Chapter 97 Killing someone with a borrowed knife

As the night banquet was reaching its climax, the madam came to report happily several times. In just over an hour, the turnover in Anle Pavilion had exceeded ten thousand taels.

Xiao Yan just smiled faintly. He didn't care about the gains and losses of money, but only cared about how much fame Anle Pavilion would gain after tonight. How much influence it would have in Luoyang and even in Guanzhong, and this was his goal.

The stairs are guarded by bad guys, and ordinary people cannot go up easily.

In the private room, Ji Ruxue, who had not been very interested in this mysterious banquet, now walked out with her eyes wide open, and then stood behind Xiao Yan, clenching her fingers, not hiding the amazement in her eyes.

Later, the two sisters Miao Chengtian and Xuan Jingtian looked at each other, also somewhat surprised.

After they learned of Xiao Yan's idea, they wanted to give it some advice to him, but Xiao Yan declined with a smile. They originally thought that this banquet should be a common scene, but now they see that it has far exceeded their expectations.

I didn't expect that Xiao Lang's ideas in this regard would be so wild and imaginative, and he could even be called a big shot in the industry.

Could it be that there really are such gifted people in the world?

Miao Chengtian seemed to be thinking about something, and he began to understand why Xiao Yan had so many beauties around him.

At this time, a bad guy walked over, then bowed and whispered: "Captain, Old Duan met Tianqiaoxing over there."

"I've noticed it just now." Xiao Yan thought for a moment and said, "Please ask him to come up."

"Here? Wouldn't that attract too much attention..."

"It doesn't matter. I don't need to hide now."

The bad guy left as ordered, and Miao Chengtian then whispered something to Ji Ruxue.

The latter coughed dryly, then pursed his lips, walked forward somewhat tensely, and stood beside Xiao Yan.

She tilted her head and stared at the profile of his face.

Xiao Yan laughed, and then asked, "Do you have anything to ask?"

Ji Ruxue pondered for a moment, then asked in a low voice: "You have left us sisters here all these days, but you have never explained why you want to join Liang... Now that Qi is about to be invaded by war, I am afraid we don't have time to waste here any longer."

"So, you want to go back?" Xiao Yan stared into her eyes with a smile in his eyes.

"From our standpoint, you are already our enemy."

Ji Ruxue's face was cold and she deliberately showed some distance. She said, "For the sake of King Qi and the millions of people in Qi, we dare not take any risks."

Not far away, Miao Chengtian heard these words and came over, bowing slightly: "I and the others are all aware of Xiao Lang's character, I hope Xiao Lang can tell us the truth..."

Xuan Jingtian, who was accompanying her, subconsciously tensed his nerves and glanced around.

Although she also had some friendship with Xiao Yan, the latter had become complicated in their perception. In other words, she couldn't judge whether Xiao Yan would attack them...

"Please forgive me, the two saints. I have my own plans. Please allow me to hide my shortcomings for a while. As for..." Xiao Yan smiled indifferently, looked at Ji Ruxue, and said, "At least for now, and for a long time to come, Qi Country and I should be allies."

"What does Xiao Lang mean?"

"We still need to continue laying secret stakes, just as planned, to open horse shops and grain stores. This is also the basis for my cooperation with your Qi country."

Miao Chengtian frowned slightly, "Forgive me for being so nosy, but Xiao Lang joined Daliang just to allow this plan to be run safely in the Central Plains?"

Xiao Yan immediately responded: "Saint Ji can understand this, and you need to believe that in the near future, I will be your most solid umbrella of protection in the Central Plains."

The two girls were stunned for a moment.

Ji Ruxue frowned, glanced at him inconspicuously, and remained silent.

Miao Chengtian bowed earnestly and said, "I am self-righteous and have been reckless in guessing Xiao Lang's intentions. I really don't know the big picture. Xiao Lang is willing to devote so much to this matter, which really makes me and other people from Qi country ashamed..."

Xuan Jingtian on the side was also somewhat embarrassed, and couldn't help feeling ashamed for his mean-spirited behavior just now.

In order to smoothly lay the intelligence for Qi State, he even went to Liang State and endured the infamy. How could I doubt him so much?
Xiao Yan looked calm and said calmly: "I am just like King Qi, we are both ministers of the Tang Dynasty."

After hearing this, the two girls had not yet figured out the meaning of this sentence when several figures came quickly towards the stairs of the back building.

Several people turned around and looked.

The people who came were Duan Chengtian and Liang Zhi, with a man being held between them. The former looked a little embarrassed, scratching his head with his fat hands.

The person being held was naturally Shangguan Yunque. He was tied up tightly with ropes, and his face was a little messy with smoky makeup. He kept persuading Duan Chengtian in a low voice, "Old Duan, don't go down this road of no return! I am really Shangguan! I am really following the order of the Marshal to come..."

"Tian Qiaoxing, please stop talking." Liang Zhize didn't blush or breathe heavily. He grabbed Shangguan Yunque with one hand and didn't feel anything wrong at all. He said with a straight face: "If you want to blame someone, you can blame me, Old Liang."

"Oh, you blockhead." Shangguan Yunque regretted deeply. Why did he run into these two stubborn people?

But at this moment, he also knew that it was difficult to persuade the damned ghost with kind words, so he simply stopped arguing. With a sneer on his face, he quickly glanced at the people at the fence.

At this moment, due to his appearance, several bad guys strode over and covered the fence, fearing that the people below would see what was going on here. The combination of three women and one man also made it very easy for him to identify who was the real boss.

He snorted coldly. Because his arms were tied, he couldn't raise his index finger. He could only raise his chin and look at her, thinking he was extremely cool.

That boy looked straight, tall and thin, and he looked quite strong and suave in his tattered clothes.

Tsk tsk tsk, this little face looks like a handsome man...

Shangguan Yunque was thinking about it when his expression suddenly changed. He then secretly pouted twice: "This kid is a traitor!"

On the opposite side, Xiao Yan was also looking at Shangguan Yunque.

She looked pretty much the same as he remembered, with a white gauze tied around her abdomen, revealing her chest with distinct ribs, and a face full of heavy makeup that made her look a bit androgynous. But why did he look at her in such a strange way?

However, Xiao Yan's attention was immediately attracted by the rope on Shangguan Yunque, so he stopped thinking about it.

"You two, why did you tie up Tian Qiaoxing?" He couldn't help but smile bitterly and stepped forward, bowing apologetically: "I have heard of Tian Qiaoxing's great name for a long time. I am really sorry for what happened today."

"Did you hear me? Why don't you let me go!" Shangguan Yunque was instantly surprised and delighted when he heard this. He then kept twisting his fingers behind his back and said, "I told you it was all a misunderstanding. Let's all get along and go back together to meet the Marshal. Isn't that wonderful?"

Xiao Yan's smile remained unchanged, and he said, "But since you've already tied him up, Tian Qiaoxing will just bear with it for a while, how about that?"

Liang Zhi, who had a stern face and was about to untie the rope for Shangguan Yunque, paused for a moment, then smacked his lips and said nothing.

Duan Chengtian seemed a little embarrassed, then turned away, his eyes wandering.

"Old Duan, you..."

Shangguan Yunque got anxious, and then he moved closer to Xiao Yan, pleading in a low voice with a bitter face: "Come on, come on, come on, we can go back as soon as you want to see the Marshal, how about that? There are so many people watching, just let me go first..."

At the same time, his eyes swept over the women not far away, and he said angrily: "I really don't want to live anymore when I am stared at by a few women!"

Xiao Yan laughed, and personally reached out to untie the rope that tied him up, and then apologized again: "The situation is special, thank you Tian Qiaoxing for your understanding."

"Humph."

Shangguan Yunque snorted coldly, but when he saw that the bad guys around him had left tactfully, his expression eased a lot.

Only Ji Ruxue and the other two girls looked a little strange.

Xiao Yan turned around, winked at them, and then made a few gestures.

The two daughters of Miao Chengtian were well-informed people. They immediately bowed and corrected their attitude.

Ji Ruxue frowned secretly, she really didn't understand why Xiao Yan always had so many weird people around him. But this was not the main reason, but she always felt that the sissy seemed to be born incompatible with her, as if their personalities were incompatible for some reason.

She suppressed her strange thoughts and followed Miao Chengtian back to the private room.

Here, Shangguan Yunque was finally able to pinch his orchid fingers again. He squinted at Liang Zhi, hummed, and rubbed his wrist that was hurt by the rope. Fortunately, he had already tested Xiao Yan's attitude.

If the latter really wanted to serve the Liang court, he would not care about his identity as a courier in the Hidden Army Valley. After all, how could such a young man know how powerful the general was?

He groaned and rolled his eyes at Duan Chengtian standing beside him, "Old Duan, our long-standing friendship is over today!"

Duan Chengtian scratched the back of his head and just smiled foolishly.

"cut."

Shangguan Yunque turned his head and looked around the attic, only to find that this was the place with the best view in the entire Anle Pavilion, overlooking the entire lobby and all the movements on the second floor.

Next to them, a few bad guys brought in a few stools and placed them on both sides.

Xiao Yan picked one at random and sat down.

"What order did the Marshal give for Tianqiaoxing to come here?"

"It's already in your hands, what orders are important..." Shangguan Yunque sighed sadly, and then said with a bitter face: "Don't call me Tianqiaoxing, it's so ugly. Just call me Shangguan, what a fool I am to call you senior, but I was fooled by a junior like you."

Xiao Yan smiled softly.

It seemed as if Shangguan Yunque couldn't keep it to himself, but he didn't care about the previous grudges at all and showed his closeness to him.

"Brother Shangguan is an open-minded person. I hope you won't blame Brother Duan and Brother Liang. They were just deceived by me." Xiao Yan said, "I will keep my promise and will follow Brother Shangguan back to meet the Marshal."

Shangguan Yunque curled his lips and pinched his fingers, saying, "How can I not be open-minded? I'm really afraid that if I don't agree, I'll be thrown into the toilet and smoked for three days and three nights..."

Even Liang Zhi couldn't keep a straight face at this moment and just laughed dryly.

Seeing that the atmosphere was already lively, Shangguan Yunque rolled his eyes and said in a somewhat pretentious manner: "The Marshal's order is to take you back. I guess the original reason was because you made too much noise in Luoyang, and the Marshal wanted to see you. But now..."

He lowered his voice and pointed at everything around him, "You have pledged your loyalty to Zhu Wen, so no one can control you. But you insist on pretending to be a bad person. Isn't this ruining the reputation of our bad people? I'm afraid the Marshal won't be able to justify this. Also, what are you doing here? How did Anle Pavilion become your property?"

"Brother Shangguan will gradually learn about these things in the future."

"That won't do!" Shangguan Yunque said anxiously, "You came to Liang to serve, so you have to explain yourself, right? Otherwise, even if I have to turn against you, I will still go get some reinforcements and take you back!"

At the same time, he kept looking at Duan Chengtian and the other man beside him, his expression becoming serious, "This is not a joke, you two should know that if the Marshal gets angry, no one in the world can bear it."

Duan Chengtian hesitated when he heard this, and Liang Zhi also began to think about it.

On the other side, Xiao Yan pondered for a moment and said, "There's no need to embarrass them. I'll tell Brother Shangguan the truth."

"Speak quickly."

"This time, I will kill someone with a borrowed knife."

Shangguan Yunque was stunned for a moment, "Who to kill?"

"The first one is Liu Shouguang from Hebei." Xiao Yan tapped his knees with his fingers, his eyes half-closed, "Then, Li Keyong from Hedong, Yang Wo from Huainan, Wang Jian from Shu..."

His voice was slow and his sentences were long. Every time he spoke a name, it gave Shangguan Yunque goose bumps all over his back.

At the side, Duan Chengtian and Liang Zhi folded their arms across their chests, both looking solemn.

Shangguan Yunque stammered, "Whose knife did you borrow?"

"Zhu Wen." Xiao Yan said calmly: "This knife is the sharpest. But don't worry, he can't hold this knife for long."

"Wait, give me some time."

Shangguan Yunque rubbed his forehead, feeling a little confused. His memory kept flashing, and he seemed to have seen these familiar names somewhere before.

Suddenly, an idea struck him.

It's in the Marshal's room...

There is always a long list hanging on Yuan Tiangang's bookshelf.

Song Wentong, Li Yaer...

There are too many, but they are particularly consistent with the name Xiao Yan mentioned.

He was startled, and stopped pinching his fingers. He asked carefully, "What do you want?"

"Restore the Tang Dynasty."

Xiao Yan stood up, looked down at him, and stretched out his hand: "Brother Shangguan, do you want to join?"

"This, this, this..."

Shangguan Yunque stuttered, his mind in a mess.

But at this moment, a firecracker suddenly exploded, making his heart tremble.

Then, the candle lights in the entire Anle Pavilion, which were as bright as day, were extinguished at once. The guests in the lobby, which had been relatively quiet, were startled at first, and then immediately became noisy.

But in a moment, a bright color slowly appeared.

Everyone looked at it in confusion, only to see a bright moon hanging high between the buildings.

Suddenly, the rhythmic sound of a zither began to play slowly.

Then, a wisp of colorful streamers fluttered, and everyone saw a graceful figure flying out from the darkness. In the moonlight, her long skirt swayed gently, and she looked like a fairy.

In the private room, Ji Ruxue blinked her bright eyes and looked up.

They had planned to leave during the day, and Xiao Yan said something when he tried to keep her.

"There's a banquet tonight, I hope you can go and see it. I have a poem for you."

Under the moonlight.

Yu Youshu, who was wearing a fluttering long skirt and looked more like a fairy than a fairy, sang softly to the sound of the zither.

"When will the bright moon appear? I raise my cup to ask the sky..."

Suddenly, Ji Ruxue's eyes froze.

The entire Anle Pavilion was beginning to boil over with excitement because of Yu Youshu.

Her eyes were only focused on that one person.

In the indifferent bright colors, he stood straight, as if he felt something, and looked at her with a gentle smile on his face.

The song is still echoing in my ears.

"Turn around the Zhu Pavilion and look down at the Qihu. The light will make you sleepless."

"There shouldn't be any hatred, why should we be reunited when we say goodbye?"

"People have sorrows and joys, and the moon is cloudy and clear. This matter is hard to come by in ancient times."

"Nung, moon and new moon……"

A little mist slowly appeared in the girl's eyes.

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(End of this chapter)