Strange Tale of Qingluan

Su Zhongming was sleeping on the mat, and had a dream in a daze. This dream was intertwined with the present and the past, and the clouds and mists were misty. It was true, but it was different from the past in his memory. It was false, but it felt different. It was so real that he couldn't extricate himself for a while, as if he had walked into a psychedelic illusion.

After several layers of smoke cleared, Su Zhongming opened his eyes in an instant, and then slowly raised the upper half of the eye, his mind was blank.At that time, the hanging bamboo curtain was raised silently, a 14-year-old girl came in with her head in, turned her head and smiled at the people behind her, and then walked into the room generously, and respectfully said to Su Zhongming: "City Lord, I have seen the City Lord! "

She followed the instructions of the woman four or five years older than her who came in with her, and bowed to Su Zhongming, but Su Zhongming just sat on the mat with a dazed expression, without any reaction.

The girl was full of doubts, she turned her head and glanced at the woman, the woman signaled her to go out with winks, but she refused, and called Su Zhongming several times in succession, Su Zhongming finally came to his senses, turned his head to her, eyes full of doubts.

"Your City Master is having a nightmare, right?" The girl guessed when she saw the fine beads of sweat on his forehead.Immediately, she snatched the freshly wrung wet cloth towel from the woman's hand, and was about to wipe Su Zhongming's sweat. The woman on the other side felt a little unhappy when she saw that her task was taken away.

Su Zhongming took a look at her and felt that her attire was a bit like spring grass, so he opened his mouth and asked, "What's your name?" The girl was very happy when she heard that, and quickly replied: "My name is Fei'er, built by Shuilingzhu." The woman next to her said badly, "Fei'er, collecting bamboo dew is your task, why don't you hurry up? If you don't finish it, your master will scold you."

When Fei'er was feeling proud, she refused to give in to her in her heart, thought for a while, and said cleverly: "The sun is already high, what's the use of picking after the time? Master can't embarrass me."

"Ghost girl..." The woman was very helpless, and urged her, "Okay, okay, you have seen the city lord, there is no task for you here, you should go back, if you don't go back, your master is really serious!" I'm going to scold you."

Thinking of the old man who was nesting in the mess of medicinal materials every day and admonishing people like splashing water, Fei'er couldn't help feeling sullen, and refused to go back, saying casually, "Oh, oh, what's the matter? Didn't chat with the city lord!" The woman had no choice but to apologize to Su Zhongming first, "Don't blame the city lord, she was badly taught by the pharmacist on weekdays."

Su Zhongming was very generous and didn't mind, "It's okay, I think she is also very likable." Fei'er was overjoyed, she smiled, and forgot about etiquette, thanks to the woman tugging on her sleeve, she just remembered, and hurriedly said, "Thanks The city lord loves me very much, but... I am different from others, I often do wrong things in a daze, if I really offend the city lord, the city lord must remember what I said today, and you are not allowed to turn around and say that I am not likable! "

The woman didn't know that she would say this, she became embarrassed, she wished she could bang her head against the wall and said in her heart, "It's embarrassing, thank you, the city lord, it's over, why are you talking so much?"really...

Su Zhongming was taken aback for a moment, feeling that he had never met such a lovely person in his life, so he couldn't help smiling, and promised: "Well, I will remember." Fei'er also smiled complacently, and turned to look at the The woman put on a showy look.

Suddenly, the woman uttered an 'ah', Su Zhongming was very puzzled, and asked her: "Shuangshuang, what's wrong with you?" She first blamed Fei'er, saying: "I was almost missed by you girl!" Then she reported, "Everyone is waiting for the city lord in the meeting room, and I was ordered to notify the city lord to go."

"Wait for me? Are you in a meeting..." Su Zhongming hurriedly put on his shoes, got up, picked up his coat and put it on.Ye Shuangshuang nodded, "I'm afraid so, all the big shots from Xiangxuanzhu are here." Su Zhongming started and told her, "Lead the way."

As soon as he arrived in the conference room, there were more than ten pairs of eyes staring at him at the same time, which made him extremely uncomfortable. He pretended to be calm and greeted many strange faces among them, "Well, we met for the first time." Among the faces, a young man with a smiling face opened his mouth to answer first, "Why is the city lord so polite, just sit down when you come!"

Su Zhongming immediately walked to his seat, sat down, Yanyan happened to walk in, and respectfully said to him: "The person who escaped from Qingluan City has been arrested, let's have a trial today!" The person mentioned in the words was escorted into the house.After the two were brought, Su Zhongming saw it and was surprised.

That man and a woman—Pan Ying and Zhu Li, when they saw Su Zhongming, they all lowered their heads and dared not lift them up.Su Zhongming stood up slowly, and blurted out, "It's really...it's you..." Yan Yan's expression was still so harsh, without any human feelings, and he only said: "Pan Ying and Zhu Li left Qingluan City 20 years ago. , no matter what mission Qingluan City has, the two of them have refused to accept it so far."

"Once you enter this sect, you should work for this sect and put the mission of this sect first. No matter how important your own affairs are, you can't delay the task because of your own selfishness. This is also clearly stipulated by this sect. If you violate the It is a matter of course for this regulation to be punished." Someone in the seat said something.

Yanyan said, "Escaping from our sect and not accepting the mission is no different from betraying our sect." Then someone replied, "Well, since you have been confirmed as betraying our sect, then please ask the Sixth Elder to deal with it! You are a god! Imprisoned by the forbidden court!"

"We didn't betray Qingluan City! Not at all! Back then, Qingluan City sent us to protect the young master of Shaole Kingdom. We risked our lives, and now they say we betrayed! Yanyan, I have been doubting you for so long How many disciples have been wronged and killed since then!" Zhu Li couldn't help but yelled loudly in the hall, openly resisting.

Yanyan expressionless, stated: "You didn't protect the young master of Shaole with all your heart, but let him die. You obviously could bring the young master back to our sect, but you didn't do it. I want to ask you, what happened to the young master's suffering? Where were you all when you were in the hands of the villain, who were you protecting?"

Zhu Li was stunned for a moment, unable to answer, but Yanyan continued to say: "The child you protect and leave is not the young master, but the child born to the young master's biological mother and someone else. Have I wronged you?"

"It's not like that! At that time, the imperial concubine said that she would go to persuade the young master in person, and we waited for her in a temporarily safe place, but when she came back, she said that the young master was unwilling to go with her, so we went back and planned to take the young master away. But by then it was already too late, the young master had already been taken away by the gangsters!" Zhu Li continued to explain, but it was of no avail.

Yan Yan stared at them, with a pool of cold water in his eyes, "Then why don't you go with the young master's biological mother to persuade the young master? If you go together, will the young master be taken away? Also, since the task Failed, why did you choose to abscond instead of returning to the sect to report?"

One question after another made Zhu Li dumb and speechless, and was speechless again. Pan Ying, who was beside her, knew that she was at a dead end, and persuaded her, "Forget Zhu Li, we are indeed guilty, and we are afraid of being punished, because I heard that the Heavenly Imprisonment Court is very strict, and I am even more afraid of the Sixth Elder who is in charge of punishment, so I have never dared to come back, resulting in repeated mistakes."

Zhu Li turned his head and shouted at Pan Ying: "Pan Ying, you..." Pan Ying replied, "It is true that we were wrong, Zhu Li, you knelt down and resisted in front of the elders, Xiangxuanzhu, and the city lord. If it's not right, it will only increase our charges." Zhu Li had no choice but to listen to him and knelt down.

"Over the years, we know that it won't help, so we are also secretly helping the young master. Although the young master has lost his memory and doesn't recognize us, we have done our best. We only hope that one day Qingluan City will forgive us." Panying said, at the moment Kowtow to everyone in Xiangxuanzhu to apologize.

Yan Yan opened his mouth and said: "Punishments in Qingluan City range from light to severe. You violated the regulations, and I ordered you to go back to accept the crime, but you still used force against me! The crime is aggravated, and of course the death penalty will be imposed."

Su Zhongming was silent for a long time. Seeing that the two of them seemed to have repentance, he pleaded for them, "Yanyan, when I was in danger at that time, when life and death were at stake, they stood up to protect me without hesitation, and it was an atonement. Can you reduce the crime as appropriate and let them live?"

Yanyan lowered his head in thought, and after a while, he replied: "Since he has done meritorious service while wearing a crime, there is nothing wrong with mitigating the crime, what do you think?" Everyone present said: "I have no objection."

"Okay! Then, I'll take them down and deal with them." Yan Yan said, immediately raised his sleeves, and suddenly, a few long needles flew out of the sleeves, and accurately pierced into their wrists and ankles. They gritted their teeth, showing a very painful expression, and cold sweat burst from their foreheads and fell down.

Seeing fresh snow dripping along the long needle, Su Zhongming felt it was cruel, but he couldn't dissuade Yanyan, so he kept silent and watched Zhu Li and Pan Ying being mercilessly pushed down.

"I have disabled their meridians. From now on, they will no longer be able to hold swords or practice martial arts. After the execution, let them clean the yard every day in the main helm." After Yan Yan finished speaking, she turned to Su Zhongming. He bowed and stepped back.After that, the real problem has just begun.

At the seats, some people began to get down to business, "Today, let's talk about recruiting new disciples and raising money! In the current Qingluan City, because there are too few disciples in Siwuzhu, and the shortage of money, I'm afraid it won't last long. There is a dangerous situation of disbanding, and we must find a way to solve it."

"Well, I think that we must first solve the problem of silver taels before recruiting new disciples. Recruiting disciples without enough silver taels must be a huge expense, and we must be poor."

"That can't be helped, everyone has to make a living."

Everyone talked one sentence after another, and only Su Zhongming acted as a bystander and kept silent.Yingqing saw that he hadn't expressed any opinions since he sat down, so he pointed the words at him, "For the issue of raising money, let's hear what the city lord has to offer first!"

Su Zhongming was slightly startled, he quickly straightened his demon body and prepared to speak, thinking: What should I say?Fundraising is nothing more than selling some valuable things, but there doesn't seem to be any valuable things in Qingluan City, alas!I am afraid that this kind of predicament can only be overcome by temporary loans... borrowing?Seems like a good idea.

But who do you want to borrow money from?Who can afford to borrow so much money and is willing to borrow?I don't know that many people in this world. The only ones who can afford to borrow are Huangyuan King of Huangyuan Kingdom, Khan of Tuluo Kingdom, Guangwang of Guangling Kingdom, and Zhenhui of Prince Shi's Mansion of Landan Kingdom. Princess Shi Luoqiu is gone, but are they all willing to borrow money?

Su Zhongming frowned, thinking about these things secretly, suddenly felt a little difficult.Yingqing stared at his expression, and asked: "What does the city owner think is wrong?" Su Zhongming raised his head, "No, I'm just thinking about how to raise money. If you do business, you won't make enough money in a short time." The fastest way is to borrow money from others, but..."

"Well, it's true that borrowing is the fastest way. Let the disciples of this sect handle this matter!" Yingqing thought about it and immediately agreed.Someone answered, "If you borrow so much money, you will have to return it, so it's not a long-term solution." Another person blurted out, "Yes, if you have to borrow it, you must operate and buy wheat within the repayment period. If there are silver taels, return them back."

Yingqing felt that everyone's answers made sense, and said: "Then let's do it this way." Su Zhongming thought for a while, and put forward his own opinion, "The matter of borrowing money... let me do it, if you let the disciples go Borrowing, if the borrower is a rogue, it will be troublesome. Let me borrow it. If I succeed, I will raise enough money soon. If I meet someone who is not good, it is only my problem, and I will bear the consequences. That's all."

"Then how can it be, city lord..." Upon hearing this, Ying Qing instantly became embarrassed and was the first to object.Before he finished speaking, someone interrupted him, "Since it was the decision made by the city lord, master, please agree!"