Flying Clouds in Another World

"Sir, are you willing to let that shopkeeper play you for a fool? He cheated us out of a few ounces of gold with this broken cart and old horse! I really can't swallow this anger."

Liu Shihu sat in front of the carriage and whipped the horse vigorously, making a few whip noises, trying to scare the old horse so that it would go faster. However, the old horse driving the carriage did not move at all and continued to move forward slowly.

It's not that Liu Shihu didn't want to whip the old horse hard, but looking at the old horse's frail appearance, he was really worried that if he really whipped it hard, the old horse would fall apart on the spot and fall to the ground and never get up again.

"So what if you can't swallow it? Do you want to dismantle his carriage? Besides, this horse may look old and weak, but it can still be used. At least it can last for two or three hours. Besides, this old horse is easy to use. As long as there is no fork in the road, you can sleep all the way!"

Liu Feiyun was holding a scroll in his hand, leaning lazily on a bookcase. He bought this bookcase from a bookstore this morning, which contained dozens of books of varying thicknesses, new and old. In addition, he also bought a scholar's robe, a bag of four treasures of the study, and some blank books. These things, which were used to indicate his current identity as a scholar, took up half of the carriage.

"But! With the speed of this old horse, how long will it take us to get home? If we change to a faster horse, maybe we can get home before dark!"

"As the old saying goes, more haste makes waste! Why are you in such a hurry? Even if this old horse is slower, it can still be slower for a few days. It's only a three or four hundred miles. As long as we go safely and steadily, it will be fine!" As Liu Feiyun was talking, he heard shouts of galloping horses coming from the direction they came from. He leaned out of the window and looked back, only to see several riders on fast horses coming towards him.

"This road is really lively!" Liu Feiyun murmured.

Liu Shihu also kept silent, adjusted his state, and tried his best to act like an ordinary servant.

"Whoa!" Several knights quickly caught up with the carriage, slowed down their horses, and approached. A middle-aged knight shouted, "Hey! Scholar! Have you seen two young men of your age riding fast past here?"

Liu Feiyun looked flustered. He waved his hands quickly with the book in his hand and said, "I haven't seen it! I haven't seen it! Several strong... knights! Can you guys look for those two young men?"

"No! That's strange! This is the shortest way to Anping County! Didn't we take this road? Little scholar! Has anyone asked you about the whereabouts of those two people before?"

"Yes! Three waves have passed by, all asking if they have seen two people riding fast horses passing by here!" Liu Feiyun answered cautiously.

"Oh! It seems that there are quite a lot of people who want to find those two guys now. Maybe those two guys traveled all night last night! I'm afraid they are still ahead, and may reach Anya County Mansion before noon! It seems that we have to catch up quickly!" The middle-aged knight thought for a moment, then led his men to gallop forward on horseback.

Less than a moment after this wave of people and horses left, another wave of people and horses came. However, this wave of people and horses did not stop at all, but directly passed by the carriage and left.

Within less than an hour from the time they left the city, more than a dozen waves of people and horses rushed past, including unidentified martial artists and guards from the Green Willow Trading Company.

"It seems that both enemies and friends think that I must be in a hurry to leave now that my hometown is right in front of me!" Liu Feiyun thought to himself as he watched another wave of knights go away.

The old horse pulled the carriage slowly, and it took nearly an hour, but they had only traveled less than an hour. It was not as fast as an ordinary person walking. In fact, many refugees who were in a hurry to get on with their journey surpassed them.

At this time, a little girl of five or six years old was sitting timidly in the car, looking curiously at Liu Feiyun who was talking to her grandfather.

The old man with gray hair walked slowly beside the carriage, answering Liu Feiyun's various questions with a smile. Around the carriage, there were also dozens of ragged refugees following.

It turned out that these refugees were all heading to Jinzhou in the northeast of the empire. Because their families in their hometowns were ruined for various reasons, it was difficult for them to survive there, and they were unwilling to sell themselves into slavery, so they simply became refugees and wanted to try their luck in Jinzhou, a remote borderland.

"Jinzhou! It's a border province that's even colder and harsher than Yunzhou and Liangzhou! It's probably not easy to make a living there!" Liu Feiyun sighed.

"Alas! To answer your question, although Jinzhou is bitter and cold, I heard that the Marquis of Zhenyuan treats refugees well, and we can have food to eat when we go there, which is better than anything else. As for the bitter cold, we can still survive if we endure it. It is better than the heavy taxes and vicious officials in my hometown! If I were in my hometown, I'm afraid I would have no choice but to sell myself into slavery!" The old man smiled bitterly and said, "As long as there is a way to survive, who would be willing to go far away!"

"Who said it wasn't true!" "Alas! How can poor people survive in this world?" "The young master was born into a wealthy family, how can he understand the hardships of us ordinary people!" "Yes! Yes!" The refugees around the carriage echoed one after another.

Liu Feiyun listened and remained silent. In fact, although he rarely left the sect in the past few years, he had been to Huishui City many times. He could also feel that the lives of ordinary people were getting harder and harder every year.

The carriage moved slowly forward. It seemed that it was almost noon, but this place was a mountainous area far away from any villages or towns. Liu Shihu climbed up a hill beside the road and looked into the distance. There was no human habitation for more than ten miles ahead.

After traveling for half a day, the refugees stopped to rest for a while before continuing on their journey.

Liu Feiyun was not in a hurry, so he simply stopped the car to let the old horse eat some grass.

But not long after he stopped, a noisy sound came from all around. Liu Feiyun looked in the direction of the sound and saw nearly a hundred people pouring out from the woods on both sides of the road. Although these people were not much better dressed than the refugees around him, they were all holding various weapons and had fierce eyes.

"Bandits! Bandits!" Liu Feiyun frowned.

When the refugees saw the bandits surrounding them, they immediately became chaotic and started crying and shouting, but they were already surrounded by bandits on all sides, so where could they escape to?

The bandits quickly drove the refugees around the carriage.

Liu Shihu didn't care too much. In his opinion, although there were many bandits, there were not many martial artists among them. It would not be easy for them to trap him and his master.

"Hahaha! I didn't expect it! While collecting grass and hunting rabbits, I got an unexpected harvest! Not only can I make a small fortune, but I can also recruit some manpower for the village! Not bad!" A big man came over on horseback and laughed.