Chapter 87 Chapter 87 Clues
The mutton hotpot that day was very delicious. The two half boys Ning De and Ning Heng ate half a kilogram. Even Lin Beiguo had a greasy mouth after eating so much. Only Lin Xinghuo had no taste for the food in the family.
At night, Mr. Ning stayed in the East Garden with his two grandsons, while Lin Xinghuo and his family returned to the West Garden.
"Which box did we put the jewelry items we got from the Yellow Fox Cave?" Lin Xinghuo put Fox Two and Fox Three, whose bellies were full of food, in their small bedroom and immediately went to the storeroom to look for something.
Wu Nian stuffed Lin Beiguo between the two fox cubs. Lin Beiguo smacked his little mouth, nudged himself under the furry bellies of his younger brothers and sisters, and clenched his little fists, then turned into a bigger fat little fox. After the three cubs had eaten and drunk their fill, they huddled together and immediately fell into a sound sleep.
"What's wrong with you?" Wu Nian had noticed from the moment she was upset. Xinghuo had concealed it well, but who was Wu Nian? He'd sensed something was amiss the moment she took her first bite of the mutton offal. And the phantom of the contract in the depths of the mao's consciousness had been pacing restlessly. This was something he'd never seen before.
"Help me find out if there is one or several gold pocket watches." Lin Xinghuo didn't know what to say for a moment, but his heart was beating so fast that the black fox skull and the inheritance plaque against his heart became active.
Ever since Qingji discovered the secrets of his magical powers, the family had never been short of storage boxes and boxes. Perhaps because life had been so difficult for the spirits, they had all developed a habit of hoarding food, and the boxes in the warehouse were growing larger and larger every day. The things he'd obtained from Huang Jianxi initially had nowhere to store them, so he had to bury them beneath the Nanshan Mountain Residence. Now, they only occupied a few boxes in the warehouse, and Lin Xinghuo couldn't even remember where they were tucked away.
Wu Nian has an amazing talent for refining tools and is now a Xuan-level tool master. Influenced by Master Fang, he began to refine the shapes of fine tools. Then, the gold, silver toys and antique collections that once belonged to the Jin family in Xue Province and were obtained from Huangpizi became Wu Nian's property. The name "Jin Gaixue" was not exaggerated, as those exquisite objects did give Wu Nian some inspiration.
The monks all have good memories. Wu Nian thought for a while and said, "There is a box of gold, silver and enamel pocket watches, and only ten of them are a complete set. The patterns on the pocket watches are the flowers of the twelve months, and two are missing: plum blossoms for January and apricot blossoms for February." As Wu Nian spoke, he waved his hand and summoned a vermilion box inlaid with gold thread patterns. Inside was indeed various pocket watches. The ten pieces of the set were tied up with a piece of light red silk and piled on one side with other small bundles.
Lin Xinghuo knew that this was Wu Nian's habit. If he thought something was ugly or unnecessary, he would wrap it up in cloth and put it aside. He would only display the things he liked.
Unpacking the small bag, Lin Xinghuo casually took out a pocket watch with a pomegranate pattern and inlaid with yellow tourmaline, and gently pressed the engine expansion: Inside the watch cover was indeed a small portrait of a beautiful woman. The beauty was wearing a pomegranate red cheongsam with a high slit, which was appropriate for the occasion. A short black fur cape draped over her shoulders. In her hand, she held a sword, which was out of place, and she was posing coquettishly as if dancing with the sword...
The beauty's eyebrows and eyes are indeed very similar to Xiao Lanqin's.
Seeing Lin Xinghuo frown, Wu Nian said, "People worship Gongsun as the flower goddess of the month of May." Gongsun is Gongsun Daniang, who was so famous in the prosperous Tang Dynasty that "her sword dance moved the four directions." According to folklore, she is the flower goddess of May.
But how could this woman with frivolous eyes and flirtatious demeanor have even a bit of Gongsun's character and elegance?
Lin Xinghuo quickly scanned the remaining nine pocket watches, feeling increasingly nauseous. He couldn't help but doubt his own assumptions. Could it be that the culprit, Old Master Jin's rumored first wife, actually existed, and these women had nothing to do with their father's appearance?
"What does my father look like?" Lin Xinghuo held up the wooden sign, pointed at the shrunken snow-white fox head lying on the corner of the sign, and murmured softly.
The heart gem in the fox skull, unable to speak, instantly became excited, dashing left and right in an attempt to break out and cling to Lin Xinghuo, only to become lodged once again in the empty eye socket. The snow-white fox skull grew larger, and the fox bone grew warmer, evidently well-nurtured by Lin Xinghuo. Its inner core gradually transformed from its initial off-white to a jade-colored hue, and the misty purple lines on it seemed to increase in number… The black fox skull grew larger, but its heart, as bright red as pigeon bloodstone, did not. This time, the fox bone, for once, did not stop the heart gem from roaming freely, allowing it to break free from its eye socket and happily cling to Lin Xinghuo's brow.
After a while, Lin Xinghuo repeated what the mao Anian had said: "The heart is where all emotions converge... It recognizes me and remembers my father."
The remaining spirituality of the heart gem was the strongest, but after trying hard to transmit a little image that was imprinted on Lin Xinghuo's heart, it fell into Lin Xinghuo's palm like a real gem. Only the slight tremors coming from the palm of his palm were silently saying something.
Lin Xinghuo closed her eyes, clasped her hands together, and placed the gem against her heart. Her heartbeat gradually merged with the trembling of the gem. Before her eyes, a strange yet incredibly familiar face appeared: the person was wearing a navy blue cotton robe, his face tucked into the collar. He looked at her with a smile on his face. He was truly beautiful, gentle and unparalleled...
However, there is another kind of heroic spirit between his eyebrows, which is clear and elegant, and natural.
At first glance, one might mistake him for a woman because of his gorgeous appearance, but how could one, over time, mistake a man taller than Wu Nian, whose manners were not feminine, for a woman for such a long time? I wonder if that old man Jin is blind or blind in heart.
But the shape of Xiao Lanqin's eyes was indeed a bit like his, especially the hint of arrogance that Xiao Lanqin inadvertently showed when she glanced at him, which was quite similar to the arrogance that was revealed when she glanced at him.
But... Lin Xinghuo sneered. That old man Jin must have been bewitched. He flaunted his disgusting deep affection for his "original wife" and his lifelong obsession with her. His appearance must have been "processed", with long, thin, curved eyebrows, and a small nose... plus the curvy figure of the woman he loved.
She suddenly remembered what Qu Xiangjin's mother said: "If the old man had not changed, then your wife would look like the one in the coffin... Your wife is so charming and charming." Qu Xiangjin's wife is exactly the biological daughter of Fei's mother. It is said that the mother and daughter are cast in the same mold.
He killed his benefactor before, and he still took advantage of a woman... her father, to create a reputation of being affectionate! What a thing! Lin Xinghuo felt a surge of inexplicable anger rising straight to his head, and he felt nauseous and panicked.
"Spark!" Wu Nian held a light red box with a wooden rune embedded in it. The runes on the box moved, emitting bursts of dazzling red light.
This is the box inlaid with the "Tracing Talisman". Inside is the red ginseng thread that trapped and killed the black fox and is soaked in the blood of the black fox. Once people and objects related to the objects in the box appear, the Tracing Talisman will react: first, the deeper the connection, the greater the reaction; second, the effect will be more obvious when attracted by living things than by dead things.
Because Lin Xinghuo is also a related person, the tracing talisman will react when she approaches the box, and the plants and trees from Snow Province to Liangshan will also be triggered... Because the range is too wide, this particularly difficult wooden talisman is not very useful. Fearing that carrying it with her would waste the wooden talisman, Lin Xinghuo moved it from the storage bag to the wooden shelf in the warehouse.
But this time, the wooden talisman's reaction was particularly intense. Neither the fox skull nor the fox gall could induce this reaction in the tracing talisman. This reaction was like the red thread in the wooden box finding its former owner again...
Lin Xinghuo suddenly took out a strand of hair wrapped in a handkerchief from his storage bag, and the rune moved faster and faster.
Wu Nian looked at the long hair with slightly yellow tips, and his mind turned, then he asked: "Is this the hair of Xiao Lanqin, the roommate?" Although it was a question, Wu Nian's tone was very certain. The person Xinghuo had been in contact with recently, that is, Xiao Lanqin, had a well-kept long hair.
This long hair was taken from Xiao Lanqin this morning when she asked her about the whereabouts of other educated youth in Buxian Village. The two were very close at the time, and Lin Xinghuo magically plucked a strand of hair from Xiao Lanqin's shoulder and put it away... "When we were still in the village, Su Fu didn't react to her." Lin Xinghuo said in a hoarse voice.
When she first learned about her life story, Lin Xinghuo used this wooden box inlaid with the talisman to test everyone she met, but it was too long ago. Only the lime and wood on the mountain where her parents died remembered their grudge.
In the entire Buxiantun that day, apart from Lin Xinghuo and the caracal with whom she had a contract, there was no third person or object that could activate the tracing talisman.
But now, Su Fu, who had been silent before, reacted strongly to Xiao Lanqin's return to the city.
Rumor has it that the Jin family's grandfather was superstitious about "Jin Zilin." It's said that the remaining Jin family members in Xue Province changed their surnames to Lin. Fei Xinli and his sister even suspected that Lin Xinghuo was a descendant of the Jin family. Lin Xinghuo smiled faintly, his smile frighteningly cold. "Anian, don't you think it's a coincidence?"
It just so happened that Xiao Lanqin's new fiancé's surname was Lin, and it just so happened that Lin Qiyun had made Lin Xinghuo feel very uncomfortable in the past... Was it easy to get it, or was it destined?
However, Lin Xinghuo could not see any signs of cultivation on Lin Qiyun's body. If he was really a "Qi Refiner" who used the dragon energy of the dynasty to cultivate as Huangpizi said, then this school of cultivation, which was born out of spiritual cultivation but mixed with magic cultivation methods and gathered the essence of various evil methods, would be completely different from the orthodox path of cultivators like Lin Xinghuo.
Wu Nian was unfamiliar with this method of cultivating dragon energy. It was a new path pioneered by human cultivators during a period of spiritual energy depletion. It was too 'new' and completely outside the scope of his bloodline. However, "Huang Jianxi was tricked by the Jin family, his remaining soul bound to a white jade basin to guard the Jin family's treasures. It said, 'It's not just the emperor who has dragon energy. All powerful officials and generals have yellow energy. What does it matter if it's a dragon or a flood?'"
At the time, Wu Nian still didn't believe the Jin family could use the blood of a fallen dynasty as a foundation to steal the Huang Qi of today's high-ranking officials. But what if that person named Jin Kun became a high-ranking official himself? He used the blood of the dynasty as a foundation, so while he certainly couldn't steal the Huang Qi of the officials of the new era, he could use the Huang Qi he had accumulated during his time as an official to cultivate, which was a very tricky situation.
As Huangpizi said, "In the past, even the local tyrants of a county or a mountain could have traces of yellow energy on them, let alone the huge population today?" This Lin Qiyun is already a deputy minister, and is said to be in charge of some practical affairs. So what level has his cultivation reached now?
"The Yellow Qi Refiner's realm is closed and difficult to break through, but their methods are cunning, their techniques are bizarre, and their power is extraordinary," Lin Xinghuo also said. She was determined to seek revenge, but she had to be careful not to bring trouble to the whole family.
"We have to be careful." Wu Nian suddenly smiled, "But we don't have to be too restrictive."
"Just as neither of us saw through his true nature, he might not be able to tell that you and I are cultivators." Qi cultivators and spiritual cultivators and demon cultivators have embarked on two completely different paths, already diverging in opposite directions. If Lin Qiyun saw through his family's true nature, he would never leave them alone: with the recent resurgence of spiritual energy, the Qi cultivators who have completely abandoned it and cultivated other paths would be anxious. In other words, the Qi cultivators are the ones who are most in need of spiritual help or "experiments" and are most eager for new opportunities!
"Spiritual energy is everywhere, but yellow energy can only be produced and used by oneself." Wu Nian's body flashed, and the huge caracal fell into Lin Xinghuo's arms.
Lin Xinghuo tacitly replied, "First, investigate the background and judge the enemy, then cut off his official career and destroy his path?"
The macaque Anian shamelessly turned into a childish state, licking his paws and nodding innocently, but his tone was full of prestige: "That's right! This bad guy has a very dirty background. If you overturn his foundation, I guess your revenge will be avenged." Why fight him? This is a civilized society. The TV broadcasts "building modernization" all day long. Who knows what evil tricks the Qi Refiners have hidden in their magic at this time? If the situation gets out of hand, won't it destroy the faith of innocent people? The right thing to do is to find evidence of his crime and hand it over to the ordinary people who the Qi Refiners have always looked down upon for conviction and punishment.
Could Lin Qiyun be the great-grandson of Old Master Jin? In other words, the son of that Jin Kun that Huangpizi had been talking about? Lin Xinghuo thought, but that Jin Kun was said to have fallen ill years ago and was paralyzed in bed. How could someone who had managed to con Huangpizi into saving most of the Jin family's wealth while on the run fall so easily? And if this Lin family was really the alias of the Xuesheng Jin family back then, then for a Qigong cultivator, longevity should be a piece of cake, right? Lin Xinghuo felt a little uneasy. This family had too many secrets, too deep. She had to dig deep and investigate carefully.
"Skull, heart, and demon elixir… we still need the gems from the liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys," Lin Xinghuo murmured suddenly. After putting away the heart gem, her cheek rubbed against the fox skull, which had shrunk again, and carefully placed it back in the pit of her heart. Back then, her father had hidden the demon elixir among the flesh and blood of his severed limbs, and his fox body had been divided into seven pieces… and to protect her, his fox tail, representing his cultivation, and his father's seven souls had been sacrificed and shattered. Now, only seven of the black fox's spirit remained, with four gems still missing.
Lin Xinghuo had a hunch that the four gems that he had been searching for in vain might hold clues in Beijing?
*
In the East Garden next door, separated by a small garden, two old men were also unable to sleep. They sat facing each other, one smoking a cigarette while the other sipped a cup of tea slowly.
"Tell me, what's going on?" After a long time, Fang Tongjian snorted coldly and spoke first.
Ning Lao's face wrinkled for a moment, then quickly returned to normal. The old man coughed and said, "What's the matter?"
Fang Tongjian sneered: "Are you pretending again?"
"If you have something to do, could you send the two children to my place to go to school?" Is it that the army lacks schools for children of soldiers, or is his status as a grandfather not high enough to arrange for the two grandsons to go to school?
Fang Tongjian had heard what Old Man Ning said earlier, but the old man was too stubborn to care about his reputation and was very stubborn. He didn't want him to show weakness in front of the younger generation, so he held back his words and waited until now to ask him.
Ning Bangyan took a deep puff of the cigarette, and his whole body was filled with comfort from the cool and moist smoke. His intestines, which had been holding back the breath for half a year, also felt a little relieved. The old man laughed and scolded: "You, Old Fang, are the most cunning!" He called him a cunning one, and let him snatch the girl Xinghuo in front of a group of old friends at Hetan Farm. Look at how filial this apprentice is, and this old guy has become more and more indulgent. His temper and age are not much different from those of his precious granddaughter.
"You must be comfortable living in this yard!" Every detail was taken into consideration, especially the washroom and the toilet. Ning Bangyan didn't care much about other things, but these two things were exactly what the old man wanted and was used to.
Fang Tongjian poured the teacup over him: "Stop looking around and talking about other things!"
Old Ning took another drag on his cigarette and blew out smoke rings. "Ningde's mother wanted to remarry Changfeng... She didn't want Ningde, who had already started to remember things, and she had to give the child to me no matter how hard she tried... Ningde had been on the road for half a year. It's a blessing that the child was able to be delivered to me alive, otherwise!"
Fang Tongjian was silent. He still remembered how dirty the little Ningde was when he first met him. But when they gathered firewood to give him a bath, they realized how much he had suffered. Not only was his ribs so thin, but he also had countless purple bruises. His paws were as thin as firewood sticks, and his buttocks were sunken. There were old scars on them... There was a long cut on his face from frostbite. It must have hurt so much when everyone scrubbed him with soap, but the child didn't even cry at that time. He couldn't speak the words that Old Ning used to speak fluently at home, and he could only hold his head and cry...
How many people cried out in pain at the child's plight? It was because Ning De was so miserable that, after his nephew's death, Old Man Ning readily agreed to let his niece-in-law bring his grandson to raise him. Didn't Old Man Ning know that he would suffer with him? He knew it all too well! But even if it was suffering, it was better than letting the child die in a corner where he couldn't see.
"Now that I've resumed my work, and Ningde's father has been promoted for his achievements, his mother is relieved and wants to remarry my son." Ning Bangyan laughed, and people who heard it felt sad.
"Don't say Changfeng doesn't want to. Even if he is crazy and willing to accept her again, she won't be able to do that as long as his father is alive!"
Fang Tongjian's mind always works faster than others. He asked directly: "What does Ningde think?"
Ning Bangyan's resentful face instantly turned bitter. Fang Tongjian had never seen this old man show such a tangled, bitter, and somewhat arrogant expression in all the years he had known him. He couldn't help but want to pour tea on his old face again: "Stop keeping me in suspense!"
Ning Bangyan's skill was evident from the fact that he even forced Master Fang to say "I".
Old Ning put down his cigarette and rubbed his face. "Dezi is so smart, Lao Fang, really. He still remembers things from before he was three or four years old! He remembers the first words I said to him the day he came to see me. He remembers..."
Old Man Fang couldn't help but curl his lips. It was a rare moment of kindness for him to let someone show off his children and grandchildren in front of him. He thought, not to mention my family, who probably even remember the moment they first opened their eyes, but even me, an old man, who doesn't remember things from when they were three? They were all enlightened by the age of three! They memorized a lot of poems and knew a lot of words...
"So this kid remembers both kindness and grudges! He remembers how his mother despised and abandoned him, and he even remembers the beating he got at his uncle's house, and the time his cousins stole his things... Oh, and not only did he remember these things in his head, he wrote them down! When I was checking his homework, I found a notebook... It was one of those thick, bound notebooks that Chunfeng girl from Buxian Village liked to use. It was filled with notes so clearly!"
Fang Tongjian frowned: "He only remembers who bullied him and who did him wrong?"
Ning Bangyan shook his head. "That's not the case. He remembers everything. Even if the youngest fat fox in the Xinghuo family gave him a nice rock, this kid could write two pages about it!" As he spoke, the old man began to grumble, "Do you think he learned this bad habit from you? Your old notebook was like that. There were a lot of useful things, but there were also a lot of trivial things!"
It's not enough to just hold a grudge. Besides, a child's love of writing a diary is a good habit that can't be begged for. Old Man Fang was calm and sneered: "Isn't this good? Dezi is a dull person to begin with, and it's rare for him to be less dull under the pen. Ask the child to write it down, it will be so interesting to read it when he is old!"
"Besides!" The old man couldn't help but snorted: "You should be happy to have such a grandson who loves to write! It will save you from being like my daughter Xinghuo. The girl is good at everything except writing." Fang Tongjian, an ancestor who was almost laughed to death by his old friends when a publishing house came to him to beg him to write a book.
"It's not bad, but it's like making a list, stripping off his own mother's face and dignity in public..." This forced his former daughter-in-law, who was so proud, to cry in public, and the news spread throughout the compound every day.
"What's the big deal? She dared to do it, so don't blame the child for speaking out!" Can the tit-for-tat thing be blamed on Dezi?
Ning Bangyan rubbed his face again and waved his hand, "No!"
"...I, an old man, could say this to her, even at the cost of my dignity. Dezi said it himself. Old Fang, you don't know, just how many people care about his mother, just as many care about him... Those words really hit home. Dezi can't stay in the compound anymore, not even in the children's school." If the world hadn't improved, I'm afraid there would have been big-character posters posted about Ningde. Even so, there were all sorts of things to say. Ning Bangyan simply couldn't trust his grandson to be in that kind of environment, lest the upright character he had worked so hard to cultivate be shattered by someone else's spitting.
"After ten years, there are still some people who are meddling in other people's affairs!" Fang Tongjian said venomously, "The world has changed, but these people haven't. Let's pray to God that all this awful shit happens to them. I hope they can live up to their words!"
Ning Bangyan watched as Old Fang stretched his neck and yelled at the bamboo forest outside the greenhouse, completely baffled: "Old Fang? Are you crazy?"
Fang Tongjian couldn't help but roll his eyes at him. He was asking Baizhang Zhu for help! What did the old man know?
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The author has something to say: Note: In the past there was a beautiful lady named Gongsun, whose sword dance moved the world." - Du Gong once wrote a poem titled "Watching the Sword Dance of Gongsun Da Niang's Disciples", which fully described the splendor of Gongsun's sword dance in those days.
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