Chapter 9 The Sixth Place of Despondency

"Quick Knife" Fang Cheng had already woken up.As soon as Yang Zheng started knocking on his door, he woke up. But he didn't answer the door. The knife was under his pillow, he lightly pressed the spring on the mouth of the scabbard, slowly pulled out the knife, jumped out of the bed with bare feet, swept out the back window, climbed over the backyard wall, and walked around to the front door . A person he had never seen before was knocking hard on his door, and there was a person hiding behind a big tree more than ten feet away. He didn't know what these two people were here for. If it was going to be against him, he shouldn't knock on the door so hard.

He could figure it out, but he didn't want to take the risk. He decided to give this person a knife first, even if he made a mistake, at least it was better than being cut by someone else. ——This is what people in the Jianghu think, because they also want to survive. ——It is not easy for a Jiang Hu person to survive. Yang Zheng was still knocking on the door, he believed that the people in the room would never sleep so dead.He also knew that "Fast Knife" Fang Cheng was the most proud disciple of Wan Daxia, so Fang Cheng's knife cut nothing. As soon as the knife light flashed, Yang Zheng turned over and retreated.

The knife was fast, Yang Zheng's reaction was faster, and he used the fastest and most direct method to prove his identity. He took out an official document of sea arrest that notified the convenience of the counties. Fang Cheng was surprised. "I didn't expect you to be such a head catcher." He said, "I didn't expect the eagle claws in the six doors to have your skills." Yang Zheng smiled wryly: "What if you chopped off my head just now?" Fang Cheng's answer was straightforward: "Then I'll dig a hole and bury you, and I'll also bury that friend hiding behind the tree over there. Who told you to knock on my door in the middle of the night?"

He is a straightforward person, so Yang Zheng also told him straightforwardly: "I came to you just because I wanted to ask you, how did Hero Wan die?" "Probably because he drank too much alcohol." Fang Cheng sighed sadly, "The older he gets, the more aggressive he is, and he refuses to admit defeat even after drinking." "I heard that he was taking care of him when he died?" Yang Zheng asked, "Why didn't you follow him to take care of him?" "Because the old man will vomit when he drinks too much, and he will never let others see him when he vomits."

"Is he always like this?" "It's been like this for decades." Fang Cheng sighed again, "If we persuade him to drink less, he will scold people." "Are there many people who know that he has this habit?" "Probably a lot." "Did Master Hua invite many guests that time?" "Although there are quite a few guests, there are not many who can be invited to the back by Fourth Master Hua." "How many are there?" "Besides us, there seems to be only Wang Zhenfei and Di Xiaohou from the 'Central Plains'." Fang Cheng said, "I don't remember the others clearly."

"Where are Chief Escort Wang and Di Xiaohou when Wan Daxia is there?" "Boss Wang is still here, but Di Xiaohou has already gone back to his room with a big beauty." Yang Zheng had already noticed that his heart started to beat fast again, he kept clenching his fists to control himself, and asked calmly: "Is there any quarrel between Wan Daxia and Di Xiaohou?" "No." Fang Cheng replied without thinking, "Not only is there no festival, but he also has a good impression. Di Xiaohou even gave my master a BMW worth ten thousand gold." "After Wan Daxia passed away, did Di Xiaohou take his beauty away?"

"Leaving the next day." "In Fourth Master Hua's Peony Manor, has anyone ever had a crush on that beauty?" "Who dares to touch Di Xiaohou's woman?" Fang Cheng said very frankly, "Even if someone wants to, they can't move." Yang Zheng already felt that there were no questions to ask, but Fang Cheng suddenly said: "If you suspect that my master died at the hands of others, you are wrong." Fang Cheng said with certainty, "He was open-minded all his life and treated people with sincerity, except for a little bit of trouble with Qinglong. Never have any enemies."

Yang Zheng's pupils shrank immediately, and his fists clenched even tighter. "A little festival? What kind of festival?" "Actually, it's not a big holiday." Fang Cheng said, "I just heard his old man say by chance that Qinglong always wanted him to join, but he always refused." Fang Cheng added: "But the Azure Dragon Society has never had a direct confrontation with the old man." Yang Zheng stood there in a daze for a long time, then suddenly cupped his fists together: "Thank you, sorry, goodbye." Fang Cheng stopped him: "What do you mean?"

Yang Zheng's answer was absolute: "Thank you because you told me so many things, sorry because I woke you up, goodbye means I'm leaving." "You can't go!" Fang Cheng said with a straight face, "You must not go." "why?" "Because you woke me up, I can't sleep anymore." Fang Cheng said, "No matter what, you have to have two drinks with me before leaving." Yang Zheng sighed. "In the past two days, I've been eating hard pickled vegetable biscuits every day. I've almost eaten a bird in my mouth. I really want to eat you." He sighed and said, "It's a pity that there is one person who will never agree."

"Who refuses to agree?" "It's the one hiding behind the big tree." "Are you afraid of him?" "A little bit." Yang Zheng said, "Maybe more than a little bit." "Why are you afraid of him?" Fang Cheng was not convinced, "Who is he to you?" "She's not mine either." Yang Zheng said, "It's just my wife." He also specially explained: "Wife means wife." Fang Cheng stood there staring at him for a long time, then suddenly cupped his fists and said, "Thank you, sorry, goodbye."

"What do you mean?" Yang Zheng couldn't help asking. "Thank you because you are willing to tell me such a shameful thing. I'm sorry because I would rather not sleep than drink with a henpecked man." Fang Cheng held back his smile and said with a straight face on purpose, "The meaning of goodbye is Please go!" Yang Zheng laughed. For so many days, only this time he really laughed out loud! Late at night, the people who listened to Yue Xiaozhu were not quiet, because they had almost drank a jar of Nurhong. The plan has been completed, the 1.8 million taels of silver are already in the treasury of the Hou Mansion, and Yang Zheng is about to die under Mr. Lan Da's sword. Everyone is very happy. With the exception of Di Qinglin, there seemed to be nothing in this world that could make him feel happy and exciting. Before finishing the jar of wine, he asked Wang Zhenfei again: "Do you believe Mr. Lan Da will be able to find Yang Zheng?" "must." "How do you know Yang Zheng's whereabouts?" "Because I have already gone to the signing room in the county government office to look at his resume." Wang Zhenfei said, "Boss Zhao took me there." ——Zhao Zheng is undoubtedly also a link in this chain, so he deliberately told Yang Zheng about Ni Ba's whereabouts, but he himself has not come here for a long time, and he absolutely does not want to compete with Yang Zheng. "Yang Zheng is from Dalin Village. He lived with his widowed mother outside the big forest behind the village since he was a child. Ru Mao is also from that village." Wang Zhenfei said, "This time he invited Ruyu to go with him. If he wants to investigate this case, he can't bring a girl by his side, and he will definitely send Ruyu to a safe place first." Wang Zhenfei said again: "His brothers are already locked in prison, he has no other reliable friends and nowhere to go, so I'm sure he will send Ruyu back to his hometown first, and they left It is also the road back to Dalin Village." He was really accurate. It was not a fluke that he was able to sit on the chair of April Hall Master of the Azure Dragon Society; it was not an easy task to be the head of the "Central Plains Escort Bureau". "I can guarantee that at this time tomorrow, Yang Zheng will definitely return to Dalin Village, and he must have died under the ancient sword of Lanshan." In the evening of the second day, Yang Zheng took Ruyu back to their hometown as expected. Green plums and yellow bamboo horses catch fish and shrimps in the stream with bare feet, build snowmen in the snow with their necks curled up, and run hand in hand through the autumn forest full of fallen leaves. What a happy childhood!What sweet memories! As if in a dream, they came back here holding hands. Are the people in their hometown safe? They did not go back to the village, but bypassed the village and went deep into the dense forest behind the village. The spring rains have just stopped, and the woods are dark and humid. You can't see the sun during the day, and you can't see the stars at night.Even the people in the village dare not go too deep into the forest, because it is difficult to get out once you get lost. Yang Zheng is not afraid of getting lost. He liked to run around in the woods since he was a child, and when he was eight or nine years old, he would come to this woods to stay for an hour or two every day, and sometimes he would even sneak away at night. No one knew what he was doing in the woods, and he never let anyone be with him, even Lu Suwen was no exception. This is the first time he has brought her here. He led her to turn left and right in the dense forest. After walking for more than half an hour, he came to a spring hidden in the deepest part of the dense forest, and saw a dilapidated and simple log cabin. Although Lu Suwen also grew up in the village, he has never been to this place. There is a large rusty lock on the small door of the wooden house. There are only a bed, a table and a chair, a thick bowl, a tile lamp and a red clay stove in the wooden house. Everything is full of dust.The corners of the house are densely covered with cobwebs, and the moss in front of the door is thick and green. Obviously, no one has been here for a long time. When someone lived here before, his life must have been very simple, lonely, and hard. Lu Suwen finally couldn't bear it and asked Yang Zheng: "What is this place? How did you find this place?" "Because I used to come here every day." Yang Zheng said, "Sometimes I even came here twice a day." "What are you here for?" "Come and see someone!" "who?" Yang Zheng was silent for a long time, with that expression of respect and pain on his face again, and it took a long time before he said word by word: "I'm here to see my father." Yang Zheng caressed the moss in front of the window Hen: "In the year before his death, the old man would stand by this window every day, waiting for me to come and see him." Lu Suwen was taken aback. Yang Zheng moved to Dalin Village when he was still a baby. His mother has been a widow all along, doing laundry and sewing for others to support her son. Lu Suwen never knew that Yang Zheng also had a father.She wanted to ask Yang Zheng why his father wanted to live alone in this dense forest without seeing outsiders. But she didn't ask. After years of prostitution, she has learned to be considerate of others, to keep secrets for others, never to pry into other people's privacy, and never to ask questions that others are unwilling to answer. Yang Zheng himself said it out. "My father has an extreme temper and has enemies all over the world, so after I was born, he asked my mother to take me to hide in Dalin Village." Yang Zheng said sadly, "When I was eight years old, the old man himself suffered a lot. I also hid here to heal my internal injuries, and I didn’t see him until then.” "Has the old man's injury been healed?" Yang Zheng shook his head sadly: "But after he escaped here, his enemies searched all over the world but couldn't find him, so I brought you here, because after I leave, no one will be able to find you." Lu Suwen's lips suddenly became cold and trembling, but he still managed to suppress himself. She is a very sensible woman, she knew that Yang Zheng must have a reason for saying this, otherwise how could he say he was leaving? He would rather die than leave her. It was getting dark and the oil in the lamp had been burned out, Lu Suwen silently wiped the dust in the house in the dark. Yang Zheng turned over a wooden board on the ground, and took out a rusty iron box from the hole under the wooden board. There is actually a fire pocket in the iron box. He turned on the torch, and Lu Suwen saw a weapon she had never seen before. An extremely spacious room, the walls are white and dust-free, and the floor paved with tiles is as clear as a mirror. There was nothing in the room except two futons. Ying Wuwu sat cross-legged on a futon, with the green bamboo staff with the snake sword inside lying across his knees, as if he had been settled by an old monk, and I forgot both things. Di Qinglin also sat cross-legged on another futon.The two sat facing each other for an unknown how long. It was getting dark outside the window, Di Qinglin suddenly asked Ying Wuwu: "Have you seen Yang Hen?" "I saw it once eighteen years ago." Ying Wuwu said, "That time I saw with my own eyes that he hooked the head of Ming Feizi, one of the seven masters of Wudang, in one move, but he thought I couldn't see it, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be alive now." "His martial arts are really that terrible?" "His martial arts are just like his people, extreme and ruthless, dedicated to extremes." Ying Wuwu said, "His weapons are also specialized in slanted blades, which are different from the styles of various sects in the world. , No one in Jianghu has ever used that kind of weapon." "What kind of weapon did he use?" "It's a hook, but it's not a hook." Ying Wuwu said, "Because it should be a sword, and it should belong to Lan Yichen." "why?" "Lan Yichen's favorite thing in his life is the sword. At that time, he hadn't got the blue mountain ancient sword, but he accidentally got an iron tire known as the 'Hero of Oriental Gold and Iron'." At that time, there were not many people in the Jianghu who could cut open the iron tire and take the iron to make steel and sword. After searching for many years, Lan Yichen found a sword master who had retired for many years. He saw the extraordinaryness of this iron tire at a glance, and claimed that he was absolutely sure to temper it into a sharp weapon that would blow hair and cut hair. He didn't brag, within seven days he took out the black iron elite in the iron tire. It takes at least three months to practice the sword. Lan Yichen couldn't wait, he had already made an appointment with Bashan swordsmen to discuss swords on the top of Cangshan Mountain in southern Yunnan. At this time, he already had absolute trust in this sword master, so he left the piece of refined iron to attend the appointment.At that time, he didn't know that the reason why the sword master wanted to retire was because he had epilepsy, and he would have seizures from time to time, especially when he was nervous. The most important and most tense moment is the moment when the sword is refined and the sword is about to take shape. The success or failure of a sword is determined at that moment. When Ying Wuwu said this, Di Qinglin already knew that the sword master had broken the sword this time. "This time he turned that piece of refined iron into a strange four-shaped weapon." Ying Wuwu said, "It's neither like a knife nor a sword. Although the striker is bent like a hook, it's not a hook." "and after?" "In a rage, Lan Yichen forced that sword master to commit suicide with such a strange thing he made himself!" Ying Wuwu said, "Lan Yichen was angry and heartbroken, and left with hatred. The strange hook fell into the hands of a poor young man who often came to cook tea and wine for the swordsman nearby. No one would have thought that he would use this strange hook to practice a kind of strange martial arts that had never been done before, and killed dozens of people with it. A world-renowned swordsman." "This poor boy is Yang Hen?" "Yes!" Ying Wuwu said lightly, "If Lan Yichen knew about this kind of thing, he would have thrown him and that sword master into the sword refining furnace." As night fell, thirty-six boys in white clothes, holding seventy-two bronze candlesticks with candles in their hands, walked in quietly, placed the candlesticks on the four walls, and retreated with their hands down. Di Qinglin stood up suddenly, bowed respectfully to Ying Wuwu, and said respectfully: "Disciple Di Qinglin tried the sword for the eleventh time, and asked the master for a move." As soon as the fire was turned on, there was a strangely shaped weapon in the iron box, and a cold light flashed, approaching Lu Suwen's eyebrows. She couldn't help shivering in Lingling, and couldn't help asking: "what is this?" "This is a weapon, the weapon my father used during his lifetime." Yang Zheng looked sad, "This is also the only relic left by my father to me, but the old man has repeatedly warned me not to use it until the moment of life and death." It, and can't even say it." "I have also seen many Jiang Hu people, and I have seen all kinds of weapons," Lu Suwen said, "but I have never seen anything like this." "Of course you haven't seen it before." Yang Zheng said, "This is an unprecedented and unique weapon." "Is this a sword, or a hook?" "It was supposed to be a sword, but my father gave it a special name, called the parting hook." "Since it's a hook, it should be hooked," Lu Suwen asked, "Why is it called parting?" "Because no matter what this hook hooks, it will cause parting," Yang Zheng said, "If it hooks your hand, your hand will be separated from your wrist; if it hooks your foot, your foot will be separated." Say goodbye to your legs." "If it catches my throat, shall I say goodbye to this world?" "yes." "Why do you use such a cruel weapon?" "Because I don't want to say goodbye," Yang Zheng stared at Lu Suwen, "I don't want to say goodbye to you." His voice was filled with a kind of tenderness that was almost painful, "I want to use this parting hook, just to get together with you, to be together forever and never to part again." Lu Suwen understood what he meant, and also understood his feelings for her, and he understood it very well. But she couldn't help but shed tears. Fortunately, the fire had already gone out at this time, and Yang Zheng could no longer see her face, nor could she clearly see her tears. The parting hook that was shining with cold light seemed to have disappeared into the night. —if only it had disappeared! Lu Suwen really hoped that it had disappeared, disappeared forever, never had a parting hook, never parted again. There will never be killing or hatred, two people will always be together so peacefully and quietly, even in the dark, it is sweet. I don't know how long it took before Yang Zheng asked her softly: "Why do not you speak?" "what do you want me to say?" "You already know that I'm leaving, you already know that I'm going to take this farewell hook to say goodbye to you. Although I did this to get together with you forever, this parting may never see you again," Yang Zheng Say, "Because you also know that my opponents are very scary people." His voice seemed very far away, very, very far away, "So you can say that you don't want to stay here alone, you can ask me to stay too. Since no one else can find this place, why can't we stay here forever and get together ?” There is silence in the dense forest, there is no sound of wind blowing leaves, and even the wind cannot blow here. There was also silence in the wooden house, and after an unknown amount of time, Lu Suwen sighed softly. "If I were ten years younger than now, I would definitely say this, and I would try my best to keep you, and ask you to leave everything behind and live with me in this kind of ghost place for the rest of my life." If she really did this, Yang Zheng might feel better in his heart. But her calmness, this heartbreaking calmness, can even drive herself crazy. How much pain does one have to pay to maintain such calm? Yang Zheng's heart was throbbing! She would rather stay in this ghost place alone, waiting desperately for his return, than force him to stay. Because she knew that what he was going to do was what he had to do, and if she definitely didn't want him to do it, it would definitely make him suffer and regret for the rest of his life. She would rather suffer this pain herself than stop her man from doing what he thinks he should do. —How much courage does it take for a woman to do this? The night is as cool as water.Yang Zheng suddenly felt a smooth, soft and warm body approaching him slowly, hugging him tightly. They said nothing more. They were already basking in each other's pleasure and contentment, for the first time, and probably the last time, they would be this close. The cold wind blows into the window, and there is a twilight outside the window. Lu Suwen lay quietly on the bed alone, he could still feel the sweetness after last night's passion in his body, but his heart was full of bitterness and despair. Yang Zheng had already left quietly. She knew he was leaving, but she pretended to be in a deep sleep.He didn't startle her either. Because they could no longer bear the pain of saying goodbye. There was a blue cloth bundle on the table, and he left her the rest of the food, which was enough for her to last until he came back to pick her up. There are only seven days left in the deadline, and he must come back within seven days. What if he hadn't returned after seven days? She dared not even think about it.She must try to concentrate and keep telling herself: "Since we have enjoyed the joy of being together, why can't we bear the pain of parting? How can we know the joy of being together if we have never experienced the pain of parting?"