Chapter 45: A Thousand Miles to Apology
"Shall we go now?" The dirty clothes couldn't be dried after washing. Zhao Yan wrapped them up and put them away. He glanced at Yong Shaolan, who was drying himself next to him. The man didn't say anything for a long time: "Please pay attention to me..."
stingy person.
Zhao Yan sat on the floor, legs crossed, and called out to the man twice: "Hey, stop using cold violence!"
Yong Shaolan then turned around and looked at him. "Tomorrow morning. Rest."
After saying that, he turned around again. Zhao Yan took a look and found that he was about to unbutton his pants. He was so scared that he quickly covered his eyes and rolled onto the bed.
Not long after, the door to the room opened, and Yong Shaolan walked out with the water, then returned. Ten minutes later, Zhao Yan felt something sink beside him. The man returned, carrying the scent of water vapor and bath beans.
He turned over and saw Yong Shaolan drying his hair. He quickly stood up and offered his courtesy: "I'll do it, I'll do it!"
Yong Shaolan didn't say anything, so Zhao Yan knelt beside him and snatched the towel from his hand: "What are you doing? I apologized, but you're still so mean."
Zhao Yan grabbed Yong Shaolan's hair. The man glanced at him after hearing what he said. His eyes seemed to still be angry, and they were frighteningly cold: "..."
Yong Shaolan has been cleaning up his mess all the time, so it's normal for him to be angry.
Zhao Yan felt a little guilty when being looked at, so he concentrated on wiping his hair. After drying it, he took the initiative to kiss him and said, "Let's go to bed. I'm a little tired."
Yong Shaolan spread out Zhao Yan's quilt and said, "Go to sleep."
Before closing his eyes, Zhao Yan was still facing Yong Shaolan. After Yong Shaolan lay down, he held him in his arms and glanced at him from time to time. It was obvious that he was no longer angry.
A dreamless night.
The next morning, Zhao Yan got up early and packed their things. Yong Shaolan didn't help him pack when he got up. He went downstairs first and brought up two bowls of vegetarian noodles. Zhao Yan had almost finished packing by then. "I'm hungry now. Shall we leave after dinner?"
Yong Shaolan sprinkled chopped green onions into the boy's rice bowl: "Well, let's go after dinner."
Zhao Yan held the bowl and said, "Okay, I've almost packed everything. You can check out after dinner."
After dinner, Zhao Yan went downstairs with Yong Shaolan and Wen Quan.
"Sir, take this. I'll give you a pot of wine that we brewed ourselves."
The waiter handed Wenquan the change and the wine, "Take care."
After leaving the inn, Wenquan went to pull the carriage, and Zhao Yan and Yong Shaolan got on the sedan chair: "Thank you for your hard work, Brother Wenquan."
After several days of traveling, only Zhao Yan had lost noticeable weight, while Wen Quan hadn't lost weight and instead looked stronger. He had been leading troops and farming in Liaodong for years, and was used to a life of wandering. However, during the time he had been with the prince back in Yujing, he hadn't been eating or sleeping well.
"Your Highness is too polite,"
The carriage was covered with a thin layer of mist and gradually left the town. Along the way, it passed a few villagers who were going to the market in the town from time to time. The smell of smoke was mixed with noisy conversations.
Zhao Yan lifted the curtain and looked outside, but found nothing unusual. "It's already noon, someone in the school should have reported it to the police, right? Why does it seem like there's no movement at all?"
Yong Shaolan said calmly, "They are just a bunch of termites. You can't expect anything from them."
"They're really being awful," Zhao Yan said angrily, "I really don't know whether I should be happy or not."
Their identities were already special, and now they had murdered someone. If the authorities were efficient, they would have a hard time escaping. But now it was daybreak, and there was nothing happening in the town, obviously the authorities hadn't made any move yet. This gave them time to escape. But what if a murder happened at any other time?
Zhao Yan lowered the curtain. "It's only been over a month, and Guanyang has become so chaotic? Or has it always been like this?"
"A month is a long time," Yong Shaolan said. "The local governors are all retainers of the founding heroes. For example, the prefect of Guanyang is a small staff member of Marquis Dingnan. When Emperor Yuanwu was still alive, they didn't dare to act rashly. Now that he's gone, Zhao Cheng has no foundation, so naturally he won't be as honest as before."
"That's why he wanted to promote the imperial examination system, which hadn't been completely reformed by the previous dynasty. He simply wanted to select a bunch of poor students. For the sake of his own career and reputation, he would work diligently at the grassroots level and mobilize the enthusiasm of the departments under his jurisdiction."
"Okay," Zhao Yan nodded. "College students are definitely more useful. They're more motivated."
After walking for more than three hours, they finally left Guanyang Town and, following the map, reached the junction of Guanyang and Baicheng.
In the afternoon, Wen Quan parked the car in the shade inside the city gate. Zhao Yan and Yong Shaolan went to the pawnshop in the city and exchanged some small change.
Zhao Yan was carrying a bag full of small silver coins that Yong Shaolan had exchanged for gold ingots. There were also impurities in the coins, and the purity looked questionable. "Why did you exchange money for small silver coins? Isn't gold more valuable?"
Yong Shaolan explained to Zhao Yan slowly, "Commodity taxes are high, and most of those who buy their way are small vendors. Giving too much money will only arouse suspicion."
"Eat meat? Buy some and eat outside the city."
"Sure, you have money anyway," Zhao Yan glanced at the smoked meat stall next to him. Yong Shaolan took out a few taels of silver from his pocket, walked over, pointed at a few pieces of bacon, and said, "Boss, how much do you want to buy this meat?"
"Cheap, fifty coins a pound."
"Three pounds, please."
"This is it, a little thinner."
"Okay."
The two of them returned from the street, and Wenquan was sitting in the sedan chair, looking around. A large number of people had already gathered in front of the city gate, and it looked very lively.
Zhao Yan bought some dry food from the street and put it on the carriage. At this time, he suddenly saw a group of people who looked like officers and soldiers coming from not far away, pulling several prison carts. Following the officers and soldiers were a middle-aged woman and a young girl who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old.
"Sir, you can't just ignore this matter. Our daughter was raped in school, and we are the victims. How can you arrest my man?"
"We rely on our husband to make money collecting herbs. If you arrest him, we won't be able to survive."
The woman looked pitiful and was entangled with the leading officer and soldier, which soon attracted a crowd of onlookers.
"Since you say that the teacher at the school bullied your daughter, then you must produce evidence!"
"People from the county government searched your house today. Your man has already sharpened his knife and keeps talking about killing someone. I think he's been planning this for a long time!"
"If there is any grievance, once it reaches Yujing, the Dali Temple will naturally investigate it thoroughly."
"Let him go!!! Let him go!!!" Seeing that the woman was about to lose the argument, a group of farmers in singlets leaning on hoes rushed over. There were dozens of them in the crowd.
"Something awful happened in the government-run school. I wonder which hero avenged the children and dealt with those old bastards! Now the government can't find the culprits, so they're just hastily arresting civilians!!! There's no law in this world!"
"Bold traitor!"
"They actually incited the people to openly rebel!"
"Come here, take down——"
"We are not rebels, we are honest people from Niujia Village, Guanyang Town—"
Zhao Yan stared at the scene in front of him in bewilderment. Even though the villagers claiming to be from Niujia Village were carrying farm tools, they were no match for the local officials, and the two sides quickly became a mess.
The city gates began to open, and Wenquan, leading the horse, asked carefully, "It's time for us to leave."
The carriage slowly moved towards the city gate. The entire area in front of the city gate was in chaos. Zhao Yan eagerly lifted the curtain and looked at the farmers and soldiers from the local government office who were still fighting behind him.
Suddenly, a sharp female voice was heard: "Ouch, the little kid hit the wall! Help! The little kid hit the wall!"
Zhao Yan clenched his hand into a fist under his sleeve. Yong Shaolan held his wrist and said, "Calm down."
"Yes, yes, I need to calm down..." Zhao Yan lowered the curtain and sat back in the sedan chair. Now he finally realized his own incompetence. He couldn't rush out like this. Not only would he fail to save anyone, but he would also get himself into trouble.
The procession out of the city walked at a leisurely pace. Wen Quan, with the small change he had exchanged with Zhao Yan beside him, lowered his veil. As they approached, he noticed that the officers and soldiers conducting the search were holding several portraits.
Wen Quan suddenly felt something was wrong, so he opened the curtain and said to the two people inside: "Your Highness, Your Highness, something is wrong."
Inside the car, Zhao Yang had just calmed down when Yong Shaolan lifted the curtain and took a look outside.
There were more than ten soldiers guarding the city. Two of them held the portrait in their hands, and one carefully checked the portrait and the passers-by.
Wen Quan: "I will hold them back for a while, Your Highness, you and the young prince, run quickly."
Wen Quan's voice was so low that Zhao Yan, sitting in the sedan chair, didn't hear it clearly. He nodded. Behind them, a long line of carriages were already forming, heading out of the city. There was no way to retreat.
Yong Shaolan returned to the sedan chair, took out a dagger and put it in his sleeve. Zhao Yan then realized that something was wrong with him: "What's wrong?"
"Zhao Cheng must have noticed something's wrong with the Northern Frontier's honor guard. The city guards ahead are holding portraits. I'm not sure if they're looking for you or me." Yong Shaolan said, covering Zhao Yan's hand and thrusting a dagger into his hand. "If anything unexpected happens later, cut the ropes on your horse and ride away with me."
Zhao Yan: "I'll go, what about Wenquan?"
Yong Shaolan said: "These people are no match for him."
"..." Zhao Yan trembled as he took the dagger that Yong Shaolan handed to him, his body shaking uncontrollably. "Okay, I'll do as you say."
Soon, the vehicles in front were allowed to pass one by one, and Wenquan parked their carriage in front of several city defenders.
"What are you doing? Take off your veil and hand over your household registration documents."
"I'm traveling from Yujing to the sea on business," Wenquan said, taking out the money he had prepared for the passage. He got off the carriage and approached the leading defenders, taking a closer look at the person in the portrait. "Sir, please be flexible."
"Hmph," the leading defender weighed the money bag and stuffed it into Wenquan's hand. Suddenly, Wenquan pulled out a dagger from his sleeve and held the leader hostage: "Don't move."
"This man is a wanted criminal by the imperial court—" Before the city guards could finish their words, Yong Shaolan came out of the sedan chair holding Zhao Yan's hand, cut the rope on the horse, and then galloped out of the city.
Zhao Yan hugged Yong Shaolan's waist tightly and turned to watch a group of people attacking Wen Quan.
"Chase quickly——"
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