In the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era: I became Yang Guozhong's eldest son.

Yanhe glanced at the shopkeeper who was busy with his work and said in a low voice:

"If you encounter someone like this again, don't just look at how soft-spoken they are."

"It depends on where he wants to take you."

"The person who says they're trying to save you trouble might actually be the one who wants you to get into trouble the most."

These words were spoken to Uncle Wen and Afu, as well as to those in the rear team who had not yet fully developed a sense of vigilance.

Yang Xuan nodded.

Write this down.

"If anyone says in the future, 'It's okay to stay overnight,' 'It's safer to add another chapter,' or 'It's better to go slowly,' don't be too quick to believe them."

"First, ask him who actually benefits from this."

Pei Zhao remained silent throughout.

Only then did he glance behind the shop and whisper:

"My lord, this group of people may not be the same group that follows."

"That time at Yongxing Post Station, it was a combination of someone inside the post station acting as a mouthpiece and someone outside handling communications."

"This time, it's as if someone figured out all the traces we left behind before deliberately using the rules to entangle us."

"Someone who can connect all these things together, such as travel permits, time limits, injuries, and royal entourage, doesn't seem like a rough hand."

Yang Xuan opened his eyes and looked at the official road ahead.

"Of course it's not rough hands."

"Only when a hard knife can't cut it down will you switch to a soft rope."

"Going forward, I'm afraid some people will still try to test us by using personal connections, prestige, or official favors."

"Today is just the beginning."

Afu felt a chill run down his spine.

"So, won't we have people waiting for us with smiles wherever we go from now on?"

Yang Xuan smiled.

"What's there to be afraid of?"

"It's better to wait with a smile than to be confronted with a knife."

"The fact that he took out a knife shows he was in a hurry."

"His smiling while waiting shows that he's still unsure."

"The more he tries to wear me down slowly, the more it shows that he doesn't dare to go all out right now."

These words reassured the people in front of the car.

That makes sense.

If the people behind them were truly determined to kill them immediately, they wouldn't have changed their methods layer by layer.

Since the methods are still being changed, it means that the other party is also still observing, calculating, and weighing the pros and cons.

Then they still have a way out.

Half an hour later, the fodder was replenished, the water bags were replaced, and the convoy set off again.

This time, no one mentioned taking a half-day break.

Even the menial workers who were most afraid of hard work kept their mouths shut.

They may not understand the importance of leaving a travel permit or obtaining official approval from the state or county authorities.

But they understand one thing.

Even though that person was laughing like that, he still had to obediently hand over the water and fodder in the end.

That means the main vehicle team has won.

Along the way, whoever wins, these people have to stand with that person first.

The official road leads south.

The sun gradually slanted away.

Yang Xuan leaned against the car, her body still aching, but her mind was clearer than yesterday.

The swordsmanship outside has changed.

This shows that people in Chang'an no longer view him the same way they did at the beginning.

Initially, they thought he was just a rebellious son who had his bones broken and was driven out of Chang'an.

Now they know that this person bites.

They know how to leverage opportunities, leave traces, and even turn the tables on those who set them up.

Then the people who come next will only be more impressive.

Thinking of this, he suddenly spoke:

"Cui Shen."

Cui Shen urged his horse forward.

"My lord."

"From today onward, every stop along the way, every document check, and every time we need to add water or change horses will be recorded separately."

"Record everything: who said what, who laughed the first, who refused to give their name, and who always said 'it's for your own good'."

Cui Shen was taken aback for a moment, then immediately understood.

"Does my lord intend to read the lines backwards?"

"right."

Yang Xuan closed his eyes and said:

"Since they like to leave a record, I'll leave one for them too."

"From now on, whoever reaches out first should follow these marks."

Cui Shen responded in a low voice.

At that moment, he suddenly realized that the journey south was no longer just about getting there.

It's more like a game that keeps getting bigger and bigger.

You think you're being tormented along the way.

But as you walk along, every little mark you make, whether in front, behind, left, or right, could become a knife that bites you back in the future.

It was evening in Chang'an.

The wind was light under the eaves outside Xingqing Palace.

Gao Lishi took the two pages of scattered post reports handed to him by the eunuch and stood reading them for a long time.

The newspaper article didn't provide enough details.

It is said that Yang Xuan continued his journey south without stopping. After Yongxing Post Station, he passed another inn. The innkeeper originally intended to delay his journey by saying that "he was seriously injured and should rest, and that members of the imperial family should submit their documents." However, he tore up the paper on the spot and was unable to stay.

The eunuch asked in a low voice:

"Grandpa, should we submit this to the higher authorities?"

Gao Lishi folded the paper and put it into his sleeve.

"Such matters need not be alarmed by the Sage."

"If Yang's eldest son, who was driven out of Chang'an, really died halfway there, that would be one thing."

"But if it doesn't rot all the way, that's no small matter."

The eunuch dared not respond.

Gao Lishi then added softly:

"On the day of the court flogging, I realized that this kid wasn't just a fool."

Looking at it now, it's actually quite interesting.

After he finished speaking, he looked up at the sky outside the palace walls.

Chang'an is still Chang'an.

The lively atmosphere upstairs at Hua'e Xianghui Tower still seemed to have lingered.

Gao Lishi didn't say anything more, but simply tucked the two pages of the postal report into his sleeve and turned to walk back.

......

On the other side, on the official road.

Yang Xuan and his group continued southward into the twilight.

That night, the convoy neither entered the post station nor squeezed into the villages and towns.

Pei Zhaozhao, as usual, chose a location first.

This time, he chose a sheltered earthen slope behind which there was an official road in front and a shallow forest behind. He could see people on both sides, so if something happened, he wouldn't necessarily step into a deadly place.

As soon as the lodging area was marked out, Cui Shen squatted down by the fire, clutching his writing bag.

Seeing his posture, Afu couldn't help but ask:

"Mr. Cui, are you going to bring up old scores again?"

"It's not an account."

Cui Shen took the items out of the bag one by one.

"It is the road."

As he spoke, he laid out several pages of the post station register, the times recorded along the way, the price of fodder, the price of changing horses, the price of salt, two rough maps obtained from traveling merchants, and several sheets of paper filled with his own annotations on the margins, all on an old felt mat.

Afu leaned over for a look and felt a headache coming on.

"This isn't a road."

"This is clearly scribbles."

Cui Shen ignored him and pointed to one of the pages.

"South of Yongxing Post Station, there are three inns, two small counties, and one fork in the road. Normally, this section of the road is the easiest to tamper with, because it is not near the prefectural city in front and not near a large town in the back. Anyone can use the rules of the post station and the traces left behind to get you out of trouble."

"The strange thing is that the people we met along the way, who seemed to be going their own way, always seemed to be reaching out to each other."

Pei Zhao, who was wiping his knife, looked up and asked:

"Where are you going?"

Cui Shen raised his hand and tapped three words on the paper.

"Yaozhou".

The flame flickered.

Ah Fu almost choked on the mouthful of dry food in his mouth.

"Isn't that obvious?"

"We were originally going to Yaozhou."

That's not what I meant.

Cui Shen pulled out another piece of paper.

"Look at this."

It was a price list along the way that couldn't be any rougher.

Rice prices, medicine prices, fodder prices, salt prices—he jotted down notes here and there over the past few days.

Afu still couldn't understand.

Wen Bo took two steps closer, glanced at it, and then frowned.

"The price of salt is wrong."

Cui Shen looked up at Wen Bo and nodded.

"Exactly."

"Salt from other places should theoretically be cheaper the further south you go. But the salt prices in the Yaozhou area are fluctuating wildly, it's really chaotic."

"In some places, the price is higher than in Guanzhong, while in others it is ridiculously low, so low that it doesn't seem like the price of regular government salt."

Uncle Wen put the wooden spoon he was holding down on the side of the pot, his voice becoming a few decimal places.

There are only two possibilities.

"Or maybe the salt road over there is in chaos."

"Or someone might bypass the officials and add the salt themselves."

Yang Xuan opened his eyes and looked over from inside the car.

"continue."

Cui Shen responded and spread out the third sheet of paper.

Those were words he had gleaned from an old courier during the day; they were half true and half false, all fragments.