The girl's crying echoed at the entrance of the village.
She sat in the cart, crying her eyes out.
The crying was due to sadness, but not that kind of sadness, instead, it should have been joy.
She had received her master's handwritten notes, gained a new understanding of her master, and had more questions as well.
She learned of her master's past, and wanted to explore it, but had no idea how to begin, when unexpectedly, her master's past appeared right before her eyes.
She came to the northern lands, she came to resolve the issue of the smallpox vaccine, she was being chased by the Jinyiwei and had no choice but to go north, she was kidnapped, was all this arranged by fate?
Did her master want her to see his past?
Longing, everyone has their own longings, whether for those who are dead or for those who are alive.
Miss Jun felt an unstoppable sorrow in her heart, not knowing what to do except cry.
Seeing her cry, the surrounding villagers also didn't know what to do; even the village chief didn't dare to say anything more, each rubbing their hands awkwardly,
"You men, step aside." Upon hearing the news, some women gathered, shouting immediately upon seeing the scene.
Women have ways with women, and the men sighed in relief as they hastily stepped aside.
"Miss Jun, don't cry, don't be afraid, we really mean no harm," the leading woman said softly. "We just wanted to ask you to come for vaccination."
The other women all agreed with a chorus of yeses.
"Why are her hands and feet still tied up?"
They said angrily, stepping forward to untie Miss Jun's hands and feet clumsily, with some even patting her shoulders.
"Inviting someone for vaccination is not done in this manner," a man from the side felt the women's words were dubious and couldn't help but remind them.
The women glared at him, their gaze shifting to the leading woman.
The woman smiled.
"Without hiding anything from you, Miss Jun, we can't go to the Prefecture easily, so we could only ask you to come here," she said frankly.
Wouldn't saying this make it even more frightening? The kind of person who can't move about freely must surely be a bad one.
The men frowned, looking even more worriedly at the girl sitting in the cart with her head up, eyes closed, and mouth wide open in tears, wondering if in the next moment she would be rolling on the ground. Then they saw Miss Jun quiet down and sit upright.
"Why can't you go?" she asked in a sniffle, looking at the woman in front of her.
This sudden crying and stopping was indeed a bit scary.
The woman was taken aback and quickly forced a smile again.
"Because we are government soldiers," she said.
Miss Jun tried to see insincerity on the woman's face, but she appeared to be confident and assertive.
"Yes, indeed."
"You don't know, the government soldiers cannot enter the city at will," the other women also chimed in.
Miss Jun chuckled with tears in her eyes.
"Ah, she's laughing now, that's good, that's good," the women immediately clapped in happiness.
They made her laugh that easily? The men on the side felt a bit awkward, was it a mocking laughter?
Miss Jun covered her mouth and nose with her hand and took deep breaths, looking at the women in front of her, feeling the sorrow once again.
She, of course, knew that government soldiers couldn't move freely, but it didn't apply here.
However, she believed that the woman was not lying; they truly had difficulties entering the city, and this difficulty was to hide their identities, or there were other predicaments.
These people were dressed poorly, their faces bearing the marks of constant hard work.
It was clear that their lives were not prosperous.
Miss Jun scanned the men, women, and children before her, finally settling on the face depicted in the Military Formation Map from her master's handwritten notes.
"What is your name?" she asked.
The man who was asked seemed surprised but did not hesitate.
"My name is Xia Yong," he said, "I am the village chief here."
Xia Yong, Miss Jun noted the name in her heart, stepped down from the cart, and paid her respects to him.
"I am Miss Jun," she said. "I am pleased to meet you."
Ah?
This action and these words surprised everyone, and Xia Yong himself was so flustered that he hurriedly returned the courtesy.
"Pleased, very pleased," he replied. "We are also happy."
The woman beside him was even happier.
"I'm from Xia Yong's family," she said. "Come now, let's not talk here. Let's go inside and sit down to talk."
Let's go inside to talk.
This home is also Master's home, isn't it?
After so many years, she could finally arrive at Master's home, but Master himself could never return.
Miss Jun sniffed hard once again, reaching up to press her eyes.
Seeing her like this, the people around her became uneasily silent, but then Miss Jun lowered her hand and turned her gaze towards the cart.
"My medicine chest." She said.
The women hurriedly looked towards the cart.
"Where's the medicine chest? Where's the medicine chest?" They shouted, urging as they searched.
The men nearby also hurried forward, taking out the medicine chest from among the items.
"Here it is, here it is." He said.
Miss Jun took the medicine chest, hugging it tightly in front of her and took a deep breath.
Master, we're home.
"Please, please, Miss Jun, come inside." The crowd said once again.
Miss Jun did not hesitate any longer, smiled and stepped forward, surrounded by happy women while curious children hopped and ran beside them.
The men fell behind, relieved at the scene, but some scratched their heads.
"Why does this scene seem a bit strange?" One of them said.
It's just like welcoming a guest.
"What's so strange about that? She is a guest, after all." Another man replied.
"But, can a guest who is welcomed like this really consider themselves a guest?" The previous man said, glancing at the nearby cart.
Firewood, green grass, ropes, and below the cart, even axes and cleavers hung.
The men present all fell silent for a moment, especially the two who had tied up Miss Jun and brought her back, recalling all the events that happened along the way.
"Speaking of which, this Miss Jun really is different from ordinary people," they stutteringly said.
"There's nothing strange about that." Xia Yong said, "At this moment, Miss Jun knows too well there's no other way. A wise person knows how to adapt, better to deal amiably with us than to wail and flail."
That's right, the men nodded, feeling reassured.
"Besides, didn't he say it before?" Xia Yong suddenly added, "The person who could invent the way to prevent smallpox is certainly no ordinary person."
This statement sounded somewhat like a joke.
But no one laughed; those who had been smiling had their expressions shift to something complicated—wistful yet angry—and eventually fell silent again.
"Alright, let's go, let's go back home." Xia Yong waved his hand as if he hadn't said anything and strode forward.
The men, too, resumed their cheerful chatter, proceeding as if they had heard nothing.
...........................
"Here."
Meanwhile, in a government office, a general pointed to a spot on a map laid out on the table.
"Big Teeth said the group of people should be right here."
Lei Zhonglian and Eighteenth Jin looked at the map.
Lei Zhonglian seemed indifferent, while Eighteenth Jin frowned.
"This counts as a map? Can't make heads or tails of it," he said.
The general's face reddened.
What's the point of being choosy now? Your master was kidnapped right under your noses, what can you do?
"Having this is already good enough," he said brusquely, slapping the map, "Even without looking at this, we know where this place is."
"Is this Zhangqing Mountain?" Eighteenth Jin did not dwell on the map anymore, looking at the small circle and the three wobbly written characters on it, "So these guys are also bandits?"
"Definitely bandits," the general said. "Big Teeth said, this group of bandits have been trying to take over his Zanhuang Mountain, skulking around many times and even claiming to be government soldiers on anti-bandit campaigns."
Thinking about how he too had been played like a fool by these bandits, being used as their pawn, his anger surged, reddening his face once more, and he slammed his hand on the table.
The table broke with a snap.
"Truly audacious to the extreme."
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Thank you to Bing from the south for the reward (>^ω^
Thank you, everyone.
Note: The chapter title has been changed from Xin Qiji's poem "He Xinlang", Stopping Clouds. Yuan Ming has four poems titled "Stopping Clouds", and in his introduction, he says, "Stopping clouds, for thinking of friends and family."