Chapter 94: A Pretend Play

Both sides haggled over the price, and finally Master Xuanmiao conceded: the two parties would collaborate on crafting this statue; if more than ten kiln failures occurred, she would pay twenty taels as compensation—that was the upper limit—and no matter what, they would definitely fire the statue for her.

Master Xuanmiao paid the deposit and promised to deliver the new statue's blueprints within three days.

She called Wang Xiaojing forward and said to Yu Qing and Yu Sheng: "This child will stay with you to run errands; if any problems arise, send him back to ask me—he can also be sent on errands as needed."

Wang Xiaojing immediately stood at attention and bowed to them.

Yu Qing and Yu Sheng did not suspect anything; they assumed Master Xuanmiao was simply uneasy.

After all, this was a hundred-tael order—if it were them, they wouldn't trust it either.

The two accepted Wang Xiaojing.

Yu Qing's home was large, so he led Wang Xiaojing back there.

Wang Xiaojing never expected to be staying so suddenly; he felt both excited and uneasy, glancing at Master Miao and the others.

Master Xuanmiao pulled him aside and warned: "I promised your grandfather, but whether you stay here depends on you—be sharp and diligent; no normal person can refuse someone clever and hardworking. If they can, then they're abnormal—stay away from such people."

Wang Xiaojing listened, dazed.

Seeing him blank-faced, Master Xuanmiao frowned. "Did you understand?"

Wang Xiaojing immediately nodded. "Understood, understood. Thank you, Master Xuanmiao—I'll work hard."

"Work hard, but don't let yourself be mistreated. You know the way back home, right?" Master Xuanmiao said. "If you're mistreated, go home. Yushan County has more than just this kiln—there are two others. If they don't keep you, someone else will."

Wang Xiaojing's confidence rose, his courage strengthened by two tenths, and he nodded firmly in agreement.

Master Xuanmiao gave him ten cash coins.

Wang Xiaojing refused, pushing them away.

Master Xuanmiao said: "Take them. I'll go back and collect them from your grandfather—they're not a gift."

Hearing that, Wang Xiaojing accepted them.

Pan Yun and the other two also felt sorry for the boy, so young, being left behind, and began searching their pockets for money.

Pan Yun had little money left, so she counted out ten cash coins and added a protective talisman.

Master Miao and Seeing Miao Zhen each gave him ten cash coins.

Wang Xiaojing grinned foolishly. "I came to learn a craft, and before I even started learning, I'm already earning money."

Master Miao said: "It's not a gift. When you earn money later, you'll repay us."

Wang Xiaojing moved to repay her immediately, but Seeing Miao Zhen stopped him: "Poor at home, rich on the road—keep it. If you're mistreated, having money is better than having none."

Wang Xiaojing accepted the money and whispered: "Thank you."

Pan Yun warned: "My protective talisman isn't given lightly—you must wear it every day. Consider it a gift from your auntie's auntie."

Hearing that, Master Miao changed her mind at once. "Then I won't ask you to repay my ten cash coins either—it's a welcome gift."

Wang Xiaojing's face darkened. "You really want to be my master?"

"Of course. Is that not allowed?"

"No," Wang Xiaojing shook his head. "Wait till I learn skills, then I'll teach you—then we'll be mutual masters. I won't recognize you as my master."

Master Miao made a "tch" sound and turned away, annoyed.

Yu Qing finished discussing the remaining details with Master Xuanmiao and turned to look at Wang Xiaojing.

Master Xuanmiao called him forward and handed him over to Yu Qing. "The blueprints will arrive tomorrow or the day after—I'll bring you a few sets of clothes. Do you need to bring anything else?"

Wang Xiaojing shook his head. "No. My parents know exactly what to pack for me."

Master Miao and Seeing Miao Zhen waved goodbye to Wang Xiaojing with reluctance; even as they boarded the cart, they worried: "I wonder if he'll adjust."

Master Xuanmiao said nothing.

After entering the city, Master Xuanmiao went shopping—afternoon goods were cheaper than morning ones, if you knew how to haggle.

Master Xuanmiao admitted she wasn't good at haggling, but her cold expression worked: after the seller named a price, she'd lower it once, and if he agreed, she bought it; if he refused, she turned and walked away—her haggling skill far surpassed Tao Ji's.

Indeed, in any trade, it's always bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

Pan Yun didn't join them; she hugged the black cat and went to the Minxin Bureau to check for letters. "Any letters today?"

The Minxin Bureau clerk smiled. "Lucky timing—they just arrived. The courier hasn't left yet, but you'll have to wait—I need to sort through everything to find yours."

Pan Yun agreed.

The clerk unsealed the sack and dumped its contents: mostly letters wrapped in oilpaper, plus some other items.

The clerk first searched the items, found nothing, then poured out the letters one by one.

After much searching, he pulled out a thick letter. "Little Daoist, is this yours?"

Pan Yun leaned forward, took it at once, and smiled. "It's mine!"

She held the letter and said: "Your bureau delivers fast, but the letters arrive here only after the third hour—too late. Mount Sanqing is far away—if I urgently need to return home and can't wait until the third hour, won't I have to wait until tomorrow—or longer—to get my letter?"

The clerk sighed. "Little Daoist, delivering letters takes time. The couriers leave Guangxin Prefecture early in the morning; even at top speed, they arrive only by the third hour. These letters are sorted today and sent out tomorrow. Besides, Mount Sanqing is distant—if we delivered to your door, we'd have to climb the mountain. One letter costs a courier a full day's work."

Pan Yun thought a moment and realized he was right—she decided not to press him.

Forget it. For urgent matters, she'd use them later; otherwise, she'd stick to the official post stations and express delivery posts.

Slower, yes—but convenient.

Pan Yun took the letter and sat on the steps outside to open it.

Three scrolls of paper fell out.

She unrolled the first scroll, folded in half—it was her father's letter.

Pan Hong told her the formula she sent was extremely effective; his second son's health had greatly improved after taking it—he would never forget her life-saving grace, and both his sons wished to meet her…

In Great Ming, sending letters via official post stations required household registration proof; of course, you didn't need to show it every time, but if the post station's station master or the express delivery post's supervisor didn't recognize you, you had to show it.

To make things easier and avoid scrutiny by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, she used Tao Ji's household registration for official express deliveries, though she signed the letters as Pan Sanzhu.

!. Read

Pan Hong wrote this letter precisely to leave no trace.

Pan Yun's eyes darted around, and she decided to borrow Tao Ji's identity to write letters to them, letting them make friends with peers in the Daoist temple, and later recognize each other as older brother and younger sister, so that addressing each other in letters would be much more convenient.

Pan Hong had clearly thought of this too, and mentioned it in the letter, saying it was to let the two sons be influenced by the Dao and temper their temperaments.

Pan Yun read them carefully, and they were all good news. "I wonder if they're only reporting the good and not the bad."

She went to look at the letters her two brothers had written her. The moment she opened one, she found a large smudged patch of ink. Before even reading the words, she said, "This must be from Second Brother—he was probably crying while he wrote."

But when she looked, it was actually her eldest brother's handwriting.

Pan Yun's eyes went wide. She thought Second Brother was so badly hurt he couldn't even hold a brush, and that their father was still only reporting the good news, so Eldest Brother had to help him write...

"But that doesn't add up either. If Eldest Brother wrote the letter, how did Second Brother's tears end up on the paper?"

Pan Yun hurriedly went to open the other scroll, and seeing the even more heavily smeared characters on it, she was relieved—Second Brother had written this one himself, and had cried even harder.

So it seemed everyone was fine; Eldest Brother had just become a crybaby too.

In fact, Pan Yue hadn't wanted to cry at all, but after sneaking a peek at the letter and then trying to glue it back together, he discovered the seal at the envelope's mouth didn't quite line up, so he wanted to dig out the earlier letter for reference, to glue this one back seamlessly.

But in searching, he dug out a letter from their Pan Ershu.

The moment they read it, they knew their father had hidden a great deal from them. He had said their sister had been taken in by the Daoist master of Mount Sanqing to cultivate the Dao of her own accord, but the truth was the Embroidered Uniform Guard had raided the house again, their sister had been forced to flee the Pan family on her own, and her whereabouts were unknown.

They didn't know how many hardships she had endured before reaching Mount Sanqing.

After the two brothers finished reading Pan Ershu's letter, their tears soaked their collars. When Pan Hong returned, the two brothers were embracing each other and weeping bitterly.

Pan Hong saw the opened letter, and his face darkened. Looking again at the two brothers crying like that, his face grew even darker. But he couldn't bring himself to hit them, so he could only say coldly, "What are you crying about? I haven't even hit you yet for sneaking open my letter."

Pan Yue asked with reddened eyes, "Why didn't you tell us, Father?"

"What good would telling you do? Besides giving two more people to worry, which of us could help her?" Pan Hong said, "Besides, you're still young—especially Yu'er, so loud and brash. If you let slip a word or two outside, our whole family would be punished even more severely."

Pan Yu protested indignantly, "I wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't you?" Pan Hong said coolly, "We'll see in time. Whether you would or not isn't settled just by saying so."

Pan Yue and Pan Yu were both indignant in their hearts, and resolved to prove it to their father through their actions.

Pan Hong took the letter and read it through once, murmuring, "She has met someone with real ability."

This was something she had sensed the moment Pan Yue and Pan Yu got into trouble, which was why she had immediately sent these things.

"Calculating it this way, the letters we sent out—she'll be able to receive them in a day or two, and in a few more days, her reply should arrive."

Pan Yu's injuries had improved a little these past few days, but he was still passing blood in his stool.

The Physician came by every day to check on him. The medicines prescribed were expensive, yet there was no good way to handle it.

Worst of all, because of this injury, Pan Yu had recently been feeling weak and listless, and had even developed a bit of a fever.

The Physician said this was the time to be extremely careful—he must catch neither cold nor heat, for if he caught any other illness on top of this, the man would collapse entirely.

These past few days, Pan Hong and Pan Yue wished they could hold him in the palms of their hands and raise him there, yet still there was no better treatment.

Now, he was only hoping Pan Yun might have a better solution.

Sure enough, four days later, the Minxin Bureau delivered a box, inside which were three prescriptions, each noting the condition it addressed.

Father and son didn't dare delay, and invited the Physician over that very day.

The Physician might not be able to come up with a better prescription, but he could certainly tell which one was the better prescription.

Soon, the Physician picked one for them, and on his way out was still muttering to himself, "How did I not think of prescribing it this way? I wonder which divine physician wrote this prescription—I would like to pay a visit and pay my respects..."

Today's lucky numbers are all my numbers ending in 9, screenshot as proof, I won't write the next chapter, oh~

(End of this chapter)