The world of film and television starts from the flow of money

The night was as thick as ink, pressing heavily on the earth. The inn was exceptionally quiet under the cover of night. The only sound was the monotonous clapper sounds of the night watchman in the distance, echoing again and again in the cold night.

The cold wind blew past with a unique northern chill, making ghostly howls. The trees on the street were bare, their branches swaying in the wind, making creaking sounds, and the inn sign was also shaking in the wind.

In the second-floor guest room, Yi Huawei was lying in bed with his clothes on, and Ren Yingying was sleeping on her side beside him, with her long black hair scattered on the pillow. Even in his sleep, his right hand was still on the black gold whip wrapped around his waist.

Suddenly, the wooden beams on the second floor of the inn made a creaking sound, as if they could not bear the weight, followed by a dull cracking sound. Almost at the same time, the hay pile in the stable behind the inn burst into flames, and the flames quickly rose. The flames climbed up along the pillars soaked in tung oil at a very fast speed, and instantly licked the railings on the second floor.

The crackling sound of burning broke the tranquility of the night, and thick smoke slowly flowed into the guest room through the crack in the door.

Yi Huawei suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes instantly becoming as sharp as an eagle. He quickly sat up and grabbed the Ningbi sword beside his pillow.

"what happened?"

Ren Yingying was also awakened. She swiftly pulled the black gauze from the bedside and quickly wrapped her long hair around it. At the same time, her right hand reached for the soft black gold whip at her waist and neatly unfastened the whip buckle.

His ears moved slightly, and Yi Huawei's face turned cold: "Someone set the fire?!"

"what?!"

Ren Yingying was shocked: "Who did it? Could it be that Dongfang Bubai's people saw us?"

"no!"

Frowning, Yi Huawei shook his head as he listened to the noise coming from downstairs: "It seems like someone is seeking revenge... No!"

"Bang!"

There was a loud noise downstairs, like a pottery jar being smashed. Then, the shopkeeper shouted at the top of his lungs: "Help, there's a fire, help!"

However, before his shout could finish, it was as if an invisible hand had grabbed his throat and it stopped abruptly.

Yi Huawei and Ren Yingying looked at each other and rushed to the door without hesitation.

Yi Huawei opened the door suddenly and saw two masked men holding torches in the corridor on the second floor, reaching the torches towards the curtain. The curtain was instantly ignited and the fire spread rapidly.

Yi Huawei's eyes flashed with coldness. He pressed the Ningbi sword sheath with his left hand and pushed hard with his thumb. With a "swoosh", the three-inch sword blade came out of the sheath. His body was as fast as lightning, and the sword pierced out from the crack of the door, as fast as lightning. Before the two masked men could react, they screamed twice, and the two flaming forearms fell on the floor with a "thump", and blood splattered on the burning curtain beside them.

At this moment, there was a commotion downstairs. The waiters of the inn woke up from their sleep and ran to the lobby in a panic. A young waiter, with dishevelled clothes and messy hair, knocked over a copper basin placed beside him while he was half asleep.

With a "splash", scalding water splashed onto the stairs. He looked at the scene in horror, his legs weakened, and he almost fell down. Another older guy, with a panicked look on his face, hurriedly picked up a broom from the corner and tried to put out the fire, but was overwhelmed by the chaotic scene in front of him.

The owner of the inn was standing behind the counter at this moment, his eyes wide open, looking in horror at the six masked men who rushed into the inn.

Six masked men, holding ghost-head knives, were aggressive. The leader was tall and burly, with a black cloth covering his face, revealing only a pair of fierce eyes. Without saying a word, he swung the ghost-head knife in his hand fiercely, and with a "puff", the sharp blade split the shopkeeper's chest.

The shopkeeper's eyes widened with an expression of disbelief on his face. He subconsciously covered his chest with his hands, and his body slowly fell backwards, knocking over the account book behind him.

"Ahhhh!!!"

The guests also ran out of the room, their faces full of fear and confusion. A cloth merchant, in a panic, didn't even put on his clothes properly, and rushed out wearing only a coat. As soon as he ran to the lobby, he was surrounded by four robbers. The robbers had ferocious smiles on their faces and waved the ghost-head knives in their hands.

One of them slashed the merchant's right shoulder with a knife. The merchant screamed, and blood instantly splashed on the abacus on the counter. The merchant turned pale with pain and his body was about to fall.

Behind the counter, a woman was sitting on the ground holding a five-year-old child. The woman's eyes were filled with fear, and she held the child tightly in her arms, her body shaking constantly. The child was frightened by the scene and burst into tears, holding the woman's clothes tightly with both hands.

"How dare you, thief!"

Yi Huawei and Ren Yingying flew down from the second floor. The moment Yi Huawei landed, he turned around and the Ningbi sword in his hand flashed a cold light.

At this time, five men with axes jumped down from the third floor. The first one, with a sturdy figure and a face full of flesh, raised the axe high in his hand and chopped at the woman who was curled up behind the counter with a whirring sound. Seeing that the axe was about to fall, the woman closed her eyes in despair.

At this critical moment, Yi Huawei's sword pierced the robber's throat like a meteor. Blood dripped down the eight-sided sword edge and fell drop by drop on the child's swaddling clothes. The child's crying stopped abruptly, and he looked at everything in front of him in horror, with tears on his face.

Ren Yingying was very agile. She swung the soft black whip in her hand. The tip of the whip was like a nimble snake, wrapping around the neck of the second robber. She exerted force with her wrist, and there was a "click" sound, and a muffled sound of cervical dislocation was heard. The robber's body fell limply, and Ren Yingying kicked away another robber who was rushing towards her.

The fire was getting bigger and bigger, and had already spread to the beams and pillars of the lobby. Seeing this, Yi Huawei's eyes flashed with determination, and he jumped up and kicked the broken axe on the ground. The broken axe was like a cannonball, directly embedded in the brow bone of a knife-wielding robber, and the robber fell straight down without even a groan.

Ren Yingying took out three bone-piercing nails from her waist, and with a flick of her wrist, the three nails, like three cold rays, pierced into the wrist bones of the three robbers who were trying to set fire. The robbers screamed in pain, and the torches in their hands fell to the ground.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the leader of the robbers quickly took out a whistle from his pocket, put it to his mouth and blew it hard. When the sharp whistle sounded, the remaining seven robbers began to retreat towards the door.

How could Yi Huawei let them go so easily? He snorted coldly, and quickly waved the Qingfeng sword in his hand. He shuttled between the robbers like a ghost, and in a flash, he cut off the burning beam. Sparks flew, and the long sword pierced the hearts of the three robbers. The robbers' bodies fell backwards like kites with broken strings.

Ren Yingying was not to be outdone, the whip in her hand was flying in the air like a long, flexible snake. She flicked her wrist, and the whip was like a black lightning, wrapping around the robber leader's feet. The robber leader lost his balance and fell forward. Yi Huawei took a step forward, and with a flash of sword light, the robber leader's head rolled to the side of the manger. At this time, the yellow horse beside the manger was already dying, but seeing this bloody scene, it still neighed in fear.

The flames grew more and more fierce, licking the western wing. Seeing this, Yi Huawei quickly pulled down the door curtain, rushed towards the woman, and put out the sparks on the corner of her clothes.

The woman was still in shock, looking at Yi Huawei with gratitude in her eyes. The child was holding a broken jade pendant, coughing non-stop, with fear on his young face. The woman dug her fingers deep into the cracks in the floor, her body still shaking.

Ren Yingying began to check the bodies of the seven travelers on the ground. When she found that one of the robbers was still alive, a ruthless look flashed in her eyes. She raised her foot without hesitation and crushed the robber's throat. The robber's body twitched a few times and then stopped moving. At the beginning of the morning hour, the three surviving waiters, under the command of Yi Huawei, used well water to extinguish the embers. The inn was in a mess, filled with the pungent smell of burning and blood.

Ren Yingying squatted in front of the child who was still coughing, with a gentle look on her face. She stretched out her slender fingers and gently pressed the pulse on the child's wrist. After a moment, she breathed a sigh of relief, turned her head to look at the woman, and said softly: "The child is fine, just a little cold, and a little frightened."

"Thank you so much, benefactor! I will never forget your great kindness!"

After hearing this, the woman's eyes welled up with tears, and she slowly untied the bloodstained swaddling clothes, revealing the baby's uninjured back. The baby seemed to have not yet recovered from the shock just now, and there were still traces of tears on his little face, but fortunately, he was not seriously injured.

Yi Huawei looked up at the sky, which was already a little pale. The morning light shone through the window lattice and slanted into the lobby, adding a bit of haziness to the messy inn.

Ren Yingying withdrew her fingertips from the child's wrist and breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, Yi Huawei was squatting in front of the counter, flipping through the torn account book. The blood stains on the account book had already formed dark red ice crystals on the three words "Tianzifang", but his eyes were gradually attracted to the woman curled up in the corner.

Noticing Yi Huawei's gaze, the woman subconsciously hugged the child in her arms, trembling slightly.

Yi Huawei's eyes fell on the woman's neck, where the silver lock flashed a cold light in the dim light. Then, he noticed the woman's fingers digging into the cracks in the floor. Her nails were neatly trimmed, her knuckles were smooth, and there were no calluses at all. These were obviously not the hands of an ordinary laborer.

Ren Yingying followed his gaze and saw the trembling woman wrapping the baby back into the swaddling clothes, using the cross-wrapping method popular in the palace.

"Where is Madam's ancestral home?"

Ren Yingying suddenly asked.

The woman's whole body shook violently, and the child in her arms whimpered softly. The child grabbed at the air a few times with his little hands, then tightly grasped a corner of the swaddling clothes.

"I am from Baoding Prefecture."

The woman's voice was trembling, and there was a hint of panic in her deliberately lowered voice.

Yi Huawei picked up a half-blood-stained celadon teacup and frowned slightly. The official language the woman spoke was mixed with a barely perceptible Xuanhua accent.

"Xuanfu Town is 270 miles away."

Yi Huawei shook off the blood droplets on his sword, and the blade gleamed coldly in the dim light: "Madam, you took your baby out at night, but left your horse in the stable? Haha, is Madam worried that we are bad guys?"

The last spark of the brazier burst out with a crisp "crackling" sound. The woman seemed to be frightened by the sound, and suddenly she kowtowed heavily while holding the child, her forehead hitting the cracked floor with a dull sound.

"My name is Li Yue. I am...I am the concubine of Sun Hao, the commander of Xuanfu Guard. This child...is Lord Sun's only son."

Ren Yingying's whip silently wrapped around her waist, her movements smooth and natural. Five steps away, Yi Huawei flipped open a half-burned account book, revealing the remains of a secret letter with a wax seal in the interlayer, which was what the woman had stuffed into the account book in a panic last night.

"Commander-in-Chief Xiao's men want to kill people and silence them!"

Li Yue raised her head suddenly. The blisters on her left cheek caused by the fire were glowing with blood, which looked particularly terrifying in the morning light. The child in her arms suddenly coughed violently, his little face turned red, and he spat out a few drops of blood foam with cigarette ash.

Seeing this, Yi Huawei flicked his fingers and three silver needles accurately penetrated the child's Tiantu, Tanzhong and Feishu acupoints.

The child's cough gradually subsided. Li Yue patted the child's back gently, her eyes red.

"Three months ago, the master led his troops to patrol the border to Yehu Ridge."

Li Yue's voice was mixed with the sound of her teeth chattering, and she was choking a bit: "There are more than 40 bodies buried in the snow, and all their cotton clothes were stripped away... They were all farmers from nearby villages."

Ren Yingying took off the leather bag from her waist and gently fed the child water. Her suddenly cold and stern eyebrows were reflected on the water, revealing a bit of murderous aura. The corpses all had triangular wounds on the back of their necks, which was the characteristic of the standard long spears of the Xuanfu Border Army. She knew this very well.

"Xiao Peng lied about the Tatars invading the border."

Li Yue tore out a half-page bloodstained military newspaper from the swaddling clothes. The paper was wrinkled due to blood stains and rubbing: "He used the refugees... as captured heads..."

Yi Huawei's sword tip suddenly lifted up the half of the arrow shaft on the ground. The arrowhead had three edges with blood grooves, and the feathers at the tail of the arrow were dyed vermilion. This was the soul-chasing arrow that the Five Military Governor's Office directly ordered Ye Bu Shou to use. Almost at the same time, several jackdaws were startled in the dead woods outside the inn, and their quacking sounds broke the silence of the early morning.

Yi Huawei stood up, walked to the door, and looked at the startled crows, seeming to be thinking about something.

"It seems that things are far more complicated than we thought. There may be a bigger force behind Xiao Peng." After a pause, he turned to look at Li Yue: "Madam, since you were able to escape, there must be other clues."

Li Yue bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, took out a jade pendant from her bosom, and handed it to Yi Huawei. "This is something that the master keeps close to him. He told me to keep it safe no matter what. There may be evidence on it that can bring down Xiao Peng."

Yi Huawei took the jade pendant and examined it carefully. The jade pendant had a warm texture and fine carving. There were some strange symbols engraved on the back, like some kind of code. Yi Huawei and Ren Yingying also came over. The three of them studied the jade pendant for a long time, but they had no clue.

"It seems that we need to find someone who knows the business to take a look." Yi Huawei put away the jade pendant with a serious expression.

Just then, there was a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds outside the inn.

Ren Yingying frowned, a fierce look flashed in her eyes, she pressed the whip with her hand and looked at Yi Huawei.

Yi Huawei nodded, put away the remaining fragments of the secret letter and the jade pendant, and said to Ren Yingying: "You stay here and watch them. I'll go take a look!"

(End of this chapter)