Chapter 67: Manager Dong

Manager Dong, who was barely conscious, opened his eyes to the dim light and swirling dust, slowly realizing he was still in this desolate area.

He could hear voices nearby and saw several figures moving about.

However, before he could clearly hear or see anything, a sour and bitter taste surged in his throat, and he couldn’t help but cough violently. “Cough, cough…”

“Here, let me help you up. Just get it out!” Doctor Yu and Manager Wang each supported one of his arms, helping him sit up from the ground.

In the next moment, Manager Dong retched and vomited a puddle of bitter water onto the ground.

Fortunately, Doctor Yu had stepped back quickly; otherwise, his shoes would have been splashed.

These were the new cloth shoes the maid had just sewn for him after he joined the Wei family’s convoy. With a soft, layered sole, they were quite comfortable!

After retching a few more times, Manager Dong finally felt the blockage in his throat clear, and his vision was no longer blurry. He could now clearly see the figures beside him.

He recognized that the person who had helped him up and told him to “get it out” was Doctor Yu. Gratefully, he grasped Doctor Yu’s hand. “Did you save my life?”

“Not quite,” Doctor Yu said, pointing to the nearby convoy. “I’m the doctor here. It was the kindness of the master and mistress of this household—seeing that you still had breath left, they couldn’t bear to leave you to die in the wilderness, so they saved you.”

Upon hearing this, Manager Dong immediately bowed toward the direction of the carriage.

A man and a woman approached from the side of the carriage.

The younger gentleman helped him up, saying, “Doctor Yu says you’re still weak; you should lie down and rest. There’s no need to be so formal.”

The slightly older, strikingly beautiful young lady added, “May I ask where you’re headed? We’re about to set off, and if it’s on the way, we could let you travel with us.”

Where to go?

Given his current state, it seemed impossible to continue according to the original plan. However, having survived was already a stroke of good fortune.

Manager Dong glanced at the two surviving colleagues and immediately decided. “Miss, could I borrow a carriage? No, just a horse will do. I’ll take these two colleagues and the three bodies back, driving the carriage behind your convoy.”

The young gentleman and lady were, of course, Wei Mingxuan and Wei Yunlan.

Manager Dong realized he hadn’t introduced himself yet, and he slapped his forehead before quickly saying, “I apologize. My surname is Dong; I’m from Yuezhou, and I run a medicinal herb business. I was on my way to Chongzhou to deliver a batch of herbs.”

However, with what had just happened…

Given the circumstances, it was clear that going to Chongzhou was out of the question for the time being.

First, he had to deal with the funerals of the three deceased colleagues, contact his family to send another caravan to deliver the goods to Chongzhou, and also investigate how this incident had occurred.

If he remembered correctly, they had set out in good spirits, but halfway through the journey, everyone in the carriage began to feel dizzy and disoriented. Then the horses had suddenly gone out of control, breaking free from their restraints, which nearly led to the complete destruction of their group of six.

If they hadn’t fortuitously encountered these kind-hearted individuals, the outcome would have been unimaginable.

The people around him were momentarily stunned as they listened to Manager Dong’s account.

Especially Wei Yunlan and Manager Wang, who exchanged glances, both recalling the fabricated story they had concocted in Suijiang City regarding the Liu family’s manager.

What a coincidence!

They hadn’t expected that the phony Yuezhou herbal merchant they had invented would lead them to a genuine Yuezhou herbal merchant now!

Wei Yunlan could see that Manager Dong wasn’t the type to overstep boundaries. Just by the fact that he had only requested to borrow a horse and hadn’t asked for a carriage, she could infer a lot. “Uncle Liu, go fetch a horse.”

“Thank you, Miss!” Manager Dong expressed his gratitude profusely. After the horse was brought over, he and the others harnessed it to the carriage with Liu Quan’s help.

The scattered medicinal herbs on the ground were also reorganized, but Manager Dong didn’t place them back in his own carriage. Instead, he handed them over to the Wei family.

“With such great kindness shown to me, these herbs are far too little to repay you. This is just a small token of my appreciation. Please don’t refuse,” he insisted.

The Wei family hadn’t saved Manager Dong and the others with the intention of receiving anything in return. It was simply an act of goodwill toward those who were truly helpless in this desolate and dire situation.

They hoped that, in the future, if they found themselves in a similar predicament, someone would also extend kindness to them.

In the end, the Wei family only accepted some of the herbs that were difficult to acquire elsewhere. After repeated refusals from Manager Dong, he then invited the Wei family to visit the Dong household in Yuezhou if they ever had the chance, hoping to extend his hospitality as a host.

Upon hearing this, Wei Yunlan cast another glance at him.

The hospitality of a host was not particularly important, but she certainly planned to visit Yuezhou in the future. As far as she knew, the mountain ginseng produced in Yuezhou was not only popular within the territory of the Great Yong Dynasty, but also highly sought after by the barbarian tribes beyond Beiguan and even in more distant lands.

Having this connection with the Dong family would undoubtedly make her future procurement in Yuezhou more convenient.

This was an unexpected gain from an unintentional act.

While Manager Dong was still talking, Liu Quan suddenly ran over and said, “Manager Dong, come take a look…”

“Why is there a gap in the harness of your carriage?” Liu Quan asked.

Manager Dong didn’t really understand such things, but he leaned in to take a look. With Liu Quan and Manager Wang’s guidance, he realized that if there was a gap in the harness, it would be easy for the horses to break free.

Both of the overturned carriages had this issue.

Manager Dong’s expression changed drastically. It wasn’t that the horses had been startled and accidentally broken the restraints to escape; someone had deliberately tampered with them.

Even more alarmingly, the fatigue they had been feeling since they set off was also likely caused by someone!

The convoy had picked up an additional carriage carrying two sick individuals and three corpses, but the speed of their journey had not slowed down.

After nearly a day and a night, they finally exited the desolate area.

Because of the strange odor that had made Wei Yunlan uneasy, the convoy didn’t dare to stop for too long along the way. Once they left that area, the Wei family members were already exhausted.

They found an inn nearby to rest.

At the entrance, Manager Dong bid them farewell, saying, “Your kindness is beyond words. I will take my leave now. Once I’ve dealt with my family matters, I will head to Beiguan…”

Just as Manager Dong was speaking, a startled exclamation rang out from the inn’s doorway, “Uncle?”

“Enbo? Aren’t you supposed to be going to Qingzhou to deliver goods?”

Manager Dong was also somewhat surprised, but he quickly frowned.

At that moment, he remembered that he had originally planned to take the official road but had switched to a shortcut based on his nephew Dong Enbo’s suggestion, passing through the area where the disaster had previously occurred.

Just the day before setting off, he had shared dinner with Dong Enbo at a restaurant in Xingzhou.

If there truly was someone with both motive and opportunity to attack his group, Dong Enbo would be the most likely candidate.