twenty one.
At the same time that Hailian had just left from Cloth, Faluco welcomed a strange guest in the Hazelnut Tavern thousands of miles away.
At the end of summer, the infectious disease lurking in the mud area still didn't seem to be getting better. Fifteen days ago, the king had announced the blockade of the Anwana area, and set up fences on all bridges, strictly prohibiting anyone with feet The people with mud ideas set foot on the other side of the River of Reflection.
In this way, the difference between light and shadow becomes more and more obvious. This side of the river is still as lively as day, but the other side is as quiet as death. These days, the number of customers in the Hazelnut Tavern has obviously decreased by more than half. Bored, the boss built today's income into a small steeple in front of the counter, and then randomly pulled coins out of it to see how long the mountain bag would collapse. The regular in the corner—the Sheriff has had his fourth drink.
This has never happened before. Faluco has his own scale and evaluation in his heart when he does everything. When he is about to cross the line of Lei Chi, he will stop without hesitation and turn to the opposite. Just like when he thought that it was not advisable for Abal to establish the poisonous scorpion amber to assassinate dissidents, so he chose to join Simona and hire Hailian and others to fight against him. When the rules are removed, he will also terminate his cooperation with the duke—he firmly believes that this is an excellent way to keep Jiumengcheng in a delicate balance.
But a piece of news that Mercury gave him today made him doubt whether his approach was correct.
The astute informant has already smelled the uneasiness in the air, packed up his things and escaped from Jiumeng City the day before Anwana District was blocked. The newsman who sent the news was very simple, only one sentence Word: There are black foxes spreading germs, and the disease cannot be controlled.
Faluco knew that the "epidemic" was not referring to the dying patients lying on the hospital beds, but the resentment of the civilians in Anwana District being treated so roughly. But what he cares more about at the moment is the first half of the sentence.
The black fox was his secret code to Simona when he communicated with Quicksilver.
What "germs" would Simona spread? Bad for the king? But isn't this king the perfect puppet he single-handedly pushed up? What else is he dissatisfied with? Faluco frowned, the man really couldn't understand Simona's motives.
He drank the rest of the wine in one gulp, and simply decided to go to the Reflecting Bridge to bribe an officer to let him go to the opposite side before going to work tomorrow. He was just getting up to pay the bill when a person came in from outside the tavern. It's a young boy, wearing Bolangshang's cloak of Chasing Waves and Treading Clouds.
"Is there any milk wine?" After beckoning to the boss, the boy went straight to Faluko's direction, "Sorry, I'm late."
"..." Faluco raised his jaw slightly, "I don't remember that I made an appointment with a guest."
"In case of emergency, let me join the team at the magistrate's place?" the boy said with a big grin. The uninvited guest sat across from Faluko unceremoniously, but his next sentence was very low and very fast, "I have some information that you haven't found, and I want to share it with you."
"I know all the information dealers in Jiumeng City," Faluco said coldly, "I don't think novices can give me anything good."
"You can't lose just by taking a look." With a mysterious smile on the corner of the boy's mouth, he stretched out the hand that had been behind his back to Faluko, and then opened his fingers little by little, revealing what he was holding inside.
Faluko glanced at it from the corner of his eye, and his expression changed immediately: "This is—"
"Shh." The boy made a silent gesture.
Falluco's voice sank, "Where is she now?"
"Under the protection of our side, she is very safe." My own words went on, "Back then, no matter rich or poor, high or low, everyone's regular topic after dinner was always the number one lady in Jiumeng City mediating with the two. The love affair between two men can be staged in a big theater after all the protagonists are dead, earning three or two tears and five or six applause." He giggled, "But four years ago, Amber Once the king died, it seemed that this lady was also buried in the ruins of the imperial palace, never to be found again, but it took us a lot of effort to get this pair of sideburn toruses from the beauty."
In front of me is one of the gifts that Abale gave to Mrs. Nando, and it is also the jewelry that Mrs. Nando must wear at the banquet.
The young man's milk wine was served, he thanked the boss, then turned back and continued, "Madame Nando was so prominent in Tisu back then, and when we found her, she was almost sold to the lowest rank in Dragon's Rest Castle." waiting brothel."
It took Faluko a while to digest the amount of information in the other party's words. He re-examined the customer who jumped in the line. The other party was a typical Bolang merchant, speaking with an accent of Sixteen Islands. He was obviously a regular customer who was used to traveling by sea. Perhaps the real age would be much older than Faluco's guess. . He glanced at the pair of emerald flower holders in the opponent's hand again, and said slowly, "This is not the only thing you want me to see."
"Of course. This is just a greeting ceremony to express our sincerity."
"You've been 'we' and 'us' since just now, who do you mean by 'we'?"
"Who else do you think can command Bolang merchants who move the world?" The young man smiled and clinked his glass to Faluko. "This is a respect to my boss."
"Nanhong Zhen Haigong." Faluco's face became more serious, "His hand is too long."
The other party smiled and didn't answer.
"What are the benefits of sharing information with the Tisu people?"
"I don't know." The young man shrugged, "To be honest, I don't think this kind of thing is good for us, but Lord Zhenhai said that this piece of information is of great importance, and he must tell His Excellency the Baron in detail. Now that he is not in Jiumeng, I can only tell you."
"Oh, you're here to make a deal on his behalf?" Faluco shook his head, "I don't believe in the sincerity of Lord Zhenhai to ask a brat to come and negotiate business with me."
"I'm not qualified to discuss business with you, I'm just a messenger." The young man smiled, "——We have Duke Simona's background in our hands."
As he spoke, he took out another thing from his pocket and spread it on the table—it was an old bronze medal, the name on it was blurred by rust and blood rust.
"What is this?"
"It's just a soldier's name tag." The boy shook his head and said, "This Lord Duke was born as an ordinary soldier and a survivor of the Battle of Dead Red Cape. Later, the Earl Hood's family on the border took a fancy to his talent and sent his daughter Married to this heroic military officer, Simona borrowed the influence of his wife's family to quickly rise to the top. Later, his wife died of illness, and he also swallowed his wife's inheritance by the way, and began to defect to Abal, becoming King Amber. It’s a great help.” The young man said, “This is a story that everyone in Tisu knows, and I think you should know it too.”
"Continue." Faluco knew that the other party wanted to tell him more than that.
"If I told you that Simona was captured by the North Desert people in the naval battle at Dead Red Point thirty years ago, and he has been their dog ever since, would you believe it?" The boy looked straight at Faluco, "Well, I can tell by looking at your eyes that you don't believe me, and you even ask 'what good does it do him to be a traitorous dog for the people of the North Desert'?"
"..." Faluco changed the question, "Where do you know this?"
"Of course we have our own methods, but we just want to thank Mrs. Nan Duo very much." The young man shook the hand holding the emerald torus, "So don't underestimate women, and don't be too cold to your former lover."
The emerald green light shone brightly in the boy's palm, two lights in the tavern went out, and the boss was about to close.
"Can you continue now? Let me ask you another well-known matter." The young man smiled, "Do you still remember the battle at the Red Cape, where the Beimo people took out something to destroy Tisu's fleet?" ?”
"... the fire that destroys the city." The man's voice squeezed out through his teeth.
"That's right. It is precisely because of this test of water that the Beimo people have full confidence in the power of the city-destroying fire, so they dare to launch the 'Battle of Splitting the Nation' against Dongzhou three years later." The young man drank A sip of milk wine left a circle of white stains around his mouth, "It's just such a coincidence."
"What a coincidence."
"The 'Battle of Splitting the Nation' made the eight federations flourish, but they failed to get what they most wanted." The young man said, "That is "Ji Guang Huang Yun Shu."
Falluco jerked his head up.
"At that time, the Eight Federations just wanted to send a small gear into Tisu's army to provide them with some irrelevant information, but what they didn't expect was that this gear was too good. When they learned that "Ji Guang Huang Yun Shu" was in It was exactly twelve years ago when Tisu was here," said the young man, "...the day Dongzhou rebel General Fei Yi defected to the Amber King."
"... That day, Simona was also present as a close minister of the Amber King..." the magistrate murmured, although it was early winter, but sweat was oozing from his forehead. Some of his plausible joints in the countless files of information gradually became clear in his mind, and strands of disconnected threads were connected together by a key prop.
"The next thing, I don't think I need to explain too clearly, right?" The young man finished drinking the milk wine, he held the empty glass with his fingers interlaced, raised his eyebrows and smiled.
What else can happen next. Faluko's mind was chaotic and spinning, like a monstrous tsunami drowning all his sanity.
"Book of Jiguang Huangyun" is now in Jiumeng City, but the two holders, Hailian and Longrong, went to Beihong, which is controlled by the Eight Federations, leaving Berenxu alone in the palace. Now that both sides have become hostages in the hands of Bei Mo, what can happen, what will happen...
The magistrate stood up abruptly, and he didn't care about knocking over the table with his knees. He grabbed the black uniform on the back of the chair and was about to rush out. The boy quickly stopped him.
"By the way, my job is in the tobacco business. If you want to buy black ink, you can come to me. It's guaranteed to be cheaper than the one on Jiufang Street!" He made a face at Faluko.
twenty two.
There was no one on the street without a car, so Faluco could only go home on foot to sort out his things, and then went to Qipan Street to find Viscount Yonoel—now that the original and materials of "Jiguang Huangyunshu" are in the hands of the old couple, he must first ensure that they safety, and then I have to find a way to remind His Majesty the King, but the palace is full of Simona's eyeliner...
With no distractions, he walked extremely fast, and he didn't even notice a slight sound of footsteps behind him at some point. The next moment, a cold hand poked out from behind his head and covered the man's mouth.
"Well!"
The last scene Faluco saw tonight was a bright moon like a scimitar above his head.