Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 21 Rainy Night
It was just dawn and there were faint wisps of smoke rising from the city.

"It's broken! It's broken!"

The waiter rushed into the inner room in a panic. The shopkeeper stood up suddenly, and several strong men quickly came out from the inner room and stood in the room.

Without waiting for the shop owner to ask, the servant said hurriedly: "Something bad has happened, master. The weapons we hid in the hut have been found! I counted them and found a knife missing! Your knife!"

Several strong men around suddenly panicked, looked at each other, and were about to rush out.

But the shop owner stopped them.

He stroked his beard gently, lost in thought.

The servant asked again: "Did the Qi people discover us?"

The owner rolled his eyes at him and said nothing.

"You guys wait here first."

"No matter what, you are not allowed to go out."

He gave instructions to the strong men, and then led the servant out of the door and walked towards the toilet.

The toilet gave off a strong stench. Normally, no one would want to get close to it. But at this moment, a bunch of swords, knives, and crossbows were randomly placed around the toilet, scattered around.

The owner stood there for a long time without saying anything, but the servant became more and more flustered.

"The Qi people are trying to force us to make us anxious. Who do we contact? Did someone report this to the authorities?"

The owner didn't answer because he knew it was neither.

A person quickly appeared in his mind. After this person appeared, his figure began to grow larger in his mind, and the shop owner was almost certain that it was this person.

Just a few days ago, a bully came from the countryside. That guy looked strange and even used their family's brothel.

Who is that person?

He looked at the servant beside him, "Liu Taozi."

"Ah?! Was it that savage who did it?!"

"There's something wrong with this guy."

"Didn't you check him out?"

"Yes, I checked. He is from a small village outside the city. He is the son of a hunter. Simple."

“But the more I think about it, the more it seems wrong.”

The shop owner pursed his lips and said, "Don't worry, things have come to this point. Even if we are discovered, we will only die for the general!"

"We have made many contributions over the years, so we die with no regrets."

The servant also calmed down. He nodded and said, "That's right."

"Let's wait in the store for a few days and see what happens. You hide these weapons first."

"Things have gone too smoothly over the years, and we have become lax. We can't let this happen again."

"only!!"

The servant went forward to bury the weapons.

The owner turned and walked out of the side yard, picked up a long pole for hitting the fruit in the front yard, and placed the pole on the fruit tree, with the tip of the pole visible from outside the wall.

A carriage sped past on the road in the distance.

A farmer was walking forward with his head down carrying manure.

Not long after, the pigeon flapped its wings, said goodbye to its companions, and flew out of the city.

It flew over buildings, flexibly changing its trajectory and completing one difficult maneuver after another in mid-air.

When the dove spread its wings and was about to fly over the city wall, a sound of breaking through the air was heard.

"Whoosh!!!"

The arrow pierced the pigeon's body directly, and its petite body fell straight down from mid-air.

One of them bent down and found the letter from among the flesh and blood.

He was covered in armor and had a mask on his face, the mask that Taozi was most familiar with.

When the small letter was unfolded, there was a series of scribbles on it that were difficult to understand.

Several knights stood on the left and right, watching eagerly.

"It's Wei Xiaokuan's bandit army!"

A masked knight said angrily: "This beast only knows how to use such a thief's trick! He has no other skills!"

The leader said nothing, and his expression could not be seen behind the mask.

"This is the third one. Something big must have happened in the city."

Law room.

"Both unfilial and discord are unforgivable, but what if the two conflict?"

"Before, in Yangping, a son insulted his father, and his younger brother tied him up and beat him. Someone reported it to the police. What should we do?"

Everyone fell into deep thought.

"Those who beat their fathers are guilty of a felony."

someone said.

Lu Qubing shook his head.

"I'm not here to teach you how to judge. Such a serious crime is not something we can judge."

"As an official, I should know that there are different degrees of severity in pardoning. After reporting to the authorities, the official rushed to the local area, arrested the two brothers for the crimes of unfilial piety and discord, and brought them back for trial."

"This actually made the onlookers angry and some scholars scolded: Why are you arresting a filial and righteous person?"

"They jointly wrote a petition, and the three officials who participated in the arrest were dismissed, and even the local county magistrate was demoted."

Lu Qubing described many details as if he was there at the time.

"Therefore, when making arrests, we must pay more attention to the reactions of people around us, especially when there are many people watching. We must pay more attention to their emotions and not go against the will of the people and leave room for suspicion."

What Lu Qubing said were all very simple principles, but they were still very useful to the newcomers who had no experience. Everyone listened very seriously.

Lu Qubing felt his throat was a little hoarse. He looked up at the time and then stood up and decided to end today's class.

Everyone thanked again.

Lu Qubing was in a really good mood. He looked around and walked to Taozi's side.

"Ha, that fellow knew his plan was useless, so he didn't bother us anymore! Look, he didn't even go out today!"

Lu Qubing looked in the direction of Kou Liuwu.

"He also knows that he has been exposed!"

Liu Taozi ignored him, put away the book, turned around and went back into the house.

Normally, Taozi would go back to his room to read, but today, he rarely put the book aside, closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Lu Qubing followed him into the house. He had a lot to say to him, but seeing Taozi's expression, he could only keep it in his heart.

I held it in like this until the evening.

Lu Qubing was extremely surprised. He had never seen Taozi sleep for so long. Several times, he couldn't help but reach out his hand to check her breath.

But when he saw Taozi's abdomen slowly rising and falling, he gave up the idea.

He was a little afraid of Taozi.

Taozi is different from his father. He is not as hot-tempered as his father.

But everyone thinks Taozi has a bad temper, even though he is always quiet and calm.

Lu Qubing's mood also became a little bad. He had a lot to say but he couldn't express it to anyone! !
He just sat aside, looking at Taozi eagerly, hoping that he would get up earlier.

It was not until the evening that Taozi got up once, went to the toilet, and then lay down again.

At some point, a strong wind started blowing outside.

The strong wind whistled past, and the newly built toilet groaned in the wind.

It was terrible weather, but perfect for sleeping.

Amid the sound of the wind, Lu Qubing quickly fell asleep.

Taozi walked out the door, the sound of wind mixed with fine rain washing his body.

Kou Liu had been waiting for a long time. He walked out from the shadows, opened the package in his hand, and revealed the knife inside.

The knife looked extremely ordinary, with no carvings on the handle and no extra patterns on the blade.

"This is definitely a precious sword. This blade is so heavy!"

Kouliu admired and handed the knife to Taozi.

Peach holds the knife sideways.

"Are you going to Fei Zongxian's house? I can lead the way for you."

"No need. I have memorized the way from the last few times you went there."

"what??"

Taozi turned around, holding the knife at her side, facing away from him, and walked a few steps before suddenly stopping. "Go back to your room, pretend you know nothing, and don't say anything."

Kou Liu watched Taozi's body disappear step by step into the darkness.

After returning to the house, Kou Liu couldn't fall asleep.

The wind was blowing hard and crackling sounds were heard in the courtyard.

Suddenly there was a flash of lightning, and in the flash of a moment, Kou Liu's slightly frightened face was seen.

Thunder roared across the sky.

The rain was pouring down and Kou Liu couldn't sleep at all.

Thunder and lightning pierced the sky from time to time, and the sky was constantly changing.

Outside the door, there was a curtain of rain, and nothing could be seen clearly.

Kou Liu slowly lay down on the bed.

Did he succeed?
If I fail, will I be executed along with everyone else?

Amid the complex overlap of emotions, Kou Liu's consciousness gradually became blurred.

"Ah~~~"

Lu Qubing yawned and stretched lazily.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

He looked to the side and saw Taozi sleeping soundly.

"Brother Taozi! Get up!"

Lu Qubing shouted.

Liu Taozi slowly opened her eyes and sat up.

He finally changed out of his original clothes, and he looked strange, but Lu Qubing couldn't tell what was wrong.

Lu Qubing walked out the door and it was particularly fresh outside.

The heavy rain had stopped, but the courtyard was extremely muddy and dirty, with almost no place to stand.

Lu Qubing frowned and muttered, "It's raining more and more frequently recently. I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing."

The students walked out of the room one by one, and the old official came with food to deliver them, also complaining.

At this moment, the sound of heavy horse hooves came from a distance.

ps: Xiao Kuan was deeply worried about this, so he sent spies to find Dao Heng's handwriting, and asked a calligrapher to forge a letter between Dao Heng and Xiao Kuan, expressing his intention to return the money, and then made it burn like a fire, and sent the spy back to Chenying. ——"Book of Zhou·Biography of Wei Xiaokuan"

Xiao Kuan was good at governing and winning people's hearts. All the spies he sent into Qi did their best. Some Qi people also received gold and goods from Xiao Kuan and sent letters to him from afar. Therefore, the court knew all the movements of Qi. At that time, there was a commander named Xu Pen, and Xiao Kuan entrusted him with his heart and strength and ordered him to guard a garrison. Pen entered the city from the east. Xiao Kuan was angry and sent spies to capture him. Soon, he beheaded him and returned. This is how he could influence people. - "Book of Zhou·Biography of Wei Xiao Kuan"

(End of this chapter)