Liu Bei time-travels to become the Heavenly King Chao Gai

Chapter 27 "My dear Xi'er, you are truly my lucky star!"

Song Jiang returned to Wulong Temple.

The courtyard was quiet, with only one lamp lit in the west wing.

He walked to the door, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open to go inside.

Yan Poxi was sitting at the table, playing with a copper coin in her hand. She didn't even look up when she heard the door open.

"Where's the gold?"

Song Jiang placed the black cloth wrapped in his arms heavily on the table.

The package was opened, revealing five gleaming gold bars inside.

Under the lights, the gold gleamed.

Yan Poxi's eyes lit up instantly.

She grabbed the gold bars, examined them closely under the light, and then bit them one by one with her teeth.

"The quality is quite good."

She raised her head and looked at Song Jiang, a smile finally appearing on her face, but that smile was full of smugness and contempt.

"Why is it only half?"

Song Jiang pulled out a chair and sat down at the table, his voice hoarse.

"One hundred taels of gold, not one hundred strings of copper coins. Do you think it's like a pebble on the roadside, something you can just pick up and leave?"

He poured himself a cup of cold tea and drank it all in one gulp.

"I have mortgaged the land deeds at home and borrowed some money from a few familiar acquaintances, and that's how I managed to scrape together fifty taels."

Yan Poxi pursed her lips.

"That's your problem. I only want one hundred taels, not a penny less."

Song Jiang put down his teacup.

"For the rest, I need to go out of the city to Dongping Prefecture to find a wealthy merchant friend to help me out."

"It will take you three days at the fastest, and five days at the slowest, to collect it all."

Yan Poxi weighed the gold bar in her hand, pondering in her mind.

Fifty taels of gold was a fortune she had never seen in her life.

I doubt Song Jiang can pull any tricks.

"it is good."

She carefully wrapped the gold bars in a handkerchief and tucked them under her pillow.

"I will wait for you for three days. If I do not see the remaining gold before sunset three days later, then we will meet in Master Shi's hall."

She stood up, walked to Song Jiang's side, and reached out to brush the dust off his shoulders in an intimate gesture.

"Be careful on the road, don't be late."

Looking at her, Song Jiang suddenly felt that this woman was terrifyingly unfamiliar.

He stood up.

"I'll set off now."

"Aren't you going to stay and get something to eat?"

"No."

Song Jiang didn't say another word, turned around and walked out of the room.

He didn't turn around.

Behind her, Yan Poxi hummed a little tune, "Mountain Slope Sheep," a song she used to sing in the entertainment district.

Song Jiang walked through the courtyard, opened the gate, and stepped into the deserted street.

Wu Yong had already rented a courtyard here, just behind Wulong Courtyard, across a narrow alley.

From an old locust tree in the courtyard, you can clearly see the back gate of Wulong Courtyard.

Song Jiang knocked on the courtyard gate.

The door opened quickly, and it was Sun Sheng who opened it.

"The bailiff is here."

Song Jiang walked in. Several men were standing in the courtyard. They were all unfamiliar faces, but each one was shrewd and capable, with wary eyes.

Liu Bei, Wu Yong, and Lei Heng were sitting in the main room drinking tea.

"My dear brother has arrived." Liu Bei put down his teacup.

Lei Heng stood up: "Brother Song Jiang, what did that woman say?"

Song Jiang walked to the table and sat down, then recounted what had just happened.

"She accepted the gold and told me to gather the rest within three days."

Wu Yong stood to the side, fanning himself with a fan.

"The fish has taken the bait."

Sun Sheng walked in and bowed to Liu Bei.

"Brother, everything is arranged. I've placed eight brothers around Wulong Temple, divided into four shifts, to keep watch day and night. Even a fly that flies in won't escape their eyes."

Liu Bei nodded.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Sun Sheng continued, "Just now, as soon as Clerk Song left, I saw Yan Poxi's mother, that old woman Yan, sneaking out of the door and heading towards Zhang Wenyuan's house in the east of the city."

Lei Heng slammed his hand on the table.

"Good heavens! It's gone to deliver a message!"

Wu Yong laughed and said, "No rush. Let her go and report. How can the fish have the energy to struggle if they're not well-fed?"

As the group was talking, one of the rascals who was keeping watch nimbly jumped down from the wall and ran quickly to the door of the main room.

"Brother Sheng!"

Sun Sheng turned around: "What is it?"

The scoundrel lowered his voice, his face beaming with excitement.

"Zhang Wenyuan is here!"

"He didn't go through the main entrance; he slipped in through a side door in the back alley!"

The main room fell silent instantly.

Liu Bei picked up his teacup and blew on the floating leaves on the water.

"To catch a thief, you must catch him red-handed; to catch an adulterer, you must catch them in the

"Now, all we need to do is wait."

……

Wulong Temple, West Wing.

Yan Poxi sat in front of the dressing table and laid out the five gold bars in a row.

Under the lamplight, the bright yellow light made it hard for her to open her eyes.

She stretched out her fingers and stroked them one by one, as if she were caressing her lover's skin.

"My darling..."

She picked one up and rubbed it against her cheek; the cool touch sent a surge of heat through her heart.

One hundred taels of gold.

With this money, she would never have to put up with that Black Third Brother's attitude again.

She could go to Bianliang (Kaifeng), the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, buy a large house with a garden, and hire a dozen or so maids to serve her.

She wanted to wear the most luxurious clothes and the most precious jewelry.

As for Song Jiang...

A cold smile curled at the corner of Yan Poxi's mouth.

Once she got the remaining fifty taels of gold, she and Zhang Sanlang eloped.

She would never return that letter to Song Jiang.

That was her talisman, her support for the rest of her life.

"Knock knock".

There was a gentle knock on the back window twice.

Yan Poxi was overjoyed and quickly got up, went over and opened the window.

A handsome, pale face peeked in.

"My darling, I've missed you so much."

Zhang Wenyuan nimbly climbed into the house and immediately pulled Yan Poxi into his arms.

Yan Poxi half-heartedly resisted, then playfully scolded, "You heartless man, why did you take so long to come?"

Zhang Wenyuan kissed her on the cheek, and his hands began to wander.

"Your mother just came to deliver the news, so I rushed over immediately. Has that Black Third Brother left?"

Yan Poxi broke free from his embrace, pulled him to the table, and pointed at the gold bars as if presenting them as a treasure.

"Look."

Zhang Wenyuan's eyes widened instantly.

"This...this was all given to me by him?"

"Of course." Yan Poxi raised her chin triumphantly. "I only scared him a little, and he obediently took out fifty taels of gold."

He also said that the remaining fifty taels had been raised outside the city and would be delivered within three days.

Zhang Wenyuan picked up a gold bar, weighed it in his hand, and his face was filled with ecstatic joy.

"Good! Good! My dear Xi'er, you are truly my lucky star!"

He held Yan Poxi and spun her around the room a few times.

"Once we get the rest of the money, we'll go to Tokyo! I'll use it to buy an official position, and then you'll be an official's wife!"

Yan Poxi was overjoyed to hear this, wrapped her arms around his neck, and laughed heartily.

"I don't want to be an official's wife, I just want you to be with me every day."

"Definitely, definitely."

Zhang Wenyuan picked her up by the waist and carried her to the bedside.

"A moment of spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold; we can't waste it."

Yan Poxi was thrown onto the bed by him, and symbolically punched him a few times.

"You're so impatient."

Zhang Wenyuan quickly took off his coat and pounced on him.

The red gauze curtain slowly descended.

Inside the tent, the sounds of men and women flirting and heavy breathing soon filled the air.

"Sanlang, what do you think... about that letter? What should we do with it?" Yan Poxi's voice carried a hint of languid charm.

Zhang Wenyuan pressed down on her, kissing her neck as he mumbled something.

"Of course we'll keep it. As long as we have this, Song Jiang will be our cash cow for life."

"You're so naughty..."

"I have even worse ones..."

The commotion inside the tent grew louder and louder.

Just as the two were getting into the swing of things and becoming completely infatuated,

"Bang!"

A loud bang.

The door was kicked open, and the entire door panel, along with the frame, collapsed inward with a crash.

Wood chips flew everywhere.

Several men carrying torches and fire sticks rushed in like wolves.

The leader, with a purplish-black face and a burly build, was none other than Lei Heng, the cavalry captain.