Three Five, startled into a painting scene (new week seeking votes)

  Xiao Lian stood in front of the dock, listlessly throwing pieces of leaves into the water, watching as they drifted away with the Xijiang River.

  She felt as if her heart had also drifted away.

  Ever since the young master left, this little girl has been somewhat absent-minded, always feeling like she's lost her mainstay. Although she still gets up early every day to practice, reviews the lessons left by the young master after breakfast, does some needlework and household chores in the afternoon, and then studies again under the candlelight at night before going to bed - but a booklet compiled by the young master, which he had flipped to a certain page when he left, is still on that same page for Xiaolian.

  Eyes staring at the book page, but the soul has flown to who-knows-where.

  When the Sanming tile ship with the lantern of "Yu" finally appeared in her line of sight, she jumped up excitedly: "Little official, little official!"

  At this time, she was still far away, her voice was not loud, and although she shouted with all her might, the people on the boat did not hear. Xiaolian ran along the riverbank in the direction of the boat, waving her hand vigorously, which caught the attention of the person at the bow of the boat, who seemed to be Erzhu, and he also waved his hand towards this side.

  Xiao Lian stomped her foot and beckoned him over herself!

  At last she saw her own young master, he walked out of the cabin, at this time the boat was a little closer, Xiaolian could see his face clearly, and he seemed to be smiling. This made Xiaolian full of joy, and the restlessness of these days disappeared completely.

  The Sanming tile ship docked at the small wharf, Yu Guozhen looked at Xiaolian's smiling face, and the fatigue of the journey seemed to disappear: "Xiaolian, have you been well these days?"

  "It's all right, young master. You must be tired from the journey. Second Brother Zhu is clumsy and won't know how to take care of you... Hmm!"

  Xiao Lian'er, who was muttering to herself, pulled Yu Guozhen over and pretended to brush off non-existent dust from his clothes. Just then, the curtain of the cabin was lifted, and a girl with three braids walked out. Xiao Lian'er was delicate and pretty, a little beauty in Xiang'an, but when she saw this girl, her first thought was that she felt ashamed of herself.

  Then a strong sense of unease arose, this girl was so beautiful, those bright and shining black and white eyes seemed to be speaking, how could such a girl appear beside the young master?

  In the midst of changing thoughts, Xiaolian's face couldn't hide anything, and her smile stiffened.

  She was afraid, like the Gao family father and son, she was also a refugee. If Yu Guozhen hadn't taken her in, she would have been sold to Yangzhou as a thin horse or become a starving corpse by the side of the road. She didn't dare imagine what would happen if Young Master had another maid and no longer needed her!

  "Little Lotus sister." Liu Ruo smiled sweetly at her, much more cautious than Little Lotus. She sensed the hidden hostility in Little Lotus: "I'm surnamed Liu, named Ruo is, and I'm a new maid collected by Young Master. From now on, I'll be taking orders from Little Lotus sister."

  "Like that... sister..." Xiaolian called out to Liu Rushi in a somewhat flustered manner, originally wanting to follow Liu Rushi's lead in calling her "little sister", but considering their ages, it seemed Liu Rushi was older, so she changed it back and forth, always feeling it wasn't quite right, finally vaguely calling her "older sister".

  Liu Ruyi smiled with pursed lips and pulled her hand: "Sister looks really good, since Suzhou Fu, I've heard Xiao Guanren say that sister is his most considerate one, today I see it's true."

  When she said that, Xiaolian's hostility immediately dissipated and she became lively again. She secretly glanced at Yu Guozhen and smiled: "Sister is really beautiful, I just saw her and thought it was a person walking out of a painting!"

  Yu Guozhen glanced at Liu Ruyi and smiled slightly, the thoughts of these little girls, he was too lazy to bother with, let them handle it themselves.

  Yu Guozhen went out for about half a month, so it was already late summer. The rice in the fields all drooped their heads heavily. In a sea of golden rice waves, Liu Ruzi saw a white wall, like a jade belt, hiding the house behind it.

  Outside the gate of the courtyard is a road paved with gravel, which is quite flat and can be seen to be maintained by someone every day. Various tree saplings are planted on both sides of the road, including common mulberry willow poplar, as well as some trees that are unrecognizable. The road forks into two paths, one leading to a distant town, and the other leading to the small dock where they landed. Perhaps because someone sprinkles water every day, the road surface is slightly wet, so there is almost no dust.

  She just took a glance and fell in love with this place because she knew that from now on, she would be living here.

  From the dock to the gate, it was less than a hundred steps. Liu Ruo had only taken a few steps when he heard strange commands, and then a group of young men holding white clubs emerged from the courtyard in an orderly manner, totaling seventeen people, divided into two rows standing open.

  These young men were all dressed in the same attire, which was somewhat strange in appearance, like a martial artist's tight-fitting short jacket, but also like a red barbarian's garment, yet it was ironed and looked extremely neat.

  Liu Ruo saw the drill of the Ming Wei's officer army, which was more like a farce than a drill. Therefore, when this group of young men walked out silently and stepped in unison, they made neat and tidy movements according to the brief command of the leading youth, which made her watch with relish.

  Then she noticed Gao Erzhu, who had been following Yu Guozhen all the time, also showed an excited and agitated expression on his face.

  The young man in the lead was Gao Dazhu. After ordering everyone to stand at attention, he turned around and ran to Yu Guozhen's face, suddenly punching his chest with a single fist: "Sir, the seventeen guards of our household are all present, please give orders!"

  This scene was not actually requested by Yu Guozhen, so they did this and surprised Yu Guozhen a bit. However, he also understood that this must be the idea of Dazhu, this silly person, to prove that in the more than ten days since he left, the young guards had not been lazy, so he came up with such a ceremony.

  But seeing this ceremony, Yu Guozhen was still very happy. These young men have been training for only three months since they were selected, and they already have a certain style.

  "Halt!" he commanded.

  The boys relaxed for a moment, but after two breaths, Yu Guozhen gave another order: "Attention!"

  With a crisp sound, the young men's heels clicked together simultaneously, and the sound was neat and uniform. Liu Ruo saw it with an astonishing light in her eyes, she turned her face to look at Yu Guozhen, whose expression had both doubt and excitement brought by novelty.

  "Stay here with me, sister." Xianglian saw Yu Guozhen step forward and it seemed like Liu Ruo was about to follow, so she pulled her back and whispered in her ear.

  This is the rule. Yu Guozhen is the one who should review, and at this time, only he has the right to do so, and no one else can be on an equal footing with him.

  Yu Guozhen walked through the ranks and came to the gate of the courtyard, turned around and nodded with satisfaction: "Brought some Jinhua ham back, add a dish for dinner tonight."

  Wow!

  For these young people, meat is no longer a novelty, although they have never lost their craving for it. As for the famous Jinhua ham, which has been renowned for a long time, they had not eaten it before, so they were still very excited when they heard Yu Guozhen's words.

  Excited, there was Yu Yiqin. Upon hearing that Yu Guozhen had returned, he immediately rode a mule to hurry over. After receiving the news that Zhou Daodeng had already passed away, he stared blankly: "Guozhen, this...this... didn't you say not to use such methods?"

  "He scared himself to death, no wonder I did." Yu Guozhen said lightly.

  To scare to death a retired dignitary hundreds of miles away, yet it seemed as simple as going a few miles away to pick a peach. Yu Yiqin had already looked at his nephew with new eyes, but now he felt that his attitude was still not enough...

  And yet a dignified elder, how could he be an ignorant old fool, how could he scare to death a fifteen or sixteen year old youth!

  Yu Yiqin scratched his head, looking somewhat worried and troubled. This problem was not something he could understand, and he didn't even bother to think about it. Now the entire Yu family was united as one, and even if he wanted to leave, it would be impossible.

  "Will there be any aftermath?" he asked.

  "Second Uncle can rest assured, there won't be any aftermath." Yu Guozhen knew what he was worried about: "The Zhou family just thought he died of natural causes."

  While the two men were talking, not far from Xiang'an Town, two large ships docked by the shore. A short-haired man hastily came out of Xiang'an Town and shouted on the shore, the ship's bow extended a gangway to pick him up.

  "Bo Niu, you said it was here?" someone shouted as soon as he boarded the boat.

  "It's right here, that thieving bird is from this place, Xiang'an Yu family. I've already inquired about it, those two foolish birds said that Xiang'an is indeed this place, however, the Yu family is a prominent household in Xiang'an and they have some private guards at home."

  "Hmph, just a dozen or so servants, what's the big deal!" The man sneered: "We have more than 50 people from Suzhou Prefecture!"

  "That gang of scoundrels has ruined Old Tang, and now we've lost face in Suzhou Prefecture. Everyone knows that being a yamen runner in Suzhou is all about saving face; without it, who'll take us seriously?" Amidst the clamor, someone shouted loudly: "Injustice has its source, debt has its owner! Luckily those two fools told Brother Hao they were from Luozhou's Wuwei Xiang'an. We've spent a lot of effort chasing them from Suzhou Prefecture to this desolate place; now that we're here, we must teach them a harsh lesson!"

  "A lesson? We've traveled hundreds of miles just to give him a little lesson?" Another person said in a low voice, "Brother Fei is still too soft-hearted. Since we're here, we must take their dog lives!"

  These are all people from Suzhou Prefecture who have committed crimes, and nearly half of them have blood on their hands. As for swindling, blackmailing, and extorting, they have done no less. When they hear that someone is to be killed, they do not think it unusual.

  "Gentlemen, gentlemen, although it's like this, after all, this isn't Suzhou, so everyone should still be careful." Fei Ge said somewhat displeased: "Gentlemen don't want to be caught by the government and have their portraits drawn, do you?"

  The crowd burst out laughing. They really didn't put the government in their eyes. Usually, they bullied and oppressed good people, deceived and cheated them. What could the government do to them?

  "What a ruckus! What's going on here?" Just then, someone drawled: "Shut up, all of you!"

  As soon as he spoke, the crowd that had been laughing and chatting stopped talking. The man stood up, a tall and sturdy fellow who looked somewhat like the swindler who had been thrown into the river by Yu Guozhen and his men. His eyes gleamed with a cold light: "Tonight we'll sneak into town, kill whoever we can, rob whatever we can. That Yu family isn't rich or anything? Well, that's perfect! We can't let you brothers take revenge for my useless brother in vain!"

  "What the leader said is true!" As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd erupted into a frenzy, with greedy glints in their eyes.

  They are nominally Suzhou gangs, but behind their backs they have another identity, that is Taihu Water Bandits! —————————— Split line ——————— (Fifteenth place, three thousand points away from twelfth place, thanks to everyone's help, please add oil!)