The Beacon of Kyushu

Two days later, Lu County.

At dusk, the sky was already dark, and through the last rays of light in the sky, you could vaguely see a small inn made of thatch and yellow mud more than ten miles away from Luzhou City. There is a medium-sized mound next to the inn. There are many dry poplar trees growing on the mound. From time to time, groups of dusky crows circle in the forest with low sounds, which gives people an inexplicable feeling of desolation.

But everything can only be highlighted through comparison. Although the scene in front of me was defeated, if compared with the young man running quickly on the path, it seemed much more magnificent. But I saw that this young man had unkempt hair and a dirty face, and the linen clothes on his body were fat and bulky. Although there were many people who were dusty, how many of them could be as dirty as him and shake off enough dust to pile up half a hill?
"Huh..." The young man gasped for air. He turned around and looked behind him from time to time. When he saw that there was not even a single figure dozens of feet behind him, he dared to slow down a little, "I'm tired... I'm exhausted to death." Well, even if I fled from Ezhou to Xiangyang in one go to avoid that little witch, I wouldn't have had such a hard time escaping in these two days! If it weren't for Master's unpredictable foresight and great supernatural powers, I would have killed these two with my sword skills. Inexplicably dead flies!”

The waiter at the inn was holding a wine flask in his arms and quietly walked out of the door. Just as he was about to take a few sips of wine without the shopkeeper noticing, the wine flask had already been snatched away. When the waiter saw someone snatching his jug, he couldn't help but be shocked. He thought he had been discovered by the shopkeeper. He quickly lowered his head and wanted to make a few excuses, but he saw that the person who took his jug was a young man in ragged clothes.

The waiter suddenly gained confidence, glared, and said angrily: "You stinking beggar, you are tired of living, and you dare to steal my wine! Return the wine to me quickly, otherwise..." He raised his right hand high as he spoke, making a show of force. He hit her, but his arm was grabbed by the young man.

"Haha, you secretly drank the good wine in the store, and I caught you. You should give half of the bottle to me, so that I can be strict. You don't care, and you are showing off to me. , He is really more arrogant than a bald-tailed dog! Do you believe that this young hero can attract the shopkeeper with just one voice, and then you can neither drink nor leave?"

The waiter's face changed when he heard this, and he immediately squeezed out a smile, and kept cupping his hands and saying: "My dear guest, please be merciful, be merciful! Don't you want to drink? I'll give you this bottle. I just hope you don’t tell the shopkeeper.”

The young man smiled, pointed at the setting sun, and said: "Well, that makes sense. However, it's getting so late, can you bear to let me sleep in the open? If you can bear it, I can also go to your shopkeeper. , ask him if he can bear it."

After hearing what he said, the waiter couldn't help feeling regretful, but he could only say: "Master, you have spared me so much, so how can I let you sleep in the open? Tonight, I will give myself to you." I’ll give you my room temporarily, do you think that’s okay?”

The young man nodded, "Don't say it's the room you live in, it doesn't matter if it's a woodshed, as long as it's not a toilet, it can be anywhere!"

Seeing that this young man was relatively easy to fight with, the waiter lost all the anger and regret he had just shown and became a little more approachable. "Master, please follow me in now. I will take you to the room to rest." ." The young man nodded again and followed the waiter into the inn, looking like a man who had spent hundreds of taels of silver in a small shop.

The young man followed the waiter into a room in the backyard. The room was very simple and filled with a strong smell of sweat. Ordinary people would refuse to live in it if they were afraid of giving him money, but this young man didn't. Not paying attention, he lay down on the couch and said with a smile: "Haha, your house is not bad, at least it is much better than the pig pen or the stable."

The waiter gave a wry smile and said, "Master, please look at the dinner..."

What he meant was that he gave up the wine and the room, and the dinner had to make him a little profit. But the young man didn't seem to understand it at all. He took it as it was and said: "The dinner doesn't need to be too rich. It's enough to have ten hot and eight cold dishes, three soups and four soups."

The waiter couldn't bear it and said: "Master, you can't catch a toad without peeing out it! I would rather spend a few copper coins to buy this pot of wine from the shopkeeper than let you exploit me like this!" "

The young man crossed his legs, looked at the waiter with a smile, and said: "You are so stupid! You don't even think about it. If the shopkeeper knew that you were stealing wine, could you just spend a few coppers to settle the matter? ? Once, twice, twice, three times. Do you really think that if you pay for the drink once, the shopkeeper will let you go? He has to give you a good beating and then fire you. Do you choose to accept it? After being injured, should I go to the doctor to pay for the treatment, or should I choose to remain unscathed and treat me to a drink?"

The waiter was almost going crazy being blackmailed by this young man, but he couldn't do anything about him. It seemed that as long as he said one word of objection, the other party would always have a hundred words waiting for him. He let out a long sigh, screaming in his heart that his life was miserable, but he could only do as the young man said.

Soon it was completely dark. As soon as the young man lit the oil lamp on the table, the waiter walked in cautiously carrying a wooden tray. Seeing that the tray was piled with wine and food, there were at least seven or eight dishes, the young man smiled with satisfaction, "Hahaha, you are quite sincere, come over and have some drinks together."

The waiter put the food and wine on the table smoothly and let out a big sigh of relief. He looked at this sloppy young man, and in his heart he really wanted to tear him into pieces, but his legs subconsciously sat opposite him, and his hands poured him a full glass of wine.

The young man picked up the wine glass, drank the wine in one gulp, and said happily: "Hey, I didn't expect that a small shop like yours would have such good wine! Just make this wine, even if I die drunk here today, It’s worth it!”

The waiter's face suddenly turned bitter than bitter gourd, and he said to himself: "If you really die drunk here, no matter how much money I have to spend on wine, just buying a coffin for you to bury would kill me! In the past! I’ve only heard people say that there is a God of Wealth, but I’ve never met one. Today, I really encountered a God of Wealth, and it’s really bad luck for me!”

The young man poured himself another glass of wine and asked with a smile: "Hey, do you know the background of the bandits in Zongqishan? What do they mean by the big Zhou and the alliance they talk about?"

The waiter's expression changed and he said: "My lord, I don't say Zongqishan is close to here, but it's not too far from here. I've never seen them before, and I don't know what you mean by that, but When I heard about Zong Qishan, I couldn't help but feel the hair stand on end, and my two legs trembled!"

The young man nodded and said, "Are there any bandits on the ground in Luzhou?"

The waiter's whole body trembled, and he stuttered a little when he spoke, "Guest... Guest, although there are no groups of bandits in Luzhou, there is a 'death-killing Hulu' in the river. This 'death-destroying Hulu' martial arts He is not very tall, but he is ruthless. He often pretends to be a fisherman or a ferryman, and specializes in robbing merchants on the Yangtze River. According to... it is said that there has never been a living person under his hands..."

The young man was startled and asked hurriedly: "What does this 'life-killing law' have to do with Zongqishan?"

The waiter shook his head and said: "That's not true. I heard that they had a fierce battle two years ago to compete for territory. Later, 'Haiming Hulu' was seriously injured by 'Xiashanhu', and he has never been seen again since then. Dare to go to the upper class and do harmful things."

The young man breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Isn't your Xichuan often called the land of abundance? But why didn't I see the abundance of things and the people at all? Instead, my eyes were full of bandits and water thieves! Could it be that I was lost? Wrong place?"

The waiter sighed and said, "Well, we in Xichuan were indeed very rich back then. But after the great ancestor conquered Shu, he plundered the people's fat and anointed. He carried it by cart and boat for more than ten years. Even if our Xichuan was a golden mountain, it would have been taken away long ago. ”

The young man asked curiously: "So, there is no rich family in Xichuan?"

The waiter said: "You can't say that. There are still rich people, but there are not as many as before. For example, the old Cai family in Rongde, the old Hu family in Mianyang, the old Chen family in Langzhong, the old Zhang family in Chengdu, They are all wealthy families in Xichuan. Although the old Su family in Meizhou cannot compare with them, they are still richer than ordinary families. Moreover, the head of the Su family, Su Xu, is generous and philanthropic. I always want to live in Luzhou one day. If you don’t want to go down anymore, go and join him!”

The young man smiled, stopped chatting with the waiter, and focused all his attention on the two bottles of wine in front of him. When the waiter saw him drinking, he was like a whale sucking in hundreds of rivers. In the blink of an eye, he drank two big pots without a drop left. He was so shocked that he couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear. (End of chapter)