The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

The woman reeked of alcohol, perhaps because she knew she was about to die, so she simply took some wine with her and went on a trip to enjoy the scenery, which was quite carefree.

It's just that I drank too much alcohol, which is why I'm in such pain now.

Chang'an had thought so, but looking at her pained expression, he felt more and more that things were not so simple.

He decided to help the woman relieve her pain, which was exactly what he loved and was best at.

He tried to shake the woman awake, but no matter how hard he tried, she kept her brows furrowed and her eyes closed.

What should I do? He's not some mistress; he would never be too rough with a girl.

He rolled his eyes, then smiled and held the loose silver coins from his pocket in front of the woman's nose.

Sure enough, after a short while, the woman suddenly opened her eyes as if she had just come back to life after drowning.

Unfortunately, Chang'an had already taken the money back, leaving her bewildered as she stared at everything inside the carriage.

"Where is my husband?" These were the first words the woman spoke after waking up.

Chang'an suppressed a laugh and said, "So this pungent smell of money makes you think of your husband first, right?"

The woman stared at him blankly, then suddenly her eyes widened like copper bells, and she was about to scream.

But her throat felt as if it were blocked by something, and she could only manage two hoarse sounds before she was already panting heavily.

"Shh, calm down, calm down. I'm here to save you, not to harm you," Chang'an hurriedly explained.

He said this because he had realized that the woman had been drugged and forced to come to this place.

Moreover, how can someone who is unwilling to part with money possess the carefree and open-minded spirit of enjoying wine amidst mountains and rivers?

When the woman realized that the man was a handsome young man, her guard immediately dropped, and the fear in her eyes slowly turned into doubt.

At that moment, the carriage sped along, the wind whistling, perfectly masking the noise they made.

"Where...where am I?" She subconsciously touched her forehead, and after sensing something was wrong, she said in a daze, "How...how is it still here?!"

Chang'an shrugged. "Shouldn't it be there? I have one too."

Upon seeing the purple spot on his forehead, the woman's face turned ashen. She murmured, "So...you...you were tricked into coming here too! I was wondering why my husband sent a little boy to rescue me!?? Waaah..."

The woman looked like she was about to cry, just like those pampered wives who were used to being spoiled.

Chang'an stared in thought, then suddenly realized and said, "Oh, you didn't think those people could cure your illness, so you were tricked into coming here?"

The woman was about to wipe away her tears when she heard this and was startled. She said, "Could it be that you weren't tricked into coming here?"

Chang'an smiled bitterly and said, "I was indeed tricked into coming here, but by a shameless, stinky Taoist priest."

The woman suddenly stopped crying, blinked, and exclaimed in surprise, "Taoist priests? Those... old Taoist masters who seek immortality and enlightenment! Oh dear! How come I didn't think of that before?"

Chang'an squinted and asked curiously, "So what came to mind?"

The woman said helplessly, "I...I didn't expect anything. I was just being led by the nose..."

Chang'an asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

The woman sighed, “You don’t know this, but when this disease first ravaged Qiantang, doctors from all over the country were helpless, and the people were all filled with fear. Among them, the most suffering were the wealthy merchants of Qiantang.”

Chang'an nodded. "After all, these guys enjoy the life of the elite. Once they experience it firsthand, they'll inevitably become addicted to it. How can they give it up?"

The woman's lips curled slightly, but she didn't respond to his words. Instead, she continued, "Just when these wealthy businessmen were at their wits' end, a mysterious organization approached them, claiming that they could cure the disease. However, the cost of treatment is not low, and the price is bound to be exorbitant, far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Therefore, this organization only approached them."

Chang'an asked doubtfully, "This strange disease can be cured so quickly? Could this mysterious organization be the same people who spread the virus? Is it all for the purpose of making huge profits off these wealthy businessmen? Even so, these wealthy businessmen are still willing to be deceived?"

The woman nodded and said, "Those wealthy merchants certainly considered this as well, but they didn't report it to the authorities. Instead, they continued to observe. If there really comes a moment of dire straits, they'll still need to spend money to save these people's lives. They would never be so hasty as to send them to the authorities and cut off their own possible path to survival."

Chang'an laughed and said, "The more important thing is to enjoy the happiness of being a superior person. I can use my wealth to solve problems, while you can only watch, haha."

The woman sighed, "There was that feeling in it. It's just a pity that Dr. Zhang's appearance and death later plunged us into an even deeper despair than before."

"So that mysterious organization has contacted you again these past two days?" Chang'an asked.

The woman's eyes flashed with worry as she nodded gently, no longer concealing her wealthy family background.

Chang'an laughed and said, "You believed him just because he said so, and actually went? It seems that in wealthy families, everyone except the person who makes the money is a fool."

The woman sighed and shook her head. "No, just yesterday two wealthy men spent a fortune to have them save their lives, and they're both back home healthy now. Why is it that when it comes to me..." The woman started to cry again as she spoke.

Chang'an asked, "Did they drug you?"

The woman nodded. "I brought some servants to the agreed location, but unexpectedly, they attacked us from the shadows, drugging us from behind. When I woke up, I was here..."

Chang'an felt even stranger: "How strange, could this also be a step in the treatment? Or is it because you are a beautiful young woman that these guys have some other ideas about you?"

Seeing her disheveled clothes and smelling the pervasive stench of alcohol, the woman panicked. In her desperation, she grabbed Chang'an's hand and cried out, "Little brother, you...you said you were here to save me! Please, I'll give you anything you want if you can get me out of here!"

Chang'an quickly made a "shh" gesture, as the carriage had gradually slowed down.

Sure enough, the driver poked his aged face in the next moment, and when he saw that the woman was still lying quietly on the seat and there was nothing else around, he pulled his head back in.

So Chang'an tiptoed back through the window and whispered something in the woman's ear.

……

The carriage finally stopped...

"Why are you only arriving now?" A child's voice came from outside the car, the tone innocent but the manner stern.

The old man driving the cart chuckled and said, "The authorities were cracking down hard a few days ago, but they've loosened up a bit in the last couple of days, which is why I managed to find a loophole again."

The child teased, "Oh? I'd like to hear how you managed to slip through this time!"

The old man chuckled and said, "That's easy. I hid the woman under the partition of the wine cart, and easily evaded the authorities' investigation."

The child said, "A wine cart? Oh, I see, you changed to another carriage on the way?"

This time, the old man smiled smugly and said, "No, this carriage is the same one that carried wine. After escaping the pursuit, the old man distributed all the wine he was carrying to the brothers who came to help."

The child's voice was full of doubt, "But this doesn't look like a wine truck at all, and if that woman has been hiding under the partition, wouldn't she have suffocated?"

The old man said, "Sir, please take a look."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man seemed to have activated some mechanism on the carriage. With a "bang," the top of the carriage split into four pieces, which connected to the four doors.

At the same time, the four door panels moved backward and fell sharply, and the entire miniature garden instantly turned into a flat surface, and a horse-drawn carriage carrying people turned into a wine cart.

The expressions of the old man and the young man changed along with the carriage, slowly turning from smugness to astonishment.

After all, the woman who should have been lying on the car seat was now a little kid with a mischievous grin on his face, and that was none other than Chang'an.

The old man rushed up and carefully examined every corner of the car, but he couldn't even see a single hair on the woman's head.

He glared at Chang'an, his eyes wide with shock and anger: "Who...who are you?! Where is that stupid woman?!"

At that moment, the casually dressed, fair-skinned little boy slowly walked over. Perhaps because of the innate curiosity of children, his face showed more expectation than anger.

"She? She's already been swallowed by me," Chang'an said with a smile.

The little boy smiled and said, "Interesting." He then took out paper and pen from his pocket and began to scribble and draw something randomly.

The old man was still searching in disbelief, almost turning the entire carriage upside down.

Chang'an laughed and said, "Why don't you look under the carriage? Wasn't that where the door panel just fell?"

The old man stared at him, then bent down to look with some skepticism. The child lay down on the ground, curiously looking at everything under the car.

Taking advantage of the brief moment, Chang'an glanced casually to the side and saw the woman running wildly down the road. The next second, she disappeared into the nearby woods.

Seeing this, Chang'an felt utterly hopeless, and his malicious smile became withered and stiff.

It turned out that when Chang'an was lying on the carriage earlier, he had already discovered the groove connecting the door and the roof, realizing that the carriage might contain a mechanism.

So he had the woman lean against the door facing the coachman. Once the mechanism was activated, the woman fell under the carriage without anyone noticing, leaving only the ill-intentioned Chang'an on the seat.

While Chang'an initially distracted the two men, the woman crawled out from under the car and fled.

Everything had been going according to plan. Next, the woman who was supposed to be hiding near the carriage should now get on the carriage and drive Chang'an away.

But now she's run away alone...

"When disaster strikes, everyone flies away." Even married couples behave this way, let alone two complete strangers.

Thinking about it this way, it's perfectly understandable for a woman to abandon Chang'an for a lover.

At this moment, the old man stood up in despair, "Where did they hide?"

Chang'an's expression was very similar to the old man's, but he had no intention of selling women. If he did, wouldn't he be even more outrageous than the women?

The child, who had been scribbling on the paper, suddenly looked up and exclaimed joyfully, "Hahaha, look, old man Jia, this kid has a purple dot on his forehead too, which is perfect to replace that woman! Hahaha, now the master will definitely not blame you."

Upon hearing this, the old man hurriedly looked towards Chang'an. The next second, as if he had grasped a lifeline, a smile slowly appeared on his face, and he nodded repeatedly, saying, "Good, good, that's great."

At this moment, having sacrificed his life for the woman, Chang'an felt not as angry as he had imagined, but rather a sense of guilt.

He remembered the girl who had rescued him from the cabin in the woods. How was his current situation any different from hers back then?

He really got his comeuppance; he really was a beast.

Although that's what he thought in his heart, he still spoke toughly: "Aren't you afraid that I'll infect you with this terrible disease?"

Upon hearing this, Old Man Jia and the child exchanged a glance and then laughed together, laughing so hard they bent over and their stomachs hurt.

"Little brat, didn't that woman tell you that we specialize in treating this disease?" That malicious smile had already appeared on the child's face.