Chapter 259: Teahouse on the Mountain (Two Chapters in One)
There were many people entering the city, including many women, but there were more than 20 male yamen runners responsible for checking the passes, but only two female ones. Although it was women checking women, many young women were still very shy and refused to be searched. The two female yamen runners scolded and threatened the girls, and they were so aggrieved that they cried. There were also those who brought their children, and the children were so scared that they cried loudly. Therefore, the speed of the inspection was even slower.
Zhao Shiqing looked eagerly, and saw that there were still four or five people in front of him, but at this moment something unexpected happened.
A female yamen runner was searching a woman in her early thirties. She touched something and cried out, "Are you a man or a woman?"
Most of the female yamen runners are fierce and aggressive. They usually deal with female prisoners in the jail. Not only do they speak in a rough and loud voice, but they also all have loud voices.
What's more, the pitch of her voice was several degrees higher than usual, like a thunderclap out of the blue. Not only the women's team heard it, but the men's team heard it as well.
Everyone looked over. Zhao Shiqing was close, and she had just watched the whole thing.
The female yamen runner was doing her routine work and touched the woman's legs. Somehow, she touched a certain place, which caused her to let out a cry of surprise.
Hearing the noise, another female yamen runner asked, "What's going on?"
The female yamen runner said, "This man is a man, pretending to be a woman."
The woman was panicked and waved her hands repeatedly: "No, no, I am a woman, I really am a woman!"
The woman was dressed in ordinary clothes and looked dusty. No one noticed her at first, but now, upon closer inspection, they found that she was thin and tall, almost as tall as the male yamen runner of medium build. More importantly, her somewhat dull face looked more and more like a man.
The female yamen runner sneered: "I'm over forty years old and have given birth to five children. Can't I tell the difference between boys and girls?"
Everyone laughed. These days, nothing is more attractive than the affairs between men and women.
The woman was so anxious that she was sweating profusely and kept saying that she was a woman.
The female yamen runner snorted coldly and pointed to the shed next to her: "Since you are a woman, do you dare to go in and take off all your clothes so that we can check?"
The woman's face changed drastically. She looked around subconsciously, then suddenly turned around and ran away.
The two female yamen runners didn't expect her to run away suddenly. After a moment of shock, the woman ran far away.
The female bailiff shouted to the male bailiff who was interrogating the man next to her, "Someone's escaped. He might be a bandit. Go chase him!"
Hearing that he was a notorious bandit, the two young bailiffs did not bother to continue questioning him and started chasing him.
Everyone was craning their necks to watch the excitement. Some people who were not in a hurry to go into the city even followed the two yamen runners out.
Seeing the three people disappear from his sight, Zhao Shiqing withdrew his gaze and continued to wait for questioning.
The two female yamen runners were cursing at each other. One said that she would definitely not make a mistake and it must be a man. The other said that there are all kinds of birds in the forest and anything can happen.
The next people to be questioned were an old lady and two middle-aged women, who should be her daughters or daughters-in-law.
The three people were also discussing what had just happened, chatting slowly with the two female yamen runners, from the woman just now to the Erwei (pronounced: Yi)zi in their village.
Zhao Shiqing learned a lot. No one had ever told her these things before.
She was listening with fascination when suddenly a cry came from a distance: "Murder, murder!"
Everyone was startled and looked in the direction of the noise. They saw several people who had just followed to watch the excitement running over in panic, shouting at the yamen runners at the city gate: "Murder! Your people have been killed!"
Among these yamen runners, one was the older brother of one of the young yamen runners.
Upon hearing that his younger brother was in trouble, the older brother rushed towards the direction of the accident without saying a word. The two brothers were usually popular among the yamen runners, so when others saw them, they dropped what they were doing and followed them.
Suddenly, there were no yamen runners guarding the city gate. The people who were originally queuing up in an orderly manner immediately reacted and rushed into the city gate.
There were also some honest people who originally didn't dare to run, but were pushed by the people behind them and ran in involuntarily.
Zhao Shiqing was such an honest person. She actually wanted to see what was happening, but she was pushed and squeezed by several aunties and had no choice. By the time she remembered that there was still excitement to see, she had already entered the city!
The same thing happened to Xiuxiu and Lingbo. The three of them entered the city inexplicably, looking at each other.
Zhao Shiqing: "I don't know how that yamen runner died. Was it that Erweizi who killed him?"
Ling Bo: "Second Miss, please quickly forget the three words 'Erweizi' and pretend you have never heard of them."
What is the Second Young Lady's identity? How could she say these three words?
Zhao Shiqing shook her head: "I have a good memory, I won't forget it."
Limbo...
The city gate was in chaos, with people rushing in. It was impossible to go back the same way to watch the excitement.
Zhao Shiqing sighed: "Let's go to the teahouse on the mountain."
The teahouse on the mountain was where they agreed to meet.
At this time, Xia Dachuan and others also came out of the city gate. The twenty of them, together with the twenty people sent by the old man, were all Zhao Shiqing's guards. The female team was slow in checking, and the male team was very fast, but the forty of them had been waiting behind for Zhao Shiqing. Now that they saw Zhao Shiqing entering the city, they followed in.
Although they have reunited, now that they have entered the city, they cannot all surround Zhao Shiqing, otherwise they will attract attention.
Zhao Shiqing and the other two were still in the front, while they separated and followed behind.
The three of them asked along the way and after walking for about an incense stick of time, they found the teahouse on the mountain.
As the name suggests, the Mountain Teahouse is located on the mountain.
This mountain is located in Tongzhou City, with a radius of less than five miles and is not very high. The mountain has no name. Looking up from the bottom of the mountain, you can see lush greenery. There is a pavilion on the top of the mountain and there are houses near the pavilion. I think that is the teahouse.
Xiuxiu sighed, "With so many trees, it must be very cool."
The reason why Xiao Zhen made an appointment at the teahouse on the mountain was because the teahouse on the mountain was located at the highest place in Tongzhou City.
In his previous life, the owner of a teahouse on the mountain took in many homeless people, but his kindness was not rewarded and he was murdered for his money. The murderer was the person he had taken in.
Zhao Shiqing felt a little heavy-hearted when she heard Xiao Zhen talk about this matter and went up the mountain at this time.
The mountain was not high, and the stone steps led directly to the top. The three of them were young and at the age with the most physical strength. After a while, they reached the top of the mountain. Except for Xiuxiu who was a little out of breath, Zhao Shiqing and Lingbo didn't even sweat.
Xia Dachuan and twenty other people also followed him up the mountain, while another twenty people waited at the foot of the mountain.
Xiao Zhen and the others entered the city before Zhao Shiqing and the others. Except for the twenty or so guards who stayed at the foot of the mountain, everyone else had already gone up the mountain. Seeing Zhao Shiqing and the other two arrive, Xiao Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Did the entry into the city go smoothly?"
They entered the city first and didn't know what happened at the city gate. Zhao Shiqing told them about the accident on the women's team and the death of a yamen runner. If Ling Bo hadn't kept nudging her with his elbow, she almost brought up Erweizi again.
Xiao Zhen narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Jiang Ping. Jiang Ping said, "I'll go and ask around."
This matter is very strange, and considering the group of people last night, Xiao Zhen has to be on guard.
Zhao Shiqing looked around. The teahouse was a two-story building. Maybe it was because it was morning or Xiao Zhen had booked the place, but there were no other customers in the teahouse at this time. Everyone he looked around was his own people.
The boss was a middle-aged man with a kind face. In addition to the two young waiters, there was a little girl of five or six years old who was sitting at the counter. She looked at them from time to time, smiling, with two dimples on her face, which was very pleasing.
Xiao Zhen lowered his voice and said, "Those two guys are the boss's son and nephew, and that girl is his little daughter. They are all dead in the dream."
Zhao Shiqing was stunned. She thought that only the boss was dead, but it turned out that all his family members were dead.
The murderer could even kill such a cute little girl.
Thinking of this, Zhao Shiqing thought of herself.
When the incident happened at home, she was about the same age as the little girl.
"And the murderer, has he been caught?"
Xiao Zhen shook his head: "It was a mess at the time, and no one cared about it at all."
Zhao Shiqing sighed. Fortunately, it was still not too late. He just didn't know how to remind her.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Xiao Zhen guessed what she was thinking and said, "This is the highest point in Tongzhou City, and the mountain is lush with vegetation. It's perfect as a base. I've asked Li Xi and Xu Le to prepare a few boats to facilitate the transportation of disaster victims and supplies."
Zhao Shiqing's eyes lit up. This place was their base, and their people would stay here. They would definitely not allow those people to do anything bad.
"Okay, it's nice here. By the way, should we go meet the local officials?"
Xiao Zhen smiled. "The prefect is very busy right now. He's busy cleaning the government office, busy rectifying the customs of the people, and busy preparing a welcome for the Fourth Prince. Of course we have to go see him, but it's definitely not possible during the day. I'll pay him a visit tonight."
Zhao Shiqing was delighted when she heard it. It was great and exactly what she wanted.
"I'll go with you. Or, I can guard the door for you. Take me with you, okay? I definitely won't hold you back. Have you forgotten how well we worked together in Baifeng City?"
Thinking of Bai Fengcheng's experience, Xiao Zhen smiled. He and she started out by working together.
"Okay, sure."
He paused, then continued, "I've booked this place. There are several private rooms on the second floor of the teahouse, which are perfect for accommodation. Also, the tributary of Tong River is about three miles away from this mountain. Li Xi and Xu Le have found two excellent swimmers who can quietly transport our weapons underwater."
Xiao Zhen said it calmly, but in fact, although it is a tributary of Tong River, there is a suspension bridge on the section leading into the city. No matter whether it is a person or a boat, they must be checked before entering the city.
These two people who are very good at swimming are actually bandits on Tong River.
What the two of them are best at is sneaking underwater and destroying ships.
Li Xi and Xu Le spent a lot of effort and money to get the two men to agree to take action.
Zhao Shiqing was overjoyed, yet also felt a little regretful: "If we had known we could enter the city without being inspected today, we would have brought our weapons with us."
Money can’t buy you earlier knowledge. Besides, who could have thought of what would happen today?
Zhao Shiqing asked, "The news of the Tongzhou flood has been circulating in the capital for a long time. Shouldn't there be rumors in Tongzhou as well?"
Xiao Zhen smiled bitterly. The reason why Li Xi and Xu Le came here early was to spread the news. Unfortunately, the people finally believed it, and the government sent people to arrest the rumormongers. If Li Xi and Xu Le had not had martial arts skills and could run fast, they might have been in jail by now.
Xiao Zhen said: "Li Xi even buried stone men and dug them out of the ground in public. The stone men were engraved with the words of the flood on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year. The people knelt down and thanked God for the warning.
The news quickly spread like wildfire, and the government not only refused to believe it but also went around hunting down those who spread the rumor. They were even more despicable than those good-for-nothings in the Imperial Observatory."
The people from the Imperial Observatory simply ignored it, and the Tongzhou government came to arrest people.
Zhao Shiqing really didn't know what to say. In order to make the court pay attention to this matter, Xiao Zhen tried every possible means, but with little success.
Zhao Shiqing comforted him, "It's not bad. At least the court sent people before the flood happened. Unlike in my dream, they didn't send people to provide disaster relief until the flood happened. The current situation is much better than in my dream."
While the two were talking, Jiang Ping came back from outside.
Zhao Shiqing quickly asked, "How's it going? Have you found out what happened at the city gate?"
Jiang Ping said: "Two yamen runners, one dead and one seriously injured. The seriously injured one was seriously injured and I'm afraid he will not escape death.
When the yamen runners arrived, the fake woman had already escaped. According to eyewitnesses, the two yamen runners chased her relentlessly. Seeing that she could not get rid of them, the fake woman suddenly stopped, turned around, and waved her sleeves, and the two yamen runners fell to the ground.
The murder weapon was a hidden arrow. That fake woman was so bold that she knew there would be checks at the city gates, yet she still carried a hidden weapon with her."
Zhao Shiqing frowned slightly and looked at Xiao Zhen: "This idiot... ahem, this fake woman did it on purpose. First, she deliberately let the female yamen runner find out that he was a man, diverting attention and making the female yamen runner neglect the quiver he had hidden in her sleeve. Then he deliberately escaped and killed the yamen runner, causing chaos at the city gate, allowing his accomplices to enter the city.
Just now I regretted not bringing my weapon, because I didn't expect such a good opportunity to come.
But what if this good opportunity was created intentionally by someone?
This woman was carrying hidden arrows, and her accomplices must have also been armed. They killed the yamen runners and created chaos in order to bring weapons into the city."
Xiao Zhen nodded. He thought the same thing: "When we leave the inn this morning, those people from last night will still be there. If they split into two groups, one group stays in the inn and the other enters the city, then they can take advantage of the chaos at the city gate and bring weapons into the city."
Zhao Shiqing thought of the Fairy Cao whom she had met on the road. Although it had not been confirmed yet, she had already thought that Fairy Cao and Yang Shengqiu were in the same group.
"Do you think the people at Ruyi Inn are in cahoots with Fairy Cao? They, like Fairy Cao, came here for Yang Shengqiu."
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