Chapter 273: White Snake

"But I have to say goodbye to Master first." Li Piaoqing said, pointing her finger at her chin, "See how things are on his side."

In a small wine shop that opened very early in the southeast of the city, Li Piaoqing held her sword and swayed.

As soon as Li Wei walked in, he looked her up and down and hummed a laugh.

"... What are you laughing at?"

"Laughing at someone whose spring heart has been satisfied, whose face is full of spring light." Li Wei threw his sword on the table, sat down, picked up a cup of clear wine, and said leisurely, "Like a flower."

"... Humph." Li Piaoqing retracted her swaying body, "I came to tell you another piece of good news."

"Oh? Is there anything more beautiful than this?"

"Oh my!" Li Piaoqing stared, "Are you going to listen to the new good news or not? If you don't listen, I'm leaving."

The old man smiled: "Look, you're in a hurry again. I said at the time, you must not have found the right way, you rushed too hard, and good things turned into bad things. Tell me, how did it work out later?"

"I won't tell!"

Li Wei sighed lightly, suddenly lifted his Qi, raised his hand, and sang with his fingers: "After all, men are fickle, the two words that mislead people are fame and fortune; sweet words are true and pleasant to hear... who knows they are all fake feelings—"

"Li Wei!"

The old man laughed out loud.

However, the girl was dazed for a moment, reacting to the old man's worry. She leaned her body and gently rested her forehead on the old man's thin shoulder, relying on him: "You don't have to worry, my new good news is this."

"Hmm?"

"Ming Ming Jianzhu Ming said I can enter the Sword Academy of the Divine Capital and wrote a recommendation letter for me."

"..."

"This way he has his fame and fortune, and I also have my future, and we are walking on the same path."

"..." Li Wei's worry indeed faded, and he revealed a sincere surprise, but then he frowned and deliberately sighed, "Poor me, an old bone, but there is no intimate person by my side at the end of my life..."

"... Master!" This was the place where the girl couldn't joke the most. Her eyes turned red, and she hugged the old man deeply from the side.

Li Wei quickly patted her hand: "Just joking, just joking. Knowing that you have a future in the Divine Capital makes me happier than being by the side of an old man like me."

Li Piaoqing couldn't turn her emotions around for a while and still buried her head in his neck.

"Is there anything else? I'm a bit derelict in my duty." Li Wei changed the subject and smiled.

"... Can you handle it here?"

"What's there to handle? I think it's just changing places to drink and sleep." Li Wei laughed, "What about you?"

"Ming Ming Jianzhu Ming and... Seeing Pei Ye are going to Xiangzhou, I want to follow them for a trip."

"Go ahead." Li Wei blinked, "They are both excellent people, it's very good to walk more with them."

"... I'm worried that Cuiyu is busy."

"Oh?" Li Wei was dazed, "Has Miss Li managed the sect affairs in the past few days?"

"... Master!"

"Hahaha." The old man patted her and smiled, "Go quickly, if you want to toil for Cuiyu, there will be times when you get tired of it in the future!"

——

Leaving the south gate of Bowang City, what came into view was no longer mountain paths, but a vast expanse, with the wide Lu River surging in the distance.

Seeing Pei Ye led a tall, dark, high-spirited horse, carrying a sword box and a long sword on his back, looking up at the sky.

The direction to Xiangzhou and Kongdong was roughly the same, but Seeing Pei Ye rode his horse on the official road, while Ming Qitian took a straight line in the air. Seeing Pei Ye hadn't experienced that kind of flying across the clouds like a bright feather. At this moment, he watched Li Piaoqing rise into the sky with excitement and amazement.

The girl didn't forget to wave at him: "See—you—later!"

Seeing Pei Ye watched them leave quietly, lowered his head, and held the black cat in front of his eyes: "Skinny cat, when can you take me flying again?"

The black cat stretched out its claws and patted his face.

Seeing Pei Ye sighed lightly, flipped onto the horse, and felt that except for the horse becoming a bit better and the sword becoming a bit better, he seemed to be no different from when he first left Fenghuai. It was another horse and a cat, a book, a sword, and a lonely body.

Yang Yan actually wanted to come with him, but Seeing Pei Ye chose to only bring "Snow Collapse".

"You should handle your Tianshan affairs." Seeing Pei Ye said, "I'm going to investigate a case, not to fight. Why are you adding to the chaos?"

"... Why can't I investigate a case?"

"You can, you investigate Bowang's. When I come back, we'll open your jade pendant."

"Okay."

Seeing Pei Ye recalled this conversation, riding the horse with one hand and stroking the black cat with the other.

"I have to start teaching you how to use 【Chi Fire】." Amidst the flying forest shadows, the Immortal Hunter under his hand suddenly said.

————————

Bowang Prefecture City is to the south, while Xiangzhou Prefecture City is to the north. With good horses and straight roads, Seeing Pei Ye only used half a day and a night to arrive at this great city, which was even more magnificent and vast than Bowang.

In fact, all the way south from Fenghuai, it gradually moved from towering mountains and great rivers to plains and fertile fields. The Xincang Mountain range still stretched over, but it was just a distant, tall, black shadow on the plain, no longer able to bury the city.

Of course, continuing south would not be a flat ten thousand miles. The entire Shaolong was actually mountainous and watery, but except for "Great Kongdong," most of the remaining mountains could be exhausted by human power.

When Seeing Pei Ye passed the first county town in Xiangzhou, he found that it looked more prosperous than Zheng Shou, which he had passed on the road. Arriving at the prefecture city at this moment and looking at it, it was truly a place where pavilions and towers were lined up, a whole level more prosperous than Bowang.

However, Seeing Pei Ye was no longer the youth who didn't know where to look when he first entered the city. With things on his mind, he looked into the distance and judged that there seemed to be fewer towers in the west, so he headed straight there.

It was called the west of the city, but with the size of Xiangzhou City, Seeing Pei Ye only reached a small corner in the northwest. A city river surrounded this place, and seven streets and nine roads intersected into hundreds of towers of various sizes, almost like a small city. By the river in the distance, four ships were docked there, and laborers were going up and down, as if the shouting of work songs could be heard from afar.

Lively, chaotic, prosperous. Seeing Pei Ye walked into this area and first found an inn with a reasonable price.

When he first entered Bowang, he looked at the Zhuoyue Tower with greed but was troubled by his empty pockets. At this moment, with a hundred taels on him, he could go anywhere in Xiangzhou, but Seeing Pei Ye felt it was meaningless alone, so he was used to picking cheaper places to stay.

Handing the horse to the waiter, Seeing Pei Ye walked into the dim hall. The shopkeeper, who was lowering his head to calculate accounts by the window light at the counter, seemed to be exactly the same as the last one.

"Shopkeeper, staying at the inn!"

Seeing Pei Ye walked to the counter, and the middle-aged man with a pockmarked face looked up and glanced at him: "Name?"

Seeing Pei Ye placed a dark gold-like copper plate on the counter and pushed it toward him.

The shopkeeper was suddenly startled, and the pockmarks on his face seemed to stand up. He stared at it for a long time before raising his head: "Pei... Young Hero Pei, which room are you staying in?"

"A 'Di' character room." Seeing Pei Ye smiled. The usefulness of this thing exceeded his expectations.

"Waiter—escort the distinguished guest to his room!"

"No rush." Seeing Pei Ye took the room plate and took back his hero plate, "Asking you about something, shopkeeper, where is the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce?"

The shopkeeper was dazed: "Which Qiyun Chamber of Commerce is the guest asking about?"

"... Are there many Qiyun Chambers of Commerce?"

The shopkeeper laughed: "Qiyun is a large chamber of commerce in our Xiangzhou. If the young hero wants to buy things, there are twenty-one 'Qiyun Towers' in the city. The nearest one is to go south out of the door, and the first five-story building looking east is it. If you want to talk business, you have to go east, go to the territory of the dignitaries, and look for that 'Bixiao Pavilion'. And if you want to entrust your body to seek a living..."

He lowered his head and glanced at the place where Seeing Pei Ye had just placed his hero plate: "Then the young hero doesn't need to move his feet. The 'Seven-Meng Jiucheng' under your feet, with a radius of one mile, a hundred households, and a thousand doors, all live by relying on the brand of 'Qiyun'!"

Seeing Pei Ye walked out of the inn and looked at this so-called "Seven-Meng Jiucheng."

It was indeed as the shopkeeper said. Because goods from all directions of Qiyun were gathered and circulated here, accountants, strongmen, merchants, peddlers, etc., gathered here. With men, there were women, making cakes, washing clothes, weaving cloth... and some businesses that couldn't be seen but couldn't be missing. With work, there was a place to settle down, and with families settling down, there had to be shops to provide for living... This place became lively like this.

Dignitaries would not come to such a place, and scholars with some status were also hard to see. This was a place for the lower class of commoners to sell their strength and make a living. It was in such vigorous sweat that gangs were born.

In Bowang, Zhang Dingyun's tone seemed to be able to compete with the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce, but Dingyun didn't have such momentum in Bowang.

Seeing Pei Ye thought, to ask about Xi Wantian's matter thirty years ago, it should be best to go to that so-called "Bixiao Pavilion," but what business could he talk about with people?

The plate with the copper sparrow wanting to fly could be used as an entrance ticket to the "upper society," but unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to be at ease in it.

If Li Piaoqing were here now, it would be great.

Seeing Pei Ye sighed secretly, but suddenly tilted his head and heard a burst of enthusiastic whistling and applause from the building next to him.

Then singing and playing came out, and the young student at the door shouted loudly: "Water sleeves, iron gongs, bright silver voices, two copper coins to listen for a while! Miss Yi Chengxin's 'White Snake Love' only has thirteen empty seats left—"

When Seeing Pei Ye passed by, he just took two glances inside, and was grabbed by the sharp-eyed student: "Little brother, what's the rush! Looking at you dusty, why not sit down and rest, listen to a play and drink a pot of tea first?"

Seeing Pei Ye didn't pull away and just smiled: "Isn't there only thirteen seats left? I won't take up your business."

"Eh—there is a seat for you inside." The student shouted, then whispered, "I'll tell you, this is the favorite student of our Great Qingyi Sun... today it's uncertain if it's the last time on stage."

Seeing Pei Ye waved his hand, but instead took the initiative to hold his wrist: "Little brother, I have urgent business for now, I'll support you another day—I'll ask you, this 'Seven-Meng Jiucheng' is said to be Qiyun's territory, but I don't know who is in charge?"

The student's eyes widened, but he was silent, and that enthusiasm disappeared completely.

After a long while, he said somewhat sullenly: "Two miles of Seven-Meng Jiucheng, handle things in the north and find Lingzi Guanshi Changsun, find Young Master Xu the Second in the south, and look at the face of Gang Leader Di in the east... These are the three leaders, and they all look at the tone of 'Dragon Pillar' Master Kou. Little brother, handle whatever big things you have, find whoever you need."

Seeing Pei Ye nodded and remembered: "Thank you, I'm new here, but I don't know if you can point out a place to go."

"Lingzi Guanshi Changsun is usually at the pier; to find Master Kou, go straight forward, the most majestic and best-looking building is it; as for Young Master Xu and Gang Leader Di..." The student looked at him sullenly and pointed inside, "They are currently in our courtyard."

"..." Seeing Pei Ye reached out and took out three copper coins: "Two coins for the play, one coin for the information."

The student's eyes suddenly lit up: "Guest, please come in quickly!"

He shouted inside: "One new guest! Add tea—"

Once inside, he found that it was much more spacious than he had imagined.

Looking from the outside, Seeing Pei Ye already knew it wasn't high, only two floors, but after entering, he was surprised by its width. Tables, chairs, tea, and some cheap snacks were all available. Two or three hundred people were sitting loosely—to be honest, the play fee of two copper coins wasn't people crowding and sitting on the ground. Seeing Pei Ye was really worried about the level of the actors.

Those listening to the play were all people working around, in gray-brown hemp clothes, with more women and old people than men, and many brought half-grown children under their knees. And looking up, the large second floor only had two people sitting.

Wide tables and large chairs, sitting side by side, with more than ten strong men standing behind them. Because of these people, the voices below were suppressed by a layer.

The two in front of the table, one dressed in brocade, with a thin and long figure, his features were handsome, but he was so thin that his cheekbones protruded, and his whole face tended to be fierce. Coupled with a thin scar from his cheek to his chin, he was dressed as a romantic young master, but his temperament was like a prison executioner, and a pair of slender and sharp hands were holding a long fan and shaking it gently.

The other person was in his thirties, his attitude was not prominent, and he leaned silently on the seat, his figure hidden in a cloak, and a pitch-black knife hilt was exposed from the cloak opening, pressed gently by three fingers.

Both of them were watching the stage quietly, but they didn't seem to be listening to the play, but waiting for something.

Seeing Pei Ye found a seat and sat down, looking up at the second floor, knowing that these were the two people the student mentioned. To walk this path of the rivers and lakes and trace back to the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce, one could start from these two people.

But Seeing Pei Ye didn't rush forward.

He was new here after all, and he was alone this time. Things were covered in fog. If he asked the wrong question, it would be hard to avoid startling the snake. It was like opening a piece of jade; it was better to be slower, more detailed, and take a few more detours than to take the wrong step.

He was thinking just like this, but suddenly heard a clear and spiritual female voice beside him say seriously: "News here is mixed and broad, often missing important points, so you start from here; I will go to Bixiao Pavilion and ask their shopkeeper and proprietor. In this way, you and I are inside and outside, up and down, moving and quiet, and with communication and support, we can force the matter to the surface."

Seeing Pei Ye twisted his neck and was already stunned.

The girl in green with a single sword, her shirt outlining a soft and good figure, tilted her head and smiled: "I just want to talk to Ming Ming Jianzhu Ming a few more words, how can I rest assured to let you handle such a dangerous thing alone."

"..."

Li Piaoqing stepped forward with soft boots and sat upright beside him.

"... Why, don't sit, aren't you going to Bixiao Pavilion?"

"Listen to the play for a while, we haven't listened to a play together." Li Piaoqing put her hands on her knees and looked at the stage, interrupting Seeing Pei Ye's wide-eyed look, "She sings so amazingly."

Seeing Pei Ye was dazed for a moment, then looked at the stage seriously for the first time.

Just like the stone brick floor and neat tables and chairs below, the decoration of this stage was also exquisite and unique, all according to the standards of the play gardens in the east, although the materials were inevitably cheap, they tried their best to make up for it with human effort, without the slightest perfunctory.

A young female role who was too young was dancing with sleeves on the stage. Her makeup was light, her appearance was beautiful, her voice was as clear as water, and a long breath flowed seven or eight times, still surprisingly stable.

Seeing Pei Ye listened to very few plays, and indeed had never heard such a voice.

She neither looked at the audience below nor cared about the leaders on the second floor. A clear and transparent voice came out, and in this noisy and clamorous crowd, it actually seemed a bit cold: "The Immortal Palace clouds are cold, no need to say, born with immortal grass planted on life..."

Li Piaoqing listened quietly for a while and tilted her head to ask a play guest: "This big brother, this play is so fresh, I don't know what it is singing?"

She was born beautiful and was kind and polite, so people were willing to tell her, but they started with a sigh.

"This 'White Snake Love' is really only available in our Seven-Nine Theater, and until now, only Miss Yi Chengxin sings it well. It's a pity she is going to marry far away. It tells that under the seat of the gods, there was a white snake tending to immortal grass, who turned into a woman and fell in love with a painter in the human world, but because of the difference between human and immortal, they were separated by life and death. It is truly moving and sorrowful, even an iron heart would be tearful."

Li Wei's singing lyrics were a selection from "Spring Boudoir Dream."

Thanks to Boss Xiu Ji for rewarding three alliance leaders again! Thanks to Boss Zui_Weng for rewarding an alliance leader! Thanks to Boss Chun Feng Bu Zhi Yi~ for rewarding an alliance leader!

Then thanks to the hardworking operations officer, who organized an alliance activity for a month, which will probably last until after the New Year. The meaning is to raise stars for the characters. Bosses who become alliance leaders can get some gift peripheral rebates, etc. For details, you can move to the book friend circle or book friend group.

So for the alliance leader bosses who go through this activity, I won't add more chapters (still owe thirty-three).

Of course, if the boss doesn't want to go through the activity, I will continue to keep accounts.

Finally, thanks to everyone for your support! Remind everyone to consume rationally!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 274 =====