Yu Lie, who was sitting with him, felt that General Shan was in a particularly high mood tonight and raised his glass frequently. The young man refused to drink. He was not angry either. He just poured himself a glass of wine and drank. After a while, he was already a bit drunk. When the servants at the table saw this, they hurriedly looked at Yu Lie, who was sitting next to him, to inquire.
Although Shan Bin also drinks alcohol, he has never been drunk on weekdays. It was very strange today. Yu Lie didn't know what to do and didn't dare to persuade him. However, he was worried that his general would talk nonsense after drinking. After thinking for a while, he signaled to everyone Retreat and stay in this hall to take care of yourself.
"Eh? What are you... running away for? Are you afraid of me, general?" Shan Bin, who was a little drunk, saw people slowly exiting the hall, with a trace of alcohol on his face. Angry, he shouted.
Seeing that his general was drunk, Yu Lie hurriedly stood up and went to help him, but Shan Bin pushed him away and shouted loudly: "Why are you helping me? I'm not drunk."
Seeing that the young man was still present, Yu Lie was worried that his general would lose his etiquette when he lost his temper, so he hurriedly said to the young man: "Brother Mu laughed, my general rarely drinks alcohol on weekdays, he must be too happy to see brother Mu today. , then I drank a few more drinks.”
The young man stood up and said with a smile: "General Yu is too worried. It is an honor for me to meet General Yanbei. The general is a sweet-tempered man. How dare I make fun of you... I think the general is drunk, so why don't I come to visit you tomorrow." "
The banquet hosted by Shan Mansion today was just to introduce the young man. Seeing him getting up and about to go, he hurriedly supported Shan Bin, who was slightly swaying, and at the same time asked the young man to stay: "Brother Mu, you might as well stay here until the general sobers up tomorrow..."
"Thank you General Yu for your kindness, but after all,
This is the General's Mansion. If there is any military news, I might not be right here..." The young man continued to decline.
Yu Lie supported Shan Bin, who was shaking beside him, and was about to continue speaking to persuade him to stay, when he suddenly felt a strong force holding his arm.
His face changed slightly, and he looked sideways, and saw his general's hazy drunken eyes, with a hint of sobriety, looking at him with dignity. Yu Lie immediately understood, and when the conversation turned to the young man, he had no intention of holding back.
"What Brother Mu said is absolutely true. He was too abrupt and didn't think carefully... then..."
Shan Bin's little move just now was thought to be hidden, but Gu Xiao's eyes remained on him, and he could clearly see it, but his face remained calm. He cupped his fists and said, "It's getting late, I'll go back to Yunxiang Pavilion now. Wait until the general sobers up tomorrow and come visit again."
Just now he was reminded by the general that Yu Lie had already understood the general's intentions and no longer wanted to stay.
"That being the case, Brother Mu will go back to the inn to rest first. When the general wakes up tomorrow, I will go and invite him."
Watching the young man go out and disappear into the night, before Yu Lie could recover, General Shan had already broken away from Yu Lie's arm. There was no trace of drunkenness in his eyes. He narrowed his eyes and stared intently. The young man left and spoke softly.
"Yu Lie listens to the order."
Withdrawing his thoughts, Yu Lie hurriedly saluted and listened to the order: "The general will be here!"
"Send capable people out of the city at night and go to Liangzhou to investigate the details of this young man...Also, the matter of military regulations cannot be delayed. The commander of the Yanbei camp has entered the city today. You can order him to go down on the day of military regulations." , it will be decided the day after tomorrow." Shan Bin turned his eyes slightly and ordered.
...
After leaving the gate of Shan Mansion, I looked up at the sky. The moon was already high in the sky.
Thinking back to the banquet in the house just now, although there were words to test, I couldn't tell that Shan Bin had any malicious intent. I wanted to go into the house to investigate, but I saw more than a hundred armored soldiers standing outside the gate of Shan Bin's house under the moon.
How long, still tireless.
Gu Xiao temporarily put aside his thoughts about exploring Shan Mansion at night, and made an appointment during the night banquet to come back tomorrow to investigate again. Thinking of this, the young man turned his eyes to Yanbei City, thinking of the Tonggu Xuan where the corps leader took him to today.
The evening appointment I had made with the shopkeeper was not overdue yet.
"Since we want to explore, now is the time." Gu Xiao made up his mind, got on his horse, and headed towards Tongguxuan.
——
The streets were quiet and silent, and every household had already closed their doors. Only rats foraging for food at night came out of the alleys and moved around on the streets.
When they reached the middle of the road, the foraging mouse suddenly stopped and stood up, looking warily at the shops beside the road. A pair of dark eyes looked at the plaque with "Tonggu Xuan" written on it, and a timidity flashed through it.
, the body that stood up instantly lowered itself, trying to run away.
A flash of silver light flashed in the darkness, a flash of blood, the rat snapped into two pieces and died on the street. Everything returned to normal, except for the "Tonggu Xuan" signboard, which shone with a strange dark light under the moonlight.
Just at the moment the rat died, a figure quickly passed by. A moment later, the dead rat body and blood stains were gone on the street, as if nothing had happened.
If a pedestrian passes by, there will be no clues, but if someone looks carefully, they will be able to find something strange. There are no lights anywhere close to Tonggu Xuan, no matter the shops or houses.
Although it is still cold in early spring and ordinary people rest early, this secluded place
In the alley, only Tonggu Xuan was dimly lit, which was still too weird.
In a private house across the road from Tongguxuan, several people are hiding in it. The lights are dark and their faces are not visible, but there is still a little moonlight passing through the window lattice and reflecting into the house.
Against the backdrop of the moonlight, several people were hiding with their faces covered with black cloth. Only their eyes were exposed, but their eyes were full of murderous intent. The cold light in their hands shone even under the moonlight, making the room feel cold. You didn't need to think too much to know that these people
The identity of the dead soldier killer.
"Young Master's order is that after the young man enters the pavilion and hears the sound of whistles, he will rush in and kill him on the spot. If there is a sound of smashing, he will be captured alive. Did you all hear it clearly?" among the dead soldiers?
One person, staring closely at the street, spoke softly and gave instructions.
"He's just a young man. The shopkeeper summoned us people here. Isn't it a big deal?" Another person among the dead soldiers said with disdain.
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a chill coming straight to his face. He raised his eyes and saw the leader of the dead soldiers who had just given the order, staring at him with murderous intent in his eyes.
Only then did the dead man realize that he had said the wrong thing. He looked at the murderous gaze and hurriedly opened his mouth to make amends: "Brother, I don't mean anything else. I'm just complaining. It's freezing cold today. We brothers."
I've been squatting for half a day and still haven't seen the young man come, so maybe he doesn't plan to come."
"Stop talking nonsense, the shopkeeper has received the order from the young master. Do you feel that your head is too heavy hanging on your neck, and you want to throw it away as soon as possible?" The leader of the dead soldiers said softly and coldly, with more murderous intent in his eyes.
Fear appeared in the eyes of the dead soldier, and he immediately said: "Since this is the young master's order, I dare not say anything."
When the leader saw this, he did not investigate further and only gave some advice.
: "Don't dare to be the best. You are afraid that you have lived a comfortable life in Yanbei City for too long. Do you want to go back to the mountains to pretend to be a bandit and live in fear of being rounded up by the army?"
Perhaps he remembered the days when he was a bandit in the mountains. The dead men no longer dared to say anything. They held the steel knives tightly in their hands and looked out the window...
Outside Tonggu Pavilion, there were heavy ambushes, but inside Tonggu Pavilion, there was a different scene. The charcoal fire in the furnace was blazing, and the shopkeeper was standing aside, but sitting on the main seat was not Lu Can, the envoy of Jin.
He is not the elder Xu Mo who protects the sword, nor is he Wang Heng, the young master of the Golden Sword Sect. He is just a pale young man wearing a brocade robe and looking a little cramped.
"Shopkeeper, I..." The young man seemed to be worried, or was overwhelmed by the silence. Finally, he couldn't help himself and spoke to the shopkeeper beside him.
"It's your blessing to have you pretend to be the young master. Just focus on remembering what the young master told you and don't think about anything else." The shopkeeper next to him replied coldly, as if he didn't care what this person thought.
When the young man heard this, he had no choice but to shut up, his eyes flickering, staring at the dancing candlelight, his hands in his sleeves, rubbing them constantly. You could see his uneasiness in his eyes and his uneasy behavior.
The shopkeeper was too lazy to care about these many things. He just kept looking at the half-closed door curtain in the back hall, as if waiting for the order to come out of the door curtain at any time...
"Da da da..." At this moment, outside Tonggu Xuan, on the silent street, bursts of rapid horse hooves could be heard.
"coming!"
Everyone inside and outside Tongguxuan raised their heads almost at the same time and looked outside the door.
The young man pretending to be a young master quickly sat up straight with a solemn look on his face, and the shopkeeper looked at him sideways.
He looked at the door curtain again and saw that there was no movement behind the door curtain. He nodded slightly and immediately took out the brocade-wrapped thing from the young master's side and walked to the Tonggu Xuan Hall.
The sound of horse hooves outside the door was already approaching. I turned over and dismounted, and the sound of stepping in front of the door was a few minutes closer, and then there was the sound of raising a hand to knock on the door.
The shopkeeper had been waiting for a long time. The knock on the door sounded for a moment, and he immediately answered: "It's coming, it's coming!"
When he opened the door, what he saw was not the armored man he saw at noon, but a handsome young man wearing a green shirt and carrying a black wooden box.
However, the shopkeeper has been involved in the world for many years and has been in the Golden Knife Sect for many years. Just by the young man's starry eyes, he instantly recognized this person. He was the "distinguished guest" attracted by the corpsman at noon. After being stunned for a moment, he immediately
Putting on a smile, he turned around and said, "I didn't expect our distinguished guest to be so abiding by our promise. I thought it was too late today and my distinguished guest would not come again."
The young man was slightly startled, as if he didn't expect the shopkeeper's eyes to be so vicious. He put on a green shirt, thinking that the shopkeeper wouldn't recognize him, but he didn't expect that he recognized him at a glance. He met the shopkeeper's eyes and said with a smile: "Since it's an agreement, you must keep it."
Yes, the shopkeeper has good eyesight. I changed my clothes and thought I had to explain to the shopkeeper."
"Your distinguished guest is so complimentary. As we are in the antique business, our eyesight is the starting point. We can tell at a glance whether an antique is old or not, and what dynasty it belongs to. Just like people... No matter how we change our clothes, there are always things that cannot be changed.
Isn't that right?" The shopkeeper said with a smile, and there was something in his words. He led the young man into Tonggu Xuan with one hand.
The young man slowly walked into the pavilion. When he accepted the shopkeeper's words, his eyes moved slightly back and glanced outside the pavilion: "Oh? What does the shopkeeper mean by these words? What can't be changed?
Please give me some pointers."
Seeing the young man entering the pavilion, there was a hint of chill in the smile of the shopkeeper. He led the young man to sit down first, and then he said: "When talking about this unchangeable thing, it should be the eyes of a person. Maybe the appearance will change, but the person
But the eyes cannot be changed, the distinguished guest said, yes or no?"
"Hahaha, what the shopkeeper said is true, I have learned a lesson..."
The young man looked away from the slowly closing door of Tongguxuan, raised his head and smiled, then turned to the young junior sitting in the main seat in the hall, stood up, clasped his fists, and continued to speak.
"I think Xiongtai is the owner of Tongguxuan?"
The young junior stood up in a hurry, clasped his fists to welcome him, but his face looked unnatural: "Today the shopkeeper reported to me that a young hero came to visit Xuanzang. I saw him tonight, and it turned out to be so."
Looking at the young man who was the "master" of Tonggu Xuan, a smile appeared on his lips. He did not answer, but turned his head to the hanging curtain in the back hall, as if he wanted to see through.
Seeing that the young man seemed to have some clues, the shopkeeper hurriedly stepped forward, blocked the young man from looking in front of the hanging curtain, and said with a smile: "Your distinguished guest is not talking to a villain at noon. If you want to take the light, you must meet my master, who happens to be your distinguished guest."
My lord and I are both young people, so you can talk about what is on your mind."