Chapter 444: Artisan Family

Bai Jiu had been listening for a while and felt that the rules weren't explained very clearly.

"Please tell me, why do we have to push this cart?" she asked with some confusion. "Isn't it that we can just go back and forth ourselves?"

"Of course not," Di Ma said. "You all don't seem like scholars or anything. Probably only I've read the 'San Guo' thoroughly."

"No," Yun Shijiu shook his head. "We've probably all read it. What are you getting at?"

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin instinctively stepped back a bit.

Yes, he was the only one who hadn't read it.

"Oh?" Di Ma stroked his mane with a hint of contempt. "You've all read it? Well, that's surprising. In that case, tell me, how did 'Mu Niu Liu Ma' come about?"

Yun Shijiu answered without hesitation: "Mu Niu Liu Ma was a transportation tool invented by Zhuge Liang, the chancellor of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. It was divided into Mu Niu and Liu Ma. Historical records show it was used during his northern expeditions from Jianxing Year 9 to 12."

Bai Jiu also smiled and said: "According to legends, Mu Niu Liu Ma could carry a load of 'one year's grain,' roughly over 400 jin, and it could travel 'several dozen li for a single one and thirty li for a group,' used to transport supplies for the Shu Han's army of 100,000."

Di Ma hadn't expected these casually dressed people to be so knowledgeable and nodded slightly in surprise.

At that moment, a tall girl chimed in: "Although your game is called 'Mu Niu Liu Ma,' no one actually knows what it really looked like. Many documents describe it differently. Some say it was just an ordinary one-wheeled handcart, while others say it was a wooden structure shaped like a cow or a horse."

Qiao Jiajin glanced at this tall girl; if he remembered correctly, her name was Feng Shishi.

"Hmm, who would've thought," Di Ma turned to look at everyone, "you all are quite knowledgeable... But so what?"

"What...?"

"This knowledge is just text to you..." Di Ma said with a touch of melancholy as he stroked the wooden cart beside him. "Even if a craftsman carefully recreates these lost artifacts, you'd just say no one's ever seen the real ones, so any recreation is fake."

Qiao Jiajin scratched his head in confusion: "I-I don't really get what you mean... Are you saying others are wrong? If something's made by later people, isn't it just fake?"

"Of course they're wrong," Di Ma said. "The purpose of our woodworking family is to restore these lost precision wooden devices, even if it means a lifetime of no understanding from anyone..."

Qiao Jiajin looked at the wooden boxes placed along the track. Since it was a "woodworking family," had Di Ma made those boxes himself?

"I still don't understand," Qiao Jiajin said. "I know quite a few people from woodworking families, but aren't you being a bit extreme?"

"Extreme?"

"This thing with the cow and horse..." Qiao Jiajin patted the handcart nearby, "Does it mean something special to you?"

"No, as I said... It's just about faithfully recreating these lost items. They're part of the brilliant history that's faded into the river of time."

"What's the point of it?" Qiao Jiajin asked.

"The point?"

"From what you all just described, it sounds like this thing once helped Zhuge Liang, so it must have been a transportation device, right?"

"Yes," Di Ma nodded. "Mu Niu Liu Ma is recorded in many ancient texts as the cart Zhuge Liang used to transport grain through the mountains."

"Then it should mean something special to Zhuge Liang, not to you," Qiao Jiajin said. "Are you dedicating your whole life to this? Does Zhuge Liang even agree with that?"

"Ah...?"

"I might be overstepping," Qiao Jiajin said with a bitter smile and a shake of his head. "I just hope you find time to do something happier instead of this."

"You..." Di Ma sighed, not sure why he was sharing so much with this annoying tattooed man. "No need to butter me up before the game. Besides my own years, I have no joys left. If you lose this game, you'll die more miserably than anywhere else."

"Is it that hard?" Qiao Jiajin asked. "We just need each person to push the cart back and forth once to complete the game, right?"

"No..." Di Ma shook his head. "Because the original idea behind Mu Niu Liu Ma was for 'transportation'... So just running on the track yourselves doesn't count."

"Ah?" Qiao Jiajin suddenly didn't understand. "Wait a minute... Didn't you just say that as long as everyone goes back and forth on the track once, we win the game?"

"Yes, but that's not the full rule," Di Ma said with a laugh. "Only if all seven of you ride on the Mu Niu Liu Ma and complete a round trip does it count as passing."

"What the heck?!" Qiao Jiajin was stunned. "You... you pink... I mean, you Di lady, what kind of nonsense is that? Doesn't running barefoot on the ground count?"

"No," Di Ma shook his head. "I'll be watching the whole time. All seven must sit on the 'Mu Niu Liu Ma' and go back and forth. Any cheating will result in punishment."

"This is really tough..." Qiao Jiajin lowered his head and glanced back at his teammates, as if waiting for their ideas.

Although Qi Xia wasn't there, Qiao Jiajin was still leading a group of "little brains."

"What do you all think?"

"Um... Qiao bro, come with me for a second." Bai Jiu reached out and tugged at his clothes.

Qiao Jiajin nodded and stepped back to a corner with the others.

"Do you have any ideas?"

"Sort of..." Bai Jiu nodded. "This game is a speed challenge, but it seems we need some coordination."

Yun Shijiu also nodded: "Right, Di Ma only counts the people sitting on the 'Mu Niu Liu Ma'; he didn't say anything about the ones on the track..."

"Looks like Shijiu and I are thinking the same," Bai Jiu said with a nod. "We can all go at once each round."

"All at once...?"

"We have seven people," Bai Jiu explained. "In each round, we just need one person sitting on the cart, with three on each side to keep it steady. That'll greatly speed up our time on the track."

"Is that how it works?" Qiao Jiajin frowned and scratched his head, feeling something wasn't quite right. "Have any of you ever tried walking hand-in-hand on an icy surface?"

"Uh... No..." Everyone shook their heads.

"Me neither," Qiao Jiajin said. "But I can guess... There's a chance it'll keep everyone steady, but there's also a chance one slip could bring everyone down, and even the person on the 'Mu Niu Liu Ma' might fall off."

"That... that's true..." Bai Jiu nodded.

"Do you guys usually play those team games... like the one where you all use the same hands and feet?" Qiao Jiajin asked.