Chapter 135: Chu Yao

"I'm not going! Great-uncle is already in his seventies with stiff legs and feet, so he'd better stay and look after the house."

The old man said casually. Hearing this, Cai Cong felt a pang of sorrow in his heart. This old fogey walked more briskly than anyone else during the state banquet; he was just afraid of dying away from home, which they called passing away in a foreign land!

"That's fine too. Besides, my cousins are around anyway. Since we won't be at home, let them come and live there. We can use this opportunity to ease the relationship."

Cai Cong looked at the old man and said with a smile, which filled the old man's heart with bitterness. No matter how much Cai Tian's sons hated him, they could never accept the fact that their great-grandfather had killed their father.

"After all, I killed their father that day. They have every right to be angry with me. Once they've read more books, perhaps they'll understand."

With a forced smile, the old man nodded, signaling that Cai Cong could get lost now. A hundred or so guards, over eighty retainers, along with maidservants, coachmen—a total of more than two hundred people—were all fully prepared.

Sister Cai repeatedly poked her head out of the carriage, looking eager to try. Seeing that Cai Cong was still talking to the old man, she pulled her head back in.

Cai Cong rushed out in a flash, propped his hand on the carriage, and leaped straight inside, which annoyed Sister Cai just a little bit. However, she let it go; children of this age were always the most mischievous.

"Mother, how old is Master Kunan of Duolin Temple?" The carriage rocked back and forth, and Cai Cong lay half-reclined, the jolting making him quite uncomfortable.

"Mother doesn't know either. Back then, some people said he was over seventy, while others said he was in his sixties. Now, nearly ten years have passed, and I wonder if the Master is still in this world."

Sister Cai shook her head as she spoke. Master Kunan never revealed his age; in his view, a practitioner attained Buddhahood through virtue, not through the passage of years.

"Now that's a true monk, unlike those money-swindling monks from last time."

"Don't talk nonsense, be careful lest the Buddha punish you for running your mouth." Sister Cai said, patting Cai Cong. This boy was good at everything, except for his severe paranoia; he looked at everyone and thought they were bad people.

"Who are you trying to scare? They're all just wood and mud statues, and the more extravagant ones are just gold-plated copper. Who ends up punishing whom is anyone's guess." Cai Cong muttered boisterously. Sister Cai just shook her head, muttering under her breath that children didn't know any better and begging the spirits not to take offense.

Cai Cong paid her no mind. With the difference in eras and worldviews, even the Emperor relied on his Heavenly Father to back him up; there were very few people who held such contempt for gods and Buddhas as he did.

Because they were out for leisure, they stopped and went along the way, covering only a few dozen miles a day. After traveling for three days, at noon, they set up pots and cooked in a plum grove. Sister Cai looked at the full grove of plum blossoms and smiled, "The plum harvest is going to be exceptionally bountiful this year!"

"Then when the time comes, your son will brew some plum wine for you."

"What's the point of brewing that stuff? Mother doesn't drink alcohol. I'd much rather you pickle a few sour plums."

Hearing this unpoetic dialogue between mother and son, the surrounding scholars and wealthy young misses all frowned deeply. Composing poetry and expressing one's aspirations through plum blossoms—such an elegant activity—how could such unrefined bumpkins of a mother and son show up here?

However, with hundreds of attendants and guards accompanying them, they clearly looked like people of high status. No one was foolish enough to court trouble.

"That works too. Son will have someone ask whose land this is, and I'll buy the property. After that, you can eat plums however you like."

As soon as Cai Cong finished speaking, those scholars chuckled. This plum grove covered dozens of acres and was the beloved treasure of the Recluse of Mountain-Watching. Was it something you could just buy simply because you wanted to?

"That's true. You don't know this, but when Mother was a little girl, whenever she wanted to eat plums, she had to sneak into the neighboring village landlord's orchard to pick them, and she even got chased by his dogs!"

"If it were your son, I wouldn't do it that way. With my intelligence and wit, I'd make the landlord hand the plums over to me willingly."

"Mhm, my son is the best and could definitely make the landlord give them to you." Sister Cai said as a matter of course. In her eyes, her son was the cleverest person in the entire world.

Just at that moment, a man dressed in martial attire and holding a long spear walked slowly out of the plum grove toward Cai Cong. The guards beside Cai Cong immediately and vigilantly surrounded him.

The man stopped, thrust his spear into the muddy ground, cupped his fists, and asked, "May I ask if the Marquis of Chang'an is currently gracing us with his presence?"

Hearing the man's words, those scholars and misses who had moments ago looked with disdain cried out in astonishment.

"I am indeed the Marquis. May I ask what business you have with me, sir?" Cai Cong did not cower and asked in a clear voice.

"I am Zhang Jiaming from the Hexi Zhang family. I have come by order of my elders to deliver an invitation to the Marquis. We sincerely hope you will honor us with your presence, and all of us in our humble sect will sweep the floor to welcome you respectfully." Zhang Jiaming produced an invitation and respectfully offered it with both hands.

It hadn't been easy for him either. When he was nearing Cai Village, he heard people say that the Marquis had gone on a distant journey. Fearing he would miss the deadline to deliver the invitation, he had spurred his horse in relentless pursuit without a moment's rest.

A guard took the invitation, inspected it, and only then handed it to Cai Cong. Opening it casually to glance through it, Cai Cong frowned and said, "Your Daoist assembly is inviting a court official like me—don't you think that's rather inappropriate?"

"Haha, the Marquis is truly being modest. Who in the world does not know that you are a transcendent immortal who wanders the Great Void? People die every day at the Immortal's Land in Lingnan Commandery, and the discovery of the Ten-Thousand-Year Stone Milk in the underground palace has caused various sects to slaughter one another endlessly. If a transcendent master like you is considered inappropriate, then this Daoist assembly might as well not be held at all."

Zhang Jiaming said with a trace of admiration and respect. Cai Cong waved his hand and said, "Then don't hold it! This Marquis has no time to go."

"This... My invitation has been delivered. As for what to do, it entirely depends on the Marquis's wishes." Zhang Jiaming had never imagined that after he laid on such thick flattery, Cai Cong would be completely indifferent. If it were someone like Yuchi Gong, he would have long since been overjoyed and thrown a grand banquet.

"Oh right, I rescued a little girl along the way who said she was going to Cai Village to rely on her relatives. Thinking it was on the way, I brought her along. Now that I am heading back, helping this little girl find her family will have to be entrusted to the Marquis. Chuyao, Chuyao, where have you run off to again?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Uncle Zhang, we're going to get rich! We won't have to chew on dry rations anymore!" Just as Zhang Jiaming's voice trailed off, an excited voice echoed from deep within the plum grove. A little girl was seen running over quickly, hugging a massive armful of plum blossom branches, her small figure entirely blocked by the flowers.

"I'm telling you, along the way I saw people selling plum blossoms for fifteen coins a branch! I picked so many branches. If we sell all of these, we'll have money for dinner and a place to stay at an inn tonight!"

The little girl struggled, stretching out a single finger to hook Zhang Jiaming's clothing, trying to pull him along. If they didn't leave after stealing someone else's plums, they'd be in bad luck if they got caught.

Zhang Jiaming smiled awkwardly at Cai Cong. It was truly an embarrassment to the Daoist sects—he had actually managed to fall so low that they couldn't even afford a meal, forcing a little girl to go out and steal things.

"I saw too many suffering people along the way and my heart couldn't bear it, so..." Zhang Jiaming started to explain, but Cai Cong waved his hand to tell him to stop. The Daoist sects were notoriously wealthy; if this fellow hadn't had an excess of sympathy, he would never have fallen into such a state.

"Go tell Weiguo to fetch a hundred liang of silver and present it to Daoist Zhang as travel expenses." Cai Cong said to the person beside him. The little girl's eyes, visible through the gaps in the plum blossoms, instantly lit up with a brilliant glow as she cried out happily, "We really got rich! How much money is a hundred liang? Uncle Zhang, can we add some slices of meat to our noodles?"

"This humble person thanks the Marquis." Zhang Jiaming bowed to Cai Cong, then squatted down to say to the little girl, "This is the Marquis of Cai Village. He will take you to Cai Village, and along the way you'll be living the high life without having to worry about not having a place to stay."

Sister Cai also waved at the little girl. When the child walked over, Sister Cai squatted down and asked, "Little girl, what is your relative's name? I know everyone in the village, and I guarantee I can help you find your family."

"I don't know. Before my father died, he told me to go to Cai Village to find my relatives. He only gave me half a coin and said that whoever saw it would take me in."

The little girl said uneasily. The hope was far too slim; what if those relatives had moved away, or what if they refused to acknowledge her? She reached out and pulled half a copper coin from around her neck. It was covered in verdigris and clearly had been around for quite a few years.

When Sister Cai saw that half-coin, her mind felt as though it had exploded, ringing with a persistent buzzing. After a long moment, she snapped out of it, grabbed the little girl's hands, and asked with sorrow, "How did your father die?"