Tang riddles

The ninth day of May was destined to be a long day. When Zhang Ruohan blew out the candles in the house and lay down on the couch, Shen Sui still hadn't returned.The clepsydra is ticking, and one watch is over.

Ever since it was deduced in the evening that the target of the enemy hiding in the darkness was Han Jiacang, Shen Sui hastily sent a letter to the Princess Mansion of the Jin Kingdom, and has been studying the next deployment and plan with Shen Jin since then. Zhang Ruohan wanted to accompany him, but Shen Sui Worried about her health, Sui forced Wu Ya to send her back to her room to rest.Zhang Ruohan didn't argue with her, and did what she wanted, she didn't want Shen Sui to be bothered, and she was indeed tired.The madness of last night made her walk a little awkward all day today, and her waist was sore, as if it was broken.And my head is dizzy and swollen, and I am really sleepy until now.

Lying on the couch, she couldn't help but think about recent events, the theft of the Holy Grail, the mysterious death of Shi Que, the missing Qianhe, the coveted Hanjiacang, the out-of-date Fufu missionaries and Tubo envoys.There seems to be some connection somewhere, but her mind is too dull to move, lying on the couch, she soon fell into a state of confusion.

Then she had a dream.

In the dream, she walked in the vast desert for some reason, and the sky was covered with clouds. If you look closely, it was not clouds, but black sand all over the sky, covering the sky and blocking out the sun.In the strong wind, she walked forward alone with one foot deep and one foot shallow, as if she was left alone in the world.She seemed to be looking for something, she felt that she must be looking for Chishi, maybe also looking for Wu Ya, Mao Mao, Qin Nu...

But she walked and walked, but it seemed that there was no end. The strong wind blew the wind and sand, and cut her body like a knife. She dragged her tired body, faltering, her clothes were ragged, and her hair was messy.Hesitant, helpless, sad, lost, confused, the next moment, she seemed to be dumped into the sand in front of her eyes, swallowed by the black sand.But she still persisted, moving forward for an unknown purpose.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the scene of wind and sand in front of me finally changed.A unique stone wall gully formed by weathering appeared in front of her eyes, blocking her way.The ravine stretched across a large stretch, with no end in sight, lying in front of her, forcing her to walk into it.She walked at the bottom of the ravine, and each section of the stone wall above her head was about ten feet high, which set off her insignificance and brought her a full sense of oppression.She seemed to have entered a maze and lost her way in an instant.

A strange scene appeared at this moment. The black sand storm passed by above her head. She stopped and looked up. Countless black sand suddenly turned into black crows and flew overhead. , passing through the ravine.Countless black crows crashed to death on the stone wall, rolled down with gravel and gravel, and fell miserably at her feet.

She turned around and saw the crows covering the sky behind her, and on the road just behind her, a figure in black robe was standing in the sky filled with black crows, his clothes were motionless, like a ghost that does not exist in the world, not affected by it. No worldly influence.

The man in black was standing far away, she couldn't see the exact appearance, but at this moment, she was seized by great fear, her feet seemed to be rooted to the ground, and she couldn't move.Her eyes widened, her whole body was tense, not daring to relax in the slightest.However, at the next moment, under the incomparable suddenness, her eyes suddenly blurred, and the man in black robe came in front of her in an instant, sticking very close to her.

On the face of the man in black robe, there was an extremely terrifying ghost mask.He instantly grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up.The strength of his hands is unimaginably strong, and Zhang Ruohan has no chance to struggle.She only felt a tightness in her throat, and the feeling of suffocation enveloped her instantly.

But not long after, the feeling of suffocation disappeared. Zhang Ruohan seemed to feel that his feet were empty, and his whole body lost weight instantly and fell down.She trembled suddenly, and immediately felt warm and soft all over her body, as if she was wrapped in warm water.A gentle voice echoed in her ears:

"Lotus maid, lotus maid! Wake up!"

"Heh!" Zhang Ruohan woke up gasping for breath, and a familiar scene suddenly appeared in front of her, pulling her back to reality.In a trance, she realized that she had a nightmare.

Akashi was beside her, wearing the white satin dress she wore when she went to bed, propping herself up and turning over to look at her, wrapping her in her arms, wiping away the sweat from her forehead with her free right hand. cold sweat.

"Akashi, Akashi..." She murmured weakly, calling out her lover's name.

"I'm here, I'm here, Lotus Maid. Don't be afraid, you just had a nightmare." Shen Sui murmured softly, reaching out to hold her hand tightly, helping her to sit up, and pulling her into his arms Li, stroking her back distressedly.

"I had a terrible dream." Zhang Ruohan nestled in her arms and said while holding her skirt.Subconsciously, she felt that the dream she just had was very important, and she felt that she had to tell Akashi.But Meng has woken up, and immediately forgot most of it. Taking advantage of a little memory left, she described intermittently:

"It was... the desert, the black sandstorm, the crow, and... the labyrinth. I saw... a man in a black robe, a man in a black robe with a ghost face. He strangled my neck and wanted to kill me."

Listening to her description, Shen Sui felt extremely distressed.She knew that the lotus maid must have such a nightmare because she experienced a great horror that night at the cliffside of the hanging coffin in Jiangling, which left a shadow.She also had a deep memory of the man in black robe, but she only encountered it once, and never saw it again.

"It's just a dream, forget it, don't worry about it. It's probably because you slept in the wrong position and the quilt strangled your neck, so I let you go." Shen Sui comforted.

"No, no, Chishi, this is very important, you have to remember this dream, it may be a sign." Zhang Ruohan insisted.

"Foretelling? Lotus Maid, I didn't know you would still have prophetic dreams." Shen Sui wondered.

"I had more than one prophetic dream when I was a child, but I never mentioned it to outsiders. Akashi... the night before your family had an accident, I also had an extremely scary dream, but I don't remember the specific content Yes. I have always been a light sleeper and hardly dream. Once I have such a dream that impresses me, it means something will happen. Yes when your family has an accident, yes when my mother dies, and when Mao’s mother has an accident That's right." Zhang Ruohan explained.

"Okay, I will remember it, and I will never forget it, don't worry." Shen Sui said hastily.

"I... I really don't understand why I have this kind of dream. I have never been to the desert, the Gobi, but the scene in the dream is very real. I just heard Mao Mao describe it to me What the desert and Gobi look like is really...unbelievable." She couldn't figure it out.

Seeing that her lips and tongue were turning white, Shen Sui must have had a dry mouth, so he hurriedly poured a glass of water and handed it to her to drink.He hugged her and talked for a while to ease her mood, and when she calmed down, she said:

"You are too tired these days to have this kind of dream. Don't think too much, it will hurt your body. Tomorrow is the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, and I will go to court early in the morning. Don't worry about it then Me, sleep well, I will try my best not to wake you up. After the visit, I will go to Dali Temple to report, and I should investigate this case afterward, and I will be home by evening at the latest." She detailed her arrangements for tomorrow Report to Zhang Ruohan in detail.

"Okay, I understand." Zhang Ruohan felt warm in his heart.

"You take a good rest at home and take care of your body. Tomorrow, I will ask your mother to check your pulse and see if you need to prepare some nourishing food." Shen Sui warned again.

"Well, I get it." Zhang Ruohan had been told so much by her, and she couldn't help telling her, "You are not a hard-working person, and you should be exhausted these days. Good Quan, don’t try to be brave and make me worry. Go home early, I’ll prepare food for you, let’s eat together.”

"Okay." Shen Sui kissed the top of her hair.

It was late at night, and a pair of close friends comforted each other and gradually fell asleep.This sleep is black and sweet, and there are no more nightmares.It wasn't until mid-sun that Wu Ya came to call, Zhang Ruohan woke up in a daze, the bed beside him was empty, Shen Sui had already left.

***

On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month, during the regular Xun court attendance, a small incident happened in the hall.Yang Shuo, the general of the Right Jinwu Guard, quarreled with the Fusu missionary who came to participate in the court attendance.

Originally, when the sage allowed the missionaries of Fusu to go to court under such a situation, he had a heart of consolation and wanted to stabilize them first.The sage had discussed with Zhang Jiuzhang before, and the matter must be dealt with through negotiation as much as possible. The longer the delay, the better. It would be best if these Fushu missionaries could be kept in Datang.But I'm afraid that if they can't go back, it will attract suspicion and anger from Fu Tuo's side. If there are still people secretly lurking in the Tang Dynasty, if they know about this and spread the news, there will be endless troubles.Therefore, the best solution is to temporarily stabilize the opponent, let Shen Sui and the others retrieve the Holy Grail as soon as possible, and give these missionaries an explanation.

But Yang Shuo quarreled with these missionaries, the reason was that these missionaries were very arrogant, and bluntly blamed Tang for their lack of supervision, which was very embarrassing for the saints and the imperial army.Originally, Yang Shuo was an old general, so he wouldn't be so impatient, because this kind of thing is quick to talk.But the saint does not allow anyone to disgrace him like this in his hall.Shen Sui watched coldly in the bureaucratic team, and he could see very clearly that it was the sage who secretly instructed Old General Yang to attack and quarrel with him.Yang Shuo has been fighting for many years, full of blood, and his words are very bold and intimidating. Those Fushu missionaries were more or less intimidated, and then they died down and restrained a lot.

The sage spoke again to appease and persuade each other with good words, and gave the other party enough promises.Threats and warnings were hidden in the words, and those few Fufu missionaries were subdued.In the end, the sage told Zhang Jiuzhang to entertain them well. Zhang Jiuzhang knew the elegant meaning after hearing the stringed songs. It seemed that the correspondence between Honglu Temple would be strictly monitored in the future, and these Fushu missionaries would not be able to come and go as freely as before.

After the court visit, the sage called Shen Sui, Li Jinyue, and Wang Zhongsi alone to meet in Xinuange.Once again, it is emphasized that the three should cooperate with each other to solve the case as soon as possible. If the Holy Grail cannot be found as soon as possible, Li Jinyue will receive corresponding punishment.Shen Sui thought to himself, the sage might have already considered Li Jinyue's next arrangement, no matter whether Li Jinyue can find the Holy Grail or not, the sage will always have an excuse to send her away, most likely to go to the Heshuo area.

Leaving Xinuange, Li Jinyue first accompanied Shen Sui to Dali Temple, Wang Zhongsi had nowhere to go, so he followed reluctantly.Yesterday he turned his face and looked at Shen Sui, but today he looked down and saw him, somewhat embarrassed.Shen Sui didn't care much, and told him to go to the scene to investigate again soon, and if he didn't want to enter Dali Temple, he could wait outside.When they arrived at Dali Temple, Wang Zhongsi didn't go in, but sat on the porch at the entrance and waited.

Shen Sui and Li Jinyue first went to see Qin Zhen and briefly talked about the case. Qin Zhen fell into deep thought after listening to Shen Sui's thoughts after the initial investigation of the crime scene.He seemed to have some unique views on this case, so he personally led them to the archives of Dali Temple, found a volume of long-standing files, handed them to Shen Sui to look through, and said at the same time:

"I don't know where the Holy Grail is, but with the death of the Nash team, there have been similar cases in other places."

Shen Sui opened the case file, and saw such a thing was recorded in the case file.

About seven years ago, in June, a fisherman near Chaohu Lake in Luzhou, Huainan Road, had such an incident. While fishing, the fishermen accidentally fished out a male corpse, which sank about ten feet away from the shore. not very far.There was also no lake mud on the soles of the feet, so he probably didn't commit suicide by walking into the lake by himself. He was carrying a big heavy bag, which was filled with gold, silver and jewels from nowhere.

Later, the case became unsolved. The identity of the man was found out. He was a habitual thief who had just robbed the treasury of a big local family the night before.It's just why he died in Chaohu Lake, and why he drowned inexplicably, no one knows.

That night, the lake was also filled with fog.

The high degree of similarity between the two cases attracted Shen Sui's attention.She carefully read the case file twice, and then noticed a detail mentioned in the case report:

There are three hollow bamboo poles inserted in the lake, which are used to tie fishing nets to encircle the fish. Not long ago, fishermen nearby just fried the fish with homemade earthen firecrackers.

She frowned.

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