During the banquet, Li Shu'er told the shopkeeper that they would leave for Cangzhou tomorrow, and as for the four carriages transporting silver taels, they would bother the store to keep them on their behalf.

"This is not an order, the contemptible people have already told Master Cui what happened here, and Master Cui has ordered the contemptible shop to keep it on his behalf, please rest assured." The shopkeeper took a sip of his wine and replied.

"Oh? I can't see that you can still pass on the book by ghosts, hehe" Uncle Li raised his glass to thank the shopkeeper.

"I've been driving the Xishen Inn for a long time, and I've been sick for a long time, so it's not worth it, but I don't know if you plan to take the dry road or the water road back to Cangzhou?" The shopkeeper returned the salute and immediately diverted the topic.

Seeing that the shopkeeper didn't want to talk more about himself, Uncle Li didn't know to ask, and said with a smile: "If you are greedy for shortcuts, there will be so many incidents, so it is better to take the Yangjian Avenue." ”

"The old man is at his own convenience, but," the shopkeeper smiled secretly, "Actually, speaking of which, the corpse chaser also went to Cangzhou City because of Master Cui's heroic post, and he didn't want to be ruined by your old man, he was really destined to have this catastrophe, hehe"

"Huh? Are you saying that guy is also going to Cangzhou City? Uncle Li was taken aback and asked.

"Yes, a few days ago, Master Cangcui sent someone to report, saying that there will be heroes from all walks of life going to Cangzhou City through here recently, otherwise, with the fresh face of that guy, how could the shop be allowed to stay with him, and make such a big noise?" The shopkeeper smiled again and replied.

"Oh, that's the case, isn't it that I can't afford to pay the errand to Master Cui, I'm sorry" As soon as he heard the words of the shopkeeper, Uncle Li pretended to be ashamed and said.

"Where is the old man, that guy just came here to live with Master Cui's heroic post, how can it be compared with your own family members who have been running for Master Cui all year round? Besides, it was the seer who broke the rules of the Xishen Inn, and his crime should be punished. The shopkeeper is very good at observing words and feelings, and with a few words, he invisibly narrowed the relationship with Uncle Li.

Li Shu'er is an old Jianghu, of course, these people in Menqing have the ability to talk to people, talk nonsense, and speak ill, and they don't break it, but they just fight with the store in the left and right cups, and they don't disperse until the middle of the night.

Early the next morning, Uncle Li instructed Yang Yi and Wei Ergou to carry the bamboo basket containing the four female ghosts and the four little ghosts, and pasted a talisman on the chicken containing the Gu worms, and then put the chicken in the bamboo basket, and then went downstairs to say goodbye to the shopkeeper.

The shop didn't stay long, tied some pasta and water wine to the green mule that the peach wood demon was riding, and said goodbye to Uncle Li and his party.

Leaving the Xishen Inn, Uncle Li took out the bronze mirror and debated the direction, and then walked towards the north.

Let's say that Li Shu'er and his party braved the cold and walked for two or three hours, and they had already left the mountain road, and there was a ruined city in front of them, but the city wall was full of wolf smoke, and the eyes were full of ruins, and it looked like they had just experienced a cruel offensive and defensive battle.

When he got closer, he saw that the city gate was blackened by gunsmoke with two official scripts: Qinyuan.

On the snow in front of the city gate, the corpses of Qing and Taiping soldiers who were frozen on the ground could be seen everywhere, one with severed heads and missing limbs, and swords, guns, bows and broken muskets were scattered on the ground, which showed the tragic situation of the battle.

Looking further, there was a gap in the city wall five or six hundred meters away from the city gate, which must have been blown down by the gunpowder of the Taiping army, which also led to the fall of the city.

Uncle Li and his entourage carefully went around the corpses into the city, and the city was even more collapsed, a mess, and occasionally you could see a wild dog with red eyes holding a bloody person's arm or broken leg running quickly from the street, seeing Li Shu'er and other living people, the corners of those wild dogs drooled sticky saliva from the corners of their mouths, and also made a low creepy sound, startling the green mule where the peach wood demon sat down kept screaming in fear.

Where would Yang Yi and Wei Ergou be afraid of these cannibalistic wild dogs, they picked up the spears on the ground and threw them, and after stabbing the two wild dogs, the rest of the wild dogs saw that the situation was wrong, and scattered in a hurry, without a trace.

"People in troubled times are not as good as Taiping dogs, miserable, miserable......" Uncle Li sighed and led the green mule forward.

After walking half of the county, Li Shu'er didn't see a single figure, and the fires in some teahouses had not been extinguished, which showed how hurried and panicked the fleeing people were.

Leaving the Qinyuan County of the good ghost city, Li Shu'er didn't know where he was, his feet accelerated, and he took Yang Yi, Wei Ergou and Taomu Demon is Xiaoxing to stay overnight, and the wind and food dew, along the way, he kept meeting the people who fled with their families, and only after inquiring did he know that it was under the suppression of the Jiangbei Battalion Assistant Minister of Military Affairs, the Minister of Qincha Shengbao and the Governor of Zhili, Lin Fengxiang, the deputy prime minister of the Taiping Army, commanded 20,000 tigers and wolves The Taiping Army was all the way to Yuanqu, Pingyang, Huoxian and other places, yesterday after the capture of Qinyuan County, The army went straight to Lucheng, Licheng and other places on the border between Shanxi and Henan, and these refugees were all preparing to pass through Niangzi Pass to enter Zhili for refuge in order to escape the war.

After inquiring and understanding, Li Shu'er decided to mix in with these refugees, pass through the Niangzi prison and enter the territory of Zhili, and then try to sell some mules and horses, and hurry back to Cangzhou City.

Following the fleeing villagers, Li Shu'er and his entourage came to a village that had also just been abandoned, and those villagers saw the familiar farm tools, houses and frozen wells, and they couldn't help but feel homesick with tears.

Because it was getting late, and most of the refugees who fled were old and weak, women and children, the refugees searched for the empty house where no one was around, and found firewood to make a fire for cooking and heating, so as to survive the bitter cold night of being uprooted from their homeland.

Those refugees are very simple, although they are also fleeing and lack food and clothing, but when they saw that Li Shu'er and the four of them had no luggage, they still took the initiative to invite them into the house where the fire had been lit to escape the cold.

Li Shu'er hesitated for a moment, and then took Yang Yi, Wei Ergou, and Taomu Demon into a room.

The room was crowded with large and small families, two elderly men and women were lying on the kang, covered with a quilt, and they couldn't stop shivering and coughing, under the kang, a middle-aged man was boiling porridge, and four children about three or four to eleven or twelve years old were licking their lips around the porridge pot.

Just now, when the man came out to carry firewood, he saw Uncle Li and them standing in the snow, so he called Uncle Li and them in.

"Little brother, I'm sorry, thank you." As soon as he entered the door, he saw that the house was already overcrowded, and Uncle Li couldn't help but gratefully hug his fist at the man and said gratefully.

"Old man, it's okay, it's all when you're out of the house, if you can help with it, take a break, and warm your stomach after drinking porridge." The man smiled innocently.

Seeing that the family was not a solid family, only half a bag of nutritious millet seeds, Li Shu'er sighed slightly, and asked Yang Yi and Wei Ergou to bring in the cooked meat of the dough and bread on the green mule and distribute it to everyone to eat.

Seeing that Uncle Li and they took out so much food, the man rubbed his hands and said with some embarrassment: "How can this be made, how can this be made ......?"

"They are all away from home, so what is the difference between each other? Besides, you have old and young, and you have encountered this; In troubled times, life is difficult, so why be polite? By the way, why don't you see your mother-in-law? Uncle Li smiled kindly, and said while sharing the food with the children whose eyes were full of anticrisy and timidity, and at the same time looking at the man who looked clumsy when doing housework.

"Hey, don't mention it, a month ago, my aunt-in-law got an evil disease for no reason, and asked Lang Zhong to take medicine, but it never worked, and finally ...... It's hard to leave only my family, old and young. The man squatted on the ground with a sad look on his face.

"Oh, that's the case, so what is the illness of these two elders?" Uncle Li nodded, his face changed slightly, and then he looked at the old man and woman lying on the kang and asked.

"This is the villain's parents, the symptoms are similar to my aunt-in-law, and it is also like a day, and now I am catching up with this escape, and I have been frightened and cold along the way, but I am afraid that it is also more auspicious." The man looked at his parents who were lying on the kang coughing violently, and tears fell instantly.

"That's the case, the old man knows a little about medical skills, can you check the pulse of the second elder?" Uncle Li looked at the man and asked in a low voice.

"That, that's a good idea, it's just that the villain is penniless, and I'm afraid I can't afford to pay your old consultation fee......" The man was first happy, and then snorted with a red face.

"The old man has a quirk, that is, he never wants silver for people's pulses, hehe" Uncle Li stroked his beard and laughed, his demeanor was free and easy in time.

As he spoke, Uncle Li stepped to the front of the kang, stretched out his three fingers to hold the old man's wrist, closed his eyes and cut the pulse, and then checked the pulse for the old woman, and only after about a cigarette did he slowly open his eyes and said, "Strange......"

"I said, does Uncle really understand or is it a fool, hehe" Wei Ergou saw Uncle Li shaking his head, he was amused in his heart, so he whispered to Yang Yi.

"Stupid, Taoist metaphysics is divided into five veins: mountain, medicine, life, divination, and phase, your master is a leader, of course he is proficient in medicine, what is the doubt, really." The peach wood demon glanced at Wei Ergou, Wei Ergou smiled and no longer dared to talk more.

"The pulse of the two elders is disordered, the ups and downs are weak, the pulse beats once for a long time, and the intermittent time is uneven, like the rhythm of the water droplets leaking from the house on a rainy day, this is called the house leakage pulse, which is the dangerous pulse in the ten strange veins, indicating that the organs of the two elders are nearly exhausted, but the cause of this lesion does not seem to be caused by disease, but it seems to be poisoned, you say, isn't it strange?"

Seeing that Uncle Li'er was looking at him with burning eyes, Yang Yi's heart moved, and he blurted out: "Uncle, do you suspect that it is Gu poison?" ”

Uncle Li's eyes lit up, and he was about to say something, when he heard the firelight flickering outside, and the voices of people were boiling, mixed with screams and wails, as if it was the end of the world.