In fact, the Zhi clan did burn down Gong Yining's workshop, robbed him of his honorarium, killed his apprentice, and forced him to jump into the sea. What the Zhi clan didn't know was that a young girl from the Dongyi tribe rescued a man named Ning who had fallen into the water on the beach, and she married him in Ganyuan and gave birth to a daughter named Mayyang.

Gong Yining said that he was a person who had died once, and if it weren't for owing Duanmu a great favor, he would never have appeared here. In fact, if we hadn't guessed his identity, Duanmuci had promised him that after sending a cart of treasures, he could return to Qufu to reunite with his wife and daughter.

"Don't be afraid, Mr. Gongyi, as long as you tell Xiao Wu the location of the secret room of the Zhi Mansion, Xiao Wu will send Mr. out of the city and back to Lu today." I sighed at Duanmuci's intentions, and I was also grateful for the public defeat and the move of risking death to enter the Jin.

Gong Yining has been frowning from beginning to end since he revealed his identity, and he was even more embarrassed in the face of my inquiry.

"What? Is there anything unspeakable about Mr. Gongyi? "I try to slow down my voice as much as possible so that I don't seem too eager.

"Actually—I don't know where the Zhifu Secret Room is built?" It's better to lose than to lose.

"Don't know? How is this possible? "The secret room was built by Zhi Yao on his behalf, how could he not know where the secret room is? If he didn't know, why did Zhi Yao risk offending Lu Guogong and killing him back then?

Gong Yining, who was across the case, seemed to hear my heart, he silently raised his hand to tear open one of his sleeves, took out a thin book from the dark layer in the center of the two layers of linen cloth on the sleeve and put it on the desk, and lowered his head to take out a black and shiny tiger-shaped object from his hair bun and pressed it on the corner of the thin book: "This is the layout of the secret room of the Zhifu, and this is the key to the yin and yang lock of the door of the secret room." At that time, the anti-theft mechanism in the secret room of Zhifu was indeed made by me, but there was another Zhifu craftsman who built the room and placed the mechanism. It's just that the Zhi clan has repeatedly sent people to hunt me down and kill me back then, so I'm afraid that the Zhifu craftsmen who built the secret room are already a pile of dry bones now, and they can't speak anymore. ”

"Sir, you really don't know where the secret room is?"

"It's better to lose than to live up to the expectations of the wizards."

"It's okay ......" I picked up the old scroll that looked like human skin on the case, and then reached out and touched the hair-thin nicks on the "Black Tiger" body, and sighed softly, "No matter what, Xiao Wu also wants to thank Mr. for risking his life to send these two things." This time, if Xiao Wu can rescue the people in the secret room, he will not forget the kindness of Mr. ”

"Witch, it's broken! In the next year, he helped the shaman to atone for his sins. Hearing this, Gong Ning stood up and wanted to salute.

I hurriedly pressed him and said, "Mr. is a craftsman, and he is dedicated to fulfilling the trust of the patron, what is the sin?" ”

"If you don't check and don't ask, it's a sin." Gong Yining insisted on getting up and bowing deeply, bowing, and pointed to the tiger-shaped key in my hand, "The key to the Yin-Yang Lock has been taken away by the Zhi Clan, and this 'Black Tiger' is a 'new tiger' forged for the wizard by Mr. Duanmu, although it is the key, it has never opened the Yin-Yang Lock Heart. The design of the yin and yang lock is too complicated, and if the texture on the tiger's body is the slightest difference, not only can the lock not be opened, but it will also immediately trigger the secret room mechanism, causing death. Wizard - Do you know what you mean? ”

"Understood." It turns out that this tiger stripe is the key to unlocking, I took the "black tiger" in my hand to my eyes, and the fingertips turned slightly, and the fine texture of the "black tiger" body rippled in front of me like water waves through the dark light in the room, "Mr. is worthy of the name of 'ghost worker' before the world, although this key is new, but Xiao Wu can trust Mr. ”

I admired Yu Gong Ning's skills, but Gong Ning frowned and said: "The Yin and Yang lock was made when Xia was young, and Gong Ning at that time relied on carving fish to enter the water and birds to fly to the sky, but the sorcerer looked at my current hands ......" Gong Ning pulled up his two wide sleeved robes, revealing a pair of scarred hands like dry wood from them, "These hands have long been wasted, and the 'black tiger' made by these hands will not be able to open the lock nine times out of ten." I don't know who is locked up in the secret room, and I don't know what this person has to do with the wizard, but I guess that after so many years, even if the people inside are still **, most of them are living dead. The sorcerer is at his risk, so let him go! If the sorcerer loses something because of my 'waste tiger', he really has the trust of Mr. Duanmu. ”

Let him go? It's been 20 years, and my brother has been digging up his flesh and blood in the underground of Huangquan for 20 years, how can I let him go? I couldn't let go when he was a shadow, and now that I'm only one last step away from him, how can I let go?

"Mr. Gong Yi doesn't need to worry about Xiao Wu, Mr. just needs to tell Xiao Wu truthfully, when Mr. made this 'Black Tiger', he did his best? If the person locked up in this secret room is Mayyang, would you like to use this 'new tiger' to give it a try? ”

"Mayday?"

"Yes, sir, would you like to give it a try?"

"I ......" Gong Ning looked down at his withered and cracked hands, his fingers clenched, then released, then silence, silence again.

"Sir?"

Gong Yi Ning thought for a long time, and finally raised his head: "If the little girl Wuyue Yang is locked up in the secret room, Gong Yu Ning will let it go." ”

"Well, if Mr. can trust himself, then Zi Di can also trust Mr." I pinched the key and smiled.

Gong Yining's face was moved, and he raised his hand and bowed deeply: "Sinner...... Thank you! ”

"Sorcerer, the hour is coming." Outside, the child knocked on the wooden door.

I answered, turned my head and said to Gong Yining: "The monarch is newly mourned, Xiao Wu is going to rush into the palace today, can Mr. stay in the pavilion for a few more days, and then send Mr. out of the city and back to Lu when Xiao Wu leaves the palace?" ”

"The sorcerer has a heart." Gong Yining raised his hand and saluted, which was regarded as acquiescence.

When the big stone fell to the ground in my heart, I put the key in my bag and got up to collect the map, but at this time, Gong Yinning suddenly reached out and grabbed my wrist.

I looked at each other with puzzled eyes, Gong Yining glanced at the door, got up and pointed to a blue water pattern mark on the thin leather scroll, and said in a very low voice: "As long as the rest of the organs in the secret passage have this map, the wizard will definitely be able to see through them one by one." This is the only place, please pay attention to the shaman. ”

"This mark?"

"This is a mechanism in the southeast corner of the secret room, if the door of the secret room is not opened with a key, this mechanism will lead to a large amount of water to fill the room, and the outdoor secret passage will also be closed, so that no one in the room or outside can escape."

"I see." No wonder he was worried that the "new tiger" would kill me, and there was a reason for this. I was frightened in my heart, and I was about to ask carefully, when the boy outside the door urged again. I was afraid that the little boy would push the door into the room, so I had to put the mechanism map into my arms, and begged Gong Yining: "Xiao Wu begs Mr. to stay in Xinjiang for three more days, wait for Xiao Wu to leave the palace, and talk to Xiao Wu about the 'gift list'." ”

Gong Yining stepped back and bowed, which was considered to be a deed.

I opened the door, and the boy outside the door rushed in with a plain white crown: "Wizard, change your clothes!" Xinjun is going to blame! ”

Jin Marquis, the whole city is vegetarian.

As I drove along the long street to Miyagi, my eyes were full of whiteness and depression, and the desolation and anxiety grew uncontrollably in my heart like spring weeds. At the moment of change, the sudden death of the Marquis of Jin was like a heavy cloud hanging over the palace, and the scholars in sackcloth and filial piety went straight to the palace from all corners of the capital, and no one knew what kind of changes the cloud above their heads would bring to their fate.

In the days that followed, the steps outside the tomb of the Marquis of Jin were filled with the relatives of the country who were dressed in decrepit clothes (1), and although they were all hungry, they still kept the salute and returned the salute to the people who came to mourn over and over again.

The new monarch stood in the hall in a rudimentary filial piety robe, his face pale and his eyes glazed, perhaps he was tormented by hunger and sleepiness like me, or perhaps he had begun to fear that the nightmares that haunted his father would eventually drive him to his death.

After a pouring rain, the fragile Jin Palace finally waited for the envoy of the King of Zhou. The sick Zhou Tianzi gave the late Marquis of Jin "Ding", which was for the Duke of Jin. On the tenth day of the funeral, I finally found an opportunity to leave Miyagi, and at this time it was seven days after the time I had agreed with my father-in-law.

During the state funeral, the capital pavilion was overcrowded, and the old man in charge told me in a loud voice in the noisy crowd that Lu Guo's convoy left early in the morning of the second day after the death of the monarch.

I missed my appointment, and I didn't wait for three days.

I understand the reason for his departure. When life and death are at stake, his wife and daughter in the distance must not want him to be a gentleman and give up their lives in vain. It's just that he's gone, who should I ask for the secret on this map?

That night, I plunged myself headlong into the library of the Taishi Mansion. If the "Ecstasy Tent" outside the Tianshu Gate is really my grandfather's handiwork, then I only hope that I really inherited his three points of intelligence and seven points of intelligence as Shi Mo said.

The night was long and silent, and a hazy glowing net of candlelight, moonlight, and starlight gently covered me. I tried to keep my eyes open, but the mottled yellowed bamboo slips on the desk had become more incomprehensible than they had been an hour ago. The strange patterns on the thin leather scrolls were more like living spirits, and one by one, all of them stood up, running and spinning around the bookcase until I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

In my dreams, there were an overwhelming amount of sawdust and shavings, and huge roaring gears whirling around my head one by one. The black tiger with its imprint all over it stood quietly in the depths of my dream, staring at me with a look of pity and sadness. I tried to move my heavy feet closer to it, but a wall of waves suddenly rose up in front of me and drowned everything. There were no sawdust shavings, no gears flying, and I was the only one left in the vast turbid waves.

"Teaseless—Teaseless—" I shouted Teaseless's name in despair until he shook me awake.

"Why are you having nightmares again?" Shirtless took me in his arms and gently stroked my sweaty back.

"Why are you here?"

"The people in the palace said that you left the palace early in the morning, I thought that you would come to me, and I deliberately waited in the house for a long time, but I didn't know that you hid here. I've been tired for so many days, and what are you doing watching this tired thing? ”