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  On the first day of September, Zhou Xuan took Lai Fu and San Chi out of the south gate of Jiangzhou City and headed in the direction of Hongzhou. Last night, when he was studying tea ceremony, he had already bid farewell to Jingyi Xianzi. At that time, Lin Hanyin was not there, and Jingyi Xianzi showed no particular expression. Although they had been together for a long time, Jingyi Xianzi treated Zhou Xuan like a cup of tea - neither hot nor cold, but with a distant fragrance.

  Zhou Xuan chose Hongzhou as the destination for his outing because Hongzhou was a major state of Tang, more prosperous than Jiangzhou, and also close to Jiangzhou. There was another reason that he couldn't tell others, which was that he had studied there for two years, where he learned poetry, ancient texts, miscellaneous books, and other subjects. Hongzhou is actually Nanchang.

  Zhou Xuan borrowed three horses from Old Dong, and he, San Chi, and Lai Fu each rode one horse on the road. Qin Bo Shi, Qin Que, Ren Zhen, Abu, and Liao Yin saw them off for several miles outside the south gate. Zhou Xuan and his two young wives sat in the carriage saying goodbye, not without hugging and kissing, with repeated reminders and exhortations.

  Parting is an art of life. Don't mention sending off to the south bank, heroic farewell at Yi Water, following the army with a humble heart, or going to a distant country; even a brief parting between husband and wife can deepen feelings. Zhou Xuan's temporary departure had a great impact on both Qin Que and Zhenzhen. What was often in front of her eyes didn't seem important, but now that she mentioned leaving for a few days, it felt like she couldn't bear to be apart from her husband for even a moment, reluctant to part ways.

  Zhou Xuan held onto Zuo's arm on one side and Bao's on the other, smiling as he said: "I'm just going out to clear my head, I'll be back in half a month at most. However, there is one thing that has been weighing on my mind - can Que Er and Zhen Er share some of my worries with me?"

  The two women did not know what worries Zhou Xuan had. They hastily asked: "Husband, please speak, we two will definitely follow your instructions and do our best."

  "Really?"

  "Really!" The two women solemnly promised.

  "That's good." Zhou Xuan said seriously: "The little vest that our Australian wives must wear, you two have always refused to wear it. This makes me worry day and night as a husband. I hope when I come back this time, both of you will be wearing the little vest obediently. That would be a big surprise for me."

  "Ah!" The two women did not expect their husband to say this, and both of them blushed with embarrassment, "Hehehe" unable to respond well, nor could they not respond, feeling extremely awkward.

  Zhou Xuan smiled and kissed each of the two girls on the cheek, saying: "Think carefully, I'll think of you every day when I'm outside."

  Zhou Xuan got off the carriage and onto his horse, bowed to Qin Bo Shi and said: "Father-in-law, please return, I will leave now." He also instructed Abu and Liao Yin a few words, then the three of them set off on horseback.

  Outside the city, houses gradually decreased, and farmland increased. On the official road, horses and carriages came and went, showing the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. Jiangzhou was a land of fish and rice, where Emperor Li Yu levied light taxes and allowed people to live in peace for 40 years, making the people of Jiangzhou generally wealthy, with hardly anyone lacking clothes or food.

  Lai Fu said: "Brother-in-law, don't look at this peaceful appearance, there are also strong thieves, my brother Wang Cai was robbed in De'an last year."

  Zhou Xuan took a glance at San Chi and smiled: "This is very normal, no matter how rich one is, there will always be someone who wants to be a bandit, it's their profession, it's their hobby."

  Lai Fu carried three hundred taels of silver on this trip and couldn't help but worry, saying: "Brother-in-law, what if we encounter bandits?"

  "There's Jian Nu!" Zhou Xuan pointed at San Chi: "Jian Nu is very capable in a fight, and having been idle for so many days, he must be itching to use his skills. However, he only protects me, and won't care about your life or death. If you encounter bandits, just drop your silver and run first."

  Lai Fu turned his head to look at San Chi, he didn't know that this aloof guy was the famous assassin San Chi, all he knew was that this guy only showed respect to Master and never paid attention to anyone else, what's so special about him? He's just a cold and distant person who doesn't care about others, who owes you money?

  Zhou Xuan was delighted to see San Chi wearing the Zhou family uniform, and said: "Now that you're in the Zhou mansion, how can you still walk around like you used to on the streets, with your conical hat and hemp shoes, looking so carefree? Put on the standard Zhou family servant uniform for me, haha!"

  Looking at San Ci's appearance, wearing a servant's hat and two-piece clothes, Zhou Xuan wanted to laugh, feeling a bit mischievous. However, San Ci was still San Ci, and although he was dressed as a servant, the killer aura that had been cultivated over the years would occasionally flash in his eyes, making him stand out among the servants.

  Not even ten miles had been traveled when the sound of horseshoes was heard rushing from behind, a rider chasing closer and closer.

  Lai Fu tensed up: "Brother-in-law, is this guy coming for us? Could it be that he's been eyeing us in the city and knows we have silver, so he's here to rob us?"

  Zhou Xuan turned his head to look while riding on the horse, he was nearsighted and couldn't see clearly from a distance. He only saw what seemed to be a large black horse rushing over with an air of urgency. "Impossible! This person dares to rob on this busy official road? Come on, Fu, don't be so startled, this person must have urgent business to attend to."

  Unexpectedly, San Chou reined in his horse and gazed at the big black horse galloping closer and closer, as if waiting for a fierce battle. Could it be that they were really bandits?

  Rushing thirty meters away, Zhou Xuan saw clearly that it was a large black horse, which was a white-nosed black mule, and the one riding on the back of the mule was dressed as a scholar, Four Chai.

  "Zhou Xuan, where are you planning to take my senior brother?"

  The four fools caught up and glared at Zhou Xuan with questioning eyes.

  Zhou Xuan shook his head, thinking that he couldn't even have a few peaceful days, as this crazy ghost was clinging to him nonstop!

  "He is my sword slave, at my disposal, I want to take him to Hongzhou and see if he can be sold for a good price."

  "Hmph, I suppose you don't dare either!"

  Zhou Xuan ignored him and called out to Lai Fu to hurry up.

  Four foolish men riding donkeys followed, saw three foolish men dressed as servants, and angrily said: "Zhou Xuan, why are you so disrespectful to my master's brother, dressing him like this? You really treat him as a servant!"

  This remark made Lai Fu very unhappy, and he said in a loud and rough tone: "Don't underestimate the house slaves, especially those of the Zhou family. When I mention outside that I am a house slave of the Zhou family, everyone is envious of me, and some are even jealous. It's not because the wages of the Zhou family's house slaves are high, but because our master never looks down on us, making us often feel proud to be a house slave."

  These days, Fu has been following Zhou Xuan around, and through osmosis, he can now speak with great eloquence.

  "Fourth brother, I'm now a sword slave of the Marquis of Zhou. In fact, I'm even worse off than a house servant. My master treats me well, so there's no need for you to argue over this."

  Si Chai saw that Shixiong was saying the same thing, so he didn't dare to make a move, and instead glared at Zhou Xuan with hatred, following closely behind him on his black horse.

  "Where are you going?"

  "I'll go wherever I want, you can't control me. I'll walk however I like."

  Zhou Xuan thought to herself, "This tone is so strange, it's just like Lin Hanyu's!" She said, "It won't be long before you're under my control. Once you become my tea servant, I'll have you wear the household uniform and teach you a lesson."

  The fourth fool was furious, if it wasn't for the third fool staring at him with a stern gaze to stop him, he seemed to want to commit murder.

  A pleasant trip was ruined because of the interference of those four fools, and there was no longer a comfortable and peaceful feeling. Along the way, they quarreled with each other, and the four fools were no match for Zhou Xuan in an argument, making him so angry that his teeth itched.

  Si Chai heard the insect sounds coming from the wooden box tied to Zhou Xuan's saddle, and he too was an insect enthusiast. Upon hearing the insect sounds, he became excited and asked: "What kind of insect is this?"

  Zhou Xuan retorted: "Where is your 'Tiger-Crazy Xu Chu'?"

  The fool said: "That was borrowed from someone and has been returned."

  "Probably just stealing."

  The four fools did not refute him and said: "Let me see your insect."

  Although Si Chai was furious with Zhou Xuan, he still admired his insect art. Last time in Lushan, he took away a small pill from Zhou Xuan's silk fish bag and pondered over it, but couldn't figure out its secrets. He asked a pharmacist who was well-versed in medicine for guidance, and the pharmacist licked his tongue and recited several medicinal names, but couldn't reverse-engineer the formula because the relationships between the different medicines were crucial, and getting the dosage wrong would greatly alter the properties of the medicine. And besides, the cricket was so small that even a slight mistake could be fatal.

  So Si Qi saw Zhou Xuan solemnly bring a bug on the road, so this bug must be extraordinary, and he really wanted to see what kind of bug it was.

  Zhou Xuan said: "We're still early for the tea fight, why don't we make a small bet first? I'll use this little bug as the stake. You guess what color it is. If you guess correctly, I'll let you follow us all the way. If not, I'll also let you follow us, but you have to keep your mouth shut. For every sentence you say, you owe me one or two silver coins. Two sentences and it's two taels, and so on."

  For Zhou Xuan, there is no time when he cannot gamble and nothing that he cannot gamble on.

  The four fools slanted their eyes and asked: "If you lose, won't you suffer any loss?"

  "You think you can just follow me around because you won? That would mean I'd have to put up with your chatter, and my mood would be terrible. Isn't that a huge loss?"

  "You're being too unfair, there's no such bet like this. I won and you're not allowed to speak."

  Zhou Xuan said: "The stakes are set by me, and those who participate do so voluntarily. No one is forcing you to gamble." He rode his horse forward with a "clip-clop" sound.

  He was so angry that he couldn't help it, if he won the bet, he wouldn't get anything, but if he lost, he would have to shut up and not speak. What a ridiculous thing! He guessed that in Zhou Xuan's wooden box was the strange insect "untouchable" that had won against "Famous General Zhang Hu". On that day, he didn't participate in the bet and hadn't seen what "untouchable" looked like, but in every wine house and tea shop, he could hear people discussing the insect battle, and knew that "untouchable" was a black-backed insect.

  The Black-backed Worm can beat the Green-backed Worm, Si Chuan was so shocked he couldn't believe his ears. As a worm enthusiast, he had to see it for himself. Gritting his teeth, he urged the horse on, saying: "I'll bet."

  Zhou Xuan smiled and knew that Si Chai would definitely bet. He asked, "So, do you think the insect in this box is red or yellow?"

  Four fools stared at Zhou Xuan's eyes, seeing his stable and confident appearance, thinking: "Isn't it the black-backed 'untouchable'? Impossible, Zhou Xuan is the most cunning, using the easiest thing to guess with me to gamble, wanting me to mislead myself, making simple things complicated, humph, the box must be the black-backed 'untouchable'!"

  "Hei Bei? Are you sure?"

  "Stop playing dumb and open the box so I can see it!"

  Zhou Xuan jumped off the horse's back, untied the wooden box, and placed it on a stone by the roadside. With a smile, he took out a black ceramic jar from the box.

  The four fools rushed to take a look and found the black ceramic jar empty.

  Zhou Xuan slowly took out a five-inch-long bamboo tube from the box and poured it into the black ceramic pot. A dark red cricket quickly swam inside the pot.

  Stunned and amazed.

  Zhou Xuan said: "You lost." He put away the cricket and returned it to the wooden box, re-tying it on the saddle.

  He stared blankly for a while, then suddenly exclaimed: "This is a three-tailed female cricket, isn't it the one that 'can't be touched' mated with?"

  "Yes, one or two silver coins."

  Four fools listened, and they started calculating a sentence of ten taels of silver for him! He asked loudly: "So 'untouchable' is also in the wooden box?"

  Zhou Xuan nodded and said: "Right, two taels of silver, hurry up and pay."

  "What am I taking out money for!" Si Chai said indignantly: "You're being dishonest and shameless!"

  Zhou Xuan scolded him, saying: "Since you want to gamble, you should think it through carefully. You should have asked clearly how many insects are in this box? In fact, there's no need to ask, you should have thought of the 'untouchable' fierce insect, full of energy, how can it be separated from the female insect? So your failure is not accidental, it's all your own fault. Blame yourself for being careless and impatient. I estimate that your Go level is far inferior to that of your third senior brother."

  At this time, San Chai spoke up and said: "Fourth brother, you'd better return to Yan Dang Mountain."

  Si Chai was so angry that his head spun around and he asked: "Third Brother, do you think I would also lose to him in a tea-making contest?"

  Three fools don't answer.

  Lai Fu said on one side: "You have already spoken four sentences, four taels of silver."

  Four silly men jumped like thunder, took out a golden ingot from the mule's leather bag and threw it to Zhou Xuan: "This is twenty taels of gold, enough for me to talk from morning till night, I love to say whatever I want."

  Zhou Xuan quickly took over the small gold ingot, letting Lai Fu collect it well, and smiled: "Very good, very good, just say it, twenty taels of gold can say two thousand words, you mustn't say less, or else you'll lose big."

  With mouths agape, they were so angry that they could not utter a word.

  Zhou Xuan was delighted and couldn't help but feel that things were going his way. As soon as he left Jiangzhou, he won twenty taels of gold, what a great omen! It seems that this trip is indeed very auspicious.

  After three days on the road, crossing over Mabailing Ridge, passing through De'an and Yongxiu, arrived at Hongzhou, known as the largest city in the southwest of Tang Dynasty.