Chapter 11: The Thick and Simple Man

  A quiet night, as desolate as snow. Outside the back door of Liu's mansion in Fengcai Alley, several figures suddenly appeared, facing the heavy black curtain, and several people simultaneously revealed their sharp white teeth, "Hehe" sneering. These few people were naturally Zhang Wen and Lin Xiu and the others.

  "Find a way in!" Zhang Wen gave a slight smile, gesturing for Lin Xiu to lead the way. As Liu's nephew, Lin Xiu should be quite familiar with the layout of the Liu estate.

  Lin Xiu, who had been very determined during the day, was now hesitating and said: "How about we wait a little while longer?"

  Zhang Wen was somewhat dissatisfied: "How can you be like this, coming to fear when things are at a critical juncture? With the arrow on the bowstring, how can it not be shot? If you don't dare go in, just say so, and we several people can go home and sleep!"

  Lin Xiu hastily pulled Zhang Wen's sleeve, smiling obsequiously: "Fifth brother misunderstood, I'm not afraid. It's just that you don't know, my uncle always sleeps very late every night, and now going in might be a bit too early."

  Zhang Wen looked at Lin Xiu with a disbelieving face, pointing to the darkness in front of him and said: "Look, what time is it now? As far as the eye can see, except for the red lights - uh, brothels, are there any other households with bright lights on? Your uncle is a high-ranking official, he should be busy with things all day long, how could he possibly have the habit of staying up late?"

  Lin Xiu's eyes flashed with a hint of schadenfreude, and he leaned in to whisper: "Zhang Wuge doesn't know this, but my uncle is indeed a high-ranking official - Left Censor-in-Chief. How high is his position? High enough that every night he sighs at the moon!"

  Zhang Wen was confused, he was a history novice and had no idea what the left advisor was. He wanted to echo something like "this is indeed", but listening to Lin Xiu's words earlier, it seemed like sarcasm, afraid of being exposed, so he remained silent.

  "It's like that!" Zhang Bao and several others responded in unison: "Fourth rank, it's indeed a big official! No wonder he wanted to sigh." Then, a burst of schadenfreude laughter erupted.

  Zhang Wen felt his head had grown another size. A fourth-rank official was definitely a big shot, he had also seen it on TV, there was something called "Menli Sanpin" which was the Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty. Since the Prime Minister was only a third-rank official, a fourth-rank official was naturally very important too. But why did these people smile so strangely?

  After some thought, Zhang Wen still couldn't get the point, so to cover up his own embarrassment, he could only follow along with a silly smile. Fortunately, uh, right...

  "Your uncle sighs to the moon every night? Tonight there is no moon at all, look around and it's pitch black. According to what you said during the day, he's so stingy that he won't even light candles at night, does he still want to sigh to the corner?"

  Lin Xiuyi stamped her foot and said with a smile, "How could I have forgotten this? Let's go in. Although my uncle is stingy, he's a true literati and has some common flaws like others. On a moonless night, it's not elegant to sit idle!" With that, she led the way towards the wall.

  "Great!" The rest of the people were also greatly invigorated, and they all rushed towards the surrounding wall with great ferocity. Doing bad things can indeed bring a different kind of pleasure, and they were all full of energy, their eyes shining brightly.

  Zhang Wen wasn't quite clear about how powerful his martial arts were yet, but he found that at least climbing over this wall didn't require much effort.

  Several people had just jumped down from the wall, and almost at the same time, they exclaimed in surprise. It turned out that as soon as they looked up, they saw a room in front of them with bright lights on. To achieve this effect, one or two candles would not be enough; at least several oil lamps would have to be combined together.

  Zhang Wen and others turned back at the same time, coldly staring at Lin Xiu, as if saying: "Little boy, is the one who concentrated so many oil lamps together to light them up the stingy ghost you mentioned?"

  Lin Xi spread out his hands and shook his head with a bitter smile, indicating he didn't understand.

  Just as Zhang Wen was about to speak and ask questions, a burst of bright laughter came over, startling him slightly.

  "Who is that?" Zhang Wen changed his words and asked. The laughter was really too joyful, also too loud, making people feel very uncomfortable when listening to it.

  "It's my uncle!" Lin Xiuyue became even more embarrassed and stuttered in response.

  "Oh! Your uncle who sighs to the moon every night? His sighing voice is also too unique!" Zhang Wen said with a smile that was not quite a smile.

  Lin Xiu was so choked with emotion that she couldn't say a word, and could only respond with an awkward smile.

  Suddenly, a "creak" was heard from the opposite side, and the large door opened with a loud noise. A strong light shot out through the gap of the open door. Zhang Wen and others were stunned at first, but quickly reacted and hid behind the trees on the side.

  "Master Xian, goodbye! This time it's really been a lot of trouble for you!" A man in his forties was the first to step out of the door. His voice was loud and clear, filled with joy, as if he had been injected with chicken blood. From Lin Xiu's introduction just now, Zhang Wen knew that he was Liu Silai, the master of this house.

  "Liu Zhai, stay your step!" Accompanied by a low and solemn voice, a yellow-crowned Taoist slowly walked out.

  Although the Taoist was very polite, Liu Silie still insisted on sending him out of the door and bid farewell with a lingering hand.

  "What kind of person is this Taoist, why is he so arrogant? Hmm, it's just because he's powerful. Isn't your uncle a fourth-rank official, why does he still need to send him personally?" Zhang Wen asked Lin Xiu with some doubt.

  "This is Zhang Jue Cang Zhang -" He didn't finish his sentence, suddenly his eyes widened and stared straight ahead, but his mouth continued to say slowly: "Great... Master... is... a... famous... master!"

  Zhang Wen was shocked and followed his gaze, also opening his mouth wide.

  It turned out that Liu Silie and others rushed to the door, hastily closed it, then spun around and saw the strong light still shining from across the way. He immediately bellowed at a nearby servant boy: "You good-for-nothing lazy slave, why don't you hurry up and put out the lights for me? These are four lamps, all lit at once, burning who-knows-how-much oil in just one moment! That's all money! You bunch of fools, how can you be so blind, what's the point of raising you?"

  That little fellow turned around and was about to run back, when suddenly a gust of wind whizzed past his side. It turned out that Liu Silie himself had swiftly overtaken the little fellow and rushed forward. Immediately afterwards, the little fellow's eyes blurred, and all he saw in front of him was darkness.

  In the pitch-black night, a sigh of relief suddenly came. Zhang Wen was stunned, he silently stretched out his hand and patted Lin Xiu's shoulder, saying in a low voice: "Brother, you are really a thick-skinned gentleman, your aunt said..."

  "Too generous!" Zhang Bao chimed in with a chuckle from beside him.

  Before long, a rustling sound came from the front, and Liu Silie's voice came again: "Ah, it hurts me to death, you short-lived slave, knowing that my eyes are not good, why don't you support me a little?"

  The sound gradually faded away and finally disappeared, never to be heard again.

  After a brief moment of silence, Zhang Wen turned around and was about to speak when Lin Xiu beside him spoke up first: "Let's go, I'll lead the way. We're going to meet my good cousin!"

  Zhang Wen said no more and nodded his head.

  The Liu mansion was indeed as Lin Xiu had said, with extremely lax defenses, making it hard to imagine that this was the residence of a fourth-rank official. However, for Zhang Wen and his companions, this was absolutely great news. The few people didn't consider themselves outsiders at all, and casually arrived at the door of Liu Fu's young master, Liu Fudu.

  A faint snore came from inside the room, and several people whispered to each other: "Heaven helps me too!"

  Zhang Er skillfully pulled out a bamboo tube from his bosom, which had been prepared long ago, and gently approached the door window. He stretched out his finger to lightly tap on the door window, and immediately a small "eye" appeared on it.

  Zhang Wen then gently blew into the pipe towards that "eye" twice, and soon a low snore came from inside. Immediately, the snoring sound started again, this time's snoring was much louder than before.

  "Mission accomplished!" Lin Xiu lightly raised the cup of water that had been prepared in her hand and rushed into the door first with great eagerness.

  After a while, several people came out one after another.

  Linda! What's this water, I smell something a bit... After half a day of contact, Zhang Wen finally gained some knowledge that for those with lower status than himself, he could directly address them by "surname" + "birth order".

  "A bit embarrassing, isn't it? That's right, because this is originally urine! I'll come over early tomorrow morning and see how he dares to lift his head in front of me!" Lin Xiu didn't know why Zhang Wen always called himself "Lin Da" with such a twist, but after getting used to it, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

  "Ah!" Zhang Wen and others simultaneously covered their noses.

  "I was just praising you, saying you're a kind-hearted person!"

  "You guys know what, if we use water, once it's dry, there won't be any trace at all!"