Zheng Mukai, the head escort of the Guangxing Escort Agency in Kaifeng Prefecture, wants to compete with Ge Shigong, the fifth-ranked member of the Huai'an Chivalry Sect, in the city's arena.
These two are both well-known figures in the world.
Zheng Mukai, who is thirty-five this year, is known as the "Kaifeng Three-Armed Sword". Of course, he is not a "Three-Sword Style". He only has one sword, but he can use this fast sword so fast that people can't stand it.
It feels like he has three arms.
And that Ge Shi is not an energy-saving lamp. He is thirty-one years old this year and is nicknamed "Scorpion Tail Spear". His seven-foot flower spear is ever-changing and extremely powerful. It can be said that everyone in the Huaihe River area knows it.
Although these two people... had no friendship in the first place, they did not get into a fight, let alone sign a life or death certificate and enter the ring for a duel.
But today they were going to fight, and they had to fight.
why?
It's not hard to guess - two men fight to the death, mostly for money or women.
They have enough money to spend.
So, the answer is women.
There are many types of women. Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi both have wives at home, and their wives are also women, but today they are obviously not fighting for their wives who are far away.
They...are fighting for a woman they have never even met.
That woman, nicknamed "Chu Xue", was the number one in the "Qiliu Youlan", the largest brothel in Xuzhou City.
In those days, brothels were also divided into three, six, and nine grades; let’s not mention the second- and third-rate brothels, which usually didn’t have that many rules, but the first-rate brothels... there were a lot of rules when visiting them.
A brothel that can become famous must have a very powerful backer behind it, so most people will never see the top names in such a brothel.
It doesn't mean that if you have money, you can go into the brothel with a loud mouth and ask for a roll call to sleep with the top card. Sorry, there is no such operation.
For those with status, prostitution must also be elegant and classy. They cannot just lie down and sleep in the house like ordinary people who visit the lower-class brothels. In their eyes, they are just animals.
What real dignitaries, literati and refined guests want to pursue is not just physical release; before that, they must first be spiritually satisfied.
Therefore, if you want to meet the top celebrity in such a high-end brothel, you have to "ask for an interview" just like a door-to-door interview.
Regardless of whether others see you in the end, you still have to put down the money first and let the madam make sure that you are willing to spend the money.
Then, I usually invite you to drink tea in the room first, and let the girl take a look at you in the dark. If you look impersonal, crooked, rude in words and deeds, etc... then basically you
You can go back after drinking tea.
If your appearance and temperament are all good, then the next step is for the girl to come out and talk to you...
Of course, it's just a chat. If you see someone coming out and make a move, or show an anxious look, that person will turn around and leave.
You still have to carry it, hold it, you are obviously here to visit the brothel, but you also have to look calm and relaxed, chatting with others about music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and having fun... Then people will start to offer you tea and toasts.
Flying eyes are flirtatious.
We continued chatting like this until midnight, until the girl took the initiative to say hello to the maid next to her, asking her to pass on the message and close the door, and then "invite" you to go into the back room to rest together, so that you could go in and complete the real purpose of your visit to the brothel.
This series of... operations that may seem to us today like taking off your pants and farting, were considered by the upper class of that era to be foreplay that was even more essential than foreplay.
In fact, if you taste it carefully, you will find that this makes sense.
If you get something too easily, it will reduce your happiness when you enjoy it...
Even if it's pooping, the feeling of relief when you poop when you feel the slightest urge to defecate is completely different from the feeling of relief when you poop until you feel like you're about to poop in your pants.
Can a tall, rich and handsome person feel happy after spending a day sleeping with a goddess, and a dog-licking person feel happy after spending a year sleeping with a goddess? Can that compare?
Therefore, taking the initiative to create difficulties for one's actions and enjoying the feeling of worrying about possible failure or rejection is a higher level and a skill to subtly induce one's brain to secrete more endorphins.
.
Of course, having said that, you must have the strength to operate like this. If you don't have the strength, no matter how hard you try, you will only lose nothing.
It’s a bit of a tangent... Let’s get back to the point.
So what happened to Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi?
With the foreshadowing I gave above, the explanation is relatively simple: they both went to Qiliu Youlan last night, and they both wanted to see the Chuxue girl, so they were invited by the madam to drink tea together.
As a result, Chuxue didn't show up. She just looked at the two people from behind the curtain for a while and said, "One catkin can't distinguish two yu (pronounced yu, the second tone)." Then he asked the old bustard to see the guests off.
After the two came out, they were a little confused, so they asked the old madam to ask Miss Chuxue what she meant. Seeing that everyone had spent money and they were all prominent figures in the world, the old madam went to ask Miss Chuxue.
So I wrote down those six words again and handed over a note.
So what exactly does she mean?
This "Yixu" undoubtedly refers to herself, as Xuxu is snow; "I don't distinguish between two Yu", literally, seems to be saying, "My snowflake cannot fall on you two."
'In the valley'.
But it's not...
She has hidden the word here. The word "Yu" is actually not "禺" but "Ou" because there are two of you sitting there.
Miss Chuxue was very smart. When she saw the clothes, boots, cuffs and belt details of the two people, she knew that they were both married people, and their wives took good care of them; this "Idol"
The word "" is to remind them that they still have wives at home; the deliberate absence of the radical is to persuade them to be "people" and have a conscience.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The so-called "one catkin cannot separate two people" does not mean that I will not "divide" myself to the two of you, but that I, Chuxue, do not want to "separate me"
"You two "couples".
She...that's what she thought.
But Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi didn't think so.
These two have suffered from being uneducated. What level of education do you think the girls who can become top officials have? If women could take the exams, they would have become officials long ago. How come you two still want to be top officials? This is not a recipe for bad luck.
?
In this way, Zheng and Ge took that sentence into its literal meaning, and interpreting it according to that meaning, the other party seemed to be implying, "If only one of you comes, then my piece of snow will fall there."
So, they followed the formula of "two peaches kill three soldiers" and fought among themselves.
Both of them were from martial arts circles, well-known and upright people. They couldn't just fight outside a brothel at night, and then the winner would go back after the fight. It wouldn't sound good if it spread out.
So they made an appointment to compete in the East Street Arena in Xuzhou City at noon today.
As for the reason... they naturally didn't publicly say that it was because of a prostitute. They only said that they wanted to compete in martial arts and compete with each other. However, considering that the sword has no eyes, it would not end well if something went wrong, so they still talked to the local landguard.
He said hello and signed a life and death certificate.
That's what the scene said.
But in fact, both of them had murderous intentions.
I have signed the life and death certificate, can I still keep my hand?
This thing is equivalent to a "legal murder contract". As long as both parties sign it voluntarily, life and death will be decided afterwards. No relatives or friends of either party can come to seek revenge afterwards. If anyone seeks revenge or retaliation in disguise, then you will have the right to do so.
The mistake came first.
…………
After noon, crowds of spectators began to gather on East Street.
The common people would stay away from the vendettas they encountered on the road, because they were afraid of being harmed. However, they were so cute in the rules-bound competition, and some even climbed up to nearby merchants to get a better view.
's roof.
It won't be long, it will arrive in a blink of an eye.
Ge Shi and Zheng Mukai finally made their debut.
Both of them waited until the last minute to show up, which can be regarded as a manifestation of their experience in the world - they both know that if such an occasion comes too early, they will be more anxious.
The certificate of life and death had already been signed. The two of them just came to the land security guard who was the witness and bowed briefly. After listening to the other party's brief explanation, they each used Qinggong to jump onto the six-foot-high ring.
"please."
"please."
They held weapons in hand, cupped their fists, and said a final greeting in the center of the stage, then walked to both ends of the stage.
At this moment...
"Lai lai lai, the market is open, buy it and leave! The game will start soon. At the last minute, hurry up if you want to place a bet. What? What is one minute? One minute is when you count from one to sixty
time."
All I could hear was that at the corner of an alley about ten meters away from the arena, a man with a somewhat shrill voice was shouting loudly and without hesitation.
At the same time, there was another voice, not far from the "opener", speaking to a group of villagers gathered here in a clear and concise manner: "Oh, I am a professional commentator, you believe me.
Let me tell you, today’s match is the 64th Open. Ge Shixiaoyou... As the saying goes, practice swordsmanship for a hundred days, spear practice for a thousand days, and sword practice for ten thousand days. Players of their level...oh no...masters,
Generally speaking, the practice of spear training is more vigorous. Of course, this Zheng Mukai is a few years older than Ge Shi, so this has to be taken into account. You listen to me, go to Ge Shi, that's right."
If the owners of these two voices are not Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai, who are they?
These two guys also just arrived in Xuzhou yesterday. Rumors about the duel were spreading in the streets this morning, so they came to join in the fun.
Sun Yixie is worthy of being a business genius. He almost immediately thought of setting up a "handicap" near the ring as soon as he heard the news. You may say that he is short of money, but in fact he is not. It's just because he was short of money a few days ago.
Zhu Xiaowan's black shop cost him two hundred taels of silver. He felt uncomfortable, so he wanted to make some extra money - this was due to his character, and it really wasn't about money.
As for Huang Donglai, he also had a special liking for commentary, so he came to help Brother Sun "keep the edge".
The two of them stood there and chatted like a cross talk at first. When more people came to listen, Huang Donglai started telling stories alone, while Sun Yixie went to the side and took out the ""
"Betting" started to open, and then the scene before us happened.
Listening to the unscrupulous words and deeds of those two boys, Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi on the ring also looked embarrassed, with the corners of their mouths slightly twitching. But now that the arrow is on the string, they are unlikely to call a timeout or anything.
The two could only pretend not to hear, and took up their stances, preparing to fight.