"Then just look for it." Shi Funan said meaninglessly.
Seeing Shi Jiedu's indifferent expression, Wei Yunzhou's eyes turned cold: "No matter who they are looking for, we will cause trouble for them."
"While they are in small groups, we can defeat them one by one," Liu Shouliang said.
"Then you go." Shi Funan said, but he didn't stop Liu Shouliang.
"Okay, I'm tired." Shi Funan left the banquet and didn't want to talk to them anymore. He went to the cell. After Ge Shenxian died, the Immortal Dao was leaderless. He took the opportunity to kill them all and captured Ge Shenxian's son. As for Ge Shenxian's body, he had already chopped it into pieces and fed it to the dogs, so he was quite grateful to the Huarong lady for sending Ge Shenxian here. As usual, he tortured Ge Shenxian's son. When Funan Shenqing He walked out of the cell door feeling refreshed.
Liu Shouliang approached him several more times and asked him to send troops to set up resistance for the Youzhou soldiers who were looking for people, but Shi Funan refused.
Two days later, news came from the scouts.
The person Youzhou soldiers were looking for surprised Shi Funan.
It's actually Mrs. Huarong.
He instantly thought of Zhou Manzi's crazy behavior in Daizhou Guieryan, and sent an order to let the Huainan army under his command temporarily hide from the limelight when encountering the Youzhou soldiers, so as not to get angry. As expected, Liu Shouliang listened. Wei Yunzhou's instigation led 800 people to ambush a group of Haiyundu without permission, but he was accidentally bumped into by Zhou Manzi who was heading south.
Eight hundred people, including Liu Shouliang himself, were made into small temples and built beside the river, and died in extremely miserable conditions.
When the news came, Shi Funan always felt that something was wrong.
Later, when he thought about it carefully, he felt horrified.
Isn't Zhou Manzi's behavior the same as how he dealt with those Turks?
This change made Shi Funan feel uneasy and ordered all his troops to withdraw to Xuanzhou. He thought that if Zhou Manzi continued to attack, he would go to Liangzhe and Zhejiang.
It didn't work out, so he took his people to Yuzhou.
After dealing with the Huainan soldiers he encountered in Shennong, it was late at night when Zhou Xu arrived at Qinghe.
Qinghe County suffered a catastrophe, and there was no scenery to mention in the past, showing a kind of dilapidation. However, Xiao Mansion was renovated and was still brightly lit. Walking up and down in front of the porch on Saturday, he occasionally heard the sound of his uncle's horse hooves. After a while, I realized it was my hallucination.
But he knew that his uncle would come, tonight.
Tuoba Mu stood next to Madam Xiao. She had lost a lot of weight and had never smiled since her mistress disappeared. This discovery made Tuoba Mu feel heartbroken.
The night wind was cold and cold, and Mr. Xiao and a group of people were waiting outside the house. Xiao Qinghe was uneasy and even felt a sense of fear.
They are waiting for an unknown fate.
On the quiet street, a surging tide of cavalry suddenly appeared. The sound of horse hooves was like thunder, shocking the eardrums. These six thousand cavalrymen who came from the place of death battle were wrapped in the bloody smell that had not yet dissipated, and everyone present could not breathe. Angry.
Duke Xiao waved his hand so that Chen Fu didn't need to support him. He looked at Zhou Youzhou in the front, then bowed down and kowtowed in apology.
Zhou Xu walked straight into the mansion, wearing black armor and a sword.
The wind brought by the corners of the cloak blew past Xiao Qinghe's ears, bringing with it a thick and sticky smell of blood, which made Xiao Qinghe feel like he was in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. His whole body was stiff and unable to react.
Kneeling on the ground on the 16th, he heard his uncle's footsteps. When he saw his uncle, his courage suddenly leaked out.
The uncle did not have a green face and sharp teeth. On the contrary, his expression was very calm, and he was not as angry as Zhou Liu imagined.
But the more he said this, the more panicked Zhou Shiliu became, and he shouted: "Uncle."
Zhou Xu turned a deaf ear.
On the 16th, he kneeled forward. He would rather his uncle held him to strict accountability than turning a blind eye to him.
"Second daddy!" Zhou Shiliu shouted. He was ignorant when he was a child. His father once told him that his uncle was his other daddy, so he called his uncle second daddy, which made the whole family laugh. At that time, his uncle held him in his arms. Cousin Shen Zhi sat on his lap with him and laughed. Zhou Shiliu still remembered that apart from Cousin Shen Zhi, he was the only one among the Zhou family who could do this.
But my uncle didn't look back.
Tears came out instantly on Saturday, and I couldn't help crying.
Zhou Xu entered the room, looked at his daughter, reached out and touched her head, with a cold expression on his face.
This wordless action immediately made Xiao Qingxue burst into tears. She hugged her father tightly, regardless of the blood all over his body, and howled in despair: "Aniang, Aniang is gone, I can't find her, daddy" Please help me, help me, I will be obedient from now on, I don’t want anything, I just want my mother back.”
Listening to his daughter's incoherent words, Zhou Xu reached out and wiped away the tears and blood on his daughter's face: "I understand."
"Dad is here and he will find your mother." Zhou Xu said, "Listen to dad first and take a nap. After you sleep, dad will look for her with you."
Xiao Qingxue refused, like a stubborn little beast, with thorns all over her body, Zhou Xu knocked her out.
"Take Qingxue down to rest." Zhou Xu said to Tuoba Mu.
Tuoba Mu hesitated for a while, looked at Madam Xiao's green eyes, and then did as he was told.
"After Qingxue has slept well, you can come over again." Zhou Xu continued.
"Wei." Tuoba Mu responded.
When Tuoba Mu came back, Zhou Shiliu knelt at the feet of the general.
"Tell me how you found it and where you searched," Zhou Xu asked.
On the 16th, he knelt on the ground and choked up and answered. After his aunt disappeared, it was not that he did nothing. He did nothing in the river basin, at the hospital, at the entrance and exit of the city, posted notices, offered huge rewards, and searched every house. .
"Is it really every household?" Zhou Xu's expression was eerie and difficult to distinguish under the candlelight.
Tuoba Mu secretly clenched the handle of the knife, not understanding the meaning of this sentence: "...Of course it is."
"Where's the Brothel Chu Palace and the Liuying Nu Temple?" Zhou Xu said in a very soft voice, "Have you gone to look for it again?"
The cold air rushed straight into Zhou Shiliu's back, making his eyes widen in uncontrollable fear.
Zhou Xu lowered his head and looked at him: "You don't think it will be like this?"
"Crying your own lies? Are you deceiving yourself?"
One sentence tore apart the illusion that Zhou Shiliu and Tuoba Mu didn't want to think about, and the two of them felt like falling into an ice cave.
Zhou Xu looked at the night outside, feeling horribly sober.
The world is like a furnace, and others are like hell.
Chapter 263
Under the temporarily calm water, there is a rapid undercurrent, just like Qinghe County, which is in desperate need of development.
Many cases of Dongyue Embankment burst. Qinghe County Lieutenant had already led people to repair day and night, but the county magistrate was killed, and the county magistrate fled. Qinghe County was built, and Xiao Gong led his students to rescue the victims, opened Changping warehouse and charity warehouse to relieve the disaster, and lobbied for survivors in the county. The wealthy families gave up rice to cook porridge.
After a flood, the most important thing is to replant.
After mobilizing the entire county to drain water, Mr. Xiao immediately arranged for replanting. In previous years, the flood season usually ended in September, and September was already the autumn and cold season, but now it is November.
Jianghuai has always been rich, but the land is narrow and densely populated. Only in places with fertile land, double planting of rice and wheat is done. The wheat matures in early May, and rice seedlings are planted in June. The rice will bloom in August, and the rice is harvested in autumn, no later than October. It’s time to plant wheat. It’s now November. Most of the wheat seedlings that were planted earlier have been destroyed by the floods. Only a few have been saved, but they can’t solve the urgent need. Moreover, even if they are planted, the wheat seedlings will be planted more than a month late and the weather is so cold. The wheat harvest will definitely be reduced next year.
If the results are so bad, should we stop? Xiao Jingshu couldn't do it.
Chen carried his sword on his back, pushed open the study room, looked at his old mentor, and saluted: "Teacher, I want to do my best to go with General Tuoba and He Jin and other disciples to Sizhou and Chuzhou to find the princess. .”
Xiao Jingshu hammered his legs, which were numb from sitting for a long time, and stood up. Chen Fu stepped forward to help him, and found that his mentor was still wearing the same robe he had seen Zhou Youzhou yesterday. There were piles of books on the desk. It was obvious that he had not slept all night. Chen Fu said slowly: "You are old and should take care of your health."
Xiao Jingshu sighed: "A handful of old bones, useless." Since the disappearance of the princess, his energy and spirit seemed to have disappeared. Sometimes he would ask God late at night, must the Xiao family have such a bad fate?
Chen Fu's hands tightened: "If such a big thing happens, the prince will inevitably be angry with us, so you don't have to worry about it."
"It's right for Zhou Youzhou to be angry." Xiao Jingshu smiled bitterly: "If he wasn't angry, I would be worried."
But judging from last night, Zhou Youzhou's indifference still kept the old man awake at night. To put it bluntly, the key link between his Xiao family and Zhou Youzhou was the princess.
Sometimes this relationship is strong and unstoppable, and sometimes it is as brittle as silk and can be broken by the wind.
Once Zhou Youzhou wants to end it unilaterally, then they can only be abandoned.
The control and initiative in this matter was not in their hands from the beginning.
Xiao Jingshu opened the door and asked Qinghe to visit Qingxue.
Qingxue is a good child. He tried to enlighten her several times, but unfortunately the effect was very little, so he could only let Qinghe spend more time with her.
As soon as Xiao Qinghe arrived at his cousin's residence, he saw Xia He.
Xia He is taking care of the young lady. Dongxue went out to look for the princess very early. She has not returned yet, so she is responsible for the young lady's daily life, food and clothing. Compared with before, the young lady has become less picky. In the past, she loved beauty the most. She would struggle with what to wear. If she couldn't choose one day, she would be asked to ask the princess to come over and help her choose. Once she had chosen, she would happily put it on.
But now, the little lady wakes up and goes to the study, not to mention picking out clothes. If she doesn't stare at her, she won't even remember to eat.
"Cousin, let me go to the study with you." Xiao Qinghe plucked up the courage to say. Xiao Qing made a sound, and then hurried to the study, where the information about finding the princess every day was summarized.
Xiao Qinghe followed his cousin's footsteps and also went to the study.
Unprepared, he saw Zhou Youzhou again.
Xiao Qinghe saluted quickly.
Before his daughter arrived, Zhou Xu had read the county captain's documents for nearly half a month. At the end, his eyes stopped at a Luoyang painter, a distant relative of the Xun family.
When his daughter arrived, he picked up a notice on the desk and looked at it. The person pictured on the notice was his wife. As long as he provided real clues, he would be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold. If he was lucky enough to find the Princess of Youzhou, she would be a high-ranking official with a generous salary. Nothing should be done.
Xiao Qingxue drew many notices like this, but she still felt that it was a drop in the bucket, because they had to be distributed through the prefectures, counties, and villages. She stayed up all night drawing, wishing that they were posted everywhere, worrying that Others couldn't draw A Niang's appearance, so they did it themselves.
After the paintings were completed, they were distributed from state to county, from county to county, and then to the countryside. The rural people were illiterate. When Xiao Qingxue thought of this, she wished she could make the words on the notice more concise and concise, so that those in the countryside could The chief, pavilion chief or township chief could spread the word orally in the simplest words, but she was also afraid that those in the county government would not copy her portrait well enough, causing her to miss A Niang.
Xiao Qingxue was so worried about gains and losses that she fell into worry every day. Even if her wrist was sore from painting, it could not stop her.
When she saw her father, she forced a smile and said, "Dad."
The wrinkles between Zhou Xu's brows faded a little: "I asked the kitchen to prepare some medicine for you to nourish your body. Remember to drink it every day."
"Okay." Xiao Qingxue nodded silently, her fair and fair cheeks as calm as jade after the escaping smile disappeared.
"Let Xia He apply ointment on your wrist at night," Zhou Xu said.
"Actually, it doesn't hurt very much." Xiao Qingxue was deeply afraid that her father would not let her paint, so she pulled Qinghe over and said, "Qinghe will help me."
"Yes." Xiao Qinghe said immediately: "I will draw it with my cousin."
Zhou Xu looked at the two people and saw that his daughter had no objection to the Xiao family. After a while, he said, "Well, Mr. Xiao has worked hard these past two days."
This short sentence made Xiao Qinghe, who had always been anxious and uneasy, turn his eyes red. He lowered his head in a covert manner to prevent Zhou Youzhou from discovering his gaffe.
After his aunt disappeared, his great guilt did not let go of his grandfather. He also sent students to look for her, but the search was not as intense as that of Youzhou Bingda University. He then turned to collect evidence of the Xun family's crimes, which finally allowed him to find the person who destroyed the embankment in the first place. One person, certified by the Xun family, and the mysterious painter who learned from the Xun family's housekeeper, that his route to Qinghe County was recorded from Luoyang, one by one, one by one, I dare not claim credit. Just trying to make up for it.
After the county was hit by a disaster, his grandfather went to deal with the aftermath. There were so many people and he couldn't just leave them alone. Xiao Qinghe could only hate himself for being useless and not being able to help his grandfather much.
Xiao Qingxue continued to draw pictures.
Zhou Xu wanted to walk out of the study, but Chuzhou changed hands again. Wang Wanwan of the Caizhou Army continued his offensive. The men who went to the Chu River Basin to search for traces were shot or drowned by Wang Wanwan. They tried every means to prevent him from finding his wife. These people Damn them all!
