I picked up my teacup and took a slow sip of flower tea.

Putting down the teacup, his gaze turned on his face and said, "In other words, except for the territory drawn in the northwest of Zealand, this place must be under the empress's sphere of influence." ”

"No doubts, right?" I emphasize one sentence.

"Yes."

"Here's the problem, yesterday I passed through the city gate, and I saw a man."

"Who?" Ji Jiu was stunned, and the teacup in his hand was also put aside by him. "Someone you probably have some impression of."

Ji Jiu's eyes looked at me for a moment, and the next second, I whispered, "You go ahead and think." ”

"Have you forgotten that I hid behind the rocks to watch the scene of your meeting?"

He couldn't remember, so I helped him remember.

"No, it won't."

Ji Jiu thought about it carefully, a look of understanding flashed in his eyes, and then he shook his head and said, "That meeting in the middle of the mountain, in the pavilion, I am very sure that she came alone." ”

"With her personality, it is impossible for me to come and meet alone."

"Then what would you think if I told you that it wasn't the first time I met her?!"

"Impossible." Ji Jiu lost his voice and said, "You have the opportunity to meet her wherever you are, unless you lie, you are not kidnapped from a border town." ”

"I'm not lying, that's the truth." I leaned back in my chair and said slowly, "I met her once on the way to the border town, and I happened to see the people she was carrying. ”

At this point, I hesitated for a moment. After thinking about it, I decided to hide part of the inside story and not tell Ji Jiu the details of the meeting process.

After all, I don't know the inside story of the relationship between him, the empress and that person, and the three of them, involving such a sensitive topic. It's safe to hide it.

I seem to be getting more and more accustomed to thinking about everything in a safe direction, is this the word "city government" that Yun Chu sued me before?!

In fact, when I was looking back, I sensitively captured some information.

That is, what seems to have happened to the other party in the territory of the lake country and in the border area, so it is the scene that appeared in the broken temple that night.

Thoughts flashback. I took a deep breath and said, "When I entered the city yesterday, I accidentally saw that person in the crowd, and I have suspicions"

"What are you suspecting?"

I looked at the empty plates on the table, and the delicious snacks were gone, wondering if I wanted to let the owner who was not bad for money spend another plate?

Still don't. I picked up a piece of the leftover snack from the worst dish and chewed it slowly.

The guards at the city gate have arrived, and I can only replace lunch with snacks and hunger.

"You just asked you the question, and you told me the answer, can you still figure it out?!"

Ji Jiu frowned and said, "There are people with her in Yuzhou City, but they found it in the place where the soldiers were recruited. "Do you mean that among the people recruited by the empress who are about to go to the northwest battlefield to play against her, they have already ambushed the inner line she sent?!"

"That's the reason."

I smiled.

"So, I want to come back to see the scenery today, and the reasoning doesn't have much to do with me. It's just like you said, I'm a little more curious. ”

I pressed a wave of irritability that came inexplicably in my heart, and when it came to the inside story of the palace that seized power. I actually hated it in my heart.

"I know that such a big thing needs to be carefully arranged, and since she sent her right-hand man to Yuzhou City, it means that it is impossible for that person to appear only once."

I can figure it out with my toes.

"At the very least, we'll have to wait until the end of the matter here, and it's almost done. He'll go back to his life. ”

"Is it so easy to help her? It's about the life of the family. Always try to be as thoughtful as possible, and he won't stay in Yuzhou for a few more days. Are you embarrassed to go back and report to his master? ”

Glancing at Ji Jiu, I added: "There's no malice, it's just a matter of facts." ”

The business of the teahouse at noon looked sluggish, and I looked around and saw that there was no third table of customers, except for two old men who were drinking tea and chatting softly outside the two tables apart.

I recalled that when I entered the door, it seemed that there were very few guests sitting in the lobby on the ground floor.

"Is it difficult to do business in Yuzhou?" I suppressed the surprise in my heart and glanced at Ji Jiudao, "Don't you think it's strange?" ”

In these years, there are really a lot of strange things, not to mention a big place like Huguo, even in a small town in the southwest, the business of opening a teahouse will not be deserted like this.

"Are you interested in business?" Ji Jiu came up with an irrelevant sentence.

"I don't have much interest for the time being, but the situation is a little weird right now."

"Then don't you just ask the running hall to know?"

"That's right."

I stretched out my hand and beckoned, and ran the hall, which was leaning against the railing in the corner of the store, squeezed out a smile and walked up to me and asked, "Guest officer, what do you command?" Is it tea that needs to be added, or is it a plate of snacks. ”

"I've got enough tea and a lot of snacks."

"Then do you two want to let the kitchen fry a few side dishes and have a pot of wine?"

Ji Jiu and I looked at each other, but he opened his mouth first: "I have the impression that there are no cooks for stir-frying in the teahouse, but there are dim sum masters." ”

Ran Tang said with a bitter face: "Guest officer, you have also seen that the business of this teahouse has plummeted, and the shopkeeper has no choice, and he is about to be unable to open it, so he can only think of such a method temporarily." “

He glanced at the backyard and said, "To tell you the truth, the one in charge of stir-frying is actually the one in charge." ”

"Listen to your tone, business has only gotten worse recently, didn't it before?"

Ran Tang's face stiffened, and he lowered his voice and said: "I don't look like the accents of the two of you are locals, and those who walk on the road must have heard about it." "What did you hear?" "What else can there be," Ran Tang clenched his hands into fists and touched each other, and Ji Jiu and I couldn't help but glance at each other. "I can't say more. This place is close to the city gate, and the guards who patrol the city sometimes come to the store. "Some time ago, there were a lot of people walking around, and some people from Yuzhou City wanted to sneak out of the city. The guards at the gate stopped a lot. "It's kind of funny to say, those people, some of them are hiding in the carts that carry firewood, some are hiding under the carriages, and some are even disguised as old people, and they all want to leave Sealand to avoid it."

Although the words of the running hall are not exhausted. But the information revealed in and out of the words is the same as what we know, but there are many doubts in the middle.

First of all, according to him, some time ago, there were rumors of tension in Xilan and a possible war in Yuzhou City.

Then. The reactions of the ordinary people in Yuzhou City he described were also different from those in other places.

Being a deserter is a felony in any country, what is the reason that drives these people to take risks?!

Ji Jiu and I both hoped to find answers to their questions here in the running hall, but at this time, the table separated from each other began to order, and the only running hall upstairs had no time to do it, so naturally the conversation between us and him was interrupted.

looked at Ji Jiu on the opposite side and played thoughtfully with the cup in his hand. But the eyebrows were tightly locked.

I wasn't used to such an atmosphere, so I joked: "You still say that there are people in the country, and there are old acquaintances in the palace." Why is your news so slow, not even as good as the people in this Yuzhou City. “

Ji Jiu was silent, and suddenly a glint flashed in his eyes and said, "Since he knows a lot of news, we can find another place in the city to find out the news." ”

I nodded, "That's a good idea, while there's still time." "When I came out, I told the dart board guys. It was back to the inn before sunset. "I heard from Sister Li that several girls from the dart bureau today were sent by her to buy supplies in the carriage on the street."

Ji Jiu and I got up one after another. I was about to go to the checkout, when I grabbed his arm. "Wait!"

Ji Jiu's face changed when he saw me. Hearing the reputation, a group of people came to the city gate after staring at it for more than two hours.

Isn't that the one in the team the one I was talking about just now?!

I've seen it on the mountain road near the border town, I've seen it in the ruined temple, and now this person is in Yuzhou City again. "It's the empress's sister, the princess's attendant, right?"

Ji Jiu must know much more about the person under his command than me, and if he brought him here, isn't it just human flesh to confirm it?!

He looked at me silently for a while before nodding at me and saying, "That's right." "That confirms what I think." "Let's go, follow me elsewhere," Ji Jiu said noncommittally, patting me on the shoulder with his backhand.

After settling the accounts of the teahouse, I still didn't see the trotter who was chatting with us just now, and he was still waiting in the stove room to serve food to the two old men at the table upstairs.

The person who wanted to ask for advice was not there, and there was also a left-behind runner in the lobby on the ground floor, a girl.

Whenever we see a woman, Ji Jiu and I lower our hats and walk by as much as we can, without him, as I said before, for fear of provoking the woman of Sealand, there will be extraneous branches.

One after the other went out of the teahouse, and this time Ji Jiu came to lead the way.

Far past the street opposite the city gate, we could still see the group of people we had just seen crowded around the recruiting point.

Ji Jiu turned around and pulled my arm, and said in a low voice: "He may recognize me, try to lower his head and walk away quickly." ”

I hurriedly turned into a small alley, and then crossed two intersections, I remembered the way I came, but after such a roundabout, I could not remember the direction of the inn. "Just follow me, don't worry."

Ji Jiu finally took me back to the lively street where I first strolled, and I could recognize it, also because we had been to the shop where we bought gifts for Sister Li was not far away.

There is a noodle shop across the street, and the business is good, and the proprietress at the door is chatting with the guests.

"Go there." Ji Jiu and I came to the same sentence. (To be continued)