Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 206 The three major hardships in life are carrying water, cutting firewood, and grinding tofu

After the clock struck, the sky suddenly became brighter and the city gates were wide open. Vendors picking onions, selling vegetables, and making glutinous rice were walking through the streets and alleys. There was an endless stream of people coming and going, and the area around Liuqiu Bridge suddenly became noisy.

Xiaocai chatted with a tofu seller and found out that the Yin Deng Inn is located three or four miles north of the Qinhuai River, by the Changban Bridge of Qingxi River. The guy was going to deliver goods to the Qinhuai River, so he told him I spent five cents to take a donkey cart from Tofufang to Changbanqiao.

The bumpy journey north was filled with the smell of beany. The two of them could only smell each other's smell, but not their own. They pinched each other's noses in disgust.

Seeing the long Banqiao in sight, the long red Banqiao spans the Qingxi River half a mile away. There are too few people in the long autumn sky.

The donkey in the tofu shop neighed sadly under the load. Xiaocai and Wang Heng quickly jumped out of the car and thanked the man for the ride.

Xiaocai patted the dust and sighed: "No wonder the old man said that the three major hardships in life are carrying water, cutting firewood, and grinding tofu."

Wang Heng chuckled and said: "The most difficult thing is not getting what you want. You want to make tofu but you can't get it."

Wang Qilang, who was always disappointed, looked up and saw a shop called "Silver Lantern Inn" on the bank of Changbanqiao. There was a painting boat parked at the end of the river, which was vaguely the boat that had just arrived in the river.

Wang Heng asked Xiaocai to wait on the Changbanqiao with the Qingshuang sword on his back, setting up an ambush. If necessary, he would call him into the inn.

Wang Hengda stepped into the Silver Lantern Inn. At the beginning of the morning, it should be the peak time for the inn to welcome guests. For some reason, the shop was quiet and there was no sound.

From the outside, the Yin Deng Inn has three floors at the highest. Wang Heng went from bottom to top, and from the top floor to the bottom, without encountering anyone. The windows in the shop were bright and clean, and the tables and chairs were all cleaned with alkaline water and arranged neatly. Okay, the dishes are all neatly placed, all that's missing is a greeting from the waiter: "Sir, please take a seat."

Wang Heng thought and thought, this group of people was afraid that they were going to run away.

Judging from the time, unless they fled directly without returning to their home base, if they returned to the stronghold, such a short time would not be enough for them to escape without a trace. At this time, they would definitely be hiding in a secret room in the inn.

Wang Heng took advantage of the situation and poured different amounts of water into the cups on the inn hall, beat out a majestic sound, and raised his voice: "Aren't you here to grab the Qingshuang Sword? Just let your horse come over."

Still getting no response, Wang Heng seemed to hear bursts of rapid breathing not far away, so he snorted and shouted: "Since you are hiding your head and tail, I can only ask the officials from Jiao Tong's Yamen to seal the inn. "

Wang Heng faced outside the store and shouted loudly: "Xiaocai, Xiaocai, go get Luo Pantou to surround the inn."

As soon as the voice finished, the screen at the end of the hall moved gently, and a figure came out, saying anxiously: "Seventh Young Master, you can't do it, you can't do it."

The voice was very familiar. Wang Heng took a look and saw that the person in front of him was a woman in a Jingchai cloth skirt. She was vaguely Aunt Hong with graceful features. Her hair was wrapped in a green cloth and her hands were covered with sleeves. She was so simple that people dared not recognize her. recognize.

Aunt Hong knelt down and made a blessing ceremony, and said: "We never thought that the Qingshuang Sword was in the hands of the young master. Otherwise, even if we had ten courages, we would not dare to steal the young master's belongings."

Wang Heng asked: "Aunt Hong, why are you here?" Aunt Hong frowned and said: "Master, it's a long story, please come and sit in this compartment."

She led the way towards the screen. Wang Heng asked her to wait and shouted to the Changban Bridge: "Xiaocai, come in with the clear frost sword and let Zhuge Xian guard outside."

He couldn't completely believe Aunt Hong, so he panicked. Xiaocai walked in with a sword in his hand and was stunned when he saw it was Aunt Hong.

Aunt Hong smiled lightly and said, "Xiao Cai, please come and sit in this room."

Aunt Hong pushed open the screen, and a carefully decorated living room appeared in front of her. The floor was covered with bright red and green felts, and a suet lamp hung on the roof. There were two people sitting on the floor inside, and a tin pot was placed on the table.

Such an exotic atmosphere makes people feel as if they are on a lush green grassland, dotted with colorful wild flowers. Herdsmen are milking cows and goats in their domes while making rich milk tea.

When Wang Cai saw the appearance of the two people sitting on the ground, he jumped up in surprise and murmured: "Aren't you the two men carrying the dung load?"

"Sister, Xiaocao, please tell them that the Seventh Young Master and Xiaocai are the most reasonable and hate evil." Aunt Hong said firmly.

One of the two people pulled off the dirty headscarf, revealing a head of female black hair, and then carefully wiped the oil on his face with a handkerchief. It was obvious that this was a lady with a dignified appearance.

The other one, Xiaocao, looked similar to the eldest sister and was slightly younger by two or three years. She stood up and poured a cup of milk tea for Wang Heng and the others.

The eldest sister's eyes were like blades. She stared at Wang Heng and Xiaocai for a long time. Then she took a deep breath and said, "You are very smart. You can see through my plan and track it to the inn."

Xiaocai suddenly woke up and said with horror: "The night before yesterday, you were the one who pushed A Xian out of the two masked men on Liuqiu Bridge. I drew my sword and stepped forward to help, but you wanted to take away the Qingshuang sword. ?”

The eldest sister sighed slightly: "You are right, I am determined to get this clear frost sword."

Wang Heng answered: "The time of the conflict on Liuqiu Bridge the night before yesterday was about 1 o'clock or 2 o'clock, and the curfew time was very short between 1 o'clock and 3 o'clock. From this, you can infer that our group should live nearby, even though it is With a quick glance, you already remembered Xiaocai's appearance, so you waited on the Liuqiu Bridge at dusk. Not wanting to help you secretly, Xiaocai was waiting for you that day, and you followed Xiaocai across Liuqiu Bridge. , entered the second house by the water, and found that it was an empty house, so you guessed that Xiaocai would return the same way, so you took the time to have tea at the Cen Laozi tea stall at the west end of the alley in Suojin Village. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for Xiaocai to I returned, and now you saw the door clearly and drew a white circle on the west mountain wall as a mark."

The eldest sister nodded in agreement and said, "You guessed it right."

Wang Heng continued, "Last night I was thinking about how you were going to attack at night. Were you going to steal or rob? It would be very difficult to steal a sword from a large house with three entrances. Unless you search openly, the owner might even come to receive you with a sword on his back. In that case, it would be a piece of cake."

"Fortunately, we discovered it early. Eight more formations were set up in front of the house. You pretended to be officials and came here, but you found that you were lost. Every house was marked with a white circle, so you didn't dare to fight and had to flee."

Wang Heng said sternly: "I heard people say that white circles are drawn on the grassland to prevent wolves. Who are you, and why do you want to seize this Qingshuang Sword?"

The eldest sister spoke carefully and said in a voice as cold as ice: "Because this Qingshuang Sword is originally ours."