Inside Chang'an City.
The lanterns are on.
In the southwest corner of the city, there is an inconspicuous alley.
The alley is called Ronghua Lane. It has a high wall in the south. It never sees sunlight all year round. It is narrow and dark. It is a famous beggar's alley in the south of the city.
At this time, night was beginning to fall, and the alley became darker. A harsh "squeak" sound broke the tranquility in the alley. The door of an old courtyard at the end of the alley was gently pushed open, and a young man walked out.
The boy's name is Ning Nian. His parents died young when he was young, and he is an orphan.
He was thin, wearing a thin soap green uniform, with an iron belt hanging on his waist and a short black lacquer stick. He gently closed the wooden door without locking it, and walked straight out of the alley.
The street across from the alley is still bustling.
As soon as Ning Nian walked out of the alley, the candlelight reflected on his face.
His face is very clean, but his skin color is slightly darker due to the constant exposure to wind and sun.
His figure was upright, and he walked in a leisurely and vigorous manner. At this time, he came to the street and looked around, and finally set his sights on Jixiang Street not far away, with a smile on his face.
"Brother Ning, it's night duty."
People passing by on the street greeted the young man warmly.
Ning Nian responded patiently as he walked, without any airs of being an official. Just as he was approaching Jixiang Street, two people suddenly appeared in the alley beside the road.
The two men were burly and fierce-looking. They blocked the young man's path and whispered: "Ning Xiaocha, our Lord Tiger has a request."
Ning Nian's expression was calm. He looked at the speaker seriously and said, "I have to go on patrol in a while, so I don't have time."
Ning Nian's tone was calm and serious, not domineering.
One of them obviously didn't take the young man seriously, and without any explanation, he directly grabbed the young man's chest.
Ning Nian has quick eyesight and quick hands, and while turning sideways, the last attack comes first.
The eyes of the two burly men were dazzled, and they could not see the boy's movements clearly.
Ning Nian had already caught the wrist of the person who made the move, and with a little more force, the person immediately felt pain and his body tilted involuntarily.
The person who spoke didn't dare to make a move. He stared at Ning Nian and threatened in a low voice: "Ning Xiaocha, you are all hanging out on the streets. You can't look up when you look down. I advise you to be obedient. Don't toast or refuse to eat. You will be punished." liquor!"
The young man frowned slightly, not because he was afraid of the other party.
He looked at the man seriously and said in a solemn tone: "I don't have time, and according to the laws of Dazhou, I can put you in prison now."
The person who spoke was stunned, stared at the young man fiercely and said, "Boy Ning, I know you have some abilities, and I know you can do it, but don't forget who you are provoking. Although we usually don't mess with each other, But today I advise you to come with us."
Ning Nian's face was calm and there was nothing strange about it.
The person who spoke thought the young man had compromised.
Who would have thought that the next moment the young man would throw his hands away and throw the captured man more than ten feet away, and then he would fall hard to the ground.
The strength of his arms shocked the two people blocking the road.
Ning Nian threw the man away, put his hand on the short stick at his waist, and stared at the man who spoke.
The man was so shocked by the young man's gaze that he took a step back, uttered a harsh word, and hurriedly helped his companions up and left the place.
Ning Nian looked at the two people's backs thoughtfully, until they completely disappeared from sight, he turned around and walked towards Jixiang Street.
On the street, the two people blocking the road did not dare to look back.
The man who was thrown down gritted his teeth and said, "This kid is as thin as a flagpole. I didn't expect him to be so strong."
The companion looked embarrassed and said fiercely: "This kid doesn't know how to praise him. He doesn't want to come. It's hard for us to have business with Mr. Hu. We can't delay this matter. We have to go back to Mr. Hu to come up with an idea."
The man who was thrown suffered a loss, and he yelled, "If he hadn't been wearing that green leather, I would have killed him with a knife."
His companions just thought he was joking and ignored him.
Seeing that his companion was silent, the person who was thrown down thought that the other party was looking down on him, and said with a pale face, "What? Don't you believe it?"
The companion looked at the person who was thrown, thought for a while and said: "We Dazhoulu, the patrol officer, patrol officer and other errands in Jingzhao Mansion, are succeeded by sons after the death of their father. The boy was only fourteen years old when he went to Jingzhao Mansion last year. He was transferred to Jixiang Street and within half a month he had a conflict with his brothers in the gang. Guess what happened next?"
The person who was thrown down had been in the gang for a short time and had never known these old things, so he asked out of curiosity: "What's going on?"
The companion looked at the person who was thrown, sneered, and said: "Ning Xiaocha only used a cup of tea and a short stick to almost beat the four brothers to death, and finally tied him up and killed him. Great prison.”
The person who was thrown was dumbfounded and said suspiciously: "These four brothers are too weak."
The companion sneered: "You were thrown out by him just the same."
The person who was thrown was blushing and speechless. After thinking for a while, he had to change his words and said: "What happened to the four brothers in the end?"
The companion sighed and said: "What else can I do? This guy is a donkey and has a very fierce temper. In the end, I had no choice but to rely on Mr. Hu's connections to find Jingzhao Mansion and take care of him, and then he was arrested. come out."
When the person who was thrown down heard this, a cold sweat broke out on his spine. The two of them shut up at the same time, stopped talking, and disappeared into the crowd without knowing it.
Jixiang Street.
Ning Nian's steps were slow, and his belt tag fell with his steps. Occasionally, it collided with the tip of the stick, making a pleasant thumping sound.
He walked among the crowd for a long time, and finally stopped in front of a door. This was the Yamen Post House of Jingzhao Mansion on Jixiang Street.
Since Chang'an City occupies a vast area, the Jingzhao Mansion, which is in charge of custody, adjudication, street patrols and other errands in the city, has set up many such small inns out of convenience.
Even though this posthouse is not big, its jurisdiction is very large. Within a radius of five miles, eight streets and nine roads fall under its jurisdiction.
In the post house, there are normally five guards stationed there, with different positions, so naturally there are high and low levels.
On weekdays, the officers stationed here no longer need to go to Jingzhao Mansion to report. The post office has its own team leader to record the duty performance of each officer. At the end of the month, the register will be returned to the government for review and then issued. Rate bills, after the officers receive the bills, they can go to the Account Department to collect their wages.
In this way, Jingzhao Mansion saves a lot of unnecessary complicated and trivial matters.
at the moment.
The small post house in front of Ning Nian is a bit different from other posts.
There are only two government officials stationed in the post house all year round. One is Ning Nian, who has been in office for less than two years, and the other is an old chap in his fifties or sixties.
The age difference between the two is more than forty years.
The old man and the young man help each other on weekdays and are very harmonious. In addition, Ning Nian is young and likes to work night shifts, so there is an unwritten rule between the two: unless there is any accident, the old chap will usually work during the day. Ning Nian was assigned to patrol the streets at night.
At this moment, the old chap has not yet left his errand, but he has not patrolled the streets either. He is hiding in the post house, nestled in a recliner, and covered with an old quilt.
Ning Nian pushed open the door and entered.
The old chap quickly tightened the quilt and said hoarsely: "Close the door quickly. This damn weather is going to freeze my legs, old man."
Ning Nian smiled and said, "Whatever Master Wu said, you can live for at least another thirty or forty years."
The old man was amused. He looked at Ning Nian with cloudy eyes and laughed at himself: "You kid just said some nice words to fool me. How can I know about my own body and bones? I don't care whether I can survive this winter." "
Ning Nian Zequan took it as a joke and didn't take it seriously. He walked up to Lao Chao and fiddled with the brazier on the ground.
"call!"
The red coal turned over in the brazier, exploding a few sparks. When the green smoke dissipated, a tongue of flame suddenly shot out of the brazier. It twisted a few times and was pulled back into the brazier. The firelight reflected on Ning Nian's face. No sadness or joy can be seen.
The old man looked at Ning Nian, stretched out a withered old hand from under the quilt, held a few copper coins in his hand and said, "Old rule, one or two noodles, two ounces of wine."
Ning Nian readily took the coin and turned to leave.
After about half a stick of incense, Ning Nian walked back quickly with wine and noodles in hand.
He carefully closed the door, then respectfully placed the wine and noodles on the wooden stool on the side of the lounge chair, and said with concern: "Eat it while it's hot. It's too cold. It won't be comfortable to eat after it cools down."
After saying that, Ning Nian turned around and left.
The old man looked at Ning Nian's back and suddenly stopped him: "Boy Ning."
Ning Nian turned around with a confused look on his face.
The old man stared at him for a long time and then said: "Go to the house where I live in the backyard. There is a waist knife hanging on the bedside. Get it."
Ning Nian was puzzled, but he still followed the instructions and took the waist knife after a while.
The old man half sat up, took the sword from his waist, stroked the simple sheath, and suddenly asked: "Can you use the sword?"
Ning Nian was startled, then nodded and replied: "Before I took the mission, I went out of the city to cut firewood in the mountains every day. It should be about the same."
Ning Nian said it seriously, but still made Lao Chatou amused.
The old chatou chuckled and said, "Earlier, Thunder Tiger sent someone to look for me."
Ning Nian had no expression on her face and listened very carefully.
The old man handed the waist knife to Ning Nian's hand and said with a sigh of relief: "At my age, I won't be afraid of him. You should bring this knife with you, just in case."
In the Jingzhao Mansion, only officers with patrol duties and above are eligible to be issued weapons. It seems that Ning Nian, a junior yamen officer at this level, is not qualified enough. The manor only gave him a short stick. The most important thing is the piece that symbolizes status. Iron belt.
Lao Chatou is also not qualified to be issued with weapons. The reason why he has this sword is that he secretly saved money when he was young and found someone to make one privately, but he has never dared to take it out in the post house in these years.
Earlier today, before Ning Nian came, people from the Black Tiger Gang suddenly came to the post house. Although they didn't say anything, based on Lao Chatou's understanding of Lei Hu, something was definitely going to happen tonight. As for what would happen Lao Chatou didn't know anything about it.
He was sitting in the recliner, thinking hard, and it wasn't until Ning Nian arrived that he suddenly realized.
Because no matter what the Black Tiger Gang does tonight, Ning Nian, the night watchman, will definitely run into him. According to Ning Nian's temperament, he will not just watch the Black Tiger Gang do evil.
By then, Ning Nian will inevitably not disturb the dirty things of the Black Tiger Gang.
After Lao Chatou figured out the reason, he felt very worried.
Although he is not related to Ning Nian, the old man and the young man are all miserable people.
The two of them usually help each other, and Ning Nian has a gentle and simple personality.
As time went by, Lao Chatou became more and more satisfied and fond of Ning Nian, and sometimes he even considered accepting Ning Nian as his grandson.
But looking back and thinking about it, this kind of thing is the problem with shaving my head after all - it's hot.
It's up to two people whether they are willing or not.
For more than a year, Lao Chaotou had been taken care of by Ning Nian, and he himself was poor and couldn't afford anything, so he finally gave up these thoughts.
Under the firelight, Ning Nian remained silent.
The old police officer thought for a moment. He knew the young man's temperament, but he still said: "I have nothing to do during the day, so I have a day off. You usually like to rush for the night duty, why don't I patrol the streets tonight?"
Ning Nian looked at the waist knife in his hand, leaned it next to the recliner, and said with a smile: "Master Wu, I accept your kindness, but you are old and have many inconveniences in your legs and feet. Besides, according to the rotation, I should be on night patrol today, so I How could I take advantage of you?"
The old man looked at Ning Nian and opened his mouth but had nothing to say. His cloudy eyes finally couldn't help showing a trace of worry.
He knew that Ning Nian could not be persuaded, so he sighed and said no more.
Ning Nian comforted the old chap, turned around and left the post house without hesitation, and closed the door without leaving in a hurry.
Thunder Tiger came to them again and again, and even Chi'er should have noticed something unusual.
Ning Nian is not stupid, on the contrary, he is very smart, but sometimes he prefers to do things according to his own wishes, so to outsiders he seems a bit out of place, even a bit stupid.
At this moment, he silently stared at the door in front of him, his heart calm.
This door separates us.
If you enter, you will be safe and sound.
If it goes out, the future will be dangerous.
Now that the young man has chosen to go out, he is not afraid of the unknown!
