The night turned from thin to thick, thick ink soaking down from the high sky, the still cool night wind whistling and rolling over the treetops, and the mountains and forests rolling through the waves. www.biquge.info The warm air during the day gradually cooled down, and I don't know when, the milky white mist drifted silently in the mountains and forests, and the sharp and strange whistling of the night wind was mixed with the dull howl of the beast, which became more and more gloomy and terrifying.

In a sheltered valley depression, a bonfire was being lit, Deng Xiaobao sat in front of him, and focused on wiping the short knife in his hand - no more than two feet long, the reverse blade was sharp, and there were two blood grooves wide and one narrow on the thick knife ridge, and half of the swastika gauntlet was used to block the opponent's weapon with a lattice, and the knife surface was dark, only the blade occasionally turned out a ray of dark light when the short knife turned.

He repeatedly rubbed a muslin dipped in tea oil from the lowest part of the blade, up to the tip of the blade, and continued until the short knife showed a distinctive metallic sheen. The southwest is damp and miasma, and the iron weapons are not well maintained, and even the best weapons have to rust into a pile of iron slag.

"Leopard Head, how long are we going to squat here? There was nothing to do in the mountains, the dampness was heavy, and the brothers had red spots on their hands and legs in the past two days, and they were itching. Lin Dahu, his longest-standing brother, walked over lazily with a long grass stalk in his mouth and sat beside him, looked at it, and said with a smile: "I thought you were doing something, but you were still fiddling with this broken knife, and I wanted to say, there are no weapons in the village, but you want an ordinary iron knife." ”

Deng Xiaobao ignored Lin Dahu's rumors, he didn't move, and continued to meticulously finish the routine maintenance. When the short knife was put into the sheath, he raised his head and glanced at Lin Dahu as if flat, but he actually saw that his upper body leaned back slightly, and his body trembled slightly.

"If you don't restrain your mouth, I'll have to find a sewing needle to sew it for you next time." Deng Xiaobao opened his mouth lightly, and he didn't even move his eyebrows, but Lin Dahu had already changed his color, and he changed his sitting posture in a proper manner, and he didn't dare to speak again.

"Anyway, the brother who went out to find out the news should be back, right?" Deng Xiaobao lowered his head, put away tea oil and cotton cloth and other things, and asked indifferently: "Then what is strange about Li Yongzhong's hand?" ”

Lin Dahu didn't dare to make a mistake, and replied respectfully: "Brother went to the Li family on Fushun to visit, and it is no different from the big families next to it, there are more family members, and it is not unusual to look at the physique." ”

"Didn't Li Yongbo say that there are still things such as firecrackers? Didn't find it? Deng Xiaobao frowned and asked, "It is said that he has hundreds of minions under his hands, which are specially used for the purpose of protecting the family with salt, and he has excellent weapons, why, he doesn't even have a firecracker?" Or ......" he narrowed his eyes, and his ruthless color was revealed, "that Li Yongbo is actually just deceiving the shopkeeper?" ”

"Yes." Lin Dahu expressed his guess: "The world is very chaotic now, and it is common for big families to have a few firearms to defend themselves and protect their homes, and the officials are too lazy to take care of it. But in the end, this is a forbidden thing, and it is not our stockade nested in the mountains, and he has not built a fortress, and even if he has, it is not easy to take it out. ”

"There's some truth to that." Although he said that, Deng Xiaobao still tightly twisted his brows and couldn't stretch. He got up from the ground, and down the hillside, in the deep darkness of the night, the hundred brothers were sitting or lying, seven or eight gathered around a fire, having eaten their fill, and were chatting and playing. These comfortable scenes were unobstructed in Deng Xiaobao's eyes. He is a first-class henchman in Zhenchuan Dong, with countless lives in his hands, and his heart is as hard as iron, but now nearly half of the brothers in the village are in his hands, so Deng Xiaobao can't be careless.

"It's a good life to investigate." Deng Xiaobao finally instructed Lin Dahu in a deep voice: "It's better to be cautious, don't be careless!" ”

"Yes!" Lin Dahu didn't say anything more, and responded in one bite. He hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help but ask Deng Xiaobao: "Leopard head, you didn't have this kind of caution in the past. The brothers talked privately, and this time they watched...... It's really ......" he hesitated, not daring to say the last few words.

"The older the rivers and lakes, the less courageous they are?" Deng Xiaobao laughed at himself, his eyes didn't know where to stare in the void, and muttered: "Since I came to Fushun, the longer I stay here, the more uneasy I feel in my heart, and when I think about it, I always don't know." As he spoke, he smiled to himself and said, "Perhaps, it's really old, but it's less courageous." ”

In Chen Peipei's memory, except for moving thousands of miles from Liaodong to Sichuan with his parents at the age of three or four, he has no memory of walking long distances. Although the Chen couple does not restrain their daughters on weekdays, but in the end, daughters are not as good as boys, except for a walk in the temple near Yibin, this time to Fushun is a rare trip for Chen Peipei.

Because there were many female dependents in the team, compared to Li Yongzhong's original trip to Yibin, it only took about five days, and the Chen family and his party walked for seven days to reach Fushun. Fortunately, Chen had already thought of this festival, and set off on the road early in less than April, and when he arrived in Fushun, there were still three full days before the eighth day of the fourth month.

As early as the first day of arriving in Fushun, Chen Mingjiang sent a reliable person to Fushun alone to report to the Li family, so when he saw He Tai, who had a relationship with him, and several young people outside the Fushun city gate, the heart that had been in his throat was finally put back in his stomach. He raised his hand to stop the team, turned over and dismounted, and rushed to meet He Tai, who came forward, and hugged his fist and said, "I haven't seen you for a long time, Brother He Tai has always been fine?" ”

He Tai replied with a smile: "It's good." Brother Mingjiang, let me kowtow to my wife and the girl first. ”

Before Chen Mingjiang led him from the carriage, He Tailiso knelt down and kowtowed to say hello, Chen hurriedly called him up through the curtain of the carriage, and asked kindly: "It's been a long time, your Zhongguan'er has always been in good health?" How are you in the family? ”

"Zhong Guan'er is in good health, and everything is fine at home." He Tai replied respectfully, and said: "This is not the place to speak, Zhong Guan'er has already chartered the Yuelai Inn in the city, and Rong Xiaoren will lead the way for his wife and girl." Zhong Guan'er has something to say, it's not early today, and I ask the two of you to have a good night's rest first, and he will come to see his wife early tomorrow morning. ”

A cloud of doubt floated in Chen's heart, but this was not the time, she said gently: "It's been so hard for you." He Tailian said he didn't dare. Before she could say more, the carriage moved, the sound of the chariot sounded, and it didn't take much effort, and the noise of the market that seemed to be close to her ears gradually faded away, and the bumps calmed down, thinking that she had entered the city and got on the bluestone road.

Pei Pei whispered to her mother: "I think there is something wrong with the Li family, otherwise, as a mother, how can the Li family let the mother live in an inn outside?" ”

Chen patted his daughter's hand and replied softly, "What you said is bad. Zhong Guan'er is a courtesy, so he put us in the inn, otherwise where would there be a reason for his fiancée to come to the door? She had no plans in her heart, but she didn't plan to say more in front of her daughter, she had already made up her mind, and when she settled down in the inn later, she would find her son Chen Mingjiang to come over and discuss it.

Whether it was because of etiquette or some other thing, at least Chen was quite satisfied with the place where he was going to live in the next few days - it was said to be the upper room of the inn, but it was a separate courtyard, the mother and daughter happened to live in the main house, the wings on both sides were reserved for the maids to live in, and the fifty soldiers lived in other rooms, filling the entire inn to the full.

The innkeeper was sitting diagonally at Chen's head and talking to her. Although she is the wife of a businessman, she can also write and calculate, and she is a first-class shrewd person. In a few words, he laughed with Chen. not only explained the Fushun place in great detail, but also explained the affairs of the Li family clearly and clearly.

"If you want to talk about Zhongguan'er, it's really first-class." The proprietress did not hesitate to praise: "If it weren't for the concubine's nonsense, how many salt merchants have come out of our rich shun, but there are few who can be put on the table." If you talk about the leading figures in the younger generation, if you ask people casually, you have to say that there are countless non-Zhongguan. ”

"I've caused trouble for the proprietress today." Chen said sincerely: "The food of these dozens of people is enough to make people bother, but the proprietress takes care of it in an orderly manner, which is very rare." ”

When the proprietress heard this, she hurriedly waved her hand and said, "I'm nothing!" This kind of method was originally spread from the Li Mansion, and the concubine's body was just a gourd to draw a scoop, which was really not rare. ”

These words made Chen and Pei Pei suddenly curious. Pei Pei glanced at Chen, obviously surprised in his heart, but he just remembered what he had learned every day and forbears himself.

"The Li family has dozens of families, and they practice strictly on weekdays, but it is always better to meet than to be famous." The proprietress said slowly, "At first, it was not obvious, but later there were other people who walked with the Li family horse team, and only then did they realize that the Li family guards, walking, sitting and lying have rules, and those who do not follow the rules will be beaten first at the beginning, and if they commit it again, they will be expelled and released!" Zhong Guan'er is generous, treats people well, and never deliberately embarrasses him, who wants to go? ”

Chen is the wife of a military attaché, and his heart jumps when he hears it. There was no show on his face, a smile on the corner of his mouth, and after a few more words with the other party, he used the excuse that the journey was hard and he wanted to rest, and even his daughter Pei Pei also let him sleep. The proprietress left with interest, and the Chen family asked the confidant to pass Chen Mingjiang to come over to talk - he was brought up by the Chen family, and he said that he was the righteous son, and he was no different from his parent, so he was not very taboo to interfere with it.

"I said something to the proprietress here, and I didn't understand something, so I asked Mingjiang to come and talk." Chen asked the maid to serve tea for the righteous son, the gentle expression on his face had become serious, and he learned the words of the proprietress from Chen Mingjiang, and then said: "Tomorrow Zhongguan'er will come to visit, I really have nothing to say to this son-in-law, you are the same age as him, but for me to probe the roots, I am only afraid that when he is in Yibin, the temperament is all pretending, this time is a good time, you will mention your righteous sister and me, so that you can take a look at this Zhongguan'er." ”