Chapter 141: I Am Here to Keep the Appointment
The remaining clouds and setting sun played with the shade and sun.
The evening mountains were bright, and a small stream lay across.
On the branches, the melodious sounds, stop making heart-breaking noises.
……
“Elder, is Escort Zhou not coming?”
Hong Qigong took the gourd on his back, pulled out the stopper, and drank a few gulps. He said, “Nonsense, I saw that kid when I was in Lin’an. He’s thinking about the appointment outside Datong Prefecture.”
“Really?”
“How could it be fake?”
“Why don’t you tell me about Escort Zhou, Elder?”
Hong Qigong was a bit troubled. Telling stories to a little girl was not his forte.
He had teased Ouyang Feng in the Imperial Palace in Lin’an. Western Venom was after the Wumu’s Military Writings, and he guessed if there were martial arts manuals in the stone box. Wang Chongyang had passed away, and at the next Huashan Sword Discussion, the victor would be the greatest under heaven.
Ouyang Feng thought that if the stone box contained any high-level martial arts created by Yue Fei, and if the old beggar got it, he would still be taking advantage of it.
Therefore, Ouyang Feng pursued relentlessly.
Hong Qigong was already planning his Northward Journey. He was also happy to have the Old Venomous keep him company along the way. They compared their speed, and from Lin’an to Zhongdu, he then said that the stone box was originally empty.
Hong Qigong saw Ouyang Feng’s embarrassed expression again and was overjoyed. He laughed heartily and left Zhongdu, heading straight for Datong Prefecture.
When he arrived, Li Mochou had already been waiting for a long time.
Hong Qigong didn’t think much of it.
Zhou Yan worked at the escort agency. If he was tied up with matters, it was normal for him to be delayed for a while.
Hong Qigong was not good at telling stories in front of juniors, especially women. But seeing Li Mochou’s increasingly disappointed expression, he said, “Alright, I’ll tell you. That kid has done more than just one or two interesting things.”
“Please, Elder, tell us slowly.”
Hong Qigong began to tell the story from when he met Zhou Yan on the Lantern Festival, to encountering him in Lin’an. The night fell with this rhythm.
Li Mochou’s expression became tense when she heard Zhou Yan fighting with a powerful enemy. When she heard that he had escaped danger, she would heave a sigh of relief. She sometimes sighed, realizing how many things the escort had experienced in the past year.
Li Mochou listened intently, completely forgetting the time. When Hong Qigong finished speaking, she finally noticed that night had fallen.
“Elder, it’s dark. Escort Zhou still hasn’t come.”
Hong Qigong was not like Li Mochou. While telling Zhou Yan’s experiences, he was always paying attention to the surrounding movements. Looking at the sky, he became increasingly uneasy as dusk deepened.
He knew that Zhou Yan was a man of his word, but the escort agency was busy. A delay of an hour or two was reasonable, but now with only two or three hours left before the appointment, it was a bit unusual.
Hong Qigong took the gourd on his back and was about to pull out the stopper to drink when he realized that he had already drunk all the wine while telling stories to Li Mochou.
He shook the wine gourd and said, “This old beggar is going to get some wine, and I’ll look around along the way.”
“I’ll go with you, Elder.”
Hong Qigong said, “What if that kid comes?”
“Elder, you’re right.”
Hong Qigong stood up, his figure flashed, and like a large bird, he disappeared from Li Mochou’s sight after a few leaps from the tree crown.
“Did something happen to that kid?” Hong Qigong thought anxiously as he sped along. “I’ll wait until I get back. If that kid doesn’t show up by midnight, something must have happened. I’ll go to the escort agency in Zhongdu to inquire.”
……
Datong Prefecture was a former secondary capital of the Liao Dynasty, densely populated with prosperous markets.
Hong Qigong entered the city and went to an old brand hotel.
The inn was bustling with noise and excitement.
“Waiter, fill my gourd.”
“Coming right up, sir, please wait a moment.”
As the shop assistant filled the wine, Hong Qigong waited. The conversations of several people drinking in the inn reached him.
“You all don’t know how lively it was at Huayan Temple yesterday.”
“Did a high monk give a sermon?”
“No, I happened to be there to offer incense and saw it clearly. It was a fight between a high-nosed, deep-eyed man from the Western Regions and a young man. The roof of the Mahavira Hall was blown open.”
“Why were they fighting? It’s a quiet Buddhist place. Did the man from the Western Regions cause trouble, and the young man drew his sword to help the weak?”
“It’s hard to say. At that time, the young man was in the hall. The man from the Western Regions walked over shortly after entering the hall and said, ‘Seeing the Buddha without burning incense.’ The young man suddenly threw lime.”
“That’s strange, but in that case, wouldn’t the man from the Western Regions be at a disadvantage? How could they fight?”
The storyteller raised his bowl and took a few gulps.
“Hurry up and tell us.”
“That man from the Western Regions was fierce. Even with lime in his eyes, he was still like a fierce tiger. In a few moves, the young man was blasted to the offering table.”
“He died?”
“It’s hard to say. At that time, I was afraid of being involved and ran out of the Mahavira Hall. Later, I saw the hall roof explode. But this matter might be related to the Changfeng Escort Agency.”
When the drinker mentioned the Changfeng Escort Agency, he lowered his voice deliberately, but Hong Qigong’s hearing was exceptionally sharp, and he heard it clearly.
The man continued, “I was watching the excitement from outside and didn’t see the young man, but later people from the Changfeng Escort Agency came to clean up and donated a lot of incense money.”
“Was the young man from the Changfeng Escort Agency?”
“Possibly.”
The more Hong Qigong listened, the more suspicious he became: Zhou Yan’s failure to keep his appointment, the fight that happened yesterday, and the man from the Western Regions.
“Young man, what did the man from the Western Regions look like?” Hong Qigong asked.
The drinker glanced at Hong Qigong and said, “His voice was like the scraping of a hammer on an anvil, harsh and unpleasant…”
“Old Venomous!”
Hong Qigong instantly connected all the dots. Ouyang Feng had followed him to Zhongdu and, for some reason, appeared at Huayan Temple in Datong Prefecture, where that kid also happened to be. The Old Venomous had a sharp eye and had seen that kid on the long street in Zhongdu and in the Imperial Palace in Lin’an. He must have become suspicious from his appearance, which is why he said something like ‘seeing the Buddha without burning incense’ to test him. Given the kid’s personality and methods, he would have struck first, looking for an opportunity to escape.
Hong Qigong’s heart clenched. The incident happened yesterday, and that kid…
“Here’s your wine, sir.”
Hong Qigong took the wine gourd and asked, “Is the Changfeng Escort Agency that way?”
The shop assistant, not understanding, pointed out the location of the escort agency. Hong Qigong slipped him a silver ingot and his figure instantly vanished from the inn.
……
A moon with a missing bite hung in the sapphire blue sky. The night wind rustled through the forest, stirring up a rustling sound.
Li Mochou stood up and looked over.
Shadows of trees, no human traces.
She sighed softly. In the cool night, the bluebird of memory flew back. She thought of Zhou Yan’s many words.
Even flowers and leaves hide thorns, and one cannot guarantee that people’s hearts are not poisonous.
Roaming the Jianghu, beggars, monks, and Taoist nuns are the most difficult to deal with.
Men who appear honest cannot be trusted.
Li Mochou muttered to herself, “Men who appear honest cannot be trusted. Is he implying something? No, if that were the case, why would he still help me? But why didn’t he keep his appointment? It must be, as the Elder said, that he was delayed or forgot.”
Two opposing thoughts began to collide in Li Mochou’s mind, causing her to overlook the figure slowly walking out of the forest.
As the figure got closer, the footsteps grew heavier.
Li Mochou came back to her senses and looked in the direction of the sound.
“It’s you…”
All of Li Mochou’s anxiety and a little bit of doubt vanished the moment she saw Zhou Yan. She stood up, smiled, and quickly stepped forward, “The Elder arrived long ago. He went to get wine and look for you. I thought you were going to break your promise…”
“Pfft!” In the black night, red blood spurted out.
Zhou Yan’s injuries were more severe than Huang Rong’s were back then, but his internal force was profound, and with the gentle qi of the Jade Guanyin nourishing his viscera and healing his internal injuries, he managed to survive.
However, even so, after falling unconscious, he only woke up again the following evening.
He actually didn’t know how long he had been unconscious. He used the Quanzhen Cultivation Method to absorb the gentle qi for healing, but it was insufficient. He couldn’t afford to regulate his breath and rest. He took a pill, determined the direction, and slowly found the Mountain God Temple.
When Zhou Yan heard Li Mochou speak, he was about to say, “I’ve come to keep my appointment.” Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened his mouth, he choked, and his body churned, spitting out blood.
But he had, after all, come to keep his appointment and see Li Mochou. Zhou Yan’s spirit relaxed, and he fainted again.
“Ah!”
Li Mochou cried out in alarm.
