Legend of the Fighter (2)
Chapters... 39: Return to the Palace
"Do you like my gift? That's special to you." Shao Mingrui patted Zhou Fan on the shoulder, sitting in the living room while taking out a wine jar.
"Hem ...." Zhou Fan glanced indifferently.
Shao Mingrui frowned, she then asked. "Are you not satisfied with his service? I'll find another woman for you."
Heh..
"I'm so satisfied that I want to teach you a lesson." Zhou Fan said with annoyance, but he did not reveal to the man beside him, just merely letting out a fierce look.
"What kind of woman are you looking for? I'll look for him for you." Shao Mingrui blinked one eye.
"Enough, don't talk about it anymore." Zhou Fan was no longer patient, he stood up as he stared intently at Shao Mingrui.
"You - - - "
Just as Shao Mingrui was about to say but a servant came and conveyed if Cheng Liyu was looking for him.
"Just your wife, you don't have to take care of my life." Zhou Fan sat down, snatching the wine jar in Shao Mingrui's hands.
Regardless of Zhou Fan's words, Shao Mingrui returned to his room.
Zhou Fan glanced at Zhou Jim, the red wolf looked calm in its place.
Shao Mingrui returned for a while. "Come on, call will be morning should we leave now."
Zhou Fan stood up after finishing the wine in his hands, the young man walked out ahead of Shao Mingrui.
There were already two horses on standby, the black horse with a white complexion attracting the attention of Zhou Fan. The young man spontaneously climbed onto the horse's body.
Shao Mingrui did not want to miss, he jumped up and immediately put his horse forward.
It was still so early, even the sun still did not reveal itself. But the two horses were speeding away rapidly splitting the desolate city road.
"If it's at this speed, we'll be through the night." Zhou Fan murmured, he has traveled towards the capital, at least he can estimate the travel time based on the distance and speed of their horses.
"I therefore chose to leave early in the morning. I have no intention to spend the night at one of the inns." Shao Mingrui apparently heard Zhou Fan say, the third prince responded casually.
Shao Mingrui could leave Bei Xian City quietly, the matter that was there was already fully resolved. At least that's for now, for the future who knows what else there will be.
Time continued to pass, the originally rather dim sky slowly but surely turned bright. The scorching heat of the sun feels stinging, considering if the clothes worn are not made from thick.
The two had crossed several cities, stayed one or two more cities and were about to reach the capital.
"Isn't this still He City's territory?" Zhou Fan asked without reducing the speed of his horse.
Shao Mingrui who heard then nodded. "Truely this is the territory of He City, the power of the eighth prince."
Zhou Fan let out a concerned expression, he saw how bad life was in He City. Maybe in the center of the city, it looks like all the residents are living in sufficiency, but when combing to the outskirts, how bad this city is.
Bei Xian City was still good, although not all residents lived in good condition, at least they were more fortunate compared to life in He City.
"The city of He implements a double tax, in addition to the mandatory tax which is the regulation of the imperial palace, the City of He regulates its own entity."
Shao Mingrui said without looking at Zhou Fan, he followed where the young man was staring, the group of residents who seemed to be living in deprivation.
Shao Mingrui instead laughed softly. "The palace also benefits, therefore no one tries to stop."
Cccc...
"..."
Zhou Fan was just about to curse at the emperor, but beside him was a prince. The young man held back the anger towards Emperor Shao in his mind.
Awu's...
Zhou Jim who was running beside Zhou Fan's horse arrived to howl long, this certainly made Zhou Fan pull the reins of his horse.
Shao Mingrui also stopped, but he did not know what was happening, only stopping when he saw Zhou Fan stop.
Zhou Jim seemed to sense something, his eyes constantly looking at one corner.
"It looks like Jim found something from that direction." Zhou Fan nodded in a curious tone.
Zhou Fan walked towards Zhou Jim looking, leaving Shao Mingrui who was now in astonishment.
What exactly is he doing? Perhaps that was what was in Shao Mingrui's head, he did not understand the behavior of his foster brother.
But all that changed when a scream echoed from there. Shao Mingrui immediately descended and headed to where Zhou Fan was.
When Shao Mingrui saw countless corpses strewn across the ground, he glanced at Zhou Fan who was standing beside him.
"Who did this murder?" Shao Mingrui looked over if this corpse was a group of merchants who were about to head for the Capital.
In addition, this perpetrator is not only one, because it is visible from the wounds that exist. It was created from a wide variety of weapons, ranging from swords, spears to daggers.
"It looks like bandits, because all the finished goods are not left." Zhou Fan did not even see a single piece of precious items around him, it was clearly a bandit attack.
Shao Mingrui nodded, he agreed with what Zhou Fan said. But the third prince still felt something strange, because he had never received this kind of news before.
"Let's go back." Shao Mingrui invited Zhou Fan to continue the journey, for too long here would force them to spend the night at the inn.
Zhou Fan was unmoved in his place, he could not leave this place just like that. If left unchecked, these corpses would decompose and not be impossible to cause some health problems.
"You go back first." Zhou Fan said as he gathered the bodies of everyone present, then burned them all.
Zhou Fan stared at the mountain of corpses that were slowly starting to burn, slowly his feet stepped away and returned to the place where he left his horse.
"If you don't come, I intend to leave you." Shao Mingrui snorted and immediately put forward the horse continuing its journey.
Zhou Fan caught up with Shao Mingrui, when the distance was close together, the young man conveyed what he was thinking. "This bandit seems to be a newcomer, hasn't there been a case of bandits going on here all along?"
"Maybe you're right, but it's not my problem. And again we are now in the territory of the eighth prince, it is not good to attract too much attention."
For a moment Zhou Fan was pensive, he recalled that if the eighth prince cooperated with some group like bandits or the like, it was also possible that this bandit was behind the eighth prince.
He also recalled that if Shao Mingrui still did not want to show his fangs to everyone, it was better for them to behave as if they did not know and go according to plan.