Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 77 Gifting a Robe to Lu Fangweng

Yang Yuan pulled Lu You to the door and looked up at the second floor opposite.

There was indeed a crack in the upstairs window.

Although the light was dim, Luxi's surprised eyes could be vaguely seen under the cold moonlight.

Yang Yuan shook his head at her and stroked his lips with his finger.

Luxi immediately understood what he meant, nodded slightly to him, and closed the window.

Just as Yang Yuan was about to pull Lu You into the house, Old Man Song came into the yard.

Yang Yuan was startled and immediately snatched Lu You's sword, along with the weapons in his own hands, and bent down to put them behind a basket by the door.

Before he could straighten up, Old Man Song walked into the yard.

The great poet Lu was standing there in a white gown.

Father Song was stunned, and his tipsy eyes immediately became as sharp as a knife: "Who are you?"

Yang Yuan's back froze when he was about to straighten up. Then he calmly brushed his feet and slowly straightened up.

"Ah, Father Song, you're back. This... is my friend."

Yang Yuan helped Lu You and said, "He just arrived in Lin'an today and has not yet found a place to stay.

"It just so happens that my brother is on duty tonight and won't be coming back to stay, so I let him stay here temporarily."

Lu You had understood what was going on and bowed to Old Man Song: "Hello, Mr. Song."

Yang Yuan turned to Lu You and said angrily, "There is a toilet behind the bed. You don't need to go outside to relieve yourself.
"Why are you being so polite to me? You didn't even wake me up. Fortunately, I was awake while I was sleeping..."

After saying this, Yang Yuan said to Old Man Song with a big smile on his face: "Dad has gone out to have a drink, you should go to bed early, we will be back soon."

Old Man Song looked at Lu You, but his features were not very clear under the moonlight.

But he looks like he is no more than 30 years old, and is more stable than Yang Yuan, and doesn't seem like a lazy guy.

Old Man Song nodded to Lu You and said kindly, "So you are Erlang's friend. It's late at night, so I won't chat with you any more. Go and have a rest."

After saying that, Old Man Song returned to his room.

Yang Yuan heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the sound of him dropping the door bolt. He bent down to pick up the sword and crossbow from behind the basket and walked into the room in a hurry.

Looking back, Yang Yuan saw Lu You still standing there in a daze, so he whispered, "Come in quickly!"

When Lu You entered the room, Yang Yuan had already placed his sword and crossbow on the table, turned on the light, and came back to close the door.

With the help of the light, Yang Yuan looked at Lu You again and couldn't help but marvel at him.

It was an amazing feeling to be able to see with my own eyes the people whom I had only seen in history books before.

Moreover, in his impression, Lu Fangweng should be an old scholar with a bitter and vengeful face.
I didn't expect that the man I saw with my own eyes was not only in his prime, but also had martial arts skills that seemed even better than mine.

In fact, this is a deviation from his inherent impression.

Many of the scholars in the Song Dynasty were both civil and military.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Heng, the top scholar of the Song Dynasty, was sent as an envoy to the Liao Kingdom. He was provoked by the general of the Liao Kingdom at a banquet.
At that time, the top scholar drew his bow and shot three arrows in succession, all of which hit the bull's eye, which even surprised the Liao emperor.

Liu Kai, a great writer of the Song Dynasty, was even more brave.

When he was thirteen years old, he used a sword to kill bandits. When he traveled around, he killed thieves who ran black shops, killed bullies who bullied the people, and fought bloody battles with the Liao army on the battlefield.

As for the Lu You in front of us, he was originally from Shanyin, Yuezhou, and came from a prominent family.

His great-grandfather once served as Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel, and his grandfather was a student of Wang Anshi and served as Youcheng of the Shangshu.

His father, Lu Zai, once served as the deputy envoy of Jingxi Road during the Northern Song Dynasty.

Lu You was born on a boat on the Huai River when Lu Zai and his wife were returning to Beijing to report on their work, so he was named "You".

Relying on the qualifications of his ancestors, he also participated in the "lock hall test" held for the second generations of senior officials at the end of last year.

Originally, he ranked first in the initial examination, beating Qin Xun, the grandson of Qin Hui.

As a result, Qin Hui secretly manipulated the situation and he was not admitted at all during the second exam, so naturally there was no question of his ranking.

Lu You originally thought that although he did not get a ranking in this special examination, Qin Xun would not take part in the national examination hosted by the Ministry of Rites. He might as well take part in the national examination to gain fame and at the same time clear his name.

Now the time is approaching, and the big exam will be held shortly after the "Tianshen Festival".

So even though his family lived not too far from Lin'an, he still lived in Lin'an to study and wait for the big exam.

On the one hand, living alone in the guest house means less disturbance from daily chores.

Secondly, he could also get to know some candidates from all over the country who came to take the exam.

I didn't expect to encounter such a thing tonight.

Although Lu You planned to pursue a career in literature, it did not mean that he was not good at martial arts.

Lu You was not only good at martial arts, but also had very advanced martial arts skills.

The prototype of Wu Song, the tiger-fighting hero in "Water Margin", is this Lu Fangweng.

He really did kill a tiger, but he didn't do it with his bare hands, he used a sword instead.

Yang Yuan turned on the light and then greeted Lu You again.

After a conversation between the two, Yang Yuan figured out why he had tracked him here.

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "Brother Lu is a person who is eager to help others and is kind-hearted.

"My eldest brother is a soldier in the imperial city, responsible for detecting and suppressing the whereabouts of Jin spies, and his actions must be secretive.

"Brother Lu, please don't tell anyone else about what happened tonight." Lu You smiled and said, "I understand. This matter ends here. I won't tell anyone else."

Lu You was a man of generous talent and a chivalrous nature. Although he came from a prominent family, he was not arrogant.

He loved making friends all his life, no matter if they were businessmen, Taoists, Buddhists, literati, or knights-errant, as long as they had similar personalities, he never cared about their backgrounds.

After Yang Yuan knew that he was Lu You, he also had a great liking for him.

Lu You could feel his closeness to him, and since he was a person who was good at making friends, the two of them had a very pleasant conversation for a while.

When Yang Yuan heard the fifth watch gong in the distance and saw Lu You in a small outfit, he said to him:

"Where do you live, Brother Lu? It's not convenient for you to leave at night in this state. Why don't you stay here for one night?"

Lu You smiled and said, "I live on Houshi Street, not far from here, so I won't bother you any more. It would be great if you could lend me a robe."

"Then please wait a moment, Brother Lu."

Yang Yuan went to his closet to look for his outer robe.

The two men were of similar height and weight, and Lu You could also wear Yang Yuan's robe.

Lu You borrowed his robe and said, "I have disturbed you for half the night, so I will take my leave now.

"I'll wash this robe and send it back to you."

Yang Yuan hurriedly said, "It's just a robe, why bother returning it! Just think of it as a gift from me, brother. However... it's not a new robe, so please don't be offended."

Lu You came from a wealthy family and would not be shy about such a small amount of money. Seeing that he was straightforward, I felt more favorable towards him.

Lu You said: "I met you today and had a very pleasant conversation with you. We got along very well.

"I don't know when my dear brother will be gone. Let's have a good drink together again."

Yang Yuan also wanted to make friends with this great poet, but he was so busy that he didn't have the time...

Yang Yuan suddenly had an idea and thought of the tide-playing party on May 19th.

Yang Yuan said to Lu You, "I have been so busy with worldly affairs these days that I really have no free time.

"However, on May 19th, I will go to the Wanghai Tower on Phoenix Mountain to watch the tide-playing show.

"Brother Lu, if you have time, why don't we have a drink together on Phoenix Mountain?"

Lu You said cheerfully: "I am just studying for the exam now, nothing else to do.

"Well, we'll meet on Phoenix Mountain on May 19th."

Yang Yuan took Lu You's sword and crossbow. Since the sword was not in its scabbard and the crossbow had lost its cloth bag, he found a bag and wanted to wrap them up.

When Lu You saw Yang Yuan looking at the crossbow, he smiled and said, "My dear brother, do you like this crossbow? This crossbow was originally for my self-defense while traveling and studying.

"Now I am just waiting for the big exam. After the big exam, if you pass, you can become an official. If you fail, you have to return home to visit your relatives.

"This crossbow is useless now. My dear brother, you gave me a robe, so I will give you this crossbow."

Yang Yuan was also a straightforward person. He didn't exchange pleasantries with him. He just smiled and said, "A robe in exchange for a crossbow. As a brother, I'm getting a great deal."

The two chatted for a while, agreed on a specific time to meet again, and then Lu You said goodbye and left.

While Old Man Song was still asleep, Yang Yuan hurried out to the backyard to check.

Of course, my eldest brother had taken the body away long ago.

Seeing that there was no blood on the ground, Yang Yuan felt relieved and returned home knowing that Old Man Song would not notice anything strange.

Old Man Song came back late from drinking yesterday, so he didn't get up so early today.

Lu Xi tiptoed downstairs, quietly opened the door, slipped out and immediately asked Yang Yuan about what happened last night.

After hearing Yang Yuan say that it was Yang Che and a colleague from the Imperial City Division who were hunting down the Jin spies, Lu Xi obediently stopped asking any more questions.

Yang Yuan didn't chop firewood this morning, and Old Man Song didn't get up yet, so he helped Lu Xi make breakfast in the kitchen.

Yang Yuanben knows how to cook. How many modern young men can’t cook?

So when Yang Yuan and Lu Xi worked together for the first time, they actually had a very good understanding of each other.

Sometimes, Lu Xi only needed to give her a look, and Yang Yuan would bring what she needed to her without her having to say anything.

When the whole city of Lin'an regained its vitality for a new day, when Old Man Song came to the kitchen in his slippers,
Yang Yuan had taken off her apron, hurriedly had breakfast, and left the snack bar to go to work.

Not long after Yang Yuan arrived at "Shuiyunjian", Qu Jianlei also arrived.

Mr. Qu now only tells stories in the four tile houses, but his performance starts in the afternoon and lasts until the evening, so he has free time in the morning.

If he always went to the Song family snack shop at night to listen to Yang Yuan telling him stories, if this happened too often, Old Man Song would inevitably become suspicious.

So Yang Yuan made an appointment to meet him here.

Fortunately, although Mr. Qu is now a well-known figure in Lin'an, not many people have seen his appearance.

Otherwise, his appearance would inevitably cause a commotion in the "Shuiyunjian" restaurant.

When Yang Yuan saw Mr. Qu arrived, he borrowed a room from Dan Niang.

As soon as the two of them sat down, Qu Jianlei smiled and said:
"I brought you five rolls of linen, three rolls of watering cloth, and one roll of Suzhou Bada brocade with flower and phoenix patterns.

I have put them all in the cabinet for the time being. When you return to the Song family at night, don’t forget to bring them back.”

Yang Yuan was surprised and asked, "Why did Uncle Qu suddenly give me such a generous gift?"

(End of this chapter)