The Hermit of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 6

Before, Tong Ying only heard that the Yellow Ribbon Army was active in the Green, Xu, You and Ji provinces. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xiu said that he might encounter the yellow-scarved criminals in this line of work. After all, from Chang'an to Xu Chang, which belonged to Si Prefecture, he didn't mention the Chang'an in the Western Capital. The place of Xichuan was not far from the capital of the current strongman, Luoyang. It was not too much to say that it was under the feet of the emperor. Even there were traces of the Yellow-scarved Army. It could be seen how rampant the yellow-scarved criminals were.

"Yes, I will remember your words." Considering this, Tong Ying solemnly made an obeisance to Zhang Xiu.

"Well, when you walk outside, you should be careful. It's necessary to have more preparation. You can go back to pack up and take a rest. We will leave tomorrow morning." Zhang Xiu patted the shoulder of Tong Ying and said with a smile, "This is your first time leaving Chang'an, right? Don't worry. I think those villains dare not to rob me of the caravan who guarded me!"

Tong Ying nodded and agreed. Then she left the Southern Yard where Zhang Xiu lived and walked back to her room. She packed up her things that she had to go far away, and then lay on the bed thinking of her own things. Maybe it was because she had not slept all night. Now she was very sleepy. After a while, she couldn't help but fall asleep, which made Tong Ying fall into a deep dream.

When he woke up, it was dawn of the next day. Tong Ying got up as usual and practiced gunmanship once. After sweating, he was satisfied and went back to his room to change into a suit of cool clothes. He picked up the luggage he packed yesterday and was ready to find Zhang Xiu.

"My junior fellow apprentice is here." Seeing Tong Ying walk into the yard from a distance, Zhang Xiu quickly greeted her.

"Well, can senior brother go?" There was not much on Tong Ying's body. It was just a bag with clothes and a long spear.

"Haha, you are even more anxious than me. All right, wait for me for a while." Zhang Xiu shook her head with a smile, turned around and went into the house, and walked out after a while.

"Let's go and bid farewell to Master first." Zhang Xiu opened her mouth as soon as she stood up.

"Okay." Tong Ying nodded, and the two people went to the martial arts hall one after the other.

"You have to be careful. If the caravan is robbed, it's not a big deal. The most important thing is to protect yourself." In the martial arts hall, Tong Yuan looked at his two beloved disciples carefully.

"Don't worry, Master. We will take good care of ourselves." Zhang Xiu cupped her hands and replied.

"Well, Ying'er, it's your first time in the martial arts world, so don't be reckless. You should obey everything your big brother orders. Don't act rashly, understand?" Tong Yuan turned his head to Tong Ying, a trace of warmth flashing in his eyes, and ordered.

"I'll keep Master's words in mind," Tong Ying replied solemnly when he saw the solemn expression on Tong Yuan's face.

"Alright, I won't hold you up any longer. Let's go back early." Tong Yuan said no more and waved his hand to let them go.

Tong Ying and Zhang Xiu paid a salute to their master at the same time, and then turned to leave. However, a clear female voice came behind them, "Dad, I also want to go with Brother Ying and the others!"

Upon hearing this, the two of them couldn't help but stop walking. They looked at each other and showed a hint of helplessness.

However, Tong Yuan was more helpless than them. He glared at the comer and said unhappily, "Nonsense, your two senior brothers are going to do business. What are you doing, a woman?"

"Father, you're biased. Why did Elder Brother Ying go to settle the business, and why did I go to fool around?" Of course, it was Tong Ling. She had always been afraid of her father, but now she was staring at Tong Yuan with a red face and no fear.

"Your heroic elder brother is a man, and he's good at martial arts. He'll be a great help when he's there. You go..." Tong Yuan raised his eyebrows and glared at Tong Ling.

"What's wrong with men? Aren't I also a martial arts practitioner?" Tong Ling interrupted Tong Yuan.

"No, no!" Tong Yuan paid no attention to her daughter. He looked up at Tong Ying and Zhang Xiu, who were standing still, and said, "You, Ying'er, what are you waiting for? Go!"

Hearing what he said, the two boys shrank their heads and walked out quickly.

Tong Ling looked at the two's backs and stomped her foot angrily. She pouted and muttered words. It was obvious that she was not saying anything good.

The meeting place of Zhang Xiu and the Bai's Trading Company was outside the south gate of Chang'an City. Horses were not allowed in Chang'an City. Therefore, Tong Ying and Zhang Xiu had to walk from Zhangtai Street to the meeting place.

The two brothers chatted as they walked. Zhang Xiu told her what she had to pay attention to as a new disciple. She listened carefully and remembered Zhang Xiu's words in her heart. However, she did not notice a dark shadow in front of her and accidentally ran into it.

"Why is it you?" Tong Ying looked at the comer and could not help but be stunned.

"Why can't it be me?" Of course, it was Tong Ling. She glared at her and said angrily, "You can go, but I can't go?"

"Well... Junior Sister, there are many difficulties in this trip. You're a woman..." A bitter smile appeared on the corner of Tong Ying's mouth. He wondered how this girl sneaked out of the martial arts club.

"So what if I'm a woman?" A hint of cunning flashed across Tong Ling's eyes. She turned around and asked, "Do you know I'm a woman?"

Tong Ying looked Tong Ling up and down carefully and found that she had changed into a man's suit. With her fearless personality, she was quite masculine.

However, Tong Ying glanced at her smooth and jade-like neck. Perhaps some people could easily recognize that it was a woman disguised as a man.

"But master, he..." The young man still hesitated.

"Hey, it's none of your business. I've already run out. What else can dad do?" Tong Ling said indifferently.

Tong Ying was silent. Although he did not say anything, he secretly thought in his heart, "Yesterday you saw Master as if a mouse saw a cat. Now he is not around, and began to brag. This is a typical way of pretending to be brave."

Of course, it was not the first time for Tongling to do all kinds of little moves face to face. Tong Ying had no choice but to look at Zhang Xiu aside for help, hoping that he could stand up and say something.

It was a pity that Tongling was pretending to be brave. She had already boasted, so how could she listen to Zhang Xiu? When she saw Tong Ying looking at Zhang Xiu, she immediately raised her voice and said, "Anyway, I won't go back to the martial arts club. If Eldest Senior Brother doesn't take me, I'll follow the caravan. Wherever you go, I'll follow..."

Zhang Xiu was helpless. Of course, he knew that his little junior sister could really say that she could do it. In this case, if something went wrong, it would be even more difficult for him to explain it to his master.

"Since that is the case, Little Junior Martial Sister can come with us. However, there are many hardships during this trip. Once Little Junior Martial Sister enters the merchant group, she must listen to my commands. Otherwise..." Zhang Xiu mused for a moment before speaking with a solemn expression.

"I know, I know. I'll listen to you, Senior Brother." Before Zhang Xiu could finish, Tong Ling interrupted him. Then she walked to Tong Ying with a smile on her face and proudly threw a victorious smile to Tong Ying.

The three of them left the south gate and walked along the official road for about half an hour, and then they saw a large group of busybodies gathering together in the distance. The noise could even be heard in Chang'an City. In the middle of them, there were many saddle men. It seemed that they were almost ready, as carts of goods had been loaded on the carriages.

Zhang Xiu led the two of them into the crowd. A thin-faced middle-aged man stood among them, giving orders to the people around him. It could be seen that even if he was not the leader of this merchant group, he was a competent supervisor.

Seeing Zhang Xiu, the middle-aged man came forward and said with a smile, "Youwei, you are finally here. We have been waiting for you for a while." Behind him was a young man. He could tell that the middle-aged man was very familiar with Zhang Xiu. Otherwise, he would not have called him with Zhang Xiu's handwriting.

Zhang Xiu cupped her hands apologetically and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Bai. I'm really worried."

"Haha, forget it. Youwei, you don't have to be so polite with me." The middle-aged man waved his hand, glanced at Tong Ying and Tong Ling behind Zhang Xiu, and asked, "Who are these two?"

"Oh, they're my junior brothers. This is Tong Ying, and this is Tong Li." Zhang Xiu introduced Tong Ying and Tong Ling to the middle-aged man. Before they came, they had already discussed that because Tong Ling was disguised as a man, Tong Ling changed her name to Tong Li on this trip.

"This is Mr. Bai, the manager of the Bai's Trading Company." Zhang Xiu introduced the middle-aged man to the two children.

"Greetings, Elder Bai." Tong Ying and Tong Ling cupped their hands in greeting to Bai Chi.

"Hehe, there's no need to stand on ceremony." Bai Chi's smile was very kind. He looked at the two people one by one and his gaze stopped on Tong Ling for a long time. Zhang Xiu keenly caught this point and knew that this old fox had noticed Tong Ling's abnormality. However, he did not intend to hide it from Bai Chi. After all, Bai Chi was the leader of the caravan. There was no need to hide these trivial things from him. Moreover, Zhang Xiu had been dating him for many years and they knew each other very well. As long as Bai Chi believed that he would not harm this merchant group, he would do it.

"You two young masters are both young and talented. You can be as independent as Youwei at such a young age. It's a pity that there is no wine here. Otherwise, I would certainly propose a toast to you two."

"Haha, Elder Bai, you flatter me. My two junior brothers are just new here. I hope you can take care of them." Zhang Xiu knew that the two were not good at speaking, so she helped them to answer. She looked at the man behind Bai Chi curiously. It was the first time that she had seen him, so she felt a little strange. "This is..."

Bai Chi smiled and pointed to the man behind him as he said, "Oh, this is a new knight recruited from my business club. His name is Deng Mao. He will go with us to Xuchang."

The culture of the Han Dynasty's knight-errants was inherited from the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, and they had achieved great development in this dynasty. For example, the famous knight-errant, Guo Jie, could even occupy a place in the history records of Duke Sima, which could also be regarded as the Qing Dynasty's historical record.