Meng Wei observed the reactions of Yu Qing and the other two from the corner of his eye. He pointed at the person and said, “That is why you can only do physical labour for the rest of your life. Everyone will enter Yuanshan in the next few days. Those who can read and write do not need to carry loads. They can have more eyes and help keep the team in order.
It also counts as being a team leader. When seeing warnings they need to remind everyone in time so that no one who cannot read bumps into the rules in the mountains. After all we cannot take you everywhere with us. We only need two or three. Is there anyone?”
Hearing that they could still enter the mountain without carrying loads and could even act as team leaders, which meant having more freedom of movement, Yu Qing immediately stepped forward first. He nodded and bowed and said, “Great lord, this small one knows a bit.”
Knows a bit? Meng Wei raised his eyebrows slightly, turned around, and pointed at the table. “Then try it.”
“Yes.” Yu Qing trotted behind the table, looked at the things on it, and asked, “How should I try?”
Meng Wei pointed at a book on the table. “We do not expect you to have much learning. If you had that ability you would not need to do this job. It is enough if you can make do. Flip to any page yourself, find any section and copy it. Whether you can do it or not will be clear at a glance.”
It was indeed simple. Yu Qing agreed, immediately opened the book page, then picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote quickly. He copied a section, which was only a few dozen characters. He finished in a few strokes, then put down the brush and reported, “Great lord, please see if this is acceptable.”
Meng Wei asked him to write his name first, then took it and looked. He gave a sound of approval and said, “It is fine, not bad. It is clear at a glance that you can read some characters. All right, wait for the assignment.”
“Yes.” Yu Qing walked back.
Seeing it was so simple, several people immediately shouted that they wanted to try. Even Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie raised their hands.
Yu Qing did not think much of it at all. He did not regard these people as competitors at all. What kind of writing could a group of labourers produce? He still had some confidence in his own handwriting. As long as the person in charge here was not blind, they should be able to see who was better.
Before long, including those who could only scribble strokes to form characters, everyone had finished writing. Meng Wei then signalled everyone to disperse first and wait for arrangements.
After everyone left the warehouse, Meng Wei quickly folded Yu Qing’s writing, tucked it into his sleeve, and left quickly, heading straight for the room upstairs.
When he found Right Lingluo, he took out the writing and presented it.
Right Lingluo took it and looked. With just one glance he could not help but chuckle. “The spirit is consistent with the examination paper. It really is that fellow. This guy is quite arrogant. He thinks there is no one here and does not hide his handwriting at all.”
Meng Wei smiled bitterly. “It really is wearing out iron shoes in vain search, yet obtaining it without effort.” After confirming, it clearly gave him some headache too.
“This guy is blindly joining in the fun. He is really looking for trouble.” Right Lingluo also pinched his forehead. In the end he gave a hum and said, “Since he likes to act, let him act to his heart’s content. There are still a few days. Do not let him idle either. Starting tomorrow, let him get his fill of physical labour.”
Meng Wei hesitated. “Sir, is this appropriate?”
Right Lingluo said, “Do they think others are also blind just because they are blind themselves? Do they think putting on ragged clothes makes them look like porters? That big fatty looks like a local rich man. It may fool ordinary people, but can it pass in front of experienced people who are on guard? Give them a layer of disguise.”
Meng Wei raised his hand to cover his forehead and laughed.
Thus, the group of recruited people dispersed temporarily and were told to come formally to work early the next morning.
The three martial brothers went to find a place to stay again. Having mixed in as labourers, staying in an inn was no longer suitable as it would easily arouse suspicion.
The three wandered all over the county town and rented an old house. The advantage was that it was cheap.
The next day the three came to the shipping company to start work. The manager assigning tasks saw the three at once and immediately said to the foreman beside him, “Perfect. Here come three. Take them away.”
The foreman immediately called to the three, “Follow me.”
The three looked at each other. Yu Qing could not help but ask the manager, “What about the others?”
The manager said, “Why so much nonsense? When you come, can you still idle? Of course everyone has gone to work.”
The three were speechless and could only follow the foreman. They were directly taken to the dock outside the city.
Several large ships were moored at the dock. On one of the ships the boatmen were rolling up the rain cloth, revealing neatly stacked large hemp sacks. The sacks were filled with beans.
The foreman brought the three onto the ship and told them what to do. First unload a whole ship of hemp sacks and stack them on the open ground. Then load the pile of stone materials beside it onto the ship. The work must be finished before dark today.
“So much work on one big ship, just the three of us?” Nan Zhu asked in surprise.
The foreman said, “I can see you do not look like someone who works. Who recruited you? The work is just this much. If you can do it, do it. If you cannot, get lost and we will change people. Do not delay things.”
“We can do it, we can do it.” Yu Qing quickly spoke up to smooth things over.
The foreman waved his hand and left.
The three looked at each other. What else could they do? In order to keep this job that allowed them to enter the mountain, they just had to work.
However they had never done this kind of loading and unloading work before. They had to ask the experienced boatmen for advice. In the end they set up a gangplank and the three martial brothers began to shoulder the hemp sacks, carrying them from the ship down to the shore.
Trip after trip, it was really exhausting.
By noon they had finally finished unloading the ship. Then they followed the people working on other ships to find a place for a simple lunch.
When they came back it was time to suffer. Loading stone materials onto the ship was much more tiring than unloading hemp sacks. Under the blazing sun in the sky, the three pushed wheelbarrows loaded with stones and rushed trip after trip onto the gangplank. Even with their cultivation, sweat poured down like rain. They were really baked and tanned with a layer of oil, yet they looked quite hardworking and enduring.
“Was it not said that those who can read and write do not need to do physical labour? Even if the two of us are no good, does your writing not count either, old fifteen?”
“Who knows. We enter the mountain in a few days anyway. These black-hearted merchants, how could they let people rest while taking wages? Just endure it a bit more.”
When work ended in the evening, the white fatty had been tanned into a red fatty. The three looked dusty and dirty.
At least Yu Qing learned that people doing this kind of work should not keep a ponytail. Hair not tied up would not do either. People carrying big packages were also not suitable for wearing hairpins. This kind of labourer needed to wrap the head.
Similar work, the three stubbornly did for several days.
On the evening of the fourth day when work ended, the three were notified that they would enter the mountain tomorrow. It was said that they had seen the three were diligent people, quite reassuring, and since they could also read, the three were selected to be the mountain-entry team leaders.
After suffering came sweetness. The three had a feeling of joy that their efforts had brought rewards.
At this time the three also looked like different people. They had been tanned dark and reddish.
The next day when they arrived at the shipping company, the three martial brothers all carried a thick stick, saying it would be useful when lifting things. In reality weapons were hidden inside.
Upon seeing Meng Wei and being immediately selected by him as team leaders, Yu Qing and Nan Zhu, holding their sticks, immediately surrounded him like lackeys. Only Mu Aotie stood silently holding his stick aside, seeming to disdain the behaviour of his two fellow disciples.
Yu Qing and Nan Zhu actually also disliked old nine’s arrogant appearance. Everyone was here to make a fortune and to find the immortal cave dwelling. What was the point of putting on airs? Could putting on airs bring money? Having backbone but no cultivation resources, was hiding in Linglong Temple cultivating for so many years useful?
However the two knew that old nine would always be like this, looking as if even dogs would not eat shit. No matter what they said it would be useless.
Some shops in the city were also delivering goods to the shipping company. At Meng Wei’s signal, Yu Qing and his two martial brothers called on the labourers to help load the burdens and cut red silk to decorate the burdens with flowers.
After everything was prepared, Right Lingluo, who was responsible for the port opening affairs in this area for the shipping company, finally appeared, followed by two people dressed as guards.
Right Lingluo asked about the preparation situation. Meng Wei replied that everything was ready. Then he called Yu Qing and the other two over and introduced them. “Sir, these three can read and write, and they work diligently. They are the team leaders for this trip. Sir, if there is anything during the journey you can directly instruct them to do.”
Yu Qing and Nan Zhu immediately nodded and bowed with smiles all over their faces.
Right Lingluo asked, “Who is Niu Youqing?”
Yu Qing slightly raised his hand and said with a bent waist, “This small one is.”
Looking at that young small moustache and the flattering appearance, Right Lingluo was speechless for a while. Then he coughed and said, “I have seen the words you wrote. Not bad. Doing this job is a bit of a waste of talent. In the future just follow by my side. Take it slowly.”
Meng Wei quickly helped by saying, “Sir has taken a special liking to you. Why do you not quickly thank him?”
Yu Qing, who was in a daze thinking, quickly nodded and bowed to thank him. In his heart however he felt disdain. As long as the purpose of this trip was achieved, he would immediately run away. How could he follow this old man around.
Meng Wei immediately followed the words and designated Yu Qing as the number one team leader. Even Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie would be under his management along the way.
Old seven and old nine looked at each other speechlessly. It was fine that Master had designated old fifteen as sect leader, but how come even here he was made their leader? Were scholars so popular?
Soon several horses were brought over. Right Lingluo, Meng Wei and the two guards all rode horses in front. A group of labourers sat on the board carts loaded with burdens. For now there was no need for them to carry. The road was too long so some physical strength needed to be saved for them.
The congratulatory gifts filled a full eight horse-drawn board carts and followed behind Right Lingluo and the others, going far away…
Until the carriages could no longer proceed, the group of porters got off one after another and picked up the loaded congratulatory gifts.
As the number one team leader, Yu Qing carried a stick and kept urging, “Hurry up, everyone hurry up. We still have to travel dozens of miles of mountain road.”
While busy, he suddenly saw two old acquaintances he did not want to see. They were none other than the big shopkeeper of Jian Yuan Zhai, Qin Jue, and Cui You.
It looked like they were also here to offer congratulations, but their group was far smaller, only four people in total.
Qin Jue and Cui You were also very surprised, not because Yu Qing and the other two appeared here, but because of the changes in the three. If not for some people’s builds being too obvious, they were tanned so dark that they were almost unrecognisable. They were also surprised by the three’s identities for entering the mountain.
“These three guys have actually tanned like this. To enter the mountain they really went all out and were ruthless enough to themselves!” Cui You whispered a few words in Qin Jue’s ear.
Qin Jue remained calm. He led his people into the mountain just like that, acting as if he did not know Yu Qing and the others.
Those entering the mountain were far more than this. In the short time of Bihai Shipping’s preparations, more than ten batches of people had come one after another. Many were notable firms from Luanzhou, and there were even officials from Luanzhou.
In this desolate mountainous wilderness, it suddenly became quite lively, with people coming in an endless stream.