Outside Fengqiao City.
Xinghua Village.
"Hey, isn't this Mr. Su? Are you back from a long journey?" In a simple shed on the side of the road, a waiter threw the towel in his hand over his shoulders.
Su Baiyi, who was carrying a bookcase, just appeared at the entrance of the village when he heard the waiter calling him. He immediately jumped to the side of the bamboo shed and said with a smile, "Yes. I have been on this journey for more than ten days and I really miss your apricot blossom wine. Bring me a pot and a portion of braised donkey meat. Pack up one more portion and I will bring it to Master."
"Okay. Wait a moment." The waiter responded with a smile.
Su Baiyi found a seat in a corner and sat down. He didn't dare to stop on the road for fear that the woman with amazing martial arts skills would catch up with him. After all, the words "we will meet again" were really scary. Now that Su Baiyi finally stepped into Xinghua Village, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He put the book box aside, took out the book wrapped in kraft paper, took a deep breath and opened the kraft paper.
There was not a whole book inside, but only a few pages of a manuscript. Su Baiyi picked it up and counted them: "One page, two pages, three pages. You dared to practice with only three pages of a manuscript. No wonder you turned yourself into a useless person."
"What are you looking at, sir? The wine and donkey meat are here." The waiter placed a pot of wine, a plate of braised donkey meat, and the packaged food and wine on the table.
Su Baiyi smiled and said, "Mind your own business."
"My small shop doesn't have much business." Seeing that Su Baiyi was unwilling to talk, the waiter didn't ask any more questions. He turned around and saw two people passing by the door. He hurriedly stepped forward to greet them. "You two guests look unfamiliar. You must be passing by our Xinghua Village on your way. Why don't you come in and have a glass of our village's specialty Xinghua wine?"
One of the two men was a monk with a burly build, and looked to be in his forties. He had a huge string of Buddhist beads hanging on his chest and a crescent shovel in his hand. He looked serious. When he heard the voice, he turned around and glanced at the waiter, who was so scared that he took a step back.
Su Baiyi quietly put the fragment into his arms.
Accompanying the middle-aged monk was a masked man, thin and carrying a dark green umbrella. He sounded like a kind young man: "That's right, since we are already here, we should drink a glass of apricot blossom wine. Master Jiekong, what do you think?"
"I never drink." The middle-aged monk named Jiekong walked directly into the pavilion. "Just give me a cup of tea."
"It doesn't matter if you don't drink. Our apricot blossom cake is also a specialty." The waiter said hurriedly.
"Give us a pot of wine and a pot of tea, but no need for apricot blossom cake." The masked man and Jiekong found a place to sit down. The masked man lowered his head and suddenly saw a line of words written on the table.
"There is apricot blossom wine in Xinghua Village. Apricot blossom wine can relieve a thousand kinds of sorrow." The masked man stretched out a finger and touched the line of words, and said softly.
"This was written by Mr. Xie back then." The waiter placed a pot of apricot blossom wine on the table.
"Oh? Mr. Xie." The masked man chuckled. "Look at the handwriting. It doesn't look like it was written with a brush. It looks like..."
"It's like it's embedded in the table, isn't it?" The waiter proudly threw the white cloth in his hand over his back, "I'm not bragging, I saw Mr. Xie write these words with my own eyes that day. He and Mr. Li from the city got drunk that day, and he leaned over the table, dipped his hand in the wine in the cup, and wrote this poem on the table. After they left, I wiped the wine on the table with a cloth, and every time I wiped, the handwriting sank a little bit, and every time I wiped, the handwriting sank a little bit. In the end, the table was wiped clean, but the handwriting remained there."
"So magical." There was a hint of smile in the masked man's tone, but the middle-aged monk's brows were getting tighter and tighter.
Su Baiyi put down a piece of silver, stood up, picked up the book box and walked out quietly.
Don't see me, don't see me, don't see me, he kept repeating in his mind.
"Oh, this Mr. Su!" The waiter's high-pitched voice interrupted his fantasy, "He is Mr. Xie's favorite disciple!"
"I have something else to do." Su Baiyi took a step forward, but then stopped.
The wind blew up the masked man's gray robe. He gently raised his hand to adjust his mask, and said with a hint of coldness in his tone: "Why are you in such a hurry to leave, little brother?"
Su Baiyi smiled awkwardly: "It's obvious that you two are not here for the wine. I think it's either for money or sex. Why don't you run away quickly?"
"Oh? Why aren't we here for the wine?" asked the masked man.
"You monks don't drink." Su Baiyi pointed a finger at the monk, then at the masked man in front of him, "As for you, how can you drink with a mask on?"
"We are not here for the wine. We are here for your husband." The masked man said frankly.
"Are you fond of my master's calligraphy? My master's calligraphy is very expensive... Every year during the Spring Festival, the rich people in the city ask for a pair of couplets..." Su Baiyi stopped talking halfway and swallowed.
A scimitar suddenly flew out from the masked man's hand, stopped only a foot away from Su Baiyi's forehead, and then spun rapidly. The sharp wind from the knife made the young man's forehead hurt a little.
"My master's surname is Xie, and his given name is Zhize."
"Those two lines of poetry on the table were written by him!"
"He is over 40 years old this year, with a white face and no beard! He loves wine and donkey meat! He is very lazy! He asked me to write the couplets for him during the Chinese New Year, but he never gave me any money after receiving it!"
"That's enough." The masked man gently pulled the scimitar back into his sleeve. He stepped aside and said, "Tell your master that the name Xie Zhize doesn't sound good. Also, if you have guests, I hope he will welcome them."
"Welcome all guests?" In the backyard of the school, a middle-aged scholar in white clothes threw a piece of marinated donkey meat into his mouth. It looked like he was Mr. Xie mentioned by the waiter. "This guy is quite arrogant."
Su Baiyi leaned down and whispered, "Master, I felt someone was following me after I left Yelan City. I thought it was that girl at first, but now I think it was these two people. At that time, I felt that there were a few more people hiding in the dark, and I thought I was overthinking. Did they come here for these three pages of the scroll as well?"
"Of course they want these three pages, but they came here for me. Three pages won't get them anywhere." Mr. Xie said with a smile, "Do you know who they are?"
"I can't guess." Su Baiyi shook his head.
"The largest sect in the world, Shanglin Palace." Mr. Xie took a sip of wine.
"Ah?" Su Baiyi opened his mouth wide.
"Shanglin Palace is located in Weilong Mountain. It has three floors and four courtyards. The monk named Jiekong is the head of the Criminal Law Court of Shanglin Palace. The masked man is Wen Xi, the deputy head of the Qianji Court. They have been looking for information about me for more than ten years. It's time to find me." Mr. Xie threw another piece of meat into his mouth.
Su Baiyi stood up hurriedly, opened the cabinet and threw the banknotes into his bookbox.
"What?" Mr. Xie asked.
Su Baiyi didn't even turn his head: "Run!"
"They can't run away. Since they appear there, the whole village should be surrounded by Shanglin Tiangong now." Mr. Xie said calmly.
Su Baiyi patted the sword at his waist and said, "Then we can only fight."
"My disciple, I have taught you for more than ten years. Although you are becoming more and more handsome, and have quite the charm of me in my youth, how come your manners are so different? You either fight or run away. Can't you have a more elegant way?" Mr. Xie sighed.
Su Baiyi hurriedly sat down cross-legged: "What method?"
"Wait." Mr. Xie drank another glass of wine.