"Taoist, what were you just saying to that person?"
"He stole my money."
"Mm? Ah?"
The little female child suddenly stopped in her tracks and walked no further.
Judging by her look, she seemed to want to go snatch it back.
"I already made him give it back."
"Bite him to death."
"People can't do that."
"Beat him to death."
"This isn't a matter of biting to death or beating to death." Song You patted her head, which was within easy reach given her height—quite convenient indeed. "Commit how big of a wrong, suffer how big of a punishment. You can't say that because someone stole some money from you, you beat them to death. That doesn't conform to human rules."
"Oh."
The female child nodded, looking thoughtful.
Just when Song You thought she had understood something and perhaps gained some insight, she simply stretched out her hand and asked him:
"Do you want to eat an immortal pill?"
"What?"
"An immortal pill."
"?"
Song You was puzzled.
He lowered his head and looked—
A tiny little hand, with a fair and tender palm that was extremely pretty. Resting right in the middle was a small pellet, extremely, extremely tiny.
The female child looked up at him, her face clean and white, her expression serious.
"What is this?"
"An immortal pill!"
The female child seemed firmly convinced of this.
"Where did you get it?"
"Found it."
"Found it where?"
"From my nose."
"..."
Song You was speechless for a moment.
And that female child kept urging him:
"Are you going to eat it or not?"
"Not eating it."
"Why?"
"Don't look for this kind of immortal pill anymore in the future."
"If you won't eat it, I will!"
"Slap..."
"Eh? Why did you knock my immortal pill away?"
"Don't eat this ever again."
The two figures, one tall and one short, walked further and further away.
After searching around for a circle, they finally found the mule and horse market.
As the name suggested, this place mainly traded mules, horses, and donkeys.
As soon as they stepped inside, a smell of manure hit them.
There were many people bargaining. Some reached into sleeves to touch hands, while others talked normally, and quite a few jianghu folk had also come here to pick out a mount to their liking.
Horse judging was skilled work, and a good horse suited a hero. If someone picked a good horse, it naturally added wings to a tiger, and if the horse was chosen by a hero, it could also bask in some of that glory. It was just that thousand-li horses were hard to find and heroes were also rare. Yet if a thousand-li horse happened to run into a hero, it was mutual accomplishment, and should anyone write a biography or romance in the future, who was to say both wouldn't leave their names in history.
Song You was not someone skilled in judging horses, but he had his own method of selection.
He didn't plan to buy today anyway. Buying a horse these days was like buying a car, and mules weren't much cheaper either; even wealthy households had to be cautious about it and couldn't be rash.
"Three Flower Lady, remember to stay close to me. There are too many jianghu people here, so don't get yourself abducted."
"Oh."
Three Flower Lady's eyes had long been captivated by the large horses and mules on the roadside, and it was hard to tell whether she had heard his words or not. Song You figured she mostly hadn't heard, as this little cat even wobbled as she walked.
Song You had no choice but to take hold of her hand.
The two of them, one tall and one short, walked and looked around.
Yi Capital was an important node for the tea-horse trade, and the horses here mostly came from the southwest direction. They were short and small; to put it without exaggeration, they were not much bigger than some large donkeys.
However, there were truly no inferior horses in this world.
Each had its own use, that was all.
Even the southwestern horses, which were often treated as inferior, were unmatched by any other horse breed when it came to walking mountain trails.
It was just that horses were precious, requiring fine feeding and grooming, which made the cost of raising them high, and good horses also commanded high selling prices. Their only advantage was being good at running and having a handsome appearance. Yet long-distance travel rarely involved much running, so their advantage of strong explosive power didn't seem to come in very useful, making their cost-effectiveness low.
Unless one could manage to buy a Northern Yuan horse.
Northern Yuan horses lived on the northern plateau under harsh conditions, making them extremely tough, cold- and heat-resistant, tolerant of rough feed, and possessing great endurance. Yet although these horses couldn't be considered tall, nor was their explosive power strong, they had always been the military horse breed most commonly used by the Great Yan court, and they were not very common on the market.
Donkeys were the exact opposite.
Tolerant of rough feed, strong in endurance, and their value for labor was not low either.
Literati were fond of riding donkeys these days; it was an elegant pursuit. A few years ago, the reigning chancellor had even ridden a donkey to court to flaunt his scholarly prestige and nobility, and Taoists riding donkeys was also very popular, carrying a transcendent aura of immortality.
Mules were right in the middle, absorbing the advantages of both.
Yet mules were also divided into two kinds: hinny and donkey-mule.
Compared to each other, a hinny's body shape was closer to a donkey's, and its strength and habits were also closer to a donkey's; it was tough, tolerant of rough feed, and somewhat shorter. A horse-mule's body shape was closer to a horse's, being tall and even possessing strength not inferior to a horse, and a good horse-mule was no cheaper than a horse. Both possessed labor value exceeding that of a donkey, and both were tougher and more durable than horses.
Viewed this way, it seemed mules were a better choice.
Alas, lately the Son of Heaven seemed to have plans for a military campaign in the north once again, and both horses and mules were crucial military supplies. It was said the official authorities had already bought up a large number of horses and mules before the temple fair market opened. This not only caused the prices of horses and mules at the temple fair's mule and horse market to skyrocket—with a southwestern horse casually costing upwards of twenty strings of cash—but also meant the good ones had almost all been selected, leaving behind some less desirable ones that were being bitterly cursed and fought over by jianghu folk.
Song You looked around for a full circle without finding a single one to his liking.
"Are we still not buying?"
"There are none I like."
"Three Flower Lady told you to get up earlier!"
"It was my fault."
"Other people are all buying..." Three Flower Lady pointed at a person leading a horse-mule. "That person bought one!"
"No rush."
Song You planned to look for another two days; if he truly couldn't pick out a suitable one, he would just buy a little donkey and tour the world leading it, which he thought would also be quite delightful.
A few poems about riding a donkey had already popped up in his mind.
Dusk was approaching rapidly at this moment.
Having strolled through the temple fair all day, how could one not go to King Yue Temple to burn a stick of incense? Conveniently, the crowds were also thinner now.
Song You then led Three Flower Lady toward the temple.
Outside the gates was still a pair of couplets.
They read:
You pray for fame and fortune, he divines fortune and misfortune; pitifully I have neither heart nor liver, how could I come up with any ideas?
The halls block mists and clouds, the chambers array bells and cauldrons; laughable that people offer to these mud and wood figures, wasting so much money in vain.
Constable Luo had said that the couplets were not like this before, but that one day King Yue Divine Lord came in a dream, and they were changed to this. Viewed from this light, perhaps the Divine Lord really was a native of Yizhou—at least this kind of devil-may-care, carefree attitude was commonly found among the people of Yizhou.
The two of them, one tall and one short, stepped into the divine temple.
Inside sat a divine lord with a tiger's back and bear's waist, wearing seven-colored divine robes and an expression of upright righteousness, sitting squarely upon the divine altar while glaring at everyone who walked in.
As soon as Three Flower Lady stepped inside, a sharp flash of light appeared in the divine statue's eyes, startling her so much that her whole body shivered. She hastily came to a halt, looked at Song You, and wore a flustered look on her little face.
Fortunately, that flash of light vanished in the blink of an eye, and not many people saw it.
"The Divine Lord is here."
Song You patted Three Flower Lady's head, stepped forward to offer a bow as a greeting, and then lit and presented a stick of incense.
Offering incense at every temple he encountered was his habit, and he had nothing else to do either way; it wasn't out of any profound reverence for the spirits within the temple. His master often said that relying on peerless natural talent and a body full of Taoist practice made him look down upon gods, which was perhaps true, but she also often said that true ancient cultivators of the Tao should view spirits from another angle. Thus, it wasn't that Song You didn't respect deities, just that his focus differed from where ordinary people placed their reverence.
The green smoke from the joss stick curled upwards, and the candlelight flickered.
Having finished offering his incense, Song You turned around and was about to leave when he suddenly paused. He looked at the divine statue before him, thought for a moment, and then spoke: "Since the Divine Lord is here, I wonder if you have seen petty villains outside committing misdeeds and thievery?"
A flash of light appeared in the eyes of the divine statue once again.
"I have been presumptuous."
Song You strode out the door, feeling a deep sense of joy welling up in his heart.
This was the happiest thing he had done lately.
Every step he took upon leaving the temple made the sky grow a fraction darker.
The night of the temple fair was no less desolate than the day; instead, countless talented scholars and fair maidens came out with colorful lanterns to stroll and weave through the riddle corridors. The maidens stole glances at the scholars, while the scholars also stole glances at the maidens. With slightly better fate, it would turn into a romance like that of Yi'an Jushi.
Song You only lingered over the night market snacks.
A few skewers of roasted meat, a bowl of water-basin mutton, and a molten-centered fire persimmon made for a northern-style meal rarely tasted elsewhere, and the flavor was not inferior even to later generations. This would be his dinner for today.
Song You liked this feeling.
He liked this feeling of not being inferior to later generations.
"Herbal medicine, good effects!
"Skinny folks eat it and put on fat! Peeing can shoot eight zhang high!
"Everyone asks how to take it? If you have wine, soak it in wine; if you have no wine, soak it in urine; if you have neither wine nor urine, chewing it dry is still effective!"
A crowd was attracted by him and gathered around in a circle.
Song You revealed a smile once again.
This fellow still hadn't called it a day yet.
Before you continue