I have been exploring the vicinity of this vegetable stall for a long time, but I have not found anything strange. Gu Xiao carefully recalled all the details of what happened today. Raising his head suddenly, Gu Xiao seemed to have thought of something, looked up at the opposite side of the vegetable stall, and saw that the black flag on the blacksmith shop was particularly conspicuous.

Suddenly understood something, Gu Xiao's eyes stared at the flag tightly. After a long time, Gu Xiao settled down, set off through the crowd, came to the blacksmith shop, looked up at the iron flag that was hunting, and then looked back at the street across the street.

"Miss Lin'er, do you remember what color flag was hung on this blacksmith shop when you listened to the story of the old vegetable seller at this vegetable stall?" Gu Xiao asked Lin'er on the side in a low voice.

Lin'er was still thinking about what Gu Xiao Shicai said, but after hearing Gu Xiao speak, she came back to her senses and hurriedly said, "What did you say?" Flag? I didn't notice. ”

Gu Xiao didn't know what the girl's family was thinking, but Lin'er didn't notice it, so he continued in a low voice: "If I remember correctly, when I came to this vegetable stall with Uncle Li and Xue Hu, I caught a glimpse of a red flag hanging on this blacksmith shop, but now it has been replaced by black, and the end is extremely strange. ”

After speaking, Gu Xiao took the snow treading that was still grinning at him out of the big cloud. Lin'er took the snow, and the fat mink's grinning demeanor just now disappeared in an instant, and he just obediently let Lin'er hold it in his arms and caress it.

"Be careful, don't act impulsively!" Lin'er recalled what Gu Xiao Shicai said about the blacksmith shop flag, and also felt that this matter was not simple, so she said to Gu Xiao.

Gu Xiao nodded, and then stepped into the blacksmith shop.

The shop is not big, but the place where you can see the square is that the hot flame in an oven in the middle of the shop is burning, and the anvils, sinks, and bellows are all available on the side, and several strong men are sweating like rain.

In the winter, it was freezing outside, but the blacksmith was steaming hot, and a sturdy man pulled the bellows by the bellows, and the fire in the oven was stirred by the wind, and spewed out tongues of fire. The sturdy man standing in front of the oven was sweating like rain from the heat of the fire, and took off his single clothes, revealing his strong muscles.

Seeing that the iron in the oven was burned to a red color, the shirtless man grasped the iron tongs with one hand, quickly pinched out the post, and walked quickly to the big anvil.

The other man who was waiting by the anvil was much thinner than the shirtless man, but he had no difficulty carrying the sledgehammer in one hand.

When the iron tool was put on the anvil, the two men, one by one, began to beat, and a string of nail bells sounded, and the sound of beating the iron tool had a unique rhythm.

Gu Xiao didn't alarm a few people, but quietly watched these sturdy men knock on the iron. After a beating, the red color of the iron object gradually faded, and the shirtless man looked down, then set up the iron tool and stuffed it into the oven.

The shirtless man did not turn around, but turned his back to Gu Xiao and said, "Guest officer, after looking at it for a long time, what are you going to hit?" ”

"I want to fight a sword." Gu Xiao said.

Although Gu Xiao said this in a very soft voice, the sturdy men who were sweating like rain in the room seemed to be attracted by these words, and they all stopped what they were doing and looked at the guests in front of the door.

"Oh?" The shirtless man didn't seem to expect the person behind him to fight the blade, and he also turned around and looked at the guest who was talking.

He was dressed in a dark color, with black hair and a shawl, sword eyebrows and starry eyes, and a slightly green face. The topless blacksmith looked at the guest in front of him, this person was not very old, although he was covered by a large body, it could also be seen that his body was slightly thin, like an ordinary scholar, if he wanted to hit a kitchen knife or even farm tools, the blacksmith would not be surprised.

But he wanted to cast a blade, and the blacksmith became interested, and ordered everyone to continue working, and he pulled a sweat towel from his hand, wiped the sweat all over his body, and dragged a single coat to put on.

Walking in front of Gu Xiao and looking at Gu Xiao, the blacksmith grinned and said, "Guest, I see that you are young, this thing is not a child's plaything, this thing will hurt people." ”

"It is not the blade that hurts, but the man who bears it." Gu Xiao looked at the blacksmith in front of him, drew an arc at the corner of his mouth, and spoke.

The blacksmith looked past Gu Xiao and looked out of the shop, where a young girl was looking across the street. The blacksmith retracted his gaze, looked at Gu Xiao carefully, and then spoke: "The small shop only forges some farm tools and household things, and there are no materials needed for the blade, so I am really helpless, and I invite the guests to do their own convenience." ”

The blacksmith gave the order to evict the guests, then turned around and walked to the busy crowd to get busy. After a while, the blacksmith looked back and saw that the young man had not left, but had sat down at the table beside him, and had poured himself a drink from the teapot on the table.

The blacksmith put down the utensils in his hand, sat beside Gu Xiao, and softened his tone: "Little brother, it's not that we won't help you fight, it's just that this fine iron thing needed to build a blade, I really don't have it in this small shop..."

Without waiting for the blacksmith to finish speaking, Gu Xiao took out a hundred taels of silver ticket from his arms, gently placed it on the table, and pushed it towards the blacksmith with his fingers, but his eyes were staring at the blacksmith's face.

When the blacksmith saw the hundred taels of silver tickets, his expression did not move, but he continued to excuse himself with an embarrassed smile: "Little brother, this is not a question of money or not, this is true.."

Seeing a hundred taels of silver ticket handed out, the blacksmith was still puzzled: "Please forgive the guest, but the shop can't take this job." ”

When Gu Xiao heard this, his eyes swept over the blacksmith, and then he put away the silver ticket and got up and said, "What a bother!" ”

When the blacksmith saw that this stubborn little brother was finally no longer attached, he got up and saluted back: "Forgive me, guest!" ”

Seeing Gu Xiao out of the blacksmith shop, Lin'er's relaxed demeanor in the blacksmith shop changed to a thoughtful look, and Lin'er said, "What, look at you like this, what did you find?" ”

Gu Xiao was about to reply, when out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a small mark on the wall outside the blacksmith shop. If others saw it, they would think that it was a child's play, but Gu Xiao's eyes lit up when he saw the mark.

"This is not the place to talk, Lin'er, and come with me!" Gu Xiao whispered to Lin'er.

Lin'er looked at the blacksmith's gaze behind Gu Xiao, and instantly understood what Gu Xiao meant, and then kept silent and left with Gu Xiao.

Walking a hundred steps away, Gu Xiao turned his head sideways and whispered beside Lin'er: "Ordinary blacksmith, if you say a hundred taels, one or twenty yuan will take over the work of forging sword blades, and I will pay two hundred taels for the blacksmith in this shop, he doesn't ask me about the style, and the second doesn't ask about the quality, he just shirks and says that there is no sword casting material." ”

Lin'er's apricot eyes moved slightly: "Two hundred taels? If an ordinary blacksmith hears about this business and has no materials, even if he robs it, he will have to get some sword-forging materials. ”

"Yes, but the blacksmith was only shirking his business, and never looked at my silver ticket from beginning to end." Gu Xiao gave Lin'er a determined look.

Then he said firmly: "This blacksmith shop is by no means as simple as we see, when I came out of the blacksmith shop, I caught a glimpse of the unique mark left by Uncle Li in the corner of the wall. ”

Lin'er said: "What do you mean, we can follow the mark left by Uncle Li all the way and find him?" ”

Gu Xiao looked around, then the corners of his mouth curled slightly, and he used his mouth to nude another corner of the wall, Lin'er looked in the direction indicated by Gu Xiao, and on the side of the wall, he saw Lao Li's special imprint.

Since Uncle Li's mark was discovered, it naturally indicates that Uncle Li is safe and sound. Gu Xiao's sword eyebrows, which had been frowning for a long time, finally stretched out, and he joked to Lin'er: "Didn't you say that if you disappear one day, or you will also get a unique mark, then I will look for the mark and look for you all the way, how about it?" ”

Which pot is not opened, which pot is not mentioned, after Gu Xiao said this, he caught a glimpse of the corner of Lin'er's mouth twitching slightly. Just wondering, Gu Xiao heard Lin'er speak: "Two hundred taels to forge a sword, it's quite rich, if you find a place to redeem Ying and leave the post in the future, I hope Gu Daxia can also be so generous, hum." After Lin'er finished speaking, she turned around and strode forward to find Uncle Li's mark.

Gu Xiao, who was left in a daze, was messy in the wind, scratching his head and muttering, "What's wrong?" Looking at Lin'er in the distance, Gu Xiaoshi couldn't figure out the reason, so he could only sigh: "A woman's heart, a needle under the sea, I don't understand." ”

Suddenly, Gu Xiao lost his words and said, "Redeem Dangying and leave the post?" How can I have so much silver, hey, Lin'er, everything is easy to discuss. Then he caught up with Lin'er's footsteps and continued to look for Uncle Li's mark in the city.

Outside the blacksmith's shop, the blacksmith stood for a long time. Looking at the distant figure of the young man and the girl in blue clothes, the blacksmith's slightly cloudy eyes narrowed slightly, and his eyes were full of doubts and uneasiness.

After a while, the blacksmith turned around and walked into the shop, and said to the lean man with the hammer: "Ma Biao." ”

The lean man heard the blacksmith call him, hurriedly dropped the hammer, walked quickly to the blacksmith and whispered, "Brother Yuan, you call me." ”

The blacksmith said with a solemn face: "Today, things are not quite right, you bring a few people, one to the store to ask if there is anything special, and the other to find two brothers who are born in the face, and follow the pair of men and women who are suitable for talent." ”

"Okay!" Ma Biao wiped the sweat on his body and left.

Not long after, behind the blacksmith shop, two ordinary men who could no longer be ordinary came out, chasing in the direction where Gu Xiao and Lin'er's figures disappeared. That Ma Biao also changed his clothes, got out of the blacksmith shop and went straight to the direction of Yuelai Building.

Gu Xiao and Lin'er followed the mark left by Uncle Li and walked through Liangzhou City. At this time, it was getting late, and the vendors on the street had already closed their stalls, Gu Xiao and Lin'er followed the imprint to the secluded alley.

Seeing the mark of Uncle Li in the corner of the alley, Gu Xiao saw that the alley was secluded and silent, and said solemnly to Lin'er vigilantly: "After you go in for a while, you will follow me." If there is any movement, you go first, and I will cut myself off. ”

Although Lin'er was angry and Xiao didn't understand his thoughts, when she saw his solemn appearance, she immediately nodded.

The two figures then gradually disappeared into this secluded alley. All this was seen by the two ordinary men on the corner of the street, one of whom said to the other: "You tell the eldest brother about the situation here, I am watching here." ”

The other nodded, and then hurried towards the blacksmith.

——

In Yuelai Building, whether it is a diner in the city or a foreign businessman, they all know that Yuelai Lou has a new shopkeeper with all kinds of charms, she rarely appears in the store on weekdays, but when the account is taken on a few days of the month, or when there are distinguished guests visiting this Yuelai Building, the proprietress will appear.

It was getting late, and the Yuelai Building was already full, and the little two skillfully shuttled in front of the various tables. The drinkers are pushing the glasses and changing the glasses, and the diners are chewing and slowly tasting the dishes of Yuelailou.

I saw a woman walking through the tables and chairs in the store and coming to the store from afar.