When Han Zhe passed through Cold Mountain, he encountered a monk. However, this monk took a fancy to Han Zhe’s donkey and, while Han Zhe had dismounted to catch the mulberries that the young ladies were throwing down from the mulberry trees, killed the donkey with a single punch.

Eating mulberries always makes one’s mouth black, creating a somewhat comical appearance. The young girls were so frightened that they all slid down from the mulberry trees and ran into the depths of the mulberry grove. This made Han Zhe quite sad. Actually, his appearance was quite good. When he was in Yongzhou, quite a few girls had cast flirtatious glances at him. This must be because of his black-ringed mouth.

However, he quickly cheered up, because he discovered that the young girls weren’t avoiding him. One little girl poked her head out from behind a tree and bravely signaled him to run quickly—that monk was very fierce.

Han Zhe grinned with his black-ringed mouth and gave the already dead donkey to that brave little girl. Although mountain people had game, they rarely had meat to eat.

As for that monk, he was already lying on the ground like a pile of mud. Han Zhe put the donkey’s halter on the monk’s head, hung the saddlebags around the monk’s neck, and mounted him. Since the monk had killed his transportation donkey, he should replace the donkey and do what it was supposed to do. Han Zhe thought this was very fair. He stabbed the monk-donkey’s buttocks with a knife, and this new donkey began to run, and the speed wasn’t slow either.

The performance of this donkey was ultimately inferior to his previous donkey. After traveling fifty li, Han Zhe regretted it, because no matter how much he stabbed the knife into the monk-donkey’s buttocks, this donkey just foamed at the mouth and wouldn’t move. When the knife was thrust in, there was no more blood flowing out, but it did attract many flies.

He tried stabbing in many different places without much effect. Han Zhe had no choice but to let his own two legs serve as his donkey. Carrying the saddlebags, he swaggered into the ancient city of Yongzhou in Jiangnan West Circuit, planning to buy a new donkey for transportation. He made up his mind that if anyone dared to kill his donkey again, he definitely wouldn’t give them the chance to become a donkey.

When leaving Yun Ye, the old steward had packed Han Zhe’s saddlebags with many gold and silver coins. Finally, worried that the young master wouldn’t know how to use money, he specially packed some copper coins for him and deliberately took him to the marketplace to explain how to use currency. He told him the exchange rates between gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins. Han Zhe was originally an extremely intelligent person, so these matters naturally didn’t trouble him. He still knew that two copper coins could buy a large donkey meat pancake.

Having walked in the wilderness for seven or eight days, Han Zhe decided to find a large inn to rest properly. Bathing was definitely something that needed to be done—he hated the sticky feeling on his body.

The Wan Family Old Inn was indeed quite large, and the rooms were very good. The clean bedding still carried the scent of sunshine, which he loved most, so he decided to stay for several more days to wash away the dust from his travels. He gave the innkeeper a gold coin for lodging and said he wanted to bathe. Perhaps Han Zhe spoke a bit vaguely—he only said he wanted the best bathing service.

Thus, seven or eight gaudily dressed young girls appeared around his bathtub. Although he was very unaccustomed to having women present while bathing, Han Zhe still decided to try it. Yun Ye had said that to understand this world, one must first integrate into it.

Previously when bathing, Han Nu would sit in the corner while Han Zhe washed himself. Now these young girls’ hands constantly caressed his chest and back, and some bold ones even reached into the water…

This damn thing wasn’t bathing at all. Han Zhe was somewhat angry and drove all these young girls out. Seeing their tearful appearance, he somehow thought of the little girl who had thrown mulberries to him. When he left, the little girl standing beside the dead donkey had looked exactly like this.

Standing up naked, he gave each of those young girls a gold coin, telling them to buy some nice clothes, because they were wearing far too little—half their bosoms were exposed. If his younger sister dressed like this, Han Zhe would definitely be furious. Without the care of the steward and Han Nu, Han Zhe demonstrated his own views of this world.

The young girls immediately smiled, curtsied, and left. Seeing their cheerful appearance, Han Zhe himself also felt very happy. He returned to the bathtub to continue bathing. The flower petals in the tub made him feel very comfortable.

After finishing his bath, a young girl who had been kneeling outside the door came in to help him dress, arranged his hair, selected a white jade hairpin from Han Zhe’s saddlebags, and secured his hair with it.

Yun Ye’s clothes were either white or blue—white for inner garments and blue for outer robes. When Han Zhe ran out of clothes in Yongzhou, he would take Yun Ye’s to wear, so much so that when Xinyue made clothes for her husband, she always had to make an extra set.

The best people at dressing others in this world were actually the women in brothels. The young girl had obviously regarded Han Zhe as the work of art she was about to complete. After the young girl squatted down and smoothed the hem of his garment, a fine young gentleman of this turbulent world appeared before everyone. From the young girl’s intoxicated gaze, Han Zhe understood one thing—he truly was a handsome young fellow. When Xinyue had said this before, he always felt it was unreal, but now he was certain that Xinyue had spoken the truth.

“There’s no need to be so clever when moving through the world. If you’re as cunning as a monkey, no one will want to deal with you—even dogs might ignore you. Be a bit foolish, a bit confused, and you’ll see a completely different world. It’s too wonderful—I don’t tell this to just anyone.” Han Zhe remembered Yun Ye’s words and faithfully followed them.

“This handsome young master must come from a wealthy family. The hairpin Qiu Niang inserted for him is worth at least ten gold coins. I’ve seen this kind of white jade hairpin on the prefect’s son’s head before—that was during the flower festival. But the prefect’s son can’t compare to this young master at all. This young master is not only handsome but also generous, and most importantly, kindhearted—he can’t bear to see women cry. Who gives a reward of one gold coin at a time? He’s so silly. I wonder if he’ll want us to serve him in bed tonight?”

The one saying this was a woman in red. Among the group, she had the fullest bosom, and as she spoke, she intentionally or unintentionally thrust out her chest, immediately drawing a chorus of delicate laughter.

Speaking of serving in bed made Han Zhe somewhat sad. That damned Yun Ye had actually told him that it would be very difficult for him to have an intelligent child in the future—he could only plant more seeds. Out of a hundred or so, there would always be two or three intelligent ones. This matter purely depended on luck. Thinking of this, Han Zhe clenched his fists so tightly they cracked. Only by thoroughly killing that damned demon could he think about these matters. Otherwise, whether his children were intelligent or foolish, none of them could possibly escape the demon’s clutches.

Aside from occasionally thinking of that demon, Han Zhe was quite satisfied with his journey. He greatly enjoyed this long trip. Since it was a trip, he might as well enjoy it properly, so he ordered a large table full of dishes at Yongzhou’s best restaurant—everything he hadn’t seen before. There were also seven young girls eating with him.

The young girls were all thin and small and naturally couldn’t eat so much, so they foolishly watched as Han Zhe alone ate the entire table of food clean. The taste wasn’t good—it couldn’t compare with the Yun family’s meals, and it was even inferior to the food on the Princess ship. But Han Zhe just wanted to fill his stomach, so he wasn’t particular about it.

After eating his fill, he went to stroll the streets. Han Zhe rarely went shopping. When he was in Yongzhou, Xiao Ya had dragged him shopping a few times, and he had come to deeply detest shopping, because those women didn’t shop to buy things—they purely shopped to quarrel with shopkeepers.

But in Yongzhou, he wanted to stroll around. He had heard there was a strange serpent here—black in substance with white markings; when it touched plants and trees, they all died; when it bit people, there was no way to defend against it. However, once caught and dried to make medicine, it could cure severe wind disease, paralysis, ulcers, leprosy, remove dead flesh, and kill three types of worms.

Han Zhe didn’t care about this snake’s medicinal functions. He valued another function of this snake more—for instance, what Yun Ye had said about people surely dying after being bitten. Yun Ye had said this to Sun Simiao, and Sun Simiao also very much hoped to find this kind of snake to see if it had other functions. Han Zhe had been present at the time. He rather believed in Yun Ye’s knowledge. If he said that being bitten meant certain death, Han Zhe wanted to let this kind of snake bite his father to see if he would actually die.

Yongzhou, like other prefectures, also had eastern and western markets, and there was a grass market outside the city. The young girls were very happy, because no matter what they wanted, Han Zhe would buy it for them. However, they were also quite conscientious and didn’t ask for things that were too expensive. The woman in red gritted her teeth and asked for a gauze garment produced in Yuezhou. She had been eyeing this garment for a long time but had never been able to afford it.

Han Zhe smiled and told the shopkeeper to wrap up the gauze garment, and asked if the other young girls also liked other clothes—he could buy them all together and give them to them. The shopkeeper, with the look one gives an idiot, wrapped up seven gauze garments. When Han Zhe took out a gold coin and asked if it was enough, the shopkeeper put away his contemptuous gaze and replaced it with a respectful look. Although country bumpkins and truly wealthy young masters spent the same amount of money, the treatment they received was completely different.

The young girls couldn’t understand why an elegant young master like Han Zhe would want to buy poisonous snakes, especially the kind in Yongzhou that made people change color at the mention of snakes. Although very afraid, they couldn’t bear to leave. Enduring their discomfort, they accompanied Han Zhe to the grass market to purchase them. Such poisonous snakes weren’t permitted to appear in the city.

Han Zhe was very satisfied. He threw a rabbit into the snake cage, and the rabbit quickly convulsed and died. A dog was thrown in, and the dog also quickly died. Amid everyone’s screams, he reached his hand into the snake cage and grabbed the large snake at its vital seven-inch point to examine its two white fangs. Not bad—there were still two drops of venom hanging from them. This snake coiled its body around his arm and tightened forcefully. A black and white venomous snake coiled around the blue silk sleeve created an indescribable eeriness.

He was extremely satisfied. Yun Ye’s knowledge was truly extraordinary. He had said this kind of snake was highly venomous, and this snake’s venom was indeed very potent. Han Zhe worried that one venomous snake might not be enough to kill his father, so he deliberately bought ten, plus the one on his arm that the snake catcher had given him—exactly eleven snakes in total. He very much wanted to see whether his father, after eating the sedative he had stolen from Yun Ye, could survive the attack of these snakes.