Chapter 41: The First Pure Person
The people E Ji picked up are of very high quality; compared to these people, the men and women in Hekou Village have no need to survive at all.
There are four children, all little girls, all white and chubby, the kind that Doggy likes to eat the most, tender and juicy when bitten.
There are five young girls, generally not very old, around twelve or thirteen years old. Although they are still just children, the appearance of beauties has already begun to show. The most beautiful one among them seemed to be scared silly by the surrounding Doggy, and unexpectedly raised her arms and danced gracefully in the midst of the Doggy pack. If E Ji hadn’t smashed the head of the nearest Doggy with a stick, this girl who liked to dance would have already been gnawed by Doggy.
There are only two males. One has a leg injury, the other is burning up all over, delirious with fever. Judging by their age, neither is very old, probably not over fifteen.
Of course, the age here refers to age on Earth. The days here are relatively long, the nights are relatively long, and it’s estimated that a year here is longer than an Earth year. According to Doggy’s calculation, using sunrise and sunset as markers, one day here is 16 hours longer than Earth’s 24 hours, meaning an Earth year is only one-third of a year here.
Without careful conversion, Yun Ce couldn’t figure out these people’s exact ages at all.
When E Ji was throwing things off the sheep cart, she was heartbroken. Now, to make more space on the sheep cart for people, she gritted her teeth and threw away even her most beloved gray pottery urinal.
It’s quite funny to say, E Ji is usually very bold, but at night, she would shrink on her little bed, trembling. Even if she desperately needed to pee, she wouldn’t dare leave that little bed, so in the evenings, she drank very little water.
It wasn’t until she lived in a small room with Yun Ce that she would vengefully drink a lot of water in the evening. When she needed to pee, she would pull Yun Ce to take her to the latrine, sometimes several times in one night, who knows what mindset that was.
It wasn’t until she discovered the urinal this divine artifact in the guesthouse that she treated it like a treasure.
1 Now, in the spot where the urinal originally was, a little girl gnawing on a mutton bone is sitting, and on the other side sits that little beauty who liked to dance for Doggy. She lies weakly and bonelessly on E Ji’s lap, grabbing E Ji’s hand to stroke her smooth cheek.
1 Looking at E Ji grinning like a big fool, when Yun Ce looked at these people again, his gaze became much gentler. E Ji thought these were young masters and young ladies from wealthy families, but Yun Ce could already tell that these beautiful girl children and young girls should be singing girls and dancers kept by wealthy families, important property belonging to the family.
1 Now, the road ahead is long and obstructed. To preserve their own lives, they couldn’t afford to worry about too much.
1 The sheep cart was very crowded, so Yun Ce got off and walked. Behind him, a large group of Doggy followed noisily, no fewer than a hundred in number. They didn’t dare get too close to the sheep cart, only trailing from afar, but as time passed, their distance from the sheep cart grew closer and closer.
1 Feng An, the youth shot with an arrow in the leg, looked worriedly at the approaching Doggy, not knowing what he was thinking. Looking at the girls on the sheep cart, he gritted his teeth and tried to roll off the sheep cart, but was grabbed by the quick-eyed and hand-fast E Ji.
1 “Stay put, my man is here.”
1 “The bloody smell on me attracted these Doggy…”
1 E Ji pointed to the big horn sheep carcass on the sheep cart that had been eaten down to half and said, “Is the smell on your leg heavier than that?”
1 Feng An gritted his teeth and said, “Doggy like to gather in packs. It won’t take long before more come.”
1 E Ji took a piece of roasted mutton from the jar and put it in Feng An’s hand, saying, “Relax, my man is here.”
2 After speaking, E Ji even took the bone from the little girl’s hand that had been gnawed clean of meat and threw it far toward the Doggy pack, causing a frenzy of barking and chaos in the Doggy pack. E Ji’s silvery bell-like laughter echoed on the ancient road, carrying an indescribable heroic spirit.
2 After a fierce bark, Yun Ce saw a Doggy covered in scars on its head and face, with hardly any good skin on its body, slowly walking out from the dog pack. It first sniffed the bone that had been slobbered on by who knows how many dog mouths, then bit it in half. Two fat and hefty puppies ran out, one biting a piece each, lying on the ground chewing voraciously.
2 This should be the Doggy King.
2 Yun Ce had been searching for a long time, but didn’t expect it to come out on its own.
2 Although the roasted mutton was very fragrant, Feng An ate it without any taste. He felt that the mutton he was eating now might not nourish his body before it benefited those Doggy. Eating at this moment was purely superfluous.
2 Then, he saw Yun Ce walk into the Doggy pack. He seemed to move slowly, dodging left and right, but those Doggy could never bite him.
2 Seeing that ferocious and burly Doggy King pounce toward Yun Ce, Feng An couldn’t help but shout loudly. He dropped the mutton in his hand, grabbed E Ji’s chopping knife, jumped off the sheep cart, and hopped on one leg toward the Doggy pack in a charge.
2 Yun Ce, standing in the Doggy pack, saw this scene, and a smile from deep within immediately bloomed on his face. Such a smile had appeared twice since coming here: once when watching E Ji beat the drum, and the other time now.
2 Seeing the Doggy King’s sharp white teeth about to bite Yun Ce’s outstretched hand, Feng An anxiously shouted loudly, but unexpectedly tripped underfoot and fell heavily to the ground. The chopping knife also flew out of his hand, and those stray Doggy had noticed him, starting to surround him.
2 Yun Ce stuck his hand into the Doggy King’s mouth, grabbed its tongue, and yanked it back fiercely. The Doggy King’s tongue was ripped out alive by him, and behind the tongue there seemed to be something else. Yun Ce didn’t see clearly before it was bitten off by the Doggy King’s sharp white teeth.
3 The hundred-plus jin Doggy King fell heavily to the ground, rolling in pain but unable to make any sound. Yun Ce seized the opportunity to grab the Doggy King’s throat, lifted it up, and under the gaze of the pack of Doggy, hung it on a tree and began skinning it.
3 At this time, the Doggy still hadn’t died. Its four legs kicked wildly until the entire skin was torn off by Yun Ce. It was still struggling. Yun Ce cut open the Doggy King’s stomach with a knife, watched the internal organs flow out, then dropped the skin, found Feng An, grabbed his belt, and put him back on the sheep cart.
3 Yun Ce left, the sheep cart left, a group of Doggy surrounded their king’s corpse wailing and paying homage. Once Yun Ce was out of sight, the Doggy dispersed. The Doggy King hanging on the tree didn’t even have bones left, and as for the blood flowing to the ground, it was licked clean by two fat little Doggy.
3 “You could have just driven it away, why treat it so cruelly?”
3 Feng An thought for a long time, mustered his courage, and asked the man wearing yi tree cloth clothes.
3 Yun Ce brushed aside his already very long hair and said, “It’s to tell these Doggy who the real master of this ground is.”
3 “Wild beasts know this too?”
3 Yun Ce turned back to look at the empty ancient road behind him and said softly, “They can understand, and they accept what I say. Their new king will also tell the Doggy to stay away from people like me.”
3 By the way, you seem like a very good person. How did you end up abandoned on the road to fend for yourself?
3 Feng An shook his head and said, “They didn’t abandon me; it was my own choice. Just like I said earlier, my leg is injured, the bloody smell will attract more Doggy, endangering everyone’s safety.”
4 “What kind of people are your companions?”
4 “Clan members.”
4 “When you meet your clan members later, how will you face them?”
4 “As usual. When a gentleman suffers a setback, he faces it with a normal heart.”
4 “What does gentleman mean?”
4 “The Grandmaster said: A gentleman is open and upright, wind rises from his armpit when he raises his sleeve, and every path is open when he lifts his leg.”
4 “Even when facing hardship and difficulty, one should accept it calmly?”
4 Feng An smiled and said, “And then gain the vast world.”
4 “Are gentlemen opposed to petty people?”
4 “The grace of gentlemen will eventually cover everyone, including petty people.”
5 “When a gentleman is harmed by a petty person, how should he face it?”
5 “Beat him to death.”
5 “You said that?”
5 “No, it was the Grandmaster’s answer to a scholar when he gave a lecture in Luoyang.”
5 Yun Ce nodded and said, “Such a good teacher, if there’s an opportunity, I must go sit under him and receive instruction.”
5 Feng An thought for a moment, took out a silk manuscript from his bosom, and handed it to Yun Ce with some reluctance, saying, “I have no way to repay your life-saving grace. I think brother needs this.”
5 Yun Ce curiously opened the silk manuscript, glanced at it, and couldn’t help laughing. It turned out that what Feng An handed over was the recommendation letter stamped by Pingyuan City City Lord Zhang Yaliang.
5 Feng An continued, “With this recommendation letter, brother can go to the academy in Chuyun Prefecture to participate in the Grand Competition. Grand Competition winners, if they don’t wish to enter officialdom in Chuyun Prefecture, can take the public carriage from Chuyun Prefecture to Chang’an or Luoyang to participate in various societies. If luckily recommended by a noble, they can enter officialdom in Chang’an or Luoyang.”
5 Yun Ce shook the recommendation letter in his hand and laughed, “My name is Liu Chang’an, not Feng An.”
5 Feng An looked down at his already inflamed thigh and sighed, “I’m already a cripple, no hope for an official career.”
6 Yun Ce returned the recommendation letter to Feng An, took out one he had personally written and stamped, and handed it to him, saying, “I have a recommendation letter too, also recommended by Zhang Gong Yaliang.”
6 Feng An astonishedly opened the recommendation letter handed over by Yun Ce. After reading it, he said in surprise, “A heaven-sent genius, talent to assist a king—doesn’t brother think Zhang Gong overpraises you?”
6 Yun Ce smiled, took back the recommendation letter, and said, “This doesn’t even describe one ten-thousandth of my talent.”
6 Feng An, who had been modest and courteous, for some reason stuck out his neck at this moment and said, “I wonder how much money brother spent to get this boastful recommendation letter?”
6 Yun Ce recalled Zhang Yaliang’s face that he had punched soft and mushy, shook his head, and said, “Didn’t spend a single coin. Every word on this is from the bottom of Zhang Gong Yaliang’s heart.”
6 “What talents does brother have? Tell me.”
6 Yun Ce asked E Ji for a pottery bowl, put a bit of alcohol in it, lit it, then put the knife on it to burn. While burning, he said to Feng An, “Taking the head of the dog king from the pack as easily as reaching into a bag—does that count?”
6 “Counts as half.”
6 Seeing that the blade was already red-hot, Yun Ce lifted Feng An’s outer robe, exposing the bloodstained injured leg, pressed the knife firmly against the wound, and then asked, “Curing your serious injury—does that count?”
6 A puff of green smoke accompanied by the sizzling sound of burning flesh. Feng An’s originally curled body suddenly straightened, and a miserable scream pierced the sky.
