The night of Chinese New Year's Eve was as heavy as ink, and as silent as a vacuum.

A moment later, the sound of horses' hooves from far and near broke the silence, and in the dim moonlight, two galloping horses galloped along the post road, hurried and anxious.

It turned out that just a few days ago, Zhou Zheng realized that the officials of Yiyang Mansion were "perfunctory" him. In desperation, he had to rush back to Jinshui to deliver the letter by himself, so as not to have too many dreams at night and produce more victims. In this regard, Wen Siqi naturally hoped that Zhou Zheng would not go back, but since Zhou Zheng had made up her mind, she had no choice but to help Zhou Zheng prepare a horse and send him on the road.

As for Wen Siqi herself...... Seriously, she knew she wasn't supposed to go back.

First, Wen Siqi knew a lot about the Jinshui Town tragedy, and she knew that it was by no means an ordinary "demonic rebellion", but an outright genocide. In that environment, she couldn't even guarantee her own safety, let alone help.

Second, we have to consider the alliance between the demon clan and the demon sect. You must know that she had only repeatedly ordered her to ask the chief rudder of the Demon Sect and all subrudders to never be allowed to participate in any activities of the demon clan during the Spring Festival. This is not a harm to the gods and the demon clan, but it has already lost their face. In this context, if Wen Siqi appeared in Jinshui and did something against the demon clan, it would be discovered...... The demon clan can't talk about it.

So, seriously, Wen Siqi shouldn't go back, she knows this very well. But after thinking about it again, she finally chose to rent a horse for herself and followed Zhou Zheng to Jinshui Town.

Wen Siqi herself couldn't tell what the internal motivation was that drove her to do this. Is it to change his life against the sky, or is it the sentence that Zhou Zheng said, "I can't stand others hurting you"? But it doesn't matter, the important thing is that she went against her original idea and chose an option that seemed to her to be "nine deaths".

"It's a big deal to find an opportunity to admit my identity, let the demon clan let me go, so that I can take this nerd away." Wen Siqi had already thought about it, and if she had no choice but to do it. Although this will definitely attract close attention from the demon clan and the demon sect, making Zhou Zheng the target of public criticism, it is much better than losing his life in vain.

Thinking of this, Wen Siqi couldn't help but glance at Zhou Zheng again, only to see that there was a red sun faintly behind his head, and he couldn't help but swallow a fiery breath. Affected by this breath, Zhou Zheng was in the middle of winter, but his face was red and full of sweat.

"Listen to me, you need to rest!" Wen Siqi couldn't remember how many times he had spoken out to admonish: "Before the heartbeat realm, it is a very dangerous thing to urge the Yuanshen projection to absorb the aura of heaven and earth. This will cause a chronic erosion of your primordial spirit, affecting your future development and greatly increasing your risk of being consumed by demons. ”

"No, it's almost there, I'll rest when it's time." is different from Zhou Zheng on weekdays, Zhou Zheng, who uses the projection of the Yuan Shen, is decisive and firm, and refuses to give up his opinion: "Every time I take a slow step, there may be one more person who is victimized by demons, I must be fast, I must be faster." ”

Zhou Zheng rejected Wen Siqi's suggestion and drove the horse under his crotch wholeheartedly. He didn't know how to ride a horse, but in order to get back to Jinshui Town faster, he didn't care about anything else. Incorrect posture? That's not right, Zhou Zheng used a very stupid method to solve this problem - he always runs his true qi, protects his body, and doesn't care if he is bumpy or not.

The benefits of this are obvious, with the true qi to protect the body, Zhou Zheng naturally does not have to worry about being thrown off by the horse, nor does he have to worry about wearing out his thighs. But on the other hand, this would greatly deplete Zhou Zheng's own True Qi reserves, especially if he forcibly broke through the acupoint blockade and suffered internal injuries as a result.

Zhou Zhengneng has been able to persist until now, and he can change horses without changing people with his injured body, and gallop seven hundred miles on horses for two days and two nights, completely relying on the aura of heaven and earth gathered by the projection of the Yuan Shen, as well as a tenacious heart.

These Wen Siqi saw it in their eyes, felt distressed, and admonished, but it was useless. Zhou Zheng's stubbornness in this matter is far beyond Wen Siqi's imagination. It can even be said that from Wen Siqi's point of view, in a trance, Zhou Zheng is getting farther and farther away from the guy who was forced by her to "laugh", and he is getting closer and closer to the light of the righteous path of slaying demons and subduing demons.

But none of this is important, the important thing is to calculate the distance, Pingjiang Mansion is close at hand.

"I'm going into the city to see Futai." Zhou Zheng thought about it, and the official of Yiyang felt that "it was none of his business", so he could understand that he was "hanging high". But the master of Pingjiang Mansion will never ignore the affairs of his own jurisdiction, right?

Zhou Zheng is well aware of the limitations of the courage of the horseman, and he hopes that someone who holds public power will stand up. But it's a pity that not to mention the Pingjiang Mansion, he didn't even get into the city gate of Pingjiang Mansion.

"There's a curfew, no entry into the city." The soldiers guarding the city gate answered meticulously, no way.

Zhou Zheng naturally had to continue to work hard, and repeatedly emphasized that he had something important to see the master of Futai, but it was still useless. Later, perhaps he annoyed the soldiers, and the city gate guard was called out.

"You don't have a letter from the government, how can I let you enter the city at night?" The city gate guards were more talkative than ordinary soldiers, and excused themselves by saying, "Even if I let you in, and you don't have the paperwork to accompany you, it will be a 'night'." When you meet a soldier who guards the night, you will inevitably be taken to the yamen and put on thirty boards. That's why I said that no matter what, I'd better wait until after five or three o'clock. This coming and going is only a matter of more than three hours, so what can be delayed? ”

Different from later generations, the feudal era emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, and the "commercial center" attribute of the city was far less important than the "political center" attribute. Therefore, between the "freedom and liveliness" of the commercial center and the "peace and stability" of the political center, all dynasties and generations have invariably chosen the latter.

In the era when there is no electronic monitoring and no electric lighting, it is not easy to maintain order at night. The rulers tried their best, but in the end they had no choice but to choose a one-size-fits-all approach - in short, they were not allowed to go out at night, otherwise they would be punished. To put it in writing, that is, curfew.

The curfew starts at 1 p.m. and ends at 1 p.m. In modern times, it starts at 8:12 p.m. and ends at 4:12 a.m. the next day. It perfectly fits the rhythm of life of ancient Chinese people at sunrise and sunset.

During these eight hours, it was curfew, and no movement was allowed on the streets of the city. In case of accidents such as funerals or sudden illnesses, it is also necessary for the local Baojiali and others to issue official documents before they can travel and run errands.

If you don't have an official document and wander the streets, you are "committing a night". It doesn't matter if it is not discovered, if it is found by the guards, then a board and a few days of prison meals are indispensable.

The situation in the city is so strict, and it is naturally impossible for a person like Zhou Zheng who has no official documents to enter the city from outside the city. Just like the garrison said, even if he is willing to let go, Zhou Zheng can't do anything.

Of course, this is just a nice thing to say, the garrison officer has no friendship with Zhou Zheng, so how can he take the risk for him? It's just that as an old fritter in officialdom, he said casually, leaving aside some responsibilities.

After the garrison finished speaking, he looked down at Zhou Zheng from the city tower, silent and kind, without the slightest anger, but he just didn't let him go.

Zhou Zhengze looked up from the bottom of the city tower, full of helplessness. However, he thought about the words of the garrison officer, and felt that this was also true, what could be delayed in more than three hours?

"It's better to be early tomorrow." Although I thought that the sooner the better, but the matter has come to this point, and it is useless to say more. Zhou Zheng decided to come back tomorrow morning and told Futai that there was a demon who was going to cause chaos.

Just when Zhou Zheng wanted to turn around and leave and run directly to Jinshui Town, Wen Siqi, who had not spoken, suddenly opened her mouth, and she asked, "Little junior brother, where do you want to go?" ”

Without any thought, Zhou Zheng replied casually: "Naturally, I went to Jinshui Town." ”

"Are you going to Pleasantry?"

"yes, why do you ask that?"

"If I want you not to go, will you?"

The witch's question was strange, at least in Zhou Zheng's opinion. The pleasant guest in Jinshui Town is the place where the two met, and Wen Siqi has lived there for a while. During that time, the store has been dedicated to Wen Siqi, a distinguished customer, and has never made any mistakes. Why did Wen Siqi talk about it at this time, but she seemed to be full of gloom and doubts?

"Why not?"

"No why, I just don't want to go."

"If I don't go to Pleasant Hospitality, where can I go? The city is not allowed to enter, and you can't sleep in the wilderness. ”

"I haven't rested for the past two days, and I'm really tired right now." Wen Siqi made an excuse for herself: "Jinshui Town is too far away, it's better to go to the county seat to see if the county garrison will let us in." If you can, then you will rest in the county seat for one night, and come to Fucheng tomorrow, which is much closer. ”

This lie is not clever, so it can only deceive Zhou Zheng. However, when Wen Siqi said this, she just wanted to deceive Zhou Zheng, so this problem is not a problem.

However, another problem arose, that is, the experienced city gate guard actually made a low-level mistake. Maybe it was because Wen Siqi was petite and had a young face, which made him mistakenly think that Wen Siqi really didn't know the situation; Or maybe he saw that Zhou Zheng and Wen Siqi were handsome and upright, and he couldn't bear to let them run the wrong way; Or maybe it's just plain boring.

All in all, for uncertain reasons, the garrison officer made a mistake, he forgot the creed that "trouble comes from the mouth", took care of a trivial matter, and said the truth: "Little girl, don't think about this, although Shiqiao County does not have such a majestic city wall, the curfew is also generally strict. If you rashly break into Shiqiao County and encounter official errands, you will also have to eat the team and live in a prison cell. ”

"Oh?" Wen Siqi's tone was high, and the tail note was very long, expressing a strange emotion. She looked up at the tower, smiled sweetly, and asked the garrison, "Sir, where are we going according to what you say?" ”

The garrison officer did not doubt him, and replied politely: "Listen to what you said before, there should be an old reason in Jinshui Town, so it is better to go to Jinshui Town." Although there is also a curfew in the town, the town is smaller after all, and everyone knows each other, so you can report the name of your old family and let the officials take you to find it. Just remember that when you get to your destination, you have to spend a little bit, otherwise you will ...... Uh-huh, you're a little welcome. ”

"Oh!" Wen Siqi responded, her tone was still very high, and the end note was still very long: "That's really thank you." ”

The voice fell, and the garrison officer didn't even have time to say "no thanks", only to see Wen Siqi's forearm raised lightly, and a silver light pierced the night and flew towards the city tower.

This sudden attack was unexpected by Zhou Zheng, the garrison officer, and everyone, so naturally no one could stop it, and no one could dodge it.

"Ahh

The garrison officer was stabbed - a throwing knife infused with true qi, more impactful than a normal crossbow arrow, hitting his left shoulder, knocking him several steps away, and finally piercing through, bleeding profusely.

"You ......" Zhou Zheng was dumbfounded.

Wen Siqi ignored Zhou Zheng, she gently stroked her hair, the past two days of running made it slightly dry, but it didn't matter. The witch sighed lightly, raised her arm lightly, shot several more throwing knives, and shouted at the castle tower, "Either let me into the city, or I will kill you all!" ”

Zhou Zheng was shocked, and the soldiers on the city tower were also shocked.

"Quick! Go find the horse commander, this female thief wants to kill the official and rebel! ”