Compared with previous years, the first snow on the third road in the north was more than half a month earlier. Snowflakes that are as soft as white feathers dance in strange arcs in the bitter north wind, and when they fall on the ground, they quickly melt and soak into the cracked earth, as if they never appeared.

In this drifting winter night of the first snow, from the direction of Fengjing South Market, a young man ran over, from far to near, and the sound of footsteps was hurried. The boy roared in the snow and knocked away the two night guards who had come to stop him. The young soldier who was knocked out of the way got up from the ground, picked up the gong that fell on the ground, and was about to make a warning, but his colleague next to him covered his mouth and dragged him into the alley on the side:

"Shut up, you raw melon eggs, you don't want to live, and don't bother Lao Tzu." After the older patrolman finished speaking, he didn't let go of the hand covering the other party's mouth, and saw that the young soldier still had a little resentment in his eyes, and he slapped the bow left and right twice, and these two times completely stunned the young man.

"We're two stinky patrolling the city, if it weren't for this Fengjing City, this work would be done by a husband. You can't control people and ghosts. As long as you don't walk in the water, then you will be blind, deaf and stupid, you know? The middle-aged city patrol stared at each other viciously.

"But why are we also paid as soldiers, although the ghost can't control it, but this person should be in charge of us. It's so late, the city gate is closed, and I don't know where to run such a child, why do you have to ask? The young city patrol man rubbed his face reddened and muttered a little aggrieved.

"At the beginning, your mother begged me to find something for you to do in the yamen, and I couldn't hold back the stinky and conspicuous problem for a while, how could I agree to her. Let's go, go into the changing room and warm up, Uncle and you said carefully. The middle-aged man took Xiao Xunjie's hand and walked towards the changing room.

"In this Fengjing City, there are three hundred and six big officials, and small officials are bullish, you look like an ordinary person, maybe someone in the family is on an errand in which official mansion. The seven-rank official in front of the prime minister, no matter how good this person depends on people, we can't afford to provoke him. The older city patrol soldier was surrounding the charcoal stove in the middle of the changing room at this time, squinting at this stunned young man, with a muddy home-brewed rice wine, and carefully told him about the doorway in Fengjing City.

"Okay, I'll listen to you. I don't care about the rich people who are officials, but what if they meet a thief? Isn't that what we have to arrest? With that, the boy slapped the scabbard on his waist and straightened his chest.

"Don't mind the little ancestor, I was entrusted by your mother to find something for you to do. This is a good intention. Don't give your life to this kindness again. Uncle Dang jumped up to him and pressed his hand that was slapping the scabbard: "Ergouzi, you remember it for your uncle, this knife is not false that the yamen gave you, but except for your own life, you can't take anyone's life." Do you still want to catch thieves with it? The thief who dares to walk the eaves in this Fengjing City at night, can it be an ordinary little thief? There is an old saying in the rivers and lakes: make money and let go of the accounts, and practice the courage to steal the emperor. With this kind of flying rivers and lakes, if you really let a little cub who doesn't even grow a beard be caught, do you dare to believe it? ”

"Then today's child, I think he is only ten years old and nodding, can he still be a thief?" The young man was reprimanded, his face was a little unbearable, and he asked rhetorically with a stiff neck.

"Heh, you don't understand that. Uncle and I have been here all my life, from patrolling the camp in the army to sentry in the three classes and six rooms at the entrance of the yamen, and nothing has been saved up and down. The only thing left is connections and insight. The child who hit us today is the grandson of Guo Yunsong, the prince of Zhongshan. It is the stillborn child who prayed to heaven to redeem the soul and used divine power to pull it back from Lord Yama. ”

When the young man heard this, he gasped: "Can a stillborn child be saved?" Is there really such a god as a great shaman? Don't just pass it around on the street, for the gods, right? After speaking, his eyes widened and he looked at this colleague Uncle Shi suspiciously.

The older man took a sip of muddy wine, and in a rather mysterious tone, he lowered his voice and said, "How old you were ten years ago, you definitely don't know who the great shaman is. When your uncle and I were back, I had seen the great shaman's magical powers with my own eyes. Just in front of the battlefield of the East Customs, her old man went to pray for the souls of the fallen robes. I will never forget that scene: on that battlefield, the moment her old man's ritual of praying for the soul of God ended, a dense soul fire rose out of thin air. He shook his head and refused to go into details.

"Hey uncle, I want you to say, it's been this hour, and it's still snowing heavily, so why is Young Master Sun running crazy in the city?" Seeing that he didn't talk anymore, the little soldier remembered Shen Hui again, and planned to ask about it clearly.

"Remember, it's good to be an errand in this capital, as long as you are clever and can do things, there are plenty of opportunities to make money. But if you want to live a longer life and be able to give your mother a pension, then talk less and ask less. As for why this Young Master Sun is today, I don't know. But in my experience, the snow today smells of blood. That's not a good sign. Don't go out, sleep in the changing room. I'll just patrol the rest myself. ”

After speaking, the middle-aged man picked up the waist knife on the ground, carried the lantern, and walked out of the door. When he opened the cotton door curtain and kicked the door in and out of the door, he turned his head and said to the house: "You haven't met anything today, remember, you haven't met anything, you haven't heard anything." With that, he lowered the curtain and stepped into the snowy night.

The young man was lying on the kang and pondering what he had just heard, when he suddenly heard four gongs outside the window, and then the familiar voice penetrated the wind and snow and reached his ears: "The four watches are ringing, and they are safe." ”

Shen Gui, who had just finished bumping into someone, staggered towards the Zhongshan Palace. It wasn't until the mouth of the alley of the palace that Shen Gui stopped. He slowed down and looked carefully, and saw that on both sides of the plaque of the Zhongshan Palace, there were two white paper lanterns hanging, fluttering in the direction of the wind and snow. Shen Gui swallowed with difficulty, and then walked directly through the open gate of the palace, and walked quickly through the porch to the main hall.

"Coming back? Come, first put incense on your mother-in-law. Guo Yunsong, the king of Zhongshan, who was already wearing the armor of General Taibai, was sitting in the first place in the main hall. Seeing Shen Gui enter the hall, he stretched out his hand and pointed to a roll of straw mats on the ground.

Shen Gui's steps were a little vain, and he staggered forward slightly and lit three pillars of requiem incense, and worshiped the copper incense burner placed in front of the straw mat. After saluting the incense, he looked up at his grandfather, who was already neatly dressed, and asked:

"This ...... This really is......... Is it true? There was still some hope in his heart, and there was some eagerness in his expression. Shen has only been in Fengjing City for a month, and he has not had time to see his maternal uncle Guo Shuang. I just heard Tiejia mention that just two months ago, the second shaman Lin Siwei had sent someone to the Zhongshan Palace's mansion to deliver a letter. After learning the news that he was about to come to Fengjing, his grandfather offered to the emperor that he would unload his armor and return to the field. After the emperor approved, he also rewarded some gold and silver cloths, and promoted his maternal uncle Guo Shuang, inherited his father's business, and was promoted to the deputy commander of Taibai Wei, assisting Yan Fujiu, the king of Xinqi, everything was logical. Because of this, Guo Shuang lives in the barracks of Taibaiwei in the inner palace on weekdays, which is convenient for training on duty. So during the time when Shen returned back, he had never seen this maternal uncle.

"Yes, my subordinates have personally confirmed it." Tie Jia, who was standing beside the old prince, his eyes were red, and he said a word from between his clenched teeth.

"Who gave the order? Who's doing it? What is the rationale? Shen Gui stretched out his hand, but he still couldn't bear to open the bloodstained straw mat.

"It's not clear yet. Half an hour ago, it was the two dog eunuchs of the imperial horse eunuch in the palace, with a few old soldiers in the Taibai Guard, who carried the young master back together. The person who came only said that it was during the night patrol and was killed by the thieves who broke into the inner palace. The team of twelve people who patrolled the night, including Guo Shuang, the deputy commander of the team, did not survive. ”

"Nonsense. If it is a thief, if there is a god who has the ability to sneak into the inner palace without knowing the ghosts and ghosts, he must have taken something and left, and there is no reason to fight with the Praetorian Guards, how to come and how to go; If it was a person from the rivers and lakes who carried out the assassination, it must have gone straight to the emperor's bedroom. can slaughter a whole team of Taibai guards personally led by his maternal uncle, how many such people can there be on the rivers and lakes? Not to mention that the Taibai Guard is still the last barrier in the Inner Palace, this person can kill a team of Taibai Guards, and of course he can take it easily......"

"Ahem!" Old Wang Guo Yunsong interrupted Shen Gui's words, reached out and picked up a piece of cloth from the table, and kept coughing. Tie Jia hurriedly stepped forward, slapped Lao Wang's back hard through the white armor, and beckoned for tea with his other hand.

"There are not only Taibai guards in the palace, but also the imperial horse supervisors. His Majesty the Emperor is safe and secure. Frost this time...... It's because he is not good at martial arts, and he is insulting........." Speaking of this, the old prince began to cough again, so he had to stop talking and gasped for breath.

"Lord Wang, your subordinates were raised by you from the pile of dead. You asked my husband to read to me, and you also taught me martial arts yourself. My life has long been yours......" Speaking of this, Tie Armor grabbed the Gongzi sword that he had been wearing on his waist, "You only need to ...... today"

The old prince waved his hand desperately when he heard this, and after calming down his breath, he pointed to the iron armor: "The lonely king knows what you have always wanted to say, I still say the same sentence, the time is not handed over, and the water and fire are not resolved." After speaking, he stood up with one hand on the chair, but was weighed down by a heavy armor and shook his body a few times, and staggered a few steps before standing firmly. Stretched out his hand to stop Shen Guihe Tie Jia, who wanted to come to help, forcibly stabilized the plate, and then straightened his waist: "I'll go back to the room and take off the armor first, you let the chef make something to eat, let's be a grandfather, and I will accompany Shuang'er to drink a few sips of wine on the road in a while." ”

The back of King Zhongshan's departure was tall and resolute, but in the eyes of Shen Gui and Tie Jia, it was full of aging and loneliness. "Tiejia, you accompany your uncle here, I'll go to the kitchen to get some food." After saying that, Shen Gui immediately turned around and went out, Tie Jia also turned his head, and his tears couldn't stop falling to the ground anymore.

"Since Lin Siwei is the great shaman, he has now disappeared. According to the old man, let's bury the frost tomorrow. Since our ancestors, our Guo family has also been born in Qiuba, and we don't believe in anything except wine, meat, food, and blades in our hands. Guo Yunsong changed into a cotton suit, sat next to Guo Shuang's body, was drinking and talking with Tie Jia and Shen Gui, his face was calm and his thinking was clear, if someone else came at this time, he couldn't see that this old man had just experienced the pain of losing his son.

"I'm just afraid that this is too shabby and sloppy, and it will chill the young master's spirit in the sky, right?" Tie Armor looked at the old prince cautiously and asked.

"The spirit of bullshit. You haven't been on the battlefield, so you don't know. When this man dies, no matter how famous and respected you were in your life, you will be the same as the meat in the butcher stall in the market. My Guo family has always lived a life of licking blood from the knife edge. If they all believed in gods and ghosts, and killed so many people, they would have tortured themselves and gone crazy. After the old prince finished speaking, he raised his head and took a sip of wine, and poured the remaining half bowl on the ground by the straw mat.

"It's a pity that the man in armor can't return the body with a horse leather shroud. But if we bury our uncle in a hurry like this, I'm afraid that the emperor won't be able to explain it well, right? "Shen Gui, who also doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, is now worried about another living 'god'.

With a "snap", the old prince smashed the bowl in his hand: "I'll explain to him." If you want to explain, he has to give an explanation to the old man. Guo Yunsong, the king of Zhongshan, was a little old and cloudy in his eyes, but at this time, two terrifying lights shot out.