After a night of boating on the river, everyone returned to the land dock. After walking a few miles in full gear again, turning a hill, Gao Wu pointed to a gray-brown city in the distance with a serious face, and said, "Master Liu, that's Cangzhou." ”

"All the dart masters, put down the dart flag and take off the horse bell." Gao Wu commanded.

All dart masters do what they are told. Liu Ming looked very strange and asked, "Gao Darttou, why did you enter this Cangzhou and act so strangely?" ”

Gao Wu tied the reins with one hand, rode his horse and explained: "Young Master Liu, there are three forms of darts. One is a mighty dart, the second is a benevolent and righteous dart, and the third is a stealing dart. The mighty dart is to put a big flag on the luggage, and the name of the dart master is written on the flag. The flags are all movable, and there are wheels on them. When the dart is walked, the dart flag is pulled to the top, which is called pulling through the top flag, and the gong beats the long mallet: "Bang!" Syllable! "The dart players either light up the door and shout the trumpet, or shout out the name of the dart game, which is called Liang Dart. Generally, the extremely strong dart game can take this dart. The second is what we just walked, flying the flag at half-mast, playing the thirteen Taibao long hammer gongs, five-star gongs or seven-star gongs, and when shouting darts, it is also polite - such as darts 'doing the world's righteousness first, and the popularity of the rivers and lakes is the fate of rice'. Generally speaking, when we take the dart in the Longwei Dart Bureau, it is according to the situation, and the mighty dart and the benevolent dart are exchanged in turn. ”

"That'...... What about the other one? Liu Ming asked.

"There is another ...... It's called a dart. Gao Wu explained, "If a certain level is so powerful that you don't let the team pass through it, and you can't win against him, then you can only quietly keep quiet, pick up the bell, the car reels with oil, put away the flag, and sneak over, this is a dart." Young master, this Cangzhou, the dangerous mountains and bad waters are famous, and there are many thieves. The masters of the rivers and lakes are also quite gathered. There is a saying that 'darts don't shout Cangzhou', and that's it. ”

Speaking of this, Gao Wu's face became serious: "Childe, if you want to go to Cangzhou, you must take this dart." ”

Liu Ming thought to himself, this Longwei Dart Bureau is quite famous in this place, and he is so careful, it seems that this Cangzhou is indeed not a place to stay for a long time.

The old city wall of Cangzhou was in front of them, and the group of Longwei Dart Bureau put down the dart flag, hid their sabers, pretended to be an ordinary caravan, and slowly walked into the city. Gao Wu and the other dart masters all raised their vigilance, and watched the movements around them with vigilance.

This Cangzhou city wall is in disrepair, the wall is missing a piece in the east, a piece in the west, and magpies nesting. The passing year is unfavorable, and it is a locust plague, especially in Cangzhou. I saw that many ragged refugees outside the city wall had set up shacks. Around the city, there are still a few acres of farmland, and there are some pedal waterwheels by the river, which are slowly coming out.

After taking out the silver and counting a few lazy guards, Liu Ming and the others entered Cangzhou City.

The city was desolate and desolate, with most of the shops made samples and closed wooden doors. Walking on the street are either passers-by who are in a hurry for fear of causing trouble, or local green-skinned scoundrels who slowly open their coats and prepare to find fault.

Liu Ming's group, forty or fifty people entered the city, which was particularly eye-catching. He could feel that the people in the city were not particularly friendly to him, and he could feel that there were a few pairs of malicious eyes staring at him in the cracks of the closed wooden row doors on the side of the street.

"Damn, how is this Cangzhou City so gloomy......" Liu Yuanzhi couldn't help but shake his shoulders. The rest of the people also felt the strange atmosphere of this city.

At dusk, the sky is getting dark, and the light of the bluestone slabs and bricks on the ground of the main street is shrinking little by little.

"Chief, it's time for us to find a place to stay." Said a dart master.

"Well, let's take a look." Gao Wu nodded.

The Cangzhou capital of Nuoda, because of the withering, there are only two inns, and the trees are lonely on the side of the street.

Gao Wu stopped the carriage and horses first, and walked to an inn by himself, where a gray-haired old woman was dozing off in front of the counter with her breasts crossed.

"Old man......" Gao Wu asked.

"You say...... What the? The old woman pointed to her ear, "I have bad ears." ”

"I say......" Gao Wu raised his voice, "You're a new store, right?" The last time I came, it didn't seem like you. ”

"Oh......" the old woman replied with a trembling quiver in the corners of her eyes, "we only took over last month, and the original owner has moved to another state. ”

Gao Wu nodded, glanced at the hall a few more times, and withdrew.

"How?" Liu Ming asked.

"Young Master Yuliu, it's best not to live in this house." Gao Wu replied.

"Why?"

"It's new."

"Why can't I live in the new store?" Liu Ming yawned, he was sleepy and hungry after a day of travel, and he still wanted to find a place to settle down earlier.

"Liu Gongzi, we have gone through several darts in Cangzhou, and we have been living in this inn, and we still know the roots. But this time, the owner suddenly changed. I'm worried...... Among them, there are cats ...... greasy," Gao Wu analyzed.

"Oh......" Although Liu Ming was sleepy, he still believed Gao Wu's analysis, and he casually pointed to another store, "How about that one?" ”

Everyone looked at it and frowned.

At the door of another inn, I saw two King Kong men, covered in tendon meat, wearing white cloth shirts, holding fans, sitting in front of bamboo chairs to rest. Described as ugly, with a rough appearance, a body of purple flesh spread horizontally, and a few green tendons burst out.

The two big men commented on the women passing by on the street from time to time, and from time to time they let out a few lewd laughs.

Liu Ming himself saw it and was also shocked. This is an inn, or the underworld of Hades.

The two big men saw Liu Ming and the others stop and look, but they seemed to have changed their appearances, and greeted with a smile: "Guest officer, come and rest." Our store has good wine and meat to entertain, and the price is reasonable. ”

Gao Wu hesitated and looked at Liu Ming unconsciously.

Liu Ming made up his mind and said: "The jackal tiger's den needs to be explored eventually." For these two stores, if you don't feel at ease with one of them, then we can only try our luck at the other one. ”

A group of forty or fifty people walked into the inn lobby. I saw that although there were more than 20 tables in the lobby, there were only two or three sparse tables of guests, many of whom were people wearing hats, and the brims of hats were very low, so they couldn't see each other's faces clearly.

After wrapping five round tables, Gao Wu put down the package, threw the saber on the table with a "bang", and asked, "Shopkeeper, what kind of food do you have here, take your name." ”

A shopkeeper with a roe head and rat eyes walked out, "We have a famous beef, which is tender and fat, and it is all freshly slaughtered and killed." ”

"Beef ......" Gao Wu looked around, his face turned pale, and he raised his voice, "Yes...... Beef, or human flesh? ”

This sound attracted the frequent sideways glances of several other table guests, and one of them even knocked over the wine jug, and fell to the ground with a "bang" and shattered.

In the hall, there was a sudden silence, and the pins could be heard.

The shopkeeper of the roe head rat was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "This guest officer, you are making such a big joke, the world is peaceful, and the world is swinging, where there are steamed buns with human flesh, and our beef is obtained from the best cattle." ”

"It's fine." Gao Wu naturally answered. "Then give us a table of cutting twenty catties of beef, and then serve some vegetarian dishes and rice."

"Guest, don't you want wine? This store is the best ten-year Cangzhou Laojiao ......," the shopkeeper said.

Gao Wu glanced at the saber on the table and said, "There is something important to do...... It's inconvenient to drink...... "After the shopkeeper retreated, Gao Wu instructed the dart masters: "We have a mantra in the dart bureau called three points to keep safe, go out, bring three points of laughter, let three points of reason, and drink three points of wine." However, in this treacherous mountain and water today, everyone must refrain from letting the wine worms in their stomachs lose their lives. ”

The dart masters immediately nodded.

This Liu Yuanzhi, Su Shi and others are all drunkards themselves, but looking at the dining environment like the Dragon Gate Inn, they are also in no mood to drink.

The hot food and hot meal came up quickly, Gao Wu first asked the dart master to send the food to the horse, for the horse to eat, and after waiting for half an hour, seeing that the horse was safe and sound, he started to eat.

Gao Wu did these things simply and naturally, and he didn't care about the shopkeeper's face like a pig's liver.

Although Fakong was also extremely hungry, there was also a difference between severity and severity, enduring his rumbling stomach and waiting for Gao Wu's order to eat.

"Obviously, don't you eat it?" After eating eight bowls of rice, Fakong looked at Liu Ming on the side, who rarely moved his chopsticks.

"I'm thinking about ......," Liu Ming replied with an unfathomable sentence.

"Obviously, you can think while eating......" Fakong continued to snort and pick up the meal.

After finishing the meal, Gao Wu called Liu Ming aside and asked in a low voice, "Childe, what ......do you see?" Shall we live? "After a few days of doing this, he has already discovered that this group of people can still make up their minds."

Liu Ming put his hands behind his back and whispered, "This store can't be lived." You see the guests at those tables, they only drink wine and don't eat food, and they have been doing it there for almost an hour and a half, but the shopkeeper doesn't urge them to ask for food, so it can be seen that they are very familiar with each other, and they don't know what they are plotting. ”

Gao Wu nodded, it seemed that he and Liu Ming had the same opinion.

"In my opinion, we can't stay in this store for long, let's stay next door." Liu Ming said, "If the situation next door is not good, we will simply stay overnight at the post station where the Thirty Miles Waizhou Army is stationed and leave this place of right and wrong." ”

Gao Wu responded: "The young master is observant, Gao really admires." So, let's go. ”

Gao Wu paid for the wine, no matter how much the shopkeeper persuaded him, he didn't go to the accommodation, and went directly to the previous inn with Liu Ming. Ask the old woman to wrap up all the rooms of the inn, people are sleepy, ready to rest.

Everyone went back to their rooms and lay down, only Gao Wu was still guarding the courtyard with a sword. Although Na Fakong was also sleepy and wanted to help stand guard, he was persuaded by Gao Wu to go back with a smile.

The night was quiet, Gao Wuqiang was in good spirits, sitting on the stone bench in the courtyard, on duty at night. Only then did he know that the guests he was walking were all today's famous people in the literary world. When he learned that Liu Ming had won two yuan in a row, and it was very likely to become the champion of this autumn festival, he felt a great responsibility.

"The high dart head is busy......"

At this time, behind him, Liu Yuanzhi's voice came. I saw him carrying an oil lamp, dangling in the lobby. He walked up to the old woman at the counter, "Old man...... How has business been doing lately? ”

"The blessing of the officials is still so-so."

"Oh...... Recently, there have been a lot of victims......."

Liu Yuanzhi leaned in front of the counter, chatting without a word, and suddenly, a faint fragrance overflowed from the tip of his nose, and he turned around to look, his eyes lit up.

A seventeen or eighteen-year-old woman, with wet hair and a red flush on her face after bathing, was walking in front of Liu Yuanzhi. The woman, with an acceptable appearance and a graceful figure, made Liu Yuanzhi stunned.

Liu Yuanzhi slept in the open all the way, ate ash and drank mud, and had long regretted not bringing two young maids from home to serve him. Along the way, Gao Wu stopped him, the female dependents did not let him approach, and the flower boat was not allowed to board, which had long made him extremely depressed.

Now, seeing this young woman is like nectar in a long drought, and I don't need to look twice.

The old woman on the side couldn't help but laugh secretly when she saw Liu Yuanzhi staring at him in a daze.

Liu Yuanzhi knew that he was out of shape, and said haha: "Let the shopkeeper laugh." ”

Who knows, the old woman's eyes showed a meaningful light: "That woman is called Chun Niang." Liu Guanren, if you are interested, I will talk to Na Chunniang, how about letting her drink wine with you? What is the price...... Good to discuss......"

It turned out that what was done in this store was a "secret prostitute", that is, a private prostitute.

Liu Yuanzhi comprehended, glanced at Gao Wu in the front courtyard, and saw that he didn't notice him, so he took out five taels of silver, put it in front of the counter, and said in a low voice: "Please...... Shopkeeper...... No, I'm sorry Mom. ”

When the old woman saw the silver, her eyes lit up, and she quietly put the money into her sleeve, and said with a smile: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say." The old body will come when he goes. ”

I saw the old woman walking quickly, saying a few words to the Chunniang, and then pointing to Liu Yuanzhi's side. Na Chunniang looked back, with autumn waves in her eyes, she had already made Liu Yuanzhi crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and her soul ran to Java.

The old woman smiled and said, "Liu Guanren, the old body is Yu Chunniang, Chunniang is waiting for you in a side room behind it, you two ...... Let's talk about it. ”

Liu Yuanzhi rubbed his hands happily, straightened his clothes in front of the bronze mirror on the counter, and immediately walked briskly to the side room behind him.

In the house, a lamp was like a bean, and the spring lady poured a pot of wine, sat in front of the bed and waited for him.

As soon as he closed the door, walked to the table, picked up the wine glass and drank it, and before he finished drinking a glass of wine, he saw Chun Niang on the bed, but she cried out.

Liu Yuanzhi was stunned for a moment, and heard the cry miserable, seeing the spring girl, the moth frowned, and the tears fell from the pearls, if it weren't for the rain and the clouds, it must be sad and hateful.

Seeing that Chunniang was crying endlessly, Liu Yuanzhi stopped: "Don't cry! "I spent five taels of silver, but I didn't do it to listen to others cry.

At this time, Liu Yuanzhi only felt that Chunniang was unwilling, and he felt that the world was declining, the world was hot and cold, and even a dusty woman...... I'm disgusted with myself, too.

That Chunniang still cried and cried endlessly.

"Okay, stop crying." Liu Yuanzhi sat next to Chunniang, "I know...... I'm ugly...... But," Liu Yuanzhi swallowed, "I'm ugly...... But I'm gentle. ”

(Chun Niang said with tears: Officials, do you want a recommendation from the slave family?) ）