Chapter 7: The Old Lady of Taishi

  Li Chong and Wang Guanshi discussed the details of buying grain, and Liao Hua paid some deposit. Li Chong bid farewell and left, and he and Liao Hua found an inn to rest.

  As soon as they entered the house, Liao Hua hastily reminded Li Chong: "Li brother, where do we have a million dollars to buy grain?"

  "Idiot!" Li Chong scolded with a smile: "When did I say I wanted to buy grain, Yuan Jiao! You must remember, we are thieves now. How can thieves buy grain? You're really making our gang lose face."

  Liao Hua's eyes widened like a toad's as he stuttered: "The world of thieves... still has any face?"

  "It's just as they say: 'Even thieves have their own code of honor.' That's what this means!" Li Chong said in a low voice, deep in thought.

  Liao Hua Deng was speechless at the time.

  Li Chong lay down on the couch and laughed, saying: "I was just teasing you. I discussed with Wang Guanshi about buying grain, actually to confirm whether there is really a shipment of grain from the Zhao family, and also to confirm when the grain will arrive in Donglai, do you understand?"

  "I get it!" Liao Hua's eyes lit up, and he asked in puzzlement, "Isn't this a bit unnecessary? Why don't we just ask directly?"

  Li Chong irritably replied: "How to ask? Can we directly say, is there a shipment of grain coming or not, and when it will arrive? Will they tell you?"

  Liao Hua suddenly felt enlightened and said with great admiration: "Brother Li is really clever, how did you think of this method? It's not suspicious at all."

  Li Chong suddenly lost interest in answering, muttering to himself, "Ah! How could I have thought of this method?" Li Chong had always considered himself pure, but now he realized that every one of his actions was far from pure. He had come to the end of the Han dynasty and calculatedly ruined his family, calculatedly wronged Taishi Ci, and his methods were not at all glorious.

  It's all because of this chaotic world! Li Chong shamelessly found a heart-wrenching excuse for himself. In this era of war and chaos, the only fate for purity is to be submerged by the waves of history.

  After dinner, due to lack of entertainment measures, everyone went to bed early.

  The next morning, everyone packed up and set out to visit the Tai Shi Cai family. Before leaving, Li Chong asked in detail about the situation at the Tai Shi Cai residence. Liao Hua sent a clever personal soldier to deliver rice, who answered clearly and to the point.

  Li Chong was surprised to find that Tai Shi Lao's wife was already over fifty years old, while Tai Shi Ci was only twenty-four this year. This means that Tai Shi Lao's wife is a representative figure of late marriage and late childbearing. To think that in ancient times people all practiced early marriage, this woman wouldn't be a time-traveler, would she? Li Chong thought rather uncharitably.

  Arriving on the street, Li Zhongda made a big purchase, including all sorts of pastries, clothing, rice wine and other things that middle-aged and elderly women like. He also understood the importance of pleasing Tai Shi's wife, Liao Hua, so he tried his best to buy a large quantity of goods, but unfortunately, this put a heavy burden on the pack horse.

  Tai Shi's family lived outside the city of Donglai, and they rode their horses for less than an hour. The roadside was lined with broken walls and ruins, a scene of war and fire that moved Li Chong to emotion.

  When he arrived at the gate of Tai Shi Ci's house, Li Chong circled around the yard and took a look. Tai Shi Ci's residence was a separate courtyard with an independent entrance. Estimated to be tens of meters in circumference, Li Chong nodded secretly while knocking on the door. Indeed, as he had guessed, Tai Shi Ci's family was neither poor nor rich.

  Tai Shi opened the door and saw Li Chong's smiling face, his face was taken aback at first, then smiled and said: "I thought it was someone else, it turned out to be Master Li arriving, please come in quickly."

  Calling out to Li Chong, Taishi Ci was secretly resentful - wasn't it just a bag of rice as tuition, why block his door the next day?

  Tai Shi invited everyone to enter the hall, lit up the charcoal brazier and served tea. After a few people exchanged pleasantries, Li Chong ordered his personal soldiers to clear away the wine and dishes. Only then did Old Lady Tai Shi come out to greet them.

  The old lady wore a sheepskin coat, with a cloth wrapped around her head, her face was full of wrinkles, but her eyes were exceptionally bright, and she had a faint smile on her face, looking both aged and benevolent.

  "Junior Li Chong, has met the elderly Mrs. Tai Shi! Wishing the old lady happiness like the East Sea and longevity like the Southern Mountain." Li Chong hastily stood up to pay his respects, taking the opportunity to stretch his sore knees, this damned ancient times, Li Chong vowed that if he had the chance, he would definitely invent a sofa, it's too miserable.

  Everyone likes to hear auspicious words, and the old lady smiled even more when she heard them. She turned to Taishi Ci and said with a smile: "Is this Li Zhongli Zihui? Ci'er mentioned you several times yesterday, saying that Master Li is generous and open-minded, but why are you so humble and reserved today?"

  Li Chong hastily smiled and said: "When a junior sees a senior, they naturally should be humble and respectful. Respecting the elderly and loving the young is not just something to say with one's mouth, but rather it must be put into action; otherwise, wouldn't I have wasted my time reading poetry and books?"

  This guy is all talk, it's true that Li Zhong has read a lot of books, from elementary school to middle school and then university, Li Zhong can be considered an intellectual, but if you say Li Zhong is well-read in poetry and literature, that's a joke, Li Zhong can't even recognize the characters of this era.

  The Three Kingdoms era did not use Simplified Chinese characters or Traditional Chinese characters, but used Seal script.

  Mrs. Tai Shi glanced at the gifts brought by Li Chong, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, and said: "Li Gongzi has brought so many gifts, I'm ashamed to accept them, Ci'er must remember to return them when Li Gongzi leaves."

  Tai Shi Zi naturally agreed with a mouthful of words, and did not dare to have any disagreement.

  Li Chong hastily said: "Where did the old lady say this, yesterday I told Xia that I wanted to worship Ta Shi General as a teacher and learn some martial arts to protect myself. Zi Yi thought that my talent was low and my skills were not refined, afraid of ruining... reputation. Only willing to be called brothers, since it is called brothers, then the old lady Ta Shi is naturally my elder, and the gift of respect for elders from juniors, what reason is there to take it back? Wouldn't that make others laugh?"

  Liao Hua, who was sitting beside him, felt a great sense of admiration in his heart when he heard this. He thought to himself that Li Gongzi's mouth was truly formidable, and the way he gave gifts was so righteous and confident.

  The old lady had no choice but to turn around and remind Tai Shi Ci to teach martial arts with a sincere heart, not to waste people's time.

  After some small talk, the servant brought up wine and dishes. Li Chong accompanied the old lady in drinking two cups of rice wine. The old lady suddenly said: "Is young master Li only doing business now?"

  Li nodded his head in agreement, and the old lady continued: "Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, merchants are only lowly born, it's hard to bring glory to their ancestors. If not, my son Ci will soon go to Liu Yu's place in Jiangdong as an official. Li Gongzi, if you don't mind, why don't you go with Ci? With your learning, you'll definitely meet Liu Yu's expectations and can also take care of Zi Yi."

  The old lady's words not only meant to take care of Li Chong, but also had the intention of protecting Taishi Ci. If the two went to Liu Yao's place as officials, they would be familiar with each other and have someone to rely on when they were ostracized. From this point of view, the old lady was still well-versed in the art of politics. Otherwise, where did Taishi Ci learn his military skills from? It must have been passed down through their family.

  In fact, Taishi Ci had been ostracized since he became an official under Liu Yao and had no opportunity to make a name for himself. During the struggle between Liu Yao and Sun Ce, Taishi Ci presented a plan to Liu Yao, but it was not adopted. As a result, Liu Yao's army was defeated, and he surrendered Jiangdong to Sun Ce, while Taishi Ci also defected to Sun Ce.

  Li Zhong was well-versed in history and naturally wouldn't adopt the old lady's suggestion. Moreover, his intention wasn't to offer himself as a subordinate. Li Zhong thought for a moment before saying: "Thank you, madam, for your kind intentions, but Liu Yu is not a wise ruler. I don't want to go to Jiangdong. Also, I advise General Taishi to be cautious in these chaotic times and recognize the lord's authority, lest he suffer a fatal calamity!"

  The old lady was heartbroken for her son, and upon hearing this, she was shocked and hastily asked: "What do you mean by these words? Why is Liu Yao not a wise ruler? And where did the calamity of his death come from?"

  Li Chong said with certainty: "Liu Yue was originally the governor of Yangzhou, but Yangzhou was occupied by Yuan Shu, and Liu Yue had nowhere to settle, so he settled in Qu'e. However, Jiangdong is not a peaceful place either, Sun Jian, Liu Biao, and Yuan Shu all have ambitions, who knows what will happen if they fight? I don't think Liu Yue will be okay. Moreover, there's also something inconvenient for me down here, do you know who Liao Hua is?"

  Tai Shi Ci heard the words and smiled, raised his wine cup to take a sip of rice wine, then slowly said: "Liao Hua's body has a murderous aura, I think he must have been on the battlefield! Since he has been on the battlefield, he is either a soldier or a bandit. Since Zi Huan asked this question, I guess Liao Hua was originally a member of the Yellow Turban Sect, don't know if it's right or not?"

  Li Zhongxian was taken aback, then smiled wryly and said: "I thought I could deceive Taishi brother, but unexpectedly! I don't know how General Taishi views the Yellow Turbans."

  Taishi Ci let out a long sigh and said somewhat helplessly, "Apart from Zhang Jiao and his followers, the rest of the Yellow Turbans are either poor commoners or bandits who have joined for a meal. There's no distinction between right and wrong. To be their enemy is also to repay the kindness of Lord Kong."

  Li Chong let out a deep sigh, turned his head to look at Liao Hua and said: "Even if we surrender to Liu Yao, what about these people? To be honest, I have a fate with Yuan Jue, no matter who we surrender to, I will bring these people with me. Liu Yao is a member of the Han royal family and a descendant of Emperor Xiaoming, even if we surrender to him, these people will not have a good ending."

  Liao's eyes turned red, and he could also hear that Li Chong was speaking from the heart. According to Li Chong's experience, it wouldn't be a problem to make a living anywhere, but for himself and Guan Hai, it would be difficult to say.

  Mrs. Tai Shi Lao heard Li Chong's words and couldn't help but feel a little worried, complaining: "If I had known earlier, it would have been better to agree with Mr. Kong, going to Jiangdong is not only a long way, but also an uncertain future, what's the point of coming here?"