Lou Yunchun nodded and asked, "Who sent you here?"
"Prince Ying." He didn't hide it.
Lou Yunchun continued to ask: "What order did you give?"
The bandit leader answered in full: "We will take your lives and prevent you from going to Liangzhou."
"Do you know who we are?"
"Someone from the Dali Temple."
"Are there any others besides you?"
"Yes, after we sneaked out of the capital, we sent a message to others. They will kill you all the way to Liangzhou."
"How do you send a message?"
The bandit leader laughed and said, "There are messengers everywhere, and they are faster than your official post stations."
Lou Yunchun raised his eyebrows slightly, "What is the message?"
As the thief's hand reached for his chest, the knife on his neck cut into his flesh. The patrolman warned, "Don't move."
The thief leader raised his hands, "I'm just taking the token."
Lou Yunchun approached him, bent down and put his hand into his arms.
The thief's eyes flashed, and he pulled out a thin needle from under his tongue, pointed it at Lou Yunchun's eyes and spit it out.
Lou Yunchun lowered his head, and the needle was blocked by his hat. The thief took the opportunity to block the knife on his neck with his hand, took out a dagger from his waist, and thrust it towards Lou Yunchun's chest.
"grown ups!"
The knife stabbed into Lou Yunchun's chest, but Lou Yunchun didn't even frown. He reached out and clamped the thief's wrist, snatched the dagger, and quickly cut his tendons.
The thief howled like a pig being slaughtered.
The other thief was killed by the patrol guard before he could make a move.
Everyone quickly gathered around and grabbed Lou Yunchun and asked, "Sir, are you okay?"
Lou Yunchun patted his chest and said, "I'm fine."
Everyone looked at him in surprise. Could it be that this living devil really had skin of steel and bones?
The thief leader stopped shouting after a while and glared at Lou Yunchun with a vicious look, "What are you hiding in your arms?"
Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes involuntarily fell on Lou Yunchun's chest. Lou Yunchun reached out from his arms and took out a travel journal, saying, "Book."
The thief was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
Lou Yunchun touched the hole in the book, his face full of pity.
The dagger was only a few pages away from piercing the book. Fortunately, Xu Jiang cherished books and was afraid that the book would get wet and damaged during the journey, so she wrapped the book cover with flexible hard oil paper, otherwise he would have been injured.
A patrolman sighed, "It seems that I still need to study more. It can save my life when necessary."
Lou Yunchun put the book back into his arms, then walked up to the thief, pinched his mouth open to check, and when he saw that there were no hidden weapons or poisons, he asked his subordinates to tie him up, gag him, and take him on the road.
The wind died down and the rain subsided. A fiery fire blazed across the sky, casting a crimson hue. A mud-soaked group of men, carrying the bandit leader and a dozen captured horses, raced toward the post station ahead.
At Nanshan Academy, Xu Jiang informed Master Lin of Xu Si and the others' attempt to overturn the verdict. Upon learning of this, Master Lin praised her actions and urged her to be more vigilant before departing for the imperial city.
She talked with Lin Hongchu for a while, and when she asked about the wedding dress again, she told her that she had given the two pieces of cloth to the lady of the Zhen family who ran a clothing store and asked her to help tailor them.
Lin Hongchu sighed, "That's one way. If I really let my sister embroider it, I'm afraid she won't be able to face anyone on her wedding day."
Xu Jiang hit her and then continued, "I asked Aunt Cao and Aunt Qin, and they also agreed. Aunt Cao said that for good luck, I should just embroider a fan myself."
Lin Hongchu laughed, "A fan is naturally simpler than a wedding dress. Sister, have you decided what to embroider?"
"Where do I have time to think about it? The bookstore has been very busy lately." Besides, he is involved in a lawsuit.
Lin Hongchu joked, "Now think about it, should we embroider mandarin ducks? Twin lotus flowers? Or julibrissin flowers?"
Xu Jiang pinched her mouth and said, "You little girl are becoming more and more unruly."
Lin Hongchu's eyes curved. She took Xu Jiang's hand and said with a smile, "So what do you want to embroider?"
Xu Jiang rolled her eyes and said, "Embroider a moon."
The moon is big and round, illuminating the dark night.
"Sister is so lazy." The moon is so easy to embroider, isn't it just a circle?
She didn't understand, and Xu Jiang didn't say anything. She just rubbed her face happily, then said goodbye to her and Zeng Zhui who was writing furiously in Bajizhai, and went back to the bookstore.
As soon as we arrived at the bookstore, two students from the Imperial College came over, each carrying a box of books.
Xu Jiang and Liang Mo quickly helped to unload the things and make room for the books, then they hurriedly poured tea for the two of them.
"It's so hot, thank you for your hard work. Come sit down and have some tea."
The two were really thirsty, so they picked up the tea bowls and poured it straight into their mouths. This tea was the buckwheat tea Liang Mo had brewed that morning, and it was just right for them.
After finishing their tea, a student handed Xu Jiang a document regarding book dispatches and said, "Song Xuelu asked me to inquire about the status of the new book's printing."
"Please inform me that Sili has already started binding the work and will be completed on time by the end of the month."
"Okay." The two of them walked around the store again, saw the fans on the shelf, bought one each, and went back home fanning themselves.
After seeing the two off, Xu Jiang returned to the shop eagerly to read.
Liang Mo had neatly arranged the books into twenty sets, each enclosed in a blue, embroidered envelope with a patterned pattern. The envelopes were beautifully printed with the book's title and the author's signature in gold ink.
Xu Jiang was familiar with the title; it was Master Lin's iron-stroked, silver-stroked, majestic and grand. Touching the four characters, "Tracing the Origins of Cultural Context," she felt an irrepressible surge of excitement. These two old friends, separated for so many years, finally met in this way.
She carefully unpacked a set. The books inside were all covered with indigo cardboard, with bookmarks on the covers. The bookmarks had the title of the chapter, preface, and proofreading written on them, also by Master Lin.
The proofreader's signature is Du Hui.
When you open the cover, the first thing that catches your eye is Xu Yuan's portrait.
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