At dawn, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the well water was icy cold.
As she washed her face with cold water, brushed her teeth with willow branches, fought like a battle to snatch steamed buns from bamboo baskets, and scooped porridge from a large pot to drink, Xia Linyin quickly settled into her role as a bodyguard.
Through casual conversations with others, Xia Linyin also figured out that the Lingmen Escort Agency she was now in was different from other escort agencies. In addition to the usual escorting of goods and wealthy gentry, they would secretly take on some escort orders that other escort agencies dared not take, such as escorting funerary objects and corpses.
In addition to strong and muscular men, the escort agency also had Yin-Yang masters who were skilled in the arts of Yin and Yang. These Yin-Yang masters specialized in taking on jobs involving the dead.
After breakfast, it was time for morning training. All the bodyguards gathered at the training ground, numbering over a hundred.
"snort!"
"ha!"
"Hey!"
The atmosphere was deafening as more than a hundred people lined up neatly on the training ground, practicing their boxing techniques.
Although Xia Linyin tried her best to keep up with the pace of the others, the other bodyguards could already do this set of boxing techniques, which they practiced every morning like doing exercises, even with their eyes closed. Among a group of people whose movements were as smooth as flowing water, Xia Linyin, who was a beat slower, stood out very much.
Several other bodyguards also stumbled and bumped along with her.
Without a doubt, the other escorts are most likely players like her.
With their breath drawn into their dantian, and having completed the final movement, all the bodyguards stood with their legs slightly apart and their hands behind their backs.
Xia Linyin also followed suit, standing tall with her chest out and stomach in.
Lin, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), slowly walked up to a thin man, holding a riding whip, and then lashed the man with the whip. "Did you skip breakfast or something? Your movements are so weak!"
"Hehe, I really didn't eat enough this morning..." the skinny man said with a fawning smile. After Lin, the head镖师 (bodyguard), left, he immediately dropped his fawning smile and gave Lin's back a middle finger.
After whipping the thin man, Lin, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), walked up to Xia Linyin with his hands behind his back. After looking Xia Linyin over for a while, Lin suddenly pulled out his riding whip, and a sharp sound of whipping through the air rang out. However, the whip did not strike Xia Linyin, but instead hit the ground with a "crack".
At the terrifying sound, Xia Linyin trembled.
Lin, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), smiled with satisfaction. "What are you afraid of? Xiao Yin, you have such delicate skin. I, Lin, can't bear to hit you. What if I hurt you?"
Lin, the镖头 (bodyguard), smiled even more ambiguously, and his deliberately lowered voice was lecherous, "Xiao Yin, how have you thought about what I told you last time?"
After saying that, he gave Xia Linyin a knowing look.
Xia Linyin didn't know what Lin Biaotou was talking about, but she figured it wasn't anything good. Just looking at Lin Biaotou's malicious eyes, she knew it. Xia Linyin gave a vague reply.
"That's more like it." Chief镖师 Lin patted Xia Linyin's shoulder with satisfaction, then said, "Come to my room tonight."
His face regained its stern expression, and Lin, the镖头 (bodyguard/escort), walked towards a fat man. "Do you even know how to box? What were you doing just now? Even a three-year-old could do it better than you! You're not allowed to eat until you've done it twenty times today, huh—"
With a scream, Lin Biaotou, who had been kicked away by the fat man, flew through the air in an arc like a broken sack before crashing heavily to the ground.
Lin, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), clutched his injured chest, so angry he could barely speak. "You've rebelled! You've rebelled—"
Seeing the other镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) still standing there dumbfounded, Lin镖头 (head镖师)'s eyes were practically spitting fire as he roared, "Hurry up and grab this fat pig and torture him severely!"
Just as the other bodyguards were about to seize the fat man, a middle-aged woman in a bright red dress and heavy makeup swayed over, excitedly shouting, "Big order! Big order!"
"Oh dear, Chief Escort Lin, what happened to you? Why are you lying on the ground?" The woman exclaimed dramatically, then lightly patted Chief Escort Lin with her fan. "Look at you, you're such a wretched sight. Get up right now, this order can't be delayed."
The fragrance of the beautiful woman's fan wafted over, and even though Lin, the head镖师 (bodyguard), was furious, his anger subsided. He stood up, glared at the fat man with a sinister look that said, "I'll deal with you later," before turning to the woman and saying, "Matchmaker Li, what big order is it that requires your personal attention?"
Although Matchmaker Li was middle-aged, she was well-maintained and had a rather voluptuous figure, so she exuded a mature charm like a ripe peach, and many men fell at her feet.
However, her skills were not limited to that. Matchmaker Li was not a traditional matchmaker; she was a spiritual medium who specialized in arranging marriages for the dead.
As Matchmaker Li fanned herself and Escort Lin toward the council hall, her bright red lips moving as she spoke, "A while ago, I had a dream in which the personal eunuch of the Marquis of Wu appeared to me and asked me to find him a queen. And now, these past two days, I've finally found a suitable bride—a thousand-year-old female zombie who died a virgin, and whose birth chart is perfectly compatible with the Marquis of Wu's."
At this point, Matchmaker Li covered her mouth and giggled, clearly extremely satisfied with this thousand-year-old female zombie.
The two had already walked into the council hall and sat down in the chairs. Having dealt with Matchmaker Li several times, Chief Escort Lin naturally knew that Matchmaker Li was not joking. He did not find it unbelievable, but smiled and said, "As expected of you, Matchmaker Li. No wonder the Marquis of Wu sought you out. Only you can handle this matter properly."
"Not at all, not at all. Your Lingmen Escort Agency truly lives up to its reputation, otherwise I wouldn't be here today." Matchmaker Li laughed heartily, pulling out a stack of silver notes from her sleeve. "We'll have to trouble you with escorting the thousand-year-old female zombie to the Wuhou Tomb."
"This..." Lin, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), looked at the silver notes that Li, the matchmaker, was hesitant. This was indeed a big order. If they handled it well, their Lingmen镖局 (escort agency) would become famous. If they handled it poorly, it might ruin their reputation.
Escorting a thousand-year-old female zombie to the tomb of King Wuhou was no easy task.
"Chief镖林 (Lin Biaotou), this is just a deposit. If you handle this matter well, you'll be well rewarded. Who knows, if the Marquis of Wu is in a good mood, he might let anyone take any of the funerary objects from the tomb." Matchmaker Li timely painted a rosy picture for Chief镖林 (Lin Biaotou).
Lin, the镖头 (bodyguard), was somewhat hesitant, but said aloud, "I'm just afraid I won't be able to find that place."
"Don't worry about that, I'll go with you."
Since the personal eunuch of Marquis Wu had appeared to Matchmaker Li in a dream, Matchmaker Li naturally knew how to get to Marquis Wu's tomb.
"Then I'll call all the Onmyoji from the escort agency over," said Lin, the head escort. Although he was the head escort, these Onmyoji were not under his control; their relationship was merely one of cooperation.
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