Hanoi Wen County has a long history, from the Warring States period to the Qin and Han dynasties, it is already the famous capital of the world in the rich crown sea, the famous thinker Bu Zixia was born here in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoist thought, is said to have realized the Tao here.

The prosperity of Wen County is obvious to all, even if it is now in a period of war, it is still very prosperous. As soon as the sky was dark, the city gate had not yet opened, and the vendors outside the city who wanted to sell vegetables, firewood, fish and shrimp waited outside the city early. There was no one to maintain order, and the villagers were in a hurry to go to the market in the west of the city to occupy a better position, and the suspension bridge on the outside of the moat outside the city gate was tightly blocked.

Under normal circumstances, the city gate will be opened before dawn, but today it is a little abnormal, the sky has been white, but the city gate is still quiet, no soldiers come to open the door, and the vendors who are in a hurry to enter the city can't help but talk about it.

At this time, I only heard a loud shout, "It's three o'clock in the hour, open the city gate!" ”

When the vendors heard this, they hurriedly hid back.

In the sound of "crunching", the city gate slowly opened, and at the same time, in the sound of "clattering", the drawbridge slowly fell.

Before the drawbridge had completely fallen, some skilled vendors jumped onto the drawbridge and rushed towards the city gate. Not to be outdone, the rest of the people swarmed up to the city gate as soon as the drawbridge fell.

At this time, the city gate was completely open, and the first few vendors were running towards the city gate with baskets on their backs, and their faces were full of excitement, thinking happily that there would be a good harvest today, but they did not want a loud noise from the hole in the city gate in front of them.

A few vendors looked at it, and suddenly their souls were scattered, only to see a carriage galloping out of the hole in the city gate, and the ground with four horses and sixteen iron hooves "rumbling". The vendors hurriedly turned around and fled, but the crowd behind them was crowded and they couldn't run at all. The vendors, who saw the opportunity, hurriedly jumped into the moat, and the rest of the people saw it and jumped in as well. For a time, the moat a few zhang wide was like a dumpling, and the sound of "poof" was endless.

In the carriage, a man dressed as a rich boy saw this chaotic scene, and danced and laughed happily.

Seeing the carriage go away, the people in the river looked at each other. A trader with good water quality rescued a guy who was very poor in water and was reluctant to lose the heavy goods in his hand to escape, and the two barely got ashore and were tired to the ground.

At this time, there were already a lot of people on the shore, and a strong man with five big and three thick scolded: "Whose little cub is this?" Put horses and chariots in the cave of the city gate, and you are not afraid of hitting and hurting people, is there any royal law? ”

The trader who saved people gasped and said, "This eldest brother, the younger brother advises you to have less right and wrong, you can't afford to mess with this person!" ”

The man was stunned for a moment and said, "This brother, do you know that person?" ”

The vendor nodded and said, "There is a saying in Wen County, 'The Su family is rich, Sima is valuable, and the Xing family is the longest', which refers to the three most prestigious families in Wen County. Among them, the Su family is the richest man in Wen County, with good land and servants; The Sima family is the most respected, and there have been many high-ranking officials and nobles in their ancestors; As for the Xing family, although it is not the richest or the most expensive, the inheritance that began in the Zhou Dynasty is naturally not to be underestimated. And this son just now is the little son of the Su family. Hey, you can't afford to mess with it! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of horses' hooves "rumbling" again in the city gate. A few vendors on the drawbridge who had just cleaned up and were about to enter the city screamed again and jumped into the moat. The vendors followed the sound and saw horse-drawn carts rushing out as if there was no end.

Judging from the signs on the carriage, in addition to the Su family who went out earlier, the cars of the Xing family, the Wen family, the Liu family, the Niu family and other big families in Wen County are impressively listed. These cars are not the cars that are usually bought, they are all cars that can only be ridden by the owner of the family. The vendors looked at each other, wondering what was going on, why did these families who were rarely seen on weekdays go out of the city en masse?

There are two famous hot springs in Wen County, which is also the origin of the name Wen County. One of them, located in the southwest of Wen County, the spring flow is at room temperature, Shi Xin is virtuous, and the people benefit from irrigation, and the people of Wen County have benefited a lot. On the other hand, twenty miles south of the city, the water of this spring is warm in winter and cool in summer, which can be called magical, flowing into bromine water and finally flowing into Jishui. This spring water belongs to the nobility, of course, it belongs to the nobility, in fact, this spring is located in the courtyard of the Sima family in Wen County, the courtyard of the Sima family has always been open to the nobles of Wen County for free, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it belongs to the nobles.

In the summer, soaking in a hot spring, especially this kind of hot spring that is warm in winter and cool in summer, is naturally extremely refreshing, but today the important people of these clans go out early in the morning, but not to soak in the hot spring. Today is the day of Sima Fang's 50th birthday, and it is also the day of the first banquet after Sima Fang recovered from his illness.

Because of Sima Lang's entry, the status of the Sima family in Wen County has risen a little. Not because everyone is optimistic about Cao Cao and thinks that he can dominate the world, but because there are successors to the Sima family, and the prosperity of the family within a few decades can be expected. And recently, I don't know where there was a rumor that Sima Yi, the second son of the Sima family, was also going to Cao Cao. At this moment, the Sima family is even more amazing.

In the courtyard of Sima's house in the south of the city, Sima Lu, the chief butler of the Sima family, was dressed like a red envelope, full of joy, and greeted the heads of the families and important people who came to worship Sima Fang's birthday.

Sima Shou, the second housekeeper, shouted out the gift slips presented by each family from time to time, and instructed the family to carry the gifts in. If the gift is heavy, he will have the most sincere and amiable smile on his face, and if the gift is light, he will look cold and unreasonable. It is not that he is snobbish, but that the wealthy families interact with each other, and the weight of the gift not only represents the heart of the giver, but also represents the importance of the giver to the recipient. In Sima Shou's opinion, the gift you gave was so light, it was obvious that you looked down on my family! Of course, if it's a learned Confucian or a celebrity, it's a different story.

The chief housekeeper had just made a few jokes with the eldest son of the Wen family, and was about to find his own nephew to take him into the door, when he saw the head of the Zhu family at a glance, so he pretended not to see the son of the Wen family and continued to laugh and talk.

The Zhu family is also a big family in Wen County, but in recent years, there have been unscrupulous children, lost the family, and lost his reputation, so everyone doesn't like to take care of him. He is also self-aware, and in recent years he has been closed to the rest of the clan. Originally, today's festive scene, the head of the Zhu family would not come, and should not come, you have been stinky for ten miles, what are you doing here? Disgusting everyone? But everyone's face still has to be talked about, since they are here, they naturally have to be entertained. The chief housekeeper didn't want to entertain them, so he accompanied the Wen family's son-in-law to talk, but if the second housekeeper didn't say hello again, it would be too much.

The second housekeeper took two steps forward, gave a casual salute, and said with a smile: "Yo, isn't this the head of the Zhu family?" I heard that your family has made a fortune in recent years, and they don't want to take care of our family, why are you here today? ”

The head of the Zhu family was not angry, smiled heartily, and said: "Haha, the second housekeeper said that he was laughing, the Zhu family's small family is not comparable to the Sima family." As for a few days ago, hehe, there was a loser in the family, and the old man had no face to see people. Hehe, second housekeeper, this is a little gift from the old decay, please accept it! ”

The second housekeeper nodded, took the gift list carelessly, squinted his eyes and looked at it, and when he saw the words on it clearly, his eyes suddenly widened. I saw that the gift list read: 36 Hepu pearls, 2,000 taels of gold, and 12 firefox skins......

The second housekeeper rubbed his face in disbelief, and when he looked again, he found that he was not mistaken. He immediately put on a smiling face, and said with a smile: "Hey, Zhu family master, hehe, I was sneering, please forgive the sin, forgive the little one for not knowing gold and jade!" After a slight pause, he said loudly: "Zhu family ......"

When the chief housekeeper heard this gift list, he couldn't believe his ears, so he hurriedly skimmed the son of the Wen family, snatched the gift list from the second housekeeper's hand and glanced at it, bowed deeply to the head of the Zhu family, and said, "Isn't this the head of the Zhu family?" Hehe, the distinguished guests are coming from afar, and the humble house is shining. Come on, come on, please come in! Who's that, why don't you come to greet your guests? No eyesight! ”

The sensation caused by this gift list can be imagined, not to mention things such as Hepu pearls and fire fox skins, but the two thousand taels of gold made everyone feel that their gift list could not be seen. Everyone couldn't help but think, where did the Zhu family make such a fortune quietly? Why didn't you hear the wind? It seems that today the Zhu family just wants to take advantage of the Sima family's field to announce their return to the top family club in Wenxian County in a high-profile manner.

No one will think that the gifts on the gift list do not match the real thing, because the big clan can't afford to lose that person!

The gifts of the Zhu family, a small box and three boxes, were carried in by the subordinates of the Sima family. Among them, there is a square, about two feet and five inches of the box is the most eye-catching, because the two housekeepers who carry the box grinning teeth and heavy steps, obviously the weight of the box is extremely heavy, and it should be two thousand taels of gold inside.

The banquet was presided over by Sima Fang, and although his face was still relatively poor, he seemed to be in good health. However, the most eye-catching thing in the banquet was not Sima Fang, but two other people, one was Sima Fu, the third son of the nineteen-year-old Sima family, and the other was naturally the head of the Zhu family, who was out of the limelight. Sima Fu's appearance on such a formal occasion means that he has reached adulthood and is about to perform the crown salute, and there are more people among the young children of the Sima family, which naturally attracts everyone's attention. The heads of many families were wondering if there was a woman of the right age in the family, and if Sima Fang was interested, they would marry her to Sima Fu.

After the banquet, Sima Fang called Sima Fu into the study and discussed for a long time before the father and son came out. Looking at Sima Fu's distant figure, Sima Fang sighed, the eldest son Sima Lang served in Cao Cao's army, and at this moment it was the time of Cao Liu's war, and he couldn't rush back. The second son, Sima Yi, went to find his mentor Hu Zhao, because Cao Cao wanted him to come out, and he couldn't make up his mind and wanted to hear what his mentor had to say. They have all been released, their bodies have not fully recovered since they were stabbed by Lu Yun last time, and it is difficult to have the energy to deal with heavy housework, the key is the part of Shuangyuemen, I wanted to hand over these things to the third son, but this son is too square, and it seems that it is difficult to shoulder the heavy responsibility in a short time. Hey, I can't imagine that my Sima Fang gave birth to eight sons, and all eight sons have outstanding points, but there is a dilemma that no one is available...... Sima Fang didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

Late at night, the noisy Sima Bein became quiet, and there were hardly any people to be seen except for a few samurai who were patrolling the night.

At this moment, a small sound came from the temporary treasure house in the courtyard, and the sound sounded like the sound of bones colliding. Because the center of gravity of the Sima family is in the city mansion, where important buildings such as treasure houses are located, the gifts received today are all piled up in a solid cellar. There were four guards at the door, and they were all absolute henchmen of the Sima family. Although it is a temporary treasure trove for guards, it is more symbolic, because the outer wall is the place where the guards are concentrated, and they only need to prevent thieves from making trouble in the house.

A box suddenly moved, and the sound was so small that it was not easy to hear even in the dead of night. Then, the box moved again, and the door of the box magically opened, and a hand reached out from the box and grabbed it on the wall.

The hand was covered with sweat stains, trembling, and after a while, the sound of bones colliding sounded again, and the arm slowly stretched out, and the hand flipped and grabbed the lid of the box, slowly lifted the lid of the box, and slowly stabilized it, without making a sound. A round rumbling thing appeared in the chest...... Or rather a toad-shaped thing. If it is a person, it is really a little reluctant, although it seems to have limbs and a head, but the person has one arm, two legs, and the head is tightly pressed against the sides of the body as if folded, the leg joints seem to be unloaded, the whole limb is as if there are no bones, the head is half sunk into the body, only the eyes and nose are exposed, there is no neck at all, the whole body is shrunk together, short like the body of a baby, but it is bulging, and it looks very incongruous. But a normal arm protruded out of his body and grabbed the lid of the box.

If someone saw this, they would probably be scared to death. The length, width and height of the box are about two feet and five inches, and after removing the wall of the box, there is only about two feet and one inch of internal space, but the length of the outstretched arm is more than two feet five.

Half a moment later, there was another violent skeletal thud, and another arm stretched out of the box. Two hands retracted into the box, and there was another bone thud, and a head appeared abruptly outside the box. The man gasped for breath and rested his arms on the wall of the box. With a muffled snort, his arms were forced, and with the sound of violent bone movements, a body slowly "grew" out of the box, with boneless legs hanging at his sides.

The man supported the ground with both hands, moved his body to the ground, and moved his hands on his legs a few times, only to hear a few "clicks", the joints of his legs had been connected, and a person about seven feet tall was completely "assembled".

He sat cross-legged on the ground, gasping for air, sweating profusely. After a while, the man's breathing became steady, and he was not sweating. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and two rays of light flashed in the darkness.