Beauty, Power and Intrigue Chapter 72

“Kid.” Song Chuyi patted him on the shoulder and said seriously, “Remember, when you come to a river, first look for a bridge…”

Longgu Buwang’s mouth twitched slightly. “Then why did you tell me so much about river waters before?”

“Oh, that was to train your judgment. In real combat, there are many people, matters, and things that can influence you – how could a few words from me compare? But you were easily influenced by me and lost your judgment. Shouldn’t you reflect on that?” Song Chuyi looked at him with a smile.

This time, Longgu Buwang did not feel the humiliation of being toyed with. Instead, he respectfully performed a grand salute. “I have learned my lesson.”

Over the past few days, Longgu Buwang had carefully recalled Song Chuyi’s teasing and tricks, and he could always discover flaws that he had exposed. Whether or not it had truly been effective, at least in a short time, his tolerance had improved considerably.

Song Chuyi gazed at the frozen waterfall and said slowly, “Buwang, in doing anything, you must have a firm heart – unmoved by outside forces, unconfused by distractions.”

Longgu Buwang felt slightly stirred in his heart by her words and raised his head to look at Song Chuyi’s profile. Ever since he had met Song Chuyi, he had never seen her so serious and focused – it actually made one feel a little uncomfortable.

“I heard that you were furiously angry last night. I wonder what it was about?” Longgu Buwang asked.

Song Chuyi yawned, exhaled a white puff of mist, and said lazily, “At midnight I dreamed, and it occurred to me that you haven’t made much progress lately. As your teacher, I felt it was very necessary to be furious, so I was furious for a bit, to show how much I value you.”

What kind of reasoning was that? Longgu Buwang could not grasp the main point of her words and only vaguely felt she was mocking him for being stupid. But his patience had been well tempered lately, so he continued to press, “Then why are you angry at White Blade?”

“Alas…” Song Chuyi heaved a heavy sigh and said in a gloomy tone, “I had only trained White Blade for two or three days, and it already opened its spiritual cognition. I felt that was an insult to your intelligence, so I became even more furious. But look on the bright side – actually, what Bairen learns is extremely simple stuff, not as profound as what you learn.”

Song Chuyi looked at Longgu Buwang with an expression that said, “See, I care about you so much.”

Longgu Buwang stared at her fixedly, took a deep breath, then another deep breath… and suddenly roared, “Today no one had better talk to me!”

Having roared, he strode back to the carriage.

“Really, he takes things too hard.” Song Chuyi shook her head and thought, Why won’t this child learn? He knows perfectly well he can’t get any words out of me, yet he still delivers himself up to be trampled on.

“Sir, we can set off now,” Ji Yu came over and said.

Song Chuyi nodded, looked around, and murmured, “I wonder if this piece of land has an owner.”

Ji Yu was long past being surprised by Song Chuyi’s quirks. After watching her get into the carriage, he ordered the group to set off for Guiling.

Guiling was the largest city within a radius of more than ten li, with rammed-earth walls ten meters high and military guards standing in great numbers. When the merchant caravan arrived outside the city, many other caravans were already lined up outside the city gate, which had only recently opened.

Guiling was a city near the border of Wei and also close to the capital, serving as a protective barrier for the capital. Therefore, its defenses were strict, no less so than Daliang’s. By the time they entered the city, it was already close to midday.

This place was different from Baima City. It had relay stations specifically for merchant caravans to stay at. Any caravan without someone in the city to receive it had to stop there and was not allowed to set up camp arbitrarily.

Ji Yu followed the caravan ahead the whole way and easily found the relay station. However, looking at the crowded courtyard, he rode up to Song Chuyi’s carriage, lowered his head, and asked, “Sir, the relay station is too crowded. Shall we go in?”

“Go in. Stay sharp and keep an eye on the goods. Take some men to buy grain to replenish what the caravan needs,” Song Chuyi said.

Ji Yu agreed wholeheartedly. At the rate Song Chuyi picked people up, grain was consumed very quickly. He acknowledged the order and directed the caravan into the relay station. The rooms were already full, so Ji Yu found an open space and instructed the caravan to rest briefly while he led some men to buy grain.

Song Chuyi had already dozed off several times in the carriage. At this moment, bored, she was holding out cooked meat to tease White Blade.

After several days of training… White Blade had already become incredibly similar to Song Chuyi in temperament. Song Chuyi held the meat and, too lazy to make any effortful movements to tease White Blade, White Blade knew that the meat would be its sooner or later, so it squatted below with its mouth open, waiting for the meat to fall.

Jian knelt sitting in a corner of the carriage, watching this static scene of one person and one wolf, feeling puzzled.

Song Chuyi listened leisurely to the clamor outside, picking out interesting conversations to pass the time.

“How is it that everyone has come to squeeze into the relay station with us? There’s actually no beauty this time?” a lewd voice asked with a laugh.

“I wouldn’t presume. Qiao only deals in the buying and selling of people; I hardly deserve to be called ‘everyone,'” a female voice answered faintly.

Song Chuyi’s hand trembled, and the meat fell into White Blade’s mouth. Without even taking the time to throw on her cloak, she hurriedly ran down from the carriage and stood in the crowd, searching with her eyes while trying to pinpoint the location of the speakers.

“I heard Qiao ran into trouble in Song territory?”

Song Chuyi first heard this sentence, then immediately turned sharply toward the voice, her gaze landing on a middle-aged woman wearing a dark crimson robe. It was none other than Qiao. Song Chuyi was overjoyed and slowly walked toward her.

Longgu Buwang was watching the excitement from inside the carriage when he suddenly caught sight of Song Chuyi. Her steps were not hurried, but for some reason, Longgu Buwang could sense her urgency. Unable to contain his curiosity, he leaned closer to the window to see what she would do next.

“Qiao.” Song Chuyi stopped about three meters away.

Qiao stopped talking and looked over.

The last time Qiao had seen Song Chuyi, her hair had been disheveled, her face covered in dirt, with only her slender limbs visible. Qiao had been able to tell at a glance that she was a woman, but had only known that she looked ordinary and had not paid her much attention. Now, meeting her again, she actually failed to recognize her and only vaguely felt that she looked somewhat familiar.

“We have never met before,” Song Chuyi said with a smile, cutting off her pondering and speaking directly. “I have a sworn brother whose family met with disaster, and I don’t know where he has ended up. I have been searching everywhere… If you know any news, please tell me, and I will certainly reward you generously.”

Qiao frowned slightly. She had dealt in many men over the years – how was she to know which sworn brother Song Chuyi was referring to?

“My sworn brother disappeared in Song territory. His appearance is extraordinarily handsome, rarely seen in this world,” Song Chuyi prompted.

“Rarely seen in this world” was somewhat exaggerated, but Song Chuyi figured that even Qiao might never have seen a man more handsome than Zhao Yilou.

Youqiao sized up the young man before her briefly and felt that among this group of merchants, he had a distinctly outstanding air – he surely was not a traveling merchant.

She remembered that the beautiful youth she had encountered in the State of Song was named Zhao Yilou. If he truly came from the Zhao clan, his status must be extremely high, and it would be no surprise that his relatives could trace any leads.

At this thought, Qiao bent her knees in a salute and said, “I did indeed encounter a youth of incomparable beauty in the State of Song. At the time, he was gravely injured. I took pity on him in his misfortune and gave him a ride for a stretch of the journey. But then we encountered a pack of wolves and became separated from him… However, it was an extremely large wolf pack. I’m afraid his prospects are grim.”

Song Chuyi looked at her calmly, trying to discern how much of this was true and how much was false.