Chapter 154: Eunuchs Guarding Jiangxi
"friend?"

"Brother?"

"Brother, I'm calling you brother, please help me untie him!"

The soldier in charge of guarding Jiang Qi was getting older and older, but he was always on high alert and ignored Jiang Qi's shouts.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, three short and one long, a total of four knocks.

The soldier did not relax, but shouted: "All people in the world are brothers!"

Lu Bai outside the door smiled slightly and said in the same loud voice: "The five continents are in turmoil and harmony is the most precious!"

The next moment, the thick wooden door opened, and the soldier saw Ou Zanghua and the other two, and immediately knelt down and saluted, saying, "I greet Lord Ou and Captain Zuo!"

"No need to be so polite, thank you for your hard work!" Ou Zanghua patted him on the shoulder and walked into the cellar.

Zuo Lengchan pulled out a chair with one hand and placed it behind Ou Zanghua, then he glanced at Lu Bai and the soldier, and the three of them walked out together.

After Ou Zanghua sat down, he looked at Jiang Qi and said slowly: "I am Ou Zanghua, the editor of the Imperial Academy and the Minister of the Honglu Temple. I am here under the order of Your Majesty to organize the navy of Poyang Lake. Your Majesty has ordered that those of you who are just sitting there doing nothing but eating and drinking should be executed. Before you, Captain Cao Yan had already been executed."

"Also, you saw that someone had hired so many experts to kill you today. If I hadn't wanted to interrogate you and happened to come here tonight, I'm afraid you would have been a corpse by now."

Jiang Qi trembled after hearing this, looked up at Ou Zanghua and asked, "Master Ou, if I confess everything, can I survive?"

Ou Zanghua leaned forward slightly, stared at Jiang Qi and said coldly: "You are the one that His Majesty ordered to be killed, and you are not qualified to ask me to plead with His Majesty to revoke the order on your behalf."

Jiang Qi's face turned pale, and he gritted his teeth and said, "If I don't confess, what should Lord Ou do?"

"Then I will make you want to live but not be able to, and want to die but not be able to. You should know that sometimes a quick death is more comfortable than a cruel life."

Ou Zanghua stood up and said indifferently: "Do you think that without you, I will be helpless? In this world, everything you do will leave traces. What I lack the most is patience."

"Master Ou!"

Jiang Qi looked at Ou Zanghua who was about to leave and shouted, "There is a wooden box in the stove where I was arrested, and there is an account book in it! I only ask Lord Ou to protect my wife and children, they are innocent."

Ou Zanghua nodded, and after walking out of the cellar, he looked at Zuo Lengchan, repeated Jiang Qi's words, and instructed: "Uncle Zuo, go get it yourself!"

"Yes!" Zuo Lengchan responded and immediately turned and left.

Lu Bai came over, bowed and asked, "Master Ou, what should we do with Jiang Qi and that Shaolin lay disciple?"

"Keep it for now! It may be of other use in the future. Also, Uncle Lu, please count the casualties tonight and give it to me tomorrow." After saying this, Ou Zanghua returned to the carriage tiredly.

Mu Gaoweng drove the carriage, and under the escort of a team of guards, he stopped steadily at a manor outside Leting Town.

This was originally the yard that General Qiao Zhongyou renovated for himself. Now it has become Ou Zanghua's temporary residence. Liu Qing and others live here.

After getting off the carriage, Ou Zanghua looked at the guards and said, "Everyone should take a rest! It's safe here, don't worry."

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Ou Zanghua then walked into the manor, and when he looked up, he saw Liu Qing coming over.

Liu Qing looked at her tired husband and knew that he must not have had a good rest last night, so she immediately pulled him back to the room. Qu Feiyan also quickly brought hot water and a wet towel, but when she was about to wipe Ou Zanghua's face, Liu Qing naturally took the towel.

The little girl was stunned, but fortunately a maid came in with a basin of hot water. She took it and helped Ou Zanghua take off his shoes and socks and wash his feet.

Lying on the bed, Ou Zanghua felt his eyelids were heavy, but his mind was thinking about various things.

Suddenly, he felt a pair of soft and cool hands pressing on his temples, and then he heard Liu Qing humming softly:

Horse, horse, doodle, ride

Ride to that place
Don't kill chickens!
Baby, I want to go back
Ou Zanghua's thoughts were immediately attracted by the gentle voice, and he didn't even notice that his expression relaxed.

The song "Mama Dudu Qi" was hummed by Ou Zanghua when Liu Qing didn't want to go to bed as a child. It was originally a song adapted and sung by a band called Sisi and Fan in later generations based on the Changde Silk Strings.

Changde silk strings have a long history. According to the "Changde Prefecture Records", since Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring" was handed down in the Jin Dynasty, literati and scholars of all dynasties, such as Liu Yuxi in the Tang Dynasty and Su Shi in the Song Dynasty, have gathered in the Peach Blossom Spring many times. The locals sang their poems and essays, and gradually formed the original Changde silk strings.

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, Changde's economy prospered further, with merchants from all over the country flocking to the city. Musicians and singing girls from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who came with them traveled back and forth between Yuan and Li. The seasonal tunes they brought gradually spread to the lakeside area, further improving Changde silk string music.

It seemed to be drizzling that day in Hengshan County. Liu Zhengfeng, who had nothing to do, invited a string instrument master to perform. Ou Zanghua and Liu Qing sat next to Mrs. Ouyang and listened to "Meng Jiangnu Looking for Husband".

What did Liu Qing say after listening to this?

Ou Zanghua thought about it, but couldn't remember it.
Looking at her husband's even breathing, Liu Qing leaned over and kissed him lightly on the forehead. Turning back, she saw Qu Feiyan and two maids standing beside them.

Liu Qing's pretty face turned red and she subconsciously covered her face with a handkerchief.

Qu Feiyan couldn't help but chuckle, then led the two maids out of the room.

While Ou Zanghua was sleeping peacefully, in an elegant manor on Shuyuan Street in Nanchang Prefecture, a three-story wooden building was brightly lit. Li An, the eunuch guarding Jiangxi, sat on the main seat, turning Buddhist beads with an indifferent expression, and two people dressed as Confucian scholars were sitting below.

After an unknown amount of time, three white doves flew into the manor.

The three pigeon slaves immediately took out the note from the small bamboo tube in the pigeon's leg and handed it to the steward waiting downstairs.

The stewards checked the code book, pieced together the contents, and immediately sent them to the wooden building.

Li An took the note and looked at it, his face immediately darkened: "Humph! You say you are a hero of the outlaws, but you can't even beat a scholar!"

As if he felt that he had said something wrong, he glanced at a thin scholar sitting below and corrected him: "I speak frankly, but you know I am not talking about you. You are not even a Jinshi, so you are not considered a scholar."

The scholar felt somewhat happy after hearing the first sentence, but he did not expect that the damn eunuch would add two more sentences, making him look extremely embarrassed.

Another scholar stood up and saluted, saying, "Eunuch, since our plan to silence the witnesses has failed, we should consider how to deal with the revenge of the Imperial Academy's editors next."

"What are you afraid of?" The scholar said coldly, "Can he still lead his troops into Nanchang Prefecture? If not, I am willing to teach him a lesson."

The scholar smiled and said calmly, "I just received news that Ou Zanghua has been promoted to the Minister of the Honglu Temple. Are you sure you want to take action?"

The scholar was stunned and felt even more unhappy!
Why is it that everyone is practicing martial arts and studying literature at the same time? You have become the Minister of the Honglu Temple, but I still have to run errands for a dead eunuch?

With a cold face, he said indifferently: "So what? The deceased Honglu Temple Minister can at most be given a posthumous title of Wencheng."

After hearing this, the scholar smiled bitterly and shook his head, not wanting to continue talking to the scholar.
(End of this chapter)