Elder Qi continued: "The Tong Gang leader led me to a place in the north of Tongzhou City, only to see that the place was a mountain in front and back, the environment was quiet, there were four or five houses, blue tiles and white walls, and there were no homes nearby, but it was a good place to relax and escape from the world. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Tong led me to the door, raised his hand and knocked on the door, and after a while, an old man in his sixties with white hair opened the door, saw the two of us, his face was happy, and said: "The helper is here, your old man has not been here for a long time." Tong said: "I have been busy with help in the past two years, so I can't spare time." We were introduced at the moment. The surname of the old man is very strange, the surname is one, it is one, two, three, four one, I have been walking the rivers and lakes for many years, or the first time I heard this surname. The old man led the way, and the two of us entered the room. I looked back and forth, left and right, and took a look at the inscriptions in the room. Although the layout in the room is simple, it is clean and tidy, but the old man lives alone in the huge house, and the rest of the people are not visible. ”

Elder Zhu couldn't help but interject, "Why is that?" Elder Qi said, "At that time, I was also confused, but it was not easy to ask directly. Tong Gang Master saw my confusion and said with a smile: "This is the old mansion left to me by my uncle, my uncle is a hermit who is determined to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. He was alone, childless, and died a few years ago, so he left the house to me. Because my uncle didn't want to be disturbed by outsiders before his death, and he was a man of lofty ideals who opposed the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, I never revealed our relationship with anyone, let alone mentioned this location to anyone. Elder Jin said, "It turns out that after Elder Hao was an anti-Qing scholar, he had never mentioned these things to us for many years, so it was really embarrassing for him. Now his whereabouts are unknown, whether he was killed by Hao Yiming, or where he was placed under house arrest, life and death are unknown. It's really worrying. Elder Zhu gritted his teeth and said: "The traitor surnamed Hao, with a human face and a beast's heart, has deceived us for so many years, but unfortunately he ran away, and he didn't even ask about the whereabouts of the Tong gang leader, it's really hateful, hateful!"

Elder Jin said: "Will the Tong gang leader be in the old mansion in Tongzhou?" Elder Qi said: "In fact, after the gang leader disappeared, I secretly returned to his old mansion in Tongzhou, that place**Xiao Village." I heard that Tong said that it was taken by his uncle, and his uncle was a well-educated man, and it was very poetic to choose a name. When I arrived at Chunxiao Village, I saw that the door of the house was closed and the iron lock was on. The old man was gone. I climbed over the wall and went in to take a look, and I saw that the courtyard was overgrown with wild grass, and it seemed that it had been uninhabited for a long time. I had no choice but to leave. Because the Tong Gang Leader had told me not to tell anyone about it, I didn't say anything to anyone. Now that something has happened in the gang, it has reached such a point, and there is no choice but to disobey the instructions of the Tong gang leader. ”

Elder Jin said, "The culprit is Hao Yiming, everything is because of him. With him one day, the beggars will be in danger one day. Elder Qi said: "That's why I proposed to place the chief helm in the old mansion of the Tong gang leader, on the one hand, the surname Hao doesn't know where this is, and it is relatively safe." On the other hand, no matter whether the Tong gang leader is alive or not, it is his property and cannot fall into the hands of others, so we have the right to help him watch it first. Elder Qi asked Li Xiangru, "What does the gang leader think?" Li Xiangru said: "I have just joined the gang, and I am still relatively unfamiliar with the affairs of the gang, Elder Qi, you are very reasonable, I agree to this arrangement." The two elders of Jin Zhu also said that they had no objection, and after the four of them agreed, they notified the chief helm to set off for Tongzhou.

Before leaving, Elder Zhu proposed that Zhuangzi be set on fire. The reason is that Elder Hao will definitely lead the Qing soldiers to round up the beggar gang, and since they have pounced, they will naturally take Zhuangzi for themselves and return it to the imperial court. Instead of cheapening the tartars, it is better to burn the matter, and at the same time destroy some evidence that cannot be taken away. Anyway, the rich merchant and beggar gang disciple to whom Zhuangzi belonged had already given it to the chief rudder, so he wouldn't have any ideas. Everyone felt that he was reasonable, and Li Xiangru ordered the village to be burned.

Several beggars took torches and set fire to the front and back of the house, and in a short time the fire burst into the sky, reflecting half of the dark sky red. Li Xiangru and others drove straight to Tongzhou along the road under the reflection of the firelight.

Tongzhou is more than 100 miles away from the capital, three carriages rushed to the road, and a group of more than 10 people entered the boundary of Tongzhou at noon the next day. Elder Qi led the way, and walked from the southwest of Tongzhou, about seventy or eighty miles, and in the evening, he was inserted into a mountain road, which was so steep that the carriage was impassable. Everyone had no choice but to get the things off the carriage, give up the carriage, lead the horses, let Li Xiangru ride one, and the rest were used to carry the baggage, and the three elders and Song Ziqi and others followed on foot.

Walked along the mountain road for more than ten miles, crossed a very narrow and very narrow path, the horses had already felt difficult, Li Xiangru could only get off the horse, walk with everyone, and walk for another mile or two, the front suddenly opened up, and a large empty flat land appeared, only to see that the wilderness was overgrown with trees and flowers, and the outside was completely different from two worlds. At this time, although the sky is already dark, but the moonlight in the sky is extraordinarily bright, the clear light is sprinkled on the wilderness, and the red flowers and green trees can be vaguely seen, which is more gorgeous and lovely, and the fragrance of flowers enters the heart, spleen and nose with the night breeze, and everyone can't help but feel refreshed.

Elder Qi pointed to the foot of the mountain at the northern end of the wilderness and said, "Where is the mansion of the uncle of the Tong Gang Master?" Everyone raised their eyes, but saw a row of houses faintly visible, and the white walls were particularly eye-catching in the moonlight.

Song Ziqi and Zhang Chaofeng took the lead, taking the lead in exploring the way, Elder Qi gave guidance, the open ground was flat, and everyone chose the road for half an hour, and gradually arrived in front of the house. I saw that there were two vegetable beds in front of the house, which were naturally flourishing although no one was taking care of them. When Song Zhang and the others arrived at the door, they saw that the door was still locked. Song Ziqi said loudly: "Helper, the door is still locked, what should I do?" Li Xiangru glanced at Elder Qi, and Elder Qi said: "I have no choice but to pick the lock, and now, I don't have to care about the little etiquette." Saying that he walked to the door, reached out and grabbed the lock hand, a lucky, only to hear a "click" sound, the keyhole was unscrewed, Elder Qi is also a first-class martial arts hand in the beggar gang, his martial arts is called "broken mirror finger", specializing in finger kung fu, decades of hard practice, finger power has been able to penetrate the wooden wall, he took out the lock hook from the keyhole, threw it away, pushed the door open, and led everyone into the courtyard.

Entering the courtyard, he saw that the door of the main hall was also locked, and Elder Qi concocted the same method and opened the lock, and everyone entered the room. The beggars who came with them were busy for a while, tying up their horses, carrying their luggage, cleaning their rooms, and they were busy for two or three hours before they stopped and rested.

Li Xiangru lived in the most spacious room in the east, but he saw a wooden couch, a wooden table, an inkstone on the table, a calligraphy and painting on the wall, a pen holder made of bamboo, and several stacks of books piled on the table, faintly exuding a mixed fragrance of books and ink.

Li Xiangru looked at everything in front of him, as if he had returned to the room of his grandfather Wu Wenru in that small village on the shore of Dianchi Lake thousands of miles away. Suddenly, a thick sense of nostalgia came to my heart, and I couldn't dissolve it.