Golden Drum Temple.
The monks were all huddled in the wing, and their eyes that had not slept all night were blue and black.
They were frightened and frightened, and only listened to the movement outside with their ears sideways.
"Dong dong."
The door of the temple was loudly slammed, and the timid ones were so frightened that they burrowed under the bed.
"Wait, not officers and soldiers." An old monk spoke.
How can officers and soldiers have the leisure to knock on the door slowly, and a symbolic knock will kick the door.
Speaking of which, the monks repaired the gate overnight. Last night, the guards shouted about the illness of the nobles in the palace and forcibly took away the abbot Ming Bian of the Golden Drum Temple. Originally, the craftsmen were called to repair it today, but at night, a few old monks who couldn't sleep because they were worried about the safety of Master Ming Bian suddenly saw a fire in the direction of the palace.
The fire lit up half of the night sky, and the smoke even drifted outside the city.
In the distance, the rumble of horses' hooves can be heard in the east city and the inner city, and it seems that there has been a whole night of trouble.
In the community, children cry desperately, cats, dogs, cattle and horses are in chaos, every household closes doors and windows, and some even dig pits in the yard overnight to bury their belongings.
Under such circumstances, how could the monks of the Golden Drum Temple dare to sleep peacefully, leaving the door open and only two little novices guarding? He had to get up no matter what, so he just put up the door, moved it and stuffed the table, bed, cabinet, and furniture behind it.
The scholars who stayed in the temple couldn't help, they just kept guessing what happened.
Some said that King Ning died, and the family seized power, and some said that King Wu sent people to assassinate, wanting to completely disrupt Ningtai City.
- No matter what kind it is, it is very troublesome. Ordinary people don't care who is the emperor. What they are afraid of is turmoil.
Even if there are no officers and soldiers rushing in, the local ruffians may break in over the wall to search for property, prostitute wives and daughters, and kill people.
When the chaos is over, they will disguise themselves and pretend that nothing happened, and it will be difficult for the government to find out who did evil things in those days, because once the chaos begins, no one will know whether it is the official army or the local ruffian who killed the people.
Whether it is a monk or a borrowed scholar, they are all trembling, and every cry of a baby in the nearby neighborhood will affect their nerves.
Because they dare not go out to see the situation.
The fire was extinguished before dawn, and the thick smoke slowly dissipated. The situation should be developing in a positive direction, but at the same time, this is also the most dangerous time - when the ruffians feel that their lives are not in danger and can do evil recklessly.
Now suddenly the door was knocked, and the knocking on the door spread all the way to the wing.
I'm really afraid of what's coming.
"I... I fought with them." A young novice picked up the bamboo poles used to support the windows in the house and shouted sternly.
The other monks hurried to stop them. The bamboo poles were so thin that they might break if they tried too hard. Nothing could be worth it!
"Don't be messy, it's not like officers and soldiers, and it's not like those villains." The old monk said calmly.
If it was a local ruffian, it would have climbed over the wall long ago.
As soon as the voice fell, the little novice who ran out before shouted in panic, "Who are you?"
As soon as Mo Li landed, he saw a teenage novice with wide eyes, trembling all over, as if he was going to fight with himself.
Fortunately, he also brought in Master Clear Discernment.
"Zhihui, what are you doing?"
Standing on the ground, Master Ming Bian was still a little scared. After living for decades, he suddenly said "fly" and flew.
When he saw the blocked gate and the little novice who was about to cry in fright, he could only pretend to reprimand, "Don't put down the bamboo pole yet."
The other monks who came out to stop him were very excited when they saw the abbot, even the scholars.
"Mage Clear Discrimination is back!"
Immediately, a group of people poured out of the wing, surrounding the old monk.
Everyone knew that they wanted to know what happened in the palace, and how Master Ming Bian came back safely.
Only the little novice, who was pushed aside, saw the ink carp rise into the air and forcefully cross the courtyard wall.
The little novice opened his mouth wide and walked to the wall in a daze to compare the height of the lower courtyard wall with himself.
"It turned out to be an old immortal." The child blurted out in shock, otherwise he would have said Arhat Bodhisattva after reading too many scriptures.
The ink carp that hasn't gone far: "..."
There was no way, Master Ming Dian's impression of him was his old appearance, and Mo Li had no choice but to maintain this appearance to save people.
The palace was still in chaos, and when others remembered the folk doctor who was forcibly brought into the palace the night before, they would not know it was a few days later. Therefore, before Mo Li left the palace, he deliberately walked to the palace garden separately from Meng Qi to confirm that Zhu Meiren, who had suffered a stroke, was no longer worried about his life, and then took the doctors out.
Among them were Master Ming Discrimination and Doctor Hu, who together with Mo Li treated Zhu Meiren.
Doctor Hu is a doctor in a pharmacy in Jixianfang, and Master Mingbian is the chairperson of the Golden Drum Temple.
Mo Li sent the latter, while Meng Qi went to Jixianfang.
On the way to send people off, Mo Li also interrupted the hands and feet of seven or eight local ruffians, causing them to lie down in the alley and whimper.
The larger market neighborhoods have already had officials from the garrison and the yamen one after another. Although the people dare not open the door to do business, the situation is not bad. Those remote places were also haunted by Jianghu people who were suspected of Fengxing Pavilion. When Mo Li knocked down a thief who was about to pry the door, he even met those Jianghu people.
They looked at the ink carp suspiciously and came up to salute.
"Dare to ask the senior's name..."
Mo Li didn't say a word and just left.
When it is unclear whether the other party is under Qiu Si or Qiu Jing, it is still appropriate to reveal some whereabouts and let Qiu Jing come to him.
I don't know if the Autumn Pavilion master can get back to Ningtai City in time.
The people in Fengxing Pavilion looked at each other in dismay, but did not chase after them, but just remembered that there was such a person. Of course, the news will be reported layer by layer.
Mo Li walked around in several nearby markets and saw people patrolling the city's yamen everywhere, and the doors and windows of every household were closed, even those wealthy families.
Mo Li tried to hide in the dark and listened to the conversations of other Fengxing Pavilion people. It turned out that most of the Jianghu people didn't know what was going on. They came out just because they didn't want Ningtai City to be chaotic, because Fengxing Pavilion has a lot of industries in the city. , they are not only collecting information for Fengxing Pavilion, but even the relatives of wives and children may be related to these shops.
The Fengxing Pavilion is like a huge net, closely knitting together the major commercial firms in the market. Perhaps these people are from all over the world, but now their home is in Ningtai, they will never allow chaos here.
Qiu Si doesn't need to give any orders at all, everyone in Fengxing Pavilion will be dispatched.
Mo Li shook his head. He realized that Qiu Si's subordinates were divided into two parts. One was Jianghu people like Yuan Ting. Even if his status was high enough, he seemed to have won Mr. Qiu's trust, but he actually knew very little. , the other is someone like Cheng Jingchuan in the officialdom.
It is the latter who controls the city at the moment.
"What is the doctor looking at?"
A familiar and close voice came from his ears, Mo Li did not turn his head, but pointed to the soldiers and horses patrolling the city.
Meng Qi is now in his forties, wearing a Luo robe with good embroidery. I don't know which dragon's son and phoenix's clothes are. Many new clothes were found in the wooden cabinet.
There are many kinds of cloth embroidery in the south of the Yangtze River. The children and grandchildren of King Ning will not wear clothes embroidered with various dragons all day as in the play, for fear that others will not know that they are the descendants of dragons and phoenixes. As long as the clothes are expensive, comfortable and exquisitely embroidered, There are any styles.
For example, this one is very in line with Meng Qi's preferences.
The color is very similar to the piece of material that Mo Carp had picked for him in Buzhuang, and it was soft to the touch.
Since it was really lost in Feihe Mountain, it would be nice to have a substitute. Anyway, the thing about clothes, if you wear it, it will be gone (… )
Meng Qi saw the ink carp from a distance.
In addition to their agreement to meet here, Meng Qi knew more and more about Mo Li, knew that he didn't want to attract attention, and knew what kind of place he liked to choose. Both sides of this ridge are just blocked by nearby buildings. As long as you pay a little attention, it is difficult to be found. The best thing is that there is a drug store below.
In summer, pharmacies will be equipped with insect-proof sachets, especially in the south.
Different pharmacies have different weights, and different places have different ways. For example, where there are many snakes, more realgar is added, and where there are ants, Angelica is added.
It's like a national player hears the sound of chess pieces falling on the plate, and a chef smells the aroma of another restaurant's specialty dishes... Custodian's walking pace is slow, and he can't help but stop to distinguish and taste it.
So Meng Qi found an accurate one.
It's just that in addition to the rattan box, there is a lacquered carrying box next to the ink carp.
"This is?" Meng Qi didn't look at the ordinary soldiers and horses, but picked up the box.
This type of box is very common and is usually used to store meals, keep warm and avoid dust.
Mo Li stretched out his hand to open the lid, and the edge of his palm rubbed the back of Meng Qi's hand.
Meng Qi took advantage of the situation and touched it, in exchange for the latter staring helplessly.
"what?"
A bowl of bright meat, made with a lot of sugar and vinegar, is exuding an attractive fragrance.
Meng Qi couldn't help but pick up the chopsticks, but was stopped by Mo Li.
"Drink porridge first."
The carrying box has two layers, the first layer is meat and braised Chinese cabbage, and the lower layer is rice porridge and sesame sponge cake.
The sponge cake is very well done. Just looking at it, you can tell that the master's craftsmanship is first-rate. This is the instinctive reaction of Meng Guoshi, who loves Nandian.
"You haven't eaten seriously in the past two days. Although the dim sum is delicious, you can't make a meal." Mo Li frowned and said, seeing Meng Qi's expression of no guilt or even being very happy, he couldn't help humming, " If you don't like to hear this, and my master, Mr. Qin, is here, you have to eat porridge for three days and you can only eat soft and rotten woks, and there's no meat to eat."
- That's because the doctor loves me, the national teacher thought proudly.
Meng Qi took the porridge bowl and took a sip, not forgetting to praise: "Which craft is this, drinking so soft and sweet, it seems to be sweet to the heart."
Mo Li didn't answer him, and said calmly: "It's a restaurant two blocks away, and it looks like it's the industry of Fengxing Pavilion. Today, many shops are closed, and many Jianghu people can only go there. I used double the price. I intercepted a dish ordered by a escort, and the other party was willing to wait a little longer for the sake of money. Brother Meng just drank it, probably because of the taste of money."
Meng Qi: "..."
He had clothes on his body and food in his hands, but he was very flustered.
Maybe it's because I don't have money in my pocket now and I can't afford to support a doctor.