Water Margin: I am Zhu Biao

Its daybreak.

In the morning light, a donkey cart slowly came to a stop in front of Fanlou.

"Please wait a moment, my lady. I'll be right back."

Zhu Biao changed into Zhou Maolin's flamboyant outfit again, this time going even further, with flowers in his hair and even perfume on his body.

The first floor of Fanlou is a casual dining area. Zhu Wu was eating soup dumplings, but he was eating absentmindedly, with soup stains sticking to the corners of his mouth and stubble.

"Young~"

Upon seeing Zhu Biao, he abruptly stood up, nearly spilling the soup bowl, but managed to react in time and forcefully changed his mind from saying "young master" to "young master."

"Brother Zhou! You've arrived very early."

"ha!"

Zhu Biao chuckled lightly, still clutching a folding fan in his hand despite the cold weather.

"We agreed to go to the Xiangguo Temple to burn incense at 9:00 AM. If we're late, we'll miss it. Please ask your wife to come downstairs."

"Okay! Just a moment!"

Zhu Wu, that fool, only had two lines, less than ten words, and he was already sweating profusely as soon as he finished speaking.

"Greetings, Brother Zhou."

A moment later, Ruyi, wearing a hooded hat, gracefully descended the stairs, walked up to Zhu Biao, and gave him a graceful bow.

Her movements seemed fluid and flawless, but Zhu Biao could still tell that she was crying and her voice was hoarse.

"Greetings, Madam. The clouds have parted and the snow has cleared today. Please get in the carriage, and I will accompany you both on a pleasant tour."

"it is good."

Upon hearing this, Ruyi's body began to tremble slightly, clearly unable to hold back any longer.

At 9:00 AM, at the Daxiangguo Temple in Tokyo.

When Zhu Biao and his party arrived, a two-horse carriage with two mules pulling a double-headed carriage was already waiting on the steps of the main gate, with two capable mounted guards beside it.

"Could it be Zhou, the scholar from Daming Prefecture?"

The innkeeper quickly led the cart forward and bowed with clasped hands.

"It is indeed I who am unworthy."

Zhu Biao bowed slightly, and at that moment, the two guards dismounted and came over.

"Mr. Zhou and his family went to Zhengzhou to board a boat. This is the carriage and escort that Brother Pan arranged for me?"

"Yes, but he only paid the deposit."

The innkeeper hurriedly said, and one of the guards even said directly:

"We agreed on fifteen strings of cash, but that sallow-faced man only gave us three strings as a deposit. Let me make this clear from the start: not a single coin less!"

"Hahaha! My brother Pan, who's so obsessed with saving face!"

Zhu Biao burst into laughter, then waved his sleeve and said with great bravado:

"Don't worry, we won't shortchange you a single penny. We'll provide you with lodgings, meals, and good food and drink along the way!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.

A moment later, west of Bianliang city, at Xinzheng Gate.

At this moment, Zhu Biao had three horses, three guards, and a mule cart. Inside the cart sat the scholar, his wife, and his personal maid.

This setup is almost perfect, and everyone is showing their true faces.

Zhu Biao's face was real, but it was covered with thick powder, making him look half-human and half-ghost. Well, scholars call this a trend, an elegant affair.

However, he was still recognized! It was the Liang family guard who had whipped him three times that night.

"Oh! It's you, you pretty boy scholar. You've got quite the entourage today."

He flicked his riding whip in front of Zhu Biao, speaking in a mocking tone.

"What's wrong? Did you manage to get some travel money from your teacher and classmates? I'm a bit short on cash, so how about you share some with me?"

"What are you going to do?"

As Zhu Biao retreated, he kept turning his head to look at the two guards.

However, they all hung their heads and pretended to be dead. Damn it! These are members of the Liang family. Who would dare to mess with them? They were just protecting them for a while, not risking their lives.

"Hahaha!"

The guard laughed even more wildly, grabbed Zhu Biao's shoulder, then his face turned sinister, and he lowered his voice.

"Thirty strings of cash! Or, I'll give you a few more lashes to try!"

Damn your ancestors! You can pray to the gods and Buddhas that I will never meet you outside of Tokyo.

Zhu Biao was seething with hatred inside, but on the surface, he was so scared that his legs were trembling.

"I'll give it to you."

Five miles outside the city, passing a small grove of trees, Zhu Biao jumped off the mule cart, his face tense, and coldly addressed the two guards.

"You may return to the city; I no longer need your protection."

"Please don't be offended, sir; that was Liang just now."

One of the more experienced guards was about to argue when the younger guard interrupted:

"We're going back to the city now, and that three strings of cash deposit is non-refundable."

Zhu Biao was furious and forcefully flicked his sleeve:

"You faithless and ungrateful wretch! Go, go now, I don't want any of you!"

As night fell, seventy li west of Bianliang lay Zhongmu Town.

A two-mulet cart drove out from the backyard of an inn. On the crossbar, Zhu Wu straightened his back, cracked the whip hard, and shouted with all his might.

"shelf!"

Now that he was far from Bianliang and there was no one else around, he felt incredibly happy.

The coachman had just been given medicine and would need to sleep for at least a day and a night.

Zhu Biao paid for three days' rent and specifically instructed the innkeeper not to disturb him. However, he slipped twenty taels of silver into the innkeeper's pocket, enough to buy a carriage.

"Ha! You idiot, don't fall!"

Beside the mule cart, Zhu Biao laughed and cursed.

At this moment, he finally regained his true appearance, dressed in a black outfit, riding a horse, with a bow in his left hand and a spear in his right, feeling comfortable from every pore of his body.

Zhu Wuxing said with great joy:

"Young master, rest assured, Zhu Wu's chassis is very stable; it can stand for a whole day and night!"

"Third Brother!"

Pang Qiutang also crawled out of the carriage and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"What if that old bastard Gao Qiu sends soldiers and dogs to chase us? What should we do then?"

Zhu Biao's eyes suddenly sharpened, and he patted the bow and spear in front of him, saying sternly:

"Damn it! Once we're out of the city, I'm not afraid of them. No matter how many men they send, I'll just keep my word."

He paused, raised an eyebrow, and gave a low shout:

"kill!"

"Kill!" Ruyi murmured softly in the carriage.

"Kill!" Pang Qiutang's pretty face was frosty as she gripped her riding bow tightly.

"Kill!" Zhu Wu roared at the top of his lungs.

The sound shook the surrounding area, startling a flock of crows that had been roosting on the branches into flight.

Bianliang City, East Market, Liang Mansion.

Supervisor Meng cupped his hands and said:

"I hereby inform you, Miss, that today, a total of twenty-seven people were detained at the four gates of Bianliang, as well as the east and west water gates. I have interrogated them all, and none of them are the person you are looking for."

Liang Siqi was examining a portrait on her desk when she heard this, and she remained noncommittal.

"Okay, we'll continue tomorrow."

"Yes."

Supervisor Meng was about to turn around when he stopped.

"Miss, today Du Cheng met a young scholar at the West Gate. He said he had whipped that man a few times before and now he's extorted thirty strings of cash from him."

"Um."

Just as Liang Siqi was about to nod, she suddenly stopped. A drop of ink fell on the painting, revealing a man who looked about five or six parts like Zhu Biao.

She suddenly remembered.

The night the order was given to whip that pretentious scholar, there was also an inconspicuous, short, thin man in the corner, who was clearly Zhu Biao's female servant disguised as a man.

Snapped!

Her eyes suddenly lit up eerily, and after glancing at the smudged portrait, she slammed the pen down on the pen holder.

"That scoundrel! That pretentious scholar was also him in disguise! He managed to slip away right under my nose, how interesting, how very interesting!"

She suddenly stood up, paced back and forth a couple of times, and then stopped abruptly.

"Supervisor Meng, investigate this scholar immediately and expose his entire past!"

"Furthermore, immediately gather elite riders who can draw their bows on horseback. As soon as the city gates open tomorrow, we'll give chase!"

"Miss!"

Meng Dujian was shocked.

"The marriage selection event is approaching, didn't Master Liang instruct you not to leave the city recently?"

"So noisy!"

Liang Siqi suddenly changed her expression and shouted:

"Go back and tell Liang Shicheng that I have found a suitable husband, and my trip out of the city this time is to pursue him!"

Although Liang Shicheng was her maternal uncle, her only blood relative in the world, and even recognized her as his daughter, their relationship was not harmonious.

After all, she had lived a very miserable life before, and her mother had it even worse. She was sold more than ten times and died of illness with only about 30 kilograms left.

Ultimately, it was because he was sold to a brokerage firm by Liang Shicheng when he was six years old.

At the same time, south of the city, along the Bian River.

Master Qin stood like a ghost in the shade of the tree, with a dark, thin dog crouching at his feet, whimpering softly incessantly.

With a splash, the river surface suddenly churned, and a creature dressed in fish-skin water armor, resembling a water ghost, emerged.

"Qin Gongfeng has been found."

He walked slowly to Master Qin and threw two wet clothes on the ground, which were the ones that Zhu Biao and Pang Qiutang had worn.

"Unfold it and take a look at its size."

In the darkness of night, Master Qin appeared even more sinister.

"Hmm, one is five feet eight inches tall, broad-shouldered, and rather thin; the other is five feet one inch tall, narrow-shouldered, and even thinner, or perhaps a woman."

Shashasha~

At that moment, a series of light footsteps sounded, and a short, thin, dark figure suddenly rolled out of the darkness.

He knelt on one knee and said:

"Master Qin, all those scoundrels that the young master usually associates with have been investigated."

"explain."

"The six hooligans at Yang Bo's gambling den were first knocked unconscious, then drugged, and now one of them is dead."

"In Ganjing Lane, three of the six hooligans who were stalking Zhang Zhenniang were knocked unconscious, and the whereabouts of Zhang and her father are unknown."

After hearing his story, Master Qin remained silent for a long time before suddenly laughing. His laughter was even more terrifying, like that of a crow.

"Giggle giggle~"

"Interesting! It's all to avenge that brainless brute, Lin Chong!"