When he arrived at the place, he saw that there were very few disciples of the Beggar Gang. It seemed that even if all the disciples were added together, they were less than the number of disciples who intercepted him and Lei Kan on the way to Chang'an that day.
Lin Jianlan was puzzled. He walked up slowly and looked around before he found a disciple holding a five-bell long staff. He was the highest-ranking disciple among the people. He went up to him, clasped his fists and said, "Big brother, is Zhu the guardian here?"
The disciple was about to return the greeting, but when he saw Lin Jianlan's face and looked at it for a while, he was suddenly surprised and asked with a wary look: "Aren't you Lin Jianlan from the Kuangyi Gang? What are you doing here?"
Lin Jianlan thought about it and knew that this disciple probably also participated in the fight that morning, so he recognized him. He secretly said, "It's nice to see you, my king, but it's hard to deal with this little devil." He bowed and said, "Please don't blame me for the offense I committed that day. I'm here to see Zhu the Dharma Protector today to apologize and to ask for his help with something important."
The disciple was still on guard, and some other disciples gradually gathered around him. The disciple said, "Protector Zhu is not here. Please come back another day."
Lin Jianlan was immediately angry after hearing this, but he tried to hold back his anger and said, "Brother, are you still blaming me for what happened that day? I am here to apologize. Please tell Zhu the Dharma Protector."
The disciple said, "I said he was not here, so he was not here. Don't you understand?"
Lin Jianlan said angrily, "I have no ill intentions. I have an urgent matter and need Zhu's help. It is up to him to decide . How can you stop me? If you don't get out of the way, don't blame me for offending you!"
The disciple was also very fierce. He blocked the chest with the long stick, which made a crisp sound. He said, "I saw your skills that day. I'm afraid that even if we put our hands together, we are still no match for you. When Zhu Hufa and his brothers left, they handed this branch hall to me to guard. If you want to make trouble here, I will stop you even if I risk my life!"
When he said this, Lin Jianlan was stunned and asked, "Could it be that Zhu the Dharma Protector is really not here?"
The disciple said angrily: "Who lied to you?"
Lin Jianlan asked anxiously: "Where did Zhu the guardian go?"
The disciple said, "He's gone..." He suddenly took a step back and asked cautiously, "Why should I tell you?"
Lin Jianlan said helplessly: "When will he come back?"
The disciple shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Seeing that he refused to reveal any more information, and that a number of low-level disciples gathered behind him, looking at him as if he were a monster, and some people were whispering behind him, Lin Jianlan smiled bitterly and said, "In that case, I'll wait for him to come back here." After that, he turned around and walked to an old tree opposite the branch rudder, and sat cross-legged. At this time, the sun was just rising, and the sunlight was dazzling. The old tree had long been dead, leaving only dead branches and vines like claws, which could not block any sunlight. In a moment, Lin Jianlan felt warm all over, and it was a bit uncomfortable to be exposed to the sun, while the ground air under his body was extremely cold, penetrating straight up. In a moment, the internal force in his body actually started to run on its own. Lin Jianlan thought to himself, "What Yin Yin said is indeed right." He just closed his eyes and slowly guided it, and gradually the upper and lower parts became equally cold and warm, just right, as if he had entered a state of forgetting both the self and the world.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw the sun shining in the sky, and the shadow of the tree had tilted a lot. Lin Jianlan was anxious, and he was also very hungry. He wanted to eat, but he was afraid that Zhu Chenghong would come back and miss the opportunity, so he had to get up and move around, and then sat on the ground again. Seeing that the Wuling disciple was still in the same place, looking at him with a wary look, Lin Jianlan shook his head, closed his eyes and meditated again, and practiced again. Another cycle passed, and slowly energy in his body gradually heated up to keep his body from getting cold. Lin Jianlan looked over again and was shocked. The shadow of the tree tilted to the east, and it was almost dusk. He stood up in a hurry, but almost fell down. He quickly held the dead tree next to him, calmed down, and looked at the door of the branch rudder. He saw that the disciple had never left, and his eyes seemed to grow on Lin Jianlan all day. At this moment, seeing Lin Jianlan standing up and a little shaky, Fang hesitated and ran over.
Lin Jianlan rubbed his forehead and asked, "Is it possible that Zhu Protector will come back today?"
The disciple said in a muffled voice, "Don't wait any longer. Zhu Hufa is not as close as from West Street to East Street. He won't be back for ten days or half a month."
After hearing this, Lin Jianlan's body swayed and he almost fell to the ground. This whole day seemed to be wasted. He could only smile bitterly, bowed to the disciple, and left sadly.
Rubbing his stomach, he was already starving after not eating for a day. As soon as he arrived in the downtown area, Lin Jianlan immediately picked a restaurant, ordered some food, and started to wolf it down ate so fast that he almost choked. He quickly took another big sip of tea, and just as he swallowed it, he heard a crisp "pop" sound in the room. He turned around and saw that a storyteller had set up a show in the restaurant.
Lin Jianlan had not heard of this story for many years, so he moved his chair with great interest and ate while listening to the storyteller. He heard the storyteller say, "Dear guests, today's story is about 'Governor Xie's three visits to Huang Village, and Tian Ba ​​Wang's death in one day.'"
Someone immediately started to greet him. The man took a sip of tea calmly and said slowly: "Dear guests, I believe everyone is familiar with Huangcun. It is only a few dozen miles south of Suzhou and is a must-pass place between Suzhou and Hangzhou. It is a good piece of land, but it has been messed up by one person. Ladies and gentlemen, who do you think this person is? He is a rich man in the village named Tian Liuzhu. Why is he called this name? There is a story here that his father had five sons before, but none of them could keep them. So when he was born, he was given a homophonic name, which means 'keep'." There was a burst of laughter from the audience.
The storyteller continued, "Just think about it. He is the only child of his family. He must be treated like a spoiled child. He is given whatever he wants. He is really lawless. As the saying goes, the rich are unkind. Ever since Tian Liuzhu married the daughter of the town tax collector and recognized the official of the Cai family as his godfather, he has been running rampant in the village, bullying men and women. If a family offends him, they will basically have no way to survive!"
Lin Jianlan looked around and saw that the audience was gradually increasing. The entrance was also full of people. He thought to himself, "What this storyteller said is quite interesting. Let's see what he is talking about."
"...The Liu family is also a wealthy family. They know that the Tian family is powerful and difficult to offend, so they are very careful in dealing with them. They also prepare generous gifts to visit the Tian family during festivals, and the Tian family occasionally returns gifts. Some guests thought that it would be good for the two families to live in harmony, and they would not hit a smiling person. But you are wrong. There are hundreds of people of all kinds, and Tian Liuzhu is a character who will turn his face against you. He didn't take action before because the Liu family didn't have anything he wanted. The problem is that the old lady of the Liu family passed away, and his eldest daughter came back to attend the funeral, which was fatal."
The storyteller drank some more water to moisten his throat and said, "The girl has been married for five or six years. Her husband's family lives somewhere else, quite far from her parents' home. She has never been back in all these years. Because she is the eldest granddaughter whom the old lady loves very much, she brought her child back. It happened that Tian Liuzhu also came to pay his respects in a fake manner. Hey, seeing the young woman in heavy mourning clothes and looking very pretty, he immediately had other ideas."
Lin Jianlan was already full at this moment, and he couldn't help but smile when he heard this. He thought to himself, what will happen next is nothing more than the rape of a woman, the redress of the injustice by an honest official, and the revenge of one's hatred. He waved to the waiter and asked him to refill his tea. He sipped it slowly, but he tried hard not to laugh out loud when he heard the rest. He just lay on the table, shaking with laughter all over. The people around him were all filled with righteous indignation when they heard this, and were quite dissatisfied to see Lin Jianlan's strange smile, and couldn't help showing annoyance to him. Lin Jianlan waited until the storyteller finished telling this story before he paid the bill and left. He held onto a tree and couldn't help laughing out loud.
It turned out that the storyteller was talking about none other than Xie Zhongju. The story was basically true, but he had never seen Xie Zhongju in person. He only heard rumors and made up stories out of his own imagination. He described Xie Zhongju as "eight feet tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a square face, three thick wisps of beard, and a majestic presence without even getting angry." He also described Su Wenshu as being like Zhou Cang. When he talked about the two of them, he had to tighten his throat and breathe roughly. That's why Lin Jianlan couldn't help laughing.
Looking back, he saw that the crowd had dispersed. People were walking out in groups of two or three. They mentioned Xie Zhongju's name from time to time with longing looks on their faces. Lin Jianlan was very happy for Xie Zhongju and thought to himself, "His deeds of eliminating harm for the people along the way in Suzhou have spread to the streets of Hangzhou. Even storytellers are telling stories about him, which shows how popular he is. In less than half a month, the mission will be accomplished, which will be a blessing for the people of Jiangnan." He was also a little worried. He had clearly told Xie Zhongju not to travel incognito again, but he didn't listen. Fortunately, Yuan Xingjian was by his side, otherwise it would be really dangerous. Thinking of this, he secretly made up his mind and said, "If he comes to Hangzhou, I will never let him be so reckless again."
Walking back to his residence calmly, the shopkeeper had already cleaned the house again. The teapot was still hot, indicating that the tea had just been brewed. The bed was also made. Lin Jianlan was tired after a day's work, so he immediately threw himself on the bed and stretched his limbs. Thinking that Zhu the Dharma Protector had gone somewhere unknown and it would take him an unknown amount of time to come back, he could not help but get anxious again, thinking to himself, "From what the disciple said, he must have gone on a long journey. But seeing how few disciples there are in the Hangzhou branch, with only a Wuling disciple leading the way, could it be that the others followed Zhu the Dharma Protector out? What was so important that they took all the elite members of the branch with them?"
Lin Jianlan sighed and turned over, staring at the ceiling of the bed. The Beggars' Sect's affairs were handled by the Beggars' Sect, but it would take several days before Yuan Xingjian and the others showed up. Could it be that he would be idle these days? It seemed that there were many things waiting to be done, but he had no idea what to do.
Suddenly, there was a sound coming from outside the door. The footsteps sounded like the owner's. Cao Yinyin's voice said, "Is Master Lin back?" She must have landed very lightly, so the sound of the owner's footsteps was drowned out. Then she heard the owner say, "Master Lin went out early in the morning. He came back and went into the house. There was no movement. Please wait a moment, I'll call him."
Lin Jianlan was lying in bed, not knowing whether to get out of bed and open the door to greet him. He also felt that he didn't know what to say when they met. The owner had already called "Mr. Lin" several times outside, and the voice gradually became louder. Lin Jianlan thought about it and stood up. Just as he was about to answer, he heard Cao Yinyin said, "Mr. Lin must be too tired and has fallen asleep. Don't wake him up. I will come another day and serve you carefully."
Hearing the footsteps fade away again, Lin Jianlan felt mixed emotions. He thought Cao Yinyin's visit last night was just a casual talk, but he didn't expect her to come again. This feeling of being in a fog made him feel very uncomfortable. He sat there blankly for a while, then picked up the sword, put the things neatly on the bedside, and went downstairs. The shop owner saw him suddenly come out in high spirits, and was surprised to say, "Mr. Lin just now..."
Lin Jianlan said, "Please help me find a good horse, owner. I need to leave overnight."
The shop owner could not believe that he dared to shut the door to the gang leader. He nodded in astonishment and went out. He said a few words to a waiter. In less than an incense stick of time, the waiter led a horse and stood at the door. Lin Jianlan said, "Shop owner, my things are still in the room. If the room can keep them for me, that would be great. If not, please keep them for me. Thank you!" After saying that, he took the reins and jumped on the horse. The shop owner just opened his mouth to ask, "When will Mr. Lin come back?" He saw Lin Jianlan had already shouted "Go" and whipped the horse away. The horse had already run a few feet away, and disappeared after a while. The shop owner came to his senses and said repeatedly, "Go and inform the gang leader!"
Two days later, one afternoon, Lin Jianlan had arrived outside the gate of a small courtyard in Yangzhou. Seeing that the door was not locked, his heart skipped a beat. He gently pushed the door open, but there was no sound from inside.
This was exactly the courtyard where Lin Longqing had temporarily lived that day. He had stayed here for a while before leaving the Kuangyi Gang with Lin Jianlan. He did not sell the property when he left, but just locked it casually. It was a residence that only he and Lin Jianlan knew about.
Lin Jianlan felt his mouth dry and his heart pounding. He pushed the door open, but it was ajar. It was obvious that someone had been in there at some point. The ground was already covered with dust, but the teapot and teacup on the table did not seem to have any dust. Lin Jianlan walked over and wiped them gently with his hand. His fingers were still clean. He opened the lid of the teapot and found there was still half a pot of tea in it. Lin Jianlan did not hesitate and ran inside. However, his face suddenly turned pale and he stood there with trembling lips.
There were countless bloodstained cloth strips scattered on the ground, obviously they were taken off after bandaging wounds. There were still a few bottles of medicine on the table, with medicine powder scattered sporadically. It was dark yellow in color and was an extremely powerful hemostatic agent. Lin Jianlan slowly approached and gently picked up one. The blood on it was not dry yet and it was still a little damp. He slowly clenched his hands and lowered his head. For the first time in his life, he felt so regretful. He regretted why he didn't come here in time and missed Lin Longqing's trace.
A sudden gust of wind blew outside the door, causing it to sway. The cloth strips on the ground were tangled in the wind but could not float further. The wind pushed them to the corner of the wall and they trembled slightly. Lin Jianlan followed the bloody cloth with his eyes and saw a corner of a white envelope lying there quietly.
When he picked it up, he found that the handwriting was very familiar. The appearance of the envelope was also familiar, very elegant, with the words "Lin Long Qingtai Qi" written on it. He rubbed it and some silver powder was stained on his hands.
Lin Jianlan gently put the envelope in his arms, walked out the door, looked up to the west. The setting sun cast a golden glow on the courtyard wall.