At the end of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, it is already late autumn, the weather is cool at night, it is dark today, it rains in the autumn rain, the streets and alleys can hear the rustling sound, the cart puller, the burden, the night snack stall, all go home early, the huge Beiping City immediately fell into silence, only the lights are dotted with threes and threes.

Even the magnificent Forbidden City, which has been magnificent for hundreds of years, in this dripping autumn rain, the vermilion walls have lost their former luster, and in the west of the Forbidden City, there is a royal garden, named Xiyuan, but the lights are transparent, day and night.

Three years ago, the "Zongshe Party" created an assassination of Lao Yuan on Donghuamen Street, and since then, Lao Yuan has been very careful in his daily life and travel, and after living in Xiyuan, he rarely goes out.

Lao Yuan eats and lives in Jurentang in Xiyuan on weekdays, and even the office and meeting room are located here, but Lao Yuan has a convention that when he meets people, he will decide the place of meeting according to the identity and importance of the visitor.

If it is a confidant around him, he will be brought to the office for a secret conversation, if it is just an ordinary regular customer, he will be taken to the room on the west side of the first floor of Ju Ren Tang, as for ordinary guests or people with low status, the "big round mirror" in the front yard of Ju Ren Tang is Lao Yuan's meeting place.

Tonight, in Lao Yuan's office, Yang Shiqi, Yang Chengzan, Liang Shiyi and Xu Shichang sat in turn, the atmosphere was a little bleak, no one spoke first, the bell rang six times, and Lao Yuan, who was carrying everyone on his back, still didn't say a word, neither knew what expression was, but also didn't know what he thought.

But when something happens, you must deal with it, and you have to decide quickly, time waits for no one, the people who can appear in this office are familiar with each other, needless to say, Yang Shiqi is the chief strategist under Lao Yuan's account, and said first: "Liu Lao Wu has investigated clearly, Kawamoto Ichiro found two traffickers, buried the child's body on the side of the Catholic Church of the Enamel Kingdom, and deliberately buried it shallowly, and the wild dog smelled and dug up the soil, and was discovered, so what happened today." ”

Yang Chengzan said: "Have the two traffickers been caught?" ”

Yang Shiqi shook his head and said: "It's extinguished, the person was thrown into the Yongding River, the old five sent people to search, but it is estimated that they did not find it, otherwise they should have sent someone to say." ”

There was a crystal chandelier hanging on the top of the office, shining, lonely and spontaneously shining, falling on everyone's faces, obviously not good-looking, a silence,

Lao Yuan was still facing away, unable to see his expression clearly, and was silent.

Yang Shiqi continued to report: "The fifth said that Ichiro Kawamoto may have been buried in more than one place, and the people of Yingguo, Haoguo, and Mold may have also been buried, he was afraid of startling the snake, so he didn't go to the inquest, and was waiting for us to make a decision, should we arrest Ichiro Kawamoto first?" ”

Liang Shiyi dealt with the Dongyi people a lot, and knew the temperament of the Dongyi people, so he denied: "There is no proof of death, what if you are caught?" Tomorrow they will come to ask for someone, and if they can't do it, we will ignore it. Can't catch it! ”

Yang Chengzan disagreed: "Now it's just the people of the Enamel country, keep Ichiro Kawamoto to continue to fan the flames, and tomorrow it will be the people of the Ying country, the people of the moldy country, and the people of the country of Hao." So to catch, but also to catch immediately. They came to ask for someone, let them ask for it, let the fifth child find an excuse to delay for a few days, anyway, it's not that they don't return it. ”

Xu Shichang sighed: "Treating the symptoms but not the root cause, if you catch it for a while, you can't catch it for a lifetime, today there is a Kawamoto Ichiro, tomorrow there will be a Kawamoto Erlang, they want to use this dirty method to make the foreigners isolate us, so that we can agree to the supplementary terms, this is the real idea, so it doesn't matter whether you catch people or not." ”

"What supplements?" Yang Chengzan questioned that he had recently devoted himself to the "Emperor-making" movement, and he was a little slow to respond to changes in the outside world.

Liang Shiyi and Xu Shichang looked at Yang Shiqi in unison.

Yang Shiqi walked to Lao Yuan's desk, took out a piece of paper that was broken into seven or eight pieces and stained completely from a pile of documents, without any seal on it, not even a signature, and handed it to Yang Chengzan.

Yang Chengzan read it silently, isn't this the original 21 articles, and in an instant he figured out the cause and effect, and couldn't help but be angry in his heart, twisted the paper into a ball, threw it into the paper basket, and got up and said: "It must be that the people of Dongyi see that Yuan Gongjun is about to save the country, but they are afraid that they will fall behind our country in the future. ”

"the thief!" Old Yuan Wu turned around, with a black face, and scolded, then lost the following text, and looked straight at Yang Chengzan.

At the right time, Yang Shiqi and Liang Shiyi also realized the Dongyi people's strategy of killing two birds with one stone, but Liang Shiyi's face was full of suspicion, and Yang Shiqi nodded in agreement.

Xu Shichang looked at the crystal chandelier above his head at this time, his eyes were radiated by the bright light, he lowered his head suddenly, closed his eyes, and leaned back on the chair to recuperate.

Yang Chengzan looked at Yang Shiqi and said, "Mr. Xingcheng, what Mr. Bu Wu said is right, you have to think of a way to do it once and for all." ”

Lao Yuan moved his gaze from Yang Chengzan to Xu Shichang silently, and fell on Yang Shiqi again without stopping.

Yang Shiqi said: "The fifth child has thought of a way. ”

Without waiting for Yang Shiqi to continue, Liang Shiyi sneered: "What can he do?" ”

Lao Yuan said calmly: "Xingcheng, you continue." ”

Yang Shiqi said: "There is a young man named He Qi, who just returned from the West not long ago, and as soon as he arrived in Beiping, he was abducted by two traffickers, and later escaped. ”

Liang Shiyi was suspicious: "The common people all think that the people of the country did it, why should they believe this young man's words?" ”

Yang Shiqi said: "This young man, although he has just returned to China, but his reputation is not small, especially good at chess, even Gu Rushui is not his opponent, a few days ago, he had a discussion with Professor Gu in Guangheju, and he did not fall behind, so he was on the "Beijing Daily". ”

Liang Shiyi felt that if He Qi only had the above conditions, then He Qi's correction did not seem to be convincing to the people.

Yang Chengzan's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood the key, and took Yang Shiqi's words and said: "The most critical point, Mr. Xingcheng hasn't mentioned it yet, this young man has a lot to do with Mr. Taiyan's two disciples. That day, I invited Professor Gu to Guangheju, and I happened to meet him, who looked like a talent, spoke properly, and spoke insightfully, but he was a talent, but I didn't know if he could be used by us. ”

Yang Shiqi nodded and said: "Yes, he has a great relationship with Mr. Taiyan's two apprentices, and it is just right to use, as for whether he agrees or not, the fifth child has his own way, so we don't have to worry." ”

Lao Yuan's brows stretched when he heard this, he took a deep breath, took his hands, walked down the steps, walked in front of Xu Shichang, bowed down, and came to the front and said, "Bu Wu, tired?" ”

Xu Shichang opened his eyes suddenly, got up and said with a smile: "Brother Xiangcheng, I'm old, it's autumn recently, as soon as the weather is cold, the old problem will be committed, and it is easy to be tired, just go back and rest later." ”

Lao Yuan straightened up, looked at the white-haired Brother Xu, and couldn't help but recall the scene of the first acquaintance thirty-five years ago, the two hit it off at first sight, and worshiped as brothers with different surnames.

sighed: "A few days ago, Zhiquan came to me to ask for leave, saying that he wanted to rest and rest, think about it, you have followed me to the north and south, for decades, and you have not rested well, it is really embarrassing." I approved Zhiquan's leave, and I also approved the leave of Fifth Brother Bu, go back and rest for a while, it's not time to take care of the new year, and many important things are still waiting for Fifth Brother Bu to discuss, how can I leave? ”

Xu Shichang said with a smile: "It's not okay to be old!" Brother Xingcheng, Brother Yifu is less than a round younger than me, but his energy is far from being comparable to me, old man! Old! It's useless, so let's go back and stay, don't block the future of the future below. ”

Lao Yuan thought about it, some words were not said after all, after taking a deep breath, he slowly walked up with his hands behind his back, and when he passed in front of Liang Shiyi, he stopped thinking about it again, looked back at Xu Shichang, who sat down and closed his eyes to recuperate, and said helplessly: "Fifth Brother Bu, it's cold, don't take a nap, go back quickly." He patted Liang Shiyi's arm again, and instructed: "Yifu, you and Fifth Brother Bu are on the way, and you will personally send Fifth Brother Bu back, it's dark, he is old, his eyes are not good, I don't worry." ”

Liang Shiyi hesitated and said, "Gong Yuan rest assured. ”

When Xu Shichang stood up slowly, he stared at this office, and finally looked at Lao Yuan, who was walking with his back, and sighed leisurely: "Brother Xiangcheng, I'm leaving." ”

"Fifth Brother Bu, it's dark, go slowly." Lao Yuan waved his hand and watched Xu Shichang leave the room before returning to his position, and his face was depressed.

"Xingcheng, just do as you say, but when you're done, let the fifth man clean his hands and feet."

Yang Chengzan objected: "No, Ichiro Kawamoto is dead, it's not good for us, just lead public opinion to Dongyi, and we can do it differently after that." ”

Lao Yuan glared at Yang Chengzan with slanted eyes, poked his fingers, and scolded angrily in dialect: "I am a grandson, this bastard, bastard, bastard plus three levels, dozens of children's lives in exchange for his grandson's life, it is cheap for him." ”

But I always felt uncomfortable with the grievances in my heart, and I was really angry, kicked over the paper basket, and scolded viciously: "it!" Let the fifth catch a few more and do it together. ”

Yang Chengzan had no choice but to remain silent.

Yang Shiqi nodded.

"It's not very serious today, it's two chapters, forgive me! 》