Chapter 502: Chapter 489: Despicable Dog

At this point, the pig-like faces of Zhao Ziping and his two companions looked even more swollen than before. They were sprawled on the ground, unable to even crawl, groaning in pain.

“Damn, this is really bad luck,” Zhao Ziping spat out a mouthful of blood.

When they were being beaten just a moment ago, they tried their best to cover their faces, but they still ended up with black and blue faces. They were badly hurt and it would probably take a long time to recover.

If the wounds didn’t leave scars, it would be acceptable. But if they did, how would they continue to be gallant in public?

Zhao Ziping became increasingly distressed at the thought, wishing he could find a mirror now to carefully examine the extent of the damage.

But even without a mirror, Zhao Ziping could guess that his face was probably seriously damaged and probably disfigured.

Looking at their current state after a well-planned scheme, Zhao Ziping’s anger intensified. He kicked Zhao Liu lying beside him, “You two idiots have ruined me.”

Zhao Liu immediately argued, “We wouldn’t be in this situation if you hadn’t insisted on chatting with those three. We were fine until you got us into trouble. We haven’t even blamed you for dragging us into this. Look at you, blaming us all of a sudden.”

“Exactly.” Zhao Sanke joined in, “You’re the one who asked for this trouble. We thought you were smart, but it turns out you are so foolish. You’ve not only dragged us down, but now you are blaming us.”

“Don’t forget that all of this wouldn’t have happened if not for your ill intentions!”

“Liu, let’s go. I’ve thought it through. We can’t get into this kind of trouble just to save some money. Let’s stop following Zhao Ziping. It’s dangerous!”

“Yes, let’s go.” Zhao Liu slowly pulled himself up from the ground and the brothers, supporting each other, began to leave.

Seeing the two abandoning him, Zhao Ziping was extremely frustrated. He picked up a clump of earth and threw it at them, cursing, “You curs, just look at yourselves. You’re like dogs scavenging for food in the fields, always bullies weak and fear the strong. You’re damn useless…”

They didn’t gain anything but got beaten up twice for no reason. Zhao Sanke and Zhao Liu were also irate. Now they were further insulted by Zhao Ziping. The brothers looked at each other, nodded, and initiated their retaliation.

A chorus of wailing screams filled the air again.

After a long while, the brothers left Zhao Ziping, who was beaten to the point of being unrecognizable, and headed home.

“You…just you wait…”

Zhao Ziping struggled to get up from the ground, picked up a branch to use as a cane, and after cursing resentfully, he hobbled off towards Zhaojiazhuang.

As the Hu brothers arrived at Zhuang Qingning’s house, they knocked on the door excitedly but were also careful not to alert Zhuang Qingning at such a late hour, “Manager Zhuang, it’s Hu Da.”

Zhuang Qingning and Zhuang Qingsui had just finished soaking their feet in the house and were preparing to go to sleep when they heard the noise outside. They went to open the door.

Seeing the three men’s noses turning red from the cold outside, Zhuang Qingning invited them in to warm up by the stove.

“Outside is fine,” Hu Da waved his hand repeatedly, “It’s not that cold, look how heavily we’re dressed.”

It was already inconvenient for them to visit Zhuang Qingning, a young woman, at this late hour. It would be even more inappropriate to go inside her house.

Despite being carefree, the Hu brothers understood basic etiquette and insisted they stay in the courtyard.

Zhuang Qingning understood their concerns and didn’t insist. She brought out the small stove she usually used to boil tea and offered it to them to warm themselves. She also served them hot tea.

“Why are you here at this hour? When Manager Lu mentioned earlier that you guys had taken on an escort mission, I thought you wouldn’t be back until November or December. Did you finish the mission already?”

“Yes,” Hu Da nodded, “We just got back this afternoon. Tomorrow, we have to leave again for an urgent escort mission and need to be back before the New Year.”

“We’ve been wanting to thank Manager Zhuang for finding us such a great job, but we haven’t had the chance. We’ve been thinking about it and realized if we delay this any longer, it will be almost Chinese New Year. By then, we might have a new job and may not have the chance.”

“So we three decided to take advantage of this half day to visit Manager Zhuang. When we arrived at the town and found that Manager Zhuang wasn’t at the tofu shop, we asked around for your home address.”

“We asked as we walked, but maybe we misunderstood the directions, or perhaps it was Hu Er who didn’t hear them clearly, but we ended up going the wrong way. We kept walking south, and as we went further, we realized something wasn’t right. After asking again, we finally found the place, but it was already late.”

Hu Da scratched his ear, “We guess we’ve delayed Manager Zhuang’s rest.”

“Not really, we haven’t gone to bed yet,” Zhuang Qingning said with a little grin as she refilled their tea, “How was the journey? You all seem quite tanned. It must have been tough.”

“Not really, it isn’t much compared to the work. Manager Lu is generous and pays us a lot. The three of us have made more than ten taels of silver on this trip. Food and accommodation are all taken care of. Even the clothes are provided by the escort agency. We don’t need to worry about anything, and all our income is pure profit.”

Hu Da laughed, “In just a few months, we’ve earned a good some of silver. If we keep working like this, in no time, we three brothers can afford a compound each in the county town.”

“By then, you can start thinking about settling down,” Zhuang Qingning joked.

The Hu brothers blushed to the roots of their ears, not expecting Zhuang Qingning to joke with them.

“Well, let’s talk about that later…”

Hu Da, a sturdy and robust man, became quite shy as he waved his hands, “Look at us, with our odd, scary appearance. Which girl would want to marry us?”

“We’ll talk about it later. If we can get married, we will, and if not, then that’s fine too…”

“Right, right, enough about this.”

In a hurry, Hu Da pulled the bundle from Hu Er’s back, placed it on the stone table, and unwrapped the cloth layer by layer, revealing the items within.

They were two fox pelts, both from white foxes. Even under the dim candlelight and starlight, one could see that the furs were snow-white and of superb quality, top-tier items among furs.

“We encountered these on our escort trip. Hu Er couldn’t resist and shot them,”