The official road is very wide, at least five carriages can be driven side by side, the sun shines down obliquely, the figures of Xiao Jiansheng and Chen Shenping are infinitely long, and then fifty or sixty miles is the capital of the Western Wilderness Longyan, the huge and thick outline of the city has already come into view, Xiao Jiansheng began to calculate carefully, after entering the city, first find a cheap inn to rest, and then seize the time to practice, and strive to consolidate the things that have been realized recently, and then use the leisure time to take a good look at Longyan City, which is known as the three famous capitals.

At this moment, Chen Shenping, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped.

After waiting for a team of horses in full military uniforms to move away, Chen Shenping patted Xiao Jiansheng on the shoulder and said: "Virtuous nephew, Uncle Chen has something to do first, if things go well, seven days later, there will be a century-old Dong Ji blacksmith shop in Qingma Street in Longyan City, remember to go there to find me when the time comes, if Uncle Chen hasn't gone at that time, don't wait for me, go out of Longyan City and go to the northwest, I will find you when the time comes, remember not to delay time in the city." ”

It may have happened suddenly, Xiao Jiansheng was unprepared, and nodded as if he didn't understand.

His intuition told him that the two of them must be in big trouble, the reason why Uncle Chen chose to go alone should be that he felt that it was in the way to deal with him, which was beyond the scope of experience, although Xiao Jiansheng couldn't see the clue from Chen Shenping's face, but those words could already explain the problem, at least it would not be as simple as visiting friends and friends, plus a few days ago Chen Shenping said for no reason that he wanted to find a place to shelter from the rain, Xiao Jiansheng became more and more sure of his guess.

Xiao Jiansheng hesitated for a moment, and did not ask Uncle Chen what was the matter, even if he asked Chen Shenping, he might not necessarily say, in fact, although they went separately without Chen Shenping, a cheap bodyguard, it was not a good thing, even if they came out to sharpen, they had to face this complicated world alone.

Xiao Jiansheng watched Chen Shenping leave with a smile: "Uncle Chen take care all the way!"

After Chen Shenping walked out more than a dozen steps, his figure paused and said in a serious voice: "Hua Ling can not show as much as possible, so as not to cause inconvenience to yourself, if the owner of Dong Ji Blacksmith Shop has an eye for you, you can find him to transform Hua Ling for you at that time, and also, if you meet someone who is talking to you, remember not to reveal the identity of the nominal disciple." ”

The more Chen Shenping said, the more mysterious it became, Xiao Jiansheng felt a little bottomless in his heart, fortunately, this is the realm of the Western Wilderness, he is not worried about meeting the officers and soldiers of Fengtian, and he is also a newcomer, and he does not have a few acquaintances, so he said with a relaxed heart: "Uncle Chen can do things with confidence, your nephew and I have also grown up bullying people since I was a child, and I will deal with things myself." ”

Chen Shenping nodded with confidence, let go of his pace and walked away, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

As the day goes west, the autumn breeze is bleak, with the thick chill of late autumn.

Xiao Jiansheng walked on the road alone, his mood was a little heavy, and he walked along the official road towards Long Yan.

In order not to obstruct the passage, Xiao Jiansheng has been walking on the side of the road, because he is the only one on the entire official road, occasionally a tall officer will stop his horse and look at it curiously, Xiao Jiansheng also looked back with a smile, and then lowered his head and walked forward calmly.

It may be that he was dressed ordinarily and that he was not very old, so those people only looked at him vigilantly for a few moments, and then hurriedly rode away.

When it was less than twenty miles away from Longyan City, the towering blue-black city wall was already hideous, and all kinds of defensive arms were also very good as a deterrent, at least making Xiao Jiansheng look very uncomfortable, as if there was a pair of majestic eyes staring at him unscrupulously.

Xiao Jiansheng took out the water hyacinth he carried, poured a few mouthfuls, put the water hyacinth and continued to hurry, almost half a pillar of incense, behind him came the sound of sparse and chaotic horses' hooves, the sound of horses' hooves from far and near, from fast and slow, from the sound to distinguish should be four or five people, it is the road is indispensable passers-by, this road also encountered several batches, Xiao Jiansheng did not take it to heart and continued to hurry leisurely.

When the sound of horses' hooves was very close, a horse walked towards Xiao Jiansheng with fragmented steps.

Xiao Jiansheng felt that the horse was about to stop, so he stopped and looked back, only to see a heroic middle-aged man casting an inquiring gaze: "Shaoxia, can you also rush to Longyan City?"

Xiao Jiansheng saw that the middle-aged man looked dignified, and he was also very particular about dressing, especially the delicate bun on his head, and the blue-eyed snow-white high-headed horse sitting down, at first glance, he was born in a wealthy family, out of caution Xiao Jiansheng swept his gaze over several people behind the middle-aged man, a total of three horses and four people, a beautiful woman who matched the age of the middle-aged man, holding a three- or four-year-old boy tightly in his arms, the boy may have contracted a disease on the road, and was wrapped in a thin quilt by the middle-aged beauty in his arms, and behind the middle-aged beauty were two women, one big and one small, the older one was eighteen or nineteen years old, and it seemed that he was unwilling to look at people with his face, but he could also see that the woman's length was remarkable through the side face, a woman who is three or four years younger, with an average appearance, is looking at Xiao Jiansheng curiously, and the two women are also dressed decently.

It felt like a family, the atmosphere was very harmonious, Xiao Jiansheng relaxed his vigilance, and hugged his fists at the man and said: "The distant uncle in the city sent a letter saying that business has been very good recently, and he needs to add a guy who pulls the bellows.

This is a greeting, obviously going to enter the city, and I have to ask if I am rushing to Longyan City, but Xiao Jiansheng and the middle-aged man did not show any inappropriate intentions, so I saw the middle-aged man raise his thick black eyebrows, sighed and said: "Yes, in fact, someone on the road has told me that Longyan City has not opened the city gate for three days because of the strict prohibition of the city protection array, but I think it is almost there, but it is not as good as it is better to rush than to catch up. ”

Xiao Jiansheng also frowned, thinking that he really didn't see ordinary passers-by along the way, and there were people with status who came in and out, so it turned out to be a city ban, no wonder.

But Xiao Jiansheng couldn't figure out why this middle-aged man wanted to say a few words to him, it shouldn't be to find a psychological balance, just when Xiao Jiansheng wanted to ask if the city gate was still open, so as not to delay the appointment with Uncle Chen, at this moment, the middle-aged beautiful woman carefully patted the horse over, first looked Xiao Jiansheng up and down a few times, and then smiled at him and said: "Dare to ask Shaoxia, your distant uncle runs a blacksmith shop?"

Xiao Jiansheng had already thought of what he said, nodded and said, "Exactly, I heard that pulling the bellows is a hard job, and I'm still worried about whether my little body can eat Xiao." ”

The middle-aged beauty was stunned for a moment, but she didn't expect the young man on the other side to be clever, and as soon as she said it, she guessed what she was going to say, so she changed her tone of appreciation and said: " There are nearly 1,000 blacksmith shops in Longyan City, and there are more than two or three hundred with the same name and surname, I don't know which one Shaoxia is looking for, there are no less than ten in Yan'er Lane in the west of Guangcheng, and there are more in Danqing Street in the south of the city, and there are as many as twelve branches in Guangyao Ji, and there are no less than fifteen or sixteen in Qingma Street. ”

Xiao Jiansheng scratched his head in surprise, he didn't expect that a woman's family had already understood this kind of man's rough work so thoroughly, and he didn't know how to deal with it, so he had to give up his hand and said: "Auntie knows a lot about these rough and stupid jobs, and when the time comes, the kid will look for them door to door, anyway, these blacksmith shops won't be able to move away for a while, so don't worry." ”

"It's hard to say. ”

Seeing that the woman who had been reluctant to look down at people raised her head and looked at Xiao Jiansheng calmly from above: "Now that Longyan City is expanding the city protection array, the most scarce thing is blacksmiths and carpenters, I heard that Yan'er Lane in the west of the city has dug more than ten zhang of ground, and there are countless built-in bows and arrows of various colors, and the bows and arrows in the army cannot be called at will, and in the end, these blacksmiths have to suffer, I guess that seven or eight out of ten blacksmiths have been requisitioned now, and if you go, it is equivalent to going in vain." ”

Xiao Jiansheng was really surprised this time, if it was really as this sister said, wouldn't the agreement between him and Uncle Chen be without years, just when Xiao Jiansheng was at a loss, the middle-aged man suddenly smiled and said: "We might as well go to the city first and then sum up, at this time it will only add to the trouble." ”

The woman replied quietly: "What my uncle said is reasonable. ”

Xiao Jiansheng also clenched his fists and said: "In this way, you can only take one step at a time." ”

......

Under the instruction of the middle-aged man, a group of six people rushed to Longyan City on four horses, and the woman who spoke just now gave up her ride generously, and Xiao Jiansheng was fortunate to ride a jujube red horse alone, but he also fell lightly.

It was almost dark, and the six people had already come to the moat under Longyan City, just as the middle-aged man said, the jumping bridge used to defend against enemy attacks had been raised, the tall city gate was closed, the turbid moat water exuded a disgusting smell, and the blue-black city wall was like a cold face, turning away dozens of people except for Xiao Jiansheng and the six of them.

It seems that these people have decided to spend the night by the moat, some people are staring blankly at the city wall, some people are lying down by the moat and have fallen asleep, and some people are vigilantly looking at the people who are resting around, and some people seem to have noticed Xiao Jiansheng and their joining.

Xiao Jiansheng suddenly noticed that the middle-aged beautiful woman had just jumped off the horse, and then stopped, her beautiful eyes were looking in one direction through the crowd, and even the child in her arms didn't seem to hear the crying.