Rebirth of Shuangshu

Chapter 51 Tracking
Jianshui City is less than thirty miles west of Tancheng.

Jianshui City is backed by mountains, where various medicinal materials are produced, and it is the most important distribution center of medicinal materials in the surrounding towns.

Since last month, Jianshui City has ended the closure of the city and opened its gates for business.

Due to the relatively long distance, it was the first time for Lin Xiaoxiao to come here.

The poll tax at the gate of the city is more expensive than usual in Tancheng and cheaper in winter in Tancheng, ten cloth coins per person.

Shen Wu gave Lin Xiaoxiao three hundred cloth coins before entering the city.Lin Xiaoxiao gave Mei Ya and Wu Yong [-] each, put [-] in her bag, and put the rest in the warehouse.

The three of Lin Xiaoxiao entered the city and found an early breakfast shop near the city gate.A bowl of hot ginger soup plus a millet cake only costs one cloth coin.

Many people who have just entered the city will take a rest here and drink a bowl of hot ginger soup to warm up their bodies.

Under the Chinese system, there are no homeless people in the city, and there will be no scenes of idlers gathering at the city gate to find work.

Because the state government encourages business, doing business has become more open, so almost every household in the city runs a small business to make money in their spare time.

Lin Xiaoxiao was not familiar with Jianshui City, so she couldn't tell if there was anything suspicious about the small stalls at the city gate.

"Meiya, you pay a lot of attention to those street vendors. Later when Shen Wu and the others enter the city, pay attention to whether those vendors pay special attention to them."

Within a quarter of an hour, Shen Wu and A Chai entered the city.

Shen Wu's sword was hanging on his waist, and A Chai's machete was behind his back. The two of them could not see that they were good at each other.When entering the city gate, the guards charged them an extra bribe of two cloth coins.

After entering the city, the two went all the way to Fangshi.

A Chai looked left and right, with a slightly nervous expression.Shen Wu did not squint.

When the two came to the entrance of Fangshi, they also stopped in front of an early shop.

The shops here are much more upscale than those at the gate of the city, and the prices are also more expensive.

Shen Wu and A Chai entered the breakfast shop, and they sat at the window, each ordered soup cakes.

At this time, the three of Lin Xiaoxiao came slowly.

The three of them walked separately.Wu Yong is in the front, Lin Xiaoxiao and Mei Ya are in the back.

The three of them passed by Shen and Wu and went straight into Fangshi.

The square market here is very similar to a vegetable market, with no shelter on all sides and a canopy on the top.

There is no head fee to enter the venue, but a booth fee of ten cloth coins is required to rent a booth.

There are wholesale and retail products in Fangshi, but the types are not complete, and most of them are common medicinal materials.If you want to buy rare medicinal materials, you have to go to the shop street next to Fangshi, where there are all kinds of medicinal materials, and the quantity is large enough.

Lin Xiaoxiao made purchases while observing.She doesn't have much money, so she can only buy some medicinal materials that are not in the warehouse.

After Shen Wu and A Chai finished their breakfast, they also went into the market to buy medicinal materials.A Chai also pretended to gesture with a prescription, very serious.

There were still a few herbs missing, so Shen Wu and A Chai went to the shop street.

This time, Lin Xiaoxiao and Mei Ya followed up first, while Wu Yong was last.

Shen Wu and A Chai bought the medicinal materials, went to a tailor shop to buy two sets of clothes, and found another shop for dinner around noon. After eating, they went out of the city with their burdens on their backs.

Zhang San is from the country of Hua. His ancestors had been a scholar. His family moved from the barren mountains to the city, and rose from the savage to the Chinese class.

It's a pity that Zhang San's father passed away too early and failed to cultivate Zhang San into a talent.

Zhang San grew up in the city relying on the surplus money left by his father, and wanted to follow the path of his ancestors, but his talents were insufficient and no one appreciated him.

Since the current Duke Hua came to power, in order to maintain his status as a Chinese, he has to pay a large amount of poll tax every year. Zhang San has less and less money left in his hands, so he has to learn how to do business with others, so he made some so-called quack friends .

Some time ago, a friend introduced him to a job, and he only needs to look for someone at the gate of the city every day.

Regardless of whether the person appeared or not, he would give five cloth coins a day.If someone is found, an additional [-] cloth coins will be given.

It's been almost three months, and Zhang San hasn't seen anyone, and he has already got hundreds of cloth coins, and he will be able to make up enough for another year's poll tax.

Today, Zhang San set up a stall at the gate of the city as usual, and what he sells are still woodcarvings he cut himself.I thought I could only earn five cloth coins today, but I didn't want to see the real master suddenly.

In order to make sure that he saw the right person, Zhang San deliberately followed that person into the shop, and secretly took a closer look at the portrait in his hand.

Therefore, Zhang San closed the stall early and followed the target person out of the city.

There is a dry forest one mile outside Jianshui City.

A Chai went into the woods first, holding his trouser belt, Shen Wu waited outside the forest for a while, and then walked in.

Zhang San watched the target enter the forest, hesitated for a while, and walked in with his trouser belt.

Zhang San entered the forest and looked around, but before he could find the target figure, he was suddenly hugged from behind with his mouth covered.

Zhang San stretched out his hand to touch the dagger in his arms, but felt a pain in the back of his neck, and then his vision went dark and he passed out.

A Chai smiled and put Zhang San on the ground, searched his whole body, took out the hemp rope and tied him up.

"This kid just brought a dagger, just this one person, there is no need to make such trouble."

"Yes, what is this?"

As soon as A Chai looked up, he saw Wu Yong walking over with a person on his shoulders.That person was also tied up and unconscious.

Wu Yong threw the person on his shoulders to the ground.

"This man followed behind and also entered the forest. He must have heard your movements and wanted to run away, but we stopped him."

It turned out that there were two people following Shen Wu and A Chai.

When Zhang San woke up, he found himself lying on the ground, tied with a rope and unable to move, and his mouth was stuffed with sackcloth.

Zhang San felt that he hadn't done anything bad, and he wasn't very scared, so he turned his eyes and looked up.

Shen Wu ignored him, but walked up to the person opposite Zhang San and kicked that person.

"Don't pretend to be dead when you wake up."

Only then did Zhang San notice that there was another person lying face to face with him.Coincidentally, he knew this person.This man is called Li Si, and he often sets up a stall at the gate of the city.

A Chai removes the linen from the mouths of Zhang San and Li Si.

Zhang San immediately shouted: "Brother, what's the situation? You robbed your house? I'll give you all the money you have, just save your life."

Li Si nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, just save your life."

Standing between the two of them, Shen Wu slowly drew out the long sword in his hand.

"I will ask you to ask questions separately. Those who answer correctly can live, and the rest will die."

A Chai and Wu Yong each dragged Zhang San and Li Si by one leg, and dragged them away for questioning.

After a while, the two were dragged back again.

"Very well, you all told the truth."

Zhang San and Li Si were greatly relieved.Although they missed the hundred cloth coins, they wanted to save their lives more.

"Now I have something to find someone to do, but I only need one person. Those who can do things can live."

"I~" "I do!" Zhang San and Li Si shouted almost simultaneously.

Shen Wu glanced at Zhang San, raised his sword and dropped it.

Li Si's eyes were still open, but his head fell from his neck, and he rolled on the ground a few times before stopping.

(End of this chapter)