Next to the palace road, there was a ball of light in the lamp head of the stone lamp building, and the light was dim, but it was still difficult to hide the faint cyan circles on her face.

"You should be tired. Go back and rest early tonight. ”

She lowered her eyes, did not answer, did not object, let him shake her hand again, and led her back to the bedchamber.

Pei Xiaoyuan instructed the He family to say a few words, and the He family understood, and hurriedly took the little tiger with the nurses to temporarily avoid the dormitory. He took her to the bed, removed her coat and shoes, and when she lay down, he said softly, "Sleep well." I went to put the little tiger to sleep. ”

He covered her with the quilt, lowered the curtains, and was about to go out, when suddenly he heard a whisper from inside the tent.

"Don't go." The voice was soft and soft, as if it contained a bit of pity.

Pei Xiaoyuan was stunned, and then, he took off his coat and put it next to hers.

He leaned sideways and gently stepped into the tent, lying beside her.

As soon as he lay down, she leaned over to her, buried her face in his arms, and wept silently. Slowly, she quieted down, motionless, as if she had fallen asleep.

The palace leak sounded. The shadow of the spring moon slowly climbed up the eaves and vermilion of the palace pavilion.

"I can't sleep. I want to go to the Yong'an Hall to have a look. ”

Suddenly, in the depths of this quiet dormitory, her whisper sounded.

Pei Xiaoyuan opened his eyes.

"Okay." He immediately answered, got up and went down, rolled up the curtains, dressed, put on a cloak for her to keep out the cold, and then, taking her by the hand, quietly walked out of the dormitory.

The spring moon shone quietly on the ruins of the Yong'an Temple, and under the hazy moonlight, the eyes were full of broken walls and ruins. A few small black beasts that looked like wild foxes or badgers were startled by the sound of the two of them, and burst out of the shadows and scattered in all directions.

"That night, the hall hadn't burned down yet, and I remember I was in that corner—" Su Yu leaned over him, pointing to a broken wall in front of him.

"I can't find my way out, there is fire all around, I can only cry, cry non-stop, grandpa came over and carried me out......"

A gust of night wind blew, stirring up a large area of spring weeds newly drilled out of the cracks in the residual stones, and the sound of rustling was endless, doubling the feeling of infinite desolation.

Pei Xiaoyuan remembered what happened at that time. After his father put on his armor and left home again, he and his mother returned to their former residence in Hedong. He imagined the scene experienced by the little one who remained in Chang'an that day, and his heart was more and more full of gratitude to the old man who met in the ancient temple in the evening.

It's so desolate. He didn't want her to be more sad.

"Let's go back." He coaxed.

"Seeing Ah Gong is something that should be celebrated. Tomorrow, when you are free, I will accompany you, and then bring Xiaohu'er, and let's go to see Grandpa again. He must have been very happy to see Xiaohu'er. As soon as you are happy, maybe you will be willing to stay a little longer. ”

She seemed to be moved by what he said, and nodded.

"Okay." She answered him.

Pei Xiaoyuan smiled slightly, and when he left with her, there was another strange sound behind him.

Another wild fox burst out from under a piece of rubble more than a dozen feet behind him. The shadow flickered in the moonlight and vanished.

His gaze swept far over the ruins, hesitated for a moment, told her to wait, walked over himself, climbed the rocks, and finally saw clearly the white foreign object that the wild fox had hooked when it came out of the hole.

It is a white strip embedded in a crack in the stone.

He picked it up, looked at it in the moonlight for a moment, frowned slightly, and then, crouched down, and looked at the hole that had been punched out by the beast under the rubble.

It was pitch black below, and nothing could be seen.

"What's wrong? What is that? Su Yu came over and asked him.

"A bone. It should be human bones. ”

Pei Xiaoyuan turned his head and answered.

"There may be someone buried down there. As the years wore on, the bones were taken out by the wild beasts and fell outside. ”

Chapter 149

Su Yu looked at the remnants of the bones and groaned.

Who could be buried under the ruins of the Yong'an Temple? Especially in this range, the location of the main hall of the Yong'an Temple.

She remembered that night many years ago.

Because of the symbolism of the temple, it became famous and became one of the first targets of the rebels when they entered the city. Before they arrived, the palace servants in this hall had already fled.

This hall is also not like the treasury, there are many gold and jade jewels in it that have not had time to be transferred, the rebels arrived, set a fire, and hurried to loot the treasury, therefore, Su Yu remembered that when she broke in, unlike the tragic situation of corpses pouring corpses everywhere along the way, she did not seem to see the dead in the palace.

However, at that time, she was young after all, it was night, the hall was full of fireworks, she was only looking for her mother, with the huge Yong'an Palace, she couldn't see the corners, and it was inevitable.

"Remove it and bury it separately."

After she groaned, she looked at Pei Xiaoyuan, who was looking at her and waiting for her to make a decision, and said.

Although only ruins remain, it is a commemorative place ordered by the emperor, such as a national memorial site. No matter who is buried underneath, I don't know, I know, if the bones are still left, it is not appropriate.

"Aye, I'll just talk to him."

Pei Xiaoyuan nodded, jumped down from the ruins and said, "It's too late tonight, you can't see anything, I'll send you back to rest first, and I'll call someone to dig it tomorrow." ”

Pei Xiaoyuan stayed in the palace that night, and the next day, before dawn, the two got up.

The emperor's daily life now, for the ministers, the biggest change is that there is more princesses around him, who can talk directly to them, usually he rarely shows up as before, only every month on the day of the Shuowang Dynasty, he will meet the important ministers in the Ziyun Palace.

Today is the Great Asahi.

After Su Yu finished dressing up, Pei Xiaoyuan sent her to Ziyun Palace, and then he came to the remnant hall where he found human bones last night.

The eunuch in charge of guarding the remnants of the site with dozens of palace guards and eunuchs and craftsmen holding crowbars, shovels and other tools, was already waiting outside, the man trembled, saw Pei Xiaoyuan appear, and immediately knelt down to confess, saying that this place is a forbidden land, he is only responsible for guarding the periphery, and it is strictly forbidden for unrelated people to trespass. Recently, the spring is warm, he has indeed seen a wild fox and badger in the night, these days is thinking about reporting, so that he can enter and drive away, but it is too late to do, but such a thing happened first, causing the princess to be frightened, and the crime deserves death.

Pei Xiaoyuan flicked his hand and asked people to get up, and when the others set up an incense case and made a simple sacrifice, he pointed to the place where he found the ribs last night, and ordered them to dig down.

It was near the northwest corner of the ruined hall, near which was a half-collapsed wall of the palace.

Although it is only a remnant wall, standing alone in the sky, cracked like dog's teeth, but from now it looks like a thick and incomparably thick wall foundation, it is not difficult to imagine how majestic and magnificent this palace was in its most glorious and great moment.

"Try not to damage the wall again. Also be careful to do things, in case you collapse again and hurt someone. ”

When he had given his orders, everyone began to do their work.

This may seem simple, but it is actually quite laborious to operate. The collapsed walls were pressed against each other in layers, and they had to be removed piece by piece, starting from the top layer. Many of the huge wall fragments were so large that they needed to borrow tools and work together to remove them.

From early morning to evening, I finally cleared the stone and soil layer by layer in the area of the Tibetan bones, and gradually, finally approached the ground, but no abnormality was found.

Yang Zaien was ordered to come over to inquire about the news, and said to Pei Xiaoyuan, the sky is about to be twilight, the princess means, there is no hurry, just do it slowly, please go back to rest first, and continue tomorrow. At this time, someone behind him shouted: "Horse! Got it! Over here! Over here! ”

Pei Xiaoyuan motioned for Yang Zaien to wait for a while, turned around and walked over.

Several craftsmen worked together to tear open a section of the wall that was diagonally supported on the broken wall, and after removing it, a sitting body was found in a narrow triangular corner built under it.

The corpse sat against the wall, completely ossified, the lower part was submerged in the earth, leaving the skull and upper body outside, because it happened to be in the corner triangle of the wall, and protected by the remnant wall on the top, so although it had been buried for nearly twenty years, from the exposed part of the skeleton, except for a few ribs that were missing due to the harassment of wild beasts, the rest were still well preserved.

I don't know who would come here on the night of the palace break, die in the corner of the main hall, and with the collapse of the main hall, completely buried under the flames.

Surrounded by craftsmen who gathered around to watch, some sighed, and some were too timid to look more, threw away their tools, and bowed to the bones a few times. In order to make up for his mistakes, the father-in-law in charge picked up a pickaxe, rolled up his sleeves and went up in person, and was about to continue digging the mud layer with all his might, but was stopped by Pei Xiaoyuan: "Wait a minute! ”

The palace eunuch turned his head and saw him looking at the skeleton that was half-buried in the earth, and after a moment, he said, "Be careful, don't touch the skeleton!" ”

Since he gave such an order, even if the palace eunuch did not know why, he did not dare to disobey, and the commander used a small pickaxe instead, surrounded the bones in the corner, and carefully cleaned the mud layer inch by inch.

After dark, the skeleton was finally completely cleared. The fire staff was lit around, and the head and body of the skeleton were pressed against the wall, sitting cross-legged, with the right arm hanging on the ground, the left arm slightly bent, and the palm of the hand should be on the knee, but now the phalanges were missing.

Pei Xiaoyuan took the torch from the hand of a palace guard, walked to the skeleton, squatted down, raised the torch closer, his eyes fell from the chest bone to the stump of his left arm, and looked at it for another moment. Then, he put the torch aside, took a dagger himself, and continued digging into the mud layer under his left arm. Soon, several decayed finger bones were revealed from the earth. He didn't seem satisfied, and kept digging. The tip of the dagger touched the hard object again, and he dug out a knife-like knife no longer than a palm.

Pei Xiaoyuan picked it up, blew away the soil attached to it, and looked at it for a while. The body of the knife is rusty, and at first glance, it seems to be a small sharp weapon used for self-defense, and it is still held tightly in the hand before the death of the owner.

He pondered for a moment, then slowly raised his head, and saw that the people around him were holding their breath and looking at him, so he stood up, and was instructing the father-in-law of the steward not to move the bones for the time being, and to surround it tonight, in case it would not be damaged by the wild beavers again, when suddenly, there was a quiet rustling sound behind him.

He turned his head in response, only to see that the skeleton had dispersed on its own, disintegrating in an instant, and the white bones fell one after another, and in the blink of an eye, a pile of bones had been piled up in the place where he had been sitting, and he could no longer see the slightest human form.

After all, it was too decaying, and the joints must have been left only in the void, and after being picked up, it was only a moment before it was dispersed. The skull rolled over even more bonely, until it rolled to Pei Xiaoyuan's feet, and then stopped, facing the sky, with two huge pitch-black eye sockets facing the sky, as if looking over.

There was a burst of exclamations of surprise from the people around them, and then they fell silent again.

A gust of night wind blew, and the barren grass moved.

Pei Xiaoyuan lowered his head, looked at the two pitch-black bottomless eye sockets in the skull in front of his feet, and slowly, he leaned over and reached out to pick it up.

"Don't touch the horses! Or slaves! Yang Jae-eun rushed to stop it.

Pei Xiaoyuan didn't stop, he had already taken the skull and walked to the pile of remnants, put it down gently, and then ordered the palace supervisor to send someone to guard this place, wrapped the knife in a cloth himself, and turned to Yang Zaien, and was asking where the princess was, when there was a sound of footsteps in front of him, and he raised his eyes to see Su Yu walking towards this side accompanied by the driver. It turned out that she saw that he had not returned for a long time, and she was not relieved, so she came to see what was going on in person.

He motioned for her to stop and wash his hands in front of the basin, and then, walking briskly toward her, he led her to a clean place, and told her what he had found.

Su Yu was inevitably surprised after hearing this. Unexpectedly, on that night that year, there was really one person in the corner of the hall that caught fire.

It's just that I don't know, is that person the deacon, palace eunuch, and palace lady in the palace who didn't have time to escape, or is it the people of Chang'an who broke in from outside like her?

Also, did he die in that corner before the main hall collapsed, or did he stay alive and finally die in the temple by the smoke and fire?

"This man has arms as long as mine, thick bones, and is not like a woman." Pei Xiaoyuan said.

"Judging from the way he first found out, at the last moment before he died, he sat with his head against the corner of the wall, sitting cross-legged, and his posture was natural, and there was no struggle or distortion, so if the speculation is correct, he did not die of smoke or fire, but died before that."

"However, I noticed a cut in the rib cage on the chest of the remainder, which he must have suffered from a sword wound or something before his death. Plus, I made another discovery. ”

He took out the knife that had just been wrapped in cloth and spread it out to show her.

"When the man died, he should have held the knife in his left hand and hung it on his lap, and his bones were decomposed, and he was gradually buried in the soil. It's just that I don't know if this thing is used for self-defense, or if it has a special meaning for him, and he still holds it in his hand before he dies......"

He looked at Su Yu and suddenly stopped, showing a little uncertain hesitation on his face.

Su Yu has been listening intently, and when he saw this, he said: "If you still have something to say, it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

Pei Xiaoyuan nodded: "Then I'll talk a few more nonsense." The man must have been in the Yong'an Hall after he was injured, and sat in the corner. This should have been done before the palace was empty and the rebels arrived. The remaining ordinary people in the palace, at that time, were either fleeing for their lives, or taking advantage of the chaos to loot property, who would go to the Yong'an Palace to wait for death? Sister-in-law......"

"Do you remember what Grandpa said yesterday? He said that he had a feeling that Ding Baiya had already died when the city was broken and had not left Chang'an. You think, everyone is fleeing, only this person came here retrograde, and died in the Yong'an Palace, the matter is strange, and in this hall, there is a painting of Ah Gong's painstaking efforts and the achievement of his life......"

Su Yu's eyelashes trembled slightly, and his eyes widened: "Could it be that person ......?"

She turned her head to look at the place where the bones had been found.

Pei Xiaoyuan looked at her and said softly: "I'm not sure, it's just random speculation." Ah Gongren is still in Chang'an, so it's better to send this knife and ask him to look at it to see if he can deny it-"

Before he finished speaking, Su Yu had already dragged him, turned around and hurried out.

The two left the palace overnight, rushed to Qinglong Temple again, and saw Ye Zhongli, who was talking about Buddhism with the old monk in front of the lantern.

Pei Xiaoyuan told the story of the bones found under the ruins of the Yong'an Palace, and then took out the knife and put it on the case.

Ye Zhongli picked it up and looked at it by the candlelight.

"Did you take it with your left hand?" He asked suddenly.