Chapter 14 – Male Vixen

At dawn the next day, You Shu set off from the capital along with Ying Jiu and Ying Qi. They had to pass through three counties in order to reach the destination and the round trip would take approximately 15 days.

Just as Qi Han had said, the capital was prosperous and flourishing but heading northwards from the capital, after a journey of merely five days, the actual state and suffering of the citizens becomes clear. It is hard to remember that this desolate place exists in the same time and space as the bustling and prosperous capital.

The increasing number of refugees at both sides of the road gradually made all three of them somber and even Ying Jiu, who loves to joke around, didn’t speak much. They may be ruthless and cold-blooded shadow guards but they are not truly emotionless. No matter who sees these haggard and disheveled poor people would sympathize with them.

You Shu tried his best to avoid looking sideways but he still accidentally saw the corpse of a young child, who had been dead for an unknown amount of time. Wolves were greedily chewing on the remaining part of his torso. You Shu looked away, stomach churning and galloped forward quickly, not daring to look back.

The four carriages’ worth of food needed to be transported to Huaizhou and he couldn’t afford to waste any time.

In order to avoid the news [of them transporting food] being leaked, they chose to take a more discreet side road and transported the food in eight carts. Xiao Weijing had said that although the food was not a lot, it could help the people of Huaizhou survive the New Year and, hopefully, most people would even live to see the start of spring. Therefore, You Shu and the others desperately travelled day and night, hoping to arrive on the expected date.

After noon, You Shu looked at the sky and decided that it would be better to take a break to eat and rest before setting out again. Even the horses were unable to run anymore because they had been travelling continuously for six hours since early that morning and needed to be fed. So they stopped temporarily in a small roadside pavilion. You Shu asked everyone to rest and wait for orders and then took out dry rations and ate it with cold water.

To be honest, travelling in ancient times is really inconvenient and troublesome. These dried millet pancakes1 are hard and cold. Not only do they taste terrible but eating them directly can actually break your teeth and even water doesn’t soften them enough to chew easily. Even if you swallow them somehow, they get stuck in your throat and make you feel choked. And if one uses it as a weapon, it can definitely crack someone’s skull with a single hit.

“I want to eat pork shoulder2…” Ying Qi chewed the pancake with a resentful face.

You Shu calmly ate the pancakes without any change in his expression thinking that they at least had something to eat. The refugees they had seen along the way were starving to death and didn’t have even this cold pancake. However, Ying Qi was still young and, besides, even he himself couldn’t help but think of the steaming hot, tender pork shoulder covered in delicious sauce that was served in the cafeteria.

Thinking of it, You Shu sighed deeply and then used his sword to draw a large pork shoulder on the sand and said gently to Ying Qi, “There. I drew a pork shoulder to satisfy your hunger so let’s eat.”

Ying Jiu was speechless.

Heh, does Ying San think they are easily deceived idiots?

However, a few minutes later.

The trio of shadow guards squatted on the ground together, eating pancakes while looking at the big shoulder drawn by You Shu, taking one bite with each glance. They perfectly embodied the two idioms of ‘quenching one’s thirst by thinking of plums’ and ‘allaying one’s hunger by picturing cakes’3.

The grass outside the pavilion rustled slightly. The guards escorting the carriage raised their heads and looked around but found nothing, and concluded that it was probably due to the wind.

Ying Qi’s hand slowly wrapped around the handle of the large knife at his waist but You Shu signaled him with his eyes not to alert the opponent. Ying Jiu and Ying Qi moved silently to either side of the group, secretly surrounding them while he crouched in the tall grass, hiding himself.

A few moments later, a dozen burly men dressed in threadbare clothes suddenly rushed out of the underbrush. They all had slovenly and unkempt appearances and were staring at the carriages with shining eyes.

“I planted this tree and I drove on this road. If you want to pass through here…”

You Shu inwardly rolled his eyes, wondering why the monologue of bandits remained constant throughout all dynasties. Can’t they try changing it once?

He gestured to Ying Jiu and leapt out of the grass before the bandits noticed. The bandits hadn’t expected that they would be surrounded and quickly slashed at them with knives and axes. Unfortunately, they were just an unskilled group who relied on their numbers to overpower their opponents. Facing You Shu and the others, all of them were defeated within a few minutes.

“Hero, spare us! Great hero, spare our lives!” Their leader quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed, terrified, “We were so hungry that we had no other choice but to do this! Please, hero, spare us!”

Ying Qi helped the guards to tightly tie up the group of bandits. You Shu was only responsible for delivering the food and didn’t plan to kill them. He just asked coldly, “Where are you bandits from?”

The burly leader replied in a trembling voice: “We, we are refugees fleeing the famine-stricken Jianghuai region. We used to be honorable citizens too but our families are starving so we needed to find a way to get food. Hero, I beg you to understand our situation. Please have mercy on us!”

You Shu frowned. It seemed that the situation over there was extremely serious so they needed to rush there as soon as possible.

The bandits weren’t worth worrying about so You Shu quickly finished the pancakes and continued on with his men but before he left, he released the bandits after warning them not to rob others again and gave them some of his own dry rations along with a few pieces of silver.

Unexpectedly, the leader of the bandits was a person who knew to return kindness with gratitude and immediately knelt down and kowtowed, promising to repay him in the future.

You Shu glanced at him, not really expecting a mountain bandit to repay him, but still nodded and then led the convoy forward.

Seven days later, they arrived in Jianghuai without any trouble. Jianghuai City has long since lost its former prosperity. Nearly all the young and strong people had escaped the city, and only some old, weak and sick people stayed behind, waiting for death. Although the magistrate of Jianghuai has already spent his salary to make up for the lack of funds, it was merely a drop in the bucket and nearly useless. The emperor has refused him permission to open the granary to distribute relief aid. He has been stressed about this for several days, knowing that if things continue like this, the whole city will be destroyed and all the people will die of starvation.

Eventually, he decided to bite the bullet and open the granary without permission and take the blame for it afterwards. However, at this time, You Shu came to him.

“My master offers food and grain. Is the magistrate willing to accept his offer?”

The magistrate of Jianghuai is a young man in his mid-twenties, named Shen Qingyu. He was a scholar who had won third place in the Metropolitan Exam4 and was blessed with both great talent and a handsome appearance. He had once amazed the entire capital with his skills. However, after being sent to the remote area of Jianghuai for several years, despite countless achievements, he had not been transferred back to the capital as he had been promised, probably because Xiao Weishen had simply forgotten that such a talent existed.

You Shu knew that, in the novel, Shen Qingyu was Xiao Weixin’s closest advisor and military strategist, who supported him secretly. He was also the person who played the most crucial part in helping Xiao Weixin ascend the throne, aside from Yang Qixian. Although he appears to be gentle and courteous, he actually has a very ambitious mind and is a highly skilled strategist. However Xiao Weishen prefers having sycophants as his subordinates so all the high-ranking ministers are talentless villains. Due to this, Shen Qingyu’s years of hard work and his outstanding ability have always been overlooked.

Shen Qingyu was dressed in navy-blue robes and looked at the black-clothed man in front of him, without any sign of joy on his face: “Where did this gentleman come from? Who is your master?”

“It’s inconvenient to tell you my master’s name. Will Lord Shen accept these eight carts of grain?” You Shu returned his stare calmly.

The imperial court has already abandoned them so Shen Qingyu is naturally wary of this seemingly scrupulous merchant who had come out of nowhere. The most important thing is that although this black-robed man has a handsome face, he has the cold and murderous aura of someone who has survived the battlefield. Seeing all this, he inevitably hesitated.

However, Shen Qingyu didn’t hesitate for long. At this time, his main and only goal was to help the sick, weak, elderly and disabled people who remained in the city survive the winter. As long as he could do this, he was willing to face any possible consequences and put up with any conditions, so he accepted the carts of grain without any further ado.

You Shu asked Ying Qi and Ying Jiu to help carry the grain inside and the eight carts’ worth of grain quickly filled three rooms. Looking at the food, Shen Qingyu suddenly felt his anxiety disappear as relief flooded through him.

“Please express my thanks to your master.”

You Shu waved his hand, “You don’t need to say thank you, my lord. My master said that in times of great disaster, there will inevitably be calamity5. As citizens of Great Xia, we should do our duty to our fellows.”

Although Shen Qingyu didn’t know their background, he could see that the black-robed man in front of him did not have any malicious intentions so he asked again: “Is it possible for this official to know who your master is?”

You Shu stared at him intently and deliberately answered in a vague manner: “Lord Shen will know who my master is quite soon. I hope the lord won’t be too surprised when he meets my master in the future.”

Shen Qingyu thought about his words for several moments, mystified: “According to your words, it seems that you are certain that I will meet him in the future.”

Not only will you meet but you will also become very good friends, You Shu silently added in his heart.

“If I ever have a chance, then I will definitely pay him a visit.” Shen Qingyu sighed, “It’s a pity that this one will likely never have the chance to leave this city in this lifetime.”

“That’s not necessarily the case.” You Shu said, “Your talent is outstanding. I believe you will soon be offered a promotion and will be transferred back to the capital.”

Shen Qingyu was stunned.

After giving this spoiler in such a mysterious manner, You Shu felt highly refreshed so he turned around and left contentedly. They had already completed their task and the rest was Shen Qingyu’s responsibility. Xiao Weixin had chosen Jianghuai because he knew that Shen Qingyu would not make any mistakes.

After leaving Huaizhou, You Shu rushed the convoy back to the capital, without resting for even one night. He was anxious to return to the mansion. Who knew what events had occurred in the capital in the several days he was gone.

Meanwhile in Ling Wang’s Mansion—–

These past few days, Xiao Weixin has always felt that something was unusual. That day, after taking a nap, he got up to read a book and practice his sabre as always and inadvertently remembered something: “Has Ying San not returned yet?”

Wang Chen was hit by the sabre and fell to the ground. Hearing the question, he scratched his head and replied, “Probably not.”

“How boring.” Xiao Weixin threw the sabre on the ground impatiently, “Sparring with you is a waste of time.”

Wang Chen picked up the sabre and followed him into the room, not forgetting to flatter him: “The prince is very talented so it’s normal that I can’t win.”

“Heh.” Xiao Weixin scoffed.

Wang Chen realized that his master was unhappy with him and ended up getting kicked out by the prince. He stood in the yard, hugging his sword, with a sad and lost expression.

Luo Yao happened to pass by with a plate of pastries and saw his virtuous appearance and couldn’t help gloating: “Did you get scolded for making a mistake again?”

Wang Chen replied with a melancholy face: “I’m probably going to fall out of favor. Where the hell did this Ying San come from? Making the prince think of him so much?”

“Hmph.” The butterfly-shaped hair ornaments on Luo Yao’s temples swayed as she lightly tossed her head and then said in a sweet voice: “It is naturally because he is so excellent. Personally, I think that you are ten Qi Han worse than him6!”

Hearing what she said, Wang Chen became even sadder. Luo Yao smiled triumphantly, and proudly walked into the room, carrying the plate.

Seeing that he was about to lose his job, Wang Chen was very anxious. The prince must have been bewitched by that shadow guard.

That must be a male vixen7!

12

the meat dish given in the cafeteria

3

They both mean essentially the same thing i.e. consoling oneself with illusions.

4

Tanhua (探花) was the title for the scholar who had secured third place in the highest-level Imperial Examination which was called the Metropolitan Exam. First place was called Zhuangyuan and second place was called Bangyan.

5

It conveys the idea that during challenging or difficult times, additional misfortune or calamity is likely to occur.

6

Yes, she did use Qi Han as a unit

7

the only male vixen here is your master not our poor innocent You Shu