Chapter 1: When the father suffers humiliation, the son must avenge him

  "Both young masters are traveling far for the first time, and they didn't even prepare some dry rations. It's still dozens of miles to the next town, and it would be great if we can arrive before dark. Not eating for a day is probably unbearable for your bodies." The speaker was a fellow in charge of taking care of the goods on this carriage, from the Wang Cai Merchant Company.

  Xiao Chen heard this and was slightly stunned. His cultivation had reached a realm where, although he hadn't built his foundation and couldn't reach the state of Bigu, not eating or drinking for ten days or half a month wouldn't have too much impact on him. Upon hearing this, he immediately laughed and said: "Younger brother, you and I chatted so enthusiastically this morning that we forgot to prepare even a bit of dry rations. What are we going to do now?"

  "Alas, I just thought of that too. It seems we brothers are in for a tough time today." Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoyi's face immediately showed a few shades of gloom, and he shook his head repeatedly.

  As for the other person in the car, it was a middle-aged man who was honest and kind-hearted. Upon hearing this, he smiled foolishly and said: "If you two gentlemen don't mind, I happened to bring some extra dry rations and biscuits. They're not anything special, just something my wife prepared at home."

  The shop assistant rolled his eyes and thought to himself, "This guy is really going to make trouble." He had noticed that Xiao Chen and the other person came empty-handed, but their clothes and demeanor were extraordinary. The cart was carrying several people's worth of dry rations, which were bought with a few silver coins, but if sold now, they might be able to make a small profit. However, being ruined by this man, his face naturally didn't look good, and he coldly said: "You two gentlemen are obviously not ordinary people, you're used to eating fine food and wearing luxurious clothes, can you even bear to look at those coarse dry rations? It's better to put them away early, lest you lose face."

  He turned his head, a flattering smile on his face, and suddenly produced a food box from somewhere, "Two young masters, there are six small dishes inside, chicken, duck, fish, and meat are all included, the insulation is well done, it's still warm, would you like to try some?"

  The man's face turned bright red upon hearing this, and he opened his mouth as if to speak, but said nothing.

  Xiao Chen heard this and gave that shopkeeper a faint glance, neither confirming nor denying it.

  It was Li Xiaoyi, who although had a calm expression, had a few hints of anger in her eyes, coldly saying: "We like to eat coarse grain buns, if you want to sell this lunchbox to someone else, go ahead, we don't need it."

  The fellow's face turned pale at the words, but seeing that the two had an extraordinary air and were dressed in a dignified manner, he didn't dare to be presumptuous. He lingered for another moment before slinking away with his rice box, probably going to peddle his food again on another carriage.

  "Big brother, if you're willing, we can pay silver to buy it. One pancake for one piece of silver, how about that?" Li Xiao Yi smiled and asked the simple-minded man after his companion left.

  "It's nothing, it's nothing, just something made at home, it's not worth anything." The man heard this and repeatedly waved his hand, but a hint of gratitude appeared on his face.

  "Let you have it then, we're not people who eat for free." Xiao Chen's eyes flashed with a strange color as he smiled and spoke.

  "Big brother is right, we brothers are not people who eat for free." Li Xiao Yi smiled and took out a silver ingot, without considering that this money could buy a cart full of coarse buns, and directly threw it to the foolish-looking man.

  The man's lips trembled with excitement as he carefully put the silver into his bosom and hid it in his small clothes. He hastily opened the small package of sorrow, leaving only two or three for himself, and poured all the rest in front of the two people. Moreover, this gentleman also brought some homemade wine with a unique flavor.

  Xiao Chen picked up the wine jug and took a sip, mixed with the taste of coarse grain cakes, it was quite another flavor.

  "Brother, come try some, this wine is actually quite good."

  Li Xiaoyi was slightly stunned upon hearing this, her face flushing with a few shades of red, and she seemed somewhat hesitant.

  "What's wrong, young brother? Don't you want to share a pot of wine with me?" Xiao Chen raised an eyebrow and said with feigned displeasure.

  "No, no! I'm just not used to drinking much, afraid of speaking nonsense after getting drunk and making a fool of myself in front of you. But since you've invited me, I'll naturally die for the sake of accompanying a gentleman!" Li Xiao Yi took over the wine jug, tilted his head back and took a big gulp, immediately starting to cough violently, his face turning bright red.

  Xiao Chen burst out laughing and thought to himself that this young man was as beautiful as a woman, and if he were to dress up as a girl, he would definitely be stunningly beautiful.

  Two men drinking wine, eating coarse cakes, chatting with that honest fellow, Xiao Chen felt his tense nerves thoroughly relaxed, his primordial spirit warm and comfortable as if basking in the sunlight, every bit of consciousness stirring more and more, suddenly producing a feeling of being on the verge of a breakthrough.

  Xiao Chen's mouth curved into a gentle smile as he leaned against the car window, his eyes slightly unfocused, seemingly gazing blankly at the passing scenery. But if someone could see into his soul, they would discover that his spiritual consciousness was undergoing a constant transformation.

  "His spiritual sense has increased a lot and also become more refined, at this moment it's probably not much worse than that of a late-stage foundation-building cultivator?" Half a beat later, Xiao Chen came back to his senses, feeling the transformation of his spiritual sense after the metamorphosis, and couldn't help but reveal a hint of a smile on his face.

  "Big brother, what's wrong?" Li Xiaoyi had been observing Xiao Chen just now, and seeing him smile, she asked.

  "It's nothing, I just thought of some past events and was lost in thought." Xiao Chen casually made an excuse, after all, this matter couldn't be told to outsiders.

  "Horse thief, is a horse thief!"

  The front team suddenly became chaotic, and the terrified voices came from afar, causing the entire team to fall into chaos for a while.

  "Hmm?" Xiao Chen's eyebrows slightly furrowed, he stood up straight and looked ahead.

  Only the front row of the team, the guards of the five merchant teams held sharp blades in their hands, and from time to time, some scattered pedestrians took out their weapons and rushed forward. After all, if they couldn't drive away the horse thieves, none of them would end up well.

  Several hundred meters ahead of the team, rolling dust and smoke, hundreds of men riding tall horses with fierce faces, came galloping.

  "Don't panic, form a circular array, carriages in front, guards at the back, and the elderly, women and children in the middle."

  The leader of the team, although the old man was greatly shocked in his heart, he could still barely keep calm and shouted orders.

  Each merchant team's guards and apprentices had all been through battles before, and after the initial panic, they were now taking action.

  The horse thief was extremely fast and in an instant he had already reached a distance of several hundred meters away from the convoy.

  "Halt!"

  The sound of shouting came, and the hundreds of horse thieves actually stopped in their tracks, whistling and shouting, stopping about 100 meters away from the convoy. The bright horse knives were suddenly swung down, and a fierce killing intent swept towards them, causing many people in the convoy to pale.

  "This old man has been on this path for nearly forty years, and has some connections with the big and small leaders. Every year, he pays his respects, not a single penny less. Is there any misunderstanding today? Which leader dares to come out and speak, we are willing to offer 1,000 taels of silver as wine money for our brothers." The old man stood at the front of the team and shouted loudly.

  PS: Inner Mongolia's full-faced collection of red tickets, oh no! So sad!