The First Volume of Qinghe County

  "This... was indeed done by me." Drumming his fingers, Ximen Qing and Wu Song's questioning didn't make him feel the slightest bit of remorse or embarrassment: "I met that guy on the road, the more I looked at him, the stranger he seemed, couldn't help but steal his bundle to take a look."

  "Why are you looking so strange?" Ximen Qing asked: "Is it because of the sharp voice?"

  "It's not just that." Shi Qian thought for a moment: "The voice, the mannerisms are all very strange, as if it were..."

  "Eunuch. Must be a eunuch." Wu Song interrupted, "When I went to the Eastern Capital, I saw one or two at Grand General Zhu's residence. Now that I think about it, that fellow just now was indeed a eunuch."

  "Isn't it really from that Imperial City Guard?" Ximen Qing hastily held out a hand: "The thing? Bring it here and let me take a look."

  Shi Qian rummaged through his body for half a day, and finally, with embarrassment, pulled out the crumpled letter from his socks: "This, I'm illiterate, so... originally wanted to find a fortune teller to help take a look."

  Ximen Qing took a look and saw that the envelope only had "Qinghe County Magistrate's Personal Letter" on it, with no name below, but an unusual seal, twisted and curved like a character but not quite, the envelope was sealed with lacquer and hadn't been opened.

  Ximen Qing pinched it with his hand and found that there was nothing inside, seemingly only a piece of paper.

  "Is that all?" Ximen Qing asked casually, and Lai Da's face turned slightly red.

  Wu Song looked at it and wondered: "This kind of letter is usually tied with a silk ribbon, why doesn't this one have any?"

  Shi Qian coughed and lifted up his shirt: "Two brothers, please come and take a look."

  Ximen Qing and Wu Song looked at each other, this guy directly tied the silk ribbon around his waist, this taste is really... quite seductive! No wonder he's a drum-top louse!

  "This... pocket has been used for a long time, it's a bit rotten." Shi Qian's small mustache twitched: "Look at the quality of this satin ribbon, use it as a temporary fix!"

  Ximen Qing and Wu Song both burst out laughing, Ximen Qing ordered a young servant to go outside to the clothing store to buy a set of clothes for Shi Yan to change into, Shi Yan still felt a bit reluctant to part with them.

  "Third brother, this letter is to be taken to Magistrate Zhu, you'd better untie that green silk ribbon and re-tie the letter with it." Ximen Qing shook his head: "This green color... really doesn't match."

  Since there was nothing else to do, Wu Song decided to head back first. He stood up and bid farewell, saying: "I'm afraid my sister-in-law will worry since we've been gone for so long."

  "My second brother is right," Ximen Qing thought for a moment, then instructed: "After the seventh day, choose a day to hold the funeral, after all, he has not been buried yet."

  "Brother, rest assured, Wu Song is sensible."

  It's all over now, and it's all scattered like clouds in the sky.

  Ximen Qing was very satisfied with this result, and ordered his servants to clean up two rooms, separately preparing them for Wu Song and Pan Jinlian to live in. Although Ximen Qing wanted to marry Pan Jinlian as soon as possible, he also had to consider Wu Song's feelings first.

  It turns out that Wu Song is also a lone wanderer in the world, and it seems that he has never solved his personal problems. It looks like this kind of thing still needs to be arranged by this enthusiastic big brother.

  Ximen Qing suddenly thought of it, Water Margin has one hundred and eight heroes, but only three are women.

  Without realizing Ximen Qing's intention to play matchmaker, Shi Yan re-tied the letter according to his memory and put it aside, then he again had his eyes on Ximen Qing's sheep fat white jade pendant. He asked for it with a blush, not daring to use force with his hands, but instead held up the string that threaded through the pendant, studying it carefully in the sunlight, wanting to see something from it...

  Ximen Qing was also very curious about this thing, Shi Yan took it to study, Ximen Qing did not object, but looking at the sunlight, it was just an ordinary sheep fat white jade, without emitting that strange light.

  After looking at it for half a day, he couldn't figure out what it was. Feeling somewhat disheartened, he handed it back to Ximen Qing. Ximen Qing smiled complacently and casually hung it from his waist again. Even Shi Yan couldn't do anything about it; it seemed that this thing really was something nobody could take away.

  Now that the letter has been found, apart from being a bit crumpled, it's basically restored to its original state. Ximen Qing looked at the complicated knot and thought that even he himself wouldn't be able to tie it again.

  Ximen Qing was just about to leave and hand over the letter to Zhu Zhiyuan, when Xue'er rushed over from behind after hearing the news. She heard that Ximen Qing had sworn brotherhood with three people and was extremely delighted: "Master, when is Sister Jinlian coming to our house? I saw the servants cleaning the room, are they preparing it for Sister Jinlian?"

  "One room for Wu Song, one room for Sixth Lady to live in." Ximen Qing smiled at Snowy, this little demon: "But we have to wait until Wu Dalang is buried first."

  "Ah, it's going to take that long?" Xue Er looked unhappy and pouted: "I wanted to sleep with Jin Lian sister too."

  "Then..." Ximen Qing listened with a flushed face: "If you sleep with Jinlian, how can I, the old master, sleep?"

  "Ah, is this the sister-in-law?" Drumming up a flea, Shi Qian directly bounced over, his small body making no sound, and suddenly appearing voice almost scared Xue Er, especially Shi Qian's raised little mustache was trembling.

  But then, Shi Qian suddenly produced a delicate little windmill from somewhere and handed it over with a smile: "Sister-in-law, consider this little trinket as a meeting gift."

  "Oh, this is so cute!" Xue'er saw the small windmill and couldn't help but rush over to grab it, revealing her true form. Accompanied by a burst of silvery laughter, she held the windmill and ran towards the backyard.

  "Wow, this little windmill is so much fun!"

  Ximen Qing, with a face full of black lines, looked up and down at Shi Qian. Is this guy a machine cat with an arbitrary door or a street magic master who is hiding his true abilities? There are quite a few miscellaneous things hidden all over him, I wonder what he'll take out next time.

  "Master, I've bought back some clothes." Little Tianqing at the door was holding a stack of clothes and also looked at Shiyan with a strange gaze.

  "Alright, put it on the table!" Ximen Qing ordered: "Third brother, you choose for yourself, change everything inside and out."

  Ximen Qing then took Xiaotianqing to the door and locked it, thinking that if a beautiful woman were changing clothes, there would be something to see, but as for Shi Yan, forget it!

  Bang!

  "Ding Dong!"

  "Bang!"

  All sorts of strange noises came from inside the house, making Ximen Qing almost unable to bear wanting to see what Shi Yin was doing. Fortunately, Xiaotianqing peeked through the door gap and looked for a while, clicking her tongue in wonder: "This person is really strange, with so many messy things on his body, an Eight Immortals table is full..."

  "Don't be impolite." Ximen Qing rebuked indifferently: "From now on, call him Third Master."

  "Old master, I heard you've become sworn brothers with the tiger-fighting hero Wu Song." Tian Qing looked on for a while, feeling somewhat bored, and returned to sit beside his own old master on the steps: "I don't know if I'll be able to find a master to apprentice under..."

  "You have to call him Second Master." Ximen Qing said with surprise, "You're so young, what kind of martial arts are you learning? If you really want to learn, I can teach you some basic boxing and kicking skills, just for fun... Are you eyeing one of the maids?"

  "Not at all." Xiaotianqing's pale face turned bright red, and she said seriously: "The old master's kung fu is nothing but fancy moves... I want to learn some real kung fu from the second master, so that I can protect the old master! If there are any more assassins like the killer bee coming in, I'll take them down with three punches and two kicks..."

  "Oh?" Ximen Qing didn't mind being called "flower fist and brocade leg" at all, but instead looked at Xiaotianqing with great interest: "I didn't expect you to have this kind of loyalty, let's talk about it with my second brother another day. However, not everyone is suitable for practicing martial arts, one needs a good physical foundation."

  Xiao Tianqing sprang up with a whoosh, rolled up her sleeves and showed off her slender biceps, making Ximen Qing laugh so hard he fell over.

  At this time, the door opened and Shi Chuan walked out wearing a new set of clothes with a cheerful expression. Seeing Xiao Tianqing gesturing, he couldn't help but laugh: "You're too thin, why not learn some weight loss kung fu from me?"

  "No way." Little Tianqing didn't give him any face, directly shaking her head in refusal: "I want to learn martial arts from the Tiger-Beating Hero, not your sneaky and underhanded skills."

  Wu Dalang didn't take it to heart, and exchanged a couple of jokes with Xiaotianqing. Ximen Qing glanced at the sun which was already in the west, chatted with Wu Dalang for a couple of sentences, then took the letter and prepared to go deliver it to Zhu Biao, also known as Magistrate Zhu.

  As for how this letter came about... even if it was picked up by a servant from one's own household, who had inadvertently found it on the street, they still couldn't hand over Shi San Ye, with whom they had just sworn brotherhood.

  That "brother Ren" saw the letter in Ximen Qing's hand, his eyeballs almost fell out. He didn't think he could find it, and coming to look for Zhu Zhi County was just a last resort, but he didn't expect Ximen Qing to find it so quickly, and still "unopened".

  "May I ask for the great name of this county magistrate?" The "brother" couldn't help but ask after handing over the letter to Magistrate Zhu.

  "This is my good brother, Brother Ximen." Magistrate Zhu was overjoyed to see Ximen Qing so quickly resolve the situation: "His surname is Ximen, his given name is Qing, and his courtesy name is...Blowing Snow! Some time ago, he captured the notorious lone bandit Killer Bee who had been hiding in our county for many years!"

  Ximen Qing listened to Zhu Zhiyuan's praise and cooperated with him, striking a handsome pose standing in the snow with his hands behind his back.

  "Huh? You're Ximen Qing!" The "brother" on the other side of the conversation had a growing look of surprise on his face, and his voice became even sharper: "How did you find this letter so quickly?"

  "The law... must not be lightly transmitted, the mountain man has his own wonderful plan." Ximen Qing originally wanted to say that it was picked up by a lower person, but wouldn't this be... too lacking in mystery?

  "No wonder the adults in my family have taken a liking to you!" That "brother" had an expression of shock: "With your talent, isn't it a waste to be in Qinghe County?"

  Ximen Qing smiled complacently, just about to change into another outfit and recite a couple of lines, when suddenly he heard the faintly angry rebuke from Zhu Zhiyuan: "How can this be?!"

  Ximen Qing looked over in surprise and saw that Zhu Zhi County was shocked, tightly clutching the letter in his hand, as if he didn't dare to believe what he had just read.