One Lifetime Is Never Enough

1.28 JingHan

After the song had come to an end, and the attending guests once again expressed their appreciation, YuLan walked towards where LanBai was sitting - behind the white hanging curtains. She whispered something into the latter's ears and pointed towards the purple wisteria tree, underneath where SongLi was still standing. 

Even from where he stood, he could see his sister - who now had started to blossom into a beautiful young maiden - widened her eyes as she quickly snapped her head to look at the direction YuLan pointed at. Then Ji LanBai's smile grew wider, and she quickly stood up and walked towards the pavilion's barrier, leaning her body forward. YuLan anxiously grab hold on to her robe - lest LanBai would fall into the pond.

She waved her hands enthusiastically and shouted at the top of her lungs,

"Li-ge~~!!!!"

SongLi grimaced as he gave a small wave back towards his sister. He had suddenly become the focal point of the whole Lian house - everyone was now looking at his direction.

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Approximately 400 Li(1) to the northwest of Ming -- there was an ox-pulled cart slowly making its way through a gravel road. A middle aged man was on top of the cart, holding a single rein to keep the course of the beast pulling his transport. His head bobbed up and down in rhythm with his cart's movement, oblivious to his surrounding.

Suddenly the ox stopped, surprising the man who was already falling half-asleep. He opened his eyes in panic and soon noticed a lone figure standing a feet away in front of his ox - the stranger's face was obscured by a mask, covering his eyes. 

The person riding the ox-cart was a merchant. Inside his cart was only some matured bamboo -that he had collected over the past few weeks - for him to bring to the northern territories. 

Ever since Zhang Empire applied some tax on wheat imports from the north - while also educating local merchants to harvest bamboo as an alternative means of trade to sustain business with the north - this middle-aged person had been riding on the success. He only had a small cattle farm, but there were wild groves of bamboo at the foot of the mountain where his farm was located. Initially he had only been using the bamboo for his own household's use and crafts, not really finding any other use for it. Lately, due to the new strategy now popular among the Zhang Empire's merchants, he had improved the livelihood of his immediate family by selling the bamboo to the Northern Plains.

The trips were long, but the profit was worth it. 

That day was no exception - he was on his way to hopefully conduct another profitable trade to the north. Who knew, he was halted by this stranger now standing in front of his cart. 

This stranger was very sturdily built, too - his majestic tall body and the body-fitting garb he had on, showed well-defined explosion of his toned muscles and limbs. But more than that, the mask he was wearing was enough to cause the middle-aged merchant to start sweating, in fear for his life. His ox was also seemingly nervous of the stranger, bellowing ragged breath through its nostrils.

The merchant thought - "Maybe, if this strange man is a bandit, and if he is to find out that I only have worthless bamboo in this cart, I can get away with my life?"

The middle-aged merchant was still deciding on what to say or do - whether he should try to ram the stranger with his ox, after all that person was alone - or if he should try to talk to him. Then the stranger slowly uncovered his mask.