On Qingfeng Ridge, Qiyun Village.

It was the middle of the night, and the sky hung like a hooked moon in the sky. The starlight was dim all around, but there were clouds drifting in, covering half of the crescent, as if a slender woman was covered by a light veil.

Under the crescent moon, a young man was sitting on the stone steps, looking at the sky in a daze.

"Brother Jiang, you can't sleep either?" Jiang Lan came back to his senses and followed the prestige, and saw that Xiang Beichuan had also gone out of the village gate at some point, holding a bowl in one hand and a wine jar in the other, walking towards him.

"I usually sleep late." Jiang Lan shook his head and said lightly. At this time, he did not have the usual noise, but his face was full of melancholy and melancholy.

Xiang Beichuan didn't say anything when he saw him like this, but sat down next to him, and then poured himself a drink.

"Old Xiang, are you worried about tomorrow?"

"Worried? What's there to worry about? Xiang Beichuan drank a bowl full of wine in one gulp, and then pursed his lips and said, "The big deal is death." ”

"You can think about it!" Jiang Lan sighed, he glanced at the jar of wine that Xiang Beichuan put beside him, reached out and took it, raised his head and took a sip. The wine was strong, and as soon as it entered the throat, there was a warm current that flowed into the stomach from top to bottom.

"Ho! Good guy, it's spicy! But it's really painful. ”

Seeing Jiang Lan's face twitching from being spicy by the wine, Xiang Beichuan couldn't help laughing and said, "You don't seem to be very good at drinking!" Do you make it like this in such a small bite? Hahaha......"

"Alright, don't laugh at you, you reckless. This is the first time I have been drinking. Jiang Lan pushed Xiang Beichuan, who was smiling next to him, and scolded, and his face had turned from white to red at this time.

"Haven't been drinking? Can't you? Look at you, you're in your twenties! How can you not drink a sip of wine? Xiang Beichuan was a little surprised, in his opinion, although men and wine are not equated, they should also be inseparable.

"What's so strange about that? Since I was a child, my father-in-law and master have never let me drink. Jiang Lan scratched his head and said, at this moment, he has completely returned to his usual bohemian appearance.

"That's no wonder, but you said that the righteous father and the master, do you say that you ......?"

"That's right, I have never met my parents, and I was raised by my stepfather and master. This trip down the mountain is also to pursue his life experience...... Forget it, don't talk about me. Let's talk about you, old Xiang! What did the blind man Xu say to you that day? Is it true that 'robbing the rich does not rob the poor, and seeking wealth does not kill people'? Jiang Lan was reluctant to mention his life experience, so he turned the conversation around and asked.

"Yes! This is also the rule I set for myself when I went up the mountain and fell into the grass, and it can be regarded as my last bottom line. Xiang Beichuan said as he poured another bowl of wine.

"Oh, bottom line! Do you remember the birch forest? If it weren't for the master that day, those few people who took refuge with their families would have suffered from you! Although you say that you will not kill you for money, if you rob them of their belongings, they will starve to death on the streets sooner or later! Is this your bottom line? ”

"This ......" Xiang Beichuan was slightly stunned, and then his old face turned red, "Lao Tzu is a thief, and he is not a good person, so it doesn't matter what they do!" Besides, I didn't kill people on the spot, so I left them a way to live! ”

"Okay, okay, you can think of it yourself! By the way, Xu Blind also talked about your past at the dinner table that day, and your big black face turned white as soon as it was brushed, so what did you do in the past? Jiang Lan turned the conversation, but he brought up a more fatal question.

Xiang Beichuan looked at Jiang Lan when he heard this, and his expression suddenly turned cold. After a while, he said lightly: "So far, there is nothing that can't be said." Just, would you like to hear it? ”

"Listen! You have wine, you have stories, of course the master is happy to listen! ”

Hearing this, Xiang Beichuan took another sip of spirits. The white pulp went down, but he slowly poured out his past: When Xiang Beichuan was a teenager, he had been in the army of the Great Liang State for a few years, and Erhu and Xiaoshun were the brothers of the army at that time. Later, for some reasons, the three of them were transferred together to the secret yamen of the Great Liang State-the Xuanxing Division.

"Sentencing Division? I haven't really heard of it, and I haven't written about it in the book. ”

"If you've heard of it, it's not a secret yamen. Don't interrupt, don't listen yet! Xiang Beichuan said angrily, and then continued to speak: When the three of them first arrived at the Sentencing Division, they were also confused. Later, I slowly discovered that this criminal division was originally dedicated to doing some shady things for the royal family of Daliang Kingdom.

Once, when a princess was out on a cruise, she took a fancy to a passing scholar and asked someone to invite her, and then the two of them became dry wood and started a fire. Later, the matter reached the ears of the emperor, and although the emperor was furious, he could not handle the matter because of the royal face. He issued a secret decree to the Department of Punishment to secretly execute scholars and others who knew about it. After receiving the order, the Punishment Division ordered Xiang Beichuan and others to act overnight, and in just one night, they beheaded the scholar's entire family, the maids who were on the tour that day, and the people who lived nearby at the time, and destroyed the corpses, and the princess was also placed under house arrest for life......

"In one night, the lives of more than 200 people...... Xiang Beichuan muttered, "The lives of the poor and lowly are not as good as grass mustard!" ”

Jiang Lan was also a little shocked when he heard this, and he asked slowly: "Is it because of this incident that you went up the mountain and fell into the grass?" ”

"It's another time," Xiang Beichuan shook his head, "It was the one twenty years ago, when there was a famous family in the imperial court—the Jiang family. The head of the Jiang family is the imperial master, and his protégés are all over the court and the opposition. But because the old emperor was on the wrong side before he died, he offended the new emperor and ended up being wiped out, and none of the court officials related to him were spared...... That time, the Criminal Department was responsible for arresting people, and we were secretly killing people. ”

Xiang Beichuan turned his head to look at Jiang Lan as he spoke, and when he said this, he suddenly stopped talking and just looked at Jiang Lan with a meaningful expression.

"Old Xiang, why are you looking at the master like this?" Jiang Lan was stared at by him, "Oh-master, I understand." Lao Xiang, do you think that the master has nothing to do with the Jiang family you said when you see that the young master has no father and no mother, and the origin is unknown? Let me tell you, there are more people with the same surname in the world, and there are not 10,000 but 8,000 people with the surname Jiang! Besides, the surname of the master is Sui's father-in-law, and I don't even know who my biological father's surname is! Hurry on, go on. ”

Xiang Beichuan nodded when he saw this, but there was always a strange feeling lingering in his heart.

He continued to speak: "The new emperor I mentioned just now is the emperor of the current Great Liang Kingdom. This person is a person who is benevolent and loves the people on the surface, but in fact he is ruthless and vicious. He had just ascended the throne, and in order to stabilize the people's hearts while establishing his authority, although he sent people to arrest the Jiang family and a group of people, he also carried out a general amnesty a month later, with the pardon of serious crimes and the pardon of minor crimes. Except for the head of the Jiang family, who was beheaded for public display, the rest were all released. However, only we, the Sentencing Division, know if those people have really been exonerated or not......

That night, Erhu and Xiaoshun were also there, and more than 100 people from our Punishment Division went out, and it only took one night to slaughter the mansions of many ministers of the DPRK and China, including the Jiang family.

More than 1,000 lives overnight! What guards, yard workers, slaves and maids and relatives followed, and they didn't let go of any of them. Even newborn babies and pregnant women have become our swordsmen!

Many brothers' knives were blunted, and Erhu actually squatted down and vomited after killing a woman, and he said to me with blood and tears on his face: Boss Xiang, is this the purpose of our army in the first place? Is slaughtering unarmed and innocent people what we men should do...... After that night, the three of us were completely chilled by the Daliang Imperial Court, and the officials fled directly from the capital without resigning, escaping from the place where the carved beams and paintings were soaked in blood! ”

After Xiang Beichuan finished speaking, he dried the wine in the bowl in one gulp, and then poured it again, but found that the wine jar was empty. He threw his hand and threw the bowl on the ground, shattering it.

"I didn't expect you to have such an experience." Jiang Lan shook his head and sighed.

"It's just some of the past," Xiang Beichuan looked at the sky in a daze, he said slowly, but he didn't look back, "Okay!" Brother Jiang, it's not too early, there are important things waiting for us tomorrow, let's go back and rest early! ”

After Xiang Beichuan finished speaking, he turned around and patted Jiang Lan on the shoulder, and then entered the gate of the village by himself and went back to rest.

Jiang Lan turned his head to look at Xiang Beichuan, but he didn't move, after he left, he turned back and looked at the sky with one hand on his cheek, not knowing what he was thinking. After a long time, he came back to his senses, but he reached out and took out a small object from his arms - an immortal lock, which should be made of pure gold, and the word "100 years old" was engraved on the front of the lock.

According to Jiang Lan's father-in-law, he picked up Jiang Lan in the mountain pass. He was not yet a year old at the time, and the immortal lock was around his neck, the only thing his biological parents had left behind.

He went down the mountain this time in order to find out the origin of this immortal lock, so as to find his biological parents. But after many inquiries, he got only one clue, that is, this thing is by no means owned by ordinary people, but its origin is unknown.

……

On the second day, before dawn, Jiang Lan and his party set off together. The destination of their trip was the Yanlai Villa outside the city of Hanzhong.

Along the way, in order to avoid the blind eyes of Xu and the "heroes" of the green forest who chased Jiang Lan, they did not dare to take the main road, but went all the way over the mountains and mountains, and the original three-to-five-day journey took half a month.

After a long journey, the group finally came to the outside of Hanzhong City.

Yanlai Villa is located outside the north gate of Hanzhong City, and the gate of the villa is facing the north gate of Hanzhong City. The area of Yanlai Villa is very large, with a back garden in the north and south of the nine entrances, and a large cross-courtyard on the east and west sides. From a high place, it looks like a wild goose with wings spread.

"This surname Yu is quite enjoyable! The place where I live is much larger than the average village. Looking at Yanlai Villa from afar, Jiang Lan couldn't help but sigh.

"Brother Jiang, this place is not suitable for a long time, let's go over quickly!" Shunzi on the side reminded that only he and Jiang Lan were still showing their faces at this time, while Xiang Beichuan and Erhu were wearing black cloth hats and couldn't see their faces clearly.

"Good! Master will take a trip to this Bird Villa today! Come on, hurry up and tie me up. ”

Jiang Lan said, his hands behind his back. The other three took out the prepared rope and gave him a big tie, but when they tied it, they deliberately hid a live buckle in the palm of their hand.

After tying up Jiang Lan, Xiang Beichuan took out a piece of rotten cloth from his arms: "Brother Jiang, wait until you enter the villa, in order to prevent you from losing many words, let's stuff this in your mouth......"

"Go, go, go! Fortress yourself! The master won't eat your footcloth! Jiang Lan rolled his eyes angrily, he dodged the rotten cloth that was sent to his mouth, and then ran down the hill in a puff of smoke.

"Brother Jiang! You wait for us! ”

The three of them had no choice but to follow quickly.