Yangzhou Eighteen
The term "ghost market" first appeared in "Dongjing Menghualu," a book written by Meng Yuanlao during the Song Dynasty. It describes a market called "Ghost Market" located on the crossroads east of Panlou in Kaifeng Prefecture. As is well known, ghost markets typically open in the early morning, with vendors selling a variety of goods, including daily necessities, funerary objects, and historical relics.
As a city with convenient commercial development, Yangzhou has a well-developed general commodity circulation. Therefore, many of the items sold in Yangzhou's ghost market are not circulated in the market, such as the spoils of tomb raiders, secret medicines with mysterious effects, Yangzhou skinny horses that were expelled from their homes for committing crimes, and those technologies that cannot be seen in the light of day.
Zhang Liang was one of those people who couldn't see the light of day. He ran a business selling secret medicines. His real name wasn't Zhang Liang, but he had heard the story of Emperor Han Liu Bang in a teahouse and liked the supporting character in the story so he took this name.
The secret medicines he sold were varied, including beauty powder made from exotic spices, aphrodisiacs for treating impotence, and various poisons that killed people invisibly. Even the crane's beak poison that poisoned the virtuous concubine in the palace two years earlier was purchased from him.
That day, he greeted his neighbor as usual and placed various small bottles on a spread-out soft cloth.
"Boss, hurry up! Someone is looking for you!" Before he put his things away, his subordinates stumbled over from the other side, bumped into the stall in a hurry, and said in a low voice.
Zhang Liang's face changed. In this line of work, he was bound to offend some people. Sometimes victims would come to him instead of looking for medicine. Zhang Liang was already well-versed in these situations. He immediately closed his stall, neatly rolled up his merchandise, and tossed the entire bundle to his subordinate. The two of them quickly headed off in different directions.
The people on the side glanced at it as if they were not surprised, and continued to focus on their own business.
Less than half an hour later, a man in a jet-black brocade robe walked up to the empty stall and traced it with his fingertip, seeming to be lost in thought. A hint of pale yellow lingered on his fingertips, and a faint scent drifted by.
With a frown on his face, the man leaped quickly onto the eaves that almost blended into the night, and found a way to catch up.
Zhang Liang quickly took off his cloth clothes while running, picked up a furry fur from a roadside stall and half-wrapped it around his body, and also loosened his hair.
No! Even after changing his clothes, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. He walked faster and faster, quickly turning into an alley.
A flash of silver light came at Zhang Liang at lightning speed, and his face suddenly changed. The next second, the cold sword blade was against his waist.
"Brave man!" Zhang Liang shouted in horror, "I'm just a medicine seller. What's there to say? Don't be so impulsive!"
"Zhang Liang?" A low and soft voice sounded in the darkness. Although the tone was not very soft, it made Zhang Liang's spine feel cold for no reason.
"May I ask who this hero is..." Zhang Liang wanted to know the truth before he died, so he asked in a trembling voice.
The night wind blew gently, and the moon, which had been hidden by dark clouds all night, revealed its silver disc. The blue-white moonlight easily illuminated the people in the darkness.
Seeing the handsome and cold face, Zhang Liang's eyes widened and he punched out fiercely with both fists.
The man flashed by with ghostly movements. Zhang Liang seized the opportunity and turned to run. Before he had taken two steps, he was hit hard on the back and fell forward in a mess.
The man stepped on his back and bent down. "Want to run?"
"Don't kill me! At least I saved you back then, you..." At the critical moment of life and death, Zhang Liang shouted regardless.
Su Zirui was stunned for a moment. He looked at the person under his feet in the moonlight. He did look familiar. "You... saved me?"
"No, no," Zhang Liang suddenly remembered something and his face turned pale. He shook his head repeatedly, "I don't remember, I don't remember anything!"
"Oh? I was thinking that if you had done me a favor, I would let you go. Since you don't remember, then..." The sword slowly slashed towards his neck, his tone nonchalant.
Zhang Liang shuddered and turned back. The man's face, hidden from the light, was unclear, his starry eyes filled with icy murderous intent. It really was him... the demon who had escaped, returned with his men, and killed them all.
Is there still no escape... For so many years, he thought those days were just a dream... Well, he has no worries...
With a flash of cold light, the fox fur broke into two pieces and fell beside Zhang Liang.
A moment later, Zhang Liang sat at the tea stall, staring blankly at the man before him, sipping cheap tea with the same elegance as if he were enjoying a cup of tea in an elegant room. His face was elegant and beautiful, his brows brimming with heroism, his eyes cold and frosty, his eyes as deep as a cold pond. Compared to the delicate and fragile youth of the past, he now looked untouchable.
The person he was staring at slightly raised his eyelids, and the cold light in his eyes shot towards him like an icy arrow, as if seeing through all the thoughts in his mind. Zhang Liang was so scared that he came back to his senses instantly and dared not look around anymore.
"Su, Lord Su...you really won't kill me?" Zhang Liang asked nervously.
Su Zirui's eyes were filled with sarcasm. Zhang Liang touched his nose when he saw this. "Your Excellency is magnanimous. I'm not stingy. If you have anything suitable among my goods, please feel free to ask!"
What legitimate use could his medicine have? Su Zirui hummed lazily and put down the earthenware bowl in his hand, "Do you still remember the details of how you saved me that day?"
"Yeah?" Zhang Liang was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "Of course."
This gap, this look, you have to remember it even if you don’t want to.
That was almost ten years ago... He wasn't even called Zhang Liang then. He'd received a message from the Third Incommand, discreetly making his way to the Second Incommand's residence, Meng Bahai, to deliver something. The Second Incommand had a fondness for pedophilia... Those children he'd forcibly taken for his pleasure would turn evil over time. Even with the Third Incommand's protection, he wouldn't dare linger in the Second Incommand's quarters.
After delivering the items, he was afraid of seeing something he shouldn't see, and there were also a few handsome young men staring at him covetously, so he abandoned the way he came and took a detour to the back of the mountain. Unexpectedly, as he was walking, a young man with disheveled clothes fell down from above in front of him. He was so scared that his face turned pale, and he covered his mouth tightly to scream, fearing that he would be implicated.
Looking up, I saw a small hand reaching out to close the window.
The young man was a noble and refined figure, already at the end of his strength, having clearly escaped from there, his alert expression like a trapped animal. He couldn't bear to see such a man being treated so harshly, so he gritted his teeth, covered his face, and dragged him back to the Third Incommand. Afterwards, he didn't know what the Third Incommand did with him, as he disappeared with him.
It was not until a month later, when the young man led the Northwest Army into the mountain stronghold, that he realized that he was a young general of the Zhenyuan Army.
As he talked about these things, Zhang Liang suddenly realized that he had not forgotten any of them.
"After that day... have the people who saved me..." Jing Lan hid him that day, and after a deep discussion, they decided to cooperate and find a chance to transport him down the mountain. He disappeared, Jing Lan and his team had no evidence and could explain it away, but what about the two children who saved him?
"It was Hu Zi and his henchmen who saved you. Afterwards, the Second Chief beat Hu Zi half to death and was about to kill Aruo. If the First Chief hadn't rushed back to save him... Hu Zi is the First Chief's son. It was because of this that the First Chief and the Second Chief clashed, and then the brothers turned against each other, giving the Third Chief and you the opportunity to fight back."
"Hu Zi... Aruo?" Meng Batian had a son? Who was Hu Zi? The child she'd hidden under the table? And... that strange little girl, also named Aruo?
"Yes, she and Hu Zi came to the Tiger Stronghold together. Hu Zi said she was his younger brother, but I know that Aruo is a girl." Zhang Liang came from a humble background, not much more noble than those boy catamites, so he had no prejudice against those pitiful people. Occasionally, when he ran into someone who was not so bad, he would chat with them, so he knew a lot of inside stories. At that time, Hu Zi and the other two also liked to gossip and gather information for self-protection, so they had a little friendship.
"What happened to them...in the end?" Su Zirui subconsciously bent his fingers with a serious expression.
Zhang Liang glanced at him strangely. "On the day you led the troops to massacre the village, the Third Chief secretly let the rest of us go. But I, I went back later... I wanted to take Aruo and Hu Zi with me. They're very nice people, completely different from those people. But they said they wanted to stay, and Hu Zi, he, he said he wanted to kill, kill the First Chief..."
"You mean, Meng Batian's son stayed in the village to kill his father?" Su Zirui showed surprise for the first time.
Zhang Liang also swallowed and shook his head. "I don't know. I was afraid that if I didn't leave, I would be discovered, so I hurried down the mountain. After that, I didn't see them again. I heard... you massacred the village, so maybe they were killed by your explosion."
Su Zirui remained silent, his eyes cold and solemn.
Didn't Meng Batian set the explosives? They thought Meng Batian was desperate and wanted to die together, so he set the explosives. So, it seems someone else was trying to destroy the village. No wonder the village wasn't well-guarded when they went up the mountain, giving them such an easy target.
In this way, they are very likely to escape.
"Anyway, I've told you everything I know. If you still want to kill me, go ahead." Zhang Liang dejectedly threw down the money for the tea and took him with him as he walked among the crowd in the ghost market.
"I never said I would kill you. If you do evil, the authorities will catch you. So, don't do evil, otherwise if you fall into my hands, there will be many ways to make you live a life worse than death." He came here to confirm whether this man was a bad person, and knowing what happened in the past was an unexpected gain.
Zhang Liang heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "Hey, you should have said so earlier. I'm not a great philanthropist, but I'm honest in business. Besides, even though I sell secret medicine, I've also benefited many couples."
Su Zirui glanced at him coldly, ignoring his self-promotional sales pitch and his eyes fell on the corner of the ghost market.
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from the crowd.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com