Chapter 24: The Jianghu’s Lessons

Entering the city was the same as always. They waited in line to pay.

The queue was exceptionally long, the longest the young girl had ever seen.

Too many people were entering and leaving the city.

While they waited, the caravan leader began teaching the girl some worldly wisdom.

He pointed to a few men behind them, fierce and menacing. “Those are Jianghu people. They roam the Jianghu, the corners of the world. Some do good deeds, some do bad…”

He lowered his voice and continued, “Those who do bad things get bounties placed on them by the authorities. Then the Jianghu people who do good go and catch the ones who do bad. That’s how they make a living. A few take on very dangerous jobs, like the one we did a few days ago.”

The girl nodded, half understanding.

The leader went on describing the characteristics of Jianghu people, so the girl could recognize them by sight in the future.

Their clothing differed from ordinary folk, as well as from scholars and merchants.

Jianghu people usually wore tight-fitting outfits, without long skirts or wide sleeves, to allow free movement of legs and arms. Their attire was very distinctive, men and women alike dressed in similar styles.

For instance, the girl’s white feathered robe was something a Jianghu person would never wear. It had wide sleeves that hindered hand movement and a trailing hem that restricted leg movement.

The leader and the girl moved forward a few places in the queue.

Then the leader pointed at some people cutting in line at the city gate. “Those are canal transport people. If I’m not mistaken, they are salt merchants.”

The girl tilted her head, not understanding. Too many terms.

The leader scratched his head, thinking how to explain. After a long pause, he said, “Well, our Great Ming has water transport of goods, called canal transport. Usually, grain is shipped from the south to the capital or Liaodong.”

He pointed toward a distant direction where the waterway lay. “Some merchants do business along this route, taking southern goods north and northern goods south. All these activities fall under canal transport merchants. And among them, the most powerful, besides the canal army, are the salt merchants along the way. If you see someone walking with their nose in the air, fat and pig-like, that’s a salt merchant.”

Clap clap clap… The commoners in line, ahead and behind, started applauding for no apparent reason.

“Well said!” someone shouted, agreeing wholeheartedly with the leader’s words.

The leader was embarrassed.

The girl realized his words carried some personal grudge, a veiled insult.

The leader continued explaining, describing the various types of people around them, like a father teaching his daughter.

The girl learned to identify commoners, soldiers, merchants, generals, and Jianghu people by sight.

And from a few days ago, she had learned to recognize officials.

The leader noticed that the captain on the city wall had already spotted the girl, but he didn’t come down. He seemed stuck in a dilemma.

The girl’s outfit was too intimidating, too ostentatious. She could be mistaken for a demon or an immortal.

If they treated her as a demon and sent someone to capture her, but she turned out to be a cultivator, the captain might lose his head.

If they treated her as a cultivator and sent someone to welcome her, but she turned out to be a demon, the captain would still lose his head.

The safest course might be to do nothing.

The leader smiled, marveling at the gate captain’s timidity. He didn’t even dare to seize such a golden opportunity.

After waiting for the time it takes to burn an incense stick, they finally reached the city gate.

Six soldiers with long spears guarded the entrance.

As the girl approached, no one dared to cut in line. Even the fat salt merchants kept their distance.

Only then did they understand the meaning of the phrase: “Why rush?”

Even the guards stood straighter, as if welcoming some great figure.

The leader presented their papers according to procedure. They were briefly searched, paid the toll, and passed through.

When it was the girl’s turn, the older soldier didn’t dare to ask, and the younger one hadn’t yet spoken.

Fortunately, the girl took out her travel permit on her own.

The permit was checked, no problem. The young soldier suddenly asked, “Do you have an official identification?”

The older soldier immediately slapped him on the head, then said politely to the girl, “It’s fine. You can enter.”

The young soldier said aggrievedly, “We haven’t even asked if she’s a Ming citizen yet.”

The older soldier kicked him away and took his place, gesturing for the girl to hurry into the city.

No one dared to question her, offend her, or flatter her. The best approach was to mind their own business and pretend they hadn’t seen her.

The leader and the girl finally entered the city.

There were stalls set up by the city gate, extensions of roadside shops. One sold flatbread.

The girl immediately started eating. She had several plain oil cakes and meat oil cakes. The local snacks were very different from those in Liaodong.

She ate messily, splattering oil on her feathered robe. Just as the shopkeeper was about to wipe it off, the oil stains suddenly evaporated.

This miracle stunned the shopkeeper. He stood still, cleaning cloth in hand, not knowing what to do.

“What honor for my humble shop to have an immortal come eat here! How could I charge you?” The shopkeeper refused the copper coins the leader offered.

After a few rounds of refusal, the leader finally took back his hand, unable to give the money.

They ate at several more shops, and the same thing happened. No one dared to take his money.

This was different from Liaodong.

There, people also feared her, but they still collected what was owed.

Here, the commoners feared her too, but they refused payment.

“Because this is a wealthy region,” the leader explained to the girl along the way.

They ate and played their way to a canal several dozen zhang wide.

Big and small boats filled the canal.

Many people were hawking goods and trading.

Others were unloading and loading cargo.

When the girl arrived, many stopped their work and stared at her as if admiring a work of art, without disrespect.

The leader pointed at them and said to the girl, “The biggest difference between here and Liaodong, at least from my perspective as a merchant, is that nearly everyone in Tianjin has a steady job that keeps them fed. A way of life centered around canal transport has emerged. Even illiterate people or those without any skills can find work at the docks. They won’t starve.”

The girl nodded again, but still only half understood.

She didn’t need to eat, so she had no idea what hunger felt like.

Her mouth felt dry and uncomfortable. She took a fruit from her storage ring and began eating. Even though she wasn’t hungry, she ate just for fun.

This sleight-of-hand startled the onlookers.

Fruit juice dripped to the ground, making several Jianghu people nearby drool.

The leader continued introducing Tianjin, while the girl kept eating her fruit. She listened but didn’t remember everything.

Seeing the girl’s inattentiveness, the leader sighed, like a helpless elder dealing with a child.

‘The Jianghu isn’t just about fighting and killing. It’s also about human relationships and worldly affairs.’

Fighting and killing are the easy parts.

The leader recalled the Dream-Eating Beast they had encountered earlier. Good and evil were clear then, and fighting solved the problem.

The human relationships in the Jianghu are the hardest to understand. They cause pain, but also joy.

The leader hadn’t even figured out these relationships himself, let alone the girl.

He just wanted, before he left, to teach this blank-slate girl what the Jianghu really meant.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

The Villainess’s Guide to Training the Villainous Young Lady

Creative conceptFemale ProtagonistGender Transformation

Read Now →
Not interested