Martial Arrogance Dragon Soul-Chapter 257 - 246: Zhenyuan Escort Agency

On the surface, Qin Qing was impassive, showing no sign of emotional turbulence.

But in his heart, the mere thought of the incident from those years ago ignited a fury within him.

Despite the passage of many years, and the fact that Qin Qing was still young back then, not to mention his sister Qin Shuang hadn’t even been born, the memory was still vivid in his mind.

That time, the Qin Residence suffered a devastating loss due to that batch of goods.

As the main person responsible for those goods, Qin Qing’s father, Qin Yi, faced challenges from many in the family.

Especially from the old ancestor, Qin Wujian.

Qin Wujian had always harbored a grudge against Qin Yi for becoming the master of the Qin Residence, and had it not been for Qin Yi’s strength firmly overruling Qin Zhen and the strong support from clan members like Qin Tao and Qin Tong,

Qin Zhen would have already been installed in power by Qin Wujian.

That time, Qin Zhen and his faction even burst into Qin Yi’s courtyard, intending to strip him of his position as family head that very night.

Qin Qing still remembered how his mother, who was pregnant at the time, had to face Qin Zhen’s harassment.

Moreover, Qin Zhen forced his father to go to the Zhenyuan Escort Office to demand compensation, and his mother went along with him.

As a result, his mother was harshly slapped by someone from the Zhenyuan Escort Agency.

At the time, Qin Qing was too young to follow his parents to the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, but he heard from family discussions that the person who had struck the blow was the instigator behind the loss of the goods, the very same Zheng Baohe now standing in front of him! 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"That night, Mother suffered a fright that endangered her pregnancy, and my sister nearly didn’t make it!"

"The one who struck her was this Zheng Baohe; Mother was clearly pregnant, already in her tenth month, yet this Zheng Baohe still had the heart to hit her!"

After what had happened that year, with the Qin Residence’s strength in Tianjue City, it was inconceivable that they would let the matter rest.

The Zhenyuan Escort Agency certainly wouldn’t dare to treat the Qin Residence with such disregard.

That was what Qin Yi had thought at the time, which led him to make such a grave mistake.

In fact, the Zhenyuan Escort Agency had colluded with the City Lord’s Mansion, and with the backing from the City Lord’s Mansion, when the Qin Residence sought to take action against the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, there came sudden pressure from the Mansion.

"Back then, under the pressure from the City Lord’s Mansion, my father had no choice but to swallow his grievances. But things are different now..."

Qin Qing thought to himself with a sneer.

With his current strength, even the City Lord’s Mansion was insignificant, let alone a Zhenyuan Escort Agency.

However, Qin Qing also knew that now was not the time to act impulsively.

His current identity was that of a silk merchant from Northern Pass.

Once he was far from Tianjue, to be precise, far from Luo River, out of the line of sight of certain people, Qin Qing could do whatever he wanted.

"Alright. Then, Brother, come back to the Escort Office with me. We’re still waiting for a few people, and we’ll probably set off together around the hour of Yin tomorrow!" Zheng Baohe said.

"I will follow Zheng Escort Head’s arrangements!" Qin Qing clasped his fist.

Afterward, Qin Qing followed Zheng Baohe to the Zhenyuan Escort Agency.

Some people were already waiting there before Qin Qing’s arrival.

After a brief conversation, Qin Qing learned that the middle-aged man in brocade with a round belly was named Zhou Wanfu.

Zhou Wanfu was also joining this convoy to Northern Pass, but he was not from there.

He was also going to Northern Pass for trade.

His cargo was even more substantial than Qin Qing’s, with a total of twelve horses and boxes and trunks of various sizes, tightly packed.

"Brother Feng!" Zhou Wanfu chatted with Qin Qing for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Seeing your sturdy build, you must be a practitioner, right? This trip to Northern Pass, I hope you can look after us more!"

Qin Qing was using a false name; he had introduced himself as Feng Yu.

That’s why Zhou Wanfu addressed him as Brother Feng.

Qin Qing couldn’t help but smile and shook his head, saying, "Zhang brother, you’re mistaken. Although I may look intimidating, I actually have no martial arts skills. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have chosen to risk my life trading at the Border Pass."

Hearing Qin Qing say this, the smile on the originally beaming face of Zhang Wanfu suddenly became a bit strained.

He chuckled twice, then made his way to an adjacent room for some rest.

It seemed he had no intention of further engaging with Qin Qing.

Qin Qing couldn’t help but shake his head lightly. Zhou Wanfu must have seen that he wasn’t of any use anymore and thus couldn’t be bothered with pleasantries.

Besides Zhou Wanfu, there were a few other merchants.

Their clothes and appearances suggested that they were from the Northern Pass, and even two of them seemed to be from areas beyond the Northern Pass, close to the Foreign Regions.

They had higher nose bridges, larger eyes in shades of blue or brown, and their physiques appeared more robust.

None of these men showed any interest in speaking with Qin Qing.

After waiting for half the day, several more individuals arrived one after another.

Among them was an elderly man looking to be in his fifties or sixties, with the distinctive looks of the ethnic groups from the Northern Pass, though less obvious because of his thin physique.

This old man carried a strong odor of tobacco, and he held an old smoking pipe. Both his fingertips and a few of his teeth were stained wax yellow from the smoke.

"Young fellow, come give me a hand,"

the old man said, grinning at Qin Qing and gesturing for him to help secure the goods on the back of his horse.

Through conversation, Qin Qing learned that the old man’s surname was Yang, but he didn’t seem keen on sharing his full name and simply asked Qin Qing to call him Old Yang.

Old Yang was a tobacco merchant.

The amount of goods he carried was not very large.

Firstly, because tobacco was an expensive commodity on its own,

and secondly, in his words, he didn’t want to tucker himself out too much, given his age.

Qin Qing quickly secured the tobacco for Old Yang.

In gratitude, Old Yang attempted to give a few pieces of silver to Qin Qing, but Qin Qing politely declined.

"You’re quite the down-to-earth young man. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t pass up the chance to take free silver!" Old Yang grinned, his yellow teeth slightly jarring. However, through their brief conversation, Qin Qing came to realize that Old Yang, too, was a genuinely straightforward person.

"Not taking the silver, how about a puff of this pipe?" Old Yang then offered his old smoking pipe to Qin Qing.

"No need, Old Yang. It was nothing more than lending a hand, don’t worry about it!" Qin Qing said with a smile.

As night fell, the air quickly cooled.

In the first half of the night, no one else arrived.

But as the latter half of the night approached, a young man showed up.

This young man, named Zhang Ding, was overly familiar. Upon arriving at the escort agency, he struck up conversations with the people waiting in the yard.

The others didn’t pay much attention to him.

Zhang Ding spoke with a thick Northern Pass accent and seemed a bit simple-minded.

It so happened that Old Yang chatted with him off and on.

Because of Old Yang, Zhang Ding also kept chattering nonstop to Qin Qing.

From his ramblings, Qin Qing gathered that Zhang Ding had come to Tianjue City from the Northern Pass to sell some fine horses from there, and in turn bring back some medicinal herbs. These herbs were scarce commodities at the Northern Pass.

"Bringing these herbs back will make me a good profit. It’ll be enough to cover the expenses of getting married!"

"Once I’m back, I’ll marry right away and give my mother a grandson! She’s been longing for a grandchild for some time now..."

Zhang Ding grinned foolishly.

In the distance, the crowing of roosters could be heard.

The torches at Zhenyuan Escort Agency were lit once more.

It was not yet dawn, but the escort masters had already risen.

"Looks like they’re getting ready to set off," Qin Qing thought, standing up.