different paths

"What's the matter, after they finish the rehearsal, just ask." Yue Chentan replied, seeing Jia Wujue's tangled face, he understood it after a little thought, and said lightly, "The relationship between Zhuxian Villa and Shaolin It's always been good, if you are afraid that it will be too abrupt to come to the door rashly, I will go with you."

"The one who knows me is also Yue Shaoxia." Jia Wuju said with a smile after his worries disappeared.

Yue Chentan coughed uncomfortably at his laughter, and turned his gaze to the Yuheng Hall: "Okay, we will discuss this matter later... Now, let's watch the show seriously."

"Yes! Yue Shaoxia is right!" Jia Wujue replied very loudly.

The furnishings in Yuheng Hall are quite different from before.The beams are covered with brightly colored silk octagonal lanterns, and there are two beautifully crafted sixteen-screen landscape screens in the house. The people in Zhuxian Villa have already prepared, and the musicians are sitting on the side, ready to perform the Nuo. The other people put on their Nuo masks and stood in the set positions.In the center of the hall was a red sandalwood table inlaid with gold. In front of the table sat two men wearing Nuo masks, one of whom was Qu Zequan.Beside the two of them, there was a maidservant holding a plantain fan. The plantain fan was so huge that it covered the figure of the person behind the table.And this masked person is Qu Hongxiao.Looking at the audience, except for the musicians, she was the only one who did not wear a Nuo mask, showing her true colors.

"It turned out to be a 'meat puppet'." Seeing the scene in the hall, Jia Wuchai understood.

This "meat puppet" is a rather rare form in Nuo opera. Generally, the "Mr." who doesn't dress up is speaking and singing next to the divine case. Every time a character is sung, the character will wear a mask and appear After sitting or standing, or standing still or jumping up and down, all expressions are performed by the "Mr." who sings and sings in Linwen.To put it bluntly, this "meat puppet" is quite similar to a puppet show. All the actions of the person wearing the Nuo mask are controlled by the "Mr." played a very important role. The performance of "Meat Puppet" has a great relationship with the "Mr." who sings the plot.In the past, the "Mr." of the "meat puppet" was mostly performed by men, because this is really a labor-intensive job. A Nuo play has to be told from beginning to end, and the tone of the voice is constantly changing when the role is long. Women are more natural than men. As the breath is weak, it is really difficult for one person to support the whole audience.

But right now, Qu Hongxiao seems to be taking on the role of "Mr." character of.

With the sound of the drum strings, Qu Hongxiao's melodious singing came from the hall, and Jia Wuhai's eyes lit up. This kind of singing is indeed much more moving than those men's scripts. The books sung by the "gentlemen" of "Meat Puppet" are mostly seven-character hymns, which are also mixed with many boring words of praising God.But Qu Hongxiao is different from them. She uses Kunqu accent at the beginning, and her lyrics are similar to the words and sentences in the popular vernacular. To the fullest.

The plot of this "meat puppet" is not complicated. It is about a dutiful son whose mother is seriously ill, and the medicine and stones are ineffective. He has to beg the Bodhisattva every day, begging the Bodhisattva to give half of his life to his mother.Finally, the Bodhisattva was moved by his sincerity and decided to test him with three difficult problems.Both the first and second filial sons have successfully passed, and now there is still the third problem.

It was Qu Zequan who played the dutiful son, and the person sitting opposite him played the Bodhisattva who wanted to test him.Qu Hongxiao's voice stopped suddenly at this moment, only a few "dong dong" were heard, the drum beat suddenly, and a man dressed as a servant came onto the stage with a steaming bowl.

The person playing the Bodhisattva pushed the bowl towards Qu Zequan, and Qu Hongxiao's singing sounded like drizzle at the same time.The last test of the Bodhisattva is to let the filial son eat the puffer fish meat in the bowl. If he is not poisoned, it means that God will help him, and his mother’s illness will be cured naturally. If he is poisoned, it is God’s will. demand.This request is just to test whether the filial son has the courage to show up for his relatives, so if the filial son eats it calmly, he will naturally not be poisoned.

There is a saying in the folks that "eating fugu to death" is because although the taste of fugu is precious, it is highly poisonous. To remove these poisonous parts, the requirements for cooking are very high, so there are few fugu in ordinary restaurants. vegetable.However, there are dragons and crouching tigers hidden in the Hanzan Palace, since the chef dared to serve this puffer fish, he must be fully sure of his craftsmanship.

There was only a sound of "clang" and the sound of cymbals, which seemed to indicate that the "filial son" had made up his mind. Qu Zequan raised his chopsticks, the soup in the bowl swayed slightly, and a piece of puffer fish was swallowed by Qu Zequan.

Seeing this, the "Bodhisattva" nodded approvingly. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but Qu Hongxiao didn't make a sound for some reason, so he had to close his mouth in embarrassment.When Qu Hongxiao began to chant again, the "Bodhisattva" stretched out his hand towards the "filial son", and in the palm lay an elixir that could cure all diseases.

If you follow the script, the "filial son" should kneel down with a plop at this moment, and bow to the "Bodhisattva" three times and nine times in gratitude.But "filial son" looked at the elixir at this moment, but it was like looking at a poison that threatened his life. His body froze, and then he fell to the ground with a "bang".

The onlookers outside the Yuheng Hall felt strange when they heard the movement inside, so they heard a scream from inside: "Something has happened! Find the doctor!"

Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, looking a little dazed.

"What are you still doing in a daze! Go in and have a look!" The person who reacted first shouted, and the others just woke up like a dream. Some rushed to Yaoguang Hall to inform Yi Qingling, and some hurriedly Rushed into the Yuheng Hall.

When Jia Wujue saw Qu Zequan again, he was lying on the arhat bed in Yuheng Hall with his eyes closed, his face blue and purple, motionless.A white-haired old doctor pulled out the silver needle from his throat, looked at the bright place, and then sighed: "He suffered from this by mistakenly eating poisonous puffer fish. Fortunately, he swallowed it." The herbal medicine protects the heart veins in time, otherwise," he shook his head, "I'm afraid even the gods won't be able to save them."

Bencao Pill is the secret medicine of Hanzan Palace, it is regarded as a sacred product for healing, and it is hard to find in the rivers and lakes.After Yi Qingling heard what happened in Yuheng Palace, he immediately ordered someone to take nine pills of herbal medicine for Qu Ze to take. After a lot of effort, he finally snatched his life back from the hand of Hades.

After listening to the old doctor's words, Qu Hongxiao, who was crying with tears all over her face, choked out of breath and said, "How could this be..." As she said, she grabbed the old doctor's sleeve, and her two red eyes Looking at the other party with big eyes pleadingly, "You must wake up brother, right?"

The old doctor couldn't bear to look at her, but he could only say: "I can only do my best, if after half a month I still can't revive Master Qu, I'm afraid..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but Qu Hongxiao already understood what he meant, tears poured down her palm-sized face, Yi Qingling really couldn't see it, pulled her aside, and comforted her in a low voice.Qu Hongxiao's crying finally stopped, she took Yi Qingling's hand, and begged: "Sister Qingling, you must thoroughly investigate this matter! Maybe the cook deliberately put my brother to death! "

Her words reminded Yi Qingling that the puffer fish banquet has always been a major feature of Hanzan Palace's hospitality, and there has never been any poisoning incident. Why did such a mistake happen to a small bowl of stewed puffer fish today? ?Did someone really do it on purpose?

A cold light flashed in Yi Qingling's eyes: "Come here, go and bring the cook who made this dish to me!"

The chef who cooks this dish is Master Zhao, who has been working in Hanzan Palace for more than five years.He had heard of Palace Master Yi's vicious methods all along. When he knelt in front of Yi Qingling, he realized that the fear he felt when he heard the rumors was less than one ten-thousandth of what he is now.

But in order to survive, he had to muster up the courage to say: "Palace Master Yi, I really didn't poison you on purpose!"

Qu Hongxiao glared at him angrily, and was about to speak when Yi Qingling stopped her.Yi Qingling glanced at Master Zhao nonchalantly and said, "You didn't do it on purpose, and the bowl of puffer fish that Master Qu ate was obviously poisonous, so it's because of your negligence and a mistake in cooking? "

Negligence is better than deliberate poisoning. Master Zhao nodded hurriedly and said, "I'm afraid the little one didn't check for a while and didn't clean up the puffer fish. The little one should die, the small one should die!" Kowtow on the ground begging for mercy.

Yi Qingling sneered: "I heard that puffer fish poison is very powerful, and you will die if you touch it. Since you were negligent for a while, besides the meat in this bowl, the soup in the kitchen pot must also be poisonous, right?"

"Of course, of course!" Master Zhao said confidently, "The Palace Master will know if he checks."

After a while, the people who went to the back kitchen leaned over and whispered something in Yi Qingling's ear, and a smile appeared on Yi Qingling's face.

"How?" Master Zhao asked eagerly, "Palace Master Yi believes that the little one poisoned you on purpose, right?"

"Master Zhao," Yi Qingling called him very kindly. Just as Master Zhao was about to agree, Yi Qingling's complexion changed and he said sharply: "If it weren't for the fact that you have been in the back kitchen for many years, there will be hardships without credit." For your sake, you should lie down under the cold hairpin cliff now!"

When Master Zhao heard this, he broke out in a cold sweat, and hurriedly said, "What does Palace Master Yi mean?"

"Hmph," Yi Qingling sneered, "What do you mean by asking me? I want to ask you first, you said you didn't deliberately poison, so why did the non-toxic puffer fish meat in the pot end up in Master Qu's bowl?" There is poison, why was 100 taels of silver of unknown origin found in your bedroom?"

Master Zhao was blindfolded by Yi Qingling's questioning, and said in a daze, "100 taels? What 100 taels?"

"I still want to quibble, it seems that you won't cry when you see the coffin." Yi Qingling's face flashed a ruthless look, "Come here, invite Master Zhao to Hanzanya's cell and treat him well."

Master Zhao's cries didn't last long before he was dragged out.

Jia Wujue stood and watched from a distance for a long while, seeing Master Zhao's miserable state when he was dragged away, he said "tsk" and said, "Looking at him like this, I think he might really not know."

"Hiding the stolen money in the bedroom, no one with a little brain would do that." Yue Chentan said.

"Exactly." Jia Wu said bullyingly, "Also, if I wanted to deliberately poison, I would definitely clean up the soup first, so as not to fall into the trap. How can I be like Master Zhao, I can't wait begging others to test it?"

Yue Chentan nodded slightly: "His expression just now does not seem to be fake."

"That would be interesting." Jia Wuyu rubbed his nose and looked sideways at Yue Chentan, "I want to take a closer look, how about you?"

Yue Chentan didn't say it clearly, but his action of following Jia Wuhai's side already explained everything.

At this time there were only three or five people left in the Yuheng Hall, Qu Zequan had been carried back to Luofu Peak, and the crowd gradually dispersed, only Yi Qingling remained in the hall, comforting the choked Qu Hongxiao.

Noticing Jia Wuchao and the two coming, Yi Qingling patted Qu Hongxiao on the shoulder lightly, and then said to the two of them, "Why don't you two leave? Are you still looking for some 'trouble'?"

Although she said that, her eyes were filled with teasing and there was no malice. Jia Wujue said bluntly: "I wonder if Palace Master Yi will let us two investigate here? If it was Master Zhao who deliberately poisoned him, he is also the victim Just instigate him, but punishing him won't solve the fundamental problem. Since the people behind want Qu Zhuangzhu to be poisoned to death here, maybe they will leave some relevant clues."

"Oh?" Yi Qingling raised her eyebrows and said in an unclear tone, "Do you think I punished you too severely?"

Before Jia Wujue could speak in the future, Yue Chentan said coldly, "Maybe it's totally wrong."

"You!" Yi Qingling looked at Yue Chentan with a smile on his face, "Since Yue Shaoxia thinks my decision is wrong, then I originally agreed with Jia Shaoxia's suggestion, but after looking at it now, let's forget it."

"Make trouble out of no reason." Yue Chentan said expressionlessly.

Seeing that he was about to suffer, Jia Wujue hurriedly smoothed things over and said, "Palace Master Yi, don't argue with him, he—"

"No guts, no strategy." Before Jia Wuchai could finish speaking, Yue Chentan threw out another four words.

Yi Qingling's smiling face was already a bit ferocious: "Yue Shaoxia has repeatedly uttered insulting words, and which family's reason is followed and which family's scheme is used?"

"If you know your mistakes and don't correct them, it's to make trouble for no reason. There is a clear way to go, but you don't want to try to refuse foolishly. It's because you have no courage and no plan." Yue Chentan showed a hint of sarcasm, "Master Yi doesn't want to let you go. We stay here only because we are afraid that if we find evidence about the real murderer, it will hurt your worthless reputation."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Yi Qing was so angry that he couldn't even hold back the smile on his face, "If you want to stay, then stay, even if you stay until you die, no one will care!"

After finishing speaking, she grabbed Qu Hongxiao's hand and walked out angrily.The door of Yuheng Hall was slammed shut with a bang, and the hall finally became quiet again.

After a long while, Jia Wujue sighed and said, "Brother Yue, do you never know how to write the words Lianxiangxiyu?"

"Could it be that you know?" Yue Chentan asked without answering.

Jia Wuhai glanced at Yue Chentan's expression, and felt that he seemed to have said something wrong again.