Li Rui and Li Ming made Gu Qing laugh a lot, but this old lady's body was old after all, and Gu Qing was too "surprised" this day, so she slowly fell asleep on the bed while talking to them. Li Rui watched Siyun cover the old lady's quilt and beckoned his cousin and younger brother to go out together.

Li Jun and Li Ming followed Li Rui out of the courtyard, and the three juniors wore cloaks and stood under the eaves, feeling worried for a while.

In previous years, on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, they were all palm-lit and ate until late at night. It wasn't too late now, and they had finished eating.

"What are we going to do?" Li Ming looked at the empty courtyard. In previous years, the whole family kept the New Year together in the old lady's house, and when the New Year was keep, he played some games and talked to the next person who could tell the story, but he couldn't stay up and he fell asleep and let his father keep it.

This year, his father is not here, his mother is not there, and grandma has rested early, where should I go to celebrate the New Year?

"Why don't we go back to the West Garden and play Three Kingdoms?" Li Ming slurred his words and said, "Otherwise, you will play with the pitcher?" ”

"What is Yamakokusa?" Li Jun scratched his head, "What is popular in the capital?" ”

"Well, a popular way to play in the capital." Li Rui immediately laughed without giving face.

Hearing his brother laughing at him again, Li Xiaodao stopped doing it, jumped to his feet in a hurry, and Li Rui pulled Li Ming's sleeve and walked out.

"Okay, okay, grandma has slept, this is not a noisy place, let's go to the West Garden to discuss, what to do all night today." Li Rui shook his head helplessly as he walked, this day was too exciting.

Several young masters walked out, and the people followed behind with wind lanterns, and when they reached the gate of the courtyard, Li Rui's companion Qinglei suddenly appeared at the door of the North Park and beckoned to Li Rui.

"I'll go take a look." Li Rui turned his head and said to his brothers: "You go back to Yunxiaozhu first and wait for me." ”

"We have too few families, and my brother and I were brought in to help during the Chinese New Year last year, and we were so tired that we wanted to give birth to three heads and six arms. This year, my grandmother was sick, my father went out on an errand, and my mother was somehow tired, so I left my brother to deal with it everywhere. ”

Li Ming watched his brother walk towards Qinglei worriedly, at a young age, he actually lowered his head and sighed as an adult.

"If only I could grow up soon."

Today is the last day of the year, the house is brightly lit, all night long, and there are many lanterns hanging outside the house, illuminating everywhere. Li Jun was not afraid of the cold, and he was tired of wearing a cloak, so he stretched out his whole arm from the big cloak in the fur, raised his hand and patted Li Ming's shoulder.

"People always grow up. What you should do now is to read poetry and books diligently, and accumulate more skills to help the country. Otherwise, even if you grow up, you won't be able to help much. ”

"Big Lobby."

"Huh?"

"You're still talking like this, are you saying that I can't help me like this now?"

"Huh? I didn't mean that. Li Jun's eyes widened, and smoke came out of his anxious head. I just think you need to learn more now, and you will definitely ...... in the future Ouch, I'm not saying you haven't learned anything right now......"

Li Ming secretly stuck out his tongue.

His brother bullied him, he bullied his cousin, and his mind was finally balanced.

On the other side, Li Rui wrapped his cloak and walked quickly to Qinglei.

"What's the matter?" The nights this winter were especially cold, and as soon as he opened his mouth, white smoke erupted from his mouth. Li Rui saw the white fog and thought of the spittle stars flying all over the sky as soon as Li Xiaodu spoke, and smiled slightly.

Qinglei, Qingdian, Qingshuang, and Qingfeng are the sons of Li Meng's companions, and after Li Meng left, the four companions were all retained in the mansion, and they returned to their previous names and became various stewards. Their original name was not called this, and when they arrived at Li Rui's side, they changed it to their father's original name by Li Meng's side.

Li Mao was originally not going to let his nephew find a companion at home, but since he changed his attention and wanted to help his nephew, he still found the four old family members.

These old family members have followed Li Laoguo to fight the country since their ancestors, and they can be regarded as family generals and servants, which are different from those who have children. They have all learned martial arts, can also read and settle accounts, and are well-informed and well-connected outside, which can be regarded as a good help.

Li Mao also had such a companion, but he was not the heir back then, there were only three, one became the big housekeeper in the house, and the other ran the shop in the house outside, and only one was still with him.

This thunder is smart, has a hyphenated language, and is skillful in bowing and horses, and is faintly the head of the four companions. It's just that he is sixteen years old, and it is inconvenient to go to and from the backyard.

This kid's name is "Qinglei", and he speaks and does things well, so he immediately replied: "Young master, my uncle is here." ”

Li Rui frowned, "Which uncle?" ”

Now the head of the Guogong Mansion is his uncle, and the serious uncle is the Fang Clan's Mansion. They usually run happily, but it seems that they haven't been mixing well in the court recently, and they are ordered by Li Ming's grandfather to cultivate themselves at home every day.

These are all the news brought to him by Qi Shao, the "ear report god".

Qinglei's family was once greatly favored by Li Meng, and only recognized Li Meng as a master, and the uncle he said was, of course, the two masters of the Zhang family. Qing Lei pouted in his heart, if the uncle of the Madame's family came, where would he come to report, it must be the little scholar next to Young Master Ming who came to report to Young Master Ming.

"It's the master's uncle, Master Zhang Ning Zhang. Master Zhang came to visit with his family, and the door on the door did not dare to slack off, and had already invited him to the front hall......"

"I know." Li Rui nodded. "I'll go to the front hall."

I'm afraid that my uncle heard something and came over to see the situation.

Although Zhang Ning does not often visit the door of the Xinguo Mansion, he has always paid attention to the movements of the Xinguo Mansion. He is not ashamed of Li Mao's husband and wife, but because the Xinguo Mansion now relies on Li Mao, he is not salty or indifferent to him in face, but sometimes he secretly helps Li Mao in the court.

However, since he returned to the capital last year, Li Mao's attitude towards Li Rui has begun to change greatly, and the Xinguo Mansion has also begun to receive the attention of the nobles of the family, the scholars and the people, which also makes it impossible for Li Mao to blatantly plot against his nephew, which finally comforts his heart a little.

There is always a difference between someone in her mother's family and no one in her mother's family, although her sister is gone, the two brothers are not dead.

This Li Mao is quite smart, and he did not self-destruct the city wall to the point where the wall fell down and everyone pushed it.

The fact that the Xinguo Mansion was able to gain a place in the court so quickly also made Zhang Ning change his opinion of Li Mao slightly. A smart and ambitious person always looks a little better than a stupid person with great ambitions.

This winter's heavy snow in Tongzhou and Fenzhou, but the news that officials from all over the country did not report was also played by Li Mao, not rumors from the outside world, calculated by Zhang Xuan, when he was summoned to the study of Zichen Hall to discuss the matter, he was impressed by Li Mao.

has such courage and dares to poke this matter in front of the saint at the end of the year under the pressure of so many clans, it can be seen that in terms of "guts", he is indeed a member of the Li family.

As for the design of letting Zhang Xuan, the prestigious Lingtai Lang in the Qin Heavenly Prison, play this matter, and he only hid behind to add fuel to the fire, which not only contributed to the relief of the victims, but also avoided the time for the court to fight with each other, and did not erect a large number of enemies for the Xinguo Mansion, I have to say, it can also be called "resourceful".

Is it the environment that trains people, or is Li Shuo's bloodline really so magical, and every descendant has something extraordinary?

Thinking of his nephew who only began to study martial arts at the age of twelve, but let his staff member Du come in and praise him, Zhang Ning had to admire his sister for being able to look at people back then.

It's just that life is not good.

It is said that when Li Meng threw his body into the city, some Taoist priests said that he would violate the harmony of heaven and earth, and at least he would lose his lifespan, and at worst he would not die well for three generations, maybe this is the case.

Just pity his sister.

Zhang Ning came this time precisely for the old lady to fall ill when she returned home. Among the so many people he sent to his nephew, some of them also had channels to send him letters. He did this not to spy on the Xinguo Mansion, but to worry that Li Mao and his wife were cunning, and his nephew had a case, so before they entered the mansion, he had already ordered that if there was anything unusual, they would be told to report immediately.

Today, Old Taijun Qiu was in a coma, and as soon as the news came out that Li Rui had beaten a grandmother in Fang's courtyard, Canglan, the big girl who Li Rui was waiting for, sent a kid out and went to his house.

He was at home, and before he even finished his Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, he left the table and went out.

Li Mao is not at home, Old Taijun Qiu is ill again, if this Fang clan really wants to do something, his nephew will inevitably suffer.

Li Rui hurried to the front hall from the North Park, and after a quarter of an hour, he walked to the front hall.

"Nephew, please uncle." Li Rui gave Zhang Ning a salute.

Zhang Ning hurriedly picked up his nephew, looked left and right, and smiled proudly with his "beautiful beard".

"Okay, okay, I haven't seen you for a few months, and you're getting more and more handsome. Seeing that you look more and more like your father, I want to wait for you to be older, and you will be as talented as your father! ”

"Uncle praise." Li Rui grinned uncomfortably and thanked his uncle for his compliment.

Since he lost weight, more than one person has said he looks like his father.

He also looked in the mirror and felt that he didn't look very similar to his father, and he thought that he was polite to others. You can't say, "The older you get, the uglier you get."

If he loses weight and others still think he is ugly, he really has to think about whether he is so annoying.

In his impression, his father is the kind of person who has a graceful posture and a strategic mind, wearing a light-colored robe and plain soap silk at home all the year round, and he is indescribably handsome.

In addition to his facial features and his father's appearance, his face is like his mother's, and he also has a pair of grandfather's thick eyebrows, which is completely devoid of his father's beautiful demeanor.

"I don't know what ...... uncle is here at night" Li Rui looked at his uncle, "There are no adults in the family now, so let my uncle see the joke." ”

His uncle is a second-class official, and he went to visit relatives in the mansion of the State of Shangxin, but he came to greet him as a white-bodied boy, although he was his own uncle, in the eyes of outsiders, it was rude.

"I didn't come here to see you hypocrites." Zhang Ning listened to Li Rui's somewhat hoarse voice and felt funny, obviously he was the age of a child, and he was still learning the complicated branches of those adults in front of him. "I heard the rumors, saying that Old Taijun Qiu fell ill when she came out of the palace, and you also beat Fang's grandmother, what's the matter?"

"Uncle knows everything?" Li Rui was stunned for a moment, and then reacted.

The four first-class girls and the four little girls around him were all found by their uncles, and they probably felt that the situation was wrong today, so they went to their uncle's mansion to report the news.

"If my uncle doesn't come, my nephew also has to discuss with my uncle. It's a long story......"

Li Rui didn't know why Gu Qing was left behind by the queen when he arrived at the palace, and Gu Qing hid the emperor's handwritten book in his inner placket and didn't let Li Rui see it, so Li Rui only thought that Gu Qing had entered the palace and kept bowing too much, and there were early signs of stroke, so he suddenly became ill.

He also had doubts about why his grandmother didn't want to wake up, but this matter was a trivial matter, so naturally he didn't need to talk to his uncle, he just roughly said that his grandmother suddenly had a stroke and fainted, and he went to ask the old imperial doctor, but his aunt didn't know where to get a goddess who was proficient in "ventriloquism" to exorcise evil spirits for his grandmother.

Zhang Ning was naturally not the kind of stupid woman of the Fang family, and as soon as she heard the part where the Fang family said that she wanted to "exorcise evil spirits", she became nervous.

"Did the goddess say anything?"

"No, the goddess didn't dare to say that there was evil in her grandmother, but that there was black gas in the carriage. She tried to splash the blood of the wagon, but was stopped by my lobby brother and dragged until I returned. ”

Li Rui said with an unwilling face: "Uncle also knows about the rest of the matter." When I came back, I was furious, and whipped the woman, and had her tied up and taken to the torture chamber. This goddess has been in the house for more than a day or two, and I don't know why my aunt kept this person. ”

Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, witchcraft has been prevalent, and the things of gods and witches are even more common. In the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the "Witch Gu Rebellion" led to more than 10,000 deaths and injuries in Chang'an City, the prince hanged himself, and the queen Wei Zifu committed suicide, and nearly 400,000 people were implicated, and everyone was in danger for a while.

It was this turmoil that slowly changed the situation in the world where witchcraft was prevalent, and the witch goddess Zhu gradually became secret.

But that doesn't mean the witch charm is gone.

When Gu Qing said "Three Kingdoms" to the two children, he talked about the Yellow Turban Army at the beginning, and its leader, Zhang Jiao, was a "heavenly master" who was very good at pretending to be a ghost. Gu Qing once explained to them what the "Taiping Sutra" was, and also explained that the so-called god upper body is a skill called "ventriloquism".

As for the treatment of diseases with runes, most of them are psychological hints, or the juice of certain herbs is soaked in the talisman to dry, and then soaked in water to make "talisman water", these deceptions have been popular for thousands of years, because some people keep believing in them.

There are not too many programs to expose these deceptions in later generations, so Gu Qing said that he was happy, and pulled out many deceptions such as "killing ghosts and seeing blood" and "blowing up ghost hands", and the two children who said it bluntly were full of energy, and regarded Gu Qing as the kind of god who was "as wise as a torch".

Especially "cutting ghosts and seeing blood", Gu Qing said in the most detail. The rune paper is turmeric paper, sprayed with alkaline water, it will turn red, or there is lye on the sword, and it falls on the rune paper, and when the rune paper touches the alkaline water, it will leave blood marks.

Before Li Ming and Li Rui heard Gu Qing talk about so many deceptions, they still had a lot of awe for these monks, Taoists, and witches, but after listening to grandma's "scientific revelation", there was really no mystery at all, only disgust.

So when the witch spoke in her belly today, the other people in the house were shocked, only Li Rui was really impatient with this kind of trick that grandma once said, this is all playing on them as fools!

Only then did he whip it out.

Having said that, if Gu Qing hadn't told Li Rui and Li Ming about these ghostly tricks, they would probably be as suspicious as everyone else.

These scammers will succeed again and again when others "care about their relatives". For Li Rui, such an odious person, a whip is light.

"It's good that there are no words left. Where is the witch now? Zhang Ning looked at his nephew, "The Fang clan recruited this woman into the mansion for no reason such as 'just in case of emergency'. It's better to interrogate it. ”

"I'm going to ask my uncle. My nephew is young and hasn't experienced anything like this......"

Zhang Ning thought that his nephew wanted him to interrogate the goddess, but Li Rui clenched his fists, "The nephew wants to interrogate the goddess in person, and he also asks his uncle to give him guidance." ”

Zhang Ning looked at his nephew with a solemn face and nodded lightly.

"Then I'll help you."

The goddess "Liu Nu" was imprisoned in the torture chamber of the Xinguo Mansion, which was equivalent to a small prison, and was not built in the mansion, but was set up in the servant room when the emperor gave this mansion.

Come to think of it, the original owner of this mansion was not a generous family.

This torture room in the Xinguo Mansion has only been locked up at most by the subordinates who stole the master's things, and the torture tools in it are rarely used, Li Rui found a subordinate to lead the way, and entered the torture room with his uncle, but when he arrived at this legendary "torture room", he didn't even know what those torture tools were for.

Li Rui was struggling with his nerves, but Zhang Ning said with a smile: "Your aunt has no power behind her, and she can't leave the house on weekdays, so she can do things for her, it's just money." Such a person is the easiest to interrogate, where is the torture instrument used? ”

These children probably heard too much about how the adults tortured the officials and the old men to extract confessions, and they all thought that everyone was the kind of loyal martyr or wronged person.

If torture had been so difficult, no one in the Department would have wanted to stay there.

Before Zhang Ning saw the goddess in his nephew, he taught his nephew how to speak, how to threaten, and how to force each other with profit, so that Li Rui could act according to the law.

The goddess was reluctant to say at first, and the bite to death was the matter of entering the house to help the "heir" of the Fang family's staff, saying that the yin qi in the house was too strong, and she had been unable to conceive a child for more than a year.

Zhang Ning saw that this goddess was so partial to the Fang family, so he felt that there was something else hidden in it, and asked Li Rui to call the subordinates in the torture room to torture him.

When the nail was pulled out to the fifth, the goddess really recruited.

"What I'm good at is not giving children, but witchcraft. The lady in this house asked the old lady in the Dali Temple Qing Mansion to invite me, and spent a lot of money to invite me into the house, asking me to curse and harm people. "The goddess already had a wound on her face, and now she had five fingernails pulled out alive, and she couldn't even understand her mind. The more he spoke, the quieter he spoke.

When the servants of the torture chamber heard about this kind of unjust thing, they were so frightened that they wanted to cover their ears. Helplessly, Master Rui's uncle, Master Zhang, asked him to pour a basin of cold water on the woman, so he could only splash a basin of water while shivering.

At this time, it was cold, and the woman was stirred by the cold water, and sure enough, she was conscious again.

"Who did the Fang clan tell you to curse?" Zhang Ning's face was not very good.

That Fang clan can't let people curse their husbands and children, either the old lady or Li Rui. Then contact the old lady who fainted inexplicably today......

"I don't know! I'm only responsible for casting spells!! The goddess called "Liu Nu" shouted loudly, "I took 700 taels of gold from her and made a Fa for her!" I don't know who it is! ”

"It's nonsense, I don't know who Lu Dao is, how can he curse people! Pull it out again! ”

"Hair is blood, I am a member of the Chu Wu faction, as long as I have my birthday and hair! I put the dummy puppet in the shrine in the house, and I practiced it day and night in the house, and I had to do it for seven hundred and forty-nine days before that person could be cursed to death, and now it has only been more than twenty days...... "The goddess called Liu Nu's right hand was dripping with blood, and when she heard it, she had to pull it out again, and she was so busy that she did everything:

"I want to curse that person was born on the 19th day of the seventh month of the year of Wuchen, and the eight characters are Wuchen, Gengshen, Ding Si, Jiachen, ......."

Every time she said a word, Li Rui was dizzy, and when she finished speaking, Li Rui held on to the wall, soaked in cold sweat, and couldn't stand.

"Enough! Say no more! Zhang Ning shouted at what the goddess was going to say. Give her medicine on her hands to stop the bleeding, change her clothes, and feed her something to eat. ”

Liu Nu's eyes showed hope.

"We are not the family that kills people for no reason, we have a debtor and a master, since you have confessed, we will naturally not ask for your life in private. It's just that you want to use witchcraft to harm people but it's true, and when this matter is investigated, we will send you to the government. You do it yourself, so you can do it yourself. ”

After saying that, he ordered left and right, and immediately after eating, he gagged her mouth and tied it up again, in case she wanted to use any other way to harm others, or found a short-term view.

If this person is really from the Chu Wu faction, it is indeed not a divine deception, I am afraid that in order to convince others, I learned the method of "ventriloquism".

Zhang Ning saw that his nephew looked depressed, and slapped him on the shoulder!

"No matter how scared you are, things have happened, you dignified man, how can you be so cowardly!"

Zhang Ning saw Li Rui's sluggish expression, and then shouted: "The matter of witches and ghosts is not a trivial matter, only the family knows the eight characters of your birthday, and now it is leaked into the hands of the gods and witches, and I don't know what kind of disaster the Dao is going to cause!" The fake puppet in the hands of the goddess can't be kept for a moment! If you are taken advantage of by someone with a heart...... How many people are planted on this! ”

Li Rui didn't believe it at all, just with a puppet, he could kill people with a single eight characters.

His whole body was powerless not because he was afraid, but he couldn't believe that the Fang clan hated him so much, and he actually took such a risk to curse him in his own yard!

Don't she even want a little face at the bottom? If this matter is exposed, has she ever thought about how Li Ming will deal with herself and how to meet people? Is there any benefit to his uncle's plot against his own nephew?

Li Rui held his breath in his chest, he couldn't spit it out, he couldn't swallow it, he couldn't swallow it, so he had to pick up the whip on the wall, smoke it indiscriminately, turn around and walk out.

Zhang Ning saw that his nephew was even beating the arteries in his neck, and hurriedly wanted to pull it, but Li Rui was bored and just left, he had great strength, and Zhang Ning couldn't pull him.

"What are you going to do! The Fang clan is your aunt, and she can't make a ...... when she is angry."

Li Rui turned his head.

In the darkness, only his eyes burned with rage.

"I don't want to do anything to my aunt." Li Rui said in a rock-hard tone, "I just want to go to my aunt's house and take out that fake doll in front of her." ”

"I want to see what else she's going to do!"

Li Ming and Li Jun were still waiting for him while keeping vigil in "Xiaozhu in the Clouds", which saved him from embarrassing his younger brother.

When Zhang Ning heard this, he stopped pulling him. This matter will always be torn apart, and no matter how much this Fang clan jumps like this, their mansion will also be implicated.

It's just that I broke into my aunt's courtyard at night, which is really ugly to say, and there is a suspicion of framing.

Zhang Ning looked at his nephew and let out a long breath.

"It's not appropriate for you to go now, I'll go to Zhiyun Courtyard with you, and ask the old lady to call the shots."