Chapter One: The Return

  Cutting through the void, it has attracted attention from all sides. Seeing so many warm messages in the book review area, I am moved... After this chapter is released, the public update will come to an end, and the next one will be the VIP update. However, in order to thank everyone for their support, the first three chapters of VIP will be free.

  Once again, thank you all enthusiastic book friends for your strong support. Without you, there would be no today's "Yanei", thank you...

  Highly recommended: Tianzi's work "The Legend of the Strange Ability in Officialdom", a very interesting book.

  In the fifth year of Chongning in the Great Song Dynasty, on August 10th, Gao Qiang and his entourage arrived at the outskirts of Bianjing City, Dongjing, covered in dust. The number of carriages and personnel was not reduced by a single one, and their luggage had increased significantly compared to when they set out. It turned out that when they first set out, Liang Zhongshu had dispatched an old steward, who led more than a dozen soldiers to accompany Gao Qiang on the journey. When they arrived at Kuaihuolin in Mengzhou, they received many gifts and tributes from Shi En, and as they traveled down the road, their entourage grew to the scale of a small merchant caravan by the time they reached Dongjing.

  As soon as he saw the city walls of Bianliang in sight, Gao was relieved. He had originally thought that they would have to put on a show like "The Clever Capture of Zhang Liang" or "The Ambush in the Red Pine Forest", and all along the way, he had been nervous and suspicious, thinking that anyone who looked around here must be trying to ambush them. When they passed through some mountain roads, he would send people ahead to scout out the road first, and only when everything was safe would he dare to pass through. This made the officials of the Luoyang government praise Gao for being a worthy descendant of a military family, saying that his travels were like a military campaign, with the style of an ancient general.

  But all the way here, it's been smooth sailing, not to mention encountering any robbers, there isn't even half a bandit, and they arrived at Bianliang City in peace. Gao Qiang felt relieved but couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed, thinking that on the Water Margin, going out is just good men, passing ridges and having strong people, could it be that it's all just Shi Da's artistic fabrication?

  Upon reflection, it's probably because at that time Emperor Huizong had just begun his reign and his various policies that harmed the people hadn't yet reached the shocking level they would later. For example, the Dongnan Yingfengju was only established last year and the Huashi Gang had just started. The common people of China are among the most kind-hearted in the world; as long as they can still make a living, they're willing to grit their teeth and endure, which is why the chaos isn't apparent.

  Sitting upright on the horse, lost in thought, suddenly heard a commotion from the front of the road, people were running around frantically, a swift figure was striking left and right, several big men were beaten until they fled with their heads covered, all shouting "Little lady, spare our lives!"

  But this only added fuel to the fire, and the woman who was hitting her became even angrier, adding a few more strokes of her hand. As she hit, she shouted: "Even if you are a lady, why do you add a humble word? It's clear that you're being deliberately rude, so you deserve to be beaten!"

  With a loud shout, the girl in yellow rushed forward, her eyes flashing as she gazed around. She was small and slender, with a practiced air about her that suggested she had received high-level training. The several large men were completely at her mercy, unable to counterattack. When he looked again at her face, he saw that the girl was probably sixteen or seventeen years old, with bright eyes and white teeth, a peach blossom smile, and skin as white as the finest jade, smooth and translucent like a piece of crystal clear ice cream.

  Seeing the girl's extraordinary beauty, his strong eyes almost fell out, and he unconsciously approached her. The girl was in high spirits, suddenly felt the sound of horseshoes beside her, slightly startled, jumped back and looked up to see a young man dressed in luxurious clothes riding on horseback staring at herself blankly. This person's appearance is quite regular, but his eyes are filled with lust, and she feels disgusted, shouting: "Who are you? Why are you so unreasonable?"

  Gao Qiu was startled, and suddenly realized that he had been so captivated by the beauty that he had forgotten the etiquette of this era. He stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. Just then, Lu Zhishen rushed up from behind and suddenly shouted: "What are you doing here?"

  Those big men, upon hearing this voice, were like hearing the heavenly music of the nine skies. They rolled and crawled to Lu Zhishen's horse, embracing his legs and cried: "Master save us, Master save us!" It turned out that these several men were old acquaintances of Lu Zhishen from when he was watching the vegetable garden at the Temple of the Great Compassionate One. They were all some rascals and scoundrels, with the first two being "Street Rat" Zhang San and "Green Snake" Li Si.

  These people, when Lu Zhishen was around, saw his bravery and treated him like a living Buddha. Later, Lu Zhishen was invited by High Chieftain to the Temple of the City God to practice asceticism, causing a stir in the Buddhist circles of the capital city. They all said that this vegetable garden is a good place for spiritual cultivation, so monks from various temples took turns coming to this vegetable garden to chant sutras and meditate, driving away these rascals who had no place to settle down.

  Lu Zhishen listened to the cries of several people and was about to ask them why they were fighting with this young girl, but she had already become impatient. Seeing Gao Qiu's pair of thieving eyes fixed on her, her anger increased, and she scolded: "You're a monk who doesn't follow the rules, consorting with such lustful and treacherous people - you can't be a good person!"

  Lu Zhishen heard this and said in surprise: "How did that little girl know that I am Hua the Monk?"

  Gao Qiang's eyes rolled back, and he almost fainted after hearing this sentence. Lu Zhishen's ability to misinterpret was quite impressive. The young girl was clearly scolding someone, but he somehow managed to relate it to his own nickname. Isn't this equivalent to admitting that he is a lustful and depraved person?

  As expected, the girl was taken aback for a moment, and then her pretty face turned bright red: "Shameless!" Seeing that Gao Qiang's group had many people, she didn't dare to come up and fight, so she just scolded one sentence and stormed back into a roadside teahouse with a huff.

  She looked even more beautiful with a hint of anger and resentment, and he couldn't help but feel a little itchy in his heart, wanting to take another look. He immediately called out: "Everyone has had a hard journey, let's all go in and have some tea, on the account of this humble official!" As he dismounted his horse, he first invited Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen, then the manager from the Imperial City Guard, and finally entered with Yan Qing, Lu Jian and others. Only Yang Zhi shook his head and refused to enter, standing outside with his hand on the hilt of his sword, watching over the carriages and goods. The teahouse had only seven or eight tables, and after this group went in, adding to the original customers, it was already packed to the brim. The dozen or so soldiers couldn't get in, so they pulled open their shirts and sat under a big tree by the side of the road, cooling off, while the tea attendants came over to serve them tea.

  Gao and others occupied two seats, called for two pots of clear tea, and several rascals didn't wait to be told, they quickly grabbed the teapot to pour tea, nodding and bowing to flatter them. They weren't stupid either, having heard that Lu Zhishen had been invited to the Temple Commander's mansion, this young man in front of them was calling Lu Zhishen "Master", who else could he be but the Temple Commander Gao? It was said that this official was nicknamed "Flower and Prosperity", and was one of us rascals, only differing in being on a higher or lower level. If they served him well this time, wouldn't it mean they had hit it off with the official and would prosper?

  Just as Gao Gang had picked up his teacup, another cold laugh came from the other side: "Shameless!"

  Gao Jian's ears perked up with joy, and the voice was as clear as a yellow oriole. It was that beautiful young girl. He hastily looked in the direction of the sound and saw the girl sitting seven or eight steps away from him in a corner, pouting her cheeks and looking at him sideways with her eyes slanted. The other three people at the table were all extraordinary, one was a young man in his early twenties, with a clear and refined appearance, shaking a folding fan with a carefree expression, almost as good-looking as Yan Qing, but Gao Jian couldn't compare to him; the first person was a fat monk, with a head as big as Lu Zhishen's, carrying a thick and heavy Zen staff by his side, weighing at least 30 or 40 kilograms, staring at him with his cow-like eyes, already locking eyes with Lu Zhishen. The last person had an even more extraordinary appearance, sitting on the bench was already a head taller than the others, with dark skin like refined iron, and his eyes flashing with sharp light, with an extraordinary air about him.

  Gao Jian saw the appearance of these people and was startled in his heart: these people were all extraordinary in appearance, obviously not ordinary people. Listening to their tone, they didn't seem to be speaking the local dialect of Bianliang either, but he didn't know what kind of gods or saints they were?

  Lu Qian leaned in close to Gao Qiang's ear and whispered, "Sir, these people don't seem ordinary. The girl's accent sounds like it's from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, and her looks are also quite elegant, just like the women from that area."

  "I thought it would make the official's heart skip a beat, but his over-the-top reaction almost made him fall over: 'Oh, I see, so they say that women are the most powerful in the world, and today I've seen it for myself, truly living up to its reputation.'"

  Lin Chong listened quietly, shaking his head secretly, and couldn't help but glare at him. He coughed and Gong Sun only then turned around, smiling and pouring tea for their master. Lin Chong had no way to deal with him.

  Gao's voice was slightly louder, and the girl's eyebrows were already raised, her mouth opened to scold: "Shameless lecher, you're all of the same kind!"

  Gao Jian was scolded as a lecher, but it wasn't the first time. He just treated it as a gentle breeze by his ear and didn't bother to respond. However, he wondered what this group of people wanted. It seemed that they were going to settle on these few rascals, so he asked: "Are you all acquainted with my Shifu? How should I address you?"

  Those few rascals were so scared that they peed their pants, and repeatedly kowtowed, saying: "This official is too ruthless, killing us small people!" They didn't even dare to speak back. Lu Qian had no choice but to ask questions, and only then did he learn that these rascals were idling away in this place, and today they saw the beauty of this young girl from afar, and couldn't help but spout some nonsense. The result is self-evident - it was just this one girl who took down four or five good-for-nothings with her own hands.

  Gao Qiang was just listening with interest when Shi Xiu suddenly walked over from the other side of the table and whispered, "Sir, these people are probably Manichaeans."

  Gao Qiu was taken aback: "Manichaeism? Isn't that the sect of Jiangnan Fang La?" He hastily turned around to take a closer look and indeed saw that several people had small flame patterns embroidered on their clothes. He asked Shi Xiu, "Third Brother, did you see the flame patterns on their clothes and deduce from that?"

  Shi Xiu exclaimed in surprise: "The governor had already discerned everything clearly, Shi Xiu is impressed."

  You're the one who's keenly perceptive, I merely read a martial arts novel and didn't know if there were any characters like Guangming Messenger or Hu Jiao Fa Wang among these people.

  As he thought about it, his eyes kept drifting to that table. The young man in white had an angry look on his face, snorted, and called over Tea Doctor to settle the bill and leave. He went out first, followed by the girl and the sturdy big man. The fat monk picked up his staff, and the several iron rings on it clanged loudly as he glared at Lu Zhishen with anger, then also left the door.

  He was startled, looking at the big monk and Lu Zhishen who were a perfect match. He suddenly remembered that in Water Margin, there was indeed a monk named Deng Yuanjue under Fang La's command, who was quite impressive, but he didn't know if it was this one. Hurriedly smiling, he said to Lu Zhishen: "Master, have you seen this impressive monk? It seems like he has a competitive spirit. Let me send someone to follow him and find out where he is staying. Tomorrow, we'll go meet him together."

  Lu Zhishen was overjoyed, this disciple was indeed knowledgeable and didn't disappoint him for having a predestined relationship with him. On the other side, Hua the monk nodded slightly, those few rascals had already taken the initiative to volunteer, Gao Qiu ordered Lu Qian to reward each of them with twenty or thirty copper coins, stating that whoever brought back the most accurate information in the evening would receive a bonus of one tael. Those few rascals were overjoyed, thinking that doing things in the Temple Commander's yamen was indeed different from ordinary people, and they left in a hurry.

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