On the wall, everyone gripped their swords and arrows, awaiting news from the front; a battle was imminent.
In the town of Suijin, in the courtyard of Jin Sanchong, a tattered cotton curtain blocked the light of an oil lamp, and the pungent smell of coarse wine mixed with the stale air filled the room.
On the kang (heated brick bed), Jin Sanzhong was drinking with five men.
The thin "triple-bride" lifted the curtain and entered the room. She bowed and placed a large plate of chicken on the table, then bowed and retreated, as light as a shadow.
“Brother Sanchong, you used to be a respected figure. Who in town would dare to disrespect you? How did you end up like this after just two years? It breaks my heart.”
A man in his mid-twenties sighed, feeling indignant on behalf of the dejected Kim Sam-joong.
Jin Sanzhong took a sip of wine, his eyes still blurry with drunkenness, and retorted, "Tang Xiang, don't let my thin appearance fool you. I'm still a man, just plagued by illness and haven't fully recovered yet."
The man named Tang Xiang chuckled and said, "From now on, I will come to see you often, just like I did today. You can eat and drink whatever you want and take good care of yourself."
Jin Sanzhong's family was so poor that they couldn't even find a drop of oil during the New Year. The chicken on the table was brought over from Qili County by Tang Xiang.
Jin Sanzhong said gratefully, "Ah! Brother Tang is the best. It's no wonder we have a life-or-death friendship."
Tang Xiang chuckled: "Of course, but when I first left, I was struggling to make ends meet. I only managed to get to where I am now because I remembered how good Brother Sanzhong was to me back then."
The group remained silent after hearing such cheesy words.
Kim Sam-jung, however, beamed with delight and seemed quite pleased.
After exchanging a few casual words, Tang Xiang inquired about the town of Suijin: "How many people are there in the garrison? Do those soldiers come to the town every day?"
Jin Sanzhong shook his head: "The people from the garrison don't contact us, and I don't know how many people are stationed inside."
The soldiers frequented the general store, Xue Junhu's tavern, and the Song family's house outside town.
Tang Xiang nodded, seemingly lost in thought: "You mean the Song family, the military household that grows vegetables?"
Mentioning the Song family, Jin Sanzhong's previously cloudy eyes suddenly lit up, flashing with a sinister light: "That's the house. You don't know that there are demons and ghosts in that house. Anyone who goes there will be unlucky."
Tang Xiang glanced at the reddish scar on the back of his neck, and recalling what he had heard when he arrived that afternoon, his eyes immediately filled with contempt.
In Qili County, he heard from Min Gande's escaped subordinate that there was something fishy about the female owner in Suijin Town. He said that he personally saw Min Gande grab the woman, then convulse and die quickly.
Tang Xiang even personally examined Min Gande's body. It was unharmed and without any marks, but it was strangely twisted, as if it were in pain in its heart.
The person who beat Han Dashan to death clearly had a piece of his skull collapsed, and his brains were spilling out.
In his mind, Min Gande had always suffered from heart disease, which would flare up whenever he drank too much alcohol over the years.
To stop Han Ming, Min Gande braved the cold wind all morning, and he was already exhausted.
That woman surnamed Song just happened to be there when Min Gande fell ill.
As for the white smoke, it was definitely made up to avoid being accused of not rescuing people.
Even more outrageous things were said by Tang Xiang back then.
Now Kim Sam-joong also tried to break into the Song family, and he's doing just fine.
Han Ming, on the other hand, is even more lively and energetic, living a better life than before.
Jin Sanzhong didn't notice the looks in the eyes of the people in the room and continued to chatter about things in Suijin Town: "I heard that Xue Junhan has earned seven or eight taels of silver from selling vegetables these few times. You don't know, the Song family grows a lot of vegetables in their backyard. The green beans and eggplants that Xue Zhuang sold today are from there."
Today, Xue Zhuang delivered vegetables including the usual Chinese cabbage and bok choy, a small bunch of tender green beans, and five plump eggplants.
This is truly fresh produce. Tianxianglou is offering it for one tael of silver per pound, and they say they'll take as much as they can get.
On this one day alone, the garrison received eight taels of silver, and Xue Zhuang was all smiles. On his way back, he even bought a lot of wine.
When Tang Xiang heard about green beans and eggplants, the corners of his mouth curled up and he chuckled. What were a few eggplants? If he was going to do something, he should do something about growing eggplants.
Moreover, the Song family were military households, so the government didn't care about them. They could be tied up, taken away, and sold for a high price.
Just then, a sharp copper whistle suddenly rang out from outside the town. Tang Xiang jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), and the five people rushed out of the house in a panic, only to freeze in place as soon as they stepped outside.
At this moment, flames blazed in the direction of the Broken Gold Guard, illuminating half the sky, and the night wind carried the sounds of shouting.
Soon the voices changed direction, and the night air returned to calm.
The soldiers didn't come to the town.
"What's going on?" a man asked in a trembling voice. The shout he heard earlier was Wei calling for reinforcements, which had terrified him. He thought they were coming to arrest him and his gang.
Tang Xiang was also startled. When he saw that there was only the sound of whistles and no movement from the garrison, he realized that it was a misunderstanding.
He had spent five years in Suijin Town and knew the terrain like the back of his hand. At this moment, his mind began to frantically calculate: the direction the soldiers went should be the newly built wall. Could it be that the Di people have come again?
No, five years ago, after the Di people succeeded, they fled deep into the Di grasslands with the money from the human trafficking.
Without anyone to guide them, they wouldn't dare come over, especially since there was a garrison soldier here.
Tang Xiang stared at the sky in the courtyard for a few moments, then suddenly slapped his thigh and shouted, "Listen up, guys, it looks like those guys from the old mountain forest have come out again. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we can't wait, we have to make our move first. Come on, let's go inside and talk about it in detail."
The five people went back inside.
Seeing the panicked expressions on their faces, Kim Sam-joong became suspicious and stared wide-eyed: "What do you want here?"
"Brother Sanchong, do you want to get rich?" Tang Xiang asked in a low voice.
"What do you mean? Explain yourself!" Jin Sanzhong's drunkenness vanished instantly, and he sat up straight. He vaguely knew what Tang Xiang was up to; these people had done the same thing five years ago.
Tang Xiang pulled a large bundle from under the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), unwrapped the sheepskin covering it, revealing several knives.
Today, under the pretext of searching for relatives, he followed Xue Junhu, who was returning from selling vegetables, to visit the ancestral graves in Suijin Town.
Xue Zhuang initially had doubts, but the two people who sold vegetables with him corroborated his story.
It is said that Tang Xiang was originally from Suijin Town, but he went to Qili County to do business because he needed to earn money to support his family.
It's almost the end of the year, so it's only right to come back and pay respects at the graves.
With witnesses to testify, Xue Zhuang naturally dispelled his doubts. Tang Xiang then sent several more items, but he didn't even open the bag that came with them.
Upon seeing the long sword, Kim Sam-jung understood everything.
Tang Xiang tore off the sheepskin and slowly wiped the knife blade, whispering, "Brother Sanchong, to be honest, we brothers saw that Xue Zhuang was making money selling vegetables, and we also wanted to earn some money to spend."
---Aside---
Thank you all for your support, which has allowed me to keep updating on Twitter until now.
To be honest, I really can't add any more hair; my hair is about to leave me.
Over the next few days, I'll resume the two-update schedule at 6 AM and 12 PM daily, so I can accumulate enough chapters to add more updates after a week.
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