Chapter 13

On the morning of the sixth day, a slight chill had already risen in the city.

The red sun emerged from that huge blood-red wound, and was shrouded in mist, like a pickled egg yolk, reflecting the inside and outside of Yuyang County in a desolate sight.

Ji You pushed the door and walked out of the ancestral home, only to see a scholar on the empty street, carrying a bamboo box and walking from the morning mist, with a bundle slung over his left hand and half a pancake in his right hand.

"Brother Ji, good morning."

Ji You had just locked the house door, and seeing his appearance, he felt a bit dazed: "Caichen..."

Xiang Kuangcheng didn't hear clearly and walked up to him: "I am also setting off for the capital today. The journey is long and arduous, so I will bid you farewell here. I wish Brother Ji a smooth path to immortality."

"Are you going to the capital alone?"

Xiang Kuangcheng nodded: "If it weren't for the delay of five days due to the Qiu family's affair, I might have already set off."

Ji You glanced at the misty morning, finding the sky in the west still gray: "How do I get from Yuyang County to the capital?"

"First take a carriage to the southwest, then walk around Dongshou Mountain, then take a carriage. Mortals are not allowed to pass through the hundred-mile radius of the Xuanyuan Immortal Mansion, so I still need to detour, and then go to the Mogu post station to take a carriage..."

"That's so troublesome, how much silver will you spend on this trip?"

"About five coins of silver."

Ji You was slightly stunned: "You are a young master after all, are you sure five coins of silver is enough?"

Xiang Kuangcheng was stunned for a moment, then gripped his bundle and said: "Scholars need to harden their hearts and clarify their ambitions. If there is no inn to stay, they can stay in ancient temples. Although there have been many rumors of demons and ghosts in temples these years, I have the aura of righteousness in my body, so I am naturally not afraid."

"Do you really have the aura of righteousness?"

"This... I'm not very sure either, but that's what the books say."

"Too dangerous, Brother Kuang!"

Ji You narrowed his eyes and looked him over carefully: "Otherwise, I'll go with you. I'm very interested in haunted ancient temples."

Xiang Kuangcheng was a bit confused after hearing this: "That's not necessary, Brother Ji. Although the road to the imperial examination is extremely dangerous, two out of five can survive, so it's not impossible that it could be me."

"Only two survive? Then it's really not necessary."

Ji You pondered for a moment and looked up at him: "The Kuang family only has you as a single seedling. Wouldn't it be a pity if you died on the road?"

Xiang Kuangcheng looked up at the sky that hadn't completely brightened yet: "If that's really the case, then it's destiny."

"Come on the road with me."

"?"

Ji You put the bundle on his back: "I heard that Fang Ruoyao is taking a maid with her. I think I can naturally take a reading companion. Sitting on an immortal ship is always more comfortable than you detouring around."

Xiang Kuangcheng was slightly stunned, pondered for a moment, and then smiled and refused: "I am a mere mortal, how dare I sit on the treasure ship of a cultivator."

"You can't suppress the corners of your mouth."

"I did not."

After the two were silent for a long time, Ji You suddenly reached out: "Give it to me, travel expenses, five coins of silver!"

Xiang Kuangcheng hesitated for a long time, then took the bundle off his shoulder, opened it layer by layer, and finally took out a bulging money bag, and found the smallest piece of broken silver and placed it in his hand.

Just this smallest piece seemed to exceed five coins when weighed.

God damn your "scholars need to harden their hearts," Ji You's brows furrowed into a "chuan" shape: "You have so much, give me some more."

"Brother Ji, too much money will confuse the mind..."

"Why aren't you afraid?"

Xiang Kuangcheng held his money bag and said: "Because I am a scholar, and I have the aura of righteousness..."

Ji You was silent again, and finally politely begged, grabbing about two taels and three coins of silver, and put them into his own pocket.

At this time, the twilight gradually faded, the daylight gradually spilled down, and figures began to enter and exit the city.

The time between autumn harvest and spring plowing is not a slack season for farming. The people of Yuyang County still have to go up the mountain to cut firewood, or go further away to work, living a hard life year after year.

Seeing this scene, the two were silent for a long time.

"Let's go."

"Hmm."

The dew was heavy on the autumn morning, and along the way out of the city, their clothes were already a bit damp.

But fortunately, the sun subsequently broke through the clouds and mist, and a ray of dawn spilled down, piercing through the city gate, illuminating the feet of the scholar and the youth with golden brilliance, and stretching their shadows longer and longer.

When the two arrived outside the city, many figures were already standing on the open space in front of the county monument.

Cao Jingsong, Pei Ruyi, the Fang father and daughter, and the three members of the Qiu family were all there.

Besides that, there were also those commoners who had recognized him as a relative in the grain field that day, all gathered here to see him off.

Watching Ji You and Xiang Kuangcheng walk out of the city one after another, little Qiu Ru suddenly broke free from her mother's embrace, rushed over with her little legs, hugged Ji You's thigh, and looked up at his chin.

"Little girl, why are you getting heavier?"

"Young Master, Ruru ate meat at the magistrate's house, it was delicious. Dad was lying, I even wanted to save a piece for you, but my mouth wouldn't allow it, and it made me cry with anger!"

Ji You couldn't help but smile, and saw the Qiu couple rushing over, holding a bundle in their hands: "Young Master, this is the silver exchanged when you saved Ruru before, please take it on the road..."

Li Shuping also knelt down with a thud: "Young Master, this foolish woman was ignorant before and kept speaking ill of you, but in the end, you saved Ruru. This foolish woman is kowtowing to you here..."

"That's not necessary."

Ji You reached out to help Li Shuping up: "I consider the third house on Nanya River as my home, and Qiu Ru is my little sister. Before I ascend to immortality, I will definitely come back many times. If you treat me like this, how can I come back?"

Hearing the words "ascend to immortality" said so lightly, Cao Jingsong's eyelids twitched slightly.

This child's words were domineering in a calm and detached way; he is indeed not a mortal.

Old Qiu handed over the bundle at this time: "Young Master, take this. You have no acquaintances when you leave your hometown, and many things require silver. Don't treat yourself poorly."

"No need, Old Qiu, I still have silver. Keep these for your household expenses."

"When the Ji family fled, they took all those valuables away, and didn't leave you even a single ingot. Old Qiu knows better than you, Young Master, so don't decline anymore."

"I'm not declining, Young Master really has money."

Ji You saw he didn't believe him and reached out to pat Xiang Kuangcheng's bundle.

Xiang Kuangcheng was silent for a moment, suddenly recalling the scene of seeing him covered in blood at the Ji residence.

That day, Ji You had sighed to him, saying that the Azure Cloud world was ultimately missing a brilliant and peerless bandit, but why did he feel that it wasn't missing one at all?

"Everyone, even a thousand-mile journey must come to an end, let's stop here."

"If the neighbors have free time, please help me clean up my house. If any members of the Ji clan return, please entrust it to them."

Ji You said, then turned his head to look at the rising sun and the rolling mountains in the distance, exhaling gently.

He felt that he didn't come here for no reason, but that there were some things that should be completed.

"Let's go, youth, go and see the wind in destiny."

(End of chapter)