Chapter 27: Family Letter

  "Aren't you going forward?"

  "This little thief isn't even worth me taking action..."

  It's true that these ordinary robbers, let alone Ye Wen taking action, even those dozens of big men who came with emotions would be enough to repel this group of robbers. What's more, the head of the escort team, Yue Hang, is right next to him. As long as he reveals his identity, I'm afraid that these robbers will retreat automatically without a fight.

  Things are just like that, Yue Hang stepped forward to report his name, and then chatted with the leader of the other side for a while, saying some meaningless nonsense such as "What big water flooded the Dragon King Temple!" "I didn't expect it to be General Yue's escort team, please forgive us!", etc. After that, the robbers made way for the troops to pass through.

  This was actually the result that Yue Hang had hoped for, he didn't want to lose any of the people he had hired at a considerable cost in silver before they even left Shushan County. Especially since this loss could have been completely avoided.

  After resolving the little episode of the robbers blocking the road, Yue Hang specially came over to inform Xu Xian that nothing was wrong and everything was normal.

  Yue Hang was afraid that such things would scare Xu Xian, this "weak scholar", so he wanted to comfort his heart. Until now, he still doesn't know that Xu Xian is also a master of martial arts with extraordinary skills. If they really fought, Yue Hang might not be his opponent. It's just that Xu Xian hid it too well, and probably only one person in the entire Shu Shan or Ping Zhou knew his true abilities - Ye Wen.

  As for not mentioning the entire Shang dynasty, it's because Ye Wen suspects that the bandit from Dongzhou is in cahoots with Xu Xian to stage this play, especially that so-called female bandit leader, who may very well know Xu Xian's secrets.

  "What is the relationship between these two people?"

  When he had nothing to do, Ye Wen would often think about this issue, but every time he couldn't figure out the reason, and in the end, he could only maliciously speculate that there was some kind of unclean relationship between these two guys.

  "Hmph, what a world-renowned genius, what an extraordinary handsome man, isn't he just an ordinary husband!"

  All the way, Ye Wen was passing the time in such a silent criticism, and during the day, he paid attention to Xu Xian to see if he had made any special moves. However, after several days, he found that Xu Xian seemed to have no abnormalities, and probably anyone would only think that this young talent was going south to study wholeheartedly.

  At night, Xu Xian would even take out many more books to read, and not even Liu Qingfeng, who had volunteered to keep watch at night to ensure Xu Xian's safety, noticed anything unusual.

  Seeing this situation, Ye Wen guessed that Xu Xian was prepared to make a decision after arriving at the Dongzhou border, after all, here is still in the Pingzhou border, and it's too close to his hometown, even if he really wanted to escape, he wouldn't be able to act here.

  Having understood this point, Ye Wen no longer continued to tense up his nerves. Every day, he would sit next to the coachman and look at the scenery, occasionally getting off the carriage to take a walk as exercise. When it was time to rest in the evening, he would meditate and cultivate his internal energy. He didn't dare relax this internal energy cultivation because cultivating internal energy is like sailing against the current - if you don't advance, you retreat. If he didn't practice for a few days, he feared that his hard-won internal energy would regress to the state it was in when he first learned the Quanzhen Heart Method.

  However, the journey of these two days made him unexpectedly discover that his internal skill cultivation had not regressed, but instead had a faint sign of improvement, only it was extremely unnoticeable.

  "It's strange, I originally thought that I had a natural talent and therefore made rapid progress in my cultivation, but is it not actually like that?"

  If we make an educated guess, he has been practicing the Quanzhen Heart Method for less than a year and a half, even if his progress is quite rapid, it should be at most half of Guo Jing's level when he just left the desert in "The Legend of the Condor Hero".

  But he found that his current level should not be weaker than Guo Jing's at that time. Whether it was because of his unusual physique or some other reason, it was a puzzle that would take some time to figure out, and probably wouldn't be solved until after his Shu Shan Sect had stabilized its power.

  Moreover, before that, he still had another thing to do, which was to deliver the family letter entrusted to him by Aunt Zhao.

  After several days of rushing, Xuhui's team arrived at Linsan County, a must-pass route to the south. The county town where Zhao Shu's sister lived was a more prosperous town than Shushan County, because people coming and going from the north and south all had to pass through here, making this place develop much better than Shushan County, which was an ordinary county town.

  After settling down in the inn, Ye Wen and Yue Hang said goodbye to each other and prepared to leave the team for a while with Zhao Shu's family letter.

  As for him wanting to leave the team alone to deal with some things, General Yue didn't ask much, only asking if he needed a few people to go with him or not.

  "It's nothing, just someone from the gang sending a family letter!"

  When Yeh Wen gave such a response, Yue Hang understood that it was indeed a small matter. The other party wasn't being polite to him, so he smiled and nodded his head, not asking any more questions. He didn't even ask when he would return.

  Instead, Zhao Heng, Liu Qingfeng's young apprentice, muttered in a low voice: "My fellow disciples and master are here to help with the fight, yet they guard this place day and night. He, who took the commission, is wandering around everywhere..." The rest of his words were not spoken, as if interrupted by his senior brother Liu Mo.

  Although the voice was not loud, there were still a few people who heard it, such as General Yue's escort and Gong Sunmu. Xu Xian, who was sitting aside drinking water and resting his feet, also heard it clearly.

  Even if Ye Wenzhi's distance was a bit farther, with his internal skill, these words would still not escape his ears. It's just that he didn't care about these things at all. That Zhao Heng had looked down on him since they first met, did he still expect to hear anything good from this person?

  "It's all just barking up the wrong tree!"

  After greeting Yue Hang, Ye Wen turned around and left the inn. He then followed the address Zhao Shu told him, asking for directions as he made his way there.

  Before long, Ye Wen arrived in front of a civilian residence, only to find that the scene before him seemed somewhat different from what Zhao Shu and he had said. According to Zhao Shu's description, her sister seemed to have married a man who did small business in Linshan County, although it was not a wealthy family, but life was quite good, and even helped Zhao Shu who was having a hard time.

  But this family in front of me...

  "It seems like something big has happened, no wonder I haven't been in touch with Aunt Zhao for a long time"

  With a light touch, the wooden board that looked more like an ornament than a door creaked and swung to one side. Ye Wen furrowed his brow, suspecting that if he had used a bit more force, the board would have crashed to the ground with a loud bang. This kind of door was impossible to knock on; perhaps it would be better to walk in a few steps and shout out instead?

  Just as he was about to step inside, an old lady who seemed to be passing by suddenly stopped in her tracks, looked at Ye Wen and asked, "Young man, are you here looking for Miss Zhou?"

  "Zhou? Oh, right! Zhao Auntie's sister indeed married a Zhou!" However, he was still not very sure if this household was the one he was looking for, so he asked: "Old lady, does the mistress of this house have an older sister in Shushan County?"

  The old lady thought for a moment and finally replied: "It seems that Zhou's sister indeed has an older sister in Shushan County, are you from Shushan County?"

  "I have a letter written by her sister, and since I'm passing through Linsan County, I brought it along!"

  "Oh! Now that you mention it, I remember that Zhou's sister often exchanged letters with her sister in Shushan County. She did mention this to me before... But now, I'm afraid Zhou's sister won't be able to reply."

  Ye Wen furrowed her brow, it seemed that something had indeed happened in this household.

  "Alas, playing with money is harmful! Ever since the Zhou brothers became infatuated with playing with money, their family's fortunes changed for the worse! Not only did they lose all their business and savings, but now they also owe a huge debt. A few months ago, when the Zhou brothers saw no way to repay the debt, the creditors pressed them hard, so they ran away without a word, leaving behind only these two women at home."

  Those creditors couldn't find anyone, so they went to the Zhou family's daughter-in-law to ask for money. But where did she have the money? Coincidentally, the Zhou family's daughter-in-law was busy making money to help her husband pay off debts during that time, but in the end, she didn't make enough money and got sick instead, and there was no money for treatment. A few days ago when I saw her, she looked... Alas! Why do people have to play with money? What's the point of playing around? And they still need to borrow money to play around...

  The old lady didn't know if she had said too much or forgotten about Ye Wen's presence, and while talking, she just walked away. It was actually Ye Wen who was left standing there, stunned, staring blankly at the old lady as she disappeared from view after turning a corner on the street.

  However, I finally figured out what's going on. No wonder Aunt Zhao said she hadn't heard from her sister in a long time. In previous years, she should have received her sister's letter by now, even if the weather was bad and the road was impassable, it would only be delayed for a few days, but this year it's been several months late.

  "So it's come to this!"

  Now that he knew the situation, Ye Wen knew that standing here and shouting for someone would likely not get anyone to come out and pick him up, so he might as well go in and take a look. He turned around and walked in, taking a glance around, and found that the small courtyard was overgrown with weeds, clearly having not been cleaned for a long time.

  It seems that Zhao Auntie's sister is in a worse situation than what the old woman said, and she can't even sweep the yard at home. Moreover, none of the neighbors come to help her out.

  "Perhaps he's afraid of being dragged into it by those debt collectors?"

  It was just a flash of insight that allowed him to guess the reason, and Ye Wen lightly pushed open the door in front of him, which was not much stronger than the gate, and walked in.

  As soon as he entered, he saw a woman who was as thin as a withered branch and had a face as pale as gold paper struggling to get up, apparently wanting to rise because she had heard Ye Wen's footsteps.

  Ye Wen only saw the appearance of this woman and immediately flashed a sentence in his heart: "The disease is deep-seated, life is not long..."

  Before he could even open his mouth, the woman looked at Ye Wen with a lifeless gaze and said, "Again? There really isn't anything valuable left in my house..."