When night falls, the lights are on, and the Qinhuai River in Jiangning City is full of tourists.

Upstairs, the conversation among diners is still inseparable from the mutation that shocked the world more than three months ago. And the rumors that loomed in the five continents of Xuanwu a few days ago, even if the government came forward to clarify, could not stop the world's curiosity.

Occasionally, some people said that the newly appointed political envoy of Jianghuai Daobu was introduced, and some well-informed people pretended to mysteriously reveal that not only was the new feudal official of the imperial party, but even the Jiangning naval division had changed up and down.

A richly dressed middle-aged guest sighed: "The evil moon is at the head, and the flattering party is in charge on this Jianghuai Road, and the people's lives are afraid to be even more difficult." ”

"Aren't all officials the same?" the shopkeeper muttered in a low voice, but was glared at by the shopkeeper and hurriedly ran away.

When the store opens to do business, it is natural to join the interest of the guests, and pick people to listen to it, but when they meet such a good guest who talks about the country, most of the shopkeepers just don't hear it, and they don't participate in it easily.

The middle-aged guest didn't care so much, and continued to talk loudly, and between his words, it was obvious that he admired loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, and felt that the current loss of power in Confucianism was a sign of chaos in the world.

This man was already four or five points drunk, and he could talk about it, but he caught a glimpse of a Taoist priest by the window, and the guest who dipped himself in it couldn't help shaking his head, so he lifted the wine jug, staggered to the man, and said, "This real person, don't you think what I said is completely unreasonable?"

This Taoist priest was about forty years old, wearing a black Taoist robe, born thin, with a sparse beard, and a bit of dust.

But the middle-aged drinker called him a "real person", not referring to the realm of cultivation, but the way of the world. Seeing the Taoist priest called the real person, seeing the monk called the mage, are all common titles in the market, it is not true to say, but it is comfortable to listen to, it is better than calling "miscellaneous hair" or "bald donkey".

Seeing this, the guest who was traveling with the rich middle-aged man came to pull him up, and he was busy confessing to the Taoist priest.

"It doesn't matter. The Taoist priest smiled slightly, spread his hands and invited the half-drunk middle-aged man to sit down, and said with a calm expression: "You said that Confucianism is falling, and the world will be in chaos, how can you see it?"

The rich middle-aged man was pulled by a friend, and before meeting again, this person looked like a fairy, and most of the wine suddenly woke up, but he didn't want to be in front of so many guests, folded his face, sat upright at the moment, and asked very seriously: "Do you think that there is anything wrong with loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness?"

"According to what you say, Zhang Zuoyi, the political envoy of Xinren Jianghuai Dao, is he a kingless, fatherless, unkind and unrighteous person?" said the Taoist priest with a light smile.

The rich middle-aged man was asked for a while, even if he was strong in wine, he didn't dare to scold a court official in public so unbearable.

The Taoist priest did not entangle, and then asked: "Shenzhou is big enough for the cultivator to have his land, and it is also enough to shelter the cold people in the world, why do some people sit on thousands of acres of fertile land and thousands of mansions, but some people sleep on the streets, endure cold and starve?"

Without waiting for the rich middle-aged man to speak, the Taoist priest said: "Daliang Zhongxing has been in power for more than 200 years, and generations of monarchs and Confucians have ruled together, but let me ask you, in the past two hundred years, the Son of Heaven has been one person after all, but there are a few more Confucian scholars in the world?

At this time, other diners chimed in: "Hujiang Academy doesn't know how many fields there are, but it never pays the imperial grain. ”

The rich middle-aged man walked away with the wine jug, still muttering in a reckless voice: "You are a Taoist family, so naturally you don't like Confucianism, but the world of this big beam, after all, Confucianism helped Emperor Taizong to fight down." Besides, Confucian officials regard the people as their people, and not all people in the world are blind. ”

The Taoist priest smiled and stopped pestering him.

At this time, in the upstairs seat, there was a Confucian and a monk sitting opposite each other, and the light vegetarian food on the table in front of him had not moved.

The conversation downstairs just now naturally came up, and the silence between the two at the moment may also have something to do with it.

"Master, my Song family is in Hangzhou, and it is true that they have thousands of fertile fields, but they are all given by the first emperor, and they have never forcibly bought an inch of land from the people for more than 100 years......"

It was Song Manqiu's father, Song Yinting, who spoke, and sitting opposite him at the moment was Yuan Qi, the abbot of Qixia Temple in Jiangning.

"The donor is too worried, and the temple does not want to be involved, just because the temple is small and weak, and it can't withstand the wind and waves. I also hope that the donor Haihan. Abbot Yuanqi said calmly.

"The treasure of your temple was stolen, is it just that?" Song Yinting frowned.

"All causes and effects have a definite number, so why force it. The abbot of Yuanqi still looked like an old monk and was unmoved.

"Master...... The Buddha said that if I don't go to hell, who will go to hell, what is the explanation?" Song Yinting asked again.

Abbot Yuanqi was silent for a moment, shook his head and said: "What the donor said is extremely true, but up and down the temple, there are more than a thousand monks, and there are only dozens of good fighters, and they are really willing but powerless. ”

"There are eggs under the nest, as the so-called road is one foot high, one foot high, one step back today, tomorrow is ten steps and a hundred steps, and there will be no retreat. Song Yinting paused and said: "Today's cause, tomorrow's fruit, I hope the master will think twice." ”

"The donor doesn't need to say any more. The abbot of Yuanqi slowly folded and said: "The poor monk also wants to be happy and revenge, but as the abbot, he has to make plans for the monks up and down the temple, and worry about the thousand-year-old foundation of the temple...... It's not a no-do, it's really not a no-no. ”

With that, he got up and left.

Song Yinting also stood up, but did not catch up. At this moment, even if he was unwilling in his heart, he had nothing to say.

He went north from the Qimin Road, and he didn't know how many academies and temples he ran along the way, and how many pairs of shoes he stepped on, but even if he was like the abbot of Yuanqi, there were very few who had the patience to listen to him.

Of course he knew that the Song family was not the first and would not be the last, but at the moment, only the Song family was standing on the cusp, but the Confucian people were all lucky and avoided it.

Even the Confucian sect in the world is a mess of scattered sand, and wanting to say that Qixia Temple is tantamount to a fool's dream - the abbot of Yuanqi refused to see him in the mountain gate, but made an appointment with him in Jiangning City, and the meaning was already clear.

Song Yinting casually threw a silver ingot on the table, walked downstairs, and when he passed the second floor, he caught a glimpse of the Taoist priest sitting next to the bed, but he didn't see it, but the Taoist priest followed him very naturally.

The two of them went down the Zhenyu Building one after the other, mixed in the crowd and walked out of more than half a mile, Song Yinting turned into an alley, then turned around, and said coldly: "Your Excellency has been with me for more than ten days, I don't know what you have to do?"

The Taoist priest behind him looked at him for a long time, shook his head and smiled: "Why do you want Lord Song to ask knowingly, Poor Dao is naturally here to escort you north." ”

Song Yinting stood silently, the spirit sword in the box trembled slightly, and it seemed that it might come out of the sheath at any time.

And the middle-aged Taoist priest on the other side just looked at him with a smile, as if he didn't realize the danger at all.

In the whole alley, the air seemed to freeze, and the surrounding courtyard walls seemed to be twisted and deformed, and they would collapse at any moment. A pitch-black wild cat walked along the base of the wall and suddenly stopped, its hair standing on end, but its body motionless.

Finally, at a certain moment, the pressure around the dense surroundings suddenly relaxed, and the black cat jumped up the courtyard wall.

“...... Then there is Your Excellency. Song Yinting said coldly, then walked past the Taoist priest and walked onto the street without looking back.

The Taoist priest moved his throat, swallowed his saliva, and the frozen smile on his face slowly faded, and only after a while did he say to himself: "Hangzhou Song family, it is really extraordinary......" said and turned his head and walked out of the alley.