Last night, it was three o'clock in the morning.
When Xia Zhichan was still drinking with Nan Er in the lobby.
The young shopkeeper of Dong's old store finished writing today's account book, put the pen back on the pen mountain, and gently dried the ink in the account book.
Looking at the two people who were still drinking in the lobby, he didn't say anything. He just gestured to the waiter who was still taking care of the guests, and then he held the hem of his green gown and walked out in small steps.
He walked away casually, as if he had finished work and got off work.
But he didn't see it. Xia Zhichan tilted her head and glanced at his retreating back. That glance was quite meaningful.
The young shopkeeper in a green gown walked forward step by step under the dark night, covered with white moonlight. He only had a Three-Character Classic in his hand, and he looked exactly like a teacher who had just returned home from a private school.
He turned around and finally came to a small alley on the side of the street. At the entrance of the dark alley, there was a beggar in rags huddled under the wall, with a pottery bowl with several holes in it at his feet.
The young shopkeeper stopped. Perhaps because he saw how pitiful the beggar was, he couldn't help but take out his purse from his arms and took out several copper coins.
Danglanglang.
It was the sound made by a copper plate falling into an empty broken pottery bowl.
"Thank you, sir. May you live a long life and have many descendants."
The beggar was awakened by the sound. He didn't even raise his head to look. He quickly clasped his hands and bowed, saying nice and auspicious words.
"One, so you can eat."
The young shopkeeper lowered his voice and spoke slowly.
The beggar was stunned for a moment, then quickly picked up the copper plate in the bowl. As soon as he put the copper plate into his arms, he heard the same clanging sound.
"One to keep you clothed."
The young shopkeeper put the purse back into his arms. He watched the beggar opposite him pick up the coin he had just thrown and put it into his arms, and then picked up another coin from his palm.
Danglang, the third sound.
"One, so you can drink."
After accepting the third copper plate, the beggar picked up the wooden stick and crutch that had fallen on the ground beside him, and slowly stood up. It seemed that one leg was lame.
Without saying a word, the beggar ducked into the dark alley with his head lowered, and the shopkeeper followed closely behind.
At the same time, an equally ragged beggar walked over from the side and sat down where the beggar had been sitting. He also curled up his hands and feet, leaned to the side and fell asleep.
But this location is very strange, because the alley is very narrow, and almost anyone who wants to enter or exit the alley has to walk in front of this inconspicuous beggar.
This is a common "pocket" in the world. In order to identify whether it is one of your own, a fixed code for the incision is left, which most people cannot tell at all.
…
After entering the alley, the young shopkeeper followed the beggar and after a while, he arrived in front of a narrow wooden door. The beggar knocked a few times, and someone immediately opened the door and welcomed the young shopkeeper in.
The beggar sat on the ground directly in front of the door, fell in the corner and fell asleep.
Talking about the young shopkeeper, he followed others down the secret door into a cellar. There were only seven or eight strong men in black with evil faces inside. Most of them were standing on both sides. Only one person was sitting at the table in the middle.
The strong man sitting in the middle was holding the wine jar on the table, drinking one bowl after another. When he saw someone coming, he put down the bowl with a bang.
The lighting in the cellar was very dim, with only two or three oil lamps poking on the lamp stands on the wall. The orange light can only barely illuminate a small part of the place in a dark environment.
"Li Goudan, why did you come here so fast?"
The big man scolded in a loud voice.
The few strong men around were gearing up, looking like they were watching a good show. I thought to myself that this waiter Li Goudan was really looking for death. He knew that Fifth Master had a bad temper, yet he dared to be half an hour later than the agreed time.
Just wait and see, after a while, as soon as Master Wu says hello, our brothers will rush up and beat Li Goudan to let him know why the flowers are so red.
"Lao Wu, when will you change your loud voice..."
The young shopkeeper walked from the darkness to the light. He took off the wooden hairpin from his bun and stirred the wick of the oil lamp little by little.
The light in the room slowly became brighter.
When the big man saw that the visitor was the young shopkeeper, he quickly stood up and smiled with an embarrassed smile on his face. His big hand like a big leaf fan slapped his face back and forth several times:
"Second brother! Why are you here in person? I said something wrong, please apologize to my second brother."
None of the strong men in soap clothes around him dared to laugh at the big man's weakness. Instead, they all hid away like little chickens seeing a weasel.
It was as if the young shopkeeper was some kind of plague god.
"alright……"
The young shopkeeper waved his hand, and the strong men around him hurriedly ran out of the cellar as if they had received some great mercy. They would rather drink in the cold outside than stay in the same room with this second master.
"Second brother, come on, come on, sit down."
The big man kept his smile, not caring at all about the big slap marks on his face that he had just slapped, and diligently wiped the tables, chairs and benches.
The young shopkeeper sat down, then nodded to the big man to sit down as well.
"Lao Wu, this business is going to be difficult. The escort team that came to stay today was too tough. I haven't found out the details of the other party yet. But only by being careful can you sail the ten thousand year ship..."
"Second brother, I'm a fool. You talk too much and I can't understand..."
The big man slapped his head with his hand, and said with a silly smile:
"I saw that they brought seven carts and horses, but one yellow sheep was so fat that it was enough to feed the brothers for three to five months."
"It's true that it's fat, but bones are still meat. You have to take two bites to know."
The young shopkeeper picked up a pottery bowl from the upside-down bowl on the table and placed it in front of him. Seeing this, the big man quickly picked up the wine jar and poured a full bowl of wine for his second brother.
"The only problem is that I see that their escort flags have the word 'Longmen' on them. I'm afraid they are the escort team of the Longmen Escort Bureau."
"Longmen Escort Agency? Second brother, among the escort agents in the world, eight out of ten are branded as Longmen Escort Agency. The escort flags on our mountain alone can sew me a suit..."
The big man looked unconcerned. He picked up the wine bowl and drank a full bowl of it.
"No, it's probably true this time."
As soon as the young shopkeeper finished speaking, he saw the big man spitting out half of the wine he drank. He coughed several times and finally took a breath.
"real……"
More than ten years ago, people from the Longmen Escort Bureau went to work outside the customs. When passing by a place called Yelang Mountain, I was robbed by bandits on the mountain, and more than a dozen bodyguards died. This incident angered the head of the Longmen Escort Bureau. He issued a green forest invitation and invited the escorts from the 13 escort bureaus in Daqi, south, north and south to suppress the bandits. A total of hundreds of bodyguards with high martial arts skills were dispatched. Under the leadership of the head of the Longmen Bodyguard Bureau, the entire Yelang Mountain was leveled. It is said that none of the thousands of bandits could escape.
Therefore, ordinary bandits and bandits would not dare to easily provoke the Longmen Escort Agency's escort flags when seen on the rivers and lakes. This has also led to some small escort agencies from small families to secretly use the escort flag of Longmen Escort Agency, which can avoid a lot of trouble.
But this time, the only way to know whether it is a dragon or an insect is to move your hands.
"Lao Wu, you go back to the mountain immediately and tell all my words to the boss. You leave two brothers here and follow my orders. I will inform you at any time if there are any changes."
The young shopkeeper stretched out a hand, slender and fair as a woman's hand, to cover an oil lamp at the corner of the table. A seemingly weak and clean palm was stained with the blood of many people; a frail scholar who could not lift his shoulders or lift his hands was actually the second boss of a bandit village in the nearby mountains.
"Second brother, you also know that I am stupid. I can't remember the words you said at all. I will forget them all before I can get back to the village..."
The big man giggled. He was obviously as strong as a buffalo, but in front of the young shopkeeper, who was so slender that a gust of wind could blow him over, he looked like an aggrieved child.
"In short, it's just one word - wait."
"wait?"
"Yes, wait. Wait for my news, wait for the opportunity to make a move..."
The young shopkeeper slowly picked up the pottery bowl filled with wine in front of him. He moved very slowly. Although the wine in the bowl was shaking, it did not spill out after all.
A bowl of wine is very full. If you want to drink it all, you can only drink it slowly and slowly. If you are in a hurry and drink like that strong man, it will be fun, but you may spill half of the bowl of wine.
"Okay, second brother, I will remember it. I will go back to the mountain right now..."
The big man nodded, stood up and was about to walk out, but he heard the young shopkeeper continue to say:
"Come back! I haven't finished speaking yet."
"Ah? It's just one word - wait until death. Is there anything else?"
The young shopkeeper took out an envelope that had been written a long time ago from his sleeve. He pondered it in his hand for a while, then handed it to the big man and continued:
"This needs to be handed over to the boss personally."
"good!"
The big man carefully stuffed the envelope into his arms. He did not see the words written on the envelope. Even if he saw him, he couldn't read.
There was no signature on the envelope, but a simple line: If there is no news from me, open it and read it.
…
The young shopkeeper came out of the cellar and turned out of another alley to another alley. There was also a beggar in rags at the entrance of that alley.
He didn't look at the beggar, but walked straight towards the inn.
Looking at the direction of the moon in the sky, I calculated the current time in my heart. At this moment, I felt a cool breeze suddenly blowing behind me, and even the hair on my head stood up in an instant.
As soon as the young shopkeeper stopped, a bright steel knife came out from the shadow beside him and was placed right on his neck.
"Don't scream! Just answer whatever we ask."
The man holding the knife on the side scolded in a deep voice. He was afraid that the man in front of him would panic and yell, which would cause trouble if the soldiers on patrol were attracted.
The young shopkeeper was not as panicked as they imagined. Most people would feel weak and panicked if they saw the bright blade of the knife pressed against their necks, even if they were not frightened to the point of peeing.
But the young shopkeeper didn't change his expression and didn't panic at all. He even took out the purse containing money from his arms:
"Friend, I still have some scraps of silver on me. Let's take it to a drink."
"We are not robbing..."
Following a voice, a burly man in black holding a long-handled sword emerged from the darkness. He waved the long-handled sword in his hand and motioned to the person next to him to take out something.
That is a painting.
The painting shows a swordsman holding a black sheath fixed knife, with a red wine gourd hanging from his waist. I can't actually see his appearance clearly, I just know that he is a young man in his 10s or 20s.
Long sword with black sheath and red wine gourd.
Based on these two points, the young shopkeeper suddenly thought of the young swordsman who came to stay in his shop at dusk. The dress and appearance are very similar, and it seems that it is probably him.
"How many lotus flowers are blooming in front of the Buddha? How many tall buildings are there on the mountain? Where does the stream in front of the door go, and where does the shepherd boy go to herd the sheep."
The young shopkeeper didn't care at all about the sharp knife between his neck. Instead, he calmly held his fist and talked about the incisions in the world.
These four lines, which are like limericks, represent the biggest forces in the world.
"It turns out we are friends on the road." The burly man's eyes lit up and he waved his big hand. He signaled the man in black holding the knife to step aside.
"There are thousands of tall buildings on the mountain, and the tallest one is definitely the thirteenth floor."
It means we are the killers on the thirteenth floor.
"It turned out to be a friend from the thirteenth floor..."
The young shopkeeper nodded, then turned his eyes and suddenly thought about it. It seemed that these people were here to find the young swordsman, so why not use some tricks to let these masters from the 13th floor have a fight with the escorts from the Longmen Escort Agency first.
Firstly, you can fish in troubled waters, and secondly, you can test the strength of those escorts.
The Thirteenth Floor has always been paid to do things, and only kills the people the employer wants. Therefore, he generally does not kill others at will, but once he kills someone, he will never show mercy.
"I've seen this man before. He lives in the old Dong's shop not far ahead. But he doesn't seem to be alone. He's following a escort team..."
The young shopkeeper deliberately kept his words vague and did not reveal any more information. In fact, he even knew which room the swordsman lived in, but he didn't say it. He also deliberately mentioned the escort team living in the big yard behind.
"What escort team? Do you see clearly what is written on their escort flag?"
"Uh... it's not a famous escort agency, it seems to be called Longtong Escort Agency."
The young shopkeeper's eyes narrowed and he swallowed the words "Longmen Escort Agency" back into his stomach. Take the homophonic pronunciation of the word dragon and call it long, and then call the word door the same character. In this way, Longmen Escort Agency became Longtong Escort Agency.
"Okay, thank you."
The burly man waved his hand and led the men in black to the Dong family's old store.
The young shopkeeper walked to a nearby dark alley, leaned against the corner and waited quietly. Until there were three bangs in my ears.
It's midnight.
