After Li Zhen received Di Renjie, he escorted him all the way north, Di Renjie was worried about the war in Hebei, and he didn't care about his old age, and they traveled day and night, and he didn't have the heart to stop to enjoy the scenery and monuments along the way, and that afternoon, they arrived in Qufu.

You can't go to other places, but how could Di Renjie, who was deeply immersed in Confucianism, not go to the Confucian Temple to meet the saint, he took everyone to stay in a temple on the outskirts of Qufu for the first time, which is also Di Renjie's consistent style, try not to trouble the local government, for example, when he arrived in Shouchun, he did not alarm the county government, and quietly crossed the Huai River to the north, which made Gu County Ling regret it for a long time.

"I never want to owe favors to others, otherwise it will be difficult to repay them in the future. This is his explanation to Li Zhen afterwards, Li Zhen also smiled, he thinks that he does not have Di Renjie's soft-heartedness, and he will not take it to heart afterwards for the courteous reception of the local government.

After settling down in the temple, Di Renjie took Li Zhen to Qufu Confucian Temple to meet the statue of the saint, but his daughter was not allowed to go with him, although Di Yan was very unhappy in her heart, but there was no way, she was not afraid of heaven and earth, but she was afraid of her father.

On the way to the Confucian Temple, Di Renjie and Li Zhen talked and laughed, "I received a letter from my mother a few months ago, and I learned that my nephew's polo is also playing well

"Let my uncle laugh, the younger generation has loved to play polo since childhood, and it can only be said that he is slightly good at it, compared with polo masters such as Dou Xianyun, the younger generation is still far behind. ”

Di Renjie laughed, "The virtuous nephew is too modest, and he can reach the final of the polo competition, which is not a slight skill."

Di Renjie asked Li Zhen to accompany him to the Temple of Literature with deep meaning, he had already seen that Li Zhen had a deep affection for his daughter, and his daughter was desperate to follow him around, which was enough to see the depth of his daughter's affection for Li Zhen.

Although Di Renjie is open-minded, he doesn't really want his daughter to follow Li Zhen as unmarried, which will more or less affect his Di Renjie's reputation, saying that he lacks control over his daughter.

Di Renjie also knew that Li Zhen was a steady and rational person, and he felt that it was necessary to find an opportunity to remind Li Zhen.

"Virtuous nephew, Yan'er's grandmother is old, she loves Yan'er the most, I plan to let Yan'er accompany her grandmother more, you have no opinion"

Although Di Renjie said it lightly, Li Zhen immediately understood the meaning of his words, Li Zhen couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, Di Yan has always disliked being restrained, where will he listen to his own arrangements, but he also understands Di Renjie's heart to protect his daughter, so he nodded and said: "I often go to perform more dangerous tasks, he is indeed a little unsafe to follow me, especially this time when he goes north to Hebei, it is more likely to fight fiercely with the Khitan, I don't want her to appear on the battlefield, it's just ...... I was afraid that she would not follow my advice. ”

"I'll persuade her to go home"

Di Renjie was very satisfied with Li Zhen's statement, he felt that it was necessary to appease Li Zhen a little, and said with a slight smile: "When will you invite your eldest sister to come to my house to sit, my wife would like to see her." ”

"Thank you uncle for your kindness, it's just that my eldest sister is in Chang'an temporarily, and when she comes back, I will arrange for her to visit my aunt. ”

"That's good, it's the Temple of the Saints over there. ”

Di Renjie pointed to a magnificent building in front of him, and gently diverted the topic, if there is anything, it must be pointed, and if you say more, you will show traces.

Li Zhen didn't say anything more, he smiled, beat the horse and followed Di Renjie towards the Confucian Temple.

Sure enough, Di Renjie was strongly resisted by Di Yan when he persuaded his daughter to go home, and in the room, the quarrel between the father and daughter was about to break out, Di Yan was full of tears, sat in front of the window without saying a word, turned his head out of the window, and ignored his father's persuasion.

Di Renjie was also a little annoyed when he saw that his daughter didn't listen to persuasion, but it was night at this time, and he didn't want too many people to know his anger, so he blushed and said in a low voice: "You are a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, running around with Li Zhen, what kind of system do you become, it will make people laugh at me Di Renjie has no tutor."

Di Yan's chest rose and fell in anger, and tearfully retorted to his father: "Brother Li and I are innocent, we have always treated each other with courtesy, we have a clear conscience, no matter what others say, and it is normal for men and women to interact in the Tang Dynasty, and the children of official eunuchs meet to go on an autumn outing, which abounds, why do other people's parents allow it, but you feel that it is unseemly?"

"It's not the same thing"

Di Renjie was a little annoyed and angry, and his voice became louder, "If you go out on outings occasionally, will I disagree? But you follow him everywhere, day and night, can't others see it? Why do you think the Holy Lord asked Li Zhen to protect me? Isn't it because of your relationship with him? If you marry him in the end, it would be fine, in case he marries someone else, what will you do? Can you still get married?"

Di Yan's voice suddenly choked, "If he marries someone else, I will die."

Di Renjie was stunned, for a long time, he sighed in his heart, slowly stepped forward, and said softly to his daughter: "I have invited his eldest sister to our house today to be a guest and meet your mother, my father is not a person who only cares about his own reputation, I am more concerned about my daughter's lifelong affairs, I can see that you are affectionate, and I also want him to be my son-in-law, but I also want to understand the feelings of being parents." ”

"Daddy"

Di Yan was moved in his heart, and cried in his father's arms, Di Renjie gently stroked his daughter's hair, and his heart was also a little sad, his daughter was old after all, he secretly wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, and said with a smile: "You are still young, you don't have to worry about it for a long time together in the future, you can understand your father's mood, go back for your father to accompany your grandmother, and when the war in Hebei is over and your father returns to Luoyang, I will invite his eldest sister to come to the house to talk, Yan'er, is this okay?"

Di Yan is also a person who is extremely filial to her parents, although she doesn't want to go back to Beijing, but thinking that her father is old, she can't bear to worry about her anymore, so she nodded lightly, "Yan'er knows." ”

"What a good boy"

Di Renjie was happy in his heart, and said with a smile: "You go back and clean up, say goodbye to Li Zhen, and return to the capital early tomorrow morning." ”

Di Yan hugged her father, turned around and left the room, and slowly came to Li Zhen's courtyard, but saw Li Zhen standing in the courtyard, looking at her with a smile, Di Yan couldn't hold back the grievances in her heart anymore, and suddenly threw herself into Li Zhen's arms and cried, Li Zhen smiled softly: "I guess it won't be too long in Hebei, and when I come back, I will be the first to look for you." ”

Di Yan wiped away her tears embarrassedly, nodded and said, "Don't lie to me"

"How could I lie to you? When I enter Beijing, I must first pass through Anyefang, report to you, and then enter the palace to give instructions, and then go out of the palace to find you for dinner, isn't it very logical?"

Di Yan burst into tears and laughed, "Okay, I'll go back and pack my things, and I'll go back to the capital early tomorrow morning." ”

Di Yan didn't dare to look at Li Zhen's eyes, turned around and ran back to his yard, Li Zhen looked at her back and ran away, and a big stone fell to the ground in his heart, in fact, he didn't want Di Yan to follow him to the front enemy, after all, it was a war, not an ordinary case.

Fortunately, Di Renjie persuaded his daughter, and Li Zhen's heart became relaxed, he turned around and walked towards his room, but as soon as he arrived at the door, a soldier ran into the courtyard and said in a low voice: "General, there may be an abnormal situation"

Li Zhen was stunned, "What is the abnormal situation?"

"Just now the abbot of the monastery told us that this afternoon, a monk who went to fetch water went missing. ”

Li Zhen's mind changed rapidly, how could the monk disappear for no reason, it was very likely that he was arrested, it seemed that his worst worries along the way could not be avoided.

This temple where Di Renjie temporarily settled is called Beijue Temple, it has a history of 100 years, covers an area of about 50 acres, is located in the foothills of a long and narrow hill, there are five or six hundred monks in the temple, and it is also one of the famous temples in Qufu.

Due to the arrival of Di Renjie, who is famous all over the world, the abbot of the monastery specially vacated two courtyards and dozens of monks' houses for them, among which Di Renjie and his daughter Di Yan lived in a small courtyard in the east, and Li Zhen lived in another compound with many internal security soldiers.

The time gradually came to two o'clock, the lights in the temple were extinguished, everyone had fallen asleep, at this time, in the north of the temple in the mountains and forests came a few night owl chirps, only to see dozens of black shadows from all directions to a big tree around.

Under the big tree stood a burly man, this person's surname is Wang, named Wang Baisheng, about thirty-five or sixteen years old, he was originally a Jiangyang thief in Guanzhong, because he was wanted by the government and fled to the Qingzhou area, occupied the mountain as the king, made a living by looting, because he loved to wear Tsing Yi, he was called the King of Tsing Yi.

Two days ago, Wang Baisheng was found by an intermediary, someone was willing to pay a thousand taels of gold for him to take Di Renjie's head, and first paid five hundred taels of gold, after the fact, Di Renjie's head was exchanged for another five hundred taels of gold, although Wang Baisheng had also heard of Di Renjie's reputation, but he was a vicious thief, only recognized money and not people, and a thousand taels of gold was also a lot of money for him, how could he push off this deal.

At the same time, the middleman also gave him a clue and asked him to wait in the Qufu area, Di Renjie will inevitably go to the Confucian Temple to worship when he goes north, and as expected, at noon today, they finally discovered Di Renjie's whereabouts.

Wang Baisheng didn't know that Di Renjie was protected by Li Zhen's internal guards, but he could also see that Di Renjie's guards were very capable and not so easy to deal with, so he decided to act at night, and while the guards were asleep, he quickly decided to cut off Di Renjie's head and escape.

"How's the situation?" Wang Baisheng asked one of his subordinates who had gone to investigate.

The subordinate nodded, "Now that they have fallen asleep, only the everlasting lamp of the bell and drum tower is still on in the temple." ”

Wang Baisheng used a knife to draw a simple layout map on the ground, his subordinates caught a monk who carried water during the day, and got the situation of Di Renjie and the monastery, Di Renjie and his men lived in the east courtyard, a total of two courtyards, one large and one small, Di Renjie lived in the small courtyard, and those guards lived in the courtyard.

Wang Baisheng was already well aware of the layout of the temple, he pondered for a moment, and asked again, "Is the light in the main hall out?"

The subordinate nodded, "It's gone."

Wang Baisheng was overjoyed, the lights in the main hall went out, which meant that the monks' evening class was over, and he immediately said to his subordinates: "Listen to my orders, everyone will fight quickly, and do not be greedy for merit"

With a wave of his hand, he ran towards the north wall of the temple with his knife, and dozens of minions followed him closely, all of them in extremely fast shape, and soon they ran to the outside of the north wall of the temple, standing against the root of the wall.

Wang Baisheng glanced at one of his subordinates, and his subordinates threw a flying hook to hang on the hospital wall, and turned over to it, and his subordinates crouched on the wall to observe for a moment, then turned around and nodded to Wang Baisheng, indicating that everything was normal.