The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 739 You all live your lives well, I'm going to find Zhuge Liang!
The wounds on my body are still throbbing, and I imagine I'll need a few more healing spells to soothe the internal pain.

Shen Le took a deep breath of the air, which was filled with the smell of blood and dust, and slowly exhaled it, along with the exhaustion and pain in his lungs.

He stood outside the city, watching the yellow smoke dissipate and the last wisp of yellow vapor melt into the night, and finally closed his eyes for a moment.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion will continue for many more battles. Huangfu Song will be recalled, Lu Zhi will be removed from the stage, and Sun Jian, Dong Zhuo, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and others will all be removed from the stage.

Battlefields such as Changshe, Guangzong, Nanyang, Qing, You, and Xu were raging across the land of China, yet the scattered Yellow Turban Army remained resilient.

From among them emerged famous generals such as Zhang Yan, Zang Ba, and Guan Hai.

If he wanted to gain fame and fortune in this chaotic world, he could easily have roamed the battlefield, trying to curry favor with a powerful ally beforehand. But, never mind, never mind…

Shen Le stopped looking at the battlefield. He jumped off his horse, hugged its neck to comfort it, gave it some warm air, and led it forward step by step.

He carefully avoided main roads and towns, surviving on wild fruits, small animals, and the occasional abandoned rations he found. Soon, he traded his yellow turban armor for tattered clothes he found on the road, and sold his warhorse at a low price.

Mixed among the scattered refugees, ragged and haggard, he was just like one of the millions of displaced people struggling to survive in the chaos of war, completely inconspicuous.

Southward, southward. Yuzhou is no longer a place to stay, nor is Jizhou. These are places where a million Black Mountain soldiers will roam in the future, unsuitable for peaceful and virtuous people to live.

Qingzhou and Xuzhou are even more unimaginable; they will be repeatedly pulled and crushed by various forces in the future. Stories of massacres and special military rations will all happen on that land.

Only Jiangnan... Only Jiangnan...

Several years before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he had asked someone to send his parents, younger brother, and younger sister to Jiangnan to avoid trouble. Now, his younger brother should be grown up, and his younger sister should be of childbearing age, right?

With local brothers looking after them and their own land, they should be doing well, at least enough to fill their stomachs. Is the family's savings enough for their father to find a marriage for their younger brother?

At least... go back and take a look...

He dodged pursuers, routed soldiers, and chaotic troops, gathering his inner energy in the darkness and using magic to propel himself forward at high speed.

The night wind whipped at my face, fiercely ruffling my hair and the hem of my clothes. The battlefield, the bloodshed, the smoke and dust, even the fierce battle between the Yellow Heaven and the Azure Dragon, and the old man who once sought to change the world, were all gradually blown away and sank into the depths of my memory.

Shen Le traveled for half a month before crossing the Yellow River, the Huai River, and even the Yangtze River, heading straight to the south of the Yangtze River to reach the place where he had settled his family.

However, as they approached their destination, they slowed down more and more:
The Jiangnan water towns are a place of gentle, leisurely scenery, where the soft Wu dialect can be heard everywhere. However, at every city gate and every government office entrance, large wanted posters are plastered everywhere:
Zhang Liang, Zhang Bao, Bo Cai, Bu Si, Man Cheng... Zhang Yan, Zang Ba...

Shen Le carefully examined the wanted posters under the cover of night, but found neither his name nor his image. However, all the wanted posters unequivocally pointed to one thing:
Wanted: All Yellow Turban rebels!
The might of the Han Dynasty remains, and its might still allows the imperial court to issue arrest warrants for anyone it desires throughout all its territory.

Are the brothers still around? Have they been arrested by the authorities, changed their names, or simply fled?

Is the local manhunt effort strong? Can the authorities simply ignore someone by changing their name or identity, or are they all arrested and imprisoned together?
When the local brothers settled him in his body—his parents, siblings, and relatives—did they reveal his identity? Although he had earnestly instructed them not to reveal it, who knows if they were careful in their actions?

Are their parents, siblings and other relatives alright? Have they been arrested? Has anyone come to their door to seize their house and land?

The closer he got, the more these questions lingered in his mind, causing him unease day and night.

Finally, when he arrived at the vicinity of Songjiang, he didn't even dare to enter the city. He simply stood silently in the night, outside the wall of a Taoist temple, gazing at the low city wall:

Entering the city isn't difficult. But to enter quietly, without alerting anyone, and to find out the information he wants—that's another matter entirely…

Let him think about it... think about it carefully...

"Brother Shen?"

A voice suddenly called out from behind him. Startled, Shen Le turned around and saw a head popping up on the wall, looking down at him and asking:
"Is it you?! — I haven't mistaken you for someone else?!"

Shen Le squinted, remaining silent as he carefully observed the approaching figure in the darkness. A creak sounded from the opposite wall, and then the person used both hands and feet to climb over the wall and hang themselves on it.

"Have you forgotten me? When I was stabbed and almost bled to death, you were the one who healed me! -- What are you doing here? Great teacher, great teacher..."

His voice trailed off as he spoke. Shen Le raised a finger to her lips and slowly shook her head at him. Then, she leaped onto the wall and sat down beside the man.

"This is not the place to talk. Is this Taoist temple ours? Or do you have a safe place to talk?"

The person looked around nervously, then began to move his body, trying his best to step back onto the ladder and climb down again.

Unfortunately, these past few years of pampered living have made him quite chubby, and once he straddles the wall, he can't even maintain his balance and return to his original position.

Shen Le had no choice but to help him, then gently jumped over the wall to help him land. The two moved to the main hall of the Taoist temple, and without lighting any lamps, sat on the ground behind the statue of the Taoist patriarch, chatting quietly.

"...So, in the end, we have lost..."

Long, long afterward, the fat man sighed sadly, his expression dazed. He seemed to want to cry, and also seemed to want to shout, but he had lost all his strength, and his voice was dry and hoarse.

Shen Le looked at him nervously:
"By the way, do the people here know who you are? My parents..."

"They're alright." The fat man shook his head gently.
"I did as you said. I didn't show up in person. I paid people to help me, and no one knows their identities."

But—I don't know how the two elders are doing, whether they've let anything slip, or how long this can be kept secret…” Shen Le fell silent. He mentally reviewed history again, from the rise of Sun Jian, Sun Ce, and Sun Quan, to the infighting between the Sun family and the Jiangnan gentry, and then to Sun Wu's conquest of the Yue tribes, going through it quickly.

Then, I went through the entire history of the Three Kingdoms' conquests again, and considered the geography and climate of all of China, crossing off one option after another in my mind:

Locally—no. This body's parents, siblings, and other relatives are just ordinary people. If their identities are revealed, they could be imprisoned at any time in the Han Dynasty, where the rule has not yet collapsed.

We must run, run quickly, run immediately, run to another place, to a place where no one knows them!
Bashu – Bashu was indeed a rare and peaceful place. Under Liu Zhang's rule, it remained very peaceful until Liu Bei entered Shu later, when there was a possibility of being conscripted.

However, the road to Shu is difficult, more difficult than ascending to heaven. At this time, he dragged his parents and siblings into Shu, hoping that they would die on the way!

Similarly, Jiaozhou was also not feasible. Although the Shi Xie family was almost entirely uninvolved in the Three Kingdoms wars, the risks of the sea route from Songjiang to Guangzhou might even have exceeded those of the Shu Road!
Not to mention the South at that time, which was a land of miasma and disease. If a northerner was sent there, eight out of ten people would fall ill!
Zhejiang and Fujian are relatively better. However, Fujian is underdeveloped these days. Shen Le remembers that Zhuge Jin's son led troops there to conquer the Yue tribes.

Could people live in such a desolate place?

After eliminating options, it seemed that only Zhejiang was the correct choice. Shen Le tried hard to recall:
At that time, the area was relatively developed, with fewer mountain tribes and mainly inhabited by Han Chinese. What were some of those areas?
Jiaxing? Hangzhou? Shaoxing? Ningbo?
Well, let's just keep going and asking around...

With directions, Shen Le found her family the next day. The following night, she climbed over the wall and quietly woke up her parents.

Before they could ask in surprise, he lowered his voice and quickly explained his purpose:
"Let's go! Pack your things, leave the fields behind, leave all the heavy stuff at home, let's leave right now!"

The father stared blankly at his eldest son, who was both familiar and unfamiliar under the lamp, his joy, fear, and confusion intertwined, and he didn't know whether he should believe it or not.

The mother looked around, reluctant to part with the newly built house, the newly purchased furniture, and the rice in the field that was half-grown and still far from being harvested.

Shen Le, however, directly slapped two gold ingots onto the table:

"Leave now! With money, you can buy anything. But if you get arrested by the authorities, you'll lose everything!"

"But—your brother's fiancée is supposed to be met in three days..."

"Forget about that! As long as things settle down, there are plenty of good women out there! News of the Yellow Turban Rebellion's defeat hasn't reached here yet, so the government isn't in the mood for a large-scale manhunt."

If we don't escape now, and we get caught, does Mother want to drag our future siblings to jail with us? Hurry! Pack your things, hitch up the oxcart, and find an excuse to leave immediately!

He casually tossed two beans. They tumbled and flew out, landing on the ground, then, at Shen Le's gesture, rose up again, transforming into two Yellow Turban soldiers.

Amidst the suppressed gasps of the family, Shen Le's voice was urgent:

"Look! This is a magical technique I learned from the Heavenly General! Now you can believe me, right? -- Come with me!"

With the double proof of divine magic and gold, this honest and simple couple, who would never have left their home fifty miles away if not for their eldest son's arrangement, finally embarked on another migration journey.

This time, Shen Le and the fat brother from the Taoist temple accompanied them, each driving an oxcart, escorting the two elders on their journey.

They traveled along the way, inquiring and bribing the poor and displaced along the way, winding their way for five or six hundred miles, until finally stopping at the shore of a large, shimmering lake:
"Let's do it here." Shen Le stood on tiptoe, gazing at the distant mountains that undulated gently like eyebrows, and then at the calm tributary flowing into the lake.

This place is nestled between mountains and a lake. The population isn't too large, and there's still open space along the lake that can be developed. It's not too small either; it's not so sparsely populated that you can't see a soul for miles around.

What's even more reassuring is that this place is close to Mao County in Kuaiji Commandery, and because of the winding waterways leading there, it has the benefits of fish and salt production. There's even a small military camp in the area.

There were only fifty men, seemingly just there to ensure the safety of the port and waterways. However, such a small military camp was enough to deter the Yue tribes who might come to raid.

"What? The Shanyue? They moved away a long time ago. The nearest Shanyue people are in Danyang County, hundreds of miles away! We haven't been robbed by them in two lifetimes!"

"This is it!" Shen Le decided. The father bent down, grabbed a handful of soil from the ground, walked a distance to look at the watermarks on the bank, and nodded silently.

The fat man who came with Shen Le had already started giving orders:
"Unload your stuff, find a place to pitch the tents, and I'll go to Mao County to get my residency registered! Once we're registered and buy land, we'll build a house, and this whole area will be ours!"

"We can't just build houses." Shen Le calmly pulled out a scroll:
"In the future, when the world is in chaos, having fortified villages—or at least manors—will make things much safer. We should build our houses like this..."

He unfurled the scroll, pointing out the surrounding terrain:
"First, find a place with a water source and slightly higher ground—I think that place is good—to build a house, with a wall around it and a watchtower."

Next, build a ring around the central house, using the surrounding houses as a screen. Then, build a wall to enclose the fields and houses in the middle…”

With people, money, and skilled Taoist priests who were good at networking, willing to spend money, and even alchemy, they could personally smooth things over. While not guaranteed to be successful, there weren't too many obstacles either.

This group of northern refugees soon settled in Kuaiji County—which Shen Le estimated to be Ningbo.

Shen Le personally oversaw the construction of a heavily fortified mansion, arranged for his family to move in, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Father, Mother, please stay here in peace. For the next few decades, this place should be peaceful and free of war. I'm leaving now—"

"Why are you leaving again?!"

Even the fat Taoist priest couldn't help but ask a question. Shen Le simply smiled:
if not?
I went through so much trouble to travel here—no, to enter this place by following the memories of the pottery—just to live out my days peacefully with the parents of this body.

Of course I'm going to take this opportunity to cause trouble!
I'm going to see Prime Minister Zhuge! —By the way, how old is Zhuge Liang now? Where is he? Or should I find Liu Bei first?
"Fate has decreed this, and I have no choice. Farewell." He bowed deeply and drifted away. He stepped across the river without getting a drop of water on him, disappearing in a few steps, heading north.
Liu Bei, wait for me!
Finding Liu Bei wasn't too difficult. Shen Le inquired along the way, eventually making his way to the vicinity of Lu Zhi's army. With banners in sight and the sounds of drums and horns filling the air, the world before him suddenly began to ripple like water:
and many more!

Let me see Zhuge Liang!
(End of this chapter)