Adoption brings disaster

It is said that people in the martial arts world, for some reason, like to wear strange clothes the most.

Not long after Ah Da received the order and went out, two gangsters wearing conical hats and carrying big swords on their backs, covering themselves tightly, walked into the restaurant.

When the waiter saw their attire, he naturally knew that they were from the martial arts world. He was also afraid that they would get angry and cause trouble, so he hurried forward to serve them. He said in a trembling voice that the house was full today and there was no room left, and asked the hero to forgive him.

The two men were different from other people in the martial arts world. They didn't get angry after hearing what the child said. They just ordered two bowls of vegetarian noodles, and then squatted quietly in the corner, waiting for the noodles to come.

Their strange clothes were already hard to ignore, and now they were so humble and reasonable that I looked at them with a higher regard, and I couldn't help but look at them a few more times.

They didn't make any other moves, just waiting quietly. I looked at them and felt bored, so I ignored them.

After having a full meal and a few drinks, I had no intention of leaving, so I asked the waiter to clear the table and serve us some tea.

I wanted to order some more pastries to eat, but the town is small and there is only one pastry chef. There are no pastries left, so I had to ask the waiter to bring me a small plate of peanuts to eat.

Liu Shui was enjoying tea this way for the first time and found it quite interesting. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "Peanuts have a unique flavor when paired with tea. It seems that established things aren't necessarily the best."

I smiled and chatted with Liushui from time to time, glancing at the two people squatting in the corner, but most of the time I was looking outside, waiting for Ada to come back.

A Da moved very quickly. Before the two people's noodles were served, A Da came back and brought some pastries with him.

Ah Da respectfully handed over an envelope and said, "His Royal Highness Prince Yong heard about the events in the martial arts world and thought that you might need it, so he ordered someone to prepare it early. Please check it out, Boss."

After saying that, he asked the waiter to bring a clean plate, put the pastries he brought on it, and served us the pastries.

I opened it and took a look. It was only two pages long. The content was some secrets of the underworld, but it was not what I needed.

I made a mental note, then casually handed the letter to Liu Shui and said, "You should take a look at the news about the Beggars' Sect."

Liu Shui obviously didn't expect that I would let him see it so casually. He was stunned for a moment, then quickly took it.

But he didn't read the content, just looked at the dark pattern on the paper and exclaimed: "Is this an iris?"

After hearing this, Ah Da's expression suddenly turned unfriendly and he looked at Liu Shui with murderous intent. The atmosphere became tense for a moment.

"Where are the irises?" I asked in confusion, after all, I didn't see any.

"It's here." Liu Shui said, pointing to an inconspicuous place on the paper.

I was a little curious, how could an iris make Liushui, who was always calm, lose his composure like this, and how could it make Ada want to kill Liushui.

However, Liu Shui was carefree and didn't notice Ah Da's abnormality. He explained naturally, "It is said that iris is the favorite flower of Princess Zhenbei, so the King of Zhenbei used iris as a dark pattern, and the news was passed on with this as evidence. I only found out about this a few years ago when my father was ordered to supervise the military rations and had contact with the prince."

Although the iris incident has not been made public, it is well known among the high-ranking officials in the capital. However, I don’t understand why Liu Shui is so excited.

Seeing that I was still a little confused, Liu Shui continued, "I've heard that the prince values ​​Qianqiu very much and can come and go in the palace at will. I didn't expect it to be true."

"Not to mention that the boss is extremely talented and deserves this honor, even if the prince has the broad mind to employ people without doubt, it is not worth your making such a fuss." After hearing this, Ah Da concealed his murderous intent and said with a haughty look.

Liushui was a modest gentleman, so he was naturally satisfied to hear the arrogance in Ah Da's tone. Instead, he praised the King of Zhenbei from the bottom of his heart, which made Ah Da very happy for a while.

After Liu Shui finished speaking, he put the paper back into the envelope and gave it to A Da to keep. We drank tea leisurely and listened to these gangsters bragging.

"Sir, your noodles are here." The two men took the noodles, squatted on the ground and ate them in big mouthfuls, talking about something while eating.

"Brother, you said that the Beggars' Sect is the largest gang in the world. This time, the Wudang Sect and the Beggars' Sect are facing off. Who is stronger?" said one of the two.

Another person sneered, "Of course the Wudang Sect is stronger. The Beggars' Sect is just a bunch of rabble. The experts in the sect are far inferior to those of the Wudang Sect. Besides, the Beggars' Sect is just a bunch of beggars who can't even get enough food. How can they fight the Wudang Sect?"

The man nodded in conviction and complimented, "Brother, what you said makes sense. I've traveled all over the country with you and have seen countless beggars wearing beggar gang clothes starving to death on the roadside. What good are more people like them?"

The man finished speaking and ate another mouthful of noodles like a starving ghost. He continued, "Brother, the murder of the leader is such a serious matter. Shouldn't the deputy leaders and elders of the Beggars' Sect all come to Wudang Sect to seek justice? But why is there not a single beggar in this town?"

This sentence was spoken very loudly, as if deliberately attracting everyone's attention, and for a moment it drowned out the voices of other people talking in the restaurant.

It would have been fine if his voice was loud, but what he said was mostly stupid, so some people in the underworld couldn't stand it anymore and took the initiative to talk to him.

"I can tell at first glance that you are rookies entering the martial arts world. This Beggars' Sect has a deep foundation and is not what you say it is." said a knight holding a sword.

The man got anxious when he heard this. He stopped eating his noodles and stood up and shouted, "We have been traveling in the martial arts world for countless years. We are not rookies. Besides, if we don't know, how can you know? I think you are just good at talking. You might be as good as us, or even worse than us."

Seeing that the two men didn't believe him, and there was even some sarcasm in his words, the knight became angry and stood up and said, "You said that grandpa didn't know, then grandpa will explain it to you today and open your two grandsons' eyes."

"I want to see what you can come up with today. Don't let it end with nothing to say, or just talk nonsense and make others laugh their heads off." The two continued to mock.

The swordsman could not stand such ridicule, so he threw the things on the table to the ground, making a mess. Everyone looked over.

Seeing everyone looking at him, he flew up to the table again, saluted everyone in the restaurant, and said, "Everyone knows that the Beggars' Sect is divided into nine bags. One to three bags are low-level disciples who have learned some basic skills and wave the Beggars' Sect banner so they won't be bullied when begging. Four to six bags are management disciples, seven bags are elders, eight bags are deputy leaders, and nine bags is the leader."

After the knight finished speaking, he glanced at the two of them provocatively and continued, "These things are not really secrets. As long as you are willing, you can find out from any beggar. However, the Beggars' Sect is an industry that relies on spreading information. If you have more than four bags, you don't have to beg anymore. You are much richer than many people here."

"This isn't such great news. I thought you could reveal something unknown to everyone." The two scoffed and mocked him, saying, "Don't take on a job you don't have the skills for. You'd better not embarrass yourself by coming out here."

The knight sneered, looked at them arrogantly, and said, "Why are you so nervous? I have to explain everything to rookies like you. Otherwise, if I tell you some big news, you rookies won't even understand it."

The knight thought he had some great news and wanted to be the protagonist for once. He kicked the table over and flew up to the beam, saying, "Only one person from the Beggars' Sect is coming this time. Is this considered great news?"

The knight also looked at the two of them teasingly. Seeing that they didn't say anything, he continued smugly: "This news about someone coming can be found out as long as one wants to. However, this person is Mr. Qiao, so I'm afraid it won't be known by ordinary means."

Mr. Qiao should be considered a well-known figure in the Beggars' Sect. After hearing this name, everyone started whispering to each other in groups of three or four.

However, this person's name was not included in the information brought by Ada. It seemed that he did not have much real power in the Beggars' Sect and was not worthy of my concern. So I did not think much about it. I just ate cakes and listened to these knights talk.

A knight exclaimed, "I heard that this Second Master Qiao only joined the Beggars' Sect half a year ago, and now he's already a Seven-Pack Elder."

This is a conspiracy theory. If someone gets promoted quickly, there must be something fishy going on. I was quite interested in what I heard, so I looked at the man, expecting him to tell me some rumors.

The man was about to say something more when another knight said, "Nonsense! The leader of the Beggars' Sect has already refuted the rumors. Second Master Qiao joined the Beggars' Sect at the age of ten, and it's been twelve years now. He's just been practicing in the mountains, so he's been unknown to everyone."

Hearing someone refute him, the man sneered and said, "You believe what the Beggars' Sect leader says. This Second Master Qiao is clearly the leader's illegitimate son. Otherwise, how could Second Master Qiao immediately take the position of elder when the Beggars' Sect leader's own son got into trouble?"

Gossip is human nature. Before the two could come to a conclusion, another knight said, "Come on, illegitimate child? Everyone knows the Dead Wood Medical Immortal of Baicao Hall. He admitted it himself. The Beggars' Sect leader's training went awry and he's been infertile for a long time. How could there be an illegitimate child? This Second Master Qiao is clearly the Beggars' Sect leader's mistress. You don't know, Second Master Qiao is incredibly handsome."

........................

The more they talked, the more outrageous their stories became. I was also very interested. Looking at Xiao Gao who had just returned, I asked, "Do you know the Second Master Qiao they are talking about?"

"I met him once five months ago. He's incredibly skilled in martial arts. Even against Taoist Tianshu, he wouldn't be defeated within a hundred moves. He's considered one of the best in the Beggars' Sect," Xiao Gao said. "He's also fair and righteous, and his methods are quite impressive. His prestige within the Beggars' Sect seems to surpass that of the other deputy leaders and elders."

He's handsome, has good martial arts skills, is quite scheming and ambitious. I took note of this in my heart. It seems that I need to pay special attention to this person.

"Anyone who can remain undefeated within a hundred moves is a master. The Beggars' Sect is not that great. Not to mention, even Qianqiu's martial arts are much better than that of Mr. Qiao." Liu Shui said.

Why does this sound so weird, as if I'm just a newbie?

This sounded harsh to me, but I knew that was how Liu Shui spoke, and it wasn't malicious. I rolled my eyes at him and said modestly, "The Taoist priest is the best of our time. I only managed to hold out for two or three hundred moves against him thanks to my magical poisonous anaconda."

"It's just a matter of practicing for twenty more years. In a few years, our Prince Yong will definitely be more powerful than that Tianshu guy." Ah Da said sourly.

I was thinking in my heart, Ada, can you please stop bragging and bring Chongguang with you? It would be so embarrassing if it gets out and we can't win.

Seeing that Ah Da wanted to say more, I quickly changed the subject and said, "Xiao Gao, is there any news from the escort agency?"

Xiao Gao, upon hearing what I said, quickly spoke up, "Ten days ago, the Beggars' Gang held a general meeting. Fighting and arguing lasted a whole day and night, and they finally came to a conclusion: if Second Master Qiao can find the person who murdered the leader, he'll be the successor. If not, the position of leader will have to be chosen from among the deputy leaders."

This news is still somewhat useful. Among the three major victims, a nephew of Prince Duan has come. I have seen him just now. The locust tree ghost and the twelve peaks of the Western Mountain are blocking the door of the Wudang Sect. The Beggar Gang is the second master Qiao. I just don't know how many people he will bring with him. Maybe he is really alone, or maybe he has brought countless people with him in secret.

I was a little concerned about this, so I asked, "Do you know how many people he brought with him?"

Xiao Gao replied, "Mr. Qiao is quite skilled and courageous. He came here alone without anyone."

Hearing that I was alone, I chuckled and leaned over to Xiao Gao's ear, whispering, "What do you say, how about we disguise ourselves as members of the Beggars' Gang and sneak in?"

"No, Boss, absolutely not," Xiao Gao said quickly. "Every sect has its own secret codes and hand gestures. Outsiders don't know the ins and outs of them, so it's easy to be discovered. Besides, the Beggars' Sect is the most complicated. Let alone us, who know nothing about it, even those within the Beggars' Sect would find it extremely difficult to impersonate someone of higher rank."

After hearing this, I felt a little discouraged and muttered unhappily, "You guys are just too high-profile."

"If you want to sneak in secretly, there's no need to go through so much trouble," Xiao Gao said. "Miss Duoduo gave us some disguise pills. Just take them and your appearance will be drastically changed. Although it only lasts for three days, it should be enough."

This was all I could do now. I stood up, stretched, and said, "Let's go back. I'm a little tired. I'll go back and take a nap. Then I'll get up and have a nice meal. We'll go to Wudang Mountain tomorrow."

After we left, the two men also left quietly. The topic of discussion in the restaurant shifted from the Beggars' Sect to other things, and no one noticed that there was anything wrong with the two men.

Predict what will happen in the future, and listen to the next decomposition.