When Nan Dao came out of the Jianzong Garden, it was already dark. When he opened the small door, he saw a young man in white with a scabbard on his back, guarding the sugar-oiled cake stall behind the small door, holding a A copper coin, staring longingly at the glutinous rice balls in the syrup oil in the pot.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Zhang Xiaoyu turned around and saw Nan Dao walking towards him. He waved and said with a smile: "Young man, you are out, do you want one?"
Nan Dao looked at Zhang Xiaoyu's pitiful money bag, shook his head and said, "Forget it, it's not easy for you, Senior Brother Zhang, to make some money."
Zhang Xiaoyu supported Nan Dao's shoulders and said rather proudly: "Although I, Zhang Xiaoyu, am very stingy in playing cards, I am most particular about generosity in my dealings with others."
Nan Dao scratched his head, took out two pennies, handed them to the old man, and said, "Then let me have one too. After all, I won money today, so I'll treat you to it, Senior Brother Zhang."
Zhang Xiaoyu quickly put the copper coins in his hand into his purse and said seriously: "Okay."
Then he looked at the package on Nan Dao's shoulder eagerly and asked, "Have you won all the money from the brothers?"
Nan Dao thought for a moment and said, "It seems so."
Zhang Xiaoyu put his arms around Nan Dao's shoulders and said affectionately: "Well, junior brother, you see, senior brother has introduced you to such a good way to make money..." After saying that, he rubbed his fingers and said, "Isn't that right? Should you think about it?"
Nan Dao nodded in agreement and said, "That's true."
Zhang Xiaoyu suddenly became very excited, and then he saw Nan Dao take the sugar and oil cake from the old man, handed it to him, and said sincerely: "Senior brother, please."
Zhang Xiaoyu took the sugar and oil cake wrapped in oil paper with a sad face, sighed, walked away while eating, and said: "Hey, you are not a kind person when you meet someone."
Nan Dao was holding a sugar-oiled cake from behind and looked at this interesting Sword Sect disciple. He thought about it and shouted loudly: "Senior Brother Zhang!"
Zhang Xiaoyu turned around with a frown.
"what."
"Do you know a better inn nearby?"
"You walk out of the alley, walk along the street to the end, turn right and you'll see a Su's Inn not far away."
Zhang Xiaoyu said weakly, and then he saw something smash into his arms. He picked it up and saw that it was a bulging money bag.
"Thank you, senior brother." Nan Dao said his thanks and left while chewing on the sugar and oil cake.
Zhang Xiaoyu stood at the small door, holding the money bag and was completely moved.
"What a good junior brother, no, I have to go talk to the master and ask him to take this kid in."
Zhang Xiaoyu muttered and entered the door.
"This way you no longer have to worry about running out of money to play cards."
"..."
Nan Dao stood speechless at the entrance of the alley, holding his forehead.
Walking out along the alley, following the route given by Zhang Xiaoyu, I did see the Su's Inn at the corner. River cruises are popular in Kasuga City, so many tourists from Nanyi City come from all over Huaian. There are not many rooms left in the inn, but fortunately, it was still early in the morning when I came to Nandao, so I managed to stay there. I rented a cheaper room, because I didn't know how long I would need to stay in Nanyi City, and since I won a lot of money today, Nandao was proud to rent it for half a month.
After packing up everything on his body, Nan Dao planned to go out for a walk. After all, it was his first time to leave the town and come to Nanyi City. Nandao continued to carry the bag of money on his shoulder. Although everyone said that the security in Nanyi City was very good, Nandao was still a little worried.
This is a lot of money.
Nan Dao carried the 'gifts' from the Jianzong brothers and held an umbrella and went out again.
When I went out, the dusk had faded, and the lights of the world were blooming prosperously on the long street. The noise of the floating world flowed slowly along with the Nanyi River, and the night that submerged around the corner reappeared on another long street.
I walked slowly along Nandao, as if I haven't felt this comfortable for a long time. Well... after all, I had a lot of money on me, so I just bought whatever I wanted to eat without blinking my eyes.
The only troublesome thing is that people don't pay attention to how much money he brings with him. They just keep looking sideways at his umbrella. After all, the rain has stopped for a long time. Even if pedestrians on the road carry umbrellas, they don't hold them open. On.
But Nandao has long been accustomed to it, minding his own business while visiting this ancient city with a long history.
After crossing several streets and walking to a street along the river, Nan Dao saw that familiar figure.
The girl Shushu sat on the bow of the boat very distressedly, holding a pennie in her hand and waving it in the water, as if she was looking for something.
Nan Dao walked to the river, leaned on the guardrail and said hello.
"You look a little troubled, Shushu."
Shushu was stunned for a moment, feeling that the words sounded familiar. He looked up and saw Nan Dao and smiled guiltily.
"It's you. How are you? Have you entered the Sword Sect?"
Nan Dao was silent for a while and nodded.
Shushu patted his chest proudly and said, "Look, I said Shushu can definitely do it."
Nan Dao smiled, but did not argue with her about cheating him out of one hundred and nine cents, and asked: "What did you lose?"
Shushu's face fell, he looked down at the water, and said dejectedly: "I did a good deed earlier and collected a penny. Before I could hide it, my boat was hit by someone, and the copper plate was lost. Fell into the water.”
"..." Nan Dao looked at her speechlessly and said, "Then go down and look for it. What's the use of standing on the boat."
Shushu tilted her head in embarrassment, looked at the lights on the other side, and said weakly: "I...I'm afraid of water."
"You dare to row a boat if you are afraid of water?"
"That's different!" Shushu argued, thinking for a long time, "It's safe on board."
Nan Dao didn't want to continue the argument, so he reluctantly took out a penny and said, "Then don't look for it, I'll give you another penny."
Shushu's eyes were bright, he looked at the copper coin in Nan Dao's hand, swallowed, and seemed a little moved.
"But if you lose a penny, you lose a penny. Oh, my money."
Shushu's heart beat for a while and then he began to cry sadly.
Nan Dao was silent for a while and said, "Why do I feel like you just want me to help you go down and find money?"
Shushu blinked, looked at Nan Dao and said, "Is it okay?"
"..."
Nan Dao jumped on the boat, which caused Shushu to glare angrily, but fortunately, he was asking for help. Shushu didn't say anything. He ran into the cabin and quickly found a rope and tied it to Nan Dao.
"When you find it later, just pull the rope and I will pull you up."
Shushu held one end of the rope and said confidently.
Nan Dao checked the knot, sighed, took off the bag of money from his shoulder, put it on the bow of the boat, still holding the umbrella, and prepared to jump off.
"Are you going down with an umbrella?"
Shushu was a little curious.
Nan Dao nodded, then jumped into the water with an umbrella.
Shushu stood on the bow of the boat holding the end of the rope, looking anxiously into the water. The part of the rope left on the boat quickly slid into the water, getting shorter and shorter, and then suddenly straightened, almost pulling Shushu with it. After falling down, Shushu hurriedly lay on the boat and shouted into the water: "Are you okay?"
There was no response from Nanyi Hezhong.
...
Nan Dao did not encounter any danger, but he wrapped the rope around the umbrella frame in a circle during the fall. Nan Dao's original intention was to prevent the black umbrella from falling away, but he ignored the weight of the umbrella itself. ——When his father gave him the umbrella, he told him never to let go of the umbrella. Nan Dao initially thought it was to prevent someone from stealing it, but later he discovered that no one could pick up the umbrella except him. Even his father didn't pick it up after it was cast.
With the support of the umbrella's weight, Nan Dao quickly reached the bottom of the water. It only took a short while to touch the fallen copper coin on the mud.
He dug out the coin from the mud and put it into his arms. Nan Dao tightened his grip on the black umbrella, then loosened the knot on the umbrella ribs, pulled the rope, and then the rope began to be pulled. Go up.
However, at the next moment, something seemed to be coming from the darkness under the water, and Nan Dao hurriedly deflected the black umbrella. The thing hit the umbrella, made a crisp sound, and bounced upward again. Nan Dao felt his waist loosen, and his whole body began to fall.
Only then did Nan Dao realize that the rope had been broken, leaving only a smooth rope end slowly falling down.
The lights of Nanyi City sparsely shined into the water, but there was still a large amount of darkness below. Nan Dao didn't know what hit him under the water, but he realized that his current situation was extremely dangerous. Before he could think about it, Nan Dao tightened his grip. The umbrella began to swim upwards.
However, just a little way up, the bottom of the water began to surge again.
This time Nan Dao finally saw clearly what it was.
It was a slender knife. After the incoming long knife was bounced back by the black umbrella again, it fell into the hands of a man in black who came out of the shadows.
Nan Dao didn't look any further, turned around and started running downstream.
The man in black remained silent, turned into a black shadow and submerged into the water, and then appeared in front of Nan Dao in an instant.
Nan Dao retracted his whole body under the umbrella, turned around and wanted to continue to escape, but a huge force suddenly came from above the black umbrella, and the black umbrella almost escaped.
The man seemed to realize that Nan Dao needed to let go of the umbrella, and did not launch another attack on Nan Dao. He just silently slashed at the umbrella surface with one knife after another.
Nan Dao held on to the umbrella tightly, but he and the umbrella were chopped and rolled out in the water, and then hit the rocks at the bottom of the river heavily.
"Wow~"
Nan Dao felt that all his internal organs had been knocked out of place, and he vomited out a mouthful of blood.
The black shadow came to Nan Dao again in an instant.
This time the knife struck the black umbrella and it flew out of his hand.
Nan Dao looked at the man in black silently in the blood. He didn't say a word, raised the knife in his hand again, and then slashed it down.
Nan Dao closed his eyes, although he was a little reluctant.
But maybe this is the end...
But no.
The knife struck the umbrella again.
Nan Dao opened his eyes and found that there was a tall man in white in front of him. The black umbrella was held in his hand, and the man in black's long knife fell on the umbrella. , and then cracked inch by inch.
Nan Dao breathed a sigh of relief, and then his consciousness gradually became blurred.
Vaguely, I could only see the man in white turning around. He had a blank face with a peach blossom blooming in the water, and he seemed to be holding a one-foot dagger in front of him. .
The man put the umbrella back into Nan Dao's hand, and the peach blossoms on his face continued to flutter, and then slowly blurred.
Nan Dao only heard one sentence.
"My name is Peach Blossom."
"I came here holding a sword for you."
...
Zhang Xiaoyu, carrying an empty scabbard, stood on the bank of the Nanyi River outside the Jianzong Garden. He lowered his head and looked quietly at the water in the river, as if he was looking at something.
At a certain moment, he looked up at the night sky with a solemn expression. At that moment, there seemed to be a bit more coldness in the world from top to bottom, but the coldness quickly disappeared.
It was like a certain swordsman who was about to draw his sword suddenly lost his target.
Zhang Xiaoyu watched for a while, but then turned around with waning interest and walked towards the place where the sound of mahjong came from.
"The people of He Zong are really getting stupider and stupider. How can they kill people like this?"
"It's better to play cards."
