Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Chapter 175 An Encounter in Chuzhou

Heading north along the Surabaya River,

Along the way, it was clear that the number of ships heading south had increased significantly.

Zhao Yuan and his companions found an opportunity to inquire and learned that the epidemic in Xucheng had already spread.

In order to escape the epidemic, wealthy people from all over Shandong have begun to travel south by boat.

At this time, ships heading north were extremely rare, practically nonexistent.

On this day, the group arrived in Chuzhou.

This place is near the intersection of Jingdong Road and Huainan Road. Continuing for another half a day, you'll enter Huaiyang Army, a territory in Shandong Province.

After traveling for so long, everyone was inevitably a little tired by this point.

An Daoquan and his wife then suggested to Zhao Yuan that they rest for a day in Chuzhou.

The reason is that when people are exhausted from hard work, they are more susceptible to external pathogens.

The epidemic has now spread in Shandong. If people enter Shandong while feeling exhausted, they are very likely to contract the disease.

Although Zhao Yuan was worried about Lin Chong's condition, he also knew that what An Daoquan and his wife said made sense, so he stopped temporarily in Chuzhou and let everyone arrange their own itinerary.

Most people, having spent six or seven days on the ship, had long yearned for land.

After the boat stopped, Ruan Xiaoqi and the others discussed who would stay and guard the boat while the others went to explore the shore.

Zhang Shun's mother has been receiving daily treatment from Madam An, and the wounds on her back have healed considerably, but she still has difficulty walking.

Zhang Shun was a filial son and wanted to stay with his elderly mother; Wang Dingliu was the same, wanting to stay with his elderly father.

These two stayed behind, while the others couldn't wait to go ashore and stroll around the nearby towns together.

Zhao Yuan and Hu Sanniang were no exception.

The two initially walked with the group.

After walking for a while, everyone else found various excuses to disperse, leaving only the two of them alone.

Although Hu Sanniang was shy, she knew that when she returned to Liangshan Marsh,

It would be impossible for her and Zhao Yuan to get along as they do now.

It wasn't because I was worried about Li Shishi and the others,

Instead, he returned to Liangshan. Zhao Yuan was the leader of the stronghold and had a lot of official business to handle every day.

Hu Sanniang would have to become Hu Sanlang; if she continued to cling to Zhao Yuan like she does now,

I'm afraid that rumors will spread throughout Liangshan that Zhao Yuan might have homosexual tendencies.

The two walked side by side down the street. Hu Sanniang, still retaining a touch of girlishness, would occasionally pull Zhao Yuandong to look around and wander about.

At noon, the two found a hotel to eat and drink.

We had only eaten half of our meal when we heard a commotion coming from the doorway.

Out of curiosity, Hu Sanniang dragged Zhao Yuan along to see what was going on.

The two paid the bill and left the hotel.

A large crowd had gathered at the entrance. Zhao Yuan led Hu Sanniang through the crowd.

Only then did they realize that it was another mischief caused by a group of scoundrels.

In the middle of the crowd, three or five ruffians were surrounding a carriage, preventing it from leaving.

A ruffian lay in front of the carriage; his face was rosy, so he was obviously alright.

But his companion claimed that the carriage had hit him and demanded compensation.

The driver was a young man.

When it comes to being unreasonable and argumentative, he was no match for these scoundrels and was already red-faced with anger.

"Brother, should we go and help?" Hu Sanniang asked in a low voice.

"Need not,"

Zhao Yuan shook his head: "Look at the physique of that coachman, he's clearly been through a lot of training. These hooligans have messed with him for no reason, they're probably just asking for trouble."

Sure enough, the young man driving the carriage, repeatedly harassed by the hooligans, finally lost his temper and became enraged.

He jumped off the carriage, grabbed the ruffian who was lying on the ground pretending to be dead, and punched him hard in the head.

The scoundrel had most of his teeth knocked out, and he spat out blood.

Seeing this, his companions grabbed wooden sticks and stools and started hitting the young man.

The young man casually took a pair of double maces from the carriage.

In just a few moves, he knocked all the hooligans to the ground.

"You blind idiot! Do you think we out-of-towners are easy to bully? Get the hell out of here!"

The young man shouted angrily, but little did he know that a scoundrel behind him had secretly gotten up from the ground.

He was holding a short stick and was about to strike the young man on the back of the head!

Suddenly, the carriage curtain was lifted, and a beautiful, graceful girl peeked out, exclaiming, "Second Brother, be careful!"

The villagers had never seen such a beautiful girl before.

········Requesting flowers·· 0

The men were all stunned, and even the women couldn't help but take a second look.

Hearing the girl's shout, the young man was startled and immediately realized that someone had attacked him. He hurriedly tried to dodge, but it was too late.

Just as the rogue was about to succeed in his sneak attack, a ten-tael silver ingot suddenly flew out and hit him in the face.

The thug, his face covered in blood, collapsed to the ground.

The beautiful girl in the carriage thought someone had died, and her face turned deathly pale with fright.

"Second brother, this person..."

"It's nothing, he was just knocked unconscious,"

The young man driving the carriage picked up the silver ingot and looked towards Zhao Yuan and his group.

Upon seeing the heroic and valiant Hu Sanniang, he was momentarily stunned.

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The young man had always believed that his younger sister was the most beautiful woman in the world, and that no other woman could compare to her.

But now, seeing Hu Sanniang, one feels that although her appearance is not as delicate as her younger sister's, her heroic and valiant demeanor has a different kind of beauty.

Stared at directly by the young man, Hu Sanniang immediately frowned and said unhappily,

"Hey, give us back our money!"

It turns out that the silver ingot that knocked out the rascal was thrown by Zhao Yuan using the same technique as Qiong Ying.

Judging from its effect, it was no less effective than Qiong Ying's flying stones. Zhao Yuan even planned to name this move "Qiankun Yizhi" (meaning "One Throw to Heaven and Earth").

"what?"

The young man was still somewhat stunned.

Just as Hu Sanniang was about to erupt in anger, the stunningly beautiful girl in the carriage couldn't bear to watch any longer.

She quickly got off the carriage, took the silver from her brother's hand, and handed it over.

After Zhao Yuan accepted it, the girl gave a slight bow.

"Thank you so much for your help, brave man! If it weren't for this silver ingot, my second brother would have been bleeding from a head wound."

"It's alright. Helping those in need is something we should do," Zhao Yuan replied with a smile.

The girl felt grateful, smiled sweetly, and then turned to greet her brother.

Just then, two more men rode up on horseback.

Upon seeing the situation around the carriage, the older middle-aged man frowned and asked, "Liu Lin, what's going on?"

Chapter 176 The Female Strategist Liu Huiniang

"Father, these scoundrels were trying to extort money from Ah Xiu and me, they were..."

After the young man finished speaking, he was about to say that it was all thanks to Zhao Yuan and Hu Sanniang who helped him,

Unexpectedly, his father impatiently interrupted him, urging, "Alright, since there's nothing else, hurry up and get Ah Xiu into the carriage! Your mother and elder brother are still waiting up ahead!"

"father......"

The young man glanced at Hu Sanniang, about to say something, but was gently nudged by her younger sister.

"Second brother, stop dreaming! Those two are clearly a couple!"

The girl whispered in her brother's ear.

"how do you know?"

The young man was still somewhat incredulous, but when the brother and sister's father saw them still whispering to each other and hadn't gotten into the carriage, he immediately scolded them.

"What are you all standing there doing, '090' stuff? Get out of here!"

"Hurry up and leave. Dad's been in a bad mood lately. Be careful he doesn't find a chance to teach you a lesson!"

The girl chuckled softly, then climbed onto the carriage. As she lowered the curtain, her bright eyes glanced in Zhao Yuan's direction.

Upon noticing that Zhao Yuan was also looking at her, the girl blushed slightly, a hint of shyness on her face, but then she sensed something was amiss.

She noticed that Zhao Yuan's expression when he looked at her was clearly different from that of the other men around them.

It wasn't the kind of lustful desire for beauty, but rather a feeling of astonishment.

Is it strange that you see me?

The girl lowered the carriage curtain with a puzzled look in her mind, but Zhao Yuan's surprised expression was still on her mind.

When the young man saw the girl get into the carriage and then saw Hu Sanniang and Zhao Yuan standing close together, he knew in his heart that the girl had not made a mistake.

After sighing inwardly, he bowed somewhat dejectedly to Zhao Yuan and Hu Sanniang, then drove the carriage to catch up with his father.

......

The carriage carrying the stunningly beautiful girl has already departed.

The men at the hotel entrance lingered, unwilling to leave.

"Brother, let's go explore other places,"

Hu Sanniang glanced disdainfully at the men around her.

She's just a pretty blonde girl, right? How can she have them all so infatuated? My brother wouldn't...

Just as she thought of this, Hu Sanniang realized that Zhao Yuan had not yet replied.

Looking back, she was immediately furious, her face turning ashen.

Zhao Yuan, just like the other men, was craning his neck to look at the carriage in the distance.

"Brother?" Hu Sanniang called out.

Seeing that Zhao Yuan did not react, she bit her red lips and suddenly raised her foot to stomp on Zhao Yuan.

"hiss......"

Zhao Yuan gasped in pain, "Third Sister, what are you doing?"

"Brother, is that young lady really that beautiful? You've already walked so far, yet you still can't bear to leave her?"

Hu Sanniang's face darkened slightly as she spoke with displeasure.

"Beauty?"

Zhao Yuan paused for a moment: "She's alright, about the same as your senior sister."

"Then why are you still staring at her! She's already gone, but you're still staring at the carriage!" Hu Sanniang scolded.

"Third Sister, the second brother of that young girl just now is named Liu Lin,"

Zhao Yuan said in a deep voice, "He is wielding a pair of maces again, which reminds me of something."