Chapter 1 Storytelling in the Tea House

In a tea house west of Nanan County, a storyteller was recounting the story of the First Prince's expedition to the Cheng Kingdom.

The storyteller was over fifty years old, with a bald head and a short stature. His head was like a large cartwheel, and he kept a close-cropped haircut.

Beside him stood a plump apprentice a head taller than him.

The storyteller's surname was Guo, with a single name of Dao (knife), but this was not his real name. People in this line of work rarely revealed their true identities.

Mr. Guo used to enjoy telling stories about the petty squabbles and romantic affairs of wealthy families—which daughter had an affair with which poor scholar, which wife secretly met with the Wang carpenter next door at night, and so on.

Later, he was ambushed one night and beaten with a sap. His head was broken and bleeding, and he almost died. After that, he dared not tell those stories anymore.

As the Yan Kingdom's foreign wars continued to rise, Mr. Guo began to tell the magnificent war stories that the Yan people loved to hear. This revitalized his career, and several tea houses wanted to pay him handsomely to hire him. His value was very high.

The story he was telling now was about the First Prince leading his army into the Cheng Kingdom. It was very timely and attracted many listeners. However, the story was a mixture of truth and falsehood, and no one knew how much of it was real or fake.

Even the great officials in the imperial court had to wait a long time for the urgent reports from eight hundred *li* away to arrive.

Over there, the First Prince had just entered the Cheng Kingdom.

Here, in Mr. Guo's story, the First Prince had already taken the lead and personally killed several barbarian captains.

The apprentice beside him was simple and honest. He had just been brought on stage and was only responsible for providing commentary, without saying anything extra. However, every time he spoke, it seemed as if he was asking the questions that the audience below wanted to ask.

With the questions and answers, the story was truly wonderful and flavorful.

The listeners did not bother to verify whether the story was true or false, nor did they think about how the storyteller could know the situation at the front lines earlier than the military intelligence.

The Yan people had been intoxicated by one victory after another in the past two years. Anyway, their side had won, so they were happy no matter how much you exaggerated.

Yan Xiaoliu, the new head constable of Nanan County who had been in office for less than two months, was also leaning against the tea house door, listening to Mr. Guo's story with a smile.

When this Constable Yan first took office, many people in the yamen (government office) saw that he was young and secretly spread rumors that he was the little brother-in-law of one of the county magistrate's concubines. They guessed that he was just another good-for-nothing who had risen through connections.

The yamen was a deep pool, and sometimes the county magistrate could sideline you if he wanted to. Therefore, the people below did not take him seriously at first.

But who knew that Constable Yan would bring his constables into line within seven days, looking every bit like the boss. From the county magistrate, county secretary, and registrar at the top, to the runners and officials of various departments at the bottom, he had smoothed things over with everyone.

He was not arrogant and knew how to conduct himself with courtesy, yet he made sure that no one dared to underestimate him. In a yamen, if everyone above and below was polite to you, it would be difficult not to live a comfortable life.

Nanan County was located in Tiancheng Prefecture, not very close to the capital, but definitely not far away. It could not be considered under the emperor's feet, but one could vaguely smell the emperor's aura.

In addition, His Majesty had repeatedly launched major wars in the past two years, making prisoners extremely scarce. Anyone who committed a crime, from the notorious Jiangyang bandits to those who stole an egg from their neighbor's house, was sent to the front lines.

If you said it was a severe punishment, it was hard to argue, because no matter what the conflict was, as long as the outside world kept winning battles, it was not considered a conflict. The public security was indeed something that made people feel "like a spring breeze."

Therefore, Constable Yan usually had nothing to do. According to the established practice, he collected protection money on the streets, led a group of brothers around, and lived a leisurely life.

When the tea house owner saw Constable Yan arrive, he immediately came over to invite him to the upper seat on the second floor. However, Constable Yan refused, saying that he was on official duty and it was inconvenient to go in. He did not hesitate to grab a handful of melon seeds from the waiter's pocket, and listened while cracking them open.

The owner brought over a small stool with a cup of tea on it, bowing his waist.

"Please, use it."

"Hehe."

Constable Yan was not a stingy person. He took out two pieces of silver from his pocket, one for the tea and one as a reward for Mr. Guo.

It was the protection money he had just collected from the rouge shop in front, and it still had the fragrance of powder on it.

"You're generous."

The owner did not decline. Drinking tea at the tea house and rewarding the performers was a very honorable thing. If you refused, it would be disrespecting him.

Over there, Mr. Guo received the reward and bowed to Constable Yan at the door with a smile, leading his apprentice. The two of them said in unison:

"Thank you for the reward, sir!"

After thanking him,

Mr. Guo asked his apprentice:

"Where were we just now?"

"We were talking about the Cheng Emperor entrusting the orphan to the First Prince before his death."

"That's right, the Cheng Emperor Situ Lei knew that his life was coming to an end, so he ordered his prime minister Sun Youdao to invite our First Prince to the army.

The First Prince wore golden armor and a red cloak, followed by Generals Li Bao and Li Fusheng and thousands of armored soldiers into the Cheng Imperial Palace. Good heavens, had the Situ family ever seen such a mighty army? Had they ever seen such a majestic imperial prince?

Those princesses and concubines, looking at our First Prince, were drooling all over the place!"

Alright,

Mr. Guo had just received a reward,

And had gotten a little carried away.

As he spoke of iron horses and golden spears, he actually went back to the old routine of talking about romance and affairs.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really?"

Some listeners raised objections.

So you, Mr. Guo, are like a spittoon, used to catch saliva, so you were there on the spot and saw it with your own eyes?

Mr. Guo immediately said seriously:

"Let me tell you all, the Situ family's emperor has always been in poor health. He returned from Xuehai Pass with injuries, so those concubines in the harem have long been thirsty. Who will share that pool of spring water?"

"Hahahaha!!!!!!"

"Good!!!!!"

"Reward!!!!!"

"Long live the First Prince!"

"Glorious, my Great Yan prince!"

Street storytelling, without a little vulgarity, without a little exaggeration, how can you create this atmosphere? Without this atmosphere, how can you get people to reward you?

This kind of business is aimed at the working class. Forcibly twisting it into highbrow art would lose its true meaning and seem out of place.

Everyone is happy, the audience is happy, and the patrons are happy, so it's all good!

"Hehehehe."

Constable Yan listened and laughed in a low voice.

To be honest,

He was really looking forward to the next plot twist, where his elder brother and the Cheng Kingdom's harem concubines would have a story to tell.

However, at this moment, a constable came over and said:

"Boss, something happened at the yamen."

"What's wrong?"

"Someone's dead."

As soon as Constable Yan heard this, he immediately stuffed the remaining melon seeds in his hand to a man next to him who was also listening by the doorframe.

Then, he and his subordinate hurried to the yamen.

Someone had indeed died at the yamen. When Constable Yan arrived in the hall, he saw a man in black sitting on the ground, holding a roasted chicken in his left hand and a pot of wine in his right, eating and drinking with gusto.

The county magistrate was sitting in the hall, and the runners and constables who had arrived surrounded the man, but no one dared to step forward.

Oh, right, there was a corpse lying on the floor. Constable Yan knew this person—Monkey San'er, who ran a gambling den and lent money at usurious rates in the back street.

At this moment, Monkey San'er was already dead as a doornail.

"What's going on?" Constable Yan asked a constable.

"Boss, you're here. It's a rare sight today. Originally, this man owed Monkey San'er money and refused to pay, so Monkey San'er dragged him here to report to the authorities. Our magistrate was just about to start the trial when who knew that this man would suddenly take out a piece of iron from his pocket and smash Monkey San'er to death.

Killing someone in court was one thing, but this man even sat down and started eating and drinking. He didn't run away or escape, just said he would wait until he finished this meal and then go to the iron clamps to be exiled to the army."

"Did he bring his own wine and meat?"

"Yes, those people over there gave it to him. They're his brothers, quite a few of them."

Constable Yan looked over and realized that among the people gathered at the entrance of the county yamen to watch the commotion, there was a group of young and strong men who were kneeling there at this moment.

"Tsk tsk."

Constable Yan pushed through the crowd and took the initiative to walk up to the man, squatted down, and said:

"Brother, is there enough wine?"

The man raised his head, looked at Constable Yan, and smiled, saying:

"Enough, I can't walk straight if I get drunk. It's a long way from here to the Cheng Kingdom."

Constable Yan sat down cross-legged, pointed to Monkey San'er, who was already dead, and said:

"A grudge?"

"I just got back from a delivery and learned that one of my brother's mothers was tricked by this Monkey San'er. Her house and land were bought for a hundred *wen*. The old woman came to her senses and cried that she had no way to appeal, so she threw herself into a well and died.

My brother died early. When he first started out, he often ate the old woman's steamed buns. This time, when I came back and heard about this, well, a life for a life. I killed Monkey San'er to avenge my brother and his mother in the afterlife. Later, I can go to the front lines to be a convict soldier and fight with the barbarians or the Qiang dogs."

Monkey San'er had a very bad reputation. He did unscrupulous business, and many people were ruined by him. However, Monkey San'er's backer was the chief secretary, so no one dared to touch him.

Now that Monkey San'er was dead, it could be considered "eliminating harm for the people."

Constable Yan recalled what his brother named Zheng had said. He said that the jianghu (martial world) was clearly not something that could be brought to the table, but it could still make many people yearn for it, because some people in the jianghu would sometimes do things that "beasts in clothes" would not do.

Constable Yan had been in Nanan County for some time and knew some of Monkey San'er's misdeeds, but he had not been in a hurry to deal with him because he had not yet settled his relationship with the chief secretary.

Of course, the main reason was that no matter how bad Monkey San'er was, he would not use tricks on Constable Yan, which was the fundamental reason why it was not urgent.

"Brother, leave a name?"

"Hehe, I'll have to sign and put my seal on it later anyway. Forget it, since you want to ask, I'll tell you. I'm Ran Min from Nanan.

People call me, Ran Big Beard."

"But where's the beard?"

"I shaved it off in advance so I wouldn't have to take care of it and get lice on the way to exile."

As he spoke,

Ran Min faced the group of kneeling guys outside the county yamen,

And said:

"Don't all look so sad, we're enlisting together. You're enlisting as laborers and miscellaneous soldiers, and I'm starting as a convict. As long as there's a war, it won't be long before I can rise again. When the time comes, I'll still lead you to kill the bandits!"

Then,

Ran Min turned to look at the county magistrate in the high hall and said:

"I'm sorry, Lord Magistrate, I'm disrespecting you by killing someone in court.

But the lord should also come down and have a drink with me. This matter will eventually be spread and become a good story. Hahahaha, I'm giving you this East Wind, Lord Magistrate. If you don't take advantage of it, then I've wasted my good intentions!"

The county magistrate was still sitting there, not coming down, his face twitching, obviously angry.

Constable Yan saw this and felt a little helpless. No wonder this county magistrate was being sidelined by the chief secretary and county secretary. He didn't even have this bit of courage, and he didn't want the good reputation that was sent right to his doorstep.

If that guy named Zheng were here,

He would have run down and offered three cups of wine first,

Then tearfully recited the criminal code in a loud voice, and then covered his face and cried with the child, insisting on completely solidifying this reputation before stopping.

Ran Min shook his head,

And looked at Constable Yan, who was sitting in front of him,

And said with emotion:

"It's a pity. Although our Emperor doesn't prohibit lower officials from becoming officials, it's too difficult for a constable like you to climb up. You're not an official, so there's no use in having an official reputation.

But this jianghu nickname, brother, do you want it?"

"I want it."

Constable Yan accepted everything, he wanted everything.

Ran Min first took the wine pot, took a big gulp,

And then handed the wine pot to Constable Yan,

Shouting:

"Brother, let's go!"

Constable Yan didn't mind and took a big gulp of wine from the spout of the wine pot.

Ran Min laughed loudly,

And shouted to the outside:

"May I ask, brother, what is your honorable name?"

Constable Yan pretended to be a little drunk,

And shouted loudly:

"I am Yan Xiaoliu from Nanan!"

"Good, I can still recognize a brother before I'm exiled, which is also a great joy. Wait, when I accumulate military merits in the army and kill my way to a name, a commandant won't do, I must at least be a garrison commander, or get promoted to a military advisor.

Hahahaha,

When the war is over, if I have the chance to come back, you will work for me in the future. My Great Yan sons, what are you doing as constables? Killing dogs on the battlefield, that's the real pleasure!

Little Six, brother, wait, I'll protect you in the future!"

Taking killing on the battlefield and risking his life to earn military merits as if it were as easy as reaching into a bag to grab something, these words were too arrogant, but the jianghu water was shallow, but it could often breed dragons and snakes. What would happen in the future was still unknown.

Constable Yan heard this and said with a smile:

"It's a coincidence, one of my brothers said this a long time ago, also before joining the army."

"Haha, he was bragging, I'm different!"

Constable Yan raised his head and let out a long sigh,

And said with emotion:

"Don't mention it, I really miss my brother, it's been almost a year."

"Died in battle?"

"............" Yan Xiaoliu.

Ran Min saw that Constable Yan did not speak,

And showed a serious expression, saying:

"He's a good man. Since he died for my Great Yan, he deserves respect. Come, Brother Yan, let's drink this cup of wine to honor your deceased brother!"

"Hehehehe." Yan Xiaoliu laughed, laughing until his stomach hurt, but he still nodded, reached out and held the same wine pot with Ran Min,

Spout facing down,

The wine was spilled on the ground.

"May you rest in peace, brother, and go on your way in peace!"

.........

"Ah嚏!" (achoo!)

General Zheng, who had just been helped by Si Niang to sit on the edge of the bed to drink chicken soup, sneezed loudly, almost spilling the chicken soup in his hand.

"Heh, who's thinking of me?"