Beware Of Chicken-Novel

Gou Ren took a good look at the guards as he bounced Zhuye on one knee. The guard captain held himself at attention, yet he also had an easy, personable smile; his armour was of incredible quality and well-maintained—Gou Ren could see every slight blemish in the steel from the long travel this man had undertaken, but to a normal person’s eyes it would be unnoticeable. The rest of the guards were the same. They were all disciplined, professional men, even as they drank their tea.

“How was the journey, anyway?” Jin asked the head guard as he poured the man tea. The man, Long Chenshen, had taken Jin’s offer to get himself and his men refreshments as soon as it was offered, and now the caravan guards were drinking tea and looking with interest at the reaping machines.

“It was leisurely until it started raining, Master Jin,” Chenshen replied. “The roads turned to muck, but we managed to push through until we got back to civilization.”

Gou Ren chuckled at the jab about the state of the roads. It was a vast difference, and after a mere year of living with the roads they had made, he wondered how they had lived without them.

“Yeah, the rain can get pretty bad,” Gou Ren chimed in commiseratingly. “But at least by this time next year, we should be nearly to the next town.”

“Truly?” The guard asked, looking impressed.

“Yeah. It’ll make things a lot easier,” Jin said with a nod. “Though I do have one question. I would have thought Bo and Chyou would be with you—they said they would be back up to collect this year’s harvest.”

The guard bowed. “Master Bo and Mistress Chyou are indeed at least a week behind us, but we were sent on ahead; a message from Rou Tigu to yourself is to be conveyed with all due haste.”

Gou Ren blinked.

It was still damn weird to think that. That people would go out of their way to do things for them, like hire an entire guard squad and a caravan for a single crate. Granted, it was a rather large and very nice crate that he could see through gaps in the protective cloth covering it. Gou Ren could appreciate the craftsmanship. It was a beautiful thing, old hardwood lacquered to perfection.

But it was still a single crate.

They made some more small talk until the guards bowed and left, heading back towards Verdant Hill.

Meiling immediately turned to Jin.

“Come on, let's just open it right here!”

Gou Ren rolled his eyes at Meiling’s whining as she stared hungrily at the box that the Azure Jade Trading Company had delivered. She was as excited as she had been that one time she had managed to find some rare poisonous herbs from the caravaneers. She was even starting to bounce in place.

“We wait until tonight, when everybody can see it at once,” Jin replied, and he chuckled when Meimei pouted but relented.

… She stille spent the next couple of hours trying to guess what was inside, poking, prodding, and only barely refrained from shaking the box at Jin’s disapproving but amused tut.

“Don’t end up like her, okay little buddy?” Gou Ren asked Zhuye, but he was afraid his nephew was already lost, giggling as Meimei hopped around like a jiangshi, examining the chest from every angle.

==================================

After the festival, instead of staying in Hong Yaowu like they normally would, they headed straight home. The Lord Magistrate had congratulated them on having such a fun day, and then he and Lady Wu had started talking with the other noble ladies about what they thought of the reapers. The last he heard was them saying they would be telling their husbands, and the other ladies they were friends with about the wondrous new tool.

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Though, with the excitement of getting a letter from their friends having faded, the topic of conversation became a bit heavy.

“We’ll go check together the next time you smell it, okay?” Jin said as they walked down the road back home. “I trust your nose more than anything, so if you think something’s off, something's off.”

Meiling nodded. “Next time. I’ll try to get a better direction, but it comes and goes so fast.”

“Exactly. So instead of that… let's look forward to what comes after dinner, eh?” Jin asked, as they reached the gates of the farm. With a course of action set, the mood lightened as the smell of food filled the house.

As always, they had a bit of an eclectic mix for dinner.

The other half was the stuff Gou Ren had grown up with: the stir-fries, the rice, and Meimei had made some of her dumplings—which was the only food that Jin actually cared about people stealing from him. He may have made up a thousand dishes, but the traditional dumplings of Hong Yaowu were his absolute favourite.

Both the familiar and the new and interesting—Gou Ren always had a bit of everything. Meimei did make the best dumplings, but the Ta Kos were really good too; there was something about assembling and wrapping it up that made it fun.

While most everyone present liked the new food, Bowu and Wa Shi were inhaling the things. Jin laughed at the kid’s enthusiasm, while he fed Zhuye a bit of the beef that wasn’t spicy.

It was a hit with the little man too, as Zhuye grasped eagerly for more meat.

Then they all stood before him as Jin placed his hands on his hips.

There was a small moment of silence. One of Vajra’s bees buzzed its wings twice.

The look on Meiling’s face went from happy to murderous. Pi Pa huffed in irritation. Miantiao rolled his eye. Wa Shi, in his jar, spat a stream of water into Jin’s face.

“That was lame, big bro,” Bowu deadpanned.

“Super lame,” Gou Ren agreed.

Even Chun Ke and Bei Be looked unimpressed.

“Jeez, tough crowd—” Jin started, then really got a look at Meimei’s face and instantly capitulated. “Kidding! I’m kidding!” he yelped. “No more teasing, I promise!”

Meiling sniffed imperiously as Jin beat a hasty retreat.

They pursued him, of course, to the living room, where Jin removed the protective cloth, exposing more of the finish on the crate. The top had the symbol of the farm carved into it.

“This is really nice,” Jin said as he ran his hand over the solid wood, nodding—

Jin laughed, pulled out the key that had been given to him and undid the lock on the front, throwing open the chest.

The slight scent of Xianghua.

There was even a paw print that said Shaggy Two.

“...they actually did it?” Bowu asked, sounding slightly faint.

“This is going up on the wall,” Jin decided instantly. He reached in and pulled out the cloth. He carefully unfolded it, and within were several scrolls.

Jin passed out the scrolls, and then, after a moment, he popped the cap off the main scroll and unfurled it.

Jin cleared his throat and began to speak.

The dragon huffed and looked away as Jin laughed and shook his head before continuing.

At this, Jin pulled out something that had been wrapped in the scroll and unfurled a small wood-block print.

It depicted a village made of reeds and floating on the water.