Monkey automatically filtered out the matter of the girl's pregnancy. "I did. But I really was badly injured back then, and it took nearly half a year to recover. I had the villagers to thank for looking after me. Later, when the crops ripened, I witnessed the bandit soldiers looting with my own eyes. It really was outrageous. The soldiers here were no different from bandits. Every time the crops ripened, they would come and loot them once."
Niu Youdao understood his feelings. He knew Monkey had once been a member of a special forces unit and carried a certain attachment in his heart. If Niu Youdao had not accidentally helped Monkey support his widowed mother, paid for her medical treatment, and seen her through to the end, Monkey probably would never have pledged himself to someone like him. After all, they walked different paths. Monkey had followed him purely to repay the debt owed by an unfilial son to his mother, and only later had the two gradually formed a bond like brothers.
"Later, I thought that even if I went outside, I might not be able to find you. I guessed you would return to this village sooner or later, just as you said, to repay the villagers' kindness, so I decided to wait for you here. I also owed the villagers a debt, and to keep them from being robbed repeatedly, I stayed and organized and trained them. Besides, this body wasn't in very good shape, so I took advantage of those years to train it. In times this chaotic, if you ran outside without any ability to protect yourself, you wouldn't even know how you died when trouble came."
Niu Youdao nodded. The two understood each other, and it seemed that their reunion had been inevitable.
"What about you?" Monkey jerked his chin toward Shang Chaozong and the others. "What's the situation? They clearly came with you, but they don't seem very friendly toward you."
"Ha!" Niu Youdao turned around and only then remembered that he had left those people waiting. He patted Monkey's back. "Come on, let me introduce you."
Niu Youdao led Monkey over, introduced Shang Chaozong and the others, then introduced Monkey. "This is my good brother. His name is..." He scratched his head, turned back, and asked Monkey, "What was your name again?" He had forgotten to ask what Monkey was called now.
Lan Ruoting and the others nearly dropped their jaws. You don't know your good brother's name? Their relationship was clearly extraordinary. Could anyone lie so blatantly with his eyes open? This man sent by the Shangqing Sect was a little unscrupulous!
Monkey calmly swept his gaze across everyone. "Yuan Gang!"
"Oh! Right, Yuan Gang. You've been away from the village too long—I even forgot your name." Niu Youdao turned back and gave everyone an awkward smile. "My memory isn't very good."
Whether they believed that was another matter, but everyone carefully sized up Yuan Gang. Their gazes instinctively focused on the daggers strapped to his forearms and thighs. His clothing made him look like a villager from some mountain hollow, but his bearing clearly did not. The air of not taking them seriously was unmistakable.
Ordinary mountain villagers would have been trembling in fear at a formation like theirs. How could he remain so calm? This was the Prince! Did he not know what a prince was? Shang Chaozong and the others exchanged glances, suspicion rising in their hearts. Could everyone from this village have this kind of temperament?
At that thought, they grew curious. They really wanted to see what sort of village this was.
"Tell your men not to move recklessly, or don't blame me for being impolite!" Yuan Gang stared coldly at Shang Chaozong and warned him.
The guards beside Shang Chaozong immediately flushed with anger and were about to erupt, but Shang Chaozong raised a hand and stopped them.
Yuan Gang gave the guard a contemptuous look, then turned around and hooked two fingers into his mouth. With a sharp whistle, he blew a clear, piercing signal.
Movement immediately stirred in the woods nearby. One after another, five or six young men ran out and approached warily, their faces showing clear fear of the government soldiers.
Lan Ruoting and the others exchanged another glance. Now that looks like a villager's reaction.
"Brother Gangzi, what is this?" the young man at the front asked tentatively.
Yuan Gang pointed at Niu Youdao. "Da Bang, go back and tell the village that Niu Youdao has returned. I'm not going back. I'm leaving with him. From now on, guard the village as I instructed. There shouldn't be any problems." Without asking Niu Youdao's opinion, he directly decided for him that he would not return to the village.
Niu Youdao gave the few men a slight nod and a smile. He understood Yuan Gang's meaning: he did not want outsiders entering the village and probing its secrets. As for leaving with him, that was only natural.
"Niu Youdao?" Da Bang froze for a moment, then looked him up and down. Suddenly, delight spread across his face. "Hey! Brother Dao, it really is you! You've become rich and important. If Brother Gangzi hadn't mentioned you, I wouldn't have recognized you. Brother Dao, I'm Da Bang! Da Bang, the one who used to follow you around and play!"
"And me! I'm Meng Zi!"
"Brother Dao, I'm Xiao Gouzi..."
"I'm Da Wan! Brother Dao, where have you been all these years? When you disappeared, the whole village searched everywhere for you. Later, people even came to the village asking about you, and someone said they'd seen you in the city..."
The young men crowded around, shouting over one another, all of them looking overjoyed.
Someone came to the village asking about me? Someone even saw me in the city? Niu Youdao was stunned. Then he roughly guessed what had happened and burst out laughing. He pointed at each of the young men crowding around him. "Da Bang, Meng Zi, Xiao Gouzi..." He named all of them according to the names they had introduced themselves by. "I remember all of you. Da Wan once went fishing in the river with me and nearly drowned..." He did not recognize a single one of them, so he simply made up a few things that mountain boys might plausibly have done.
The corner of Yuan Gang's mouth twitched. He realized that Daoist Master was still Daoist Master.
Da Wan cheerfully nodded. "That's right, that's right!" Yet inwardly, he wondered, We did go fishing before, but did I nearly drown?
"Brother Dao, now that you're back, aren't you going to visit the village? Brother Gangzi said you were leaving. Where are you going?" Da Bang asked curiously, completely unaware of what Yuan Gang meant by "leaving." In their minds, villagers could not travel very far anyway.
"We're going to see the outside world. Don't ask so many questions," Yuan Gang said.
It was clear that Yuan Gang held considerable authority among the young men. Once he said that, they stopped asking.
Da Bang scratched his head. "Brother Gangzi, take us outside to have a look too."
"The outside world is in chaos. Staying in the village and living well is better than anything else. We'll see about the rest later." Yuan Gang tossed out the words, then turned back to Niu Youdao. "Do you have any money?"
Niu Youdao lifted his chin toward his horse. "In the bag. I was just about to send it to the village."
Yuan Gang walked over, reached into the bundle, and rummaged around before pulling out a money pouch. He shook it in his hand, making it rattle loudly. Returning, he opened the pouch and looked inside. Gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins lay in a heap. The gold and silver were cast in the shape of copper coins, and there were many gold ones, glittering brightly enough to dazzle the eyes.
"Wow!" The boys had never seen so much money before. They crowded over together, all wanting to touch it, their eyes practically shining with greed.
Yuan Gang pulled the cord shut and tied the pouch tight before tossing it to Da Bang. He reminded him, "Give this money to the village elders to keep collectively. Tell them that although there's a lot of it, they mustn't take it outside and spend it recklessly. The world is in the middle of war, and flaunting wealth can easily bring disaster upon the village. Only use it for genuine emergencies or things that absolutely must be bought. Do you understand?"
At that, Lan Ruoting and the other two exchanged another glance, their interest in Yuan Gang growing even stronger.
Niu Youdao also nodded. "Yes. If you spend it recklessly, don't blame me for making the village repay it later. I worked hard for this money. It's meant to solve difficulties, not for people to squander."
The young men nodded repeatedly. Da Bang thumped his chest. "Don't worry, Brother Dao. We know how hard it is to earn money. You're kind enough to give so much to the village—how could we waste it? I'll make everything clear when I get back."
Niu Youdao chuckled. "Good."
Yuan Gang waved his hand. "All right, go back."
His words carried considerable weight. The young men obeyed, turning back with a wave and looking over their shoulders every few steps. "Brother Gangzi, Brother Dao, we'll head back first. Leave early and return early!"
Niu Youdao waved back with a smile, while Yuan Gang stood ramrod straight and watched them leave.
Once the people had disappeared, Yuan Gang turned to Niu Youdao. "Let's go."
From atop his horse, Lan Ruoting smiled. "Brother Yuan, can you ride?"
Niu Youdao turned his head and cheerfully replied, "Don't just say ride a horse—he can fly planes and drive tanks too."
"Planes? Tanks?"
Lan Ruoting, Shang Chaozong, and Shang Shuqing cried out in unison. All three stared blankly, utterly bewildered. They looked at one another, thinking they had misheard, and only realized they had not when they saw that everyone else was just as confused.
"What are planes and tanks?" Shang Shuqing asked.
Yuan Gang's expression remained cold and impassive, without the slightest reaction.
Niu Youdao realized he had let something slip. He chuckled awkwardly. "They're things from the countryside. You wouldn't be interested in them anyway, so never mind."
"It seems we're simply ignorant," Shang Shuqing said regretfully. Seeing that he did not wish to elaborate, she did not ask anything further.
Lan Ruoting instead jerked his chin toward the end of the mountain road. "Since the mage has returned to his homeland, won't he go back and have a look?"
Yuan Gang, who had been unwilling to speak with them, replied coldly, "Every time the government soldiers come, they enter the village and loot it. Mountain villagers can't handle such a grand spectacle."
Everyone understood the meaning behind his words. Lan Ruoting and Shang Chaozong's expressions grew solemn. They were not angry because of what he had said; rather, they fully understood it. Even setting aside the past, they had witnessed plenty of the misery Yuan Gang described during this journey alone.
But the guard beside Shang Chaozong grew furious. He pointed his whip at Yuan Gang and shouted, "How dare you! How could the Prince possibly—"
Yuan Gang cast him a cold sidelong glance. Shang Chaozong hummed in warning, signaling the man to shut up.
Seeing that things had become awkward, Niu Youdao hurriedly smoothed things over with a cheerful smile. "He simply doesn't want to delay the Prince's journey over a personal matter. There's no need to go back, no need."
Shang Chaozong turned back. "Give Brother Yuan a horse!" Clearly, his first impression of Yuan Gang was better than his impression of Niu Youdao. The reason was simple: at a glance, he could see the bearing of the Yingyang Guard and Wulie Guard in Yuan Gang, which made him feel close to the man. Meanwhile, there was not a single truthful sentence in Niu Youdao's mouth. He did not seem like a good person.
Someone soon led over another mount. Yuan Gang took the reins, swung himself onto the horse, and moved with clean, crisp efficiency.
Lan Ruoting and the others clearly took note of it. They could tell that Yuan Gang was no ordinary mountain villager and had considerable experience handling horses.
Shang Chaozong made a hand signal. The group stopped moving forward, and the rear turned into the front as they headed back.
Before you continue