Inside Chang'an City.

The lights are on.

In the southwest corner of the city, there is an inconspicuous alley.

The alley is called Banyan Flower Lane, there is a high wall in the south, there is no sunlight all the year round, it is narrow and dark, it is a famous beggar alley in the south of the city.

At the beginning of night, the alley became darker, and a piercing "squeak" broke the silence in the alley. At the end of the alley, the door of an old courtyard was gently pushed open, and a teenager walked out.

The boy's name is Ning Nian, his parents died early, and he is an orphan.

He was emaciated, dressed in a thin soapy suit, with an iron waist tag around his waist and a black lacquered short stick. He closed the wooden door gently, left it unlocked, and walked straight out of the alley.

The street opposite the alley is still bustling.

As soon as Ning Nian walked out of the alley, the candlelight was reflected on his face.

His face was clean, but his complexion was slightly darker due to the perennial exposure to the wind and sun.

His figure was straight, he walked unhurriedly, sonorously and powerfully, at this time he came to the front of the street to look left and right, and finally landed his eyes on Jixiang Street, not far away, with a smile on his face.

"Brother Ning, it's a night errand."

There were people passing by on the street, and they greeted the teenager enthusiastically.

Ning Nian responded patiently as he walked, without the slightest errand shelf, and just as he was about to arrive at Jixiang Street, two people suddenly appeared in the alley on the side of the road.

These two people were burly and fierce, blocking the way of the young man, and said in a low voice: "Ning Xiaocha, our tiger master is invited." ”

Ning Nian's expression was calm, he looked at the person who spoke very seriously, and said, "I have to patrol for a while, and I don't have time." ”

Ning Nian's tone was very calm, very serious, and not domineering.

One of them obviously didn't take the boy in his eyes, and without saying anything, he grabbed the boy directly on the chest.

Ning Nian's eyes are fast, and at the same time as he turns sideways, the latter comes first.

The two burly men had a flower in front of them, and they hadn't seen the boy's movements clearly.

Ning Nian had already grabbed the wrist of the person who did it, and with a little force, the person immediately felt pain, and his body involuntarily tilted down.

The person who spoke didn't dare to make a move, he stared at Ning Nian and threatened in a low voice: "Ning Xiaocha, they are all mixed up on this street, you don't see you when you look up, I advise you to be obedient, don't toast and don't eat, eat and drink!" ”

The young man frowned slightly, not that he was afraid of the other party.

He looked at the man seriously, and said in a solemn tone: "I don't have time, and according to the law of the Great Zhou, I can put you in prison now." ”

The person who spoke was stunned, stared at the young man viciously and said: "Ning boy, I know that you have some skills, and I also know that you can do it, but you don't forget who you provoked, although we don't interfere with the river water on weekdays, but today I advise you to go with us." ”

Ning Nian's face was calm and calm, and he couldn't see the slightest abnormality.

The one who spoke thought the boy had compromised.

Which Cheng wanted to shake his hand the next moment, and directly threw the captured man more than a foot away and slammed it to the ground.

The strength of the arm was so great that the two people who blocked the road were shocked.

Ning Nian threw the man away, reached out and pressed it on the short stick on his waist, his eyes fixed on the man who spoke.

The man was furious from the young man's staring, took a step back, and hurriedly picked up his companion and left the place with a cruel word.

Ning Nian looked at the backs of the two thoughtfully, and it wasn't until the two of them completely disappeared from sight that he turned around and walked towards Jixiang Street.

On the street, the two people who blocked the road did not dare to turn back.

The man who was thrown gritted his teeth and said: "This kid is as thin as a flagpole, I didn't expect it to be so strong." ”

The companion's face was embarrassed, and he said viciously: "This kid doesn't know how to lift, he refuses to come, we are not good at the tiger master, this matter cannot be delayed, we have to go back to the tiger master to get an idea." ”

The man who was thrown suffered a loss, and he didn't give up, shouting and scolding: "If it weren't for the green skin he was wearing, Lao Tzu would have taken a knife directly to free him." ”

His companion only took him as a joke and ignored him.

Seeing that his companion did not speak, the person who was thrown thought that the other party had underestimated him, and said with a white face: "What? Don't you believe it? ”

The companion looked at the person who was fallen, thought for a while and said: "Our Da Zhou Lu, the patrol and patrol in Jingzhao Mansion, the father died and the son succeeded, that kid was only fourteen years old when he came to Jingzhao Mansion last year to be named, he was transferred to Jixiang Street and had a conflict with the brothers in the gang within half a month, guess what happened?" ”

The person who was thrown has been in the gang for a short time, and he has never learned about the old things about these old sesame seeds and rotten grains, so he asked curiously: "What's the matter?" ”

The companion looked at the person who was fallen, sneered, and said: "Nan Ning Xiaocha only used a cup of tea, with a short stick, almost didn't beat those four brothers to death, and finally tied them up directly and went to prison. ”

The person who was thrown was dumbfounded and suspicious: "These four brothers are also a little weaker. ”

The companion sneered: "You weren't thrown out by him yet." ”

The person who was thrown was red-faced and speechless, so after thinking about it, he had to divert the words and said, "What happened to the four brothers in the end?" ”

The companion sighed and said: "What else, this kid belongs to a donkey, and he has a very strong temper, and in the end he has no choice, so he still relies on the relationship of the tiger master to find Jingzhao Mansion and work up and down, so that he can fish people out." ”

When the person who was thrown heard this, a cold sweat broke out on his back, and the two of them closed their mouths at the same time and stopped talking, and disappeared into the crowd unconsciously.

on Jixiang Street.

Ning Nian's pace was slow, and the waist card fell with his footsteps, occasionally colliding with the tip of the stick, making a pleasant knocking sound.

He walked through the crowd for a long time, and finally stopped in front of a gate, which was the Yamen Post House of Jingzhao Mansion on Jixiang Street.

Because Chang'an City occupies too vast an area, Jingzhao Mansion, which is in charge of the city's detention and refereeing, patrolling the streets and water, has set up many such small inns for convenience.

Don't look at this post house is not big, but the jurisdiction is very large, within a radius of five miles, eight streets and nine Mo are all under its jurisdiction.

In the post house, there are normally five errand servants, and according to the difference in rank, there are naturally high and low.

On weekdays, the errand officers stationed here no longer have to go to Jingzhao Mansion to report, and the post house has its own team to enter and register the duties of each errand officer, and then send the record book back to the house for verification at the end of the month, and then issue the rate bills, and when the officers receive the bills, they can go to the household department to receive the salary.

In this way, Jingzhao Mansion saves a lot of unnecessary cumbersome chores.

Now.

The small post house in front of Ning Nian was a little different from the other post houses.

There are only two officials stationed in the post house all year round, one is Ning Nian, who has been in office for less than two years, and the other is an old man in his fifties and sixties.

The age difference between the two is more than forty years.

An old man and a young man help each other on weekdays, which is very harmonious, plus Ning Nian is young and loves to be on a night errand, so there is an unwritten rule between the two: if there is no accident, the old errand is generally patrolling the streets during the day, and Ning Nian is arranged at night.

At this moment, the old man had not dispersed, but he had not patrolled the streets, he hid in the post house, nestled in a recliner, and covered with an old quilt.

Ning Nian pushed the door in.

The old man hurriedly tightened the quilt on his body, and said hoarsely: "Close the door quickly, this ghost weather with plague is about to freeze the old man's legs." ”

Ning Nian smiled and said, "Whatever Wu Ye said, you can live for at least another thirty or forty years." ”

The old man was amused, his eyes were cloudy and he looked at Ning Nian and laughed at himself: "You kid Jing said some beautiful things to fool me, my own body bones, I still don't know?" Whether you can survive this winter is a matter of words. ”

Ning Nian Zequan took it as a joke and didn't take it to heart, he walked in front of the old man and picked up the brazier on the ground.

"Whew!"

The red carbon in the brazier turned over, exploded a few sparks, and when the green smoke dissipated, a tongue of fire suddenly burst out of the brazier, and it was pulled back into the brazier with a few twists and turns, and the fire light was reflected on Ning Nian's face, and there was no joy or sorrow.

The old man looked at Ning Nian, stretched out a withered old hand from under the quilt, pinched a few copper plates and said, "The old rules, one or two sides, two or two wines." ”

Ning Nian took the copper plate happily and turned to leave.

After about half a burnt incense, Ning Nian carried the wine and noodles and walked back.

He carefully closed the door of the room, and then respectfully put the wine and noodles on the wooden bench on the side of the recliner, and said with concern: "Eat it while it's hot, the weather is too cold, and it's not good to eat it when it's cold for a while." ”

After speaking, Ning Nian turned around and was about to leave.

The old man looked at Ning Nian's back, and suddenly stopped him: "Ning boy." ”

Ning Nian turned his head with a puzzled expression.

The old man stared at him for a long time before he said, "Go to the room where I live in the backyard, there is a waist knife hanging on the head of the bed, you take it." ”

Ning Nian was puzzled, but he still did it, and it didn't take long for him to take the waist knife.

The old man half sat up, he took the waist knife, stroked the simple scabbard, and suddenly asked, "Can you make a knife?" ”

Ning Nian was stunned for a moment, then nodded and replied: "Before I took the errand, I went out of the city every day to go up the mountain to cut firewood, and it should be almost the same." ”

Ning Nian said it seriously, but he still amused the old man.

The old man smiled and said, "Earlier, Lei Laohu sent someone to find me. ”

Ning Nian was expressionless and listened very seriously.

The old man handed the waist knife to Ning Nian's hand, and said with a long sigh of relief: "I am naturally not afraid of him at this age, you can take this knife with you, just in case." ”

In Jingzhao Mansion, only the errand positions above the patrol are qualified to distribute blades, and it seems that Ning Nian has not enough qualifications for a small official of this level, so the mansion only gave a short stick, but the important thing is the iron waist card that symbolizes status.

The old poor man is also not qualified to distribute blades, the reason why he has this waist knife is that he secretly saved money when he was young and found someone to build one privately, but he has not dared to take out the post house all these years.

Earlier today, before Ning Nian came, the people of the Black Tiger Gang suddenly came to the post house, although they didn't say anything, but with the old man's understanding of Lei Laohu, something must happen tonight, and as for what will happen, the old man knows nothing.

He meditated in the recliner until Ning Nian arrived.

Because no matter what the Black Tiger Gang is going to do tonight, it will definitely be bumped into by Ning Nian, who is on a night patrol, and according to Ning Nian's temperament, he will definitely not watch the Black Tiger Gang do evil.

At that time, Ning Nian will inevitably not disturb the dirty things of the Black Tiger Gang.

After the old man figured out the reason, he was very worried.

Although he and Ning Nian are not related, this old and young are all hard-working people.

The two have a lot of help on weekdays, and Ning Nian's personality is gentle and simple.

The more time passed, the more satisfied and liked Ning Nian became, and sometimes he even had the idea of accepting Ning Nian as his godgrandson.

But looking back, this kind of thing is, after all, a shaved head—a hot head.

Whether people want to or not is another matter.

For more than a year, the old poor man has been taken care of by Ning Nian, and he himself is poor and can't take a little softness, so he finally dispelled these thoughts.

Under the firelight, Ning Nian was silent.

The old man thought for a moment, he knew the temperament of the young man, but he still said: "There is nothing to do during the day, I have a day off." Usually you always like to rush to be on duty at night, or I will patrol the streets tonight. ”

Ning Nian looked at the waist knife in his hand, leaned it on the side of the recliner, and said with a smile: "I have received your kindness, Master Wu, but you are old, and your legs and feet are inconvenient, and besides, I should have been on patrol today, how can I take advantage of you." ”

The old man looked at Ning Nian, opened his mouth but had nothing to say, and his cloudy eyes finally couldn't help but reveal a trace of worry.

He knew that he couldn't persuade Ning Nian, so he sighed and said no more.

Ning Nian appeased the old errand, turned around and walked out of the post house without hesitation, and left without hurrying away while closing the door.

Lei Laohu came to them three times and twice, even the idiot should have noticed the abnormality.

Ning Nian is not stupid, on the contrary, he is still very smart, but he is sometimes more willing to do things according to his own heart, so in the eyes of outsiders, he is a little out of place, and even a little silly.

At this time, he silently stared at the door in front of him, and his heart was not shocked.

This door is separated.

Enter, then it will be safe.

out, the future is dangerous.

Since the boy has chosen to come out, he is not afraid of the unknown!