Step Down, Let Me Come!

Chapter 25: Familiar-looking

Shen Tang threw the blade she was digging with, to the ground.

She was annoyed: “What will I do in Xiao City? Walk right into the trap? Moreover, what good can be in that lousy place?”

Take seriously her identity as a fugitive!

“Young master Shen, are you not worried about your other relatives?”

Shen Tang hesitated. 

Qi Shan's words hit the mark.

No matter what, she was the one using this body right now, so she should understand more about the past of the previous owner, so as to avoid being seen through by people that knew the previous owner and making trouble for herself. She didn’t know if the previous owner had relatives. She could take care of them in secret if they survived the penalty. If they couldn't survive and died, she could also collect their corpses, so they wouldn’t have to be exposed to the conditions in the wilderness.

The change in Shen Tang’s expression was caught by Qi Shan. The happiness of the latter could be clearly seen with the naked eye.

He was certain that Shen Tang’s choice would be consistent with his wish.

“I can tell, young master Shen’s potential is out of the ordinary. Someday, you may have some achievements. I’m not talented, I may be a disgrace, but even if I’m not as good as those famous Confucian teachers, I’m more than enough to teach young master Shen the basics…”

Shen Tang had a plan in mind, but she didn’t say anything.

She deliberately said: “Yuanshan, I already remembered these books”.

Qi Shan laughed involuntarily. He lifted his hand, pointing at his brain. He confidently said: “Young master Shen, The truly precious content is there. If looking through some books about magic words, could make you proficient in controlling wenxin, being a teacher would be too easy”.

“Your words are right, but the Xiao city…” She put so much effort into escaping, but in the end, she would have to come back there. If she was unlucky, she could even meet with the people that escorted her and then she would really feel awkward: “You have to give me a guarantee”. 

“For example?”

Shen Tang: “For example, the magic sentence that can change figure and appearance”. 

Qi Shan: “…”

He really didn’t have that kind of thing. In his understanding, this kind of revolutionary magic sentence didn’t exist – Every magic word under the sky was created for power, schemes, and the military. Why was young master Shen’s brain so peculiar?”

Even though there was no such magic sentence, there were other things.

“What’s that?”

Shen Tang caught the small bottle that Qi Shan threw at her.

After opening it, she squinted her eyes to look inside. Inside was the exquisite dark powder. She didn’t know what it could be used for.

Qi Shan explained: “Ash at the bottom”. 

Shen Tang “…”

“Smear it on your face or often go running, bask in the sun and sweat a lot. After 7 to 8 days, of not taking a bath and not rinsing your mouth, who could actually recognize you?”

Shen Tang imagined herself not taking a bath for 7 to 8 days of sweating. She could nearly smell this incomprehensibly pungent foul odor.

“Do you only have this rotten idea?”

“How could it be a rotten idea?” The smile on Qi Shan’s face vanished to some degree. He said without emotion, “I know it from experience”.

Shen Tang was a bit surprised.

From experience?

However, clearly Qi Shan didn’t want to explain more, so he raised his voice: “Young master Shen, in reality, you don’t have to be so worried. These escort officials ‘neglect their duty’ far more than you. If the criminal escapes, there is a minimal possibility that they would report it. Most probably, they will cut the ear of some other person to make up a quota. Thus, you don’t have to worry that they could have a wanted portrait of you at the Xiao city gate”.

Even if the official “failed to neglect his duty” and let Shen Tang’s news report higher, and even if the painter would draw the wanted portrait, so what?

Because the painters’ sketches were quite abstract. Unless the person’s face had some truly distinct characteristics, otherwise even one’s mother wouldn't be able to recognize that person, not to mention the guards who are seeing common people entering and exiting the city every day on a standard basis. The possibility of exposing Shen Tang’s identity was too small.

One argument, made Shen Tang relax. 

“Okay, I’ll go”. 

While puffing and blowing, she dug a massive hole in the ground. One after the other, the corpses were thrown into the hole and then covered by the earth. When she finished her task, the moon was already high in the sky. Qi Shan made a bonfire and was roasting the pancakes that Shen Tang made out of her magic words. She just sat down, but could already eat something warm. 

“Hot!” 

She miscalculated, nearly burning her tongue.

The pancake was tasteless, and besides the burnt aroma, the more you ate, the more thirsty you would become. For every two bites, you had to take one sip of water, and it tasted extremely bland. In her heart, she couldn’t help but mutter why she couldn’t add some stuffing, such as preserved vegetables with meat.

Unaware, this night, Qi Shan went to bed especially early.

He neither read books nor practice magic.

Shen Tang wasn’t sleepy, she stared blankly at the bonfire. 

Some unknown time later, she heard the quiet sound of footsteps treading on the plants – someone was cautiously approaching her, but he didn’t have any malice, so she didn’t mind him.

That person sat nearby and used the light from the bonfire to look at her. It was the silly son of the imperial censor’s deputy. Intentionally or otherwise, he’s staring at her. He wanted to say something but then hesitated as if he wanted to confirm something.

He opened his mouth a few times but still didn’t know where to start. Shen Tang looked at him with impatience. In the end, she took the initiative to start the topic. 

“Did the deputy go to sleep?”

He was startled, apparently, he didn’t think Shen Tang would talk to him: “Yes… Dad’s sleeping, but not too sound. He’s feverish. He suffered too much on the road. His wounds reddened. Tomorrow, I have to find a way to obtain some herbal medicine…”

While saying this, his eyes became red.

His father’s body was better than normal people, but he was unable to withstand the passage of time, the turbulence, and the torment he experienced.

Shen Tang said: “Nearby should be a village. You can obtain medicine from the villagers. Anyhow, I still didn’t ask you how you are called, how should I address you?”

“I’m Tian Zhong, my courtesy name is Shouyi. 

“Shouyi, why were you looking at me just now?”

“I think that you look the same as the person that I met before, except for your sex. Moreover, after I heard you talking with Mister Qi Shan, learning that you are…” Tian Zhong swallowed the words “escaped criminal”, “Even more, I think you have some sort of relationship with her”.

Shen Tang “…”

Good things are not happening, but bad things are happening so soon.

Did she just run into someone that knew the original owner of this body?

Shen Tang asked: “Who is this person? Are you familiar with each other?”

Tian Zhong repeatedly weaved his hand: “Not familiar, I just saw her once. She should be my nephew's by the male line daughter-in-law”.

Shen Tang was deeply shaken: “… nephew, nephew’s by the male line daughter-in-law?”

“Strictly speaking, she’s also not”. He explained, “I and Yunchi’s father are schoolmates and peers, both of as recognized godfather. Yunchi is my brother’s son, so if the two got married, they should call me “Uncle Tian”.

“Who is Yunchi?”

“Gong clan Gong Cheng, his courtesy name is Yunchi.

Shen Tang “…”

My God!

She directly called a God!

This body was just 11–12 years old!

“Why didn’t they complete the ceremony?”

“On the day of the big wedding there was no time for 3 prostrations, so the rite wasn’t complete. Before the ceremony was completed, officials broke into the Gong's mansion to take them. The people in the whole mansion were brought together and escorted into prison and sent on the road within two days. I was also a guest at the time… What a pity”.

After speaking, he sighed.

He busied himself with the case of the Gong family’s penalty and absolutely didn’t expect that only a few days later, his entire family would also suffer a disaster.

Shen Tang asked: “Where is Gong Cheng now?”

He smiled wryly: “If he is lucky, he is probably on the road to exile. If he is unlucky, he’s probably on the road to Yellow Springs”.

Shen Tang suppressed her twitching veins, and continued to make insinuations, to extract more information: “Which family does Gong Cheng's bride belong to?”

“She was born in the Shen family, but…”    

“Just what?”

He said: “It's just that within two days of the Gong clan’s sentence, the Shen family was exiled by Zheng Qiao from the nine tribes, really miserable”.   

Shen Tang: “…”

The Nine Clans…

In other words, other than Gong Cheng, whose life and death were unknown, the original owner was a – true orphan?

------

Five hundred words in an hour!   

Gong Cheng is not the male lead!

Gong Cheng is six or seven years older than the heroine!    

He is not the male lead!    

He is a passer-by, at most, he has a one part role to play.   

The heroine is not married either!

The heroine is unmarried! 

Will not marry in the future, at most she will take a wife!    

The male protagonist is six years younger than the female protagonist, so as long as someone older than the female protagonist appears in the text, it cannot be the male protagonist!

The emotional drama in this text is almost nonexistent!

Everyone, just look at her career. 

After all, while being a boss you can have a group of well-off courtiers, and the number is not limited at the same time, not like in love. What does this tell us?

Tell us that doing business is better than having fun!