chasing after autumn

In order to ensure Fang Xu's safe departure, Tuo Zi escorted him all the way down the mountain, talking about Huo Lian's drunken gaffe last night, Tuo Zi expressed both pity and slight indignation.Xin said that Huo Lian was already twenty years old, but she was still the same as when she was a child, she just drank alcohol when she couldn't figure out what was going on, as if she could get rid of her worries when she was drunk, but in the end she just hurt her body for nothing.The hunchback snorted angrily: It was a waste of Huolian's following big brother for so many years, not to learn the good ones, but to learn some useless bad habits!

Straight out of the main altar gate, the hunchback asked why Huolian was drunk, Fang Xu's eyes jumped, his expression hesitated, he didn't seem to want to say it at first, he just found an excuse, but this hesitation made the hunchback even more suspicious and questioned .When Fang Xu mentioned that in the past half a month, Huolian had cooperated with Master Bao of Kaifeng Prefecture to thoroughly investigate the murder case in Luofu that happened more than ten years ago, and claimed that he had collected witnesses and testimonies to show that the tragedy of exterminating the family was indeed the work of Infernal Affairs. Surprised, the two rows of teeth rubbed back and forth because of anger, he grabbed Fang Xu's skirt and stared and cursed: "You, you two are really his good sons!"

The hunchback rushed into the Kaifeng government office, and was surrounded twice by guards armed with knives. Bao Zheng glanced suspiciously at Fang Xu, who followed into the hall, raised his thick black eyebrows, and said Shouting back to the guards, he picked up the gavel and was about to ask questions, when the hunchback rushed forward and shouted: "I thought Bao Zheng of Kaifeng Mansion was a wise star from heaven, and he was just an idiot when he saw the details! Murder in Luo Mansion It’s definitely not what Big Brother did, my hunchback dares to guarantee my life!!”

Thanks to Bao Zheng's good temper, he felt something was wrong even after thinking about it in his heart, so he quickly winked and asked the master sitting in the corner to take a pen to take notes, got up and walked around the desk and said: "What's the case, I need to tell you slowly. "

The hunchback slapped the table with raised eyebrows: "My elder brother lived an upright life! He once guarded the border, galloped on the battlefield to drive out the enemy and protect the country! Yes, he did kill people and take lives, but what he did, he never did. Denied it! How could you let him add bricks and tiles behind his back?!"

Bao Zheng frowned slightly, looked at Fang Xu, looked at the hunchback and said, "The murder case in the Luo Mansion has been concluded, we have found a confession, and there are even more official records. , must have something to do with Infernal Affairs. Can't this be used to prove guilt?"

The hunchback didn't know how to defend himself for a while, so he just gritted his teeth and said in affirmation: "It must not be my brother's doing! You want evidence, and I am the witness! I asked him about this case back then, and he said no, then there is no other possibility! "

The loud voice echoed alone in the lobby, and everyone fell silent for a while. Even the eloquent Bao Zheng frowned and sighed. When he met an unreasonable barbarian, the law enforcement yamen was helpless.At this time Fang Xu took a step forward and said in a deep voice, "I believe it."

Hearing the words, the hunchback turned his head to look, nodded slightly, and hummed in his heart, you have to believe it, just because you are his son, you have to believe him!Suspect no one can doubt the father's head.If you don't believe me, I'll teach you a lesson for the elder brother!

Bao Zheng's expression froze, and he raised his eyebrows to look at him.Fang Xu's eyes were slightly removed from the hunchback's face, his half-down eyes turned around, and he cupped his hands at Bao Zheng and said, "There are still many doubts about the case of exterminating the family in the Luo Mansion, and I would like to re-investigate it carefully, and I hope your lord will agree. "

The setting sun shone red, casting a piece of golden light over the Wende Hall behind Huolian, and the door of the hall was half open.

Huo Lian quickly stepped down the white jade steps, and the light golden thin shirt embroidered with complicated and dark patterns on her body was blown up by the wind of walking, making a sound of hunting. , he quietly left the imperial city with a key and a pardon.

Earlier, the stolen key with a little rusty spots sneaked into the study room of the main altar, and opened the hidden compartment behind the bookcase.Rows of earth-yellow pyrotechnic tubes are neatly stacked in the dark compartment.Huo Lian anxiously took out a dozen of them with one hand, and while aiming at the stone gate, carefully identified them in the dim light, and finally picked out three torches with blood-red markings on the inner walls.

With a chirping sound, a dazzling light burst out from the torch, heading straight towards Yunxiao.The hundreds of white-clothed guards patrolling the main hall couldn't help secretly looking up curiously.I saw a gorgeous and dazzling huge firework blooming in the clear and high sky, almost covering dozens of miles around.

Standing in the deserted wasteland on the top of the mountain, Huo Lian let go of her hand holding the torch, and slowly raised her head.The bright fireworks gradually turned into a single light blue, which has been perfectly integrated with the blue background, and then there is a little bit of strange purple in the edge of the blue, which keeps deepening and thickening. It expanded rapidly from the four directions to the center, and as the fireworks swelled and scattered, it finally turned into a blood-red sky.

It was red and dazzling, as if it was a fire from hell, the flames eager to devour it spread and climbed in all directions in the bleak sky, and could not subside for a long time.This is the most supreme Nether Blood Order of Infernal Affairs.Every time Huolian sees such a spectacle, he will stop and look with bated breath. In fact, not only him, but more than ten thousand brothers will watch and look up at the same time, and will set off corresponding fireworks to spread the order as quickly as possible.Following the habit of commanding troops on the battlefield, the first is to attack, the second is to defend, and the third is to stand by on the spot and not act rashly.Huolian set off the three blood-red marked pyrotechnic tubes one by one, and then rushed to the palace with the imperial gold medal that can go straight to the inner garden of the deep palace.

As night fell and the surroundings were quiet, Huo Lian jumped down and quickly ran into the main altar without waiting for the horse to stop.The damp and cold night wind blew on the cheeks, blowing through the light golden gorgeous thin gown, Huo Lian accidentally failed to find Zhan Hao in the bedroom full of bitter medicine smell, and was already extremely anxious for the safety of the large number of congregants His heart was beating wildly, he was so anxious to call his father everywhere, and finally came to the most secret and secluded stone room in the study in the shadow of the main hall, the stone door slowly opened with a bang, and after he saw the huge stone table, his father sat with a teacup half in his hand On the back of the chair, his face still looked tired and sick, but his cold eyes were shining, looking straight into people's hearts.

"Father!..." Huo Lian didn't want to confront that sharp gaze head-on at all. He knew that Zhan Hao woke up and found that the key to the secret compartment of the study that he always carried close to him was missing, so careful interrogation was inevitable, but Huo Lian was still waiting for the time being. He had no time to worry about himself, he was more worried about the situation outside, he couldn't watch the guards die in vain in the bloody storm of the purge rebellion, but thinking of his father's position, the thin paper in his arms It also made Huo Lian somewhat embarrassed, as if a heavy iron sheet was pressing on her chest, making it difficult to breathe, and her palms were already sweaty after walking a few steps.

So he lowered his eyes halfway, lowered his head slightly, and quickly stepped forward to take out from his arms the letter-like letter of amnesty written in handsome handwriting and spread it lightly on the stone table. His eyes seemed to be fixed on the corner of the unsmoothed paper, where there was a noble name.Huo Lian didn't raise her eyes at all, and lowered her voice as if discussing: "Presumably at this time, father already knows the news of the turmoil in other places. According to the emperor, as long as father agrees to expel the arrested Wujian guards from the church, more than a thousand guards will be free." It can be released immediately, the pardon requires father's seal, and then it can be quickly spread to various government offices to take effect, this is the fastest way, the child thinks, it is all right..."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a flash in front of his eyes. The noble name written in handsome fonts disappeared together with the slightly yellowed paper, leaving only the monotonous gray and white color of the stone table top in his vision.Huo Lian looked up in surprise, and saw that the precious pardon that could save the lives of the guards had been held in Zhan Hao's hands and was about to be torn apart.There was a bang in Huo Lian's mind, and the death scene of a large number of guards on the execution ground flashed in front of his eyes. If this pardon was destroyed, he really didn't know if he could get it again!What's more, he has no time to break into the palace anymore!Huo Lian threw herself forward and grabbed Zhan Hao's hand tightly: "Father! Father! There are many congregants who will be executed tomorrow morning! This pardon must not be torn up, otherwise what will we do to save the guards?!" After trying hard to snatch it, it was overturned to the ground by a strong wind.

There were only a few snorts, and pieces of shredded paper fell helplessly before Huo Lian's eyes, like helpless leaves in the cold wind.Huolian thought of herself.He wanted to eliminate the traitors and stop the killing, but his hands were stained with more blood.In order to rescue the arrested guards, he rushed to the palace and successfully got the letter of amnesty, but was completely denied by his father.

"No...no..." The scene of death in his mind became clearer, Huolian's eyes flushed with anxiety, he frantically picked up the shredded papers on the ground and tried to put them together, as if the reassembled paper could still play its original role It seems to work.Zhan Hao couldn't bear it, this made him feel more ironic than seeing Zhao Zhen's hypocritical and benevolent pardon letter to Infernal Affairs!He sternly said: "Put it down!" Getting up annoyed and turning around the stone case, when his eyes touched the strange dark gold embroidered shirt on Huo Lian's body, Zhan Hao's heart felt a sharp pain, and his eyes seemed to be about to burst into tears. Out of flame.

Since Huo Lian was young, whenever she bought clothes and utensils, someone would report them to Zhan Hao for review.Zhan Hao didn't care much at first, but he was quite familiar with it after coming and going, how many clothes, how many pairs of trousers, what style and what color Huolian had, Zhan Hao always knew by heart.Infernal Affairs is rich in assets, and has never suffered from Huolian's food and clothing, but Zhan Hao will never let the young master use such luxurious and rare fabrics to make clothes and deliberately show extravagance in the church.

Under the dim light, Zhan Hao suddenly saw clearly the group of complex dark lines with unknown meaning on the back of Huo Lian's shirt, it was the veiled Longyue colorful cloud!He choked with suffocation in his chest, and felt a faint sweetness in his throat.

Huo Lian suddenly felt her body being lifted up lightly, and then with a bang, her back was hit by the uneven bookshelf and hurt her.There was darkness in front of his eyes, and he vaguely saw his father's hand moving towards his neck, and there was a trace of cruelty in his sometimes gentle and sometimes cold eyes.

Zhan Hao's powerful hands, like a shovel and iron lock, can crush life in an instant.Huo Lian instinctively closed her eyes in fear of the impending chokehold, but she never flinched and dodged at all. He was pushed abruptly on the bookshelf and could not escape, but his neck was stiff, and he even raised his head slightly. His face was as silent as water. , the faint light illuminates the haughty silhouette.

Huolian did not forget to bend one arm behind her back quietly, flicked her fingers lightly, and the key, which was slightly wet with sweat in her palm, slipped into the narrow dark crevice formed by the pile of thick books.At this moment, Huo Lian thought of her father's sleeping profile, the sudden frowning, trembling fingers, and slightly opened mouth, as if she was about to wake up from a nightmare.Today Huolian brought Fang Xu into the main altar together from the back mountain, because the two of them have their own division of labor.Huo Lian searched for the key to stabilize the situation of the torch in the house, while Fang Xu let the hunchback away outside the door.When Huo Lian quietly took the key from Zhan Haoyi's arms, his heart almost jumped out of his throat, but he still felt that he was not disturbed enough, so he bent down and hugged him gently from behind.Dad, you need to recuperate from the cold, the child will find a way to quell the riot.

Then the pardon with the handsome handwriting was brutally torn into pieces again in Huo Lian's mind, and behind the chaotic paper foam was the imperial tomb quietly bathed in the warm sunshine.In order to pardon the innocent congregants as soon as possible, Huolian agreed to Zhao Zhen's only condition and went to visit the tomb of his biological mother, Concubine Li. In the luxurious clothes with dark patterns, he followed the emperor east out of Bianjing and came here on a fast horse. It was almost evening after going back and forth.

A sharp wind of palm that stings the skin and flesh blows towards the face, cutting off Huo Lian's thoughts.When Zhan Hao's hand didn't hold Huo Lian's throat, but vigorously pulled up the skirt around her neck, Huo Lian's heart turned cold, and she opened her eyes and screamed: "Father!—"

Before it could be stopped, there was a crisp "嗤", and a narrow strip of pale gold had been torn off, revealing the white underclothes between the broken silk threads.Huo Lian thought that she didn't care what clothes she wore, or where she accompanied the emperor, as long as she could solve the turmoil in the church, as long as she didn't add trouble to her father who was recuperating.However, because of having been to the grave of his biological mother, this luxurious and unfamiliar robe now has an unusual meaning.

Qiuniang prepared the dinner herself and was about to send it to the bedroom, when the guard said that the young master had returned to the main altar, she was overjoyed.She hurried down the mountain to the Nether Hall, and as soon as she turned around the corridor, she saw a desolate white figure rushing out from the study room, stumbling through the dark and silent hall, with a panicked and dismal face, and a few wisps of wisps hanging from her body. Broken golden thread.

"Huo Lian..." Qiu Niang's soft exclamation failed to stop Huo Lian from running away, but a more disturbing cough came from behind.Qiu Niang hurriedly turned her head, and saw that Zhan Hao's face, which had just improved slightly, was flushed again, his deep black eyes were as dull as two wooden beads, and he barely stood firm with one hand on the half-open stone door of the study , covered his mouth tightly with one hand, a red liquid soaked between his fingers, and slowly dripped onto the scattered cloth on the ground, and in the middle of the embroidery patterns with unknown meanings, bloody flowers bloomed one after another.

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