The last snow of winter fell, and the sunken boat listened to music in a small building by the river.

The elegance of the silk and bamboo string song is not within the scope of Shen Zhou's thoughts, he wanders outside the lively red dust, examines the musicians' thoughts from every breath pause, every silk string tremor, and then captures their breathing and heartbeat hidden under the music.

A little girl of fifteen or sixteen years old came upstairs with a basket, and the plum branches in the basket were like plum branches. She was followed by an old man, who diligently peddled plum blossoms to her guests, and the old man followed behind to collect the money.

The two men came to Shen Zhou, who took out three copper plates and put them on the table, and swiped his fingers twice.

"The target this time is a businessman named Cai Ju, who will stay in the east wing of Baiyunyi tomorrow night." The little girl's eyes changed and she whispered.

Shen Zhou raised his eyelashes and glanced at the two of them more.

The Assassins of the Nine Shadows never acted alone, always one was responsible for killing, and the other was responsible for killing the previous one after the assassin missed. The latter tends to be more like a normal person than the former, with older seniority and more advanced assassination skills in the Nine Shadows.

This little girl, who looked young, was unexpectedly dominant among the two.

"Who is this man?" Shen Zhou clasped the copper plate of the table with one hand, separating the old man's hand.

The little girl narrowed her eyes and said, "You don't need to ask the reason for the killing. ”

"You don't want to say, you can go alone." Shen Zhou said slowly, "I need to know if the other party is an ordinary businessman and how difficult it is to kill." ”

"Cai Ju is his pseudonym, his natal name is Mountain Ghost Shuo, and he is the head of the Mountain Ghost Clan's secret pile in Jiangnan. He came to Jiangnan this time to arrange a counterattack against us. The little girl said quickly, still smiling like a spring flower on her face.

"This hall has dispatched ten ghosts and you, and I will take him down in one fell swoop tomorrow."

Shen Zhou was noncommittal, folded the three copper plates into a stack, and slapped them into the old man's hand. He walked down the crowded restaurant without looking back, the blue and blue river cut the white world, and a few pages of lonely sails in the distance turned into inky shadows, so faint that they were almost erased.

Shen Zhou stood in the snow for a moment, wondering if the winter in the imperial capital would be longer and colder. He was in a daze for so long that thin edelweiss fell on his eyelashes, like a stone statue covered in frost.

After a long time, the sinking boat shook off the snow and dust, held an umbrella and left.

——

The sunken boat returned to the rented house.

It was a very small courtyard, narrow and dark, huddled in a dirty and messy alley, and a suspicious smell could be smelled everywhere. The only thing that can be commended is that there is a window in the house that opens to the east, allowing the first rays of the morning sun.

On the stove was a pot of half-boiled bean porridge, sparsely mixed with a little rice, exuding a strange bitter taste.

When Shen Zhou pushed open the door, the skinny white cat was squatting on the stove, stretching its neck to lick the porridge in the pot.

The kitten is so thin that its fur is dull, and its body is small and small, and its head and eyes are extraordinarily large. I don't know if it's bold, or if it's so hungry that I really don't have the strength to run, I didn't be afraid to be caught by my master for stealing food, but turned around and stared at Shen Zhou.

The kitten's tongue slammed and spit out the black bean porridge.

After Shen Zhou killed the forty-ninth Mountain Ghost Assassin, the old man left him alone to show his trust in him. He would go to the restaurant on the even days of the month, and a different person would give him a message about the next person to kill.

Shen Zhou was not short of money, but he really didn't have any desire, so he spent his days in this dirty alley, foolishly dealing with food and drink.

He went out to kill after the sun went down, washed the blood off his body with cold water when the sun rose, and then slept groggily all day.

Shen Zhou and the ugly little thing looked at each other for a long time, walked to the stove, poured out the pot of porridge that had been sitting for an unknown amount of time, and boiled a pot of hot water again. The kitten had the audacity to grab his arm and slash his wrist with its paws as if protesting, preventing him from pouring beans into the pot.

Shen Zhou wanted to throw it aside by the neck, but somehow, he remembered the Sanhua cat family in the Zhenbei Palace. I don't know who raised the litter of three-flowered cats, they ate and drank in the Zhenbei Palace, and they ate so smoothly that Chu Zhixia loved to hold the kitten's paws dipped in ink and press his face.

Shen Zhou's hand limped and stroked the kitten's head stiffly. The kitten rubbed his palm inch by inch, thinking that he had found a support, and meowed.

Shen Zhou poured the beans and rice into the pot with his backhand, and he was very unrepentant. A pot of porridge was not cooked satisfactorily, so Shen Zhou put two pieces of rock sugar in it as if he made up for it, served a bowl for himself, and served another bowl for the kitten.

"Don't follow me," Shen Zhou said, looking at the top of the kitten's bare head and holding the porridge bowl, "You won't live long with me." ”

The kitten buried itself in hard work and let out a snoring sound from Ciri.

Shen Zhou hesitated for a moment, and then slapped the kitten's neck again, wanting to reminisce about the feeling of being forced to hug the three-flowered cat when he was young. He didn't remember the slightest warm memory, and a few hairs fell on his hands.

——

On a starless and moonless night, several shadows were walking in the shadow of the candlelight, suppressing their breathing and heartbeat to the lowest frequency, approaching Baiyunyi. A few sporadic barking dogs can be heard in the distance, setting off the silence of the alley.

A knock on the door startled the snow on the eaves.

"Anyone? Cai Ju, a merchant on the downside, came to stay! ”

Cai Ju and his entourage were scattered with more than ten people, and they were welcomed into the post house by the post guard.

"Guest officer, do you need to feed the horses?" The postman asked diligently.

"Thank you, little brother." "Cai Ju" had a kind round face, stuffed a few copper coins for the post man, and happily beckoned his companions to come into the house to keep warm.

The postman had taken over the group's bags and goods, but he felt a little strange.

It is written on the customs clearance document that they are foot merchants who resell raw silk between the north and the south, but the trade route between the north and the south is not very peaceful, and there are often bandits who rob the road. It is not uncommon for foot traders to hire dart boards or raise martial arts practitioners, but this group of people is full of thin young men, who seem to be powerless, and they will be served by thieves.

Is it a lack of heart or luck? The postman couldn't figure it out.

A slender pale hand suddenly came to the postman, and in the palm of his hand were a few pieces of broken silver.

"Go to Xu Ji to buy a pound of crispy fried pig's head meat, buy six taels of cherries that have just come out of the pot to fry in Ping'an Restaurant, and make a pot of rice wine at Li's house."

The postman looked down the hand, and saw a face covered by a black hat, with only an arc of his chin exposed. The owner of the voice was very young, sounding about seventeen or eighteen years old, with the hoarseness of a young man, but the demands made were very unreasonable.

Baiyunyi is remote, not only are these shops not in the same direction, they have to go around the city after buying, and the business is booming, even if they wait, they have to wait for a long time.

Without waiting for the postman to refuse, the boy said, "The rest of the money is yours." ”

The postman bent when he came to his mouth, nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go right away, I'll let you eat hot." ”

The boy's answer was strange: "Don't rush back." ”

——

The footsteps of the post man disappeared outside the door, and Shen Zhou lifted the edge of the hat with the hilt of his sword and looked at the inn.

Everything was normal in the inn, with freshly chopped firewood piled up in front of the firewood house, and a layer of straw was used to protect it from getting wet in the snow. The horses in the stable chewed on the grain and grass, and from time to time they made two comfortable snorts. From time to time, there were two chats and laughter in the house, which seemed to be very warm.

Shen Zhou reached out and touched the raw silk in the truck escorting the raw silk, and touched the raw silk that was meticulously protected.

He turned and walked towards the house and pushed the door open.

"Cai Ju" and a few foot merchants who were laughing were all stunned, looking at the teenager who suddenly broke in inexplicably. The charcoal fire in the room was warm, the wine was mellow, the guests and hosts were happy, and the arrival of the sinking boat was like a sharp sword that cut everything, hard and cold.

But Shen Zhou knew that except for the post man, everyone here except for Cai Ju's caravan was Luo's assassins. It was impossible for the Luo clan and the Mountain Ghost Clan to get close to the Baiyun Station silently, so the Luo clan assassins had been ambushed here in various capacities early in the morning.

"Stop acting, this entire caravan is an assassin of the Mountain Ghost Clan." Shen Zhou said expressionlessly, "The raw silk trade between the north and the south has always only been resold from the south to the north, and I have never seen so much raw silk on the carts of merchants returning from the south. ”

"You don't need a dart game, because your whole caravan is full of murderous 'ghosts'. How can a bandit be your opponent? ”

"Cai Ju" tore off his approachable mask and smiled coldly: "I didn't expect that there are people who are familiar with the world among Luo's puppet assassins, it's really unexpected, what is your name?" ”

"Dead people don't need to know."

The two parties, who had been talking happily before, suddenly turned on each other, and each drew their blades from different places, and a dazzling silver light flickered in the lamp.

The man who was silently smiling tore the bandages wrapped around his hands, claiming that his hands were as white as jade and even flowing with a metallic luster. She struck so fast that in an instant, she pierced the throat of the Mountain Ghost Assassin next to her, tearing out his throat entirely.

If it is the old Jianghu who is mixed in the bookstore and tea shop, he can recognize it at this moment, this is the assassin who has been nicknamed the "pulse interceptor" in recent years. It is said from mouth to mouth in the rivers and lakes that the pulse interception hand is fatal with one blow, and never uses a blade, and a pair of hands has the ability to break the skin and bones, which is terrifying.

In the rumors, the pulse interceptor is a man with a yin temperament, who drinks blood and can stop children's night crying.

The slender blade that slipped from the Assassin's wrist only had time to cut through the human skin mask on her face, and the human skin mask split and fell from the middle, revealing a girl's face, a thin line of blood flowing down her eyebrows.

The lights were suddenly extinguished, and the moment before the lights went out, Shen Zhou saw countless silk threads like strings hanging from between the beams.

Two of the ten ghosts appeared, and one of the sunken boats was not included in the information. Cai Ju was shocked by Luo's determination to exterminate this extermination, and exclaimed: "It's a ghost knife, be careful!" ”

Shen Zhou took a deep breath and pushed his sword out of the sheath two inches with his thumb.

Shen Zhou's ears rang with countless chaotic heartbeats like drums, as well as the sound of messy and intertwined breathing.