The four of them came out of the "Yuyuan Valley" and first found the place where the horse was tied along the path. Since he didn't expect Xun Dai'er to go with him, Zhou Chuqing only prepared three horses, and now he had to let Mu Beiting and his wife ride one horse, and he and Master Tongze each rode one, as for the four big burdens, they naturally fell on the mounts of the two of them.

After walking up the woods path for about an hour, the four of them finally reached the official road, and after walking for another half hour, people gradually appeared around them, and sparse small villages began to appear.

Zhou Chuqing drove the horse first, went to the front to find a short-term pavilion station, ordered some meals in the first store, and also ordered a few vegetarian foods for Master Tongze, and then asked the post chief to hire a carriage and a coachman.

When everything was arranged, the next three people also happened to enter the store. There was nothing to say here. The four of them did not rest after eating, and immediately set off again.

This time, Xun Dai'er sat in the carriage, and Mu Beiting was finally able to let go of the whipping horse, and this time, everyone's marching speed was significantly faster. After several hours of non-stop, they finally arrived at the city of Ningbo in the middle of the night.

At this time, the city gate has long been closed, but the city tower is lit with a bright torch, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day. The soldiers on duty at the head of the city saw Zhou Chuqing and the others from afar, and when they got closer, they shouted and asked, "Who are you, and why are you here late at night?"

Zhou Chuqing immediately took a step forward and said loudly: "If you go back to the soldier, I am Zhou Chuqing of the Lin Mansion, and these are good friends who accompanied me to the mansion as guests." We waited only because there was something on the road that delayed the journey, so that we missed the time to enter the city, and asked the soldier to be accommodating and let me go into the city. ”

Before the soldier could reply, a short and fat soldier beside him shouted: "You are not allowed to enter the city late at night, this is the rule, if you want to enter the city, you must wait until dawn tomorrow." ”

But as soon as his words fell, he was immediately kicked on the buttocks, and the whole person staggered forward a few steps in an instant.

The person who kicked him was the soldier who was robbed by him. The soldier seemed to be still angry, and scolded again: "Who told you to talk so much, do you know how high the sky is and how thick the ground is?

The soldier was kicked, and he felt aggrieved in his heart, but he didn't dare to fight back, so he had to walk away stupidly.

After the soldier had taught this ignorant subordinate a lesson, he turned his face with an earnest face when he turned his face again, and at the same time sneered: "It turned out to be Brother Zhou, disrespectful, disrespectful! My little brother has just come from the north, and he doesn't know the true god in front of him, if there is any offense, I hope you will forgive me!"

Zhou Chuqing said: "It is the duty of the soldier to ask, why is it offensive, but I am reckless." ”

The soldier smiled, nodded yes again and again, and said, "Please wait a while, Brother Zhou, and I'll open the door." ”

Zhou Chuqing raised his hand and arched, and responded: "Then there is a labor official!"

While waiting for the door to open, Mu Beiting grabbed the reins and passed his mount sideways, and began to look around, carefully looking at the once extremely familiar city in front of him.

He found that nothing had changed, that the city was still as it was, that the half of the stone tablet on the left side of the gate was still there, still wedged in the earth, and that the flag on the head of the city did not seem to have been renewed, and that a corner of the banner on the side of the pole was still missing.

Looking at these familiar little marks in front of him, he felt very comfortable, and he felt as if he had never left. But when his gaze slowly moved down to the word "Ningbo" above the city gate hole, the mottled handwriting suddenly made him think suddenly. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Going around and around, I'm still back after all..."

I only heard a few "creaks" suddenly sounded at the city gate, and then I saw a city gate slowly open from the inside, and the previous soldier greeted him with a smile on his face, and shouted loudly: "Brother Zhou's journey is hard, please go into the city." ”

Zhou Chuqing smiled and clenched his fists to express his gratitude, and said, "There is Brother Lao!" and then turned sideways and said, "Master, please, Brother Mu, please." ”

The soldier wanted to put a few words on Zhou Chuqing, but when he heard the latter sentence, the whole person couldn't help but be stunned, and hurriedly looked to the side, only to see the appearance of Tong Mu and the others, and immediately shouted: "Master Tong Ze? Mu Daxia?"

The names of Master Tongze and Mu Beiting resounded in the Central Plains, and very few people didn't know it, and at this time, when the two of them saw that they were recognized by the soldier in front of them, they both smiled slightly, but no one spoke.

Zhou Chuqing saw that the soldier was still in a daze, so he didn't wait for him to come back to his senses, and when he went to the city first, Master Tongze and Mu Beiting behind him also followed, and walked through the city gate hole together.

The soldiers on the side only watched in a daze as these people passed through the city gate, and gradually disappeared into the vast night, until someone next to him called for him, and then he came back to his senses. But then he frowned again and muttered to himself: "It's really strange, in the past few days, there have been many big names in the city in the rivers and lakes, and all of them are going to the Lin family, could it be that something big happened to the Lin family?"

His words were immediately heard by a nearby soldier, who wanted to curry favor with him, so he answered: "If you are curious, if you are curious, I will go to the Lin Mansion tomorrow and ask." ”

Unexpectedly, the head of the soldier smacked him fiercely and scolded: "Bah, what kind of character are you? Why don't you go and close the city gate to Lao Tzu!"

When the little soldier saw that the horse's fart had slapped on the horse's leg, he didn't dare to say anything further, so he had to resignedly say, "Then please go to the city first, and the little one will close the door." ”

The soldier snorted coldly, rolled his eyes and glared at him, and turned to enter the city.

Zhou Chuqing walked extremely fast, walked through the streets and alleys, and arrived outside the Lin Mansion in a short time.

But when they saw the scene at the gate of the mansion, they couldn't help but be dumbfounded, only to see that the Lin Mansion was brightly lit at this time, as if it was daytime, and there were two servants at the door who had just sent off the guests and were about to return to the house.

Zhou Chuqing wondered in his heart, and after identifying the identities of the two servants in front of him, he immediately called: "Qin Kai, Zhao Sheng." What are you two doing here?"

The two turned their heads when they heard the sound, and when they saw that it was the chief housekeeper Zhou Chuqing, they hurriedly greeted them.

Qin Kai said with a smile: "Big butler, you are finally back, you have really busy us in the past few days." ”

Zhao Sheng hurriedly answered: "That's it, that's it, I have to send away a few more batches of guests in a while!"

Zhou Chu Qingqi said: "Send off guests, what's going on? There are guests in the house?"

Seeing that the chief butler was full of surprise, Qin Kai couldn't help but let out a "huh" and asked, "Didn't the master send out invitations and invite all the martial arts heroes to the mansion as guests?"

Zhou Chuqing was confused, and hurriedly asked, "What invitation? Why didn't I know about this?"

As he spoke, he glanced back at Master Tongze and Mu Beiting, but saw that the two of them were also contemplating and guessing, so he turned around and asked, "Why did the invitation happen, when did it happen, and who came?"

Qin Kai was even more curious in his heart, and said: "The big butler really doesn't know?Oh, it's no wonder that the guests are looking for the host and you, they all say that the guest has arrived, but the person who invited the guest is gone..."

Zhao Sheng's temperament has always been impatient, and now he saw that Qin Kai was procrastinating in his speech, and he didn't answer any questions, so he made a reproach: "Oh, you are really verbose, if the big housekeeper knows about this, do you still need to ask you?" Then he turned to look at Zhou Chuqing and said, "Big housekeeper, this matter is like this." Three days ago, Ma Lingfeng, the 'Guanzhong Hero', came to visit the house with a letter from the head of the house, saying that he was invited by the head of the house to come to the house to enjoy a strange book. But since that day, many chivalrous guests have come to the house one after another, holding the owner's handwritten invitation, and they all said that they were invited to enjoy a strange book. As of today, sixty-one people have arrived. ”