bookpub Chapter 1: The Desire Pavilion
Chapter 1: The Desire Pavilion
In the first month of the sixth year of Xiande.
Xiongzhou City, Yuxian Tower.
"Hey~ Grandpa, it's been a while since you've come! We've missed you!"
"There's nothing I can do; my spouse keeps a close eye on me."
"Your wife is tight, but I won't loosen up either~"
The brightly lit front hall was bustling and noisy.
"Tiegen, serve Young Master Xu some tea!"
"Alright!"
In the side kitchen, Wu He carried a teapot and quickly walked to the table, filling the teacups on the table.
"good!!"
A richly dressed young nobleman standing nearby cheered for the dancer, then pulled out a handful of copper coins from his sleeve and scattered them onto the central flower stand.
Wu He turned his head and saw several graceful dancers with alluring charm, their music harmonious and melodious.
Occasionally, a few wealthy young men would throw out some silver, creating a lively atmosphere.
"Look how professional their atmosphere-building team is! They were way better than me in my past life."
Wu He stood aside, looking at him with a fierce, critical gaze.
As a member of the glorious time-traveling army, after three days of memory confusion, I have finally sorted out my thoughts today.
This is an ancient world, rife with war, where large numbers of refugees suffer from hunger and cold.
As for the original owner's real name, he had no way of knowing, only that his nickname was Tie Gen'er and that he was a refugee.
From a young age, he followed beggars to various places to escape war, sleeping in mass graves and eating livestock feed. He wandered all the way to Xiongzhou City and became a low-level pimp at the Yuxian Tower.
Tortoise slave, also called tortoise master.
He did odd jobs like tending the fire and settling disputes, earning a monthly salary of two coins and two meals a day, barely enough to fill his stomach.
Moreover, you don't have to endure the biting wind in the dead of winter outside.
In a world without the greatest invention in human history—polyester fiber—winter would be hell for countless people at the bottom of society.
There's a saying, "A timely snow promises a bumper harvest."
It wasn't just pests that froze to death, but also the disaster victims.
"Little Red Moon's dance moves are so captivating, hehe."
At this moment, another pimp, Wang Er, walked over, put his hand on his shoulder, and squinted at the charming Xiao Hongyue on the stage, unable to look away.
He then asked, "By the way, Tiegen, didn't the shopkeeper say you should dress up and go on stage too? Are you interested?"
"no."
"Then how will you pay me back?"
"...I'll pay it back slowly."
Wu He sighed deeply.
It's a really tragic story.
The original owner had accidentally broken a customer's jade pendant, which was valued at ten taels of silver.
Of course, now that I think about it, the jade pendant must have been broken long ago. The original owner was unlucky enough to be extorted, and in the end, the madam had to pay for it.
It must be returned.
What will we use to repay this?
It costs two coins a month; even if I don't eat or drink, it will take four or five years to pay it off.
So a few days ago, the madam gave him some advice.
They went on stage to perform.
The beauties of the Desire Immortal Pavilion are not just women.
Although Wu He was thin, he had very delicate and handsome features.
but!
Wu He firmly refused.
As a native of Shandong in his previous life, he would rather be stabbed in the back than have someone else do it.
As for that money, we'll have to find another way.
"Well, let me warn you, the madam has her eye on you. Apparently, some military officer is after your looks. Who knows, one day... hehe~"
Wang Er's eyes gleamed with a teasing light.
As the two men talked, they turned the corner of the corridor and were about to enter the side room to start a fire when Wu He suddenly heard a clanging sound coming from the second floor, followed by a rough and foul curse.
The madam, who was greeting customers in the lobby, suddenly flew into a rage, hands on her hips, yelling, "Are you kidding me?! Are you trying to ruin my business?!"
"Aren't you going up and check it out!"
This was a curse directed at Wu He and Wang Er. The two exchanged a glance and were about to step onto the wooden ladder.
Click!
The wooden railing snapped and broke, and a figure in hemp clothing crashed down like a sandbag, smashing a table solidly in half, making a series of crisp clanging sounds, and splashing amber-colored wine everywhere.
"ah--"
At that moment, the man lay twisted on the ground, his chest visibly caved in, blood gushing from his mouth, his eyes wide open, then his head lolled to the side and he died.
Dai Tao!
Wu He looked closely and saw that it was Dai Tao, also a pimp at the Desire Immortal Pavilion. He immediately felt a chill in his heart.
"Someone's dead!" a guest exclaimed.
The laughter and chatter abruptly ceased, and the room fell silent.
A rude roar came from the second floor: "You dare ask your grandpa for money? You son of a bitch... hiccup~ You're tired of living!"
Wu He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a burly man standing drunkenly by the railing.
He was burly and broad-shouldered, with a face full of scars and a fierce glint in his eyes. A ferocious black dragon was tattooed on his bare chest, rising and falling with his breath as if it were alive.
"You'll kill someone if you don't pay? You've gone too far!"
The madam's thick eyebrows stood on end, giving her a certain air of authority even in this setting.
"Oh ho, you old hag, you've got quite a temper! Grandpa's not only not paying you today, I'm going to smash up this lousy place!"
The drunken man kicked the railing, breaking it and sending splinters flying.
Then, with a large stride, he jumped directly from the second floor.
However, his seemingly robust body landed lightly, as if walking on flat ground.
The guests below stood up one after another, their faces showing fear, and a few of the more timid ones had already slipped towards the door.
Wang Er, who was next to Wu He, also exclaimed in surprise, "Eh~" and pulled Wu He to the side.
"Shrink back! Shrink back!"
"This guy's definitely a martial arts expert; don't get involved!"
Hearing his words, Wu He seemed slightly stunned, his memories surging.
Musha.
A superhuman with power that surpasses that of ordinary people.
They can scale walls and leap several feet into the air, cleave rivers and seas, and move mountains and overturn peaks.
His martial arts prowess was far beyond anything he could have imagined in the martial arts novels of his past life.
"Master Li! Master Li!"
Just as Wu He was racking his brains to recall, a shrill shout came from the hall.
Looking back again, it was still the madam. As the voice faded, the curtain of the back room was lifted.
A figure emerged limping out from the shadows.
This man was not burly; in fact, he was rather thin. He wore a long, fine cloth robe, unlike those worn by Wu He and the others. He had an ordinary appearance, was blind in one eye, and had a limp in one leg.
"Master Li! This scoundrel came drunk and caused trouble, even killing my men, what do you think..."
But this unassuming man caused the usually hot-tempered madam to behave unusually respectfully beside him.
Master Li.
Wu He had an impression of this person in his memory.
His name is Li Bo, and he is a guard at the Yuxian Tower.
Although he was also doing the work of maintaining order, his status was worlds apart from that of pimps like Wu He, and even the madam treated him with utmost respect.
It is said that he was once a soldier.
After the defeat in the Northern Expedition against Yan and Yun in the second year of Xiande, he was discharged from the army due to injury. Because of his excellent skills, he was invited to Yuxianlou to serve as a guard.
Ordinary thugs and hooligans, like Wu He, can be dealt with.
When it comes to strongmen and barbarians, it takes a skilled bodyguard like this to step up.
At this moment, Li Bo nodded and staggered towards the big man.
"Ha, you think you can make a name for yourself with your crippled body?"
The burly man glared with a sinister grin and suddenly threw a punch.
In an instant, his previously swaying, drunken body stood up very steadily, his arm muscles as if alive, showing faint, peculiar lines.
Wu He heard the sound of the punch clearly.
Li Bo neither dodged nor avoided, but simply turned slightly to the side, and with his right index and middle fingers joined together, he struck the big man's wrist with lightning speed.
With a crisp "crack," the big man's wrist bone shattered!
Wu He's pupils trembled slightly.
Nest grass.
"Ah!" the big man screamed.
Immediately afterward, before Wu He could even see Li Bo's movements clearly, he only felt a blur before his eyes and found himself behind the big man, slapping him on the back.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment.
The burly man froze, his ferocious expression hardening.
Then his eyes widened, and with a "poof," he coughed up a mouthful of blood, his flesh and blood splattering from his chest.
He fell straight to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices, and died a gruesome death.
The lobby was completely silent; even breathing was barely audible.
Li Bo withdrew his hand and walked back into the shadows expressionlessly, as if he had only done a trivial matter.
Wu He stood not far away and witnessed all of this.
I felt my heart pounding wildly in my chest, almost bursting out, and my palms were covered in cold sweat.
Two lives were lost in just one minute.
Dai Tao died hastily, and that arrogant and domineering big man died even more hastily.
This deeply shocked Wu He, who had received a good education in his previous life.
"What are you all staring at?"
The madam broke the silence, her voice trembling slightly.
But he quickly regained his usual shrewdness and decisiveness: "Hurry up and pack up. Take Dai Tao's body to the backyard, find a cloth to cover it, and as for this..."
She glanced at the burly man on the ground with disgust: "Carry him to the backyard too, and send him to Butcher Hu tomorrow morning."
Several pimps and servants stepped forward tremblingly and began to clean up the mess.
Wu He also joined in, helping to lift Dai Tao's body.
His body was still warm and soft, just like when he was alive, except that his eyes could no longer close.
Human life is like a mustard.
Wu He's breathing became heavy, his thoughts racing.
This world is clearly one where violence reigns supreme.
Compared to the big guy who was getting something for nothing, Dai Tao was the weaker one, so he could easily kill him.
Compared to Li Bo, the big man was weaker, so he could be killed easily.
What about yourself?
Wu He looked at his own skinny frame and realized he wasn't even as muscular as Dai Tao.
There were quite a few troublemakers today. Originally, the tattooed big man on the second floor was supposed to ask for his own overnight bill, but coincidentally, Dai Tao tried to curry favor with the madam, and the big man beat him to it.
Otherwise, I would be the one being carried away now.
Thinking of this, Wu He felt a chill run down his spine.
"This is the kind of work that pimps do, dealing with violence. In the few months since the original owner came here, seven unlucky people have died one after another."
"In this line of work, you can handle thugs and hooligans, but if they're really skilled in martial arts, you're asking for death."
"And I'm already drowning in debt. What Wang Er said probably isn't unfounded. Who knows, I might get dragged into this mess by that old hag any day."
"How much longer can I live here?"
In a short time, Wu He's mindset was changing, shifting from whether he could live poor or rich to how long he could live.
This place is clearly a hotbed of trouble. I was lucky to escape this time, but what about next time?
Let's just leave.
"Hiss~ It seems like I won't survive even if I run away."
Since I don't have a registered residence or identity, I'm restricted in many ways and can only play a low-level role in the gray area like a pimp.
If we tried to run away, with the snow falling like knives outside, there'd be no way we'd survive.
Oh dear, how am I supposed to live?
"What if... I also practiced martial arts?"
In the midst of his chaotic thoughts, Wu He suddenly had an idea.
He still vividly remembered the scene of Li Bo instantly killing that big man.
That speed, that power.
Only by mastering violence can one survive!
"Hurry up, stop dawdling!"
At this moment, the madam in the hall urged them on.
After carrying Dai Tao's body to the backyard and covering it with a tattered straw mat, Wu He returned to the main hall and worked with the others to deal with the tattooed body.
He grabbed the big man's arm; it was icy cold to the touch, and the muscles tattooed with a black dragon were already stiff.
Just as they lifted the big man up, Wu He glanced out of the corner of his eye and suddenly noticed a palm-sized yellow booklet in the big man's waist pouch.
The only visible characters are in traditional Chinese: 【蟒纹功】 (Mǎng Wén Gōng).
His heart skipped a beat, and as if possessed, he reached out and, when no one was looking, stuffed it into his crotch.
At the same time, subtitles floated in front of him.
[Python Pattern Kung Fu has been included]
[Is it possible to preemptively access the profound secrets of the "Python Pattern Technique"?]