Chapter 77: Perilous Atmosphere
"The bird that Xie Pei rescued from the mountain is called Er Ya."
"It's bound to someone?" The merchant raised an eyebrow. "Tsk, what a pity, the name is too awful."
Zhu Mingyue: ...What's wrong with it? It's clearly very cute!
As the sky gradually turned tinged with the glow of dawn, a caravan began another day of arduous travel along the mountain road. The heavy wheels rolled over the slightly damp soil, and Zhu Mingyue, who was in the caravan, stopped and changed into a pair of cloth shoes.
A younger member of the team passed by him and curiously peered at him, saying, "It's no use. The morning dew is heavy, and the road is full of weeds. Your shoes will get wet after just a few steps. It's pointless to change them."
Zhu Mingyue smiled at him: "It's okay, I have plenty of shoes." Actually, his trouser legs were also wet. This area of mountain paths was sparsely populated and overgrown with weeds, making it quite difficult to walk.
The young man saw that he was still smiling at him, his dark face flushed red, and he turned his head away to continue on his way.
After walking for half a day, until the sun was high in the sky, Zhu Mingyue finally felt a bit tired. His physical strength was still no match for these bodyguards who had been traveling for years.
He didn't say much, but paused briefly before burying his head and following the group.
When the caravan reached a secluded mountain forest, the merchants finally ordered a stop to rest.
Zhu Mingyue slumped to the ground without regard for her image, leaning against a thick tree trunk, her eyes somewhat unfocused.
"How's it going?" The man walked over easily. "It's only the first day. The next two weeks will be increasingly tough."
"Why not take the waterway?" Zhu Mingyue looked up at him, exhausted and barely breathing.
The merchant raised an eyebrow: "Waterway? You wish! The Ji River is not the same as before. If you go to the riverbank, you will see that it is full of government boats, transporting grain and soldiers. Ordinary people like us can forget about getting around."
One of the bodyguards came over and said, "I used to travel by water before, and it is indeed much more convenient. Traveling from Ningjiang to the capital by water saves nearly half the time. You only need to pay for the boat rental and toll fees."
The merchant rolled his eyes at him: "You've gotten away with this easy life, but that's easy for you to say. The rental fee is a huge sum of money."
Someone else chimed in at the opportune moment: "But you don't need to worry about encountering bandits on that stretch of road."
In short, if you want peace of mind and ease, you have to pay for it, Zhu Mingyue silently concluded in her heart.
But it's pointless to say anything now. The Jihe River is now blocked from the public and businesses, so even if you pay, you can't travel by water.
Zhu Mingyue searched the sky for Er Ya's whereabouts but couldn't find her.
Er Ya had rested on horseback for a long time, and perhaps she was full of energy, because she called out to him and flew away.
Zhu Mingyue understood that it had slept enough and was going out to find food to fill its stomach, so she ignored it and let it go out.
It's strange that almost an hour has passed since it flew here, and there's still no sign of the bird. Zhu Mingyue couldn't help but feel a little worried.
Everyone else sat down and ate their flatbreads with cold water. The merchant also had a piece in his mouth. He took a piece of the same flatbread and handed it to him: "Have a piece of flatbread to replenish your strength. We can only rest here for half an hour before we set off. We need to find a place to spend the night before dark."
The pancake looked unusually bland, probably made by paying a few bucks to the tavern's kitchen staff. I don't know if it was due to poor skills or lack of technique, but it kept crumbling and falling to the ground after a few steps.
Zhu Mingyue waved her hand: "Thanks, I brought some food."
The traveling merchant, thinking he was being dismissive, explained, "When you're traveling, this is all you can afford. Even if you have money, you can't always get a proper hot meal. You just have to make do and get used to it. This flatbread is pretty good; most people can't afford it."
Zhu Mingyue smiled, took out the oil paper package from the parcel, and opened it.
The merchant wanted to say something more, but when his gaze fell on the bread in the man's hand, the words he was about to say stopped abruptly. He silently shook the crumbly bread in his hand and put it back in his pocket.
That's so embarrassing. He never said his meals were this good.
Zhu Mingyue handed the paper package to the merchant: "Brother, these are fried dough cakes I made myself. They won't keep for long, and I can't finish them all by myself. Try them."
The merchant's mouth watered, and he pretended to be indifferent, but he didn't hold back at all and quickly grabbed one: "In that case, I'll try it."
Zhu Mingyue ate two herself, and the rest were divided among the others.
Everyone ate with great enjoyment. Nothing could be happier than eating a scallion pancake filled with meat in the middle of nowhere. The aroma of meat filled the air, and everyone chatted and laughed, feeling much more relaxed.
Zhu Mingyue finished eating the pancake and was taking a small sip of water from her water pouch when she saw a dark shadow rushing towards her from the sky.
Then, it was as if a thick, long rope was thrown down from mid-air. Having already learned her lesson once, Zhu Mingyue immediately felt alarmed and dodged backward.
The "rope" then hung limply on the merchant's shoulder under his gaze.
The merchant exclaimed, "What is this thing?" He picked it up with his hand and exclaimed, "It's a golden ringed snake!" His tone showed no panic, but rather a hint of excitement.
Zhu Mingyue took a few steps back without making a sound, while the others happily surrounded her: "Golden ringed snake! Let's grill it now, it's delicious."
"Let's save it for dinner. We just had meat pies."
The traveling merchant scoffed, "Get out of the way! You can't resist anything good. You're so pathetic."
He held the snake's head and wrapped its body around his arm like a rope, walking towards Zhu Mingyue while saying, "This is the prey your bird caught. Keep it safe."
Zhu Mingyue hurriedly ran to the back of the carriage, crying out in terror, "Don't come any closer! I don't want to!"
"Why?" the merchant asked, puzzled. "This is a good thing."
Zhu Mingyue muttered, "Since it's good stuff, you can keep it for yourselves. I don't like eating this." He wasn't just terrified; he was absolutely scared. Luckily, Er Ya didn't throw it at him like she did last time.
The merchants felt they had gotten a good deal, knowing that the meat of the raven snake was tender and delicious, whether roasted or used in soup. However, because the snake was venomous, few people risked catching it. They had only been fortunate enough to eat it twice, both years ago.
The merchant had the snake put into a bag, and the group rested briefly before continuing their journey.
On the way, Er Ya ate and drank her fill and then stood on the horse's back, head held high and chest puffed out, acting like a big shot.
The merchant approached it: "Er Ya?"
Er Ya turned her head curiously to look at him, then turned her head back and preened her feathers with her beak, ignoring him and acting very aloof.
The merchant coughed twice to cover his embarrassment, then patiently muttered to himself, "My name is Wang Zongxiu, and your name is Er Ya. We're quite destined to meet!"
Zhu Mingyue emerged from behind him, standing between him and Er Ya, a smile on her face: "Having known you for so long, this is the first time I've ever heard of your name. If you hadn't mentioned it to Er Ya, I wouldn't have known!"
"Hehe, I forgot," Wang Zongxiu, the merchant, explained with a dry laugh.
Zhu Mingyue wasn't really holding a grudge against him. So what if he knew his name was Wang Zongxiu? It was just that he thought Wang Zongxiu was very cunning. He was getting close to Er Ya because he was interested in her hunting skills.
You think you can take Er Ya away from him? No way!
Zhu Mingyue had read Wang Zongxiu's mind, and after several failed attempts, he gave up, saying enviously, "Why can't I meet such a fine bird? I wonder how Xie Pei tamed it." If he could have one, wouldn't he never lack meat on the road?
Zhu Mingyue: "Er Ya was not tamed. She was probably grateful to Xie Pei for saving her life and felt close to me. After that, she stayed at home and didn't want to leave."
Well, actually, it was probably out of gratitude for Xie Pei's mercy in sparing her life, and also out of a sense of familiarity with his slaps—after all, Xie Pei had discussed with him how to eat Er Ya that day, and he hadn't hesitated to slap Er Ya a few times when she resisted. Zhu Mingyue silently added in his mind, but he wouldn't say it aloud; he had to save face for Er Ya!
The group quickened their pace and found a dilapidated temple in the wilderness before it got completely dark.
The temple was small and had obviously been abandoned for a long time. Others had stayed there before they arrived, and there were two piles of firewood in the temple that had long since burned to ashes.
Wang Zongxiu gave the order: "Wu Shan, Wu Feng, come with me to gather some firewood. The rest of you stay in the temple and peel off the snakeskin and clean it up."
"Okay!"
Zhu Mingyue's lips twitched, and he silently sat down outside the door. Er Ya jumped from the eaves onto his shoulder. The spring breeze was gentle yet slightly cool, and the man and the bird enjoyed the moment of peace after sunset.
That evening, everyone in the caravan enjoyed a delicious snake soup. Zhu Mingyue ate a meat pie that was roasting over a fire, refusing the meat soup they kindly offered for the fourth time.
Watching the snake meat pieces bobbing up and down in the hot soup in the pot, Zhu Mingyue felt her hair stand on end and immediately turned away.
People took turns keeping watch outside the temple that night, and Zhu Mingyue slept relatively soundly.
I was woken up before dawn again the next day.
The firewood crackled and popped as it burned, and on top of the fire sat the pot from last night's snake soup, steaming gently.
Wang Zongxiu ladled out a bowl of rice porridge and handed it to him: "It's chilly in the morning, eat something hot to warm yourself up before you set off."
Zhu Mingyue was still a little dazed when she woke up. She nodded in a daze, took the porridge, and drank it.
After walking like this for ten days, Zhu Mingyue's shoe wore out on one side, with his big toe sticking out. He hadn't even noticed it until someone pointed it out to him.
Zhu Mingyue was so embarrassed that she threw away the tattered cloth shoe and put on the other one instead.
He didn't know how many miles he had walked. He was almost numb. Every day, as soon as he opened his eyes, he would start walking. By the end, he had no other thoughts in his mind and was only counting down the days until he reached Jizhou.
Five days
Wang Zongxiu told him this morning that at the current speed, they would arrive in Jizhou City in five days at the latest.
"Are you tired yet?" Wang Zongxiu squeezed next to him and kept pace with him. "We were lucky on this trip, we didn't encounter any bandits, otherwise it wouldn't have gone so smoothly."
"We won't rest at noon. Yong'an County is just ahead. Let's try to get there before dark, find an inn to rest, and leave the city tomorrow."
Zhu Mingyue ate some dried meat for lunch, not much, and gave two pieces to everyone.
This stuff gets very hard when it's dried. Without chili, it tastes a bit sour. Some people love it, while others don't, but everyone cherished it and finished it all.
The carriage slowly drove into the narrow road between two mountains. The sunlight seemed to be swallowed up by the towering mountains on both sides in an instant. The road was lined with lush and intertwined trees, and a mountain breeze blew by, making the leaves rustle.
Whether it was her imagination or not, Zhu Mingyue seemed to hear a faint rustling sound in her ear, but when she listened more closely, she couldn't hear it anymore. It must have been her imagination, Zhu Mingyue thought.
He followed the group and walked to Wang Zongxiu's side. Wang Zongxiu turned his head and saw his tense little face. "Are you scared?"
Wang Zongxiu smiled: "Don't be afraid, there are no bandits in this area."
Zhu Mingyue gritted his teeth, his voice unconsciously lowering considerably: "With so many mountains, how can you be absolutely certain that there are no bandits?" His tension did not disappear because of Wang Zongxiu's words.
Wang Zongxiu further explained, “Indeed, there were mountain bandits rampant in this area before the New Year. They even robbed the local tribute sent to the imperial court by the prefectures and counties multiple times. When the current emperor found out about this, he was so angry that he ordered the governor to send troops to wipe out all the bandits in this area.”
"Is it really true that they were all caught in one fell swoop?" Zhu Mingyue was still not at ease and repeatedly asked Wang Zongxiu to confirm the authenticity of the matter.
“It’s true,” Wang Zongxiu could tell from his insecurity and could only comfort him, “To make an example of them, the bodies of those robbers have been piled up on this road and left to rot in the wilderness. The pile of bodies is over a hundred meters long. Don’t worry!”
Zhu Mingyue: ...After hearing this, I feel even more scared. The mountains between these two mountains, shrouded in clouds and sheltered from the sun, are already eerie and terrifying. Hearing these words is simply suffocating.
After walking another two miles, Zhu Mingyue looked back at the winding road she had come from, but the path was now hidden by layers of mountains and forests and could no longer be seen.
Zhu Mingyue's heart tightened for no reason, and at the same time, a chill ran down her spine.
He slowed his pace and tugged at Wang Zongxiu's sleeve: "I feel like someone is watching us from the shadows." The last time he had this ominous feeling was when Da Huangya tried to ambush him in the alley. As it turned out, his premonition was accurate, but by the time he realized it, it was too late.
Upon hearing this, Wang Zongxiu finally became serious: "Do you really think so?"
Zhu Mingyue closed her eyes, feeling a deep sense of being watched. When she opened them again, her tone was full of certainty: "It's true. We need to find a way to get out as soon as possible."
Wang Zongxiu pondered for a moment: "There are still at least ten miles ahead."
“Then let’s turn back,” Zhu Mingyue thought for a moment, “We can’t keep going like this.”
Wang Zongxiu believed him; Zhu Mingyue's reaction didn't seem fake, and she had no reason to lie to him.
In fact, although most of them maintain the necessary vigilance, they lose their ability to sense danger because they are too bold, and they become arrogant because they think they are experienced, thus falling into the trap of robbers.
On the contrary, Zhu Mingyue, a newcomer with no experience to speak of, was better at anticipating danger than him.
He lowered his eyes, a fierce glint flashing within them. He quickly composed himself, gestured to the others, and then said, "We've all been walking for a long time and are tired. Let's rest here for a while."
Zhu Mingyue also opened the package and handed out fried cakes to them one by one.
Everyone stuffed food into their mouths as if they hadn't eaten all day. Even though the fried dough was a rare delicacy they could find along the way, they seemed to find it tasteless.
Zhu Mingyue picked up Er Ya, then lowered her head and leaned close to its ear, as if to be affectionate with it.
Er Ya suddenly flapped her wings and flew into the sky, like a black dot.
Er Ya was extremely fast. After flying forward for a while, she circled around for a bit before plunging into the forest and disappearing from sight.
This time, even without Zhu Mingyue's explanation, Wang Zongxiu could understand the meaning behind Er Ya's actions.
"They're blocking that spot." He clenched his fists secretly. Thank goodness, Zhu Mingyue stopped him. Otherwise, if they had gone another two miles, they would have been caught off guard and killed by the robbers.
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