(1) Cold Wind Sword Shadow

A timely rain eliminated much of the scorching heat brought by Jiaoyang.

At this time, it was July, and Guazhou, which is only a water away from Kyoto and Nanjing, naturally became a prosperous place.

After the rain, the gentle east wind brought a cool smell with the aroma of the earth, so that the pedestrians on the road were happy because of this rare refreshment.

This is the fifteenth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the vast territory of the Central Plains has been pacified, except for the north and Yunnan where the old Yuan Dynasty is still resisting, the people gradually get rid of the war and live and work in peace and contentment. Guazhou is located between the central capital Fengyang and Kyoto, plus a few days later is the Midyear Festival, incense, candles, paper and horses are all over the street, and the sound of selling is endless.

In contrast, the famous local "Guangci Temple" under the shade of trees is usually very fragrant, but this morning has not opened the mountain gate, which inevitably makes this ancient temple with red walls and green tiles, bells and drums constantly make people feel some mystery.

Finally, there was movement inside the door.

There was a "squeak", but it opened a small corner gate next to the tall mountain gate, and a small novice came out of it, raised a basin of water in his hand, and splashed it on the side of the stone steps. Just as he was about to turn around and go in, he suddenly heard a "wow" in his ears, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly turned his head to look, only to see a little boy of seven or eight years old crawling up wet from under the stone steps.

The boy was wearing only a white cloth vest and knee-length shorts underneath, and water was running down his pants, soaking the straw sandals he was wearing barefoot.

Xiao Shami really didn't expect that there would be someone under the stone steps, so he immediately blushed and hurriedly put down the basin and stepped forward:

"I'm sorry, little brother, I didn't see ......"

"Didn't you see? Don't you have long eyes?! ”

Wiping a handful of water from his face, the child's eyes widened.

Seeing that he was hurting, the apology on the face of the little novice was gradually disappearing.

"What are these words?"

"Human words!" Although the child was small, he was articulate and unyielding, "It is a word that people can understand!" ”

Xiao Shami's face turned red again, but this time he was angry, and after a pause, he said again: "You are so small, and you are under the steps, how can the little monk see it......"

"Small? Aren't people human when they're young? You thief has no one in your eyes! ”

As he spoke, the child had already jumped up the stone steps in a few steps, and stood up in front of the little novice with his hands on his hips, as if to prove that he was not only a man, but also a not small man.

Xiao Shami heard him scold himself for being a "thief bald", and he was so angry that he didn't know what to say, but the child looked at him proudly, and his little mouth still kept talking:

"Don't think that children are easy to bully, what are you thieves capable of, aren't you just knocking a few times with a rotten wooden fish and reciting a few words of scripture that people don't understand to eat and drink!"

The more he talked, the more unspeakable he became, the little novice didn't care about how old the other party was or whether he was a monk or not, so he stepped forward and grabbed his shirt: "You dare to say it again!" ”

The child instinctively wanted to shake off the other party's hand, but his round eyes widened:

"Let go of me, bald donkey!"

This time, not only did he scold more ugly, but his voice doubled, and the little novice angrily pushed him back, but the child took several steps backwards, stepped on the soles of his feet, and carried down the stone steps.

Seeing the two children arguing, some idle people had already gathered around, laughing from time to time, and it can be seen that the child was shocked when he fell down the stone steps.

Xiao Shami was very angry and pushed it, not wanting the child to be too young to be pushed down the steps, seeing that he was either dead or injured when he was head-down, he was also frightened at that time.

The child's head is about to touch the bluestone pavement-

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from the crowd and caught the child just right, and then took possession of the situation, and the person came to hold the child firmly in his arms.

With a bang, the heavy mountain gate opened, and three monks in their fifties and sixties walked out of it, followed by many small novices.

Everyone knows the monk on the left, it is the abbot of this Guangci Temple-Jingci.

Seeing that the abbot was alarmed, the little novice who had just breathed a sigh of relief suddenly became anxious and frightened, and actually cried:

"Master, Master, the disciple didn't mean it, the disciple ......"

Jing Ci didn't look at him, just waved her hand, walked down the steps with the other two monks, and went straight to the man holding the child, and folded her palms:

"Amitabha, the fourth son, the old man is too late to greet him."

The eyes of the people watching the excitement were all curiously focused on this "fourth son".

It can be seen that he is only twenty-two or three years old, and he is only wearing an ordinary gray summer gown, except for looking particularly clean, there is really nothing surprising, to say that the attraction is his appearance, the wide forehead, pointed chin, white face, and slender figure, it is indeed a sense of forgetfulness.

Putting the child down, the fourth prince smiled and returned the salute: "There is Master Lao, you." "And to another kind old monk," Master Zongxi. Then he looked at the monk he didn't know well, and smiled and bowed slightly.

"Alright, alright, it's okay, let's go."

The two green-shirted attendants who came with them dispersed the onlookers, and the fourth prince walked up the steps at the invitation of Jingci.

Suddenly, the boy pounced on him and grabbed the little novice: "Don't go! ”

Xiao Shami thought it was okay, but who knew that he came up to pester, in front of everyone, that is, he didn't dare to open his mouth, and he didn't dare to move, he looked very embarrassed, and when he looked up, he saw that Jingci's eyes had shot to him, and his heart was anxious, and tears couldn't help but gush out again.

The fourth son, who was about to step into the temple gate, smiled slightly at this time, turned around and pulled away the child's hand:

"Little brother, it was you who hurt people and angered this little master, but you are wrong."

"He doesn't pour water on me, why am I scolding him?! And lo and behold! ”

As he spoke, the child pointed to the clothes on his body, but unexpectedly, after all this trouble, and the weather was hot, his clothes and pants had already dried, so he couldn't help but cry out, "Yo, what's wrong?!" ”

Everyone couldn't help laughing, and the fourth prince also smiled and stroked his shoulder:

"Okay, since the clothes are dry, let's go back early, otherwise my parents will be in a hurry."

"I don't have parents......"

The child's voice suddenly lowered, but he raised his head again for a moment, "You saved me just now, I gave you face, but he almost fell to death just now, I'm not done with him!" I, Chai Jingnan, have always had clear grievances! ”

Hearing him say that he had no parents, the fourth son had already restrained his smile:

"Little brother, since the grievances are clear, give me a face, don't worry about this little master anymore, okay?"

What clear eyes-

The child Chai Jingnan looked at these loving eyes, and nodded somehow.

"Great. Yu forgiveness,"

The fourth prince happily took a piece of silver from one of the attendants beside him and sent it to him, "This is for you." ”

Chai Jingnan instinctively stretched out his little hand, but as soon as he saw the little novice, he immediately retracted it:

"The big husband is useless!"

It's just a small person, but his mouth is full of adult words, and everyone can't help but feel a little funny.

And the fourth prince looks very serious:

"The eldest husband has to be counted, since you have already said to give me face, if you don't accept this money, won't you not give me face?"

"I, I ......"

Chai Jingnan's little face turned red,

"Okay, I'll give you face, just accept it first, and I'll repay you later."

"Okay."

The fourth prince smiled and stuffed the silver in his hand, and a smile appeared on Chai Jingnan's childish little face:

"Goodbye!"

Looking at his back as he jumped away, everyone shook their heads and smiled.

"Swallow ......"

Jingci turned around, but as soon as the words came out, he saw the fourth prince wave his hand to him and changed his words,

"Oh, fourth son, let's go to the temple and talk."

"Okay,"

While agreeing, the fourth prince looked at Zong Xi again, "Why is the master here?" ”

"It's not for him,"

Zong Xi smiled and pointed to the monk beside him,

"Fourth son, this is Lao Wei's friend Dao Yan."

Daoyan? I seem to have heard of it—

The fourth prince looked at him attentively, and saw that this Dao Yan was tall and majestic, not so much a monk, but more like a prince and general.

A small turmoil calmed down, and when everyone entered the temple gate, the tall mountain gate was closed tightly again......

With the silver in his hand, the kid Chai Jingnan was so happy that he jumped all the way to the market.

A child is a child after all, Chai Jingnan first ran to the place to buy snacks, asked for a lot of delicious food, and took out the silver to pay for it confidently, and finally walked on a secluded path leading to the northwest corner of the city with a large bag of things humming a song.

The sun was setting in the west, and Chai Jingnan was already leaning in the corner of the wall, all the food he brought back in front of him, holding a chicken leg in one hand and a pot of water in the other, eating and drinking with a mouthful of chicken and water.

It was a small, dilapidated temple, with most of the courtyard walls collapsed, two broken doors barely supported, and the only large hall that had been missing half of it, and the child probably lived here all along.

At this point, when he was probably full, the child stood up, burped, stretched his waist, squatted down and wrapped the rest of his things, lifted them up and turned to the statue of the god who could not tell which god it was—it was neatly laid with hay and a broken strip of wool on it. Chai Jingnan carefully put the bag aside, looked up at the sky at the hole in the roof, it was already dark, then turned over and fell on the broken flodging and closed his eyes, as if he was about to sleep.

For a long time, Chai Jingnan's eyes opened and stared wide, stared for a while, turned over and lay on his back with his hands under his head, looking at the bright moon in the hole, I don't know why, the clear and loving eyes of the fourth prince appeared in front of him.

Suddenly, he got up and searched for a while from the hay, then took out a small cloth bag, opened it carefully, and inside was a crystal clear jade bracelet. The child gently stroked the jade bracelet, and tears glistened in his dark eyes:

"Mommy, Mommy......"

Who knows how much pain there is in the heart of such a young child? Slowly, he still fell into a deep sleep......

When is it? There seemed to be a sound, Chai Jingnan was awakened from his dream, saw that the jade bracelet was still in his hand, hurriedly got up and took it, and hid behind the statue to look outside.

Under the moonlight like water, a man dressed in black stood at the door of the temple, but a bright yellow belt tied around his waist was very eye-catching, a black cloak was on his left arm, and the gem on the scimitar worn under his ribs shimmered, although the moon was full of sky, but after all, in the night, the face could not be seen clearly, just looking at the slender and well-proportioned figure.

After pacing slowly, the man kicked the tattered door with a low roar that was incomprehensible. As the kicked door fell to the ground, three people in the same black jumped out of the courtyard wall.

"Why did you come?!"

The Yellow Belt glanced at them and whispered.

The three of them looked at each other, and one of them stepped forward and saluted:

"It's too big to listen to, please ...... it."

"Okay, did you hear that?"

"I heard it. Zhu Laosi brought two entourages this time, and lived in a single courtyard in the northwest corner of Guangci Temple, and there were two old monks living together, so it seemed that there was nothing to worry about. ”

"Is it really just these few people? Could there be anyone else? ”

"No, we've been hiding there for a long time, and we don't see anything unusual, and that's why it's too late."

The Yellow Belt was silent.

Seeing that he hesitated, the man in black stepped forward:

"My lord, Zhu Laosi only stayed in Guangci Temple for one night, and he will enter Beijing tomorrow. We've been waiting for our chance, and this is the last chance. ”

The yellow belt looked up at him and nodded violently: "Okay, let's do it!" ”

"Your Excellency,"

The man in black, who was already raising his feet and preparing to leave, grabbed him,

"It's time for us to seize the moment—"

As soon as the word "machine" came out, his body flew to the back of the statue, and a person was lifted out in an instant.