The second day after the wedding was unusually busy. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info got up early to wash, practice and eat breakfast, and the clothes that were changed last night were too late to be cleaned, so Xia Shuanghan went to the village's assembly square with Baliya and Camorra to pack up their belongings and clean up.

At the top of the three-story well, the girls and women who were washing the plates were huddled in a circle, chatting with each other.

"Sister Shuanghan, what are you doing so early today, why don't you sleep for a while." Camorra, a married woman, could see from Xia Shuanghan's slightly sluggish footsteps that she was unwell, and this was exactly the camouflage effect that Xia Shuanghan needed.

"Didn't I get drunk at the banquet early last night and go back early, so although I got up early today, I still slept enough."

"That's also Shixuan's pity for you, good self-control." At the well, the married woman who led the family quipped, "Don't you see that several brides, including Lydide, have not been able to come to the assembly square this morning?" ”

“...... This...... Sister Bariya is still standing next to me, aunts and sisters will let me go, don't talk about this topic anymore! Xia Shuanghan, who can pretend to be shy in his demeanor, but can't let himself blush when he says he blushes, in order to avoid goofing, he uses Baliya, an unmarried girl, as a shield to bypass the topic.

Carrying a heavy bamboo basket full of wooden cutlery, and Balia holding a clean woven mat and cushions, she was on her way home, and Xia Shuanghan met Ugal who was carrying a low table that had been removed from the square and headed for Lydilu's house.

For this young man of the Rong tribe, who was separated from his brother since he was a child and only integrated into Naming Village not long ago, most of the villagers welcomed him. Of course, this is no exception to Xia Shuanghan, who is a friend of Lydilu's friend.

"Brother Ugar, have you been cleaned of the remnants of snake venom? Now, is your body fully restored? Facing Ugal, who was still unwell due to the influence of snake venom when he was first rescued back to the village, expressing concern about his physical condition naturally became an inevitable opening topic.

"Thank you for your concern, it's all good Frost Girl." Dark-complexioned and healthy-looking, Ugal flashed a mouthful of white teeth and exchanged a few words with Xia Shuanghan and Bariya, and then stepped onto the fork in the road, heading in a different direction from Yehon's house.

Pulping laundry, burning charcoal, repairing roofs, doors and windows, in the next half day, Xia Shuanghan, Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran's activities were no different from the ordinary and busy on weekdays. It's just that when the moon rises in the middle of the sky and the entire Naming Village falls asleep, there is a different movement in Lu Shaoyun and Xia Shuanghan's room.

On the night of September 16, the day that the lurking trio had planned during the celebration to go into the mountains to explore the internal passages of the Chuz Mountains.

In the quiet and dim room, Lu Shaoyun, who had changed into a black night coat and put the necessary equipment on his waist and calves, lifted the lamp with the night pearl inside, and jumped down to the third floor with Lin Xiran, who was also ready to gently tap the window, and then quietly ran into the vast night.

Hidden like ghosts in the shadows under the walls cast by the moonlight of the full moon, Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran, who quietly touched the roots of the walls of many houses all the way out of the village, soon came to the entrance they had chosen to enter the mountain, the cave with a waterfall.

Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran, who had completely memorized the map drawn by Xia Shuanghan and trusted the information drawn on the map, coincidentally chose the one in front of them among the four entrances and exits provided by Xia Shuanghan.

Needless to say, the entrance and exit of the criminals in and out of the mountain was the first option to be eliminated. The two passages, with a large number of bats hanging overhead and a large number of spiders lying on the rock wall, were ruled out because they were too far away and had to cross most of the village, making it too likely to be discovered by the "sentinels".

Therefore, the fourth entrance and exit, which is the most concealed, the closest, and the least easy to be detected by the two of them, has become the best choice for Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran.

Under the light of the full moon that was half covered by the cliff, Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran, who had already found and remembered the point of stepping on the borrowing force a few days ago, performed light skills and leaped diagonally upwards on the rock wall, and soon avoided the water flow of the waterfall and stepped into the cave.

At his feet was a steady stream of water rushing outward, and on his side was a wet, damp rock wall. Standing still for a moment allowed his eyes to adjust to the dim Lu Shaoyun in the cave, and soon saw the bright light coming from the corner of the deep cave.

Turning his head to look at Lin Xiran, who was also adapted to the dim environment, Lu Shaoyun, who hung the small palm-sized hood lamp behind his waist, took the lead and walked forward.

On the rock wall of the long and narrow passage, large areas of fluorescent lichen are like the moonlight of the full moon with a celadon-like coolness, providing enough light for Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran, who are light and agile, to see and move forward.

Quietly going deep along the water flow, it was verified little by little, and the road under their feet was almost the same as the drawings drawn by Xia Shuanghan, Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xuran, the more they walked, the more thrilling they became.

Originally, in the past few days, in the face of the well-annotated and well-organized map drawn by Xia Shuanghan, although Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran had full trust in it, in the process of desperately memorizing the map, both of them still subconsciously thought that it must have some inevitable mistakes and omissions.

The two people, who had just come to explore the road on the first night and did not plan to start drawing a map immediately, were already mentally prepared for the map in their minds to be inconsistent with the actual situation under their feet when they walked along the water flow to the depths of the mountain.

But now, when they walked along the passage that was almost indistinguishable from the map in their minds, and after several forks in the road, they came to the confluence of the underground dark river recorded by Xia Shuanghan without any obstacles, and the two people who completely recognized the correctness of the map really couldn't tell whether they were more surprised or more happy in their hearts.

Walking out of the coverage of fluorescent lichen, Lu Shaoyun, who fiddled with the lamp in his hand, and Lin Xiran tried to move forward for a while under the illumination of a single stream of light. It wasn't until they heard the slight sound of human activity behind the rock wall that they thought that today's preliminary exploration mission had been overdone, so they returned the same way and returned to the "whooshing" waterfall.

Glancing at the full moon that had moved a considerable distance in the sky, Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran, who knew that it was not a good time to stay and communicate outside, re-infiltrated Naming Village under the cover of night, climbed over the wall and went upstairs, and soon climbed through the window and returned to their respective rooms.

In the dim and silent room, Xia Shuanghan, who had been sleeping since she was a girl, woke up soon after Lu Shaoyun pushed the window into the house, opened her eyes and locked Lu Shaoyun, who was busy changing clothes by the mattress. "You're back? How's it going, did tonight's probe go well? Is there anything wrong with the map I draw? ”

"Everything went smoothly and there was nothing wrong with the map you made." Lu Shaoyun, who knew from her turning over movements and suddenly changing breathing before Xia Shuanghan opened her mouth, changed out of her night clothes, got into the quilt and took her into her arms, "Xiran and I followed the current, walked forward for a while in the missing part of the map you drawn, passed through an open cave lined with stalagmites and stalactites, and then returned the same way. ”

"Well, yes, it's good to go well."

Listening to Xia Shuanghan's tired and sleepy voice, Lu Shaoyun couldn't help but be concerned: "Did I wake you up?" If that's the case, how about I be lighter when I come back tomorrow? ”

"No, how did you wake me up?" The sleepy Xia Shuanghan snuggled into Lu Shaoyun's arms with affection, stretched out his hand to wrap his waist and murmured: "You are different from Xiran who lives alone in a room now, you went out, and you didn't return safely, I remember you, so naturally it is impossible to sleep soundly." ”

"Is this the feeling of a wife who can't sleep soundly because she misses her husband who is away?" Lu Shaoyun, who felt that having a home was warm, kissed Xia Shuanghan's forehead gratefully and lovingly.

And Xia Shuanghan, who was extremely sleepy and couldn't muster up the energy to respond to this kiss, rubbed his head in Lu Shaoyun's neck socket and muttered: "Go to sleep, there is still a lot of work to do tomorrow day, and it is impossible for you to take a nap and rest." ”

"......" glanced at Xia Shuanghan, who was finally relieved to sleep peacefully because of his safe return, Lu Shaoyun swallowed the question in his heart about the source of the map that he didn't have time to say at all, and even if he asked, he couldn't get an answer.

For the next half a month, Lu Shaoyun, who had to go out into the mountains with Lin Xiran every night, added lines to Xia Shuanghan's incomplete map transcription map, and recorded the enemy situation detected one by one in the booklet.

According to Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran's investigation, the culprit who produced and sold red and white pills in Qiuzi Mountain had the largest production season in the coming cold winter and ice period.

The alternation of autumn and winter in the Qiuz Mountains is always short and distinct. Before the middle of September, the scorching heat of the blazing sun hanging high in the sky once made everyone think that they were in the hot summer, but once it is in late September, the weather is cold, and people want to put on winter clothes overnight.

In mid-October, days of heavy snow will soon block the entire mountainous area of Qiuz. And such a season when there will never be a surprise attack by the Great Xia warriors is also the best time for the criminals to let go of their hands and feet and wantonly create forbidden drugs.

Throughout the second half of September, Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran, who went in and out of the mountains late at night to steal maps, could always hear the sound of the criminals busy preparing to survive the cold winter.

Of course, not only food and clothing, but also all kinds of materials to maintain basic daily life are constantly being pulled into the mountains under the cover of night.

"Why don't they need coal for heating?" In a murmuring and pitch-black cave, Lin Xiran, who was hiding behind a huge rock, watched a two-wheeled cart full of flour bags slowly drive past the exit at the end of the cave thirty zhang away, and whispered: "In the past half a month, I haven't seen anything they are preparing to keep warm!" ”

"They don't need to," Lu Shaoyun, who was also hiding behind the boulder and completely handing over the sentry task to Lin Xiran, twisted the lampshade to adjust a faint light less than half a finger width, and then said softly while drawing a short line on the map sketch.

"Do you remember the river that flowed through the cave where they housed their pharmaceutical workshops and dormitories? As Shuang Han told me, the water of the dark river is mixed with hot spring water, so the water temperature is higher than the water in the pond that is exposed to the sun all day in the summer. Therefore, there is a river that regulates the cold and warmth, and that area does not need to burn charcoal for heating at all. ”

"......" Lin Xiran didn't say much about Xia Shuanghan, who didn't know how to grasp the news that was obviously correct. Looking at the fire at the exit of the cave that lit up little by little, he knew that the next grain truck was coming, and began to wait patiently for the grain truck to pass.

"I said Bahamai, is the new hammock already installed today?" As a young man pushing a cart passed through the entrance and exit of the cave, he said to another man who was holding a torch to illuminate the grain cart: "My hammock has been mended and mended, and it can't hold any longer, and if you don't change it for me tonight, I'm going to come and grab your bed!" ”

"Got it, I've already changed it for you!" Bahamai with a big red bump on his cheeks: "But before you climb into bed, you better go to the river to take a bath, this smell on your body is simply an insult to the new hammock!" ”

"Roll the calves!"

Amid the crunching of the wheels, five or six men pushed their two-wheeled carts and Bahama, who were carrying torches, into the passage outside the cave.

And glancing at the end of the cave that had completely darkened again, Lin Xiran, who relied on listening to the sound to determine that no one would pass through the passage for the time being, turned his head and signaled to Lu Shaoyun that they could move on.

Twist the thin cylindrical lamp, which is stuffed with three lychee-sized night pearls inside, and slides from side to side, and the cross-sectional arc-shaped lampshade slides open, revealing a two-finger-wide ray of light that is brighter than the moonlight of a full moon.

"Let's go, keep going." Lu Shaoyun, who was carrying a lamp, stuffed the map sketch and thin charcoal pen that still had a lot of blank space into his arms, and then quietly walked with Lin Xiran towards the exit at the end of the cave.

After these days of investigation, Lu Shaoyun, who divided the blank space of Xia Shuanghan's unfinished map into ten areas, has already filled in the two most important and difficult places with Lin Xiran.

And Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran, who have filled in a series of important locations such as food warehouses and forbidden drug warehouses on these two blank spaces, have to sigh that these criminals in Qiuzi Mountain have indeed spent a lot of effort in order to maximize the production of more banned drugs in this mountain.

As a gang that lives in seclusion in the mountains all the year round, in spring, summer and autumn, the criminals who make and sell red and white pills are ready to abandon the mountain and flee at any time in order to guard against the Tongchengguan garrison that may take encirclement and suppression actions at any time, and they will not store too many materials in the mountain.

Every time the defenders of Tongcheng take action, rush out of the pass at dusk and attack late at night, and arrive at Qiuzi Mountain at dawn to carry out encirclement and suppression, the criminal's accomplices hiding in the small town in Tongcheng Pass will release carrier pigeons as soon as they learn the news, so that they can take advantage of the perennial northwest wind to arrive at Qiuzi Mountain one step ahead of the Great Xia soldiers and complete the task of ventilating and reporting the news.

Therefore, every time they received news from their accomplices from Tongcheng Pass, the criminals in the mountains could always escape with the help of the complicated passages in Qiuzi Mountain after hiding the red and white pills and most of the production materials that had been made. The warehouse where the red and white pills were stored was built inside the mountain with the most effort by the criminals.

Unlike the food storehouse, which was made with a hole in the wall and made with a little processing, the storehouse where the red and white pills were hidden was a cellar-like thing that was dug by hand and hidden under the river.

On weekdays, the criminals who set up stone sluices in the upper reaches of the river divert the river so that the entrance and exit are open on the riverbed, and the whole thing is completely hidden under the riverbed, and the well-sealed and waterproof and leaky warehouse is completely exposed.

The criminals who bottled and packed the red and white pills into the warehouse would close the entrances and exits when needed, waterproof and camouflage the entrances and exits on the riverbed, and then break down the stone sluices so that the river would completely submerge the riverbed where the warehouses were located.

In this way, the criminals who did not need to escape with red and white pills could not only flee quickly and lightly, but also the Great Xia warriors who broke into the cave could not find the wreckage of the sluice gate and the forbidden medicine warehouse hidden under the black water.

"They spend so much effort on the forbidden medicine warehouse, but the rest of the place is very rough!"

In the dark stone passage, Lin Xiran and Lu Shaoyun finished exploring the medicinal stone mine in front of them that produced the raw materials for making red pills, and then retreated to the damp and cold safety together.

While listening to the clanging sound of pickaxes and shovels on the other side of the stone wall, Lin Xiran, who was shouldering the task of sentry, said softly: "If their food warehouse is also willing to put in a lot of effort, the dishes will not only be air-dried food and fermented food. ”

"What do you complain about, knowing that they didn't build cellars to store food just to prevent us from thinking of the forbidden medicine warehouse under the riverbed?" Lu Shaoyun added new lines to the draft map with the light from the night pearl in the lamp, and said softly: "It's okay, let's stop here tonight, we should go back." ”

Lu Shaoyun, who adjusted the lamp in his hand and put away the map and charcoal, embarked on the return journey back to Naming Village with Lin Xiran.

On the way back, in order to dodge a few criminals pushing a minecart from other passages, Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran were forced to choose a certain passage that they were not willing to use. This passage happened to pass through the grotto with an artificial cave carved into the stone wall and a hammock hanging in the cave.

Inside the grotto, beside the flowing warm river, under the dome of countless sharp stalactites, the jumping red firelight reflected eight or nine busy men.

A man with his back to Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran took out the translucent red crystal-shaped medicinal stones stacked in the minecart and put them in the basket on the ground, and said, "Didn't the one from Naming Village say that he is old enough to assume the function of a sentry?" Is our new replacement now fully replaced? ”

"According to the information he sent back himself, although things were a little twisty at the beginning, he should have been on the task of the Sentinel."

A man who had ground the newly mined medicine stones into powder in a basket at his feet poured the ground powder into a cauldron with white steam on the stove, and said, "And according to the information he sent back, the two Han people from Yehong's family and the mixed-race girl really don't look like there is a problem. ”

"Really?" The man who had emptied the cart walked to the stove, and while putting a large long-handled wooden spoon into the pot and stirring it, he asked another man who was cutting herbs, "What did the news from Tongchengguan say?" Is the news of that escape really reliable? ”

"It should be eight or nine." The man who grabbed a handful of dried herbs and chopped them into minced pieces raised his head on the pony and replied: "The news from there says that according to many investigations, many of the Tongcheng defenders in the restaurants in the town have discussed it, saying that the young master of the Dingguo Mansion couldn't hold his face because his fiancée ran away with someone, so he insisted on asking the order to go south to avoid rumors. ”

"Yes, if this is really the case, it is estimated that the three people from Yehong's family should really have no problem." The man with the wooden spoon took a small basin full of herb powder from the hand of the man sitting on the horse, poured it all into the cauldron, and stirred it again.

"The three people of the Yehong family can be left alone for the time being, but other things still need to be worried!" The one who spoke was the man Lin Xiran had met and asked to change the hammock. I saw him after taking a bath in the river, wrapped in a bath towel, and swam ashore from a dimly lit place to join the conversation of a few people by the stove.

"Tongcheng Pass has been investigated more and more strictly in recent years, if the red and white pills can't pass Tongcheng Pass, what will we exchange for silver?"

"When Bahamel returns, let him tell you that he has just gone to the hut......"

The sound of "creaking" footsteps in the distance of the passage made Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xiran, who were hidden in the passage, give up their intention to continue eavesdropping, and the two of them quickly dodged, and as soon as Bahamai walked by, they stepped on the passage he walked through and went to the exit of the mountain.

"If you want to go to this thatched house, you can't do it without a little courage!" Next to the stone chamber excavated from the rock wall, Lin Xiran glanced at the two wooden planks for stepping on the ground, and in the dark depths under the wooden planks, there were sharp rocks and a thatched hut with a "whooshing" mountain stream, and couldn't help but shudder and whispered: "This thatched house, if you don't step on it well, you will die!" ”

"Be serious, let's go!" Lu Shaoyun, who was quite speechless, glanced at Lin Xiran, who was still casually sighing at the structure of the thatched house, and deeply realized that things like drawing maps, which have to be calculated and measured, should really be handed over to Lin Xiran, who hates arithmetic. Let's see if he really counts it all night, does he still have the heart to sigh about these things. (To be continued.) )