Chapter 11: Liu Bei's Comrades

  After passing through Maiyi and Sanggan, another 50 li ahead, crossing the inner Great Wall, this is considered to be truly stepping into the territory of the great Han Dynasty. Recently, the Xianbei and Wuhuan people in the north have been making a lot of noise, and most of the Han people outside the pass have returned inside the Great Wall to avoid danger, only those merchants who do not care about their lives dare to continue doing business with the Xianbei at risk.

  The atmosphere in the carriage was abnormally oppressive, with no one speaking. Wang Qian occasionally turned her head to glance at Long Fei, with a provocative gaze. Since coming from Ma Yi, Wang Qian had always had this kind of gaze. Hua Tuo closed his eyes and leaned against the carriage, letting out a long sigh: "Ah! If you want to ask something, just ask! I believe this young brother can explain clearly!"

  Wang Qian didn't ask, but still looked at Long Fei with that gaze. Every time Wang Qian looked at Long Fei, Long Fei would either stick out his tongue, squeeze his eyes shut, or raise his chin, making all sorts of strange movements that made Wang Qian's heart feel chaotic. Seeing Long Fei's actions, Wang Qian felt a bit embarrassed. Although it seemed somewhat frivolous, it wasn't unlikable.

  Outside the carriage, a gentle northwest wind blew, causing the wild grass to sway back and forth. Occasionally, a wild rabbit would jump out of the bushes, only to be instantly submerged by the tall grass again. Zhao Yun and Talen remained silent. Talen huddled with his neck shrunk in, his hands clasped together in front of his chest, trying to minimize heat loss as much as possible. Meanwhile, Zhao Yun sat upright on horseback, his pale face deathly white, almost matching the color of his clothes.

  Without the coachman, Wang Wei temporarily took over as the coachman. The driving skills were okay, although they didn't go fast, and it wasn't too bumpy either. After a while, he stopped the carriage and handed out some dry rations to everyone. Only at this time could the atmosphere be slightly better. Wang Wei was a talkative person who could chat with anyone. Sometimes Long Fei also joked with him for a few sentences, temporarily making everyone forget their previous unpleasantness.

  They had entered the Yanmen Pass and only then did they see people. From the inner city wall to the Yanmen Pass, this section of road was desolate and frightening, with nothing but weeds and barren mountains everywhere, and no sign of human life anywhere. Long Fei's leg had healed a lot, he had already thrown away his crutches, and could hobble along for a few steps. Hua Tuo was amazed by this, according to normal reasoning, someone with short legs should at least rest in bed for ten days or half a month, but Long Fei was able to get out of bed in just three to five days. Hua Tuo asked him about his secret, but Long Fei couldn't explain the growth and development of bones and calcium, and could only smile and say nothing.

  A large group of white horses caused a stir at the Wild Goose Gate, and several horse merchants approached them, only to be harshly rebuffed by Long Fei. They found a small inn and rushed in. Inside, there was a huge fire pit that made the entire room unusually warm. The shopkeeper hurried over to greet everyone, looking a bit dazed when he saw Talun. Long Fei laughed: "Never seen a Xianbei person before? Hurry up and bring food and wine, we're all starving!"

  The shopkeeper nodded and went to the back kitchen. They found a table, and several people sat around it. Perhaps because there were no customers, the shopkeeper quickly brought up some food and two jars of wine. Everyone ate silently, no one touched the two jars of wine, and no one spoke. Wang Wei ate while glancing at Long Fei with his eyes.

  Long Fei took a few bites, the food was okay, at least better than pig feed. Putting down his chopsticks, Long Fei turned to ask Zhao Yun: "Brother Zhao, we are already in Han territory, what do you plan to do?"

  Zhao Yun let out a long sigh. All the way, he had been thinking about this problem. After finishing his studies and coming down from the mountain, the situation in his hometown had completely changed, and his parents and elder brother's wife were nowhere to be found. Helpless, he went to Youzhou to seek refuge with Gongsun Zan. In less than two months, Gongsun Zan died, and he was forced to leave Youzhou again. But where could he go now? Not having money on him was a small matter; the difficult thing was that he had no place to settle down.

  "Where is Brother Long going?" Zhao Yun asked back.

  Long Fei smiled and looked at Wang Jian and Wang Wei: "Where they go, I'll go. I'm alone here with no one to rely on, so I can only follow them!"

  "Stop following us!" Wang Qian glared with her eyes: "We saved your life, now that we've arrived at Yanmen, you should leave too, stop entangling yourself with us!"

  Wang Wei's heart had just been lifted by Long Fei's words, but was immediately dampened by Wang Jian's words. As he turned to look at Wang Jian, Wang Jian was staring at him fiercely with her eyes. Frightened, Wang Wei hastily lowered his head and continued eating.

  "Can't you be more grateful? I saved your lives, not just one life, but two. Without me, you and your brother would probably be slaves in a Xianbei tribe by now. So, it's actually you who owes me a life. And yet, you're begrudging me for eating this little bit of food? Women are all the same, so materialistic."

  Wang Jian still wanted to argue, but Long Fei had already shifted his gaze elsewhere. This made Wang Jian extremely angry, and he slammed down his chopsticks and sat there fuming. Long Fei asked Talen what he planned to do next. Talen replied succinctly: "Kill Gongsun Zan!"

  Long Fei shook his head: "A gentleman takes revenge ten years later, it's not too late. Gong Sun Zan is now in the limelight, every step he takes has guards by his side, killing him is no easy task. Just killing Gong Sun Zan won't be satisfying enough for this vendetta. I guarantee that one day I'll let you destroy the entire Gong Sun family and make him lose face."

  Taren was taken aback, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Long Fei. Long Fei's eyes were filled with determination, and the sturdy Xianbei man couldn't help but stand up and bow. Long Fei pulled him back down to continue eating.

  Before Long could even open his mouth, Hua Tuo chuckled and said: "No need to ask, I won't leave until I figure out the younger brother's superb medical skills!"

  "Since none of you are leaving, I will!" Wang Qiang stood up and pulled Wang Wei to leave. However, Wang Wei didn't budge: "Big sister, since no one is leaving, why don't we all go to Luoyang together? Isn't that great?" As soon as he said this, Wang Wei realized he had misspoken again and quickly shut his mouth.

  Long Fei looked at Wang Wei: "You mentioned going to Luoyang twice, what do you and your sister want to go to Luoyang for? What's the point of traveling so far?"

  "It's none of your business!" Wang Qiang glared at her brother again.

  The young shop assistant walked over nervously. His movements were very light, afraid of disturbing the quarrel between several people: "Excuse me, sirs, are those white horses outside yours?"

  "What's ours, what's wrong?" Wang Ju had a fire in her heart and nowhere to vent it, just as the shopkeeper happened to run into the muzzle.

  Seeing Wang Qiang's mother's eyes like a tiger, the shopkeeper hastily retreated two steps, swallowed his saliva and said: "Outside, outside there are two people who want to buy horses, which one of you will go out and take a look!"

  "Not for sale! Get out!" Wang Qiang shouted angrily.

  The shopkeeper's assistant responded with a "yes" and hastily walked out the door. Long Fei looked at Wang Qian, his face wearing its usual smile, and hastily called out to stop the shopkeeper's assistant: "Look at your appearance, you don't have any ladylike quality, whatever happens it's always the men who get their way, what are you getting worked up about? This horse is already sold!" He turned his head and instructed the shopkeeper's assistant to invite the person outside in.

  Two men wearing dog-fur hats and sable coats came in from outside the door. Just by looking at their attire, it's clear that they are wealthy masters. The two men were about the same age, around thirty or so, with long beards on their chins that didn't quite match their actual age. With most of their teeth missing, their speech was somewhat strange and emphasized. Their facial features were fairly regular, neither tall nor short, except for a slightly wider forehead. This is a sign of intelligent people.

  As soon as two people entered the door, they were attracted by Long Fei's strange hairstyle. After a slight hesitation, one of them said: "Could it be that young brother is the owner of those white horses outside?"

  Long Fei slightly nodded: "Are you two thinking of buying a horse?"

  That man smiled and said, "Indeed, I am Zhang Shipei. This is my sworn brother Su Shuang. We heard people talking about this group of high-quality horses at the Yanmen Pass, and we have the intention to buy them. If you can bear to part with them, as for the price, we can discuss it!"

  Long Fei's mind was somewhat familiar with the two names that suddenly popped up, as if he had heard them somewhere before, but couldn't quite recall: "Then you tell me a price first, I'll listen!"

  "Haha... Zhang Shipei smiled: "This is the younger brother's, of course, the younger brother will make the first offer, and then we'll talk!"

  Long Fei had been a horse trader before, but he didn't know the price of horses. The Xianbei and Han people had conflicts, and they controlled warhorses very strictly. A high-quality warhorse could be sold for ten or even dozens of times its original price in the Central Plains. Long Fei hesitated for a moment, then suddenly remembered what Wang Wei had said - each of the horses driving their carriage was worth about 500 coins. So he replied: "In that case, let's make it 1,000 coins!"

  Zhang Shiping smiled slightly: "Little brother is really bold, even if it's a good horse from outside the Great Wall, it's only worth 500 or 600 coins. Although these horses of yours are all white and look good, they're still inferior to good horses. If you're willing to sell them, I'll buy them at the price of a good horse."

  "No way, I won't sell even one less!" Long Fei immediately refused.

  Su Shuang pulled Zhang Shi Ping's sleeve and said in a low voice, "Big brother, Lord Xuan De is still waiting for us to return! If we don't go back now, we might miss Lord Xuan De's important matter. These horses can be left unsold! We already have enough good horses that Lord Xuan De wants. I think it's more urgent for us to hurry back and report to Lord Xuan De."

  "As soon as the two characters 'Xuande' came out, Long Fei's mind suddenly understood. Zhang Shi Ping and Su Shuang were not the two horses that funded Liu Bei's uprising. In Luo Lao Tou's Three Kingdoms, they only mentioned them once, but it turns out these two have been secretly funding Liu Bei all along, no wonder he can fight repeatedly despite repeated defeats, it turns out he had a backing."

  "Hahaha……" Long Fei burst into loud laughter, causing Zhang Shi Ping and Su Shuang to feel strange. After the laughter stopped, Long Fei said: "I thought it was someone else! So you two are Liu Bei's people? Liu Bei has been having a tough time lately, is he at Gongsun Zan's place?"

  "How did you little brother find out?" Su Shuang was somewhat surprised.

  Long Fei mysteriously said: "You two don't need to ask about this, since Liu Bei is at Gongsun Zan's place, I advise you not to buy this horse!"

  "Why again?"

  Before Long Fei could respond, the street erupted into a commotion. A group of people shouted and yelled, their cries audible from far away: "Where's the horse seller? Where is he? Bring out these Xianbei spies!"