Green Mountain
Chapter 353 - 292, Jianghu Affairs_2

Chapter 353: 292, Jianghu Affairs_2

Liang Gou’er was unconcerned: "Compared to your age, who isn’t a new melon egg?"

The four of them found a secluded alley and hid in the shadows.

Zhu Yunxi found a few broken baskets, stacked them together, and gave them to Old Yao: "Sit on the baskets, don’t get cold."

Old Yao glanced at him sideways: "You do have some foresight."

He lifted his robe and sat down on the baskets, closing his eyes to rest. Zhu Yunxi leaned against the wall, looking up at the sky above the narrow alley. The walls on both sides squeezed the sky into a narrow slit.

Zhu Yunxi spoke: "Doctor Yao..."

Old Yao opened his eyes and looked at him: "Still calling me Doctor Yao, are you trying to get me killed? Just call me Old Yao like Little Dog. I have a broad mind, I won’t argue with you."

Zhu Yunxi hurriedly said: "Or, how about I call you Master too? You’ve taught me a lot on this journey."

Old Yao shook his head: "No, I don’t accept such a poor student."

Zhu Yunxi opened his mouth, but was so stifled that he couldn’t speak for a while.

Liang Gou’er, who was listening on the side, couldn’t take it anymore and mocked: "How great can your precious students be? They only have two eyes and one mouth. Do you really expect him to step into the Divine Realm?"

Old Yao glanced at him: "You don’t know squat."

He looked up at the sky, then closed his eyes and stopped arguing.

...

...

The sky gradually brightened.

Old Yao stood up and walked out slowly: "Follow, but don’t get too close."

Zhu Yunxi hurriedly helped Liang Gou’er up and followed Old Yao from a distance, not knowing what he had up his sleeve.

Lushun Port had become bustling again. The sky hadn’t fully lit up yet and the dockworkers and sailors squatted by the roadside, eating in silence. Unlike the Ning Dynasty, it seemed everyone here was taciturn.

Old Yao took out a money pouch and tied it around his waist. As he walked, the silver inside clinked heavily.

By the roadside, a young man dressed as a dockworker fixed his gaze on Old Yao’s waist. He put down his dishes and followed.

From a distance, Zhu Yunxi watched the young man intentionally bump into Old Yao. In just one contact, the pouch of silver fell into the young man’s hands.

Liang Mao’er was about to retrieve the pouch when Liang Gou’er lazily said: "Don’t move, the old man did it on purpose."

In the next moment, Old Yao turned and followed the young man. The young man weaved through alleys, heading joyfully to a market outside the port, then disappeared into an alleyway.

Old Yao stood at the entrance of the alley, hands behind his back.

Zhu Yunxi walked up: "What are you doing?"

"Following him to find someone," Old Yao said leisurely as he walked into the alley. "Such thieves we usually call ’little sneaks,’ also known as ’old roots.’ Those who sleep during the day and steal at night are called ’black fronts,’ and those who sleep at night and work during the day, stealing from pedestrians, are called ’white fronts.’"

"All little sneaks have to pay respect to a local chieftain. They can’t immediately sell stolen goods; they must leave them with the chieftain for three days, then sell them, keeping seventy percent for the chieftain."

Zhu Yunxi, hearing of this for the first time, asked curiously: "Why leave them with the chieftain for three days?"

"To stay alive," Old Yao said casually. "The loot is kept for three days in case someone comes looking for it. If they stole from an important figure, the government would come to the chieftain for the goods, and the chieftain has to give it. If the chieftain can’t produce it, many people will die."

Zhu Yunxi asked again: "Why do they give the chieftain seventy percent? That’s too much."

Old Yao sneered: "If you don’t pay up, the chieftain doesn’t even need to move, he’ll just call in the constables from the government office to arrest you. Surely you don’t think the chieftain keeps the whole seventy percent for himself?"

At this time, Old Yao arrived at the door of a house and knocked politely.

With a creak, the wooden door opened slightly from the inside. A middle-aged man showed half his face and warily asked: "Who are you looking for?"

Old Yao smiled: "Looking for your chieftain to discuss some business."

Before the person inside could react, he had already pushed the door open and walked in by himself.

In the courtyard, a few men were shirtless, lifting stone locks to train their bodies.

A muscular middle-aged man sat in a recliner, with the young sneak who had just entered standing in front of him.

The middle-aged man asked the young sneak: "So much silver, isn’t it suspicious? From whom did you steal it?"

Seeing the door push open, the young sneak was stunned and pointed at Old Yao: "I stole it from him."

The middle-aged man was also stunned, then squinted and stood up, turning two iron balls in his hand: "I wonder which over-river dragon you are who is looking for me?"

Old Yao didn’t waste any words, directly saying: "I need four travel permits to Tokyo Road, Liaoyang Prefecture. The silver in your hand is the money for the permits."

The middle-aged man weighed the silver and sneered: "The silver is enough, and I do have the permits. But you can’t just show up and say you want to buy them; you’re breaking the rules."

Old Yao’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

In an instant, he tipped up a stone lock on the ground with his toe and kicked it at one of the trainees in the courtyard.

The trainee, hearing the stone lock whistling through the air, tried to catch it but was struck so hard his chest collapsed, and he spat blood a full yard high. The middle-aged man’s face changed, and he turned to run, only to have his leg broken by another stone lock.

Three breaths later, when he looked back, the courtyard was full of corpses except for him.

Liang Gou’er’s face changed, looking in shock at Old Yao.

Old Yao stood calmly before the chieftain, hands behind his back: "Are you ready to talk properly now?"

The middle-aged man stammered: "All the permits are in the second box from the left in the house. You can take them! I didn’t recognize a towering figure, please don’t take it out on me!"

Old Yao waved to Liang Mao’er and Zhu Yunxi: "Get the permits, find four going to Tokyo Road, Liaoyang Prefecture, and make sure they match our ages."

Travel permits identify the holder’s identity, age, residence, and the route of travel. Anyone without one who crosses borders would be flogged eighty times. Unauthorized travel to restricted border areas warranted a hundred lashes and three years of labor.

After thirty minutes, Zhu Yunxi came out with four travel permits: "Got them, but the best I could find for your age is for someone sixty-four years old."

Old Yao sighed: "It will have to do."

Liang Gou’er teased: "Won’t you be seen through?"

Old Yao glared at him, and Liang Gou’er quickly shrank back.

Old Yao looked at Zhu Yunxi and pointed at the chieftain lying on the ground, saying indifferently: "Kill him."

Zhu Yunxi hesitated: "We already have the permits..."

Old Yao glanced at him sideways: "If he reports us after we leave, these permits would be worthless. If you’re still soft-hearted, I suggest you find three feet of white silk and hang yourself, don’t waste my time."

Zhu Yunxi knew he would have to kill someone sooner or later. But when it came to the moment of killing, he still hesitated.

Old Yao stared at him and then said slowly: "Princely Heir, this is the Jianghu."

Zhu Yunxi was stunned, realizing Jianghu wasn’t beautiful at all.

Unlike the storyteller’s tales, there were no couples wielding dual swords or romantic adventures. In this Jianghu, there were only non-returning guests.

Old Yao turned and walked toward the door: "If you can kill, we continue forward. If you can’t, I walk alone."

At the next moment, Zhu Yunxi picked up a broadsword from the courtyard and with a single stroke, chopped the chieftain’s neck. Blood splattered, painting his face with crimson dots like blooming plum blossoms.

Zhu Yunxi looked up and asked: "Old man, where to next?"

Old Yao said lightly: "To the Temple of Martial Arts, to find an old friend."