Day and night tour

Chapter 347 Mingjiang's First Evil
"Master Zhou, Master Hua, try this wine, it's delicious."

Pan Shanying entered the carriage, bringing two porcelain bowls with dark red wine swirling in them.

Zhou Xuan took the wine, smelled it, and said to Pan Shanying, "Why does it smell like rancid oil?"

"Oh, the cork in the broken bottle was inserted too deep and couldn't be opened, so I simply took a wrench and smashed the glass mouth, and some glass shards splashed into the bottle. I found a piece of gauze in the dining car and filtered it. Maybe it was stained with a bit of rancid oil at this moment..."

"..."

Zhou Xuan frowned when he heard this: "You old man, you have a lot of work to do."

The painter sniffed it and said, "It actually smells like sesame oil... It's not a problem... It's drinkable."

He picked up the bowl and took a big gulp. It was not because he was craving for wine, but mainly because he was thirsty.

As soon as the wine went down his throat, the painter said to Pan Shanying, "You are a bandit from Jingchuan Prefecture. When you arrive in Mingjiang Prefecture, put away your banditry. Also, listen to the master's orders more. If you have any ill intentions... the consequences..."

"I know. People's heads have fallen."

Pan Shanying took the pipe again, lit it, and waved his hand vigorously, creating a whirlwind. The wind helped the fire, burning the tobacco in the pipe extremely vigorously. The tobacco was burned out in an instant, and the fragrant smoke rose up and disappeared into the wine bowl beside Zhou Xuan.

"Master Zhou, smell it again. It smells like human life. You can no longer smell the sesame oil."

Zhou Xuan picked up the red wine and smelled it again. Not only was the unpleasant smell of oil gone, but it had a smoky aroma that blended perfectly with the aroma of the wine, giving it a unique flavor.

He took a sip and was immediately satisfied, saying, "Once the smoke penetrates, it tastes much better... You are a bandit, but you know how to serve people?"

"We in the Mountain Eagle Village are not bandits, but servants of the Eagle Master. Don't look at our hunchbacks, we are very nimble. Don't look at my one-eyed eyes, I have a very sharp eye."

"I see. Then follow us to Mingjiang, Lord Eagle..."

"I hope Master Eagle won't contact me again. I have changed my master."

Pan Shanying took out another brand new silver pipe, filled it with tobacco for Zhou Xuan, lit it and handed it to him: "When I go out, no matter how anxious I am, I always have a new pipe ready, so that I can offer cigarettes to noble people when I meet them."

"Hiss..." Zhou Xuan took a puff. The tobacco leaves from the mountains had a strong taste. He was not used to it at first, but after it swirled in his throat, the mellow taste became apparent.

He asked, "I see that all the people in your village are hunchbacked?"

"We are also miserable people. We were normal people when we were young, but we were captured by the eagle master and taken to the mountains to be slaves. The eagle master was afraid that we would run away, so he let the eagle peck at our lumbar vertebrae. The gaps in the bones made our upper bodies unable to bear the weight, so we kept bending forward. When we grew up, we became hunchbacked."

"You Eagle Lords are so cruel?"

"One of the reasons is that they are afraid that we will run away. We, the people of Yingzhai, will be sold to some strange masters in the future. They don't live on the ground, but in caves and underground caves. They are hunchbacked and short, and it is not convenient for them to walk outside the mountains. But when they walk in those caves and underground caves, they are less likely to hit their heads and walk steadily."

After hearing this, Zhou Xuan finally understood - people like Pan Shanying were actually "hunchback slaves" targeting a special customer group.

"One eagle slave, 15,000 Jingguo banknotes."

Panshanying said, "Those masters who live in basements and caves have erratic tempers and are often out of touch with the sun. Their methods are also inexplicably cruel. If you offend them in any way, they might cut you into pieces and take out your heart and lungs. Even though I am the elder of the Eagle Village, I am actually just a figurehead. If any master takes a fancy to me, I have to serve him. Once I go, I will be on a road of no return."

The second half of this sentence is the voice of Panshan Eagle.

The reason why he was so ready to meet Zhou Xuan was that he wanted to say goodbye to Eagle Village. Having been trained as an eagle slave since childhood, he understood one truth too well - one has to look at the owner before beating the dog.

With Zhou Xuan's support, Eagle Lord didn't dare to cause trouble - the patrolling gods of Jingchuan Prefecture had to call him "Mountain Lord".

"Okay, follow me. I'm in need of a ruthless person and a pair of eyes."

Zhou Xuan said.

He has people who show him the way and people with high religious beliefs around him, but he lacks a "secret door" who can do the dirty work and act ruthlessly. When walking on the secret path of worshipping gods, it is inevitable to encounter some dirty things, and someone has to do it.

After hearing Zhou Xuan's words, Pan Shanying's face turned red. This meant that Zhou Xuan accepted him as a "disciple". He immediately stabbed the iron rod in his hand into the floor of the carriage and said solemnly: "Pan Shanying has been wandering for half his life, and I only regret that I have never met a wise master. If the mountain master does not abandon me, I am willing to..."

“……”Zhou Xuan.

"Hold the reins and lead the horse to drive it!"

Zhou Xuan heaved a sigh of relief and said, "From now on, follow me and work hard. I won't let you down."

"Thank you, Mountain Master."

Panshan Ying bowed sincerely. He was destined to be an "eagle slave" anyway, so it didn't matter who he served - and judging from Zhou Xuan's conversation and style, he was not comparable to the Eagle Master.

"You have good eyesight and are really lucky."

The painter patted Pan Shanying's shoulder meaningfully.

……

The train stopped at Mingjiangfu Station. Zhou Xuan got off the train and asked the Bone Elder and City God's disciples who were maintaining order in the station to move all the bodies off the train.

Those eagle slaves who were robbing on the road were lined up in a row, and the dead wealthy people of Mingjiang Prefecture were also lined up in a row.

Zhou Xuan said to the people who were still gathered in front of the train station, "What did I say... Everyone in Mingjiang Prefecture has people protecting you. If anyone takes advantage of our difficulties to bully us, I will kill him. However, if you leave Mingjiang Prefecture, no one will protect you. People will hang you up and kill you like dogs.

These people didn’t listen to me and insisted on going to Jingchuan Prefecture. As soon as they left Mingjiang Prefecture, they were killed…”

When he spoke passionately, the main brain cooperated very well, flew out of his secret realm, and projected the images on the train onto the white wall of the station, just like showing an open-air movie.

The cunning faces of the wealthy people in Mingjiang Prefecture appeared on the wall, causing an uproar.

Everyone was very unhappy about being called "untouchables" by these rich people and kept cursing. When the eagle slaves got on the car and brutally slaughtered those rich people, they all shrank their necks.

The people didn't even have the heart to curse those rich people. They just felt scared. If they had not listened to Zhou Xuan and insisted on getting on that train, they would have been the ones to be eaten by the goshawks and killed by the bandits.

"Luckily I didn't get on the car. I thought it was a car to get away, but I didn't expect..."

"I didn't expect it to be a train that would take your life."

"I won't go to Jingchuan Mansion... I won't go anywhere... I'll just stay in Mingjiang Mansion obediently."

"Even if you die of starvation in Mingjiang Prefecture, you will die like a human being - if you go outside, that would be really... "

With this negative example, the common people no longer had the idea of ​​"escaping", and "rather die than leave home" became their mainstream idea.

"Sir, you said you want to rebuild Mingjiang Mansion. Just tell us what needs to be done. We will cooperate with you for the sake of our home."

"Just give us your orders. Many people died in our city, but there are also many who survived... Let's all contribute our efforts to rebuild our great home."

"It's better to be a human being at home than to be a dog outside - little sir, we all listen to you!"

When Zhou Xuan heard this, he waved his hand and said, "The process of rebuilding Mingjiang Mansion will definitely not be slow... and we will race against time - so, today, please go home first."

"My home...my home has been burned to ashes. Where is my home?"

Zhou Xuan added: "What I mean is that you should all return to your former homes first. If the bodies of your family members can be dug out, bury them today. Also, look through the ruins of your home to see if there are any things that can be used again. Even if it's just a small table, we should find them and gather them together so that we can properly place and use them.

Let's first clean up these dilapidated situations and put them in order. Once we're done, tomorrow we'll devote all our energy to rebuilding Mingjiang Mansion - as long as we're alive, we have to look forward."

Zhou Xuan said this, and he pressed his hand heavily, saying: "As for food and drink, don't worry, I will wait here on the platform. I will not leave until the food from Pingshui Prefecture arrives."

"Sir, you don't have to worry about food and drink, but what about sleeping at night?"

It is already late autumn in Mingjiang Prefecture. The temperature is fine during the day, but at night, without cotton wool or quilts, those with weak bodies may not be able to survive until the sunrise tomorrow if they close their eyes.

Eating, drinking, living and traveling, eating and living are always the top priorities.

Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "The temperature in Mingjiang Prefecture will not drop tonight. Just believe me. In short, our slogan is - a great disaster is ahead, and none of the people in Mingjiang Prefecture can be left behind!"

Wow!
The people watching naturally applauded.

When the disaster struck, they were terrified and fled. When the disaster was over, they were even more terrified, because everyone knew that there was no food or shelter in Mingjiang Prefecture. They had thought about relying on people in the government office, but those high-ranking officials in the government office did not do much practical work on weekdays, and at this critical juncture, it was even less likely that they would care about them, the common people.

But when Zhou Xuan said "no one can be left behind", it was like a warm current that flowed into their hearts.

"Remember what I said, no one can be left behind, and I'm going to make it clear in advance, in the next few days, you should still be civilized as you usually are, and you should also be law-abiding and disciplined as you usually are.

Anyone who is blind and wants to take advantage of the situation to bully others, watch out..."

Zhou Xuan waved his hand again, and the painter cooperated very well. He picked up the bodies of the eagle slaves one by one and smashed them to pieces.

"This is what happens!"

Zhou Xuan added: "I dare to kill these murderous bandits who killed people from Mingjiang Prefecture in the territory of Jingchuan Prefecture, not to mention those people in Mingjiang Prefecture who have ulterior motives and ill intentions. Once I catch them with their weak points... I will make them pay. That's it. Let's adjourn the meeting and go home. Pack up and put things away, wait for food to be delivered to the door, and wait for a place to sleep at night."

Wow, wow, there was another round of warm applause.

The painter arranged for Gu Lao to hang the bodies of the remaining eagle slaves in various places in the city as a warning.

"Sometimes, the dead are more useful than the living."

The painter said stealthily.

"Lao Hua, I'll have to trouble you next... Lead all the people from the Youshen Division to escort the food to Pingshui Prefecture."

Zhou Xuan said.

Those grains are life-saving grains. Zhou Xuan has learned from Pan Shanying that there are many gangs from other prefectures who want to take advantage of the chaos to gain benefits in Mingjiang Prefecture. Food is the top priority and it is the reassurance for Mingjiang Prefecture now.

If food doesn't come into the house, no matter how much chicken soup for the soul is given, it will be useless and chaos will come sooner or later.

"Sir, I understand. If the food can be robbed, I, a painter, will not be able to continue my priesthood. I will jump into the Ming River directly."

After the painter expressed his opinion, he sent a secret letter, activated the law of space, and took the lead in guarding the life-saving food that was sent from Pingshui Prefecture to Mingjiang Prefecture by train.

Several lanterns in the sky also flew towards Pingshui Prefecture...

Zhou Xuan sat back in the train and said to Pan Shanying who had been hiding: "Old Pan, come here."

"Mountain Master."

The mountain eagle came over with its back hunched.

"Release all your eagles and let them overlook the entire Mingjiang Prefecture. Keep an eye on them. If anyone commits any illegal act - petty theft, cut off one of their arms; rape or robbery, kill them without mercy."

Zhou Xuan said.

The most feared thing after a disaster is riots. A small disturbance will cause panic among the people, so public security must be stricter than usual.

"Don't worry, Master. As long as you let my eagle fly in Mingjiang Mansion, everything in the mansion will be within my eagle's eyes."

Panshan Yingzhu held up the iron rod and went to do his work.

"Be careful when you go out. You look like this and it's easy to scare people."

"I know, Mountain Master."

The Panshan Eagle was like a black shadow, leaving the station and entering Mingjiang Mansion. Then there were rapid whistles in the wind, and dozens of eagles circling in the sky flew in all directions following the whistles. …

"We have food, clean water, and, yes... we also need enough medicine."

Zhou Xuan used the link to contact Zhou Lingyi.

"Brother, twelve carriages of food and half a carriage of medicine have all been taken to Mingjiang Mansion."

Zhou Lingyi said with a smile.

"Sister, are you so thoughtful? You prepared the medicine in advance."

"It's not that I'm careful...it's because your senior brother is here."

Zhou Lingyi said, "Don't forget, your senior brother is a survivor of the drought in Huilang River more than 30 years ago. He knows exactly what the victims need. He is the consultant for the procurement of materials for the Pingshui government office."

"What did I say? Every member of the small Zhou family is a talent."

Zhou Xuan's anxious heart finally settled down.

……

There are many ruins in the disaster area, and many victims are suffering from diseases.
The Mizi Alley on Textile Road was surprisingly not affected by the Zoroastrian fire.

In this alley, there is a small pharmacy, not very big, with only a storefront.
The shopkeeper's name is Luo Fusheng.
Other disaster victims were collecting bodies of their family members or thinking of escaping, but Luo Fusheng was thinking of packing up all the medicines in the store, wrapping them in oil paper, and hiding them under the sycamore tree at the back of the alley.

Even though he is just a medicine seller, he knows what these medicines mean in Mingjiang Mansion today.

"I can't sell the medicine today. After two days, my medicine will be more expensive than gold."

Luo Fusheng sat at the entrance of the alley, drinking tea. From time to time, people from inside and outside the alley came to him to buy medicine.

"Mr. Luo, my wife has a fever and is confused. I want to borrow some medicine from you."

"Where can I get the medicine? Go to the pharmacy and take a look. During the disaster, a lot of people came and snatched away all my medicines."

"You must have some. Please lend me some. We are all neighbors."

"I told you, it was completely snatched away, not even a drop of medicine is left."

Luo Fusheng waved his hand, signaling the man to leave quickly.

Relying on these tricks, Luo Fusheng drove away one group of people after another - he did not stop some of them with bad tempers and let them go into the house to look for what he wanted.

"If you can find a pill, I'll call you dad."

Just like that, all those medicines were hoarded by Luo Fusheng. According to his thinking, since the disaster happened today, the people in Mingjiang Prefecture were not that seriously ill. In two days, when the sick people became seriously ill, those who had savings certificates or gold or silver in their pockets would come to him to buy medicine, and they would have to pay as much money as he wanted.

"God has blessed me with wealth."

As the night deepens, wealth has not yet arrived, but luck with romance has arrived first.

Li Ru from Mizi Lane found Luo Fusheng.

"Mr. Luo, I need you to buy some medicine to reduce fever. My baby has a fever so bad that he is in a terrible state——"

"How can there be..."

Luo Fusheng wanted to continue to persuade her to give up and continue to stock up on medicine, but his eyes never left Li Ru's curvy figure. They were neighbors on the same street, and he usually coveted Li Ru's soft flesh. Now that he had the chance, how could he let it go?

He immediately said with a smile: "There are only two or three packets of antipyretic powder left. If your baby eats it, what will I eat if I get a fever?"

"Mr. Luo, my baby's body is as hot as red-hot iron. If it continues to burn like this, I'm afraid it will die... Can you please be kind enough to give me a packet or even half a packet of the fever-reducing powder?"

"That……"

Luo Fusheng touched Li Ru's waist and said playfully, "I am a good person and I do good things for free, but..."

Li Ru knew that it had been hinted at this point. She hesitated.
"Your husband hasn't come back yet, he must have been burned to death - you don't have a man anymore, what are you afraid of... a pack of medicine, a child's life..."

Li Ru clenched her fists, then gradually loosened them and said, "I'll wait for you at home - my baby has to take medicine, then we can..."

"Go home and wait. I have to pee urgently. I'll come over right after I go." Luo Fusheng said.

"Wait at home."

Li Ru made another promise before returning home.

After Luo Fusheng confirmed that she had gone far away, he went into the house, opened the back door, took out two pieces of yellow paper and a small basin, and lit them with a match.

The ash from the burnt yellow paper is off-white in color, and mixed with some dried white sand, it is very similar in color to antipyretic powder - Luo Fusheng has a history of deceiving people by selling fake medicine, so he is very familiar with this.

"A little girl wants to change a pack of fever-reducing powder just to sleep? The one inlaid with gold..."

Luo Fusheng wanted to exchange "fake medicine for real grass", after all, it would take time to reduce the fever... As for whether Li Ru would find out afterwards.

"I found out, I'm a grown man, and I'm afraid of a widow. I'm so anxious, I'll force myself on her again."

Luo Fusheng was humming a little tune, his mind full of the gray carcass. At this moment, a gust of wind blew over, followed by the sound of an eagle's cry.

"Ouch."

Luo Fusheng felt a sharp pain in the palm of his hand. He looked down and found that a piece of meat was missing from his palm. A goshawk was squatting at the door, devouring the fresh meat.

"You're stepping on grandma."

Luo Fusheng picked up the fire tongs and was about to deal with the goshawk, but before he took two steps, a strange smile came from the side of the phoenix tree.

"Tsk tsk tsk... What a vicious person! Using bribes and threats to take someone's life is one thing, but he even faked the antipyretic powder to fool others. Even a bandit like me wouldn't do such a heartless thing."

"You... who are you?"

Luo Fusheng only felt that the sound came from under the phoenix tree.

There is a shadow under the paulownia tree.

And a one-eyed, hunchbacked man crawled out from the shadows. It was Panshan Eagle.

Nothing Luo Fusheng did could fool the divine eagle circling in the sky.

"You... are you... a human or a ghost?"

"Ghost! A ghost that wants to take your life."

The Panshan Eagle whipped up a strong wind, blowing off a sycamore branch. He quickly scraped off the bark and used an iron chisel to scratch horizontal lines on the branch - like a branch-shaped washboard.

He thrust the modified branch into Luo Fusheng's lower abdomen and said, "I know you have medicine hidden. Where do you hide it?"

When Luo Fusheng hid the medicine, Panshan Eagle had not entered Mingjiang Mansion, so his divine eagle naturally didn't know where the medicine was hidden. But based on Luo Fusheng's appearance, Panshan Eagle could guess with his butt that the owner of the pharmacy must have hidden the medicine long ago, waiting to stock up and raise the price -

The one who knows a bad person best is another bad person.

"I don't have any medicine, otherwise... I wouldn't make fake medicine..."

"From your words, I heard three words - dishonest."

Panshanying exerted force in his hands, pulling the sycamore branch back and forth. The horizontal lines on the branch, like washboards, were like hard barbs, scratching the flesh and grinding the bones in Luo Fusheng's body.
It only took a dozen strokes for Luo Fusheng to be in so much pain that he cried out for his parents, and at the same time, he was urinating and defecating...

"Under the tree, under the tree—"

"Purrrrrrr!"

The mountain eagle yanked the branch hard a dozen times.

"I'm not lying to you, it's really under the tree——"

"I didn't say you lied to me. I just wanted to torture you. Otherwise, my hands would itch."

"..." Luo Fusheng never thought that he would provoke such a living devil.

Pan Shanying followed the instructions and successfully found the medicine bag. He walked to Luo Fusheng and said, "If you use real medicine to force a woman to sleep with you, and it doesn't work, I will follow the master's orders and at most cut off one of your arms to teach you a lesson. But you bastard used fake medicine - then I have to serve you well."

He stopped talking, picked up Luo Fusheng with one hand, walked to the main street of Mizi Lane, and shouted into the lane: "I have medicine in my hand. Anyone who needs medicine at home, come and get it."

He shouted three times in succession, and suddenly many people came out of the alley, looking at the medicine in Pan Shanying's hand with angry eyes. But when they saw Luo Fusheng, whose lower abdomen was stabbed with a paulownia branch, their eyes suddenly became clear.

Panshan Eagle said coldly: "If anyone at home needs medicine, come and get it... but it's better if they really need it... If anyone fishes in troubled waters and is caught by your Eagle Master..."

Suddenly, out of the large crowd, only five people came up to get the medicine, and they only searched for the medicine they needed in the oil paper bags, not daring to take more than one box.

Li Ru was naturally among them.

After getting the medicine, Li Ru quickly said thank you to Pan Shanying, then because of fear, she lowered her head and hurried back home.

The last person to get medicine and leave was a middle-aged fat man. He came to get medicine because his wife had a fever.

"What's going on at home?"

Panshanying called out to the fat man.

"My wife has a fever." said the fat man.

"Send the medicine home and come back." Pan Shanying said.

"Ugh."

The middle-aged fat man was very afraid of mountain eagles. After sending the medicine back home, he mustered up the courage to come back.

"The money for the medicine doesn't need to be yours, but you can't just take it for free. You have to do something."

Panshan Eagle pulled the sycamore branch back and forth in Luo Fusheng's body seven or eight times, causing Luo Fusheng to scream in pain.

Pan Shanying asked the fat man: "Do you understand?"

“I understand!”

"Torture him for half an hour as I did. Don't stop. If you stop, Master Ying will cause trouble for you."

Panshanying put down the medicine, turned into a shadow and left, leaving only two words behind.

"Whoever needs medicine, just stand here and hand it out, but you have to warn those who take the medicine. If they try to fish in troubled waters, this will be the fate of the drug dealer."

"My name is Pan Shanying. I have been ordered by the Master to take over the security of Mingjiang Prefecture. If you are a good person, I will kill you if I touch you. If you are sneaky and take advantage of others to bully others, I will torture you in a thousand ways.

Mr. Da is kindhearted, but I am not. I am the most evil person in Mingjiang!"

(End of this chapter)