In the dark

In the fifth year of Taihe, October Jiashen, not just three quarters.

Chang'an, Wannian County, Jinchangfang, Wang Maoyuan's private residence.

When the porter heard the three words of the little lady, his face was slightly stunned, he didn't remember that the little lady had informed that there was a visitor today. But for the sake of insurance, he hurriedly opened the door, bowed to Li Shangyin, and said that he was going to say goodbye.

The porter instructed Li Shangyin to bring a housekeeper called "Xiaotan", and first invited Li Shangyin into a waiting room in front of the second gate and served him a cup of tea. While waiting for the porter to return, Li Shangyin took a tea cup and took a good turn in front of the second gate, Wang Maoyuan's private residence was repaired in an atmospheric and meticulous manner, and willow trees were planted all over the main axis of the deep road, which made Li Shangyin recall Zhang Yijun's other business in Jinchangfang - this seems to be a common feature of the deep house compound near Leyouyuan.

What surprised Li Shangyin was that there were not many servants in this huge mansion, except for the gatekeeper and the maid he had just seen, he didn't see anyone else when he first entered the courtyard.

Li Shangyin couldn't help but chat with this housekeeper who was about the same age as himself for a while. It turned out that Wang Maoyuan had a private garden covering an area of dozens of acres outside the city, which raised some beasts and the like, and the young master of their family went to the private garden to hunt yesterday and took away a lot of family members in the house; The hostess couldn't help but miss it again, went to Lingnan to visit Wang Maoyuan, and took some servants with her, so it seemed that the house was a little deserted.

When Xiao Tan mentioned the young master, Li Shangyin's shoulders trembled involuntarily, and he suddenly remembered that Wang Yanyan's younger brother was Wang Yanzhuo! The young master should be talking about him. However, ironically, it was precisely because Li Shangyin was in Xuandu Temple that day and had a falling out with Wang Yan that he found Zhang Yijun who was unconscious in Chongye Fang with Princess Ying, his acquaintance with Wang Yanyuan, and his encounter with Wang Yi in Daci'en Temple......

In the dark, everything is doomed......

Li Shangyin was sighing in his heart, the porter had come back and forth, to Li Shangyin's surprise, in addition to a few servants, there was also Wang Yanyuan herself!

Wang Yanyuan was wearing a goose-yellow jacket with a beige skirt, with flowers on her forehead, and the most important thing was a bright golden phoenix tail on her bun. However, this outfit and the look on her face seemed to be prepared for Li Shangyin's visit today.

"Sixteen Lang has seen the little lady!" Li Shangyin leaned over slightly and arched his hand.

Wang Yanyuan also asked Li Shang for a blessing: "I've seen the son!" ”

"Go get some cold refreshments!" After Wang Yanyuan gave instructions to Xiao Tan and the few servants who followed, she turned to one side and was about to personally lead Li Shangyin into the first courtyard, but the door of the mansion was suddenly opened.

I saw several men with bows and horses in front of them, and a young man walked in from behind, saying in a complaining tone, "Why don't you even remember to insert the latch, how did the old man see the door?" The man suddenly raised his head, he noticed Wang Yanyuan first, and his gaze inevitably swept over Li Shangyin, just opposite his eyes, and both of them were stunned for a moment.

It's Wang Yanzhuo.

Li Shangyin originally thought that Wang Yanzhuo was not in the house today, and he was secretly glad in his heart, but he didn't expect to collide with him at this moment.

"You, you're the poor sour man of Xuandu Temple? Why are you in Lao Tzu's Mansion?! ”

Seeing that the young master became angry, several family members heard it, and they didn't know what was going on, so they were stunned in place and didn't dare to squeak. Wang Yanzhuo saw that this group of family members did not react, and hurriedly pointed at Li Shangyin's nose and shouted, "Drive him out for me!" ”

The family who was holding the bow for the young master woke up like a dream, and was about to step forward, but Wang Yanyuan shouted: "Yan Zhuo must not be rude!" ”

The family members immediately pinned themselves to the spot, and Wang Yanzhuo was suddenly reprimanded by his sister, and he paused when he walked towards Li Shangyin. Wang Yanyuan continued: "Sixteen Lang is a guest invited by my sister, don't mess around, ruin the etiquette of the Wang family!" ”

Wang Yanzhuo pursed his lips, the reluctance on his face obvious.

"Why did my sister invite this little-known man to come over? Is Chang'an's selection extinct? Every year, there are countless people who come to the house to pay homage and flattery, why does my sister look so towards him? Wang Yanzhuo thought so in his heart, but he didn't dare to say it, he had listened to his sister's words since he was a child, and when he saw his sister speak, even if he had a big complaint in his heart, he only dared to mumble quietly at this moment: "Sister is obviously only older than a certain hour......

Wang Yanzhuo felt that his face was dull, and he snorted coldly with a complaint, so he called a few family members, brushed his sleeves and went straight to the depths of the house.

Shen Chu.

Li Shangyin thought that Zhang Yijun's house was spacious enough, but he didn't expect that compared with Wang Maoyuan's private residence, it could be said to be pocket-sized. The corridor, the inner room, the hall are surrounded by each other, extending in all directions, and the depth is far more than three entrances, if no one takes it, it will definitely get lost.

Introduced by Wang Yanyuan, it turned out that this house was one of the gardens built by Princess Taiping, at that time almost the entire Leyou was originally the private property of Princess Taiping, and later Emperor Xuanzong was born two years, Princess Taiping conspired to rebel and ambush her, all the property was given to the four princes, and later the Anshi Rebellion, Chang'an fell, and the garden was ownerless. After the disaster was settled, after decades of tossing and turning, this garden was in the hands of Wang Qiyao, the king of Langyu County, that is, the father of the current owner Wang Maoyuan and the grandfather of Wang Yanyuan.

The two of them, surrounded by servants and family members, arrived at the fourth courtyard, and what appeared in front of Li Shangyin's eyes was a gorgeous courtyard full of garden paths and small scenes.

The courtyard is set up around the fish pond, rockery bauhinia everywhere, scattered and caused, and some exotic tree species that even Li Shangyin cannot be named are planted in the corner of the courtyard. There is a pavilion in the middle of the fish pond, agarwood railing, sandalwood column, there is a circle of water embankment at the edge of the pavilion, if it is a hot summer, only need to lift a small crack in the water embankment, there is clear water pouring down from the eaves of the pavilion on all sides, like a water curtain, just like a self-rain pavilion.

The servants and maidservants of the Wang family moved quickly, and as soon as the two of them sat down, they followed Wang Yan's instructions and brought the prepared refreshments to the stone table in the pavilion, which dazzled Li Shangyin, and the refreshments prepared in a hurry were even more sumptuous than the dinner he ate in the Yingwang Mansion.

It was the first time for Li Shangyin to enter such a luxurious deep house, and he was a little restrained and embarrassed at first, but Wang Yanyuan chatted with him generously, and by the way, he also teased a few words about his brother's irritable temper.

"The younger brother is just a little rude on the surface, but he is kind in his heart......"

Li Shangyin nodded, in fact, he was still a little skeptical about this statement in his heart, after all, the threat of Wang Yanzhuo to himself in Xuandu that day, and the several difficulties that Bi Saburo made to himself later, Li Shangyin is still unforgettable.

While eating refreshments, the two chatted happily for a while. Wang Yanyuan suddenly turned her autumn pupils, and said loudly for no reason: "Do you want to come and sit together?" ”

Li Shangyin couldn't help but be stunned, he noticed that Wang Yanyuan seemed to be talking behind him over his shoulder, and he hurriedly turned around to look. I saw Wang Yanzhuo sitting on the railing of the cloister not far away, holding a thick book in his hand, as if he ignored his sister's words, and still focused on the book in his hand.

But Li Shangyin took a little bit of attention, but found that Wang Yanzhuo had taken the book upside down......

"Yan Zhuo, there are guests at home, what about your hospitality?" Wang Yanyuan seemed to see that her brother was just pretending, and asked him again, and at the same time added a sentence intentionally or unintentionally: "...... You don't usually read books, so don't pretend. ”

Wang Yanzhuo's face was red with embarrassment after being exposed, he walked to the opposite side of the stone table, and deliberately emphasized: "I didn't come here because of this kid, it's all because of my sister's request!" ”

"What do I ask for?" Wang Yanyuan was not very happy, "You still owe Li Gongzi an apology!" ”

"I don't ......"

Li Shangyin watched the two sisters and brothers talking out of control, and hurriedly persuaded each other. Wang Yanzhuo didn't say a word, he knocked the thick book on the stone table, took a cup of buttermilk and sat down opposite Li Shangyin, and sulked.

In fact, Li Shangyin came today, in addition to being invited to the appointment, there is a more important reason......

He actually didn't sleep all night last night, and after Zhang Yijun went to rest, he stayed in the library for a long time. It was only because the mark on the barrier knife seized from the mysterious man's hand suddenly reminded him of a glimmer of inspiration:

If the barrier knife belonged to the Divine Strategy Forbidden Army, then can it be suspected that the Divine Strategy Army was more or less involved in the entire conspiracy? If you start from this point and ask people with a background in the Shence Army, you may be able to get a glimpse of the clues behind the case?

This is the reason why Li Shangyin stayed up all night in the library last night, and he found what he wanted as he wished, but he didn't expect it to be such a coincidence:

Wang Maoyuan, the envoy of the Lingnan Festival, had another identity before serving as the official of the feudal territory, and he was the general of the Right God Army!