The Golden Age - Chapter 73: Westward Journey
After he left Gui City, Qin Xiao headed west.
He was dressed in ragged clothes and had a near-broken bag on his back. Along the way, he found a wooden stick to use as a cane. Anyone who saw him would think that he was just a normal beggar wandering around.
Xiling was not a wealthy land. There were not many good farming fields to start off with, and many were taken over by the Menfa. Although people say that there was a lot of good land in Xiling, they were mainly controlled by the Menfa as well. Peasants here received almost nothing.
The only benefits these land and mines provided for the peasants were job opportunities.
In order to mine and farm, the Menfa needed to recruit a lot of labor. Workers get free meals. It was enough for them not to starve, but the salary was almost zero.
And these opportunities aren’t available to everyone.
For some years, quite a few beggars were living on the street.
Therefore, it was not uncommon to see beggars wandering aimlessly in Xiling.
Most people would ignore and even avoid beggars dressed like Qin Xiao.
He had been walking for two days already, and everything so far went incredibly smoothly.
When he left Gui City, Hong Ye prepared a bag especially for Qin Xiao. In there, in addition to some food, there was also a bottle of blood pills. He had barely used the other bottle she gave him, so these two bottles combined should last him half a year without a problem.
Other than the pills and food, there was also flint and steel. She obviously prepared Qin Xiao in case he had to live in the wild.
Finally, there was also a bottle of Jinshuang Medicine. As if afraid that Qin Xiao wouldn’t understand, Hong Ye even wrote the words “Jinshuang Medicine” on the bottle. But Qin Xiao knew what this was, it was used to help treat wounds. These were usually expensive and were different from other medicine used to treat wounds. The last time he visited a pharmacy, he saw that a little bottle alone cost quite a few taels of silver.
That year when Mr. Zhong, who raised him, passed away, he came out of the village and walked toward Gui City. On that journey, he suffered through all sorts of pain and hunger and even got caught up in the epidemic. Right now, this was nothing compared to what it was like before
The only thing that made him uncomfortable was the fact that his wine gourd was gone. It’ll be weird to see a beggar with a wine gourd, so Hong Ye didn’t bother to prepare one for him.
For the past few years, although Qin Xiao doesn’t drink alcohol that much, but every day he would take a sip or two. Now without it, he kept feeling that something was missing.
Unfortunately, he can’t do anything but bear it.
After leaving Gui City, Qin Xiao couldn’t walk on the road with everyone else. Although hardly anyone would be able to tell that this beggar would be the same person as the wanted jailer, it was better to be safe than sorry. He first got to the Changling Mountains and then walked towards the west from there.
Xiling’s geography looked like a long and narrow corridor. On the south sits the Qilian Mountains and on the north stands the Changling Mountains.
Changling Mountains started from Zhen County and stretched all the way westward until Fan County.
The people of Xiling have always been grateful for the Changling Mountains. It acted as a natural barrier for them. Behind these tall mountains are the Moxi Grasslands, where the Tusun people lived.
The Tusun people were known for bandits and robbery. If it wasn’t for the Changling Mountains, Xiling would have been part of their territory already.
It was already March. Birds flew in the air and young grass can be seen every here and there.
After months of cold winter, the Changling Mountains was full of life. Walking on it, one could hear endless songs from insects and birds.
Qin Xiao knew that what he needed to do right now was to leave Zhen County as soon as possible.
Although Xiling wasn’t big, it wasn’t small either. The three counties together have over a total of thirty cities. It was not hard to find a place and hide.
He had plenty of silver on him so he wasn’t too worried about that. He was also used to being alone all the time, so that wasn’t too big of a deal either.
He thought about what he should do after leaving Zhen County. Maybe find a job and work for half a year? Then come back to see how things were going in Gui City?
The second he thought of Gui City, he remembered Meng Zimo.
That night Meng Zimo was almost killed, but someone came out of nowhere and saved him. Qin Xiao was still curious who that person was.
Of course, the first person Qin Xiao suspected was Han Yunong.
The only person in the Manor of the Governor who had the guts to charge into a place full of swordsmen and save Meng Zimo was Han Yunong.
But that person used one rope to bring Meng Zimo all the way up to the wall. That wasn’t something an ordinary person can do. He himself, even after reading level two, probably can’t even do it. Which meant, the person who saved Meng Zimo that night had to be level two or higher, or even someone in the Intermediate Heavenly Realm.
But he never even noticed that Han Yunong had such a skill.
Maybe he was hiding it the whole time?
If the person who rescued Meng Zimo was indeed Han Yunong, Qin Xiao would feel much better. At least with Han Yunong’s protection, Meng Zimo should be safe.
Now that was taken care of, the only thing left on his mind was Zhiming Academy.
Hong Ye just randomly brought it up. Does she want him to go to Zhiming Academy when he desperately needs help? But what is this Zhiming Academy anyway?
How does Hong Ye know about this place?
For as long as he could remember, he had been living with Mr. Zhong in a remote village in Xiling. Mr. Zhong taught him a lot of things, but how could an old man who hadn’t left the village for over a decade know a lot about the capital?
Qin Xiao couldn’t give himself a reasonable answer.
After dark, Qin Xiao found a place at the foot of the mountain and decided to camp here tonight.
The food that Hong Ye prepared could last at least four or five days without a problem. But sleeping alone in the wild does sound kind of sketchy. Fortunately, Qin Xiao had such an experience many times before, so he wasn’t at all worried.
After eating the food, he sat cross-legged and started to cultivate for an hour before using his bag as a pillow and going to sleep.
He stared at the night sky and looked at the stars.
For the past three years, he had been working in Jia Prison almost every day. He left early and returned late. Every day was like the day before. He was quite unused to a life where he had nothing to do.
While looking at the stars in the sky, Mu Yeji’s face appeared in his mind. Although she had been very annoying, she did make him lose his sense of loneliness. She volunteered to be a distraction and went all the way to the east.
But after all, with her skills, those Wolf Riders would never be able to catch her.
Suddenly, there was crying coming from somewhere. Qin Xiao shook his head, this is in the mountains, there can’t be anyone else here. He sat up, but the sound didn’t stop. The crying came from towards the top of the mountain.
He quickly grabbed his bag, took the stick in his hand, and hid behind a bush. He looked toward where the crying came from and saw a group of people coming down from the mountain.
Seeing that it was a whole group of people, Qin Xiao was a bit relieved.
“Quick! Quick!” Someone said loudly, “Find a place and take a look at the injury!”
There were about seven or eight people in this group. They had bows and arrows and one of them had an iron spear and another was carrying someone on his back.
From the way they are dressed, they looked like a group of hunters.
This is what they call: Living near the mountains feed off the mountains. Living near the rivers feed off the rivers.
With the existence of the Changling Mountains, many people living in Xiling were hunters.
Although the Xiling Menfa controlled most of the mines in Xiling, they can’t make the whole Changling Mountains theirs. They do give permission for people to hunt there. But in order to do that, one must get a license and get registered. Otherwise, if someone’s caught hunting without a license, then it’ll only be jail waiting for him.
“Place him down.” One of the hunters said, “We need to stop here. The more we walk, the faster he’ll lose blood. Yang Wa, place your dad down. Let me take a look.”
The person named Yang Wa carefully placed his father on the ground with the help of several others and cried, “Han Bo, please help him. He has lost so much blood, help him…”
Qin Xiao was not far away and heard everything that they were saying. Oh, so the person crying is called Yang Wa. For a second I thought it was some ghosts wandering in the mountains.
“The wound’s too deep,” said Han Bo after looking at it under the moonlight. “We can’t stop the bleeding at all. The medicines that we brought were not effective.” He looked at the others. “We must find a doctor. If he doesn’t stop bleeding, he’ll…” He didn’t continue. But everyone knew what he meant.
“That bastard!” One of them said, “Damn it. He’s just scamming our money. After seeing that beast, this Luo guy fled first. Just a second ago he was bragging that he was very strong and capable of beating anything that comes in his way. Now great, not only did he die, we also had so many casualties.”
“It’s his own fault that he died. But on top of that, even Liu Zi was killed by that animal.” Another person said bitterly, “His corpse is still there. How do we explain this to his parents?”
“Now’s not the time to talk about this.” Han Bo said in a deep voice, “Go look around to see if you can find some great burnet, hairyvein agrimonia, or ramie root1Chinese herbs and are said to be effective against wounds. Yang Wa’s father’s wounds are too deep. The only way to save him is by stopping the blood flow first. Yang Wa, press on your father’s wounds, this slows the speed the blood will flow out. Oh and also, Tie Lv, you’re fast, go to the nearest town and see if you can get a doctor here!”
“Which doctor’s going to come here at this time of the day? The most I can do is go bring some medicine.” One of them replied, “And by the time I come back, it’ll already be daytime. Are you sure he can hold that long?”
“At least it’s better than sitting here.” Han Bo said angrily, “Just go, stop talking so much.”
The man grabbed his iron fork and ran towards the south.
Several others scattered around to find the herbs. Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere, “I have some medicine that can stop the bleeding. Let’s see if this works.
- 1Chinese herbs and are said to be effective against wounds