A group of people strolled towards the North City Gate with ten horses, which was still very eye-catching, although there were not many pedestrians on North Street now.
As we got closer to the outer city, there were more and more people. There were some military households living here. There were many off-duty soldiers and elderly men and women gathering together on the roadside to chat.
Seeing their group, especially the group of horses, everyone looked at them strangely, and started muttering to each other as soon as they passed by.
This scene reminded Qingyan of the alley entrance to their home. Every day when she went out or came home, there was always a group of people gathering there.
Her grandma is often there too. Sometimes she asks her grandma to go home with her, but she doesn't leave. She always goes back very late. She said that if she doesn't take all the people back home, then there must be some people who are fine. Their home...
As soon as they arrived at the outer city, He Linling and the other three suddenly stopped.
He Linling said to Qingyan: "Miss Xue, can you please bring these horses over? Then you can give us twenty taels for each horse. One tael will be considered as your hard work."
Qingyan was stunned and didn't understand what was going on. The distance was only a few hundred meters, so she threw away ten taels of silver?
It was only after Chou Chou sent a message to her that she understood what was going on.
"There are two people on the other side of the city gate pretending to rest, but their eyes are furtive. It should be related to them."
"Can they see it from so far away? I didn't even see it." Qingyan said doubtfully.
Chou Chou: "They must have thought of their situation and prepared for a rainy day. They just accidentally stumbled into a blind cat and a dead mouse."
Well, Qingyan's eyes flashed when she heard this, and she said with a smile: "It's only a few steps away, and that's ten taels of silver. Aren't I taking advantage?"
He Linling also smiled back, "How could it be? If we hadn't met the girl, we wouldn't have been able to sell for a high price in the horse market. This is what Miss Xue deserves."
Qingyan shook her head, took the reins of the horses, and led them to the open space on the side, "It doesn't have to be like this. There are people coming and going at the city gate. It's not good to drive all these horses over. I can go over by myself." Speak to the soldier yesterday and ask him to come here in person so that you don’t have to drive the horse over."
He Linling and the others' eyes lit up, "That's fine, we'll wait here, but we still have to give you the ten taels, just think of it as an introduction fee for you, and it's all a thank you to Miss Xue."
When Qingyan saw her like this, she couldn't shirk it. She knew that she was afraid that the debt she owed would be difficult to repay, so she took it as a payment this time.
This open space is not far from the city gate in the outer city. It should be used for training soldiers. In front of the open space, there is a row of wooden shelves and a wall with some ropes and other things on it. The wooden shelves should be used to store weapons. The wall I don't know what to use it for.
The horse is placed here just right, so it can't be seen from the city gate.
When she walked to the north city gate, she still looked around, but she didn't find the two words Chou Chou said. She only found it after Chou Chou told her the direction and clothes of the other party.
Those two people looked like ordinary passers-by, as if they were preparing to leave the city, waiting for someone or taking a rest first. They had no weapons on them, and there were no horses or vehicles beside them. They only had two burdens. There was nothing different about them. The place.
Of course, Chou Chou had used his spiritual sense to investigate and found that there was a sharp blade hidden in the pole. He had just seen them looking around before, and their expressions were not quite right.
I just don't know if they are from the same group of people who were chasing the three people before. If so, they can be considered to have saved themselves a trouble.
Otherwise, if she had driven the horses over just now and was discovered by them, even if she didn't know the person, she would have recognized the horses, and they would definitely count her as a group of three.
Qingyan was afraid of being stared at by the other party, so she only glanced at them from a distance and passed by them as if nothing had happened.
When I walked to the side entrance of the North City Gate, I saw the soldier on duty there yesterday. I guess he was on duty during this time period during the day.
Now that the sun was shining brightly, the two men did not stand stupidly under the sun outside the city gate, but stood under the doorway. When there was someone there, they would check. If there was no one, they would stand there and look outside the city for a while, and then look inside the city for a while.
There are not many people coming in and out of the North City Gate now. Compared to the South City Gate, there are far fewer people. The two of them just looked this way. The soldier who bought the horse yesterday looked at it a few more times and waited for Qingyan to leave. As he got closer, he confirmed that it was the little girl from yesterday.
Before Qingyan could step forward, he said something to the soldier next to him who was on duty together, and walked towards Qingyan.
She looked at Qingyan and said with some curiosity: "Girl, it's really you. I didn't recognize you when you changed your dress. Are you going out of town or..."
That's what he asked. Seeing that Qingyan didn't take anything with her empty hands, and there was no one riding a horse to drive the carriage, she was definitely not leaving the city.
He suspected that the other party came to find him. After all, he told the other party yesterday that if there were still horses, he could come to him, but he did not expect that the other party would come the next day.
Sure enough, I heard the other party say: "Didn't the military master say yesterday that if there are horses, I can sell them to you? A friend of mine also came here today. He has ten horses there, which are the same as mine."
The two of us ate together at that time, his was two more than mine. If you still need it, you can take a look, but I don’t know if you have time now. "
The soldier hesitated for a moment, then asked: "Are you in the south city of this city now?"
Qingyan shook her head, "No, it's not that far. It's in the outer city. I drove the horses here. I was afraid that I would block the road when I got to the city gate and affect your duty, so I stayed not far from here. The place is in an open space outside the inner city."
When the man heard this, he smiled and said: "That's no problem. Girl, please wait a moment. I'll go up and say something, and then I'll go over with you to have a look."
Qingyan smiled and nodded, "Okay."
Seeing people going up the tower like yesterday, Qingyan stood sideways. The door opening on this side was not that wide, and there were soldiers holding weapons inside. If she continued to stand there, it would affect other people's access.
The man came down from the tower not long after, and with him came a soldier wearing the same clothes as him. The soldier took over his post and stood there.
"Let's go, the girl and I will go over there and take a look. If it's suitable, we'll go straight to our horse yard.
It's hard to tell whether the girl was thoughtful enough to drive all the horses to the city gate. "
Although collecting horses is also an official job, it is his second uncle's job after all. His duty is to guard the city gate, so it does have some negative effects on others seeing him doing this.
When this person just went up, Chou Chou told Qingyan that this person's second uncle was not on the tower yesterday, only his father was on duty up there.
It was a coincidence yesterday that Qingyan happened to meet his second uncle who had just received an errand to buy horses. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to do the transaction so happily.
As he walked, the soldier introduced himself to Qingyan: "My surname is Feng, and my name is Dongyue. I haven't asked the girl what her surname is yet."
Qingyan replied: "The little girl's surname is Xue."
When Feng Dongyue heard this surname, he was surprised and asked: "The girl is from Xue Changshi's family..."
Before he could finish speaking, Qingyan waved her hands and said, "I have nothing to do with Xue Changshi. If we really want to calculate it, we just happened to have the same last name. Even if we are related, we are probably far away and have not moved around."
She was about to leave, so instead of causing trouble for others, it was better to distance herself from her relationship.
Feng Dongyue smiled and nodded, and did not continue the topic.
He had heard that there were several daughters in Xue Changshi's family, but they seemed to be married and there should be no one of this age, so he did not think about the daughters of Xue family.
Those of them who were on duty at the city gate, especially his father who was also the prison general, knew a little bit about the family members of the superiors above.
He just looked at what Qingyan was wearing today and her last name and made some guesses. The person might be a branch of the Xue family or a relative of the main family.
Even if the relationship is relatively distant, the family situation should be good. Yesterday, he saw that the other party's demeanor did not look like an ordinary girl, so although the other party came with a few horses, he did not feel that the other party was an ordinary girl. The horse dealer probably just happened to get that batch of horses. Since he couldn't take them away, he simply sold them for money.
Although it was a bit strange to the other party as to why the other party had two women with children and a group of horses, it was none of his business. After all, his second uncle happened to be on such an errand. If someone was dozing off, someone would give him a pillow, and both parties would benefit. There is nothing to worry about.
As long as the second uncle's mission is completed, his benefits will definitely be indispensable. It's a win-win situation, so why not do it.
Not long after, they arrived at the place where the horses were. When they walked there, they found that only the horses were left there. Ten horses were tied to wooden frames, but all three people from the He family were missing.
Qingyan rolled her eyes secretly in her heart, she was really too careful.
She felt that both she and Chou Chou had made the right decision just now. The other party was indeed careful in everything, and it was not like they discovered that anyone was spying on them.
This was for the sake of caution, and he didn't want to be exposed. He probably saw her bringing someone over from a distance, so he found a place to hide.
Qingyan didn't say much. Fortunately, she didn't say that her friend was waiting here. She just said that her friend's horse was asked to come over to help sell it. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to explain and it would easily arouse people's suspicion.
As soon as Feng Dongyue looked at these horses, he knew that they were indeed from the same batch as the eight horses yesterday. Not only were they of the same quality, but they also had the same saddle style.
But I had to go through the motions and look at the teeth and hooves of the horses one by one. They were all good horses in their prime. The hooves had just been repaired not long ago, so I happily paid for them.
This time it was easy to settle the accounts. There were ten horses in total, which was exactly two hundred and one taels. I gave two silver notes worth one hundred taels, and then gave me ten taels and one ingot of silver.
Qingyan took it without saying anything. This ingot of silver happened to be her favor fee, so she could just pretend to be it.
Then according to Feng Dongyue's request, he helped him drive the horses to a yard not far to the north.
This yard looks like a place dedicated to raising horses, and there are two people watching it.
There was only one room in the yard that could be occupied by people, and the rest were all stables, among which were the eight horses he bought from Qingyan yesterday.
When the horses saw Qingyan, they bared their teeth or snorted, as if to say hello to her.
Feng Dongyue said in surprise: "These horses actually know you!"
Qingyan smiled and said, "I've been raising them for a while anyway. I'll definitely remember them when I feed them good grass and good food."
Feng Dongyue laughed and didn't take it seriously. He drove the ten horses into the stable with her, told the two horse officials and asked them to put some fodder and water in the trough for the horses, and then he and Qingyan Out of the yard.
Before we parted, I said to Qingyan again, "If Miss Xue still has horses, you can come and find me. If I'm not here, you can find my father, and he will take care of this matter."
Qingyan smiled and agreed, and the two parted ways.
Qingyan walked directly into the city because she heard Chou Chou said that the three people were waiting in the third alley after entering the inner city. It was a dead end and there was no one in it.
Qingyan asked the two people on the other side of the city gate if they could leave. Chou Chou said that the two people left the city, but they did not leave. They were sitting in a tea shed on the edge of the official road outside the city, probably wanting to wait and see.
When Qingyan walked to the alley, she saw three people walking out of it. Qingyan took out the two banknotes without asking anything and handed them to He Linling.
He smiled and said to them: "It's already lunch time. I won't earn your ten taels of silver in vain. Why don't I just treat you to a nice meal? After dinner, I will give you the donkey cart." If you drive them out, it won’t waste much time.”
The three of them looked at each other and exchanged glances. He Linling nodded towards Qingyan, "How can we let Miss Xue spend money? We should treat you to this meal. This is a lot of extra money."
This was not a lie. They had never thought that the saddle could be sold for money. The horse dealer obviously would not remind them. This was considered an extra profit.
There was another back-and-forth between the two parties, but in the end He Linling had the upper hand, and the group walked east together. The restaurants were all on the East Street, and there were only some snack stalls on the south side.
Qingyan and He Linling chatted while walking.
"Did Miss Xue settle here later?"
Qingyan shook her head, "That's not true. I'm out to travel. I just met an acquaintance passing by and gave him a ride. I will leave here tomorrow."
He Linling's eyes flashed when he heard this, and he asked curiously: "Then which direction is Miss Xue going next?"
Qingyan looked at her and was afraid that the other party wanted to go with her, so she replied: "Next, I am going north to visit a friend in Yecheng."
He Linling said with some disappointment: "That's it. What a pity. If the girl goes south, we can still travel together for a while, so we can take care of each other."
