Chapter 24: Zhou Fuguan

Stealing a child into someone else's house without saying a word could never be a good thing.

Meng Shuangjiang was already anxious and worried, and soaked by the rain, his brain was dizzy. Now, although his face was pale, he felt as if he had been ignited inside and wanted to rush up to question him.

However, as soon as he made a move, his shoulder was grabbed by Chu Tianshu, his feet almost slightly off the ground, and his body suddenly moved backward.

Behind him, Zhong Jinqiu raised one hand, pressed it on his back, and stabilized his figure.

Tap!!

Chu Tianshu pulled Meng Shuangjiang behind him with one hand, but he himself took a step forward, stepping into the stagnant water inside the threshold.

"It's a miserable wind and rain outside. What business does Brother Zhou have coming to the door at this time?"

"I was bored and wanted to find Brother Chu to go out and enjoy the rain scenery, but I didn't expect to hear that the Meng family's child was missing."

Zhou Fuguan's stone-like expression suddenly became vivid, and he sighed long and short.

"Sigh, I didn't expect... he actually... this is really..."

Chu Tianshu looked surprised: "I thought Old Master Xu found Meng Xiao Bao cute and invited him to be a guest, but now looking at Brother Zhou's appearance, is there some other hidden secret?"

Shopkeeper Ma also laughed: "Zhou Fuguan, you might as well make it clear."

Zhou Fuguan's expression was difficult, and he suddenly gritted his teeth, as if he had made a great determination.

"Fine! Although family shame should not be publicized, the Old Master is indeed too much."

Zhou Fuguan said, "The Old Master is only our Colonel's foster father. Originally, of course, he didn't have the surname Xu, but Chen, and was often called Chen Jin Gong by people at the time."

"When I and the Colonel were constables in the capital, he was a eunuch in the city with quite a bit of power. He promoted the two of us, so the Colonel adopted him as a foster father, serving him with pure filial piety."

"After the Emperor abdicated, we brought the Old Master to Yizhou to enjoy his life. Who knew that the old gentleman had started practicing evil arts, wanting to eat children to prolong his life..."

When Meng Shuangjiang heard this, he hiccuped in his throat, his eyes rolled back, and he almost passed out.

Zhong Jinqiu hurriedly exerted force with his palm to help him smooth his breath.

"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious."

Zhou Fuguan said, "These evil arts all have requirements for the sun and time. At least it will be a few days before he starts eating."

He sighed loudly.

"The Colonel and I have repeatedly tried to persuade him, but the Old Master seems to have stopped, but I didn't expect him to still act like this in secret. If the Colonel knows, he will definitely destroy his relatives for the sake of righteousness..."

Chu Tianshu raised his eyelids: "That's good."

"But the Colonel is purely filial, he can't bring himself to do it!"

Zhou Fuguan's tiger eyes were filled with tears, and he added, "The Old Master has some kindness to us after all, and even I can't bear to do it myself. My heart is truly suffering."

Chu Tianshu pursed his lips and smiled.

"Does Brother Zhou mean that although you can't bear to do it yourself, if there are any passing heroes and righteous men who eradicate this old eunuch, you will just go with the flow and say he died of illness, right?"

Zhong Jinqiu snorted: "What a coincidence. An old eunuch came to this town, and there happen to be a few practitioners in town who have some connection with the Meng family. No other family's children are missing, but the Meng family's..."

Zhou Fuguan said righteously: "Perhaps it is really Heaven's will, letting the Old Master run into a few of you."

Chu Tianshu said warmly: "Since Heaven is so beautiful, then when those few heroes and righteous men wiped out the bandits, they must have also obtained a batch of elite firearms from the bandits, right?"

Zhou Fuguan's eyes tightened, he hesitated for a moment, and laughed: "Brother, you are joking. What good guns could the bandits have? Even Heaven can't make that up."

Shopkeeper Ma spoke up: "If the bandits don't have good guns, the old eunuch shouldn't have many elite soldiers either, right? Zhou Fuguan, shouldn't you and your men return to the city?"

Zhou Fuguan was straightforward this time: "I originally had this intention. Today I will resign from Eunuch Chen and return to the city."

Shopkeeper Ma nodded: "Wait until you are sure that everyone is far enough away, and heroes will naturally emerge. But having said that, what kind of experts are around this eunuch, and what evil arts do they practice? Do you have a name?"

"Yes."

Zhou Fuguan nodded, "The evil art he practices is called, Five Demon..."

The yellow paper umbrella was held outside the restaurant for two quarters of an hour, and from beginning to end, it never entered the door.

The rain didn't stop either.

Watching the figure turn and the umbrella go far away.

Chu Tianshu's smile remained unchanged, and his knuckles cracked: "The three of us working together are enough to hack him to death, right? Then let the old eunuch die suddenly, and Xu Tuanzhang die of illness. That sounds very pleasant."

Zhong Jinqiu shook his head: "If he is determined to run, it's hard to say. And that Xu fellow is not so easy to deal with."

Chu Tianshu glanced at the token.

Fine, the group of people who hacked the old eunuch to death is certainly not enough to complete the luck bar.

Hacking continuously is too reckless, and the success rate is not enough, so be patient.

It just so happens that there will be some days in between to plan. When the Xu fellow is really attacked, it will be even harder to clarify which enemy path did it.

Shopkeeper Ma took out a small locust wood bottle and a bright purple paper crane from his side.

It was raining outside, so ordinary paper cranes and sparrows couldn't be used, but precisely because it was raining, the yang energy was weak, and the sparrow spirits were more hidden.

Shopkeeper Ma chanted a spell, pressed the paper crane in his palm, and when he opened his hand again, the paper crane was gone.

Only a wisp of smoke drifted out of the door, watching Zhou Fuguan's movements from afar.

The rain was misty, and the water vapor was pervasive. The smoke drifted in it, and no one could see it.

"Two old foxes, one wolf cub. To have three such characters in such a town is really not easy..."

Zhou Fuguan calculated as he walked, "Fortunately, fortunately it is me, I can handle it."

Xu Tuanzhang's residence was in the southwest corner of the town. It didn't take him long to walk back there.

Vermilion gate, bronze-carved beast-biting door knockers on the door, five steps in front of the door, and two stone lions crouching on the left and right.

The sound of a dan role hanging their voice came from inside the door.

There were also two guards hiding from the rain and on duty under the eaves. Seeing Zhou Fuguan coming, they immediately opened the gate.

Zhou Fuguan entered the gate and bypassed the screen wall, seeing the blue and white ceramic lotus leaf vat in the large courtyard, which was catching rainwater.

Liu Si Niang was pacing in the corridor, not wearing makeup, looking quite clear and beautiful, her fingers like orchids, practicing her voice.

"Zhou Fuguan is back?"

Liu Si Niang looked over, "The Old Master was just saying he wanted to find you. Everything else is ready, except for one thing that hasn't been delivered yet. You must be diligent."

Adjutant Zhou laughed: "I was just about to mention this. You all should not be careless either. When the auspicious day comes, what you are going to perform is not the usual Five Sages play, but the Five Children play. There must not be the slightest mistake, or it will ruin the Old Master's great event."

Theater has always had the meaning of inviting gods for entertainment and rewarding gods.

Therefore, for major events in villages and towns, city festivals, shop openings, etc., those with experience love to invite people to perform plays, hoping for good luck and the protection of gods.

But plays are divided into righteous and evil. Righteous plays are based on persuading goodness, worshiping the Great Emperor Five Sages Huaguang as the founding master, emphasizing benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and trust, and only then can wealth flow in.

Evil plays worship the Five Children gods, who do not distinguish between good and evil, only looking at whether they can please the Five Children. There is no lack of evil arts such as human sacrifice and blood sacrifice mixed in.

It is too difficult to get the Great Emperor Five Sages to manifest, and worshiping only the Five Children is easy to suffer from it because of its fickle temper.

Therefore, there gradually emerged a dharma lineage that mixed "Five Sages" and "Five Children," and also added side-door magic.

Finally, they were collectively called "Five Demon Arts."

The others in the theater troupe were all gathered in the front hall looking through the scripts.

The big drum master who managed all the musicians, bald and thick-bearded, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, tapped his fingers on the table, surrounded by a large group of people.

"Old Xu, Old Zhou, you are busy, but we were trained by the Old Master in the capital since we were young. We were one of the troupes prepared to perform for the Old Buddha to prolong her life."

The big drum master said, "Whether it's Five Sages or Five Children, we have practiced this all our lives. How could there be any mistakes?"

Zhou Fuguan said sternly: "Good swimmers drown in water. Your carelessness is very worrying. Remember, put all your heart into the play. If there is any mistake, and the Old Master's work falls short, the Colonel and I will never let you off!"

The big drum master snorted coldly and ignored him.

Chen Banzhu walked out and led Zhou Fuguan through the backyard where the stage had been set up, toward the back hall.

As soon as Zhou Fuguan reached the door, he took two or three quick steps, knelt on one knee, and smiled, cupping his hands: "Greetings to the Old Master."

There were no kerosene lamps in the back hall, but there were dozens of red candles lit on the pillars and tables, which made it quite bright.

The old eunuch Chen sat in the main seat, six feet tall, wearing a brocade robe, but he was as thin as a dead tree. There was no braid on the back of his head, and a small tuft of white hair was draped down.

Especially on his face, it was covered with fine blue veins, densest around the eye sockets, making the whites of his eyes turbid and the pupils blue-black.

When others met his gaze, their hearts felt inexplicably flustered.

"Get up, we see each other every day, why the formalities?"

The old eunuch's voice was dry and hoarse, and he laughed, "Our family has so many children, but your etiquette is the most refined. Unlike your Colonel, who always rushes in, bows if he remembers, and forgets if he doesn't, and sometimes even grabs our soup to drink."

Zhou Fuguan stood up and said: "The Colonel really treats you as his own father!"

"Our family understands."

The old eunuch sighed, "I've seen enough of the storms of this life. I just want to be considerate of the children and want to stay for a few more years to do some things for your Colonel."

"Si Niang's Five Children play has been practiced for a long time, and those boys with the right birth dates have already been collected, and they have been transported here one after another these past few days."

The old eunuch's long, thin fingers pointed to the screen beside him.

"Even this jade coffin, added with the corpse energy of dozens of vicious bandits, can be considered to have made up the last part and is thoroughly nurtured."

Vaguely, one could see the green jade coffin behind the screen, placed on four long benches.

On the jade coffin, a statue of the Great Emperor Five Sages Huaguang was also placed.

The day they arrived in town, when the grand play was performed in the west of the city, they secretly sent people to bury this jade coffin in the place where the bandits died.

After seven days, they dug up the jade coffin again.

The two grand plays performed for the townspeople also made the statue's righteous energy stronger, pressing on the jade coffin, mutually restraining each other.

On the day of the official ritual, the Five Children play starts, the immovable Huaguang statue shatters, the corpse energy is stimulated, and it will appear even purer.

But the coffin is for the old eunuch to lie in, and it is still missing a small golden tripod used for blood sacrifice to those children.

Zhou Fuguan naturally understood and said: "The Colonel has long been collecting gold everywhere, and even hired grave robbers to dig graves everywhere, taking the gold from the graves to remelt. It should be finished in these two days. I will return to the city to see tomorrow."

The old eunuch lowered his fingers, and the servant beside him brought tea, bringing it to his mouth.

After taking a sip, he spat out the tea leaves and said: "Let you worry."

"Gold becomes a tripod, and it is still gold after one use, with no loss."

Zhou Fuguan laughed, "But the Old Master successfully prolonging his life is equivalent to keeping a great master by our side. According to the Colonel, this is a big bargain."

The old eunuch smiled and nodded.

Zhou Fuguan retreated and returned to his residence.

Sleeping until midnight, he suddenly got up and quietly pushed open the door.

The sound of rain outside had stopped, and everything was silent. The two guards on duty outside the door were his trusted aides.

"Did you put the Meng family child in?"

The guard nodded: "Fed him sleeping pills, changed his clothes, and stuffed him into those iron cages for children. He won't be noticed."

Another guard whispered: "Zhou Fuguan, why be so troublesome? You had to kidnap a child yourself, and then let us insert him. Anyway, this child is just a trigger. Kidnap him, kill him, and throw him away, that would be it."

"Hmph! The people in the restaurant know magic. They will likely know the child's life or death. Doing it that way will only cause trouble."

Zhou Fuguan scolded in a low voice and looked in the direction of the back hall.

A group of children for a master, it was originally very cost-effective, but Xu Tuanzhang didn't want a wild father anymore.

Besides, when he adopted him as a foster father back then, the old thing secretly set up evil arts. Does he really think others don't know?

Tomorrow, it won't be the Colonel doing it himself, and it's a city and a town away. Let's see what you can do.

The trusted aide reminded him: "If the three in the restaurant don't die after winning..."

Zhou Fuguan didn't need him to finish, and he narrowed his eyes: "You kid, you are too bad."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 25 =====