The housekeeper was about to say something, but You Miao said, "It's settled. Don't argue with me. I'm already home, what else do you have to say?"
"Then I'm leaving, young master." Shi Qier was very happy. In the cold winter, no one wanted to go out. At the end, he lectured Li Zhifeng, "Your life was saved by the young master. You must take good care of the young master."
"Okay, okay." You Miao asked them to go back, except for the driver who came to pick him up from the caravan. The driver squinted at him and said, "Morning, young master."
You Miao took out some silver from his pocket to reward him. The driver nodded and took it, and set off.
You Miao was drowsy and continued to sleep in the carriage. This carriage was the one that You Deyou took when he went on a long journey. It was originally a carriage assigned by the capital for procurement. The carriage was divided into two compartments. As soon as the door came in, there were two small stools for servants to sit and serve, and there was a partition cabinet to store luggage, which was the outer room. There was another curtain in the inner room, behind which was a narrow couch where one could sit or sleep. The brocade chairs on both sides were covered by curtains, and there were carved partitions outside to block the wind.
When they came in, the stove was burning brightly, so You Miao lay on the couch to catch up on his sleep, while Li Zhifeng sat in the servants' place in the outer room, packed up his things and put them away, saying, "Master, it's time for breakfast."
You Miao was lazy and didn't want to eat, so he said, "Come in later."
Li Zhifeng lifted the curtain and came in. You Miao let him sit on the couch, took his hand, leaned on his chest, and fell asleep with his eyes closed.
I don't know how long I slept. The noise outside the carriage became louder and louder, with horses neighing and dogs barking. You Miao yawned and opened his eyes, asking, "What's going on outside?"
Li Zhifeng said, "At the city gate."
You Miao lifted the curtain and looked outside. It was dawn. It snowed last night, but today the sky was clear. The north gate of the capital was bustling with people, and the coachmen were shouting loudly.
"Good weather! Let's go, brothers--"
"Please protect us poor people, we will climb mountains and worship mountains, cross rivers and pray to the goddesses from all sides, so that we can earn some money to live and go home early--"
"Dad! Bring me something fun!"
The caravan gathered, and the driver of You Miao's car shouted, "The young master of the You family is here--"
The head of the caravan came with a commander of the imperial guards to count the cars, load the cars, and record the goods. When he saw You Miao, he said, "Hello, young master."
You Miao had seen this man before, he often went to You Deyou's house. His name was Hao Sanqian, and the one who nodded and bowed was him. So he nodded to him. Li Zhifeng was opening the food box, putting out the food one by one, and heating them on the fire.
Hao Sanqian said to the commander of the Imperial Guards, "This is the young master of our You family."
The commander said, "Where is this man?"
Li Zhifeng raised his eyes and looked at the general. The commander seemed a little confused and said, "Aren't you from Middle-earth?"
You Miao said, "This is my slave. My name is Li Zhifeng. Why are you asking so many questions?" Then he lowered the curtain of the carriage.
The general lifted the carriage curtain with his spear and said, "Master You, that's not the case. Is your slave a Hu person? The border and the Central Plains have been at war for years. You scholars are concerned about the world and must know it clearly. I'm afraid that there may be a Hu spy among them. I'm afraid you'll have to ask him to go with me."
You Miao didn't expect that even a young general who was checking the city defense would dare to be so arrogant. He got angry in an instant and frowned, saying, "How dare you! What's your name?"
The general did not give in at all and replied, "My name is Nie Dan, and I'm a captain of the city guard. But you, you have no official position. I thought you were still young and didn't bother with you. Why are you so ignorant of the rules?!"
Seeing that the situation was not right, Hao Sanqian hurriedly apologized to Nie Dan, "General Nie, calm down, calm down. Our young master..."
Those who usually get along well with You Miao are either the nephews of generals or the sons of ministers. Even the prime minister's son calls him a brother. How could he take a small captain seriously? He immediately stopped eating, lifted his robe and was about to get off the car, saying: "This servant was sent to me by Li Yan. What do you say? Let's go to the city and wake him up early in the morning to explain to you?"
When the stalemate was at a standoff, a servant rode up in the distance.
"Young Master You..."
You Miao looked out from the car. The servant got off the horse and handed over a box, saying: "This is the money our young master prepared. I heard that you were going home today, and I also brought you a document with the Prime Minister's seal on it, in case you were questioned when you went out with Li Zhifeng. There is also a dagger inside, for you to use for self-defense on the road."
You Miao took the box, which contained twenty taels of silver, naturally just a token of his appreciation. There was also a document inside. You Miao took the document and shook it towards Nie Dan. Nie Dan snorted coldly and had to wave his hand to let him go.
The caravan started from here. The caravan of more than 100 meters long came onto the official road. A winter sun shone on the earth. The pine and cypress trees along the road were covered with icicles. The sky was clear and the air was clear.
You Miao saw the team of soldiers disappearing at the other end of the official road and sneered, "A small lieutenant is too bold to love money."
"He is also loyal to his duties." Li Zhifeng found a low table from under the couch, set it up, and poured out the hot porridge in the tin can and put it on the table.
You Miao said, "Hey, you don't understand. These soldiers guarding the pass are just trying to get as much money as they can."
Li Zhifeng stopped talking. You Miao took a mouthful of porridge and said, "You should eat something too."
Li Zhifeng put the porridge and side dishes on the table one by one and said, "I'll just have some cakes."
You Miao saw that Li Zhifeng talked more today, probably because he was in a very good mood after leaving the capital and no longer had to stay at You Deyou's house, so he smiled and said, "You were really good at it last night."
Li Zhifeng sat aside and watched You Miao.
You Miao looked at him and said, "How do you change your personal expression under chuáng?"
Li Zhizheng couldn't see his expression on his face, just like cutting the wooden head, You Miao said, "What are you saying on chuáng yesterday? No wonder Li Yan's
temper is told by Li Yan. It was light to cut off a layer of skin. You Miao thought of this very funny, and asked, "Where did you learn?" Li Zhihuan shook her head
. You Miao knew that this was done by Shi Qier's
good girl in the kitchen. She was afraid that Shi Qier was hungry on the road, so she did too much
, but it was not cheap Li Zhihuan. You Miao ate hastily at first, and then motioned him to come over to eat like calling a dog. This time Li Zhifeng did not refuse, and drank the half-cold porridge with the side dishes.
The sun shone in from the curtains outside the car, and You Miao said: "This road goes to Yangkou Mountain, along the Great Wall, all the way to Yanbian City, Sai Nei Market, and then it is the territory of you Quanrong people."
Li Zhifeng nodded slowly. You Miao couldn't help but test him with words, saying: "Don't run away halfway, come home with me."
Li Zhifeng said: "I won't run away, I'll follow you."
You Miao said: "In fact, even if you run away, I can't do anything."
Li Zhifeng didn't speak again, sitting in silence. You Miao suddenly felt a little reluctant to let him go, and waved: "Come here."
Li Zhifeng sat over, You Miao asked him to sit down, and then he leaned on his arms and touched him.
Li Zhifeng was still silent, looking at the scenery outside the car. You Miao couldn't help but guess, what exactly is this guy thinking? Thinking about his tribe? Thinking about his past? Outside the car, the sun was warm and balmy, making people feel lazy. The snow on both sides of the road looked like carved railings and jade bricks, a world of glass.
Beyond the distant plains, the snowfields were endless, and a blazing halo was just born. Away from the capital, the official road was full of open plains.
You Miao dozed off after breakfast, and Li Zhifeng took out a wooden lacquer box from under the seat, pinched a handful of tea leaves with his fingers, put them on the fire to roast, poured water, and boiled them three times. The fragrance of the tea filled the air, and he held it for You Miao to drink to wake him up. You Miao found a book in his bag, leaned on Li Zhifeng, and lazily opened it. Li Zhifeng's indenture contract fell out of the book.
Li Zhifeng: "..."
You Miao smiled and raised the book to him.
It was the third volume of the "General History of the Dog Rong" written by Wang Zhi, a great scholar of the Liang State in the previous dynasty, on the customs and things outside the Great Wall.
You Miao borrowed this book from Li Yan's house a few days ago and planned to read it at home. He folded Li Zhifeng's indenture contract and put it at the end of the book. He opened the first page and murmured: "There is a tribe outside the Great Wall that regards animals as gods. They look like wolves but not wolves, and dogs but not dogs. The sound is similar to 'dog tribe'. The men are brave and good at fighting, and they can endure hardships. They wear wolf skin on the upper body and iron battle skirt on the lower body. The Han people on the border call them 'dog Rong'."
You Miao looked at Li Zhifeng's figure while flipping through the book, wondering what he would look like when he changed into a wolves fur coat and iron battle skirt, but found that Li Zhifeng was also staring at the book.
"Have you never read the historical materials of your own tribe?" You Miao asked.
Li Zhifeng shook his head slowly, and the slave tattoo on the side of his neck was particularly clear in the sunlight.
You Miao leaned in his arms and read the book with him. The book mentioned that the Quanrong people, where Li Zhifeng lived, only worshipped warriors and often killed each other. The men were strong and all were born with great shooting skills. They treated the Han people like pigs, dogs and wild animals. When the northwest barbarians were not civilized, the Quanrong people often broke into the Great Wall to plunder food when they were short of food, and even cannibalism occurred frequently.
"Not right." Li Zhifeng suddenly said.
You Miao asked, "What?"
You Miao looked up at him in surprise and said, "What's wrong?"
Li Zhifeng: "We don't eat people."
You Miao said, "Of course we don't eat people. Wang Zhi's book is just bullshit."
Li Zhifeng couldn't help but twitch his lips. You Miao knew that he was laughing, so he explained to him vividly that Wang Zhi, as a great scholar, made many mistakes when editing and writing books. When he was teaching at the Imperial College in the capital, You Miao could easily find a lot of his mistakes. He talked nonsense for a while, and Li Zhifeng nodded frequently. You Miao started to flip through the book again. When he saw the discussion of customs later, he was shocked!
Wang Zhi also mentioned a characteristic of the Quanrong people - there were no women in the tribe!