Chapter 37 Chapter Thirty-Fifth Zhushi is Cutting, Taoshi is Sword

The brocade seats in the Huatang, the shadows of the lights, seem like a lifetime away. Although this place is not as luxurious and elegant as the ones of Gongzi Yu and Gongzi Cong, the buildings are towering and the halls are open, making it even more majestic. Li Qichen, Tong Sui, and Yan Wei sat opposite each other at the same table, and they had thousands of questions to ask, but they didn't know where to start. It was Yan Wei who opened the mouth first, and a series of questions were like a cannonball: "What did you encounter after you left the valley? How did you get together with this Yue'an Jun? Why did you let Li Tengchen release him, and he released him?"

Tong Shu frowned, and said in a deep voice, "I followed them all the way out of the valley, and it went smoothly. Who knew that after they left the valley, they scattered in all directions..." "Scattered? How come?" Li Qichen also frowned. Tong Shui sighed: "Yes... Dozens of people are divided into more than ten groups. Each group has at least one person and at most four or five people. I wanted to follow the leader, but that person disappeared. In desperation , I had to find a random group of people to follow, and followed here..." "What happened later? You're not always so hesitant!" Yan Wei said angrily when she saw that Tong Shui had stopped talking.

Tong Shu smiled awkwardly: "Later, I stayed under the cliff for a few days, but I couldn't get in. Instead, I followed their way..." Tong Shu paused again when he said this, and Yan Wei knew that he was I can't say the embarrassing thing, I just smile and don't rush. Tong Shui scratched his head, a little embarrassed, and continued: "However... I came up to see Mr. Yue'an, he has heard of my name. So he proposed the idea of ​​becoming a private official and sharing the profits between the two families. Out of Yanyin, I will traffic. I think there is nothing wrong with it after thinking about it, so I agree."

Tong Shui raised his eyes to look at Li Qichen, as if asking for his opinion. Seeing Li Qichen's brows furrowed tightly, he asked, "What's the matter? Brother, do you think something's wrong?" Li Qichen slowly shook his head and said: "I don't know either... I'm not familiar with the matter of salt and iron... But he is an official and you are a bandit. It's not right to be together... It's like a poor man hiding under a rich man's hat Hiding from the rain, in the end, the rain that should have fallen on the rich man's head fell on the poor man's head along the edge of the bamboo hat..."

Tong Shui was startled when he heard this, chewing on Li Qichen's metaphor, and sighed: "But, who would want to live with this bandit word for the rest of their life? It also shames Master...not to mention that these brothers who traffic in smuggled salt are also knives." The business of licking blood on the head. I dare not walk on the road, and the deep mountains that cannot be entered by horses are all carried by hands and shoulders. If I am not careful, I will be buried in the mouth of snakes, insects, tigers and wolves. I ventured through the pass. If I am caught, I will die. In a different place, although I have earned a lot of money in the past few years, I have also lost a lot of lives, if I can be more stable, I am worthy of everyone."

Li Qichen also sighed when he heard this, nodded, and asked, "What happened to those people? Were they sent by Yue An Jun?" Tong Shui shook his head, and said: "According to Mr. Yue'an, he received an order from the tiger talisman to guard against the cold lake in the valley. This kind of thing is very common in the army. Seeing the talisman is like seeing the king, so don't ask more questions." Li Qichen nodded: "It seems that all the soldiers come from different places, we still have to find the leader to know the clue..." Tong Shu slapped his head: "Oh! I was careless. I didn't expect them to disperse. I just felt that the sky was getting brighter. I was afraid that I would be discovered if I followed too closely. When I found out that something was wrong and caught up, it was already too late... "

Yan Wei asked, "Then how did you find us?" Tong Shui said: "Mr. Yue An's news here is very well-informed. He sent people out to inquire, saying that you went to Changyan Pass, and then sent people to follow you to Changyan Pass, saying that you were arrested by your elder brother and escorted back to Huaidu. , so we went down the mountain to rob you." Li Qichen said: "What did you tell my elder brother to let him go so easily?" Tong Shui grinned: "Of course it was arranged by that old fox Yue An Jun. He found out that your elder brother's royal order was just to 'capture the person wearing the Shuanglong Huayu pendant and escort him back to Huaidu', which naturally refers to the son Cong. , Your Majesty doesn't know that Yan Wei also has this jade pendant on her body, so it doesn't matter whether you two go or not. So we will cut to the chase and ask for someone. Your elder brother will be happy to sell Yue Anjun's favor when he sees that we know the details. Reason not to let him go? What's more, not only can you sell you as a brother, but you can also sell the young master. Now the young master is very popular in the court. If you don't do it well, you may lead the army to attack Jiang Guo, and your eldest brother will become His subordinates will naturally not easily offend him..."

Li Qichen said with a smile: "I haven't seen you for a few days, but you understand a lot about the benefits and disadvantages of the officialdom." Tong Shui sighed, "Oh...it's impossible if you don't learn, now I'm half an official..." He also laughed. Yan Wei asked: "Who is this Lord Yue An? Why is he so powerful?" Li Qichen said: "He is the brother of His Majesty's wife, Empress Hua, named Bai Lan, and he is very trusted by His Majesty." next morning. Because Yan Wei changed places, she couldn't sleep well and woke up early.Seeing that the others hadn't gotten up yet, and didn't ask the waiter to serve them, they hastily tied up their hair, got dressed, and went out for a walk.

Although it is hot weather, the terrain here is very high, and it is still slightly cool in the morning.The sun has not yet risen, the pale white mist is shrouded, and the surrounding is green.Although there are red mottled rocks on the top of the mountain, there are not many of them, and they are covered by green trees, so it doesn't look as spectacular as looking up from the bottom of the mountain.There seems to be a large lake in the distance, and the water vapor is dense, which may be the so-called "Tianshui". With a click, a sycamore flower fell without wind, and it just landed at Yan Wei's feet. Yan Wei grabbed the sleeve of her right hand with her left hand, leaned over to pick it up, and held it in her hand. The pink and purple petals were slightly soft of gloss.

Yan Wei took off the flower stalk, stuffed the end of the petal into her mouth, and sucked the nectar inside. "Sweet?" A gentle voice came from behind. Yan Wei turned around in a hurry, seeing that it was Mr. Yue An, she blushed, put her hands behind her back, and secretly left the flower behind her.Jun Yue An came over, leaned over to pick up the flower, put it in his hand, and said: "Not only is the honey delicious, but the flower is also edible." Yan Wei blushed even more, nodded and said: "Well, I have eaten it before, and I have to soak it in well water for a whole day and night to remove the sour taste, and stew it with meat. The meat borrows its fragrance, and it borrows the taste of meat. Seventy percent like chicken."

Jun Yuean sighed: "I haven't eaten this kind of recipe for a long time..." Yan Wei nodded and said, "This is how ordinary people eat meat. It's rare to eat meat, so you always have to add something else to make it look richer." Jun Yue An smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to be proficient in cooking." Yan Wei said: "It's not proficient, but medicine and food come from the same source. As a doctor, you should know some cooking methods." Mr. Yue An said: "I have another secret recipe here, which is dipping it in special soy sauce, not to remove its sourness, but to make it more sour. After a long time, the petals will absorb the juice of soy sauce and become more sour. Swollen, put it in the mouth, the juice will explode in the mouth, and the aftertaste is endless." Hearing his vivid words, Yan Wei couldn't help swallowing, and said, "Ah! This is the first time I've heard of this method, can you teach me?" Jun Yue An nodded and said, "I'll teach you how to do it together when you're free." Then he stared at Yan Wei for a few more times and said, "You good girl, why do you dress like a man?" Yan Wei smiled and said: "It will be more convenient to dress up as a man... Besides, things on the road will happen one after another, and I won't be allowed to change back into women's clothes..." Jun Yue An said: "Then you, son Cong, Li Qichen and others, did you sit, lie, walk, and stop together all the way?" Yan Wei thought of the nine days in the crypt, when the three of them lived together in the same room. Even though nothing happened, she blushed when she thought of it, so she lowered her head and muttered, "Except for sleeping in the open... They were all separated, and I didn't deliberately conceal it, Li Tengchen recognized me as a woman at a glance..." Jun Yue An said: "I'm afraid you have to hold on for a while... There has never been a woman on this cliff, so it's a matter of opinion, you'd better dress like this." Yan Wei was startled, thinking that Gongzi Cong said that "Qingu Hantan" needed four pillars of pure yin to grow, could this "Chiya Tianshui" only accept men with pure yang?Thinking of this, I couldn't help asking in a low voice: "Then I'm here now, will I violate any taboos?" Jun Yue An smiled and said: "The so-called taboos are people's own scares. Don't confront them head-on, but you don't have to take them seriously." After speaking, she narrowly blinked at Yan Wei. Yan Wei smiled. She seldom met someone with the same views as herself, and she was a big shot, so she couldn't help being happy from the bottom of her heart. From a distance, Du Rong came over.Jun Yue An ordered: "Take them around today and help them choose a good sword." Du Rong bowed to accept the order. Tong Shui ran to find the brother named Zhao Lei, and Li Qichen and Yan Wei went to the lakeside under the guidance of Du Rong. The lake is long and narrow, with no grass growing around it, and there is no fine sand and black mud like other lakes. The shore of the lake is a whole piece of rock, as if a god split a gap in the mountain and filled it with water. .The water of the lake is dark, but very clean, it seems that it is bottomless, and there is no algae and fish in the water, and it is dead silent. Li Qichen asked: "The water seems to be very deep?" Du Rong said: "Sir, you are very knowledgeable. This lake can be submerged in three steps. The slope of the lake bottom is almost straight up and down. No one knows how deep the lake is." Yan Wei said: "There seems to be nothing in this water..." Du Rong said: "Yes...the water is so clear that there are no fish, not only fish, but also no weeds and algae. The water quality is extremely clear and sweet, and it is the most pure in the world, so it is called 'Tianshui'. Swords are cast with this water. Only then can a peerless artifact be cast." "Forging a sword?" Li Qichen wondered. Du Rong nodded, leading the two of them to turn around a stone beam, their eyes suddenly opened up. I saw dozens of beehive-like blast furnaces standing on a large open space.Each has the thickness of three people hugging each other, as tall as one person, and the bottom is big and the top is small, like a pear shape.It is connected with layers of pottery-cast blast pipes, and at the end of the blast pipes is a huge bellows made of leather. The surrounding slag and charcoal are piled up into hills, and there are models of various utensils beside them. Looking closer, the blast furnace looks like bricks but not bricks, like soil but not soil, solid and dense, and there is a thin layer of gray-green glaze on the outside. Looking from a distance, it looks like it is made of bronze.This time, not only Yan Wei had never seen such a spectacle, but even Li Qichen, who claimed to be well-informed, was dumbfounded. But most of the dozens of blast furnaces were cold, only the one in the middle was burning. The three of them walked over and saw a few craftsmen sitting casually, eating melons and drinking wine. Next to the blast furnace, several slaves were fueling the flames. Those slaves were almost naked, except for a short strip in front of their lower bodies.Yan Wei pretended to be nonchalant, but she deliberately avoided looking there.Xindao: No wonder Mr. Yue An said that you can't change into a woman's clothes, but also dress up as a man... Du Rong said to those craftsmen: "You are being lazy here again!" One of the craftsmen with a distilled nose said with a smile: "It's still summer, and we should stop working, but the fire has to burn, so I turned on a furnace to make a point." Another dark-skinned craftsman also said: "Yes, the 'Ding San' furnace exploded the day before yesterday, and several slaves were killed. Hu Kou also went, and everyone is still in shock! How can there be any thoughts?" Du Rong asked: "By the way, has the 'Ding San' furnace been repaired?" The wine-nosed craftsman said inarticulately: "What to repair... who of us knows this, then... let's go, let's talk about repairing the furnace, it is difficult to smelt iron and forge steel..." There is a name in the middle of this sentence. , but he rolled it on the tip of his tongue and passed it vaguely. Du Rong frowned, and asked, "Who is forging over there?" Yan Wei listened intently, and sure enough, she heard the sound of tinkling in the distance hidden by the blast furnace. The dark-skinned craftsman smiled and said, "Who else is there! Only that little lunatic would be able to beat iron under the hot sun..."