Chapter 183 - Village Protector
Since the Chief Escort had agreed, their next steps were quite simple—accept the contract, take the deposit, and place their handprints.
Li Huowang turned around as he observed the items being loaded onto his carriage, and then turned to the Chief Escort. “By the way, Chief Escort, I’d like to ask. Wasn’t there a war recently? Did it also affect your business?”
“Why wouldn’t we be affected? The escort business does make more money when the world is in chaos. But if the entire world is in total chaos, then we wouldn’t be able to make any money either. You should know that once military troops are involved, those high-ranking officials won’t follow any rules. Thankfully, the war has ended.”
Hearing this, Li Huowang was surprised. “Chief, do you know what happened? Why did the war suddenly stop?”
He recalled that a significant number of people had died during the battles; it hadn’t just been any normal skirmish.
According to normal procedures, it shouldn’t have ended like this.
There must have been some reason that caused both sides to reign in their hostility so abruptly. No, not just both sides, as there seemed to have been more than two countries involved in the war.
Yet now, they had all stopped so abruptly, almost as if they had all agreed upon it beforehand; due to this, it was very strange.
“How would I know? If I did, wouldn’t I be sitting on the throne of the kingdom of Si Qi right now? However, I’ve heard from the conscripts that while everything was normal in the beginning, one day, out of the blue, the dead suddenly stopped rotting, and no longer even attracted any flies,” explained the Chief Escort.
Hearing this, Li Huowang’s expression stiffened. It all related back to the Abbess’s body. This unexpected ceasefire was related to the sudden disappearance of ‘decay’.
Could it be that those in power feel that the disappearance of ‘decay’ is more important than conquering cities and seizing more land? So the emperors and the kings stopped the war to join forces and deal with this issue?
Perhaps the disappearance of ‘decay’ would lead to major changes in the world.
Li Huowang speculated aimlessly as he looked toward the other side of the street. The border town was very lively, with horse-drawn carriages, ox carts, and even camels passing by.
They all seemed to be completely unaffected by the disappearance of ‘decay’.
From the looks of it, there were many significant events happening in this world, but they were unrelated to him. Currently, he was no different from these commoners; he was just another one of them.
There will always be someone dependable when calamity strikes.
Perhaps the disappearance of ‘decay’ was something very important. But ever since the Abbess’s death, he no longer had any further connections with this matter.
Unknowingly, they finished loading the goods they were meant to escort. Since their two carriages were now full, they would have no choice but to sleep underneath the carriages at night.
“Young man, as long as you deliver these goods to the Fengteng Escort Office in Ji City of Hou Shu, you will receive a reward of seventy taels." [1]
Seventy taels!
Li Huowang was stunned by the reward. He remembered that back then, the Lu Family Troupe only managed to earn ten taels back when they performed for the dead.
It seems that the escort business is very profitable in these chaotic times.
“Don’t think it’s too little; it’s your first time, after all. As long as you do a good job, your business will naturally become more lucrative. This is the escort contract, keep it safe,” continued the Chief Escort.
Hearing this, Li Huowang reached out for the contract and bowed courteously. “Chief Escort, till we meet again.”
“Take care, and have a smooth journey,” said the Chief Escort.
After leaving the Escort Office, Li Huowang took another look at this small town that they had visited several times now and sighed with mixed feelings. He had no more attachments to the kingdom of Si Qi, and this was likely the last time he would come to this place.
Where is my home in this vast world?
Once everything was prepared, the carriage wheels began to roll again as he led his group toward the barren land of Hou Shu.
Now that they were acting as escorts, they were moving much slower than before. After all, they were carrying more goods causing the horses pulling the carts to be tired out much quicker.
To avoid facing the revenge of the relatives of the Nuo Opera performers, Li Huowang deliberately took a longer route and went around the previous town.
Due to this, they only saw another village after about half a month of travel. Worn out by their long time on the road they had cracked lips, and wanted to go in for a rest.
Not having enough water for washing up hadn’t been the biggest issue for them. The real problem was having to eat dry rations every day, causing all of them to grow more and more irritable.
Li Huowang had also developed a large ulcer on the corner of his lips.
“Wooo~” Bun howled out.
Seeing this, Li Huowang patted its smooth, yellow head and said, “Keep quiet, this is someone else’s place.”
While enjoying being licked by Bun, Li Huowang looked at the small village.
All the houses here were painted a conspicuous red, as though to contrast them from the desolation outside. However, there was nothing else remarkable about this place.
When Li Huowang saw a man in ragged clothing step out of one of the houses, he immediately led his group forward.
“Excuse me—” Li Huowang had just begun to speak, but stopped. There was a trail of green mucus hanging from the face of the man, and it extended all the way to his chest. Its thickness showed that it had accumulated due to the air drying it over time.
“Huh? Outsiders?” The person just stood there with his legs bowed inward, smiling foolishly at Li Huowang.
Li Huowang raised his hand to adjust his bronze coin mask as he watched the man warily; he was uncertain whether this man was genuinely foolish or just pretending.
“Fool, the Wu Family is having a celebration! Come over and help! There will even be baked buns afterwards!”
When he heard the shout from an old person in the distance, this man’s eyes brightened, and he turned to rush toward the source of the voice.
What sort of person is this?
Just as Li Huowang was feeling puzzled, Gao Zhijian, who was standing beside him stuttered, “Vill-Village... Protector!”
“What?” Li Huowang turned to look at him as he came to understand what that term meant through Gao Zhijian’s stuttering explanation. Some of the villages had a fool, and they were usually called Village Protectors. It was claimed that they were lacking in mental faculties, but they were destined to help ward off disasters for the village.
However, this was just a nice way of putting it. The majority of Village Protectors lived difficult lives, and often went hungry. The only time they enjoyed decent meals was when they helped out during village celebrations.
Li Huowang nodded in understanding, “I see. I’ve never encountered them before, and so it’s my first time learning about this.”
When he thought up to this point, Li Huowang was suddenly startled as he looked up at Gao Zhijian’s honest face. “You are slow with almost everything else, so how did you know about this so clearly? Were you... also a Village Protector before?”
Gao Zhijian shook his head vigorously, “N-n-no! I... I... I am not!”
Li Huowang nodded upon seeing his anxious expression. “Alright, you don’t need to explain. I know that you’re not.”
At that moment, Puppy chimed in as well, “Yes, yes. You are not.”
“I... really... am not!” Gao Zhijian turned red with embarrassment.
1. Interesting note: A Tael is a unit of weight and equal to 1.3 Ounces and when associated with silver in this context, it means that they will be paid 91 Ounces of silver ?
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