incense as a medium

Chapter 22 A false alarm

In the winter of the 25th year of Jingren, the 28th of the twelfth lunar month.

For some reason, this year’s snow is extraordinarily large and heavy. On the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, it fell a full foot thick. Everyone stayed at home and stayed at home. They arranged tents, and there was hot water and charcoal fire to heat up meals, so Liu Junge brought dry food himself, and did not let Liu Bailu deliver the meals.

Although the sky has been sunny these few days, it has been extremely cold, and the snow hasn't melted much.

Aunt Zhang, the mother of Zhang Ting next door, used to live in Yongkangguan, where she married three times. The three husbands were ordinary people, but they all died under the Tatar cavalry.So Aunt Zhang moved to Xiongtang County, where there were fewer wars.Even so, every winter, Aunt Zhang was very worried. For example, in the past few days, Aunt Zhang kept saying that the Tatars were coming.

When Bai heard the news, she tightened her leather jacket tighter and tighter, holding the charcoal stove in her hand and sneered: "It's such a cold day, you will freeze to death when you go out, and the Tatars will call them? Aren't you afraid of the cold?"

In Xiongtang County for three years, I heard that Yongkang Pass fought a lot of battles, but this Xiongtang County was guarded by Yongding Army in front of it, and there was Kangding Pass next to it. Kangding Pass is an important pass with 20 troops stationed. days away.In order to rush to help Yongkang Pass and Xiongtang County at any time, [-] of them were stationed on a mountain a day and a half away from Xiongtang County, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

No matter where there is a war in these three places, the other side can be guaranteed to rush to help quickly.So for so many years, the Tatars only dared to send troops to harass the border and fight famine, but they never succeeded in taking these two passes.

After hearing this, Liu Bailu glanced at Liu Sushi with her brows furrowed, and seeing her calm face, she couldn't help but feel relieved.

Every big family has a secret room to store valuables, even if the Liu family went to such a small place, they couldn't change this habit.However, this house is small, so it is not possible to have a secret room, but the previous owner dug a cellar.This saves them from digging again, but the cellar is a bit narrow, and it can only hold some precious jewelry and silver coins of Liu Bailu and Liu Su's Qin family, as well as some rare calligraphy and paintings.

In the evening, Liu Junge did not come back, Liu Bailu felt a thump in his heart, and became inexplicably uneasy. When it was time to go to bed, the originally agreed Qi Peiyun did not show up. Liu Bailu clenched his lips and took out a Here comes the little burden.

Qi Peiyun came here more times, and Liu Bailu got used to it, but he was still afraid of being seen, what's more, even if he was not allowed to come, he would come secretly, rather than risk being seen , might as well think of a compromise.

From Liu Bailu's point of view, Qi Peiyun's many visits are just because she has a good collection of books here, so Liu Bailu asked Qi Peiyun to fix a nail under the window and hang a small gourd, and Qi Peiyun came The book was hung outside and the title of the book was written on a note and put in the gourd. After he left, Liu Bailu would open the window and come in with the book and the gourd.

The last time Qi Peiyun left a message saying that he would come to pick up books on the evening of the 28th, Liu Bailu wrapped the books and hung them outside the window.He also said that if he came, then it would be fine that night, if he didn't come, then she had to be careful.

She still understands the words "be careful of the door", but now it seems that it is not as simple as just being careful of the door.

Zhang Ting, the son of Aunt Zhang's family, hangs out with Qi Peiyun all the time, maybe it's not her intuition that the Tatars are coming, but Qi Peiyun wants to warn these people?
Reminiscent of Qi Peiyun entering and exiting Yongding Army many times, and she saw Qi Peiyun entering and exiting Kang Yibang's tent many times, Liu Bailu didn't dare to be careless and quickly packed up her things and ran to the main room. She was about to knock on the door, but she didn't know How should I tell my mother, could it be that she is dating a foreigner in private?If this is the case, I am afraid that my mother will let me hang myself in front of the ancestral tablet immediately.

Gritting her teeth, Liu Bailu turned around and went to the west wing.

Chenghui Academy gave the students whose families were far away from here a holiday as early as the twelfth lunar month, and the local students also returned home on the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month. Now there are only some students in the academy who are studying hard and preparing to take the next year's scientific examination. read.

Because Liu Zixuan is good at learning, he is very clear about the interpersonal relationship in the capital and the preferences of some people, so the head of the academy stays in the school to guide these students. Stay in the academy or at a friend's house for the New Year.

So tonight there are only Qin Shi and Liu Zongze in the west wing room.

Qin Shi always went to bed early, and she didn't want to get up when she heard the knock on the door, but she didn't expect the sound to become more persistent, and even ran to the window and knocked on the window.Qin asked angrily, "Who?"

"Sister-in-law, it's me, Bailu, you open the door, I have something to say." Liu Bailu was full of anxiety, and had no time to care about Qin's unkind tone.

Qin Shi put on her clothes and stood in front of the window and said in a muffled voice, "What do you have to say!"

Liu Bailu stared eagerly at the closed window, lowered his voice, and said, "Sister-in-law, I always feel uneasy in my heart. During this time, I went to deliver meals to my father, and I always saw Aunt Zhang's son entering and leaving the military camp. I’ve also been to General Kang’s tent, and I saw it not once or twice. Aunt Zhang also said that the Tatars may come over in the near future, do you think it will be in a few days?”

"What?" Qin didn't care much at first, and even wanted to teach Liu Bailu to pay attention to his behavior when going out, and not to look around casually, but after careful consideration, he realized that it was General Kang that Zhang's son met. Not someone else!It is impossible to say that he will know something unknown, not to mention that his father has not come back today. In the past, whenever there was a war, his father would stay in the barracks.Thinking of this, Qin suddenly opened the window, and the cold wind was blowing in, but she didn't care about it: "Say it again in detail."

Liu Bailu reiterated her doubts, and focused on how many times she saw Zhang Ting entering and leaving General Kang's tent, and what she saw when entering and leaving the barracks before the 25th of the twelfth lunar month. At the end, she whispered: "Sister-in-law, I'm really uneasy, I just hope it's a false alarm."

After all, Qin Shi was older than Liu Bailu and thought more. She put on the jacket she was wearing and buttoned it while saying: "No, I'm afraid it's not a false alarm. I'll get Zong Ze up, you go Wake up the second brother, Xiang Bo, and let them get ready. Oh no, your brother is on the mountain!"

Liu Bailu hurriedly comforted Qin, saying: "Sister-in-law, don't worry, didn't elder brother say that? The Tatars never attack the academy, but the academy is the safest place!"

After being reminded by her, Mrs. Qin thought about it, nodded indiscriminately, and turned around to call Liu Zongze, but she made up her mind that after the new year, she would go to live in the academy with Liu Zongze.

Liu Bailu picked up the hem of her skirt, went back and called Shuangjiang to get up, and ordered her to wake up Xiang Bo Yuniang and ran to see Liu Zifeng's door.

Liu Zifeng hadn't slept yet, so he opened the door quickly, and after hearing Liu Bailu's words, he turned his head and put on his clothes, picked up the account book and other things, and followed Liu Bailu to the main room.

Their back and forth had already woken up Liu Su and others in the main room, so when Liu Bailu knocked on the door of the main room, Bai and Han were already fully dressed and waiting, Liu Su Shi leaned on the bed and watched the willows and egrets rushing in, Qin Shi and the others asked, "What's wrong?"

Liu Bailu glanced at Qin Shi, and Qin Shi stepped forward to explain Liu Bailu's guess, and said, "Mother, I'd rather believe it or not!"

Liu Bailu also looked at Liu Sushi nervously, nodded and said: "Mother, I have been extremely uneasy all the time."

Humans have an instinctive instinct for impending danger.Liu Sushi also had this intuition, and today she also felt a little uneasy, but the uneasiness was not so strong, so she suppressed it, and now hearing her daughter and daughter-in-law say that, she also panicked.

Before Liu Sushi woke up, Liu Zifeng stayed in the flower hall. Their voices were not low, so he could hear them clearly. He suddenly remembered something and said loudly: "Mother, I remembered something."

Mrs. Liu quickly put on her clothes, and Mrs. Han and Mrs. Bai hurried forward to help Mrs. Liu put on her clothes. Mrs. Han frowned and muttered absently: "Zimo is still on the mountain, so I don't know what happened to Zimo. But they are all frail scholars, and if they really want to call, what should they do? Zi Mo's health is not good, how can he be so shocked? Is there a place to hide on the mountain? It's too bad, he didn't care when he left I want some silver, I don’t think there is any place to spend silver on the mountain, so I gave him 50 taels, if I give more, will those people not hurt his life for the sake of money?”

Liu Su's heart became more and more irritable when Mrs. Han was talking about it. She glared at Mrs. Han and said coldly: "Shut up! Zixuan is still on the mountain! Why don't you see me so worried? How much money do you have in total? I gave him 50 taels! It’s the more money that made him die faster! When those people saw him handing out one tael, they wanted two taels, three taels! If they couldn’t get any more, he would have to die instead!”

After being scolded by Liu Su, Mrs. Han immediately fell silent, but the tears that were swirling in her eye sockets kept falling down.

Angrily, Liu Su gave her a gouged look, opened Bai's hand holding her hair, put a bun on her hand, and lifted the curtain, walking towards the Arhat bed in the flower hall, asking Liu Zifeng, "What's the matter?" Just say what you want, what you know, what you don’t know, what you hear, what you guess, speak out and listen.”

Liu Zifeng can naturally hear more rumors outside, but he is a bit shy, otherwise he would not be able to do business with a small shop. With Liu Zifeng's talent in dealing with people, this shop will naturally not be in the current situation.

After listening to Liu Su's words, Liu Zifeng thought about what he had heard in the past few days, but in the end he said in vain: "My son sits in the inner hall all day long, and there are waiters looking after him outside. My son didn't hear any discussion. It's just that today When my son went to the shop, he seemed to vaguely hear the movement of a large number of people in the distance. Some people said that the Yongding Army might have gone out to practice, but now hearing what my sister and sister-in-law said, my son also felt a little suspicious."

(End of this chapter)