Chapter 111 First Sight
A blind storyteller appeared in the lobby on the first floor of Yipin Lou. He was a scruffy old man, covered with silver hair. His navy gown did not fit apparently. There was an erhu next to his hand. It was one of the cheapest erhus, the only feature of which was being used out of shape.
Yipin Lou had granted the old storyteller a place to work next to the outside of the stairs. He had got a table no more than 3 decimeters wide and 6 decimeters long. It was too small and too old. There came out some dust from the table each time the storyteller stroke the gavel. People got worried that the table would collapse sooner or later.
The middle space of the second floor was empty, which was similar to a patio. Therefore, the private rooms were separately located along the four sides of the floor, with windows on the left side and the patio on the right side. Li Ye poured himself a glass of wine and said to Liu Zhiyan on the opposite side of the table, “The Green Ant wine is the special order of this restaurant. It is not aromatic. But it’s strong enough. That’s its only feature and advantage. Would the Big Master like to drink?”
There were only two of them in the private room. Dressing in plain color and appearing in her natural look, Liu Zhiyan took over the bottle and poured herself a full glass. She raised her hands and said to Li Ye sincerely, “Your Highness had done a great favor for Changhe Gang. No word can express my appreciation. Bottom-up to show my respect!”
The case of Huangli County was over. Wei Baoheng was exiled to the south of the Five Ridges. However, he was “mystically” dead when he reached the Huaihe River. The imperial court was disinclined to investigate and just ignored his death. Anyway, there was no one standing up for Wei Baoheng among the Criminal Department and the officials from the 3 provinces as well.
A powerful minister of the time as he was, Wei Baoheng just disappeared. No attention was drawn even by his death.
The Changhe Gang was not held accountable. With the help of Li Ye, a chance for atonement was secured.
Liu Zhiyan drank up a glass of wine with her expression as usual. She then poured another glass and drank up. After drinking 3 glasses in such manner, a flush colored her innocent white cheeks. Her head shaking a little bit, Liu Zhiyan tried to open her eyes, “Strong it is!”
Li Ye couldn’t help to laugh out at her lovely behavior. He raised his glass and said, “Big Master is indeed a Jianghu hero. You are honest with your feelings. Come on. Let’s have some more wine!”
Looking at Li Ye’s wicked smile, Liu Zhiyan opened her eyes widely. She intended to turn down the invitation. But when she heard about being honest with her feelings, Liu Zhiyan recalled the “sharing hardship” and Li Ye’s peaceful character. An “OK” just escaped from her lips.
Li Ye almost pounded the table at Liu Zhiyan’s straightforwardness. He felt more fun in his heart.
Li Ye stopped after several more glasses of wine. He was never planning to get Liu Zhiyan drunk.
“The Changhe Gang has left the Wei River for some days. I’m afraid that your cargo quota has been carved up a lot by the other gangs. You will face quite a complicated situation when you returned to the Wei River. I’m going to send you a helper, ” Li Ye said.
Liu Zhiyan’s head was shaking apparently. While she unyieldingly kept her head still, her face was all red. She stared at Li Ye without a blink as if she would duel with the latter.
Li Ye asked, “Is the Changhe Gang willing to be the top 1 gang on the Wei River?”
“What?” Liu Zhiyan did not realize that when she suddenly heard the words.
Li Ye smiled, “It became the Top 1 gang on the Wei River. Then it penetrated to Shandong and got into the Yellow River and the Huaihe River. The grain transportation of the imperial court has always been a gravy train. Doesn’t the Changhe Gang want to share the interest?”
No matter how much wine she had drunk, Liu Zhiyan was so shocked to become sober at Li Ye’s words. It was also because of being sober, she got stuck and didn’t know what to say.
“Right now I don’t have any gangs on the river to use. That’s how you showed up in perfect time.” Li Ye had a faint smile on his face.
Grasping the grain transportation means grasping the core of imperial taxation and controlling the rich regions of Huainan and Jiangnan. Since the world was going to be in confusion, as soon as the Tang Empire got troubled with the struggles among the feudal princes, Li Ye, by controlling the grain transportation, would gain the unmeasurable advantage in the process of striving for hegemony.
All in Liu Zhiyan’s mind were the words about “showed up in perfect time”, though she did not know how to reply. She is just a folk girl in the Jianghu. The Changhe Gang was nothing but a group of nobodies. She never thought of being the top 1 in the Wei River, not to mention getting into the big watersheds of the Yellow River, The Huaihe River, etc.
“I will give you half a year,” Li Ye had a sip of wine. His look got deeper and sharper. “If you could get control of all the gangs on the Wei River within half a year, I would give you a position in the house of Prince An.”
Speaking of this, Li Ye gazed at Liu Zhiyan, with his look even deeper, “But if you failed, I would find you a replacement... Do you understand?”
Liu Zhiyan was simple but not stupid. She understood the words of Li Ye well. If they could not make it even with Li Ye’s help, the Changhe Gang would be useless. Li Ye would support another gang to replace it.
This was the very opportunity for the Changhe Gang to grow.
The Changhe Gang had never met such a great opportunity.
Li Ye had noticed that Liu Zhiyan’s eyes gradually got firm and knew that she had made up her minds. He laughed, “If the Big Master had got the decision, let’s drink another 3 glasses as a bloody stasis. What do you say?”
Liu Zhiyan’s big bright eyes got even bigger.
More?
“What are you trying to do?”
Liu Zhiyan couldn’t help but feel a chill.
Li Ye was teased by her eyes again.
...
At this time, there was a bang from the first level lobby.
After the small table outside the stairs, the gavel of the scruffy old man was pounded on the table. The dust was aroused towards his face. But the old man did not feel a thing. He said in a robust tone, “Talking about the Prince An coming to Huangli County alone, he looked into the robbed warehouse. With only one glance, he discovered a trace of the robbers. He immediately bought a boat from a fisherman and went upstream of the Wei River to catch the robbers!”
Li Ye and Liu Zhiyan heard the noise and turned around to watch. When she heard the words of the old storyteller, Liu Zhiyan glanced at Li Ye and said, “He got it wrong!”
Li Ye did not care, “It would not be a story if everything is correct. It would become history.”
Liu Zhiyan answered “Ok”, as if she was not totally understood.
The old storyteller continued with passion, “On that very day, the Prince An drove the boat at night following the trace. But to his surprise, things changed at midnight. There suddenly came dozens of big ship on the still and dark river. There were hundreds of armed fellow on the ships. They broke in from the dark night and surrounded the Prince An! The head of the fellows was a man of cultivation. He was the cousin of the former Prime Minister, Wei Jiangnan.”
“Bravo!”
“Bravo!”
“That’s a nice one!”
“The Prince An is a real hero! He got the guts to explore the camp of the robbers on his own. His bravery is admirable!”
A strong guy rose to his full height and praised loudly.
“It is said that the Prince An did not go alone. He brought the officers of the Chang’an Office!” A pale-faced scholar besides the strong guy muttered.
The strong guy stared at the scholar, “The Prince An is full of courage. Don’t tell me he needs extra hands to deal with several thieves!”
The pale-face scholar drew back his neck, “Actually he needs...”
“Damn it! You go tell the whole story!” The strong guy was angry and said, “Stop muttering if you can’t!”
The pale-faced scholar blushed. He felt indignant but did not dare to speak out.
The strong guy snorted after winning. “The Prince An is such a hero. He had just become an official for several months. But he could remove the traitor minister Wei Baoheng from his office all by himself. He had given the Tang Empire a clean political environment! His achievements were surpassing the ancients and amazing the contemporaries!Whoever dares to slander His Highness will be punished by my fist!”
The scholar dared to say no more but lowered his head and muttered, “I also think the Prince An is a hero...”
“Well?” The strong guy lifted up his eyebrow where happiness appeared. He pulled the pale-faced scholar and laughed, “We share the same taste! Why don’t you say it earlier? Come on! Here’s to you, for the sake of the Prince An!”
“But, I cannot drink...”
“You don’t drink? Then you are embarrassing me. You can turn me down. But can you turn down the Prince An?!”
“I will drink. I will drink...”
Seeing the funny scene in the lobby, Liu Zhiyan could not help laughing out. She quickly covered her lips and stole a glance at Li Ye and found out that the latter did not feel a thing. Liu Zhiyan wondered, “Your Highness, what is your feeling being praised to face?”
Li Ye was calm, “I’ve got used to it.”
Liu Zhiyan, “...”
It was true for Li Ye to get used to it. He did not know how it came this way. But ever since the Wei Baoheng’s case, the whole Chang’an City got to know overnight that it was Li Ye’s achievement. All versions of the story quickly spread out. Li Ye was described as great as an Avatar to pull down the insufferably arrogant traitor minister by himself. There were non-stop praises among the townfolks.
Every time Li Ye went to the streets, he would hear all kinds of legends of his achievement on the Wei Baoheng case...
Therefore, within only half a month, countless Luck came to him continuously. There was no stop. Usually, when he woke up, he would find that his cultivation had progressed enormously. He had come to the final stage of Level 5 of Qi-refining. There is just one step to Level 6 of Qi-refining!
Li Ye estimated that it would not be long before he got to Level 6 of Qi-refining. As the legends spreading these days, the Luck gathered every day is more that the day before...
Liu Zhiyan suddenly raised her glass and said to Li Ye, “Your Highness, here’s one to you!”
Li Ye glanced at her. Liu Zhiyan unexpectedly lowered her head with a red face. She dared not to look at him in the eye.
Li Ye said, “Have you heard of a saying?”
“What saying?” Liu Zhiyan raised her head as she still holding the glass. She blinked in ignorance.
Li Ye said, “Men gets no chance when women stay sober. Doesn’t the Big Master get scared?”
Liu Zhiyan had stunned. A flush colored her from cheek to neck.
However, she raised her head with the courage came from nowhere, “Have Your Highness heard of a saying?”
“I’m listening.” Li Ye got curious.
Liu Zhiyan lowered her head again, “A folk girl gets no chance when Your Highness stays sober... Does Your Highness get scared?”
Li Ye got stunned.
There’s such a way.
With a clink, Liu Zhiyan’s glass fell on the ground. She suddenly kneeling on the table and closed her eyes. She fell asleep.
Li Ye broke into laughter, “It was a drink talk... Wine is magical.”
...
Among the people who ran around restaurants year in and year out, there were drinkers and genuine persons as well. Therefore, it was common to share tables.
But it was uncommon to ask for table sharing when one had noticed the counterparties were a man and a woman talking and laughing.
Uncommon did not mean never. Li Ye was seeing one.
With a flagon in one hand, and a glass in the other, a middle-aged guy was standing in front of the private room.
This guy was big and tall. As strong as tiger and bear, he seemed like an army man. But he dressed like a scholar. The grey cloth he wore had been washed too much to look pale. The guy stood there upstraight. He smiled to Li Ye, “You are quite right. Wine is magical. I’m wondering if you could kindly drink with me?”
Upon seeing this guy, Li Ye tingled with a weird sensation.
He felt something strange today.
Because the guy in the front was Huang Chao!
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