The Later Shu

Chapter 148: The Later Shu

“Brother Li, we’ll meet again!”

“Safe travels!”

“Take care!”

Surrounded by the enthusiastic farewells of the escort agents, Li Huowang and his group departed from the Soaring Dragon Escort Agency.

Once they had faded into the distance, Wang Chengxing’s smile slowly cooled. He turned to look at Chief Zhao.

“Master, I don’t know if you noticed the sword he had on his back—that blade is no ordinary one. It felt heavy with killing intent.”

Zhao Qin’s brow was faintly creased. He nodded. “Of course. You think I didn’t see? I know the origin of that sword. It belonged to General Zixiong.”

“What? General Zixiong’s personal sword? Then why, in the past half month, did you do nothing about it?”

“Do? What should I have done?” Zhao Qin turned to look at him.

“Steal the sword? Interrogate him about its history? Secretly report him?”

Seeing Wang Chengxing fall silent, Zhao Qin continued. “Do you think I’m blind? That I haven’t seen his peculiarities?”

“The red bamboo slips at his waist. The various iron implements hanging from his hem. The gourd. And that’s before we even get to the broken people around him. But what business is that of mine?”

“He healed Fengxia. I did as he asked—found him a sword manual, wrote him a letter of recommendation. We kept up appearances. That’s enough.”

“I didn’t tell him we used to be soldiers, did I? That’s called ‘seeing but not saying.’”

“Yes, yes. Your consideration was thorough, Master. Your disciple spoke rashly.”

The cart horses, having spent half a month penned in the stable, were clearly bored. The moment they cleared the city gate, they broke into an excited trot.

“Whoa—!” Zhao Wu shouted, tugging hard on the reins. Only after a long string of commands did the cart slow down.

He turned his head and called to Li Huowang. “Brother Li, where are we headed now?”

“The border. We’re done with Siqi. We need to leave this place—it’s too chaotic. The sooner we reach Liang, the better,” Li Huowang said.

As he spoke, a flicker of unease passed over his face. He turned to look at Bai Lingmiao.

“If this region is at war, could Liang also be caught up in the fighting? What about your family—”

Before Bai Lingmiao could answer, Lü Zhuangyuan walked over, tobacco pipe in hand.

“Aiyah, little Daoist, you worry too much. Liang is five times the size of Siqi. And their emperor is formidable—others address it as Great Liang. If anyone’s going to be attacked, it’s them doing the attacking, not the other way around.”

Li Huowang understood. Compared to the other nations, Liang was a large and powerful state.

Lü Zhuangyuan, it seemed, had done his homework about their destination.

Li Huowang nodded in acknowledgement. That was good. Once they reached Liang, there would be fewer concerns.

Then his sharp eye caught something different about Lü Zhuangyuan. “Chief Lü, has something good happened?”

Compared to the deeply wrinkled old man of before, he now looked several years younger. The corners of his mouth couldn’t seem to stay down.

“Heh heh, nothing special, nothing at all. Heh heh heh.” Lü Zhuangyuan tried to hold it in, but the smile on his face betrayed him.

Unable to contain his joy, he climbed onto his own cart and came back carrying a large cloth sack, which he presented to Li Huowang. “Come, come! Eat some eggs!”

Two eggs, dyed a festive red, were pressed into Li Huowang’s hands.

He didn’t stop there. Everyone got one—a share for each. Giving out eggs for free was nothing like the stingy old man they knew.

The moment he saw the red-shelled eggs, Zhao Wu was the first to catch their meaning.

“Brother Juren! Is your wife expecting? Congratulations, congratulations! May you have a son soon!”

At Zhao Wu’s well-wishing, Lü Juren’s smile appeared strained.

Lü Zhuangyuan smoothly picked up the thread.

“Did you see my daughter-in-law’s belly? How’s the shape? Pointed, isn’t it? And she’s been craving sour things lately. No mistake this time—it’s a grandson!”

On the cart, Luo Juan held her chin high. At this moment, she looked like a general returning victorious.

“When the full-month banquet comes, everyone’s invited!” Lü Zhuangyuan grew happier with every word, his eyes squinting into near-invisibility.

Li Huowang chewed on his egg, his gaze shifting between father and son, whose attitudes were worlds apart. Somehow, the egg in his mouth tasted of more than just yolk.

But he wasn’t the nosy type, and he had no energy to spare for other people’s family affairs. He jumped onto the cart and pulled out his map.

“The next country’s name… the next one…” Li Huowang stared at the two utterly unfamiliar characters on the map and froze for a moment.

He’d thought his illiteracy was a minor inconvenience, but looking at it now, it was seriously affecting every aspect of his life.

He let out a quiet sigh and stuck his head out the cart window. “Chief Lü, what’s the next country we’ll pass through on the way to Liang?”

“Mm… I think it’s called the Later Shu.”

“Later Shu?” Li Huowang muttered, staring at the circle-shaped mark on the map.

“Chief Lü, do you know what famous sects are in the Later Shu? Or any dangerous fiends?”

“Aiyah, little Daoist, you’re asking the wrong person. How would I know that? It’s already impressive enough that I know Siqi’s neighbor is the Later Shu.”

True. As a traveling opera performer, Lü Zhuangyuan couldn’t be expected to know the inner affairs of a foreign state.

“Does anyone know anything about the Later Shu?” Li Huowang asked the others.

It was better to learn as much as possible about the places they were about to pass through.

But to his disappointment, all he got was a round of head-shakes.

It seemed none of them had been captured in the Later Shu.

“Brother Li, I remember one of the Daoist apprentices was from the Later Shu,” Chun Xiaoman said hesitantly. “But he drowned during that incident.”

Li Huowang sighed again.

For now, he could only take things one step at a time. But at least things were better than before.

The threat of Danyangzi was gone, and he had more means of self-defense than when he’d first escaped Qingfeng Temple.

He had just jumped down from the cart when he saw Lü Zhuangyuan approaching with a sycophantic smile.

“Aiyah, aiyah, look at my memory! About the Later Shu—I almost forgot! When I was still a lad, I heard something from my blind Second Uncle.

“My uncle said the people of the Later Shu don’t listen to our operas. They listen to… ah, I remember now—they like to watch nuo opera.”

“Nuo opera?”

“That’s right! Strange name, isn’t it? Nuo opera. My uncle said they don’t wear theatrical makeup.

“When they perform, they wrap the entire head in red cloth and wear wooden masks to sing.”

Li Huowang raised a hand to stop him from continuing.

Let them watch whatever opera they wanted. It had nothing to do with him. He wasn’t Lü Zhuangyuan, looking to steal their business.