White Bridge Town

White Bridge Town was built along the water. Bluestone houses interspersed with thatched earthen homes stood in a scattered patchwork, while the bluestone slabs paving the roads had been worn smooth and rounded by years of passing feet and trampling hooves.

The town had a population of several thousand, making it a major town within dozens of li.

It was named White Bridge Town because reaching it required crossing a white marble bridge.

When Chen Mo and Ma Cai arrived in town, the sun was just rising. The townspeople streamed back and forth, and carts and horses crowded the roads, making it quite lively.

"Today is the Fifteenth Grand Market, so there are especially many people." Ma Cai could not help sighing as he looked at the scene before him.

The people from the dozens of villages surrounding White Bridge Town, along with the many peddlers who traveled from village to village to attend markets, had all hurried here today.

"Mo-ge, let's find a bathhouse and wash up first," Ma Cai suggested.

"All right." Chen Mo nodded. He had not bathed in over a month, and he truly wanted to wash himself thoroughly.

Ma Cai was quite familiar with the town's circumstances. He quickly led Chen Mo to a bathhouse.

"Ten wen for the communal pool, fifty wen for a private room," the bathhouse owner said after taking a puff of his pipe.

The communal pool meant everyone stripped naked and bathed together, while the private rooms had wooden screens for privacy, with one separate tub per person.

Charcoal was expensive in winter, and firewood was not cheap either. Bathing could absolutely be considered a somewhat luxurious indulgence.

Even if ordinary people bathed once a month, they would basically use the communal pool. No one would be willing to pay for a private room.

"Two private rooms." Ma Cai spoke up and proactively took a single qian of silver from his robes.

"Certainly! Gentlemen, this way, please!" After accepting the money, the bathhouse owner immediately became enthusiastic.

He had not expected the two men, despite wearing coarse hemp clothing, to spend so generously.

"Mo-ge, I'll treat you this time." Ma Cai chuckled, seeming to have something to say.

"Go on. What is it?" Chen Mo saw what he meant and asked directly.

"Could you lend me two taels of silver later? My home isn't far from town, and I want to go back for a look." Ma Cai rubbed his hands, his smile somewhat awkward.

Asking someone for money was never easy. If Chen Mo had not asked first, he did not know when he would have found the courage to say it.

"All right. But I don't have any small silver on me right now. I'll break it later and give it to you." Chen Mo agreed with a smile instead of refusing.

He believed Ma Cai was not the sort of person who would borrow money and not repay it.

Besides, he was about to join the Guard Camp, so there was no need to worry that Ma Cai would take the money and disappear.

"Good. I'll definitely repay you within two months." Seeing him agree, Ma Cai immediately felt relieved.

The bathhouse owner took two wooden plaques from behind him and handed one each to Chen Mo and Ma Cai.

As long as they held the plaques, the bathhouse attendants would bring hot water into their private rooms.

Fires burned throughout the bathhouse, making it quite warm.

Chen Mo washed himself very carefully. He knew that after this bath, he had no idea when he would get another chance, so he needed to make the most of it.

He also used the scissors and razor provided by the bathhouse to trim his hair and shave his face clean.

Growing a beard was not something a man of Chen Mo's age did yet. In Great Qian, only middle-aged men over thirty grew beards.

As for his hair, he did not dare cut it too short. Although Great Qian had no saying about the body, hair, and skin being gifts from one's parents, few people in Xingyuan Prefecture wore their hair short.

Winter was too cold, and long hair could keep one warm.

Chen Mo kept his hair long not only for warmth, but also because if he had to wear a helmet in the future, long hair would be more comfortable than short hair.

He had not previously had any chance to come into contact with armor, but now that he had become one of General Sun's personal guards, he would certainly come into contact with it.

Personal guards without armor and elite armored soldiers in full battle gear were entirely different concepts.

In this era, three to five hundred elite armored soldiers could already decide the victor of a battle involving ten thousand men.

As the personal guards General Sun had painstakingly trained, they would surely be equipped with armor as much as possible. Only then could their usefulness be maximized.

After trimming his hair and beard and cleaning himself from head to toe, Chen Mo finally changed into the clean clothes he had brought earlier.

Although they were still coarse hemp garments, they were much cleaner than what he had been wearing.

"Come on. Let's find a ready-made clothing shop. I'll buy two sets of clothes and break the silver for you." Chen Mo stepped out of the private room and spoke quietly to Ma Cai, who was resting nearby.

He did have some money now, but as the saying went, wealth should not be flaunted. This was not something to announce loudly.

There were three ready-made clothing shops in town, and Ma Cai was fairly familiar with one of them.

Silk was the most expensive fabric, cotton came next, and hemp was the cheapest.

Chen Mo bought two sets of cotton underclothes, two sets of thick hemp outer garments, two pairs of durable layered-cloth shoes, and four pairs of cotton socks. The shopkeeper also threw in two square cloth headscarves made from scraps and a money pouch.

Everything together cost two taels and seven qian of silver.

That was only because Chen Mo had not bought cotton for all his clothes. Otherwise, the price would have been more than another tael higher.

After changing into the new clothes, he put his old clothes and the dirty garments he had just removed into his clothing bundle. Though the garments were poor, they were still wearable, and throwing them away would have been wasteful.

As for his old shoes, whose soles were nearly worn through, he could simply discard them.

Once Chen Mo had changed, he took out the silver and paid.

He had no objections to the price. It was fair.

Shops like this had been operating locally for decades, across two or three generations, doing business with the locals. If word of cheating people had gotten out, they would have gone under long ago.

Although he was not a local, he had a local standing beside him. The shopkeeper would not cheat him.

After taking the change from the shopkeeper, Chen Mo counted out two taels and handed them to Ma Cai.

"Thank you, Mo-ge. I expect I'll return to the barracks later, so you can go back first." Ma Cai did not invite Chen Mo to his home as a guest. Their relationship had nowhere near reached that point.

"All right. In any case, just make sure you return to camp before dawn tomorrow." Chen Mo gave him a casual reminder, and the two parted ways.

With the more than five taels of silver he had left, Chen Mo first found a restaurant and enjoyed a good meal. Then he bought two jin of white sugar, two jin of pastries, and one jin of fine tobacco from the Grand Market.

He had bought these things mainly to give to He Ma Guan.

When he had first arrived at the barracks, He Ma Guan had given him quite a few things. Even the quilt he was using now had been lent to him by He Ma Guan.

Not to mention how much He Ma Guan had looked after him. Even when Chen Mo secretly ate a great deal of the horses' grain, He Ma Guan had turned a blind eye.

A drop of water should be repaid with a surging spring. Chen Mo did not dare claim he could live up to that.

But when someone had shown him kindness, he should remember it and find an opportunity to repay it.

After leaving this time, he reckoned it would be difficult to return to the barracks. He had no vendetta to settle, so repaying this debt of gratitude before he left would be enough.

After completing all these errands, the silver in his possession rapidly dwindled, leaving him with only a little over four taels and five qian.

He put half the silver in the money pouch he had bought earlier and carried it with him, while he carefully wrapped the other half in a headscarf and tucked it close to his body.

One should not put all one's eggs in a single basket. That way, even if he fell victim to a pickpocket, not all his money would be stolen.

After this was done, he finally left the small town and headed toward the barracks thirty li away.

He spent two wen to ride part of the way in a donkey cart, leaving only two or three li of road for Chen Mo to walk.

When he returned to the barracks carrying bundles large and small, Ding Bao was directing two other newly arrived soldiers to shovel manure.

After Chen Mo and Ma Cai left, he was the only groom with much experience remaining.

Naturally, such rough work could not be given to He Ma Guan, so he could only lead the other two soldiers in doing it.

Chen Mo ignored them. He set down the bundle filled with clothes, picked up the gifts, and went to find He Ma Guan.