On the same day, in Xingyang City, east of Luoyang, many shops closed early due to the holiday. In a small pharmacy in the west of the city, the shopkeeper hurriedly sent away the last guest who came to grab the medicine and then bolted the door and left. But seeing that he has a round face and big eyes, a high nose bridge, and a few long wisps of beard flowing in the wind, he does not look like a businessman, but he looks a little elegant.

Passing through the crowded street, the shopkeeper turned into a secluded alley. Suddenly, three masked men appeared at both ends of the alley, and without saying a word, one of them picked up his long knife and slashed at the shopkeeper.

Unexpectedly, the shopkeeper's martial arts were not weak, his eyes were instantly full of murderous energy, calmly avoided the blade, and asked the person who came: "Who are you?" ”

The masked man replied coldly, "Da Si Nong wants to see your head." As he spoke, he slashed twice, and the knife pointed at the shopkeeper's vital point.

The shopkeeper dodged and said hatefully: "Good Li Hui, cross the river and tear down the bridge, I was personally sent by Yu Gong, how can he explain to Yu Gong when he kills me?" ”

"Less nonsense!" The masked man didn't know when he had an extra dagger in his left hand, and when the long knife was collected, he used the dagger to defend, the long and short complemented each other, and the moves were sharp, completely pressing the shopkeeper and beating him.

The shopkeeper kept moving and dodging, and no longer had time to be distracted to speak. Suffering from the lack of weapons in hand, a few moves were already dangerous, and he was sweating profusely. At this moment, he was forced into a corner by the masked man, and when he saw that he was stabbed in the chest again, and there was no way to avoid it, the shopkeeper suddenly raised his right arm and shot an iron needle from his sleeve, which went straight into the masked man's chest.

However, the needle did not penetrate the chest as expected, but fell to the ground. When the shopkeeper was stunned, the masked man quickly reversed the blade of the knife and struck him in the neck with the back of the knife, knocking him unconscious. "At the moment of life and death, in the end, I still used my best skills! Fortunately, I wore soft armor in advance, and I really didn't have time to deal with the needle at such a close distance. The masked man picked up the iron needle on the ground.

The two masked men who were watching the battle also stepped forward and tore off the shopkeeper's beard: "Sure enough, it's Qin Da Niu!" ”

The masked people took off the black cloth and revealed their true faces, which were Hua Zidu, Yuan Rui, and Zhou Zhengzhi. It turned out that a few days ago, Yuan Rui and the others finally found out that Li Hui had secretly sent someone to this pharmacy, and the appearance of the shopkeeper was actually somewhat similar to Qin Daniu. In order to test the truth, the three of them deliberately pretended to be a killer sent by Li Hui to kill him, and when he was in danger, Qin Daniu really used an iron needle to hide his mouth. Yuan Rui and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief, after many days, the case finally came to an end, the murderer was brought to justice, and it was proved that Li Hui was indeed related to the case and could be arrested.

In Luoyang, the national capital, Danyang Palace, the Queen Mother, who was lying on the bed, opened her eyes slightly, saw Yuan Yao walking back and forth anxiously on the side, and called softly: "Yao'er." ”

Yuan Yao grabbed the queen mother's hands in surprise: "Great, the queen mother, you finally woke up, I heard the palace maid say that you have fainted for no reason several times recently, and the sons are really worried, worried about ......"

Looking at the excited tears in Yuan Yao's eyes, the Queen Mother had mixed feelings in her heart: "Yao'er, the Queen Mother knows that you are wronged......

Yuan Yao: "Don't talk about this, the queen mother, you have a good rest, too many things have happened recently, the queen mother, you are too tired!" ”

Queen Mother: "The queen mother didn't expect this Hu Bizhu to be so unreasonable, thanks to your uncle Hu Mo still said that she was dignified and elegant, hum!" ”

Yuan Yao: "Actually, the queen mother doesn't have to be like this, Erchen also has half of the Hu family's blood in his body, and he will definitely treat the Hu family well." ”

The Queen Mother smiled slightly: "With your words, the queen mother will rest assured, if the Cui family girl Yao'er likes it, why don't you include him in the harem!" Although the queen's behavior is extreme, if Yao'er can open her heart to her, I don't think she will become what she is today. ”

Yuan Yao: "Don't worry, the queen mother is assured, the son promised the queen mother that he will not embarrass the queen in the future." The queen mother was heartbroken for the Hu family, and the queen mother actually slandered the queen mother to shield Aunt He to attack the Hu family, which is really black and white! ”

Queen Mother: "Don't talk about them, I'm afraid even Yao'er you are very confused, right?" ”

Yuan Yao: "The queen mother remembers the old love, and the son understands. ”

The Queen Mother muttered: "Without Aunt He, there would be no queen mother today, she is really stupid, I am afraid that the queen mother will hide alone, do we still care about this?" After a pause, as if he had finally made up some kind of determination, "Some old things have been hidden in the queen mother's heart for thirty-five years, and it is time to turn them over and dry them." Thirty-five years ago...... "The Queen Mother stared at the windowsill, as if through that small window, she could see that thirty-five years ago, when she was in the prime of her life, was lost in horror in the crowded Lantern Festival.

The Empress Dowager Hu back then was naturally not as powerful as she is now, she was just the daughter of a small Linjing County Cheng, and the people around her did not call her the Empress Dowager, but called her name - Hu Ying. Just a few days ago, the imperial court broke through Guzang, the capital of the Liang Kingdom, and the news came that the whole country was jubilant, and from then on all the lands south of the desert and north of the Great River would be under the rule of the Great Wei. Han Xingjian, the general of Liangguo, was trapped in Guzang's lonely city for more than ten years, and was regarded as a hero of the anti-Wei resistance by the military and people of Liangguo, and the imperial court was always helpless against him. This time, for some reason, the city was actually broken in a battle, which really excited the soldiers and civilians of the Great Wei. In order to celebrate this long-lost victory, this year's Lantern Festival in Jingzhou City was extremely lively, and the people's interest was also very high.

Hu Yan of Linjing County brought his daughter Hu Ying, son Hu Shen and Hu Yuan to join the carnival crowd, Hu Ying had just turned thirteen at that time, and his two younger brothers Hu Shen and Hu Yuan were seven and four years old respectively, which was the age when he was full of curiosity about the world. Looking at the colorful lights of different shapes on the street, the three little ones let out bursts of exclamations from time to time.

"Daddy! Why is this year's lantern festival so lively? Hu Ying asked curiously as she looked at the crowd of people rubbing shoulders.

As a grassroots official of the Great Wei, Hu Yan could not hide his pride: "That's because my Great Wei finally unified Jiangbei, Your Majesty and the people are happy, and this lantern festival will naturally be lively!" ”

"Wow, that's a big fish!" Hu Yuan, who was sitting on Hu Yan's neck, suddenly pointed to the crowd not far away and shouted, interrupting the conversation between the two. When Hu Ying and Hu Shen heard this, they immediately stood on tiptoe and stretched their necks to see what was going on over the crowd, but they were helpless and short, and there were many onlookers, even if they jumped up, they couldn't see the shadow of a fish.

"Daddy, I'll go in and have a look!" Hu Ying said excitedly to Hu Yan.

"Don't stay too long, we'll be waiting for you here." Hu Yan instructed.

"I'm going too! I'm going too! Hu Shen shouted that he was going to follow, but was grabbed by Hu Yan: "Don't join the excitement, stay by your father's side and wait for my sister to come back." ”

Hu Ying jumped into the crowd, and sure enough, he saw a large fish-shaped lantern, which was not only exquisitely made, but also the fishtail would swing from side to side, no wonder there were so many onlookers.

Suddenly, a dragon-shaped lantern appeared not far away, and the dragon's body was winding and circling, with more than 20 knots, each of which was of a different color. Hu Ying's attention was immediately attracted by it, and she couldn't help but run to it to admire it.

After changing places like this for four or five years, Hu Ying suddenly realized that she couldn't find her father and younger brother anymore...... "Daddy! Daddy! Hu Ying's desperate shouts were instantly drowned out in the noisy flow of people.

After a long time, Hu Ying, who had searched for no result, squatted in the corner and sobbed. At this time, a middle-aged woman came over, squatted down and asked her with concern, "Little girl, what is your name?" ”

Hu Ying replied in a low voice, "Hu Ying." ”

The middle-aged woman was overjoyed when she heard this: "Just now on the other street, I saw a person calling 'Ying'er~Ying'er~', is it looking for you?" ”

Hu Ying bounced up excitedly and wiped her nose: "It must be my father looking for me, where did you meet him, auntie?" ”

The middle-aged woman thought for a while: "Oh, this road is a bit complicated, I'm afraid you won't remember it, or your aunt will take you there!" ”

Hu Ying nodded vigorously: "Thank you, auntie, let's go quickly, I'm afraid my father will go away again when it's late." ”

The middle-aged woman took Hu Ying through the streets and alleys, and the more she walked, the more remote she became, and there were fewer and fewer pedestrians. Hu Ying felt that something was wrong and asked, "Auntie, are we going the wrong way?" Or I'd better go back to where I was and wait for my dad to come to me. ”

The middle-aged woman pointed to the distance: "It's not wrong, it's not wrong, take a closer look, is that person your father?" ”

Just as Hu Ying was concentrating on staring into the distance, a man suddenly appeared in the darkness, and the middle-aged woman and the middle-aged woman skillfully moved Hu Ying to a room next to the alley.

The two quickly tied Hu Ying's hands behind his back, stuffed a cloth ball in his mouth and threw it in a corner. Hu Ying looked around in a panic, only to find that there was a little girl of about the same age squatting beside her, who was as frightened as she was, desperately trying to make a sound.

The man was obviously a little excited, and said with a smile: "Today is really a bumper harvest, thanks to the victory of the imperial court, the lantern festival is so lively, let us catch two in one night!" ”

The woman looked disdainful: "Look at your little bit of talent, you are so happy when you catch two little girls, your mouth is grinning to your ears." ”

The man hid his embarrassment twice: "Yes, yes, you have seen the world, and you are naturally different from me." I'll go to Chu's mother in Zuichun Building early tomorrow morning, hoping to sell it for a good price. ”

When the woman heard this, she took him by the ear and scolded, "Are you stupid? They are all locals of Jingzhou, how can they sell to Zuichun Building? If they are found by their family, who will take care of our business in the future? If you want to sell it, of course, sell it farther, that's good, I also know a few mothers in Yongzhou, let's leave for Yongzhou tomorrow! ”