……

In Xiang's manor, the girl who had changed her dress and was about to go out secretly again met Uncle Xiang as soon as she walked near the living room.

Accompanying Xiang Bo was a man in a burlap robe, in his thirties, burly with a big waist and a round waist, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a beard.

"Daddy, Uncle Zhongli!" The girl hurriedly saluted.

"Jing'er, where are you sneaking around?" Xiang Bo asked with a slightly unhappy expression.

The girl stuck out her tongue and lowered her head and said, "My daughter just heard that a servant said that the water in the lake is auspicious, so she wants to go to the Five Lakes Garden to have a look!" ”

"Five Lakes Park...... You are not allowed to go, and in the past few days, everyone is not allowed to go out of the house, let alone cause trouble, and go back to the backyard! ”

"Oh~" The girl was very reluctant but didn't dare to refute, for fear of letting her father know that she had already sneaked to see that Xu Gongzi, so she turned around and walked to the backyard.

"Brother Zhongli, please~"

"Brother Xiang, please, I will personally go to Guanzhong for the matter of Qinghe Hou......"

Xiang Bo and the burly man walked into the living room as they spoke.

"Qinghe Hou?!"

The girl who walked out and hid in the forest path suddenly stopped, couldn't help whispering again, then turned around and sneaked back, looked at the closed living room door, hesitated for a moment, and tiptoed to the window under the shade of the tree to listen.

"Brother Xiang guesses that this Xu Gongzi is the Marquis of Qinghe, although he can't believe it, he can still go to Guanzhong in advance to find the Ji brothers......" A deep man's voice came from the room.

With these words, the girl who was hiding outside the window and listening suddenly turned pale.

"Brother Zhongli and Ji's Kunzhong are familiar with each other, whether this Xu Gongzi is the Marquis of Qinghe or not, it is an opportunity for us to wait, as long as the Marquis of Qinghe dies, the world of Daqin will be chaotic, and then our Xiang clan can raise troops in Wuzhong......" This is Xiang Bo's voice.

The girl's face became paler and paler, and she covered her mouth nervously and continued to listen.

"Brother Xiang rest assured, the Qin State destroyed the Six Kingdoms for no reason, and reused Li Sixing to enslave the people of the world, the six kings and grandsons were all imprisoned in Xianyang, and the descendants of the royal family such as Qu Jingzhaodou of my Chu land were all plundered to Xianyang to live miserably, the revenge of destroying Chu will not be avenged for a day, and my Chu people will not slack off for a day, although Zhong Liwu is only a puppet, but he also has the heart to destroy Qin and restore Chu, and he is willing to make a modest contribution to the great cause of Xiang Gong's restoration of Chu......"

"Why should Brother Zhongli be vain, my Xiang clan is determined to restore my great Chu, as long as it is done, Brother Zhong Li must also be the merit of the marquis, he will be reused by the king of Chu one day, and the assassination of the Qinghe Marquis will be all up to Brother Zhongli, my Xiang clan is in Jiangdong, as long as the Qinghe Marquis dies, the big thing can be ......done."

"Brother Xiang don't worry, but this matter must be kept secret......"

Although the sound of the conversation in the room was not particularly clear, the girl also roughly understood the content of the discussion between the two, and after hiding outside the window and listening for a long time, she did not dare to stay for a long time, and tiptoed away from the living room with her skirt, and only after leaving more than ten zhang did she take a deep breath and run away along the path.

On the edge of the pond in the front yard, a burly boy was still sitting alone in the shade of a tree.

With the sound of footsteps, I soon saw a girl hurrying with a gauze skirt, her face pale and still looking back.

"Why is your face so ugly? Have you ever seen that Xu Gongzi? The boy turned around and asked with a little listlessness on the girl's face.

"Brother, do you know the Marquis of Qinghe?" The girl squatted down like a frightened rabbit, grabbed the boy's arm tightly, and asked nervously.

The young man shook his head for a moment: "I have never been to Xianyang, how can I know the Marquis of Qinghe!" ”

"That'...... Then do you know the Ji brothers in Guanzhong? The girl's face became even more anxious.

"Guanzhong? The Ji brothers ......" The young man looked at the pond and pondered for a while and nodded: "Although I haven't been to Guanzhong either, the Ji brothers must be Ji Bu and Ji Xin!" ”

"Who is this Ji brother?" The girl's nervous fingers were trembling slightly.

The young man touched the girl's forehead inexplicably and said, "You don't care much about these heroes on weekdays, why are you so nervous today, could it be that you just met them on the street?" ”

"Nope!" The girl realized that she might be too nervous and excited, so she slowly let go of her hand and sat down with her gauze skirt, calmed down and said, "I also heard on the street that someone was fighting and mentioned these two people, and I was just curious for a while! ”

"The Ji brothers are famous knights all over the world, it is rumored that Ren Xia is righteous, not only in the Guanzhong area, but also worshiped by the heroes of the world, it is rumored that it is better to get a golden daughter than to get Ji Bu Yinuo, I also want to see it, but unfortunately I am grounded by my uncle now......" The young man sighed faintly after explaining.

"Brother, I'...... I want to go back to the next phase, do you want to ...... with me," the girl whispered, hesitantly.

After waiting for a long time and not hearing the young man speak, the girl stood up and shook her gauze skirt and said: "Brother, the first emperor is touring the southeast, Wuzhong must be heavily guarded, the second uncle will confine you at home, and my father will not let me go out, I am ready to ask my father tomorrow to let me go back to the lower prime minister to play for a while, you are not interesting to stay in Wuzhong, it is better to go back with me, there are many sisters in the lower prime minister's clan, it is better than being locked up at home all day long!" ”

"It's not easy to play!" The boy lay down depressed on the ground.

"Whatever you want, I'm leaving!" The girl did not stay, but turned away with her skirt in her hand.

"Why does this girl suddenly want to go back to the next phase?" The young man turned his head to look at the girl's back and muttered, then sighed again, "It's true that Wuzhong can't stay any longer, so I'll go find the second uncle!" ”

The boy stood up, and he didn't bother to tidy up the grass stems and leaves attached to his body, and staggered away from the pond.

……

"Song's Salt Village."

At sunset, the weather was already very cool, Chen Xu carried a hat as usual, wearing short hexagram shorts common to Wuzhong people, wearing a pair of straw sandals on his feet, holding a handful of water chestnuts in his hand while eating, he looked up at the shops on the street, and then walked straight in, and he was followed by a few guards who were also dressed in coarse linen clothes from Wuzhong, but they looked like ordinary people.

The room was filled with a salty and bitter smell, very pungent.

Chen Xu glanced at the large and small frames of coarse salt placed in the salt house, walked to a large bamboo basket and grabbed a handful of them casually, then dipped some with his fingers and licked them with his tongue, and suddenly frowned and spit out.

"This Lang Jun wants to buy salt?" A teenager greeted him with kindness.

"You only have sea salt in your salt house?" Chen Xu asked with a grin.

This bamboo basket is full of sea salt, and the color is messy, not the snow-white salt grains he eats on weekdays, and the refined salt sold in supermarkets in later generations is not the same.

Wuzhong is close to the East China Sea, the most natural sea salt, and the sea salt is made by the salt farmers of the seaside directly drying the seawater, neither refined nor purified, in addition to the necessary sodium chloride, there are magnesium chloride magnesium chloride calcium sulfate these potassium sodium calcium magnesium magnesium and other active metal salts, because the composition is mixed, not only the particles are coarse, but also because the composition of different metal salts in different seasons is also slightly different, so the color is not the same, the taste is naturally not simply salty, there is also bitterness, so the taste is naturally very bad, bitter and astringent, A sip of salt is almost the same as choking on a sip of seawater.

Hearing that Chen Xu had a foreign accent, the young man hurriedly smiled and said: "Although my Song's Salt Village is not the largest salt merchant in Wuzhong, it is not only the sea salt of the East China Sea, but also the rock salt of Jiangxi and the well salt of Bashu, but it is slightly more expensive!" ”

"How much does it cost to eat a bucket of salt?" Chen Xu asked.

"Sea salt is eight dollars a bucket, rock salt is fifteen dollars a bucket, and Ba salt is the most expensive, asking for thirty yuan ......," the young man quickly replied.

"Well, the price is not outrageous, my family is also in business, and I am going to open a salt village in Wancheng, I heard that the salt in the East China Sea is cheap, and I passed by Wuzhong and came in to take a look, if the price is right, I can get more and go back to sell, I don't know if the steward of your salt village is there?" Chen Xu nodded slightly and asked.

"Yes, Lang Jun wait a minute, I'll go and call the steward!"

As soon as the young man heard that a big customer came to the door, he hurriedly ran through a small door to the backyard, and after a while, a young man in a long robe strode out, but when he saw Chen Xu, he suddenly paused, and let the queen quickly bow and say: "Since this son wants to buy a lot of salt, please follow me to the back hall to talk in detail!" ”

"Hmm!" Chen Xu nodded, and with a guard, he followed the young man into the backyard, and then entered a room, and the young man turned around and closed the door before kneeling on the ground to pay homage to Chen Xu.

"Shang Qi didn't know that the Hou Ye had arrived, please forgive me!"

"No need to be polite, get up!" Chen Xu nodded and sat down on the chair, Shang Qi also got up and patted the dust on his placket and sat down with him before he said cautiously, "Without the call of the Hou Ye, Qi didn't dare to go to the Five Lakes Park to disturb!" ”

"You did a good job, don't reveal your identity for the time being, tomorrow the Marquis will leave Wuzhong, you continue to secretly monitor and observe the actions of the Xiang family and Xiaobawang, once there is any misconduct, you can go and report to Lord Shoujiang, and at the same time, you must also write a letter to Xianyang to let me know!"

"Hou Ye, rest assured, Qi will definitely monitor Xiang's actions well and not let Hou Ye down!" Shang Qi hurriedly nodded and replied.

"Ben Hou has one more thing I want to ask you today, the little lady you accompanied to the lake to approach me today is a member of the Xiang clan?" Chen Xu asked about the girl's origin.

"Hou Ye's eyes are like torches, that little lady is indeed a member of the Xiang clan, her name is Xiang Jing, and she is the daughter of Uncle Xiang, the third uncle of the little overlord!"

"Sure enough!" Chen Xu nodded and asked about Xiang Jing's news, and also had a little general understanding of this girl, and then looked at Shang Qi and said: "The Xiang family is not an ordinary family, not only has deep roots in Wuzhong and Chudi, but also has a bad heart, you can contact Xiang Jing, but don't give birth to his heart, otherwise I am afraid that there will be a disaster of destruction!" ”

"Huh?!" Shang Qi's face turned pale with fright, and after being stunned for a while, he quickly waved his hand and shook his head, "Master Hou, don't worry, Shang Qi doesn't have half a heart for this woman, and he only approaches her on weekdays to send some money and jewelry, in order to find out the news of the Xiang family!" ”

"That's good, Ben Hou is far away in Xianyang on weekdays, and the affairs of Wuzhong can't be understood in time, so you must not spoil Ben Hou's big things because of women!" Chen Xu warned with a serious face.

"Hou Ye rest assured, Qi's life is given by Hou Ye, and he will definitely serve Hou Ye with liver and brains, if this woman is a threat to Hou Ye, I can lure her out and kill her......"

"I'm just reminding you, don't be so nervous, if you are too entangled with the Xiang family, I'm afraid Ben Hou won't be able to save you when the time comes, you have to do it yourself, if you have something urgent after I leave, you can go to Lord Jiang for help, as for the money spent on finding out the news, Ben Hou will compensate you at that time!"

"Don't dare, Song Gong has already said that all the money in this Wuzhong Yanzhuang is at my disposal, and now it has only cost tens of thousands of dollars, Master Hou doesn't need to care!" Shang Qi hurriedly shook his head.

"Then arrange it like this, there is no need to send each other, Ben Hou is gone!"

Chen Xu didn't drink a sip of tea, and stayed for only ten minutes before leaving the salt village.