lying down

One month ago, the study room of the Dudu Mansion.

Charcoal has just been pressed in the big brazier, and the embers at the bottom of the basin are bright and dark, and the slightly damp new charcoal "cracks" in the light blue flame.

There were only two people in the study, a man and a woman.

The man stood in front of the desk, with one hand behind his back and one fist clenched tightly, his white joints being squeezed "crack" from time to time, and the sound of charcoal fire rising and falling, which was wantonly displayed in this study where you could hear needles falling. with anger.

With his other hand, he was holding a thin page of letter paper, with scribbled notes and short seven or eight lines of writing, as if he was holding an obscure tome. an hour.He is the owner of this study and the state governor Xu Shiji.

And beside him stood a woman, all in black, with only a hint of jade neck fragrance, which made people startled. Compared with her double pupils, she was a bit inferior.If Ouyang Yu was here, he could tell at a glance that this woman was the one he had "encountered" with several times.

Xu Shiji watched for half an hour, and she stood there for half an hour without moving a muscle.Only the black veil on her face rose and fell with her long breathing, and when the veil was lifted, the red lips biting her white teeth betrayed her nervousness.

She was about to make a sound, but saw the governor slowly handing the letter in front of her eyes, saying word by word: "Another blood debt!" After speaking, she took a deep breath, stretched out her hand and stroked the wrinkled brows, Close your eyes and stop talking.

She took the letter paper in doubt, and as soon as she saw it, there were three big characters "Dashibao" scrawled in her eyes!

The more she looked, the more frightened she became, her eyebrows were furrowed, and her face was covered with frost.Holding the light-as-a-feather letter paper was like holding a weighty object in his hands, and he trembled slightly.She hastily glanced at it two or three times, and then her gaze rested on the third son of "Ouyang Yu" for a long time.

"In the battle of Dashibao, although the Turkic army was defeated, our Tang army suffered heavy casualties! Regardless of the situation at the time, it is shocking that this group of people can dig such accurate information from Jinyang City where I sit! Even if the Turkic cavalry is a gust of wind, it will blow for a while in the hundreds of miles? But they seem to be in no one's land, bypassing hundreds of miles of defense lines to fight the "autumn wind" of this batch of military funds! And Ouyang Yu's life and death are uncertain, so who is that old man? Girl Ling, I'm sitting on pins and needles, and my heart is not at ease!" Xu Shiji didn't turn around, and listed out the key points and hidden dangers of this battle, pressing his fists heavily on the desk, Not happy.

How did he know that the "Ling girl" he was talking about was probably not focused on important military affairs at the moment, staring at the word "Ouyang Yu" as if possessed, wondering what he was thinking.

"Girl, is there any progress on your side? This matter has become more and more confusing now. I want you and I to work together to investigate it. If this tragedy continues, I will be ashamed of the court and the people of the people!"

"Ah!?" The woman whispered, looking at Xu Shiji who asked the question with a puzzled face as if waking up from a dream.

Xu Shiji didn't hear anything for a while, so he asked this question, but he didn't expect to turn around and see her slightly surprised expression, probably because he was stunned by the tragedy of the big stone castle.He couldn't help thinking to himself: "You're still young after all...", a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he repeated what he said just now.

The woman listened attentively, and replied respectfully: "Uncle Xu, since the clue is broken at Biejia Zhangwei, the matter will be more difficult to investigate. It was a situation that could have been dealt with all at once, but he interrupted it. Now I There are only one or two candidates here, but there is no conclusive evidence yet, so it's really hard to startle the snake at this time."

"Hey——" Xu Shijie looked up to the sky and sighed, and fixed his eyes on a yellow memorial. The book was wide open, but it was not stained with ink.

"I have reported to the emperor in secret a few days ago, but there has been no reply so far. I am afraid that some disturbances have occurred in the court. Now I can't let go of my hands and feet without the emperor's decree. I really don't understand it. Now it is obviously necessary With a single thunderbolt, he cut those jumping clowns to pieces. But what are all the important ministers in the court thinking? How can I restore the peace of the fathers and folks here!?"

The more he talked, the more excited he was, he picked up the teapot on the corner of the desk, and took a few sips without caring whether it was hot or cold, and pressed the teapot on the desk with a "bang", feeling depressed for a while. .

"Ugh!" Xu Shiji let out a cry of pain after hearing a short cry, his left knee went limp and collapsed like a boneless bone, thanks to his hand on the desk he didn't fall down.

The woman was quick-sighted, grabbed Du Du under the armpit, propped him up, helped him to sit on the wooden chair next to him, and worriedly said: "Uncle Xu, your leg..."

Before she could finish speaking, Xu Shiji waved his hand: "It's been a long time since I've been sick, it's okay, it's okay, I'll do it myself." After he said that, he sat down slowly while leaning on the armrest of the wooden chair, a few drops of cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

The woman stood aside, watching the governor's difficult movements, thinking that he, the governor, would have to suffer from cold legs for so many years, she frowned and said, "It would be great if Master was here, and he would definitely be able to heal Uncle Xu! Even if he couldn't, It can also be slowed down a bit, Master is a rare person in the world, but it is a pity that he has been wandering around all the year round, and his traces cannot be found..."

Xu Shiji wiped off the sweat from his forehead indiscriminately, but his eyes were full of curiosity. He lowered his head and muttered while recalling: "You Ling girl, I can also say that I watched you grow up. I know all about your life experience. But I've never heard of who your master is?" Said he finally raised his head, stroked his beard with one hand, and tapped the table lightly with the other.

The woman seemed to be recalled by Xu Shiji's words, and stared at the huge flames dancing in the study, dazed: "Master has not seen for three years, and I have visited the place where I studied with the teacher, and there is only a clear spring, regardless of winter and summer." Gurgling and murmuring, but the master has disappeared without a trace.

"Girl? Girl?" Xu Shiji whispered twice, looking at the woman curiously, but he was a little surprised in his heart: This woman suffered a lot since she was a child, and only later encountered some opportunities to stand in the court, but her identity is hidden , not many people know.Her personality is as fierce as fire, and she hasn't changed much over the years, but this time like a cone has honed her meticulous mind, otherwise she would not have been sent to Bingzhou to deal with this shocking case.But today she has lost her mind several times, which is far from what she used to do.Is there something here that I don't know?

Thinking of this, Xu Shiji slightly lowered his eyelids, clasped the hand on the table hastily "Dangdang" twice, and ended with a pop.

The new carbon in the brazier has turned red, and a warm current begins to diffuse in the study...

Once again, the governor saw the woman lost her mind, and she couldn't help but look very embarrassed. She originally covered her face with a black veil, and others couldn't see the emotions on her face, but she used her forearm to cover it up a few times with guilt.After seeing the appearance of the governor, it became clear in my heart.She was a straight-forward person, and she was unwilling to make a gesture in front of the governor. With her right hand, she lightly dropped the letter on the table, but with her left hand, she pinched the corner of her black clothes imperceptibly and asked, "Uncle Xu, I, I want to ask, what is this?" , what's up with this 'Ouyang Yu'?" After asking, a swan's neck covered with red and white covered it, and it went straight to the face.

Xu Shiji lowered his eyebrows and lowered his eyes when he first heard this question.Surprised on his face, a smile spread from the corner of his mouth, and he asked with a playful smile, "Oh? Girl Ling, this 'Ouyang Yu'...Why did you ask this alone?"

The woman concealed her embarrassment by turning around, and lightly stomped her lotus feet.Suddenly turned around, looked at Xu Shiji with a fixed smile and said, "Uncle Xu, you know my temper, since you ask this, then I'll tell you, I care about him, what's the matter?"

"Uh!——" Xu Shiji remembered that the girl in front of him had a fiery temperament, she had always dared to speak, act, love, and hate. Even the emperor was choked by her twice..."Miscalculation, Miscalculation! I thought I could see you shy once, but I didn't want to be restrained by you. You have also seen the news. Ouyang Yu's life and death are uncertain! But..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the woman walked up to him in two quick steps, shook his arm with one hand, and begged with a coquettish face.