Fields of Gold

Zhu Junyang’s new assistant, Hou Xiaoliang hurriedly helped his master to ladle a bowl of soup. He grinned, “Master, you don’t need to do anything. This one will help you get some food!”

“You are quite diligent...but does this prince want you to serve me food? Go away!” Zhu Junyang was annoyed by this fellow’s inability to read the situation. Was this prince really asking for soup ah? No! This prince was trying to make a certain person serve him soup!

In the end, Yu Xiaocao could no longer ignore Zhu Junyang’s pathetic act and also ladled up a bowl of stew for him. She watched as he gulped it down and then sigh in an exaggerated manner. She was simultaneously irritated and amused by his ridiculous actions. For a guy who was over twenty years old, he truly acted quite childish sometimes. Naturally, his so-called childish act was only really revealed around her.

Yu Xiaocao pushed out a food item called ‘beggar’s chicken’ from the campfire and instructed Zhu Junyang to break the mud shell off of the chicken, revealing the inner lotus leaves layer. Immediately, a puff of tantalizing smell hit everyone’s noses. She ripped off a large chicken leg and served it to Su Ran. Then, with a certain someone staring at her with grievance in his eyes, she tore off the other leg and shoved it into his mouth. Finally, she served herself the two chicken wings as a part of her dinner.

Yu Xiaocao gnawed on her chicken wings as she looked around her surroundings. They were already approaching the border and the area around them had markedly become more open and crude. Other than a few small tree glades here and there, the rest was just a vast grassland. She casually threw her finished chicken bones into the fire and wiped her hands clean with the handkerchief Zhu Junyang handed to her. A sudden thought came to her mind, prompting her to ask, “In this wilderness, you really can’t see many people around. Are there wolf packs in the area?”

“It’s fine. Even if there are wolf packs, we have a lot of people here and they wouldn’t dare to approach us on their own——however, if there were people who decided to lure them to us, then that’s a whole different story!” Zhu Junyang had a serious look on his face as he stared fixedly in the direction of a glade of trees. The aura around him seemed to be full of fierce intent, as if he was a sharp sword ready to be used at any time.

Su Ran calmly used a pure white handkerchief to wipe his hands and the smile on his face became even more warm and gentle. Those who knew him would know that Chief Steward Su had a particular habit. The kinder and gentler the smile on his face, the more cruel he was willing to be. In a moment’s notice, he could switch from being as soft as a spring breeze to as chillingly cold as a winter’s storm, with a severed person’s head in his hand. He was truly the epitome of the smiling King of Hell.

The two of them made an interesting pair. One was the smiling King of Hell while the other was the cold-faced God of Death. However, they had the same merciless and cruel mindset when they needed to act.

Yu Xiaocao, who was a bit slow to react, lowered her head to take a sip of hazel grouse soup and then glanced at Zhu Junyang, who was giving off a chilly aura. Then she looked briefly at Sir Su, whose smile resembled the beautiful sight of a glade of blooming peach trees. She finally seemed to sense something and asked, “What’s wrong? Are there enemies around?”

Su Ran smiled reassuringly at her and said, “Not an issue, just a few wild wolves in the area. If you’re afraid, go hide in the tent. Once we get rid of this wolf pack, then you can come out again.”

“There really is a pack of wolves? Just look at this inauspicious mouth of mine. I just casually mentioned it and it came true!” Yu Xiaocao watched as the soldiers around her made preparations one by one and thought about the time when that pack of wolves descended on her village. One or two wolves weren’t too scary but a whole pack of them could not be underestimated.

Zhu Junyang looked back at Xiaocao and stated in an uneasy manner, “Go call Little Black and Little White over. I’ll feel better with them protecting you!”

Before he even finished his last sentence, under the light of the moon, two figures, one black and one white, rapidly approached them. Before the firearms troops could react, the two creatures had already jumped through the group of people and accurately landed right next to Xiaocao. They resembled two extremely loyal bodyguards with their master sandwiched in between them.

Su Ran, who was only around two steps away from Xiaocao, lightly petted Little White, who was about the height of a grown man when sitting down. Little White merely glanced at him arrogantly. The white wolf had a solitary and aloof personality and even members of the Yu Family, other than Xiaocao and Little Shitou, who had grown up with it, were warned away with bared fangs. However, all animals had an instinctual sixth sense and Little White could tell that Su Ran wasn’t someone to be trifled with. It only looked back at the man with an impatient expression in its eyes. If it were anyone else, it would have already growled and howled in protest.

The night breeze that blew by held the faint scent of blood and there were small green lights that seemed to be approaching them. With the light of the moon helping her, Yu Xiaocao, who had keen eyesight, could faintly see a few staggering figures in front of a wolf pack.

“Ya! Quickly go save them!” Yu Xiaocao couldn’t help but let out a cry when she saw another figure fall down and perish beneath the wolf pack.

“Stay obediently next to Chief Steward Su. This prince will go and take a look!” Zhu Junyang could hear a faint trace of sympathy in the lass’s voice. If they continued to watch and observe, he was afraid that his kind-hearted lass would end up feeling remorse in the future for not doing anything.  

Yu Xiaocao looked at the dense glowing green lights in the distance and couldn't help but warn him, “You need to be careful ah…”

The tall and study figure of Zhu Junyang, who was dressed in black and armored well, quickly disappeared into the dark sky. With her keen eyes that were nourished by mystic-stone water, Yu Xiaocao was able to see exactly what was going on in the distance. The people who were fleeing seemed to have seen the light of their fire and received another burst of energy. The group was shielding a person in the middle as they did their best to rush over as fast as they could.

However, these people were exhausted and already wounded. How could they possibly out run a pack of wolves who had already been excited to a bloodthirst? From the group, another two split out and used their own bodies to slow down the savaging pack in order to give their master a few more seconds of precious time. The person, who was being pushed forward by the rest, would, from time to time, look back and let out sorrowful and anguished cries when he saw more people die.

“Derang! Xiujie!” Yelu Rong watched as his bodyguards fell one by one. They had managed to avoid getting slaughtered by the traitors but now they were losing their lives to the jaws of the wolves.

“Your Majesty! Run away quickly and don’t let our brothers’ sacrifices be in vain!” Yelu Rong’s two other bodyguards each held an arm as they forced their exhausted and wounded bodies forward. Their goal was to reach that campfire, that shining flame of hope.

Around this time of year, no one else would be in the area other than some merchant caravans. Judging by the size and light of the fire, this group of merchants probably had a decent number of people. They prayed that these merchants had brought enough bodyguards with them to get rid of the devils chasing them…

When Zhu Junyang dropped out of the sky like a god, Yelu Rong only had two loyal bodyguards left. The rest of them had already died under the jaws of the wolves.

Zhu Junyang neatly kicked away a wolf that was leaping towards Yelu Rong’s back. With a few graceful moves of the sword in his hand, he easily pushed back a few other fierce wolves that were at the head of the pack. Zhu Junyang used his right hand to pick up Yelu Rong, who was wounded in his leg, by the collar. In a few quick movements, he quickly brought the injured person back to camp. Without their master slowing them down, the other two bodyguards picked up their speed and fled swiftly towards the glowing campfires.

When Little Black saw the approaching wolf pack, it became so excited that it couldn’t sit still anymore. It clawed at the ground with its large paws and its shining blue eyes stared fixedly at the alpha wolf in the middle of the pack. Little Black’s normal strategy was to target the leader of the group first.

The wolf pack had also long discovered that there were other people here. As they got closer, they could smell the alluring scent of their ‘prey’, which made them even more excited and vicious. There were at least a hundred animals in this pack of wolves and they had been a terror to the area for quite some time. The merchants that traveled in this area banded together for safety and even that wasn’t a guarantee that a tragedy wouldn’t happen. As for the officials nearby, they didn’t have enough soldiers on hand to destroy this pack of wolves so they were quite helpless as well.  

Wolves who had already had the taste of human meat were even more vicious than usual and they weren’t the least bit cowed by the sight of more people. The fire illuminated their shadowy figures and Hou Xiaoliang couldn’t help but shiver when he saw densely packed figures of wolves with their glowing green eyes. He blurted out, “Holy moly! So many! Did you lure over all of the nearby wolves in this area ah?”

Yelu Rong nervously watched as his two bodyguards, who hadn’t reached their circle of safety, continued to run towards them. He opened his mouth in an attempt to ask for help, but before he could, he heard the sound of a wolf howling behind him. It scared him so much that his legs buckled and he fell flat onto the ground.

Even Hou Xiaoliang had been caught off guard and was a bit frightened by the howl. He turned his head around and discovered that the large black dog next to his future mistress was currently raising its head and howling to the sky.

“Oh my! Even hunting dogs can imitate wolves now. Did Little Black just learn this ah?” Hou Xiaoliang scratched at his ear as he quietly mumbled. Compared to the calm and steady Dong Dali, Hou Xiaoliang had a bit more liveliness and nervous energy.

When the wolf pack heard Little Black howling, they all stopped moving one after another, giving the two bodyguards a chance to flee with their lives. The two of them stumbled into the vicinity of the campfire, and their faces still held traces of lingering fear.

“Awoooooo——” A tall and big gray wolf came out of the middle of the pack and gave a warning howl at Little Black. It was as if it was trying to say, ‘This is my domain, so all outsiders need to scram.’

How could Little Black take this lying down? The black wolf immediately strode forward and stopped not far from where the gray wolf was standing and posed arrogantly. Its pair of blue eyes shown with disdain. Little Black’s entire demeanor was like that of a king’s, as if it owned the entire land before it.

The alpha wolf was the leader of this hundred-some odd wolf pack, so it naturally was quite incredible in its own way. With this black young fellow suddenly appearing and provoking it, how could it back down? It snarled furiously and leapt forward towards the black wolf to strike first.

The result went as expected. How could Little Black, who had been raised since it was a pup on mystic-stone water, possibly lose against a wild wolf? After a few quick exchanges between the two wolves, the opposing gray wolf ended up with its neck neatly bit through and it lay, dying, at Little Black’s feet.

The wolf pack was now without a leader. In addition, the soldiers from the firearms camp weren’t to be trifled with. The two groups fought fiercely and it ended up being a decisive win for the humans, as they had destroyed over half of the wild wolves in the pack. The remaining dozen or so wild wolves were all scared and ran for their lives. Later on, when the officials in the area found out, they organized all of the nearby hunters to hunt down these remaining creatures once and for all. After the man-eating wolves were all put down, the merchants coming to this area no longer had to take a detour for safety.

Yu Xiaocao took out the healing ointments that she had personally made and had her maidservants, as well as herself, help the military doctors to treat the wounds from the injured soldiers. Yelu Rong’s leg, which had been cut deeply by a sword, was also cleaned, treated and bandaged with a thick layer of gauze. His two bodyguards’ injuries were also treated as well!

“Many thanks, heroes, for stepping out and saving our lives. Xiao Rong will never forget this favor!” After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the vast majority of people from the Yelu Clan had changed their surnames to Han ethnicity names. Yelu Rong still currently used the surname, Xiao, that was given to them back during the Liao Dynasty.