Lake Pavilion, inside the hall.

Pan Xincheng sat alone on a bamboo chair in the hall, holding a blue-faced book in his hand, reading with relish. On the small coffee table next to him, two cups of hot tea were poured, and the heat slowly floated up from the teacups.

With a "squeak", the door was pushed open, and Yu Shuang slowly walked in behind Han Yudi.

Han Yu stepped forward and said to Pan Xincheng: "Master Pan, Master Yu Shuang has arrived." ”

Hearing this, he nodded slightly, his eyes did not take his eyes off the book, and said lightly: "You go down first." ”

Han Yu bowed his head slightly and stepped back.

Yu Shuang walked to Pan Xincheng's side, frowned, and said, "Uncle Pan, it's so late, is there anything urgent about looking for Shuang'er?"

Pan Xincheng sat on the chair, looked at him, waved his hand and smiled: "Sit down, I want to discuss something with you." ”

Yu Shuang sat down next to Pan Xincheng and said with a smile: "Uncle Pan, please speak, if there is any dispatch, Shuang'er is willing to go." ”

Pan Xincheng smiled when he heard this, put down the book in his hand, handed a cup of hot tea on the coffee table to Yu Shuang, and said lightly: "You taste it, this is the tea that the military advisor personally sent three hours ago, saying that it is a tea grown in the Northern Desert, the entrance is dry, but it is pure but not greasy, and it does have a unique flavor." ”

Yu Shuang took the teacup, a fragrance came to his nose, only to see that the tea was slightly dark red, quite turbid, he hesitated, raised his head and drank it all, indeed as Pan Xincheng said, this tea is indeed not owned by Middle-earth, the entrance is quite bitter, but it is as fresh as the tip of bamboo shoots, and it seems to have a faint taste of Chinese medicine.

Pan Xincheng looked at Yu Shuang's appearance of drinking tea, slowly shook his head, and said with a smile: "Shuang'er, good tea needs to be tasted carefully, but you don't taste it like this." ”

Yu Shuang frowned, feeling that her abdomen was warm, and there seemed to be a refreshing feeling in her throat, and she said sincerely: "This tea is indeed of the highest quality, fragrant and fragrant, moist and silky, but the fly in the ointment is that it is too bitter, like a decoction, which makes people reluctant to drink a second cup." ”

Pan Xincheng's eyes flashed, and he was quite appreciative of what Shuang said, he smiled slightly, and said lightly: "What Shuang'er said is good, I think so too." ”

Yu Shuang put the teacup in his hand on the coffee table, wiped his lips with his hand, looked at Pan Xincheng, and said directly: "Uncle Pan, what kind of dispatch is there?" ”

Pan Xincheng hesitated when he heard this, and looked away from Yu Shuang, but there was a little more hesitation in his eyes, and even a little doubt. After hesitating, he said slowly: "I have been friends with the military Hou Qingyu for many years, I know this person's nature, although he is knowledgeable, but loyal and honest, a few hours ago sent an invitation, and explained a few things, I saw his eyes fluttering, his tone is frivolous, and his usual style of conversation is a little different, I faintly feel that there seems to be something strange in this." But if I want to say that something is wrong, I have been thinking for a long time, but I have never been able to guess. What do you think?"

Yu Shuang groaned for a moment, frowned, and said, "Can Shuang'er take a look at the invitation first?"

Pan Xincheng took the invitation card from the table and handed it to Yu Shuang, and said slowly: "This invitation looks like there is no problem, the city lord ordered me to go to the banquet for him, but after thinking about it, I still feel that there is something that the military advisor seems to be hiding from me, he is honest on the outside, and he will not lie at all, but I can't ask in person in person, so I have to ask you to talk about it." ”

After reading it, Yu Shuang put the letter back in the envelope and put it on the coffee table, her brows furrowed, and she said in a low voice: "Could it be that there is something wrong with this birthday banquet?"

Pan Xincheng pondered for a moment, shook his head, and said quietly: "There is nothing wrong with this invitation, Xie Yuanzhong, the owner of 'Yijian Villa', has a very good relationship with Nie City Lord, I have also met a few times, he is an ancient and warm-hearted person, this letter is indeed from his handwriting, and it is expected that it is not greasy." Just ......"

Yu Shuang saw Pan Xincheng's suspicious face, and asked directly, "Just what?"

Pan Xincheng's eyes turned to look at Yu Shuang, and said quietly: "The city lord's health is fine, why do you shirk and say that he is seriously ill and is bedridden, so I will travel for him?"

"It stands to reason that the two of them have looked at each other for many years, and they can also be called irreversible friends who have burned yellow paper, they haven't seen each other for many years, they should be full of thoughts, and they can't wait to see each other immediately, why do they want to excuse themselves?"

Yu Shuang nodded slowly, pondered for a while, and said to Pan sincerely: "Uncle Pan is extremely worried, I'm just afraid that the weirdness is here, since the city lord has already given an order, what is Uncle Pan's plan?"

Pan Xincheng slowly stood up, pacing back and forth in the hall with his hands in his hands, his brows furrowed, as if he had not made up his mind for the time being.

Yu Shuang smiled suddenly, got up and said, "Uncle Pan doesn't need to worry, City Lord Nie and Uncle Hou have been your best friends for many years, I guess there may be something unspeakable, I don't want Uncle Pan to know." ”

Pan Xincheng stopped, turned to look at him, smiled faintly, and said slowly: "Shuang'er is young after all, in fact, I have long had a gap in my heart with the Nie City Lord, but I don't say it on my face. For the sake of the people of a city, Pan had to endure it in his heart. ”

"What?" Yu Shuang was taken aback and said, "Uncle Pan has long been estranged from City Lord Nie?"

Pan Xincheng smiled faintly, a trace of sharpness flashed in his eyes, he looked at the portrait of Yu Qiong hanging in the hall, and said unhurriedly: "In the early years, he was already at odds with each other, and he secretly had a strategy in his heart, and wanted to plot against other surrounding towns, so that they would all be under his jurisdiction, while recruiting troops and buying horses, while attracting cultivators, but Pan knew that if he wanted to plot, he would start a war again, and for this reason, he would kill and wound sergeants, and how should the lonely, widowed, old and young in the city survive?"

Hearing this, Yu Shuang nodded slowly, pursed her lips, and said, "Uncle Pan is extremely worried, once the war starts again, it will affect the pond fish, which is really undesirable. ”

Pan Xincheng looked out of the door, sighed slowly, and said: "Nie City Lord doesn't think like this, under his protection, the people of Yulin City do live and work in peace and contentment, he wants to let other towns also avoid the suffering of war, you must know, outside Yulin City, there are daily seizures of the city and land, killing and slaughtering, and the people in the city are suffering, in fact, Pan can also understand his thoughts, but the essence of the devastated life, isn't it war?"

"The two realms of righteousness and demons are the same as fire and water, the city lord and the city lord only see the continuous killing, if I wait to attack the city again, wouldn't it be the same as them, contrary to the original intention?"

Pan Xincheng's words seemed to make Yu Shuang fall into deep thought, and he was silent for a long time before he came back to his senses and said categorically: "Uncle Pan is right, in my opinion, the Nie City Lord is sanctimonious, not so much to protect the territory and the people, but to secretly harbor a ghost!"

Pan Xincheng pondered for a long time before he spoke: "I and the military Hou Qingyu privately strongly opposed, and the city lord Nie has a taboo, in many propositions, most of the city lord's claims are not supported by Pan, which is one of the reasons why he has not been able to plan for many years. ”

Yu Shuang was silent when she heard this, and suddenly remembered the first time she saw the Nie City Lord, when the scorching sun was at the head, the Nie City Lord stood on the "viewing platform" and said bold words, capturing the hearts of most of the people in the city.

I thought of the girl in white under the tree at that time, she was like being born from the ice and snow, and she was curling and bullying the frost and the snow. There is a unique chill all over her body, and those cold and disdainful eyes seem to make people shiver involuntarily when they think of her. However, what was even more surprising was that she could see through at a glance that City Lord Nie was definitely not a righteous gentleman who cared about the safety of all beings.

"Shuang'er, what's wrong with you?" Pan Xincheng interrupted Yu Shuang's musings.

Yu Shuanghuo came back to his senses, cold sweat couldn't help but break out on his forehead, and he sneered: "It's nothing, I suddenly remembered the first time I saw City Lord Nie." ”

Pan Xincheng turned his gaze away, sat down on the chair, groaned for a while, and said slowly: "That's it, don't talk about him, I plan to leave tomorrow and return as early as possible." ”

Yu Shuang also sat down and said lightly: "How long does this trip take?"

Pan Xincheng said: "If you want to go back and forth in five days, you can go back and forth." Speaking of this, he seemed to be unsatisfied, hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice: "My eyelids keep jumping, if this is a conspiracy, I was sent out of the city, you can imagine what will happen in the city." ”

Yu Shuang thought about it for a while, and finally shook her head.

Pan Xincheng pondered for a moment, then turned his head and suddenly looked at Yu Shuang, there seemed to be a deep meaning in his eyes.

Yu Shuang looked around, felt puzzled, and asked, "What's the matter?" Uncle Pan. ”

Pan Xincheng thought about it, seemed to think of something, looked at Yu Shuang, and said directly: "Are you willing to go with me?"

Yu Shuang was taken aback, pointed to the bridge of her nose, and said, "Me?"

"Not bad" Pan Xincheng got up and said: "You told me that you have never left Yancheng, and you don't know the suffering of the people, I can take you out to see and gain experience." Second, the journey is lonely, and being accompanied by someone can also relieve the boredom a little. ”

Yu Shuang hesitated for a moment and said, "What about Ying'er?"

Pan Xincheng smiled, waved his hand, and said lightly: "It's okay, Ying'er is studying in the house, we will hurry up and return in more than ten days." ”

Yu Shuang's face was hesitant, his heart was full of mixed feelings, and his sister had never been separated since he was a child, and now he was separated for more than ten days, and he couldn't help but feel a little lost in his heart, but when he thought about it again, his sister is now growing up slowly, and she needs some training after all, otherwise how to grow up?

Besides, where could there be safer than Pan?

As soon as he thought of this, he turned his head to look at Pan Xincheng and said resolutely: "Uncle Pan, Shuang'er is willing to go together." ”

Pan Xincheng was overjoyed when he heard this, and said: "Okay, okay, it's late tonight, you can go back and rest first, and then we will clean up tomorrow, and we will set off at noon." ”

Yu Shuang arched his hand and said, "Uncle Pan, Shuang'er remembered!" and slowly exited the door.

After Yu Shuang left, Pan Xincheng sighed slowly, turned his eyes to look at Yu Qiong's portrait, there was a flash of light in his eyes, he bit his lip, took out three sandalwood sticks from the table, lit them on the candle, bowed to Yu Qiong's portrait three times with incense in both hands, and then inserted sandalwood into the incense burner.

He looked up at the portrait for a long time before he slowly spoke: "Master, you have a spirit in the sky, and you must bless Shuang'er." ”

With that, he walked through the door with his hands in his hands.