Yun Lian

Tianjin, Laoxikai.

The main hall of Erjietang is located on the southwest bank of Qiangzi River, adjacent to the French Concession, facing east from west, and looks like an old-fashioned large ancestral hall from the outside.

This place has long been a disputed area jointly managed by China and France. There is only one Catholic church nearby. Since the anti-French riots more than ten years ago, there have been few Chinese activities here.

Every year, the Four Elephants Conference is held in mid-April, and the schedule of the conference is notified to the participants by the staff of the Erjietang in person, and outsiders have no way of knowing it.Yun Lian squatted around here for two whole days and found nothing. He didn't even know if the meeting was closed or it was over. On the third night, he couldn't sit still anymore, so he decided to find a way to sneak in first.

The gate of the ancestral hall was closed tightly, and since Yunlian arrived here, no living person had been seen coming in or out. In the end, he climbed the wall directly from the northwest corner in an extremely rough way and climbed in.

The process of sneaking in was extremely smooth, and there were hardly any obstacles encountered from the backyard all the way to the front hall.The huge ancestral hall is unguarded, and it is no different from ordinary people. It is hard to believe that this is the seat of the highest authority of Erjietang.

Yun Lianda grew up in Shanghai, and rarely encountered such a community-style building that could not be seen at a glance. After a while, he got lost in a detour, and finally found something similar to the front hall after listening to a few servants. place.

After tidying up the hall, the servants withdrew.Yun Lian heard that they were preparing to welcome guests just now, and thought that this place was at least a reception room if not for a meeting, so he quietly retreated into the shadow behind the beams.

Nothing happened overnight.In the early morning of the next day, several servants entered the hall to clean and put tea, but no one noticed that there was still a person hiding above their heads.

After more than half an hour, the doorman brought in two men in dark long coats, one tall and one short. One of them sat down, and the other stood beside him and looked around.Because both of them turned their backs to the direction of the beam, Yun Lian couldn't see their faces, but felt that the short figure seemed familiar.

Just as he was wondering, the other party suddenly grabbed the other man's sleeve and said something, Yun Lian pricked up his ears, and only heard the words "Brother Xie".At this time, the curtain hanging on the side of the hall suddenly opened, and another man in a dark blue coarse cloth gown walked in.

Yun Lian had noticed the curtain last night. Behind the curtain was an anteroom, which led directly to the front hall and the back door. There was nothing but two carved wooden chairs.

The long-clothed man entered the hall, stopped suddenly after taking two steps, and raised his chin slightly in the direction of the beam.

"This friend is very unfamiliar, why don't you come down and talk about it now that you're here?"

Yun Lian was stunned, for a moment he didn't realize who he was speaking to, and he hid it well, logically speaking, he shouldn't be discovered so quickly.However, in the next second, Duo conveniently raised his head, and faced him with a smiling face: "Why, do you want me to help you down?"

Yun Lian shuddered, and his heart skipped half a beat.

He had never seen anyone laugh like this before.Probably because the eyes were too small and the man was too short, although the man didn't make any unnecessary expressions, his facial features seemed to be squeezed together, the corners of his mouth were cracked to the heels of his ears, and his whole face looked weird and distorted.

Seeing that Yunlian didn't answer, he smiled again, and at the same time flipped his left wrist, a steel ball flew out of his cuff and shot straight at the beam!

Yun Lian hurriedly dodged and was forced to flash out from the shadows.The steel ball brushed past his feet and hit the wall four or five meters away with a "slap", which shows how strong the man's wrist is.

Before he could gain a firm foothold, another three steel balls shot towards him with strong wind.Yun Lian dodged back and forth in mid-air in a rather embarrassing situation, and finally grabbed the beam and swung forward to the ground.

The exclamation of the guest came from the ear, followed by the voice of the man in the long gown: "Wang is not taking good care of him, please stay away for now."

While he was speaking, Yun Lian ran towards the gate of the hall.He came in so smoothly last night that he almost forgot that this place was a restricted area of ​​Erjietang, and he broke in as an insider.The first person I just met was so difficult to deal with, if I didn't get away quickly, I don't know how much trouble would be waiting for me later.

But the man seemed to know what he was thinking, and forced him back into the hall with a few steel balls: "I ask you, how did you get in?"

"That's how it came in."

"When?"

"yesterday."

"I don't smell you."

"what?"

"Why can't I smell you?"

Yun Lian couldn't understand what he said, and didn't have the heart to understand it. Seeing that the other party was standing motionless in front of the palace gate, he suddenly turned around and ran towards the ear room.

"Stop!" The man was shocked, and shook his hand again without hesitation, this time with great force.

The steel ball scraped across his ankle like a bullet, instantly bringing up a layer of flesh.Yun Lian was in pain, but he didn't dare to stop, and the attack continued. If he was shot in the vitals, it would inevitably hurt his muscles and bones!

In the blink of an eye, he was forced to a dead end again. Seeing a wall in front of him, he climbed up the wall without thinking, and fell three meters away with a volley.Seeing this, the other party stopped immediately, as if surprised that he was able to dodge the attack.

Yun Lian got a chance to catch his breath, and without thinking about it, he turned his head and rushed towards the entrance of the hall.The long-clothed man realized that he was about to give chase, when there was a soft sound in the ear room, and another person came out after opening the curtain.

As soon as Yun Lian stepped over the threshold with his left foot, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, as if being caught in the bone by a big iron hook.This was so fast that he was dragged back and thrown to the ground before he even noticed that someone was approaching. In his dizziness, he heard a hoarse male voice say: "Mu Hua said that this year's Four Elephant Conference will happen. The big thing is really what he said."

Mu Hua...he knows Mu Hua, could it be that he is the hall master?

Yun Lian struggled to sit up, but as soon as he raised his head, he was grabbed by the back of his neck and pushed back, and he couldn't see the person behind him from the beginning to the end.

The long-clothed man bent down and leaned in front of him, smiling as always: "I advise you to be calm and don't move around, otherwise he can crush your spine through the flesh."

Yun Lian really didn't dare, and didn't have the energy to move around.That hand was hard and sharp, holding his life gate like an eagle's claw, as if it could hold his heart at any time.

"Who did you learn this kung fu from?" the voice asked.

"I didn't study."

"Haven't you learned from anyone?"

"No."

"Who are you? Is your surname Yun?"

Yun Lian was secretly surprised, but he didn't want to show this emotion on his face: "Who are you?"

"Let me ask you, is your surname Yun?!" The hand on the back of the neck exerted force suddenly.

"...Hmm!" Yun Lian's eyes turned black from the pain, but his mouth refused to show weakness, "Answer me first, who are you?"

"Ha!" The long-clothed man smiled and said, "You came here by yourself and asked..."

He stopped abruptly in the middle of the conversation, as if he was signaled to stop his mouth.

Yun Lian raised his head suspiciously, suddenly his back felt cold, and his shirt was rolled up from bottom to top.

"What are you doing!?" He was startled and began to struggle again. After a few moments, he heard a stabbing sound, and the other party directly cut the inner garment from the vest into two pieces with a dagger.

The surroundings became quiet, and the man in the long gown also put away his smile.

The man gently pressed the snake-shaped birthmark on Yunlian's back with his fingertips: "It really is him..."

"What are you trying to say? Let me go!" Yun Lian held up the falling fabric with his hand, and knocked his hand away angrily.

This time the other party didn't press him anymore, so Yun Lian was able to turn over and meet the person behind him abruptly.

Unexpectedly, it was the body of a young man who seemed thin, with a black veil on his head, so he couldn't see his face clearly.

"Who the hell are you? How do you know my surname is Yun?"

"Who else is in your family?"

"Answer my question before you ask me." Yun Lian was shivering from the cold, with a sneer on his face.

The man was silent for a moment, then slowly raised his left arm, rolled up the sleeve, and turned the inside of the elbow joint outward.

Yun Lian lowered his head in confusion, and when he saw clearly what was in front of him, there was a loud buzzing in his head, and he couldn't utter a word in fear.

It was a serpentine birthmark exactly like the one on his back.

"You... how could you, would have..."

"Let's talk now." The man put down his sleeves, and only a shadow could be seen clearly on the face behind the veil.

"Who are you, Yunlu?"