Chapter 219: Familiar Feeling

On the official road outside Luoyang City, the convoy of the Zhang family was heading north against the wind.

A gust of wind blew past, causing the copper bell hanging around the neck of the old yellow ox to clatter loudly.

The escorts pressed the brims of their bamboo hats with one hand, bent their backs against the wind and sand, and each step was particularly difficult.

The maidservants and young servants huddled together in the leaky ox carts, while the officials and nobles hid inside the carriages, clutching hand-warming copper stoves.

Only Chen Ji, dressed in a black cloak, urged his horse to walk beside the convoy, lost in thought.

Inside a carriage, Xiao Man secretly lifted a cotton curtain and muttered in a low voice, "Do you think our young master is like a hero from the *jianghu*?"

There was no response for a long time. She turned her head and looked at Su Zhou inside the carriage. "You should say something!"

Su Zhou sat inside a wooden box, leaning against its edge, and weakly rolled his eyes. "Your young master's lips tremble when he sees blood. He still wants to be a *jianghu* hero."

Xiao Man recalled last night; her young master was indeed very flustered, a far cry from the image of a *jianghu* hero.

But she still stubbornly said, "Nobody starts out being very powerful, right? You and I are officers, of course we're not afraid. If young master becomes an officer, perhaps he won't be afraid either... Wu Yun, is that right?"

Xiao Man looked at Wu Yun, who was always lying in the carriage, but Wu Yun didn't even lift an eyelid, just quietly listened to the conversation between the two of them.

Its mission in the carriage was to eavesdrop. This was the reason Chen Ji left Su Zhou. Otherwise, it would have long since run out and lain on Zao Zao's head, which would be truly impressive.

Su Zhou calmly said, "I want to correct one point. *Jianghu* is just *jianghu*. In today's *jianghu*, there are only *jianghu* people, no heroes."

Xiao Man's face showed doubt. Her small brain turned for a long time but still couldn't understand the difference.

Thinking to the end, she simply didn't think about it. "Do you have a way to find a cultivation path?"

"You want to find a cultivation path for him?" Su Zhou glanced at her. "Give me the hand stove, and then I'll tell you."

Xiao Man hesitated.

Su Zhou sneered. "You keep saying you're doing it for your young master's good, but you're not even willing to part with a hand stove."

Xiao Man bit her teeth. "Okay! But you speak first!"

Su Zhou leaned against the wooden box and lazily said, "Cultivation paths aren't picked up casually; they're everywhere on the street."

Xiao Man was extremely shocked. "What nonsense are you spouting?"

Su Zhou let out a cold laugh. "You can only say you're ignorant and inexperienced. Can't you see people practicing Tai Chi and Ba Duan Jin in the morning for health?"

Xiao Man rubbed the small warming stove in her hand, confused and not understanding. "You're farting! Can that even be considered a cultivation path?"

Su Zhou calmly said, "It counts. In the early days, the creator of Tai Chi was a Grandmaster of the Shen Dao realm, with no opponents in the entire Ning Dynasty. It's just, for some unknown reason, his direct disciple's grandson rebelled against his master and made the cultivation path public. As a result, everyone in the *jianghu* cultivated, but no one could enter the Xiantian realm anymore. Later, ordinary people also began to practice Tai Chi for health. Forget the Xiantian realm; there aren't even any who can cultivate to the peak of the Houtian realm, leaving only some *jianghu* charlatans."

Xiao Man thought seriously for a moment. "So, if you kill all the people practicing Tai Chi, and only leave one person practicing Tai Chi, then they will have hope of entering the Shen Dao realm."

Su Zhou opened his mouth and hesitated for a while before answering, "Probably."

Xiao Man sighed. "A bit difficult, huh?"

Su Zhou said in a bad mood, "What are you thinking? Are you crazy? In the *jianghu*, and in the military, there are still many similar cultivation paths. If your young master is willing to spend money, it's still easy to cultivate to the peak of the Houtian realm."

Xiao Man clutched her purse tightly. "How much money does it cost to buy a cultivation path, and where do you buy it?"

Su Zhou thought for a moment. "The midnight ghost market at the Pan family garden in the capital occasionally sells them. As for the price of a cultivation path, it depends on what realm the fiercest expert in that path has cultivated to. If there are only Houtian experts in that path, then it's only worth five hundred taels of silver. If there are Xiantian experts in that path, it's worth three thousand taels of silver."

Xiao Man asked, "What about the Xun Dao realm?"

Su Zhou scoffed. "Those who can cultivate to the Xun Dao realm, who would take it out to sell for money? Cultivating to the Xun Dao realm before the age of thirty-six allows one to live for over a hundred years. This kind of thing can't be bought even with money. I advise you not to even think about cultivation paths. With your young master's timid nature, mixing in the *jianghu* will only lead to him being eaten until there are no dregs left. Okay, give me the hand stove."

Xiao Man stuffed the copper hand stove into her bosom and said stubbornly, "You just said things everyone knows in the *jianghu*. You didn't find a cultivation path for me; it doesn't count."

Su Zhou laughed in anger. "It's a waste that you don't go into business!"

Xiao Man's eyes brightened. "You think so too?"

Su Zhou: "...Do you think I'm praising you?"

"I just took it as you praising me."

Su Zhou was silent for a moment. "As an officer, why do you willingly become his maidservant?"

"Not willingly," Xiao Man turned her head and looked calmly at Chen Ji on the horse. "I promised someone else that I can leave the Chen family after the young master gets married and starts a family. By then, I'll take a large sum of money and live in anonymity."

In the cold wind, the shout from a road-clearing hand of the Liang family escort agency could be heard. "Meng Jin County city has arrived! We will rest here today!"

Chen Ji patted Zao Zao's neck. Zao Zao immediately understood and turned around through the biting cold wind to come alongside the Liang family escort agency team.

He saw the escort head standing beside the official road, unfolding a sheepskin map, and saying to Zhang Zhuo, "Master Zhang, we will rest in Meng Jin today. The next leg of the journey will pass through Jiyuan, Changzhi, Licheng, Handan, Xingtai, Shimen, and Baoding. If we want to reach the capital before the New Year, we might have to walk two more hours every day, and we can't be as leisurely as we were today."

Zhang Zhuo pointed his finger on the sheepskin map, narrowed his eyes, and silently calculated the time. "Can your people handle it?"

The Liang escort head laughed happily. "That's a small matter for us. This escort trip has post stations where we can stay, and we can drink two mouthfuls of hot soup every day, which is very comfortable. Before, when we were escorting goods to Gan State, we even had to sleep huddled in the snow."

Zhang Zhuo thought for a moment. "What about the bandits in the Taihang Mountains? Will they be alarmed?"

The Liang escort head cupped his hands. "Master Zhang, please rest assured. Our Liang family escort agency has also earned a reputation. The Taihang Mountain bandits don't dare come down the mountain when they see our road-clearing hand shouting the escort."

Zhang Zhuo hummed. "Okay, then follow your plan."

The Liang escort head stuffed the map into his bosom and waved at the escorts behind him. "Enter the city!"

After speaking, he took a hemp bag from the ox cart and walked from the front to the end of the convoy. Every time he passed an escort, he would take out a string of copper coins from the bag and hand it to the other person.

This was the rule of the escort agency. Wages had to be issued every time they reached a place to rest.

The meaning of issuing wages like this was that if they were all issued at once, the escorts might throw them all into brothels and gambling houses. If the issuance was delayed, they would worry about the escorts abandoning their duties.

At this moment, Chen Ji dismounted his horse and walked to Zhang Zhuo's side with the reins. "Master Zhang, relying only on these escorts might not be enough. I observed a bit; except for the Liang escort head, the rest are not officers."

Zhang Zhuo nodded. "Among the young servants, there are also over twenty of the Zhang family's dead men hidden. If a crisis truly arises, you only need to shout 'Feng Xue Qian Shan' (Wind and Snow Thousand Mountains), and they will automatically return to your command."

He continued, "I still want to entrust you with one more thing."

"Master Zhang, please speak."

Zhang Zhuo looked into the distance. "If you truly encounter danger, I'm just supposing, supposing even you can't handle it, I still hope you can immediately protect Zhang Xia and Zhang Zheng and escape. There's no need to worry about those goods."

Chen Ji turned his head and surveyed the long convoy. "Master Zhang is willing?"

Zhang Zhuo sneered. "If we don't have money and goods, we can be greedy again. If we don't have people, we truly don't have them."

"I understand," Chen Ji led Zao Zao, ready to leave.

However, he heard Zhang Zhuo call out to stop him. "Chen Ji."

Chen Ji turned his head. "What is it, Master Zhang?"

Zhang Zhuo stroked his beard. "What your aunt said to you this morning, you don't need to take it to heart."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Master Zhang is overthinking. I have it figured out."

Zhang Zhuo suddenly changed the subject. "She said those words because I repeatedly mentioned promoting you and Zhang Xia to her. But now I already know your intentions towards the county princess. The past is naturally not worth mentioning again. If you don't betray the Zhang family, the Zhang family will fully help you."

Chen Ji smiled and cupped his hands. "Thank you very much, Master Zhang."

After speaking, he led the reins and walked away.

Chen Ji walked very slowly. One by one, the ox carts passed by him. He only heard a muffled voice from one of the escorts say, "Brother, we just returned to Luoyang from Runan. We were doing well there, why do we have to walk this escort trip? The escort head said we didn't have to."

Another escort leading an ox by its nose ring calmly said, "This escort trip is to the capital. When we reach the capital, we'll part ways with the escort agency and stay there. I heard the capital is extremely prosperous. It would be a shame not to go and make a name for ourselves."

When this escort passed by Chen Ji, he gave him a polite smile, then, against the wind, continued to lead the ox cart while handing the copper coins he had just received to his younger brother. "Keep the copper coins safe. This is brother's capital for a comeback."

The escort with the muffled voice asked, "Brother, why did you let me guard them?"

The escort sighed. "I haven't touched a woman in two months. Brother is afraid that in a while, I won't be able to walk past the brothel. Brother, I'm just weak in this one area..."

The escort with the muffled voice asked, "Okay, then where should I put the copper coins?"

The escort scratched his eyebrow. "Put them in the saddlebag on your shoulder."

"Front or back of the saddlebag?"

"Front."

"Oh."

In an instant, Chen Ji, who was behind the two people, looked at the backs of the two escorts and suddenly stopped.

Such a familiar... feeling.