I don't know how long it took, Xu Zhi slowly opened his eyes, and saw that everyone around him had already dispersed, his father died in his arms, and his mother also died under the big willow tree, so he couldn't help crying, and suddenly saw Uncle Luo not far away still lying on the ground shaking his body, Xu Zhi struggled to move over.

Seeing that he was still alive, Luo Jin seemed to have strength, and said intermittently: "My Luo family and your Xu family have been friends for generations, but it's a pity that you and Su Ying ......", paused, took a breath and continued: "There is a sentence, I want to tell you, after I die, bury me not far from your parents, we will also be neighbors and in-laws after we die, you have to live well, don't go to revenge, alas, since ancient times, the people don't fight with the officials, you must listen to your father-in-law." ”

Xu Zhi was still indignant in his heart, but looking at Luo Jin's expectant eyes, he nodded silently.

Luo Jin took out a jade pendant from his waist with great difficulty, handed it to Xu Zhi and said: "Xu Zhi, you brought this jade pendant to Su Ying, I always feel in my heart that Su Ying is not dead, Su Ying is a child with a hard life, and she has no mother since she was a child, even if there is an emergency, she must go home and return to her parents." ”

Xu Zhi took the jade pendant from Luo Jin's hand, only to see that the jade pendant was the same size as Su Ying's dragon pattern jade pendant, but a phoenix with wings spread and flying was engraved on it, Xu Zhi was very surprised when he saw it, and said: "Uncle Luo, don't worry, even if I go to the ends of the earth, I will definitely find Su Ying's sister." ”

Luo Jin gasped for a while, and then said slowly: "That's good, so that I can rest assured, this is an ancestral jade pendant of our Luo family, which has been there since Grandpa Tai, and there are two words engraved on it, and it seems to be a pair with your Xu family." ”

Xu Zhi carefully examined the jade pendant, which was also white and flawless, and the whole body was thorough, but the two vague small characters "Qiu Bao" were carefully engraved on the back.

Luo Jin took a breath and continued: "Our Luo family has a secret ......."

"What's the secret?", Xu Zhi asked in surprise.

"I don't know very well, it's a secret left by our ancestors, maybe a secret about our Luo family's family background, and a secret about why we came to Runzhou. ”

"According to the ancestors, the secret is hidden in this small city of Runzhou, but since our Luo family settled in Runzhou in the north, our ancestors have been looking for it, but after looking for nearly a hundred years, we have not been able to find this secret,...... , I remember that my grandfather was very melancholy when he was dying, and he kept touching the jade pendant with his hand, and his mouth was repeatedly, "The world has been divided for thousands of years, the strange book is fragmented and the world is a sword, the snake shoots the first to become a hegemony, and the purple qi comes to the east into the clouds?".

"What is the secret, is it related to the jade pendant?", Xu Zhi saw that Luo Jin's words were vague, and couldn't help but ask, "Is it a book or a thing?"

"You memorize these words first, and when you understand them, you can uncover the secrets of the family heirloom. ”

"Also, it's best to find the descendants of the founding British Duke to uncover this secret ...... together," Luo Jin said, and when he saw that Xu Zhi remembered, he closed his eyes peacefully.

Xu Zhi silently remembered, endured his grief and anger, and buried his parents and father-in-law. Xu Zhi during the mourning period, also along the Yangtze River to continue to find the whereabouts of Su Ying, one day Xu Zhi wore filial piety clothes, carrying a mourning stick, dragging a heavy body, tossed and turned to the foot of Beigu Mountain in the east of the city, that Beigu Mountain was originally the remains of Sun Wu, there is a dilapidated and abandoned Tielan Temple on the top of the mountain, the legend is where Liu Bei Ganlu Temple recruited relatives in that year. Xu Zhi was sad in his heart, looking at the bleak Beigu Mountain, inaccessible, overgrown with weeds, and infinitely desolate. Beigu Mountain is not high, but close to the Yangtze River, the riverside is full of lotus roots, water chestnut callus white. In the depths of the grass lived a family, only to see a white-haired old man was collecting nets and fishing, and a little girl of fifteen or sixteen years old rolled up her trouser legs, barefoot, sitting in a large wooden foot basin, while paddling and giggling, while picking the water lotus root around her, only to hear the little girl's silver bell-like laughter: "Grandpa, you see, I have picked a big lotus canopy, and I have caught a big crab!" Xiaohui, you see that grandpa also made up for such a big finless porpoise, hehe, it seems that our grandfather is not bad luck today!". Xu Zhi looked at it on the shore and sighed: "A pair of grandparents and grandchildren who are so comfortable, but in front of them, they are only alone and have become orphans without parents and relatives." Thinking about it, my heart ached, and tears couldn't help but flow out again.

I don't think three months have passed, and it is already the season of autumn breeze and osmanthus fragrance. One night, when the moon was in the sky, the surroundings seemed to be shrouded in a thin veil, and there were bursts of autumn cicadas in the distance from time to time, Xu Zhi was filial piety, tossing and turning, sleepless all night, looking blankly at the layout of the house or the previous appearance, but the relatives were long gone, and suddenly the eyes were blurred, and the mind turned over and down: one would emerge the kind faces of his parents, and the other would reproduce the tragedy of Su Ying jumping into the river.

Xu Zhi was extremely sad and indignant in his heart, and his heart of revenge arose spontaneously, and he secretly prayed to the sky: "I hope that my parents and Su Ying's spirit in the sky can help me succeed in revenge!"

The next day, Xu Zhi secretly hid a short shovel in his sleeve, although the short shovel was used by farmers, it was also extremely sharp, he had made up his mind, and decided to find the land to protect Xue Ba first, and then find the unconscious official, to eliminate harm for the people, and avenge his parents.

Xu Zhi came to Xue Ba's house familiarly, it is a single-door single-family courtyard, close to the downtown area of the canal, although the land protection is just a sesame mung bean-like small official, usually responsible for collecting taxes and grain, but there is a world of difference from ordinary people's homes, high walls, the gate is hidden all the year round, Xu Zhi has long heard rumors in the township, Xue Ba by virtue of the identity of the land protection, deducting taxes and grain, has long been rich, married to the daughter of a rich businessman, like a flower like jade, beautiful as a fairy, he is not satisfied, often in the famous brothel Wanhualou in Runzhou City; , but he was helpless.

At this time, a young lady's voice came from the door: "Damn it, where did you go early in the morning?", and a maid's voice replied: "Early in the morning, the old man was called by Lord Shi Wu, saying that there was an urgent matter to discuss." "It's not going to be his excuse again, maybe he's going to be a vixen again. The maid listened and didn't dare to speak anymore.

Xu Zhi turned around, crossed the state bridge along the canal, and went straight to the state office. That Runzhou Prefecture was built at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the canal, backed by Beigu Mountain, by the water pillow mountain, the feng shui is very good, that Wu Thorn Shi was originally a Hanlin attendant in Chang'an Jingzhong, doing a good errand to accompany the king, but due to the annual famine of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xizong listened to his father Tian Lingzi, absurdity, profligacy, and made the treasury empty, only to eliminate redundant personnel, and transfer him to Runzhou. Wu Tingshi was depressed and frustrated because of this, but he was a character who was well versed in officialdom, and he usually treated the officials of the court and the Jingjing Dynasty with flattery and bribed his superiors; but with regard to the people under his rule, he had a different face, exploited harshly, bent the law for personal gain, and did everything he could, so the local people secretly called him a dumb official and a corrupt official; and said that if he was in office, Runzhou would not have a single day of blue sky.

Xu Zhi saw from a distance that Wu Tingshi and a young and handsome junior were walking along the riverside, talking, and Xue Ba and a group of servants followed cautiously behind. Xu Zhi followed, looking for an opportunity to take revenge.

The handsome young man, holding a folding fan, his face was like Fu powder, his lips were red and his teeth were white, he walked lightly, and he was extremely graceful, like a weak scholar, and the young man asked: "Master Wu has been in Runzhou for so many years, have you heard of any strange things on the ground in Runzhou?"

Lord Wu replied: "Xiaguan has been in Runzhou for several years, and I have not heard of anything particularly famous here. Lord Yun has lived in Beijing for a long time, lived in the inner hall, and walked in front of the emperor all the year round, why is he interested in the absurdity of the reckless countryside and the trivial things of the people today. ”

Lord Nayun did not answer, but continued: "As early as two hundred years ago, there was a secretary hidden in the palace of the Taizong Dynasty, this strange book is related to the common people in the world, and the people are in misfortune, but later the Queen of Heaven revolutionized, changed the Tang Dynasty to Zhou, the world was chaotic, it is unbelievable to say, someone broke into the inner hall, stole a few pages of the secretary's fragments, and let it go to the people, I don't know what happened. ”

Wu Dadao: "The broken books and fragments are lost, there are all over the ages, and what kind of strange thing is not seen!"

Master Yun didn't answer, and continued: "After learning about this matter that day, I was very shocked, and I actually killed dozens of people for this broken book, including the ******** at that time, the guards of the forbidden army and others, and it is strange to say that they even killed a few officials of Si Tianjian who knew the inside story."

Master Wu said curiously: "It's reasonable to kill the Ouchi guards, but killing other insiders, is it a big fuss?"

Lord Yun also echoed: "I also thought so at the time, but later there were some clues, saying that the loss of this fragment was not important in the peaceful era, if the world was in chaos, it would be a matter of the fate of the people in the world, so since the Tianhou Dynasty, all dynasties have been secretly investigating the whereabouts of this fragment, but there are few clues and nowhere to be found." Since the Xianzong Dynasty, the world has been in turmoil, and the court has no time to take care of itself, and the matter of checking books is over. ”

After Yun Feiyang finished speaking, he glanced at the vast river in the distance, the bright red sun would be shrouded in dark clouds, the river began to blow gusts of north wind, and it was about to change the sky, he paused, and continued: "Later, there are still some clues about this matter, there are probably a few sentences like this, 'Shooting snakes first become a hegemony, and purple qi comes east into the clouds' unspoken words circulated, the fragment of this strange book may be hidden in a hidden place in Runzhou, Jiangnan, so recently the imperial court has frequently sent us to Runzhou to secretly search for this book. ”

Xu Zhi suddenly listened, and his heart was also shocked, how could the matter that the court was going to investigate be the same as the family matter that Uncle Luo said.

Lord Wu hurriedly replied: "That's natural, even if you turn over the entire Runzhou, you have to complete the will of the Lord and the imperial court, but although Runzhou is not big, it also governs several prefectures and counties such as Dantu, Qu'a, Yanling, Jintan, and Jiangzhou, and it will take some time to find it." ”

"That's natural, so this matter still needs Lord Wu's full assistance, but it must also be kept strictly confidential! If someone leaks this matter, it will be killed. After Yun Feiyang finished speaking, his right palm swung out, breaking a thin willow tree beside him.

Wu Tingshi hurriedly agreed "yes".

At this time, the weather has changed suddenly, dark clouds are thick, strong winds are blowing, the river surface begins to rise, and soon it begins to rain heavily, and the surroundings are dark, and you can't see your fingers. Xu Zhi hid under a big willow tree by the river, thinking: "God really help me, if you don't take revenge at this time, when will you stay?"

When Xu Zhi pounced on Wu Tingshi again, a person jumped up among the officials, eight feet tall, dressed in black and black pants, and a flying eagle kicked Xu Zhi to the ground.

Xu Zhi struggled to get up, retreated again and again, the man pressed step by step, and then another move was a hungry tiger pounce, sent with both fists, straight to Xu Zhi's face, Xu Zhi hurriedly took two steps back, and blocked with a short spade, but the person made a false move, hitting Xu Zhi's waist and crotch, the strength was huge, Xu Zhi took more than a dozen steps back, spitting blood, his eyes were blurred, and he was dead, he heard in a daze that Lord Yun drank: "Guard Zhou, don't spare his life, otherwise we will have no secret to speak of......" At this critical moment, Xu Zhi struggled to throw a shovel at Zhou's guards, but due to excessive force, his body slipped backwards and fell into the vast river.