treacherous world

"Master!"

On the official road outside the city of Kaifeng, a thirteen or fourteen-year-old bookboy was carrying a small bundle, running and yelling, "Master, where are you?!"

He was wearing a clean blue cloth jacket, with delicate features, a bun on his head, and a blue Wensheng scarf. At first glance, he looked like a little book boy from a scholarly family.

After running under a big tree, the little book boy sat down and panted, "I'm exhausted...young master!"

With a sound of "click", a date stone was dropped and hit his forehead.

"Oh!" The little bookboy covered his head and looked up. He saw an eighteen or nineteen-year-old scholar sitting on a tree branch, cheering at him, "What are you shouting about? Be careful to attract wolves."

"Young master, don't talk nonsense, where are there wolves near Kaifeng?!"

The scholar ate another date with two clicks, spit out the date core and jumped down from the tree... Reaching out quickly, he waved to the book boy, "Let's go."

"Master." The little bookboy followed and asked in a low voice, "Let's just enter Kaifeng mansion like this, okay? What if we are discovered?"

The scholar looked at the boy, "What's wrong? I'm going to take the exam, not to commit crimes."

"The master said that you will not be allowed to take the autumn exam or be an official." The book boy muttered.

"Cut, let's not let dad know it will be done soon." The scholar was still a little unconvinced.

"How can it be done? The Kaifeng mansion is managed by the master." The book boy muttered, "I don't care about the young master. If the master catches him, he will say that you lied to me. I'm afraid of the old man's big card. blackface."

The scholar looked at the sky and shook his head, and said with a little dissatisfaction, "My father is also a Jinshi, and the No. 1 in the palace examination was awarded the title of Longtuge University Bachelor. Today, I have to rely on a number one scholar, so I can feel proud. "

"The master doesn't want you to be an official, you don't know it." The little boy continued to mutter, "Be careful if you get caught and tie you back to Luzhou!"

"That's why I said it!" The scholar winked at him, "We don't live in Kaifeng Mansion, if you don't tell my father, no one will know about it!"

The little boy shook his head and sighed, feeling his eyelids twitch.

The scholar walked forward for a while, "By the way, I heard that there is a great talent in Kaifeng Mansion named Gongsun Ce. If there is a chance, I must ask him for advice. Father even sent me his calligraphy before... that hand Good word, tsk tsk! I haven’t seen Big Brother Zhan for a long time. I don’t know if it’s good. By the way, I heard that there is an extra Chinchilla. Oh, it turns out that Kaifeng is a place where crouching tigers hide dragons, and it’s more fun than the poor and remote villages in Luzhou too much."

The little book boy shook his head, and looked at the scenery beside the road in a blink of an eye. This look...

"Oh my god!" The book boy rushed forward and hugged his young master, "Young master, young master!"

"What's the matter with you?" The scholar looked back at him impatiently.

"In the forest!" The little boy pointed to the nearby forest, "Look, there seems to be someone lying in the forest."

The scholar was taken aback for a moment, squinted his eyes and took a few steps forward, looking in the direction the boy pointed - sure enough!I saw a person lying in the grass in the woods. Looking at the long black hair, it seemed to be a woman.

"Oh!" The scholar hurried in, "Miss? This lady?"

When I got to the front, I saw a young and beautiful girl lying in the shade of a tree with her long hair spread on the ground.This girl looks very slender, but the key is that her face is very white.

"Oh, what are you doing, master?"

When Xiao Tong saw that the scholar was going to help the girl, he hurriedly stopped him, "You know she is alive or dead?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?!" The scholar helped the girl up to feel her pulse, saying that she was fine, but his heart was a little nervous.In this barren mountain and wild forest, a girl is lying in the forest all in white, her face is white and her body is still cold... Oh, no pulse!

At this moment, suddenly, the girl suddenly opened her eyes.

"Ah!" The scholar and the book boy jumped up subconsciously and took a step back. The book boy hugged the scholar and hid behind him, closing his eyes and shouting, "Heavenly and earthly, my young master is the Empress of Wenquxing, so don't get close to ghosts and ghosts... oh my goodness .”

Before he finished speaking, the scholar kicked him hard.

The book boy rubbed his knees and quickly shut up, still hiding behind the young master, looking nervously at the girl in front of him.

The woman in white retracted a pair of pale and beautiful hands into her sleeves, gently curled up and snuggled up to a tree, as if she was too weak to withstand the wind, and said timidly, "I can't walk anymore..."

That voice was smooth and soft, like Wu Nong's soft words, which made people panic.

The scholar and the book boy looked at each other, and the book boy stood on tiptoe and whispered in the scholar's ear, "Ghost, master! This accent must be a ghost!"

The scholar gave him a helpless look, gave the girl a slight bow, and said, "My servant, Bao Yan, this is Bao Fu, my schoolboy. What's your name? Why are you here alone?"

The girl leaned against the tree, looked at the two of them with fear and shyness, and whispered, "Fifth Sister."

"Charming?" Both Bao Yan and Bao Fu tilted their heads—there is something about this name...

"I'm ranked fifth, so I'm called Fifth Sister, and my nickname is Xiao Wu." The girl's voice is very high-pitched, her voice is not loud, and it seems that there are some falsetto. At first I thought it was Wu Nong's soft language with a Suzhou accent, but now I listen carefully. Listen...it seems to be singing!It's still the kind of sad and sentimental Southern opera.

"Oh, where does Miss Wu live? Shall we escort you back?" Bao Yan was quite enthusiastic.

The fifth girl shook her head, took out a letter from her bosom, and handed it to Bao Yan, "Today is an auspicious day, and I can meet a noble person to help me, sir, can you send me a special letter, the little girl is very grateful In the next life, I will be an ox or a horse to repay my kindness."

"Send a letter, why is it so serious. Uh..." Bao Yan took a look at the letter, his eyelids twitched in shock, and saw that it was written on it—Master Bao of Kaifeng Mansion.

"Uh." Bao Fu tugged at Bao Yan's sleeve, "It's for the master."

Bao Yan asked the five girls, "Would the girls have any grievances to sue Lord Qingtian Bao?"

"Yeah." The girl nodded lightly and deftly, covering her red lips with her white sleeves, "I hate every day, every day, every day."

Bao Yan and Bao Fu felt chills on their necks, "Well, why don't you go to the Yamen in person and make it clear?"

"I can't walk anymore..." the girl leaned against the tree and replied delicately.

"It's okay, girl." Bao Yan patted his chest, "I'll carry you into the city, and then find a sedan chair to carry you to Kaifeng Mansion to file a complaint."

"I can't get in." The girl still said timidly, her voice was barely audible, "Kaifeng Mansion is too yang, Master Bao Wenquxing reincarnated."

"Oh! The sun is so strong..."

The smiles on Bao Yan's and Bao Fu's faces froze, and they suddenly realized in their heads what it means when the yang energy is heavy, a gust of yin wind blows from the depths of the forest.

"Ah! Young master, young master!" Bao Fu was still a child after all, and he hugged Bao Yan and screamed in fright.

Bao Yan also held his breath in his throat for a long time without breathing.

It was so easy to wait for the cold wind to pass, and then opened my eyes to see—the fifth girl who was leaning against the tree just now was gone.

Bao Yan looked around and found that there was no one there. He felt goose bumps popping up all over his body one by one, and his palms were sweating.They exchanged glances with the stunned Bao Fu, and the two suddenly yelled "Oh my god!" and rushed out of the woods to the road.It was only after standing under the sun that the chill from the soles of my feet felt lessened.

Panting heavily, Bao Yan looked down at the letter in his hand. He could not see clearly in the dark forest just now, but now he could see clearly. The subset on the yellow paper envelope was not black ink, but black red—dried up. blood!

"Young master, this letter is very important!" Bao Fu hurriedly said, "Burn it, otherwise it will be bad for that female ghost to keep haunting us."

"How can that be done?!" Bao Yan's face sank, "She didn't hurt us, she just asked us to send her a letter. You heard her say just now, 'One day two days, three rivers and four seas hate', Maybe it was someone who killed me, there is nothing we can do, the soul came to stop us from complaining!" Then, he put the letter in his arms, "Let's find a way to secretly deliver it to Kaifeng Mansion, so that my father Let's try this unjust case!" After speaking, he flung his sleeves and left.

Bao Fu had no choice but to shake his head and follow.

Who are Bao Yan and Bao Fu?Not outsiders.Bao Yan is the second son of Mr. Bao, and Bai Fu is his school boy.

This Bao Yan and his mother, Mrs. Dong, lived in Master Bao's old house in Luzhou all the year round.Bao Yan has read poetry and books since he was a child. Originally, Bao Zheng wanted to train him to be an official and plead for the people.

However, Bao Mian, Bao Zheng's nephew and the only son of his sister-in-law, corrupted the law when he was a local official.In the end, Mr. Bao had to kill his relatives righteously, and this incident seemed to have touched him a little.

From then on, Bao Zheng didn't let Bao Yan take the exam, he was afraid that if he became an official, one day he would follow in Bao Mian's footsteps.

But this Bao Yan is extremely smart, exactly the same as Bao Zheng when he was young, he is the famous talented person in Luzhou City.Bao Zheng did not allow him to come to Kaifeng to participate in the autumn examination, but he also had great ambitions for the world, and felt that a good man who reads poetry and books would benefit one side.So he told his mother that he was going out to see a friend, and quietly ran to Kaifeng mansion with the book boy Bao Fu.He vowed to be the number one scholar in the exam, so that his father would be convinced.

Unexpectedly, before entering Kaifeng City, he would be sued by a ghost.

Bao Yan muttered to himself, is there really such a monster in this world?

"Ah Choo..." Zhan Zhao was walking on the main street in front of Kaifeng Mansion, the sunlight was a bit dazzling, and he couldn't help but sneezed, rubbed his nose, and looked at Bai Yutang beside him.

Bai Yutang walked side by side with him and asked, "Who do you think wants to kill Pang Yu?"

Zhan Zhaotang shook his head, "I have to check the people around him..." Before he finished speaking, his eyes were attracted by a carriage not far away.

The red sandalwood roof of the carriage was so exquisitely crafted that ordinary people could not use it. The curtains of the carriage were raised slightly, and a woman inside was looking out.

When the car passed by, Zhan Zhao caught a glimpse of it, and thought it looked a little familiar—on second thought, isn't this Mrs. Luo Xin?The lover that Zhao Zhen had a tryst with.

Zhan Zhao followed without thinking.

Bai Yutang didn't see the people in the car, but Zhan Zhao suddenly turned a corner and went elsewhere, thinking he had found something, so he followed him.

I saw the carriage stopped in front of a turpentine shop, the servants raised the door curtain, and a little maid helped Mrs. Luoxin out gracefully and entered the shop.

Zhan Zhao wondered, "Isn't turpentine used to build houses? What is her daughter's family going to do?"

"Is she Qin Ji?" Bai Yutang reminded, "Guqins need to be rubbed with pine resin to protect the strings."

"Oh!" Zhan Zhao nodded, and walked forward, as if he wanted to enter the shop.

"Oh." Bai Yutang stopped him and asked, "What are you going to do?"

Zhan Zhao slightly raised his eyebrows, "Go and see... Aren't you curious?"

Bai Yutang thought about it, and followed Zhan Zhao to the shop.

This shop should have been opened recently, because Zhan Zhao had never seen him before, and the store manager didn't know him, so he came over and asked the two of them, "You two, what do you want?"

But apart from the shopkeeper and the room full of goods in the lobby, there is no Mrs. Luo Xin.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other—it's evil!He clearly saw her coming in, the carriage is still at the door, why is no one in the lobby?

"Uh, two young masters, what do you want?" the shopkeeper asked again.

Zhan Zhao stared at Bai Yutang in a blink of an eye, and signaled—you find a way, just buy some!

Bai Yutang had no choice but to say, "I want a good pine ointment, for protecting the piano."

"Oh!" The anecdote smiled. Although the quality of pine resin and pine ointment is similar, the price is quite different. The pine ointment is priceless, almost as expensive as gold, and there are many varieties.

The shopkeeper took Bai Yutang to the side to choose pine ointment. Bai Yutang was a knowledgeable person, knowing that Zhan Zhao asked him to delay, so he chose slowly on purpose.

Zhan Zhao turned around in the lobby, looking behind the door curtain, which seemed to be a small courtyard.

Zhan Zhao rolled his eyes, took advantage of the shopkeeper's inattention, and entered the yard behind him in a flash.

Bai Yutang frowned slightly - this cat... had no choice but to continue holding back the shopkeeper and buy more pine ointment of good quality.The shopkeeper estimated that he hadn't sold the pine ointment for at least half a year, so he enthusiastically explained it to Bai Yutang.

Zhan Zhao entered the back yard, and suddenly smelled a spicy smell, and covered his nose, "Sneeze..."

He rubbed his nose, where did he smell this spicy smell?Think about it—I see!Isn't this the "spicy cat duck neck" that I tasted yesterday?It turns out that this place is next door to the duck neck shop!Thinking of the duck neck, Zhan Zhao still had the urge to grind his teeth.

Holding his nose and walking a few steps forward, Zhan Zhao heard a sound coming from behind a round stone cave on the west side of the yard.

I ran to the entrance of the stone cave and saw that there was still a yard behind, and a small house not far away, which seemed to be an ancestral hall.The door was open, and there was the sound of "Tuk Tuk Tuk" knocking on the wooden fish, as well as the sound of someone chanting scriptures.

Zhan Zhao wondered, could it be that Mrs. Luo Xin came here to chant sutras?

He performed lightness kung fu, and flashed to the window of the gate of the ancestral hall to look in... Sure enough!I saw Mrs. Luo Xin kneeling on a futon, next to a small stool, and a black wooden fish on top. She was holding a rosary in one hand and the wooden fish in the other, and was chanting.

Zhan Zhao looked carefully, and saw five spiritual tablets of the same size enshrined on the shrine in front of her.

The coffin was covered with white silk, Zhan Zhao frowned slightly.

It is the rule of the rivers and lakes to use white silk to cover the spiritual seat.It shows that the owner of the spiritual place was murdered to death, and the death was quite miserable. The relatives of the deceased vowed to take revenge.

The purpose of covering the spiritual seat with white silk is to dye the silk red with the murderer's blood once the real murderer is caught in the future, and then uncover it.In this way, the deceased will be reincarnated with peace of mind, otherwise he will inevitably turn into a ghost to seek justice.

Zhan Zhao was secretly startled, Mrs. Luo Xin was just a weak woman who played the piano, why did she still have these rules?

Just as I was thinking, I heard the sound of "Kaka..." not far away.

Zhan Zhao jumped onto the roof and looked into the distance.In the alley separated from the courtyard wall, there were two pots and two shirtless men frying spicy peppers.

One pot is fried with red chili peppers and cumin, and the other is fried with white chili peppers and minced ginger.

Zhan Zhao's nose was bright, and he sniffed unconsciously, "Ah...Ah Choo."

"who?"

Mrs. Luo Xin in the ancestral hall suddenly asked, and Zhan Zhao was startled—it seemed that some inner strength was inadvertently brought out from the words. This Mrs. Luo Xin is not a weak woman, she knows kung fu and is not inferior!

Seeing that he might startle the snake, Zhan Zhao let out a "meow" and used his tried-and-true "meow escape tactic".

Then, he rushed out from the back courtyard wall in a hurry... Passing over the "Spicy Cat Duck Neck Shop", he smelled the spicy smell, which made him sneeze hard.

After successfully escaping, Zhan Zhao quickly circled the boss, returned to the front door of the turpentine shop, and slipped in without anyone noticing!

Bai Yutang happened to pay for three boxes of pine ointment, and the shopkeeper smiled happily.

Zhan Zhao came in at the right time, the shopkeeper raised his head, and felt that he was looking at the qin hanging on the wall, and said in passing, "Young master has good eyesight, this is a good qin."

Zhan Zhao nodded and rubbed his nose again.

At this time, a maid came out from behind, and it was the maid under Mrs. Luo Xin's hands.When she came out to see that there was business, she casually asked the shopkeeper, "Master Qin, did someone go up and down just now?"

The shopkeeper was stunned, and shook his head, "No! No one has ever come in."

The maid looked suspiciously at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

The shopkeeper shook his head lightly at her - indicating that the two of them had never left.

The servant girl frowned and went back.

Zhan Zhao saw that Bai Yutang had finished shopping, so he gently tugged at him, and pulled him away.

Turning out of the alley, Zhan Zhao leaned over and whispered to Bai Yutang, "This Mrs. Luo Xin is not simple! Your Majesty, don't get it!"

Bai Yutang smiled faintly, "Mao'er, this shopkeeper is not simple."

Zhan Zhao was taken aback, "It looks like a bad old man who doesn't know kung fu!"

"It is indeed a bad old man." Bai Yutang lightly tossed a blue and white porcelain pine ointment jar in his hand, and shook Zhan Zhao lightly in his hand, "This pine ointment is a good thing, most people can't get it out!"

The two walked forward while talking, and when they left the alley, they saw a commotion not far away.

There were three people running in front with things in their hands, and a group of people behind them were chasing them with sticks.

When Zhan Zhao saw those three people, a pimple appeared between his brows.

Bai Yutang knew that the one running ahead was Pang Yu, he was holding a birdcage in one hand, and the other hand was swinging forward, shouting as he ran, "It's none of my business, it's that nerd!"

Behind him, a fair-faced, handsome and elegant young scholar dragged a thirteen or fourteen-year-old school boy and ran with his life.

Zhan Zhao held his forehead, "It's not messy enough!"

Bai Yutang asked, "Mao'er, who is the scholar with Pang Yu?"

After asking, Pang Yu saw Zhan Zhao, stretched out his hand and shouted, "Brother Zhan!"

Coincidentally, the boy behind also saw it, and stretched out his hand and shouted, "Brother Zhan!"

The two looked at each other again, and shouted at the same time, "Help!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang jumped forward and stopped the three of them behind.

The group of people who were chasing them seemed to be the Guardian Nursing House. In short, when they saw Zhan Zhao and the others coming, they didn't dare to do anything wrong. They turned around and left without forgetting to turn around and warn, "Don't let us run into you again!"

Pang Yu breathed a sigh of relief, Bai Yutang saw the birdcage in his hand, and reached out to take it, "Red canary?"

I saw a fiery little sparrow in Pang Yu's cage, and when it saw Bai Yutang, it opened its mouth to "chirp" twice.

Bai Yutang frowned slightly, "The voice is not as good as the red canary, and I have never seen a red canary with red eyes."

"No and no!" The scholar came over and shook his head and said, "This brother's eyesight is dull, this is a dace bird, not a red canary. Red canaries are rare, and their biggest feature is their black tongue! The best ones are purple. The shape of this fire dace bird is very similar to that of a red canary, only the color of the eyeballs and tongue is different. But the price is quite different! The red canary has a melodious call, and it is the best among birds. But this fire dace bird sounds like Old ducks are everywhere in the mountains, worth only a few copper coins. Not very kind bird dealers use them to fool people, and those rich men are easy to be fooled!"

Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows slightly - this scholar knows a lot.

"Stop talking!" Pang Yu glared at the scholar angrily, "It's all because of you!" As he spoke, he pulled Zhan Zhao and said, "Brother Zhan, I was in the restaurant just now, and I just wanted to ask you about it. The young masters are close, but this nerd went into the teahouse and devalued all the birds to nothing, so angry that the young masters let the servants chase us and beat me, and I was also troubled by him!"

Zhan Zhao didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he looked at the scholar, "Second Young Master, why are you here?"

That scholar is none other than Bao Yan.As far as Zhan Zhao knew, Bao Yan was no worse than Gongsun in terms of the scholar's ability to cause trouble, Master Bao also had a headache when he saw him.

"Brother Zhan, it's great to meet you!" As he said, he took out the letter from his pocket and stuffed it into Zhan Zhao's hand, "Give it to my father, just tell a female ghost named Fifth Sister to give it to me!" Yes. Also, please don’t tell him that I’m in Kaifeng!” After speaking, he grabbed Bao Fu and ran away.

"Hey!" Zhan Zhao held the letter, thinking what kind of female ghost is he talking about?But looking again, Bao Yan has disappeared into the alley.

"Mao'er, who is it?" Bai Yutang couldn't hear clearly, and couldn't help asking Zhan Zhao.

"Oh." Zhan Zhao put the letter away, "His name is Bao Yan, Master Bao's son."

"what?"

Just as Zhan Zhao finished speaking, Pang Yu jumped up behind him in surprise, and opened his mouth wide to look at Zhan Zhao, "He...he..."

Bai Yutang also nodded, "I've heard that Mrs. Bao has a young master who is extremely clever, so he is Bao Yan."

"Liar!" Pang Yu looked shocked, shaking his head like a rattle, looking at Zhan Zhao, "Absolutely impossible!"

Zhan Zhao laughed, "It's true!"

Pang Yu rubbed his face with his hands, and asked with disbelief, "Then why is he so white?!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, and after a long silence, they both reached out to touch their chins.

……

The commotion here gradually died down.

In a restaurant in the distance, on the third floor, two people stood leaning on the railing, drinking each other while watching the three people below.

"With Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang as backers for Pang Yu, it's no wonder he escaped time and time again."

"Don't worry, everything has been arranged, and it will be absolutely safe this time."

"You'd better move faster." Picking up the glass, he drank the wine in one gulp, the corners of his mouth raised slightly with a hint of coldness, "Pang Yu, you must die!"