Gongsun Ce and Bao Zheng

Bao Zheng took Bai Yutang and walked slowly along the shore of Qianli Lake, holding a booklet in his hand, which contained the names, ages, and places of residence of fifteen dead scholars, etc. While watching, Bao Zheng wondered if there is something in common here?But on the surface, these 15 people come from different places, and their ages and identities are different. Some are the sons of a county magistrate, some are from poor families, some are about [-] years old, and some are about [-] years old. The place where they lived after coming to Beijing They are also different, some live in Zhuangyuanfang, some live in the Four Seas Inn... It seems that there is nothing in common, but, maybe, the only thing that seems to be in common here is that they all found it in Qianli Lake...

Bai Yutang glanced at the booklet in Bao Zheng's hand, and let out a hush.

Upon hearing this, Bao Zheng raised his head to look at Bai Yutang, and asked earnestly, "But what did you find?"

Bai Yutang stared at the booklet, pondered for a while, and then asked in confusion, "Isn't it the first time for them to take the exam?"

Hearing this, Bao Zheng nodded and said, "That's right, this is the same place as them, and it's not the first time for them to take the exam."

"Brother Bao, this name is very familiar. I seem to have seen it on the wall of our tavern." Bai Yutang pointed to the third name in the booklet and said, "Song Tian."

Bao Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly, the wall of the Bai Family Tavern?correct.Because of the big exam every three years in the capital, many inns and restaurants will deliberately leave a white wall, so that those talented and famous scholars can use their pens and ink, arty. With fame, especially with these inks left, the big exam three years later can be used to attract business.After all, it would be a blessing to be able to live in the same restaurant or inn as the former No. [-] scholar and the current official. Although scholars don't talk about ghosts and gods, it is tacitly understood by everyone that they are lucky.

Therefore, there is the current Zhuangyuanfang. Originally, Zhuangyuanfang was not called Zhuangyuanfang, but because there were four Zhuangyuan and three Tanhua living there, the name of the current Zhuangyuanfang came into being.

And every three years when taking the exam, Zhuangyuanfang's business is the best.

Of course, Bao Zheng didn't believe in these things, he just thought that Zhuangyuanfang would charge five taels of silver for the same room and one bed!too expensive!

"Yutang, take a look, are there any of these names that you are familiar with?" Bao Zheng handed the booklet in his hand to Bai Yutang, and asked Bai Yutang to take a closer look. He turned around and looked at the inn in front of him. Near Qianli Lake, there is the only inn where the murdered scholar stayed - Wangyuan Building.

The business in Wangyuan Building didn't seem to be very good. When Bao Zheng entered the inn, he saw Xiaoer and the shopkeeper, one sleeping on the counter and the other snoring by the table.Bao Zheng frowned slightly, logically speaking, this Qianli Lake is a very lively place in the capital, no matter how bad the business by the Qianli Lake is, it would not be so empty that the shopkeeper and Xiao Er would nap and sleep.

Bao Zheng looked around, and found that there seemed to be pens and ink on the white wall inside, so he walked over first, and when he walked over, he saw a few poems and simple paintings. Bao Zheng carefully looked at it with his hands behind his back. No matter whether it is poetry or painting, neither of them can be regarded as high-quality works, but among these few poems, there is one poem that is exactly what Bao Zheng needs!

——Song Tian!

Looking at the time below, Bao Zheng couldn't help thinking, the time was blurred, and the handwriting could not be seen clearly, could it be that this poem has been written for a long time?Or was it vandalized?

While Bao Zheng was staring at the white wall and thinking, Bai Yutang also finished flipping through the brochure, but except for Song Tian, ​​he didn't have much impression of the others.Bai Yutang closed the booklet casually, and jumped into the inn, only to find that the innkeeper was sleeping, and Xiaoer was taking a nap, blinked, rolled his eyes, smiled, walked lightly to the table, and suddenly shouted , "It's on fire!"

"Ah?! What! Is there a fire? My God! Isn't that ghost coming again!" The shopkeeper yelled in horror and jumped up, looking around in panic.

Bao Zheng stood beside the white wall in deep thought, and after Bai Yutang yelled, he was startled and came back to his senses. He was about to walk over to give Bai Yutang a reprimand, but he heard the shopkeeper's terrified yell, and the sentence "No! That ghost is coming again!" Bao Zheng couldn't help but stop, and looked at the shopkeeper in deep thought. looks very similar...

Could it be that what the fifteen scholars saw at the last moment before their death...was a ghost?

Bao Zheng walked over, patted Bai Yutang who was grimacing, and cupped his hands to the terrified shopkeeper, "I scared the shopkeeper, I'm really sorry, children are ignorant, I hope the shopkeeper will forgive me."

The shopkeeper slowly came back to his senses, turned his head and looked at Xiao Er who jumped up at the same time, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, glared at Bai Yutang, and said angrily to Bao Zheng, "Do you know if people are scary and can scare people to death?" ?!"

Scary people?Bao Zheng smiled playfully, and cupped his hands with an apologetic expression on his face, "I'm really sorry, shopkeeper, I will teach him a good lesson when I get back, but... shopkeeper, can you give us a room now, I'm here to catch up for the exam , now everywhere in the capital is full, and those with vacancies are too expensive..." Bao Zheng pretended to be embarrassed and smiled awkwardly, "Please ask the shopkeeper to be more flexible and open a room, ah, it doesn't need to be too good, it's just so-so Just fine."

Bai Yutang listened to it and murmured in his heart, is there something weird in this inn?Brother Bao actually wants to live here?Thinking of this, Bai Yutang's eyes began to look around curiously, there was nothing special, it was just rather broken...

The shopkeeper was very impatient at first, but when he heard that Bao Zheng wanted to stay in the store, he quickly put on a flattering smile, "Oh, it turns out that the young master is a scholar rushing for the exam. Daniel, don't hurry up and prepare a house for the young master, No. [-] herringbone room! "

As soon as the little girl heard this, she hurriedly responded, and then ran back to prepare for the house.But Bai Yutang saw it clearly, that Xiaoer ran to the back and sat by the wall, listening with pricked ears, it would be fine if they stayed in the hotel, but if they couldn't pay the money and couldn't stay in the hotel, wouldn't it be a waste of time for him to clean up?Bai Yutang curled his lips, he has seen many such lazy and cunning little girls!

And the shopkeeper rubbed his hands and smiled obsequiously, "Ah, by the way, my lord, this shop is a small business, and we don't owe you any credit. Well, since you are rushing for the exam, then I will give you a discount, one tael of silver for three days, of course, every day." There are two meals a day, and if the young master wants to add more vegetables, it will be another." The shopkeeper said cracklingly, then shook his hand at Bao Zheng with a smile.

Bao Zheng smiled, took out three taels of silver from his sleeve, put it on the counter, and pretended to smile shyly, "Shopkeeper, I'll pay the nine-day rent first."

"Okay, okay...no problem." The shopkeeper's eyes lit up, probably because he hadn't done business for a long time, and he couldn't put it down with the three taels of silver in his hand.

Bai Yutang snorted coldly again, hum!One or two in three days?Return the herringbone room?How dare you say it!

After Bao Zheng put down the silver, he looked around and pretended not to ask, "By the way, shopkeeper, the environment here is good, why doesn't anyone seem to come?"

The shopkeeper froze, his face changed slightly, then he became depressed and sighed, "It's not that ghost!"

ghost? ?Bao Zheng pretended to be panicked, "Shopkeeper, do you have a ghost here?!"

The shopkeeper hurriedly stuffed the money into his sleeves before saying shyly, "My lord, don't be afraid! This ghost and whatnot are all rumored by outsiders. If there was a ghost here, Da Niu and I would have run away long ago. Stay here?"

Bao Zheng feigned surprise, "But..."

The shopkeeper sighed again, and began to babble, "Young master, I think you are also an honest person, so let me tell you the truth. Three years ago, our business here was pretty good. Look, you can see Qianli Lake from upstairs. At that time, Miss Yunshuang often came to visit the lake, and also liked to come to our place to see the scenery, but later, someone died here, and that person was Miss Yunshuang's maid, named Xiaoyu, and she was also a little beauty. I was also unlucky. It rained heavily that night. Seeing the heavy rain, I kindly wanted Miss Yunshuang to rest here for a night. Miss Yunshuang also agreed, but Miss Xiaoyu died that night. Later, the next night, Miss Yunshuang sank into the lake, and after that, people outside said that our place is unknown, that someone died, son, to be honest, there is no place where no one died. How can those people say that What! Besides, Miss Xiaoyu's death has nothing to do with us. She fell down, not us pushing her down... Hey..." At the end, the shopkeeper sighed sadly again.

Bao Zheng listened with frowned eyes, and after the shopkeeper finished speaking, he asked curiously, "Then how did Miss Xiao Yu fall to her death?"

The shopkeeper sighed and said, "It rained heavily that night, Miss Yunshuang didn't plan to go back to Huafang, but Huafang's mother sent someone to pick her up, saying that there was a distinguished guest, so Miss Yunshuang asked Miss Xiaoyu to stay, but Unexpectedly, Miss Xiaoyu found that Miss Yunshuang forgot to bring her piano, so she hurriedly wanted to send it to Miss Yunshuang. Unexpectedly, the road was slippery when it rained, and Miss Yu fell on the road and fell into the A thousand miles of lake, hey, it ended up like this..." The shopkeeper seemed to be very regretful.

After Bao Zheng listened to it, he became thoughtful, while Bai Yutang seemed to be fascinated by it, lying on the side of the counter, staring at the shopkeeper with a pair of aura eyes, and asked curiously, "Is it really wrestling? Could it be?" Was it pushed in by someone?"

The shopkeeper seemed very surprised when he heard the words, "Hey, how could she be pushed in? Although Miss Xiao Yu is still young, she is very lively and cute. Everyone likes her very much. Why would she want to kill her?" ?”

Bai Yutang pouted, "That's hard to say, was there an autopsy after it was caught?" Bai Yutang asked curiously again.

The shopkeeper shook his head and looked at Bai Yutang with a helpless look, "Young master, you don't know that at first glance, that girl Xiaoyu is just a little maid in a brothel. She got rid of her music status, but she was still a little maid who grew up in a brothel, how could the government conduct an autopsy on her? It would be good if her body was not thrown in a mass grave, how could they conduct an autopsy on her?"