Outside the Tianque Gate, Xiao Cuo raised his hands sideways, and each held two buckets full of water, and walked with horses. This is the punishment for Xiao's mistake and high forgiveness.

Zhen Yi couldn't think of how to punish him, he had done everything he had done carrying water and chopping wood, cleaning floors, washing dishes and laundry, and carrying sandbags and doing push-ups. In the end, I couldn't help but come up with such a note, and I don't know if it was useful.

Obviously it was useless, and within a few days, he was twisted by Gao Shu to go to the backyard to chop wood, and then half a month later, he was supervised by Gao Shu to pick up water for most of the day.

In this way, the time has come to the eighth day of June of this year.

An invitation from the distant Jiankang changed Xiao Cuo's fate.

The person who wrote the letter was Wei Che, the uncle of the current emperor, King of Pingnan.

The content of the invitation is to invite the Hanshan Sword Sect to participate in the birthday of King Pingnan on the seventh day of July this year, and at the same time said that the invitations were also received by the Cangyang faction, the beggar gang, the Yuanyue Hall, the Chuanyun Villa, the Feihuafang and other major factions in the Central Plains and the four major families.

Li Wangqing received the invitation and immediately summoned the third junior brother Zhen Yi and the fourth junior brother Lu Hanxing to come to the Hanshan Hall to discuss.

Zhen Yi said: "King Pingnan once led the Central Plains martial arts to fight against the Jiangnan Haikou, which can be said to have made great contributions to the world. This year is his 50th birthday, and we can't help but go! Not to mention that the Cangyang faction and other sects have all gone. ”

"I'm afraid it's not as simple as participating in the birthday banquet" Lu Hanxing said worriedly: "I have heard rumors in the rivers and lakes that King Pingnan has a heart of disobedience, so I am afraid that there will be another article at this banquet." ”

Li Wangqing thought about it again and again, but still decided to go, "No matter what the rumors say, it is just rumors after all." Our Hanshan Sword Sect can't go away, I think we can send Xiao Cuo and Lu Yao to go!"

As soon as these words came out, Zhen Yi and Lu Hanxing were startled. Zhen Yi hurriedly said: "Senior brother in charge, Xiao Cuo, this kid can't take on such a heavy responsibility at all, please send someone else!"

"Yes!" Lu Hanxing said, "Lu Yao is only eighteen years old and can't take on the heavy responsibility! ”

"Canaries shouldn't be kept in cages all the time, it's right to release them at the right time" Li Wangqing said earnestly: "We can't protect them for a lifetime, not to mention that there will be a big disaster in the future!"

Zhen Yi and Lu Hanxing looked at each other, speechless for a while.

Li Wangqing said in a deep voice: "Since you object, do it!"

Lu Yao was also taken aback when he got the news, and shouted: "Dad, no, the head of the sect sent me and Senior Brother Xiao to attend King Pingnan's birthday." Lu Hanxing nodded in confirmation.

"Dad!" Lu Yao looked extremely excited, and said coquettishly: "It must be that the head of the family sees his daughter practicing martial arts diligently on weekdays, and she has made great progress." It gave me a chance to go down the mountain and practice. ”

Lu Hanxing rolled his eyes at his daughter, and said angrily: "Then you shouldn't send that kid Xiao Cuo to follow! His half-hung martial arts, how can he protect you!" Obviously, he was not at ease with Xiao Cuo.

Lu Yao said with a smile: "There is also a daughter, with your daughter's martial arts, you can rest assured." "The thought of being able to go down the mountain makes me excited.

Let's say that Xiao Cuo here got the news of going down the mountain and was also blindfolded, he didn't think that he would have the opportunity to go so far. At first, I thought it was a joke from the master, but when he got a brand new set of clothes, he realized that all this was true.

Xiao Cuo, who is only eighteen years old, has never traveled far before. The farthest is to the fishing village at the foot of the mountain. I was suddenly told that I was going to Jiankang, far away, and I was really scared to come and go for three months. So much so that after getting the clothes and saber, he returned to his residence in the south courtyard and was still in a daze.

At this time, Lu Yao's voice came from the gate of the South Courtyard, "Senior brother, the boss asked you to change your clothes and go with me to see him." Hurry up, I'll be waiting for you at the door. ”

A word woke up the dreamer, Xiao Cuo combed his messy hair, changed into a brand new clothes, clenched his sword, and walked out of the south courtyard.

Lu Yao was shocked when she saw Xiao Cuo's clean and tidy appearance for the first time, where was the sloppy senior brother in front of her.

"What's wrong with you?" Xiao Cuo touched his junior sister lightly and felt strange: "Why are you stunned there alone!"

Lu Yao looked his senior brother up and down, and said with a smile: "Yes, I didn't see it, I really responded to the old saying, 'People want clothes, Buddha needs gold'." ”

Xiao Cuo didn't talk nonsense with him, and the two of them quickly arrived at the Cold Mountain Hall together.

Li Wangqing and the others in the hall have been waiting for a long time. Seeing Xiao Cuo's dress, even Zhen Yi was surprised. But the more he looked at Xiao Cuo, the more he felt like a person.

Li Wangqing looked at the two of them and admonished: "The reason why I sent you here is the result of careful consideration, so you must believe in my vision, and even more in yourself." On this Pingnan Wang's birthday, you need to pay attention to two things. ”

continued: "The first is not to easily show martial arts on the birthday day, and the second is to go back quickly, and you must not be nostalgic for the scenery of the south of the Yangtze River. Depart early tomorrow morning. After saying that, give each of them a burden, which contains some broken silver and dry food.

As soon as Xiao Cuo returned to his residence in the South Courtyard, he was called by Zhen Yi for questioning.

Zhen Yi explained: "You have a long way to go to Jiankang, so you have to think twice about everything." Also, your martial arts practice time is still short, don't be impulsive in case of trouble, lest you die for it. ”

Xiao Cuo silently wrote them down one by one. Zhen Yi wanted to explain something, but found that everything that should be said was said, so he had to let Xiao Cuo go back to the room.

Early the next morning, Xiao Cuo and Lu Yao said goodbye to the people of the Hanshan Sword Sect, walked all the way north to the Dingjia Ferry, changed to take a boat down the river to the east, and arrived at Xiangyang City after a day and a night.

Xiangyang City has a history of thousands of years, and the scale is comparable to that of the Hanshan Sword Sect. When the two first arrived in Xiangyang, they were shocked by the prosperity.

The market is full of people and traffic. But it seems that the two have different focuses, Xiao Cuo has been looking at the tall city walls and bustling street markets of Xiangyang.

"It turns out that women can dress up like this" Lu Yao has rarely seen women on the mountain for ten years, and now she can't help but be crazy when she sees women dressed up in fancy ways.

Xiao Cuo touched his junior sister lightly, and said loudly, "Let's go to the inn to stay" and pulled Lu Yao, avoiding the crowd and finding an inn that didn't look gorgeous on the outside.

When the shopkeeper of the inn saw two customers coming, he hurriedly came out to greet them, and asked kindly: "Do the two guest officers stay in the hotel?" I have a room of A, B, C and third class here for the two of them to live in. ”

The rooms in the big city are very expensive, Xiao Cuo didn't dare to live casually, and it was easy to disappear. For the sake of conservatism, I asked about the situation of the C room.

The shopkeeper looked at the ledger and replied: "There are indeed two rooms in the C room, what do you think of them?"

Without waiting for Lu Yao to speak, Xiao mistakenly paid for the room and followed Xiao Er to the C-shaped room. The two rooms were next to each other, and when I opened the door, I found that the room was surrounded by walls on three sides, and only one door was ventilated. A bed, a table, and that's it.

Lu Yao looked at it and complained: "Senior brother, why don't you want two first-class rooms?"

Xiao Cuo looked around and explained: "The inn in the big city is precious! The price of the A-shaped room is several times that of the C-shaped room. If we don't save a little, the entanglement will not be enough. ”

Lu Yao pointed to the three walls and said, "It's June, how can people live on such a hot day!"

"Lay on the floor!" Xiao Cuo shrugged his shoulders and said indifferently: "How cool is the ground!"

Lu Yao took out some trivial silver taels from the package, lifted the saber and said, "Senior brother, I'll go out and find a better clothing appraisal shop and buy a piece of clothing and come back." ”

"Remember to go early and come back early if you find that I am not in the room. You just go to the teahouse next door and wait for me. Xiao Cuo admonished.

Lu Yao nodded in remembrance, and then left the inn.

In ancient times, there were no ready-made clothes for people to buy, so they had to go to a tailor's shop or go to a cloth shop to buy them, but it took a long time. Lu Yao was only resting in Xiangyang for one night, and there was obviously not enough time. The only option is the clothing shop.

The ladies of the big families wear the leftover clothes, and the "dead pawns" of the pawnshop will appear in the clothing appraisal shop, which can be bought and sold at a cheap price.

Xiangyang City is very large, and Lu Yao walked cautiously in the market, patiently looking for suitable clothes among the clothing shops.

Walking to a clothing shop next to Ouyang's pawnshop, Lu Yao was attracted by a set of sky-blue placket half-arm skirts inside, and involuntarily walked to the store to buy this set. I was very satisfied after changing into the fitting room.

Just as Lu Yao was about to return to the inn after paying the bill, he heard the sound of a fight next door. When I got out of the shop, two or three guys had already flown out of the pawnshop. Then two big men came out, and one of them scolded: "What do you mean by refusing to be my goods!"

The pawnshop shopkeeper came out in embarrassment and begged for mercy: "Two good men, what you should do does not meet the rules of the pawnshop." If it's for you, we can't afford to blame the owner!"

The owner of the clothing shop whispered to Lu Yao: "These two pimps are really bold, they dare to provoke the pawnshop of the Ouyang family." ”

As soon as Lu Yao heard it, she knew that there was a good show to watch.

Sure enough, he saw a white-clothed boy flying out of the crowd, and said sharply to the big man: "You dare to come to my Ouyang family's territory to spread wild!"

Before the two strong men could speak, the man in white beat them to the ground in a blink of an eye with his fists and feet.

The man in white raised his head and said proudly: "You don't look at what kind of place this is, next time you come to make trouble, see how I clean you up!"

The two splashes begged for mercy and fled in disgrace. The man in white didn't chase after him, and gently shook the folding fan into the pawnshop.

Lu Yao asked the shopkeeper curiously for a moment who this white-clothed boy was.

The shopkeeper replied: "This is Ouyang Shi's grandson, Ouyang Shu." ”

When she returned to the inn and didn't see her senior brother, Lu Yao had to wait at the teahouse next to the inn according to the previous agreement.

Unfortunately, there was no place on the first floor of the teahouse, so I had to go to the second floor and sit down near the window, and ordered a pot of tea and a plate of peanuts.

After a while, a middle-aged man came upstairs to look around, and saw that there were no more empty seats, and only a young woman occupied a table. He hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Can this girl allow the table to be shared?" ”

Lu Yao glanced at the man, only to see that he didn't look like a good person with a beard, and refused: "No! Why did you choose me to sit here? I see that there are seats elsewhere!"

The man put the long sword on the table in front of Lu Yao, and said with a smile: "Being able to drink tea next to a beautiful woman is also a great pleasure in life!

Lu Yao didn't wait for the senior brother, but waited for the apprentice. And how will she deal with it? See the next chapter, "King Pingnan."