The next morning, everyone left An Yi County, continuing their journey south.
Wei Chang Tian, adhering to the principle “money can’t be wasted,” eventually sent someone to bring Rainy Girl to the inn.
The specific process wasn’t worth mentioning, but the experience was decent.
As they left, they also sent Su Yu and Rainy Girl back to the Embroidered Building, during which they heard about two things.
One was that Peng Ben Zhi, after returning home, was severely beaten by his father, and the other was that Song Zheng Ming, who was on the brink of death, was finally taken away by the authorities last night.
No one cared about a scholar without an official position.
The horse carriage raised a cloud of dust, and everyone finally disappeared into the horizon, leaving behind only the story of “a series of twists and turns” from last night, as well as a sentence: “Why not bring Wu Hook, standing tall with a horizontal blade, ruling the twelve states?”
Wei Chang Tian didn’t take all this to heart, and after getting on the carriage, he leaned against Yang Liu Shi’s thigh and took a nap, then woke up to play cards.
Liang Zhen’s mood was carefree, shouting some sort of tune as he rode his horse, seemingly recapturing the feeling of bravely fighting on the battlefield.
Liang Jin’s head poked out of the carriage curtain, occasionally glancing at his proud father, and occasionally looking at the black horse carriage in the distance, as if hesitating whether to talk to Wei Chang Tian…
The wheels rolled, and the morning sun had not yet risen.
The pale blue dawn and the faint morning mist merged together, dyeing the mountains and waters along the official road.
At this very moment, Xiao Feng, who was still in the capital, was waiting outside a breakfast shop near the Chun Shen Bookstore, his gaze fixed on the road ahead.
He and the man beside him were carrying luggage, looking like they were about to embark on a long journey.
The destination was obvious.
However, before that, he still wanted to see someone one last time.
……
From noble mtl dot come
“Master, we’re in too much danger here. What if we’re discovered by the Wei family…”
The man held a pancake, but hadn’t eaten it, constantly looking around.
Xiao Feng was much calmer, not eating either, but his expression was less tense.
“Don’t worry, Ren, I’ve already altered your appearance. The Wei family won’t recognize us so easily.”
“Okay…”
The man reluctantly nodded.
He took a bite of the pancake, hesitated for a long time, and finally couldn’t resist his curiosity, asking cautiously: “Master, you’re taking such a great risk… who are you waiting for?”
“……”
The breakfast shop was bustling with people, and the waiter in a long apron was hurrying back and forth inside.
Xiao Feng was about to respond when a horse carriage suddenly appeared in view.
“Clip-clop, clip-clop…”
A dark red horse pulled a tightly closed carriage, driving by the door, stirring up a gust of wind that lightly blew the shop’s brown sign.
Xiao Feng watched the carriage enter the Chun Shen Bookstore’s courtyard before softly saying:
“Ren, go wait for me at the old place outside the city.”
“Has the person you’re waiting for arrived, Master?”
The man was taken aback, immediately putting down the pancake: “I’ll accompany you! Just in case something dangerous happens!”
“No need…”
Xiao Feng shook his head, his eyes slightly worried: “There won’t be any danger.”
“…”
“Then, Master, you should be more careful.”
Although Da Han was worried, he wasn’t the type to be overly cautious. After a brief moment of thought, he picked up his package and left the breakfast shop.
Xiao Feng watched him leave, then sat back down, waiting until the “Book” sign was hung outside the Spring Deep Bookstore across the street before slowly getting up. He called out to the waiter beside him:
“Little Two, bring the bill!”
“Coming!”
The waiter seemed familiar with Xiao Feng and quickly ran over to collect the dishes while laughing: “Young Master, you had two people today, totaling fifty coins.”
“Here.”
Xiao Feng casually tossed a small piece of silver onto the table: “The rest is a tip.”
“Ah?”
Little Two was both surprised and delighted, hurriedly grasping the silver and repeatedly thanking him: “Thank you, Young Master, thank you, Young Master!”
“No need.”
Xiao Feng picked up the package beside him, smiling: “Your breakfast porridge is indeed delicious. If I have the chance, I’ll come back to drink it again.”
“Young Master.”
Little Two was taken aback, subconsciously asking: “Are you going on a long journey?”
“Yes.”
Facing the morning sun, Xiao Feng strode towards the Spring Deep Bookstore, leaving behind a somewhat enigmatic sentence.
“This time, I’m afraid only one of us will be able to return…”
…
…
“Mr. Li, I told you yesterday that only the collector’s edition of ‘Journey to the West’ comes with the silver swallow, not the regular edition.”
“Miss, are you here to buy a book?”
“We don’t sell poker cards alone, but if you buy any book from our store, we’ll give you a deck as a gift.”
“Mr. Guo, the middle volume of ‘Journey to the West’ will be printed in ten days. Please be patient and wait a bit longer…”
Although the store had just opened, there were already many customers in the Spring Deep Bookstore.
Several waiters were busy attending to them. If they were too busy, a woman who looked like a wealthy family’s maid would come out to help.
This person was, of course, Qiu Yun. As for Lu Jingyao… she was currently in the back room teaching Li Yang how to play mahjong.
“…so in this situation, you can collide cards… one pair is the general… this is how you get a hu card…”
“…Mr. Li, the rules of mahjong are roughly like this. Do you understand?”
“More or less…”
Li Yang furrowed his brow, nodded thoughtfully, and muttered: “It takes longer than a game of poker, and it’s more challenging for the players’ skills…”
“But it’s not as convenient as poker, requiring four people to form a table…”
“I wonder how Brother Wei came up with this game…”
He pondered the intricacies of the game while talking to himself, almost forgetting about Lu Jingyao beside him until nearly an incense stick’s worth of time had passed.
“Ah! I’m sorry, Little Aunt. I was too focused on thinking about mahjong just now!”
“No need to apologize.”
Lu Jingyao smiled: “Before you left, my husband told me to give you this mahjong set, saying you’d be able to make it popular.”
“Brother Wei thinks too highly of me.”
Li Yang’s face showed a hint of emotion as he carefully put away the mahjong pieces: “Little sister-in-law, I’ll go back and think about the mahjong game first. If I don’t understand something, I’ll come back to ask you for guidance.”
“Okay, Li Gongzi, don’t be polite.”
Lu Jingyao took a sip of tea and began discussing The Journey to the West and other bookstore matters with Li Yang.
The Spring Deep Bookstore originally had Li Yang holding a 20% stake, with Wei Changtian holding 80%.
However, before Wei Changtian left, he considered that he would be unable to manage the bookstore for a long time and decided to give Li Yang an additional 20% stake, leaving the remaining 60% temporarily in Lu Jingyao’s name.
Therefore, Lu Jingyao was currently the de facto “major shareholder” of the Spring Deep Bookstore on paper.
Later, if she were to go to Shu State, these shares would be transferred to Wang Er.
Wei Changtian was able to do this, which showed that he trusted Lu Jingyao quite a bit.
Li Yang and Lu Jingyao were having a “shareholders’ meeting” while drinking tea, until Qi Yun suddenly pushed open the door and walked in.
“Li Gongzi, madam.”
She glanced at Lu Jingyao and whispered:
“There’s a man outside looking for you, saying he’s an old acquaintance.”