Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 115
>Chapter Title: Cavalry
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Silver. Several carts full of silver.
Lv Zhuangyuan had noticed the deeply imprinted wheel ruts from the start and knew those carriages must be hauling something heavy. But he never imagined it would all be silver!
“How much silver is that? If they gave me just a little, I could open several theater buildings!”
While Lv Zhuangyuan stared with bulging eyes, the door curtain, lifted by the wind, dropped back down.
The nuns had clearly noticed the strange looks from those around them. But they couldn't be bothered with it, continuing to sit on the ground like massive scale weights, munching away.
“Stop gawking. Eat. Hurry up and eat. Once we're full, we leave. With this much silver around, trouble's coming.”
The Lv Family Troupe formed a semicircle around the two carriages and resumed their meal.
Of course, honored guest Zhao Wu's treatment was no less lavish—white steamed buns and duck eggs as much as he wanted.
Even if Zhao Wu said he didn't want any, it was no use.
As they ate like this, a foul stench gradually thickened.
Somehow, a relatively slimmer nun wandered over to their side, drooling as she stared at the salted duck egg in Zhao Wu's hand.
“How much for this egg?”
“Nuns aren't supposed to eat—” Lv Xiucai's words cut off halfway as his father whacked him back with a pipe.
“Master, what kind of nonsense is that? It's just a few eggs. Here, take them.”
Lv Zhuangyuan reached into the jar, fished out two salted duck eggs, and handed them over.
The nun glanced guiltily at her companions by the carriage, snatched one egg, and—too lazy to even peel the shell—popped it straight into her mouth and started chewing.
“I'm buying it.” A half-tael coin, so musty it reeked, clattered onto the carriage.
Feeling the oily salted yolk burst in her mouth, the fat nun's eyes narrowed in utter bliss.
With an appetite like hers, Lv Zhuangyuan's two eggs barely lasted. Her pudgy hand plunged straight into the jar of salted duck eggs.
Like popping grapes, she opened her mouth wide and downed them one by one, eating with total abandon.
The onlooker Zhao Wu had just one question on his mind.
“Won't this nun find it too salty eating like that?”
“Da-da-da-da-da~” Hoofbeats like a raging storm erupted suddenly. Everyone turned toward the sound and spotted cavalry charging from the distant end of the road!
“The soldiers are here! Run!!”
No one knew who shouted it first, but the other travelers leaped up, grabbed their belongings, and bolted into the surrounding woods.
Lv Zhuangyuan wanted to run too.
But he had a carriage.
By the time the cavalry arrived, the only ones left besides the Lv Family Troupe were those nuns.
Lv Zhuangyuan gritted his teeth, flashed Zhao Wu a smile that left him utterly baffled, and supported him as they shuffled forward.
“Young Master Zhao, I've seen it in your eyes from the start. With a senior brother that powerful, you must be just as extraordinary. No need to hold back now.”
“I... I'm not... I...”
Before he could explain, the black-armored cavalry thundered past them, shoving a mouthful of sand into Zhao Wu's open mouth.
Amid the hoofbeats mingled with the clash of weapons, these weren't ordinary cavalry. This was an elite force. Zhao Wu glimpsed the military banner among the riders, emblazoned with a massive four-character inscription.
“Halt!” A low, thunderous roar jolted everyone.
To everyone's astonishment, the cavalry came to a perfect stop at blinding speed.
Pitch-black ranks stood like an impregnable dark city wall, plumes of white steam exploding from the horses' nostrils.
Moving like the wind, standing like pines—truly achieved.
Zhao Wu's eyes widened in shock as he watched an officer from the cavalry—four modao swords thrust into his back—kick off his saddle with both feet.
He leaped a dozen meters to land before the nuns, stomping two massive craters into the ground.
“Ladies of An Ci Nunnery, the border is in crisis! The camp urgently needs military funds. We're requisitioning this silver. This officer will issue a promissory note. Take it to the Ministry of Revenue to collect your money.”
The others heard it too, Lv Xiucai included.
“Dad, what's going on? Is Siqi at war too?”
“My ancestor! Will you die if you don't speak?”
Lv Zhuangyuan clapped a hand over his youngest son's mouth, voice hushed, body curled as tightly as possible behind the carriage. He dreaded drawing the eye of these bruisers.
You Zixiong completely ignored the nearby theater troupe, his full attention on the fat nuns before him.
When he saw them still sitting there, chowing down and treating his words like hot air, You Zixiong's brows furrowed deeper.
“Did you not hear this officer?” His right hand seized the black-tasseled sword hilt at his waist.
In an instant, the air thickened with bloodlust, as if this spot had become the heart of a deadly battlefield.
The aura spread to the surrounding cavalry. Bloodshot veins crept into their eyes, their bodies grew feverish, and even their mounts pawed restlessly at the ground.
“No. Too lazy to go that far.”
Several nuns spoke at once.
“If you've got the guts, do it. Think it through first.”
The refusal ratcheted the tension to a boiling point. Some cavalrymen had already nocked arrows.
Just as Lv Zhuangyuan braced to whip the carriage into flight with everyone aboard, the killing aura vanished in a flash.
Grim-faced, You Zixiong seized the black-tasseled longsword at his waist and hurled it over.
“This is You Zixiong's sword! Take this sword to the Ministry of Revenue for the silver! More, not less!!”
He watched the black-robed nuns swarm it, greed gleaming in their eyes as their grimy fat hands pawed his weapon. Rage boiled in You Zixiong's chest.
But he knew the entire Siqi Kingdom teetered on chaos. He couldn't make enemies lightly—especially not these nuns.
“Black Yue Cavalry, orders! Divide the silver! Distribute the carriage loads evenly—one share per rider! Military command is ironclad! We reach Kun City in three days!!”
“As ordered!!”
“As ordered!!”
“As ordered!!”
The cavalry dismounted as one, swarmed the carriages, and began loading the silver with maximum speed and perfect order.
As the hoofbeats faded into the distance, Lv Zhuangyuan and the others snapped awake, gasping huge breaths, every one drenched like after a bath.
“Dad... I peed my pants.”
“Aren't you ashamed? Still blurting it out! Change your pants, now!”
He spoke to his youngest with full confidence.
But Lv Zhuangyuan's own legs wobbled like jelly. Endless fear gripped his heart.
“Oh man, looks like Siqi's about to go to hell too. No way—this place is too dangerous. I've gotta find that little Daoist quick and get outta this dump with him.”
(End of chapter)