206 Behind the Mountain, Behind the Fence (1/2)
Chapter 206: Behind the Mountain, Behind the Fence
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
Mo Shanshan was feeling both satisfied yet dissatisfied. She was happy that Ning Que didn't know who she was. That would prevent a lot of noise and troublesome. What she wasn't excited about Ning Que's ignorance meant she had to overthrow all her assumptions.
Feeling conflicted, she didn't know what to say. So all she did was imitate what her teacher typically did. She patted Ning Que gently on the shoulder and turned around.
Ning Que looked at her as she left, marveling at the arrogance and coldness of this girl from the Black Ink Garden.
Noticing his expression, Cat Girl became worried and unhappy that he was misunderstanding her senior sister. But it wasn't her place to explain on her senior sister's behalf so she could only snort angrily and leave.
”I don't doubt that Senior Brother Zhong is from the academy. Since he's from the Chang'an Academy, it's convenient for us both to do things. There shouldn't be a problem. But he's after all a Tang citizen with countless ways to enter the Wilderness. He could go with the Yan army or the imperial court envoy, but he just had to hide his identity and go with us…”
Sitting by the bonfire at night, Zhuo Zhihua turned to Mo Shanshan beside her. With her eyebrows furrowed, she whispered, ”Regardless of his explanation or how much influence of Tang imperial court and the Academy exert, this must be no small matter. Our Great River Kingdom lacks power. If we get involved, it won't be easy for us to get out of it.”
Cat Girl shook her head, objecting that reasoning. ”What's there to fear? There are definitely benefits that come with entering the Wilderness with an Academy student. Even if he may bring us trouble, we're basically carrying a safety amulet with us.”
Zhuo Zhihua smiled helplessly and ruffled Cat Girl's hair. Though the Great River Kingdom and the Tang Empire have had a good relationship for generations, the safety amulet could turn out to be a cursed amulet should there really be a dispute between the Tang Empire and the Divine Hall as she had guessed.
Mo Shanshan, who had been listening silently, interrupted just then. ”Let him follow my horse carriage.”
Cat Girl clapped gently and smiled. She tried to comfort Zhuo Zhihua by saying, ”With Senior Sister watching, what's there to worry about? Even if Senior Brother Zhong is a martial master from the second floor of the Academy, he probably wouldn't dare act recklessly.”
Mo Shanshan gently said, ”He's not a student from the second floor of the Academy… Talking about this, it's really quite a pity.”
Cat Girl asked in surprise, ”Senior sister, how did you find out?”
Mo Shanshan stared at the flickering fire, her gaze turning distant as if she was looking at somewhere far away. ”If he's from the second floor, how could he have not heard of my name?”
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That captain once doubted Ning Que's identity as a student from the second floor of the Academy due to his lack of knowledge of the secret of the seven Tomes of Arcane. Now Mo Shanshan had also excluded him as a student from the second floor due to his ignorance. If Ning Que knew this, he would have once again regretted focusing only on his cultivation on the Back Mountain of the Academy and neglected other things.
On the second day, Ning Que rode his large, black horse to the Bi Lan Lake. His horse couldn't stop shaking its head and expelling warm air carrying his heavy luggage. It looked extremely dissatisfied but didn't show any sign of collapsing under the weight.
After changing into the common student uniform of the Black Ink Garden and wearing a bamboo hat covering half of his face, Ning Que still wasn't happy with his disguise. He ransacked his luggage for the mask Sangsang made for him and wore it carefully.
Mo Shanshan walked out from behind the yellow-clothed curtain. Instead of wearing her usual plain white skirt and blue waistband, she had on a loose skirt in the manner of the girls of the Great River Kingdom. She had hidden her beautiful eyes and brows behind the translucent silk cloth hanging from her bamboo hat, obscuring her beauty from others.
Both Ning Que and Mo Shanshan wanted nothing more than entirely changing their faces. But since they have already seen each other's faces, they found it somewhat odd to see they shared the same idea.
They exchanged glances and brushed past each other without speaking.
In that moment, Ning Que noticed Mo Shanshan's gaze behind the translucent silk cloth were not entirely focused on him. He couldn't help frowning. The girl's face was already behind the silk cloth, yet she was still trying to show contempt for him?
He scoffed to himself. When it came to feigning indifference and coldness, not even Prince Long Qing was his rival. The girl was just a young one. She better not thinks she could affect his emotions with that kind of glance.
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When the students of the Black Ink Garden were done with the preparations, they headed east and arrived beside the tent of the joint armies. They received aid from the Central Plains in the form of grain and fodder from the logistics department to support the Left-tent Palace. The joint armies of the Central Plains and people of the Yuelun Kingdom understood clearly the true challenges and danger would show up after entering the Wilderness, so they didn't meet any obstacles at the moment.
Accompanied by the biting wind and cold morning sun, 200 Yan cavalries, over 100 cart drivers, and about dozen Black Ink Garden students from the Great River Kingdom left the frontier fortress together just like that and headed for the cold and vast Wilderness.
The Yan cavalries guarding the grain and fodder rode in silence while the cart drivers were anxious and numb. The students from the Black Ink Garden rode around them to secure their safety. Besides the grain cart, there were two carriages belonging to the Black Ink Garden. Mo Shanshan sat inside one of them, with Ning Que riding his black horse and following behind closely.
After walking more than 10 miles, they couldn't even see the military tents behind them. Taking off his bamboo hat, Ning Que looked at the mounds of snow piling on the withered grass and listened to the screaming of eagles from somewhere far away. His eyes gleamed with joyful light. He hadn't seen scenery like this for a long time. Even the chilly air that hurt his lungs gave him a feeling of home.
Nothing new happened in the following days. The team moved slowly through the Wilderness, leaving behind an impressive cloud of dust. They didn't meet anyone from the Horse Gang, any soldiers, or any strange events.
With the Divine Hall assigning this tough task to the Black Ink Garden, they were obviously harboring the intentions to make things difficult for them. So, on the surface, they put on a show of courtesy and granted the Black Ink Garden the highest power. The entire 200 of Yan cavalries and all their carts had to obey the orders of these young girls.
Shortly after Ning Que rode next to Mo Shanshan's carriage and said something to her through the window, the arranged Yan guide was dismissed. Then he became the one who decided on their route, selected their accommodation, and arranged the timings.
Under his guidance, the team walked along the hills not far from the Yaozi Sea. Though they couldn't find water every day, they could at least get adequate firewood. The team got up really early and, by noon, Ning Que would order them to search for a place for accommodation and prepare to rest.
The leader of the Yan cavalries once objected, finding the distance they traveled each was too short. If they kept walking at this pace, it would be too late by the time they get to the palace. It was one thing to let the tribesmen starve to death, but it would be a big issue if they delayed the negotiations between the Divine Hall and the palace.