The shrine was filled with the sounds of slurping porridge, the crunching of vegetables, and the sighs of many children.
A little boy muttered dissatisfiedly: "I haven't eaten meat buns for many days..."
A little girl agreed: "Even dry rice is only eaten at noon, and I drink gruel in the morning and evening..."
A fat girl disagreed: "Didn't you get enough to eat? What are you mumbling about?"
In order to emphasize her opinion, the little chubby girl deliberately drank loudly and licked her lips while eating vegetables. Many children expressed their support, and the slurping noise became louder for a while.
The lame old man came to Lao Tao's room and saw that the precious table and chairs were dusty. The bowl of dry rice and fried vegetables in front of Lao Tao had not yet been touched.
"You have to eat. All the children in the charity are counting on you to earn money. If you eat less of this bowl of dry rice, their porridge won't be much thicker."
The old Taoist sighed, picked up the chopsticks and shoveled the rice into his mouth, but listening to the slurping sounds coming from the hall, it always felt hard to swallow.
"Old man, why don't you ask me why you can't get your money back?"
The lame old man touched the food plate to make sure it was still hot.
"What's your question? In the past, when you told fortunes, you often couldn't get your money back. It's not like you've lived a hard life."
"Don't you ask me why I didn't go out with this table and chairs?"
The lame old man didn't speak. He picked up a bowl of porridge and drank it by himself. Unlike the other children, he drank the porridge without making any sound.
"Laoguai, I don't have the shame to use this table and chair to make money anymore. I worked for others and cheated Master Xiao more than once.
I regret it so much, I wish Master Xiao would appear in front of me right away and slap me in the mouth."
The lame old man was drinking porridge with his head down. He didn't speak, but there was a sound in the room.
"Since I worked for others, why didn't I make any money?"
The lame old man was startled and almost dropped his porridge bowl. A tall young man stood in the room at some point. He had a long knife hanging from his waist and was dressed in luxurious clothes.
The old Taoist stood up in panic: "Who are you? How could you break into someone else's yard and break into someone else's house!"
Zhan Yu sighed: "Thousand-Armed Tathagata, stop pretending. Yan Shifan is not the only one who has power in the world. He knows the old affairs of the world. You should know about the Jiaxing Zhan family."
The old Taoist put down his chopsticks and sighed.
"It turns out that you are the young master of the 'Huan Dao Sect'. I have never seen you take action. I only know that you are a guard of King Yu. I don't know that you are also a child of the Jianghu.
In this case, it is not surprising that I can find out my background."
Zhan Yu smiled and said: "You have heard me a long time ago, right? You even recognized my identity. You know that King Yu and Xiao Feng are friends, so you beat your chest and say those nonsense."
The old Taoist didn't blush, and his attitude was very sincere.
"If I say that I didn't hear you, I can't lie to you. Everyone in the Jianghu knows that I am not good at anything else, but I am good at Qinggong and my ears and eyes.
But what I said was indeed true to my heart. I don’t even dare to tell fortunes on the main street anymore, for fear of meeting Xiao Feng and being embarrassed to see him.”
Zhan Yu was noncommittal and repeated his question.
"Since I worked for others, why didn't I make any money? The person who asked you to work should not be so stingy."
The old Taoist was silent for a while, then smiled to himself.
“If I don’t take their money, then they force me to steal; if I take their money, then they hire me to steal.
It's a bit ridiculous, isn't it? A thief should pay attention to this."
Zhan Yu listened to the still loud sound of drinking porridge in the hall, and raised a smile on his lips.
Xiao Feng was right, no matter why this former big thief quit, he is still a good person now.
Even if he was forced to do bad things, he did not become a bad person.
"How did they force you?"
"The first time, Yan Shifan threatened to kill these children and asked me to steal things for him, on the condition that he would not threaten me to do it next time."
Zhan Yu frowned: "He doesn't keep his word?"
"No, he is very conceited. Just like me, he wants to build a memorial arch despite being a bitch. You can't imagine how he built the memorial arch.
The person who threatened me the second time was Zhao Er. He said that if I didn't steal things for him, he would steal the children and sell them."
Zhan Yu laughed angrily, this was really not ordinary shamelessness. If Xiao Feng were present, he would definitely think of a gangster movie from later generations.
The boss said: If you tell me the password, I swear not to kill you.
The little guy thought about it and believed in the boss's integrity.
After getting the password, the boss said to the second, go ahead, you haven't sworn.
"I brought dozens of children with me, and I couldn't run away. I had to let them take turns bullying me."
The old Taoist wiped away his tears, looking very much like a brothel girl who had washed her hands of herself and turned into a good woman, but was suddenly bullied by others in turn, and her mentality was extremely complicated.
"I did secretly exchange that piece of jade and gave it to Zhao Er. But I couldn't do anything to help Xiao Feng, and I didn't dare to come forward to testify.
Tell him that I'm sorry for him."
Zhan Yu shook his head: "He doesn't need your help in this matter. He asked me to help you."
The old Taoist was stunned, wiping his half-hearted tears and looking at Zhan Yu in confusion.
"Why did he want to help me?"
"I don't understand either. He said that as long as he is a good person, he will help him if he can. Maybe one day he will help himself. Can you understand?"
The old Taoist lowered his head to grab the rice. He didn't say he understood or didn't understand, but he ate significantly faster.
The next day, Xiao Feng stretched out and walked out of the house. The people in the tree had already evacuated. As soon as day broke, there was no hiding place in the tree.
Qi Jiguang took off his Feiyu suit, took off his embroidered spring knife, and looked at the waist tag repeatedly.
"Except for the different words on the belt tag, the clothes and knife are exactly the same as those of Jin Yiwei."
Xiao Feng nodded. In fact, the patterns were slightly different. But Qi Jiguang's fierceness made him look perfect in this outfit.
Not to mention at night, even during the day, people can't see any difference from Jin Yiwei.
"Ten days, at least ten days, hum, it's true."
Xiao Feng saw Qi Jiguang stretching and looking like he was about to catch up on his sleep, and immediately shattered his dream.
"You come from a family of military commanders. You usually fight in wars and deliver messages in the army, but do you use flying pigeons to deliver messages?"
Qi Jiguang laughed loudly. He finally discovered that Xiao Feng also didn't understand something.
"Mr. Xiao, you must have listened too much to stories told in teahouses. The military situation is so fierce and ever-changing that there is no way we can use such things as homing pigeons.
Short distances rely on fast horses to convey messages, and carrier pigeons are used to communicate with people thousands of miles away, but what can people thousands of miles away do, direct frontline operations?"
Xiao Feng didn't feel embarrassed and asked if he didn't understand.
"Then the carrier pigeon is useless?"
"That's not true. Many armies will also carry a carrier pigeon, but only as a last resort. When they are surrounded by enemies and cannot even get out, they will release the carrier pigeon.
But at that time, whether the homing pigeon can arrive smoothly, how the people who receive the letter will react, and when rescue will come, we can only leave it to fate."
"If I want to raise homing pigeons to send messages, do you know how to tame them?"
Qi Jiguang shook his head: "There are not many homing pigeons used in the army. They are all bought and trained in the market with a lot of money. Adults can also buy them if they are in urgent need.
If you want to tame it yourself, then you have to ask Shen Lian. Jinyiwei's important ability is to inquire and deliver information, but they are proficient in this."
Xiao Feng walked into Shuntian Mansion calmly. An Qingyue had been waiting for him here for a long time. As soon as she saw him coming in, she stepped forward to greet him.
"Why did you come here! I found out about the rumors. They first came from gambling houses, and then spread on the streets."
"Do you know who said it first?"
An Qingyue shook her head and quickly defended herself.
"Gambling houses are the most crowded places. New gamblers often come in to gamble. It's impossible to find out who made the first comment."
Xiao Feng felt funny in his heart when he saw her anxious and dissatisfied look.
"There's no need to check. If you find Zhao Er, he will definitely know."
An Qingyue frowned. She didn't know why she suddenly jumped on Zhao Er, and Xiao Feng didn't explain.
"Remember, don't look for it in a big way. Are there any of your agents who are willing to gamble? Are you usually a bit on the same page with Zhao Er?"
An Qingyue nodded, expressing a certain degree of embarrassment for having such a person under his command.
"Lao Tian is a gambler. He complained before that Zhao Er relied on Zhao Wenhua's power and didn't even look down on the police.
If you lose, you won’t give it, but if you win, you insist on it! They even had a fight about it.”
"Then let Lao Tian go out and say that if Zhao Er doesn't pay back the money he owes, he will be a coward. Now he can't live any longer, and he is desperate and wants to fight.
If you can't find Zhao Er, go find Zhao Er's younger brothers and beat them up one by one. This is a business matter, if he can't beat him, you bring someone to help him beat him!"
An Qingyue was stunned: "What then?"
Xiao Feng looked at An Qingyue's surprised apple face and smiled.
"There are so many young men who were beaten, and they must know where Zhao Er is hiding. They have never been so angry before, and they will definitely go to Zhao Er to support them.
Remember, if you follow them, you can find Zhao Er. If someone stops them on the way, just catch them and you can find Zhao Er!"
An Qingyue looked at Xiao Feng who was walking away in a fluttering manner, thinking that this person is really wicked.
"Where are you going again?"
"I'm going to the prison to see Lao Wang. I didn't expect that Lao Wang is not amazing in appearance and his family status is quite high.
His wife wants to cry just thinking about him. She is such a good woman, rare, rare. His daughter is also pretty good."
Xiao Feng had a regretful expression as if he had flowers stuck on cow dung, and seemed to have a little longing for it.
An Qingyue's whole body suddenly tensed up.
"If you dare to have an idea of Lao Wang's wife and daughter, I will kill you!"