God finally lent a helping hand. The tornado had shrunk and decayed around mid-morning, just before sunrise. The rain stopped quickly thereafter, and when the sun rose, it was bright and warm. The coffin house was lit up by the daylight and the soldiers prepared for their repeat inspection.
"Check each coffin again. If you checked the left side last night, check the right side this morning. Switch sides. Search carefully!" The leader ordered.
The soldiers that opened ZiShu's coffin last night barely glanced, but those doing the re-inspection this morning, were careful and did their job dutifully. When they pushed the lid open, they noticed the dead's hair was spread out, almost purposely. So they looked meticulously and saw a face under the hair. They could clearly see two eyes. Then suddenly the eyes popped open. And the decomposing body in the coffin was violently thrown out of the box at the soldiers who jumped away out of instinct. Despite he was dressed as a beggar, they quickly recognized the prince and immediately attacked his left leg. Their leader and the other soldiers rushed to join in the fight. ZiShu did not have any weapon on him, so he was on the defense. He could not fight back but his excellent martial arts allowed him to protect himself from getting injured. After several moves, he finally got an opportunity to knock off a couple soldiers using one of the coffin lids that he kicked, and when they fell, he snatched their sword and armed himself. With a sword in his hands, he quickly defeated them and killed them all. He recognized the leader, after the fight was over. He's met the man before. He worked for General Lam, the most trusted subordinate of prince Xi'er.
Since it was sunny outside, and finally not raining for the first time in days, ZiShu ran to the nearest stable and bought a horse. He climbed on the horse and quickly rode away. He also bought some clothes and changed his disguise from beggar to peasant. Unfortunately the beast was not a Sweats Blood horse. The animal was tired after just a half day, and had to rest. So ZiShu stopped at a nearby tavern and decided to stay the night. He could technically go to another stable and buy a different horse and continue his journey back to the palace, however he himself had not slept well for days and therefore needed to rest to regain his energy. For once, it wasn't raining and he could sleep without feeling any pain on his leg.
He slept well that night, after the exhaustion and unrest of the last few days.
When he awoke, he went to check on his horse, and the animal's legs were still shaky. He decided that it would be best to buy another horse to finish the journey. So he asked the tavern owner for any nearby stable or any place that sold horses, and the man told him to try the saloon at the end of the street. Their patrons were of all backgrounds and business branches, and therefore the saloon might know where he could buy a good horse.
When ZiShu arrived at the saloon, he was greeted by a woman that wore a heavy cake of make-up on her face, so thick yet still too thin to cover up the wrinkles on her skin. She had a low-cut revealing bright red dress on, too provocative to fit her unsexy body. She welcomed him into the saloon, asking him if he had any regular girl whose service he would like to book again.
"I'm not here for that. I'd like to know where to buy a good horse, for long trips. Would you have any idea? Do you do business with people that sell horses?" ZiShu asked.
The old woman immediately gave him an unpleasant look, like he was wasting her time.
He took a silver mace out of his sleeve pocket and gave it to her, which brought out a big smile on her heavily madeup wrinkled face.
"Sure, we have a regular patron that frequents this saloon. His name is Wang. He's not here right now, but he always books our most famous dancer, Qian Qian, and she certainly knows where he lives. He sells competition horses. I think he's the man you need. Please wait here for a moment. Have a seat and some wine too. I will go upstairs to see if Qian Qian is free to talk with you." She excused herself to go upstairs.
