The old man seemed to have guessed that the red-robed man had the intention of buying a horse, and immediately smiled slightly, and said, "I can't hide it, although these three horses are owned by my father and son, they are just a gift from a nobleman. If my father and son give or sell horses to others, it will be a good intention. I beg your forgiveness for the three horses that cannot be sold to the Lord. ”

The red-robed man sighed, shook his head, and said "It's a pity" in his mouth. The four people behind him were all dressed in green robes, with gloomy faces and long swords hanging from their waists. Seeing that the old man refused to sell the horse, a man in a green robe said loudly: "You old man doesn't know how to be polite. Our tall housekeeper can afford you, so he can persuade him. You don't know what to do, aren't you afraid of getting into trouble?"

The old man listened to his threats, but he was not angry, but only smiled slightly, and said: "As long as a person is just, he does not violate his conscience, so why should he be afraid of causing any trouble? With such a bearing as a tall butler, is he a bully and unreasonable person?"

Although he was touting the red-robed man in every word, he was just attacking on defense and putting the red-robed man in an extremely embarrassing situation. Sure enough, the red-robed man turned his head and glared at the green-robed man, and said, "How can you talk here?

The green-robed man's face changed greatly, and he hurriedly took two steps back, standing with his companion who had been scolded by the red-robed man after crashing into the shopkeeper earlier.

The red-robed man turned his head, arched his hand at the old man, and said, "I don't know what the old man is called, where to make a fortune?"

The old man returned the salute with his fists and said, "My surname is Liu, a person from Linzhou." If you don't get rich, you can't talk about it, you just run some small business and earn something to eat. ”

The red-robed man was stunned and said, "Linzhou is far away from here, and my husband is thousands of miles away from this poor country, I don't know what the important thing is?"

Li Qiufeng and the others sat on the side, watching the two talk, listening to the red-robed man inquire about the origin of the old man, although it was not rude, but it was extremely inappropriate to ask a passer-by who met in Pingshui. The old man was not annoyed, and said: "My father and son sell Shu brocade, and often travel between Linzhou and Shuzhong. When there is war all over the world today, Shu Road is difficult to travel, I heard that Taiyuan is still peaceful, so I thought about whether I could transport Shu brocade to Taiyuan for sale. It's just that when I passed through here, I encountered a heavy fog for no reason, and I came here by mistake. ”

Li Qiufeng and the others were stunned when they heard the old man surnamed Liu mention "when there are wars all over the place today". Since Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne, although there have been continuous party disputes in the imperial court, and there have been harassments from time to time by the Japanese in the southeast coast, it is an exaggeration to say that "wars are raging all over the world", and it is not unjust to put on him a charge of "bewitching the public".

The red-robed man's face sank, and he said, "Uncle Liu's words are too much. Today, the restoration of the Son of Heaven is the time to put things in order and the world to change from chaos to great rule. ”

When Li Qiufeng heard the old man surnamed Liu say that "when war breaks out today", he was already quite disdainful in his heart. When he heard the red-robed man say "the Holy Son of Heaven reset", his heart was even more suspicious, secretly thinking that although Emperor Jiajing inherited the throne as a vassal king, it was definitely not a "Holy Son of Heaven reset". The first emperor Zhengde Emperor had a lot of nonsense, which caused the rebellion of Qian Ning and Jiang Bin, and the rebellion of King Ning. However, from the perspective of the general trend of the world, it is far from being "putting things in order, and the world has changed from chaos to great governance". These two people are both literate and martial, and they look like they are all from the officialdom, but their speech is too strange to understand.

The old man listened to the red-robed man's words, but before he could answer, the rough young man couldn't help himself, only heard him sneer, and said: "That fake emperor took the throne by despicable means, bullied orphans and widows, and judging by his behavior, it can be said that he is extremely despicable and shameless. But Your Excellency said that he is a 'Son of Heaven', doesn't it make people laugh out of their big teeth?!"

Seeing the rude young man's rude words, the white horse knight hurriedly shouted, "Seventh brother, what nonsense are you talking about?!"

The rough young man was not convinced, but he was reproached by his brother, but he didn't dare to say any more, muttering a few words in his mouth, but he didn't defend himself.

Li Qiufeng and the others were stunned when they heard this rough young man say these earth-shattering and weeping words. Situ Qiao, Sun Guangming, and Su Yan had heard all kinds of legends about Emperor Jiajing's accession to the throne, but it was nothing more than the sudden death of Emperor Zhengde, leaving no heirs. At that time, the kings who were sealed in various places were about to move, and Emperor Jiajing, who was the king of Xingxian in Huguang at that time, bribed several cabinet elders in the court and the eunuchs in power in the palace, and slandered in the ears of Empress Dowager Zhang. Empress Dowager Zhang was deceived by the small group, and even agreed to be succeeded by King Xingxian. Who knew that after King Xingxian became Emperor Jiajing, he immediately changed his face, and he was determined to posthumously crown King Xingxian as the emperor and correct his biological mother as the queen mother. It was because after he entered the Beijing Imperial Palace, he was extremely cold to the Empress Dowager Zhang, and always wanted to find a crime to abolish her position as the Empress Dowager, so that his biological mother could justifiably become the Empress Dowager. If it weren't for the desperate advice of many ministers in the DPRK and China, I am afraid that Empress Dowager Zhang would have suffered a catastrophe long ago. It is reasonable to say that Emperor Jiajing bullied this widowed aunt.

It's just that Emperor Xiaozong, the father of Emperor Zhengde, only favored Empress Dowager Zhang in his life, and Empress Dowager Zhang only gave birth to two sons. The eldest son is Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao, and the second son Zhu Houwei died early. Although Emperor Zhengde was a dog, he did not leave a prince, which was why Emperor Jiajing succeeded to the throne. It is said that Emperor Jiajing's coercion of the "widowed mother" is acceptable, but as for bullying the "orphans", even if Emperor Jiajing wants to bully, there is no one to bully. Thinking that this rough young man was rude and rude, he just listened to some folk gossip, so he took it as a real thing and made a lot of nonsense here.

Everyone originally thought that the red-robed man would definitely be furious when he heard the rude words of this rough young man. Unexpectedly, the red-robed man had a calm face, looked at the rough young man, nodded, and said, "The young man has such knowledge, it can be said that it is extremely rare. It can be seen that right and wrong are in the hearts of the people, the people miss the old master, the people's hearts are wanted, and the destiny of heaven cannot be violated. ”

Li Qiufeng and the others looked at each other, not knowing what he meant by his words.

At this moment, only the sound of footsteps could be heard, but it was the shopkeeper Hu who walked out of the inner hall. When he saw that there were several more people in the room, he was stunned at first, and then his face was full of joy, and he quickly stepped forward and talked to the red-robed man for a few words, and then respectfully invited the red-robed man and the four green-robed people to take a seat. After the red-robed man sat down, the four green-robed men did not dare to sit, but just stood behind him with their hands down. It wasn't until the red-robed man nodded and motioned for the four to sit down that they sat down. It's just that the buttocks only sit on the stool halfway, and they raise their heads one by one, without squinting, and they are indescribably uncomfortable.

After Xiao Er was knocked out, he shrank in the corner of the counter until the four green-robed people left the store door and sat down next to the red-robed people, then he stood up straight, grinning and rubbing his arms. After the shopkeeper Hu asked the red-robed man to sit down, he turned around and glared at Xiao Er, and scolded in his mouth: "Little cub with blind dog eyes, why don't you serve tea to a few uncles?!"

The little second said yes, and immediately ran into the back hall, and after a while, he held the tea tray and brought fragrant tea to the red-robed man. The red-robed man took a sip of the teacup, his eyes lit up, and he said, "I didn't expect that there was such a good tea in this small place, but it was extremely rare." ”

When he said this, he glanced up at the shopkeeper Hu and said, "This tea is not ordinary, where did the shopkeeper buy it?"

The shopkeeper Hu was about to speak, when he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps in the courtyard, and then someone said loudly: "Is Old Hu there?"

Shopkeeper Hu agreed, and then smiled at the red-robed man: "Said Cao Cao Cao arrived, and when the man arrived, the uncle asked him." ”

As he spoke, he saw that the curtain had been lifted, and then an old man with a white beard walked in. The old man looked to be in his seventies, but his face was ruddy and straight like a baby. His shirt was patched, but it was clean. I saw that the old man was carrying a shabby bag, and he didn't know what was in it. After seeing the shopkeeper Hu, he laughed and said, "Lao Hu, I can send the dragon dan grass you want, it is enough for fifteen taels, it took me three days of work, enough for you Lao Hu to use for half a year." ”

Shopkeeper Hu said: "Thank you, old man." Now that the afternoon has passed, the old gentleman will sit down for a while, and I will invite you for today's lunch. ”

The old man was not polite, thanked him, and walked to a table next to Li Qiufeng and the other four, put the pocket on his shoulder on the side of the table, pulled out a stool and sat down. He turned his head to look at the people in the store, and said with a smile: "There are a few more fresh faces today, and you are busy with the shopkeeper." ”

Shopkeeper Hu smiled and said, "Since we have opened a tavern, we are all parents of food and clothing." How can there be a store with too many customers? What does the old gentleman want to eat today?"

The old man groaned for a moment and said, "I received half a bag of yellow sorghum rice from Tianhou Village today, and it is best to use it for steaming rice." Lao Hu steamed a pot of yellow rice, and I also invite everyone who came to the store today to taste our delicious food. ”

As he spoke, the old man lifted his pocket from the ground and handed it to Shopkeeper Hu. Shopkeeper Hu agreed, took the pocket, then pulled his legs and walked to the back hall, but after walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered something, turned to the old man and said: "There was an old man who asked about the tea, and asked the old gentleman to explain a thing or two." I'm going to steam the sorghum rice, so please wait a moment. ”

After he finished speaking, he walked into the back hall. The old man snorted, glanced at the people in the store, and said, "Which uncle asked about tea?"

The red-robed man glanced at the old man and said, "I asked." Does the old man know where this tea comes from?"

The old man nodded and said, "This tea itself is not remarkable, it is just green tea brewed by the old owner of Longsheng Villa on the edge of Taihu Lake." After shipping here, I added some ice-skinned grass roots to it. This icy grass root is mixed with tea leaves, which can dissipate the cold and earthy taste of tea leaves, making the taste of tea much better. ”

The red-robed man nodded and said, "The old man has an extraordinary bearing, but is he a native of the country?"

The old man said, "Uncle, this is a joke. I grew up here since I was a child, and I made a living by digging herbs in the mountains. At present, most of the loess is buried, and one day is counted as one day. ”

The red-robed man said: "Since the old man lives here, I have something I want to inquire about, and I ask the old man to give me advice." ”

The old man laughed and said, "Uncle is too polite, just say what you have to say." ”

The red-robed man didn't speak immediately, picked up the teacup and touched it lightly between his lips, frowned, and groaned slightly, and then said, "May I ask the old man, do you know where the Skeleton King Temple is now?"