Galloping Through the Busy Streets

Eating, drinking, causing trouble, swaggering through the streets, and showing no respect for their elders—it seemed nothing had changed.

"Is that so?" He Chunhua glanced at her, his tone meaningful. "I haven't been home much lately. You haven't had many meals with him, have you?"

Ying Hongchan's expression changed. "My lord, Lingchuan is the one who refuses to stay home! It's already good if he comes back for dinner twice in ten days."

He Chunhua sighed. "You should be more understanding of him. After all, he'll be sixteen soon."

"Of course." Madam Ying readily agreed, just as she had in the past. "No matter what, Lingchuan is still the eldest son of the He family."

Madam Ying returned to her room. He Chunhua watched her retreating figure and let out a long breath.

Old Mo, the steward, appeared from who knew where and stopped beside him.

With his hands behind his back, He Chunhua said, "The people Donglai Manor sent to track the Leopard Demon disappeared when they reached Blackwater City. If this matter were important, they wouldn't just let it go. I'm afraid there's more to come."

He sighed. "That's not what worries me most. It's the situation in the east. We've been cut off from the Royal Court for too long. I have a feeling great upheaval is close at hand."

"Even if calamity is coming, my lord, you'll make it through safely," Steward Wu said firmly. "You always do."

￥￥￥￥￥

Another ten days passed in peace and quiet.

The date Red Cliff Road would close was drawing nearer. More and more merchants were passing in and out of Blackwater City, Governor He was growing busier by the day, and communications between Qiansong Prefecture and the eastern part of the Yuan Kingdom remained severed.

Young Master He continued to throw his weight around.

Life was so endlessly (smooth) dull (sailing) (without a) (hitch) that he didn't even know how to enjoy his peaceful days.

He Chunhua had been as busy as a spinning top lately, with no time to come home for dinner. Madam Ying hadn't gathered the two children for meals either, so everyone ate separately. He Lingchuan was happy to have things that way.

Compared with Madam Ying, He Chunhua was practically a doting father.

But contrary to what most people imagined, a rich second-generation official like He Lingchuan usually didn't have to pay for his own food and fun. For instance, Liu Baobao had invited him to dine at the Wild Goose Pavilion again today, supposedly to thank him for getting the Liu family a Passage Token. Their caravan had already returned safely.

Liu Baobao had said they were just having "a simple meal," but the dishes on the table were all rare game, and the wine was a vintage the Liu family had treasured for twenty years.

To say nothing of the beauty serving the wine: she was Liu Baobao's favorite concubine, and her limpid, peach-blossom eyes kept darting toward He Lingchuan. She was especially attentive whenever she poured his wine.

Liu Baobao saw it all and cursed the little hussy under his breath, but wore an expression of regret. "Young Master, you really have to wait until you're eighteen before you can enjoy a woman?"

"Mm-hmm." He Lingchuan set down the Braised Venison and asked for a plate of Plum-pickled Peanuts, popping two peanuts into his mouth with each sip of wine.

After nearly two months of rich meats and delicacies from the mountains and seas, he suddenly found himself longing for Pickle and Fried Dough Noodle Soup, Scallion Sugar Flatbread, and Large Wonton.

Back then, he had to eat those after paying his loan at the start of the month, until payday at the end.

But now, whenever he saw a flatbread stall by the road, he actually felt tempted to go downstairs and buy another.

It had been so long since he'd eaten one. His soul missed them.

It was like a middle-aged man who had married a beautiful, rich woman and reached the pinnacle of life, yet still sometimes dreamed of his first love—plain as clear broth with noodles.

Just then, a commotion rose from outside.

Liu Baobao had invited him to dine in a private room on the second floor of the Wild Goose Pavilion. They were seated by the railing, with a view of the street below.

He Lingchuan leaned out the window and saw the crowd, packed tight moments ago, suddenly split apart to either side. Right behind them, two tall horses came galloping toward them.

He gave a soft exclamation. At a glance, he could tell they weren't purebred steeds, but hybrids carrying Bo Beast blood. Their identifying features were their oversized heads, sharp teeth, blue-red bodies, and bulging scarlet eyes.

These mounts were called Ferocious Horses. They had inherited the Bo Beast's speed and exceptional stamina, along with its violent temper and taste for flesh and blood. They could even serve as powerful fighters on a battlefield. You could offer twenty thousand-mile steeds and still not get a single Ferocious Horse in return.

Of course, Ferocious Horses came in different grades, from high to low. He Lingchuan's beloved mount was one, a gift from a small western kingdom to the prefect of Qiansong Prefecture. It had been carefully selected and was of excellent stock, yet it was still only on par with these two.

If even the horses were such, who were their riders?

The two riders followed one behind the other. The one in front was a young man in a white robe, around seventeen or eighteen, with fine brows and bright eyes that gleamed with sharpness. Behind him rode a traveler in gray, wearing a bamboo hat. From He Lingchuan's vantage point, he couldn't see the man's face.

A Spirit Pearl, as large as a goose egg, hovered in the air before the white-robed youth, spinning round and round. An invisible force pushed the crowd away from the horses, clearing a path down the middle.

That force was anything but gentle. Pedestrians were knocked off balance, and a fat man fell onto a nearby stall, crushing the vendor's piping-hot rice cakes into flat discs.

The vendor wasn't about to let that go. The two of them immediately started arguing.

In a world full of strange powers and supernatural beings, He Lingchuan wasn't surprised. He merely chuckled. "Riding at a gallop through the busy streets. What an imposing display."

The larger cities in the Yuan Kingdom required riders to dismount and lead their horses. Blackwater City allowed people to ride, but they had to go slowly. Galloping full tilt was absolutely forbidden. Anyone caught doing so would be dragged down and given twenty lashes, fined five taels of silver, and punished further if they injured someone.

The locals were a rough lot, so the punishments had to be just as rough.

At his words, Liu Baobao stole a glance at He Lingchuan and thought, Aren't you usually just like that?

The two riders were about to pass beneath the restaurant. The street formed a T-shaped intersection, and once they turned onto the side road, there would be at least half as many pedestrians. The white-robed youth then withdrew the orb. After all, keeping it out required a constant expenditure of power.

Just then, a boy ran past along the roadside. Someone bumped into him, knocking the little rattle drum from his hand. By sheer bad luck, it landed right in the middle of the street!

The boy immediately dashed out to retrieve his toy.

He was directly in the Ferocious Horse's path.

His family cried out in alarm and rushed over from behind, but the crowd blocked them. They couldn't get there in time.

The riders showed no sign of slowing down. In two seconds at most, those enormous hooves would trample the child.

Again? He Lingchuan sighed inwardly. Why did every world have kids crawling under the wheels?

Fortunately, things were different now. He no longer needed to act personally.

"Uncle Hao!" He Lingchuan rested one hand under his chin and pointed down with the other.

Uncle Hao, who had been standing beside him as an unnoticed presence, took out two copper coins and flicked them down.

Both coins struck the ground directly in front of the Ferocious Horse, more than three feet apart. If the riders continued at full speed, the coins would likely hit the horses' legs or bellies. He threw two to prevent a rider from knocking one aside and keeping the horses at full speed.

Uncle Hao's copper coins were no joke. He Lingchuan had seen him use one to punch through a black bear's skull. A bear's skull needed no introduction for toughness; it was at least as sturdy as the bodies of these two Ferocious Horses.

The white-robed youth below assessed the situation and, sure enough, yanked hard on the reins. The Ferocious Horse neighed and reared, then came to an abrupt stop, its hooves less than seven feet from the child on the ground.