Water Margin: I am Zhu Biao

Ding, ding ding~

It's the first watch of the night! The air is dry, so be careful with fire!

The first watch of the night rang out outside the courtyard. In the main room of the north wing, Zhu Biao, who was drinking and carousing, paused slightly in his hand holding the wine cup.

"Little beauty, come on, have another drink."

The next moment, he held the wine glass to the beautiful lips of the woman on his left.

"My lord is bullying me. You yourself don't drink a drop of alcohol, but you keep forcing me to drink."

The new courtesans were of decent quality, all around sixteen or seventeen years old, and quite beautiful. He selected the two most beautiful and voluptuous among them.

Of course, they were all courtesans who could stay overnight with the client.

"Hahaha!"

Zhu Biao laughed heartily, one hand resting on her waist and moving downwards, while the other held a wine glass and poured it down her throat.

"I am currently drinking herbal medicine and cannot drink alcohol, but I would much rather watch a beautiful woman get drunk."

"My lord, you are so young, yet you need to take medicine? But you indulge in too much wine and women, and now you are already lacking the strength?"

The courtesan on the right was now flushed and quite drunk, but she had become even more sassy and daring, hiccuping and teasing him with a coquettish laugh.

"Hey!"

Zhu Biao put down his wine glass, pinched her breast, and raised an eyebrow with a lewd smile:

"My little beauty, you'll soon find out whether I'm strong or not."

"Pooh!"

Outside the window, Pang Qiutang, braving the cold wind, bent over and laboriously buried nails in the ground, spat angrily.

"Pretty boy! Playboy! What acting? Humph, I think you're clearly taking it all too seriously."

At this moment, her face was flushed red from the cold wind, and her eyes were also very red.

Zhu Biao guessed correctly. The world was relatively peaceful on the surface, at least in Henan. There were no caltrops in the blacksmith shops, but there were plenty of nails.

If you bury this thing in the ground and then sprinkle some hot water on it, it will freeze solid immediately, making it equally deadly.

"You sluts, let's just drink you all to death!"

After planting the nails, Pang Qiutang wiped the fine sweat from her forehead and couldn't help but glare at the north room again.

He then angrily picked up the oil can and a long-handled brush, and as Zhu Biao had instructed, carefully brushed all the beams, pillars, window frames, and eaves in the courtyard.

Zhu Biao's words just now echoed in my ears.

No matter how skilled a thief is, he can't actually fly. He always has to land and use leverage. If that thief dares to come tonight, he'll never return.

She also asked at the time:

"If we set this up like this, and the thief falls for it the moment he enters, he'll be scared away immediately. Wouldn't all our efforts have been for nothing?"

Zhu Biao immediately rolled his eyes at her.

"Do you even know what a thief on the street is? Someone who just walks through a door, can you call that a thief?"

In fact, thieves also use doors; picking locks and sneaking in are essential skills. However, if that person were Shi Qian, he would definitely be able to scale walls and roofs.

This guy is arrogant and loves to show off his skills.

After midnight, the entire residence gradually quieted down. Pang Qiutang finally finished everything, shivering as her body nearly frozen, and returned to the north room.

In the east wing, Zhu Biao was carrying the drunken Hua Niang to bed one by one, and then began to undress them.

"What are you doing?"

A surge of karmic fire rushed to her head, and she immediately let out a furious shout.

Zhu Biaoli didn't even turn his head, and said confidently:

"Take off her clothes, by the way, come and help me, I don't know how to take off this woman's ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress)."

"ha?"

Pang Qiutang was stunned, her eyes wide open and her mouth agape as if she could fit an egg in it.

"Huh?"

Zhu Biao said irritably:

"I'm a lecherous devil these days. I finally managed to get the courtesan drunk, how could I not touch her? We have to go all the way, understand?"

Pang Qiutang seemed to understand but not quite, her cheeks instantly burning, her hands fidgeting nervously, unsure of what to do with them.

"To act, to put on a show? Does it have to go this far?"

Zhu Biao, clumsy and sweating, grabbed a strap and snapped, "I can't believe it!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Come and help, there are other things to arrange."

The commotion lasted for a good quarter of an hour before it finally quieted down in the room, and then the lights were blown out.

On the bed, two women, stripped naked, huddled together under the covers, their soft snores rising and falling.

Beneath the bed, in complete darkness, Pang Qiutang still felt her face burning, her mind a jumble, and her heart pounding like a drum.

Just then, a warm and soft object was suddenly stuffed into my hand. It was a drink cake with dried meat sandwiched in the middle.

"Eat it, it's not completely cold yet."

Beside him, Zhu Biao's low voice came, sounding somewhat indistinct, and he seemed to be chewing something.

"Aren't you full?"

Pang Qiutang asked in surprise.

"Eat my ass!"

Zhu Biao said sullenly:

"Have you ever seen anyone eat food while drinking with courtesans? Do you think it's easy to get two regular hostesses drunk?"

Upon hearing this, Pang Qiutang immediately felt calmer and her face stopped burning. She picked up the drink cake in the dark and took a big bite.

Tsk, smells delicious!

"Will that thief really come?"

After finishing the drink in the dark, Pang Qiutang breathed a sigh of relief, touched the horse bow beside him, and asked in a low voice.

"meeting."

Zhu Biao said firmly.

Why?

"When the thief scouted the place, he had nearly two hundred taels of silver in his saddlebag, plus two fine horses. It was a fortune, and he couldn't resist."

Pang Qiutang exclaimed in surprise, "He even dared to steal a horse?"

"Heh~"

Zhu Biao chuckled.

"He might not succeed in an ordinary inn, but our courtyard has a back door. If we're both fast asleep..."

Pang Qiutang suddenly shivered.

"To be your enemy is to be courting death. You're only a little older than me, after all."

"Shh!"

Her mouth was suddenly covered by a pair of large hands, and a hot breath entered her ear.

Gollum~

She swallowed hard, her mind went blank, and her body felt as if it were frozen in place, stiff and numb, unable to move even her little finger.

Shashasha~

Meanwhile, on the roof of the west wing, a short figure was darting about rapidly.

He wore a greyish-white cloak, almost blending into the snow on the roof. He was bent over, his feet moving silently yet with ghostly speed.

In a few breaths, he had floated to the end of the roof ridge, suddenly leaped up, and with a single swipe of his long arm, landed steadily on the roof beast with a soft "plop".

The man lay on the back of the beast, his bright eyes scanning the surroundings warily. It took him several dozen breaths before he finally moved.

Swish!

He flung a hook out of his hand, and with a clang, the copper claw hooked precisely onto the roof beast.

Call ~

His body swayed, his cloak billowing in the night wind, and he landed silently under the eaves of the north house, looking like a giant bat.

He retracted the grappling hook, crept to the window, listened intently for a long time, and then suddenly let out a soft hum.

"Ha! A pretty boy who hasn't even grown his hair yet, and he's already trying to drink and dine with women."

"Your grandfather Shi Qian won't leave you a single penny. If you can't pay your night rent tomorrow, let's see how you cry then!"

While muttering to himself with disdain, he pulled out a teapot-like object with holes at the front and back from the leather pouch at his waist.

Then, he took out a cluster of herbs, lit them with a tinderbox, quickly stuffed them into the teapot, and finally inserted a piece of copper tube, gently poking it onto the window paper.

puff!

The copper tube was hollow inside, with a sharp, slanted cone at the front end, easily piercing through the double-layered window paper.

call!

He puffed out his cheeks and blew on the teapot, and a faint, slightly sweet-smelling wisp of white smoke immediately spread into the room.

This is a sleeping potion, and it also has a great name: the "Resurrection Incense at Dawn," the signature of the Flying Thief.

"Waaah~"

Meanwhile, inside the room, under the bed, Pang Qiutang suppressed a cough and couldn't help but let out a soft groan.

Her mouth and nose were tightly covered by a thick cloth with several layers of overlapping fabric, which contained charcoal powder, vinegar cloth, and damp cloth.

While this stuff blocked the smoke, it also made breathing incredibly difficult, and the taste was...indescribable.

She turned her head and looked longingly at Zhu Biao beside her. Her eyes said it all: since the thief had already gotten to the door, why not just go for it?

Zhu Biao was also holding back quite a bit, but he placed his hand on the curved sword, his eyes flashing with a dark light, and only gently pressed the back of her hand.

He had also thought the same thing as Pang Qiutang.

This young woman is quite skilled with her arrows, and he is also adept at both long-range and close-quarters combat. With the two of them working together at such close range, even if the thief could fly, he would hardly escape death.

But no.

Changheng County is less than a hundred li from Bianliang, which is already considered to be under the emperor's nose. Killing someone here is no small matter.

He still needed to pick up Lady Lin and assassinate Gao Yanei. At this time, he absolutely could not afford any unexpected complications or be hindered. He had to think things through carefully.

He wanted to avoid killing the thief by hand as much as possible, but instead used the rules of the government to kill him!

Click!

Just then, a barely perceptible sound came from the door.

The latch slid off, and then the hinges turned, and the door opened slightly a crack. No footsteps could be heard throughout.

Only a gust of cold wind blew in, chilling my back.