Saying that this rain, the wind is sluggish, the thunder is rolling, the fog is misty, you sing and I will call, babble, oops, what a ghost crying and wolf howling.

When I listened to it, I didn't hear the thunder, and the rain looked much smaller.

Zhanhong hid behind a stone lion on the side of the street, and peeked at the soldiers and officials on the street rushing in the direction of Anle and Xinglong Erfang.

Although the wounds on Zhou's body were aching, the pain in his heart was even more than these, I saw him leaning back against the stone lion, taking out the gold embroidered sachet from his arms, caressing it lovingly, his face didn't know whether it was tears or rain, the scar on his right eye twitched strangely, and his face began to be hideous.

A tall horse galloped by, splashing the rain, passers-by evaded, Zhanhong took advantage of this to quickly flash out of the shadows behind the stone lion, blend in with the hurried crowd, and quickly walked towards the west of the city.

·

The so-called "Xidu Ghost Market" is actually a mass grave located in the east of Xidu City.

To say that there are lonely widows or poor people who die in the city of Xidu with a population of one million people almost every day, and they can't just throw the corpses on the street, there must be somewhere to settle, and over time, these miserable people are buried in the mass graves, and the better ones can have rotten wooden coffins, and the bad ones are rolled up with straw mats, and even if there are no straw mats, they are directly thrown into the pit. For many years, in this "ghost market", one left and one right, I have fattened a lot of wild dogs that have scavenged and eaten scavengers.

On the west side of the "ghost market", a temple dedicated to the god of grains is now occupied by a group of homeless people, who have built countless shacks against the temple walls made of broken bricks and dead wood.

Most of the people here make a living by begging, and a few people do some work in the city to make ends meet.

The three main halls in the middle of the Ceres Temple have been replaced with plaques in some year and month, and the broken door plaque of the main hall is engraved with three big characters - "Nightingale Club".

Besides, the Nightingale Society, on the surface, transports and disposes of the corpses that no one wants to take care of in the city, but secretly they do the criminal act of digging graves and robbing them for money.

In this drizzle, I saw Cao San, who came from Xidu City, turned over and dismounted, stood in front of the door of the Nightingale Club, and said to the squatting flower at the door while smiling and saluting: "Brother, I'm looking for Ande, An Ye." ”

Asked Hanako to flick the hair of the locks in front of her, squinted at Cao San, and then cracked the toothless black hole mouth and said, "You, who are you?"

Cao San replied: "Cao San of the border city." ”

Hanako sighed and shook her head: "I don't know you." ”

There was a soft sound of "ding", and a silver coin fell in front of Huazi, Cao San smiled and said, "This time you should know each other, right?"

Hanako smiled: "Haha, I know, I know!

Walking through the smoky front hall, Cao San vaguely heard several groups of people in the shadows talking about "the head of the border city chamber of commerce offering a reward of 10,000 gold for Zhanhong", and the voices around him were all broken and mixed with sharp laughter from time to time.

Asked Hanako to open the curtain of the apse, a strong aroma came to the face, actually diluted the rotten stench in the front hall, the light came out from behind the curtain, only to see countless men and women in the apse, as noisy as a vegetable market, here is like another world, only the light of oil lamps, torches and white candles in the darkness. Cao San squeezed through the crowd to a hidden backroom, bypassed a few stalls selling Ming utensils, and finally stopped in front of a small door.

Asked Hanako to push open the door and probe in first and say something, and then motioned for Cao San to go in.

In the corner of the room, behind a round table, stood a bald man, holding a kettle in his left hand and a glass in his right, pouring water. This bald man is the person Cao San is looking for - Ande.

Seeing that this An De was described as haggard, and his cheeks were all collapsed, he coughed and looked at Cao San, and handed Cao San a glass of water that had just been poured. Cao San, who took the water cup, nodded and said "thank you". Ander didn't speak, then took a glass of water from the side shelf, poured himself another glass of water, brought it to his lips and took a big sip, followed by a violent cough, as if to vomit out the whole lung.

Cao San frowned slightly, his body involuntarily stepped back a little, he put down the cup, and did not drink the water in the cup, at this moment, Na An De asked, "Cao San...... Oh, I said, "Third Master, what are you doing here?"

Cao San pulled out the wooden stool under the round table, sat on it, raised his hand and rubbed the Yintang acupoint, straightened his back and stretched his muscles and bones before he spoke: "I want to ask you to help." ”

Ande coughed and sat down: "Why should the third master go on a trip in person, this kind of thing is sent to someone to come and say something." ”

The candle flame flickered, and the shadows of the two people danced.

Cao San rubbed the Yintang acupoint again, then raised his head and put his hand on his chin and rubbed his stubble and said, "That news must have spread in this ghost market, but I want you to take action, it is safer to visit in person." ”

"We are all from the Western Regions, and we don't have to beat around the bush like their Zhongzhou people. Ander smiled, and this smile caused another cough.

"In that case, I should say bluntly, this time it is not a contradiction between the border city chamber of commerce and various factions, let alone a problem between Saixi and Zhengguo, strictly speaking, it is completely a personal grudge. Cao San stared at An De on the other side and continued: "In my personal name, I ask you to make a move with 10,000 gold coins to kill that Zhanhong." ”

Ander tapped the table with her cup lightly, but did not speak. Cao San continued: "After all, you have all done things for the school government. Ann squinted his eyes when he heard this: "The people outside can be said to be the 10,000 gold coins that the border city Chamber of Commerce has issued." ”

Hearing this, Cao San nodded with a smile and said, "Yes, the Border City Chamber of Commerce is offering a bounty for killing people in Zhengguo Xidu. ”

Ander took another sip of the water glass and said, "Do you want to ......"

Cao San stopped Ande's words and said: "It's not that I want to ......" After a pause, he said: "You don't have to worry about these first, if you can kill Zhan Hong, or capture him, you can also get the 10,000 gold of the Chamber of Commerce, and my 10,000 gold will never break my word." As he spoke, he stretched out two fingers and shook them in front of Ande's eyes: "Twenty thousand." ”

Ander took a deep breath and smiled, "That's good." ”

The kettle on the stove boiled and rang, Ande stood up to get the kettle, Cao San also got up with his hand on the round table, and said, "Then thank you for your help." He nudged the glass of water on the table and said, "Thank you for your hospitality." Then he turned and walked out of the door.

·

Dark clouds shrouded the whole city of Xidu, the rain turned from big to small for a while, and from small to big, and the pedestrians on the street also followed the rain slowly and sometimes more and less, and the fireworks in each square were in the world, and more merchants and shops hung lanterns early because of this cloudy day.

The trees around Xidu South Lake change with the wind and rain, and the surface of the lake seems to have been splashed with ink, and the ink sinks into the lake, and then dips into the rain, and the wind rolls up the waves and beats the embankment.

Next to the south lake of this Xidu, the palace of a golden tile and zhu wall is brightly lit, echoing with the Taizheng Imperial Palace in the north of the city, and the dragon Xingbu rain overlooks the capital of the capital from the air, so a magnificent momentum.

Speaking of Zhanhong, I saw him walking through the streets and alleys, and I don't know when he had an extra coat on his body, and he also wore a hat on his head. Seeing that he walked unhurriedly, he looked like a traveler wandering around the city. Walking to the West Jinming Post Station in Xidu City, Zhanhong stopped, looked around, and walked into the post station with his feet raised behind him. This post hall is also used as a tavern, and many diners are talking and laughing when they push their glasses and change lamps. Zhanhong came to the counter, looked at the shopkeeper behind the counter and asked, "Is there still a room?"

The shopkeeper raised his eyes and looked Zhanhong up and down for a while, and then replied with a smile: "This guest, there are still a few Tianzihao." After that, he said with a sad face: "But this price is a little expensive." ”

"I want one. Zhanhong took out a gold coin from his bosom and handed it to the shopkeeper.

When the shopkeeper saw that it was a gold coin, he couldn't grin to the root of his ears, and suddenly smiled and said: "Haha, good guest, I'll let people clean up the Tianzi A number for you and put on a new futon!" After saying that, he instructed the guy and then turned his head to Zhanhong and said: "Guest, your surname is high, I still have to register here, this capital is not as strict as other places." ”

Zhanhong nodded, thought for a moment and replied: "Jiang Yilang, a native of Jinshi City, came to Xidu to run commercial goods." ”

The shopkeeper accosted while writing in the registration book: "Nanqi's Jinshi City, I heard that it is a good place, thanks to my lord Shengming, the four seas are peaceful." Saying that, he smiled and stretched out his hand to Zhanhong: "Guest, do you have a document for customs clearance?" Zhanhong no longer took care of the shopkeeper, took out another gold coin from his arms and threw it over, then turned his head and ordered Xiao Er on the side to prepare some food and clean clothes, and then raised his legs and walked to the third floor of the post station.

·

On the third floor of Jinming Station, next to the table by the window facing the street, first look at a few delicate stir-fried things that have been half-eaten on the table, and then look at Zhanhong who has changed into clean clothes next to the table, and the new injuries on his ears and body have also been re-bandaged, he is looking out of the window intently, like a lone wolf standing on the top of the mountain cliff, staring at the prey under the mountain.

Under the clouds, the entire Xidu City was immersed in rain, and the lights of the West Market in the distance were shining and the smoke was filling.

Zhanhong stared in the direction of Xishi, holding the gold embroidered sachet in his right hand, the expression on his face changed from Xinxin's smile to sad eyebrows, and then anger came from his heart, several expressions changed on his face in turn, and finally it was like the dark clouds pouring into the house from the window, all shrouded in his face, his eyes were like ice without luster, his lips moved, and he was faintly muttering something.

"Guest, I'll put you at the door with the new robe you wanted. At this moment, the voice of the shopkeeper came from outside the door, pulling Zhanhong's thoughts back, and he got up and walked to the door in response.

After a simple tidying up, Zhanhong put on the hat again and walked out of the inn.

As soon as Zhanhong walked on his front feet, four men flashed out of the inn, trotting and disappearing into the rain after only a few steps.

·

Let's talk about the west market of Beijing Xidu is very lively, the market is not closed at night, the chambers of commerce and businesses from all over the country are gathered here, even if it is a rainy day, it is still impossible to stop the crowd, at a glance there are people wearing clothes and hats on the street who can't see the face clearly, there are wearing leather raincoats striding meteors, there are also holding colorful umbrellas step by step enchanting, the sound of selling everywhere is boiling and noisy.

Zhanhong shuttled between the crowd and walked into the art hall called "Wenxiang Building".

On a rainy day, the Wenxiang Building hung up the lantern early, the red halo reflected on the colored silk, making the color in the hall more and more blurred, the yellow oil lamp and candle refracted the distorted light and shadow on the glass mirror, the man wearing the clothes of the Western Regions held the waist of the Northland girl, the Northland woman's unique long braid rubbed the face of the Zhongzhou man behind her, the woman behind the counter took the turquoise wine bottle from the wine rack, smiled and handed it to the red-haired man waiting for the wine, the beautiful woman at the wine table picked up the wine glass and sent it to the mouth of the bald man sitting next to her.

The smell of wine in the hall was mixed with incense powder, and the laughter gradually melted into the drum music.

The woman playing the Huaiqin of the Western Regions in front of her squinted her eyes and sang softly the ancient war epic of Zhongzhou: "The evil dragon came out, the beginning of September, the dog Xun heard each other, carried the clothes, the dragon painted the hole, and the Xun rose up......"

Zhanhong looked around and landed on a table in the corner, the candlestick on which was about to burn out, and the people sitting at the table faded into darkness.

Zhanhong took off his hat, picked up a candlestick from the passing table, walked slowly to the person at the table and put the lit candlestick on the table, and the person at the table noticed that there was someone, so he put down the wine glass in his hand and looked up at Zhanhong.

"Zeluo. Zhanhong said.

The candlelight reflected an old face, and the years had left some fierce marks on this face of Zeluo, who was full of white hair, even his eyebrows were white, and the flesh on his left and right cheeks drooped to his chin, but he had no beard.

Ze Luo saw the person in front of him clearly, he wanted to smile but couldn't make a smile on his face, he finally nodded and said, "It's you, Zhanhong." He saw Zhanhong sitting across from him and said, "Hey, I remember that you were the one who grabbed the horse, but this time you were robbed." ”

Zhanhong lowered his head, buried his face in the shadows, and said in a deep voice, "It has nothing to do with that horse." ”

·

In the hidden place of the Nightingale Club in the ghost market, the kettle on the stove had already been burned dry, Ande sat at the round table and stared at the fire, and had no intention of getting up to add water, the steam was curling, his thoughts were beating with the fire in the furnace, and a memory of him and Zhanhong came to his heart.

Oh, the door was pushed open a small crack, and Hanako was asked to come in, and whispered, "An Ye, Brother Limeng is here." ”