It was cold in the supposedly empty bedroom.
Qiu Jing straightened his eyes and looked at the person lying on the couch behind the screen.
No, that's not a person, just a corpse.
Fengxing Pavilion Master has received many gifts that are not according to the rules and directly delivered to the door, some of them are well-intentioned and some are malicious.
But in the current situation, she didn't know whether the "gift" was the former or the latter.
Because the corpse was her father.
The person who brought the corpse also made ice cubes very thoughtfully to prevent the corpse from spoiling too quickly. After all, it is not winter, and the nights in this season are just as sweltering and unbearable, and the corpse will even change beyond recognition within an hour, giving off an unpleasant smell.
With the benefit of ice cubes, Qiu Si's face was pale at the moment, not too scary.
The fatal place was clear at a glance, an iron piece was inserted into the forehead, and the blood was wiped away.
The iron pieces are not big, like a part of a hidden weapon that has been removed, or like someone has crushed a handful of hidden weapons, and then randomly kneaded them into integrated pieces.
The ice cubes were slowly melting, and Qiu Jing touched the water in his hand. Her whole person is erratic, not angry, not happy. Before entering this room, she was still planning how to deal with the forces that favored Qiu Si in Fengxing Pavilion, and she did not dare to underestimate Qiu Si.
That kind of anger and the pain of being betrayed by the only relative, which had been deeply pressed in the bottom of my heart, suddenly disappeared.
Qiu Jing stood blankly for a while, before slowly returning to his senses.
There are not many people in the world who can silently bring a corpse together with so many ice cubes into Fengxing Pavilion.
Qiu Jing is not afraid of Meng Qi, but she is afraid that it is not Meng Qi.
Ningtai and Jiangnan really couldn't stand the other side.
"Since you're here, please see me again."
Qiu Jing closed his eyes, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, a figure fell.
Meng Qi sighed, very embarrassed.
I don't know if this kind of sending a corpse to the door is a revenge! But Qiu Si's body can't be left in that small courtyard. The news of his death will be taken advantage of by those who are interested. As long as it is delayed for two days, everyone's minds will be led away by the Heaven-given Wang Dajun. .
Killing someone and then looking for someone's daughter to take care of the aftermath, even Meng Qi has never encountered such a thing.
Because it was too difficult, Meng Qi simply refused to let Mo Li come over.
Even though Qiu Jing has turned against Qiu Si, she is not a lunatic like Qiu Si and doesn't care about anyone.
"This way of dying... It's very fast, there won't be any pain." Qiu Jing looked down at the corpse, and there were many messy pictures in front of her eyes, but she couldn't be immersed in it, and didn't have time to analyze from the past whether Qiu Si had anything to do with her The real father-daughter relationship, she once thought about questioning him face to face, or being a stranger from now on, now everything is meaningless.
"What did he say before he died?" Qiujing looked up at Meng Qi, "I don't want to listen to last words. He won't die so willingly, he will definitely do something."
"... We later found out that the tonic prescription he used, when he realized that it was wrong, and hurriedly withdrawn, the dregs were not handled well enough."
With other people, it is estimated that it is difficult to distinguish the medicinal residues poured into the carbon ash heap.
Meng Qi said solemnly: "That should be taken for the dying old man."
Old age is actually a disease.
The internal organs are gradually weakened, and I can't eat too much slowly, I can't sleep well, and I can even feel that my lifespan is like a leaky dripping pot in the dead of night, and it will come to an end at dawn.
Even if a famous doctor is invited for diagnosis and treatment, it is useless, because there is no exact disease, just old age. From the bones and organs to the brain can no longer continue to function, at most to open a new prescription, hang and spend money to save their lives.
Those are all good medicines. Qiu Si's symptoms are not severe, at least he can make up for it, so although he looks thin, his spirit is good.
"He, he has gotten to this point?" Qiu Jing was in a state of confusion, obviously not expecting that Qiu Si was about to die.
Qiu Jing wanted to say that he was not very old. Among the Ningtai clan, there were many people older than Qiu Si. Qiu Si can be considered pampered for so many years, so it's not like this... However, after thinking about it, like Qiu Si, after counting others and counting himself, it is more exhausting than others.
Qiu Jing was in a trance and heard Meng Qi say:
"It's not all speculation, he also said something today that the world knows what he will do when he dies."
Qiu Jing raised her head suddenly, but soon she woke up, and she calmed down again, as if the shaking just now never existed.
"He didn't become like this because he was about to die. He has always been like this. The root cause of Fengxing Pavilion's split did not happen overnight..."
Qiu Jing restrained the surging memories and suppressed the endless grief. Even if it was a memory, thinking about it with different moods, what he got was different.
-If you deceive yourself, you can get comfort. Anyway, people are dead, and even if you think of him again as a loving father in your heart, you will not be used or betrayed again.
But what's the point
Deception can't get rid of pain, it only makes people cowardly.
Qiu Jing held his forehead and whispered, "We must find out how long ago he found out, a person who is not willing to die, if he has enough time to plan, I even suspect that he will burn the entire Ningtai City to the ground. ash."
Meng Qi slowly shook his head and said, "No, one Ning Tai can't satisfy him, at least the whole Jiangnan."
"… "
Qiu Jing was in shock, Meng Qi said again: "Actually, death should not be what he fears the most."
but old.
Too old to walk, too old to recognize people, and the brain will become more and more difficult to use.
Qiu Si is not afraid of death, but he is afraid that he is no longer the "Mr. Qiu" that everyone fears.
He has raised too many wolf dogs, and he usually uses the fat meat to make these wolf dogs fight and bite each other. Once the owner is old and useless, these beasts will not hesitate to attack.
Qiu Si held back the greed of many people, tax collectors, petty officials, yamen, down-and-out Jianghu people... Various reasons made them gather together and become the same force, but their loyalty was almost nothing.
Even the attendants around Qiu Si are also loyal to the omnipotent Mr. Qiu. They are obedient to him and believe that what he said is right. However, he is very old at first-->>
What about the "master" who can't remember things? Not to mention someone like Cheng Jingchuan who has been waiting to replace Qiu Si.
"...Since I saw Qiu Si, I felt that his behavior was abnormal. He wasn't afraid of death, but people couldn't do it. At that time, I felt that killing him was fulfilling his wish."
Meng Qi brought the situation in the palace that day one by one, and many things that he didn't understand were solved after Mo Li found the dregs of medicine.
Just looking at these medicines, most of them are to nourish qi and nourish the body. However, Mo Li and Qiu Si had a face-to-face encounter. Qiu Si did not have a strong smell of medicine. Qiu Si was not shy, obviously he had already made up his mind to "die at the right time". As for what the right time is, you have to ask Qiu Si herself.
The more people who think that they are important, the more obsessed with the chaotic scene that will appear around "if they are missing themselves", and the more obsessed, the more they can't help but add fuel to the fire and act recklessly.
Meng Qi said solemnly: "We need to see Cheng Jingchuan. The news of Qiu Si's death cannot be spread. The king's army is about to invade Jingzhou and Yangzhou, and he will not want to see Jiangnan really in chaos."
That's why he had to send the body to another one here, he couldn't just say that Qiu Si was dead.
Cheng Jingchuan is just Qiu Si's disciple, but Qiu Jing is Qiu Si's daughter.
"Cheng Jingchuan may know part of the inside story. He knows Qiu Si... far more than you."
Qiu Jing was silent for a while, then nodded with difficulty.
Before she could speak, a panicked voice came from outside: "Pavilion Master, it's not good! There may be something wrong with Mr. Qiu!"
Qiujing stepped out of the room quickly, and it was Shanshanhu who came to report the letter. He said angrily: "Those old guys deliberately pressed down the news and didn't report it to the pavilion master. If it weren't for me, there would still be several paths in the city. , they all treat me as a hardcore brother, I'm afraid we will still be kept in the dark!"
He speaks like firecrackers, opening his mouth is a long list, and it seems that he doesn't need to stop breathing.
"I heard that more than a dozen people died in Dongyunfang. I have already sent some brothers to inquire overnight..."
"Okay, don't mess up first." Qiu Jing waved his hand, "It's not advisable to act rashly, who knows if it will be a trap, just stay and do not move, first clear the inside and outside of Fengxing Pavilion."
Shanshanhu was stunned for a moment, and nodded hurriedly saying yes.
***
That night, there was a barren slope outside the city.
There used to be a few remote fields here. As the people of the nearby villages could not afford the land tax and became tenants, these barren fields had to be left to be desolate.
The wild fox makes a nest, the yellow wolf drills a hole, and the black owl cries at night.
The waning moon in the sky was dimly lit, illuminating the fluttering white flags.
Cheng Jingchuan stopped and looked at Meng Qi standing under a nearby tree, and then at Mo Li who brought him here.
"In the front." Meng Qi motioned.
Cheng Jingchuan had actually seen the thin coffin on the hillside a long time ago, and he also saw the autumn scenery standing in front of the coffin, but he still wanted to get a positive answer from others.
-Jose is really dead.
It's a pity that Meng Qi and Mo Li didn't speak.
Cheng Jingchuan could only move to Qiujing's side, he calmed down, then reached out and touched the face of the corpse in front of Qiujing's face.
Ink carp: "… "
How afraid of Qiu Si's death
Qiu Jing's face changed and he wanted to get angry, but he quickly endured it.
"He... turned out to be really dead." Cheng Jingchuan's expression was strange, not joy or relief, but deep doubt.
"He's definitely been preparing for the funeral, but..."
It may also be a fraud, or some other conspiracy.
Cheng Jingchuan didn't dare to speculate on Qiu Si's thoughts. Maybe this was another test? He was used to it and became numb. He felt that Qiu Si was really going to die, and he was prepared to die. Now this situation is obviously not suitable.
The coffin is too thin, the place is too desolate, not even a grave has been dug, and a grave cannot be erected at all.
"This coffin is the only thing I can find in a hurry. Qiu Jing said word by word, "At this moment, no one knows about his death except the four of us. "
Cheng Jingchuan understood, he frowned and said, "Although there is no life, no death, no corpse, after all, the paper can't contain the fire. I can only hold it down for three days at most."
"enough."
Qiu Jing slowly turned around, stared at Cheng Jingchuan, and continued, "New news from Jingzhou, people from Pili Hall infiltrated Jingzhou and set up an ambush on King Jing's way to the barracks. Burned by fire... So the army of the God-given King may be faster than we think."
"what?"
Jianghu people are not as fast as horses, but Jianghu people can leave Jingzhou, which is blocked and strictly investigated, more easily than Ningtai's spies, so Cheng Jingchuan has not received the news.
He was shocked when he heard Qiu Jing say again: "I suspect that the God-given King got the help of Qiu Si. The development momentum of Yizhou in the past two years has been too rapid. I found something wrong in Zongruo's ledger when the grain went to Yizhou. Even if Qiu Si died, the trouble he left us is far from over."
Qiujing suddenly took out the fire book, picked up a torch filled with oil and wrapped around the bushes, and lit it.
There were several stacks of paper money beside the coffin, and two jars of wine.
Cheng Jingchuan thought it was a sacrifice for burial, but at this moment he realized something was wrong.
Qiujing opened the jar, and the smell of spirits wafted out.
"you… "
Cheng Jingchuan was very surprised. Although he hated the aristocratic family occupying a large area of good land for ancestral tombs, he did not even object to a three-foot coffin.
At this time, no matter what the beggar officials thought about the funeral, it was safe to bury the body and bury the whole body. Burning it would be smashed into ashes.
Jianghu people don't have this particular attention. If you die in a foreign land, it would be good to have someone who collects corpses and collects ashes.
Qiu Jing poured strong wine on the coffin, plucked up weeds and dead branches and piled it up beside him, threw the torch into it, and watched the smoke and fire rush out together. I never thought that it would be safe to return the fallen leaves to the ground, and he also said that it would be better to let countless people remember him with gold, pearls and jade... At that time, I didn't think about today, but now I just feel that regardless of kinship and hatred, I never want to see snakes, rats and ants. Eat him to the bone, or burn him. If I take a step ahead of him, General Cheng, Master Meng, Doctor Mo... I'd like to ask you to give me a ride like this."