This job is acceptable.

Miss White Wine didn't think much of this small task, just offered a few words, and Hu Ma readily agreed.

He was currently looking to earn some money. It's just that opportunities to earn big money were rare, and he also worried about his limited experience in the martial world. If he really encountered the big job the monkey-playing old man talked about, he might not dare to take it.

Now, cooperating with a fellow transmigrator, with Miss White Wine as a guarantor, made this job a little safer.

Waking up the next day, he found a chance to discuss it with Zhou Datong and the others, saying he had something to take care of and would be leaving for a while, asking them to take the money back to the village first.

He had already decided this. After all, it concerned the secret of the transmigrators, and it would be inconvenient to bring them along.

Moreover, yesterday Miss White Wine brought news from the Red Lantern Society that all the shopkeepers had entered the city, and the matter was settled. Zhou Datong and the others would be safe returning to the village now.

"Ah?"

But when Zhou Datong and the others heard that Hu Ma was leaving and they had to take the money back to the village themselves, they felt a little scared.

They had come out of the village together, and although they had experienced some things, they were used to Hu Ma leading them and giving them ideas. Now that Hu Ma was asking them to travel on their own, especially with such a huge sum of several hundred taels of silver, they felt even more uneasy.

If Hu Ma could take the silver with him, they would feel more at ease.

But that was just a joke. Hu Ma was going to do something dangerous, and carrying silver would be too cumbersome.

Seeing their thoughts, Hu Ma laughed, "We're all out here making a living in the martial world. If you're afraid of such a small thing, how will you survive in the future?"

"You'll take this silver back to the village. This journey will be a kind of experience."

"Of course, if nothing happens, fine. But if something really happens, throw the silver away. Remember, you can earn more silver, but you only have one life."

He wasn't saying this to act generous.

He knew that the young men from the village were honest and hadn't seen so much money, so they might really risk their lives for it.

"Don't worry, Brother Hu Ma, if we can't even handle this, what else can we talk about?"

Seeing that Hu Ma was determined, Zhou Datong drew his knife, gritted his teeth, and said fiercely, "Anyway, we've learned so much in the way of skills, if we really encounter thieves, I'll chop them down with one blow."

"Relax, don't look like you have silver on you, or the ghosts won't come after you, but they'll be attracted by you."

Hu Ma smiled and reminded them, then spoke a few more words to Zhou Liang.

Among these guys, Zhou Datong was the most troublesome, always full of bad ideas. Zhou Liang was relatively stable.

With that settled, they divided the luggage. Hu Ma was going to do something, so his luggage couldn't be too heavy. He only carried the redwood sword, took Zhou Datong's waist knife, and left the weapon with the mark of the Red Lantern Society for them.

If something really happened, showing these weapons would be a deterrent. Ordinary bandits and even sensible evil spirits wouldn't dare to provoke them.

He kept twenty taels of silver for expenses along the way.

It was actually quite heavy, more than a pound of metal, stuffed in his chest, and the money bag hanging on his waist was also weighed down.

As for the horse, he also let Zhou Datong and the others take it.

Although riding a horse was faster, Hu Ma, as a shousui ren (year-守人), could travel at night. If he had a horse, he could only travel during the day and rest at night.

In the long run, it was better for him to rely on his own two legs, making it easier to control his travel time day and night.

After agreeing, Hu Ma sent them away, then stayed for a while longer, asking the shopkeeper and merchants in the store about the location of Wutong Town before setting off.

Things weren't like they were in the village. In the village, there was a map of the surrounding area that he could look at. But outside the Red Lantern Society's territory, he could only rely on asking for directions like everyone else in this world.

And even what he found out wasn't detailed, just a general direction, so he had to ask as he traveled.

After asking, he bought two pounds of noodles from the store, had the shopkeeper cook them, and spent a few more copper coins to buy plenty of fatty meat sauce to pour over the noodles, eating his fill, along with the Green Taisui jerky he brought.

He went out the door and walked west in large strides.

And Zhou Datong and the others, who had left half an hour earlier than Hu Ma, heading south, were even more nervous.

The three of them took turns riding one horse, with one person riding the horse to rest, while the other two followed alongside on foot.

At first, they were all suspicious, afraid that someone would come to rob them of their silver.

But Zhou Liang saw that this wouldn't do and said, "Datong, Zhuzi, we can't do this. Brother Ma said we can't let people know we have good stuff on us."

"We're too nervous, and we'll only attract trouble."

"Just think that there's no silver in this bag, just sweet potatoes. That way, when we travel, we won't have to worry about others thinking about robbing us as soon as they see us."

"That's a good idea."

Zhou Datong thought about it and jumped off the horse, saying, "Wait for me."

With that, he went to the nearby village, and soon returned with a basket, not knowing where he had gotten it from.

He pulled the other two to a secluded place, divided the several hundred taels of silver into two parts, putting the larger part into the basket, taking off his coat, putting the basket on his back, tying it securely, and putting his clothes on over it.

This made him look like a hunchback. The other silver was put in saddlebags and placed on the horse's back.

This way, a hunchback riding a horse, with two normal people following, ensured speed and didn't look so conspicuous.

But traveling like this, by the afternoon, when they were about to find an inn, they discovered that someone had been following them, not coming forward to talk, not hurrying, but slowly following them.

Zhou Datong and the others were clever. Realizing something was wrong, they whispered to each other, "That kid has been following us since the place we ate earlier. He follows us even when we take small roads. He might be tailing us."

Zhao Zhu was stunned and said, "Robbers? According to Second Master and Brother Ma, we should give him some benefits at this time..."

"Giving benefits depends on the situation. This guy is obviously sizing us up to see if we're fat enough..."

Zhou Datong lowered his voice, looked ahead while riding the horse, and said, "There's a large reed marsh ahead. Maybe his accomplices are there. When we pass by, they'll block our path and attack."

After some discussion, they slowed down. Sure enough, the man behind them also slowed down, maintaining a distance from them.

So Zhou Datong simply reined in the horse, staring straight at the man.

The man couldn't stop, so he had to slowly come over, pretending to be nonchalant, and walked past them.

Zhou Datong suddenly shouted, "Brother, come over here."

The man was startled, stopped, glanced at them sideways, and said, "What's up?"

Zhou Datong said, "It's fate that we met in this wilderness. Do you have any silver on you? Can we borrow some to spend?"

The man was shocked, "What?"

Zhou Datong directly pulled out his knife, "Brothers have no food to eat, so we're borrowing some travel expenses."

"You're borrowing travel expenses from me?"

The man laughed in anger. Facing three people alone, he wasn't afraid. He pulled out a knife, saying, "Do you know you've crossed the line?"

"Our Master Hua is waiting ahead. Only our Master Hua's family can do business on this road. You two kids and a hunchback are really courting death. Do you think Master Hua's dozen or so brothers are vegetarians?"

"Ah?"

Zhou Datong was surprised, "You're in the same line of work?"

He hurriedly clasped his fist and said, "Brother, don't blame us, we didn't know you were in the business too."

"Get lost!"

The man was impatient, waved his hand, and took out a willow whistle from his chest, blowing it hard a few times.

Zhou Datong and the others ran away in a panic. As expected, no one stopped them when they passed the reed marsh ahead. They vaguely heard some low laughter from the reed marsh, and someone saying something like "They were scared to pee just hearing Master Hua's name."

…

"If these guys unleash themselves, they can be quite troublesome."

Half an hour later, dozens of miles away, Hu Ma also lit incense, summoned Little Hongtang, asked about the situation of Zhou Datong and the others on their half-day journey, and couldn't help but laugh.

Earlier, he was indeed a little worried, so he let Little Hongtang follow them. But seeing that they were doing things reliably, he really wasn't worried anymore. He took Little Hongtang and sped up his pace towards Wutong Town.

Traveling like this during the day and half the night, resting in the woodshed of a villager's house at night, was even faster than traveling with Zhou Datong and the others with the horse. Traveling for two days and one night, he arrived in Wutong Town a day earlier than Miss White Wine had said.

Seeing that this was at least a small town, there were finally inns, so he took out silver to stay and rest well.

In this inn, he didn't have to sleep in a common room anymore. There were upper rooms.

Moreover, he didn't have to boil his own foot-washing water. He just asked the waiter to bring it over.

He took advantage of the day to stroll around the county town, memorized the main roads, then returned to the inn, had a hearty meal, and went to sleep early. Around midnight, a voice suddenly sounded, "Sweet Potato Roast calling in Wutong Town..."

"Are there any transmigrators listening?"

"Sweet Potato Roast..."

"..."

Hu Ma took a deep breath, seeing himself standing in front of the incense burner. In front of him, a stick of fate incense was burning.

Silently turning his lungs from alive to dead, making his voice sound dry and difficult, he slowly replied, "Old Bai Gan received. I was introduced by Miss White Wine. Brother, is there anything you need help with?"

"..."

At the moment he responded, a wisp of fragrance keenly drilled in from outside the fog, connecting with the fragrance emanating from his fate incense. Then Hu Ma heard the somewhat surprised voice, as if ringing in his ear, "Sure enough, I was waiting..."

"Your code name is Old Bai Gan?"

"Hiss... why are all your code names liquor?"

"..."

Hu Ma was shocked, "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

(End of Chapter)