Chapter 527: Windy Days and Fire
Southeast of Qingxu Temple is Jixiang Street.
As the saying goes, "live by the mountain, eat by the mountain; live by the water, eat by the water." This street is not far from the Qingxu Temple, so naturally it mainly deals in incense, candles and offerings. It was originally called Jixiang Street, but later on, somehow, it was called Jixiang Street.
Bang, bang, bang, bang.
"It's dry, be careful of fire!"
It was almost the fourth watch. The night watchman Zhao Laoshi was holding a lantern in one hand and beating the gong hanging on his elbow with the other, but there was a hint of panic in his voice.
This was because normally when passing by an intersection, even if he didn't run into Ma San, he could at least respond to each other. But today, after he shouted several times, there was silence all around, without a single response.
Could it be that Ma San encountered a thief?
Just as he thought of this, two dark figures suddenly jumped out from the alley next to him and Zhao Laoshi pinned them to the ground without saying a word.
"Please spare my life, sir! Please spare my life!"
Zhao Laoshi quickly closed his eyes and shouted, "I know the rules. Take whatever you want. I didn't see or hear anything!"
"Damn it!"
But one of them laughed and scolded: "You can't see or hear anything, what's the use of you night watchmen?"
“Yes, yes, yes!”
Zhao Laoshi still closed his eyes and shouted: "I am not even as good as a fart. Please, sir, please respect me and let me go as if I were a fart!"
"You..."
"Why waste your words on him!"
The man who was laughing and scolding was about to say something, but his accomplice next to him became impatient, stretched out his hand to pry open Zhao Laoshi's eyelids, and took the opportunity to push a black object in front of him.
"Dragon...Dragon Guard?!"
Although Zhao Laoshi was illiterate, as a night watchman, he was familiar with the badges of the police officers. He quickly changed his words and said, "I was blind and mistook the official for..."
"Shut up!"
Wang Zhen put the badge in his pocket, pulled Zhao Laoshi up from the ground, and threatened him fiercely: "I am supervising a major case ordered by the emperor. If you dare to shout and alert the thieves, be careful or I will kill your whole family!"
Zhao Laoshi quickly shut his mouth and followed Wang Zhen obediently into the alley next to him.
But when he got to the alley and saw the leader's appearance clearly in the dim starlight, he couldn't help but exclaimed: "Qing... Qingtian Master?!"
"You're such a bitch..."
"Zhao Laoshi, right?"
Sun Shaozong raised his hand to stop Wang Zhen from scolding him, and said with a warm smile: "We should have met twice when we investigated the case last time."
Seeing that Sun Shaozong still remembered his humble name, Zhao Laosan was so excited that snot bubbles came out of his nose and was about to kowtow in fear and trepidation.
But Sun Shaozong said again: "Now the situation is urgent, I will not talk to you about the past - I invited you guys here to help me catch the thieves of the White Lotus Sect."
Only then did Zhao Laoshi realize that, in addition to himself, Ma San and Ruyifang's night watchman Wang Tiezhu were also standing not far away.
But when they heard that they were asked to help capture members of the White Lotus Sect, the three night watchmen turned pale and trembled . They dared neither to agree nor to refuse.
"Don't worry, I will never let you take any risks. You just need to stay far away and do your best."
Sun Shaozong comforted the three people with a few words, and when their fear gradually subsided, he let Zhao Laoshi lead the way. They arrived at Jixiang Road, in front of an oil mill next to Chahe River.
Seeing Zhao Laoshi knocking on the door as ordered, Wang Zhen, holding his sword tightly, could not help but question: "Sir, although this oil mill is not small, if you want to hide more than 20 thieves, I'm afraid it will be..."
"Who said the thief was in the oil mill?"
Sun Shaozong asked in return, and seeing that the door of the oil mill was wide open, he walked straight in.
"Hey, you..."
"Hush! Stop shouting!"
"Are you blind? You can't even recognize Sun Qingtian, the 'Divine Judge' of Shuntian Prefecture!"
The shop assistant who opened the door was about to stop them, but was stopped by three night watchmen who spoke in a threatening manner.
Sun Shaozong arrived at the courtyard without any obstruction. After roughly identifying the direction, he led Wang Zhen and others straight to the back door, unbolted it, pushed the door panels to the left and right, pointed to a brightly lit place across the river and said, "That's where the thieves are hiding."
Wang Zhen put his hands on the pergola and looked around for a few seconds, then suddenly blurted out, "Helping each other in times of trouble?! No wonder they could accommodate more than 20 thieves without even a word getting out!"
These four words "help each other in times of difficulty".
For couples, it means never leaving each other; for brothers, it means helping each other.
But if these four words are mentioned near Qingxu Temple, it must be referring to the famous Xianggu Pavilion on the bank of Chahe River.
Legend has it that Aunt Li, the boss of this "mutual support", was born with a pair of discerning eyes. She could tell a man's capital through two layers of cotton trousers on the street, so she had many talented people under her.
In addition, they invited two great Tantric lamas to be their spear and stick instructors, so their elephant girls were well-trained both inside and outside, and were proficient in all kinds of musical instruments.
This "Xiangruyimou" is divided into two courtyards, front and back. From the outside, it is no different from other houses. It opens its doors to welcome male guests from all directions and makes a living by fighting with guns and sticks.
The inner courtyard was specially designed for the resentful women of wealthy families.
Considering that women visiting brothels will inevitably have various concerns and pressures, this "Xiangruyimo" Xianggu Pavilion was specially built on a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides.
Every night, there would be five or six willow-leaf black-sailed boats shuttling back and forth on the two-meter-wide river, bringing the female guests who came to patronize the hotel into the hotel.
Except for a few mavericks, most of the female guests covered their faces with scarves and masks. They spent the whole night in the boat. It can be said that they supported each other and forgot about each other at the same time.
For this reason, this backyard where the couple supported each other has always been a mysterious place. Unless introduced by familiar customers, it is difficult for outsiders to get a glimpse of it.
It was just after the fourth watch of the night.
In a quiet little building in the backyard of Xianggu Pavilion, the famous Aunt Li was pacing back and forth, and the swaying candlesticks were becoming restless.
"Master Li Xiang."
Someone in the corner couldn't help but say, "If there is something important, why not invite His Holiness back now?"
“No, no, no!”
Aunt Li waved her hands and said, "It's not easy to meet a suitable woman who can entertain the old man. Why bother him at this time?"
"snort!"
Someone else snorted, stretched out his bear-like body, raised his fist and grinned, "In my opinion, you have been in the capital for too long and have forgotten how to teach your subordinates a lesson. If this happened in northern Shaanxi, if any member of the sect dared to be so disrespectful to his elders, I, Liu Jun, would tear him to pieces alive!"
Upon hearing this, Aunt Li gave a bitter smile but did not respond to him. She just tilted her neck and kept looking outside.
Liu Junbao, nicknamed 'One Hand Holding Up the Sky', was a top warrior under the White Lotus Sect who roamed the Northwest Green Forest with his bravery. He had never taken such women seriously to begin with, and when he saw Aunt Li ignoring him, he immediately became annoyed.
"Old sister."
Then he sneered and said, "Why don't you tell me the identity of that man and I will discipline him for you?"
This violated Aunt Li's taboo. Although the man was a little difficult to control, he was her trump card. How could she allow others to spy on her?
Her face darkened, and she was about to scold Liu Junbao with words to let him know whose territory this was, but she heard someone outside the door scolding, "How dare you! You think you can ask about this?!"
Before he finished speaking, a thin old man walked in and said with a sullen face, "The identity of 'Bing San' is a secret of the sect and will be very useful in the future. Not to mention you, except for the Sect Leader and Li Xiangzhu, even I am not allowed to ask about his identity!"
Although Liu Junbao was unruly, he softened his spine in front of the old man and listened to his teachings obediently. Then he smiled and said, "Master, I..."
The old man raised his hand to signal him not to say anything more, then turned to look at Aunt Li and said solemnly: "Master Li, you gathered everyone together so late, but what important news did you get?"
This person was none other than Ge Zhan, the deputy leader of the White Lotus Sect. Because of his high moral character and prestige, he was no less respected than the leader, so many people addressed him as "The Venerable".
"Your Excellency."
Aunt Li said cautiously, "Bingsan sent a message saying that he hopes the brothers who come to Beijing will be careful and stop their activities temporarily, at least until he sends his pregnant wife away, and then... then..."
Seeing that Ge Chen's face was becoming increasingly gloomy, she quickly stopped talking, knelt on the ground and said, "It is because of my incompetence that I allowed Bing San to be so arrogant and rude!"
"It's none of your business."
Ge Chen shook his head slowly and said sternly, "There is an old saying that goes, 'When water is too clear, there will be no fish; when a person is too cautious, there will be no followers.' It is understandable that the people below have their own little calculations."
After a pause, he continued, "How about this, you tell him that the search for the Saint Girl cannot be delayed for a single day, but I can arrange for brothers in the church to escort his wife out of the capital first."
This is clearly an attempt to take the other person's wife hostage!
Aunt Li secretly complained in her heart, but she did not dare to disobey Ge Zhen's order. Just as she was about to obey the order, she saw someone running over. He came up to her and bowed to report: "Your Excellency, there is a fire in the oil mill on the other side of the river..."
Ge Chen was already feeling annoyed. Hearing that even such a trivial matter was reported to him, he could not help but scold, "Ridiculous! The fire on the other side of the river has nothing to do with us."
The man hurriedly explained, "The store owner dumped all the burning oil jars into the river, and now half of the river surface is burning red. Our two secret patrol officers were so scared that they abandoned their boats and fled to the shore."
"Master Wang Xiang felt that the fire was a little strange, so he asked me to ask Your Excellency if we should send someone to the other side to see what was going on."
Ge Zhan frowned even deeper and rushed outside in a few steps. However, he saw that in just a few words, most of the sky outside was dyed red by flames.
It's indeed a bit strange!
There was only a light breeze tonight. Even if the oil mill was on fire, it shouldn't have spread so quickly.
"Liu Junbao!"
Ge Chen immediately ordered, "I will go to the back door to see what's going on. You stay here and gather everyone together!"
Without waiting for Liu Junbao to respond, he strode towards the back door.
Seeing this, Aunt Li and others hurriedly followed.
As they approached, several people came up in a panic. The leader was none other than Wang Xiangzhu. He did not care to be shy and shouted at the top of his voice, "Sir, this fire is probably coming for us! Several oil mills across the street are pouring oil into the river, and have also thrown a lot of bedding and furniture into it..."
Ge Zhan's face became increasingly gloomy. Without saying a word, he walked past Wang Xiangzhu and others and went outside the door to look. However, he saw that the two-meter-wide river surface was almost entirely occupied by raging flames. The entire Xianggu Pavilion seemed to be surrounded by a dancing fire dragon.
Bang, bang, bang...
I could hear the gongs of the night watchmen on the other side beating non-stop, but what they were shouting was not slogans to put out the fire, but: "The governor has ordered that all the things damaged tonight will be compensated twice as much - anyone who hides anything will be treated as collaborating with the thieves!"
As expected, those eagle-catching grandsons came to find him!
Ge Zhan couldn't help but secretly groan in his heart. Originally, he led the crowd to hide in the Xianggu Pavilion because he thought it was dark under the lamp and that the government would not think that he had the courage to stay nearby.
Secondly, he wanted to take advantage of the fact that this place was surrounded by rivers on three sides, and he could legitimately set up sentries here, which would not only block the government's spies, but also allow him to hide in the river at any time.
Who would have thought that the court's lackeys would be so cruel that they would directly use tung oil to start a fire and block a river section that was more than ten meters long!
It was because Aunt Li didn't know how to choose a location. She chose to be next to Jixiang Street, where there were seven or eight shops selling lamp oil and incense oil...
"Your Excellency."
At this time, Wang Xiangzhu came over and said with a pale face: "What do you think we should do now? I don't know who leaked the news..."
"What's the point of talking about this now?!"
Ge Chen turned around and shouted angrily: "Let everyone take the 'Summoning God Pill' and follow me to kill them!"
Having said that, he turned around and retraced his steps towards the small building.
Aunt Li, Wang Xiangzhu and others all looked a little frightened when they heard the three words "invite the gods to carry the burden", but they did not dare to say anything more. They could only follow up with their own thoughts.
As they approached the small building, Liu Junbao had already come forward with his men, holding torches and staffs, holding up a half-meter-long broadsword, grinning and saying, "Master, don't say anything. I will lead the way and protect you..."
As they were talking, a pair of disturbed wild mandarin ducks pushed the door open. Seeing this scene, they were so scared that they turned around and tried to retreat back to the yard, but Liu Junbao caught up with them in one step and chopped them into four pieces with a sharp knife!
He shook his hand lightly to get rid of the blood on the knife, and then continued: "I will protect you, Master, and kill you!"
"good!"
Ge Chen took the single blade thrown by his subordinate. Seeing his apprentice like this, he suddenly became heroic and said loudly: "Today, you and I, master and apprentice, will kill in this capital..."
Boom~!
Before the word "discipline" came out, there was a loud bang near the second gate, followed by a thunderous roar: "Sun Shaozong of Shuntian Prefecture has been ordered to arrest the White Lotus rebels. Everyone stay where you are and do not move. Those who violate the order will be killed without mercy!"
Having been in the capital for such a long time, Ge Zhan had naturally heard of the name of Sun Shaozong, and he knew in his heart that it would be difficult to get along well today.
He had never thought that Sun Shaozong only had four men around him [leaving two on the other side], so he hurriedly ordered everyone to take the elixir, and took some wine to take the medicine, and then raised his arms and shouted: "Maitreya is born, the Ming King is born!"
"Maitreya is born, and the Ming King is born!"
"Maitreya is born, and the Ming King is born!"
All the comrades raised their arms in response, and after just a few shouts, everyone's face turned red.
Seeing that the time was almost right, Ge Chen winked and Liu Junbao shouted, "Kill the dog official and enjoy peace!"
He raised his broadsword and rushed out with the crowd.
