Chapter 7 Iyama-gun

Lei Qi stood at the door of Ji Cunyan's room with a bowl of warm medicine, raised his hand and knocked on the door.

The girl inside asked, "Who?" ”

Lei Qi said: "Me." ”

Listening to the sound of tables and chairs moving and bottles and cans colliding in the room, Ji Cunyan said in the room: "Wait a minute, I'm still applying medicine." ”

Lei Qi was a little embarrassed, so he turned around and looked at the scenery along the street outside the window.

At this time, the night was deep, the curfew time had passed, there was not half a figure on the empty street, and most of the lanterns hanging on the trees had been extinguished, leaving behind a few lonely lamps, but the night was even more lonely.

After a short time, Ji Cunyan was already dressed, opened the door, poked out a small head and said to Lei Qi: "Senior Brother Lei Qi, is there something wrong with me?" ”

"I'll come to see you, and by the way, I'll bring you a bowl of Suppressive Tea."

Lei Qi is a few years older than Ji Cunyan, although he is not her own brother, he can be regarded as watching her grow up. In her early years, she once took her to climb the courtyard wall and dig out the bird's nest, "doing all the bad things". However, when Ji Cunyan reached the age of twenty-eight and had already become a Tingting girl, Lei Qi avoided it a lot, and he was not as intimate with Ji Cunyan as he was when he was a child.

Ji Cunyan glanced at the bowl of Suppression Tea, and said reluctantly: "I'm not a child anymore, where do I still need to drink Suppression Tea." ”

After speaking, she let Lei Qi into the house.

Lei Qi put the tea bowl on the table, looked at her face, and said, "The injury is not serious, right?" ”

"It's okay! Cutaneous trauma. Ji Cunyan sat down and said.

"Let's drink the tea, the honey is not bitter at all."

Ji Cunyan looked at the bowl of black tea soup in front of him, and said with a bitter face: "The sweet one also has a medicinal taste, and it is not delicious at all." Senior brother, in fact, although the third brother is not by my side this time, I am not afraid at all. What about a big snake, I thought I would be scared so that my legs were weak, but who knew that I could fight it for more than a dozen rounds, wouldn't it be amazing? ”

Lei Qi frowned and said, "I haven't said you yet." Didn't I tell you? When you encounter a demon that can't be beaten, don't be hard to run. You're good, and you've hurt yourself. ”

Ji Cunyan smiled and said, "Although I can't beat it alone, I have a helper!" There is Zhang Tianshi, as well as his son, and Jin Zhutou. Haha, Zhang Ji is so funny, he calls a worm his son. ”

Lei Qi held his forehead and said, "That Zhang Ji originally only had half a bucket of water. I don't think you're as good as you in a fight, and you can count on him. I'm about to drink the medicine, and I've been boiling it for an hour. ”

Although Ji Cunyan was reluctant, he still obediently drank most of the bowl of medicinal tea, leaving only a little bit of medicinal residue and soup base. She wiped her mouth and said with a bitter face, "It's still so bitter with sugar." ”

After speaking, she took out a bag of winter melon candy from the cabinet, ate one herself, and handed the sugar bag to Lei Qi.

Lei Qi shook his head.

Ji Cunyan sat down again and said, "Senior Brother Lei Qi, how did you come to Suzhou?" Did my third brother ask you to answer me? ”

Lei Qi nodded and said, "The third prince said that the matter of Fengdu is a bit troublesome, and it may take a few days to take care of it." I'm afraid you'll get into trouble, so let me keep an eye on you. ”

"I didn't cause trouble. Not only did I not cause trouble, you see I also made a great contribution! ”

Lei Qi sighed and said, "We didn't come here for this Qinglin Snake Demon. ”

"Huh? Why is that? Ji Cunyan asked, "Could it be that the new year in Suzhou is not good, in addition to this Qinglin python, there are other monsters?" ”

Lei Qi said: "Do you remember that when Your Majesty was still Prince Cheng, there was a good son named Dingkang?" ”

Ji Cunyan shook his head.

Lei Qi smiled: "You were still young at that time, but it was normal for you not to recognize this son. Because of his friendship with His Majesty, the prince Dingkang was found by the old prince at that time to find a reason to cure the crime, and was demoted to Suzhou, where he lived in the prince's mansion in the east of Suzhou. It's been five or six years. Now His Majesty thinks of his old friends when he was young, so he wants to recall the prince of Dingkang to the court with an edict, and let him inherit his father's throne and remain the king of Dingnan. ”

Ji Cunyan felt that Lei Qi's words might be long, so he deducted two upside-down lotus leaf and begonia tea bowls, poured a cup of tea for Lei Qi, and poured another cup for himself.

"When the edict was sent to the prince's mansion, the first seven days of the prince had not yet passed."

"Dead...... Yes? ”

"The prince of Dingkang, or should be called the prince of Dingnan now, is still young, no illness or disaster, and it is bizarre that he died suddenly at the juncture of the king returning to Beijing, but what is even more bizarre is the description of the death of the prince of Dingnan by Tianlongwei's secret agent in Suzhou. Say...... The trousers are empty, and the legs are covered with blood, and the muscles and bones are dissolved. ”

"Hit by the bones?"

"What is a bone-turner?"

"Hahahaha...... It's okay, it's my martial arts that I'm blind to in my notebook. Ji Cunyan said with a smile.

"Tianlongmen flipped through the world's medical books, and did not find any diseases that could cause musculoskeletal deterioration within a few days. So, the above thinks it may be a demon, let's come and investigate this case. Lei Qi said, "The secret letter was sent to the third prince ten days ago, but the third prince has something to take care of in Fengdu, so I will let you come over first." ”

"I see...... Now the third brother can't come back for a while, is this lawsuit a senior brother Lei Qi, are you responsible for the investigation? ”

"Hmm."

"But there's one more thing I don't understand. Why did the third brother tell me to pay attention to the Suzhou boat banquet when he was about to part? ”

Lei Qi looked at Ji Cunyan's bulging cheeks with winter melon candy in his mouth, and said with a smile: "Maybe I know that the boat banquet is delicious, so I tell you to try it." ”

After all, the fourth lady of the Ji family is a well-known little gluttonous cat.

Lei Qi stared at Ji Cunyan and drank the bowl of shocking tea, and paid attention to the observation while talking, confirming that she was really fine, and then left with confidence.

The two made an appointment to go to the Shizi's Mansion on the second day to find out.

The Shizi's Mansion is in the east of Suzhou, and it can be reached by waterway in half an hour, but Ji Cunyan is still apprehensive about the riverside waterfront because of the battle against the Qinglin Snake last night, and he is reluctant to get on the boat even if he is killed. Lei Qi only crossed the streets and alleys by her, and it took an hour to reach the Shizi's Mansion.

"Yishan County ......" Ji Cunyan looked up and read the plaque at the gate, and said, "This name is really nice." It's catchy and nice. ”

This Shizifu is very elegant and elegant, but the two big white lanterns with the word "Lay" written on the gate are more eye-catching than the plaque.

The one who opened the door was the old butler of the Shizi Mansion. After the two explained their intentions, the old housekeeper invited the two into the house.

Suzhou garden is famous all over the world, this Yishan County is Dingkang Shizi invited the famous teacher in Suzhou City, it took several years to build carefully, naturally it is unique and extraordinary. After entering from the gate, the nine-song cloister, the shadow of the window flowers, the sound of gurgling water leaks from the forest, only the sound of it is heard, its shadow is not seen, occasionally the living water is introduced under the corridor bridge, and then it is gone, and the design is really exquisite.

The two followed the old butler for about half a stick of incense before they arrived in the inner hall.

The old housekeeper ordered a little maid dressed in white to serve tea to the two, and then said: "The house has suffered a great change, and the son died young. The old slave has now sent away most of the servants in the house, and now the population is sparse. The greeting is not good, and the two lords of the Qincha are not to be surprised. ”

Lei Qi said: "The old man is serious. We are here this time to investigate the mysterious death of Dingkang Shizi. His Majesty heard that the prince had died strangely, and it seemed that there was something else hidden. I wonder if the old man can tell me what happened? ”

The old housekeeper sighed: "A few days ago, I received a letter from the old lady in the palace of the prince of the capital, and I have already informed me that there will be a master of the Qincha in the capital to Suzhou, and told me to do everything I know and tell the Lord of the Qincha everything. Alas, the death of the son of my family is too tragic, and I beg the two of you to find out the cause of death for the son of the world, so as to comfort his soul in heaven. ”

Lei Qi said: "I heard that when the prince died...... The muscles and bones of the legs dissolved and turned into blood, but there is such a thing? ”

The old butler said: "Alas, it is precisely because of this that the old slave feels that the son of the world is harmed by demons. ”

The old housekeeper then sat down and told Lei Qi and Ji Cunyan the story of King Dingnan in detail.

After the prince was relegated to Suzhou, he was disheartened about the affairs of the court, and after closing the door for more than a month, he chose this place as his mansion and invited famous teachers and craftsmen to build the prince's mansion for him, as a sustenance. Although the prince lives in a shallow way, but every spring, the spring of Suzhou City is good, and there are talented people from all over the world who come here to enjoy the flowers and scenery, and chant poems and fights. The prince also likes to join in the fun, yes, and in the spring, he will go out to play every day, or board a boat to enjoy the scenery. The day was a few days after the vernal equinox, and the prince suddenly became bedridden and closed his door. At first, he didn't want to eat, but he started to get hot in the second half of the night, and the next day he had a terrible fever, so the old slave invited a doctor to the house for treatment. The doctor first said that he was just infected with a cold, and he did not get better after a few doses of medicine, and in the end, no matter what he ate, he vomited it out as it was. On the third day, he was so burned that he talked nonsense, and he didn't know anyone. I really couldn't help it, so I invited the best doctors in Suzhou City to treat them one by one. A doctor said that if you want to look at it, you have to look at the whole body of the son. Who's going to think about it...... As soon as the quilt was lifted...... I found that the feet of the prince were gone! ”

The last sentence scared Ji Cunyan so much that he almost didn't hold the teacup in his hand.

The doctor asked why Shizi was injured and why the wound was not treated. But Shizi was not injured at all, and he never left the bed since he was uncomfortable in bed. The maid and concubine guarded him day and night, and he never left anyone. The doctor touched it with his hand, and it was not until the knee that he felt the human bone. Below the knee, all of them turned into pus and blood, and the stench was foul. The doctor was taken aback, and hurriedly said that he could not cure the disease, and fled in a hurry without asking for the consultation fee. The prince did not marry a wife, the prince died early, and the old lady was far away in the capital. The old slave had to be the master of his own affairs, repaired a book, sealed a hundred taels of silver, and asked a messenger to send it to the capital urgently, wanting to invite the imperial doctor to come over for diagnosis and treatment. As soon as the messenger was gone, the son of the world was gone. Without leaving a last word, he swallowed his breath. The concubines in the family were so frightened that they had no owner, and no one dared to bury and clean up the body of the son. The old slave had to do it himself. Since the doctor who escaped found that Shizi's feet were melting, it was only a dozen hours before Shizi took his breath. When the old slave is buried again...... The lower half of Shizi's body was gone, and there were no bones left. ”

Lei Qi and Ji Cunyan glanced at each other, and they both felt that if what the old housekeeper said was true, then the death of Ding Kang Shizi must be inseparable from the demons.

The old housekeeper said: "The old slave served in the prince's mansion when he was a teenager, and he can be regarded as having seen the world in the capital. Knowing that the death of the son of the world is anything but unusual. I went to the Qingfeng Temple overnight to consult the tide observation chief. The Taoist chief can't say why, only the corpse of the Taoist son must be demonic, in order to prevent his corpse from becoming or even causing a plague, it is best to cremate the corpse as soon as possible. The old slave listened to the words of the Taoist chief and came back to prepare to cremate the body of the prince. Who knows...... When the son was alive, his legs blinked like melting ice and turned into pus, blood and stinking water, but after death, the body was cremated but solid as a rock. The old slave burned the body of the son of the world for several hours, and he didn't even burn a single hair. Isn't this a monster?! The old slave was afraid that the matter would be big, so he hurriedly dismissed the maids and others who had been bought in Suzhou. The news of the death of the prince has long spread in the mansion, and these people have long been so scared that they want to escape, so naturally there is nothing to say during this period. Inevitably, the death of the son of the world was spread by the people, slandering the reputation of the son, and these people who left, the old slave also coaxed and frightened, and gave a lot of remuneration, so that they could take care of their mouths. Yes, this matter did not spread in Suzhou City. ”

Lei Qi asked, "Where is the body of the son of the world now?" ”

The old housekeeper said: "The old slave saw that the corpse could not be burned, so he went to find the head of the tide watching the road again. Guanchao Dao Changdao has shallow knowledge and can't do anything, so there happened to be a real person Zhang who placed an order in Qingfeng Guan, so he introduced it to the old slave. This Zhang Zhenren is really good! He came to take a look at the corpse of the son of the world, and said that he had found the way of the snake demon. also said that this snake demon can be high, and the original words were...... 'I can't figure it out that Bai Suzhen came out of Leifeng Tower'. ”

Ji Cunyan knew that the "Zhang Zhenren" that the old housekeeper was talking about must be Zhang Ji. Hearing the old butler in charge of him, he just pouted. He doesn't have that ability! Last night, Bai Suzhen's apprentices scared him so much that he almost peed his pants.

"I asked why the body of the real man had not burned for so long. It's really humane because the snake demon Neidan is still in the body of the son. After saying that, he opened the altar and took Neidan out of the mouth of the prince. The old slave watched it from the sidelines. As soon as the white bead rolled out of Shizi's mouth, Shizi's entire body immediately collapsed, his eyes were dry like firewood, and his body was black, and then immediately turned into a pool of pus and blood...... Pity my son, what a beautiful scenery in his life, and at the end of his life, he was demoted to Suzhou, and he could only send his affection to the civil engineering Fengyue, and his heart has actually been depressed. In the end, there was not even a whole corpse. The old slave wanted to collect his body...... I don't know where to put it away. Only to erect a well-dressed mound for the prince, ala......s, "The old housekeeper said that when he was sad, he hung his head and said nothing, and he couldn't talk anymore."

When he came out of the Shizi Mansion, Ji Cunyan turned back to the old housekeeper as if he thought of something: "Old man, I don't know where he went out for the last time before the prince got sick?" ”

The old housekeeper frowned and said, "Our son has always been free and uninhibited, and he has never explained to others in and out. The old slave didn't know where he had gone. ”

Ji Cunyan thought for a while and asked, "That son has been in Suzhou for many years, do you have any special friends?" ”

The old housekeeper said: "The son of the world is arrogant, and he doesn't pay attention to the ordinary people next to him, but he has some friends who drink and meat, but he only clings to his family status." But I never had any close friends. But if he goes out to drink and dispatch, in the spring, he should go to a boat banquet or something. The most frequented is the light sound boat of Tianxianglou. ”

Ji Cunyan said "thank you" and stopped talking.

Out of Yishan County, Ji Cunyan said to Lei Qi: "I just said that the third brother won't let me go to a boat banquet for no reason." I think the case of Dingkang Shizi still has to be investigated from the ship. ”

Lei Qi said: "But I think we have to check first, not the painting boat." ”

Ji Cunyan tilted his head and thought for a while: "Oh! We're going to find out Zhang Ji's little magic stick. He's got the snake demon's Neidan! ”