When Xiao Rongyan took a horse carriage and openly entered Nanyan territory under the identity of Xiao Rongyan, a wealthy merchant from Great Wei, he happened upon the first market gathering of the year in Meng City, a border town of Nanyan.

The morning radiance filtered through the clouds, coating the bustling and extraordinarily lively Meng City with a layer of gold.

Xiao Rongyan’s carriage and horse convoy entered the city, treading on the morning light. Immediately, the noisy cries of hawkers selling their wares came through from outside the carriage. Xiao Rongyan lifted the carriage curtain to look outside, and what met his eyes was a scene of marketplace excitement completely different from that of Great Yan.

Within this border city of Meng in Nanyan, there were nobles dressed in silk and satin, commoners in tattered rags, and even slaves being sold while locked in cages.

Peddlers carried their loads on shoulder poles, shouting to mounted merchants entering the city, boasting that their furs were of the finest quality.

Shopkeepers who had occupied stalls under straw-roofed sheds in the market early on, fearing their locations weren’t conspicuous enough, held high their family’s finest goods, singing ditties in an attempt to attract merchants or wealthy gentlemen.

There were also women with married women’s hairstyles carrying baskets on their arms, arguing red-faced over one or two coins with others.

Everywhere was filled with the noisy, bustling sense of worldly life – this was the kind of prosperous clamor that was now difficult to see in Great Yan, truly enviable.

Xiao Rongyan, draped in a fox fur cloak, descended from the carriage and walked at a leisurely pace. More than ten armed guards escorted him on both sides, creating quite an impressive display. This also attracted many vendors who possessed rare treasures seldom seen in border cities to approach… They eagerly wanted to show Xiao Rongyan their family treasures, yet feared the armed guards around him.

As Xiao Rongyan walked through the market observing everything, wherever he took a fancy to something from any family’s stall, he would have it all bought up completely.

Seeing Xiao Rongyan spend money so lavishly, everyone’s fear of the guards around him diminished considerably. They held up their family’s goods across from the guards, shouting for the young master to take a look.

Even slave traders couldn’t help but step forward, calling out: “Young master, buy a few female slaves to take back! They’re very tender!”

Nanyan followed the old governance of Great Yan from before Empress Ji’s implementation of new policies, with slave markets rampant, especially in these border cities where it had reached an unrestrained extent.

Children with chains around their necks were taken by buyers who threw silver to merchants and led them away by the ropes around their necks. Women locked in cages, speaking the dialect of Jin’s border cities, cried hysterically, their bloodied hands forcefully shaking the cage bars, begging buyers to purchase her together and not separate her from her child. But what she received in return were several vicious lashes from the seller. The woman could only cry as if life were worse than death, watching helplessly as her wailing child was bought and led away like livestock.

Xiao Rongyan walked toward the area of the market specifically designated for slave trading. The slave merchants immediately became enthusiastic, pulling out their slaves to introduce them.

“Young master, look – our slave here is strong and sturdy!” A slave merchant pulled his tall, imposing slave to follow Xiao Rongyan’s steps, introducing him to Xiao Rongyan across the armed guards. “If you buy him back, young master, he’ll be a strong laborer who can do anything you ask!”

Another merchant pulling a female slave shouted: “Young master! Young master! Our female slave is quite beautiful! Don’t let her disheveled appearance fool you – she’ll be fine once you buy her and wash her clean! Most importantly, she’s still a virgin who hasn’t been deflowered! She’d make an excellent maid or bed warmer!”

“Our slaves are truly top-notch! Young master… our slaves are all young – if you buy them back, you can train them from childhood! They’ll do whatever you want them to do! They’ll listen completely to you, young master!”

Xiao Rongyan listened carefully to the sounds from within the cages. He could tell that these slaves had all been brought over from Jin and Great Yan by these slave traders.

Most slaves from Great Yan were sallow and emaciated, their faces ashen as death. Most slaves from Jin wept continuously, desperately pleading with the slave traders to release them.

The allied forces of Nanyan and Xiliang attacked Jin, and Jin’s border people suffered the consequences!

As for Great Yan, due to last year’s consecutive natural disasters, the people couldn’t get enough food. It was better to sell themselves to slave traders to at least have a mouthful of rice to eat.

Xiao Rongyan walked straight through the slave market toward the horse market. Only then did the slave traders, disappointedly, leave and return to their respective stalls to continue hawking.

From far away, Xiao Rongyan spotted a white horse. The white horse had a robust build and appeared unruly and untamed… It kicked and pranced in circles while several horse dealers couldn’t control it. When a buyer approached to grasp the reins, he was actually thrown aside by the white horse. The buyer, caught off guard, fell awkwardly against wooden railings and tumbled down… pressing one hand into fresh, warm horse manure.

Seeing the horse’s fierce temperament, the buyer got up with his face alternating between green and white. After angrily wiping the horse manure from his hands, he repeatedly shook his head and waved his hands, saying he wouldn’t buy it!

The horse dealer quickly approached with an apologetic smile: “Sir, please look at our other horses! Our other horses are all strong and docile! Please look! Please look… these teeth, this build! You won’t find horses as good and cheap as ours anywhere else in the entire horse market! I’ll give you a discount!”

“No thanks, I’ll go look at other places!”

Seeing that he couldn’t stop the buyer, the horse dealer angrily lashed the white horse with his whip, causing the white horse to rear up on its hind legs, snorting rapid puffs of white mist from its nostrils, nearly pulling down the wooden post to which its reins were tied.

For some unknown reason, seeing that horse reminded Xiao Rongyan of a mount that Bai Qingyan had owned several years ago named “Swift Wind.” Swift Wind moved like the wind itself – a rare treasure among horses in the world. Later, he heard that Swift Wind had died protecting Bai Qingyan, and from then on, Bai Qingyan seemed to have never raised horses again.

“Look at this! Look! How many buyers is this now?! If this dead horse doesn’t sell today… I’ll slaughter you tonight and make soup!” the horse dealer glared fiercely at the white horse.

“I’ll take all the horses from your family!” Xiao Rongyan spoke up.

The horse dealer turned around to see an elegantly noble man of extraordinary bearing standing in the morning light, his eyes containing gentle laughter, refined and distinguished.

A guard behind Xiao Rongyan stepped forward, took out a money pouch, and tossed it to the horse dealer, asking: “Is this enough?”

The horse dealer opened the money pouch wide and looked inside, nodding repeatedly: “Enough, enough, enough! Of course it’s enough! It’s just… It’s just that this white horse from our family has a very fierce temperament!”

“No matter, I quite like this white horse!” Xiao Rongyan said as he walked up to the white horse. He gently raised his hand, about to stroke the horse’s mane, when he saw the white horse take two steps backward and snort forcefully in Xiao Rongyan’s direction, its entire body tensing with muscles, its rejection quite obvious.

The smile in Xiao Rongyan’s eyes deepened – truly a horse with great spirit.

He had no intention of taming this horse; he simply felt this horse was worthy of Bai Qingyan…

Xiao Rongyan withdrew the hand he had intended to use to stroke the horse’s mane and turned to a guard following beside him: “Send someone to deliver this white horse to Miss Bai at Tianmen Pass!”

The guard was slightly stunned, wondering if Xiao Rongyan was beginning to curry favor with the eldest sister of the Bai family’s fourth miss because he had feelings for her.