No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 852 Yunmeng
“Ding—ding—!”

In early autumn, the morning bells echo.

The bells rang one after another, and dewdrops fell from the bells that had been silent all night, flowing down in a thin stream and dripping onto the boots of the young man in monk's robes who was ringing the bells.

Ever since a new bell ringer came to the bell tower in the south corner of the town, in addition to the monotonous bell that tells the time on time, the morning and evening wake-up bells in Taoyuan Town are all extremely regular with 108 rings.

However, the persistent ringing of the bell could not disperse the white fog that shrouded Taoyuan Town all year round.

The same is true today.

Starting from the first cockcrow downstairs, Ouyang Rong rang the bell 108 times in an orderly manner, put down the wooden bell, raised his head and took a deep breath, then picked up the sweat towel hanging around his neck and wiped his forehead.

Standing on the bell tower and looking out, the entire view is foggy. One can only vaguely see the eaves of nearby buildings, which are so damp and covered with moss.

But after he finished ringing the bell, the noise of the townspeople getting up early gradually grew louder in his ears.

Another new day.

Today should be a sunny day with the autumn sun rising.

However, when Ouyang Rong looked up, he found, as expected, that the autumn sun was blocked out by the white fog that enveloped the town. Gazing from a high building, he could only see a hazy round outline, like the yolk of a poached egg.

Next to the big bell, the young man in monk's robes touched his chin, and in this gesture, he habitually adjusted the hidden bronze mask.

A "dull" face, a little distracted.

It has been twenty days since Ouyang Rong came to Taoyuan Town. Unlike Ah Qing who was taken away by Xue Zhongzhu, Ouyang Rong, as the "brother", was put down by the golden-haired lady on the way and left in a bell tower in this small town called Taoyuan.

As for the new disciple's "brother", he was very frugal with words, and left only one sentence before leaving in the early morning of that night:
"Just wait patiently."

Ouyang Rong inexplicably lived in this town. He remembered that early in the morning, an old man in the town came to him and took him to have a meal of special pickled fish and stuffed lotus root. He also arranged a job for him as a bell ringer. He lived and ate in the bell tower.

Apart from the meager wages paid every ten days, there were no other instructions. Even if Ouyang Rong went to look for him again, he would never have the chance to see the busy village elder again.

For an energetic man like Ouyang Rong, the job of ringing the bell was not too tiring. He was a restless person, and coming to a new environment, he was full of curiosity and desire to explore, so Ouyang Rong went downstairs and found a new job.

It was an inn on the west side of the bell tower, also close to the gate. Its name was also vulgar, called Hongchen Inn. Ouyang Rong found a job as a security guard there.

Commonly known as a handyman, he is responsible for buying groceries, running errands, and settling carriages for guests. Anyway, he does whatever is available as long as he has a bit of vision. He is paid on a daily basis. Although the proprietress has a sharp tongue and looks like an aunt with a horse face and is no longer pretty, she is also a straightforward person.

Ouyang Rong just needs to maintain his character of being taciturn, silent and dull. In the past ten days or so, he hasn't encountered any messy things.

The boss lady should like hardworking people, well, provided they are strong and strong guys... and occasionally give him a few more coins and throw him a wink.

But for Ouyang Rong, the wages and the flirting were secondary. The important thing was that the staff turnover in restaurants and inns was always high, so he could quietly collect some information...

I rested for a while on the railing on the rooftop, looked around at the scenery, and silently wiped the non-existent sweat with a sweat towel.

In fact, considering Ouyang Rong's physique as a seventh-grade Qigong practitioner, ringing the bell 108 times was a piece of cake for him. He didn't even need to take a breath and rest.

But every time after ringing the bell, he still looked tired and resting, just like an ordinary rough man.

Ouyang Rong glanced at the Hongchen Inn next to him.

Early in the morning, the restaurant was already open and busy. A new traveler impatiently shouted to the waiter to open the gate and stop the carriage, but the waiter was also a bad-tempered person. He smiled but cursed back in dialect, which the traveler could not understand...

Ouyang Rong wiped his face for the last time, turned around, and slowly climbed down the stairs. It was time to go back to the inn to work.

Ouyang Rong was born with a good sense of direction. He could usually return to a place he had been to once by the same route. So on that rainy night, when Xue Zhongzhu led them out of Donglin Temple, although most of the time they walked through wild mountains and wilderness, crossed bridges, took boats, and traveled around mountains and rivers, compared to Ah Qing, who had a confused face, Ouyang Rong paid attention to the route along the way and memorized it in his mind.

He was certain that this Taoyuan Town was not within Jiangzhou, but was located in the southwest of Jiangzhou, close to Lingnan Road, or perhaps it was actually Lingnan Road. He just didn't know which remote prefecture or county in Lingnan Road it belonged to.

But one thing is certain, Taoyuan Town is very deep in the Yunmeng Lake and its location is very remote. Further in, there are only swamps and lakes with few people. It is estimated that this is the nearest mountain market to Yunmeng within a radius of 100 miles.

The mundane worldly atmosphere can only stop here.

By the time the Luoyang imperial power had reached this place, only a few weak "thin whiskers" were left.

Anyway, after living there for a while, Ouyang Rong did not notice any government officials in the town, nor did he see any servants patrolling or ringing the night watch at night. The night watchmen were all arranged by several wealthy families in the town, and they were only responsible for their own neighborhoods.

Apart from the highly mobile outsiders, the permanent residents of Taoyuan Town can be roughly divided into nine surnames with a strong sense of clan. The restaurants and shops in the town are all run by members of each surname, so the words of the village elders and clan leaders are the most effective.

I don’t know if there is a mayor appointed by the government. Maybe he is also the village chief of a big family. But this title given by the government is probably as insignificant in the minds of the townspeople as the emperor.

Real villagers’ self-governance.

From this perspective, the town does look like a paradise.

Ouyang Rong thought silently as he climbed down the stairs.

For the time being, he had no intention of reporting the news back to Xunyang and mobilizing government forces.

Firstly, it would be easy to be exposed if messages were passed back and forth; secondly, given the current situation, staying calm is the best solution.

These days, Ouyang Rong searched his memory carefully and had a vague impression of the three-character name "Taoyuan Town".

This name should have been mentioned in a piece of intelligence submitted by Liu Lang when he was ordered to mobilize government forces from surrounding states to investigate the gate of Yunmeng Jianze Mountain. However, it was also mentioned along with many state and county names - all of which were places close to Yunmeng Lake on the map.

At that time, it was mixed in and inconspicuous.

Here we have to talk about Yunmeng Lake. It is not a swamp, but a general name for a group of ancient lakes. The word "Meng" means "lake" in Wu Yue dialect. There are swamp areas in it, but more of it is vast water surface. Thousands of islands are dotted around, as complicated as a maze.

I even heard rumors from some fishermen who accidentally went deep into the lake that deep in the Yunmeng Lake, there are islands as big as land, so big that you can't see the end of them at a glance...

When Ouyang Rong was searching before, he browsed through the local county chronicles, but could not find any map of Yunmengze, only scattered records.

But he made a rough estimate and found that the current Yunmeng Lake stretched for at least nine hundred miles.

However, according to some ancient books, the Yunmeng Ancient Lake was even larger in the Pre-Qin period. Ancient books record that it was boundless and looked like the sea. Some even exaggeratedly said that it was comparable to the North Sea, attracting Pre-Qin alchemists to enter in search of immortals... In any case, it was definitely more than 900 miles in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Over the years, the world has changed dramatically. After the diversion of the Yangtze River system and the influence of the activities of the people in the south of the Yangtze River for thousands of years, the scope of Yunmeng Lake has shrunk greatly.

But the nine hundred miles of Yunmeng is still daunting.

Jiangzhou is just one of the dozens of states bordering it. This area spans across the Jiangnan and Lingnan regions, but because of this, it has become a no-man's land, naturally breeding chivalrous thieves and hermits...

Back to the point, before this, the governments of all the prefectures and counties bordering Yunmengze had responded to the call of the Jiangzhou Hall and sent people to investigate, but they found nothing.

Looking back now, this Taoyuan Town is actually the breakthrough point. It is very close to the secret mountain gate of Yunmeng Jianze, and its approximate range can be locked through it.

However, at this point, it is still a bit tricky.

Xue Zhongzhu was much more cautious than he thought. He left him here and only took Ah Qing away.

With so much security, it is no wonder that there was no news after searching through various channels including Longhu Mountain, Jiangzhou government, and Jiangnan merchants.

Ouyang Rong pursed his lips and looked southward at the vast white lake.

The day before yesterday, he took some time to go to the south of the town to take a look. Taoyuan Town faces the water in the south, and there is a small pier for fishermen and tourists to go deep into Yunmeng. However, there is always white fog above this vast water. Fishermen said that this white fog is always there, separating the islands on the water like a barrier. In particular, the water surface is not calm, and there are many undercurrents and whirlpools that can affect the judgment of the boatman.

Therefore, even the most experienced fisherman in the town dare not go too far from the land, and it is considered amazing if he can return the same way he came.

Some daring travelers or people who came here for the sake of its reputation often got lost and never came back. Gradually, no boatman dared to take on this kind of work. They only rented boats but did not take people deep into the sea.

The white fog that lingers over Taoyuan Town all day long also comes from the water.

During the twenty days since Ouyang Rong came here, he has rarely seen the sun. Only at noon when the sun is at its strongest, does some pale yellow sunlight fall on the eaves of the bell tower.

Ouyang Rong suddenly thought of a poem.

The mist rises from Yunmeng Lake.

Could this white mist be the evaporation of the sun?

The work in Hongchen Inn was rather dull and tedious, but Ouyang Rong did not want to be like other servants, who spent their free time flirting with the young maids and the fat proprietress.

In the eyes of outsiders, he worked hard all day like a dullard, collected his wages, went to the bell tower to ring the bell in the evening, ate some steamed buns, and went to bed early.

Late at night, a strange, short, rapid sound suddenly came from outside.

Ouyang Rong suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed the scroll under the pillow.

The air is quiet.

He waited for a moment, but the strange sound had disappeared, leaving him no chance to listen carefully.

It's like an auditory hallucination.

Ouyang Rong closed his eyes but did not let go, still holding the Peach Blossom Spring painting.

This isn't the first time.

Several times before, Ouyang Rong, who had a light sleep, was woken up by strange noises late at night.

I have heard it many times, and in summary, this sound is like the collision of swords and weapons, or the screaming of people, but it is very short-lived. Every time I prepare to listen carefully, it disappears and silence returns...

However, one time, during the day, Ouyang Rong got up early and went out to ring the bell. Standing on the high point of the bell tower, he saw a smear of bright red on the bluestone slabs of the street in the distance, but it was quickly cleaned up by the diligent street cleaners.

As if nothing had happened, the town welcomed a new day.

Ouyang Rong remembered that on his first day, the village elder who invited him to breakfast seemed to have reminded him to try not to go out at night and to go to bed early and get up early.

At first Ouyang Rong thought that the public security was bad, but at night, he found that it was very quiet outside and seemed very peaceful.

Later, I also asked my colleagues at the Hongchen Inn, and it seems that not going out at night is indeed an unwritten rule in the town.

It was not until later that Ouyang Rong heard strange noises one after another in the middle of the night and saw those street cleaners who were used to it that he finally figured out what was going on...

In addition, Ouyang Rong also discovered that he was not the only one who wanted to find Yunmeng Jianze. The town welcomed many strange guests every day, with strange clothes and complicated accents... They were all asking about Yunmeng Ze in a roundabout way, as if they were looking for something.

Temporarily cut off from the Jiangzhou Hall, Ouyang Rong was unsure if there were any people sent by the imperial court among them, so he decided to protect himself first...

Ouyang Rong gradually began to understand why Xue Zhongzhu left him in the town.

Taoyuan Town was quiet and peaceful in the dark night, and every household stayed indoors.

Taoyuan Town was still bustling in the daytime. As the last stop before entering Yunmeng Lake, it welcomed and sent off people...

The residents of the town and the strangers all seemed to follow certain rules tacitly.

So during these twenty days, even when Ouyang Rong went to sleep at night, he wore a bronze mask to maintain the fake body of a dull young man, and fell asleep with the scroll as a pillow.

In addition, when you are outside during the day, try to pretend to be a normal person.

He also did not let the white sturgeon that had been following him show up to find him.

Although Ouyang Rong had managed to evade Xue Zhongzhu's inspection with the help of Emperor Wen's magical powers, the eldest lady's vigilance remained unabated... and she was not targeting just him.

This town is like a filter...

In the town, there were many pairs of eyes hidden in the dark, staring at the visitors.

But Ouyang Rong didn’t know how long this surveillance state would last.

In other words, how long the test will last.

In the small dark room, Ouyang Rong was awake but unable to fall asleep, so he simply closed his eyes, hugged his chest, and reviewed the arrangements again.

In Longcheng, Ah Qing's family had already been changed to an ordinary family, and even their household registration had been changed.

This was also something that Ouyang Rong had arranged for Magistrate Diao to do a long time ago. Before he went to Xunyang to take up his post, he had considered that someone might take advantage of his weak spot.

So he helped Ah Qing's family to change their appearance early on, and even arranged an identity for him, his "brother".

Just call him Aliang, yeah, the Liang as in Lianghan, no lie, very reasonable.

Therefore, except for Master Shandao and a few other monks such as Xiufa, the people of Longcheng did not know where the widow of the martyr "Ashan" had gone.

Ouyang Rong waited patiently. If nothing unexpected happened, after Xue Zhongzhu took Ah Qing back, he would definitely send someone to Longcheng for another check.

He was left in Taoyuan Town, probably because he was waiting for the results of the reexamination...

Another hour passed and it was almost dawn.

This is just when the townspeople are about to wake up, and it is also the time when the night watchman, who has been tense all night, is subconsciously the most relaxed.

Ouyang Rong on the couch suddenly opened his eyes.

He looked around the dark room, took out a fire starter from under his pillow and lit it, then carefully opened the Peach Blossom Spring painting and took out a letter written in blood.

It was left by Cui Hao.

Ouyang Rong browsed through it in the dim light of the fire and gradually frowned.

In the blood letter, Cui Hao mentioned three ways to find his related relics. One is to go to Luoyang in the north to look for his descendants Qinghe Cui family. The other is to look for several specific ancient temples in the north, where there are relics behind the murals in the temples.

The last method, which is slightly more reliable, is to look for a solitary grave in the south, still in the Yunmeng Lake.

Ouyang Rong carefully studied the approximate location he gave and gradually frowned.

In Yunmeng Lake, was it a coincidence or intentional? But if you think about it carefully, Cui Hao overheard Tao Yuanming telling him the whereabouts of the "Elixir of Life" sword formula, so he should have known that he would come to Yunmeng Lake.

Ouyang Rong looked at the blood letter again. According to Cui Hao, the owner of this tomb was a scholar named Lu during the Northern and Southern Dynasties...

(End of this chapter)