Aoyama

Chapter 326 Waiting
The drum sounds from the bell and drum tower arrived as promised.

There are a lot of people outside the Bada Hutongs today, and the noodle stalls and wonton stands are full of people.

The customer sitting at the stall ordered a bowl of wontons but did not eat it. He just looked at the passers-by warily and sat there for two hours.

Seeing that these customers were carrying daggers and axes in their arms, the stall owner could only swallow his words of urging.

In the twilight, more than ten men came out of Baiyuyuan in Baishun Hutong and escorted Du Qigong to Lishamao Hutong. Some of these men were blind in one eye, some were missing a hand, and all of them were disabled.

As I was walking through Yanzhi Hutong, a bold woman on the second floor dropped her handkerchief and said with a sweet smile, "Mr. Qi, please patronize my business."

Seeing that the handkerchief was about to fall on Lord Qi's head, the man from the Sanshan Society quickly caught the handkerchief in mid-air, raised his head and glared at him: "Get out of the way, are you someone who can mess with Lord Qi?"

The woman was not afraid of them, and said jokingly: "What's wrong with Qi Gong? Qi Gong is also a man. I threw a handkerchief to Qi Gong, why did you take it? I don't like you!"

As she started to make fun of him, all the women in the alley opened their windows and teased the man: "Big fool, why have I never seen you patronize our alley's businesses? Are you all show and no substance?"

The man raised his hand and pointed at the second floor, about to get angry, but Qi Gong held his arm and said with a smile: "Forget it, forget it, why are you a grown man getting angry with them?"

More than ten people came to Li Shamao Hutong and entered Yihongyuan.

The madam of Yihong Courtyard came out to greet him with a smile: "Rare guest, this is the first time I see you, Mr. Qi, come to our Yihong Courtyard."

Qi Gong waved his hand, and the man behind him took off a string of Buddhist coins and put it in the madam's hand: "Let the girls rest today. Yihongyuan will not be doing business anymore."

The madam calmly touched the micro-carved patterns on the Buddhist Tongbao with her fingertips.

The man from the Sanshan Society frowned and asked, "Why, you can't even trust the Sanshan Society?"

The madam reached out and patted his chest: "How could that be possible... I am grateful to the Sanshan Society for taking care of me. I have a message for them. Not only has my Yihong Courtyard been reserved today, but even the Chunfeng Courtyard, Hongmei Courtyard, and Dengxian Building next door have been reserved in advance. They are very generous."

Qi Gong frowned: "Have the guests from those families arrived?"

The madam smiled and said, "The guests of Dengxianlou arrived after noon, and she sat alone in the room, not letting anyone in. She was very lonely."

Qi Gong thought for a moment, "What does this person look like?"

The madam whispered, "The lean man is about forty years old, very short, and as thin as a monkey."

Mr. Qi frowned and remained silent for a long time: "Where is Chunfengyuan?"

The madam continued, "The guests of Chunfeng Courtyard arrived at the hour of You. Not only did they rent the courtyard, they also drove the madam and the girls out, gave each of them five taels of silver as a bribe, and asked them to stay out overnight. Moreover, they brought their own stoves, tea sets, and tea leaves, and did not use anything in the courtyard at all."

"Oh?" Lord Qi was a little surprised: "They are so generous, how many people did they bring with them?"

The madam whispered, "More than twenty of them, very fierce."

The man crouched down and leaned close to Mr. Qi's ear and said, "Mr. Qi, could it be that the boss behind Fu Ruixiang is here?"

Qi Gong nodded: "Yes, it is possible."

The man asked again: "Do you want me to go and find out?"

Lord Qi shook his head: "No need. I have a rough idea of ​​who is the one who can bring so many people and spend so lavishly. Don't provoke him... Strange, who booked Hongmei Garden?"

As they were talking, a group of people came in from outside the alley. Each of them wore a bamboo hat with the brim pulled down. They avoided everyone's gaze and walked into Hongmei Garden.

The strange thing is that these people walk with surprisingly consistent steps. The distance of each step and the height of their feet are exactly the same.

So much so that when they walked together, there was a strange sense of order.

A man whispered, "Mr. Qi, it's Chen Wenren, the son of the second branch of the Chen family. I've seen them in Baiyu Garden. I think those around him are all imperial guards."

Mr. Qi was thoughtful: "The second branch of the Chen family, the people behind Hutchison are here too... Hey, who is that person in Dengxianlou, who else will come to join in the fun?"

……

……

At this moment, Chunfeng Courtyard is quiet.

The young man who had watched the wrestling match with Chen Ji before was leaning against the window, with his arms on the windowsill, tapping his fingers one by one.

Next to him was a small red clay stove, and on the stove was an exquisite silver kettle.

A sturdy man sat next to him, picked up the silver kettle and poured tea into the blue and white porcelain cup, then pushed the cup to his hand: "Sir, have some tea."

The young man picked up the teacup, raised it to his lips and blew into it slowly, while his eyes looked through the window towards Li Shamao Hutong downstairs.

The man reminded him, "Sir, you have an appointment with Lord Wu from the Ministry of Rites to go to the Jiaofangsi to watch an opera tonight. If the censor finds out that you are in a place like Lishamao Hutong, he will definitely impeach you."

"Just don't let them know," the young man said with a smile, "How can the fake show of Bianliang Four Dreams be as good as the real swords and guns? Heji and Fu Ruixiang have gathered more than 600 people to the Eight Great Hutongs. I'm afraid that group of people will never come back today. If I don't come to take a look, I will never see them again." Zhou Kuang frowned, "Sir, what's so good about the street gangs fighting each other? If you really want to see it, I'll take you to the mountain to watch when the Fifth Army Camp and the Wansui Army perform martial arts."

The young man shook his head helplessly: "It's not martial arts that I want to see."

Zhou Kuang was startled: "Then what are you looking at?"

The young man smiled mysteriously: "It depends on people's hearts... That group of people is quite interesting. More than 30 people want to take down the two major fighting gangs. They are brave. Zhou Kuang, you came from the Fifth Army Camp. Do you think they have a chance of winning today?"

The man named Zhou Kuang thought for a moment and said, "There is no chance of winning. It would be a good thing if one or two can escape."

The young man drank the tea in the blue and white porcelain cup in one gulp: "What a pity, I quite like that brother."

The man sat in front of the small stove and said, "Sir, why don't you protect him?"

The young man smiled and said, "After protecting him, I handed over the business in the outer city to him, and then watched him get corrupted by fame and fortune and become like Zhu Guan after ten years? That's not a good look. In the stories of those storytellers, they always like to talk about how kind and righteous the old leader of Heji was, but they never dare to talk about how the old leader was ruthless and eliminated dissidents after becoming famous for ten years."

The young man looked out the window and said, "Zhou Kuang, flowers should wither and turn into dust in an instant when they are at their most colorful. A hero should be killed when he is famous all over the world. There should be no living legends in the martial arts world, because as long as legends are alive, they will decay one day. Rather than decay, it is better to die early."

The man remained silent.

The young man withdrew his gaze from the window and looked at the man: "Zhou Kuang, if I become like that one day, you will kill me."

The man named Zhou Kuang shook his head: "Sir, my entire clan will be implicated."

The young man said disdainfully: "No guts."

Zhou Kuang asked back: "Master, why don't you just commit suicide?"

The young man smiled and said, "No, I'm afraid of pain."

Zhou Kuang lowered his head and secretly rolled his eyes.

The young man looked out the window again. "I heard from Lord Wu that the Four Dreams of Bianliang are about the love and hatred between two men and women from rich families and two men and women from poor families. Haha, I wonder which poor scholar had this daydream, and he doesn't get tired of talking about love every day. If I were asked to write about it, I would write about four men giving up their pens and joining the army, marching north, ending the thousand years of suffering of the two dynasties, and giving the people a peaceful life."

The man making tea whispered, "You did write under a pseudonym, but it wasn't good, so Wenyuan Bookstore didn't want it."

The young man's face froze. "That's because Wenyuan Bookstore has no vision... Hey, it's already so late, why haven't those people come yet?"

It was midnight, and even the guests in the Eight Great Hutongs began to disperse, but the person he was waiting for did not come.

Several distinguished guests were waiting in Li Shamao Hutong, and hundreds of people were waiting outside the Bada Hutongs. Everyone waited from Youshi to Zishi, watching the candles in the lanterns being replaced again and again, with the red wax dripping onto the ground, but still nothing happened.

In the Yihong Courtyard, Mr. Qi, who was old, could not hold on any longer and fell asleep.

It was not until the night watchman passed by that he woke up: "Where is the person?"

The man in the room whispered, "Mr. Qi, they didn't come tonight. The guests from Chunfeng Courtyard and Dengxian Building are still waiting. The second son of the Chen family in Hongmei Garden couldn't wait any longer and left early."

Qi Gong said angrily: "Damn it, could it be that this group of people guessed that Hutchison and Fu Ruixiang would join forces today? So they deliberately let it go? They are waiting here for a while!"

The man asked, "Will they never come again?"

Lord Qi laughed angrily: "If they really don't come again, then Qian Ping's finger would have been cut off in vain... How is business at home tonight?"

The man replied, "The Baiyu Garden is full of guests tonight."

Qi Gong was a little surprised: "Full guests?"

The man explained, "It is said that Zhang Zheng, the son of Master Zhang Zhu, brought a group of friends to our Baiyu Garden to listen to music. They didn't even call girls, but just a group of men playing drinking games. It was very boring."

Mr. Qi smacked his lips and said, "I like to play, and so do I. This Zhang family is quite interesting."

The man asked, "Mr. Qi, why don't you go back and rest?"

Lord Qi shook his head and said, "Wait a little longer. The little bastard might come again at night. I have to see the formation with my own eyes."

At this time, there were sounds of laughter coming from a distance.

A group of people came from the direction of Baishun Hutong, arm in arm, and walked through the streets and alleys as if nothing had happened under the gazes of a group of gangsters.

When we reached the intersection of Lishamao Hutong and Hanjiatan Hutong, a young man waved and said, "My carriage is parked on the other side, so I won't go with you."

The others bowed and said goodbye: "See you tomorrow!"

After that, the group split up into several teams and walked towards different alleys. Chen Ji walked among the crowd, silently memorizing the distribution of people in each alley, and just walked away as if no one was around.

(End of this chapter)