(31)
Exhausting all his patience, Su Qing hid his traces until dawn. He kept his troops stationary and did not see any strange signs from Yin Qianchou. It seemed that the other party was aware of the situation and thought that there was no need to use a "hurry march" and quietly approached the mysterious imperial mausoleum at night.
Although taking advantage of a weak spot can gain an advantage, executing such an order requires a high degree of organization and discipline. Obviously, Yin Qianchou's subordinates were all rogues, so they did not have the conditions to carry out a sneak attack.
So, Su Qing returned to the alley corner where she had cross-dressed, put on her fisherman's clothes, and walked a few times on the street with some pickled fish. Finally, finding that there was no new movement, he dragged his tired body to buy food and wine, and sat in a teahouse near Dongcheng Posthouse to wait for work.
Under the influence of alcohol, he fell asleep for a while, half asleep and half awake. It wasn't until the noise in his ears got louder that he opened his eyes and looked at what was going on over there in the post house.
I saw that Yin Qianchou, Taoist Lei Heng, and dozens of his Taiping Dao boys had already gone out on the road. Among them, a familiar figure fell at the end of the procession. They tied the hands of the good women they had snatched with ropes and then led them away, swaggering through the market and acting as a scapegoat, demonstrating their power at all times.
Although this rather direct method of exerting pressure is not convincing, it can indeed immediately intimidate most people, not to mention that the leaders are all high-sounding officials and Taoists worthy of the name.
Countless villagers who passed by the procession took the initiative to give way and knelt down, watching helplessly as the girl who was left behind was led staggeringly by the rope like an animal. There are even more mischievous people, thinking that this is a captured prisoner, picking up stones and rotten vegetables on the roadside and throwing them in the other person's face.
Su Qing looked across the street and checked several times before he dared to believe that the girl was E Feiying, who had ridiculed him in every possible way and was so arrogant. At this time, she was already in a daze and covered with bruises. She was walking barefoot, stepping on the sand filled with sharp gravels and stones, but there was no trace of pain on her expression.
E Feiying just hung her head slightly, silently accepting the ridicule and curses from others.
Watching the procession heading to the imperial mausoleum gradually leave, Su Qing knew she couldn't follow too closely, so she held her head and thought of a way.
Suddenly, Su Qing caught a glimpse of a beggar from the side. He was an extremely skinny and wrinkled man. The obviously ill-fitting coarse cloth clothes were tattered and loose, exposing half of his ugly body.
The beggar kept staring at the leftover wine and barbecue at Su Qing's table, salivating. Su Qing followed his wishes, took the things and went over to greet him: "Brother, are you hungry?"
"Hmm... um." The beggar grabbed the wine and meat and swallowed it immediately.
"Brother, do you know what those Taoist masters are going to do?"
"It looks... like, he's going to rob a tomb!" As soon as the beggar finished speaking, he ate the half of the chicken thigh until only the skeleton was left. "Last night, they arrested people for questioning when they saw them. Fortunately, I escaped. quick!"
"I have a lot of money here, and I want to ask you to do something for me, brother..." Su Qing took out the silver and asked, "Don't you know your brother's name?"
"Just...just call me Xiao Anzi!" Xiao Anzi stared at each other, flattered, and replied: "What...what do you want me to do? I don't want to commit murder or arson..."
"I want you to follow those Taoist priests until you can no longer follow, then return to this teahouse and wait for me. At that time, I will give you a few more taels of silver!"
After hearing this, Xiao Anzi was overjoyed and nodded in agreement. Then he took the unfinished wine and followed with his bare black feet.
After Su Qing watched him go away, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the sun to count the time, and slowly walked towards the camp by the river.
After a while, dusk is approaching. Xiang Chuchu and others, who had already prepared their luggage in the camp, were already saying goodbye before leaving.
Xiang Chuchu looked at the direction of the sunset, her brows furrowed, and she almost looked back every time she took a step. Until she got on the carriage, she reluctantly looked at the people saying goodbye.
Watching the carriage carrying Xiang Chuchu, Zichai, and Tao Wuyong go away, Zhao Xiaomei and others didn't know why the atmosphere was so thick at first. It wasn't until Su Qing suddenly jumped out from a certain direction and told everyone about his agreement with the Xiang family that Zhao Xiaomei and others finally woke up.
"Since we have this agreement, why do we have to wait for sunset to show up?" Zhao Xiaomei couldn't help but ask.
"Follow me, they will die sooner or later. This is retribution." Su Qing leaned in front of the tree trunk slightly depressed, and replied in a calm tone: "But you two brothers and sisters, why do you still stay here? Why don't you just stay here?" Return to Cangzhou to repair, and then hire a new convoy to hit the road to Beizhen?"
Zhao Kuo replied: "We have just come out of prison. We are afraid that people will take down the portrait, which will cause trouble in the city. Besides, if we really want to leave, our luggage is still here, how can we abandon it? in spite of?"
"After all, you still can't bear to leave Brother Bai and the others, right?" Su Qing snickered, glanced at Zhao Xiaomei sideways, and said: "Now that Yin Qianchou and those Taiping Taoists have left Lingcheng, if you have important things left behind, There, go back and get it now."
"Really? The flowers from the slave family are still there!" Ajuan on the side suddenly shouted: "Zhao Kuo, will you accompany me back?"
"Which is more important, the flower or your life?" Zhao Kuo retorted, and then asked Su Qing: "Speaking of which, Mr. Su, is he coming back this time not just to inform us of the news?"
"Indeed, I came back to ask for help." After Su Qing finished talking, the two young masters were interrupted by Ajuan's random behavior.
"Zhao Kuo, if it weren't for the poisonous flower seeds given by Sister Mengdie, the Nu family would have been tortured and humiliated to the point of unconsciousness!" After Ajuan washed away the dejected state last night, it seemed that her body had returned to normal, and she was in a state of shock. Sangzi then said: "Look, those bastards tied the hands of the slaves behind their backs and threw themselves into my arms without saying a word. Fortunately, there was some pollen hidden in the hidden bag in the arms. They stun two people in a row so that they would not dare to do it again." Getting close to me easily! In the end, they had no choice but to lock me up and deny me food and drink, trying to make the slave family half-dead before they could plot evil..."
After the younger sister heard about it, she felt something in her heart, so she also persuaded Zhao Kuo. Unexpectedly, Zhao Kuo was no longer arbitrary this time, and looked full of guilt. He could only nod silently and agreed to the matter.
Then, Zhao Kuo asked Su Qing, "I wonder how the three of us can help Brother Su?"
"Brother Zhao, there is a bow and arrow in the camp. If you have some knowledge of archery, I wonder if you can go with me to the imperial mausoleum to rescue Brother Bai and Miss E. Taking advantage of the night, we are like 'the mantis stalks the cicada, with the oriole behind' , take advantage of the right time and place!"
"Arching is one of the 'Six Arts of a Gentleman', how can I not know it?" After Zhao Kuo said this, he looked back at his two sisters and said: "Just for their safety, I really don't dare to do it anymore." Do whatever you want..."
Ajuan immediately hugged her little sister, put on the most airs in her most childish voice, and replied: "Are you too underestimated? No matter what I say, I have skills that are enough to defend myself and protect your sister, how can I Isn’t it easy to catch him?”
"Then you promise me that after you find our carriage, you will come back here and stop wandering around?"
Zhao Xiaomei and Ajuan nodded together, then looked at each other and smiled. Ajuan took out several small gray cloth bags containing poisonous pollen from her arms, handed them to the two young men in front of her, and said: "If When encountering an encirclement, this thing can break the encirclement!"
The four of them agreed to get ready, move forward in the setting sun, and face the final battle together.
