Yancheng, Yuanxiangtang, Gongsun Jianzhuang.
There was a knock on the door, and the concierge went over and opened the door, only to see three official-looking men standing outside.
"I'm from Chang'an. I'm Zuo Qianniu Guard Cao Shenjun Military Liu Luogu. Is Aunt Gongsun here?" The other party picked up a command talisman and asked.
This person was too powerful, so the concierge hurriedly went to report it.
After a while, Aunt Gongsun went to the front hall to meet them in person.
She was living in seclusion in her hometown and was enjoying herself. She was practicing her sword under the flower tree just now, with petals still on her clothes and her face rosy.
"Ms. Gongsun is here well. She seems to be looking better than when she was in Chang'an?"
Aunt Gongsun looked at the middle-aged man in front of her carefully. She saw that he had a high nose and was very handsome, but he was very unfamiliar. She couldn't help but ask: "Have we met before?"
"I saw the aunt several times when I was guarding the city gate, but she must not have seen me."
"This old woman has stupid eyes, don't mind Liu Canjun."
"The saint has a reward for my aunt, and he specially ordered me to bring it over."
A box was pushed in front of Mrs. Gongsun and opened. Inside was a gold comb back, which was used to insert into a woman's bun.
This is indeed a palace thing.
"The old woman thanks the saint for his grace."
"In addition to the reward, the saint hopes that the aunt will return to Chang'an City as soon as possible to worship."
Aunt Gongsun said: "The old woman and the saint have returned home for a year. Why did the saint think of the old woman?"
"The envoy from Cheshi Kingdom will arrive in Chang'an soon. The saint hopes that my aunt can dance the sword at the royal banquet."
Although Aunt Gongsun still doesn't want to leave her hometown, she is mentally prepared to return home for a while and eventually leave. Her skills belong to Chang'an.
"A saint is called, and he should be called."
Liu Luogu asked, "How about we set off tomorrow?"
"In such a hurry? The old woman has many disciples, so it would be too hasty to set off tomorrow."
"The royal banquet is approaching, so we can't delay it. Madam doesn't need to bring any disciples, she can just dance alone when the time comes."
The two agreed on their departure and chatted some more. Liu Luogu casually mentioned a casual matter and asked, "By the way, when I passed by Yanshi County, I saw the Number One Scholar."
"Liu Canjun also knows the number one scholar?"
"I am a good friend in Chang'an. I heard that he took office as Yanshi this time and subdued the bandits on Erlang Mountain, thus pacifying the person behind the Lishan assassination case. This is another great achievement."
After hearing this, Aunt Gongsun couldn't help but be a little confused and didn't answer.
Liu Luogu had already understood what he wanted to find out from her reaction.
~~
That night, three people from Chang'an were arranged to live in the guest room of Jianzhuang.
Tian Qianzhen opened the door, looked around carefully, and said, "Lang Jun, the dust in this guest room is very thick. It doesn't seem like anyone has lived in it recently."
The middle-aged man behind him was holding Liu Luogu's talisman, but he was noble.
He only glanced at the guest room and said calmly: "Xue Bai didn't live here at that time, but I'm sure he has been here."
"How can Mr. Lang be sure?" Tian Qianzhen was very curious.
"Fan Lao sent people to say that Aunt Gongsun rescued Xue Bai. This was a trap. If I asked, she would know that I was here to check on Xue Bai. But I changed the way of asking, deliberately leaving out some small flaws. Her expression gave her away."
Tian Qianzhen listened carefully and said, "The gentleman is wise."
Gao Shang shook his hand and sighed: "If you are not clever, you will lose if you lose."
He was unwilling to lose to Xue Bai, but even so, he had to be prepared to win back the victory.
Xue Bai wanted him in Yanshi, but he planned to use Gongsun's name to bypass Yanshi and go directly to Chang'an to expose Xue Bai's crimes.
He quickly went to sleep to recharge his batteries and prepare for a counterattack.
On the way to escape, for fear that Xue Bai would send people to chase him, Tian Qianzhen and Kang Bu would take turns guarding him during the night rest. Even though they stayed at Jianzhuang tonight, they still did this.
Not that he thought Xue Bai could send people to chase him here so quickly, but old soldier Fan Yang was naturally more thoughtful than ordinary people.
Tian Qianzhen fell asleep first, and soon there was a thunderous snore.
Kangbu put two big axes in his hands and sat there looking at the stars in the sky.
The starry sky is beautiful tonight, but the wind is very strong. In addition, it hasn’t rained much since the beginning of spring, so the weather is very dry, and there is dust when the wind blows.
As we watched, it was already midnight, Tian Qianzhen was still snoring loudly, and Kang Bu planned to keep watch for him a little longer.
Unknowingly, he became sleepy, took a nap, and lowered his head.
At this moment, there was a flash of cold light in the night, and someone rushed towards him with a knife.
"call--"
When the knife struck down, Kangbu quickly avoided it and reached out to pick up the axe. The opponent stepped on one of the handles and struck down again with the knife.
But Kangbu picked up another ax in a blink of an eye and began to fight with the opponent.
At the same time, more people have rushed up and rushed towards Gao Shang.
Kangbu was furious and smashed the ax in his hand, smashing half of a man's head, but he himself was also stabbed.
Unaware, he blocked the door with his body and was immediately stabbed again.
"A Tian! Take Lang Jun away!"
The snoring in the room had stopped, but there was a flame burning from the window. This was Tian Ganzhen in the room who had set the curtains and bedding on fire.
The fire quickly broke out and spread to the wooden walls.
Kang Bu had been stabbed countless times and was still blocking the door of the room.
"puff."
Lao Liang was furious, stepped forward and slashed hard with his sword, knocking the big man's head off to the ground. Kang Bu's head rolled several times on the ground, still glaring.
At the same time, there was a "bang" and two people were knocked out of a burning window.
After Tian Qianzhen crashed out, he immediately knocked down one person and led Gao Shang to break out. However, Lao Liang has made arrangements, and there are people guarding the courtyard ahead.
"Walk!"
Tian Qianzhen roared angrily and rushed towards the gate. Then he suddenly changed direction and went to kill the inside of Jianzhuang.
Lao Liang also arranged manpower there, but he didn't have enough people. The ones he arranged here were disciples of Gongsun Auntie, who had extraordinary martial arts skills.
But Tian Qianzhen was even more impressive. He slashed with his sword and forced all the disciples back. He didn't seek to kill anyone. He endured several sword stabs and led Gao Shang through their defense line.
"They can't run away." Lao Liang shouted: "Chase!"
Tian Qianzhen and Gao Shang didn't seem to be in a hurry to escape, and ran separately into the dark flowers and trees, unwilling to be easily obtained by them.
Here they are still fighting and chasing, while over there the wind is fanning the fire, and the fire in the guest room has quickly spread to the trees in the courtyard.
From time to time, several fire sources appeared in the sword village, which were caused by Tian Qianzhen.
"call--"
The weather was dry and the fire was getting bigger and bigger, reaching the point of being out of control in a very short period of time.
Seeing this situation, Lao Liang had no choice but to stop letting people chase them. Instead, he guarded the outside of Jianzhuang to prevent them from escaping, and prepared to put out the fire.
It's not yet dawn, but Yuanxiang Pond is getting brighter and brighter, and there are crackling sounds everywhere.
Li Twelve Niang hurriedly took out several of her treasures from the room, and then wanted to go back to rescue other things, but Aunt Gongsun grabbed her.
"Just burn it." Aunt Gongsun looked at the fire and sighed to comfort herself: "I said I want to live in seclusion, but living in a place where everyone can find it is considered seclusion?"
A wooden building collapsed in the fire.
Lao Liang led everyone to evacuate outside, putting out the fire while preventing Gao Shang and Tian Qianzhen from escaping. In the end, he never saw them again...
~~
The fire made Lao Liang feel angry. When he returned to Yanshi, he immediately apologized to Xue Bai.
"It's useless for me to lead so many people in a sneak attack and let them burn down Gongsun Jianzhuang under my nose."
"Just pay it to Aunt Gongsun." Xue Bai didn't think anything of it and asked, "Is Gao Shang dead?"
"Probably dead."
Lao Liang has been following Xue Bai for so long, and this is the first time he said yes. In that situation, Gao Shang really didn't have much possibility of escaping.
Xue Bai originally wanted to be alive. He knew Fan Lao's thoughts and wanted to follow the clues to explore Anlu Mountain's situation, but death was not a big deal.
A fire at Gongsun Jiangzhuang was not a bad thing for him.
He planned to compensate Gongsun for a house and temporarily invited her and her disciples to live in Yanshi; he also planned to send people to Yancheng to buy a house, so as to contact the officials of Yancheng and restart the smuggling of copper and iron.
But Lao Liang still needs to be reminded.
"Have you learned a lesson from this matter?"
"You should do things more carefully."
"Old Soldier Fan Yang is extraordinary. Keep your spirits up when you see him later." Xue Bai said: "Also, there was a fire at that time. Nobility is not important. If you escape, you should escape. You should put out the fire earlier to avoid harming innocent people."
"Here!"
Lao Liang agreed and kept it in mind. He then held up Kang Bu's head and said, "Old soldier Fan Yang is here."
"Pick it in lime and quickly send it to Chang'an to Yang Guozhong to make a fuss about him."
"Yes, and these are noble things."
Xue Bai looked at it, picked up a talisman and looked at it carefully. He saw that the words "Zuo Qianniu Guards Cao Shen Military Liu Luogu" were engraved on it, and his eyes flashed with doubts.
Since there is a prophecy about the Maojin Sword, this "Liu Luogu" can serve as an official in Zuo Qianniu Guard, which shows that he is quite trustworthy.
This matter will be investigated later when we return to Chang'an.
Aunt Gongsun also came and handed the back of the golden comb Gao Shang gave her to Xue Bai.
"The reason why the old woman believes that he is from Chang'an is because it is indeed from the palace."
Xue Bai took it and looked at it for a while, then said: "It's not surprising that Gao Shang has the things in the palace. The saint gave them to An Lushan, and then An Lushan gave them to him..."
At this point, he paused and suddenly felt a little funny.
So, he put the back of the golden comb and the talisman together and installed them carefully.
Nobility is smart, anticipating danger early and running away. What's more clever is that he wants to take Aunt Gongsun away with a few words to fight back.
Unfortunately, wisdom is misled by wisdom, and the more you do, the more mistakes you make.
~~
Xue Bai wrote a letter, put it together with Kang Bu's head, and sent it to Chang'an by post horse. It arrived in Chang'an only two days later.
Now Yang Guozhong has moved to the luxurious mansion in Xuanyangfang. The reason why he has become so prosperous is that he is now the first person to manage the emperor's personal money.
He just returned to the house from the Taifu that day. When he saw a wooden box placed in the front hall, he smiled and said, "Who gave this gift? Place it here."
Just as the steward was about to speak, Yang Guozhong waved his hand and said: "Don't worry, let me take a guess. This wooden box is made of poor materials. I haven't seen such a poor wooden box for a long time. But the more broken the wooden box is, the more it contains." The more valuable the thing is, the more valuable it must be..."
With that said, he opened the wooden box directly.
"ah!"
What he saw was a head with glaring eyes and murderous intent. Yang Guozhong was so frightened that he took two steps back.
It wasn't that he was timid, but that he was too sure of his guess and was frightened for a moment.
"Who eats dog intestines as a gift?!"
"It's Xue Lang. Along with the gift is a letter."
"Gifts are bullshit."
Yang Guozhong took the letter and opened it directly to read it.
Xue Bai's calligraphy is getting better and better, but his writing is casual and has no champion style. He is not even as good as Yang Guozhong.
"In the beginning, the demon thief Lishan caused chaos. The sage asked me to go to Yanshi to have a look. Now I have seen the results..."
Yang Guozhong raised his eyebrows, got close to Kang Bu's face, looked at it carefully for a while, and finally asked Kang Bu.
"Are you really a gift?"
(End of chapter)
