Chapter Ten: The Father and Daughter Are Rescued on the Road

  Ma Chao heard the sound and stopped his horse, turning his head to look. The person running in front was a man who looked like he was at least fifty years old. He had a little girl of five or six years old in his arms, and the man's expression was very wolf-like.

  Behind them was a team of Bianzhou soldiers, estimated to be around ten, this is an infantry squad, no one rode horses, otherwise they would have caught up early, and now they are almost caught up.

  Seeing this, Cui An wanted to rush forward, but Ma Chao hastily called out to him, "Fada, do not act rashly!"

  Cui An finally stopped, and Ma Chao quickly tore off a large piece of cloth from his clothes, ripped it in half, used one piece to cover his face, exposing only his forehead and eyes, and handed the other piece to Cui An.

  "Quickly cover your face and don't speak in a moment! Do as I do, if you utter a single word, then don't follow me again!"

  Cui An listened to Ma Chao finish speaking and hastily nodded, then also covered his face with a cloth. It seems that Ma Chao's words were indeed effective. Seeing Cui An nodding in agreement, Ma Chao finally put his mind at ease.

  Just now, stopping Choi Ahn was afraid that he would cause trouble. If the person running in front really is a serious offender of the imperial court, Ma Chao will not intervene at all. If there are other hidden circumstances, he might take care of some trivial matters. But like Choi Ahn directly going up, it's definitely not possible. Both Ma Chao and Choi Ahn are ordinary people without money or power. Although they don't fear offending the authorities, afterwards, troubles will be endless.

  Two men rode forward on horseback, and just as the person running in front was about to be caught up, Ma Chao and his companions arrived.

  Let those who ran ahead pass by, Ma Chao and Cui An stopped their horses and blocked the pursuers' way.

  "Who are you? How dare you obstruct the official business!" This was said by the same person who had previously shouted to hurry up and catch them, apparently this man should be the leader of their group.

  "What crimes have they committed?" Ma Chao asked with a clenched fist.

  "These are the notorious thieves wanted by the imperial court!" The leader-like person replied.

  "Haha!" Ma Chao couldn't help but burst out laughing. A notorious thief? Come on, big brother, you've got to make up a more believable story! There are some notorious thieves who even bring their kids along when they do this kind of thing. And look at the guy running away - he's not carrying any weapons, and he doesn't seem to have any martial arts skills either. He's running so hard that he's almost out of breath. His clothes aren't tattered, but they're definitely not worth much money either. One glance and you can tell he's a scholar, what kind of notorious thief would be so pathetic?

  "Alright, great bandits, alright, very good." As he spoke, Ma Chao gave a signal to Cui An, "Don't harm anyone, just knock them out and that's it, go!"

  Ma Chao launched an attack while speaking, and with his command, Cui An also wielded his halberd to strike this team of Pingzhou soldiers. Ma Chao's side was relatively fine, able to grasp the situation well, all fainted, the worst were only lightly injured. But Cui An was not good, those who were struck by his halberd, none were unscathed, although they wouldn't die, but their injuries were absolutely not light.

  Ma Chao sighed after seeing that, "Next time, hit it lighter!" Cui An heard and quickly nodded, he had been remembering Ma Chao's warning not to speak.

  Ma Chao smiled and shook his head, dismounted and walked towards the rescued person. Of course, he had already removed the cloth covering his face when he went over. Cui An also followed suit and dismounted to follow him.

  The person rescued by Ma Chao had not fully recovered, and the old scholar, who was carrying a child and being chased all the way, was indeed having a hard time. But now he can finally put down the child and rest.

  However, when he saw Ma Chao and his men approaching, he prepared to salute with a bow, but was hastily pulled back by Ma Chao.

  "It's just a small effort, not worth mentioning!" This man must be around fifty years old. Although he helped someone out, Ma Chao wouldn't let him bow to himself.

  However, this person seems to be stubborn and obstinate as well. "No, the benefactor has saved my life and that of my daughter, I should pay respects!" He insisted on paying his respects to Ma Chao, who was really helpless. Ah, the ancients were so helpless! He could only accept the other's bow.

  After everything was done, Ma Chao said: "I don't know your name, sir?"

  "Chen Liu Cai Yong, Cai Bo Ji. This is my little daughter Cai Yan, she's five years old this year." Cai Yong said, pulling the little girl beside him, "Yan'er, haven't you met our benefactor yet?"

  He is Cai Yong, Cai Bogui, what a surprise, thought Ma Chao.

  "So you are Mr. Boji, a late learner who has made rapid progress, like Ma Feng and Ma Mengqi who have met Mr. Boji before!" Ma Chao bowed to Cai Yong and presented him with the letter that Yan Zhong had given him, which was addressed to Cai Yong.

  "I didn't know it was Mr. Boji earlier, this is a crime of exceeding, this is the family teacher's handwritten letter, and he had instructed his students to hand it over to the master!"

  "Oh?" Cai Yong took over the letter with a puzzled expression and opened it to read.

  After reading it, he said to Ma Chao: "I didn't expect that you, Meng Qi, are actually the disciple of Min Xue, and Min Xue entrusted me to take care of you. As a result, I didn't expect that on our first meeting, my life was saved by you, Meng Qi!" After finishing speaking, Cai Yong couldn't help but shake his head and sigh with a bitter smile.

  Minxue is Yan Zhong's courtesy name, taken from the Analects of Confucius, "Xian er hao xue, bu xi xia wen." The teacher's courtesy name, even Ma Chao this disciple does not know, in fact, let alone Ma Chao, only a few people in the world know this. Yan Zhong is not only low-key, but also has few friends, many people know him, but those who know his courtesy name are really rare, only bosom friends understand.

  "Family teachers often say that Mr. Boji is one of the few scholars in the world who is well-read and knowledgeable about ancient and modern times, and he is a model for our generation!" Ma Chao flattered him with a few words, but Cai Yong was after all a great Confucian scholar in the country, and would not be dazzled by Ma Chao's flattery.

  "Minxue brother is too modest, in fact, I admire Minxue brother's knowledge very much!" Cai Yong and Yan Zhong are of the same age, both 46 years old this year. The two men also cannot distinguish who is older or younger, so they just call each other "brother".

  "Yan'er, haven't seen you since Brother Meng Qi's rise!"

  "Tsai Yen has seen Meng Chi Shih Hsiong!" said the little girl.

  Ma Chao took a look, it was the little girl that Cai Yong had been holding earlier. This Cai Yan may only be five years old, but she is really extremely cute, staring at him with big eyes. Ma Chao found her quite likable. Earlier, when Cai Yong told her to call Ma Chao "Benefactor", she didn't say a word, now that he told her to call him "Shixiong" (brother), she finally spoke up, showing that this little girl is clever and quick-witted despite her young age.

  Ma Chao patted Cai Yan's little head, "Yan'er is so lovely, this is for you!" As he spoke, he took out another jade pendant from his bosom. This jade pendant was something Ma Chao had found in the Fu Feng house when he moved from Fu Feng to Long Xi, possibly a dowry item brought by his mother Liu Shi.

  He didn't have much feeling for jade, and this jade pendant wasn't worth much either. But Ma Chao kept it for himself and even engraved the character "Chao" on it, carrying it with him all the time. Today was not the first time he met Cai Yan, and as a senior brother, he didn't have anything else to give, so he could only take this out.

  "Thank you, Master Mengqi!" Cai Yan happily accepted the jade pendant and put it away.

  "Meng Qi's older brother gave a gift to Yan Er, and Yan Er liked it very much. However, Yan Er didn't have anything to give back to her older brother." Cai Yan said with a serious face.

  Ma Chao almost fell over, "This one doesn't matter, it's alright."

  "Alright then, let's talk about it next time!" Cai Yan said.

  "Alright, alright." Ma Chao said with a smile, thinking to himself that as long as his lovely little junior sister was happy, everything was fine.

  Cai Yong originally wanted to stop Cai Yan from accepting Ma Chao's jade pendant, but seeing how happy she looked, he didn't want to say anything more. It was their own affair, and he shouldn't interfere too much. Thinking this in his heart, he shook his head and smiled slightly.

  "What has brought Mr. Boji to this state?" Ma Chao asked.

  "It's hard to put into words!" Cai Yong sighed.

  Cai Yong was originally an official in the imperial court, but he offended someone in the court and then angered the emperor, so he was exiled to Bianzhou and Shuofang.

  Later, the emperor, admiring Cai Yong's talent and recalling his exile, pardoned him and allowed him to return to Wuyuan Anyang.

  As a result, Wang Zhi, the governor of Wuyuan, was also offended. Wang Zhi is a narrow-minded person who wrote a memorial to the emperor saying that Cai Yong was dissatisfied with the imperial court and the emperor because he had been exiled for thousands of miles, and also slandered the imperial court. At the same time, he sent someone to arrest him, which led to the previous incident.

  Ma Chao thought to himself, "This big fellow is really finished. Although Cai Yong was just a scholar with no strength to bind a chicken, he was a famous Confucian scholar known throughout the land. A small governor dared to frame him and arrest him - what audacity!"

  "I don't know what Mr. Boji plans to do next, but we can't stay here for long!" Ma Chao said a classic line.

  "Yan'er and I are going to Wu County in Jiangdong."

  "All right, Jiangdong is far away from Bianzhou, it's still safe. Unfortunately, I have something to do and can't escort you there!" Ma Chao said with regret.

  "Fuda, from today on, you will follow Master's side and protect Master and Yaner until they arrive at Wu County!"

  "Master, my father told me to follow you!"

  "Didn't Mr. Cui also tell you to listen to me?"

  "It's also, but if you listen to the master's words, you can't be by the master's side. It's just that I didn't listen to my father's words! If you want to be by the master's side, it means not listening to the master's words. What can we do?" Cui An covered his head and said.

  Ma Chao, Cai Yong and Cai Yan all burst out laughing.

  Ma Chao said, "Fu Da, you think this way now. You are by my side because you listened to Mr. Cui's words, and I let you go to Wu County, you just listened to my words. When you return from Wu County to my side, isn't it still listening to Mr. Cui's words?"

  "Ah, yes! You're right, Master! You're much smarter than me! Haha!" Cui An laughed.

  Ma Chao had Cui An escort Cai Yong and his daughter to Wu Commandery. Before they set off, he specifically instructed Cui An to listen to Mr. Boji's words. If he didn't listen, once Ma Chao found out, he would let him return to his hometown in Fufeng. Cui An nodded hastily after hearing this.

  Chui An escorted Cai Yan and her daughter as they left. Before they departed, Ma Chao also gave them his own dry rations. Originally, Cai Yan had insisted on not accepting them, but Ma Chao said he couldn't let Cai Wenji go hungry, so she reluctantly accepted.

  Cai Yan knew she had to part with Ma Chao, and she cried so hard that her tears flowed like a river. It seemed the little girl really couldn't bear to be separated from Ma Chao. After Ma Chao repeatedly promised he would come visit her again, the little girl finally stopped crying and bid farewell to Ma Chao by waving goodbye.

  Ma Chao was also reluctant to part with them, but since Cai Yong had a purpose, it would be safer with Cui An's protection. If they had nowhere to go, Ma Chao would have Cui An settle them in Longxi; anyway, he couldn't bring them along, because of the road ahead, Ma Chao didn't know if there would be danger, and how great the danger would be.

  Watching Cui An and others leave, Ma Chao finally felt a stone in his heart fall to the ground. He knew that with Cui An's skills, escorting Cai Yan and her father safely to Wu County was absolutely no problem. And although Cui An wasn't by his side, he shouldn't cause too much trouble.

  He didn't think much more, turned over and got on his horse, rushing to the next destination. Ma Chao's next destination was still in Pingzhou, which was Yunzhong County in Pingzhou. Yunzhong and Wuyuan were adjacent, so Ma Chao arrived at Yunzhong City in less than two days.

  Yunzhong City gave Ma Chao a similar feeling to Jiuyuan City, both were major military strongholds in the northern part of Pingzhou. So many places are actually the same.

  Ma Chao entered Yunzhong City and saw the recruitment notice. After seeing this, he made a decision. He decided to temporarily join the Pingzhou army for now, not because of his loyalty, but because he had his own ideas. Besides, he had never seen what a large Han army camp was like before, so it would be good to experience it.

  Ma Chao first bought a house in Yunzhong City, the house was not big and didn't cost much. The location was in Yunzhong City, it's already good if the house can be sold, but it won't sell for a high price. After putting away his belongings, Ma Chao went to enlist as a soldier.