Chapter Sixteen: The Little Thief and the Cowherd

  A morning court session ended in a flurry, and among the civil and military officials, one thing was remembered: Yu Hang had produced a Tang Gobang.

  Chen Yunshang had taken the imperial decree and the tiger tally, and without stopping to rest his horse, he set off in a carriage along the same road he had come by, leaving Chang'an behind. The morning mist and dew were a far cry from the mood he was in when he arrived, and the two passionate poems were no longer clutched in his hand, for they had been left behind in the Daming Palace.

  He was just a small figure in this era, but he had not expected that because of this encounter with Tang Guan, there would be a heavy stroke of his own in the history to come. The horse carriage slowly moved further and further away, heading towards the southern pearl Hangzhou.

  At the same time, troops gathered from all over, and Lao Xiang Pei Yan personally put on his armor and went into battle, wearing the war robe he had worn when he was young. At this time, in Yangzhou City, tens of thousands of rebels had already gathered because of Lu Binwang's article!

  In the Hall of Imperial Supremacy.

  At this time, the early morning courtiers were no longer present, only a year-old figure and a beautiful shadow stood still, it was Empress Wu Zetian and Chancellor Pei Yan.

  Wu Zetian held in one hand the "Memorial to Depose Wu Zetian" written by Ruo Binwang, and in the other hand she held two poems from the Tang Crown.

  "Old master, with Lu Binwang's great talent, he was actually used by bandits. This is because you people can't recognize talent."

  Pei Yanmo remained silent and gazed at the poem on his right side: "This Tang Qubing is more talented than him."

  Wu Zetian heard this and slightly shook her head, a phoenix robe in this magnificent palace made her look even more majestic. After a long time, she said: "Old Premier, were you serious about what you said at the early court?"

  As soon as this was said, the already quiet Hanyuandian suddenly dropped to freezing point.

  The year is over, and I am left with nothing but leftovers.

  With New Year's approaching, a young boy slipped out of a corner of the Tang estate.

  He finally managed to squeeze out of the "dog hole" in the corner of the wall, which was damaged at some unknown time, and it was the Tang crown that had caused a stir among the civil and military officials of the Daming Palace.

  "Haha, you're indeed a young master! You have a four-meter wall, but I have a small dog hole!" Tang Guan stood up and patted the dust off his clothes, only then did he get excited.

  "Xun'er has been depressed lately, buying something for her to play with would be good." Tang Guan walked forward while thinking of a reason to go out and take a look.

  Mr. and Mrs. Tang were very strict, especially Tang Weixi repeatedly ordered the servants at home to keep a close eye on him, forcing Tang Guan to resort to this trick.

  Tang Guan walked towards the bustling area, and it turned out that the location of the Tang Mansion was quite good. Not far away was the market, and further back was the official road. In later generations, this would be called a golden location, with luxurious mansions worth tens of thousands per square meter.

  "Rice cake for grinding water, hot rice cake"

  "Those with money support a money scene, those without money support a personal scene!"

  The sound of shouting was endless, Tang Guandong looked around, this was his second time out, the first time he didn't see anything, it seemed that at that time he followed the funeral procession, and the road was also remote, where was there such a lively scene as the New Year's Eve.

  Tang Guan touched the purse at his waist, where the money inside was obtained through various abnormal channels with great difficulty.

  And under the instigation of countless flattering words, Lin Yuhong finally knitted this prop that shouldn't have appeared in this era.

  "Haha, I also have a shopping addiction." With this thought, Tang immediately started picking up things here and there, taking out copper coins from his waist to pay for small trinkets, buying them and then putting them into his pocket after a glance.

  Hangzhou is a land of prosperity and peace, rarely experiencing war, with the Tang crown on the left and the right, a boy's generous move can't help but attract attention.

  A pair of cunning little eyes were now fixed on Tang Guan, who was not far away, watching with a smile and applauding.

  The owner of these eyes is also a half-grown child, with a few loose hairs on his forehead, and a somewhat delicate face, but his clothes are tattered and he has a weed stuck in his mouth.

  "Pfft! You dare to come out because there's no adult around!" The child spat out the weeds from his mouth, and his lips curled slightly. He had been observing Tang Guan for a long time and discovered his special habit of taking money from his waist, and upon closer inspection, he saw that his robe was bulging, presumably where he hid his money.

  The child was quite clever and immediately saw through the trick. He pretended to get up and casually walked towards Tang Guan.

  Tang Guan was completely unaware of this and instead exerted himself to push his way inside, but being short in stature, he couldn't see the artisan's moves amidst the crowd.

  The boy in the crowd suddenly and quietly wrapped his arms around Tang Guan's waist, then walked away calmly.

  Tang Guanzheng was excited to see this, but he had no idea that he had encountered a pickpocket, let alone one who was about the same age and size as himself.

  "Good!" Táng Guān was excited and wanted to take out money to throw at the artisan, but as soon as he touched his pocket, he couldn't help but be shocked.

  "Oh no!" Tang Guan immediately realized something, hastily retreated from the crowd, looked at the withered clothes, and quickly raised his head to look around, but there was no trace.

  "What's wrong with you, even the money of a traveler you dare to steal!" Tang Guan suddenly became flustered and furious, and suddenly discovered that in the distant alley, there was a small figure running quickly, holding a bulging cloth bag.

  "How detestable!" Tang Guan cursed under his breath and took off in pursuit.

  "I caught a thief!" Tang Guan shouted as he ran, and in his haste, he didn't even realize that others might not understand him.

  There were also passersby who saw two children chasing each other, took a glance and smiled as they walked away, thinking it was just naughty kids playing.

  "It's too pitiful, where has my infinite strength gone?" That little thief ran really fast, and Tang Guan couldn't help but secretly scold his own fake and inferior innate talent.

  That little thief also cursed silently, didn't expect Tang Guan to react so quickly, and before he could even escape completely, he was discovered.

  But the heavy cloth sack in his hand gave him infinite motivation. Such a big cloth sack, at least several taels.

  Tang Guan gradually slowed down, panting heavily, his hands on his knees and his mouth agape.

  "Damn it... damn it! You run so fast!" Tang Guan pointed at the figure that was running further and further away, cursing loudly as he collapsed to the ground.

  "Just you wait... Wait till I'm invincible, and I'll definitely come to kill you" Tang Guan still didn't forget his Golden Finger, but unfortunately that so-called invincibility hasn't shown any effect until now.

  Taking a deep breath, looking around at the surroundings, Tang Guan was suddenly shocked to find that they had chased each other out of town and into the wilderness. Tang Guan carefully observed the surroundings again, but instead of returning to town, he continued walking forward.

  And that little thief saw Tang Guanwei lying on the ground in the distance, still not reducing his speed, and his thin body had such physical strength, which really made people wonder.

  He was already at the end of his rope, but he had been doing this for two or three years and had a strong sense of professionalism. He didn't stop until he was out of sight of Tang Guan, and when he finally did, he felt a sharp pain. It turned out that his feet were bleeding from being rubbed raw, and the soles of his tattered shoes had been worn through to the insoles.

  "Hoo... hoo... close call" The little thief also collapsed to the ground like Tang Guan, with his four legs pointing towards the sky, as if being in pain was a normal occurrence and he didn't care at all.

  After a long time, Xiaopi finally grasped the cloth bag tightly in his hand and held his breath as he opened it.

  "Wow... so many!" The little pickpocket had just opened it and saw that it was full of copper coins, and he was immediately stunned and muttered to himself.

  Immediately showing a look of extreme joy, "Xiaohua is saved, Xiaohua is saved"

  The little thief hastily stuffed the cloth bag into his bosom, looked in a certain direction, and with an unknown force, immediately got up and walked towards a hillside.

  "You silly fool, running all the way and dropping things along the way"

  Tang Guan looked down at the scattered copper plates on the ground, picking them up one by one as he muttered to himself. It turned out that earlier when he was in a hurry, the little thief hadn't tightened the cloth bag, causing many copper plates to fall out.

  Tang Guan picked up the last copper coin, but stood still on the spot, and when he went forward again, there was no clue. At this time, he was in the resting place of that little pickpocket.

  "This is a big loss, it was hard to steal from the warehouse, and this ill-gotten wealth, everyone takes it" Tang Guan shook his head with a bitter smile. That one bundle of copper coins, even if converted, was only worth a few taels of silver, but it was something that Tang Guan had put all his mind into getting. He wasn't even ten years old yet and couldn't receive the monthly allowance from home.

  Besides, the pouch was sewn by Lin Yuxun stitch by stitch, it can't be lost. Tang Guan's eyes were fixed, and he looked around again to see if he could find any clues.

  "The old man is indeed a traverser!" Tang Guanyan had extremely good eyesight, and in an instant, he discovered that there was a faint trail of blood on the gravel leading to a mountain slope.

  "It's not easy being a thief either." Tang Guan slightly shook his head and crouched down, following the bloodstains as he moved forward slowly.

  Not noticing at all, the sun gradually slanted down.

  On a low and barren slope, in a ruined temple.

  "Xiao Hua! Niu Lang Ge, I'm back!"

  "Cough, cough, cough..." Instead of a human voice responding to him, a thick smoke accompanied by the smell of herbs rushed towards him, making him cough violently.

  "Niulang, what's burning again?"

  "The herbs picked from the mountain can diagnose illnesses, as told by the woodcutter"

  A broken pot was placed on the fire and burned with a crackling sound, and from the smoke, a sturdy and dark-skinned young man emerged, grinning.

  The little thief heard that he picked up a handful of soil and extinguished the fire. The young man, known as the Cowherd, saw this and angrily said: "What are you doing!"

  "Don't burn it, don't burn it! We have money to spend on seeing a doctor!"