10 Chapter 10

Now back to the castle, where Cai Shengwei was searching through the dungeon. He had no idea where they would place the princess, but he decided to try this place first as it was more easy to access than most other areas in the castle. Before he entered, he was caught by one of the patrolling guards and was nearly killed by the guy as he thought Cai Shengwei was a part of the enemy forces or a spy disguised as a refugee.

Cai Shengwei ended up knocking the guy out by whacking him upside the head with a stick. Blood was oozing out of his head, and he hoped that he didn't kill him. He surveyed his surroundings to see if it was safe before he began to exchange clothes with him. As the guard had no bow and arrow, he had decided to leave it alone as it had already served its purpose in the wild.

In his disguise, he was able to get through the gates of the castle without a hassle, so he secretly thanked the poor fellow whom he had knocked out for his service. He asked around for where they held criminals and a nice servant led him to the entrance of the dungeon. Placing on the wear of a soldier was really beneficial, he mused.

The dungeons were dark and dreary, so he picked up on of the torches on the walls and searched every face. Hours had passed like this, and he began to feel down as no soul in here was that of his friend's. With a distraught expression, he left the place and began his search outside for any clues. Near noon, he found himself standing before an open courtyard which was filled with young men training their fighting skills with each other through sparing.

He entered the barracks despite knowing he would probably not find any clue, but he would hate himself if he were to accidentally miss something important. Earlier, he had even checked the gardens.

There was a middle-aged woman weaving her way in between the fights while taking note of what they were doing. Sometimes, she would purposely pause the spar to fix one of the children's stances or stop the spar altogether due to broken bones and nasty wounds.

"So many people..." Cai Shengwei murmured. There were nearly a thousand children here doing these 'punishing' spars. He couldn't believe that the old lady was able to watch over so many at one time. He scanned the people's faces as he, too, watched them fight with each other.

"Can I help you?" A voice asked, startling him. He turned around to see the middle-aged woman staring down at him with indifferent eyes.

"I...I was sent to help you..." Cai Shengwei stuttered as he inwardly kicked himself.

The woman raised up a questioning eyebrow as if to say "really?" "Well, there are quite a lot of recruits here, so I could use the help...Alright! I need you to go to the kitchen and help the cooks serve the grub to these monsters."

Cai Shengwei lightly coughed but accepted the task. The lady had one of the children lead him to the area he needed to go. He had introduced himself, but the name went into one ear and out the other as his mind wasn't paying any attention to the kid. The chefs made him grab the large pots and take them over to his station where he would be handing the food out. It seemed to him that if the children at the end of the line would be getting cold food for lunch.

By the time he had finished, he waited a few minutes before the new recruits started to run towards him as fast as they possibly could. They were pulling at each other's clothes and hair, wanting to make sure they had a good spot in line. The scene overall was quite comical in Cai Shengwei's eyes. That is until they began to fight.

He gave nervous glances around the large room to see if anyone else was there to help him serve the food, but there was none. Just what he needed. He chuckled bitterly and uncovered the lid. The aroma of the grub wasn't pleasant, but the smell of it made every head turn over to his direction. Each and every single pair of eyes revealed a deep hunger which made Cai Shengwei break out in a cold sweat.

However, he tried his best to keep his cool as he spoke in a threatening tone. "I am your food server, and I will not accept fighting over this food! If anyone of you starts to fight with each other again, I will tump over a pot of gruel for every thirty seconds the fight continues. Am I clear?"

He was very pleased as he felt his words were like that of an adult, powerful and demanding for obedience. The children snickered after a while and continued their brawl. Their actions had enticed Cai Shengwei's anger, so he instantly pushed the pot right beside him onto the ground. The loud sound had attracted the recruits attention, and they widened their eyes to see a pot of grub was laying on the floor, its contents spilling out rapidly and soaked the floor. They also saw Cai Shengwei place a hand on another pot and apply pressure to it...

"We'll stop!" Someone cried out.

Cai Shengwei paused. "What?"

"We will stop fighting. So, please don't throw any more food onto the ground."

He smiled, revealing his beautiful set of white teeth. "Why didn't you say so before? Come, come get your grub!" The children formed a long line and obediently ceased their fights. As Cai Shengwei served the food out, he made sure to check each and every face. That was, after all, his goal in coming here.

When the line dwindled down by half, the food he was giving out was already cold. When there was only a single pot of food left, there was still a quarter left. The ones to the back were frightened that they may not be able to get any food and turned their hatred towards those who always fought over who gets in line first.

The last bowl was haded out and there was no more grub left. The children who were unable to get any food cried their hearts out as they begged Cai Shengwei for something. He felt bad for them, but if he wasn't strict with his own rules, they would never stop fighting each other. All he could do was shake his head and say sorry.

At the very end of the line was Xiang Hai. He was so hungry that he couldn't see straight. Despite the line dispersing, he trudged on to the new person who handed out food with blurry eyes. He felt that the person's voice was familiar, but he couldn't think properly enough to place a name to it.

"Xiang Hai?" Cai Shengwei asked in amazement as he saw his friend slowly heading to his direction with vacant eyes. Worry entered his heart as he walked over to him ad called for him again, but there was no reply. He tapped his shoulder, only to find the guy falling to the ground. His eyes widened as he yelled his name and shook him with all his might.

"Come on. You have to wake up! Xiang Hai!" He yelled as he slapped his friend's face. He truly had no idea what to do in this situation. Was he dying? The thought of it brought tears to his eyes as he continued to slap his friend in attempt to wake him up.

"Boy! Stop that this instant!" Yelled a voice, but Cai Shengwei disreguarded it. He needed to see his friend awake. He didn't want him to die. He didn't. He refused to let that happen. He was about to slap Xiang Hai again when a cold had grabbed a hold of his wrist. "You will kill him if you don't stop."

Cai Shengwei bawled his eyes out as he stared at his unconscious friend. Xiang Hai's face was red and swollen from the numerous slaps he had given him, and a small trail of blood exited his nose and mouth. He knew it was his fault that his friend was in this state. "I-I'm so sorry, Xiang Hai!" He sobbed. "I-I just didn't want you to d-die!"

The middle-aged lady chuckled a bit. "He only passed out due to exhaustion and hunger, silly boy. He wasn't going to die."

Cia Shengwei sniffed and he made an effort to calm himself. "Really?"

She smiled. "Yes, really."