Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 179: Careless

Although Chang Shun was somewhat reluctant, it was difficult for Sanyuan Palace to refuse someone who came to the palace on short notice with whom they had little contact on a regular basis.

Because the two parties have the most basic and simplest interest relationship.

Those underworld figures came to pay homage to the Sanyuan Palace and became an extension of the Sanyuan Palace's external power. As a local tyrant, the Sanyuan Palace provided some simple shelter when the other party encountered problems.

This kind of utilitarian interaction without any friendship attached leaves neither side with much room for error.

Changfeng Escort Agency is far away in Shandong, and usually there are not many requests for help.

Just one rejection basically means that Changfeng Escort Agency will no longer trust Sanyuan Palace.

They will replace the force seeking care in Huai'an Prefecture with another one.

Losing the little money that Changfeng Escort Agency pays every year is not a big deal, but losing the Changfeng Escort Agency as a tentacle is not worth it for Sanyuan Palace.

Although Sanyuan Palace did not expect these people from the martial arts world who came to pay homage to the temple to provide much help, for the people from the martial arts world, the influence of the martial arts world is their greatest asset.

For example, Yue Qingfeng, the gentleman of Xiyue, can gather hundreds of people in the Jiangbei area just by his name.

Therefore, even though Sanyuan Palace had some inconveniences today, it was still difficult for Chang Shun to refuse.

He thought for a moment and then said, "Come with me. I'll say hello to some of my brothers first."

As he spoke, he led the two people forward and said to the Taoist priests who were talking to them, "These are disciples from the Changfeng Escort Agency. They are unfamiliar with this place, so they came to stay for one night."

The Taoists also understood the relationship between the two, and said, "We must not destroy the loyalty of the Jianghu people. We can let them rest in the guest room for a while."

Someone said, "Just don't move around randomly, so as not to run into uninformed fellow disciples and cause trouble."

Chang Shun said, "Okay, Junior Brother understands."

Song Chunniang also brought Pei Yuan to pay respects to several Taoists, and they exchanged a few polite words.

Then the middle-aged Taoist priest named Chang Shun brought the two people into the temple.

It was already night time, and the surroundings were very quiet.

Chang Shun led the way and said casually, "Since we have entered the Taoist temple, we should burn some incense."

Having said that, he walked towards the main hall.

Pei Yuan asked Song Chunniang quietly, "What are you worshipping here?"

Song Chunniang replied, "It is the three elements of heaven, earth and water."

Pei Yuan was speechless. What a thing! It’s not something that ordinary people can casually offer sacrifices to.

Pei Yuan asked in a low voice, "Has the Ministry of Rites approved it?"

Song Chunniang shook her head slightly. "Sanyuan Palace has also been trying to find a reliable person to help them clear their name, but there is no good candidate yet."

Pei Yuan had an idea in mind.

This is an ordinary folk belief, which is not within the scope of permission from the imperial court, and is also known as an obscene temple.

Unless an official from the imperial court steps in and includes it in the local sacrificial list, it can become a formal Taoist temple.

Such palaces, temples and monasteries that are unregulated and have local influence are perfect places to nurture underworld forces.

Pei Yuan followed and burned incense, then followed Chang Shun around and entered the guest courtyard on the west side.

Chang Shun found a room for the two of them at the corner of the courtyard and said, "The guest rooms are a bit tight, so you can stay here tonight. You heard what Senior Brother Zhao said just now. If there is nothing serious, try not to move around, so as not to run into brothers who are unaware of the situation and cause trouble."

The two of them didn't dare to live separately in such a strange place, so they both said, "Thank you, Master Chang. When we return to Shandong, we will definitely mention this matter to the elders in our sect."

Chang Shun smiled, opened the door, blew out the fire stick, and lit the oil lamp inside.

The furnishings in the room are simple, which is in line with the style of the Taoist temple.

The funny thing is, there is only one bed.

Chang Shun was afraid of getting into trouble again, so he took a quick look and pretended to be confused, not asking about the relationship between the two. He simply looked around and then said goodbye and left.

After Chang Shun's footsteps faded away, Pei Yuan thought for a moment, then moved closer to the window and signaled Song Chunniang to turn off the oil lamp.

Song Chunniang quickly turned off the light and approached Pei Yuan in the dark, "What's wrong?"

Pei Yuan opened the window a little, looked out for a while, and then said, "The lights in other rooms in the courtyard are not on, and it doesn't look like there are people in them. Why is the guest room so crowded?"

Song Chunniang also stuck close to Pei Yuan, looked outside for a few times, and said speculatively, "Just to please us."

Pei Yuan shook his head, "It's hard to say."

As he said this, he closed the window and turned around to hug Song Chunniang.

Song Chunniang resisted a bit and struggled, "I'm not interested anymore, let's just leave it at that for today."

Pei Yuan didn't insist much either.

While letting go of Song Chunniang, he continued to grope her body reluctantly.

Perhaps because she saw that Pei Yuan was about to give up the idea, Song Chunniang was more tolerant.

When Pei Yuan became more aggressive and tried to reach in through the collar, she slapped his hand.

Pei Yuan let go of Song Chunniang and the topic became serious again. "I've never heard of any Taoist priests from anywhere who like to sit at the door and chat late at night. Let's take turns sleeping tonight, so be careful."

Song Chunniang thought of what Pei Yuan had said just now, "The guest rooms are in short supply."

So he asked, "Do you suspect they are waiting for someone?"

Pei Yuan said, "Otherwise, we are just staying for one night, so why is Chang Shun so embarrassed? This is a Taoist temple, and it is very common to accommodate pilgrims overnight."

Song Chunniang was puzzled, "What does this have to do with us?"

Pei Yuan said calmly, "It's just a guess."

Although Song Chunniang felt that Pei Yuan was being too suspicious, she also felt that there was no harm in taking turns sleeping.

Then he asked, "Who goes to bed first?"

Pei Yuan said openly, "You guys. I am a thousand households, so I naturally have to bear more responsibilities."

Song Chunniang asked rudely, "Isn't it because it's freezing cold and the quilt is icy?"

Pei Yuan looked dead, and scolded, "Does General Song know what's going on?"

Song Chunniang left in displeasure, and after a while, she wrapped herself in quilt and fell asleep.

Although Pei Yuan's character is rubbish, it is clear that he is rubbish.

He did not disturb Song Chunniang, but took a nap by the window as agreed.

After an unknown amount of time, Pei Yuan heard movement on the bed again.

Song Chunniang yawned drowsily, and then lazed in bed for a while before getting up and whispering, "How is it?"

Pei Yuan shook his head, "There's no movement yet, maybe I guessed wrong."

Song Chunniang said, "I'll stay here for a while."

Pei Yuan didn't hesitate and went to bed.

The bed was indeed warm. For Pei Yuan, who had been freezing for most of the night, it was both warm and comfortable.

I don’t know how long I slept.

Song Chunniang came over and gently pushed Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan opened his eyes and saw that the room was dark. Song Chunniang didn't say a word. An idea flashed through his mind and he got up quietly.

The two of them moved to the window and looked out through the gap.

In the moonlight, several Taoists were seen guarding the courtyard. Some were carrying or carrying dozens of wounded people into various rooms in the courtyard.

Some of the wounded were seriously injured, and the people carrying them had to be extremely careful and slow.

But it was inevitable that some of the wounded would groan or curse because of touching their wounds.

Every time at this time, the Taoist priests guarding around would turn their eyes to the room where Pei Yuan and the others were.

While the Taoists were not paying attention, Song Chunniang whispered to Pei Yuan, "You really guessed it right."

Pei Yuan said nothing, staring at those people carefully. After a while, he asked, "Guess who they are?"

Song Chunniang looked at Pei Yuan in confusion.

At this moment, someone strode into the yard and asked a Taoist priest standing by, "Have you prepared the medicine for the wound?"

The Taoist priest replied, "I just saw that some of them have become festered. I don't know if those medicines for wounds will still work."

The man sighed, "There's nothing we can do. The inspections are too strict. It took a lot of effort to relax a little."

Song Chunniang listened quietly and had figured out what was going on by then.

She speculated to Pei Yuan, "Is this the person who attacked us in Yangzhou?"

Pei Yuan whispered, "At least part of it."

He then told Song Chunniang his own judgment, "After we swindled the silver from Suzhou, we immediately left the city and set off on our way. It can be said that we didn't waste a single moment before arriving in Yangzhou."

"Even if we are delayed for a few days by the silver carriage, those people can only mobilize the manpower of the nearby prefectures in Yangzhou if they want to organize a wave of assassinations in Yangzhou."

Pei Yuan said this directly, "So, I am not surprised at all that there are people from Huai'an involved."

Song Chunniang suddenly realized, "You have been paying attention to this matter for a long time?"

Pei Yuan remained silent, reviewing the last assassination attempt.

At that time, Pei Yuan was furious and took revenge on Huben Zuowei and killed all of them.

But strictly speaking, Huben Zuowei can only be regarded as an accomplice.

The people who actually tried to assassinate him, whether it was Mei Qinniang's backers or those gangsters who gathered everywhere, could not be found.

Apart from those who were killed on the spot, it was impossible to hunt down the assassins.

Those people came from all over, and they were all street characters.

There is a saying that goes, cats have their ways, mice have their ways.

It is simply impossible to capture these people from the huge Yangzhou with the few Jinyiwei in our hands.

Pei Yuan tolerated this matter, but that didn't mean he forgot about it.

Pei Yuan thought about it and opened the "Debt Settlement System".

After a while, his eyes fell on a name, "Lü Dahua."

He was the only one who could confirm that Pei Yuan had crossed the river from Yangzhou and could make preparations in advance.

This person is a gangster broker, a person allowed by the Jiangnan gentry to deal openly with the gangster forces. He also has enough connections to set up this scheme.

Pei Yuan sighed slightly, clicked on Lu Dahua's information and checked his location.

Sure enough, he was seen wandering around Yangzhou Prefecture.

Pei Yuan jumped straight to the next step and found that the creditor map was frozen on the day of the attack.

He suddenly saw that Lu Dahua's red dot was very close to his own position.

Damn, I was careless.

Pei Yuan was thinking when Song Chunniang patted him.

Pei Yuan quickly looked through the window.

The man who came in later was talking to the Taoist priest on duty. The Taoist priest stretched out his hand and pointed in Pei Yuan's direction.

The person who came in later just listened and didn't respond.

Then he held the sword in one hand and walked towards the room where Pei Yuan was.

Song Chunniang's heartbeat quickened, and she whispered to Pei Yuan, "Captain, what should we do?"

Pei Yuan watched the movement outside and said, "Go get a knife."

Perhaps it was that man's actions that attracted the attention of others, and other Taoist priests came over and asked, "Uncle Yu, what's wrong?"

Pei Yuan also saw clearly the appearance of Uncle Master Yu.

He was a short Taoist priest with an ugly face.

Perhaps because we were closer, the sound was much clearer.

Then Master Yu asked with a gloomy face, "Is there anyone in that room? Why didn't you clean up the guest house before?"

The Taoist priest who came to greet them replied, "They came to stay after dark and said they were from Shandong Changfeng Escort Agency. We have some friendship with them, and the one who is in charge of dealing with them is Junior Brother Chang Shun."

Uncle Yu said angrily, "Why are you still worrying about this during this critical moment?"

Just as someone was moving the injured person, he accidentally touched the dislocated bone.

The wounded man cried out in pain and started shouting and cursing.

Uncle Yu looked at the wounded man, then looked at the room where Pei Yuan was, and turned around, "Deal with it!"

The Taoist priests who were waiting for orders looked at each other, drew their swords from their waists, and walked towards Pei Yuan's guest room.

Pei Yuan also took the Bazhou sword in his hand and unwrapped the cloth layer by layer.

Song Chunniang did not dare to bring out the Embroidered Spring Sword, and only took two daggers as preparations.

The two of them had been through a lot, and they knew what they should do without even looking at each other.

Pei Yuan slowly drew out his knife, moved lightly, and stood in front of the door.

Song Chunniang stood guard at the window with a dagger in her hand.

The four Taoists arrived at the door, and one of them gently pushed the bolt with a sword.

The bolt shook, making a slight sound, and was pushed open a little by the tip of the sword.

Pei Yuan watched patiently as the bolt was moved away little by little.

Then, the door was gently pushed open.

The moonlight from the courtyard leaked in, and before the Taoist priest could see clearly what was going on inside, he saw a streak of white light falling down, directly chopping down the Taoist priest who was about to enter the door.

Pei Yuan knew his own shortcomings in skills, so he thought of taking the initiative. He killed the man in front of him and immediately slashed at the other man in the chest.

The Taoist priest was also careless and had no time to react. He hurriedly held the sword in front of his chest to absorb the force.

Unexpectedly, he heard a crisp "clang" sound, and the sword in his hand broke in front of his astonished eyes.

Then, the heavy knife directly cut open his chest and abdomen.

The Taoist's face turned pale. He covered his stomach with the sleeves of his robe and suddenly threw several iron balls at Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan was dumbfounded for a moment.

It was the first time that he was counterattacked after he cut open someone's stomach.

Seeing those iron balls coming, he suddenly woke up as if from a dream and bent his arms to protect his head and face.

The iron balls were very powerful and hit Pei Yuan's arm, causing his face to twist in pain.

Fortunately, he still remembered that there was an enemy in front of him, so he kicked him again.

The Taoist priest had little strength left after shooting the iron ball.

He was kicked down by Pei Yuan, and his robe sleeve could not cover his body. His left hand flew out and his intestines flowed out from his arms.

Seeing this, Pei Yuan didn't dare to hesitate and directly chopped off the Taoist's head with a knife.

The fight was swift and agile. After Pei Yuan killed two people in a row, the two sleepy Taoists at the back finally reacted and hurriedly raised their swords to be on guard.

It just so happened that Uncle Yu also heard the crisp sound of the long sword being chopped off.

He turned around suddenly, his eyes gleaming, and shouted.

"What a thief!"

(End of this chapter)