"Okay, thank you for your hard work, boatman," Mu Run replied.
Soon the boatman returned to his questioning and said to Mu Run, "He can sail the boat, young lady, come with me."
Upon seeing the sleeping boatman, Mu Run laughed, "It's you, Guo San'er."
"Who is this, sir?" Mu Run was wearing a veil, and Guo San'er didn't recognize her at first.
Mu Run removed the veil. "A few days ago, I rode in your carriage to Su Family Village. Have you forgotten?"
Upon seeing her face, Guo San'er immediately remembered her. After all, Mu Run was a rare beauty who left a deep impression. "It was my mistake. Are you going to Youdu, sir?"
"Can you get there?"
"We can take you along."
"You were just giving it to me last time too. Do you always say 'give it to me' when you're in business?" Mu Run said with a smile as she boarded the boat.
Guo San'er scratched his head and replied, "What a coincidence, it really was just something I brought along."
The boat slowly sailed away from the dock and gradually disappeared into the distance on the river.
Mu Run sat cross-legged at the bow of the boat, and pulled out an oil paper bag from his small bundle. Inside were cream puffs, which he ate one bite at a time, sweet and delicious.
"What exactly do you do? How come you drive a horse-drawn carriage and a boat? If you were to set up a barbecue stall on the roadside, I probably wouldn't be surprised."
"Haha, no, no, I'm just a boatman. Last time I drove the carriage to take a relative to the capital," Guo San'er laughed.
Mu Run took another bite of the cream puff. "Tell me about Youdu, okay? It's my first time there, so I don't know if there's anything I should be aware of."
Guo San'er glanced at her before saying, "To put it simply, Youdu is a relatively large night market. As the old saying goes, ghosts and monsters emerge at night, so it is also called the Ghost Market. The Ghost Market sells things that we can't see in ordinary markets, and it also has a lot of prohibited goods."
"Doesn't the imperial court care?" If it were her, she would definitely banish such a market.
Guo San'er laughed and said, "The Ghost Market has existed for more than 500 years, longer than the Rong Dynasty."
Mu Run: "...So it's not that I don't want to, but that I can't."
Guo San'er nodded. "It's a den of iniquity, home to many serious criminals. Take, for example, Yin Ge Lao, the owner of the Youdu Chronicles. He was originally the Prime Minister, but he committed countless crimes due to corruption, bribery, and abuse of power. The court has always wanted to bring him to justice, but with Youdu protecting him, unless he comes out of Youdu, the court is helpless. And such people are everywhere in Youdu. Even a roadside peddler could be a notorious bandit."
"Ha, so this Youdu is a city of sin, filled with sinners."
"That's one way to put it. You should be careful once you go inside."
As they were talking, their boat came to the front of a cave.
Above the cave are three large vermilion characters: Ghost Gate Cave.
"Once we pass through the Ghost Gate Cave, we'll be in Youdu's territory," Guo San'er said to Mu Run.
Mu Run looked back at the calm river surface. "So, we're currently at the border between the imperial court and Youdu?"
"Yes." Guo San'er asked, "Are you sure you want to go to Youdu, sir? Once you get there, you'll have to bear whatever fortune or misfortune awaits you."
"Go." She wanted to investigate information about spiritual roots. Youdu was both a den of iniquity and a place where hidden talents lurked, which made her even more certain that she could find something useful there.
As the boat entered the Ghost Gate Cave, a sudden blast of chilling water hit them. Mu Run, weak from the cold, couldn't help but shiver.
Guo San'er said to Mu Run, "The waterways inside the Ghost Gate Cave are quite complex and may be a bit bumpy, so please hold on tight, sir."
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