Li Gui took orders to take Zhou Mugen to the magistrate's office to arrest Zhang Yun. Chen Xiaomu walked up to the two brothers who were tenants of the inn and said, "Our people are here. You two should go back to your room to clean up and leave here, right?"
The two brothers suddenly knelt down in front of Chen Xiaomu, clasped their hands in fists and said, "Mr. Chen, please take in our two brothers. Now that our family members have been killed by the Chu people, we have no home!"
Chen Xiaomu stretched out his hand to help the two brothers up and asked, "Don't you still have a master? How about this, you go back to the mountain to learn skills first, and then come down to find me after you become a master?"
The two brothers shook their heads, "Mr. Chen, we have not avenged our grievances, and we really have no intention of studying art anymore. I believe that if the master knew what happened in our families, he would agree with our ideas!"
"What are your names? What skills did you learn?" Chen Xiaomu asked curiously.
"My name is He Jian, and my brother's name is He Quan. I learned swordsmanship from my master in the mountains, and my brother practiced boxing from his master in the mountains." The slightly taller young man who liked to talk introduced himself.
Chen Xiaomu nodded, "How old are you two this year? When did you go to the mountains to learn skills with your master? If it is convenient, can you tell me who your master is?"
He Jian hesitated for a moment, then said: "I am eighteen years old this year, and my brother is seventeen years old this year. When we were five or six years old, our mother's junior sister took us to the mountains to learn martial arts. As for who the master is, to be honest, Neither of us knows.
Chen Xiaomu smiled when he heard this, "You two silly boys, isn't your master your mother's junior sister?"
He Jian shook his head, "My mother's junior sister, Aunt Zhu, has never taught us martial arts. She only brings some food for everyone every now and then. Sometimes she gets interested and lets a group of us junior brothers practice martial arts for her. "
"You brothers haven't even met your master. How do you practice martial arts?" Chen Xiaomu became more and more curious about these two brothers.
"Monkeys, there are several monkeys screaming in front of our hut at nine o'clock every morning. If someone is lazy and doesn't want to get up, the monkeys will rush into the hut and pick him up by his ears. Then everyone will go to the open space in front of the hut to practice swordsmanship. Line up a line, those who practice boxing line up, and those who practice swordsman line up again. There are several lines in this way. There is a monkey in front of each team doing demonstration moves, and then everyone just practices accordingly. !”
''You asked for leave to go down the mountain, didn't you ask for leave from a monkey? "Chen Xiaomu joked.
He Jian and He Quan were also amused, "That's possible! Every time we ask for leave, or when family members come to visit us, we all do it through Aunt Zhu. It happened to be Aunt Zhu who sent us food that day, so the two of us talked about it. She told us this, and the next morning she came to inform us that Master had agreed to our brothers' vacation, so we packed up and left the mountain."
"Except for your senior brothers and Aunt Zhu, haven't you seen anyone else in the mountains for so many years?" Chen Xiaomu asked.
He Jian and He Quan thought for a while, then shook their heads firmly, "No, we have never seen anyone else." "
"Then your master must be this Aunt Zhu, but for some unknown reason, she didn't want you to know her identity, so she taught the monkey first, and then let the monkey teach you!" Chen Xiaomu reasoned with certainty.
"But Aunt Zhu is just like my mother. She knows everything about music, chess, calligraphy and painting. She taught our senior brothers common sense, Chinese and Chinese calligraphy, but she knows nothing about kung fu. At first, we had the same idea as you. We all thought it was Aunt Zhu who taught us Kung Fu, so one day several fellow apprentices gathered together and decided to give her a try. Unexpectedly, we only used ordinary Kung Fu, and she was injured without even using a single move. For this reason, we were supervised by several monkeys and faced the wall for three days without being allowed to eat."
"Haha, even monkeys can control you. It seems that you can't even defeat monkeys!" Chen Xiaomu said with a smile.
He Jian nodded honestly, "I have been practicing kung fu for more than ten years, and I can't even handle three moves against any monkey!"
Hey, are there really those knight-errants and masters in this world? Chen Xiaomu thought secretly in surprise.
"Okay, you two can stay and be my guards!" Chen Xiaomu nodded and said, "But if the monkeys I taught you come after me, I won't be able to save you two. I won't even fight with the gangsters on the street.
He Jian blinked and said, "Mr. Chen, the hidden weapon you just used was so powerful. I only heard a loud noise, and you see all those people were disabled at once!" He pointed with his finger at a few people in black clothes lying in the yard. people.
"Do you think my hidden weapon can defeat those monkeys who taught you kung fu?" Chen Xiaomu asked He Jian with interest.
"I don't know. Anyway, they are very flexible. I competed with them several times, but every time I was knocked to the ground by them without even realizing it!" He Jian said.
Chen Xiaomu looked up at the sky and saw that the east was already a little bright, so he waved to a scout left by Li Gui and asked him to take the two brothers He Jian to deal with the men in black who had just been injured by him. Ximen Ruoen escorted Zhou Huiniang into the room where he originally stayed.
After entering the room, as soon as Chen Xiaomu lit the candle with a fire stick, Ximen Ruoen was about to step forward and pull off the black cloth tied on Zhou Huiniang's head. Unexpectedly, Zhou Huiniang's eyes widened with anger and she was extremely resistant, and her head shook back and forth in front of Ximen Ruoen. , avoiding Simon Ruon’s outstretched finger.
Chen Xiaomu grabbed Ximen Ruoen and sneered: "If she wants to take it, let her take it. Such a traitor naturally has no face to show off. When Li Gui and the others capture her thief husband Zhang Yong, we will meet at 3:00 noon today." Then the Chu army’s Xinjing garrison Wu Yan should be cut in half together, so that the three of them can have each other’s company on the road to hell!”
''What, General Wu was also arrested by you? "When she heard that Wu Yan was arrested, Zhou Huiniang was shocked, and her whole body began to tremble at the same time.
"Are you surprised? Why don't you escort him to meet you?" Chen Xiaomu walked up to Zhou Huiniang and looked into her eyes and asked.
Zhou Huiniang collapsed to the ground as if all the bones in her body were suddenly pulled away.
"When you came, did Zhang Yong tell you that Wu Yan would definitely organize the Chu army to counterattack at dawn and wipe out all of us in the new capital!" Chen Xiaomu said.
Zhou Huiniang never said a word again, because when she arrived, Wu Yan did say this to her, saying that Wu Yan was leading troops to reinforce Xinyang Pass, and after he destroyed the Zheng army outside Xinyang Pass, he would definitely return to the new capital. In three to five days, the rebellious Chu army in Xinjing City and the Zheng army that was introduced into the city will all be annihilated by Wu Yan. But now this hope is gone, and Wu Yan is captured by Zheng Jun.
Seeing Zhou Huiniang paralyzed on the ground without speaking, Chen Xiaomu said to Ximen Ruoen, "Forget it, I don't want to waste any more words on this kind of Zheng Guo traitor who is so determined. You can have someone take good care of her first, and we can chop her down together at noon. , I don’t have any extra food to feed people like her!”
Ximen Ruoen went out and called a soldier in, ready to take Zhou Huiniang away. Zhou Huiniang suddenly lay on the ground and refused to leave despite being dragged by Ximen Ruoen and the soldiers. Chen Xiaomu waved to Ximen Ruoen and the soldiers and asked the soldiers to retreat first. After going out, he bent down and asked Zhou Huiniang, "Do you have anything else to say?"
Zhou Huiniang raised her eyes and stared at Chen Xiaomu for a long time before she nodded suddenly!
"Okay, you go ahead." Chen Xiaomu straightened up.
Zhou Huiniang said softly: "I told you, can you spare my life?"
Chen Xiaomu smiled and said: "Then it depends on whether what you say is worth your life!"
"What do you want to know?" Zhou Huiniang asked Chen Xiaomu.
"Do you know Zhang Tong, Zhang Yong's son?" Chen Xiaomu asked straightforwardly.
Zhou Huiniang was startled for a moment, but still shook her head.
Chen Xiaomu didn't believe it, "You have been Zhang Yong's concubine for nearly two years, right? Doesn't Zhang Tong never come home?"
Zhou Huiniang thought for a moment and said, "Zhang Tong has an extremely bad relationship with Zhang Yong's eldest wife Cheng Yuemei. As I know, he has only gone home once in the past two years. He only stayed for one night and then went back. Zhang Tong came back Zhang Yong doesn't let people like us get involved at all, so I still listened to what my personal maid Xiaohuan told me about this matter. At first, I didn't even know that Zhang Tong was coming back that night."
"If you lied to us, you should know the consequences! Even your maid knew that Zhang Tong came home, but you didn't know. Do you think we are easy to fool?" Chen Xiaomu threatened.
"I really don't know!" Zhou Huiniang shook her head and said: "It was already midnight when he came home. Zhang Yong was sleeping in my room that day. When Zhang Tong came back, he was afraid of waking up the eldest lady Cheng Yuemei, so he asked the servants to come directly. There was a knock on the door in my yard, because when he came in, he heard the servant say that the master has been staying overnight at my place recently. At that time, Xiao Huan was sleeping outside our room. When the servant came to knock on the door, it was Xiao Huan who got up and opened the door. At this time, I was already asleep. Zhang Yong heard a knock on the door beside me and got up to get dressed. I didn’t even know it. When I woke up the next morning, Zhang Yongji came back and slept peacefully next to me. I shouted Xiaohuan came in to help me dress up, but Xiaohuan disappeared. I was about to go out to look for her, but Zhang Yong came over and said that Xiaohuan had been sent to the street to buy things in the morning. After saying that, he also went out and stayed until dinner. After breakfast, Xiaohuan hadn't come back yet. I was a little worried. I was about to send my servants out to look for her, but she walked out of the guest room in front of the yard sleepily. When I saw her, I was very angry and didn't say anything. , dragged her into the room and made her kneel on the ground, preparing to use family methods to beat her, but she said that she was sent by the master to serve Master Zhang Tong all night last night! "
"Did this happen when the Chu army was besieging the city?" Chen Xiaomu asked.
"Yes, I remember it very clearly. That night, I heard the servants who were out looking for information come back and said that the outer city of Xinjing City had been captured by the Chu army, and the inner city might not be protected. The Zheng troops who were defending the city had retreated. When we arrived in the inner city, almost everyone in the new capital was packing up their gold, silver and valuables in preparation for running away. Our three concubines, led by the eldest lady Cheng Yuemei, also hurriedly packed the packages in the house. Unexpectedly, Zhang Yong was smiling at this moment. came in and told us not to panic. He said that when he was serving in Cicada City, he had befriended a senior official from Chu State. He had already contacted this senior official and said that after the Chu army entered the city, not only would they not embarrass him, but they would promote him. !" Zhou Huiniang said in a very positive tone.
Chen Xiaomu nodded thoughtfully and continued to ask Zhou Huiniang, "Is your maid Xiaohuan still with you?"
''Here, she is still in the prefect's house. When I came out tonight, I was going to bring her with me, but Zhang Yong stopped me. "
Chen Xiaomu's heart sank and he thought to himself, Oh no, if Zhou Huiniang doesn't go back for a long time, this maid named Xiaohuan will most likely be killed by Zhang Yong.
''How far is the prefect's Yamen from here? "Chen Xiaomu asked.
"It's about five or six miles away." Zhou Huiniang answered happily this time.
Chen Xiaomu glared at her, "Your personal maid might have been killed by you.
Zhou Huiniang was shocked and said in disbelief: "No one will harm the little girl Xiaohuan. The little girl is very popular in the house. From the magistrate Zhang Yong to the handyman who chops wood and carries water, no one dislikes her. !”
"What you just said is not enough for Zhang Yong to attack him?" Chen Xiaomu said coldly.
"But those servants all saw Zhang Tong come back that night, so he couldn't kill them all, right?" Zhou Huiniang muttered.
"Your father knows that Zhang Yong asked his son Zhang Tong to open the city gate privately and let the Chu army enter the city. Who did your father listen to?"
"My father listened to what I said. I heard from Xiaohuan that Zhang Tong wanted her to serve him well that night. He said that after a few days, he would return to the Chu Kingdom, and if he got promoted and made a fortune, he would ask his father to give her to him so that she could serve him well. He said it when he was living a good life by his side!" Zhou Huiniang herself couldn't stop talking. Yes, this little girl Xiaohuan knew that there were too many things going on with the Zhang family and his son, and she couldn't keep her mouth shut just like herself. people.
Chen Xiaomu sneered: "It's a good thing you came out tonight, otherwise if Zhang Yun knew that Wu Yan had been arrested, he would jump over the wall and none of you would be able to escape!"
