A cacophony of voices erupted: "What's the point of reading? It's just that little thing, we know that's enough."
Seeing that the crowd showed no respect for the emperor, Grand Commandant Wang quickly put aside his airs and said with a forced smile, "That's right, that's right."
At that moment, Grand Commandant Wang was personally accompanied by Song Jiang to the Liangshan Inn to book a VIP room. Grand Commandant Wang felt as if he were floating on clouds at Liangshan, following Song Jiang with a dazed, almost delirious air, muttering to himself, "I really can't figure you out, I really can't figure you out..." Just as they reached the outside of the hall, he finally mustered the courage to turn back and say to us, "You wouldn't be planning to pretend to accept amnesty and then rebel, would you?"
Hu Sanniang said, "Are you stupid? Fang La is in the south and Bianliang is in the north. Just look at which way we attack and you'll know."
Chapter 120 Confidential
In historical fiction, the positions of Grand Tutor and Grand Commandant are rarely held by good people. Of those who joined Liangshan to accept the imperial pardon, Grand Commandant Chen is one thing, but Grand Commandant Su's sincerity was questionable. Now, because history has been altered, the court has sent Grand Commandant Wang, who arrived neither here nor there. Naturally, none of the heroes took him seriously. Only Song Jiang treated him with utmost care, and soon he indeed bathed and changed clothes, bringing out the imperial edict and placing it on the table. Everyone passed it around, and the gleaming edict was quickly handled like a freshly baked sweet potato…
With Song Jiang serving him, Grand Commandant Wang gradually began to disregard others. Frankly, I admire that old man. Knowing full well that this mission was fraught with danger, he still dared to come, and he didn't lose too much face in front of a bunch of bandits; he was still considered loyal to his duty. In the turbulent era of Emperor Huizong of Song, he could already be considered a loyal minister.
Old Wang wandered around Liangshan for a while, then suddenly pointed to the "Acting on Behalf of Heaven" banner outside the Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness and said, "Chief Song, don't you think this banner should be changed? Now that you are an official of the imperial court, you should be flying the banner of my Great Song Dynasty." This was a blatant test. Everyone understood that in the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world), the banner must remain standing even if the person falls. The talk of amnesty was still empty words at this point, but if this banner fell, Liangshan, as a force, would truly be defunct in name only.
Song Jiang was no fool; he hesitated for a moment with a troubled expression before stammering, "Which brother will go and lower the flag?"
Li Kui was, after all, a loyal follower of Song Jiang. Although somewhat reluctant, he still pulled out his double axes from behind his back and said, "I'll go!"
Shi Qian suddenly jumped out and said, "Wait!"
Li Kui glared and asked, "What?"
Shi Qian casually remarked, "Isn't cutting down the flagpole a lot of work?" He then shoved his phone, which was playing music, into his pocket and nimbly leaped up the flagpole. The others watched him pull down the flag, still chatting and laughing. After all, it was supposed to be a fake surrender; Lu Junyi and the others had spent a year in the modern world and didn't take such formalities seriously. Besides, having experienced the day's events, they were all busy asking Hua Rong and Fang Zhenjiang questions and had no time for anything else. Grand Marshal Wang nodded in satisfaction: It seemed the Liangshan bandits were genuinely interested in surrendering.
Humming a little tune, Shi Qian nimbly climbed to the top of the pole. He took the flag down with one hand, glanced at his phone casually, and suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, there's a signal!"
I looked up and said, "Stop talking nonsense and get down here."
Shi Qian said, "If you don't believe me, come up and see. I'll make a call and see... Hello, Teacher Yan. Me? It's Shi Qian, haha. We're all here. Welcome to Liangshan as a guest..."
Seeing that he was speaking with such conviction, I shouted, "Then tell me who's on duty at school today?"
Shi Qian laughed, "...Yes, Xiao Qiang doesn't believe it's you. What, Teacher Hou is on duty—"
I was immediately taken aback: the teacher on duty at Yucai today was indeed surnamed Hou, and he was newly transferred there. Shi Qian and the others didn't know this person at all before they left.
Upon hearing this, Fang Zhenjiang immediately shouted, "Shi Qian, don't come down yet. I'll tell you to call Tong Yuan and tell her that Xiao Qiang and I are on a business trip out of town and won't be back for a few days—"
Shi Qian dialed the number and said with a grin into the phone, "Xiao Yuan? This is Shi Qian. Do you remember me? Haha, I'm doing well. Zhenjiang asked me to tell you that he won't be back for a few days. You asked where we are? Liangshan..." Shi Qian then asked Fang Zhenjiang on the other end, "Your wife is asking you what you were doing in Shandong?"
Fang Zhenjiang said awkwardly, "Just say it's for official business."
Shi Qian was already saying to himself, "Yeah, how could they go on a publicly funded trip without you? That's outrageous—in Zhenjiang, your wife asked you whether you wanted sky blue or plant green for the bathroom floor tiles?"
Fang Zhenjiang stomped his foot and said, "Stop talking nonsense! Let her handle it herself."
Shi Qian chatted with Tong Yuan for a while, rambling on and on, before hanging up. A large crowd had already gathered under the flagpole, shouting urgently, "Help me make one! Help me make one!"
Shi Qian fiddled with the phone in his hand, arrogantly declaring, "Stop arguing, one at a time. Those with immediate family members over there get priority!" His swagger resembled someone sending telegrams at the post office in the late 1980s or early 1990s. While many people present could easily climb the three- or four-meter-high flagpole, staying steadily up there to make a call like Shi Qian was difficult, so no one was willing to squeeze in.
Hua Rong No. 2 silently stepped forward, and everyone made way for him. Hua Rong thought for a moment before looking up at Shi Qian and saying, "Give Xiu Xiu a call. I don't have anything to say, just tell her I'm going back in a few days." Then Hua Rong No. 2 turned to Hua Rong No. 1 and said, "Do you want to say a few words to her?"
Hua 1 shook his head vigorously, "Let's not be so polite. Um... even though we're the same person, it's better to keep things clear in this regard. You and I aren't strangers, but..." Judging from his tone, Yu Mou must be Hua Rong's wife from Liangshan.
Hua 2 immediately blushed and waved her hands haphazardly, saying, "I absolutely didn't mean anything by it."
I chuckled and said to Hua1, "Don't worry, Xiaohua (Rong) will sleep with me tonight. Besides, we have another Xiaohua here to keep things in check. He writes jokes, not inappropriate things."
After Shi Qian finished making the call for Hua Rong, he asked, "Who else?"
Dong Ping stepped forward and said, "Give Tiger a call and have him search online to see where he can buy map fish in the Song Dynasty?"
An Daoquan gave him a disdainful look: "Stop talking nonsense. Shi Qian, ask Bian Que and Hua Tuo how the anti-cancer drug research is going?" Then a bunch of random people shouted, "Give Cheng Fengshou and Duan Tianlang a shout!"...
Shi Qian was dialing the phone when he suddenly said, "Damn it, my phone was disconnected because I didn't pay the bill."
Dozens of cell phones were raised below: "Use mine!"
I kept wondering: why does Shi Qian's phone have a signal? Is it because he climbed higher, or is his phone better than others? I said to Zhang Qing, "Give your phone to Shi Qian and let him try it out." Before I went to find Fang Zhenjiang and the others, several people asked me to bring their phones so they could listen to music and play games during the meeting. I was too lazy to remember who they were, and since all their belongings were bundled together, I just brought them all. So now almost every one of those 54 people has a phone.
Zhang Qing tossed the phone up with a flick of his wrist—almost knocking Shi Qian off his feet. Shi Qian rolled his eyes, caught it, glanced at it, and said, "There's a signal now."
I rested my chin on my hand and said, "It seems that in ancient times, it was like going to the suburbs; you had to climb very high to get a signal."
Wu Yong said, "Well, didn't you say that it was still easy to receive things in the Southern Song Dynasty? That's probably the reason. This era is like distance; it's been out of reach since the Northern Song Dynasty, but it can still be used if you climb to a high place."
Zhang Shun nudged me and said, "Go get a signal booster or something and put it in the car. Then it will really feel like you're on a business trip, and you can contact your family anytime."
I'm speechless. A modern person being taught how to use a telephone by two bandits from the Northern Song Dynasty...
Shi Qian, holding Zhang Qing's phone, shouted down, "Stop yelling! From now on, whoever's phone you use, make the call first—" Before he finished speaking, a dozen or so of the heroes, skilled at launching hidden weapons, threw their phones at Shi Qian, saying, "Then you can use mine!"
"Ouch!" After a scream, Shi Qian was finally knocked down. There were bumps of various shapes on his head: big bumps were usually from a thick candybar phone, small bumps from an ultra-thin phone, symmetrical bumps from a flip phone, and the stepped bumps from a slider phone. There was also a phone that didn't hit him, but landed on top of the flagpole and had no signal... Hmm, that was a PHS phone.
Grand Commandant Wang glanced at us with suspicion and whispered to Song Jiang, "Song... Vanguard, are your brothers alright?" He was probably wondering how such a bunch of lunatics could cause the imperial court to suffer repeated defeats.
Song Jiang said awkwardly, "...It was always fine before. Maybe it was because I heard that the imperial court wanted to grant me amnesty that I was so happy."
Grand Commandant Wang said, "There's no time to lose. I think you should set off tomorrow to quell the Fang La rebellion. If you perform well, the Emperor might even summon you ahead of schedule."
Song Jiang hesitated and said, "Isn't this... too hasty?" After all, Liangshan still had a huge fortune to manage, and he was determined to never return.
The crowd clamored, "No rush, let's leave tomorrow!" They figured it didn't matter if they left today or tomorrow, they'd all be back sooner or later anyway. That was their thought.
Grand Commandant Wang said happily, "It seems that what Vanguard Song said is true; everyone is very enthusiastic."