The Great Wei Music Bureau

Chapter 180 The Blind Girl and the Boatman

Last time, we talked about how Li Yi deliberately created a traffic jam on the Qinhuai River, and then acted very impressive in front of everyone, both to make a name for himself and to promote the Jinghong Banquet. He shocked the entire Jiankang City with special effects. Who could not be moved by such a scene that was almost the same as the vision of heaven and earth? So how will the story develop next? Let's read on.

Li Yi and others returned to the inn, each one more excited than the other. Jiang Hongyu finally understood why Cui Zhi was fascinated by Li Yi; Cui Zhi was excited because she could amaze Jiankang together with Li Yi; but the most excited one was Yu Jiu, who was very glad that he could learn skills from Li Yi.

Yu Jiu knelt before Li Yi and insisted that Li Yi teach him music, singing, and Confucianism. Li Yi mocked him, "Ah, I asked you to study hard before, but you didn't want to. Why are you begging me to teach you now?"

Yu Jiu replied, "I didn't know before that Confucianism and Taoism were so powerful, and that music was so powerful! Now I know, so if you are willing to teach me, I will definitely study hard, no matter how hard or tiring it is!"

Li Yi smiled and nodded in agreement, and Xiao Yujiu happily went back to his room to sleep. After Yujiu left, Cui Zhi knocked on Li Yi's door and said directly: "Sir, I'm too excited and can't sleep. Can I chat with you for a while?" Looking at Cui Zhi's excited face, Li Yi shook his head helplessly and welcomed her into the room.

However, as they chatted, they naturally ended up chatting in bed. That night, they could be described as having heard the whales roaring in the sea and the Kunpeng waves shaking Nanjing. The divine owl flapped its wings and flew through the clouds, traveling through the Milky Way and falling on the stars.

The next day, Yu Jiu arrived at Li Yi's door early, waiting for him to wake up so that he could teach him a lesson. But instead of waiting for Li Yi, he saw Cui Zhi push open the door. He asked in confusion, "Sister Cui, why did you come out of the young master's room?"

Cui Zhi was frightened by Yu Jiu. After calming down, she said unhappily, "Children should not ask about adults' affairs! And the young master is sleeping! Don't wait here, go play somewhere else!"

Yu Jiu said unhappily: "What are you playing for? You only know how to play! I'm here to learn music from you, young master!"

Cui Zhi didn't want Yu Jiu to disturb Li Yi, so she quickly said, "Have you finished forging your sword? The young master hasn't woken up yet, so go find Sister Hongyu and have the sword forged! You should know that the young master can teach you more than just music!" Yu Jiu thought about it and thought it made sense, so he followed Cui Zhi to find Jiang Hongyu.

After noon, Li finally woke up. After washing up, he found Jiang Hongyu, Cui Zhi and Yu Jiu and wanted to go out for a walk. Cui Zhi asked in confusion: "Sir, there are only four days left before the Jinghong Banquet. Shouldn't we hurry up and arrange the next song?"

Li Yi waved his hand and said, "No, I met an interesting person last night and I have to meet him today."

Cui Zhi asked in confusion, "Sir, are you talking about the Second Prince Xiao Zongji?"

Li Yi shook his head and said, "No, it was the boatman and the blind girl. Isn't it strange that a mid-level fourth-rank martial artist is willing to work as a boatman and a thug for a brothel? So I want to find out the reason."

Jiang Hongyu said disdainfully: "It's simple. The mute likes the girl, but he has no money to redeem her, so he can only pull the oar and stay there with her."

Li Yi nodded and said, "That's possible, but with his skills, he could have taken the girl away with him. Why didn't he do that?"

Jiang Hongyu nodded and said, "So it is true. Who would risk their lives for a blind girl and a fourth-level mid-level warrior?"

Li Yi smiled and said, "So let's stop guessing and go ask him directly."

Yu Jiu interrupted, "Sir, even if we find that warrior, he can't talk, so how can we ask him?"

Li Yi smiled but said nothing, and several people left the inn and headed for the Qinhuai River. After asking around, Li Yi and his friends found the largest and most luxurious pleasure boat in Jiankang, the Shuilongyin, but they did not find the boatman.

Li Yi said to Jiang Hongyu: "It is inconvenient for me to set foot in the place of fireworks, so please help me find that girl, it is the same for us to find her."

Jiang Hongyu nodded and jumped on the boat to look for someone. Not long after, the old woman who threatened to sink Hua Jinfan last night got off the boat. Seeing Li Yi, she smiled flatteringly and said, "Hey, isn't this Li Yuefu! Master Yuefu, how come you have time to come to our Shuilongyin? It's still early, and the girls haven't started work yet. How about you wait a little longer?"

Cui Zhi said unhappily, "Sir, you are here to look for the girl you couldn't see last night. Where is she?"

The old maid replied: "Oh, Li Yuefu is here to see Yin Miaomiao? She is just our musician, not the girl on my boat."

Li Yi said, "That's even better. Where can we find her?" The old woman told him the truth. Li Yi indicated to Cui Zhi that she had given the reward...

Following the guidance of the old woman, Li Yi and others found Yin Miaomiao's home. She lived in the suburbs of Jiankang. It was a small courtyard with only one room. Although the courtyard was not big, it was very clean. Obviously, it was not taken care of by her.

Li Yi and a few others were standing outside the yard when they heard someone playing the pipa in the house. The song they played was "Big Fish", the same song that Li Yi had sung last night.

Although Miaomiao remembered the main melody, she still had many problems with the harmony and rhythm. After listening at the door for a while, Li Yi asked loudly, "Miss Yin, do you want the sheet music of this song?"

Yin Miaomiao recognized that it was Li Yi's voice, and immediately got up and went out. But the people outside the courtyard only heard the sound of bumping and her falling. Cui Zhi was about to go into the courtyard to help, but Li Yi stopped her. After a while, Yin Miaomiao rubbed her arm and limped out.

Miaomiao couldn't see, so she could only listen with her head tilted. Li Yi bowed and said, "Miss Yin, I'm here to visit you. If you like the song we played last night, I'd like to give you the score."

Miaomiao said happily: "Thank you very much, Li Yuefu. It's just that Miaomiao is not able to move around easily, so please come in and we can talk slowly. Miaomiao still needs to ask Li Yuefu for advice."

Li Yi and the others pushed open the door and entered the courtyard. When they saw the simple furnishings inside, they all sighed. Miao Miao realized that she only had one chair, and there was no place for the guests to sit. She said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, my humble abode is so simple, please just sit on the bed."

After saying that, Miaomiao fumbled to sit on the chair and waited for everyone to sit down. Li Yi sat on the bed naturally and motioned for others to sit down as well.

Just as Yu Jiu was about to sit down, Li Yi kicked him out and said, "Don't sit down anymore. You'll break other people's beds! Go play by yourself in the yard!" Cui Zhi and Jiang Hongyu covered their mouths and chuckled. Yu Jiu snorted coldly and walked out of the room.

Then they started chatting, and Li Yi learned that Miaomiao was an official who had been convicted. Her family was persecuted, some died, some escaped, and she was the only blind girl left. She was taken in by the Jiaofang Division, and she was able to survive because she was good at playing the pipa.

The boatman Zhou Mo was originally the leader of her family's guards. He borrowed high-interest loans from Shui Longyin to buy Miao Miao out of Jiao Fang Si, but he also owed Shui Longyin a lot of debts because of this.

The two depended on each other to pay off their debts together, and Zhou Mo continued to serve as a guard at Shuilongyin. The two had already fallen in love with each other, but Zhou Mo was injured and lost his voice in a battle. He originally felt that he was not worthy of his lady, so he no longer had the courage to confess.

But Zhou Mo didn't know that Miaomiao had already accepted him in her heart, and Miaomiao had never taken the initiative to confess to Zhou Mo because she was blind. Speaking of Miaomiao's eyes, she was blinded by poison, which also made Zhou Mo feel uneasy, thinking that it was his negligence that caused the young lady to go blind.

After hearing the story of the ill-fated couple, Li Yi asked, "Why did Brother Zhou become a boatman?"

Miaomiao said dejectedly: "At first, in order to earn more money to treat my eyes, Brother Zhou took on the job of pulling the boat. I couldn't bear to see him suffer so much, so I offered to sing for money, thinking that this would help him..."

Li Yi sighed and said, "An accident happened and he injured the guest again, right? His throat was also injured in that battle?"

Miaomiao nodded and said, "Because that person wanted to molest me, and Brother Zhou rushed in when he heard my cry for help. In order to calm the situation down, he..." Miaomiao's voice began to choke, but she wanted to cry but had no tears.

Jiang Hongyu sighed, and Cui Zhi looked at Li Yi and asked, "Master, can we..."

Li Yi nodded and said, "How much money do you still owe Shui Longyin?"

Miao Miao replied: "About five hundred taels of silver."

Li Yi stood up and said, "More than five hundred taels, okay, I'll help you pay it back."

Miao Miao shook her head repeatedly and said, "No, no, no, Li Yuefu, you can't do that."

Cui Zhi took Miaomiao's hand and said, "Sister Miaomiao, since my master is willing to help you, don't think too much."

Li Yi said, "I'm not helping you for nothing. You have to accompany me at the Jinghong Banquet in Huaguang Palace. As for Brother Zhou, I have made too many enemies now and may be in danger. I will ask him to be my bodyguard. I will pay him normally until we leave Liang State. I wonder if you are willing to do this?"

Miao Miao nodded repeatedly in agreement, but suddenly asked doubtfully: "I am willing, but I don't know what Brother Zhou thinks."

Jiang Hongyu asked, "Where is he? Where did he go? We can ask him in person."

Miaomiao asked doubtfully, "Logically speaking, Brother Zhou should be back by this time, right?"

Yu Jiu suddenly rushed into the room and said, "Sir, that boatman is fighting with others outside. There are four of them fighting against him alone! I don't think he can hold out for much longer!"

Miao Miao got up and rushed out, but she tripped over the table. Fortunately, Jiang Hongyu was quick to catch her. Li Yi said, "You stay here, I'll go and take a look. Sister Hongyu, Yu Jiu, protect them!" The two nodded in response.

Li Yi walked out of the door and saw four Nanliang generals besieging Zhou Mo. They didn't kill him, but seemed to be teasing him. Li Yi shouted, "Hey, what are you doing!" Then he jumped in front of Zhou Mo and stopped the four men.

Several people looked at Li Yi and asked, "Who are you? How dare you meddle in other people's business?"

Li Yi replied: "I was just shouting when I saw injustice. If we fight alone, none of you can defeat him, but you teamed up to tease him. Even if you have a grudge against each other before, it's not justifiable to do this!"

One person pointed at Li Yi and said, "If you don't want to die, mind your own business and get out of here!"

Li Yi shook his head and sighed, "Alas, if you don't agree with me, there's no need to talk too much!" He then knocked the four men to the ground in no time. Just as Li Yi was about to teach these men a lesson, the guard who was responsible for monitoring Li Yi suddenly appeared and stopped him.

The guard said, "Li Yuefu, these are my Daliang generals after all. If you hurt them, I will be embarrassed. Please don't make it difficult for me."

Li Yi looked up at the guard and said calmly: "Okay, I'll give you a favor and let them go today. Go away!"

The four looked at Li Yi fiercely, seemingly unconvinced. The guard showed the gold medal and said, "This is Li Yuefu, the special envoy of the Wei Kingdom. You are no match for him. Why don't you leave quickly? If Li Yuefu really starts fighting, I can't stop him. Leave quickly!"

The four of them got up from the ground and walked away dejectedly. Li Yi reached out to help Zhou Mo up and asked, "Are you okay?"

Zhou Mo shook his head. Li Yi looked at You Wei and asked, "Could you please buy me some gold wound medicine? I will wait at Miss Yin's house and will not wander around."

Youwei pondered for a moment, took out two bottles of medicine, handed them to Li Yi and said: "This is our Youwei's golden medicine, use this on him."

Li Yi took the medicine bottle and bowed in thanks, saying with a smile: "Thank you, then let's go about our business!" Youwei bowed and left, and Li Yi and Zhou Mo returned to Miaomiao's courtyard. After a brief conversation, Zhou Mo agreed to Li Yi's terms, so the group went to Shuilongyin to find the old woman and reached an agreement in a restaurant.

Li Yi had no money to give to the old woman, so he traded a song with her and promised to help arrange music and dance for her musicians, singers and dancers. Li Yi asked Jiang Hongyu and Yu Jiu to take Miaomiao and Zhou Mo back to the inn, while he and Cui Zhi stayed behind to arrange music and dance.