Chapter 5 Chapter 3 White Hibiscus

It was a small team of about fifty thieves, and two or three thieves would ride on horses.They held iron whips and looked as if they were talking about something.After a while, seeing Ma Yuanyi's figure, they swarmed towards the temple. "Oh, Li Zhufan, that's really slow!" Ma Yuanyi stretched his neck and said. "Oh, Dafang, so you are here!" The man surnamed Li followed the other accomplices and got off the saddle, wiped his sweat, and complained to Ma Yuanyi, "Didn't it be good to wait at the Confucius Temple on the mountain. But When we got there, we didn’t see any of you, so we are at a loss. How can we walk slowly.” Ma Yuanyi, who seemed to be half-joking with his accomplices, just laughed out loud when he was reprimanded.

"How was the harvest last night? For the Luoyang ship, many merchants have stayed here, right?" "It's not a big deal, but after burning a village, there are still some things. All the belongings were packed into packs and sent to our warehouse in the village as usual." "Recently, the common people have learned to bury their money, and the merchants have gathered in groups to escape before our attack. We are less and less able to do as we used to." "Well, speaking of it, it's a pity that a guy escaped last night." "What a pity? Does he have anything of value?"

"Where, there is no alluvial gold gemstone, but he has made a tea trade with Luoyang Boat. You know, speaking of tea, it is the favorite of the protagonist. I plan to snatch it no matter what and dedicate it to the great virtuous teacher. The hotel where the kid stayed was marked. But after lighting it up from the side and breaking in, the kid had disappeared without a trace, and he couldn't find it. This was the biggest mistake these days. "The thief Li Zhufan said loudly beside Liu Bei. Liu Bei was shocked, and couldn't help but quietly touched the small tin teapot hidden in his arms.

So Ma Yuanyi snorted, and solemnly turned his head to the young Liu Bei behind him, then to Li Zhufan, and said, "How old is that guy?" "Yeah, I didn't see it either, but I heard from his subordinates that he was a young man dressed in rags, but he had an awe-inspiring look, so the subordinates said that the boy is probably a man who cannot be careless." man." "Look, is it this person?" Ma Yuanyi pointed to Liu Bei beside him and asked. "What?!" Li Zhufan showed a very surprised expression, but when Ma Yuanyi said it carefully, he immediately felt strange and suspicious, and shouted at the group of subordinates who were ordered to gather by the pond: "Maybe it's him! Hey, Ding Feng, Ding peak!"

Ding Feng, his subordinate, heard the cry and ran over from the crowd.Li Zhufan pointed to Liu Bei's face and asked if this was the young man who bought tea by the Yellow River? Ding Feng glanced at the young Liu Bei, and replied without hesitation: "Ah, that's him! That's the young man, that's right!" "OK!" As Li Zhufan said, he asked Ding Feng to step back, and together with Ma Yuanyi, he cut Liu Bei's hands from left to right. "Hey, you kid is hiding the tea. Hurry up and give me the tea pot!" Ma Yuanyi scolded. Li Zhufan also twisted Liu Bei's handy hand and threatened, "If you don't hand it over, you will be chopped off! As I said just now, tea is the favorite of Zhang Jiao's good teacher, and it is difficult to get it even with the prestige of a good teacher." .A pariah like you, even if you get tea, so what?! Hurry up and give it to us as a good teacher!"

Liu Bei knew that he couldn't get past it, so he had already given up.But thinking that my mother in my hometown is still looking forward to it, it is more uncomfortable than killing my own life. "Is there a way to escape from here?" Liu Bei endured the pain in his arms and thought secretly.But before he could think about it, Li Zhufan kicked him on the waist impatiently, cursing: "Are you dumb or deaf?!" Liu Bei was still staggering, Li Zhufan grabbed him by the back of the neck again, and said aggressively: "I didn't see it, but there are more than 50 murderous men watching this way over there, all of them know how to fight!" A tiger is preying on it. Answer it quickly!"

Liu Bei knelt in front of the two's feet, really unwilling to make a deal with them with his mother's joy.Suddenly, he raised his eyes and saw the old monk standing behind the temple gate, peeping this way, and kept gesturing to urge him to deal with it properly, as if to say: "Don't be stingy with your belongings. Give them what they want. , give them quickly!" Liu Bei also immediately thought: "Yeah, hurting your body is the greatest disrespect to your mother." So he made up his mind, but he still didn't hand over the tea pot in his arms.He untied the leather belt of the sword around his waist, and begged: "This is my father's relic, and it is the only thing that counts except for this life. I will offer it up. Let the tea leaves go!"

So Ma Yuanyi said: "Oh, I was eyeing this sword just now, take it!" As he said that, he grabbed the sword and pretended not to know, "I don't know about the tea leaves!" Li Zhufan became even more angry, and reprimanded Liu Bei for giving the sword to others, why didn't he give the tea pot to himself. In desperation, Liu Bei handed over the small tin can that was hidden close to his body.Li Zhufan held it in both hands as if he had found a treasure, and said, "This is it! This is it! It must be Luoyang's famous tea." The thief team originally planned to move forward, but a lookout report came: "Ten miles ahead, there are five hundred officers and soldiers camped by the river, as if they were looking for us." So the action changed immediately, changed to "Stay here tonight".Fifty yellow turban thieves directly used the temple as a dormitory, and started to untie the dry food bags they carried with them.

Seeing that the cooking was chaotic in the evening, Liu Bei wanted to take advantage of this good opportunity to escape, and quietly stepped out the door in the twilight. "Hey, where are you going?" The thief sentry found him.Soon, a large group of thieves came and surrounded him, and quickly reported to Ma Yuanyi and Li Zhufan in the temple. Liu Bei was tied up on the pillars of the Zhaitang. It was a stone house with a brick floor, nothing but thick columns and narrow windows. "Hey, Liu, I heard that you want to run away behind my back! I think you are a spy from the government. You must be! You must be a spy from the county government army! I heard that the county army is ten miles ahead tonight. The place is under the stronghold, do you want to sneak out and report to them?!"

Ma Yuanyi and Li Zhufan interrogated Liu Bei in turn. "No wonder you look strange. You are either a spy from the county army or a spy directly under Luoyang. After all, you are all from the government. Hurry up and recruit the real one! If you don't recruit, you will suffer!" Ma and Li kicked Liu Bei violently , scolded. Liu Bei didn't say anything, as if he was determined to resign himself to fate until now. "If you're not serious, you still haven't opened your mouth!" Li Zhufan felt that it was difficult to deal with, so he suggested to Ma Yuanyi: "Anyway, I plan to set off early tomorrow morning, go to the governor's mansion of Zhang Jiao's good teacher, present that tea pot, and pay my respects to the good teacher. Take this kid away then, What will happen if you hand it over to the headquarters of the Dafang Army and send it to the military law? Maybe you can make a windfall."

Ma Yuanyi said "Yes" and agreed. The door of the altar is closed.In the dead of night, looking from the only high window, the autumn under the Milky Way is still so clear and cool tonight.But after all, there is no escape from this place. There was a neighing of horses outside.It would be great if the county army from the government came over.Liu Bei had a glimmer of hope.But it seems that two or three bandit soldiers who came back from the watchful wind passed by.Then everything was silent, and the earth was silent. "I tried my best to be filial to my mother, but I ended up being very unfilial. I don't regret my death, but let my old mother spend the rest of her life in sorrow. It's too sad to be unfilial and die in the wilderness!" Liu Bei looked up at Xinghan and sighed endlessly.He regretted it: even if he was filial, it was wrong if his thoughts did not match his identity. He thought, rather than being dragged into a den of thieves, suffering all the humiliation of life, and then being killed, it would be better to just grit his teeth and die here. He wanted to die, but he didn't have a sword on him.Bump your head against a pillar and die in rage.Or bite off your tongue and stare at the stars and die with a curse. Liu Bei hesitated sullenly. At this moment, a rope was lowered before his eyes.Ropes swished down the stone walls from the high windows like a curse. "what……" No one was seen, only a starry sky. Liu Bei stood up, but immediately realized that it was useless.His body was tied up in five flowers, and he couldn't get rid of the ropes on his body. Even if a helping hand reached out to him, he couldn't escape. "Hey, who is it..." Someone went under the window to save himself.Someone is waiting for you outside.Liu Bei struggled harder. People outside probably think that his movements are too slow and anxious, as if they are urging him to hurry up.The rope hanging from the high window swayed from side to side, and a dagger was tied to the lower end, hitting the ground like a white fish. Liu Bei turned the dagger over with his toes, and managed to hold it in his hand.He cut the rope that bound him, and quickly came to the window. "Quick! Quick!" The rope swayed wordlessly, conveying the meaning outside the window. Liu Bei grabbed the rope, stepped on the stone wall, and looked out through the window. "Hey, hey..." Standing outside is an old monk sitting alone on a Buddhist chair during the day.It was his skinny figure. "Run now!" The old monk waved to him. Liu Bei quickly jumped to the ground.The old monk who was waiting for him hugged him and ran away without saying a word. There is a sparse forest behind the temple.The Milky Way in autumn illuminates the forest path slightly. "Master, master, where are you going to escape?" "I can't escape yet." "Then what is this for?" "Please go to that pagoda." The old monk pointed while running. Taking a closer look, there is indeed an ancient pagoda standing in the depths of the sparse forest, which is higher than the treetops in the forest.The old monk hastily opened the door of the ancient pagoda, and his figure disappeared inside the door. "what happened?" Liu Bei became anxious and worried that the bandits would come after him, so he looked around. "Young man, young man!" After a while, the old monk called Liu Bei in a low voice while pulling out something from the tower. "Hey!" Liu Bei's eyes widened. The old monk is holding the reins of a horse.A white horse was brought out, its fur was as beautiful as a silver needle. Alas, the white horse is beautiful in coat color and the saddle is luxurious, any language will be inferior to it.Behind the white horse is a beautiful woman with a graceful gait and a graceful figure, showing an expression of fear of the wind and rain in the world.The woman has delicate features, fair skin, and eyes full of worry and trouble... On such an unexpected occasion, under the light of the starry night, this woman looks like a fairy. "Young man, if I'm doing you a favor by saving you, please take this girl and run away together. Ten miles north from here, there is a county army camp by the river. You hand her over to them. Just ten miles away, two lashes of the white horse will..." Liu Bei should have agreed to the old monk's words without saying a word.But he couldn't help hesitating, not so much because of this task, but because the person he was going to send was too beautiful. How did the old monk understand his hesitation? "Yeah, you are worried about this unknown woman. Don't worry! She is the daughter of the governor here. Her father was still in charge of the county until not long ago. The Yellow Turban bandits broke in, the county town was burned, and the governor was killed." Killed, the family scattered, and even the monastery became like this. The girl lost her way in the rebellion, so I quietly hid her in the pagoda." As the old monk spoke, his eyes suddenly looked towards the top of the pagoda.At this time, in addition to the autumn wind blowing through the forest, people's footsteps and horses neighing suddenly sounded again. Just as Liu Bei was going to watch, the old monk grabbed his sleeve and said, "No, it's better not to move. Stay here for now, instead..." At the critical moment, the old monk continued to speak. The county magistrate's female surname is Hong and her name is Furong.Moreover, the county army camped by the nearby river tonight must be the remnant soldiers gathered by the chief's previously scattered servants, who wanted to avenge the yellow scarf bandits. Therefore, as long as Furong is sent there, the former servants will protect her.The two of you get on your horses and take a shortcut and escape in one go. The old monk spoke like a prayer. Liu Bei bravely agreed. "But, master, what are you going to do?" "You say me..." "Yes. If the thieves know that you let us escape, master, they will not let you go." "Don't worry. Even if you are alive, you can still live for a few more years in the future!? What's more, I barely survived these ten days by eating grass roots and insects. It was because of my wholehearted wish to save Miss Hong's family. Now, Hong Miss Jia has been entrusted to a reliable person, and I found you for the sake of this world, so I have nothing to worry about!" After speaking, the figure of the old monk disappeared into the tower like the wind. Furong let out an "ah" and chased after her reluctantly, but the door at the entrance of the tower was suddenly closed from the inside. "Master! Master!" Furong cried and beat on the tower gate like losing her loving father.At this time, the voice of the old monk came from the top of the tall tower again: "Young man, look at my hand! Look at the direction of my finger! The northwest direction of this forest! The Big Dipper is shining. You can go straight in the direction of this star. South, east, beside the lotus pond, Near the temple and on the road, there are all bandit soldiers. Only the northwest side can escape. And you must escape now. Get on the white horse quickly, and hurry up." "Hey!" As Liu Bei agreed, he looked up and saw the figure of the old monk standing on the stone railing on the top of the pagoda, pointing in one direction all the time. "Miss, get on your horse, now is not the time to cry!" Liu Bei hugged her slender waist and put her on the white saddle. Hibiscus is light in body and exudes a soft and noble fragrance.Her arms were around Liu Bei's shoulders, and her black hair touched Liu Bei's cheek. Liu Bei is not a grass.The unprecedented heartbeat made his blood boil.However, that was only at the moment of lifting her from the ground to the saddle. "I'm sorry!" Saying that, Liu Bei also got on his horse and straddled a saddle.Then one hand protected Fu Rong, the other held the white horse's rein, and turned the horse's head in the direction pointed by the old monk. On the top of the pagoda, the old monk looked down at all this and felt that his business was over, so he suddenly made a joyful voice: "Look! Look! The cloud is gone, the star is out. The white horse is flying, the yellow dust is gone. It won't be a few years! Young man, go! Goodbye—" After finishing speaking, the old monk bit his tongue and jumped from the stone railing on the top of the pagoda to the ground a hundred feet below, falling to pieces.