Who among the gangsters wants to fall in love?

Chapter 20 A Letter from a Distant Source

The silver moon hangs high in the sky and snow falls heavily. However, the best brothel in Taiyuan, Yehualou, is not as bustling tonight as it used to be. Tonight, Yehualou has been booked out... There are crowds of people downstairs, all of whom are guests who come here for its reputation or are familiar with the place. It is a rare opportunity for them to come here but they cannot go in to spend money, and they are obviously quite complaining.

Zhao Wumian walked through the streets and alleys holding Guan Yunshu's oil-paper umbrella before stopping in front of the building.

An old procuress was standing in front of Yehua Tower, waving her handkerchief and apologetically smiling at the guests downstairs, explaining things like 'Yuan Kui has reserved the whole place, so we have to close it' and 'Next time the girls will have to entertain you guys well'.

Guan Yunshu frowned slightly, with obvious disdain in his eyes, "Are you really going?"

"It's all here..."

"Dad... Dad, Dad..." As soon as Zhao Wumian finished speaking, a childish voice with a soft voice that couldn't even speak clearly came to his ears.

He looked over and saw a little girl wrapped up tightly like a little dumpling running towards him with short legs. She stood beside him, raised her tender face, and kept tapping her toes and stretching out her hands, "Dad, Dad..."

Zhao Wumian raised his eyebrows slightly: (^_)
Guan Yunshu was slightly surprised, "I didn't expect that the young master would have a daughter at such a young age..."

“What daughter? She’s not mine…” Zhao Wumian’s words sounded a little unconfident. He had no memory and really didn’t know whether he had been married before… It couldn’t be that she was his daughter, right?

Fortunately, a woman dressed simply came running over in a few seconds, picked up the little girl, and scolded her: "Yan'er, you have a father! How can you yell so carelessly!?"

After that, the woman bowed to Zhao Wumian and apologized, "Little brother, I'm so sorry. My daughter and I have just arrived in Taiyuan. My daughter was hungry, so I wanted to take her to the street to buy some candied haws. I got lost and ended up here... I'm so sorry for disturbing you."

The woman was not beautiful, rather she was ordinary, but she had a quiet temperament and a gentle voice, which gave Zhao Wumian a bit of Luo Chaoyan's feeling.

He smiled gently, "It's okay, but although Taiyuan's public security is much better than other towns in Jin, it's still not peaceful at night... Madam, please buy some candied haws and go back as soon as possible."

Seeing that Zhao Wumian was so easy to talk to, the woman breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. She took out a white jade tablet and handed it to Zhao Wumian, "I'm so sorry to disturb you, young master. My family runs a jewelry business. I give you this jade tablet. It's not a valuable thing, but just a good omen for peace..."

"Then I won't be polite."

The woman smiled so much that her eyes narrowed. After Zhao Wumian accepted it, she bowed again, then turned around and left with the little girl in her arms.

The little girl rested her head on the woman's shoulder, her big watery eyes still staring at Zhao Wumian, a pure smile on her tender face, she only knew to call out foolishly, "Daddy, Daddy..."

Looking at the backs of the mother and daughter, Zhao Wumian pondered for a moment, but raised the long sword in his hand... The little girl just now was actually looking at his sword. This sword belonged to Yan Jiu, and Su Qingqi said that Yan Jiu seemed to have a wife...

"What's wrong?" Guan Yunshu saw that he was in a daze, so he tilted his head and asked.

"It's okay, let's go." Zhao Wumian retracted his gaze and shook his head gently. Yan Jiu was seriously injured and could not get out of bed for a month. Meeting his wife and daughter here was not a big deal. It could only be confirmed that Yan Jiu was probably related to King Jin.

Guan Yunshu brought Zhao Wumian to the madam, handed over the invitation letter, and was politely invited into the gate.

Zhao Wumian was cautious. He took off his wrist guard, put down his sleeves to block the sword, and then followed Guan Yunshu into Yehua Tower.

The interior of Yehua Tower was gorgeously decorated, with silks and satins hanging in the air. It looked very romantic and one could do some aerial acrobatics, but the hall was empty except for four people sitting at a round table in the middle, and dancers playing music and dancing on a stage a little further away.

Guan Yunshu's eyebrows were relaxed a little by the lack of the expected love scene. The four people in the hall were slightly stunned when they saw her. The leader, a handsome young man in a green robe, stood up and said with a smile: "It's past the time now. I thought Miss Yunshu had something important to do and couldn't get away. I didn't greet you. Please forgive me. Yuzhong will drink a glass of wine as a punishment to show my apology."

Pei Yuzhong drank a cup of wine happily, and then introduced everyone present to Guan Yunshu one by one.

"This is Taoist Priest Xuanliu of Wugong Mountain. Xiaoxitian and Wugong Mountain belong to the three major sects. Miss Yunshu should have heard of him... This is the son of the Tian family in Xiliang, Brother Wenjing, whose swordsmanship is superb... This is one of the two evil spirits under the command of King Jin, on par with Gui Kui, Brother Jiang Bai, who is known as the unpredictable fate, and his horizontal training kung fu is a master of external kung fu that is unparalleled in the world."

Zhao Wumian took a few glances at him. Xuan Liu was wearing a Taoist robe and was no more than twenty years old with a calm expression. When he saw Zhao Wumian coming, he raised the wine glass in his hand as a greeting to him... Tian Wenjing was wearing a white robe and was waving a folding fan in a coquettish manner even in the middle of winter. Seeing this, he nodded slightly to greet him.

Although these two people didn't know Zhao Wumian, and didn't know why Guan Yunshu brought him to such a place, their attitudes were friendly. Only Jiang Bai, wearing a black robe, drank silently, and didn't even look at Zhao Wumian.

Pei Yuzhong finished his introduction and then looked at Zhao Wumian, "I wonder who this gentleman is..."

"Zhao Wumian..." Zhao Wumian just raised his hand when Jiang Bai interrupted him directly, "Let's stop with these polite words and get down to business as soon as possible. I have important matters to attend to and I don't have much time."

Pei Yuzhong shrugged, gave Zhao Wumian an apologetic look, and pointed to the seat next to him, "Miss Yunshu, Brother Zhao, please take a seat here. The main reason for calling all of you here is because of the recent uproar over the national capital."

Zhao Wumian secretly said that he had come to the right place, and sat down with Guan Yunshu in silence.

"You all came to Jin at this time, and you know what is going on in your heart, so I will get straight to the point... This banquet was actually secretly held by the King of Jin." Pei Yuzhong poured a glass of wine for Guan Yunshu and Zhao Wumian, and explained: "We dare not speculate on the King of Jin's intentions, but the King of Jin wants to know what our attitudes are towards the princess?"

Zhao Wumian understood that Prince Jin might not care about Yuankui, but he cared a lot about the forces behind Yuankui, such as Xuanliu and the three major factions behind Guan Yunshu. The families behind Pei Yuzhong and Tian Wenjing were also aristocratic families with a history of hundreds of years... The banquet was held this time in name only to exchange martial arts experiences, but in fact it was still a political stand.

"I went down the mountain only to save the dying and the wounded and to fulfill my duty as a righteous person." Xuan Liu was the first to shake his head lightly. His answer was impartial and there was nothing wrong with it.

Pei Yuzhong and Tian Wenjing’s opinions are similar. No matter which side you stand on, who would speak out their true feelings?
Only Guan Yunshu said seriously: "I may help the princess, or I may not, it depends on my heart."

After these words came out, Jiang Bai looked at Guan Yunshu calmly, "What do you mean by this? Can the monk explain it more clearly?"

"Monks don't tell lies. I've made it very clear." Guan Yunshu glanced at Jiang Bai with his almond-shaped eyes slightly narrowed.

The atmosphere seemed to be a little tense, so Pei Yuzhong looked at Zhao Wumian, who had been silent, and changed the subject, asking: "Brother Zhao is a new face, and it seems that he is not among the top candidates, but he must have something extraordinary to be appreciated by Miss Yunshu. May I ask what school or sect you learned from?"

"It's not from any famous sect... I'm just a disciple of Fengling Yueying Sect." Zhao Wumian laughed and said casually.

"Not well-known." Jiang Bai shook his head slightly, feeling bored. He couldn't get any useful information from these young people. He stood up. It turned out that someone came from outside the building and whispered something in Jiang Bai's ear.

Jiang Bai nodded and bowed slightly to the people present. "I still have things to deal with, so I will not accompany you all. All your expenses tonight will be borne by King Jin. I hope you all have fun in Taiyuan."

After saying this, he waved his robe and strode away.

Zhao Wumian glanced at him sideways, his eyes slightly narrowed, wondering whether he should follow him and kill him... Although he didn't expect to be able to find out the whereabouts of the Thousand-Li Horse from this martial arts master, the fewer masters under King Jin there were, the better.

He just didn't know Jiang Bai's strength. But since he was praised by Pei Yuzhong, the leader, as a master of horizontal training, he must be very strong. If he escaped, he would have no chance of stealing a thousand-mile horse. He should pack his luggage and take the two women with him to escape as soon as possible before King Jin sent troops to blockade Taiyuan.

Just as Zhao Wumian was weighing the pros and cons, he suddenly heard the exasperated scream of the madam outside the building, "Hey, where did this big white bird come from? Don't, don't tickle me..."

When everyone looked sideways, they saw a fat white eagle rushing in from outside the building, holding a bunch of mailboxes in its claws.

"What a fat bird. If I stew it...hmm." Guan Yunshu raised his little face, his tone slightly surprised.

"Hiss... This, is this Brother Yan Jiu's Snow Owl?" Only Tian Wenjing patted his palms with his folding fan and said uncertainly.

"Yan Jiu?" Zhao Wumian was slightly stunned, but saw that the snow owl fell straight down when it saw the few people, stood on the round table, looked around arrogantly, and handed the mailbox to... Zhao Wumian.

Zhao Wumian looked a little puzzled. He took the letter tube, poured out the letter, looked at it carefully, pondered for a moment, then glanced at the big white bird, and bowed slightly to everyone, "There are some emergencies that Zhao needs to deal with. I hope you can forgive me... Goodbye!"

After saying this, he left in a hurry.

(End of this chapter)