Small Grudge - First Customer

It had been a few hours since Shu He had entered the market, the sun had begun to fall to the horizon as the light began to dim in to a deep orange, along the market streets there were still plenty of people walking back and forth however there were a good handful of stalls that had closed up for the day already making the place feel less alive than the morning.

Around the street that they entered, Shu He and his father Shu Li could be seen walking steadily towards the exit, they were happily chatting to each-other as Shu He occasionally pulled things out the small bag he was holding and showing them off with a smile.

"What did you talk with Merchant Fu about, Father?" Shu He asked.

"Hmmm mostly just the usual talk, I sold all the furs and materials Id stored like I always do… Though I did ask him to do me a favour" Shu Li stroked his chin while thinking.

"A favour?" Shu He asked curiously.

"Well… I guess I can tell you, remember the incident we had a little while back?" Shu Li thought for a second before deciding it would be fine to tell his son rather than keep him in the dark.

"Incident…? Oh, the murder?" It was the first thing to come to Shu He's mind since it was the only stand out event in the recent months for him.

Shu Li nodded his head.

"Even though we send a message over to Blackrock City requesting someone to investigate, we haven't received any notice at all." He explained.

"Is that unusual?" Shu He had no idea, he had never even left this village since he was born and barely knows much about the outside world even though he tried his best to gather information, at most he knows of a few surrounding villages and Blackrock City that was just mentioned.

From what he understands the system is a simple hierarchy where the lord of Blackrock city owns all the surrounding villages, they pay tributes to the lord in the form of produce or money in return for the land, if someone wants to make a new village on the lords land he needs to pay a lump sum at first then tributes afterwards.

"Not entirely, if it was a normal murder it would be normal for it to be ignored since the villages can deal with that themselves, but since it was a cultivator-"

"Would they send cultivators to deal with it?" Shu He asked with assumption.

"Mhm, they would, I can only imagine our request is being ignored because there's no solid proof… that and it's a one off event"

"But wouldn't it be better to investigate to prevent it happening again?" Shu He couldn't help but ask.

"The territory under the lord is quite large and as far as I understand those cultivators are an external force, so sending people out for every single possible event would be hard to do" Shu Li explained.

"Is that what the favour was about?"

"I asked him to reinforce our request, I thought what we sent would be enough to at least get someone over… in the end it wasn't, but he has plenty of influence as a merchant so I'm relying on that"

"But father, why are you so worried? Nothing has happened since then, maybe it was just a grudge?" Shu He asked with genuine curiosity, he didn't really understand why his father was this worried.

"I just have a feeling it's not that simple, my instinct is telling me it's not over" Shu Li explained vaguely, Shu He looked at his father as they continued to talk and could almost see his eyes clouding over with slight darkness, he could tell his father wouldn't explain much more than he said so he didn't ask much more but he kept it in the back of his mind.

Right now he felt he couldn't help out at all if cultivators were involved anyway, he was just a child that could somewhat use a bow in the end.

His hand reached in to his cloak pocket and his fingers lightly touched the piece of parchment that was folded and placed inside, he couldn't stop his heart from pounding with excitement as he thought about the possibilities of what it was, he wanted to dash home at light speed right now and read it.

Soon enough they made it to the exit with a pair of guards standing outside, as they made their way to the checkpoint a person sitting there looked up and stood up gesturing them over.

"Leaving? Please present your tokens" He held his hand out.

Both Shu He and his father did as requested, their two tokens were handed over as the man looked them over before nodding.

"Thanks for your patronage, we hope you come again!" He smiled and bowed towards the two, seeing them out.

…

As they made their way back to the village from the market the two were fairly silent as they walked, they had both spent a lot of energy talking and running around at the market, more so Shu He so they took the time to enjoy the sun beginning to set over the horizon and the quiet flow of wind rustling the verdant grass fields.

However, soon in the short distance ahead of them Shu He spotted a figure off to the side of the road, sat in a slump over a large tree stump looking gloomy, although the light wasn't great he quickly recognised the bald head the man had, identifying him as the man who had accused him while he was lining up earlier.

"Guh…" Shu He couldn't help but let out a sound of annoyance.

"Hm? What is it?" Shu Li asked, he obviously noticed the man long ago but didn't think anything of it, so he was surprised to see his son's obvious reaction.

Shu He immediately thought to continue on and avoid contact as much as possible but right before he increased his walking pace he stopped in place.

'Wait a minute…' He scratched his head and let the cogs run in his brain for a second before making a decision and nodding to himself.

"Father, can you go on ahead?" He asked.

Shu Li's eyebrow rose with slight doubt as he looked between Shu He and the man, he was going to say no but seeing the look on his sons face that looked resolute he decided to agree.

"Alright, I'll see you back at home then" He said, walking off at a faster pace than before since he was no longer keeping pace with Shu He's shorter legs.

After a minute Shu He took a deep breath and began taking strides towards the bald man.

"Hey there!" He spouted the most casual greeting that came to his mind.

The man stirred from his gloom and looked around.

"Huh? Who is it?!" He yelled before finally turning his head the right direction and seeing Shu He walking towards him.

"A kid..? No, wait- "He squinted his eyes to see better in the lower light.

"You! What do you want! Come to laugh at me?!" He yelled before spitting on the ground next to him and turning away again "Fuck off!"

"Come on now, don't be like that I just want to ask you something" Ignoring the man's rude speech Shu He continued to speak to him.

"What?" The man reluctantly asked.

"I couldn't help but remember, you wanted to buy some medicinal supplies right?" Shu He asked.

"Yeah? So what?"

"I could sell you some!" Shu He said with a smile on his face.

"Pft, you'll just sell what you bought there for a bigger price" The man gritted his teeth in annoyance, he definitely still wanted to buy them.

'Of course he'd think that…' Shu He thought to himself, it's a standard tactic scalpers use, buy up the product then sell at a higher mark for those that still want it, or in this case sell something they can't get normally for a higher price.

"Do you know what I was at that store for?" He asked the man with a sigh.

"Huh?... Buying medicine?" He didn't get why he was being asked such a question.

"I didn't need to buy any, I just bought the materials; I went to sell my own" Shu He explained.

"Sell…? Wait then you're… No, you're just a kid! How?" Confusion and surprised flushed his face as he tried to take in what Shu He said.

"Hehe, surprised? You can go and ask Bo Lin about me if you want, if he'll give you the time" Shu He couldn't help but want to boast a bit as he smirked.

"…You're can definitely make what I need right?"

"Yup, I even got all the materials and seeds I needed so I can make even more than I could before" Shu He explained.

The bald man looked slightly conflicted like he was fighting himself in his head before he seemed to make a decision and stood up before Shu He.

"I'm sorry for my actions earlier!" He bowed his head and screamed out an apology while Shu He watched on smiling.

'Seems I can judge someone's character at least, he's just a hot-headed idiot but at least he can behave when he needs to' Shu He thought to himself.

"Apology accepted; we all make mistakes, what's your name?" Shu He said cheerfully, he couldn't be too lenient with people otherwise he'd soon be a doormat.

"Gang Bo is my name, I'm part of a small mercenary group that works around these parts… I came to buy our supplies today but, well, yeah" He said rubbing the back of his bald head with slight embarrassment.

"Alright Gang Bo, I'm Shu Li; Now I want to ask how often you will need supplies?"

"Shu…? Ah, how often?" His expression told Shu He he was lost.

"I'm guessing you stock up on supplies at the market mostly then through other traders right? But since I'm living here you can come whenever you need them" Shu He explained to him.

"Oh! That's right, that's great! Everyone will be glad that we could secure a steadily supply… But I need to see your products in person though… I'm sorry but I need to know it works before I buy anything" Gang Bo said expecting Shu He to lead on.

"Of course, come with me to where I live I still have some stock I keep for myself, you can see for yourself."

"Okay, lead the way!" He humped his chest and laughed cheerily, his gloomy mood from earlier was completely wiped away.

They both went on their way towards Shu He's home afterwards.

'As I thought, it's better to set aside little grudges; A customer is better than an enemy after all!'