Translator: Legge
“Only faith, the sun, and the moon are eternal,” the middle-aged woman muttered. “Does this motto have any hidden meanings?” An’an asked.
The middle-aged woman suddenly said solemnly to An’an and Chen Cheng, “Remember, from today onwards, don’t ever provoke him again. Although I don’t know who he is, I suddenly feel that the reason you were able to escape unscathed that night was because he decided to let you go when he heard you say those words.” “What makes you think he was the one that let me go?” An’an was puzzled. “I escaped with my own abilities!” “Silly child.” The middle-aged woman said helplessly, “Just think about that person in the white mask. Those crossbow bolts even shattered when they hit him. Surely you can see that there’s a problem with him, right?” “Alright.” An’an said softly, “But it’s White Mask who’s powerful, not that kid.” “He might be trying to pass on some information related to himself to your father through you.” The woman said, “I’ve actually heard your father and grandfather mention the name Ren He before. Perhaps your father will understand everything once | tell him, so don’t go and provoke that kid for now, understand? Who knows, he might even be a relatively important person. Let’s wait until we get to Ghent City safely before we do anything.”
An’an muttered, “He looks really young, so how can he be anyone important?”
The middle-aged woman explained, “That motto was passed down in our organization from a very long time ago. I don’t know where it originated from, but I’ve always heard everyone mention it. Could he… really have some links to us?” “Father didn’t mention the origins of that motto before?” An‘an asked curiously. “When I was young, I did ask your grandpa before. But he always told me the same thing.” The middle-aged woman pondered it for a moment. “His answer at that time was that it was better for the girls at home not to know about these things.” “Why? Does Grandpa still favor boys over girls?” An’an pursed her lips. “That’s not it.” The middle-aged woman smiled and helped An’an straighten her hair. “At that time, he said girls shouldn’t have to know about such dangerous things. The magus order has a huge feud with us. As we haven’t accumulated enough strength to fight them yet, he thought it’d be better not to let us in on too many things.” “I know we have a feud with the magus order. Why don’t I go and kill Melgor right now?” Anan said, “The Chamber of Commerce serves food to them daily. That Ren Xiaosu might not be easy to deal with, but we can poison him through the Chamber of Commerce without anyone finding out.”
An’an’s full name was Chen Shen’an. They had been taught since childhood that they had to be wary of all sorcerers and learn to question every word they said. Because every word the dirty sorcerers said was a lie.
The middle-aged woman shook her head. “Sorcerers like Melgor are a little different. The so-called Children of Heaven are just poor souls controlled by the magus order. In my opinion, if you don’t do evil and wreck an entire county, you’re actually no different from a normal person. On another note, your act of arson that day to distract attention from yourself was wrong too. You should avoid doing such things in the future.” “But I was fleeing for my life. Besides, the people in York County who can own horses are definitely very rich, and none of those rich families are good people,” An‘an said angrily.
The middle-aged woman suddenly sat up straight. “An’an, you cannot look at the world this way. Life isn’t simply black or white. Are the poor definitely good? Must the rich all be bad people? If only the world were really that simple. You have to understand that we only perform meaningful deeds and do not do things based on our own preferences.”
The middle-aged woman continued, “You and Little Cheng are still young, so it’s normal that your attitudes are extreme and rebellious. But you have to understand one thing. Only by judging people without any bias can you become someone like your father.”
An’an lowered her head. “OK, Aunt, but what can I do now? The stable has already burned down.” “Before we left York County, I placed ten gold coins under a pillow at their place. I believe they’ve already discovered it.” When the woman saw that An’an had taken her advice to heart, she heaved a sigh of relief. “But compensation is just compensation. If the owner of that family had feelings for their horses, you couldn’t recompense an intangible thing like that. Feelings are priceless.”
Curious, An’an asked, “What if I was only able to save myself by hurting others while escaping? What should I do then?”
The middle-aged woman thought for a moment and replied, “In that situation, it’s better to hurt others than get hurt yourself.”
The sorceress, An’an, was stunned. “Aunt, why is it different from your earlier advice?”
The middle-aged woman said helplessly, “That’s the complexity of the world, I guess.” “By the way,” Chen Cheng suddenly said from next to them, “that young man called Ren Xiaosu treats Melgor as he pleases. Just now, Melgor was about to reveal they were heading to Ghent City, but Ren Xiaosu stepped on his foot.” “Mhm.” The middle-aged woman nodded. “It’s good enough that we’ve identified him as someone special. Let’s keep that a secret for now and talk about it after we arrive in Ghent City. When the time comes, we can relay all of this info to your father. We’ll get an answer then.” “We still have a long way to go before we get to Ghent City.” Chen Cheng said, “Why don’t I go and ascertain the situation further?” “It’s better that you don’t go and find Ren Xiaosu anymore. You’re not his match when it comes to probing others for facts,” the woman said. “Then I’ll start with Sorcerer Melgor and his two other servants. Those three don’t look too smart,” Chen Cheng said.
The middle-aged woman thought for a moment and said, “I guess that’s fine.”
An’an asked with a sparkle in her eyes, “Will we get to see Big Sis Summer on our trip to Ghent City this time?” “Mhm, she’ll be there as well,” the middle-aged woman replied with a smile. “Awesome,” An’an said with a smile.
The next day, the trade caravan set off early in the morning. Unlike the previous day, the caravan guards were much more alert. They all rode on their horses to patrol the front and rear of the caravan, and Qian
Weining even sent out two men to act as scouts in case they got ambushed by bandits.
Seeing that Qian Weining had deployed all the guards in an orderly fashion, Ren Xiaosu was even more tempted to bring him to join the Prosperous Northwest. Although he would only be a company-level officer, Ren
Xiaosu could not be too picky since the Northwest was still a rising power.
In any case, Ren Xiaosu had already made up his mind to abduct several hundred thousand people, so one more person wouldn’t make a difference.
During this time, Chen Cheng took advantage of Ren Xiaosu’s busy schedule to quickly become acquainted with the sheeple, Li Chengguo and Liu Ting.
Li Chengguo and Liu Ting were from well-off families, but Chen Cheng was a smart young man. He fooled the two sheeple easily with his extensive travel experiences, with both of them hanging out with Chen Cheng all day long to listen to his stories.
It only took a while before Chen Cheng was shocked to learn from the sheeple that the young man named Ren Xiaosu was not a local citizen of the Kingdom of Sorcerers..