The Witchcraft Academy stood on a low mountain twenty li from Wen'an County.
The academy was also the Witch Sect's branch altar in Wen'an County, and it enjoyed a flourishing incense trade.
A massive complex of gray-and-white buildings climbed the mountain in tier upon tier. Quite a few carriages of every kind were already parked at its foot, sent by families in the city to fetch their children.
Liu Qi drove the carriage into an empty space and brought it to a stop, then climbed down with the maid Xiao Gao. He said to Lu Chen, "Brother Lu, sorry for the trouble, but could you watch the carriage for a while? We'll go up to fetch the young ladies and bring down their luggage."
Lu Chen glanced at the mountain path. It wasn't very steep, but it was long. "I'll come too. The luggage might be heavy."
"No need, no need." Liu Qi waved a hand. "It's just a few personal belongings. We can manage. You can rest here, Brother Lu."
"Fine."
After a while, laughter drifted down from the mountain path, followed by several handsome young men and pretty young women.
Liu Qi and Xiao Gao trailed behind them, carrying armfuls of trunks and bundles. Their backs were bent beneath the weight, and they stumbled with every step.
Seeing this, Lu Chen immediately jumped down from the carriage shaft and hurried over to help.
Liu Qi caught his breath and gave a wry smile.
"At last, we're down. Thanks, Brother Lu."
Once he'd caught his breath, he nodded toward the young men and women who had already reached the carriage. "Besides the two young ladies, three of their classmates are coming back to the county seat with us this time. Luckily, Madam had the foresight to rent such a spacious carriage. Otherwise, there'd be no room for them all."
As he spoke, he and Lu Chen helped Xiao Gao arrange the luggage carefully in the rear compartment and on the roof rack.
Master's Wife's two daughters were each prettier than the last.
The elder sister was named Mei Dai. She was fourteen, with a slender waist and long legs.
The younger sister was Mei Ying. She was thirteen, petite and delicate, with a face as exquisitely doll-like as a porcelain figurine.
Since Master Deng had married into the family, both girls had taken their mother's surname.
The three classmates with them were all young men, and all handsome.
One was surnamed Zhang, another Lei. Both came from wealthy local families in Wen'an.
The third, surnamed Wen, was from out of town. Judging by his clothes, he wasn't as well-off as the other two, but in terms of looks, he was easily the most striking of them all.
All three were pursuing the two young ladies.
Once everyone had climbed into the carriage, they set off for the county seat.
With so many people aboard, the two horses pulling the carriage could barely manage the load and made slow progress.
Lu Chen asked, "Will we make it back before dark?"
Liu Qi nodded. "We will. I guarantee we'll reach the city gates before dark."
Lu Chen said nothing more.
The carriage rattled along, while the people inside chatted and laughed.
Lu Chen held a saber and kept a wary eye on the road on either side.
The New Year was approaching. Thieves and bandits would be looking to scrape together some money for a good holiday, so they had to stay alert.
As he listened to the lively chatter inside the carriage, he gradually began to pick up on something.
It would be more accurate to say that the three young men were pursuing the younger sister, Mei Ying, than both of the young ladies.
Mei Ying really was prettier than her sister. Her voice was sweet and bright, and she seemed to have inherited her father's gift of the gab.
Her older sister Mei Dai, on the other hand, was more like Master's Wife. She was somewhat cold-tempered and spoke little. Aside from her tall figure and long legs, she seemed far less eye-catching than her younger sister in every way.
The three young men were trying their hardest to crack jokes, each line aimed at Mei Ying as they took turns trying to make her laugh.
Her sister only occasionally chimed in, her voice cool and quiet.
Halfway along the road, snow began to fall.
Lu Chen's vigilance rose to its peak.
In weather like this, in a place like this, bandits were most likely to appear.
Sure enough, a mother and child stepped into the road ahead.
The woman looked to be in her early twenties. She wore a faded blue cotton jacket and cradled a child wrapped in a thick cloak, from which only a pair of pitch-black eyes peeked out.
"Kind sir! Please, take pity on us and give a mother and her child a ride! The little one can't stand this cold. We only need to go as far as the village up ahead!" The woman blocked the carriage and begged.
Liu Qi looked uncertainly toward Lu Chen.
Lu Chen said nothing, only sizing up the mother and child with a cold stare.
"What's going on?" A corner of the carriage curtain lifted, revealing Young Master Lei's impatient face. "Why have we stopped?"
"Young Master Lei, a woman has stopped the carriage and wants a ride for part of the way," Liu Qi quickly explained.
"Stopped the carriage?" Young Master Lei glanced at the mother and child in the middle of the road and frowned. "In this desolate place, who knows where she's from? Send her away quickly. It'll be dark soon, and we still have a long way to go."
Mei Dai added quietly, "It is strange. What respectable woman would be out traveling with a young child in weather like this?"
None of them were fools. In these times, the roads beyond the city were never safe.
A young woman traveling alone with a child, stopping carriages in a snowstorm? Nine times out of ten, it was a trap.
"The carriage is full. We can't take you," Lu Chen said. "The village up ahead is only five or six li away. Walk there yourself."
He gave Liu Qi a slight nod.
Liu Qi understood and flicked the reins. "Hyah!"
The woman tried to stop them again, her pleas growing more urgent.
But the carriage had already picked up speed, leaving her behind in the snow.
They had traveled another two or three li when three government officers came riding toward them. They all wore official robes dusted with snow and looked to be in a hurry.
The man in front pulled hard on his reins and blocked the road, calling out,
"Hey, driver! Have you seen a young woman with a child of five or six?"
At his words, Young Master Lei immediately lifted the carriage curtain and hurried to answer. "Yes, yes! She's on the road behind us, not far from here. She's carrying a child and still stopping carriages."
The officer's eyes lit up. He exchanged a glance with his companions, then, without asking anything further, barked, "Move!"
The three men spurred their horses and galloped back the way they had come, kicking up a spray of snowy mud.
The carriage continued on.
About the time it took an incense stick to burn, Lu Chen suddenly raised a hand and said in a low voice, "Slow down!"
Liu Qi hurriedly reined in the horses.
The road ahead was completely blocked. Several trees as thick as bowls had been felled and lay sprawled across the road, with piles of rocks heaped among them. The official road was completely impassable.
The snow was covered in a tangle of tracks.
Even more unsettling, a carriage lay overturned beside the roadblock. The horses that had pulled it were nowhere to be seen. Its shafts were broken, and the carriage body was smashed.
Several pools of blood had splashed across the snow, frozen to a dark brown.
Against the expanse of white snow, they stood out like glaring red stains.
All around them was silence, broken only by the howling wind and snow.
The people in the carriage cried out when they saw the scene.
Lu Chen jumped down, rested a hand on his saber, and swept his gaze over the surroundings.
The blood hadn't frozen solid, but the carriage and horses were gone. It was clear they'd only just been robbed.
He knew exactly what had happened: they'd run into bandits blocking the road.
Returning to the carriage, he clasped his hands to the three young men in fine clothes.
"Gentlemen, I'm sorry for the trouble, but please get down and lend a hand clearing the road."
Young Master Zhang's face fell at once.
He'd been spoiled since childhood and had soft, delicate skin. When had he ever done such hard labor? He said with distaste,
"Why should people like us get our hands dirty with such coarse work? Isn't that the sort of thing servants like you are here for?"
Young Master Lei joined in. "Your masters pay you wages. Did they hire you to act like lords? And now you're ordering us around? You've got no sense of rank or propriety!"
Seeing this, Liu Qi hurried to explain. "You two young masters have misunderstood. Brother Lu isn't a servant. He's a disciple of the Plum Blossom Martial Hall, and he's on the verge of breaking through to External Force. Madam knew the year-end would be dangerous, so she specially invited Brother Lu to escort the two young ladies."
Hearing this, Mei Ying pressed her lips together and smiled, her voice bright and clear.
"I knew it. Father's always so calculating—why would he suddenly be generous enough to hire another hand? So Brother Lu is an expert hired by Mother to protect us."
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