The county horse is a medicine jar

There is no sun in the dark passage, so you can only rely on the torches on both sides to illuminate the way ahead.

Lin Sishen walked between Li Luo and Shen Qingwan, turning his head from time to time to look at the stone walls on both sides. These stone walls are not smooth, and there are still traces of digging by the predecessors.

They have been walking for half an hour since they entered the secret passage, but they still haven't found the exit, and there is still a long and long corridor with no end in sight.

To secretly dig out such a long and tortuous secret passage, the manpower and material resources spent may be inestimable.

The entrance to the secret passage is still in the stone forest of the Chu family’s old house. Chu Sima is definitely not Sun Wenqian’s accomplice. Presumably, the secret passage should be excavated after Chu Sima’s death and the mansion was abandoned, that is, in the past two years.

Chu Sima's family, along with their servants and maids, all died in the mansion. Coupled with rumors spread by interested people, the story of ghosts haunting the mansion spread all over Pingliang City.

Not to mention the night, I am afraid that no one would dare to set foot here during the day, which is convenient for those people to act secretly and dig through this secret passage.

Lin Sishen followed Li Luo step by step, and suddenly couldn't help asking: "According to the time, we should have already left Pingliang City."

Shen Qingwan slowly raised her eyes to look at her back, opened her lips and said lightly: "We have been walking for half an hour. If the secret passage leads directly to the outside of the city, we might have left Pingliang City long ago."

While the two were talking, Li Luo, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped. She frowned and looked at her feet: "This is..."

"what?"

Hearing this, Lin Sishen walked quickly to her side, followed her gaze to the ground, and actually found a few grains scattered on the ground, which could not be found unless one looked carefully.

Lin Sishen bent down to pick up a grain and put it in front of her eyes. After staring at it for a long time, she closed her eyes and said in a low voice, "This is still new rice."

The drought in Longyou has lasted for a year. The land is cracked and dry, even weeds cannot grow, let alone food.The previous batches of relief food shipped to Longyou were all old rice taken from the granary.Only the last batch that arrived was new rice purchased from Qingzhou, Yongzhou.

Han Ce, the magistrate of Pingliang City, once said that Pingliang City distributed [-] shi of relief food, but when he went to check, there was only less than [-] shi of bran left in the granary. without a trace.

Now I saw a few missing grains of new rice in the secret passage. Obviously, the [-] shi of new rice in Pingliang City was stolen by someone and transported out through this secret passage.

Lin Sishen lightly twirled the grain on his fingertips, turned to look at Shen Qingwan, and said in a deep voice, "It seems that the relief grain in Longyou is stolen and transported away in this way."

Grain was stored secretly, and many of those missing were blacksmiths.What did the Fourth Prince and Sun Wenqian do in Longyou, the answer seems to be ready.

Lin Sishen was startled by her guess, and her expression changed a few times, but she quickly regained her composure, and looked at Shen Qingwan thoughtfully.

Shen Qingwan glanced back calmly, walked past her slowly, and urged her softly when passing by: "Hurry up."

After finishing speaking, she followed Li Luo straight to the depths of the dark passage, while Lin Sishen was at the end.

After hesitating on the spot for a long while, Lin Sishen lowered his eyes and took a deep breath until he was thrown away, and followed quickly.

Lin Sishen was at the end. She stood there and hesitated for a while, her eyes following Shen Qingwan's back, until she was thrown away by a long distance, and then followed quickly.

It's just that Lin Sishen's expression was a bit more worried and complicated than before, she followed behind Li Luo and Shen Qingwan step by step, her eyes glanced at Shen Qingwan's back from time to time.

Before Shen Qingwan returned to Beijing, the power in the court was very clear.The emperor pampered the prince, and most of the civil and military officials also turned to the prince who was the eldest son.Although the emperor also secretly supported the second prince and let him fight against the crown prince in order to prevent the prince's family from dominating.

But compared to the power of the first prince, the second prince is in decline after all.

The crown prince and the second prince have always been at odds with each other, and even if the emperor is alive, they can still maintain harmony on the surface.But once the emperor dies and the prince ascends the throne, the new emperor will definitely attack the second prince first. By then, the second prince seems to have only a dead end.

Therefore, the second prince's secret actions in Longyou can be regarded as leaving a way out for himself, so that he can have a bargaining chip in a final desperate fight with the new emperor.

Originally, everyone, even Lin Sishen, took it for granted that the prince would succeed to the throne in the end.But what people didn't expect was that since Shen Qingwan returned to Beijing and married Lin Sishen, the originally clear situation in the court suddenly became elusive.

The marriage between the General's Mansion and the Ninth Prince's Mansion broke the balance that the emperor had been painstakingly maintaining, and the power of the first prince far surpassed that of the second prince.

Logically speaking, the prince should be more at ease.

However, Shen Qingwan and the second prince conspired secretly, charging the prince with the crime of poisoning the emperor with the intention of usurping the throne.Somehow the emperor was convinced of this, not only dismissed the crown prince, but also put him under house arrest. From then on, the crown prince had no chance of standing up.

Afterwards, the fourth prince was recalled from Lingnan to the capital. Just like before, the suspicious and power-hungry emperor did not allow the second prince to cover the sky with one hand in the court, and supported the fourth prince, allowing his power in the capital to rise rapidly. Big, to check and balance the second prince.

Lin Sishen has always been aware of several changes in power in the court, and it was Shen Qingwan who mediated them.But until now, she still feels that she has underestimated Shen Qingwan's ability.

Today, she was forced to come to Longyou, and by coincidence, she broke through many clues, and only then did she know the deployment of the Second Prince in Longyou.

And Shen Qingwan knew about Longling's existence from the very beginning, whether it was as she said, she didn't know what secret Longling was hiding, or she had already known it.

It is precisely because of this that she chose to join hands with the second prince to pull the prince down.

Maybe even the second prince didn't realize it, before he knew it, he had become the prince of the year, and the fourth prince seemed to be the next him.

So what's next, who is the next fourth prince? Could it be the inconspicuous heir under the fourth prince's knee, Shen Ling'er?

Then will he be the last one? And yes, he will still be another pawn in the endless cycle.

Lin Sishen looked at Shen Qingwan's back in a trance, and she didn't know if it was a hallucination. She suddenly felt that Shen Qingwan's clear figure in front of her suddenly seemed to be shrouded in a layer of mist, ethereal and uncertain.

When I met Shen Qingwan for the first time, the feeling of being unpredictable and dreadful came back again.

Li Luo and Shen Qingwan who were walking in front didn't know what Lin Sishen was thinking at this moment, when they stopped, Lin Sishen was still walking forward step by step in a daze.

It wasn't until she almost bumped into Shen Qingwan that she hurriedly stopped.

Shen Qingwan frowned slightly, turned around to look at her with a slightly suspicious expression, and said softly: "This is not a safe place, we don't know any traps ahead, you should be very careful. "

Lin Sishen was startled, she looked at Shen Qingwan's gentle and calm eyes, parted the corners of her lips and smiled apologetically, and then responded perfunctorily: "Yes, I know."

After finishing speaking, she passed Shen Qingwan and walked to Li Luo's side, took a deep breath and raised her eyes to look forward.

Shen Qingwan noticed Lin Sishen's strangeness, her eyes flickered slightly, and she looked at Lin Sishen's back thoughtfully.

The reason why Li Luo stopped was because the secret passage seemed to have come to an end, a natural cave appeared in front of him, about the size of two rooms, and the stone wall above his head was covered with stalagmites of different sizes and lengths.

And in front of them and on both sides, there are three excavated holes, which are as deep and long as the dark passages they walked through before, and they don't know where they lead.

Li Luo glanced over the three entrances, turned his head to look at Lin Sishen and asked, "There are three secret passage entrances, do we want to split up?"

Lin Sishen shook his head in thought, then turned around and asked Shen Qingwan, "What's the county's plan?"

Shen Qingwan didn't speak, her clear eyes slowly swept across Lin Sishen's face, then she raised her hand lightly, pointing her white fingertips at the entrance directly opposite them.

Lin Sishen nodded, looked back at the dark hole in front of him with lowered eyes, and sighed softly, "I'm afraid the road ahead will not be so easy."

-------------------------------------

Just as Lin Sishen and Li Luo were walking along the secret passage, Meng Yange, who was still in Pingliang City at the other end, was not so happy.

The number of dead men in Pingliang City exceeded Meng Yange's expectation. No matter where she hid, before she could take a breath, someone would follow behind her and kill her without saying a word.

Those dead men were not a mob, they were not only numerous in number, but also well-trained and tacitly understood.No matter how Meng Yange dodged and evaded, they inevitably forced him out.

Meng Yange no longer shy away from alarming other people. She leaped majestically above the eaves, while avoiding the hidden weapons attacking from all around, while looking for a way to avoid them.

After some siege and pursuit, the city wall was close at hand. Meng Yange dexterously turned over and jumped, avoiding the surprise attack of a man in black, stepping on his shoulder with his toes, before he swung his arm and swung his knife, he jumped With a light leap, he flew up the city wall.

There were dead soldiers everywhere in the city, but the outside of the city was open, even if they chased them out, Meng Yange could easily escape.

Just when Meng Yange was about to jump off the city wall and flee outside the city, he caught a glimpse of a crooked old man with white beard and white hair standing outside the city gate. Staring at Meng Yange on the city wall.

Just looking at the old man, Meng Yange said badly in his heart, and immediately turned around to return to the city again.

But it was too late to turn around at this time, the dead man chasing after him was already close at hand, and the old man with white beard and white hair at the bottom of the city also jumped up the city wall silently, forcing Meng Yange back a few steps .

The dead man in black and the frail-looking old man just blocked Meng Yange on the city wall.

Although it seemed that there was nowhere to escape, Meng Yange remained unflappable. She looked at the gloomy old man with a smile, raised her hand to evoke a strand of black hair in her ear, and whispered coquettishly while rolling her eyes: "I'm just a weak woman with no strength to restrain a chicken. I just came out at night to hide and be quiet. What are you doing to block me here?"

The old man in front of Meng Yange was none other than the assassin who escaped from Shen Qingwan and intended to assassinate Lin Sishen, and also Run Zhu's master.

The old man ignored Meng Yange, but narrowed his eyes and stared at her coldly for a long time.

A dead man behind Meng Yange took a step forward, bowed his hands respectfully to the old man and said, "Old Yan, this is the woman."

The old man withdrew his gaze from Meng Yange, and shook his head with a sullen face: "It's not her, that woman in white has much stronger skills than her."

Meng Yange listened to their conversation, a sly light flashed in his eyes, he clapped his palms and chuckled, and suddenly realized: "It turns out that you have identified the wrong person. If that is the case, this girl will forgive you magnanimously, and you just let me go." Lu Lai, let this girl go away."

The old man snorted coldly when he heard the words, and asked forcefully: "What a glib witch, tell me honestly, who sent you here?"

Meng Yange casually twirled the black hair on his fingertips, and asked, "Who is the most powerful person in this Longyou territory?"

The dead man who took a step forward was startled when he heard the words: "Are you sent by the Protector?"

The old man frowned and gave the man a hard look, then gritted his teeth angrily and cursed: "Idiot."

After cursing, the old man flicked his sleeves impatiently, and shouted: "Get out of the way, the old man is more than enough to deal with this witch by himself."

This suits Meng Yange's wishes. Although this old man looks difficult to deal with, if no one else intervenes and only deals with him, it is still unclear who will die.

Meng Yange rolled his eyeballs and mocked with a half-smile: "Old man, you are not afraid of losing face when you speak big words. If you lose face in front of your subordinates later, don't become angry and bully others."

The old man knew that Meng Yange was trying to provoke him deliberately, but he smiled coldly and turned his head to look at the group of dead soldiers standing behind Meng Yange, and said in a deep voice, "Stay away, you don't need to intervene."

The group of dead soldiers didn't dare to disobey upon hearing the words, they all retreated ten feet away without hesitation.

Meng Yange's smile gradually subsided. She seemed to be sizing up the old man seriously, but out of the corner of her eye, she glanced outside the city wall.

Although the old man in front of him looks thin and crooked, like an old man in his dying years, but his steps are light and his breathing is gentle and long, he is a master of inner circle.

Although Meng Yange is unrivaled in lightness kung fu, her kung fu is far inferior to Shen Qingwan's. She knows that she is no match for this old man, so she doesn't want to fight him at all, but wants to wait for the opportunity to escape.

The wind was strong above the city wall, and the night wind blew past Meng Yange's clothes, and the black hair that fell behind him like a waterfall also danced lightly.

Meng Yange had a graceful figure and a charming face, and under the light, her snow-white skin seemed to be radiating with a warm white glow.She stared fixedly at the old man in front of her, with a playful smile in her narrow and beautiful peach eyes, and a slightly seductive smile on her thin red lips.

Although the old man was over sixty years old, he was still a man, and when he smiled at a beautiful woman like Meng Yange, he couldn't help being distracted for a moment, and his expression lost his focus for a brief moment.

While he was in a daze, Meng Yange suddenly raised his hand, and a black snake with two horns on its forehead flew out from her sleeve, and it opened its fangs and went straight towards the old man's throat.

Then Meng Yange took the opportunity to escape by jumping off the city wall.

After the old man came back to his senses, he snorted coldly in embarrassment, and as soon as he raised his hand, he pinched seven inches of the black snake accurately, and then continued with his dark force, the black snake died with a headshot, and he casually threw it on the ground. on the ground.

Everything happened in an instant, the old man saw the timing of Meng Yange jumping down, jumped down before her, turned over and hit Meng Yange's chest with his palm, trying to force her back.

But Meng Yange didn't intend to jump off the city wall at all. She turned around, left the old man behind, and rushed in the direction of the group of dead men unexpectedly.

The dead man originally wanted to make a move, but because the old man ordered them not to intervene, he hesitated for a while, and Meng Yange took the opportunity to sneak past them.

The old man clasped his thin fingers on the edge of the stone bricks of the city wall, and jumped back to the city wall with a kick, just in time to catch a glimpse of Meng Yange flying past the dead man.

He turned his brows into anger and cursed angrily: "You bastards, hurry up and stop her."

Only then did the dead man come to his senses, he turned around and chased after Meng Yange, and the old man also followed, catching up to the dead man in a few leaps.

Sun Wenqian's eyeliner was everywhere in the city, and it seemed that there was no safe place except the official post where Lin Sishen was temporarily staying.

Tonight, Meng Yange was entangled by these difficult guys because of Lin Sishen. She scolded Lin Sishen in her heart while rushing to the official post.

The old man also noticed that Meng Yange wanted to go back to the official post, so he didn't care about boasting before, saying that one person could deal with Meng Yange with more than enough rubbing, and said in a low voice: "Shoot."

As soon as he finished speaking, countless hidden weapons flashed coldly and attacked Meng Yange overwhelmingly.

Meng Yange's reaction was quick, and without looking back, he raised his hand and rolled up the Sheng flag of an inn by the roadside, rolled it up and rolled it up in his hand, then turned around and waved the Sheng flag in his hand vigorously, blocking in front of him.

Those hidden weapons were like falling cold stars, they were almost completely caught by the Sheng Qi, and then they were unloaded, falling to the ground continuously, making piercing sounds.

Seeing this situation, the old man squinted his eyes and sneered, took out a finger-long bone nail from his sleeve with his backhand, shouted loudly and aimed at Meng Yange with all his strength.

The hidden weapons seemed to be blocked, and Meng Yange, who was already in a bit of a panic, had no time to breathe a sigh of relief when suddenly there was a roaring sound of cracking the air, interspersed with the sharp sound of the cloth being pierced.

A flash of panic flashed in Meng Yange's eyes, and she didn't even have time to react, so she subconsciously turned to the side, and then she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder, and several warm blood droplets splashed on her snow-white face.

Panting, she staggered a few steps, her eyes turned black, and the severe pain in her shoulders almost made her half of her body unable to move. She lowered her eyes in a daze, and the moist mist filled her eyes, she only vaguely saw that there seemed to be something on her shoulders. A blood hole is continuously oozing blood.

Trembling, Meng Yange raised her hands to cover her shoulders, her paper-like pale and frail face was dotted with tiny drops of blood, which made her appearance even more bewitching and alluring.

This time, it seems that there is really no escape.

Meng Yange staggered back almost, the scene in front of her eyes began to shake violently, as if the whole world was trembling, in a haze, she saw those men in black who couldn't wait to rush towards her.

The shoulder injury was so severe that Meng Yange had no chance of escaping at all. She lowered her eyes and coughed lightly, with blood overflowing from her mouth. She knelt down limply on the ground, her thin lips stained with blood were extremely red Yan.

She lowered her head slowly, staring unwillingly and helplessly at the condensed blood dripping on the ground, her lips trembled slightly, and she managed to utter three words from her mouth: "Damn..."

On the edge of life and death, Meng Yange suddenly thought that even if he died, no one seemed to care.

Li Luo might heave a sigh of relief and get rid of her stalker.

Lin Sishen might say a few words of regret, and then he would forget about her after a while.

As for Shen Qingwan, she didn't have to think about it, she was just a pawn in the hands of that cold-blooded woman Shen Qingwan, if she was gone, she would be gone, and she could just find another pawn to replace her.

The only ones who would really feel sorry for her were those clansmen thousands of miles away, the elders who raised her and taught her to read and learn martial arts, and that little Mo'er who cared about her but always despised her. girl.

Meng Yange didn't know why he risked his life for Lin Sishen, it was obvious that Lin Sishen never cared about her, maybe in Lin Sishen's heart, he didn't even regard her as his friend at all.

Then what is she for?

Is it for the agreement with Shen Qingwan?In order for the tribe to survive in Yushan from generation to generation like it has been for thousands of years?

Or for Li Luo?This, the woman she loves and hates.

No, maybe not for one of them, but for all of them.

No one had ever asked Meng Yange if she was happy in the Central Plains and if she wanted to go back to Yushan.But in fact, she really wanted it, wanted it so much, wanted it terribly.

But she must stay in the Central Plains, mediate with these high-ranking and powerful people, and use her only value to exchange the clansmen of Yushan to rebuild their homes and protect the Yushan they have depended on for generations.

She is not like Li Luo, who is willing to go through fire and water just for Lin Sishen alone, nor is she like Shen Qingwan who is dedicated to the world.

She may be more like Lin Sishen, she just wants to guard her most important thing, even if she loses her life for it.

And the most important thing, besides Yushan, also included Lin Sishen and Li Luo.

She never said it, and maybe even if she did, no one would believe it, because she always looked so careless, even a little annoying, but she really cared.

She cared about Lin Sishen, because Lin Sishen had treated her sincerely and saved her life when he was a stranger.She always said that she and Lin Sishen had settled all grievances and grievances, but she still remembered Lin Sishen's life-saving grace in her heart.

She cares about Li Luo, because when she is by Li Luo's side, she is happy, that kind of joy sometimes even makes her forget Yushan for a short time, the kind of joy that fills her heart and eyes is something she has never had before.

So what if he thought about it now, Meng Yange smiled bitterly in a trance.

If she really died here this time, perhaps Shen Qingwan would keep her promise and protect Yushan from being oppressed by the government and used by others for the rest of her life.

Her body seemed to be getting heavier and heavier, only the sound of her own rapid panting could be heard, and Meng Yange fell to the ground unbearably.

Just before Meng Yange was about to lose consciousness and slowly closed her eyes, a dazzling light suddenly shone into her eyes.

Then there was a rush of footsteps, gradually approaching, accompanied by the sharp sound of drawing a knife, and a somewhat familiar voice scolded angrily.

"Who are you? Could it be that you didn't know that this is where the imperial envoy stayed? How dare you act presumptuously here."

"Don't tell your county magistrates to come here, and let these masked gangsters rob civilian women and run rampant in Pingliang City. What, I fell asleep, and the imperial envoy was still checking official documents all night, but he slept soundly. You know, little boy It's just a county magistrate, and the imperial envoy can dismiss him without reporting to the Holy Majesty."

The voice was a little messy, and Meng Yange couldn't hear it clearly in a daze.

But then, as if she heard Lin Sishen's voice, she floated over from a distance, and asked calmly and indifferently: "Why, do you still want to see me in person? Do I have to invite the imperial decree to come out to you?" You dog slaves open your eyes? You are also qualified?"

Lin Sishen's voice was faint like hallucinations, didn't she go to the haunted house with Shen Qingwan and Li Luo, how could she come back in such a timely manner?

Meng Yange snorted softly, resisting the severe pain in his body, struggling to sit up.

But it seemed that someone had come to her side and raised his hand to gently support her. She subconsciously grabbed the man's hand, her thin lips trembling slightly, and three words came out of her mouth as thin as mosquitoes: "Lin Sishen."

The man hurriedly replied: "Miss, don't move, your wounds are still bleeding, we are the guards under the Imperial Envoy, my name is Meng Lin, I was originally a general of Weiyuan General's Mansion."

Meng Lin, Lin Sishen seemed to have such a guard with the same surname as her.

It turned out that Lin Sishen really came back, if it was something that could be done in an hour, why did she almost lose her life?

Obviously he was about to lose consciousness, but Meng Yange's anger welled up in his heart for no reason. He opened his eyes like a flash of light, sat up suddenly, gritted his teeth angrily and cursed angrily: "Lin Sishen, you bastard! You almost killed me!" I'm old."

Before anyone could react, she tilted her head and fell down again, her eyes closed tightly, and she passed out completely.

Looking at Meng Yange, who was full of blood on the ground, a guard beside Meng Lin regained his strength, pointed at Meng Yange and asked, "This girl... scolded our young master?"

Meng Lin was so anxious that his head was smoking, he lifted Meng Yange's hand and put it on his shoulder, and said anxiously: "What time is it, let her scold you if you scold me, hurry up and help her back Let Miss Mozhu heal, lest those people come back."

The man responded, and joined hands with Meng Lin to help Meng Yange up. After walking a few steps, he couldn't help sighing softly: "Miss Mo Zhu is really courageous. Speaking of which, this girl can be regarded as being rescued by Miss Mo Zhu. Yes."

Hearing this, Meng Lin hurriedly turned around and looked around vigilantly, then glared at him angrily, and reprimanded in a low voice: "Shut up, talk less and do more."