Chapter 42: Kotoka
There is a green building in Huangni Town, which is also the only green building in the whole town, called Qinxiang Building.
It is said that Qinxianglou was originally not called Qinxianglou, but called Xiaoxiang Lou, and later I don't know where the boss found a master of piano skills and the flower name is called Qinxiang's head brand, so Xiaoxianglou was changed to Qinxianglou, the business is getting more and more prosperous, crowded several peers can not open, have closed down, since then Qinxianglou has become the only green building in Huangni Town, and Qinxiang has also become the most famous geisha within a radius of hundreds of miles.
That's right, Qinxiang is a geisha, she doesn't sell her body, she is very high, she only plays the piano in the Qinglou on weekdays, and she rarely even talks with the wine, and she must be pleasing to the eyes of the other party to have the opportunity to enter the curtain to see the last face, and those who win this award are all very honored, and since then they have been used as bragging capital to publicize it everywhere.
The purpose of Qi An's trip is this Qinxiang Building, and according to the information on the file, Huang Cen, an outcast of Huayun Sect, is very likely to be the top famous prostitute in Qinxiang Building.
The reason why I am not so sure is because Qin Xiang's appearance is eight or nine points similar to Huang Cen, and she is not the kind of weak woman who has no power to restrain the chicken, but a cultivator, and her cultivation is not low, at least in the congenital perfection realm.
You must know that Qinglou is a mixed place, some people don't want to abide by the rules because they have some ability, they want to bully others, and the overlord is hard to bow down, but he was beaten by Qin Xiang, which also exposed that Qin Xiang is a congenital martial artist, plus his appearance is quite similar to Huang Cen, an outcast of Huayun Sect, so there is a guess that Qin Xiang is Huang Cen.
But Huang Cen herself doesn't seem to have committed any major crimes, and it is not the court government that wants her, but the Huayun Sect, the sect she was from.
Huayun Sect is not well-known, it can only be regarded as a second-rate cultivation force, but it is a formal cultivation sect, at least hundreds of years old, the worst disciple is also the Innate Martial Sect, there are many monks in the Condensation Realm, and even some of the great cultivators of the God Refining Realm, compared to the rootless and bottomless ordinary people like Qi An, they can be regarded as behemoths.
It's just that Huayun Sect's sphere of influence is only in the backing county, and there is a feud with the Tibetan Sword Sect in Fufeng County, Huayun Sect is not as powerful as the Tibetan Sword Sect, and it is because the disciples rarely appear in Fufeng County, even if they get the information that Qin Xiang is likely to be Huang Cen, they did not rashly send their disciples over, but issued a reward through the government agency.
Therefore, Huang Cen's specific crime Qi An is not clear, unlike the first two targets, one is to collude with Jiang Yang thieves to commit unrighteous things, and the other is to occupy the mountain as the king and harm the people, both of whom should be punished.
Moreover, Huang Cen's bounty task is also very different from the previous two tasks, the first two tasks are normal government bounty wanted, and the target person's head and related task documents are required to go to the local government office to receive the reward, and Huang Cen must go to Huayunzong to receive the reward, and the reward is relatively much higher, but the requirement is not Huang Cen's head, but a wordless iron plate that Huang Cen carries with him.
Therefore, Hua Yunzong's purpose in releasing this task is not to want Huang Cen's life, but to want the iron card on her body, and whether to complete the task or not is also based on this. And the reason why Qi An took this task was because Huang Cen of Huayun Sect was the only master in the bounty list who had already determined the position and had the strength of the prefecture-level list, which was a rather ideal whetstone.
Zhao Hu, who was killed by Qi An not long ago, is just close to the strength of the ground list, not the real strength of the ground list, and the gap with Huang Cen is actually quite big, just like one is Wang Sheng and the other is Murong Qing, so the first two tasks are just appetizers, and Qi An's key target is only Huang Cen.
Qi An arrived in Huangni Town at noon, but Qinxianglou would only open at night, and the doors were closed during the day, so after Qi An inquired about the location, he did not rush over, but ate a bowl of noodles at a street noodle stall, and slowly found a secluded shade to meditate and practice. It wasn't until the early lights came on that Qi An finished his cultivation, stood up, brushed off the fallen leaves on his body, and walked in the direction of Qinxiang Building.
Qinxiang Building is a three-storey attic, covering a small area, but the business is very prosperous, upstairs and downstairs are full of people, and even the open space outside the building is surrounded by several circles, all waiting to listen to the sound of Qinxiang.
The clothes of the people outside the building are relatively simple, obviously some poor people who can't afford to spend, and Qi An's appearance is not much better than them, but his skin is fair, and his appearance is handsome, not like a young man from a poor family, so the old bustard guarding the door actually greeted him with a smile and flattered: "Oh! The little boy is so handsome! But come to drink flower wine? Our girls in Qinxianglou are all talented and beautiful......
Qi An didn't want to listen to her verbosity, so he took out two coins and handed them over, and asked, "Is Miss Qinxiang inside?"
Seeing the eyes of the old bustard who saw the money open, his eyes narrowed into a line, and while leading Qi An inward, he replied: "Miss Qinxiang will play the piano for an hour every day, and now the time has not come, please sit down for a while, I will call the two girls to come over to compensate the son, and by the way, I will arrange a few snacks and snacks." ”
Qi An shook his hand and said, "The girl doesn't have to scream, I'm here for Qin Xiang." ”
Many of the guests in the Qinxiang Building came specifically for the sound of Qinxiang's qin, and when Qi An said this, the old bustard did not think that he was shy and hypocritical, so he led him to a small cubicle on the second floor and sat down, and soon brought the wine and food up.
Qi An hadn't drunk much, so after a few casual sips, he began to concentrate on eating, waiting for Qin Xiang to appear.
Soon after, with the sound of an empty piano, the entire Qinxianglou suddenly quieted down, all the conversations and cups collided abruptly, and everyone listened to the beautiful sound of the piano that gradually sounded with bated breath.
The direction of the sound of the piano is a private room on the third floor opposite Qi'an, several doors are opened, but a beaded curtain is hung, and a slender woman is faintly sitting in the curtain, a guqin is placed horizontally in front of her, and the ten fingers of both hands are constantly plucked on the strings, and the beautiful sound of the piano comes from this.
This woman should be Qin Xiang, but due to the obstruction of the bead curtain, Qi An couldn't see the other party's appearance clearly, and he couldn't tell whether she was Huang Cen or not, but he was not in a hurry, drinking and eating food while enjoying Qin Xiang's performance.
According to the custom, Qin Xiang will stroke the qin for an hour every day, but the guests attracted by the sound of the qin always feel that time flies quickly, and it seems that it will not be long before the performance of Qin Xiang ends, and for a while, the whole Qin Xiang Building is as quiet as a wilderness, and even the sound of breathing can be heard.
After a long time, someone took the lead in applauding, and for a while the applause was like a tide, and the admiration was endless, and the whole Qinxianglou returned to the original hustle and bustle.
After the performance is over, the girl usually leaves, but if a high roller is generous and spends a lot of money to impress the girl, she may also be invited by the girl to go to the third floor to talk.
Qi An inquired about the situation clearly, and as soon as the performance was over, he called the old bustard, directly took out a jade coin and threw it into her hand, and said straight to the point: "I want to see Miss Qinxiang." ”
The circulation of coins in the Daqian Dynasty is divided into four kinds of jade, gold, silver, and copper, the value decreases accordingly, the exchange ratio is one to one hundred, a jade coin is equivalent to a hundred coins, usually into the Qinyu Building to consume, a piece of money is enough to support the day, and a jade coin can almost be a guest of honor in the Qinxiang Building for a whole year, Qi An casually threw out a jade coin, which is quite generous, the old bustard did not dare to slack off, after accepting the jade money, he said "wait a minute", and hurriedly turned around and left.
After a while, the old bustard returned with a happy face, and said to Qi An: "Miss Qinxiang has invited the son to go upstairs to talk." ”
Qi An followed the bustard to the upper floor, and the two maids who were standing outside hurriedly lifted the beaded curtain and respectfully invited Qi An to enter, while the old bustard stayed outside the door and did not enter with him, and even closed the door, for fear that the noise outside would disturb the distinguished guests inside.
There was a beautiful woman sitting behind the curtain, not very old, at most two decades, Qi An looked at it, and it was indeed eight or nine points similar to the portrait of Huang Cen on the file, but the biggest difference was that the temperament was completely different. Huang Cen on the dossier, holding her hair in a bun, with a sinister eyebrow, is heroic, very chivalrous like a carrot, and Qin Xiang in front of her, with long hair hanging down her shoulders, smiling with charm, eyebrows and eyes full of affection, more like a gentle little woman.
At the same time as Qi An looked at Qin Xiang, Qin Xiang was also looking at Qi An, she didn't expect that the person who came was so young and didn't dress like a rich person, but she quickly withdrew her eyes, bowed slightly, made a blessing gift, and said, "Son, please take a seat." ”
Qi An clenched his fists slightly, sat down cross-legged opposite her, and the original position of the guqin was replaced by a table of exquisite wine and food, and the guqin was placed behind Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang poured a glass of wine for Qi An, and Yan Ran asked, "What is your surname?"
Qi An didn't answer directly, but stared at Qin Xiang's eyes and asked, "The girl's surname is Huang Mingcen, and she was once a disciple of Huayun Sect?"
Qin Xiang's fingers, which were originally about to raise a glass, paused in the air, glanced at Qi An deeply, and said casually: "Childe recognizes the wrong person, right? The little woman's real name is Qin Xiang, the Qin at the beginning of the spring word He, the fragrance of the country and the fragrance of the sky, is the family of Wushui County, Fufeng County, because of the practice of the piano since childhood, a small name, is also known as Qin Xiang." ”
Qi An smiled: "It doesn't matter if you are Qin Xiang or Huang Cen, I just want the iron card on your body." ”
Qin Xiang's face was a little displeased: "What iron plate? If you want an iron card, you can ask the blacksmith shop, those who come to our Qin Xiang Building are all for fun!"