Chapter 8: A Dagger Hidden in a Smile

  Zhong Er stared blankly, then lifted the red cloth off the two plates. To their surprise, both plates were filled with silver dollars. Lin Fei hastily waved his hand: "Su Niang! Second Master! This won't do! I have enough money in my bundle, don't bother!"

  "Mr. Lin, aren't you looking down on us because of the suspicious origin of this money?" Zhong Er's eyes widened in surprise.

  Lin Fei shook his head: "Su Niang! Second Master! Everyone! I didn't mean it that way, you just said it too, in this chaotic world where soldiers and horses are everywhere, carrying too many things on your body is not good, isn't it true that you're not only afraid of thieves stealing but also afraid of being targeted by them?"

  Zhong Er was taken aback and burst out laughing: "Mr. Lin is indeed eloquent."

  Su Yun furrowed her brow: "Mr. Lin! We're coming from a good place!"

  Lin Fei thought for a moment, reached out and took a few silver coins from a plate: "Su Niang! I'll just take this much, it's too much to carry!"

  Lin Fei returned to the county town of Pingzhou, he went back to the inn to pack up his luggage, carrying a package and just left the door, just about to leave the city, when he saw a large team of officers and soldiers swarming into the city.

  Lin Fei hid on one side waiting for these soldiers to pass by, when suddenly someone patted his shoulder: "Lin Fei? Are you Lin Fei?"

  Lin Fei was stunned and thought to himself that he didn't know anyone in this place. He turned around in confusion, and a young man in military uniform was smiling at him with a full face of smiles.

  "Are you... Zhu Lianyun? Zhu Lianyun! Haha! Is that really you?" Lin Fei looked at him for a long time before laughing and patting his shoulder.

  The other party also burst out laughing: "Haha! Isn't it me? Ah! Lin Fei! How did you end up here?"

  Lin Fei's face flashed a hint of pain: "Oh! Coincidence! I came to this side to find someone but couldn't, and heard he went to Beijing. I was just about to go to Beijing too. How did you end up here? Ah, right! Looking at your military uniform, you've enlisted?"

  Zhu Lianyun nodded: "Yes! Since you went to the UK, I haven't had a friend to talk to either. Coincidentally, there's a relative at home in Director Yan's unit, so I came over to join him. Let's go find a place to chat."

  Two men sat down in a small tavern, Zhu Lianyun looked at Lin Fei with excitement: "Lin Fei! I really didn't expect to meet you here. I heard that you attended a military academy abroad, what do you plan to do after returning?"

  Lin Fei shook his head: "I don't plan to join the army, my family doesn't agree either. I was idle at home for a few days and didn't have anything to do, so my family asked me to come out and find my relatives, let me follow him to learn business, but now I've arrived here and can't find anyone."

  "Ah! You want to do business? As I said, it's better to join the army instead. What you learned abroad is just that, and it'll be easier for you to pick up anyway."

  Lin Fei smiled slightly: "I still need to consider it, let's talk about it after I find that relative!"

  "Never mind! You don't have to go to Beijing either, just stay here. Do you know who I was a soldier with? Hehe! It's a relative of my family's friend! He is the regimental commander of the 217th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Look at me, I've only been here for so long and I'm already a senior captain. With your skills, after working for a few years, you can at least become a lieutenant colonel."

  Lin Fei hung his head in silence, and Zhu Lianyun said: "Think about the current state of the world, it's all chaotic everywhere. If you do business, can't you avoid being bullied? It's better to be a soldier! That's settled then, just follow me directly, I'll talk to the captain later and arrange for you to be a staff officer at the battalion headquarters."

  Lin Fei wanted to say something else, but Zhu Lianyun was no longer willing to talk to him: "Let's go! Today is the day our 217th Regiment just arrived here for garrison duty, I can't delay any longer."

  Lin Fei was dragged out by Zhu Lianyong, who said while walking: "Lin Fei! How does Pingzhou City compare to our Longcheng? I think that apart from having a few more mountains, everything else is about the same. I think it won't take you long to get used to it."

  Arriving at the 217th Brigade headquarters, Zhu Lianyun led Lin Fei to a room and said he would let him rest for a while first. He still had some business to attend to and would come back later. At that time, the two of them could have a good drink together.

  Lin Fei lay on the bed drowsily and fell asleep, unaware of how much time had passed before he felt someone pushing him. He opened his eyes to take a look, oh! Zhu Lianyun was back.

  "Haha! Lin Fei! Have you rested well? Let's go! We're going to eat! I've already prepared everything! I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up with your drinking, so I specially invited a few brothers to join us."

  Lin Fei followed Zhu Lianyun to a room behind the courtyard, where four or five people were already waiting. When they saw Zhu Lianyun arrive, they all stood up together. Zhu Lianyun waved his hand and smiled: "Everyone please be at ease, this is my brother. Today, no one can lose face for me."

  Zhu Lianyun didn't make any introductions either and pulled Lin Fei along: "Pour wine!"

  Lin Fei and Zhu Lianyun drank five or six bottles of white wine, Lin Fei felt a bit dizzy, he shook his head: "Lianyun! Can't drink anymore! Look at the brothers, they're all drunk."

  Zhu Lianyun's face flashed a cold smile: "Oh... oh! Good! The last bottle! Come on! Pour it up! When have we brothers ever pretended to be sons, let's drink!"

  When Lin Fei woke up again, the room was pitch black. He only felt his head swelling and his whole body aching terribly. He tried to move, but suddenly felt something was wrong because his hands and feet were all tied up with ropes.

  Lin Fei was shocked, his first reaction was that he had encountered a robber, but then he thought again and felt that it wasn't right, this was a military camp after all, which daredevil robber would dare to cause trouble here.

  Lin Fei tried to move a little, and in the darkness, he didn't know what he bumped into. Suddenly, there was a rustling sound, and soon there were movements outside the door. Before long, the lights inside the room turned on.

  A big soldier carrying a Han Yang rifle walked in and kicked Lin Fei: "Damn it! What are you doing? Be honest!"

  Lin Fei saw Da Tou Bing and immediately understood that he had been schemed against by Zhu Lian Yun. He couldn't figure out what he had done to offend him, causing him to be treated this way.

  "Get Zhu Lianyun over here, I have something to ask him!" Lin Fei looked at Da Tou Bing.

  "Get out! It's so late and you still want to see Deputy Zhu? Deputy Zhu said, let you have a good rest here tonight, and he'll come over again tomorrow."

  Da Tou Bing finished speaking and left, listening to the sound of the big gate locking, Lin Fei couldn't sleep anymore. He struggled to move to the wall, using a lot of strength to lean against it, staring with his eyes and falling into deep thought.

  The next day, until noon, Zhu Lianyun arrived here surrounded by several people. He looked at Lin Fei with disdain, who was tied up like a big rice dumpling: "Hmph! Lin Fei! You must be wondering, aren't you? Wondering how I managed to tie you up?"

  Lin Fei nodded: "Zhu Lianyun! Do I have a feud with you? Why are you treating me like this?"

  "Hmph! You still haven't figured it out? Haha! Alright, I'll tell you then. Do you know what Zhang Dake is to me? He's my father-in-law! Zhang Yunbin is my elder brother-in-law! Got it?"

  Lin Fei's face showed a hint of surprise: "Oh! So that's how it is! Zhu Lianyun! If that's the case, you should have tied me up when we met yesterday, why go to so much trouble?"

  "Hum! Lin Fei! My father-in-law's house is heavily guarded, isn't it? Even so, you still managed to get in. Not only did you get in, but you also chopped off my eldest brother-in-law's head. If I don't keep a close eye on you and you pull another trick and escape from me again, wouldn't that be a betrayal of my father-in-law's trust?"

  Lin Fei sneered: "Fine! If that's how it is, then give me a good one and stop grinding your teeth here!"

  "Want to die? It's not that easy, I have to take you to Zhang Yunbin's grave and let him see how you died. How about it? You can live a few more days, aren't you grateful to me?"

  Lin Fei closed his eyes and stopped talking, Zhu Lianyun's face changed: "Come on! Drag him out! Brothers! You guys practice well, don't let me down again."

  In the following days, several people under Zhu Lianyun's command hung Lin Fei up every day, and several people took turns to interrogate him with torture. The methods they used were extreme, simply put, it was a variety of ways to torment Lin Fei.

  After a few days, the originally strong and handsome Lin Fei was tortured to the point of being unrecognizable. Despite this, Zhu Lianyun still refused to give up. He said that he wanted Lin Fei to kneel down and beg for mercy one day.