Chapter 2291 — A Narrow Escape
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"That's good, then." A Biao nodded and quickened his pace, saying nothing more.
Since the men conducting the inspection below did not know Sun Jingyan, the matter was simple enough. All A Biao had to do was lead his own people through the inspection, step by step, and then head down the mountain. He had no intention of selling her out.
For one thing, Sun Jingyan's friend Wei Zhao was their savior. A Biao might not be a gentleman, but neither was he a scoundrel, and he would not stoop to repaying kindness with treachery. For another, if Sun Jingyan were recognized by the inspectors, what good would come to their entire adventuring band?
He would be lucky not to be charged with harboring an enemy; as it was, the whole band would suffer for it. So A Biao was hardly about to do something so foolish.
"The inspection down there looks strict. No one says a word out of turn—I will handle it!" A Biao told the others in the group.
"Understood!" The others clearly held their captain in high trust, for none of them asked questions, agreeing at once.
A Biao nodded and led his group forward. After the adventuring band ahead of them had passed the inspection and departed, he brought his people up to the mountain pass.
"Name? Which family arranged your passage up the mountain? What did you go up there for?" The speaker was Lazi. He knew Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan by sight, and although a glance at the group showed neither of them present, he still asked, out of a conviction that caution never hurt.
"My name is A Biao. I am an adventurer from the border town. We paid the Fire Wolf Gang to come up and gather herbs," A Biao said with neither servility nor arrogance.
"Hm..." Lazi nodded and turned to a minor chieftain of the Fire Wolf Gang.
"A Biao, eight people up the mountain in all—six men and two women. The numbers match. Go on, then." The chieftain checked their earlier registration and waved A Biao through.
"Right!" A Biao's heart eased, and he nodded. Then he said to his group, "Let's go, everyone!"
But just as A Biao was about to lead his people away, a voice rang out abruptly: "Hold on!"
A Biao's heart sank, yet his face betrayed nothing. He turned back with a smile and said, "May I ask... is something the matter?"
The one who had spoken was Lazi. He was gazing at Sun Jingyan now, a flicker of dazzled admiration in his eyes. "A Biao, that woman in your group is quite a looker. How about letting her keep our young master Tagan company for a few days? Spirit pills and wonder drugs—you won't lack for any of them!"
Though Sun Jingyan had put on the Thousand-Silk Mask and become another person entirely, she was still lovely—perhaps because she had been beautiful to begin with, and so she remained beautiful even masked. And Lazi, knowing that Tagan Long had been in poor spirits these past two days, meant to find him a pretty little plaything.
A Biao's expression shifted slightly. He had not expected trouble to spring up on the very verge of departure, and for a moment he did not know how to answer, anxious to the point of panic.
"Lazi, are you trying to break the rules?" The Fire Wolf Gang chieftain gave Lazi a cold look. The Tagan family was on good terms with the Red Conch, and the Red Conch were sworn enemies of the Fire Wolf Gang, so naturally he would show the Tagan family no deference. A Biao's group had come up the mountain through the Fire Wolf Gang's channels; if something went wrong, who would use the Fire Wolf Gang's channels to come up the mountain in the future?
The Ulonghot Mountains were an important source of income for the several powers of Ruileida Town, and the Fire Wolf Gang chieftain was certainly not about to let Lazi take A Biao's people away.