Wei Qing woke up slowly, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that he was in an old house, the corners of the beams and walls were covered with cobwebs, the hour seemed to be dawn, and the slightest glimmer of light came out from the cracks in the broken tiles of the roof, he slowly turned his head full of doubts, but saw that the little beggar named Cao Lu was sitting next to him and looked at him with a smile.

Wei Qing was stunned, then sat up and reached out to grab Cao Lu's collar and shouted: "Return the letter to me quickly, otherwise I will die and become a ghost and entangle you." Cao Lu waved his hand away from Wei Qing, and then pushed him to it with a gentle push, and said in a playful tone: "I'm not your little lady next door, why are you pestering me if you don't die, and relax, after you have seen my master and asked you a few words, the letter will naturally return you."

Cao Lu said, scooped out a bowl of thick white porridge from the burning iron urn beside him, and handed it to Wei Qing in a broken porcelain bowl. Wei Qing saw that he looked innocent, and he hadn't eaten well for many days, and he couldn't resist his hunger when he smelled the aroma of rice, so he immediately took the bowl and swallowed it with a snort, he ate too quickly, choked, and retched.

Cao Lu stretched out his hand to help him stroke his back, and said with a smile: "Why are you in such a hurry, I poisoned the porridge, you don't think your life is good, you have to eat it to death in a hurry, so that you can see Lord Yama reincarnated." Although the two had a fight before, Wei Qing always felt that this Cao Lu was not like a bad guy for some reason, but there was a faint sense of closeness in his heart, and his guard was also relaxed a lot, after he relieved himself, he muttered while bowing his head to eat porridge: "I'm not worried about you being poisoned, I'll beat you, if you want to kill me, you don't have to go to such great lengths."

Cao Lu laughed out loud, took off the gourd hanging on the green bamboo pole, took off the stopper, and took a sip and said: "It seems that I didn't beat you stupid before, but opened your head, your temper is not to my liking, it is better to follow me in the future." Wei Qing didn't talk to him, he just gobbled it up, and in a moment he ate a big bowl of white porridge like a whirlwind, and he was about to get up and go to the urn to eat another bowl.

Cao Lu grabbed Wei Qing and said: "One bowl is enough, you were so hungry before, and if you suddenly eat too much, you will really die, and you have to leave some for me", after saying that, he handed the gourd in his hand to Wei Qing, but took the bowl from his hand, and scooped the porridge and ate it slowly without washing. Wei Qingxin said: "I used to eat three bowls of rice at home in one go, but I haven't heard that eating too much rice will kill people." However, since Cao Lu said this, he was embarrassed to scoop the porridge again, so he didn't squeak at the moment, picked up Cao Lu's gourd and drank a big sip.

Who knew that as soon as the water in the gourd entered his mouth, a hot and spicy choking breath suddenly burned from his throat to his stomach, Wei Qing couldn't help coughing violently, it turned out that he didn't want Cao Lu to be young, and the gourd was not filled with water, but with spirits. Cao Lu saw that he was embarrassed, and he laughed so much that he even squirted out the porridge he ate, and immediately felt pity again, so he hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand, and picked up the rice grains that squirted out of the corners of his mouth and face and fed them back to his mouth.

"How old are you to start drinking", Wei Qing remembered that his father had told him several times before, saying that he could not drink until he grew up. Cao Lu snorted with his nose nonchalantly: "Who said you can't drink when you're young, I drank for the first time when I was six years old, and now it's ten years old, and everyone in the rudder drinks alcohol, how can there be a reason not to drink if you want to be a hero." "Who said I can't drink anymore, I just drank and choked on a sip just now", Wei Qing heard him say heroically, he was suspicious in his heart, and he didn't want to be looked down upon in front of Cao Lu, so he deliberately pretended to be old and indifferent, opened his mouth and poured another sip of wine. Although Wei Qing didn't drink much of this drink, after all, he drank for the first time, and he was so spicy that he grinned and panted, which made Cao Lu laugh again.

Both of them are young people's age of heart, and the so-called don't fight and don't know each other, after you and I have described the name and age one by one, they talked warmly as if they were friends who have known each other for many years, until someone called Cao Lu outside the door, he went out and muttered a few words to the visitor, and then went back to the house and said to Wei Qing: "Brother Qing, please come with me, my master wants to see you, and I have something to ask you."

Wei Qing followed behind Cao Lu, through a porch into the second courtyard, in the middle of the front of a large dilapidated house without a door, stood several adult beggars dressed in quail clothes, some armed with iron rods, some with large knives at their waists, and five or six bags tied to their backs, they were tall or short, fat or thin, but they were all people with knotted muscles and cold eyes.

Cao Lu didn't wait outside the door, he led Wei Qing straight into the house, there were no tables and chairs in the house, there were some dry straw piled up in the house, only a middle-aged man in beggar costume and over forty years old sat on a bench in the middle, I saw that he had a dark complexion, a slight beard under his chin, a big scar on his right cheek, eight pockets on his back, and a pair of fan-like hands were holding several letterheads in deep thought, until Cao Lu walked in front of him and called Master, he suddenly raised his head.

Cao Lu introduced Wei Qing's name to the middle-aged beggar, and then turned around and said proudly: "Brother Qing, this is my master, he is very famous in the martial arts, and the people in the rivers and lakes call him 'Yanmen Tiger', have you ever heard of my master's name." The middle-aged beggar waved his hand to interrupt Cao Lu, and said to Wei Qing: "Junior brother of the Wei family, my name is Lin Hu, and I am the helmsman of the beggar gang's righteous rudder, if you can trust me, you can tell me the origin of this letter in detail, and when I find out that what you said is true, I will definitely hand this letter to Lord Lu in person."

Wei Qingshang hesitated to say it, and Lin Hu didn't ask and urge when he saw him, but slowly told him some of the daily actions of the beggar gang. It turned out that although the people in this beggar gang were all beggars, they were always loyal to serve the country and save the people and help the weak as their own responsibility, and Lu'an Prefecture was an important town in the north of the Song Dynasty, so the beggar gang set up a special rudder here, responsible for external espionage and destruction, internal protection of important personnel, eradication of spies, etc., and there were many contacts and cooperation with the local garrison. On that day, Cao Lu was arranged to secretly monitor in front of the Yamen of the Jiedu Envoy, but he met Wei Qing to deliver the secret letter, and heard that what he said was very important, so there was something later.

Wei Qing saw that Lin Hu was sincere, and there was a prestige in his words and deeds, and he already believed eighty percent in his heart, and he thought that it would be difficult for him to meet the Jiedu envoy of a state with his own ordinary people of unknown origin, and they beggars had the means to submit secret letters, so it was easier to succeed by handing over this matter to them.

Wei Qing no longer hesitated, starting from the slaughter of the village by the Jin soldiers, to witnessing Liao Chunhua entering the village to ambush the pursuers, and finally going south to deliver the letter, how to be rescued by the man in Tsing Yi to escape from danger, in addition to remembering Liao Chunhua's advice, he did not say his identity, only said that he was a righteous man who did not know his name, and told the whole thing in detail as it was. Lin Hu listened very carefully, and interjected from time to time to ask about some of the details, and after Wei Qing finished speaking, he asked some of the details several times, and Wei Qing also patiently answered them one by one.

"Brother Wei, I believe that what you said is true, but the stakes are very high, I still have to verify one or two before I can hand over the secret letter to the envoy of Benzhou", Lin Hu saw that Wei Qing replied with a frank and unsly expression, under his repeated interrogation, the answer was still consistent and correct, and he already believed it in his heart, but he always needed to be cautious as the organizer of the rudder, called Cao Lu and whispered in a low voice, arranged for the people in the rudder to go to investigate and verify, and said to Wei Qing: " Brother Wei and stay here, when the time comes, I have to trouble you to report to the Jiedu envoy in person, and the little apprentice Cao Lu will accompany you during this time."

Wei Qing thought to himself, don't you make it clear that you want to deduct me as a hostage, but what I said is not false, and I don't have to worry about being afraid, anyway, now that I am homeless, I just happen to be happy to eat white rice here and fight the autumn breeze for a few days. Cao Lu didn't have a playmate of the same age in the rudder, and when he saw Wei Qing Yingcheng staying, he looked very happy, and hurriedly happily pulled him to arrange a place to stay.

Wei Qing after that, he and Cao Lu walked all day long in the city to play and play, the two got along very much, Cao Lu and others in the rudder competed and gambled, although he did not end up but also shouted and cheered on the side, plus he was familiar with hunting, from time to time with Cao Lu went out of the city to hunt some wild beasts and wild birds such as hares and pheasants to invite the beggars to feast, everyone also liked this new little friend, under Cao Lu's prodding, he even learned to drink, but the amount of wine was not as big as Cao Lu.

For more than 20 days, Lin Hu asked Cao Lu to bring Wei Qing to meet again, but this time not only Lin Hu was present, there was also a middle-aged man with a fair face and a slightly fat figure standing next to him, that person was of medium height, wearing a purple brocade robe, and always had a faint smile on his face, looking like a kind squire, but if you look closely, you will find that there are a few small patches on the inconspicuous part of his robe. Wei Qing was about to give a salute, but Lin Hu directly pointed to the outside and said: "This is Master Cheng Bin, the deputy helmsman of my righteous rudder, and I called Brother Wei here today to tell you that after my many visits, the letter you brought should be true, and I have already discussed it with Master Cheng Helm, and I will meet with you tomorrow to meet Lord Lu Deng, the envoy of the Jiedu of Benzhou, and tell you about this matter."

Wei Qing nodded and promised, thinking that he had finally succeeded in his hard work, he couldn't help but feel very relieved, the deputy helmsman Cheng Bin praised him with a smile on his face, he was a young hero, and he would have a great achievement in the future. After a few more chats, Cheng Bin got up to say goodbye, Lin Hu didn't send each other, only asked Cao Lu to send off the guests on his behalf, and Wei Qing also followed Cao Lu to send him out.

After Cheng Bin went out, he said a few words of greeting before leaving, Wei Qing was about to turn around and enter the house, when a crisp and delicate voice suddenly sounded in his ears: "Brother Cao Lu, I haven't seen each other for many days, Qian'er misses you so much."