Mistress Xue had not even recovered her senses when she heard a burst of shrieks from the villainous mountain bandits, who instantly fell into chaos.
Seeing them flee in terror in all directions, as if they had seen a ghost, Xue Zhu felt utterly baffled.
“Run!”
“…It was them, those two old monsters who looked young, who killed Sect Leader Luo of the Holy Lotus Sect and General Zheng.”
“How could we mistake them? How many people have you seen who look like that? And two together at that, so if you don’t run, you wait for death? Did you grow two heads, or do you think your neck is tougher than those of Old Man White Bone and his lot?”
These scattered, panicked shouts reached his ears. Mo Li suddenly understood, then fell silent.
It turned out that his and Meng Qi’s reputation had spread to Yongzhou. Even though not many people had actually met them in person, their appearances were apparently “trending” among the roaming rebels and outlaws. And with remarkable timeliness, word of their grand feat in eradicating that group of scoundrels from the Holy Lotus Sect had also spread.
Surprised though he was, he could not let them get away. These rebels rampaged everywhere, killing and looting.
“Brother Meng.”
Mo Li called out once, though Meng Qi would have acted even if he had not said anything.
He spoke mainly to show Xue Zhu that the one appearing behind him was his travelling companion.
Xue Zhu slowly lowered her blade, and the porters and drivers in the caravan breathed a sigh of relief as the bandits dispersed. Then everyone looked on, stunned, as that once-aggressive mob disappeared in the blink of an eye.
They had been immobilized at their acupoints, freezing them in their desperate flight. Some were running while looking back, others tried shoving companions aside to block Meng Qi, but all of them faced away, as if they were chased by wolves or tigers.
It was as though the caravan only blinked a few times; when they looked again, everything was over.
“Pfft.”
One after another, people burst out laughing, then started cursing the bandits angrily.
Mo Li quietly sheathed his sword and handed it back to Meng Qi.
Meng Qi glanced at Xue Zhu, looking a bit stiff, then turned and asked, “Is this someone A-Li knew?”
The main reason was that, all along this journey, it had always been Meng Qi who encountered “acquaintances,” or people both of them “got to know.” This situation had never happened before, so even Meng Qi could not help feeling somewhat “concerned.” He especially understood Mo Li well: be it a chance meeting or a former patient he treated, Mo Li rarely showed much surprise, and even his greetings had a certain familiarity.
“This is Mistress Xue…”
Mo Li paused. He and Xue Zhu could be considered familiar, but they had not really interacted often. He had to read, learn medicine, practice martial arts, and had no spare time even to doze off. Moreover, Xue Zhu’s martial arts were not that great; she mainly studied poison skills. Word had it that her martial aptitude was ordinary, and Xue Ting was unwilling to let his beloved daughter endure hardships.
But Zhushan County in Pingzhou was too small. Almost everyone there recognized one another, so who would not know someone else’s family matters?
When a family had a wedding or a funeral, half the town would show up. All the more so if the fathers were old friends; they were practically like blood brothers.
Mo Li paused because he belatedly realized that such closeness hinted at ties that went back a generation—often a first choice for marriage. Given that they appeared about the same age, it would have been impossible for Magistrate Xue not to consider Mo Li as a prospective son-in-law. However, the matter never went anywhere.
Mo Li used to believe he was a fish. Even if Xue Ting had come to test him, he would have refused.
Although the Xue family never gave him the chance to refuse, Mo Li had not given much thought to why that was the case. Xue Zhu could marry whomever she wished; there were countless men in this world. Since Mo Li had no desire for it himself, he naturally would not fret about not being chosen.
Until last winter, when he left Qimao Mountain to deliver a letter to Ma County on behalf of Magistrate Xue, and witnessed a farce. Only then did he understand where the crux lay.
“This is Mistress Xue, and this is her husband. We are all from Pingzhou.” Mo Li spotted Chen Zhong, who looked like a towering chunk of black iron, in the crowd. Embarrassingly, Meng Qi had also immobilized Chen Zhong by mistake, taking him for a bandit.
This was mainly because Chen Zhong had thick eyebrows, fierce eyes, and a wide, glaring expression, wielding a massive weapon bigger than a bowl. His broad chest rose and fell no less powerfully than Mistress Xue’s.
Besides, in that chaotic melee, the bandits and outlaws were fighting among themselves. Once Meng Qi and Mo Li appeared, most people immediately fled. Some of the caravan’s porters and drivers tried to pursue and attack, so they were running, too. That was how Chen Zhong was mistaken.
While freeing Chen Zhong’s acupoints, Mo Li used silent transmission to speak to Meng Qi: “She is the daughter of Magistrate Xue.”
Meng Qi’s eyes lit up.
“…His only daughter!” Mo Li had no idea why he emphasized that again.
He then noticed the Grand Preceptor’s eyes gleaming more brightly.
Chen Zhong did not mind having been immobilized. As soon as he could move, he laughed heartily and said, “Never expected to run into Doctor Mo here.”
The Chen family ran caravans, and they had also encountered bandits in Pingzhou before. Now that all was settled, the caravan began rearranging its goods, some harnessing the vehicles, others moving crates.
Xue Zhu wiped the blood from her blade, fished out a few mountain bandit-looking fellows from among the crowd, and seized them.
“So it was you wretches from Mount Chiwang! I knew you were involved in this!”
Hearing that, Mo Li froze, trying to recall why that name sounded so familiar. Fortunately, Chen Zhong, who stood beside him, explained everything in just a few words.
It turned out that when the Chen family caravan had once passed through Mount Chiwang for business, they had run into bandits gathering there. Of course, they had gained nothing, but were instead wiped out in one go by Xue Zhu’s poison. It happened that a few people had not been in the bandit lair that day and slipped away, holding a grudge afterward. They incited bandits and roving outlaws in Pingzhou and Yongzhou several times to harass the Chen family caravan.
That was not all—they had even pledged allegiance to the Holy Lotus Sect, once intending to unite certain bandit lairs in Yongzhou and prepare to seize a county seat.
While they spoke, Meng Qi turned and brought Yan Cen and the carriage over.
Everyone had not even had time to exchange names and pleasantries when Yan Cen, upon hearing the words “Mount Chiwang,” immediately recalled that at the Shimo Stronghold, they had run into such a “negotiator” trying to get them to join forces with the Tianshou King to capture a city and plot rebellion.
“They had not persuaded the Shimo Stronghold, but they had incited another eight bandit lairs.” Xue Zhu spat once and said angrily, “Two months ago, the Tianshou King attacked Jingzhou, and these wretches stirred up trouble, capturing two county seats in Yongzhou. But now they had been driven out by the government troops and people from the martial world, leaving the remaining forces to become bandits, robbing everywhere. Before this, the trade route from Pingzhou to Yongzhou was cut off. If we couldn’t ship out our furs, the hunters in Ma County would have nothing to eat, and we also had to buy large amounts of salt and sugar, as well as some medicinal herbs, to take back.”
Chen Zhong patted the crates, indicating these were the goods they intended to bring back.
“I heard that government troops often came to clear out bandits, but these people were still slippery: rebellious soldiers, roving outlaws, and mountain bandits… Luckily, my family’s Mistress Xue noticed some suspicious people yesterday, so we had some warning. These people were filthy and starving. Seeing so many trunks, they probably didn’t care what was inside and just rushed in to rob us.”
Mistress Xue crossed her arms and let out a snort of laughter. “I fear these few from Mount Chiwang also fanned the flames, saying we carried gold, silver, and grain.”
At this moment, the bandits all cried their grievances. Yongzhou had been in chaos for a while, and one hardly saw any caravans now. When they finally encountered a big fish, how could they let it go?
Mo Li understood now. No wonder there were so many Jinyiwei along the way, and Gong Jun had arranged everything so thoroughly—some of it even seemed like an overreaction. It seemed that these Jinyiwei were not dispatched especially for them but had already been in Yongzhou to hunt down the remnants of the Holy Lotus Sect.
Upon hearing news of the Shimo Stronghold, Yan Cen suddenly felt extremely nervous and hurried to ask questions.
Chen Zhong thought for a moment, then laughed, “It’s all right. I heard that the Stronghold Chief of Shimo had cut down two incense masters from the Holy Lotus Sect. Without them, those martial sects in Yongzhou wouldn’t have been able to respond so quickly. If they had relied solely on the government army, it wouldn’t have been so easy.”
Yongzhou had suffered a great drought for three years. The people had no means of survival. Those who could run had run, and those who stayed behind were easily fooled by the Tianshou King’s rhetoric.
But in essence, they were merely a band of rabble, also bandits like Shimo Stronghold, only lacking the unity the people of Shimo Stronghold had.
Actually, Shimo Mountain was the place Cheng Jingchuan once mentioned as an impossible ideal retreat: a group of people living far away from the mundane world, remaining in isolation to avoid the cruelties of the world.
People’s thinking could change. After living in poverty for too long, they would start missing everything outside and would even imitate those who once oppressed them, oppressing others to secure their own positions. But this problem did not arise at Shimo Mountain, because the people in the stronghold knew perfectly well that there was no place for them outside the mountain.
Even without turmoil or without disasters, they would still have been driven out and despised. They had never been accepted by this world. Only at Shimo Mountain could they stand upright as “human beings” without facing strange looks.
“That Stronghold Chief of Shimo really had some abilities.” Meng Qi remembered what he had seen back then. Shimo Mountain used the terrain to capture those ill-intentioned rogues from the martial world.
Among them was Daoist Priest Sang, who had planned to sever the Lu clan’s dragon vein of the Qi Dynasty to curry favour with the King of Wu.
Thinking back on the evil fools they had encountered from the north to the south, he actually found it somewhat amusing.
Meng Qi glanced unobtrusively at Mo Li, thinking it was probably because A-Li had been at his side all along that even the hateful faces of those idiots had become part of his pleasant memories.
After looking away, Meng Qi could not help turning back quietly, only to meet those eyes by accident.
——Mo Li happened to be looking at Meng Qi.
Their gazes locked, and an indescribable aura gradually wound itself around them.
Caught off guard, they saw the same emotion in each other’s eyes, and an unconscious smile appeared at the corners of their mouths.
Perhaps Meng Qi thought that glance was quick, and Mo Li had not noticed anything amiss, thinking it was just a casual look and not even realizing whether he was smiling.
Chen Zhong, in astonishment, slightly opened his mouth, full of confusion. Right away, a hand stretched out from the side and covered his mouth.
Towering enough to block sunlight above people’s heads, Chen Zhong lowered his head innocently to look at Xue Zhu, who was beside him.
“Should we hand these bandits over to the government?” Meng Qi asked lazily.
Conveniently, the Jinyiwei would soon find them and would be more than glad to solve the matter of bandits running rampant in Yongzhou immediately.
Having heard news of Shimo Mountain, Yan Cen completely regained his composure. Eager to return home, he was also somewhat regretful that he had not been with the Shimo Mountain folks during such a critical time.
“Ahem, Brother Meng and I planned to return to Pingzhou together. Now that this matter was settled, why don’t we all travel together?”
Mo Li took the initiative to say, then noticed Mistress Xue’s inscrutable expression as she glanced between him and Meng Qi.
Author’s note:
Someone asked what Chen Zhong really looked like. Actually… looking fierce did not mean ugly.
After pondering it for a long time, I thought of how the main character of “Aquaman” appeared on screen. If you haven’t watched it, you can look at the poster.
Of course, some people might not appreciate that.
————
Grand Preceptor Meng looked at Xue Zhu: The breakthrough had arrived!
Xue Zhu looked at Meng Qi and Mo Li: You two are going back to your hometown?
