During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty

ningbo

Lin House

night

This year's rainy season has been very long, and there is no sign of subsiding in August.

And as the rain falls for a long time, people's emotions will inevitably become boring, just like Zhou Chuqing at this time, the bad mood has filled his chest, making him uneasy, and even breathing is not as smooth as before.

In front of the hall of the Lin Mansion, Zhou Chuqing stood under the eaves, his eyes staring blankly at the rain hitting the stone steps, and the whole person was stunned, obviously still recalling the incident that happened in the afternoon.

Suddenly, a rush of footsteps and a young voice came from behind him: "Sir, it is raining at the moment, it is really not suitable to travel, if it is not an urgent matter, why not wait until the rain starts tomorrow?"

Zhou Chuqing heard the sound, came back to his senses, slowly turned his head to look back, and saw the young servant Zhang He carrying a coat and hat, hurrying towards him.

However, Zhang Hewan didn't expect that his earnest concern at the moment did not win the slightest favor from the big housekeeper in front of him, but caused the other party to frown, and was reprimanded: "You little guy don't talk too much, just do what I tell you!"

Zhang He was reprimanded, and he didn't dare to say anything at the moment, but he was secretly suspicious in his heart, after all, the big housekeeper in front of him was as gentle as jade and approachable in the past, and he had never heard him say angry words, why would he scold himself so much today?

But doubts are doubts, but the movements of his hands are not slow at all, first waiting for Zhou Chuqing to put on the rain gear, and then turn on the lanterns, and then go down the steps to open the courtyard door.

At this time, Zhou Chuqing suddenly stretched out his hand to stop him and said, "If you don't bring an umbrella, don't go out in the rain, just give me the lantern." ”

Zhang He didn't dare to disobey, so he had to hand over the lantern, and said with concern: "The road is slippery at night, Mr. must be careful and slow when you go." ”

Zhou Chuqing bowed slightly in response, and then walked towards the gate of the courtyard, but as soon as he walked out, he suddenly turned around and said in a deep voice: "Madam took the young master to the 'Yuntan Temple' to make incense and make a vow, and you need to stay in the temple for three or five days, during which you don't have to send someone to look for it." In addition, go and light the lights and candles of all the houses in the house and keep them out all night, and send people to patrol the 'Ten Thousand Books Tower' all night, and arrange at least five people on duty on each floor, during which if you find any suspicious person, you don't have to make a noise, and you can't act rashly, just secretly send someone to the 'Qinglu Temple' outside the city to ask Zen Master Huilin to come to the house. After a pause, he added, "When you go out of the city, report my name to the city officials, and they will let me go." ”

Zhang He was taken aback, unconsciously caught up with the first two steps, and asked urgently: "Sir, isn't there something big going on in Fulimo?"

Zhou Chuqing didn't answer, but said in a deep voice: "Be careful, don't forget what you say!" After speaking, he raised his feet and walked towards the courtyard gate.

But seeing that the face of the steady housekeeper in the past was so solemn, Zhang He concluded that a major change must have occurred in the house. But at the moment, the big butler didn't say anything, and he naturally didn't dare to ask in a hurry, so he turned around and retreated to the hall at the moment, and went down to make arrangements.

Outside the courtyard gate, the servant in charge of the stable had been waiting for a long time, and when he saw Zhou Chuqing stepping out of the threshold, he hurriedly led the good horse that had been prepared to run six hundred miles and hurry.

Zhou Chuqing nodded to the servant, reached out to take the reins and turned over on the horse, fixed the lantern on the saddle, and then whipped the horse and galloped away in the direction of the city.

Fly to the foothills of the peak

Lingyin Temple

After Master Tongze resigned from the position of presiding officer of Lingyin Temple five years ago, he moved out of the main courtyard and built a simple meditation room on the north peak behind the temple alone, and since then he has lived a life of seclusion.

He only recites the Buddha and writes notes every day, and he has completely ignored all mundane things, even the daily food and drinking water, which are all sent by the full-time monks in the temple every day, and he is not going down the mountain easily.

On weekdays, if someone wants to visit, they must pay their respects first, and only see him after he has permission to visit. However, some of his close friends, who had close personal friends, did not have to do much to do it, and often went straight up the mountain to meet him. And among these people, Zhou Chuqing naturally includes them.

Zhou Chuqing set out from the Lin Mansion at the end of the time, and galloped wildly along the way, during which the post station was also selected to be one hundred and eighty-one horses, and the horses that ran six hundred miles of expedited horses were also selected. After galloping like this for most of the night, I finally arrived at the foot of the North Peak at the beginning of the night.

He stopped and looked up at the path leading up the mountain, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. He was very familiar with the way up the mountain, but because it was dark and the road was slippery, it was inconvenient to drive him up the mountain, so he had to turn over and get off the horse, and lead the horse to a locust tree beside the road, and then walked up the mountain.

The mountain road washed by the rain for a long time is muddy and slippery, and people walking on it are at risk of falling if they are not careful. However, this kind of accident could not have appeared on Zhou Chuqing's body, I saw that he used light skills, and his body was as light as a swallow at the moment, and his steps were like flying, but in a moment, he came to the door of the meditation room located halfway up the mountain.

At this time, the candlelight was still lit in the meditation room, but when I saw the candle shadow through the window, I saw a figure who was writing at the desk.

Zhou Chuqing saw that Master Tongze had not rested, he was stunned at first, and then he was overjoyed, and in an instant, the anxiety that was entangled in his heart was inexplicably relieved a lot.

He sighed and wanted to step forward and knock on the door, but just then, he saw the shadow on the window move first.

With a "squeak", the door of the meditation room opened from the inside, and then I saw Master Tongze's short and fat body striding out of the room.

This old monk was born with a pair of kind eyebrows and kind eyes, coupled with his fat body, but there is indeed a bit of Buddha statue, if it is not for a lock of white beard on the chin and chest, it is really like the "Maitreya Buddha" in the temple.

After the old monk fixed his eyes and saw that the person standing outside the door was Zhou Chuqing, his face showed a slight look of surprise, and in an instant, he turned into a kind smile, and immediately stepped forward quickly, and asked with a smile: "It turned out to be Chu Qing, but why did you come here late at night?"

Zhou Chuqing licked his chapped lips, didn't answer, took a step forward, bowed his head.

His move was very abrupt, and Master Rao is Tongze had a lot of determination, so he couldn't help but be taken aback, and hurriedly rushed forward to help him up, and asked, "Why is Chu Qing like this?

Zhou Chuqing said: "The house has encountered a crisis, please ask the master to be merciful and save my wife and young master!"

Master Tong Ze exclaimed, "What's going on? What happened to Zong Yan's wife and children?"

The muscles on Zhou Chuqing's cheeks suddenly twitched, as if he remembered something again, and only after a moment did he grit his teeth and say fiercely: "My wife and young master were robbed from the mansion by a widow in the evening today!"

Master Tong Ze was even more surprised, and asked in a lost voice, "What kind of widow is that, who can have such great ability? Isn't Zong Yan in the mansion?"

However, in recent years, the imperial court has been corrupt, the border defense has been lax, and the pirates Wang Zhi, Xu Hai, and others have colluded and colluded with the Japanese pirates inside and outside the sea, which has made the harm of the Japanese invaders more and more serious, and there is a tendency to invade the interior, and this is also true; however, if we want to say that we dare to have them, or that we can say that there can be a Japanese ronin who is the first person in the martial arts today, and who is also at the helm of the "Jiangsu-Zhejiang Anti-Japanese Alliance," it is really hard to believe that such news is really hard to believe.

But then I heard Zhou Chuqing say hatefully: "That thief and a thief took advantage of the fact that the head of the family left the mansion to go to Beijing to report on his work! Hmph! If the head of the family is still in the house, how can he let that thief succeed!"

When he said this, his expression suddenly darkened, and he shook his head again, and sighed: "Alas, I don't know where this widow came from, but he can speak Chinese with a straight and round language, and his kung fu is even more unpredictable. I only played three moves with him, and he restrained the acupoint and couldn't move, and the lady and the young master were robbed by him. ”

Master Tongze's expression froze, and he was shocked again. Zhou Chuqing's martial arts cultivation may not be known to others, but he and Master Tongze know the roots.

Although Zhou Chuqing is the housekeeper of the Lin Mansion, his kung fu will never fall outside the top 20 of today's martial arts, and even among the top masters in the world, no one may be confident that he can be restrained within three moves.

Master Tong Ze thought of this, so he asked again: "How can the martial arts of that Wako be so outstanding?"

Zhou Chuqing thought for a while, and said slowly: "I'm afraid that compared to the head of the family, it is not much better..."

When he said this, his eyes suddenly froze, and he said categorically: "But he will definitely not be the opponent of the head of the family!"

Master Tongze sighed in surprise, you must know that Lin Zongbian's martial arts cultivation is really difficult to surpass today, and that widow can be evaluated by Zhou Chuqing, and his strength can be seen.

But while he was amazed, he couldn't help but wonder: "What is the purpose of this wolf's behavior, but he doesn't know what his purpose is?

Just as the two were talking, the drizzle, which had been stopped for a long time, hit again, and the rain gradually changed from the initial dripping rain to like an arrow, as if it was gradually fierce.

By the warm yellow candlelight from the house, Master Tong Ze raised his eyes to look at the raindrops falling from the sky, and then beckoned Zhou Chuqing and said, "Let's go into the house to avoid the rain, and as for what happened in it, I'll talk to the old man in detail later." ”

Zhou Chuqing nodded yes and followed Master Tongze into the meditation room.

This is a very simple meditation room. In the middle of the door is a square table, in the center of the table are placed the four treasures of the study, pen, ink, paper and inkstone, a teapot and two cups are placed on the side, there is a long back chair on each side of the table, a small stove is burning next to the foot of the table in the middle, and a brown copper kettle is boiling tea on it; further inside, there is a single bed in the north corner, on which is placed a patched old futon. Other than that, there is nothing else.

Zhou Chuqing took off his hat and coat and put it behind the door, then walked to the table and pulled a chair and sat down.

Master Tongze lifted the teapot, poured a cup of tea and handed it to Zhou Chuqing's hand, and said, "Come, take a sip of hot tea first to drive away the cold." ”

Zhou Chuqing traveled overnight, and at this time his mouth was really thirsty, and he was not polite at the moment, he reached out and took the cup and drank it all in one gulp, and then drank four cups in a row to quench the thirst in his mouth.

Master Tong Ze put down the teapot, sat down on the chair, and continued to ask, "Tell me the details of this matter. ”

Zhou Chuqing nodded and said: "It happened that the rain stopped this evening, and Madame was in a good mood when she saw that the sky was clear, so she took the young master to the garden to play leisurely, and I also accompanied me to talk at that time."

"But when we walked into the East Garden, we suddenly saw a person sitting behind us in the 'Yuhua Pavilion'. Seeing this person, my wife and I were shocked, the East Garden belongs to the inner garden of the house, and outsiders are not allowed to enter, but at this time there is a stranger here, how can it not make people suspicious. Then I walked up quickly, trying to question him how he had entered the inner garden. But before I could ask a question, the man said: "Everyone in the world says that the Lin family's collection of books is the best in the world, but they don't know that the 'sunset dew' in his house is the most precious. When I heard this, I immediately looked at the bottle he was holding, and I was astonished by this look. ”

Master Tongze was suspicious: "Could it really be 'Xihualu'?"

Zhou Chuqing nodded and said: "'Xihua Dew' is the original tonic liquid created by the ancestors of the family, and this medicine must be stored in a mutton fat jade bottle to maintain its medicinal effect. And the bottle in the thief's hand is indeed the mutton fat jade bottle used to hold the 'evening flower dew'..."

When he said this, his eyes suddenly sank, and he slowly continued: "The master is not an outsider, so he naturally knows where the house is used to hide the 'sunset flower dew'..."

Master Tong Ze muttered: "In addition to sealing this 'sunset flower dew' with mutton fat jade bottles, it also needs to be stored in a cool and dark place, and these jade bottles have always been stored in the secret room under the 'Ten Thousand Books Tower'..."

When he said this, his body was shocked, and his words changed sharply, and he hurriedly asked: "Could it be that the widow has already entered the secret room? But the key to the secret room has always been kept by Zong Yan himself! Could it be... Could it be that the key was stolen?"

But without waiting for Zhou Chuqing to answer, he shook his head again and denied: "No, no." With Zong Yan's ability, it is impossible for others to steal the key he carried! But if he didn't use the key to open the lock, how could the widow enter the secret room built by Lu Yuanhuai himself?"

Zhou Chuqing sighed and said: "My mind at that time was also the same as that of the master, I immediately asked him how he got into the building, and what his intention was in this behavior." ”

Master Tongze said: "How did the Wakou answer?"

Zhou Chuqing said: "The thief only said that he was looking for a book. ”

Master Tong Ze said curiously: "Looking for books?" Doesn't the 'Ten Thousand Book Tower' have the rule of 'exchanging books for books'?

At this point, he hesitated for a moment, and then continued: "Even if he is a Japanese ronin and cannot exchange with him, he only needs to use some means to get others to help him, so why should he act like this? Could it be that he has other plans?"

Zhou Chuqing's expression suddenly became weird, his eyes revealed a look of hesitation, and after a while, he muttered: "What the master said is good, it's just... But the book that the thief wants is a book that will not be exchanged. ”

Master Tong Ze's eyes were even more curious, and he asked: "'All books in the building can be exchanged', this rule was written in black and white by Lin Zongbian in the "Book Exchange Book of the Ten Thousand Book Tower", why is there another irreplaceable book now?"