Water Margin: I am Zhu Biao

Clang!

Pang Qiutang's temper immediately flared up, and he suddenly drew his hand three inches from its sheath.

"Brother Huang Ji, please don't act impulsively!"

Su Fang darted over in a flash, grabbed her arm, and whispered in her ear:

"The young master just instructed that this young lady is still useful; we must not kill her, nor harm her."

Liang Siqi, that little vixen, had incredibly sharp ears and overheard their conversation. She immediately sneered and mocked them.

"Heh, Brother Huang Ji, aren't you Su Wu Niang? Oh right, you're also the mute stable boy Wu Qi."

As she said this, she glanced sideways at Pang Qiutang, looking him up and down.

"Is it because of your coarse appearance that your young master made you dress as a man?"

These words were like an iron shovel, precisely striking open Pang Qiutang's sore spot.

She was young and not as voluptuous as Ruyi. Also, because she had practiced martial arts since childhood, her skin was a bit rough. Compared to Liang Siqi, she was indeed slightly inferior in appearance.

"I'll tear your mouth off!"

Pang Qiutang instantly lost her temper, shoved Su Fang aside, threw the hand chop on the ground, raised her fist, and punched Liang Siqi in the face.

"Afraid of you?"

Liang Siqi showed no fear. She narrowed her phoenix eyes, shrugged her shoulders, dodged her mink cloak, and raised her fist to meet the attack.

Pang Qiutang's archery skills were superb, but his hand-to-hand combat skills were quite average, while Liang Siqi's martial arts skills were mediocre, with her hand-to-hand combat being her only highlight.

She even studied under a famous teacher, served as a court entertainer, and was nicknamed the Eight-Armed Buddha.

Bang!

The next instant, Pang Qiutang delivered a lightning-fast straight punch, landing squarely on her shoulder.

Boom!

Liang Siqi gritted her teeth and delivered a vicious uppercut, striking Pang Qiutang in the abdomen.

Ta-da!

The two young women took a few steps back at the same time.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Their eyes turned red, and they let out a shout in perfect unison. Like two female leopards, they suddenly embraced each other.

Pulling hair, picking at cheeks, pinching soft flesh—what kind of expert style is that? It's all just the style of a street shrew fighting.

Women, you know.

Unless it's a life-or-death struggle, once things get heated, it becomes quite difficult for them to counter each move.

"Stop, stop hitting him!"

Su Fang paced anxiously nearby, unsure how to break up the fight. Although young, he knew the importance of maintaining proper boundaries between men and women.

A short while later, when Zhu Biao returned, he saw two young women squatting under the eaves, their hair disheveled, panting, and staring at each other like fighting cocks.

It's a 50/50 situation; neither side really gained a significant advantage.

"Have you hit enough? There are still nails left to pull out in the yard. Why don't you two go outside and continue?"

Zhu Biao was both amused and exasperated, but didn't know how to comfort him, so he could only scold him with a stern face.

"Third Brother! This vile woman is the daughter of a eunuch, full of evil intentions, and she's been chasing us like a mad dog."

"If we hadn't handled things properly, we would already be headless and fed to the wolves. I don't understand why we kept her alive?"

Pang Qiutang suddenly sat up straight and angrily questioned him.

Her question was actually on everyone's mind, but only she had the confidence to ask it so bluntly.

After all, she was the team's second-strongest fighter after Zhu Biao; just now, she took down seven people with just one bow.

"Heh~"

Before Zhu Biao could answer, Liang Siqi scoffed and interrupted:

"I have enough money to buy your life hundreds of times over, and enough to build an elite cavalry."

"I am still useful, extremely useful! If I don't show up in the next city, you will be hunted down by Liang Shicheng for the rest of your lives and will have to live in hiding forever."

Seeing that Pang Qiutang was still stubborn and defiant, she added insult to injury.

"Leaving aside the distant future, let's just talk about tonight. If it weren't for this sudden heavy snow, and if Commander Meng had only surrounded the city without attacking, what would you have done by dawn?"

Upon hearing this, Pang Qiutang was immediately taken aback, and even Zhu Biao's eyes sharpened.

Yes, Supervisor Meng and his men had nearly twenty skilled fighters, almost all of whom were archers.

As long as they don't act rashly and surround them completely, waiting until dawn and the snow stops, then he will be helpless.

In other words, my narrow victory was only because that little vixen Liang Siqi deliberately let me win.

The next day, the wind stopped and the snow ceased.

The entire western foothills of the Taihang Mountains seemed to be covered with a thick blanket, with only a vast expanse of white between heaven and earth.

Crunch, crunch~

On the mountain road buried by heavy snow, a group of carriages and horses were struggling to move forward, and the mournful sound of their ruts became the only sound in the forest.

In the center was a sedan chair pulled by two old military horses, while the other three people each rode two horses, all of them top-quality horses.

A lone figure followed about a hundred paces behind the convoy.

Meng Dujian and his nearly forty horses were all parked in a snow-sheltered mountain valley, but the vast majority of them were military horses with several brand marks on their bodies.

We couldn't take them with us at all, so we had no choice but to release them back into the wild, even though it was painful.

Thirty-odd top-quality warhorses, worth two thousand taels of silver, were available but were difficult to find. Zhu Biao was so distressed that he almost suffocated.

The convoy remained silent; no one spoke, and the atmosphere within was somewhat heavy.

It wasn't until the curtain of the mule cart was lifted that Ruyi's still somewhat pale and sickly face was revealed.

"My lord, look, we're almost at Eagle's Sorrow Gorge. We're halfway there. Tomorrow we'll exit Fukou Pass, and from there the plains will be flat as far as the eye can see."

Zhu Biao looked up and gazed in the direction she was pointing.

In the distance, a solitary peak stands tall, resembling a snow-browed eagle with folded wings, surveying the surrounding mountains.

"Beautiful mountains!"

Zhu Biao couldn't help but sigh, then turned to Ruyi, helped her tighten her cloak, and said gently:

"Ruyi, you're not fully recovered yet, don't catch a cold."

He understood perfectly well why Ruyi had suddenly brought up the topic; it was simply because she sensed the unpleasant atmosphere within the group, was trying to alleviate her discomfort, and was attempting to ease the tension.

"My lord, I am much better now. It's just that the carriage feels stuffy, so it's fine to come out for some fresh air now and then."

As she spoke, she turned her head slightly and glanced at Liang Siqi, who was following far behind, all alone and coughing lightly.

"My lord, that young lady from the Liang family seems to have caught a cold as well. Why don't we let her get in the carriage and rest for a while?"

Zhu Biao raised an eyebrow and asked in surprise:

"Ruyi, that little wench chased us like a dog all the way here. Last night, her men almost wiped us out."

"You don't hate her?"

Ruyi forced a smile:

"To be honest, I don't like her either."

"But before last night, she was our death warrant, but after last night, she became our life-saving charm, so we cannot afford to lose her."

"Cough cough~"

She insisted on finishing her sentence before she started coughing violently.

Zhu Biao gently patted her back.

"Ruyi, you truly understand my heart."

"Third Brother!"

At this moment, Pang Qiutang suddenly rode over, pulled down her veil, and said with a blush.

"I...I was wrong. I shouldn't have questioned your decision."

Zhu Wu also came over, his big face licking his boots with a sheepish expression, but just as he was about to speak, Zhu Biao kicked him in the butt.

"roll!"

Upon hearing the invitation to get in the car, Liang Siqi didn't hesitate for a moment.

And almost the instant she crawled into the carriage, her head sank and she fell heavily to the ground.

This young woman's illness wasn't feigned; in fact, she'd been barely hanging on since last night.

Ruyi's suggestion was very timely; if they had delayed any longer, the young lady would have definitely fainted and fallen off her horse.

"Tsk, crazy, stubborn, smart, and ruthless. This little wench is a menace. We must get rid of her when we get to Cizhou."

Zhu Biao pursed his lips and muttered under his breath.

Liang Siqi seemed to be very tired. She slept soundly until dusk, when she was about to arrive at a foot inn before slowly waking up.

"There are people chasing you!"

The first words I heard upon waking were like thunder in my ears.

"Who are they? How many? Who sent them?"

Zhu Biao's heart suddenly tightened.

"Five people, each with a strange appearance, looking like eccentric figures from the martial arts world."

Liang Siqi leaned against the wall of the room, her tone languid and slightly mischievous.

"As for who sent them, what trouble you've caused, and who you've killed, don't you know that yourself?"

This young lady was unusually alert; she had already spotted Master Qin and his group trailing behind them and even guessed his whereabouts.

"A retainer of Gao Qiu, an eccentric figure in the martial world?"

Zhu Biao frowned.

To be honest, he was a little apprehensive at this moment. It seemed that there were indeed extraordinary people in this world who were proficient in magic, collectively known as Jianghu extraordinary people.

For example, Gongsun Sheng, Dai Zong, and Fan Rui from Liangshan in the future.

However, Zhu Biao had traveled north and south before, and now he was heading west, covering nearly three thousand miles and even passing through Tokyo, yet he had never encountered such a person before.

"What? Scared?"

Seeing Zhu Biao's expression change repeatedly, Liang Siqi smiled.

Suddenly intrigued, she leaned against the car window, rested her chin on her hand, raised an eyebrow, and said teasingly.

"Imperial City Guards, the emperor's personal servants, you kill them without batting an eye? I thought you were fearless!"

Zhu Biao raised an eyebrow, keenly noticing the composure in her tone.

"We're in the same boat now, so you don't seem worried?"