Rui Hegui

When the two returned to the small courtyard, the hired cook, Uncle Song, had already arrived and prepared dinner.

Youbai swished on to the table and started to eat, totally informal, Uncle Song was taken aback, and looked up at Zhao Liangyue in doubt, Zhao Liangyue nodded to him, sat down to eat himself, and signaled Uncle Song to sit down too.

Uncle Song hurriedly said: "No, no, sir, please use it slowly." Then he retreated.

Youbai picked up half a bowl of rice, comforted his hungry stomach a bit, then raised his head from the bowl, and said, "My lord, we sold the pendant at the pawn shop, but we didn't buy any rare items on the way back, how can we give it to the next door?" A gift?"

Zhao Liangyue took a sip of the soup and said, "I bought it."

"Bought it?" Youbai showed doubts, considered what he bought, and asked in disbelief, "No...is it the plain fan?"

Zhao Liangyue nodded slowly.

Youbai was taken aback: "I thought it was just bought to fan the fire or enjoy the cool air, isn't it only seventy coins, can the guy next door see it?"

"If it's a plain fan, of course it won't work." Zhao Liangyue frowned and spat out a piece of garlic, "But I can make him into what he wants."

Youbai nodded in doubt, and began to wonder how his young master would turn something worth 7000 Wen into a rarity worth [-] taels.

After dinner, it was dusk, and Uncle Song lit the lamp.

Youbai leaned against the study window, touched a piece of plum cake to eat, said vaguely: "The one next door seems to be returning to that courtyard, but yesterday I was not a regular resident in that courtyard, will he come today?"

"The guy next door has been waiting for a long time, how come he won't come if I don't show up?" Zhao Liangyue got up and opened the plain fan.

Youbai came over to grind at the side, and couldn't help but ask: "My lord, how did you guess that the neighbor next door has something to do with Senior Wang?"

"I didn't guess it, I knew it for real." Zhao Liangyue sighed lightly, and said, "Everyone only thinks that the scene of "Floating and Happy" is obscene language that is unbearable to the world, but they don't know that it is a helpless way for a group of people to ask for help. For example, if you think about it carefully, how many years ago did that happen, and what happened in which year?"

Youbai thought for a while, and said: "That's not exactly four years ago, Senior Wang was forcibly detained by the Zhao family, and in desperation he made a plan to get rid of the Zheng family for the Zhao family."

"It's related to this." Zhao Liangyue said, "At that time, the Zheng family had a lot of merchants and a wealthy party. It looked like it had a lot of glory, but in fact it ran a lot of brothels in private, and colluded with the government to traffic people, which was very rampant. Four years ago, A famine broke out in Hezhou, and many refugees fled to Maozhou. Among them was Qian Xiucai. Although he was surnamed Qian, he was not wealthy. He fled to Maozhou with his wife. His wife was seriously ill, but he was penniless. When he asked for help, he was deceived to the brothel because of his handsome appearance, where he was humiliated, and when his wife came to look for him, she was beaten to death."

"Later, he finally found a chance to escape and report to the officials, but he was condemned as nonsense and sent back to the brothel. In extreme grief, anger and despair, he wrote this "Floating and Happy", which is known as a drama in the brothel , in fact, there is a hidden mystery, for example, "this scene is only illuminated by the moon, and it is difficult to send a boat outside Du Lin" refers to the fact that the princess of the former dynasty forced Gu Zhishang, a celebrity, to be the head of the face, and Gu Zhishang fled to Du Linwai on a moonlit night. , was about to leave by boat, but the princess's people had already cut off his retreat, so he had no choice but to throw himself into the river."

"At that time, just like Qian Xiucai, there were countless people who were forced by the Zheng family to become prostitutes. Some of them dared to resist, and together with Qian Xiucai, they spread this "Fu Xiaoyao" all over Maozhou. They're innocent."

Youbai was startled when he heard it, but suddenly realized: "So back then, the teacher used this play to see the clue?"

Zhao Liangyue nodded, and said with a wry smile: "It's just that when the master tried to deliver the news to Beijing, it was a step too late. Qian Xiucai and others were all poisoned, and they didn't see the Zheng family and Cai Linfu, the prefect at that time, subdue the law."

"However, in the official notification document, they did not rectify their names."

"Three religions and nine streams should always be clearly distinguished." Zhao Liangyue sighed, then suddenly recalled something, and said, "Actually, we were able to overthrow the Zheng family and Cai Linfu back then, thanks to a noble person in the capital court, if he hadn't rushed in Before Cai Linfu reacted, he went to Maozhou to collect evidence, and he killed the case first, and then played the case, I am afraid that because of Cai Linfu's many tricks, it may be difficult to close the case."

"Then who is this person? This is not ordinary, it is like a legend in the mouth of a storyteller."

Zhao Liangyue smiled lightly, with regret in his tone: "The teacher did know about this person, but he didn't tell me, and that person used a fake identity, and I couldn't find it, so I just admired him in my heart."

Youbai nodded, then shook his head again, and asked: "I understand about "Fu Xiaoyao", so what does this have to do with the neighbor?"

Zhao Liangyue wrote on the fan, drawing landscapes in twos and threes, and said: "Because the government deliberately blurred back then, not many people knew the truth about "Fu Xiaoyao", but there was a theater named Dongyuan, which often came to the backyard of the mansion to sing operas for the teacher. , whose name is Huaifeng, who is righteous and upright, has helped in this case, and knows the cause and effect of this case."

"I remember this person. He especially loves fried soybeans. He would chew them when he wasn't on stage. He will pass half a century next year. His teeth are very good and he is very energetic."

"This is the man. Three years ago, he left Maozhou with Dongyuan and came to the capital. He built the Xuefangyuan." Zhao Liangyue paused the brush in his hand and said, "When the teacher was alive, he always liked to write Xuanshan's word "Xuan" is written with "Xuan" on the left as water. Few people know about this little habit. I reminded him that the old man is too lazy to change it. In the letters between you and the firm and the owner of the yard, it appears They are all the characters of 'Xuan' with the left as water, and considering the cause and effect of the past, we can see that this was done deliberately."

After hearing this, Youbai couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise, and sighed: "It's been a long circle, and it turns out that smart people are different. They don't like to come directly when they do things or talk."

After Zhao Liangyue finished his last stroke, he called Youbai to come over and watch.

Youbai only glanced at it, then said, "Isn't this Xuanshan?"

Zhao Liangyue nodded: "The only thing we need to do now is to meet the person next door. If you say it's a young master, then it must not be Huaifeng, it may be someone under him."

Youbai was puzzled: "Then let's just knock on the door and ask if it's okay, why send this fan?"

"I'm still not clear about the situation in central Beijing, and there are some things that need to be tested." Zhao Liangyue said, changed the brush and wanted to write on the fan, but was stopped by Youbai.

"Young master, do you want to write an inscription on it?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

Youbai giggled a few times, and said honestly: "My lord, you don't need to talk about your paintings, but your calligraphy... but Dong Zhizhou was stunned when he saw it, or..."

Don't write it, it's too ugly. If it weren't for the transcripts of the imperial examinations in this dynasty, the presbyopic examiner would have been tortured to death. How can there be Jie Yuan on the Guibang?

Zhao Liangyue glanced at Youbai, shook off his hand, and moved the pen stubbornly.

Youbai pursed his lips, and could only watch his handsome young master stand upright in front of the case, and then wrote down freely - it was so ugly that he couldn't bear to look straight at it!

After a while, Zhao Liangyue put down his pen, waited for the pen and ink to dry, put away the fan and put it in the box, and went out with You Bai to the next door.

The first thing that catches the eye is an old willow plant that is like a brother in front of our yard, waving its jagged dead branches in the north wind. As the dusk gradually sinks, two stone lamps just hang the shadow of the willow on the On the back wall, it looks like a demon with its teeth and claws, the whole house is lined with eerie, and the coolness quietly climbs up the back.

Youbai paused, glanced at the words "Xiao Zhai" projected on the gate under the shadow, and couldn't help suggesting: "My lord, why don't we come back tomorrow."

Zhao Liangyue didn't speak, he raised his chin towards the door of Xiao Zhai, signaling Youbai to knock on the door quickly, Youbai had no choice but to step forward, grabbed the door cymbal and knocked on the door.

After a while, in the silence, the door opened with a creak, Youbai thought it was no surprise that a ghost walked out of the door.

In fact, what came out was a little boy with a ruddy face and a rather pleasingly chubby face, with a safety lock around his neck.

Zhao Liangyue cupped his hands and said, "I'm here to visit your master."

Youbai glanced at the gate of the courtyard, and couldn't help slandering, where is your mansion, it's clearly a ghost mansion!

"What's the matter?" The little boy was unrestrained, tilting his head, looking straight at them with those bright black eyes, and the eyeballs rolled around.

"Yesterday, the children in the yard were playful and disturbed your house by jumping over the eaves and walls. I am here to make amends."

The little boy nodded, glanced at the box in Youbai's hand, raised his finger, and asked, "Is this an apology?"

"That's right, I hope to pass it on to your young master."

The little boy didn't say anything, suddenly his figure flashed, the bell rang softly, and in an instant he was in front of Youbai, and he reached out to grab the box, but Youbai dodged sideways.

"It's so fast." The little boy said.

"Why are you robbing me!" Youbai was furious.

The little boy frowned, and asked inexplicably, "Aren't you going to give it to my son?"

"That is also to see your son."

"Don't you want to give it?" Xiaotong said displeased, tilting his head and glaring at Youbai.

Youbai felt that the cute little boy just now seemed to be in need of a beating, and was about to explode, but was stopped by Zhao Liangyue.

"Then give it to the little friend, I hope your young master will accept it." Zhao Liangyue took the box and handed it to the little boy.

The little boy took the box, stuck out his tongue at Youbai provocatively, saw Youbai raised his fist angrily at him, laughed, turned around and slipped in the door like a loach.

Youbai said angrily: "If you can't bully the small with the big, give him a big beating!"

"Okay, okay, let's go back."

Zhao Liangyue smiled and touched Youbai's head, smoothed his hair, and then led him back to his yard.

"That child, is... is it him?"

Behind the gate of Xiao's house, an old woman with gray temples was still looking at the closed courtyard door for a long time, and refused to turn around and go back to the house, her voice trembling uncontrollably.

"Yes."

A figure in white took the box handed over by the little boy, opened it and took a look, there seemed to be waves of light in his calm eyes.

"I really want to hug him, that kid is so terrible, at such a young age..."

"But now is not the time." The figure in white comforted gently.

"I know, I know." The old woman couldn't stop shedding tears, coughed a few times with a handkerchief in her mouth, and said, "But it's been too difficult for so many years..."

"We will meet again in the future. It's cold in the night, you should go back to the house first."

When Zhao Liangyue took Youbai back to the courtyard, Uncle Song was cooking jujube kernel porridge, saying that it was a cold autumn night, the two of them went out once, and came back just to warm up.

There was a lot of lunch in the afternoon, and Zhao Liangyue hadn't completely digested it yet, so he only asked Uncle Song to make a cup of hot tea, which was grapefruit white, and he definitely wouldn't refuse it. He filled it up in a large porcelain bowl, and sat on the steps of the porch to eat it. Don't forget to praise while eating, Uncle Song is also happy to hear it.

Zhao Liangyue said: "Uncle Song, you must be tired from tidying up the courtyard today, go and rest."

Uncle Song knew that this was an important matter to discuss, so he bowed and retreated.

"My lord, did you also notice that there are other people behind Cai Cai's door?" You Bai raised his head and asked Zhao Liangyue.

"Well, it's just an intuition. You have always been keen in martial arts. Tell me what you noticed."

Youbai took a big mouthful of sweet and hot porridge, and replied: "There are two people behind the door, neither of whom knows martial arts. One of them is a young man, and it is likely to be the beautiful young man I saw over the wall. It must be an old woman who seems to be in poor health."

"It's a bit strange, trying to lure me here, but refusing to meet." Zhao Liangyue frowned slightly, thought for a while, looked up at the waning moon in the night sky, felt inexplicably anxious, then lowered his head to drink tea, and found The tea was already cold, so he put it aside, and said to Youbai, "You go out tomorrow, find a way to find out, and find out who the identity of the next door is."

Yubai nodded repeatedly.

"Also, starting tomorrow, I will go out and tell fortunes."

Youbai nodded, then froze for a moment, and looked at his son suspiciously: "Why do you want to tell a fortune?"

Zhao Liangyue looked at Youbai with a dazed face, with a few grains of rice hanging from his mouth, and said with a smile: "Earn some copper coins, you can eat so much, if you don't find a livelihood, one day we will sit and eat."

Youbai was about to refute, Zhao Liangyue threw the long sword on the side to him, and said: "You haven't practiced well these two days, now I will supervise you, practice quickly."

"My God, son, you should be a person, I haven't finished my porridge yet."

"Two bowls are not enough for you to drink? Stop talking nonsense, hurry up, and hurry up."

Youbai had no choice but to pick a big red date from the bowl and eat it, put down the bowl reluctantly, drew his sword angrily and walked to the courtyard, muttering softly: "Every time you are in a bad mood, you like to let me practice sword. "

"What are you mumbling about?"

Youbai quickly shut up, adjusted his breath, swung his sword with his breath, his youthful aura shone with brilliance, and his figure was like a crane flying in the clouds.

"It's for you to practice swords, not to dance swords." Zhao Liangyue reminded.

Hearing this, Youbai withdrew his steps and turned his wrists, changed his moves, and as he flipped his long sword, his eyes became sharper. Every move was pressed step by step, clanging like lightning piercing through the air, and several flying leaves in the air split into two in an instant.