Chapter 41: Lights in the dark night, money leads the way After traveling thousands of miles under the stars and moonlight, four people rode on horses in the wind, and it was two days later. Chu Ge stood on the hillside, looking at the torches that were flickering like hundreds of fireflies in the distance on the plain outside the city wall not far below the mountain, and exclaimed. "It seems that the surrounding towns are becoming increasingly unsafe. There are so many caravans traveling to the capital at night." The night in this world is not like the world before the time travel where there were street lights everywhere. Walking in the wild is like being in pitch darkness. You may not be able to see a person standing five meters away. Moreover, there are many wild beasts in the wild, and even the legendary monsters and demons, which are extremely dangerous. Few people are willing to travel at night unless they have to. Fortunately, this place is only a stone's throw away from the city. Under the cover of the brilliant starry sky, the Jiangcheng City not far away is also brightly lit. The flags on the top of the city are fluttering, and the guards who are guarding and looking out on the battlements and watchtowers can be vaguely seen, giving people a sense of security.

After Chu Ge climbed up to look into the distance, he quickly flew down the hillside. On the mountain road at the foot of the hill, a carriage was parked alone. A hanging scroll and a red lantern were hung at the front of the car, and a kite was hung at the rear, swaying quietly in the wind. Along the way, Chu Ge learned from his mistakes and occasionally used the clairvoyance kite to observe the surrounding situation to prevent the bandits from targeting him, so his journey was smooth. As for the four Yellow Turban thugs who had pulled the cart before, Chu Ge considerately sent them to Longzhong to reunite with their stewards. Now, Chu Ge had to drag the carriage loaded with several large boxes to the provincial capital by himself. After all, enslaving four Yellow Turban thugs would be too conspicuous and would attract a lot of attention, including perhaps some Yellow Turban masters. Chu Ge didn't want to make a high-profile move upon his arrival, so the next day, his body was found in a stinking ditch outside the city. He grabbed the shaft of the carriage and drove quickly towards the city. "Hahahaha - gee whiz! gee! Pillar! Quick, run faster!" In the carriage, the charming Xiao Qian was shaking her two smooth little feet and laughing. She had already changed into a new paper body. She looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, still childish, wearing a jade-colored, red, green, and rosy-red velvet jacket, with a circle of pigtails on her head, and dimples faintly visible on her cheeks. After two days of practice on the way, she has become proficient in using the paper box voice machine made by Chu Ge and can communicate in simple conversation. "Little girl, if I speed up, you won't be able to bear it!" Chu Ge snorted softly and suddenly increased his running speed. Xiao Qian screamed "Ah" in surprise, and the paper figure was almost blown away. She immediately grabbed the kite string hanging on the carriage to steady herself, and hid in the carriage to curse angrily. "Bad pillar!" Chu Ge laughed and said, "If you use a little bit of your own strength, the body of the paper man will become heavier like a normal person. When I have money in the future, I will use gold paper to rebuild your core, and your body will be stronger."

Xiao Qian in the carriage cheered, and poked her head out again, curiously asking, "Why, first, must we use gold paper? Can't we use the membrane of a demon or spirit fish?" "Ok?" Chu Ge was startled, then nodded and said, "You are right, but compared to the gold paper that can be bought with money, these two are too difficult to get. Maybe in the city, the resources are more abundant and I can get them. By the way, are there really strange monsters?" "Yes, yes. Xiao Qian once saw them at an auction house when she was with the big villain. They are very powerful and precious, and are loved by demon warriors." Chu Ge knew the big villain Xiao Qian was talking about, that is, the Soul Chaser Old Man, and asked. "How strong is he? Has he surpassed the ordinary warriors and reached the Condensed Energy Realm?" "No, I don't know, but I feel that it's the weakest one. It would be very dangerous if you met it." Chu Ge was speechless for a moment. He subconsciously looked at the dark mountains and fields around him, feeling uneasy. But he had used the Thousand Mile Kite to observe the energy of living creatures in the surrounding mountains and fields before, and did not find any strong energy. So he felt more at ease walking at night, he said. "I have never seen any strange monsters or demons. I heard that these strange creatures live in remote and desolate areas, far away from the Great Zhou. There shouldn't be any near this city." "Yes, yes, but Xiao Qian heard from the big villain that the world has been in chaos recently, and strange monsters have begun to appear in some places, eating an entire village alive." "That's really dangerous! I have to hurry up and break through the Condensation Realm. Spiritual aptitude, spiritual aptitude. Xiao Qian, you seem to be very spiritual. Can you tell that I have spiritual aptitude?" Xiao Qian was confused, "." Chu Ge didn't get a response, so he couldn't help but smile. He turned to look at the city not far away that was emitting light in the darkness, like a crawling giant beast, and ran with steady steps. Soon, he ran out of the mountain road and came to the official road, where he met some caravans. He found a caravan that was easy to talk to, told them about his unfortunate experience of having his horse killed by gangsters, and then bought a horse from the caravan at a high price. In this way, you don’t have to work like a beast of burden. Driving the carriage again, Chu Ge took out the pass from his bag and followed the flow of people heading towards the city gate, checking everyone entering the city one by one. In this world, everyone is traveling all night long, exhausted, and the sanitary conditions are not very good. It is common for some people not to take a bath for months. So they gathered together at the city gate. Suddenly, a strange and unpleasant smell mixed with sweat, foot odor, bad breath, and the smell of burning cheap tobacco leaves filled the air, covering all directions and making it hard to breathe. There were people from all over the crowd, speaking dialects from all over the place, which made people feel confused. Even if there were some pretty good-looking women in the crowd, their faces were dull and sallow, and they looked stupid. In the stinky environment, one really didn't bother to even take a second look at them. Although Chu Ge was not a pampered young man, he was a time traveler after all. He was instinctively uncomfortable with this kind of environment. He waited in line for a long time before he was allowed to enter the city after verifying his pass. During this trip, I vaguely heard that in the future, people might have to pay a fee to enter the city. Many of the poor people who were whispering became more miserable as they spoke. “You have to pay to enter the city.” Chu Ge was puzzled at first, but after entering the city, he saw the crowds of people and some people sleeping on the streets with torn quilts and cotton wool as mats, and he immediately understood.

Although Jiangcheng Prefecture is a prefecture capital, it has a large area. But if we continue to accommodate them at this rate, the streets will soon be too crowded to move. It was the dead of winter and people were even starving to death in some villages. In addition, the world is in chaos nowadays, so naturally more and more people will flow into the city, and there may even be a refugee crisis. The overall environment seems to be getting worse. "Hey, the carriage can't go on the main road. It's blocking the way. Pull it to the post station on the side." At this time, an official from the city came and shouted at Chu Ge. Chu Ge's heart moved, and he walked over with a smile and clasped his fists and said, "Sir, do you know if there is a caravan from the Wang family in Linyuan City recently?" While he was speaking, he had already calmly taken out a ten-liang silver ingot from his sleeve and stuffed it into his pocket. "How would I know?" The official looked impatient and was about to say he didn't know, but when he saw the shining silver, his impatient look immediately turned into a smile. After accepting the silver, he looked at Chu Ge, clasped his fists politely and smiled. "So you're the rich young man from Linyuan City. I was wondering why your accent sounded so familiar. Hey, don't tell me, of course I know where all the people who have entered the city recently have gone. If the Wang family caravan you mentioned entered the city, it would most likely be at the Yuexi Inn on the west side of the city. The teams from Linyuan City all like to live there." "I see! Thank you very much, sir! You really know everything that is going on in the city and you really do your job conscientiously." "No, no! It's just my duty. I can't refuse it. You are also a handsome man, honest and reliable." The official smiled even more broadly, "Come on, come on, your carriage, take this road to the other side. This road is wide and goes straight along the river." "Oh? You're not going to the inn? I'm new here and I don't want to cause trouble for the official." "Oh! I'm sorry. The folks in Linyuan City all follow the rules. You don't have to be polite." "Good good!" Chu Ge got into the carriage with a smile, waved goodbye to the official with whom he "hit it off at first sight", and went straight to Xicheng District along the direct passage. "Hey! This rich country gentry is really generous! And he speaks so nicely!" The official watched Chu Ge leave, looked down at the silver ingot, took a bite, nodded, and put it in his pocket. Then he put away his smile, frowned, put his hands behind his back, and continued to maintain order in the city. "Is it him?" "It's him, that's him. He looks very much like the portrait, only more mature." "Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and invite him to the Lin Mansion as a guest. We can also receive a reward!" "No, no, no, let's just follow. The Lin family's housekeeper's meaning is very clear. Let us influence this person subtly and go to the Lin family on our own initiative, instead of inviting him immediately. You go and report to the Lin family first. The person has arrived." In the crowd, there were two figures following Chu Ge's carriage from a distance, talking in low voices. (Today I got 6K, guys, keep in formation and keep going)

(End of this chapter)