Chapter 136: Winning Gold

Since Lu Ying had agreed to do things for them, she was now considered one of their own. Lu Ying immediately called Lu Yun over.

By this time, night had fallen.

Prompted by Lu Ying's warning, a middle-aged man standing near the young master stepped forward. Before long, he had rallied all the servants and commoners to begin digging trenches.

Having no choice but to camp in this wilderness made everyone uneasy. Now that orders had been given, they set to work with utmost diligence. In less than an hour, they had dug a circular trench, a full person's width wide, around the perimeter of the group. The ground here was sandy soil, allowing them to plunge their fingers right in and scoop up dirt; thus, even without proper tools, the crowd worked at a blistering pace.

The night grew deeper.

Sitting by the campfire, the young master quietly turned the pages of a book. Seeing this, Lu Yun also took a copy of the *Classic of History* from his bundle to read.

The two of them read intently, while off to the side, the young nobleman who had been enjoying warm wine served by maidservants turned to Lu Ying and asked, "Does Ah Wen really think there will be bandits tonight?"

Lu Ying looked up at the pitch-black distance and replied, "Nine times out of ten."

So certain was her tone that the others turned to look at her. The young master put down his book, raised his head, and asked, "Why so confident?"

Lu Ying glanced at the surrounding campfires and said, "So much juicy meat clustered together is a once-in-a-decade opportunity."

Her remark was both amusing and straight to the point. The young master grew solemn. He turned and commanded, "Set up more traps. Make sure everything is foolproof."

"Understood." A middle-aged man in luxurious attire stood up. As he watched the man leave, Lu Ying added, "If the bandits come, they certainly won't be few in number. There could be hundreds."

Seeing several people stare at her, Lu Ying explained, "There are hundreds of us here alone. With hundreds of pieces of juicy meat and cargo, how could they possibly haul it all away unless they brought a large force?"

The expression of the luxuriously dressed middle-aged man grew even more solemn. He bowed to Lu Ying, then led a group of guards and vanished into the darkness.

The young master was clearly intrigued by Lu Ying. He stared at her for a moment and remarked, "You are a very interesting person." After a pause, he continued, "You are clearly a commoner, yet every movement of yours exudes absolute confidence, just like the scion of a noble family. Tell me, where does your confidence come from?"

Lu Ying raised her eyes to look at him.

In the firelight, her refined face was strikingly gorgeous. Were it not for her icy gaze and dark brows, she would have looked precisely like a beautiful young maiden.

The young master was sizing her up.

After meeting his gaze for a moment, Lu Ying replied, "With a heart full of poetry and books, one remains unfazed by favor or disgrace; that is why I am confident and at ease."

"Unfazed by favor or disgrace?" A sneer appeared on the pale, delicate, and handsome face of the young master. He said faintly, "Unless one is a sage, no one can achieve those words. Do not use them to boast in the future."

Lu Ying naturally had no desire to argue with him. "You are right, My Lord."

At that moment, the young master had lost all inclination to converse with Lu Ying. He closed his eyes to rest.

Lu Yun and his sister had always gone to bed early and were quite tired. Seeing that the tent had been set up, the two of them crawled inside.

That night, Lu Ying slept heavily.

When she woke up, muffled sounds of breathing echoed from outside, along with a low, commanding voice: "Place the luggage along the outer perimeter, and keep the people in the center."

As soon as his voice fell, a servant immediately said, "My Lord, those people guard their luggage fiercely and will not be willing."

Before the servant could finish, the man said decisively, "Kill anyone who disobeys!"

"Understood."

Lu Ying sat straight up with a start.

She glanced to the side, but her younger brother was nowhere to be seen. Hurriedly draping an outer garment over her shoulders, she stepped outside to find blazing fires about a hundred paces away. Hundreds of pitch-black bandits were clustered there like ants, shouting and jeering as they confronted the camp.

On this side, half the merchants and wealthy folk were already up. Unlike the bandits, however, not a single torch was lit here, and the entire camp remained pitch-black and deathly quiet.

Seeing Lu Ying approach, the luxuriously dressed young nobleman nodded at her and lowered his voice. "Lu Wen, it is just as you anticipated." His tone was noticeably more polite than it had been at nightfall.

Lu Ying glanced at the thinly veiled panic among the people in the dark and lowered her voice to ask, "What is the situation?"

The nobleman replied, "Thanks to your timely reminder, we sent men to the city for reinforcements at nightfall. It is almost dawn now; as long as we hold out for another half-hour, the reinforcements will arrive." After a pause, he added, "The bandits are unsure how many traps we have, and their hearts have already failed them."

Normally, had it not been for Lu Ying's meritorious warning, he would have considered such explanations beneath him.

Lu Ying acknowledged this with a murmur, then turned her head to see her brother standing not far away.

In the dark, Lu Yun spotted her and immediately stepped forward to meet her.

Just then, the voice of the young master drifted over from the darkness: "Lu Wen, you deserve the foremost credit for this matter."

Lu Ying was overjoyed. She bowed deeply toward him in the dark and whispered in a low voice, "Lu Wen merely sought to save his own skin; I dare not claim any merit."

The young master did not reply, but the luxuriously dressed nobleman at his side gave a cold chuckle and said faintly, "How could your petty life ever compare to my lord's? If my lord says you have merit, then you have merit?"

Lu Ying lowered her head. "Yes."

Lu Yun walked to Lu Ying's side, glanced around at the surroundings, and said nothing, merely squeezing his sister's hand tightly.

At that moment, Lu Ying murmured, "Come with me and take a look."

Holding Lu Yun's hand, she began to walk around the dark encampment.

A quarter of an hour later, Lu Ying walked back. Yawns escaped her as, looking utterly sleep-deprived, she headed back toward her tent. The nobleman glanced sideways at his young master and finally called out to her, "Has Lu Wen finished looking? Did you glean anything from it?"

Lu Ying turned back, offered a salute, and said, "Though the bandits are numerous, they are a mob. Having failed in several charges, their courage has already withered. Even if the government troops do not arrive, as long as we send out our guarding escorts disguised as government soldiers to put up a false front, we can scare them into retreating... The outcome has been decided, and Ah Wen is exhausted. I shall go catch up on some sleep."

With that, she gracefully stepped into her tent.

Watching the entrance of the quiet tent, the nobleman lowered his voice and said, "He does not let himself linger in hesitation, nor does he waste time with vain regrets. Someone who has such profound faith in his own judgment is bound to win the trust of those around him. My lord, Fourth Young Master is still in need of someone like this."

The young master nodded slightly.

The nobleman continued, "Judging by Lu Wen's tone, he also has some knowledge of military strategy. If his family background is clean, he can be heavily relied upon."

The young master nodded once more.

When Lu Ying woke up again, the sun was already high in the sky, and the unceasing sound of horses whinnying and oxen bellowing echoed not far away.

It seemed the reinforcements had arrived.

Lu Ying crawled out of her tent to find the entire encampment bustling with activity. The merchants were packing their baggage and preparing to set off, while not far away, the young master was leisurely eating breakfast, tended to by his maidservants.

After washing up, Lu Ying and her brother followed behind the nobleman, carrying their luggage as they walked out of the camp. Most of the traps set the previous night had now been cleared away, and five or six meters of the dug trenches had been filled in to allow carts, horses, and people to pass freely.

Once outside the camp, the siblings were allocated an ox cart. Climbing aboard, they joined the flow of people hurrying toward Jiangzhou.

The journey all the way was smooth.

By the time they reached Jiangzhou, it was already the fourth day.

As they arrived outside the city walls of Jiangzhou, the siblings' ox cart came to a halt. Then, the luxuriously dressed nobleman appeared before her.

The expression in his eyes as he looked at Lu Ying was somewhat complicated.

Meeting his gaze, Lu Ying felt her heart skip a beat.

The nobleman waved his hand, signaling two maidservants to carry a wooden box and place it on Lu Ying's ox cart. Slowly, he spoke, "Lady Lu, greetings from this humble one!"

Hearing the words "Lady Lu," Lu Ying curved her lips into a smile and sighed, "You investigated our siblings' backgrounds so quickly? You truly live up to the person I chose to rely upon—quite capable. What a pity, though."

Hearing this, the nobleman couldn't help but raise his eyes to stare at her. He nodded and said, "Lu Ying is indeed clever and extraordinary. True, we have already investigated your origins." With a slight nod of his chin, he continued, "My lord thinks very highly of you; it is a true pity. Inside this wooden box are one hundred taels of gold, given in gratitude for your warning. This ox cart can take you and your brother wherever you wish to go."

Having said this, he cupped his hands in a salute toward Lu Ying and turned to leave.

Watching him go, Lu Ying turned to Lu Yun beside her and sighed, "It seems I acted a bit too over-the-top... Next time I take a fancy to a master to serve, I must act a bit more ordinary. At the very least, I shouldn't behave in a way that causes people to mobilize resources just to investigate my background."

Hearing this, the nobleman, who was striding away, abruptly halted his steps.

Unable to resist, he turned back to look at Lu Ying. Meeting the composed, serene gaze of this young maiden disguised as a handsome youth under the sunlight, the nobleman suddenly found himself saying, "Now I finally understand why someone of his status would cast aside his dignity and bicker with you."

With those words, he offered Lu Ying a courteous bow before finally turning away.

Lu Yun asked in astonishment beside her, "Sister, this man's attitude has changed." Seeing Lu Ying's less-than-favorable expression, Lu Yun called out, "Sister?"

Lu Ying turned back and murmured softly, "The reason his attitude toward me improved is because he is now certain that sooner or yet later, that noble personage will have me brought to his side."

A moment later, however, Lu Ying happily picked up the wooden box and smiled. "No matter what, we've earned a hundred taels of gold this time. With this much gold, we won't have to live in hardship anymore."

Lu Yun nodded repeatedly and said happily, "Yes, yes!"

Seeing the ox cart begin to roll toward the city gates, Lu Ying poked her head out and called, "Uncle, drive straight to the wealthiest alley in Jiangzhou."

After giving the instructions, she muttered to herself, "The cost of living in Jiangzhou should be cheaper than in Chengdu, right? I wonder how much gold a year it costs to rent the best houses here?"

Lu Yun asked in alarm, "Sister, are we going to live in a place that expensive?"

Lu Ying nodded, lowering her voice to explain, "A-yun, from now on, we must puff ourselves up like fat men, even if we have to resort to slapping our cheeks until they swell."

"Why?"

"First, because both our appearances and manners resemble those of scions from noble families. If we live in ordinary places, petty people will see at a glance that we have no backing or support, and we will become targets of prying eyes. High-end residences, however, are not only safe and reliable in themselves, but they will also keep those with ill intentions from figuring out our true background." There were no A-Ti or Xiao Yan here to borrow influence from, and she really didn't want another Zhang Feng taking a fancy to her looks.

Lu Ying continued, "Second, by living close to wealthy people, it will be much easier to make money off them." This was simply branding and packaging. Just like those people in later generations who wanted to marry world-class billionaires—first, they had to be willing to invest the cost to mingle on the yachts those billionaires frequented.