After seven or eight days, Qinglong Valley sent a reply, the handwriting was familiar, and it was Gu Xiaomeng's personal reply.

According to the words in the book, unexpectedly, at the Jiankang Conference on the third day of the lunar month, the Dongshui League did not send an invitation to the Qinglong Sect. Or because the Qinglong Sect is not among the so-called "righteous martial arts", Tuoba Gu doesn't care about it at all.

But it didn't take long for Xia Chen's request for help to come. After weighing many phases, Tuoba Gu still decided to go to Jiankang Mansion.

He is not in Qinglong Valley, and he will not influence Xia Yan's plan this time - after all, the matter of proposing marriage only needs to be in the presence of the Quanquan couple, which is enough to be the master. In addition, Cheng Ping also wanted to take his wife there this time, and Cheng Fangyu and his wife naturally stayed in the valley. As a result, Xia Chen had to go alone.

Xia Yan finished reading and covered the letterhead. Gu Xiaomeng's brushstrokes were gentle, and he could see that between the lines of the words was the joy and relief of his formal invitation, as if the lost family relationship between them could finally be made up for in another way. At the end of the letter, Shan Jiquan added a sentence or two, and there was no intention of turning him away. Everything was as expected, which should have made people excited, but after receiving this letter, he could no longer go without going according to the appointment, and he couldn't help but feel more and more guilty about Xia Chen. On the other hand, he realized that when he should be full of joy, he was still thinking about others, which seemed to be an injustice to the thorns.

For this reason, he wanted to make the bride price more and more solemn, supervising it day by day, and in the end, just to carry these things, about fifty or sixty people would be eliminated. It's funny when it's quiet. I never knew that such a person as myself had such an extravagant day, in the old days, I followed Fengyun Dao Chang to see that this kind of pomp and circumstance always had to despise people in the bottom of my heart, and now I know that everything has a cause, and it is not enough for outsiders, and outsiders are not enough.

Whatever. He just wants her to be happy.

On the one hand, he was busy with this matter, but on the other hand, he was still waiting for the approval of the holy decree - because this trip to the king of Yi was going out of Beijing, a large number of government troops must accompany him, and this matter must be carefully discussed according to the rules to be successful. Fortunately, Suzaku went with him, and the army of the king of Yi was led by Zhang Ting, and it was Suzaku who instructed Zhang Ting to send the request in front of the emperor, and he was not busy.

In this way, Shen Fengming set off two days earlier than him - the road to Jiankang Mansion was a little far, and a few people wanted to arrive two or three days earlier, so they went first. Before leaving, Shen Fengming looked at the list of people who went with Xia Chen and Xia Yan: cousin Xia Qin, cousin Xia Po, the master of the village "half a glass of wine" Wan Sunset, and several cronies and entourage - of course, they are all trustworthy helpers, but thinking that the famous helpers of Ge Chuan and others who went with Xia Zheng on the same trip to Meizhou last time were actually just a group of people with evil intentions, Xia Yan was not very at ease with anyone, and at the moment he was talking to Shen Fengming for a long time and all kinds of explanations, asking him to follow Xia Chen closely no matter what. In fact, he doesn't have to explain. Shen Fengming originally had an old relationship with Xiajiazhuang, and when he followed Xia Zheng south, he was a guest in half of the village, and this time he followed Xia Chen to Jiankang, and no one would be suspicious.

---------

Jiankang Mansion is the capital of Jiangnan East Road, and the city architecture is not inferior to Lin'an. In the past, the Song Dynasty was embarrassed to cross to the south, and the call for Jiankang to build the capital was very high, and Zhao Gou made people strengthen the city wall and repair the palace, and this place almost became the stronghold of the lower half of the Song Dynasty.

If from the military point of view, Jiankang Mansion is indeed more advantageous than Lin'an, can be called an important town under the river - the "Jiangxia League" set up the headquarters here with the original intention of resisting Jin, which has its own reason, and because no one thought that Zhao Gou would go to Lin'an, he really did not think about recovering the Central Plains, and Jiankang Mansion lost the position of "capital", and finally had to be a "line capital" false name.

Xia Chen and his party were cautious all the way, but the way was calm and uneventful. It was the first time he came to Jiankang, but he saw that the weather in this city was really different from Lin'an. Lin'an is so prosperous that it has entered the WTO, and even the trees, grasses, and landscapes are full of hustle and bustle, and the Jiankang Mansion is just cold and solemn -- although the market is also crowded, the whole city still looks gray and heavy. The avenues are wide, the walls are high, and the guards are quiet—they are so orderly, all of them reveal the appearance of a front-line government that is more urgent than Lin'an.

Only here will people be reminded - the country of the Great Song Dynasty is not stable. The rolling river separated the threat of the Jinren, but it deepened the tension here. This kind of feeling is not visible or perceptible in Lin'an.

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. In the past, my grandfather came from Lin'an, and formed an alliance with the heroes of Jiangbei under the river - at that time, I never thought that in the end, my hometown became the capital of "Lin'an", and because of the name of Xiajiazhuang "the first village in the south of the Yangtze River", my grandfather was bound to the capital, loyal to the imperial power, but became an obstacle to continue the front line of resistance to Jin.

More than thirty years later. He sighed. More than thirty years later, my grandfather was gone, but I came.

Father Xia Zheng actually never talked about his grandfather's past with their brothers, but it was the recent actions of the leader of the Dongshui Alliance, and the old man Wan Xiyang, who stayed in the village, talked about it with Xia Chen. At this time, Xia Chen was on guard in his heart, but he may not have been as energetic as his grandfather was back then. If the Dongshui League, like the former Jiangxia League, can once again use the anti-gold as the banner, he feels that it may not be an honor to devote himself to it. It's a pity that it is very unlikely that today's Dongshui Alliance leader has this intention.

Before leaving, Wan Xiyang accompanied him to the Wei family of "Wushuangwei", the Xie family of "Dingshui One Hook", and the Fang family of "Peach Blossom Farewell" in Lin'an, and inquired about the wind direction of the conference. The invitations received by the three families were no different from those in Xia Chen's hands, and they couldn't say too much, but they all promised that after they arrived in Jiankang, they would be in the same breath as Xiajiazhuang, and they would not let other martial arts families overwhelm the limelight of Lin'an Zhuhao. On the other hand, he repaired the book according to the plan, and sent the first two heroes of Jiankang in advance, it is said that they were all friends of Xia Wuzhi in the Jiangxia League in the past, one is Wang Songbai, who is known as "a knife in Jinling", and the other is Lu Shou, who is known as the "Qingxi Holy Hand", Xia Chen estimated the time to arrive in Jiankang Mansion, and made an appointment to visit Lu Shou on the afternoon of the twenty-ninth day of the winter month, and then met with Wang Songbai in a pavilion near Zhenhuai Bridge the next morning- Those two are well-known in the Jiangxia martial arts, and they will be invited to this martial arts conference, and it is better to meet early to find back help.

When I arrived at Delujiazhuang, it was too late. Lu Shou is over sixty years old, but his spirit is excellent, he prepared a banquet to meet Xia Chen and others, and when he talked about the meeting in three days, his face showed disdain.

"Dongshui Alliance," he snorted heavily, "What is the Dongshui Alliance, my Lao Lu only recognizes the Jiangxia Alliance, and only knows the leader of the Xia Lao League and the leader of the Qu Lao Alliance, but I don't know what 'Qu Rebirth' is." ”

The three words of Qu Rebirth, Xia Chen and his entourage have already discovered, and they are the name of the current leader of the East Water Alliance. It is said that Qu is reborn as a son of the old league, because he is grateful that the old league master of Qu is like being reborn and reinvented, so he takes the word "rebirth" with himself. Lu Shou and Qu Chongsheng have not seen each other since the death of the old alliance leader - he has no objection to Qu Chongsheng taking over as the leader of the alliance, but first, there has been no movement in the Jiangxia Alliance for many years, and secondly, he has used the new name of "Dongshui Alliance" when he suddenly reappeared in the rivers and lakes, and he has not discussed with these elders, Lu Shou can't help but feel displeased.

"Qu Meng master he...... Did you really not discuss this martial arts conference with Senior Lu in advance?" Xia Chen asked.

Lu Shou snorted, "The kid didn't take us old people in his eyes for a long time. ”

"As far as the younger generation knows, he has gone to several houses in Lin'an. Xia Chen said, "I thought he was in Jiankang, so he had to be more cautious and ask for the consent of several seniors in advance." ”

Lu Shou laughed, "Presumably he knew my old Lu's temper, so he simply avoided it." Didn't a few people also say that he was in Lin'an, and he didn't go to Xiajiazhuang?"

"That's right, I avoided Xiajiazhuang alone. Xia Chen smiled bitterly, "Mostly, it's to deceive me for being young and incompetent, so you don't need to ask for my opinion." ”

Lu Shou shook his hand, "Qu Chongsheng himself is just a yellow-haired boy, he dares to bully others when he is young? ”

Because it was late, a few people couldn't talk a few words, and they had to get up to say thank you, and said that they had an appointment with Wang Songbai the next day, Lu Shou was happy: "I want to come to Brother Songbai who is more well-informed than my old Lu, and tomorrow Lao Lu will go to see him with you." At that moment, he tried his best to ask Xia Chen and others to rest in the village, and agreed to meet Wang Songbai the next day and have a deep discussion on this matter.

Xia Chen was really tired from walking, so he settled down and fell asleep. Shen Fengming was not very relieved, just because he really didn't know the details of this Lu Shou, and because of the inconvenience, he really didn't leave Xia Chen, so he could only rest with Wan Sunset in the room next to him, but he didn't sleep much this night, half asleep and half awake, just listening to the movement with his ears pricked up. Wan Xiyang and Lu Shou are old, but they are not very wary of him, but they are not worried about Shen Fengming, and they are not willing to sleep deeply, the two of them lie down cautiously for a while, wake up and talk for a while, and when the sky is slightly bright, they are also safe.

This West Garden was originally a single garden guest residence, and the main residence has nothing to do with it, and there are few servants, it is very quiet, and it is more and more quiet at dawn, Wan Xiyang talked about some old things when he followed Xia Wuzhi when he was a teenager, Shen Fengming also heard it, and suddenly the footsteps outside, the two of them were startled, and they listened carefully to the footsteps that were a lot but vain and messy, and they were by no means smart, the two looked at each other, and only heard someone whispering outside the window: "The hour is still early, I think I haven't gotten up yet." Then tell them to get up and ask?"

Before it could happen, the window of the neighboring house had been opened, and Xia Chen's voice said, "I'm awake." ...... Is it important for seniors to be so early?"

Shen Fengming and Wan Xiyang secretly said in their hearts that this little boy really had no scheming, and they didn't know how to listen to a few more words before making a decision. At the moment, I could only push open the window and look into the garden. But it should be Lu Shou's housekeeper who is talking when he sees Shicai, and it is Mrs. Lu Shou who asks for instructions - last night Lu Shou was a guest at the banquet, Mrs. Lu came out once, and after being introduced to a few people, she went back to the room.

Mrs. Lu's face was anxious, and when she saw a few people appearing, she calmed down a little, and said, "I rested early last night, I don't know when a few people will disperse, how many people will Lu Shou be with?"

Xia Chen was a little surprised: "Senior Lu...... Last night we dispersed almost as soon as we arrived, and Senior Lu sent someone to settle us here, and he went back to his room to rest. ”

Shen Fengming interjected, "Is Senior Lu not in the village? ”

Mrs. Lu shook her head, "I woke up last night and didn't see him, I didn't know what time it was, I just hadn't dispersed yet, and I didn't care, but I woke up and saw that there was already daylight, and I still couldn't find him when I got up." ”

"Have you ever asked the housekeeper ?—— the people in the village if he has ever seen him?"

The housekeeper said: "I sent the master back to Dongyuan last night, and we will also rest, the master should go back!"

The group looked at each other, changed their clothes at the moment, and found the light of day with Mrs. Lu and the housekeeper outside the village, but the owner of the Lujiazhuang, the "Qingxi Holy Hand" Lu Shou, seemed to have disappeared out of thin air and never saw him again.

"Ordinary people don't have such a reason!" Xia Chen bumped into his cousin and cousin, secretly wondering, "Senior Lu didn't drink much last night, he was far from drunk, and he was fine when he dispersed." ”

Xia Qin's father and son carefully inspected the traces in the East Garden, and only saw that Lu Shou had sat in the courtyard for a while after the Xi Wai had dispersed, and there were no more traces, and they also felt very strange in their hearts. Because the time of the appointment with Wang Songbai was approaching, several people could only say goodbye first, and comfort Mrs. Lu before leaving, or Lu Shou visited Wang Songbai first, only to let her be relieved. Mrs. Naru pressed only to her chest, her face was pale and motionless.

"Senior Wan," Shen Fengming quietly stopped Wan Xiyang on the road, "What do you think of this?"

Wan Xiyang shook his head, "Let's see the 'Jinling Knife' first." ”

"I think it'......" Shen Fengming muttered stupidly, "It's not very wonderful......