Chapter 63: Gong and Drum

Chen Mo looked at the few Gongs and Drums in front of him; no matter how he looked at them, he could not see anything special about them.

They had all been struck countless times, and the originally smooth surfaces of the gongs were left with some pits and dents.

To say nothing else, the Imperial Court definitely placed enough importance on the matter of guarding against the Grey Mist.

A military camp of five hundred men was equipped with a full six sets of Gongs and Drums, and the previous Salt Transport Commissioner had specifically arranged eight groups of four men to patrol the camp and beat the gongs every day.

This was only the standard equipment for a five-hundred-man camp; even though the current state of this camp was close to existing in name only, this point had still not been relaxed.

In fact, it was not just this camp; the vast majority of camps used to protect Official Salt were basically in this state.

Because bandits would not easily go to rob Official Salt, and even if they wanted to rob it, why not go rob the private peddlers who were easier to rob?

Moreover, the vast majority of bandits occupied mountains to act as kings, collecting a toll to make a living; it was impossible to fight for their lives with others every day, as the cost was too high.

With no bandits coming, these numerous camps naturally became idle, and later on, they gradually turned into what they were now.

"These two Gongs and Drums will be kept by me for now. If those four Gongs and Drums are lost or anything else happens, then come find this official."

Chen Mo picked up the two Gongs and Drums, as they were currently the things most easily accessible that could disperse the Grey Mist and those strange creatures.

These two Gongs and Drums were no less important to him than two Protective Talismans.

And he would be using them soon; in at most half a month, he would be able to accumulate enough Inner Qi to step into the Tongmai Realm.

Once he entered this realm, Chen Mo would look for opportunities to continue exploring those strange creatures.

Of course, this had to be under the condition of ensuring safety; after all, the gains those strange creatures could bring him were truly quite large.

Regarding his taking away the two Gongs and Drums, the two squad leaders, though curious, did not dare to ask more; in any case, the remaining four Gongs and Drums were completely enough to use.

Immediately after, Chen Mo gave instructions on some general matters within the camp, letting the two of them go do their work steadily.

After finishing these orders, he took the two Gongs and Drums and set off to return to Zhu Niu Ji.

There was no need to ride a horse; with his footwork, the ten-mile journey was nothing more than a matter of lifting his legs.

Walking all the way back to his home, the courtyard gate was not closed, still left with a crack for him.

Reaching out to push it open, Zhao Yu was sitting in the courtyard, sleeves rolled up, washing clothes.

"Let me wring them." Chen Mo closed the courtyard gate, walked to the wooden basin where she was washing clothes, took the garment that was dripping water, and wrung it dry with a gentle exertion of force.

Placing the wrung-out clothes aside, Zhao Yu smiled and handed over another piece.

The two of them worked with tacit understanding, and in an instant, seven or eight pieces of clothing were washed and wrung out.

"Go wipe your hands quickly; I'll hang these clothes." Zhao Yu straightened her waist from the small wooden stool, a gentle smile on her face, and shook out the wrung-out clothes to carefully hang them on the rope.

"I've tidied up the main room on the east side for you; see if you're missing anything." Seeing Chen Mo walk into the main hall, she turned her head to call out.

"Also, someone came to deliver visiting cards earlier; I collected them and put them on the table, remember to look at them." As if afraid Chen Mo could not hear her, she carried the clothes she hadn't had time to hang yet and hurried to the door of the main hall to speak.

"Alright, I know." Chen Mo nodded with a smile in response.

There were three visiting cards on the table; one was from the head of Zhu Niu Ji, and the other two did not write their specific identities, but they should also be people of status in this market.

Chen Mo had come to this place, and they were just paying a routine visit; the two sides would talk and meet, which counted as getting to know each other.

After all, he was an official of some standing, and coming here to take office, it would be against the rules if they did not come to visit.

Collecting the three visiting cards, Chen Mo walked back to the east bedroom; the room was tidied very cleanly, and the bed was already arranged neatly.

Since the weather was gradually getting warmer, Zhao Yu did not lay out a very thick bed for him; a straw mat covered with a cotton quilt and bed sheet, plus a small thin quilt for nighttime use, was considered set up.

His own clothes had also been folded and put into the wardrobe by her, categorized so he could find them whenever he wanted to wear them.

Dragging a small box out from under the bed, the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth Technique was lying quietly inside, without any changes.

Ever since he was almost invaded by the contents of this book last time, Chen Mo had no intention of looking at it again, at least not for the time being.

Who knew what kind of evil means this book had? If he were really invaded by it, even if he could solve it, he would likely have to pay a considerable price.

Previously, his own Qi and Blood could only withstand a short reading; it was hard to say for anything longer.

If he wanted to finish reading this book safely without being affected, he would need quite strong Qi and Blood power.

Carefully putting the two Gongs and Drums into the wooden box, Chen Mo locked the box again and pushed it under the bed before getting up to leave.

Zhao Yu was hanging the last two pieces of clothing on the clothesline; the sunlight today was warm, and there was a light Wind brushing his face, so he imagined these clothes would be dry by evening.

"Let's go, let's go try the beef noodle soup here." Chen Mo called out softly.

Zhao Yu smiled and nodded in response; the spring sun fell, and her smile appeared incomparably bright.

As a specialty of Zhu Niu Ji, beef noodle soup was not only found in the market outside, where there were many beef soup shops.

In this place where many commoners lived, there were also a few old, established shops.

Zhao Yu led Chen Mo to a shop named Iron Ox Beef Soup; the shop had not only beef noodle soup but also beef noodle soup with noodles.

Next door to this shop, there was also a Yang Family Horse Meat Baked Bun shop.

"Hey, guest, please sit inside; are you eating here or taking it away?" The shop owner, wearing coarse cloth, saw someone coming and hurried to welcome them with a smile.

It was just past the lunch rush, and there were not many guests in the shop; the seven or eight old wooden chairs had been used for who knew how many years, but they were all wiped very clean at this moment.

"One large bowl of soup, one small bowl of soup, and cut five catties of beef to mix and eat." Zhao Yu glanced at the wooden sign hanging on the side and ordered the dishes skillfully.

"Two guests, this is a bit much, isn't it?" The owner's tone was slightly hesitant.

"Don't worry, your money won't be short." Zhao Yu took two pieces of broken silver from her bosom and placed them on the table; the owner hurriedly collected the silver and then began to work.

Chen Mo actually had quite a bit of money on him, but it was not in small denominations of silver notes, but large ingots of Official Silver, which were not easy to spend in such a small shop.

Zhao Yu, however, carried quite a bit of loose silver, so it was more convenient for her to pay.

"I'll go buy a few baked buns with horse meat." Zhao Yu told Chen Mo and set off to walk into the baked bun shop on the other side.

Chen Mo chose a seat in the shop, but his gaze looked toward the opposite side of the shop; the reason was none other than that it was truly too attractive.

That was a quite dilapidated courtyard, which looked like it hadn't been lived in for a long time, and obvious moss had appeared on the brick walls.

The courtyard was not small, even larger than the one he lived in, and more importantly, it was a bluestone courtyard, which was sturdier and much more expensive than a thatched cottage.

If a thatched courtyard could sell for two taels of silver, then a bluestone courtyard of the same size would be at least eight taels.

If it were elsewhere, that would be fine, as there wouldn't be many merchants usually, but merchants came and went like clouds in Zhu Niu Ji; such a good courtyard, logically, should not be abandoned.

Even if this courtyard is not cheap, as long as it is not priced too exorbitantly, there should still be someone who would buy it.

Yet it remains abandoned; if one were to say there are no other issues involved, I am afraid no one would believe it.

"Coming, here is the soup you ordered, guest." The shopkeeper called out, serving one large and one small bowl of beef rice noodles.

"May I ask, shopkeeper, why that perfectly fine courtyard has been abandoned? Courtyards in our market town should not be difficult to sell." Chen Mo asked with great interest.

In this world, there exist some rather strange things, and these things have a very high probability of providing benefits to him.

Therefore, Chen Mo is quite interested in these potentially existing strange phenomena.

Moreover, he will be living nearby in the future; if there really are any strange phenomena there, it would be better to find a way to move further away, for a gentleman does not stand under a crumbling wall.

Chapter 2 will be updated before 8 PM.

(End of this chapter)