The group reined in their horses and saw several men dressed in ordinary clothes rushing down the hillside. Xi Jing'an leaned nervously against Xu Di. Xu Di saw that the men didn't speak. This place was the border between Luzhou and Wuzhou.
A man carrying a large knife bowed to the group and said, "I'm sorry, brothers, we are just trying to make a living. Since we've met, it must be fate. Please help us out."
Xi Jing'an looked at Xu Di and asked in a deep voice, "I wonder what kind of help this brother is referring to?"
The man chuckled and said, "Of course, we'll have to pay. We're out of money, so we can only do this in this remote place. Let's not waste any more time and please hand over the silver."
Seeing Xu Di's calm demeanor, Xi Jing'an grew bolder and said, "Why should we hand over our money just because you say so? You people are all able-bodied and strong, yet you don't earn money to support your families through your own labor. Instead, you choose to do these despicable things. If you want our money, you'll have to ask the knife in my hand if it agrees."
Xi Jing'an had already drawn his waist knife from his waist and was holding it gleamingly in front of his chest.
Seeing Xi Jing'an's appearance, the man laughed and said to the people behind him, "I didn't expect you to be such a hero. Don't blame me for not reminding you, we brothers are just here to scout ahead. The main force is still behind us. The whistling arrow just now was our signal. We gave you a smooth road, but you refused to take it and insisted on forcing us brothers to draw our swords against you. Just you wait."
Xu Di looked ahead again, and saw that several tripwires had been put up on the road, making it impossible to ride a horse across. Just as the man had said, getting away from here was no longer an easy task.
Xu Di swayed his long legs and jumped off his horse. His trip to Wuzhou was a highly confidential matter, but he couldn't be sure if someone had found out about it and arranged this robbery on the way.
Xu Di still leans towards the conclusion that these people are unaware of his true identity, but he still needs to verify it.
Xu Di cupped his hands in greeting to the man and said, "Brother, we are a few merchants from Wuzhou who were returning to Wuzhou after completing our business. May I ask which mountain you are from?"
The man swung the large machete slung over his shoulder and said with his head held high, "We are from Peach Blossom Mountain. Our leader is known in the martial arts world as Jade-Faced Third Brother. I'm not afraid to tell you, but in all the mountain strongholds in Wuzhou, no one can compare to our leader."
Xu Di nodded and said with a smile, "I wonder if I would have the honor of meeting your eldest brother."
The man turned to look behind him and said, "Don't worry, my older brother will be here soon."
When Xi Jing'an heard that the head of the Ruo family was coming, he looked at Xu Di with a worried expression. Xu Di gave him a wink, and Xi Jing'an stepped forward and said to Xu Di, "Manager, we still need to hurry to Wuzhou to prepare the money to pay the deposit."
Xu Di hissed, "Silence!"
The man seemed intrigued and asked with a smile, "May I ask what kind of business this merchant is involved in?"
Xi Jing'an looked at Xu Di, who remained silent. Xi Jing'an was unsure what kind of business Xu Di was involved in, but seeing that Xu Di was quiet, he simply kept quiet as well. The silence between the two aroused the man's curiosity, and he insisted on finding out what kind of business Xu Di was involved in.
Under the man's repeated questioning, Xu Di finally said, "A bamboo paper workshop just opened in Lüzhou. I heard that the bamboo paper produced has already been sent to the capital. Someone in the capital took a liking to it and wanted to use the bamboo paper from this workshop as tribute. When I received the news, I thought that in business, you have to act first to make a profit, so I took some people to Lüzhou to talk to the workshop. After two days of negotiations, we finally got the deal done. They also gave us bamboo paper business in Wuzhou and Ganzhou in the north. I'm going back to Wuzhou to raise money as a deposit to secure this deal."
Xu Di's casual offer of a deal left Xi Jing'an and the other guards speechless. They truly hadn't expected their master to be this kind of person. Xi Jing'an now understood what Xu Di had once said: "He can even fool people so much that they're crippled."
Upon hearing that Xu Di was planning to trade tribute goods, the man looked at Xu Di as if he were a gold nugget, and said with a smile, "Our boss said that robbing people like this isn't a long-term solution. He wants to lead us to do some legitimate business. Young brother, please wait a moment, our boss is coming right away."
Upon hearing the man's words, Xu Di's heart stirred. He looked earnestly at the somewhat simple-minded man, smiled, and asked him, "Your elder brother is truly a man of great vision. Now that our Great Liang is prosperous and its people are thriving, as long as people are diligent, where can't they make money? This remote mountain forest can't compare to the exquisite beauty of the outside world."
The man nodded repeatedly and said, "What this brother said is very true. Our boss said the same thing. To be honest, it's just that we don't have any connections out there right now. If we did, we would have gone out and found a way to make money long ago. Hey, by the way, brother, I wonder if you could help us make some connections?"
Xu Di laughed heartily and said, "What's so difficult about that? Our business extends south to Qiongya and north to Liaodong. Whatever you can bring out, I can always sell it for you."
Upon hearing this, the burly man put down his broadsword and approached Xu Di with great interest, asking, "Have you been to all these places, brother?"
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