Fengming County is located in the hinterland of the south of the Yangtze River, next to a large river called Baishui by the locals. The water of this river irrigates the fertile soil along the coast for thousands of miles, and also breeds the specialty of Fengming County: white oil rice, and the brewing of this rice. What came out: Fengming Wine. In the 23rd year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, Fengming wine was also sent to the Forbidden City along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal as a tribute wine, and it became a popular item for dignitaries in the capital.
However, for the current Fengming County, such brilliance is an unrecoverable past. Since the fourth year of Yongzheng, the water level of the Baishui River has been declining year by year, and in the first year of Qianlong, it has reached a level of half a river of water and a half of sand. of misery. The originally sweet and pure river water has now turned into a dim yellow and dirty appearance, and it can no longer raise the white and soft white oil rice and the mellow Fengming wine. Fengming County was glorious because of the Baishui River, but also declined because of the Baishui River.
" I, let me tell you, bah. " A tall young man spit the sand in his mouth to the ground, covered the sun above his head with a fan, a pair of slender phoenix eyes squinted by the sunlight, turned his head to follow him The scholar-like person beside him complained, " It's just you, a fool who believed in those books. It's been digging for two days, and there's nothing! "
" There will be! " The slender, white-skinned young man raised his face, but he felt that the sun would not be enough. He looked left and right, hid behind the tall young man, and used the shadows of others to find shade. " Since the book says there is, it must be there. Let's look for it. "
" Okay, if you have it, keep digging! " The tall young man moved the fan in his hand to cover the scholar's head, and dragged him to the shade of a tree not far away.
" I said Ziyi, what kind of book are you reading, give me a look and let me see how it was written? "
It turned out that the weak scholar who was held on the shoulders of the tall young man was the parent official who had just been in office for half a year in Fengming County. Zhang Ruomi, with the name Ziyi, was the young son of Zhang Tingyu's family, the elder of the three dynasties. Kedian offended the new emperor in the test, so he was released as a seventh-grade sesame official far away from the capital.
" Agui, don't mess around, you can read the books in the Hanlin Academy? " Zhang Ruomiao breathed a sigh of relief when he came under the shade of the tree, the sun was too poisonous, he just took Agui and handed it to him He took a sip from the cowhide water bag inside and went to grab someone else's folding fan.
The tall man who was called Agui was Zhang Ruomiao's friend from childhood to adulthood, the son of General Acton, the Minister of War, and like Zhang Ruomiao, a genuine son of a noble family. He was two years younger than him, and he didn't like to read since he was a child. Acton really couldn't control it for the first two years. He threw him into the military camp and served as a soldier for two years. Who knew that when he came back from the military camp, his temper was even more wild, and he couldn't stay at home at all. Said that Zhang Ruomiao had released Fengming County, crying and shouting to follow, General Acton had no choice but to let him.
" You know how to use Mandarin to press me. " Agui stuck out his tongue. Unlike Zhang Ruomiao, who has an official position, he is now a commoner, and he doesn't worry about any official body. His sleeves are rolled up to his shoulders. , exposing a pair of muscular arms.
In just a few words, the place where the two of them stood just now had been dug into a huge pit by a few servants. It is strange to say that this layer of loess looks good, but after a few shovels down, sand and gravel are exposed from below, and the sand is dug more and more, and gradually the soil pit becomes a sand pit, seeping from the bottom to the top. Layers of dark gloom.
There are those timid little servants who don't dare to look into the pit anymore, just blindly digging with their eyes closed. Agui is keenly aware of the abnormality at the edge of the pit. pimple.
"I 've dug it! I've dug it! " Suddenly, a few servants shouted loudly. When Zhang Ruomiao heard this, her half-drooped eyes instantly lit up. As they ran, Agui also followed closely behind him, both of them wanted to see what they had dug up.
When I ran to the front, I saw a pile of white bones at the bottom of the huge yellow sand pit. It looked like it had been buried for some years, and the bones were black. Zhang Ruomiao was unprepared, and was frightened by the bones at the edge of the pit, and his ankles softened and he slid into the sand pit. Agui was also startled. Seeing Zhang Ruomiao slip and fall, he didn't care about anything else, so he hurriedly lay beside the bunker and pulled him out, worried that he might get caught in the corpse gas at the bottom of the pit for a long time.
Fortunately, it was noon now, and the sun was shining brightly, and everyone eased off the initial panic and gradually calmed down. Agui has been a little more timid since he was young, so he settled down and began to squat on the edge of the pit to observe carefully.
" It 's all children's. " He pulled out the pile of bones with his saber and said with certainty.
" Son, child? " Zhang Ruomiao still maintained the state where Aguilar came up, with both hands tightly clinging to Agui's arms, and his eyes were staring blankly as he asked.
" That's right. Look at the size of this head, Ziyi, you're here to find this? " Agui felt the pain from being pinched on her arm, so she turned her head and patted the back of Zhang Ruomiao's hand comfortingly, " Could it be that What allusions are there in the bones of this dead man? "
" I'm not looking for this, I'm looking for Mengliang Academy! " Zhang Ruomiao then recovered, took out a booklet from his sleeve, opened a page and pointed it to Agui.
" Mengliang Mystery Case ..." Agui read the words Zhang Ruomiao pointed to him, and his pupils gradually narrowed.
" Ziyi, where did you get this book from? " Agui couldn't help but look up and ask, but saw Zhang Ruomiao's ruddy face suddenly turned gray, as if he had seen some terrifying scene The same, even the hand holding the book trembled.
" Ziyi! " Agui shouted worriedly.
" Ah, Agui, let's go back, hurry up. " Zhang Ruomiao moved his lips and spit out a faint mosquito sound, but his eyes were not on Agui's face, but staring at the bottom of the bunker. A very gloomy looking place.
Looking along his line of sight, Agui felt that something was slowly wriggling in the depths of the pit, as if it was about to burrow out from under the dark earth.
Although he was born in the General's Mansion, Agui, who was not afraid of the sky and earth, was a little bit numb at this time. He raised the saber in his hand and threw it fiercely at the place, only to hear a " ding " sound, the tip of the knife was steady Steadily inserted into the dark soil. Agui dragged Zhang Ruomiao a few steps forward and pulled out the saber with a sound of " boom " , but saw a square-shaped thing like a token embedded on the silver-white tip. Just as he reached out to take it, Zhang Ruomiao's exclamation came from behind him.
" Be careful! "
The atmosphere was already tense, Zhang Ruomiao's voice was like a bucket of ice water pouring straight into the back of A Gui's neck, so frightened that he shook his wrist and almost didn't hold the handle of the knife.
Zhang Ruomiao had never seen A Gui who was like a frightened bird before. The fear in his heart was half dispelled by a smile. He took out a silk veil from his arms and stuffed it into A Gui's hand.
" You put this on a pad and buried it with a pile of bones for so long, who knows what's on it. "
Agui nodded, took the veil and carefully broke off the square token, holding it in his hand to examine it carefully.
This should be a token made of pig iron. It is as big as the palm of an adult man. It is quite heavy in the hand. Although it has been buried in the ground for so long, the pattern on it still looks lifelike, but the problem arises. on these weird patterns. I don't know what means the craftsmen used to make this pattern look lifelike. With the different viewing angles, the several python-like things engraved on it will fluctuate faintly, as if they will rise up at any time and place, very surprising. .
" Ziyi, what do you think? " Agui had never seen this thing before, so he had no idea, but since Zhang Ruomiao asked him to dig it, he had no choice but to ask him.
" This time, I really have no choice. " Zhang Ruomiao looked at Agui's expectant eyes, swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said helplessly.