The first volume of pearl curtains rolls up the western mountain rain at dusk Chapter 71: Letter of Submission
In the restaurant, Xiahou Zhuo looked at the men and introduced them to Li Diudiu one by one.
"His name is Ruan Chen, and he is dressed in green and forms a three-knot formation."
At this point, Xiahou Zhuo paused and explained to Li Diudiu what the three knots were.
"Look at his clothes. There is a red knot on the left wrist of his sleeve. This red knot is called the loyalty knot in the Qingyi formation. The more loyalty knots a person has, the higher his status and ranking in the Qingyi formation."
"The fewest are those who have just joined the Qingyi formation. They only have one loyalty knot. The most are seven. There is only one person with seven loyalty knots on his sleeves. He is the leader of our Qingyi formation. There are four people with six loyalty knots in total. They are called formation gates in the Qingyi formation."
Xiahou Zhuo looked at Li Diudiu, took out a red string from his arms and handed it to Li Diudiu: "Embroider this red string on your sleeves, and it means that you are also a brother of the Qingyi formation."
He tied a knot on the red rope he handed to Li Diudiu.
Li Diudiu carefully put away the red rope.
Xiahou Zhuo smiled and said, "Damn it, I feel like our Qingyi formation is losing face by recruiting someone as young as you. We have fallen to the point of tricking a child into joining. Sigh... The world is a dangerous place."
All those people laughed.
Xiahou continued to introduce: "His name is Ruan Mu, and he is a brother of Ruan Chen. He is also the third knot in the Qingyi formation."
Li Diudiu felt a little weird in his heart, but was too embarrassed to say it out loud, because the names of these two brothers were really unfriendly to men. One was called Ruan Chen and the other was called Ruan Mu, and they were soft all day long when they were together.
Xiahou Zhuo saw Li Diudiu narrow his eyes slightly and knew that this guy was up to no good. He coughed a few times and continued to introduce: "This one is Jia Dongxing, with a blue robe and a formation of three knots. This one is Zhen Hongxing, with a blue robe and a formation of three knots. They are both brothers who have life and death friendships with me."
After the introduction, Li Diudiu bowed to everyone one by one.
Li Diudiu asked curiously: "What about you?"
Xiahou Zhuo said: "It is the fourth knot."
Li Diudiu asked curiously again: "Generally speaking, for an organization like yours, from what age can you start recruiting followers?"
Xiahou Zhuo said seriously, "We are not a gang of hooligans. Not everyone can come in. The Qingyi formation is very strict in recruiting new members. Not only the martial arts skills but also the character are considered. Even if the martial arts skills are strong, if the character is not good, the Qingyi formation will never accept you."
Li Diudiu understood, he nodded and said: "That is to say, my brothers, Brother Xiahou is the fourth knot of Qingyi, and the four brothers are the third knot of Qingyi. So far, I am the only one among the five of you."
The four men looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
Although Xiahou Zhuo felt a little embarrassed, he had to admit: "Yes... there are five of us, and you are the only little brother for now."
Li Diudiu said: "It's an honor."
He asked again: "Then what are the rules for us to form a battle array in blue?"
Xiahou Zhuo said, "As I said earlier, the most important thing for the Qingyi formation is a person's character. The so-called rules are that you can't do anything that is against the will of heaven and earth. I will give you a copy of the Qingyi formation's rules later. You must remember them carefully. The Qingyi formation is not as simple as you think, nor is it as trivial as you think. The reason why you can successfully enter the Qingyi formation..."
Xiahou Zhuo paused for a moment, then looked at the four people and said, "It is because you four brothers jointly guaranteed with me that you have no problem with your character and good martial arts that you are exempted from the assessment."
Li Diudiu said: "It seems that my character is really beyond reproach."
Xiahou Zhuo said seriously: "Your character... is barely the lower limit of our Qingyi formation's character requirements... Otherwise, do you think you need five people to jointly guarantee you?"
Li Diudiu: “…”
Xiahou Zhuo smiled and said, "Just kidding... But you are indeed the first person that the Qingyi formation has recruited in the past six months. Are you proud?"
Li Diudiu had to ask: "Do you want to pay the membership fee?"
Xiahou Zhuo: “…”
Li Diudiu said, "They only recruited me in half a year. First, I feel that the rules of our Qingyi formation are really strict. Second, are we really poor? Can we afford to support more people?"
He had seen these four people before, although he had never spoken to them. Last time when Xiahou Zhuo was seriously injured, these four people were among the people who rushed over later. Moreover, Li Diudiu could see that they had the same character as Xiahou Zhuo, otherwise he would not have joked around so casually.
At this moment Xiahou Zhuo stood up, and as he stood up, the four brothers also stood up. The faces of the five men became solemn. Li Diudiu knew that they were going to talk about serious matters, so he quickly stood up as well.
"Li Chi, what I want to tell you now is what the Qingyi Formation is going to do in Jizhou City. You must never tell these things to anyone who has nothing to do with the Qingyi Formation. Once the Qingyi Formation is implicated because of what you said, the formation master and the formation sect will deal with it according to the family rules."
Li Diudiu nodded: "I remember it."
Xiahou Zhuo continued, "The Qingyi formation is to deal with those evil forces in Jizhou City, which are the bad guys in the eyes of a child like you."
He glanced at Li Diudiu and said, "Every night, the brothers in blue uniforms patrol the city of Jizhou to deal with thieves, bandits, and robbers. Although the government will send people to patrol after curfew, they are more perfunctory than others. I don't know where they will go to sleep."
"At night, those evil people come out to do bad things. Although there is a curfew, brothels and casinos pay money, and Jizhou Prefecture does not care. There are many evil people in these places."
Li Diudiu asked: "Do you want to patrol all night?"
"No."
Xiahou Zhuo said, "Listen to me first. A part of the income of the Qingyi Liezhen brothers comes from these merchants. They pay us money, and we are responsible for helping them to ensure that their business is safe and not disturbed. However, Qingyi Liezhen does not accept money from the casinos."
Li Diudiu asked: "Why?"
Xiahou Zhuo said: "You know, the money in the casino is not clean."
Li Diudiu said: "If we take the money from the casino and let the Qingyi formation take over, then the casino will be cleaner than if someone else manages it, right?"
Xiahou Zhuo was startled, thought for a moment and said, "What you said suddenly makes sense to me. Let's not talk about this for now. I'll go talk to the formation master later and see what he thinks."
He continued to say to Li Diudiu: "According to the rules set by the formation master, if we catch a thief, we will take one-fifth of the stolen goods. Otherwise, our brothers will have stayed up all night in vain. We are not wearing official uniforms and we don't receive any salary."
"Tonight, try to see if you can go out for a walk with the brothers in the blue robe formation. You are still studying in the academy, so you don't have to patrol every night like them. When we need you to do something, we will find you. When we don't need you, just study peacefully."
Li Diudiu nodded: "I understand."
Xiahou Zhuo said, "I am responsible for the academy and the two streets to the north and south of the academy. Your four brothers are also responsible. Because I am... a little lazy, so every night the four of them are on duty in two groups. In those places where money has been paid, our special brothers stay behind. Those places don't need to be taken care of. The five of us are actually... a support team."
Xiahou Zhuo said: "If the brothers stationed in the businessmen's territory encounter tough guys, the five of us will rush over immediately."
Li Diudiu nodded: "So, the five brothers are the best fighters in the Qingyi formation?"
The four men looked at Xiahou Zhuo at the same time, and Xiahou Zhuo said with some shame: "Although it may seem a bit proud to admit it, it is true."
Li Diudiu said: "Your martial arts..."
Xiahou Zhuo said, "What's wrong with my martial arts? I learned different things from you. You learned martial arts, and I learned killing skills. So most of the time when I fight with people, I prefer to use bricks, because bricks are lighter than my killing skills."
Li Diudiu understood that martial arts are actually killing skills, but not everyone who learns martial arts can transform them into killing skills. The methods Xiahou Zhuo practiced are completely different from the methods he used in daily fighting.
"That's about it."
Xiahou Zhuo said, "Let's order some food and have a good rest when we go back this afternoon. You will be officially accepted if you work with us at night. We will not call you for work at night in the future."
Li Diudiu was thinking about something else. When Xiahou Zhuo saw that he looked dazed for a moment, he knew that something was wrong, so he immediately added a sentence.
"Don't think about going out to arrest people at night. Although you are considered a brother of the Qingyi formation, you are still young. What if you encounter any danger? The martial arts world at night is completely different from the martial arts world you have seen before."
Li Diudiu hummed a few times perfunctorily: "Understood."
He asked, "Actually, do the Qingyi formations also receive bounties from the government office?"
Xiahou Zhuo was silent for a moment and then nodded: "Yes... some big bandits and cruel people, the government officials dare not catch them, so they will ask the brothers of the Qingyi formation to take action. If they catch such people, the government will give a large reward, which is one of the main sources of income for the Qingyi formation."
Li Diudiu hummed: "How often does the government send a list?"
He looked at Xia Houzhuo and said seriously: "You know, I'm short of money."
Before Xiahou Zhuo could say anything, Ruan Chen took out a folded paper from his arms and handed it to Li Diudiu: "Consider it a meeting gift from my brother."
Li Diudiu took the paper, unfolded it and took a look. It was a portrait.
"I just received a job. Wang Heita was the second in command of a rebel group outside the city. He had a falling out with their leader, so he spent a large sum of money to hide in Jizhou City. He should have taken refuge with a certain master in Jizhou Prefecture. He is now in charge of Changxing Casino."
Li Diudiu frowned, thought for a while and then asked, "Since he has already surrendered to the government, why would the government ask the people in blue to help arrest him?"
Ruan Chen said, "Little brother, not all officials are the same kind of people... nor are they all in the same group, do you understand? Someone wants to take over Changxing Casino. This is a secret activity and an internal problem of the people in Jizhou Prefecture."
Li Diudiu understood.
Xiahou Zhuo sighed and said, "Don't take this job."
Li Diudiu asked: "Is this person very cruel?"
Xiahou Zhuo said, "You should know the people who were taken down in Jizhou Prefecture a while ago. One of them was the prosecutor Zheng Chun. Although he has been imprisoned, he should be released soon. Lian Gongming will not really touch him. After all, Zheng Chun has some leverage over Lian Gongming. What happened that day was probably just a show for my father to see."
"Wang Heita had taken refuge with the prosecutor Zheng Chun, and the Changxing Casino belonged to Zheng Chun. Someone wanted to take advantage of Zheng Chun's imprisonment to take away all his shady stuff."
Xiahou Zhuo said: "This is a pool of muddy water."
Li Diudiu put the portrait away and said with a smile: "I'll just keep it for now. I won't touch it unless there's a chance. Don't worry. I value my life."
Xiahou Zhuo glared at him, and Ruan Chen smiled and said, "Don't worry, if Li Chi wants this person, we will help him. If he wants to get in, there must be a form of entry, right?"
Only then did Li Diudiu realize that this was a token of his allegiance.
