Chapter 581: Welcoming the Xuanyuan Delegation

Xuanyuan could only nod, then, followed by a group of important personnel from the Xuanyuan Tribe, he walked forward under the guidance of the Huaxia Soldiers. As for the Soldiers of their Xuanyuan Tribe, because there were too many of them, they needed to be organized into formations and could only proceed under the supervision of the Huaxia Soldiers. In the end, they would also be arranged to stand guard where Xuanyuan and his party were staying, and their freedom would be restricted, preventing them from moving about at will.

Xuanyuan looked around along the way, feeling that there was no difference from the last time he came. However, what puzzled him was that he had clearly already seen a city gate, yet the Soldier did not lead him toward it, but instead continued to take him toward the direction of the old main gate.

Xuanyuan felt this was unreasonable and wondered if Huaxia was putting him through some sort of ordeal. After all, it was obvious they had to walk such a long distance, so he asked with a slightly angry tone: "Since there is clearly a city gate there, why not go through it? Why must you take the long way around? When people from your Huaxia come, if the elderly cannot walk, we arrange carts to pull them. Are you intending to humiliate my Xuanyuan Tribe?"

The leading Soldier hurriedly turned back, bowed slightly to apologize, and explained kindly: "This is the etiquette of our Huaxia. The main gate is for distinguished guests to pass through, while the side gate is for ordinary people. Even our King does not usually go out through the side gate at will. If you feel this etiquette is unnecessary, I can also take you in through the side gate, Tribal Chief Xuanyuan."

Xuanyuan's anger vanished in an instant, because this kind of seemingly cumbersome and meaningless etiquette seemed perfectly normal in Huaxia. Xuanyuan did not feel that this practice of distinguished people using the main gate was fake; on the contrary, it fit Baifeng's way of thinking very well.

Xuanyuan also found it hard to insist on using the main gate. Since Huaxia was treating him with such courtesy, he could not be difficult. After all, he had come on this trip for friendly exchange, and it would be even better if he could learn more things along the way.

So Xuanyuan said: "In that case, let us go through the main gate. Continue leading the way."

However, they had not walked long before a team of ox carts was waiting for them ahead, and they were four-wheeled ox carts. Seeing this kind of cart for the first time, Xuanyuan could not suppress his curiosity and hurriedly went up to observe, even squatting down. The Huaxia people, however, acted as if they had seen nothing. Baifeng did not care about this either, as he had already come to terms with it; since two-wheeled ones had been created, it was only a matter of time before single-wheeled and four-wheeled ones were made. Moreover, he considered this a gift he was giving to Xuanyuan in advance, because he wanted to obtain things from Xuanyuan that he was in more urgent need of.

After observing for a while, Xuanyuan suddenly remembered that he was not in his own tribe, so he pretended that nothing had happened and slowly stood up. The person receiving Xuanyuan and his party had been replaced by Zhigui from the Ministry of Rites. Zhigui was wearing a silk garment at this time, which looked very luxurious.

Xuanyuan himself was not short of silk, as silk was a specialty of the Xuanyuan Tribe, but he did not like silk clothing, feeling that hemp cloth clothing was more comfortable to wear at this time. Thus, he had come wearing hemp cloth clothing as well. He was only momentarily surprised when he saw Zhigui's attire, but he quickly calmed down. He had not expected a silk garment to look so imposing, because when he had seen Huaxia people in the past, including Baifeng, they were always in a state of labor and would not wear silk clothing, so he had felt nothing special. Now, he suddenly had a peculiar feeling.

Zhigui performed a standard bow, then pointed to the five ox carts in front of them and said: "Tribal Chief Xuanyuan, there is still a long distance from here to the Huaxia City gate, so please board the carts. We will use the carts to take you there."

Xuanyuan naturally would not refuse. Then, under Zhigui's arrangement, Xuanyuan and Leizu boarded the first ox cart; Qibo, Cangjie, and Zhishou the second; Qingyun and Jinyun the third; and the rest of the people squeezed into two carts. They were arranged according to status; those with low status had no carts to sit in. Changxian, as the Soldier protecting Xuanyuan, naturally would not sit in a cart; he walked beside Xuanyuan's carriage.

The carriages all had cabins, and the cabins had glass windows and silk curtains. This combination left not only Xuanyuan but also Leizu completely mesmerized. They had not expected a carriage to be so luxurious, and even the places where they sat were soft.

The road surface was a flat Cement Road. Even though the carriages lacked shock absorbers, there was no excessive bumping, only a lot of noise.

Zhigui sat in front of Xuanyuan's carriage with the Soldier driving, and at the same time, he introduced everything before them to Xuanyuan and answered the questions Xuanyuan raised.

While listening to Zhigui's narration, Xuanyuan calculated the manufacturing method of the carriage in his heart, and soon he had the process in mind.

Qibo was also curiously examining everything. Even Zhishou, who was recognized as the wisest person in the Xuanyuan Tribe, was very curious and shocked. He tried pulling the curtain and then understood its function and principle—a structure as simple as could be, yet it had such a clever use.

However, he had no idea how the ice-like material was made. He was not foolish enough to think there was nothing there; after all, the transparency and clarity of the Huaxia glass were too low, and even a fool could see that there was something there.

Both of them remained silent, observing quietly. Although Qingyun and Jinyun were also curious, they were likewise able to maintain a state that was not overly exaggerated.

The speed of the ox carts was not much faster than walking. After all, these were distinguished guests. Although their carts could run fast, they could not afford to explain any mistakes if they occurred, so they proceeded slowly and steadily.

However, they arrived at the gate of Huaxia City easily. The gate of Huaxia City was wide open, but there was nothing to indicate a welcome for Xuanyuan and his party. Baifeng did not need to go to such lengths; what they had now was enough.

As soon as Xuanyuan and his party got off the carts, they naturally looked around at this familiar yet strange city. Hanging on top of the city tower were the three characters for "Huaxia City" written by Baifeng's own hand. Because Baifeng wanted the characters to evolve healthily in the future and to maintain the unique advantages of Chinese characters as pictographs, he used Small Seal Script. All the Small Seal Script he remembered came from when he studied calligraphy and seal carving. As long as he remembered the radicals, he could still write out the common characters.

However, this meant the evolutionary process from pictographic characters to Oracle Bone Script and Large Seal Script was missing. Therefore, a large part of Huaxia's characters had origins that could no longer be explained. Baifeng could only pin his hopes on Cangjie, hoping to fill in these gaps through exchanges with the Xuanyuan Tribe.

Huaxia possessed more mature and useful characters, but the Xuanyuan Tribe possessed primitive characters with underlying logic. The combination of the two was the most appropriate.