Nine idlers

Chapter 170

Yang Yuting acted swiftly and resolutely. For a while, officials in Zhili, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and outside the customs were all sacked, and the merchants involved were also raided.The offspring of the Zhou family were hit the hardest. The children and relatives of the family were arrested one after another, and various shops were also confiscated and closed.Fortunately, they still have some foundations to support them, but in Zhili, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, their reputation is completely stink, and finally they have to move their family westward to Sichuan to avoid the limelight.

After this incident, a power vacuum was formed in the Zhoujiazhai area.I don't know if Yang Yuting did it on purpose. He recommended some relatives of the Zhou family's direct line to those vacant official positions, and only asked Zhou Zhenglin to pay a small amount of money, so he got back those who originally belonged to the Zhou family's collateral line. Land shop.After everything subsided, the direct lineage of the Zhou family regained the right to be eroded by the sidelines of the Zhou family one by one over the years. Family is gradually brought into the vortex of secular power struggle.

Chen Yuanshan helped Zhou Zhenglin a lot in stabilizing the Zhou family. Not only was he superb in Taoism, but he was also very good at dealing with mundane affairs.In order to calm the panic of the people, he and Zhou Qinglan put on a show of catching ghosts and exorcising evil spirits, and then built a temple specially for the dead Li nationality woman, so that the people of Zhoujiazhai could have a place to appease their fear.

After the Zhoujiazhai incident subsided, Chen Yuanshan and Zhou Qinglan assisted Zhou Zhenglin and his wife to take the Shangqing Yunqi Pill, so that the power of the medicine could be fully absorbed by them, and they themselves also took the pill. , to retreat and consolidate the gains of these days.On the third day after retreating, they took advantage of the night to leave Zhoujiazhai together, leaving only a message saying that they would travel around to find the trail of the Dao, and contact Zhou Zhenglin when they settled down.

After experiencing a series of accidents, the two elders of the Zhou family fell ill one after another. Fortunately, the elixir left by Xu Changqing saved their lives.After one illness, they all seemed to have a great realization, and handed over all the family rights to the younger generation, and then went to Hengshan to live in seclusion with Mrs. Zhou and Mrs. Zhang.And the small buildings in Hanyue Xiaoyuan in Zhouzhuang collapsed inexplicably on the second day after Mrs. Zhou left, and all the plants in the garden withered one after another, only a bamboo forest still stood there.

In the capital, the people still live as before, working from day to day and resting from sunset, everyone is busy with life.All kinds of strange things that happened in the capital a month ago have gradually calmed down, many people have forgotten about them, and various new topics have gradually replaced them, becoming the talk of the people in the capital after dinner.

In the power struggle of the Qing court, Zaifeng, who had broken free from the shackles of the Xuangang Heavenly Demon, did not fully grasp the real power. The Beiyang faction headed by people.Although Zaifeng has the greatest real power among the three forces, Yi Kuang, who has always been at odds with the Beiyang faction, somehow joins forces with Xu Shichang, which makes Zaifeng weak in the court.Fortunately, neither Xu Shichang nor Yi Kuang intended to monopolize power, nor did they excessively suppress and coerce Zaifeng. The power within the Qing court was temporarily in a state of balance, and no one wanted to break it.

The biggest news in the capital right now is that Zhang Zhidong, the last pillar of the Qing court, is about to die.Ever since Zhang Zhidong had a falling out with Zaifeng, his heart has become depressed and his health has been deteriorating, but even so, he can still walk around. People in the capital can see him in Liulichang and Xiyuanzi from time to time.But this time, Zhang Zhidong seemed to be dying. The illness came suddenly. He was fine the night before, but he became unconscious the next morning.After a week, Zhang Zhidong was able to wake up for a while after the fever went down, even though he was hanged with drugs, but everyone knew that this was just a flashback, and he definitely wouldn't last this summer.In Zhang's mansion, Zhang Zhidong's wife and children began to help him prepare for his funeral according to the custom. Everything, such as the coffin, the mourning hall, and the location of the yin house, was being prepared nervously, just waiting for his death.

That night, Zhang Zhidong's fever subsided again, he regained some energy, and drank two bowls of porridge, which was rare. After talking with him for a while, the daughter-in-law who took care of him went back to the house to rest went.After his daughter-in-law left, three figures descended from the sky and landed on the door of Zhang Zhidong's bedroom lightly like feathers. The guards at the door stood there straight as if they couldn't see anything, Very weird.

At this time, the tall and thin figure bowed his head to the two short figures, and said, "You two wait outside the door, don't run around, lest you run out of the road map and be seen by others."

"Yes, Master!" The two short figures had a very immature accent, and they should be two children.After answering, the slightly taller one led the other one, walked to the side stone steps and sat down, then took out a piece of meat bun from the bag and ate it.

At this moment, a guard of the Zhang residence who was guarding the door suddenly shrugged his nose, took a deep breath, frowned and said, "It's strange, why there is such a strong smell of meat buns all of a sudden?"

Another guard with a rosaceous nose also took a deep breath, smiled, and said, "How can there be a smell? I think it's probably because you haven't eaten tonight and are hungry, and you have an illusion. How about I help you bear it first, Go to the kitchen and get something to eat."

"No need." The guard scanned the yard with his eyes, but turned a blind eye to the three people in front of him. He seemed to find nothing, shook his head, looked puzzled, and muttered to himself: "Maybe it's really an illusion. .”

Hearing the conversation between the two guards, the tall figure turned his head to look at the apprentice on the side, and that apprentice also knew that he had done something wrong, so he couldn't help shrinking his neck and sticking out his tongue playfully.The tall figure sighed, shook his head, did not say a word to reprimand him, stepped forward, pushed open the door, and walked in, but the two guards at the door did not notice anything.

After entering the room, the man walked straight to Zhang Zhidong's bed, looked down at the old man with sunken cheeks surrounded by death, sighed, and said, "Why are you doing this?"

Zhang Zhidong seemed to be able to hear the man's voice, and slowly opened his eyes. After seeing the person clearly through the moonlight, a trace of relief flashed across his face, and he said, "You are here. I didn't expect this old man to die. Before, I could still see you. Changqing!"

These three figures are Xu Changqing's master and apprentice. After the three left Zhoujiazhai that day, they planned to go back to Tianjin directly, but Xu Changqing saw the news of Zhang Zhidong's critical illness published in the newspaper on the way, and knew that Zhang Zhidong was in danger. His final day is not far away.Therefore, he decided to stop in the capital for a last look at the enlightenment teacher who taught him the method of resourcefulness and contingency.

"Sir!" Xu Changqing didn't call Zhang Zhidong by the usual name, but changed to the name he used when he was a child when he was studying.

Hearing Xu Changqing's address, Zhang Zhidong's eyes lit up slightly, his face became more rosy, and he smiled gratifiedly, and said, "I have no regrets to hear you call me Mr. again!"

Xu Changqing took a glass of water from the side, drew a god-raising talisman, came to the head of the bed, helped Zhang Zhidong up, and fed him to drink. Zhang Zhidong's complexion immediately became a little bit better, and his spirit also recovered one time.Xu Changqing knew that this Taoist talisman could only work temporarily, and could not solve the root cause. Zhang Zhidong's lifespan was exhausted, and Taoism and immortality could not solve it.

"Why did you come?" Zhang Zhidong leaned on the cushion on the bed, looked at Xu Changqing, and said.

"I heard the news that I was critically ill, so I rushed over here. This may be the last time we see each other." The two were silent for a moment, Xu Changqing sighed again, and said, "You already know that the end is coming, so you should enjoy yourself in time." Yes, why bother with those mundane affairs?"

"You already know!" Zhang Zhidong was slightly taken aback, and smiled wryly.

"I guessed it." Xu Changqing said with a blank face, "Although you have a limit, sir, you still don't have such a disease. If the disease didn't enter the body, there is a high probability that you will be popular."

"Heh!" Zhang Zhidong let out a long breath with a bitter look on his face, as if he was about to spit out all the resentment in his heart, and finally said: "Zaifeng is a waste beyond gold and jade!" Xu Changqing did not speak, quietly Hearing Zhang Zhidong say: "If Zaifeng hadn't wanted to monopolize the power back then, he would have listened to me and united with the Beiyang faction, how could he have fallen into today's predicament. Now the Beiyang faction and Yi Kuang are united, growing stronger and stronger Consolidation, I'm afraid it won't be long before Zaifeng will be made an empty title regent by them."

"How can the general trend of heaven be reversed by ordinary people!" Xu Changqing said in a light tone of relief, "it's not a fault of war, sir, he has done his best! For the Manchu court, sir, he has a clear conscience and no need to blame himself!"

"You have a clear conscience?" Zhang Zhidong smiled bitterly, his eyes were slightly closed, his expression was changing, as if he was recalling his own life and past.Suddenly he opened his eyes suddenly, stared at Xu Changqing, and said, "Tell me honestly, the reason why that old devil is against the sky is because he wants to continue the fortune of my Qing Dynasty?"

Xu Changqing froze for a moment, nodded slightly, and said, "Yes! Most of what he did was for the fate of the Qing Dynasty."

Zhang Zhidong looked at Xu Changqing with a complicated expression, but finally smiled and said, "You have already graduated!"

"Well! I know!" Xu Changqing also smiled and nodded.

A trace of fatigue flashed across Zhang Zhidong's face, he didn't let Xu Changqing help him, he lay down with his body propped up, closed his eyes slightly, and gave Xu Changqing a silent dismissal order.Xu Changqing also understood what Zhang Zhidong meant, covered him with a thin blanket, turned around and prepared to leave.When he got to the door, Zhang Zhidong suddenly said: "Help me train Sanbao well, don't hide your secrets, you owe me this."

Xu Changqing turned around and looked at Zhang Zhidong, nodded slightly, then walked out of the room and closed the door with his own hands.

Seeing Xu Changqing coming out, Huang Shan quickly ate the steamed buns in his hands, looked around, as if looking for a place to wipe his hands, and finally wiped them on his body, then smiled innocently and asked: " Master, where are we going next?"

Xu Changqing smiled and 'touched' the heads of the Huang family brothers and sisters, and said, "Go home! Let's go home!"