Governor’s Illness

Chapter 53: Tractor pulling

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The trees are all withered, and looking up, the thin branches stretch out, imprinted on the blue-white sky, like cracks extending from blue-and-white porcelain. The stone steps of the mountain gate have been swept away, and the snow is thickly piled on both sides, like small hills. Tang Shiqi sat cross-legged on the futon in the Daxiong Hall, rubbing his two hands that were red from the cold. Looking out from the door, the mountain was a bleak white, and he could vaguely see the assassin's hut with a yellow thatched roof. The long bluestone steps stretched down and disappeared into the misty snow.

Assassins wrapped in capes and covered their heads and faces came in one after another, took a pill from the black lacquer rice bowl on the altar, and then went to the charcoal stove to bake the fire. Tang Shiqi heard someone swearing in a low voice: "Why haven't you repaired and repaired, what rubbish place!" Tang Shiqi raised his head and saw a large hole in the roof, and the wind and snow drifted in from there and fell on the dark heads of the assassins .

Aesculus garan is a strange place. Tang Shiqi felt cold as soon as he arrived, and his bones were shaking. The Buddha statues enshrined here are all black, and the originally gentle and compassionate face appears inexplicably hideous under the black paint. The Buddha statues are very old and most of them have peeled paint. The mottled Buddha's face drooped slightly, his eyes were half-closed, and his indifferent gaze looked down at the assassins sitting below. Tang Shiqi felt his neck cold, as if someone had cut him with a knife.

The abbot sat under the burning lamp Buddha, opened an old scripture, and began to chant the scriptures. Everyone slumped, and some fell asleep leaning against the beams. The abbot's voice was flat, like a dead man's tone. On the other side of the hall, there was a purring sound, which was long and then short, very regular high and low, like pulling the erhu, with the abbot's flat chanting sound, strangely pleasant. Tang Shiqi wanted to laugh, and after a while of boredom, he began to look around and saw Chi Yan sitting at the foot of Manjusri. He wanted to chat with him, and remembered that he was pretending to be Xiahou, and he couldn't go wrong. He thought about it and held back.

Xia Houlin went to the Tianshan Mountains. After he and Shuqing finished funeral for Qiuye, Shuqing went to the Western Regions. He brought a Chanyi Knife to Tang Shiqi, and showed him the flowing water cloud pattern on it, which was very similar to Tang Lan's notes. . He gave Tang Shiqi a human skin mask, taught Tang Shiqi ventriloquism, and let Tang Shiqi pretend to be himself to stay in Jialan, and then go up the Tianshan Mountains. He kept a pill that was originally brought to his mother. His mother died in Liuzhou and didn't eat it, and now he has been given a year of grace to find meteorite.

During this period, Tang Shiqi could arbitrarily control Xiahou Rin's deposit. Xiahou is very rich. He has made a lot of money from business in the past few years. He has nothing to spend, no gambling, no prostitutes, no pranks. At most, he drinks a little wine and gets a few knives to play with. little silver.

Tang Shiqi's music was broken, and he went around eating, drinking and having fun with Xia Houlin's face. He spent several hundred taels of silver to support a famous actor in Jiangling, and every time she appeared on stage, he would send someone to give away countless red silk, golden hairpins, and jade to scratch her head. He combed two young prostitutes in Hangzhou, and kept them in the Yanchun Pavilion for two days. Dongchang sniffed and chased after him. He gave each of them dozens of taels of silver, and kept his gold sash ring and jade fan pendant. Pat the ass and go. I heard that there is still a girl who is keeping the festival for him. Qinhuai beauties **, he must have sprinkled gold leaves on the painting boat. Yangzhou thin horse got married, he must have sent someone to send Shili Hongzhuang.

So Xiahou Lin added the nickname "The Prodigal Son of the Wu Family" in addition to the dreaded name of the nameless ghost. The prostitutes everywhere are proud of Xia Houlin standing behind their curtains. Dongchang went to Qinlou and Chu halls in various places to search. The prostitutes scrambled to say that Xiahoulin was in their house. have not seen. Tang Shiqi hid by the side and smiled happily.

But Tang Shiqi was also very upset. Xia Houlin's enemies are flying all over the sky, and the biggest one is Dongchang. I don't know what Xiahou Ran touched on Dongchang. Now the streets are full of his portraits and notices. Every day, Dongchang Fanzi walks up and down the street with their knives, checking the pedestrians one by one to see if they are Xiahou. trough. Xia Houlin went to the Tianshan Mountains, and there were no people in the corners, let alone Dongchang. But Tang Shiqi had to hide from Dongchang and hide from Jialan again, so he was really exhausted.

Usually he just put his front foot around a girl's waist, and the back foot fan is noisy, so he can only kiss the girl's small mouth like a dragonfly, jump out of the window under the girl's reluctant eyes, and promise to come back to see her next time while running. .

The assassin's snoring changed its tone, now it was three long and one short. The abbot stopped chanting in the snoring sound, his eyes swept lightly, someone elbowed the sleeping assassin, and the assassin opened his eyes in a daze. The abbot put down the scriptures and stood up. Tang Qiqi looked over, and on the west siding were neatly hung about thirty sandalwood plaques. Each plaque had a name written on it, but it was not a person's name, but a knife's name. The top brands are Jialan Babu, and only their labels have the title of Babu written in ink. The bottom of Garuda is empty.

Tang Shiqi saw "Hengbo" and hung it at the bottom, an inconspicuous seat. The abbot walked over, took down some of the signs, and took out some signs from his arms and hung them up. Finally, he took out the "transverse wave" and placed it under the "garuda".

"Xiahou Rin." The abbot said.

Tang Shiqi was shocked, the assassins all turned their heads to look at him, dozens of eyes, all unfamiliar and indifferent, Tang Shiqi felt like a living person who broke into a group of ghosts.

"Yes!" Tang Shiqi replied bravely.

The abbot came over, put his hand on top of his head, and said, "From now on, you are the twenty-ninth generation Garuda."

Tang Shiqi lowered his head, his heart was beating a drum, his head seemed to be clamped by five cold and hard pig irons. I don't know if it was because the weather was too cold, the temple was too broken, and the cold air was poured into him. The thin, thin hand on top of his head was not warm at all, showing the cold smell of a dead person.

What should he do now? Weeping, kowtow and thank you? He secretly hated that Xiahou Lin did not explain clearly, what would the assassin do when he was sealed

Before he could finish the struggle, the abbot took his hand away, raised his hand, and two assassins moved the charcoal basin to the middle. The abbot sat cross-legged in front of the charcoal basin, and placed the wooden plaques taken from the siding into the charcoal fire one by one.

"Assassins like me have no name, no surname, no king, no father, no family, no country. We hold the Bodhi sword, the blade of life and death, kill innocent people, sinners, ordinary masters, and generals. Darkness is my brother, Changye is my blood relative. I wait, for the shadows in the light, the ghosts in the night, the moths in the fire, to commit sins, and to kill the enmity. Entering this door of liberation, I will obtain my immortality. May your ancestors live in bliss and return to immortality together."

The assassins looked at the wooden plaques that had been charred in the charcoal stove, and repeated in a low voice, "Blessed are you, and you will be immortal."

Everyone's voices were like heavy bells, circling back and forth in Tang Shiqi's ears, making Tang Shiqi feel dizzy. In a trance, he followed the crowd out of the door, passing through the gray shadows in his sight, which were the assassins passing him without squinting.

He remembered what the abbot had just said, and felt as if his heart was covered in ice. He couldn't help but turn his head and saw Chi Yan standing under the porch eaves, quietly looking at Tang Shiqi, his eyes were clear and indifferent, like the rustling winter snow. Tang Shiqi woke up, afraid that he would see that he was a fake, smeared oil on the soles of his feet, and slipped away without looking back.

Xia Houlin's house was shattered like a ruin that was hundreds of years old. Tang Shiqi moved in while complaining about Xia Houlin. After thinking about it for a while, he felt that this place was quite suitable for Xia Houlin. Don't the ghosts who climbed back from hell have to stay in the unpopular ruins? Fortunately, Xia Houlin told him that there were several pots of pear blossom white buried behind the house. He dug out the wine and got very drunk.

Uncle Duan passed by Xiahou's house and stood outside the fence to see Tang Shiqi lying in the snow. He pushed the fence and asked worriedly, "Xiao Rong, what's wrong with you? Why are you lying on the ground? It's cold outside, go back and rest."

Tang Shiqi squinted his eyes, looked at the big man with a wide face in front of him, and said, "Where's the big cake face, go away! I'm going to delay my drink!"

Uncle Duan was so angry that he scolded, "You bastard!" Seeing him drinking drowsy again, he shook his head and said, "I heard everything about you outside. We Jialan always pay attention to keeping a low profile. , you are so flamboyant, sooner or later you will have a big disaster! Why, if you avenged your mother, why don't you do anything else!"

"Go!" Tang Shiqi smiled and said, "Of course there are serious things to do, Qinhuaihe, Hualiuxiang, the girls are waiting in line for me to do it!"

"You! You!" Uncle Duan flushed with anger and walked away.

Tang Shiqi lay down for a while, feeling cold, and crawled back to the house.

At night, the moon is behind a thousand mountains, and it hangs white on the deserted night. Between the rolling hills and darkness, the assassin's hut is lit up, like a solitary firefly, which will be engulfed by the darkness if you are not careful. The abbot lit an old oil lamp in the meditation room, and a solitary fire trembled on the edge of the lamp plate, causing the shadows on the wall to sway.

Uncle Duan came all the way, and the flowers on the flower path were all withered, leaving crisscrossing dead branches, pressing under the snow and lying on the ground. Uncle Duan walked all the way, and his ankle was sore from scratching all the way. He entered the door and sat down to look at his feet in front of the light, and complained, "Mr. Heart, when are you going to repair this broken temple?"

Xingxin sighed and said, "Next year, wait for next year."

"You said the same thing last year."

"No money, Duan Jiu," Xing Xin dialed the wick.

Duan Jiu pouted, knowing where Garan's bounty went, so he didn't speak.

Chi Yan leaned against the mullioned window, staring blankly at the snowflakes fluttering outside the screen.

"That kid Xiaolan, I don't think it's going to work." Uncle Duan said.

The action of killing the heart and picking up the lantern flower was paused.

"Have you heard of his absurdity?" Uncle Duan sighed, "Since he avenged his mother's revenge, he has been slack. He has been searching for flowers and asking willows all day long, and he is not serious. How does he succeed you in this way? , the knife you forged is useless."

"I heard that," Ji Xin frowned and said, "He was not close to women before, and Yue Nu, who asked him to serve, and Liu Shao'er a few days ago, failed to impress him."

"I heard that there is a man named Tang Shiqi next to him. He is a real prodigal son. I'm afraid this son of a bitch will ruin Xiaolin."

"Maybe I can kill Tang Shiqi." Xingxin said, he tucked his sleeves, sat on the futon, looked at Chi Yan, "Chi Yan, what do you say?"

Chi Yan withdrew his gaze at Xue, and put his hands on his knees, straight. He raised his eyes, his sparse eyes focused on the starlight, and said, "Xiahou Lin has entered the evil way, his mind is not right, and there is no cure."

"In this way, you will be the only one who can go to Shuobei, I'm tired of it." Xingxin said, "I don't have a foolproof plan, our ancestors all died under the ice and snow, after that those people learned to be good, only Jialan Only the abbot can see them, but you don't have the heart, so you won't get their approval."

Chiyan lowered his head and caught a snowflake floating in from a crack in the window screen. The snow melted as soon as it fell into his palm. He said: "There will be a way. You said that some things are going to be broken even if you know it is a sea of swords and flames."

"You're right." Xue Xin said, "Besides me, who else remembers what happened twenty-one years ago? Only I remember how their heads were beheaded and their blood melted into the white snow, only I remember who they were, their Looks, their voices. So, only I can avenge them! Go, child, I will make a plan so that you can reach Shuobei safely to meet those people. As for the rest, you can only leave it to yourself. "

Tang Shiqi felt hot all over and had a severe headache. He got up from the kang and poured water to drink. There were crunching footsteps outside, and a person came in with the wind and snow. Tang Shiqi squinted and saw the misty light shining through the window screen on the person who came. Tang Shiqi barely recognized the silhouette of that person, but he was disgusted.

Chiyan sat on the kang and handed him a letter.

"This is my suicide note, please give it to Xiaolin."

Tang Shiqi had a splitting headache and put the letter on the bedside, "What are you talking about, I'm Xiaolin!"

"You're not Xiao Lian, I know it." Chi Yan said, "I'm going to Shuobei, but I may not be able to come back. Uncle Duan said that assassins have the habit of leaving a suicide note, explaining their later affairs and sharing a share of the inheritance. I have nothing to do with it. Inheritance, there are only a few things I want to say to Xiaolin."

"Hey, if you have something to say, tell him directly, what kind of book are you writing..." Tang Shiqi's head was dizzy, and the words of disgust seemed to reach his ears through a layer, and he couldn't hear clearly.

Chi Yan didn't speak, and everyone could see the sadness in his eyes. But it was dark in the room, and Tang Shiqi couldn't see it.

Chi Yan was silent for a while, and said, "I didn't like going down the mountain before, because I felt that the lights under the mountain, the flowers under the mountain, and the noise of those people had nothing to do with me. I felt like I was like a gust of wind, and I didn't go anywhere. The trace disappeared with a whimper. But when Xiaolin came, I realized that there is someone in this world who looks exactly like me. We are brothers whose blood is thicker than water, and he is the connection between me and this world." He Looking at Tang Shiqi, "I'm used to being alone, and I don't speak much, can you understand?"

Tang Shiqi nodded confusedly.

"I've heard about Naihe Bridge. As long as I don't drink Meng Po soup, I will not forget the past. I will try my best to see if I don't drink Meng Po soup. Can you help me and ask Xiao Rong if I come to him in the next life? , is he still willing to be my brother?"

Tang Shiqi suddenly got up and said, "Hey, I know it! I'm dizzy and want to vomit, can you finish it soon!"

Chi Yan was taken aback, stood up, stayed for a while, and said, "Sorry, I'll go."

Tang Shiqi lay back, stood in the dark for a while, and walked out lightly.

The next day, Tang Shiqi woke up with a little headache. Pushing open the window, heavy snow fell outside, spreading all over the mountains and fields, one after another. He looked back at the empty room. It seemed that Chian had come last night. He couldn't remember clearly, but he always thought he was dreaming. What are you doing at night? He tapped his head, feeling that he was drowsy. He didn't see the corner of a letter sticking out from under the pillow.

After the winter passed, Tang Shiqi finally left Jialan and returned to the gentle village at the foot of the mountain. When he saw Yanchun Pavilion, he was even more in tears than when he came home. He smelled the familiar fragrance of fat powder again, sweet to the point of being greasy. The big red octagonal lanterns were hung in a row, and the girls under the eaves were flaunting their faces, and the lanterns illuminated their faces with a thin layer of red makeup. There were people making noises in the patio, the laughter of women was sharp and sharp, and some guests fell into the pond when they were drunk, causing a series of laughter.

"That dead eunuch Weide, and his godson Shen Jue, are really nothing!"

Tang Shiqi hugged a girl's slender waist and fed each other wine, and someone was chatting at the table.

"Master Xiahou, why are you here now?" The girl snuggled in his arms and complained softly.

"I'm sorry, my sweetheart, I got caught up in something bad and couldn't separate."

We were chatting happily at the table, "No! Did you know about the Xie family's death case ten years ago?"

"Of course I do! Xie Bingfeng, thank the Lord, the mainstay of the clear stream, I am facing the pillars! Weide is regarded as a thorn in the flesh. That old guy Weide bought an assassin and wiped out his family. Poor old man Dai, so old, for his own sake. Disciple, after running around for several years, I finally found evidence to identify Weide as the mastermind behind the scenes!"

"Master Xiahou, how long are you staying this time?" The girl hugged Tang Shiqi's waist and tapped his chest.

"I don't know, let's see when the East Factory will come!" Tang Shiqi laughed.

The two exchanged cups and continued to be filled with righteous indignation, "It's a pity that Long Live is absurd and insists on covering up Wei Wei! Mr. Dai has been beating the drum for a day, and Long Live is pretending not to hear!"

"I heard that Wei Yi also asked Shen Yi to send someone to beat Mr. Dai. Fortunately, a righteous person passed by and Mr. Dai was spared!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Dai has said something. If he has any emergency, it will be the poisonous hand of Wei Wei! Now Wei Wei dares not let a fart, and he even sent a fan to protect the old man Dai! I am afraid of him. The old man is getting old, and he has a headache and a fever, and he didn't survive, but it's his Wei Yi's head!"

"You two are having a good time chatting!" At this moment, a black-faced man came over and looked at the two of them coldly.

The two got drunk and stood up and pushed him: "What's the matter? What's wrong with you? Are we blocking you?"

"Let's talk about state affairs, the two of you should go to Dongchang for a long talk!" The black-faced man waved his hand, and suddenly there were many Dongchang fans dressed in black.

Both of them turned pale with fright, and finally came to their senses, begging for mercy. Seeing this, Tang Shiqi slowly stepped back, about to retreat to the door.

The black-faced man turned around, his eyes suddenly caught sight of Tang Shiqi, he glared abruptly, and shouted, "Xiahou Lin! Catch him!"

Tang Shiqi wailed inwardly, regretting that he did not tear off the human skin mask for coveting Xiahou's handsome face. He took the road and ran wildly. Someone was walking the horse on the street. He grabbed the reins, rode on the horse, and ran all the way to the Moon Lun Peak. Fanzi bit behind him, robes hunting, like a ferocious group of black eagles.

Pedestrians all the way screamed and avoided, the wind cut his ears like a knife, Tang Shiqi heard the wind whistling, and the horses' hoofs were like thunder behind him. He took out the Jinghong crossbow and shot it backwards. Several of the fans were shot down by arrows, and a few more men filled their vacancies. Tang Shiqi scolded fiercely.

There was no road ahead, Tang Shiqi stopped his horse at the cliff, the black-faced man was about to be happy when he saw that he had no way to escape, but saw Tang Shiqi dismount and run towards the cliff, as if he was about to jump off the cliff. . He chased after him to stop him, but Tang Shiqi ran too fast to catch up. He threw himself into the void like a flying bird, the wind drilled all over his clothes and made a sound of hunting. Everyone was stunned, thinking that he was about to fall off a cliff, but they saw two three-foot iron bones stretched out from behind him, and black oilcloth was attached to them. From a distance, they looked like black wings of a bat. Tang Shiqi no longer fell, and rode the wind to the Qiantang River below. Some people on the Six Harmonies Pagoda saw it and applauded.

The black-faced man shouted, "Bring the arrows!"

"Sir, the Governor has an order to arrest those alive!"

"It's better to catch a dead one than nothing!" The black-faced man opened his bow and aimed it at Tang Shiqi. The bow was drawn full, like a moon, he took a deep breath, and the arrow pointed at Tang Shiqi's smaller and smaller black film. With a loud bang, the string trembled violently, and the arrow carried the wind and thunder towards Tang Shiqi in the air.

"Did you get hit?" Fanzi built a pergola and stood on tiptoe.

The black shadow in the air trembled, but did not fall, but slid into the dense forest on the opposite bank by the wind.

Tang Shiqi was hit with an arrow in the shoulder. As long as the arrow moved down a little, it could shoot through his wing and pierce his heart. He endured the pain, stumbled and stumbled back to Xia Houlin's dark nest, and never closed the door. Jialan sent a message saying that someone had placed a static iron in the clock tower of the capital. He didn't know what a static iron was at all, so he ignored it and turned his head and forgot.

Spring and summer come, and the dead ivy come back to life, and the shacks are covered with luscious green. The vines hang on the grape shelf, the kangaroos in the water tank are white and tender, and the small lotus leaves are round and smooth, like ripples in the water. Tang Shiqi lay on the chaise longue to bask in the sun. A lot of things happened recently, Shuqing defected in the Western Regions, and the new Ren Jinnaro led a team of dark piles to chase him. Chiyan disappeared. It is said that he met a blizzard on a mountain in Shuobei, and he did not know whether he was dead or alive.

Dongchang is still catching Xia Houlin, but the black-faced Tiqi has never been seen again. They searched everywhere, and destroyed several Jialan brothels and Xingyi, and all the assassins were sent to the capital. It made people panic. When there was no business, everyone huddled at home and dared not go out. The underworld has been implicated in a large area. Casinos, restaurants, and kilns everywhere have fans who come to question them every now and then. Everyone was silent, and many places closed down.

The days are getting colder, and the kangaroo in the tank is withered, leaving a few withered and yellow stalks. One day it was raining lightly, and the rain curtain was misty, like thin ox-hair needles falling one after another, falling to the ground with a crisp sound. Tang Shiqi sat on the threshold with his head propped up. Suddenly, a man in a hood and a bamboo hat appeared in the rain curtain. The dark hilt of the sword was looming under the hood.

Tang Shiqi stood up and shouted, "Boss!"

Xia Houlin walked under the wide eaves, took off his hat and hood, tossed the black hair stuck to his face, and shook off the rainwater stuck on his body, "Get me a bowl of hot soup."

"Okay!" Tang Shiqi brought the soup and asked him excitedly, "How is it, did you get the meteorite?"

Xia Houlin entered the room and took off his shirt, revealing his firm honey-colored muscles and criss-crossing scars. Turns and turns of silver silk threads were wrapped around his body, like fine silk on a silkworm chrysalis. He took the silk thread off his body and put it on the Eight Immortals table. Put on a pair of silver gloves and twist up a thread. The line was very thin, like a shimmer of light, shining slightly under the sky light that came in at the door. Xia Houlin straightened the thread, and a fly circled and flew over. It didn't see the thread between Xia Houlin's fingers, and flew forward in a dazed way. It fell into two pieces and fell on the table.

Tang Shiqi was stunned.

"For a few days, I'm going back to Jialan." Xia Houlin said, "Kill the heart."