Nongmen Shenjue

Because of the matter of Xi Yong and Mao Cheng, Wen Jixue had to keep an eye on her, so Mu Qingyan simply didn't mention the matter of going back to Fenglin County, and stayed with him in Changliu Town.Instead, he bought a few earthen ceremonies as a New Year's gift, and wrote a letter, which Liu Yi found someone to send to him.

Mao Cheng was leaving for Beijing in three days, and Wen Jixue brought Mu Qingyan to his home the night before.

Tonight, Xi Yong hosted a banquet for Mao Cheng to practice. Although it was mostly about seeking officials, it also showed the importance he attached to Mao Cheng.There were also a few people who accompanied him, Mao Cheng was always kind, so he didn't refuse too much, and ended up getting drunk.Xi Yong ordered two people to take him home.

Maocheng's hands and feet were limp and he felt dizzy, and when he reached the door of his house, a servant came to meet him.

He waved his hand: "Okay, I'm here, you two, come back."

The servant of the Mao family hurriedly took out two strings of money and handed them to the two, who accepted it with a smile before leaving.

"Master!" Mao's wife came out to welcome him, and while supporting him, she ordered to the servants: "Bring a bowl of sober soup, and then get a basin of hot water to scrub the master."

He helped the man into the inner hall and sat down, stirred the charcoal fire in the brazier, added two pieces to make it burn hotter, and then served Maocheng, took off the ocher cloak on his hood, took off his boots, Another home cotton shoes.

Everything in the kitchen was ready, and soon the servants brought hangover soup and hot water.

Mao Cheng was drunk and sleepy, drank half a bowl of soup, then wiped his face with hot water.

Seeing that there were no outsiders in the house, Mao Cheng said to his old wife: "You should rest first, I still have some things to finish."

Mao's wife nodded: "Master has to get up early tomorrow, so don't stay too busy."

The couple didn't say anything else, and Mao's wife went to rest by herself.

Mao Cheng poured a cup of tea and drank it. Although his face was red and flushed, his eyes were still clear and he was not as drunk as he had shown before.After sitting for a while, he lifted his feet and walked to the cubicle, which was his study room. Mao's wife should do all the tidying up, and no servants were allowed to enter or leave.

After closing the door, I listened by the window again to confirm that there was no one around, and then carefully moved the books on the top shelf of the bookshelf. There was a small mechanism on the board behind, and a small piece of wood would pop up when I pressed it. Very limited, only a book the size of a palm is hidden.

Mao Cheng took out the booklet, sat in front of the desk, and opened the booklet.

This booklet is about one foot long, folded more than a dozen times, and a lot of content is recorded in neat lowercase letters with hairpin flowers. Among them, several names are placed at the top, and they are specially marked with red circles: Xue Dingshan, Xue Dinghe, Xue In addition to Yang and Xueqing, there are three other names marked in red circles, which have been crossed out by red lines. Without exception, they are also surnamed Xue.

On the back of the brochure, the foreign surnames appeared: Zheng and Liu.

The dozen or so names surnamed Liu were all crossed out, and a few names surnamed Zheng were crossed out, and the remaining six were circled, among them was "Zheng Jiaxiang".

Mao Cheng read the booklet from the beginning, and after half an hour, he took the booklet out of the study room, but threw the booklet into the brazier.The brazier burst into flames immediately, devouring the words on the paper very quickly.Mao Cheng sat on the side, staring at him, waiting for the booklet to be burnt to ashes before his expression relaxed.

The candles were extinguished, and everyone in the Mao family fell into a deep sleep.

Wen Jixue naturally has a way to make people sleep soundly, and Mu Qingyan is in charge of backtracking.

The two had analyzed earlier and guessed that Mao Cheng would take the opportunity of visiting Beijing to meet his real master, so they must bring "results" to show.The night before leaving, everything will be packed, which is a good time to investigate.Unexpectedly, Mao Cheng was so cautious that he didn't bring anything with him at all, and even burned the booklet he had recorded before.

It is indeed the safest way to keep things in mind.

However, meeting Mu Qingyan only took some effort.

Apart from the brochure, Mao Cheng's house has nothing else, and if there is anything wrong with it, he will not keep it.

Withdrew from Mao's house, Mu Qingyan grabbed Wen Jixue's hand: "We'll talk about it when we go back."

As soon as Wen Jixue heard it, she knew that she had gained something.

The winter night is really cold, especially if you use light work to rush, you will suffer.Fortunately, after leaving the county seat, Lin Zhong prepared a carriage, and Liu Yi stayed here.Mu Qingyan sneezed into the carriage, drank two bowls of ginger tea warmed on the small stove, and handed another bowl to Wen Jixue.

"Are you okay?" Wen Jixue was not affected, seeing his nose was red, holding his slightly cold face and covering it, she felt that he was pitiful and cute, so she leaned over and kissed him.

Mu Qingyan's response was a sneeze, and he couldn't help laughing first: "Sorry."

The road back to Changliu Town was very long, but the two did not talk, not because Liu Yi was there.

The stakes are high, and they're all stabilizing, hoping to discuss it in a more private place.

After returning to the inn, Mu Qingyan spoke out the contents of the brochure.

Wen Jixue let out a long breath, and a slight smile appeared on the corner of her mouth: "Is anyone still alive? This is the best news."

Mu Qingyan also guessed the same way.

Although I find it unbelievable, judging from the recording method in Maocheng's booklet, the names of the people circled in red should be unknown, and their whereabouts are unknown, and the names of the people crossed out by the red line are confirmed to be dead.But all the people on the brochure should be members of the Xue family who escaped the catastrophe and were not executed.

Wen Jixue said: "The reason why my grandfather conquered the world with the late emperor was precisely because of the previous emperor's stupidity and excessive taxation.

Yueliang Prefecture is a land of fish and rice, a land of abundance, and Xuejia Village also has a lot of fertile land and mountains and forests. It stands to reason that as long as you are hardworking and willing to work, you can live comfortably.But in fact, the imperial court has extremely heavy taxes, and the local government has to pay additional apportionments. There is also instability in various places, and there are more military and hard labor than in previous years.

My grandfather originally had two older brothers, one was ill at an early age and had no money for medical treatment, and the other was conscripted to dig rocks and never came back.The grandfather had only one son, and after that, the grandmother was pregnant, but she didn't keep it.My father only has me as a son, but I have an elder sister above me.Grandfather said that it was because our family was slaughtered too much that our offspring were not prosperous.

Xue Dingshan and Xue Dinghe are of the same generation as my father, and belong to the branch of Grandpa in the lobby.Influenced by my grandfather and father, most of the Xue family's children joined the army, and the two uncles did the same, but they had different ambitions.After the war in Xuedingshan subsided, he returned home and started a business. "

Wen Jixue raised his hand and pointed outward: "The river embankment next to the town is usually very busy with boats. He used to get a dozen boats at the ferry near the town, not only to deliver goods to people, but also to sell The new things that come from south to north are very profitable.

Uncle Dinghe has always been in the army, once he fought against the Beiman, the battle was fierce, he was in the vanguard battalion, but he disappeared.

Xueyang and Xueqing belong to their branch, they are of the same generation as me, and they are also running the boat.

Two years before Xue's accident, the cargo ship they were involved in had an accident and sank.Uncle Dingshan, Xueyang, and Xueqing were all on the boat, and after several days of salvage, they didn't even find the bones.It was windy and rainy that night, and everyone suspected that the body was washed away, and some guessed that the person was not dead. "

Mu Qingyan was very surprised: "Didn't it mean... No wonder, the brochure said that the Xue family's ancestral grave was worshiped by people. It is probably because of this that some people suspect that there is still someone alive in the Xue family, so they put their suspicious eyes on this place." on a few people."

After all, even though Xue Dingshan and the others had "died" long before the Xue family incident, they were all missing, and if their bodies were not found, they might still be alive.

Wen Jixue settled Liu Yi three or four years ago.

However, Mao Cheng's master had arranged it in more than ten years. It might have been a precautionary measure at first, but who knew that it happened that someone was secretly worshiping the Xue family's ancestral grave.

Of course, the worshiper may be a person with a foreign surname, but this possibility is relatively low.At that time, Yueliang Prefecture almost changed color when mentioning "Xue". Even though many people did not believe that the Xue family was collaborating with the enemy and treason, but the court said so, and the methods were cruel, how could ordinary people dare to speak nonsense?People dare not even go to Xuejia Village, let alone worship at the graves.

Taking a step back, even if it is not the Xue family worshiping, being able to still worship the Xue family in this situation must have a lot of relationship, enough to worry the behind-the-scenes.

Mao Cheng focused on the "missing persons" of the Xue family, which was just one of them. The Zheng family and Liu family in the same village were also the objects of stare.There are also people who have been involved with the Xue family, but Mao Cheng is not in charge of those people.

Wen Jixue never had such a bold idea. Back then, the Xue family could not find the "missing person", so no one dared to say that the person was still alive.But... he is in a good mood now, and he always has a dark premonition that maybe, someone is really alive.

Mu Qingyan thought, if a person is alive, where is he?What have you done all these years?

"Are you looking for them?" he asked.

Wen Jixue shook her head: "No, they don't know me, I don't know them, it's safer. Besides, whether we meet or not has no effect on what we are going to do."

In fact, looking for a needle in a haystack really isn't that easy.Rather than looking for someone, it is better to concentrate on investigating the latter, and finally it is time for revenge.When a big revenge is avenged, how many things can't be done?Even looking for someone, there was a lot of time at that time.

Mu Qingyan thought of the Yan family. Unlike Wen Jixue, the Yan family really had people alive.However, firstly, he is not the original owner, secondly, the original owner did not know his background since he was a child and only lived in Fenglin, and thirdly, he would startle the snake and cause trouble, so he never thought of going to see the Yan family.

So what if we meet?

As Wen Jixue said, seeing each other or not doesn't affect what to do.

The next day, the morning light came in through the cracks in the doors and windows, and the room was illuminated with a golden light.

The weather finally cleared.

Mu Qingyan suddenly felt two points lighter.

It's not that Yueliangzhou is colder than Fenglin, but it's very humid, cold and clammy, and the weather is always overcast. After a long time, the clothes and bedding feel damp and uncomfortable.Not to mention that he is not used to it, neither is Wen Jixue.Although his ancestral home is here, but he grew up in Beijing since he was a child, not only his habits, but also his taste is different from here.

Through the door, I heard the sound of fists and kicks in the courtyard, no need to look, it must be Wen Jixue exercising her muscles and bones.

Outsiders might not be able to tell the difference, but Mu Qingyan knew that the good mood of Wen Jixue was revealed in those voices.

He knew why.

At this moment, he really prayed that the speculation in Mao Cheng's booklet was true.As long as there is one person alive in the Xue family, Wen Jixue is not a lone goose.