Xiao Wangsun wasn’t present, and the four horses and driver were still not petrified, still obeying commands.
"Let’s head to Thunderstruck Mountain!" Chen Shi said excitedly as he boarded the cart.
The Thunderstruck Mountain he referred to was the mountain that had almost been leveled by the mighty Red Barbarian cannons. The driver cried out sharply, and the horses immediately set off, speeding away with a roar. freёwebnoѵel.com
Before long, they arrived at the foot of Thunderstruck Mountain. Chen Shi searched around and found an intact Red Barbarian cannon in a ravine. The Divine Mechanism Camp soldiers who had operated the cannon were dead, their bodies strewn about haphazardly.
The moon had not yet risen, and the bodies were still there.
Chen Shi immediately jumped off the cart and after a while, lifted the two- to three-thousand-pound cannon onto the cart.
The driver looked at him curiously but did not ask any questions.
Chen Shi didn’t bother moving the cannon’s carriage, for it was damaged. He only carried the baskets of black iron bullets, each the size of a human head, onto the cart and said excitedly, "Let’s go! Back to Huangpo Village for the coronation!"
The driver steered the cart back to Huangpo Village. Chen Shi, brimming with excitement, leapt from the cart, carrying the Red Barbarian cannon on his shoulder, his spirits high as he walked around the village.
He managed to carry the massive two- to three-thousand-pound cannon on his shoulder and circled the village three or four times without feeling tired.
The villagers dared not show their faces, with every household locking its doors tight. Not a single child knelt to welcome and support "King" Chen’s ascension to the throne, not even a ghost’s shadow could be seen.
Chen Shi quickly lost interest, frustrated, he placed the Red Barbarian cannon at the Chen family home, propping it against the wall, while those black iron bullets were piled in the doghouse.
Black Pot lay on the ground, watching his young master busily moving around. After a while, the dog climbed onto the black iron bullets to sleep. They were cold and comfortable to sleep on.
After Chen Shi finished his work, he suddenly had a whimsical idea to fire the Red Barbarian cannon a couple of times to celebrate his recent "coronation". But considering it was a property of the Divine Mechanism Camp and it might draw their attention, he abandoned the idea fearing that "King" Chen might end up prosecuted.
Chen Shi glanced at Black Pot lying on the bullets, then sneaked into his room, retrieved a piece of wire, and poked under the bed. He fished out a small cloth bag from a rat hole.
He opened the cloth bag to find several bits of silver.
He let out a sigh of relief. This money was his secret stash, painstakingly saved and never found by his grandfather nor scavenged by Black Pot.
"I am strong enough now; as long as my True Qi doesn’t dissipate, the shrine will last a long time. If I save up some more money, I can enroll in the private school in town, participate in this year’s county examination, and become a Scholar."
Chen Shi counted his modest amount of silver bits and thought, "Once I become a Scholar, there will be a divine ceremony. The True God will descend to grant a Divine Embryo. If I muddle through, perhaps I’ll actually receive a new Divine Embryo; then I won’t be a cripple anymore. In the future, after becoming a Scholar, I can lead Grandfather in a life of oppressing peasants."
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly noticed an extra dog’s head in the shadow cast by the sunlight on the floor. Startled, Chen Shi quickly looked up.
He saw the great black dog with its front paws resting on the windowsill, its head poking out of the window, looking at him solemnly.
"My money’s been found!"
Angered and fearing for his secret, Chen Shi lunged at the dog and the two of them rolled around fighting. He shouted, "Black Pot, you’ve discovered my secret! Today, I’ll kill a dog to silence you!"
Black Pot fought for its life, barking and refusing to back down.
After some time, a compromise: Black Pot wouldn’t spill the secret and Chen Shi wouldn’t kill to silence it, but he had to buy it a couple pounds of Exotic Beast Meat from town. As compensation, Black Pot had to provide a bit of Black Dog Blood for Chen Shi to draw talismans.
Both were quite satisfied with the outcome.
Chen Shi, with the dog in tow, took the cart out again. It had to be said that Xiao Wangsun’s cart was swift; soon they arrived at Bridge Bay Town, more than twenty miles away.
Bridge Bay, as it was known, was where the De River bent, and there stood a five-arch bridge spanning the river. Bridge Bay Town sat at that location, its name deriving from there.
In town, Chen Shi bought two pounds of Exotic Beast Meat for Black Pot and also purchased kites, tangram puzzles, Luban locks, diabolos, and spinning tops. These were toys Chen Shi had never owned and desperately wanted to play with, but he suppressed the urge.
He placed the toys in his book chest and took Xiao Wangsun’s cart to Huangyang Village shortly after.
The villagers of Huangyang Village looked at him with fear.
Rural folks were clear about debts of gratitude. Chen Shi had been benevolent to Huangyang Village, having saved children, paid for the funeral of those killed, and avenged the three children. Moreover, he had disciplined their foster mother, stopping her bullying. After San Wang’s death, Chen Shi avenged him by killing his murderer.
The villagers all remembered this kindness.
Still, they were worried: six members of the Zhao family had died in Huangyang Village, and if the Zhao family sought revenge, how could they, mere mortals, resist?
Chen Shi called over the village elder of Huangyang and said, "With the Zhao family in the provincial city losing six of its members, they might not let things go. If people from the Zhao family come to investigate the village, just reveal my name. If they come to trouble me and I kill them, then they naturally won’t bother you."
The elder was old, over seventy, and a bit hard of hearing. He didn’t catch the whole drift and talked to himself, "Our Huangyang Village may not have any powerful figures, but we would never betray our benefactor! The last time someone betrayed the benefactor, it was Guanghao’s wife; she couldn’t stand the punishment, confessed under beatings, and shamed our village. We have already tied her up, and at the benefactor’s command, we’ll send the consort on her way."
Chen Shi was taken aback; he had indeed seen a woman tied to a tree on his way there and had thought the villagers were engaging in some amusing custom, not that they were waiting for his judgment to deal with her.
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