Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

When Wu Ji came in, she saw a red coffin on the hall. When she was invited back from the clan, she thought something terrible had happened, but she was startled when she entered the door.

"What is this?" Wu Ji asked the servant who was standing by, "Okay, how do I put the coffin here, where is my third sister?"

The servant said: "Miss San, please wait for her here for a while, she said she will be there in a while."

Just as they were talking about a group of people coming over with lanterns, Wu Ji took a closer look and saw that it was Wu Yue. She wondered: "Sanjie, what are you asking me to come over in such a hurry?"

Wu Yue retreated, approached the coffin and said, "Yesterday, Wu Lan flew a kite and fell in the east courtyard. No one has entered that place for many years. When he opened the door, he found a small pavilion inside. With the red pavilion."

Wu Ji watched her push open the coffin lid and bury her head in it, only to feel that the coffin lid was cold.Fortunately, Wu Yue got up immediately, and Wu Ji saw that she was holding a bit card in her hand, the black paint had peeled off a little, but the words on it could be distinguished.

"Wu...Wu Yi? Who is this?"

"There are very few people who can monopolize a courtyard behind my Wu family's ancestral hall, and use a pavilion to seal the coffin and still have the surname Wu." Wu Yue held a tablet and said expressionlessly: "There is no such person in the main family tree, please come here and be honest." It's for this."

Liufang has been in charge of family rites for many years, and is responsible for weddings and funerals in the clan. Wu Ji immediately understood, and said, "The third sister wants me to check the genealogy of the side branch? If this person is from the side branch, how could he be behind the ancestral hall of the main family?" ?”

Wu Yue said lightly: "If it's true as you said, why isn't this person's name included in the genealogy?"

Wu Ji thought for a moment, saw no one was around, and said in a low voice: "Third sister doesn't know, the genealogy of this family, because of some omissions in the early years, seems to have been rebuilt."

Wu Yue rested his hand on the red coffin and patted it lightly.Wu Ji wanted to persuade her that touching the coffin was not very auspicious, so she shifted her gaze to the lid of the coffin, suddenly let out a gasp, and said, "This coffin...is this coffin Hailiu?"

Wu Yue knocked on the coffin lid and said, "It's red willow. This coffin is so bright red without paint, because it's all made of red willow."

Wu Ji didn't care about any auspiciousness or inauspiciousness, and ran to the red coffin and exclaimed, "How much material did this cost!"

Her hand touched the cover, and it was smooth and delicate, with bright luster, as if it was new.If you look carefully, you can see the texture on it. It stands to reason that sea willows cannot grow as big as ordinary trees, let alone make a coffin. This red coffin must be made of countless red willows, but there is no stitching at all. The traces show the superb craftsmanship of the carpenter.

Wu Ji suddenly realized that he could use such expensive wood to make a coffin, he probably would never be an unknown person, why his name is not found in the genealogy, the reason is intriguing.

"But the courtyard has been in the Lord's house for many years, but no one can enter it. Should I report it to the patriarch first?"

As soon as this remark came out, she knew that she had said something wrong, Wu Yue raised her eyes, shook her sleeves and said, "Ask who, am I just like this?"

"The more you ask, the more time will be wasted. If my aunt blames me, I will bear all the blame." Wu Yue sighed and sneered: "The people sent by the imperial court are already in Cangwu County. When I was a Hezhou inspector earlier, I seemed to have taken the lead of our Wu family? It’s really amazing. I worked hard to plan, but I didn’t expect such a day to come. Liumei Lao will go to greet a few aunts for me, Didn't they say earlier that as long as I stay at the Lord's house for a day, they won't take half a step?"

She caressed the coffin lid, her gaze was like lightning, and Wu Ji felt a little ashamed. There were constant disputes in the clan, all because of the position of patriarch.Wu Yue was silent for a moment, and then sarcastically said: "In this situation, the greedy people have tasted bad results? Don't they want to sue the patriarch? Then go and sue! If the Wu family is safe and sound at that time, I, Wu Yue, will be punished. , look at that time, who is the sinner of the Wu clan!"

Wu Ji was a little at a loss, and realized that she had put her hands on the red coffin for an unknown amount of time, she hastily retracted her sleeves, and suddenly remembered something, she hurriedly said: "Look at my memory! Third sister, didn't you entrust me to do it before?" Did you find out about Chen Hejie? Guess what I found out, there is a temple like this in Changfeng County, dedicated to the two people in the storyteller. Miao Zhu said that this temple was built just last year, hey, yes I don’t know who is building temples and statues for the people in this play, don’t you think it’s too busy?”

Wu Yue turned around slowly, and said in disbelief: "What did you say? Tell me again."

"Excuse me, may I ask Wei Yuanling to make some stone carvings in your workshop?"

The two of them came together carrying a stone statue, Qing Ping avoided sideways, covered his face with a fan, and acted like a rich lady. She was wearing a brocade robe today, and was surrounded by a group of entourages standing in the stone carving workshop. Impatient.

The owner of the workshop saw a big customer coming, so he hurriedly stepped forward to introduce him courteously. Qingping walked around the small stone carving workshop, sized up the stone carving ornaments with unkind eyes, closed his fan and turned his back to the owner, and the attendant said: " My master was offering incense in the temple to pray for blessings, and accidentally discovered that several statues in the temple were carved by this master Wei Yuanling, so he deliberately inquired about it, and heard that Master Wei is currently working in your workshop, I wonder if you can invite her Make a statue of a dragon girl for my master."

The owner of the shop was shocked at first, and then said: "You are making a joke of the distinguished guest. It's not that our shop doesn't pick up, but Wei Yuanling..."

Qingping suddenly said: "How is she?"

The owner of the shop sighed and said: "Wei Yuanling is my junior sister. In the early years, she was also a well-known master of Zhaoye. Every year, the statues of dragon girls made at the Wanghai Banquet were invited back by various gods to worship, or bought by wealthy merchants. As the guests have seen, there is still a statue of the dragon god made by her in the temple, but now... she, she is so stupid that she can't hold the handle of the carving knife and bow."

Qingping's eyes focused, and he smiled for a while and said: "A certain person came all the way from Hengzhou, just because Jiayan once bought a statue made by Master Wei for his late mother as a memory... Although Master Wei is already stupid now, but he can Would you like to let someone meet her?"

"The branches of the phoenix tree are straight, the trunk lines are carved horizontally, the leaves are pentagonal, and the branches and leaves should be attached to each other..."

The backyard of the stone carving workshop is full of various stone statues that have been completed or are waiting to be completed. The ground is paved with chaotic stones and foam. In the corner sits a man with a disheveled face and ragged clothes, who is carving something crookedly with a carving knife, following the past. Patting her on the shoulder lightly, he asked, "Master Wei?"

The man swayed and muttered something, Qing Ping looked at the odds and ends beside her feet, they were carved in a mess, and he didn't know what they were, but the chisel knives were well placed.She walked in front of Wei Yuanling, Wei Yuanling just lowered her head and muttered something, sometimes sad and sometimes happy, with a hair tied around her wrist.The chisel was very sharp, and it chiseled the stone in her hand.

Seeing this, the attendants at the side stood by Qingping's side to prevent Wei Yuanling from hurting others. After all, no one with dementia would know what to do.

Seeing this, Qingping said to the owner of the workshop: "I have heard about Master Wei's name for a long time, but I never thought that it would be such a land. What a pity."

After saying that, he took some silver and gave it to the owner of the workshop. The owner of the workshop refused repeatedly, but he couldn't stand Qingping's earnest words, so he had to accept it.

The crazy people on the ground looked up at them, Qingping gave her a gentle smile, and left the stone carving workshop with his entourage.

Li Yan was sitting in the tea shop listening to people's storytelling, the tea in front of her had already been filled for the fourth time, if it was in Chang'an, the boss would probably have driven him out of the door, but fortunately this place is Zhaoye, Chenzhou, she was not afraid of losing face, so she was generous Face sat for a long time.Li Yan squeezed open a peanut and rubbed off the red skin in her hands. She seemed to be savoring the peanut carefully, but she was actually listening to the people at the next table chatting.

"What day is this month?"

"I'm afraid it's No. 14!"

"Hey, let me tell you, the world is not peaceful recently. First, the Dragon Temple was washed away by the flood, and now it's a missing person..."

"Just take care of yourself!"

"I don't know what the governor of Zhaoye's government is doing for the punishment yamen. He loses people under his nose, so he just goes on like this?"

"The minds of the officials, how can I wait for the common people to know..."

Li Yan looked at it for a while, squeezed in with a plate of peanut snacks, and said with a smile: "What anecdotes are you guys talking about? When I first came to Chenzhou, I didn't know many rules. Could you please give me some pointers?" ?”

The few people saw that she was well dressed, she didn't look like a bad person, and she smiled eagerly but did not break the etiquette, so they said: "The guests are from the north, are they here for the sea-watching banquet?"

Li Yan's smile remained unchanged: "I guess you guessed it, someone is from Qiongzhou."

One of them said: "Oh, that's how it is. Yes, our Chenzhou Wanghai Banquet is indeed very famous."

Li Yan had already heard that these people were locals, and took advantage of the opportunity to praise Zhaoye's customs and customs, and those people gradually lost their guard, and chatted with her politely: "We just said that this month's A strange thing happened. Since the beginning of this month, a child has been lost every day. Don't be afraid of the jokes of the guests. Every year, some people are lost at the Wanghai Banquet. You have also seen that there are so many foreigners in Zhaoye City, businessmen, Theatrical troupes vying for fame, as well as those who drag their families to watch the fun, will cause trouble when there are too many people. Every year, the Wanghai Banquet has to send troops to other counties. So, every year, some people don’t see each other, Wanghai After the banquet, there was a thick stack of notices in front of the Yamen of Zhaoye Mansion looking for someone, so this is not a big deal at all!"

The other person took a sip of tea, and continued with the previous person's words: "It's just a coincidence this time. I lose one every day, and my family members don't know why. Speaking of this incident, it seems to be the same as the incident more than ten years ago." The cases are somewhat similar."

The three of them chatted about the case again. The Chenzhou dialect was not easy to understand. It was to take care of her just now. These people didn’t speak the dialect. Even so, Li Yan also had a hard time listening. There was only one person at the table. He smiled and said: "The guests are a little confused. They are talking about a case more than ten years ago, which even alarmed the state shepherd."

The waiter came over to refill the tea, Li Yan gave her a dime, and asked for a pot of good tea and a fruit plate of snacks, and the things came out quickly, and the few people hurriedly said that the money was spent, Li Yan just said: "Do as the Romans do, everyone, I am a foreigner. It's not easy for people to solve their doubts, but you still need some tea, so you don't have to be polite with me."

Several people drank tea and ate some snacks, and one of them said: "Speaking of which, the cause of this case was also caused by the disappearance of a person. I was only ten years old at that time, and I also heard from my mother..."

The author has something to say: the daily update... came late, a little...