Brocade tears

"On the fifth day after you left, people from the patrolling camp found our home. I went to hunt wood outside the city, and only my mother, second brother and Xiao Ai were at home. The patrolling camp said that villagers in the suburbs found two dead bodies in the field. The male corpse was reported to the officials. After the inspection, some officials recognized that it might be Meng Yi, deputy of the Jinyiwei Inspection Office, and his eldest son Meng Xu. Now the family needs to send someone to identify the corpse. According to my second brother’s description to me later, Both mother and Xiao Ai were terrified. As the only man in the family, even if he was in poor health, he still had to shoulder the responsibility. The second brother and mother sent Xiao Ai to the uncle's house, and then the uncle accompanied the second brother, My mother went with the people from the patrolling camp to the Shuntian government office where the corpse was mortuary. When she saw the corpse... My mother was shocked and suffered from asthma on the spot. Seeing that things were going to get worse, my second brother was also spinning around and almost fainted. Uncle hurriedly sent someone to invite the doctor, but it was too late when the doctor arrived, so my mother just passed by..."

When Meng Kuang said this, he couldn't continue for a while, his lower lip was trembling slightly, and there was a deep sorrow in his eyes.Every word she said seemed to be extremely heavy, weighing heavily on Sui'er's heart, making her breathless.

Meng Kuang was silent for a while, suppressing the surging emotions before continuing:

"We lost our father, mother and eldest brother in one day. I don't know how I survived it. It was like the sky was falling. In my memory, it seems that I was able to survive because my second brother was still there. He was so sick and weak, but he carried all the burdens for me and my son. And my uncle and cousin, who were too busy, managed the funeral with one hand. At the final funeral, I forced myself to carefully examine the corpses of my father and brother. They were hacked to death by random knives, and their bodies were covered with lacerations. According to Wu Zuo, their bodies were stiff, their skin was pale, and they had lost too much blood. They died probably four days ago, because of the cold weather, so The corpse was not decomposed. The weapon was still in the hand when he died. It should be the last moment of the battle. The field ridge was the place where the corpse was dumped, and the battle scene was in a hill near Sanyuanyi. Why did the murderer throw the corpse? Unknown, the government speculated that the murderer might be a refugee nearby, the purpose of the killing was to rob, and the battle site should be their gathering place, they were afraid that the government would find out, so they threw the body to divert attention.

But I checked later, and there were no refugees gathered there at all, and the government's explanation was completely fabricated, just to deal with it.My father and elder brother are Jinyiwei, their death also caused a great shock in Jinyiwei.Liu Shouyou, the commander of Jinyiwei at that time, was forced by internal pressure, and specially sent people to investigate the situation around the scene of the crime carefully. He suspected that it might be related to the gangs that robbed merchants gathered near Sanyuanyi. The bandit gang of the White Lotus Sect in Shaoshan Mountain is extremely ferocious.No matter how good my father and brother are, they are still hard to beat with two fists.But if you look further down, there are many difficulties, and in the end it will be nothing.

But looking at it now, he is clearly a thief calling for a thief, he and Zhang Jing were in cahoots, and my father and brother were killed by him! "

Meng Kuang slapped the table with his palm angrily, and there was a loud bang, and a crack appeared at the mortise and tenon of the table leg and the table.Sui'er was startled by her palm, her heart was beating wildly.

The room fell silent after the loud noise, Sui'er looked up at Meng Kuang cautiously with a pale face.But seeing her red eyes, the light flickering and fluctuating, she seemed to be thinking about something in pain.After a while, she cast her eyes on Sui'er, and Sui'er immediately lowered her head, not daring to look at her for some reason.

"Sorry, I scared you." Meng Kuang said a little bluntly, and Sui'er could hear her awkwardness.

She shook her head, and then asked: "Why...you will replace your second brother? Where is your second brother?"

"I don't know where he is now." Meng Kuang said slowly, "My family has hereditary military registration. After the death of my father and brother, someone needs to attack our family's military registration. Logically, it is my second brother's turn, but my second brother My elder brother is too weak to serve in the army, and that would kill him. There was another way, which was to spend money to find someone to serve for my second elder brother, but we didn't do that. Father and elder brother died too strangely, we The three brothers and sisters all wanted to find out the cause of their deaths, and there are many things behind this matter. If we are just ordinary people, it is difficult to get in touch with the secrets. Only by entering Jinyiwei can we use the resources and contacts of Jinyiwei to find out the truth. I will help me The second brother took the military status of the family, and the woman disguised herself as a man and entered the brocade guards. In order to help me dress up as a man, the second brother made me a Shura mask and a body armor to hide the woman's figure, and made up a lie about the inertial dislocation of the temporomandibular dislocation. Help me pass Passed the initial physical examination for entering the Jinyiwei. The last thing he did to get my military registration was to leave the capital and wander in other places incognito.

To the outside world, we claimed that Meng Qing, the third daughter of the Meng family, married out of town and died of illness not long after.My second elder brother, whose name was Meng Zixiu, became a distant uncle of our family who lived outside the home. He traveled around as a teacher, sold calligraphy and paintings, and wrote letters for others to make a living.Occasionally, he would send a letter back, briefly writing about his current situation, and deliberately use some hidden language between the lines.We wrote back and sent him some money and clothes.

He was away these years, and he was constantly investigating the death of his father and brother, but there was no progress.The last time I received a letter from him was half a year ago. He was in Yingtian Mansion. He has been there for the past year. When he first arrived, he fell seriously ill. He was taken care of by a few old folks from Zhao’s rice line in Yingtian Mansion. It was hard work. After recovering from illness, he only said that he had to set off again.At the beginning of January this year, I went to the Northwest on a mission, and I just returned today. I don’t know if he has written to me recently. "

She paused, and finally said: "Wan'er and I moved out of our hometown in Lingji Palace and moved to the entrance of the school yard. This yard was originally owned by Zhao's rice business. After my father, brother and mother had accidents, my uncle was heartbroken Feeling cold, coupled with the fact that food and rice have been difficult in recent years, and it has been difficult to sustain. Most of the business has gone out, and this yard has been vacated. After cleaning, I lived in with Yan'er. I had entered Jinyiwei at that time, and there was no one in Wen'er Take care. Just at that time, the girl had the idea of ​​studying medicine, so Daoist Luo and his disciple Qingxu came to help, and Wan'er worshiped Daoist Luo as a teacher to learn medical skills. When I was a child, Daoist Luo went out on a trip Fang practiced medicine, handed over the full authority of this Lingji hall to Wan'er, and left Qingxu to help. The young Taoist priest you saw just now is Qingxu."

Sui'er heard her finish slowly, and was speechless for a moment.

Meng Kuang was silent for a while, then got up and said, "It's getting late, you should rest. I will lock the doors and windows of your room, if you need to go out for anything, just call me, I'm right next door to you. "She pointed to the inner door of the room not far away. It turns out that there is a door between this room and the wing room on the south side.

Sui'er watched Meng Kuang lock the windows of the house one by one, and finally couldn't help but said:

"Why lock me up like this? I won't run away either. Now, I have nowhere to go."

"I don't know if you really have nowhere to go. I locked you up to find out the truth." Meng Kuang said flatly.

"You don't believe me..." Sui'er pursed her lips.

"I'm sorry, the first thing I did when I joined the Jinyiwei Academy was to be suspicious. Besides, you already know the secrets of my family, and it has a lot to do with it. I won't feel at ease if I don't lock you up." Meng Kuang seemed to have said too much at once, and now he doesn't I would like to give any more explanations, and finally took the door out and simply locked it.

Sui'er sat alone in the room, slowly raised her hand to support her forehead, and let out a long sigh.

……

When I went out, the sky outside had already darkened, and the sun was setting in the west. Even though spring had begun, it was still chilly.Meng Kuang left the second entrance courtyard with a bunch of keys, went to the first entrance courtyard, and entered the east wing.Meng Yan was picking medicines at the medicine cabinet, and Qingxu was helping her pack them separately.I don’t know when there was another young man in the room. He was about [-] years old, with a medium build and a handsome face, with a short mustache around his lips. He was wearing a blue satin collar and a black official hat. Egret is a sixth-rank civil servant.

As soon as Meng Kuang entered the door, he heard the sixth-rank civil servant complain: "Brother Kuang, is this bewitched? Our family was hurt so badly by that woman, and she brought that woman home?"

"Cousin." Meng Kuang greeted with a sullen face.

The sixth-rank official turned his head and saw Meng Kuang standing at the door, and couldn't help but keep silent for a while.

"I'm on duty so early today? Is there not much work in the household department?" Meng Kuang asked while hanging the key chain in his hand on his waist.

"Assuming you're coming back in these two days, I'm rushing to see you, you little heartless." The sixth-rank civil servant whom Meng Kuang called "cousin" said angrily, and then waited for the guests He sat down in the armchair he used.Meng Kuang smiled "puchi", a warm color appeared on his face, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly eased a lot.Meng Yan and Qingxu next to them still took care of picking out medicines and subcontracting them, treating them as air.

My cousin's name is Zhao Ziyang, and his name is Xuan Min. He is the same age as his late elder brother Meng Xu. He is the only son of Zhao Yun'an, the eldest uncle of the Meng family, and he is also the pillar of the current Zhao family.Jinshi in the 14th year of Wanli. He was born as a second-class Jinshi and ranked last in the second-class. Because his family is a rice and grain merchant, he is familiar with grain transportation and good at actuarial calculations. , I had great luck, and soon became the head of the Shandong Qingli Sicang Section of the Ministry of Household Affairs.The Zhao family is a family of merchants, and it took 100 years for him to be an official.It was also because he entered the officialdom that the uncle took most of the business. First, he couldn't do it at all, so he simply relied on his son when he was successful; second, he was afraid of outsiders' gossip. People discriminate.

"I said you, you are so powerful. Why did you find that woman back on a business trip? How did you find it?"

"I happened to run into it. I was sheltering from the snow on Miaofeng Mountain the night before yesterday. I never thought that she went up the mountain alone, followed by a group of pursuers. These pursuers were from the West Camp of Wuxiangwei. They were taken by me and Lao Guo. It's gone." Meng Kuang explained briefly, then sat on another armchair next to Zhao Ziyang, his eyes fell on his sister who was across the table.

"It's all right? What's Guo Dayou's reaction?" Zhao Ziyang became nervous.

"He doesn't know anything about Sui Er and me, but because of those chasing soldiers, he means to find out." Meng Kuang said.

"Oh, what should I do? Guo Dayou is a shrewd and cautious person. If he really asks him to investigate, he won't be able to find out the old things? Then you won't be able to keep your secret." Zhao Ziyang was worried.

"He doesn't know how to investigate. To him, life-saving is more important than curiosity. He will never touch things that shouldn't be meddled in." Meng Kuang is very determined.

"Hmph, you really take it for granted. Anyway, I reminded you, be careful when sailing for ten thousand years."

"I can save it, thank you cousin."

"How is the errand going?" Zhao Ziyang asked again.

"Hehe, cousin, you know the rules." Meng Kuang smiled.

"That's right, you are Tiqi, an imperial envoy, and your actions are kept secret, so I shouldn't ask." Zhao Ziyang said helplessly with a drawn-out tone, and then asked again:

"Then what do you want to do next? Bringing this woman back is not a good thing, so don't cause trouble again."

"In any case, we have to get to the root of what happened back then. If I was afraid of causing trouble, I wouldn't have continued to investigate all these years. This time, I met God's pity, and finally let me bump into her and bring her back , this is an opportunity bestowed by God, and I will never let it go. I just asked her some questions. She has been in the palace all these years, no wonder we couldn't find her. But, she is very defensive, In recent years, because of being robbed, tortured and extorted confessions, she was intriguing and deceitful, and she was not believed by others. In order to protect herself, she now mixes seven parts of falsehood in everything she says and does, and she will not easily miss the truth. She What she said was half-truth and half-false, and some of it was believable, but there were a lot of things that were concealed or ambiguous, she was smart and quick-witted, and I was not as good, and she had to think carefully before making a judgment."

"Then what did she say about uncle and brother Xu?" When Zhao Ziyang asked this question, Meng Yan stopped his hands and listened intently.

"She didn't know. She said that the water bag was filled with sweat medicine. Just after leaving the city, she was near the Sanyuan Station. She took a sip of the water in the water bag and disappeared. She didn't know what happened afterwards..." At the moment He recounted in detail the nine years that Sui Er had told her.

"Do you think what she said is true?" Zhao Ziyang asked.

Meng Kuang didn't answer for a moment, but glanced at Meng Ai.Meng Yan suddenly said:

"Let's check along the line of the Mongolian sweat medicine first."

Seeing that she was finally willing to speak, Meng Kuang couldn't help showing a happy smile, and replied, "Wan'er is right. If you want to know the truth, you should start with Mongolian sweat medicine."

Meng Ai gave her a white look.