Chapter 3: Lin Chong

  On the bustling streets, people surged forward in a mighty tide, truly sweating like rain and gasping for air. The men and women came and went, occasionally being drawn in by the shops along the street, stopping to gaze, and when the merchants saw the god of wealth arrive, they naturally had to redouble their efforts to entice him, their hoarse voices shouting out sales pitches rising and falling on the streets:

  "Come and take a look, high-end perfume from the Western Regions has just arrived! Made with the essence of Snow Lotus from Tian Shan and Rose from the Great Food Fire, combined with the refined extract of Indian Sandalwood, its fragrance is long-lasting and leaves a lingering aftertaste. It's truly a treasure for women and a must-have for men!" This was what the big food merchant in a long robe was shouting to peddle his perfume.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, as the saying goes, 'the goods are sold to those who appreciate them.' The humble skills passed down in my family may not be unmatched in this world, but they have some impressive aspects. I'll now show you a clumsy display, presenting to you all an iron spear thrusting at my throat!" A robust man shouted several times, placing the head of an iron spear against his own throat and the other end on the ground, his face turning bright red as he grunted and bent the iron spear into a bow shape.

  Su San left the Kaifeng Prefecture and stood on the main street, addressing the passing gentlemen... A woman wearing a linen skirt knelt by the roadside, crying and wailing, with a sign next to her bearing a large "Wronged" character.

  "Bai's old shop, genuine materials, ancestral secret recipe, whoever eats it knows!"

  "A new book 'Gaoye Neixin Zhuan' is out, everyone go and support it, buy a copy to collect on your bookshelf, those with tickets can smash them, those without tickets click many times. A strange person was waving a small booklet loudly soliciting customers, attracting many people to watch, occasionally several bricks flew over, but the strange person remained expressionless, apparently his 'Golden Bell Cover Iron Face Skin' skill had been perfected."

  Suddenly, someone shouted loudly: "Hua Hua Tai Shang Jie La!"

  This was a real commotion, the whole street was in an uproar, several thousand people were rushing around wildly, big girls and young wives changed their original coquettish demeanor and leisurely strolls, covering their faces and running away like lightning, vendors packed up their goods, performers rolled up their knives and guns, wronged young women hastily got up and hid in a small alley, only the strange book seller didn't know what was going on, seeing someone had already taken a book and was about to pay, but was scared off, the strange person anxiously chased after him shouting: "Hey, don't be a fool, you haven't paid yet!"

  Gao Jian stood on the street, watching the scene with wide eyes, and couldn't help but think of the movie "Tang Bohu Dian Qiuxiang" he had seen before. The scene where the four great scholars went out on the street made him want to find a crack in the ground to hide in. Being a person like this was really uninteresting, no wonder his predecessor wanted to run away and leave such a mess for himself. "Should I go back to sleep and dream up a way to connect to the internet?" This thought began to swirl around Gao Jian's mind.

  Fu An saw that the official's face didn't look good, so he quickly thought of a plan and silently cursed himself for being stupid: The official was already in a bad mood today, and coming out hadn't even gotten him a glimpse of any beauties - wasn't this just piling on more frustration? Dammit, dammit.

  He hastily smiled and said: "Sir, there's nothing interesting or new on this street. Why don't we go directly to the Daxiangguo Temple? It must be bustling with activity."

  He glared at him fiercely, but didn't say a word, and walked forward with his head down. The former official seemed to be quite familiar with the streets of Tokyo, so instead of taking the main road, he took a shortcut through the alleys, using his fan to cover his face, making it less likely for people to recognize him.

  After turning several corners, the scene suddenly opened up: a large temple with red bricks and green tiles, golden signboards shining brightly in the sunlight, occasionally transmitting the sound of Buddhist chanting and bell ringing. Devout men and women were entering and exiting continuously, what a wonderful forest! In front of the temple gate was a large square, densely packed with people, various vendors' calls mixed together, and all sorts of street performers showing off their skills, swallowing knives and spitting fire, magic and qigong, high-pole acrobatics, nothing was missing, drawing applause from the crowd.

  His eyes were wide with excitement, he had always liked lively places, and this 12th century scene was something he had never seen before. He felt like his eyes weren't enough to take it all in, one moment watching Wang Dali effortlessly flipping a stone lock up and down as if it weighed nothing, the next watching Zhang Laoquan casually swallowing a short sword whole after a few fake swings, walking around with an air of nonchalance.

  The high-ranking official was shocked and thrilled, and couldn't help but walk up to take the sword from Zhang Laoquan's hand. He tapped it forcefully on a wooden board several times, then carefully examined the blade, only to discover that it was a genuine sword! He couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, tossing a few silver coins as he did so. The old man thanked him profusely. However, just as the official had walked away, Fu An rushed back, scolding Zhang Laoquan with a fierce expression, snatching the silver coins from his hand and tossing out a few copper coins instead, before hastily chasing after the official.

  On the road, he was so busy looking at various scenery that he didn't even bother to look at the road. Suddenly, a clear and crisp shout came from in front: "You daredevil, hurry up and get out of the way!"

  He was startled and almost collided with a woman, hurriedly looked up to apologize, but before he could say "excuse me", his eyes widened: what a beautiful woman! She appeared to be 24 or 25 years old, wearing white clothes, slender and elegant, with an oval face, thin eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, and rosy cheeks. Her hair was styled in a loose bun that seemed about to fall apart, exuding a strong aura of a young married woman's charm and natural allure, despite her icy expression, which was extremely enticing.

  It's not that he was a lecher, but who doesn't have a fondness for beauty? This young woman was indeed stunningly beautiful, and he was taken aback for a moment. But this move only made things worse - the notorious Huahua Taosui blocked the way of a beautiful young woman, refusing to budge despite her servant's scolding, and simply stared at her with an indecent gaze, making anyone who saw him think of "harassing a respectable married woman".

  However, Gao's position is high and his power is heavy, how can ordinary people provoke him? In front of the Temple of the Great State Preceptor, there are tens of thousands of people, but not one dares to come forward and speak, they all hide on the side and watch, secretly sighing that this young lady, who is from an unknown family, will fall into the clutches of evil again.

  It's not just others who think so, but also the idle men around Gaofu are "heart-led" and some even secretly applaud. It seems that the progress of the yamen is not small, and the vision is first-class. In this sea of flowers, one can pick out such a beautiful woman at a glance. How can we idlers stand by? Led by Fu An, more than a dozen idlers "hula" surrounded the young woman, surrounding her in the middle, blocking the surroundings so that water couldn't leak through, and the little maid was blocked outside the circle. The little girl didn't panic either, her eyes turned around, and she quickly ran towards the back of the temple.

  Gao Jian finally came to his senses, glared fiercely at the onlookers around him, and thought to himself: "With this, my crime of 'molesting a respectable woman in public' is now confirmed." He hastily smiled and cupped his hands together, saying: "Please don't be alarmed, madam. I'm not a bad person, it's just that..." He wanted to explain the situation and disperse the crowd.

  However, the notorious "Flower Thief" had a reputation that preceded him, and this smile was unlikely to be seen as innocent by the women present: "You lecherous scoundrel! In broad daylight, how dare you block the road and flirt with a respectable woman? Do you still have any regard for the law?! Get out of our way!" The young woman's almond-shaped eyes widened, her willow-leaf eyebrows arched in anger, as she glared at the group of ruffians.

  It's a good thing I didn't pass out from anger: how many times have I been scolded like this since I was young! But thinking about it again, now I'm not that honest and civilized little boy anymore, with a bad reputation outside. It seems that this unjust accusation won't be cleared up in a short time.

  He hadn't even had time to open his mouth and shout for the idle servants to disperse, when Fu An suddenly sneered: "The king's law? Little girl, in my household, the king's law is whatever I say it is. You'd better obediently follow my household's rules. As long as you serve him well and make him happy, I guarantee that your whole family will enjoy boundless wealth and glory!" After he finished speaking, all the idle servants burst out laughing together.

  Gao Jian almost fainted, these lines are really familiar, typical villainous behavior, next should I say "Little girl, just give in"? This is truly despicable.

  Unable to bear it any longer, Gao Jianli suddenly shouted: "All of you shut up!"

  The crowd was suddenly stunned, although they didn't know what they did wrong, but they all shut their mouths. When the official spoke, they absolutely had to give him face.

  Just as Gao Qiang was about to shout at them to make way, a group of people nearby suddenly fell over, and several idlers were knocked out. A figure flashed in, grabbed Gao Qiang's collar from behind, and lifted him up like a child, suspending him in mid-air with one hand. Immediately afterwards, a huge fist came flying towards his face, accompanied by the sound of rushing wind.

  Gao was so frightened that he shrunk his head and closed his eyes, using all his strength to wait for the heavy punch. But after a moment, the expected blow did not come, instead, his feet felt hard, and he found himself placed on the ground.

  He opened his eyes to see a tall and robust man in front of him, less than thirty years old, about 1.85 meters tall, with a leopard-like head, eagle-like nose, tiger-like whiskers, wearing a green turban on his head, dressed in a green military uniform, exuding an aura of grandeur and majesty, truly a magnificent man!

  Just then, Fu An struggled to his feet from the ground, saw the face of this big man clearly, and suddenly jumped up eight zhang high: "Lin Chong, you have eaten leopard gall, dare to be rude to the official!"

  Lin Chong! Leopard Head!

  Gao Qiang only felt his mind was in a mess, he never thought that the characters from Water Margin would appear in history, no, it should be said that they appeared in reality. What kind of world is this? Is he now acting out the scene "Gao Qiu teases Lin Chong's wife"?

  Lin Chong, suppressing his anger, said: "Sir, you have stopped my wife on her way for no reason. What instructions do you have?" This was spoken politely enough, but Gao Qiu was so embarrassed that he wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. He hastily smiled and said: "Headmaster Lin has misunderstood. I was greedy to watch the performance and didn't notice I was blocking your wife's way. I was just about to apologize when you arrived. It really was a misunderstanding."

  Lin Chong cast a tiger's glance around the crowd of onlookers, let out a cold laugh and said: "In that case, I, Lin, was mistaken about you, sir. Farewell. Jin'er, escort Madame back home."

  Jin'er agreed and came up to support Lin Chong's wife. Without even raising the corner of her eye, she walked straight past Gao Qiu.

  Lin Chong bowed his head and was about to take his leave, when Gao Qiu hastily stepped forward and said: "General Lin, I've long heard that your spear skills are unmatched. Today, I'm finally able to meet you in person, which is a great comfort to me. I'd like to invite General Lin to join me for a drink, and at the same time, ask for some pointers on spear techniques. You must grant me this favor."

  When this was said, nine and a half out of ten people in the room did not believe it. How could the notorious flirtatious Huahua Taosui change overnight, no longer loving beauties but instead loving heroes?