Chapter 109 Ten Years Later
Follow your heart.
The direct master of the young Emperor Yan You of Zhongzhou.
The direct disciple of Zhongzhou National Master Shusheng.
I've been feeling a bit depressed lately.
It is clear that the master is enjoying a comfortable life by his side, and the disciple is a filial disciple.
These were obviously two good things, why did it turn out like this?
Holding the talisman in his hand, he returned from the plastering site with his disciples, covered in dust and dirt.
The beautiful master and the clever and well-behaved disciple in front of him were in the pavilion, turning their heads leisurely.
Friendly yet concerned, they said in unison: "Master/Disciple, you're back? You look so dirty, go take a shower and have a good rest."
"Don't get too tired. Qiu Nan's construction will still need you, the trusted angel, to supervise it tomorrow!"
So he came back from a long distance and quickly sent it back to the palace maid.
Halfway there.
He suddenly heard hurried footsteps.
I was overjoyed immediately.
Look back.
I saw a palace maid in yellow approaching with a bowl of tea.
See from the heart and look back.
He quickly said happily: "Sir! This is the tea given by His Majesty."
Cong Xin quickly restrained his exaggerated expression and said arrogantly: "Humph, he still puts me, his master, aside from me, in his heart!"
Seeing Congxin drinking in small sips, the maid looked a little anxious and said, "Please drink quickly. You still have things to do after you finish drinking."
From the heart: "...Just tell me to put my mind at ease! If anything happens, just think of Master!"
Cong Xin no longer had any thoughts of cherishing it, he finished it all in one breath, and forced a smile: "What's the matter? If you want me to take action, it must be a major matter that concerns the country and the people!"
The maid whispered, "Your Majesty said that he just received an urgent report that the construction site in Lucheng seems to be..."
"Lucheng? Isn't that not far from where I was before?"
I was dumbfounded.
The maid lifted her hair and put it behind her head, her eyes wandering: "Theoretically, yes."
From the heart: "I just came back just for this one time!"
He opened the memorial, paused, then picked up the teacup beside him and brought it to his lips.
"Is he gone?"
The maid beside the table nodded: "My Lord has already set off for Lucheng."
Yan You breathed a sigh of relief.
His eyes darkened a little.
"It's better for him to leave. Just keep an eye on him and don't let him get bullied."
The maid replied: "Yes, Your Majesty, they are all watching."
The scholar beside the desk comforted Yan You, "This disease is just caused by excessive stress. You woke up to review memorials after falling asleep. It's obviously because you've been too worried about government affairs recently. It's not caused by gods or ghosts, nor is it a soul-leaving disease. You have to understand that there are no ghosts in this world."
As he spoke, he reached out and touched the red fox, Xiaohong, who was nestled in his arms.
Xiao Hong called out lazily as a response.
Time flies, the years pass by like a shuttle.
The young man with horns on his forehead nodded slightly after hearing what the scholar said: "Of course it is so. What the master said is very true. Soul separation and sleepwalking are just things imagined by the world..."
His eyes fell on the memorial. On the clear and concise report, someone had used a red pen to write a line of large characters in a rather elegant cursive script, and there was arrogance between the lines.
Yan You murmured to himself: "And its true face is just a disease...that's all."
The slender hand picked up the red pen, crossed out the previous comments, and wrote new ones.
Then he gently closed the memorial.
***
An emperor died ten years ago.
After some grumbling, the aristocratic families pushed the emperor's eldest prince to succeed to the throne.
However, the people do not care who will succeed to the throne. At most, it will be a topic of conversation during tea and after meals.
The most important thing is that the emperor did not provide any help to their lives.
The emperor himself cannot control the people's mouths, so what's the point of causing terror?
What people actually care about is more related to their lives.
For example, if there was a flood somewhere, did the imperial court go to rescue?
If there is a food shortage somewhere, shouldn’t they also stock up some supplies?
Carbon prices, rice prices, have they dropped?
"Recently, there was a chicken thief!"
The lady in front of me said angrily.
The man who was taking notes was startled. He lifted his sleeve with his left hand wearing a glove. Just as he was about to write, his right hand paused. He hesitantly repeated, "Chicken thief?"
The old lady nodded: "Old Zhao's house, Old Chen's house, Old Xu's house, Old Wang's house, they were all robbed! This man not only stole chickens, but also stole the chickens to eat! He is so cruel!"
"Yes!" Upon hearing this, a woman who was buying vegetables immediately stepped forward and said indignantly: "You even used chicken blood to scribble on the wall!"
The boy who had been listening to their descriptions carefully and occasionally writing down a few words seemed to be thinking: "Just scribbling?"
Everyone who had heard about this said quickly, "Yes! Young Master! This is simply a provocation! We must teach him a lesson!"
They spoke with righteous indignation, wishing they could torture the chicken thief to death on the spot, as if they had some deep hatred.
The tall and strong Wang Youyu stretched out his hand to put the water on the table. The things on the table shook. He said speechlessly: "That's enough. You just want our young master to take action. Why don't you report it to the police?"
The crowd was silent for a while, and a man said awkwardly: "Isn't it that the young master is close?"
This is a lie. It is because the authorities were slow to act. By the time someone finally took over the case of stealing chickens and dogs, the chickens had probably been stolen.
Chu Songjun shook his head.
"Ahem, I'll go check it out."
"Oh, I'm really troubling you, young master! Come here! I have a few pears. Take them home and make soup with them!"
"You're showing off a few pears, young master. I have some bacon here! Everyone who eats it says it's delicious! Take it back and try it!"
"Uncle has a few pounds of beans here!"
Chu Songjun thanked them for their enthusiasm.
Chicken thieves were roaming around Chang'an Street.
A year ago, Chu Songjun entered the government under the recommendation of Chu Bingtian and worked as a minor official in the Dali Temple. In his spare time, he often came to the street to listen to people's complaints.
Occasionally you hear about a few major cases.
He was assassinated a few times, but none of them were as dangerous as the life-threatening crisis he faced when he was four years old. He had a smooth life over the years.
The emperor died suddenly that year and his body was never found.
As he expected, the entire dynasty changed its emperor quietly, without even much bloodshed or even a fight for the throne. The eldest prince, as the eldest prince, ascended the throne directly, and the remaining royal heirs mostly moved to Xijing, and the court distributed some rice every month.
Wang Youyu held the bag and turned his head helplessly: "Sir, Mr. Wang recently said that you can't eat food that is difficult to digest."
Chu Songjun carefully examined the rice crackers and said calmly, "It's very easy to digest."
Dalang was pulling Chu Songjun's hand so hard that he was almost in a rhythm, and his saliva was dripping.
Wang Youyu looked at Chu Songjun helplessly as he bought it: "Sir, one string at most!"
Chu Songjun put the second string back helplessly and sighed sadly.
The boss felt a little distressed: "Young Master, I'll give you another string... We use only good materials at home! It won't be a problem!"
"Hey! No way!"
The streets of Xijing are bustling with people.
Chu Songjun wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed twice.
Block out Wang Youyu's resentful gaze.
Chang'an Street is close to the government office and few thieves visit it.
So everyone was outraged when a chicken thief appeared.
Chu Songjun first went to Aunt Deng's house. Aunt Deng's house was not the first one to be visited by a chicken thief, but it was the first one to have bloody words written all over the wall.
Aunt Deng complained, "It's really hard to wipe off. It hasn't faded even after dozens of days. My neighbors know who did it. If someone from out of town comes and sees my wall, we'll be in trouble! They stole my chickens! And they painted on my wall!"
The wall was covered in large areas of blood and scrawled with words that looked like ghostly scribbles. Nothing could be made out. The bloodstains had dried and blurred, and the color had turned from red to black.
"When the chicken was stolen, was there any movement?"
Aunt Deng said angrily, "It would be great if there was some noise! Our chicken coop is not far from where we live, and my daughter is a light sleeper, but she didn't hear anything!"
"Didn't you hear? A few chickens were lost?" Chu Songjun was a little curious.
Aunt Deng felt distressed: "Three! Three in total! We fed them bit by bit! All the chicken feed wasted..."
Aunt Deng complained bitterly about the sunk costs.
Chu Songjun noticed that there was a young girl quietly looking at the room from inside the door.
Seeing that Chu Songjun noticed her, she blushed and went back into the house.
She seemed to be the only daughter in Aunt Deng's family. I heard that she was shy and would stumble when speaking to people. She was almost mistaken for a stutterer. Later, people discovered that she could speak fluently in front of her relatives, but she could not speak in front of strangers.
The girl from the Deng family has a good embroidery skill, so she doesn't have to worry about her future life. In recent years, she may be worried about whether to find a son-in-law or get married.
Chu Songjun turned around and continued to observe the "crime scene".
"… This street! Only Aunt Liu has never had her chicken stolen! Young Master, do you think it is possible that it was stolen by her good-for-nothing son? He stays in his room all day, saying he is reading, but who knows what he has read."
Aunt Deng guessed.
Wang Youyu said helplessly: "Auntie, there is no way to investigate the case this way. If there are too many people who know about this kind of nonsense, according to the law, you will be fined!"
"Ah..." Aunt Deng was shocked.
Wang Youyu imitated his master: "Don't say I didn't remind you. I told you this because you are close to us. If the rumor spreads too widely, then..."
Wang Youyu wiped his neck with a sullen face.
Aunt Deng's face also changed and she covered her neck in horror.
After scaring people, Wang Youyu quickly laughed and said, "But you are not that kind of person, right? As long as you don't spread rumors, you'll be fine."
Wang Youyu was tall and strong, but he had an extremely honest face. When he spoke to people, he half lowered his head, like a ferocious but obedient bear. Aunt Deng immediately believed what he said.
"Yes, yes, I am not that kind of person." Aunt Deng pursed her lips and whispered, "I am not that kind of person, no."
The chicken thief drew the talisman a few nights ago, so even if there were any traces left, they have disappeared now.
Chu Songjun thought he wouldn't find any clues here.
But Dalang suddenly shouted excitedly.
Chu Songjun's attention was drawn.
He called out to Wang Youyu, held onto his shoulders, and looked up at the beams.
The Deng family’s chicken coop is located in a dilapidated old house.
There are few members of the Deng family, so they usually use it to store miscellaneous items, and a thick layer of dust has accumulated on it.
Dalang floated beside and pointed at a line of marks that suddenly appeared.
"It has a physical body, but it doesn't seem to be..."
ghost.
Chu Songjun breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it might be a thief who had indeed sneaked into Chang'an Street.
But the shoe print is a little weird.
Only half of the beam was left.
There is not much difference between the marks before and after.
It was as if someone was walking on tiptoe on the beams of this old house!
Chu Songjun's heart sank.
Is it too early for him to draw conclusions?
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