Strange Tale

"Hey, so you're not in the room." Long Jiu turned around.

Si Ren walked up to him, "Go downstairs and have a look."

"Why didn't I see you when I came over?"

"Did you come from the front yard? I didn't see you either." Si Ren asked knowingly, the dungeon was at the back of this building, so Long Jiu naturally walked around from behind the building.

"Oh, no, I went to the back."

"No wonder." Si Ren stretched out his hand over Long Jiu and pushed open the door, "What do you want me to do?"

"Hmm... Let me ask you if this place is okay. If you don't like it, you can change it."

"Is General Lao Long personally asking about this kind of trivial matter?"

"Passing by, come up and take a look."

Both entered the room, Long Jiu found a chair and sat down, Si Ren stood by the window, "Old Man Xie told me not to go to the dungeon."

Long Jiu looked at Si Ren's back, "Well, I can't go."

"Why? Didn't your people just enter the city for a few days? Who's locked up in the dungeon?"

"Are you very interested?"

Si Ren turned around and smiled, "I can't see anyone guarding from this window. If you don't want people to get close, shouldn't you send more people?"

Long Jiu squinted his eyes and smiled, "Actually, it's a forbidden place to keep people away, for the benefit of those who are curious. No one is locked inside, and there is nothing to see."

It has nothing to do with "people", Si Ren thought to himself.

"Then why..."

"It's getting late." Long Jiu interrupted Si Ren, took out his pocket watch and stood up, "Are you hungry, sir? Come, come with me to lunch."

Si Ren rubbed his belly, with a smile on his face, "Alright."

In the toilet hall on the front floor, apart from those who walked around to serve the food, there were only Long Jiu and Si Ren on the table.Apparently Long Jiu had arranged in advance, all vegetarian dishes, not a single one with meaty taste.

"How do you know I'm a vegetarian?" Si Bian asked looking at the clear soup full of water on the table.

Long Jiu couldn't hide his complacency, "I asked you to have dinner with me in Shiquan Pavilion, but you insisted on finding that foreign monk. Later I thought: Although you said that you are neither a Taoist priest nor a monk, after all, you are a student of Dharma and Taoism. Eating indiscriminately may break the spell. So I guess you must be a vegetarian."

"Are these specially prepared for me?"

"Ah."

"What about you? What do you eat?"

Half of Long Jiu's eyebrows raised, "It's the same as you."

"I saw you putting on such a big show by yourself yesterday, I thought you couldn't eat without chicken, duck and fish."

"Let's eat." Long Jiu lowered his eyes and made a gesture of invitation.

"Together." Si Ren also politely picked up the spoon.

After drinking a spoonful of soup, Si Bian's expression immediately changed, "Ah—as expected of the cook of the General's Mansion, an ordinary vegetable soup can cook so delicious!"

"Really?" Long Jiu picked up the root vegetables and stuffed them into his mouth without interest, "Unfortunately, it doesn't make much difference to me what to eat or not to eat."

"Huh? Can't you taste the taste?"

"That's not the case. It's just that I can't starve to death without eating, so I never feel hungry. I don't have any desire for food, so I don't feel delicious when I eat anything."

"Is that so." Si Ren's eyebrows drooped down along with the corners of his eyes.

Long Jiu thought he was going to say something sympathetic.

As a result, Si Ren curled his lips and said meaningfully: "Then it's really a waste to feed you."

After the meal was over, Long Jiu said that he had something to do in the afternoon and let Si Ren take care of himself.

Si Ren pretended to be sleepy and stretched his waist, "Uh ─ ah ─ I'm sleepy when I'm full. Well then, the general is busy, so I'll go back and rest."

Long Jiu and Si Ren went out together, and as they walked, Si Ren suddenly asked: "Where is Mr. Ye Chang? Why didn't you see him when he showed up in the morning? Don't you have dinner together?"

"He's been busy recently."

"Still staring at the North City Gate?"

Long Jiu didn't answer.

Si Ren asked again: "Are you looking for someone?"

Long Jiu glanced at him, "Why do you say that?"

"For many days, you have been sealing the other two gates and only opening the smallest north city gate. You have also sent heavy guards around the city gate, and strictly checked the passers-by. If it's not for someone, don't you need to make it like this? And ..."

"continue."

"The reason you captured Yancheng is to find someone, right?"

When he arrived at the gate of the courtyard, Long Jiu stopped in his tracks. He was silent for a moment before raising his head, "Whether you are looking for someone or not has nothing to do with you. In addition, sir, listen to my advice, it is better not to be so clear about some things. Should you listen or not?" Look, don't be too curious. After three days, no matter whether I will have a catastrophe as you said, I will send you out of the city."

"Out of town?"

"Yes, the farther you leave Yancheng, the better."

"Ha, that's weird, didn't you originally forbid me to leave the city?"

Long Jiu smiled, "As Mr. said: this moment is that moment."

"Then what's the difference between you now and then?"

"First, you are not the person I am looking for. Second, Mr. is kind-hearted and a good person."

"Good guy?" Si Ren was taken aback for a moment, then couldn't help laughing, "Hahahaha..."

Long Jiu looked at him expressionlessly and smiled for a while, "Sir, you have to go back to your room and laugh slowly. I'm in a hurry, so I won't accompany you."

After speaking, Long Jiu winked at the two guards in front of the door, then turned and walked towards the front yard.Two guards surrounded him, so Si Ren had no choice but to turn around and go where he should go.

On the way, Si Ren thought: Why did you send me out of the city?What is he going to do in Yancheng?I shouldn't have listened to it... Could it be that he knew I was in the dungeon just now?Impossible, then how could he go directly to the lonely room?Forget it, don't worry about anything else, the most important thing is to steal something quickly so that you can see Xiao Lin.

After returning to the room and closing the door, Si Ren took out a paper figurine with his birthday written on it from his backpack, then pulled out a piece of hair and wrapped it around the paper figurine's head, then put the paper figurine on the bed and covered it with a quilt.He pointed at the bed and chanted a curse, and the paper figurine changed into "Si Ren" with a bang.

The fake Siren "slept", and the hidden Shinjiren confidently and boldly turned from the window to the outside of the house and climbed to the first floor, and then swaggered past the guards.

This time when he came back to the dungeon, Si Ren became much calmer, and washed his eyes and ears with pure soup. He looked at the ghosts in the cells on both sides of the road, walked to the end, touched the wooden board, and knocked according to Long Jiu's memory. The rhythm beat a few times.

The door opened with a creak, and Si Ren took a deep breath and stepped in.The door slowly closed behind him, Si Ren turned his head to look back, and couldn't help worrying whether he would be able to get out unscathed again.

Suddenly, a familiar figure flashed in the cell outside the door.Si Ren wanted to take a closer look, but the door was already closed.He stretched out his hand to pull it, but the door was still motionless, and Si Ren had a bad premonition.

After standing there hesitating for a while, Si Ren gritted his teeth and continued walking inside.

It was still the long dark corridor filled with the smell of herbs.

Walking to the door of the room that followed Long Jiu in the morning, Si Ren put his ear on it and listened: there was no sound.He thought that if this was the room where she was resting alone, there was a high possibility that she was still in it now, and it would be too dangerous to go in directly by herself. To be on the safe side, it would be better to go to the next door or other rooms to have a look.

Thinking about walking down the road, another door soon appeared in front of Si Ren.He pushed gently with his hand, and the door was actually ajar.Immediately, light came out of the gap pushed away by Si Ren.Si Ren looked back, and finally couldn't stand the curiosity and stepped into the door.

The door closed behind him with a click, and Si Ren was stunned looking at the scene in front of him.

This... this is not...

"Ma'am! The third young master is back! Dinner is ready!"

A little girl ran over and took off the bag on Si Ren's shoulder, and whispered in his ear: "Why did you come back, master? The master just sent someone to look for you. I will ask you later." Answer carefully, and beware of being beaten."

Why did I come home now? !Si Ren scratched his face and turned his head to look around. Behind him was his own courtyard with red flowers and willows. How could there be any door? !

Turn around again.

"mother?!"

Si Ren was even more stupid: After so many years, how come mother is not getting old but getting younger? !

Mrs. Si took Si Ren with one hand and took out a handkerchief with the other, "Where did you go crazy again? Look at this face. When your father asked after a while, he said that he got lost when he went out, don't say he went to the mountains to play." .”

Si Ren looked at the person in front of him who was indeed his own mother and kept wiping his face with a handkerchief, a little at a loss: Is it an illusion?impossible!I used Chunli Tang's, and it's still hidden!

After being rubbed against his face, Si Ren was dragged into the dining room again.

Master Si sat on the front seat and looked at Si Ren with a gloomy face, "It's fine if you come back late, why can't you even say hello now?!"

"Father, Third Uncle, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, I'm back." Si Ban looked at the people at the table and mechanically greeted them one by one.

"Okay, don't embarrass the child, it's good to be able to do this." Si Ren's third uncle stood up and waved to him, "Come on, Xiao Ren, are you hungry? Come and eat."

"Alas—" Master Si sighed, "You said that the eldest and second are all fine, but why is the third one an idiot..."

"Master! We agreed not to say this in front of the children!" Mrs. Si stomped her feet, seeming a little annoyed.

Stupid?Si Ren thought blankly: By the way, when I was at home, I heard someone secretly say that I was a fool until I was 14 years old.It was just that one day I came home from the outside and it was fine, and I learned a lot of things that no one had taught me before.Then my father and my elder brother treated me as a monster, only my mother still loved me.But I don't remember anything before that, even if I'm stupid, I can't remember everything, right?What happened next?What's wrong with me?Why is my head empty...

Si Ren was dragged to the table and pressed down on a seat, his arm was picked up and a spoon was stuffed in his hand.

"Let's eat." Master Si said.

Si Ren lowered his head: "My hand... I don't know when it turned into a child's hand."