It Was You

Anger and curses mingled with the sound of the wind.

strangeness.

Shouldn't it be the coquettish laughter of a beautiful woman? Why is it the mocking laughter of grown men?

Liang Qu fell into deep thought.

Ran Zhongshi boarded the Painted Boat first, followed closely by Liang Qu, who had come to his senses.

The rower tied up the small boat, jumped onto the deck, and pulled the rope to retrieve it.

Ran Zhongshi made a gesture, and the man turned and went into the cabin.

Liang Qu is very sensitive to the flow of water.

The Painted Boat is moving.

"Let's go, we should be the only ones left."

Liang Qu nodded and followed Ran Zhongshi up to the second floor. As soon as they opened the door, a cacophony of noise rushed in like a tidal wave.

The floor is covered with the unique peak pattern of nanmu, and several large urns are placed randomly on the ground. The thin tire is covered with a layer of red glaze, mixed with light blue gradient patterns. Only the word "wine" is written on the neck of the urn, which is rich in color.

There wasn't a single maidservant in the entire hall; there were thirteen people in total, the only woman being Ran Zhongshi's younger sister, Ran Ying.

Everyone was sitting haphazardly, rocking in armchairs, lying on Arhat Bed, and there were low tables everywhere, filled with all kinds of fruits. Plum Blossom Censer were emitting Sandalwood Smoke, and a few people were gathered in a corner playing Diao Pai.

It's very cool.

My first impression of Liang Qu.

It was midday, and the weather was quite sweltering, but it was surprisingly cool inside.

It doesn't seem like Ice Chamber; Ice Chamber don't have this effect, and I didn't see Ice Chamber indoors.

"Zhong Shi! Why are you only arriving now!"

"Didn't I say I'd bring a newcomer?"

Ran Zhongshi stepped aside, making way for Liang Qu behind him.

Xiang Fangsu was lying on the armchair, sat up. "Oh, the one who took down the Whale Gang?"

"Otherwise, what else could I have done? Would I have brought other people with me?"

Liang Qu stepped forward and bowed. "My lords..."

Before he could finish speaking, Xiang Fangsu interrupted him, "Kid, how old are you this year?"

"Almost seventeen."

Xiang Fangsu looked at the white-robed young man flipping through a book in another corner. "Yin Bin, how old are you this year?"

Bai Yinbin put down his book. "Twenty-six."

"Ha! Yin Bin, you're not the youngest anymore!"

"See that kid? The youngest of us is twenty-six, so you have to call all of us 'brother'!"

Ran Zhongshi nodded in agreement.

"No need to be formal. Once you're here, you're one of us. Just call them whatever you would call me or Big Brother Xu. Let me introduce you. This is Xiang Fangsu, the third young Xiang Fangsu of the Marquis of Marquis of Ji'an."

"Brother Xiang."

"Bai Yinbin is the eldest grandson of the Marquis of Changxing. His father is the Vice Minister of War of the current dynasty."

"Brother Bai."

"Lu Kaiyun".

Ren Yipeng.

"The one you know, my sister, Ran Ying."

"Sister Ran."

A whole bunch of big shots.

I remember several of Liang Qu; we had met before in Feng Bu County.

Ran Zhongshi patted Liang Qu on the shoulder.

"Brother Liang Qu, the ninth disciple of Big Brother Xu and Uncle Yang, a genius who defeated the Galloping Horse Extreme Realm at the age of sixteen, you all knew that before."

After saying that, Ran Zhongshi found a stool and pressed Liang Qu down.

Xiang Fangsu added, "Zhong Shi is right. It's everyone's idea to have you come. Don't be shy. We haven't hired any maids or servants here."

Make yourself at home. Dinner won't be ready for a while. If you get hungry, help yourself to whatever you want. Try these Lychee, and these ' Glutinous Rice ' lychees delivered from Lingnan this morning—the freshest batch in May.

Xiang Fangsu placed a plate of Lychee in front of Liang Qu, their round, red shells glistening with water droplets.

"Thank you, Brother Xiang."

After exchanging pleasantries, Liang Qu sat down next to Ran Zhongshi.

Everyone was very enthusiastic, but I still felt more comfortable with familiar faces.

Ran Zhongshi looked around. "Where's Big Brother Xu? I didn't see him when we came up."

"Look, it's right over there." Xiang Fangsu pointed out the window. "He's fishing. He said he got some special bait from One Fish Gang and has been using it to bait the area."

"It's so hot outside, aren't you afraid of getting sunburned?"

Liang Qu didn't listen. Seeing a teacup on the low table, he poured himself a glass of water.

It has a slightly sweet taste, and it's not tea; it tastes more like juice extracted from some kind of fruit.

[Marsh Essence +0.9]

?

Liang Qu swished his teacup around, looked it over from top to bottom, and then took a few more sips.

[Marsh Essence +0.9]

[Marsh Essence +1.1]

Is the plant used for juicing a certain Treasure Plant?

Liang Qu silently poured himself another cup and observed the conversation among the crowd.

He was the youngest and, being new to the place, didn't know much, so he listened more and spoke less.

As I listened, I gradually understood the nature of the gathering.

"We were supposed to be able to condense the Third Bridge this month, but we received a mission and it didn't happen."

"I told you you meant this month last time, but you kept denying it!"

"This time, Dried Fish Gang made us look good. Last time I saw Ao Weijun's face across the street, it was so dark, haha!"

"The Fish Gang is a one-off business; once it's done, it's over. If we split it equally, each of us will only get one Great Merit. Speaking of which, I have to thank Brother Liang. My mother sent me a few Ice Platform yesterday; I'll send one to Brother Liang another day."

Liang Qu didn't know what Ice Platform was, but still thanked him.

"The credit still goes to the Ghost Mother Sect, but unfortunately the members of the Ghost Mother Sect have become very secretive and are not as easy to find as they were at the beginning."

"I found an River Island a couple of days ago. It looks like there are people on it, but I didn't dare to go up and explore it by myself. Is anyone willing to come with me?"

"Me? I happen to be free for the next couple of days."

"Count me in."

"By the way, I heard that someone in Jiangling County was targeted by the Ghost Mother Sect for revenge?"

"Revenge, really?"

"We need to draft a task and send someone over to check out the situation."

It really was an exchange meeting...

Everyone encouraged each other, exchanged ideas, and shared their experiences.

In particular, how to thoroughly defeat Wei Lin's faction and search for traces of the Ghost Mother Sect.

Damn, so everyone's so curly-haired, huh? Liang Qu originally thought it was a celebration for the second and third generations, but when he arrived, he found it was actually Struggle Assembly? After a while, he declined the invitation to play cards and sneaked out to get some fresh air.

Xu Yuelong turned his head. "What's wrong? Not used to it in there?"

A little.

"It's okay, it's the first time. It'll be fine after you come a couple more times."

Xu Yuelong reached into the wooden bucket beside him, grabbed a yellow ball, and threw it into the river.

Liang Qu stared at the wooden bucket, asking curiously.

"Big Brother Xu, where did you get this bait?"

"Oh, this? I got it from a fisherman. I heard it's incredibly effective. With this bait, they catch four or five times more fish every day than other fishermen!"

Bait, fishermen, four or five times the catch...

A strange sense of déjà vu washed over Liang Qu. His family kept a large vat at home, and Uncle Chen would come over every day to scoop out a bucketful to take away. They would replenish it whenever it was empty.

Etc!

Liang Qu suddenly remembered that a few days ago Uncle Chen came to his door and asked him if he could sell him some bait that a rich man wanted to buy.

He didn't think much of it at the time and let Uncle Chen handle it himself.

It's just yellow mud anyway, so it's no big deal if someone takes it. They've been ripped off once, so they naturally won't come back.

The result was unexpected.

The rich man came almost every day, which meant he had to replenish the yellow mud every few days, and he made a lot of money.

Thinking about it now...

Liang Qu's expression turned serious.

"Big Brother Xu, do you really think this bait will work?"

Yes, of course.

Xu Yuelong made a solemn vow.

"I've been catching one or two fish a day on average these past two days! It's all thanks to this bait!"