Still unable to calm down completely, Hsu Fengnian rose from the ground and swept to the horse path on the southern wall of Jiebei City. He jumped lightly and sat cross-legged on the top of the wall.
Soon, the sound of armor vibrating could be heard from far away on the horse path. When the armored soldiers realized that it was the young lord who had come to the top of the wall, they quickly retreated silently. Although they did not whisper to each other, they could see the passion in each other's eyes.
Hsu Fengnian clenched his fists and propped them up on his legs. He sat in the north and faced the south, looking at the distant night sky.
He sat there for a night.
Before dawn, he quietly returned to the manor. Not long after he sat down in the study, a spy from the torture chamber came to report that Mao Shulang, Cheng Baishuang, and Ji Lu 'an, the three southern martial art masters were about to arrive at the small town market in the south of the city that had suddenly become sparsely populated.
Hsu Fengnian asked him to prepare a horse. After spending more than an hour dealing with the military and political affairs that had gradually piled up on his desk last night, he left the city alone.
Hsu Fengnian did not specially come to welcome the three grandmasters of the Central Plains. He mainly wanted to take a look at the market and did not have too many reasons.
Hsu Fengnian rode the horse to the small town. He dismounted and led the horse forward slowly. There were wine shops, tea houses, inns, and all kinds of scattered shops. Of course, one could not leave without legs. However, business was extremely poor. Some shops had simply closed down. This was reasonable. In just half a day, three to four thousand people had left. Moreover, a large number of people who participated in the construction of the city had begun to return to their hometowns in batches under the escort of the local garrison. As Hsu Fengnian walked, there were shop assistants squatting under the eaves with sleepy eyes and yawning. The sudden drop in business made them happy to take a break from work. There were merchants who shouted loudly for their servants to move their goods to the south. They looked worried. There were brothel girls who leaned on the railings and looked up at the big red lanterns when they had nothing to do. It was rare for them to wake up so early. There were strong escorts who were escorting rare items from Lingzhou. They only cared about the safety of the goods and did not care about the shopkeeper's frown.
At the end of the street, Hsu Fengnian suddenly saw an old Taoist priest pushing a cart towards the south. He was as thin as a match and his arm strength was weak. There was a linen poster on his cart that was used to solicit business. From top to bottom, there were two lines of regular script, "Zi Wei Dou Shu, Eight Trigrams Six Lines, Not Bad" and "Face and Palm Reading, Qimen Dunjia, Not Bad". Hsu Fengnian smiled knowingly. This fortune teller was really honest. He led the horse forward quickly and bent down to help push the cart.
The old man's Taoist robe that had been washed until it was white was out of place. In any case, Hsu Fengnian had never seen it before during his travels to Liyang and Beimang. This was not strange. Taoist temples that could obtain credentials from the government all had very particular designs for their Taoist robes. If they were to forge and sell them without permission, once the county government found out, the crime would not be small. Back then, Hsu Fengnian had rented a Taoist robe when he first traveled the jianghu. It was also a robe of questionable origin that could not be found. Even if the government had their eyes on it and wanted to get to the bottom of it, it would be difficult for them to convict him. The person in front of him was clearly someone similar to His Royal Highness, who was in dire straits back then.
The fortune teller, who could barely be called a Taoist priest, narrowed his eyes and said, "Young Master, you must be from a wealthy family. If I'm not wrong, your father's generation outside the Great Wall is very powerful."
Hsu Fengnian's words hit the nail on the head. He smiled and said, "You saw that my horse was able to follow its master by itself after the reins were loosened. There's no doubt that it's a Beiliang warhorse. In addition, the war is imminent and I dare to take a horse for a stroll here, so you deduced that I'm a descendant of a general, right?"
The fortune teller's smile was forced. The immortal demeanor that he had painstakingly squeezed out disappeared and he was beaten back to his original state.
Hsu Fengnian sighed and said, "To be honest, in my early years, I was similar to you. In order to make a living, I pretended to be a god and became a fortune teller. You're a little better than me at that time. In any case, you have a tricycle."
Hsu Fengnian joked, "But to be honest, you're really like a crane in a flock of chickens with your banner. How can you have any business?"
The old man laughed and said, "Actually, it doesn't matter. Earning money here mainly depends on writing letters for people or peddling small safety talismans folded from yellow paper. Three copper coins for one, so my business is passable. Before those Beiliang foreigners left, it was enough for me to eat meat and drink wine twice a day. Commoners like me are just ordinary people. When we pray to Buddha, God, and Bodhisattva, we must first ask for peace and stability. Then we ask for marriage and the right time. Finally, we ask for scholarly achievements and riches. Young Master, don't you think so? "
Hsu Fengnian nodded and said softly, "The commoners are actually using three copper coins to get peace of mind. You're doing a good thing."
As if recalling those happy times of drinking wine and eating meat, the elder's face beamed with joy. However, soon after, he couldn't help but angrily say, "If our prince was a bit more formidable, this little old man's business would still be good for a month or so. Who would have thought that the Northern Mang barbarians would attack North Rejecting City so early? What a waste of my life to obtain this trade. I've suffered a great loss. Now that I've returned to the pass, the days will be hard to bear."
Hsu Fengnian laughed and said, "That vassal king really deserves to be scolded. What Great Grandmaster of Wushu Commentary? It's useless."
Perhaps he realized that the young master beside him was a son of a general and was closely related to the rise and fall of the Beiliang Xu family. In Jianghu, it was reasonable to say too much and it was taboo to talk too much. Therefore, the old man quickly changed his tone and mediated, "You can't say that. It's not easy for our Prince to support such a large family property. His luck is not good either. Soon the Beimang barbarians will invade and they won't even give us a chance to fart. It's still not easy for our Prince and the border army."
The old man seemed to be unable to make up any more lies. He became more embarrassed and seemed to be restrained. His strength to push the cart became weaker.
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