Hey, the trading caravan from Green Ox Valley is going to "charge into Chang'an" today! Old Qian stared at the wagons full of medicinal herbs and fretted, "Abacus Bead! This mountain road is full of potholes. What happens if the saltpeter ice melts? What if the wooden tallies shatter?" Abacus Bead rattled and transformed into a steering wheel, materializing on top of the refrigerated truck: "What's there to be afraid of? I'll equip the wheels with 'Bead-Chain springs' and wrap the ice cellar in a 'Bead-Chain padded jacket', guaranteeing the herbs ride steadier than Huwa's candied haws!"
"Xiaoxiu! Come and manage your bead!" Pei Hongxiu cracked her leather whip with a laugh. "It changed the caravan banner to 'Abacus Bead Surfing Flag'!" Sure enough, the Green Ox pattern on the big flag had changed to an Abacus Bead riding an ox, with the phrase "High-speed transport, Bead-Chain is the coolest" projected at the tail of the ox. Old Qian looked at the flag and shook his head. "Is Abacus Bead trying to turn the caravan into a 'Bead-Chain circus'?"
As they journeyed on, a sudden torrential downpour hit the mountain road, turning the mud thick enough to make the wagon wheels slip wildly. Abacus Bead zipped over to the ruins of a drying kiln, displaying the message "Waste kiln reuse"—it paved the broken kiln bricks into a heat-circulation road, every brick glowing with Abacus Bead-shaped firelight. The mud sizzled and evaporated upon the heat, paving a dry "Bead-Chain expressway." …
Chapter 314