Chapter 76 Bandits in Cock-Crow Lake!

Two hundred and ten gold coins was a large sum of money for Li Muyang.

According to the previous annual income of his parents, they would only have a surplus of a few dozen gold coins. Not to mention their family’s economic situation before, Li Muyang knew that he was still not rich enough to let the matter of the 210 gold coins slide, even after he won a large reward for winning the first place in the Liberal-arts Exam.

This was also the reason why Li Muyang insisted on following the search team and refused to leave.

Those university students needed to find their gold coins. Otherwise, when they arrived at their schools, it would be difficult for them to survive.

Li Muyang needed to find his gold coins. After all, he earned those gold coins through his hard work. Moreover, his parents had taken great efforts to hide these coins for fear that he might suffer if he did not have enough money.

They prepared the money for Li Muyang because they wanted him to have enough money to eat meat. Also, their son could treat his classmates to meals and would not be laughed at for being poor. Luo Qi had even vaguely suggested that he should invite Cui Xiaoxin to dinner when he arrived in Capital Heaven. After all, they were classmates and her contribution to Li Muyang’s success in winning the first place in the Liberal-arts Exam should not be left unrecognized.

Li Muyang was also in favor of her suggestion. If there was any chance, he would treat Cui Xiaoxin to dinner to show his gratitude.

Of course, that was all.

But only if Cui Xiaoxin did not refuse his invitation.

Compared to the importance of these gold coins, it was not a problem to be scolded by this handsome but arrogant guy who looked down at them as if he was looking at piles of sh*t.

In his heart, Li Muyang felt very uncomfortable. It felt as if he had been offended by a little rascal.

However, even he himself felt puzzled. He was obviously a smart and lovely little cat. Where did he get the superior air that made him seem very lofty and out of reach?

Cui Zhaoren was speechless.

Cui Zhaoren thought to himself, “What a goddamn nut I met!”

“He is actually trying to oppress me by using the name of Jiangnan City’s City Lord! There is actually someone who is threatening me by using my idiot cousin’s name!”

“If this person knows about the relationship between the Yan Family and the Cui Family as well as the relationship between Yan Bolai, Yan Xiangma and me, I suppose that his expression would definitely be quite wonderful to look at them.”

“Do you really want to search the cabins?” The more Cui Zhaoren thought about it, the more interesting it became to him. A smile appeared on his lips.

“Just now, Steward Chen said that people living on the third floor were important people. An important person must be magnanimous and have a broad mind. Not all of us need to go in there. We will just send a few representatives to the third floor and search around accompanied by your people…”

“It would be good if we do not find anything. But if someone under your control has sticky fingers and has taken away the money we poor students need for our daily living and school expenses, please take the responsibility of returning those gold coins to us. We will definitely be grateful and will spread your good name and chivalrous deed all over the world.”

Cui Zhaoren smiled even more happily. He looked at Li Muyang, and his eyes narrowed slightly. “What if I say I don’t want to do that?”

“Then you leave us no choice. Young master, you are of noble birth and have an extraordinary background. Besides, with so many guards, you also have great strength. We weak scholars are certainly not a match for you. But scholars are the kind of persons who like to bear grudges. Whenever we are free, we like to write some poetry or articles. Sometimes, to write something new, we have to rack our brains to find some melancholy thoughts. We will then immensely exaggerate and amplify the trivial matters that we have experienced in life. For example, if someone slaps us in the face, we will make him out to be a hooligan who stabbed us a dozen times in our articles. When someone touches a girl, we will describe him as an evil young master without any virtue. Beyond that, he likes assaulting gentlewomen indecently in public, together with his goddamned followers.”

“If I do not allow you to go up there to search, in your articles, I will become a villain who insulted the scholars on their way to Capital Heaven and grab hold of their money by my authority and power, won’t I?” Cui Zhaoren interrupted Li Muyang’s words and asked with a smile.

“It is not a bad way to write about this. It seems that you are also a refined person who likes poetry. Let us compare notes about poetry in the future…”

“How dare you!” Cui Zhaoren bellowed all of a sudden. His smiling face turned ferocious in an instant, which happened so quickly that the others found it hard to fathom. “Who do you think we are?” Cui Zhaoren asked.

“Who are you?” Li Muyang asked, thinking, “Hurry and tell me your background. Only then will I know whether the City Lord of Jiangnan City and the unscrupulous young master who has gone to Capital Heaven can suppress you and pin you down.”

Cui Zhaoren opened his mouth but in the end, was unable to say who he was.

He weighed and balanced the situation repeatedly in his heart. “Our whereabouts is extremely confidential. To complete this series of setups, how many people have been involved from the beginning?”

“If I expose my identity because of these several good-for-nothing students, those who have evil intentions who hear it will certainly leak the news out. Then, the Lu Family and their underlings will hunt us down to rescue the prisoner. At that time, it will be challenging for us to fight against them with only these people around me.”

“It took me a lot of effort to take down General Iron-Wall, who is a thorn in the flesh of Lu Xingkong of the Lu Family and a formidable obstacle in Lu Xingkong’s way to become the Left Prime Minister. Compared to those big shots in Capital Heaven, it is nothing to deal with the small group of students on the ship.”

“Be patient!”

“I have to be patient!”

“You are Li Muyang, aren’t you?” Cui Zhaoren asked, knowing well that it was not the right time, but there will always a chance for him to deal with these people. “When we arrive in Capital Heaven, I will make your lives a living hell.” Cui Zhaoren secretly made up his mind.

“Yes.” Li Muyang cupped his hands to greet him and asked, “May I know your name?”

“You don’t deserve to know it.” Cui Zhaoren said in a cold and arrogant voice. “You are not allowed to go up to the third floor. Neither can you search the cabins. Go back, all of you.”

He looked coldly at all the university students before him and shouted out his order to the people around him, “If anyone dares to make any move, kill him.”

“…”

The crowd quietened down at once.

Those who shouted that “All are equal before the law” were so scared that they did not dare to utter a word now.

Fairness and justice were just comforting words. Would anyone take them seriously?

“This is downright bullying.” Li Muyang said with some discontent. He complained in his heart, “I have already told you my background, saying that Yan Bolai is my uncle and Yan Xiangma is my brother. But why did you not show me any respect? Is such a background not intimidating enough for you?” Then Li Muyang continued, “Uncle Yan often says that humiliating others in public is even worse than stabbing them in the back. Now you did this to all of us. You were humiliating us publicly, weren’t you?”

“If you put it like that…” Cui Zhaoren shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant manner and said, “then, yes.”

“…”

“Pirates. There are pirates…” Someone exclaimed aloud.

“Zhang Ergou, are you out of your mind? We are in a big lake. How can there be any pirates here?”

“Lake bandits. I saw some Cock-Crow Lake bandits!” The earlier voice sounded again.

The Cock-Crow Lake was the gathering place of Green Sea, Red River and Taihu Lake, which was also connected to Guliang Mountain and the Eighteen-Sons Mountain. Therefore, there were many bandits around this lake and the situation here was extremely chaotic. These bandits would come out from time to time to harass others and then disappear into the vast lake in the blink of an eye.

The empire had repeatedly sent soldiers to suppress these bandits. They won every time. However, these bandits would always reappear after each defeat.

As soon as the officers and soldiers arrived, these bandits would disperse quickly and take on the guise of ordinary fishermen. But after these officers and soldiers left, these fishermen would gather in a group and become lake bandits again. This gave the high ranking officials of the emperor a headache.

“Are the lake bandits here?” Someone cried out.

The majority of these students had been spoiled and pampered from childhood and it was the first time many of them were embarking on a long journey.

Their lives had always been smooth and peaceful, so they never thought that they would come across lake bandits so soon after they left their homes. They could figure out a way to live if their gold coins were stolen. But if these bandits chopped off their heads, nothing could be done to make up for the loss.

Li Muyang clamped his legs tightly. When he felt that the heavy cloth bag against his crotch, he was slightly relieved.

He thought to himself, “Even if those lake bandits board the ship, I can still use these gold coins to buy my life.”

“Young master, in the Cock-Crow Lake, there are three big ships filled with those bandits coming at us. It seems that they have targeted this ship.” Su Rong, the military counselor, rushed to Cui Zhaoren quickly.

Cui Zhaoren’s eyes were cold and his voice was filled with killing intent. He said, “All these bastards deserve to die.”

“But young master…”

Cui Zhaoren turned around fast and shouted, “Watch the goods closely. Don’t make any mistakes.”

“Yes.” The group of people bowed as they heard his order.