Shen Ning said she would send Shen Yu away, and naturally she kept her word.
Shen Yu was naturally unwilling to leave. The Shen family's ancestral home was in Xuyang, Longchuan, which was not a very prosperous city. Moreover, the Shen family's old house was in a mountain village. Just thinking about it made him unable to bear that kind of life.
He begged to admit his mistake, saying he would definitely change and hoped his sister would give him a chance, promising to be obedient and work hard in the future.
But Shen Ning was unprecedentedly cold and ruthless, and no one else in the Shen family spoke up for him.
After getting ready, Shen Yu was put on a carriage and left with his two servants and the group that Shen Ning had prepared.
Shen Ning naturally wouldn't let anyone know that she was heartless towards Shen Yu. She only said that she was sending him back to avoid trouble, so that he could study properly in his hometown.
Shen Yu's injuries were not serious, but they were not fully healed, and the jolting of the carriage made him even more miserable.
The farther he went from the capital, the stronger his resentment towards Shen Ning became.
He was scammed when he went gambling, and was later forced to become a hostage. If he didn't, they would chop off his hand. He had no choice.
Everything in the Shen family belongs to him, so it's only natural for him to do whatever he wants with it. Now they're just using it to buy his life, isn't that even more justified?
Besides, didn't he know he was wrong? He said he would change in the future, so why can't she forgive him just this once?
She drove him away and then tried to take all of the Shen family's assets. What right did she have?
What's infuriating is that she even sent people to monitor him, preventing him from going to see his second sister.
My second sister is the gentlest and kindest; she would never want him to go back to his hometown and suffer.
Shen Yu grew angrier the more he thought about it, and secretly vowed that he would not sit idly by and wait for his death. He would get rid of these people as soon as he returned to his hometown and find a way to come back.
He will go to his second sister and ask her and her husband to help him get justice.
However, his resentment and the pain in his body made him feel a sense of crisis. Although he resented his elder sister, he wanted to leave to avoid trouble, fearing that the bandits might really come back.
As for what Shen Ning would face after he left, he hadn't thought about it at all.
In his mind, it was only right and normal for his older sister to take care of him, protect him, and feel sorry for him, and everything she did for him was her duty and normalcy; the rest had nothing to do with him.
On the third day, the group passed through a fast-flowing riverbed, where they stopped to rest and let the horses graze and drink.
Shen Yu sat down on a protruding rock and was enjoying the scenery when he suddenly heard a loud shout.
What are you doing?
He quickly turned around and saw several knife-wielding bandits appear out of nowhere and walk towards their carriage, intending to rob them.
None of his followers knew martial arts, so they dared not step forward. They were forced to retreat by the robbers and could only watch helplessly as the robbers pulled the carriage away.
As the robbers left, they glanced in his direction, their murderous eyes startling him. He instinctively took a step back, but slipped and fell into the river.
In his last moments of consciousness, he only remembered a dull pain in his back, river water filling his mouth, and then he passed out.
When Shen Yu woke up again, he felt the world was shaking and there was a strange smell around him.
"Oh, you're awake."
A face with a thick beard approached him, smiling as he asked, "Young man, how are you feeling? Would you like some water?"
Shen Yu's body stiffened, and his back throbbed with dull pain. His lips were so dry they bled. He opened his mouth and uttered a hoarse, torn sound: "Water."
Just now, the bearded man fed him water, and someone pushed open the door and went out: "Young Master, he's awake."
A tall, young man soon walked in. He glanced at him and nodded, saying, "It's good that you're awake."
"Third Uncle, get him something to eat. Tiger, go and get his medicine."
The two men left immediately upon receiving the order, leaving only Shen Yu and the young gang leader inside.
Shen Yu realized that this was a narrow little house with four beds in total. The swaying motion indicated that he was on a boat, and he must have fallen into the water and been rescued by them.
"Thank you so much for saving me, brother."
Zhu Feng: "No need to thank me, it was just a small favor."
Shen Yu: "Where is this?"
Zhu Feng: "This is the Huangsha River, we're about to reach Dongyue."
"Dongyue?" Shen Yu's eyes widened in shock. This was a border and coastal area, a land of barbarians, thousands of miles away from the capital.
"How could that be? I was just about to arrive in Yuzhou."
Zhu Feng: "You were unconscious for eight days. After we pulled you out, you didn't wake up. Later, you had a high fever that wouldn't go down. We finally found a folk remedy for you to take while we were resupplying along the shore, and that brought down your fever."
Shen Yu never expected that he would experience so much just from being unconscious once.
"I...I've caused you trouble, brother. May I ask what brings you to Dongyue?"
Zhu Feng: "My home is in Dongyue. I came out to deliver goods and am now on my way back."
On the return journey, it meant they wouldn't be heading towards the capital. Shen Yu panicked; he didn't want to go to the desolate borderlands.
"Brother, I am the young master of the Shen family in the capital. Could you please take me home? I will reward you handsomely."
Zhu Feng's gaze was complicated, then he shook his head decisively: "We've been away for three whole months, we have to go home, and there aren't enough people to get to Beijing in a short time."
Shen Yu pleaded, "Brother, please help me think of a way. I'll give you any amount of money as long as you can send me back."
Zhu Feng shook his head and stood up: "It's not about money, but that the brothers on the ship are all homesick. There have been many bandits along the way, and many brothers have been injured. They need to go back and recuperate for a while."
Zhu Laosan, with his thick beard, brought in the food.
"Young Master, go ahead and get busy. I'll take care of this kid."
Zhu Feng stood up, patted Zhu Laosan on the shoulder, their eyes met briefly, and then they passed each other as if nothing had happened.
Zhu Feng went to the next room and could still hear Zhu Laosan's hearty voice: "Little brother, let me tell you, our Dongyue is really interesting. You've eaten abalone, right? Expensive, right? Hey, we can just pick it up off the rocks after the tide goes out. And the sea cucumbers and oysters that your rich people love the most, what you see are all dead or dried, have you ever seen live ones?"
Don't let Zhu Laosan's big and burly appearance fool you; he has a very cheerful personality and is good at persuading people. With his persuasive skills, he can definitely make that young master yearn for it, and then... step into a pit.
Zhu Feng chuckled at his own idea. He opened the box next to him, which contained a box of gold and a note. It was unsigned, but the gold was given to him by Shen Ning, who wanted him to pick up someone along the way.
The note contained the following requirements, simple and clear: live and support yourself.
This young master somehow offended his sister, who then banished him to the countryside.
The gold he gave was just his reward for getting people out of trouble, not Shen Yu's living expenses. Once that young master was tricked by Zhu Laosan into going to Dongyue, he would be unfamiliar with the place and would have to find a way to make a living. Tsk tsk, how miserable.
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