Chapter 3
Book 1 Chapter 3 – Showing off for the first time
The two of them walked down the hill in the darkness preceding dawn, towards the marketplace beyond the endless hills.
Xiang Shaolong has never felt so much love and infatuation towards any women before. He carried her and ran down. To a warrior like him who has gone through special training, this is as easy as breathing.
However Mei Canniang was extremely surprised, but once she thought that he is a gift from Heaven, she no longer felt bewildered.
Xiang Shaolong asked her effortlessly, "How did you end up marrying that two brothers? Where is your own family?"
Mei Canniang screamed in shock just as he jumped. She patted her chest and her pretty face was blus.h.i.+ng from the excitement. She replied, "I live in a place that is 3 day’s journey towards the sun. One day, the two brothers came with 10 tiger skins, 1 bear skin, 50 marten skins, 5 cows and 100 goats and gave to my father in exchange for me. Our tribe has never seen such extravagant gifts, so I married them."
Xiang Shaolong carried her up by her waist and waded though a 3 meter wide river, thinking to himself that if he has the latest AK47, then he can hunt for tiger skins in exchange for women. He asked her, "How old were you then?"
Mei Canniang held on to his neck tightly and whispered in his ear, "14!"
Xiang Shaolong exclaimed in surprise, "What? That’s below the legal age for intercourse!"
When they reached the main road outside the mountainous area, the sun revealed it’s first ray of light.
This couple who should have been separated by over 2000 years walked closely side by side, chatting happily.
Mei Canniang finally found someone, and after spending the most exciting and romantic night in her life, she was ecstatic. She was pulling Xiang Shaolong like a little girl, kicking her little straw sandals, walking cheerfully. The painful journey in the past has now become an endless joy, and she said with a laugh, "In the past I had to walk at least 20 hours to the market, but ever since someone built this road for military transport, it takes only 8 hours to reach the market. A lot of time has been saved."
Xiang Shaolong thought to himself, so war can actually promote the development of transportation, and indirectly boost the economy and increase efficiency. So it seems that, in this era, there are advantages to wars.
Hai! A pity he can’t bring anything here. If he has a machinegun, or even a gun, he may become the highest paid soldier in this warring states period.
He can’t help but laugh once he thought of this.
Then he thought of the queen of bars Zhou Xiangmei and Zhang Cuizhi who caused him to end up in this state. And his parents, they always said that he’s unfilial, his 2 older brothers and 3 older sisters are all better than him. Now that he’s gone, he reckons that they won’t be too sad. But he still felt that this is not the case. A pity that he can’t give them a call right now to tell them that he’s safe.
The sound of wheels grating along the ground sounded behind. It turned out to be a mule cart going towards the market, with a dozen or so white sheep on it. On the cart there were an old and a young man dressed as farmers and when they gave a friendly greeting, they were surprised and scrutinized the tall and well-built Xiang Shaolong. In contrast, they weren’t too surprised about Mei Canniang’s beauty.
After the mule cart was far gone, a few horses ran swiftly past and the men riding them were dressed like ancient warriors, on their horses there were bows, swords, axes etc, but they were not from the army.
The two of them avoided them and stood aside.
Mei Canniang spoke in his ear, "These warriors are all for hire. They help merchants transport money, and it’s the most profitable business."
Xiang Shaolong laughed, "Ha! Finally there’s a job suitable for me!"
Mei Canniang shrieked, "No! I cannot lose a husband like you again."
Xiang Shaolong was startled and after rea.s.suring her, they continued on their way.
The nearer they got to the market, the more crowded the roads became. Most of them were pus.h.i.+ng wooden carts with a single wheel, carrying various goods like corn, millet, sorghum, rice, wheat, garlic, cows, goats etc and all of them were hurrying towards the same destination.
Only now did Xiang Shaolong realize how huge he is. The tallest among the people is still shorter than him by half a head and he looked around complacently, feeling like a crane among chickens.
After another hour, they finally arrived at the market.
40 odd kinds of mud houses, straw houses and stone houses were lined up untidily on two sides, forming a wide street. Various kinds of harvests and animals, buyers and sellers filled the mud road that was about half a mile long, a feeling of festivity filled the air.
They had just stepped into the market when Mei Canniang cried out quietly in fear, "Look! The group of men on the left is the bandit Jiao Du’s brothers. They’re staring at us, what should we do?"
Xiang Shaolong gathered his wits and walked alertly forward.
A group of 10 odd powerful looking men who are obviously the town bullies were standing or sitting in front of a mud house but their eyes were fixed onto them in astonishment.
Mei Canniang continued, "They surely know about Jiao Du looking for me, and thought that I’ve become his woman. So when they saw it’s you instead, they were astonished. Oh dear, we better leave immediately!"
Xiang Shaolong scrutinized the crude metal swords they carried with his professional judgment and gave them a suave smile. He said to Mei Canniang, "My wife, do not panic. Your husband is here, no one will be able to hurt a single hair of yours." He realized that the words he used is getting more and more similar to what these ancient people uses that he can’t help but laugh out loud.
Mei Canniang was so frightened her face turned pale, and pulled him towards the other end of what you can hardly call a ‘street’.
The two of them melted into the crowd. While others were sizing him up, Xiang Shaolong was taking note of his surroundings without any concern.
All these people from the warring states, just from the way they dressed, he can tell that they came from different places. Regardless of men or women, most of them have a flat face, short, rough skin, very few of them has the same alluring body and pretty face like Mei Canniang. But they all looked simple and honorable, giving others a good impression.
The only exception was the men and women wearing unique red headpieces. Their hats were not like the hats that he’s used to, which covers the top of a person’s head. Instead it covers only the hair, which was tied into a bun, two red ropes hanging down from the side and tied into a knot under the chin.
The men and women of this tribe were not only tall and good looking, the women were fair and wore extremely s.e.xy short tops and skirts which bared the chest and arms. It really was an eye-opener for him and quite unbelievable as well, changing his perception that all ancient people must be conservative.
A few of those young women were exceptionally outstanding, almost as pretty as Mei Canniang, and almost all of them trade in horses.
When Xiang Shaolong made eye contact with the prettiest girl among them, those beauties all made eyes at this fine specimen of a man from another dimension, not at all bothered that his eyes was fixated on their half naked