Chapter 8 Chapter Eight

Chu Liuxiang said: "That's right, it's also possible, but as soon as they came back, they rushed into the courtyard and killed the assassin. At that time, there were still some lights in the courtyard, but the room was completely dark. If they hadn't known about the assassin In the house, you can't even see people." Hu Tiehua frowned even tighter, and said: "But if they bought the assassin, why did they kill him?" Chu Liuxiang said: "Of course it's for the purpose of killing people." Hu Tiehua said: "But the person who lured me out was the thrush, did the thrush go the same way as them?"

Chu Liuxiang said: "You must also know that the thrush is someone else's alias." Hu Tiehua said: "Not bad." Chu Liuxiang said: "Then how do you know that the thrush is not their alias?" Hu Tiehua was stunned for a while, and said: "Although the thrush's actions are secretive, they have no malice towards us. If you say that Liu Wumei wants to harm you, they can't be the same person." Chu Liuxiang said: "Why is it impossible? I have already said that the thrush must be doing that to me on purpose, asking me to repay it." Hu Tiehua said: "Since he wants to harm you, what does he want you to repay?"

Chu Liuxiang said: "You saw the thrush, but you didn't kill him, did you?" Hu Tiehua said: "Of course I can't kill him." Chu Liuxiang said: "That's right, the thrush did that to prevent us from killing him... Even if I already knew that Liu Wumei was the thrush, even if I knew she was going to kill me, I had no choice but to let her go, because she She used to be kind to me - before she wanted to kill me, she had already left a way out." Hu Tiehua said: "Why do you have to suspect that Liu Wumei is a thrush?" Chu Liuxiang sighed: "There are naturally many reasons for this."

Hu Tiehua suddenly said loudly again: "But at least those who beat you with the 'Rainstorm Pear Blossom Nails' are definitely not them?" Chu Liuxiang said: "Why can't it be them?" Hu Tiehua said: "Because they were obviously still in the house at that time." Chu Liuxiang said: "Have you seen them?" Hu Tiehua was startled, and said: "Although I didn't see it, I clearly heard them talking." Chu Liuxiang said: "You didn't hear them 'talking', you just heard them struggling, shouting and moaning, did you?"

Hu Tiehua said: "Not bad." Chu Liuxiang said: "When everyone groans, their voice will change due to pain, so even if we hear something wrong with their voice, we won't care, will we?" Hu Tiehua was stunned again, and said in a low voice: "Could it be that the two of them were no longer in the room at that time, and the voice was just pretended by someone else?" Chu Liuxiang said: "Is this impossible?" Hu Tiehua let out a long sigh and stopped talking. Chu Liuxiang said: "Because you always think they are in the room, so you will not think that it is someone else's voice. This is an illusion that everyone will inevitably have."

He also sighed, and continued: "Liu Wumei is not only very smart, but also very careful in doing things. She also knows that it is not easy to harm me, so every time she makes a move, she must set aside a setback first, so that I will never doubt it. to them." Hu Tiehua rubbed her nose desperately, and murmured: "But I still don't understand, and I don't believe it." Chu Liuxiang smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, I haven't fully understood it, but I can already imagine the general situation." Hu Tiehua said: "Tell me and listen." Chu Liuxiang said: "For a certain reason, Liu Wumei and his wife must find me, but when they found me on the boat, I was no longer there. When they returned, they met Rong'er and the others."

Hu Tiehua said: "How did they meet Rong'er?" Chu Liuxiang said: "Rong'er and the others want to find me, so naturally they have to go home and have a look first. People like them are naturally very eye-catching on the road, aren't they?" Hu Tiehua said: "Yes!" Chu Liuxiang said: "The Li family in Huqiu is very powerful, and they naturally have many eyes and ears in the rivers and lakes. Naturally, they have already heard about the relationship between Rong'er and me. After knowing their whereabouts, they will naturally come to the door."

Hu Tiehua said: "Yes!" Chu Liuxiang said: "People like Liu Wumei can easily make friends with Rong'er and the others. Rong'er may not talk too much, but Tian'er is just like you, a straightforward person." Hu Tiehua said: "Hmph! Are you praising me or scolding me?" Chu Liuxiang ignored him, and continued, "It's not difficult for Liu Wumei to ask Tian'er about me..." Hu Tiehua interrupted: "She thought you might still be in the desert, so she went to the desert to look for it." Chu Liuxiang said: "She only has this clue, so she can only try her luck."

Hu Tiehua said: "But why didn't Rong'er and the others go together, instead they went to 'Yongcui Villa'?" Chu Liuxiang sighed: "Maybe they were cheated, maybe robbed, maybe..." He stopped talking abruptly, with a look of worry on his face. Hu Tiehua moved: "Are you saying that Rong'er and the others are not in 'Yongcui Villa' at all, and they may have been murdered by Liu Wumei and his wife?" Chu Liuxiang sighed and said: "This is naturally possible. Fortunately, Liu Wumei didn't kill innocent people. She only wanted to deal with me, and since she wanted to be kind to me to leave a way out, she wouldn't kill them."

Hu Tiehua frowned and pondered for a while, then suddenly said: "But based on the time calculation, she found us as soon as she arrived in the desert, didn't she?" Chu Liuxiang said: "Not bad." Hu Tiehua said: "Since Li Yuhan is a son of a family in the south of the Yangtze River, how can he be so familiar with the terrain of the desert? What's more, Shi Guanyin's residence is so secret, how could they find it all at once?" Chu Liuxiang said slowly: "Now I still have two things I can't figure out, and this is one of them." Hu Tiehua said: "Is there one more thing?"

Chu Liuxiang sighed, "I really can't figure out why this couple must kill me?" Hu Tiehua frowned again, and said in a deep voice: "Now, since they know that you are suspicious of them, and must have seen that you were pretending to be sick last night, isn't your situation even more dangerous?" Chu Liuxiang smiled faintly, and said: "But since I haven't exposed them now, they naturally won't tell the truth. They already know that I have doubts about them, so they dare not act rashly along the way." Hu Tiehua said: "Are they going to wait for you to arrive at 'Yongcui Villa' before taking action?" Chu Liuxiang said: "It seems that it must be so." Hu Tiehua said: "If that's the case, they must have prepared a way to deal with you in the 'Yongcui Villa'. With the momentum of the Huqiu Li family in the rivers and lakes, this move must be no small matter." Chu Liuxiang said: "Not bad." Hu Tiehua said: "Since you know, you still want to die?" Chu Liuxiang sighed: "This is the end, can I not go?" Hu Tiehua was silent for a while, then sighed: "That's right, of course you can't leave Rong'er and the others there, but..." Chu Liuxiang suddenly smiled again, and said, "But you don't have to worry too much. Although our trip is dangerous, at least we won't encounter any plots like 'Rainstorm Pear Blossom Nails'." Hu Tiehua said: "How can you see it?" Chu Liuxiang said: "With the power of the Li family in Jianghu, if they want to plot against me, they can only use other people as scapegoats in other places. After they arrive at the 'Yongcui Villa', how dare they use these despicable methods again? ? How dare they destroy the decades-long chivalrous reputation of 'Yongcui Villa'?" Hu Tiehua said: "That's right, they don't use their own hidden weapons, but use the 'Rainstorm Pear Blossom Nail', just to avoid tarnishing the momentum of 'Yongcui Villa'. If you die under the Pear Blossom Nail, naturally no one will think it's Li The poisonous hands of the children of the family." Chu Liuxiang smiled and said, "Have you figured it out now?" Hu Tiehua sighed: "No wonder that person threw away such a precious hidden weapon as soon as he missed a hit. It turned out that he was afraid that you would find the 'Rainstorm Pear Blossom Nail' in their hands." Chu Liuxiang said: "Actually, you should have thought about it a long time ago. Besides the Li family children, who else can obtain such a precious hidden weapon?" Hu Tiehua hurriedly said: "Except for the sons of the Li family who are rich in the south of the Yangtze River, who else can spend two hundred thousand taels of silver?" Chu Liuxiang smiled and said: "It's a pity that they stole chickens and lost a lot of rice, but they took advantage of you. For nothing, they got a hidden weapon that is more precious than gold." Hu Tiehua laughed loudly and said, "But I am willing to ask for two hundred thousand taels of silver." The two laughed at each other, they seemed to have forgotten all the dangers of this trip, they even forgot that if they died in "Yongcui Villa", the silver and hidden weapons would still belong to others. The word "danger" didn't seem to exist in the heads of these two people. Huqiu, the name of the mountain, formerly known as Haibi Mountain, is outside Changmen in Suzhou. According to legend, King Helu of Wu was buried in this mountain, with mercury as the coffin and gold and silver as the pit. Historical Records: The tomb of Hejian is located outside Changmen, Wuxian County. It was managed by 100,000 people, and the soil was collected to face the lake. Three days after the burial, a white tiger sat on it, so it was named Tiger Hill. This mountain is not high, but it is full of some beautiful legends and myths. Since ancient times, it has been a must-see for talented scholars and poets. As expected, Chu Liuxiang and the others had a safe journey and arrived in Gusu. They didn't go around outside the city, but passed through the city. Li Yuhan and Liu Wumei were still talking and laughing happily, and no one could see that they had murderous intentions in their hearts. Did Chu Liuxiang guess wrong? Arriving in this city famous for its beauty, everyone can't help feeling a kind of tenderness in their hearts, who else would want to kill someone? The clean streets seem to be full of beautiful girls, their long braids swaying in the wind, smiling sweetly at people from time to time. Hu Tiehua's eyes were straightened, and he suddenly smiled and said, "Have you ever discovered something interesting? People here don't like to wear shoes." People walking around on the street really don't like to wear shoes, some are barefoot, some are dragging slippers, even if some wear shoes, they don't pull up the heels, but a pair of flat soles and flat toes. Wouldn't it be more interesting to see the slender feet as white as jade in the wooden clogs painted with gold? Hu Tiehua smiled again: "Do you know why they don't like to wear shoes? I have already discovered the reason." Li Yuhan couldn't help but asked, "Why?" Hu Tiehua clapped his hands and said: "Just because their feet are more beautiful than people from other places, if they don't let people see more, wouldn't it be a waste of money?" Suzhou girls not only have beautiful feet, but most of them have natural feet. When you go outside the city, you can see girls carrying jasmine flower baskets, chasing the passing chariots and horses lightly, sometimes jumping on the shafts of the carts, sometimes jumping off. With Wu Nong's soft words like Huang Ying's twitter, who can bear not to buy their two flowers? Seven miles outside the city is Huqiu Mountain. But once you get out of the city gate, you can see the green and majestic mountain in the distance, just like a tiger squatting there, full of vitality, calm from head to tail. They walked through Gusu on foot, and then returned to the car. Hu Tiehua opened the car window, looked at these young and lively girls, and couldn't help but smiled at Chu Liuxiang: "These little girls are so brisk. Good materials for martial arts, if you practice lightness kung fu, I will never be worse than you." Chu Liuxiang smiled and said: "They have practiced this since they were young. They don't know how many times they have to jump up and down on the carriage every day. They are much more diligent than us practicing kung fu." Before he finished speaking, a girl in a green cloth blouse and with a big shiny braid jumped onto the shaft of the car, holding a jasmine ball in her hand, and said with a smile: "A very fragrant jasmine, my lord!" Buy two of them!" Hu Tiehua looked at her small hands like spring onions, and couldn't help laughing: "Is it the fragrance of flowers? Or the fragrance of your hands?" The little girl blushed, pursed her lips and said with a smile: "Naturally it's the fragrance of flowers, if you don't believe me, just smell it." Hu Tiehua laughed and was about to pick up the flowers, but Chu Liuxiang grabbed it first and said with a smile: "All good flowers have thorns, does this flower have thorns? Don't pierce my nose." The little girl chuckled and said, "Master, you really know how to tell jokes, how can there be thorny jasmine in the world?" Chu Liuxiang said: "In this case, I'll buy a few. It's a pity that although this flower is good, there is no one who wears it... I can only pass this flower on to the girl." He suddenly sent the bouquet to the little girl again. The little girl's complexion suddenly changed, she turned over in the air, retreated about a foot away, turned around and fled away as if flying. Hu Tiehua frowned and said: "Look at you old pervert, you scared the little girl like this." Chu Liuxiang sighed, and said: "If I don't scare her away, she will kill you and me." Hu Tiehua lost his voice: "What did you say?" Chu Liuxiang didn't answer, but gently tore the jasmine ball to pieces, and saw a dozen small needles glowing with black light in the flower ball. Hu Tiehua said in amazement: "Poison needle?" Chu Liuxiang smiled wryly and said, "If I hadn't caught it quickly, as long as she flicked her little hand, would you and I still want to die at this moment?" Hu Tiehua was silent for a while, wiped off his sweat, and couldn't help asking: "How did you see it this time?" Chu Liuxiang sighed: "These little girls have been selling flowers on this road since they were young. It can be seen that they are all children of poor families. They sell flowers during the day and help with housework at night. How can they have such white and tender hands as hers? " Hu Tiehua was stunned for a while, then said with a wry smile: "Your thief eyes are too powerful." Chu Liuxiang said: "Also, these little girls are all born and raised here, how can they speak her standard official dialect? I knew something was wrong the moment I heard her speak." Hu Tiehua sighed: "It seems that the rumors in the world are not wrong, Chu Liuxiang is indeed a ghost." He suddenly lowered his voice again, and said: "Do you think this little girl was also sent by his husband and wife?" Chu Liuxiang wrapped all the poisonous needles in a square scarf, and said: "When we get here, how can there be others? If this matter happens, they can of course say that they don't know about it, and if it doesn't happen, it has nothing to do with them .” Hu Tiehua was silent for a while, then murmured: "It seems that the place we are going to is not Tiger Hill, but Tiger Den." Chu Liuxiang smiled and said, "If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch tiger cubs." Hu Tiehua smiled and said, "It's not a tiger son, it's a tiger girl." When they arrived in front of the main mountain gate of Huqiu, everyone got off their horses. Li Yuhan and Liu Wumei were still talking and laughing happily, as if they didn't know what happened just now. Could it be that the little girl has nothing to do with them? Did Chu Liuxiang guess wrong again? Outside the mountain gate, there is a small market, a small river meanders through it, and there are three or five painting boats parked beside the river, and there are charming smiles like silver bells coming from the painting boats from time to time. After entering the mountain gate, there are many small shops on both sides, and there are many beggars. When they saw someone coming, they gathered around to beg, and some people respectfully smiled and said, "Is Mr. Li back? Ma'am, hello." Chu Liuxiang and Hu Tiehua glanced at each other, but secretly guessed in their hearts: "I don't know if there are any real disciples of the beggars among these beggars?" When I was thinking, I had already arrived at the famous Thousand People Stone. There is only one big rock that can seat thousands of people. At a glance, not only can you not see the side, you can't even see a blade of grass. There is a small stone platform to the north of the big rock. Just listen to Liu Wumei said leisurely: "Therefore, it is said that in the past, the eunuch of King Wu used thousands of craftsmen to build a tomb here. People are all buried alive under this stone, so this stone is called 'thousand people stone'." This cruel story, narrated from her mouth, seemed to have no trace of blood, Hu Tiehua couldn't help asking: "Then what is the stone platform?" Liu Wumei said: "That is the lecture platform of the divine monk Zhu Daosheng, on which there are four seal characters written by Li Yangbing of the Tang Dynasty, which means 'Sheng Gong's platform', and the stone beside the white lotus pond is the famous nodding stone. , as the saying goes: "Shenggong speaks, and the stubborn stone nods", this allusion comes from here." Her steps were as light as her voice, and the mountain wind blew from behind the rock, blowing away her hair bun and waving her skirt, and she seemed to be going away with the wind. Hu Tiehua was obsessed with hearing and seeing, but she couldn't help sighing secretly: "Could such a fairy-like beauty really be a murderer?" Then they walked up to the sword pond. I saw dense forests on all sides, and Xiaobi was secluded and emerald.A wooden bridge lies across the pool like a rainbow. The water in the pool is green and cold, with duckweed dotted on it. Standing by the pool, Chu Liuxiang felt a gust of cold wind blowing towards her face, and the green pool water seemed to hide bursts of murderous intent. In the distance, autumn clouds converge, and evening bells sound faintly in the breeze. Chu Liuxiang smiled and said: "Li Xiuqing, a famous scholar in the Tang Dynasty, praised this water as the fifth spring in the world, but he didn't know that this water is the most suitable for tempering swords. It is the place for ancient swordsmen to temper their swords. Now there is the first contemporary swordsman, Old Senior Li, here Pinti, the word 'Jianchi' really deserves a name." Liu Wumei said with a smile: "It is said that this name has another origin." Chu Liuxiang said, "Oh?" Liu Wumei said: "It is said that the tomb of Helu, King of Wu, is under this sword pool. When he died, he was buried with thirty famous swords, and even the fish sausage sword that was specially used for all kinds of swords was in it, so this place is called the sword pool. " Chu Liuxiang smiled lightly, and said: "If I am also buried here, next to such a male ghost as King Wu's eunuch, it will be considered a worthwhile life and a well-deserved death." Liu Wumei remained expressionless, and smiled sweetly: "Since brother Chu knows that this is the fifth spring in the world, do you know that the third spring in the world is also here?" Bypassing Jianchi, you can see a very large stone well, more than ten feet wide, and beside the well is a hexagonal pavilion surrounded by Zhulan. Chu Liuxiang said with a smile: "I'm afraid this is the third spring in the world 'Lu Yu Tea Well'. In the past, senior Li invited famous swordsmen from all over the world to cook tea and taste swords here. The senior is very romantic, which is really admirable." Suddenly one person sighed and said: "It's a pity that although the mountains and rivers remain the same, the faces of people are completely different."