What surprised Shen Yu was that… although she was the eldest daughter of the Qingfeng Village bandits, and although The Imperial Court’s assessment of Qingfeng Village was that they harmed the neighborhood and committed every imaginable evil—to the point that the wanted posters for the bandit leader Shen Bashan were posted everywhere across the Two Capitals and Sixteen Prefectures, making him a definitive villain at the level of The Imperial Court whom even street storytellers would criticize—in this border region, upon learning that Shen Yu was leaving, hundreds of commoners came out to see her off.
Originally, Shen Yu thought that obtaining a Certificate of Clean Background for her identity would be very difficult.
She thought her grandfather might use some thunderous methods, such as kidnapping, threats, or even killing if necessary…
But none of the things Shen Yu imagined happened.
Her grandfather simply went to the border yamen to drink a cup of tea and was respectfully escorted out by the County Magistrate.
At the same time, he held a Certificate of Clean Background in his hand.
On it, there was not only the local county yamen’s guarantee but also the signatures and thumbprints of dozens of commoners from nearby towns with clean backgrounds acting as guarantors.
“They are risking their lives along with mine.”
Shen Yu looked at the document in her hand, which was covered in bright red thumbprints, her expression extremely complex.
If her true identity were exposed, then with a rebellious grandfather, a mother from an Evil Cult, a bandit father, and her own act of deceiving the Emperor…
With these crimes, she reckoned ten heads wouldn’t be enough to lose.
And when that time came, every single name on this document would be buried alongside her.
Yet these red thumbprints were stamped firmly upon the guarantee document…
“Miss Shen, come back safely!”
“Physician Shen, take care.”
“Divine Physician sister, travel slowly!”
“Respectfully seeing off Master Shen. We wish that on this trip, you will be Plucking the Laurel from the Toad Palace and Inscribing Name on the Goose Pagoda. May you one day serve the ruler as Yao and Shun did and bring glory to your hometown. We shall wait for the good news. Master! Take care!”
“Yu’er, if things really don’t work out, just come home. Mother will be waiting for you at home. Being safe and sound is what matters most, do you remember?”
There were many people seeing her off: there were domestic servants who respectfully called her Miss; there were neighbors and commoners who called her Physician; there were innocent children who called her Divine Physician sister; and there were even scholars who had put on their finest long robes, standing on both sides of the road to bow and see her off, calling her “Master.”
In this era, for a mere woman to be respectfully called “Master” by so many scholars, the weight of such a title spoke for itself.
But what Shen Yu was most worried about was Su Lianyue, who was jogging after the carriage, her eye makeup ruined from crying.
A mother worries when a child travels a thousand miles.
Su Lianyue hadn’t closed her eyes all last night, holding her precious daughter and thinking with a heavy heart the entire night.
Until dawn, Su Lianyue packed all the rare medicinal materials she could give to Shen Yu.
Shen Yu carried two leather suitcases with her; aside from a few changes of clothes, most of them were filled with the bottles and jars Su Lianyue had stuffed inside.
In this era of backward medical standards, the contents of these bottles and jars that Su Lianyue and Shen Yu had researched together could even wrestle with the King of Hell for a soul.
“Mother, go back. Everyone, please go back. I will take care of myself!”
Once she left this border region, Shen Yu would have to take on a brand-new identity.
Although she was still named Shen Yu, she no longer had any connection to Qingfeng Village or the border lands.
She was the only daughter of a simple farming family from Qingzhou, the region closest to the border.
She had studied pharmacology with a teacher since childhood and was a clean and innocent traveling female physician.
Shen Yu did not bring any servants to attend to her on this trip, because not only would it be conspicuous, but people brought out from Qingfeng Village also carried the risk of exposure.
According to Shen Qingtian’s meaning, since they had plenty of money anyway, if they encountered a group of Human Traffickers on the road, she could just buy a nimble little girl who could do the work to serve Shen Yu.
Human Traffickers were groups that moved around trafficking people; as long as there was someone buying or someone selling, they would stop to make a deal anytime and anywhere.
On the surface, it was not permitted, but such Human Traffickers had no fixed residence and moved quickly, making them very difficult to track.
Add to that the constant natural and man-made disasters; more and more families were forced by hunger to sell their own children to find a way to survive, to the point that this trade was flourishing more and more.
“Buy a child?”
Shen Yu lay in the carriage, looking at the swaying ceiling, her heart filled with a mixture of emotions.
She felt helpless, yet there was nothing she could do.
As for safety on this journey, there was no need to worry.
Under her grandfather’s arrangements, Shen Yu was protected by the best Biaoju in Qingzhou.
The group she was following was also quite extraordinary—it was an Imperial Merchant team protecting a batch of foreign tribute items headed for The Capital.
Just the Imperial Gold Tablet hanging on the lead carriage was enough to make anyone who saw it tremble three times, let alone look for trouble.
“Miss Shen.”
The carriage had traveled an unknown distance when Shen Yu, who was drowsy in the swaying cabin, suddenly heard the sound of someone knocking on the carriage window.
It was an Escort Guard protecting her.
“There is a group of people ahead, likely a gang of traffickers. The Old Master instructed us to keep an eye out before reaching The Capital to find a girl close to your heart to serve you. We’ve happened upon them just now; would you like to take a look and see if there is anyone you fancy?”