Wife, you didn't really drug me, did you?

Chapter 628 Come on, Zhu Chongba, you'll be my bodyguard.

Hewu~
With a shout of the escort horn, the escort agency set off, the guards protecting two carriages heading straight for the land beyond the Great Wall.

This journey was naturally long and arduous, and the hardships involved are needless to say.

After traveling for two days, the group had become quite familiar with each other. They then arrived at Haozhou Prefecture, Zhu Chongba's stronghold. In the group, a bodyguard asked a hunched old man, "Old Xu, what do you think? How does Haozhou Prefecture compare to your Huanggang Prefecture? Which one is more prosperous?"

Old Xu, who was actually Chen Jie in disguise as the old servant of the pharmacy, looked up at the Haozhou Prefecture, which was now taking shape, and said, "This Haozhou Prefecture is indeed a prosperous place, and the people seem to be living in peace and contentment."

The bodyguard replied, "Of course. Our Lord Zhu is also very capable. Over the years, he has made many contributions to Haozhou City. Especially in the last few months, he has vigorously developed commerce and built a pedestrian street in the most prosperous part of Haozhou City. Do you know what a pedestrian street is?"

Chen Jie shook his head.

The bodyguard said, "It means that carriages are not allowed to enter; only pedestrians are allowed to go in and buy things. They have everything inside. I also heard that the city lord is planning to build a four- or five-story building in the very center of the pedestrian street. Once it's completed, it will sell all sorts of things, and the variety is said to be quite extensive."

"And it even has a really nice name, it's called, it's called..."

"Department store?"

Du Xiong chimed in from the side.

"Right, right, it's called the Department Store. How does Mu Huyuan know about it?"

The bodyguard looked at Du Xiong with a smile, as if to say, "Do you know how powerful my Lord Zhu is now in Huanggang Prefecture?"

Du Xiong's face was full of disdain upon hearing this, practically blatantly plagiarizing. It was a naked contest, a contest against Zhu Chongba. What do you mean the department store was created by your Zhu Chongba? You bodyguard are either deaf or blind. Don't you know that the department store in Huangzhou Prefecture has been operating for two years?

You have the nerve to come out and try to scam people with your department store that hasn't even been built yet, and you're praising it to the skies. If I didn't know what kind of people you are, I might actually have been fooled into thinking that this department store was created by your Zhu Chongba.

Du Xiong's expression almost betrayed his thoughts, but then Old Xu came over and laughed, "That's really impressive. I feel that your City Lord Zhu is more capable than our City Lord Chen."

"Of course, I'm not kidding. If our Lord Zhu is willing, this world will belong to him sooner or later."

"Moreover, our Lord Zhu has recently made connections with all sides, and we escorts are very busy. If it weren't for the fact that the middleman you found has some connections with our chief escort, we might not have taken on your escort mission."

Hearing this, Du Xiong tilted his head, unwilling to listen to the镖师's nonsense, but Old Xu chuckled and said, "Yes, yes, our master Chen Cheng's reputation is indeed not very good, otherwise we wouldn't be able to go out to hire镖师. There are quite a few镖局 in Huanggang Prefecture, but as soon as they hear that they are going to the outside of the pass, they all get scared and dare not go. When our pharmacy business becomes booming, I will definitely suggest that the master open a branch in our Haozhou City."

"Hey, I love hearing you say that. Let me tell you, you should come to Haozhou Prefecture. There are so many good things here. Do you know that our City Lord Zhu said that a large portion of the tax revenue will be used for the benefit of the people? He wants to build water conservancy projects and reservoirs in Haozhou Prefecture. Then, they can be used for irrigation, and the ponds can be used to raise fish and shrimp. It's wonderful."

Upon hearing this, Du Xiong's face showed even more disdain. He really does copy everything. The construction of the reservoir and the development of this agricultural economy were clearly our lord's doing, but now it's all Zhu Chongba's credit.

Du Xiong was quite indignant, but Old Xu was enthusiastically praising Zhu Chongba. The镖师 (bodyguard/escort) seemed to get along well with Old Xu, saying, "Old Xu, don't underestimate him just because you're a foreman who knows medicinal herbs. Your knowledge far surpasses that of your own bodyguard!"

Old Xu hurriedly waved his hand and said, "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. Protector Mu has traveled all over the country, so his knowledge is naturally much greater than mine."

The bodyguard smiled and said, "Alright, I know you're all in the same boat, so there are some things we can't say. It's not important. You guys rest for a bit, we'll make some supplies, and then we'll leave this afternoon."

The bodyguard left with a smile, feeling that he really got along with this old man Xu.

Seeing the bodyguards walk away, Du Xiong said angrily, "My lord, this Zhu Chongba is shameless. This was clearly an act of plundering our Huangzhou Prefecture, so how did it become his wise and mighty act? It's quite infuriating to hear."

Chen Jie chuckled and said, "Hehe, why argue over such a trivial matter? Actually, I'm quite pleased that Zhu Chongba did this. At least it's a great thing for the people."

"But my lord, you were the one who created this, and now the credit is being shared by others. How can you be happy about that?"

Chen Jie chuckled, then shook his head and said, "The methods of governing the people have existed since ancient times. Although Zhu Chongba plagiarized, my correct answer was placed in Huangzhou Prefecture, and so many people saw it. They didn't learn it, but Zhu Chongba was willing to learn it. Compared to those people, Zhu Chongba is much better."

"If I weren't here, with Zhu Chongba's method of learning, the world would eventually be taken over by someone surnamed Zhu."

Chen Jie commented, and upon hearing this, Du Xiong said, "Could this Zhu Chongba really be that powerful?"

Chen Jie said, "There definitely is. Don't underestimate him."

Upon hearing this, Du Xiong nodded and said, "If we follow what you say, my lord, I did indeed underestimate him. That was my mistake."

Chen Jie smiled and said, "Alright, I know what you're thinking. It's a good thing that he's studying like this. At the very least, it benefits the people. When a person comes into this world, they should leave something behind. If my arrival makes the people in this world a little better off, then I'm accumulating good karma, aren't I?"

Upon hearing this, Du Xiong nodded slightly and said, "What you say is very true, my lord. I have learned a lot."

"Alright, let's not delay any longer. Quickly prepare the convoy. We'll leave Haozhou this afternoon and head straight for the border region."

Upon hearing this, Du Xiong immediately turned around and started shouting to help load and unload the goods.

Chen Jie, disguised as Old Xu, was also busy running around, and no flaws could be seen in his disguise.

Meanwhile, on a street not far away, someone was taking notes with a pen and paper, and a burly man was standing next to him.

"Mr. Li, what are you doing?"

At this moment, the man stopped writing and said, "I am giving instructions to my superiors. Everyone knows about the dragon vein outside the pass. That's why the number of merchant caravans and escort agencies from Haozhou going to the pass has increased."

"I'm making a note of this so that I don't run out of data when I need it."

Upon hearing this, the man said, "Mr. Li, you're overthinking it. The struggle for the dragon vein outside the pass is a matter for those powerful experts at the Fusion God Realm. What does it have to do with us ordinary people? If anyone should be paying attention, it should be the spies and informants in higher positions who are keeping an eye on those experts at the Fusion God Realm."

Li Shanchang stroked his beard and said, “That’s not right, Brother Tang. This dragon vein outside the pass is like an old ginseng in an old forest. Countless hunters are preparing to seize it. However, if anyone makes the first move, it will attract other hunters to snatch it. So whoever shows their face now will die first.”

"According to reports from our scouts these past few days, all the powerful figures and hidden monsters in the land have been quiet lately. Have they all given up?" "No, they are all slowly heading towards the border."

At this point, Li Shanchang turned to Tang He and said, "Open it, look, this is a bunch of intelligence that the higher-ups gave us yesterday. What do you see?"

Tang He said, "The world is in chaos and the people are suffering. Mountain strongholds are everywhere, and whoever has soldiers is a king."

Li Shanchang chuckled and said, "No, look at this intelligence report."

Li Shanchang took out a slip of paper from his pocket, which read: "Yesterday in Heze, Mu Lan led a thousand households to plunder villages, but they encountered a dense forest and could not find him."

"Can thousands of people just disappear for no reason? Surely not?"

"Then I checked, and guess what I found? A caravan had passed through this dense forest that very day, and the caravan made a safe journey the next day, fully loaded with goods and without any casualties."

"Two groups of people entered at the same time. A bandit who was plundering a village saw a caravan full of goods in the dense forest. How could he not be tempted?"

"As a result, not a single member of the thousand-man caravan escaped; they all became food for wild beasts in the mountains, while the caravan remained unscathed. I don't believe there wasn't a powerful figure hiding among the caravan."

"Then I looked it up, and it turns out this caravan was buying mountain goods from beyond the Great Wall. Beyond the Great Wall, hidden powerhouses—with these keywords combined, what more can be said?"

"It's obvious. You can't help but think about it. Someone must have tampered with it!"

Li Shanchang said decisively, and Tang He, who was listening nearby, said, "That's really the case. Have you reported this to your superior?"

Li Shanchang said, "Hehe, the higher-ups already knew, and they've been thinking about how to head north recently—whether to make a big show of it or blend in with the crowd."

Upon hearing this, Tang He asked, "Are you looking for a suitable team for our lord?"

Li Shanchang smiled, and at this moment Tang He pointed to Chen Jie's caravan and said, "What do you think of this caravan? They happen to be going to the area outside the pass to purchase medicinal herbs, so their destinations don't conflict."

Li Shanchang said, "I think it's good, what do you think?"

Tang He said, "That chief镖头 (chief镖头) comes from our old camp, so there shouldn't be any problems."

As they were talking, they didn't notice an old man not far away taking advantage of the moment the thing was on to glance in their direction. He frowned slightly as he looked at Tang He and Li Shanchang, who were watching their group, and a strange thought popped into his head.

Could it be that Zhu Chongba also wanted to blend into the crowd and go to the border region, and then just happened to take a liking to me?

Chen Jie thought to himself, "No, I have to be careful." With that in mind, Chen Jie quickly found Du Xiong. This guy had the most flaws. Although he had disguised him, his Dragon Realm cultivation was still a flaw. Which herbal medicine shop could find a Dragon Realm expert to be their guard?
Having figured all this out, Chen Jie immediately assessed his surroundings. Qingzhu was dressed as a woman and rarely showed her face, so she shouldn't be recognized. The other employees were genuine pharmacy staff, and there shouldn't be any flaws on them.

The only weakness now is Du Xiong.

Having figured this out, Chen Jie immediately found Du Xiong and asked him to arrange for a spy in Haozhou City to patrol Du Xiong and tell him that Du Xiong's mother had suddenly fallen seriously ill and that the second master of the family wanted Du Xiong to return immediately to take care of his mother.

Du Xiong was bewildered by Chen Jie's arrangement, not knowing why Chen Jie had made such a arrangement. Chen Jie remained silent, as the matter had already begun to unfold.

Someone has already secretly invited the chief镖头 (chief镖头, a term referring to a powerful bodyguard or镖师) away, so something must have happened.

Chen Jie thought for a moment and immediately urged Du Xiong to make arrangements. Du Xiong then asked, "If I leave, how can we guarantee the safety of our lord?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Jie said, "Don't worry, after you leave, a more qualified bodyguard will come to protect us."

Du Xiong said, "How qualified? Can anyone be more qualified than me?"

Chen Jie smiled and said, "Zhu Chongba."

"what?"

Du Xiong's eyes widened in disbelief. "Zhu Chongba can be your bodyguard, my lord?"
Chen Jie looked at Du Xiong and said, "Don't ask too many questions. You just need to know that what I said is true."

After a moment of silence, Du Xiong said, "Then, I'll really be leaving."

Sure enough, around noon, just as everyone was eating and discussing their departure for the afternoon, a fast horse suddenly arrived, and a person dismounted from it. Judging from his attire, he appeared to be a servant.

The man came down and immediately found Du Xiong and said that Du Xiong's mother was seriously ill and needed him to rush home immediately.

Upon hearing this, Du Xiong's acting skills kicked in, and he was immediately shocked and about to leave. At this moment, the 'young master' who had been silent all along suddenly spoke up, looking at the servant and saying, "You are from the second branch of the family, aren't you?"

The servant was taken aback and stammered. The young master said, "Did my second uncle and the others not want me to go to the border, so they came up with a plan to trick Guard Mu into leaving, thinking that this would prevent me from going to the border?"

The servant remained silent, only tugging at Du Xiong's clothes, saying, "The old lady is dying, you should go back quickly, lest you miss her one last time."

Seeing this, Du Xiong was very anxious. He looked at the young master, then clasped his hands and said, "Young master, I know that the success or failure of this trip is related to whether you can inherit the Li family business. Logically speaking, I should protect you, but my mother is seriously ill and I can't afford to gamble. I'm sorry."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

Watching Du Xiong leave, the young master stood by the carriage, gritting his teeth. After a long while, he finally spoke, "What are you all looking at? Without Du Xiong, aren't we going to the border? Load the carts! Why isn't the chief镖头 (chief镖师, the head镖师) back yet? Let's go!"

The bodyguards finally understood that it was a drama of family power struggles. The second branch of the family was really wicked, trying to withdraw the guards and make the young master back down. Without his own guards, who would dare to travel thousands of miles to the border? However, this young master was also a stubborn man.

Everyone thought they understood everything, but Old Xu, the inconspicuous man in the corner, remained silent, carrying his goods with his hunched back.

They waited until evening when the chief镖头 (chief镖头, head镖师, escort) arrived with three young men. Although they were dressed up, Chen Jie immediately recognized one of them as a rough-looking fellow who kept calling himself "our guy."

Zhu Chongba, it really is you!
(End of this chapter)