During the period of the Song Dynasty, Geng Liancheng received an imperial edict from the imperial court and appointed him as the city envoy to Dengzhou .
The main responsibilities of this city ship envoy are to collect tariffs from incoming trading ships, purchase a certain amount of imported goods on behalf of the palace, manage the items that merchants pay tribute to the emperor, and supervise and manage the city ship trade.
After receiving the order, Geng Liancheng dragged his family and family around for days, and finally arrived at Dengzhou Prefecture, and took office the next day.
Geng Liancheng was an upright and selfless man. He would always go into battle personally when encountering major issues, leaving some trivial matters to his subordinates to deal with. Therefore, since he took office, there had never been any mistakes in this Shibosi, and the imperial court was very satisfied with this.
Since Geng Liancheng was appointed as the city ambassador, he has been very busy with official duties, so he rarely takes care of his family. His five-year-old son shouts every day: "I want daddy to accompany me."
However, the days that Geng Liancheng spends with his family are very few. Even when his wife gave birth last month, he did not have time to come back.
Just five months later, something big happened in Dengzhou Prefecture: one night, Geng Liancheng's family was brutally murdered and wiped out. The whole family, men, women, old and young, all lay in a pool of blood. The only thing missing was the infant baby. People said that the baby was taken away by the killer.
The imperial court received the report and appointed ministers to investigate the matter. Yamen officials spent a month conducting overt and covert investigations, but could not find any clues.
The imperial court was also helpless and had to order the Geng Mansion to be sealed off first, and no one was allowed to enter, waiting for the opportunity to investigate the case again. However, after waiting for more than ten years, no results were obtained in the end. The seals on the door were changed again and again.
Opposite the Geng Mansion is the famous Zuihua Building in Dengzhou Mansion. I heard that the girls here are more beautiful than the other, and each one is more talented than the last. Therefore, there is an endless stream of customers every day, ranging from high officials to wealthy people.
The sun was just right that day, and the grandma of Zuihualou was sitting at the door eating melon seeds. A little girl and a middle-aged man came over. They were dressed in tatters and their faces were covered with dust.
The middle-aged man spoke first: "Mommy, there was a flood in our hometown. I came here to escape the famine. Now I'm infected with the cold and have nowhere to go. Can you take my daughter in?" After hearing this, grandma raised her eyes and looked at the little girl carefully. She should still be a baby. Although she looks embarrassed, her facial features are extremely delicate and her figure is also very good. If she can be trained well, she should be good.
"I don't raise idle people here, what kind of talent does she have?" Mammy asked with a sideways glance.
"I have a good voice and can sing ditty very nicely." After the girl finished speaking, she sang a few times a cappella.
When grandma heard this, she immediately became energetic and thought to herself: "This little girl has a good voice. If she is trained well, she will definitely become a pillar of Zuihua Tower."
Thinking of this, grandma said: "My voice is not bad, I can stay, but I can only give you ten taels of silver. After I give you the money, Then she is from our Zuihua House and has nothing to do with you."
The middle-aged man said hurriedly: "It's all up to grandma, just give me the money."
Mammy immediately ordered someone to fetch ten taels of silver and gave it to the middle-aged man. After the middle-aged man took the money, he left his daughter and left without looking back.
Mammy brought the little girl into Zuihua Building, and immediately gathered around a group of girls with heavy makeup, talking all over the place: "Xiao Nizi is so pretty, yes. , It's just a bit tender, hahaha..."
Grandma was so angry that she roared: "You girls, stop making trouble and go aside."
The girls curled their lips and got off one by one.
Grandma asked: "What's your name?"
"Pearl." The little girl replied.
So, grandma specially found a master to teach her to play the piano and sing songs every day. Unexpectedly, this pearl was extremely talented. Within half a year, she had reached the point of proficiency. This grandma was so happy every day that she felt like she had found a treasure.
On this morning, after getting up, Pearl stood leaning against the window, looking at the seal on the door of Geng Mansion opposite, and thought to herself: "Father, mother, brother, if you know anything, please help me find my enemy as soon as possible and avenge you." "Hate."
It turns out that the pearl is none other than the baby girl who survived the massacre of the Geng Mansion many years ago. Geng Liancheng's daughter Geng Yue was later renamed Pearl. The person who took her away was the man who sold her a few days ago.
The man's name is Zhang Hao, an orphan adopted by Geng Liancheng's father. He grew up with Geng Liancheng since childhood. Although he is a servant of the family, Geng Liancheng treats him like a brother.
On the night when the crime occurred, he took advantage of the chaos to pick up Geng Yue, who was still sleeping as an infant, and hid in a large water tank in the garden. Fortunately, there was only a little water in the tank, so he escaped.
After the assailant left, he jumped out of the large water tank with his child in his arms and found that no one else in the family was spared. Mrs. Geng vomited blood and fell to the ground. Geng Liancheng and his son were also lying in a pool of blood.
Zhang Hao stepped forward and knelt down, crying bitterly and said: "Please sir and madam, please keep the young lady safe in her life. It is not suitable to stay here for a long time. Let's go."
Just when Zhang Hao was about to get up, he found something in the madam's hand. He took it over and saw that it was a jade pendant. It seemed to be expensive. It must have been pulled off the murderer by the madam before she died.
Zhang Hao put away the jade pendant, picked up the lady and left without looking back.
Taking advantage of the darkness of the night, he left Dengzhou Mansion overnight. After running around for several days, he came to Jinan Mansion. From then on, he raised Pearl incognito and claimed to be his father and daughter to outsiders.
When Pearl was eighteen years old, Zhang Hao told her the truth of the matter, so the two returned to Dengzhou Mansion and arranged Pearl to live in Zuihua Building, where there were many people coming and going every day, making it easy to inquire for information.
After some time, Zuihua Tower became even more famous. Everyone wanted to hear Miss Pearl sing a ditty. Every day, guests who wanted to make an appointment with Miss Pearl had to queue up.
Grandma has made a lot of money, and she is very polite to Pearl. Pearl said she missed her father, so Grandma sent someone to meet her. Pearl said she only sells her art and not her body, and Grandma agreed.
During the period when Pearl was receiving guests, he always asked the guests intentionally or unintentionally about the affairs of the Geng Mansion. Two months had passed, but there were still no valuable clues.
On this day, Pearl had just finished her morning tea when she heard Grandma downstairs shouting: "Miss Pearl, get ready, Master Biao is here to listen to you sing."
"Mammy, please invite the guests upstairs! I'm ready." Pearl responded.
After a while, grandma led people upstairs and said with a smile: "Pearl, this is Master Biao from Qinglong Mountain. Because you can sing the ditty well, I came here to support you and take good care of you."
After finishing speaking, grandma went downstairs. Pearl quickly poured the freshly brewed tea and said to the visitor: "Master Biao, please drink tea. What song do you want to listen to today?"
"Thank you, Miss Pearl. Let's sing a song "Yulin Bell" "It's so sad!" said Master Biao.
"The cicadas are mournful, facing the pavilion at night, the showers are beginning to stop..." Pearl touched the strings with her fingers and began to sing.
After the song ended, Master Biao actually sat in a daze, with tears in his eyes, "Master Biao, what's wrong with you?" Pearl asked softly.
After hearing this, Master Biao quickly wiped his tears and said, "It's nothing, I just thought of my unmarried wife." After
the man finished speaking, he stood up and walked to the window, staring out the window in a daze.
Pearl quickly walked over and continued to ask: "Master Biao, where is your unmarried wife now?"
"She is no longer here. She died tragically in this compound more than ten years ago." Master Biao pointed at the gate of Geng Mansion and said.
Pearl was shocked when she heard this, but she quickly calmed down and pretended to be nonchalant and said, "Since I came to Zuihua Building, the door has been sealed. I don't know what happened here?"
"Miss Pearl, you are still young, so of course you don't know. Many years ago, this merchant's family was brutally wiped out. My wife, who had not yet married, was working as a maid in her family, and she was brutally murdered even if she didn't want to." Master Biao said.
"Does Mr. Biao know who did it?" Pearl then asked.
"He... Miss, I'm sorry. I talked too much today. I won't interrupt you. I'm leaving!" After speaking, Master Biao went straight downstairs without stopping for a moment.
Looking at his back as he left in a hurry, Pearl faintly felt that this Mr. Biao must know something.
Two days later, Biao Ye was buying things on the street when he suddenly felt someone pat him. When he looked back, he saw a man wearing black clothes and a hat.
"Please come with me and take a step to talk." The man said in a low voice, and then walked quickly to a secluded place.
Master Biao was startled, and then he followed him. When he reached the end of a dead end, the man took off his bamboo hat and said softly to Master Biao: "A Biao, do you still remember me?"
Master Biao looked at it carefully. The man in front of him suddenly lit up and exclaimed: "Ah Hao, are you still alive?"
"It's not suitable to talk here, let's find a place." After Zhang Hao finished speaking, he took him to a teahouse and asked for a secluded private room.
"Ah Hao, tell me quickly, how did you escape back then? Did you take the Geng family's daughter away too?" Master Biao asked hurriedly as soon as he sat down.
"I will tell you slowly about this later. You have stayed in Dengzhou Mansion for so many years. Did you hear any clues about the Geng Mansion's extermination case?" Zhang Hao said to Master Biao.
"One time, a young man in Qinglong Mountain got drunk. He said that Su Long, their boss, did it. Then I lurked into Qinglong Mountain, but Su Long was very cunning and didn't reveal any flaws. I'm not sure," said Master Biao.
"I have a way, you just need to do as I say." Zhang Hao whispered to Biao Ye.
On Qinglong Mountain, Su Long, the head of the family, was playing chess with his subordinates. Suddenly someone reported that A Biao wanted to see him for something.
"Let him come in!" Su Long ordered, and screened away everyone around him.
"Master, today I have found a treasure, specially dedicated to you!" A Biao said flatteringly.
"If you are serious, you often go out to find treasures for me. Take them out and let me see what they are?" Su Long said.
"Please take a look at it, your Majesty." After A Biao finished speaking, he handed an exquisite box to Su Long.
Su Long opened the box and took a look and found that it was a jade pendant. The quality was good at first glance. When he looked at the jade pendant carefully, his face couldn't help but change color. All of this was caught in A Biao's eyes.
"Tell me, where did your jade pendant come from?" Su Long asked hurriedly.
"I found it at Wu's pawnshop. The shopkeeper said that a man who looked like an official took it to him to sell it two days ago. When he saw that it was in good condition, he accepted it." A Biao said to Su Long.
"Well, this jade pendant is good. I like it very much. I will reward you heavily someday. You can go down first!" Su Long said. A Biao heard the sound and quickly stepped back.
Su Long held the jade pendant in his hand and murmured to himself: "It has been seventeen years, but I never thought that this heirloom jade pendant would be back in my hands." A scene from many years ago suddenly emerged before his eyes.
At that time, this tea could only be sold in the mainland. The imperial court stipulated that it could not be exported. It was a contraband. But the more it was like this, the more some people took risks, because the profits from smuggling were very considerable.
So, Su Long and his father planned for a long time, and finally came up with a clever plan. They wrapped the tea leaves into small bags and hid them in the rice. They also spent money to bribe the inspectors of the Municipal Shipping Department, hoping to take the opportunity to get through.
Unexpectedly, on that day, Geng Liancheng, the shipping envoy, came to inspect the tea in person. He saw through the ruse at a glance. Su Long and his son quickly spent money to try to make Geng Liancheng accommodating. Unexpectedly, he was selfless and selfless, confiscating all the tea leaves and turning them over to the state treasury.
As a result, the Su family suffered heavy losses, and Su Long held a grudge, always thinking that one day he would get rid of Geng Liancheng to relieve his hatred.
Finally one day, he took advantage of the dark and windy night to climb over the wall and enter Geng's Mansion, killed everyone in the mansion, and then fled quickly.
When he got home, he found that the jade pendant hanging on his waist was missing. He wanted to go back to Geng's house to look for it, but he was afraid of alerting the enemy, so he had to give up.
On the second day, people from the government searched and inquired everywhere. Su Long hid at home and did not dare to go out. When the news passed, he came to Qinglong Mountain and became a bandit.
Now this heirloom jade pendant has returned to the hands without anyone noticing. Is this God's will?
Su Long thought to himself: "It must have been the official who was handling the case back then. He hid this jade pendant because of his wealth. Many years later, he took it out and sold it. Anyway, this family heirloom was finally recovered."
In the private room of the teahouse, Zhang Hao and A Biao met again. A Biao told Zhang Hao verbatim how Su Long behaved when he saw the jade pendant. From this, the two of them could conclude that the person who bloodied the Geng Mansion was Su Long.
"Since it is him, we will find a way to get rid of him." Zhang Hao said.
"You think I don't want to? I have always dreamed of avenging my fiancée, but this Su Long has become an iron cloth shirt and a golden bell. He is invulnerable and we have no way to do it!" A Biao finished speaking and sighed.
"Since we can't kill him, we will find a way to poison him." Zhang Hao said to A Biao.
"He is just a cunning fox. When he eats or drinks tea, he always lets others try it first. This way will not work." A Biao said.
"Then don't worry, this matter needs to be remembered for a long time. It's getting late, let's go back!" After Zhang Hao finished speaking, the two left the teahouse.
When the two met again, it was already three days later. Zhang Hao leaned next to A Biao's ear and whispered something. A Biao was stunned and couldn't help but said: "I didn't expect this Pearl Girl to be a lady."
Zhang Hao was so frightened that he covered his mouth, and A Biao also agreed. Realizing that he had lost his composure, he quickly lowered his voice and said: "As long as I can avenge my fiancée, I will obey the arrangements. I am afraid that I have wronged the lady like this."
"But the lady has made up her mind and others cannot change it. We will just do it!" Zhang Hao said to A Biao, who nodded in agreement.
Early the next morning, Auntie's voice came from the Zuihua Building: "Miss Pearl, a big shot is here. It's Mr. Long, the head of Qinglong Mountain. Please clean up quickly."
"Okay, Aunty, I'll be ready in a moment. Please wait a moment, Mr. Long, while I put on makeup." Pearl responded.
After a cup of tea, a person came in through the door. Pearl looked up and saw that this man was tall and tall with a beard and looked extremely fierce. Facing the enemy who wanted to destroy the family, Pearl secretly gritted her teeth and then comforted herself to be patient.
Thinking of this, she smiled and said softly: "Master Long, please sit down and have a cup of tea first." After that, she poured two cups of tea and handed him one cup.
"Miss Pearl, please test the temperature of the tea for me first." Su Long said.
"This person is indeed as cunning as Zhang Hao said." Pearl thought to herself, but she still took a sip of tea calmly, and then said: "The tea is just right, Mr. Long, please feel free to drink it."
Su Long saw Pearl drinking the tea, so he drank it with confidence.
"Who is this girl from? Why did she end up in this brothel?" Su Long asked.
"I am from Jinan Prefecture . I only came here because of a flood at home. And because my father was ill and lost the ability to work, I came to the brothel to survive." Pearl said pretending to be pitiful.
"Sorry to make the girl sad, please sing a song for me!" Su Long said to Pearl.
Pearl responded, played the strings with her hands and sang a little tune.
From then on, Su Long came to Zuihua Tower every now and then and asked Pearl to sing songs by name. Pearl always served her with great care.
A month later, Su Long suddenly found his grandmother and offered to redeem Pearl and become his concubine.
How can this mama agree? This pearl is equivalent to a money tree. If she leaves, she will make less money. But Su Long said that if mama does not agree, he will smash the Zui Chun Tower.
In the end, Pearl came forward and said to Mammy: "If my sisters are displaced for my own sake, wouldn't I become a sinner? I agree to marry Master Su as my concubine."
After hearing this, Mammy felt that what she said was reasonable. Besides, she couldn't afford to offend Su Long, so she accepted Su Long's five hundred taels of silver and agreed to let Pearl be his concubine.
On the wedding night, Pearl sat alone on the bed and muttered to herself: "Father and mother, I'm sorry. In order to avenge you, my daughter has no choice but to commit herself to marry him. When the big revenge is avenged, I will leave this place and find a place to live where no one knows me. "
Just as Pearl was meditating, the door creaked, and then a smell of alcohol hit him. Su Long was drunk and stumbled to the bedside, took off the bride's hijab, and then poured two glasses of wine. Pearl did not refuse and drank it with him.
"It's getting late, let's take a rest! "Su Long threw Pearl onto the bed. Pearl wanted to resist, but thinking about her unavenged revenge, she had to fake it, so she pretended to be shy and agreed half-heartedly.
After finishing the matter, the man lay on the bed and breathed. Huda sleeps, Pearl wants to kill him with a knife, but Zhang Hao once told him that Su Long has mastered the golden bell, and his body is invulnerable. He must not be reckless in everything, and needs to find a breakthrough slowly
"I want to break his golden bell. "Thinking of this, she endured it and sat in silence all night.
I have to say that Su Long is usually ruthless in doing things. The other two wives in the cottage were all snatched from the bottom of the mountain. Both women avoided him. Since the arrival of Pearl, they felt that She felt much more relaxed, because Su Long stayed in the Pearl Room all night.
This night, Su Long hugged Pearl and lay on the bed. Pearl said sweetly: "Master Long, I heard that you have practiced the Golden Bell Shield, and now you are indestructible and invulnerable. I want to learn, can you teach me?" "
"You are a woman, why should you learn this? "Su Long said to Pearl.
"If I encounter bad guys in the future, they won't be able to kill me, so I won't be afraid of anyone. "Zhuzhu pretended to be serious and said.
"Do you think you won't be afraid of anything after practicing Iron Cloth Shirt and Golden Bell Cover? Everyone who practices this kind of martial arts has a life gate. If the knife hurts this life gate, it will still kill you. With me protecting you, what are you afraid of? Women don't have to learn that. "Su Long said. After hearing this,
Pearl couldn't help but ponder: Since people who practice this kind of martial arts have a life gate, where is Su Long's life gate? If we can know it, then things will be easy to handle!
Pearl pondered hard for several days, and finally came up with a good idea.
Ten days later, the village held a martial arts competition, and the brothers were all gearing up to see who would win. In this competition, you can become the second master of the copycat.
Early in the morning, Su Long ordered his brothers to prepare the venue. Everyone had already arrived. Su Long ordered someone to open a jar of wine and pour a bowl for the brothers next to him. When he saw that others were drinking and nothing happened, he poured a bowl for himself and drank it all.
"Brothers, I hope you can show your true abilities and compete with each other to see who can be promoted to the second head of this village. "Su Long said loudly.
All the brothers shouted in unison: "Okay, all follow the boss's orders. "
" I announced that the competition begins now. " Su Long gave the order.
As soon as he finished speaking, two people came on the stage. In an instant, the field was full of swords and swords, which dazzled everyone.
To add to the fun, Su Long also invited the ladies of the third room to the game. Watching the game on the field, the eldest lady was most reluctant to fight and screamed from time to time. On the contrary, it was Pearl who sat on the stage silently and watched the game attentively all morning. In the end, only A Biao and the other one were left. Brothers, the two of them made some adjustments and then walked onto the stage.
The opponent struck first, and A Biao was unequivocal, responding to the opponent's moves with tact. Finally, taking advantage of the opponent's unpreparedness, a black tiger punched the opponent to the ground.
"Okay..." cheers from the brothers came from the audience.
At this time, Su Long stood up and said to everyone: "A Biao is now my second boss in Qinglong Mountain. From now on, when I am not in the village, everyone must obey his orders. "
" Yes, I will follow the instructions of the boss. "All the brothers said in unison.
"Master Long, you also have a fight with the second master, so that we can open our eyes." Pearl suddenly stood up and said.
"Let's have a show, let's have a show..." the brothers followed suit.
"Okay, I'm happy today, so I'll go through a few moves with the second master." After Su Long said that, he took out the sword on his body.
A Biao also caught a sword thrown by his brothers, and the two began to compete. Whenever the sword fell on Su Long, it would make a clanging sound, but it would not hurt him at all.
Facing A Biao's attack, Su Long did not dodge. Anyway, A Biao's sword could not hurt him. It was the first time for the brothers in the audience to really see the boss's ability, and they couldn't help but gasp. This is a real iron cloth shirt and golden bell!
Just when Su Long was proud, he saw A Biao's sword flying towards his throat. Su Long's expression changed and he quickly dodged his attack. This scene did not escape Pearl's eyes.
"Why would he avoid being stabbed in the throat with a sword? Could it be that his throat is where his life gate is? It must be like this." Pearl thought to herself, and couldn't help but feel secretly happy.
At this moment, there was a sudden "ah" sound, and A Biao was knocked to the ground by Su Long. A Biao quickly stood up and moved forward, saying loudly: "Boss is mighty."
The brothers in the audience also shouted: "Boss is mighty, boss is mighty..." The game ended with the shouts of the brothers.
A Biao and Pearl looked at each other, Pearl touched her throat, A Biao nodded slightly, Pearl immediately understood, and no one noticed this slight move between the two.
During dinner, Pearl flattered Su Long and kept pouring him wine, which made Su Long very happy.
"Master Long, you are so powerful. There are many powerful people in Dengzhou City. I heard that Mr. Geng across from Zuihua Tower was also a powerful person back then." Pearl asked.
"So what if it's awesome? It's not like I was clicked." Su Long said proudly.
Although Pearl had been mentally prepared for this, her heart still hurt when Su Long said these words in person.
"Master Long is really awesome. Come on, have another drink." Pearl didn't dare to ask any more questions for fear of arousing suspicion, so she quickly filled him up with wine.
Su Long didn't stagger to the bed until he was drunk, fell onto the bed, and fell asleep.
Pearl looked at the sleeping man on the bed and sat there until midnight. It was estimated that at this time, all the brothers in the village were asleep.
She quietly took out a dagger from under the pillow, which was given to her by Su Long for self-defense when she went out. Tonight, she would use this dagger to get rid of this evil man.
She pointed the dagger at Su Long's throat and stabbed it in hard. There was a "pop" sound, the dagger was inserted in, and blood spurted out.
Su Long was stimulated by the pain, opened his eyes, and looked at the scene in front of him in disbelief, "Why... why do you want to kill me?" He said with difficulty in breathing.
"You evil man deserves to die. You killed Geng Liancheng's family seventeen years ago. How can you not avenge this blood feud?" Pearl said.
"Who are you?" Su Long's voice became even weaker.
"Today I will let you know clearly that I am Geng Liancheng's daughter Geng Yue." Pearl said through gritted teeth.
"Bitch..." Su Long suddenly stood up, pulled out the dagger from his throat, and stabbed Pearl.
However, before he could touch Pearl, he fell down with a thud, and blood flowed down his throat. Pearl carefully stepped forward and felt his breath. He had already died.
Pearl simply packed up and went down the mountain along the path. A Biao and Zhang Hao had already met her at the bottom of the mountain. Knowing that the matter was settled, A Biao said excitedly: "My fiancée's revenge has finally been avenged."
After Pearl and Zhang Hao left, A Biao returned to the village quietly, pretending not to know anything.
On the second day, the brothers came to report: "The second in charge is bad, the first in charge has been killed."
A Biao pretended to come to Su Long's room. Seeing his miserable condition, he pretended to be sad on the surface, but he was very happy in his heart. He ordered people to carry him down and bury him.
The brothers in the village elected A Biao to be the leader, and A Biao established a new village rule: from now on, no one can burn, kill or loot. Do regular business and wait until next year to open up a lot of land in the back mountain to ensure self-sufficiency.
Pearl got her revenge and recognized Zhang Hao as her adoptive father. After paying homage to her parents, the two returned to Jinan Mansion and returned to the peaceful days before, as if nothing had happened.
