treacherous world

The fourth son said a long time ago, three years ago, when he was just four years old, he was still very young, and lived in Yazhu Village with his grandson.

In the winter when he was four years old, the daughter-in-law of a family in the village had dystocia, and Gongsun was asked to help.Because of the cold weather, Gongsun asked the fourth son to wait at home obediently and not to go out.

The fourth son and the domestic kitten kept company, dozed off and waited for Gongsun, when suddenly he heard strange noises coming from the woodshed. There was a muffled "bang", as if something heavy fell to the ground.

There were some chickens raised by Gongsun in the firewood house, and the fourth son wondered if the big hen had escaped?So I opened the back door and went to have a look.

But in the woodshed, he saw a man covered in blood.

The man looked like a blood gourd all over his body, with stab wounds all over his body.

Fortunately, the fourth son followed Gongsun to see a lot, so he didn't get scared, but walked up to him and tilted his head to look.It was a seriously injured young man. The fourth son took a look and was shocked... because the man's face was yin and yang, half of it was nice and clean, but the other half was covered with tattoos.

The man was dying but still not unconscious. Seeing the fourth son approaching, he opened his mouth hoarsely, and said with the last bit of strength, "Water."

The fourth son hurried to fetch hot water and food, and lit a charcoal brazier for him in the woodshed to keep warm.Afterwards, according to the method Gongsun taught him on weekdays, he washed the man's wound carefully with hot water, and then applied golden sore medicine and bandaged it.Although the man was bruised and bruised, he didn't hurt his internal organs or bones. He couldn't die, but was extremely weak.

The fourth son brought out the ginseng chicken that Gongsun had stewed in the kitchen in the morning and prepared it for the mother in the village to supplement her body. , let him sleep.

There is no communication between one big and one small, but the fourth son takes care of him, and that person is taken care of.In the end, the man looked at the dull little baby in front of him who seemed not very good at talking, and said "Thank you."

"Hey." The fourth son smiled and was about to go back.

The man suddenly asked him, "Xiaowa, let me ask you."

The fourth son looked back at him.

"You said, which is more important, revenge or revenge?"

The fourth son was only four years old back then, and he was still an idiot, so he didn't quite understand, but Gongsun often played with him, such as eating noodles or porridge tonight?If the fourth son wanted to eat noodles, he would shake one finger, and if he wanted to eat porridge, he would stretch out two fingers.It's strange to say that the fourth son likes to dangle two fingers when he is free.So Gongsun always teased him, calling him two.This time the fourth son seemed to want to choose, so he stretched out his hand subconsciously, puffed his cheeks and gestured a "two" to him.Maybe it was because he looked so cute like a Sixi ball, that man actually laughed, half of his face was covered with tattoos, it looked weird.

At this time, in the front yard, an adult from the family who gave birth to the child in the village came to knock on the door and brought a box of delicious food to the fourth son.Said that the baby has not been born yet, Gongsun will keep vigil at that house today, let the fourth son eat early and go to bed early, remember to take the charcoal brazier outside before going to bed.

That night, the fourth son sat and ate in the woodshed with the tattooed man holding a food box.The two of them talked for a while, because the youngest son couldn't speak clearly now, he wasn't courageous enough, and that person was weak, so some of them just talked nonsense intermittently.

I don't know how late it was, but the fourth son fell asleep.

The next morning, he was woken up by Gongsun shaking him.

When he woke up, the quilt in the firewood room had been folded and placed on the table, the charcoal brazier was taken outside, and Xiaosi was sleeping in a corner sheltered from the wind under a thick blanket, and the man had disappeared.

Gongsun saw that the fourth son had been lying in the firewood room all night, and felt a little distressed. He found that the jar of ginseng and chicken was gone, and reached out to touch his belly, "I'm going to become a little pig!"

At that time, the fourth son leisurely told Gongsun about the man. Gongsun patted his head and said that when he came, the fourth son was only in the room, and the man must have left.

Afterwards, the fourth son and Gongsun went around the village, and the man disappeared just like that. If it wasn't for the faint smell of gold sore medicine on the quilt, the fourth son would have felt that he was just having a strange dream.

This matter just passed away like this, and it was never mentioned again. If it weren't for the fact that there were too few people with yin and yang faces, the fourth son really didn't remember it.Now he had another strange dream, dream, dream, he just remembered it.

"Are you sure that person is a dead leaf?" Zhan Zhao asked the fourth son again, "There are similarities between people, is it just the same yin and yang face?"

"No, I remember it, it's very similar! The half of the face without tattoos." Little Four pouted, "But he may not remember me anymore."

When the dead leaves appeared before, the fourth son was indeed there, but he didn't look at the fourth son at all. This doesn't seem like the attitude towards the savior. If the fourth son remembers correctly, then it's the dead leaves Too forgetful?

However, both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, who are people in the rivers and lakes, know that it is easy to forget an enemy, but it is not so easy to forget a person who has saved his life, let alone a child like Xiaosi... Then, Dead Leaf It was on purpose.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other—repayment and revenge, is this the reason for the sudden appearance of dead leaves?

After asking the reason, it turned out that there were many doubts, so Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang said goodbye to the fourth son and went to Jinxia Mantang.The shopkeeper will indeed come, and when he heard that he was looking for the civet, he replied casually, "It's late, the old man passed away not long ago."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned, and asked him if he had any descendants, the shopkeeper only said that he had never heard of it.The two asked for a long time, and they were sure that the shopkeeper was not deceiving, and that the civet civet lived or died, the clue was broken.

Coming out listlessly, Zhan Zhao raised his face and sighed, "Revenge, Guaimeng can't sleep, Zhao Cong, dead leaves, vultures, the murdered Minister of the Ministry of War...complicated relationship."

Bai Yutang walked forward with his hands behind his back, as if he heard it, but he didn't seem to hear it.

"Hello." Zhan Zhao called him.

Bai Yutang looked up and came back to his senses, and suddenly smiled.

"What's wrong?" Zhan Zhao wondered.

"Dead Leaf has a strange habit, you know?"

Zhan Zhao was puzzled.

"He doesn't eat rabbits." Bai Yutang smiled slightly, "And the pendant on his knife is a little white rabbit. I thought he was abnormal, but it doesn't look like it."

"Do you think he still remembers that the fourth son saved him?" Zhan Zhao folded his arms and shook his head, "The fourth son really kindly saved a wolf and came back. He has killed a lot these years, and this matter cannot be let on by the fourth son." Son knows."

"The clues are not all broken." Bai Yutang nodded, "We can start to look into Dead Leaf's experience four years ago."

"Dead Leaf is the most famous killer, but no one knows his personal life experience." Zhan Zhao spread his hands, "Don't you say that he was raised by wolves? It's hard to imagine that he didn't hurt the fourth son back then, and even followed him. He thanks."

"Kaifeng Mansion should have files on major cases from various places, right?" Bai Yutang asked.

"You want to find out what happened near Yazhu Village four years ago?" Zhan Zhao poked him on the shoulder, "Honestly, why don't you just ask Gongsun! Of course adults won't tell children about bloody cases, but Gongsun Such a big and famous doctor should know more or less."

Leaving Jinxia Mantang, the two hurried back and saw that Kaifeng Street was very lively.

"Why are there so many alien races?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

"I'm afraid that foreigners from all four places have arrived." Zhan Zhao shook his head, one wave after another, hoping that there would be no trouble.

After entering the Kaifeng mansion, they saw that Pang Ji and Bao Zheng were both in official uniforms, Zhao Pu was changing, and the fourth son and Gongsun were in casual clothes.

"Guard Zhan, it's just in time." Bao Zheng hurriedly told Zhan Zhao, "Today's court meeting, the emperor summoned all civil and military officials to give a reward, and a dinner tonight."

"Ah?" Zhan Zhao said "I don't want to go", and looked at Bai Yutang, he must not be allowed to bring his family members to the court meeting!

Bao Zheng shook his head secretly, this is the legend that they are like glue, inseparable, inseparable for a moment.

Zhao Pu changed his clothes and came out, "Those foreigners who come here are not kind, the emperor may have some intentions in opening the court at this time."

"Then what do you do at night?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, as if worried that Bai Yutang might starve to death if he didn't feed himself.

Bai Yutang looked up at the sky, thinking that as long as there are restaurants in the world, he will never starve to death!Turning to look at Gongsun and the fourth son.

Gongsun held a bundle in his hand, "I prescribed some tonics for Concubine Pang, and the cold fleece jacket that the grand master wanted to bring to Xiangxiang. We will go to another courtyard later, so we won't go to the banquet."

The fourth son sat on the back of the stone and nodded, "Well, the banquet is boring, so why not go to the villa for nothing? To see Xiangxiang and Auntie Fat."

Bai Yutang thought for a while, anyway, he had something to ask Gongsun, and seeing that both Zhao Pu and Grand Master Pang were worried, he nodded, "I'll go too."

Sure enough, both Zhao Pu and the Grand Master nodded in satisfaction.

So, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang split up, and Zhan Zhao followed Zhao Pu, Bao Zheng and the others into the palace.Bai Yutang accompanied Gongsun and the fourth son to another courtyard on the outskirts of the city.

The fourth son liked Bai Yutang as always, so he got on his horse and stretched out his hand to stroke Bai Yunfan's long ears.

"Where's Xiao Liangzi?" Bai Yutang was puzzled seeing him alone. "

"I went with Zhao Pu." Gongsun helped to answer, "Those foreigners who come here are not kind, and they are more or less thinking about defrauding Zhao Pu. There is also Zhao Cong who has sinister intentions. I let Xiao Liangzi keep an eye on him."

Bai Yutang nodded, with Xiao Liang's current martial arts, he is indeed a right-hand man that cannot be ignored.

"Have you found the civet?" Seeing that Bai Yutang and the others came back so early, Gongsun felt that something might be wrong.

"Don't mention it." Bai Yutang shook his head and told Gongsun about the death.

"Dead?" Gongsun frowned, "It doesn't make sense, he is not very old, and according to the officials in Kaifeng Mansion, he is very strong."

"Maybe he doesn't want others to find it." Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows slightly, "The more that happens, the more it proves that he really knows something.

Bowing his head, Bai Yutang saw that the fourth son was braiding a few locks of Bai Yunfan's mane, so he asked Gongsun, "Four years ago, when the fourth son picked up the dead leaves, did anything happen nearby?" Big case."

Gongsun hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the fourth son, as if hesitant to say anything.

Bai Yutang was puzzled.

The fourth son looked back at the two of them.

Feiying and the others who followed behind were also listening. Seeing Gongsun's expression, Feiying rode up and said, "Little four, sisters are playing the right pair, are you coming?"

"Okay!" The fourth son immediately agreed cheerfully.

Gongsun sighed softly when he and Fei Ying and the others reached a place behind them where they could not hear Bai Yutang and the others talking.

Bai Yutang looked at him.

"I will always remember that day." Gongsun said in a low voice, "There was a dystocia in the village that day, and there was a strong wind and a snowstorm that night." Gongsun said in a low voice, "On the way back, I heard that there was a baby in the neighboring village. After some incidents, a not-so-small sect of Jianghu was massacred. The watchman took a look and said that the murderer was an evil ghost with only half a face."

Bai Yutang frowned, "The dead leaf is in his hands because he slaughtered that sect, so..."

"So the fourth son didn't know that what he saved was a demon who killed hundreds of people in one night." Gongsun shook his head, "In fact, saving people is a very simple thing. I only want the fourth son because he can save people." It’s good to be happy, I don’t want him to be unhappy.”

Bai Yutang nodded, "How much do you know about the family whose family was wiped out?"

"I only know that it's a Jianghu sect, and it's quite famous. Their head seems to be surnamed Guo or Huo... It's very mysterious. They don't move around the place very much, and they never open a school to accept apprentices, let alone what they do. Bodyguard or bodyguard work. But there seems to be endless money.

"If the dead leaf accepts the task and completes the ticket...what does it have to do with revenge?" Bai Yutang thought carefully, "And the dead leaf can only kill 20 people at a time, but here it kills one sect, but the matter did not spread.

"After I show it to Concubine Pang, I'll go back to Kaifeng Mansion to look for the file. There may be a connection."

Bai Yutang nodded, let everyone go to the outskirts of the city without mentioning it, but said Zhan Zhao and Zhao Pu.

This group of people was even more powerful, Zhao Pu sat on Hei Xiao's back and yawned.

Zhan Zhao tilted his head to look at the two horses, and found that Hei Xiao was looking at a foreign horse passing by not far away.It is also clever. It probably thought that it was going to march and fight, and felt that there was another stupid horse to bite, so it was very excited.

Xiao Liang, a little ghost, followed Ziying and the others to investigate the situation, then slipped back to Zhao Pu and said to him, "Master, some generals from Liao and Xixia have come, and Ziying said they are your acquaintances.

Zhao Pu seemed to be interested, "Who?"

"The one from Liao Kingdom is General Rumble, and the one from Xixia is Bayan."

Zhan Zhao had heard the names of these people before, and they were all Zhao Pu's defeated opponents.Of course, they are also famous generals.

"What are these people doing here?" Zhao Pu was quite surprised, so Xiao Liang continued, "Yeluqi, the third prince of Liao Kingdom, is also here."

Zhao Pu was taken aback for a moment, "The third wild donkey is here too?"

Xiao Liang nodded, Zhao Pu curled his lips, and said to Zhan Zhao, "Of the large group of wild donkeys, the youngest is the most difficult to deal with."

"Well, I've also heard that Yeluqi is an all-round talent in civil and military affairs, isn't it true? By the way, I remember that there was a fourth son, Yeluming, who was made miserable by you." Zhan Zhao smiled slightly. , "If he hadn't plotted against you, you wouldn't have had Xiao Liang as a good apprentice."

Zhao Pu smiled, "This group of people don't see rabbits and don't scatter eagles. They all came here at this moment. They must have some kind of plan?"

"No matter how you look at it, it's a stupid decision." Zhan Zhao seemed a little puzzled, "You think, whether Bayan or Rumble, they are all important figures in the other party's court, especially Yeluqi, who is not the next Liao Is Wang the most popular candidate? Isn't it a bit pretentious to come here alone?"

Zhao Pu shrugged, indicating that he also couldn't figure it out.

Grand Master Pang's sedan chair was next to him. Hearing the conversation here, Xing squeezed in hastily, "My lord, it's different now. Those people may not come here with hostility, but they may be trying to plot and keep their power. "

Both Zhao Pu and Zhan Zhao looked at him, "Grand Master, what's the answer?"

"Hey, these people who play tricks, there is no permanent enemy. For them, whoever benefits is their relatives! Although they clamored that the prince is too powerful before, and advised the prince to retreat. But now there are rumors outside Find a successor, Zhao Cong... This Zhao Cong has never shown his face in a formal occasion. Of course, those generals came to test the authenticity to see what he can do. In addition, it is not surprising that Yeluqi will come. The generals in the entire Daliao have basically fought against the prince, and each of them lost quite badly, but this Yelu Qi Chongwu has never fought against the prince. Recently, the Daliao has been divided into two factions, one is tougher, and belongs to the militant faction. They belong to the Yeluqi family. The other faction wants to recuperate... The first reason why the main station faction Chongwu is that we have Zhao Pu in the Great Song Dynasty, and it will be terrible if we call him one day."

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao finally understood, "That's why their lips are cold and their teeth are cold. They are afraid that if Zhao Pu really retreats, the momentum of the main combat faction will decline, and Yeluqi will lose his future position."

Pang Ji nodded, "That's not true! So, my lord, you must know how to use your strength to fight, but don't do it yourself."

Zhao Pu raised his eyebrows and looked at Pang Ji, probably understanding that he meant to pretend to be confused, so he smiled and nodded.No one is more proficient in seeking power and profit than Grand Master Pang, so he should be right to listen to his advice in this regard.

Soon at the gate of the palace, there were crowds of people at the gate of the palace, and there were hundreds of sedan chairs.

When Zhan Zhao and others got off their horses, a eunuch from the palace came to greet them, saying that Zhao Zhen wanted to meet Zhao Pu, Master Bao and Grand Master Pang first, and asked Zhan Zhao to go with him.

Everyone entered the palace, within two steps, someone walked over not far away, "Ninth Prince, I haven't seen you for many years."

Zhao Pu looked back and saw a young man in his thirties who came, with a handsome appearance, but with red hair and a clear outline, one could easily identify him as a foreign race.

This person was dressed luxuriously, with a bit of arrogance, but he seemed very polite to Zhao Pu.

Zhao Pu looked at it and was amused, "Isn't this the Lord of the Three Wolves?"

"Haha, I haven't seen you in a few years, the prince is still handsome." The person who came was Yeluqi, and Zhan Zhao looked it over carefully. It was a pity that he brought Bai Yutang just now, so we could discuss the third prince.

Yeluqi greeted Zhao Pu for a few words, then said he wanted to meet Bao Zheng, Zhao Pu introduced him, and finally introduced him to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao was absent-minded at the moment, because he was worried that the morning meeting and dinner party would be boring.Now without Bai Yutang's company, and without the fourth son coming to make fun of it, staying up until four hours at night is more tiring than catching a thief!

"This is the famous Zhan Zhao?" Yeluqi suddenly appeared and grabbed Zhan Zhao's hand, "I have admired him for a long time, and the one Xiao Wang admires most in his life is a hero in the world."

Zhan Zhao was dragged back when he was thinking about how to sneak away to find Bai Yutang, he withdrew his hand, and said with a smile, "Three wolf masters are too polite."

Zhao Puxin said that luckily Bai Yutang wasn't here!

Bao Zheng and Grand Master Pang wiped off their sweat as well—just after Yeluqi's hand, they subconsciously looked for it, and found that there was no Bai Yutang around them, so they felt that they had saved their lives, and that they would have lost their lives if they were not in the palace.

Everyone walked in, Yeluqi seemed to like Zhan Zhao very much, chatting and laughing beside him very enthusiastically.In the end, even Zhan Zhao was sweating, but luckily Yutang wasn't there, otherwise he might be in a hurry... Jealousy!

Thinking of Bai Yutang's possible jealousy, and his handsome and serious expression after being jealous, Zhan Zhao's mood improved instantly.

……

Bai Yutang's carriage and horses arrived near the other courtyard in the outskirts of the city. The Empress Dowager and the others had just moved in, and there were still a lot of things to be transported in. It was very lively with people coming and going.

The fourth son and Gongsun walked to the backyard with the food box in their hands. The queen mother was ordering the maids to prepare a menu for Concubine Pang to raise her baby.Both Gongsun and the fourth son thought it was fun. The queen mother personally gave the menu, and Concubine Pang was extremely favored at the moment. No wonder Zhao Zhen sent her to another courtyard.He hadn't established any other concubines for a long time, and some people had already made irresponsible remarks, but fortunately Concubine Pang was quite up-to-date, and now that he had a real dragon emperor in his belly, Zhao Zhen felt at ease and pampered her alone.

When the fourth son and Gongsun entered the room, they saw Concubine Pang sitting by the bed and asking Xiangxiang to listen to her belly.

Xiangxiang is already cute and cute. Seeing the little fourth son smiling openly, but his teeth are missing, and his speech leaks, he rushed over and called him "little persimmon".

Gongsun sat at the head of the bed and felt the pulse of Concubine Pang.

Naturally, Bai Yutang wouldn't go into the backyard full of women, and led the shadow guards, and started walking around the perimeter of the villa separately.

The reason why he came here was also to see how the guards of the villa were doing, so as not to cause any trouble.As soon as he walked around to the backyard, he glanced at it and was slightly stunned - he saw a beautiful cemetery built on the slope of the west side of the courtyard wall, and there was no name of the deceased on the tombstone.

Bai Yutang felt puzzled, how could there be a tombstone in this kind of place?There is no writing on the tombstone.

"This is Mrs. Liu's tombstone."

Bai Yutang turned his head, and it was Pang Yu who spoke.

"Madam Liu?" Bai Yutang was a little puzzled.

"Well, many years have passed, and there are some grievances and grievances in the royal family. It's okay to ignore them. They are all dead anyway." After finishing speaking, Pang Yu happily patted Bai Yutang, "Why are you here alone? What about your family members?"

Bai Yutang immediately felt a little better, "I'm going to the palace for a banquet."

"Oh..." Pang Yu pouted, "I have good wine here, do you want to drink it?"

Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows - if there is good wine, of course he should drink it.

The two went back to the villa, and just passed the other courtyard and wanted to go around to the kitchen. Suddenly, they heard a cry from the courtyard, as if someone had been frightened.

The backyard was where Concubine Pang lived, and Pang Yu rushed over with one stride, followed by Bai Yutang.

In the middle of the courtyard, a servant girl fell to the ground, blood all over the ground, and the side was covered with shadow guards. The Queen Mother and Concubine Pang should be protected in the house... Sure enough, Zhao Zhen made the guards chase away flies As tight as mosquitoes.

Gongsun was checking that maid, it might be hopeless, he shook his head helplessly.

Bai Yutang asked the fourth son who was holding a medicine box beside him, "What's going on?"

The fourth son was obviously still shocked, "She rushed in with a knife just now, and wanted to kill Auntie Fat, but she fell in the middle of the yard, and the knife seemed to stab herself."

Bai Yutang frowned, wondering why the assassin was such an oolong?

Gongsun turned the servant girl over, looked up at Bai Yutang, and then at the shadow guard behind him.

I saw the servant girl lying on the ground in a weird posture, holding a knife in her hand, and the knife was stuck in her chest like this, and she was dead.

"Did someone trip her just now?" Bai Yutang looked at the bluestone slab at the servant girl's feet, there was no problem at all... It didn't look like she tripped and she didn't want to slip. Could it be that she was too nervous to run a few steps and her legs became weak?

The shadow guards all shook their heads, "None of us touched her, she fell down suddenly, and was stabbed by the knife by such a coincidence."

Bai Yutang was wondering, when Gongsun suddenly waved to him, motioning him to kneel down and watch.

Bai Yutang squatted down, and Gongsun lifted the servant girl's sleeves to show him.

Bai Yutang couldn't help frowning, this maid's arms were as thin as chopsticks, only skin and bones remained.

"Why are you so thin?" Pang Yu couldn't stand it anymore, "How long has this girl not eaten?"

"Also." Gongsun pointed to the two obvious dark circles under the maidservant's eyes for Bai Yutang to see.

This haggard look made Bai Yutang subconsciously think of Gong Xue who died yesterday at the Huxin Pavilion, and Lord Cheshire who lost his mind for a moment... Everyone looks overworked, what's going on?

"She is Yun'er." At this time, a servant girl said tremblingly, "Originally we were all helpers in charge of cooking in the imperial dining room. Yun'er admired Concubine Pang the most, and tried her best to win the opportunity to follow her. But these days she is in good spirits. It's very bad. I share a room with her, and she has nightmares every day, and doesn't think about eating or drinking."

Bai Yutang and Gongsun looked at each other—what a coincidence?

"It's another nightmare." Pang Yu got angry, wondering if it's because of the change of seasons that people are more likely to get sick?

When everyone was thinking about whether to investigate the corpse, an old maid in her 60s suddenly screamed in the corner.

When Bai Yutang turned around, he saw that she seemed to be terrified, hugging herself in a corner of the room, babbling crazy things.Everyone subconsciously listened, and repeated the same sentence, "I'm back... The nightmare is back!"

"Nightmare? What is it?" Bai Yutang asked casually, and when the Empress Dowager came out to check the situation, her face paled instantly.