After Shen Fa left, Yang Ge began to bustle about again.
He cleaned all the furniture and windows, not caring whether there was dust or not.
He had barely put down the duster when he picked up the broom to sweep and rinse every inch of the floor from inside to outside.
Huang, wagging his tail, was chased by him from the inner room to the courtyard, then from the courtyard back to the inner room, and in the end, even itself could not escape Yang Ge's clutches and was pinned down in the little pond to be washed clean from head to toe.
As the setting sun spread over the courtyard...
A man and a dog sat side by side on the stone steps in front of the house, one wiping his wet hair and the other licking his half-dry fur, presenting an unspeakably neat and harmonious scene.
"What lovely weather!"
Yang Ge, looking at the starlit azure sky, embraced Huang's neck and gently shook its head, "Don't you think?"
Huang wagged its tail gently and licked his cheek with its warm tongue, silently keeping him company.
Although the dog could not speak, it understood everything.
The heaviness and unease in Yang Ge's heart was somewhat alleviated...
However, moments of peace never lasted long. Just as the sun dipped below the wall, Huang abruptly raised its head, its ears perked and expression serious as it looked toward the courtyard gate.
As expected, a few seconds later someone knocked on the gate.
"Knock, knock, knock."
The sound was light and the rhythm slow.
But at the sound of the knocking, Yang Ge's heartbeat couldn't help but speed up a bit.
Before Huang could bark, he pinched its mouth shut and gently patted the soft head to soothe it before standing up and walking towards the gate.
"Creak."
As he opened the gate, Yang Ge saw a robust-looking young man in common ramie clothing standing outside.
Before he could ask, the man already took the initiative, clasping his hands in a greeting and said in a low voice, "I am Fang Ke, sent to guide you, sir."
The visitor was polite, and Yang Ge returned the gesture with courtesy, "You're too formal, I'm hardly a sir... Do we leave now? May I have a moment to prepare?"
Fang Ke, "Sir, time waits for no one, you must depart immediately!"
With urgency pressing him, Yang Ge did not linger on titles but looked at his empty hands and asked, "We're going just like this?"
Fang Ke, "For this mission, I serve as your assistant, sir. Whatever weapons or equipment you need, just inform me, and I will prepare them as quickly as possible!"
"I see..."
Yang Ge pondered for a few moments and then spoke seriously, "Do you have lime?"
Fang Ke was momentarily taken aback but soon responded earnestly, "Of course, there is lime, but we have better tools at home that will not disappoint you, sir!"
Yang Ge went with the flow, "Then let's use the tool you mentioned. Also, get me an axe, the kind that's heavy and can be used as a hammer, with a broad blade that can serve as a shield."
Fang Ke was more professional, "Sir, are you asking for a battle-axe? Would you prefer it with a long handle or a short one?"
Yang Ge thought for a moment, "Short handle."
Fang Ke bowed, "Please follow me, sir. The weapons and equipment will be delivered to the ambush location by my comrades."
Yang Ge, "Let me just lock the door first."
...
The remnants of the sunset faded away.
Yang Ge followed Fang Ke, rushing swiftly through several secluded alleys, clambering out of the town, and then sprinting towards the northeast, soon hearing the sound of flowing water.
"Bian River?"
Yang Ge looked toward the direction from which the sound of flowing water came, and asked in surprise, "Isn't it said to be the Tartar spies? How could they be heading south?"
The Bian River was an artificially excavated canal, with many dangerous slopes where the terrain was treacherous and the currents too swift. Relying solely on the wind in the sails and the oars' force, it was impossible to traverse those dangerous slopes against the current without a large number of trackers assisting the navigation.
Normally, there were no trackers pulling boats at night.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, on the Bian River at night, there were only ships going downstream, not upstream.
Fang Ke bowed and said, "Reporting to my lord, the command I received was to lead my lord to the designated ambush location. As for other details, I am also unaware."
Yang Ge stared at him unblinkingly, pondering to himself, 'Shen Fa, such a significant figure, if he wanted to trap me, could easily find some nonsense excuse to throw me into a great prison, so is there a need for him to make it so complicated?'
He felt the likelihood of Shen Fa using him as a pawn was small, but he still decided to heighten his alertness and resolved not to fatally harm anyone unless absolutely necessary, "Alright... Where are the things I asked for?"
Fang Ke extended his hand in a "please" gesture, "My lord, please follow me."
Yang Ge followed him with perplexity and hurried towards the woods by the riverbank.
After entering the woods and not going far, Fang Ke leaped onto a strange rock, holding a square wooden box, which he then jumped down with, creating a "thump" as it hit the ground.
"My lord, please look!"
Fang Ke opened the wooden box right in front of Yang Ge.
By the clear moonlight, Yang Ge could see the large, rust-covered, carved battle axe lying in the box, its blade bigger than a washbasin.
Yang Ge: 'Should I praise you for responding in a timely manner, or should I criticize you for not even bothering to pretend?'
He was sure that when he saw Fang Ke and then went back to his room to get the lock, the delay was only a moment, barely two to three minutes at most!
Yet, in just that short span of two to three minutes, not only was Fang Ke able to transfer the information about the weapon he needed back to the Embroidered Uniform Guards, but they were also able to send the item to the predetermined location ahead of him...
Having come all this way, Yang Ge could not be bothered to criticize Shen Fa's superfluous actions any further and silently stepped forward to grab the battle axe to feel its weight.
Fang Ke: "My lord, is the weapon to your satisfaction?"
Yang Ge casually swung the battle axe with light and graceful movements, as if what he held in his hand was not a heavy axe, but rather a feather-light foxtail grass, "It'll do!"
Listening to the formidable, heavy whooshing sounds cutting through the air, Fang Ke, questioning his life choices, picked up the slip of paper with the weapon's information from the box, and under the bright moonlight, he could vaguely read terms like "well-tempered axe" and "weighing sixty-two catties" and so on.
"Gulp."
Fang Ke silently swallowed a glob of saliva and stealthily took two steps back, trying to put some distance between himself and the swinging axe.
It was only when Yang Ge stopped swinging the large axe that Fang Ke picked up the remaining four egg-sized black pellets from the box and indicated to Yang Ge, "My lord, please look, this item is called 'Ghost Hits the Wall,' made from gunpowder mixed with a little pepper powder, sneezing powder, itching powder, and other medicines. When used, one only needs to expel inner strength in the palm to hold this item and throw it. In the blink of an eye, it will make a loud bang. If used correctly, it can turn the enemy into a pig that can neither see, hear, smell, nor stop scratching from the intense itching!"
Yang Ge put down the large axe, curiously took the black pellet that Fang Ke handed over, and examined it closely between his fingers, "What is the effective range of this item?"
Fang Ke replied, "Reporting to my lord, the effective range of this item is five feet. However, my lord must be careful not to use it against someone with a developed Qi Sea, as a slight mishap could turn the tables on you!"
"Developed Qi Sea?"
If Yang Ge remembered correctly, a developed Qi Sea referred to masters who had cultivated inner Qi, and Shen Fa seemed to have mentioned in passing that inner Qi could be released outwardly.
He imagined using Ghost Hits the Wall against a developed Qi Sea master, only to have the enemy remotely blow the pepper powder, sneezing powder, and itching powder back onto his face, and shuddered at the thought.
He was about to return the few Ghost Hits the Wall to Fang Ke when suddenly, from the distant woods, there came a cacophony of "gwa gwa gwa" bird calls. Fang Ke, upon hearing this, turned around and seemingly out of nowhere, pulled out a gleaming scimitar, "My lord, we have guests!"
Yang Ge contemplated for a moment and then decided to keep the Ghost Hits the Wall in his waistband and, picking up the large axe, followed Fang Ke towards the Bian River.
Soon enough, they saw three or four small cargo boats appear upstream on the Bian River.
On both sides of these boats hung strings of lanterns serving as lights for illumination and navigation, illuminating the pitch-black surface of the river brightly with a hundred or so lanterns.
As the light wavered, banners with the character "Xie" fluttered in the wind.
A cloud drifted by, obscuring the moonlight.