Chapter 5: Traveling Alone in Chang'an

  Night has fallen again, and my stomach is full of delicious food made by Old Zhu. I burped contentedly as I returned to my own bed.

  Everyone in the room was talking heatedly, and when they saw me come in, Ma Liu Jin came over: "You little scoundrel, you've recovered quickly, it seems Zheng Xiong really did take a liking to you."

  I glanced at him sideways and said: "It shouldn't be Lord Liu's turn on duty today, right? You don't have to keep an eye on me here, it won't be too late when you come back during your patrol."

  Nima Liu Jin smiled and said to me: "Ah, you're still planning to go again? You really are bold and fearless! Alright then, it's settled, we'll meet tomorrow night!" He laughed loudly as he walked out.

  Li Quanyou walked over and said: "Jiuer, don't take it to heart, he's a ruthless person. Entering the Qinglong Camp is not child's play, forget about it."

  I said: "Really, I'm going there tomorrow night, it's not just a bluff, I really want to see what's inside"

  Li Quanyou said: "Good kid, you've got guts! This time you'll definitely get caught again, and when that happens, I'll help you share the 40 lashes." The brothers inside all gathered around, everyone chattering and saying: "We'll all help you share!"

  I looked at them and said indignantly: "Can't you say something good for once? Why not say I'm back victorious?"

  The room suddenly fell silent, and then burst out in a fit of crazy laughter. Li Quanyou said: "Brother, it's not that we didn't agree, but it was impossible from the start." I got angry and ignored them, lying down on the bed and falling asleep.

  The next day I had just finished reading the book taught by Mr. Liu, Zheng Xiong came. Seeing me with a serious face, he said: "Follow me, Officer Shang wants to see you."

  As soon as I heard that, I started sweating, and the words of Zhu Damao when she just led me in came to my mind. Is it going to be kicked out? With a nervous heart, I entered the central military account.

  It wasn't until after I entered the account that I discovered that the general who led us in exercises every morning was actually Lord Shang. I hastily paid my respects and bowed down, but Lord Shang just smiled and said, "Get up, are you getting used to life here?"

  I hastily said: "Thank you, sir, for your concern, I like it here."

  "Very well, you are still young and inexperienced, so ask for advice from the people in the camp when you have something to do. This time I called you here because there is a task that needs to be taught to you. Here, I have a letter that needs to be delivered to Sun Guoan of Chang'an. Can you help me deliver it? You must go quickly and return quickly. The letter is confidential, so be careful on the road. Now go and get your travel expenses, and set off immediately."

  As I walked out of the military tent, Zheng Xiong approached me and said: "It's all over, the general has sobered up and is going to expel you."

  I smiled at him and said: "No, the general has entrusted me with a military task, I have to go now". After finishing speaking, he ignored Zheng Xiong's old face, pulled his legs and walked towards the military officer's large account.

  Received 20 taels of silver and changed into a set of civilian clothes, tucked this letter away, I left the camp and headed in the direction of Chang'an.

  After walking for over 20 miles, I suddenly felt like someone was staring at me from behind, and my heart couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder. I'm only about 300 miles away from Chang'an, this should be considered the emperor's backyard, could it be that I've encountered thieves as soon as I left the gate? I regret not bringing out my sword. But then again, if I really were carrying a big knife while walking on the road, wouldn't I have become a bandit myself? Maybe I'm just being paranoid, thinking about this made me quicken my pace.

  But the more I walked, the hairier my heart became, and the feeling of running into a leopard grew stronger. Turning back to look, there was still nothing in sight. This wouldn't do; I couldn't wait until it appeared before me to think of a solution - by then, I might not even be able to find my own grave. Thinking this, I lifted my leg and ran towards the woods beside the road.

  After hiding the letter in a secluded spot, I spent half a day searching in the woods and found a large beehive. I took off my outer garment and covered the hive with it, then pulled hard, and the hive came down. The bees outside rushed towards me, and I grabbed the hive and ran desperately towards a river. When I reached the riverbank, I threw the garment wrapped around the hive to the ground and jumped into the river.

  The wasps thought they couldn't sting me anymore and started to swarm around the clothes bundle. In the end, they all fell on top of the bundle. I took off my clothes in the water and swam ashore. With a flick of my hand, I wrapped the wasps outside again. Then I hid the 20 taels of silver in the corner of my clothes and I really played happily in the water.

  Just as I was having fun, I heard a loud shout from the shore, and I thought, "Here it comes." Turning my head to look towards the shore, I saw two masked big men standing there with two shiny steel knives in their hands.

  I suppressed a smile and put on a frightened look, saying: "What do you two gentlemen want me for?"

  A big Han said: "Cut the crap, I've been staring at you for half a day. Take out all the valuables. Otherwise, one knife will chop you off."

  "I said in a terrified tone: 'Two uncles, I don't have any money, please spare me';"

  That man said: "Can't you understand that I'm telling you to shut up? I'll take this stuff from the ground, if you want to come and grab it, don't blame me for being ruthless." After saying that, he stretched out his hand to grab the package of clothes.

  I cried in the water and said: "Please, two masters, my 20 taels of silver is a lifesaving money, just let me go"; Those two men looked at me with their heads raised, laughing loudly, and that bundle of clothes was also opened by them.

  Next I watched a good show, those two old men made a scream like killing pigs and threw things down and ran away, the group of wasps that had been suffocated for half a day also followed the two people away.

  Slowly I came ashore, put on my clothes, picked up a big knife left by the old man and wrapped it in my outer garment, retrieved the letter, and rushed to Chang'an again.

  After calculating my pace, I realized that it would take me about 5 days to cover the 300 miles and reach my destination. As night began to fall, I hurried to a place called Ping'an Town. In the town, I found an inn, had dinner, and then lay down on the kang (heated bed) in my clothes and fell asleep.

  Zheng Xiong had previously taught me that when something important is happening, one cannot sleep naked, let alone barefoot. I strictly followed his teachings. In the middle of the night, I was startled awake by a faint sound. I saw something being stuffed into the window gap. It was a small bottle, damn it, it was actually anesthetic. This world has too many thieves. In my haste, I jumped down to the ground in one step and grabbed a wet towel from the copper basin where I had washed my face earlier to cover my mouth and nose.

  The situation outside is unclear, and rushing out blindly would make it easy to get ambushed, but we can't hide here anymore. Just as I was frantically thinking of a solution, the small pot started spewing smoke. I cursed loudly and grabbed the copper basin, pouring water over the smoke, which immediately extinguished it. Then, I started banging on the basin while shouting: "The water's gone, hurry up and get out, the water's gone..."

  The person outside the window scared me, and the fragrance bottle disappeared. The whole house was blown up at that time, and people running out of each room were shouting in terror: "Where's the fire? Hurry up and collect things!"

  I took advantage of the chaos to slip out of the room. I looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to me, this half-sized kid, so I turned around and entered the boss's room. When I got inside, I was delighted to find a hammock in the room. This old boss really knows how to enjoy himself! Looking outside, the commotion was still going on, so I pulled out some bedding from a cabinet and spread it under the bed, then snuggled into my cozy little nest.

  After half a day, the outside was quiet again. The boss came back grumbling and complaining, followed by a chubby woman. All I heard was the woman saying: "You useless thing, it's obviously those people from Chen's old shop across the street who are causing trouble, can't you just go over there and reason with them?"

  The old boss said: "What reason do you have to make me look for someone to talk to? Without any evidence, you still want to stir up trouble again. Alright, stop making a fuss and go to sleep."

  That woman said: "You say you're also a man? Letting others take shit to your father's grave and you don't even care."

  The boss got angry and said: "Stop talking nonsense, I'll buy a few big dogs tomorrow and they will bite him to death if he dares to come again."

  The woman stopped talking and the bed shook violently a few times before calming down. After half a day, it seemed that they had fallen asleep. I recited Buddha for the first time under the bed, just this woman's big body board, if she crushed the bed, there would be no way out for me under the bed.

  As I recited the Buddha's name, I couldn't help but think about what just happened. The more I thought about it, the colder my heart became. Was it really worth going to such great lengths for this little bit of silver? They even used the legendary mind-controlling incense. It seems they're after the letter on me.

  It must have been me who was targeted as soon as I left the camp, and those two robbers during the day were also here for this letter. The remaining four days are going to be tough. While thinking about it there, I saw a small spout slowly coming in through the window gap again.