On the second night, Xie Yilu received a reply. It was an obscure letter in lower case, divided into three columns. The three columns read "eliminate pear blossoms and fall plum blossoms".
He frowned and pondered for a long time, but he couldn't figure it out. When he went to the yamen at dawn, he put the letter in his pocket, clicked the button, went to Qu Feng's room, and dawdled around.
Qu Feng was busy with the counting of clerks at the beginning of the year. He looked up at him several times, but he didn't make a sound. Qu Feng disturbed him, so he simply asked the copyist to go down, and asked with a straight face, "What's the matter?"
Xie Yilu looked a little ashamed, went to the door and tightened the lock again and again, and slowly took out the piece of paper from his arms: "I have something...you can help me see it."
"What..." Qu Feng looked a little serious at the beginning, came over to take a look, and laughed "pooh". Xie Yilu was afraid that the outside would hear, so he grabbed him to cover his mouth, Qu Feng tactfully covered his mouth, Picking Dai Baiyuhuan's little finger: "Didn't you say you have no friends?"
"No... it's not a good friend!" Xie Yilu was anxious, "Just, just a book friend!"
"Book friend?" Qu Feng approached, and the strong benzoin rushed over again, "You lied to me about this kind of thing..." He patted Xie Yilu's chest lightly, "Can you fool me!"
Xie Yilu was anxious, and told the truth: "I don't even know whether he is a man or a woman!"
"You will know tomorrow." Qu Feng looked at him with some meaning, and glanced at the letter with ambiguous eyes, "This is an appointment to meet you."
Xie Yilu's face was flushed, and there was a timid excitement: "Really," he leaned very close, looking eager, "What do you say?"
Qu Feng looked at his naive look with a smile, and pointed to the three characters "She Lizi": "This is ten, which is a homonym of 'she'." He moved his finger back and landed on the "Ba Ling Bridge", thanking him. Lu guessed according to his method, "Is... eight?"
"Yes, the eighteenth," Qu Feng said, "the eighteenth day is tomorrow."
Xie Yilu squeezed the letter with sweaty hands: "Then... what about 'missing the date'? What does 'five' mean here?"
"This column is Shi Chen, Zi Chou Yin Mao, and the fifth is Chen Shi," Qu Feng read on, "'Xiao Li Hua' is 'Small', 'Luo Mei Feng' is 'Old', Xiao Lao..." He thought for a while, "Little Old Spring, three and a half miles south of Liumanpo in the west of the city."
Xie Yilu smiled, it was a particularly bright smile, Qu Feng saw it, and didn't want him to go: "This... is a lingo commonly used by prostitutes."
Xie Yilu's face visibly froze, and the corners of his mouth twitched: "Those who have time to pass on letters to me must be unhappy."
"Such a beautiful word," Qu Feng said honestly, "it won't be an ordinary girl."
After getting off the Yamen, Xie Yilu went home and turned to the Confucius Temple on the road. There were already kite sellers at the small stalls. The Qinhuai River opposite was filled with red candle lights, and the sound of silk and bamboo orchestras and the play of men and women were endless. Xie Yilu was standing on the bank. On the other side, the more noisy the river was, the more lonely he felt. He kicked the stones and walked along the embankment to a quiet place.
Households on both sides of the river were lighting fires for cooking, and occasionally there were a few mothers-in-law who came out to pound clothes. Oil and salt gas, fireworks, and children's intermittent and loud words all made him feel homesick. The second household in the east of Mofang Hutong , his wife, and the old locust tree he used to climb when he was a child are all there, but tomorrow, he will go to meet a prostitute in Nanjing, thousands of miles away from home.
He was walking aimlessly, when a tall tall man approached his head, he took a closer look and stopped immediately - jade-colored Suofu Sasa, wearing a knife, yes and no.
Yishiha is Ruan Tian's man. Xie Yilu took a step back, and even thought of running, "Don't go out for the next two days", that's what Qu Feng said. Could it be this time, in this kind of place
Xie Yilu knew that he had no chance of winning, but he still put on a stance, he wanted to fight, but Yi Shiha brushed past him, and went forward, when he lost his body, Xie Yilu clearly heard him say: "Go home ,immediately!"
go home? Xie Yilu suddenly turned around: "Why are you..."
Yishi kept pausing: "For the skirt cloth you tore off to wrap A Cai's head that day."
When the voice fell, a person rushed out of the alley, so sudden and frightening, both Yishiha and Xie Yilu were taken aback, before they could react, the person ran across the stone road and jumped into the river with a "plop" inside.
It was a naked woman with loose hair. She was not a killer sent by Ruan Tian, but a little girl who was cheated out of her body. There were too many such things along the Qinhuai River.
But in the blink of an eye, Yishiha had already jumped into the water, and the river was rushing eastwards, which was just a small swell in spring, and the girl was struggling desperately, leading him to sink.
Xie Yilu was anxious on the bank, and Heli also shouted at him: "Let you go, are you deaf!"
Xie Yilu stomped his feet and ran along the houses. He found a long bamboo ladder by the wall of a small three-story building. He carried it back and threw it into the water with both hands. The woman wanted to die, tearing desperately, Yi Shiha could only paddle this way with one hand, when she got close, put the woman on the ladder first, and pushed her to swim to the shore.
Xie Yilu dragged the woman ashore, her body and face were all splashed wet by her, and he was about to go to La Yishiha, when two boys with headbands came up behind him, looked at the woman, then at Xie Yilu, Pull out the hatchet from the back waist.
A thug in a brothel. Xie Yilu retreated in embarrassment, and retreated to the shore with nowhere to retreat. There was a "crash" from behind, and the two guys saw the one coming out of the water, and turned their heads and ran away.
The woman curled up on the ground crying, Xie Yilu didn't dare to touch her, Yi Shiha seemed indifferent to her grief, loosened his arms and began to take off his clothes. Xie Yilu stared blankly, seeing that he was showing his muscular upper body covered with all kinds of scars, he wrung it dry with two strokes, and put it on the woman.
Maybe it was because of complaints or reluctance, the woman grabbed his arm and bit down hard, biting so hard that even Xie Yilu felt the pain for him, but Yi Shiha was relentless and slapped her a big mouth.
The woman was knocked down on the ground, and it took a long time before she raised her head, her long hair was so blurred that she couldn't see her face clearly, Yi Shiha didn't say a word, she didn't shy away from her bouncing breasts and soft body, but said to Xie Yilu : "Go your way."
Xie Yilu should go. He turned back and ran back and forth, and in front of him was the Confucius Temple, with a steady stream of people.
Not long after leaving Yishiha's sight, there was a brisk footstep coming up behind him, Xie Yilu panicked, and went the wrong way as soon as he panicked, the more he walked, the quieter he walked, and soon he entered a dead-end alley.
He had no choice but to turn around and confront him. He took off his official hat and hung it on the branch on tiptoe.
It was just getting dark, and the shadows of the weeds on the house were vaguely covering the top of the head, rustling, a small man came out from the shadow of the hideous tree, a long knife on his back, it was Aliu.
For a split second, Xie Yilu was thankful that his opponent was just a child, but when Aliu twisted his body and skillfully pulled the knife out from his back, and when the moonlight illuminated the knife surface and reflected into his cold eyes, Xie Yilu Only then did I realize that those were not the eyes of a child, but the darkness inside, thousands of spots of blood, and the scene of hell.
Sure enough, before Xie Yilu could prepare, the long knife had already come over, and the chest, legs, and cheeks were all cut open. It couldn't be called painful, but it was hot. Blood flowed out from those ugly wounds, soaking the organs. The robe ticked at his feet, and the soles of his feet slipped randomly, and he fell down.
In front of him is the big full moon, and Aliu's approaching face, Xie Yilu is not afraid when the situation has come to this point, so it looks like Aliu is very beautiful, with round eyes and fluffy, like a cat Kind of brutes.
Aliu squatted down, folded his elbows to his face, and gave him two hard blows, blood flowed back from his nose immediately, Xie Yilu whimpered and coughed, Aliu patted his cheek back and forth, as if he was looking at him carefully.
"Give...Give me," blood sprayed out from his mouth, Xie Yilu felt strange, he bled so much, but it didn't hurt very much, "Give it... have fun!"
Ah Liu put the knife on the rest, and put the thin blade against the root of his throat. He pulled Xie Yilu's chin up and swiped his neck lightly on the blade, then he put away the knife, stood up, and walked away.
Xie Yilu felt the blood seep out of his throat slowly, but it was not as violent as he thought. Is this death? He blinked, and was about to close it when Aliu folded it back, holding a big tabby cat in his hand. Just as Xie Yilu lamented that they look alike, hot cat blood poured down his head and face.
Only at this time did Xie Yilu feel that something was wrong. He stared at Aliu with difficulty, watching him drain the cat's blood on himself, then raised his hand and threw the dead cat onto the roof.
"You..." He stretched out his hand, trying to grab something, "This is..."
Aliu strode over, stepped over his face, and grabbed the cloth on his shoulders with both hands and dragged it towards the road. Because of the blood loss, Xie Yilu was in a daze: "You too...cough cough, because of Zhang Cai," he slapped Trembling, might faint at any moment, "You save me, how do you explain when you go back..."
Ah Liu didn't answer him. In fact, he didn't say a word that night. He threw Xie Yilu in the middle of the road and picked up a stick to knock on the stone slab. The voice was muffled, and Xie Yilu vaguely knew that he Want to make some noise to attract people over... Wouldn't it be good to yell? He laughed at the boy's stupidity, and was about to call him, when he heard a loud noise, and the half-story-high firewood pile was kicked down, and soon, ordinary people came running with lamps and shouting.
Xie Yilu was in a daze, with countless faces dangling in front of his eyes, men, women, old and young, but none of them wanted to touch him, until someone said tremblingly: "This is an official, if you don't save him, everyone will suffer !"
Only then did someone come to lift him, probably using a bamboo ladder, which creaked and hurt his back, he fell asleep and woke up again, I don't know if it was real or a dream, he heard the footsteps of Qi Shushu Seeing the neat armor and the cold spear, the common people who carried him murmured: "It's the Zhejiang army, why did the Zhejiang army enter the city!"
Xie Yilu tilted his head to look, there was a long line of soldiers, a black horse was walking in front of the soldiers, a corner of the horse was hanging down from the saddle, it was emerald blue that he had seen before.
Sliding his arm down the bamboo ladder, he frowned and moved his mouth. Before he fell into a coma, the last thing he thought about was that at the time of tomorrow, Liu Manpo will go down to Xiaolaoquan, and there is no way to go...