The Qian family occupies an area five times that of ordinary farmers, and their house is comparable to the imperial palace in the capital compared to the honest valley.

The glazed blue tiles shine in the sun, the exquisite carvings on the white jade fence are vivid, and a gold-plated plaque is hung above the majestic bronze door, and two gold seal characters are written from the hands of famous artists - money house.

Qingmin stepped forward and buckled the brass ring on the door. A subordinate ran to answer the door, saw that it was Qing Min, and said without waiting for her to speak: "Xiao Min, our master is not here, you can go back!" ”

There was a "bang", and the door was slammed shut.

"Why is this man so rude?" The stone that ate the closed door wanted to come forward and knock again.

Qing Min hurriedly stopped him: "Forget it, I knew it would be like this." Since last month, their family has avoided me and Uncle Hai, and I haven't seen his young master again. ”

"It's not easy for everyone, what's wrong?" The stone clasped his hands in front of his chest and slowly walked forward with his head down.

"Wait for you, the great detective, to unravel the mystery." Qingmin plucked the wildflowers on the side of the road and put them on his head, and his charming smile was more brilliant than the flowers.

On a cool autumn night, the moonlight outside the window gently sprinkled on the stone through the window, caressing him like a pair of graceful and light hands.

In the haze, the weary stone saw his father and mother.

After a month away, he missed home, his relatives, their gentle whispers to him, their stroking of his head, his smile, and even his father's taut face, the red mark that his father made on his hand when he picked up the ruler.

When the morning light first appeared, Qingmin got up, and when she saw the stone holding the book and engrossed in it, she hummed a nameless tune with joy, busy cooking breakfast, taking care of the flowers and plants, and rejoicing that she had thrown a humane word to the stone to let him eat the buns.

"Stone, breakfast is ready, you eat more. Today I specially made a few side dishes, and you have not eaten well in the past few days when you have been patronizing and reading. ”

"Hmm." The stone responded absentmindedly, holding a book in his left hand and a steamed bun in his right hand, and sat for a long time, his eyes never left the book for a moment, and the steamed bun did not bite down.

"Don't look at it, eat well! What if you get sick again? Qingmin gently admonished.

"I'm ...... well"

"Hold it!" Qingmin snatched the book from the stone's hand, took a fish and a few pieces of meat and put them on the plate, and handed them to the stone.

"My mother is like that."

"I'm not as good as your mother! By the way, does this book say how to cure madness? ”

"Madness, madness, there should be. However, you have to be able to cure this disease, and you have to read medical books to have this ability. If you look for a prescription for madness and grab the medicine, I am afraid that not only will you not be able to cure Uncle Hai's madness, but it will also cost him his life. ”

"Oh, that's right, how long are you going to read these books?"

"It's hard to say, maybe a few months, maybe a few years."

"It's been so long."

"That's a long time. My father once said that even if you read a good book for the rest of your life, you may not understand the real mystery in it. What's more, now that no one teaches me, I can only figure it out slowly by myself......"

Suddenly, the crisp sound of firecrackers rippled through the Valley of Honesty like stones falling on the calm water. Smoke soared into the sky like small snakes, and gongs, drums and trumpets rang out in unison.

"Kissing?" Stone asked.

Qingmin walked to the front yard and put her palms on her forehead to block the glare of the sun, and padded her toes.

Her gaze stretched out from the palm of her hand, through a thousand rays of golden light, over the ridges and meadows, and resting on the winding path.

"The line to greet the relatives is not so long, they ...... It doesn't seem to be from the valley. I wonder if there is a great joy in the valley? Let's go, let's see! ”

Led by two majestic eight-lift sedan chairs, followed by a team of dozens of officials, slowly walked along the winding path.

From the irrepressible discussion of the onlookers, Qing Min learned that the sedan chair was carrying the political envoy of Hu Guangbu and the prefect of Jingzhou.

"Such a big official!" Qingmin stuck out her tongue and relieved the spasms caused by surprise with this simple stretch.

"Is this a big official?" Shi didn't think so, thinking that he saw the golden luan driving in front of him on Yingtian's avenue.

"What do you kid know, that's an official from the capital. Except for the emperor Lao Tzu, the official in the capital is the biggest. A fellow who had been to a foreign country and had seen the world explained to the stone.

"Then some of the officials in the capital are big and some are small, not all of them are big." Stone said.

"Daddy Dong, my friend is from the capital!" Qingmin introduced to the villagers.

"Oh, that's the world!" Father Dong suddenly showed an expression of humility and seeking advice, "Little brother, is Hu Guangbu's political envoy big?" ”

"It's okay, second grade." Stone Road.

"Second grade? That's not as big as our county. I've heard that our county has seven grades. ”

"Seven is indeed greater than two." Stone laughed.

"Three is bigger than two, not to mention seven, that's a lot bigger!" When Father Dong looked up at the sedan chair again, his fear and respect were swept away.

"Well, seven, seven." The stone was hidden in front of him by a book he had brought with him, and behind it was a smiling face.

They followed the beating of gongs and drums, and the jubilation and noise spread through the silent valley, and its unknown mystery was about to be revealed.

The exhausted team finally stopped in front of a mansion that, although not more magnificent than the Qian family, was much larger than ordinary people, and the traces of its past glory still remained.

"Which one is this?" Stone asked Xiaomin.

"The family's surname is Wu, and the ancestor is a general of the Song Dynasty. I heard that the general was very brave on the battlefield, and one could kill a hundred, and the emperor personally gave him a plaque to reward him for his military exploits. It's a pity that later there were a few losers in their family, and after losing their family business, they moved to our valley. ”

At the front of the house were five or six people waiting respectfully, and in the middle was a short man of about fifty years of age, who was the owner of the house.

He had slender eyebrows, small, ungodly eyes, and a large nose underneath it, with thick wings and nostrils facing the sky, like two bottomless black holes.

A woman of about forty years of age stood beside him, with a well-proportioned figure and still charm, except for her broken lips, which were as plump as water-filled pig intestines, and made people fear that when she spoke, a river gushed out of her lips.

On the other side of the man was a tall young man, mediocre in appearance, but strong and athletic with the demeanor of a gatekeeper.

Standing on the outermost side was a tall young woman, with a somewhat resemblance to the woman, with her breasts and eyebrows hanging down, and a look of shyness.

The subordinates all stood in the back row, their eyes were blank, and they looked like they had nothing to do with themselves, which fully confirmed the wise saying that the tree fell and scattered.

After the political envoy of Hu Guangbu and the prefect of Jingzhou got off the sedan chair, everyone stepped forward, knelt down, and saluted with fists: "The villain greets the political envoy and the prefect!" ”

"Hurry up, please!" The envoy and the prefect tried to speak in unison, but they still missed a syllable.

The two of them were tall and short, the tall governor was thin and shriveled, and the short prefect was fat and greasy.

No matter from which angle you look at it, one person can't stop the demeanor of another person, which also satisfies the curiosity of the onlookers.

After the Wu family got up, the political envoy said: "The emperor ordered the two of us to come to your mansion to visit the descendants of General Wu. General Wu bravely killed the enemy and was invincible, and his heroism was really heart-wrenching. Although our younger generations are also court officials, they are really ashamed to make meager contributions. ”

A perfect whisker like a meal skill made the humble old man Wu tremble.

The sober Mrs. Wu stabbed Mr. Wu's arm, and Mr. Wu woke up like a dream, and hurriedly returned the salute with his fists.

"Your Excellency, you're too modest. My ancestors went to the bloody battlefield, loyally protected the country, and drove away the foreigners to fulfill the duties of generals and the duties of the Song people. Thanks to the emperor's grace, the two adults came to the cold house today, which is really the blessing of my Wu family and the blessing of my ancestors! The two adults were tired from running all the way, so please go in and rest for a while. ”

Master Wu replied decently, neither humble nor arrogant, polite and courteous.

The political envoy of Hu Guangbu and the prefect of Jingzhou brought a few personal guards into the Wu family, and the rest of the entourage stood guard outside the door, black and oppressive like crows gathered under the dark clouds.

"What is this official doing in your valley?" Stone asked Qingmin.

"I don't know about this, I've never seen such a big posture before."

"At night, I disguised myself as a guard and snuck into their house to take a look."

"Sneaking into their house? Don't, right? Stones, too dangerous! ”

"It's not dangerous, I've experienced much more dangerous things than this. I've seen the world, and I can handle it. Hehe! A warm current spreads in the heart of the stone, warming the place where the warm autumn sun can't shine.

"No, what are you doing, Uncle Hai's business hasn't been taken care of yet!" Qingmin's eyes were filled with tears in an instant.

"Why are you still crying?" Stone was in a hurry, trying to wipe away Qingmin's tears with his sleeve, but he was worried about wiping Qingmin's face.

Qingmin turned her back to wipe away her tears alone, and when she turned around again, the grievances were swept away, and anger was grandly staged: "If you like to go, go away!" ”

Qingmin's blame and tears didn't stop Shi from going to Wu's house to find out.

The valley was full of suspicions, strange things were happening, and he vaguely felt that there might be an unexpected connection. In any case, it is not difficult to go to the Wu family.

After nightfall, the stone came to the outside of the courtyard wall on the unguarded side of the Wu family.

Behind the courtyard wall, which is more than one foot high, there is a lot of noise, and it is in full swing. The revelry here seems to keep the long valley awake all night.

Shi said secretly in his heart: "The crows in the officialdom are as black as they are, they are cautious and humble during the day, treat each other politely, and call them brothers and sisters at night. Fortunately, Dad is not such an official! ”

He looked up, and the towering courtyard wall was a world for the heroes of the rivers and lakes to show their talents, and for him it was an unattainable castle in the sky.

After giving up the climb, he decided to use his tongue to enter through the gate.

The wall can stop him, but no man can stop him.