Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Li Daoxuan, why are you running!
Hearing this, Shen Qing felt a warm current flowing through her heart. She smiled at Cui Ya and said, "Cui Ya, you must be safe too."
I don’t want to be skinned alive by a big monster like in my previous life and die in pain.
In the end, Chen Qing and Cui Ya sneaked out from the side door of Prince Cang's Mansion.
After Chen Qing left, Li Daoxuan called Lao Huang over and said, "From now on, send someone to guard this courtyard. Anyone who tries to climb over the wall will be kicked out."
Old Huang said: "Yes, yes. Then Master Gu——"
Li Daoxuan: "Even if you don't go through the main gate, you'll still be kicked out."
It was also thanks to Gu Yun's habit of climbing over the wall in order to take a shortcut and save the distance from the main gate to Li Daoxuan's courtyard that the servants got used to it. The defense of Li Daoxuan's main courtyard wall became increasingly weak, which allowed Chen Qing, who knew this way, to take advantage of the loophole and climb in.
Now that he had learned from the previous experience, Li Daoxuan decided to strengthen the defense to prevent anyone with ulterior motives from sneaking in.
Of course, this "interested person" naturally includes Shen Qing.
As if dissatisfied, Li Daoxuan added, "Add caltrops to the courtyard wall and put some broken porcelain pieces on top."
Far away in Dongshan Temple in the eastern suburbs of Chang'an, Gu Yun sneezed without any warning. He was puzzled for a moment, and then continued to think about when he would go to Prince Cang's Mansion to bother his good brother next time.
Chen Qing and Li Daoxuan agreed to meet two days later. They disguised themselves and wandered the streets as disciples of Dongshan Temple.
Soon the two arrived at the neighborhood where Lin Yuanjiu was.
After closing the door to visitors for several days, the Lin family's gate, which was once bustling with cars and horses, is now deserted, with far fewer people coming and going.
The Lin family's house is located at the end of the cross alley. At this moment, the gate is closed and outsiders cannot see what is going on inside.
Li Daoxuan and Shen Qing both wore green robes.
Shen Qing tied his hair into a crown, while Li Daoxuan wore his same high ponytail. When he walked, the Pisces jade pendant on his waist swung back and forth, making the two chubby fish look quite silly.
Li Daoxuan's one step was equal to Chen Qing's two steps, and he walked so fast that Chen Qing had no choice but to pick up her robe and run after him. She was really tired from running, and she shouted with heavy breaths, "Slow down, Your Highness, please slow down! I'm almost out of time!"
Li Daoxuan raised his eyebrows and kept walking, "It seems that Madam Shen has enjoyed enough of the comforts in Xuanji Pavilion these years, and her abilities haven't improved at all." All her abilities have improved in scheming against others.
Chen Qing objected, "You know I've been weak since childhood, and I've spent most of my time recuperating. How can I compare to your Highness's carefree nature? You're good at everything from cockfighting, collecting bird nests, to playing Cuju, and you've still acquired a lot of skills."
In response to Shen Qing, there was a thin cold snort.
Chen Qing also turned his head away, "Hmph——"
Arriving at the Lin family's gate, Li Daoxuan asked, "Since there haven't been any murders around here, how can you be sure there's an evil spirit here?"
Chen Qing analyzed methodically, "Look, although Lin Canjun was seriously injured and a woman, the skills she acquired during her military campaigns are not in vain. It might not be difficult for her to survive in the dangerous wilderness."
You know, when soldiers go to war, they not only rely on their bravery, but also need to know how to survive in adverse circumstances.
Aye once wrote in a military book he wrote:
In war, courage and strength are certainly important, but the ability to survive in dangerous situations is also crucial. If you are in a desert, you should know how to find water and the art of determining direction; if you encounter extreme cold, you must know how to stay warm and how to make fire; if you are trapped in a swamp, you must know how to escape and how to avoid danger. Only in this way can you stand firm in difficult situations and lay the foundation for victory.
It can be seen that a soldier's ability to survive is of paramount importance in war.
Therefore, it was normal that Lin Yuanjiu was still alive when he was found by A Niang.
"A frail fifty-year-old woman was able to venture into the wilderness alone, survive, find her daughter, and bring her out."
Chen Qing asked him, "Tell me, is this strange?"
Although we don't know how serious General Lin's injuries are and whether she can walk, we can see that she was able to fight dozens of enemy soldiers alone, so her injuries must be very serious, otherwise she wouldn't have needed her old mother to go into the forest to find her and she would have walked out by herself.
After hearing her analysis, Li Daoxuan's eyes lit up with interest. "Now that mother and daughter are both staying indoors, how are you going to go in and find out if Mother Lin is possessed by an evil spirit?"
Chen Qing smiled and said, "That's easy. As far as I know, ever since Mother Lin and Army Officer Lin returned, they've closed their doors to visitors and never go out. But people still need to eat grains. You need medicine if you're injured, right?"
"Even if the mother and daughter bought the medicine before returning home, how much can two people, one with two hands, carry? More than ten days have passed, and it's time to change the dressings. General Lin's injuries are so serious, it won't take more than ten days to heal. I don't believe she doesn't need to buy medicine or food."
If they break into the Lin family by force, they will certainly alarm the two people in the house. It's broad daylight and the streets are full of people. If there really is an evil spirit, it would be bad to let the evil spirit escape and harm people on the way.
When Chen Qing was at home, she made some careful calculations and roughly worked out the days when Lin Canjun's medicine would run out. The time when Lin Yuanjiu or Lin's mother should come out to buy medicine happened to be these two days. She sent people to guard here secretly. No one from the Lin family came out in the morning or evening in the past two days.
But when it was dinner time at the Lin family's house, there was indeed smoke coming out of the chimney, proving that there was indeed someone living there.
The latest time Lin Yuanjiu should buy the medicine is around today or tomorrow. Chen Qing decided to try his luck today and see if he could intercept the person halfway. Whether the person is Lin's mother or Lin Yuanjiu, it would be a good result.
Because tomorrow is the day Shen Ling can get out of the Shen Mansion, and she doesn't want to miss it.
A'niang used some unknown means to give Chen Ling a warning, and then sent someone to deliver a letter to Chen Ling's parents in Wannian County, waiting for the county magistrate and his wife to personally take their daughter back tomorrow.
Cui Ya took good care of the black cat and luckily it survived. Chen Qing took advantage of the black cat's recovery period to observe it for a while and finally found the poisonous insect in its eyes.
There was no trace of evil spirit in this cat. It was not the evil cat that Chen Qing had imagined, but an ordinary house cat.
No matter how smart a domestic cat is, it will not follow people's orders to bite the leather rope, because the leather rope is tough and fragile, and the cat will feel pain when bitten by cat teeth. If an ordinary cat knows it hurts, it will stop on its own, but the black cat does not seem to do that.
Chen Qing pried open the black cat's mouth and saw that the cat's teeth were broken into pieces and bloody.
This confirmed Shen Qing's guess that this was not an evil cat, but a cat controlled by someone using special means.
This special method naturally refers to the use of Gu.
In the previous life, Shen Ling hid herself very well, and Shen Qing became stupid, so she did not discover the fact that Shen Ling could use Gu.
Now, Shen Ling, who was reborn with her, has changed and become more impatient, so he was exposed in Zhao Niangzi, which also indirectly confirmed how stupid Shen Qing was in his previous life, so that he could be successfully calculated by such a person.
Recalling his often out-of-control emotions in his previous life, his increasingly heavy body, and the gradual loss of his sense of taste and hearing, Chen Qing's eyes slowly sank.
If what she thought was correct, perhaps at some point, a kind of Gu had quietly appeared in her body, a kind of Gu that would cause a person's intelligence to decline, emotions to be magnified several times, and even gradually lose their five senses.
If not, Shen Qing couldn't understand why she was tricked so many times by a fool. Maybe there were people behind her helping her, but there was no way she couldn't find out anything.
If you think about it more carefully, the person behind her may not only want to deal with you, but also the Shen family.
Was it really just a coincidence that the East Market Demon launched the attack first in the previous life? Wasn't it just the person behind the scenes who did it to hold Liu Jiuyue back?
In other words, someone wants the Shen family to die, or even worse, wants Aye to die.
Thinking of this layer of deep emotion, she broke out in a cold sweat and didn't dare to think about it any further.
In this life, she only wanted her mother to be safe and sound, but someone wanted them to die. This meant that even if the Shen family survived the disaster in a month, there might still be troubles in the future.
Even if those in power desire purity, they cannot help themselves. Ayeh has always been devoted to the sage, never transgressing the rules, and has never divided the court into factions or chosen sides among the princes.
However, precisely because of this, its potential threat becomes more apparent, and it is feared by all parties. It is impossible to seek peace.
Anyone could be an enemy lurking in the dark.
For the first time, Shen Qing realized that the Shen family’s situation was so dangerous.
But now that things have come to this, what should we do?
The Official Strategy Theory says:
You can plan ahead and act after careful consideration. Or you can retreat to advance, temporarily avoiding the spotlight. Or you can make friends and seek allies. However, no matter which strategy you choose, you must be extremely cautious. One wrong move can ruin the whole game.
What she had to do now was to find the true enemy of the Shen family in a short period of time and come up with a countermeasure, without being too conspicuous. Shen Qing knew that this was a matter of life and death for the family and that she must be cautious.
Aye, you pride yourself on your integrity and have nothing to be ashamed of, but you cannot withstand the suspicion of your enemies, and disaster strikes you from the sky.
Shen Qing sighed deeply, and then she suddenly asked, "Your Highness, do you want to drink?"
.
There is a restaurant called Hu on the street diagonally opposite the Lin family. Sitting by the window on the second floor, you can not only drink but also have a perfect view of the front door of the Lin family. It is undoubtedly a good place to observe the movements of Lin Yuanjiu.
Chen Qing asked Hu Ji for two bottles of dragon paste wine.
After Li Daoxuan paid the money, Hu Ji enthusiastically led the two of them up the wooden stairs and went straight to the private room on the second floor.
What follows is a boring period of waiting.
Chen Qing stared at the Lin family very carefully, but when her eyes became sore, she turned around and found that the person opposite her had already taken the wine glass and drank slowly, with no intention of following her at all.
She was immediately furious.
Just as she was about to attack, she saw Li Daoxuan gently raise his hand and point. She held her breath and looked back, only to see the Lin family's door suddenly open.
Chen Qing sat up straight in an instant.
A short person with a veil on her head came out from the crack of the door. She tilted her head slightly, as if looking around. Seeing that there was no one around, she closed the door and tiptoed away.
Chen Qing turned around and said, “It’s out!”
Only then did Li Daoxuan put down his wine glass and slowly stood up.
.
The man tried his best to avoid the crowd along the way and went straight to the pharmacy, which was exactly what Shen Qing had guessed.
She took out a prescription and the pharmacist prescribed the medicine for her according to the prescription. The woman took the medicine package and paid for it. Without stopping for long, she hurriedly picked up the medicine package and left.
Halfway through the journey, she seemed to sense something, and her beautiful eyebrows hidden under the veil slightly frowned. When she reached an alley, she suddenly went in.
Chen Qingfang dodged a group of playing children, and when he looked up again, he saw that the woman in front of him had disappeared.
The woman walked quickly with the medicine bag. Just as she was secretly happy about getting rid of Chen Qing, she saw a young man in blue standing in the depths of the alley. He had a cold expression and a sword in his arms.
She was shocked and quickly stepped back, trying to find another alley to escape, but she saw the person she had left behind appear behind her at some point.
With no way out and being attacked from both sides, the woman bit her lip and looked at the two of them, thinking secretly in her heart, as if she was looking for a way to escape.
Chen Qing looked at the rather petite woman in front of him and frowned in confusion.
Lin Yuanjiu had practiced martial arts for years, so he certainly wouldn't be as slender and frail as the woman before him. But the back of her hand revealed flawless, creamy skin, untouched by the passage of time. It was delicate and smooth, like freshly peeled spring bamboo shoots, untouched by the elements. It couldn't possibly be Lin's mother.
In this case, this person is most likely the evil spirit that possessed Lin's mother.
Thinking of this, Chen Qing slowly took out the yellow talisman from his sleeve.
The woman's face paled, and she finally spoke, "I have no grudge against you two, and I haven't done anything against the law. Why are you making things difficult for me?"
Chen Qing asked, "Since you didn't harm anyone, then where did Lin's mother go? And who was it that brought General Lin back alone?"
Hearing the name of General Lin, the woman seemed to be stimulated. She took a few steps back cautiously, lowered her calves, and prepared to attack, still holding the medicine bag in her hand.
"I didn't hurt them, and I have no intention of hurting anyone," the woman said.
"In that case, why not let me go and see General Lin and his mother? If they are doing well, I will naturally believe what you say." Chen Qing said.
The woman suddenly fell silent.
Seeing this, Chen Qing said, "Monster, why don't you surrender quickly!" After saying that, she made a gesture to capture the other party.
The woman instantly jumped up, her five fingers forming claws as she rushed towards Chen Qing. Chen Qing quickly threw out the talisman in his hand. However, the talisman that frightened evil spirits was useless when it touched the woman's palm.
Shen Qing was shocked. What was this thing? Why wasn't it afraid of the talisman?
Without giving her time to think, Chen Qing dodged the woman's attack and took off her veil.
What caught my eye was the face of a girl of about thirteen or fourteen years old, or rather a young girl. The girl was pretty and still had some baby fat on her face. No matter how you looked at her, she didn't look like a demon.
However, the more powerful the demon's evil was, the less visible it was on his face, and Chen Qing did not relax at all.
With his backhand, he made a knife-hand move directly towards the opponent's Fengchixue.
If the girl in front of him was possessed by an evil spirit, the evil spirit would immediately be unable to bear it and would crawl out of the host body, but nothing happened for a long time.
The girl had no intention of dealing with Shen Qing. She pretended to attack Shen Qing in the face, but in fact she lowered her body and nimbly slipped out from under Shen Qing's wrist. Holding the medicine bag tightly in her hand, she ran towards the Lin family.
Chen Qing and Li Daoxuan looked at each other, and the two of them followed behind him at the same time, neither fast nor slow.
Fu Guang jogged all the way, and thought she had gotten rid of the two men dressed as Taoist priests, so she breathed a sigh of relief. She held the medicine bag and carefully went into the Lin family's house. Before closing the door, she glanced around anxiously, and when she saw that there was indeed no one there, she finally closed the door.
Chen Qing and Li Daoxuan squatted on a tree in the Lin family courtyard. She asked, "Did Your Highness see anything?"
Li Daoxuan glanced at her and said, "I can see that you can handle this thing by yourself. It seems that you don't need my help."
Chen Qing said, "No, I just need your help, Your Highness. Please lend me Qiu Ren."
Hearing this, Li Daoxuan snapped his fingers reluctantly.
Not far away, Qiu Ren, who had been lying dormant for a long time, slowly climbed up to the treetop. Just as it was about to wrap itself around Li Daoxuan's waist, it seemed to sense something midway, turned its head halfway, and climbed onto Chen Qing's hand.
Chen Qing smiled and touched Qiu Ren's head, "It seems that Qiu Ren is also very willing."
Li Daoxuan looked at this treacherous snake, pursed his lips and turned his head away, feeling disgusted.
.
In the courtyard, Fu Guang will start to decoct medicine, and wisps of smoke will be discharged from the chimney.
Now Chen Qing finally knew where the smoke came from. It turned out that it was caused by the girl while decocting medicine.
What about Lin's mother and Lin Yuanjiu? Where did they go?
Soon Shen Qing knew it.
Fu Guang poured the boiled medicine into the bowl, and she pushed the door open and walked into the house with the medicine in her hand.
Inside the room, a woman was lying on the bed. She had pretty features and a pale face. Her eyes were closed, as if she was just asleep.
But his chest was not moving at all, and he was clearly dead.
Fu Guang seemed unaware. She placed the medicine bowl on the table, walked to the bedside, and gently nudged Lin Yuanjiu, "Master, take the medicine."
The person in bed was quiet.
When there was no response, Fu Guang kept pushing her again and again, saying, "Master, take the medicine."
"The doctor said you'll be fine after taking the medicine. Get up and take the medicine."
Lin Yuanjiu did not get up to respond until the medicine bowl stopped emitting hot smoke.
Fu Guang lowered his eyes slightly, exuding a depressed mood, like a cat that was lost because it didn't get a response from its owner, looking listless.
"The medicine is cold, I'll drink it next time," she muttered to herself. Fu Guang poured the medicine into the bonsai nearby.
The tips of the orchid leaves in the bonsai have turned yellow and dry. I don’t know how many times Fu Guang has fed it with medicine.
Except for the dim light, the room was filled with dead silence.
Until a bright voice was heard, bringing a little life to the room.
"It's impossible for a dead person to get up and take medicine."
Chen Qing broke in and ruthlessly shattered Fu Guang's fantasy.
"After all, it is a rare spiritual creature, how could it not even know this?"
When Fu Guang heard this, black mist surged around her. Her eyes were red and when she looked up, she gave people a feeling of coldness.
"You are lying! My master is not dead!" Fu Guang said.
Chen Qing: "I don't believe you don't know whether your master is dead or not. Why bother deceiving yourself? The best policy is to bury him as soon as possible. Otherwise, his body will not rest in peace. I imagine your master will not be feeling well in the netherworld!"
"You're a liar! You're a liar! You're a bad guy, I'm going to kill you!" Fu Guang's knuckles suddenly grew several inches and attacked Chen Qing's face.
At the same time as Fu Guang's claws brought a strong wind, a sense of solemnity and murderousness coming from the iron horses at the border came like a surging wave.
What attacked her at this moment seemed not to be a claw, but a sharp weapon that had witnessed the battles of war, the smoke of war, countless life-and-death struggles, and years of fighting on the border.
After knowing what this guy was, Chen Qing naturally knew how to deal with her. She no longer used talismans, but took out a thin rope and quickly tied two slipknots. When Fu Guang came closer, she twisted the rope and tightened it. The two slipknots immediately trapped the other person's hands.
Chen Qing then took the end of the rope and tied it around her waist, and she tied the other end of the rope to the bed beam.
If Fu Guang continued to struggle, the bed would surely fall apart, and her owner would inevitably be crushed by the beams.
Since it concerned his master's safety, Fu Guang really stopped his actions.
Chen Qing rubbed the palm of his hand that was rubbed red by the thin rope and snorted coldly.
Fu Guang was tied up by the spirit rope, unable to use her spiritual power, and dared not move anymore. She stared at Chen Qing and cursed, "Bad guy!"
Shen Qing pointed at herself, "Me, the bad guy?"
Soon she smiled in relief. Her face was rather ferocious, and she said with a fierce look, "Yes, I am a bad person. So tell me, where is Mother Lin?"
Fu Guang turned his head away angrily without saying a word.
Chen Qing raised an eyebrow and said, "Don't tell me? If you don't tell me, I'll let it eat you."
She pointed at the black snake wrapped around her arm, then tapped Fu Guang's shoulder. "I'll eat your arm first, then the other, then your feet, then your head. After all, a newly transformed sword spirit like you is the most vulnerable."
Qi Liao Fu Guang suddenly lowered his head and bit Chen Qing's slender white wrist.
"Ah——" A girl's scream of pain was heard from inside the house.
Li Daoxuan, who was waiting outside the house, walked over with steady steps. Seeing that she was bitten by a sword spirit, a look of gloating suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he retreated.
Chen Qing said: "Li Daoxuan, why are you running? Help me!"
Li Daoxuan: "Didn't Madam Shen say that she wanted to prove herself? Since her life is not in danger, she naturally does not need my help." He curled his lips and smiled, not forgetting to add, "Madam Shen, please do your best. I will not bother you any more."
Shen Qing fell back in anger and said to Fu Guang, “Are you going to let go or not?”
Fu Guang bit harder and harder.
Chen Qing: "Wait until I count to three, if you don't let go I'll ask Qiu Ren to eat you!"
"three!"
Fu Guang relaxed, and she angrily said, "You are so unreasonable!"
Chen Qing pulled back her wrist, lifted her sleeve and took a look. There was a row of neat teeth marks on her white elbow, and there was a faint trace of blood. She said, "You are unreasonable! You have been guarding a corpse for so many days. I don't know where you have taken Lin's mother!"
Fu Guang: "Master's mother died a long time ago! She died completely, and it wasn't my fault!"
Chen Qing: "Look, it's not that you can't tell the living from the dead, it's that you're pretending to be ignorant. You also know that your master is gone!"
Suddenly, Fu Guang's eyes turned red, and tears fell like beads from a string. She burst into tears: "Wow - I hate you!"
Shen Qing's expression was serious, without any sympathy for the woman. She asked, "Tell me the truth, where is Mother Lin's body? How did she die? And what about the body of Lieutenant Lin?"
Fu Guang's eyes rolled as he looked at the lifeless Lin Yuanjiu standing beside him. Something in his eyes was completely shattered.
She choked up and said, "My name is Fu Guang, and I am the master's sword."
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