The Beacon of Kyushu

Wan Jianfeng smiled bitterly and said, "Report to the authorities? This guy is the local prefect. Can I report him to his government office? If you ask why I didn't report it, I can only say that my elder brother is not well-versed in the world and doesn't know how to protect each other. Considering that this guy's father is a minor official in the court, and this guy's grandfather is a senior official in the court, no matter how I report it, it will definitely not be good!"

Li Xiaosan slammed the table and asked angrily: "Brother, how much money do you owe him? Just tell me! Although I am not rich, as long as I can afford it, I will pay you back!"

Wan Jianfeng counted on his fingers for a long time before saying, "I have ten taels in my hand now, and there are still fifty taels in the bank. If I can get another twenty taels, it will be enough."

Li Xiaosan nodded, stretched out his hand and took out a gold ingot from his bosom, and handed it directly to Wan Jianfeng, "Brother, take this, it's enough to deal with that bastard Green Ball. You can use the rest to do a small business, it's better than living frugally and begging on the street all day long!"

Wan Jianfeng couldn't believe his eyes, and hurriedly rubbed it with his hands, only then did he confirm that what Li Xiaosan gave him was really a gold ingot. He was so excited that he almost fainted, "No way, this guy is not a thief, but he really recognized the wrong person? Otherwise, how can someone not only not steal a penny, but also give others money?"

He took the gold ingot quickly, without even looking at it, and stuffed it into his arms, as if if he was a little slower, the gold ingot would be snatched back by Li Xiaosan. Seeing him take the gold ingot, Li Xiaosan smiled and said, "Brother, you'd better put the gold ingot in your purse. You are wearing tattered clothes. It will be troublesome if you lose it while walking."

Wan Jianfeng felt that this guy had a point, so he quickly took out the gold ingot from his pocket and carefully stuffed it into his purse, fearing that if the purse was opened too wide, it would be exposed and lead Li Xiaosan to attack him. Li Xiaosan smiled slightly, said nothing more, and stood up to leave.

"Hey, brother, you're leaving right after we just met?" Wan Jianfeng accepted the gold ingot, feeling a little uneasy, and wanted to treat him to a drink as a token of his appreciation.

Hearing this, Li Xiaosan turned around and said, "Brother, I don't want to leave either, but if I don't leave, you will have to keep me drinking. If we were kids, I would have made you lie on the ground and unable to get up. But now you owe so much money to others, how can I let you spend more money?"

Wan Jianfeng had some doubts just now, but now he has completely let go of his guard against the person in front of him and said shamelessly: "Brother, I really haven't gotten along with you enough. If you have nothing to do and have some spare money, I wonder if you can have a few more drinks with me?"

Li Xiaosan hesitated for a moment, then slowly sat back in his chair, and took out a gold ingot from his bosom, saying, "Okay, since you are not rushing to treat me, I am relieved. We brothers haven't had a drink together for at least ten years, so let's drink tonight and not leave until we are drunk!"

At this moment, the shopkeeper came to the table with the wine and food ordered by Wan Jianfeng, and carefully placed the wine and food on the table, fearing that the wine in the jar would spill even a drop. After he placed the wine and food, he looked at Wan Jianfeng with a smile, stretched out his hand and said, "Sir, can you pay for the wine and food now?"

If it were up to Wan Jianfeng, he would have to wait until they had finished eating and drinking before he would give him money. But Li Xiaosan was very generous, and gently placed the gold ingot he had just taken out in the shopkeeper's hand without even blinking. The shopkeeper was hoping for the arrival of the God of Wealth, and originally only wanted a few more taels of silver, but he didn't expect that this skinny and small guest in front of him would be so generous that he would give him a dazzling gold ingot. He was so happy that he almost went crazy.

The shopkeeper's behavior was exactly the same as Wan Jianfeng's just now. He didn't even dare to look at it for a second. He took it and put it in his arms, saying thank you repeatedly. Li Xiaosan waved his hand and said, "Okay, go and do your own thing. You are not allowed to come here unless I call you. If you spoil the fun of our brothers, not only will you not get the gold ingot, but you will also lose your life!"

"Okay, I'll be leaving right away!" The shopkeeper said as he ran back to the counter and hurriedly put the gold ingots into the cash box. Then he sat on the chair and started to dream, but he never dared to glance over here again.

Seeing that the shopkeeper was very obedient, Li Xiaosan smiled and poured two large bowls of wine for the two of them. Then he held the bowls in his hands and said to Wan Jianfeng, "My dear brother, do you know that there is a saying in the martial arts world? There are two maces in the world, one in the north and one in the south. The northern mace terrifies the nobles, and the southern mace suppresses the bandits. If you can get one, your ancestors' graves will be filled with smoke. If you get both, you will be as free as a god."

Wan Jianfeng scratched his head, pondered for a long time, and then said: "Brother, I have never heard of this saying. However, I guess that 'the northern mace shocks the princes' is probably referring to the concave golden mace in the hands of the Eighth Prince, and 'the southern mace suppresses the bandits' is probably referring to the tile-surfaced golden mace in the hands of Chu Dashou."

Li Xiaosan raised his thumb and said, "My dear brother, you are still so smart. You guessed it right at the first try! But you would never have thought that Chu Dashou's golden mace is not made of pure gold, but gilded."

Wan Jianfeng was startled and asked hurriedly, "Brother, are you serious? Although the golden mace in Chu Dashou's hand cannot be compared with the Eighth King's, it is also famous in the world today. How could it be fake? There are always all kinds of rumors in the martial arts world. Don't believe everything you hear and be fooled by others."

Li Xiaosan nodded and drank the wine in the bowl. "Yes, my dear brother is right. I can't believe everything. Otherwise, if I meet Chu Dashou one day and he knows that I'm talking nonsense everywhere, he will definitely smash my head with a mace!"

Wan Jianfeng also finished a bowl and said with a smile, "That's right, big brother, no matter how rich you are or how good your martial arts are, you can't turn bits into pieces, and you can't turn a whole into pieces. You only have one head, and once it's broken, it will never grow back." Li Xiaosan poured two more bowls of wine and drank them all in one gulp. "Brother, do you remember when we were little, we thought it was not comfortable to drink from a cup, so we changed to drinking from a bowl. Later, we thought it was not comfortable to drink from a bowl, so we just poured the whole jar into our mouths. At that time, your alcohol tolerance was very poor. Every time I didn't feel anything, you would vomit uncontrollably. So many years have passed in the blink of an eye. Do you dare to compete with us in alcohol tolerance again to see who will fall down first?"

Wan Jianfeng heard him calling out, and without further ado, he picked up the jar and poured it into his mouth. Li Xiaosan laughed loudly, picked up the jar and poured it into his mouth. Soon, Wan Jianfeng's jar of wine was completely drunk by him, but Li Xiaosan only drank more than half of it, and then he felt nauseous and wanted to vomit.

"Brother, you can't do this!" Wan Jianfeng saw Li Xiaosan's face was red and his neck was thick, lying on the table and retching, and he couldn't help but pat his back with a smile. Li Xiaosan vomited even more violently after being patted by him, and a large mouthful of wine came out of his throat.

Li Xiaosan lay there for a long time before he slowly straightened up and said drunkenly, "Brother, believe it or not, I can still drink. Wait for me, wait for me to go out for some fresh air, and when I come back I will make you lie down after drinking so much!"

Wan Jianfeng smiled and said, "Okay, go ahead, I'll be waiting for you."

Li Xiaosan nodded, stood up with the help of the table, and staggered out of the inn. When Wan Jianfeng saw him leave, he quickly opened the purse beside him, fearing that the silver inside had been stolen without anyone noticing. He opened the purse and saw that the original silver inside was not missing at all, and there was an extra gold ingot that Li Xiaosan had just given him. He was completely relieved.

After a long while, Li Xiaosan staggered back to the inn and said to Wan Jianfeng, "Brother Xian, are you getting impatient? I had a stomachache just now, but there was not even a toilet nearby. I walked a long way before I found one, and I almost suffocated to death!"

Wan Jianfeng pointed to the backyard and said, "Brother, you should have told me earlier that you were feeling uncomfortable in your stomach. There is a toilet in the backyard. Why did you have to go through so much trouble?"

Li Xiaosan slapped his forehead and laughed, "Haha, I was really drunk and forgot about this! But it doesn't matter, if I move around more, I can still drink more."

Wan Jianfeng picked up another wine jar and said, "Brother, if you can still drink, let's continue drinking from the jar. Otherwise, it will be troublesome and you won't feel happy no matter how much you drink!"

Li Xiaosan picked up the unfinished jar of wine and said with a smile: "Great, big brother, you are willing to sacrifice your life for me today! Come on, drink!" He tilted his head back, picked up the remaining half of the jar of wine, and poured it into his mouth without thinking. Wan Jianfeng saw that he was drinking heartily, so he also hurried to drink with him.

However, before Wan Jianfeng finished drinking the wine, he suddenly saw Li Xiaosan fall backwards from the stool. Wan Jianfeng was startled and quickly put the wine jar on the table. He squatted down with concern to see what was wrong with this good drinking buddy.

Li Xiaosan closed his eyes and muttered to himself. No matter how good Wan Jianfeng's hearing was, he couldn't hear a word. Gradually, Li Xiaosan's voice became louder, and he could vaguely hear a few words. Wan Jianfeng listened carefully and heard him talk about treasures, martial arts, beauties and other irrelevant things. He thought to himself, "I thought something was wrong with this guy, but it turns out he is just talking nonsense after drinking too much. This guy can't drink much, but he is quite generous. I can't let him lie on the ground like this all night!"

Wan Jianfeng thought about it and called softly, "Brother, you've drunk too much. Get up quickly, I'll help you go to the guest room to rest." He stood up and reached out to pull Li Xiaosan's arm. Li Xiaosan was pulled by him, slowly opened his blurry eyes, smiled at him, and then collapsed in Wan Jianfeng's arms.

"Alas, this guy's alcohol tolerance is really not good enough. He got drunk after drinking so little." Wan Jianfeng complained while helping Li Xiaosan to the backyard. Seeing this, the shopkeeper stepped forward and said with a smile: "Sir, this guest drank too much. It seems that he can't leave tonight. There is already an old man in your room. It is unlikely to squeeze in another person. Do you want to open another room?"

Wan Jianfeng nodded and said impatiently: "Shopkeeper, stop talking nonsense to me and lead the way! If you keep wasting time, I will send him to your wife's bed!"

The shopkeeper was so frightened when he heard this that he trembled all over. He dared not say anything and hurriedly led the way. Wan Jianfeng followed him to the backyard and into the upper room which was three rooms away from where he lived. As soon as he entered the room, he immediately put Li Xiaosan on the bed, helped him take off his shoes and clothes, and covered him with a quilt before quietly leaving the room.

Wan Jianfeng had drunk nearly two bottles of wine just now. Although he was not as drunk as Li Xiaosan, he was still a little tipsy and his steps became a little staggering. He had to set off early tomorrow morning to report the situation of the Quyue war to the emperor. If he missed the important event because of drunkenness, all the hardships and dangers he had endured for so many days would be in vain. So he went back to his room and went to sleep. (End of this chapter)