Yan Liqiang had a nice nap in the courtyard of Tingtao Yayuan inn in the afternoon to rest up. After waking up, he practiced Yi Jin Xi Sui Jing twice in the room. Then, like an ordinary guest staying in the inn, he left the inn, strolled around the street market outside, had dinner, and returned to the inn when it was getting dark.
Yan Liqiang returned to the courtyard and stood in front of the window of his room, looking at the sparkling Wanshou Lake outside the window, patiently waiting for it to get completely dark.
An hour later, it was completely dark. On the other side of Wanshou Lake opposite Yan Liqiang, more than a thousand meters away, was the Plum Garden. Pavilions and terraces in the Plum Garden were lit up with strings of lanterns. From afar, the sparkling water reflected the strings of lanterns of different colors, which really looked quite artistic.
At this time, Yan Liqiang finally moved. He took out his leather bag, took out a dagger from the bag, cut a piece of cloth inside the leather bag, and took out a mask from the interlayer of the leather bag.
That mask belonged to Guo Shanfeng. After wearing this mask to destroy the Hong family that day, Yan Liqiang had carefully put the mask away. He originally thought that he would probably never use it in the future, but he did not expect that this time after coming to Pingxi City, not long after, it was the time for Guo Shanfeng to "make trouble" again.
In the room, Yan Liqiang carefully put the mask on his face. After just a moment, a man with a gloomy look, a pair of triangular eyes and an obvious black mole on his left cheek appeared in the room.
After changing his clothes, Yan Liqiang took off all his clothes in the room, leaving only a pair of shorts. He then hung a blowgun wrapped in waterproof oilcloth on himself with a thin rope and put on a dagger. After making sure that no one was paying attention, Yan Liqiang quietly opened the back window of his room and climbed out of the window.
The window is more than two meters above the ground. Below the window is a two-layer stone embankment that is more than one foot wide. Next to the stone embankment is Wanshou Lake. Standing under the window, you can hear the noisy sounds of people eating and drinking in the restaurant next to it, as well as the sound of the lake water gently lapping against the stone embankment.
Yan Liqiang took a deep breath, and then like a loach, he slid into the water silently, then dived into the water and dived towards the dimly lit plum garden in the distance.
In his previous life, one of Yan Liqiang's favorite sports was swimming and diving. Although Yan Liqiang's swimming and diving levels were not good enough to enter the provincial or national teams, they were outstanding among amateurs.
In his previous life, Yan Liqiang could dive forty meters underwater in one breath, but today, when Yan Liqiang first raised his head out of the water to breathe, his body was already two hundred meters away...
His strong legs and arms through training allowed him to move faster in the water, and his lungs, which had been strengthened three times by the Heavenly Dao Infusion, made him feel like a fish in water underwater. Even Yan Liqiang was surprised at how long he could stay in the water with each breath.
The night wind blew, and there were slight waves on the surface of Wanshou Lake. However, these waves did not affect Yan Liqiang who was moving quickly in the water. On the contrary, because of these waves, it was more difficult for Yan Liqiang to be discovered when his head emerged from the water to breathe. On such a night, unless the distance was within ten meters, even if someone saw Yan Liqiang's head emerging from the lake, no one would think that it was a human, but only a fish or a turtle released into Wanshou Lake.
It took Yan Liqiang about ten minutes and less than ten breaths to cross Wanshou Lake and arrive at the waters of Plum Garden.
…
Inside the Plum Garden, near the Wanshou Lake, there is a four-story boat-shaped attic. At this time, the lights are bright and the house is full of guests. From the attic, there can be bursts of melodious string and bamboo music, as well as the soft and shrill singing of women. From time to time, cheers from the whole room can be heard from the attic. This is the most lively place in the Plum Garden at night, the Plum Garden Singing House, where all the famous actors, actresses, martial artists and various troupes in Pingxi City perform dramas every night.
In this age of entertainment scarcity, watching plays has become the biggest entertainment activity for many people. The performances and dramas in the Meiyuan Singing House have also attracted many wealthy people in Pingxi City. Every night, the Meiyuan Singing House is almost full.
"Hello, Boss Li, you are here. Our boss has reserved the seat you reserved for you. Why are you late tonight? The singing of 'Drunken Golden Branch' is almost over..." At the entrance of Meiyuan Singing House, a waiter saw a pot-bellied man walking towards him while eating a big meat pie, and immediately greeted him with a smile on his face.
“Stop talking. I just closed the shop to go see a play tonight. I haven’t even had dinner yet. Unexpectedly, the axle broke on the road and I was delayed for a while. Take me in quickly. From the sound I heard, little Yulian must have come out…” The pot-bellied man hurriedly stuffed the pancake in his hand into his mouth while walking inside.
"Already on stage..."
“Then hurry up…” the man said, without even bothering to eat the pancake in his hand. There was still a half palm-sized piece of pancake in his hand, which he threw into the lake beside him, then wiped his mouth and walked into the singing hall.
"Plop", listening to the sound of conversation coming from above, the half palm-sized pancake just fell on the water surface less than half a meter next to Yan Liqiang. The few drops of water splashed and flew onto Yan Liqiang's face, which scared Yan Liqiang.
At this moment, Yan Liqiang has arrived at the pier next to the singing house. Next to him are stone pillars that have been driven into the water. The bridge deck of the pier extends from above. His position happens to be in the blind spot of the people above.
Yan Liqiang lay motionless in the water, even his breathing stopped. Only when he realized that the thing he threw into the water was only half a pancake and that he had not been discovered by anyone, did he breathe a long sigh of relief - Damn!
The half pancake sank and floated on the water surface with the waves. Yan Liqiang waited until there was no more sound above, then he followed the winding water pier and dived all the way to a small island more than a hundred meters away from Meiyuan Singing House.
The island is only about one acre in size. There is only one pavilion on the island. There are clusters of rocks and trees around the pavilion, and the fragrance of flowers wafts through the air. At night, it is a quiet place.
Yan Liqiang was just under the pier, soaking in the water, motionless, waiting quietly.
Lu Beixin and Wang Haofei have been dating for half a year. During this period, as a woman in love, as long as Lu Beixin is in Pingxi City, she will come to the Plum Garden on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of every month, under the pretext of listening to opera, to meet Wang Haofei secretly.
This is something Yan Liqiang only found out "last time" after his "death". Today is the 7th. If nothing unexpected happens, and if Wang Haofei still doesn't know that Lu Beixin is under house arrest by the Lu family, then Wang Haofei will definitely come here tonight to meet Lu Beixin. This will be a good opportunity to officially kill Wang Haofei.
Yan Liqiang didn’t know whether Wang Haofei would come tonight, but no matter what, this was an opportunity and it was worth a try. If it didn’t work, he would make other plans.
About thirty minutes later, a sound of footsteps came from above Yan Liqiang's head. Judging from the footsteps, there should be three people, one in front and two behind.
"Okay, you two just wait over there. If other members of the Lu family are attracted here tonight, you just act according to the plan. Do you know what to do?"
Even Yan Liqiang recognized this voice, which turned into ashes. It was the voice of Wang Haofei.
Hearing this voice, Yan Liqiang, who was in the water, suddenly perked up.
Perhaps because he felt that there was no one around at the moment and no one would hear what he said, there was an unspeakable meaning and a certain coldness in Wang Haofei's words.
"Well, don't worry, sir. We know what to do!" The two guards replied in a rough voice, "Today, the Forget-Your-Sorrow Pavilion is reserved by the young master. If other people from the Lu family are attracted here, I will stop them from setting foot on the water..."
"I will go and row the boat over, let the woman surnamed Lu sit on it, and then send her to Mingquan Courtyard. Wang Fu has already made arrangements at Mingquan Courtyard. He will definitely not let that woman escape from the young master's grasp tonight..."
"Well, if nothing unexpected happens tonight, it will be the last day. You guys have performed well this time. I will ask my father to reward you when we get back..."
"Thank you, sir!"
"Go ahead, be smart. Oh, and have someone remove the incense from the incense burner on this island and replace it with green ant sandalwood. That woman doesn't like other scents..."
"yes!"
The footsteps of the two guards faded away, while Wang Haofei walked to the island.
Yan Liqiang, who was underwater, heard these conversations and secretly took a deep breath. From what Wang Haofei said, he had already set up a trap here tonight - Wang Haofei would meet Lu Beixin here, and then deliberately lure the Lu family here. In that case, Lu Beixin would definitely panic and not dare to meet the Lu family here. Then he would arrange a boat to pick Lu Beixin up from here to avoid meeting the Lu family. If Lu Beixin got on the boat, she would be sent to Mingquan Courtyard, and then she would follow their path...
Fortunately, Mr. Lu put Lu Beixin under house arrest. If he really let Lu Beixin out, the consequences of what would happen to her after tonight would be unpredictable.
Less than a minute later, while Yan Liqiang was still in the water, the sound of a melodious piano could be heard from the pavilion on the island...
Listening to the music, Yan Liqiang's eyes became colder and colder...
…
ps: Thanks again to leader Yilu Binfen for his support and encouragement!
(End of this chapter)