Chapter 25 Chapter Twenty-Three

Dinner has been set up, three people, three tables, exactly the same. Sparrow meat and sunflower soup, sour and tender bamboo shoots, plum sauce cress, steamed fish with green onion and ginger, liver roasted in net oil, mulberries soaked in honey... The rice is yellow rice, and there is freshly squeezed cane juice, which is refreshing and refreshing. The food is ready, but no one lifts the chopsticks.Gongzi Cong stared closely at the tall servant in front of him, at the wooden tray he was holding in both hands, and at the slight layer of moldy and rotten herbs in the wooden tray. "That's all?" Gong Zi Cong's voice was not loud, cold and chilling.

"Master Hui, that's all." The servant's voice was not loud, flat, without cadence, and to his ears, it sounded more like a mockery. Suddenly, Young Master Cong raised his hand and overturned the wooden plate, the servant sideways turned his head and let the medicinal herb scatter all over his head and face, he still bowed slightly, neither humble nor overbearing. Gongzi Cong spat out a word through his teeth: "Get out!" The servant bowed, turned around and walked out the door boldly. Gongzi Cong was extremely angry, his hands trembling slightly, he forced himself to walk to the window, raised his right hand, and grabbed a bamboo ring hanging on the window frame.The bamboo ring looks like a bracelet, pale yellow, it looks like it has been hanging there for a long time, but it is not eye-catching.

Seeing the servant go downstairs, just as he was passing by the window, Gongzi Cong immediately pulled the bamboo ring with all his strength, and a shrill whistle exploded, covering up the faint sound of the mechanism turning.After a while, the sound of wings fluttering downstairs could be heard incessantly, like a strong wind blowing through the forest. Looking out of the window, I saw countless white pigeons fluttering their wings and flying, covering the sky and covering the sun. After a few circles, they scattered to the horizon and merged into the sunset.Young Master Cong stood in front of the window in white clothes with wide sleeves, his sleeves bulged like snow-white wings, reflected by the setting sun, rolled with a layer of gold, making him look like an elf of a white dove.

The servant was taken aback, and was stunned by this weird scene, his legs were weak, and he seemed unable to move.Seeing this, Young Master Cong couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh.After a long time, the servant staggered and gradually walked away... "Let's eat!" Gongzi Cong turned around and smiled, his expression was gloomy, "I'm afraid I won't be able to eat such good food and drink in the future..." Eat without speaking, sleep without speaking. The three finished their dinner in silence and rinsed their mouths.Silently watched the servants take down the tableware, watched them light the lamp, and then retreated.

After a long time, Gongzi Cong said with difficulty: "Tonight, we can't stay here anymore..." Yan Wei asked in surprise, "Then where are we going?" Young Master Cong said: "There are two suitable hiding places, one is in a tree, a little cramped, although it is dry, but it is not convenient for fire; wet." Yan Wei said: "Your disease, Brother Li's disease, cannot do without hot water and acupuncture, it's not good if it can't cause a fire." Young Master Cong looked at Li Qichen, as if asking for his opinion.Li Qichen said: "My leg injury is an old injury, it doesn't matter, it's okay if it's wet, don't worry about it."

Yan Wei frowned and nodded: "You must bring everything you need..." Then she turned her head and said to Li Qichen, "You still have the medicine for acupuncture, but you don't have what you need for medicinal bath..." Gongzi Cong said: "I have prepared a little here, I don't know if it will be enough or not." He opened a hidden compartment under the bed, and it was full of medicines, just what Li Qichen needed for medicinal bathing, although not many, but enough Use it every day.It is already a surprise to have these medicines. Gongzi Cong took out two more swords, handed one to Li Qichen, and wore the other himself.The three of them tidied up and did not light the lamps. They just walked towards the lake with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

After walking along the lake for a while, there is a large circular flat land in front of it, several feet in diameter, half a foot sunken, the ground is as smooth as a mirror.Young Master Cong said: "This is the ancient ruins." Then he stepped on it.Li Qichen and Yan Wei also stepped up, feeling that it was no different from today's rammed earth field. Passing through the ruins, I came to a mountain wall, turned behind a big pine tree hugged by two people, and saw a long and narrow tree hole, which was as wide as a human thigh. Young Master Cong stepped in with all his strength, only to hear the sound of a mechanism operating, and a hole appeared between the pine tree and the mountain wall.The entrance of the cave is half a person's height, and you can walk with your body bent. Below are the steps of rammed earth, and inside is a corridor. On the wall not far away, there is actually a copper lamp burning.

The three walked in a single file, with Gongzi Cong at the end, flipped the lamp lightly, only heard the sound of the switch, presumably the entrance of the cave was closed. The inside of the cave is very deep, and after walking dozens of steps, I arrived at a small room, about three feet square, with lights on all four walls, it was very cold, and there was a well in the middle.Yan Wei was taken aback, and asked, "Is there water in this well?" Gongzi Cong nodded. Li Qichen was puzzled and said, "This place actually looks like a tomb..." Gongzi Cong smiled and said: "Exactly! This place seems to be one with that ruins. It should be a mausoleum, but for some reason, it has never been used. I found this place by chance, and after a little modification, it became what it is now. I heard that The well in the tomb is an excellent feng shui, I originally planned to be buried here if I don’t leave the valley all my life.” When he said this, he had a smile on his face, but the smile was stiff, under the dim light Looking down, it looks even more miserable.

When Yan Wei heard that this was a tomb, she couldn't help shivering, and asked, "Then they... those people, don't they know this place?" Young Master Cong said: "Dozens of institutions have been built in this valley. They didn't pay much attention to them when they handed over. As time went by, many of them were lost. People who came later didn't know about it. This one and the other tree house, they didn't care about it at all. I don’t know, I’m pretty sure of that.” Yan Wei breathed a sigh of relief, then pointed to a passage deep in the cave and said, "Where... what is it?"

Young Master Cong said with a smile: "There is a blind path, only a few dozen steps deep, it can be used as a toilet, and those poisonous concoctions can also be dumped there." However, Li Qichen kept his hands and feet busy, busy packing the luggage brought by the three of them.In addition to the objects used for healing and some practical objects, there are three huge bear mats.The bear mat is not a whole bearskin, but a bearskin cut into one-inch wide strips and woven. The overlap of the mat pattern is equivalent to the thickness of two bearskins.After braiding, use a corner comb to comb all the fur to one side. The longest part of the hair is one foot. If you are in it, you will be completely wrapped in bear hair. You don't need a quilt, and you won't feel cold even in severe winter.

Young Master Cong said: "Even in the heat of summer, it's very cold here, besides, I didn't expect that there would be so many people before, so I only prepared one bed." He pointed to a bamboo bed by one side of the wall, Unexpectedly, it is exactly the same as the one in the bamboo hut, this kind of wide and narrow bed is just right for one person to sleep on, but for two people, they can only hug each other and sleep. Yan Wei said: "Then there will be two people sleeping on the ground?" Gongzi Cong replied: "Exactly!" He walked to the bed, took off the mat and brocade mattress on the bed, looked around, went to the place under the bedside lamp, and spread them side by side. "The temperature here is milder, so it's suitable for sleeping." He turned his head and smiled at Yan Wei, "If you don't believe this, you can try to sleep at the intersection of the blind road. The wind will definitely disturb you from falling asleep." After hearing this, Yan Wei couldn't help shivering again, and gently pulled the corner of Li Qichen's clothes.Li Qichen took her hand behind his back, patted the back of her hand lightly twice, signaled her not to worry, took the bear mat again, spread one on the bed, and spread the other two on the carpet mat and brocade mattress. Yan Wei asked, "Who sleeps in the bed?" Li Qichen and Gong Zicong spoke almost at the same time, what Li Qichen said was: "Of course it's you, son." But Gong Zicong said: "Of course it's you." After they finished speaking, they couldn't help but look at each other. Li Qichen peeked at Yan Wei's face, but saw Yan Wei biting her lower lip, thought carefully, and said, "Young master! Your illness should not be ignored, and if something unexpected happens, you will regret it too much. Brother Li's It’s okay to be sick, I’m a doctor, you are patients, you have to listen to me!” After working in the middle of the night, Li Qichen couldn't sleep, the thick fur of the bear mat wrapped his body, it was dry and warm, he didn't feel damp at all, and his nose had the unique faint fishy smell and foul smell of fur.But what really made Li Qichen unable to sleep was Yan Wei who was sleeping peacefully beside him.Although the bear seat is very wide, even if two seats are side by side, the distance between the two is more than three feet, and with the thick bear fur, you can neither see nor smell it, but you just feel distracted.Before boarding at Yan Wei's house, after all, they slept in separate rooms. Although they have different seats at this moment, it is the first time that they sleep side by side like this.He listened carefully to the movement around him, but he couldn't hear anything at all, there was no sound of deep and deep breathing, and there was no sound of turning over, maybe the three of them didn't sleep, each had their own thoughts, and it was difficult to sleep. On a small charcoal basin, a bowl of water was warmed. The water was about to boil, and tiny fish-like bubbles rose slowly from the bottom of the bowl, making a slight sound.There was only such a small amount of fire, and hot water could not be supplied, so Li Qichen's medicinal bath could not be done with a soaking bath, and could only be scrubbed with the medicinal solution soaked in boiling water. Gongzi Cong had already applied the medicine, this time it was the second round, the itching and numbness was much lighter, and he paced back and forth in the room. Yan Wei said: "You can't see the sky here, and you can't tell the morning and evening. If the time is wrong, I'm afraid it will be bad." Gongzi Cong didn't answer, walked to a place, stretched out his hand to pull on the top of his head, a circle of light suddenly appeared on the ground, it turned out that the sun was shining outside. Li Qichen stared over, and saw that Young Master Cong was holding a cork in his hand, and a wrist-thick pottery tube was embedded in the soil above his head, which must have led to the ground. Today is a sunny day, and the sunlight leaked down and sprinkled on the ground. . Yan Wei smiled and said, "I don't have to worry about that, you are really thoughtful!" Young Master Cong sighed: "No one talks to me normally, I can only think about it by myself, if I think a lot, I will naturally be thoughtful..." Li Qichen saw that he was fine at first, but suddenly became lonely again, so he hurriedly changed the subject and asked, "Can you tell the time, my lord?" Gongzi Cong said: "It's about three quarters in the afternoon..." Yan Wei wondered, "How do you know?" Young Master Cong sighed, and said: "When I was seventeen, it was also the same season. I hid here for three days... I watched the shadow of the sun every day for those three days. I can calculate exactly when and where I go. It’s clear. I’ve only endured it for three days by myself, and I can’t bear it any longer. I feel like I’m in a prison... There’s no one around, and I feel colder. The surroundings are full of ghosts, and I can’t sleep no matter what in the cold night. Unlike last night, Listening to your breathing makes me feel at ease..." Li Qichen asked: "When the young master went out that time, what were those people doing?" Gongzi Cong replied: "They are looking for me all over the mountains and valleys... I have disappeared. If they dare not leave immediately, they must report to the higher authorities. They can only stay here until there is an order from the higher authorities. After I come out On the third day, the people who went out to report the news came back and killed a horse, and then they sent people to report again, saying that I have returned, haha!" Gongzi Cong laughed, but there was nothing in the laughter. Not much joy. Li Qichen said: "So, the distance between here and where their boss is located is only six days away. If we want to be on the safe side, let's go out in nine days and have a look. Maybe they have already left." Gongzi Cong nodded: "Exactly! Because of my experience last time, I have prepared more charcoal here, but not too much food. It may be a little tight for the three of us to eat for nine days."