The old man's eyes were confused, and he stared at the two of them in a blank manner, and did not speak. Duan You took out a few copper coins, stuffed them into the old man's hand, and asked, "Old man, let's ask you about someone." He compared Mr. Chen's appearance, age and other characteristics to the old man, and inquired about his parents and Duan Ling, but the old man just looked at Duan You blankly, without saying a word, but his hand was clutching the copper coin, and when he was asked tightly, he opened his mouth and said that he was dumb.

At this time, Duan You felt a sense of frustration and loss in his heart, walking through the hut, looking at the lake in front of him, at a loss—for more than eight years, even when facing the line of life and death, he had never felt this way.

Father, mother, sister, Grandpa Chen, where have you been!

Zhu Yuan walked up to Duan You and said, "Duan ...... Brother Chen, I have an idea, do you think it's okay?" Seeing that Duan You motioned for him to continue, he continued, "Let's go to Chen Shanren's place and settle down first, there are many people who work there are my brothers, and there are many people who have wandered in the countryside and all over the world in the past few years, everyone has seen and heard a lot, ask them, maybe there are clues." ”

"Good. After Duan You finished speaking, he and Zhu Yuan left Lingjuntai.

Duan You actually had an idea very quickly, thinking of the Taishou Mansion to arrest someone to inquire, and worried that Zhu Yuan's martial arts would be arrested by mistake, and he was thinking about how to go alone, hearing Zhu Yuan's words, he immediately agreed, and after wanting to go to Chen Shan's house, he would leave alone under the pretext of going to the house, enter the city overnight, and break into the Taishou Mansion at night.

Chen Shan's family is in the southernmost part of Gaogou Fort, a single village and a single courtyard, and there are adobe row houses built on all sides of the courtyard, which are used for the people who work to stay. Duan You and Zhu Yuan arrived before dark, just in time for dinner, each with a big bowl of batter, and it was thick. Several members of the Chen family carried rice buckets for everyone to spoon rice, and one of the women, most of her face seemed to have been burned by fire, and she was also dumb.

After dinner, Duan You and Zhu Yuan slept in the same room with the beggars the night before.

Zhu Yuan soon fell asleep, he followed Duan You for a whole day, and he was already sleepy. Duan You is still in good spirits, for more than eight years, he has been running up and down the sand slope every day, accumulating energy for a long time, coming to the flat ground, walking like a spring under his feet, it is very easy, and it is not a problem to run fifty or sixty miles in one breath.

When he was about to arrive, Duan You quietly got up, took a stick, and just walked out of the row house, he suddenly saw a fire in the courtyard of Chen Shan's house, followed by shouts, fights, and women's screams.

It's not good, Chen Shan's family is in trouble! Duan You's heart sank, he turned around and shouted to the row house, and rushed first.

When he was twenty or thirty zhang away from Chen Shan's house, he saw a group of black shadows running from the courtyard gate, chasing seven or eight black shadows behind, and two people in front of him suddenly stopped, raised their hands backwards, and the two fogs dispersed with them, and the people who chased them all sighed and shouted.

At this time, you had already arrived, only to feel that suddenly her eyes were sore and her chest was tight and short of breath, and she tripped when the Chen family fell to the ground, and she fell to the ground cold. At the same time as he fell to the ground, the stick in Duan You's hand roared away, hitting the back of the poisoner with a thud. Duan You immediately got up, rushed over and pressed the man under his knees, and when he looked forward, the bandit was gone.

At this time, the Chen family came to Duan You, and when they saw him catch one person, they all breathed a sigh of relief, and Zhu Yuan and others also arrived. Smelling the smell in the air, Zhu Yuan said that it was quicklime and spicy grass powder, and it was enough to wash it after rubbing it with a cloth dipped in vinegar, it didn't matter, and then he took everyone to shout and search around, but to no avail. In a short period of time, the bandits ran really fast.

The first person in the Chen family's Ding was named Chen Zhonghao, and he thanked Duan You again and again, saying that Master Chen was not at home, and he was not invited to sit in the middle of the night, and then he and the Chen family Ding escorted the arrested bandits into the compound.

The fire had been extinguished by the people in the courtyard, and Duan You and the others didn't care whether they entered the courtyard or not, so they returned to the row room, talked for a while, and fell asleep again.

Suddenly, Zhu Yuan stabbed Duan You, and the two of them walked through the row house, and after walking for a while, Zhu Yuan whispered: "Is today's incident related to the night before?"

"Yes. Duan You said, "The person I caught was Haixi Qianwan." ”

"That's it!" Zhu Yuan said angrily, "Jing Duan, hey, if it weren't for the eldest brother you knew him, I would have to break his leg!"

Duan You said: "Brother Zhu, you can guess, I won't hide it from you, he is Duan Jing, the youngest son of our host Duan Xuan, his family is alone, we are brothers, you quickly try to inform him to leave Gaogou Fort." ”

Zhu Yuan was stunned and said: "It turns out that he is also a member of the Duan family, this person is lazy and lazy, does not follow the right path, and has a small heart. A few days ago, we came to Chen's house to work together, and the housekeeper of Chen's family asked people to bring a basket of carrots for us to eat first. There was soil on the carrot, and we all wiped it with our hands and sleeves to eat, and he was the only one who shouted to wash it with water, and the housekeeper of the Chen family said, it seems that this brother is not hungry, and my lord said, if the stomach is not hungry, the Chen family can't afford it, please go back. He didn't stay, so he held a grudge and did this dirty thing today, where was it because Xu Xiaoliu was bitten by a dog? But don't worry, big brother, I will do it, and I won't reveal his identity. ”

Duan You understood the reason for the matter, patted Zhu Yuan on the shoulder, the two stopped talking, and returned to the row room to sleep. After tonight's incident, the plan to break into the Taishou Mansion at night can only be postponed.

Not long after falling asleep, Duan You suddenly woke up, and he seemed to hear someone walking towards him, and when he listened carefully, he felt that a group of camels or something was coming on the ground.

Duan You saw that Zhu Yuan and the others around him were sleeping soundly, so he quietly got up, closed the door, climbed to a high place to take a look, and saw that under the night, a hundred zhang away, there were more than a dozen tall black shadows coming, and when he got closer, he saw that there were more than a dozen people, all riding tall horses, slowly coming.

Duan You crouched on the ground and watched, thinking to himself how to stop it if Duan Jing brought people here? and wondered if it was the backup of the "two evils of Changsong" or the soldiers and bandits from outside? Just when he was in doubt, he saw that a group of people had arrived at the gate of the Chen family, and saw that the gate was opened silently, and the people who came did not dismount, and the fish entered, and then the gate closed silently.

If you don't get off the horse when you enter the door, it is undoubtedly the Chen family's own family. Duan You put his mind at ease and went back to the row room to sleep, Zhu Yuan and the others in the room slept soundly, and they didn't know anything about the movement outside.

Early the next morning, Duan You immediately went to a no-man's land in the distance, practiced the Sun and Moon Mixed Yuan Gong for an hour, and practiced the stick and Wei Tuo palm for a while, and then walked back. Seeing that Zhu Yuan and other fifty or sixty people were working in the field, and the family named Chen Zhonghao was looking for someone in the crowd last night, when he saw Duan You, he rushed over impromptuly, hugged Duan Youyou, and said, "Chen Shaoxia, my lord is invited." ”

Duan You returned the salute and asked, "Chen Shanren is back?"

Chen Zhonghao said that he came back last night. Duan Youfang knew that the dozen or so horseback riders at night were Chen Shanren and others, and wanted to ask about Haixi who was arrested, but when he saw that Chen Zhonghao was just walking with his head down, he had no intention of speaking, so he was silent.

Chen Shan's house has a high wall and a wide door, a wooden plaque on the lintel, three big characters of "Ruian Mansion" written on it, the courtyard has three entrances, and there are not many houses. As soon as Duan You walked into the door, he was greeted by two people, one of whom was about fifty years old, with kind eyes, a pinch of black beard under his chin, Ying Ying smiled: "Chen Shaoxia, please, I was fortunate to have you last night, please come into the house." ”

Duan You knew that this person was Chen Shanren, seeing that he had a kind face, humble and kind, and Zhu Yuan's previous introduction, he had a good impression in his heart, so he hurriedly bowed, and even said that he was not welcome, and then was let into the hall by Chen Shanren.

The hall is very large, but there is no furniture, only a large wooden table with high legs, and a wooden bench in a circle, and a Hu bed on it. Chen Shanren invited Duan You to sit on the wooden bench, and then sat on the Hu bed. Opposite Duan You is the housekeeper Chen Zhongfu, who greets him with Chen Shanren, who is fat, with a rich face and a lovely smile. The next is Chen Zhonghao.

There are already wine and food on the big wooden table, and it seems that Duan You is deliberately entertained. Chen Shanren said some words of thanks and the like, Duan You was not pretentious, he ate and drank. It's just that there is something in his heart, Chen Shanren didn't mention it again, Duan You finally couldn't help it, and asked: "I don't know how the theft of Old Man Chen's house was last night, was it recruited by the thief?"

Chen Shanren smiled indifferently and said: "The thief is from Changsong, he is a ruffian, and he led a group of people called Huazi to steal, I wanted to report to the official, but I also thought that those Huazi were all poor people, and I was afraid that I would lose my life, and I didn't lose anything, only some rice and noodles were missing, so I asked my family to beat the thief and drive him away." ”

Duan You breathed a sigh of relief, couldn't help but stand up, and toasted to Chen Shanren: "Master Chen is so considerate of the poor, and provides food and accommodation for a large group of people, he is really a great benevolent person!"

Chen Shanren laughed and said, "I don't think Chen Shaoxia is a poor person, I don't know where he comes from?"

Duan You replied: "I am from Wu'an County, and I came to Liangzhou City to buy medicine. After a pause, he added, "By the way, find a relative, the city is checking our foreigners tightly, so I will come to the master's house for the night." After speaking, he smiled, first, he was stunned by this natural lie, and secondly, he thought that the clothes left by this one-eyed ghost had raised his identity, and it was not good to pretend to be a beggar and a poor person.

Chen Shanren sighed, and was about to say something, when suddenly a woman cried from the backyard.

Chen Shanren's face changed, he got up and went to the door, and he didn't come back for a long time, his face was angry, and when he saw that Duan was puzzled, he sighed and said: "This Changsong is too bad, stealing my insider's jewelry last night, just stealing it, and setting it on fire, one of my insider's arms was burned by the fire, so it hurts." ”

Duan Youkou said: "The relative I am looking for happens to be a Langzhong, who is over sixty years old this year, and the treatment of burns is very effective, and there are no scars, so I will go into the city today to find and treat Mrs. Zun." ”

Chen Shanren was overjoyed: "Great! Originally, this burn is not difficult to treat, and the inner man is crying for the future scar, if Chen Gongzi can find you, a relative of Langzhong, it will really help me a lot." ”

Duan You was about to get up, but Chen Shanren said that he was not in a hurry, and he hadn't said anything serious.