Chapter Six: Wisdom Approaching the Supernatural

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What do you mean by "connotation"?
The Smiling Tiger felt he had met an equal. He glanced at the two groups sitting by the other two fire pits, warming their feet and boots. "Are they all your people?"
"Useful, but they require payment," Gu Liubai smiled. "Just like you, people we can trust with our lives. There are two of them: one is He Huoluo, who just came in, and the other is Zhou Luer, whom she has met."
The Smiling Tiger threw two more sticks of firewood into the fire pit before him, then pondered aloud, "What did He Huoluo say to you just now?"
"Many didn’t anticipate such a fierce blizzard; some caravans that weren’t supposed to come this way had no better options and gathered here."
Gu Liubai rubbed his jaw, no longer amused. "Three more groups will arrive before midnight. Two know their paths well, the third is less certain, but most are Tang people, many of whom are cultivators."
"Even those who haven't reached here can be roughly accounted for. The border army’s generals probably didn’t expect you to have such abilities," the Smiling Tiger mocked as he watched Gu Liubai pocket the coins. "Looks like making money here isn’t too hard for you. Still interested in the meager pay of the border army?"
Gu Liubai replied seriously, "The first few years were tough, but it’s been better recently. Besides, small gains add up. Even trifling pay is still money."
A strange expression crept into the Smiling Tiger’s smile. His tone slowed. "Small gains add up, but losing your head over pennies is another matter. Fifteen Bro, I just can’t understand—everyone coming to Mingbai Slope should worship you like a Buddha in a temple. With your abilities, if you foresaw so many problems from the start, why didn’t you just remove yourself from the equation?"
Gu Liubai looked at him as if he were a fool. "If I removed myself completely, what would you do?"
The Smiling Tiger’s smile turned sinister. "Do we have such a bond of life and death?"
"You help me, I help you—that’s the bond," Gu Liubai said calmly.
The Smiling Tiger looked at him meaningfully. "We killed the son of Mad Dog Baimei. His Turkic tribe fought wars with our Tang Dynasty, suffered civil strife, and out of hundreds of thousands, only three thousand elite cavalry and two hundred black riders survived. What can you offer to help us against these people?"
Before Gu Liubai could answer, his gaze fell on the silent woman in white. "The Turkic Black Riders are said to be the best fighters in the world, slaying over a hundred masters. I once thought it was an exaggeration, but I witnessed their Blood Wolf Technique—it’s no joke."
"Who would think it’s a joke?" Gu Liubai met the Smiling Tiger’s sharp gaze with a smile. "More than half a year ago, the Uighurs found them troublesome and fought a battle, losing over a thousand men themselves, while the two hundred Black Riders went unscathed."
"Then I really can’t understand," the Smiling Tiger’s voice turned chilly. "Even with the intel you gave us, the current situation is dire: high-ranking border army commanders colluding with Luo Qing, the nobles at Lucao Post scheming, and a mad dog army from hell hunting us down. It’s a death trap. And you help us just for that little military pay?"
Gu Liubai’s expression darkened. "Liang Fengning is here as an insider, not for that little pay."
"Pride of the Tang, defending the border, military honor?" The Smiling Tiger sneered. "He’s border army; you’re not."
"You don’t know me well enough." Gu Liubai’s calm words held immense confidence. "What you see as a death trap, I do not."
"So confident?" The Smiling Tiger’s smile grew more genuine. "Then tell me what you want us to do."
Gu Liubai answered seriously, "I want to go to Chang’an."
"To Chang’an?" The Smiling Tiger laughed heartily. "Did I hear that right?"
Gu Liubai was expressionless. "I’ll help all of you obtain proper travel permits—ones that can withstand any scrutiny."

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The Smiling Tiger’s laughter abruptly ceased.
"Well, that’s interesting."
He looked at Gu Liubai with a sly grin. "You want us to go to Chang’an and follow you?"
"Help me accomplish what I want, and I’ll give you what you want," Gu Liubai said calmly.
"That’s a stretch. Let me organize my thoughts. By the way, everyone here calls you Fifteen Bro. What’s that about?" The Smiling Tiger changed the subject while pondering. "Could it be because you happen to be fifteen years old? Will we be calling you Sixteen Bro next year?"
"Not quite," Gu Liubai said. "My mother often says, ‘You do the first day of the lunar month, I’ll do the fifteenth.’"
The Smiling Tiger frowned deeply, laughing. "So if you’re kind, I’ll be righteous?"
"No." Gu Liubai smiled gently. "My mother means: if you wrong me on the first day, I will repay the grudge by the fifteenth at the latest."
"Your mother’s fierce," the Smiling Tiger was momentarily stunned, then said, "But isn’t it said a gentleman’s revenge is never too late, even ten years?"
Gu Liubai added a dry stick to the fire and said calmly, "My mother says gentlemen might not live ten years."
"Fair enough." The Smiling Tiger seemed to resolve something, frowned, gulped down two bowls of oil tea, wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, then nodded to the woman in white. "Let me introduce properly. I’m Chen Tu, she’s Yin Yaochi. My close friends call me Tuzi; we call her Yin Shiniang."
"Gu Liubai, Fifteen Bro Gu," Gu Liubai nodded seriously.
"I say Fifteen because cautious sailing lasts ten thousand years. You don’t think I’m suspecting you with petty motives, do you?" Chen Tu asked.
Gu Liubai replied, "No, I’m no gentleman either."
Chen Tu felt uneasy—didn’t that imply he was the petty one?
At that moment, Gu Liubai called from inside, "Uncle Gui, bring out the prepared lamb."
Chen Tu had just burped loudly, the lingering fishy smell in his mouth when suddenly the aroma of pepper and roasted meat hit him. He was surprised. "There’s peppered roasted lamb here?"
"This is Mingbai Slope’s Spring Breeze Pavilion," Gu Liubai said. "Even the common soldier’s tent below serves oil tea and salted chicken. Lamb here is nothing special."
Chen Tu’s smile vanished as he looked at the people gathered by the other two fire pits. "They’ve been here so long—why haven’t they eaten lamb?"
"They’re stingy," Gu Liubai smiled. "I can afford it."
The old man who had earlier served them oil tea came out carrying a large wooden basin.
The basin was piled high with golden roasted lamb, sprinkled generously with pepper and spices, with some fruits on the side to cleanse the palate.
Chen Tu distinctly heard several swallowing sounds while he himself burped again uncontrollably.

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Before drinking the oil tea, he had even eaten two pieces of flatbread!
"Spring Breeze Pavilion!" he growled fiercely. "This strange place even has such an elegant name for a tavern."
"The name has a story. I didn’t mention it before, but outside on the wall a passerby once wrote, ‘Laughing Spring Breeze at the Tavern.’ The characters for ‘Spring Breeze’ are especially beautiful, though now covered by snow, you couldn’t see them when you came in," Gu Liubai explained. "I heard there’s a Spring Breeze Pavilion in Chang’an city too, and its sign also has a similar poem. I guess that person might have been there."
"The Hu girls are as beautiful as flowers, laughing spring breezes at the tavern. Could it be that Mingbai Slope’s Spring Breeze Pavilion has wine and beauties too?" Chen Tu sneered, irritated—Gu Fifteen was definitely teasing him.
"Of course, if you can afford it," Gu Liubai seemed oblivious to the sarcasm and earnestly explained, "The Hu girls here aren’t expensive. Many foreign ethnic groups around here are called Hu by Chang’an people, as they look different from Chang’an women. The expensive ones here are the women from Chang’an and Luoyang. Also, the Spring Breeze Pavilion in Chang’an forbids selling horse and beef meat, but here you can eat both, and they’re even cheaper than lamb."
"Then why not eat beef?" Chen Tu blurted out strangely.
Gu Liubai said, "My mother says during heavy snow, lamb is best to replenish energy and warm the body."
"Sounds like you listen to your mother a lot," Chen Tu picked a piece of lamb from the basin with the small knife stuck in it and ate slowly.
Though overeating before a big battle could be fatal, this steaming, peppered lamb was irresistible. Without tasting at least one piece, the next few days would be filled with dreams of lamb.
Moreover, the roasted lamb at Chang’an’s Spring Breeze Pavilion isn’t available every day, and the pepper is rare—only nobles can get it.
One bite of lamb warmed him inside and out, the spicy and fragrant heat rising in his mouth. Chen Tu kept smacking his lips, finally understanding why someone had left the words, ‘Laughing Spring Breeze at the Tavern,’ on the wall outside.
Even without a Hu girl to serve wine, the taste of this lamb was like a spring breeze brushing the face, warming the soul.
"Gu Fifteen, we’re all on the same side. I won’t bluff you. About your trip to Chang’an, in my opinion, wait until you’ve secured the travel permits first. Though I speak for our group, I can’t decide for all of them," Chen Tu said. "Do you know how many of us there are to make permits for?"
"The military suspects about six," Gu Liubai picked a piece of fatty lamb and ate. "Besides the two skilled in swordsmanship and archery, there’s one with terrifying blade skills."
Chen Tu asked, "So they guess six, but don’t know the abilities of the other three?"
"They don’t know."
Gu Liubai rubbed his jaw and laughed. "But I think there are nine of you. Among those nine, one is very skilled in traps and ambushes, and another can imitate various voices."
Chen Tu’s face showed no change, still smiling, but inside he was shocked.
He finally understood why those fierce people outside wouldn’t even dare to speak loudly here.
This man was almost supernatural!