In the side room, a huge food box was opened, and various exquisite dishes were served on the table.
A clear charcoal pot was placed in the middle, but instead of eating mutton, you were eating fish.
"Try this. It's a special gift. It was originally for my father, but I cut off all the good stuff."
Xu Fan pointed to the sliced sashimi on the plate. Each fish fillet was just the right size and thickness.
But Li Bo looked at it carefully and thought to himself: "Isn't this just grass carp? Boiled grass carp in plain water? This uncle has never eaten any good pork??"
In fact, Xu Tong didn't understand that the smell of grass carp was so strong that it couldn't be suppressed without adding some spices, let alone when it was boiled in water.
But seeing the enthusiastic look on Xu Fan's face, Xu Tong couldn't refuse. He tried to pick up a piece and put it in his mouth, and his expression suddenly became weird.
Not only does this fish have no fishy smell, it tastes exceptionally fresh and sweet, and most importantly, it tastes crunchy and crispy. Xu Tong even doubted whether he was eating fish.
This was indeed the first time he had eaten such a delicious fish, so he immediately signaled to Li Bo, a fool, not to be stunned and to eat quickly.
Li Bo didn't believe it at first, but after taking a bite, he realized that the taste was so delicious, with a smooth, tender and crunchy texture that completely subverted his understanding of fish.
Seeing everyone eating from ear to ear, Xu Fancai explained with a smile: "This fish is specially raised. It is fed broad beans from the beginning to grow up. A fish is fed from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, and its taste becomes crispy, tender and elastic."
Teeth, paired with this special sauce, it’s a unique fish!”
This fish has been fed for a year and its food is more expensive than that of humans. The taste naturally has a unique flavor.
Everyone was eating and drinking, and before they knew it, it was the third watch.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
At this time, the bells of Lingyin Temple could be heard outside the window, and the bells rippled throughout Lin'an Mansion. Looking around, the lights of every house were not extinguished, just like daylight.
The theory of keeping the year old has been around since the Jin Dynasty. The custom of keeping the year old, also known as "staying up late", is the custom of not sleeping on the last night of the old year and staying up late to welcome the arrival of the new year.
A poet wrote a poem about this, "Every family should not be lying down when they stay up late for the New Year's Eve, and they will be dreaming of their lovesickness."
Su Shi also wrote a poem: "After sitting for a long time, the lamp embers are falling, and I get up to watch the Beidou tilt."
On this day all year round, there will be no curfew. Not only will there be no curfew, but people will also be allowed to have carnivals outside, with lantern festivals and singing performances.
Even some rich and powerful people queued up outside the gate of Lingyin Temple early, spending huge sums of money in order to burn the first stick of incense this year.
It sounds very romantic and lively, but in fact... it's not the case. Rich people want bright lights and busy traffic in front of their doors.
But ordinary people were huddled around the campfire, guarding a dead lamp.
As Xu Yunuo wrote: "We were about to stay up all night. We were cold and hungry, and were about to prepare some hot water to drink. Suddenly the county governor came again and immediately forced us to go to the city..."
"squeak……"
A firework flew into the sky over the imperial city, followed by a boom, and the whole sky exploded with a loud bang.
Then came the crackling sound of firecrackers and countless deafening fireworks.
Xu Tong didn't see Tiannu around, so he signaled to Xu Fan and Li Bo to eat and drink first, then he got up and walked outside the yard. When he looked up, he saw Tiannu sitting on the roof alone.
"Don't stay on the roof, come down quickly!"
Seeing this, Xu Tong jumped up to the roof, stretched out his hand to take the little girl in his hand: "Let's go down, let's go eat something delicious."
The goddess shook her head and waved the candied haws in her hand: "I don't like eating those things. I haven't seen these fireworks for a long time. It's better to sit here and watch the fireworks, and..."
Having said this, the goddess looked towards the north of the city and said, "There are people fighting over there. I saw it was very lively."
"fight??"
Xu Tong was startled, what was he doing during the Chinese New Year? Maybe it was just a few drunkards who were drunk and acting crazy.
But then I thought about it, and it seems that the goddess's aesthetic sense is not that bad. He looked in the direction pointed by the goddess, and when he opened his eyes, Xu Tong's expression suddenly became serious.
That was not a fight, but a chase!
"Five enlightened masters, hunt down one more person!"
Xu Tong frowned. This New Year's Eve person didn't want to stop. After thinking for a moment, he finally couldn't suppress the curiosity in his heart. After signaling the goddess to wait for him here, he put on a night clothes and followed her up quietly.
"Shuashuashua..."
A figure galloped forward, running a thousand meters away in the jungle in an instant. Its movement method not only implied the method of shrinking the earth into an inch, but also implied the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. As it moved left and right, the figure was erratic and charming, The shadow passed without a trace, not even a single footprint was left on the snow, making it elusive.
But behind this man were five other people, following behind him in a leisurely manner, not in a hurry to take action, but unwilling to let this man go.
In just one stick of incense time, the group of people had already rushed out of Lin'an Mansion and arrived in a deserted wilderness.
At this time, the figure running in front suddenly stopped, turned around abruptly, and glared at the five people behind him: "Guys, you have to be merciful and merciful. It is convenient for others, so why bother forcing each other so hard."
The five people stopped and revealed themselves in the darkness, only to see each of them hiding with their faces covered and holding short knives.
Facing these words, they remained silent, just looked at each other and then drew their swords in unison.
The five people took action quickly, thirty steps, twenty steps, ten steps! In the blink of an eye, there was a sharp sword aura, a cold breath, and an overwhelming murderous aura.
It was like a piece of silver light like an electric python, mixed with the rolling air current like a tornado, and the murderous knife intent pressed down by the mountain. It came so fast that there was no way to dodge it.
"What a domineering swordsmanship!"
At this moment, Xu Tong had come to the distance quietly and silently. Seeing how domineering the five people were when they took action, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised in his heart.
Seeing that the five people were leaving no room, the middle-aged man was furious and pulled out the soft sword from his waist. Facing the five top masters, instead of retreating, he actively stepped forward to meet them. The sword in his hand waved and a phantom appeared. The sword energy met the sword light.
"Bang bang bang..."
In an instant, the sound of swords clashing was loud, and the six people fought hundreds of swords in an instant.
I saw that the middle-aged man was fighting one against five, but he was not losing at all. The afterimage of the sword light in his hand created long and large sword curtains, and the sword energy burst out, blocking all the sword lights that came in front of him. However, the five of them became more and more courageous as they fought, and the swords in their hands became more and more fierce! The middle-aged man's long sword was already showing an irresistible tendency.
"The victory has been decided!"
When Xu Tong saw this, he immediately shook his head and regretted that although the middle-aged man's swordsmanship was sharp and unique, if one fought against three, he would have a 70% chance of winning.
But with one against five, there is no way to recover.
Xu Tong estimated that this person would definitely die without taking a cup of tea at most.
The middle-aged man seemed to be aware of his situation. He roared fiercely and endured three heavy blows from the sword. He turned the sword in his hand, and the sword shadow suddenly resembled a running wolf and a violent bear. He struck hard in front of him with a fierce blow.
On one person's blade.
"Boom!"
There was a huge explosion, and the huge force suppressed it, directly cutting a huge gap in the short sword in the opponent's hand.
As soon as the sword force was broken, the sword force was turned again. Taking advantage of the opponent's unstable footing, he cut off the wrist holding the knife with a plop.
Then with a flick of the finger, a cold light appeared, and three talismans appeared, turning into thousands of golden rains, and suddenly beat this man into a hornet's nest.
His body fell heavily to the ground, and he was no longer breathing.
But at this moment, the middle-aged man suddenly saw a dark red jade medal in the arms of the corpse. His face suddenly changed and he was so shocked that he was speechless; "Secret Guard Thirteen Eagles, you are the Emperor's."
people!"
The middle-aged man's face flickered for a while, and that sentence suddenly came to mind.
"My dear, the nature of Si Tianjian is special. I cannot directly reward you with an official position, but you can rest assured that I will not treat you Shen family badly."
This sentence warmed my heart when I first heard it, but thinking about it now is like drinking ice.
Upon thinking of this, a sad smile appeared on the middle-aged man's face, and he forced the four people in front of him back with a sword, letting out a burst of hoarse laughter.
"Hahahaha..." The laughter was full of desolation and helplessness.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, if you want me to die, I have no choice but to die. Shen Kuo would like to thank you for your kindness and wish you a long and prosperous life!"
After speaking, he looked coldly at the four people beside him: "Since it is the emperor's favor, when will it be your turn to show your teeth and show your claws!"
After saying that, Shen Kuo swung the long sword in his hand horizontally, the sword blade lightly scratched, and a wisp of hot blood poured down along the blade.
When the four of them saw this, they looked at each other, put away their daggers, walked to the corpse, confirmed that Shen Kuo was dead, bowed to the corpse, and threw a bottle on the corpse.
The bottle suddenly cracked and a burst of fire engulfed the body quickly.
Then the four people carried the body of their companion and quickly retreated.
After a while, there was only a burning corpse left in the field. Under the swaying light of the fire, a figure walked quietly. He stretched out his hand and saw the void around him change. A crack ripped open out of thin air, revealing something like the underworld.
A hellish world.
Immediately afterwards, a pair of hands reached out, grabbed the corpse, grabbed a group of ghosts, and dragged it into it.
"Treat each other well, don't neglect us."
Xu Tong said something to the ghost behind the crack, and it disappeared between reality and reality. This person was obviously an important official, but the emperor wanted to kill him to silence him, fearing that he knew something terrible.
I put away his soul for the time being, and then called him back to find out what happened after the storm calmed down.
Thinking of this, Xu Tong didn't dare to stay here any longer for fear of being noticed by others. He just saw his figure flicker and then disappear quietly into the wilderness.
In less than a stick of incense, the person had already returned to the mansion, sent the goddess back to her room to rest, and then continued drinking with Xu Fan and others. The whole process was unnoticed and no one knew.
It wasn't until early the next morning, when Xu Tong and others woke up from their beds, that they heard the report from the servants of the mansion, saying that there was a flood in the Imperial City last night and that all the officials of Si Tianjian were killed...