At this time, it was noon, the weather was hot and hot, and on the official road under Xiyun Mountain, merchants came and went to hide in the forest to enjoy the cool rest. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info but at this time there was a sound of horses' hooves from far and near, there were curious merchants poking their heads out of the forest, fanning the wind with a hat, wanting to see what kind of fool they were, galloping wild in this weather, and not afraid of heat stroke.

I saw a few majestic horses galloping towards me, raising their hooves, and rushing over in an instant, raising smoke and dust all the way. The merchant in the forest spat a few mouthfuls of saliva before he spit out the dust in his mouth. The few horses that had just passed were so fast that they could only vaguely see that there seemed to be a woman in white among the riders.

These four people are Zhou Shaobai and his party.

When he was about to go down the mountain, Zhou Shaobai said to the other three: "There is a vast sea of people, but I don't know where to look for these three people." ”

Zhang Xiaofeng said: "The head of the house just said that among the three people, Chang Baicao and Qiao Poison Gu have not walked in the rivers and lakes for five years, and the only one who has some news is the monk Duci, someone saw him in Qian'an two years ago, and what we can do now is to go to Qian'an to inquire about his whereabouts." ”

"Qian An is east of Xiyun Mountain, if you want to go, you must pass through Lianzhou City. Li Yuankang thought for a while and said, "From Lianzhou to Qiao'an, there is a distance of more than 300 miles, and if you ride a horse, it will take at least three or four days. Today is already halfway through, half a day is enough time to settle down in Lianzhou City, and we will leave early tomorrow morning. ”

Zhou Shaobai said happily: "Do you want to go to Lianzhou City first? Then you can live in my house, my home is in Lianzhou City." ”

When everyone heard it, it turned out that Zhou Shaobai was from Lianzhou, so he had a place to settle down at night, and he didn't even have to go to the inn, so he was very happy. So a few people came to the bottom of the mountain, someone had already prepared horses, and the four of them selected a few horses and came all the way to Lianzhou.

Although a few horses are heroic abnormal, in such a hot summer weather can only run and walk, about two hours, there is finally a majestic city gate in front, the stone plaque above the city gate is engraved with the word Lianzhou, vigorous and simple.

Several people rode to the city gate, only to see that there was a checkpoint here, all the people and merchants who entered the city, they had to guard the gate before they could enter the city, and the people who were waiting at this time had lined up for a long time, the sun was poisoning, and they were extremely thirsty in the sun.

Li Yuankang sighed and said, "This has to be scheduled until the Year of the Monkey!"

Zhou Shaobai got off the horse, came to the back of the team, and asked an old man dressed as a businessman: "Dare to ask the old man, why did Lianzhou suddenly set up a card?"

The old man looked at him in amazement: "Don't you know in your later life? I heard that thieves have been rebelling in Hexi recently, so all cities have set up checkpoints to prevent spies from getting involved." ”

Zhou Shaobai nodded and thanked: "Thank you for your advice." ”

He returned to the three of them and told the news he had gotten, Mu Ningzhi and Zhang Xiaofeng didn't make a sound, and Li Yuankang wiped the sweat on his forehead: "This ghost weather is going to be hot and dead, so I really don't know how long it will take." Let's just go over and tell the sergeant guarding the gate that we are from Xiyun Mountain, and they should let us in. ”

Zhang Xiaofeng shook his head: "This is not appropriate, the head of the family has instructed the four of us to take into account the reputation of Daoxi Yunshan in everything we say and do under the mountain, and we must not lose a big one because of a small one." If you do what you said, although it is convenient, in the hearts of the people, they will look down on the people of Xiyunmen. ”

Li Yuankang disagreed: "Reputation can't be eaten, let alone inserting a queue, you can make Xiyun lose her reputation?"

The two had to argue again, and Mu Ningzhi, who had been silent, said: "It's not good to compete with the people for profit after all." Besides, they are all cultivators, so they can't stand this bit of heat?"

Li Yuankang said with a smile: "Who said that? I feel cold all over my body when I look at you, even if you stand for twelve hours, it doesn't matter." ”

At this time, someone pushed out several carts from the city gate, and each cart was placed with a large wooden barrel, and the cart came along the procession, and stopped after every few steps, and the cart man scooped out several bowls of buckets and handed them to the people in line, and the people in line took it, and after thanking them, they drank it all, and then put the wooden bowl back on the car.

Zhang Xiaofeng put his hand on the pergola and looked at it, and said: "It's really a kind person, seeing that the weather is hot, he also distributed mung bean soup to the people to drink." The words on the barrel are "Kuyasudo". ”

"Jiukangtang?" Zhou Shaobai said happily, "Jiukangtang is my family's pharmacy! ”

He handed the reins to Zhang Xiaofeng's hand, and hurriedly walked towards several carts, and when he got closer, he saw a man in his fifties saying to the people in line: "Don't worry, don't worry, everyone has it, drink slowly, don't choke." You don't have to thank you, you don't have to. ”

Zhou Shaobai was overjoyed when he saw this person, and shouted, "Uncle Nine!"

The man was stunned for a moment, turned his head to look at Zhou Shaobai, and Zhou Shaobai said again: "Uncle Jiu, don't you remember me?"

The man looked at it carefully, and a happy color appeared on his face: "Young owner?"

It turned out that this person was the shopkeeper of Zhou Chaozong's family, his name was Jin Jiu, he was a buddy in Jiukangtang when he was young, and he was deeply appreciated by the Zhou family. Before Zhou Shaobai went up the mountain when he was a child, Jin Jiu liked to tease him the most, and the two had a very strong relationship, and Zhou Shaobai had been calling him Uncle Nine since he could remember. The year before last, when Zhou Chaozong and Qin Guangzhong went up the mountain to visit Zhou Shaobai, Jin Jiuyi heard that he was going to visit the little young master, and he wanted to go with him, but the business of the pharmacy needed to be managed, so he had to stay.

In this way, the last time the two met was eight years ago.

Zhou Shaobai strode forward to hold Jin Jiu's arm, and laughed: "Uncle Jiu, you can be regarded as recognizing me!"

"Little master, although you have grown up, you still look the same as when you were a child, white and pure, how could I not recognize it, hahaha!" Jin Jiu was overjoyed and laughed.

Zhou Shaobai saw that his temples were already gray, and he couldn't help but sigh: "The last time I saw Uncle Jiu, it was when my father sent me up the mountain, when I was just an eight-year-old doll, and now I am sixteen years old. ”

Jin Jiu couldn't help crying bitterly: "Yes, it's been eight years in a blink of an eye, and the little master has grown up......"

Zhou Shaobai saw that he was crying heavily, and couldn't help but pat him on the back to comfort him, Jin Jiu quickly wiped away his tears: "Little master, I'm out of shape." Come on, a few of you come here, and you've seen the young owner!"

A few guys hurriedly came over and bowed: "I've seen the young owner!"

Zhou Shaobai hurriedly said: "Don't be polite, everyone, continue to work!"

The guys nodded in thanks, and continued to give mung bean soup to the people, Zhou Shaobai asked, "Uncle Jiu, where is my father?"

Jin Jiuyi patted his head, took Zhou Shaobai's hand and left: "Oh, look at my brain, go quickly, the owner is in the pharmacy, if I see you come back, Zhun Bao will be happy!"

"Hey, wait a minute, I still have friends to go over. Zhou Shaobai hurriedly said, he took Jin Jiu to Zhang Xiaofeng and a few people and introduced them.

Jin Jiu's eyes widened and said: "Oh, it turned out to be the immortal of Xiyunguan! Disrespectful and disrespectful, you come with me, it's too hot to talk under such a poisonous sun!"

Zhou Shaobai asked, "Uncle Nine, is it convenient for you to take us in?"

"It's convenient and convenient, since the beginning of the summer, the owner has sent me to give these mung bean soups outside the city gate for free to the people who pass by to quench their thirst, including these soldiers who defend the city also have a bucket, they have long known me. ”

Jin Jiu hurriedly led the horses of a few people, and took Zhou Shaobai and his party into the city smoothly, and then came to Jiukang Hall.

Jiukangtang is located in the most prosperous east and west streets of Lianzhou City, sitting in the north and facing south, Lianzhou City is adjacent to the official road to chong, and the merchants and merchants are gathered here, so the whole street is endless, bustling.

Zhou Shaobai liked to play on this street when he was a child, and after eight years of separation, he revisited his hometown, and suddenly returned to the lively world from the secluded and cool Taoist temple, only to feel like a fish on the shore jumping back into the water, indescribably comfortable.

However, he did not look closely at the street where he had played countless times in his childhood, but hurriedly walked in front of Jin Jiu and strode straight into the pharmacy with the plaque of "Jiukangtang" hanging high.