Water Margin: From a White-Robed Scholar to Donning the Yellow Robe

The following day, Wang Lun and his group finally set off to leave Hujiazhuang.

Before setting off, Wang Lun left behind some valuables, worth approximately 20,000 strings of cash, as a gift to signify the alliance.

This amount of money, while not a large sum, is certainly not insignificant either.

The people of Hujiazhuang were overjoyed, never expecting Wang Lun to be so generous.

But three people were saddened.

One of them was Hu Taigong, who had received gifts from Wang Lun and was very troubled as to what kind of gift to give in return.

He even looked back at Hu Sanniang, thinking that if it weren't for the engagement with Zhu Biao, he could even betroth her to Wang Lun.

The second person who was saddened was Hu Cheng. He had finally learned some proper martial arts, but Yang Zhi was leaving. In the past few days, his martial arts had made great progress, and he had completely abandoned his previous narrow-minded ideas about martial arts.

He really wanted to continue learning martial arts from Yang Zhi. He looked at his father and even considered taking the initiative to join Liangshan Marsh.

The third person to be saddened was Hu Sanniang, who felt a strange affection for Wu Song. She thought that Wu Song was also interested in her, for example, asking her age through the lilac flower, praising her beauty, and teaching her the "Mandarin Duck Legs".

"Mandarin Duck Legs"—what a lovely name! Wu Song was truly thoughtful.

However, Wu Song was sometimes very cold to her. Yesterday, when he was teaching her the Mandarin Duck Leg, she thought that Wu Song would take the opportunity to take advantage of her while practicing.

She had even prepared herself mentally.

However, Wu Song did not do that; he didn't even touch the hem of her clothes.

Is it because I'm not attractive enough?

Hu Sanniang was filled with sorrow as she watched Wu Song mount his horse with a graceful and swift movement.

She glanced at her father, thinking she should find an excuse to go with the Liangshan bandits.

"Goodbye, everyone." Wang Lun, mounted on his horse, clasped his hands in a fist salute to the crowd.

Hu Taigong replied, "Now that we have an alliance, and your chieftain Yang Zhi is my son's mentor, if Chieftain Wang is in any danger, I will definitely send my son and daughter to Liangshan to help him."

"Alright, I won't stand on ceremony. From now on, the affairs of Hu Family Village are my affairs. Master Hu only needs to send a message, and I will invite Yang Zhi and Wu Song to come and help."

Upon hearing this, Hu Cheng and Hu Sanniang were overjoyed, even wishing that something big would happen to Hu Family Village immediately.

Wang Lun and his men finally rode away. After leaving Hu Family Village, Wang Lun looked back at Wu Song, who seemed completely unconcerned, and couldn't help but be secretly surprised.

Yesterday, he sent Wu Song to find Hu Sanniang, but Wu Song didn't return until dusk. He thought something had happened between Wu Song and Hu Sanniang.

As a result, Hu Sanniang looked preoccupied this morning, while Wu Song seemed relaxed.

"Brother Song, did you teach Hu Sanniang martial arts yesterday?" Wang Lun asked first.

"That's right, I taught him a set of Mandarin Duck Legs, which is the Shadowless Kick that you mentioned. But the name Shadowless Kick does sound better, so let's call it Shadowless Kick from now on."

Wu Song answered honestly.

Wang Lun's eyes lit up, and he taught Hu Sanniang leg techniques. Hu Sanniang's long, slender legs were the most captivating. Wu Song's fists were iron, but his heart might not be as iron.

He nodded slowly, looking at Wu Song thoughtfully.

Wu Song was puzzled. "Brother, why are you looking at me like that?"

Gongsun Sheng laughed and said, "You're teaching her the Mandarin Duck Leg technique, which will inevitably involve some physical contact. What do you think of Hu Sanniang?"

Wu Song was even more puzzled: "Physical contact? The key to the Mandarin Duck Kick lies in the unity of waist and stance. I taught her the horse stance, the kicking, and the triple kick. What contact is there? But she is very quick to learn and understands."

Wang Lun, Yang Zhi, Gongsun Sheng, Zhao Si, and Wu Dalang all stared at Wu Song at the same time.

Wu Song found it even stranger, scratched his head, and asked, "What's wrong with you all?"

"Erlang...you haven't figured it out yet." Wu Dalang sighed.

"Let me tell you a story," Wang Lun said earnestly.

Wu Song then looked at him intently.

"In the southwest, there was a kingdom called Dali, which lasted for hundreds of years. During that time, there was an emperor who was highly skilled in martial arts. He later became a monk and took the Dharma name Master Yideng. There was also a master named Zhou Botong... just as Wu Da said, he was like Wu Song, who had not yet achieved enlightenment."

Everyone strained their ears to listen, for they all knew that there was indeed a Dali Kingdom in the southwest, and this story must be true.

"Zhou Botong accompanied his senior brother to Dali Kingdom to visit Master Yideng. When he was bored, he met Yideng's concubine, named Yinggu. Zhou Botong then taught Yinggu acupressure skills. Acupressure skills are similar to Wu Song's Mandarin Duck Kick. In fact, they can be taught without physical contact, just by verbal explanation. However, if there is physical contact, the teaching will be even better."

Everyone knew that this was a way to educate Wu Song through a story, so they listened even more attentively.

Wu Song, however, was truly listening to the story and quickly asked, "What happened next?"

"Later, they developed feelings for each other and did unspeakable things. Zhou Botong then cuckolded Master Yideng."

Wu Song immediately shouted, "In my opinion, since Yideng has already become a monk, why does he need a concubine? He's been cuckolded, so he should just give the concubine to Zhou Botong."

Although Wang Lun was amazed by Wu Song's obtuseness in matters of the heart, he greatly admired his bold and unrestrained nature.

Everyone started discussing the story, creating a lively atmosphere that made the journey feel less tiring.

Wang Lun thought to himself, "I've read so many martial arts novels. If I could rewrite them in this era, wouldn't they be a huge hit?"

But then I thought, in this day and age there is neither the internet nor newspapers...

Huh? If there's no newspaper, can't we just publish one?

Wang Lun's heart skipped a beat.

As I was walking, I suddenly saw a large group of people rushing out from the side of the road ahead, holding wooden sticks, hoes and spatulas, which looked quite comical.

The leader shouted, "I planted this tree, and I own this road..."

He turned around and asked in a low voice, "How do I get this way?"

Wu Song laughed loudly and said, "Your Majesty, are you trying to rob me on the highway?"

The man nodded quickly: "That's right, bring out all the food and I'll let you through."

Those who don't rob valuables but only steal food must be refugees from somewhere who, driven by hunger, have no choice but to engage in robbery, a business with no capital to rely on.

Little did they know that their very first business deal would involve encountering the leaders of Liangshan Marsh.

Wang Lun asked with a smile, "Where do you come from?"

Just as the man was about to answer seriously, someone behind him quickly whispered, "Brother, we are robbers."

The man quickly realized that since they were robbers, they had to be aggressive.

He immediately forced a fierce expression and shouted, "Didn't you hear me? Take out all the food!"

Wu Song leaped off his horse and kicked a tree on the side of the road. The tree was as thick as a wrist, and it broke immediately after he kicked it, lying across the road.

The group immediately retreated, terrified.

"Fellow bandits, wouldn't you like to have food to eat every day?"

Wang Lun inquired enthusiastically.

The people looked at each other in disbelief. Was this man crazy? Who wouldn't want to have food to eat every day?

"As long as you come with me, I'll give you food right away, and I'll make sure you're well-fed from now on."

Wang Lun's words sounded like those of a human trafficker.

Seeing that the people were still hesitating, Wang Lun ordered Yang Zhi and the others to take out the dry rations from their horses and distribute them to everyone.