A traitor

On the banks of the Yizhou River, at Fengling Ferry, Yu Huaizhong specially arranged boats. The boats were slender, like reed leaves in autumn, and couldn't carry many people at all.

Therefore, Su Qinglang and the three of them, together with those generals in charge of escort, called a total of six or seven boats and headed towards the opposite bank of the river.

At this time, the mist in the morning has not yet dissipated, covering the river like a milky white gauze, the current is fast, and because of the dark stones, several eddies have been created in the middle of the river, and the boat walks against the wind, swaying, several times Su Qinglang felt as if he was about to be overturned, he sat leaning against the middle of the boat, and clasped his fingers tightly on the board, for fear of accidentally falling off.

The boatman who was waving the oars looked calm, after all, he was used to this kind of thing, and he was still singing folk songs in a rather rhythmic manner.

He shook his head for a while, then turned his head and said to Mei Liusheng in the boat: "My lord, it's really hard to go against the wind. You are strong and strong. I wonder if you can help me?"

Mei Liusheng wanted to refuse at first, but seeing that this man was nearly seventy years old and thin as a bamboo pole, he wanted to take the three of them with him in the headwind, and look at the other boats, those soldiers also stood up to help the boatman row. Look at them, apart from him, the other two pair of scholars were powerless, helpless, and didn't say anything, so they had to stand up and help him row the boat.

Thinking of Mei Liusheng's injury, Su Qinglang wanted to stop him, but when he looked up, he saw Sun Zizhong's face was pale. After thinking about it for a while, he quickly turned around and lay down on the side of the boat, vomiting into the river.

For a moment, the smell of wine filled the surroundings with a sour smell, Su Qinglang frowned, quickly covered his mouth and nose, and almost spat it out himself.

He crawled over, squatted beside Sun Zizhong, patted his back lightly and said, "Zizhong, can you do it?"

Sun Zizhong's face turned blue and there was no response. After a while, he vomited again. Su Qinglang had no choice but to touch the water bag next to him, handed it to him and said, "Rinse your mouth first, and when we get to the shore, we'll look for it." You can live here, but you can’t travel any longer.”

Sun Tzuzhong lay on the ground for a while, then took the water bag, spit out the contents of his stomach, and rinsed his mouth again, then felt much better, and lay down sickly, as if he had collapsed.

Mei Liusheng, who was rowing at the side, glanced at Sun Zizhong, a little worried: "Brother Sun, is everything okay?"

Su Qinglang reached out and touched Sun Zizhong's forehead, and frowned: "I have a fever, I have to find a doctor to take a look."

After a pause, he sighed again: "If I knew it earlier, I wouldn't be in a hurry to leave. It's all my fault. I'm too careless!"

Seeing that he was blaming himself, Mei Liusheng comforted him: "When we land on the shore, we can find a place to live and we'll be fine. Don't worry, take care of Brother Sun."

Su Qinglang hummed, sat down next to Sun Zizhong, carefully fed him some water, took out a handkerchief from his bosom, washed it with river water, wiped his grandson's face, thought for a while, and turned over again. Unpacking his own baggage, he took a robe and wrapped it around Sun Zizhong's body.

After walking for a long time, he suddenly asked Mei Liusheng, "Brother Mei, what do you think is swimming in the water?"

Mei Liusheng said angrily, "Of course fish swim in the water, otherwise what else could there be?"

"But..." Su Qinglang pointed to a few black shadows in the distance and said, "Look, what is that in front of you?"

As soon as the words fell, they heard distant cries for help, and when they walked up to them, they realized that those black shadows were people, and they were also their acquaintances.

The soldiers on the other boats stretched out their hands to rescue the people around them. Su Qinglang stood up from the boat, looked down at Wen Shiliang in the water and said, "Master Wen, with your itinerary, I thought you would have already returned. Now, it seems... tsk tsk, sending a tortoise from Chang'an to crawl back to Xuan Kingdom is not as slow as you."

Wen Shiliang is over 50 years old. After all, he is an old man, and he is not as young as them.

Moreover, after swimming in the water for a long time, his physical strength has long been exhausted. Now that Su Qinglang made fun of him, he gritted his teeth angrily, took a mouthful of river water, and almost sank with a plop.

With Su Qinglang's petite temperament, it is obviously impossible for him to reach out and pull Wen Shiliang up.

And Mei Liusheng was also worried, with his small body, if Wen Shiliang didn't pull him up, he would fall headlong into the river.

So, he let go of the oar in his hand, walked over and pulled Wen Shiliang into the boat, and saw Su Qinglang gleefully watching with folded arms, and sneered at the side: "Why, Mr. Wen did this, but your emperor of Xuanguo saved money. Too much, so that you don't even have the trouble to go back, and you still feel that the weather is hot, so you take your subordinates and go down to the river to cool off?"

Wen Shiliang was so angry that he rolled his eyes, and because he choked on the water just now, he almost couldn't breathe, and coughed a few times heavily.

He was in a mess, like a drowned chicken, shivering from the cold on the boat, and couldn't even speak.

Seeing this, Mei Liusheng was reluctant, but considering that if he died here, Xuanhui would inevitably have some excuses, so he took out one of his outer robes and handed it to Wen Shiliang.

Out of instinct to survive, Wen Shiliang pulled the clothes over and wrapped them around himself as soon as he saw the clothes. After a while, he recovered, raised his head reluctantly, looked at Mei Liusheng and said, "Thank you, Mr. Mei, for saving your life. ..."

Mei Liusheng smiled slightly, like a warm spring breeze, and replied: "It's nothing to worry about, but Mr. Wen, how could he end up here?"

Wen Shiliang hesitated for a while, but after looking at Mei Liusheng for a moment, he felt that this person was gentle and approachable, many times more pure and kind than Su Qinglang, so he told him what happened to him.

After leaving Chang'an, Mrs. Wen was extremely unlucky. This kind of unlucky luck was like stepping on dog poop when going out, slipping and breaking his head.

Originally, he was going back in a carriage, but as he was walking, a pair of wheels of the carriage suddenly fell off, causing him to be pulled by the horse and almost rushed off the cliff and fell to his death. He had no choice but to switch to a horse.

Unexpectedly, when they were eating in the restaurant, their horses were tied outside, and someone let them go, and their wallets and documents were stolen.

Without a purse, at most there is no food to eat, but without paperwork, I can't even prove my identity. When I asked the local officials for help, I was thrown into prison as a liar.

Coming out of the prison, he rode a donkey and drove an ox cart all the way, and finally arrived in Yizhou. Sensing that someone was targeting him along the way, Wen Shiliang proposed to take a detour by boat and return to Xuanguo by a small path.

But I never expected that just after the fire pit over there, this side got into the wolf's den again. The people who rowed the boats were a gang of robbers. They carried them to the middle of the river and held up a big knife to say that they would rob them. They saw that they had nothing of value on them. things, and threw them down one by one.Just like that, Mr. Wen took his subordinates and swam dryly for half a day.

Hearing Wen Shiliang finished speaking, Su Qinglang couldn't help bursting out laughing. Seeing this, Wen Shiliang immediately looked at him and snorted coldly, "Master Su, the law and order in your country is so chaotic. Jiang killed himself, not here to make fun of us."

Su Qinglang was very innocent, spread his hands and said: "However, our journey has been uneventful, and we have never encountered such a thing as Mr. Wen?"

He said, paused, looked Wen Shiliang a few more times, and said pointedly: "Even your country's carriage would rather destroy its two wheels than carry you. Mr. Wen never thought about it, yes Your own reasons?"

He sat cross-legged on the boat, and without waiting for Wen Shiliang to answer, he said again: "I see, it must be Mrs. Wen sitting in the carriage, because the carriage is worn out and old, and it is uncomfortable to sit in. When riding, I dislike our Nantang horses. It's not as good as your Xuanguo, so the horse got angry and didn't want to drive you away by yourself.

By the way, when Mr. Wen was on the boat just now, did you blame the rough wind and waves on the river? Our Southern Tang boat was small and crowded, so people didn't like it, so they pretended to be robbers and threw you off? "

Wen Shiliang was so angry that his eyes turned black, he pointed at him, his hands trembled for a while, and he gritted his teeth, "It's nonsense!"

He wrapped his clothes around his body, if he hadn't finished like this, he would have rushed to scold Su Qinglang a long time ago.

Angrily said: "Xuan Guo's envoys came to your Southern Tang and received such treatment. If our king knows, he will definitely not let it go!"

Hearing this, Su Qinglang raised his eyebrows, and said with a smile: "Okay, it's best to explain everything clearly, so that your monarch knows how capable Mr. Wen is. If you are sent to the Southern Tang Dynasty, you can learn from the Western Paradise After going through ninety-nine and eighty-one hardships, riding a donkey and riding an ox cart all the way, I finally returned to Xuanguo."

He paused, and then said: "It's best for you Xuanguo capable people to compose operas, and sing them on the streets of your imperial city three times in the morning, noon and evening, so that the folks in the village can enjoy themselves."

When Wen Shiliang heard the words, he was so choked that he couldn't speak. Although he was angry, Su Qinglang told the truth.

After returning to Xuanguo this time, let alone sue their emperor, in order not to make himself a laughing stock, I am afraid that he will find a way to hide this matter.

I heard Su Qinglang say again: "Master Wen, there is a saying that even though you don't like it, I still want to say it. Ten years ago, you came to Xuanguo as an envoy. Ten years later, it will be you again Doing this kind of errands, how the monarch of Xuanguo treats you, Mr. Wen, you should think about it yourself."

Wen Shiliang looked unhappy, and snorted coldly: "The emperor is wise and mighty, and treats me well, Mr. Su, you don't need to remind me of such things."

Su Qinglang raised his eyebrows, and said meaningfully: "Is that really the case..."

He snorted and laughed a few times, sat cross-legged, waved his folding fan leisurely, and looked at the scenery elsewhere.

Mei Liusheng sat on the side, thinking of the order he had given, originally he just wanted to teach Wen Shiliang a lesson, but he didn't expect that the people under him would be so "responsible" and hurt him so badly.

He clenched his fist and coughed lightly, and said, "Master Wen, it happens that our trip is going to a border town. If you don't mind, come with us."

Wen Shiliang naturally couldn't ask for it, so he was very grateful, and he cupped his hands and said: "Thank you, Mr. Mei."

Seeing his miserable appearance just after he got out of the refugee pile, Mei Liusheng turned his eyes to other places, and said displeasedly: "Everyone should get to know each other for a while, it should be, Mr. Wen, you don't have to be polite."