“Sigh, how can I possibly take advantage of you? This extra Man Tou… I’m damn well giving it back to you!”
Just now I was all smiles, but suddenly my expression changed. I flicked my wrist and tossed the Man Tou hidden in my sleeve right into the man’s face. Before they could even react, I grabbed Leng Yu’s hand and bolted backward.
Just as a few men recovered and tried to chase us, a pile of broken bricks and rubble suddenly fell from above, forcing them to retreat. When we looked again, the two kids had already vanished without a trace.
“Damn it, how dare they mess with me!!”
“Quick, find them! When we catch them, break his legs!”
The men shouted furiously and scattered to search for us.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Leng Yu and I slipped into a narrow alley. As I turned to check behind us, a child’s voice suddenly called out from above: “Quick, this way!”
Leng Yu was still wondering whose voice it was, but I didn’t hesitate. Grabbing her hand, I followed the direction the voice indicated. A swift figure darted nimbly across the rooftops, guiding us until we reached a place that seemed safer.
“Isn’t it about time you came down and had a proper talk with us? You’re not just going to cause trouble for others and then run off, are you?”
Confirming there was no one around, I looked up and shouted at the rooftop with a sour tone.
Leng Yu was still puzzled about who I was talking to, but then a voice sounded overhead. Looking up, we saw a small figure expertly leap from a rooftop about four or five meters high, landing nimbly right in front of us.
I took a closer look. The child was dressed in somewhat tattered cloth clothes and worn shoes, with a headscarf wrapped around messy gray hair. Judging by his slightly darkened skin, he must have spent a lot of time outdoors. From his attire, he looked like a little beggar.
The kid jumped up to us, grinning: “Hey, young sir, you’re pretty capable. After all that running, your breathing’s not even a bit off.”
This kind of exercise was nothing for Leng Yu or me—after all, the Old Man’s usual training was several times harder than this.
“Is that all you want to say?” I sighed.
The kid scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly: “Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to drop the Man Tou. Bad move, bad move. But I gotta say, young sir, when you slapped that bun right in that guy’s face, it was hilarious—I nearly burst out laughing up on the roof.”
Watching this little rascal laugh so carefree, I helplessly pressed my palm to my forehead. “You can still laugh, huh? All this trouble started because of you. Sure, their act of extorting a kid was infuriating, but no matter what, you were the one who stole in the first place…”
“Hey, hey, young sir, that’s not accurate. How can you just slander a man’s honor like that? When it comes to Jianghu Yishi matters, can it really be called stealing?”
“Are you surnamed Kong?”
“Jianghu Yishi… isn’t that just a fancy word for thieves?”
“More like Yi Zei—righteous thieves. I’m just trying to find food for my little brothers and sisters who have no rice to eat. Besides, that household is a wealthy local family who often bully the common folk. What I do is just rob the rich to help the poor.”
The little righteous thief waved the Man Tou in his hand. It looked like these were for those starving kids.
“Is that so…”
Well, judging by how they just tried to extort a kid, they hardly seemed like good people… “But dragging me into this isn’t right either.”
At that, the child gave an apologetic smile: “See? Didn’t I already apologize? And I even figured out your ‘Tian Shang Diao Xian Bing’ signal and helped you escape. So, please forgive me.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a Man Tou and smiled as he offered it to me.
When I said “Tian Shang Diao Xian Bing,” I had deliberately emphasized “Tian Shang” to mean I knew someone was watching from above and wanted help from her. Looks like he understood the signal.
Well, I can’t blame him too much. It’s not easy for such a young child to help other kids find food. Though I didn’t want to eat his hard-earned food, I felt he wouldn’t be at ease if I refused. Besides, after half a day’s trek down the mountain with nothing to eat, I was genuinely hungry. So I took the bun and bit into it.
“Hmm, so that makes us partners in crime.”
Seeing me eat it, the little thief suddenly grinned.
“To hell with you!”
I angrily stuffed the half-eaten Man Tou into the kid’s mouth. Since I’d just taken a bite, it still had my saliva on it. The kid didn’t expect this and instinctively spat it back into his hand.
For some reason, his dusty face turned a little red. Looking a bit embarrassed, he said, “Young sir, no matter what, this feels a little inappropriate… Never mind, we shouldn’t waste food. I’ll finish this one later.”
What’s with that? You think I’m dirty? I don’t think you’re dirty covered in all that mud.
“Not like you didn’t trick me first…” I said, but seeing him clutch the remaining four and a half Man Tou tightly, I hesitated a moment and asked, “You stole… um, are these enough?”
He looked at the buns in his arms and gave a bitter smile: “Honestly, not quite. Xiao Qing, Xiao Dang, Xiao Gu… four kids sharing four Man Tou won’t fill us up.”
So he stole six in total… two each for the others, and none for himself?
I sighed helplessly, grumbling to myself about why I always get caught up in strange events, then said, “We’re here to sell Lu Rou. If you don’t mind, do you want to take some back with you?”
Hearing that, the kid looked incredulous at first, then fixed his eyes on me to make sure I wasn’t joking and quickly nodded: “Really? Thank you so much, young sir! I don’t need much—just four jin… no, three jin is enough! My little brothers and sisters haven’t had meat in a long time; it’ll help them get stronger!”
“Uh… I think I can spare seven or eight jin.”
“Seven or eight jin!? Such a precious gift… I… I don’t dare take it…” The little Yi Zei suddenly looked quite shy.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re totally fine stealing stuff, but you’re shy when someone gives you meat?”
“That’s different. People like us don’t usually get to eat meat. Besides, those people aren’t good folks. I don’t feel guilty stealing from them…”
“It’s no big deal… it probably wouldn’t all sell anyway. If you just want three jin, you’re not cheating yourself, right? You’re a kid too, gotta take care of your body.”
That deer was no small one—easily over a hundred jin. Even if we left some on the mountain, we definitely couldn’t sell it all at the market today. Better to give the rest away than let it rot.
“Thank you, thank you, young sir.” The kid kept thanking me all the way, making me almost feel embarrassed.
Leng Yu muttered something quietly beside me—something like “This is what it means to be a young master,” but I instinctively felt whatever slipped out of her mouth wasn’t exactly complimentary…