The Ger's Contract Marriage [BL]
Chapter 483: ...We Have...

Chapter 483: ...We Have...

Why had Bai Mo given Rui the extra silver? Even though the woman didn’t want to care for the baby any longer, she had clearly kept the little girl alive for three months. This would have been difficult in captivity.

Even if it was a friend’s child, was it too much to ask her to stand in? This was a question Bai Mo couldn’t answer for her or even for himself. He’d never been in such a position. They still didn’t know what they would do with the two babies now in their care and carriage.

Maybe his heart was too soft, but both his partners were orphaned like him. They also knew what it was like to live without parents. It must be even harder for a baby to go without a mother or a father.

With the women temporarily dispersed, hiding from their group needles in a haystack, their next course of action was to drop off their load with the Yamen. But first, Xu Hu Zhe needed to make things clear with the three boys and Zhang Hui.

"You all can also start a new life," He looked to Bai Mo, their not-so-frugal treasurer, who nodded in agreement.

The silver had been taken from the bandit’s stash of treasures, but Xu Hu Zhe would have still been more heavy-handed than the fox when sharing silver.

"We won’t hold you to your earlier words. We will give you more than enough—"

"Don’t abandon us!" It was Zhang Hui who reacted first. The voice was a bit strange to the ear, but not unpleasant. It was the first time Xu Hu Zhe, Xu Zeng, or Bai Mo had heard her speak and the novelty of the moment completely silenced them.

Not long after, the three boys chimed in begging to stay with the "great masters."

"Please, Masters!"

"We will work like cows and donkeys!"

"I’m young and healthy, and will heal in no time!"

While not many would choose to be slaves or servants, their three benefactors seemed like an appealing choice. These benefactors hadn’t even considered leaving the children they picked up with their group behind.

If it wasn’t a blood-related relative, who would take in another mouth that couldn’t contribute in some way? In the past maybe this could be a possibility, but now it was unheard of. With winter on the horizon, most people were looking to store as much food away from the autumn harvests.

It was the same all over Donghua, even in the south where winters were milder, survival had become difficult for many.

Even as their benefactors gave them the option to leave and start their lives over, both babies were still inside the carriage, protected from the elements, drinking cows milk every few hours.

Their group of four had been chatting about these benefactors in private, and they seemed to be righteous people or at least not bad people. Clinging onto a golden thigh wasn’t bad. If even Sister Hui wanted to stay, they would all stay together.

The earlier risers who began to stir in Chin Town appraised the newcomers with wide eyes. Why wouldn’t they? Xu Zeng, the most unkept of the bunch was covered in black and clotted old blood.

Staying put wasn’t the best idea if they didn’t want a different kind of encounter with the Yamen. Encouraging the bloodied Xu Zeng back into the carriage, the four were allowed to continue with these "great masters" to their final destination of Yilin Town.

There, Xu Hu Zhe planned to give them another chance at freedom. If given the choice, he would have served Xu Feng for an eternity, but he wasn’t Xu Feng and he didn’t want anyone to make such a big decision in this state.

For now, they needed to get rid of their burden.

The bandits were dumped at the Yamen’s office with a quick word from Bai Mo, the most presentable of their entire group. The officers didn’t believe the words of the well dressed if not disheveled ger, but they didn’t dare to completely ignore the words of an immortal bloodline carrier.

Bai Mo was in and out in less than a handful of minutes. The officers eventually followed out the quickly moving figure, but at a leisurely pace. It was morning, and they had better things to do than to humor a pampered young master who claimed to have a group of bandits in tow.

What they saw when they finally made it outside the building was a mountain of bundled men in varying states of embarrassment. The bandits, a total of 43, were cramped in an overly large cart with no oxen to pull it.

The crowd that gathered around the Yamen’s office was abuzz with curiosity and disgust. What was happening???

When one of the officers finally came back to himself and looked up to find the mysterious ger, said ger was already clearing the town gates with his companions, far out of sight.

It was good to have Chun, Ping, Zhang Hui, and Zhang Cai in their party. The group of four would have been gifted the bandit’s oxen, but Xu Hu Zhe wanted to keep the oxen "borrowed" from the inn.

The reason was spite, but Xu Hu Zhe couldn’t name it. The inn attendant wanted him to abandon his partners, he didn’t want to relinquish the stolen oxen. Simple.

In addition, the oxen were very well-tempered, and they had worked hard to catch up to the bandits. It would return to Nanshan with them and live a good life!

While Xu Hu Zhe was most attached to his oxen helper, the cow was also something he wasn’t willing to give up. He wasn’t sure what Xu Zeng had done with the other animals, but he was almost certain living things other than plants couldn’t be kept in a space bag, and the goats taken from the bandits should no longer be an option to provide milk for the two new babies.

They had some animals prepared to feed Da Long and Xiao Long, but the cow would be a good additional source of milk. Cows were expensive too.

Now, the small cart was driven with both oxen and the cow, and their carriage was led by a battalion of seven horses. They were an eye-catching group, but with enough people able to drive the carriage and cart, they didn’t plan to stop until they reached home. It just wasn’t safe.

They weren’t nearly as eye-catching when they caught the attention of the Tang bandits.

In the next town over, their group stopped once again, but not in the town proper. They instead stopped at the nearest large village. Their carriage, cart, and animals were hidden in the nearby forest, and the group moved on foot to the village with a small load consisting of a change of clothes for those who had it, and some coin to purchase supplies from the villagers.

With coin came hospitality, even for their strange group of thin boys, a beaten woman with black and blue eyes, two masked men—one with strange silver hair, and a fox-eared ger.

Finally, Xu Hu Zhe was able to get rid of the stuffy feeling in his chest seeing Xu Zeng in clean and unbloodied clothes.