A Donkey Named Tauxue

Chapter 38: A Donkey Named Tauxue

"Buy a horse?" Father was instantly startled. "We can't afford one."

"But I really don't want to keep walking back and forth. I'll be coming to Meng City often in the future; when will this walking ever end? Otherwise, Luo Qianshan, why don't you go talk to the Prefect and have him open a post station for our Lower Yan Village!"

Luo Qianshan was sipping his porridge in small mouthfuls. Upon hearing this, he swallowed a mouthful of piping hot porridge, letting out a yelp of pain.

"Don't talk nonsense. A post station isn't something that can be built on a whim, and your Lower Yan Village couldn't afford to maintain one anyway..." Luo Qianshan found Zi Bofeng to be a truly strange fellow; sometimes he was meticulous, yet other times he was far too whimsical, speaking without a second thought.

"It's just a few horses and a building, isn't it..." Zi Bofeng muttered.

"You don't understand." Luo Qianshan shook his head, advising him, "Give up on this idea as soon as possible. Only two extremely remote townships in Meng City have post stations, and even they are constantly complaining about the burden. The expenses required for a post station must be shared by the local area; keeping a post horse is no easy task."

"Then let's just go buy one ourselves. Even a small horse would be fine..." Zi Bofeng pleaded with his father. Having grown accustomed to a life where he could just hop into a car in his previous life, Zi Bofeng had developed a deep loathing for walking the fifty miles to Meng City.

"Scholar, if you want something to get around, wouldn't buying a donkey or a mule be enough?" The young orderly, squatting in the corner with a bowl of porridge, slurped as he spoke.

"A donkey? A mule?" Zi Bofeng was instantly disappointed. "How could they be as majestic as a horse..."

"Majestic? If I gave you a horse, would you even know how to ride it?" Luo Qianshan rolled his eyes. "Besides, even the Prefect doesn't always use a horse-drawn carriage when he goes out; he uses a donkey cart. Are you more precious than the Prefect?"

"Didn't we ride in a horse-drawn carriage last time?" Zi Bofeng remembered that they had indeed traveled by carriage when they returned to the village.

"That was the Prefect showing you courtesy. Don't be ungrateful; you have no idea how long Old Qi at the post station complained to me. It broke his heart to have his prized horses pull a carriage."

Seeing Zi Bofeng roll his eyes, Luo Qianshan knew that the Prefect's flirtatious winks had all been cast upon a blind man.

"Alright then..." Zi Bofeng said weakly. "Then... let's buy a mule..."

"We can't buy a mule either! If we buy anything, it can only be a donkey!" Zi Jian snorted from the side and said no more. If Zi Bofeng could reach out and touch his father's chest, he would surely feel the ache within. Buying a donkey just for trips to Meng City? That was far too extravagant.

However, his son was now a guest of the Prefect, and having to walk to Meng City every time was a bit too shabby. Riding a donkey would at least provide a mount for travel.

"If you want to buy a donkey, let Xiao Jiu take you later. His family used to raise them." Luo Qianshan gestured toward his young orderly.

"Leave it to me!" The young orderly slapped his chest with a resounding thud.

Zi Bofeng looked up at the sky, imagined himself riding on a donkey, and immediately began to sigh.

"I have a little donkey, I never ride it. One day I felt inspired and rode it to the market. I held a little whip in my hand, feeling quite proud. I don't know how, but clatter-clatter, I fell into a pile of mud..."

On the main road from Meng City to Lower Yan Village, a black-and-white donkey pulled a flatbed cart along the path. Its long ears twitched, and its hooves struck the road with a crisp clip-clop, the sound traveling far alongside the nursery rhyme.

Little Stone sat on the donkey's back, waving a small whip and singing excitedly. Uncle Zhuzi held the donkey's lead, walking in front, while Zi Bofeng, Zi Jian, and Zhuzi's Mother sat on the cart behind. Zhuzi's Mother, whose complexion had improved significantly, sat sideways in the cart, watching her son lead the donkey and chatting intermittently with Zi Jian. Perhaps because he was still pained by the cost of the donkey, Zi Jian was not very talkative, his brows furrowed as he pondered something.

Zi Bofeng sighed as he watched the little donkey for a while. Seeing its tail flicking back and forth and its four legs moving with such ease and cheer, he couldn't help but feel a bit happier himself.

"Little Stone, hurry and get down so your Uncle Zhuzi can sit for a while." Seeing that Zhuzi had been walking for so long, Zi Jian spoke up.

"It's no trouble." Zhuzi laughed as he drove the donkey. Although it wasn't his own, driving it was much faster than pulling the cart himself. The donkey moved quickly, and Zhuzi had to jog to keep up. Before long, he was sweating, yet he couldn't stop grinning. He reached back and gave the base of the donkey's ears a firm pat, praising, "What a fine donkey!"

The donkey seemed to understand the praise, snorting and lowering its head to pick up speed.

Little Stone, sitting on the donkey's back, stopped singing and began shouting "Charge!" and "Kill!", as if he were a great general.

"Better to ride a Tauxue donkey than to gallop a wind-chasing horse. Frosty hooves lose their bridle, yet many are those who find joy." Zi Bofeng had come to terms with it. As a scholar with no strength to truss a chicken, riding a tall horse would be less practical than riding a little donkey. Now, it seemed the donkey wasn't slow at all; it was steady and had a good temperament.

Thinking this way, he looked at the little donkey again and found it more and more pleasing. Its coat was black and white—black on its back, snow-white on its belly, and its four legs were black with white spots, as if snow had been splashed upon them.

"Let's call it Tauxue," Zi Bofeng said. Everything he owned looked better the more he looked at it.

"Tauxue, Tauxue." Little Stone called out twice, then shook his head. "That doesn't sound good. Let's call it Xiaoxue instead. Xiaoxue, Xiaoxue."

Little Stone giggled as he called out, leaning over to gently scratch the donkey's neck. The donkey seemed to know it was being addressed, braying twice and moving even more briskly.

Now Zhuzi really couldn't keep up. He hurriedly pulled the reins to control the donkey's speed and reached out to Little Stone. "That won't do. It's moving too fast now; it's dangerous to sit up there."

Little Stone reluctantly let Zhuzi lift him down to sit at the back of the cart, where Zhuzi's Mother held him.

Zhuzi sat on the cart shaft, waving the whip to drive the donkey cart. As he traveled, he scolded the donkey: "Xiaoxue, turn left! Xiaoxue, walk steady!" With all the shouting and hollering, they soon turned onto the small mountain path leading to Lower Yan Village.

Passing the Galloping Horse Stone, Zi Bofeng looked closely and saw that the obsession and spiritual energy on the stone had gathered a bit more. Looking at the rock shaped like a galloping horse, Zi Bofeng couldn't help but sigh again.

Although a donkey was fine, having a horse would have been nice too.

Still too poor!

He figured his father wouldn't allow him to buy a horse for at least a year or two, so he might as well focus on the present. Zi Bofeng began calculating how to upgrade his little donkey into an epic-tier monster mount.

The journey from Meng City to Lower Yan Village usually took half a day, but now it took just over an hour—more than twice as fast. Only Zi Bofeng was still thinking about how much better it would be if it only took half an hour, like in his previous life.

Not far from the village entrance, a group of children came running after them, shouting and chasing the cart. One called out "Teacher," another shouted "Donkey," and Zi Bofeng couldn't help but feel like they were insulting him, leaving him both amused and exasperated.

As they traveled a bit further, they saw Yan Lao Wu squatting there, smoking his dry pipe. Seeing the group arrive with the little donkey, his aged face instantly bloomed into a smile. "Who bought this little donkey? It's a fine one!" he said, reaching out to touch the donkey's ears.

Seeing Yan Lao Wu, the good mood Zi Bofeng had felt on the road slowly faded, as he was reminded of the Jade Tax.

"Elder, I have something I need to discuss with you in a moment," Zi Bofeng said solemnly.

"If it's about building a post station, then don't bother," the old man waved his hand quickly. Zi Bofeng now realized that suggesting a post station had been a joke, and he blushed, quickly adding, "It's not about the post station. This matter is very serious—more serious than the tax collection last time."

"Really?" The old man was startled. He hadn't had a few days of peace yet; surely it wasn't happening again?

Once Zi Bofeng explained the situation to him, the old man's brows furrowed deeply.

"This... this... sigh..." The old man shook his head, "This is Heaven refusing to let us live..."

It isn't Heaven refusing to let us live; it is the immortals. This was cutting off a person's livelihood, an irreconcilable blood feud. The species known as immortals knew only how to scrape the land clean the moment they appeared; they were even more detestable than corrupt officials. They deserved to die, and it would be better if they were wiped out entirely. It was just that Zi Bofeng still harbored a resistance toward the extreme idea of assassination. Besides, that fellow Luo Qianshan's assassination plan was truly unreliable and unlikely to succeed. That was why, before leaving, Zi Bofeng had warned Luo Qianshan not to attempt an assassination lightly, as it would only result in a mutual destruction where both sides suffered.

Furthermore, even if an assassination were successful, it would merely be quenching thirst with poison, perhaps inviting even more severe retaliation. He figured Luo Qianshan would not be so reckless as to strike just yet; the matter required further careful deliberation. Although Zi Bofeng had said he would return to make preparations early and that such matters should be left for big shots on the level of the Prefect to worry about, he remained preoccupied and unable to set his mind at ease.

The Prefect was upright and incorruptible, Luo Qianshan was brave and righteous, and the villagers were kind and dutiful; this was the life Zi Bofeng loved and cherished most. He did not want anyone to destroy it.

"Hush, you mustn't say such things!" Yan Lao Wu hurriedly covered Zi Bofeng's mouth, his face turning pale with fright. "You don't understand the power of the immortals. Forty years ago, when we paid the Jade Tax, a white-bearded old Daoist came to our village and killed that giant tiger in the mountains with a single sword strike. I was the one who guided that immortal at the time... My grandfather was still alive then, and he told me that when he was young, a bear spirit was causing trouble in the mountains, and it was that same white-bearded old immortal who came down and killed it with one strike. For decades, that immortal hadn't even changed his appearance... Is the immortal who came this time a white-bearded old Daoist?"

"No, it is a youth in white." Zi Bofeng shook his head, recalling the young cultivator with his fluttering white robes and Feather Crane Cloud Carriage. Both were youths, yet he, a transmigrator, could only wait helplessly?

But aside from waiting, what else could he do?

Zi Bofeng took a breath and said, "Old man, let's not speak more of this for now. We shall wait until the official documents arrive before making plans." Zi Bofeng added, "I need to deliberate on this thoroughly."

"I understand." The old man nodded and continued, "Tomorrow, I will call upon a few of my old brothers, take my old dog, and go into the mountains to search for jade as well..."

In the end, the old man still did not believe there was any other solution to this matter; the only course of action for now was to desperately search for jade.

Record of Raising Monsters