Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

At night, the wind blew.

The dark clouds in the night sky occasionally obscured the bright yellow moon in the sky, and the bare branches swayed in the wind.

In the house that he had visited once during the day, An Daoquan, dressed in a respectable manner, walked out of the room, holding a lamp in his hand and carrying a medicine box on his back. In the dim light, the miracle doctor walked onto the street humming a tune that he had heard from somewhere.

Occasionally someone would pass by him in the dark, and the tune would fade away, only to resume its original volume as they passed by.

Shi Qian followed in the dark, his short and thin figure rising and falling from time to time, passing by the sides and heads of people walking on the road at night, but no one could sense the presence of this thief. Not long after, the flea on the drum watched him knock on a courtyard door, and then a sweet laugh was heard.

"Damn it, why are you here just now!"

"Today, there were guests at home, so I slept a little late. I woke up and came to look for you. Look, what did I bring?"

"Ah, little golden Buddha~ Even though you are a dead man, you still remember me."

"Not only am I thinking about it, I'm also lighting it..."

"Hmm~Death face!"

"Come, let me show you a live one..."

"Ha ha ha ha--"

The chilly breeze blew everything around. The cloth hanging outside the house danced in the wind, the branches of the treetops rustled, and the black clothes stuck to the body, making only a slight sound when the wind whistled.

Shi Qian squatted on the roof in a daze, raised his head and looked at the moon in the sky. The corners of his eyes twitched slightly after he put on the hood. He had no idea that what he would hear along the way would be this scene. At first, he thought that this miracle doctor who was famous throughout the south of the Yangtze River as described by Zhang Shun was on a night visit.

I didn't expect to hear such a good show.

As a result, the word "好" (good) is about to become movable.

Now Shi Qian was squatting on the roof where the fairies were laughing and fighting, feeling really uneasy. He didn't want to set up a tent in the wild, so he jumped up.

Into darkness.

……

"spit--

Damn it, he's still a godly doctor! With that impatient, lustful look on his face, he might as well just change his name to Lustful Monkey."

In the brightly lit hotel room, Shi Qian pulled down the black scarf on his face and slammed it on the table. His shifty face was full of rage and frustration. He grabbed the wine jug on the table and poured it into his mouth.

God knows how long he had been drifting on the sea, and his wife was not around, so he had been feeling very depressed for a long time. But today, after listening to the play "女、好、斈", he inexplicably felt hot.

Li Zhu stroked his beard and smiled: "It seems that the tiredness on your face earlier today was caused by this. He is indeed a romantic man."

The people in the room looked at each other. Zhang Shun had a trace of embarrassment on his face. He looked at the strange expressions on Ma Lin and Yang Lin's faces and said, "How do I know that An Daoquan is such a person in private? Besides, I just asked him to treat my mother. Who cares if he is a playboy or a slut?"

"what--"

The wine pot was placed on the table with a thud. Shi Qian wiped his mouth and looked at Li Zhu: "Manager Li, let me tell you, we don't care about anything else, just kidnap the person and take him away. If it doesn't work, just kill the prostitute and put his name on the name."

"That's a solution." Zhang Shun stroked his chin, a thoughtful look on his face: "We don't have much time to waste on this now, so it's better to solve it quickly..."

"I'm afraid that he will be in Cao's camp but his heart is with Han. If he deliberately uses tricks when preparing the locust-killing herbal water, it will be troublesome. Moreover, recently Tong Guan and other Western Army soldiers came to Jiangning Prefecture. If they commit a crime, it will be like slapping the face of the old minister. It will be difficult to get out." Li Zhu shook his head, and his narrowed eyes made it impossible to tell what emotion he had: "But Brother Shi Qian did bring me good news."

"Ah?" Shi Qian turned around and looked at him in surprise: "Lewd or good news?"

"Brothers Ma and Yang, go find out about that woman." Li Zhu did not respond, but directly ordered: "Try to find out from her about An Daoquan's past and why he had to stay in Jiangning Prefecture. And..."

He stood up and paced a few steps: "Since that woman is in the business of welcoming guests, she must also love money. Let's try to get her to speak for us and see if we can convince that miracle doctor to leave this place. If so, what if we give her some more money?"

He looked at Shi Qian again and said, "Shi Qian, you should stay with An Daoquan these few days. If he goes to that woman's place, he can come back on his own. If he goes somewhere else..."

"I'll follow him." Shi Qian patted his chest, stood up and made a promise: "As long as this guy doesn't go out to have fun, he won't be out of my sight."

Everyone in the room chuckled.

……

Jiangning Prefecture woke up in the dim light of day. Many breakfast stalls were set up on the streets. Smoke with a smell of fireworks rose up, and gradually the aroma of rice attracted diners.

Those who had eaten and drunk their fill got up and left, and the day began with this simple meal in the morning.

Ma Lin and Yang Lin just came out of the hotel they were staying at noon. Both of them were low-level people who had been involved in the underworld in the past, so they naturally knew that women who were engaged in the flesh trade like the ones Shi Qian mentioned would not get up in the morning. Their day started from noon.

"Brother Yang, have you figured out how to approach that woman?"

"Let's go find the pious woman first, maybe she can help with some money."

"What are you talking about? Any woman like this is a picky person. If there is no acquaintance to introduce her, I'm afraid she won't even open the door."

"That depends on you, Brother Ma. If I were a pious woman or a prostitute, I would definitely love someone like you with enough money and looks like you."

The two men were talking at once as if they were worried, but their faces were calm. Iron Flute Fairy listened to what his companion said and nodded: "It can only be like this. I didn't expect that after becoming an official, I would still have to do the same business as before."

"You bastard..." Yang Lin scolded him with a smile and kicked him, "You are so good-looking after getting the advantage. You are trying to say that you are good-looking in different ways, right?"

Ma Lin shrugged: "Brother Yang, you said that, it's none of my business."

As the two were laughing and joking, they suddenly heard a loud roar: "The messenger has reported victory, get out of the way--", followed by the faint sound of horse hooves.

Ma and Yang hurriedly stopped and instinctively moved aside. They saw a knight riding his horse and running along the road behind them. Pedestrians hurriedly avoided him and shouted from time to time: "Great victory! Hangzhou was captured, and the bandit chieftain Fang La fled alone--"

"Great victory! Hangzhou City..."

The yellow dust raised by the war horses was swept through the crowd on both sides by the galloping wind. Tie Dixian and Jin Baozi could not help but cover their mouths and noses with their sleeves.

In sight, the knight ran away, and the person who was dodging just now returned to the road cursing.

"Tsk, a victory announcement..." Ma Lin brushed his clothes with his hand, his expression somewhat unhappy: "I never thought Fang La would be defeated so quickly."

"Maybe not." Yang Lin thought about it and shook his head. He shut his mouth as he looked at the pedestrians coming towards him, walked to the side, and said softly, "Do you still remember what Shopkeeper Li said?"

Ma Lin blinked: "What did you say?"

"He must have told Lou Minzhong to leave Hangzhou as soon as possible. In my opinion, they probably listened to him and left the city on their own initiative."

Yang Lin stroked his chin and thought: "We also saw the people in the city. There are at least 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers. Even if their armor is incomplete, they have the advantage of occupying the city. It is estimated that they can hold out for more than ten days. Judging from the speed at which the knights arrived just now..." "I'm afraid you captured the city just a few days after you left." Ma Lin continued, looking at him: "The time doesn't match."

Seeing that he thought the same thing as himself, Yang Lin nodded in agreement: "I'm afraid that's the case. I just hope they can hold on for a little longer."

“…It’s hard to say.” Ma Lin shook his head: “Not everyone is my brother. It’s hard to say, hard to say.”

The two chatted casually, walking and stopping until they came to a yard: "This is the place Shi Qian mentioned."

Yang Lin looked around, took out a drawing of the simple route from his pocket, compared it with the place in front of him, and nodded: "It's here."

Ma Lin said "Hmm.", adjusted his clothes with his hands, combed his hair, took out a flower and pinned it to his ear, muttered "I haven't worn it for a long time, I'm a little uncomfortable wearing it again." Then he walked forward and knocked on the door.

clap clap-

The sound of the copper rings jingling faded away, and soon a rough female voice rang out: "Who is it? It's so early, don't you know that others need to rest too? You don't understand...things?"

As the door opened, Ma Lin's handsome face came into view. The eyes of the woman in her forties immediately lit up, but she saw that the man opposite her was wearing a brocade robe with rippling water patterns from the shoulders to the cuffs, and a few plum blossoms sewn with gold thread on the collar. There was a cloud-patterned belt around the waist with a round jade pendant hanging from it. The old woman was sharp-eyed and recognized that it was a good piece of jade. Then she looked at his feet, which were a pair of brand new deerskin boots with jadeite inlaid on both sides.

"Ouch! Look at my mouth. Didn't I just eat something that stinks? Sir, please don't take it to heart." The pious old woman smiled like a flower and gently slapped his face with her plump white hands. Then she looked at Ma Lin, raised her eyebrows, and said, "I wonder what's the matter with this sir?"

Ma Lin was not surprised to see her behave like this, because people like these pious women and Ma Boliu were the most greedy for money. He wore this outfit today specially just to show it to these people. After all, these people only cared about clothes and not people.

"You can't come if you have nothing to do?"

After the frivolous words came out, the Iron Flute Fairy turned sideways and leaned against the door to reveal Yang Lin, who was also dressed elegantly. The pious woman smiled even more happily: "I was saying that I heard the oriole singing this morning. It turns out that there is a distinguished guest coming today."

Ma Lin, who was leaning against the door, smiled with satisfaction, put his hand into his bosom, and took the plump hand of the old lady opposite him with his other hand, put it into her palm, and held her fingers and pushed them into his palm: "Since you said we are honored guests, how can we not show some appreciation? Here is a small gift for you to welcome us."

The pious old woman's eyes lit up. She looked at Ma Lin, then at the silver light on her palm. She picked it up and bit it with her teeth. She turned around and called out, "Daughter, are you up? A distinguished guest is here!"

Ma Lin smiled silently, turned around and winked at Yang Lin, Jin Baozi behind him rolled his eyes, and Qian Po in front ignored the winks between them, and hurriedly called them in, asked them to sit down, and walked behind the screen with a swaying waist. There were footsteps coming up the stairs.

"My daughter, please come down quickly. There is a distinguished guest here..."

Ma Lin and Yang Lin sat there sipping tea, but they couldn't help but glance at the screen. Both of them were mentally normal men, so they were naturally curious about what the woman upstairs looked like.

There was a rustling sound coming from upstairs. Perhaps the old lady said something. There was an extra person's footsteps coming down the stairs. Ma and Yang looked at each other, and then saw a slim figure walking out from behind the screen.

The two men's eyes lit up, seeing that the woman had a good appearance. She wore a hairpin with jade beads on her head that swayed slightly back and forth. Her pretty face, which was as delicate as a baby's, was lightly made up. She walked towards them with slow steps, looking like a beautiful girl from a small family, or like the girl next door.

No wonder Shi Qian said that An Daoquan was very anxious.

The two men sitting there had a thought in their minds at the same time, and then smiles appeared on their faces.

The woman named Li Qiaonu's eyes lit up when she saw the two of them. She lingered on Ma Lin for a few more seconds and looked at the pious woman happily: "Mom really didn't lie to me."

"Why would I lie to a little girl like you?"

The pious old woman pretended to be displeased and slapped Li Qiaonu on the butt. With a crisp "pa" sound, Li Qiaonu blushed, but secretly glanced at the two men sitting there.

Yang Lin's heart skipped a beat and he looked at Ma Lin, who happened to be looking at him as well. He raised his eyebrows and glanced at Li Qiaonu, meaning that this woman had a lot of ulterior motives and he should not get himself involved.

Ma Lin tilted his head back, raised both eyebrows at the same time, and gave him a look that asked, "Who do you think I am?"

"Mother said that there were distinguished guests coming. Today, I saw that the two great officials were indeed extraordinary in appearance, not comparable to ordinary people."

The fragrance drifted into Li Qiaonu's nose as she approached. Neither of them was the type to go to cosmetics shops, so they couldn't tell the good from the bad, but they just thought it smelled good.

After she finished speaking, Li Qiaonu picked up the teapot from the table, bent down and refilled the cups for both of them. The towering mountains occupied the view, making Yang Lin's face more flushed.

The Golden Leopard looked at Ma Lin again, then simply leaned back, closed his eyes slightly, and left the matter of contact to his companion.

"Thank you, Madam Li."

Ma Lin reached out to hold the water cup. Li Qiaonu put down the teapot and rubbed him with the back of her hand. She smiled as if nothing had happened and said, "It's just serving tea and water. What's there to thank you for, sir?"

Turning around, he sat down and looked at Yang Lin curiously: "Sir, do you want to listen to music or...", and threw him a seductive look: "To relax?"

Ma Lin laughed, reached into his bosom, took out a silver ingot, and placed it on the table while the two women in the room were staring at him.

despair--

"They all have..."

……

The sky grew dark.

The number of pedestrians on the street began to decrease, and soldiers in scarlet uniforms lined up and patrolled the street with spears in hand.

Zhang Shun glanced at the soldiers passing by him, walked quickly into the hotel gate, looked left and right before entering the room, then opened the door and walked in.

Inside, Li Zu was wiping the long sword in his hand. The fine sword oil emitted a faint fragrance. He raised his eyes to look at the person who came in. Mr. Jin Jian still did not stop the movement in his hands.

"There are many Song soldiers on the street." Zhang Shun came over and sat down, found a cup and poured warm water into it and drank it: "I don't know what Tong Guan is thinking, why he doesn't send so many soldiers to the southern battlefield."

"Maybe they are local soldiers." Li Zhu picked up the cloth and gently stroked the sword's spine: "There are many who want to flatter him."

He leaned in to look at Jianfeng: "How is the price of food here?"

"It's a little higher than in the past, but not much. I've ordered people to purchase a batch and load it onto the ship." Zhang Shun frowned, "The war in the south doesn't seem to have caused chaos in Jiangning Prefecture."

Seeing that Li Zhu didn't say anything, he added, "By the way, someone came by today to announce the victory. Hangzhou has been captured, but the man is not dead."

choke--

Li Zhu sheathed the long sword and put it aside: "Luckily he is still alive. I wonder if he will go to Yuezhou or Muzhou next. If it is the former, our efforts will be wasted."

Zhang Shun nodded with a serious face. Just as he was about to speak, he heard footsteps outside. They both stopped talking and looked at the door. They saw the door opened to the left and right, and Ma Lin and Yang Lin walked in with smiles on their faces.

Zhang Shun raised his nose and sniffed: "Did you two get caught in a pile of makeup?"

"I told you to say that." Ma Lin chuckled, and walked over to sit with Yang Lin, licking his lips: "That An Daoquan's mistress is pretty moist."

The face opposite frowned. (End of this chapter)