Chapter 5 Chapter 5: A bolt from the blue

When Kou Zhong woke up, it was still dark. Thinking of yesterday's eloquent lotus flowers, cheating food and housing, even the county master regarded them as VIPs, and felt very pleased. When he opened his eyes, he realized that Xu Ziling, who was sleeping next to him, had woken up early. He was half-sitting and half-lying, with his hands on the pillow of his head, and his eyes were fixed on the ceiling of the tent, thinking that he was in a trance. Kou Zhongzheng was worried that no one would share his glory, so he sat up happily and said, "Look, Xiaoling! In Yangzhou City, we are beggars and hooligans, but as soon as we leave Yangzhou City, we will become young masters. This is the first time in this world that my two brothers have slept together. On such a comfortable bed, hugging the fragrant quilt and dreaming. There are little beauties waiting for you when you undress and dress, ah! After being touched by Miss Xiaojuan's little hand, I already feel like I have become a prime minister."

Xu Ziling said indifferently: "If you can't think of a way to escape and send someone back to Yangzhou, that would be really great." Kou Zhong smiled lowly and said, "Don't worry about 120,000 people. After we've fed our stomachs, we'll come back and pick up some high-quality goods, and then we'll find any excuses, such as wanting to see the scenery and so on. When we go outside the town, Isn't it easy to take a walk?" Xu Ziling knew that he was scheming, so he was not really worried. He sighed and didn't say anything else. Kou Zhongqi said: "You didn't sleep well last night, did you? Why did you wake up so early?"

Xu Ziling said angrily, "We went to bed after dinner last night, we've had enough sleep!" Kou Zhong stepped forward and said: "Then what are you thinking about? Hey! You are not thinking about that wicked woman, are you?" Xu Ziling obviously wanted to tell him what was on his mind, but he didn't make a sound. Kou Zhong moved close to him, leaned against his shoulder and said, "Two brothers in the same world, Xiaoling, you are in love with him, right?" Xu Ziling said: "Fuck your mother, she is at least half my own mother, and as she said, we don't even have the qualifications to talk to her. It's just strange, you bastard always The most beautiful girl, this woman is more beautiful than any girl we have ever seen before, why do you always force her to go? She looks fierce on the outside, but she is really good to us, otherwise she would not be taken away We'll send it to the gate of the town."

Kou Zhong sighed and said: "I'm just thinking about our future, because this wicked woman is so beautiful, and we had a physical relationship with her before, so we have to be very careful. A man puts merits first, especially ours. If you are not successful, you should avoid being obsessed with beauty, so that your ambition will be depressed, hey! What are you laughing at, ha..." When the two were laughing together, it was already dawn, and the sound of servants cleaning was faintly heard outside. Kou Zhong rubbed his sore legs, and said: "Let me lie to Shen Xian Cheng that he wants to ride a horse for a stroll, so that when he slips away, he can hurry up and have horse legs to replace our prime minister and general. expensive legs."

Xu Ziling smiled wryly, "Do you know how to ride a horse?" Kou Zhong proudly said: "What's the problem, just climb on the saddle, correct the direction of the horse's head, hit the horse's buttocks twice, won't it be done?" Xu Ziling was about to talk about him when there was a knock on the door. Kou Zhong thought it was the handsome sister Xiaojuan again, coughed dryly and said, "Come in!" The door opened, and the short and fat Shen Xiancheng rushed in like a whirlwind, came to the bed of the two, and hurriedly saluted: "It's good that the two young masters woke up, I got the news last night, Uncle Yuwen My lord is spreading my hands to search for the whereabouts of the two young masters. I have sent people to contact Uncle Ling overnight. Master Yuwen will come at any time. When the two young masters see Uncle Ling, don’t forget to tell the officials Two good words."

Kou and Xu seemed to be thrown from the fairy world into the 18th floor of hell, their hands and feet were cold, and their souls were stunned. Shen Xiancheng thought they were stupefied with joy, bowed and said: "I ordered my servants to wait for the two young masters to bathe and change clothes. The next official will wait for the two young masters to have breakfast together in the hall, and I will take my leave first." He just withdrew, and then four servant girls including Xiaojuan came and waited on them attentively, much more grandly and thoughtfully than yesterday. The terrible thing is that both Zhou Ping and Chen Wang came to accompany them attentively, teaching them how to do nothing and how to escape.

When it was time to have dinner with Shen Xian Cheng, the battle was even more serious, more than a dozen yamen servants lined up on both sides to serve the waiters, and the two of them were terrified and miserable after eating. After being kicked hard by Xu Ziling under the stage, Kou Zhong laughed and said, "I don't know if there are any places of interest near the county town. Anyway, my uncle hasn't come here yet, so I took this opportunity to watch and play. It's not in vain to have visited here. .” Shen Xiancheng's facial features were all crowded together, showing an extremely ugly smile, and said with an apologetic smile: "In recent years, there have been many thieves, and it is still not suitable for the two young masters to go outside the town, otherwise, if something happens, how can the county afford it?" .”

Kou Zhong wished he could be pinched to death, so of course he pretended to be willing to obey his orders and said, "Your Majesty is really thoughtful, hey! For the benefit of Your Majesty, we two brothers will report the truth to uncle and let him reward him for his merits, but Our two brothers are most afraid of hanging out in the house, how about this, is there any place for fun in the county, such as brothels and prostitutes, alas, after leaving Dadu, there has been no... Hey! The county magistrate should also know that there is nothing, I thought that when I arrived in Yangzhou, I would have a good time, but now that I have slept soundly, I have to go anyway. Ha... Such trivial matters, naturally, the county magistrate will not be troubled."

Zhou Ping at the back said: "But the girls in the building are afraid they haven't woken up yet!" Shen Xiancheng shouted: "Teach them to get up before they get up!" When facing Kou and Xu, they immediately changed their smiles back, and channeled: "This is just a small matter, and the lower officials will arrange everything." He shouted to Zhou Ping again. "Not yet to arrange it properly." Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged glances, secretly thinking that if they couldn't escape through the brothel, their great future and precious little life would all be ruined.

The two sat in the carriage, accompanied by Cheng Xiancheng personally, and drove towards the largest brothel in the county. Beipo County is the leading large county near Yangzhou. The bustling situation is not much inferior to Yangzhou City. Because it belongs to Jiangdu County and has direct export channels, the handicraft industry is particularly prosperous. It's a pity that the two of them had their own lives at stake, even though the Prime Minister of Shen County was talking nonsense about promoting his virtue in the county, giving pointers along the way, the two of them had no intention of loading it up and responded casually.

Especially after seeing more than a dozen county guards riding horses to protect them, the feeling is not much different from that of prisoners being escorted to the execution ground. In fact, Kou Zhong is very quick-witted, thinking that only by hiding in the room with the girl from the brothel, can he have a chance to avoid other people's sight, but it is still unknown whether he can successfully escape, so he is secretly worried. The biggest threat is that Yu Wenhuaji will come at any time. Beating them back to their original form will not only lose face but also cost their lives. Every time Shen Xiancheng looked out of the window, the two of them secretly gestured and discussed escape plans in the usual way. The carriage drove into the courtyard in a mighty manner. When the two of them got out of the carriage with Shen Xiancheng, several sleepy-eyed prostitutes, led by a madam, saluted the two fake sons. When the two looked at each other and smiled wryly, there was a sudden sound of hooves, approaching from far away. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, brothers in need, knew something bad was going to happen, when they were trying to escape with all their strength, a strong wind blew up and pushed them down from above. Shen Xiancheng and all the yamen servants didn't know what happened, they had already thrown to the outside, and it seemed that a white shadow descended from the sky amidst the confusion. When they got up, Kou Zhong and the two had disappeared, only the dust blown up by the strong wind was still floating in the air. The woman in white grabbed the two people's wide belts, ran across the house, away from Beipo County in an instant, and galloped at full speed in the mountains, seemingly effortlessly. The two survived from a desperate situation, and they almost couldn't help applauding.But he was afraid of offending the woman in white, so he kept silent.After a while, the two came to the river, and saw several small boats moored at the ferry, and several fishermen on the bank were arranging and repairing the fishing nets. Without even thinking about it, the woman in white forced herself onto one of the boats, threw the two of them into the boat, swung her sword to cut off the rope, grabbed the oar, and shook it violently.The water splashed in all directions, and the small boat went against the current like an arrow, leaving the angry fisherman far behind. The two boys were in pain from being thrown by her, sat up humming and chirping, you looked at me, seeing the woman in white with frost on her face, who dared to speak, the atmosphere was extremely frightening. After the boat traveled at full speed for at least 20 to 30 miles, the woman in white snorted coldly and slowed down the boat. Kou Zhong plucked up his courage, and asked tentatively: "Master, have you been following us, otherwise how could you come by such a coincidence?" The woman in white didn't even look at them, and said slightly angrily: "Who is interested in following you, you two little bastards who only know how to rob and swindle. They only came to see you after seeing Yu Wenhua and sending people to search the nearby villages and towns." Xu Ziling respectfully said: "Thank you for saving your life, sir, we two brothers will definitely repay you if we have the opportunity." The woman in white disdainfully said: "I don't intend to do any kindness, but I will do anything that can make Yu Wenhua unhappy, so don't be grateful to me. After arriving in Danyang, the Tai family will go their own way, and we won't be together anymore. You are allowed to mention me, otherwise I will kill you two puppies." Kou Zhong laughed and said: "Everyone will go his own way, if we learn unrivaled martial arts in the future, see if you dare to call us puppies and puppies." The white-clothed woman first flashed her eyes sharply, then turned them away, and said angrily: "Even if you are now worshiping under the Turkic 'Wu Zun' Bixuan, you can't even imagine what kind of skills you can develop. So it is best to die With this heart, find a craft that can make money and learn it well, marry a wife and have children, and live this life happily is the most serious thing." The two were greatly hurt by what they heard, and after staring at her for a while, Xu Ziling couldn't help but said, "Could it be that our aptitude is too poor?" The woman in white sighed, looked down at the two, and said in a surprisingly gentle way, "You should know that you are not even qualified to ask me to lie to you. Your qualifications are better than anyone I have ever met. The night before last So tossing and still not getting sick. It's really rare, just owed luck." The two were praised by her, and they regained a little bit of self-esteem and confidence, and said in unison: "What luck?" The woman in white said while shaking the scull: "That is the way of practicing kung fu. Anyone who wants to become an outstanding master must start practicing when he is a child. My master said that the most important period of time for everyone to learn anything is handy. The ten years between the ages of five and fifteen are like learning a language. If you learn it after this period of time, your pronunciation will not be correct. The same is true for martial arts. If you are just starting now, no matter how hard you work, it will be half the effort. If you are a mediocre errand runner, you will be slaughtered sooner or later, so you should learn it. Do you understand?" The two of them froze, feeling their hands and feet were cold, and the world seemed to have lost all vitality and meaning. Kou Zhong finally had a stubborn heart, slapped the treasure book on his back, and shouted: "Maybe we are the exception? And we still have the secret book, how could it be a little different?" The girl in white showed pity in her eyes for the first time, she shook her head and said, "It's always hard to tell the truth, I checked the book you got, it's called "The Secret of Longevity", it's indeed a treasure of Taoism, but it's not the same as Martial arts has nothing to do with it, you'd better find a place to throw it away, or you may end up in a catastrophe because of it. Well, in my opinion, it's just a deceptive thing, how can people live forever?" The blood on the faces of the two of them immediately faded away, and they were speechless. There was an awkward silence on board. Danyang City is the largest city in the upper reaches of Yangzhou City. It is the only way from the inland to Yangzhou City and then to the sea. It is second only to Yangzhou in importance. Of course, it relies on the Grand Canal that runs through the north and south. The scenery in the city is unique, the river is criss-cross, and hundreds of stone arch bridges are erected on the river. The house is integrated into one, with a quiet and simple scenery of the water city, tender like water. In the early morning of the next day, when the city gate opened, the woman in white and Kou Xu mixed into the city in the countryside where the market was going. The two boys walked around the city like walking corpses following the woman in white with their hearts broken because they had lost their dreams for the future. The woman in white obviously came here for the first time, looking around with great interest. After they entered the city, they went deep into the city along the main street. There were shops in the front and houses in the back on both sides. Customers come like clouds. The woman in white is everywhere, because of her beauty, men and women pay attention to her, but she doesn't care, as if she is not surprised, but also turns a blind eye. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling hadn't eaten for half a day and one night. Although they were in a bad mood, they still couldn't fight the emptiness in their stomachs. Because the woman in white turned a blind eye to the restaurant and went straight past, the former couldn't help approaching her and coughed lightly. He said: "Should we take a look at the Temple of the Five Viscera first?" The woman in white stopped at a big house with white walls and black tiles, and said coldly, "Are you rich?" Xu Ziling on the other side smiled and said: "Of course we don't have money, but if you have money, isn't it the same?" The woman in white sneered and said, "If I have money, I'll wait for you if you have money? I don't even look in the mirror. Besides, my money fell into the bottom of the river with your baggage when the two of you knocked over the boat. Yesterday, someone greeted the two of you. I have enough food and clothing, but I haven’t eaten half a steamed bun, and now I’m still blaming me for not taking you to eat and drink?” Kou Zhong said angrily: "Don't you only know how to complain? If we hadn't sunk the ship, we would have been caught up by Yuwen's bones, at most we would have been ossified by him, and you are so beautiful, you will definitely be killed by Yuwen." Blame it for being a concubine." The woman in white stood still abruptly. The two of them thought she was going to make trouble, so they fled to both sides. The woman in white felt slightly stunned. Seeing the expressions of the two people who still had lingering fear, she finally couldn't help showing a real smile for the first time in history. When she saw the two people feeling amazed, she put away her smile and said: "The two little ghosts are here Wait here for a while, when I go to change some silver taels, I invite you to have a big meal, and from now on, you will have nothing to do with each other." Speaking of the last two famous words of Kou Zhong, he smiled again, and then walked to a shop on the left. When Kou Zhong saw that it was a pawn shop, he hurriedly stopped her and said solemnly: "Do you want to be a thing? No one is better at it than me." The woman in white said angrily, "How do I know if you will enrich yourself?" Kou Zhongzheng had this intention, so he told her the truth, sighed, and retreated to Xu Ziling's side. After watching her enter the betting shop, Xu Ziling sighed: "Our dream of becoming the world's best master is over. It seems that we have to concentrate on studying. Then when you are the right prime minister, I will be the left prime minister." Kou Zhong smiled wryly and said: "The most unpromising in troubled times is the bad ghost scholar, but I still don't believe that her mother's "Longevity Formula" has nothing to do with kung fu. Although there are no Taoist priests of longevity, Taoist priests with high martial arts follow the streets. It can be seen that it can be deduced from this that when you can't grow up in practice, you can practice peerless martial arts." Xu Ziling became excited, and sighed again: "But didn't that woman say that we missed the precious childhood of practicing kung fu?" Kou Zhong said: "Maybe she sees that we are better than her, and she is afraid that we will overtake her in the future, so she purposely said some discouraging words to make us feel discouraged, alas!" Obviously he himself felt that this idea was deceiving himself, so he couldn't go on. At this moment, the girl in white came out in high spirits, and the two hurriedly chased after her. The woman in white said in a low voice: "Listen, you two little devils, if I hear you screaming behind me again, I will execute you two puppies." Feeling embarrassed, the two obediently agreed. The three went to the second floor of a restaurant, sat at a table by the window, and ordered dishes. There were more than a dozen tables, half of which were filled with people, and one of the tables had a luxuriously dressed man who was recognizable at a glance as a young nobleman of status and status. He frequently looked at the woman in white, obviously awed by her beauty. Xu Ziling coughed dryly and said, "If you dare to ask Dashi Gao's name, we can have a nickname." The woman in white put her hand on her chin and wondered: "You two little rascals are just young bachelors and hooligans in Yangzhou city, why do you always talk old-fashioned and pretend to be poor and poor. " Kou Zhong said proudly: "This makes people poor and ambitious, and one day we will stand out. Do you still dare to think that we are punks?" The woman in white was surprisingly good-natured. She thought for a while and said, "What are you going to do after I leave? Cheating food and drink is never the way to go." It was the first time that Kou and Xu felt the care of the woman in white for them, but when the dishes were brought up, the two of them had time to think about it. The woman in white ate two steamed buns, stopped, turned her head and looked out the window thoughtfully, and remained silent. When the two of them couldn't eat anymore, the dishes on the table had already been swept away. They rubbed their stomachs and looked at the woman in white naturally. The woman in white sighed, took out more than a dozen liang of silver, placed it in front of the two of them on the table, and said softly: "If you are in trouble, I will give this money to you. Although the world is full of wars, the south It is still relatively peaceful, this place is dangerous after all, it is not suitable to stay for a long time, you can take care of yourself." Ignoring that the two of them were staring fiercely at the silver taels on the table, they beckoned the waiter to come over and pay the bill. The guy respectfully said: "Young lady's account has already been settled by the young master who was sitting at the table just now, and they have just left." "Snapped!" The woman in white took out a regular five baht coin, threw it on the stage, and said coldly: "I don't need others to pay for me, take it quickly!" Then he stood up and went downstairs. Seeing her, the two decided to leave without looking back, both inferior and disappointed. After exchanging glances, Kou Zhong picked up the silver and put it in his arms, and said dejectedly: "Let's go too!" Xu Ziling also wished he could leave this sad place sooner, followed Kou Zhong hurriedly down the stairs, and came to the street, only to see the sun shining in the sky, people coming and going, but there was no warmth in their hearts. In the past in Yangzhou City, although life was difficult and people beat and scolded them from time to time, they were always full of hope for the future. Now, although I am free and comfortable, and I have a small fortune in my pocket, it seems to be empty and empty, as if the world is big, but there is nowhere to go. They want to find the back of the woman in white again, and it would be good to take another look, but Yi Renfang's body is gone, which only adds to the sadness of loss. The two of them touched each other's shoulders, and walked out of the city in a sense of loss. Suddenly there was a strange feeling, the fragrant wind blew, and the woman in white inserted between the two from behind, walking side by side with them. The two were secretly happy, but they didn't dare to express it, and they didn't dare to ask each other. When the city gate was in sight, the woman in white said coldly: "You two, don't think about it, I just came back because I was afraid that Yu Wenhuaji would come and take your "Longevity Secret" to claim credit for the tyrant, so I sent you away again. Cheng, this is to deal with Yu Wenhua's bones, not to have any special affection for you two brats." Xu Ziling seemed to be unable to bear the words of the woman in white. He stopped and said angrily, "Since that's the case, we don't need to bother you. We have hands and feet, and we know how to walk. We don't want your money either. Kou Zhong, return the money to her!" Kou Zhong hesitated to speak, he sighed, and put his hand into his bosom. The woman in white smiled "puchi", reached out and grabbed the two men's arms, forced them to follow her, passed through the city gate in a blink of an eye, and let them go when they reached the riverside, and said: "Why do you have to be so big?" My temper, I have never known how to please others, and I am lonely by nature, so I have offended you." Xu Ziling was willing to humiliate her for the first time when she broke the question, he was open-minded by nature, disgusted and embarrassed, his tender face blushed slightly: "It's not that I haven't been underestimated by others, but I feel very angry if someone underestimates me. It’s just a complaint.” Kou Zhong leaned close to the ear of the girl in white and whispered: "This kid is in love with you!" The woman in white elbowed Kou Zhong's side, causing him to kneel on the ground in pain, pointing with the halberd: "If you dare to say such words to this girl again, I will... I will slap your mouth." She originally wanted to say that Kou Zhong was killed, but she thought it would be impossible, so she had to change to say a much lighter punishment in time. Xu Ziling was confused and said, "What did he say?" The woman in white glared at him angrily, but said nothing. For a moment, the three of them didn't know what to say. The woman in white glanced at the large and small boats moored by the pier outside the city, and said to herself, "Why are so many boats coming back from the west, but no one is going west?" The two of them took a closer look and found something different. The pier was full of people waiting for the boat, talking about it. A soft and pleasant voice sounded beside the three of them: "May I ask this girl and the two little brothers if they are waiting for the boat?" Kou Zhong pressed the sore spot at this time, stood up, and looked at Xu Ziling's people, it was the young master who kept paying attention to the woman in white in the restaurant just now, and later settled the bill for them. This gentleman is indeed handsome, handsome and personable, half a head taller than Xu Ziling, but he is not frail at all, with straight shoulders and straight shoulders. Although he is dressed as a literati, he gives people the feeling of being well versed in martial arts. The girl in white didn't even reply, "You don't need to deal with our affairs!" The young master didn't think he was disobedient at all, and he bowed to the authentic way: "I, Song Shidao, apologize first. I don't dare to disturb you, but I just saw that the girl seemed to be puzzled by the fact that the river boats turned back one after another, so I dared to come here." There is absolutely nothing else to ask.” The woman in white turned around like a whirlwind, looked him up and down for a while, and said coldly, "Say it!" Song Shidao was flattered, and said with great joy: "The reason is that Li Zitong's rebel army in the East China Sea just crossed the Huai River, formed an alliance with Du Fuwei, defeated the Sui army, and sent an army to the south to force Liyang directly. If Liyang is attacked , the Yangtze River waterway traffic was cut off, so now everyone adopts a wait-and-see attitude, and only dare to go west after seeing the situation clearly." Seeing that the woman in white was listening attentively, and that Song Shidao seemed to be superior to them in every aspect, the two felt uncomfortable, but they had no choice. When the white-clothed girl was silent, Song Shidao said again: "If you don't mind the girl, you can take the boat below, so that even if you meet bandits, you won't be disturbed." The woman in white chirped Song Shidao coldly, and said indifferently: "You are so arrogant, it seems that you have a little knowledge." Song Shidao said solemnly: "How dare I use an ax in front of the girl, but the Han family is quite famous, as long as the family flag is hung on the boat, friends on the road will always show some face." Hearing this, even Kou and Xu couldn't help but praise this guy for his decent speech, neither arrogant nor humble, just right. The woman in white glanced over the two of them, she fell silent, obviously a little moved. It would be time-consuming and troublesome to follow the two boys by land, but if they went by water and crossed Liyang, then they would not be afraid of Yu Wenhuaji's pursuit. Kou Zhong couldn't help but said, "I'd rather go by land." The girl in white hadn't answered yet, Song Shidao said in surprise, "Excuse me, miss, these two little brothers..." The woman in white cut him off impatiently: "It's nothing, don't ask any more. Where is your boat?" When Song Shuaidao was overjoyed to point out, Xu Ziling pulled Kou Zhong and said, "It's time to go our separate ways. She takes her boat and we go our own way." Kou Zhong showed his vigor at the right time, laughed, put his arm around Xu Ziling's shoulders, and praised: "Good boy!" Pushing Xu Ziling away looking west. The woman in white yelled angrily, "Stand for me!" Kou Zhong turned his head and waved: "Goodbye!" The woman in white stomped her feet and said to Master Song: "Brother Song, please go back to the boat first, we will come later." With a flash, he came behind the two of them, grabbing them like chickens. Song Shidao was confused, but remembered that since the beautiful woman was willing to board the boat, she would not worry about not having the opportunity to show her courtesy, so she had time to worry about other things, so she chased after her happily.