In the pavilion, three men sat lazily, each leaning against a railing, a wine jar beside them, chatting idly and occasionally taking a sip of wine. They looked quite content. I recognized two of them; they were the second and fifth brothers of the Ruan family. I asked Zhu Gui, "Who's the other one?"
Zhu Gui said, "It's Ruan Xiaoqi, who else could it be—Xiao Er and Xiao Wu, come down here!"
Ruan Xiao'er and Ruan Xiao'wu, drunk and too lazy to move, squinted and asked, "What is it?"
Zhu Gui opened his palm, revealing two olive-shaped pills: "Rare stuff, I just snatched it from the hotel—"
Ruan Xiaoer clapped his hands and said, "Throw it up!"
Zhu Gui tossed one over, and Ruan Xiaoer caught it easily, praising, "Wow, it really smells delicious!" He popped one into his mouth and asked the two men, "Who wants one?"
Ruan Xiaoqi was between him and Ruan Xiaowu. Ruan Xiaoqi said, "Give it to me."
Zhu Gui and I were extremely anxious. Zhu Gui shouted, "Don't give it to Xiao Qi!"
Ruan Xiaoqi sneered with her triangular eyes, "You damned Zhu Gui, why won't you give it to me? I'm going to eat it anyway!"
We know that among the three Ruan brothers, Ruan Xiaoqi is a bit of a fanatic. If you tell him not to do something, he'll do it anyway. In the end, he couldn't resist his curiosity and even put the dragon robe back on. At the same time, he's also the most capable of the three. His two brothers say he can stay underwater for seven days without taking a breath, and even whales can't beat him.
Upon hearing Ruan Xiaoqi's words, Ruan Xiaoer grabbed the medicine and tried to throw it to him, causing Zhu Gui to nearly jump up in alarm. While there was plenty of medicine, it wasn't something anyone could take—if Ruan Xiaoqi had died of rabies in his past life, would he still dare to go into the water?
But the brothers themselves didn't take this little gadget seriously at all. Since Ruan Xiaoqi wanted it, Ruan Xiaoer naturally complied. In this critical moment, I had a sudden inspiration (or perhaps I was desperate; the line between these two states is hard to distinguish) and shouted, "Ruan Xiaoqi, get down here!"
This was probably the first time Ruan Xiaoqi had been addressed so bluntly. Although he was a bandit, he was still a leader among the Heavenly Gang, and he couldn't help but ask Zhu Gui in astonishment, "Is this your friend?"
Zhu Gui, in a moment of quick thinking (like a cornered dog jumping over a wall), said, "I don't know him."
Ruan Xiaoqi chuckled and jumped down from the pavilion, standing in front of me: "Then there's no need to be polite—I'd like to ask, whose subordinate are you?"
Judging by his physique, Ruan Xiaoqi's land-based martial arts skills were definitely no less than Zhang Qing and Yang Zhi's. Now he was glaring at me angrily, and I felt a cramp in my calves. Damn it, I didn't expect to run into the antivirus "Ruan" case so soon.
Ruan Xiaoer chuckled and entered into spectator mode, casually tossing the pill to Ruan Xiaowu...
At this moment, Duan Jingzhu slowly approached, and An Daoquan and Jin Dajian, who had just come from the courtyard, also gathered around. They sized each other up, their faces bearing knowing smiles, and tentatively asked one another, "Have you eaten?"
Later, this greeting became the slang of half the people on Liangshan Mountain for a considerable period, and its influence on later generations was far-reaching. Even now, you can often hear it while traveling in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and even throughout the vast land of China…
Chapter 111 Darling, Why Aren't You By My Side?
There was no suspense left in facing Ruan Xiaoqi; I didn't believe he could beat me up again. In just a short while, Ruan Xiaoer and Ruan Xiaowu had also woken up and were standing on the pavilion, grinning at me. Duan Jingzhu, An Daoquan, and the others also came over to greet me.
Ruan Xiaoqi asked in surprise, "You all know each other?"
I tugged at Ruan Xiaoqi's hand and said, "Brother Qi, I've heard so much about you. It's a pity you didn't come to my place, otherwise all the gold medals wouldn't have been taken by that American kid (although Phelps hadn't yet shone brightly at the Olympics, Xiaoqiang was the main character, and his golden finger was activated)."
Ruan Xiaoqi looked around in confusion and asked, "When did you become friends?"
Several people said in unison, "Friends from a past life."
Everyone burst into laughter again. I laughed and said, "Come with me, let's get everyone together first." Ruan Xiao'er and Ruan Xiao'wu left Ruan Xiao'qi behind and followed me without hesitation.
So, a fairly long line formed behind me, which solved our problem of being outnumbered and isolated. They could also give me pointers; if I encountered any of my former clients, someone would immediately point them out to me. Along the way, we found Xiao Rang, Zhu Wu, and Ou Peng.
Around a corner, we saw a handsome young man polishing an ancient bow—it was Hua Rong! Duan Jingzhu grabbed his hand and shouted to me, "Xiao Qiang, hurry, hurry, get him—"
Before I could speak, Zhu Gui and the Ruan brothers were about to force-feed Hua Rong the drug. This was their conversation: "Is there Hua Rong? Yes, right?" "Yes, yes!"
Caught off guard, Hua Rong was grabbed by the hands and feet by the Ruan brothers, and laughed, "Brothers, what are you doing?"
Just as Zhu Gui was about to put the medicine into Hua Rong's mouth, I shouted, "Wait, there's no Hua Rong!"
Duan Jingzhu rolled his eyes at me and said, "What do you mean, 'no'? Did you deal with Pang Wanchun?"
I jumped up and said, "Pang Wanchun was dealt with by Ran Dongye—and there's also Hua Rong!"
Everyone was taken aback, then hesitantly moved away from Hua Rong, still glancing back at him repeatedly. Hua Rong, utterly bewildered, asked, "What's all this nonsense?"
Xiao Rang chuckled and said, "You're going to be lucky in your next life, finding another beautiful wife."
Hua Rong asked blankly, "What do you mean?"
Zhu Gui leaned closer to me and whispered, "How does Hua Rong calculate this?"
I shook my head and said, "Anyway, we can't give him the medicine."
This is a rather complicated problem I'm facing this time. There are two heroes, Hua Rong and Wu Song, in Liangshan and Yucai respectively. The other heroes died in the Song Dynasty, and then spent a year with me. After a year, it's like they died again. After leaving Yucai, they drank Meng Po soup again. Lan Yao just happened to neutralize the effects of that soup, so they can remember me as Xiao Qiang.
However, Hua Rong and Wu Song from Liangshan didn't "go on a group tour" after their deaths; they became ordinary people in the 21st century, namely Ran Dongye and Fang Zhenjiang. Fang Zhenjiang is a special case, so we won't discuss him. Ran Dongye became Hua Rong after taking the blue elixir, but they weren't bound by the restrictions of that year, so they weren't sent back to Liangshan by Heaven. In other words, giving the blue elixir to the 54 was a system restore, but these two had no system backup. Therefore, giving the Liangshan versions of Hua Rong and Wu Song the elixir would simply return them to the previous life—they would truly remember who they were in their previous lives as bandits, which is useless to me.
I am truly proud of myself for being able to sort out these complex relationships in such a short time!
The group reluctantly parted from Hua Rong. Ruan Xiaoer said, "So, does that mean Zhenjiang won't be coming back either?" He had gotten used to calling Wu Song Zhenjiang.
As we were talking, we heard shouts and shouts of fighting ahead. We stopped to look and saw Fang Zhenjiang and Bao Yin sparring, one holding two monk's knives and the other a monk's staff. Everyone started calling out to them, some calling him "brother" and others "brother," their tone full of affection. Although they saw each other every day, this was the first time they had met since regaining their memories, just like Xiang Yu when he first met Yu Ji.
These two were, of course, the real Wu Song and Lu Zhishen. They stopped what they were doing, glanced at us, and stood there, bewildered.
After saying goodbye to the mentally challenged Fang Zhenjiang and Bao Yin, Duan Jingzhu looked up, grabbed my arm, and said, "Look, Third Sister!"
Sure enough, Hu Sanniang was standing there with her hands behind her back, looking around. Duan Jingzhu called out, "Third Sister, what are you looking for?"
Hu Sanniang turned around and said, "I was just looking for you—" She spotted me and suddenly strode up to me. Without saying a word, she grabbed my head and pinched my scalp with her fist, yelling, "Why aren't you at home with my Baozi sister? What are you running around doing all over the world, huh?"
Everyone looked at each other in astonishment, while I gesticulated wildly and exclaimed, "There's no reason for this! Why did you think of me?"
Hu Sanniang threw me aside, raised her hand, and said, "I came from Wu Junshi's place. I heard Xiaoqiang was here, so I wandered over here." As she spoke, she pointed at me and scolded, "You came up the mountain and didn't even think of your third sister first, huh?"
I said with a bitter face, "No, I'm afraid my brother Wang Ying won't be happy."