【Kuan Xin】Snake and Venom

Before the sun rose, Yuan Zhongxin was woken up by Wang Kuan. At this time, the sky was still gloomy and gloomy, and a few gusts of cold wind blew from time to time, which woke Yuan Zhongxin standing by the window completely. god.

Wang Kuan just went to get a pot of hot water, and when he entered the door, he saw Yuan Zhongxin's thin clothes facing the cold wind. He frowned, and urged Yuan Zhongxin, "Put on your clothes first, so you don't get cold."

Yuan Zhongxin obediently put on the robe placed beside the bed, rubbed his eyes and asked, "Have Zhao Jian and the others woke up?"

Wang Kuan nodded, wrung out the towel in his hand and handed it over: "Wake up, I just went out and woke them up by the way."

Yuan Zhongxin took it, and immediately spread the warm towel on his face, sighing in comfort, he put down the towel, took out the small yellow bag from his pocket, took out the bottle of medicine, and handed it to Wang Kuan .

Wang Kuan took it, stared at it for a few seconds, and asked, "What is this?"

Yuan Zhongxin replied: "The pills are good for keeping the body warm and cold. If the weather goes into the mountains, it will be colder. I have already eaten them. You can share them with them. One pill per person is just enough." .”

Wang Kuan nodded, poured out a pill, threw it into his mouth and swallowed it with his head raised, then turned around and went out to find Zhao Jian and the others.

The six people packed their bags and gathered in the lobby of the post house, drinking hot soup, chewing pancakes, and looking at the map of Wumuzhai that Yuan Zhongxin unfolded.

To enter Wumu Village, one must first climb over Lianyun Mountain on the east side of Taiyuan Mansion. This mountain is steep and steep, and the terrain is extremely rugged. It is impossible to see the road at night, so the best time to enter the mountain is during the day.

And Wumu Village is located on a high flat land on the back slope of Lianyun Mountain. Behind the village is a cliff. No one knows what lies below the cliff.

Yuan Zhongxin talked about the important matters of Wumu Village with Wang Kuan and the other five, and then said: "Because it is more dangerous to go into the mountains, we'd better pack lightly and don't bring unnecessary things. Go check your horses later, focusing on the hooves and saddles."

Xiaojing doesn't know how to ride a horse. She and Zhao Jian share one horse, and now the six of them use five horses.

After the six people checked, they selected a bunch of necessary supplies, bundled them into a bundle, and tied them to the sixth horse.

After getting ready to go, the six left the post house and headed towards Lianyun Mountain.

However, as the six of them were walking, Wei Yanei noticed something was wrong, he turned his head and looked around, and asked puzzledly, "Did we forget something?"

Xiaojing head: "Students from Shisanzhai."

Wang Kuan rode beside Yuan Zhongxin on horseback, glanced at him, and saw that the latter was strolling leisurely in the courtyard, and immediately guessed what he meant, Wang Kuan smiled and said, "I haven't forgotten, they are Unnecessary things."

Yuan Zhongxin glanced at him, shrugged, but did not deny it.

Wei Yanei was dissatisfied: "Then it will be cheaper for them?"

Yuan Zhongxin said without looking back: "You can turn around and go back to find them now."

Wei Yanei thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "No, no, no, no, we're dispatched from Qizhai, tacitly cooperate, and have nothing to do with outsiders."

They are doing things for seven days, if more others join in, maybe they will get in the way.

Zhao Jian asked worriedly: "Will they catch up?"

Yuan Zhongxin walked ahead, and said indifferently: "I have already taken out all their maps to Lianyun Mountain. Unless they want to die, they will definitely not take the risk to find us."

Until noon, the six people drove their horses to the largest post house in Taiyuan Mansion. While they were resting, Yuan Zhongxin secretly calculated the distance, turned around and said to the five people: "I still overestimated our speed. Continue to drive at this speed, maybe the sky will start to get dark as soon as we enter the mountain, so we must speed up later."

All five said they were fine.

After the six people rushed on the road one after another, they finally arrived at the foot of Lianyun Mountain at [-]:[-] Shen Shi.

Next, the most difficult part is the section up the mountain.

The terrain of Lianyun Mountain is really precarious, the slope is extremely steep, and the road is full of rocks of different sizes with sharp broken surfaces. If one accidentally falls to the ground, the consequences will be unimaginable.

The six people walked very slowly, and felt that the horses were gradually struggling. Yuan Zhongxin and Wang Kuan dismounted immediately, and tied thick ropes between the horses to prevent them from falling behind and getting lost.

The cold wind from the mountain came in gusts, cutting the six of them like blades. Fortunately, they were wearing thick robes and took the pills given by Yuan Zhongxin. They could still resist the cold.

Finally, after walking the mountain road for two hours, the six of them rushed into the Wumu village before sunset. As soon as they arrived, they saw a young man who looked only fifteen or sixteen years old waiting for them at the entrance of the village. , and the other is a middle-aged man.

When the two saw Yuan Zhongxin and his team, they hurried forward to meet them, and the man spoke first: "Are you all sent from Kaifeng?"

Yuan Zhongxin jumped off the horse, patted the dust on his body, and nodded: "You are?"

The man smiled plainly: "My name is Gu Changkun, and I am the owner of Wumu Village. This is my son, Gu Li. He is introverted and doesn't like to talk."

Gu Li just nodded perfunctorily at the six of them, without saying anything else.

The other five people dismounted one after another and introduced themselves to Gu Changkun and the others one by one.

Zhao Jian scanned the surrounding environment, probably because she was still at the entrance of the village and hadn't seen too many people, she asked, "Master Gu has been waiting here for a long time?"

Gu Changkun hurriedly shook his head, and said politely: "I didn't wait long, but I was afraid that you would not find the entrance to the village, so I guarded here—the six should go into the village, as the sky gets darker, it will be colder outside. gone."

Yuan Zhongxin and the others nodded, leading their horses and following behind Gu Changkun.

The environment in the village was much better than they had imagined. At least the lights were bright and the crowds were lively. From time to time, some children ran around to play and play, which dispelled a lot of the cold air from the six people.

Although the villagers all looked at Yuan Zhongxin and the six people inquiringly, they were not hostile, but more curious.

Gu Changkun welcomed them into a place similar to an inn, and shouted to the kitchen: "Old lady, hurry up and cook some hot food, the guests are here." He hurriedly made tea for Yuan Zhongxin and the others went.

Zhao Jian looked around and couldn't help sighing: "Although this Wumu village is isolated from the world, the conditions here are really good, and there are silk and satin curtains."

At this time, Gu Changkun came over with a pot of tea and poured it into six teacups. He said with a smile, "Everyone, first drink some camellia tea to drive away the cold. This camellia is a specialty of our Wumu village. alright."

The six smiled and did not refuse. They each touched a cup and put them in their hands to warm their hands.

Gu Changkun said: "The six of you will have a sip of tea first, I will go to the kitchen to remind you, and I will be back soon."

At this moment, a young man suddenly ran in from outside the door. He should be looking for Gu Changkun. He suddenly saw Yuan Zhongxin and the others, stunned, and asked, "This is it?"

Gu Changkun hurriedly introduced: "These six are the nobles who came from Kaifeng specially to help us solve the beast attack."

For Gu Changkun to raise himself up so much, the six of them were a little unnatural, saying "deliberately"... This is a bit exaggerated, it's just a coincidence.

The young man hurriedly nodded to the six people, and then said to Gu Changkun, "Village Master, the time is almost here, is it time to ring the bell?"

Gu Changkun looked at the sky outside, and said to the young man, "Go and knock, I still have to greet the guests."

The young man nodded, turned and ran out.

Yuan Zhongxin asked, "Is it a custom in your Wumu village to ring the bell?"

Gu Changkun explained: "That's not true. Isn't this the wild animal attack half a month ago? In order to protect the safety of the people in the village, they ring the bell to warn them of the time and tell them not to go out at night, otherwise it will be dangerous."

Yuan Zhongxin wanted to ask more questions, but thought that Wang Kuan and the others hadn't eaten anything except the dry food they ate at noon, so he stopped talking.

At this time, there were bursts of jingling bells outside the inn, the sound of children playing, and the sound of adults talking gradually faded away, and the sound of doors closing one after another.

Wei Yanei stood up and went to the door to look around, and was shocked to find that only a few figures were left walking slowly under the lights on the ground that was bustling just now.

When Gu Changkun came out of the kitchen with the dishes, he saw Wei Yanei's surprised expression. He smiled and said, "Master, we have been living like this every night for the past half month, so there is no need to be surprised."

While distributing the bowls and chopsticks to them, Wang Kuan asked, "Is there any precedent for wild beasts hurting people?"

Gu Changkun put the dishes together one after another, recalled them, and shook his head distressedly: "That's not true."

Zhao Jian said: "Then how did you judge that these cases belong to wild animal wounding incidents?"

Gu Changkun sighed and frowned, and he said in a rather heavy tone: "Actually, at the beginning, only those domestic animals were injured and died. We didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was all caused by wild dogs, but then, about ten days ago, We found a body with bite marks on the side of the village, and we were terrified, so we dared to conclude that it was done by wild animals."

The terrain of Lianyun Mountain is steep, the drop is huge, and there are cliffs and faults. It is normal for many wild beasts to appear, but why do they take the initiative to attack humans?

Is it because there is not enough food for winter?