Delong

Chapter 106 The Golden Cone Walk (17)

On the evening of the New Year's Eve, Zhang Xing and Qin Bao ate fried crispy meat to their fullest.

On New Year’s Eve, let’s indulge a bit, let’s not say that we just had an extremely hard errand, even if there was no such errand, in the public gates of the entire Eastern Capital, apart from those who are in charge of planning and supervising the construction of Mingtang, there are also those Is it a famous saying?
Let's talk about it after a year.

In fact, the whole city is filled with the atmosphere of Chinese New Year. People burn bamboo, cross the brazier, offer sacrifices to ancestors, and give each other copper plates tied with little red paper... Of course, the main part of Chinese New Year is to eat.

The dignitaries in the north put on a big banquet like flowing water, but they were full early, but no matter what they did, every time they changed a process, they had to replace a whole set of chicken, duck and fish, so that all the servants were full of fat; Although the poor are poor, they still need their neighbors to chip in to buy a pot of oil and fry some dough for the children to chew on; A deep-fried sweet cake...Of course, you must thank God to get it.

Strange to say, people who leave their hometowns should miss their loved ones during the festive season, but they suddenly wiped away their tears while drinking with Qin Bao and called out to their mother in a low voice without realizing it. Going to the stables to spend the whole night with two horses and one mule, Zhang Sanlang is unexpectedly happy this year.

In other words, he is heartless, he should eat and drink, read novels, he doesn't seem to care about anything, and he never mentions family affairs.

And on the second day, which is the first day of the Lunar New Year, all the real officials have to go to the Zhengdan Grand Court to suffer, especially this year, the Ming Hall is still being repaired, so they can only go to the Chengming Hall next to it... Knowing why, Zhang Sanlang, who is entitled to enjoy the annual leave, became even more jubilant.

First of all, he forced Qin Bao and Yueniang to pay him New Year's greetings, and then each of them had a red paper bag, but when he opened it, it was only two copper coins tied with a red string... Of course, Qin Bao and Yueniang didn't come to worship him. People worship, that's all right, at most he is stingy with red envelopes.

Then, the Bai Shoufu from Jing'antai left the two of them again, and went out with a basket of small crispy meat and dough, which he was tired of eating. The word "crispy" in "Little Crispy Meat"... If you know it, you will naturally know that it is the white ribbon of Jing'an Terrace, a young and promising official, but if you don't know it, you will think it is a street trickster.

However, none of these gazes could stop Zhang Xing from wandering around the workshop singing "There is not much", and when his meat was gone and only the dough was left, he naturally followed Qin Bao and Yueniang. The figure came to the commune in the workshop.

This commune is not that commune, but a simple ancestral hall enshrining three brilliance and four emperors in the square.

In fact, in addition to the commune temple, there are generally decent separate temples in each square. For example, the Qingdi Temple in Rouroufang is particularly large, and the kidney tonic medicines in it are particularly good.And there is also a White Emperor Temple in Chengfufang, which usually has the business of making ironware, digging wells, treating injuries, and building foundations. Lord Baidi, don't the other supreme beings pay homage?
Therefore, today, when almost everyone in the city's fangs goes out to pay New Year's greetings, it is inevitable to drop by the public temple in their own fang city.

Zhang Xing came over with half a basket of dough, of course he didn't go in with Qin Bao and Yueniang to pay homage to Sanhui and Siyu, but just to watch the fun.But don't tell me, it really made him find new fun.

It turns out that the Trinity Orthodox Taoist priests here are telling fortunes to people... There are two kinds of fortune-telling, one is to draw lots to solve the lottery, and it costs ten coins; This will cost fifty copper coins, which is extremely expensive.

So who is Zhang Sanlang?Nothing will give birth to three feet of waves, let alone seeing this kind of feudal superstition to cheat money?So he went straight over, drove away the Taoist priests, put down the basket himself, and sat behind the desk with the cinnabar to write for the fortune-teller.

That's right, Zhang Sanlang didn't need others to write for him, but took the initiative to write for others. He cut the paper into square buckets, but only dipped it in cinnabar and wrote a big blessing... There is no tradition of pasting Spring Festival couplets in this world, and Zhang Xing also He didn’t mean to popularize it, but it didn’t stop him from writing it. He told someone with a certain level of education to stand the word upside down and paste it on the gate with batter. Qian ran back holding the word Fang.

In this way, Zhang Sanlang wrote forty or fifty words in a row, nothing more than "Fu Lu Shou Cai" and the like. He lost interest just now, but he didn't care about the long queue in front of him, and only gave his own words. Write a big "Fu" character and run away without burying it.

But it doesn't matter, the Taoist priest who was expelled woke up early, but immediately changed his business on the spot to continue-this is much easier than fortune-telling, and the scope of business is not comparable to fortune-telling.

Turning around, Zhang Xing returned home with an empty basket. Qin Bao and Yueniang hadn’t come back yet, so he pasted the word “Fu” upside down, and then went to the courtyard to exercise his muscles and bones… Although it’s boring, there are some sayings… You must know After going out this trip, Zhang Sanlang also gained a new understanding because of Qin Bao's performance. Perhaps the great cultivation realms of Zhengmai, Qimai, Congealing Pill, Chengdan, and Grand Master will cause a qualitative gap in the martial power of practitioners, but Obviously, immediate kung fu, muscle and bone training, and weapon proficiency, like courage and will, are undoubtedly some terms on the line of life and death.

One of the most simple and straightforward manifestations is that although Zhang Xing relied on cheating to surpass Qin Bao, a well-recognized martial arts talent, in one of the main lines of cultivation, but if two people really wanted to fight for life and death, Zhang Xing didn't think he had two. Win with a probability of more than [-]%.

With a wave of the big iron spear, and then a gallop of the horse, Zhang Xing was absolutely invincible below the Zhengmai.

While practicing, someone knocked on the door suddenly, and opened the door, the puzzlement disappeared in an instant, the person who came was Zhou Xingfan, Mr. Zhou, who was coming to pay a visit with big bags and small bags in person.

Mr. Zhou's father is a confidant general who is properly used by the saint. His title and rank are not bad. Naturally, he has his own mansion in the eastern capital, but his family is in the south, and only dozens of servants stay here to take care of the house, Keep the real fire, so come here when you are free.

Only when they came here, they could only stand there stupidly, until Qin Bao and Yueniang came back, and there were people's voices in the yard, but it was already noon, so they hurried to cook again.

The so-called things like people coming and going, eating and drinking, talking about sleeping, and holidays are roughly like this.

In the evening, Zhou Xingfan, who had had two meals, took his leave first, and then, Qin Baozi put his mind on the weapon that Mr. Zhou gave as a gift, and Yueniang began to recalculate the firewood, rice, oil and salt at home, and Zhang Xing, as always, Start reading his novels.

However, as the sky was getting darker, the three of them went back to their rooms, and when they were about to go to sleep, Zhang Xing heard the obvious sound of the roof tiles above his head, so he got up helplessly, got dressed, and went out to climb up.

Sure enough, Bai Yousi sat on the roof early and waited for a long time. At the same time, there were two jugs of wine and a plate of cold-cut stewed beef.

"Happy New Year." Bai Yousi, dressed in men's attire, said with a smile, and threw a copper plate tied with a red string along the way.

"It's a good New Year's Eve for patrol inspections." Zhang Xing rarely had no bar, so he put away the copper plate and sat down with a slight clap of his hands.

Thinking about it, too, if I really said that I am one year older, I am afraid that I will be thrown off directly.

"Did you get better in the past few days?" Bai Yousi waited for the other party to sit down, and then directly raised the pot.

"It's good, it's good." Zhang Xing laughed dryly. "For Chinese New Year, coaxing the children, there is always something to talk about. I have done a lot of messy things..."

"Still worried about the Huaibei matter?"

"Yes."

"Why is this?"

"The focus is different from the values... Common people always regard the life and death of common people as the basis, and despise meat-eaters, just as meat-eaters always regard the rise and fall of meat-eaters as the basis, and regard common people as worthless... Besides, I am a small-minded person People who don’t deal with this matter from beginning to end will always feel intimidated.”

"I see."

"Do you understand the inspector?"

"Aren't you watching, studying?"

"In this way, it seems that I am biased."

"If you are not biased, where can you get into my eyes?"

"Isn't it mirroring each other? You have to learn and change."

"Right."

"Let's drink."

"Let's drink."

The two touched the jug, each of them just drank a breath of wine.

"However, you don't have to worry about it anymore. The matter of Chen Ling is not worth mentioning to the gentlemen of Nanya, but they have already made a decision to transfer him to the poisonous desert in the northwest guarding the witch clan... ...Let's see how he will be the leader of Jianghuai." After a while, Bai Yousi suddenly put down the wine pot with one hand, propped his chin and smiled. "Besides, after the next year we will deal with the Long Whale Gang's affairs, and we can drop by to announce the order..."

"I don't know if he dares to hate Jing'antai or the Bai family." This arrangement was a bit vulgar, but Zhang Xing liked it, so he was satisfied for a moment, but then thought of other things, and then shook his head in response. "However, didn't the inspector say he was going to Fulongwei?"

"There is such a saying." Bai Yousi answered frankly. "In Nanya, there has always been a general confrontation between Zhongcheng and Zhang Gong... Then my father went, and naturally formed an alliance with Zhang Gong... Do you understand?"

"Understood." Zhang Xing blurted out. "Zhongcheng is an old official left by the late emperor, and he is not the same as other old officials. He is naturally unshakable. He has become a pole in Nanya, and all the old officials are willing to obey him. And Zhang Gong's meritorious service in resisting the witch clan is today's sage. It was only established after enthronement, so this is a typical confrontation between old and new. As for Zunfu, although he is a noble from the Bai family, he came from under the command of the saint, and he is considered a new noble who was single-handedly promoted by the saint, so it roughly belongs to the newcomer."

"That's what I mean." Bai Yousi nodded repeatedly. "However, these are not obvious, and there are very few emotional disputes in Nanya. Before Zhongcheng and Zhang Gong had a grudge, in fact, they only had a dispute over the matter of conquering Dongyi. The two have never broken their faces... I Father also had some arguments with Zhongcheng because the sage insisted on building Mingtang and Tongtian Pagoda recently."

Zhang Xing naturally nodded.

To put it bluntly, the rulers of the empire in Nanya are all human beings, at least on the surface, they are still discussing the facts.

But obviously, this level of confrontation is likely to be just a private complaint, and once the corresponding department is convened to provide evidence, it will trigger fierce siding and confrontation below.

The most obvious thing is that since the beginning of last winter, the series of actions of the second patrol team, as well as the continuous encounters of Zhang Xing and others, are essentially inseparable from the small verbal dispute in Nanya Nei.

"What my father meant was that there is no need to tire me out with such a trivial matter, so, as early as after we went down to Jiangdong and encountered a murder case, he complained to Zhong Cheng in front of everyone during the lunch break in Nanya, and Zhong Cheng was killed by him. Hold on, you can only promise in public, and when I come back, I will be transferred to Fulongwei." Bai Yousi said slowly. "In fact, I also agreed, but I told my father and Zhongcheng that everything has a beginning and an end. After the Chinese New Year, I will take care of the affairs of the Changjing gang together, and then make their own transfers with Sima Zheng." .”

"Thank you very much." Zhang Xing was grateful from the bottom of his heart. He knew that the other party was fighting back for his promise.

"Not just for you...Of course it's also for you, but the words you promised that day were originally for what I asked for at the riverside that day. How could I ignore it because of emotion and reason?" Bai Yousi said with a light smile . "Besides, with all your strategies and decisions, you can't stop the sword of the second son of the Zuo family. If I don't go, who will kill this long whale for you?"

"Indeed." Perhaps because he was used to it, Zhang Xing was not too embarrassed. "But we can't always count on the inspectors to be my reliance and my shelter. I still have to work hard to improve my cultivation."

"Speaking of this." Bai Yousi suddenly asked. "Are you going to Fulongwei with me?"

Zhang Xing was silent for a long time before carefully asking: "I heard people say that Fu Longwei is just resting in Xiyuan, and occasionally comes out to serve as guards of honor and guards?"

"Fu Longwei is not as relaxed as you think." Bai Yousi laughed. "How can there be less troublesome things at the royal family? Zhang Xing..."

"Hey."

"The reason why I agreed to this matter is that, on the one hand, I also felt that Luo Fang's previous actions were too stingy and meaningless; on the other hand, because of some of your ordinary words, I wanted to get in touch with the real court and see the real ruler. What are you doing... Not to mention, when you arrive at Fulongwei, you can go to Langya Pavilion in Xiyuan to look up documents and documents, and know the real inside story of many things." Bai Yousi's eyes were burning, and he looked at Zhang Xing again, as if he was poaching Managers do. "Do you want to come?"

"I think." Zhang Xing simply agreed that it would be too pretentious to reject someone's kindness in this matter, especially when the other party made a promise to help him win some whale gang for Du Pozhen. "But if that's the case, did Fu Longwei enter whenever he wanted?"

"Of course not." Bai Yousi replied in relief. "Ordinary people go in, no matter what, there is a hard condition in terms of cultivation, and that is the Dzogchen of Zhengmai... So, according to the reason, in our patrol group, I can only take Big Brother Hu and Qian Tang there."

"Then what is it actually?" Zhang Xing couldn't help laughing when he heard the meaning of the words.

"Actually, Big Brother Hu had a grudge against me last time, so it's hard to get him to come and continue to help me." Bai Yousi replied lightly. "But at Fulongwei, because of the tradition, you can talk about your achievements..."

"I know." Zhang Xing couldn't help but let out a long breath, and interrupted him on the spot. "I also learned about the "Law of the Great Wei" in Jiangdong after the fact, and it is also the posthumous work of the late emperor... a penny can kill someone, but there are eight exceptions when discussing crimes. Discussion of meritorious service, honor, diligence, guests... Those who are officials of the ninth grade or above, those who are related to the emperor, those who the emperor thinks are talented, those of noble background, envoys of the four barbarians, and those with high enough cultivation can all be made public. Mitigating crimes and exempting crimes... This is just treating the people below as human beings... Forget it, I'm cynical again. It's not like this in any generation, but it's not as clear as in "The Law of the Great Wei". The inspector continued to say that .”

Bai Yousi shook his head: "Anyway, besides Qian Tang, Li Qingchen and Zhou Xingfan can discuss your merits, and you and Qin Bao can also discuss your merits... Especially you, this trip to drive the tiger across the river really shocked everyone. Everyone is praising you, you can go to the Huai River first, and then add the black ribbon when you come back, and then take the opportunity to discuss merits and transfer to Fulongwei, as for Qin Bao, it is actually a bit difficult, so you can only try with the white ribbon first."

"Very good." Zhang Xing nodded in agreement. "This is the arrangement for inspections."

Hearing Zhang Xing's promise, Bai Yousi wanted to say something more, but for some reason, he paused for a while, and just nodded lightly: "Zhang Sanlang, do you know? I thought that after this incident, you would leave me And go."

"Although the world is big, it's really hard to find a boss who is better than patrolling inspectors." Zhang Xing smiled wryly. "The road of life is difficult, and I have to temporarily borrow the inspection wings to cover it."

"Okay." Bai Yousi stood up and brought the wine right. "Let's support each other, let's go together again, and talk about it in the future."

As he spoke, Bai Yousi raised the jug, raised his head and drank it, and then jumped away.

Zhang Xing also sat on the ridge of the roof, drank a pot of wine in one gulp, but rubbed the copper plate in his hand, watching the night of the Eastern Capital City, not moving for a long time.

PS: The fifth day welcomes the God of Wealth, good night everyone.

(End of this chapter)