Aggrieved Fish Sprite

Three days later, the caravan resumed its journey.

When the flood receded, the road had been repeatedly trampled and leveled by the vehicles and people in front, and it was not strenuous to walk.

The scorching sun hung in the sky again, and the temperature gradually picked up. This alternation of cold and hot made many people sneeze.

Therefore, before going on the road today, they all bought a bowl of ginger soup, and those who were seriously ill had already taken medicine.Although the steward of the caravan disliked the sickness of the coachman, it was still a day away from the nearest county seat. There were many coolies in the mountains and villages, but they didn't have a car and horse company to guarantee them, so they didn't care about using them indiscriminately.

The coachman Laoqi lay in the weeds for an hour that day, and when he got up, his neck ached.

When others saw it, they exclaimed that he was touched by "ghost hands", and there were blue finger marks on both sides of his neck.

Lao Qi suspects that the person who attacked him is in the village, but there are too many outsiders. Every day, people buy medicine, and immediately row away after buying it. They can't even see it, let alone check it.He also stared at Mo Li and Meng Qi, but he never saw these two people again.

Lao Qi didn't dare to say that he was attacked, so he could only pretend to be stupid.

He felt distressed and used [-] copper coins to buy the Laoshizi "exorcism knot" made by the villagers of the elixir village.

That thing is similar to the five-color knots of children during the Dragon Boat Festival, and it is very awkward to put on the wrist.

These days, knots in the village are selling very well. Originally, they sold for ten copper coins, but they doubled in one go.The villagers wanted to ask for a higher price, but no one bought it no matter how expensive it was.The people in the elixir village felt uncomfortable because of this, and they always wanted to take the ointment and knots outside to make a fortune.

No, taking advantage of this flood, a few people used the excuse that they wanted to visit relatives in neighboring villages to see the situation, secretly stuffed ointment jars in their bags, and followed the caravan, making up their minds that if they encountered bandits, they would kill them. run.

Lao Qi laughed heartily.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the county seat, the people in the elixir village were selling them around with their bags on their backs, but no one paid any attention to them.

A disheveled farmer who can't even speak official Chinese, is carrying a bunch of bottles and jars and says it's the ointment from the Elixir Village. Who can guarantee it's true?

Medicine halls and shops sell porcelain vases (reselling caravans disassemble the ointment into smaller containers), and at first glance, they are good things from Peng Xianren. Besides, those who open shops in the city can be trusted by the common people. The shop can't escape, who dares to buy it on the street?

The people in the elixir village saw that it was not good, so they had to lower the price. Anyway, the price in the city is much more expensive than them!

It is true that some people heard that the price is coming, but when they see cheap things, everyone wants to be cheaper, and they keep bargaining, killing the villagers in cold sweat. The lively neighbors in the neighborhood vowed that as long as it is cheaper, they will definitely get it.

After they gritted their teeth and nodded, they went home with a bargaining smile, took the scale, opened the jar, scraped a layer, dropped a copper plate and left.

The people in the elixir village were stunned and stretched out their hands to stop them, but the other party yelled that they bought it anyway, and it was someone else's business if they didn't want to buy it.

Before the person who sold a whole jar of ointment had time to be happy, several strong men immediately carried a wailing woman, and dragged the people in the elixir village to say that he was selling fake medicine, and died after applying it.The mother-in-law howled loudly, and the strong man who came with her beat up the person who sold the ointment, took the money and the ointment, turned around and ran away.

By the time someone got up, the woman had long since disappeared.

——If business is so easy, what do the street ruffians eat?

The government is not manned enough to keep an eye on them, and only patrols are made during festivals and festivals. Not to mention reckless carrying a bag into the city to sell goods, even a pedestrian businessman dealing with a shop has to find the right way to identify the right door.

The coachman, Lao Qi, watched the caravan unload the goods, found a free time and said that he would go to the Town God's Temple to worship, and then walked quickly through the streets and alleys, paying attention to whether there was anyone following behind him. Go, almost laughed out loud.

He shook the knot on his wrist and threw it into the dirty water.

The flooding situation in the county is very serious. The accumulated water in some alleys has not receded. There are water marks half the wall height outside all the houses. People are busy shoveling off the mud and moss on the walls, and then transporting the things damaged by the strong wind. , Every street has people who repair roofs and lay tiles.

Very uncomfortable for someone who wants to hide his whereabouts.

Lao Qi simply found a tea stand to linger until evening, and when there were no people on the roof, he went to find Feng Xing Ge's sub-helm in this county.

This is a rice shop, and the coolies who deliver the goods come and go at the warehouse door behind the shop. Lao Qi feels the bottom of the wall and turns into the dark alley. After seeing that there is no one in front and behind, he walks on specific green bricks according to a certain pattern. After finishing the passage, he stretched out his hand and pushed hard on the wall, opening a mechanism door.

Lao Qi hunched over and got in, and the door was quickly shut again.

Before going in, Lao Qi tensed his back.

Sure enough, a sharp knife was slashing head-on, and Lao Qi closed his eyes tightly, not daring to act rashly.

The cold air hits the face and stops in front of the tip of the nose.

"Bao... shopkeeper Bao, who is this?" Lao Qi stammered, looking terrified.

The man holding the knife was an old man in his 70s, with eyes full of spirit. The knife was wide and thick, unlike the ones used by ordinary Jiang Hu people, it looked like a gold-backed big ring knife for fighting in the battlefield.

"An evil star came to make trouble yesterday, and I want to see 'Chushanhu' by name and ask about Peng Ze's water bandit." The shopkeeper Bao's old voice was still forceful, and he asked sharply, "Say, did you make a mess of it? The trouble? "

The coachman Lao Qi knelt down on the ground and begged for mercy: "Why don't you hide everything from your old eyes? There's nothing you can do about it, I just want to save my life! Besides, this thing was done on behalf of King Ning, an official I don't want to suppress the water bandits, so I push the job to us, this trouble... Hehe, don't let them take care of you."

The old man patted the cheek of the coachman Lao Qi with the back of his knife, and said with a snort, "Don't be too clever, the old man knows who you are doing for."

Lao Qi smiled apologetically, and said cautiously: "Hey, I'm just getting some oil and water and doing work for the two families. If I really thought about what I shouldn't, wouldn't you have chopped me up early? Let me tell you, the king of Wu is being taken advantage of, it's not as good as our Fengxing Pavilion..."

"Enough!" Shopkeeper Bao said impatiently, "I don't have the heart to talk to you, who else did you tell about the water bandits?"

"Well, does it need to be said?" the coachman Lao Qi stammered and argued, "The dozens of people in Fengxing Pavilion who run errands here, as long as they are not idiots, they can guess it. It's not as simple as suppressing water bandits, Guancang There is a lot of food in the village, and they even sent people to the countryside to buy it from Wudi quietly... Although they pretended to be King Jing, could they hide it from our Fengxing Pavilion?"

Shopkeeper Bao drooped the corners of his mouth and kicked the coachman Laoqi on the ass.

"Go away if you have nothing to do."

"Immediately, immediately!"

Lao Qi rolled his eyes, grinningly slipped to the low table next to him, and asked a clerk to dictate a piece of news about "meeting two scribes in the elixir village", and described Meng Qi Moli's appearance in great detail. People, randomly ticked off two pictures for Lao Qi to recognize.

"No, these eyes...and nose...this demeanor..."

After talking about it, Lao Qi simply patted his thigh and said, "It is not inferior to the number one talented scholar in Suzhou and the famous people in Qinhuai. It is said that they are from Qiantang County."

The buddy tried hard to draw a similar shape, but finally stopped drawing, and simply marked a few words next to it.

"The painting costs one hundred copper coins, and there are two pieces in total." The clerk kept the account for Lao Qi.

Lao Qi didn't care, grinned and said: "Someone must buy their news, don't say two hundred dollars, maybe twenty taels of silver can be earned back."

Shopkeeper Bao didn't say a word, and watched the coachman Old Qi humming a song and leaving.

He rubbed his forehead, found an excuse to send the guy out of the house, and locked the door.

A figure fell silently from the beam, walked to the table, picked up the picture and looked at it with great interest.

"General Meng."

Shopkeeper Bao cupped his fists respectfully, and almost half-kneeled to salute.

Meng Qi raised his hand and gave him a support, but Shopkeeper Bao couldn't bend down anymore.

In fact, Meng Qi didn't expect to meet his old friend here yesterday.

Shopkeeper Bao has no reputation in the Jianghu. He used to be the instructor of the frontier army of the Chu Dynasty. His martial arts are so good that it is difficult to find an opponent immediately.This is nothing, mainly because he has been on the battlefield since he was 14 years old, and he has been a half-hearted vanguard officer under Meng Qi's command.

At that time, Hou Aicai of Jingyuan didn't want the young general to take risks, so he "threw" him to Meng Qi, who was transporting and guarding food in the rear.

Many years passed in a flash, and Meng Qi didn't recognize him when he first met.

But shopkeeper Bao almost rubbed his eyes yesterday when he looked at the "forty-something" Meng Qi who came to the door looking for trouble.

Shopkeeper Bao's name is Guanyong. When he was young, he longed to be the champion of the three armies. Unfortunately, he has not yet grown up, and the world will be unified.

Fortunately, he caught up with Mie Xiliang, and has been serving in the frontier army since then, unwilling to return to Taijing.There are too many generals in the Chu Dynasty. In troubled times, Bao Guanyong is still a general, but he was born too late. When he has grown into a strong general, the Chu Dynasty has nothing to fight except for the conflict between the frontier army and the barbarians. beat.

Now Bao Guanyong is 72 years old.

Lian Po is old, and Bao Guanyong, who works as a shopkeeper in Mipu, is not as lucky as Lian Po.

When Qi Emperor Lu Zhang was a general, civil and military conflicts prevailed, and the government and the opposition were chaotic. Bao Guanyong was unlucky at that time. He was randomly charged with "stealing and selling military funds and colluding with barbarians", and he was demoted and exiled to Yunmengze, Dongting. The natives fought.

Not long after, Qi replaced Chu Li.

"...When I fled to Luling County, I wanted to find a loyal one among the three feudal lords. I fought the Yangtze River to regain the northern land and re-establish the Chu Dynasty. I didn't expect...all of them are short-sighted and self-righteous fools!"

Shopkeeper Bao has endured these years, and there is no one who can complain. Seeing that Meng Qi is like seeing his parents, he almost rushed over and cried.

Meng Qi had a terrible headache: "You are already in your seventies, how do you behave like a child?"

Meng Qi regretted that he didn't bring the ink carp with him. In such a situation, if he just stretched out his hand to wrap the doctor's waist, Bao Guanyong would be stunned and motionless.

Yesterday Meng Qi and Mo Li came wearing masks.

——The Zhong Kui mask of the "epidemic ghost" sent out from the Town God's Temple hangs for a long time, taking the sheep by hand.

The two pretended to fight, then turned around and slipped back to catch the real person in charge of Fengxing Pavilion here.

It is not the "Chushanhu" as the coachman Lao Qi said, but the master of "Chushanhu", the old shopkeeper of the rice shop in his 70s.

When the mask was taken off, Meng Qi was surprised, and shopkeeper Bao "recognized his relatives" in shock.

It's really luck, it can't be stopped.

Bao Guanyong not only knows all the secrets of Fengxing Pavilion, what's more, he is the elder of Fengxing Pavilion, Mr. Qiu, the counselor of King Ning, "invited" him to come out of the mountain.

Bao Guanyong still has "Chu" in his heart.

But what he did was interesting to Meng Qi.

Instead of leading troops or going to the barracks, he squatted in Fengxing Pavilion instead.

I taught several apprentices, and all the apprentices went to the rivers and lakes again.