At dusk, the boat arrives at Xuedian Lake, the river and Zhejiang big boats can go from Xuedian Lake to the East China Sea, it is a busy place for waterway traffic, the lake scenery is also extremely beautiful, the sunset is obliquely shining, the lake water jumps gold, the reeds of the shallow shoal have the wind blowing on the "rustle" to make the rain sound, Yang Tieya, the master of calligraphy and painting at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, has a poem: "The half-empty pavilion Dianshan Temple, the boat at the mouth of the lake on three sides. When the reed leaves sound, the wind is like rain, and the water is like the sky at the flat place of the waves. The wine in Gulai Village is tasteless, and it doesn't matter how much money you can buy sea bass. Ming said that the rainbow bridge was under the bridge, and the king stopped hanging the three sages. "It's really a poem with a picture.

Zhujiajiao Town on the east bank of Xuedian Lake is full of business travelers, the market is prosperous, Zhang Yuan and his entourage are in Zhujiajiao Town that night to rest, the cabin is spacious, and there is no need to go to the guest house, only go to the market to buy some fine food on the boat, Zhang Yuan was accompanied by Mu Jingyan to go to the town post house with a small survey card to ask for two carriages from Yicheng, and set off for Jiaxing early in the morning.

The night is like ink, the lights on the boat are bright, more than a dozen people are very lively in a boat, Zhang Ruoxi wanted to read a few pages for his younger brother, but Lu Chun and Lu Jie pestered his mother or uncle to tell a story, and the shadow puppet played for a day and was tired of playing, Zhang Ruoxi and Zhang Yuan each told a story to the little brothers, Zhou's mother and the two maids took him to sleep, only after the two children fell asleep, the boat could be quiet.

Zhang Ruoxi finished reading the last dozen pages of the fifty-fifth volume of the "Complete Book of Surnames" for his younger brother Zhang Yuan, and watched Zhang Yuan make a four-hundred-word four-book title and eight shares in half an hour, Zhang Ruoxi has not learned the eight-strand text, but the ancient text is read a lot, Zhang Yuan's craftsmanship is very ancient text, cold-eyed and sweet-hearted, and it is the eight-strand text - Zhang Ruoxi occasionally turned around under the lamp, and saw Mu Zhenzhen kneeling on his knees and sitting in a corner listening quietly, so he smiled and asked: "Is it really literate?" ”

Mu Zhen really wanted to nod but was embarrassed, and looked at the young master with some embarrassment.

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "It's really smart, you can recognize a lot of words without a teacher, this time I came to Qingpu with me, and along the way I taught her to recite four ancient texts - before and after the teacher table and before and after the Chibi Fu, she memorized them, and then let her recognize the words against the four texts, maybe they will recognize it, I haven't asked her these days, sister, you test her." ”

Zhang Ruoxi saw that his younger brother still had the heart to teach Mu Zhenzhen to read and write, and he really was very interested in this fallen girl, so he smiled and said: "If you really know how to read, it is even more amazing, both civil and military." ”

"Miss-" Mu Zhenzhen blushed.

Zhang Ruoxi said: "I didn't mean to make fun of you, I think you are powerful, what about your little dragon stick, let me see?" ”

Mu Zhenzhen twisted and pinched and took out two sticks, one long and one short, from behind the hatch, the two sticks were connected by iron chains, Zhang Ruoxi held the short stick curiously, and gently shook the other long stick, Zhang Yuan hurriedly tilted his body to avoid some, and said: "Sister, don't dance around, you will hit yourself." ”

Zhang Ruoxi glanced at her younger brother: "You treat me like a child." Returning the small dragon stick to Mu Zhenzhen: "Show me the real dance one day, this must be practiced often, right?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "It's rare to see her practice. Looking at Mu Zhenzhen and said: "You have to practice martial arts, don't think that dancing with guns and sticks is a cheap thing, but I admire people with martial arts, do you think if you don't know martial arts, where will you be now?" ”

Mu Zhenzhen heard Zhang Yuan say this, and she also had a chill down her spine, if she didn't know martial arts, then she was afraid that she was dead now, so she heard the young master say again: "Of course, if you don't know martial arts, I won't take you out to show up." ”

Zhang Ruoxi sighed and said: "Lu Yangfang is too much, he mentioned to Lu Lang a few days ago that he wanted to buy Zhenzhen, Lu Lang scolded him, but he didn't expect him to dare to take it by force if he didn't give up, and now he is asking for hardship." ”

After a conversation, the night was late, Zhang Ruoxi went back to the rear cabin to rest, this kind of boat of the Lu family is not as narrow and long as ordinary ships, relatively wide and fat, there are two large cabins, two by two, there is a three-foot aisle in the middle, the bow and stern have a small tent, three boatmen live in the small tent in the front, the small tent in the back is the kitchen and two boat ladies live, Zhang Ruoxi and two children, two maidservants, and Zhou's mother in the back cabin, Zhang Yuan and Mu Zhenzhen, Wuling, Mu Jingyan in the front cabin - after Zhang Yuan lay down, Mu Zhenzhen folded Zhang Yuan's clothes and put them aside, then went to blow out the lights and undressed and lay down on the bed next to him, lightly without making a sound at all.

It was late at night, and the town of Zhujiajiao not far away still had a faint sound of the city, as pervasive as the moonlight, Zhang Yuan pondered "cautious independence" and "conscience" in his mind for a while, and was about to fall asleep, Mu Jingyan's snoring sounded, and Zhang Yuan's sleepiness was suddenly lifted off, and he couldn't fall asleep after tossing and turning, and suddenly heard Mu Zhenzhen on the next couch whispering: "Young master-"

Zhang Yuan turned sideways to face her, and saw Mu Zhenzhen's eyes shining in the moonlight, and her long hair scattered on the pillow, only to hear her whisper: "Young master, my father has quarreled with you, right?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Well, a little. ”

Mu Zhenzhen said: "The maid asked Daddy to move the futon to the small tent to sleep." "Just about to get up-Zhang Yuan said: "Forget it, don't wake up your father, I'll cover my head, and I'll fall asleep after a while." ”

Mu Zhenzhen smiled and said, "Thank you, young master." ”

After a while, Zhang Yuan heard Mu Zhenzhen also let out a slight snoring sound, who made his ears very smart, until he recited the fifty-fifth volume of the "Surname Li Quanshu" silently before falling asleep, and when he woke up the next morning, it was already bright, and the three carriages of the post house in Zhujiajiao Town were already waiting for the shore.

Mu Jingyan hired four porters, moved the utensils off the boat and made five loads, he also picked a load and followed the carriage to hurry, and arrived at the Jiaxing Canal Wharf on the evening of March 12, the Sanmingwa white canopy boat of the Huiji Shang clan was waiting, and the boatman and his wife were very happy to see Zhang Yuan come back so soon, and it was very difficult to wait here for nothing.

Three days later at dusk, the white canopy boat moored at the mouth of the canal outside Hangzhou, look at the large and small ships at the port, I didn't see Qin Liangyu's red-headed camphor boat, presumably it was back to the stone pillar in the east of Sichuan, then Qin Minping didn't know where to live, maybe he lived in the Yongjinmen Outer Weaving Bureau, didn't Qin Minping want to build a shrine for Eunuch Zhong?

Zhang Yuan stood at the bow of the boat and watched the canal fall, and suddenly saw a big stone pillar soldier running over, kowtowing to Zhang Yuan on the shore and saying, "Zhang Gongzi is back, and the villain has been waiting here since yesterday." ”

Zhang Yuan recognized this stone pillar soldier, named Ma Kuoqi, who went to Eunuch Qiu's father's house last time to play a bitter trick, tall and burly, good at enduring hardships, and when he asked, he knew that Qin Minping sent him to wait here, and it was expected that Zhang Yuan should also return these days.

Zhang Yuan asked Qin Minping where he lived, but it was an inn outside the Yongjin Gate, and Qin Minping and twenty local soldiers took the inn down.

Ma Kuoqi said: "Zhang Gongzi will go and meet my Lord Qin now." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Let's go again tomorrow morning, my sister is here, I want to take care of it." ”

Ma Kuoqi remembered something and said: "Zhang Gongzi, the villain has something to report, yesterday when the villain was waiting for Zhang Gongzi's boat in this river port, he saw someone inquiring about Zhang Gongzi's affairs, and asked Zhang Gongzi why he left?" ”

Zhang Yuan asked, "What kind of person is it?" ”

Ma Kuoqi said: "There are two people, both of whom are wearing Tsing Yi short coats, and they don't look like good people. ”

Zhang Yuan asked, "Who did those two people ask me about?" ”

Ma Kuoqi said: "I asked the porter and porter at the port. ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Please go and ask me about those porters, do you know what those two Tsing Yi people do?" ”

Ma Kuoqi went to ask, and asked those porters and porters in groups of three or five, and after a while, he ran over to Zhang Yuan and replied: "Zhang Gongzi, there is a porter who said that he was a person who beat the line. ”

"Hit?" Zhang Yuan didn't quite understand.

Ma Kuoqi didn't know what the beating was, so he went to call the porter and asked Zhang Yuan to question, and the porter told Zhang Yuan that the beating was to avenge personal revenge for others and make a career of beating people, and that such a line first appeared in Suzhou and Songjiang, and they were all homeless evil teenagers and bad people who went east and abroad, forming a group of gangs, bullying the weak and bullying the widows, and the thugs in the beating line were also called green hands, and the brave bare hands, some carried weighing hammers, pickets and short sticks, and deliberately provoked people who were often passed by by someone designated by the employer for revenge. When Zhang Yuan heard this, he immediately remembered that Yao Fu had hired Shanyin Lama to bluff and break the leg of the student Liu Yingcai because of a dispute in the school, and the Shanyin Lama had not yet formed a gang, and in this Hangzhou metropolis, since he dared to call the line, there must be a large group of people, and the green hand who fought the line inquired about him at this canal wharf, he must have been entrusted to beat him Zhang Yuan, and the person who instructed him also knew his whereabouts, who could it be? Is it Yao Fu's family or Dong Zuchang?

Zhang Yuan rewarded the porter with dozens of dollars, and after the porter thanked him, Zhang Yuanzheng said to Ma Kuoqi that he should report to Qin Minping and send ten local soldiers to standby, but when he saw that the porter ran back again, he looked nervous and said: "This son, those two people are here again, and they are the green hands who are fighting." With that, he dodged away.

Zhang Yuan raised his eyes and saw two evil young men, in blue short clothes, with high and thin nets, and tight trouser legs, all the way to ask this and that came this way, and a porter avoided it, so he was slammed and fell to the ground - Zhang Yuan turned back to Mu Jingyan, who was already standing at the bow of the boat, and said: "Uncle Mu, take the stick, knock down those two Tsing Yi singles, and pull them here for questioning." ”

Ma Kuoqi immediately said: "I'll go and arrest the two of them." He strode towards the two wicked boys.

The two evil young men saw that Ma Kuoqi was burly and majestic, and his posture was not good, and one of the green hands was still coloring and shouted, "What do you want to do?" Before the words fell, he was punched in the chest, and before he could fall backwards, he was grabbed by a big dustpan-like hand in the chest and lifted up.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the other evil boy pulled his legs and fled, Ma Kuoqi grabbed a person and was about to chase him, so he dragged the evil boy back and asked Zhang Yuan to question.

(To be continued)