Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Wearing a patched suit with all the fur falling off his outer fur coat, the old man rubbed his hands as he looked at the two Wanyan brothers standing over there, his back somewhat unsteady.

His small room was filled with capable-looking men. Together with Wanyan Danzi and himself lying on the bed, the eight of them made the place packed.

"Is this... possible? Hiding from that night fragrance barrel... um..."

Wanyan Zongjun covered his mouth, feeling that he was about to vomit in the next moment. It was not that there was a bad smell in the room. On the contrary, the old man had cleaned the room very well. It was just that he had seen Nara Yexiang's cart and barrel before coming in, and the imagination in his mind alone was enough to overwhelm him.

Du Lisan leaned against the door frame, glanced at the Wanyan brothers over there, then lowered his eyelids and whispered to Shi Qian: "We can't all go out. After you take these two people out of Huanglong Mansion, go to the woods east of the city to find our own people. They will meet us there. The other brothers and I will wait until the storm has passed before leaving the city."

Shi Qian nodded, and said after some hesitation: "But I'm afraid the smell is too strong. What if Huanglong Mansion sends people with hunting dogs to look for it?"

"What are you afraid of? If you can really get out, Huanglong Mansion will first ask the four gates whether they have seen anyone. Then they will probably search the whole city. By the time they confirm that the person is not found, you will have gone far away." Du Lisan looked up at his companion who was pouring drugs into the boy's mouth, then glanced at Shi Qian who was looking at him: "Don't worry about us. We all know Khitan and Jurchen. We can pretend to be ordinary merchants and nothing will go wrong. But you..." He took a breath: "If you want to go out alone, don't let the Jin soldiers stop you."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning to go through the door." Shi Qian smiled complacently: "Climbing up and down, picking doors and unlocking them are my specialties, and I have never failed so far..."

After a slight hesitation, he thought of his fellow Song native Yang Xiong who lived on Nanjing Road. He then shook his head. With important matters at hand, it would be unlucky to think of this man!
"What's the matter?" Du Lisan saw him shaking his head and thought something was wrong, so he asked.

"It's okay." She smiled at him and said for fun, "Is the old man okay? Don't make trouble with him."

"Zhemo is fine. We gave him enough money." Du Lisan rubbed his beard. "Besides, this man has concerns. He has two sons and a daughter. It's a simple choice between money and life."

"...That's true." Shi Qian murmured, staring at the figure in the room in a daze.

Du Lisan didn't say anything more. He walked over and gave some instructions to the Wanyan brothers. He asked someone to wrap Wanyan Danzi in a quilt, tie him up, and stuff him into the car when the time came.

Time passed as he was preparing. The old man dozed off on his seat. When he opened his eyes, it was time to collect the night incense. A partition had been added to his manure cart. Nothing could be seen from the outside, but it was unclear whether the hastily made stuff could keep out the filth.

The moonlight was dim. The Wanyan brothers stood in front of the Yexiang carriage for a whole meal's time before they pinched their noses and reluctantly stepped into it. When Wanyan Danzi was also put into the car, Lao Cangtou stepped forward to stop the car and left as usual.

"I'm leaving too."

Shi Qian changed into a black nightgown, stuck his head out of the house to observe carefully, then jumped into the night, following the carriage from a distance. Du Lisha and others were watching from behind, but in the blink of an eye they lost sight of Shi Qian.

"Let's go." Du Lisan looked at his companions and said, "Sometimes the brothers are watching over us, nothing will go wrong. Let's go back and have a rest."

……

Walking through the streets and alleys, the old man's cart was responsible for collecting the night fragrance of a street. It was after the early morning when he finished collecting all these things. He sat down to rest for a while, and then pulled the cart hard to the city gate.

dong dong——

The drum sounded to open the gate. Shi Qian looked at the sky. It was still dark in winter because the sun rose late. But judging from the position of the moon, it was around noon. As the night carriage arrived near the city gate, the flea on the drum dodged to the back of the house and blended into the shadows. He looked at everyone and stepped forward to stop the man.

"Stop—" The Jin soldier holding a spear stepped forward, looked at the people and the car, and looked a little hesitant.

The old man habitually put on a smile on his face: "General, what's the matter?"

"There is an order from above to check the passing vehicles and horses." He hardened his heart and pointed his spear at Yexiang's carriage: "Open it and take a look."

"This..." The old man was a little dazed. He turned around and looked at the car with the suspicious liquid on it: "It's better not to look at it. It's all filthy stuff. It won't pollute your eyes."

The soldier held the gun with both hands and pointed at the old man opposite: "What's the matter? Do you have something in here?"

"No, no, no, sir, don't do anything. I'll open it right away." The old man's face suddenly changed. He turned around and walked hesitantly to the car, half stretching out his hand but not opening it.

“Hurry up—” “Wait!”

When the voice came, both of them turned their heads to look. The team officer with a scimitar hanging on his waist came over, looked at the car and the unnatural old man with flickering eyes, and then slapped the soldier on the back of the head: "Fuck you! I can smell this smell against the wind, and you still want to open it to have a look, do you want to disgust me to death!"

The soldier covered the back of his head, looking a little aggrieved: "No, didn't the general say..."

"The general wants you to taste what's in each truck. Do you want to open it and take a spoonful to taste the saltiness?" The officer had a look of disgust on his face and slapped the man in the face again: "What are you standing there for? Why don't you move the antlers away and tell him to get out of here? You really want to keep them for fragrance!"

The Jin soldier lowered his head and ran to the gate aggrieved. The team officer looked at his back and cursed: "Damn it, what kind of people are you recruiting? The new recruits are getting worse and worse."

He watched the antlers being removed, and without even looking at the night-scented carriage, he waved to the old man and said, "Go, go, this smell..."

"Hey, yes."

The old man was overjoyed and breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled up the cart and drove it out of the city with the sound of the wheels turning.

Shi Qian, who was far away, watched him go out and quietly retreated. Not long after, a black shadow climbed up from the corner of a low wall on one side, took advantage of the gap between the patrolling soldiers on the top of the city wall, and suddenly jumped out.

The patrolling footsteps remained the same, and the soldiers looking straight ahead did not notice the dark shadow running away under the city.

……

"啕——"

"vomit--"

The sky brightened, and the filth dumped in the open space ten miles outside the city emitted a foul stench. Two figures were kneeling on the snow and vomiting far away. The old man pulling the cart was standing behind, holding Wanyan Danzi, who was knocked out by the drug, and hesitating, not knowing what to say.

When Shi Qian arrived, he had already taken off his nightgown and was wearing an ordinary fur coat and a fur hat. The two brothers from the Wanyan family could no longer vomit anything, they just retched and occasionally vomited a few mouthfuls of mucus from their stomachs.

"Congratulations, you two! You see the light of day again." Shi Qian walked forward with a smile, raised his hands and bowed to the two of them.

“Ahem…” Wanyan Zongmin looked at him with tearful eyes, bent over and uttered “Ugh!”, stood up and wiped his mouth, panting: “I…have never been so embarrassed in my life.”

Shi Qian smiled and said, "It's better than losing your life."

"That's true..." Wanyan Zongjun panted and spat, "If I stay in the city, I will definitely lose my life."

"You two..." Shi Qian looked up at Jin Yang who had jumped out and said, "There is no time for you two to rest. If we don't leave now, we may be caught by the pursuers."

"That's right!" Wanyan Zongjun's expression changed, and he patted his brother on the shoulder: "It's not time to relax yet, let's go first, and settle this account with Wanyan Sheng later."

As they were talking, the three men took Wanyan Danzi and sent the old man back. They then met up with others in the woods east of the city, and then hurriedly headed south along the road. During the journey, Shi Qian kept feeding Wanyan Danzi with drugs. They rode in the carriage, stopping and starting for two days, and met a group of women and children with thin clothes and pale faces.

After some inquiries, they learned that these people were fleeing southwards because they could not stand the cold and hunger, so they merged their team into these people. After all, the men still had some ability to survive in the wild, and they could help the women and children along the way.

It's just sad that when they passed Xinzhou, news came from Huanglongfu that Wanyan Sheng had lost a BMW, so the city gates were blocked. But then the brothers Wanyan Zongjun and Zongmin disappeared, and Wanyan Danzi disappeared. After searching the city for a day, they opened the city gates and sent soldiers to look for him. Only then did Shi Qian and the other two thank God for their help.

More and more people are migrating, and more and more families own cars. Gradually, their clothes and faces make it difficult to distinguish them from the refugees.

At this time, Tongzhou is in sight. (End of this chapter)