Chapter 152: Operation (Part 10) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
"What's going on? Hasn't it been resolved yet?"
The time spent by the subordinate officials was rather long.
Commander Yang's already dwindling patience ran out. His horse's hooves splashed through puddles, kicking up muddy water. He rode forward, his armor clad in a ferocious beast-head design, looking down at the hunched-over old man, instilling immense pressure in the latter, who trembled with fear.
"These are the two?"
The subordinates answered truthfully.
Commander Yang glanced indifferently at the weathered old man and the gaunt, thin shepherd boy. Both bore sunburn scars from years of hard work under the scorching sun, and their fingers were chapped. The old man wore a tattered straw hat with a chipped corner, while the shepherd boy wore a large, worn-out raincoat.
No matter how you look at them, they are just ordinary people in this world, not the thieves he was worried about. Commander Yang's tense nerves relaxed a little, but the anger in his heart had not been completely vented.
"Why are you two wandering around the mountain at this hour instead of going home?"
The old man moved his lips, then said in a disheveled and aggrieved tone, "Sir, please understand, it's not that we don't want to go home, it's just that..."
He glanced in the direction Yang Duwei and his men had come from, hesitating to speak, his cloudy eyes conveying a deep weariness and unease. Yang Duwei, his anger rising, coldly snorted, "You old codger, are you accusing us of blocking your way?"
The old man replied with trepidation, "I dare not, I dare not."
He was so frightened by Yang Duwei's words that he turned pale.
The shepherd boy on the ox's back bit his lower lip, lowered his head and hunched his shoulders, looking pitiful and helpless. Commander Yang didn't want to make things difficult for the elderly grandfather and grandson in front of so many people. He pointed to the roadside with his whip in his hand: "You go that way, don't delay our business."
Upon hearing this, the old man felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He nodded and bowed repeatedly to thank Commandant Yang, while also uttering flattering and auspicious words.
Perhaps feeling that what he said wasn't enough, he tugged at his grandson's tattered trouser leg, indicating that his grandson should also be grateful for Commandant Yang's magnanimity.
The shepherd boy stammered and couldn't finish a single sentence.
Commander Yang cursed inwardly, thinking that the man was a stutterer.
"Alright, alright, get out of here!"
The old man nodded as he laboriously pulled the unruly ox to the side of the road, clearing a path. The tax-collecting procession continued its snail-like progress, the ox carrying the shepherd boy, slowly moving forward under the old man's guidance, until—
"Old man, please wait a moment!"
Zhai Le smiled and stepped forward to call out to the old man.
The old man seemed to have hearing problems; he was a beat slow to react before he came to his senses and bowed to him, saying, "Greetings, sir. What are your orders?"
Zhai Le asked, "Does your family sell dates, sir?"
The old man was speechless. Although he was very puzzled, he still answered respectfully, "We don't sell dates, but we have two trees behind the house, one is an orange tree and the other is also an orange tree. If you don't mind, sir, please stay here and bring them to you right away."
Zhai Le didn't call out to the old man for oranges. But the old man's enthusiasm made him feel a little embarrassed.
"Give it to your grandson."
The old man flattered Zhai Le, glanced at his grandson, and sighed, "He can have two; we're not worthy anyway. If the soldier wants some, send him the rest. We also have a lot of dried orange peels at home; soaking them in water makes a delicious drink."
Seeing that the old man was very serious, Zhai Le hurriedly stopped him.
The old man looked at Zhai Le suspiciously, as if he were completely baffled, and said, "Sir, you stopped us not to eat oranges... but to eat dates? But there are no date trees in your home. Alas—why don't you go further ahead, perhaps there are people who grow date trees."
Zhai Le: "..."
Seeing this, Zhai Huan couldn't help but smile.
Zhai Le was easily embarrassed, and upon hearing the laughter, his face turned bright red with embarrassment. He said, both angry and annoyed, "Brother, don't laugh!"
Zhai Huan replied insincerely, "Yes, yes, I won't laugh."
Seeing that he really didn't smile, Zhai Le turned to ask the old man again.
"Does your family brew wine?"
As a devoted fan of "Water Margin," it's such a rare experience to see the novel come to life. The tax revenue was matched with the birthday tribute, and Commandant Yang shared the same surname as the hero Yang Zhi (Blue-Faced Beast). The birthday tribute was robbed at Huangni Ridge, and now they're on a similar mountain path.
Just then, an old man and a young boy, a grandfather and grandson, walked towards us.
It's not that Zhai Le suspects the grandfather and grandson are villains in disguise. If they were, how could his cousin not see through it?
He just wanted to collect all the elements his idol used.
If the old man had a business selling dates or wine, he would be content with just one of them. But no one understood his little secret, and his older brother even laughed at him. The old man looked at the handsome, richly dressed but somewhat mentally challenged young man and slowly said, "We don't sell wine at home, but my son loved wine when he was alive. He could drink three large jars at a time."
Zhai Le pouted regretfully.
The old man asked again, "Does the soldier have any other instructions?"
Zhai Le concealed his disappointment and gently instructed, "It's all, it's all. Please continue, old man. The mountain road is slippery, please be careful."
The old man thanked him, saying, "Thank you for your concern, sir."
After saying this, he led the old ox on his way. He dared not get too close to the tax collection team, nor too far from the mountain path, for fear of getting lost as night fell. The tax collection team moved forward, while the grandfather and grandson moved backward, walking towards each other for a good quarter of an hour before separating.
Zhai Huan frowned slightly as she watched the grandfather and grandson's departing figures in the distance.
After a while, he borrowed a scout from Commandant Yang.
Commandant Yang was not satisfied: "What?"
Zhai Huan said, "Let's follow that grandfather and grandson and take a look."
Commander Yang snorted, "An old geezer with white hair and a little boy with yellow hair, are you worried they're outposts for villains?"
If you really suspect they're outposts, just capture them and kill them.
Why send scouts to track and investigate?
Zhai Huan didn't say it explicitly, but simply said in a low voice, "Better safe than sorry. If this grandfather and grandson are truly innocent and their appearance was just a coincidence, then we shouldn't disturb them, lest we ruin the Commandant's good reputation. If they have something to do with it, wouldn't arresting them be like alerting the enemy?"
Commandant Yang couldn't win an argument with these scholars.
They have arguments for both sides.
Because of the rain, the tax collection team couldn't move quickly even if they wanted to, and Commandant Yang, being cautious, adopted Zhai Huan's suggestion.
Zhai Le privately asked his cousin, "That grandfather and grandson..."
Zhai Huan knew what he was going to ask, and said softly, "I wasn't sure if it was them, so I used the methods of a scholar to investigate just now..."
Zhai Le's expression sharpened: "What has happened?"
He knew his cousin's way of life as a scholar.
[Eight-Day Hexagram]
A divination can be performed every eight days.
The seemingly miraculous path of the scholar also has many limitations. For example, it cannot specify the object of divination, only displays the hexagram, and consumes a considerable amount of literary energy. Due to these limitations, he generally doesn't use it often, and he only used it this time out of caution.
He said, "The initial stages of Shuileitun were extremely difficult."
Zhai Le's relaxed expression vanished, replaced by seriousness: "The Tun hexagram, the lowest of the low... Zhen represents thunder, Kan represents rain. Thunder and rain intertwined, danger lurks everywhere, not a good omen..."
|ω)
1. "I'm going to buy some oranges. You stay here and don't move." (From a father's back to his son)
I'll only eat two, the rest are yours—Camel Xiangzi (Grandpa to his grandson)
You can eat two more, and then soak some orange peel in water to drink – Four generations under one roof (Great-grandfather to great-grandson)
Tang Mei really took advantage of Zhai Le, haha.
2. I haven't studied the hexagrams and such in the I Ching, I just skimmed through them, so please don't take it too seriously.
(End of this chapter)
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