lying down

In the second year of Zhenguan, the night of the New Year's Eve was soft and snowy. It seemed that the continuous heavy snow had exhausted the heavens. Tonight, it simply took advantage of the New Year's Eve to send a good weather.

There are mostly shops on both sides of North Street and South Street, and few people rent here.And behind this shop are crowded houses.

From time to time, children's excited shouts came from the nearby alleys, followed by the muffled sound of firecrackers and the barking of dogs.These voices covered up the eight brothers' swift footsteps.

All eight of them were dressed in all black night clothes, with only two eyes exposed.A group of people scurried around, picking up some corners and dark walls to cover their figures and advancing quickly.

Ouyang was at the forefront of the team, followed by Ge Ye.It was the first time for everyone to act in such a mysterious way, and they were inevitably a little nervous and excited.

Seeing Ouyang's right hand suddenly raised to make a fist, everyone immediately squatted against the wall, holding their breath and silence, as if these eight people were part of the night, blending into it without distinguishing each other.

Ge Ye reached out and patted Ouyang on the shoulder, signaling to ask.Ouyang squinted his eyes for a closer look, and pointed at the entrance of the Wuguang Alley five feet away from his head.

After a few breaths, an old man came out of the darkness that Ouyang was referring to. He was carrying a small wooden hammer and a gong in one hand, and was busy tying his trouser belt with the other. After finishing his trousers and thick jacket, he looked around.Seeing that no one was around, he rang the big gong slowly, "Boom!——Boom! Boom! The midnight is approaching, be careful with the candle—"

The long singing was instantly covered by a sudden whistling north wind.The old man who reported the watch shrank his neck from the cold and continued on his way.After a while, he crossed the street and turned into the alley opposite, but disappeared.

Song Ye secretly praised in his heart: This kid has good eyesight!

At this time, everyone was on South Street, and they could vaguely see the appearance of Yishenglan Restaurant under the night light from thirty feet away.Two wind lanterns were hung at the main entrance of the restaurant, swaying back and forth in the night wind, dimming and brightening.But there was no light in the restaurant, it was pitch black, like a monster lying in the ice and snow and choosing to eat people.

Ge Ye's raised fist turned into a palm shape, stretched out four fingers and nodded to the right.Ge Ye looked at it, got up and took Goro Qilang and Song Jingang to lean over and rush, sticking to the shadow of the alley across the street.

Ouyang got up at the same time, the two teams pressed their steps lightly, and slowly moved to Yishenglan Restaurant.

Twenty feet, ten feet, eight feet, two feet...the eight people could already clearly see Yi Shenglan's appearance, and they all stopped.Everyone lurked quietly, listening to the movement around them with their ears closed.

When it was time for tea, Ouyang tore off the black headscarf and face scarf, and handed the coiled dragon stick to the fourth brother Pan Jiang behind him.He took out another bottle of wine from his bosom, leaned against the wall and walked towards the restaurant from the shadows.

I saw his footsteps were flimsy, swaying left and right, walking four steps and one step back, crooked like soft mud.The whole look of a drunk.

"Wine, come on, let's do it...Xiao Hong, you can leave without me, but I, uh, I still have good wine to accompany me. Haha-uh~" He hiccupped while walking, stumbled Go to the main entrance of Yishenglan Restaurant.

The other seven people hid in the dark and watched Ouyang's "performance". At this time, the night was dark again, and they might not be able to find that they were hiding on the side of the street after staring at it for a long time.Everyone was sweating in their hearts, for fear that Ouyang Xing would make a mistake and beat this matter up.

Ouyang walked towards the main entrance for a few steps, pretending that his feet were empty. "Plop" fell to the ground, unable to hold the wine bottle in his hand, and rolled to the side with a gurgle, the wine spilled out glisteningly.

"Bastard, bastard, who are you, trip me up! Don't even save me the wine, give me back the wine, don't grab it!" He said with two jujubes that had been prepared under his tongue. He slurred his speech like the tongue of a real drunk.After crawling and rolling a few times, he has arrived at the main entrance of Yishenglan Restaurant. He patted the sky in the snow for a few times to pretend to be dazzled. Finally, he touched the wine bottle and hurriedly held it in his arms. average.Mumbling and cursing some nasty words in his mouth again, he snored loudly after a while, and fell asleep.

On the second floor of the residence diagonally opposite Yishenglan Restaurant, Xu Shiji was still standing by the window, holding a cup of tea with one hand, stroking his forehead with the other hand, and watching Ouyang's every movement carefully.

Behind him are still the generals who were scolded miserably yesterday, but this time they no longer stand there like decorative pillars, but found a secret but easy-to-observe position in the house to watch what happened there,

A lieutenant in the far right corner couldn't help frowning when he saw this, and asked softly to the captain next to him: "Since he chose to make a surprise attack, why did he pretend to be crazy and show up? Isn't this revealing his whereabouts and abolishing his martial arts?" !"

"Look, don't rush to draw conclusions. He probably did it on purpose. He must have his intentions. We can discuss it after reading it patiently." The captain next to him replied in a low voice. One of the generals who agree with everyone.

In the second-floor attic where needles could be heard, the two people's low-key discussions were transmitted to the ears of everyone and Xu Shiji.

The corners of Xu Shiji's mouth turned up, he gently picked up the tea and blew away the tea leaves on the water surface, and gulped down a mouthful of scalding tea.I thought to myself: "These boys have finally opened up...".After the tea entered the abdomen, a wave of heat scattered all over the body, reducing the pain from Xu Shiji's old cold legs.Without turning his head, he spit out four words: "Zheng Qi Xiang Fu!" After speaking, he swallowed another sip of tea.

The generals listened, combined with what they saw in front of them, they seemed to realize something but they were hazy, and hurriedly looked out the window...

Ouyang leaned against the main entrance of Yishenglan Restaurant, snoring up and down very rhythmically.The outsider seemed to be sleeping soundly, but he put his ear against the door to catch every movement.First, there were a few muffled footsteps from the second floor, and after a while, the sound of "thumping" coming downstairs, and then quickly went away until it could not be heard.Before it was time for a cup of tea, the sound of footsteps gradually approached, but it no longer sounded hurried, it was already calm.Ouyang smiled in his heart, he had roughly guessed the situation inside.

When Ouyang was selling madly to drunks on the street, a window on the second floor of Yishenglan Restaurant quietly opened a gap, and a pair of eyes saw everything in front of Ouyang in the dark.When the snoring sounded, he hurriedly turned and ran downstairs to the study in the backyard.

In the study room in the backyard, there were two people sitting behind two short tables, one was the shopkeeper who dealt with Ouyang yesterday, and the other was the fat man who had talked with Di Yongye, the former chief steward of Di's mansion, at the back door of Di's mansion.

"Brother Xu, you really know how to choose a date. I don't know why you come here for the New Year's Eve?" The shopkeeper who was a few short behind was a little impatient, and his tone was not kind.

The person on the opposite side called "Brother Xu" chuckled, the fat on his face twitched three times and continued: "If you don't choose today, what day will you choose? This is the safest time, since last time don't drive Zhang Wei to death , my lord has already withdrawn, and I am now in charge of the east of the river. What's the matter? Could it be that you don't pay attention to my word 'Xu Jiaren'?!"

The shopkeeper took the tea to hide the embarrassment in his heart, and turned his tone slightly to ask: "Since this is the case, I can't say anything. What's the matter today, just tell me!"

Xu Jiaren smiled, and said in a hoarse voice: "It's nothing big, but since we launched the 'grain war', there seems to be no movement on your side. Being disturbed by a child, alas—what can I say?!"

"You!..." The shopkeeper was sitting on his knees, but suddenly he was about to stand up, but he held back his seat after thinking about it, and looked at Xu Jiaren opposite him like a poisonous snake.Gritting his teeth, he said, "We lost hundreds of masters! That's because a rare old master appeared. The information you gave was inaccurate, but he bit us instead. Why is that!"

"Okay, okay, I don't bother to calculate so much. Let's just say, do you want to join hands with him once in the next year, and you should prepare early now, you..." He was about to continue, but was caught A report from outside the door interrupted.

"Shopkeeper, there is a drunk lying down outside the door of our restaurant." The visitor reported what he saw in detail through the gatekeeper.

Before the shopkeeper made a sound, Xu Jiaren smiled contemptuously and said, "A drunken man would scare you like this, I really don't know much about it. Don't worry about this New Year's Eve, I don't know what to be afraid of."

Hearing this, the shopkeeper's face almost turned purple. After thinking for a moment, he said in a deep voice, "Go, ignore that drunk!"

After finishing talking and returning to the short table, I continued to talk about the plan with Xu Jiaren...

Ge Ye and the others were lying on the sides, seeing that the hour was almost halfway through, they couldn't help feeling anxious.If the time is delayed, even if the operation goes smoothly, it will be regarded as a loss, and the "special forces" will come to naught?

While thinking about it, he suddenly saw Ouyang's right hand palming down urgently.

Everyone's spirits were lifted, and they thought in their hearts, "It's finally started!"

The seven people moved in two groups, Ge Ye led the two to outflank the back door, Qilang and Zhao Danyang jumped under the dead trees on both sides, climbed three times and jumped up to the top of the tree, took out the bow and arrow behind them, stared down at the entire restaurant and the backyard .Pan Jiang weighed the barrier knife in his hand, took Ouyang's coiling dragon stick and ran to Ouyang and squatted down.The "free man" Qin Feng was still squatting in the shadows, not knowing what he was thinking.

Ouyang got up and waited for a few breaths.He took out the military dagger in his arms, cut in from the bottom of the door and slid upwards, reaching waist height, when resistance came from the military dagger.Ouyang slowed down, carefully twisted the dagger in his hand to push up the door latch, and pushed the door inward with the five fingers of his left hand as if inserting it into the door. Pushing with his left hand, lifting with his right, until the front door was half open, Ouyang threw the dagger upwards violently with his right hand. The door bolt, opened the door with his left hand and grabbed it into the air, holding the door bolt tightly in his hand.

This series of movements did not make a sound, and Pan Jiang, who was behind him, clicked his tongue, thinking to himself: "This is even more of a snitch than a snitch!"

On the diagonally opposite second floor, everyone including Xu Shiji's eyes lit up, and they couldn't help being greatly amazed.

Ouyang and Pan Jiang stepped into the lobby on the first floor, closed the door gently, and pushed the bolt back.Sticking to the counter and groping for the stairs, the two were the main force attacking from the front. They had already considered the problem of footsteps after entering the door, and stuck a few thick layers of animal fur to the bottom of the soft boots to eliminate the sound as much as possible. effect.

Ouyang took the Panlong stick, bit the general's dagger in his mouth, and crouched halfway up the stairs.

As soon as I went up half a floor, I suddenly heard a "squeak", as if the door upstairs opened, and I heard two people walking towards the stairs, speaking Turkic in a low voice!

The two were in the middle of the stairs, and they were in an extremely embarrassing position.

Ouyang frowned, his thoughts turned.He handed the stick to Pan Jiang to signal him to step back and wait below without making a sound.And he took three or four steps back to the stairs to deliberately make footsteps.

There is no light or fire in the building, and the faces can only be identified by the dim moonlight, and the faces cannot be seen clearly.

As Ouyang went upstairs, he casually said in a few Turkic words he had learned at home with Ge Ye: "Mengdusi!" (Note 1)

The two who had already descended a few steps were startled in the dark, but they immediately relaxed when they heard their own words. While walking, they looked at the black shadow coming up and asked dissatisfiedly, "Squeeze!?" (Note 2 )

Ouyang continued to move forward, and when he was about to walk in front of the two of them, he groaned angrily. When the two of them stopped there with puzzled expressions on their faces, he pounced on him, drew out his military dagger and stuck it on the neck of one of them, and hugged him tightly with his arms. Twisting his head vigorously, the sound of "crack" and the splash of blood frightened the other person to stay on the spot. Ouyang's pupils shrank, his killing intent surged, he pulled out the military dagger and slammed it upwards!

Note 1: Mengdusi——munduz is a transliteration, which means "fool" in Turkic.

Note 2: Yaa ga—transliteration of yaa ga, meaning “what”.