Chapter Eighty-Fifth All for Food

  Because there were Huang's soldiers to escort, the governor of Yangzhou assigned a large ship to Xu Guoxiang and his party, which was twice as big as the one Xu Guoxiang took when he came. Huang's soldier was worried about the water bandits on the way because Ah Da Xing mentioned in his letter that Wang Kuang had planned for his archenemy's downfall, so he specially selected a few skilled housekeepers who were good at martial arts and water quality to follow him. This made Xu Guoxiang secretly resentful, but now his relationship with Wang Kuang was also joyfully letting him reap the benefits, so naturally, his mouth was full of thanks.

  From Jinling to Jingzhou, the water was very calm, and with a large ship, this journey was more than twice as fast as traveling by land, covering over 200 miles in one day. Since the supplies on the boat were sufficient, they didn't stop much along the way, except that Wang Kuang would often use the excuse of going to buy food to stay for a day whenever he arrived at an ancient place, in order to appreciate the differences in the mountains and rivers and human culture over a thousand years. Xu Guoxiao and Li Yixi calculated that they still had plenty of time, so they let Wang Kuang take his time, after all, this trip was a success for them, and they had enjoyed good food, what other mission could be better than this? Moreover, staying on the road for one more day meant they could enjoy one more day of Wang Kuang's exquisite cuisine, why not?! They subconsciously hoped that it would be best to arrive in Chang'an on the last day designated by the emperor, that would be perfect.

  That afternoon, the boat arrived at Yian (now Tongling), and Wang Kuang wanted to go down and stroll around as usual. He didn't know that this was the future Tongling, but only heard from Xu Guoxu that this place was prosperous in copper smelting, so he went for a walk.

  Not yet arrived at the dock, I could already see from afar that the ships on the dock were densely packed one next to another, probably over a hundred in number. Only after asking the sailors on board did I learn that most of these ships were transporting copper. Wang looked at this scene with an open mouth, unable to speak. Such a grand sight is rarely seen even in later generations.

  Although there were many boats, the dock seemed very crowded, but Wang Kuang's boat was an official one, and on the mast, a high-flying banner of the Tian Shi festival was fluttering, and Li Ye's soldiers were standing at the bow and both sides of the ship, continuously tapping the hull with the back of their knives and shouting loudly. As a result, the dock quickly gave way to Wang Kuang's boat and cleared out a berth for it. The soldiers on the dock had already seen from afar that it was the Tian Shi official boat, so they immediately dispatched someone to report to their superior while hastily lining up in formation.

  When the boat docked, the county magistrate had already heard the news and led a group of officials from the yamen to hurry over. At this time, Xu Guoxu thought it was impossible not to get off the boat, so he tidied up his clothes and walked out of the cabin, secretly blaming the soldiers on the dock for being too nosy. Just as the boat had not yet reached Yian, Wang Kuang led a group of idle soldiers to bring out a full table of roasted fish. He had long since thrown away his position as a heavenly messenger and was having a great time with the off-duty military officers from noon until now. Even Li Yesi, since getting on the boat, had put down his official airs and often went to find Wang Kuang for food, chatting and laughing with the soldiers.

  The county magistrate, surnamed Tao, is said to be a descendant of the Three Kingdoms' Tao Kui. He was able to become the county magistrate of Yi'an thanks to his ancestors' reputation; otherwise, with Yi'an being an important copper-producing county and a crucial port on the Yangtze River, it's unlikely he would have been appointed. As a result, he has been diligent in his duties, although without any remarkable achievements, managing the region in an orderly manner without major mistakes. This time, upon hearing of the arrival of the heavenly envoy, he was shocked; previously, there had been no rumors or news from the capital about this visit. How did the heavenly envoy suddenly arrive? Could it be a secret inspection? Therefore, after receiving the message, he hastily rushed over.

  As soon as the county magistrate arrived at the dock, he saw a large official ship over 10 meters long had just stopped steadily at the dock. The sailors on the boat were setting up the gangway, and he thought to himself: "They've arrived." He hurriedly adjusted his hat and was about to go forward to greet them. However, from the cabin came out a young man in his early twenties wearing a dark blue-edged, embroidered green robe with a crimson jade-encrusted hat on his head. Behind him followed two boys around 17 or 18 years old wearing lake-blue robes with black hats and deerskin boots. One of the boys looked slightly thin and had a faint smile on his face, while the other boy was slightly more robust but had no expression, looking somewhat dull. Following behind them was a child about 10 years old, whose clothing style was identical to that of the two boys in front. The county magistrate thought to himself: "The one in front must be the important person, and the three behind him are his attendants." Without saying anything else, just from their attire, it could be seen that the young man in front was dressed luxuriously, so his status was naturally more noble. The other three were dressed normally. Therefore, he prepared to make a bow. It was also because of the recent disputes over land ownership at the mine that he had been busy with and had just returned to the county government office without receiving any news about Wang's party. Otherwise, as the head of the county, it would not have been necessary for him to come to greet Xu Guoxiao, who was only handling a private matter for the emperor. At most, he would only need to wait at the entrance of the county government office, which would already be giving face.

  Before he could bend down, the young man in front stepped onto the plank and it shook slightly. He turned around to support the smiling youth behind him with one hand, and tried to reach out to the child, but couldn't quite get there, so his hand grasped at nothing. The wooden-faced youth, on the other hand, had one hand supporting the smiling youth and the other holding onto the child. The scene before him left County Magistrate Tao somewhat perplexed - judging from their formation, it seemed that the smiling youth was actually the leader of the four, and the child's status was probably not low either. This made him very puzzled - how could those dressed in ordinary clothes have higher status?

  That smiling face was indeed Wang Kuang, who had just stepped down from the stage. He muttered to himself: "This body of mine really needs some exercise." As he said this, he suddenly remembered something and turned around to ask Sun Jia Ying, who had been supporting him all along: "Old Second, has Uncle found a good martial arts teacher?" He was thinking that if they could find a good teacher, he would also like to practice with them. Of course, he didn't believe in the existence of those legendary, high-level martial arts that could kill people without leaving a trace or take down enemy commanders on the battlefield. Practitioners of martial arts could easily handle three to five ordinary people, but if they didn't have enough physical strength, twenty people would be able to overpower them. Therefore, Wang Kuang had always believed that good martial arts skills were mostly based on having great physical strength. His own requirements weren't high; he just wanted to practice with some proper techniques and achieve the goal of strengthening his body. If they really couldn't find a good teacher, then he would have no choice but to run every day and do push-ups. In reality, it all came down to Wang Kuang's laziness. Otherwise, if he had simply done some exercises in his own courtyard, his body wouldn't be so weak. Fortunately, he didn't like going to brothels with other rich young men; otherwise, his body would have been exhausted long ago.

  The four of them obviously didn't notice the existence of County Magistrate Tao, chatting and laughing with each other, not even glancing in that direction. It was Lin Xuanmu who had seen more of the world after all, and as they spoke, he felt something was off, turned his head to look, and saw a group of officials standing not far away staring at them blankly, with the one who appeared to be County Magistrate Tao at the forefront.

  "Where is the angel?" The county magistrate of Tao was the first to come back to his senses, and he asked Wang Kuang. He really feared that Wang Kuang was a follower of some noble family who had run out with the angel to have fun. These young nobles were not serious about anything in their daily lives. He had heard that the young nobles in Chang'an City liked to learn about "private visits" from plays and pretend to be ordinary people to deceive others. So, facing Wang Kuang, who was clearly the leader, he didn't dare to put on airs as a county magistrate.

  "Let's get back to the point, the angel is on the ship, it's coming down. Or would you like to wait a bit, I'll go and hurry them up for you?" Wang Kuang saw that it was the county magistrate asking questions, so he casually cupped his hands in response. This was also because he had gotten used to being casual with Lin Ming and Huang Liang, and besides, he hadn't met many officials before. Only a few county magistrates from Jianzhou came to Jian'an on business, and they knew that Wang Kuang and Huang Liang had a close relationship, and were still thinking about the food at Fugui Inn. So when they saw Wang Kuang, they were also very casual and didn't have any formal demeanor. Moreover, Wang Kuang didn't understand official etiquette, he only knew that during the Tang Dynasty, the atmosphere was open, even ordinary people would speak to the emperor in a familiar tone, so he didn't pay attention to these things.

  The county magistrate of Ketao was different, the Tao family was a high-ranking aristocratic family since the Han Dynasty, and they were very particular about etiquette. He saw that Wang Kuang's return gift was casual, and he also casually said that he would help him urge the heavenly messenger. This made him even more certain that the young man in front of him must be a young master from some noble or aristocratic family, and maybe even had a title. So he became even more polite, repeatedly saying: "I dare not trouble your lordship, I will wait here for now."

  "Ah, how dare I trouble you to come and welcome me, our humble household can't afford it." At this time, Xu Guoxu had also disembarked under the escort of Li Yexi, and upon seeing County Magistrate Tao, he hastily came forward to apologize. While it was not in accordance with etiquette for a county magistrate to come and welcome him, it wasn't against the rules either; one just needed to be careful and cautious to prevent others from taking advantage of this to write an article about it. However, since Xu Guoxu and Li Yexi had already rendered meritorious service, and Li Yexi had the illustrious Li family status backing him up, they didn't have anything to fear.

  After a burst of cold sweat, County Magistrate Tao finally understood the origin and purpose of Xu Guoxu's group, and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief: Fortunately, they didn't come for me, Yi'an.

  But he also became curious about Wang Kuang at the same time, what kind of person could shock the emperor and even send someone to pick him up in Chang'an? Xu Guoxu also respected him as a descendant of the Tao family and subtly revealed some information to him. Unexpectedly, this Tao County Magistrate was not only incompetent but also a good eater, and upon hearing Xu Guoxu's introduction, he immediately threw away his slight displeasure at being summoned by the heavenly messenger due to unclear circumstances. He hurriedly grabbed Wang Kuang's hand and kept saying: "What a handsome young man! I wonder which family's daughter will be lucky enough to have him."

  Lin Xuan heard this and quickly chimed in, "Sir, you are not aware that the Second Master has already made arrangements with our Lin family. You can't just take him away." He was afraid that Tao County Magistrate would get angry and take Wang Kuang as his own son-in-law, leaving himself to face his grandfather and uncle when he returned to Chang'an. If he couldn't even protect someone he had been following around, he would at least receive dozens of slaps on the buttocks. Although there was no engagement between Wang Kuang and Lin's family at present, it was a fact that Lin's family had already established connections with Sun Ming in advance, and Wang Kuang hadn't explicitly stated his refusal to marry into Lin's family. So he quickly took a step ahead to shut Tao County Magistrate's mouth. Looking at Tao County Magistrate's age, around thirty years old, there must be some marriageable nieces or daughters-in-law in his household. However, it was unknown that Tao County Magistrate was only trying to get close to Wang Kuang for the sake of his own desires. Otherwise, with Wang Kuang's current status and reputation, if he wasn't a glutton, Tao County Magistrate would probably just treat him politely on the surface but wouldn't take him seriously.

  The county magistrate of Tao already knew that Lin Xuanmiao was the young master of Lin Ming, the county magistrate of Jian'an County. Seeing him so nervous about Wang Kuang, he became even more curious about Wang Kuang and wished to immediately invite him to his mansion to enjoy a delicious meal together. However, Li Yexu urged Wang Kuang on the side: "Second Master, if you want to make some purchases, let's hurry up. We can stay overnight in Poyang and spend the next day visiting Mount Jiuhua. Aren't you fond of famous mountains and rivers?" Li Yexu was a clever kid; as soon as he saw that the county magistrate of Tao had learned about Wang Kuang's situation and started building a relationship with him, he knew what tricks were up his sleeve. He immediately used Mount Jiuhua in Poyang to entice Wang Kuang.

  Wang Kuang was overjoyed when he heard the mention of Jiuhuashan. In the past, whenever he wanted to have some fun, Xu and Li would always pretend to be reluctant and make a show of giving in, just so they could get him to cook for them. But today, things were different - the sun was shining from the west, and Xu had brought it up himself! After a moment's thought, Wang Kuang understood what Li Yexu meant, and he turned to Xu Guoxiao with a bow: "If the noble sir is not accustomed to the cold wind on this riverbank, why not accompany me back to the boat to drink some wine? I have some pickled fish that I made a few days ago, which can be steamed and eaten. And as for the braised meat, Li Xiaowei also knows where it's kept - just steam it and eat it." He was referring to the time a few days ago when they were on the river, and the sailors had caught too many fish. Wang Kuang had told them to kill the fish and then personally salted and hung them up to dry in the wind. The smell of the spices he used to marinate the fish had made Xu Guoxiao's mouth water, and every time he saw Wang Kuang, he would ask when they could eat the fish.

  Xu and Li couldn't possibly not let Wang Kuang go shopping, could they? Every time they arrived at a new place, Wang Kuang would always come up with some new and interesting things. They pretended to be difficult on the way just to make Wang Kuang feel indebted to them for the food and drink. Anyway, after more than half a month, he himself was getting tired of the salty flavors, so he might as well treat County Magistrate Tao. Therefore, he warmly invited County Magistrate Tao to come aboard and have some wine, and naturally all the officials who came along were also included. Otherwise, if someone reported that they were drinking and having fun while on official business, it would be unbearable. So everyone had to eat together, no one could escape, and of course, there was nothing to fear about being reported.

  This is the county of Yi'an, right next to the Yangtze River. The west gate faces the river directly and it's bustling with people coming and going. Just as Wang Kuang was about to turn around and enter the city, he heard a commotion at the other end of the dock, shouting that they had caught a water monster. Many people were loudly calling for it to be burned to death with fire to prevent it from harming passing boats. Wang Kuang's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. He knew that there was an animal that rarely showed its face and in ancient times was mistaken for a water monster. In recent years, the last of these animals had died out and it was declared extinct. If the "water monster" they were talking about was indeed this creature, then it was fate. Since he had encountered it, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing, he had to save it to avoid leaving regrets for future generations.

  Division

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