met free Page 131
Page 131
Li Kui roared angrily, his two large, bell-like eyes wide open.
"Fine, you birdbrain, you're asking for death, so don't blame grandpa for chopping you up!"
As he spoke, the burly man took the axe from his waist and lunged menacingly at Zhang Shun!
Zhang Shun, however, was already prepared. Seeing that Li Kui had fallen for his provocation,
He leaped directly onto the gunwale and onto a small fishing boat moored nearby.
"Boatman, may I borrow your boat?"
Zhang Shun tossed over a silver ingot, which the boatman caught. Just as he was about to say something, Li Kui, wielding a broadsword, jumped down as well.
The boatman was startled and scrambled to the shore.
"You idiot, weren't you supposed to have a competition? Why are you running around like this!"
Li Kui shouted in dissatisfaction, then picked up his axe and was about to chop it down on Zhang Shun's head!
He didn't notice that, in the short time he was speaking, Zhang Shun had already rowed the small fishing boat to the middle of the river.
Seeing Li Kui rushing towards him, Zhang Shun didn't bother to stop him and jumped directly into the river.
"Where have those birds gone?"
Li Kui stood at the bow of the boat, gazing out at the water.
Just then, Zhang Shun suddenly surfaced, grabbed the side of the fishing boat with both hands, and began to shake it vigorously!
Li Kui was caught off guard by this move. His footing swayed, and he lost his balance, falling headfirst into the river!
This black fellow rampaged across the land like a wild bull, and few could stop him.
But once in the river, they instantly transformed into panicked sheep; how could they possibly be a match for a water dragon like Zhang Shun?
In just a few breaths, Zhang Shun had pushed the dark-skinned man into the water, where he swallowed a bellyful of river water.
"Well done, Brother Zhang Shun!"
Wang Dingliu cheered, found a bundle of rope on the boat, and threw it over.
After taking the rope, Zhang Shun circled Li Kui a few times, then tightly bound the dark-skinned man.
Then he jumped onto the passenger boat, and together with Wang Dingliu, pulled Li Kui out of the river.
But they didn't let him go, and just hung Li Kui on the side of the passenger ship.
Li Kui spat out two mouthfuls of water and gradually regained consciousness.
Realizing his predicament, the black man immediately burst into curses: "You two bastards, just because your grandpa can't swim, you dare to bully your grandpa Li Kui! Once I get ashore, I'll grab my axe and chop you two bastards down!"
Seeing how fiercely he was cursing, Zhang Shun and Wang Dingliu wanted to teach this dark-skinned man a lesson.
They then lowered the rope and plunged Li Kui into the river.
Then they pull it up and put it down again, back and forth like this.
Li Kui's cursing finally subsided, and he just hung there, vomiting the river water in his stomach.
Seeing that the dark-skinned fellow had calmed down considerably, Zhang Shun and Wang Dingliu on the boat decided to ignore him.
As before, the two continued to sit on the gunwale, tearing apart braised chicken and duck and drinking wine.
Li Kui smelled the aroma of meat and wine, smacked his lips for a long time, and finally couldn't help but shout, "You two birdmen, what are you doing hanging your grandpa here? Even if you're going to sell my skin, you should at least let me eat my fill first!"
"If you keep spewing such foul language, we'll throw you into the river again!"
Wang Dingliu let out a bluff, and Li Kui trembled upon hearing it.
He still had half a belly full of river water, so naturally he didn't want to immerse himself in the water and suffer any more.
"My two heroes, I was wrong!"
Li Kui said with a forced smile, "I tripped you two, and you two tormented me in this river. So we're even. Hurry up and pull me up."
"You rude and unruly scoundrel! If we let you onto the ship, who knows if you'll still act like that!"
Wang Dingliu kept shaking his head, refusing.
Seeing that he couldn't board the boat, Li Kui pleaded, "Two heroes, even if I can't board, at least give me some meat to eat! The smell of that chicken and duck is really tempting!"
Wang Dingliu glanced at Zhang Shun, and seeing him nod, tore off a chicken leg, leaned out of the boat, and offered it to Li Kui's mouth.
After finishing his meal in a few bites, the dark-skinned fellow started clamoring for more wine.
Helpless, Wang Dingliu could only pour himself another bowl of turbid wine.
After eating and drinking, Li Kui was in much better spirits and started clamoring for the two men to pull him up.
Annoyed by his constant chatter, Zhang Shun retorted irritably, "…" "If you keep yelling, you can just hang here and come north with us!"
Unexpectedly, Li Kui burst into a silly laugh after hearing this.
“Alright, if you pull me up now, I’m worried that your ship won’t take me back to Shandong. If I can just hang on to the ship and go north, it will be to my liking.”
After saying that, he really stopped shouting and just swung around by the side of the boat, amusing himself.
The two men on the boat found his words rather strange.
Zhang Shun couldn't help but ask, "You black bastard, don't you know that there's a plague breaking out in Shandong right now? Why do you still insist on going north?"
"You two don't know this, but I was originally from Yizhou, Shandong. I fled to Jiangnan because I committed a crime in my hometown."
Li Kui replied, "I was planning to just hide like this, but I heard a few days ago that there was a plague in Shandong. I asked around and found out that once you get infected with that plague, nine out of ten people will die!"
“Although I have nothing to do in Jiangnan, my old mother is still at home in Yizhou. I am worried about her, so I am going north to return to my hometown and bring her to the south to prevent her from catching the plague.”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Shun and Wang Dingliu on the boat exclaimed, "We never expected that you, you dark-skinned fellow, would be such a filial son!"
These two men were also filial to their elders, and after hearing the reason why Li Kui insisted on going north, they could no longer dislike his previous rudeness.
Wang Dingliu immediately went to untie the ropes, intending to pull Li Kui onto the boat.
Unexpectedly, the dark-skinned fellow refused to comply.
"Are you two going back on your word? You already said you'd leave me here and take me back to Shandong, are you going to renege on your promise?"
While shouting, Li Kui also struggled and shook himself violently.
His body weighed at least two or three hundred pounds, and he started swaying again, making it clear that Wang Dingliu was about to lose control.
Zhang Shun hurriedly shouted angrily, "Stop fooling around! Who said they wanted to go back on their word? We only wanted to bring you on board because you're a filial son, so we could eat meat and drink wine together!"
Chapter 179 Liu Guang Heroically Saves the Black Boss
Strange, have they already left the town?
In the town, Zhao Yuan, unable to find Liu Huiniang's carriage, stood by the roadside.
He vaguely remembered that Liu Huiniang's father, Liu Guang, was originally the defense commissioner of the eastern city of Yizhou. He was framed and almost lost his life.
To avoid disaster, they sold their possessions and moved their entire family away from Yizhou Prefecture to Anle Village at the foot of Rouge Mountain.
Judging from Liu Guang's appearance in plain clothes just now, he has obviously lost his position as the defense commissioner.
But Anle Village and Rouge Mountain are both in Yizhou, so they shouldn't be in Chuzhou.
Could it be that they also wanted to head south to escape the plague?
The most convenient way to travel south is by water, which is not only fast but also comfortable.
Zhao Yuan pondered for a moment and then decided to find the others first and return to the dock together to check the situation.
If the Liu family members are not at the dock, then have the others go and search for them separately!
......
Just as Zhao Yuan had guessed,
Liu Guang and his family were indeed at the dock at this time, but their destination was not south.
Instead, they planned to travel by boat upstream along the Huai River.
After arriving at Sizhou, we changed boats and traveled along the canal to Bianliang, the capital of the Eastern Capital.
The reason Liu Guang and his men chose to travel south first, taking this long detour, was...
The reason for turning 093 down was indeed to escape the plague in Shandong.
To be honest, Liu Guang was really unlucky. He was originally in charge of the eastern defense of Yizhou Prefecture.
She had two sons and one daughter: her eldest son Liu Qi, her second son Liu Lin, and her only daughter Liu Huiniang.
The family had been living a relatively peaceful life, but ever since a new prefect was appointed in Yizhou, Liu Guang's unfortunate days began.
The newly appointed prefect was named Gao Feng. He had a close brother who was Gao Lian, the prefect of Gaotang.
In other words, Gao Feng was also Gao Qiu's uncle or cousin.
Although Gao Qiu is now dead, Emperor Huizong remembers that Gao Qiu died protecting him, and is therefore even more lenient towards the Gao family than when Gao Qiu was alive.
In his early years, Gao Feng frequented brothels in Tokyo, acting as a pimp and also possessing a few tricks to deceive people.
And this very scoundrel, because of Emperor Huizong's indulgence, was able to become the governor of a prefecture!
Besides his past experiences, Gao Feng also had a unique quirk.
That is, he doesn't like women, but has homosexual tendencies.
After Gao Feng took office as prefect, he had a captain under his command named Ruan Qixiang.
This woman had a son named Ruan Zhao'er, who was handsome and even more beautiful than the average woman.
Ruan Qixiang had been keeping an eye on the defense of the eastern city of Yizhou. Upon learning that Gao Feng had a penchant for homosexuality,
He then decisively offered his own son to Gao Feng, making him a like-minded companion.
Ruan Qixiang also transformed himself, becoming a figurehead father-in-law.
Gao Feng, of course, granted all his requests.
After learning that Ruan Qixiang wanted the job of defending the eastern city of Yizhou...
Gao Feng then found a pretext to dismiss Liu Guang from his post, and then ordered the confiscation of all of Liu's property, intending to give it all to Ruan Qixiang.
Fortunately, there was a clerk in Yizhou who had a close relationship with Liu Guang.
Thanks to his strong support and his efforts to smooth things over, Liu Guang was only stripped of his position and escaped a terrible fate.
Liu Guang originally thought that once Ruan Qixiang had taken his position, the matter would be considered closed.
Unexpectedly, after Ruan Qixiang became the defender of the eastern city, he assisted Liu Gao and committed all sorts of evil deeds, chasing after Liu Guang and demanding the money from the Qingmiao hand stock.
Liu Guang was forced into a corner.
Just then, the epidemic in Xucheng spread to Shandong.
Liu Guang then simply sold his house in Yizhou City, preparing to take his family to Tokyo to seek refuge with his brother-in-law Chen Xizhen.
He couldn't even be a proper general, and was forced to rely on his relatives.
Liu Guang was naturally very upset.
Throughout the journey, he would sternly reprimand any mistakes his family members made.
After arriving at the dock,
Liu Guang sent his eldest son, Liu Qi, to find a boat, while he and the rest of his family waited at the dock.
Just then, a commotion arose from the dock.
Liu Guangxun looked in the direction of the sound and saw a burly man with dark skin.
Two young men were hanging on the side of the boat, swinging it back and forth for their amusement and torment.
Liu Guang was already in a bad mood, and then he witnessed this "injustice."
He was so angry that his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
He picked up his broadsword and strode toward the passenger ship.
As he got closer, he heard the dark-skinned man shouting, "I'm going to pick up my mother!"
Liu Guang immediately realized that the thieves on the ship were not only torturing the poor, dark-skinned, strong man, but had also captured his mother!
"Where did this thief come from, daring to commit violence in broad daylight! Put him down at once!"
Liu Guang shouted sternly, "And his old mother, get her out of here right now! Otherwise, once I'm on the ship, you can forget about begging for mercy!"