"Drink, cough"
At noon, somewhere in Hangzhou, in a manor.
Many shouts echoed repeatedly in the courtyard.
At the same time, there was a sudden sound of clothes fluttering in the air.
Obviously, this is someone practicing Qigong.
But I saw that the man who was practicing was in his twenties. He was about one foot tall. He had broad shoulders, a thick back, a big chest and a round waist. His neck was as thick as a tree root, and his head was as big as a Japanese melon. But his facial features are like sword-shaped eyebrows and starry eyes, a straight nose, a square mouth, ears like precious fans, and lips like red pills, which is very good.
Who is this person?
He is none other than the eldest son of the Murong family, Murong Ji.
At this moment, Murong Ji was wearing a tight and neat outfit, moving and punching in an open space; despite his fat body, his movements were very flexible, and he had all kinds of moves. It is precise and precise, and the sound of the fist punching through the air is like a tiger and a tiger making wind. .
Seeing this, some people may wonder why Murong Ji is "obese" since he is a martial arts practitioner from a martial arts family and does not look like a farmer.
Well, I can only say that people and their physiques cannot be generalized
Some people are born to gain weight easily, and they can gain weight like crazy just by eating normally. Murong Ji is a person with this kind of physique.
You think Murong Ji doesn’t practice hard? In fact, he works much harder than his brothers at home, but he doesn’t lose weight even if he practices hard and sweats like rain every day; then there is nothing you can do, you always You cannot say that in order to lose weight and "look good", you should practice Qigong on an empty stomach. That will damage your body.
Besides, it is not surprising that martial arts practitioners in ancient times had such a figure; you can see from those ancient portraits that many well-known military generals had "general bellies" and their appearance Not to mention fat heads and big ears, they basically have round faces. To put it bluntly, this body shape was in line with the actual needs at that time, because starvation and freezing were common during long-term marches and wars, so stock up on "fat armor" ", endured hunger, cold and beatings.
Murong Ji belongs to this kind of figure. He looks like a fat man, but he is not the "puffy" kind of ordinary fat man. If he really fights, he can be very agile, and in terms of strength and ability to withstand beatings , he is much stronger than those who weigh less.
"Drink"
Now, a set of boxing techniques was practiced. When it came to the final blow, Murong Ji gave a long drink, released his strength, and punched hard. , a wooden stake used for practice was broken with a snap.
When the broken pile fell to the ground, Murong Ji stopped and stood still, and when his breathing gradually calmed down, a man approached him, cupped his fists at him and said, "Master, something happened."
"Oh" Murong Ji glanced at the man and asked in a slightly surprised tone, "Why do you need Mr. Liu to report it in person?"
The "Mr. Liu" in his mouth, The right-hand man of the Murong family is Liu Mingming. He is in his early forties and is good at using a pair of large steel weapons made of hematite.Tongs, nicknamed "Fire Tongs" by an old friend.
As for Liu Ming, although he has a plain appearance and a medium build, he is really a talented person.
He was originally from a grass-roots background, and his family had nothing to do with martial arts or officialdom. Since his family was relatively well-off when he was young, his parents sent him to school for a few years. However, his father became addicted to gambling and the family was ruined. When he was thirteen years old, he was sold by a relative to the Murong family and became a domestic servant.
When seeing the word "sell", some people must think that this relative is not a thing, but in fact
Based on the situation at that time, Liu Ming's parents had already died. , the house deed and everything else had long been pledged to others by his gambling father, and all the things in the house had been moved away by creditors; and that relative, whose own family was not rich, had lent it to Liu Ming's father. It's a lot of money, but in the end, the relatives' money won't come back, and there's a dragster like Liu Ming.
You ask him to take Liu Ming back to his home to raise him. The whole family is almost too old to even open the pot. Add a half-grown kid and let his whole family starve with you
That’s it. As soon as the sum was calculated, this relative thought of finding a well-known and wealthy family to sell Liu Ming. On the one hand, his father's debt to me could be recovered a little, and on the other hand, it would be considered as a way to find money for this kid. No matter what you have to eat, being a servant is better than starving to death
As for people, that’s it. You think Liu Ming’s relative is a good person, but that’s definitely not the case. It's not like he was completely unconscionable, he was just an ordinary person, and the choices he made were what most ordinary people of that era would have made.
In this way, Liu Ming was sold into the Murong family. He worked as a handyman for less than a year before he was transferred to the accounting office because of his literacy.
Another year later, the turning point in his life came. He was transferred to be the second young master of the Murong family, that is, the book boy of Murong Ji's second uncle.
Because Liu Ming is smart, diligent, and has a high level of quotient, he was quickly appreciated by his master. Not only did he allow him to study with him, but he also asked him to learn some of the Murong family’s external martial arts. In this way, day after day, One day, Liu Ming climbed up from the bottom. After more than twenty years, he has now become something like a "retainer" of the Murong family.
Liu Ming, who is both civil and military, is not only second-rate in martial arts, he can also play the role of "consultant" and can remind his master on many matters and help him make ideas. Something like that.
Therefore, this time when Murong Ji "crossed the river", the family asked Liu Ming to come with him as Master Murong's bodyguard and adviser.
A few days ago, when Murong Ji led his people to make a big fuss at the "West Lake Elegant Seat", it was Liu Ming who defeated Tang Weizhi, who was in charge of watching the show. If Murong Ji had gone on by himself, facing Tang Weizhi, the "ex-president" "The 19th generation disciple of the Kongtong Sect", I'm afraid he may not be able to win.
As for the raids on the Sun family’s various trading outlets and fish markets, Liu Ming’s participation was indispensable.
Speaking of which, it’s quite ironic that Liu Ming’s family was ruined because of his father.Although his father himself was the main reason for gambling, the step-by-step inducement of those who opened the casino also "contributed indispensably"; but now, as the Murong family has gradually developed into a gambling giant in Dashu, Liu Ming has also stood up to the original persecution. From the standpoint of the people in his family, they did their best and did not have any entanglements. I can only say that people are still very adaptable.
"Young master, there is indeed something important." At this time, Liu Ming heard Murong Ji's question and replied in a deep voice, "It is said that the young master of the Sun family, Sun Yixie, has returned to Hangzhou."< /p>
"Well" Murong Ji's expression changed slightly, "Isn't he dead?"
"I think the news is wrong." Liu Ming explained, "He has been missing before." , just because it had been a long time and he was at sea, some people speculated that he was dead. Unexpectedly, he suddenly appeared in Hangzhou yesterday, and within a day, the news of his return had already caused a storm in the city. ”
Murong Ji heard this, thought for a moment, and then let out a cold snort: "Well, it's better to be alive." He paused, "These days, the wallflowers in the city are all saying something about Sun Yat-sen's death." If Yixie is dead, can I, Murong Ji, be so tyrannical in Hangzhou?" At this point, his expression and tone became ferocious, "I, Mr. Bahben, will immediately let them understand that even if the man named Sun is alive, he is not me. Murong Ji's opponent."
As soon as he said this, he heard the cry of "Bao"
After that, a servant rushed over and presented something. "Young Master, just now the servant of the Sun Mansion sent an invitation to the Young Master for his review."
"Yes." Hearing this, Murong Ji and Liu Ming looked at each other and exchanged glances.
Two seconds later, Liu Ming took a step forward, took the invitation, waved his hand and sent the servant away.
Immediately afterwards, Liu Ming opened the invitation and looked at it, but Murong Ji just stood next to Liu Ming with his hands behind his back, looking into the distance and saying, "What did you say?"
List Well, Murong Ji's behavior was not because he was illiterate. It was just his habit as a young master from a wealthy family. In ancient times, letters that were not very personal, such as invitations, were opened by retainers and presented in front of them. It is a common process to read it once in front of the owner and then hand it over to the owner for reading.
One advantage of doing this is that if there is a hidden weapon or poison hidden in the envelope, the person who opened the letter will be the first to be hit. < /p>
"What's the matter?" When Murong Ji saw Mr. Liu's strange reaction, he stopped putting on airs and moved closer to him, tilting his head to look at the letter.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t look at it, he will be stupid when you look at it.
This is what the invitation from Sun Yixie said
Qing Ai’s Murong Ji
Hello, how is your health lately
Although we have never met, I have mentioned your name many times.
We may reply by mistake, so don’t panic.
On the evening of the first lunar month, I am the host in the West Lake lounge.Let’s have a fish head feast, and we’ll eat and talk.
If you are a brother, you will come to eat fish
I won’t say anything.
Sincerely yours
Respectfully
Sun Yixie
Zuo, in the 20th year of Yongtai, at the beginning of the fifth lunar month.
Murong Ji and Liu Ming stared at the letter for a long time. They roughly understood the meaning, but they were puzzled as to why the letter was written like this.
First of all, they have never seen this format before saying "Qing Ai's" at the beginning. From a certain point of view, it is a "straight shot" and the final salute is also inexplicable.
I won’t talk about typos or anything like that
The wording and sentence making are also weird. < /p>
But Brother Sun had a different idea. He felt that writing by hand was more "sincere", so he specially found Mr. When applying it there, considering that there was no correction fluid in those days, sometimes his hands were faster than Mr. Xue’s mouth, and in the end this invitation ended up like this.
When Sun Yixie had just finished writing the invitation this morning, Xue Tui's blood pressure was high. He held his head and said that his head injury was not healed, so he quickly went back to his room and lay down.
Brother Sun didn’t care, so he really dared to pack this thing up and send it out.
So, Murong Ji and Liu Ming saw the above content
"Hmm" After a moment, Murong Ji put aside the writing problem of the letter and tasted the invitation. After realizing the purpose, he said to Liu Ming, "This clearly shows that the person who came to the Hongmen Banquet is not good."
Liu Ming nodded slightly, looked up at Murong Ji, and carefully reminded, "Master, let's It’s the one who comes.”