Chapter 24: Cai Fu: I See a Conspiracy in Them!
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“I saw them too!”
Cai Qing’s expression changed.
“No wonder every one of them is so massive!
“Brother, could they be female soldiers?
“Pretending to wash clothes while actually standing guard and keeping watch?”
“Don’t be nervous. Relax.”
Cai Fu smiled broadly. “Why don’t we simply go over and ask?”
Yan Qing was an exceptionally clever man. The original account described him as being “covered in exquisite tattoos, and skilled besides in playing wind instruments, plucking strings, singing, dancing, wordplay, tongue twisters, and every sort of local dialect and street jargon. There was nothing he could not do and nothing he did not know.” He had a natural talent for acting.
The brothers Cai Fu and Cai Qing were professional executioners. Though neither possessed much talent for acting, their nerves were as steady as could be.
The three of them kept their expressions calm, pretending to be one master and two servants as they unhurriedly walked to the riverbank beside the group of village women.
From a distance, the women already looked remarkably rugged. Up close, however—
Good heavens! Their chest hair was a palm’s breadth thick!
What made Cai Fu most wary was that the women were laughing and chatting merrily in a language he could not understand.
Yet the instant they noticed Cai Fu and the other two, they automatically switched to the language of Song.
Cai Qing asked them in a loud, casual voice:
“Ladies, if we wish to go to Zengtou City to buy horses, which road should we take?”
The women looked at one another, giggling. Then one particularly burly village woman asked in return:
“Where have our guests come from?”
Cai Qing was just about to answer when Yan Qing suddenly cut in:
“Jibber-jabber, clackety-clack, da-la-bang-ba…”
Although Cai Fu could not understand him, he could vaguely tell that Yan Qing was speaking the same language as the women.
The women immediately became much friendlier. The particularly burly one replied:
“Chitter-chatter, drip-drop, patter-patter…”
Yan Qing answered, “Delinaza, Malzahar…”
The women all cackled with delight. Several of the more flirtatious ones even looked Cai Fu up and down.
Cai Fu involuntarily shuddered. For some inexplicable reason, he felt like a sheltered young maiden being ogled by a lecherous old pervert…
The three men continued on their way. Sure enough, after they had gone some distance, the main road divided into three branches.
They chose the middle road. Shielding his mouth with a folding fan, Yan Qing whispered:
“They were speaking the language of Jin!”
Yan Qing knew many dialects, including the language of Jin. That was what he had been speaking just now.
“They really are village women!”
Cai Qing also shared his observations:
“Their finger joints are thick, their skin is cracked, and both their feet are swollen and peeling from being soaked in water. Clearly, they often wash clothes by the river…”
Yan Qing added, “And they really are female soldiers—cavalry, at that!”
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“They were sitting on those boulders, but they were all sitting astride them, instinctively clenching their legs together!
“And they have calluses in the webs between their thumbs and forefingers. That shows they have spent a long time gripping knives…”
“Excellent!”
Cai Fu approved of Cai Qing and Yan Qing’s observations.
“Little Yi, what exactly did you say to them in the Jin language?”
“Besides asking for directions, they asked me about the Kingdom of Jin.”
Yan Qing pondered for a moment. “They miss home.
“They also asked me whether you had a woman, Brother…”
What the hell?
Cai Fu was utterly speechless.
Those women from Jin had no interest in a pretty-faced young man like Yan Qing. Instead, they had set their sights on a broad-shouldered, thick-browed, powerful-looking man like him?
“Hmph!”
Cai Fu’s expression darkened. “I see a conspiracy in them.”
“A conspiracy?”
Yan Qing and Cai Qing were both stunned.
“Tell us more, Brother!”
“No need to hurry.” Cai Fu waved a hand. “Keep moving forward.
“Look more closely and listen more carefully. The truth will reveal itself in time.”
They soon passed through the fork in the road and crossed a dense forest. Before them appeared a bustling marketplace.
In truth, it was much like any ordinary market, except that every man, woman, child, and elder was built in a strikingly rugged fashion.
The grown men were one thing, but even the children running everywhere had ugly faces and fierce, almost savage expressions.
Although they did not look very different from the people of Song, their speech and manner were filled with an exotic character.
With a sweep of his eyes, Cai Fu saw that everyone in the market was concealing a knife, while rows of spears stood planted outside the shops.
At that moment, a group of ugly, fierce-looking children gathered together. Clapping their hands and stamping their feet, they began singing a nursery rhyme in loud, innocent voices:
“Ring the iron bells and shake them wide;
Spirits and demons flee in fright.
Iron carts and iron chains,
Sharp spikes above and below.
Sweep away Liangshan and Clearwater Marsh,
Destroy Chao Gai and march on Dongjing.
Capture the Timely Rain alive,
Seize the Resourceful Star as well.
The Zeng clan has five mighty sons—
Their fame resounds throughout the world!”
Clang!
As the children jumped about, a short knife suddenly fell from one little girl’s clothing.
Yan Qing was startled. Zengtou City did not merely arm its men and women—even the children carried weapons hidden on their persons?
Cai Fu possessed an all-seeing perspective. Combining the clues from the original story, he understood everything by this point.
He gave Cai Qing, who was leading the horses, a meaningful glance, then took the lead through the marketplace, heading toward the overpowering smell of horse manure.
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As they crossed the marketplace, they felt every local native watching them with wary eyes.
Even the children were no exception.
Beyond the marketplace lay the horse market.
It was divided into two sections: the horse grounds operated by Zengtou City itself, and the stalls set up by independent horse dealers.
The city’s own section occupied a vast expanse of pasture, where hundreds of fine horses wandered about, waiting to be chosen.
The horse dealers, meanwhile, set up stalls and hawked their wares along the long street between the marketplace and the horse grounds.
Once they reached this area, Cai Fu and Cai Qing slowed their pace, while Yan Qing swept his eyes left and right with a discriminating air.
He looked every inch the young master of a wealthy household, and the horse dealers along both sides of the street immediately competed to call out to him:
“Sir, come and have a look at our horses!”
“Ours were transported here from the Western Regions! True blood-sweating steeds!”
“Our horses are the finest! We even have Yangzhou slender horses!”
Yan Qing reined in his mount and looked toward the so-called blood-sweating steed.
“This is your blood-sweating steed?”
The horse dealer nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, that’s right!”
Yan Qing looked at Cai Fu.
Cai Fu actually knew nothing about judging horses, but he knew that this one certainly could not be anything special.
It was like entering a department store. Who would put the finest merchandise right at the entrance?
Cai Fu glanced at the so-called blood-sweating steed, curled his lip, and pushed the horse dealer aside as he continued forward.
Cai Fu stood eight feet and three inches tall. In this integrated world, the foot was measured according to the Qin standard, with one foot equaling 23.1 centimeters.
That meant Cai Fu was 191.73 centimeters tall.
What horse dealer could possibly stop a giant of that stature once he decided to move on?
Cai Qing stood seven feet and eight inches tall, which came to 180.18 centimeters. He was powerfully built as well, and no less intimidating.
Moreover, both men had been professional executioners. Unless they deliberately concealed it, the killing aura surrounding them was impossible to miss.
With the two burly men clearing the way, the horse dealers dared only to shout their wares from a distance. None dared pester them.
Yan Qing, meanwhile, rode high in the saddle, surveying the surroundings from above as he searched for Lu Junyi’s Qilin Beast.
Of course, Cai Fu and Cai Qing still had to maintain appearances.
Whenever they spotted a genuinely fine horse, they would stop to inquire about it.
Though neither Cai Fu nor Cai Qing understood how to judge horses, a good horse was like a good carriage: even if one did not recognize the make, one could still tell that it was expensive.
Take two sedans, for example—a Santana and a Porsche Panamera. Put them side by side. Would anyone really need to check the badges to know which cost more?
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