Fox Road Travel Notes

In the normally gloomy main hall of Master Qi's house, the lights tonight were exceptionally bright.

The man in the carriage was sitting at the bottom. Opposite him, the whole face of the old couple was shining.

He is the pride of their Qi family.

Four generations back, in more than seventy years, the first candidate to be elected was elected.

That year, he ranked fifth in the Yuzhou Provincial Examination!

He is not an ordinary person.

Although Sun Shan was famous in the two spring curtains of the Chongzhen Dynasty, he was a big celebrity in the eyes of Huaiqing Mansion and even the Jin gentry of Yuzhou.

A few words can change life or death, and a single word can determine victory or defeat.

"I would rather fight tigers and wolves in the east mountains than mess with Qi Dalang in the west city."

He is the only son of Master Qi, Qi Dalang - Qi Yongkang.

He was a well-known litigator in Hebei Province and Nanzhili Province.

Over the years, he made friends with the government, took charge of lawsuits, and earned a lot of money.

Otherwise, Mr. Qi would be poor all his life. How would he have the money to manage the situation? After a thorough selection process, Lin Lao chose someone who was in short supply of tutors in Xiuwu County?

At this moment, listening to his father talking about Gao Xinzhi's trivial matters, his tense face gradually relaxed.

"Sure enough, he's just a idiot."

"However, this time things were done so beautifully and without any leaks. It must have been guided by an expert."

"Could it be that his uncle invited him?"

Thinking in his mind, he said casually: "Since he is so lazy, why doesn't father depose him?"

Master Qi was shocked and shook his head quickly.

"I can't do it! I can't do it!"

"Son, do you know that a strange thing happened to our family a few nights ago?"

Qi Yongkang's eyes narrowed: "Oh? Is it related to Gao Xinzhi?"

Mr. Qi twirled his beard, recalling what happened that night, still feeling frightened.

His lips trembled: "This -"

"If you say it's relevant, it's relevant. If you say it's irrelevant, it's irrelevant."

"That night, your grandfather came back..."

With a shake of his hand, Qi Yongkang knocked the wine glass over with his chopsticks when he was about to pick up the food, and the wine spilled all over his sleeves.

"What? This-"

The memory of the family standing in the yard, waiting for the old man to die, is the biggest guilt and deepest scar in everyone's heart.

"Ugh--"

Master Qi put down his wine glass, let out a long sigh, and recounted what happened that day.

Qi Yongkang listened silently, his fingers holding the chopsticks pale.

It rubbed back and forth unconsciously, making a "squeaking" sound.

After a long while, he took a deep breath, his voice trembling, but very firm.

"Wude Xingjun?"

"Absurd! I don't believe it! There must be something behind this matter..."

Master Qi shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I saw this with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears."

"I remember every word of what your grandfather said clearly."

"If there is a ghost, your grandfather, isn't he a ghost?"

Qi Yongkang also shook his head and said nothing.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked: "Well, father, after grandpa said he was leaving, is the cough still there?"

Qi Fuzi was stunned for a moment, scratched his head and said "hmm".

"It's still there. It stopped in the middle of the night."

"Maybe it's your grandfather who is reluctant to leave. He hasn't seen you!"

"Speaking of which, he loves you the most..."

Qi Yongkang's back felt cold.

He quickly interrupted: "Father, I'm tired. You and mother should rest early."

"Whether there is a ghost or not, I will get to the bottom of this matter."

Early the next morning, Master Qi walked out of his room and saw his son walking around the courtyard.

He asked doubtfully: "Son, what are you doing up so early?"

"Is there something going on when you come back this time?"

Qi Yongkang stopped and looked at his father: "It's okay."

"But I discovered something."

His wife died the year before last and has not remarried yet.

This time, he fell in love with the girl from the Wang family, but his good deeds were ruined by Gao Xinzhi, leaving him disgraced and embarrassed.

Since he was a child, he has a temperament that doesn't suffer losses, so he doesn't want to mention these things to his family.

He led the suspicious Qi Fuzi outside the courtyard wall and stopped behind the kitchen.

Qi Yongkang pointed to the ground: "Father, look, there are footprints here and here."

"Three or four days have passed since the incident, and I can no longer see clearly."

"But look at this..."

He stretched out his right foot and made a rough comparison.

"This footprint is very big, almost an inch longer than the sole of my son's boot."

He raised his head and looked at Master Qi: "Father, you said that Gao Xinzhi is tall, eight feet two inches tall?"

Master Qi knelt down, frowned and looked carefully. For a long time, he didn't see anything.

He nodded: "Looking at it, it looks a bit like footprints——"

"Well, that's right, that boy is tall and strong."

Qi Yongkang pinched the corners of his eyes, a dangerous light flashed in his eyes, but it was covered up by his seemingly inadvertent movements.

He thought for a moment and said calmly: "Father, let's go to the kitchen and have a look."

"There should be more discoveries."

After digging up the loose soil under the firewood, a bamboo cage was revealed through a layer of cloth.

Qi Yongkang paused, feeling a little more confident.

Master Qi was shocked: "What is this?"

"Where did this come from..."

Qi Yongkang did not raise his head: "Father, are you sure you haven't seen this at home?"

Master Qi tugged at his beard: "Of course!"

"We don't have anything like this at home..."

Qi Yongkang nodded slightly but said nothing.

Pick up a branch from the side, hold your breath, and gently open the rag.

He looked at it carefully and then slowly brought it closer to his nose.

Suddenly, he covered his mouth and nose and sneezed.

Shaking away the dust in front of his eyes, Qi Yongkang threw the rag aside.

He also used branches to lift up the small bamboo cage in the pit.

The cage mouth was open, and it was empty inside, with only a few dry grass blades twisted into ropes.

I checked the bamboo cage over and over again but found nothing else.

However, Qi Yongkang is already confident.

He reached out and dug around in the pit, and several small holes were exposed.

"Mouse hole? This cage is for mice?"

Master Qi cried out.

Qi Yongkang shook his head, patted the dirt on his knees, and stood up.

He smiled and said, "It's not a mouse, it's a toad."

"I don't understand why the toads are kept in cages and buried underground."

"but……"

Master Qi's face changed drastically and he said sharply: "Toad?"

"Is it Gu magic? Witchcraft?"

"Who on earth has such a big hatred against our family?"

"This, this is going to..."

Have a grudge?

There are so many people who have enemies with him.

But whoever is full of food goes to his parents’ house to do this!

He's so capable, I shouldn't have found him earlier, Qi Dalang.

Qi Yongkang waved his hand and interrupted him.

"Father is overly worried. Although I don't know what that person is doing, I guess it has something to do with the commotion that night."

He looked up at the rafters.

Once upon a time, his grandfather was hanging there, dangling like a piece of bacon...

The tuition fees he occasionally received during his lifetime, and the bundles of bacon sent by his students.

He looked at Master Qi and found that Master Qi was also looking at him. Their eyes met and they were both a little avoidant.

In a tacit agreement, no one mentioned the old man.

Qi Yongkang asked: "Father, did you say the sound came from the beams?"

Qi Fuzi's expression changed: "Okay, it seems so."

Qi Yongkang nodded silently and asked, "What about the coughing sound?"

Master Qi frowned, looked at the roof, then at the ground, trying to remember.

He shook his head: "This, alas——"

"I can't tell you clearly, it seems-"

Qi Yongkang has already walked out.