Hearing these words.
Xu Zhan grabbed Wang Tiedan's hand. That hand was rough, icy cold, and full of cuts.
The two men's hands clasped tightly together.
Xu Zhan's throat burned, and he was so guilty he couldn't speak.
"Chief Wang."
His voice was hoarse, carrying a hint of a sob.
"This favor, I, Xu Zhan, will remember it."
Xu Zhan's eyes were red, and the tears finally couldn't be held back. They rolled down his frostbite-covered cheeks, hot, and instantly turning cold again.
"As long as I don't die by the barbarians' swords this time, even if I have to crawl back to the capital, I will beat the Dengwen Drum!"
Xu Zhan gritted his teeth, his cheeks bulging.
"Those grandsons in the Ministry of War sitting in greenhouses drinking tea, I will peel off their skin!"
"Even if I have to scrape it from their bones, I will get this blood money out for my brothers!"
Wang Tiedan grinned, his teeth covered in blood froth, looking terrifying.
But he smiled heroically.
"Centurion Xu, with your words, those hundred or so brothers' lives were worth it!"
The surrounding hundred defeated soldiers also had red eyes.
Some secretly wiped away tears, while others gripped their sword hilts until they creaked.
In this godforsaken place, life was the cheapest thing, but sometimes it was also the most valuable.
Xu Zhan sniffled, suppressing the sour feeling.
"Chief Wang, you said... how much did my sister give?"
The wind was strong just now, and his mind was a mess. He thought he had misheard.
Wang Tiedan thrust his broadsword into the snow, extended a hand, and waved it.
Five fingers, thick and short, but they seemed exceptionally heavy right now.
"Five thousand taels?"
Xu Zhan asked tentatively.
This was already the limit. He knew the family's foundation well. His old man's salary was only enough to drink the northwest wind. Five thousand taels would mean emptying the family's savings.
Wang Tiedan shook his head, his eyes carrying a hint of pity for a country bumpkin.
"Add another zero."
The air froze.
Even the sound of the wind and snow seemed to stop for a moment.
The hundred old soldiers who were stretching their necks waiting for food all gasped.
Hiss—
This hiss was uniform, louder than the shouts during drills.
"H-how much?!"
Xu Zhan felt he must be hallucinating from hunger. His ears were buzzing.
"Fifty thousand taels."
Wang Tiedan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his tone flat, but it hit everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.
"Silver, slammed on the table on the spot, without blinking."
"And this doesn't even count the money for the goods themselves. The shipping fee alone was fifty thousand taels."
Thump.
Xu Zhan lost his footing and sat heavily in the snowdrift.
His bottom was cold, but he couldn't feel it.
His mind was full of silver now, mountains of silver.
Fifty thousand taels!
How much money was that?
Even if you sold him, Xu Zhan, by the pound, he wouldn't be worth a fraction of it.
Where did the family get so much money?
His old man's "honest official" appearance meant his sleeves had nothing but two taels of silver or three taels of gold.
This money must have been gotten by that girl Qinghuan.
A picture instantly popped into Xu Zhan's mind.
It was a snowy night.
Xu Qinghuan, wearing thin clothes, stood on the streets of Jiangning City, surrounded by a group of fierce loan sharks.
"Pay back the money! If you don't pay, we'll take your house!"
"If you don't have money, we'll sell you to a brothel!"
His sister, crying her eyes out to gather military funds for her brother, finally gritted her teeth and sold her little dowry, jewelry, and even her favorite cat.
Maybe... maybe she even signed a contract to sell herself as a concubine to that pockmarked old rich man Wang.
"Sister!"
A tragic cry startled everyone around.
Xu Zhan pounded the ground with his hands, feeling immense regret and sorrow.
"Your brother is not human!"
"Your brother is an animal!"
"Your brother thought you were eating well and drinking well in Jiangning, and even cursed you for having no conscience here."
"So you put your life on the line!"
Xu Zhan howled, tears and snot flowing down like an opened floodgate.
What "a real man doesn't easily shed tears" was all bullshit.
If he could exchange this for those fifty thousand taels right now, he, Xu Zhan, would kowtow three times to Xu Qinghuan on the spot.
"You silly girl, why are you so honest!"
"What's wrong with your brother eating some grass roots here? It won't kill anyone. Do you have to borrow from loan sharks?"
"If the old man finds out, he'll break my dog legs!"
The sixteen-year-old new recruit next to him was also infected by the atmosphere and burst into tears.
"Centurion, our sister... our sister is really a living Bodhisattva!"
"From now on, she's our own sister. Whoever dares to bully her, I'll be the first to risk my life!"
A group of burly men cried together in the snow.
The crying was deafening. Those who didn't know would think the barbarians had already broken in.
Wang Tiedan stood aside, the corners of his mouth twitching.
He really wanted to say, your sister is really rich, she's the kind of master who doesn't treat money as money.
But he opened his mouth and didn't say it.
Saying this now seemed to ruin the atmosphere.
"Alright! Stop howling!"
Xu Zhan suddenly wiped his face, wiping the snot and tears onto his sleeves, and forcefully stood up.
"What's the use of crying!"
"Eat!"
"All of you, eat!"
"This is the food our sister exchanged her life for. Whoever dares to waste a grain of rice, I'll chop him up!"
Pairs of green-glowing eyes stared at the dozen or so carriages.
They were really starving.
The sadness from just now quickly disappeared, leaving only the most primitive desire in their hearts.
Hunger.
Too hungry.
It felt like a hand was scratching in their stomachs, burning.
"Open the boxes!"
Xu Zhan gave an order.
A hundred defeated soldiers howled and pounced.
No one looked for crowbars, they just used their hands.
Pounding with fists, kicking with feet, hitting with sword hilts.
Crack! Bang!
Wood chips flew everywhere.
Those tightly nailed wooden boxes, in front of these starving ghosts, were no better than tofu dregs.
In the blink of an eye, the dozen or so carriages were dismantled completely.
Clay pots rolled out and fell onto the snow.
The clay pots were wrapped in oilcloth. Although slightly damaged, they were relatively well protected.
A strange smell drilled into their noses along with the cold wind.
It wasn't the smell of food.
Spicy, mellow, a smell that made your throat hot just by taking a sniff.
It was the smell of wine.
And it was aged good wine.
The noses of the few old soldiers in the front row were the sharpest. They leaned in and took two deep sniffs, their eyes wide open.
"My goodness!"
An old soldier with a stubbly face exclaimed, his voice trembling.
"This... this is probably Nuerhong!"
"And it's at least a twenty-year-old vintage!"
"My goodness, this smell is ten thousand times better than our watered-down Shaodaozi!"
Xu Zhan also smelled it.
He rushed forward and dug out a clay pot from the snow pile.
He immediately found that this pot was incredibly heavy, and its shape was strange. There was actually a small wooden stopper at the bottom. Because of the bumpy journey, the mud seal of the inner pot had cracked slightly, and the rich smell of Nuerhong wine drifted out.
Xu Zhan froze.
He brought the tattered cloth to his nose and took a sniff. It was indeed liquor, and premium liquor at that.
"What... what is going on here?"
An adjutant beside him was just as dumbfounded, scratching his head in sheer confusion.
"Boss, why is this cloth completely soaked in liquor?"
"Isn't this a massive waste?"
Xu Zhan's brows knitted into a tight knot.
He stared at the clay jar, his mind racing.
His younger sister might be a spendthrift, but she was certainly no fool.
After spending a full fifty thousand taels on shipping fees, how could she possibly just spill the liquor all over the cloth?
Unless...
