Xiao Miao found it very strange. Mo’asi left early every morning with Xerxes and the others, always returning only at night, and always appearing extremely exhausted. But this didn’t matter—as long as they came back each day, it was fine.
Xiao Miao still maintained the Yun family tradition of counting heads every day before going to sleep. She had learned this trick from Xinyue, who did this every day. If anyone was missing at night, the family’s main gate would always be left open for them. Of course, for those like Dan Ying and Gou Zi who liked climbing walls, the main gate wouldn’t be left open.
This morning when she went to deliver food to those children, that young boy came again. This time he was smarter—he had changed his boots and made himself dirty and grimy. He smiled at her and reached out his hand for food.
Xiao Miao gave him food, which he immediately passed to other children, then reached out to ask for more. After Xiao Miao kicked him flying, he actually crouched in the corner and told Xiao Miao he would come again tomorrow.
The prohibition was effective. That knife was stuck in the middle of the street, so this main street was also renamed Knife-Stuck Street. Turks generally didn’t come to this street, and the city lord’s guards didn’t come here either. In just one short month, this street had become very prosperous.
Xiao Miao no longer needed to pay for food now. Every morning, merchants would deliver food in baskets. It was all handled by her maids, the Iris sisters. She only needed to get up in the morning and carry the basket to deliver food to the children.
One day, Xiao Miao saw the Iris sisters struggling to carry a large chest into the bedroom, so she went forward to help. The chest was indeed very heavy. When she opened it and looked inside, she discovered it was full of scattered copper and silver coins.
“Whose money is this? How can there be so much?” Xiao Miao was extremely shocked.
The Iris sisters smiled, bowed, and brought over an account book, placing it before Xiao Miao and saying: “These are naturally Your Highness’s wealth. The entire northern part of the city belongs to Your Highness. These are all taxes paid by those merchants.”
“Taxes?” Xiao Miao scratched her hair and found it very itchy—the black hair underneath had grown out again. But the Iris sisters weren’t surprised at all. Seeing that Xiao Miao wasn’t very good at dyeing her hair, they helped her use the potion to re-dye it, so Xiao Miao always maintained flaxen-colored hair.
Mentioning taxes, Xiao Miao thought of that petty official who always came to the Yun household to cart away lots of wealth. If Xinyue hadn’t stopped her, she would have wanted to take back all that money carried away from home. This wouldn’t be too difficult—those transporting the money were all wine sacks and rice bags; she alone would be enough.
The Marquis said that when a person earned money, they must pay taxes. Otherwise, the country would have no money to fight wars, no money to build roads, and no money to provide disaster relief, and the Marquis’s salary would have no one to pay it.
Xiao Miao had practiced martial arts since childhood—besides practicing martial arts, she practiced martial arts. She was very unfamiliar with the outside world. She actually couldn’t understand why someone as rich as the Marquis still needed the state to issue a salary. The Marquis said that when work was done, money should be given—this was the principle, regardless of whether that person was rich or not.
How had she also started collecting taxes? Had she also become like that petty official?
But having money was good. Who cared where this wealth came from? Not having to go to wealthy households at night to take money was also nice.
There was much more she didn’t know. Just outside the city, Mo’asi led five hundred people in drills every day. They held large shields, arranged in neat square formations, taking one step and thrusting, or taking one step and blocking. This training continued until noon. After eating, they began one-on-one combat training. Mo’asi had originally been the best instructor.
Xerxes looked up at the sun and blew a horn. All the people began leaving the drill ground with laments and sat on the ground to rest.
Xerxes handed the sheepskin water bag to Mo’asi and said: “For these people to become qualified warriors requires at least another hundred days of drilling. To become true warriors requires experiencing three major battles. Their bodies are too thin and weak.”
Mo’asi took a drink of water, smiled, and patted Xerxes on the shoulder, saying: “It doesn’t matter. We’ve been battle slaves for so long. Only now can we truly grasp our own fate. The battlefield is a warrior’s final resting place. God has bestowed Her Highness upon us. We must seize this opportunity to reveal the warrior’s glory.”
Xerxes said quietly to Mo’asi: “Her Highness seems to be a black-haired Tatar. Could it be that she’s nobility from the Tatar nation?”
Mo’asi shook his head and said: “Her Highness is undoubtedly nobility, and from a very cultured family. She doesn’t care about wealth, which shows this family is very rich. She’s very elegant. Have you seen her embroidery? The flowers on it are as if they’ve come alive—this requires very skilled teachers to teach. Most obvious is her superior martial skill. From this we can deduce what kind of brave men her father and brothers must be. And every night she needs to see each person, confirming everyone is present before resting. Xerxes, only those ancient families would preserve such habits—this is the habit of a mistress. That Heilan pearl that redeemed us—I’m still shaken by its beauty. What a massive family this must be!”
“Her Highness is kind, brave, sincere, and pure. With such a sovereign, should we still quibble about the color of her hair? Battle slaves are wild dogs—wild dogs that must always await their master’s command to bite people. I don’t want to be a wild dog; I only want to be a warrior.”
Xerxes shook his head and said: “I’m not doubting Her Highness’s identity. Whatever she is has nothing to do with us. We only need to follow Her Highness to obtain warrior’s glory. These past few days I’ve been in charge of logistics, and I heard from the marketplace people telling stories of Attila. He also had black hair, and Her Highness’s black hair reminds me of that whip—the whip that belonged to God.”
“Attila!” Mo’asi jumped up from the ground in surprise. That whip had disappeared just two hundred years ago. Two hundred years ago, that whip made the entire world ache unbearably. It was just that his empire was established rapidly and collapsed just as rapidly, leaving too many unsolved mysteries.
“Let’s go back and ask Her Highness. If all this is true, we must follow Her Highness to become another whip.” Xerxes’s eyes were extremely fanatical.
When Xiao Miao saw Liu Fang, tears flowed all over her face. She hugged Liu Fang and cried with grievance. Qu Zhuo and Gou Zi had thrown her in Suiye City and run off without a trace themselves. Xiao Miao, who feared loneliness the most, didn’t know how many times she had cursed them alone. Now seeing Liu Fang, how could she possibly hold back?
Liu Fang held Xiao Miao, gently patting her back and praising her softly: “Good child, good child, you’ve done very well. Grandfather has heard about everything you’ve done. You’re a hundred times stronger than those two bastards combined. Suiye City already has such a foundation, yet they ran off to Talas to embarrass themselves—truly senseless.”
Xiao Miao wiped away her tears and dragged Liu Fang into her room, pointing at the dazzling array of treasures inside to claim credit before Liu Fang. Liu Fang picked up a small pink curved knife from among the treasures and hung it on Xiao Miao’s waist. He severely praised Xiao Miao profusely while naturally deprecating Qu Zhuo and Gou Zi as worthless.
“Girl, I don’t know which idiot gave you the idea to dye your hair. You look like a weirdo. Long black hair looks so much better. Wash it out today—it’s hard to even look at.”
Xiao Miao scratched her hair and said: “This was Qu Zhuo’s idea. He wanted me to disguise myself as a barbarian woman so I wouldn’t attract attention.”
“Foolish! Trying to cover up only makes it more suspicious and will only make people doubt you more. Grandfather has been here for ten days already and laid a little groundwork for you. Who says black-haired people here must be Tang people? Many Turks have black hair. Na Rimu also has black hair. Huns have black hair even more so. So, girl, pretending to be a Turk will make people interrogate you thoroughly, but pretending to be a Hun won’t have this trouble.”
“My girl has superior martial skills—pretending to be a descendant of Attila is just right. Noble bloodline combined with endless wealth—nothing could be more suitable. Qu Zhuo and Gou Zi are still running around like merchants, flattering people and seeking information everywhere, while our little girl can already sit openly with those Western Regions barbarian leaders to discuss military and state affairs.”
As Liu Fang spoke to amuse Xiao Miao, he hung strings of jewelry on Xiao Miao’s body. He clapped his hands and two tall, full-figured black-haired women walked in and led Xiao Miao to change clothes.
The Iris sisters hurried to follow. They didn’t know what changes had occurred here—they only knew an important person had come to the household, and this person was very likely Her Highness’s elder.
Xiao Miao looked at the strange shoes at her feet and asked Liu Fang: “Grandfather, what kind of shoes are these? Why are they so strange? The front is even turned up. These clothes are also very odd—they’re bound very tightly.”
Liu Fang looked at Xiao Miao with a chuckle and said: “Because from today on, you’ll be called Duttula Anji—an incomparably noble surname. Only this surname is worthy of our invincible Xiao Miao.”
“Will you stay here to accompany Xiao Miao?” Xiao Miao was extremely expectant. Compared to Qu Zhuo and Gou Zi, she trusted Liu Fang more.
“Naturally. From today on, Grandfather will become an elder—an elder of the Duttula family, so naturally I’ll accompany Xiao Miao.”
“What if others don’t believe it? Xiao Miao is somewhat worried.”
“Heh heh, we’ll use money to buy some people’s belief, and we’ll beat the rest until they believe. Grandfather will handle spending money, and you’ll handle beating people. Oh right, the Man Bear has also come—he can also help you beat people.”
“Mo’asi and Xerxes can also help me beat people.”
“Those are two very good warriors. Treat them well and don’t let them feel neglected. Once a person’s blood boils, it needs continuous heating to maintain.” As Liu Fang spoke, he burst into laughter, stroking his beard and constantly shaking his head. He already admired Yun Ye’s luck to the point of prostrating himself. Xiao Miao, such an assassin who understood nothing, had been casually sent to the Western Regions, yet she had actually stumbled her way into becoming a sharp blade that could break the deadlock in the Western Regions.