Chasing after her husband? Is it even possible to win him back?

“I don’t know, the invitation didn’t mention it.” Zuo Shaojun shrugged. “An invitation is just an invitation. You don’t think it’s an official file, do you? Even if they and I both know the purpose of the invitation, the matter was only mentioned verbally by the clerk of the government office.”

After spending a few days together, Chu Xunfeng had figured out the sword master's temperament and didn't care about the other party's slightly sharp words. "Don't you still have to escort goods? Do you have enough time?"

Zuo Shaojun paused for a moment, carefully examined Chu Xunfeng, and finally burst out laughing, "The goods I'm pledging are from Longquan Sword Manor. I'm the young master of Longquan Sword Manor. In other words, I'm personally pledging my own things. How can there be any 'too late' or 'too late'?"

"..." Chu Xunfeng stared intently at Zuo Shaojun.

The two remained silent.

"Alright, alright, I'm just interested and plan to go take a look. After all, even the three sects in Kamakura Castle couldn't figure out the ins and outs of this matter together, so I'm still interested." Although Zuo Shaojun lowered his head, his tone was clearly not polite, as if he was somewhat annoyed.

“I’ve heard that you have two uncles and a younger sister, and you’re just the young master of the manor…” Chu Xunfeng was unmoved by Zuo Shaojun’s words. Instead, he leaned forward and stared at Zuo Shaojun’s beautiful face. “I want to hear the truth.”

"The truth?" Zuo Shaojun narrowed his eyes, staring at Chu Xunfeng.

“Yes, you want to get me involved in this. Even if you don’t give me a reason, you should at least hire me, right?” Chu Xunfeng raised an eyebrow. “This is troublesome. It’s still a quagmire with unknown depths. You should know that my identity in Yongzhou makes me prone to trouble. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have used an alias.”

Zuo Shaojun was silent for a while, "Let's go to the banquet tonight and see how things go. Then I'll consider whether I need to persuade you or hire you for help."

"That's acceptable."

Chu Xunfeng nodded, which was considered an agreement.

Chapter Four, Yin Sha

Jiang Min was responsible for some of the basic tasks of the escort team.

Nominally, he is the captain of this team, responsible for overall coordination. He has to arrange everything meticulously, no matter how small. It is clear that Jiang Min is very capable in this regard and handles things with ease.

Chu Xunfeng accepted Zuo Shaojun's invitation and, having nothing else to do, was observing the operation of the entire convoy.

Replenishing food and water supplies, checking the goods on the wagons, feeding the horses, negotiating prices with the shopkeepers, etc... there was nothing unusual about it.

At least Chu Xunfeng couldn't see anything unusual. In fact, when Jiang Min was checking the goods, he even went over to take a look at the goods that Longquan Sword Manor had pledged.

After Jiang Min had been busy for most of the hour arranging everything for the entire convoy, she happened to see Chu Mo raising his teacup to signal to her.

Jiang Min, whose throat was parched from working for so long, didn't stand on ceremony. She sat down at the square table, took the teacup, and drank a cup of warm tea to soothe her throat, finally letting out a long sigh of relief.

"Captain Jiang, is the cargo you're escorting this time some kind of rare mineral?" Chu Xunfeng asked casually.

Jiang Min glanced at Chu Xunfeng and saw that the young man favored by the young lord seemed to be asking casually, so he replied easily, "Brother Chu saw it earlier, right? They are all special minerals. There are no particularly valuable minerals among them, but those several cartloads together are quite valuable."

“No wonder the young master was asked to escort it.” Chu Xunfeng withdrew his gaze and then probed, “But since it is so valuable, isn’t it a bit inappropriate to only send two people to guard it?”

Jiang Min didn't think much of it, or perhaps she didn't even know, and just casually replied, "It was Young Master's order. We're handling the goods with Young Master, and it's all very easy. Not to mention Young Master's strength, those three sword servants are also stronger than us brothers. Those three will help us."

"I see." Chu Xunfeng roughly understood why Zuo Shaojun, who was in charge in the true sense, spent his days indulging in pleasure with the caravan and surrounded by women, and Jiang Min and the others did not complain.

Zuo Shaojun was originally their young master, and his presence with the team was meant to provide military support. When things were peaceful, Zuo Shaojun was free to do whatever he wanted.

Chu Xunfeng hadn't forgotten that this convoy of goods had been hijacked. He had even mocked Zuo Shaojun for being irresponsible and frivolous, but Jiang Min had remained respectful, which suggested that Zuo Shaojun and his three sword servants had done their jobs very well.

only......

System, are you sure those ores contain a malevolent aura?

Yes, every box contains them, but they are suppressed using some special method, making them undetectable by conventional means, and our system cannot detect the exact quantity either.

Yin Sha, along with the spiritual energy of magic cultivators, the blood and qi of body cultivators, and the will of weapon cultivators, belongs to a kind of primordial power that cultivators can utilize.

Ordinary people who come into too much contact with Yin energy will become weak and sick, while for practitioners, Yin energy is difficult to utilize and may even conflict with the energy in their bodies.

Yin Sha is an energy that does not belong to the living; it is an energy that can only be used by the ghost race.

Something resembling an oni (demon) is causing trouble in Kamakura Castle, and Zuo Shaojun immediately expresses his desire to get involved. Meanwhile, the ore being transported by Longquan Sword Manor is found to be tainted with yin energy.

These things were vaguely connected by the 'Ghost Clan', and Chu Xunfeng did not think that this was his imagination or that he was overthinking it.

There must be some connection.

As for this connection, we'll probably only find out after attending the banquet at the government office tonight. In Chu Xunfeng's opinion, it seems that Zuo Shaojun wants to go to this banquet to find out specific information in order to confirm certain things.

"By the way, Brother Jiang, where did you get this batch of ore from?" Chu Xunfeng turned to look at Jiang Min.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Min's expression became somewhat strange. "Brother Chu, what do you want to ask this for?"

"I accidentally obtained some rare minerals from the demon race." Chu Xunfeng wove a lie, casually reaching out from his wristband to take out a piece of ore that Dang Kang had given him and placing it on the table.

“I want to use this material to repair my gun, but I haven’t been able to find out where it came from.” Chu Xunfeng pointed to the piece of ore on the table.

In fact, the system's label clearly states that this silvery-gray mineral is called Blue Mist Ore, which can only be produced under special geological conditions and requires time to accumulate.

It was not the same kind of silver-gray refined iron that I had seen in the cargo box of Longquan Sword Manor before.

However... these two things look very similar.

"This is...refined iron?" Jiang Min was stunned. Refined iron was not a rare thing. He reached out and touched the warm metal, and immediately dismissed his guess. He gently scratched the blue mist ore with his fingernail, and after raising his hand, he looked at the dust reflecting the faint light under his fingernail and realized, "Blue mist ore."

Chu Xunfeng pretended not to understand and pressed for an answer again.

Jiang Min, facing the sunlight, blew on the fine iron filings under her fingernails. A puff of blue mist suddenly burst forth in the sunlight, shimmering with a crystal-blue light. "Blue mist ore is extremely special. It's usually ground into powder for use. It can increase the toughness of other alloys. I've heard that with large-scale use, it can even make the alloy more compact during forging, forcing out more impurities during hammering..."

Jiang Min withdrew her gaze and looked at Chu Xunfeng, her doubts almost completely dispelled. "Brother Chu has confused refined iron with blue mist ore. Although refined iron is produced in small quantities, it is not valuable. This piece of blue mist ore can be exchanged for tons of refined iron. However, blue mist ore is only an auxiliary ore. Forging a weapon doesn't even require that much. The person who sold the blue mist ore back then probably only heard of its reputation and didn't know much about iron forging."

"I see, I've learned something." Chu Xunfeng cupped his fists and bowed to Jiang Min. He stopped testing Jiang Min, who seemed to have doubts earlier, and instead took out two other types of ore from his storage magic treasure and asked Jiang Min for advice.

Jiang Min was naturally generous. After a brief discussion, she began to explain the characteristics and uses of these rare minerals to the eager-to-learn Chu Mo. She ended with a hint of regret, saying, "You don't know until you see it. Brother Chu has quite a lot of good stuff. If you didn't need it yourself, I would have even asked Shao Jun to buy these minerals."

"I brought them with me because I wanted to go to Longquan Sword Manor to ask the craftsmen to repair my weapons. In the end, they would have to go through the hands of the masters at Longquan Sword Manor."

Jiang Min was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and nodded, "Brother Chu is right."

"However, with Young Master personally escorting the goods, there aren't any rare minerals like Blue Mist Ore or Heavenly Crystal?" Chu Xunfeng picked up the minerals on the table, seemingly teasingly asking, "Could it be that the rare items are all hidden at the bottom of the big boxes? Keeping your wealth hidden?"

"I guess... I guess so." Jiang Min scratched her head, unsure whether she was hesitant to answer Chu Xunfeng's question or simply felt uncomfortable saying it due to her status.

Chapter 5, Kamakura Prefectural Government Office

Jiang Min's chat with Chu Xunfeng didn't last long. After sitting for a while, Jiang Min was called away by several women in the caravan.

Chu Xunfeng didn't pay much attention, but he overheard that the three women wanted to withdraw some silver to buy some fabric, as some of the brothers escorting the goods had their clothes torn in the previous attack.

These women were probably in charge of logistics for the motorcade, doing things like starting fires, cooking, sewing, and mending shoes.

It can also be seen from the side that although it is also escorting goods, the Longquan Sword Manor's caravan is not a caravan. More accurately, this caravan should be classified as operating like a merchant caravan.

Thinking of this, Chu Xunfeng suddenly remembered that he had once tried to form such a caravan, but ultimately failed due to various messy things.

The extremely short-sighted in-laws could only watch the money flow into their pockets, yet they were unwilling to use the money they earned themselves to support their business expansion...

I wonder what the Ning family's situation was like around the time of the Lunar New Year.

Chu Xunfeng curled the corners of his lips, picked up his teacup, concealing the teasing and malice that was probably impossible to hide in his smile, and took a sip of tea.

It's probably a complete mess.

Chu Xunfeng beckoned to the inn's waiter, ordered some side dishes, and took advantage of the midday heat to get some snacks and a pot of wine.

As for why...

When I'm in a good mood, I always want to do something, so I just drink alcohol.

This is also a good opportunity to observe the caravan more closely and think about the trouble that has come his way and the current situation in Kamakura Castle.

I sat there for more than two hours.

Until Zuo Shaojun came downstairs alone.

Chu Xunfeng also stood up and looked at Jian Kui. The loose robe that Zuo Shaojun had been wearing a few days ago had been replaced with a red and white mixed-style outfit, which reduced some of the seductive charm on Zuo Shaojun. In Chu Xunfeng's eyes, it was more pleasing to the eye.

"Shall we leave now?" Chu Xunfeng asked.

"Let's go." Zuo Shaojun nodded and stepped out of the inn, while Chu Xunfeng put down some loose silver on the table and got up to follow the figure in front of him.

"No maids?"

"Leave them to look after the convoy." Zuo Shaojun walked on the wide stone-paved road, replying to Chu Xunfeng's words while looking around the streets of Kamakura Castle.

Chu Xunfeng didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he silently observed the situation in Kamakura Castle, just like Zuo Shaojun.

Chu Xunfeng had seen the lives of some farmers in Liucheng, Bianzhou when he lived there before, so he knew for sure that farmers wouldn't rush home with their tools at dusk. It was clear that the 'things' causing trouble in Kamakura had indeed disrupted the lives of the people of Kamakura.

This is probably why the government office of Kamakura Castle was so anxious. Less than an hour after Zuo Shaojun's caravan entered the city, a formal invitation arrived.

Zuo Shaojun, who was walking ahead, turned around and exchanged a glance with Chu Xunfeng. They both understood that the other had seen the current situation in Kamakura Castle and made their own deductions.

They traveled in silence, following Zuo Shaojun as they turned several corners on the main road, until they finally arrived at their destination.

The government office of Kamakura Castle.

The middle-aged man who had come to the inn at noon to deliver the visiting card was now anxiously looking around at the gate with his servants from the government office. When he saw two young men walking one after the other, the middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief and led his maids and servants to greet them.

"Young Master, I am truly sorry that we have too many guests today. Otherwise, my master would have personally gone to the post station to pick you up..." The man's words seemed to be cut short by Zuo Shaojun raising his hand.

"It's alright if they didn't come to pick us up. My friend and I took a look at the situation in Kamakura Castle along the way." Zuo Shaojun glanced at Chu Xunfeng, and seeing that Chu Xunfeng didn't speak, he continued, "I'm probably not interested in seeing anything funny. The situation is pretty bad right now."

Zuo Shaojun seemed to have shed his laziness and effeminate manner, and his words and expressions became more decisive and efficient. It was clear that he had entered a state of 'getting things done'.

“This…” The middle-aged man, who was in charge of the clerk’s position, hesitated for a moment, and finally shook his head. “Young Master, let my master tell you. There are some things that I can’t say.”

Zuo Shaojun frowned. He seemed surprised that the other party would refuse him, but he still patiently nodded.

Chu Xunfeng seemed to be just a background figure, simply following behind the two men, remaining silent and observing the government office.