In the early morning of the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month of the third year of the Great Cause, Chu Mofeng sat bored at the door of the Yanyu Building, looking at the crowd coming and going, and while filling his mouth with buns, he said in pieces: "Annoying Uncle Yu, I bought something from the market every day and let me run to the Yanyu Building on my back, saying that it was for me to practice my leg strength, but in fact, I didn't want to be lazy myself, and I must sue when Sister Qingli comes back." ”

At this time, at the gate of Zhangye County, a team of carriages from Wencheng firm slowly drove over, and the carriage walked to the door of the inn, and a middle-aged man got down from the carriage in front of the head, and shouted to the inn: "Xiao Er, stay in the hotel, by the way, help us pull the carriage to the backyard to feed, and we have to hurry tomorrow morning." ”

A thin man in the inn hurriedly ran out, and said while welcoming the guests in: "A few distinguished guests, please, the small shop has fresh and delicious meals, as well as mellow wine, how many houses do the guests want, do you want some food?"

The middle-aged man said as he walked inside: "Just prepare three B-shaped rooms for us, and hurry up to prepare a table of meals, we will go to the mutual market to trade after eating, and we have to rush back early tomorrow morning. ”

After welcoming everyone into the lobby, the thin man said to a woman in Tsing Yi in front of the counter: "Shopkeeper, the guest is here, you say hello, I will go and take the guest's horse to the backyard to feed." Then he turned to the middle-aged man and said, "A few guest officers will rest for a while, and our shopkeeper will come here, and the little one will feed you the horses." After saying that, he went straight out of the gate, took the reins of the first carriage, and led the other four carriages behind him towards the backyard.

After coming to the backyard stable and tying the horses, Yu Gu said to the drivers of the four cars behind: "A few guest officers, the horses have been tied, the small ones will be fed, and the guest officers should go and rest." When he had finished speaking, he took out a pile of hay from a nearby room and put it in the trough, and saw a man come down from the second carriage, knock on the carriage one by one, and say, "Let's go, go in and eat." Immediately a man got out of the other three carriages, and the four of them walked towards the lobby, when the man in the third carriage said to the two companions: "Three brothers, you go in first, I have a little stomach discomfort, come when I go." Then he turned around and ran to the thatched house on the edge of the stable, and the remaining three people saw this, and entered the lobby with a smile, at this time the man in the third car came to the fish intestine that fed the horse, and whispered: "The subordinate Xiao Cavalry Guard has seen the fish intestine master." ”

Hearing this, Yu Gu turned around, grabbed the person's throat with his hand and pushed the person into the house where the forage was stored, and then took advantage of the situation to take the door of the house with his legs, and then said coldly: "Sixteen guards are really good means, I have disappeared in the rivers and lakes for so many years, I didn't expect you to still find me, since you have found me, then I can't keep you." ”

After saying that, his empty hand shook, a dark dagger was held in his hand, and he was about to stab the hidden thorn, the hidden thorn was pinched by the throat and couldn't speak, and quickly slapped the hand of the fish intestine with his hand, and the fish intestine let go of the hand holding the throat of the hidden thorn, and used the dagger against the throat of the hidden thorn with his backhand and said: "What do you want to say, I will give you a chance to speak." ”

Yin Thorn coughed dryly and said: "Lord Yugut, it's not that the Sixteen Guards discovered your Xingzang, it's because your subordinates had a relationship with you at the Honor Conference before, and you were the idol of our Sixteen Guards at that time, this time you came to Zhangye, and suddenly saw you, so I came to recognize you, I hope the adults don't want to be surprised, you can rest assured, the subordinates will never talk about the adult's Xingzang leaked out." ”

Yu Gu let go of the hand holding the dagger, looked at the hidden thorn vigilantly and asked, "How could that emperor Lao Tzu allow the people of the Sixteen Guards to do business, or are you ordered to go undercover in the Wencheng firm?"

Yin Thorn smiled and said: "Sure enough, I still can't escape the eyes of the adult, since the establishment of the Wencheng firm, because the Song family acted too high-profile, it attracted the attention of Lord Yang Suyang, so Lord Yang wrote to His Majesty from the Xiao cavalry guard of the sixteen guards to send an undercover agent to the Wencheng firm, waiting for the opportunity to investigate the details of the Wencheng firm, I entered the Wencheng firm in the first year of the great cause, and I have not been able to find any problems in the Beijing division in the past two years, it just so happened that this time a caravan came to Zhangye to do business, so I came with it to see if I could find out some news in Zhangye." ”

Yu Gu looked at the person in front of him, and said coldly: "I won't ask about your sixteen guards, and I just want to live in Zhangye peacefully, since you said that you won't reveal my whereabouts, for the sake of insurance, hand over the waist card of the Xiao Cavalry Guard on your body, otherwise I can only kill you." ”

Hearing this, Yin Thorn reluctantly took the waist card out of his arms and handed it to the fish intestine, "My lord, you took my waist card away, once I return to the Xiao Cavalry Guard, I will be executed without a waist card." ”

Yu Gu smiled coldly, "I know, the second rule of the Iron Law of the Cavalry Guard: Anyone who forges or loses his waist tag will be punished by capital punishment for the crime of great disrespect." Do you know who made this iron law? I made it, so I will give you a waist card, you can keep it yourself, if my line is known, then the news of you holding a fake waist card will immediately spread to the court, if you can guarantee to keep your mouth shut, then I will return the waist card to you at the right time. After speaking, he took out an identical waist tag from his pocket and handed it to the hidden thorn, "You go, don't tell anyone that you've seen me." After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the room, at this time, he leaned against the wall in a cold sweat and gasped for breath, and it took a long time to calm his breathing, and then wiped the sweat on his head and walked towards the lobby.

At this time, the people of Wencheng firm in the lobby of Yanyu Building have begun to push the cup and change the lamp, and the chips are staggered, and when they saw the hidden thorn coming in, they hurriedly beckoned him to sit down and eat, and the middle-aged man in the lead saw that the hidden thorn was also back, so he walked straight to the counter and said to Xuanji: "The shopkeeper, I want to ask you about something, do you know where there are people in Zhangye County who sell Zhangye drunk? I want to take ten altars back this time, and I hope that the shopkeeper will tell me one or two." Xuanji glanced at the visitor, "Zhang Ye is drunk, I have it, a total of fifteen altars of guest officials?" The middle-aged man said happily: "No, I only need ten altars." Xuanji glanced around, and said to the middle-aged man, "The guest officer is tired of coming with me to the wine cellar in the backyard to inspect the goods." After speaking, he shouted upstairs: "Come down and take care of the lobby, I'll go to the backyard." Then he led the middle-aged man to the wine cellar in the backyard.

As soon as he entered the wine cellar, the middle-aged man knelt down in front of Xuanji and clasped his fists with his hands and said, "Meet the eldest lady, I don't know that the eldest lady has always been good in the past few years." Xuanji looked at the person in front of him and said slowly: "Get up and speak, which shopkeeper's apprentice are you?" The middle-aged man stood up and said: "I am the apprentice of the second shopkeeper Song Yue, my name is Song Xin, this was handed over to me by the shopkeeper when I left, and I said that the eldest lady could believe what I said when she saw it." After that, he took out a handkerchief from his arms and put it in front of Xuanji, Xuanji opened it and found that it was half a piece of jade, Xuanji immediately took out a cloth bag from his arms, and there was also half a piece of jade in it, the two jades were together, and there were no traces of breakage, and there was a faint light flickering in the whole jade, and then Xuanji separated the two jades and returned Song Xin's half to him, "Say, what information does the big shopkeeper want you to convey to me." ”

Song Xin took out a letter and handed it to Xuanji and said: "This is the small one before leaving, the big shopkeeper asked the small one to hand over to the eldest lady, the eldest lady took a slow look, and the small one retired." With that, he walked out of the cellar.

Xuanji took out the letter and read it carefully, the general content is that in recent years, the big shopkeeper's health has not been as good as a year, and the big shopkeeper has no children under his knees, only Xuanji has a daughter, and hopes that Xuanji will go back to take over the position of the big shopkeeper of the Song family. After reading it, Xuanji smiled and thought in her heart: My father came to this set again, and he would write such a letter every year, and people in their fifties also said that they were not in good health, and when they went back last year, they rode with themselves to inspect shops in various parts of Lingnan, and this year they said that they were not in good health, and it seems that the second and third uncles have coveted the position of their father's big shopkeeper for a long time, and they still have to go back to settle down after settling here.

When she walked out of the wine cellar, she found Yu Gu standing at the door of the wine cellar, so she asked, "What's the matter, what happened?" If this person hadn't come to me today to recognize him, it is estimated that the foundation of your Wencheng firm will be touched sooner or later, and you will not know, I advise you to write a letter to the shopkeeper of Song Da, and give a vague hint, but don't break the matter of the spy, after all, that person is also acting on orders, if he does something that endangers your Song family, I will have a way to deal with him. After speaking, he turned around and walked out of the wine cellar, and when he left, a sentence floated, "Tonight, the boss and Qingli will come back for the New Year, let's put together the recent things and sum them up." ”