Chapter 30: Parting at the Dock

The day after the celebration banquet, the two parted ways at the dock.

The Caravan Leader gave a long list of instructions, telling her how to navigate the world. What books said was one thing, reality was another.

Don’t look down on commoners. Don’t be hostile toward scholar-officials. Don’t casually befriend people from the martial world. Be cautious around merchants. Be careful when dealing with great Confucian scholars.

Never trust anyone who talks about money without thinking it through three times.

If someone offers you food, don’t eat it carelessly.

If someone invites you as a guest, don’t follow them blindly.

Finally, a life advice: he hoped the young girl would avoid officialdom. She could help those in need who wore official robes, but not get involved in politics.

This was a very difficult topic. The young girl couldn’t yet understand what politics meant, but she nodded in agreement.

As they were about to part, the Caravan Leader handed her something he was carrying. It was an axe wrapped in silk.

A very rare all-metal axe.

He unwrapped the silk to show her. “This shouldn’t break, right?”

Perhaps it wasn’t entirely metal. The handle was wrapped in coarse cloth.

The young girl took it and tested it. The metal’s coldness was blocked by the cloth, so it wasn’t particularly cold. Moreover, the coarse cloth prevented slipping, giving an excellent grip.

She pointed at herself.

The Caravan Leader nodded. “Yes, it’s for you.”

The young girl liked the axe very much.

Knowing that parting required gifts, she also took out a carefully selected fruit from her storage space and gave it to the Caravan Leader.

This fruit was even fuller, looking fresh and juicy.

The Caravan Leader didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted it.

Looking at this strange fruit, he suddenly became curious about a question. “By the way, how come you never run out of fruit? I’ve seen you eat tens of thousands of them.”

Tens of thousands was an exaggeration, but it showed she had eaten a lot.

Hearing this question, the young girl gestured with her hands. First, she made a square shape, then slowly lowered her hands. Then, she suddenly raised her hands nearly to the top of the square.

The gestures were abstract, requiring some skill to understand.

The Caravan Leader actually understood. “You mean, in that storage place, the fruits somehow increase on their own?”

The young girl nodded.

The Caravan Leader smiled mysteriously but didn’t say anything more.

Time was up. The boat was leaving.

Finally, the Caravan Leader taught her what to pay attention to while on the boat, instructed the crew to take care of her, and then disembarked.

The young girl waved goodbye to the Caravan Leader and a few people from the caravan.

The boat sailed away from the dock, farther and farther, until they could no longer see each other.

Only then did the young girl turn her attention to the water, observing the beautiful scenery along the way.

The boat she was on was a medium-small cargo ship, used for medium-distance freight. It departed from Tianjin and passed through Baoding, where she was headed.

There were also a few travelers and merchants on board, extra income for the boatmen.

Cargo was steady business; passengers were additional revenue.

The latter brought in much more money than the former, but it wasn’t fixed. They couldn’t always get so many passengers.

Along the way, no one dared to provoke the young girl. They didn’t even dare to approach.

Everyone knew her background. Even the Prefect had called her an immortal. She was not to be trifled with.

They both feared her power and respected her, so no one disturbed her.

She sat near the bow watching the scenery. After leaving the bustling Tianjin dock, they soon reached the outskirts, and the view became the same unchanging mountains and rivers.

She found it a bit boring, so she took out a novel to read.

Occasionally, she would smile or frown, absorbed in the story.

The travelers on board also admired the beautiful sight.

For many, this might have been a once-in-a-lifetime view.

Some tried to compose poetry, but no matter how they wrote, they couldn’t capture the scene in verses.

None of the travelers could produce a poem that convinced their companions. They could only lament that they were not Du Fu or Li Bai, unable to express the scenery in poetry, so they gave up with regret.

A few hours later, an action of the young girl shattered the travelers’ dignified image of the immortal.

She leaned over the edge of the boat and dry-heaved, unable to vomit anything, her face pale.

This terrified the boatman. He didn’t dare move the boat and stopped in place.

After a long time, the young girl calmed down. She didn’t read at the bow anymore but went to the cabin to lie down and rest. This was the boatman’s suggestion. He would rather invite this great immortal to lie inside than let her catch the wind outside.

Lying down was indeed much better. She felt comfortable and wasn’t as seasick.

The cargo ship continued sailing. Several boatmen took turns rowing. It took three days, with a few short breaks along the way, to finally go from Tianjin to Baoding Prefecture. Here, they would unload part of the cargo and load more to continue westward. This was just one stop for the cargo ship.

The young girl disembarked and even waved goodbye to the boatman in a friendly manner.

The boatman was stunned for a moment, then awkwardly waved back.

Back on land, her feet felt unsteady, and she couldn’t walk steadily.

It took a while for her to get used to the feeling of solid ground.

The young girl started asking for directions at the dock. Most people avoided her, not daring to come close.

There were a few bold ones who briefly interacted with her. Learning that she was just asking for directions, they enthusiastically pointed the way.

Walking on the street, she was still the most conspicuous person. Pedestrians all turned to stare.

She was used to others’ gazes by now. It didn’t matter.

Baoding Prefecture was a bit different from Tianjin. There were many martial artists there, but fewer here in Baoding.

However, there were many more ordinary people here, far more than in Tianjin.

The young girl spent some time finding the government office. During the day, the office door was open, with yamen runners guarding the entrance. Something seemed to be going on inside.

Seeing the young girl approach, the yamen runner immediately assumed a defensive posture.

He wanted to shout “monster” but felt it wasn’t right.

Instead, he sternly called out to her, asking her origin and purpose.

The young girl produced her travel permit. The yamen runner didn’t notice where she had taken it out from.

After checking, he gradually relaxed his vigilance and wasn’t so hostile.

The young girl took out another travel permit and pointed at it with her finger. Again, the yamen runner didn’t notice where this one came from.

He struggled to understand her gestures. It took a long time to realize she was here to check household registration. The yamen runner wanted to refuse, but the young girl’s appearance was too striking. She clearly had a significant background, making it hard to refuse.

The yamen runner couldn’t decide. He said he needed to inform the Baoding Prefect to make the decision and asked her to wait.

He ran into the office, even interrupting the Prefect’s eagerly anticipated case hearing, to report that an honored guest had arrived outside.

Since the description was so serious, the Baoding Prefect decided to temporarily stop the case and went to the main hall to wait.

The yamen runner then ran back to the main entrance and escorted the young girl into the main hall of the office.

The moment he saw the visitor, the Baoding Prefect quickly stood up, picked up the tea set, and subtly moved from the host seat to the guest seat.

Had he known this kind of unknown creature was coming, he wouldn’t have dared to sit in the host seat.

He wanted to exchange pleasantries with the young girl, but she only nodded or shook her head, seeming unwilling to speak.

The Prefect tactfully stopped his small talk.

After the young girl sat down, the Prefect followed suit.

He wanted to entertain her properly. The young girl thought for a moment, then refused. Clearly, she had urgent business.

When asked about her purpose again, the Prefect had already heard from the yamen runner that she was here to check household registration, he still asked personally.

The young girl demonstrated her skill of retrieving objects from thin air, producing the travel permit document again.

This single move stunned the two people present. They were just ordinary humans; they had never seen such a magical method.

The yamen runner tremblingly took it and presented it to the Prefect.

The Prefect remained relatively calm. He unfolded the travel permit and examined it, frowning a few times.

The permit was stamped with the seal of Baoding Prefecture.

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