Neither the turmoil on the front line nor the undercurrent in the temple affected a small village on the southern outskirts of the imperial city.
There are more than sixty households in this village, all of whom work hard and seem to be farmers. However, if you walk around, you will find that the people here have a fierce energy in them. There are also many men who are missing arms and legs, but there is no gloominess on these people's faces because they are physically disabled. They smile when they should and stare when they should.
People around Zhuangzi call this place "Wuzhuang" because the residents in this Zhuangzi are all men who retired from the army and settled here. Moreover, there is a very big official living in Zhuangzi. For example, the surname is Yang, but people in the countryside can't tell how old he is. Anyway, he is much older than the officials in the yamen.
However, the well-informed people in the imperial city knew that this "Wuzhuang" was unusual, because the farmers in this village were all retired elites from the army. Many of them had noble titles and were as rich as the small rich. But he still settles for farming in the fields just to protect one person.
In the middle of Zhuangzi, there is the only courtyard with a courtyard wall. The big rocks in the mountains are broken up and piled up. They look very solid and large, but they don't have the red painted doors of ordinary wealthy people's houses, and they look ordinary.
Almost all the servants in the yard are men, and all of them are strong and powerful, even those who tend the flower beds or do odd jobs. If there are people here who know how to practice, they will know that these people are all monks, and their cultivation level is not low.
There is a small field in the backyard, about half an acre, with several types of vegetables grown on it, and they all seem to be growing well, and some of them are ready to be harvested.
A man who looked like an old farmer was carrying a manure bucket to fertilize some vegetables in the field that still needed some heat. There were three people standing next to him, one of whom was waiting with herbal tea, and the other two had short knives on their waists. , and his aura is extremely strong.
After the old man finished his work, he gathered another basket of vegetables from the vegetable field that was ready for harvesting. These vegetables had not been fertilized for several days, and it was time to eat them.
A guard on the side scooped water from the water tank next to him and washed the old man's hands. Then another person quickly handed him herbal tea, and the remaining person fanned himself diligently.
"I asked you to go to Butcher Zhang yesterday to cut some meat. Have you cut it?" The old man sat down on the small stool, took a few sips of herbal tea and asked.
"Sir, I have gone to cut it in the morning as you ordered. It was killed this morning. The meat is very fresh. There are four hooves. There are also about ten kilograms of good pork belly. I also brought the pig ears back to you. "
"Okay! Bring the pig's trotters and ears to the kitchen to marinate them. Leave the pork belly and I'll go over to deal with it later. By the way, the fairy brew in the cellar will be put on ice right now."
"Okay, sir. But there are only two jars of the fairy brew. Do you think you can get some more Wuliangye and put it on ice?"
"Wuliangye? Forget it. That stuff is enough for me to drink and play by myself, but it's not good enough to entertain guests. The man's drinking capacity is average and he's not a good drinker. Two jars are enough. By the way, let's go to town and carve up a roast chicken. Drink."
"Okay sir."
One person took the order and left. The remaining two men with knives stood behind the old man.
After finishing a cup of tea, the old man asked: "What about the wood?"
"Sir, everything is normal. I added medicine as usual this morning and checked all the gold needles. Everything is normal." The guards answered firmly. They personally handle this matter every day without making any mistakes.
"Very good. Let's go take a look. You should need it in a few days." The old man got up from the stool and walked towards the front row of houses with his hands behind his back. Two guards followed, and one of them helped the old man bring the freshly collected vegetables.
After walking for a while, he opened the door and went in. Inside the door were two guards. When the old man came in, they all bowed and saluted. The old man waved his hand and said: "Open the door."
After that, the two people in the room each took out a key, and combined it with the two keys of the two guards beside the old man to form two pairs of twin keys. Finally, they inserted the keyhole into a secret hole and twisted it at the same time, creating a secret door. When I opened the door, I could see a staircase going down, with no bottom.
The person guarding the entrance touched the wall at the entrance of the stairs, as if twisting some mechanism, and then beams of dim light came on on both sides of the stairs.
The old man walked down with his hands behind his back, followed by two guards behind him. During this period, there were two corners in the stairs, both of which were screened by formations. The two guards took out their waist cards and activated the secret method to pass. It can be seen that their waist badges are in the style of the military guards, but there is a sword-like feather embossed on the back.
This is... Yuwei's waist card.
The chief officers of Yuwei and Xuanqingwei have the same nature as personal guards. There is even a saying in the Ministry of War that they are "the best among the best". Generally speaking, they will only follow the serving Minister of the Ministry of War.
In this way, the identity of the old man walking in the front was easily revealed. It was Yang Yansi who had been told by the emperor to use the pulse-cutting technique to seal off his cultivation and was turned into an empty shell of the Minister of War and the general of the Zhuguo.
After Yang Yansi entered the tunnel, his senile demeanor began to change. In a few breaths, he changed from a decrepit look to a vigorous one. Even with gray hair, it was difficult to pin the word "old and weak" on Yang Yansi at this time. , he looked completely different from when he was away from home.
After walking down for several tens of feet, we arrived at the door of a long corridor. Inside were stone chambers, each of which was locked with a formation.
Two guards opened one of the stone rooms, and Yang Yansi walked in with his hands behind his back.
The stone chamber is not big, only three feet square inside. There is nothing else, just a person standing in the middle, like a statue, with the slight rise and fall of his chest and abdomen indicating that this person is alive. This man was well-dressed, including all the accessories on his body. He had a jade pendant on his waist, and a small and exquisite golden sword inlaid with gold on the jade pendant.
However, this man had more than ten golden needles stuck in his head. I don’t know how deep they were, but the only ones exposed were four or five inches long.
The old man... No, it should be Yang Yansi who walked around the man in the middle of the stone room with his hands behind his back, carefully looked at every golden needle on the man's head, and then put his hand against the man's vest. It seems that he is using his true energy to enter the opponent's body to explore the situation. It took a while before he stopped.
"This man's body is a little weak. Give him some pills to satisfy his hunger. And the medicine to soothe the nerves must be carefully proportioned to make sure nothing goes wrong." Although he was very relieved about his two guards, Yang Yansi still couldn't help it. Repeatedly warned.
Then, after confirming that the person was fine for the time being, Yang Yansi came out of the underground secret room and went to the kitchen. He would personally cook a few dishes for the banquet today.
As the sun sets and night falls, Yang Yansi's dishes have been prepared long ago and are being heated in a thermos. There are two jars of chilled wine on the side. The banquet is also simple. It is set in the pavilion next to the vegetable garden in the backyard. It has three meat and three vegetables.
"You came?"
Suddenly, Yang Yansi looked outside the pavilion with a smile. A tall and thin figure arrived in the backyard at some point, less than ten feet away from the pavilion.
