only collected rent every year. He was not a seller, and his family did not have enough silver.

The Ministry Councillor Huang could only go to the Sword City to report to the officials. However, the sword port was in a remote location, so the officials of the Palace did not have the ability to send people to protect the Huang Family. Ministry Councillor Huang was helpless. He suddenly thought of the Zhou Shi Wu father and son, and went to visit the Zhou Family. However, when he arrived at Wu Lane, he found that the Zhou Family had moved. The great locust tree in the courtyard had already withered and died. After inquiring about the neighborhood, it was said that the Zhou father and son had moved back to Shaanxi Province. No news.

The Ministry Councillor Huang could only go home, but when he got home, his house was in a mess. His family's servant was lying in the hall, and when Ministry Councillor Huang saw that he was shocked, the butler told him that the bandit had come by the night before and injured his servants.

The butler kneeled in front of Ministry Councillor Huang and told the official outside in tears that the young master had been captured by the bandits. In two days, if he couldn't even pay five hundred taels of silver, the official could go to Feng Lin Ao and collect his corpse. Furthermore, when the mountain bandits took away the young master, the house was in complete chaos. The servant girls hid away and went back to clean up the place, but Gong Yi did not know where she went.

Ministry Councillor Huang was stunned.

After thinking for a while, he went to the tenant to ask for some silver taels, which amounted to a few dozen silver taels. Afterwards, he planned to go to Wind Forest Ao and ask the bandit to redeem his son.

They were all tenants of the Ministry Councillor Huang, and knew that the Ministry Councillor Huang was going to ask for a son from Feng Lin Ao, so they gathered around, intending to fight against the bandits head on.

Ministry Councillor Huang was moved when he saw these tenants, but he also understood that these farmers would only follow him to Wind Forest Ao and fight to the death with the bandits. It was said that the bandits of Fenglin Ao had gathered over a hundred people, and even the soldiers were afraid.

The Ministry Councillor Huang cupped his hands to all the tenants that had followed him, saying that he alone was not willing to implicate others.

How could the tenants agree? They all said that the Ministry Councillor Huang was a benevolent person and had received a lot of favours from him over the years. Ministry Councillor Huang just refused again and again. There was nothing they could do. The tenants were in a stalemate until the afternoon, but when they saw that the Ministry Councillor Huang was determined to attend the gathering alone, they had no choice but to disperse.

Ministry Councillor Huang had been delayed like this, so it was already too late to set off. By night time, they had not reached Wind Forest Orchid, so they could only find a place to stay and rush over the next day. But in the wilderness of the mountains, where could he find a place to sleep? He could only find an extremely dilapidated little temple to stay in.

That night, the Ministry Councillor Huang heard the howling wind outside the temple and was worried that his son was still alive at the hands of the bandits. His heart was filled with grief, but he suddenly recalled that this temple was the place where he had protected the snake. He sighed with emotion. He had never felt guilty in his life. He had followed the teachings of his ancestors and helped others, including wild beasts. Yet, for no reason at all, he suffered this unexpected disaster. He also thought back to the words that the Daoist priest had said to him in this small temple. He had shut down his business, but it always went against the will of the heavens and required a bit of suffering.

Memories flashed through his mind one by one. That Taoist also said that he was going to look for his son to take him in as a disciple, but he suddenly changed his mind. He said that he would look for his son in a few decades and gave him a name, "Shuang". Unfortunately, Huang Chang was now being tied up by bandits, and the odds were against him. It would be better to give him to the Taoist as a disciple back then, or at least save his life.

Ministry Councillor Huang stayed in the small temple and let his thoughts run wild all night. When dawn arrived, he continued to travel and finally arrived at Wind Forest Ao when it was dark.

Feng Lin Ao was a place where bandits gathered since ancient times, since there were no signs of human habitation within a radius of tens of miles.

Ministry Councillor Huang arrived before midnight and stayed in the forest of Wind Forest Ao. He thought about how he should persuade the mountain bandits and how he should exchange several tens of silver coins to get Huang Chang back. He might as well give himself to the mountain bandits.

Ministry Councillor Huang waited in the forest, watching the moon rise and set. He estimated that the time was past, but there were still no bandits. ~ Could it be that the mountain bandits have killed Huang Chang and are unwilling to come out?

Ministry Councillor Huang had been waiting the entire time, looking at the moonlight. It should have been an ugly time, but he still did not see anyone. The whistling wind actually weakened, and then the wind became smaller and smaller, until the entire forest was completely silent. Ministry Councillor Huang was anxious, he did not know where the bandit's stronghold was located near the Wind Forest Orchid, if not he would have gone over himself.

Right now, his son's life was unknown, and he didn't dare to casually walk around. If he left, the bandits might meet him and see that he wasn't around, and that would cause his son's death.

Time slowly passed, and not a single sound could be heard from the forest. Ministry Councillor Huang suddenly realized something. In the whole forest, how could there not even be the sound of insects? The surroundings fell into a deathly silence.

He cried out loud, raised his head, and muttered to the sky: My son is forty-seven years old, although his son is a cripple, he cannot inherit the family inheritance, but heaven has its own way of living. If Huang Chang could live arrogantly, and continue to carry on the bloodline of my Huang Family, heaven would punish me for letting go of the huge snake that went through the tribulation, I would rather pay with my own life.

With that said, Ministry Councillor Huang kowtowed to the front non-stop.

When Ministry Councillor Huang kowtowed until his head was bleeding and his head felt dizzy, what he hoped for happened. A figure was standing in front of him. Ministry Councillor Huang saw this figure, but he did not dare raise his head because he saw the clothes of this person falling not far away. However, he could not see the feet that landed on the ground.

Ministry Councillor Huang was terrified, and did not dare to look up in detail, so he could only maintain a kneeling posture with his head lowered. The figure didn't say anything, and the two just stood there in a deadlocked silence.

After a long while, Ministry Councillor Huang heard a soft sigh, coming from the human figure in front. This sigh became louder and louder, to the point that it sounded like a long sigh from all the leaves in the whole forest. Then, from outside, he secretly saw the figure disappear.