allonlinenovel Chapter 315 The Eerie Invitation of Xiaohan
Chapter 315 The Eerie Invitation of Xiaohan
The plum rain, carrying the fishy smell of the East Market fish market, swept across the Zhuque Barkhor Street. Niwan's purple raincoat dripped with water as he stared intently at Qiu Rongmu's emerald oil-paper umbrella ahead.
Miraculously, the communication bamboo tube at his waist suddenly popped out with a "poof," revealing a kite. On the unfolded Xuan paper, Si Zi's handwriting flew up in a flamboyant style: "Ni Wan Zi! Wooden Gum will arrive in half an hour to provide support on a wooden kite!" Startled, he almost stepped into a garbage can by the roadside.
As soon as Qiu Rongmu stepped into the seafood market in her black boots, fishmonger Wang Lao Er immediately approached her with his bone scale: "Young master! These are freshly caught Yellow River carp. If they're shortchanged, I swear I'll turn into a turtle!"
"A shortchanging turtle?" Qiu Rongmu sneered, pulling a bronze scale from the wicker box. "Wang Lao Er, is your scale made of lead? Even Lu Ban, the master craftsman, would give you a thumbs up!"
Amidst the laughter of the onlookers, a man wrapped in an oilcloth cloak and wearing a turban to cover his face stumbled in. Qiu Rongmu's wallet fell to the ground with a "thud," and his business cards fluttered like butterflies.
Niwan Zi suddenly sprang out from behind the bronze ice chest filled with crystal blocks, his constable uniform still stained with some crystal shards: "Watch out! This is the 'Squid Ink Spraying Scheme'!" He threw out the thief-binding rope, but the man stepped on the mechanical wooden kite and "whooshed" across the market, startling a flock of white doves.
Qiu Rongmu crouched down and picked up a business card. The gold-embossed paper read "Lingxiao Pavilion Treasures Shop," while the back bore a mysterious shop name written in orpiment. Niwan's purple pupils constricted sharply—that was none other than the Taiping Temple where Xiao Sizi preferred to recuperate!
"Oh no! They're going to follow the trail!" Niwanzi grabbed Cong Xiaoye and tried to give chase, but saw Qiu Rongmu tuck his name card into his pocket and walk out of the neighborhood humming a tune.
"I'll be the bait!" Niwan Zi pulled out a bamboo carrier pigeon and released it towards Qiu Rongmu's back. "This is the 'owl stalking a hare' strategy!" He winked at Cong Xiaoye. "Go back and find that name card quickly. Maybe he has the secrets of the Eight Formations of Zhuge Liang!"
As dusk settled over the dilapidated courtyard where Qiu Rongmu lived, Niwanzi clung to the wall like a gecko. "Creak—" Just as Qiu Rongmu pushed open the wooden door, Niwanzi immediately flashed his badge: "I'm the deliveryman! Your 'Anti-theft Treasure Pouch' has arrived!"
Qiu Rongmu grabbed a broom, ready to strike: "Get out! If you bother me again, I'll report you to the Imperial Guard!"
Niwan Zi remained calm and composed, fiddling with it for a while before pulling out a mechanical wooden ox: "Little Si asked me to bring you this as a greeting gift!" The wooden ox suddenly unfolded into a holographic screen.
The phantom of Little Sizi appeared, looking dazed, and stood with her hands on her hips: "Brother Wood, Young Master Qiu Rongmu! Help us capture the Heart Thief, and this princess will treat you to a whole feast of roasted camel hump!"
While Qiu Rongmu was still in a daze, Niwan Zi had already slipped into the courtyard and casually installed a Mo family-style lock on the wooden door.
Sure enough, after the third watch gong sounded, Qiu Rongmu's water clock suddenly chimed. Niwan Zi, wearing a bamboo eavesdropping tube, made a "time-space recording" gesture towards the air. Immediately, a hoarse, altered voice came from the other end: "Young Master Qiu, Western Region Night-Shining Pearls in stock, cash on delivery... May I ask, is the business card you carry still intact?"
Then, in the deep winter of the third year of the Yonghui era, heavy snow turned the ancient Xiaohan Road into a giant glutinous rice ball. More than twenty post horses, huffing and puffing, carried blue cloth-covered carts, hopping and skipping in a line on the icy official road, along with a few frolicking sugar-coated rabbits.
As soon as the third watch gong rang out, the postal workers, wrapped in fox fur coats, instantly transformed into sleeping dumplings, their snoring and farting mingling with the crunching of wheels on the snow, creating a mysterious yet sweet lullaby for the eerie Tang Dynasty oxen in the cold wind…