Life in siheyuan era

It was past nine o'clock in the evening, and the building was still silent.

Zhou Zhiyuan slowly walked up the stairs, stopping to carefully observe each floor.

His intuition had greatly improved after the Yin Formation incident, but not as much as Chengzi's gains.

The orange thread had been strengthened by the spiritual energy of the jade Ruyi, and greatly condensed in the Yin Formation. A thin thread had become a cotton thread, which was now traveling through his meridians, carrying the aura of spring.

This aura activated his meridians, like willow branches sprouting, waiting for green leaves to emerge.

This state filled his whole body with vitality, as if every cell was dancing joyfully.

Feeling this state, Zhou Zhiyuan desperately wanted to see Daoist Zhang, but Shen Lanbo told him, "Daoist Zhang went into seclusion after returning."

Shen Lanbo didn't know why Daoist Zhang went into seclusion, but guessed that he was studying the layout of the Yin Formation.

And Shen Jue and Section Chief Luo certainly knew that their suggestion was to put the Fangshan area under military control.

The fact that the higher-ups had not made a decision yet might also be related to Daoist Zhang's seclusion.

This was Shen Lanbo's guess, but Zhou Zhiyuan didn't consider this issue. For him, he needed to find that object before going to Fangshan.

This was his idea. After the poison needle incident, he added another urgent task: find the person who assassinated him and eliminate them.

But the assassin was still in hiding. His goal was still to locate the source within this building.

That was his personality; once he grabbed a thread, he would follow it to the end, never stopping until he found the end of the line.

Tonight was an opportunity. He sent Shen Lanyin home and came to this building alone, walking up the stairs.

He came to the seventh floor to feel around, knowing that Han Xue was not home. He continued up the stairs, opened the door to this room, entered, sat in a chair, and entered a state of silence.

After a while, a chanting sound suddenly came.

The sound was sometimes near, sometimes far, ethereal and indistinct, like a young male role in Peking opera. Only the following could be heard: "Ah, while speaking, I've arrived at the City God Temple. I've heard that the City God is very effective. I'll go in and make a wish, so that the ghost won't follow me. That's the idea, I'll just walk around here."

After the recitative, the sound disappeared, followed by a whimper.

Zhou Zhiyuan slowly stood up, his toes slightly curled into cat claws, his feet seemingly stepping on two small springs, lightly bouncing up. He instantly came to the door, gently pushed it open, flashed out, stepped onto the narrow stairs, and silently walked to the roof, where a illusory figure appeared before him.

This figure seemed to be shrouded in a cloud of green mist, suspended in mid-air, half-squatting, holding its head, and making a whimpering sound.

Seeing this illusory figure, Zhou Zhiyuan quickly scanned his surroundings, then gently walked forward, came to the cloud of green mist, and slowly extended his right hand.

His right hand passed through the figure's body, but the figure was unaware, still half-squatting and whimpering.

"An illusion?" The question arose in Zhou Zhiyuan's mind. He slowly retracted his arm, raised the Star Chart, and the orange thread entered his Yintang acupoint. His eyes slowly widened as he looked carefully.

He wanted to see the true face of this figure, but in the blur, he could only see its shape as human, but he didn't know if it was male or female, let alone its age.

Zhou Zhiyuan couldn't see the figure clearly, but the figure didn't know he was nearby, its whimper filled with sorrow and helplessness.

Hearing this sound, Zhou Zhiyuan made a judgment: "It should be a young person."

Then, he had Chengzi emit another orange thread, which instantly entered the four fingers of his right hand, and he slowly reached out to grab the cloud of green mist.

Just then, two footsteps came, and the green mist suddenly turned into a wisp of smoke and drifted away. Zhou Zhiyuan quickly accelerated his grab, but failed to catch it.

Watching the wisp of smoke quickly disappear into the night sky, Zhou Zhiyuan sighed softly, lowered his arm, looked up at the starry sky, and heard Han Xue's voice behind him: "Zhou Zhiyuan, what are you doing here?"

Hearing this voice, Zhou Zhiyuan seemed to wake up suddenly. He quickly turned around and looked back, saw two figures walking over, and quickly replied: "Section Chief Han, this is..."

Following Han Xue was Li Bo, a tall and handsome young man.

Han Xue introduced them to each other, and then asked: "Zhou Zhiyuan, you haven't answered the question, what are you doing here?"

"Looking at the stars." Zhou Zhiyuan raised his left index finger and pointed to the sky.

He came to see the night view, but in Han Xue and Li Bo's eyes, he saw five words: "I believe you, my foot."

They didn't believe it, so Zhou Zhiyuan didn't need to explain, because he didn't believe it either.

But he had to pretend to believe it, looked up at the starry sky, pointed to the east and said loudly: "Look, that's the Big Dipper. Back when I was a soldier in the plateau, I had to observe the celestial phenomena every time I patrolled..."

Zhou Zhiyuan's astronomical knowledge was quite rich, especially his mastery of the myths of the Big Dipper. At this time, he spoke fluently, "It is said that Emperor Renzong of Song was a reincarnation of the barefoot immortal. The Jade Emperor, in order to protect his imperial luck, arranged for Bao Zheng, the Wenqu Star Lord in the Big Dipper, and Di Qing, the Wuqu Star Lord, to descend to earth to assist him..."

He had read a lot of books, and there was absolutely no problem in telling a myth.

But Li Bo couldn't listen anymore and opened his mouth to say: "Comrade Zhou Zhiyuan..."

He wanted to interrupt Zhou Zhiyuan, but Zhou Zhiyuan waved his hand at him and continued: "Emperor Renzong of Song kept crying as soon as he was born. The Jade Emperor was annoyed by his noise and hurriedly ordered the two star lords, Wenqu and Wuqu, to be quickly reincarnated..."

Zhou Zhiyuan was telling the story endlessly. Han Xue reacted at this time and hurriedly said: "Zhou Zhiyuan, you are admiring the starry sky here, let's go."

After saying this, Han Xue turned around and left. Li Bo glanced at Zhou Zhiyuan, then turned around and left.

But Zhou Zhiyuan frowned. Han Xue's performance made him hesitate whether to tell her.

Tonight, he encountered another incredible thing. The narration of this illusory figure was related to ghosts and monsters. According to what it said, it seemed to be entangled by ghosts and monsters.

These creatures were different from Prince Rui. Prince Rui should be a higher creature from another world, while ghosts and monsters were creatures in this world that were not recognized by humans.

That's what he thought. Then, he thought carefully, looked around again, and then let Chengzi track it. He walked down the roof to look at the door of the room, knowing that his hasty action had a loophole: the door was not locked.

The residents of this building might be the first people to install hidden locks, but this house did not install a hidden lock. Han Xue knew he was coming when she saw that there were no bronze generals guarding the door.

Fortunately, Han Xue did not enter the room. The room had not been exposed. He went to the roof to check it out, but he didn't expect to meet him on the roof.

Zhou Zhiyuan said he was watching the starry sky. Han Xue certainly didn't believe it, but she didn't know what Zhou Zhiyuan had discovered?

And Li Bo didn't believe it even more. The two walked downstairs, and Li Bo asked in a low voice: "What is your colleague doing here?"

Han Xue hadn't mentioned Zhou Zhiyuan to him. Li Bo heard the name for the first time and felt that this person was mysterious, and he couldn't help but feel suspicious.

And Han Xue had already thought about how to answer him, and replied softly: "Zhou Zhiyuan's classmate Zhang Yong lives on the sixth floor. Maybe he came out of his house and ran to the roof. Maybe he was curious, after all, such a tall building is rare."

Han Xue's explanation was more reasonable, but Li Bo was still suspicious and asked in a low voice: "Does he know your home?"

Li Bo's question made Han Xue angry and asked in a deep voice: "What do you mean? Is he here to find me?"

"That's not what I meant..." Li Bo quickly explained: "I think he's mysterious, I'm afraid he'll be bad for you."

This made Han Xue even more angry and replied coldly: "Zhou Zhiyuan is a veteran who transferred from the plateau troops. He participated in the self-defense counterattack on the plateau. His right hand was disabled due to injury. He was awarded the collective first-class merit. He is very simple..."

Speaking of this, Han Xue suddenly couldn't continue. Thinking of the word simple, she felt that it was not suitable. Zhou Zhiyuan's appearance was indeed like that, but in essence, he was not a simple person.

"His appearance is very deceptive." This was Liu Junling's evaluation of him, and Han Xue felt that this evaluation was very appropriate. Zhou Zhiyuan often deceived her.

Thinking of this, Han Xue stopped talking, and Li Bo thought she was finished. He didn't want to argue with Han Xue about this matter, so he sent her home, stood on the landing below the seventh floor, turned off the flashlight and waited quietly.

After a while, Zhou Zhiyuan walked down, came to the seventh floor and walked down without hesitation. The light of the flashlight shone on Li Bo, and Zhou Zhiyuan asked in surprise: "Comrade Li hasn't left yet."

"Suddenly remembered something." Li Bo replied.

Zhou Zhiyuan said "Oh" and continued to walk down, and Li Bo couldn't see anything suspicious from his words and actions.

But what Li Bo didn't know was that Zhou Zhiyuan deliberately brought a flashlight downstairs to prevent him from suspecting him.

He didn't need a flashlight, but he wouldn't refuse if Zhang Limin prepared it.