The full moon is deserted, and the stars are scarce.

Because of the Midyear Festival, Chenjia Lane is particularly bright tonight, and every family lights up a red lantern and hangs it in front of the door.

The lights of thousands of homes brighten the alleys as bright as day, dispelling the people's fear of Halloween.

In the light, two shadows, one fat and one thin, were pulled very long and slowly walked into the alley.

Ma Changsi was extremely proud, raised his head and boasted to himself, "Brother Ning, you said that Master Xiang said that I will do a lot in the future, is it possible that I will be the chief catcher in the future?" ”

Chen Ning was quite helpless and sighed lightly, "Can you stop talking?" I started talking about it from eating beef noodles, and I said it all the way, you are not tired, I am tired when I hear it. ”

"Hehe, Lord Xiang's golden mouth, you don't boast about people on weekdays, aren't we proud?"

Ma Changsi smiled and patted his belly, "But Brother Ning, you have to thank Master Xiang, if you weren't worried about this, I wouldn't have to eat half a catty of beef from you?" ”

"You're home, get out!"

Chen Ning was really impatient, and pointed to the courtyard in front of him and said.

The door wall of Ma Changsi's house is tall, obviously taller than ordinary people, the wooden door is heavy, and the door knocker is polished brightly.

"Hey, hey, I'm going to fuck off! When I go home later, tell my father about this, and I will be rewarded with a lot of silver, and then I will take Brother Ning to Zuihualou to drink flower wine! ”

Ma Changsi smiled and said, "The girl in the drunken flower building is so smart, we always watch others go in and out, but we are so envious!" Ma Ye, I have long wanted to go in and take a look. ”

"Dare to talk about drinking flower wine at the door of the house, be careful that your father hears and breaks your legs."

Chen Ning shook his head and chuckled, "Go back and rest quickly, don't forget that you still have to patrol the night." ”

"Huh?"

Ma Changsi's figure was stunned, and his face collapsed instantly, "Brother Ning, today is Halloween, and you still have to patrol the night?" ”

According to the rules of the Yamen, there needs to be a quick patrol every night to maintain law and order.

Although Chen Ning and Ma Changsi are only responsible for the vicinity of Chenjia Lane, they have few manpower, so they can only take turns to patrol the night, and if there is nothing to do, each person will have one night.

Tonight it was Ma Changsi's turn to patrol the night.

When he first experienced the ghost, he mentioned that there were naturally shadows in the night patrol, and his face was extremely ugly: "Brother Ning, I won't tell you, I, I'm a little scared......"

"Look at your urine, do you want to do a lot in the future?"

Chen Ning smiled: "Don't worry, I will accompany you, I will not be happy for the past few days, and the two of us will be fine together in the future." ”

Although the rule is that you need to patrol every hour, you can go back to rest when you patrol the night.

Even if the two of them patrol the night together, it will not affect tomorrow's attendance.

"That's good!"

Ma Changsi immediately puffed up his chest and heaved, "Actually, Brother Ning, you know, I'm not really afraid of any ghosts, I just want you to be bored at home by yourself, and I want you to ......."

"Less, one more word, and I'll patrol the night by myself."

Chen Ning didn't listen to the fat man's defense that he wanted to save his dignity, and turned around and left directly.

"Brother Ning, don't forget to gather at the right time!"

Ma Changsi scratched his head and laughed, could only shout, and turned around and entered the courtyard.

……

In the narrow blue brick alley, Chen Ning greeted the light and the moonlight, and walked straight into the depths until he stopped in front of a low courtyard.

Compared with the high-walled compound of the Ma family, this courtyard can only be said to be shabby.

The low adobe walls have cracked a little underneath the wooden doors, but they have not been repaired.

The lantern hanging in front of the door was a little perfunctory, I don't know what kind of paper it was pasted with, and the candlelight was mottled when it fell through the lantern surface.

The houses in the courtyard were also made of adobe, and the roof was measly thatched with a few broken tiles.

There is light in the house, and there are more shadows.

Chen Ning took out the copper coins from his arms, counted them carefully, and repeatedly confirmed that the number was correct, and then knocked on the wooden door gently.

"Is anyone home?"

As soon as Chen Ning's shout fell, a slightly tight response came from the room, "Someone! I am home! ”

It's a girl's voice, soft, crisp like a mountain stream, just listening to it, you can feel her tenderness.

Although the answer was fast, the girl came out unhappily, and Chen Ning waited for a long time before he saw a delicate figure and hurriedly walked out of the house.

This girl is about the same age as Chen Ning, probably often underfed, her body is a little delicate, she looks as thin as a piece of paper, and she can fly when the wind blows.

Under the backdrop of that beautiful face, her thin figure looked more and more pitiful.

Sun Xiaolian, the owner of copper coins and sheep fat jade.

She is a hard-working child, a few years ago, her parents went to the mountains to collect medicine, I don't know what trouble I encountered, and she never came back, leaving only her and the elderly blind grandmother.

The grandparents and grandchildren lost the breadwinners of their families, lived in poverty, and relied on the help of their neighbors for a long time.

Fortunately, Sun Xiaolian was smart and diligent, and made a living in Shen Dashanren's peach orchard, helping the Shen family sell peaches.

Although life is a little harder, I can finally get by.

"Lord Chen Ning, you're here."

Sun Xiaolian's cheeks flushed, and she came to Chen Ning.

Her clothes were old, but they were clean, and her long hair seemed to have just been pulled up, with a vermilion hairpin.

"The copper coins that Mao Ah Si stole have been recovered."

Chen Ning stretched out his hand, and in his palm were those copper coins, "I just counted, eight copper coins, one is not bad." ”

"Really?"

Sun Xiaolian's eyes were full of joy, she took the copper coin from Chen Ning's hand and counted it carefully before bowing to Chen Ning and thanking her, "Lord Chen Ning, thanks to you, otherwise my grandmother and I would be hungry again in the past two days." ”

After finishing speaking, she realized that there was something wrong with what she had just said, and her face suddenly turned red.

Yikes! How can I let Lord Chen Ning know about my hunger, he won't laugh at me, right?

The little girl's sensitive little heart was pounding and annoyed.

"Don't thank me, it's my duty."

Chen Ning smiled, "Put the money away, don't be stolen by thieves in the future." ”

Sun Xiaolian nodded shyly, still immersed in Fang Cai's gaffe, and said softly: "I will definitely put it down." ”

"By the way, your piece of jade...... I couldn't find it back, so I asked Lord Xiang to find it for you, and I will send it back to you when I find it. ”

Chen Ning paused and said lightly.

"Huh? Why are you bothering Lord Xiang to help me? ”

Sun Xiaolian was sincerely frightened, and waved her hand again and again, "Trouble Lord Chen Ning to tell me, if you can't find it, you don't want it, and it's not an important thing!" ”

"It's okay, Lord Xiang is also idle on weekdays, so he always has to find something to do."

Chen Ning smiled faintly, a glint flashed in his eyes, and then asked, "Can you tell me how that piece of jade came from?" I told Master Xiang that it might be of some help. ”

"It's too troublesome to bother Master Xiang......"

Sun Xiaolian blinked her eyes and recalled: "Actually, this jade came by coincidence, I was weeding in the yard two years ago and accidentally picked it up. ”

"Picked it up in your yard?"

Chen Ning frowned, "Are you sure?" ”

Sun Xiaolian hurriedly nodded, her eyes were a little panicked, "Lord Chen Ning, it's true, I don't dare to lie to you!" ”

"I trust you, don't care, I'm just asking."

Chen Ning smiled easily, "Then after you got this piece of jade, did you encounter anything special?" ”

"Something special?"

Sun Xiaolian tilted her head, her eyes blinked for a long time, and finally she just shook her head slightly.

"If there's anything special, it's probably luck!"

She smiled playfully: "Since then, the life at home has become much better, and I won't go hungry." ”

Got lucky?

Looking at her family's depressed appearance, it can only be said that she is barely able to make ends meet, how can she have any good luck? No bad luck is already thankful.

Chen Ning frowned slightly, realizing that Sun Xiaolian didn't know anything, and it was useless to ask any more.

"Okay, I'll tell Lord Xiang about these things, don't worry, Lord Xiang will definitely be able to get the jade back for you."

He advised: "Tonight is the Midyear Festival, don't run around, and rest early when you go home." ”

"Well, thank you Lord Chen Ning for your concern."

Sun Xiaolian's cheeks were as red as a peach, "Lord Chen Ning, wait a minute!" ”

Seeing that Chen Ning was leaving, she hurriedly took out a peach from her sleeve and handed it to Chen Ning, "I'm tired of you, this is ...... This is a thank you gift. ”

Under the dim candlelight, the shy girl became more and more beautiful, and even the peach in her hand looked extremely bright.

Seeing such a girl, even if she is as calm as Chen Ning, she can't help but lose her mind for a moment.

"Xiaolian is a slim girl, no wonder the neighbors praise you as a peach Shih Tzu."

Chen Ning smiled faintly and reached out to pick up the peach, "I accepted my wishes, but as a head catcher, the yamen has rules that you can't take the people's things indiscriminately, otherwise you will be punished." ”

As soon as the words fell, Sun Xiaolian had an extra copper plate in her hand.

"Lord Chen Ning, I, I don't want money......"

Sun Xiaolian hurriedly raised her head, holding the copper coin, and wanted to return it to Chen Ning.

But Chen Ning seemed to have expected her to do this, and had already come a few meters away.

"The peaches are sweet and delicious!"

Chen Ning turned his back to Sun Xiaolian, raised the peach in his hand high, and a big bite was bitten off on it, "Don't chase!" It's Halloween, a little girl runs to a place where there are no lights, beware of ghosts eating you! ”

Sun Xiaolian, who originally wanted to chase two steps, heard this, and was so frightened that she retracted the leg she had just stepped out of, and could only watch Chen Ning disappear into the dim alley.

"Lord Chen Ning......"

Sun Xiaolian looked down at the copper coin in her palm, a sweet smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, and she carefully put the copper coin into her arms.

……

The alley was very long, and Chen Ning didn't walk fast.

Along the way, he met many people, Aunt Wang who went out to splash water, Uncle Liu who had just finished unloading goods from the trading house, and Grandma Wu who couldn't hang up the lantern......

Those people all greeted Chen Ning warmly.

He helped Grandma Wu hang the lantern and was forced to stuff two hard-boiled eggs.

Grandma Wu muttered about decades of tradition, "Xiao Ning, you take these two boiled eggs, and if you eat them, you will not be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door tonight." ”

Tonight's alley is not only bright, but also much more lively, and more fireworks than usual.

The long alley of fireworks is fragrant.

"I just don't know how long it will take to live like this......"

Chen Ning looked up at the bright moon and muttered in a low voice: "I hope everyone can have a good festival tonight and don't have accidents." ”

……

The wind blew the old locust tree at the mouth of the West Alley swaying back and forth, rustling.

Under the tree stood a tall figure, his robe fluttering in the night breeze.

After the man took it with one hand, his sharp eyes looked directly at the old locust tree, "Fellow Daoist, there will be something I want to ask you for." ”