Zhang's house. The mourning is poignant, the spirit flags are fluttering, and countless paper money ashes are swirling with the wind and scattered in all directions.

Xuchanghua was dressed in filial piety clothes, his eyes were red, and he kowtowed in front of Zhang Liangkuan's spiritual seat, Li Anniang knelt beside him, and comforted Liniang in a low voice.

Li Niang was dressed in plain white, described as withered, kneeling there lifelessly, throwing paper money into the brazier.

Hu'er was dressed in sackcloth, looked at the adult blankly with a pair of teary eyes, and cried to Xu Changhua, who stood up and came to the side: "Uncle, what's wrong with my father, why can't he sleep?" ”

The heart seemed to be stabbed by a knife several times, Xu Changhua staggered back a few steps, and his outstretched hand hung down weakly.

Hu'er's words made Liniang recover a little angry, and raised her head with difficulty, Liniang said: "Brother Xu, Zhang Lang wrote a few last words before leaving, and it was on the study table, you want to take a look." ”

"Be disloyal to your ministers, be unrighteous for your friends, and be careless about things. Liniang, take care of Hu'er and go for her husband. Zhang Kuanlang is a masterpiece. Counting lines, every word is heart-wrenching, a mouthful of blood sprayed on the paper, dyeing the white paper red, and in An Niang's exclamation, Xu Changhua fell to the ground.

Yu Zhijie was very depressed, and as soon as he arrived in Anqi County, he encountered Zhang Liangkuan's death. Among the ten deputy envoys, he didn't know much about Zhang Liangkuan, but Zhang Liangkuan's face was filled with a happy and gentle smile from time to time, which left a deep impression on him. Wife and young son, what forced this young man to commit suicide by hanging.

The bloody letter was held in his hand, light and heavy like a thousand pounds, and he was overwhelmed. Yu Zhijie slowly put the letter back on the table, the inventory of the acres must be bloody, but he didn't expect that the first person to bleed would be the gentle Zhang Liangkuan.

Stepping out of Zhang's mansion, Yu Zhijie looked up at the white flags above his head, the white flags hanging high in the autumn wind were like flags and forests, and they were slaughtered.

In the study room in the middle of the mountain, Li Mingde's face was heavy, and Zhang Liangkuan's death was really unexpected by him. Li Mingde knew Zhang Liangkuan, knew that this son was motivated to read, was a good person, and behaved unusually in several literary meetings, so he would arrange in advance and let Xu Changhua become friends with him.

The picture was poor, Zhang Liangkuan left gloomily, thinking that he would be able to let go of his hands and legs when he arrived in Yuanhe County, but there were Li family elbows everywhere, and Zhang Liangkuan was discouraged and desperated. Li Mingde's heart was also not happy, the original intention was to hold on to it in the early stage, and slowly loosen his mouth, Zhang Liangkuan would not be so tight if he had an explanation. Alas, it is too late to regret it.

Zhang Liangkuan's death forced Yu Zhijie into a corner, and the current situation is either a fish dead or the net is broken. Yu Zhijie took 100 officers and soldiers to live in the post house, and Ning Tiantao kept sending people to complain, saying that it was like sitting on pins and needles, and he couldn't bear it. It seems that he is going to come forward to visit Yu Zhijie.

Li Mingde and Yu Zhijie have a friendship, 20 years ago both had been county magistrates in Huangzhou, the two are like-minded, poetry and literature are harmonious, and they can be regarded as friends. Li Mingde will not forget Yu Zhijie at that time, motivated, capable, and clear in politics, and now he is a member of the four grades, and he is about to step on the steps of the household book.

"Prepare the sedan chair", Li Mingde stood up, it was time to meet the former friend.

Xu Changhua opened his eyes, and the familiar scene was his study. An Niang's low sobs sounded in her ears, and her chest was stuffy.

Struggling to sit up, An Niang hurriedly held him down and persuaded: "Changhua, you were stimulated to vomit blood, and the doctor said to lie down and recuperate, don't be reckless." Bring the ginseng soup, the uncle is awake. ”

Xu Changhua closed his eyes again, and the words on the note flew in front of him, "disloyal to his ministers, unrighteous for his friends, and careless for things" turned into Zhang Liangkuan's angry face, and he scolded himself loudly.

"Liangkuan, I forced you to death." Xuchang's heart is like a knife. An Niang put the cooled ginseng soup to her mouth, "cough cough", and choked out another mouthful of blood.

At the riverside inn, Jiang Anyi sat facing the window with a solemn expression.

Zhang Liangkuan died, and Zhang Liangkuan, who often talked about his son's intelligence, died; Zhang Liangkuan, who was drunk and dragged himself to make himself agree to be his son's teacher, died; Zhang Liangkuan, who had a gentle smile on his face, died.

As a secret envoy, Jiang Anyi did not go to Zhang's Mansion to worship. A small incense burner on the table, three incense sticks, and a remote sacrifice to the deceased.

Shi walked in and said, "Childe, Miss Tong'er is here, saying that she has made an appointment with you to hunt outside the city." ”

The days must go on, and Jiang Anyi wants to take advantage of the opportunity of hunting to go around the city and secretly learn about the situation in the fields.

Outside the south gate, the wind blows the grass and the hare is stockpiling fat for the coming cold winter. The sound of the horse's hooves was so rapid that the bird and the rabbit ran, and a sharp arrow flew like a sharp arrow, and the running rabbit twitched and fell to the ground.

"I shot again", Tong'er's laughter was as crisp as a silver bell, and Jiang Anyi's originally dull mood was much more relaxed.

An attendant flew forward to pick up the rabbit and held it up to signal to the two. Tong'er asked in some surprise: "Gongzi Jiang, I have shot five rabbits, why didn't I see you shoot the bow?" ”

Jiang Anyi was secretly ashamed, if he opened the bow, eighty percent of him would shoot into the air, wouldn't he reveal the stuffing of the "marksman", and said in his mouth: "You shot five rabbits, I won't shoot." Later, I'll shoot a pheasant down, and I'll have all the rabbits. ”

The sound of horses' hooves, the wild birds heard the sound and flew away, where would they wait for them to come near.

Tong'er didn't guess Jiang Anyi's trick, looked at him with admiration and said, "Flying birds are much more difficult to shoot than rabbits, and my brother-in-law doesn't have many chances to shoot." ”

It has been more than an hour since they came out, everyone is a little tired, and they have not encountered pheasants all the way, Tong'er is a little unwilling, and points to the village not far away with a horsewhip and says: "Let's go there to rest and continue hunting in the afternoon." ”

Most of the villages have restaurants, which are convenient for passers-by. When the boss and the guy saw the guests, they hurriedly greeted them with a smile and greeted everyone attentively. There are not many things in the country shop, and the cured wild vegetables, plus the rabbits, are quite rich.

Jiang Anyi thought about it, it seems that Miss Tong'er is not going to let herself go easily, or shoot a few arrows indiscriminately to see if God will help. With a flick of his face, he saw that on the road at the edge of the village, there were two peasants returning home with hoes, and the young one was like Li Shicheng.

Rubbing his eyes, that's right, it's Li Shicheng. Jiang Anyi said apologetically to Tong'er: "Miss Tong'er, I met an old man, go and greet me." ”

Seeing Jiang Anyi smiling and throwing his hand at him, Li Shicheng's face turned white, and then turned red. Putting the hoe on the ground, Li Shicheng tidied up his clothes, and returned the salute to Jiang Anyi in a dignified manner.

"Brother Shicheng, what's wrong?" Jiang Anyi couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked.

"Cheng'er, this is your friend, please come to the house to talk." Li Laihe interjected next to him that his son had been back for a few days, and he was always depressed, and it was rare to meet friends, so maybe he could be happier.

"It turned out to be an uncle, An Yi was rude." Jiang Anyi respectfully saluted Li Laihe and said, "Today, my friends came to hunt, and it is inconvenient to visit, and tomorrow the little nephew will definitely go to visit." ”

After a few words of gossip, Li Shicheng slurred, as if there was something unspeakable, and it was inconvenient to talk about it on the side of the road, Jiang Anyi asked where he lived, and said goodbye to Li Shicheng when he agreed.

If you come out to mix, you have to pay it back, since you have to be a marksman, you have to sacrifice ugliness, after Jiang Anyi shot two arrows in a row and missed, he had to admit to Tong'er that he relied on luck to shoot the swim bladder that day.

Tong'er was stunned for a moment, looked at Jiang Anyi with an embarrassed face, and laughed out loud, the white clouds in the sky became brighter, and Jiang Anyi found that his heart was also drifting with laughter.

Anqi Yuan Mansion, the temporary yamen of the Qing War.

The Yuan family is a large family in Anqi County, and the courtyard of the five entrances of the Yuan Mansion is wide and comfortable, and Yu Zhijie does not feel small at all when he lives in it with a hundred officers and soldiers. The patriarch Ji Zhao happily took his family to live in a farm outside the city, and if he could get in touch with the Qing war envoy, he would not suffer no matter how he looked at it.

At night, the whole street became deserted, and the people knew that the Qing War had made the adults live in the Yuan family, and there were four soldiers with guns standing guard in front of the door.

Dismounted at the back door, there were two soldiers in front of the door, who had been instructed in advance, and had seen the token in Jiang Anyi's hand, and the soldiers led the horses and let them go. When he entered the door, someone was waiting here, took Jiang Anyi through the corridor and through the door, came to the front of the main house, and motioned for Lord Yu to wait for him inside.

Jiang Anyi straightened out his clothes and said loudly in front of the door: "Master Yu, I'm here." ”

The room was bright, and Yu Zhijie looked at a topographic map with his hands behind his back. Hearing the footsteps, Yu Zhijie turned around, and Jiang Anyi saw that Master Yu's face was heavy and depressed.

"Anyi, have you inquired about any news these days?" Yu Zhijie was not polite, and asked directly.

Jiang Anyi rode around the horse for ten miles and eight villages, but as long as he heard about his titian, the other party suddenly stopped and stared at him with vigilant eyes, and it can be said that there has been no gain in the past few days.

"Anqi County is run like an iron bucket by the Li family." Yu Zhijie sighed and said, "Li Mingde came to see me this afternoon, hinting that he could take out 2,000 hectares of land, so that I could end up decently, and the Li family would have a reward in the future, and even hinted at helping me ascend to the position of the head of the household." ”

Jiang Anyi didn't say anything, he knew that Master Yu was resolute and would never agree to Li Mingde's request.

"Liangkuan's death makes me sad and alert." Yu Zhijie changed the topic and said to Jiang Anyi seriously: "Anyi, you have to be more careful, the Li family should already know about your existence, the dog jumped over the wall in a hurry, I don't know what they will do, you better move to the yamen to live." ”

Jiang Anyi's heart was warm, and he said, "Master Yu, don't worry, I will be careful." Seeing an old man today, I want to learn about the situation of the Li family from his mouth, and I'll talk about it in two days. ”

Yu Zhijie saw that Jiang Anyi had made up his mind, and no longer persuaded each other, and the master and apprentice talked about the situation in other counties, except for Linyang County, the other counties were not optimistic. Yu Zhijie frowned, and there was still bad news that he didn't tell An Yi, that is, there were already rumors that some deputy envoys of the Qing War had been pulled into the water.