Chapter 199
Chapter 199
Ji Yan’an emerged from the medicinal bath with a dark expression.
Nanshu immediately carried Jiang Yunsui over to comfort him.
“Young Master, if you’re upset, pinch Little Yunsui’s cheeks. You’ll definitely feel better.”
Jiang Yunsui stared at him in confusion.
What? Was that what she was for?
“Why are you unhappy?” Little Mushroom asked, tilting her head slightly in bewilderment.
“It’s the medicine,” Nanshu explained. “It works, but every time before the Young Master bathes, they show him the ‘ingredients.’ Our Young Master already loves cleanliness and is a little fastidious. No normal person would want to soak with those things.”
Much less the Young Master.
They could simply boil the medicine, but no. Every time, they carried those things before Ji Yan’an and introduced them one by one.
Who would not shudder at the sight of all those dead insects with their eyes still open?
Shen Qingzhu rubbed his nose. This was undoubtedly one of his master’s peculiar amusements.
He quickly said, “Master says your body has mostly recovered. Medicine alone will be enough from now on, so you can leave the mountains.”
Ji Yan’an’s mood finally improved.
“We leave tomorrow.”
He truly did not want to stay another day.
Snakes were tolerable. What he could not endure were the insects that dropped onto him without warning as he walked.
He particularly disliked boneless, wriggling larvae.
Some poisonous insects were covered in barbed hairs. One had fallen onto his hand, which quickly swelled until it resembled a pig’s trotter.
The insect-repelling sachets did nothing against creatures that dropped directly from the trees.
Shen Qingzhu laughed. “Very well.”
They packed and left early the next morning.
Xu Qinghuan came specifically to see them off.
“Safe travels. Come visit again.”
On the road, they passed through the region where the Bamboo Bear lived.
Jiang Yunsui even returned to the place where she had fallen, but unfortunately, the Bamboo Bear was nowhere to be found.
She was disappointed for only a moment before skipping back to Ji Yan’an.
“Ji Yan’an, have some candy.”
She pushed a medicinal sweet into his hand. It nourished the body, but to Jiang Yunsui it was merely a tiny piece of candy with a medicinal flavor.
“Let me tell you what happened after we entered Ailao Mountain…”
The little girl talked without pause, explaining how they dealt with the venomous insects and rescued a young wildcat.
“Once the wildcat recovered and could eat, we released it.”
The place they were heading was dangerous, and carrying a wildcat was genuinely burdensome. They had found a safe area with prey and let the animal go.
Hopefully, it would survive.
“We also found an enormous centipede. You saw the materials we brought back, right? And then…”
Ji Yan’an lowered his gaze and listened. Whenever he murmured a response, Little Mushroom grew even more animated.
She talked until her mouth went dry, then hurried to drink.
The sweet pear water soothed her throat.
“What’s in this bundle?”
A horse pulled their vehicle, but it was not a carriage. It was a flatbed cart piled with all kinds of goods.
Whenever Jiang Yunsui grew tired, she climbed onto it herself.
Now she leaned against a soft bundle and heard the faint, familiar jingle of silver.
Curious, she opened it and stared with wide eyes.
“Wow… are all of these mine?”
Surprise and delight filled both her voice and eyes.
The enormous bundle contained clothes, jewelry, and accessories in the Miao style. There were blue outfits, black, white, purple, red…
Not one set was repeated, and every one was beautiful.
They were clearly made for a child. Jiang Yunsui was the only child in the party, so they had to be hers!
Nanshu chuckled. “Beautiful, aren’t they? The Young Master paid a great deal to have the people in the stockade make them for you.”
“Every piece was made to your measurements while you were in Ailao Mountain.”
Jiang Yunsui turned happily toward Ji Yan’an.
“Ji Yan’an, are they for me? Are they?”
Laughter flickered in his eyes. “No.”
Her little mouth immediately thrust into a towering pout.
“I don’t believe you. I’m the only one who can wear them. They have to be mine. Unless you’re raising another child?”
She watched him with fierce suspicion, looking ready to pounce and bite if he admitted to supporting another child.
“No,” Ji Yan’an said. “They’re all yours.”
Jiang Yunsui was satisfied. This outfit was beautiful, and that one was beautiful too.
She was so delighted that she lost her balance while laughing and tumbled from the cart.
“Hey! Careful!”
Several people reached out together, yet not one managed to catch her.
Jiang Yunsui lay there in silence.
Truly, her bad luck struck at random.
After reaching Dali, Ji Yan’an contacted the guards in the city and asked whether anything unusual had occurred.
They still posed as traveling merchants.
After all, Ji Yan’an was supposed to be in Mobei.
“Nothing else seems unusual,” one guard reported. “But… we’ve noticed that Dali has very few beggars. There are almost no child beggars at all.”
Ji Yan’an frowned. “That isn’t normal.”
Even the Capital, prosperous as it was, could never be completely free of child beggars.
Dali, moreover, was a place of exile.
Most convicted criminals were sent to one of several established exile regions. Mobei was one, and Dali was another.
For such a place to have so few beggars and almost no begging children was deeply suspicious.
The man Song Jin’s party rescued from Wushan Cavern had also revealed that the High Shaman had allied with a Nanzhao Royal Heir from the Ancient Nanzhao Royal Clan and planned a rebellion.
Their timing was simple to understand.
Great Liang was suffering severe internal turmoil. Commoners had risen in some regions, while vassal princes rebelled in others.
The Imperial Family’s attention would naturally remain fixed on those threats. If the High Shaman and his allies acted in secret, they might truly succeed.
Unfortunately for them, the High Shaman had still been plotting in the shadows when he encountered Ji Yan’an’s party and was killed.
Now they had to identify the Nanzhao Royal Heir behind the plans within Dali.
“Investigate,” Ji Yan’an ordered. “Focus on where the missing people were taken.”
“Yes.”
Ji Yan’an had selfish reasons for accepting Dali’s troubles.
They were already here. If he could quietly bring Dali under his control, so much the better.
Shen Qingzhu could not have agreed more. He even wrote to the Miao stockade asking for support.
Take it. Take all of Dali!
* * *
“I want this one too.”
Jiang Yunsui pointed at the dragon design at a sugar-painting stall.
It was not because the dragon looked imposing. The design was simply large and complicated, which meant it had to contain more sugar.
“Can you make me a mushroom too? A very large mushroom.”
Little Mushroom took out her purse.
Under the vendor’s suddenly shining gaze, she rummaged past broken silver, small gold ingots, and gold and silver peanuts and melon seeds, then took out several copper coins.
Each sugar painting cost three coppers. Jiang Yunsui set down six.
The vendor fell silent.
For a moment, he had thought he had met a generous young lady.
Jiang Yunsui was no little fool.
She lifted the dragon sugar painting and happily prepared to take her first bite.
A Little Beggar ran past and knocked her aside.
Crack.
Before the candy ever reached her mouth, it shattered into crumbs across the ground.
Nanshu caught Jiang Yunsui and helped her regain her balance. She stared blankly at the tiny piece left in her hand and the fragments on the ground.
Nanshu pointed after the fleeing Little Beggar and cursed.
“Where did that beggar come from? Watch where you’re going! Why are you running like you’re rushing to your own funeral?”