After leaving the Shen Residence, Li Xiao handed Shen Xia a bulging money pouch.
He had slipped into the storeroom while Huang Jia was distracted and found it there.
Shen Xia opened it and saw that it contained both gold and silver.
“Not bad. We make quite a good team,” she said with a smile, bending down to pinch his cheek.
Though the little wolf cub was thin and frail, his cheeks were surprisingly soft.
Li Xiao’s ears reddened slightly at having his face pinched.
He quickly stepped back and muttered, “Stop pinching my face. I’m not a child.”
“Alright, alright, I know,” Shen Xia replied rather perfunctorily.
“That Steward Huang is extremely petty. You treated him like that just now, and he’ll definitely find a way to get back at you. Aren’t you afraid?” Li Xiao asked gloomily, turning his face away.
“To people like them, would lowering my head and giving in stop them from bullying me? Since life won’t be easy either way, I’d rather strike first and seize the initiative.”
There was a deeper meaning behind Shen Xia’s words.
She intended to strike first against the Shen Family.
And she intended to strike first against those lurking in the shadows as well.
She did not believe that Murong Ke had simply thrown Li Xiao into the Shen Residence and forgotten about him. He had undoubtedly planted spies to keep watch.
Hu Jiuchi had already said there were no suspicious people around her courtyard. But outside…
That was another matter entirely.
“Come on, let’s go take a look around.”
With that, Shen Xia walked ahead.
Li Xiao remained where he was, lowering his head in thought for quite some time.
That was true.
If things were never going to improve anyway, why not strike first?
When they passed a clothing shop, Shen Xia walked inside.
“Miss, are you here to buy clothes?” the shopkeeper asked with a broad smile.
“Yes! Do you have any clothes suitable for him?” Shen Xia pulled Li Xiao forward.
The shopkeeper sized him up.
What a handsome young boy.
He immediately clapped his hands and said, “Of course! The garments suitable for him are stored in the back courtyard. Please wait a moment, Miss. I’ll fetch them right away.”
The shopkeeper quickly went off to retrieve the clothes.
“I don’t need new clothes,” Li Xiao said awkwardly.
Ever since his mother and the others had died and he was exiled to this place, he had long ceased to be the noble Tenth Prince he once was. To survive the cold, he had even worn clothes stripped from corpses.
He knew his current situation better than anyone.
He did not need new clothes.
“Li Xiao, you lowly slave, what are you doing here?”
At that moment, a disdainful voice rang out.
Shen Xia turned toward the entrance and saw several young men dressed in luxurious robes walking in while fanning themselves. Numerous attendants followed behind them.
The moment Li Xiao saw them, his entire body began trembling violently.
From the corner of her eye, Shen Xia noticed that his eyes had turned bloodshot and that the hatred radiating from him seemed ready to consume him whole.
She immediately stepped in front of him and looked at the newcomers warily.
A shop assistant hurried over.
“Young Master Tang, have you come to order clothing again?”
Young Master Tang?
Shen Xia frowned slightly.
Was he from the Tang Family?
Fragments of information surfaced in her memory.
The Tang Family was one of the influential powers on Nanli Island.
Back when Murong Ke had arrived on Nanli Island, he had brought in merchants from outside the island to prevent the Shen Family from monopolizing local trade and to maintain tighter control over the islanders.
The Tang Family, along with several other clans, had seized that opportunity to expand rapidly. They were now approaching a level where they could rival the Shen Family.
The Tang Family primarily controlled dockside business, and the laborers at the docks were almost entirely exiled slaves.
To maximize profits, the Tang Family ruthlessly exploited those slaves. Most of the earlier batches of exiles had already died from the abuse.
Li Xiao himself had originally been sent there.
“Brother Tang, wasn’t Li Xiao your plaything before? How is he running around outside now?” asked a burly man with a malicious grin.
The others burst into laughter.
“Exactly. Didn’t you take us to watch him fight dogs for food and make him kneel to wash our feet? How did he escape from the dog cage?”
“Brother Tang, could it be that your dog cage wasn’t secure enough?”
“Hahaha! If your cage doesn’t work, why not send him to our Zhang Family instead?”
“Get lost, Zhang Mingran. Don’t think we don’t know what kind of slaves you like. Aren’t the ones at Qingfeng House enough for you? You’re even eyeing him now. You should know his identity is rather sensitive.”
Zhang Mingran sneered.
“So what if it’s sensitive? Prefect Murong already said we can do whatever we want as long as he doesn’t die. As for the ones at Qingfeng House, they’ve become boring. I’m already tired of them.”
“Really? I heard the former Prime Minister’s son is there. They say he’s unbelievably handsome… tsk, tsk, quite the delight. And you’re already bored?”
The more they spoke, the more vulgar and disgusting their words became.
The former Prime Minister’s son…
Could that be…?
Shen Xia suddenly remembered.
The former Prime Minister’s surname was Zhao, and the Zhao Family had been close allies of the Jiang Family. When disaster struck the Jiang Family, the Zhao Family was implicated as well.
The Zhao Family had been exiled together with Li Xiao.
So that dazzling young master of the Zhao Family, once admired by countless noblewomen in the capital, had ended up in Qingfeng House?
The thought left Shen Xia feeling suffocated.
Behind her, Li Xiao’s restraint finally snapped.
He rushed out from behind Shen Xia and charged at the group.
Unfortunately, they had brought martial artists with them.
One of the guards struck out with a palm strike, hitting Li Xiao squarely in the chest.
“Pfft!”
Like a tattered rag doll, he was sent flying and crashed to the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Yet even then, he continued glaring at them with eyes full of hatred, as though he wanted to drag them all down to hell with him.
“Li Xiao!”
When Shen Xia saw one of the attendants preparing to strike him again, she reacted instantly.
Taking advantage of the chaos, she slipped behind Tang Wen and pressed the dagger she carried against his throat.
“Everybody stop right there!” she shouted angrily.
The guards turned around and discovered that their young master had been taken hostage.
None of them dared make another move against Li Xiao.