Before the evening drum sounds, Xuyu must find a place to spend the night.
She originally planned to find a hotel in the neighborhood near Kaiyuan Gate. Because this area was adjacent to the West Market and was the main entrance to the city for all people coming from the west, she knew there would be a lot of people staying in the hotel, but she still underestimated the extent of the crowd.
She searched for five or six houses in a row. No matter how big or small the storefront was, or how expensive or cheap it was, except for some large bunk beds that had vacancies, all the others were full. She couldn't stay in the large bunk beds, so she had to continue searching southward along the main street that ran from north to south. It took her quite some time to find a place near the West Market. The sky had turned dark blue. Through the gates that were about to close, she saw the lights in the doors facing the street inside the wall of the square light up one after another. The streets were bustling with cars and people, and it looked even more bustling than before dark. But on the streets outside, there were basically no people, and the few who were left were all in a hurry. Knowing that the drums were about to stop, she remembered what Gu Twelve had said, and stopped looking for another place. She followed the instructions and hurried to Yongpingfang.
Because of the delay at the beginning, when she finally arrived near Yongpingfang, it was completely dark. The street drums had long stopped and the gates were closed. Fortunately, this place was in the south of the city, far away from the palace. The further south you go, the fewer residents there are, the closer you get to the city wall, and it's like a suburb, with large areas of empty land and wasteland, only some temples or gardens owned by wealthy families, and the management is not as strict as in the central area, so there were no accidents along the way.
The gate of Yongpingfang was naturally closed at this moment.
Xuyu just ran here in one breath and found the door. She was out of breath. After she recovered a little, she did not dare to delay any longer and knocked on the door. After knocking several times, the door finally opened a crack and a head came out. There was a sparse rat-tail whisker on its chin. The little eyes looked Xuyu up and down and asked what she was doing.
I think this man is the gatekeeper. Xuyu gave Gu Twelve's name and said that she came here because she entered the city too late and couldn't find a place to stay. She handed over two coins. This man obviously did this kind of thing often. He looked around and stretched out his hand to take it skillfully. He was about to open the door to let her in. Suddenly, at the corner not far away, there was a sound of orderly footsteps from a procession. Xuyu turned around and saw a small group of four or five guards in armor and holding bows and halberds.
She knew that she must have run into a Jinwu guard.
Although the strict night curfew only started at the second watch, people were prohibited from walking when the street drum sounded. Without a valid reason and a pass issued by the neighborhood chief, residents were not allowed to go out, and the neighborhood gate could not be opened at will. If caught behaving improperly, the lightest punishment would be twenty strokes of the cane. The gatekeeper had not checked the identity of the visitor just now, and if it was not complete, it would be troublesome. Seeing this, he immediately ducked his head and wanted to close the door, but it was too late. The leader shouted "Ding Da", and he stopped where he was, smiled, bent down and called "Team Chief Chen".
The leader came closer.
It was dark, and she could only see roughly just now. Now Ye Xuyu saw clearly that this was a middle-aged military officer, with broad face and plain appearance, but sharp eyes, and seemed very capable. From the team he led and the way the gatekeeper addressed him, it was not difficult to judge that this person should be the captain of the nearby Wuhoupu, a grassroots military officer with the lowest rank under the Jinwu Guard.
Xuyu's inference was not wrong. The man's name was Chen Shao, and he came from a Wuhou shop near Yanping Gate. He was preparing to patrol tonight, and when he passed by with his team, he saw Ding Da opening the door to let people go, so he stopped him and questioned him.