Dragon Pattern Roll Set

After Wang Feng's case came to an end, Zhan Zhao started to pack his bags and prepare to go to Hongying Village.

Originally, Zhan Zhao wanted to ask Mr. Bao for a vacation, and he and Bai Yutang would take Yin Hou and Tianzun along for a trip, but Mr. Bao asked him to wait for two days and said to go with him.

Mrs. Bao also said that Zhan Zhao has been taking care of Bao Yan and helping Mr. Bao a lot during the time in Kaifeng Mansion. She wants to visit his parents in Hongying Village.

So Master Bao told Zhao Zhen that he wanted to go on tour, and Zhao Zhen readily agreed, and prepared some gifts for Bao Zheng to take to Hongyingzhai for Zhan Zhao's parents.

Originally, Zhao Zhen was afraid that the grand master would miss Xiangxiang, and after all, he was old and would always let him run around. Concubine Pang was also worried, so she wanted to not let him go this time.

Unexpectedly, the Taishi took the initiative to say that he wanted to go.

Zhao Zhen was a little puzzled, but he didn't stop him, so he asked everyone to go out for patrol at sunrise after they got ready.The tour lasted for three months. Zhao Zhen asked everyone to come back before the Chinese New Year, so that after the Chinese New Year, Bao Yan could catch up with the spring exam. He also told Bao Yan to study hard while investigating the case. Master Lin Xiao had great expectations of him.

When retreating from court, Master Bao glanced at Grand Master Pang beside him, and asked, "I said..."

The Grand Master looked up at Bao Zheng, "What are you doing?"

Bao Zheng crossed his arms, looked up and down the Grand Master, puzzled, "You actually want to follow?"

The grand master coughed, "Oh, stop talking nonsense."

Master Bao raised his eyebrows—why is that weird?

After getting into the sedan chair, Mr. Bao ordered to go back to Kaifeng Mansion, and then the Grand Master also said, "Go to Kaifeng Mansion."

Bao Zheng opened the sedan chair curtain and looked at him, wondering in his heart, since when did the father and son, Pang Ji and Pang Yu, go to Kaifeng mansion more than they went home.

……

At this time, in Kaifeng Mansion.

In the yard at the gate of Zhanzhao, Gongsun took a lot of scrolls with dragon patterns and put them on the stone table. This is an unsolved case in the prefectural capital county near Hongyingzhai. Checked everything.

"Maomao." The fourth son held a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake and pawed Zhan Zhao's knee who was flipping through the file, "Do Maomao's father and mother live in Dazhai?"

Zhan Zhao pinched the peach-like cheek of the fourth son, nodded, "Yes."

"Is it the King of the Mountain?" The fourth son was very curious, "Is there a golden chair with tiger skin?"

Zhan Zhao made him amused, and the fourth son had been looking forward to seeing the king of the mountain's tiger-skin golden chair, and asked about it when he went to Zhao Pu's barracks before.

"There is no golden chair with tiger skin, but there is a waterfall." Zhan Zhao said with a smile.

"Are there a lot of cherry blossoms in the red cherry village?" The fourth son asked curiously, "Don't the cherry blossoms bloom in spring? My father and I have seen white cherry blossoms in Wuxi. Are the ones in Maomao's house red?"

Zhan Zhao simply picked up Xiao Sizi and put it on his lap, and said to him, "Red Cherry Blossoms are not actually planted in Hongying Village, but because the pool under the waterfall is full of red water plants, and the trees in the forest near the waterfall are full of red cherry blossoms. The trees have red leaves all the year round. It is a coincidence that the stone wall behind the waterfall is smooth white rock, so it is like a mirror. From a distance, the whole waterfall seems to be shaking gently with the wind, covered with red cherry trees. tree, hence the name."

"Oh..." Little Four nodded, "So it's Jiang Zi."

"Actually, it was originally called Hongyin Village, because my mother's surname is Yin." Zhan Zhao shook his fourth son, and said unhurriedly, "Some people from the rivers and lakes who don't know much about it think that the village is full of red cherry trees, so If it is misinterpreted, then it will be wrong and wrong.”

"What does Maomao's mother look like?" The fourth son was curious.

Zhan Zhao thought about it, how should he describe it, "My mother..."

Before Zhan Zhao finished speaking, Yin Hou came over and mumbled to the fourth son, "It's fierce."

The fourth son was startled - fierce? !Mao Mao has such a good temper, how could his mother be so fierce?

Zhan Zhao glanced at Yin Hou, rubbed the face of the fourth son, "My mother is not fierce."

Yin Hou turned his face away, obviously still embarrassed by Yin Lanci's driving to Kaifeng earlier.

Tianzun came over, "Yin Lanci has a bad temper, don't mess with her, she is a hundred times more bad-tempered than that weird girl Lu Xueer."

Yin Hou nodded at the side.

Everyone opened their mouths wide and looked at Tianzun—is it true?

"Is there?" Zhan Zhao didn't think so, his mother was pretty good, although she wasn't the gentle and gentle type, but in terms of temper, she wasn't much different from Lu Xueer, right?

"Your mother loves you so much, so naturally she never lost her temper in front of you." Yin Hou muttered.

"Yin Lanci was also well-known in the Jianghu back then." Zhao Putting his chin, as if he had heard about it, "I heard that she has great strength and deep internal energy, but isn't she a heroine? She has a good reputation in the Jianghu. "

Yin Hou concluded, "That's because no one dares to mess with her... hiss."

Before Yin Hou could finish his sentence, Zhan Zhao grabbed his arm, what did that mean - why did you say that about your daughter!

"I don't know who that girl Yin Lanci looks like. She didn't inherit Yin Hou's lightness kung fu, but she conjured up a whole body of strange power. It's scary when that internal power leaks out!" She is gentle in comparison."

Everyone subconsciously glanced at Bai Yutang, as if to express sympathy.

Bai Yutang was lying down and reading the file leisurely and contentedly, he was not nervous at all.

"But generally speaking, Lan Ci is still very reasonable." Yin Hou felt that it was not good to portray her daughter as a big devil, so he went back and said, "She will only get mad if anyone provokes her, and don't provoke her." If not, she won't take the initiative to provoke others."

Zhan Zhao also went over to Bai Yutang and said, "Don't worry, my mother can communicate easily!"

Bai Yutang nodded, "Yes."

Zhan Zhao was slightly taken aback, looking at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang smiled.

Zhan Zhao looked suspiciously at Bai Yutang's expression, why did he think that this rat looked confident.

While chatting, Bai Fu ran in, "Master, can you see this?"

Bai Yutang glanced at it, and saw that what Bai Fu brought in was a box of dried snow clams.

Gongsun came over to have a look, picked up one, smelled it, and exclaimed, "Mmm! It's the best."

Bai Yutang nodded, "Just take this, bring a few more boxes."

"Okay." Bai Fu took the box and ran away.

Zhan Zhao was a little puzzled, "What are you doing with so many snow clams?"

Bai Yutang said, "Oh, my aunt seems to be coughing a bit recently, and it's getting colder. It just so happened that my mother also said that her skin was dry two days ago. Bring them some snow clams."

"Oh..." Zhan Zhao nodded, and after thinking about it, he asked Bai Yutang, "Who is Auntie?"

Bai Yutang smiled, "Of course it's your mother."

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth wide, "My mother is coughing?"

"It's not a cough, maybe it's a bit hot." Bai Yutang said nonchalantly, holding a teacup, "Uncle said she was a little angry."

Zhan Zhao was stunned for a while, then asked, "Who is Uncle?"

Bai Yutang laughed, reached out and touched his head, "Of course it's your father."

Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "When did you meet my father?"

"I haven't seen it, but it was mentioned in the letter."

"Which letter?" Zhan Zhao tilted his head, he had only received a few letters from his parents, and he didn't mention his mother's cough or anything.

"Just a few days ago." Bai Yutang thought for a while, "I don't remember which one."

Zhan Zhao stared at Bai Yutang with rounded eyes, and then asked uncertainly, "Is there any correspondence between you two?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "Yes."

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth wide again, "When did it start?"

Bai Yutang raised his face and thought for a while, "Well, it's been a year..."

Zhan Zhao stood up with a "huh", "Have you been communicating with my parents for a year?"

Bai Yutang nodded and smiled, "Uncle and aunt are very easy to communicate with."

The others silently turned their faces away and went about their own business, feeling that there might be a fight here, but Zhan Zhao opened his mouth wide, turned his face and stared at Yinhou for a long time.

Yin Hou looked up at the sky.

Zhan Zhao was surprised, "Grandpa, you also know?"

Yin Hou scratched his chin, "Lan Ci gave me a box of safflower tea before I came and asked me to bring it to Yutang."

Bai Yutang nodded, "Well, this is the first time I drink this kind of tea."

Zhan Zhao gasped, and grabbed Bai Yutang, "What do you usually exchange letters with?"

Bai Yutang thought for a while, and said, "Maybe I'm talking about your recent situation, and some interesting things."

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes slightly, "What's interesting?"

"Hmm... In short, it's just some small things." Bai Yutang reached for the teacup.

Zhan Zhao pressed his teacup, squinted his eyes, "Small things? For example?"

Bai Yutang was helpless, looked at Zhan Zhao's hand holding the cup, and smiled, "For example, a certain cat was a foodie when he was a child, but when he was three years old, he learned light work without a teacher to pick fruit from treetops... "

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth wide.

Everyone rubbed their chins——Zhan Zhao's lightness kung fu is self-taught, and he really is a character!

Bai Yutang said seriously, "But Mao'er, you actually learned lightness kungfu without a teacher just to eat persimmons, you are really... amazingly talented!"

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes and stared at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang felt that Zhan Zhao was about to explode, so he was about to run away, "I'll go see what else I can prepare..."

Just as he turned around and was about to leave, he felt Zhan Zhao rushing behind him...

When Master Bao and Grand Master Pang walked in, they saw Zhan Zhao laying on Bai Yutang's back and strangling his neck.

The grand master was surprised, "Oh, young people nowadays are really..."

Bao Zheng glanced at him, "Why are you following?"

Mrs. Bao came out to take Bao Zheng's official hat, and asked the grand master to stay for dinner.

The grand master agreed with a cheeky smile.

Pang Yu was going through the files with Bao Yan, raised his face and asked his father, "Dad, why are you here? Are you not going back to the Grand Master's Mansion?"

The Grand Master gave him a blank look, and went over to poke his forehead, "You still know the Grand Master's Mansion! You go home to eat with your mother tonight, you are not a filial son!"

Pang Yu rubbed his forehead and asked Bao Yan, "Hey, Mantou, will you come to my house for dinner tonight?"

Bao Yan thought for a while and asked, "What kind of food?"

"I'll ask my fifth mother to cook braised pork with preserved vegetables!" Pang Yu said, "My fifth mother is from Shaoxing, and her preserved pork with preserved vegetables is even better than Taibaiju's!"

Bao Yan nodded and decided to go to Cengfan.

On the side, Zhan Zhao, who was pinching Bai Yutang, turned around to look——Meicai Pork?

Bai Yutang turned around, "Mao'er, your mother also said in the letter that when you were young, you ranked all the restaurants in Changzhou Prefecture, and that the purpose of traveling around the rivers and lakes was to rank the restaurants in the world..."

The corner of Zhan Zhao's mouth twitched.

"So your real purpose of staying in Kaifeng mansion is probably because..." Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows, "Kaifeng restaurant ranks the highest?!"

Zhan Zhao continued to "torture" Bai Yutang with a look of resentment that had been exposed.

The grand master watched from the side, happily chatting and laughing with everyone, without saying a word, as if he was absent-minded.

Zhao Pu and Gongsun looked at each other, and Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, who were in trouble, also looked at each other.

Pang Yu put down the file in his hand and asked curiously, "Father, do you have something on your mind?"

Grand Master Pang was taken aback.

On the side, Mr. Bao was receiving the ginseng tea that Mrs. Bao handed over, took a sip, and shook his head, "You said you still have the face to be called the number one treacherous minister of the Song Dynasty, and you can't hide anything on your mind."

The Grand Master was stunned, and opened his mouth wide, "The number one treacherous official in Song Dynasty?!"

"Ahem." Pang Yu waved his hand, "Father, that was in the past, but it's much better now."

"Oh?" The grand master was curious, "Then what is it now?"

Mr. Bao approached with a ginseng tea cup, "The first straw bag in Song Dynasty."

The Grand Master's eyes widened - idiots?It's not as good as the feeling of a traitor...

Zhao Pu laughed at the side, "It's just that outsiders don't know the Grand Master."

The fourth son stretched out his hand and rubbed the chubby belly of the grand master, "Xiao Pangpang is good to lose weight, and it happens that I want to lose weight too, shall we go with you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gongsun grabbed him and stuffed another piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake into his mouth. The fourth son held his cheeks and chewed - his face seemed to be rounder again.

The grand master couldn't laugh or cry.

Mr. Bao went in and changed into casual clothes and came out, sat down and asked the Grand Master, "Why are you following me? Isn't it better for you not to go out on patrol, and stay with Xiangxiang in Kaifeng?"

When everyone heard this, they were also curious, the grand master was indeed a little abnormal.

Grand Master Pang sat down and thought for a while, then asked, "Then what... Hongying Village, is it near Yingtian Mansion?"

Yin Hou nodded, "Well, it's more than ten miles away from Yingtian Mansion. Because there are many mountain roads, it takes about an hour for ordinary people to walk."

Zhan Zhao was curious, "Grand Master, do you want to go to Yingtian Mansion?"

"Uh..." Grand Master Pang hesitated, "There is a county named Xu near Yingtian Mansion."

Both Zhan Zhao and Yin Hou were familiar with the fields around Hongying Village, so they nodded.

"Xu County is a very small county." Zhan Zhao said, "But because it is the intersection of many official roads, there are a lot of merchants coming and going."

The Grand Master nodded, "When I was in my 20s, I was once sent to Yingtian Mansion to investigate a case."

Everyone remembered that it was indeed mentioned before that Grand Master Pang had been a court guard for a while, and then he seemed to be transferred to the Third Division, and stayed in Dali Temple for a while.

"Sent you to investigate the case?" Master Bao thought for a while, "When you were working in Dali Temple?"

"Yeah." The Grand Master nodded, "It's been almost 20 years."

Although Kaifeng Mansion is in charge of the investigation of various criminal cases, Kaifeng Mansion is not the only government office that investigates cases in the Song Dynasty, there are also Sansi and Dali Temple.

Among them, the third division has many arresters, who patrol all over the year and hunt down some imperial criminals and Jiangyang thieves.The Dali Temple is basically in charge of cases related to officials, so...

"Which official are you investigating?" Master Bao also shook his head. The Grand Master used to work in Dali Temple, so he has a good grasp of the bottom line of officials doing bad things. So far, he has stepped on the most boundaries but never crossed them. So I have nothing to do with him.

"Do you still remember the big case of the magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture taking bribes and perverting the law and killing many disaster victims?" The grand master asked Bao Zheng, "Is this the most important case of the late emperor at that time?"

Master Bao nodded. This case was a sensation back then.The magistrate of Yingtian Mansion is a second-rank Dayuan, he has a high position and authority, and he still has a part of the military power. The Qinhuai area was originally rich, so it can be regarded as peaceful.But once the Huaihe River flooded, the disaster relief money distributed by the imperial court was robbed by thieves, which hindered the disaster relief and killed tens of thousands of victims.Back then, this robbery shocked the government and the public, the first emperor was furious, and ordered old general Ouyang to lead his troops to hand over all the thieves in the Qinhuai area.However, after an unannounced visit by General Ouyang, it was learned that the bandits in the Qinhuai area not only did not rob the disaster relief funds, but used their own money for disaster relief.Moreover, it was rumored in the Jianghu that this matter was stolen by the people in the yamen.Bandits dared to rob anything, but no one dared to rob disaster relief funds, except for fear of lightning strikes, such people would not be able to gain a foothold in the world in the future.So, after some investigation, it was basically determined that Liu Tian, ​​the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture at that time, was the one who did it.

"Everyone has heard about Liu Tian, ​​a corrupt official back then." Zhao Pu asked, "What does it have to do with Xu County?"

"I was sent by Dali Temple to check with officials from other prefectures and counties around Yingtianfu...the so-called pulling out the radish and bringing out the mud, the biggest backer has fallen, and those hozens naturally cannot be let go." The grand master continued. , "However, after the fall of Xu County, after investigation, the county magistrate was very clean, so I was going back to Kaifeng. That night... when I was drinking with the county magistrate in the yard, the county magistrate told me something."

Everyone looked at the grand master curiously.

The grand master frowned and said, "The county magistrate may also have drunk too much. He told me that there is a red cherry valley in the mountains near Yingtian Mansion."

Everyone subconsciously looked at Zhan Zhao and Yin Hou when they heard this.

Zhan Zhao scratched his head and looked at Yin Hou.

Yin Hou thought for a while, then shook his head, expressing that he had never heard of it.

Bai Yutang was a little puzzled, "Why is it called Hongying Valley? Is it related to Hongying Village?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head, "Do you still remember what I told you, there are a lot of red aquatic plants growing in the pool under the waterfall?"

Bai Yutang nodded.

"That kind of red aquatic plants, from the surface of the water, really look like fiery red cherry blossoms growing under the water. This kind of aquatic plants are special products in the contiguous mountains near Hongying Village. As long as there is water, there are basically This red aquatic plant."

Everyone nodded.

Bai Yutang asked, "That is to say, as long as there is water and plants like this at the bottom of the valley, any valley can be the Valley of Red Cherry Blossoms?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, "Probably, you can ask my mother."

"What's the problem with this Red Cherry Valley?" Lord Bao asked the Grand Master.

The grand master said, "The county magistrate told me that there is a skull pit in the Red Cherry Valley."

Everyone was stunned.

"What pit?" Bao Yan asked.

"Looks like a skeleton?" Pang Yu also asked.

The grand master shook his head and said, "In that pit, there are at least hundreds of skulls, and there are only heads, no bodies."

Everyone was stunned for a long time, and Pang Yu said, "Is the magistrate drunk and talking nonsense?"

Everyone nodded.

The grand master smiled, "I thought so too when I first heard it, but later, the county magistrate told me that there is a monster in the Red Cherry Valley!"

"Sealed?" Bai Yutang was puzzled, "What does the seal mean?"

"Yeah." The grand master nodded, "Once that monster is released, the world will be in chaos."

After hearing this, everyone was silent for a long time, and then they all laughed.

Zhao Pu patted Pang Ji, "Grand Master, there are such legends in almost every place."

Bai Yutang also nodded.

Master Bao looked at Pang Ji, "You have seen some of the market, so there is no reason to be fooled by such a trick, right?"

"If it's just a rumor, I wouldn't care! At first he told it, I also joked like he was drunk." The grand master said helplessly, "But that night, I had a dream."

Everyone was puzzled.

"In the dream, there was a man with feathers, trapped in a dark valley by many chains, surrounded by blood-like flowers, and under the feet of that man were skulls, densely covered with several layers. .That is probably the scariest dream I have ever had in my life!"

"And then?" Although everyone didn't believe it, they were very interested in the grand master's dream.

"The man was struggling, and the chain was rattling, and he begged me." The grand master slowed down, "He said his name was Xie Yu, and he had been imprisoned for more than 200 years. He asked me to let him out. He didn't want to wait any longer. It took 20 years to see the sun again, he was very hungry and wanted to eat people."

Everyone frowned, and the fourth son climbed up to Bai Yutang's lap and slipped into his arms.

"Think about it every day and dream about it at night, right?" Zhan Zhao asked.

The grand master nodded, "I thought so too. When I woke up the next morning, I casually asked the magistrate what the name of the monster in the Red Cherry Valley was when I was drunk last night. He told Of course he has never seen me, but he has heard the legend that it is a man with feathers called Xie Yu."

Everyone was surprised.

The grand master was helpless, "I also had the same expression at the time, but the county magistrate later comforted me and said that it is said that the monster was sealed in the mountain by a god 200 years ago and could not come out."

Everyone tilted their heads and looked at Pang Ji.

After a long time, Bai Yutang asked, "Did the county magistrate play tricks and trick you?"

The Grand Master laughed, "I thought so too, but... not long after I returned to Kaifeng Mansion, I heard that the county magistrate disappeared."

"What?" Everyone was surprised, "It's gone?"

The Grand Master nodded, "His wife found a long, long feather in his room, but he never appeared again. But he just disappeared without a body, so the court regarded him as resignation." Yes, and a new official was sent to take over."

"Didn't you check it then?" Zhao Pu asked.

The grand master smiled wryly, "It's too late for me to go back to Kaifeng mansion and climb up, who can control these things, but..."

"However." Master Bao helped him continue, "In the blink of an eye, exactly 20 years have passed, isn't it?"

The grand master nodded.

Everyone looked at each other—the thing said that he would come out in 20 years.