“Uncle Cen, your eyelid twitching is because you haven’t rested well—it has nothing to do with disaster.” As Mo Zi spoke, she carefully inspected each horse cart.
“Brother Mo, even if I don’t sleep all night, I rarely have my eyelids twitch.” Hearing Mo Zi’s words, Cen Huan didn’t feel any better. Inauspicious, so inauspicious—his decades of business instincts wouldn’t be wrong.
Should she say old ginger is the spiciest? But not this spicy, surely? Based on premonition alone, to have such accuracy. Mo Zi admired this greatly but couldn’t show it.
She could only say: “First Young Master and Second Young Master have reached marriageable age. When you should acknowledge your age, you must acknowledge it. Let the young men handle the physical work. You should sleep and rise early, don’t ruin your health. Wangqiu Tower cannot do without you at the helm.”
“Father, did you hear? Brother Mo doesn’t believe it either.” Second Young Master Cen had found a powerful ally.
Cen Huan wasn’t an old stubborn fool. Though he had a premonition this journey would be dangerous, he couldn’t use it as evidence, so he could only sigh. “Wait until you reach my age and try it—doing business doesn’t rely on this or that, whether things go smoothly depends on this intuition. I also know that even if it weren’t you two, even before the employer, my reasoning wouldn’t work either. Delaying the schedule by one day means bearing one more day of risk—I understand this better than anyone. However, if I don’t speak up, my heart can’t settle no matter what.”
“Uncle Cen, I understand your worry. Actually, which time we go out don’t our hearts feel anxious? We’re afraid we won’t return.” Thinking about shouting the Three Main Rules of Discipline seemed like yesterday’s affair, yet now she’d become an “illegal” smuggler, though in this era, the phrase “law-abiding” hadn’t yet appeared. Not to mention that human lives were like grass—just earlier, someone had pointed a sword at her neck. So compared to those things, being a smuggler could still count as being a good citizen. After all, it promoted the prosperity of border trade between the two countries, satisfying supply and demand. Otherwise, should they just let unscrupulous official merchants slaughter people at will?
“Set your mind at ease. Or perhaps as you sense, this time we’ll encounter a thorny situation. I’ve only made this journey a couple of times, but you should know clearly—we’ve encountered storms and rough waters before, boats capsizing and cargo sinking, yet we’ve weathered through it all. This time, I’ll be extra careful, keep several more eyes open. When encountering trouble, the first rule is preserve life, the second rule is preserve life, the third rule is still preserve life. However many people we take out, we’ll bring back the same number.” This was both comfort and promise from Mo Zi.
Cen Huan had thought Mo Zi would be like his son, dismissing him as superstitious, but hearing these words just now, though this shipment absolutely had to go, Mo Zi clearly took his feelings much more seriously than Second Young Master did. They hadn’t worked together long, but she acted steadily, her mind turned extremely fast, and she never spoke empty words. Being this way, his anxious heart settled down.
“Second Young Master’s work lacks thoroughness—Brother Mo, please take extra care. Let me say something that might be disrespectful to the employer: since my wife left me, I only hope my First Young Master and Second Young Master can live peacefully, marry two daughters-in-law for me, add sons and grandsons—then I’ll be content. Money is external to the body. Even if you earn a lot, you can’t take it to the underworld.” Both working for others, Cen Huan wasn’t afraid to speak his true heart to Mo Zi.
“Uncle Cen, I understand.” Mo Zi smiled. “How about this time, Second Young Master stays behind? Anyway, if you don’t say and I don’t say, the young miss won’t know either.”
“Brother Mo, this would ruin me completely. If I were so selfish, would I still deserve to be Wangqiu Tower’s head steward? Since we’ve decided to go, how could Second Young Master be left behind? As Brother Mo said before, we’ll just be more careful along the way. Perhaps I’m truly old.” Cen Huan hurriedly waved his hands, his entire face flushed with shame.
“Father, you worry too much.” After receiving a hint from Mo Zi’s gaze, Second Young Master picked pleasant things to say. “When I go out, isn’t First Brother still here? You just watch over him and make him cause less trouble. Before he can restrain himself, I’ll be back.”
Cen Huan finally laughed heartily, saying “excellent” several times.
“Let’s depart.” Mo Zi looked at the sun—it was getting late.
The horse carts, looking very ordinary on the outside, slowly moved. Second Young Master Cen jumped onto the frontmost one, nodding again to his old father to bid farewell. Mo Zi lifted her robe hem and mounted the last one, sitting alongside the driver. Openly and aboveboard, they left Wangqiu Tower, traveling north all the way. After inspection by the city garrison, they were released through the city gate.
If someone asked how they didn’t detect the smuggled goods? She would answer: who would be so foolish as to load smuggled goods on the carts? The three horse carts carried fine wine brewed by Wangqiu Tower itself. Naturally, just a smokescreen. The real purpose was—transporting people. What people? Keep reading to find out.
After about an hour, the three carts arrived at Fairy Town outside Luo Zhou city. This town thrived because of its river-crossing docks, large and small. From here, three days by water route would reach the Nande border. Merchants of all sorts came and went along the riverside until late at night without cease. The market near the docks operated for a full twelve hours, unconstrained by curfew. Boatmen, porters, peddlers—here they were like fish entering the ocean. Endless work to do, endless business to conduct. As long as you were diligent, you could support your family with full bellies and warm clothing.
But when Mo Zi caught the scent of river water, she discovered the cart roads on both sides were different from usual.
“Brother Mo.” Second Young Master Cen ran over. “Did you notice—there are half as many people?”
“I’m afraid we’re truly affected by the war between Daqiu and Yuling.” Mo Zi thought of the words she’d heard at Wangqiu Tower that day. “I heard the Great Zhou and Nande navies are stationed guarding the river boundary, looking formidable. Moreover, spy warrants are being issued more strictly than before, and they’ve raised the silver required for border crossing. Ordinary small merchants may not be able to afford it.” This was when those with money had the chance to become even wealthier, as long as you judged correctly.
“Not only can ordinary small merchants not afford it, even those who can afford it would rather temporarily hold off and wait until the situation isn’t so tense. Now many people worry about being innocently implicated, so they’re unwilling to risk crossing the border.” Second Young Master Cen hadn’t been back from the capital long, and some of his news was relatively fresh. “When I was in the capital, I saw soldiers arresting people on the street based on portraits. Later I heard they were Daqiu spies. If it’s true, Daqiu’s ambitions are frightening.”
“Daqiu is the nation of wolves.” Mo Zi said.
“That’s a fresh way of putting it.” Second Young Master Cen thought about it. “Everyone knows Daqiu’s founding emperor came from nomadic tribes on horseback, which is why many call them barbarians and horse tartars. Within Daqiu they don’t believe in Buddhism or Taoism—they worship eagles and the moon as gods. Nation of wolves—I’m hearing this for the first time.”
Mo Zi thought to herself that she was also saying it for the first time and didn’t know why she would say it. Most likely, another deeply hidden memory. But she was from Yuling—why could she speak of Daqiu’s affairs? She also didn’t think she’d said it wrong.
Hearing the driver in front call out, the horse cart stopped.
No time to investigate this other self—she jumped down from the cart and looked at the tall stone pillar before her, carved with three beautiful seal-script characters: Wild Boat Crossing.
Stepping past the stone pillar, the river wind rustled—this was her favorite scent.