CHAPTER 257: CHAPTER 257: MADAM HU WAS KIDNAPPED

After parting ways with You Che and Du Huanzhen on the official road, the group quickly returned to Tonglin County.

Lu Zheng resumed his idle routine.

His daily routine involved morning cultivation, visiting either Lin Wan or Shen Ying at noon, playing chess at Peach Blossom Plain or helping at Renxin Hall in the afternoon, and sometimes dining with the Liu Family or returning to the modern world to dine with Lin Wan in the evening.

The evenings were even busier...

Moreover, there were times when other matters would interrupt, such as...

"Master, General Xin invites you to drink at the City God Temple tonight!"

"Alright! Let’s go!"

...

After having a drink and competing in a swordfight, Lu Zheng and Hu Zhou came out of the City God Temple together.

"Are you still going to work as a porter in the morning?" Lu Zheng asked.

Hu Zhou nodded, "Yes!"

Since Hu Zhou became an apprentice, Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan had both suggested that Hu Zhou either work at the Sugar Workshop or help at Renxin Hall. However, Hu Zhou was unwilling, insisting on earning money by his own skills.

Since Hu Zhou’s cultivation was still low at the time, working as a porter also counted as a form of weight training, so Lu Zheng didn’t stop him. Instead, he and Liu Qingyan would occasionally send food and money to Hu Zhou and his mother.

So, the days of Hu Zhou and his mother were quite decent; they had moved places and weren’t lacking in clothes and food, but one couldn’t say they were wealthy.

"With your current level of cultivation, being a porter doesn’t benefit much anymore; instead, you have to restrain and hide your skills, feeling constrained," Lu Zheng said, "And you can’t be a porter forever, can you?"

When Hu Zhou helped at Renxin Hall, Liu Qingyan would teach him reading and writing whenever she had time, and by now, he recognized a few hundred common characters, which was enough for daily reading.

Moreover, when Lu Zheng sat in on consultations at Renxin Hall, he would often tell little stories about interacting with people and understanding events. Although Hu Zhou had a straightforward nature, he wasn’t as clueless as before.

So, Hu Zhou was actually capable of doing something else.

However, Hu Zhou seemed unwilling.

"I think it’s fine, working and chatting with those porter mates, there’s not much fuss, it’s quite relaxing," Hu Zhou said.

"But as a porter, it’s inconvenient for your mother to arrange a match for you," Lu Zheng said helplessly.

This was something Liu Qingyan had mentioned to him, saying that Madam Hu asked her to help find Hu Zhou another job.

Now that Hu Zhou had achieved success in Martial Dao and was literate, Madam Hu certainly didn’t want to find him a wife at a porter’s standard.

"A match!" Hu Zhou was suddenly startled, "My mother is arranging a match for me?"

"No, no! I don’t want to get married, I don’t want those loud-mouthed wives!" Hu Zhou urgently waved his hand.

"So your mother wants you to change jobs, so you can find some fair-skinned, pretty little girl!" Lu Zheng tempted.

Hu Zhou blinked, "Like the girl from Mr. Liu’s house at the alley corner?"

"Who is that?" Lu Zheng blinked.

Hu Zhou said, "The daughter of an old scholar, she’s quite nice, she even brought me food when I went home!"

Lu Zheng turned back in shock, "Why did she bring you food?"

"I helped her chase away a few ruffians who harassed her before," Hu Zhou said, "But she only brought food once, and never again after that."

Lu Zheng tempted, "Then do you want to marry such a girl?"

"I don’t want!" Hu Zhou shook his head firmly.

"Huh?" Lu Zheng was puzzled again, "Why not?"

"Girls like that are always picky, they definitely won’t let me practice swordplay or drink, I’ve heard that from my friends," Hu Zhou said, "And in the little stories you’ve told me, weren’t there many wives holding back their men?"

Lu Zheng: Ծ‸Ծ

"Was the main point of my stories wives holding their men back?"

Hu Zhou shrank his neck and said nothing, but clearly had no intention of agreeing to marry.

Lu Zheng pursed his lips but didn’t persuade further.

Hu Zhou was not yet sixteen and was in the rebellious teenage phase, so there was no rush for marriage and settling down.

Might as well let him be for a while, after all, the guidance was still in progress, subtly ongoing.

...

In the next few days, Lu Zheng continued with his laid-back lifestyle, and Hu Zhou, as before, went to the porter team to work in the morning, helped at Renxin Hall in the afternoon, and practiced swordplay at the City God Temple in the evening.

After only a few days of peace...

"Master!"

Hu Zhou hurriedly arrived at Lu Zheng’s house, his face pale.

"What happened?"

"I... My mother... My mother was kidnapped!" Hu Zhou said, trembling with his lips.

"What?" Lu Zheng was shocked, "How did she get kidnapped when she was safe at home?"

Hu Zhou took out a piece of paper from his pocket, trembling as he handed it to Lu Zheng, his voice filled with hatred, "It’s those thugs, they want me to bring ten thousand coins to Eagle’s Beak Cliff outside Shuanggou Mountain, or they will kill my mother."

"I was planning to go myself, but I’m worried about my limited strength, if they really get brutal, I may not be able to save my mother," Hu Zhou said.

"Which thugs?" Lu Zheng took the letter and glanced at it, the contents were as Hu Zhou described, he asked puzzled, "Is it the same thugs you drove away from your neighbor? Did they kidnap your mother because of that?"

Logically, city thugs and loafers commit minor offenses without committing major crimes, dining without paying or extorting protection fees is fine, petty theft is manageable, but life-threatening acts are absolutely forbidden.

Kidnap and extortion?

That’s a serious crime, if caught by the government, exile or worse is inevitable, would thugs dare?

"They were extorting protection fees from my porter team a few days ago and claimed to know some Falcon King or Blade King."

Hu Zhou said, "Then I knocked them all down and, with a few mates from the porter team, gave them a beating."

Lu Zheng frowned, "So those thugs know where you live and your details?"

"Poss...possibly?"

Lu Zheng shook his head, "We’ll discuss these issues later, let’s rescue your mother first, come, I’ll go with you."

Hu Zhou nodded repeatedly.

Thus, Lu Zheng informed Uncle Li, and the two of them left the city together.

It was now noon, and Hu Zhou had discovered his mother was kidnapped after finishing his morning work and returning home, he came to find Lu Zheng with the letter, so it was just 1:30 PM.

The two hurriedly made their way to Shuanggou Mountain, climbed the mountain, and arrived at Eagle’s Beak Cliff.

Eagle’s Beak Cliff was a cut-off cliff; across was another cut-off cliff, Elephant Head Cliff, separated by three zhang, with a void in between and a sheer drop of several zhang below.

The two arrived at Eagle’s Beak Cliff, only to find the ten or so people on the opposite Elephant Head Cliff, and then...

Lu Zheng’s eyes turned sharp, while Hu Zhou’s eyes reddened, burning with fury!

Because Madam Hu was lying on the ground with her hands tied behind her back, with several bruises on her face.

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