Taohuaxi

Chapter 94 The Evidence That Doesn't Exist
The last day of Jia month.

The clouds were dark and the sky was dark.

The wind was wet and cold.

The snow on the road has been pressed down by carriages, trampled by feet, and stained with dust.

In the middle of the night, Miss Hong cooked some porridge in her hut in Nanshi. She served a bowl to her brother: "I'm going out in a while. Let's drink something hot to keep out the cold."

While her brother was eating porridge, Miss Hong turned around and put the things in the hut neatly.

She quietly took out a dagger from the quilt and stuffed it into her chest, just in case.If something really happened, at least she could use this dagger to buy her brother some time to escape.

She smiled self-deprecatingly. She had been in Baihualou for many years and her body was already filthy. If she died, she would die. It wasn't worth anything. But brother, nothing could happen to him.Her father and mother died at an early age, and she took her younger brother around to make a living. She had long been accustomed to standing in front of her younger brother like a wall.No matter it was wind, frost, rain or snow, open or hidden, she would bear it for him.

At this point, the gambling debt had to be repaid, and Zou Cheng had to take precautions. She could only have the safest hopes and prepare for the worst.

The dagger was pressed against his chest, feeling cold to the touch.She stood up, rubbed her brother's head, and said: "After today, you have settled the account, and you don't have to hide anymore. You can live in peace from now on." Her brother agreed vaguely.

After finishing the porridge, Miss Hong took her brother out and walked towards Cailefang.

On the way, the wind blew my brother's hat crooked.The red girl straightened him out seriously.

Cailefang is on the outskirts of the city, about twenty miles away from Nanshi.The red girl walked very steadily and slowly.

The sky slowly turns green and then gray.It seemed that behind the gloomy clouds, there were many pairs of eyes looking at the siblings.

In winter, it gets dark early.

By the time they arrived, night had fallen.

It was noisy inside the gambling house.The gamblers who were red-eyed were shaking the dice and shouting around the gambling table.There are a few soft chairs on the side, and people who are tired of gambling are lying on them, and the little boy of the gambling shop is burning cigarette sticks for them to smoke opium cigarettes.A smoky atmosphere.

The young man who went to deliver a message to Miss Hong last night came out and said with a smile: "Steward Zou arrived a quarter of an hour ago. Now he is waiting for you two in Liuyunxiang. Please come."

Liuyunxiang is at the far corner of the second floor.

Stepping on the hustle and bustle, stepping on the strange aroma of opium smoke, we arrived after twists and turns.

The door opened and Zou Cheng sat inside. The window was closed.

As soon as Miss Hong entered the door, she smelled a pleasant aroma in the room, like peach blossoms in the rain, light and a little sweet.This smell unknowingly relaxed her tense thoughts.

"Sit, please sit down." Zou Cheng greeted gently.

Miss Hong leaned over and said, "Thank you very much, Manager Zou. Manager Zou really has a bodhisattva heart."

Zou Cheng clapped his hands, and the boy brought up a small box. In the box was a thick stack of banknotes and an IOU.

Miss Hong looked at the banknote and IOU, and believed a little more in Zou Cheng's sincerity.

She said flatteringly: "Manager Zou, don't worry, I didn't tell anyone about that matter. My mouth is tighter than that of a dead person."

"Oh?" Zou Cheng glanced at her, noncommittal.

Miss Hong thought for a while, took out a jade pendant from her sleeve, and hurriedly handed it to Zou Cheng: "You gave this to me before, and I will return it to you."

This was the most sincerity she could express.

This jade pendant is her trump card.No matter how difficult it is, I don’t dare to sell it.

At this point, she handed over her cards and just wanted peace.

Zou Cheng took the jade pendant with a smile, put the banknotes on the table, and told the boy: "Go and call Boss Liu from the gambling house, let's go and play drums in front of you, and settle the account."

"Yes." The boy agreed and went.

The red girl's heart calmed down.She held Zou Cheng's shoulders and said: "Manager Zou is so generous and ignores the previous grudges. I am very grateful. This time, you have solved our problem. We, my sister and my brother, will be your bullshit for the rest of our lives..."

Zou Cheng smiled and said: "I don't plow the fields or fight, so what cattle and horses do I need?"

At this time, the boy came to report: "Boss Liu has gone to Jiangdu for business. He will be back in about half an hour."

Miss Hong said hurriedly: "Half an hour won't be long, we can wait, we can wait."

Someone came outside and shouted: "Manager Zou, Uncle Guo has called you to explain something."

Zou Chengqian said: "Then I... have no choice but to go first. Leave the banknote here and the IOU here. When Boss Liu comes back, you can just handle it."

The red girl nodded: "Okay."

"It's cold. Turn on the stove and don't freeze them." Zou Cheng said considerately.

"Thank you Zou for your thoughtfulness." Both siblings thanked him simultaneously.

The boy stirred the stove and added some charcoal.

The fragrance in the house became stronger.

Zou Cheng lowered his head and revealed an imperceptible smile.

In the new charcoal that the boy added, there was a dose of "Thousand Miles of Ecstasy", which was made from the juice of 99 kinds of poisons collected from the border between Yunnan and Myanmar.In half an hour, they will die unconsciously in their sleep.

This spice, when burned, leaves no ashes and is clean.

People die in gambling houses.His hands are pure and white.

It's impossible to have a mouth as tight as a dead man's.The dead are the safest.

If he can't even play with a promiscuous woman, Zou Cheng has worked for Mr. Zhang for so many years in vain.

As he was about to leave, a group of people rushed in quickly.

The opened door slammed shut again.

It's Qin Mingxu.He brought over a dozen people, all of them armed with blades.

Zou Cheng came here this time. In order to deceive others, he only brought one confidant with him.The drum in his heart beat loudly, and he secretly thought about how to deal with the scene in front of him.

He looked at Miss Hong and said, "There are no women like you in the Yanliu land in the south of the Yangtze River."

The red girl looked pale and said: "No, no, no, it's not me, it's really not me. I didn't expect him to come. I didn't tell anyone..."

Qin Mingxu said coldly: "I heard what you just said. I don't want to harm you, I just want to live a peaceful life and no longer be threatened. I killed the class leader, you killed my father, and we are clean. Jade pendant, you You can take it away, but your evidence must be kept. From now on, we will never touch the river."

Zou Cheng smiled: "I don't have any evidence. Really."

"You lied." Qin Mingxu stretched out the sword in his hand: "Then, keep the jade pendant."

Zou Cheng swayed and unexpectedly attacked Qin Mingxu with his left leg.

Others don't know it, but he himself knows it.

There is a fragrance of ecstasy in this house that cannot be left for a long time.He just wanted to leave quickly.However, he really couldn't produce the evidence.I just want to leave in the chaos.

Qin Mingxu avoided and fought back.The servant behind him quickly came over to help.

The two gangs fought.

The box on the table fell to the floor, and the banknotes were scattered.

When Miss Hong's brother saw this, he was afraid that the bank note was gone and that his gambling debt would never be written off, so he hurriedly bent down to pick it up.

Zou Cheng's boy thought that the Hong girl's brother and sister had tricked them, and he was already angry. When he saw that this shameless person was still thinking about their money, he felt angry and slashed at the Hong girl's brother with a knife. go.

Miss Hong's brother had just picked up the money and was grinning. He was stabbed unexpectedly and fell down straight before he could scream.

Seeing this, Miss Hong shouted sadly and rushed over: "Brother!"

The young man's blood spurted out, like a river bursting its banks, flowing all over the ground. Panting, he struggled to stuff the banknotes tightly in his hands into the red girl: "Sister, money, we have money." It's over, hurry up, put it away quickly. I... I'm dead... I don't have to pay back my gambling debts. Just take the money and be a good person..."

The red girl's lips trembled and she couldn't form a sentence: "No, no, you can't die, you can't die..."

She didn't cry. She just felt like she fell into a deep ice cave and her whole body was numb with cold.

"Sister, I'm sorry, I have caused trouble to you in this life. In the next life, I will be your brother and love you as much as you love me..." The young man's breath became weaker and weaker. His eyes suddenly widened and his pupils were dilated, and he squeezed out a sentence : "Sister, be kind, be kind!"

He tilted his head and lost his vitality.

The red girl tremblingly stretched out her hand, felt his breath, and cried out in despair from her chest.

She hugged her brother and huddled up, shrinking smaller and smaller, shrinking back more than ten years ago, to a young age, when her brother was a child with a runny nose, and she carried him around the village.The eldest sister is like mother, and the eldest sister is like mother. After her mother died, she clearly always regarded herself as her brother's mother.

Zou Cheng on the side, despite his martial arts skills, was outnumbered.More than a dozen people were approaching him, and he stepped back step by step.

He wanted to retreat to the window, open it, and jump out.

A good man never fights for his courage.

He can no longer tangle with this group of people.

Suddenly, a pair of hands, like a ghost, grabbed his feet.He staggered and fell to the ground.

The red girl's eyes were filled with coldness, and she was no different from an evil spirit who had lost his soul.

Qin Mingxu and his men have already forced him forward: "Zou Cheng, I don't want to embarrass you, and I don't want to get any more lives on my hands. If you hand over the evidence, both you and I will be fine today."

Zou Cheng looked at him and tried his best to calm down: "Listen to me——"

Before he finished speaking, the sound of a sharp blade penetrating flesh was heard, and a dagger penetrated his body.

The red girl behind him had cloudy eyes and was crazy.

"Dead, dead, so good, dead...I killed him, killed him..." She clapped her hands.

Zou Cheng did not expect that a romantic woman would give him a fatal blow from behind.

His body seemed to be dragged into an abyss.

What appeared in front of his eyes was a face full of wrinkles and stern as a father.

Zhang Taiyue.Master Zhang.

Although he was punished by Master Zhang and expelled from the mansion for the death of his class leader, he never blamed his former master.He only hoped that Mr. Zhang would be well and in good health and do more things for the people.Having worked under Mr. Zhang for many years, no one knows Mr. Zhang’s hard work better than him.

However, not long after he left Zhang Mansion, he heard the shocking news.Lord Zhang is dead, at the hands of Dongchang.In the past, the illustrious Zhang Mansion had hundreds of people who could die or escape.Mr. Zhang was almost beaten to death. After his death, he was splashed with dirty water and labeled as a corrupt official...

Concubine Zheng promised him that one day she would give birth to a prince, and when the prince came of age and became the new king, the first thing she would do would be to vindicate Lord Zhang.

This temptation is too big.

He went to his uncle's house to work for the Zheng family.

Now, before things are done, I will die first.Mr. Zhang, I have to tell you when I get to Jiuquan that a man never changes his will and a dog never changes its owner. I, Zou Cheng, will always be loyal to you no matter where I am.

He smiled and looked at Qin Mingxu: "There is really no evidence, it was destroyed by me. Otherwise, how could Feng Gao not find it? Feng Gao of Dongchang has a reputation as black and impermanent. If I want to hide it from him, I must fight. Take risks. What doesn't exist is the safest. I lied to you."

Qin Mingxu stared at him closely, pondering his words.

Zou Chengdao: "After I die, you will be safe. You can forget this incident and wish Sangyu a stable life. Apart from yourself, the only person who knows the truth is Feng Gao. Look outside, all the dirty things on the street will disappear when it snows heavily." All covered. So good, so good..."

The moon shines on the snow, and the new wind is sad.

The snow and moonlight complement each other, making it cold and cold.

Outside the house, Yangzhou City is silent and quiet, with a pillow of yellow beams.

(End of this chapter)