Chapter 16 Chapter 1 Jinling

Jinling City, Tianfeng Building on Xuanwu Street, three floors, five bays and five depths. I am standing outside the Accord on the second floor of Tianfeng Building, with a bounty wanted in my arms. Bounty Wanted, as the name suggests.Whenever the government encounters a troublesome bandit, a red list will be posted outside the government office, indicating the reward if a certain bandit can be captured and brought to justice. What I have in my arms now is a card with the seal of the prefect of Jinling, A reward of one hundred taels of silver for arresting the flower-picking thief and more than a thousand reds.

I tidied up my clothes for the last time, raised my hand and knocked on the door of the Accord in front of me. "Come in." With a reply, I opened the door and walked in. The folding fan in Guo Qianhong's hand stopped, and the hand stroking the enchanting woman beside her also stopped, her peach eyes slowly widened until they became two peaches. "Guo Qianhong, we meet again." I smiled and waved to him. The next moment, the wine table in front of Guo Qianhong stood up, and the table was full of wine and dishes, with cups and cups of soup and water, and Guo Qianhong's distraught voice came from behind the table: "Your Majesty, you are here!" !"

The long sword slashed out, and the table split in two in front of me, flying to both sides. I brought Yang Liufeng to my eyes, blew on the edge of the sword, and still smiled: "Guo Qianhong, who are you scolding?" Guo Qianhong pushed away the enchanting woman in her arms, and took out a golden-backed sword from behind: "Okay! I didn't want to be as knowledgeable as you, but now you keep pestering me, don't blame me for being ruthless!" The corner of my mouth twitched: "I said, my lord, look at your golden backed sword, don't you think you are more like a bandit?"

Guo Qianhong blushed, turned from embarrassment into anger, shouted loudly, raised her knife and slashed at her. The swords met, and the room was full of cold light. He and I had already gone through a few tricks. Although Guo Qianhong had trampled on many young girls and was notorious, but his saber technique was really bad, after more than a dozen moves, he saw that there was no hope of winning, so he slashed in vain and ran downstairs instead. I followed closely, and before I could go down the stairs, I heard a shout from the door: "Where are you going?" A girl in green shirt suddenly jumped out and kicked Guo Qianhong on the forehead: "Follow me to surrender!"

Guo Qianhong's burly body passed through the large lobby and hit the stairs, smashing the stairs into pieces.Sawdust flew around. I hurriedly avoided, jumped to the side and pointed at the girl with my sword: "What are you doing?" The girl was wearing a light green gauze shirt, her complexion was more snowy than snow, her crescent-like eyes were as clear as water, she slid around me and said, "Catch whores." I took out the red list from my pocket: "Look clearly, I was the one who revealed the arrest warrant from the government." She looked me up and down: "You must fight me?"

I also looked her up and down: "It's you who must fight me!" "Miss Zhong, this girl..." The shopkeeper hiding at the side cautiously interjected, "The customer just now has left..." I quickly turned around, and Guo Qianhong, who was lying on the ground, had disappeared, and she was so busy bickering with this girl that she let him slip away! "Both of you, compensation for food and drink and damage to utensils..." the shopkeeper continued in a low voice. Without thinking, I pointed my finger straight at the past: "She pays!" "She pays!" Like an echo, the girl's slender fingers also pointed.

The girl and I looked at each other, turned around and ran out the door in a tacit understanding, leaving the shopkeeper alone and calling feebly: "Miss Zhong, this girl..." I ran out two streets and turned to hide in an alley. I was out of breath and stuck my head out. Fortunately, no one chased me. "No one is chasing us, right?" An equally panting voice sounded beside me, and the girl was standing next to me in the alley. I looked back at her: "No." Then I stretched out a hand, "My name is Ling Cangcang, nice to meet you." She raised her hand and patted mine: "Zhong Lin, nice to meet you."

I nodded, turned my head away, and then turned back: "You are from Jinling Zhong's family!" The girl raised her eyebrows, and a layer of arrogance appeared on Mingyan's face: "If you don't want to change your name, if you don't want to change your surname, I am Zhong Lin, the seventeenth generation eldest daughter of the Zhong family." The Zhong family is a well-known martial arts family in Jinling City, almost everyone knows it. I looked at her like an idiot: "The shopkeeper recognizes you and calls you Miss Zhong. Even if you run away... the bill will be sent to Zhong's house."

Zhong Lin's bright eyes slowly opened, and he said to himself, "Yeah...why am I running?" She jumped up suddenly: "It's over, send the bill back, Daddy will definitely not let me go..." She slapped me on the shoulder, "The green mountains will not change, and the green water will flow forever, this hero, we will meet again later. " I was still in a daze, the green figure had disappeared into the depths of the alley. Now that I lost track of Guo Qianhong, I had no choice but to wander around. After the New Year's celebration was over a few months ago, I asked my father and Xiao Qianqing to declare to the outside world that I was having a baby, stopped meeting foreign ministers, and sneaked out of the capital.

When I came out, I didn't have much money with me, but later I was short of money, so I found a government office and issued two arrest warrants that I could settle with my own efforts. In this way, I can live on the bounty and be self-sufficient. Of course, Gu Xingying still knows my whereabouts, so Xiao Qianqing will come out to look for me when the government is not so busy, and tell me the latest situation in the court by the way. Unknowingly, I have been wandering outside for several months, from the beginning of spring to mid-spring, and from mid-spring to early summer, and my footprints are almost all over the country.

I wandered around the street for a long time, but I didn't find any trace of Qian Hong again. I chased this prostitute for three days, let him slip away several times, and finally stopped him in a restaurant today. I thought that one hundred taels of silver would be very safe. I was about to get it, but I didn't expect it to be messed up by that eldest lady. It was not early in the morning, and after a while, it was already night. I am penniless now, and I have no money to stay in a hotel, so I avoid the slaves who watch the night, and want to find a corner for a night. As I was walking, I suddenly saw a black shadow flashing across the alley in front of me. Curious in my heart, I quickly chased after him. Taking advantage of the moonlight, I saw a masked man in black. I whispered: "Who are you? What do you do?" The man stood straight, gurgled a few times in his throat, and suddenly fell back stiffly. I was startled, and waited for a while, seeing that he was no longer moving, I walked over carefully and pulled off the veil covering his face. Under the moonlight, his eyes were wide open, a stream of blood flowed from his mouth and nose, and he had long since passed away. At the entrance of the alley came the footsteps of night watchmen. It would be hard for them to see me right next to such a corpse. At the bottom of the alley was a low wall. Without thinking, I jumped over and leaned under the wall. As soon as I went down and waved my hand, I bumped into something soft, and there was a muffled groan. I was alert and drank in a low voice: "Who..." My mouth was immediately covered with one hand, the footsteps of the soap slags had already reached outside the wall, I quickly held my breath, and the slightly heavy breathing of the person behind me also dropped. The soap slaves found the corpse on the ground, made a noise and searched around for a while. The light of the torch gradually faded away, and suddenly there was a coughing sound behind me. The man let go of his hand covering my mouth, and leaned against the wall, coughing violently. I looked at him by the moonlight: he was wearing a moon-white gown, with some blood on his chest, his handsome face was pale, and his body trembled with the sound of coughing. "Did you hurt your lungs?" I took out a handkerchief from my pocket and handed it over. He took the handkerchief and said with some difficulty, "Thank you..." I waited for him to cough for a while and asked, "Did you kill that person?" "Hmm." He responded lightly, and removed the handkerchief from his mouth, still coughing and unable to speak. "Be careful." As I said, I bent down to caress his back as I was used to. The moment I put my body on it, I was suddenly stunned. This is obviously a completely strange person with a completely strange breath, but why, I suddenly thought of that person? The man seemed to be stunned too, I paused, held his shoulders, and then stroked his back. After a while, his breath finally calmed down a little, he smiled lightly, and then thanked: "Thank you." I nodded: "You're welcome." Seeing that he was able to stand on his own, I let go and took a step back, "Even if it is an enemy, it's fine to restrain the opponent with your hands, there is no need to kill them all." "You..." He paused for a moment, then laughed lightly, "Little girl, are you trying to teach me a lesson?" I froze for a moment, then nodded: "Why, can't I teach you a lesson?" He laughed: "Yes...why not?" As he spoke, he suddenly grabbed my shoulders and pressed me against the wall, while a strong wind swung out from his palm. A gray figure rushed towards us, the two palms collided, and there was a muffled "boom", and the figure fell far away. I just breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly felt a piece of damp heat, the body of the person in front of me shook and fell down. His head was falling into my arms, I hurriedly grabbed his shoulders and asked, "Why do you..." His lips were covered by a cold hand, and his voice was very low: "Shh..." I hurriedly silenced, waited for a while to calm down, and made sure that there were no other enemies, so I lowered my voice: "What should we do now?" The man leaned over me motionless and did not answer. I hurriedly lifted his body up, his head hung down weakly, and by the moonlight, I could see the residual red at the corner of his mouth and the mottled blood spots on the moon-white gown on his chest, and he had already passed out. Is it a bad thing or a good thing to pick up a passed out stranger next to a dead body in the middle of the night? Anyway, it shouldn't be a bad thing for me, because this person has money, and the money is enough for me to find a hotel and open a room. Anyway, I don't have to sleep on the streets tonight. I dragged the man to the bed in the inn after a lot of hardships, I breathed a sigh of relief, sat on the chair and rubbed my shoulders. "My shoulder hurts after such a long journey... Have you ever practiced martial arts?" A weak voice suddenly came from the bed, the voice was low, but there was a smile in the words. I turned around and glared at him: "How dare you say that? Who made you so heavy? Did you wake up a long time ago? Pretend to be unconscious and let me carry you?" "Even if I wake up... I can't walk." He replied confidently. I had nothing to say to him. I picked up the teapot on the table and poured a cup of tea. When I looked up, I saw the person on the bed with his head tilted, his eyes fixed on the teacup in my hand. I saw his pale and chapped lips, and raised the teapot in his hand: "Want to drink?" "Yeah." He nodded honestly. I went to the bed and lifted his head up, fed him slowly, and pulled the quilt for him. He drank some water, seemed to be in better spirits, leaned on the pillow and looked at me thoughtfully: "You are still a little girl...why are you wandering around outside in the middle of the night?" I didn't bother to talk to him: "You are not very old, thank you for your concern." The man smiled and didn't speak any more. I was indeed tired. I put the chairs together in the room, pulled a quilt and put it on, and just fell asleep like this. When I woke up, it was already dawn. When I got up, I saw a piece of paper in front of me, with two lines of big characters written on it: I am Muyan of Fenglai Pavilion, and I will definitely thank you for the gift of the handkerchief in the future. Looking back, there was no one on the bed. I went out and asked the waiter in the store to ask, and the waiter said that the customer had left early in the morning. Really... I really want to thank me, just leave me a few ingots of silver. As a result, I left the inn early in the morning, still penniless, not even money for breakfast. Wandering around in the street, I still regretted not taking the money bag on the man's body while he was unconscious. I was walking blindly like this, and I accidentally walked to the middle of the street, and it happened that a big carriage was rushing towards me from the other side of the street.The coachman who was driving the carriage had sharp eyesight and quick hands, pulled the reins, and the carriage slid about Zhang Xu before barely stopping in front of me. The coachman was furious, pointed at me with his horsewhip and cursed: "Don't you have eyes when you walk? Who are you if I couldn't stop the car and killed me?" I was full of annoyance, and I glanced at him sideways: "Don't worry, your car won't hit this girl to death." The coachman was so angry that he blushed for a moment and couldn't speak. I don't know if it was an illusion, but I heard two very light coughs from the carriage behind him, and then the curtain of the carriage was lifted a little, revealing a hand as white as jade, it was a woman's voice, tactfully Crisp, but with an inexplicable chill: "Zhou Yu, it's important to hurry." The coachman answered "yes" and looked at me still angrily, then put the reins back together and prepared to drive on the road. I glanced at the light blue curtain hanging on the car window, quickly called out "slow", and stretched out my hand to block the car: "Although I didn't hit it just now, you have to give me some money to scare me." Although this carriage looks quite simple, the curtains hanging on the windows are western silks of fifty taels of silver each!Wrap the windows of the car with silk that is not even in stock in Ouchi's warehouse... The owner of this car is simply extravagant!If I don't extort some money from him, that's just unacceptable. The coachman was probably really angry, and blushed and scolded: "It was you who rushed in front of the car and blocked the road, and the crime of not asking you is already settled! You still come to blackmail?" I glared at him: "Who are you talking about blackmailing? Are you still asking for guilt? What a big air! Do you think you are a government?" The coachman wanted to scold me again, but was interrupted by that cold voice: "Zhou Yu!" This time the curtain was lifted, and the owner of the voice leaned out halfway. She looked about eighteen or nineteen years old. She was dressed in white with no decorations, and there was not even a little gold or jade on her black hair. She was just tied into a bunch with ribbons. , casually hanging on the shoulders. Calling the coachman, she turned her cold and almost empty eyes to look at me, her face was still as expressionless as jade snow: "This girl, please don't make noise, please stay a little longer." After finishing speaking, he lowered the car curtain and turned his head to ask the people in the car softly.It turns out that this person is not the rightful owner. I looked into the car with some curiosity. The light was dim and I couldn't see the figures inside. The woman came back soon, holding a small white jade pendant in her hand: "The pavilion master said, please take this personal belonging of the pavilion master, and go to the main hall of Fenglai Pavilion to ask for compensation." I took the letter from her hand with suspicion. It was a phoenix-shaped jade pendant. It was exquisitely carved, and the jade material was also high-quality. familiar. I put the jade pendant on the tip of my nose and sniffed it, it really is Ruinaoxiang. The woman waited for me to finish researching the jade material, put the jade pendant on her nose and sniffed it as if she had never seen the world, and said lightly: "It's okay." Only then did I realize it, and quickly smiled, "Okay, that's fine." As I spoke, I stepped aside to let the carriage out of the way. Not to mention going to the main hall to ask for money, just this jade pendant can have a hundred and eighty taels of silver, and the rich don't take advantage of it. The woman nodded, glanced at me again, and raised her hand to signal the driver to drive the carriage. The driver flicked his whip, and the carriage passed in front of me. I stood on the side of the road, watching the carriage go away, my mind went blank for a moment. Suddenly a voice of astonishment came from behind: "This girl...do you know who you have robbed?" How did this man talk, what robbery?Girl, let me ask for some legitimate compensation. How do you call it robbery? I turned around and saw a very young swordsman standing there, dressed in white, with a long sword tied tightly to his back, staring at me with wide-eyed eyes, with an expression of disbelief. I glanced at him: "Why, who is that person in the car?" The white-clothed swordsman took a deep breath: "The man in the car...is the White Pavilion Master of Fenglai Pavilion." Fenglai Pavilion, speaking of it, the ice beauty just now seemed to be asking me to go to the main hall of Fenglai Pavilion to collect money, and the guy who ran away after writing a "thank you very much" this morning seems to have also said that he is Fenglai Pavilion... Wait, Fenglai Pavilion? It is the one that has sprung up rapidly in the Jianghu in recent months. It has developed from the most famous killer organization in the underworld to the current one that dominates the south and north of the Yangtze River. The Fenglai Pavilion of the big gang that does not operate? Then the person sitting in that carriage was after the previous Pavilion Master was killed, he subdued the several factions that were constantly fighting with each other, and in just a few months expanded the organization that was originally precarious into the behemoth that dominates the martial arts world today. According to the rumors in the rivers and lakes, his wrists are so tough and vicious that even Feng Yuanjiang, the former pavilion master known for his iron fist, can't match the current pavilion master of Fenglai Pavilion? I actually extorted a shock fee from the owner of the Fenglai Pavilion... The young swordsman in white shook his head and sighed: "Pavilion Master Bai is really kind-hearted, he doesn't even care about such a scoundrel's extortion, but now the Master of Pavilion Bai is rushing to Zhong's house, maybe he is in a hurry..." I froze for a moment and asked, "Did you just mention the Zhong family?" The white-clothed swordsman nodded: "Yes, last night, the Zhong family in Jinling was destroyed, and now only Miss Zhong is left alive." I was stunned, Zhong Lin whom I met yesterday?That girl with a bright smile, her family was destroyed in just one night? I quickly asked: "Master Bai is rushing to go, does this matter have something to do with Fenglai Pavilion?" The white-clothed swordsman nodded: "The surviving young lady of the Zhong family insisted that it was Fenglai Pavilion's Master Muyan Mu who led people into her house, and now Fenglai Pavilion cannot escape suspicion." Muyan?that person?I was full of doubts: "When was the Zhong family destroyed?" The white-clothed swordsman shook his head: "I don't know, maybe it's the middle of the night, and there are few patrol officials." Yes, if it was the first half of the night, there would be more Zaoli patrolling the streets, they wouldn't be discovered until dawn, and Muyan has been injured and lethargic since she met me. It is impossible for him to go to Zhongfu to kill people, he was framed. Let's go to Zhong's mansion first, then I made up my mind, turned around and hurried to the Zhong's house. Not long ago, I arrived outside the vermilion lacquered gate of Zhong's house, where the carriage of the owner of Fenglai Pavilion was also parked. A lot of people were crowded at the entrance of Zhongfu, and Zaoli, who was wearing a black and red official uniform, surrounded the gate with a knife. Apart from the idlers, there were several groups of Fenglai Pavilion disciples in white clothes and blue belts standing neatly on the other side of the gate, neither making noise nor moving. I squeezed through the crowd of spectators, and said to those Fenglai Pavilion disciples: "Let me see your Pavilion Master, I have something to say to him, last night your Pavilion Master Mu was with me, and I can testify that he did not kill anyone." .” The faces of those Fenglai Pavilion disciples were a little shaken, and one of them stood up and clasped their fists: "Thank you for your righteous words, Pavilion Master Bai is talking to Lord Tongju in the Zhong Mansion right now, please wait a little longer, and let me tell the Pavilion Master." I also clasped my fists in return: "You're welcome, please go ahead." The disciple jumped over the soap slaves and hurried into the courtyard. After a while, the disciple who went in came out, walked over, clasped his fists and smiled and said: "The pavilion master can't get away now, please ask the lady to go to the main hall of Fenglai Pavilion for a while, I wonder if it is convenient for the lady?" I nodded quickly: "It's okay, it's convenient for me." The disciple smiled again, turned around and made a gesture of invitation, and let me go in front of the black carriage. The coachman named Zhou Yu was still there, seeing me with wide eyes: "Why are you here again?" I smiled at him: "Don't worry, it's not about asking for money this time." The disciple smiled and explained: "Pavilion Master Bai told me to escort this girl to the main hall." Zhou Yu glanced at me again, and snorted coldly, as if quite displeased. I stooped to get into the car, and the car was more spacious than it looked outside, with a small table and two seats.I sat down and knocked on the small table in front of me. It was made of high-quality rosewood, Suzhou precision craftsmanship, and it was no worse than the ones in the Forbidden Palace. The disciple also sat with me, and Zhou Yu in front drove the carriage with a whip. Sitting in the car, I realized that besides the faint aroma of Ruinao, there was also some vague medicinal fragrance in the car. I remembered the light cough I heard outside the car. The master of the Fenglai pavilion seemed to be in poor health . Thinking of this, I casually asked the disciple beside me: "Dare to ask this noble name, but is it the altar master in your pavilion?" The disciple laughed: "My surname is Qin, and I am just an ordinary disciple in the pavilion. Because I came early today, I was temporarily appointed by the pavilion master to be in charge outside the gate of Zhongfu." It is not unreasonable for an ordinary disciple to be so calm, courteous and restrained, and Fenglai Pavilion can rise rapidly in the arena with many sects. While speaking, the main hall of Fenglai Pavilion has arrived.The disciple surnamed Qin let me out of the car and led me through the wide vestibule to the backyard. The main hall of Fenglai Pavilion is not the kind of courtyard with strict layout that enters and exits several times. On the contrary, in the courtyard there is a pile of beautiful rockery here, and there is a corridor of embracing buildings there. The private gardens of dignitaries and ministers were rebuilt. The disciple took me along a zigzag path to the depths of the courtyard, bypassed several rockery stone bridges, and walked through two corridors, which made my head dizzy, and we were in front of an inconspicuous water pavilion stop. In the middle of the outer room of the waterside pavilion is a brass four-corner incense burner half a person's height, and the extremely clear and elegant Ruinao fragrance is wafting away. The curtain in the inner room is half-drawn, revealing a mahogany table facing the door. Although the furnishings in this room are neat and elegant, the furniture and objects are much more common, much simpler than the windows of the carriage wrapped in such expensive silk. The disciple invited me to sit outside, said: "Wait a moment." Then he withdrew. I was bored in my free time, drinking tea while looking at the outer room, a row of bookshelves neatly stacked with various books and files, a pot of asparagus with dense branches and leaves placed on a flower and wooden shelf, and a clean sheet with no traces. The dusty desk and the armchair behind it are all the furnishings in the house.This is probably the place where Fenglai Pavilion Master handles his daily affairs. After looking at these, I stopped my eyes on the hanging scroll next to the flower and wooden frame, and there were only two lines of clear and elegant cursive: it's not about the light appearance, but the cold place is better. Except for these few words, there is neither a signature nor a seal on the snow-white Hanyun jade plate. At first glance, I actually felt that the handwriting on the scroll seemed familiar, so I couldn't help staring at it for a while. Before I had time to think about it, a disciple dressed in white came in from the door and said to me with a smile, "Let the girl wait anxiously." I stood up with a smile, but as soon as I stood up, my eyes suddenly went dark. The disciple's voice came: "Young lady offended."