The night is getting darker and the moon is like a bow, and the old streets of Dongshi are slowly becoming lively. On the ancient bluestone street, people come and go, and various lanterns are hung on the street to celebrate the afterglow of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The wine is fragrant, the delicious food is appetizing, and the nightlife in Meishan is flourishing here.
Ye Wumian and Luo Xiangzhu checked into an inn called "Zhemei". This was also the only inn on the old street of Dongshi, and was mostly used by foot traders and people from all walks of life.
As for the caravans, they are usually locals who have houses to return to and will not live here. Occasionally they will be generous with a few copper coins and come here to have a drink and take advantage of the lively atmosphere.
It was the seventh day after the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it was the peak hotel season. A medium-sized guest room cost as much as 80 cash per night, including meals, tea, horse care fees, and horse feeding fees.
To save money, the two only live in one room. After ordering the food, it cost nearly 500 yuan.
This little money is only enough to set up a greasy black wooden square table in the corner of the dining hall on the first floor of the inn, with a plate of peanuts, a pot of rice wine, a bowl of fried lamb with green onions, and a pot of fennel and pork belly soup. , a plate of stir-fried vegetables.
It's not a rich meal, but it's still some decent food.
Ye Wumian served Luo Xiangzhu a bowl of rice. The two of them looked at each other knowingly and smiled, without any politeness or pre-dinner etiquette, they just started.
After a sip of rice wine, the taste was sweet and a little spicy, and the fatigue disappeared. Ye Wumian let out a long sigh of relief, pretended not to care, and looked around the surrounding environment.
The dining hall was full of guests, all dressed up. There were men from caravans, students rushing for exams, ferocious people in the world, and some drunkards with rosacea, totaling more than sixty or seventy people.
Everyone gathered together in unison, taking their seats, changing cups and cups, and the atmosphere was lively and noisy.
The environment was so noisy that Luo Xiangzhu, who was sitting across the table, couldn't hear him clearly if he spoke softly. The two simply stopped talking and concentrated on eating.
After eating to the fullest, I heard that the voices in the inn gradually became quieter. Only the guests at the middle table were still talking loudly. The topic he spoke seemed to be very attractive, and the others stopped talking and just listened to him. Say, occasionally bring some wine and food into your mouth.
Ye and Luo were naturally talked about by the guests here, and they paid enough attention to the past.
After listening for a while, Luo Xiangzhu's face turned pale, and Ye Wumian's face was as heavy as water. The hand holding the wine bottle was trembling slightly.
It turned out that among the guests at that table, there was a man wearing a lake crepe short shirt, and he was talking non-stop. The topic involved was the death of Luo Fanxi.
According to him, there must be a hidden reason why the famous Luo Fan River died in a hurry. I can't say much about the secret behind this, but I had a great time drinking at Zhemei Inn today, so I can reveal a little about it.
After pretending to be mysterious for a while, the man said through his drunkenness that Luo Fanxi was killed by the imperial court.
"Liu Chengkong, you said he was killed by the imperial court? Why did the imperial court kill him?" An old drunkard with a gray beard next to him asked while sipping his wine, expressing the doubts in everyone's mind.
"This... haha, Liu doesn't know the extra details. But after thinking about it, it is indeed reasonable to say that he was killed by the imperial court. You see, it has been so long since he died, Anhua The county government didn't file a case; other people rushed in to divide his family's property, but the government didn't care. If an ordinary family suffered such a disaster, no matter what the government did, they would comfort and provide relief to the family, right?
But this time, the Anhua County government turned a blind eye and even dismissed the caravans related to the Luo family. It seemed that there was a taboo in it. Therefore, when I heard the rumor that Luo Fanxi died at the hands of the imperial court, I firmly believed it. "
Liu Chengkong spoke eloquently.
He seemed drunk, but his thoughts were extremely clear. He spoke with almost no pauses or stutters. The logic inside and outside of his words pointed the finger at the court, and his words were somewhat reasonable and convincing.
It is a serious matter involving the imperial court. Fortunately, the sky is high here and the emperor is far away, so the mountain people usually have no scruples about talking. After a short silence, everyone started talking.
Some scolded the court, some were neutral, and some stood on the court's side and criticized Luo Fanxi.
Ye Wumian ignored others for the moment and turned to look at Luo Xiangzhu, only to see big tears falling from her eyes with a "pop" and falling on the table, like jade broken into pieces.
Over the past few days, Ye Wumian knew that she was as eager as fire to avenge her father. If that enemy stood in front of her at this moment, she would probably break her front teeth and bite off a few pieces of his flesh.
It's easy to hate one person, but it doesn't matter if you hate ten people. To hate a hundred people, you probably only need to make some calculations before you can make up your mind to take action. But what if the enemy is the imperial court? At that time, more than a thousand or ten thousand people were hated?
After all, the courage that Master Meng said, "Although there are thousands of people, I will go" is rare.
Luo Xiangzhu was just the daughter of Cai Zhiji. When she heard that her enemy was actually the imperial court, she thought that it would be difficult to avenge her in this life. It was normal to feel such fear and sadness.
Ye Wumian felt a little panic when he saw her crying silently. He quickly put down the wine bottle and went to wipe the tears from her eyes, but she grabbed her hand and hung it in front of him. He didn't move, he just cried stupidly.
Ye Wumian felt the strength of this soft little hand. Even though he had the inner strength to get close to him, he was still a little painful from being caught at this moment. Without saying a word, he let me hold her, looking at her bloodless face with distress, not knowing what to say.
If she were crying like this on other occasions, others would have noticed her.
Fortunately, the table the two of them were sitting at was in the corner. The lights in the inn are already weak, but when they shine here, it becomes even darker.
Coupled with the chaos around her and the dozens of diners present, no one noticed anything unusual about her.
At this time, a loud noise was suddenly heard, and a chair fell from the air and was smashed to pieces.
The diners in the dining hall were all frightened, and the noisy discussions stopped abruptly, and they all looked towards the fallen chair.
Ye Wumian's hand returned to the bamboo sword on his waist to be on guard. I saw a person suddenly appear from nowhere, as if he was shocked, and quickly passed by various seats, until he reached Liu Chengkong's place.
When the man stopped, his hand was already around Liu Chengkong's throat, and it was only during the sleepless night that he could see his face clearly.
He is a man in his thirties, dressed in black clothes and with a cold and handsome face. Carrying an unsheathed black iron broad blade on his back, the bright blade shone with a cold light, piercing the eyes.
As soon as this talent appeared on the stage, Ye Wuxian felt a sense of oppression coming against his body, a burning and stinging discomfort that made the hair stand on end, crawling all over his body.
Astonished, he quickly used his kung fu to resist. Fortunately, his internal strength in the Heart Meridian was quite considerable, and he was able to resist the external force intruding into his body after following the temptation.
He quickly looked at Luo Xiangzhu, but saw that her expression was as usual, and he didn't feel anything was wrong, so he felt relieved.
As for the other people in the dining hall, except for a few who could still sit still, most of them were even worse than him. They fell to the ground in a mess, but they didn't dare to even utter a groan. This shows how oppressive the man in black attire is.
Ye Wumian can be regarded as a person with some experience in martial arts. He knows that this so-called sense of oppression is just a person's internal power, which is strong enough to intimidate people's minds.
From this point of view, there is no doubt that the man in black armor is a martial arts master. Even if he does not look at internal strength, he can be the best in the Meishan area in terms of speed.
He was quite afraid, and his heart was beating wildly.
Since he started practicing martial arts at a young age, this man's martial arts skills were as high as he had ever seen in his life. With his current martial arts training, he was definitely no match for him. Fortunately, the target of this man's attack was not himself, but Liu Chengkong.
Although he is also someone who draws his sword to help when the road is rough, it is just that when this is an emergency, he shoulders the important responsibility of protecting the young lady and must not create extraneous matters;
This man in black armor looks both good and evil. He doesn't know whether he is an enemy or a friend. He must not take action rashly. It is better to stay put.
The man in black attire squeezed Liu Chengkong until he was about to die, and then suddenly let go. His cold throat squeezed out a jackdaw-like voice: "You said Luo Fanxi died at the hands of the imperial court, here's the evidence."
He spoke simply and spoke in short sentences, but Liu Chengkong did not dare to neglect him at all.
He lay on the ground and coughed a few words in pain, retched twice, and after a little relief, he quickly knelt down to him and said: "My hero, have mercy on me, my hero, have mercy on me! I just listened to what Sun Yanei said. I'm so quick to talk today." , Meng Lang relayed it for a moment, I hope the hero will spare his life!"
Liu Chengkong experienced a near-death experience. He knew that he was going to encounter a tough situation tonight, so why did he dare to hesitate? He quickly told the source of the news.
The man in black attire showed neither sadness nor joy. He was silent for a moment and then said: "Sun Yanei, which Sun Yanei?"
Liu Chengkong said anxiously: "The youngest son of Mr. Sun, the magistrate of Anhua County, is named Sun Mo."
"What else did he say?"
Liu Chengkong was sober for the most part, rolled his eyes and tried to remember, and suddenly said: "In addition to suspecting that it was the imperial court, he also said that Luo Fanxi died in Jiangxi and Sichuan at the same time." He swallowed his saliva, He paused as if to show off.
The man in black attire raised his brows, and before he could speak, Liu Chengkong was frightened. He didn't dare to show off anymore, and quickly explained: "My hero, please forgive me! What I mean is that a person only has one body, and he either dies in Jiangxi or How could he die in Sichuan and die in two places at the same time?
But this Luo Fanxi is terrible. A group of people who came from Lushan, Jiangxi to report his death said that Luo Fanxi died of illness on a certain peak of Lushan on a certain day in a certain year. A group of people who came from Chengdu, Sichuan to report his death said that he On the same day of the same month of the same year, he passed away suddenly in an inn in Chengdu Prefecture. The two people came together and spoke as if they were at the scene and witnessed his death, making it impossible to tell who was real and who was fake.
Later, County Magistrate Sun became impatient and intercepted these two groups, selected another person, and sent them to Luo Mansion to report the funeral. He did not mention the location to the Luo family, but only mentioned the death of illness, so as not to arouse suspicion. "
After that, Liu Chengkong kowtowed a few more times until his forehead was broken before he stopped and said with a sad face: "My hero, this is all I know. Sun Yanei must know more than me. You can go Ask him to find out."
The man in black attire looked at him coldly, said nothing, and did not embarrass him any more. She lifted her body slightly, put her toes on his head, and flew out diagonally in the air. She threw herself into the light outside the door and disappeared in an instant.
Sleepless night, I looked out the window, and it was hard to find him among the passers-by.
After this commotion, the diners in the inn were no longer in the mood to eat. They looked at each other with a wry smile, shook their heads and left. Liu Chengkong was humiliated in public and went into the guest room on the second floor in disgrace. Only the shopkeeper and the waiter were left, sighing and cleaning up the mess.
Ye Wumian finished the rest of the soup and saw Luo Xiangzhu staring out the window blankly, lost in thought for a while, and called her softly: "Master, are you full? Let's go back to the room?"
Luo Xiangzhu was suddenly startled, his body trembled, and he looked at him. His eyes seemed to be able to speak, and he had a lot to say.
Knowing that this was not the place to talk, he nodded and said, "That's fine, Amian, let's go back to the room first."
