Chapter 92: Employment

Li Qi cupped his hands and said politely, “May I ask?”

He was dressed as an ordinary person, wearing cotton clothes adorned with silk, and holding a long saber wrapped in coarse cloth. At first glance, he just looked like a regular passerby leaning on a cloth-wrapped stick, with no discernible skill.

However, there were always those who could recognize talent.

The merchant hurried over, “I’ve noticed Your Excellency wandering around here for quite some time, as if looking for work. Coincidentally, my caravan is in need of a master who can keep things in order. I wonder if Your Excellency would be willing to lend me a hand?”

He recognized Li Qi as a master at a glance, so his judgment wasn't too bad. Perhaps he himself was a Cultivator, just not yet ranked.

“This journey will only take four or five days. I am willing to offer one gold per day,” he immediately added the remuneration.

One gold per day was already a very generous price, but… the willingness to pay this price indicated a task and danger worthy of it.

No one would give money for free.

Therefore, Li Qi did not rashly accept, but instead asked, “Where does Your Excellency intend to go? If it’s not on my way, I’m afraid I cannot comply.”

The merchant was also a shrewd person and naturally understood the implied meaning. So he looked around, saw that there was a large crowd, and therefore did not say much, but invited Li Qi, “There are many people here, so it’s not suitable for discussion. Why doesn’t Your Excellency come to my caravan to talk in detail?”

“Very well, please lead the way.” Li Qi extended his hand, letting the other party lead.

The merchant immediately walked ahead to lead the way.

The caravan was not far, and after walking for less than a minute, they arrived at a commercial inn.

Such inns were rented to merchants, with courtyards, stables, and warehouses for storing goods, parking vehicles, and a place for oxen to rest.

Of course, there were no horse-drawn carriages; spirit horses were too expensive and not suitable for pulling carts. Most used ox-carts, as old oxen were strong and steady, could pull more goods, and it didn't matter if they walked slowly, as long as they walked steadily.

When Li Qi arrived, he found that this caravan had quite a few people, a full fifty or sixty, both men and women, with more than twenty ox-carts, each fully loaded with mountain goods from White Snake Mountain.

However, this was normal. For many small caravans, a single trip might only yield two or three gold in profit. Only large caravans of this scale could offer a price like one gold per day.

Everyone greeted the merchant and Li Qi, and Li Qi also nodded in acknowledgment.

The merchant then led Li Qi into a guest room, closed the doors and windows, and then said to Li Qi, “If this old man is not mistaken, Your Excellency is a Martial Artist of the Ninth Rank, correct?”

“I thought you’d call me an Innate Martial Artist,” Li Qi chuckled, teasing him.

“Only country bumpkins use that term. Anyone who has formally embarked on the path of cultivation doesn’t use anything but the nine-rank system. Without it, you can’t even compare the strengths of different Dao Orthodoxy,” the old merchant replied, pouring Li Qi a cup of tea and taking out a plate of dried fruit.

Li Qi looked at the served fruit with some surprise.

They weren’t fresh but dried fruits, and he was very familiar with them.

They were shriveled overall, green in color, covered with a layer of white frost-like substance. There weren't many on the plate, only a few dozen grains.

Seeing Li Qi’s surprised gaze, the merchant introduced, “Your Excellency, please don’t think there are too few. This item comes from the Western Regions, a specialty of Chechen, more than a hundred thousand li away from Great Deer Kingdom. Here, at least one piece can sell for one qian, and you might not even be able to buy it. This small dish can fetch over a hundred qian.”

Over a hundred qian was enough to buy meat, and these few dozen dried fruits weren’t even a handful.

And Li Qi was surprised, yet somewhat nostalgic, looking at those dried fruits.

Being dried fruits, they no longer retained their plumpness from harvest, but after special processing, the sugar condensed within their shriveled bodies, and the air was filled with a sweet aroma.

Li Qi couldn’t help but pick one up, put it in his mouth, and then said, “I know, this is called grape.”

Raisins, this world has them too…

“Your Excellency is truly knowledgeable, to even recognize this foreign specialty,” the merchant exclaimed in surprise, praising Li Qi’s insight.

Li Qi, however, was not overly proud. Amidst his nostalgia, he also felt a hint of apprehension.

Why did this world… have so many similarities to his original world?

Leaving aside various myths, characters, language, and things like Tang Nation, now even the Western Regions and things like grapes were similar, which made him uneasy.

However, being uneasy was useless. He simply wasn’t qualified to be uneasy. These matters, to a mere Ninth Rank Cultivator, were as vast as the Universe, meaningless.

He quickly suppressed these distracting thoughts and smiled at the merchant, “I’ve just read a few more books. Your Excellency, why don’t you tell me our destination and see if it’s on my way?”

“Alright, I won’t hide it from Your Excellency. Our caravan intends to go to the ferry at the source of the Li River this time, board a boat there, and then transport the goods from the Li River to Song Kingdom,” the merchant stated their route.

“So… you need me to escort you to the ferry?” Li Qi asked.

“Precisely,” the merchant replied.

“From Snake Tail County to the ferry, it’s a smooth, open road with many fellow travelers along the way, and it’s only a two or three-day journey. Why would you need me to escort you?” Li Qi immediately sensed something was amiss.

“Ahem, to be frank with Your Excellency, our caravan probably can’t take the main road… we can only travel through mountain paths, which is why I said it might take four or five days,” the merchant coughed dryly, explaining to Li Qi.

“What happened?” Li Qi frowned, lowering his voice, and asked again.

“This old man was careless for a moment and offended the county magistrate of Snake Tail County. He’s been targeting me, so if we take the main road, the commercial taxes alone would strip this old man of a layer of skin. Taking the small path is truly out of necessity…” The merchant cupped his hands and smiled bitterly, his face full of helplessness.

That was a plausible reason. Otherwise, merchants naturally sought stability, so why would they take a detour on a small path, adding unnecessary risks?

Then, the merchant added, “But don’t worry, my business has a large order this time, so there’s already another Ninth Rank Martial Artist Cultivator as an escort. However, with just her, I’m still a bit uneasy. So, by fate, I ran into Your Excellency. Now with two grand masters of rank, this journey will be virtually foolproof.”

“So there’s already another person. That does make it safer. Then I’ll accept. When do we depart?” Li Qi asked.

“There’s no time to lose, especially since we’re still in Snake Tail County… which is their territory. So we hope to depart this afternoon. Does Your Excellency have any other matters to attend to? We can wait if you need to postpone,” the merchant said with delight upon hearing this.

“I have no other matters, but I have a companion whom I hope to bring along. I wonder if…” Li Qi proposed bringing another person.

“No problem, it’s just a matter of adding another pair of chopsticks. Then it’s settled,” the merchant naturally agreed, and the agreement was reached.

(My eyes are swollen today, so only one update for now. Will resume tomorrow.)