Chapter 115 Gambling Village
This time Zuo Chen did not go to Dongshui City, but simply used the method of shrinking the land to an inch to drive the donkey cart forward, and spent a whole day on the road.
During this period, Zuo Chen convinced Caiyi and asked her to cooperate with him in trying to overcome his fear of heights.
Using Ling Qi to form a small cloud, Cai Yi was not afraid when it reached three meters. When Caiyi was being held five meters away, Caiyi became restless. When Caiyi reached ten meters, Caiyi began to cry and call the captain.
At twenty meters, I changed from shouting "Chang" to "Mom".
When Zuo Chen let Cai Yi down, Cai Yi cried and said she never wanted to fly again.
Zuo Chen felt it was a pity.
I guess I won’t hear Caiyi screaming for a while.
At noon on the second day, the donkey cart finally brought Zuo Chen and Caiyi to Dongshui City.
This time we went in through the main entrance.
During the day, Dongshui City is obviously very lively. The main road is bustling with people. Vendors selling all kinds of goods are shouting about their products. Stores on both sides of the road are open to welcome customers.
The surrounding area is dominated by various snack restaurants.
Wuwei Shanren had said to him before that Dongshui City was mostly populated by gourmets, and now it seemed that the reputation was well-deserved.
Occasionally there will be some stalls with pergolas on both sides of the road, with a few small tables and chairs inside for those who want to rest for a while.
Occasionally, three or two get together, exchange a few pennies, drink some bad tea, and talk about interesting things happening in the streets.
"Yesterday there was thunder in the city during the white night. Do you know about this?"
"How could you not know? At that time, my wife was embroidering clothes for me in the house. She was so frightened by the thunder that she pricked her finger. The good fabric was almost destroyed, and I don’t know what this thief did.”
“You don’t know anything. I heard that this thunder directly killed a broken man!”< br>
“Huh?”
There was a lot of chatter on the roadside, most of which revolved around the thunder that was struck yesterday.
A lightning strike in the sky killed a person. Even in Dongshui City, this was a major event worthy of being blown away for at least seven days.
Some people said that the man who was struck to death had done too many bad things, and the karma was too heavy. Last night, he wanted to take the money and escape, but he suffered retribution and was struck directly to death by a lightning bolt.
Some people also say that someone made Fangzi harm people by deliberately opening the altar and a thunder fell. However, it failed to hit the real owner and hit a beggar on the roadside.
There was a lot of chatter, and Cai Yi, who was sitting on the donkey cart, also heard the rumors. She was slightly stunned, and then looked at Zuo Chen with some confusion.
When I saw the Taoist leader, the wind was light and the clouds were calm, I felt relieved.
This is in line with the temperament of the Taoist priest.
Zuo Chen walked around on the road twice first and looked at the style of Dongshui City before asking for directions to Sima Mansion.
When I arrived outside Sima's mansion, I could see two soldiers standing at the door of the mansion at a glance, majestic.
As a high-ranking official in the city, Sima Liang must have the right posture.
When Zuo Chen appeared at the door, the two soldiers looked at each other first, and then immediately took out a small note from their arms.
The two soldiers first looked down at the note, then looked up at Zuo Chen and Caiyi who were sitting on the donkey cart. They went back and forth three times before finally putting on a kind smile.
"Daozhang Zuo! You are finally here! Please come in quickly, Lord Sima is waiting for you!"
The speed of this face change is faster than turning the page of a book.
Zuo Chen didn't say much, and followed Cai Yi directly into Sima's mansion, and asked the soldiers to prepare more carrots to feed Mr. Donkey.
As soon as Mr. Donkey heard about the carrots, he immediately showed a human-like smile. This even made the two soldiers stunned. They only felt that he was worthy of being a Taoist priest and the donkeys he raised were extraordinary.
After entering the Sima Courtyard and looking around, I felt that it was really luxurious. There were rockeries, fake water, and specially made gardens. There was a unique portrait between every two vermilion pillars in the corridor.
After the overall tour, although the level of luxury here is far less than that of Prince Kang's mansion, the exquisiteness and ingenuity are more than a star and a half higher than that of Prince Kang's place.
After all, in addition to beauties, the Kangwang family has treasures. Compared with the literati in the courtyard, they have the aura of a nouveau riche.
After arriving at the main hall, Sima Liang had already been prepared here.
"Taoist Master, you are finally here."
Sima Liang immediately stepped forward and greeted Zuo Chen eagerly. After the two of them entered the room, Sima Liang immediately greeted his servants:
"Go quickly and prepare a banquet!"
Zuo Chen originally wanted to shirk it, but when he saw Cai Yi drooling next to him, his own greed was aroused.
Hmm...
Just give Caiyi a taste.
That's right, I didn't want to eat the food given to Caiyi to taste.
Sima Liang immediately led the two of them to a big table. After the two sat down, the waiter first served the tea, and then the maid brought the dishes one by one.
It is lunch, and all the meals are prepared. In addition to chicken, duck, fish, and goose, you can also see beef.
Looking at the table full of delicacies, Cai Yi’s eyes widened as she watched:
“Golden milk puff pastry, light noodles, smallpox glutinous rice cakes, five-sheng plate, and Qu Xun sauce. , sheepskin filigree...oh my god, I wouldn’t dare eat it like this in my dream.”
"Miss Caiyi has really good taste." Sima Liang also introduced it with a bit of showoff:
"My back cook retired from Guanglu Temple and once cooked soup for the late emperor. His skills are first-rate. I spent a lot of effort to get him from the governor, hoping to satisfy both of you. "
According to Daliang law, livestock cannot be killed casually, but since it is. When Sima entertains guests, he must have some means to cause these cattle and sheep to "accidentally die".
Sima Liang said so, Zuo Chen was not polite and took a piece of soup meat into his mouth with chopsticks. It tastes great.
...
After having enough wine and food, the table was removed by the servants.
The banquet was large. Basically, you would be full after trying three or five dishes of each dish. The remaining items were not scattered and would probably be taken to the kitchen and shared by the servants.
After all the food has been removed and no one else is in the room, it’s time to talk about some serious business.
"Mr. Sima, what is the situation in the gambling village you mentioned before?"
Listening to Zuo Chen's question, Sima Liang sighed and explained:
"That can be regarded as the first disaster in Daliang today.
"The gambling village is located in the dense forest, where the north reaches The Sea of Immortality, which reaches Xuzhou in the south, covers a huge area. There are always evil spirits, arrogant monsters and extremely dangerous things in it. It would be extremely difficult to cross this forest unless you were extremely familiar with the landforms.
“Some thieves took a fancy to the characteristics of this dense forest, and they did a lot of dirty business in it, including several gambling lords.
“They are in Kyoto can't compete with the Red Lantern. If you do too evil in other places, you will easily be beheaded by local officials. Some of them ran into the dense forest because they couldn't survive in Xuzhou. Just like this, a group of people can be slapped on the head. , simply built a gambling village, and caused many beggar gangs to flee, and used the Five Mysteries and Three Ways to lure those good people into gambling, which turned out to be a huge cancer! ”
When Sima Liang said this, he was already full of indignation, but immediately he sighed helplessly:
“I once told the governor about this, and I hope to lead a troop of troops there in person. , and wipe out that place. However, the governor said that there should be a place for filth and evil in this world. If I really get rid of it, the gangsters who escape will only make the surrounding towns more unstable. That place has to pay money every year, so the governor is unwilling to destroy it.
"There is nothing I can do about it. "
Hearing this, Zuo Chen finally understood.
"Does Sima want me to go to the gambling village and level the place? ”
"It can't be said that it's even." Sima Liang shook his head: "How can I say that it's even with the Taoist priest and the devil."
Zuo Chen pondered for a few seconds and then looked at Sima Liang's face.
Sima Liang touched his face.
It feels like there is nothing on my face.
"Taoist Priest?"
"It's okay to agree to this, but wouldn't it mean that you would become enemies with the governor of your city?"
"What's the harm?" Sima Liang was filled with indignation: "I can eliminate the harm to the people of Li. It doesn’t matter even if you don’t want this official title!”
Smiled again: “It’s precisely because the governor is not in the city now that I dare to do this. If he comes back, I’m afraid I won’t have a chance to talk to you. Contact."
"...I can try."
Sima Liang couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard Zuo Chen agreed.
"I knew that Taoist Master would not want to see the world of evil and chaos! Liang thanked Taoist Master."
After Sima Liang stood up, he bowed deeply towards Zuo Chen, his eyes full of sincerity.
......
It was already getting late, so Zuo Chen and Caiyi would stay at Sima Mansion today.
The Sima Mansion was large enough, so they prepared a separate courtyard for the two of them, with two guest rooms and a hall for them to use as they pleased.
Originally, Sima Liang planned to let his servants come in to serve the two of them, but Zuo Chen said, "I don't like outsiders to disturb me" and invited these servants out of the other courtyard.
After no one was around, Zuo Chen used tree branches to build a shelter at the door.
Seeing Zuo Chen arrange it like this, Caiyi also realized something was wrong.
"Taoist Priest, do you think there is something wrong with Mr. Sima?"
Cai Yi thought for a long time and felt that there seemed to be nothing wrong with Mr. Sima's words.
"I just feel that there are some contradictions in his words and behavior."
Zuo Chen came up one by one:
"First of all, if he hates gambling houses so much, why is he with us the second time? The first meeting was in the Bo Theater?"
"Huh?" Cai Yi was stunned and realized that this seemed to be a problem.
"Secondly, since the governor received the news about me at this time and informed his subordinates of the news, there is now more than one sergeant in the city. Why is he the only one who came to me?"
Hearing what Zuo Chen said, Cai Yi also felt that there was something wrong.
Sima said bad things about Situ and the governor here. If Situ knew that Zuo Chen was here, how could he not send someone to meet him?
Leave Sima in the dark?
Unrealistic.
"Then why do you still agree to him, Taoist Master?" Cai Yi asked puzzledly.
Zuo Chen laughed when he heard this.
“Cockroaches are very difficult to find their nests. I found one before, but it should have already laid a nest.
“But this thing can’t stay idle, it always likes to Jump in front of people.
“Look, isn’t this coming?”
(End of this chapter)