There were only five tables in this tea stall, and they occupied three tables together with the servants. Together with the prison general's wife and her maid and groom, they were all occupied at once.
The stall was set up by a family, the old couple and the young couple. One of the old couple lit the fire and the other cooked. The young couple greeted the guests and cleaned up. It was more than enough to keep them busy.
This stall not only sells tea, but also sells sesame cakes and mutton soup. The mutton soup smells very good. Everyone didn't eat much for lunch, so each of them ordered a bowl of soup and a sesame cake. However, the sesame cake was not freshly baked and the taste was not as good. Son.
The wife of the prison general's family was having tea and resting. Seeing that everyone in the group had eaten, she couldn't help but ask for a portion.
Qingyan has been paying attention to her with her consciousness, and also checked her carriage. She found no problems on the carriage, and there were no hidden compartments or the like.
While waiting for the woman to eat, Qingyan discovered something wrong. This woman was left-handed.
I hold the sesame cake with my right hand and the spoon and chopsticks with my left hand. There is a layer of callus on the tiger's mouth of my left hand. Although it is not thick, it is not normal.
If there are calluses on the tiger's mouth, they are either ground from weapons or farm work.
I'm thinking of a wife from the prison general's family. Her face is thin and tender, and her other hand is clean. It's impossible to just have calluses on her left hand. Then it's very likely that she has kung fu skills and often holds weapons in her hands. practise.
If that's the case, is her husband's family also a bit suspicious? My wife practices martial arts every day, so it’s impossible that the other party doesn’t know about it, but she just doesn’t know if she’s an accomplice.
Of course, it is also possible that this woman came from a family of military commanders before. This is hard to say. After all, it is not surprising that some women here know martial arts.
Vice General Wang should be able to investigate this aspect, so she wouldn't worry about it.
Xue Huan'er's seat happened to be facing over there, and she would look over from time to time and observe secretly.
After all, she didn't have the consciousness like Qingyan and couldn't check carefully, so she didn't notice these problems. She was just looking to see if this person was waiting for someone.
Of course, her eyes were rather obscure, and she tried to be as natural as possible. After all, it was normal to look directly over there.
Just like that person would look here from time to time, and when he met Xue Huan'er's eyes, he would nod and smile at her.
Qingyan, who had been observing them all the time, was a little speechless. If they were not two women, but a man and a woman, they would have thought that the two of them were flirting with each other interestingly.
Qingyan found her thoughts a little funny and quickly lowered her head to cover up the corners of her mouth by drinking mutton soup.
She heard the driver talking in low voices about the fire on the mountain, but she didn't say anything to stop it. There were too many people who knew about it, and the thick smoke on the top of the mountain could be seen from here, so there was no need to stop them.
And she also wanted to see the woman's reaction, whether she had any doubts about the sudden fire.
No one on their side spoke, mainly because their upbringing and table manners did not allow them to chat while eating.
It must be the first time for Wang Qingyue and her daughter to eat at this kind of roadside stall. They were a little cautious. They lowered their heads and made almost no sound while eating.
Qingyan looked at the woman's expression and stiffened for a moment after hearing those words. She probably still had some doubts.
She also glanced back towards Qingyuan Mountain, then lowered her eyelids and drank the mutton soup seriously.
Qingyan withdrew her consciousness and saw Li Hanyun opposite, who had a thoughtful look on his face. She didn't know what he was thinking.
What was he thinking? Li Hanyun was also wondering if there was any relationship between Na Huo and Vice General Wang.
After all, he had just told the other party that there was a situation at the abbot's place, and there was a fire in the backyard, making it difficult for him not to think about it.
He was also reviewing the information he had obtained from Qingyan before, and wanted to see if he could find any other clues. If he went back and told his grandfather, he might even get praise from his grandfather.
You must know that his grandfather is a very serious person. He usually reprimands and teaches the younger generations below, but rarely praises them.
But the more this happened, the more the younger generation wanted to be praised by him, and they were proud of being praised by their grandfather.
Therefore, the men of the Li family try their best to express themselves well most of the time, and there is really no dandy or spendthrift. Even if they don't stand out, they are still down-to-earth and willing to work.
Because there were so many people here, the meal took a longer time. The prison general's wife left a little ahead of them, but the interval was not too long. When they started on the road again, the person was not far away from them. Still within her consciousness.
If today's horse-drawn carriages are not driven in a hurry, their speed is really not much faster than that of an ox-cart, and some servants can even keep up with it if they walk behind the car.
Before they got on the bus, Xue Huan'er told Li Hanyun that the lady was the one who connected with the two fake monks.
Li Hanyun looked surprised and complained: "Sister-in-law, why didn't you tell me earlier? If you had told me earlier, I would have followed. Now everyone has run away..."
Xue Huan'er quickly interrupted him, "Stop, stop, stop, a monk can run away but he can't run away from the temple. We know her background and where she can run. Besides, when we saw her like that just now, we didn't realize that she was exposed at all. She must have gone home." We’re gone, it’s impossible to run away.”
After hearing this, Li Hanyun felt a little relieved. Seeing that Wang Qingyue's mother and son and Qingyan Muxue had already gotten into the carriage, they quickly got in and walked forward.
It still took more than half an hour to get back to the city. When we arrived at the city gate, many people gathered there to talk about the fire on the top of Qingyuan Mountain.
There was thick smoke over there, and you could see it from a long way away. There were not many people coming back from the temple fair before, but there was no fire at that time and they didn't know about it at all, so many people gathered here at the gate of Dongcheng, wanting to Get first-hand news.
It was obvious that their group came from there, but the exquisite style of their carriage showed that it was not ordinary people, and no one dared to step forward.
If it was something more ordinary or someone who was coming back on foot, they would definitely stop him and inquire about it.
In their eyes, this kind of carved wooden carriage was the carriage used by dignitaries, and they did not dare to step forward to intercept it easily.
But they didn't dare to ask. If anyone dared, the soldier guarding the gate just asked in passing during the inspection.
There was no need for Xue Huan'er and others to come forward, the coachman answered directly, "The backyard of Qingyuan Temple was flooded. We just saw the fire when we left, and we didn't dare to stay for fear of mountain fire, so we came back directly.
However, the fire did not get bigger along the way. It must have been extinguished, otherwise there would not be such a big smoke. "
After the inspection, they paid the fee and were released. When they arrived at the intersection, they said goodbye to the Wang family and their daughter, and then headed west and north.
Li Hanyun separated from them at the gate of the Defense Mansion. They had to go forward and go from the alley on the right side of the Defense Mansion to the back, which was their small courtyard.
Because Li Hanyun didn't have a family, he was living in the garrison mansion now, as a filial piety to the old man for his father. When he got married, he would move out and start his own family.
Qingyan's consciousness followed the prison general's wife back to her home. Her family also lived in the west of the city, close to the outer city.
According to Xue Huan'er, the prison gate general is in charge of the four city gates. His official position is not big, but it is quite crucial, so the courtyard where their family lives is not too small, it is a three-entry courtyard. It looks like a big family living together.
There was an old couple living in the backyard, probably the father and mother of the prison general. When the lady came back, she went directly to the backyard. She probably went to say hello to the two old people and say that she was back.
The middle courtyard should be the residence of the couple, and there are several small courtyards in which women live. They don't want to be servants because of their clothes, so they should be concubines.
In the front yard, the sons of the prison generals probably lived. Two of them were at home, and they were having a discussion in the yard. They looked to be about the same age as Li Hanyun, about twelve or thirteen years old.
Qingyan suddenly discovered that in Qinzhou City, people were quite martial, and it could not be said that there were no scholars, indeed there were very few. It was said that even the magistrates and magistrates, those civil servants, were not pure scholars, and they all had some martial arts skills.
This may have something to do with the fact that this place is close to the border. After all, if your physical fitness is not good enough, you won't be able to survive here.
Not only is the wind and sand here strong, but the folk customs are also very strong.
After they returned home, Xue Huan'er sent her daughter to rest, and then she murmured to Qingyan that her daughter was in the car before, so they didn't dare to say this. After all, the child was not strict with his words. If things were exposed, they would get into trouble. Not good.
When it comes to children, you can never be too careful.
At this time, she was sent away, and the two of them started talking.
Xue Huan'er said with a curious face: "Do you think the fire was set by the abbot of Qingyuan Temple? It should be Deputy General Wang who went to arrest them. Seeing that he had been exposed, he set the fire to warn others and let them escape quickly..."
Qingyan said in her heart that if Chou Chou hadn't seen it, she would have thought it was the other party who set the fire. After all, Vice General Wang didn't seem to want someone who could do such a thing. It's not like he can do it.
But the fire was really started by his nephew. Of course, it was possible that Wang Kaiyuan had taken the initiative on his own, but Vice General Wang was calmly waiting for the result in the yard and did not panic when he saw the fire. This is very telling. .
It's just that I couldn't tell Xue Huan'er this. They obviously left together, but it was a bit unreasonable for her to know what happened next.
The two discussed for a while, but in the end they didn't say anything. Anyway, they had already said the matter, and now they could only wait for the result.
While Qingyan was talking to Xue Huan'er, her consciousness was not idle. She kept looking at the prison gate general's house. She found that she had developed the ability to multitask.
In the past, you had to concentrate on using your spiritual consciousness, and the whole person would be in a daze.
It doesn't seem to be necessary now. Even if you are chatting with someone here, you can still use your spiritual sense to check over there. Of course, it is only under surveillance.
If there is any dialogue or subtle movements over there, you still have to concentrate to hear and see, otherwise you will be disturbed by the dialogue here.
Xue Huan'er and Qingyan yawned at the same time, and they looked at each other and smiled.
Because there was no rest at noon, and we drove for more than two hours in a carriage, we were actually a little tired.
Xue Huan'er said: "Let's go back and have a rest first. If you have anything to say, we can wait until dinner in the evening."
Qingyan nodded, got up and returned to her small courtyard.
After briefly washing up, he lay on the bed and started asking Chou Chou, "What's the situation at Qingyuan Temple now?"
Chou Chou: "It's okay, the fire has been completely put out. Vice General Wang and his men secretly left through the back door."
Qingyan had seen the back door before and it was locked. She didn't know how the other party opened the lock. Considering that the abbot was captured by them, it should be easy to open the back door.
Then he asked: "The other few are okay, but the abbot suddenly disappeared. Didn't the monks who put out the fire find it?"
Chou Chou ran out of the space and lay down next to Qingyan and said: "When they went to catch Zhi He and Scarface, the two guards of Scarface resisted desperately and wanted their master to escape, and then they were killed by Wang. The lieutenant's men killed him.
When the abbot's wing caught fire, their bodies were inside. When the monks put out the fire, Wang Kaiyuan and others deliberately obstructed them. They only let them put out the fire when the fire was almost done. The two people had been burned into mummies and could not be recognized at all.
The monks thought that the abbot had been burned to death, and they were surrounding him in sorrow. "
Qingyan said in her heart that she had thought that there would be no casualties if the fire was discovered in time, but she didn't expect that there would be.
Of course, these two people were not considered dead in the fire. Now they were used to kill Tao. It seems that this was the purpose of setting the fire.
I guess I figured out this method since I knew the abbot was involved, otherwise it would be difficult to take the person away without alerting the enemy.
Also, the two guards probably didn't know much, and they resisted desperately, so now they can be used for other purposes.
Chou Chou continued: "Vice General Wang probably wanted to see if the two fake monks, the abbot, and the scarred face were in the same group, so he tied them all up and put them in a carriage, and had them monitored. .
But it is a pity that these two groups of people should not be together. I have been watching with my spiritual consciousness. After the two people woke up, they found themselves on the carriage. They were confused at first and then frightened. They saw doubts in the eyes of the abbot and Scarface. There were no other emotions, and there was no eye contact between the two parties. They should not know each other at all.
Of course, it is also possible that the status of these two fake monks is too low and they do not know the high-status core personnel at all. Just like the staff below have no contact with the upper levels, so they may not know each other even if they are in the same group. "
Qingyan had some different opinions, "That's not necessarily true. It's possible that they are two groups. Those two people were speaking in Tubo language before, and they should be spies placed here by Tubo.
Didn't you say that Scarface might be the Xixia royal family? Although Xixia and Tubo are now in a cooperative relationship, the spies or spies of the two countries will not cooperate. It is possible that they were completing their respective tasks and happened to bump into each other. Just together. "
(End of chapter)
