On the official road outside Luo City, a long convoy of vehicles braved the wind and traveled north.
Gusts of wind blew past, shaking the Copper Bells hung on the front of the old yellow oxen's necks, making them ring out
ding-ding-dang-dang
.
The escort guards pressed down the brims of their Bamboo Hats with one hand. Bending their waists and facing against the wind and blowing sand, every step they took was exceptionally difficult and arduous.
The maids and pages curled up into tight balls on the ox carts, which leaked wind from all sides. The officials and nobles hid inside the horse carriages, hugging their Copper Hand Warmers to keep their hands warm.
Only Chen Ji, draped in a full-length black cloak, spurred his horse and rode beside the convoy, not knowing what he was thinking about.
Inside the horse carriage, Xiaoman stealthily lifted the cotton window curtain and muttered softly: "Do you think my Young Master looks like a heroic knight-errant from The Jianghu?"
Not receiving a response for a long time, she turned her head to look at Su Zhou inside the carriage: "Say something, ah!"
Su Zhou sat inside the wooden chest, leaning against its edge. Weakly, she rolled her eyes: "Your Young Master's lips tremble whenever he sees blood, yet he still wants to be a heroic knight-errant of the Jianghu?"
Xiaoman recalled last night. Her Young Master was indeed extremely shaken and panicked, a far cry from the image of a Jianghu heroic knight-errant.
But her mouth remained stubborn: "No one is extremely formidable right from the start, ah! You and I are Practitioners, so of course we don't need to be afraid. If Young Master becomes a Practitioner, he might not be afraid either... Wu Yun, do you think I'm right?"
Xiaoman looked at Wu Yun, who had been lying inside the carriage the entire time. Yet Wu Yun didn't even twitch an eyelid, merely silently listening to the two of them converse.
Her mission in staying inside the carriage was to eavesdrop. This was the reason Chen Ji left her with Su Zhou. Otherwise, she would have long since run outside to nestle on Zaozao's head; that would be truly majestic and imposing!
Su Zhou said calmly: "I need to correct you on one point. The Jianghu is merely the Jianghu. The Jianghu nowadays only has regular Jianghu people; there are no heroic knights-errant."
Xiaoman's face revealed a look of confusion. Her little brain turned for a long time, but still couldn't understand the difference.
Having thought about it to the end, she simply stopped thinking about it: "Do you have any way to find an Official Path Gateway?"
"You want to seek a Cultivation Pathway for him?" Su Zhou cast a sidelong glance at her: "Give me the hand warmer, and I'll tell you."
Xiaoman hesitated.
Su Zhou gave a scoffing laugh: "You constantly claim to do things for the good of your Young Master, yet you begrudge even a simple hand warmer?"
Xiaoman gritted her teeth: "Fine! But you speak first!"
Leaning against the wooden chest, Su Zhou said lazily: "Aren't Cultivation Pathways something you can just casually pluck with a wave of your hand? The streets are full of them."
Xiaoman was inexplicably shocked: "What kind of crazy, arrogant words are you spouting?!"
Su Zhou sneered coldly: "I can only say you are ignorant and ill-informed! Haven't you seen people practicing Tai Chi or the Eight Section Brocade for health in the early mornings?"
Stroking the small hand warmer in her hands, Xiaoman was puzzled and confused: "You're sprouting bullshit! How can those be considered Cultivation Pathways?"
Su Zhou said calmly: "They are considered as such. Early on, the founder of Tai Chi was a Divine Path Realm grandmaster! Looking across the entire Ning Dynasty, he had no equal! It's just that, who knows what happened, but his personal Grand-disciple betrayed the sect and made the Cultivation Pathway public! As a result, everyone in the Jianghu practiced it, and no one was ever able to ascend to the Connate Realm again. Later on, even ordinary commoners began using Tai Chi for health and wellness. Forget about the Connate Realm, there wasn't even anyone who could cultivate it to the peak of the Houtian Stage! Only some Jianghu swindlers remain."
Xiaoman pondered seriously for a moment: "So if we kill everyone who practices Tai Chi, then the sole remaining person who practices Tai Chi will have hope of ascending to the Divine Path Realm?"
Su Zhou opened her mouth slightly, hesitating for a long time before finally answering: "It should be so."
Xiaoman sighed: "That's a bit difficult, oh."
Su Zhou said crossly: "What on earth are you thinking about?! Are you crazy?! In the Jianghu and in the military ranks, there are still many similar Cultivation Pathways. If your Young Master is willing to spend money, it would still be easy to cultivate to the peak of the Houtian Stage."
Xiaoman hugged her small pouch tightly: "How much money does it cost to buy a Cultivation Pathway? Where do we buy them?"
Su Zhou thought about it: "The Midnight Ghost Market in Panjiayuan of the Capital City occasionally sells them. As for the price of a Cultivation Pathway, it depends on what realm the most formidable expert on this path has cultivated to nowadays. If this pathway only has Houtian experts, then the pathway is worth five hundred taels of silver. If this pathway has a Connate expert, then this pathway is worth three thousand taels of silver."
Xiaoman asked: "What about the Path-Seeking Realm?"
Su Zhou ridiculed and mocked: "Who would take something that can be cultivated to the Path-Seeking Realm out to sell for money? Those who cultivate to the Path-Seeking Realm before the age of thirty-six can live to over a hundred years old! Money cannot buy this kind of thing! I advise you to give up on the idea of Cultivation Pathways! Given your Young Master's timid and cowardly nature, if he mixed around in the Jianghu, people would eat him up until not even dregs remained! Alright, give me the hand warmer."
Xiaoman stuffed the copper hand warmer deeper into her embrace, stiffening her neck as she said: "You merely spoke of things everyone in the Jianghu knows! You haven't found a Cultivation Pathway for me! This doesn't count!"
Su Zhou was angered into laughter: "It truly is a pity you didn't become a treacherous merchant!"
Xiaoman's eyes lit up: "You think so too?!"
Su Zhou: "...Did you think I was praising you?!"
"I'll just treat it as you praising me."
Su Zhou fell silent for a moment: "You are a Practitioner yourself; why are you willing and content to act as a maid for him?"
"I'm certainly not willing and content," Xiaoman turned her head, her gaze calmly looking at Chen Ji on the horse: "I promised someone that I can only leave the Chen Family after the Young Master marries and starts a family. When that time comes, I'll take a large sum of money and go live my life incognito."
...
...
Amidst the cold wind, a Tangzishou of the Liang Family Escort Agency who was responsible for shouting to clear the way called out loudly: "We have arrived at the Mengjin County Seat! We will settle down and lodge here today!"
Chen Ji patted Zaozao's neck, and Zaozao immediately understood his intent. She turned her head, passing through the piercing cold wind to arrive beside the Liang Family Escort Agency's team.
There, the Escort Chief stood beside the official road, unfolding a sheepskin map and saying to Zhang Zhuo: "Lord Zhang, we will lodge in Mengjin today. Following this, our path will cross through Jiyuan, Changzhi, Licheng, Handan, Xingtai, Shimen, and Baoding. If we wish to arrive at the Capital City before New Year's Day, we'll probably have to travel an extra two Shichen every day. We can no longer proceed at this unhurried, leisurely pace like today."
Zhang Zhuo tapped his finger on the sheepskin map, narrowing his eyes as he silently calculated the time: "Can your men hold up to it?"
Escort Chief Liang laughed cheerfully and easily: "This is a small matter to us! On this escort trip, there are Relay Stations on the road where we can stay, and we can drink a couple mouthfuls of hot soup every day; this is already considered very comfortable! In the past, when we escorted goods to Ganzhou, we even had to huddle down and sleep in the snow!"
Zhang Zhuo pondered for a moment: "What about the Taihang Mountain bandits? Will we alarm them?"
Escort Chief Liang cupped his hands: "Lord Zhang, rest assured! My Liang Family Escort Agency has a reputation we've fought and earned! When the Taihang Mountain bandits see my Tangzishou shouting the escort slogan, they wouldn't dare to come down the mountain!"
Zhang Zhuo gave an "Mhm": "Alright, then let's proceed according to your plan."
Stuffing the map back into his robes, Escort Chief Liang waved toward the escort guards behind him: "Enter the city!"
After saying that, he fetched a burlap sack from an ox cart. Walking from the front of the convoy to the rear of the convoy, every time he passed an escort guard, he would pull out a string of copper coins from the sack and hand it to them.
This was a rule of the Escort Agency. Every time they arrived at a place to rest their feet, wages had to be issued once.
The significance of issuing it separately lay in: if paid all at once, these escort guards might throw it all away in brothels and gambling dens in a single breath. If payment was delayed for too long, they had to worry about the escort guards quitting and abandoning the job.
At this time, Chen Ji jumped off his horse. Leading the horse by its reins, he walked to Zhang Zhuo's side: "Lord Zhang, relying solely on these escort guards... I'm afraid it won't be enough. I observed for a bit; apart from that Escort Chief Liang, the rest are not Practitioners."
Zhang Zhuo nodded: "Hidden among the pages are also more than twenty of the Zhang Family's death-sworn soldiers. If a moment of true crisis arrives, you only need to shout loudly 'Wind and Snow of a Thousand Mountains', and they will naturally come under your command and deployment."
He continued saying: "I also need to entrust you with one matter."
"Lord Zhang, please speak."
Zhang Zhuo looked into the distance: "If we truly encounter danger... I mean 'if', if even you cannot handle it, I hope you can immediately protect Zhang Xia and Zhang Zheng and escape. Do not bother with those wealth and goods anymore."
Turning his head back, Chen Ji scrutinized the long convoy: "Is Lord Zhang willing to part with them?"
Zhang Zhuo smiled self-mockingly: "If wealth is lost, one can always embezzle again. If a person is lost, then they are truly lost."
"I understand," Chen Ji led Zaozao, preparing to leave.
Yet Zhang Zhuo called him to a stop: "Chen Ji."
Chen Ji turned his head back: "What matter does Lord Zhang have?"
Stroking his beard, Zhang Zhuo said: "Those words your Auntie said to you this morning... do not take them to heart."
Chen Ji broke into a smile: "Lord Zhang overthinks things. I am well aware in my heart."
Zhang Zhuo suddenly changed the topic: "The reason she spoke those words to you is also because I brought it up to her numerous times; I wanted to facilitate a marriage between you and Zhang Xia. However, now that I have learned of your feelings for the Commandery Princess, there is naturally no need to mention past matters anymore. As long as you do not let the Zhang Family down, the Zhang Family will definitely assist you with our full strength."
Chen Ji smiled, cupping his hands and bowing: "Many thanks, Lord Zhang."
After saying that, he led the horse by its reins and left.
Behind him, Zhang Zheng stealthily leaned close to Zhang Zhuo's side: "Dad, that wasn't what you said to me earlier."
Zhang Zhuo glared at him, flicking his sleeves as he boarded the horse carriage: "Do you understand what 'slow-the-enemy stalling tactics' means?! Scram to the side and go play with mud!"
...
...
Chen Ji walked very slowly. The ox carts passed by him one after another. Suddenly, he heard one of the escort guards speak in a muffled, nasal voice: "Bro, we just returned to Luo City from Runan! Everything was perfectly fine, why did we absolutely have to take this escort trip, ah? The Escort Chief already said we didn't need to take this trip."
Another escort guard, leading the ox by its nose ring, said calmly: "This escort trip goes to the Capital City! Once we arrive in the Capital City, we'll part ways with the Escort Agency and stay there! I heard the Capital City is extremely bustling and prosperous! Wouldn't it be a pity if we didn't go try to smash out a reputation for ourselves?"
When this escort guard passed by Chen Ji's side, he smiled politely and courteously at Chen Ji. Then, bearing the wind, he continued leading the ox cart while walking, casually tossing the copper coins he had just received to his own younger brother: "Keep the copper coins safe! This is your older brother's capital to stage a comeback!"
The escort guard with the muffled nasal voice asked: "Bro, why are you letting me keep them safe?"
The escort guard sighed: "I haven't touched a woman in over two months. I'm afraid that when we pass by a brothel later, I won't be able to walk away! Your older brother, ah, just has this one weakness..."
The escort guard with the muffled nasal voice asked: "Alright, then where should I keep the copper coins safe?"
The escort guard scratched an eyebrow: "Keep them in the saddlebag on your shoulder."
"The front part of the saddlebag, or the back part?"
"The front part."
"Oh."
In a flash, Chen Ji, walking behind the two of them, looked at the backs of these two escort guards and abruptly stopped in his tracks.
What a familiar... feeling.
(End of this chapter)