"Oh," Baozi mumbled a reply, then fell asleep again...
I quickly washed my face, grabbed the "umbrella" Fei Sankou had given me, and opened the door with red eyes. Jin Shaoyan stood at the door with his hands hanging down, smiling broadly. He kept bowing and scraping when he saw me come out. This guy seemed to have been specially groomed today; his face was smooth and full of spring-like color, but inexplicably he was wearing a wig, styled like an ancient man's hairstyle on TV, held up with a bright green hairpin.
"What are you up to?" I asked, puzzled.
Jin Shaoyan proudly opened the door of the van that had been parked in front of my house all night, and laboriously carried out small suitcases from inside, excitedly saying, "Brother Qiang, look, these are all the things I prepared."
I randomly opened one and saw it was full of bright yellow rectangular blocks, each about the size of a regular cell phone. I blurted out, "Why are you carrying so many copper pieces... is this all gold?" I jumped up because I suddenly realized how tempting the light emanating from these "copper pieces" was, and how soft and heavy they felt.
As Jin Shaoyan continued unloading the small boxes into my car, he said, "They're all pure gold. I've thought about it; this stuff is useful everywhere, especially in the place where Shishi is..."
I get it! This kid managed to exchange a huge amount of gold from the modern world to spend in the Song Dynasty. Damn, money really does have its advantages! Not only did he dress better than a professional astronaut last month, but even time travel can damage a country's gold reserves. I've only ever heard of people who time-travel and make money by farming, but this spendthrift Jin Shaoyan is actually bringing tons of gold to ancient times!
Jin Shaoyan filled the large seats of my car with boxes full of gold, and then took several large wooden boxes from his car. When he opened one, it was full of ancient costumes. Jin Shaoyan sat half-sitting in the car, changing his clothes as he said, "Brother Qiang, you should change too. It'll be more convenient to wear these clothes over there. I originally wanted to buy antique woven fabrics from the Song Dynasty, but then I thought it wasn't really necessary, so I'll just use the props—these clothes were all designed and made by Shishi herself when she was filming."
After changing his clothes, Jin Shaoyan looked every bit the elegant young gentleman. He then carried the last box to my car and said, "This contains some everyday items. I spent half a day studying the etiquette of that time, so it should be fine."
I said with a stern face, "Alright, let's go. Let me tell you, I've never carried that much 'yellow stuff' in my car. I'm not responsible if it's overweight and we don't make it to our destination."
Jin Shaoyan patted the body of the Jinbei van in a flattering manner and said to it, "My good baby, I believe you can do it."
I retorted angrily, "Stop talking nonsense. You're rich, aren't you? Why don't you bribe it?"
Jin Shaoyan sat in the car, patted the seat, and said to the car, "After this trip, I'll replace your engine with a Ferrari's."
As I drove, I said, "Our Tianting brand engines are still the best. Why don't you convert this car to run on gas?"
After we entered the colorful timeline, Jin Shaoyan couldn't help but exclaim excitedly, "Brother Qiang, give me this car! I'll trade all my possessions for it!"
I scoffed, "What's your little bit of wealth? Several emperors are begging me for favors right now. So what if you have gold? Even Xiang Yu's toilet was made of gold."
Jin Shaoyan chuckled dryly a few times, then suddenly looked worried and asked, "Do you think I'll be able to see Shishi smoothly?"
Chapter 122 The Eight Heavenly Kings Who Couldn't Be Handled
I knew Jin Shaoyan must be nervous right now, so I comforted him, saying, "Don't be scared. Your rival is just an emperor, isn't he? Not counting the real emperors you've seen in TV shows and movies, haven't you?"
Jin Shaoyan touched his face and said, "That's true, I've never seen an emperor more handsome than me."
Having traveled back and forth between the Northern Song Dynasty and other places many times, I was quite familiar with the area. Several hours later, the car stopped on a busy street. Fortunately, our exact location was relatively secluded, behind a large hotel. To my relief, passersby either glanced at our car or simply walked past, without creating a scene of onlookers.
My guess is that this is related to the quality of life of ordinary people in the Song Dynasty. Although the Song Dynasty's military was relatively weak, its economy was undoubtedly the highest in the world at the time. The people were generally well-off and had seen a lot, so they weren't easily aroused by excessive curiosity. Only those who were starving and had nothing better to do than wander around aimlessly would enjoy watching a spectacle. In the first two years after China's reform and opening up, didn't foreigners walking down the street often attract stares? Who would have that kind of time now? Unless that foreigner is Osama bin Laden—and speaking of which, bin Laden is worth a lot of money!
Jin Shaoyan and I got out of the car furtively and came to the main street. We saw that the hotel where we parked was called Fumanyuan. Jin Shaoyan suddenly jumped up: "What are we doing here?"
I jumped up too: "You mean you were here before?"
Jin Shaoyan said excitedly, "No, I remember Shishi telling me that Fumanyuan was right across from them back then, and she loved eating Dongting fish there the most."
We slowly turned our heads together... and saw a huge sign hanging across the street: Shixiu Tower.
The Ten Beauties Pavilion was the brothel where Li Shishi and Emperor Huizong of Song had their secret rendezvous. The name "Ten Beauties Pavilion" signifies that it always housed the ten most outstanding girls in the capital, chosen by its patrons. This is what made the Ten Beauties Pavilion unique – cutting-edge, high-quality, adept at understanding men's psychology. They knew that once something became commonplace, men would lose interest. If it were changed to a Hundred Beauties Pavilion or Ten Thousand Beauties Pavilion, it wouldn't attract high-class patrons like Emperor Huizong. Li Shishi was initially the most beautiful of the ten beauties, but later, gaining Emperor Huizong's favor, she naturally rose above the top three and was essentially elevated to the rank of imperial concubine.
Two clean-cut boys, around fifteen or sixteen years old, stood respectfully in front of the Ten Show Pavilion, hands at their sides. They bowed and smiled as customers passed by, but wouldn't pull you in unless you went in. This was what made the Ten Show Pavilion stand out: men who wanted it would climb over walls and roofs to get it, while those who didn't couldn't be dragged away even with two beautiful women. To make them obedient, you had to be more conspicuous than them, making them feel mysterious and unapproachable. Moreover, the Ten Show Pavilion was the only brothel in the vicinity that only used men to solicit customers—this was easy to understand; do you see high-end clubs using female waitresses? Especially in places like brothels, using male services made it easier to satisfy the vanity of the customers: we're both men, I'm sitting while you're standing, I'm paying for sex while you're watching…
Jin Shaoyan stared blankly for a long time, then murmured, "What should I do?"
I gave him a push from behind: "Go in!"
Jin Shaoyan said with difficulty, "What...what should I say if I go in?"
"Go directly to the madam and tell her you want to see Li Shishi!"
"Will I... be able to see her?"
"If Song Jiang can see you, why can't you? Pay up!" I admonished him, exasperated. Li Shishi's patron was the Emperor, a fact that was semi-public, but not entirely unapproachable. In fact, Emperor Huizong didn't object to Li Shishi occasionally exchanging poems with scholars. Of course, deeper relationships were out of the question—this was a more sinister side of the man, requiring further analysis. Jin Shaoyan's appearance and demeanor were those of a true nobleman; he had a good chance of fooling the madam.
"And what about you?" Jin Shaoyan looked at me pleadingly.
"I won't go in. Your brother Qiang has been retired from the military for many years and is no longer used to fighting in this kind of situation." I stuffed a few gold bricks into his pocket, then put a blue pill in his hand and instructed, "It'll work fastest if you put it in the wine!"
Jin Shaoyan gazed at the Ten Beauties Tower, then suddenly patted his cheek, summoning a surge of unwavering courage, and strode over...
I leaned against the wall, watching from the opposite side. The young scholar at the door had ushered me inside, but I hadn't come out for a long time. This was a good sign; it meant he had already made contact with the people inside. The streets were bustling with activity, and apart from the roadside ditches, everything was no different from those ancient towns in Jiangnan. Why did I go straight to Li Shishi's door instead of going to Liangshan first? This remained an unresolved question. Did this carriage possess some kind of human-like intelligence?
I got bored after a while, so I found a secluded corner to smoke. Suddenly, my phone on my waist started vibrating, which startled me. I was used to it being silent.
I picked it up and saw it was Fang Zhenjiang calling. I glanced around, answered quietly, and said, "Hello, where are you guys?"
Fang Zhenjiang said urgently to himself, "I can't handle it, Xiaoqiang. Let's think of another way!"
I asked in surprise, "What can't you handle? What happened?"
"Fang La—we came down the mountain yesterday. After a night of forced march, we have already engaged Fang La in battle. The Eight Heavenly Kings are not easy to deal with."
I exclaimed in surprise, "No way, over a hundred of you couldn't beat eight guys?"
Fang Zhenjiang said dejectedly, "It's not that we can't beat them, it's that we don't want to really fight them, but those eight don't know that, and they came up with a vicious attack right away. In order to avoid casualties, we agreed that it would be one-on-one duels between the warriors, but we fought all morning without a winner, and we even got the short-legged tiger Wang Ying captured by them."
I exclaimed in surprise, "So that means the winner and loser have been decided?"
A chaotic commotion came from the other end of the phone: "Damn it, if all else fails, we'll really fight them! Don't let that guy surnamed Fang think we Liangshan are afraid of them!"
Fang Zhenjiang said, "Did you hear that? Everyone's holding their breath. If this continues, something bad will happen sooner or later."
"Where exactly are you located?"