Dongsheng Shenzhou, Datang, Luzhou.

The bluestone arch bridge spans the narrow river, and the banks are planted with willow trees, and occasionally flying catkins fall onto the river, causing ripples.

The thin, colourful horse snorted impatiently, and its hooves stamped on the green and yellow weeds, and the burly man in the carriage stroked its belly with the palm of his hand, and took out a handful of beans from the bag hanging from his belt, and fed it to settle down.

The plainly dressed woman pulled her hair behind her ears, and the sewn and mending package was handed to the young man, and the woman's chapped palm gently lowered his hair,

"When I go to Chang'an to join my uncle, you must be sensible, don't be reckless and stubborn. ”

"The child is saved, and the mother does not need to worry. ”

Li Shuangyu, who was about ten years old, had a sour nose, pretended to cough, and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes when he lowered his head.

The girl holding the woman's hand stumbled over, and Li Shuangyu hurriedly squatted down and hugged the sobbing little sister into his arms.

He ruffled his little sister's hair, and said a lot of good things in her ear, all of which were some high-headed horses in Chang'an, with brilliant lights, all kinds of food and other novelties, and swore that he would take her and her mother to Chang'an in a few years, which made my sister burst into tears and laughed.

The wrinkled old servant from Chang'an coughed and whispered in Xia Luo's official dialect: "Lang Jun, it's not early, it's time to go." ”

"Well, let's go. ”

Li Shuangyu sighed, handed the little sister back to her mother, and got into the carriage.

"Phew!"

The groom waved his whip lightly, and the thin horse bowed his head, shook the dust on the horse's tail, and stepped forward.

The curtain was lifted, and Li Shuangyu vaguely saw the scene of his mother holding his sister and waving under the willow tree, and was blinded by the wind and sand.

Chang'an is far away, at least for him, Chang'an, where princes and generals, merchants from all over the world gather, glorious and solemn, is only the divine capital in the population of travelers from the south to the north, and has nothing to do with the moon in Luzhou, the snow in the alleys, and the girl with a hairpin next door.

For no reason, Li Shuangyu felt a twitch in his stomach, he turned sideways, and his palm gently ** the book that stood out from the package.

No matter what his childless uncle said, it can be regarded as a dragon's skill, even if he is only polishing his hours in the Qingshui Yamen of the Ministry of Industry, it is much better than being trapped in a rural territory such as Luzhou.

No wonder they all say their heads, Li Shuangyu looked at the slowly distant countryside outside the curtain in a daze, those farmers who worked hard for food, and a seed inexplicably grew in his heart.

After a few days, the three of them traveled to the broken temple in the mountains in the evening.

The dark clouds were as deep as ink, and the thunder was muffled, and the birds and beasts were silent, and it seemed that it was going to rain.

The horseman bowed reverently to the cobweb-strewn statue of Sanqing in the temple, and while chanting words to ask for forgiveness for disturbing him, he helped Sanqing statue sweep away the dust, and tied the thin horse to the pillar of the temple.

The old servant and Li Shuangyu swept out the open space and lit a fire to cook.

The rice porridge is piping hot, and the coarse grain flatbread is soaked in it, and it tastes good to chew.

Bang

After the thunder, the torrential rain fell, and the soybean-sized droplets of water clanged on the tiles of the broken temple, and flowed down the eaves, forming a fine rain curtain.

After eating enough, Li Shuangyu took out a well-maintained volume of "Shangshu" from the package, and read it silently by firelight.

The groom and the old servant looked at each other, smiled, and put away the pots and pans.

The bonfire was flickering, the thunder was getting stronger, the old servant got up and closed the gate of the broken temple, the cold wind leaked in through the gap in the window paper, and the groom shuddered and cursed the mother.

The three of them tacitly added some firewood to the fire, and the firewood came from the old tables and chairs scattered in the corner.

Li Shuangyu carefully wrapped the "Book of Shang" with a cloth, placed it on the top layer of the package, lay on the mat, closed his eyes and listened to the terrible sound of rain outside the temple.

In fact, he doesn't like to study, and he prefers to squat in the corner of the second floor of the teahouse called "Tea Pavilion" to those boring and tedious small words, listening to travelers from the north and south, and telling interesting stories in local dialects.

What is the black-faced yaksha of Beiju Luzhou, the men of that race are extremely ugly and evil, but the women are as beautiful as fairies, and they are very enchanting;

The brute beasts of the Southern Zhanbu Prefecture have fan-sized ears and thick legs like doorposts, and they can rush into the most elite infantry phalanx with their dancing probosces;

Even Dongsheng Shenzhou, that is, the extreme east of the mainland where the Tang Dynasty is located, across the Yellow and Bohai Seas, you can sit on a sampan and float along the ocean current to the legendary Fusang Island, the inhabitants of the island are short and vicious, but they admire the Tang Dynasty so much that they have to send Tang envoys to study the classics every year.

Li Shuangyu was lying on the beam, eavesdropping on the gossip below, and would always be immersed in it.

In this world, are there really gods and Buddhas, demons and monsters?

Confucius once said that Zi Bu was silent and strange and confused, but the last time he passed through the mission from Nanzhao to Luzhou, he had seen it with his own eyes. Those witch sorcerers in black robes and with inky black talismans engraved all over their bodies, just one look could make the most scoundrel in Luzhou City tremble and lose incontinence on the spot.

Although the witch warlock seemed to be really evil, Li Shuangyu was very curious, if it wasn't for his companions to stop him, he would have secretly followed the Nanzhao delegation to see if they could really do magic.

Thinking of this, Li Shuangyu couldn't help laughing, he felt the jade pendant from his neck, and felt the warmth with his fingertips, as if he had returned to the happy time of chicken thieves in the past.

Thundered

The dull thunder suddenly disappeared after a sudden loud bang, and even the rain stopped, and the silence around was terrible.

Suddenly, Li Shuangyu only felt that the cold hairs on the back of his neck exploded, and his whole body was like falling into an ice cave, and the inexplicable pressure fell on him.

The old servant lying on the other side of the bonfire woke up suddenly, and a pair of tricks glowed green like a cat's eye in the pitch black, "Lang Jun, don't panic." ”

The groom also got up silently, drew a long knife from under the mat, and hunched over to the corner of the wall.

"Da, da, da. ”

The sound of wet footsteps sounded under the eaves of the broken temple, and Li Shuangyu thought of the slender men who pulled the boat, but the footsteps at the moment were more stale and ..... greasy,

It's like a snake with legs.

He swallowed his saliva, and his delicate face turned pale,

The footsteps outside the door approached, and the groom crouched down and hid the whole person behind the pillar,

"Knock, knock"

Heavy knocks at the door, long intervals,

Li Shuangyu clearly saw that the groom licked his chapped lips, and sweat was constantly oozing from his forehead.

"Yes.... Goblin. ”

The groom turned and shouted silently to the old servant.

Li Shuangyu read the lip language, he picked up the package, picked up a handful of ashes and threw it into the fire, and darkness completely descended.

The knock on the door sounded again, probably a middle-aged man, with some familiar local accents.

"Fellow, open the door. ”