At noon, the autumn sun is just right.

Ling Chusi woke up from the bed, slowly opened his eyes, and immediately lifted the quilt and got out of bed.

Outside the window, the breeze with a few wisps of sweet osmanthus fragrance is the most gentle, after Ling Chusi walked out of the room, he first sat on the rattan chair under the tree full of osmanthus flowers for a while, and then slowly and leisurely shook from the small courtyard here to the courtyard next to the maple red and fallen leaves.

Ji Xiaobai seemed to have gotten up earlier than her, and at this time he had already changed into another set of clothes, and was sitting at the stone table and bowed his head slightly to check a secret letter, on the desktop in his hand, on the right side was a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and on the left was a small but extremely delicate jade bowl, in which a pigeon was pecking.

"A falling flower, a fallen leaf, your yard here is chic." Before Ling Chusi approached, she laughed softly, Ji Xiaobai looked up and saw that she had hung the ape bone flute that had never left her body on her waist, and she was jumping with her empty hands, and with a light movement, she picked a red maple leaf from the branch of the maple tree that was about to fall.

Ji Xiaobai didn't hurry to read and put away the secret letter, then picked up a fine pen next to him and quickly marked a few words on it, and then used a wax pill to seal the secret letter and put it into the bamboo letter bucket on the pigeon's leg, and after releasing the carrier pigeon, he turned to Ling Chusi's direction, and got up with a smile with his eyebrows stretched: "You are awake." ”

"Well," Ling Chusi nodded, and after watching him finish his work, he walked over briskly and asked with a smile, "Have you eaten?" ”

Ji Xiaobai shook his head, "You're hungry too, aren't you?" ”

Ling Chusi continued to nod and smiled lightly: "Let's go out to eat!" Find a restaurant, I'll treat you to dinner. After a pause, Ling Chusi smiled leisurely again, and said briskly: "Come to think of it, you should be very familiar with the arrangements in various places in Luoyang City." ”

Knowing that Ling Chusi's words were alluding to the fact that he had been eyeing Luoyang City for a long time and had already purchased property here, Ji Xiaobai didn't blink his eyes, as if he hadn't heard anything, he still looked calm and gentle, and said softly: "Then let's go to Beishi, there is a restaurant there, their water mat is the most unique in Luoyang City, it is autumn at this time, the weather is dry, and a table of water mats is the most suitable." ”

Ling Chu thought about the dishes of Luoyang Water Banquet, his eyebrows bent, and he immediately agreed, "Okay!" How do I get there? ”

When encountering a road he didn't know, if there was no one next to him who could ask a question or two, Ling Chusi's most common way was to directly perform the Great Light Gong and walk in a straight line in the direction of the destination.

It's a pity that it's noon at this time, and the street is full of vendors and pedestrians, rubbing shoulders, if you don't want to be watched like a monkey show on the street, Ling Chusi naturally can only give up this most simple and straightforward way.

Ji Xiaobai took Ling Chusi and came out of the relatively hidden back door of this courtyard.

The back door is facing a narrow street, and usually only a few maids in the nearby yards occasionally enter and exit, and at this time in the middle of the day, it is empty.

Ling Chusi looked up, even if it was just a small road, he still seriously memorized the route in his mind.

I went all the way to Ji Luoyang North City and found the signature dish that Ji Xiaobai said was the restaurant of the water seat. It was past noon, and the people for lunch had dispersed, and the diners were not too crowded at this time.

"Upstairs to the private room?" When Xiao Er in the restaurant smiled and opened his face to greet the guests, Ji Xiaobai turned his head sideways and asked Ling Chusi.

Ling Chusi shook his head, stretched out his hand and pointed to a position in the corner of the lobby on the first floor, and said briskly: "The position by the window is good." ”

Usually, when he entered the store, because Ling Chusi's appearance at this time was completely like a child, it was really a bit eye-catching, so Ling Chusi only needed a private seat every time, even if he stayed in the lobby outside, he had to be separated by a screen, otherwise, the eyes of the other guests who frequently looked at him out of curiosity were really a little annoying. Now that there is such an adult as Ji Xiaobai, even if it is eye-catching, at least it is not too surprising, Ling Chusi naturally chose an ordinary slightly biased position, and when he was eating, he could also listen to the topics that the people in the restaurant were talking about.

Seeing that Ji Xiaobai had no objection, the shopkeeper hurriedly led the two guests over, threw off the rag from his shoulder, and wiped the clean table again before he asked with a smile: "Two guest officers, please take a seat, what are you two going to do?" ”

Ji Xiaobai sat down and didn't speak, just smiled slightly, Ling Chusi glanced at him, knowing that he didn't have any opinions, and he didn't be polite to him, and directly said to Xiao Er in the restaurant: "Your signboard here is the water seat, right?" Let's have a table first, and then what other delicacies are there, you can tell me about them? ”

"Okay!" The shopkeeper began to report the name of the dish happily, Ling Chusi listened carefully beside him, and when he was interested, he asked a word or two from time to time, and then picked a few dishes casually.

By the time the little second child brought a table of water mats and the dishes added later, it was already two quarters of an hour later.

The guests in the restaurant, except for those like Ling Chusi and Ji Xiaobai, who came too late, most of the rest were messy cups and plates on the table, but the wine in the pot was never broken.

Many people drink too much, and the words in their mouths also increase, even if they have a big tongue, they have to chatter.

Ling Chusi held a blue and white porcelain spoon in his hand and drank the soup slowly, and heard a guest who had drunk too much on the table in the middle of the lobby of the restaurant muttered indistinctly: "Today's ordinary people are not having a good time......

“…… The Khitan people in the north are here again, the local people are already living a difficult life, and then there is a plague, I heard that the generation in Xuanzhou is now ten rooms and nine empty, and there is almost no living ......person in ten miles and eight townships" The guest who looked like a businessman dressed up, after drinking too much, he held the wine pot and chattered to his friends at the table, "I, I, I don't dare to go north to do business now, you don't know, when I came back a few days ago, ho, good guy, the roadside is full of ragged refugees, all skinny, and it looks miserable." ……”

At the same table, someone next to him heard this, the expression on his face was shocked and frightened, and the words he said also had a sighing tone, "Hey, not long ago, the imperial court also sent General Liu to attack Linyi. I heard that it was in May of this year that General Liu Fang took advantage of the victory to pursue and break through the kingdom of Linyi. You must know that Linyi is still south of the Song Valve in Lingnan, and there are many miasma in the local area, which can kill people. Pity those officers and soldiers, who are unwell in the water and soil in Linyi, and many of them died of diseases, even General Liu Fang fell ill and died on the way back to the army......"

A few people drinking next to him were also discussing, one south and one north, neither of them was a peaceful place, between pushing the cup and changing the lamp, the guests at that table still sighed: "It is the Central Plains, more and more heavy conscription, and the life of the people is difficult, too-"

"Silence!" There was a businessman who was dizzy even if he drank too much, but his reaction was still very fast, and after hearing that someone seemed to be complaining about today, he was so frightened that his brain was violently excited, he shook his head, and hurriedly opened his mouth to stop: "Brother Li, Brother Zhao is cautious, cautious!" ”

"Autumn Harvest Time...... Isn't it the time when the Khitan in the north went south to plunder the harvest of the people. Ling Chusi frowned slightly.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, wars were frequent, even if Ling Chusi only roughly remembered a few famous battles recorded in the history books, such as this kind of frontier conflict in which the Khitans went south every year and invaded the Central Plains to plunder the local people, which were completely countless, and she couldn't remember them very clearly.

Ling Chusi frowned, drank a spoonful of soup and muttered to himself: "There is also the plague, how can a plague suddenly break out in this climate in autumn, the time is not right......"

Ji Xiaobai was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then asked in a low voice, "Are you planning to go north?" ”

"That's right." Ling Chusi nodded, her voice had the lightness of a teenage girl, however, when she talked about these things, she became a little distant and stunned, and sighed softly: "At this time, there is war in the north again......

Ji Xiaobai immediately put down the spoon in his hand and whispered to her: "The Khitan only invaded Xuanzhou a month ago, and there was a lot of intrusion on the local people. ”

After pondering for a moment, Ji Xiaobai still told Ling Chusi of the still hidden will in the imperial court, "I heard that Emperor Yang Guang of Sui has ordered Wei Yunqi, the general adviser of Xuanzhou, to counterattack the Khitan. ”

Ling Chusi listened carefully, and said "um" again, after hearing the name "Wei Yunqi", her eyes moved slightly, she knew this person!

Immediately after, Ling Chusi also put down the blue and white porcelain spoon in his hand, supported his cheek with one hand, looked at Ji Xiaobai with a slight sideways head, and said to him in a low voice: "The autumn sky is high and the clouds are light, and the climate is dry, so it is not the time when plagues are frequent. The plague at the junction of the Great Sui, Turkic, and Khitan borders has come too coincidentally, and I will definitely go over to see it. ”

Ji Xiaobai's eyebrows frowned slightly, and he couldn't help but wrinkle his brows and said: "The plague is together, that is, the local people can run and run, what do you want to do in that kind of place?" ”

Ling Chusi also sighed softly, it was precisely because of such an unusual plague that Grandpa Sun Simiao, a medical saint who was still traveling and practicing medicine, was most likely to go all the way north to study and heal those who were seriously ill. Thinking of this, Ling Chusi said very calmly: "I'm going to find someone." ”

Ji Xiaobai asked directly: "What person, who is he?" ”

"A miracle doctor, although he is probably still not well-known now......" Ling Chusi held his chin and flattened his mouth, and said to Ji Xiaobai honestly.

Ji Xiaobai's brows furrowed more and more, "Ah Ling, who are you looking for?" ”

"His name is Sun Simiao, a native of Jing Zhaohua, and he is a Langzhong, if you hear about him in the future, can you sue me?" Ling Chusi looked at Ji Xiaobai without blinking.

The expression on Ji Xiaobai's face was obviously not reluctant, but in the end, he reluctantly bowed his head slightly and agreed, "Yes." ”

However, before Ling Chusi could thank him, Ji Xiaobai had already frowned slightly and continued to ask, "The Sun Simiao you are looking for, will he go to the north?" ”

"Maybe!" Ling Chusi wasn't sure, but anyway, she wasn't afraid of any plague - when she was in Tiandu Town, Chang'an City, after the gang secretly spread the plague in private and made a huge Tiandu Town almost a dead city, the red-clothed disciples who preached under the banner of curing diseases and saving people had never done anything good in their lives, and the only thing that was useful to them was probably to make a veil that could avoid contracting the plague......

Thinking of this, Ling Chusi lowered his head and took out a red veil from the package and handed it to Ji Xiaobai, "Xiaobai, give this to you!" ”

Ji Xiaobai subconsciously stretched out his hand to take it, his eyes were slightly stunned, "What is this-red veil?" The second half of his voice was marked by an obvious inquiry.

"You put this away!" Ling Chusi whispered to him: "Don't think this veil is too ugly, maybe you can use something in the future!" With this thing, you will hardly get the plague......"

When Ji Xiaobai heard this, Huo Ran's eyes widened.

The terrible plague is known to the world. Even if there is a famous doctor alive, he may be able to save one or two lucky people, but most of the people who are infected with the plague may not survive.

This red veil turned out to be so magical, Rao is Ji Xiaobai, and he couldn't help but look sideways.

He didn't doubt the truth of what Ling Chusi said, after all, it was not difficult to find a lot of strange things from her, whether it was the storyteller who she saved from Shi Zhixuan in the teahouse three years ago, or the wonderful mental moves she used to help herself heal later, they were all very rare and rare, and the "Flying Fish Pill" in the secret passage in the water last night was even more unheard of by Ji Xiaobai before!

After lunch, Ling Chusi called Xiao Er from the restaurant, paid the silver taels directly, and took advantage of Ji Xiaobai sitting there drinking tea, looked directly at his dark and deep eyes, and said to him softly: "It's not too late now, after going out from the north gate of Luoyang City, I should still have time to rush to the next town before dark." After a pause, Ling Chusi stood in his eyes and said seriously: "Xiaobai, let's say goodbye?" ”

Ji Xiaobai took a sip of tea and choked directly in his throat.

"Cough, cough ......" Ji Xiaobai stroked his chest, only to feel that he was choked with tightness and shortness of breath for a while.

Ling Chusi blinked his eyes twice, hesitated for a moment, and then reached out and gently patted Ji Xiaobai's back, "Are you okay?" ”

Ji Xiaobai was so choked that he couldn't speak at all, so he could only cough violently while waving his hand at Ling Chusi, indicating that he should be fine.

"Slow down!" Ling Chusi looked at him without blinking, and said leisurely.

After a long time, Ji Xiaobai's breath in his throat finally evened out, and his throat was still a little painful, and he couldn't help but say: "Your plan and action are too fast, you just said that you were going to the north, and you are ready to leave before you finish this lunch?" ”

Thinking that Ling Chusi broke into the Pure Mind Zen Sect in one night yesterday and directly forced everyone who didn't see outsiders out to meet the guests, Ji Xiaobai really couldn't help but admire Ling Chusi's action.

Ling Chusi put his hands on his cheeks, his eyes were quite innocent and looked at Ji Xiaobai, who was coughing because of choking on tea, but he didn't say a word.

After a long time, after Ji Xiaobai was a little furious by her, Ling Chusi sat up straight unhurriedly and said slowly: "This trip is indeed a bit rushed...... But there is no way, whether it is on the battlefield or in the plague area on the northern border, the situation is changing rapidly, and I really can't contact the person I want to find now, so I can only go to the north to try my luck. ”

Speaking of this, Ling Chusi sighed lightly, and missed the Yin Yuan Society, which was active in the Datang rivers and lakes at the beginning, and the messengers who were all over the Tang Dynasty for flying pigeons to pass on books. Her messenger at that time had always been able to deliver letters just by asking for her name, where was it like now, in addition to the name and address, the people who sent the letter in this way were all slow, so that Ling Chusi sometimes preferred to run over by herself when she encountered something......

After the tea and dinner were full, Ling Chusi and Ji Xiaobai came out of the restaurant.

"This time I came to Luoyang, I was in a hurry along the way, and I didn't have time to see what the Buddha statue in Longmen Grottoes carved into." Ling Chusi and Ji Xiaobai walked back along the lively street, and when they saw the candy seller on the way, they bought two of them.

Ji Xiaobai glanced at the sugar man in her hand, raised her eyebrows slightly, and said, "You like these things?" "It's really a child's taste and temper......

"It's alright!" Ling Chusi took out an egg fork uncle's sugar gourd as if he was juggling, and stuffed it into Ji Xiaobai along with a candy man he had just bought, "This is also for you, take it, don't be polite to me." ”

"......" felt the curious gazes of the pedestrians and small vendors on the road, Ji Xiaobai held the sugar gourd and the sugar man, his face was blank, and he secretly said in his heart, this is really not a polite thing.

After a pause, Ji Xiaobai stared at the sugar gourd and the sugar man in his hand, treating these things as if they were all held for Ling Chusi beside him, and finally felt a little more normal. He followed Ling Chusi's side without leaving an inch, and then said, "The Longmen Grottoes are just that, you don't seem to believe in Buddhism?" ”

Ling Chusi nodded, and took a bite of the sugar man, it was very sweet, silky, in addition to sucrose, it was also a little like the sweetness of osmanthus sugar.

"Well, I don't believe it. And the Taoists -- I don't believe in them either. However, if you encounter a corpse, I can help paste a few chapters of charms to ward off evil spirits, or recite a few chapters of the Sutra of the Past Life. ”

――On the side of Ling Chusi's hometown of the Tang Dynasty Rivers and Lakes, the Tang Dynasty knights who walk the rivers and lakes on weekdays, regardless of gender, age and youth, are all all-rounders who are knowledgeable in astronomy, geography, driving away evil spirits, punishing evil and promoting good, taking revenge, forming gangs, fighting bloody battles in camps, doing whatever they want, and almost omnipotent!

Ji Xiaobai said casually: "It's a pity that it's autumn now, if it's April and May at the turn of spring and summer, it happens to be the peony flower meeting in Luoyang City, the whole Luoyang City is beautiful and lively, you should like it." ”

Ling Chusi listened and nodded, but the words he said were a little teasing, and he teased Ji Xiaobai: "I heard that you are so familiar with peony flowers, it seems that you have been in Luoyang City in April and May in a few years?" ”

"......" Ji Xiaobai, who had once again pitted himself into it, was speechless, and only after a while did he whisper to himself: "Do you usually talk like this?" ”

The tip of Ling Chusi's tongue was full of the sweet smell of osmanthus candy, and when he heard this, he just blinked his eyes mischievously, but he didn't smile.

At this time, I arrived at a junction in the north of Luoyang City, leading to the north gate and Shanglinfang.

Ling Chusi stood still, raised his head slightly to look at Ji Xiaobai, and finally smiled and said, "It's time for me to go, there will be a period later!" ”

Ji Xiaobai bowed slightly, lowered his head and stared at Ling Chusi's eyes, and said softly: "Have a good journey, there will be a period later!" ”

From Luoyang, Ling Chusi went all the way north, passing through Changpingyi, Shangdang County and other places, planning to pass through Taiyuan and then go north, out of Yanmen, to Dingxiang or Zhuojun in the northeast to see what happened.

A few days later, outside the city of Taiyuan.

Ling Chusi was alone, riding a flying sand, which could be regarded as a light car. On the official road leading to Taiyuan City, before entering the city, Ling Chusi was just about to put away his horses, when there was a sound of rushing horses' hooves behind him.

This kind of momentum, guessing that the person who came should be a child of the Taiyuan generation of the gate valve family, Ling Chusi, who didn't want to cause trouble, directly rode his horse to avoid the side of the road, who expected, the leader of the brocade boy wearing a light beard-style shirt suddenly grabbed the reins, accompanied by a burst of dust, the horse stopped beside Ling Chusi, and said with a little childish curiosity in his voice: "Who are you?" How come I haven't seen you? ”