Everlasting prosperity

The night was dark, gloomy black clouds shrouded Dongyang City, and the night wind was blowing, and Dongyang City in October was actually dyed with the color of winter. This coldness seemed to come from the underworld, cold and frightening meaning.

There are hundreds of households in this city without a single light.There was a layer of smoke above the street, lingering to the point, floating in the air, and a thin layer of frost seemed to have formed on the ground. Under the night, there was a vague but gloomy white light.

According to the city regulations, when the city entered Xu, it was the time of the curfew, and pedestrians and common people had to go home.However, during these three days, the curfew was lifted in the whole city, and daylight was banned instead.

Why?

These three days are the Winter Clothes Festival.

All living beings are all ghosts, and all ghosts are all living beings.Dressed in cold clothes, evoke the soul of the clan, thinking of the clan as if in the world.

On this street, pedestrians dressed in white, holding night candles in one hand and burning incense in the other, walked lightly on the street with empty eyes.It made the already eerie Dongyang City look even more spooky.

"Ah! Lin Rushi is here for revenge! She is here for revenge! Hahahahahaha! Don't, don't come here!"

A sharp female voice pierced the night sky, breaking the dead silence on the street.

Those ghosts turned their heads one after another, the ghost makeup painted on their faces looked extremely strange and hideous under the darkness of night.This turning around made the crazy woman even more frightened.

"Ah! This is the underworld! This is the Ghost Palace! I have arrived at the Ghost Palace! Hahaha! Don't come here! I didn't kill people! I didn't kill people!"

Behind her, two big men in military uniforms suddenly rushed out, one on each side, and dragged them away. The woman was still yelling crazily along the way, echoing through the entire street.

When the passers-by saw the woman being dragged away, they turned their heads one after another, and continued to hold incense, hold night candles, and walk slowly.

The next day, at the gate of the city.

Ji Anjun and Xiao Yizhi led the horses and walked in slowly through the city gate. They saw that the city was desolate, and the streets were deserted. Vegetable leaves, papers, etc. were scattered on the road, and a gust of wind blew up a cloud of dust.

"Is this the Cold Clothes Festival?" Xiao Yizhi muttered in confusion.

"It seems that we came at the wrong time." Ji Anjun said.

"That's okay. I don't know if there are any hostels open now. If we have gone to the Cold Clothes Festival, then we will sleep on the street." Xiao Yizhi frowned,

Ji Anjun glanced at Xiao Yizhi, and said with a light smile, "No matter which country it is, logically there will be a Dianbinfang, so let's just look for it."

"Yes, that's fine." Xiao Yizhi nodded and replied.

Perhaps it was the reason why all the large and small merchants or stores on the street were closed. The two walked around for an hour and a half before they found Dianbinfang.

The door of the bleak workshop is half open and half closed. It is not known whether it is open for business or closed.

Xiao Yizhi stretched out his hand and gently opened the door, led the horse, and walked into the front hall cautiously. When he saw the door inside was wide open, the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

"Xiao Er! Xiao Er!" Xiao Yizhi shouted loudly.

"I'm coming--"

After a while, a man ran out from inside with a sackcloth on his shoulders and a smile on his face.

Xiao Yi's eyes signaled Xiao Er, and led his two horses to the stable.

Xiao Er quickly understood, and stretched out his hand to take the horse rope in the hands of Xiao Yizhi and Ji Anjun.The two of them walked into Dianbinfang.

"Guest officer, do you want to stay in the hotel or have a meal?" Another waiter inside asked.

"Two upper rooms, what about the dishes, just look at them." Xiao Yizhi said.

"Okay! Sit here, guest officer!" Xiaoer greeted with a smile.

After the two sat down, Xiao Yizhi put the long sword on the table and looked around.

It must be because of the Cold Clothes Festival, there are very few guests in this square, sitting in twos and threes elsewhere, talking with their heads down.There were also one or two people who secretly looked at him and Ji Anjun, probably because they were curious about the people entering the city at this time.

"In Beili, during the Cold Clothes Festival, we would all be vegetarians and wear plain clothes. We would take a rest for a day and burn some paper money to our old friends. It would be considered a holiday. I don't know how it is like this in Gao'an." Ji Anjun poured a cup of tea, Said on the side.

"So that's the case. When I was in the mountains, I didn't pass this festival." Xiao Yizhi looked at him and said.

"Oh? Then what festival do you celebrate?" Ji Anjun handed him a cup of tea and asked with interest.

"New Year. This Fengming Mountain is just our family. There are three people in total. What kind of festival is there?" Xiao Yizhi replied, suddenly thinking of the days in the mountains, the appearance of his uncle and mother, and his heart burst Bitter, with a touch of loneliness in his eyes.

Hearing the bitterness in this tone, Ji Anjun saw the loneliness in Xiao Yizhi's eyes, paused in his heart, and said, "From now on, I will spend every festival with you."

Hearing this, Xiao Yizhi raised his head to look at Ji Anjun, smiled slightly with the corners of his mouth raised, and did not reply.

"Guest officer, your dishes!" Xiao Er said, while reaching out to put the dishes on the basin on the table one by one.

Seeing Xiaoer appearing, Xiao Yizhi quickly turned his head, not looking at Ji Anjun, but his ears turned red.

Seeing Xiao Yizhi's appearance, Ji Anjun understood, and stopped talking, picked up the chopsticks, glanced at the dishes, and moved the chopsticks.

Traveling to Gao'an was mentioned by Xiao Yizhi.Ji Anjun originally thought that since he had escorted Yao Ling'er from Dawu and returned to Beili's home country, he would go to Jiutou Mountain in Liyang, the imperial capital, to play. Anyway, he had just completed an errand, and his father would not explain anything , he invited him to travel again.Unexpectedly, Xiao Yizhi wanted to go to Gao'an for a while.

That's all, he can go wherever he wants, just don't get lost.

Coming to Gao'an was also mentioned by Xiao Yizhi casually, but he didn't expect Ji Anjun to agree immediately.In this way, it caught him by surprise.Originally, he wanted to come to Gao'an to have a look, he wanted to see the place where his mother had stayed before, but on the way here, his heart was so uneasy.

So what?Will we be able to find clues to the death of mother and uncle?

"Yizhi, what are you thinking?" Ji Anjun asked involuntarily as he saw Xiao Yizhi was a little dazed even while eating.

Hearing the question, Xiao Yizhi came back to his senses, and said slowly, "It's nothing, I just remembered that my mother met my father here before."

"Dianbinfang?" Ji Anjun asked.

"No, Dongyang City." Xiao Yizhi replied.

For some reason, Ji Anjun still failed to know anything about his uncle and mother from Xiao Yi's mouth, but he would not take the initiative to ask, as if he would not take the initiative to force him to stay by his side now.He thought that one day, he would say it himself, tell him in person, nod his head, stay by himself, and stay by his side.

As for Xiao Yizhi, the reappearance of Ji Anjun was indeed beyond his expectation. He originally thought that the meeting seven years ago was accidental, and there was no possibility of seeing each other again. At that time, he really didn't know how to explain his own affairs to him.What's more, for Ji Anjun, he has a somewhat complicated feeling in his heart, which cannot be expressed.

"Little Er!" Ji Anjun suddenly called after taking a sip of tea.

"Guest officer, what's your order?" Xiaoer asked.

"We came from Beili, and the cold clothes festival here is very different from Beili. I wonder if Xiao Er can tell us about the cold clothes festival in Dongyang City?" Ji Anjun took out a piece of silver from his sleeve as he spoke. , placed in the small second-hand.

Seeing the gleaming silver, Xiaoer took a peek at the shopkeeper behind him, and seeing the shopkeeper nodding his head and dozing off, he smiled and quietly put the silver into his sleeve, and then stood beside Ji Anjun.

"This, we have to start from the beginning of the founding of the Yongqing Kingdom." Xiao Er said.

"At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China? Isn't that 300 years ago?" Ji Anjun asked in surprise.

Xiao Er chuckled, and then said, "That's right, back then Yongqing Kingdom and you Beili were still fighting fiercely, but somehow there was a sudden truce, and Yongqing built a city to protect the country, which is now Jiuzhao The national defense city in the north of the country really stretches for thousands of miles, and it took 20 years to build it! There are countless people who died of exhaustion at the foot of the city!"

"I've heard of this. However, after years of war in Yongqing, why do you still have so much manpower and financial resources to do this?" Ji Anjun wondered.

"Speaking of this, the common people back then were pitiful." Xiao Er sighed.

Xiao Yizhi glanced at him and said, "Could it be that he came here to oppress the common people?"

"It's more than just squeezing! But all the men were arrested and built the city of protecting the country, leaving only some old children, women and children. In order to raise money, the emperor even sent people in the army to search, not to mention ordinary people, those people Princes, nobles, landlords and wealthy businessmen were not spared, it can be said that the hearts of the whole people are in turmoil!" Xiao Eryue said more and more energetically, his face beaming brightly.

"Heh, in such a turbulent situation, there is no one to make trouble?" Xiao Yizhi asked back.

"How can it be! There were riots everywhere, but it was only the first two years. Later, the emperor sent troops to suppress them directly! The people were beaten terribly, and the mothers, wives and children at home were all in the hands of the enemy. They How can you be messed up!" Xiaoer explained.

"But what does this have to do with the Cold Clothes Festival?" Xiao Yizhi asked again.

"You don't know this son. It was also at this time. It was approaching winter. There was a man who built the city of protecting the country. He had a wife. She knew that her husband was afraid of the cold, so she sent him clothes from thousands of miles away. Unexpectedly, the man She had already died of exhaustion at the foot of the city, and was buried inside the city wall. The woman did not see her husband when she arrived in Huguo City. She only found out after asking the person in charge. She was so heartbroken that she cried for three days and three nights, until she lost her eyesight. She begged the manager to dig out her husband's body so that she could take it home for burial, but unexpectedly, the manager didn't care about her at all. Oh, poor thing!" Xiaoer said slowly, with a tinge of love in her tone. Meaning of sympathy.

Ji Anjun frowned slightly, and said, "Then what happened next?"

"Later? The woman crashed to death on the wall of the city of the country! This matter was not long before the emperor knew about it. He was grateful for the deep friendship between her and her husband, so he designated that day as the Cold Clothes Festival."

"Then he didn't stop building the National Defense City?" Xiao Yizhi asked back.

"That's not true, who would stop building the National Defense City for such a small person?" Xiaoer said with emotion.

Hearing this, Ji Anjun sneered, and said, "Heh, it's just pretending on the surface, but it's still oppressing the people."

"Hey, don't mention it." Xiao Er responded.

"Then where did this custom come from?" Xiao Yizhi asked.

"Of course it's also this one. The woman sent cold clothes from thousands of miles away, but it turned out to be a gift to a dead person. People, it's just this night of the Cold Clothes Festival, wearing the clothes of an old friend, holding incense in his hand to attract souls, which means Let the dead spirit know who burned the clothes for him, and then burn them in the early morning, as a gift to the dead in the underworld, lest they be frozen in the underworld." Xiao Er explained.

"So that's the case, no wonder there is so much dust on the road, it must be incense burning." Xiao Yizhi said.

Listening to these words, Ji Anjun thought to himself, there is such a story in the early days of Yongqing, which is really sad. A loving couple, separated because of the emperor's wishes, and when they meet again, they are already Yin and Yang The two are far apart.

Xiao Er saw that there were no guest officials around, and the shopkeeper didn't send him any more, so he approached awkwardly again.

"Guest officer, do you want to hear anything else?" Xiaoer asked.

Xiao Yizhi glanced at him, thought for a while, and said, "Times have passed and circumstances have changed. It is not easy to keep this custom for 300 years."

"Isn't that the credit of the emperors of all dynasties?" Xiao Er responded.

Hearing this, Ji Anjun raised the corners of his mouth and smiled, yes, it is really the emperor's credit.

His smile made Xiao Er stunned, the two in front of him were already handsome and handsome.One is cold and desolate, and the other is deep and handsome.This smile showed that "beauty" to the fullest.Suddenly he thought of something again.

"Guest officer, don't go out at night these few days." Xiaoer said.

"What's wrong?" Ji Anjun asked suspiciously.

"Winter Clothes Festival, all living beings are all ghosts, and all ghosts are all living beings. Maybe they will be caught! Last night, a female lunatic came out, yelling about the underworld, ghosts, and so on, it's scary !” Xiaoer replied.

"Oh? Let's hear it." Ji Anjun said with interest.

Xiaoer curled his lips and said, "There is a merchant in Dongyang City, whose surname is Chen, we all call him Mr. Chen, and he married a lady a few years ago. It is said that the family is very rich, and she came from outside the city. You all know that it is quite normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines."

Hearing this, Xiao Yizhi couldn't help frowning, remembering that her mother said that she hated men with three wives and four concubines the most, and she always abandoned them.Looking at Xiao Yizhi's face, Ji Anjun thought, maybe this is wrong.

"Master Chen got acquainted with Mrs. Lin when he was away from the chamber of commerce, and wanted to marry her back home as a concubine, but his wife refused. I heard that Mrs. Lin had a child later, and Mr. Chen took her home. Who knows What happened, Mrs. Lin disappeared overnight. Someone guessed that it was Mr. Chen and his wife who killed him. This cold clothes festival, Mrs. Lin’s ghost came back to take revenge. Maybe it hurt someone, go Revenge." Xiao Er spoke slowly, beaming with excitement, and from time to time acted frightened.

Xiao Yizhi looked at his appearance, snorted coldly, and said, "There are no ghosts in the world, they are all created by the world."

"Hey, guest officer, don't you believe it, someone passing by Chen's house at night can still hear the sound of a woman crying inside!" Xiao Er continued.

"Scaremongering!" Ji Anjun suddenly said coldly, squinting at Xiao Er.

Xiao Er was so frightened by this sudden sentence that he fell silent, trembling in place, he thought he was a gentle young man, why is he so scary all of a sudden?

"Okay, Xiao Er, go and do your work." Xiao Yizhi said when he saw Xiao Er being frightened by Ji Anjun.

Hearing Xiao Yizhi's words, the little girl quickly ran away in small steps without looking back, as if there were wolves, tigers and leopards behind her.

"Why is Yuan Qian angry?" Xiao Yizhi asked instead.

Hearing Xiao Yizhi's voice suddenly, Ji Anjun calmed down his emotions, and said slowly, "In order to slander others, even if it is an unfounded ghost story, they can make it up with a reason. If it is not for the use of Chen's family affairs , This kind of strange talk has made people in the city panic, and what kind of incident may happen."

"There must be a reason for things to happen. Since there are such rumors, it seems that someone knows something." Xiao Yizhi replied.

Hearing this, Ji Anjun suddenly calmed down, and said, "A woman will never kill people at will because of her own jealousy. This groundless guess is too baseless."

"Sometimes, jealousy can lead people to commit crimes." Xiao Yizhi took a sip of tea, lowered his eyes, and said softly.

For some reason, when these words came out of Xiao Yi's mouth, there was a chill behind Ji Anjun's back.He felt that it might not be that simple for Yizhi to conceal his affairs.

Living in the Osmanthus Bamboo Forest in the depths of Fengming Mountain is already unbelievable.There are only two relatives in the family, one with strong martial arts skills and one with superb medical skills, and almost no one can threaten them.

And in this almost the most secret place in the world, a group of unknown people found and killed all their relatives.This matter really puzzled him. The only breakthrough was Xiao Yizhi's background, but he couldn't bring it up casually.

Ji Anjun faintly felt that Xiao Yizhi was not only concealing, but also suspicious.