When they caught up with the group, Zhao Ger saw that the three of them looked a bit bedraggled, and the sack wasn't even full.
That wild pear tree was quite old—it was huge, with plenty of pears. It looked like more than just one sack's worth.
His husband was the kind who'd strip a chicken to the bone and pluck every last feather off a passing goose. Normally, if the sack wasn't full, he definitely wouldn't come back. What happened today? Did something go wrong? But it didn't seem like anything had gone wrong, because the two children seemed very happy, their eyes shining, laughing the whole time, clearly excited.
It was such an embarrassing matter. Fang Zichen's face was flushed bright red, both ashamed and angry. How could he bring himself to say anything? Zhao Ger took the pears back to the carriage. Guaizai wanted to eat a pear and asked Zhao Ger to peel one for him. His little face was dirty, with small stray hairs stuck to it—he seemed to have rolled around on the ground. Zhao Ger took a handkerchief and wiped his face clean, then pinched his little nose.
"What happened? You're so happy."
Guaizai waved his arms and legs excitedly: "Hehehe, daddy, some people just chased us with hoes."
Liuliu added: "So fun."
What?
Zhao Ger asked, and after getting the full story, he and Zhou Ger burst out laughing.
Later, whenever they saw fruit on the mountain by the road, Fang Zichen didn't dare go pick it no matter how tempted he was. Zhao Ger kept teasing him about it, and even Zhou Ger joined in, which made Fang Zichen feel a bit embarrassed.
But since he stayed with the group and didn't sneak up the mountain, there was no need to announce names—the common folk had no doubts. This was an official, no mistake about it.
The imperial guards were well-trained, swords at their waists, with an imposing air. Every one of them looked strong and powerful, not to mention the dozen or so carts of goods following behind.
Huaizhou didn't have a big merchant like this.
It had to be an official's convoy.
More people came to offer gifts.
Ever since leaving Hezhou, they hadn't enjoyed such treatment of free food and drink. Fang Zichen had been quite melancholy about it for a while.
The children didn't find it boring either. With Fang Zichen around, they couldn't be bored even if they wanted to—they practically played the whole way there.
Sometimes when they made it in time, they'd rest at an inn in a town, but most of the time they camped in the wilderness. Seeing everyone working so hard, traveling through wind and sleeping in the open, and since they happened to be resting by a river, Zhao Ger had everyone set up pots, boil water, and cook instant noodles.
Once they'd tried the instant noodles, the imperial guards and the several managers couldn't stop thinking about them. Zhang Quan wasn't afraid of Fang Zichen. Every time they rested on the road, he'd say to Fang Zichen: "My lord, I know you've always been most considerate of us subordinates. The brothers have been working hard these past few days, and tonight there's nothing much to eat. You see..."
Fang Zichen said in a deep voice: "I'm not looking."
Zhang Quan: "..."
"We came out of Xinping County at noon. I told you all to buy steamed buns. Who told you not to?" Fang Zichen glanced at him sideways. "Tell me, how many of my instant noodles have you all eaten these past days? I only brought six carts."
These imperial guards could eat three packs each per meal—twenty people, sixty packs. And those stewards too, if they ate every day, six carts of instant noodles wouldn't be enough. They'd probably finish them halfway there. Without goods, what would he sell? How would he build the reputation of instant noodles?
Zhang Quan hadn't known what was on those carts at the back and hadn't paid much attention. Earlier, when Zhao Ger went to the factory kitchen to cook instant noodles, the smell was strong. Several imperial guards managing inside came back and muttered to him, saying it smelled so good, really good. They didn't know what Zhao Ger had cooked, but the whole mess hall was filled with the smell, and they couldn't eat their meals.
The factory workers were also talking about it nonstop.
Zhang Quan had even laughed at them for being pathetic. Villagers being like that was one thing, but his brothers were all from the capital, had served before the emperor—what hadn't they eaten?
They talked about it with drool practically dripping, truly pathetic.
But now that he'd tasted it, he knew it really was delicious! Too bad the prefect was stingy.
The whole way there, they didn't run into any trouble.
Whenever they passed through a town, Guaizai and Liuliu would spur their horses ahead, flash the Ultraman token, and every time the soldiers guarding the city gate saw the token, they'd immediately become respectful and welcome them into the city.
After showing off a few times, Guaizai and Liuliu walked with their heads held high and chests puffed out, striding along as if they owned the place, so full of themselves it was as if all of Da Xia couldn't contain them.
In the middle of the tenth lunar month, the group finally arrived at Shangyang.
Shangyang was truly wealthy. Even the city gate looked completely different from those of other prefectures and counties.
Many commoners were entering and leaving the gate. Fang Zichen's convoy lined up in a long queue, and the people around were murmuring.
"Where's this merchant convoy from? Carrying so much goods—is it the Jia family's?"
In Shangyang City, the wealthiest and biggest business was the Jia family.
The Jia family didn't just deal in cloth—they also had grain shops, cosmetics shops, jade shops, and workshops specifically making bowls, cabinets, and tables. So every time they transported goods, they carried a lot.
This convoy was carrying far too much goods, and they'd hired so many guards, with so many horses. Other merchants didn't even consider it—they didn't have that kind of financial power.
But before, the Jia family's shipments were only seven or eight carts. They'd never transported this much. It looked truly magnificent.
"Not sure, but Boss Jia seems to be at home!"
"Right, I heard it's Old Master Jia's birthday celebration. Boss Jia hasn't been buying goods recently. So what's this?"
"No idea!"
The soldiers guarding the gate noticed as well. Seeing Guaizai ride up, they crossed their spears to block him and wanted to inspect.
The inspection wasn't strict—just checking identity documents. Those from other prefectures also had to show passage documents, and they'd check for weapons on their persons and in their luggage.
This time, Guaizai again directly flashed the Ultraman token.
When one of the soldiers saw him flash the Ultraman token, his face darkened, his brow twitched twice, and he was about to yell in a low voice when another soldier quickly pulled him back and said quietly:
"Look carefully."
The Ultraman token and Fang Zichen's token were strung together. Guaizai was holding the Ultraman token, so Fang Zichen's token dangled in the air.
Ivory-made, with a lifelike peacock carved on it...
The city gate soldier was terrified and quickly bowed.
"Greetings, Young Master."
"Uncle, we want to enter the city," Guaizai said.
The soldier hesitated slightly.
If this were a small town under Qinzhou, they'd have let them through immediately. After all, the young master of a third-rank soldier's household wasn't someone to offend. Even their direct superior would bow and pay his respects upon seeing him.
But Shangyang was a big city, and close to Hengyang. With the fighting going on over there, this side was strictly controlled too, for fear that people from the Chao Kingdom would sneak in and cause trouble, or ship out scarce goods from here.
Now that the two kingdoms were at war, there was no more trade. The border no longer allowed commoners to pass through either. But back when trade was still going on, some people from the Chao Kingdom had already slipped into Da Xia.
People from the two kingdoms looked alike—unlike the Beimang people, who were very distinctive and obviously not from Da Xia. The Chao Kingdom had planned this long in advance. Half a month earlier, the Chao who had been stranded in Da Xia under hidden identities secretly bought large amounts of iron ore at high prices from various places. Iron could be used to mint coins and forge weapons, so it was a controlled item and couldn't easily be traded by commoners. Most of these ore mountains were controlled by the court, but there were always some who took the risk. When they found ore that hadn't been reported, they secretly mined and sold it off.
The Chao looked exactly like the people of Da Xia — indistinguishable. No one thought much of it. Besides, most people only recognized silver and didn't care about anything else. As long as there was money to be made, who cared who they were selling to?
No comments:
Post a Comment