Chapter 39: Coming to the Rescue

The old man hurried to apologize, "I am truly sorry, sir. My granddaughter has soiled your clothes. We are willing to compensate you for them, so please, do not lose your temper."

Su Tian let out a cold snort and replied, "Old man, this is high-quality fabric. Do you really think you can afford to pay for it?"

"Just name your price, sir. We will certainly pay the full amount. We only ask that you do not hold this against simple folk like us."

"Fine. Since you put it that way, if you can produce ten taels of silver for me today, I will let this matter slide. Otherwise, I will not let this little girl off so easily."

The old man was shocked. He could see that the man was dressed in fine clothes, but demanding ten taels of silver in one breath was far too unreasonable. The surrounding patrons dared not utter a word; after all, this Su Tian was a young master of the Su family in Jiangyang City, and few dared to offend him.

The little girl gripped her grandfather’s clothes tightly. She knew she had caused a great disaster, yet it was not intentional. She could not understand why the man before her was being so aggressive.

The old man pulled a few pieces of broken silver from his robes, but it was clearly not enough. "This is all the wealth I have to my name. I beg you, sir, to show some mercy and not hold this against my granddaughter."

Su Tian sneered, "Why does it sound to me like you are threatening me? Who is the one suffering the loss here? Why are your words so unpleasant to hear?"

"I dare not, I dare not! Please, sir, take this silver for now. I will pay off the rest slowly in the future; I will never default on a single cent."

Ignoring the old man, Su Tian grabbed the little girl and scrutinized her appearance. "I think this little girl looks quite decent. Why don't you let her come to my estate to serve as a maid? I can pretend today's incident never happened. What do you think?"

The old man’s face turned pale. "Young Master Su, I beg you to show mercy. This is absolutely impossible. I will definitely pay you back."

Su Tian slammed his hand on the table. "Old thing, don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. I am only wasting my breath on you to show you respect; don't be ungrateful."

In Jiangyang City, everyone knew that Su Tian had a peculiar obsession: he specifically favored the very young. Whether boy or girl, he treated them all the same. It was likely that today’s incident had been a long-planned scheme.

Su Tian did not care about the rest; what he wanted, he had to have. Just as he was about to order his men to take action, a lazy voice drifted over.

"I don't know if I saw it correctly, but it seemed like that little girl was tripped by someone, which is why she spilled the tea."

Upon hearing this, Su Tian’s gaze turned into that of a vicious wolf, locking onto the source of the voice. The speaker was none other than Ning Ye. Whether or not he had actually seen the event, he could not stand by and watch a little girl fall into the jaws of a wolf.

"Brat, you can eat whatever you want, but you cannot speak whatever you want. If you keep spouting nonsense here, I’m afraid you won't be walking out of here today."

Ning Ye stood up leisurely. "Let’s not talk about whether what I saw was true. Let’s talk about something else. Isn't it just ten taels of silver? I’ll cover the cost. Now you have nothing left to say, right?"

Su Tian sneered, "You are a stranger to me. You must not be from Jiangyang City. Are you sure you want to offend the Su family here? Or have you grown a heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard?"

Ning Ye replied indifferently, "I only ask if this Jiangyang City still belongs to the Great Qian. If it does, then you must abide by the law. Or are you planning to kidnap someone in broad daylight?"

With a clatter, ten taels of silver were tossed onto the table. Looking at the money, Su Tian felt a wave of irritation; everything had been perfectly planned, only to have some meddler ruin it halfway through.

"Very well, I have noted who you are. Next time we meet, I hope you can remain as tough as you are today, otherwise, I will be quite disappointed."

With that, Su Tian left without taking the silver, a move that proved he had never been interested in the money at all.

As soon as Ning Ye turned, the old man pulled the little girl down to their knees. "Thank you, young master, for your great kindness."

Ning Ye quickly helped them up. "Old sir, you are shaming me. Helping out was my own choice; I did not ask for such gratitude. You are really being too humble."

"Young master, you saved my entire family’s life today. I have no way to repay such great kindness. I will be your beast of burden in the next life to repay you."

"Old sir, please do not say such things. Although this matter is settled, that man is no saint. Since he has set his sights on you, it would be best to leave Jiangyang City as soon as possible."

The old man shook his head with a bitter smile. "Young master, I am at this age, and my granddaughter is so young. If this old man and this child leave Jiangyang City, where would we go? Whether we could even survive is unknown."

The little girl said through tear-filled eyes, "Grandfather, let’s go. It doesn't matter where, as long as we leave. There are bad people here; we can surely find somewhere else."

Ning Ye patted the little girl on the head. "I believe in finishing what I start. After you leave Jiangyang City, go to Qingyuan County. Find a large residence in the east of the city and tell them I sent you."

The old man asked, full of surprise, "Young master, why help us so much? Could it be that there is something about this old bag of bones that you desire?"

"If you must think so, then consider it because I enjoy listening to you tell stories. I will certainly come to listen again in the future."

Having said this, Ning Ye turned and left. Naturally, he could not afford to cause too much of a stir now.

Holding his granddaughter’s hand, the old man struggled internally for a moment before making his decision. If this place would not keep them, there would be somewhere else that would. No matter where they went, it was all just a way to make a living.

When Ning Ye, who had spent the entire day wandering, returned to the inn, Zhang Zihe had already ordered a table of food and was waiting for him.

Ning Ye sat down generously, picked up a wine cup, and said, "I have things to attend to today, so I won't be drinking."

Zhang Zihe smiled bitterly. "Actually, I would like to delay this matter for a while. At the very least, we should meet with their parents first."

Ning Ye raised an eyebrow. "If you are going to change your mind at the last minute, there must be a reason. Why this sudden change?"