The dim room, the faint oil lamp, standing by the window, the old man in the gray cotton jacket slowly turned around, looked at Xu Mingyuan, grinned slightly, and showed a mouthful of white and flawless teeth.

Xu Mingyuan was stunned, because he didn't expect that the old man he asked for directions under the old locust tree before was Chen Qiao. That is, Uncle Chen in Qi Haobo's mouth, and the old blind man in Yi's mouth.

However, Xu Mingyuan still reacted quickly, arched his hand and said: "It turns out that the old man is the person I am looking for, and the etiquette was not good before, so I don't think it's strange." ”

"Young man, where are you so polite, sit down." Chen Qiao raised his hand, and slowly paced to a Taishi chair and sat down.

Xu Mingyuan nodded, and then glanced at the dim room. The room is not small, but there is no furnishings, there is a desk by the window, and there is a bookshelf behind the desk, on which there are books scattered with little bibliography. There are six Taishi chairs on the side, and there is a coffee table next to the chairs. There was an oil lamp in the corner of the house, and nothing else.

Xu Mingyuan put down the bamboo box he was carrying behind his back and sat opposite Chen Qiao, because he had already seen it once before, so he didn't show any more inappropriate looks towards his dead fish-like white eyes.

Yi sat beside Xu Mingyuan, looked at Xu Mingyuan expectantly and said, "Xiao Xu, hurry up and take out the things that Brother Qi asked you to bring, isn't this already seeing the old blind man." ”

Xu Mingyuan nodded, opened the bamboo box, took out the bamboo tube that was painted with fire paint, and handed it to Yi.

Although Yi wanted to see it, he didn't open it himself, but got up and handed it to Chen Qiao. directly paused on the chair beside Chen Qiao.

Chen Qiao took the bamboo tube and put it in front of his eyes and slowly turned around, carefully looking at the fire paint. After confirming that it had not been dismantled, he raised his hand towards Yi.

"Show me. I promise not to talk much. Yi's face collapsed, and he said to Chen Qiao.

Chen Qiao smiled angrily: "If you can not talk much, then it is still you." ”

Yi got down from the chair a little dejectedly, pointed at Xu Mingyuan and said, "Then Xiao Xu is also going out?" ”

"I have something to ask him." Chen Qiao's clean fingers rubbed lightly on the bamboo tube, and with a stroke of his fingernails, he slid off the fire paint on the bamboo tube.

Yi walked towards the door and closed the door with his hand.

Xu Mingyuan sat on the chair and watched Chen Qiao's dry and white hand slowly disassemble the bamboo tube and pour out a secret letter from it. He placed the bamboo tube on the low table next to him, opened the note and looked at it.

Chen Qiao's eye should be blind, if it weren't for that somewhat terrifying eye, he would feel like an ordinary old man, kind and kind.

Those clear eyes gave a wise feeling, not at all like an old man standing in a dimly lit room in this strange courtyard.

A quarter of an hour later, Chen Qiao folded the finished paper back and put it back into the bamboo tube. Holding it in his hand, he looked at Xu Mingyuan and asked slowly, "Do you know what this is about?" The clear eyes looked at Xu Mingyuan's eyes, and there was still that kind smile on his face.

Xu Mingyuan looked at the eye that seemed to be able to perceive everything, and was silent for a while. Nodding, "I probably know." ”

"You should have said you didn't know." Chen Qiao shook his head, as if he was a little disappointed. And a little relieved.

Xu Mingyuan's face remained unchanged and he was silent for a while. looked at Chen Qiao's eyes and said, "Will you believe it?" ”

"I will." Chen Qiao nodded, and continued: "I know he will hope that I will." ”

"I wonder if his death is worth it? Can you let the damned die. Let the undamned continue to live? Xu Mingyuan looked at Chen Qiao and said in a deep voice.

Chen Qiao's fingers tapped lightly on the bamboo tube, looked at Xu Mingyuan's face and was silent for a while, then nodded and said, "I won't let him die worthless, but damned people are generally difficult to die, and those who don't deserve to die are the easiest to die." ”

"Then why did you let him go in the first place?" Xu Mingyuan's brows furrowed slightly, and his voice couldn't help but raise a few points.

"Not everything in this world will have a result when you do it, but many things must be done, such as this one." Chen Qiao's eyes drooped slightly, as if he had aged a lot all of a sudden, and the wrinkles on his face were a little looser, looking a little lonely. "I will send this letter to the case of Taiming Palace, as for how to decide, this is not something I can control. What the clown did may be the one he wants to see. ”

Xu Mingyuan opened his mouth, but he didn't know how to refute. The major families are deeply entrenched, and trying to bring them down just by relying on a secret letter is tantamount to a fool's dream.

However, since Chen Qiao said that he would submit this secret letter to the palace, at least this thing that Qi Haobo exchanged for his life was not useless.

"What's your name?" The two were silent for a while, Chen Qiao put the bamboo tube aside, looked at Xu Mingyuan and asked.

Xu Mingyuan responded: "Xu Mingyuan." ”

"Xu Mingyuan......" Chen Qiao read softly, as if he suddenly thought of something, "But Xu Mingyuan, who won the first place in the Shuzhou general examination and the township examination?" ”

"I was dismissed from the test, and I can't do it." Xu Mingyuan was a little surprised that Chen Qiao actually knew that he knew, so he shook his head and said.

"I've read your debate on the war and peace of Nanzhao, so I asked people to check it, but I didn't expect you to send this letter back in the end." Chen Qiao smiled.

"I think you know better than me about Nanzhao, if you rush to send troops, the final benefit will only be Tubo." Xu Mingyuan stood up directly, looked at Chen Qiao and said.

Chen Qiao shook his head and slowly stood up, "What even you and I know, do you think that person will not know?" ”

Xu Mingyuan was slightly stunned, and his face turned white in an instant. Chen Qiao's words were like a heavy punch, smashing him to pieces, and he also had a hint of enlightenment in his heart.

Chen Qiao walked to the bookshelf behind the desk, pulled out a dark grid, put the bamboo tube in, pushed the dark pavilion back in, turned to look at Xu Mingyuan, the smile on his face was gone, his fingers tapped lightly on the table, and after a while, he said: "Since you read the letter, I think you should know what it means, you have two choices, join the Yuntai Division, or stay here." ”

"Isn't there a third option?" Xu Mingyuan's eyes narrowed slightly, and he glanced at the green frost inserted in the bamboo box.

"No one can dare to do anything in this courtyard, except, of course, those who are dead." Chen Qiao stretched out his hand and pointed out the window, and there was a dark shadow behind the blue curtain.

Xu Mingyuan glanced at the black shadow that appeared silently, reached into his arms and took out the token that Qi Haobo gave him, put it on the desk, nodded and said, "I still want to live a few more years." ”

Chen Qiao glanced at the token, took out a book that looked like a ledger from the shelf, threw it next to the token, looked at Xu Mingyuan and said: "You take both the token and the ledger, let Yi take it to Haobo's house, and tell him that it's time to collect the account, and you and him will collect this year's account." ”

==================== thanks to my Q name Han, Gongzi Qingmo, MaxUoUo for the tip, thank you for your recommendation votes, three chapters tomorrow. (To be continued.) )