Maowu was completely unprepared and was stabbed into the back of his heart by a knife. He tried to struggle but was unable to do so. His limbs fell limply to the ground and twitched.
Sun Zhi held up Maowu's body and walked towards the carriage.
Sun Zhi was obviously the only one on the carriage. After he loaded Mao Wu's body into the carriage, he did not rush to drive away. Instead, he carved a mark on the tree trunk beside the road, piled stones into a tower, and placed it there. Under the tree, after doing all this, I left in a hurry.
After more than an hour, a carriage came to the edge of the city again, but this carriage was accompanied by two knights. They were dressed the same as Mao Wu. They were obviously Mr. Bai's servants.
"I asked Mao Wu and others to come here, why is there no one there?" came a voice from the carriage.
The knight beside the carriage rode around the hill and soon discovered the ashes of the bonfire.
"Sir, there is a pile of bonfire ashes next to the hill. It looks like they were left by Mao Wu."
Another knight held a torch and looked around, but couldn't find any clues.
"Sir, maybe Maowu can't wait any longer and has already left."
The curtain of the carriage opened, revealing the face of a middle-aged scribe: "No, Maowu wants to hand over to me here. No matter how late it is, he won't be able to leave early. Now that he's not here, there must be something wrong. "
He sighed and said: "Forget it, it's already dark now and it's hard to check. I'll come back here tomorrow morning. I'll stay here tonight. No one is allowed to leave or approach. Do you hear me?"
The two knights responded in succession.
Putting down the sedan curtain, the middle-aged scribe rubbed the Bodhi seed rosary in his hand and said to himself: "Which force took action when Maowu disappeared?"
The night passed quickly, and the scholars who were on the list were still immersed in excitement, while those who failed were not discouraged. After all, the county and government examinations are held once a year. It doesn't matter if you fail this year. Go back and study hard. , fight again next year.
The results of the main exam have been released, so the first re-examination was ushered in the next day, and the candidates who won the exam came to the examination room again.
But this time the number of people was much smaller, and there were only a few dozen tables in the yard.
Zhao Cheng still held his exam number and waited for the roll call. After the roll call, he got the exam paper from the county magistrate as usual.
Because he was the first, Pan Zhuo looked at him a few more times. Remembering that he was Zheng Yucheng's student, he said: "The last test was good, which shows that Mr. Zheng has extraordinary insights into classics and meanings. Although he was the head of the case, But you must not be arrogant. You must know that after the county examination, there will be a government examination. Only if you pass both examinations can you be considered a tribute student."
If it were an ordinary candidate, Magistrate Pan would not have said so much.
Zhao Cheng is the leader of the case. He ranked first in the county examination this time. Not surprisingly, with the first and final examinations, his overall score should also be the first.
Later, when I went to the state capital to take the government examination, it also represented Magistrate Pan's political achievements and the reputation of Qinghe County, so I explained a few more words.
Zhao Cheng responded: "Thank you so much for your teachings, magistrate."
"Go!"
Zhao Cheng took the paper, returned to his seat, and took a quick look at it. The difficulty of this paper was obviously much easier than that of the regular test paper. The first part was still about scriptures, and the second part was about essays. This time it was Metrical Fu.
Compared with poetry, fu is more difficult, but the title is very broad, [Fu] "Han Xin ordered troops, Jin Duoji stirred up the wind and clouds. The rhyme of the poem is 'pulling out flags and changing flags, ambushing from all sides'."
While the candidates were nervously answering questions, at the foot of a hill outside the city, a middle-aged scribe and two knights were exploring the remains of a bonfire.
"It's February and the soil is soft. Looking at the traces of the soil here, it's obvious that someone fell here." The middle-aged scribe pointed to a piece of soil on the ground that had obvious traces of being pressed out.
He stood next to the embers of the campfire, facing the official road in the distance, simulating the scene at that time.
"If I were Mao Wu, I would be eagerly waiting for the person to take over at this time, so I would stand here."
The middle-aged scribe took another two steps forward and saw two obvious dragging marks on the ground. He said: "Later, Maowu was attacked and killed, or fell into a coma for a short time and was unable to move. His attacker He dragged it to the side of the road."
He turned around and stared at the two knights and asked: "There are no signs of fighting here. It shows that Mao Wu recognizes this person or trusts this person."
"In the dark night, outside the city, there are five pairs of people coming without any suspicion. Either they are very familiar people, or this person is pretending to be me!"
"Only by pretending to be me, Sun An, will Maowu be undefended." The middle-aged scribe twirled the rosary in his hand and said to the knight: "Go back quickly and report to the young master that I have arrived in Yanyun and Maowu is missing. , tell the young master to be careful about those around him."
The two knights took the order and left. The middle-aged scribe returned to the carriage. With the crack of the coachman's whip, the carriage entered the city.
After the second exam, Zhao Cheng unexpectedly met Shi Sheng, a cook at Moon Bay MSG Warehouse, at his doorstep.
"Eh? Why are you here? Is there something going on with those barbarians?" When Zhao Cheng saw Shi Sheng, his first reaction was that there was movement among the barbarians at the MSG warehouse.
Shi Sheng nodded and said: "Yes, sir, those barbarians are leaving. It seems that the person they are looking for has been found."
"Let's go! Let's take a look."
MSG now supports the two restaurants in Dashunzhai, and daily supply is essential. If these barbarians leave, they must recruit talents as soon as possible.
As soon as Zhao Cheng followed Shi Sheng out of the city, he saw the barbarian leader Ahufeng walking towards this direction with a dozen barbarians.
"Dear Master, we are going back. Because we have found A Chi, we can no longer stay here. We have to rush back to join the tribe."
Ahufeng spoke their dialect, which Zhao Cheng could probably understand.
"You can leave if you want, but before you leave, you must finish what I told you."
In order to prevent these barbarians from not understanding, Zhao Cheng deliberately slowed down his speaking speed and spoke in their accent.
Ahufeng was very happy when he heard Zhao Cheng speak the language of his hometown: "It turns out that the master can understand our words, that's great."
"Achi did something wrong, and we have to take him back. We need to take him back as soon as possible. The later he goes back, the more dangerous it will be for the tribe."
Ahufeng pointed behind him as he spoke. Zhao Cheng followed his gaze and saw an unfamiliar face among the dozen or so barbarians.
This man looked to be about thirty years old, and he was dressed like these barbarians. He also wore four or five silver earrings, which seemed to be the custom of the barbarians.
When Zhao Cheng looked at him, the man's eyes also happened to look towards Zhao Cheng.
Zhao Cheng instinctively felt the danger hidden by this man.
Ahhufeng said: "We will finish everything in the warehouse, and it will take about three or four days. Master, please rest assured."
