At a crossroads on the official road, four parties met by chance, then departed in two pairs.
Having run into the people they had come to find, Wang Xiongdan, Ma Ping'er, and their companions naturally headed north with Dou Xiaoniang, straight toward Gaoji Lake. Having encountered Su Jingfang, with the business on the other side now out of her hands, Zhang Shiniang intended to return directly to Wuan Commandery with him, taking the reply and gifts... The only slight surprise was Feng Wuyi. After realizing certain things, he volunteered to visit Wuan Commandery and pay his respects to Governor Li.
Clearly, although this confidant of the emperor had begun changing his view of the "bandits," in other respects he remained unmoved. He was still loyal to the Great Wei court, or rather, to the emperor personally... This encounter had given him certain concerns about Li Ding, governor of Wuan Commandery.
If the old man wanted to go, what could they do, stop him?
He was both an imperial confidant and the head of a second- or third-rank local aristocratic lineage in Hebei. He could not be treated lightly.
Zhang Shiniang was easygoing by nature, but Su Jingfang was a careful fellow. They reached Wucheng County at a leisurely pace that day, and that evening he used their guest's difficulty riding as a reason to detach a cavalry escort for him, while he himself escorted his master's wife back to Wuan at speed with a small mounted party, so he could explain things to his master beforehand.
Old Feng could do nothing about it. He really was poor at riding, so he could only accept the arrangement.
Yet after just two or three days traveling west by carriage, with Red Mountain dimly visible ahead, he crossed into Wuan Commandery and spent