An equal split of whatever benefits, promising such groundless things in advance, is completely unreliable.
Nan Zhu immediately showed his displeasure. “You think she is Yun Xi, someone who knows the situation of Little Cloud Interval, and that whatever she says about how to find it cannot be wrong? Based on a place name from thousands of years ago with unknown circumstances, who knows whether it has any connection to these two places before us.”
Mu Aotie: “Do not speak fine words beforehand.”
They were people who had been terrified of poverty. For the first time in their lives, they had one hundred thousand taels of their own money, which ordinary commoners could not spend in a lifetime. To squander it casually as travel expenses was something both found difficult to accept.
The key point was that the goods at Miaoqing Hall could no longer be sold, so there was no subsequent income.
Yu Qing did not argue with them. He raised his hand to stop them. “Fine, suit yourselves. I am not willing to bring you two burdens along either. Why should you share the benefits while I bear all the burdens? I have enough money on me to fly here and there by myself.” He turned to leave.
Nan Zhu grabbed him and sighed. “What are you rushing for? We will find a way to deal with it. Two places. If we pick the right one among them, we will not need to make a second trip, so we will save the money for the second trip, will we not?”
Yu Qing shook off his hand and stopped leaving. He first sat down to one side to see what they would say.
“Rift Valley Villa, Golden Valley…” Nan Zhu muttered to himself while pondering for a while, then suddenly had an idea. “I am afraid it is that Golden Valley in Canzhou of the Jin Kingdom.”
Mu Aotie: “How do you mean?”
Nan Zhu: “The news Old Fifteen just brought clearly stated that the Golden Valley in Canzhou once had a gold mine discovered in ancient times. It has gold. Have you forgotten that pile of gold sand in Little Cloud Interval?”
Yu Qing fell into thought. This was indeed the simplest and most direct connection. The legendary Golden Ruins was a world of gold. The existence of gold was the most basic logical clue.
Mu Aotie nodded. “Then shall we go to Canzhou in the Jin Kingdom?” He looked at Yu Qing.
“You decide.” Yu Qing gave a casual sentence, making no decision.
He also dared not guarantee whether it was correct. Letting these two people choose meant that when money ran short later, these fellows could not refuse to dig into their own pockets.
Seeing that everyone had no objection, Nan Zhu decided. “Fine, then it is settled. When do we depart?”
Yu Qing stood up. “Do not delay. As soon as possible.”
Nan Zhu, however, reached out and pulled him again, gesturing toward another room. “What about that tagalong of yours?”
“Mine?” Yu Qing was stunned, then immediately reacted. The person referred to Qiao Qie’er. He frowned slightly and said decisively, “She cannot join in the fun for this matter. More people means greater expenses, and the travel costs alone would be unbearable. Shake her off.”
He did not need reminding. He was not so unable to distinguish priorities. He had long since made up his mind. He turned back and walked behind the writing desk, quickly tidied the brush and ink, tore off a sheet of paper, and began writing.
Nan and Mu came over to watch. The general meaning was that Qiao Qie’er also had some money on her, and that she should stay here long-term. She need not worry about revenge or money owed. They would help resolve it. If the situation changed, they would inform her by letter, and so on.
After finishing the letter, he gave it to Nan Zhu, and the three discussed matters together.
Once the departure details were settled, Yu Qing returned to his own room. He pushed the door open and entered, seeing Qiao Qie’er, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, look over. He waved his hand to indicate. “Miss Qie’er, those two fellows next door have something to discuss with you.”
Qiao Qie’er was somewhat puzzled. “Something to discuss with me? What is it?”
Yu Qing shrugged. “I am not clear. I do not know what they want to say.”
Qiao Qie’er did not think much of it and got up, leaving gracefully.
Yu Qing moved to the doorway and peeked outside. Seeing her knock and enter that room, he immediately turned around to pack his things and put his cloak back on. Of course, the most important thing was his sword, which his master had given him. Even though the blade was chipped from chopping, he had not been willing to replace it, so naturally he would not leave it behind.
After taking the sword from the wall, he immediately turned and ran.
In the other room, Nan Zhu was chatting with Qiao Qie’er about this and that, probing into what had happened with her parents.
As they chatted, a window in the courtyard side clicked, seeming to be struck by some small pebble. Nan Zhu immediately went over to open the window and look, muttering, “Who is so bored?”
He turned back and chatted casually with Qiao Qie’er for a few more sentences before indicating that there was nothing more.
After Qiao Qie’er bid farewell and stepped out the door, Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie immediately grabbed their previously packed belongings, stuck Yu Qing’s letter behind the door, then quickly jumped out the window and ran.
Three perfectly good fellow disciples were actually made by a woman to act like thieves.
Returning to her own room, Qiao Qie’er discovered there was no one inside. She tried walking toward the back of the screen. Having learned from past experience, she did not dare to be rash, slowly stretching her head to look behind the screen, and found no figure.
Looking around again, she then discovered the abnormality. Yu Qing’s cloak and sword were gone. Coupled with Nan Zhu’s earlier rambling chat, her expression immediately changed. She hurried out of the room and quickly reached the door of Nan Zhu’s room. She directly used magic to lift the door bolt and pushed the door open. Before she saw anyone, she saw a sheet of paper fluttering down. She subconsciously waved her hand to catch it, rushed inside and looked around, and found the people gone, and their luggage missing too.
She ran to the open window and looked outside, finding no figure. Only then did she notice that the paper in her hand was a letter.
After reading the letter’s contents, she naturally understood what had happened. She had been played by three men with a small trick and dumped.
She tucked the letter away and quickly left too…
The three fellow disciples who met on the street quickly ran off, leaving Youjiao Port at the fastest speed.
After leaving Youjiao Port, the three urgently rushed to a nearby horse ranch and arrived at a large inn by the ranch called “Thousand Li Residence.”
Because Youjiao Port, for the sake of maintaining order, did not allow flying about, this inn was also the main transit point and stopover for the Thousand Li Messengers in this area.
The three fellow disciples rushed into the inn and went straight to a table where several Thousand Li Messengers were sitting. Nan Zhu asked upon arriving, “The nearest point to Canzhou in the Jin Kingdom, do you go?”
One of the Thousand Li Messengers at the table replied, “We go. Are all three of you going?”
Nan Zhu: “Yes.”
That person sized up the three and quoted a price. “Fifty thousand taels each for the two of them. Seventy thousand for you.”
Being treated differently again, Nan Zhu was speechless, but still agreed in one breath. “Fine. Let us go. Depart immediately.”
“Immediately?” That person shook his head. “Not immediately. We must wait.”
Nan Zhu was puzzled. “Wait for what?”
That person shook his head again. “We also do not know what we are waiting for. We just received word from the guild saying there is something they want to tell us, asking us to wait a moment before departing. Are you in a hurry? It should not be a long wait.”
Whether Thousand Li Messengers or Mountain Porters, there were guilds responsible for coordinating them, and this inn was one of the main strongholds of the relevant guild.
Since the guild had spoken, the Thousand Li Messengers could not refuse to listen. The three fellow disciples could all understand, but the timing was really too coincidental. They had rushed to shake someone off and save time, yet the guild on this side had told the Thousand Li Messengers to temporarily stop flying. They had just bumped into it. Was this not a living ghost?
There was no way around it. This was something they really could not force.
Nan Zhu immediately cast a look at Mu Aotie. The latter understood and quickly left to stand guard outside the door to observe. Once they discovered that woman had come, they would need to hide in time.
After waiting for a moment, the guild people appeared in the inn, carrying a stack of hand-copied papers and distributing them table by table, reminding as they distributed, “Everyone look. Everyone look carefully. Let this be a warning to all.”
What was this? Yu Qing and Nan Zhu were puzzled. After one was distributed to their table too, they stretched their heads over to look and found it was a notice. It said that a certain Thousand Li Messenger, in order to earn money, thought he would not be discovered at night, and secretly carried people flying above the mortal realm, but was caught and was now facing severe punishment, and so on.
So that was all it was. The two fellow disciples lost interest. Nan Zhu urged again, “Can we go now?”
One Thousand Li Messenger stood up and shouted toward the guild person in the inn, “We have guests in a hurry. Can we go?”
That guild person looked back and waved his hand. “Go, go. Read what was distributed clearly. Let it be a warning.”
Three of the four Thousand Li Messengers at the table stood up, went out together, called Mu Aotie at the door, and the group quickly soared into the sky with beating wings.
Flying above the vast mountain ranges, the three fellow disciples relaxed, thinking they had definitely shaken her off this time.
Who would have thought that not much time passed before a giant bird quickly beat its wings in pursuit from behind, carrying a woman on its back.
After drawing near, it actively entered the staggered formation of flying mounts on this side.
The three fellow disciples turned to look one after another. Upon seeing clearly who the riding woman was, they were speechless.
The one who had caught up was none other than Qiao Qie’er.
To actually be caught up, the three fellow disciples were extremely embarrassed.
Especially Yu Qing. He had told her with utmost confidence to rest assured, saying he would not abandon her and so on. Now he had slapped his own face resoundingly. He could almost hear the loud slaps himself.
The three fellow disciples could only secretly blame the guild people at the inn. If they had not been delayed there, how could this have happened?
Qiao Qie’er also did not speak. Her face was expressionless, even looking straight ahead without glancing sideways.
They acted as if they did not know each other, but Qiao Qie’er’s flying mount clearly was following the flight of this side’s mounts.
Scorching sun, sunset, evening glow, nightfall, then starry sky.
Around midnight, the four flying mounts finally landed one after another at a seaside dock. This was already the Jin Kingdom border. They could not fly further inland. It was also the nearest location to Canzhou.
Yu Qing, jumping to the ground, pulled out silver notes. Without a word, he first ran to Qiao Qie’er’s side and helped her pay the travel fare, then went to settle the bill for the three fellow disciples.
After sending off the four Thousand Li Messengers, the four people went straight to the nearby relay station.
Yu Qing asked for two guest rooms. When dividing rooms to rest, he again rather consciously entered the same room as Qiao Qie’er.
After feeling awkward in the room for quite a while, Yu Qing, feeling uncomfortable all over, got up again and said, “I will go to their room to bathe.”
During this period, whenever he wanted to go talk with Nan Zhu and the others, he used bathing as an excuse.
Qiao Qie’er suddenly spoke. “Wash here. I will not look at you.”
Yu Qing subconsciously thought of the day he had been seen. His old face could not quite hold up. “If I were here and you were bathing in the room, would you be fine with that?”
Qiao Qie’er: “Yes.”
She was not merely speaking. She opened the door and called the attendant to bring bath water in.
Yu Qing was somewhat dumbstruck, his heart filled with shock and uncertainty, wondering whether this woman was joking. Was she really going to bathe in front of him?