Chapter Seven: Trading Horses for Cars

  I saw him and stopped talking, I lay in the car with my eyes closed too, thinking about that person's cold eyes just now, the strong sleepiness on my body also disappeared without a trace.

  The car was swaying as it moved, and I was secretly thinking to myself, narrowing my eyes to take a look at that person, who was sitting on the crossbeam of the cart, occasionally turning his head back to look, I became even more certain that he was about to make his move, just waiting for an appropriate location.

  I quietly put the axe into the sleeve of my left hand and said: "Big brother, stop for a moment, I'll go down to relieve myself."

  The man stopped the car and said: "Hurry up, I'm in a hurry."

  I hastily said: "It's almost done, it's almost done". While pretending to relieve myself, I secretly stared at that person, and when he turned his head, I grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and stuffed it into my pocket.

  After getting back on the bus, I said: "Sorry about that, let's continue on our way." The person didn't respond to me and drove the car to continue moving forward.

  When he came to a fork in the road, he said: "Let's go down this path first, ahead is my relative's house, I'll just put some things on the cart and leave. It will only take the time it takes to burn an incense stick."

  I hastily said: "All right, all right, you decide."

  That man chuckled and turned the car onto that fork in the road. After turning onto this road, my heart couldn't help but tighten up - this road was too secluded, the narrow road surface barely allowed for the car to pass through, with dense thickets of trees on both sides. Sitting in the car looking towards the end of the road, not a single person could be seen. What a great road, just right for murder and robbery, but that little guy didn't stop, continuing to drive the car forward.

  Was I wrong? Was there a better place than this? After turning another corner, I understood. In front of me appeared a wide and broad river, with an ancient stone bridge on it. The man drove the carriage onto the bridge and stopped, then turned around to stare at me with a sly smile.

  In an instant, my body slightly trembled, a strong killing intent spread throughout my entire body. With one leg kneeling on the car, the other leg tightly pressed against the trunk lid, I looked at the turbulent river water under the bridge and asked in a puzzled tone: "Big brother, where is this?"

  That little guy pulled out a short knife from his waist and said fiercely: "We've arrived at the place, take out everything you should take out."

  The people around me shouted: "Big brother, what are you doing? Come quickly, it's a robbery!"

  The little guy shook the knife and said: "You shout, this place is 20 miles around without a living soul, it's called Broken Soul Bridge. Be smart, don't wait for me to tell you a second time."

  I made a resigned expression and said: "Big brother, I'll give you the money, you'll let me go, right?"

  The little brat said: "See how much you have on you, if you have a lot of money, I'll spare your life."

  I hastily pulled out a handful of copper coins and said: "That's all I have, take it all."

  The little brat glared and roared: "Don't even think about cheating me, take everything out!"

  I reached into my bosom and grabbed that earthy face, putting on a sulky expression as I stared at him without taking it out.

  This kid was in a hurry and took one step to the side of the car, stretched out his hand and grabbed me, I shouted: "Big brother, spare me, this is also for you"; after finishing, my hand swung up to his face, and the whole handful of soil was scattered on his face.

  The little guy was shocked, but didn't panic, the knife in his hand stabbed towards me, while the other hand grabbed towards where I was sitting.

  I scattered the dirt and pulled out an axe from my sleeve, dodging the knife as I sidestepped, and at the same time, I raised my body up, swinging the axe upwards from below to his chin. As his hand grabbed my shoulder, the axe also heavily chopped onto his chin, this kid fell down silently.

  I approached him with an axe and took a look, seeing that he was lying motionless, his face seemed to have shrunk by half, blood gushing out of the wound on his nose, his entire chin had been chopped off by me. I thought to myself, forget it, no need to take his life, let heaven decide his fate. I unloaded a horse from his cart and rode away.

  I galloped in the direction that unlucky egg pointed, but after running for a while, I was already a bit exhausted. The horse didn't have a saddle or stirrups, only a long rein, and riding it was really tiring.

  I finally breathed a sigh of relief when I ran into Xiping Town. After dismounting and leading the horse, I walked around the town and chose a small carriage shop that looked the smallest. I tied the horse to the door and entered the shop.

  After entering the store, a thin man like a bamboo pole came out to greet me, looked me up and down, smiled and asked: "Young master, are you here to rent a car?"

  I said: "I want to hire a carriage to Chang'an, are you the boss of this family?"

  That person hastily said: "I am the boss of this horse carriage, you want to go to Chang'an? This road is not far nor near, are you alone? Isn't there an elder from your family accompanying you?"

  I said unhappily: "Can't I go out by myself at my age? Who made the rules? Just me alone, how much do you want?"

  The shop owner smiled and said: "You see what you're saying, I'm just asking out of kindness, isn't it because I'm afraid you're too young to be taken advantage of outside? If you want to hire a car to Chang'an, then you have to choose a car, my store has all kinds of cars, come into the courtyard and take a look."

  He led me into his courtyard. When I arrived at the courtyard, I was really shocked. Although the gate outside is small, there are many cars inside, with more than 30 vehicles, and the styles are not bad either, looking brand new.

  I walked around the yard and pointed at a car that was even more fancy than a monkey's butt and said: "I'll take this one".

  The boss's face turned difficult and said: "This car is for women to sit in, it's a two-horse carriage, you can choose another one."

  I said: "I'll choose him then, will you rent or not?"

  The old boss said: "If you don't sit in this one, then rent it. However, this car is expensive, and it costs 10 taels of silver."

  I smiled and said: "Ten liang, I don't have it on me." The boss's face immediately turned as purple as an eggplant.

  I said again: "Come with me, I'll use this as carriage fare, how about that?" As I spoke, I led him to the door and pointed at my horse. The old shopkeeper's face immediately looked like a flower.

  After circling around the horse a few times, the suspicious person asked: "This is a carriage-pulling horse, where's the carriage?"

  I forced a bitter smile and said: "The car broke down 40 miles away, no choice but to come here."

  The boss rolled his eyes and said, "Alright, it's settled then. I'll have someone send a car over for you." Then he asked another question: "Where did you abandon that broken-down car of yours? I'll go take a look and if nobody has towed it away yet, I'll help you pull it back. If it's gone, well, that's just your bad luck."

  I said: "Just from this town 40 miles east of a forest edge, you go quickly, found me have time to come back and take"

  The old boss hurriedly said: "This can't be decided yet, maybe it's already been taken away by someone when we get there." After finishing speaking, he loudly shouted: "Old Wei, quickly prepare that Cloud Fragrance carriage for this young master, this young master is going to Chang'an, you take good care of him on the road!"

  A man in his 40s rushed over and said: "I'll go get the carriage right away, young master, please wait a moment."

  Because the last one who rushed to catch the bus stimulated me a bit, I looked up and down at Old Wei, his honest face, extremely simple clothing, hair also slightly grayed. His back was slightly hunched. After looking, I secretly said: "Very good, looks like an honest man".

  Before long, Old Wei had finished harnessing the carriage, and even before it drew near I caught a whiff of fragrance - truly deserving of its name as a fragrant carriage.

  Get in the car and take a look, it's even more luxurious than outside, with colorful tapestries on all four walls, and thick red carpets covering the floor, sitting on it is incredibly comfortable.

  Lao Wei nodded at me with a smile and said: "From here to Chang'an is over 120 miles away, it will take more than half a day to get there by running. Are you preparing some food for the road, young master?"

  I thought so too, I asked, is there a good roast goose restaurant in this town?

  Old Wei said: "There is one, Liu's BBQ shop on the street below is not bad, you go and buy some to try. I'll prepare water and fodder for the horse, after a while you've finished buying we'll set off."

  I went to the store as he said and bought two dried ducks and a large package of beef, also bought a lot of pickled pig's trotters. Then I asked the shop owner to fill me an calabash with water, carrying all these things back. Old Wei saw that I had bought so many things and smiled shaking his head, after helping me onto the carriage he set off.