Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 603 Encountering Brother Shui
Early spring, afternoon.

About thirty miles from the capital, two travelers on horseback entered a small, thriving tavern by an official road.

Despite their disguises, the most distinctive features of each of them remained obvious—one had no eyes, and the other had no neck.

Of course, for people who are not familiar with them, this level of disguise is enough.

"Waiter, two bowls of noodles, a few stir-fried dishes, and a pot of warm wine, please." Huang Donglai quickly ordered after sitting down.

In those days, especially in some small shops, his method of ordering food vaguely—"not looking at the menu, but only saying the quantity and type"—was quite common.

Because back then, the produce was far less abundant than it is today, logistics were underdeveloped, and storing and preserving food was difficult. So only restaurants located in fertile rice-producing areas or large towns with abundant resources could offer a wider variety of dishes. Small shops in the suburbs were lucky if they could serve three or four hot dishes... Menus? Writing down several dishes would be superfluous.

When customers order, they generally don't need to be too specific, because if they are, the waiter will most likely just say "no," and if they ask further, it will be "no this either," "no that either," "we can have it, but we really don't have it"... If they ask any further, it'll be like, "Are you crazy?" "How much do you want to eat?" "I have as much as you want to eat"...

The way Huang Donglai orders food is more common, and could even be considered a characteristic of "rich people," since "a few hot dishes" might be all the dishes that the restaurant can cook, and "a pot of hot wine" might be the only type of wine that the restaurant offers.

"Alright~ Two distinguished guests! A table full of food and drinks~" Upon hearing Brother Huang's words, the waiter immediately called out to the kitchen with a cheerful smile; on one hand, this was to boost the restaurant's popularity, and on the other hand, it was also to greet the kitchen, implying that the guests at this table were well-off and that they might receive a tip if they were served well.

"Sigh... After running around all day, at least we have a decent place to catch our breath and rest." While waiting for the food, Sun Yixie chatted with Huang Donglai, and instinctively took in the environment of the small tavern.

This shop, to describe it in one sentence, is "full of local flavor".

Although the store is not large, the seats inside are full, and even the open space outside has a few tables and chairs. Therefore, there are quite a few customers, and the occupancy rate is currently around 90%.

The guests resting here are men and women, young and old, from all walks of life... there are all sorts of people.

Everyone was eating and chatting by themselves, laughing and making a ruckus without anyone paying attention. There were even two tables where people weren't actually eating, but playing mahjong.

The food ordered by Sun and Huang arrived quickly. They first finished two bowls of hot soup noodles with a few hot dishes to warm themselves up, and then began to chat and drink slowly, looking around.

And it was at this moment...

Suddenly, the shop door creaked open.

The wind chimes at the door rang two or three times in a flash, and the chopsticks of the diners inside the restaurant all slowed down by half a beat at that moment.

Upon hearing the sound, Sun and Huang turned their heads to look, and saw a figure standing outside the shop.

The early spring sunlight shone down from behind him, revealing his strong and slender figure; even his patched, coarse cloth clothes could not conceal his handsome and dashing demeanor.

He slowly walked into the house, and for some reason, a gentle breeze suddenly blew up behind him.

The wind stirred up leaves that seemed to have drifted from nowhere, creating a scene as beautiful as a painting. A few sparrows flew by, chirping and chattering as if they were fussing over the arrival of this person.

Now, this very glamorous man entered the shop, glanced around, and quickly walked to a table where customers were playing mahjong. He then stopped behind an older woman.

"Ah Mei, what are you doing?" The man stopped and said to the woman in a complaining tone.

"You can leave now." The auntie called "Amei" didn't even turn around to look at him, but just coldly replied while playing mahjong.

The man didn't leave. Instead, he took a few more steps closer, found an empty bench, and sat down behind Amei.

"What did I do wrong?" The man gazed affectionately at Amei's retreating figure and continued to ask.

“You did nothing wrong, and you were very good to me, but I don’t like you anymore. We’re not a good match…” Amei replied, emphasizing the word “no.”

"What's unsuitable?" the man interrupted before the other person could finish speaking, "I can change to accommodate you."

"Accommodate my foot!" Amei retorted, "One is savory tofu pudding, the other is sweet tofu pudding, everyone has different tastes."

“I can change my taste!” the man said again.

"Change your mother!" At this moment, Amei's emotions surged up. She slammed her hand on the table, paused for a few seconds with tears in her eyes, and her hesitant expression seemed to contain a thousand words. In the end, she only said a sentence with a trace of sadness and regret, "Our fate has come to an end."

After saying that, the woman silently got up and left, without ever glancing at the man behind her.

Throughout the entire conversation, the people around seemed completely unfazed, as if it were nothing unusual, and continued with their own lives.

After the woman left, the man could only sit there, covering his face and sighing. However, he only sighed for less than half a minute before getting up again and going to Sun Huang's table...

"Oh... I'm sorry to have made you two laugh." The man said as he sat down without any ceremony and poured himself a glass of wine.

Sun and Huang were both trying to suppress their laughter.

They knew the man in front of them, and they both knew that he recognized them as soon as he entered the house.

“Heh… Brother Shui…” After a few seconds, Sun Yixie couldn’t hold back any longer, “Your… taste is a bit unique.”

Shui Hanyi took a swig of wine and pouted, "What do you mean by 'taste'? Do you think I want to? This is a mission, you know?"

Sun Huang certainly knew that Shui Hanyi, as the big boss in charge of "organized crime" in "Fengyun Shuiyue", naturally needed to go undercover in various identities all year round; but they did not expect that Brother Shui's work was so arduous.

"Alright, alright, I know you've had a tough time, I was just joking with you." At this moment, Huang Donglai also filled his glass and quickly reached over to clink glasses with Brother Shui.

Since they were old acquaintances, Shui Hanyi naturally wouldn't hold a grudge against them. When clinking glasses, he took the opportunity to say, "By the way, you handled the Wuchang matter very efficiently. We haven't run into each other since then, but today we finally have the chance. I have to thank you properly on behalf of my brother Qu Xin."

"Hey! No need for thanks, we're all brothers, helping each other is only natural." Sun Yixie's easy words came out without hesitation.

“That’s right, Brother Shui, I’d completely forgotten about it if you hadn’t mentioned it. Come on, let’s drink.” Huang Donglai went along with it and finished a glass with him.

"Heh...you two are still so good at dealing with people." Shui Hanyi was saying this.

Suddenly, a young man who had just walked in from outside the store sat down next to him.

"Brother, I see the lady you're looking for has already left. Why don't you settle your bill first and then talk to your friend? It's not good for us brothers to just wait outside like this." The young man didn't mince words and asked for money right away.

"Tsk..." Shui Hanyi curled her lip impatiently again, "What's the rush... I'm not going to run away, honestly, how much is it in total?"

"Two ounces," the young man replied.

"How much?" Shui Hanyi's eyes widened. "You guys just scattered some leaves and released a few worthless birds, and you're asking me for two ounces? Are you scattering golden leaves and releasing phoenixes?"

“Hey bro, that’s not right,” the young man retorted without backing down. “It’s fun scattering those leaves, but picking them up is a pain, and the birds… they’re so hard to catch! You just came to us yesterday, and in less than a day, where were we supposed to catch so many for you? In the end, we brothers had to pay for them ourselves from the bird dealers, and those two big fans…”

"Wait, wait... where did this giant fan come from?" Shui Hanyi interrupted. "Did I tell you to prepare that?"

"Hey! Didn't you say you had to 'stand in the wind' to be cool? Where does the wind come from without a fan? I'm not Zhuge Liang, I'm not going to lend you one!" This young man was quite the chatterbox. "Let me tell you, fanning yourself is hard work, it makes us brothers look like grandsons, and I haven't even charged you extra..."

"Alright, alright, two taels it is, you're really ruthless, take it." Shui Hanyi couldn't persuade the kid, so she could only obediently take out the money and send him away with a look of disgust.

After the other party left, Shui Hanyi looked at Sun Huang again and said without changing her expression, "Please don't take offense, we're all on the same side, so I won't pretend here... I just like wealth and luxury, so I never spend money recklessly."

“Yes, yes, Brother Shui is right!” Sun Yixie seemed to agree wholeheartedly. “Whether we have money or not is secondary. We should spend it happily. Come on, brother, let me toast you again.”

And so, the three of them asked the waiter to add two more jugs of wine, chatted a few more times, and drank a few more rounds.

At this point, Shui Hanyi felt it was about time, so she lowered her voice and brought up the important matter with Sun Huang: "Well... if I'm not mistaken, you two should have heard about what happened at Shaoshi Mountain, right?"

“Absolutely.” Huang Donglai echoed the other’s low voice, touching his fake mustache, and replied, “Otherwise, why would we bother with this outfit?”

Shui Hanyi nodded, then said, "Let me ask you something..." He suddenly looked at Sun and Huang with a very sharp gaze, "...You really didn't do it, did you?"

"Damn it, if we did it, why would we need to pretend?" Although Sun Yixie's voice was low, his tone was high as he said this. "Wouldn't it have been better not to leave your sect's name at the crime scene in the first place?"

“That’s true.” The next second, Shui Hanyi’s expression relaxed again, which showed that in just this question and answer, he completely believed Shuangxie.

If you ask him what his basis is, there's nothing much to it; it's nothing more than the experience and intuition he's accumulated over many years of handling cases and interrogating others.

Shui Hanyi himself didn't understand the principle, but he had a high chance of being able to tell whether someone was lying just by looking at their face when he was pressing them for answers face-to-face.

“I knew I hadn’t misjudged you.” Shui Hanyi continued, “Since you have no problems, there’s something… I need to remind you.”

"What's the matter?" Huang Donglai asked suspiciously.

“About two months ago, all the Jinyiwei, Dongchang, city defense departments, and even government offices in the capital received a secret order to find people from your ‘Hunyuan Star Gate’.” Shui Hanyi paused, then added, “Moreover, as far as I know, this order has nothing to do with the rumors about Shaoshi Mountain.”

"Oh? What's the matter then?" Huang Donglai asked again.

“Hmm…” Shui Hanyi immediately revealed a subtle expression, and lowered her voice even further, “Isn’t there someone named Lin Yuancheng in your sect?”

“Yes, what did he do?” Sun Yixie asked.

“He probably…” Shui Hanyi’s expression gradually turned to helplessness, or rather, annoyance. At this moment, he raised his hand to rub his temples and muttered, “…kidnapped a princess.”