Chapter 327: Strange

Yan Lao’er and Yan Yu had been following along for several days, collecting grain.

They encountered several more villages where that grain merchant had placed orders for grain. Comparing the descriptions, it was the same person each time.

Yan Lao’er muttered to his daughter, “I wonder where this grain merchant came from. He’s been to nearly every village around Crouching Tiger. It’s a good thing he didn’t put deposits down with every household, otherwise, we’d really feel bad snatching up grain someone else already ordered.”

Yan Yu giggled. “Dad, since when do you feel bad? Weren’t you the one who said ‘the quick get it, the slow miss out’? You even had me ride the donkey back to the village to gather silver, pull vegetables, and call for people, afraid they’d change their minds. We’ve been stalking each village we go to, determined to have our villagers haul the grain back no matter what…”

Yan Lao’er glared. “How can you compare us to a grain merchant? He’s doing business; profits and losses are normal for him. But we need this grain to survive. There’s a difference in priority. Judging by the scale he’s buying, he’s probably a big merchant. It’s fine; he’ll just lose a bit on travel and labor costs. He can afford it.”

“Not necessarily a loss,” Yan Yu said. “If he can’t get grain here in Crouching Tiger, he can go elsewhere…” Yan Lao’er suddenly went “Huh?” and looked puzzled. “Why isn’t he going to Linhai to buy grain? Linhai Prefecture had calm weather this year, a bumper harvest. The climate there is better than our Guanzhou too; they don’t need to stockpile as much for winter, so they should have more surplus grain… Huh, where was that merchant from again? Why go the long way around?”

These past few days, they’d been too focused on rushing the grain back to the village to ponder such details.

Now that it was mentioned, both father and daughter found it odd.

Yan Yu thought hard, certain no one had mentioned where the merchant came from, only that he was from another prefecture.

But coming to Guanzhou from another prefecture, one would usually take the official road^[1] through Gufeng, or else enter through Changping from Linhai.

If coming from Gufeng, Gufeng City might be sealed, but the surrounding towns and villages were fine. Wouldn’t buying grain nearby be more convenient?

If coming from Linhai Prefecture, he could just buy grain right there in Linhai or Changping. Why travel all this way to Crouching Tiger…

Then there’s transportation. Crouching Tiger only has land routes. It can’t compare to the cheap water and land transport available in Linhai.

Yan Lao’er and Yan Yu knew exactly how much grain that merchant had ordered, because they had bought it all and shipped it back to Xiao’an Village.

“We’ve been talking about this merchant, but after following Uncle Liang and the others for so many days, we haven’t run into him even once,” Yan Lao’er said.

This was very unusual.

Logically, the merchant who ordered the grain, having arranged to collect it after taxes were paid, should have been seen in at least one or two of the many villages they visited.

But these past days, not a single trace of him.

It was as if he was deliberately avoiding them.

Yan Yu thought for a moment and asked, “Dad, if it were you, and someone snatched your business deal, but that someone had connections to the government office, would you just swallow the loss and let it go?”

“Definitely not. I’d at least show my face, meet the person, feel out the situation. Even if I had to admit defeat and take the loss, even if I decided to drop the deal, I’d still say something to the other party, make them feel indebted. Businessmen are best at dealing with people. One more friend is one more path; you never know when it might come in handy. Of course, some have worse tempers and wouldn’t let it go. They might argue, make a scene, vent their displeasure a bit. That’s possible too. But no reaction at all? That’s really rare.”

Yan Yu paced in circles.

Her little brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

“Dad, go ask again, carefully. What did the grain merchant look like? What kind of clothes did he wear? What accent did he have? How many people were with him? How did they come—ox cart, donkey cart, or mule cart? Since they’re outsiders coming directly to the villages to buy grain, someone must have shown them the way. Was there a middleman involved…”

Hearing his daughter ask in such detail, Yan Lao’er’s expression turned serious.

“What are you thinking?”

“It just feels… very strange to me,” Yan Yu said, frowning. “I hope I’m overthinking it. But Dad, this grain merchant… no known origin, no visible trail, suddenly pops up buying grain in Crouching Tiger… If you’re talking about buying nearby for convenient transport…” She pointed in the direction beyond the border. “…over there is actually closest to our Crouching Tiger!”

Yan Lao’er was startled!

“Oh heavens! Now that you mention it, it does sound awfully similar!” Yan Lao’er slapped his thigh. “The Northern Rong can cross the mountains. They came down from our village’s mountain; they could come down from other villages’ mountains too. Those few Northern Rong who came to our village looked quite similar to us folks inside the border; nothing obvious on the surface. They can practice speaking, and the silver to buy grain… Right! They had quite a bit of silver too! This… this all matches up!”

Yan Yu nodded. That’s why she said to ask more questions. Living in a border town, you could never be too careful.

Yan Lao’er immediately went to make inquiries.

To verify from multiple sources, he rode his daughter’s bald donkey to several villages.

While anxiously waiting, Yan Yu began preparing for the worst.

She found Luo Da and said to him, “Uncle Luo, I just overheard some of the yamen runners saying the Second Master^[2] at the government office asked about our village’s arrow towers and wall. He seemed unhappy that the First Master^[3] sent people from the quarry to help us.”

Luo Da immediately stopped his work. “What else did they say?”

“Those yamen runners also said the Second Master probably thinks we’re asking for manpower to do other work for us, that arrow towers and high walls aren’t built overnight. He thinks the First Master was tricked by us.” Yan Yu put on a wronged little expression.

Luo Da digested this for a moment. “It’s fine. We stand on solid ground. Once we’re done with these next few busy days, we’ll hurry up and build the wall and raise the towers. The foundations for those arrow towers are already laid. Building the wall is fast too; many in our village know how to do this work now. As long as the lime mortar the First Master promised us gets delivered, we’ll have the whole wall enclosed before the New Year.”

Luo Da was also determined.

He planned not to stop work even when it got cold, to avoid giving the Second Master any reason to criticize, lest the people and materials get withdrawn.

“If our arrow towers go up quickly and people can see them, the Second Master will believe us, right?” Yan Yu said with great seriousness. “We’ll help move bricks when we get back.”

Luo Da said, “No need for that. You and your dad focus on buying grain outside. When we get back in the evenings, we’ll work a couple of nights by lamplight.”

He thought Xiao Er had a point. Get the arrow towers built and standing first, so the Second Master knows they weren’t just making empty promises.

When Yan Lao’er returned, Luo Da and the others had already transported the grain back to the village.

Just one look at her father’s face told Yan Yu things had gone wrong.

“I’m afraid it really is those Northern Rong bastards,” he said. “I asked quite a few people. They all said the grain merchant had a few helpers with him. They looked strong, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, but kept their heads down and didn’t say a word. The grain merchant handled everything himself.”

“Their clothes didn’t fit quite right, like ready-made clothes bought from a shop.”

“They did have an ox cart. The grain merchant rode back and forth on it. But someone recognized it—that ox cart was from the carriage house. Probably just bought.”

“No one introduced them to the village. They came on their own, saying they wanted to buy grain.”

“I chatted with someone a bit longer. Guess what? All the villages they planned to buy grain from had been raided by the Northern Rong before. They didn’t need a guide; they knew the way themselves.”

“And one more thing…” Yan Lao’er said, word by word. “The direction they left in was wrong. Not towards the city, not towards the town. They actually headed into the mountains. Do you think they live in the mountains?”

Yan Yu was silent for a moment.

“Most likely, Dad. They don’t have household registration, so they can’t stay at inns.”

(End of Chapter)