It rained heavily all night, and it didn't let up a little until the next morning, but it was still raining heavily.
Lu Shoushan woke up very early, and he had a very uneasy sleep that night. It has been six years since he and the Xu family were escorted to Beijing in the 43rd year of Qianlong's reign. He never thought that one day he would be able to return to his hometown.
He asked Shen Jingdan privately yesterday how far it was from Shanghai to Dongtai. Without thinking at that time, Shen Jingdan told him that it would be four to five hundred miles, and he would go north along the Wusong River by waterway. After Nantong and Rugao, he would reach Dongtai. If the wind was favorable, it would only take four or five days by boat.
Today's Lu Shoushan is no longer the cautious servant of the Xu family in Dongtai. Ever since I met Zhao Xin on Bear Island, after more than half a year of experience, my vision has changed from what it used to be.
After rolling around on the bed all night, Lu Shoushan felt like a ball of fire was burning his internal organs, making him unable to sit or lie still.
what to do? Ask for leave from Zhao Xin and go back to Dongtai to kill Cai Jiashu and his son to avenge the Xu family? ! However, he also knew that as soon as he set foot on Dongtai, his personal safety would be at risk.
Just suffering like this, the whole night passed. When it was dawn, Lu Shoushan heard the sound of rain outside the door becoming quieter, so he got up and put on his clothes. Xu Dayong was still sleeping soundly on the other bed. Lu Shoushan shook his head and went out to fetch water from the well in the front yard to wash himself. While he was washing, he heard light footsteps coming from the corridor. When he looked up, he saw it was Pan Xiucheng.
"Why, you haven't slept all night?" Lu Shoushan, with red eyes, looked at Pan Xiucheng, who also had dark circles under his eyes.
Pan Xiucheng didn't speak, just nodded slightly. He looked up at the rainwater falling on the eaves, and after a while he said softly: "Shoushan, what do you think we ask Mr. Zhao for a few days off?"
Lu Shoushan said blankly: "What do you want to do? Go back to Dongtai?"
"Yes! It's been six years since my father, my mother, my wife and children. I don't know how they are doing now."
"I'll tell you when we finish the work in Yangzhou."
"Actually," Pan Xiucheng hesitated for a long time, then suddenly said viciously, "I want to kill the Cai family most!"
Lu Shoushan was silent and just stared at the other party.
Today's Pan Xiucheng is different from the past. Since he followed Zhao Xin, more than a dozen Qing soldiers have died under his hands; not to mention that he has followed Wang Yuanfang and the others every day in the past few months. He is no longer the honest and honest coachman he used to be, and he has a tough look on his face when he speaks.
"Forget it!" Pan Xiu said suddenly discouraged: "I just thought about it. We can't go back to Dongtai."
The two of them were sighing when they suddenly heard someone banging on the courtyard door. Lu Shoushan put down his towel, quietly walked to the courtyard door, and looked out through the gap. He saw two young people wearing raincoats.
"What happened so early in the morning?" Lu Shoushan asked with a cough.
"We are 'Huang Shengtai's' guys. Mr. Huang asked us to deliver breakfast to the house."
This Mr. Huang is really good at flattering! Lu Shoushan thought as he opened the small door on one side.
Outside the door, two guys in raincoats were carrying a heavy three-layered food box in each hand. When the courtyard door opened and a middle-aged man walked out, he said, "We are guys from the Huang family. Mr. Huang asked us to give to Dong Zhao's family." Send breakfast."
Lu Shoushan smiled and nodded, reached out to take the two food boxes, and called the two waiters in. The three of them walked all the way to the front hall. After putting down the food boxes, the two Huang family guys said goodbye and left.
"What are you doing?" Wang Yuanfang walked out of a side room.
"Oh, Mr. Huang sent someone to deliver breakfast."
Wang Yuanfang was a little curious. He actually wanted to deliver breakfast specially. What was that fat man Huang doing? He walked to the front hall, opened the food box and took a look, and couldn't help but marvel.
The first thing that catches the eye is a bottle of wine! Wang Yuanfang reached out and touched the wine bottle, and it was still warm. He opened the lid and smelled it. It was rice wine. Take off the layer containing the rice wine, and underneath is a large plate of steaming egg fried rice.
The first layer of another food box is a large bowl of dry rice and a few salted vegetables; the second layer is amazing. When you take it away, it turns out to be a large can of chicken soup! Wang Yuanfang smelled the fragrant chicken soup and swallowed his saliva. He noticed that there was wet tissue paper wrapped around the mouth of the jar to prevent leakage.
He didn't care to look at the other food boxes, and hurried back to the house to greet Liu Sheng and others to get up and have breakfast, while he went to fetch water and wash up first.
Liu Siting in the main room on the west side was woken up by Wang Yuanfang's voice. She didn't sleep well that night, mainly because she couldn't sleep well in a new place. I hurriedly got out of bed, tidied my bedding, put on my clothes, found my toothbrush and facial cleanser and left the house.
After a while, everyone got up except Zhao Xin. The porch in the front yard was full of people, brushing teeth and washing faces in a mess.
"Don't grab it, I'll wash it first."
"Hate!"
After everyone finished their work and sat at the Eight Immortals table in the front hall, Zhao Xingang yawned and walked out of the main room on the east side. By the way, I don’t have to run for exercise today, so happy!
Several people opened the other two food boxes without waiting for him, and they were as amazed as Wang Yuanfang.
The third food box has a cage of soup dumplings on the upper and lower layers, and a small jar next to it holds the mixed sauce and vinegar. When I opened the cage, the aroma of crab roe hit my face. Everyone looked at the fourth food box, which also contained a jug of wine and a large bowl of egg fried rice.
Liu Zheng said strangely: "Forget it about the fried rice, why are you bringing two bottles of rice wine so early in the morning?"
Xu Dayong, who was standing at the door, quickly explained: "Master. Here in Shanghai, we pay attention to eating hard rice in the morning, sometimes with rice wine."
"What about this chicken soup?"
"This is for making rice. Just add salt and vegetables and it will be a good breakfast."
"I see!"
Lu Shoushan and the others did not dare to sit at the same table as Liu Sheng and the others, so they excused themselves and each served a bowl of fried rice, some salted vegetables, and a pot of wine; they returned to the concierge to eat and drink rice wine.
By the time Zhao Xin finished washing up slowly, there was only a plate of salted vegetables, half a can of chicken soup, two crab roe buns and half a bowl of dry rice left on the table. Seeing that there was no egg fried rice to eat, Zhao Xin had no choice but to soak the rice in the remaining chicken soup and eat it with salt and vegetables. The crab roe buns were eaten one bite at a time, and they went into your stomach before you even tasted them.
When Zhao Xin heard that Wang Yuanfang said that Lao Huang had sent someone to deliver the breakfast, he smiled and said that Fatty Huang was really trying his best to please.
After everyone had breakfast, they saw that it was still raining. When I got here last night, even though there was a lantern lighting up, I still couldn't see many places clearly, so I took advantage of the daytime to wander around and look around the front and back of the house under an umbrella.
After lazily hanging out like this until noon, Lu Shoushan, who was sitting in the concierge, heard someone knocking on the door again. When I opened the door, I saw the same two guys who came in the morning, still holding two food boxes in their hands. This is lunch delivery!
The two waiters delivered the lunch boxes to the front hall, packed away the breakfast dishes, and were about to leave. Zhao Xin stopped the two of them.
"You go back and tell Mr. Huang that we want to go into the city and visit the Chenghuang Temple in the afternoon."
The two guys quickly bowed in agreement, picked up the food boxes, and left.
The idea of Zhao Xin and others is that since it rains today, there will be fewer people on the street. It's better to go into the city and then prepare to go north to Yangzhou tomorrow.
Everyone had a hasty lunch, and at almost two o'clock in the afternoon, Lao Huang and Shen Jingdan arrived with several hired carriages, and also brought "raincoats" to everyone.
The best raincoats in the Qing Dynasty were made of silk and brushed with tung oil, so they were called "oil coats." The water-proof performance of the oil coat is very good, which is very close to that of modern raincoats. In addition to the raincoats worn by men, there are also "oil coats" and "oil skirts" worn by women when going out; the oil skirt is wrapped outside the skirt.
Zhao Xin and others put on cyan oil coats, oil caps, and black oil boots; then they waited for Liu Siting from the West Room to also dress up, and then they went out together and got on the carriage.
(The "Qing Hui Dian" stipulates that the royal family and first-rank officials wear red raincoats, and the second-rank and lower civil and military officers to the military and civilians all wear cyan. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, oil boots were divided into two types: clip and cotton, both of which were black. Cotton can be waterproof , can also keep out the cold, and are oil boots for winter; the clips can be worn in different seasons. The soles of oil shoes are twice as thick as ordinary shoes, and the uppers are lined with multiple layers of cloth with dense seams. After they are done, use Apply tung oil repeatedly to make it hard, so that it is waterproof and the shoes are not easily deformed. There are two ways to wear oil shoes, one is to "slip on", and then put the oil shoes on after wearing the shoes; the other is "to wear", Put on oil shoes directly after putting on socks.)
In this era, Shanghai County was crisscrossed by waterways. Two main waterways pass through the city from east to west, one is Zhaojiabang in the south and the other is Fangbang in the north. The Chenghuang Temple is on the north side of Fangbang, next to the Yuewang Temple and the Mengjiang Temple to the east, and to the northwest is Yuyuan Garden.
At this time, it rained heavily again. Several carriages entered the city from the "Crossing Dragon Gate" in the south of the county seat, and there were very few pedestrians on the streets along the way. After entering the city, we went north across the Yuxing Bridge, passed the Academy, and then turned left after crossing the Changsheng Bridge, and then we arrived at the Chenghuang Temple on Miaoqian Street.
During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Shouyue, the magistrate of Shanghai at the time, converted the Jinshan Temple in Shanghai, which was dedicated to the Lord of Jinshan God, Bolu Hou Huoguang, into the Shanghai City God Temple, which was dedicated to the Shanghai City God Qin Yubo (Qin Yubo was the eighth grandson of Qin Guan. If you are interested, check it out for yourself. .)
People like Zhao Xin have all been to Shanghai in another time and space, and have also been to the City God Temple. However, the Chenghuang Temple during the Qianlong period was still very different from that of later generations. In addition to several fires, the most important reason is that during the Xiaodaohui uprising in the third year of Xianfeng, the West Garden of the City God's Temple was used as a command post, which was destroyed when the Qing army attacked; then the Taiping Army attacked Shanghai, and the Qing court sought foreigners To assist in the suppression, the foreign troops stationed in the West Garden completely destroyed the landscape in the garden, which was not restored until the Tongzhi period.
Liu Sheng just saw that the Yuewang Temple was next door, and he was really not interested in the Chenghuang Temple, so he told Zhao Xin that he wanted to visit there. Wang Yuanfang wanted to go as soon as he heard this, so Liu Sheng, Wang Yuanfang, Ding Guofeng, Wu Siyu and Pan Xiucheng went next door under the leadership of Lao Huang.
After Zhao Xin and his entourage entered the temple from the side door, Lu Shoushan heard Zhao Xin talking to Liu Siting about the Cihang Hall behind the main hall, which was dedicated to the real person Cihang, that is, Guanyin, so he said he wanted to offer incense to Guanyin. Pray for the Xu family and keep the two young masters safe. Zhao Xin agreed.
Unexpectedly, Lu Shoushan and Xu Dayong had just walked to the main hall and were about to go around to the back when a slightly older voice came from the rain curtain.
"Thank you, Taoist Master! Thank you, Taoist Master!"
Lu Shoushan was shocked. He turned around and saw an old man in his fifties wearing oilcloth clothes standing at the door of the main hall, bowing to a Taoist priest. When the old man straightened up and turned around to put on his hat, Lu Shoushan had already seen the face clearly.
A burst of hot blood surged from my chest and went straight to the sky! At this time, Lu Shoushan's ears were buzzing loudly, his vision was dark, and he was a little unsteady on his feet.
"Brother Lu, what's wrong with you?" Xu Dayong, who was following him, saw Lu Shoushan shaking and quickly helped him.
"He, him!" Lu Shoushan's voice trembled, and his eyes seemed to burst out with fire. He raised his forearm and pointed his trembling right hand at the old man who was about to leave.
Xu Dayong looked at Lu Shoushan, and then followed his fingers to look at the old man. He quickly asked: "Brother Lu, what's wrong?"
"Follow him, don't let him find out." Lu Shoushan leaned under the gable of the main hall and said in a trembling voice.
"Ah? Hey!" Xu Dayong was stunned. Follow that old man? But when he turned around and saw Lu Shoushan looking like he was about to eat someone, he felt cold in his heart. He quickly agreed and followed quietly.
On the way to Shanghai, Liu Sheng and others briefly taught some tracking techniques to Lu Shoushan and others in order to facilitate the completion of the task. Xu Dayong listened very carefully at the time, but he didn't expect to use it soon.
After the old man left the Chenghuang Temple, he got on a small sedan, and then he went west across Chen Shi'an Bridge. When he was approaching Guangfu Temple, he turned right and entered Jiujiachang Street.
Because of the rain at this time, except for a few vegetable and meat sellers on both sides of the street, there were very few pedestrians. Xu Dayong didn't dare to get close, so he followed the old man at a distance of seventy or eighty meters.
The sedan turned left at Chuanxin Street and headed out of the city from the Old North Gate.
Lu Shoushan, who was squatting under the gable of the main hall in the Chenghuang Temple, calmed down for a while and then felt better. He stood up slowly and searched for the sound until he found Zhao Xin and others who were preparing to go to the West Garden.
"Master." Lu Shoushan walked up behind Zhao Xin and called in a low voice.
"Oh, Shoushan." Zhao Xin responded casually. As soon as he turned his head, he saw a big gray face. "Huh?" Why do you look so bad? ! "
"Master, please take a moment to speak."
"What's wrong?" Zhao Xin followed Lu Shoushan to the corner between the front and back yards, and saw Lu Shoushan looking around, very strange.
"Master, I saw a person."
Zhao Xin stared at Lu Shoushan and saw that his eyes were wide open, as if he wanted to choose someone to devour. So he asked tentatively: "Who did you see?"
"Tong! Zhi! Lin!"
Zhao Xin was stunned, wondering why this name sounded so familiar? Suddenly something moved in my heart, and I quickly asked: "Are you talking about something?"
Lu Shoushan nodded heavily before Zhao Xin finished speaking.
"Where are the others?"
"Already gone. I asked Xu Dayong to follow."
"Are you sure you saw it's him?"
"I can recognize him even if he turns to ashes!"
Zhao Xin thought for a moment and said, "Wait until Xu Dayong comes back."
After Xu Dayong left the city, he finally followed him to the entrance of a small courtyard near Sanmao Pavilion Street, where he saw the sedan stop. The old man got off the sedan chair and paid, and after the bearer left, he started knocking on the door.
When Xu Dayong saw a grocery store across the yard, his heart moved, and he quickly walked to the door of the store, pretending to go in and buy something. While rubbing the mud on his feet on the bluestone steps outside the shop door, he paid attention to the movement behind him.
I heard the courtyard door creaking, and the person who opened the door said to the old man: "Butler, have you come?"
"I've got it! I've got it! The talisman there is very effective. Master, I can be saved now!"
Soon, as the courtyard door closed, the sound disappeared. Xu Dayong glanced back and saw that the door of the courtyard was closed. Then he walked around the shop and chatted with the shop clerk, and then he realized that the old man was the housekeeper of the shop opposite. After leaving the shop, Xu Da looked around for a while, making sure that the location of this place was remembered in his mind, and then walked quickly into the city.
Half an hour later, when Xu Dayong returned to the City God's Temple and saw Zhao Xin, he leaned next to him and muttered for a long time.
At this time, Liu Sheng and the others had returned to the City God Temple from the Yuewang Temple. After hearing this, Zhao Xin thought for a while, then waved to Wu Siyu and said, "Old Wu, come on."
Everyone felt very strange when they saw Zhao Xin, Xu Dayong, and Lu Shoushan looking mysterious and mysterious. What is Zhao Xin doing again?
Wu Siyu came over with a puzzled look on his face, and Zhao Xin leaned into his ear and talked for a while. Wu Siyu asked in surprise: "Are you sure?"
"Make sure. You and Xu Dayong go over there and keep an eye on it. If anything happens, come back and tell us personally."
"Are you going home?"
"No." Zhao Xin saw Liu Sheng, Shen Jingdan and the others looking at him, and quickly walked over to Shen Jingdan and asked: "Boss Shen, we want to find a place nearby to discuss things immediately. Do you think it is suitable?" ?”
"Go to my house. From here, follow the street eastward and you'll be right out of the city."
"Okay." After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he turned to Wu Siyu and Xu Dayong and said, "Do you all remember the location of Boss Shen's house?"
Wu Siyu and Xu Dayong nodded.
"If you need anything, come find us there." After saying that, Zhao Xin waved to Liu Sheng and others, turned around and left with a stern expression.
Half an hour later, we entered the flower hall of Shen House on Taiping Street.
"Who is Tong Zhilin?" Liu Sheng asked in surprise. He didn't notice that when Shen Jingdan heard the name, the blood vessels in his forehead jumped; while Pan Xiucheng's eyes flashed fiercely.
Zhao Xin glanced at everyone present: "Let Shoushan explain it to you."
When Liu Sheng and others finished listening to Lu Shoushan's story, they couldn't help but look at each other in astonishment. What a coincidence? !
(Tong Zhilin is from Rugao, originally from Taizhou. In his early years, he wanted to enter a state school in Taizhou. At that time, Xu Shukui, who passed the national examination at home, said that Tong Zhilin’s ancestors were from a military family. This sentence made Tong Zhilin resentful for many years. Dongtai Literary Inquisition The cause of the commotion that shocked the world was closely related to Tong Zhilin. It was he who took Cai Jiashu's son Cai Hu to sue Liu Yong.)
With a "pop!", Liu Sheng slammed the table and shouted angrily: "Kill him!"
"I asked Angkor and Xu Dayong to keep an eye on that family. Xu Dayong heard that family call Tong Zhilin or the housekeeper."
Shen Jingdan, Lu Shoushan and Pan Xiucheng were stunned: "Could it be?"
Zhao Xin nodded and said calmly: "It's most likely the Cai family."
(End of chapter)
