After Hsu Fengnian entered Jizhou, he donned a mask made of roots. This mask was the handiwork of the witch of the southern border, Shu Xiu. When Hsu Fengnian had snuck into Beimang, it was thanks to these ingenious items. The four of them crossed the border. The spies of the Fu Shui Chamber had long since prepared four impeccable travel documents. At present, the tyrants of Beiliang were like a swarm of ants that had been disturbed by a child. They all fled for their lives. Hsu Fengnian's meager group of four was completely inconspicuous. Fan Xiaochai knew that he was going to Hengshui City in Ji North to meet with Yu Luandao and Wei Jingtang. However, although the four of them traveled day and night without rest, they did not take the shortest route. Instead, they traveled directly into the heart of Ji Zhou. Ultimately, they arrived at Dazhan City, which had been built during the last years of the Great Feng Dynasty.
Hsu Fengnian was in no hurry to enter the city. Instead, he reined in his horse and stopped on the official road outside the city. With a complicated expression, he gazed at the silent city. As the former capital of Northern Han, it could be said that the city was filled with the relatives of officials, officials, and nobles. Back then, Xu Xiao, who was one of the top generals, had led an army to attack Northern Han. All of Ji Zhou had been trampled to pieces by the armored cavalry of the Xu family. Only Dazhan City had managed to escape the calamity. When the army slowly approached the city, disaster was imminent. That night, countless scholars drank and sang. It was said that one could smell the strong scent of alcohol from three li outside the city. As a result, there was the story of "three hundred Han retainers, drunk to death in one night." Fan Xiaochai had wandered from place to place due to the destruction of her country and her family. However, as a descendant of the loyal and fierce Fan Clan, even though she had been fleeing for her life, her life was generally stable. She had once lived in Dazhan City for more than half a year. She did not have to worry about food or clothing, enjoying the lanterns during the Lantern Festival and going on field trips. At that time, she still had many naive thoughts. If Northern Han were still around, perhaps she would have lived a more extravagant life. She would have married a handsome young man from an aristocratic family of equal social status. They would have helped each other in difficult times, assisted her husband and taught her children, and grown old together. Her grandfather, father, and so many uncles wouldn't have died on the battlefield. In the end, she was the only one left. If she hadn't been chosen by Zhao Gou, then the Fan family wouldn't even have a single person to worship their ancestors.
Mi Fengjie, who was obsessed with martial arts, did not have such sentimental feelings. The sword case on his back was already wrapped in a cotton cloth. Just by looking at his posture, this Hidden Sword Cave Master, who had left the orthodox Jianghu for too many years, did not have the demeanor of a grandmaster. He looked more like a rigid old servant who did not know the ways of the world. Hsu Fengnian softly said, "Enter the city." The four riders immediately galloped toward the city gate. Aside from Fan Xiaochai, whose appearance was enough to arouse pity, who was fiercely glared at by the city guards, nothing else happened. After entering the city from the south, Hsu Fengnian familiarly led them to the north of the city. Along the way, they passed through streets and alleys. Fan Xiaochai was inevitably surprised. Logically speaking, Hsu Fengnian should not be so familiar with the layout of Dazhan City.
In the end, the four of them stopped at a place called the Green Bamboo Restaurant in the north of the city. The restaurant's business was booming, and it was difficult to find an empty chair on the first floor. The waiter who welcomed the guests was not very good either. He was so greedy that he couldn't get out. He casually led the four people's mounts to the stable. After that, he didn't care whether the guests lived or died. If they wanted to eat and drink, just wait. He didn't believe that the four foreign guests would change places. The four of them had no choice but to wait for an empty table in front of the counter that was piled with green bamboo boards. Hsu Fengnian was bored to death. He picked up a green bamboo stick. The name of the dish was engraved on it, along with the price. It was not cheap at all. It was almost as expensive as the price in the capital. Of course, now there were four more fat lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
Hsu Fengnian was admiring the beautiful calligraphy on the bamboo board. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the clever young waiter going up to the second floor. Hsu Fengnian smiled knowingly. He most likely figured out the origin of the four horses. Before leaving You Province, the four warhorses of You Province were replaced by Hezhou Courier Horses. Before entering the territory of Ji Province, the spies of Whisk Chamber secretly contacted them had also replaced them with four high quality Ji Province warhorses. Hsu Fengnian noticed the suspicious behavior of the waiter. Apart from Yu Dilong, Mi Fengjie and Fan Xiaochai also noticed the peculiarity of this Green Bamboo Restaurant. Especially Fan Xiaochai, who had just been promoted to the position of Grand Master of Whisk Chamber because of her meritorious service. Under her timid appearance, she was emitting a very well-hidden bloodthirsty aura. Mi Fengjie glanced at her with disgust. It was one thing for such a beautiful woman to be a Men of Sacrifice and a spy, but why did she like to kill people? Moreover, she usually tortured people to death. Fan Xiaochai looked back at Mi Fengjie provocatively. This made the Hidden Sword Cave Master, who was already full of resentment towards this crazy woman, even more murderous. If it were not for the King of Beiliang beside him and the sword box on Mi Fengjie's back that contained eight specially selected famous swords, he would not mind chopping this woman into eight pieces.
Many of the rich guests in the restaurant were actually quite smart. They purposely spoke the truth after drinking. They were all shouting something like, "Lady Boss! Come, give me a toast. Don't worry, I'm a gentleman. I only drink wine and not people! " "Lady of the Xu family, how come I've never seen your husband show his face? What a bastard. In this frigid weather, aren't you afraid that Lady Xu will suffer at night?!" "Shopkeeper, I've eaten more than ten meals in this Green Bamboo Restaurant. My expenses are enough to get me the title of Courtesan of a second-rate brothel in Dazhan City. You're so good. You don't even let me touch your hand. How can you do business like this in this world?"
The first floor was not only filled with dirty and coarse men. There were also many elegant scholars dressed in green robes. Most of them were in their twenties, and they were trying their best to endure the filthy words that were ringing in their ears. As the world in Ji Province was not peaceful, the situation of scholars was getting worse and worse. If it were a few years ago, they would have already slammed the table and stood up to curse these ruffians. They would not even dare to talk back, let alone hit them. However, Ji Province was in constant turmoil. First, General Yang Shenxing, the Divine Pillar of Ji Province, took away all the old soldiers of Ji Province. Then, Yuan Tingshan, the dragon that crossed the river, came to Ji Province and became the king of Ji Province. Not only was he the son-in-law of Gu Jiantang, he also abducted a woman from the Li family of Yanbao in Ji Province to be his concubine. Furthermore, he held the military power in his hands. All the sects and clans in Ji Province followed his lead. In just a blink of an eye, Yuan Tingshan had dealt with a few local tyrants who refused to submit to him. Now, it was rumored that Beimang had sent tens of thousands of cavalry to the south. The only good news in Ji Province was that the grievances of the Han family had been cleared. The current Emperor personally gave the posthumous title of "Wu Xiang", the old patriarch of the Han family, Han Beidu. Not only was the posthumous title of "Wu Xiang" not the second rank of "Zhong", or at most, the posthumous title of "Wu Xiang", which was ranked fifth among the eight posthumous titles of "Wu Xiang". Not to mention the widespread posthumous titles before Li Yang seized the world, ever since the reign of Yonghui, the Zhao family of Li Yang had always been suspicious of valuing the civil and belittling the military when it came to the posthumous titles of their subjects. Putting aside the extreme exception of the King of Beiliang, Xu Xiao, the few old generals who had made meritorious contributions during the Spring and Autumn Period were given posthumous titles of "Zhong", "Jian", "Jing", and so on. Perhaps only General Gu Jiantang had the chance to ascend to the throne after his death, thus he was given the posthumous title of "Wu Ning". From this, it could be seen that the new Emperor of Li Yang had made an exception for the Han family, which had said, "If the monarch wanted a subject to die, the subject would die generously."
Even more exciting was the fact that before the Han family had been cleared of wrongdoing by the imperial court, an astonishing piece of news had already spread from Ji Zhou. An orphan of the Han family who had escaped calamity had appeared. Following his appearance, a touching story began to circulate in the streets of Ji Zhou. It was said that the reason why the eldest grandson of the Han family did not die was not because the Han family wanted to leave behind an incense stick, but rather because a loyal and righteous guest of the family had joined forces with a Jianghu martial grandmaster who had received the Han family's favor in his early years. They had carried away the young child behind the Han family's back. Unfortunately, the guest who had died during their escape had said, "The Han family has treated me like a national hero, so I will repay them with a national hero." Although this person's name was obscure, the martial grandmaster was a renowned Jianghu hero from twenty years ago in Ji Zhou. His strength was extremely close to the first level, and he was known to be invincible among second level Martial Grandmasters. His name was Hou Wanhu, nicknamed the "Marquis of Ten Thousand Households." Before the fall of Northern Han, he had served as a military officer and was known to be the enemy of ten thousand people in Ji Zhou. After the fall of Northern Han, he had raised over two thousand roaming mounted bandits at the northern border of Ji Zhou. This person had threatened that there would be a day when he would chop off Xu Xiao's head and use it as a wine jug. Unexpectedly, he had quickly disappeared. As it turned out, he had saved the eldest grandson of the Han family. It was rumored that he was currently imprisoned in the underground prison of Yanbao. It could be seen just how many years the Han family had endured humiliation and how many years this Ji Zhou hero had not seen the light of day. During this period of time, countless people had come to visit the Yanbao Li Family under all kinds of pretenses. If it weren't for Yuan Tingshan personally dispatching a cavalry with bright crossbows to deliberately station on the main road of Yanbao, perhaps Yanbao wouldn't even have a moment of peace.
A graceful figure appeared at the top of the stairs, but for some reason, it immediately turned around and disappeared in a flash. The sharp-eyed men downstairs immediately hissed. They slapped the table with their hands and knocked the bowl with their chopsticks. As it turned out, the shopkeeper's wife, Lady Xu, had given the drinkers downstairs a performance of "Hugging the Pipa Half Covering the Face". How could these men, who never lacked money, let it go? They screamed again and again and booed to death. This caused those young scholars who couldn't bear it any longer to glare angrily at the neighboring tables. Those with better tempers rolled their eyes, while those with worse tempers directly spat on the ground. There were also some who used hand gestures to greet the scholars' many generations of ancestors. Speaking of which, it was strange. It was true that the proprietress's appearance was outstanding, but she couldn't be considered a devastatingly beautiful woman. However, regardless of whether it was the coarse men or the refined scholars, even if they didn't fall in love at first sight, the more they looked, the more they liked her. The former had shallow eyes, drooling over the woman's heavy breasts, round and perky buttocks, as well as her soul-stirring foxy eyes, as well as her unique style that allowed her to exchange vulgarities with them. The latter had all sorts of reasons. Some said that the Lady Xu's occasional dazed expression while lying behind the counter was very charming. Some said that they saw the proprietress's staunch and chaste nature. There were even more who said that she was naturally close to scholars. It was possible that she was the daughter of one of the old Northern Han's aristocratic families who had wandered among the common people.
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