"Of course you may!" The steward waved his hand generously, assigning a quick-witted servant to assist Yanyan and allocating an empty cart for him to haul his goods.
"San'er, you don't need to worry about whether that gentleman can make a profit; just take good care of him and make sure he is satisfied. Who knows, once we reach Juyang, if he's in a good mood and takes you on as a study attendant, that's wealth you couldn't trade for in eight lifetimes!" The steward pulled the servant aside and whispered.
This servant was none other than his own nephew, which naturally earned him special favor. Otherwise, had Yanyan simply asked for help, there were plenty of commoners and wandering swordsmen trailing behind the caravan who would gladly have volunteered for free.
Scholars held an extremely high status. For instance, Yanyan was permitted to wear dark green robes and soft caps, whereas ordinary folks had to make do with simple head wraps and hemp garments.
"San'er understands!" The servant nodded. They were well aware of how rare an opportunity it was to serve as a study attendant to a scholar, especially one who belonged to the direct lineage of the Yan Family.
Yanyan didn't think much of it; he had simply acted on a momentary whim.
Had he not been taken in by Yushan Academy, his own life would likely have been extremely difficult—he might not even have survived to this day.
Once the caravan cleared Wu County, the imperial highways gave way to narrow rural paths winding past scattered villages.
This was also when the caravan grew busiest. Depending on the size of a village, they would choose how long to stay; larger villages warranted a longer stop, while smaller ones saw only a few men left behind to trade while the rest pressed on.
Yanyan simply watched in silence, having no intention of getting involved, choosing instead to observe how the merchants and villagers conducted their transactions.
The trades were entirely ordinary. The caravan brought pots, pans, salt, tea, and cloth—essential goods purchased in the county town—to sell to the villagers, who in turn traded wild game meat and furs obtained from the mountains.
The caravan profited simply from the middleman's margin.
As for bandits and highwaymen, the Wu Family Caravan was no small operation, boasting a formidable guard force. No minor bandit gang would dare to risk a reckless assault.
And so, more than a dozen days passed in peace.
Yet on this particular night, while the caravan camped in the wilderness, uninvited guests arrived in the dead of night!
Two maidens, one dressed in black and the other in white, appeared just beyond the campfire's glow.
"Who goes there!" The Mohist guards on night watch spotted the pair instantly, their sharp shouts waking everyone.
Yanyan opened his eyes as well, gazing at the Black and White Sisters. Their features were striking, and most importantly, they looked identical.
"Careful!" The steward appeared beside Yanyan, lowering his voice. "People showing up in the dead of night, especially women of such extraordinary looks—they're either ghosts or spies!"
"Spies?" Yanyan asked, somewhat surprised.
"Indeed. Some bandit gangs don't stay fixed in one place; we call them roving bandits. These bands are quite large, usually numbering anywhere from fifty to two or three hundred. Crucially, most are demobilized soldiers equipped with warhorses and cavalry."
"Yet they are also cautious and wish to avoid heavy casualties, so they send women, the elderly, or the weak to infiltrate the caravan, scout our strength, and then decide whether to strike and where to do it!" the steward explained further.
Yanyan nodded again, beginning to understand.
"They are not spies," Yanyan said, shaking his head.
The steward paused, looking at Yanyan with some confusion.
"They belong to the Yin-Yang School," Yanyan added, seeing that the steward remained unconvinced.
The Yin-Yang School was one of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and its influence in the Chu region was considerable—even surpassing that of the Confucian School. They would never stoop to robbing merchants, nor would they deign to do so.
"The Yin-Yang School, Lesser Master of Fate, apologizes for the intrusion. Might we borrow your esteemed campground for the night?" spoke the maiden in black among the Black and White Sisters. It sounded like a request, but carried the weight of an order.
Hearing the words of the Black and White Lesser Master of Fate, the steward glanced at Yanyan. This direct descendant of the Yan Family was no simple character; he had been able to discern the visitors' origins from such a distance.
"Of course, please make yourselves at home, young ladies!" The steward hurried forward to answer, carefully escorting the pair into the camp, though he deliberately placed them near Yanyan.
Yanyan cast a glance at the steward, easily guessing his motive.
Since he couldn't afford to offend these martial arts sects and the Hundred Schools of Thought, the steward was using him as a shield so that if anything went awry, Yanyan would take the brunt of it.
Still, having received plenty of goodwill and protection from the Wu Family Caravan along the way, Yanyan found no reason to refuse.
"Confucian?" The Black and White Lesser Master of Fate glanced at Yanyan, who sat by the campfire in his green Confucian robes, recognizing his background, though she paid him little heed.
Among the Hundred Schools of Thought, none boasted more disciples than the Mohist School, Confucian School, and Agricultural School. As for running into a senior Confucian scholar out in the wilderness, the odds were practically zero!
Senior Confucian scholars traveled with numerous disciples and followers; it was impossible for one to be camping alone in the wild. Wherever they went, a retinue followed.
Thus, a solitary Confucian scholar could only be an ordinary student. Most importantly, they sensed not a shred of internal martial arts cultivation in Yanyan.
Although the arrival of the Black and White Lesser Master of Fate drew many sideways glances, sleep soon took over, and everyone drifted back to dreamland. After all, such peerless beauties were well beyond their reach. Eat when it's time to eat, sleep when it's time to sleep—dreams have everything, and when morning came, they still had a journey to finish.
Yanyan paid the pair no mind either, hugging a roll of bamboo slips and leaning against his book chest to resume sleeping.
Yet less than an hour after the Black and White Lesser Master of Fate arrived, another shout rang out from the Mohist guards, and yet another breathtaking maiden entered the camp.
"Still from the Yin-Yang School!" The steward muttered in helpless frustration as he looked at the newcomer. Had they kicked a hornet's nest of the Yin-Yang School tonight?
The newly arrived maiden had purple hair, starry eyes, and wore a veil that obscured her features. Yet she possessed an air even colder and more arrogant than the previous two. Without a word, she acted as though no one else existed, walking straight to the campfire and seating herself directly opposite the Black and White Sisters, with Yanyan sitting right between them.
When the sky grew faintly bright, Yanyan opened his eyes—and broke out in a cold sweat. Enjoying the blessings of multiple partners wasn't meant to be played like this!
To his left were the Black and White Sisters, the Yin-Yang School's Lesser Master of Fate; to his right was the purple-haired, starry-eyed Lesser Master of Fate, also from the Yin-Yang School!
Furthermore, one could tell from the way the Black and White Sisters looked at this Lesser Master of Fate that their relationship was fraught with endless hatred and a trace of fear.
By contrast, the younger Lesser Master of Fate maintained a gaze that remained eternally glacial, devoid of any emotional fluctuation—pure, unadulterated cold arrogance.
"Steward, isn't this a bit underhanded of you? Anyone could see these two factions hold a deep grudge, yet you placed them right on either side of me!" Yanyan seized the opportunity while washing up to confront the steward.
"Don't blame me, young scholar! I truly didn't arrange this," the steward said with a bitter laugh. "That young lady who arrived later didn't utter a single word; she just walked right over and sat down beside you. When the Mohist Tie-Wa tried to stop her, she flicked her sleeve and tossed him aside. There was simply no stopping her!"
When traveling far from home, the greatest fear was running into bandits, closely followed by this sort of martial arts blood feud!