Chapter 25 Chapter Twenty-Four

Hei Lan obeyed her father's order and left the county government early in the morning to find Mrs. Li's residence.In the past few days, she has missed her eldest sister day and night, and she is burning inside her body. Now she is walking on the street to Dongchengmen, hoping to relieve her depression. Hei Lan scouted around the small stalls at the crossroads for a while, and then went to the auxiliary store near the city gate.Fangzheng told her that Mrs. Li was proficient in calligraphy and painting, so she first went to a brush and ink shop to inquire.It just so happened that the shopkeeper knew Mrs. Li very well, and said that she had been a regular customer of his shop for many years, she was a good painter, and she lived not far from the Dongcheng Gate.She also said that since last month, not only had she confiscated a new student, but she had also dismissed several original students, so she advised Hei Lan not to make an empty trip.

Hei Lan falsely claimed that she and Mrs. Li were related by Jiajia, and that she was not here to seek a teacher, but to visit her at home to restore the old relationship.The shopkeeper saw that this was the case, so he told Mrs. Li's residence in detail. Hei Lan was supposed to go back to the county government office to report to her father, but seeing the weather was fine and the sun was shining brightly, she really didn't want to go back to report so early, and also that Mrs. Li's residence was quite close to the East City Gate, so she became wild and decided to follow the shopkeeper's instructions. Go to Li's house to see what happened.

Li's house is located on a secluded street, the houses beside the street are neat and row upon row, and the black lacquer gate is shining.Hei Lan thought in her heart that most wealthy families in Lanfang City might live here. Hei Lan was halfway down the street when he suddenly saw a house with black lacquered copper nails on the door and the word "Li" written on the lintel.Hei Lan stood at the head of the door, and couldn't stop stepping forward and knocking on the door three times.Unexpectedly, no one answered, this aroused the girl's curiosity even more, she decided to check it out, so she knocked on the door.Listening carefully, footsteps came from inside the house.When she knocked on the door for the third time, the door opened. An old woman in plain clothes stood at the door with a silver-headed cane in her hand. She looked Hei Lan up and down, and asked coldly, "Who are you? How decent is it to come here and knock on my door without hiding the sun?"

Hei Lan knew from the other party's dress, conversation and manner that she must be Mrs. Li herself, so she put on her lapel as a gift, and replied: "I am the second daughter of a blacksmith named Hei Lan. Through the door, under the guidance of the shopkeeper of Bi Mo Zhuang, we know that Madam is a famous artist in the painting workshop, so I come here because of her reputation, I hope Madam is no wonder." The woman hesitated for a moment when she heard the words, and turned her anger into joy and said: "So that's the case! Just because the old man has been suffering from five labors and seven injuries recently, and needs to be recuperated, he has already closed the door to thank the guests and dismiss the disciples. But since you have worked hard, you have come to the door to ask to see , How can I turn you away? Miss Heilan, please come in quickly, drink a cup of fragrant tea before you leave."

Heilan thanked her, and followed Mrs. Li through a small garden and into an elegant living room.Mrs. Li made tea, and the two exchanged greetings.Hei Lan raised her eyes to look at her master carefully, thinking in her heart that Mrs. Li might have been quite pretty when she was young.Although her legs and feet are somewhat inconvenient, her eyelids are slightly drooping, and her eyebrows are slightly thicker, but her facial features are still correct, and it is not difficult to see a little of the old charm between her brows.She talked and laughed with Hei Lan, Hei Lan felt hurt, and she was happy in her heart.

Heilan didn't see that there were servants and maidservants in Mrs. Li's house, so she asked why.Mrs. Li replied: "Why do I need three servants and four servants in this small house! I usually try to be quiet; so there is only the mother who is the rough envoy. She was not feeling well a month ago, so I sent her home to rest. She The old man is a peddler, and when he is free, he comes to help me take care of the garden." Upon hearing this, Hei Lan hurriedly got up to leave, and said: "The servant is not here, Madam takes care of the inside and outside, but I, an uninvited guest, came to bother me, it really shouldn't be, let me come to bother another day."

Mrs. Li hurriedly said it's okay.Said that although she likes to be quiet, it is not pleasant to be alone with her for more than a month.Fill the tea bowl covered with black orchid silver tray. The two talked back again, and Mrs. Li led Hei Lan to the study, took out the paintings and calligraphy she had made, and asked her to read them.Hei Lan knew nothing about calligraphy and painting, but she also saw that Mrs. Li's painting skills were extraordinary.The flowers, birds, fish and insects she painted, as well as the portraits of the characters, are all lifelike and ready to come out.

After Hei Lan finished the painting, seeing that it was getting late, she wanted to go again.Mrs. Li leaned her head out of the window, looked at the sun, and said: "Well, I just talked, I don't think it's noon, but I haven't made this lunch yet. Since the old lady left, I have to cook three meals a day, It's really annoying. I knew you were young and capable when I saw you, girl, can you help me?" Hei Lan thought that it would be a bit inhumane not to do this small favor; besides, Mrs. Li was so hospitable and hospitable, helping her cook a meal at least relieved some uneasiness for her lying and deceiving others.Thinking of this, I had to agree.

When the two came to the kitchen, Mrs. Li took advantage of Hei Lan to add fuel to the fire and chattered about her grievances.It is said that her husband and wife are originally a pair of mandarin ducks, they have always followed each other like a shadow, and they have raised eyebrows in every case.It's a pity that the good times don't last long, just when her husband and wife are flying together, her husband accidentally falls down the stairs and dies, leaving her behind. Hei Lan has always been a good cook. In an instant, two bowls of noodles are hot with oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, and then sprinkled with green onion, garlic and other ingredients. Naturally, the five flavors are blended with hundreds of flavors.When the two dined at the same table, Mrs. Li had to show off her cooking skills.Hei Lan was about to say a few words of self-effacing, when she suddenly saw a fierce look in Mrs. Li's eyes, she couldn't help being startled.Another thought, in front of me is a woman of the same sex, so there is no need to make a fuss.

Mrs. Li took a tin wine jug from the cupboard, and said with a sweet smile, "You and I are lucky to meet each other, so why not drink a cup, firstly to cheer you up, and secondly to help you digest food." Hei Lan never touched her lips with alcohol, thinking that only the wives and ladies of high-ranking officials and eunuchs can drink alcohol, and girls from poor families can't get enough meals, how can they have such a good fortune!Today I have this good opportunity to taste the taste, and I am also worthy of meeting Mrs. Li, a hospitable friend. I have long forgotten the little uneasiness just now.

The name of this wine is Rose Dew, although it is not as good as Baigan Daqu, its aftertaste is not small.Hei Lan took the wine cup, took a sip, felt that it was mellow and sweet, and began to drink freely.Mrs. Li kept persuading her to drink, and Hei Lan was not humble, she drank several cups in a row until her face turned rosy and her forehead was covered with fragrant sweat.Hei Lan was full of joy, so naturally she got carried away, she only praised the wine, and she couldn't express her gratitude to her master.Mrs. Li led her back to the living room, sat side by side with her, and told the story of her loving couple who never ended.Said that she is old now, and her old life is miserable—— After a while, Mrs. Li got up and said: "Look, I never finished talking, but I forgot to let you have a good rest. You must be tired after working for me for half a day. I will go to the study to paint, and you will go to my room to rest for a while." How about it?" Hei Lan drank alcohol for the first time in her life, and drank a few more cups, she was already a little tipsy, and completely forgot about going home.Besides, I had no free time all morning, and I was indeed a little tired. I also felt that Mrs. Li was drinking and serving her bed, and her kindness was hard to refrain from. I thought it would be a rare pleasure to take a look at this noble lady's dressing table.Therefore, with half push and half push, he followed Mrs. Li to the inner house and went to the room. Mrs. Li's bedroom is much more luxurious than Heilan imagined.A spherical cloisonné incense burner hangs from the roof beams, overflowing with bursts of fragrance, like orchids and musk deer.There are dozens of small white porcelain and red lacquer boxes in front of the Linghua mirror on the dressing table, each piece is exquisite and unique.Against the back wall is a large sandalwood bed carved with dragons and phoenixes, and the mother-of-pearl on the bed frame is shining.The gold thread on the Xiangluo account is woven with patterns of flowers and birds. Mrs. Li opened a cloth curtain in a corner, pointed to the bathroom behind the curtain and said, "You take a bath first, and then go to bed and rest after you wake up, and then have tea in my living room." door. Hei Lan sat down in front of the dressing table, opened the lid of the small box, looked at this, smelled that, and felt fresh.Four red leather suitcases were stacked beside the bed, with four large characters of spring, summer, autumn and winter written in gold paint on them.Hei Lan walked to the bed, not daring to open the suitcase to watch.Finally, she walked into the bathroom, thinking that after washing her body, she would not have to sleep on Mrs. Li's bedding.There is a wooden basin in the center of the bathroom, a wooden spoon next to it, and two water tanks in the corner, one cold and the other hot.Opaque oil paper was pasted on the window, the bamboo bamboo rustled outside the window, and the sunlight was reflected on the window lattice paper, like an elegant ink painting of mottled bamboo. Hei Lan took off the lid of the hot water tank, only to see that it was steaming hot, and fragrant leaves were floating on the water.She took a wooden spoon, scooped hot water from the jar and poured it into the basin, and scooped cold water from the other jar, making it lukewarm.At this moment, she suddenly heard a sound at the door of the room, and she hurriedly turned around and opened the curtain to have a look, only to see Mrs. Li entering the room with a cane.Mrs. Li smiled and said: "It's me, you are so scared. I am also a little sleepy, I want to go to bed and rest. You sleep after bathing, and you sleep very sweetly." Seeing Mrs. Li approaching step by step, Hei Lan's eyes shot out a poisonous light, she was frightened, and hurriedly squatted down and reached for her clothes and pants.Mrs. Li stepped forward and snatched the clothes from Hei Lan's hands, threw them into a corner, and asked, "Why don't you take a bath?" Hei Lan apologized in a panic.Mrs. Li said with a cold smile: "Looking at your figure, you are a stunner, but there is no need to pretend to be serious!" Hei Lan was ashamed and frightened, and suddenly woke up from the wine. She pushed forward with both hands, and Madam Li staggered back.After she stood still, she lowered her face, and her eyes showed a fierce light.Hei Lan trembled all over, and was at a loss, but Mrs. Li flew up her cane and hit her.The pain made Hei Lan forget her fear, and hurriedly leaned over to pick up the wooden spoon on the ground, intending to throw it on Mrs. Li's head.However, before her hand touched the wooden spoon, Madam Li struck down with the second stick again, causing Hei Lan to scream in pain and jump to the side. Mrs. Li laughed grimly, and scolded: "You little hoof that is ridden by thousands of people, how dare you count on me! Today I will let you taste the taste of my old lady's walking stick! Even if you are different from Bai Lan, you are a bit wild, it won't take long , I will ask you to obediently obey my mercy!" When Hei Lan heard Bai Lan's name suddenly, he forgot about the pain and cursed loudly, "You old pig, where did you get my sister?" Mrs. Li asked back: "Do you want to see her?" Then she threw away her cane, reached into her sleeve with her left hand and took out a long and thin silver hairpin, and with her right hand drew a bright sharp knife from her bosom, and said: "She has become a ghost under this knife, and this little silver hairpin is what she left behind to me. When I kill you with one knife, you can go find her in Ni Shouqian's labyrinth!" Hei Lan screamed in fright, and stood on the ground, unable to move.Mrs. Li put the jewelry back into her sleeve, wiped the blade with the thumb of her left hand, and said through gnash teeth, "Since you are here, don't even think about going out again! Don't blame the old lady for being dark-hearted, but I let you go out alive today, and my life will die tomorrow, so I have no choice but to do one thing and keep sending you to the west! I know you are wild and unruly when I see you. If I fight, I am no match for you. If I want to poison you to death, there is no poison at home for a while. Wine, medicine stone, so I lure you to this place after drinking, so I can start. Now, don't say that you can't escape the sharp knife in my hand, even if I let you escape, like you, how can you face others ?” Mrs. Li's last few words reminded Hei Lan that escaping was the most important thing now, and she couldn't care less, so she shouted for help while planning to break through the window and escape.At this moment, the figure of a tall man was suddenly reflected on the window paper. When Madam Li saw it, she panicked.When Mrs. Li came to her senses and threw the knife at Hei Lan, the window had already been broken. A big man jumped into the room, grabbed Mrs. Li's wrist holding the knife, twisted it backwards, and the sharp knife fell to the ground with a bang, and then He took off his belt and tied Mrs. Li's hands. Hei Lan woke up suddenly, and cried, "Brother Ma Rong, it was you, this witch killed my sister Bai Lan!" Ma Rong said: "I already know this, I was sent by the master to rescue you." Hei Lan took advantage of Ma Rong's opportunity to lead Mrs. Li to the bedroom, and quickly put on her underwear.When she came to the room, Ma Rong had tied up Mrs. Li on the bed.Seeing that she was already dressed, Ma Rong said, "Go and open the gate, and the officials in the Yamen will be here soon. I found out where this woman lived at Dongfangfang, so I drove my horse and galloped here, so I arrived first." step." Hei Lan wiped away her tears, hurriedly left the room and opened the door. At dusk, Di Gong and his four relatives gathered in the study of the Nei Ya with the cadres.Wu Feng came in, said good night to Di Gong, and said in a low voice: "My lord, Bai Lan's body has been collected and ready to go. The clothes and quilt and the coffin are all wrapped around Xiaosheng's body, and he will be buried in the ground in a few days." Di Gong asked: "How is Fang's arrest?" "Returning to Master, he gradually calmed down when he knew that Bai Lan had suffered misfortune. At this moment, Hei Lan is by his side." Wu Feng bowed and left the inner office. Di Gong said: "This person is now awake." Ma Rong asked, "Why does he keep haunting the Yamen?" Di Gongdao: "I think about it. Bai Lan was killed. He felt that he had a responsibility to help take care of the funeral. It is also human nature. It is a pity that Bai Lan fell into the hands of evil people and was tortured. The scars on her body are proof." Hong Canjun asked: "Master, how do you know that Bai Lan's murder is related to Mrs. Li in the maze?" Duke Di stroked his beard slowly, and replied: "It's not unusual to think of Mrs. Li committing crimes. Ni Shougan didn't let others know the shortcuts of the maze, even his son Ni Qi and his beloved wife Mei didn't know the secrets in the palace. From this point of view, if you want to know The way to the pavilions in the palace is not something anyone can do. Mrs. Li often enjoys tea with Ni Shouqian and his wife in the small pavilion in the garden and discusses paintings. I think about it. When Ni Shouqian was painting the landscape painting "Void Pavilion", Mrs. Li once bumped into him Mrs. Li is a famous painter, and she has a unique eye for appraising works of art, so she can see that this painting is extraordinary, and she is familiar with the entrance of the maze, so she can finally guess the secret in the painting. Ni Shouqian has nothing about it know." Tao Gan said: "Ni Shouqian probably painted the pine tree first, and then painted other things. Mrs. Li saw this painting just when the pine tree was painted, so she realized the mystery of it." Di Gong nodded. "Why Madam Li abducted a woman from a good family is yet to be interrogated. However, there was a precedent for her to have evil thoughts about young girls before Bai Lan. I think that Madam Ni was a peasant girl before she came out of the cabinet, but Madam Li was very interested in her and did not care about her." Making friends with her at a high and low age is a clear proof. Mrs. Li has such evil thoughts in her heart, so she secretly hides the secret of the maze in her heart, thinking that it will be used in emergencies in the future. Bai Lan is a naive, gentle and weak woman who cannot stand Mrs. Li's coaxing Four lies, threats and beatings, and she succumbed to her lust and was imprisoned in her home for about a month. Bai Lan's sneak visit to Sanbao Temple made Mrs. Li feel uncomfortable, so she secretly took Bai Lan to Ni Shouqian's other courtyard , locked in the room with grilled windows. The Yamen searched Dongfang, but there was no sign of Bai Lan in Mrs. Li's house. This is the reason. Mrs. Li must have been frightened by this move, so she decided to kill her. The labyrinth and pavilions are just the right place for her to kill her." Tao Gan said: "We went to the eastern suburbs yesterday morning to visit. If we had left half an hour earlier, Bai Lan's life might have been saved. Yesterday, Mrs. Li must have just left, and we would have arrived." Di Gong sighed: "This is also the number of days, but Mrs. Ni came to see me in the Yamen yesterday morning. Later, we went to the entrance of the maze to look, but I saw a woman's footprints on the ground, but I didn't speak. At that time, a wave of fear came over me. Come on, it must be Bai Lan's wronged soul wandering around me, and Ni Shouqian's ghost seems to be beckoning to me from the depths of the maze, but it's a pity that the ghost is forever separated, or..." Di Gong's voice gradually dropped, recalling the terrifying scene at that time, he couldn't help shivering again. For a while, the inner yamen was silent.Di Gong regained his composure, and said, "Thanks to Ma Rong who arrived at Li's house in time, another bloody case was avoided. It's not early, let's go to dinner. In the city, it is hard to fully predict what Hu Bing will be." In the afternoon of the same day, Qiao Tai made arrangements for the defense of the city.He selected strong soldiers to ambush at the water gate, and ordered the rest of the army to form a formation to defend the city in sections.Sifangfang is under the order of Qiaotai to also inform the people in the city that Hu Bing may attack the city that night.All the adult men in the city were busy. They piled up wood, rolling stones, dry firewood, rosin, sulfur, etc. on the city wall, and rushed to make bamboo spears and arrows, preparing for the battle.At the first watch, a team of fifty people, led by a soldier, also went to the city wall to help in the battle. Two soldiers were deployed on the Drum Tower. As soon as the Fan Army approached the Jiehe River, they beat the drum to call the police, and immediately lit the torches on the city wall.If Fanjun dared to attack by force, he would be shrouded in horse leather and buried in a sea of ​​fire. After dinner in the inner house, Duke Di went to the study to have a rest. He looked up and saw the sword of Yulong hanging on the wall, so he couldn't help taking it down to have a look.This treasure is handed down from the Di family's ancestors. It breaks when you blow a hair, and cuts iron like mud.Di Gong pulled out the sharp blade, only to hear the sound like the first strike of a golden bell, melodious and melodious, lingering;Di Gongfu put the sword into the sheath, put it on the desk, and went to sleep on a small bed in the corner of the room. As soon as the child's hour came, Ma Rong came to pick up Di Gong with all his clothes on.Di Gong put on armor in his official robe, took the Yulong sword from the desk, put on an official hat, and galloped towards the water gate with Ma Rong on his horse. Qiao Tai reported to Di Gong at the water gate.Hong Canjun and Tao Gan have taken four soldiers to guard the watchtower of Qianzhai. If anyone goes upstairs to light a fire, they will be taken down immediately. Di Gong nodded, climbed up the stone steps to the gate tower of the water gate, stood in front of the arrow stack, clasped the Yulong sword in both hands, and looked into the distance.There are flag soldiers on the right and Ma Rong on the left, each holding Wang Yi and Ling Yi to stand beside them.Although Di Gong is versatile in civil and military affairs, it was the first time in his life that he led the army. He was very proud to see the apricot-yellow flag above his head fluttering in the wind. As midnight approached, Di Gong pointed far away, only to see the flames gradually rising, approaching from far away, and a large group of Hu Qi was rushing towards Lanfang. The fire dragon gradually approached, and when it was about half a mile away from the city, it stopped advancing.It is clear that Fan Jun is waiting for the signal to be raised above Qian Mou Wang Tower. Di Gong stood on the gate tower, watching the movement quietly. One by one, the defenders of the city drew their swords out of their sheaths and drew their arrows to the strings, ready to meet the enemy.However, the Fan army didn't see the fire on the upper floor, so they didn't dare to enter the army. They stood in a stalemate for half an hour and retreated without fighting.At this point, the Fan army died down, and a rebellion instigated by Ni Qi was finally suppressed.