Chapter 281 - 130: High-spirited, Forever Elegant_2
"If you can’t say it, I’ll write it down for you. Then you just memorize what I’ve written. The Emperor of Chen Country cares about his face; he won’t stop you from leaving. Even if it irks him, he will give you enough gold, gems, and silk."
"Along the way, you can trade for things that are easier to sell."
Qibi Li looked at those skeletal children and said, "Even right under the feet of the Emperor, the trade of human lives occurs, yet they can, albeit grudgingly, bestow upon me gold and jewels. How can such absurdity coexist?"
Breaking Army said, "Such is a time of chaos."
So Qibi Li laughed heartily. He waved his hand, and the children gathered before him. The Khan left the shadows and went to bid farewell to the Emperor. He left quickly, and the Emperor presented him with a thousand gold coins, as well as various kinds of jewels and silks, which took three carriages to carry.
The officials who saw him off took him outside the city gates. No one knew that he had Martial Arts cultivation nearing the Fourth Layer Heaven, nor did anyone know he bore the Dharma Form of a Gray Wolf. His ears were incredibly sharp, and he overheard the officials speaking privately.
"To just give such things, His Majesty really looks down upon them."
"They’re just a small tribe with a few thousand families; these goods are sufficient, insignificant compared to a town of our great Chen Country."
"Even though they look down on such small tribes, to still give a thousand gold coins, carriages full of silks and jewels, it’s already extravagant."
"Indeed, how else to demonstrate the grace of our Central Plains’ great country, the Saint Emperor?"
Qibi Li saw people in silks, noticed the extravagance of the inns hosting foreign envoys, including Buddhists, Taoists, musicians, and barely touched meat on the tables. People came and went, the wind blew across their stooped backs, and so he laughed, a laugh filled with desolation and sorrow yet brimming with bold spirit.