Chapter 218: So Many, So Many

Village head Deng hurriedly said, "Don't talk nonsense. When has our village ever had a Master Pan come?"

An elder caught on at once and immediately said, "Right, right. Our village is poor and remote, no outsiders come here. All of you keep your mouths shut tight, don't speak carelessly. If it makes Lord Huang think that Master Pan was invited by us to trick him, what then?"

Everyone immediately swore they absolutely wouldn't speak carelessly, "But Uncle San's family didn't get a rent reduction…"

Village head Deng waved his hand dismissively and said, "As long as you all get a reduction, our family will rent for two more years. Once we've cleared those plots on the hillside, we won't rent and farm Lord Huang's land anymore."

The villagers immediately said, "Once we finish cutting the green silage, we'll go help Uncle San's family clear the wasteland."

They said they wouldn't discuss Master Pan, but after shooing the children out, they still couldn't help bringing it up. "I heard that people in several villages are enshrining and worshipping Master Pan. How about we enshrine her too?"

"Right, we should enshrine her. Otherwise, the tenant farmers in other villages all enshrine her while we don't, and that would only arouse suspicion. As long as we don't let anyone know Master Pan came to our village, it'll be fine."

Everyone agreed.

Then they couldn't help discussing, "Do you think Master Pan went to Lord Huang's place because of Uncle San's family?"

"It's possible."

Village head Deng: "Don't talk nonsense."

"If it wasn't for Uncle San, then it was for us. Back then, the way Master Pan looked at us was so kind and loving."

"The kindness of a child?"

"That's where you don't understand. We saw her as a child, but she may not actually be a child. I heard people say that the Master Pan at Lord Huang's place was an old man with frost-white hair."

"Then that can't be the same person, right?"

"I think it is. Most likely an illusion. Otherwise, why would both masters be called Pan Sanzhu?"

In the end, they didn't reach any conclusion, but on one point they reached a consensus: everyone would enshrine Pan Yun's longevity tablet.

More particular households used wooden plaques with characters written on them. The more casual ones, too lazy to find a wooden plaque, simply had someone write the five characters "Pan Sanzhu Longevity" on a piece of paper and stuck it right on the main hall, bowing to it morning and evening.

Pan Yun sat with her legs crossed, leaning back against a grain sack, her toes tapping lightly, humming a song only she herself could understand. Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He sat on the carriage shaft, also leaning against the grain sack behind them, yawning while struggling to keep their eyes open.

Fortunately, this horse had gotten along well with them during this period. Even without its master controlling it, it would follow the main road forward without veering at all.

The black cat also lay on the grain sack, its head resting on the sack, eyes tightly shut as it slept.

So when the Spirit Realm suddenly went ding-dong, ding-dong, receiving a massive influx of merit points, both the girl and the cat got a fright.

Pan Yun opened her eyes, sat up from the grain sack, and looked at the black cat. 【Could it be that I unknowingly poked some great demon king's lair and saved the common people?】

Now, the ding-dong sound still hadn't stopped. Pan Yun had the black cat mute the sound on the Spirit Realm array. The girl and the cat stared at the golden progress bar on the Spirit Realm inching forward bit by bit, with no sign of stopping at all.

Watching the golden progress bar pass the halfway mark and then advance another stretch, it only stopped when it had filled about two-thirds of the golden bar.

Pan Yun patted her chest, let out a breath, and lay back down on the grain sack. 【Let me think, what good deed have I done recently?】

Pan Xiaohei: "Can't think of any. Was it telling the granny in Dalin Village that her granddaughter could bring fortune to the family? Or helping Grandfather Zhang in Hougou Village find the money his son had stolen and hidden away?"

Pan Yun: 【I got that bit of merit the same day. That's not it!】

Pan Yun gazed at the white clouds drifting in the sky. 【Do you think it might be something on Huang Shijian's side? But I used a fake name, and Huang Shijian wouldn't spread word of me around. Could what he did bring me merit?】 Pan Yun had gone to the Huang household for the sake of helping the tenant farmers; she had never thought about getting much merit from him. Being able to swindle so much money was already an unexpected delight.

Ah ptooey—not swindle, but earn!

She couldn't figure out for the moment where this merit had come from. After thinking it over, she flipped over onto her stomach and asked Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He, who were sitting on the carriage shaft, "Miao Zhen, Miao He, have I done any great-merit good deeds recently?"

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He opened their drowsy eyes. Miao He even wiped the corner of her mouth, then came to and said, "No, Little Martial Uncle. These past few days we've either been on the road or swindling people. When have we done any merit?"

Pan Yun: "What do you mean swindling people? I was telling fortunes!"

Miao He: "But Miao Zhen said you got several of them wrong."

Pan Yun sighed and said, "When a person is about to die, why make them uneasy before they go? That is a well-meaning lie."

Miao He: "Did you get any merit points?"

Pan Yun: "Indeed I didn't."

But Pan Yun didn't think that was the consequence of her lying. Instead she felt, "That's because they paid. That's a transaction, it has nothing to do with merit."

It was precisely because she had realized this that along the way, whenever Pan Yun told fortunes and cast divinations for people, sometimes she took money, and sometimes she didn't.

!. Read

As they talked, the carriage rocked leisurely forward. A city tower appeared in the distance, and as the carriage advanced, the city wall and gate gradually came into view before the three of them.

Pan Yun and the other two stopped talking and looked toward the city gate together. All three involuntarily sat up straighter. "We've arrived at Nan'an County."

A gleam shot from all three of their eyes. Master Xuanmiao and Tao Ji had written in their last letter that they were in Nan'an County.

Pan Yun pressed a hand to her chest, feeling her heart beat a little fast. Strange—Master Xuanmiao and Tao Ji weren't exactly likable, so why was she so excited, feeling the joy of a long-awaited reunion!

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He were even more excited, hugging each other. If they weren't on the carriage shaft, they would have leaped up cheering.

The three of them were stopped at the city gate.

Pan Yun produced their household registration and student records. The Academy's student records let them travel without a road pass.

The gate soldier flipped through them, frowned, held the household registration and student records in his hand, tilted his chin toward the carriage, and asked, "What's on the carriage?"

Pan Yun: "It's grain."

"Grain? How much? Commercial activity requires commercial tax to be paid." He swept a glance around the carriage and said directly, "One tael of silver."

Pan Yun: "…Officer, my carriage only has ten sacks of grain, ten shi, worth less than two taels. Just passing through one city gate and I have to pay sixty percent commercial tax? What's the point of doing this business?"

The soldier choked, realizing she knew the ropes and that he had quoted too high. So he glared ferociously and said, "Enough talk. Entering the city means paying tax. If you won't pay, get out of the way."

Pan Yun frowned and was about to speak when a person waiting in line to be inspected hurriedly pulled her aside and whispered, "Little Daoist, I can see you're from Long Hushan. Since you can enter the Academy to study at such a young age, you must be a prodigy. How can you not know how to be flexible?"

He said, "Even though this soldier is asking for a bit too much, if you speak without giving him face, he won't be able to save his own, and naturally he'll keep a tight grip on you. Wouldn't it be better to soften up, plead with a gentle voice? He might let you in quickly."

Pan Yun frowned, looked him up and down, then nodded and said, "Understood. Thank you, brother, for the reminder."

Good night

(End of this chapter)