Brother Donggong

The ancient king's mausoleum is in the south of Yongjing, and outside the city gate of Yongjing, there are mountainous areas one after another.

The strict inspection when leaving the city in the morning does not mean that there is any trouble with our identity.Anyway, I have officially become a commoner, and my daughter-in-law has some status, but she is also a serious official of the sixth rank of the imperial court. .It is said that the inspection is strict, but in fact it is the heavy taxation of the card.

It costs five coppers before sunrise, because the humidity is heavy before the sun rises, and the money is charged to make hot tea for the soldiers guarding the gate in the morning.

Only three coppers after sunrise.

However, in the afternoon, when the poisonous sun was shining, I had to add three copper coins, a total of six coins, which was said to be for the mung bean soup for the soldiers defending the city.

After noon, it became three copper coins again.

I couldn't get up in the morning, I waited for Qiluo to go around the pharmacy, gave orders, everything was sorted out, and then I packed up the package, and I wanted to miss noon, when the cost of going out of the city was expensive, so I waited until we arrived When we were on the edge of the water, there was only one hour left before dark.

Me, "The road to the ancient king's tomb is far away, there are mountain roads, and there is a ray of sky. This is a place where car bandits and road tyrants are easy to hide. Let's find a place to rest for the night, and we will go there tomorrow morning. My father burns some paper money and sends a pot of wine. We will eat there at noon, and then we will go back to Ranzhuang. Cui Bicheng has already made arrangements, and Ranzhuang has already set up a pot for stewed meat and fish. Although my aunt and the others are not here, the Cui family's folks are not up to date."

Yin Qiluo knew about the old affairs of Cui Bicheng's family, and he didn't ask why my aunt didn't come back from the south.

These days, if a family is nestled in Yongjing, it is more frightening than buying a box of eggs and putting them on the branches of the wind and rain.

She said, "Okay. I will listen to you when I go out."

We each rode a horse and headed south without rushing, so the journey was much more leisurely, and most of the waiters were just looking at the flowers on horseback.The southern suburbs are a bit more windy than Yongjing City, so it looks cooler. At the fork in the road leading to the ancient king's tomb, there is a small town called Zhuxian Town.I inquired in advance that there is a good inn here, so I asked for two upper rooms, put my luggage away, and asked the staff to feed the horses with water and fodder. Seeing that it was still early, I went out with Qi Luo change.

We heard that there is a tea shop here is also good, so we went there to sit.

Drink tea and have some snacks too.

The food here is nothing more than steamed meat, steamed buns, shortbread, and fried chestnuts and melon seeds.

Xiao Er reported the name of the dish to the back kitchen, and while wiping the table, chatting, he asked me, "Guest and Madam, is this your first time in Zhuxian Town?"

Me, "Yes, it's the first time. Why, you can see it all? You really have sharp eyes! I'm newly married, and I went out to the city with Zhuo Jing."

Xiao Er was also happy, "The guest officer and the wife are really good match! I am not so sharp-eyed, our small tea house has always only had some neighbors from the town come to drink tea, or the officials from Yongjing City to the Southern Suburb Palace, You two seem to be neither, if you don’t think I’m bothering you, then let me ask again, are you going to…?”

I said, "Meicheng County."

Xiao Er, "Meicheng? Meicheng is on the west side of Yongjing, our place is on the south side, and further on is the royal tomb and the hunting grounds of the palace in the southern suburbs."

I said, "Oh, even though we are going to Meicheng, we are not in a hurry. We will go for a walk when we leave the capital. We will go wherever the lakes and mountains are beautiful. You said that there is a hunting ground in front of you. I heard that if you are in the capital If the dignitaries don’t come, the common people can go in there, but they can’t hunt in spring and autumn.”

Xiao Er, "You can't go. The emperor's imperial decree says so, but it's a palace hunting ground, ordinary people dare to wander there! Even if they are full, they won't! Besides, the guest officer and It's not a coincidence that Madam came, yesterday the military master of the town issued an order, saying that the road from Zhuxian Town to the southern suburbs is completely sealed, not to mention a single person, not even a bird can fly over."

I wondered, "Why?"

Xiaoer brought up some snacks and teapots we ordered, "What else, the prince is coming! The prince wants to come to hunt on a whim, and the whole hunting ground will of course be surrounded."

I,"……"

I scratched my eyebrows and said to myself, what a coincidence.

So I asked, "Little brother, is there any other way to get to the royal tomb besides the official road?"

"Yes, of course. But..." he said and looked at Qi Luo, "But, guest officer, you still don't want to go that way."

Why do I?"

"Don't ask, it's better not to leave. It's inconvenient for you to take your female relatives with you."

Because I didn't want to delay, I definitely wanted to go, so I asked Xiao Er carefully to understand the way.Qi Luo and I went back to the inn for an early rest after eating. The next day, before dawn, we got up early and asked the shopkeeper for a few steamed buns, a catty of sauced beef, and a water bag filled with water, and we were ready to go on our way.

The shopkeeper at the counter of the inn looked at me strangely, and asked me which way to go, I told them one by one, he asked the clerk to prepare the things, calculated the money, and finally asked inexplicably, "The guest officer is back. After that, stay in those two rooms."

"No." I said, "We're going to Meicheng now, and we won't be coming back."

The shopkeeper ignored me, and said directly to the clerk, "Don't clean those two rooms, just keep them."

It sounded very strange. After I got on the horse, I even glanced at him.

When Qiluo and I arrived at the fork in the teahouse Xiaoer said, we were thinking about getting off our horses and resting for a while, but Qiluo didn't move. She pointed to the front with the whip on the horse, and saw a line of neat official script characters engraved on the vast boulder. : Sleepy Hollow ahead

Robbery, murder, rape, women and children

If you don't want to be raped first and then killed, please turn your horse's head and run for your life!

Signed: Dibao, Zhuxian Town, Shuntian Prefecture, Zhili, Wang Erxiao

I looked at Qi Luo, "This..."

She looked at me, "You make up your mind."

I was discouraged, "Well, let's go back."

I was full of pride and shouted, "Flee!"

The weather was beautiful, we quickly turned our horses and ran for our lives. On the way back, we encountered a heavy rainstorm that had never happened in a century. Fortunately, the mountain did not collapse. Apart from being two soaked chickens with clean rain flowing from the inside to the outside, there was nothing to do. What a catastrophe.

When we returned to the inn, the shopkeeper asked the man to lead the horse and carry the luggage for us with a blank expression, and prepared hot ginger soup.I felt that I was so bored, and when I changed my clothes and went downstairs to eat tremblingly, the guy at the inn was still laughing silly.

Because of the heavy rain, there were not many customers in the inn today, and there was no fire, so we could only go to the teahouse to eat, because almost the whole town was there today, there were many guests, there were a lot of food, and the cook was also careful about cooking.

The shopkeeper said she would bring it to Qiluo and me. I went to ask her, and she said that it was fresh and delicious to eat at the teahouse.So the shopkeeper borrowed a pair of coir raincoats and an oil-paper umbrella for the two of us. I opened the umbrella and asked Qiluo to wrap it in the coir raincoat, and then I came to the teahouse.

There are many customers in the teahouse.

Although it was lively, they all sounded like their local people.

All kinds of people are waiting, crowded and lively.

We sat down and ordered a pot of hot tea, some hot dishes, and hot noodle soup.Yin Qiluo thought their tea was not good, so she brought a small bag of Longjing herself, and only asked the waiter to pour hot water, and after she rinsed the teapot, she brewed it herself.

I was wiping my nose with a silk handkerchief. At this moment, a person came in, wearing a silk long gown, but not elegant, and holding a bird cage in his hand. When I saw it, it turned out to be a very expensive nightingale.This bird has a bad temper, and the young master of the Du family gave me one to congratulate me on being canonized as Prince Qi.

When he came in, he chose a place to sit next to a wooden pillar, took out a wooden handle with copper barbs on the head from his arms, and stuck it on the pillar at once. The small wooden handle was supported. The cage is hung.

There was a moment of silence.

There were also whispers.

"Look, Lord Huang's bird. It is said that it is a plaything of the prince and grandson in Yongjing City. It is expensive. I heard that the price he bought for this bird is enough to build a big tile-roofed house!"

……

I thought to myself, more than a tile-roofed house?

The Prince Regent used to have a nightingale, whose song was so beautiful and melodious that it could compare with the famous actresses in Yongjing City. That bird was worth 10 taels of silver.

The guy surnamed Huang obviously enjoyed the feeling of people watching from afar and whispering to him. He took out a white cloth bag from his arms and opened it. Inside was a celadon teacup, which didn't look too valuable , but there are dozens of taels of silver at last.He put the teacup away and ordered the waiter to pour him a bowl of high foam.

At this moment, his nightingale sang, and that sound... was really rare in a hundred years.

The sound is like the gong of the third watch, the drum of the fourth watch, the peach blossom flood in March, and the backflow of the Yellow River thousands of miles away.

In short, just one word - disaster!

I was drinking tea at the time, and the tea spouted out after a sip.No wonder this thing is only worth the money of a tile-roofed house, and it sounds so ugly. It would be fair to him not to sell the bird to the surname Huang.

"Master Huang, I heard that you, a bird, have some background?"

Surprisingly, someone with good intentions came over and got bored with this two hundred and five.

"That's it!" Huang twisted the lid of the tea bowl with two fingers, took a sip of hot tea, and then said, "This bird has a big temper and is not easy to serve. To put it bluntly, it eats more food than humans." The food is good! In our family, I eat rice porridge and pickles from Liuxinju, and it needs to eat broth. A few days ago, I even gave it chopped fresh fish! My daughter-in-law is afraid that it will lose its appetite , I fed a small spoonful of vinegar and fresh apricots yesterday. I reckoned that it might also benefit from spicy oil and shochu."

Listening to me, I almost sprayed the noodle soup in my mouth onto Qi Luo's skirt!

Huang Ying, this thing can only be fed the finest millet, and other things should not be fed randomly, otherwise it will be tossed to death in a few days.

The man was still shaking his head, "This bird was used by the lord. This is the lord who broke things, the bird that prayed for Wang Chengyi. The lord, how powerful the first few years, his cousin took care of it." The Yongjing Manufacturing Bureau had enough money to spend half of the Zheng Dynasty. When the two of them ransacked their homes, they wished that everyone in Yongjing City would go to see them. The gold, silver, jewelry, and antique jade wares were like radishes and cabbages. The whole box was carried out, and I heard that the defenders in charge of the search had all sent it out, so if you take something casually, you will not be able to enjoy it in a few lifetimes!"

Yin Qiluo brought me a piece of drunken chicken with rice wine in my bowl, "Master, how many days do you think it will rain?"

I took two mouthfuls of rice, "I also know for a few days, but I'm afraid that the road to the ancient king's tomb is too slippery for horses to walk. If you delay inside, you won't be able to make one round trip a day, and there will be trouble."

She smiled, "Then we'll stay here for a few more days, and wait until the sun comes out to dry the road before leaving."

I picked a piece of mushroom for her, "Well, that's fine too."

Outside the rainstorm didn't stop, and there was a lot of people inside.

It was busy, and suddenly, we heard a sudden sound of horseshoes outside, croaking, croaking, as if it could shake the wooden teahouse, even our tables and chairs began to rattle, and the porcelain on the table Plates, bowls, and oil lamps began to move around.

Holding the two plates, I shouted with a green face, "It's an earthquake, everyone run for your lives!!..."

No one paid any attention.

At this time, many cavalry gathered outside as if heaping mountains and filling the sea, each of them was wearing soap-colored clothes with narrow sleeves, embroidered with colorful silk threads on the mountains, rivers and swimming fish, and the crotch was a Xiongnu horse, with the saddle on the side. A black sharkskin quiver, a white wing-winged bird feather silk, and a black silk bag tied at the mouth, with two golden silk ribbons hanging down.

A young knight rolled off his saddle and walked in through the rain. He looked around with stern eyes and asked in a low voice, "Here, who is the boss?"

His voice was like a steel knife.

The owner of the restaurant hurried over, nodded and bowed, "The little one is, dare to ask the military master what he wants."

The knight swept the surrounding people with his whip, and said, "I will give you time to burn a stick of incense, and let everyone here leave. Tonight, we will take care of your teahouse."

"Ah?" The owner of the restaurant seemed to have swallowed an egg, "Master Jun, it's dark and freezing, and it's pouring rain outside. Where are the neighbors going all of a sudden?"

"Go where you should go!"

The black cavalry flashed, and a young man with a coral whip came in from the door.Her fair face was a bit pale green from excessive wine, and she could tell at a glance that she was spoiled and raised at home.

The sword-like knight just took a step back and turned sideways, "Young Master, it's good to have subordinates here, I don't need you to help."

"It's good to have you?" The man holding the coral whip sneered.

He took off the already soaked black cloak on his body, revealing his white narrow-sleeved riding clothes, because the neckline was already wet, and he pulled it uncomfortably.

Then he said, "I was outside in the rain for a long time, what are you talking about with a shop owner?"

Before he finished speaking, he waved his hand with a whip, and directly pulled away the bird cage hanging on the wooden post next to the window. With a scream, Huang rushed to the front of the bird cage, and carefully lifted the bird out. Fortunately, the bird was fine and could still sing.

The snot surnamed Huang almost came down from crying, "Hey, my bird! This is the bird used by Lord Qi, it's so precious!"

……

I thought to myself, my bird is hanging outside Cui Bicheng's house, why did it come to you again?

"What? Is this the bird of Lord Prayer?" The little prince seemed to be interested, took a step forward, bent down, looked carefully at the yellow warbler, and said to the surnamed Huang, "Let him sing twice. ?”

The birds don't sing.

The young master fiddled with the bird twice, and Huang Ying was startled, and suddenly called out twice, croaking.

Young Master Hou laughed out loud.

"I didn't expect that this is really the bird of praying for the prince! No matter how good it is, it shows timidity when it opens its mouth. Listen to this call, it's not a yellow warbler, it's just an old raven on a dead branch outside Guanzhi Tower! Haha~~ ~~~"

Before he finished laughing, the people in the teahouse ran halfway.

The boss kept bowing and pleading guilty.

I listened harshly, and didn't bother to pay attention to him. I just took out twenty coppers from my pocket and put them on the table as food money. I picked up an umbrella and coir raincoat from the side, and told Qi Luo to get up, and we left.

Unexpectedly, Yin Qiluo didn't leave. She put down her chopsticks and asked the restaurant owner, "Boss, this is our meal money."

The boss started bowing again, "Okay, okay, just put it here."

Qi Luo sat calmly, "Boss, you took the money, I would like to ask you, everything has to be first come, first served, we don't owe you any money, it's not good for you to open the door to do business Just drive the guests out."

When the restaurant owner heard this, he was sweating.

Before he could speak, the young master over there heard it, and he said with a smile, "Hey, there's still something to challenge!" He walked over to this side, "What is the girl doing in Zhuxian Town? Is it to get married, or elopement?"

Qi Luo sneered, "Young Lord Huanhou Jiang's family, do you talk nonsense when you open your mouth?"

I wiped my sweat with my hand.

I thought, just avoid it.

This time we hit it right.

The two hundred and five in front of me is Wen Zhan's serious brother-in-law.

As far as this buddy is concerned, in the past years, I would not look at him directly, so I don't know him, and he has never seen me.

The young master smiled, "Since the girl knows who I am, she should know that she can't afford to offend me. However, looking at the girl's appearance, maybe you are deliberately trying to attract my attention. The man next to me Who is it? Is it your date? I think he is as thin as a piece of paper, I'm afraid he won't be able to satisfy women on the couch! Hahaha~~"

"presumptuous!"

Qi Luo stretched out her hand and slapped the wooden table so hard that the porcelain dishes on the table bounced three times, and the silver bracelet on her wrist was bent.

When I saw it, I quickly smoothed things over.

"Hey, hey, hey! Everyone is a civilized person, don't be like this. Qiluo, you are a woman, you have to listen to me when you go out, arguing with a man in the street, what does it look like! Look, your hands are red , Does it hurt? Let me see."

I quickly took her hand over and looked at it carefully.

Yin Qiluo's face turned red, but she didn't withdraw her hand.

The little marquis was furious, "Where did you get that bastard? What do you do?"

I quickly turned around and bowed to him, "Hey, your lord has a lot, how can you be as knowledgeable as a woman? Isn't it, brother-in-law?"

……

Immediately, there was no sound in the teahouse.

Frozen.

It seemed that even the half-dead candle was cold.

I looked around, "what's wrong?"

Qi Luo kindly reminded me, "You are telling the truth."

Me, "Did I say that?"

She nodded, "Well, I said it, you called the real name of Young Master."

I scratched my head, "Really? What is it?"

She pursed her lips and laughed, "Brother-in-law."

Young Master Jiang became angry from embarrassment, his eyes were full of hostility, he raised his hand and hit Yin Qiluo with a whip, I rushed forward to protect Yin Qiluo, his whip hit my head and face, and the jade ring that tied my hair was smashed It was broken, I hugged Yin Qiluo and rolled aside, and the knight in black behind Jiang Xiaohou raised his hand and grabbed his whip.

He could only stare at me angrily, as if he wanted to goug out the flesh of my body piece by piece.

My back was in burning pain, my forehead seemed to be broken, and red blood flowed down the side of my eyes.

Yin Qiluo held my face in both hands, and hurriedly asked, "How is it?"

I smiled wryly, "Hey, this little brother-in-law is quite quick in his moves. Hey, I just always take advantage of my mouth and suffer a lot. Hey, I won't dare to do it next time."

She felt a little distressed, "You are bleeding."

I raised my hand and wiped it with my sleeve, "It's okay, it doesn't hurt."

She looked at me strangely, and I looked at her too, "What's wrong?"

"Aren't you dizzy?"

I,……

"Dizzy...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

Immediately, I felt dizzy, my throat constricted for a while, and I retched, like a woman who was nine months pregnant. In a trance, I clearly saw Yin Qiluo throw me a blank stare.

Jiang Xiaohou was indignant and asked the knight who whipped him, "Xie Meng! Why did you stop me?!"

The black-clothed knight looked at me, and then said, "Young Lord, this lady is the daughter of Yin Butang, Shangshu of the Ministry of War."

Lord Jiang Xiaohou chuckled, "Yin Butang? Let me tell you, your Yin family army in the northwest is really beautiful, and you are invincible across the northern border. Yin is famous and Master Yin is also respected as the leader of the country. However, no one cares about your prestige in the northwest. This is the capital. The important place is not a place for your Yin family army to run wild!"

Yin Qiluo said calmly, "There is no Yin family army in this world. My father is an official of the imperial court, and the territory of Dazheng is guarded by soldiers in the northwest."

The young master dismissed it, "It sounds nice."

Yin Qiluo took out a badge from the Ministry of War in his arms, and said to Xie Meng, "General Xie, my concubine followed my husband out of the city to worship the ancestors. Because it is not an official business, I should not have used this token. But now this is a special situation. My husband is injured, please General Xie to be more accommodating and let my concubine and my husband leave first. If the young lord wants to question the crime in the future, please go back to Yongjing, and let us worry about it later."

Xie Meng nodded, "It's natural."

As he said that, he turned around and looked at Jiang Xiaohou, and waved his hand to let the people behind him make way.

Jiang Xiaohou didn't speak, but looked at me with a strange expression.

"Husband?"...

I touched my face, stood up, and was about to leave when I suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes outside. Although the night was very solemn, the sound was more solemn than the night.

A man got off his horse, took off his drenched cloak, showed a delicate face, and walked in, "Xie Meng, what's going on, I told you to clean up the people, and they will be turned on their backs. Your Highness has arrived."

Xie Meng quickly bowed, "Eunuch Liu, it's the fault of the subordinate, the subordinate is incompetent."

Liu Congrong came in outside and made a mask with me.

He froze for a moment and settled there.

I thought to myself, I am afraid of what will happen, I pulled Yin Qiluo and wanted to escape, only to hear a long whistle outside, a falcon flying in the night sky, in the rain, a pair of wings skimmed the torrential rain pouring down like a waterfall, in the The sky circled around, and then flew towards his master, a boy less than 20 years old.

Wen Zhan's left arm was tied with cowhide, and the falcon's talons landed on it. He restrained his wings and murderous aura, and stayed quietly on Wen Zhan's shoulder.

The prince got off his horse, handed the falcon to the people around him, and then tore off his soaked cloak, revealing his ice-like handsome face.

As soon as he came in, he looked at the deserted teahouse, and asked softly, "What's going on?"

Just as Liu Congrong was about to say something, Wen Zhan raised his head, turned around and walked out, "Okay, I won't go back to Yongjing today, I'll go to the palace. And...take them all away."

Liu Congrong seemed to want to ask something, but Wen Zhan had already got on the horse, not even wearing the coir raincoat and cloak, his legs clamped the horse's belly, and galloped away like an arrow leaving the string.Behind him was the 26 iron cavalry who followed closely. Under the heavy rain, only the golden hoofs of the galloping horses could be seen flashing dazzlingly and coldly.