Departure

The creepy staring only stopped when young master Yang turned to his elders to discuss something in private. They seemed to be kind of surprised and were even starting to argue with him but still in the end the young master seemed to have won.

And just like that after everyone finished their meal he stood up and told Elder Su Xuefeng directly to his face:

"I want to take your daughter as my wife! I wish to take her with me!"

This totally out of the blue statement and proposal stunned everyone in the room. But worst of all was her father Su Xuefeng, perspiration was building on his face and anguish slowly crept onto it. He tried to argue:

"Ehhh… Young Master Yang, you see in our village we have this tradition… we try to only marry inside and not to mingle ourselves…."

"Impudence! It is your daughter's luck to have caught young master's eyes. Probably only through multiple lifetimes was she able to acquire enough good karma to get chosen here. Even if…"

Cutting into the right elder's speech the left elder chimed in:

"You see village chief Su, our master and young master's father has a lot of influence on the trade going through the region. We have come to an understanding that you plan on doing some expansion work, no? Either we could help you with the set up or…"

The threat in the last part didn't even need to be said. Even right now they had enough fighters in their caravan to torch the whole place and it was considered them already giving him a lot of face by asking him for the marriage on not just taking her.

"I will become an immortal very soon as well. As my wife she will be able to cultivate too, so consider carefully."

"Papa, I don't want to go anywhere!!"

A shrill shout came from the other side of the table. Su Liling had the most terrified expression Tang He had ever seen on her face. She was clearly fearful of the direction in which the whole situation was going.

Tang He felt a bit lost as well actually somehow, he had actually grown kind of fond of that girl and her pestering. She was the only person in the whole village at the same age as him so they did have some kind of childlike connection.

And surely Frank was pretty sure that such a marriage could end up pretty unsatisfactory for both parties involved. But as the weaker side the girl was actually in literal danger. That boy didn't look at her with some kind of loving glance, no he just wanted to have her, to own her even maybe.

Coming to that conclusion Frank and Tang He tried something:

"Elder Su, isn't it customary to set an engagement first and consummate the marriage when both parties come of age?"

It was very risky saying anything right now but Tang He wouldn't be able to stay clear with his consciousness if he didn't try it at least, but as expected:

"Boy, you are not allowed to interrupt when adults are speaking! What do you, a country boy even know? If our young master wants to take her as his wife then she shall be exactly that."

The right elder seemed to be insulted und berated Tang He furiously, whereas the left elder seemed to develop some kind of interest in the boy. It was rare for someone so young and without education to make such an intelligent suggestion without impeding on either ones' dignity. This seemingly meaningless statement was actually quite strong: He was questioning the trustworthiness of the marriage and at the same time giving the master a chance to retract his statement if it had been made out of impulse. Sadly, he doesn't know the young master…

Master Yang wasn't as intrigued as the left elder. First, he was annoyed by the useless struggles of Tang He but soon this changed. This boy left him feeling strangely challenged. Did he have some kind of affection for the girl?

Soon a small evil grin spread on his face and after a short while it vanished again. He then spoke with seeming politeness:

"I still need a personal servant as well, hmmm, Elder Su, this boy you have here seems to be quite quick-witted. It is quite hard to find someone like him in my age group."

Taking out a purse and retrieving another 2 gold coins from there he put them on the table.

"Give it to his family or something."

Turning around he concluded as well:

"I have reconsidered your offer in staying the night. We are leaving right now!"

With that he walked leisurely out of the room leaving everyone behind, even the elders didn't expect this turnaround. Why would they leave now? Even if he didn't want their new traveling companions to flee, this definitely wasn't necessary.

Albeit this was unexpected, they knew how to proceed next.

After saying 'goodbye' and 'thanks for the meal' the led Tang He and the rather frightful Li Liling outside to their caravan. A couple of steps behind them Elder Su, was trying his best to find a way not to lose his daughter but as he got further and further away from his house less and less ideas came to his mind. When he turned to look at the rather calm Tang He, he saw a chance how to at least get himself more time to think it through:

"Sire, you see Tang He hasn't been able to visit his mother for a couple of days because I made him help me with some work. Would it be possible to let him meet his family for a last time so that they can have a peaceful farewell?"

As they were trying to uphold some kind of righteous image of fair merchants the young master couldn't just ignore that plead. Thinking for a moment he looked at the still assembling caravan and returned:

"You have 10 minutes to get them here. That is the time my caravan needs to gather up and we will leave the moment they are done!"

His voice had an unyielding tone to it, it was as if he had said:

'I am annoyed, if you pester me further I won't be as nice anymore.'

10 minutes were nowhere near enough to reach the Tangs right now so after hearing all this Village chief Su finally lost all hope and turned to his crying daughter. He too started tearing up as he went up to her and embraced her for the last time. Not knowing when he would see her again he whispered something into her ear which made both of them cry even more.

Frank and Tang He were watching all these scenes unfold and everything felt so unreal suddenly. Tang He didn't feel as if something bad was happening to him in this moment or that he would probably never see his mother again. No, he felt as if he was just a spectator, indifferent to anything happening around him.

Frank had a slightly different reaction: It was unwillingness to believe in what was happening and underneath it was withheld fury. They just said one sentence! And this boy took it on him to decide his fate because of it and he knew his future wasn't going to be a fun ride.

These seemingly contradictory emotions were giving young master Yang a great deal of pleasure. He had a smile on his face as he watched the kaleidoscope of emotions on the children's faces and walked to his pompous looking carriage in a way that couldn't express his satisfaction any more than it already did.