Chapter 141 Picking up a child (two chapters in one)

The man was wearing coarse cloth clothes and a small blue cloth cap, with his sleeves rolled up, revealing his bronze arms.

People dressed like this can be seen everywhere in the big stone threshold. They are not guests strolling around, but handymen doing rough work here.

No one would even look at them twice. In this hustle and bustle, they were as ordinary as a speck of dust.

However, Xiao Zhen recognized him at a glance. This was Lu Gan, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

Why is Lu Gan here, and in disguise?

Xiao Zhen had a hunch that there might be danger hidden in Baoji Teahouse, and this time, it was his turn to pull Zhao Shiqing's sleeve.

"Don't you want to see the puppet show? Let's go quickly, or we'll miss the opening ceremony."

With that, Xiao Zhen pulled Zhao Shiqing away. Zhao Shiqing wanted to say, didn't you say that the puppet shows are one after another, and if you miss the show about Hou Qi and Hou Ba joining the army, you have to wait until tomorrow?

However, when the words came to her lips, she swallowed them back.

Xiao Zhen is not a person who speaks without thinking. Since he said so, there must be a reason for it.

Zhao Shiqing did not refute and let Xiao Zhen pull her away from the door of Baoji Teahouse.

From a distance, Xiao Zhen turned around to look. His eyes passed through the bustling crowd, but he could no longer see Lu Gan's figure.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, Zhao Shiqing lowered his voice and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen at Baoji Teahouse?"

Xiao Zhen suddenly understood why he liked being with Zhao Shiqing. Who wouldn't like such a smart and quick-witted girl?

(Yes, Uncle Xiao insisted)

Xiao Zhen said calmly: "I saw that the road was dry."

Zhao Shiqing was startled. Lu Gan? That name sounded familiar.

She quickly remembered that day on the Kuixing Tower, she had disguised herself as a black-faced young scholar and had faced Lu Gan face to face.

"Let's go, let's go to a safe place."

This time, Xiao Zhen didn't need to pull her, Zhao Shiqing took the lead. A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. It's okay to watch the fun anywhere, there is no need to be so close.

That’s right, Zhao Shiqing has lost interest in puppet shows. Puppet shows can be watched at any time, but she has never seen the Jinyiwei solve a case.

Xiao Zhen also didn't want to leave. He was planning big things and would not miss any movement in the capital.

Xiao Zhen pointed to the three-story building across the street: "Let's go there."

This small building is also a teahouse, but its main performance is not military enlistment plays, but short plays.

There is a stage in the lobby, surrounded by hollow sound-transmitting columns. On the second floor, along the three columns and railings are individual private seats, from which one can have a panoramic view of the stage below.

When Zhao Shiqing and Xiao Zhen came in, two female actors and a male actor were pulling and hugging each other on the stage, and laughter could be heard all around.

Zhao Shiqing widened her eyes. There was an opera troupe in Prince Liang's mansion. Every New Year and other festivals, she would go to the mansion to watch a few operas. But she had never seen an opera performed like this.

Xiao Zhen whispered in her ear: "This is a pink play, and the two Hua Dan roles are played by men."

At this moment, the young man kissed one of the actresses on the face, and the other actress pouted her red lips and also wanted a kiss. The audience cheered loudly. Zhao Shiqing felt a chill. These three were all men. Oh my God. Zhao Shiqing ran upstairs without looking back, scaring her to death.

Xiao Zhen smiled and shook his head.

The private rooms upstairs were not full, so Xiao Zhen slipped a piece of silver to the waiter, and the two of them sat in the room with the best view.

Seeing a child selling grapes, Xiao Zhen bought two bunches. The grapes were washed very clean, with water droplets still hanging on them. He placed the grapes in front of Zhao Shiqing and said, "Taste them and see if they are sweet."

Zhao Shiqing smiled happily. She hadn't eaten grapes this year.

She ate grapes and looked out the window. From here, she had a clear view of the entrance to Baoji Tea House.

Zhao Shiqing simply sat by the window, waiting to watch the fun. As for watching the show, forget it, it was too disgusting.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long. Before they finished eating a bunch of grapes, two people rushed out of Baoji Teahouse.

The reason why we say they killed their way out is that they all held a knife in one hand and a person in the other.

The tip of the knife was dripping with blood, and in their hands were two skinny men with white painted noses, dressed as clowns.

Xiao Zhen took a closer look and said to Zhao Shiqing, "The two people being held hostage are Hou Qi and Hou Ba."

At this time, Lu Gan also chased out from inside, and with him were a dozen people disguised like him. Obviously, these were all Jinyiwei.

Zhao Shiqing's attention was now focused on one of the men holding a knife, a fat man with agile movements.

"I know him, he is Chef Zhang!" Zhao Shiqing said in a deep voice.

"Chef Zhang? Who is he?" Xiao Zhen asked.

Zhao Shiqing did not answer immediately because she saw another person, a woman, a woman dressed as a man!

She suddenly pointed at the woman and said to Xiao Zhen: "Look at that woman, yes, she is a woman, look at her face, does it look familiar?"

Before Xiao Zhen could answer, Zhao Shiqing reminded him, "Do you remember? You drew her in Huizhou City!"

Xiao Zhen also recognized the woman's face.

He had never seen the woman before, but he knew her face because he had painted her.

This is Cui Niang!

The woman who managed the killers in Shilipu was later taken over by him. Cui Niang disappeared, and Zhao Shiqing sent people to post Cui Niang's portrait in several nearby counties. However, until Zhao Shiqing left Wu, Cui Niang's whereabouts were not found.

Zhao Shiqing's face turned red with excitement. Xiao Zhen only recognized Cui Niang, but she also knew Chef Zhang.

Chef Zhang and Cui Niang, two seemingly unrelated people, appeared in the capital at the same time.

Xiuxiu said that Chef Zhang from Zhaoting Town was also a killer, but he later escaped and got away from those people.

So, these two people are still related, one is a murderer and the other is a former killer.

At this time, the Jinyiwei had surrounded the two men. Zhao Shiqing thought that Lu Gan would shout something, such as releasing the hostages and not killing them if they surrendered their weapons. This was what was written in the storybook.

But she guessed wrong. Lu Gan just smiled coldly and ordered: "Kill!"

The Jinyiwei rushed forward with their swords drawn. Twenty or thirty well-trained Jinyiwei killed two people without any suspense.

Chef Zhang and Cui Niang didn't hold out for long before they were hacked to the ground and died. Even the hostages, Hou Qi and Hou Ba, were not spared and fell to the swords of the Jinyiwei.

Zhao Shiqing opened his mouth wide, staring at the bloody scene in front of him in shock. He didn't know when the bustling crowd outside Baoji Teahouse had already scattered in fear. There were only four corpses and blood on the open space.

The Jinyiwei sheathed his sword, and Lu Gan gave another order, and the four bodies were put into his pockets and taken away by the Jinyiwei.

Only after the Jinyiwei had vanished without a trace did the owner of the Baoji Teahouse muster the courage to come out. He looked at the blood on the ground, stamped his feet, and said to his staff, "What are you still standing there for? Go get some water and clean this place up!"

The spectators who had just fled in fear gathered together again, but did not dare to get close. They just stood far away and pointed at the blood on the ground.

The waiters from Baoji Teahouse brought more than ten buckets of water, and after a while, the open space was washed clean.

The shopkeeper asked his servant to bring an incense burner and light four incense sticks in it.

Four lives, four incense sticks.

This place is a mixed crowd, and it is not the first time that people have been killed or hacked to pieces. People are very receptive, and after an hour, the place is lively again.

Zhao Shiqing moved the chair from the window back to the railing, but found that the people on the stage downstairs had been replaced at some point. The three people who were so affectionate with each other were replaced by a beautiful woman with a white veil tied on her forehead. The beautiful woman sang sadly, as if she was mourning the four dead people.

Zhao Shiqing didn't understand a word and asked, "What's this song?"

Xiao Zhen said, "She said her husband died right after she got married, and she had a hard time as a widow."

Zhao Shiqing waved her hand, signaling him not to continue, as it was boring.

However, she remembered something: "Could this beautiful woman in white be a man?"

Xiao Zhen smiled: "The ones sung here are all pink operas, and there are no Kunlings who sing pink operas."

Zhao Shiqing sighed and said, "Last time we guessed that the Mountain Gate had been taken over by the imperial court, and now it seems to be true. Chef Zhang is a deserter and is said to have some evidence against him. Cui Niang disappeared with the antidote long before you wiped out Shilipu. In all likelihood, she is also a traitor to the Mountain Gate. That's why Lu Gan killed them all without leaving any alive. He is killing them all to silence them. How cruel."

She continued to sigh: "Chef Zhang's cooking is quite delicious. Oh, and he has a son, I don't know..."

She suddenly stopped and stared at the stage below in a daze.

Xiao Zhen followed her gaze downwards and saw that a child had appeared on the stage at some point.

The child had a red dot on his forehead, obviously he had put on makeup, and the beauty in white gauze was holding his hand and pretending to cry.

According to the plot, this child is the brother-in-law of the beauty in white gauze. He saw his widowed sister-in-law having an affair with someone and wanted to tell his grandmother. This scene is the beauty complaining about herself and crying about her suffering to her brother-in-law.

Zhao Shiqing's gaze fell on the child's face.

"This is Chef Zhang's son. I remember him."

Xiao Zhen watched carefully for a while and said to Zhao Shiqing, "He wasn't originally supposed to play the uncle-in-law. He was a temporary replacement. Look, he looks so bewildered."

In fact, if you look closely, you can see that the child is out of place on the stage. He has never performed in a play, but was pushed up here temporarily.

But the audience's attention was all focused on the beauty in white gauze, and no one noticed the child who looked like a prop.

Although he didn't know why this child appeared on the stage, Zhao Shiqing had already decided to take the child away.

She looked at Xiao Zhen: "We don't know if this troupe has any connection with those killers, so we can't act rashly. Do you have a good idea?"

Xiao Zhen narrowed his eyes slightly: "Wait until they get off the stage, and find a way to lure this child out, then we can snatch him away."

This is the only thing we can do now.

Zhao Shiqing patted the cloth bag slung across her body and said, "Let Xiao Yao go."

As if hearing what she was saying, the little demon meowed irritably. The cat was sleeping soundly, and now you want to make it do hard labor again. Master Qingtang, who will take charge of the cat?

The short play on the stage has reached its climax. The beauty in white gauze is waving the white gauze on her head around the stage, her sleeves are flying, and the white gauze is like clouds, which is beautiful beyond words.

The audience cheered loudly, and some even threw coins and silver pieces onto the stage. At this point, the artist playing the child should have stepped back, but the child had not rehearsed, and he was still standing there stupidly.

When the beauty in white gauze danced next to the child, she almost bumped into the child.

Her red lips opened and closed, as if asking the child to leave the stage. The child then woke up from his dream and retreated to the backstage.

Seeing him leave, Zhao Shiqing stood up and said to Xiao Zhen, "Let's go."

Before leaving, Zhao Shiqing did not forget to stuff the last few grapes into his mouth.

When they got downstairs, the two hid behind a curtain, and Zhao Shiqing took the little demon out of the cloth bag.

It’s a pity that Dapang is not there, and the child knows Dapang.

However, the little demon was not bad either. After a while, the child chased her over here, crying as he ran: "Bad cat, even you bully me, bad cat, I will beat you to death, beat you to death, woo woo woo."

Suddenly, everything went dark before his eyes and he lost consciousness.

Xiao Zhen deftly wrapped the child with a tablecloth, and Xiao Yao proudly jumped into Zhao Shiqing's arms. After a small dried fish was stuffed into her mouth, Xiao Yao returned to her cloth bag and continued to sleep.

Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing walked out of the teahouse one after another. Thanks to the large crowd at Dashikan, no one looked at Xiao Zhen curiously even though he had a human-shaped cloth bag tucked under his arm.

The two of them walked out of the big stone threshold smoothly and got into the carriage they came in.

The child was still in a coma. Zhao Shiqing had experienced Xiao Zhen's unique secret medicine before. Last time, she slept for a whole day and night.

Xiao Zhen said: "I originally wanted to take you to watch the military enlistment play, but I didn't expect so many things to happen. I can only watch it later."

Zhao Shiqing patted her head and said, yes, she came to watch the military enlistment play.

"Hou Qi and Hou Ba are both dead. Are there any other famous actors in the military drama?"

Xiao Zhen thought about it, but he couldn't remember any of them. After all, it happened in his previous life, a long time ago. If Hou Qi and Hou Ba were not so famous, he might not even remember them.

However, when did these two people die in their previous life?

At this time in his previous life, he was hiding with Xiao Yuedong. It was not until a few years later, when Fengyu Pavilion was established, that he began to inquire about the affairs in the capital, but his information was limited to the royal family and nobles. The lower nine classes such as Hou Qi and Hou Ba would not appear in the intelligence.

The carriage stopped at the door of the house, and Xiao Zhen got off holding the child. This was Xiao Zhen's first visit to Zhao Shiqing and Zhen Wuduo's home in the capital. Zhao Shiqing led the way in front, and when they entered the second courtyard, they saw Zhen Wuduo playing chess with Jiang Han in the courtyard.

Seeing Xiao Zhen's fake face, Zhen Wuduo snorted coldly: "Unfilial son, you still remember to come here?"

Xiao Zhen had no choice but to say, "I didn't come because I was afraid of causing trouble for you."

Zhen Wuduo: "To explain is to cover up. You are unfilial. My precious granddaughter is the most filial. Granddaughter..."

Zhen Wuduo rubbed his eyes. Was his eyesight blurry due to old age?

How come he saw his precious granddaughter holding a child out of that torn tablecloth?

"Granddaughter, are you picking up a child?"