Chapter 544: Copper Coin Spirit

The boss sat up and said, "Kid, where did you get your horse?" These days horse controls are strict; only the great scholar clan can ride, and even wealthy merchants struggle. Most of the horses of the Great Jin dynasty go to the army, and the tribes of the grasslands remain a sword hanging over the Great Jin's head.

Shi Hu sized up the appearance of Da Wang and the two of them, trying to see if they had any noble air. If they came from the great scholar clan, that would be profitable; maybe they could make a fortune.

Da Wang looked honest: "We just picked it up ahead!" Wei Shen nodded repeatedly with a big black face.

"Nonsense! How come I can't find a horse to pick up?"

"Really, I and my older brother were passing a wasteland when an old man coming to look for his sheep told us not to go in, saying there was military trouble! We immediately headed southwest, and who would have thought we'd encounter an ownerless horse grazing last night, so we… picked it up." Da Wang's voice was weak.

Shi Hu's lackey hinted to the boss, "It might have come from the battlefield at Wuguan Yuan."

They again asked Da Wang where he was from, and Da Wang confidently said they were wealthy merchants from Youchuan; the turmoil in Youchuan left only the two brothers, and they had come to Chang'an to rely on relatives, his paternal uncle being a major cloth merchant in Chang'an.

Shi Hu didn't know the major cloth merchant in Chang'an, so he couldn't tell, only feeling that these two might be worth some money later.

The refugees Da Wei and Xiao Wei were to be temporarily detained; one was young, the other sick. Shi Hu thought they'd probably just eat for free, with no hope of hunting on the north slope. Like the others, give them some scraps to keep them alive—who knows, maybe they'll prove tough.

On the way to being locked up in another cave, Da Wang remained quite optimistic, trying to make small talk with the refugees escorting them.

If Da Wang wanted to talk to someone, even a mute would have to start learning sign language right away.

The simple-minded refugee bandits were quickly overcome by the 'honest' Da Wang; before reaching the detention site, Da Wang already knew that Dengyue Fort had over a thousand able-bodied men, the boss being Shi Hu, whose martial skills were not bad.

Da Wang reckoned it was roughly the same.

Upon arriving at the destination, Da Wang happily discovered they weren't staying in a single room; the forked cave they occupied also held a hostage.

That person was skin and bone, on his last breath; Da Wang guessed he too might be from a wealthy merchant‑scholar clan, and Shi Hu was waiting to exchange him for money.

Only he was excitedly stirring things up, while Wei Shen sat on the ground with nothing to live for, saying, "Alright, is your addiction over now? Who knows if the thousand able‑bodied men are real or not—are you going out tonight to count them?"

Da Wang ignored him, using the faint light of the setting sun to size up his new roommate, and warmly greeted, "Sir, were you also caught by the refugees for ransom? Where's your family? Once I escape I'll send a message for you!"

Wei Shen was utterly exasperated by this social terror, "…Your networking is really extensive."

"I call this helping others for joy while building virtue!"

Wei Shen: …Fine.

That thin figure finally sat up, he brushed aside his disheveled hair to reveal a dirty, gaunt face, looking about the same age as Wei Shen, definitely under twenty.

His voice hoarse, he said, "I don't know if there are a thousand able‑bodied men in this mountain, but there are certainly four or five hundred—I've seen them… You won't be able to escape."

Da Wang smiled narrowly: "Brother, have you tried? No problem, I'm very capable~"

Wei Shen objected to his constantly calling people "brother," but who knew that after the flood swept away the Dragon King Temple, half an hour later Da Wang dug out this person, who truly could be called his brother—Da Wang's triple‑cousin brother.

He said, "…If you really can get out… my father is fierce enough to save me. Never mind, please take a letter to the Chief Clerk of the Qinghe Prince's mansion, saying I'm here. My name is… A Cheng."

His hesitant demeanor made it hard for the essence‑of‑a‑person Da Wang not to suspect him.

He and Wei Shen exchanged a glance; from their eyes he could tell the other had thought the same. This couldn't be the Qinghe Prince's eldest son by a concubine, could it?

Originally, because Da Wang sent troops to Fanyang, Bai Li Jin summoned the Qinghe Prince and the Shangdang Commandery Prince to the capital, but in the end only the Qinghe Prince's concubine‑born eldest son, Bai Li Cheng, went. Nine times out of ten, this is the unlucky fellow.

As soon as it got dark, Da Wang used Meng Meng to summon Ling Yin, signaling him to meet up.

Da Wang pretended to pull a dagger from his boot—though small, it could cut iron like mud, and with two strokes he snapped the broken wooden fence. Before leaving, Da Wang told Bai Li Cheng to wait there, solemnly promising to rescue him right away, and he also took out a few candies from his person to give him to preserve his life.

Leaving the cave at night, the two felt no tension about fleeing; Wei Shen still had the leisure to smirk. He looked at Da Wang with new respect, "Didn't expect you still have some clan feeling? Later, could you bring yourself to strike Bai Li Jun? He's still your paternal uncle."

Da Wang: "You don't understand. The Qinghe Prince has been operating in Qinghe for four generations."

Wei‑the‑honest‑person‑Shen: "So?"

Da Wang: "How could the wealth accumulated over four generations compare to someone like me, a pioneer? Uncle King's cooperation in having me surrender my fief and move north—how could I feel justified in coveting the Qinghe Prince's wealth? But if I spend two hundred thousand taels to ransom Bai Li Cheng, Uncle King will definitely return it to me." Plus interest.

Da Wang's scumbaggery is out in the open.

Wei Shen: …

The copper coin has become a spirit.

Some bandits are in the wilds, some are in the court. Da Wang also thinks Shi Hu's business is not bad~