Thin Red Date Horse

"Taoist priest, you seem very happy today."

"Indeed."

"You did not even buy a horse, what are you happy about?"

Three Flower Lady tilted and lifted her head at the same time, staring doubtfully at Song You. That little look was truly extremely cute.

"Even though I did not buy a horse, I watched the lively scene."

"You like lively scenes."

"Sometimes I do."

"When are we going to buy a horse?"

"No rush, no rush."

The large and the small figures walked up to the courtyard at Tianshui Lane, only to find two people already waiting by the entrance.

The two wore thick Taoist robes and led a horse by the reins. They were precisely Yingfeng and Chuyun, the two Daoist priests from Fuqing Palace.

Seeing this, Song You was quite surprised and hurried to welcome them.

"Two Daoist priests, how did you get here?"

"Greetings, Daoist Brother—ah."

The two sucked in cold breaths and bowed to him.

Catching sight of the female child beside him, they couldn't help asking:

"This is..."

"Three Flower Lady."

"It is actually Three Flower Lady!"

"Greetings, Three Flower Lady!"

The two hurriedly paid their respects to Three Flower Lady, astonishment in their eyes.

They had only heard stories of spirits taking human form from the elders of their sect. Limited by their shallow Daoist practice, this was the first time they were seeing one.

Three Flower Lady also learned to return the bow.

Only then did Yingfeng speak: "Our Grand Master knew that Daoist Brother is traveling across the realm and lacks a packhorse. Today the King Yue Temple fair opened, and Daoist Brother would surely go to look for a horse. Yet recently the northern border lacks horses, and Grand Master guessed that Daoist Brother would most likely fail to select a satisfactory steed. As it happens, we are also coming to attend the temple fair to buy some things, and to hold some exchanges with the Daoist priests of Yi Capital. Coincidentally, a pilgrim at our palace has some connections, so Grand Master had us lead a packhorse to present to Daoist Brother. Not to mention letting Daoist Brother ride it, even if it merely helps Daoist Brother share the burden of luggage along the long and distant road, that would still be good."

Chuyun also chimed in:

"We were worried the whole time, afraid that by the time we found Daoist Brother, you would already have bought a horse, and then we could only have led it back. Now it seems, fortunately we did not."

Song You looked at the two of them.

The cold-weather protection of Taoist robes was truly limited. In this freezing winter night, the two already had their lips turned cyan from the cold. Worse yet, fog had risen in the night, and their eyebrows and hairtips both held moisture, likely adding several layers of damp chill.

And how could this horse be a mere packhorse?

Although its stature was not tall and its appearance was unpretentious, failing to count as a magnificent steed, if one looked at its large head and short neck, robust physique, broad chest and long mane, and thick skin with coarse hair, it was clearly a Northern Yuan horse.

At worst its grade among Northern Yuan horses could not be considered good, but it was a Northern Yuan horse nonetheless, which was most suited for long-distance journeys.

Song You stood without moving, his gaze flickering.

The two felt nervous in their hearts.

Only after a few seconds did Song You reach out, a smile appearing on his face as he led the horse over.

"Then many thanks."

The two hurriedly let out long sighs of relief.

"Why should Daoist Brother be so polite."

"The night is cold, come inside the room to warm yourselves by the fire."

"We won't disturb you much longer," Yingfeng said hastily. "We have been out for a long time, it is best to return as quickly as possible."

"Our palace is on good terms with Qingxiao Temple in the West City, and our elders are staying as guests at Qingxiao Temple," Chuyun added. "There are many thieves at night, if we don't go back soon our elders will worry. We will come to visit Daoist Brother again tomorrow."

"Junior Sister is right, we still have to come to the temple fair tomorrow."

"Daoist Brother must be careful, this horse is young and its temper might still be unstable."

"Daoist Brother possesses immortal methods of his own."

"That is true."

"Oh horse, horse, from now on you must be obedient. To be able to travel through the mortal world with Daoist Brother is a blessing cultivated over several lifetimes. We would want it and yet not be able to get it."

"Daoist Brother, we shall take our leave."

The two of you spoke and I replied, connecting seamlessly. It felt quite wondrous.

Song You could only watch them walk far away.

Turning back to look at the horse, it truly was an extremely young one, which could not but make him sigh. Regardless of how good or bad Guanghua Zi's Daoist cultivation and attainment might be, his grasp of human relations and skill in scheming were extremely high. This old Daoist would certainly never become an immortal in this lifetime, but he had already become a crafty old fox.

"Pfft..."

The red date horse snorted.

"Shh..."

Song You unhurriedly said to it, "Please remain somewhat quiet within this city. Once I have the free time, I will take you out to gallop."

The red date horse indeed quieted down.

Where was there any sign of an unstable temper?

Song You then smiled with satisfaction.

As for Three Flower Lady, she kept her head held high the entire time, her wide eyes fixed on the horse, her gaze sparkling as if containing stars. Once the two Daoist priests left, she, who had strolled around the mule and horse market, hurriedly asked:

"Is this horse good?"

"Of course it is good."

Hearing this, Three Flower Lady became immensely happy.

Song You had pondered for a day and roughly guessed what she was thinking in her heart. As for whether he could fully understand it, there was no real need; people cannot even fully communicate heart-to-heart with other people, let alone humans and cats.

As for the horse itself, it had the common red-date color. The Northern Yuan horse by nature was not considered tall, and it was considered short even among Northern Yuan horses. However, most of the time he only needed it to carry some luggage and travel slowly along the road. He did not need it to make hurried, tense marches like an army on campaign, so he did not demand that it be exceptionally strong.

Song You closed the courtyard gate and led the horse right over to the bamboo grove before speaking, "The little courtyard's conditions are crude and there is no stable, so we must wrong Your Excellency by having you temporarily reside here. Do not make any noise on ordinary days, and tomorrow morning I will go buy some fodder."

The horse stood without moving and truly made no sound.

"From now on, mountain after mountain and river after river, I trouble Your Excellency to travel with me and carry some luggage for me, and I certainly will not treat you unfairly."

Saying this, Song You actually cupped his hands and bowed to it.

And to tell the truth, it was quite wondrous: even though the horse still stood without moving, one could see it blinking its pitch-black eyes, looking as if it actually understood.

Right at that moment, there was knocking on the door again.

Three Flower Lady laboriously shifted her gaze away from the large horse, pattered over on running feet, and went to open the door.

Standing outside was precisely Constable Luo.

Wearing black-fabric clothes and boots, he had a saber hung at his waist.

With the King Yue Temple fair taking place these past few days, many pugilistic wanderers had come to the city, making the populace a mixed bag. The bailiffs had also all replaced their iron measuring-rulers with steel sabers.

Seeing that it was the female child again, Constable Luo's expression changed slightly, yet he neither showed it nor broke the tacit understanding of not calling her Three Flower Lady, merely cupping his hands to ask: "Is the gentleman back?"

"Back..."

Just as Three Flower Lady finished speaking, she looked back and saw Song You walking over from behind.

"Squad Leader hasn't finished work yet?"

"There is another uncanny case, I've come to seek instruction from the gentleman."

Ever since Song You figured things out before the beginning of winter, he no longer deliberately restrained these matters. Nowadays, whenever Constable Luo encountered an uncanny case requiring instruction, he no longer wandered around seeking temples, shrines, or hidden experts among the common folk, but instead came directly to the opposite door to beseech Song You. Song You was able to provide answers most of the time. And when the constable brought some miscellaneous small items on ordinary days, Song You usually did not refuse them.

The two had already developed a certain tacit understanding in their interactions.

At this moment, he invited him to speak freely.

"Today the yamen received reports from many nobles claiming that silver had been mysteriously stolen, mostly stolen while they were watching magic tricks and sleight of hand," Constable Luo recounted in detail. "To be honest, this temple fair is chaotic to begin with, and it is normal for some petty thieves to mingle within it. Yet the strange thing is that these people only lost whole silver ingots, while fragmented silver and copper coins remained completely untouched. Moreover, some people were wrapped up very tightly, and there were even officials traveling by sedan chair with all their wealth placed in boxes inside the sedan, yet the silver still vanished, and only the whole silver went missing."

"Does Squad Leader have any suspicions..."

"Among these pugilistic magic-performers, there is no lack of those with unclean hands, nor is there a lack of those with wondrous abilities. Luo suspects that those pugilistic magic-performers are committing crimes while roaming about," Constable Luo secretly sized up Song You. "Among them, a group of people plays the tricking game of Three Immortals Return to the Cave, a magic trick of conjuring things out of thin air. It not only relates to this, but among the nobles who reported the thefts, the majority of the losses were concentrated during the time they watched this magic trick. I would like to ask the gentleman, does such a method capable of stealing silver from afar exist in this world?"

"There is a kind of spell called the summon and dismiss method. The conditions for learning it are harsh, and it is not widely circulated among the folk, but when mastered to a profound degree, one can take objects from afar without the owner perceiving it, and can also cause them to vanish into thin air."

Constable Luo continued to observe Song You's expression.

It seemed the gentleman was merely answering his question, but having spent several months with the gentleman, he could tell from his tone and demeanor that the gentleman had actually already confirmed his suspicion.

"Even so, such methods are hard to trace, and the laws are strict. If we cannot find evidence and casually arrest people, I'm afraid it will be troublesome."

"If the caster of this kind of spell had the ability to take things from a thousand miles away—not to mention a thousand miles, even taking things from a hundred miles or ten miles away, or even a mile away—they wouldn't need to come perform magic tricks," Song You said. "Since the silver and money were taken from people close by, even if they put it away, they cannot have put it very far."

"!"

Constable Luo's expression condensed, and he understood at once, thereupon making a loud pa sound as he cupped his fists toward Song You.

"Many thanks, gentleman! I shall take my leave now!"

Finishing this, he strode away in a gust of wind and fire.

Only when he reached the doorway did he suddenly pause, turn back to glance in the direction of the bamboo grove, and quickly toss out a sentence: "Did the gentleman buy a horse at the temple fair? If it is inconvenient to feed and raise it, the yamen has dedicated stables. If the gentleman has need, I can help the gentleman take it to the yamen to be raised, with expenses covered by government appropriations."

Song You couldn't help smiling and hastily offered thanks.

The sound of footsteps outside then rapidly faded into the distance.

He remembered that when he returned from King Yue Temple, the magic-performers had not yet finished their work for the day. He only wondered whether Constable Luo would still be able to find the people when he went over now.