afternoon.
A group of people entered the city from the west gate of Tiandu Mansion. After entering the city, this group of people immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the city.
There were several men escorting the procession in front and behind, and in the middle were five horses pulling five flatbed carts, with a coffin placed on each flatbed cart.
"Who is this person? Carrying so many coffins?"
"Look at the silver seal worn by that man. This is an official seal with a rank higher than two thousand stones. He is either a county lieutenant or a captain!"
"Where did our Tiandu Mansion get the county captain? Ninghou is in charge of all military forces. This is the Xuanwei Captain under Ninghou!"
This team was none other than Wang Cheng and others who had rushed back from Lianyun County after two days.
"Sir, what are we going to do next...?" Xu Chao asked.
Wang Cheng said: "Return these corpses to their families first, and we will do the debriefing tomorrow!"
"But..." Xu Chao hesitated.
He always felt that there was something wrong with doing this. Shouldn't it be Marquis Ning who arranged for people to return the dead to their families? If they do it, will others mistakenly think that they are trying to win people's hearts?
Xu Chao's worries soon came true.
After hearing the news, He Yiming, who was lying in bed to recover from his injuries, quickly got up from the bed, went to Ninghou Zhou Zhaoguang, and told the story.
"Master Hou! This man is obviously trying to win people's hearts! His heart is worth killing!"
Zhou Zhaoguang sat on the chair, looking at He Yiming with his breathtaking eyes, and said solemnly: "You came to Gu just to tell me this?"
He Yiming's heart skipped a beat. Ning Hou's tone was wrong. Did he do something wrong this time?
"Did your head get damaged? Whose Tiandu Mansion is this? Who is he buying people's hearts for?" Zhou Zhaoguang said.
He Yiming's face suddenly turned the color of pig liver.
Yes, the entire Tiandu Mansion is the fiefdom of Ninghou, and he is the king here. Even if someone tries to win people's hearts here, what big trouble can be caused?
He Yiming didn't know how he left. He touched his head. Could it be that his head was really damaged?
How could he do such a stupid thing?
Wang Cheng didn't know that He Yiming had sued him and returned the bodies of four subordinates, and now only the last one was left.
This person was also the most difficult for him to face, because to a certain extent, this person died in his hands. He was the only one of his own who died in a dust explosion.
Li Hongxiang lives in Huitu Alley in Tiandu Mansion. Unlike other streets that are paved with bluestone bricks, the road here is just sprinkled with a layer of lime, hence the name "Huitu Alley."
This is the most backward street in Tiandu Fucheng, and the people living here are poor people.
Li Hongxiang's home is a small courtyard with only two rooms, but it is kept clean and everything in the courtyard is neatly placed.
Along the way Wang Cheng walked, this was the cleanest yard. It can be seen that the owner is not only a clean person, but also an organized person.
The gate of the yard was opened, and a woman with a full head of hair was seen sitting by the well washing clothes. There were several large buckets of clean clothes beside her.
This person is Li Hongxiang's widowed mother, who makes money by cleaning people's clothes.
Suddenly, another little girl walked out of the room. She looked like eight or nine years old, with a sallow face and thin muscles, but her thin and deformed arms could actually lift a large wooden bucket containing dozens of kilograms of clothes.
After carrying the bucket out of the door, she was so tired that she couldn't straighten her back. After a while, she raised her head and saw Wang Cheng standing at the door.
Wang Cheng was dressed in a black gown, his long hair was still shawl-like naturally, and there was a silver seal hanging around his waist. He was tall and tall, and he was majestic. You could tell at a glance that he was not an ordinary person.
The little girl looked at the stranger and asked timidly: "Who are you looking for?"
Then he shouted to the middle-aged woman who was washing clothes: "Mom! Someone is coming!"
"Zhen'er, who is it?"
Mother Li shook her hands, wiped them clean on her apron, and then stood up.
She walked up to Wang Cheng and saw a silver seal hanging on his waist. She immediately bowed and then asked, "Do you have anything important to do here, sir?"
Wang Cheng's eyes turned red and he lowered his head and said, "Auntie, I... I'm sorry for you!"
Mother Li was stunned for a moment, and then her feet became unsteady. Fortunately, she was held up by Li Zhen and did not fall.
"Is...did something happen to Hongxiang?"
Wang Cheng turned around and shouted into the alley: "Come in!"
At this time, Xu Chao, Huang Meiren, Long Tao, and Yang Si came in carrying a coffin.
Not knowing where she got the strength, Mother Li rushed to the coffin and hugged it.
Suddenly there was only one voice left between heaven and earth, which was the cry of a mother after losing her son.
Li Hongxiang's sister Li Zhen also rushed to the coffin and cried bitterly with her mother.
"Why? Why don't you listen to me? Why do you want to follow your father's old path?"
Mother Li's thin, compass-like hands were constantly trying to hit the coffin, as if she were slapping the people inside.
"What's so good about practicing martial arts? You spent all your money and ended up like this! Why are you disobedient? What's wrong with being an ordinary person?"
When Wang Cheng heard this, he felt an inexplicable feeling in his heart.
In fact, he had some understanding of Li Hongxiang's family situation before coming here.
Li Hongxiang's father was also a martial arts practitioner, but when Li Hongxiang was very young, just a few days after Li Zhen was born, Li Hongxiang's father was killed by his enemies.
In order to avoid her enemies, Li's mother brought Li Hongxiang and Li Zhen to Tiandu Mansion before she was out of confinement. Because the confinement period was not done well, I suffered from back pain. I could not do heavy work and could only do some odd jobs. I looked like I was in my fifties or sixties in my early forties.
Li's mother hated martial arts from then on and told her son Li Hongxiang not to practice martial arts. But Li Hongxiang had been practicing martial arts for several years at that time and had laid a solid foundation. In addition, he was still worried about his father's death, so he studied and practiced even more diligently.
At the age of twenty, his strength has reached three thousand kilograms, and he is expected to break through to the realm of a martial artist at the age of twenty-one.
Of course, to be able to reach a strength of three thousand kilograms before the age of twenty, in addition to his own efforts, he also invested a huge price, such as purchasing Qi and Blood Pills.
Qi and Blood Pills were expensive, and all the wealth his father had accumulated had been used up. The originally wealthy family now relied on the widowed mother to do laundry.
This also led to his later election for Xuanwei, because his family really had no money for him to practice martial arts.
Being poor in literature and rich in martial arts is nothing more than this.
The coffin was moved into the house. Mother Li and her daughter Li Zhen finally had to accept this fact, and their emotions were no longer as extreme as before.
Wang Cheng then took out one hundred taels of gold and said, "Hongxiang is Xuanwei. He has made great achievements this time. This is the reward given to him by the Marquis. Please accept it."
Mother Li didn't refuse, maybe she just didn't have the heart to think about it now.
Wang Cheng put the gold away and said, "I have one more thing to ask my aunt. Before Hongxiang left, he asked me to give something to Xuemei. Do you know where Xuemei's family lives?"
"Xuemei? Xuemei?"
Mother Li, who was already devastated, suddenly went crazy. She slapped the coffin with both hands and screamed: "You traitor! You traitor! You will still think about that woman until you die! Ah..."
Wang Cheng was startled. Why was Mother Li so excited when she heard the word "Xuemei"? Isn’t Xuemei Li Hongxiang’s fiancée?
Seeing that Li's mother was too excited, Wang Cheng couldn't continue to ask questions, so he and Xu Chao and others left the yard.
Not far away, a cry came from behind, and Li Zhen ran over with tears still on her face.
She ran to Wang Cheng and said, "Sir! I know where Xuemei lives. She lives in Zuihong Mansion."
Drunk in the red building?
It took Wang Cheng a while to realize, isn't this one of the best brothels in Tiandu Mansion?
"It turned out to be a prostitute! I thought what kind of woman could make a person miss her even before he dies!"
Yang Si wanted to continue, but Wang Cheng glared at him before he honestly shut his mouth.
"Thank you! Little sister!"
Wang Cheng touched Li Zhen's head and said to Yang Si: "Take out that jade pendant on your body!"
Yang Si immediately covered his chest, but seeing Wang Cheng's eyebrows raised, he still took out the jade pendant and muttered: "You have spilled all the things I brought back from Lianyun Castle, young master." , you have to take away even this jade pendant!"
Wang Cheng grabbed the jade pendant, and the bastard lied to him again.
He knew very well that Yang Si took a lot of treasures from the secret room of Lianyun Castle and hid them all until he came back. He didn't take them out until the day he came back. The gold he wanted was not even a tenth of it.
Passing the jade pendant to Li Zhen, Wang Cheng touched her head and said, "Put this jade pendant away. Don't let anyone see it. If anyone bullies you, remember to come to me in Laohuai Lane." I’ll fight back for you!”
"Um!"
Li Zhen nodded solemnly, her big watery eyes seemed to be able to speak.
He patted her little shoulder again, and it wasn't until she ran home that Wang Cheng straightened up.
Looking at the small courtyard where whimpering came from time to time, he couldn't come back to his senses for a long time. Mother Li's previous words had a great impact on him.
Life is full of choices. Different choices often lead to different results.
If Li Hongxiang had listened to his mother and been an ordinary person, with the property left by Li Hongxiang's father, he would probably have a group of wives and concubines now and be a happy rich man.
However, many times, people have no choice!
Wang Cheng had no choice but to go home, save people, and take revenge. He was destined to continue on the road of martial arts. The enemy standing in front of him was too powerful.
It was so powerful that he didn't know how to face it. If he could, he certainly wouldn't want to be an enemy of someone like Ning Hou.
But, damn, he really had no choice!
"Sir, let's go next..." Xu Chao asked again habitually.
Wang Cheng waved his hand and said: "It's getting dark, everyone, go back! Remember to go to the Marquis Mansion to report on your work tomorrow morning!"
Although the task has been completed, the handover work has not yet been completed, especially the property rewarded by Marquis Ning, which is still in the treasury. He just received a piece of paperwork.
Laohuai Lane.
Those old locust trees are lush and green, and their branches are in buds. In a few days, March will be out, and the locust flowers will also be in bloom.
After many days, Wang Cheng and Yang Si returned to the courtyard again, and the gate of the courtyard was open.
The two were about to enter the door when a fist quickly enlarged in front of their eyes!
