knife

Chapter 400 Mother Cicada

Li Dachui sat in a small restaurant in the alley.

It's just a small town with about a hundred households, so naturally there aren't any high-end restaurants. But sometimes, the local specialties and delicacies are hidden in these little hole-in-the-wall eateries.

Finding a place like this is like a treasure hunt.

Li Dachui is very happy right now.

The small room contained only two or three tables and chairs, all of which were old but meticulously clean. The ceramic bowls served, though chipped at the rim, were also spotless. Moreover, Li Dachui noticed that these bowls were taken from a large wooden steamer. Just looking at the steam billowing from the steamer, Li Dachui's fondness for this hole-in-the-wall restaurant increased immeasurably.

They even know how to use high-temperature sterilization!
A steaming bowl of ginger tea, with two red dates floating in it, was given away for free.

The shopkeeper, who was in his early forties, told Li Dachui with a smile that this was worthless and he could drink as much as he wanted.

In this chilly spring weather, drinking a cup of hot tea like this can dispel wind and cold, and is very beneficial to the body.

This is a typical husband-and-wife team.

The woman was in charge of cooking, while the man was responsible for the outside work. Judging from their lifestyle, they should be considered a middle-class family in Huai'an.

"Life used to be a bit better!" The shopkeeper was a talkative man, clearing away the dishes on another table where the customers had just paid and left. "My son used to work on the canal, earning a good income each month. But business isn't what it used to be, so he's gone off the boat and is doing odd jobs in the city. I wonder when the fighting will stop and business on the river will pick up again."

"I heard that the current governor of Huai'an used to be a bandit from the north! Didn't they cause trouble in the area?" Li Dachui asked with a smile.

The shopkeeper's smile froze for a moment. He lowered his voice and whispered, "At first, weren't they like that? Those people were fierce and vicious, worse than bandits. But after General He killed several of them, they became much more restrained. They don't dare to bully people openly anymore."

"What do you think of General He?" Li Dachui then asked.

"When General He was still in charge of Nanzhen, we were doing quite well." The shopkeeper sighed, "But later the old general was defeated and dismissed by the court! After that, our lives here were like a dwarf descending a riverbank. Fortunately, now that young General He is back, everyone feels that there is still some hope."

Li Dachui nodded. He Zudao did indeed have a certain amount of popular support in the eight southern towns.

In fact, if an official governs a region and does not harm the people, but ensures that the people have a stable source of food, everyone will remember his good deeds.

When He Qiku was serving as the Grand General in Nanzhen, if you asked him what good things he did for the common people, I'm afraid no one could say for sure.

But at least he protected the peace of the area, making it difficult for foreign enemies to invade and preventing internal troubles, so that the people could live in peace and not have to worry about whether they would be able to come back at night if they went out in the morning.

Therefore, the people still remember his good deeds.

This trust has now extended to General Xiao He.

I picked up a piece of crisp, slightly sour lotus root with my chopsticks, and my appetite was immediately whetted.

The proprietress is a connoisseur of food; she knows which dishes to serve first and which to serve last.

"It tastes good!" Li Dachui nodded repeatedly.

Hearing the customer's praise, the shopkeeper's eyes narrowed into slits with a smile.

"Please enjoy your meal, sir. Braised carp is my wife's specialty. That fish was caught by me this morning in the river; it's absolutely fresh!"

The shopkeeper wasn't exaggerating!
The freshly cooked braised carp was truly tender and delicious, especially the sauce drizzled on top, which had a unique flavor. This must be the secret of this little restaurant.

Take a bite of the freshly cooked carp, and a sip of the restaurant's homemade rice wine.

For Li Dachui, this was truly a stolen half-day of leisure.

The purse suddenly vibrated slightly, and Li Dachui was stunned. After a long while, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.

Upon opening the box, a lifelike cicada spread its wings and buzzed as it took flight, seemingly trying to fly away.

Li Dachui grabbed the cicada with both hands.

This thing was shoved into Jiang Ping's hand when he threw her onto the shore.

Li Dachui always thought this was a perfectly made specimen, and he would take it out and play with it when he had nothing to do.

But today, he actually came back to life.
And it wants to fly away.

This is getting interesting. The innkeeper brought over another bowl of soup, which should be the last dish. After setting down the bowl, he looked at the buzzing cicada in Li Dachui's hand and asked in surprise, "Where did you catch that cicada at this time of year?"

"It's not real, just a little trinket!" Li Dachui laughed as he stuffed the cicada into the box and then shoved the box into his arms.

The soup was, of course, meant to fill any remaining gaps in the stomach.

After a satisfying meal, Li Dachui stood up, stretched, left behind a few small silver coins, and strode out of the small restaurant, his steps measured, under the shopkeeper's gleaming eyes.

The cicada in his arms kept buzzing until they left the town. Only then did Li Dachui take out the small box again, open it, and the cicada flapped its wings and flew to the left. Li Dachui raised an eyebrow and followed.

Upon seeing the cicada, Li Dachui was suddenly reminded of the time a few years ago when he went to kill the Tiele.

Although Tiele was alone, Duanmu Miaomiao arrived in a very short time. It was later discovered that Tiele was carrying an object that, once activated, would allow Duanmu Miaomiao to pinpoint Tiele's exact location and thus find him.

The cicadas we see now are probably of this kind.

How this thing was made is something neither Zhou Zhi nor the divine physician Fu Qingzhu could do. It's probably only those with long-standing traditions who possess these secret techniques.

The Tiele were members of the Northern Yuan royal family, and Jiang Ping was the cousin of the Empress Dowager of Southern Chu.

I wonder if the Li family of Chang'an has anything similar; I'll have to find out more about it in the future.

This cicada is very interesting. If it really is this thing, I must study it carefully later and find out what the underlying principle is.

The tiny cicada flew into a bamboo forest, and then seemed to suddenly lose all its power, falling from the sky with a thud. Li Dachui reached out and caught the cicada, then turned his gaze to a certain place.

A moment later, a dirty little head peeked out from the dense bamboo forest, carefully looked around, and then suddenly jumped out.

If it's not Jiang Ping, then who is it?
Now, her hair was disheveled, her face was dirty with patches of black and red, and her clothes were torn in several places. At first glance, she looked no different from a little beggar.

Of course, upon closer inspection, anyone with a discerning eye would notice that the clothes this little beggar was wearing were not something an ordinary person could afford. And if someone truly knowledgeable in the field were to look at her, they would immediately recognize that even a single garment she wore could likely be worth a year's wages for an average person.

"Li Bao, why didn't you come to see me?" Jiang Ping stood with her hands on her hips, staring at Li Dachui, her head tilted, her eyes red and watery, as if tears were about to spill from them. "Do you know how much I've suffered these past few days?"

Li Dachui raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and said, "I went to look for him, but I couldn't find him, so I left. By the way, where is Young Master Han?"

"Han Zheng has been captured by He Zudao's men!" Jiang Ping finally couldn't help but burst into tears: "Han Zheng broke his leg, and I went out to find herbs and food for them. I accidentally got lost and came back a little late. As a result, that fool set fire to the tent, and He Zudao's men found him before me and captured him. I hid to the side and watched helplessly as an old man knocked him unconscious and took him down the mountain."

Seeing her crying so hard, Li Dachui walked over, reached into his pocket, pulled out a handkerchief, and handed it to her: "Then why did you come here? Aren't you afraid of getting yourself into trouble too?"

"I was originally going to Ruyin, but I got lost after I came down the mountain. I asked people for directions, but none of them were good people. Luckily, I reacted quickly and ran away fast!" Jiang Ping took the handkerchief, wiped her sweat a few times, and then, as if remembering something sad, she burst into tears again.

That's really pitiful.

For a young girl like Jiang Ping, who has absolutely no experience in the ways of the world, it's like a crane standing among a flock of hens; it's quite normal for her to be targeted by people with malicious intentions.

It's already quite remarkable that she's managed to survive and live well until now.

Seeing that the other person was about to cry forever, Li Dachui immediately snatched the towel, pressed the other person's head down with one hand, and wiped the other person's face haphazardly with the other.

The effect was immediate; she stopped crying, but stared at Li Dachui with wide, round eyes, seemingly still a little dazed.

"What is this thing?" Li Dachui took out a small box, pointed to the cicada inside, and asked Jiang Ping.

The cicada now lies quietly in the box, showing no signs of life.

Just now, he flew for several miles with a buzzing sound!

“This is a mother-child cicada. Yours is the child, and I have another one here that is the mother. As long as I activate the mother cicada here, the mother and child cicadas can sense each other within a certain range!” Jiang Ping also took out a small box from her bosom, opened it, and there was another one lying inside, only slightly larger than Li Dachui’s.

"You have something this good? Where did you get it?"

"My sister gave it to me, and it's not exactly great! It has to be within a certain distance! I tried opening it on the mountain, but there was no reaction at all. Li Bao, you didn't even come looking for me!" Jiang Ping pouted, looking like she was about to cry again.

"Stop, stop! I really looked, and I really couldn't find it!" Li Dachui said, "How big is this mountain? I drifted downstream and went too far. I'm not familiar with this place at all. Alright, now you're all right, aren't you?"

"But Han Zheng has been captured by them!" Jiang Ping's eyes were red. "What should we do? Li Bao, you'll help me, won't you?"

(End of this chapter)