It’s already Chen time in the Dong family’s old shop.
On the Guanjia Avenue in the distance, a large group of people came.
The wind is blowing dust, and people are shouting horses neighing.
Looking closely, I found that this group of people was clearly divided into two teams. One team was made up of yamen detectives wearing black uniforms, each with a sword across his waist and crotch, showing off his power; the other team was even more powerful, they were all solemn soldiers wearing armor and holding halberds.
The blade of the held-up iron halberd was still stained with dried blood.
There are two people riding tall horses in the middle. The one on the left is a middle-aged man about forty years old, wearing a green official robe with a fish bag hanging on his waist. On the right is a young general with tied hair and armor and a red robe. There are bows, arrows and halberds hung on both sides of the saddle.
"County Magistrate Li, the Dong family's old store should be ahead, right?"
The young general was more impatient. He kept looking at the sun in the sky, calculating the current time in his mind, and then asked the county magistrate on the side.
"Commander He, don't be impatient, the Dong family's old store is right ahead. Didn't the Lord Lingguan say that we can't come here until Chenshi..."
Magistrate Li was neither arrogant nor impatient. He twirled his beard and looked like an old god.
The Master Lingguan in his mouth was referring to Xia Zhichan. Last night, these people, according to Xia Zhichan's instructions, wiped out all the bandits hiding in the mountains.
"Oh, I'm afraid that if it's too late, the thief will run away."
Commander He held the horse's rein tightly in his hand, and held the sword at his waist with his left hand. The scabbard struck the side skirt armor, making a clanging sound.
"No way, brother..."
Magistrate Li is older. Unlike generals like Commander He who are only in the military camp, he is very familiar with various things in Da Qi's court.
When Xia Zhichan came to his county house, as soon as he took out the gold seal representing the spiritual official, County Magistrate Li knew that the other party's origin was not simple. He only knew a little about the Five Colored Spiritual Officers, but he understood that the other party was definitely not an ordinary person like them who could not conquer demons.
"Brother, the Five Colored Spirit Officers are not just an official position. They are immortal cultivators who can fly to the sky, escape from the earth, and subjugate demons. They are not comparable to you and me as mortals..."
"Tsk - I don't believe it. The peaceful and prosperous age of Da Qi depends on us soldiers who are not afraid of death. I don't know where the charlatan magicians come from. They can only do tricks to deceive people..."
Commander He curled his lips in disdain. He never believed in monsters, let alone those charlatans who claimed to subjugate demons.
"Oh, Brother He... you said it's okay in front of me, but please don't say it in front of Master Lingguan..."
Magistrate Li waved his hand like a rattle, and he tried to persuade him earnestly, but seeing Commander He's nonchalant look, he could only sigh and stop talking.
"Okay, Magistrate Li, we have arrived at the Dong family's old store."
Commander He said, urging his horse to go ahead.
The government officials and soldiers in front had already surrounded the entire Dong family's old store.
"Report to the general, we found several stiff corpses at the door that had been dead for a long time..."
Commander He reined in the horse, waved his whip towards the Dong family's old store, and shouted in a deep voice:
"Go in and search for me, you won't let me go even if it's a mouse!"
When the soldiers heard this, except for the soldiers stationed on the outside who could not move, the remaining soldiers rushed in with sharp blades in hand.
Not long after, they all ran out, their faces pale, and some of them started to bend over and retching. Only a relatively calm veteran walked up to Commander He's horse, cupped his fists and saluted:
"Reporting to the general, the lobby of the inn is full of corpses that died tragically. There are probably more than thirty or forty of them."
"oh?"
At this time, Magistrate Li Shanshan arrived late. He looked at the group of shabby and pale-looking soldiers at the entrance of the Dong family's old store. He felt a little funny in his heart, but it didn't show on the surface:
"How's it going?"
"There are dead people outside the house, no less than forty corpses."
As soon as these words came out, County Magistrate Li felt that his vision went dark and he almost fell off his horse. Generally, as long as there is a murder case within the jurisdiction of the county magistrate, it will affect the superior's evaluation of himself.
An extremely horrific large-scale massacre like this was enough for the superior to dismiss him from office.
"Is there anyone alive? Have you searched the inn?"
Magistrate Li calmed down. After all, he had been a magistrate for many years and was much more familiar with many things than a general who only knew how to command troops.
"We haven't searched everything yet. There are dead bodies in the inn lobby and we can't get in..."
said a yamen servant next to him.
"Don't you all have legs? You can't go in through the back door. If that doesn't work, you can climb over the wall..."
The government officials were scolded by Magistrate Li, and then they hurriedly looked for the back door of the inn.
After a while, the government officials broke open the back door of the inn.
The group of people rushed in, and even the soldiers followed.
"Ghost! There is a ghost! You are all ghosts..."
Following several screams, a man was dragged by two government officials to the front of Magistrate Li and Commander He.
The man was in tears, his eyes empty and lifeless. Every time he saw someone, he screamed at the top of his lungs, and at the same time, he opened his teeth and claws and clawed at the air. There were stains of water seeping from the hem of his pants and clothes, and there was a stench at the same time.
"Isn't this a lunatic?"
Magistrate Li pinched his nose and then waved to the Yamen servant. The government officials dragged the man to a farther place with understanding.
"Come here, bring over two captured bandits and let them have a look to see if they recognize this person."
Immediately, the soldiers escorted the two bandits, and they recognized them at a glance. The man who seemed to be crazy was their second in command and military advisor, and he was also the shopkeeper of the Dong family's old shop.
"Then look at the body at the door. Do you recognize it?"
"do not know."
"What about the bodies in the house?"
"They seem to be brothers who were selected by the boss yesterday to go down the mountain to do 'business'..."
At this point, Magistrate Li and Commander He looked at each other. The suspenseful heart was immediately relieved, because if all the people who died in the house were bandits, this might be a good thing.
"Okay, take all the bodies back and arrange for autopsies..."
Magistrate Li turned his horse's head and was about to leave, but Commander He on the side blocked the long knife in front of him.
"You took away all the corpses, so my brothers and I were all working in vain."
"Oh, Brother He, why are you so anxious? I'll take the body back first, and after the inspection is complete, it's okay. You and I will jointly submit a letter and say that all the bandits will be killed."
Magistrate Li smiled and pushed away the scabbard in front of him, then pointed at himself and Commander He, and continued:
"Isn't it only you and me who deserve the credit..."
"Hahaha, I see, that's because He was reckless. I offended you so much, please don't take offense."
"Brother Xian, don't be polite. Let's go. Brother Yu, I'll treat you to a drink."
"Thank you, Brother Li!"
…
The group of people hurried on their way to noon. Xia Zhichan and the other two were surprised to find that they did not encounter a village. Instead, they became more and more desolate as they walked.
"hungry……"
Nan Er walked behind, holding the knife in his arms. He stared at Xia Zhichan's back not far ahead with resentment in his eyes.
"We'll eat when we get to Zhendian."
Xia Zhichan suddenly stopped while walking. He looked around and found that he might have wandered into the mountains by mistake.
"Before I find Zhendian, I will starve to death..."
Nan Er also looked around. He wished he could go downhill and turn a corner to see a town, preferably with fragrant wine and delicious food.
Gulu——
As I thought to myself, I became increasingly hungry.
Um?
His eyes suddenly caught sight of a fruit forest planted under the hillside not far away. The small red and green fruits were hanging on the branches, swaying left and right with the autumn wind in the forest.
So tempting.
Nan Er wiped his saliva, stamped his feet on the ground, and flew into the fruit forest.
Grasping the trunk of the fruit tree with both hands, he climbed to the branches full of fruits in a few clicks, hung the baggage behind his back on a branch above his head, and then directly picked up the ripe red fruits. Take it off and stuff it into your baggage.
It wasn't until I felt that there were a lot of fruits stuffed into the baggage that I took off the baggage and carried it back behind me. I weighed it gently to make sure that the fruits in the baggage wouldn't fall out, and then I flew to the ground.
"Why did you go?"
Xia Zhichan watched Nan Er emerge from the woods beside the road, carrying a lot of burden. Seeing his happy look, he frowned and asked.
"I went to pick some fruits to satisfy my hunger. Come on, come on, you can have a taste."
Nan Er grabbed a large handful from the bag, and those small red and green fruits appeared in front of Xia Zhichan.
The fruit looks like an apple, but is only the size of an egg.
Xia Zhichan stared at Nan Er's fruit, looking dazed for a while. When he was a child, he went to Cuilong Mountain and studied in the backyard for ten years.
In the mountains, his senior brother Chun Bu Mian often went to cut firewood. When he came back, he would often bring his brothers some wild fruits growing in the mountains.
Some are sweet and sour, some are bitter, but every time I, my second and third senior brothers compete to eat them.
It has been many years since I have eaten the wild fruits on Quelong Mountain, and there are no more senior brothers in the farmyard on the top of the mountain.
I didn’t know why for a while, but I felt extremely emotional.
"Hello? Do you want to eat or not? What are you doing in a daze..."
Nan Er chewed the fruit in his mouth and looked at Xia Zhichan with confusion.
"fine."
Xia Zhichan took a handful of fruits and threw one into his mouth without even looking at it.
The wild fruits in the mountains are already overripe, and the taste is soft with a bit of sourness and sweetness. Of course, there is still some bitterness in the mouth.
"Let's go, there is Zhendian not far ahead."
"How did you know?"
"Just a guess."
"Xia Zhichan, you..."
…
Three days later, Xia Zhichan and his wife finally found a larger town.
But as soon as I entered Zhendian, I saw a group of people gathered in front of a notice board not far away, chatting nonstop.
"Look, look, the Zhao family has posted another notice."
"Yeah, I don't know how much I'll give you this time. Last time, it was 10,000 yuan..."
"Oh my god, ten thousand dollars, that's what our brothers will never earn in our lifetime."
"You're wrong. Even if you add the next life, you won't be able to earn it."
Several people were talking to each other, and then they heard a crisp sound of a gong. Immediately afterwards a voice shouted loudly:
"Dear fellow villagers, our boss Zhao is willing to pay 30,000 yuan this time! Just to find someone who can conquer demons..."
Hearing this, Nan Er stopped first. He turned his head and glanced at Xia Zhichan next to him.
Fang Li ignored him and planned to walk directly into Zhendian.
Nan Er turned his eyes, squeezed directly into the crowd, and then took off the notice that had just been posted without looking at it.
"Alas! You..."
Nan Er has already come out again. He is running ahead, and the person who just put up the notice is chasing after him.
"Xia Zhichan!"
Nan Er shouted loudly and stuffed the notice he just grabbed into Xia Zhichan's arms.
When the latter opened the notice with a puzzled look on his face, he frowned when he saw the words "A lot of money begging for the ability to catch monsters and ghosts" on the notice, but he didn't have time to say anything.
I saw a bunch of people running behind me, they looked like servants from a wealthy family.
Nan Er stretched out his hand and pointed:
"He can catch ghosts!"
Xia Zhichan: "..."
Servants: "..."
