The Bear Hunt

Foreword:

The world is full of evil in people's hearts; all things still depend on Heaven to nurture people.

--Shi Nai'an

[Part 1: Helping out]

"Please go and exchange some silver dollars, sir. The government can't accept these red notes."

The first step on the way to the capital encountered a minor but significant difficulty. When Xue Ming arrived at the prefectural governor's office, the clerk in charge of travel documents, travel permits, and household registration began to give him a hard time.

These silver dollars are the hard currency of Xiabang, a precious metal used to combat Mad Butterfly Disease (the Great Xia's abbreviation for Madness Butterfly Syndrome). Trade between Shambhala and the Nine Realms cannot be done with just red notes (Hui Stone Currency); one must exchange them at large merchants and banks.

The clerk had originally planned to take this opportunity to rip off these out-of-towners. These guests from the Nine Realms didn't know the exchange rate, and if he could take them to a few of his regular customers' homes, he could make a lot of money by extorting money during the currency exchange process. He could then ask for some ticket fees, making a profit from both ends. Just from this doctor alone, he could make at least two hundred large silver dollars.

"Then could you please calculate for me how much it would cost to travel from Xiantai Prefecture to the Capital City?"

The minor official panicked upon hearing this.

He was sitting in a small hut next to the yamen, doing his bidding through a curtained window, with yamen runners watching him from both sides. When the government's violent organs heard this, they just laughed and mocked him, finding it unbelievable.

"Esteemed guest." The person handling the matter was merely a clerk, not an official from Xiantai Prefecture who received the appointment letter and had it personally signed and approved by the Provincial Governor. He didn't have the audacity of an official appointed by the imperial court. "Are you here in Xiabang alone?"

Jiang Xueming was unfamiliar with the transportation network of Great Xia, so he asked questions when he didn't understand.

"I did come alone. I'm a doctor, and I wanted to try my luck in Beijing."

The clerk quickly said, "I can't do it. I can't do it. Doctor, if you want to go to Beijing, do you have a hired escort to protect your life? The journey is dangerous. There are thirty-six passes, four rivers, and more than two thousand miles. Think twice before you act, don't lose your life in vain."

"I have arrangements." Jiang Xueming was about to finish his sentence when his keen hearing detected that two soldiers with swords beside the yamen had begun to talk privately.

"We've got some work to do."

"Should we wait until he reaches Yuguan before making our move?"

"Too early. If he were alone, he would be easier to deal with."

"What if the brothers in the barracks also want to kill him and rob him?"

"I'll make the arrangements. Judging from this robe, it's quite valuable, and he has a lot of banknotes on him. He must be a fat sheep; we can't let him get away with it."

Shh, he's looking this way.

Jiang Xueming understood. After paying the toll in Xiantai Prefecture, there should be a life-saving fee after leaving the checkpoint. Merchants traveling to and from the area either had to hire bodyguards or local protectors, or they had to pay their respects to the officials at the yamen and give them gifts. Otherwise, if these soldiers met again, they would become bandits the next time they met.

However, he wasn't going to pay.

The reason is simple: it's not that he suddenly rebelled, or that he's no longer as taciturn and reassuring as a defensive tower.

He only had a little over 30,000 Hui Stone Currency on him. This cash, converted into silver coins of the Great Xia, was only a little over 200, which was far from enough to pay for the travel document. If he were a local tenant farmer, it would be cheaper, but as a traveling merchant from outside the country, practicing medicine in Xia Bang for profit was also considered business, and he could not escape this tax.

Jiang Xueming: "Well then, sir, please listen to me."

Upon hearing the words "Sir," the clerk immediately perked up, becoming quite smug—it was far more effective for a foreigner from the Nine Realms to address someone like that than for a lowly commoner who usually bowed and scraped.

"Please speak, sir!"

"My journey is long." Xue Ming squeezed towards the window, took out two packs of cigarettes from his pocket, and handed one to the clerk. "I can't afford the toll from Sendai to Shangjing either. I'll travel for a while, stop for a while, go to the next county town to earn some money, and hire a few helpers. Is that alright?"

The clerk, having accepted the bribe, still refused to budge. He first sampled the tobacco produced on the modern industrial assembly line, then looked at the remaining pack of cigarettes in Jiang Xueming's hand. Unknowingly, he had fallen into a trap—if he could get his hands on the remaining pack, say a few words, and help with a small favor, it seemed like it wouldn't be a problem.

"Oh, that is indeed a solution."

Jiang Xueming held the cigarette case, pressing the cigarette under the curtain on the windowsill without letting go, and then asked, "Sir, how much will it cost to get to the next stop?"

"Five silver dollars will be enough," the clerk replied casually.

Jiang Xueming opened the cigarette case and handed over the gift smoothly and efficiently.

"Then I must thank you, sir. There are two roads to the north; one leads to Taizhou, and the other to Zhuzhou."

The clerk accepted the gift and said with a smile, "Of course it's Taizhou. I'll get you the tickets."

After finishing his business, Jiang Xueming did not leave the city immediately. Instead, he waited at the post station for a while. He observed the passing caravans and horses and noticed that a cloth merchant was recruiting workers in the northeastern part of the caravan. After inquiring about the situation, he learned that the caravan was heading to Zhuzhou City. The cloth merchant's family needed to transport goods and lacked grooms and porters along the way—they were willing to pay for the travel permits for the workers.

Xue Ming had gone to great lengths to obtain this booklet, but in the end, it was worth less than the red envelope given by the cloth merchant when he was recruiting workers—this shows how difficult life was for the destitute commoners of Xiantai Prefecture.

He didn't say anything, treating the travel permit as tuition. He went to the caravan foreman and got a job as a coachman. Traveling with the caravan was much more convenient, and he didn't have to argue with the "officials and bandits" of Xiantai Prefecture about paying for his life. He left the city safely.

Once on the official road, Xue Ming's driving and horse-training skills were quite proficient, but he had never seen such a terrible road before.

--This could hardly be called a road; it was just a shallow layer of stones pressing down on the weeds. There were some irrigation ditches about two miles from the city on both sides of the road, so it wouldn't flood during the rainy season. After half an hour, and after walking five or six miles, we went around the mountains and saw patches of messy stone beaches. The horses were struggling to pull the cargo, and the cloth rolls were already heavy. When the iron and wooden tools rolled up the stones, Xue Ming could feel the reins tightening and loosening intermittently. Hearing the neighing and whining of the horses in front of him, he often had to pull the animals back and wait to observe.

"Once you cross Bald Eagle Ridge, the road to Zhuzhou Peninsula will be much easier!"

The foreman's shouts came from the group, and he was seen bustling about, bringing dry food and flatbread to the caravan's drivers and handing them a silver dollar or two as a token of goodwill. It turned out that the road conditions hadn't been discussed properly at the beginning, and they had just managed to gather enough people.

The cloth trade is heavily reliant on the weather. Goods from Xiantai Prefecture can fetch an extra thirteen silver coins per roll when they reach Zhuzhou, making this a crucial aspect of the trade. Losses and damage along the way, bandits, and torrential rains can all cause trouble. This is why the foreman takes such good care of the grooms and helpers.

They were lucky this time. Less than three days later, they arrived in Zhuzhou at dusk. After handing over the goods, the foreman paid the grooms. Xue Ming received seventeen silver dollars, and he no longer had to worry about the travel expenses.

After the caravan disbanded, that very night he went to a high-end inn by the sea in Zhuzhou—a relatively safe place to stay in the bustling city center—hoping to avoid petty theft. Unexpectedly, someone came to his door late that night, demanding that he work overtime.

[Part ②·Consideration]

Having just heard the night watchman's gong in the early morning, Xue Ming washed his face with hot water in the copper basin in the guest room.

There was a loud knocking sound coming from outside the wooden door. He didn't know what was happening, so he quickly gathered his money and belongings and immediately responded.

"They're here! Who is it?"

Two men shouted from outside the door, their voices rough and resentful.

"Zhang Congfeng, is that it?!"

"Dr. Zhang, please open the door!"

Xue Ming has been spending the last two days with the foreman, so he probably knows where the two men come from.

He obtained a travel permit for Taizhou from the yamen, but when he went to Zhuzhou with the cloth shop's caravan, the Zhuzhou yamen dared not embezzle money from the cloth shop's merchants. Naturally, they would not scrutinize such a trivial matter as the travel permit.

But when Zhang Congfeng, the toll money that had originally fallen into the hands of the Xiantai Prefecture officials just vanished—these two Grandfather naturally came from Sendai to interrogate him.

Now, Xue Ming has not followed the personnel flow of Xiantai Prefecture and has become an unregistered vagrant.

"I can't even sleep peacefully." Jiang Xueming, with the attitude of minimizing the problem, opened the door.

Two gleaming steel knives were already drawn, and the two constables were extremely nervous.

--The area around Sendai is not safe. Bandits and thugs often commit crimes, robbing people for money and kidnapping people for human trafficking. People who come to do business without travel documents or without a travel permit are usually accomplices of bandits. In the process of handling affairs, this should be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

"Zhang Congfeng!" The lead constable glared angrily. "Why didn't you follow the travel permit to travel as a merchant and doctor? Why did you change your route halfway and join Li Rong's caravan? And you even became a coachman? What are your intentions?!"

What can Xue Ming do?

He couldn't just say it directly.

--Are you going to say something like, "I'm afraid you soldiers will kidnap me, castrate me, and sell me to the palace for money"?

If he had followed the original route and taken the road to Taizhou, he would have definitely encountered some obstacles, whether soldiers or bandits was anyone's guess.

But what he didn't expect was that these people would chase him all the way to Zhuzhou City to demand money. Although Sendai and Zhuzhou were both under Commander Liu's jurisdiction, these two lowly yamen runners were too persistent and dedicated. With such perseverance, why didn't they do something else?

Jiang Xueming: "Uh, I just happened to see that the fabric shop was hiring."

Before he could finish speaking, another constable shouted sternly, "If you can't give us a straight answer, you're coming with us to the yamen!"

Xue Ming had no intention of resolving the trouble with violence. If someone died, he would become a wanted criminal, making it even more difficult to go to the capital. Not to mention how he would get through the checkpoints, how would he take care of basic needs like food, drink, and sanitation outside of civilized society? Traveling and fighting in the wild, battling the elements and wild beasts in this desolate place, how could he possibly build a career? How could he capture Judas? There was no reliable open fire here, nor the Big Dipper for astronomical observation.

Isolated humans, once separated from their group, are less than animals in Great Xia.

These two unreasonable yamen runners escorted Xue Ming toward the yamen. After passing the yamen intersection, they tried to send him to jail, citing the late hour.

Just then, two prison wagons carrying convicts entered from the main street in the north of the city. The jailer's underlings led the way, banging drums and gongs, while more than thirty soldiers stood guard on both sides. The two prisoners on the wagons were both burly, fierce-looking figures, with thick beards, bushy hair, and large eyebrows. Their eyes were piercing, and even though their hands and feet were bound, their eyes still burned with intense rage when they saw these beasts in official robes.

"Two soldiers?" Jiang Xueming asked curiously, so he asked in a low voice, "Are these two prisoners bandits?"

The head constable turned around and replied, "Why are you asking so many questions? Are you one of your accomplices?"

Jiang Xueming: "I'm a doctor who heals the sick and saves lives. I'm not a bandit. There must be some misunderstanding here."

"Tch! Sweet talk!" The constable's henchman rolled his eyes.

Jiang Xueming continued, "Think about it, if you two were to take me before the magistrate of Zhuzhou, I would say the same thing—in the end, it would simply be a matter of paying money to settle the matter. I know that, I understand."

"I've figured it out. It's because I didn't go to Taizhou and didn't take care of you two on the way that I have these shackles on my hands. Does that make sense?"

"Still trying to argue?!" The yamen runners and their henchmen drew their stern batons, ready to inflict torture.

The lead constable immediately shouted, "Stop!"

"Hey! This soldier is a smart man." Jiang Xueming kicked the doctor's bag, and the sound of silver coins clinking inside immediately came out, "If you two don't mind, you can exchange it for wine. It's the travel money I earned in the cloth shop team, sixteen silver dollars in cash."

"Sigh," the head constable sighed, "It's not that I want to make things difficult for Doctor Zhang."

That's what he said, but his actions weren't exactly clean. After putting away the knife, he took out money while explaining to Jiang Xueming.

"The travel expenses from Sendai have supported so many brothers—who doesn't have elderly parents, wives, and children to support?"

"I didn't mean to cause you trouble, Doctor, but what you're doing is against the rules."

"If everyone stops paying the travel fee and stops following the road signs, what's the difference between Xiantai Prefecture and a bandit's den? It'll be lawless!"

"That's right, that's right." Jiang Xueming nodded repeatedly. "Then can I take off these shackles?"

"Untie him," the head constable said.

The henchman immediately complied, but there was a hint of resentment on his face, as if he felt he wasn't powerful enough and had been bought off with such a small amount of money.

"Sir, about these two prisoners?" Xue Ming asked again.

People with such vigorous blood and abundant vital energy are actually rare in Xia Bang. They are often either born into wealthy and prestigious families and never lack food or clothing from childhood, or they are related to the Madness Butterfly and are important raw materials for elixirs, deliberately cultivated by the Wings of Light to refine elixirs.

"These two hunters are from Taiguang County." The lead constable tapped his silver coins, and upon hearing the clear metallic clang, he put them in his pocket. "Yesterday, they went to pay a visit to the County Assistant's residence and brought him a bear."

Jiang Xueming: "Oh, bringing gifts right to the door is a good thing, why were they arrested?"

The constable chuckled, "They're quite ignorant; they're not as considerate as you, Doctor Congfeng."

Jiang Xueming: "Huh?"

The constable whispered, "Zhuzhou has always been plagued by bears. Winter has just ended, and these wild beasts come out of the mountains to eat the crops. If they're not satisfied with that, they'll try to eat poultry. Occasionally, the bolder and stronger animals will even eat human flesh."

"Two hunters from the Zhao family came to Zhuzhou to make a living. Last year, there was a great famine in Taiguang County. The two brothers couldn't find a way out in Zhao Family Village, so they desperately killed a bear, hoping to present it as a treasure."

"The County Magistrate has a godson named Wu Xiuwen, who really likes this gift."

"So, the Zhao Brothers negotiated with the County Magistrate, demanding the position of local constable and to become village tyrants in the surrounding towns and villages of Zhuzhou."

"That won't do. It's always the owner who brings food to the dog; the dog never comes up to the table to steal food."

And then what?

The bailiff lowered his voice, making it almost inaudible.

"The County Magistrate knew that these two hunters were destitute and had no one to stand up for them in Zhuzhou, so he invited a girl from Yingchun House. That night, he arranged for her to entertain the Zhao Brothers. But at midnight, he arrested the two men—the charge of abducting a woman was pinned on their heads. The bear skin and meat they had hunted were attributed to Wu Xiuwen. It was his godson's superb archery skills that rid the people of this scourge, and he had intervened in time to kill the Black Bear."

"The Zhao Brothers are really unlucky, all because they don't know how to speak properly, unlike Zhang Congfeng, who is very good at speaking."

"Ah!" Jiang Xueming suddenly realized, his fist hardening. "Is that what it is?"

"Just kidding, just kidding." The constable sheathed his weapon and led his henchmen away. "Just take it as me being careless and joking! Zhang Congfeng will be coming to Sendai for consultations in the future. I have a young daughter who has been suffering from wind-cold syndrome since childhood. Treating this spendthrift girl has almost emptied my family's coffers, and even seeking divine intervention and medicine hasn't helped."

Before the constable could finish speaking--

"What kind of illness could this Xia Bang's immortal cure?" Xue Ming interrupted immediately, wondering what kind of illness it could cure.

"If I have the chance, I will definitely cure you."

The two constables, who had been furious just moments before, became amiable after receiving the magical silver coin.

"Then we won't disturb the doctor's rest any longer. We can go through the northeast second gate, and it'll be back at the inn in about half an incense stick's time. Just look for the archway of the Heqing Family Banquet restaurant."