Volume 1 Chapter 12 The Secret of Snatched Recruits Part 1
Su Su got up very early the next morning. After some thoughts from the night before, although he was such a cold person, she decided to deal with Mo Yuan. Enthusiasm was the best way to approach him and get closer to him, and then she will have the opportunity to know more about his secrets. Thus, when Mo Yuan came out from the inner room to meet her, Miss Su had on a bright shining smile on her face, “Good mornin’!”
Mo Yuan faintly glanced at her and replied, “Morning.”
The mountain man entered the room carrying two bowls of porridge; Su Su decided to fill up her belly first. Turning her head to stare at the man with a ‘kiss up face’ and fawning over, she asked, “What is your name? I cannot call you ‘hey’, right?”
“Li Yang.”
“Li Yang, good mornin’.”
To see her bright face smiling like sunshine, Li Yang’s brows frowned. He did not concern himself about her and went over to the front of Mo Yuan with the porridges.
Mo Yuan was dressed in the same clothes from yesterday; his slender hands held a spoon, gently stirred the porridge and the aroma of puffed rice instantly filled the room.
“Hmm, smells good!” Su Su sat beside Mo Yuan and Li Yang’s icy stern voice immediately fell onto Su Su’s ears, “You’d better know your position.”
Su Su continued to stare at the porridge without blinking and eye but her mouth was talking, “What is my position? A body guard?”
Li Yang just looked at her with critical eyes while Su Su awkwardly traced her fine nose. She understood the situation well. Mo Yuan had ‘him’; if he did not need her as a bodyguard then…lightly clearing her throat, she thought for a moment, “Young male servant?”
She remembered Li Yang had made her call Mo Yuan master last night; Su Su had goose bumps again and quickly said, “not…slave right?”
Li Yang was now giving her the expression of ‘you know your limitation’ look and ‘you’re smarter than that’ look. Su Su really wanted to return his disdainful look, but not an excellent move under the situation. She bowed her head down but the traces of an empty belly contantly reminded her of hunger. She said in a gentle whisper, “Even a slave cannot eat a meal.”
A pale slender hand holding a bowl of porridge handed it to her. Su Su’s eyes lit up and she immediately took it saying, “Thank you.”
The porridge was soft, warm and delicious. After about half a portion was quickly gobbled up, Su Su was finally in the mood to chat.
“What’s your name?”
“Mo Yuan.”
“Will you let me go home?”
“I will let you go when I leave.”
“Really?” Su Su did not initially think he was going to say this. The indifferent expression did not look like he was going to be committed to his words but she could also feel that he was not lying either. Mo Yuan did not tell her what she needed to do or handled what kinds of things in order for her to home as soon as possible, “I will make every effort to complete it!”
“You follow closely at my side, Ok.”
“Oh.” With Mo Yuan, she would just ask a question and he would just respond right away. Su Su suddenly discovered that this person was somewhat different from she had originally imagined him to be. She thought Mo Yuan was a man unwilling to let people close, such as a dry well, cold-hearted, indifferent to everyone and anything, but now its seems she was a bit wrong. All over him he was dull, ‘his temperament was like water’**, seemed to be natural, and there was no need to break the ice, but such a person was really not truly close. Last night, the formula and strategies she came up with to deal with him seems to have gone to waste now.
**of the Earth, Water, Fire and Air temperaments ~ Water was the type that goes with the flow; the dark brooding and silent type.
“Eat it up. We are leaving.”
After leaving that sentence, Mo Yuan stood up and didn’t give a damn whether she will catch up or not. Su Su sighed and reluctantly put down the bow.
After the storm, the weather was extremely good, and the sky was cloudless and deep blue. In the distant, that area of green and luxuriant jungle transmitted what was likely to be workers chanting. There was a resounding roar, like doing something with joint forces. Outside the grove, there were 4 or 5 people in one group. They were carrying and clasping with their hands a big trunk on their shoulders, and then piling them up neatly on the beach.
Why did they cut so much wood?
Mo Yuan was not walking that fast but because kept pausing to look around, he was far away from her. Under the deep blue horizon, that black form gradually walked forth. She leisurely walked in the morning breeze; if not for the one or two pirates with a short sword on their side that she often passed by, this tranquil picture made her almost forget that she was in the pirate’s nest. Su Su searched for LI Yang but he had not come out of the log cabin. She grabbed and pulled down the hat on her head and slightly trotted to catch up with Mo Yuan.
This road was not the same one she had passed through yesterday. In the next moment, she saw a log cabin like Sang Nuan’s but it was larger and there were four tall guards standing outside.
They approached the log cabin and Su Su could hear the noise and voices coming from the people inside. Mo Yuan pushed the door open. The moment he entered, the sound stopped immediately.
“Lord zong ren*,” Yi Dang Jia heartily greeted.
Lord zong ren? Su Su followed his footsteps and paused. Mo Yuan was a native from Jiang Hu**?
Zong ren*Mediator or middleman
Jiang Hu **Rivers and Lakes Country/Marital Arts Community
The room was quite big and packed with people. Right in the center of the room stood a rectangular table with three or four mahogany chairs on each side. Sitting in the middle were the same few people from the cave yesterday, except for that young boy she despised, almost everyone was there. The small rectangular table had sand, wood chips, and grasses put on like an island. Although it was very rough, she can still see that it was more descriptive and vivid than the map. It showed the topography; this kind of thing was plentiful in the Su Family home. She didn’t expect the pirate’s nest would also have this too.
“Yi DangJia.” Mo Yuan’s response was still indifferent. DangJiade looked like he was accustomed to it and seeing Su Su actually following, he played with her to say hello, “Boy, you also came.”
Su Su stood behind Mo Yuan, generously grinned and in a loud voice, “Good morning, Yi Dangjiade! You call me Xiaoshu, it would be nice.” She saw the beautiful purple figure also sitting around the table, Su Su waved towards her and smiled, “Ah Nuan, good morning.”
Sang Nuan responded with a smile and nodded gently, “Good morning.” Su Su discovered that to call her ‘Ah Nuan’ in that room, apart from Sang Nuan and Mo Yuan, everyone else looked at her strangely.
But before she could carefully analyze, that person together with the pirate chief that has similarities with him but however looked like his whole body was covered with vicious tendencies impatiently said, “People get ready to start.” He looked aggressive and domineering in appearance of being insufferably arrogant, quite somewhat little jiade in an imposing manner.
“Lord Mo said before to find 200 young recruits. Now that the number is enough, when do we begin.” The man who spoke was in his early 20’s who was standing behind the little jiade. They looked like they have similar status, but nothing like a personal servant. He was tall and looked very handsome, although there was no smile on his face but he inexplicably radiated a sense of integrity.
Who was this person?
She did not know the profound characteristics of Mo Yuan within this group of people. The only thing in front of him was a cup of tea. He was holding the teacup, took a sip, and then answered, “After the third day.”
“On the third?” Mo Yuan’s unhurried way seemed to have irritated the little jiade. “The thick fog encircling the island will fully dissipate in 15 days. If we’re not ready as soon as possible and finished before the 15th, how will we manage?!”
The log cabin was quiet big, but his roar echoed throughout the room. It was painful to Su Su’s ears; perhaps time was really urgent because that little jiade’s appearance did not look very good.
Su Su casted a slanted sidelong glance at Mo Yuan, who at that moment, had a motionless mountain calm appearance. She could only secretly sigh to admire. “After three days at zi shi (11 p.m. to 1 a.m.) the night tide will retreat 50 ten feet (Chinese 10 feet=3.3 meters). At that time, we can find the eyes’ proper position.”
Eyes? Su Su’s eyes sparkled with interest. Mo Yuan was possibly also an invisible gate numerical fortuneteller? A Jiang Hu native specialized as a zhong ren (intermediary or go between). Zhong ren have specialized skill techniques or art of making invisible gates open and making odd door number matrix making one ‘invisible’. In Qiong Yue’s territory, it seemed only the Lin Shi clans from the mountain villages together with Rong Jiabao clan were proficient in odd numbers in fortunetelling. Now, this man was becoming extremely mysterious. She has never heard of Mo clan or was it that he was not from Qiong Yue? She stood quietly behind Mo Yuan with an appearance like ‘without the sense of presence’, but her ears were ‘vertically straight’. (TL: I don’t want to lose the funny way the author described her. Let’s take it as is. Meaning she stood there like she doesn’t exist, ears like antenna ready to pick up every sound).
“So when the time comes, it may really be too late, the Huan Lang Island (Wolf Island) in the northern side and the entire hidden reef will be submerged. If we want to land on the island, it will be extremely dangerous. Even if we are able to get to the island, behind that stretch, are mangroves across the island and may take 5 to 6 days just to traverse the grove. In my opinion, I think that nobody will scale and land on the northern side since the times are not enough. The north was inferior; to temporarily set a battle array…”
Slammed!
Sang Nuan’s voice was soothing and mild. Listening to it was comfortable but unfortunately, it was interrupted by the sound of a hand hitting the table. Su Su slightly lifted her eyes to catch the little jiande,whose fist had pounded the table making that creaking sound. He stared detestably at Sang Nuan and talked in a vulgar manner. Compared to a moment ago, this voice was louder and ringing, “Liao Yue Navy is famous in the world. The norther side, although it has a lot of reefs, it does not mean they cannot scale and attack the island from there. Yi Sang Nuan, you were against the North array, was this to deliberately leave a gap for the enemies? I can see that you are very anxious to see Lang Island compromise as soon as possible!”
Yi Sang Nuan? Sang Nuan’s surname was ‘Yi’; therefore, she…was the pirate chief’s daughter?!
Impossible…
Wait a minute, she just heard a moment ago the words, ‘Lao Yue’. Was it Liao Yue State? Su Su’s heart sank. Previously, she was caught in the pirate’s den; nevertheless, her heart was to uncover the mystery of Mo Yuan’s identity. She was right. Since it was her first time going out alone and also it was her first time meeting such strange, weird, and wonderful things, she curiously excited, and thought it would be a good experience, but if it involved engaging Liao Yue State, then that was greatly different.
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