Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 77 Everyone in Kyushu is looking for you (1)
一
Ningnan City is the largest city of the Yu clan, and also the city with the most developed business.When the city first emerged, it was suppressed by all kinds of ridicule from the conservative old aristocratic forces, because the Yu clan was originally a race that abandoned commerce.But the facts have proved that money is inseparable from the existence of nobility. The emerging nobles in Ningnan City have made money through business and greatly expanded their power, so that the old nobles who ridiculed them in the past can only swallow the bitter fruit.

Prosperous commerce has brought about the integration of races, and there are row upon row of businesses opened by foreign races in Nanning City, which can be seen everywhere.Anshi Jin, a well-known rich man in Wanzhou, opened an Anlu tea house here, specializing in the sale of famous tea from all over Wanzhou.Later, Anshi Jin died of illness. Although his son unexpectedly did not inherit the family business, but became a long-door monk, the family business continued under the management of the old subordinates, so the tea house has always been It operates in Ningnan City, and the old shopkeeper Wang Ximo has stayed in Yuren's territory for more than 30 years.

However, the recent days have not been peaceful. On the one hand, the relationship between people and feathers has deteriorated again, and there are rumors that there is a possibility of resuming the war; An important witness related to the dismemberment case of the former lord, so he began to guard against the witness's rescue, implicating a large number of human businesses in the city, and the business was deserted, and the feathers dared not patronize easily, because they were afraid that if something happened, they would say no Clear.

Wang Ximo did not dare to take it lightly.According to his valuable experience in human society when he was young, once a certain group is placed in a state of hostility, it is easy to be taken advantage of and robbed.Although it is now on Yuren's land, it will be the same rule if it is not uniform.Although he is old, his body has always been strong. It is said that he learned boxing for a few days when he was young, so he simply put a bed in the tea house during this period, and slept in the tea house every night, just to look after the shop, you know Certain expensive teas are worth gold.

That night, after the guys left, Wang Ximo inspected the store back and forth as usual, closed all the doors and windows, fastened the latches, and then went to bed to rest, and put a thick wooden stick against the leg of the bed.Sleeping until midnight, he heard a slight noise and woke up immediately.Judging from the sound, someone should have opened the closed window by some means, and then turned in.

Looks like a skilled thief!Wang Ximo became very vigilant, got up gently from the bed, picked up the wooden stick, and followed on tiptoe in search of sound.He was a little puzzled to find that the thief didn't touch the container or warehouse where valuable tea was stored, but instead got into the kitchen where the guys usually cook breakfast and lunch.There was nothing else there except cooking utensils and firewood, except... drinking the leftover half pot of porridge and a few leftover cold steamed buns.

Holding the wooden stick, Wang Ximo approached step by step. When he reached the door of the kitchen, he heard a clear chewing sound coming from inside. It sounded like the thief who broke in at night seemed to be very hungry and was swallowing cold food. Steamed buns and cold porridge.He couldn't help being a little confused: If this is a thief who just wants to steal something to satisfy his hunger, why doesn't he steal restaurants and wine shops instead of coming to his own tea house?
No matter what, the thief who stole the food must have no great ability. Wang Ximo felt relieved, took a deep breath, kicked the kitchen door open, and saw a vague shadow in the dark, so he raised the wooden stick and Hit it on the head.

But Soi Ying's skill was far more agile than he imagined, and he had already dodged the sap on one side of his body, and then somehow his feet slipped, and he stood beside Wang Ximo, covering his body with his palm still stained with steamed bun crumbs. shut his mouth.

"Uncle Wang, it's me! Be quiet!" Hei Ying shouted in a low voice.

"It's you? Master?" Wang Ximo, whose mouth was covered, let out an inarticulate exclamation.

"It's me, Uncle Wang," Soi Ying repeated, "I'm An Xingmian."

The thief who sneaked into the Wanzhou Tea House in Ningnan City in the middle of the night to steal the steamed buns was An Xingmian, a monk from a wealthy family. His father was An Shijin, Wang Ximo's old employer.After getting out of the tomb of the Tang family, it was already dawn, he did not act rashly, but hid, and waited patiently until late at night before sneaking into his shop to find something to eat.

"Look at you, you're so hungry!" Wang Ximo felt distressed, "Don't eat cold rice, it hurts your stomach, I'll order some noodles for you right away, your favorite hot and sour noodles with minced meat!"

"Wonderful!" An Xingmian threw the steamed bun in his hand.Every time Wang Ximo went back to Wanzhou to report the business status to Anshi Jin, he would always bring some Ningzhou specialty gadgets or other carefully collected playthings to An Xingmian. When Xiaoan Xingmian came, she was smiling all over her face, and the two got along very well.In An Xingmian's heart, this old shopkeeper was not much different from his father.

After a while, Wang Ximo put a bowl of steaming hot and sour noodles in front of An Xingmian, and the latter also took advantage of this time to briefly explain his reasons.After Wang Ximo finished listening, she looked worried.

"You want to snatch people from the palace?" He frowned tightly, "That is absolutely impossible. Even if this is just a weak city-state, the guards in the palace will be very strict, not to mention that this is Huo Qintu, the Yu clan The strongest city-state, if you can easily break in and rescue a person by yourself, those feathered people will be in vain."

"First of all, you don't have to grab it hard, it's also feasible to bring it out secretly," An Xingmian sucked on the noodles, "Secondly, don't forget that 20 years ago, their lord was killed under such strict guards." .It's up to people."

"I can't say no to you, I won't argue with you," Wang Ximo waved his hand, "Besides, you are my young master, and I can't force you to stop you. Just order me to do whatever you want. Anyway, I'm alone, and this old bone Not worth mentioning."

An Xingmian put down the empty noodle bowl, and patted her stomach: "I won't hurt my family because of my own affairs. Besides, do I need you to follow me with this wooden stick? I just need You help me arrange a safe hiding place so that I can live in Ningnan City for a while, and I will figure out the rest by myself."

"That's no problem," Wang Ximo nodded, "I'll arrange it for you tomorrow. It's just that this time you spent so much effort and took the risk to save that girl, you must be very fond of her." gone?"

An Xingmian smiled slightly, without denying it, Wang Ximo patted him on the shoulder: "Love and righteousness are the true qualities of a man. Looking at you now, I am beginning to regret that I didn't ask for a wife when I was young."

"Then why haven't you married for so many years?" An Xingmian couldn't help being curious.

"Maybe I am also like you, thinking about some people and some past events." Wang Ximo shook his hand, indicating that this topic would stop here.

Wang Ximo kept his word, and settled a place for An Xingmian the next evening.It was a small courtyard in the north of Ningnan City, originally bought by a business partner of Wang Ximo as a residence.But as the situation became increasingly tense, the business partner decided to leave Ningzhou and return to Donglu, and entrusted Wang Ximo to sell the yard for him.Therefore, this is an empty house, and it has nothing to do with Anlu Tea House in name, so it is just suitable for An Xingmian to hide in.

So An Xingmian lived in. For the sake of caution, he didn't even dare to light the lamp at night.When he was running around in the Eastern Continent to find out the truth about the Changmen monk being wanted by the emperor, with the help of He Luo, he had changed his appearance and changed into another face.But this time, he left in a hurry and didn't have time to change his appearance, so he could only simply make some face-lifts when he went out, and then had to make a detour when he saw soldiers appearing.

He needs to solve three problems: first, how to sneak into the palace; second, where is Xue Huaiqing locked up in the palace; third, how to rescue Xue Huaiqing and bring her out safely.These three questions, each of which can make people's head big three times.

The reason why the Huoqintu city-state was able to leap from a new city-state to the new overlord of Ningzhou in a short period of time was not only Feng's good at management and accumulation, but also the various infiltration methods adopted against the hostile city-state.Because of this, they have done a good job of protecting themselves.Taking the royal palace as an example, the guard posts around the palace wall are intertwined with each other, and there are almost no visual blind spots, and the identity check at the main entrance is also extremely strict. .Most of the Yuren who are in charge of guarding the palace have the physique to take off every day, and can guarantee to fly to the dangerous area at any time.

An Xingmian pretended to be a delivery coolie, carrying an empty box every day, wandered around the palace a few times, and found that there was really no chance of breaking in or sneaking in.At this moment, the only way he can think of is to see if it is possible to sneak in, just like how he sneaked into Ningnan City.But recently it was an extraordinary period. No official or aristocrat could bring his entourage when entering the palace, and these officials, even those who had been ministers in the court for decades, had to verify their official amulets before they could enter.

Thinking of Xue Huaiqing, he became even more anxious. He didn't know if the girl's injuries were healed, and he didn't know how the feathermen would interrogate her.In the past year, he was exhausted on the mainland of Kyushu, in order to save Nagato and his faith; but now, he is only doing his best to save his beloved woman.

A few days later, he finally made some progress, that is, he knew a little bit about Xue Huaiqing's recent situation.Wang Ximo went around and found a cook in the palace. The cook was a human being who was responsible for cooking for the human guests who came to the city-state. Because humans and Yuren had very different eating habits, it was often difficult for them to adapt to the food of the Yu people.A few years ago, this chef failed in his restaurant business in Ningnan City, and was cornered by his creditors. He almost wanted to commit suicide. Wang Ximo paid off his debts for him, and used the upper-level connections he made in the business field to help him find the chef in the palace. The position is considered to have saved his life.The chef told Wang Ximo that these days, he was indeed in charge of three meals a day for a certain human being. Although he couldn't see and didn't know the exact location of the detention, but through people's discussions and rumors, it was confirmed that the person was the detained Xue Ji. daughter.Judging from the amount of food served every day, at least her appetite is not bad.

"She's fine, she's still alive." Wang Ximo said to An Xingmian.Although it was only a simple six words, An Xingmian still got great encouragement from it.As long as you're alive, there's always something you can do.

It was September at this time, the summer heat had subsided, and Nanning City was in the beautiful season of autumn.After a futile day passed, An Xingmianku sat in the darkness of the room, thinking about the scene a year ago in his mind.Almost in September, in order to find the corpse dancer Xu Mizi who might bring him clues, he ventured into the Illusion Forest and met Xue Huaiqing there.At that time, in order to pretend to be a corpse servant and sneak into the corpse dancer training meeting with Xue Huaiqing, An Xingmian let her use the corpse dance technique to invade her spirit.After that, there seemed to be an inseparable connection between the two people.Now that Nagato's catastrophe has passed, he feels that there is only one thing left in his life, and that is to rescue Xue Huaiqing.

He was silently making a vow, when he suddenly heard a strange noise in the yard, it was the sound of something falling to the ground, it was very soft, maybe it was just a lost cat, but it could also be——Lightweight technique is very good person.He didn't move, but he had already concentrated his attention and was ready to shoot at any time.

But An Xingmian didn't expect that the next voice was a voice.It really was a person who came, but this person seemed to be harmless, and shouted to him in a low voice in the yard: "Excuse me, is this Mr. An Xingmian?"

The person who spoke was a woman, and her tone sounded gentle, but An Xingmian felt a chill down her spine.He thought he had been very careful to hide his whereabouts along the way, but he didn't expect to be discovered after staying in Ningnan City for less than ten days.Who is this?What do you want to do?His mind turned quickly, and he thought of various possibilities in an instant, and came to the conclusion: At this moment, it is no longer useful to pretend to be stupid, it is better to admit his identity openly, and see how this woman is. What is the source.

"I'm An Xingmian," he also responded in a low voice, "The door is not locked, please come in."

The footsteps continued to sound, and soon they came to the door.The other party seemed to hesitate for a moment, stood at the door for a while, and then opened the door to come in.In the darkness, An Xingmian could only see that this was a slim woman, but she couldn't see her face clearly.

"I've heard that Changmen monk is poor, but Mr. An seems to be a rich man, right? Why can't he even light a lamp when he entertains guests?" Although the woman was joking, this sentence also showed that she knew An Xingmian quite well. .An Xingmian thought for a while and lit the candles on the table.Under the candlelight, he could see the other person's face clearly. This was a young girl, about the same age as Xue Huaiqing, with a beautiful face, but there was a long scar on the right cheek, running from the right eye to the Connected to the lips, which made her face a bit more hideous and ugly.He glanced at it, then looked away immediately so as not to appear impolite.

"Don't worry too much," the woman saw An Xingmian's thoughts, "This face is already like this, and not looking at it won't make the scar disappear. I'm used to it."

"Please sit down." An Xingmian didn't want to continue the topic of appearance, and stretched out her hand to pull a chair for her. "I have too many questions for you, so I don't ask any more. Please report your family name."

The woman smiled slightly, sat down on the chair, took the tea cup handed over by An Xingmian, and took a sip.Then she reached into her arms, took out a small object, and handed it to An Xingmian.An Xingmian took it over, looked at it by the candlelight, and couldn't help being slightly startled.

It was an iron blue finger, usually used to put on the thumb to draw a bow.The workmanship of the ring is not exquisite, but the style is very simple, and the traces of wear and tear are clearly visible, so it should be an antique.If you take a closer look, the ring is carved with an eagle's head pattern, and there seem to be some fine words engraved on the inside.

An Xingmian can confirm that he has never seen such a ring before, but at the same time, he feels that this style is somewhat familiar, as if he has seen related descriptions in some books, especially the eagle pattern.Where did you read this from?
He sat down slowly, lost in thought.The ring, the ring... He seemed to have dug up something, and began to remember some history related to the ring, but at this moment, he suddenly felt a cold and sharp breath pointing at his heart, and it was too late Thinking about it, almost instinctively, he kicked his feet on the ground, and retreated a few feet back with the chair, just in time to avoid the cold light passing in front of him.

It was the woman with the scar on her face.Taking advantage of An Xingmian's split-body thinking, she suddenly slipped a dagger out of her sleeve, and stabbed at his heart. The move was extremely fast, and it aimed directly at the vital point of the heart.Such a stable, accurate, fast, and insidious swordsmanship, if it was An Xingmian who was a year ago, he might have been hit.But after going through all kinds of dangers and obstacles in the past year, An Xingmian's blood seems to have melted into some kind of instinctive resistance to danger, so this subconscious kicking action came without delay, just in time for a fatal blow , but the tip of the woman's sword still scratched the clothes on his chest, scratching the skin slightly.

It's dangerous!An Xingmian broke out in a cold sweat, and couldn't help feeling angry.He jumped up from the chair, stepped in front of the woman, and stretched out his hand to twist her arm.This is the joint technique he is good at. Once he grasps it firmly, he can remove the woman's joints in one fell swoop. However, the woman does not move at this time, allowing him to grab it without making the slightest resistance.

(End of this chapter)