Xiao Dong talked eloquently, Li Qiufeng and Zhang Shi didn't believe it. At this time, Mr. Storyteller was no longer frightened, and was talking about the backer king Yang Lin accepting Qin Shubao as the thirteenth Taibao. The drinkers were so fascinated by the sound that they forgot to applaud.

The tavern was no longer noisy, and Xiao Dong's voice was much quieter. I heard him lower his voice and say: "Lord Yan has risen to prominence in the officialdom in the past few years, although it is because of his outstanding talent, but he has also received great help from his friends. Lord Xia Yanxia, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites in the capital, has a friendship with Lord Yan, and has said good things for Lord Yan in front of the emperor in recent years. With the help of Lord Xia, Lord Yan can be said to have a bright future. This time, he was ordered to enter Beijing, but he was afraid that he would stay in the capital as an official, and he would never return to those Qingshui Yamen of the Six Divisions of Nanjing to sit in the well and watch the sky. ”

Li Qiufeng heard Xiao Dong mention the word "Xia Yan", and secretly thought in his heart that when he was on an errand in the capital, he heard that Xia Yan had been reused by the emperor in recent years, and it was a sure thing to enter the cabinet. No wonder Xiao Dong knew Yan Song's situation in such detail, thinking that this person had long wanted to settle with Xia Yan. Since Xia Yan has greatly promoted Yan Song, it is not unusual for Xiao Dong to secretly pay attention to Yan Song. The ingenuity of these officials who are bent on getting promoted and making a fortune is hard for outsiders to imagine.

Xiao Dong spoke up, and his words revealed that he had a good relationship with several powerful officials under Xia Yanmen. Li Qiufeng secretly thought that this person was mostly blowing nonsense, but his face was quite envious, and he couldn't help but echo it. Xiao Dong became more and more proud, and said to Li Qiufeng and Zhang Shi: "Among the six departments in the capital, if you talk about power, you will naturally be the first to recommend the Ministry of Officials, and if you talk about money, the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry are enough to fight each other. As for the military department and the criminal department, each has authority, and it is not far behind the official department. Only the Ministry of Rites is the Qingshui Yamen, not only has no power, but also has no oil and water to fish. However, since Emperor Taizu abolished the post of prime minister and divided the authority of the prime minister to six ministries, although the Ministry of Rites is the lightest, the Ministry of Rites is the first choice for cabinet scholars. This rule has not changed in 100 years. At present, Lord Xia Yanxia has become a scholar of the Ministry of Rites, and the next step is to enter the cabinet as a scholar. Lord Yan said that he entered Beijing at the behest of the emperor this time, and nine times out of ten, Lord Xia was in the middle. After Lord Xia enters the cabinet, Lord Yan will take over the post of secretary of the Ministry of Rites. In the future, if Lord Xia has a firm foothold in the cabinet, he will bring Lord Yan into the cabinet. At that time, Lord Xia will have Lord Yan to help, and the position of the head of the cabinet will not have to run!"

Zhang Shi said with a smile: "Lord Xiao and Lord Xia have a friendship with several powerful people, if Lord Xia is powerful, Lord Xiao will definitely be promoted." At that time, the villain will ask Lord Xiao to take care of him. If Lord Xiao is useful to the villain, the villain must do his best to repay him with death. ”

Xiao Dong was proud, and said in his mouth: "Zhang Yuanwai can rest assured. If Xiao has a bright future, he will definitely not be able to treat you badly. At that time, I will be in the officialdom, and Zhang Yuanwai's business will definitely get bigger and bigger. Wouldn't it be good for us to join hands and do a vigorous career?!"

Zhang Shi said respectfully: "Yes, the villain must be the only one who is the head of Lord Xiao, and he will help the adult." ”

Li Qiufeng listened to the two of them blowing and harmonizing, and the more he talked, the more shameless he became, and he was secretly disgusted in his heart. In the end, Xiao Dong and Zhang Shi were a little drunk, so they got up and left. By this time Mr. Storyteller had taken the money and left, and only a few drunken drinkers were left in the tavern lying asleep on their tables. The shopkeeper and Xiao Er sent the three of them out of the door, and then went back to the house to clean up the tables and chairs.

The three of them walked down the street, but saw that the lights of the houses on both sides were turned off. However, many people have lanterns hanging in front of their doors, so they don't feel that the surroundings are too dark. There was no one on the street, only three people walking south. Xiao Dong walked in the front, Zhang Shi accompanied him, and Li Qiufeng walked last. Xiao Dong said as he walked: "Listen to that catcher, there seems to be a murder case outside the city." The sky is high here, the emperor is far away, and the officials are all some wine bags and rice bags, and it is not easy to catch the prisoners. ”

Zhang Shi said: "Indeed, as the adults said, this place is not as good as the Central Plains, it must be very chaotic, otherwise the family heirloom treasures of the shopkeeper Yin will not be taken away." ”

Xiao Dong smiled and said, "I just don't know if Shopkeeper Yin is safe now." ”

Zhang Shi thought to himself, you bastard wish Lao Yin was killed, so that he could swallow the jade pendant. It's just that although he thought about it in his heart, his face was deeply worried, he sighed, and said in his mouth: "I hope that the shopkeeper Yin will be auspicious, and he will not be killed by others." ”

At that time, Xiao Dong and Zhang Shi were a little drunk, and they walked staggeringly, which was much slower than when they came. Li Qiufeng followed behind the two, only to see that there was no one on the long street, Xiao Dong and Zhang Shi sang and harmonized, shameless. He secretly thought in his heart that the heirloom jade pendant of the shopkeeper Yin fell into the hands of the killers of the Liu Sheng clan, and according to the habits of these killers, they would definitely not leave a living mouth. Nine times out of ten, Shopkeeper Yin has been killed. Xiao Dong and Zhang Shi didn't care about the life or death of the shopkeeper Yin at all, these people on the big ship had their own ghosts, and they were not good people.

The three of them walked for half a pillar of incense, and they were not far from the stone bridge. At this moment, Li Qiufeng suddenly stopped and said in a deep voice: "Someone is coming!"

Zhang Shi was still drunk, and said with a smile: "Why be afraid when someone comes? ”

Xiao Dong hurriedly turned around and listened attentively, and after a while, his face changed, and he said: "I didn't expect Zhu Gongzi's internal strength to be so deep, admire, admire." ”

The lanterns in front of the houses on both sides of the road were slightly swayed by the night wind, and circles of light of different sizes and shapes appeared on the street one after another. Except for the breeze blowing and the occasional sound of the wind, there was silence all around, and there was no strange sound.

Zhang Shi saw that Li Qiufeng and Xiao Dong were like great enemies, and he laughed in his heart, and said in his mouth: "Lord Xiao, Brother Zhu, how can anyone come to ...... in the middle of the night"

Before he finished speaking, he saw a few figures faintly appearing at the end of the long street. Zhang Shixin was stunned, most of the wine woke up in fright, and he hid behind Li Qiufeng tremblingly, and said in a trembling voice: "Zhu, Brother Zhu, are these people coming at us?"

Li Qiufeng ignored him, just staring at the figures that appeared on the long street. From a distance, these figures flickered left and right, up and up, which was quite weird. Half an hour later, the distance between the three of them was no more than a hundred steps. Xiao Dong suddenly laughed out loud and said, "I see, it scared us." ”

Zhang Shi hid behind Li Qiufeng, and suddenly heard Xiao Dong say such a sentence without a head, and his heart was shocked. He poked his head out from behind Li Qiufeng and looked into the distance. But I saw a few people staggering over dozens of paces away, looking very embarrassed. But when these people ran, they seemed to be drunk, their feet staggered, their bodies swayed from side to side, and from time to time some people fell to the ground, and they hurriedly got up, and fled forward like lifeless. Looking at the appearance of these people, it seems that they are followed by evil spirits, and they are chasing them closely.

Seeing these people getting closer and closer, Zhang Shi suddenly exclaimed, and said in a trembling voice: "This, isn't this the shopkeeper Hu and the shopkeeper Song?"

Li Qiufeng and Xiao Dong had already recognized Shopkeeper Hu and the others. It's just that when I saw that everyone was embarrassed, I didn't know what was going on, so I didn't help. The two looked behind Shopkeeper Hu and the others, but there was only an empty long street in front of them, and no one chased after them. Li Qiufeng listened intently, except for the chaotic footsteps of shopkeeper Hu and others, there was no abnormal sound. He didn't dare to hold it up, his whole body was stirring, and if there was an enemy surprise attack, he could immediately counterattack.

In the blink of an eye, Shopkeeper Hu and the others had fled to the three of them. By the light of the roadside lanterns, I saw that the shopkeeper Hu and the others all had blue noses and swollen faces, and their clothes were also tattered, and they looked extremely embarrassed. At first, everyone only cared about running for their lives, and did not see the situation in front of them clearly, until they fled to Li Qiufeng and the other three, and suddenly found that someone was blocking the way. Shopkeeper Hu and Shopkeeper Song, who were running at the front, were startled and hurriedly stopped. It's just that Shopkeeper Ji, Shopkeeper Bai and Shopkeeper Luo, who were following the two of them, were running desperately, and they didn't have time to see the situation in front of them clearly. When Shopkeeper Hu and Shopkeeper Song suddenly stopped, the three of them couldn't hold their feet, and bumped into Shopkeeper Hu and Shopkeeper Song. There was only a scream, and the five fell to the ground. Before they could get up, another person ran behind them, who tripped over the shopkeeper Luo who fell to the ground, and fell forward, which happened to hit the white shopkeeper, causing the white shopkeeper to scream in pain. When the man raised his head, Li Qiufeng, Xiao Dong and Zhang Shi were startled. I saw that this man's face was covered with blood, and he described it as terrifying. Zhang Shi screamed in exclamation, "Ghost!