The Child Born of Scoundrels
Su Shimao spoke as he roughly lifted the child out of the basket.
His grip was harsh; the child, originally asleep, was disturbed and cried out loudly in discomfort.
Su Shimao stared at the child, who wasn’t very chubby and had dark skin. The more he looked, the more he disliked the child, and he sneered, "Truly the illegitimate child of a wretched woman and a scoundrel, born this ugly!"
As Su Shimao cursed, he felt much better inside, unaware that the child he was insulting was his own flesh and blood.
"This isn’t according to the rules, right? Our code says if we kidnap someone, once the family pays the ransom, we should release the hostage," Jiang Shi said.
"What do you know? That’s called ‘no poison, no manhood’!" Su Shimao glared at the child with eyes sharp and cold like a viper’s and snarled, "The child's parents humiliated me so often. If I let the child go, won’t people think I’m weak? To succeed, we must show our power. When the time comes, we’ll kill this child and let the world see the might of Black Tiger Fortress!"
Jiang Shi scratched his head and exchanged glances with Baipi Wu. Each bandit group had its own rules, and killing a hostage was against the code, because if they did it once, no one would pay ransom again, knowing they’d kill the hostage anyway.
But Su Shimao was a scholar, and Jiang Shi and Baipi Wu, two big rough men, respected scholars’ words. They thought Su Shimao must have his reasons, so they didn’t object.
Jiang Shi called out to his mother, "Mother, we brought back a child. You take care of him for now."
Jiang Shi’s mother was a capable and spirited old woman. She used to roam the martial world in her youth, known as Mei Hua, the ‘One Blossom of Mei Ridge.’ Now in old age, she was called Granny Mei Hua.
Granny Mei Hua came out and saw Su Shimao holding the child awkwardly, the child crying miserably.
Annoyed by the crying, Su Shimao shouted fiercely at the child, "You little brat, why are you crying? Cry again and I’ll crush you right now!"
"Oh my, why did you kidnap such a tiny baby!?" Granny Mei Hua quickly took the baby in her arms to soothe him. The baby stopped crying at least. She complained to Jiang Shi, "Stone Boy, why did you bring back such a little child?"
Jiang Shi scratched his head and said, "Mother, this was Su Shimao’s idea. You don’t know, this baby has a big background. His parents and godfamily are wealthy merchants. Kidnapping him should bring a hefty ransom."
Granny Mei Hua glared back at Su Shimao when she heard it was his idea. She instinctively disliked this new strategist. Although he was a scholar with many ideas, to Granny Mei Hua, Su Shimao felt like a cold, venomous tongue—disgusting and annoying, someone who might bite you when you least expect it.
But since the child was already kidnapped, Granny Mei Hua held the baby and said, "Alright, Stone Boy, I’ll take care of this child. Hurry and get the ransom so we can return the baby to his parents."
"Woman’s mercy!" Su Shimao snarled fiercely. "Hmph, let this child live a few more days!"
After saying this, Su Shimao fiercely flicked his feather fan, feigning anger, then swept his sleeves and left.
"Oh dear, why is this person like this?" Granny Mei Hua sighed, holding the baby and took him back to her room. She had people in the stronghold bring rice soup and changed the baby’s diaper herself.
Unwrapping the swaddling, Granny Mei Hua found the child wasn’t very robust, thinner than an ordinary baby. She murmured, "Oh dear, so thin, yet still a rich man’s son? He’s even worse off than a poor child. What a misery."