treacherous world

Bai Yutang took a step forward, and Zhan Zhao reached out to open the door when he heard that he was coming.Seeing Zhan Zhao fumbling for the doorknob, Bai Yutang quickened his pace and walked to his side, trying to help him open the door.

Sometimes people are very strange, they clearly want to touch the doorknob, but when they make a move, the direction is directed at Zhan Zhao's hand.Zhan Zhao is also strange, he clearly can listen to the sound to identify the position and dodge, but he forgot to react, so that his hands meet unexpectedly in front of the doorknob.

Bai Yutang's fingers lightly brushed the back of Zhan Zhao's hand, neither of them stopped, they just regarded it as a coincidence, so they didn't think about the reason.

Carrying the warmth from each other's hands, Zhan Zhao put his hands behind his back, while Bai Yutang successfully held the door, pushed lightly... with a creak, the door opened.

The courtyard was bright and the weather was fine.

When the two went out, the cool breeze in the morning blew away the ambiguous atmosphere gathered in the room overnight, and the two felt a little lost for no reason.

Bai Yutang raised his head and saw that everyone was in the courtyard, so he gathered his mind and walked forward, Zhan Zhao was beside him.

Zhao Pu accompanied Xiao Liang to practice swords in the courtyard. After all, Xiao Liang was still young and had no fixed nature, so he had to practice every day without slack.

The more interesting ones are the grandson and the fourth son.

I saw Xiaosizi sitting on the stool with his face upturned and his head tilted. Gongsun was holding his head and looking into his ears, asking, "Does it hurt anywhere?"

"No." The fourth son shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao approached and sat down at the table.

"Little Sizi seems to have ringing ears last night." Gongsun blew into his ears, and Xiaosizi hurriedly covered his ears.

"Little Si, did you hear a buzzing sound? A muffled sound, coming from outside the window?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"That's right!" The fourth son nodded quickly, "Meow Meow heard that too?" While talking, he pouted at Gongsun, "It's not my tinnitus, daddy."

Gongsun looked at Bai Yutang, who frowned and nodded.

Gongsun was puzzled, "Brother Zhan also heard it?"

"Well, and it's very clear." Zhan Zhao reached out and touched his ears, "I didn't feel any discomfort before."

"Meow, how did you sleep last night?" Little Four asked Zhan Zhao while nibbling on a steamed bun, "Last night, Xiao Liangzi covered my ears all night. It's so strange. Only Xiao Liangzi covered my ears and couldn't hear." , it's useless for Daddy to cover it."

"Cough..." Zhan Zhao was drinking tea, almost choking, "Really?"

"Yeah." The fourth son nodded, looking up at Zhan Zhao, as if he was still waiting for him to explain how he slept.

"Is it only you two who can hear it?" Bai Yutang hurriedly changed the subject to avoid embarrassment, "Why?"

"Brother Zhan heard it too?" Zhao Pu came over and sat down with Xiao Liang. They all looked at Zhan Zhao and the fourth son, wanting to find the similarities between them. Why did only these two hear it?

but……

The fourth son is chubby and thin.One is cute and one is handsome, the key is that one is dull and the other is very shrewd...the two have no similarities at all.If Zhan Zhao's eyes were injured and temporarily blinded, the fourth son's eyes are clear and healthy.

"But the strangest thing is, why only Xiao Liangzi is covering the fourth son, and the fourth son can't hear it, but others are useless?" Gongsun said to himself, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang bowed their heads to eat in tacit understanding, and said Don't post it... It's embarrassing to say it out, Xiao Liang and Xiao Sizi are childhood sweethearts, so let's hug each other for a night, they are embarrassing.

"By the way." Zhan Zhao asked Zhe Ying and Zi Ying, "How did the investigation go last night?"

Zhe Ying recounted what he had heard.

"Loud noise?" Bai Yutang wondered, "Did the embankment collapse first, causing the water to flood the river bank, or was it because the water volume suddenly increased and flooded the river bank, causing the embankment to collapse?"

"Maybe, but there was a loud noise, I think the river embankment might have collapsed first!" Zhe Ying replied.

"I checked the location." Ziying shook her head, "It's a coincidence, you said, the location of Little Monkey's house happened to be completely submerged!"

Bai Yutang frowned, looked at Zhan Zhao, and saw that his brows were also frowned, "It seems...someone doesn't want us to get close to that house."

"Did the catacombs collapse too?" Gongsun felt that it was a pity, and wanted to see the one that Bai Yutang mentioned, which was two living mermaids as big as him.

"Hoohoo."

At this time, Shi Shi was holding a bun under the table and whistling towards the gate of the courtyard twice, as if someone was coming.

Sure enough, footsteps were heard soon after.I saw Liang Bao came with the little monkey and his grandma.

The stone leaned over and wagged its tail at the little monkey. The little monkey looked very happy after seeing the stone, and reached out to stroke its head.

"My lord, I brought them here. Fortunately, they went to the market to sell dried fish yesterday, so nothing happened." Liang Bao said with a smile.

Bai Yutang remained calm, Zhao Pu nodded, and waved to Liang Bao, signaling that he could leave first, it was none of his business.

Liang Bao glanced at the little monkey's grandmother before leaving. The subtle eye contact between the two made Gongsun see clearly. Liang Bao seemed to be threatening in it, while the little monkey's grandmother seemed a little scared .

After Liang Bao left, Zhe Ying and Zi Ying helped the old lady to sit down at the table and have breakfast together.

Zhao Pu winked at Xiao Liang, Xiao Liang understood, got off the stool to pull on the fourth son, and said, "Jin'er, let's eat there, shall we play with the little monkey?"

Of course the fourth son was willing, and was obediently dragged away by Xiao Liang, beckoning to the little monkey and Shitou, "Little Monkey Stone, shall we go play together?"

Shitou naturally followed, the little monkey looked at grandma, grandma nodded, and he followed.Several children entered the house and closed the door, feeding stones while whispering.Xiao Liang understood Zhao Pu's meaning. The adults told the adults that it is easier for children to talk to each other. He also wanted to ask the little monkey about that "Little Red".

"Old man, drink tea." Gongsun handed a cup of tea to the little monkey's grandma.

"Oh, thank you, my lord." The old grandma was very polite. Even though she tried her best to hide it to make herself look calmer, everyone could still see that she was nervous and disturbed.

Zhao Pu and Bai Yutang exchanged glances, and sure enough there was something wrong, so they asked, "Old man, were you frightened yesterday?"

"Oh, no, by the time the little monkey and I went back, the house had already collapsed, the embankment had collapsed, and the entire river bank was flooded, alas..." The old woman patted her chest, as if feeling regretful and helpless, these actions... …It’s not reasonable. Logically speaking, shouldn’t you be grateful and afraid of being unwell?

Gongsun saw the little monkey's tail just now, and felt that the atmosphere was too tense to speak, so he changed his tone and said to the old lady, "The little monkey's tail seems to be a bone, so it can't move?"

"I can't move." The old lady shook her head.

"I've seen this kind of disease before. It can be cut off. It doesn't hurt at all with anesthesia. It will be fine after half a month." After Gongsun finished speaking, the old woman looked up at him in surprise, "Sir, can you give the little monkey Take off the tail? That’s really thankful, but I heard that if you take off the tail without authorization, the gods will be angered, and the little monkey will die.”

"No!" Gongsun shook his head and assured, "The little monkey must be intact."

"You put a tail on a child." Zhan Zhao said half-jokingly, "Which god can play such a prank."

The old woman also disappeared, "Oh, some strange phenomena are common in the place where injustice gathers... I have to say that the life of the little monkey is not good!"

Zhan Zhao said nothing, the old woman had something to say.

Bai Yutang asked, "Old man, your house has collapsed, what about the underground palace under the house? What happened?"

"Maybe, the whole place is filled with river water." The old woman frowned and kept on reciting Buddha's name. "People nowadays don't know the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth... Doing things is too extreme, and you will be punished by heaven."

"The old man means that this tomb was collapsed by someone?" Zhao Pu asked without losing the opportunity.

The old woman stopped talking immediately, and just smiled, "Oh, God's will, everything is God's will, so don't worry about it."

"The old man warned us to stay away from the Yishui River before, and not to ask about the case in Qushan County, but what's the inside story?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Or is it that we caused you trouble because of the collapse of the river embankment this time?"

The old lady stopped talking, looked around, thought about it, and suddenly reached out and grabbed Zhan Zhao's sleeve.

Bai Yutang subconsciously stretched out his hand to block it, but Zhan Zhao grabbed his wrist.

Zhao Pu looked at his sleeve and let the old woman grab it. She seemed to have something to say, so she said, "Old man, please say something."

The old woman wandered around with her old eyes, and leaned closer and asked, "I think you guys are not ordinary people, you should be wealthy and kind-hearted people, not ordinary small people in the world. I am dying, what do you want to know about me?" I know I can help you, but...you have to agree to one request!"

Everyone looked at each other, the old lady seemed to be stimulated by what happened yesterday, and now she changed her mind to help, so she nodded in agreement.

"Although the old man said, we will promise you everything we can do." Zhao Pu patted her old hand.

"Okay!" The old woman took a deep breath, "My request is...you must ensure that the little monkey will not be harmed after I tell the truth. When you solve the case, you will take the little monkey away and never return. I cut off his tail so that he can live a good life without going hungry, have books, be loved by others, and have a good job to support himself in the future.

Zhao Pu raised his eyebrows, "No problem."

Bai Yutang and others also nodded, this is not difficult.

The old woman breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled reassuringly, "Okay, let me tell you... But, this thing is really weird, you have to believe it, what you heard is true! It's not my old woman making it up."

Everyone couldn't wait long ago and listened attentively.

"The embankment didn't collapse by itself at all, and the underground palace, you don't have to worry, it will never be damaged." The old woman put her hands on her knees, and spoke in a slow and clear tone, as if she was recalling. "My old man used to be a mason. He told me that if something goes wrong, he can hide in the underground palace. The underground palace is the most solid house in the entire Qushan County!"

Bai Yutang nodded, he believed in this, just by looking at the craftsmanship and stone materials inside.

"Also, there is a special structure on the underground palace, have you seen those white silks?"

When the old lady asked, Bai Yutang immediately nodded, "Is the white silk a funeral thing?"

"It wasn't buried with you." The old woman shook her head. "We didn't know what it was at first, but one year there was a flood and the river bank was submerged. The little monkey happened to enter the underground palace that day and didn't have time to climb up. We thought He drowned, but when the water receded and went back to look for it, the little monkey actually climbed up by himself. He said that the white silk in the underground palace was attached to a large pocket, and after the water came in, not a drop of water could flow into the tomb. , were all picked up by that bag and led to the Yishui River!"

When everyone heard it, they were extremely surprised, it turned out to be such a function.

"But no one knows this secret except me and the little monkey!" The old woman said in a low voice, "This time, someone blew up the river embankment and let the river rush to the bank. The purpose is very simple, probably to flood the underground palace. Let you go in... They must have thought it was a success, but they don't know that the underground palace must still be there intact!"

Everyone agreed with the ingenious workmanship of the underground palace, and at the same time, doubts arose. In what age was such an exquisite building built, and at the same time... who wanted to destroy it? !

"Who blasted the embankment?" Zhan Zhao asked.

The old woman hesitated for a long time, then sighed, "Who else is there? The embankment is guarded by officials from the government."

"Did someone from the government do it?" Zhao Pu knew it.

"Old man, what are the people in the Yamen of Qushan County hiding?" Gongsun couldn't help asking, "Why did they do such a thing?"

"You also said that they are hiding it. Can good things be hidden? They...are trying to hide a shameful past!" It's not so easy to cover up the good things now!"

"Desperate for conscience?!" The four of them said in unison.

"Hehe." The old woman sneered, "This young man in Qushan County is so frightened that his legs twist when he mentions the horse belly... As everyone knows, the horse belly fairy does not exist at all, it is made up by the government to scare people! The purpose is to make people Stay away from the Yishui River."

"Fabricated?" Zhan Zhao wondered, what's the point of fabricating this god?

"What's the secret of the Yishui River?" Bai Yutang couldn't figure it out, but the river was really weird. Hundreds of innocent souls are sinking in the bottom of the water, and they will curse the people of this entire Qushan County from generation to generation, with bad luck and a terrible death!"