Chapter 130: Shagu and the Madman of Niu Family Village
Zhou Yan couldn’t help but chuckle upon hearing that Hong Qigong had placed a pile of bones in the stone box.
He knew that Ouyang Feng’s assistance to Wanyan Honglie was not only to help Ouyang Ke gain favor and importance in the Zhao Wang Manor but also to covet the Yue family’s martial arts.
Filled with hope, he opened the stone box and saw chicken bones, pig’s feet, and the like, which would truly make him furious.
“Where is Senior going now?” Zhou Yan asked.
“Naturally, to witness Ouyang Feng’s foolishness. The Old Venomous is very proud, and how could he miss such an opportunity?” Hong Qigong finished speaking and cautioned, “This place is not suitable for lingering. You, kid, should leave quickly.”
“Alright.”
“The Ginseng Immortal Old Freak deserved to die for serving the Jin soldiers. You, kid, kept your word, thanks. See you in Datong Prefecture.”
As Hong Qigong finished speaking, he suddenly flew away, his figure instantly covering an unknown distance, disappearing from Zhou Yan’s sight in the blink of an eye.
……
Panic spread throughout the palace. In the black night, it was unclear whether it was the royal family plotting a usurpation or the subjects rebelling. Palace Guards, Imperial Guards, and the Forbidden Army were all alarmed.
There were naturally experts among them.
Ouyang Feng’s martial arts were at their peak. If he were to flee, no one could catch up. However, for the experts of the Yellow River Gang, Hou Tonghai, and others to escape was not an easy matter.
In the night, the sounds of pursuit continued.
Huang Rong, dressed in the attire of a Guard Leader, was extremely skilled in lightness skills. After receiving treatment from Huang Yaoshi at Guiyun Manor to relax her muscles and activate her collaterals and using snake gallbladder to enhance her internal force, her cultivation greatly increased, making it not difficult to leave the palace.
She hid among the buildings, waiting for Zhou Yan. The sounds of pursuit, like boiling water, approached from afar. Huang Rong saw Ouyang Feng fly out of the palace wall like a large bird, followed closely by Ouyang Ke, Monk Lingzhi, Sha Tongtian, and others.
Sounds could still be heard in the night.
“Senior Brother, your arm, ah, I’m going to twist off that guard’s head.”
“Stop it, let’s go.”
“I am not reconciled.”
Huang Rong saw Sha Tongtian, with his arm hanging, quickly depart. Hou Tonghai madly pursued him. Several experts from the Yellow River Gang leaped out of the palace wall one after another. Suddenly, a grayish-white figure floated out from the palace wall, appearing occasionally and then disappearing among the scale-like buildings, leisurely following Ouyang Feng and his group.
Huang Rong now recognized the last person as the Gang Leader of the Beggars’ Sect. Seeing the group about to leave, and not wanting to miss the opportunity to watch the excitement, she assumed Zhou Yan would have no problem escaping. Huang Rong’s figure moved swiftly, light as a flying swallow, and she chased after them.
……
“Brother Huang.”
Huang Rong had never appeared as a woman in front of Zhou Yan. After leaving the palace, Zhou Yan called her Brother Huang.
There was no response from all around. Palace Guards pursued them one after another. He searched but found no one, and the figures disappeared into the streets and alleys.
Zhou Yan’s figure flickered in the dark wind, passing through streets and alleys to the inn, and calmly went upstairs.
A faint light emanated from the oil lamp in the guest room. He took out the martial arts manuals and medicinal formulas he had found on Liang Zi Weng.
After flipping through the manuals, he found a set of “Great Seize and Capture Hands” from beyond the Pass. It had some unique aspects, but it was far inferior to the Yue Family Scattered Hands. He could take it back to the Escort Bureau for Liang Xiaowu and the other runners to practice.
He flipped through the medicinal formulas, a look of joy on his face.
Besides the secret formulas for nourishing qi and blood, one secret formula recorded a snake-raising secret manual using rare treasures like cinnabar and ginseng.
Zhou Yan pondered that he could capture a few Pusi Snakes and raise them according to this secret formula. With the spiritual nature of the large snakes from Snake Valley, raising them for a year or so would surely be more effective than natural growth.
He laughed. He had killed Liang Zi Weng, Sha Tongtian’s left arm was probably also crippled, and he had obtained the snake-raising secret manual. It was not a wasted trip.
The wind rustled past the window, and the candlelight flickered. Zhou Yan thought that since he knew about Niu Family Village from Qiu Chuji, and Shagu was also there, why not go there? Huang Rong would definitely look for him again, and then he could act as a go-between to let Shagu return to Peach Blossom Island.
After all, Huang Yaoshi had taught him martial arts and had saved his life.
……
The noisy sounds of Palace Guards searching echoed from the long street.
Ouyang Feng, Ouyang Ke, and others entered the guest room.
Sha Tongtian sat on a chair with a gloomy expression, saying nothing. The Prince’s desired Wumu’s Military Writings had been obtained. From now on, the Prince and the Little Prince would lead armies to fight north and south, which was the perfect time for him to display his talents and strengthen the Yellow River Gang. Yet, he had fallen into the hands of a scoundrel.
Being shrewd, he had thought of an expert impersonating a guard. However, Zhou Yan had used the killing move of the Storm of Pear Blossoms Spear, making it difficult to determine his identity in a short time.
Sha Tongtian sighed inwardly, feeling extremely unlucky. If Liang Zi Weng were here, who was skilled in medicine, perhaps his arm could have recovered somewhat. Now, it seemed it would likely be crippled. The scoundrel’s spear had entered from the Qu Chi acupoint and severed the meridians.
Ouyang Feng, however, was in a good mood. He placed the stone box on the table, thinking that if it contained exquisite cultivation techniques, he would certainly memorize them thoroughly before Wanyan Kang arrived. If it only contained military strategies for warfare, he would give it to Ke’er to deliver to him.
Ouyang Feng opened the stone box, and the injured Sha Tongtian and others gathered around.
Everyone’s gaze fell into the box simultaneously. Suddenly, everyone’s faces changed drastically, and they were all extremely surprised, unable to speak.
Inside, they saw a pile of chicken bones and gnawed pig’s feet. Where was the Wumu’s Military Writings?
Ouyang Feng’s face turned ashen, and his anger flared.
Suddenly, a burst of laughter came from the building opposite the inn, “The Old Venomous schemed meticulously, and the stone box is just a pile of broken bones.”
Hong Qigong lay on the roof, taking several gulps, his face beaming with joy.
“Old beggar, it was you who played tricks. Hand over the book.”
Ouyang Feng, who had been in the inn a moment ago, now appeared on the roof where Hong Qigong was lying. The Nine-Fingered Beggar laughed heartily and flew across the long street, landing on a farther roof ridge.
Two figures, one after the other, flew away rapidly like great birds.
“Master Ouyang, what should we do?” Monk Lingzhi asked.
As soon as the monk finished speaking, Huang Rong landed on the roof where Hong Qigong had stood and shouted loudly, “The assassin is here! Guards, arrest them!”
A group of palace guards rushing from the long street saw Huang Rong in the leader’s attire and shouted, surrounding the inn.
“I stabbed him to death!” Hou Tonghai roared furiously.
“Let’s go!” Sha Tongtian roared, rushing out the door. Ouyang Ke, Monk Lingzhi, and others broke through windows or left through doors, fleeing with a whoosh.
“Monk, bald head, flesh tumor on the head, old man with a fan and a pale face, catch them!”
Ouyang Ke, who prided himself on his charm, gave Huang Rong a fierce look, thinking, I’ll remember you. You actually called me a pale-faced old man.
Huang Rong watched the group flee in disarray, feeling very pleased. Since leaving Peach Blossom Island, she had never had so much fun and happiness.
She closely followed Ouyang Ke and the others, calling for the Palace Guards to intercept and pursue them. In this chase, the few surviving experts of the Yellow River Gang were all killed or captured by the Palace Guards and the Forbidden Army. Ouyang Ke and the others, like stray dogs, climbed over the city wall and fled into the suburbs. Huang Rong then stopped and, with her sharp wit, muttered, “I wonder which inn the interesting Head Escort Zhou is staying at.”
……
Morning mist, dawn light, new grass flowers, birdsong, pine wind, and stream water sing.
This was the time when the spring in Jiangnan was at its peak. Willows by the roadside brushed shoulders, the scent of flowers was intoxicating, and the rice seedlings in the fields were a vibrant green.
Zhou Yan rode the Night-Shining Jade Lion out of the city, inquiring along the way, and effortlessly arrived at Niu Family Village.
He remembered that in the Legend of the Condor Heroes world, Qu Lingfeng’s tavern was at the entrance of the village, so he went directly there.
The sky was bright and clear, but the tavern within Zhou Yan’s sight was dilapidated and unsightly. Two wooden tables were placed under the eaves, covered in dust.
He put the Night-Shining Jade Lion in the mountain forest to graze and then went to the tavern to knock on the door.
With a “creak,” the door opened, and a disheveled girl with a single thorn hairpin in her hair, about seventeen or eighteen years old, walked out from the hall.
“Hello, young lady,” Zhou Yan greeted gently.
“My name is Shagu.”
“Mm, I know.”
Zhou Yan walked straight ahead. Shagu asked him what he was doing and followed him with a giggle. Inside the hall, he saw dust and cobwebs everywhere, some cold rice in the pot, and a broken mat on the bed.
Zhou Yan sighed. As fellow disciples of Peach Blossom Island, Lu Chenfeng was the Manor Lord of Guiyun Manor, and Lu Guanying commanded the heroes of Taihu Lake Water Village, yet Qu Lingfeng had died in a foreign land, and Shagu lived a miserable life.
Knowing Shagu’s background, Zhou Yan didn’t need to ask around.
He said softly, “Shagu, would you like Big Brother to take you away from here?”
“Hehe, is there food?”
“You can have whatever you want to eat.”
“Meat?”
“No problem.”
“Shagu will eat meat with Big Brother.”
“Good.”
“Shagu, wait for me.”
“Mm, Shagu listens to Big Brother.”
As Shagu finished speaking, she sat down by the threshold, singing, “Rock, rock, rock to Grandma’s bridge, Grandma calls me a good baby,
A bag of candy, a bag of fruit, Grandma bought a fish to cook…”
“Big Brother, can I eat candy and fish?”
“You can.”
“Hehe, Big Brother is so kind.”
Zhou Yan smiled slightly at Shagu and turned to enter the cupboard.
He opened the cupboard door and saw seven or eight broken blue and white bowls on the shelf. After a brief observation, he walked to the iron bowl at the very edge. He rotated it to the left, and the iron bowl remained still. When he rotated it to the right, he suddenly heard a creaking sound, and the cupboard wall split open to the sides, revealing a dark hole.
After the air ventilated, Zhou Yan made a torch by tying branches together and entered the inner room.
The light dispelled the darkness, and what came into his sight were Qu Lingfeng’s skeleton and an iron box.
Zhou Yan knew that the iron box contained treasures that Qu Lingfeng had stolen from the palace and unearthed from graves, including jewelry, ancient bronze artifacts, and scrolls of calligraphy and painting, which Huang Yaoshi favored.
Zhou Yan did not open the iron box. The treasures inside could be given to Huang Rong intact later.
He went back to the hall and used the mat to tidy up Qu Lingfeng’s skeleton. He went out of the inner room to find a hoe and dug a hole on the hill outside the tavern, filling it with soil to bury the bones.
Zhou Yan returned and entered the inner room. He saw a long saber on the ground. He picked up the saber and saw the character “Qu” carved on the blade.
“Qu Lingfeng’s saber, for Shagu to use.” Zhou Yan searched all around, finding no other relics. He held the saber and carried the box, about to leave the inner room.
After taking two steps, he heard a voice from the hall.
A rough voice shouted, “Hurry up and bring the food, we’re starving!”
Zhou Yan recognized the voice and exclaimed in surprise, “Hou Tonghai, running into you here?”
He then heard Shagu giggle inside the hall.
Monk Lingzhi’s voice rang out, “Silly girl, is there no one here?”
“There’s Big Brother.”
“Where is he? Why isn’t he coming out to cook?”
“Inside.”
The sound of footsteps approached.
