The Optimistic Heroes - Chapter 1 Part 2

1000 – 2000 Words

All he knew was it seemed pretty interesting, pretty prestigious. On top of all that, Mr. Luo invited him to be the second in command of The Central Guards. Second in command for his first job, that was pretty impressive, pretty extraordinary.

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       His only regret was that The Central Guards was not the biggest armed escort agency on the Central Plains, it wasn’t even considered first-rate.

       He waited a long few days, before getting his first gig. It wasn’t even considered serious business, just delivering a few thousand silver taels from Kaifeng to Luoyang.

       The load was light, and not very far away. Mr. Luo felt safe with Big G in charge, so he just rested at home, leisurely recovering from his injuries.

       Still spring, morning, Big G set out.

       A good year always starts in Spring, and a good day starts in the morning, it truly was a great start.

       Flag fluttering in the wind, the bustling noise of the armed escorts getting ready to depart could be heard from a distance. The spring sun had just risen, Big G mounted his white horse, wearing a violet shirt, with a black scabbard hanging from his waist. On the horizon the spring mountains were radiating with color, swallows were building nests in the trees, and Big G was enjoying the warming rays of the early sun.

       Big G couldn’t have been happier, he was indeed very proud of himself.

       He was hoping to meet some infamous pirates or forest outlaws! Not necessarily because he wanted to show off his skills, but he just wanted to make some new friends.

       The more friends the better. He enjoyed friends. If he could make those kind of friends, that would be exciting, very interesting. If he could convince outlaws to forsake their errant ways, well, that would be exceptionally wonderful.

       Sure enough, he came across some.

       Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly how he imagined infamous pirates, dividing treasure, eating and drinking their spoils away; no promises to the death, lofty heroism, or outlaws ready to die for their sacred brotherhood; however, he did meet some smalltime thieves, some anemic looking bandits who hadn’t eaten in days, wearing patched clothes, even their knives were rusting away.

       Although Big G was disappointed, well, he had already met them. He still had to show them a thing or two, show them who was boss, and then persuade them to change their ways. He hoped they would repent, give up their old ways, and do the right thing. If they could support themselves by being good citizens, their ancestors could finally rest in their graves.

       First, they were scared stiff by his kung fu, standing there like rubber chickens. Then, they were sobbing uncontrollably after he firmly exhorted them, with runny noses they all promised to change, to be a good person.

       “But we don’t have any skills, what are we supposed to do? If we stop being outlaws, our families will starve.”

       “A small business is good, even if you have to sell steamed buns, it’s better than being a bandit.”

       “We don’t have any money, how are we supposed to start a small business? Its better just to die now and get it over with.”

       So much tears and snot, truly repentant consciences.

       Big G was also on the verge of tears.

       “No money, that’s easy, I have some.”

       Aren’t we escorting a load of silver taels?

       How can you start a business without a decent amount of capital? Big G had always been very generous.

       “One hundred silver taels per person.”

       Everyone was extremely grateful, then, the moment was over. As they walked away you could hear them saying: “What a saint, basically Buddha reincarnate, a true hero.”

       Big G felt alive, “People have a good nature fundamentally, if they were not forced by dire circumstances, who would want to be an outlaw?” he said with a sigh.

       When he stopped feeling so sentimental, he suddenly realized two things: one, half of the silver taels he was supposed to be protecting were gone; two, those silver taels were not his to give away.

His fellow armed escorts were staring at him blankly, with their mouths hanging open, it was hard to tell what they thought of him at that moment. Is this guy a hero? A saint? Or just a fool?

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With half of the protected cargo gone, it was definitely going to be the head escort’s responsibility to pay it back.

On the way back to The Central Guards, he felt a little uneasy, but nothing too bad.

       He was confident in his abilities to pay it all back, most talented people possessed this kind of confidence.

      “I bought this horse for 280 silver taels, I still have more than 700 on me, all together that’s a little more than 1000 silver taels. I can start by paying back what I have.”

       And the rest?

       “The Central Guards can help me pay it back for now, then I can slowly pay the rest back from my salary.”

       With a second in command like myself, I am sure word will spread, business will definitely pick up. My salary is sure to increase considerably, and I will have it all paid back in no time.

       Mr. Luo stood listening with his mouth hanging open, as if he was in a trance.

       Big G was pretty confident, because he felt that his plan was quite reasonable.

       He never would have imagined that Mr. Luo suddenly dropped to his knees.

       Mr. Luo was certainly not begging him to stay, nor was he saying thank you for saving his life. He was begging him to leave, the sooner the better.

       “You saved my life, I will help you pay back the money, consider us even. Never in my life have I met a man such as yourself, and I hope that I never do again.”