Second day as a guard

By going with them, at least they wouldn't have to hide in the bushes in the middle of the night and be looked down upon by experts, so Xu Shulou and the other man readily agreed.

The servant boy seemed to feel something was wrong and tugged at Master Cheng's sleeve: "Young Master, before leaving Beijing, the master told you to stay on your way and not to cause trouble. How could you forget the master's words just because you were tempted by a beautiful woman?"

"Bah, I just saw injustice and came to the aid of the weak," Little Cheng shook his head, "What do you mean by lust after beauty? Do you know how to speak? I punish you by making you copy the Tao Te Ching ten times!"

The servant boy made a bitter face: "Master, I am worried about your safety."

"You don't understand. Those villains thought they were after the three of us bachelors," said Master Cheng. "If we bring our female relatives and pretend to be from a wealthy family, we can dispel some of their suspicions and prevent the immortal who is secretly protecting us from being overworked."

"How can there be three bachelors?" The guard was very dissatisfied when he heard this, "I am married."

"..." Master Xiao Cheng cursed silently.

However, this communication was effective after all. The three of them finally reached a consensus and agreed to take Xu Shulou and Bai Roushuang along on the journey.

The group exchanged surnames, and the servant boy enthusiastically offered to help: "Girls, where is your luggage? I'll help you move it to the carriage."

Xu Shulou shook his head: "We don't have any luggage."

As the three of them looked at each other, their expressions softened a little. Master Xiao Cheng took the initiative to invite them to eat together: "I guess you are hungry too, let's eat something together."

"Thank you very much."

"No need to be polite," Master Cheng asked the servant to take out a bottle of fasting pills. "It's inconvenient to eat hot food when you're out. What flavor of fasting pills do you like, young lady?"

Xu Shu was stunned for a moment, and realized that this must be the fasting pill that Bai Roushuang and Ji Ci had improved based on the recipe given by Mr. Dan, so that mortals could also eat it.

After she came out of retreat, she was trapped by the puppet for a year. When she returned to Wuchen Island, Madam Sheng and her junior sister fed her with different kinds of food. She really didn't have the chance to try out the pills with various flavors.

Xu Shulou shook his head truthfully: "I haven't tasted it, so I don't have a preference. Just give me one."

She was just stating a fact, but for some reason the three people opposite her looked sympathetic again.

Can't even afford the Bigu Pill? This is pitiful, the book boy sighed, handed her a milky white grape, and asked Bai Roushuang: "Where is Miss Bai?"

Bai Roushuang quickly shook her head: "No need, I would rather eat steamed buns and flatbreads."

When she and her sixth senior brother were considering the recipe for the fasting pill, they tasted each pill hundreds or thousands of times in order to make a more perfect taste. She no longer wanted to try these flavors in her life.

After hearing this, I don’t know what the three people opposite were thinking, and their expressions became more complicated.

Especially after Xu Shulou put the milky white grape into his mouth, his eyes lit up and he pulled his junior sister to praise her: "It's delicious! Sweet and delicious, with an endless aftertaste. I can't wait to try other flavors."

Bai Roushuang immediately became proud, thinking that no matter how much praise people gave her, it was not as good as this affirmation from her senior sister.

The others were silent.

Xu Shulou realized belatedly that something was wrong: "Why are you looking at me with such strange eyes?"

"Nothing," Master Xiao Cheng was afraid that she would be embarrassed, so he quickly cleared his throat, "Let's continue on our way."

"Okay," Xu Shulou offered, "I can help drive."

"Are you sure?" Bai Roushuang couldn't help but think of the ox cart they had driven into a small ravine, and in the end it was the hardworking Xuan Yang who carried the ox out for them.

Xu Shulou obviously understood his junior sister's concerns: "Cows and horses are always different."

“…”

The three men did not really let her drive the car, but just asked the two girls to sit in the carriage, and the servants and guards sat at the shaft to drive the car.

In order to avoid spies from all directions, they took a detour. The road they chose was a bit bumpy. After a few hours, the carriage suddenly shook and stopped.

The sleepy little Cheng poked his head out: "What's wrong?"

The guard looked unhappy: "Master, the horseshoe fell off."

A horseshoe is a horseshoe. Without it, it will be difficult for a horse to go far.

Master Cheng frowned. "There's no village or shop in this place. Where can we change it? Can we make it to the next city?"

"I'm afraid I can't."

"this……"

"I'll try to change it," the guard took out a bundle from under the shaft, "They gave us a spare one when we rented the carriage."

Everyone jumped off the carriage and gave him the space. A moment later, the neighing of horses and the wailing of guards were heard.

"…Are you okay?"

Xu Shulou walked up to him and lifted up his trouser leg, wanting to check his injuries, but the guy actually dodged.

"Don't move," Xu Shulou held him down, looked at the wound on his calf, pressed it twice, and judged, "It's okay, the leg is not broken, it will be swollen for a few days at most."

Master Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, and then teased, "Is it possible that you don't even know how to change a horseshoe?"

"I am a guard of the Cheng family. Who knew I had to learn this? It's good enough to be able to drive a carriage," the guard said aggrievedly. "If I had known that you would be demoted, young master, I would have learned it a long time ago."

"..." Master Cheng looked up at the sky, "I miss Guard Li."

"The most powerful guard in our mansion is being watched by a group of spies, so he can't go with you. The master ordered him to escort the empty carriage to the official road," the guard said, "Master, you can just use me."

"Then can you make do with changing the horseshoe?"

“…”

"I can change the horseshoe," Xu Shulou said, "Let me do it."

"..." It's true that children from poor families have to grow up early. Lord Cheng couldn't help but sigh in his heart that such a young and beautiful girl actually has to learn how to shoe horses.

Even Bai Roushuang was surprised: "You can do this?"

"When I was a kid, I was very interested in riding horses. My brother took me to learn a little bit of everything. I even secretly watched a horse give birth," Xu Shulou smiled, "so I am better at dealing with horses than cows. I am not kidding you."

“…”

Sir Cheng naturally failed to realize that the brother she was referring to was once the crown prince of a country, and he continued to sigh for her.

Xu Shulou took the bundle, touched the horse's mane first, soothed it for a while, and then lifted the horse's legs. The horse did not resist, but just bent its legs and looked at her docilely.

Xu Shulou was not very skilled and it took her a long time, but it was obvious that she knew how to do it. She saw that there were plenty of tools in her bag, so she trimmed the horse's hoof.

The others stared at her blankly, not understanding why she could trim the horse's hooves so gracefully. Until she stood up, touched the horse's head, and whispered in the horse's ear: "Okay, try your new shoes."

Everyone then realized that the horseshoes had been replaced.

The horse paced back and forth obediently, looking very satisfied, and nudged Xu Shulou with its nose. She smiled and raised her hands to hug it affectionately.

The guards harnessed the carriage and the group set out again. Not long after they started driving, the wheel got stuck under a rock.

If Xu Shulou wasn't afraid that the news of the cultivator's help would reach the emperor's ears and affect Lord Cheng, he really wanted to just carry him all the way to the destination.

Master Cheng had lost his temper after being tortured so much that he said weakly to the guards, "What else can we do? The three of us can go down and lift the car."

The servant boy said rudely, "Master, you are lazy and don't know how to distinguish grains. So don't get involved."

“…”

Xu Shulou smiled and said, "Let me help."

"No, no, girl, just take a rest." The servant and the guard stepped forward to lift the cart, trying their best and their faces turned red.

Xu Shulou stepped forward and lent a hand, and the two of them immediately felt much more relaxed and worked together to move the carriage away.

Master Xiao Cheng crossed his arms and said sarcastically: "Before, you advised me not to bring the two girls. If I really listened to you, the three of us would have to stay here."

"It would be nice if we could take a cruise on the Cultivation World," the servant sighed, "but there will be people waiting at the boarding point, and the disembarkation point is quite far from our destination, so it would be unsafe if someone follows us."

The group set out on the road again and finally arrived safely at the nearest city. They wanted to rest here for a while, take some snacks and drinks and continue on their way. The guards also carefully rented a carriage again. Master Cheng also ordered the servant to buy new clothes for Xu Shulou and the others.

Since she had to cooperate in pretending to be a family member, Bai Roushuang simply tied herself into a hairstyle commonly used by mortal women. When the servant saw it, he praised her by saying "the girl is very skillful".

"That's nothing. When I was in a brothel..." Bai Roushuang reacted and stopped talking in time, but the faces of the three people opposite her looked strange again. They looked at her, and then looked at Xu Shulou who had just changed his clothes not far away.

Xu Shulou noticed their gazes: "What's wrong?"

The atmosphere was awkward for a moment. Master Cheng cleared his throat and said solemnly, "Don't worry, girls. You didn't even bring your luggage and walked all the way to the wilderness. I guessed that you might have escaped from somewhere, but I didn't expect it was from Qing, Qing... cough. Anyway, I will definitely escort you to Qushan County, and you two can start your life anew."

"…Thank you very much."

"Do you two have any relatives over there?" he asked again with some concern.

"I have a nephew."

"Is this nephew reliable?"

Xu Shulou looked him up and down: "He should be reliable. He is not very wary of strange women, but he is a kind person."

"That's good."

The two of them quickly ended this awkward conversation that was irrelevant.

When everything was ready and they were about to leave the city, they ran into a scene of selling themselves to bury their father. When Master Cheng heard the noise and lifted the curtain to look, the woman in mourning clothes rushed to the side of the carriage: "Please, sir, have mercy on me!"

Master Cheng was moved with pity and told his servant, "Give her some money so that she can bury her father properly."

The woman was overjoyed and said, "Thank you, sir. I am willing to sell myself as a maid. Please take me with you on the journey."

“No need.”

The woman was stunned: "Even if we are all poor, I have my own dignity and will never accept money for nothing. I am willing to serve you as your maid."

"We are in a hurry," Master Cheng refused, "If you follow us now, who will take care of your father's funeral?"

"This..." The woman hesitated, "My uncles and neighbors will help me."

Master Xiao Cheng frowned: "You have uncles and aunts to help you at home, do you still need to sell yourself?"

"This, this... they don't have much spare money."

Xu Shulou couldn't help laughing, jumped off the carriage, walked to the corpse covered with white cloth, pretended to be careless, and stepped hard with his toes.

With a sound of "Ah", a person jumped up from under the white cloth.

Xu Shulou looked carefully and saw that it was a familiar face. It was the man in black who had met them in the bushes last night. He was misled by the empty carriage last night and probably realized something was wrong, so he chased after them again.

The onlookers were in an uproar. Some exclaimed that it was a fake corpse, but others calmly rolled their eyes and said, "What kind of fake corpse? It's obviously a scam!"

The expressions of Master Cheng and his group also turned cold.

The "selling body" woman was so angry that she kicked the man in black: "I said I wanted to rob my daughter, but you insisted on selling yourself to bury your father. What happened now?"

"Tsk tsk," Bai Roushuang mocked, "Look who's the amateur now?"

The man in black twitched his face, wondering how these two useless and amateurish guys got into Master Cheng's team, but it was too late to ask for advice, as the people rushed up to take them to the government. The carriage took advantage of this opportunity to leave the city in a hurry.