On the first day of April, Lin'an City.

At dusk, a red sunset hangs high at the end of the sky, obscuring half of the red sun. The streets of Lin'an City are bustling, and the people are as good as before. All industries are prosperous, and the people are abundant, and it is rare to have a "prosperous age".

However, the "bustle and hustle" in front of Tianji Pavilion is somewhat contrary to the "peace and prosperity" of Lin'an City.

At this time, more than a dozen Golden Knife Captains were busy in front of the gate with buckets and rags.

The gate of Tianji Pavilion and the left and right walls are all filled with foul language written in vermilion lacquer and red ink, and there are many "shameless traitors", "despicable villains", "hypocrites", "scum of the rivers and lakes", and the list goes on.

Even the door plaque hanging high in the center was written with four blood-red characters "Murder pays for life".

In fact, today is not the first time that Tianji Pavilion has made a fool of itself, since February, people from the rivers and lakes have come to Tianji Pavilion to make trouble, clamoring for Zhao Yuan to hand over Liu Xunyi.

In this regard, Zhao Yuan was extremely angry and ordered that any more troublemakers should not be caught and interrogated, and they would be killed directly.

In just one month, there have been dozens of fights between the two sides, large and small, and there have been casualties among each other.

Later, this incident alarmed the imperial court, and the emperor issued a decree ordering Xifu to send troops to help, vowing to wipe out this group of rivers and lakes that did not know the height of the sky.

Since then, the heroes of the rivers and lakes have turned from light to dark, no longer fighting with Tianji Pavilion with open swords and open land, but secretly making trouble. Such as splashing ink and inscriptions, etc., are the masterpieces of some heroes in the green forest.

What's more, they are no longer limited to making trouble in front of the Tianji Pavilion, but are targeting all the official yamen in Lin'an City, and even the mansions of some imperial relatives and ministers of the DPRK and China.

The people of the rivers and lakes are secretive, have a variety of tricks, and are mixed with each other, colluding with each other to cover up, so it is difficult for the court and the government to find out their whereabouts, and it is even more difficult to catch the troublemakers.

Especially in recent days, their "troubles" have become more and more intense, and some crooked and evil ways have begun to fish in troubled waters, taking advantage of the chaos to extend their black hands to ordinary people, so that more and more people have reported to the official in the past few days, which has made the Lin'an Yamen anxious and overwhelmed.

In front of the door, a tired and sweaty captain of the golden knife threw the rag in his hand into the dirty bucket and complained: "It was just cleaned the morning before yesterday, and the brothers took a lot of effort to clean the gate, but I didn't expect it to become like this again in a blink of an eye." Knowing this, it was better to rest and rest the first few times, and clean up together when they had enough trouble. ”

"Enough trouble?" said another Golden Knife Captain, "When will you be able to make enough trouble?" These grass cowards have nothing to do all day long, and now the chickens and dogs that are about to make trouble in Lin'an City are restless, and they are in the mood right now, and I am afraid that they will not stop until the world is turned upside down." ”

"I don't know when I will be the head when I do coolies every day?" someone muttered, "Nowadays, the troublemakers hide in the house every day to eat and drink spicy food, but we innocent people are being implicated, and we have changed from captains carrying knives to miscellaneous servants carrying buckets." ”

"Alas, there is no way, who let us suffer by nature? We deserve to be treated as cattle and horses!"

More than a dozen Golden Knife Captains seem to be resentful, and every word you say and what I say are all some cynical complaints.

"In the past, Liu Xunyi acted decisively and dared to act, but now what's going on? Hiding in the house all day long, the door is not out of the door, even in the face of the provocations of these rivers and lakes, he swallows his anger and turns a blind eye, it is like a different person......

"It's not that Lord Liu doesn't go out, but he was ordered by Master Hou not to go out!"

Suddenly, a slightly immature voice came from a distance. Immediately afterwards, a young man about twelve or thirteen years old, with mediocre facial features and childishness, walked quickly to the front.

"Xiao Dingzi, today the Hou Ye is not here, and you sneaked out to go out with the master behind your back? Beware that you can't pass the test once in March, you have been given a heavy rod of thirty last time, and if you don't pass this time, you will have to be a hundred heavy rods. Look at your weak body and bones, you have to fall apart if you receive a hundred heavy rods!"

"Haha......"

Seeing the indignant look on the young man's face, a golden sword captain stretched out his hand stained with red paint and touched his face, and at the same time made a joke, causing the others to laugh.

Xiao Dingzi, like Liu Xunyi and Qin Wei, was also an orphan who was selected by Zhao Yuan to enter the Tianji Pavilion to practice. Because of its small eyes, collapsed nose and big mouth, it was not good-looking, so it was named "Ding Chou" by Zhao Yuan.

"I was careless last time, and I'll definitely be able to pass this time. Ding Chou dodged the dirty hands of the Golden Knife Captain with a disgusted face, and said stubbornly, "You don't have to say bad things about Lord Liu again, otherwise I will definitely sue you in front of Master Hou!"

"Hey, little bunny, can't you find death?"

Before the Golden Sword Captains could finish speaking, Ding Chou had already run into the Heavenly Machine Pavilion in a puff of smoke, and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The furious Ding Chou walked through the house and went straight to Liu Xunyi's residence.

Ten meters away, you can already smell the smell of wine, and the closer you get to Liu Xunyi's room, the stronger the smell of wine becomes.

"Bang, bang!"

When Ding Chou covered his nose and knocked on the door, there was a sudden sound of "ding ding ding" in the quiet room.

"Squeak!"

Before Ding Chou knocked on the door again, the closed door was suddenly pulled open. In an instant, a strong and pungent smell of wine came to his face, and Ding Chou, who was caught off guard, coughed.

At this moment, standing in front of Ding Chou was a drunkard with a disheveled head, a scruffy beard, disheveled clothes, and a lazy expression.

"Lady Yanagi......"

If it weren't for Ding Chou to reveal his identity, others wouldn't dare to believe that he was the high-spirited and personable Liu Xunyi in the past. Compared with the two, it is like the difference between cloud and mud, the difference between the world.

Since Liu Xunyi learned of Luo Tianjin's death, the whole person was like a puddle of mud that couldn't support the wall, drunk all day long, and fell asleep with his head covered when he was drunk.

Waking up and drinking, getting drunk and falling asleep, and so on for more than three months, to this day, his mental malaise, his laziness in behavior, and his negative attitude are all unprecedented and unheard of.

In the past few months, Liu Xunyi no longer seems to care about anything that happens around him, even if there are thousands of Jianghu people in Lin'an City who want to kill him and make him famous? Even if the Central Plains Martial Arts have made a lot of noise about him, and everyone in the world knows about it? Even if the people of Lin'an have a lot of discussions, pointing fingers at him inside and outside the city? Even if the people of Tianji Pavilion have begun to complain about him, accuse him, and dislike him? Even if Zhao Yuan has never summoned him since he returned? Even if his immortal contributions to the imperial court have not been mentioned to this day......

Everything seems to be no longer important to Liu Xunyi today. The people around him complimented him or ridiculed him, but he turned a blind eye and turned a deaf ear, and only knew that the world was spinning and drinking behind closed doors all day long, and he was in a trance.

However, even though Liu Xunyi has forgotten the sun and moon, fame and fortune, honor and disgrace, and even life and death, he still remembers one thing clearly in his heart.

More precisely, a person.

From the day he returned to Lin'an City, Zhao Yuan ordered that he was not allowed to leave Tianji Pavilion for half a step, which was called "comprehensive protection", but in fact it made him "introspect and treat his crimes".

Even so, Liu Xunyi is still looking forward to seeing Zhao Xin, who is longing for a long time.

For this reason, he found Ding Chou, who was still young and simple-minded, and asked him to go to King Rong's Mansion and tell the little prince Zhao Yu the news of his safe return.

Zhao Yu is the "matchmaker" of Liu Xunyi and Zhao Xin, and has been secretly matching them for many years, so if he passes the word, Liu Xunyi and Zhao Xin will not cause trouble.

thought that after Ding Chou sent the news, Zhao Yu would bring Zhao Xin's news to him within three or five days. Unexpectedly, Ding Chou's errand was like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no news for several months.

During this period, Liu Xunyi asked Ding Chou to go a few times, but the result was also in vain.

What puzzled Liu Xunyi the most was that Zhao Xin had a special identity, so if she didn't show up, she wouldn't show up. But why did even the little prince Zhao Yu shrink up and deliberately hide from himself?

Looking at Ding Chou, who was at a loss and full of embarrassment, Liu Xunyi could guess without asking much that he would definitely eat again when he went to King Rong's Mansion today.

"Lord Liu, I knocked on all the southeast, northwest, and northwest gates of King Rong's Mansion, but none of them allowed me to see the little prince......"

"I see. Without waiting for Ding Chou to explain, Liu Xunyi waved his hand impatiently and said, "I don't blame you for this matter, it was the little prince who deliberately avoided it." ”

"Lord Liu, the errand you gave me was messed up again, isn't it ......" As for this, Ding Chou's eyes became more and more timid when he looked at Liu Xunyi, "Are you unwilling to teach me martial arts?"

However, Liu Xunyi's mind was not on Ding Chou at all, so he was completely unaware of his submissiveness.

"If Lord Liu refuses to teach me, I will definitely not be able to pass the next test, and I will inevitably have a hundred heavy rods ...... when the time comes," Ding Chou chou cried and muttered to himself, "They all laughed at my weak body, and I would definitely die if I received a hundred heavy rods." Although I have a hard mouth, I know in my heart that I am eighty percent dead......"

"What did you say?"

As if distracted by Ding Chou's self-talk, Liu Xunyi couldn't help frowning, looking at Ding Chou's gaze with a slight dissatisfaction, and at the same time a choking smell of wine erupted from his mouth.

"I didn't ...... It's nothing ......" Ding Chou's frightened body trembled, and he hurriedly retreated, "Lord Liu, have a good rest, I'm going to practice." If I am delayed for another day today, Master will definitely not be able to spare me......"

After that, Ding Chou didn't dare to look directly into Liu Xunyi's eyes anymore, turned around in a hurry, and ran into the distance tremblingly.

"Wait!"

Before Ding Chou ran away, Liu Xunyi's voice suddenly sounded: "What are you going to practice?"

"According to Master's arrangement, I should practice the eyebrow stick today......"

"Let's go stand on the stake!" Liu Xunyi stretched out his hand and pointed at the wooden stake standing in the courtyard, and said lazily, "Compared to your upper plate, your lower plate is the Achilles' heel." There is no root under his feet, his whole body is weak, even if he is familiar with the moves of swords, guns and halberds, he is also embroidered with fists and legs, and he is useless. ”

"Standing on the pile?" Ding Chou was stunned for a moment, and said in astonishment, "That's the basic skill practiced by six or seven-year-old dolls, and I have already practiced it when I was a child......"

"Really?" Liu Xunyi stretched and yawned, "How long have you practiced?"

"For three years, two hours a day, rain or shine......"

"Three years?" Liu Xunyi interrupted Ding Chou's boastful talk again, and said with a smile, "Your senior brother Qin Wei has stood on the stump for thirteen years, and he has also been standing for two hours a day, rain or shine. ”

"This ......" Ding Chou was shocked, "Lord Qin has actually stood on a wooden stake for thirteen years, no wonder he can be ranked among the young guards at a young age......" As for this, Ding Chou had a flash of inspiration and said busily, "That...... How many juvenile piles have Lord Liu standing again?"

However, in the face of Ding Chou's questioning, Liu Xunyi no longer paid attention to it, but shook his head and closed the door and continued to sleep.

......