Chapter 220: Tian Shan

Chapter 220: Tian Shan

Zhang Shun walked behind, stealthily watching Sui Yu. He had imagined countless possible outcomes for Er'hei, but never expected that she would let him go so easily—seemingly freeing him, while cutting off most of his means of survival, and warning others with wavering loyalties. He suddenly felt at ease. The master he followed was both benevolent and decisive, with a well-thought-out plan. As long as he remained loyal to her, she would not mistreat him.

"Master, Er'hei's belongings are still on the camel. Should I send them to him?" Qingshan suddenly spoke up.

Sui Yu turned around and gave him a cold glance. "What belongings does he have?"

Qingshan fell silent.

"When he was miserable and desperate, I rescued him from the cage. When he first arrived at my place, he was just skin and bones. I fed him and fattened him up. I bought his clothes and shoes. My husband taught him martial arts and archery without charging a single fee. Half of his life is mine." Her tone was cold, referring to Er'hei but implying much more. Everyone understood whom she was referring to. Sui Yu continued coldly, "To spare his life is already my kindness. To be overly kind is to be foolish. Should I use my resources to aid someone who betrayed me? Are you taking advantage of my kindness?"

Qingshan immediately knelt down and apologized.

Sui Yu glanced at him, then coldly swept her eyes over the others before turning back to drive the camel and continue the journey.

They traveled in silence. By midday, Kuqa City had receded into a distant, yellowish blur.

Wusun was to the northwest of Kuqa, and directly north of Kuqa was Wensuguo. A vast, verdant grassland lay between the two countries, where cattle and sheep roamed in herds. The nomads' yurts followed the flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.

At that moment, a nomad was cooking outside his yurt. Smoke rose from the fire, and the green grassland complemented the blue sky. People merged with the landscape, creating a picturesque scene.

As they passed a nomad's yurt, the nomad stopped the caravan. His wife brought out a bundle of sheepskins and a dried sheep leg from the yurt, wanting to trade with the caravan.

"What do you need?" Sui Yu asked. "Do you want to trade for blankets?"

Zhang Shun untied a bundle of wool blankets from the camel.

The nomads shook their heads and waved their hands. The woman tugged at her dress.

"Cloth, right?" Sui Yu realized. "Do we still have any coarse fabric left? I believe we have a few pieces."

Zhang Shun tied up the blankets. Li Wu dismounted the camel and untied two bolts of cloth, one white coarse fabric and one indigo coarse fabric.

The woman nodded. That was exactly what she wanted to buy. She placed the sheepskins down and reached out for the bolts of cloth in Li Wu's hands.

A bolt of cloth cost one hundred and twenty coins, equivalent to two jars of mulberry wine, and could be exchanged for ten sheepskins according to the prices in Loulan. Li Wu roughly estimated the number of sheepskins and handed over only one bolt of cloth. He crouched down and counted the sheepskins, finding only sixteen, three of which were in poor condition, as if stained with something that wouldn’t wash off.

"Ten sheepskins can only exchange for one bolt of cloth." Li Wu took away six sheepskins and handed them back to the woman.

The nomad couple exchanged glances, and the wife added the sheep leg.

"We don't want that." Li Wu flatly refused, slung the other bolt of cloth over his shoulder, mounted the camel, and said, "Master, let's go."

"Alright."

The caravan continued on its way, and the nomads didn't chase after them. The couple spread out the bolts of cloth on the grassland. The indigo-blue cloth stretched far, enough for their family of four to make new clothes for two or three years.

The early summer breeze was gentle and warm, carrying the fresh scent of grass and the earthy aroma of soil. It was refreshing and invigorating.

White clouds drifted across the sky, and fattened sheep grazed on the grassland, moving leisurely. The soft bleats of lambs mingled with the clear, melodious sound of camel bells, creating a poetic scene of life here.

"This nomadic lifestyle seems quite appealing." Song Xian relaxed.

Sui Yu nodded. She felt like lying down for a nap on the expansive grassland, from sunrise to sunset, or sitting on a high hill, staring into space and watching the scenery, spending the whole day like that.

"If Er'hei can make it out of Kuqa City and reach here, maybe he could find a way to make a living too." Zhang Shun brought up the topic.

Sui Yu smiled.

"He might try to steal the host’s sheep after a few days," Xiao Xi said boldly.

Sui Yu laughed and clapped her hands. "That's very possible."

"When we return, we’ll go through Kucha again, right?" Song Xian chimed in.

Sui Yu took out a sheepskin scroll. To travel from Kucha to Wusun, one must cross the Tian Shan, passing through the western mountains and streams. To travel from Wusun to Qiuci, one had to cross the eastern side of the Tian Shan. Additionally, the Xiongnu were active north of both Qiuci and Wusun. For safety, it was best to return the same way they came.

By evening, the sky had darkened, and near a river, Sui Yu blew her whistle, signaling the caravan to rest for the night.

With the warmer weather, there was no need to set up tents. The servants unloaded the goods from the camels. Freed from their loads, the camels roamed leisurely on the grassland.

Sui Yu and Song Xian also took the opportunity to lie on the grass. The soft grass felt like lying on clouds.

"The sky here is so vast," Song Xian said, pointing to the night sky with her finger. "This journey has been so tiring."

Sui Yu didn’t respond; she was feeling sleepy.

"My father was right not to let me lead a caravan beyond the pass. I don't have the ability," Song Xian said to herself. "Traveling is tough, dealing with people is tough, doing business is tough, and winning people’s hearts is even tougher."

"Enough, stop complaining," Sui Yu interrupted. "Say something interesting."

"Should I praise you?" Song Xian tilted her head.

"Okay," Sui Yu smiled. "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"There’s so much to say. Apart from other things, I think the guest house you opened is extremely useful. If it weren’t for the guidance of familiar merchants along the way, we would have suffered greatly. Many caravans, on their first trip out of the pass, are lucky to break even. If they manage to earn some hard-earned money on the road, it's already quite an achievement. But following you, Sui Yu, aside from encountering wolves and sandstorms, we haven’t been robbed or looted. It’s been a smooth journey all the way."

Sui Yu looked at the starry sky and said with some pride, "It was a lucky accident. Initially, I just wanted to keep a group of camels and rent them to caravans, only doing business with caravans. I never thought I'd be able to leverage the influence of merchants later on."

"Master, dinner is ready," Xiao Chunhong called out.

Sui Yu responded and reflected that since they left Kucha that morning, her servants had started calling her ‘master’ instead of ‘Head Merchant.’

"When you no longer want to trade, you can continue the camel business," Song Xian sat up.

Sui Yu turned her head and said seriously, "Wouldn’t that be taking your business?"

"I might let my cousin handle the trading. With so many camels in my family, I could sell half of them to buy silk in Chang’an and then transport it all out of the pass to sell. The profit from just one round trip would be enough to live on for three years." Song Xian pondered seriously. "This year, my family is expecting over a hundred new camel calves. At this rate, I won’t be able to afford to keep them all."

"Sell them to me," Sui Yu said.

"That would be perfect," Song Xian reached out to pull her up.

Sui Yu sat up, gathered her strength, and stood. Thinking of her child, she smiled wistfully. "My child is still too young. I don't know what he'll do in the future."

"He can do anything. You and your husband have laid the groundwork for him."

The nang bread was broken into pieces and cooked in the broth. The flavor of pepper blended into the soup. After finishing a bowl of nang bread soup, Sui Yu broke into a sweat. The sweat made her feel refreshed and comfortable all over.

Sleeping on the grassland at night, listening to the insects and the chewing of the camels, everyone had a good night's sleep.

They set off before dawn, continuing towards the distant bluish-black peaks.

After six days of traveling across the grassland, Sui Yu and Song Xian led the caravan to the foot of the Tian Shan. The grass was lush below the mountain, and the river valley echoed with the sound of flowing water. The mountaintops piercing the clouds were covered in snow.

"Isn't this similar to Hongchiling?" Xiao Chunhong asked.

Sui Yu wasn’t sure; she had never been here before.

Oh, she has really made something of herself. In her past life, she was just an ordinary person who had never been to Xinjiang and didn’t know the terrain. Now, she’s walking the ancient Silk Road, exploring ancient kingdoms in the Western Regions, and preparing to trek across the Tian Shan to trade for agate jade in the north of the mountain.

Song Xian felt her legs turn to jelly as she looked at the continuous mountains ahead. She was hesitant and said, “Sister Yu, we don’t have much silk and cloth left. Perhaps we should visit Wensuguo and then return. Next time, we can bring more goods and travel to Wusun. Otherwise, crossing the mountains will consume so much time that we won’t be able to purchase much.”

Sui Yu didn’t say anything for a moment. She had a vague plan that the next time she went out, she would likely travel to Ferghana and Kangju, and likely wouldn’t make a detour to Wusun.

“Have any of you been to Wusun?” she asked the servants of the Song family.

“No, but I’ve heard my father talk about it,” the old servant said. “It consists of numerous mountains. You must cross many peaks, including valleys and cliffs. Grasslands lie between the mountains, where herdsmen reside.”

“Then we should find the herdsmen first. I want to trade for a horse; a foal would suffice,” Sui Yu discussed with Song Xian. “It’s late April now. We’ll walk for ten days and then return, heading back before June.”

Hearing about the foal, Song Xian understood. Sui Yu wanted to buy a horse for her child. She smiled and nodded in agreement.

Far away in Dunhuang, the young Sui awaited another caravan returning from the west. Upon hearing the camel bells, he ran out to greet them enthusiastically.

Sui Liang leisurely continued picking mulberry leaves for the silkworms. The small silkworms had grown large, almost as long as his little finger, and were eating the leaves at an incredible speed. To keep the silkworms alive, the four mulberry trees were almost stripped bare.

As the camel bells drew near, Sui Liang closed the silkworm boxes, shooed away the chickens that were eyeing the silkworms hungrily, and carried the boxes to greet the caravan.

“Is this the Long Return Inn?”

“Yes, yes, it is,” the young Sui nodded repeatedly. “My name is Xiao Zai. Do you know my mother?”

A young Hu merchant picked up a large bundle, handed it to Sui Liang, and said, “A group of merchants we met on the road asked us to bring this back. They said if we helped deliver it, we could stay here for free.”

Sui Liang was stunned for a moment before responding, “Alright. Whatever she says, I will do. Come with me. There aren’t many people staying at the inn right now. You can choose any courtyard you like.”

After saying that, he placed the silkworm boxes and the heavy bundle on the ground and instructed, “Xiao Zai, you stay here and watch over them.”

“Okay.”

But before the caravan could move, Xiao Zai tried to open the bundle. When he couldn’t pull it apart, he went over and bit it with his mouth.

The passing Hu merchants laughed loudly and whistled to tease him.

Xiao Zai didn’t respond. He rummaged through the gap in the bundle and pulled out a jar wrapped with a rope. Unable to untie the rope, he continued rummaging through the bundle.

A pair of long pants—not his. Another pair of long pants—still not his. Finally, he found two pairs of short pants. Xiao Zai kicked off his shoes and, sitting bare-legged on the ground, started putting on the trousers.

Sui Liang rushed over to see the mess on the ground, with clothes scattered everywhere as if a pig had rooted through them.

“Uncle, come help me,” Xiao Zai called out.

Sui Liang sighed helplessly, walked over, and helped him put them on. “What kind of fabric is this? It’s so thick. Is it warm?”

“It’s warm,” Xiao Zai said contentedly. The pants on his legs weren’t even warm yet, and he was already looking forward to the next caravan arriving.