(6)
The wide streets and narrow alleys gradually became silent. The night wind blew up the sand and mud on the road, covering up the footprints and ruts left on the ground. Closed doors, solemn guards, vaguely visible street lights, and the faint scent of colorful flower fields outside the town pass through the nose faintly. This is the night in Woye Town. Apart from the monotony, the tranquility is intoxicating.
Earlier, before the curfew started, Murong Yan took off the copper bell tied to Bai Feng's ankle and tied it to Bai Feng again. At the same time, she made an agreement and said: "I will watch the door, and Brother Feng will watch it." Go to the roof and keep an eye on the hidden places of the side doors. If something happens, just listen to the bell and act."
Bai Feng originally thought that Murong Yan came here just for fun, and didn't know that she had a plan in advance, so she declined and declined, saying that she didn't dare to let her go into danger alone.
Murong Yan said: "Don't underestimate me. When it comes to the ability to 'sense danger', Yan'er is much better than Brother Feng! Anyway, we will follow how you and Mr. Su monitor and track." .”
In a few words, Murong Yan used both soft and hard tactics, leaving Bai Feng helpless. The young swordsman quickly chose to compromise and expressed his willingness to obey orders.
They soon separated in front of Tong's Mansion. Murong Yan took shelter in the stable they had arranged long ago, pretending to be a stable boy; Bai Feng took the opportunity to sneak up to the roof and crawl on the ground to hold on.
There are eight horses in this stable, and there are three horse herders. Bai Feng and Su Qing had already made secret arrangements with one of the horse shepherds, borrowing his identity for a few days, and the rest of the horse herders followed suit. , all the while turning a blind eye to it like a tacit understanding.
In this way, Bai Feng, Su Qing and others were able to ambush in the stables of Tong Mansion for many days without being discovered. For this reason, even if a strange new face appears in the stable now, this is not a strange thing for the other two stable herds.
The two horse herders just took turns to greet Murong Yan a few times, and soon they began to do the work of three people, feeding the horses, picking up manure, sorting the fodder, cleaning the ground and other heavy tasks... Occasionally someone passed by. During the inspection, they did not forget to throw a broom to Murong Yan, reminding her to be careful of her whereabouts being exposed, and to quickly grab the broom to get started.
Murong Yan sat on the half-wet and half-dry straw mat, carefully looking through several fences at the front of the Tong Mansion. I saw people coming and going at the gate of Tong's house. Most of them were indeed messengers and messengers. No suspicious person with high status was seen passing by. This showed that the drunk Tong Yao had indeed been staying in the house to rest.
However, after a moment, she immediately denied the idea in her mind and thought: "How could a person who never forgets to cover up when he is having fun and having fun, be so careless and choose to go out with great fanfare in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere? On weekdays, he pretends to be secretive. He looks like an exaggerated playboy, probably more to confuse the audience!"
Just thinking about it, Murong Yan began to pay more attention to those envoys and couriers who were wearing ordinary clothes. After waiting for about three sticks of incense, she finally made a new discovery.
I saw this Xianbei witch suddenly sitting upright, eyes slightly closed, thinking about something in her heart. After a while, the crisp sound of "ding-ding-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang" came to my ears.
Bai Feng leaned over and lowered his eyebrows, looking around to make sure no one was patrolling around before sneaking into the stable to meet Murong Yan. As soon as he met the other party, the young swordsman immediately looked around, fearing that Murong Yan had been hurt in any way, and asked with concern: "Yan'er, were you calling me just now? I put the bell flat in the palm of my hand, and it was still ringing. …”
"Yes, fool!" Murong Yan complained vaguely: "Look at that group of people, don't you think it's weird?"
Bai Feng followed the direction pointed by the other party and found a group of people dressed as envoys riding horses and strolling away.
"Whether they are couriers or envoys, they come to deliver orders in the middle of the night, but they can still walk back leisurely? Then why do they have to stay up all night to make this trip!" Murong Yan smiled confidently: "Tong Yao must be among them!"
Bai Feng was overjoyed and couldn't help patting Murong Yan on the shoulder. Quan Dang praised him like a brother: "Brother Murong, you are so resourceful! Come on, we will follow you!"
After finishing speaking, the stable boy who was still working in the stable watched the two men go out and disappeared into the long night with a few crisp and delicate bells.
Those people dressed as envoys all rode tall horses: three of them were dressed in military uniforms and held torches to clear the way, while the other three were dressed as literati and merchants wearing turbans and light clothing, holding three wooden boxes in their hands.
The pair of knights followed the team from a distance. They encountered several guard patrols on the road, and they were lucky enough to escape. Unknowingly, they followed the envoys to a place where various shabby houses were built.
This place looks like it has not been rebuilt after being destroyed by the war, and it also looks like a newly established settlement for common people - everything is very simple.
Thatched houses with half of their roofs missing, and earthen walls that were still standing with a few big holes in them were everywhere here, and what those few messengers did was to knock on the doors of every house, quietly. Send the money in quietly.
This place is very wide, occupying almost the entire Xicheng District of Woye Town, and is close to the Xizhen Gate. Therefore, the work of the envoys often continues all night long.
Bai Feng and Murong Yan couldn't believe what they saw at first. It wasn't until they saw someone refusing to receive the money and denounced the envoys as "murderers" that they gradually understood the cause of the matter.
"It's all you who caused my husband's death and my son's death! Now, do you still have the honor to come see me?"
"Silver, can silver exchange for a life?"
"When will this endless war end?"
Amidst the exhausting complaints, the three messengers in turbans still silently distributed the "pensions" as if they had long been accustomed to this situation. Fortunately, most people were very willing to accept the money.
However, when the six-person team reached a certain house, one of the men wearing a headscarf suddenly left the team and lingered alone in front of the door for a long time. When a young woman opened the door, he hurriedly approached and presented the money. Silver, and begged again and again.
"Please accept it, sister Xia!"
"General Tong, please don't do this again! In a few months, the Tong Mansion will find out that General Tong is sending out military pay privately... Besides, you can't last long alone."
As soon as she finished speaking, the young woman stepped back through the threshold and closed the door. She whispered a few more words through the door. Tong Yao listened for a while and couldn't help but cover his face and cry silently. He knelt in front of the door. He beat him one after another to vent his resentment.
All this was witnessed by Bai Feng and Murong Yan. After Tong Yao calmed down, mounted his horse and walked away, the two of them followed their curiosity and came to the room, trying to find out who could make such a rough man so sad.
At the same time, among the sounds of machines and babies crying in the house, mixed with the sound of an old woman's cough, came to their ears. This reality seemed to tell them: "There is a martyr here, looking for a martyr." Be self-reliant.”
After a while, Bai Feng and Murong Yan gave up the idea of disturbing other people's lives, and planned to visit each other again the next day.
