On Chinese New Year's Eve, every household in Fuying Town is lit up and festive.

Two children are in a courtyard, laughing and playing.

"Brother, stop, run again, I won't play with you!" the little girl shouted angrily.

This little girl looks like she is four or five years old, she looks smart, and she wears a flowered pleated skirt, which adds a little cuteness.

The boy was about five or six years old, and he was a tiger-headed, dressed in a patched gray skit, and his hair was messy at the back of his head. It hasn't snowed for a long time in the winter in the south, and the boys wear thin clothes, but they also look like monkeys, and they are not afraid of the cold on weekdays.

Hearing the little girl shouting, she stopped, turned around, and said with a smile while panting: "Didn't Ah Li practice light exercises? Haha, you still can't catch up with me!"

The little girl clasped her hands on her hips and shouted, "It's not fair!

The little boy then walked over, touched the little girl's head dotingly, and said, "Okay, okay, then I'll lose, and you can punish it!"

The little girl smiled and said, "I'm going to hit you!"

"Haha, it's up to you to hit you, but don't slap your face!"

"Squat!" the little girl giggled as she circled around the squatting boy twice. "I'm just going to slap me in the face!"

The boy saw that the little girl was so happy, and laughed loudly, and squatted down obediently.

"Okay, okay, then you can fight quickly, just hit once!"

The little girl was even happier, raised her hand, walked to the boy's side, and made a gesture to fight, but the boy couldn't help but lean slightly sideways, and closed his eyes tightly.

"Don't hide!" said the little girl with a smile, "eyes closed!"

"Okay, don't hide!" said the boy, closing his eyes and thinking to himself, you didn't say you couldn't stop it!

Feeling the girl's hand brushing over, the boy raised his hand slightly......

"Smack!"

The boy sensed that something was wrong, and when he opened his eyes and looked sideways, his sister was not reaching out for her hand, but for her face, looking like that, she wanted to kiss herself. As a result, the boy raised his hand and hit the girl in the face with the back of his hand.

The girl was stunned and stared at the boy in a daze, and the boy was also stunned and didn't know what to do.

"I'm me, I'm not doing it on purpose!" the boy hurriedly touched the girl's face, although it certainly didn't hurt, but he was also panicked.

Hearing this, the girl reacted and cried out loud!

The boy quickly stood up, hugged his sister in both hands, and apologized vigorously.

My sister loves to play with herself, she loved to cry when she was a child, and she has rarely cried in the past two years.

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's okay for you to beat me! My brother is wrong! Ah Li doesn't cry! You hit me ten times!"

"Nirvana!" With a scolding, the boy's father, Dugu Yao, and his third uncle and three aunts, walked out of the house together. Nirvana is the boy's nickname. Add an "official" after the name, although it sounds like a "turtle", but it is said to be the implication of being an official when you grow up.

"What's the matter! Why did you make my sister cry?" Dugu Yao drank some wine and stared angrily at his son, who was always mischievous.

"Second brother, it's okay, children are playing, what is it really like!" The third aunt persuaded while squatting down and touching her daughter's head. The third uncle's name is Dugu Kang, Dugu Nie doesn't know what the name of the third aunt is, only that the third uncle generally calls her Lin Wu.

Dugu Nie was also in a panic, and said to the third aunt: "I accidentally hit her!"

"Smack!" As soon as he finished speaking, a big hand slapped Dugu Nie's face.

Dugu Nirvana is stunned again!

With his right hand, he let go of his sister and touched his face, tears wrapped in his eyes.

It was his father who beat him. "Do you dare to beat Ah Li?

The third uncle had already grabbed Dugu Yao at this time. said: "Second brother, what are you doing! Haven't you gone crazy after drinking some wine? Xiao Ni likes Ah Li the most, it must not be intentional!"

Hearing this, Dugu Nie also cried out, and her tears couldn't stop flowing. The third aunt hurriedly pulled Dugu Nie into her arms. scolded: "It's the New Year, what can't be said well!" stretched out his hand and stroked Dugu Nirvana's face, and his heart was also very uncomfortable.

Although Ah Li was young, he didn't cry when he saw this scene, and comforted Dugu Nirvana in turn: "Brother, don't cry, brother! I won't cry anymore...... You won't cry anymore, okay?"

Dugu Nirvana cried even more.

"I'll just say drink less monkey urine, and if you drink it, you'll be drunk! Nirvana Guan'er also has itchy skin, and beating is also a long memory! You wait for him to cry, leave him alone!" It was Bai An'an who came out, Dugu Ni's mother. "Still crying, people are crazy, aren't they?"

"It's not that you teach well!" Dugu Yao yelled at Bai An'an!

"Don't don't, don't make a big New Year, don't be noisy, don't be noisy!" The relatives saw that they were about to make trouble, and they all came out to persuade them.

"Drinking, drinking...... Wait for the little babies to play on their own!" everyone was persuading.

"I'll clean you up when I go back!" Dugu Yao snorted and went back to the house.

"Your father's temperament is like this, but he is strict with you, also because he expects high from you. Don't take it to heart!" the third aunt comforted.

Among the relatives, the third aunt likes Dugu Nirvana more, and it is also because Duguli likes this cousin very much.

"Brother...... Brother!" Ah Li blinked his big watery eyes and tugged at the corner of Dugu Nirvana's clothes.

Dugu Ni sobbed and said, "No, it's okay." ”

"Brother, don't you cry, let's play and ride a big horse!" Ah Li's little hand also pulled Dugu Nirvana.

The third aunt looked at her daughter with satisfaction, this girl is lawless, but she also has a well-behaved side.

"Good ......" Dugu Ni was still sobbing, but squeezed out a smile.

The third aunt stood up with a smile and said to Ah Li: "Don't ride a big horse, go to the shop to buy some candy and eat with my brother!"

"Mm-hmm, brother, I'll buy candy for you to eat!

"Aren't you angry with your brother?"

"I'm angry!"

"Huh?"

"If you don't cry, I'm not angry!"

Dugu Nie looked at her sister's distress about herself, and warmth rose in her heart, and she finally burst into laughter.

"Well, haha, stop crying!"

The sugar shop is not far from the house, and it is two streets away from the courtyard, which is the house of the tenth uncle, the tenth uncle is lonely and open, and the tenth aunt is also a well-known figure in Fuying Town, especially the tenth aunt, I heard that it is said that it is a person in the rivers and lakes, very powerful, and the business is also very big.

It just so happens that the sugar shop is also near Dugu Nirvana's house. Although it was close, Dugu Nirvana had never bought food there.

In the past ten years, it has been a lot more peaceful, and the neighbors are also familiar with the Dugu family, generally speaking, there is no danger.

Dugu Li took Dugu Nirvana's hand, trot all the way, and saw that the sugar shop was about to arrive, but saw a black shadow jump into the courtyard of Dugu Nirvana's house.

The two little babies were frightened when they saw it.

"What should I do, your house is a thief!"

"Let's go back first and tell our family!"

As he spoke, suddenly dozens of figures chased after him, the speed was so fast that people couldn't see clearly, the leader was dressed in black, holding a machete, and shouted: "It's in this house! Fazitang, surround the house! Tianzitang, control passers-by! Dizitang, isolate the breath of a radius of forty zhang (1)!"

These dozens of people are extremely fast, and there are not many pedestrians on the street, and when they see this formation, they all want to escape.

If you bump into this kind of fierce fight between people in the rivers and lakes, you can hide a little farther away. This is something that ordinary people have repeatedly explained when educating their children. As long as the military envoys in charge of public security in the town arrived, ordinary people would not dare to go against the government.

He Shan, the head of Tianzitang, shouted: "Everyone squats down on the spot, whoever runs again will die!"

There were three pedestrians, probably frightened and stupid, and they ran away, only a few steps, but they had all fallen to the ground.

It turned out to be He Shan, and I don't know what kind of gesture his hands made, and the earth and stones on the ground seemed to be alive, turning into the shape of three awls, and piercing into the backs of three fleeing pedestrians.

The death-defying screams of these three people seemed to wake up the others, and they quickly squatted down, Dugu Nirvana and Dugu Li also quickly squatted down, and some people were so frightened that they sat down on the ground. There were more than a dozen pedestrians, and no one was still standing.

The man in black at the head was a bearded man, and explained: "Forty zhang in radius, Tianzitang, one person and one house, pull the residents to the street and control them!"

After speaking, except for the black-clothed people who gathered near Dugu Nie's house, and the four black-clothed people who rushed to the intersection of the two streets, the other black-clothed people all broke into the houses and shops on both sides of the street.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, the thin families are all in their own reunion year. In some big houses, there are a large family in the reunion year, and some families have gone to other places for the reunion year.

At first, some shouting and scolding could be heard, and there seemed to be a fight in the distance, but after a few breaths (2), it slowly quieted down. One after another, civilians were pushed out of the house with their heads in their hands and squatted on the street. The owner of the sugar shop, the neighbors of the Huang family, the Li family, the Zhang family, and some people who Dugu Nirvana didn't know very well. There are about 100 people in total, squatting densely on the left and right sides of Dugu Nirvana's house.

Seeing that the civilians were all under control, the four people in the Dizi Hall also shouted at the same time: "Formation!" Behind them, there seemed to be a wall of qi, looming, and although the scene outside the formation was still visible, it seemed that it could not be seen really. And the four black-clothed men, divided into south, south, and northwest, guarded the edge of this qi wall.

The bearded man seemed to be very satisfied, and said in a deep voice to the house: "Old fellow, this radius of forty zhang has been completely controlled by us. The Spirit Sealing Array has been formed, and the people in the array can't get out, and the people outside the formation can't see clearly and can't enter. Hand over the antidote, and we will spare you from dying! Otherwise, all the civilians here will be buried with you!"

Hearing this, another person got up and wanted to run, that person Dugu Ni knew, it was the neighbor Uncle Huang, only to hear him shout: "Report to the official!", but as soon as he got up, he fell down again, and a spike of earth and stone had been pierced into his chest!

The shouting and scolding of the man in black were mixed with the wails of the people, and Dugu Nirvana couldn't hear what he said, but after a while, it was quiet again.

At this time, a hoarse voice came from the house: "Spare me not to die?" Chen Er, if your spiritual cultivation sect is so soft-hearted, why should I seek revenge on you!"

It turned out that the bearded man at the head was called Chen Er, and he was the master of the spiritual cultivation gate of Jinhu Town in the west of Fuying Town. The two towns are thousands of miles apart, and they have chased here.

"What kind of grudge do we have with you, you are going to poison more than 100 people in my spiritual cultivation sect!"

"You killed my Lin family's children and grandchildren for a pill of Liuyang Pill, if it wasn't for the old man who went out to travel, I'm afraid he was also poisoned by you at that time. Looking at your methods, I'm afraid it's not the first time you've done such a crazy thing, and it's really disgusting for me to look decent in front of the world! cough...... Ahem!"

"I'm curious, the Governor of Jinhu Town, even the Ghost Hunting Division has been mobilized, and I haven't had a clue after checking for so long, how do you know that we did it?"

"You only know that my Lin family is a medical family, I'm afraid you don't know yet, the old man is a life cultivator!"

"Damn, it's a stinky fortune teller! I, Chen Er, dare to act, and we do it. You can fight to the death with us in a dignified manner, and your brothers respect you as a man, but you are deliberately trying to sneak into my door as a cook, but you poison the diet of more than 100 people, and you can do such shameless methods?"

"Fighting, the old man can't fight against you, but this use of poison is the old man's means of establishing his life, you still have a few hours to live, what can I do?"

"Okay, good, good! Let's not talk about poisoning, but my relatives are innocent people? What do you say about their poison?"

"Old man, this poison, if you don't activate the aura in your body within twelve hours, this poison will naturally be solved. Of the forty-three people in these three branches of your sect who are cultivating spirituality, whose hands are clean? The old man can tell the difference very clearly!"

"Since you claim to be righteous, then you now have two ways, first, give us the antidote, we will let these more than 100 lives go! Second, if we don't give us the antidote, then we will end these more than 100 lives for you before the poison. How do you choose the life and death of these more than 100 people?"

"Phew, and for me, haha, you guys are damned!"

"Oh, so you want to kill more than 100 people? Your heart is even more vicious than ours! As long as you give us the antidote, you will never be embarrassed today, and you will still seek revenge on us in three days, and I will continue with the spiritual sect! You don't need to use poison, I Chen Er and you will fight one-on-one, and never let people interfere, if you can kill me, you will also avenge this revenge! If you can kill me in a dignified manner, my spiritual sect will never seek revenge on you!"

"Chen Er, I know you too well, fight alone, if you have the strength to win me, I still believe in your words. If you know that you are not my opponent, but you still say that, it can only prove that you have no intention of letting me go! It seems that you really don't want to die! Since you pretend to be so righteous and awe-inspiring, then the old man will give you a choice! Aren't you going to fight alone? The old man has been chased by you for thousands of miles, and he has been injured more seriously than you, and we are now going to fight alone, and we will not take advantage of you! If you win, I will give you forty-three people an antidote. If you die, I will give you the antidote to the forty-two people in your door, but you have to let these civilians go first!"

"Fart, if Lao Tzu lets these civilians go, you can still give us an antidote? You cheap bones, I'm afraid you're going to die with us! Don't you want us to delay time and delay us until we are poisoned? Then I'll kill ten people for you every one hour, and in two and a half hours, we'll kill a hundred people for you! Time now!"

After that, Chen Er glanced around and saw two little babies, who were Dugu Ni and Dugu Li.

"Two little babies, come here!"

Dugu Li was buried in his head, but when he heard the call, he looked up and saw that he was hitting Chen Er's blood-red eyes, and suddenly he was struck by lightning, and cried: "Ah, don't!" Dugu Nie trembled, hugged his sister tightly, and said softly: "Ah Li, don't be afraid, don't shout, they are bad people!"

"Boy, aren't you afraid of death?" Chen Erluo walked over with a cruel smile.

Dugu Nie didn't hold back, tears of fear flowed down, and he said in a trembling voice: "I'm afraid!"

Chen Er laughed, "There's an old poison inside, it's a bad guy, he wants to kill all of you now, this is your sister, right? You want to protect her, right? Go in and ask the old poison to give us the antidote, otherwise, you and your sister ...... Well, in a quarter of an hour, I'll kill your sister for the old poison. You know, it's not that I'm going to kill you, it's that old poison that's poisoning us!"

Dugu Nie knew that this person was vicious and wanted to coax himself, but he didn't have any idea for a while, just hugged his sister tightly and didn't speak.

Seeing that this kid didn't react, Chen Er ripped Dugu Nie away, squatted down, grabbed his shoulders, glared at him angrily, and shouted in a low voice: "Look at me! Look at me!" Dugu Nie shrank his head and closed his eyes tightly, but he didn't dare to struggle. There was also Dugu Yao's palm print on the right face, and in the next moment, a strong force came from the right face, and it was this familiar hot feeling again.

This slap woke Dugu Nirvana up, and when he raised it, he saw Chen Er's evil face!

"If you want to survive, go and ask the old man for an antidote, as long as he gives the antidote, neither you nor your sister will die!"

"Got it!"

"You only have a quarter of an hour, and if you don't come out after a quarter of an hour, I'm going to kill ten people for that old man, and he asked me to kill them, understand? Among these ten people, there is your sister!"

Chen Er's voice was very soft at this time, but Dugu Ni heard every word clearly.

"If you dare not come out, I will go in and kill you in a while, understand? Not only will I kill you, but I will also find everyone in your family and kill them all, understand? I can see that you are a sensible child, and you definitely don't want to affect other people, right?"

"Yes!"

"What do you say to that old man?"

"Huh?" Dugu Nie obviously hadn't thought about it yet.

Chen Er was patient and said, "You just tell the old man, I don't want to die, please give me the antidote." Do you understand?"

Dugu Nie nodded, and the tears had stopped.

"Go!" Chen Er said, and pushed his palm towards the gate of the house, although it was a few zhang away, the gate was still shattered. Dugu Ni walked to the door of the house and made up his mind. He walked back to Chen Er and asked, "If he doesn't give it, what should I do?"

Chen Er was angry, raised his hand and slapped again, Dugu Nirvana dodged, because he still had some experience in dodging slaps. But the hand seemed to belong to the face, and it still called out to the face.

"If he doesn't give it, you will cry, you will make trouble, you have to do everything you can, otherwise you and your sister will die. ”

Dugu Nie was beaten and staggered, and turned around and walked towards the house.

When he walked to the door, he froze again. Timidly turned around, glanced at Chen Er, stopped talking, and didn't dare to shout, so he walked up to another black-clothed man around the courtyard and asked, "What should I call that old man?"

At this critical moment, there were a few laughs from the civilians squatting on the street, and it seemed that Dugu Ni didn't dare to ask Chen Er anymore. This kid is a bit clever in his stupidity.

The man in black said: "Call Grandpa Lin! hurry up, and then I will kill you!"

Dugu Ni said: "Thank you" and turned to go in. Even Chen Er laughed angrily.

Exegesis:

(1) Forty zhang: one zhang here is set at 2.5 meters, forty zhang is 100 meters, one zhang is four feet, and one foot is four inches.

(2) Counting breaths: One breath refers to a normal breath, about 5 seconds. The counting of interest is less than 1 minute. A cup of tea is 10 minutes, a stick of incense is 30 minutes, and half an hour is 60 minutes.