Chapter 379: Clearance

The officer beside him said, "My lord, I see nothing wrong with them—let them go."

"Nothing wrong?" Liu Jing said softly, "From Guangxin Prefecture to Jingcheng, such a long journey, and you're not carrying a single bag?"

Pan Yun and the other four suddenly realized—their flaw was having no luggage.

Wang Cong felt regret—he should never have been so careless and stored everything in his space.

Right now, he really wanted to reach into his sleeve and pull out a whole pile of luggage.

But these were officers, not ordinary civilians—if he dared do that, they'd arrest him on the spot.

Old Zhu had said: any magical rites or spells not approved by the imperial court were fraud, punishable by imprisonment.

As Wang Cong struggled to think of an excuse, Pan Yun turned and asked, "Senior disciple, do you need luggage when traveling?"

Wang Cong immediately replied, "Of course not. Master, you rarely leave the mountain—why carry such burdens?"

Pan Yun sniffed, "You promised me—I can buy whatever I want. Second Master also swore to me that once we reach Jingcheng, even if I asked for the stars in the sky, he'd pluck them down for me."

Wang Cong immediately bowed deeply, "Yes, yes, yes—the Master promised, and he'll never break his word. Little Master, rest assured."

Miao Zhen immediately cried out, "And me! Big Brother, Master can't be biased—before, whenever Master got something good, he always let me choose first!"

Wang Cong immediately scowled and rebuked Miao Zhen, "This is Little Master—she's younger than you, but higher in seniority. Why are you arguing with Little Master?"

Miao Zhen's eyes instantly reddened; she stamped her foot, "Why does everything become hers just because Little Master arrived? I used to choose first!"

Miao He stared, dumbfounded; Tao Yanbai quietly poked her.

Miao He snapped back to herself and immediately said, "Me too!"

Miao Zhen: "We've been down the mountain so long—how many outfits has Little Master changed into? Wears one, throws one away—why am I stuck wearing her cast-offs?"

Miao He: "Me too!"

Funny enough, today Pan Yun was wearing a brand-new outfit—bought in the last county. Miao Zhen and Miao He had also bought two each, because spring up north was very different from spring in the south, and their old clothes didn't fit.

Too thick or too thin—so all five bought two sets of padded robes.

Liu Jing sneered, pressing his sword scabbard against Wang Cong's neck. "Keep making up stories! Their clothes are all new!"

"They are new!" Wang Cong protested, turning to yell at Miao Zhen, "Aren't you wearing a new outfit too? Little Master only wore hers once—what's the difference from new?"

Miao Zhen shouted back, "It's different! She's already worn it—"

Liu Jing's ears rang; the brocade uniformed guards finally came forward with swords, frowning. "What's the problem with them?"

The nearby officer quickly reported the situation.

The brocade uniformed guard frowned. "Liu Jing, you're being ridiculous. They just didn't bring luggage—so what? They can buy some along the way!"

Liu Jing: "They're five people with only one cart—clearly not spendthrifts. How could someone like that afford to buy and discard things all along the road? No luggage on the cart is suspicious."

The brocade uniformed guard asked, "Then tell me—does their cart contain any contraband?"

Liu Jing choked, shook his head.

"Does their cart contain the person we're looking for?"

Liu Jing clenched his lips, still shook his head.

The brocade uniformed guard snorted, "We stop travelers to catch escaped Japanese pirates—not to harass innocent people. Don't create unnecessary trouble."

Liu Jing grew anxious: "But—"

"No 'buts.' Whatever I order you to do, you do," the brocade uniformed guard warned, glaring. "Liu Jing, remember—you're not a hundred-commander yet. You're just a lowly brocade uniformed guard. I'm your superior!"

Liu Jing bowed his head and replied, "Yes," pulling the scabbard away from Wang Cong's neck.

Wang Cong was about to bow and thank this righteous hundred-commander when the man reached out, tapping his fingers lightly. "Where are your household registers and travel permits? Produce them."

Wang Cong froze, then immediately pulled out his own household register and ordination certificate. Pan Yun and the others exchanged glances, sighed, and produced their household registers and academy enrollment records.

Only Tao Yanbai had a travel permit.

The hundred-commander flipped through them all. When he reached Pan Yun's three permits, he paused, studying them closely. "You're women?"

Liu Jing immediately turned, scrutinizing the three carefully, then fixed his gaze on Pan Yun.

If they're women…

This person looked familiar—but he couldn't recall where he'd seen her.

Liu Jing furrowed his brow, rummaging through his mental records.

Pan Yun, feeling his intense stare, answered the hundred-commander calmly. "Yes. This Daoist priest simply has short hair—doesn't look like it?"

Miao Zhen: "I just tied my hair up—we Daoists all do this. Doesn't look like it?"

The hundred-commander returned the documents. "I didn't say you didn't look like it. Since you're ordained Daoists with academy records, go on your way."

But Liu Jing reached out to take the documents again, wanting to look closer.

The hundred-commander's brow darkened; he snatched the papers back, displeased. "Liu Jing, what are you doing?"

Liu Jing bowed. "I merely wish to double-check…"

"What? You doubt I'm showing favoritism after I've already inspected them?"

Liu Jing: "I dare not doubt you—I only wish to record their names and household details for later verification…"

"You didn't record the names of anyone else we passed—why are you recording these people just because I'm letting them go?"

Liu Jing: …

"What? You've got nothing to say? You're targeting me—I'm telling you, these people, I'm letting go. Period." He shoved the documents past Liu Jing into Wang Cong's arms and waved them off irritably. "Get lost!"

Wang Cong quickly bowed in thanks, grabbing Miao Zhen and Miao He by the arms and shoving them onto the cart.

Just as he finished shoving them in and turned to help Pan Yun, she had already climbed aboard from the other side—and pulled Tao Yanbai up with her.

As Wang Cong drove the cart past the checkpoint, under Liu Jing's resentful gaze, three mounted brocade uniformed guards rode directly toward them.

Pan Yun, peering through the swaying curtain, recognized the riders on horseback; behind them, the hundred-commander and Liu Jing hurried over, bowing. "Your Excellency, Thousand-Commander."

A slightly teasing voice asked, "What's this cart about?"

The hundred-commander cut in before Liu Jing could speak. "Your Excellency, they're Daoists coming to Jingcheng to visit relatives."

"Did you check both inside the carriage and underneath?"

"We did. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Liu Jing could not help raising his head, watching the carriage as it slowly moved off into the distance.

!. Read

Indeed, no contraband or suspicious persons had been found, yet he still felt something was very strange.

That carriage was strange, and those five people were strange as well.

Especially that "Little Xiao Shishu" — he kept feeling he had seen her somewhere before, yet for the life of him could not recall.

Strange — his memory was that good; he would not dare claim a photographic one, but if he felt she was out of the ordinary, he ought to have remembered her. So why could he not recall who she was?

Liu Jing watched the carriage ride away, his heart growing ever more unsettled.

Wang Shan gave the Hundred-Pacer only a sparse response to his flattery; once the man had finished, he nodded indifferently, turned his head and asked: "Liu Jing, did you find anything?"

The Hundred-Pacer's expression was as usual, only his eyes were a touch cold.

Liu Jing bowed and said: "My lord, along the entire route we found no trace of the bandit. I suspect he is not familiar with the interior, and our Great Ming keeps household registers under strict control — without one, he cannot enter any city at all. So this subordinate suspects he is still somewhere along the coast."

"The coast? Quanzhou is on the coast, Suzhou is on the coast, Yangzhou Prefecture is on the coast; further north, Huai'an Prefecture, Qingzhou Prefecture, even Tianjin Guard are all on the coast. The coastline is that long — where do you expect me to go look?"

Liu Jing said: "So long as we find Hu Jing, we can find that bandit."

"Hu Jing?"

"Yes," Liu Jing said in a low voice: "This official has looked into it. That bandit seems to follow Hu Jing's movements. When Hu Jing was catching criminals for bounties around Songjiang, he showed up in Songjiang. When Hu Jing was apprehending a murderer in Suzhou Prefecture for a bounty, he showed up in Suzhou Prefecture…"

Wang Shan was puzzled: "Why would he chase after Hu Jing?"

Liu Jing said: "Hu Jing did, after all, once serve Kikuchi Wu Bei. Perhaps he has some matter he needs to verify with Hu Jing?"

Wang Shan rubbed his chin. "Makes sense. Send letters to the local government office everywhere, ask where Hu Jing has been collecting bounties lately."

"Yes."

Wang Shan broke into a smile, clapped Liu Jing on the shoulder and said: "Well done. If we can get that bandit this time and snatch the treasure map ahead of Wang Wen, I will recommend you to my uncle. All those past slips of yours on duty won't be worth mentioning."

Liu Jing lowered his head and answered "Yes" with even greater deference.

The other Embroidered Uniform Guard looked at him with eyes that were none too friendly.

Liu Jing kept his head lowered so his expression could not be read; what he was thinking, only he himself knew.

Pan Yun caught Pan Xiao Hei as it leapt in through the window, and rubbed its belly.

Miao Zhen was astonished: "Little Xiao Shishu, when did Xiao Hei slip off the carriage?"

Miao Zhen: "Only just noticed?"

Pan Yun: "When the carriage was stopped, it snuck down like a little mouse."

She scratched its chin, kneaded its belly and limbs for it, and asked: "What did they say?"

Pan Xiao Hei repeated their conversation verbatim, then added: "I also heard a few of the lesser Embroidered Uniform Guard cursing in private. Guess who that Thousand-Pacer is?"

Pan Yun: "Wang Shan?"

Pan Xiao Hei: "…How did you know? Have you met him?"

"Never met him. But the kind of uncle who could make him say all those past slips on duty aren't worth mentioning — apart from the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Ma Shun, there's only the Grand Eunuch Wang Zhen. He has the surname Wang, so of course his uncle has the surname Wang too."

Pan Xiao Hei drooped its head, feeling that having a companion who was too clever wasn't a good thing either — no sense of accomplishment.

Pan Yun stroked its head, lost in thought. "Someone came from the Japanese pirates' side? Wang Shan thinks he has a treasure map? Then why are the Japanese pirates looking for Hu Jing?"

Miao Zhen: "He wouldn't suspect the treasure map is in Hero Hu's hands, would he?"

Pan Yun: "Do they need a treasure map to get on the island? By rights, they should have someone among them who can get on the island, shouldn't they?"

So the arrangement between them and Chen Wen had always been this: Chen Wen would stop the Japanese pirates' ships from approaching that island, until he had fully brought his men under his control, and then use the treasure map in her hands to go to the island and take the treasure.

An eighty-twenty split in the end — of course, Chen Wen got eight, she got two.

Although it was a little less, she only provided the map; all the effort was Chen Wen's, and it spanned a long time.

If the Japanese pirates could not find the island at all, wouldn't that mean the treasure on the island could simply be left there, with no rush to take it?

Pan Yun's heart ached for a moment, then she immediately shook the conjecture out of her head. No, she mustn't think like that — if she did, she wouldn't be able to sleep for the next two nights.

Limitless blessings of the Heavenly Worthy — whatever she chose was the optimal choice. Blessing is misfortune, misfortune is blessing; even if she suffered a loss for the moment, it was because greater blessings lay ahead. It had to be so, it had to be so.

"Little Xiao Shishu, what are you mumbling about?"

Pan Yun's hands rose and fell, breath drawn in and released, and she smiled: "Nothing. I was reciting a scripture."

See you tomorrow, keep at it tomorrow, aim to be a little earlier.

(End of chapter)