Water Margin: I am Zhu Biao

Inside the mule cart, Ruyi was wrapped in several blankets, curled up in a corner like a kitten, her eyelids tightly closed, her face sickly red.

He clearly has a fever.

"As one wishes?"

Zhu Biao reached out and touched her forehead; it was burning hot. He tried calling her name twice, but she didn't utter a sound.

"Sigh~"

He sighed helplessly and with heartache.

It's truly remarkable that Ruyi has endured this long without uttering a single word.

She was just a weak woman, unlike Zhu Biao and the other martial artists who had traveled thousands of miles through the harsh winter, enduring fear and exhaustion.

It's quite remarkable that they managed to hold on until today before falling ill.

"Third Brother, what should we do? Sister Ruyi seems to have a high fever. We're in the middle of nowhere, where can we find a doctor?"

Pang Qiutang also squeezed in.

Despite their usual animosity and constant rivalry, she still cares deeply for her older sister when it matters.

Zhu Biao tucked Ruyi in, pulled her out of the sedan chair, and said in a deep voice:

"No need to find a doctor, we have medicine in the car. Let's find a sheltered place ahead, boil some medicine, and feed it to you."

Back in Jing County, the prescriptions for relieving colds and fevers prescribed by Physician Shi were quite effective.

Zhu Biao then made several more and kept them with him, just in case. And sure enough, they came in handy today.

But misfortunes never come singly. Before they had gone more than a few miles, a wind picked up in the mountains, and then a few snowflakes began to fall sparsely.

In the blink of an eye, the snowflakes turned into a dense, impenetrable blizzard, falling down in a blanket.

"Third Brother, there seems to be a Taoist temple in the woods. Why don't we go inside to take shelter from the wind and snow?"

Pang Qiutang, with her sharp eyes, pointed to a corner of the eaves of a house that was faintly visible in the dense forest and said.

Never enter forests! Especially temples and monasteries, which are often considered eerie places.

Zhu Biao didn't really want to go, but the wind and snow were so strong that traveling was really dangerous, and Ruyi was seriously ill and urgently needed medicine.

Therefore, he had no choice but to nod.

"it is good."

A few hundred paces from the road, in the dense forest, stands a dilapidated temple. The walls have collapsed, and the faded plaque lies on the ground, with the three characters "Qingliang Temple" still faintly discernible.

Fortunately, the Sanqing Hall of the dilapidated temple is still relatively intact. Although the door panels have been dismantled into pieces, at least the walls and roof have not collapsed.

"We'll set up camp here tonight."

After a short while, Zhu Biao directed the crowd to overturn the mule carts, use the sedan chairs to block the palace gates, and then light a bonfire, finally bringing some warmth to the hall.

"Su Fang, go and feed all the mules and horses, and then wipe them down."

They're quite wealthy now, with five horses and two mules that all came in together. These days, livestock are more valuable than people.

"Cong'en, go boil water and brew the medicine. Remember to brew several doses so everyone can drink a bowl to ward off the cold."

"Dong Quan, bake the naan bread, dried meat, and the remaining marrow cakes."

After making these arrangements, he picked up a bundle and jumped out through the broken window.

What for? He wanted to take another thorough look around the Taoist temple and, while he was at it, bury some nails.

After using the nail array to successively disable Shi Qian and Dong Ping, two experts, Zhu Biao grew increasingly fond of this simple, crude, yet effective mechanism.

A moment later, it was already dark, and the wind and snow were blowing even more violently, making the broken window frames rattle loudly.

Zhu Biao put down the naan bread, jumped onto the altar without hesitation, drew his knife and chopped off a piece from the wooden statue of the god, using it to block the window.

"Please forgive us, kind sir, we had no other choice."

Zhu Wu was so shocked that his eyelids twitched and his face turned pale. He quickly ran to the statue of the god and bowed in prayer.

"Ha, you fool! We've seen so much filth and taken so many lives on this journey, and you still believe in God?"

Zhu Biao dusted off his hands, picked up the naan bread again, and gave him a disgruntled look.

In both his lives, he did not believe in gods. It wasn't that he completely disbelieved in these extraordinary beings, but rather that he didn't believe such beings could save people from suffering.

If you see an ant nest by the roadside, or two ant nests fighting, would you care?

They probably wouldn't care, but if they happen to be in a bad mood, they might step on it. If they encounter something filthy, they might even urinate on it.

If there truly are gods in this world, they probably share the same mentality: devoid of benevolence and righteousness, treating all things as straw dogs.

"Exactly! Fifth Brother, why are you worshipping these wooden and clay sculptures?"

Pang Qiutang swallowed the jerky from the corner of her mouth and nodded in agreement.

"Even if there are gods in heaven, they are blind, deaf, greedy, and evil. They cannot see the suffering of humankind and only protect the powerful and rich."

"Cough cough~"

At this moment, Ruyi in the corner coughed lightly twice, weakly opened her eyes, and after being given medicine, her high fever slowly subsided.

"Sister Ruyi! You're awake?"

Su Fang exclaimed in surprise and ran over.

"Um."

Ruyi replied with difficulty, forcing a smile onto her face.

"That's great, Sister Ruyi, are you hungry?"

"I'm not hungry, Xiao Fang, help me up."

Su Fang and Ruyi traveled together in the same car, and the two got along very well.

Ruyi is gentle and sensitive. She often teaches him appropriate poems and occasionally tells him stories about the past, astronomy, and geography.

Su Fang was clever, studious, and perceptive, and took excellent care of her, running around every day.

Su Fang helped her sit up and carefully wrapped the quilt around her. Ruyi's eyes darted around, and finally she looked at Zhu Biao with a look of apology.

"My lord, I have troubled you."

"Ruyi, you're overthinking it. It's windy and snowing outside. Even if you weren't sick, we couldn't continue our journey."

Zhu Biao smiled and comforted him.

"Besides, without your geomantic guidance, I wouldn't know where to go."

Ruyi's eyes instantly reddened, and she choked out:

"My lord, please don't..."

Just then, Zhu Biao's expression suddenly hardened, and he put his finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture towards her.

"Ah~~"

Outside the window, amidst the fierce north wind, a mournful howl, like that of a ghost, could be faintly heard.

"Third Brother, is someone playing tricks again?"

Pang Qiutang gripped her riding bow tightly, her face filled with murderous intent. Ever since experiencing the "ghost fire," she no longer believed in ghosts and gods.

"It's a person! Put out the fire immediately!"

Zhu Biao carefully discerned the direction from which the wailing was coming, a fierce glint suddenly flashing in his eyes. He leaped up and grabbed his bow and gun holster.

"Cong En, Su Fang, you two guard the main hall to the death, do not step out! Huang Ji, come with me to meet the enemy!"

The wailing came from a gap in the collapsed outer wall of the Taoist temple, which was also one of the locations where Zhu Biao had planted the nails.

Who would choose to sneak in through a place like this instead of the main entrance? Zhu Biao wasn't sure, but he was certain of one thing.

The person who came is definitely an enemy, not a friend!

They climbed out of the main hall through the back window and quickly circled around to the front yard. Zhu Biao pulled Pang Qiutang to a stop at the corner, squatted down, squinted, and peered into the front yard.

"Idiot! Shut your mouth tight, or you'll never open it again."

In the dense forest a few dozen feet away from the temple, seventeen or eighteen people had gathered. The one who spoke in a low voice was hoarse and lacked energy.

It's clearly Liang Siqi.

This crazy young woman has a large and powerful force, and the mountain bandits dare not provoke her. Each of her men rides two horses, making them much faster than Zhu Biao. They have already caught up with her.

However, she came to this dilapidated temple not to track down Zhu Biao, but to escape the snow.

Unexpectedly, he ran into Zhu Biao.

As the old saying goes, "Enemies are destined to meet, and things turn out unexpectedly well when planted unintentionally."

Supervisor Meng yanked over his subordinate, whose foot was pierced and bleeding profusely, yet who dared not cry out in pain.

"Tell me, how many people are in the temple?"

He had lost even more weight than he had two days ago, and his tone was filled with barely suppressed rage.

He had been running around with this crazy young woman for more than ten days. He still had old injuries and could not withstand the cold or the exertion.

If things continue like this for a few more days, Liang Siqi won't collapse yet, but he'll probably be the one who can't hold on any longer.

"Four, four."

"Four?"

Supervisor Meng and Liang Siqi both frowned at the same time.

"Look carefully, there are four people, not five?"

These days, they have been pursuing the case all the way. In each place they arrive at, they mobilize all the constables and assistants in the name of the Imperial City Guard to conduct a full-scale search of the entire city.

Now, they already know the number of people in Zhu Biao's team, their background, and even have their portraits.

"I... I really only saw four figures."

"waste!"

Supervisor Meng shoved him aside in a fit of anger, turned to Liang Siqi, and said in a steady voice.

"Miss, judging by the time and distance, it's ninety percent likely that it's that cunning little thief!"

"I'll lead my brothers in and charge in. We'll only need a cup of tea to capture him, and he'll be kneeling before you, begging for forgiveness."