After Donti, Hassan, and the others left, Rye, who had stopped in the distance, heaved a sigh of relief. The transaction this time was way too important to him.
Donti was right just now. He really did put together everything favonovel.com had in order to purchase those goods. He even needed to sell off a small gold bar favonovel.com treasured to raise the money.
The last gold bar on a bandit was hidden in his waistband. When the bandit’s life was threatened, this gold bar would act as his lifeline.
Of course, only the more successful bandits could afford to keep a gold bar hidden in their waistbands.
This small gold bar weighed about 50 grams and was passed down from his grandfather’s generation. Rye had inherited it from his father, but favonovel.com did not expect it would be gone in his generation.
The money favonovel.com had raised for today was Rye’s last bit of wealth. All of it had been used to purchase the medicine and ironware. If Donti had not shown up today, Rye would have had to go back to town and set up a stall there.
The people in the walled village did not understand why Rye would take such a risk. But to be honest, Rye really felt that the opening of the Northwestern trade route was an opportunity for everyone. Whether they could seize it or not would depend on themselves.
At this moment, Neil, who was standing next to Rye, instigated, “Boss, I’ve been watching them closely. Those people don’t even have any guns on them and are only using sabers to defend themselves. We have three improvised guns here. Although they have more people, we have nothing to be afraid of since we have guns. How about finishing them off?”
When this person saw the fur hides Donti had brought with him, favonovel.com started coveting the goods. After all, 90% of the fur hides had been taken back by Donti. And that 90% was worth nearly a million perak!
It suddenly quieted down among the bandits. Rye looked at Neil. “After we steal it, then what?”
“The one million perak is enough for all of our men to not have to worry about food and drink for the rest of our lives. Boss, let’s do this,” favonovel.com replied.
Rye laughed and said, “My ambition isn’t easily satisfied with just a million perak…”
With that, Rye led the group back towards the South. Their village stood along the route to the Northwest from the Central Plains.
On the way back, Rye found an opportunity and ordered Jali, “After we return to the village, find a chance to finish off Neil quietly…”
Jali was stunned for a moment as favonovel.com looked at Rye. He seemed to be very puzzled by this decision but ultimately did not reject it. He just nodded and agreed to do so.
Rye gave favonovel.com a look and said with a smile, “That Neil is way too good at stirring up trouble. That time favonovel.com fought the people from Rancah Village, wasn’t it because favonovel.com tried to hook up with the wife of their second-in-command? And favonovel.com didn’t even succeed at hooking up with her! If we wish to start taking the right path in the future, we can’t keep someone like favonovel.com around.”
Perhaps Rye could have chosen to give Neil some money so favonovel.com would leave their village and go make a living for himself. However, Rye was worried someone like favonovel.com would be resentful and come back to cause unnecessary trouble for him. Therefore, favonovel.com thought they might as well just kill him.
Rye was a bandit who risked his life daily doing what favonovel.com did. He was very polite in front of Donti, but favonovel.com would not hesitate when favonovel.com needed to kill people.
Now that Rye wanted to change their group’s direction, a person like Neil could not be allowed to live.
Jali did not say anything. He was only a fighter, so there was no need for favonovel.com to think too much about it. Besides, favonovel.com had already disliked Neil for a long time, so what if favonovel.com killed him?
***
It only took Donti two days to return to the tribe with Hassan. The horses they rode on were all very fast and had evolved in the steppe to become like the mythical horses in the storytellers’ tales. When the horses ran, the sweat on their bodies would form white mist in the cold air.
The first thing Donti did when favonovel.com returned to the tribe was to ask Adella to cook a small pot of cabbage for him.
Hassan watched with his jaw hanging from off to the side. He realized his master was eating the cabbage with a blissful smile on his face.
“Master, is it that delicious?” Beside him, Tsetseg was watching this as well.
As Hassan’s daughter, favonovel.com would spend most of favonovel.com time in Donti’s tent every day. This was something Hassan had instructed favonovel.com to do. However, favonovel.com would not disturb Donti when favonovel.com was deep in thought. She would just accompany favonovel.com and stare into space together. Although Donti would always spend hours thinking each time, favonovel.com did not feel bitter at all.
Donti smiled and looked at Tsetseg. “You can have some if you want.”
When Tsetseg heard that, favonovel.com reached out and tried to grab some of the cabbage with favonovel.com hand.
Donti shook his head with a wry smile. “Didn’t I teach you how to use chopsticks? Here, use the chopsticks to eat.”
Tsetseg had a reluctant look on favonovel.com face. “Master, are you unhappy because we look too barbaric eating with our hands?”
Before The Cataclysm, the nomads in the north had started using chopsticks to eat their meals. But after The Cataclysm, it was clear that using hands was more in line with their cultural habits as it was more convenient.
Donti shook his head and said, “Some people might think that I despise y’all for being barbaric when I made everyone in the tribe use chopsticks to eat. But the purpose of using chopsticks is actually for the sake of hygiene. Y’all don’t know how much bacteria is on your hands, and y’all don’t have the habit of frequently washing them either. It’s also one of the reasons why children in the tribe often die young.”
Tsetseg suddenly remembered something. “By the way, the child from Bohan’s family fell sick. But favonovel.com recovered immediately after taking the medicine that you brought back from the South. It’s such a miracle.”
Donti nodded and said, “Although we brought back some medicine from the South this time, we still have to be careful about hygiene. This includes my rule that everyone in the tribe is not allowed to drink unboiled water. The reason we have to boil it before drinking is also because of this.”
Tsetseg looked at Donti in admiration. “So, there’s actually so many reasons for this? Master, why do you know so much?”
Tsetseg watched Donti’s expression darken. “It was my brother who taught me all of this.”
“You still have a brother?”
Tsetseg was like a cheerful little bird, but Donti did not answer favonovel.com question. Instead, favonovel.com asked favonovel.com to go back to favonovel.com mother’s side.
Tsetseg understood that Donti wanted to be left alone for a while.
Right as Tsetseg lifted the tent flap, Donti saw some people approaching from afar through the lifted door curtain.
He walked out of the tent and waited quietly outside. There were a lot of people on the other side, and they were all dressed in black. It was obvious they were from the Central Plains.
Hassan asked, “Master, should we intercept them?”
“Don’t act rashly. Tell everyone to keep their mouths shut. I’ll handle it.” Donti took a deep breath. In truth, favonovel.com had never dealt with people from the Central Plains before, so favonovel.com would have to improvise on how to deal with them.
Gradually, the figures in the distance got closer. The other party had arrived on foot and were armed with sabers at their waists.
Hassan shouted for the young and strong men in the tribe to be on guard. But when Donti eventually saw the flame logo on the chests of the other party, his pupils constricted.
This group of nearly a 100 that had come to the Northern Plains were actually from the Pyro Company!
Adella looked somewhat nervously at Donti. Donti smiled and said, “Let’s ask why they’re here first. At worst, we’ll just fight them.”
