Chapter 29: Fellow Traveler

  The next morning, the one who accompanied Meng An to Peach Blossom Village was Fei.

  Fei Yi was practicing early in the morning when Xiao Bao'er sent someone to deliver a message, asking him to go and pay his respects to Old Man Wu Ren. Fei Yi went to the inn, where Wu Ren asked him to accompany Min An on this trip to take care of Min An's safety.

  Wu Ren said to Fei Yi: "Min An has an injury on his back, it's inconvenient for him to fight, you're skilled, go and help him."

  Fei Yi had been distant from Min An for several days. After hearing the master's instructions, he considered it for a moment and finally agreed. Just as he was about to leave the inn, Xiao Bao'er quietly slipped over and knelt down to ask him to help verify something.

  Xiao Bao'er said: "Min An, that stinky little brat, doesn't let me hug him now, saying he has an injury on his back. But I think he's a woman, because men don't have such delicate features. Second Master, help me take a look, is that stinky little brat male or female?"

  Xiao Bao'er spoke incoherently, but Fei still understood. He pushed Xiao Bao'er aside and got on the carriage without saying a word, leaving. As for Min'an's identity, he had already guessed one or two clues, but simply didn't intend to prove it.

  He had thought that whether Min An was a man or a woman, it made no difference to him. However, when they were together in the car, he discovered that if Min An was a bit more proper and reserved, perhaps he would be more to his liking.

  Min An, under the pretext of official business, asked Li Peinan for a luxurious carriage. After preparing everything they needed, they set off towards Taohua Village, which was located between Huangshi County and Qingshui County. The two had visited there last month when they captured Mao Thirteen. As soon as they got on the carriage, Min An occupied one side of the soft couch and fell asleep with his head down. Occasionally, the bumpy ride would hurt his back injury, and he would rub his nose and mutter a few words, speaking ill of the general. Fei Yi opened a fragrant ball, lit some calming incense, and sat on the other side, carefully reading a book on herbal medicine. When she got tired, she turned her head to look at Min An, only to find that a stream of nosebleed was flowing down his lip groove.

  The carriage was very quiet, Min'an was sleeping soundly with a thin stream of blood flowing from his nose, but whenever the road was bumpy, he would drool a few drops, and his clothes were stained. Min'an was thinking about the frozen tofu and milk wine on Flower Street, calling out the name of Liu Linglong, the weaver's daughter, and slept restlessly all the way.

  The non-clothing holder of the book will wake up An Min: "Wipe your nose."

  Min An wiped the blood from his nose and said, "The general is now like a tyrant, with a violent temper, and he often pecks at me. From last night to today, he has already pecked my nose twice."

  Fei Yi asked Li Peinan to leave the wounded general in Min An's care, and his face darkened for a moment. Min An looked at him carefully and hastily waved his hand, saying: "I know you're good to me, and secretly helped me with many things, but regarding this matter of the general, you must not fight with Young Master again. Because every time you help me vent my anger, I end up suffering even more, stuck between you and Young Master, neither here nor there... it's like..." He lowered his head to search for a suitable analogy in the carriage, but couldn't find one, so he stretched out his thumb and index finger to demonstrate to Fei Yi: "When you two apply force from both ends, I get squeezed."

  "Understood," said Fei Dan faintly, "from now on, I won't care whether you live or die."

  Min An nodded, then felt it wasn't right and stammered: "What I meant by 'change secret' has nothing to do with medicine, not the kind that 'adds ginseng and astragalus but reverses the flow'..."

  Fei didn't frown, and stopped talking. Min An let out a sigh of relief. Bringing up an unrelated topic, he actually spoke his true intentions, originally just wanting to advise Fei not to continue fighting with the Crown Prince over anything, so as not to get caught in between and suffer from both sides. The taste of being squeezed by both sides, he had a deep understanding of it, currently the Crown Prince had already taken him in as a "household minister", while Fei was a big tree that provided shade and blessings, he could only endure the pain and let go...

  Min An gazed at Fei Yi with a reluctant and loving expression, wiped his nose and turned to go back to sleep. Fei Yi tapped the book scroll on the edge of the bed and asked: "Do you remember all the good things I've done for you?"

  Min An covered his mouth with his sleeve and nodded.

  Fei Yi continued coldly: "You will have to pay everything back later."

  "Thinking of something again... just like the young master... always restless in his heart... can't a person be simpler?"

  He put down the book, smoothed out his collar, sat up straight with his eyes closed, and replied: "From a young age to now, my side has been crowded with people seeking wealth and honor. Without taking out corresponding things in exchange, can I be expected to treat him well for no reason?"

  "Alright, alright, have it your way."

  When the horse carriage was still two miles away from Peach Blossom Village, Min An sat up and started decorating himself with borrowed jewelry. He hung two agate necklaces around his neck, tied a black silk belt around his waist, and hooked some glittering gold chains under the small hooks on his jade belt. Fei Yi knew that he had always been unreasonable, so seeing him making a strange appearance didn't surprise him, and he just sat aside to rest.

  Min An took out a small copper mirror, shifted his body, and checked the new denture on his upper jaw with his back to Fei Yi. He touched the root of the tooth with his tongue, and the carriage jolted, bumping him against the compartment wall. He turned his head to look at Fei Yi discontentedly: "Can't you sit a bit closer? It's very drafty here, and it's empty."

  Fei Yi reluctantly sat down. Min An told him about the plan after entering the village, Fei Yi slightly furrowed his brow: "That kind of gaudy place... do I have to go in too?"

  Min An smiled, his lips curling up: "Look what you said, since you're here, of course you have to come in with me and see the world." As he spoke, his tongue habitually touched the spot where a tooth was missing, pushing out half of the false tooth. He hastily used his hand to catch it, holding the small white porcelain tooth as if it were a treasure, making Ni Yi turn her eyes away, unable to look directly at him.

  Min An disagreed, stopped the carriage, pulled out a gold-painted fan from his sleeve, opened it and held it in his hand, and swayed into Peach Blossom Village. Fei followed behind him, following his instructions, constantly taking out silver coins to tip the turtle slaves and tea water workers they met. Before long, they easily found Mao Thirteen's old lover, a little girl named Hanyu.

  Min An leaned against the door, adjusting his angle to take advantage of the soft moonlight seeping in through the corridor. He deliberately outlined his figure with a few elegant lines before raising his eyes to look at the young bride in red inside the house. He smiled warmly and shook a golden fan loudly, causing the agate beads on his chest to clink wildly as he fanned himself vigorously. As he exerted force on his hand, his waist also trembled slightly, making the gold chain on his belt buckle shine brightly. Despite his efforts to show off his wealth, the young bride leaning against the couch didn't react; she simply used a silver hairpin to adjust the wick of the candle and then covered the flame with a crystal snuff bottle.

  As soon as he entered the small wooden house with a red curtain, he sat far away and refused to come any closer.

  Min An Yi thought carefully at the door: This little girl is not a greedy person, and the gold, silver and jewels borrowed from Bao Er also cannot move her. It seems that other methods need to be used.

  He suddenly put away the fan, bowed his head and made a courtesy to Huan Xiang: "'Huan Xiang's rouge is absolutely beautiful, with a new poem in front of the sandalwood window', young lady has taken such an elegant name, congratulations."

  With a smile, she pulled out the silk handkerchief from her neckline, wiped her mouth and said: "Young master's mouth is as sweet as honey, come here and let me see, how did you grow up to be different from others?"

  Min An smiled and walked over, sitting down close to Huan Xiao. After chatting with her for a couple of sentences, he realized that she was named so because she liked listening to stories and jokes, not because of any connection to poetry or literature. Since he knew she enjoyed humorous anecdotes, his response became straightforward.

  Min An first told a story of the Qinfeng Department to try the taste of Huan Xiao's smile: "An old man married a concubine and wanted to please her, saying that he had so many fields and houses in a certain place. The concubine replied, 'These are not on my mind. It is said that having a lot of wealth is not as good as making a little progress every day.'"

  Min An took a sip of tea, smiled foolishly for a moment, and suddenly burst out laughing, pointing at Min An's forehead with her finger: "Oh my, you're such a scoundrel, how could you say such dirty things in front of your sister?"

  Min-an, sitting on a bench in the distance, cast a glance at him. Min-an's face was greatly embarrassed, and he quickly shook his fan and said: "A military officer was about to lose a battle when suddenly divine soldiers descended from heaven to assist him, turning defeat into victory. The officer knocked his head to ask the name of the divine spirit, who replied 'I am the god of archery targets.' The officer asked 'What merits do I have that I dare to trouble the honorable god of archery targets to come and rescue me?' The god of archery targets answered 'I am grateful because when you practiced martial arts on the training grounds, not a single arrow ever hit me.'"

  Huan Xiao smiled and hugged Min An's shoulder, laughing crookedly on the couch. Min An let Huan Xiao's soft hands warm his palms, and then told two more jokes. Huan Xiao laughed so hard that her eyes were teary, begging for mercy from Min An. Min An took advantage of the situation and said: "There's only one left, are you going to listen or not?"

  With a forced smile, she nodded repeatedly: "Go on, go on, hurry up and say it, little heart."

  Min An started hanging up a smile: "Have you ever heard of the Miao wax tribe on the west side?"

  "No."

  "The Miao wax people have some unique skills, such as 'wax corpses' and 'hurry graves', all of which are fresh things that have never been heard of in the Central Plains. If they don't like someone, they will directly seal them with wax and dig them up after twenty years. When they see that person again, they'll be surprised to find that they look just like new. Another skill is 'grave gambling', where they try to find out which ancient tomb has treasure buried beneath it. They send a thin monkey into the grave to explore the passage, and as it's exploring, it pulls out a dry corpse. When the corpse sees the light, it can even speak, saying 'Hey, aren't you the monkey from twenty years ago?'"

  Huan Xiao walked closer to Min An's side with a smile and scolded, "You're such a scary storyteller, can't you come up with something more interesting?"

  Min An smiled and said, "Listen to me. There was a young woman who went to the grave at night and found a widower following her with ill intentions. The young woman quickly patted the tombstone and said, 'Dad, I'm back, open the door quickly!' The widower was shocked and ran away quickly. The young woman felt relieved and wanted to leave, but unexpectedly, a gloomy voice came from behind the grave, saying, 'How could you forget to bring the key again?' which scared the young woman away... Now I ask you, who said that gloomy voice?"

  "Little girl's father?"

  "No, no, that guy was a grave robber, hiding behind the tomb. Seeing the young lady escape, he sneered and said 'You've delayed my business, you deserve to be scared to death'. As soon as he finished speaking, an old man walked by, carving on the tombstone with a chisel, his face filled with anger. The grave robber asked the old man where he came from, the old man replied 'Those villagers got my name wrong on the tombstone'. One sentence scared the grave robber away - I'll ask you again, who is this old man?"

  Listening with a smile: "Is it a ghost? It doesn't seem like one though..."

  Min An smiled: "There's more to come. The old man saw the grave robbers running far away, turned back with a smile of satisfaction 'You dare to compete with me for business, don't you want your life?' and was about to pick up the chisel that had fallen at his feet. At this moment, a hand stretched out from the grass, grasped the chisel, and shouted 'Which blind beast dared to alter my doorplate number?' Before he could finish speaking, the old man had already knelt down on the ground."

  Min An closed his mouth, deliberately pinching the end of his tail and not saying anything, which made Han Xiu grab his collar and look over at him with a smile: "What's going on again? You'd better speak up quickly!"

  Min An smiled and nodded, pointing to the crystal lamp with his backhand. Ni Yi received the signal and quickly shot out two iron needles from between her fingers.

  Min An seized the opportunity to say in a low voice: "The one who was holding the awl was a skull-like person, with a thin face and dry bones. He crawled out of the grass and mud, and his body still had maggots on it. He stretched out his hand to grab the old man, pinched his neck, just like this——"

  The crystal lampshade shattered with a crash, and the candle flame went out immediately. Another hanging lamp was also extinguished, and in an instant, a piece of darkness poured into the wooden house. Min An's two hands covered Huan Xiao's neck, and with a slight force, he choked off Huan Xiao's cry. He said gloomily: "The skull man is chasing after the old man asking - where is the account book?"

  "What account book?"

  Min An said with a gloomy face: "I crawled from the underworld to the world just for this account book!" His hand was stained with milk tea water, and he specially grasped the icy porcelain body of the teapot, pinching the neck of the cup would inevitably pass on a wet and chilly feeling.

  He was so frightened that he shouted: "In the pillowcase!"

  Min An Chao poured a ceramic pot of the Crown Prince's estate's specialty, Soul-Enchanting Broth, into her mouth with a smile, and then laid her down. He turned his head to ask Fei Yi: "Did you get it?"

  Fei Yi picked up the account book wrapped in green silk and shook it a few times before carefully putting it away.

  Min An said: "Hurry up and withdraw."

  Thank you for the landmine from Bingtang Hongguo, Coco, Ben San and Leng Meimei.

  Thank you for the three landmines from Zhu Er Duo and two landmines from Rong Aiqing.

  Note: The ghost stories of the Miao and Yao tribes mentioned in this chapter are a foreshadowing of the Non-Clothing Case later on, not me padding the word count.