Seductive brother

  In the southern street of the night market, inside the wooden building of the Wa Sheh, people were packed in like sardines, what a lively scene. Beggars, peddlers, gamblers and young dandies all gathered together, waiting for Wu Ren to start performing his magic tricks.

  Qingshui County was also following the traditional pattern of "East noble, West rich, South poor, North respected" until three days ago when a Miss Xiao from thirty miles away came to Wasi Village to gamble with silver and money, attracting many young men to gather around. As a result, Xiao Bao'er's unintentional move actually boosted the prosperity of the entertainment industry on South Street.

  Xiao Bao'er got her father's permission to come to Qingquan County to bring back the two precious horses that had been driven away by the non-clothed servant. She knew where to find Min An, and slipped into the tile house to take a look. Sure enough, she saw Min An deeply engrossed in gambling, his eyes black as coal. She squeezed over and patted him on the shoulder, but he didn't even lift his head to glance at her.

  After he finished gambling, she could only say a few words to him: "Sister sent back a letter from home, and Father relaxed his control over me, allowing Sister to send someone to take me to Changping Mansion for fun."

  Min An rummaged through Xiao Bao's waist bag: "Is there still silver?"

  Xiao Bao'er was overjoyed and called the servant to bring out 200 taels of silver, following Min An's instructions, betting on which chicken would win or lose. Min An was like a broom star sweeping across the entire tile house, coaxing Xiao Bao'er to take out more money and silver, and having him bet on every single one of his favorite chickens until they were all exhausted and died from fighting.

  His commotion made a big noise in the tile house, attracting more gamblers to come and watch.

  Under the stage was the old city's tomb path, gamblers in order to get a good luck, must invite out nearly half a month in the county town of Wu Half Immortal to drive out evil spirits. The first three nights Wu Ren jumped neatly and squarely finished the big god dance, constantly releasing wind, saying that on the last night they would invite the dynamic immortal bird to descend, and sweep all the war gods, fighting cocks, and fighting cocks under its wings.

  Wu Banshan's apprentice lost for three days in a row, and the gamblers really saw it. When Wu Ren finished this boastful remark, the crowd burst out laughing. The laughter subsided, but when the time came, they still gathered around the wooden railing and iron cage.

  Min An squeezed in, wearing a white robe and jacket. Xiao Bao, who was eating pastries on the second floor, saw him appear and hurriedly ran down through the empty space separated by the servants, shouting: "Min An!"

  Min An steadied his footsteps, crossed his hands over his chest, and prepared to withstand the impact that was about to come. Xiao Bao'er was tripped up by a horse whip and stumbled, bumping her head against Min An's lower abdomen. Min An felt a sharp pain, and two red flushes rose to his face. His hands moved down to support Xiao Bao'er's shoulders, but he couldn't reach her body for half a day. When he lowered his head to look, he found that she had buried herself under the hem of his shirt and was reaching up to grab the hat between his legs.

  Min An secretly cursed the little rascal, thinking that her reputation was going to take a hit. The bystander, Deng Tu Zi, had already started laughing and teasing, saying: "The young lady's charm is quite something, and the young master's appearance is truly vigorous."

  Min An gritted his teeth and pulled Xiao Bao'er up, using his sleeve to wipe away the rouge that had been smudged on her face. He then bent down to pick up her beaded jade hat, dusted it off, and carefully put it back on her head. Xiao Bao'er, with a piece of cake in her mouth, asked Min An, "Can we fight rabbits here?"

  Min An replied: "Cannot."

  "Where's the goldfish?"

  "No."

  "Where's the cicada?"

  "No."

  "What's the point of having a boxing ring if you can't even fight?"

  Min An pulled Xiao Bao's sleeve and said in a low voice, "My little aunt, this is a place where men gamble, it's not suitable for slow tactics. You can drive out a leopard, as long as the other party also has a leopard to accompany you. Two leopards fighting for a cup of tea time can see the outcome, this kind of one-on-one combat is called 'duel'. There is another type called 'upgrade duel', you throw out a broiler chicken, against the opponent's gamecock, if you win, you can advance one level. After your broiler chicken becomes a gamecock, participate in the wheel war, with one against three, until finally your chick is still alive, it will become tonight's champion gamecock, winning a full pot."

  Tonight, General Wu Ren hopes that the final victory will be won by the rooster. Its appearance has created enough momentum and is full of magical meaning, as if it were a true celestial warrior descending upon the mortal world. At that time, Wu Ren stood on the wooden fish platform, holding the purple star sword in his hand, wearing a snow-white hat on his head, and wearing precious boat boots on his feet. He tied a string of cinnabar talismans to the sword and blew it up with a whoosh, igniting a flame. Then he stood the sword upright, pointing it at the sky, and stomped his right foot while muttering incantations under his breath. His head shook faster and faster, his eyelids flipping wildly, showing only the whites of his eyes, and his feet were about to stomp through the platform. Suddenly, he let out a loud shout, and instantly, a deafening leopard's roar echoed throughout the night sky.

  The crowd was shocked and retreated in succession. A golden black leopard pounced down from the air, carrying a stiff white eagle mud sculpture on its back - that was naturally Wu Ren who had been drugged and tied to the leopard's body with a leather belt. The leopard walked back and forth in the wooden fence, making low growls, forcing the crowd not to dare to get close. Wu Ren slowly collected his belongings, stepped down from the wooden fish platform, and wherever he passed, the gamblers would definitely avoid him.

  Xiao Bao'er mixed in with the crowd and asked Min An in confusion: "Why is everyone avoiding Father's body?"

  Min An replied: "Because there is an invisible aura of royalty on Father's body."

  "What's wrong with you?"

  "Overbearing." Min An rolled her eyes, "Dad has always been dealing with the dead and dark gods, wherever he goes there will be deaths, so people are afraid of him and don't dare to get close."

  Xiao Bao'er bit into a rice cake and turned her head to gaze at Wu Ren with reverence: "King Ba's old man is truly mighty."

  As he spoke, Wu Ren walked to the wooden railing with the broken iron chain. He snatched a jug of wine from the hands of the onlookers behind him, took a sip, and then sprayed it onto the leopard's body. The white eagle mud sculpture that had been standing still earlier came to life, moved its eyeballs, and stretched out its wings. However, it had been poisoned, so its wings felt somewhat numb and inconvenient, and some of its long feathers had fallen off, making it impossible for it to support its own body again.

  The general fell to the ground with a thud. The leopard slave hiding in the dark blew his whistle, calling away the leopard, which pounced up the stairs and then leaped over another thatched hut, disappearing into the night sky.

  The only one left in the field was the hunchbacked general.

  The gamblers jeered, apparently looking down on this "celestial bird" that had been invited to come down to the mortal world. Wu Ren flipped his eyes and shouted at the surroundings: "You bunch of commoners, with your mundane eyes, how could you know the ferocity of my bird? Are you going to fight or not? If not, I'll leave the scene and go burn incense on the divine altar, guaranteeing that you'll lose miserably!"

  Wu Renyi was frightened, and the people around him laughed. Wu Ren said: "According to your rules, come 'to duel', I'll release a bird, you also release one, dare or not?"

  "I dare!" A clear voice rang out from the crowd.

  Min An raised his eyes to look, and the crowd turned their heads to look. From behind a pillar in the teahouse, a young man emerged, wearing a blue cloth hat and holding a grey-headed eagle in his arms, walking up to the wooden railing.

  Always looking back at the movement, Fei Nu didn't notice a trace of him squeezing behind Min An and asked in a low voice: "Is it him?"

  Min An nodded, his eyes fixed intently on the young man in the green hat, thinking to himself: I've been waiting for you, Wu Mei.

  With five plum blossoms and apricot kernel eyes, straight nose, wearing a green gauze robe, waist thin can't win clothes, long eyebrows one frown, born out of several strands of charm. He was originally the scholar general of the Green Eyebrow Thieves, but later eloped with Wang Huai's concubine and heard that the Green Eyebrows were completely defeated and the government did not pursue the remaining mistakes, so he relied on a few points of courage to shave his eyebrows and resume his old profession, wandering around various states and counties to gather and gamble.

  Where the concubine went, Min An didn't know, but he knew Wu Mei and was aware of his gambling habit, so he set up this trap to lure him out. Wu Mei was originally a scholar who had passed the imperial examination and became a student in the government school, where he gambled and ran a gaming house, and was expelled by the instructor. Min An and Wu Mei were classmates for half a year, knew his temperament, pitied his weakness, even later when Wu Mei became a small gatekeeper in the county yamen of Minzhou, Min An still secretly helped him whenever possible, such as when following their former superior to capture Mao Thirteen, Min An always advised Wu Mei to leave the bandits' lair and make an honest living.

  Wu Mei followed Cao Thirteen to Chu State, his inherent love for gambling couldn't be changed. Tonight, when he saw Wu Ren's "White Eagle" seemed to have fallen ill, after some deliberation in his heart, he still stepped out. Since Wu Ren had set up the bird, only the grey-headed eagle in his arms could take on the challenge. As soon as he released the grey-headed eagle, the arena owner called for someone to put a cage on top of the wooden railing.

  A loud gong sounded, and two sturdy dwarves walked onto the scene with four-grid copper plate trays on their heads. They strolled along the edge of the wooden railing, and gamblers took out copper coins, fragmented silver, jade stones, and other betting chips to place bets in the grid spaces. Suddenly, a burst of clinking sounds filled the air.

  Another loud gong sounded, and the music of the four-sided wooden fence started to play, cheering on the birds flying up and down in their cages. Fei Ni hid her face under her hood, hearing the noise all around, she couldn't help but frown. Xiao Bao'er clapped her hands excitedly and ran forward with a shout. Min An hurried after her.

  Wu Ren continuously drank wine and spat it out onto the general's body, causing the medicine to lose its effect and the general to regain his strength from his original weakened state, directly pouncing on Grey Eagle.

  This round of fighting was extremely brutal. Wu Mei relied on the grey-headed eagle to win several counties and bring out a fierce and sharp spirit in the sand arena. The general lived a life of luxury, but had been poisoned once before, so his legs were not very agile at the moment, dodging and retreating from the grey-headed eagle's sharp claws.

  Min An watched with eager eyes, wishing he could rush up and replace the general in battle. Xiao Bao squeezed forward, shouting hoarsely. The general dodged for a while, then suddenly counterattacked. Wu Ren saw an opportunity and smiled slightly. After fighting for a while, the general turned defeat into victory, and blood splattered everywhere. The arena owner struck the bronze gong, opened the cage, and called the dwarf to bring the copper tray with silver to Wu Ren.

  Min An looked at the general, who was wounded and standing in the corner of the cage. He suddenly remembered his owner's hawk-like eyes and wondered what he would think if he saw the general in this state. Min An quickly reached out to hug the general and handed him over to his delighted master, saying: "Master, hurry up and apply some medicine, nurse it for a few days, see if you can restore its body, I'll take it back to report."

  On the other side of the wooden fence, Xiao Bao'er crouched in front of the grey owl, secretly stretching out her hand to pluck one of its long flight feathers, intending to use it as a hat ornament. Wu Mei stood beside her and made a slight bow, saying lightly: "Miss, with skin as white as jade and bones as delicate as ice, you are born to be compared to the snowy orchid or the Chinese angelica tree; stretching out your slender and elegant hand is more beautiful than a lotus flower unfolding its petals... such a refined and lovely person, how can you do something so unlucky?"

  Xiao Bao'er pouted: "What are you talking about? I don't understand a word!"

  Min An walked over and grabbed Wu Mei's wrist, sneering: "Baby doesn't fall for this trick, you'd better save your energy."

  Wu Mei lowered her head and let out a soft sigh.

  Min An turned his head to look back, and saw that Fei Yi had already left the tile house with Bao Nu. He said in a low voice: "Don't tell lies in front of a real man, you tell me, where is the account book now?"

  Wu Mei waved her hand, unable to break free from Min An's grasp, and reluctantly replied, "Given to the Eldest Young Master."

  "Your big boss is now dead, and there must be a place for the account book."

  "I don't know."

  Min An pulled Wu Mei along without letting go: "It's inconvenient to talk here, follow me."

  Wu Mei frowned: "Young Master is unreasonable, he doesn't know and still wants to force people to do something?"

  "Think you can leave now? Look up and see, the second floor of the arena has already been cleared out. It's a matter of seconds. Who could have such speed, who could think of it?"

  Wu Mei's expression changed: "Crown Prince Li Peinan?"

  Min An nodded, Wu Mei pulled Min An's hand and urged: "Hurry up and go, I heard that man doesn't care about relationships, he can even be ruthless to scholars."

  Although Min'an wanted to give Wu Mei a bit of face, they still couldn't escape Li Peinan's eyes. As they mixed in with the crowd and emerged from Wase Alley, Li Peinan was already standing at the street corner, holding a long sword that shone with a cold light, its surface engraved with some emblem, reflecting a dazzling brightness under the eaves of the lanterns.

  Min An retreated to the side and said in a low voice, "That is the crown prince's sword, with the pattern of the imperial seal of past dynasties. According to law, one should be beheaded first and then reported - you're on your own."

  Insert Bookmark