Chapter 223 Lonely Fireworks

It was late at night, and the backyard of the Assassin's Mansion, that is, Li Ke's residence, was still brightly lit, and many people gathered.

The government officials from the governor's mansion and the private soldiers from the former royal palace have all arrived. Everyone was fully armed and held their breath, with a scene of killing. In the inner house, there are repeated loud roars and loud noises of hitting tables and chairs.

"It's the opposite, it's the opposite! It's really against the sky!"

When Qin Mubai walked to the courtyard and heard these voices, he couldn't help but be shocked: Li Ke? Is it Li Ke who is roaring crazily? ...I've known him for so long, and I've never seen him get so angry! If only because Zheng Anshun disappeared, with Li Ke's always calm temperament, he would never be so calm.

Yuwen Hongtai was also a little stunned and muttered, "No way, why is Your Highness so angry?"

One person among the government officials came out, that is, Zhou Laojiu, whom Qin Mubai had met in the inn before. He first saluted, then invited Qin Mubai aside and whispered nervously, "General Qin, something really happened this time!"

"What's the matter? Why did Your Highness gather all your servants and the soldiers of the royal palace?" Qin Mubai asked.

Zhou Laojiu said nervously, "A general in the royal palace just came back and reported that the princess was intercepted halfway!"

"What?" Qin Mubai suddenly opened his eyes in horror: "This...! There is such a thing!"

No wonder!

At present, Qin Mubai didn't have time to listen to Zhou Laojiu's details and strode into the inner house hall.

The hall is full of broken dishes, tables and chairs. Li Ke's face was red and angry and he trembled all over. He squeezed the blue veins on his forehead and was sitting in a chair and gasping for breath.

There are two other people in the hall, one is Changshi Quan Wanji, who is whispering to Li Ke. The other one was kneeling on the ground on one knee and bowing his head. It was actually Xue Rengui!

"Qin Mubai, you came just in time!" When Li Ke saw Qin Mubai coming in, he didn't wait for him to open his mouth. He strode up and almost roared, "You immediately count the people of your military palace, unite the soldiers and yamen of the royal palace led by Xue Rengui, and go to the nest of the water ghost in the West River tonight! I don't believe that he can turn against the sky! If there is not enough manpower, I will write to Li Xun immediately and ask him to send a large army to suppress it! It's the opposite, it's really the opposite!"

Qin Mubai let Li Ke roar like thunder, and he didn't say anything, and his expression didn't change.

Li Ke roared a few times, took a few breaths, ran to the table and took a sip of tea, as if he had calmed down again, with a long sigh.

Quan Wanji sighed and said, "Your Highness, you have always been so impulsive."

Li Ke turned his back to the crowd, raised his hand and waved it. He took a long breath again, as if he had exhaled the depression in his chest, and sighed, "What a great shame! My princess and daughter were actually cut off by the grass bandits!"

"It's the incompetence of the last general, humiliating the princess and the princess!" Xue Rengui stood up and wiped it from his neck as soon as he drew his knife.

Qin Mubai's eyes and hands were fast. He flew up and cut Xue Rengui's wrist of the knife. With a swish, the knife flew out like a rush of light, plugging into the beam and buzzing on the beam in the room, several inches deep.

"Ren Gui, what are you doing!" Qin Mubai shouted, "How can a man commit suicide!"

Li Ke was also shocked. He turned around and strode over, looking at Xue Rengui's neck in surprise, where there was a trace of blood cut by the blade. He hurriedly put his sleeves on and rubbed it and said, "Rengui, Xiao Wang has never blamed you. How can I blame you for this? The water ghosts are deliberate. Even if they enter the royal palace, it is okay for them to capture people. How can you do such a stupid thing? If you are gone, who will help me save the princess and daughter? Tomorrow they will return, but I will lose you. Didn't I get my left arm and lose my right arm?

"Your Highness..." Xue Rengui looked ashamed and fell down on one knee. "The last general is too incompetent. He is really ashamed to face His Highness. He is worthy of His Highness's kindness!"

"Get up quickly." Li Ke bent down to help him up, sat down with him and Qin Mubai's hands left and right, and said, "I'm too excited just now, and I haven't asked the reason yet. Rengui, now Mu Bai is also here. He has always been resourceful and must have a good plan and his opinion. Now tell us what happened in detail.

"Yes." Xue Rengui frowned and said.

It turned out that Xue Rengui and Yin Yang were ordered by Li Ke to lead a team of royal palace guards to Anzhou to pick up the long-lost Wu princess Yang and the little princess who was only one year old. Because the princess was sick after giving birth, she chose to take a boat. Originally, it was smooth to come back down the stream, but when the ship marched less than 20 miles away from Xiangyang tonight, everyone suddenly heard a strange "bang" sound from the bottom of the ship.

The experienced boatmen suddenly panicked and shouted, saying that there was a water ghost chiseling the boat!

At this time, the big ship was sailing in the heart of the river, and it did not cross the shore. Xue Rengui and Yin Yang, the two fierce generals, were not aware of water. The boatmen were afraid of the water ghosts again, and now they were all out of proportion, and many people jumped into the river to escape.

There are only Xue Rengui, Yin Yang, the princess mother and daughter and the soldiers left on the ship, just like fish on the cutting board for slaughter, helpless!

Soon, the bottom of the boat began to enter the water, and everyone hurriedly blocked the mouth, which was of no avail. The ship finally began to sink. Everyone tried their best to remove the boat board for the princess and her daughter to ride, while the others were soaked in water. Seeing that the hull was about to sink in the tilt, more than a dozen dexterous shuttle boats came over with lights.

The other party knew who fell into the water, but he was not in a hurry to save people. Instead, he said that if he wanted to save people, he could only save the princess and her mother and daughter, and others could give several boats to escape by themselves.

It's obvious that the water ghost is coming to rob!

Seeing that the thin board was about to turn over at any time, the princess's mother's life was difficult to save. Out of helplessness, Xue Rengui and others had to adopt a stopgap measure and let them save the princess first. Xue Rengui and Yin Yang discussed, and each went their own way. One of them stayed with the princess to be a hostage, at least a care; one came back to report the news.

In this way, the princess and Yin Yang were tied together, and more than half of the sergeants drowned. Xue Rengui and others staggered back in a small shuttle boat. Because they could not drive the boat and did not know the water, they were almost overturned by the boat several times along the way.

After listening, Li Ke and Qin Mubai looked at each other and said almost with one voice, "This is obviously premeditated!"

Quan Wanji doubted and said, "It seems that the enemy has a good understanding of our every move. They had already set an ambush on the river, first sinking the ship, and then easily abducting the princess mother and daughter, almost without a knife or a soldier. With such a profound trick, it can be seen that the other party is not an ordinary bandit!"

"That's need to say." Qin Mubai gently picked his mouth and said, "I just met Yuwen Hongtai. I heard that Zheng Anshun was also missing. What's going on?"

"I asked him to call you." Li Ke waved to him, "Come on, too!"

After saying that, Li Ke took everyone to a guest room with two men lying flat on the bed. Qin Mubai frowned at a glance. Isn't it the two hundred-rider bodyguards he sent to Zheng Anshun?

"A few days ago, I agreed with Zheng Anshun to take time to meet today to discuss some things. But after the time, before the people came, I was suspicious. Send someone to his house and have a look, only these two people can be seen. Li Ke said, "I asked the doctor to show them that he was turned over by the usual eclipse in the world. My life is not important, but I can't wake up tonight. There is also a letter left in the room, you can see it!"

Li Ke handed over a letter, and Qin Mubai took it and opened it. When I opened the envelope, I seemed to smell a slight fragrance. It turned out that there was also a gardenia in the letter paper.

There are only numbers in the letter - "What can I do with all the calculations? Willows in the Chuiyang Lane, lonely fireworks.

Everyone looked at it and shook their heads together: "The first eight words are easy to understand. It's nothing more than that the other party saw through the strategy arranged by us and Zheng Anshun and shouted arrogantly after taking people away. What is the explanation for the last eight words? What is 'Cuitang Lane Willow, Lonely Fireworks'?

"I didn't understand it for a while..." Qin Mubai frowned and shook his head. There were these eight words in his heart. He said, "It feels like it's alluding to the woman in the brothel. What is the explanation of the willow in Chuiyang Lane? Wait... Your Highness, I'll go and talk to someone. Maybe I'll gain something."

"Who are you looking for?" Everyone's voice did not fall to the ground. Qin Mubai had already walked out and his figure disappeared. Soon, he brought a man, who turned out to be Zhou Laojiu, the head of the government service.

Qin Mubai asked, "Zhou Laojiu, I have a few questions to ask you. You are a native of Xiangyang, aren't you?

"The villain lives in Xiangyang, and his ancestors are from Xiangyang for generations." Seeing many big shots present, Zhou Laojiu replied tremblingly.

"That's good." Qin Mubai said, "I want to ask you, where is the most famous place for fireworks in Xiangyang?"

"This... Puhua Long Street near Hong Kong City in the north of the city!" Zhou Laojiu replied, "There are 17 or 18 brothel buildings, large and small, specializing in the business of merchants, which can be said to be a lot of money."

"Hmm. Among the many women in the brothel, is there a particularly famous one named Gardenia?

"This...this..." Zhou Laojiu thought hard for a while and shook his head, "There are a lot of lotus flowers, begonia and so on, but there are really no gardenias."

"Real no?"

"No." Zhou Laojiu said affirmatively, "Although the little man can't afford to go to that kind of place to play, his responsibility is that he always goes there a few times a day. Therefore, it is clear at a glance which girls are slightly better. There is no plan!"

At this time, Li Ke said, "Is there a store named Chuiyang, or Lane Liu, or next to these four words?"

Zhou Laojiu thought for a long time, and still shook his head: "It's still not!"

"This is strange!" Everyone was shocked together.

Li Ke and Qin Mubai whispered, "Mu Bai, do you mean that the following eight words, the willows in the sun, and the lonely fireworks, are the contact points of the other party? Why did he tell us?"

"The purpose is very simple, of course, to negotiate with us." Qin Mubai said, "Your Highness, just this morning, Pang Fei and Zhao Chong, the general of Zuoying's navy, also disappeared in Xiangyang!"

"What?" Li Ke said angrily, "The other party is really bold!"

"Wait, calm down, calm down!" Qin Mubai waved his hand and said seriously, "I always feel that the other party has been leading our nose, and all our movements are clear at a glance. Everything comes first."

"You mean, there are traitors among us?" Li Ke said in a low voice.

Zhou Laojiu immediately panicked: "Little, little man is not! The villain knows little about things, and he doesn't have the courage to collude with the water ghost against the prince and the general!"

"I know you're not, shut up!" Li Ke snorted impatiently and said, "Mu Bai, it seems that we have fallen into the trap of the other party since we stepped into the ground of Xiangzhou. Think about it, things happened by coincidence from the beginning, and now in retrospect, it seems that they have been carefully arranged. From the time we met the water ghosts in Baguidu, to the disappearance of the princess, Pang Fei and others today, there has always been a black hand behind us behind the scenes and mastered us to death. Even the plan we planned with Zheng Anshun was cracked at once, and in turn calculated us. Our opponent is really not simple! It's more than a hundred times more powerful than those strawbags I met in Jiangzhou!"

"Yes!" Qin Mubai also nodded, "Now the other party's purpose is obvious. The kidnapping of Zheng Anshun, the robbery of the princess, and the capture of Pang Fei and Zhao Chong were all directly aimed at His Royal Highness and me. The purpose is nothing more than to get rid of food and make a lot of money. And if you can accept such a large amount of food, the Zheng family is the best buyer; if you want to get rid of it, you must hit me and let us go. The other party is not timid and has a small appetite! They are on an equal footing to negotiate with us!"

Li Ke grabbed the letter angrily: "But now we don't even know who the other party is or where it is!" What on earth does this Chuiyang alley willows and fireworks women mean?

Qin Mubai frowned and said thoughtfully, "As soon as we saw the word fireworks, we naturally thought of the place of fireworks. But there are willows in Chuiyang Lane in front of it, and there is also loneliness before the fireworks... Zhou Laojiu, let me ask you, is there any place with many willow trees in Xiangyang City?

"Yes, there are many people in the city, and willow trees are planted at home." Zhou Laojiu replied, "Since Li Guang, the former Emperor of the Sui Dynasty, went to the south of the Yangtze River, the willow trees have been worth a hundred times, but all rich families will plant some to show the family."

"Is there any family that plants willows and gardenia?" Qin Mubai continued to ask.

"This, think about this carefully..." Zhou Laojiu tapped his forehead and suddenly looked up: "Yes! There are a few! The women in these families all love gardenia. When we patrol the street, we pass by the yard and often smell the fragrance of flowers. The floral fragrance of this gardenia is the most intense. When the spring is warm and the flowers bloom, you can hear it from afar.

Qin Mubai raised his eyebrows and said, "Is there any widow among these families?"

"What, widow?" Everyone was shocked at the same time.

What's more surprising is Zhou Laojiu. He opened his eyes wide: "General Qin, you are a god! That's true! And she is the most famous little widow in Xiangyang City, and she is still half-closed!"

"What does it mean to be half-closed?" Qin Mubai asked.

Li Ke said, "This is a unique romantic place in Xiangyang. The woman from an ordinary good family secretly took over some skin and meat business. To put it bluntly, it was a private prostitute.

"Yes! There is a family. The family was originally very prosperous, and the family's wealth was well-known. The only son in the family married a famous beauty in Xiangyang. Unexpectedly, more than a year ago, the only son drowned, leaving only a beautiful and moneyy little widow. Later, the little widow couldn't help but be lonely and half closed the door. It was not to make money, but to find some romantic young men to accompany her to relieve the punishment!" Zhou Laojiu said, "That woman now lives alone in a large family, Xu Liang, known as the flower lady!"

"Willow tree, gardenia, flower lady, willow in the sun alley; little widow, half-closed door, lonely fireworks - that's her!" Qin Mubai punched him in the palm of his hand and said in a low voice, "The contact place given by the other party is the little widow's house!"

"What are you waiting for! Send troops to surround and arrest people!" Li Ke shouted.

"slow down!" Qin Mubai raised his hand and said with a grim face, "Your Highness, since the other party dares to tell us the contact place so blatantly, he must be prepared. If we lead troops to arrest people so recklessly, we may not only waste water, but also hurt the lives of the princess and others!"

"Hateful!" Li Ke obviously realized this, but he was just a little unwilling. He hit the wall with an angry punch and shouted, "I was so teased by this group of stubborn bandits!"

"Mu Bai is still wise, calm and capable." Quan Wanji stood up and said, "The other party is a series of tricks. First, he caught Pang Fei and Zhao Chong, and then Zheng Anshun and the princess mother and daughter, and left such a letter to let us take the initiative to contact. This is a link, and the sky is seamlessly combined quite closely. The master of the other party is really a very smart person! Mu Bai, there is no other way now. If you don't enter the tiger's den, you will get the tiger's son, so you have to send someone to go to the Xu Liang's house alone and contact the other party. Let's see what the other party wants. Knowing their intentions, we can solve the problem tit-for-tat.

"What Mr. Quan said is very true." Qin Mubai took a deep breath and said awe-inspiringly, "I originally came to Xiangyang to contact them, but I didn't expect that even Zheng Anshun and the princess mother and daughter could be robbed. It seems that the other party's appetite is even bigger than I imagined. There's nothing to say. It's the Longtan Tiger Cave. I, Qin Mubai, must go through today!"

"I'll go with you!" Li Ke said firmly, "I don't believe it. What kind of three-headed and six-armed the other party is. What can I do!"

"Your Highness, you'd better stay in the Assassination House and preside over the overall situation!" Qin Mubai said, "You and I can't appear in the same place at the same time, and we can't be involved in danger at the same time. Don't worry, they will definitely not do anything to me, because they know that I can't ignore the lives of the princess and others, and they have to let me go back and give orders to the military office. If you stay here, everyone will have a backbone. Please be calm for a moment, don't be in a hurry, and wait for my news in the house.

"..." Li Ke frowned for a long time and nodded unwillingly: "Okay, it's up to you! May I ask, I'm not as resourceful as you, but you'd better be careful. After all, we know almost nothing about them, and we don't know what kind of tricks they will do.

"I will." Qin Mubai turned around and patted Xue Rengui on the shoulder, "Brother Xue, don't blame yourself. If it were anyone, I couldn't protect the princess today. You assist Your Highness to sit in the Assassin's Mansion. In case of any change, you still need to lead the soldiers and government officials!"

"Xue is ordered!" Xue Rengui held a grateful fist and said, "Brother Qin, you should also take care of yourself! Now, it's all up to you to turn the tide!"

Qin Mubai smiled confidently and jokingly: "It's just a small matter. I've seen a lot. Now my greatest hope is that the princess mother and daughter and the kidnapped person are safe and sound. In this case, I'll go first. You don't have to worry about it. I will come back intact!"

"Bear care!" Everyone bowed their hands together.

"Zhou Laojiu, come and show me the way. Let's go to the flower lady's house!" Qin Mubai put on Lao Jiu's shoulder last week and strode out of the room.

Li Ke took a long breath, frowned and shook his head and sighed, "At every critical moment, he always stands up to solve problems... I really don't know whether this is a blessing or a disaster."

"Your Highness, why did you say this?" Quan Wanji was surprised.

"It's a blessing, you don't have to say. With such a friend, it is a great blessing for anyone to rest assured. Li Ke said, "The disaster is... I'm too dependent on him. To this day, I have almost developed a bad habit. If you have any questions, find Mu Bai. It seems that he doesn't come, and I can't even think about it. Take this letter as an example, not to mention going to the flower lady's house to explore the Longtan Tiger's den. Even the meaning of this letter, I can't crack it at all. With him, I feel like I'm alive, like a child who hasn't been weaned!"

"Uh-huh..." Quan Wanji and Xue Rengui looked at each other and were speechless. At the same time, they said in their hearts: Haven't we cracked it? Is it possible that we haven't been weaned? ......