Xin Jia and the others followed Yu Mengyan's convoy and arrived in Wenyi within a day. Wenyi is a large town with a radius of six or seven miles, and there are four or five hundred households in the town. Although it is not as noisy and lively as the big city, it is full of traffic, chickens and dogs, and it is a quiet and peaceful pastoral scenery.

The convoy passed through the town of Wenyi and continued a short distance east, with a hill ahead. Strange to say, the trees along the road were all fallen trees along the way, but the vegetation on the hills here is still lush and green. Walking here, Yu Mengyan's convoy suddenly stopped, and Zhou Chang didn't know why, so he said to Zhou Kao: "You go to the front and see, is there something wrong?" ”

Zhou Kao rode his horse to the front, but saw Yu's father and son standing on the side of the road. Yu Mengyan said to him: "Master Zhou, you came just in time, please tell Lord Zhou Hou that the hot spring is in the valley in front." It's just that the road in the valley is narrow, and it is inconvenient for cars and horses to pass, so you can only walk into the valley from here. ”

After Zhou Kao went back to report to his father, Zhou Chang and Xin Jia discussed, and everyone gave up the carriage and horses, and only took a dozen or so attendants to walk into the valley with Yu Hou.

I saw that the ground in the valley was covered with green grass, and wisps of white smoke were rising in some places in the depths of the grass. Although it had never rained, the dirt road in the valley was still a little slippery, and Mrs. Jiang almost fell without paying attention, but fortunately Wan Ji was there to help her. Fortunately, it was not long before the dirt road became a stone path paved with blue stones, and it was much safer to walk on it. There are many large and small pools on both sides of the stone path. Some pools are bubbling in the middle, tumbling like boiling; Some of the water is cloudy and misty. Zhou Fa couldn't help asking, "Big brother, have we arrived in fairyland?" ”

Zhou Kao said to him: "Fairyland should only exist in the sky, how can there be a fairyland on earth?" However, I have heard of a kind of monk who is called an 'earth immortal'. Whether this will be the residence of the earth immortals, it is unknown. ”

While speaking, Yu Mengyan had led everyone to an empty flat land, where there was a bamboo fence in the center, and there was a small wooden house on each side of the bamboo fence. Yu Mengyan ordered people to set up tents in the open space and invited Xin Jia, Zhou Chang and others to enter the tent. In the tent there were two tables and feasts; On the dining table, there are alcohol, dried fruits, butchers and other food and drink. Yu Mengyan said: "Before entering the hot spring, please drink some water and wine first, and eat something to satisfy your stomach." After bathing, the whole person feels refreshed and has an appetite, and then come here to enjoy the food. ”

Zhou Kao and Zhou Fa each took a bamboo basket with wooden combs, bath towels, bath towels and other items, and followed their father to the wooden house at the east end of the bamboo fence. There was a door on the north and south sides of the wooden house, and Zhou Kao entered the house through the north gate, first took off his boots and changed into a pair of clogs, then took off his clothes and wrapped himself in a bath towel, and then came out of the south gate.

Outside the house there is a large circular pool, and on the west side of the pool is a rockery made of strange rocks, and there is no other shelter. The water on the surface of the pool is full of steam, and the water is crystal clear, and Zhou found that the walls of the pool are covered with white alum stones, and the bottom of the pool is paved with red dansha.

Zhou Fa did not change his naughty childlike nature, and the first one rushed into the pool, and began to play in the water, but fortunately, the pool was big enough and did not affect others. Zhou Kao took off his clogs and put them on the edge of the pool, stepped into the pool with one foot, and felt that the water was not very hot, and after sitting down, the pool water just overflowed to his neck. He was immersed in the water and felt very comfortable. At this time, a person suddenly came to Zhou Kao's side, and he saw through the fog that this person turned out to be Xin Jia. Zhou Kao was about to get up, but was stopped by Xin Jia, who said, "There is no need to be formal here." Zhou Kao then sat back down. Xin Jia said: "The water by the pool is a little cooler, and the water in the center of the pool is hotter. When you first enter the hot spring, you should stay by the pool for a while, and when you are warm, you will not feel hot when you go to the middle of the pool. ”

Zhou Kao nodded, he saw Xin Jia untie the bath towel on his body, soak it in the water for a while, and then lift the bath towel above his head and twist it, so that the hot water continued to spill on his head and shoulders. The weekly exam also did the same, and found that it was really interesting.

At this time, there is also a square pool on the other side of the rockery, and the ladies of each family are bathing here. Mrs. Di and Mrs. Jiang sat and chatted together, while Wan Xi quietly brushed her long hair beside her mother. Yuefei wrapped a bath towel and walked a few steps to the center of the pool, probably thinking it was too hot, so she retreated and sat next to Wan Xi. Yuefei said: "Miss Wanxi, your hair is full of green silk and black shiny, it is like a brocade, even I envy it." ”

Wan Xi had never paid attention to whether her hair was good or not, but when she heard Yuefei say this, she couldn't help but be secretly happy in her heart. I only heard Yuefei then said: "Sister Wan'er, I am only a few years older than you, and we will be called sisters in the future, okay?" ”

The two of them are of similar age, and Wan Xi naturally has a little closeness to Yue Fei in her heart, so Wan Xi said: "Sister but there is a teaching, how dare Wan Er disobey?" ”

Yuefei smiled and said, "Alas, between you and my sisters, don't say these unseemly words. Sister, what do you think of the hot springs here? ”

"It's a quiet valley and a great view. Bathing in this spring water is as if even the vulgarity of the world has been washed away, and it is naturally excellent. ”

Yuefei was so happy that she took Wan Xi's hand happily: "Really?" I guess my sister will like it. In fact, there are hot springs in our country, and they are not much different from here. It's just that I was in a hurry this time, and I couldn't take my sister to see it. I want to invite my sister to come back to Yu next year, let me make an appointment with a few sisters, and we will go to the hot springs together, do you think? ”

Wan Ji didn't expect Yuefei to make such an invitation, and said hesitantly: "In this ......, one of my daughter's families is traveling alone, I'm afraid it will be inconvenient." ”

"What's the matter? At that time, you and Mrs. Jiang will come together, and you can be my mother's companion. ”

Wan Ji has no siblings since she was a child, nor has she had several playmates of the same age, and she spends most of her time alone. Being able to play with three or five friends, she does have some longing and yearning for this. So she said, "If my parents agree, then I will definitely come to visit my sister next year." ”

Yuefei looked at Wan Xi with a smile, and said in her heart: This kind of girl who is ignorant of the world, I only need a little trick to let her be at my mercy. Thinking of this, she shouted, "Bring the wine." "The maidservant standing by the pool brought a wooden plate, and Concubine Yue took two jue of wine and handed it to Wan Ji. The wine was warm, neither too cold nor too hot, the two of them soaked in the spring water and sipped slowly, the whole person was warm from the inside out, it was really happy.

By this time the sun was turning westward, and the valley was getting colder and colder, and everyone was reluctant to come out of the spring until their skin was soaked and wrinkled, and then they returned to the huts to change into clean clothes; After that, everyone came to Yu Mengyan's camp to rest, and Zhou Chang didn't see Zhou Fa, so he asked, "Where did Fa'er go?" ”

Zhou Kao looked around and replied, "Fa'er went out with his clothes on just now, I thought he had come here...... I'll go outside and look for it. ”

Zhou Kao got out of the camp tent and searched around, but still didn't see any trace of Zhou Fa. He saw that there was a stone path next to the wooden house that led to the north, and he thought: Fa'er can't go this way, right? So he followed the stone path.

At that time, Zhou Kao was still wearing clogs on his feet, and the soles of these clogs had wooden teeth to prevent slipping, but he didn't walk fast, and he stepped on the stone path "rattling". He had not gone far when he saw a maple forest beside the stone path in front of him, and the maple leaves of that tree were either red or yellow, and the colors were extraordinarily gorgeous. Zhou Kao stopped to watch, only to notice that these maple trees were all grown tall and neatly arranged, apparently planted here by someone. The ridges of the houses can be seen looming between the treetops, and tall mansions are built in the woods.

Zhou Kao looked north and saw an east-facing fork at the end of the maple forest, and he thought: The mansion in this forest is high and empty, not like the residence of ordinary people, will Fa'er go inside?

He was hesitating when he heard someone in the maple forest ask, "Who is outside?" Zhou Kao heard that it was a woman's voice, and he faintly felt that something was wrong in his heart, so he wanted to turn around and leave.

At this moment, a girl with a bun suddenly flashed on the fork in the road ahead, holding a strangely shaped long sword in her hand. The blade of the sword was narrow and thin, and it trembled in the girl's hand, like a snake spitting letters. When the girl saw that Zhou Kao was about to leave, she immediately raised her eyebrows and shouted with an angry face: "Do you want to leave?" Stop me! ”

Zhou Kao was also surprised, he heard the woman's voice coming from the woods just now, it should be not far from him, why did he only reach the fork in the road ahead in an instant? He guessed in his heart: Ah, could it be that she is an immortal cultivating in this valley? He hurriedly saluted the girl and said, "Please forgive the fairy!" In the next week's exam, he inadvertently broke into this place and disturbed the fairy Qingxiu. Don't blame. ”

The girl said that Zhou Kao was laughing, and her anger was even stronger, and she scolded: "You womanizer, you dare to talk nonsense here, don't you dare to take your life?" She rushed forward in a few steps, aiming at Zhou Kao as a sword. Zhou Kao didn't expect that this "fairy" would make a killing move without saying a word, and hurriedly turned around to avoid this stab, and was about to take advantage of the situation to hold the girl's wrist, when he suddenly thought that the other party was a woman, and this move was inevitably abrupt, so he retracted his hand again. Seeing that he didn't dare to fight back, the girl was even more unforgiving, and then slashed his sword flat, Zhou Kao jumped backwards to dodge, and said: "Sister fairy, please put away the sword, I can't do anything with you!" ”

The girl didn't answer, but she didn't stop attacking, her sword was light, and the sword moves she made were also light and elegant, and each move was faster than the other; However, Zhou Kao was wearing clogs on his feet, and his movement was extremely inconvenient, and he did not dare to touch the girl's body, which was almost equivalent to having no power to fight back, so it was naturally dangerous. If it weren't for the fact that the girl was still inexperienced in facing the enemy and missed a few opportunities to kill, Zhou Kao would have already had a few more holes in her body.

At this moment, someone behind the girl suddenly shouted: "Xiyue, stop it!" The girl hurriedly put away her sword when she heard the sound, and Zhou Kao had time to look behind her, only to see that the person who spoke was a young man in his twenties, who was coming over with five or six followers. The girl stood sideways by the stone path and saluted him, "My lord." ”

Zhou Kao said in his heart: This Xiyue girl calls him the lord, then she should be this person's maidservant, I can't imagine that one of the servants under this person is so good at swordsmanship, I don't know where he came from? Zhou Kao was about to step forward to announce his name, but he heard the man say, "Xiyue, why are you fighting with people here?" I taught you swordsmanship so that you could protect Miss, but why did you leave no room for tricks, as if you wanted to take someone's life? ”

That Xiyue heard her master's tone become more and more severe, her heart was flustered, and she hurriedly tried her best to justify: "Lord, just now, Miss She, she was bathing in the hot spring, and the slave maid bumped into this thief sneaking around here, there must be a bad intention......"

Zhou Kao was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly said: "No! I didn't ......" Xiyue said angrily: "Still dare to quibble? You've been sneaking around here for a long time, what else can you do good? Lord, this man is bold and reckless, and he really can't be forgiven! ”

The man saw that Zhou Kao was alone, there was no circumstantial evidence, and it was difficult to distinguish the right and wrong for a while, so he said to his entourage: "Escort him back to Suzhou City first, and then interrogate him." ”

A few followers stepped forward and grabbed Zhou Kao's shoulders and arms, how could Zhou Kao give in? While struggling, he shouted loudly: "Wronged! Treat unjustly! In the entanglement, he glanced back and saw that several people were hurrying on the way from him, and it turned out to be Zhou Chang, Xin Jia and Wan Xi. I only heard Zhou Chang shouting: "Is it Su Gongzi?" Zhou Kao's heart was slightly relieved at this time, and he hurriedly said: "Father, I'm here ......"

Zhou Chang came to him and saw that Zhou Kao was arrested, and he didn't know what to do for a while, so he signaled Zhou Kao not to intervene. He said to the young man: "Master Su, I am Zhou Chang, I saw you and Lord Su Hou when I was in the court last year, I don't know if Gongzi still remembers?" ”

The man hurriedly saluted Zhou Chang and the others: "It turned out to be Lord Zhou Hou and Lord Xin Jia, and the junior Su Xiansheng was polite. ”

Zhou Chang also saluted: "Master Su doesn't have to be polite, I don't know if Lord Su Hou is here?" ”

Su Xinsheng lowered his voice and said with some sadness: "The ancestor suddenly contracted a sudden illness in the early spring of this year, and there was no cure, and he has passed away. ”

Zhou Chang and Xin Jia were both surprised, Xin Jia said: "Unexpectedly, Lord Suhou died young, it is really regrettable, please mourn the son." Oh, by the way, from now on, we should change our name to Suhou Lord. ”

Su Xinsheng thanked him: "Don't dare, the parents of the younger generation died early, and now there is only one sister left to rely on me." I look forward to your continued guidance. ”

At this time, the Yu father and son also brought a few guards to rush over, they were originally set off at the same time as Zhou Chang and others, but Yu Mengyan walked slowly, so he didn't arrive until this time. Su Xinsheng greeted the Yu family father and son again, and then Zhou Changcai asked, "Lord Suhou, why did you detain Xiao'er Zhou Kao?" I wonder what he did? ”

Su Xinsheng was also a little embarrassed at this time, he didn't expect that the person he arrested would be the son of Zhou Hou, so he had to say to Zhou Chang: "Just now, the maid Xiyue bumped into this and this Zhou Gongzi...... Uh, linger around here. The two of them had an argument, and I didn't know the identity of Zhou Gongzi at the time, and I was about to escort him back to Sioux City for questioning. He turned to Xiyue and said, "You tell Lord Zhou Hou what you just saw and heard, I believe Lord Zhou Hou has a point." ”

Xiyue didn't dare to disobey the order, and stepped forward to salute: "Lord Zhouhou, my young lady bathed in the hot spring in this forest earlier, and ordered the slave maid to be responsible for guarding the entrance of the hot spring on the fork in the road ahead. Shortly after the young lady took the bath, I heard footsteps outside the woods. Originally, this stone path was meant for people to walk, so it wasn't surprising that people passed by here, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Then I heard footsteps stop outside the woods, and there was no movement for a long time. The young lady felt that something was suspicious, so she inquired loudly, but no one answered. So the slave and maid hurried out to check, and saw that there was only this ...... on the road This Zhou Gongzi is alone. The slave suspected him of misconduct, so, so she got into trouble with him......"

When Su Xinsheng heard this, he said, "Well, I know what happened later, you can step back first." He turned to Zhou Chang and said, "Lord Zhou Hou, I saw Xiyue fighting with Zhou Gongzi, so I had to inquire about this matter. Although Xiyue is only a subordinate in my house, she will never hurt people for no reason, so the younger generation detained Zhou Gongzi. Now that all the adults are gathered here, how should this matter be handled, I hope that a few adults will judge it. ”

When everyone heard this, they had roughly understood what had happened, and that Xiyue said that he suspected that Zhou Kao was misbehaving, although some of the words were vague, but most of them referred to those embarrassing things that were embarrassing, so no one asked out loud. Zhou Chang thought that with Zhou Kao's temperament, he shouldn't do anything out of the ordinary, so he asked, "Kao'er, why are you here?" What have you done? You must truthfully report to Lord Suhou, and you must not hide anything. ”

Zhou Kao was still a little ignorant until this time, and thought: Why did Miss Xiyue say that I was misbehaving? Oh, yes, she is a maidservant in Suhou's mansion, but I call her Sister Fairy, she must be annoyed with me for this matter. So he said, "The child came out to look for Fat'er, and passed by here." Because I am not familiar with the road and there is no trace of my hair, I don't know where to go for a while, so I will stop here. Afterward...... Later, I met this girl from the setting moon, and the child didn't know that she was from Suhou's mansion, and mistakenly called her Sister Fairy. Miss Xiyue, if you were angry about this, Zhou Kao should have made amends to you. ”

When Xin Jia Zhou Chang and the others heard this, they all secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this was not a big deal. How did Xiyue say: "Everyone heard it, and he personally admitted that as soon as he saw me, he teased me and called me a fairy sister." Like such a frivolous and incompetent person, who knows what dirty things he has done? She pointed at Zhou Kao with her finger and said, "Don't avoid the important and take it lightly, recruit it as soon as possible!" ”

Zhou Kao was so anxious that his face turned red: "Miss Xiyue! I...... I really haven't done anything else, why do you ...... Why don't you believe me? ”

At this time, Yu Yan saw Zhou Kao's embarrassed demeanor, but he gloated and snickered on the side: I didn't expect that this Zhou Kao looked honest, but it was so unbearable when he carried people on his back. What's even better is that Miss Wan Xi also witnessed everything here, which is just right for her to recognize the true face of the weekly exam. It was really unexpected that this trip to the hot springs could have such an unexpected reward.

What Zhou Chang thought was: For some reason, this Xiyue insisted that Kao'er had done something indecent. In fact, judging from her statement, she didn't have any real evidence, but it was a pity that Kao'er was alone at the time, and there was no one else to prove his innocence. If I resolutely don't let them take Kao'er away, then Su Hou will only be more convinced that I am sheltering the short-term, and I am afraid that the misunderstanding of Kao'er will only get deeper and deeper. But Kao'er is my eldest son, and the future rise and fall of the Zhou clan is related, how can it be easily handed over to others?

Xin Jia saw that Zhou Kao and Xiyue insisted on their own words, and thought: If things continue like this, things will only get more and more stiff, if we can't talk about it in the end, this is the territory of the Soviet Union, and we will never be able to please it. He thought about it for a long time, but none of the strategies worked. At this moment, he suddenly heard Wan Xi speak:

"Lord Suhou, I have a few words I want to ask Miss Xiyue."