Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 29: Ancient Fragrance
It was a scent of incense that she hadn't expected.

What Tan Huaike smelled at first was Mohe's shuttle feather incense, which was very common in the four counties of Hexi and nothing special. But at the end of the shuttle feather incense, she keenly caught another smell.

Because the mixed smell was so faint, it took her a while to identify it.

That seems to be the ancient fragrance...

Canggu is a very rare and precious fragrant stone powder in Mohe. In the past, only nobles could use it. After that, Mohe experienced turmoil and the tribe was forced to move. There were few Canggu stones left, and even many nobles could not use such spices.

The reason why Tan Huaike was able to identify it was, firstly, because when her family's business was at its peak, her grandfather once resold a small amount of Cang Gu incense to a Mohe noble. In her memory, it was only a small package as big as a fingernail, but it was sold for a considerable price. It was at that time that she had carefully smelled it; secondly, because she had an innate talent for the smell of spices. She could remember it clearly after smelling it once, and could also make a rough guess about the materials used in making the incense.

In her opinion, this person must have used Cang Gu incense a long time ago and then deliberately covered up this special incense with the scent of Sua Yu incense. If it weren't for the long-lasting fragrance of Cang Gu embers, and if she hadn't deliberately smelled it, it would have been difficult to detect.

But when Tan Huaike turned around to look for him, the man had already been drowned in the crowd on Ringing Street.

Is it some noble that Mo He came to Daxuan with?
She had no way of knowing, so she could only put it aside for the time being.
-
In the restaurant opposite the Guangde Pawn Shop, two Mohe people dressed as traveling merchants ordered three dishes from the Western Territory, two servings of baked naan, and a bottle of the shop's homemade wine, and chatted while eating.

One of them had a well-defined figure, a high nose bridge, deep brows and eyes, and his long, slightly curly hair was tied into a thin braid and tied high up. His every move exuded a certain nobility. The other was a muscular man with a sharp gaze and a short dagger hidden at his waist. He looked like a martial artist.

The two spoke in Mohe language.

The muscular man was named Badan. He was watching the entrance of Guangde Pawn Shop and said to his companion, "Young Master, according to that black market vendor, the beads were stolen from this shop."

Aisha scooped out a ladle of wine and looked closely at it in the sunlight. He saw many tiny purple-black residues floating in the deep red liquid. It was turbid and not mellow. He couldn't help but frown...

They had been in the pass for some time and had been waiting for his sister, Princess Alan, who was sent to marry him.

According to his and A Lan's previous plan, as the Mo He envoy accompanying the marriage party, he would enter the border ahead of the others to make arrangements, so he could conduct early detection and warnings, and eliminate any trouble that might arise against them. After all, this marriage was hard-won, and it touched upon the interests of many parties, both overtly and covertly. Whether in Da Xuan or Mo He, there was considerable opposition.

Before setting out from the Naxi River Valley, Alan had fallen from her horse in an accident, nearly breaking her leg. If it weren't for her exceptional riding skills since childhood, and the fact that he had arranged for his personal guards to take precautions, someone might have succeeded. Daxuan would never accept a princess with a disability as a marriage partner. The person who orchestrated this accident had a clear goal: to derail the marriage.

As they drew closer to Daxuan, such obstruction would surely intensify. So he and his sister agreed that he would go ahead and scout the route, one in the open and the other in the dark, so they could see more clearly. They agreed to reunite after crossing the border. By then, the marriage party could travel to Andu under the protection of the Daxuan army, which would presumably be much smoother.

However, after waiting for a long time, the agreed date had already passed, but there was still no news.

The marriage team that should have entered the pass only twenty days later than him disappeared out of thin air, and there was not even any gossip about this matter in the four counties of Hexi.

Why? How?
In order to temporarily conceal his tracks, Aisha used a merchant pass when entering the pass. Although he did not reveal his true identity, after checking the danger, he used the seal of the Mohe envoy to send a letter to the envoy stationed at the border of Daxuan. The letter clearly stated the route of the marriage team and the expected arrival time, and requested Daxuan to send the Zhenxi Army to welcome them.

His investigation revealed only a few formidable bandits outside Yangguan Pass, posing no significant threat to the elite escort of the marriage procession. However, to be on the safe side, he nonetheless made a request to Daxuan. The Zhenxi Army was renowned, and since the two countries were committed to friendly relations, such contact would be beneficial. However, everything spiraled out of control after that.

Where is his sister? Where is the marriage party?
Why was the entire border so silent, with only him and Badan trapped?
After discovering that something had happened, Aisha no longer trusted the Zhenxi Army and first wanted to go out to find his sister. But at this moment, he discovered that a mysterious force seemed to be searching for him.

Disguised as tenant farmers, merchants, and beggars, they searched the city for Mohe people, engaging in conversation and probing them. Fortunately, the four Hexi prefectures were vast, and many people traveled in and out of the various countries in the western border. He had deliberately concealed himself, and those people were like searching for a needle in a haystack, their efforts futile. It seemed they didn't dare to conduct a large-scale search and inquiry. After lingering for several days without success, they gradually withdrew.

At this point, he could conclude that something had happened to the princess and the marriage team, and the other party would never let him go.

Aisha could not help but feel grief and indignation. He, the so-called eldest prince, not only could not inherit the throne legitimately, but now he could not even protect his own sister!

There was no news, the situation was unclear, and he still held on to a glimmer of hope because he had not seen the princess's body with his own eyes.

He thought that if Alan could escape the heavy guards, she would definitely find a way to enter the pass to find him. As long as Alan was still alive, the marriage could go ahead, they still had a chance to turn things around, and Mo He would not be destroyed.

So Aisha was still waiting, waiting for the princess to miraculously appear before her, and waiting for the giant bell that was forcibly sealed at the border of Daxuan to ring.

Finally, a few days ago, things took a turn for the better.

In order to find the princess, who might have entered the border, Aisha and Badan frequently visited the border black market. The black market sold stolen goods from bandits, slaves of unknown origin, and items difficult to sell openly, such as contraband salt that had been resold several times, spices with special properties, and the property of refugee nobles from the western border.

It was at an inconspicuous stall in the black market that Badan saw the familiar string of beads.

He was Aisha's personal guard and was quite familiar with Princess Alan. When the princess fell off her horse, it was he who stepped forward to act as a scapegoat and protected the princess from the trampling horses' hooves.

So the first time he saw the bead necklace, he recognized it as the accessory that the princess never took off.

Badan did not act rashly and immediately told the eldest prince about his discovery.

Aisha was both surprised and happy. She was surprised that the princess must have suffered great danger, otherwise the most precious beads would not have ended up on the black market. She was happy that she finally had some clues, at least they had a direction to explore.

Alan...

Don't be afraid, Brother Wang will definitely find you.
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　Next chapter: Aisha once again confirmed that this was the thing of the princess Alan.

　　【Double update in progress, scroll back.】

　　
　
(End of this chapter)