Chang'an: Qinglian Sword Song

Chapter 17: Three Antlers
Late night
In the roaring workshop, there is still a simple quiet room.

Lu Daoxuan leaned on his mechanical chair and stared at the round lake outside the window. Under the operation of countless lifting chains and a huge mechanism, the once smooth lake was constantly churning, as if it was boiling.

The heat surged from it, causing wisps of pale water vapor to rise from the lake water boiled by the high temperature of the furnace, and fly to the sky, but soon fell into the lake under the dense rain.

It seems that ghosts are wandering between heaven and earth, unable to escape.

Lu Daoxuan watched quietly, without saying a word.

In the long trance, it seems to be able to distinguish faces that were once so familiar, as well as scenes from the past, those outlines that have been covered by time and past events.

But soon, quickly disappeared without a trace, hiding in the depths of the mist...

Dissipates in rain and wind.

"It's raining." The old man murmured softly, lowering his eyes.

Behind him, there was a low knock on the door.

"teacher."

Xin Tong came back from the door, water was still dripping on the coir raincoat that he had not taken off: "The invitations have been sent out, but many families just sent gifts in return, saying that they are busy with their schedules and it is difficult to come. Many people in the workshop also Not good."

"Normal." Lu Daoxuan said calmly, "It's not time to bet yet, why should you be in a hurry?"

"and also……"

Xin Tong hesitated for a moment, "Young Minister of the Taifu would like to meet with you and have an important matter to discuss in detail."

Lu Daoxuan was silent for a long time, then shook his head: "Just say I'm tired, see you later."

"Doesn't the teacher care about what he wants to say?"

Lu Daoxuan laughed softly: "I'm a bad old man celebrating my birthday, should I change the date? Since I don't intend to listen anymore, what difference does it make if I see it or not?"

"...Then, the disciple will leave."

"Today, have a good rest." Lu Daoxuan turned his head back: "After tomorrow, I'm afraid there will be a lot of trouble."

Xin Tong nodded, turned around and took two steps, when he suddenly heard the screams from outside the rain curtain, as well as the neighing and wailing of the horses, his expression changed involuntarily.

But then, I heard the wind behind me.

The mechanism chair with eight legs was already carrying the old man, galloping towards the direction where the screams came from.

After passing through layers of rain curtains, through the thick water vapor, one could see the blood red spreading outside the workshop gate, as well as the few disciples who were limp in front of the gate.

And... bloody scenes.

Under the scouring of the torrential rain, patches of scarlet blood were rapidly spreading from that disintegrated body...

As if cut in half by an invisible sharp blade, the white horse galloping from the rainstorm received a tragic execution before the gate of the workshop.

The body that had been split in half was still convulsing.

The last remaining bit of heat turned into mist, rose from the rainstorm, and dissipated without a trace like a soul.

On the wall of the workshop, dozens of huge mechanical beasts lifted up from their slumber, with red lights of alarm appearing in their eyes, and lights on the huge steel torso shone into the rainstorm.

But nothing can be seen.

Under the dim light in front of the door, only blood was flowing continuously.

"What's going on?" Xin Tong subconsciously pressed the handle of the knife in his arms, and looked into the rain with sharp eyes, but found nothing.

"No, I don't know..."

The disciple guarding the gate turned pale, "That horse came here suddenly, my senior brother and I thought someone's horse was lost, and we were about to check it out, when suddenly, suddenly..."

Suddenly, the complete white horse fell apart in front of them.

Torn apart by invisible knives.

Broken into an unknown number of pieces.

Viscous blood spurted on their faces, carrying a strong stench.

Someone couldn't take it anymore, and threw up while holding the door frame.

Lu Daoxuan glanced back indifferently, and then his disciple helped the disgraceful guy to retreat.

But the scream sounded again.

When the lightning flashed, an erratic shadow emerged from the heavy rain, like a monster squatting in the rainstorm and wind, with ferocious edges and corners, choosing to devour people.

Above the deer-like outline, two hideous branches branched out from both sides of the head.

Eyes blood red.

As if sneering at them, he stared at Lu Daoxuan, raised his hand, and stroked across his neck.

The lightning flashed from the cloud again, but the strange figure disappeared again.

"Deer, antlers!"

someone exclaimed.

Xin Tong's face darkened in an instant, and he gave the guy who lost his voice a hard look, but the hearts of everyone present couldn't help but sink.

The bloody warning from Wu Yougong has undoubtedly reached everyone.

"Teacher...we..." The disciple who spoke pursed his dry lips: "What should we do?"

"It's just a group of young people who can't see the light. What's there to see? Finish cleaning up early and go back to sleep." Lu Daoxuan waved his sleeves coldly: "What are you afraid of? Before the old man dies, it's not your turn yet. .”

"But, this... thing..."

Someone looked at the broken white horse on the steps in front of the door. The white horse's eyes blinked with difficulty, and bloody tears dripped from the corners of the eyes.

It is still alive.

In the rainstorm, moaning in pain...

Lu Daoxuan was silent for a moment, then shook his head slightly: "To live is only to increase the pain, Xin Tong, give me the knife."

He stretched out his hand towards his student.

Xin Tong was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help shivering when he was looked at by those eyes. When he realized it, he had already put the short knife bought for five taels of silver a few days ago into the old man's hand.

The mechanism chair was lowered, and the skinny old man stood up on his knees, walked into the rainstorm beyond the steps, stretched out his hand, and pressed the white horse's neck.

The dancing rain fell on him.His pale hair also became embarrassing.

"rest in peace--"

Lu Daoxuan lowered his eyes and chanted softly.

Xin Tong stepped forward and was about to say something, but the next moment, his pupils were stung by the light of the knife, and the neck of the white horse had been slashed open by the old man, cutting it off neatly.

No more pain.

Everyone was stunned by the ferocious gesture shown by the old man, and even forgot to breathe for a moment.

But when Lu Daoxuan got up and went up, he didn't return the knife to his student.

It's just holding tightly with the skinny five fingers, staring coldly at the torrential rain in front of him, and the dark clouds that enveloped the sky and the earth, and the thunder light jumped.

After a long time, he turned and left.

No more words.

"antlers?"

The next day, in the morning, Li Bai, who came to the door after breakfast, got an unexpected message from Xun Qing who had already known the situation: "It appeared last night?"

"Yes, many people have seen it."

Xun Qing sat down, picked up the teapot next to Li Bai and poured it directly into his mouth, then took a breath, wiped his mouth and said, "Brother Xintong told me that many people in the workshop didn't dare to come this morning. The rest are like seeing a ghost."

Sitting on the chair, Li Bai could not help but click his tongue when he saw the pale faces of the disciples who came and went.

"If I had known I was squatting here last night, I could have done at least two tricks."

He had heard about the most elusive assassin in Chang'an City, the assassin whom countless people talked about, but it was a pity that he had never encountered it head-on.

He wanted to see, what kind of pretender likes to make trouble so much.

"Isn't that what assassins are all about, they catch them by surprise, hide deep and run fast, and expect this kind of guy to confront you head-on, I think you have a brain problem.

That's it, I'll go to work first, you remember to take care of Li Xiang... Li Xiang, be careful not to let him drink too much. "

Hearing Xin Tong's call in the distance, Xun Qing hurriedly gave some instructions, got up and left.

Seeing how busy he was, Li Bai couldn't help shaking his head.

Don't this guy use himself as an organ.

During this period of time, I didn't get enough sleep for two hours every day, and I kept spinning all day long, and problems would arise sooner or later after a long time.

After today, force him to take a good rest.

He has been busy all day long, and he is not the only one who has the final say on the reconstruction of Anlefang. Even if he burns his whole body as firewood, how many pots of water can be heated?
He sighed sympathetically, took out the jug and was about to take a sip, but after hearing the faint sound of water, Li Xiang, who was sitting next to him, turned his head, as if staring at him closely, embarrassing Li Bai for a while.

It was replaced by a teacup.

Outside the box, there was the melodious sound of silk and bamboo, as well as the hustle and bustle of people coming and going.

This place is not a dusty workshop that roars constantly every day, nor is it a good place to celebrate birthdays.On his birthday, Mr. Lu, who had always been simple, spent a lot of money in a rare way, and bought the best song building in Changlefang - Jiuxiao Pavilion, and entertained guests from all over the world.

Now there is a lot of traffic in front of the gate, people come and go, it is still early for the birthday banquet at noon, but I don't know how many people come and go.

Xun Qing and Xin Tong, who came to welcome the guests, kept busy to invite the guests in.

As the top mechanism master in Chang'an, Lu Daoxuan had a wide range of friends, needless to say, there were countless dignitaries and dignitaries coming at this moment, and as soon as he entered the door, he was invited to the private room upstairs to play cards and listen to music.

And those old relatives and friends who have been taking care of Anlefang survivors were not neglected, they sat closely around the round table in the wide hall, kneading Xuanyong's melon seeds, drinking Jixia's incense slices, listening to the soft words on the stage above. The Pingtan of the song is also chatting happily.

There were many more people, who did not enter the door.

Those men, women and children who hurried from all over Chang'an put down their congratulatory gifts at the door and left in a hurry.Many survivors who were not very well dressed in commoner clothes just lingered outside the door for a while, asking Xun Qing and Xin Tong to congratulate Lord Daoxuan on their behalf, and then wanted to leave.

Soon, under Xin Tong's arrangement, a row of long tables and stoves were set up in front of the door of Jiuxiao Pavilion.No matter who comes to say congratulations, no matter how old or young, high or low, they can eat a bowl of birthday noodles in front of the door before leaving, which can be regarded as entertaining old friends on behalf of Lu Gong.

At this moment, Li Bai looked down from the window, and couldn't help but be amazed at the crowds of people on the long street and the countless happy faces.

Lu Daoxuan's status in the hearts of the survivors of Anlefang can be seen.

Not to mention the care and protection for so many years, now knowing that Lu Gong is so old, he is still desperate, and wants to run for the owner of the workshop and win a place for them, who can remain unmoved?

Whether as a benevolent junior, or a friend of Xun Qing, even if he is a passerby, Li Bai does not intend to stand idly by.

Therefore, regardless of whether it is antlers or horns, if you want to pretend to be a ghost, you must pass his level first!
While he was drinking tea silently, he heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs slowly approaching, the bead curtain was raised, revealing a handsome face, smiling at him.

"Brother Taibai, you are indeed here!"

"Sir?"

Li Bai was surprised for a while, "Aren't you not coming?"

Shangguan Rong shook his head and smiled: "I didn't intend to come, but I heard that there is a rare excitement here to see, and I feel that it's a pity not to come... It's really hard to make a choice. Later, when I thought that Brother Taibai was here, I wondered whether I would come here or not." There will be some good poems, so I hurriedly rolled up my pen and ink and went out."

He sat down in the private room, and he didn't look up to the top like those literati in Qujiangfang. After seeing Li Xiang next to him, he smiled and greeted him, and he didn't dislike sitting with the musicians. identity of.

Li Xiang also expressed his gratitude to this noble man who introduced him to work in Qujiangfang.

After the brief polite greetings, Shangguan didn't touch the melon seeds on the table, just held tea and enjoyed the performance on the stage downstairs, and sighed softly: "The momentum is so huge, it seems that Lu Gong is determined to run for Fangzhu."

"Ok?"

Li Bai was puzzled: "Although Mr. Lu never concealed it, he just celebrated his birthday, so why did he get mixed up with Fangzhu's campaign?"

"You guy, you really don't know or you don't know?"

Shangguan glanced at him in astonishment, remembering that this guy was a stunned young man who only came to Chang'an a month ago, and couldn't help but shake his head with emotion: "For a passer-by like Brother Taibai, these rules of Chang'an are indeed far away."

As he said that, Shangguan dipped his hand into some tea and daubed it on the table. Soon, a rough map of Chang'an City from top to bottom appeared in front of them.

"Chang'an has a total of four gates, which are the four gates of Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu. In the middle, Zhuque Street runs through from top to bottom. The most convenient are the heavenly palaces such as Weiyang Palace and Taiji Palace. And countless squares and cities follow Chang'an. Organs that work and move.

Having said that, there are actually many kinds of square markets, such as the living square groups such as Chonghua Square, Guangde Square and Huaiyuan Square, the entertainment square groups such as Pingkang Square and Changle Square, and even the east and west markets. Tongbahuang handles a large number of commercial workshops every day, as well as Chongrenfang, a group of workshops where mechanism masters gather..."

With his outline and introduction, Li Bai quickly established the general outline of Chang'an City in his mind.After Shangguan's explanation, the regulations are clearly distinguished and detailed, which is much better than that guy Xun Qing.

"Brother Taibai, do you know what is the biggest innovation in the world today, different from Yang and Li?" Shangguan asked.

It is rare for a Shangguan to have such an upright and serious expression, which made Li Bai's originally slack attitude serious:
"All ears—"

"In the past few years, there have been countless government orders and measures, large and small, but the one that has had the greatest impact on Chang'an is the breaking of the old customs of the past and entering the era of 'Fang City Autonomy'."

Shangguan said solemnly: "Since then, all the workshop owners in Chang'an City have the authority to manage and judge their own workshops. The competition among workshop owners is so intense."

Shangguan said solemnly: "Every market is an important resource for Chang'an. Every time a new market is born, there will be a round of tragic battles. Each group of workshops and workshop owners will also want to expand their own power to participate in the competition. , not to mention those big spenders and more competitors.

Therefore, during this period of time, all competitors will show their abilities, hoping to be able to reach the heavens and be appointed by His Majesty.If His Majesty has not decided on a candidate, then the owners of each city will negotiate. If it cannot be decided, the polo team from the organization that is running for the city will come out and conduct a large-scale league to determine the outcome. "

"Is there still a ball to watch?"

Li Bai?With joy in my heart, I immediately looked forward to it.

Chang'an's organ polo is a special event not found in other places!He has been fascinated for a long time!
(End of this chapter)