Chapter 670 The target of public criticism
April 1st, Lin'an City.

At dusk, a streak of red sunset hung high in the sky, covering half of the red sun. The streets of Lin'an were bustling with people, and the people were well fed and well dressed. All industries were thriving, and the people were well off, a rare "prosperous age".

However, the "hustle and bustle" in front of Tianji Pavilion is somewhat contrary to the "peace and prosperity" of Lin'an City.

At this time, a dozen golden sword captains were carrying buckets and rags and were busy in front of the gate.

The gate and the walls on both sides of the Tianji Pavilion were covered with obscene words written in vermilion lacquer and red ink, such as "shameless traitor", "despicable villain", "hypocrite", "scum of the world" and so on.

Even the plaque hanging high in the middle of the door was written with four big blood-red characters: "A life for a life."

In fact, today is not the first time that Tianji Pavilion has made a fool of itself. Since February, people from the martial arts world have come to Tianji Pavilion to cause trouble every few days, clamoring for Zhao Yuan to hand over Liu Xunyi.

Zhao Yuan was extremely angry about this and ordered that any troublemakers who occurred in the future would be killed without mercy without having to be arrested or interrogated.

In just one month, the two sides had dozens of battles of varying sizes, resulting in casualties on both sides.

Later, the matter alarmed the imperial court, and the emperor issued an edict ordering the Western Palace to send troops to help, vowing to wipe out this group of ignorant gangsters in one fell swoop.

Since then, the heroes of Jianghu have turned from open to covert, no longer fighting with Tianji Pavilion openly, but making trouble secretly. Things like splashing ink and writing inscriptions are the masterpieces of some green forest heroes.

What's worse, they were no longer limited to causing trouble in front of the Tianji Pavilion, but directed their attacks at all the government offices in Lin'an City, and even the residences of some royal relatives and court ministers.

The people in the underworld acted in a secretive and varied way, and they were a mixed bunch, colluding with each other to cover up for each other. Therefore, it was difficult for the court and government to track down their whereabouts, let alone catch the troublemakers.

Especially in recent days, their "disturbance" has become more and more intense, and some unscrupulous people have begun to take advantage of the chaos to extend their evil hands to ordinary people, so that more and more people have reported to the police in recent days, making the Lin'an government office overwhelmed and unable to cope with it.

In front of the gate, a sweaty and exhausted lieutenant threw the rag in his hand into the dirty bucket and complained, "We just cleaned it the morning before yesterday. The brothers took great pains to clean the gate. I didn't expect it to become like this in the blink of an eye. If we had known this would happen, we should have taken a break the first few times and cleaned it up together after they had made enough noise."

"Have you had enough?" Another captain with the golden sword curled his lips and said, "When will they be enough? These bandits have nothing to do all day, and now they have made Lin'an City a mess. They are in high spirits now, and I'm afraid they won't stop until they turn the world upside down."

"I don't know when this hard labor will end?" Someone else grumbled, "Nowadays, the troublemakers hide in their houses and enjoy the good life, while innocent people like us are implicated. We have been reduced from captains with knives to menial servants carrying buckets."

"Alas! There is nothing we can do. Who told us to be born to suffer? We deserve to be treated like slaves!"

A dozen or so golden sword captains seemed to be dissatisfied, and they spoke one after another, full of sarcastic complaints.

"Liu Xunyi used to be decisive and daring, but what happened to him now? He hides in his house all day, never leaving the house. Even when faced with provocations from these bandits, he swallows his anger and turns a blind eye. He is like a completely different person..."

"Lord Liu is not unwilling to go out, but the Marquis has ordered him not to go out!"

Suddenly, a childish voice came from a distance, and then a boy about twelve or thirteen years old, with ordinary features and childishness, walked over quickly.

"Little Dingzi, the Marquis is not here today, and you sneaked out to act wild again without telling your master? Be careful that you will fail the test every three months. You were beaten with the stick thirty times last time, and if you fail this time, you will be beaten with the stick a hundred times. Seeing your fragile body, you will fall apart after being beaten with the stick a hundred times!"

"Ha ha……"

Upon seeing the young man's indignant look, a captain with a golden sword stretched out his red-painted hand and touched his face, while making a joking remark, which caused the others to laugh.

Xiao Dingzi, like Liu Xunyi and Qin Wei, was also an orphan selected by Zhao Yuan to study in Tianji Pavilion. Because of his small eyes, flat nose, and big mouth, he was not good-looking, so he was named "Ding Chou" by Zhao Yuan.

"I was careless last time. I will definitely pass this time." Ding Chou dodged the dirty hands of the Golden Sword Captain with a look of disgust and said stubbornly, "Don't say bad things about Lord Liu again, otherwise I will report you to the Marquis!"

"Hey! You little bastard, are you looking for death?"

Before the golden sword captains could finish their words, Ding Chou had already run into the Tianji Pavilion and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Ding Chou rushed through the houses and yards in a hurry and went straight to Liu Xunyi's residence.

The smell of alcohol could be smelled from ten meters away, and the closer one got to Liu Xunyi's room, the stronger the smell became.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

When Ding Chou knocked on the door while covering his nose, a series of "ding ding bang bang" sounds suddenly came from the quiet room.

"squeak!"

Before Ding Chou could knock on the door again, the tightly closed door was suddenly opened. In an instant, a strong and pungent smell of alcohol hit him in the face, choking the unprepared Ding Chou and causing him to cough.

At this moment, standing in front of Ding Chou was a drunkard with disheveled hair, untidy beard, messy clothes and a lazy expression.

"Master Liu..."

If Ding Chou hadn't revealed his identity, others wouldn't have believed that he was the high-spirited and elegant Liu Xunyi. The difference between the two was like heaven and earth. Since Liu Xunyi learned of Luo Tianjin's death, he was like a pile of mud that couldn't be helped. He drank all day and fell asleep when he was drunk.

He drinks when he wakes up, and sleeps again when he gets drunk. He has been repeating this cycle for more than three months. Today, he is so listless, lazy, and negative that he is unprecedented and unheard of.

For several months, Liu Xunyi seemed to no longer care about anything that happened around him, even though Lin'an City was filled with thousands of people who wanted to kill him to make a name for themselves? Even though the slander and abuse against him in the Central Plains martial arts world had become a hot topic and everyone in the world knew about it? Even though the people of Lin'an were talking about him, pointing fingers at him inside and outside the city? Even though the people in Tianji Pavilion began to blame him, accuse him, and hate him? Even though Zhao Yuan had never summoned him since he came back? Even though no one had mentioned his unparalleled contributions to the court until now...

Everything seemed unimportant to Liu Xunyi today. No matter if people around him complimented him or ridiculed him, he turned a blind eye and turned a deaf ear to them. He just closed the door and drank until he was dizzy and in a trance all day long.

However, even though Liu Xunyi had forgotten about the sun and the moon, fame and fortune, honor and disgrace, and even life and death, he still remembered one thing clearly deep in his heart.

To be more precise, it is a person.

From the day he returned to Lin'an City, Zhao Yuan ordered that he was not allowed to leave Tianji Pavilion at all, calling it "full protection", but in fact it was to make him "reflect on himself and wait for punishment."

Even so, Liu Xunyi still longed to see Zhao Xin, whom he had been thinking about day and night.

To this end, he found Ding Chou, who was young and simple-minded, and asked him to go to Prince Rong's Mansion to tell the young prince Zhao Xie the news of his safe return.

Zhao Yu is the "matchmaker" between Liu Xunyi and Zhao Xin, and has been secretly bringing them together for many years. Therefore, by having him pass on the message, Liu Xunyi and Zhao Xin will not get into trouble.

I thought that after Ding Chou sent the message, Zhao Xie would bring me news about Zhao Xin within three to five days. But unexpectedly, Ding Chou's mission fell on deaf ears, and there was no news for several months.

During this period, Liu Xunyi asked Ding Chou to go several more times, but the result was the same but he returned empty-handed.

What puzzled Liu Xunyi the most was that Zhao Xin had a special identity, so it would be fine if she didn't show up. But why did even the young prince Zhao Yu hide away and deliberately avoid him?

Looking at Ding Chou who was at a loss and full of embarrassment, Liu Xunyi could guess without asking any more questions that he would be turned away again when he went to Prince Rong's Mansion today.

"Lord Liu, I knocked on all four doors of the Rong Palace, but no one allowed me to see the young prince..."

"I understand." Before Ding Chou could explain, Liu Xunyi waved his hand impatiently and said, "It's not your fault. The young prince was deliberately avoiding it."

"Master Liu, I messed up the task you gave me again, didn't I..." At this point, Ding Chou looked at Liu Xunyi with an increasingly timid look in his eyes, "Are you unwilling to teach me martial arts?"

However, Liu Xunyi's mind was not on Ding Chou at all, so she was completely unaware of his submissiveness.

"If Master Liu refuses to teach me, I will definitely fail the next test, and I will inevitably be beaten with a hundred sticks..." Ding Chou said to himself with a sad face, "They all laughed at me for being weak, and I will definitely die if I am beaten with a hundred sticks. Although I said it tough, I knew in my heart that I would probably die..."

"What did you say?"

As if his thoughts were disrupted by Ding Chou's mumbling, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but frown and looked at Ding Chou with a little dissatisfaction, while a pungent smell of alcohol came out of his mouth.

"Nothing... nothing..." Ding Chou was so frightened that his body trembled and he quickly stepped back. "Master Liu, have a good rest. I'm going to practice. If I delay for another day today, Master will not forgive me..."

After saying that, Ding Chou didn't dare to look directly into Liu Xunyi's eyes anymore. He turned around in a hurry and ran away tremblingly.

"and many more!"

Before Ding Chou ran away, Liu Xunyi's voice suddenly rang out: "What are you going to practice?"

"According to Master's arrangement, we should practice the Qimei Staff today..."

"Go stand still!" Liu Xunyi pointed at the wooden stake in the yard and said lazily, "Compared to your upper body, your lower body is your fatal weakness. Your feet are rootless and your whole body is weak. Even if you practice the sword, spear, sword and halberd moves very well, they are just fancy moves and useless."

"Standing still?" Ding Chou was stunned and said in astonishment, "That's the basic skill for kids aged six or seven. I've practiced it when I was a kid..."

"Really?" Liu Xunyi stretched and yawned, "How long have you practiced?"

"For three whole years, two full hours every day, rain or shine..."

"Three years?" Liu Xunyi interrupted Ding Chou's boasting again, and said with a half-smile, "Your senior brother Qin Wei once stood in the stance for thirteen years, also for two hours every day, rain or shine."

"This..." Ding Chou was shocked, "Master Qin actually stood on the stake for thirteen years? No wonder he was able to be among the young guards at such a young age..." At this point, Ding Chou suddenly had an idea and asked hurriedly, "Then...how many years did Master Liu stand on the stake?"

However, facing Ding Chou's questioning, Liu Xunyi ignored him, shook his head, closed the door, and went back to sleep.

……

(End of this chapter)