treacherous world

Zhan Zhao has always been in a daze for the past few days since he thought about his sincerity that night.

And the atmosphere in Kaifeng Mansion became tense as the autumn test approached day by day.Especially Bao Yan, who looks out of his mind all day long, not only loses everything, but also reacts extremely slowly, and is often laughed at by Pang Yu.

Therefore, in the yard, Zhan Zhao and Bao Yan can often be seen sitting there in a daze, sighing.

The fourth son asked Bai Yutang curiously, "Miao Miao also has an exam? Why are you as stupid as Xiao Mantou?"

Bai Yutang shook his head, Zhan Zhao was indeed a little strange these days, he was absent-minded, he didn't know what he was thinking, anyway, he was also a dumb-headed person, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out why, even if he did, he probably wouldn't will do.

"Why don't you ask him." Bai Yutang ordered the fourth son to ask.

The fourth son ran over and tugged at Zhan Zhao's sleeve, "Meow, I just said I like you."

……

Zhan Zhao came back to his senses in shock, looked at the fourth son in a panic, and stammered, "Don't...don't...say nonsense."

"If you don't believe me, go ask him, ask him if he likes you!" The fourth son raised his face and asked with a smile, "Go, go."

"Uh... I'm still going to patrol the streets." Zhan Zhao grabbed the giant gate and fled.

Bai Yutang was even more puzzled when he saw that the fourth son had said something to Zhan Zhao, and then Zhan Zhao fled away like flying.

The fourth son came back and sat down next to Bai Yutang, holding his chin and sighing, "Miaomiao is true."

"What happened to him?" Bai Yutang asked

The fourth son raised his face, "He said he was going to patrol the streets."

"Then why run away?" Bai Yutang asked while looking out.

"He said he likes you, but I'm sorry to tell you." The fourth son smiled.

Embarrassed, Bai Yutang stretched out his hand to pinch his cheek, "Don't keep learning from Zhao Pu, talking nonsense."

The fourth son blinked his big eyes, "Really, if you don't believe me, you can ask him if Miao Miao likes you!"

Bai Yutang had no choice but to pick up the knife, "You can accompany Bao Yan to study, I will go shopping with that cat, not... patrolling the streets!"

Bai Yutang accidentally spoke the truth, coughed, and hurried out.

The fourth son watched him go away with a smile, feeling that it would be better if Bai Bai could take the initiative.Turning around, Bao Yan was holding two copper plates and throwing them on the ground, looked at them, picked them up and threw them again.

The fourth son thought that he might be playing some kind of game, so he ran up, "Little Mantou..."

"Don't move!" Bao Yan suddenly pointed at the fourth son.

The fourth son stayed where he was, looking at him puzzled.

"It's really the hexagram of Qian Kun, isn't it so evil?" Bao Yan rested his chin and stared at the copper plate at the feet of Xiaosi, his brows frowned, as if he couldn't figure something out.

"What is the hexagram of Qian Kun?" The fourth son jumped over the copper plates and came to ask Bao Yan.

"Oh... an old god made a fortune yesterday, saying that there will be a big mess at three o'clock in the noon today, and it is almost noon now. I followed what he said and threw copper coins in the northwest direction to see what the hexagram will look like... Really Every hexagram is Qiankun hexagram! That is to say, there is trouble in the northwest direction."

"I'll try!" The fourth son took the copper plate and tossed it... Sure enough, it was still the hexagram of Qian Kun.

"Is there really going to be trouble?" The fourth son was also surprised.

"What's going on?"

Outside, Pang Yu ran in with two plates of fried rice, "Isn't it messy enough? People can't leave on the street."

"Why?" Bao Yan hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

"It's not an accident. The literary test has not yet been taken. The students who participated in the martial arts test have come to Beijing, and the streets are full of people. Do you know how many martial arts competitions were set up on the street in the west city? These martial arts practitioners are not as good as nerds. dispatched!"

"Xicheng?" Bao Yan looked at the fourth son, who also had a pimple on his eyebrows... There are so many people, is something really going to happen?

……

Zhan Zhao hurried out of Kaifeng Mansion, and saw that there were almost three times more people on the street than usual.

He grabbed a yamen servant and asked, "Why are there so many people?"

"Don't mention Mr. Zhan." The yamen servant was depressed, "A large group of Jianghu people, it is said that they came to participate in the martial arts test early, and they fought a lot when they disagreed. There were more than a dozen cases of private fighting this morning!"

Zhan Zhao frowned, "So much?"

"That's not true, and there are different factions to set up the arena." The yamen servant said, "The southern faction got together, and the northern faction got another pile. It's a mess. I haven't seen such a battle in the autumn test in previous years!"

Zhan Zhao felt strange when he heard that, this year seems to be different from previous years.

"Master Zhan!"

This time, a few yamen servants ran back in a hurry, and said to Zhan Zhao, "Something happened up front! On the street to the west, several warriors lost the ring and committed suicide!"

"Suicide?" Bai Yutang followed behind Zhan Zhao. It sounded strange to him, would he kill himself if he lost?If this is the case, then the rivers and lakes will be much quieter!

"Lead the way." Zhan Zhao asked the yamen servant to lead the way, and he and Bai Yutang followed to the west.

Bai Yutang suddenly asked, "Just now the fourth son said..."

"Ah?" Zhan Zhao became nervous, his face blushed inexplicably, is Bai Yutang sure he wants to say it here?

Bai Yutang was also taken aback when he saw Zhan Zhao's reaction.He also thought that the little villain, the fourth son, must be fooling people. How could Zhan Zhao say that he likes him, and let the fourth son pass the message.

But looking at Zhan Zhao's expression now, why is this cat so nervous... Could it be true?

"What the fourth son said is true?" Bai Yutang asked directly.

Zhan Zhao didn't hear Bai Yutang's questioning tone, but only heard the words "what the fourth son said is true"—— what the fourth son said was true!

"Ahem." Zhan Zhao was even more embarrassed, but felt that he had to respond, so he touched his neck, "Mmm..."

Bai Yutang was a little dumbfounded, "You..."

Zhan Zhao thought that Bai Yutang asked him if he liked him too, so he became more and more uncomfortable, and said, "Then what, uh..."

Seeing Zhan Zhao's hesitation to speak, Bai Yutang thought it was quite generous for him to ask his own thoughts, so he nodded, "Yeah."

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang, "Huh? Really?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "Yes! Really."

Zhan Zhao thought for a while, then nodded, "En! Good."

"Oh!" Bai Yutang also nodded, and the two of them looked at each other for a long time, looking at the sky uncomfortably, but they were very excited.

The yamen servant who led the way turned back while walking, thinking that Mr. Zhan and Young Master Bai are amazing, what kind of communication is this?

After that, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao continued to walk forward side by side without speaking, but there were inexplicable smiles on their faces, and they didn't know what they were happy about.

Everyone on the street said, what a rare day today, Master Zhan is used to being happy every day, Bai Yutang is also smiling, the sun is coming out from the west!

The two followed the yamen servant to the west block.Surprised, Ouyang Shaozheng arrived first, and sent people to separate the warriors. The bodies of the three warriors who committed suicide were lying on the ring intact, covered only with a white cloth.Ouyang knew that Zhan Zhao and the others definitely wanted to take a look at the scene.

"Hey, are you here?" Ouyang sighed repeatedly when he saw Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Do you think this year is a bad year? First the scholar and then the martial artist, everyone committed suicide!"

"How did they all die?" Zhan Zhao stretched out his hand to remove the white cloth from the corpse, just as Bai Yutang also stretched out his hand, his two hands didn't catch the white cloth, but caught the other's hand.

Dazed for a moment, they looked up at each other, hesitated for a while, and then separated their hands.

Bai Yutang continued to uncover the white cloth, Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, and stared at it intently.

Ouyang Shaozheng just saw the actions of the two of them, raised his eyebrows slightly—oh?These two slow ones seem to be making some progress!

The corpse looked a little scary, bleeding from seven holes.

Zhan Zhao reached out and touched the muscles and bones of those people, and frowned, "Did you die by breaking your veins? That's really cruel."

"Cat." Bai Yutang pointed to the cut-off knife next to the corpse for Zhan Zhao to see.

"Broken knife?" Zhan Zhao looked up at Ouyang Shaozheng.

"I just asked the person who competed with him. It is said that after he lost, he suddenly looked hopeless, picked up the knife and snapped the weapon, and then committed suicide by breaking his veins! Many people saw it at the time, Not long after, one died on the other side, and another died on the other side after a while. The three dead were all martial arts students with different origins and did not know each other. The weapons were knives, swords and sticks, and the way of suicide was to lose. After mastering it, first master the weapons, and then break the tendons."

After listening to Ouyang Shaozheng's general story, Bai Yutang suddenly asked Zhan Zhao, "Do you realize that although these martial arts students and those Wen Sheng died in different ways, there are some places where they are really the same!"

"That's true!" Zhan Zhao also nodded, "But those Wen Sheng committed suicide because of the poison of the other side, what about these Wu Sheng? Why?"

"Bring it back and let Gongsun inspect it." Bai Yutang stood up, and when he turned around, he saw a few people coming from outside the crowd.

"Cat." Bai Yutang gently reminded Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao stood up and looked... only to see that it was Chai Xing.

"Brother Zhan, Brother Bai...haha." Chai Xing was quite familiar with him, and greeted the two of them as soon as he stepped forward.

"My lord." Zhan Zhao nodded to him, "Why are you here?"

"Oh, Xiao Wang originally heard that there was a martial arts competition here, and he came to see the fun, but he didn't expect such a tragedy to happen." Chai Xing said, sighing, "Tell me, does Xiao Wang have a problem with Feng Shui at home? It's weird to be a dead scholar in the literary test, and dead to the martial arts test in the martial arts test!"

"Hey, that's right. The king's disaster is shining brightly. The people around him will definitely be affected, and there will be bloody disasters in the near future. You need to change your luck quickly, or you will die soon."

While speaking, someone interrupted from the side.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, and felt that the voice was familiar, but they felt helpless when they saw it—Shenxiang Qi Siren came at some time, and squatted on the ring beside him, talking carelessly.It seems that Chai Xing needs to be more careful, God Xiang said that his life is not long!

Chai Xing's expression changed, and he thought that this dead old man was talking nonsense, it's really bad luck!

"Bold!"

A guard next to Chai Xing would look at him, and he scolded dissatisfiedly, "Where did the old man come from, dare to talk nonsense in front of the prince!"

The old man glanced at him, "You boy, do you know how to respect the elderly, don't speak so loudly, and be careful not to be bitten by dogs."

"You..." The guard was annoyed and took a step forward, "What did you say?!"

He was under the stage, surrounded by many people, and when he took a step forward, he felt that he had stepped on something. Before he recovered, he heard two more "barking" sounds, and then his feet hurt.

When he realized it, there was already a big yellow dog biting him.

"Oh!" The guard was startled, and jumped up, seeing that the calf was bitten by the big yellow dog and bleeding, he became furious, and stretched out his hand to draw the knife.

"Everything in the world has spirituality." But the old man went on to say, "There is retribution for reckless killing, and it's retribution in this world!"

After finishing speaking, the guard had already slashed at the big yellow dog.

It's just that the knife didn't fall, and Zhan Zhao raised his hand, and a black jade locust stone that he brought from Bai Yutang flew out, hitting the knife in the guard's hand.

The guard's hand numb...the knife dropped from his hand and fell to the ground.

The big yellow dog barked a few more times when he saw the vicious guard, looked up at Zhan Zhao, flicked his tail, turned around and ran away.

The guard looked back at Zhan Zhao viciously.

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, "You stepped on it first, and it bit you when it was frightened. Didn't you listen to what the old man said, everything has cause and effect, reckless killing will be punished."

"Hahaha!" The old man smiled and stretched out his hand to point at Zhan Zhao, "Boy is savvy, you saved the life of this big yellow dog, the dog is the most moral, and will definitely repay you in the future!"

Zhan Zhao smiled and withdrew his hands, and saw Bai Yutang looking at him wonderingly.

Just now, Zhan Zhao reached out to take the black jade flying locust stone from Bai Yutang's sleeve pocket, and then he punched it out in one go, without even a moment of hesitation.

Bai Yutang touched his sleeves. The last time Zhan Zhao touched his wallet and his chest, it was smoother than touching his own. The cat really didn't treat him as an outsider... Should he be happy?

At this time, more people came from a distance. Gongsun came running with a medicine box. He went up to the ring and frowned.

Zhao Pu wandered over and saw Chai Xing at a glance.

"Oh, Ninth Prince." Chai Xing quickly saluted Zhao Pu.

Zhao Pu nodded to him. He didn't like this kind of type who was obviously unfamiliar but wanted to be courteous.And regarding Chai Xing's status, he shouldn't have bowed his head to the Zhao family and humiliated his ancestors.

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao - didn't Chai Xing hate Zhao Pu the most?

Zhan Zhao also expressed his incomprehension - compared to Zhao Zhen, Chai Xing absolutely hated Zhao Pu, who was a general.

At this moment, Zhan Zhao felt someone gently tugging at his clothes, and when he looked down, he saw that it was Gongsun.

Zhan Zhao thought it was funny, Gongsun learned this move from the fourth son, right?He squatted down and asked, "What?"

Gongsun pointed to the dead man's neck.

Zhan Zhao saw a red thread on the neck of the corpse, which had been pulled out by Gongsun, and a triangular yellow paper bag hung on the red thread, like an amulet.

Gongsun pricked the talisman with a silver needle, and pulled it out to show Zhan Zhao.

As far as the tip of the needle is concerned, there is a thin layer of black.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned—poisoned in this paper bag?Could it be the other side again?

Gongsun shook his head slightly, "I'll find out only after I go back and open the paper bag to check."

Bai Yutang stared at the paper bag for a while, and Gongsun picked up the charm with a small bamboo knife and turned over - he saw the word "beast" written in cinnabar on the yellow paper bag.

Bai Yutang looked at it strangely, and asked Zhan Zhao, "What is this?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head, he didn't know anything about talismans, and generally shouldn't such talismans have words like "Peace, Fortune, and Longevity" written on them?How could it be so strange to write the word "beast".

Zhan Zhao then ordered people to bring over the corpses of the other two people, and sure enough—it was found that these people were wearing the amulets with the word "beast" around their necks.

"Old man." Zhan Zhao looked up and looked at Qi Siren who was squatting aside and picking his ears, "Do you know what this is?"

Qi Siren glanced at the amulet on the neck of the deceased, frowned slightly, and walked over.

"Oh?" The old man nodded slightly, and asked everyone with great interest, "Boys, have you heard of the beast niche?"

Zhan Zhao and the others looked at each other—beast niche?what?