Chapter 10 Chapter Ten "Selected Tang Poems"
Xiangxi and Jingzhou are not far apart, and after a few days, they arrived in Jingzhou.This road was the one he had traveled along with his master and junior sister back then.Mountains and rivers are still like this, roads are still like this.When walking back then, the road was full of Qi Fang's laughter.This time, from Maxipu to Jingzhou, he didn't hear a single laugh.Of course someone laughed, but he didn't hear it.
After inquiring outside the city, I found out that Ling Tuisi was still the magistrate.Di Yun's face was still covered in mud, covering his true colors, and walked into the city.
The first thought was: "I want to see with my own eyes how Wan Gui suffers. Has his poisonous injury been healed? I don't know if he has returned. Maybe he is still in Hunan for treatment."
Strolling to the gate of Wan's house, he saw Shen Cheng coming out of the gate in a hurry from afar, with a very hasty expression on his face.Di Yun said in his heart: "Since Shen Cheng is here, Wan Gui has already returned home if he wants to come. As soon as it gets dark, I will go and explore." Then he walked towards the abandoned garden.
The abandoned garden is not far from Wan's family. Ding Dian passed away, killed Zhou Qi, killed Geng Tianba, killed Ma Daming, all in this abandoned garden. This time the old place is revisited, we can only see the same weeds and rubble everywhere.He walked to the old plum tree, stroked the uneven trunk, and said in his heart: "Brother Ding passed away under this old plum tree that day, and the plum tree still looks like this, it hasn't changed at all. Brother Ding But it has turned to ashes.”
He sat under the plum tree and closed his eyes to sleep.Sleeping until the second watch, I took out some dry food from my arms to eat, left the abandoned garden, and came towards Wanjia.Going around to the back door of Wan's house, entering over the wall, and in the back garden, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness in my heart: "I was seriously injured that day and hid in the woodshed. Junior sister didn't help me save me, it was considered cruel, but she went to call Husband is here to kill me." Just as he was about to move forward, he suddenly saw three lights flickering beside the Taihu Stone.
He immediately shrank behind the tree, looked towards the fire, and saw that the three lights were three burning sticks of incense in the incense burner.The incense burner was placed on a small table. A few days ago, two people knelt and kowtowed to the sky, and stood up after a while.Di Yun could clearly see that one was Qi Fang, and the other was a little girl. Her daughter was also called "Water Spinach".
I could only hear Qi Fang praying softly: "The first stick of incense, please God bless my husband to get rid of suffering, relieve swelling and detoxify, and no longer suffer from the pain of this scorpion poison. Water spinach, say, please pray to the heavenly Bodhisattva May Daddy recover from his illness." The little girl said: "Yes, mother, I beg the Bodhisattva to bless Daddy, so that Daddy will not be in pain and screaming." Although Di Yun is not close, the words of her mother and daughter can be heard Clearly, knowing that Wan Gui was still suffering after being poisoned, he felt joy in his heart, but also resented Qi Fang for being so affectionate to her husband.
I only heard Qi Fang say: "The second incense stick, please God bless my father to be safe, free from disasters and troubles, and come back soon. Water spinach, please ask the heavenly Bodhisattva to bless grandpa with a long life." The little girl said: "Yes, grandpa , come back quickly, why don't you come back?" Qi Fang said: "Pray for the protection of the Bodhisattva." The little girl said: "The Bodhisattva bless the grandfather, but also protect the grandfather and father." She had never seen Qi Changfa before, and her mother asked She prayed, but her grandfather and father were on her mind.
Qi Fang paused for a moment, and said in a low voice: "This is the third stick of incense, please God bless him with safety, bless him with all the best, bless him to marry a good wife and have a son soon..." Her voice choked up when she said this, Stretching out his sleeves, he wiped away his tears.The little girl said: "Mom, you think of uncle again." Qi Fang said: "You say, please God bless Uncle Water Spinach..."
When Di Yun heard her praying for the third incense stick, he wondered: "Who is she praying for?" Suddenly he heard her say the words "Uncle Water Spinach", and he couldn't help but hear a buzzing in his ears, and he only said in his heart: " Is she talking about me? Is she talking about me?"
The little girl said: "Mom misses Uncle Water Spinach. The Heavenly Bodhisattva blesses Uncle Gongxi to make a fortune and buys me a big baby. He is Water Spinach, and I am also Water Spinach. Mom, where is this Uncle Water Spinach? How can he not return?" Come back?" Qi Fang said: "Uncle Water Spinach went to a far, far place. Uncle left your mother and ignored him, but mother remembered him every day..." At this point, she hugged her daughter and hid her face on her chest , walked back in quickly.
Di Yun walked to the side of the incense burner, looked at the three shimmering incense heads, and couldn't help but be infatuated.
He stood there in a daze, the three incense burnt to the end, all turned into ashes, he still stood motionless.
In the early morning of the next day, Di Yun came out of Wanjia's backyard and wandered around in a daze in Jingzhou City. Suddenly, he heard choking and choking sounds.Di Yun's heart moved, he wanted to see Wan Gui's moaning and screaming misery with his own eyes, so he took out ten taels of silver and wanted to buy his clothes, medicine box, and tiger brace.The doctor was very surprised that these were not valuable things, at most worth three or four taels of silver, so he happily sold them to him. Di Yun returned to the abandoned garden, changed into the doctor's clothes, smashed some herbs, smeared the juice on his face, and applied a large piece of herbs under his left eye, making his face unrecognizable. In front of Wanjia. When he was about to reach the gate of Wan's house, he clattered and rattled the tiger's support loudly, and when he got closer, he shouted hoarsely: "He specializes in difficult and miscellaneous diseases, unknown swollen poison, poisonous insects and poisonous snakes." The injury will take effect immediately." After going back and forth like this three times, I saw a person coming out of the gate in a hurry, beckoning: "Hey, Mr. Langzhong, come here, come here." Di Yun recognized him as a disciple of Wanmen, and it was Wu who cut off his five fingers back then. Hom.But Di Yun's attire and appearance are very different from those in previous years, Wu Kan certainly couldn't recognize him.Di Yun was afraid that he would recognize his own voice, so he walked over slowly, lowered his voice even more, and said, "What is your order, but what intractable disease or unknown swelling has occurred on your body?" Wu Kan let out a "bah" and said, "Do you think I have contracted an unknown swollen poison? Hey, let me ask you, I was stung by a scorpion, can you cure it well?" Di Yundao: "The green bamboo snake, the red snake, the gold-legged belt, the shovel head, the first-class poisonous snakes in the world bite people, and they are all poisoned by medicine. The scorpion, hehe, what is it?" thing?" Wu Kan said: "Don't brag, this stinging scorpion is not an ordinary guy. All the famous doctors in Jingzhou City shook their heads when they saw it, and you are cured again?" Di Yun frowned and said, "Are they so powerful? All the scorpions in the world are gray-haired scorpions, black-and-white scorpions, money scorpions, hemp-headed scorpions, red-tailed scorpions, floor biting scorpions, white-footed scorpions..." He believed He babbled nonsense and talked about twenty kinds of things before saying: "Each scorpion has different poisons, and each has its own treatment method. Even a famous doctor may not understand everything if he is not really capable." Wu Kan saw that he was ugly and dressed in rags. Although he said many names of scorpions, he stuttered and slurred his speech. He had no skills, so he said, "If that's the case, you should go and have a look, anyway, it's dead. Treat the horse as a live horse doctor." Di Yun nodded, and followed him into Wanfu. As soon as he stepped through the door, he immediately remembered the scene when he followed his master and junior sister to celebrate his birthday. At that time, a country boy came to the city, and he could see in his eyes that everything was fresh and fun. He and his junior sister looked around, pointed, Come back today, Tinghu is still the same, but I only feel a burst of bitterness in my heart.He followed Wu Kan through two courtyards and came to the east building. Wu Kan raised his head and said loudly: "Sister-in-law three, there is a grass-headed doctor, he said he can cure scorpion poison, do you want him to come and show my brother?" With a bang, the upstairs window opened, Qi Fang poked her head out of the window, and said, "Okay, thank you Junior Brother Wu, your senior brother is in more pain today, sir, please go upstairs." Wu Kan said to Di Yun: "You go up." But he didn't follow.Qi Fang said: "Junior Brother Wu, please come up too, let's take a look." Wu Kan said: "Yes!" Then he went upstairs. When Di Yun came upstairs, he saw a large desk by the window in the middle, with pens, ink, paper and inkstones, a dozen books, and a half-sewed child's clothes.Qi Fang came out from the inner room, her face was not covered with makeup, her complexion was quite haggard.Di Yun only glanced at her, afraid that she would recognize him and dare not look further, so he went into the room.There was only one person sleeping face to face on a big bed, moaning continuously, it was Wan Gui.His youngest daughter was sitting on a small stool in front of the bed, gently beating her father's legs.Seeing Di Yun's filthy and strange face, she exclaimed and hurriedly hid behind her mother. Wu Kan said: "My senior brother was stung by a poisonous scorpion, and the poison has never disappeared, it seems something is wrong." Di Yun said: "Yes, is it?" He was calm when talking to Wu Kan outside the door. After seeing Qi Fang, her heart was beating wildly, her cheeks were hot, her lips were dry, and she couldn't speak anymore.He walked to the bed and patted Wan Gui on the shoulder. Wan Gui turned over slowly, and when he opened his eyes and saw Di Yun's expression, he couldn't help being slightly startled.Qi Fang said: "Third brother, this is the doctor that Junior Brother Wu found for you, he...he may have a panacea that can heal your injury." In his tone, he really had no confidence in this doctor. Without saying a word, Di Yun looked at the back of Wan Gui's swollen hand, saw that the back of his hand was a black mass again, and looked very terrifying, so he said hoarsely: "This is the piebald spot in Yuanling, western Hunan. Bitten by poisonous scorpions, we don't have such scorpions in Hubei!" Qi Fang and Wu Kan said in unison: "Yes, yes, it was stung in Yuanling, Xiangxi." Qi Fang said again: "Sir, you have seen the origin of the scorpion, so it must be curable?" The voice was full of hope . Di Yun counted the days with his fingers, and said: "It was bitten at night, so now, um, it has been seven days and seven nights." Qi Fang glanced at Wu Kan, and said, "Mister is really good at predicting things, it was indeed stung at night, and it has been seven days and seven nights today." Di Yun said again: "Did this master beat the scorpion to death with a backhand palm? If it wasn't like this, he could have been saved. Now that he killed the scorpion on the back of his hand, all the poison was forced in, and we have to save it again." , that was extremely difficult.” Qi Fang had heard that he even calculated the time very accurately, and expected that there must be a cure, and her face was already happy. After saying this, she became anxious again, and said: "Mr. is clear, but no matter what, I need you to save me." his life." Di Yun pretended to be a doctor and entered Wan's house this time, with the intention of witnessing Wan Gui's death in agony, so as to vent the pent-up anger in his heart. As for saving his life, he naturally had no intention of saving his life.But he has been obedient to Qi Fang since he was a child, and he never disobeyed her. Hearing her begging so anxiously at this moment, his heart softened, and he wanted to open the medicine box and get Yan Daping's antidote, but then changed his mind: "This Wan Gui has caused me so much misery and has taken away my junior sister. I would be very polite not to kill him with my own hands. How can I save his life?" He shook his head and said, "It's not that I refused to save him. , In fact, he was poisoned too deeply, and his life was delayed, and the poison entered his brain, so there is no way to save him." Qi Fang shed tears, took her daughter's hand, and said: "Wang Kongcai, baby, kowtow to this uncle, begging him to save Daddy's life." Di Yun shook his hand hastily, and said: "No, you don't need to kowtow..." But the girl was very good, she always listened to her mother, and knowing that her father was seriously injured, she was also very anxious, so she knelt down on the ground and kowtowed to him.Di Yun lost his five fingers on his right hand and hid them in his sleeve all the time. He immediately stretched out his left hand to help the girl up.I saw that when the girl got up, there was a gold lock piece hanging from her neck, and four words were engraved on the gold piece: "De Rong Shuang Mao". When Di Yun saw it, he couldn't help being stunned, remembering that day when he passed out in the woodshed of Wanjia, and when he woke up, he was already in the boat on the Yangtze River, with some gold and silver jewelry beside him, including a piece of gold from a child. The cleat is also engraved with these four words, could it be... Could it be... He only glanced at it, and didn't dare to look again. His mind was in chaos, and finally gradually became clear: "I fainted in the woodshed of the Wanjia. If it wasn't for my junior sister to save me, there would be no one else. I used to suspect that she intended to harm me." , but last night... last night she prayed to the heavens and confide in her heart. , can we reunite again?" When he thought of the word "reunion", he couldn't help his heart pounding again. He glanced sideways at Qi Fang, only to see that her face was full of concern, and she looked at Wan Gui intently, with a look of love and compassion in her eyes. As soon as Di Yun saw her look, his heart sank immediately, and his back felt cold. He remembered clearly that day when he fought with the eight brothers of Wanmen, and was beaten black and blue by the eight of them. , Junior Sister mended his clothes, and her eyes were full of love and tenderness.Now, her eyes are given to her husband, and she will never give them to him again. "If I don't give you the antidote, no one will blame me. When Wan Gui dies from pain, I will quietly come and take her for a walk at night, who can stop me? I won't mention the old things, and we will do...and be husband and wife again. Well, this girl, I just take her along. Alas, no, no! Junior sister has been working as a young mistress in Wanjia for several years, and she is used to it. How can she go with me to plow the fields and herd cattle? Besides, I describe Ugly, unable to read a few hundred words, and with crippled hands, how can she be worthy of her? How can she go with me?" This one felt so ashamed that he couldn't help but lowered his head in embarrassment. Qi Fang didn't know that there were so many thoughts going on in this herbal man's center, she just stared at him blankly, hoping that he would say two words: "Help!" Wan Gui let out a long moan and a short moan. At this time, the scorpion venom had invaded the armpit joints, and the whole arm and palm were swollen with unbearable pain. Qi Fang waited for a long time, but when Di Yun didn't make a sound, she begged again: "Sir, please give it a try, as long as... as long as it relieves his... pain, even... even... I don't blame you." Well, since Wan Gui's life is unavoidable, I just ask him to stop the pain, even if he dies eventually, he can avoid suffering like this. With a cry of "Oh", Di Yun woke up from his contemplation, his heart was empty for a moment, all thoughts were lost, and he wished he could die immediately.He loves this junior sister with all his heart, but she is married to his great enemy, and she is still begging himself to save this enemy. "I'd rather be like Wan Gui, who suffers so much, but has my junior sister look at me with pity. Even if I don't live for a few days, what's the point?" He sighed lightly, opened the medicine box, and took out the medicine box. Some black powder was poured out of Yan Daping's antidote bottle and put on the back of Wan Gui's hand. Wu Kan exclaimed: "Ah... it's... that's the antidote, this... it can be saved." Di Yun heard that his voice was different, and he should have been happy when he said the five words "this can be saved", but his voice was extremely disappointed and a little annoyed. Di Yun felt strange and turned his head to him Taking a look, I saw a very vicious look in his eyes.Di Yun felt even more strange, but he thought that none of the eight disciples of Wanmen was a good person.Wan Zhenshan, Yan Daping and the others are fighting each other, Wan Gui and Wu Kan may not be on good terms, but why did he come out to find a doctor for Wan Gui again? As soon as the powdered medicine was applied on the back of Wan Gui's hand, black blood flowed from the wound not long after.His pain gradually subsided, and he said: "Thank you doctor, this antidote is right." Qi Fang was overjoyed, and took a copper basin to receive the blood, only heard a soft click, click, and the blood dripped into the pan. In the copper basin.Qi Fang thanked Di Yunlian. Wu Kan said: "Sister-in-law, younger brother, did you get some merit this time?" Qi Fang said: "Yes, I really have to thank Junior Brother Wu." Talk to him again, and said to Di Yun: "What's your surname, sir? We will be rewarded a lot." Di Yun shook his head and said, "You're welcome. The poison of the scorpion needs to be applied ten times in a row before it can be cured." His heart was sore, but he felt that everything in the world is suffering, so he said, "I'll give it to you!" The antidote was handed over. Qi Fang didn't expect it to be so easy, but she didn't dare to take it for a while, and said: "We bought it from Mr., how much money do you want?" Di Yun shook his head and said, "It's for you, no money is needed." Qi Fang was overjoyed, took it with both hands, bowed with blessings, thanked deeply, said: "Sir is so generous, I really don't know how to thank you. Brother Wu, please accompany this gentleman to sit downstairs for a while." Di Yun said: "I won't sit down, I'll take my leave." Qi Fang said: "No, no, we can't repay you for your life-saving kindness. A glass of water and wine is our respect anyway. Sir, don't go!" "Don't go!" As soon as these four words entered Di Yun's ears, his heart softened immediately, and he thought: "I can't take revenge for this revenge. After I bury Brother Ding, I will never come to Jingzhou City again." .In this life, I will never meet my junior sister again. She wants to toast me with a glass of wine, um, it would be good to see her a few more times." He nodded immediately.
The banquet was set up in the small living room upstairs, Di Yun took the upper seat in the middle and Wu Kan accompanied him.Qi Fang thanked the doctor for his kindness and served the dishes herself.It seems that Wan Zhenshan and other people in Wanfu are not at home, and the rest of the disciples did not come to the banquet to drink. Qi Fang respectfully toasted three glasses of wine, and Di Yun drank them all, feeling sore in his heart, his eyes filled with tears, knowing that he could no longer hold on, and after sitting for a while, he would show his signs, and immediately stood up Come, and said: "The wine is enough, I'm going now! From now on, I will never come again!" Qi Fang heard his nondescript words, but the doctor was very weird at first, so he didn't care, and said: "Sir, for your great kindness, we can't thank each other. Here is a hundred taels of silver. Please buy wine and drink on the way, sir." He said holding a bag of silver with both hands. Di Yun turned his head away, looked up to the sky and laughed loudly, and said: "I saved him, I saved him, haha, haha! How funny! Is there anyone more stupid than me in the world?" He laughed loudly, but two tears flowed down his cheeks. Qi Fang and Wu Kan couldn't help looking at him in astonishment when they saw that he seemed crazy.But the little girl said: "Uncle is crying! Uncle is crying." Di Yun was startled, afraid of showing his feet, he didn't dare to talk to Qi Fang again, he thought: "From now on, I will never see you again." Reaching into his bosom, he took out the book he took from the Yuanling cave. The shoe-shaped collection of poems that had arrived was tucked up in the sleeves, and the sleeves were hung down and quietly placed on the chair, not daring to look at Qi Fang again, and went downstairs without looking back. Qi Fang said: "Junior Brother Wu, send me off for Mr." Wu Kan said: "Okay!" and followed him out. Holding the bag of silver in her hands, Qi Fang's heart was beating wildly: "Who is this gentleman? Why does his laugh look so similar to that person's? Oh, what's wrong with me? These days, third brother's The injury is so serious, but my heart is upside down, always thinking about him...he...he..." He put the silver on the table, put his hand on it, and sat down on the chair again. Di Yun had sat on that chair before, and felt something was on it, so he stood up hurriedly, and saw that it was an old yellow book with the words "Selected Poems of Tang Dynasty" written on the cover. She let out a soft cry, reached out to pick it up, flipped through it casually, and a shoe pattern fell out of the book, which she had cut in her hometown in Xiangxi back then.She opened her mouth wide and couldn't close it, her hands were trembling, and she turned a few pages, and saw a pair of paper-cut patterns of butterflies.The scene when I sat side by side with Di Yun in the cave and cut out this pair of paper butterflies suddenly flashed into my mind like lightning.She couldn't help but yelled "Ah", and only thought in her heart: "Where did this... this book come from? Is... who brought it? Could it be Mr. Doctor?" Seeing her mother's expression changed, the little girl panicked and called out, "Mom, mom, what are you... doing?" Qi Fang was stunned, grabbed the book and put it in her arms, rushed downstairs, and chased out the door.Since she was married as the daughter-in-law of the Wan family, she has always been gentle and gentle, and she has never run so fast in the halls.The servants of the Wan family suddenly saw the young mistress unfolding lightness kung fu, piercing through several courtyards and rushing out, all of them were surprised. Qi Fang ran to the front hall and saw Wu Kan coming in from the door, she hurriedly asked: "What about Mr. Doctor?" Wu Kan said: "This man is very strange, he left without saying a word. Third sister-in-law, you ask him to do something Did senior brother’s injury recur?" Qi Fang said: "No, no!" She rushed out of the gate and looked around, but there was no trace of the medicine seller. She stood outside the gate for a while, then reached out and took out the old books from her bosom to flip through them. Every time she saw a shoe pattern, a pattern, and various joyful things when she was young, they rushed to her heart like a tide, and tears burst out of her eyes. She suddenly changed her mind: "Why am I so stupid? My father-in-law and third brother went to Xiangxi to meet Master Yan recently. Maybe they broke into that cave by accident and took this book casually. There is one. This Mr. Doctor How could it have anything to do with this book?" But then he thought: "No, no! How could it be such a coincidence? The cave is so secret that even Dad doesn't know about it. Apart from me, there is only my elder brother and him in the world. ...He alone knows, how did the father-in-law and the third brother find it? They were looking for Uncle Yan, how could they break into this cave? When I set up the banquet just now, I clearly remembered to wipe this chair. Where are the books? ? If the doctor didn't bring this book, where did it come from?"
She was full of doubts, and slowly returned to the room, seeing that after Wan Gui had applied the wound medicine, his energy was much better.Holding the book in her hand, she wanted to ask her husband, but then she thought: "Don't be reckless, if that doctor...that doctor..." Wan Gui said: "Sister Fang, this Mr. Langzhong is really my savior, he must be rewarded well." Qi Fang said: "Yes, I gave him a hundred taels of silver, but he refused to accept it. What a person This bottle of antidote... Hey, where is the antidote? Did you put it away?" After the medicine seller handed the antidote to her, she placed it on the table in front of Wan Gui's bed. But it's gone.Wan Gui said: "No, isn't it on the table?" Qi Fang searched everywhere on the table, beside the bed, dressing table, chairs, chests, under the bed, under the table, but the antidote was nowhere to be found.She was very anxious: "Could it be that I was insane just now and fell on the ground when I ran out? No, I remember clearly that it was placed next to the medicine bowl on the table." Wan Gui was also very anxious, and said: " You...you look for it again, how could it not be there? I just closed my eyes for a moment, and when I was about to fall asleep, I remembered seeing this porcelain bottle on the table. " When he said this, Qi Fang became even more anxious, turned around and left the room, pulled her daughter and asked: "Who came in when Mom was out just now?" The little girl said: "Uncle Wu came up, he saw Daddy fell asleep , let’s go down!” Qi Fang let out a long breath, vaguely aware that something was wrong, but Wan Gui was ill, so he couldn't be worried, and said, "Kangui, you stay with Daddy, and say that Mommy is going to buy another bottle of medicine from Mr. Langzhong to heal Daddy's wound." .” The little girl nodded and said, “Mom, come back soon.” Qi Fang regained her composure, opened the desk drawer, took out a dagger, hid it next to her body, and walked downstairs slowly, thinking: "This guy Wu Kan always sees me in a place where no one is around. Good intentions. This doctor was invited by him, could it be that he colluded with the doctor and arranged some conspiracy? Otherwise, why didn't the doctor ask for money and the antidote disappeared?" While she was thinking, she walked towards the back garden and reached the corridor, only to see Wu Kan leaning on the railing, watching the goldfish in the pond.Qi Fang said: "Junior brother Wu, are you here alone?" Wu Kan turned his head, with a wry smile on his face, and said, "I don't know who it is, it turned out to be Third Senior Sister. Why don't you accompany Third Senior Brother upstairs, I'm so excited Come here?" Qi Fang sighed, and said: "Oh, I'm very bored. I've been with a sick person all day, and your elder brother's hand hurts so much that his temper is getting worse and worse. If you don't come out to relax, find someone Talking to relieve boredom can suffocate people to death." Wu Kan was really overjoyed when he heard this, and said with a smile: "Third Senior Brother is really a man who is not heartless, and he is accompanied by such a flowery beauty like you. If you want to lose your temper, it's too difficult to wait on." Qi Fang walked up to him, leaned on the railing, looked at the goldfish in the pond, and said with a smile: "My sister-in-law is an old woman, and she says that she is as beautiful as a flower, and she is not afraid that people will laugh at her." Wu Kan hurriedly said : "Where? Where? The sister-in-law has the beauty of a daughter when she is a daughter, and the beauty of a young wife when she is a young wife. Everyone says: A flower in Jingzhou City is full of charms in Wanjia." With a hey sound, Qi Fang turned around, stretched out her hand, and said, "Bring it!" Wu Kan laughed and said, "What are you taking?" Qi Fang said, "The antidote!" Wu Kan shook his head and said, "What antidote? Did it treat Brother Wan's injury?" Qi Fang said, "Exactly, obviously you took it." Wu Kan smiled cunningly, and said: "I invited the doctor, and I found the antidote. Brother Wan has already applied it once, and if you don't say anything, it will save you a few days of pain." Qi Fang said: "Mr. Apply it ten times in a row." Wu Kan shook his head and said, "I regret it deeply, deeply regret it." Qi Fang said, "What do you regret?" Wu Kan said, "I saw that the herb doctor was filthy and filthy, like a beggar, so I guess it's nothing. That's why I lured him upstairs, but I wanted to find something to cause trouble and see you one more time. I didn't expect this dog to kill me by mistake, and there is a magic medicine to cure scorpion poison. This, that is completely contrary to my original intention. " Qi Fang was furious when she heard this, but the medicine was in the hands of someone else, so she had to cheat the antidote first, and then settle accounts with him, suppressing her anger, and said with a smile: "According to you, how can I thank you from your elder brother? Are you willing to hand over the antidote?" Wu Kan sighed, and said: "Third senior brother has enjoyed the good fortune for many years, he should have died long ago." Qi Fang's face changed color, she bit her lip and remained silent.Wu Kan said: "When you came to Jingzhou that year, among the eight of us brothers and sisters, which one of us was fascinated when we saw you? That silly boy Di Yun followed you all day long, we only saw that everyone was so angry Let’s all come together, let’s beat his head and crack his forehead before…” Qi Fang said, “It turns out that you beat my senior brother because of me!” Wu Kan said with a smile: "What everyone is saying is of course a different story, saying that he forced his way out to fight the bandit Lu Tong, and cut the face of the disciples of the Wanmen. In fact, in everyone's heart, they are all for the sake of the teacher's sister-in-law. You! You mend clothes with him, talk about yourself, this kind of intimacy, the eight of us brothers and sisters saw it in our eyes and were annoyed in our hearts. Which one of us didn't drink up to thirty-six? Are all the teeth sour?" Qi Fang was secretly startled: "Could it be because of me? Third brother, third brother, why didn't you tell me?" Still pretending to be indifferent, she said with a smile: "Junior Brother Wu, why are you here?" Just kidding. At that time I was a country girl, village-like, and I was dressed so ridiculously, what was there to look good?" Wu Kan said: "No, no! What do you need to dress up for a real beauty? If you don't make everyone lose their minds , this..." At this point, she suddenly shut up and stopped talking. Qi Fang said: "What?" Wu Kan said: "We left you in the Wan family, and my surname Wu also put in a lot of effort. But, sister-in-law, you usually don't smile when you see me, it doesn't make people feel aggrieved Is it?" Qi Fang spat, and said: "I stayed in the Wan family and married you, Senior Brother Wan, of my own free will. What effort did you make? At that time, you didn't come to persuade me with a single word , What nonsense!" Wu Kan shook his head and smiled, "I...why didn't I exert my strength? You just don't know." Qi Fang was even more frightened, and said softly: "Junior Brother Wu, tell me, what strength you have put in, my sister-in-law will never forget your benefits." What? It's useless if you know, let's just talk about new ones." Qi Fang said: "Well, if you don't want to say it, let it go. Give me the antidote, if someone bumps into the two of us here, it's not safe." Wu Kan said with a smile: "Someone ran into me during the day, but there is no one here at night." Qi Fang took a step back, her face was as frosty, and said sharply, "What did you say?" Wu Kan smiled and said, "You want to cure Master Wan It’s not difficult. At midnight tonight, I’ll wait for you in the woodshed over there. If everything goes according to my wishes, I’ll give you a dose of medicine.” Qi Fang gritted her teeth and scolded: "You dog thief, you dare to say such a thing, how brave you are!" Wu Kan said in a low voice: "I risked my life a long time ago. It's called being willing to cut my whole body and dare to pull the emperor off the horse. How is Wan Gui better than my surname Wu? It's just that he is my master's own son. It's just a good reincarnation. Everyone has worked hard, why let this brat enjoy the beauty all by himself?" Qi Fang heard him say "I worked hard" a few times, she became suspicious, but he couldn't stand the obscene words, she said: "When the father-in-law comes back, I will tell the truth and see if he doesn't skin you." Wu Kan said: "I will stay here and not leave. When Master called me, I first poured the antidote into the lotus pond and fed it to the goldfish. I asked the doctor, and he said that the antidote is only in one bottle, and it needs to be prepared again. I can't afford it for half a year." As he said, he took out the antidote from his bosom, uncorked the bottle, and stretched out his hand to the surface of the pool, as long as he turned his palm slightly, the antidote would be poured into the pool. Even if the fate is given away. Qi Fang hurriedly said: "Hey, hey, put away the antidote quickly, we can discuss it slowly." Wu Kan smiled and said, "What is there to discuss? If you want to save your husband's life, you have to listen to me." Qi Fang said : "If you really cared about me and worked hard for me before, then...otherwise, I won't bother you." Wu Kan was overjoyed, put the cork on the bottle, and said: "Sister-in-law, if I tell the truth, you will come and meet me tonight, won't you?" Qi Fang said: "It depends on whether what you said is true or not. What's the use of deceiving people?" Wu Kan said: "It's absolutely true, how can there be any falsehood? That's the plan of Junior Brother Shen. Senior Brother Zhou and Senior Brother Bu pretended to be flower pickers and lured that silly boy Di Yun into the Taohong room Save people. I, Wu Kan, placed the gold and silver wares under this fool’s bed with my own hands. Sister-in-law, if we didn’t use this trick, how could we keep you in Wanfu?” Qi Fang felt her head was dizzy, her eyes were dark, and Wu Kan's words were like a sharp knife piercing her heart, she couldn't help but whispered: "I... wronged you, wronged you!" She wobbled and was about to fall, so she reached out to hold onto the railing and said, "I don't believe it, how could this happen? You made it up to lie to me." The voice was very bitter. Wu Kan said anxiously: "You don't believe it? Well, no one else can ask, you can ask Tao Hong, she lives in the broken ancestral hall at the back. After you have asked, you must never tell others. Let's bet Excuse me, this secret can’t be revealed at all. If it’s not for the third watch tonight, sister-in-law, for you, I, Wu Kan, would throw everything out!” Qi Fang yelled, rushed out, pushed open the back door of the garden, and rushed out.
Distraught, she ran out the back door, walked through several vegetable gardens, collected herself, and found the small dilapidated ancestral hall in the northwest corner. Seeing that the door was concealed, she stretched out her hand and pushed it open, and walked in. I saw that the ground was full of dust, and the tables and chairs were very dilapidated. I thought to myself: "My father-in-law's concubine, Tao Hong, how could she live in such a place? Wu Kan is a liar, could it be... could it be that he tricked me into coming here , with malicious intentions? I’d better go back soon.” All of a sudden, there was only the sound of tapping, tapping, and slow footsteps, and a woman came out of the inner hall.It was a middle-aged beggar woman with bowed head, disheveled hair, and dirty and tattered clothes. The beggar woman was startled when she saw someone, and immediately turned back.She was about to enter the inner hall, and turned to take another look, this time seeing Qi Fang's face clearly, she couldn't help exclaiming "Ah".She took two steps back, knelt down suddenly, and said, "Young Mistress, you...don't say...don't say I'm here." Qi Fang was amazed, and asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Then The beggar woman said: "No...what are you doing? I...I..." As she spoke, she immediately stood up and walked quickly into the inner hall. Hearing hurried footsteps, the beggar woman hurriedly escaped through the back door.Qi Fang thought to herself: "I don't know why this woman is so scared when she sees me...Ah, I remembered, she...she is Tao Hong!" Stepping on the rubble, he grabbed the back door, reached out and pulled out the dagger from his waist, and shouted: "Tao Hong, you are sneaky, what are you doing here?" The beggar woman was Tao Hong, she panicked when she heard Qi Fang calling out her name, she became even more frightened when she saw a gleaming dagger in her hand, her knees trembled, she was about to kneel again, and said in a trembling voice : "Young Mistress, you... you spared me." Qi Fang only met Tao Hong a few times in Wan's house, and she hasn't seen her for a long time. Whenever she thinks that Di Yun is going to run away with this woman, she feels like a knife cut her heart. So where does this woman go? Never ask.Even if someone mentions it, she is determined not to listen, it will definitely touch the biggest wound in her heart.Who knew she would hide here.This ancestral hall is not far from Wan's family, but after Qi Fang became a young mistress, she was cautious in everything, which was quite different from when she was a daughter in her hometown in Xiangxi. She never wandered outside. But never went in. 桃红此刻蓬头垢面，容色憔悴，几年不见，倒似是老了二十岁一般。吴坎叫戚芳到这祠堂中来找桃红询问真相，她虽当面见到了，但如桃红若无其事的慢慢走开，她便决计认不出来。 她扬了扬手中匕首，威吓道：“你躲在这里干么？快跟我说。” 桃红道：“我……我不干甚么。少奶奶，老爷赶了我出来，他说要是见到我耽在荆州，便要杀了我。可是……可是……我又没地方好去，只好躲在这里讨口吃的。少奶奶，除了荆州城，我甚么地方都不认得，叫我到哪里去？你……你行行好，千万别跟老爷说。” 戚芳听她说得可怜，收起了匕首，道：“老爷为甚么赶了你出来？怎么我不知道？” 桃红垂泪道：“我也不知道老爷为甚么不喜欢我了。那个湖南佬……那个姓狄的事，又不是我不好。啊哟，我……我不该说这种话。” 戚芳道：“好罢，你不说，你就跟我去见老爷去。”伸出左手，一把抓住了她衣襟。戚芳本性爱洁，桃红衣襟上满是污秽油腻，一把抓住，手掌心滑溜溜的极不好受。但她急于要查知狄云被冤的真相，便是再肮脏十倍的东西，这当儿也是毫不在乎了。 桃红簌簌发抖，忙道：“我说，我说，少奶奶，你要我说甚么？” 戚芳道：“狄……狄……那姓狄的事，到底是怎么？你为甚么要和他私逃？” 桃红心下惊惶，睁大了眼，一时说不出来。 戚芳凝视着她，心中所感到的害怕，或许比之桃红更甚十倍。她真不敢听桃红亲口说出来的事。如果她说：狄云当时确是约她私逃，确是来污辱她。那怎么是好？桃红一时说不出话，戚芳脸色惨白，一颗心似乎停止了跳动。 终于，桃红说了：“这……这怪不得我，少爷逼着我做的，叫我牢牢抱住那姓狄的湖南乡下佬，冤枉他来强奸我，要带了我逃走。我跟老爷说过的，老爷又不是不信，只吩咐我千万别说出去，还给了我衣服银子。可是……可是……我又没说，老爷却赶了我出来。” 戚芳又是感激，又是伤心，又是委屈，又是怜惜，心中只是说：“师哥，是我冤枉了你，我原该知道你对我一片真心，这可真苦了你，可真苦了你！”这时她并不憎恨桃红，反而有些感谢她，幸亏是她替自己解开了心中的死结。甚至对于吴坎，都有些感激，是他吐露了真相，是他指点自己到这破祠堂来找桃红的。 在伤心和凄凉之中，忽然感到了一阵苦涩的甜蜜。虽然嫁了万圭，但她内心中深深爱着的，始终只是个狄师哥，尽管他临危变心，尽管他无耻卑鄙，尽管他有千般的不是、万般的薄幸，但只有他，仍旧是他，才是戚芳叹息和流泪之时所想念的人。 突然之间，种种苦恼和憎恨，都变成了自悔自伤：“要是我早知道了，便是拚着千刀万剐，也要到狱中救他出来。他吃了这么多苦，他……他心中怎样想？” 桃红偷看戚芳的脸色，颤声道：“少奶奶，谢谢你，请你放了我走，我就出了荆州城，永不回来了。” 戚芳叹了口气，道：“老爷为甚么赶你走？是怕我知道这件事么？唉，今日总算问明白了。”说着松手放开她衣襟，想要给她些银子，但匆匆出来，身边并无银两。 桃红见戚芳放开了自己，生怕更有变卦，急急忙忙的便走了，喃喃的道：“老爷晚上见鬼，要砌墙，怎么怪得我？又……又不是我瞎说。”戚芳追了上去，问道：“甚么见鬼？砌墙？”桃红知道说溜了嘴，忙道：“没甚么，没甚么。喏，老爷夜里常常见鬼，半夜三更的起来砌墙。” 戚芳见她说话疯疯颠颠，心想她给公公赶出家门，日子过得很苦，脑筋也不大清楚了。公公怎会半夜三更起来砌墙？家里从来没见过公公砌的墙。 桃红生怕她不信，说道：“是假的砌墙，老爷……老爷，半夜三更的，爱做泥水匠。我说了他几句，老爷就大发脾气，打得我死去活来的，又赶了我出来，说道再见到我，便打死我……”她唠唠叨叨的说个不停，弓着背走了。 戚芳瞧着她的后影，心想：“她最多不过大了我十岁，却变得这副样子。公公不知为了甚么要赶她出门？甚么见鬼砌墙，想是这女人早就颠颠蠢蠢的，唉，为了这样一个傻女人，师哥苦了一辈子！” 想到这里，不禁怔怔的流下泪来，到后来，索性大声哭了出来。
她靠在一棵梧桐树上哭了一场，心头轻松了些，慢慢走向家来。她避开后园，从东面的边门进去，回到楼上。 万圭一听到她上楼的脚步声，便急着问：“芳妹，解药找到了没有？”戚芳走进房去，只见万圭坐起身子，神色甚是焦急，一只伤手搁在床边，手背上黑血慢慢渗出来，过了好一会，才“嗒”的一声，滴在床边的那只铜面盆里。小女孩伏在爹爹脚边，早睡熟了。 戚芳听了吴坎和桃红的话，本来对万圭恼怒已极，深恨他用卑鄙手段陷害狄云。这时看到他憔悴而清秀的脸庞，几年来的恩爱又使她心肠软了：“究竟，三哥是为了爱我，这才陷害师哥，他使的手段固然阴险毒辣，叫师哥吃足了苦，但究竟是为了爱我。” 万圭又问：“解药买到了没有？”戚芳一时难以决定是否要将吴坎的无耻言语告知丈夫，顺口道：“找到了那郎中，给了他银子，请他即刻买药材配制。”万圭吁了口气，心中登时松了，微笑道：“芳妹，我这条命啊，到底是你救的。” 戚芳勉强笑了笑，只觉脸盆中的毒血气味极是刺鼻，于是端过一只青瓷痰盂来接血，将铜盆端了出去。只走出两步，毒血的气息直冲上来，头脑中一阵昏眩，心道：“这蝎毒这么厉害！”快步走到外房，将脸盆放在桌边地下，转过身来，伸手入怀去取手帕，要掩住了鼻子，再去倒血。 她手一入怀，便碰到了那本唐诗，一怔之下，一颗心又怦怦跳了起来，摸出这本旧书，坐在桌边，一页页的翻过去。她记得清清楚楚，那日翻捡旧衣，从箱子底下的旧衣服中见到了这本书，爹爹西瓜大的字识不上几担，不知从哪里拾了这本书来，她刚好剪了两个绣花样儿，顺手便挟在书中。那天下午和狄师哥一齐去山洞，便将这本书带了去，以后就一直留在那边。怎么会到了这里？是狄师哥叫这位郎中送来的么？ “这郎中……莫非……他……他右手的五根手指都给吴坎削去了。这郎中……这郎中……为甚么？为甚么他……他的右手始终不伸出来？”突然之间，她想起了这件事。她凝神回想那郎中扶起女儿，回想他开药箱、取药瓶、拔瓶塞，倒药末的情景，回想他接了自己送过去的酒杯，将酒杯送到唇边喝干，这许多事情，似乎都是用一只左手来做的，只不过当时没留心，实在记不真切。 “难道，他就是师哥？怎么相貌一点也不像？”她心烦意乱，忍不住悲从中来，眼泪一滴滴的都流在手中那本书上。 泪水滴到书页之上，滴在那两只用花纸剪的蝴蝶上，这是“梁山伯和祝英台”，他们要死了之后，才得团圆…… 万圭在隔房说道：“芳妹，我闷得慌，要起来走走。”但戚芳沉浸在回忆之中，没有听见。她在想：“那天他打死了一只蝴蝶，将一对情郎情妹拆散了。是不是老天爷因此罚他受苦受难……” 突然之间，背后一个声音惊叫起来：“这……这是……'连……连城剑谱'！” 戚芳吃了一惊，一回头，只见万圭满脸喜悦之色，兴奋异常的道：“芳妹，芳妹，你从哪里得来了这本书？你瞧，啊，原来是这样，对了，是这样！”他双手按住了那本《唐诗选辑》，只见在一首题目写着“圣果寺”的诗旁，现出“三十三”三个淡黄色的字来，这几行字上，溅着戚芳的泪水。 万圭大喜之下，忘了克制，叫道：“秘密在这里了，原来要打湿了，才有字迹出现！妙极，妙极！一定是这本书。空心菜，空心菜。”他大声叫嚷，将女儿叫醒，说道：“空心菜快去请爷爷来，说有要紧事情。”小女孩答应着去了。 万圭紧紧按着那本诗集，忘了手上的痛楚，只是说：“一定是的，不错，爹爹说那剑谱充作是《唐诗选辑》，那还不是？他们就是揣摸不出这中间的秘密。原来要弄湿书页，秘密才显了出来。” 他这么又喜又跳的叫嚷，戚芳已然明白了大半。心想：“这就是爹爹和公公所争的甚么《连城剑谱》，这么说来，原来是爹爹得了去，我不知好歹，拿来夹了鞋样。爹爹不见了这本书，怎么不找？嗯，想来一定是找过的，找来找去找不到，以为是师伯盗去了。他为甚么不问我，这真奇了！” 如果是狄云，这时候就一点也不会奇怪。他知道只因戚长发是个极工心计之人，即使在女儿面前，也不肯透露半点口风。不见了书，拚命的找，找不到，便装作没事人一般；暗暗察看，用各种各样的样子来侦查试探，看是不是狄云这小子偷了去？是不是女儿偷了去？只因为戚芳不是“偷”，不会做贼心虚，戚长发自然查不出来。
万震山从街上回来，正在花厅吃点心，听得孙女叫唤，还道儿子毒伤有变，一碗豆丝没吃完，忙放下筷子，抱起孙女，大步来到儿子楼上，一上楼梯便听见万圭喜悦的声音：“天下事情真有这般巧法。芳妹，怎么你会在书页上溅了些水？天意，天意！” 万震山听到儿子说话的音调，便放了一大半心，举步踏进房中。 万圭拿着那本《唐诗选辑》，喜道：“爹，爹，你瞧，这是甚么？” 万震山一见到那本薄薄的黄纸书，心中一震，忙将孙女儿放在地下，接过儿子递来的那本书，一颗心怦怦乱跳。花尽心血找寻了十几年的《连城剑谱》，终于又出现在眼前。 不错，正是这本书！他和言达平、戚长发三人联手合力、谋害师父而抢到的，正是这本书。三个人在客栈之中，翻来覆去的同看这本剑谱。可是这只是一本平平无奇的唐诗，和书坊中出售的《唐诗选辑》完全一模一样。他师父教过他们一套“唐诗剑法”，以唐诗的诗句作剑招名字，这些诗句在这本书中全有。可是跟传说中的《连城剑谱》又有甚么相干？ 师兄弟三人曾拿这本书到太阳光下一页页的去照，想发见书中有甚么夹层；也曾拿书中这几十首诗顺读、倒读、横读、斜读，跳一字读、跳二字读……想要找出其中所含的大秘密来……然而一切心血全是白费了。三人互相猜疑，都怕给人家发见了秘密而自己不知。三人晚上睡觉之时，将书本锁入铁盒，铁盒又用三根小铁链分别系在三人的腕上。但一天早晨，这本书终于不翼而飞，从此影迹全无。 于是十几年来无穷的勾心斗角，无尽的探访寻找。突然之间，这本书又出现在眼前。 万震山翻到第四页上，不错，书页的左上角被撕去了小小的一角，那是他当年偷偷做下的记号，生怕言师弟或是戚师弟用一本同样的《唐诗选辑》来掉包，而自己却被蒙在鼓里。 万震山又翻到了第十六页，不错，当年自己划着的那个指甲痕仍是在那里。这是真本！他点了点头，强自抑制内心喜悦，对儿子道：“正是这本书。你从哪里得来的？” 戚芳自从一见到万圭的神情，心中所想的只是自己爹爹：“爹爹不知到了哪里？我这不孝的女儿，将他这本书拿到了山洞之中，他老人家这可找得苦了。在爹爹心中，这本书一定是非常非常的宝贵。不知这本旧书有甚么用？然而这是我拿了爹爹的，是爹爹的书，决不能给公公强抢了去。” 如果是在一天之前，还不知道狄云惨受陷害的内情，对丈夫还是满腔柔情和体贴，那么在她心里，丈夫的分量未必便及不上父亲，何况，父亲不知到哪里去了，不知道会不会再回来。然而现今可不同了。“决不能让爹爹这本书落入他们手里。狄师哥去取了书来交到我手里，要我替爹爹保管，当然不能给他们抢了去。不但是为了爹爹，也为了狄师哥！” 当万圭问她“这本书哪里来的”之时，她心中只是在想：“怎样将书夺回来？”书是在公公手里。万震山武功卓绝，何况丈夫便在旁边，硬夺是不成的。她心中飞快的在转念头，眼珠骨溜溜的转动。 她看到了书桌旁那只铜盆，盆中盛着半盆血水。那是万圭洗过脸的水，滴了不少他手背上伤口中流出来的毒血。这盆水全成了紫黑色……如果悄悄将书丢进血水之中，他们就找不到了。可是，那本书只怕要浸坏。不过若不乘这时候下手，以后多半再也没有机会了，宁可将书毁了，也不能让他们称心如意…… 万氏父子凝视着戚芳。万圭又问：“芳妹，这本书哪里来的？” 戚芳一凛，说道：“我也不知道啊，刚才我从房里出来，便见这本书放在桌上。这不是你的么？” 万圭一时想不明白，暂时不再追究，一心要将重大的发见说给父亲知道：“爹，你瞧，这书页子一沾湿，便有字迹出来。”他伸出食指，指着《圣果寺》那首诗旁淡黄色的三个字：“三十三”。 （如果他知道这是妻子的泪水，是想念狄云而流的眼泪，他心中会怎样想？） 万震山伸指点着那首诗，一个字一个字数下去：“路自中峰上，盘回出壁箩。到江吴地尽，隔岸越山多。古木丛青霭，遥天浸白波。下方城……”第三十三字，那是个“城”字！ 万震山一拍大腿，说道：“对啦，正是这个法子！原来秘密在此。圭儿，你真聪明，亏你想到了这个道理！要用水，不错，我们当年就是没想到要用水！” （如果他知道这是媳妇的泪水，是思念另一个男人而流的眼泪，他心中会怎样想？） 戚芳见他父子大喜若狂，聚头探索书中的秘奥，便拉着女儿的手走到内房，将她搂在怀里，轻声道：“空心菜，那只面盆，你瞧见么？”小女孩点了点头，道：“瞧见的。”戚芳道：“等待爷爷、爹爹、和妈妈一起奔出去，妈妈将爷爷手里的那本书放在抽屉里，你去拿了出来，悄悄丢在面盆里，让脏水浸着，别给爷爷和爹爹看见，叫他们找不到。” 小女孩大喜，只道妈妈要玩个极有趣的游戏，拍掌笑道：“好，好！”戚芳道：“可别让爷爷和爹爹知道，也别跟他们说！”小女孩道：“空心菜不说，空心菜不说！” 戚芳走到门外，说道：“公公，我觉得这本书很有点古怪。”万震山转过身来，问道：“甚么古怪！”他内心早已隐隐觉得这本书突然出现，来得太过容易，恐怕不是吉兆，媳妇这么一说，更增他的疑虑。戚芳道：“在这里！”说道伸出手去。万震山将书交给了她。 戚芳翻开书页，取了那两只纸剪蝴蝶出来，道：“公公，你这书中，本来就有这两只蝴蝶么？”万震山将两只纸蝴蝶接了过去，细细察看，道：“没有！”戚芳道：“这是甚么意思？武林之中，可有哪一个人外号叫做'花蝴蝶'甚么的？江湖上有没有一个'蝴蝶帮'？他们留下这本书，多半不怀好意。” 江湖人物留记号寻仇示警，原是十分寻常，万震山生平坏事做了不少，仇家众多，听了戚芳的话，又见这一对纸蝴蝶剪得十分工细，不禁惕然而惊，寻思：“我有甚么仇家外号叫做'花蝴蝶'的？有没有一个'蝴蝶帮'？” 他正自沉吟，忽听得戚芳喝道：“是谁？鬼鬼祟祟的想干甚么？”伸手向窗外屋顶上一指。万氏父子同时向窗外瞧去。戚芳反身从墙上摘下两柄长剑，一柄抛给万震山，一柄抛给万圭，叫道：“屋上有人！”万氏父子接住兵刃，戚芳拉开抽屉，将那本唐诗掷了进去，低声道：“莫给敌人抢了去！”万氏父子点了点头。三人齐从窗口跃出，登上瓦面，四下里一看，不见有人。万震山道：“到后面瞧瞧！” 三人直奔后院，只见墙角边人影一晃，万震山喝道：“是谁？”纵身面前，见那人是六弟子吴坎，问道：“见到敌人没有？” 吴坎见到师父、三师兄、三师嫂仗剑而来，只道事发，吓得面色惨白，待听师父如此询问，心中一宽，忙道：“有人从这边奔过，弟子赶了过来查问。”他是为自己掩饰，却正好替戚芳圆了谎。 四人直追到后门之外，吴坎连连呼哨，将鲁坤、卜垣等都招了来，自是没发见“敌人”的踪迹。 万震山和万圭记挂着《连城剑谱》，命鲁坤等继续搜寻敌踪，招呼了戚芳，回到楼房。万震山抢开抽屉，伸手去取…… 抽屉之中，却哪里还有这本书在？ 万氏父子这一惊自然是非同小可，在书房中到处找寻，又哪里找得到了？问小女孩道：“有没有人进来过？”小女孩道：“没有啊！”转头向母亲霎霎眼睛，十分得意。 万氏父子明明见到戚芳将书放入抽屉，追敌之时，始终没离开过她，当然不是她做的手脚。定是敌人施了“调虎离山之计”，盗去了剑谱！ 万氏父子面面相觑，懊丧不已。 戚芳母女你向我霎霎眼，我向你霎霎眼，很是开心。
In the early morning of the next day, Di Yun came out of Wanjia's backyard and wandered around in a daze in Jingzhou City. Suddenly, he heard choking and choking sounds.Di Yun's heart moved, he wanted to see Wan Gui's moaning and screaming misery with his own eyes, so he took out ten taels of silver and wanted to buy his clothes, medicine box, and tiger brace.The doctor was very surprised that these were not valuable things, at most worth three or four taels of silver, so he happily sold them to him. Di Yun returned to the abandoned garden, changed into the doctor's clothes, smashed some herbs, smeared the juice on his face, and applied a large piece of herbs under his left eye, making his face unrecognizable. In front of Wanjia. When he was about to reach the gate of Wan's house, he clattered and rattled the tiger's support loudly, and when he got closer, he shouted hoarsely: "He specializes in difficult and miscellaneous diseases, unknown swollen poison, poisonous insects and poisonous snakes." The injury will take effect immediately." After going back and forth like this three times, I saw a person coming out of the gate in a hurry, beckoning: "Hey, Mr. Langzhong, come here, come here." Di Yun recognized him as a disciple of Wanmen, and it was Wu who cut off his five fingers back then. Hom.But Di Yun's attire and appearance are very different from those in previous years, Wu Kan certainly couldn't recognize him.Di Yun was afraid that he would recognize his own voice, so he walked over slowly, lowered his voice even more, and said, "What is your order, but what intractable disease or unknown swelling has occurred on your body?" Wu Kan let out a "bah" and said, "Do you think I have contracted an unknown swollen poison? Hey, let me ask you, I was stung by a scorpion, can you cure it well?" Di Yundao: "The green bamboo snake, the red snake, the gold-legged belt, the shovel head, the first-class poisonous snakes in the world bite people, and they are all poisoned by medicine. The scorpion, hehe, what is it?" thing?" Wu Kan said: "Don't brag, this stinging scorpion is not an ordinary guy. All the famous doctors in Jingzhou City shook their heads when they saw it, and you are cured again?" Di Yun frowned and said, "Are they so powerful? All the scorpions in the world are gray-haired scorpions, black-and-white scorpions, money scorpions, hemp-headed scorpions, red-tailed scorpions, floor biting scorpions, white-footed scorpions..." He believed He babbled nonsense and talked about twenty kinds of things before saying: "Each scorpion has different poisons, and each has its own treatment method. Even a famous doctor may not understand everything if he is not really capable." Wu Kan saw that he was ugly and dressed in rags. Although he said many names of scorpions, he stuttered and slurred his speech. He had no skills, so he said, "If that's the case, you should go and have a look, anyway, it's dead. Treat the horse as a live horse doctor." Di Yun nodded, and followed him into Wanfu. As soon as he stepped through the door, he immediately remembered the scene when he followed his master and junior sister to celebrate his birthday. At that time, a country boy came to the city, and he could see in his eyes that everything was fresh and fun. He and his junior sister looked around, pointed, Come back today, Tinghu is still the same, but I only feel a burst of bitterness in my heart.He followed Wu Kan through two courtyards and came to the east building. Wu Kan raised his head and said loudly: "Sister-in-law three, there is a grass-headed doctor, he said he can cure scorpion poison, do you want him to come and show my brother?" With a bang, the upstairs window opened, Qi Fang poked her head out of the window, and said, "Okay, thank you Junior Brother Wu, your senior brother is in more pain today, sir, please go upstairs." Wu Kan said to Di Yun: "You go up." But he didn't follow.Qi Fang said: "Junior Brother Wu, please come up too, let's take a look." Wu Kan said: "Yes!" Then he went upstairs. When Di Yun came upstairs, he saw a large desk by the window in the middle, with pens, ink, paper and inkstones, a dozen books, and a half-sewed child's clothes.Qi Fang came out from the inner room, her face was not covered with makeup, her complexion was quite haggard.Di Yun only glanced at her, afraid that she would recognize him and dare not look further, so he went into the room.There was only one person sleeping face to face on a big bed, moaning continuously, it was Wan Gui.His youngest daughter was sitting on a small stool in front of the bed, gently beating her father's legs.Seeing Di Yun's filthy and strange face, she exclaimed and hurriedly hid behind her mother. Wu Kan said: "My senior brother was stung by a poisonous scorpion, and the poison has never disappeared, it seems something is wrong." Di Yun said: "Yes, is it?" He was calm when talking to Wu Kan outside the door. After seeing Qi Fang, her heart was beating wildly, her cheeks were hot, her lips were dry, and she couldn't speak anymore.He walked to the bed and patted Wan Gui on the shoulder. Wan Gui turned over slowly, and when he opened his eyes and saw Di Yun's expression, he couldn't help being slightly startled.Qi Fang said: "Third brother, this is the doctor that Junior Brother Wu found for you, he...he may have a panacea that can heal your injury." In his tone, he really had no confidence in this doctor. Without saying a word, Di Yun looked at the back of Wan Gui's swollen hand, saw that the back of his hand was a black mass again, and looked very terrifying, so he said hoarsely: "This is the piebald spot in Yuanling, western Hunan. Bitten by poisonous scorpions, we don't have such scorpions in Hubei!" Qi Fang and Wu Kan said in unison: "Yes, yes, it was stung in Yuanling, Xiangxi." Qi Fang said again: "Sir, you have seen the origin of the scorpion, so it must be curable?" The voice was full of hope . Di Yun counted the days with his fingers, and said: "It was bitten at night, so now, um, it has been seven days and seven nights." Qi Fang glanced at Wu Kan, and said, "Mister is really good at predicting things, it was indeed stung at night, and it has been seven days and seven nights today." Di Yun said again: "Did this master beat the scorpion to death with a backhand palm? If it wasn't like this, he could have been saved. Now that he killed the scorpion on the back of his hand, all the poison was forced in, and we have to save it again." , that was extremely difficult.” Qi Fang had heard that he even calculated the time very accurately, and expected that there must be a cure, and her face was already happy. After saying this, she became anxious again, and said: "Mr. is clear, but no matter what, I need you to save me." his life." Di Yun pretended to be a doctor and entered Wan's house this time, with the intention of witnessing Wan Gui's death in agony, so as to vent the pent-up anger in his heart. As for saving his life, he naturally had no intention of saving his life.But he has been obedient to Qi Fang since he was a child, and he never disobeyed her. Hearing her begging so anxiously at this moment, his heart softened, and he wanted to open the medicine box and get Yan Daping's antidote, but then changed his mind: "This Wan Gui has caused me so much misery and has taken away my junior sister. I would be very polite not to kill him with my own hands. How can I save his life?" He shook his head and said, "It's not that I refused to save him. , In fact, he was poisoned too deeply, and his life was delayed, and the poison entered his brain, so there is no way to save him." Qi Fang shed tears, took her daughter's hand, and said: "Wang Kongcai, baby, kowtow to this uncle, begging him to save Daddy's life." Di Yun shook his hand hastily, and said: "No, you don't need to kowtow..." But the girl was very good, she always listened to her mother, and knowing that her father was seriously injured, she was also very anxious, so she knelt down on the ground and kowtowed to him.Di Yun lost his five fingers on his right hand and hid them in his sleeve all the time. He immediately stretched out his left hand to help the girl up.I saw that when the girl got up, there was a gold lock piece hanging from her neck, and four words were engraved on the gold piece: "De Rong Shuang Mao". When Di Yun saw it, he couldn't help being stunned, remembering that day when he passed out in the woodshed of Wanjia, and when he woke up, he was already in the boat on the Yangtze River, with some gold and silver jewelry beside him, including a piece of gold from a child. The cleat is also engraved with these four words, could it be... Could it be... He only glanced at it, and didn't dare to look again. His mind was in chaos, and finally gradually became clear: "I fainted in the woodshed of the Wanjia. If it wasn't for my junior sister to save me, there would be no one else. I used to suspect that she intended to harm me." , but last night... last night she prayed to the heavens and confide in her heart. , can we reunite again?" When he thought of the word "reunion", he couldn't help his heart pounding again. He glanced sideways at Qi Fang, only to see that her face was full of concern, and she looked at Wan Gui intently, with a look of love and compassion in her eyes. As soon as Di Yun saw her look, his heart sank immediately, and his back felt cold. He remembered clearly that day when he fought with the eight brothers of Wanmen, and was beaten black and blue by the eight of them. , Junior Sister mended his clothes, and her eyes were full of love and tenderness.Now, her eyes are given to her husband, and she will never give them to him again. "If I don't give you the antidote, no one will blame me. When Wan Gui dies from pain, I will quietly come and take her for a walk at night, who can stop me? I won't mention the old things, and we will do...and be husband and wife again. Well, this girl, I just take her along. Alas, no, no! Junior sister has been working as a young mistress in Wanjia for several years, and she is used to it. How can she go with me to plow the fields and herd cattle? Besides, I describe Ugly, unable to read a few hundred words, and with crippled hands, how can she be worthy of her? How can she go with me?" This one felt so ashamed that he couldn't help but lowered his head in embarrassment. Qi Fang didn't know that there were so many thoughts going on in this herbal man's center, she just stared at him blankly, hoping that he would say two words: "Help!" Wan Gui let out a long moan and a short moan. At this time, the scorpion venom had invaded the armpit joints, and the whole arm and palm were swollen with unbearable pain. Qi Fang waited for a long time, but when Di Yun didn't make a sound, she begged again: "Sir, please give it a try, as long as... as long as it relieves his... pain, even... even... I don't blame you." Well, since Wan Gui's life is unavoidable, I just ask him to stop the pain, even if he dies eventually, he can avoid suffering like this. With a cry of "Oh", Di Yun woke up from his contemplation, his heart was empty for a moment, all thoughts were lost, and he wished he could die immediately.He loves this junior sister with all his heart, but she is married to his great enemy, and she is still begging himself to save this enemy. "I'd rather be like Wan Gui, who suffers so much, but has my junior sister look at me with pity. Even if I don't live for a few days, what's the point?" He sighed lightly, opened the medicine box, and took out the medicine box. Some black powder was poured out of Yan Daping's antidote bottle and put on the back of Wan Gui's hand. Wu Kan exclaimed: "Ah... it's... that's the antidote, this... it can be saved." Di Yun heard that his voice was different, and he should have been happy when he said the five words "this can be saved", but his voice was extremely disappointed and a little annoyed. Di Yun felt strange and turned his head to him Taking a look, I saw a very vicious look in his eyes.Di Yun felt even more strange, but he thought that none of the eight disciples of Wanmen was a good person.Wan Zhenshan, Yan Daping and the others are fighting each other, Wan Gui and Wu Kan may not be on good terms, but why did he come out to find a doctor for Wan Gui again? As soon as the powdered medicine was applied on the back of Wan Gui's hand, black blood flowed from the wound not long after.His pain gradually subsided, and he said: "Thank you doctor, this antidote is right." Qi Fang was overjoyed, and took a copper basin to receive the blood, only heard a soft click, click, and the blood dripped into the pan. In the copper basin.Qi Fang thanked Di Yunlian. Wu Kan said: "Sister-in-law, younger brother, did you get some merit this time?" Qi Fang said: "Yes, I really have to thank Junior Brother Wu." Talk to him again, and said to Di Yun: "What's your surname, sir? We will be rewarded a lot." Di Yun shook his head and said, "You're welcome. The poison of the scorpion needs to be applied ten times in a row before it can be cured." His heart was sore, but he felt that everything in the world is suffering, so he said, "I'll give it to you!" The antidote was handed over. Qi Fang didn't expect it to be so easy, but she didn't dare to take it for a while, and said: "We bought it from Mr., how much money do you want?" Di Yun shook his head and said, "It's for you, no money is needed." Qi Fang was overjoyed, took it with both hands, bowed with blessings, thanked deeply, said: "Sir is so generous, I really don't know how to thank you. Brother Wu, please accompany this gentleman to sit downstairs for a while." Di Yun said: "I won't sit down, I'll take my leave." Qi Fang said: "No, no, we can't repay you for your life-saving kindness. A glass of water and wine is our respect anyway. Sir, don't go!" "Don't go!" As soon as these four words entered Di Yun's ears, his heart softened immediately, and he thought: "I can't take revenge for this revenge. After I bury Brother Ding, I will never come to Jingzhou City again." .In this life, I will never meet my junior sister again. She wants to toast me with a glass of wine, um, it would be good to see her a few more times." He nodded immediately.
The banquet was set up in the small living room upstairs, Di Yun took the upper seat in the middle and Wu Kan accompanied him.Qi Fang thanked the doctor for his kindness and served the dishes herself.It seems that Wan Zhenshan and other people in Wanfu are not at home, and the rest of the disciples did not come to the banquet to drink. Qi Fang respectfully toasted three glasses of wine, and Di Yun drank them all, feeling sore in his heart, his eyes filled with tears, knowing that he could no longer hold on, and after sitting for a while, he would show his signs, and immediately stood up Come, and said: "The wine is enough, I'm going now! From now on, I will never come again!" Qi Fang heard his nondescript words, but the doctor was very weird at first, so he didn't care, and said: "Sir, for your great kindness, we can't thank each other. Here is a hundred taels of silver. Please buy wine and drink on the way, sir." He said holding a bag of silver with both hands. Di Yun turned his head away, looked up to the sky and laughed loudly, and said: "I saved him, I saved him, haha, haha! How funny! Is there anyone more stupid than me in the world?" He laughed loudly, but two tears flowed down his cheeks. Qi Fang and Wu Kan couldn't help looking at him in astonishment when they saw that he seemed crazy.But the little girl said: "Uncle is crying! Uncle is crying." Di Yun was startled, afraid of showing his feet, he didn't dare to talk to Qi Fang again, he thought: "From now on, I will never see you again." Reaching into his bosom, he took out the book he took from the Yuanling cave. The shoe-shaped collection of poems that had arrived was tucked up in the sleeves, and the sleeves were hung down and quietly placed on the chair, not daring to look at Qi Fang again, and went downstairs without looking back. Qi Fang said: "Junior Brother Wu, send me off for Mr." Wu Kan said: "Okay!" and followed him out. Holding the bag of silver in her hands, Qi Fang's heart was beating wildly: "Who is this gentleman? Why does his laugh look so similar to that person's? Oh, what's wrong with me? These days, third brother's The injury is so serious, but my heart is upside down, always thinking about him...he...he..." He put the silver on the table, put his hand on it, and sat down on the chair again. Di Yun had sat on that chair before, and felt something was on it, so he stood up hurriedly, and saw that it was an old yellow book with the words "Selected Poems of Tang Dynasty" written on the cover. She let out a soft cry, reached out to pick it up, flipped through it casually, and a shoe pattern fell out of the book, which she had cut in her hometown in Xiangxi back then.She opened her mouth wide and couldn't close it, her hands were trembling, and she turned a few pages, and saw a pair of paper-cut patterns of butterflies.The scene when I sat side by side with Di Yun in the cave and cut out this pair of paper butterflies suddenly flashed into my mind like lightning.She couldn't help but yelled "Ah", and only thought in her heart: "Where did this... this book come from? Is... who brought it? Could it be Mr. Doctor?" Seeing her mother's expression changed, the little girl panicked and called out, "Mom, mom, what are you... doing?" Qi Fang was stunned, grabbed the book and put it in her arms, rushed downstairs, and chased out the door.Since she was married as the daughter-in-law of the Wan family, she has always been gentle and gentle, and she has never run so fast in the halls.The servants of the Wan family suddenly saw the young mistress unfolding lightness kung fu, piercing through several courtyards and rushing out, all of them were surprised. Qi Fang ran to the front hall and saw Wu Kan coming in from the door, she hurriedly asked: "What about Mr. Doctor?" Wu Kan said: "This man is very strange, he left without saying a word. Third sister-in-law, you ask him to do something Did senior brother’s injury recur?" Qi Fang said: "No, no!" She rushed out of the gate and looked around, but there was no trace of the medicine seller. She stood outside the gate for a while, then reached out and took out the old books from her bosom to flip through them. Every time she saw a shoe pattern, a pattern, and various joyful things when she was young, they rushed to her heart like a tide, and tears burst out of her eyes. She suddenly changed her mind: "Why am I so stupid? My father-in-law and third brother went to Xiangxi to meet Master Yan recently. Maybe they broke into that cave by accident and took this book casually. There is one. This Mr. Doctor How could it have anything to do with this book?" But then he thought: "No, no! How could it be such a coincidence? The cave is so secret that even Dad doesn't know about it. Apart from me, there is only my elder brother and him in the world. ...He alone knows, how did the father-in-law and the third brother find it? They were looking for Uncle Yan, how could they break into this cave? When I set up the banquet just now, I clearly remembered to wipe this chair. Where are the books? ? If the doctor didn't bring this book, where did it come from?"
She was full of doubts, and slowly returned to the room, seeing that after Wan Gui had applied the wound medicine, his energy was much better.Holding the book in her hand, she wanted to ask her husband, but then she thought: "Don't be reckless, if that doctor...that doctor..." Wan Gui said: "Sister Fang, this Mr. Langzhong is really my savior, he must be rewarded well." Qi Fang said: "Yes, I gave him a hundred taels of silver, but he refused to accept it. What a person This bottle of antidote... Hey, where is the antidote? Did you put it away?" After the medicine seller handed the antidote to her, she placed it on the table in front of Wan Gui's bed. But it's gone.Wan Gui said: "No, isn't it on the table?" Qi Fang searched everywhere on the table, beside the bed, dressing table, chairs, chests, under the bed, under the table, but the antidote was nowhere to be found.She was very anxious: "Could it be that I was insane just now and fell on the ground when I ran out? No, I remember clearly that it was placed next to the medicine bowl on the table." Wan Gui was also very anxious, and said: " You...you look for it again, how could it not be there? I just closed my eyes for a moment, and when I was about to fall asleep, I remembered seeing this porcelain bottle on the table. " When he said this, Qi Fang became even more anxious, turned around and left the room, pulled her daughter and asked: "Who came in when Mom was out just now?" The little girl said: "Uncle Wu came up, he saw Daddy fell asleep , let’s go down!” Qi Fang let out a long breath, vaguely aware that something was wrong, but Wan Gui was ill, so he couldn't be worried, and said, "Kangui, you stay with Daddy, and say that Mommy is going to buy another bottle of medicine from Mr. Langzhong to heal Daddy's wound." .” The little girl nodded and said, “Mom, come back soon.” Qi Fang regained her composure, opened the desk drawer, took out a dagger, hid it next to her body, and walked downstairs slowly, thinking: "This guy Wu Kan always sees me in a place where no one is around. Good intentions. This doctor was invited by him, could it be that he colluded with the doctor and arranged some conspiracy? Otherwise, why didn't the doctor ask for money and the antidote disappeared?" While she was thinking, she walked towards the back garden and reached the corridor, only to see Wu Kan leaning on the railing, watching the goldfish in the pond.Qi Fang said: "Junior brother Wu, are you here alone?" Wu Kan turned his head, with a wry smile on his face, and said, "I don't know who it is, it turned out to be Third Senior Sister. Why don't you accompany Third Senior Brother upstairs, I'm so excited Come here?" Qi Fang sighed, and said: "Oh, I'm very bored. I've been with a sick person all day, and your elder brother's hand hurts so much that his temper is getting worse and worse. If you don't come out to relax, find someone Talking to relieve boredom can suffocate people to death." Wu Kan was really overjoyed when he heard this, and said with a smile: "Third Senior Brother is really a man who is not heartless, and he is accompanied by such a flowery beauty like you. If you want to lose your temper, it's too difficult to wait on." Qi Fang walked up to him, leaned on the railing, looked at the goldfish in the pond, and said with a smile: "My sister-in-law is an old woman, and she says that she is as beautiful as a flower, and she is not afraid that people will laugh at her." Wu Kan hurriedly said : "Where? Where? The sister-in-law has the beauty of a daughter when she is a daughter, and the beauty of a young wife when she is a young wife. Everyone says: A flower in Jingzhou City is full of charms in Wanjia." With a hey sound, Qi Fang turned around, stretched out her hand, and said, "Bring it!" Wu Kan laughed and said, "What are you taking?" Qi Fang said, "The antidote!" Wu Kan shook his head and said, "What antidote? Did it treat Brother Wan's injury?" Qi Fang said, "Exactly, obviously you took it." Wu Kan smiled cunningly, and said: "I invited the doctor, and I found the antidote. Brother Wan has already applied it once, and if you don't say anything, it will save you a few days of pain." Qi Fang said: "Mr. Apply it ten times in a row." Wu Kan shook his head and said, "I regret it deeply, deeply regret it." Qi Fang said, "What do you regret?" Wu Kan said, "I saw that the herb doctor was filthy and filthy, like a beggar, so I guess it's nothing. That's why I lured him upstairs, but I wanted to find something to cause trouble and see you one more time. I didn't expect this dog to kill me by mistake, and there is a magic medicine to cure scorpion poison. This, that is completely contrary to my original intention. " Qi Fang was furious when she heard this, but the medicine was in the hands of someone else, so she had to cheat the antidote first, and then settle accounts with him, suppressing her anger, and said with a smile: "According to you, how can I thank you from your elder brother? Are you willing to hand over the antidote?" Wu Kan sighed, and said: "Third senior brother has enjoyed the good fortune for many years, he should have died long ago." Qi Fang's face changed color, she bit her lip and remained silent.Wu Kan said: "When you came to Jingzhou that year, among the eight of us brothers and sisters, which one of us was fascinated when we saw you? That silly boy Di Yun followed you all day long, we only saw that everyone was so angry Let’s all come together, let’s beat his head and crack his forehead before…” Qi Fang said, “It turns out that you beat my senior brother because of me!” Wu Kan said with a smile: "What everyone is saying is of course a different story, saying that he forced his way out to fight the bandit Lu Tong, and cut the face of the disciples of the Wanmen. In fact, in everyone's heart, they are all for the sake of the teacher's sister-in-law. You! You mend clothes with him, talk about yourself, this kind of intimacy, the eight of us brothers and sisters saw it in our eyes and were annoyed in our hearts. Which one of us didn't drink up to thirty-six? Are all the teeth sour?" Qi Fang was secretly startled: "Could it be because of me? Third brother, third brother, why didn't you tell me?" Still pretending to be indifferent, she said with a smile: "Junior Brother Wu, why are you here?" Just kidding. At that time I was a country girl, village-like, and I was dressed so ridiculously, what was there to look good?" Wu Kan said: "No, no! What do you need to dress up for a real beauty? If you don't make everyone lose their minds , this..." At this point, she suddenly shut up and stopped talking. Qi Fang said: "What?" Wu Kan said: "We left you in the Wan family, and my surname Wu also put in a lot of effort. But, sister-in-law, you usually don't smile when you see me, it doesn't make people feel aggrieved Is it?" Qi Fang spat, and said: "I stayed in the Wan family and married you, Senior Brother Wan, of my own free will. What effort did you make? At that time, you didn't come to persuade me with a single word , What nonsense!" Wu Kan shook his head and smiled, "I...why didn't I exert my strength? You just don't know." Qi Fang was even more frightened, and said softly: "Junior Brother Wu, tell me, what strength you have put in, my sister-in-law will never forget your benefits." What? It's useless if you know, let's just talk about new ones." Qi Fang said: "Well, if you don't want to say it, let it go. Give me the antidote, if someone bumps into the two of us here, it's not safe." Wu Kan said with a smile: "Someone ran into me during the day, but there is no one here at night." Qi Fang took a step back, her face was as frosty, and said sharply, "What did you say?" Wu Kan smiled and said, "You want to cure Master Wan It’s not difficult. At midnight tonight, I’ll wait for you in the woodshed over there. If everything goes according to my wishes, I’ll give you a dose of medicine.” Qi Fang gritted her teeth and scolded: "You dog thief, you dare to say such a thing, how brave you are!" Wu Kan said in a low voice: "I risked my life a long time ago. It's called being willing to cut my whole body and dare to pull the emperor off the horse. How is Wan Gui better than my surname Wu? It's just that he is my master's own son. It's just a good reincarnation. Everyone has worked hard, why let this brat enjoy the beauty all by himself?" Qi Fang heard him say "I worked hard" a few times, she became suspicious, but he couldn't stand the obscene words, she said: "When the father-in-law comes back, I will tell the truth and see if he doesn't skin you." Wu Kan said: "I will stay here and not leave. When Master called me, I first poured the antidote into the lotus pond and fed it to the goldfish. I asked the doctor, and he said that the antidote is only in one bottle, and it needs to be prepared again. I can't afford it for half a year." As he said, he took out the antidote from his bosom, uncorked the bottle, and stretched out his hand to the surface of the pool, as long as he turned his palm slightly, the antidote would be poured into the pool. Even if the fate is given away. Qi Fang hurriedly said: "Hey, hey, put away the antidote quickly, we can discuss it slowly." Wu Kan smiled and said, "What is there to discuss? If you want to save your husband's life, you have to listen to me." Qi Fang said : "If you really cared about me and worked hard for me before, then...otherwise, I won't bother you." Wu Kan was overjoyed, put the cork on the bottle, and said: "Sister-in-law, if I tell the truth, you will come and meet me tonight, won't you?" Qi Fang said: "It depends on whether what you said is true or not. What's the use of deceiving people?" Wu Kan said: "It's absolutely true, how can there be any falsehood? That's the plan of Junior Brother Shen. Senior Brother Zhou and Senior Brother Bu pretended to be flower pickers and lured that silly boy Di Yun into the Taohong room Save people. I, Wu Kan, placed the gold and silver wares under this fool’s bed with my own hands. Sister-in-law, if we didn’t use this trick, how could we keep you in Wanfu?” Qi Fang felt her head was dizzy, her eyes were dark, and Wu Kan's words were like a sharp knife piercing her heart, she couldn't help but whispered: "I... wronged you, wronged you!" She wobbled and was about to fall, so she reached out to hold onto the railing and said, "I don't believe it, how could this happen? You made it up to lie to me." The voice was very bitter. Wu Kan said anxiously: "You don't believe it? Well, no one else can ask, you can ask Tao Hong, she lives in the broken ancestral hall at the back. After you have asked, you must never tell others. Let's bet Excuse me, this secret can’t be revealed at all. If it’s not for the third watch tonight, sister-in-law, for you, I, Wu Kan, would throw everything out!” Qi Fang yelled, rushed out, pushed open the back door of the garden, and rushed out.
Distraught, she ran out the back door, walked through several vegetable gardens, collected herself, and found the small dilapidated ancestral hall in the northwest corner. Seeing that the door was concealed, she stretched out her hand and pushed it open, and walked in. I saw that the ground was full of dust, and the tables and chairs were very dilapidated. I thought to myself: "My father-in-law's concubine, Tao Hong, how could she live in such a place? Wu Kan is a liar, could it be... could it be that he tricked me into coming here , with malicious intentions? I’d better go back soon.” All of a sudden, there was only the sound of tapping, tapping, and slow footsteps, and a woman came out of the inner hall.It was a middle-aged beggar woman with bowed head, disheveled hair, and dirty and tattered clothes. The beggar woman was startled when she saw someone, and immediately turned back.She was about to enter the inner hall, and turned to take another look, this time seeing Qi Fang's face clearly, she couldn't help exclaiming "Ah".She took two steps back, knelt down suddenly, and said, "Young Mistress, you...don't say...don't say I'm here." Qi Fang was amazed, and asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Then The beggar woman said: "No...what are you doing? I...I..." As she spoke, she immediately stood up and walked quickly into the inner hall. Hearing hurried footsteps, the beggar woman hurriedly escaped through the back door.Qi Fang thought to herself: "I don't know why this woman is so scared when she sees me...Ah, I remembered, she...she is Tao Hong!" Stepping on the rubble, he grabbed the back door, reached out and pulled out the dagger from his waist, and shouted: "Tao Hong, you are sneaky, what are you doing here?" The beggar woman was Tao Hong, she panicked when she heard Qi Fang calling out her name, she became even more frightened when she saw a gleaming dagger in her hand, her knees trembled, she was about to kneel again, and said in a trembling voice : "Young Mistress, you... you spared me." Qi Fang only met Tao Hong a few times in Wan's house, and she hasn't seen her for a long time. Whenever she thinks that Di Yun is going to run away with this woman, she feels like a knife cut her heart. So where does this woman go? Never ask.Even if someone mentions it, she is determined not to listen, it will definitely touch the biggest wound in her heart.Who knew she would hide here.This ancestral hall is not far from Wan's family, but after Qi Fang became a young mistress, she was cautious in everything, which was quite different from when she was a daughter in her hometown in Xiangxi. She never wandered outside. But never went in. 桃红此刻蓬头垢面，容色憔悴，几年不见，倒似是老了二十岁一般。吴坎叫戚芳到这祠堂中来找桃红询问真相，她虽当面见到了，但如桃红若无其事的慢慢走开，她便决计认不出来。 她扬了扬手中匕首，威吓道：“你躲在这里干么？快跟我说。” 桃红道：“我……我不干甚么。少奶奶，老爷赶了我出来，他说要是见到我耽在荆州，便要杀了我。可是……可是……我又没地方好去，只好躲在这里讨口吃的。少奶奶，除了荆州城，我甚么地方都不认得，叫我到哪里去？你……你行行好，千万别跟老爷说。” 戚芳听她说得可怜，收起了匕首，道：“老爷为甚么赶了你出来？怎么我不知道？” 桃红垂泪道：“我也不知道老爷为甚么不喜欢我了。那个湖南佬……那个姓狄的事，又不是我不好。啊哟，我……我不该说这种话。” 戚芳道：“好罢，你不说，你就跟我去见老爷去。”伸出左手，一把抓住了她衣襟。戚芳本性爱洁，桃红衣襟上满是污秽油腻，一把抓住，手掌心滑溜溜的极不好受。但她急于要查知狄云被冤的真相，便是再肮脏十倍的东西，这当儿也是毫不在乎了。 桃红簌簌发抖，忙道：“我说，我说，少奶奶，你要我说甚么？” 戚芳道：“狄……狄……那姓狄的事，到底是怎么？你为甚么要和他私逃？” 桃红心下惊惶，睁大了眼，一时说不出来。 戚芳凝视着她，心中所感到的害怕，或许比之桃红更甚十倍。她真不敢听桃红亲口说出来的事。如果她说：狄云当时确是约她私逃，确是来污辱她。那怎么是好？桃红一时说不出话，戚芳脸色惨白，一颗心似乎停止了跳动。 终于，桃红说了：“这……这怪不得我，少爷逼着我做的，叫我牢牢抱住那姓狄的湖南乡下佬，冤枉他来强奸我，要带了我逃走。我跟老爷说过的，老爷又不是不信，只吩咐我千万别说出去，还给了我衣服银子。可是……可是……我又没说，老爷却赶了我出来。” 戚芳又是感激，又是伤心，又是委屈，又是怜惜，心中只是说：“师哥，是我冤枉了你，我原该知道你对我一片真心，这可真苦了你，可真苦了你！”这时她并不憎恨桃红，反而有些感谢她，幸亏是她替自己解开了心中的死结。甚至对于吴坎，都有些感激，是他吐露了真相，是他指点自己到这破祠堂来找桃红的。 在伤心和凄凉之中，忽然感到了一阵苦涩的甜蜜。虽然嫁了万圭，但她内心中深深爱着的，始终只是个狄师哥，尽管他临危变心，尽管他无耻卑鄙，尽管他有千般的不是、万般的薄幸，但只有他，仍旧是他，才是戚芳叹息和流泪之时所想念的人。 突然之间，种种苦恼和憎恨，都变成了自悔自伤：“要是我早知道了，便是拚着千刀万剐，也要到狱中救他出来。他吃了这么多苦，他……他心中怎样想？” 桃红偷看戚芳的脸色，颤声道：“少奶奶，谢谢你，请你放了我走，我就出了荆州城，永不回来了。” 戚芳叹了口气，道：“老爷为甚么赶你走？是怕我知道这件事么？唉，今日总算问明白了。”说着松手放开她衣襟，想要给她些银子，但匆匆出来，身边并无银两。 桃红见戚芳放开了自己，生怕更有变卦，急急忙忙的便走了，喃喃的道：“老爷晚上见鬼，要砌墙，怎么怪得我？又……又不是我瞎说。”戚芳追了上去，问道：“甚么见鬼？砌墙？”桃红知道说溜了嘴，忙道：“没甚么，没甚么。喏，老爷夜里常常见鬼，半夜三更的起来砌墙。” 戚芳见她说话疯疯颠颠，心想她给公公赶出家门，日子过得很苦，脑筋也不大清楚了。公公怎会半夜三更起来砌墙？家里从来没见过公公砌的墙。 桃红生怕她不信，说道：“是假的砌墙，老爷……老爷，半夜三更的，爱做泥水匠。我说了他几句，老爷就大发脾气，打得我死去活来的，又赶了我出来，说道再见到我，便打死我……”她唠唠叨叨的说个不停，弓着背走了。 戚芳瞧着她的后影，心想：“她最多不过大了我十岁，却变得这副样子。公公不知为了甚么要赶她出门？甚么见鬼砌墙，想是这女人早就颠颠蠢蠢的，唉，为了这样一个傻女人，师哥苦了一辈子！” 想到这里，不禁怔怔的流下泪来，到后来，索性大声哭了出来。
她靠在一棵梧桐树上哭了一场，心头轻松了些，慢慢走向家来。她避开后园，从东面的边门进去，回到楼上。 万圭一听到她上楼的脚步声，便急着问：“芳妹，解药找到了没有？”戚芳走进房去，只见万圭坐起身子，神色甚是焦急，一只伤手搁在床边，手背上黑血慢慢渗出来，过了好一会，才“嗒”的一声，滴在床边的那只铜面盆里。小女孩伏在爹爹脚边，早睡熟了。 戚芳听了吴坎和桃红的话，本来对万圭恼怒已极，深恨他用卑鄙手段陷害狄云。这时看到他憔悴而清秀的脸庞，几年来的恩爱又使她心肠软了：“究竟，三哥是为了爱我，这才陷害师哥，他使的手段固然阴险毒辣，叫师哥吃足了苦，但究竟是为了爱我。” 万圭又问：“解药买到了没有？”戚芳一时难以决定是否要将吴坎的无耻言语告知丈夫，顺口道：“找到了那郎中，给了他银子，请他即刻买药材配制。”万圭吁了口气，心中登时松了，微笑道：“芳妹，我这条命啊，到底是你救的。” 戚芳勉强笑了笑，只觉脸盆中的毒血气味极是刺鼻，于是端过一只青瓷痰盂来接血，将铜盆端了出去。只走出两步，毒血的气息直冲上来，头脑中一阵昏眩，心道：“这蝎毒这么厉害！”快步走到外房，将脸盆放在桌边地下，转过身来，伸手入怀去取手帕，要掩住了鼻子，再去倒血。 她手一入怀，便碰到了那本唐诗，一怔之下，一颗心又怦怦跳了起来，摸出这本旧书，坐在桌边，一页页的翻过去。她记得清清楚楚，那日翻捡旧衣，从箱子底下的旧衣服中见到了这本书，爹爹西瓜大的字识不上几担，不知从哪里拾了这本书来，她刚好剪了两个绣花样儿，顺手便挟在书中。那天下午和狄师哥一齐去山洞，便将这本书带了去，以后就一直留在那边。怎么会到了这里？是狄师哥叫这位郎中送来的么？ “这郎中……莫非……他……他右手的五根手指都给吴坎削去了。这郎中……这郎中……为甚么？为甚么他……他的右手始终不伸出来？”突然之间，她想起了这件事。她凝神回想那郎中扶起女儿，回想他开药箱、取药瓶、拔瓶塞，倒药末的情景，回想他接了自己送过去的酒杯，将酒杯送到唇边喝干，这许多事情，似乎都是用一只左手来做的，只不过当时没留心，实在记不真切。 “难道，他就是师哥？怎么相貌一点也不像？”她心烦意乱，忍不住悲从中来，眼泪一滴滴的都流在手中那本书上。 泪水滴到书页之上，滴在那两只用花纸剪的蝴蝶上，这是“梁山伯和祝英台”，他们要死了之后，才得团圆…… 万圭在隔房说道：“芳妹，我闷得慌，要起来走走。”但戚芳沉浸在回忆之中，没有听见。她在想：“那天他打死了一只蝴蝶，将一对情郎情妹拆散了。是不是老天爷因此罚他受苦受难……” 突然之间，背后一个声音惊叫起来：“这……这是……'连……连城剑谱'！” 戚芳吃了一惊，一回头，只见万圭满脸喜悦之色，兴奋异常的道：“芳妹，芳妹，你从哪里得来了这本书？你瞧，啊，原来是这样，对了，是这样！”他双手按住了那本《唐诗选辑》，只见在一首题目写着“圣果寺”的诗旁，现出“三十三”三个淡黄色的字来，这几行字上，溅着戚芳的泪水。 万圭大喜之下，忘了克制，叫道：“秘密在这里了，原来要打湿了，才有字迹出现！妙极，妙极！一定是这本书。空心菜，空心菜。”他大声叫嚷，将女儿叫醒，说道：“空心菜快去请爷爷来，说有要紧事情。”小女孩答应着去了。 万圭紧紧按着那本诗集，忘了手上的痛楚，只是说：“一定是的，不错，爹爹说那剑谱充作是《唐诗选辑》，那还不是？他们就是揣摸不出这中间的秘密。原来要弄湿书页，秘密才显了出来。” 他这么又喜又跳的叫嚷，戚芳已然明白了大半。心想：“这就是爹爹和公公所争的甚么《连城剑谱》，这么说来，原来是爹爹得了去，我不知好歹，拿来夹了鞋样。爹爹不见了这本书，怎么不找？嗯，想来一定是找过的，找来找去找不到，以为是师伯盗去了。他为甚么不问我，这真奇了！” 如果是狄云，这时候就一点也不会奇怪。他知道只因戚长发是个极工心计之人，即使在女儿面前，也不肯透露半点口风。不见了书，拚命的找，找不到，便装作没事人一般；暗暗察看，用各种各样的样子来侦查试探，看是不是狄云这小子偷了去？是不是女儿偷了去？只因为戚芳不是“偷”，不会做贼心虚，戚长发自然查不出来。
万震山从街上回来，正在花厅吃点心，听得孙女叫唤，还道儿子毒伤有变，一碗豆丝没吃完，忙放下筷子，抱起孙女，大步来到儿子楼上，一上楼梯便听见万圭喜悦的声音：“天下事情真有这般巧法。芳妹，怎么你会在书页上溅了些水？天意，天意！” 万震山听到儿子说话的音调，便放了一大半心，举步踏进房中。 万圭拿着那本《唐诗选辑》，喜道：“爹，爹，你瞧，这是甚么？” 万震山一见到那本薄薄的黄纸书，心中一震，忙将孙女儿放在地下，接过儿子递来的那本书，一颗心怦怦乱跳。花尽心血找寻了十几年的《连城剑谱》，终于又出现在眼前。 不错，正是这本书！他和言达平、戚长发三人联手合力、谋害师父而抢到的，正是这本书。三个人在客栈之中，翻来覆去的同看这本剑谱。可是这只是一本平平无奇的唐诗，和书坊中出售的《唐诗选辑》完全一模一样。他师父教过他们一套“唐诗剑法”，以唐诗的诗句作剑招名字，这些诗句在这本书中全有。可是跟传说中的《连城剑谱》又有甚么相干？ 师兄弟三人曾拿这本书到太阳光下一页页的去照，想发见书中有甚么夹层；也曾拿书中这几十首诗顺读、倒读、横读、斜读，跳一字读、跳二字读……想要找出其中所含的大秘密来……然而一切心血全是白费了。三人互相猜疑，都怕给人家发见了秘密而自己不知。三人晚上睡觉之时，将书本锁入铁盒，铁盒又用三根小铁链分别系在三人的腕上。但一天早晨，这本书终于不翼而飞，从此影迹全无。 于是十几年来无穷的勾心斗角，无尽的探访寻找。突然之间，这本书又出现在眼前。 万震山翻到第四页上，不错，书页的左上角被撕去了小小的一角，那是他当年偷偷做下的记号，生怕言师弟或是戚师弟用一本同样的《唐诗选辑》来掉包，而自己却被蒙在鼓里。 万震山又翻到了第十六页，不错，当年自己划着的那个指甲痕仍是在那里。这是真本！他点了点头，强自抑制内心喜悦，对儿子道：“正是这本书。你从哪里得来的？” 戚芳自从一见到万圭的神情，心中所想的只是自己爹爹：“爹爹不知到了哪里？我这不孝的女儿，将他这本书拿到了山洞之中，他老人家这可找得苦了。在爹爹心中，这本书一定是非常非常的宝贵。不知这本旧书有甚么用？然而这是我拿了爹爹的，是爹爹的书，决不能给公公强抢了去。” 如果是在一天之前，还不知道狄云惨受陷害的内情，对丈夫还是满腔柔情和体贴，那么在她心里，丈夫的分量未必便及不上父亲，何况，父亲不知到哪里去了，不知道会不会再回来。然而现今可不同了。“决不能让爹爹这本书落入他们手里。狄师哥去取了书来交到我手里，要我替爹爹保管，当然不能给他们抢了去。不但是为了爹爹，也为了狄师哥！” 当万圭问她“这本书哪里来的”之时，她心中只是在想：“怎样将书夺回来？”书是在公公手里。万震山武功卓绝，何况丈夫便在旁边，硬夺是不成的。她心中飞快的在转念头，眼珠骨溜溜的转动。 她看到了书桌旁那只铜盆，盆中盛着半盆血水。那是万圭洗过脸的水，滴了不少他手背上伤口中流出来的毒血。这盆水全成了紫黑色……如果悄悄将书丢进血水之中，他们就找不到了。可是，那本书只怕要浸坏。不过若不乘这时候下手，以后多半再也没有机会了，宁可将书毁了，也不能让他们称心如意…… 万氏父子凝视着戚芳。万圭又问：“芳妹，这本书哪里来的？” 戚芳一凛，说道：“我也不知道啊，刚才我从房里出来，便见这本书放在桌上。这不是你的么？” 万圭一时想不明白，暂时不再追究，一心要将重大的发见说给父亲知道：“爹，你瞧，这书页子一沾湿，便有字迹出来。”他伸出食指，指着《圣果寺》那首诗旁淡黄色的三个字：“三十三”。 （如果他知道这是妻子的泪水，是想念狄云而流的眼泪，他心中会怎样想？） 万震山伸指点着那首诗，一个字一个字数下去：“路自中峰上，盘回出壁箩。到江吴地尽，隔岸越山多。古木丛青霭，遥天浸白波。下方城……”第三十三字，那是个“城”字！ 万震山一拍大腿，说道：“对啦，正是这个法子！原来秘密在此。圭儿，你真聪明，亏你想到了这个道理！要用水，不错，我们当年就是没想到要用水！” （如果他知道这是媳妇的泪水，是思念另一个男人而流的眼泪，他心中会怎样想？） 戚芳见他父子大喜若狂，聚头探索书中的秘奥，便拉着女儿的手走到内房，将她搂在怀里，轻声道：“空心菜，那只面盆，你瞧见么？”小女孩点了点头，道：“瞧见的。”戚芳道：“等待爷爷、爹爹、和妈妈一起奔出去，妈妈将爷爷手里的那本书放在抽屉里，你去拿了出来，悄悄丢在面盆里，让脏水浸着，别给爷爷和爹爹看见，叫他们找不到。” 小女孩大喜，只道妈妈要玩个极有趣的游戏，拍掌笑道：“好，好！”戚芳道：“可别让爷爷和爹爹知道，也别跟他们说！”小女孩道：“空心菜不说，空心菜不说！” 戚芳走到门外，说道：“公公，我觉得这本书很有点古怪。”万震山转过身来，问道：“甚么古怪！”他内心早已隐隐觉得这本书突然出现，来得太过容易，恐怕不是吉兆，媳妇这么一说，更增他的疑虑。戚芳道：“在这里！”说道伸出手去。万震山将书交给了她。 戚芳翻开书页，取了那两只纸剪蝴蝶出来，道：“公公，你这书中，本来就有这两只蝴蝶么？”万震山将两只纸蝴蝶接了过去，细细察看，道：“没有！”戚芳道：“这是甚么意思？武林之中，可有哪一个人外号叫做'花蝴蝶'甚么的？江湖上有没有一个'蝴蝶帮'？他们留下这本书，多半不怀好意。” 江湖人物留记号寻仇示警，原是十分寻常，万震山生平坏事做了不少，仇家众多，听了戚芳的话，又见这一对纸蝴蝶剪得十分工细，不禁惕然而惊，寻思：“我有甚么仇家外号叫做'花蝴蝶'的？有没有一个'蝴蝶帮'？” 他正自沉吟，忽听得戚芳喝道：“是谁？鬼鬼祟祟的想干甚么？”伸手向窗外屋顶上一指。万氏父子同时向窗外瞧去。戚芳反身从墙上摘下两柄长剑，一柄抛给万震山，一柄抛给万圭，叫道：“屋上有人！”万氏父子接住兵刃，戚芳拉开抽屉，将那本唐诗掷了进去，低声道：“莫给敌人抢了去！”万氏父子点了点头。三人齐从窗口跃出，登上瓦面，四下里一看，不见有人。万震山道：“到后面瞧瞧！” 三人直奔后院，只见墙角边人影一晃，万震山喝道：“是谁？”纵身面前，见那人是六弟子吴坎，问道：“见到敌人没有？” 吴坎见到师父、三师兄、三师嫂仗剑而来，只道事发，吓得面色惨白，待听师父如此询问，心中一宽，忙道：“有人从这边奔过，弟子赶了过来查问。”他是为自己掩饰，却正好替戚芳圆了谎。 四人直追到后门之外，吴坎连连呼哨，将鲁坤、卜垣等都招了来，自是没发见“敌人”的踪迹。 万震山和万圭记挂着《连城剑谱》，命鲁坤等继续搜寻敌踪，招呼了戚芳，回到楼房。万震山抢开抽屉，伸手去取…… 抽屉之中，却哪里还有这本书在？ 万氏父子这一惊自然是非同小可，在书房中到处找寻，又哪里找得到了？问小女孩道：“有没有人进来过？”小女孩道：“没有啊！”转头向母亲霎霎眼睛，十分得意。 万氏父子明明见到戚芳将书放入抽屉，追敌之时，始终没离开过她，当然不是她做的手脚。定是敌人施了“调虎离山之计”，盗去了剑谱！ 万氏父子面面相觑，懊丧不已。 戚芳母女你向我霎霎眼，我向你霎霎眼，很是开心。