The climate of Central State, compared to Jiangzhou, is somewhat drier. Zhao Dabing felt his throat was a little dry, and the salted roasted peanuts didn’t taste as good as usual, making his throat feel scratchy.
He took a sip of the overnight strong tea to rinse his mouth, leisurely driving forward. The Xue Family’s carriage, rather than calling it a carriage, should be called a caravan, conveniently doing business here in Central State, with Miss personally leading the team, accompanied by Chen Qingyan.
"Now that we’re in Central State, we’re not far from the Imperial City. Central State is not as big as our Chen Country, just a thousand miles or so. Even if we take some time on the road, it won’t take too long."
After traveling for a while, although the sun was not so fierce, walking under the blazing sun was not a pleasant thing. The Xue Family’s caravan stopped to the side, forming a car formation, coincidentally where traveling merchants were selling goods.
The people in the carriage said a few words, and then Zhao Dabing went to call the traveling merchant team, saying, "Hey brother, what are you selling?!"
The seller was a thick and honest man, who answered, "Selling big jujubes and homemade wine, cheap with great flavor. Old brother, do you want some?"
Zhao Dabing laughed loudly, saying, "Come on, our shopkeeper sees you’re a bit tired, the sun is fierce. Why not come over to rest? We’re a bit thirsty from traveling ourselves, and since there’s wine and jujubes, let’s have a little to quench our thirst."
"Brother, what’s your name?"
The man said, "Me? I’m Shi Wu; this is my son."
He pointed to a half-grown boy over there, the child slightly tanned by the Central State sun, donned in cloth garments, with a wooden sword hanging from his waist, with a proud and head-high manner, quite self-assured.
Zhao Dabing laughed and invited them inside, then bought jujubes, sharing wine among everyone. These were crisp jujubes, refreshing and thirst-quenching. The wine was low in alcohol, and for those with Martial Arts skills, this amount of wine was akin to drinking water.
After a while, the caravan came to thank the shopkeeper, not expecting the shopkeeper to alight from the carriage to be a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl, quite tall, dressed in a coat with Cloud Patterned cross-collar, with fine pleats at the waist, moving like Water Patterns, with hair pinned up, bright and attractive.
Shi Wu and his son respectfully expressed their gratitude.
This shopkeeper seemed extremely carefree and casual, simply letting them sit here, giving them the price fully, without deducting a bit, also allowing their food to be shared with Shi’s father and son, commanding a large merchant caravan of two to three hundred people, yet everything was orderly.
A truly dignified and impressive shopkeeper.
The Xue Family’s business trading, in Shi Wu’s hometown, also had storefronts, but such a big caravan, would need to be at a county level, no, county city level big shop, right?
Shi Wu thought, while his son Shi Yisong, with the wooden sword given by the young Taoist, went to find the caravan’s guards to witness their swordsmanship, and their moves surely sparkled with coldness.
The guards found this stubborn and tough little boy quite cute, saying:
"How about it, let’s make a trade?"
"Look at my sword weapon, how is it?"
He took out a sword; it was an iron sword, with a shark skin sword scabbard feeling great to the touch. When drawn out, it gleamed coldly, definitely a good sword. The Xue Family’s journey merchant guards could earn well, so he put the sword there, making Shi Yisong very envious.
Then mimicking the Jianghu Xiake, said: "Good sword!"
The guards laughed heartily.
The guard who drew the sword said:
"Then how about I swap this sword with your wooden sword?"
Shi Yisong hesitated for a bit, but still shook his head, gripped the wooden sword, pushing back the hundred-refined steel sword before him, and answered, "No."
The guard curious, not yet speaking, suddenly noticed someone coming over, hence displayed a respectful and solemn facial expression, bowed his hands saying: "Shopkeeper." Shi Yisong instinctively turned around to see the woman standing there.
Shi Yisong was startled, instinctively waved the wooden sword.
Stopped by the woman using just two fingers.
And then the woman seemed slightly stunned, her gaze fell, then smiled.
"Little brother, where did you get this sword?"
Shi Yisong answered, "It was given to me by a brother Taoist, we traveled together for a month, and he carved this sword for me with a small carving knife!"
The young woman smiled and said, "Can I see it?"
She clearly could perform high Martial Arts, directly snatching the sword, but still asked Shi Yisong. Shi Yisong thought for a bit and said, "Alright."
He let go of the sword.
That young shopkeeper held the sword in her hand, fingers gently brushed over the sword weapon, lowering her eyes slightly, long eyelashes, the gentle gaze focused on the wooden sword, near the hilt, a carefree [Li] character was carved.
Shi Yisong murmured, "I originally wanted it to be carved by a world-class swordsman, but Li Taoist carved it for me, couldn’t help it, I just strive to become a really powerful swordsman myself!"
"Then this sword can be very famous!"
Quite childishly too.
Little Shitou looked at the dazed young woman; his stone head suddenly became clever. He quietly asked, "Shopkeeper, do you know Li Taoist?"
The young shopkeeper smiled and said, "Yes, I know him."
She sat on the rock nearby, one hand holding the sword hilt, the fingers of the other lightly pressing on the carved sword marks, gently brushing past. Little Shitou curiously murmured again, "Li Taoist is really lucky to have a friend like you."