Chapter 73 | Ink East

Lin Shan’s words caused Xiao Lu to freak out.

Oh my goodness, it’s over!! The shock is too much for Master to handle! Even Gu Zuo, who is known as the Palace’s most honest man, said he saw Lian Feng falling down the river valley with his own eyes. How could Lian Superior be alive? Yet, Master is demanding that we look for him. Has she turned insane?

At this moment, Lin Shan had already regained her mind.

Who says Lian Feng is dead? If he is dead, I demand to see his body. So far, they haven’t been able to find his body. This means that there is a chance he is alive! As long as there is hope, she is not going to give up so easily. As long as there’s a possibility that he’s alive, she will find him! Even if the chances of finding him is one out of ten thousand, she will look through the ends of the Earth.

Her optimism gave her a sudden boost of energy, and she crawled out of bed. Lin Shan commanded Xiao Lu: “Pack our things and leave the Palace with me. We’re going to find Lian Feng.”

——-

Du Hao never expected the woman who cried as if her livers and guts were torn in pieces would recover so quickly. At the time, it seemed like Lin Shan was never going to get out of her traumatic state. By the time he realized that Lin Shan was not the type to mope and submit to the will of the Heaven, it was too late.

This time, Lin Shan truly left. She even took her treasure box from underneath the pillow. There was a letter on the empty table. It looked like it was written by a dog -all the letters were crooked: I went to find Lian Feng. I’m sure we will meet again one day.

Du Hao scrunched up the letter as blue veins popped out from his forehead. His fingers were tightly clenched: “Song Luo, you fool!”

“Ahh-choo!” Lin Shan sneezed in her eunuch outfit.

Xiao Lu was anxious: “Master, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Lin Shan shook her head. She had never felt so determined before. Her body was filled with strength. “Let’s find an inn first to organized our things. Then, we will head towards the Black Mountain.”

The two of them left the Palace very quickly and changed out of their eunuch outfits into two scholars outfits. They found an ordinary inn on the west side of the Capital that would make it more convenient for them to go on their journey.

Lin Shan gave the waiter a silver sycee* and ordered him to find her a horse carriage. The waiter’s eyes shone when he saw the silver. He nodded and bowed as he took the money and ran off in search of a carriage.

*A reader told me this is a sycee! Haha. In case you don’t know what it is, I found a picture to give you an idea.

Xiao Lu stared in astonishment: “Master, your servant finally understands why you love money so much. It turns out money is very important!”

“Now you know?” Lin Shan rolled her eyes, “Money isn’t everything, but without money, you’re screwed. We need to find Lian Feng so we’re going to need to use a lot of money. Watch and learn.”

Xiao Lu obeyed and continuously nodded. But then, she hesitated: “But Master, if we cannot find Lian Superior, are we going to keep looking forever?”

Xiao Lu didn’t think before she spoke, and Lin Shan’s mood immediately dropped. Just as Xiao Lu realized her mistake, Lin Shan suddenly lifted her head and firmly stated with an abnormal amount of positivity: “Yes, we will keep looking until we find him!”

Although she knew they wouldn’t find anything, at that moment, Xiao Lu couldn’t help but became as confident as Lin Shan. Perhaps Lian Superior was still alive…perhaps they really will find him…

Sometimes, a person’s determination can be a very scary thing. It’s like a donkey chasing after the dangling carrot. Those with hope will never stop going forward. Lin Shan felt like she had fallen into this state and she could not stop. She knew if she stopped, she will immediately turn depressed. If she gave up hope, then she will definitely never see Lian Feng again.

It was a sleepless night. The next morning, the waiter brought them to the horse carriage he had purchased. When Lin Shan and Xiao Lu saw it, they were dumbfounded.

T-that….was considered a horse carriage? It honestly looked like a broken frame with a cloth on top of it. The horse appeared to be weak and worn out. To make things worse, the one controlling the horse was an old man that was at least eighty years old. His hair was all white and he had a very thick mountain accent. He greeted Lin Shan: “Masta, where ya want ta go yo?”

Lin Shan felt like she had been struck by lightning. Xiao Lu tightly refused to let go of the waiter’s hand: “You’re so corrupted! We gave you a silver sycee and you found us this broken carriage?”

The waiter had a hoodlum attitude: “It is not my fault. The Emperor is ill and the country is in a mess right now. There is a lack of supply. A silver sycee? Even if you gave someone a gold sycee, they might not find something as good. Look at this horse, it is so lovely! Look at this carriage, it is so sturdy!” As he spoke, he tapped onto the carriage and the window fell off.

Lin Shan: “…..”

Xiao Lu: “…..”

At that moment, the horse driver spoke up: “Masta, he is right. Ma horse is fast ah. Fasta than a donkey!”

Lin Shan nearly cried. This horse can compete against a donkey? I’ll chop off my head to let you use as a seat!

Although the horse carriage was shocking, what the waiter said was somewhat true. Since the Emperor was ill, all the entrepreneurs saw it as an opportunity to make a profit during this unstable time. They started hoarding the horses; making the supply very low to raise the prices. Now that the demand was high, they were making a lot of money. Who cares about those who can’t afford it?

As a result, Lin Shan and Xiao Lu ended up on the horse carriage that was supposedly better than a donkey carriage. Along the way, the horse driver sang in the dialect that they couldn’t understand.

Normally, it would only take about a day or so to arrive at the outskirts of the Black Dragon Mountain if they spurred a fast horse. Unfortunately, the horse carriage that Lin Shan rented was much too shabby. It was slow and shaky. After heading out for half a day, they had barely exited the city gates.

Lin Shan was already suffering from horse sickness as she nearly puked out her intestines. When she looked up at Xiao Lu, her servant looked paralyzed. Xiao Lu couldn’t even stand. She was just mumbling repeatedly: “Water…water….”

Lin Shan quickly took out the water canteen, but there was no water remaining. She ordered the horse driver to find water, but surprisingly, the horse driver was willing to do everything else but that.

“Ownlee one horse ma. If I gone, you two steal my horse ah?”

It took a while for Lin Shan to understand the driver. She finally realized the horse driver was afraid they would take his horse and run.

Lin Shan looked at the horse that couldn’t even chew grass. She twitched. Umm, please. Mister, I’d rather steal a donkey than your horse!

Anyhow, the horse driver was too stubborn and refused to go regardless of what Lin Shan said. Lin Shan had no choice but to go off and search for water on her own. Fortunately, there was an abundant supply of water on the outskirts of the Capital. Lin Shan quickly found a spring and filled up the water canteen.

She went back for Xiao Lu. But when she came back, her eyes nearly popped out.

What the f***? Where was the horse carriage?

The highland where they were resting was empty. There was only a weak Xiao Lu sitting next to a tree. She looked like she had lost all her senses.

Lin Shan felt an explosion in her mind. She instantly started shaking Xiao Lu: “Xiao Lu! Xiao Lu! Wake up!!”

Xiao Lu weakly opened her eyes and asked as if she was dying: “Master, do you have water?”

“Water your head!” Lin Shan was almost in tears, “Where’s the horse carriage? Where’s the horse driver? Where’s all our stuff?”

Xiao Lu appeared lost as she looked around her. She shook her head: “I don’t know….”

At that moment, Lin Shan knew. They have been scammed.

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