The next morning, before dawn had even broken, Han Mo was still in bed when he heard a knock at the door.
“Mr. Shao, what’s gotten into you? This early in the morning?”
Hearing Shao Bowen’s boisterous voice, Han Mo let out a long yawn, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and then spoke.
“What else? I haven’t slept a wink all night. You still haven’t told me, what exactly do you plan to do?”
Shao Bowen spoke while looking expectantly at Han Mo.
“Pfft—chuckle—”
“Are you serious? You really didn’t sleep all night?”
Seeing his prominent dark circles, Han Mo couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“You have the nerve to laugh? You brat, aren’t you being a little too unkind? It’s all your fault!”
Seeing Han Mo’s cheerful demeanor, Shao Bowen felt like giving him a good punch.
“Hahahaha, alright, Mr. Shao, don’t be angry. Since you haven’t slept all night, why don’t we just get some good rest, and then we can go after we wake up?”
“Sleep? Dream on! Everything is ready. I’ve already arranged for people outside for you. Hurry up and pack!”
Giving him an annoyed glare, Shao Bowen said indignantly.
“Mr. Shao, going out this early in the morning feels a bit inappropriate. Shouldn’t you at least let me eat my fill and regain my energy?”
Han Mo rolled his eyes so hard they almost touched the ceiling. It was barely dawn, and they were dragging him out to do hard labor. Wasn’t that a bit too much?
“Stop with the nonsense. I’ve been stewing all night. Don’t you see I’ve plucked out quite a bit of my beard!”
“Alright, alright. Then you go ahead. Wait for me for a bit, I’ll change my clothes, then we can grab something to eat before heading out. It’s too early now, and what I need to do requires the sun to be out!”
Han Mo said, chuckling.
“Why do I feel like you’re trying to trick me?”
Even though Han Mo looked quite serious, Shao Bowen instinctively felt that the young man was clearly trying to fool him.
“What about trust between people? Don’t we have that between us?”
“Cut the act! I can’t wait another moment. I’ll be waiting for you outside, so hurry up!”
Watching Shao Bowen’s decisive manner, Han Mo couldn’t help but twitch his lips. This was truly a case of reaping what you sow. If only he hadn’t messed with the old man last night. The retribution was coming too quickly.
It seemed that when doing bad deeds in the future, he needed to keep a further distance. In situations like this, after committing an offense, being confronted immediately felt a bit short-sighted.
“Young Master, should you slip away from the back?”
Seeing Shao Bowen looming menacingly outside the door, Jiang Yan whispered anxiously.
“Run? Where would I run to at this hour? Forget it, this is my own doing.”
Han Mo said with a bitter smile.
After he was dressed and had washed his face with cold water, he felt much more refreshed.
At Han Mo’s insistence, they each downed two bowls of fish congee and ate some pastries before heading out with a group of people to a courtyard outside the city.
“Sir!”
As soon as Han Mo and the others dismounted, the guards stationed at the courtyard gate immediately stepped forward.
“This place is quite nice. Mr. Shao must have put in a lot of effort to find this courtyard!”
After observing the surrounding terrain, Han Mo nodded with satisfaction. Although the courtyard wasn’t particularly large, its walls were over ten feet high.
He didn’t know what this place was used for before, but these high walls effectively blocked countless prying eyes.
Even more valuable was the fact that there were almost no other residences nearby.
No matter what they did here, it was unlikely anyone would come to disturb them.
“For this, you have to thank Lord Yan. This was originally one of his granaries, and he bought all the surrounding land. It’s all under the Maritime Trade Department now. I thought this place was quite suitable, so I took it upon myself to use it for storage. Almost all the things you wanted are here!”
Shao Bowen said, pointing to the courtyard before them.
“Then let’s go. Since we’re here, today I’ll let Mr. Shao open his eyes and witness my Dan Dao skills!”
Since they were already here and had spent the morning dealing with this, Han Mo wasn’t feeling sleepy at all.
“Alright, then today I’ll have a good look at just how capable you are, Sir!”
Shao Bowen said, giving him an eye-roll.
“Right, have you found the people I asked you to look for?”
Pushing open the courtyard gate and walking inside, Han Mo asked again.
“I’ve found everyone you need. I’m just a bit curious, why do you need a cook? Are we planning to stay here for half a year or more?”
Hearing Han Mo’s words, Shao Bowen looked at him with some confusion.
“Half a year isn’t likely, but I have my reasons for needing a cook!”
Han Mo said while inspecting the items piled up in the courtyard.
The courtyard didn’t look large from the outside, but once inside, Han Mo realized it was quite a good space. In total, it was at least ten zhang long and three zhang wide.
What was even more valuable was that there was a well inside the courtyard. As long as they stockpiled enough food, the people here could go without leaving for a long time.
“These people have all committed offenses. What do you want them for?”
Shao Bowen said, clapping his hands. Soon, a squad of soldiers escorted over twenty young men, all appearing to be around twenty years old, who were brought forward.
“It doesn’t matter if they’ve committed offenses. I only want those with inherently good natures. Are they suitable?”
Han Mo said while sizing up the men.
These fellows, though only in their early twenties, were all robust.
“They are captured rebels, you know this well!”
Hearing Shao Bowen’s words, Han Mo understood. Regardless of the reasons they joined the rebellion, once caught under this charge, they would likely never be able to clear their names.
After all, in any dynasty, the handling of rebels was always extremely severe.