Aoyama

Chapter 235 Third Master
The inn seemed to be closed, the tables were wiped clean, and the chairs were turned upside down on the tables.

The streets of Qiuci were bustling with activity, except for the largest store on the street which was deserted.

The guy looked at the heroic girl in a fiery red dress in front of him, and recalled that the jargon he had just said was understood by the other party, and his face felt hot.

Zhang Xia saw that the waiter was in a daze, so he waved his hand in front of him and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

The waiter turned around to look at the shopkeeper with a sly look.

The shopkeeper pushed aside the abacus and account book on the counter, walked out of the counter with a swift step, and said with a bow: "It is really a flood that has washed away the Dragon King Temple. Please forgive me for my inexperience and for making a fool of myself in front of you. According to the rules of the martial arts world, if you pretend to be a master in front of a master and fail, you have to stab yourself to resolve the grudge..."

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man dressed in black shorts. He didn't look like a shopkeeper, but more like a well-traveled escort leader.

I saw that the other person had a ruddy complexion, protruding temples, and his voice was as loud as a bell. It was obvious that he was a martial artist.

Strange couplets, introductory jargon, and the mysterious nature of the Longmen Inn run by the innkeeper, Lian Jiazi.

The room was warm. Chen Ji took off his cloak and hung it on his arm. He said calmly, "There's no need to stab yourself. Since the shopkeeper is open and honest, we don't mean to be unreasonable."

The young man breathed a sigh of relief.

The shopkeeper thought for a moment and said, "How about I waive your room charges?"

At this time, Chen Ji shook his head: "We want to stay for a long time, but I'm afraid the shopkeeper will feel bad if we stay for too long. There's no need to waive the room fee, just prepare three rooms for us..."

Zhang Zheng interrupted quickly, "One room, just prepare a ground-level room for us, but we need a few more beds and we'll pay extra."

The waiter asked in confusion: "We still have plenty of empty rooms in the inn."

The shopkeeper held the waiter's shoulder and said with a smile: "The guests are more important than anything else. We will prepare as many rooms as you want, no nonsense. But please be magnanimous, and I, the Dragon Gate Inn, cannot be ungrateful. I will arrange the Tianzi A room for you and charge you the same as the Dizi A room, okay?"

Zhang Zheng lowered his voice and asked in a whisper as thin as a mosquito: "We all said forget it, why is he still not going through with it?"

Zhang Xia responded: "This is the rule of the underworld. We have accepted the favor and the matter is settled. We must not mention this matter again when we leave the house, so as not to bring shame to Longmen Inn."

"I see……"

Zhang Xia clasped his fists and smiled like a man, saying, "If you refuse again, you will be disrespecting the shopkeeper. We will accept your kindness and stay at the Tianzihao."

The shopkeeper bowed politely and said, "Thank you all for your kindness. Xiaoliu, please take the guest to Room A."

"Hey," Xiao Liu responded, bowing and saying to Chen Ji and the others, "Sir, please come this way."

He stepped on the wooden floor of the inn, making a creaking sound.

Just as he was about to go up the wooden stairs, Chen Ji suddenly pricked up his ears and seemed to hear a rustling sound coming from under the floor. This sound... was like a sharp iron tool rubbing back and forth on a whetstone.

As soon as Chen Ji's footsteps stopped, the sound of sharpening knives underground also stopped.

Xiaoliu stood halfway up the stairs and looked back: "Sir, what's wrong?"

"It's okay, let's go," Chen Ji smiled and followed.

……

……

When Chen Ji and others went up to the second floor, they saw someone rolling down from the shadow on the beam and landing lightly next to the shopkeeper.

I saw a sloppy waiter holding a kitchen knife in his hand: "Boss, are you a Lengzidian (official)? Or a Yingzhua (secret agent)?"

The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes and looked towards the end of the stairs: "No, the official is not so easy to talk to."

"What about the eunuch party?"

The shopkeeper put his hands behind his back and thought for a moment: "If they were eunuchs, they would have come directly to rob my inn, not disguised as guests. You have also seen the eunuchs in Guyuan City. They are the most unruly."

"Which road are they on?"

The shopkeeper thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out: "There are so many evil spirits in Guyuan recently. Who knows where they came from?"

The guy asked tentatively: "A spy from Jing Dynasty?"

The shopkeeper's eyes turned and said, "Not really, but you can go out and check tomorrow. These people seem to have just arrived in Guyuan. Maybe someone familiar saw them when they entered the city. But you have to be careful, don't fall into the hands of these strangers."

The guy was puzzled and said, "Those guys don't look like they are particularly troublesome."

The shopkeeper said calmly, "What is a river-crossing dragon? A river-crossing dragon is someone who clearly sees that your place is unusual but still dares to come in."

The man asked in a low voice: "What are they doing here?"

The shopkeeper returned to the counter and said calmly, "The guests who came to my Longmen Inn must have heard rumors and wanted something. Don't worry, if I don't look for them, they will come to me sooner or later, and then we will know."

Just at this moment, the thick cotton curtain was lifted, and the cold air outside blew in, causing the candlelight in the inn to flicker.

The waiter turned around and said, "Sir, are you staying at the hotel or... Third Master! What a rare guest! Didn't you go to the capital?"

The visitor was a middle-aged man with a long sword hanging from his waist. His left eye was blind, with only the white of the eye left in the eye socket, and he looked ferocious.

But he brushed the dust off his body, took out a copper coin from his sleeve, and threw it at the shopkeeper with great force.

The shopkeeper leaned back slightly, holding the coin between his two fingers in front of his nose. He held the coin in front of him and looked at it carefully, only to see the words "light" engraved on it.

The shopkeeper asked with a sharp gaze, "Third Master, has the governor returned to Guyuan?"

The Third Master said calmly, "You are becoming more and more unruly. Do you think you can find out about the Governor's affairs?"

The shopkeeper's face darkened: "I'm being polite so I call you Third Master. If you weren't serving the governor, who would you be? When you were under the general's command, you were just a defeated general. I just wanted to ask if the governor had returned to Guyuan. Why are you so anxious?" Third Master sneered: "Put away your little thoughts. The governor is not someone you can think about. If you break the rules again, I will kill you."

The shopkeeper sneered and rolled up his sleeves to his forearms: "Just you?"

The Third Master held the hilt of the knife with his left hand: "Try it?"

In the midst of the tension, the waiter hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "My two lords, there are still many guests in the inn. Don't disturb them, or you will be punished by the governor. Shopkeeper, the third master brought the lamp and copper coins here, so he must have something important to do."

The shopkeeper was silent for a few breaths, put his sleeves down again, and said lazily: "Tell me, what are you doing in my Longmen Inn?"

The Third Master asked in a cold voice: "A few people just came into your inn. Arrange them in the next room. Remember, don't ask what you shouldn't ask, and don't say what you shouldn't say."

The shopkeeper looked upstairs suspiciously, then turned around and asked, "Wait, who are these people? Why are you here to follow them? Is this your business, or the supervisor's?"

The Third Master did not answer.

The shopkeeper asked again, "Do you want to kill them, or do they have something the governor wants? If they have something the governor wants, I will kill them in the middle of the night and take it and send it to the governor."

The Third Master said impatiently, "Are you done yet? The Governor is not in Guyuan, I came back alone."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" The shopkeeper suddenly waved his hand in boredom, not even glancing at him again: "Xiaowu, take San'er to Tianzi B room. Oh, by the way, wake up the guest in Dizi C room later, it's time to send him off."

When the Third Master heard the address "San'er", he raised his eyebrows, but in the end said nothing.

……

……

In Room No. 1, Xiaoman was squatting on the floor with a mattress spread out on it. Zhang Zheng was sitting on a chair beside her, boredly stirring the charcoal that had just been burning in the charcoal basin with a pair of tongs.

Xiaoman glared at him fiercely: "What are you doing? Make your own bed yourself!"

Zhang Zheng said lazily: "Can't you help me lay it together?"

Xiaoman glared at him and said, "I am the young master's maid, not yours."

Zhang Zheng's eyes widened: "Why do you always look at me with disapproval? You always speak in sarcastic tones."

Xiaoman flattened the mattress with both hands and said slowly, "A man who seeks pleasure from women still wants others to speak kindly to him? Don't lead my young master astray."

Zhang Zheng quickly explained: "When did I ever go looking for prostitutes? I just said that I don't care about those brothels! Although the brothers around me like this, I am a clean man."

Xiaoman sneered, "Yes, yes, yes, you are the only raw rice in the whole pot of rice."

Zhang Zheng opened his mouth but no words came out for a long time.

Zhang Xia, who was standing by the window, turned around and said, "Are you two incompatible? Why are you always arguing... Hush!"

As he was speaking, he heard footsteps outside the door.

Chen Ji was originally standing by the window holding Wuyun, silently looking out the window through the gap. At this moment, he suddenly turned around, his eyes following the sound, as if he could see the figure in the corridor through the door and the wall.

The next moment, there was a creaking sound from next door, and someone pushed the door open, and then there was no sound.

Zhang Xia dipped his finger in the teacup and wrote on the table: "Are you a guest of Longmen Inn?"

Chen Ji frowned and shook his head, also dipping his finger in water: "We just moved into Room A, and someone immediately moved into Room B? It's better to be careful, walls have ears."

Zhang Xia nodded, turned around and whispered to Zhang Zheng and Xiaoman.

Chen Ji turned around and looked out the window again.

Tianzi Room was on the third floor of Longmen Inn, the highest point in Guyuan City. He looked far into the distance and could even see the flickering of fire on the distant city wall, and the soldiers of the border army coming and going like tiny black ants.

Inside the city wall, low earthen houses were scattered at different heights, and on the densely packed roofs, from time to time, the figures of powerful men could be seen jumping around.

Looking closer, the backyard of Longmen Inn is spacious, with stables, woodshed, kitchen, and cowshed. The sounds of singing and drinking from the brothel next door drift over.

Xiaoman spread out the bedding, walked to Chen Ji and said in a low voice, "Sir, why don't you go to bed early?"

Chen Ji shook his head, took a teacup, dipped it in water and wrote on the window frame: "You go to sleep first, I will watch over the first half of the night, and you will watch over the second half of the night, Xiaoman."

Xiaoman was shocked: "Ah? Me?"
She suddenly felt guilty, wondering why the young master would let her keep watch when Zhang Zheng was around? Did the young master see something? Did the young master discover his official status? What else did the young master discover?

Many thoughts flashed through Xiaoman's little head, all in a mess. She originally wanted to test her own master, but was disrupted by his words.

late at night.

Zhang Xia slept on the floor in the inner room, and Zhang Zheng slept on the floor in the outer room with his head tilted. The eight-immortals table in the room was moved aside to make room for sleeping. In the end, no one slept on the bed, and they all slept on the floor.

Xiaoman moved a small chair and sat next to the charcoal brazier, no longer feeling sleepy. Chen Ji stared out the window. Her round eyes stared at Chen Ji's back, not knowing what she was thinking.

At this time, even the singing in the brothel next door had stopped, but Chen Ji's eyes were fixed and he looked more energetic.

In the darkness of night, a waiter was seen sneaking out of the octagonal building, leading a fat man with a fat head and big ears and wearing silk clothes. The two of them walked all the way to the stable.

After entering the stable, the thatched shed blocked Chen Ji's view and he could no longer see the two people.

After a while, the servant walked out of the stable and looked around carefully. After a while, he confirmed that everything was safe. He tightened his collar in the cold wind, breathed into his hands, rubbed his hands, and returned to the octagonal building.

The fat man with fat head and big ears disappeared in the stable forever.

(End of this chapter)