The 46th Bureau of Chaos

  On the north bank of the Luo River, a long dike, Zhang's soy milk stall opened on time as usual.

  Tofu Western Zhang stood in front of the stall as usual, holding a tofu soup ladle and busy scooping tofu for customers.

  Perhaps due to a night of no sleep, her complexion was somewhat haggard, but it did not affect her beautiful image in the eyes of many young gentlemen.

  Zhen Mingku and that young man looked at each other from a distance, the young man's eyes revealed an infatuated expression, sighing: "My Zhang sister is always so beautiful, just like a narcissus flower, really want to spend my whole life looking at her... Hey, where are you going? Don't think about taking credit with Zhang sister!"

  He didn't bother to argue with him and walked straight to the tofu stall.

  "Two bowls of soy milk."

  Zhang was busy with his head down, hearing the familiar voice, he looked up and glanced at Zhen Mingshu, scooped two bowls of soy milk, and handed them to him and the young man.

  The young man remained true to his nature and took advantage of the opportunity to touch her small hand. Looking at Zhang's flustered expression as she quickly withdrew her hand, he couldn't help but laugh with great amusement.

  Zhen Ming couldn't help but reach out and pat him on the back of the head.

  The young man was suddenly slapped by him, almost spilling the soy milk in his hand. He turned around and glared at Zhen Mingshu furiously: "What's wrong with hitting me!"

  "Give money, want to eat for free?"

  Zhang's face couldn't help but curve into a smile as she covered her mouth, instantly attracting the attention of numerous young men who stared at her in admiration.

  The young man was taken aback for a moment and said disdainfully: "Money? I never carry money when I go out!"

  "I really wonder how you can still be intact after getting into so much trouble." Zhen Ming sighed helplessly, took out a few pieces of silver from his pocket and handed them over.

  Zhang's face turned red, and she said in a low voice: "I don't want your money."

  Zhen Ming was taken aback by the words, turned his head and glanced at the banyan tree not far from the tofu stall, only to see that the rocking chair was empty, and Old Man Song had not arrived.

  He smiled and thanked, put away the silver coins, walked to the river embankment, sat far away, savoring the delicious Zhang's soy milk while admiring the beautiful scenery on both sides of the Luo River.

  Yesterday, I dug a pond all day and didn't rest all night to save Zhang's family. The cool river breeze blew on my face, after drinking soy milk, a strong sleepiness came, so I lay down on the river dike, closed my eyes, and fell asleep...

  ……

  When he woke up, the sky was already dark, a crescent moon of wheat yellow rose from the shore of the Luo River, and more than half of the stalls by the Luo River had been closed. The young man had also disappeared without knowing where to go.

  Zhen Ming got up from his bitter seat and went to Zhang's tofu stall, where he took a look. The tofu stall had not yet closed, but there were no more customers. That slender figure was still busy, packing things up.

  Under the moonlight, her slender figure looked so lonely.

  She watched her finish cleaning up, then stood up and walked home.

  It was around eight o'clock in the evening when I got home.

  He sat on the threshold of his own home, leading a donkey, Zhang finally walked up slowly from behind, looking somewhat flustered, occasionally glancing around as if searching for something.

  It wasn't until she saw Zhen Mingzhuo sitting at the entrance of a residential courtyard by the side of the road that she finally let out a breath of relief and quickly walked past him.

  Looking at her figure, he said softly: "It's too late to go home alone in the future. This is where I live, not far from you. If anything happens, just call out. Oh, by the way, my name is Zhen Mingsu."

  Zhang paused for a moment without speaking and continued walking forward. At the front gate of the courtyard, Old Man Song was standing at the entrance looking out towards the road.

  Zhen Ming escorted her to the entrance of her home, where a loud and irate voice came from inside: "Where have you been?! You're back so late, are you trying to starve me on purpose?! Hurry up and cook dinner for me, I still need to go win back the money I lost last night! How much did we make in business today? First give me two taels of silver..."

  Zhang said something in a low voice.

  Old Song interrupted her impatiently: "Let you take it, just take it. When I win the money, won't everything be mine?"

  Zhang's voice gradually faded away, and Old Man Song got his stake as he had wished.

  Zhen Ming bitterly sat on the threshold, silently staring at the door of Zhang's residence, until Zhang came out from the yard with two wooden buckets, he then stood up and entered the house.

  ……

  A thunderous roar came from the big house by the lake: "Tie up this good-for-nothing scoundrel for me, I must whip him until his skin splits open today!"

  The master of the Pei mansion, Pei Qiantong, was furious and stormed into the main hall. There, a fat, naked man lay on the floor, snoring loudly and muttering in his sleep: "My beauty, let me pamper you well, don't run away, I won't eat you..."

  In the hall, a dozen or so fully armored warriors stood upright, majestic and solemn. The pretty maids behind Pei Qian's back all had strange expressions, wanting to laugh but not daring to, clearly finding it extremely hard to hold back.

  "Second Master, Second Master..."

  A burly man with a rough appearance was kneeling on the ground, gently pushing the prostrate Pei Er Ye, his expression flustered.

  "Stupid leopard, tie him up for me! Then tie yourself up too!"

  "Help, boss, it's none of my business, I've been at the dock for days, I don't know anything!" Dumb Leopard hurriedly defended himself, all these years he had endured countless lashes from Pei Er Ye for this.

  "Cut the crap, if you're going to tie me up then just do it."

  The silly leopard cried with a sad face, tied the sleeping Pei Er Ye to the pillar in the hall like a dead pig, and then tied himself up tightly.

  Before long, a leopard's roar and Lord Pei's painful yet pleasurable moans echoed from the hall.

  "Beauty, give me some strength, come on, towards Grandpa's direction," Pei Er Ye made a hip-swiveling motion, "Ah... this is just right... I like your bold and daring style..."

  The warriors and maids in the hall could no longer hold back, bursting into a thunderous laughter.

  ……

  Into the night.

  There are few pedestrians on Luoyang Street.

  Two figures, drenched and covered in mud, cautiously emerged from a small alleyway, looked around to make sure no one was watching, then quickly slipped into a large mansion.

  The two of them rushed into the house, dashed into the main room, slammed the door shut with a bang, and panted heavily.

  "Brother, we barely escaped with our lives this time. We absolutely can't stay in Luoyang anymore. Hurry up and pack your things, let's flee!"

  "It's all thanks to heaven that we were washed up on the shore from the river bottom, or else we would have died unjustly. It's all because of that damned Péi Qián, he's such a scoundrel! He said that even if that woman suddenly disappeared, no one would ask questions, but who knew she had such a powerful backing."

  "Are you saying they might be people from the Sealing Sect?"

  "It's probably them. In Luoyang City, there's only one person who dares to look down on our leader Pei Qian and likes to collect beautiful women everywhere - that is the master of Fengfu, Feng Lun."

  "I heard he's a ruthless and cruel person, who got to where he is today by stepping on other people's corpses. Pei Qian collided with his woman, I'm afraid we'll be used as scapegoats. Let's hurry up and run before the people from Feng Fu discover that we're still alive."

  The two men, now pale with fear, each returned to their rooms to pack their bags and prepare to flee the city that night. But just as they reached the door, they were knocked unconscious by two blows from a club.

  ;