my demon

Chapter 36

The inner study is still the same as before, quiet and orderly.

Only Wei Fanjun looked at Xiao Yan sadly from time to time, his gaze was so strong that Xiao Yan had to give him a warning glance.

After receiving the warning, Wei Fanjun immediately restrained his expression and looked serious.

Xiao Yan couldn't laugh or cry, until the inner study finished, he returned to Ziwei Palace, and he was not surprised to know that Wu Zhishu had gone to the Supervisor of Rituals, and Cai Fuan, the deputy chief eunuch of Ziwei Palace, is currently in charge of all the affairs of Ziwei Palace , he is an honest man, industrious but not astute,

This seems to be a common problem of many people who are too smart. Because they are too capable, they like to appoint a deputy who is hardworking but lacks some agility and flexibility. When something goes wrong with them, their deputy may not be able to take responsibility.

This is Xiao Yan's opportunity.

Cai Fu'an was as silent and diligent as before, but he didn't dare to make decisions without authorization. Once there were different orders, he would temporarily choose to obey the one in front of him.When night fell, Xiao Yan expressed that he did not need to be served in the inner hall, he was at a loss for a while, although he still remembered what the Empress Dowager Sun said that the emperor should not leave people in front of him, he could only honestly leave with the inner servants and stay in the outer hall .

Xiao Yan asked the Lich to create a fantasy array for reading a book, and then he went to Jin'oufang. As expected, Wei Fanjun was crouching in a rattan chair under a tree, rubbing the dark clouds in his hands, and the dark clouds turned into ordinary cats. She seems to be enjoying herself, stretching her neck and retracting her feet, and scratching her paws, as if she is a very normal little milk cat.

"Your Majesty!" Wei Fanjun saw him get up quickly, and Wu Yunduo obediently jumped from his knees back to the tall locust tree branch, looking down at them.

Xiao Yan asked him: "What's the matter? Is there something wrong?"

Wei Fanjun felt aggrieved: "The emperor hasn't come for a few days, and Zhu Rufeng has disappeared. I don't know where he went. My grandfather said that he went to work for you, so I don't want to inquire. My grandfather is not going to court now, and he is watching me every day at home." Learn your lessons."

Xiao Yan couldn't help laughing: "Be patient." He knew what Zhu Rufeng was busy with. He Changan was in the villa, and he probably watched him from there. Things are more important.

Wei Fanjun said in a low voice: "Recently... a lot of things have happened..." The grandfather was disrespectful before and was exempted from the qualification to go to court, the emperor appointed the Sun family's daughter-in-law as the queen, the chief inspector of ceremonies hanged himself, and Ziwei Palace The chief eunuch escaped from prison after being arrested.There are so many big things happening all the time, and they are discussed everywhere.But he couldn't find Zhu Rufeng to talk to.

Zhu Rufeng didn't show up for several days, and he didn't know how to find him.Although the grandfather was punished, all the accompanying students changed their frivolous and contemptuous attitude towards him. Even the Hanlin scholars who taught him looked at him differently from before.He seemed to have a lot of friends all of a sudden, but he vaguely felt that the purpose of these people was not to be friends with him.

He is not very smart, so he can't figure out the relationship between them, but he feels sensitively that all of this is related to the emperor.

Xiao Yan didn't explain anything, he had already changed into an ordinary robe, he looked like an ordinary young man from a wealthy family in the capital, with a fan in his hand, he said with a smile: "Let's go, where are we going to play tonight?"

Wei Fanjun opened his mouth slightly, and finally realized: "Okay, I'll prepare the car!"

Xiao Yan smiled: "What can you do for an emperor who is not in charge? Let's play." Wei Fanjun didn't dare to leave, and hurriedly said: "Wait a minute, my grandfather said that it is not a trivial matter for you to travel, you must bring blessings. As for Rufeng, I told him not to move, but if you go out, Your Majesty, he will definitely come out. I have sent someone to pass on the message. Let's go first. Let's go to Luyangzhuang to play today. If it is warmer today, it will be fun to go to Zhuangzi. "

Sure enough, the carriage did not go far, and they arrived at Lvyang Village, and Zhu Rufeng was already waiting there.This green poplar village is also on the outskirts of the city, with tall green walls and dignified houses. A river to protect the village has been dug around the village, and willows and green peaches are planted around the river.On the river, two stone bridges were built at the front and back of Zhuangzi. Walking into the towers and pavilions, there are complete flowers and trees.

Zhuangzi built many colorful sheds and stands along several roads, and put up countless lamps. The lights were bright, as if it were daytime.

Many guests greeted Wei Fanjun. Young Master Wei knew a lot of people, but they were all idle children. Although they were expensive, they must have never met a saint, so they were not worried about the identity of the little emperor being found out.

The weather in May is just right, and there are all kinds of things to do in Zhuangzi, such as cockfighting, betting on crickets and starlings, throwing darts and shooting feather arrows, and there are many people selling flowers, fans, and sachets, and there are also people singing and boxing on the sidelines. , It turned out to be a serious business selling gold cave.

When Wei Fanjun entered, he went to the porter next to the gate of Zhuangzi and exchanged a chip of 100 taels of silver: "Eat, drink, play, listen to music, watch theatre, everything is available, use this chip to trade, anyone who wants Those who want to enter the Zhuangzi to do business, first pay a deposit, and then take the bargaining chip to exchange money with the Zhuangzi, and the Zhuangzi will take [-]% of the profit."

Xiao Yan raised his eyebrows high: "That's a good idea. It doesn't matter whether others make money or not, but the landlord will make sure money."

Wei Fanjun smiled and said: "Isn't it? This Zhuangzi belongs to Ouyang's son-in-law. For Princess Duanrou's sake, no one dares to make trouble here. After a long time, the idlers in Beijing and the rich businessmen from all over the world will be in trouble." Love coming here to play, business is booming."

Xiao Yan coughed, and Wei Fanjun smiled and said, "Don't worry, my lord, the princess and son-in-law won't come to such a messy place, it's just run by the subordinates."

Xiao Yan murmured: "I think it's the eldest princess' idea... Thanks to her thinking of this method, wouldn't it be a hundred gold a day? It's a fairy day. If I were a son-in-law, I wouldn't want to go to court."

Wei Fanjun couldn't hear clearly in the noise, so he turned his head and asked, "What did you say?" Zhu Rufeng also turned his head to look at him, with a smile on his face, obviously he heard it.

Xiao Yan unfolded his fan and shook it: "I didn't say anything." Suddenly the lich reminded Xiao Yan: "Beside, there is the fighting dog, go and have a look."

Xiao Yan looked around, and sure enough, he saw that the hillside was surrounded by curtains, and there were huge iron railings erected inside. The railings were full of onlookers, and he could faintly hear the roaring and moaning of wild animals from inside, and the crowd erupted in applause from time to time. , sighs, laughter.

Xiao Yan frowned, but still walked over.

A few idlers raised their eyes and saw Zhu Rufeng and the tall guards beside him, and moved away knowingly. Xiao Yan glanced in and saw a huge black dog in a giant cage with its head bowed and lightning flashing under the light of the torch Generally, it rushed towards another white dog, which was obviously smaller in size. The black dog's eyes were bulging and bloodshot, and it was extremely furious. There were many wounds on its body, all of which were bleeding.

The other white dog was covered with short silver fur and a thin and long waist. It looked like a pet kept by a noble lady, but there were no wounds on its body, only stained with some black dog's blood.The white dog's eyes were wary, and he ran to the other side, dodging quickly, but his eyes were fixed on the opponent's neck and chin.

The black mastiff missed, completely enraged, roared and continued to bite and pounce.

Xiao Yan listened to the conversation of the idle man next to him, and heard that the black dog was called Bahu, and it was a specially trained mastiff, while the white dog was called "General Silver". General Victory.

An idle man commented: "This tyrannical tiger was brought by a merchant from other places. It is said that it can eat ten catties of meat a day. Huo, life is better than us. It seems that this is still going to lose! Is it going to lose money? It seems You still underestimate the enemy. General Silver always wins."

Another idler said: "There are always people who underestimate General Yin. In the end, no matter how famous the dog fighting is, General Yin consumes his energy and kills him slowly. After all, he is still very angry. But whether others pay or not is none of our business. I hope General Yin wins, after all, Lao Gan will invite us to have flower wine if he wins, ha ha."

Lich spoke to Xiao Yan in a low voice: "Look at the man in black on the right."

Xiao Yan looked over according to his words, and he saw that the man was tall and tall, with high brow bones, deep eye sockets, sharp eyes, and a rough look with a bit of fierceness.He was wearing a coarse black bunt, showing his extraordinarily thick and strong arms. He stood there with his arms folded and looked at the field with indifferent eyes.

The Lich whispered: "He has a very strong evil spirit."

Xiao Yan stared at him for a while, then asked Lich in a low voice: "Is this evil spirit good for you?"

The Lich said: "It's useful. But living creatures rarely have such a strong evil spirit, almost the same as a dead soul, but he is indeed still alive. I am quite surprised that there are such people in your world. In our In the magical world in the world, you have to kill many people, and kill with your own hands, to have such evil spirits, but with such evil spirits, it is basically a dead demon, and should not be a living person."

Xiao Yan was surprised, but suddenly there was a thrilling howl in the field, and then all the audience shouted excitedly, only to see that General Yin had bitten the black mastiff's neck at some point, with sharp canine teeth, tightly Clutching tightly, the mastiff flicked General Yin desperately, but couldn't get rid of it. Blood spurted out, and the audience shouted excitedly:

"Kill it to death! Kill it to death!"

"General Silver!"

"Do it!"

The extraordinarily noisy, high-pitched and malicious voices, the moaning and struggling of the dog before dying, the smell of blood, the smell of wild beasts and the smell of sweat from various idlers, all rushed towards him. Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan felt a little unwell, and his chest was filled with annoyance, Lich said: "Go out."

Xiao Yan withdrew from the crowd, turned around and walked up the hillside path, Zhu Rufeng, Wei Fanjun and other followers had followed him, Xiao Yan looked down at the end, condescending to see that the mastiff had gone He was completely bitten to death, and he remained motionless in the arena, while a businessman from other places stood beside him with a dejected face.Another group of idlers surrounded the man in black, shouting: "Lao Gan, please drink! Go to Huayue Pavilion! Go to Huayue Pavilion!

The man in black only beckoned, and General Silver ran over to follow him. Sure enough, someone came down with the lottery stacked on the big plate above. The bright 50 taels of silver were neatly stacked, and the man in black didn't even look at it. , waved his hands: "Take it all to Huayue Pavilion, I invite! Tell Huayue Pavilion to prepare ten catties of raw meat for General Yin! And send two turtle sons to bathe him."

The crowd cheered and ran towards one direction, vaguely looking in the distance, two small buildings with colorful silks could be seen in the distance, and the "Huayue Pavilion" was supposed to be some kind of romantic place.The man in black took a few steps outside, and suddenly stepped down. The silver general next to him suddenly bared his teeth and looked up at the tree, showing a tense and vigilant look, and his hair almost stood on end.

The Lich gave a shudder in Xiao Yan's heart.

Xiao Yan looked up and saw that on the tall poplar tree, the dark clouds were like a rolling black cloud, standing on the branch and staring down curiously, seeing General Yin screaming, it was crooked head, meowing innocently.

This dog can actually see the soul of Wu Yunduo?

Xiao Yan looked at the man in black and also at the tree, his eyes were as sharp as a knife, then he reached out and touched General Yin's head: "Let's go."

General Yin kept watching the dark clouds vigilantly, while slowly guarding its owner, he walked towards Huayue Pavilion.

Seeing Xiao Yan looking at him all the time, Zhu Rufeng asked sharply, "What's your order?"

Xiao Yan said: "That very tall and burly man in black over there, ask who he is."

Wei Fanjun on the side had already heard it, and said to Xiao Yan: "That's Gan Rulin, the executioner, and the family has been executioners for generations." Wei Fanjun took his hands and made a cutting gesture on his neck, Zhu Rufeng frowned. Eyebrow stared at him.

Wei Fanjun let go of his hands in embarrassment: "The executioner has a rule that beheadings should not exceed a hundred heads, but this Gan Rulin, his father had beheaded too many heads for his livelihood, so it was too hard to give birth to him. It is said that both parents were killed. Ke died one after another, and still took over his father's livelihood and continued to be an executioner, but I heard that because of his hard life, no one gave him a matchmaker. Well, all the money he got was gone on the same day, and the dog he raised was also evil. Dog fights always win, so many idlers like to follow him. Of course, they are just drinking and meat friends. for him."

Only then did Xiao Yan understand the origin of the evil spirit: "Beheading is nothing but a hundred things."

Zhu Rufeng explained: "It is said that the rules are like this. Killing too many people will harm the children and grandchildren and prevent the parents. Therefore, the executioner will not be able to survive a hundred in his life. But the money for beheading is a lot. On the Yamen side, beheading a head will give the executioner five taels Money, so many people are still willing to do it for their livelihood."

Wei Fanjun was very interested: "The dog is also very particular. It is said that the executioner has a dog, and he goes home after beheading every day. If the dog barks, it means that a ghost has followed him back, so he will not enter the door, but go to a crowded place. , to dissipate the yin energy before going back, you see that General Yin howled just now, maybe he saw something unclean... Could it be the ghost of the black dog that was bitten to death just now!"

Zhu Rufeng couldn't bear it anymore, and pulled Wei Fanjun behind him, Wei Fanjun turned his face blankly, reacted, coughed twice, Xiao Yan smiled slightly: "It's okay, I like to hear these market anecdotes." , Hun is also right, but it is a little pet of their Lich family.

Wei Fanjun's face brightened again, and he said with a smile: "Let's find a place to drink tea. I know there is a shop near the river here. The tea is good, and the dishes are especially good!"

Xiao Yan shook his fan and said, "Okay."

The river is full of water, the green willows follow the wind, and the tea house is simply called Baishui Tea House. The interior of the shop is very elegant. There are deep red camellias all around, hanging with calligraphy and paintings of famous people, which is really elegant.

Wei Fanjun had already chosen a quiet private room facing the river, ordered several clean dishes, and said happily, "Isn't this place good? If you like it, we will come here often in the future."

Xiao Yan smiled: "It took you a lot of time to choose the place." Zhuangzi, the eldest princess and son-in-law, the place is safe, but it is really fun, it can be said that it took a lot of painstaking efforts.

Wei Fanjun said: "It's good that the master is satisfied." He smiled foolishly, and asked Zhu Rufeng: "What is Zhu Rufeng up to lately?"

Xiao Yan said: "He took care of me personally." Then he asked Zhu Rufeng: "How is the injury going?"

Zhu Rufeng said: "Every day is getting better. Yesterday I was able to get up and talk. After getting up, I knelt down facing the palace and cried, thanking the emperor for his kindness. The medicine for the wound is really wonderful. The doctor wanted to be our guest. It's because of that prescription." Sure enough, it is the wound medicine used by the palace.

Even Zhu Rufeng faintly felt that it was a pity that such a miraculous medicine should be left for the emperor's own use, wouldn't it?

Xiao Yan said: "Leave him alone, wait for his injury to heal completely, watch closely and don't let him run away."

Zhu Rufeng said: "Yes."

Xiao Yan smiled and said nothing, seeing that he really served tea with walnut and pine nuts, and then served several cold dishes such as peony three shreds, apricot flower bamboo shoots, cold silver sprouts, and sweet-scented osmanthus yam cake and mung bean cold cake.Xiao Yan took the teacup and drank tea slowly, listening to Wei Fanjun muttering about the recent events in Beijing and the intrigue among his fellow readers.

"I heard that you personally refuted Ji Xiang, and all the companions were overjoyed. Several of them came to inquire with me... especially Liu Xiaojian, who said a lot of sour words, everything... was controlled by the queen mother, and I will promise you in the future." Enhou will definitely be famous for another 30 years..."

Xiao Yan listened with a slight smile, and Wei Fanjun said again: "Even the second lady of the Marquis of Cheng'en's Mansion is very popular. I heard that several important officials have come to propose marriage..."

The hot dishes came up one after another, and everything was exquisite. Xiao Yan suddenly realized that he no longer had the special feeling of gluttony and hunger before. He slowly picked up a piece of veal with celery and tasted it, listening to Wei Fanjun's words gossip.

After rambling on for about half an hour, seeing that it was getting late and it was time to go back, Zhu Rufeng went out to pay the bill, but the Lich suddenly said in Xiao Yan's heart: "Go to Huayue Pavilion."

Xiao Yan was startled: "What?"

The Lich's voice was very serious: "Go."

Xiao Yan got up and went out, Wei Fanjun didn't react, and hurriedly followed, Zhu Rufeng watched him go down, hurriedly followed after paying the bill, and asked him in a low voice: "Master? It's getting late, it's time to go back."

Xiao Yan raised his eyes and looked in the direction. As the night got darker, the laughter at Fengyue Place became clearer. The road leading to Huayue Pavilion was hung with red lanterns. He said, "Go to Huayue Pavilion."

Wei Fanjun's face turned pale, his feet were almost trembling: "Master...you...you are going to get married..."

Xiao Yan didn't answer, and walked over directly according to the route in memory. Zhu Rufeng was obviously a little embarrassed, but he followed up immediately. Xiao Yan strode along the path with lanterns hanging all the way, approaching the building When it was time, he saw dark clouds.

Wu Yunduo quietly jumped down from the second floor, landed at his feet, and led the way forward. Xiao Yan turned around and glanced at him, and ordered Zhu Rufeng to disperse the other guards, and only let Zhu Rufeng and Wei Fanjun follow him. Then follow the dark clouds.

Wei Fanjun was very hesitant, but Zhu Rufeng waved his hands decisively and ordered them to hide around Huayue Pavilion, and then followed Xiao Yan closely.

Xiao Yan followed Wu Yunduo all the way, but bypassed the front door of Huayue Pavilion and walked to the courtyard in the back building. Wu Yunduo led him all the way in through the small door in the back yard. Wei Fanjun and Zhu Rufeng could only hold each other tightly. Following him, the three of them walked in from the backyard, but they didn't seem to see anyone all the way.

Xiao Yan knew in his heart that this must be some kind of spell cast by the Lich, so he entered the back door of the small building from the back building with confidence. Ambiguous groans and begging made Xiao Yan's ears feel slightly warm.

He followed Wu Yunduo all the way up to the second floor, and turned into a small room, which was filled with various bedding, tea sets, tables, chairs, stools and other things, presumably it was a room for storing sundries .

After the door was closed, the room fell silent, and the woman's voice from the next room became clear: "Miss, are you sure you want to do this?"

Soon another young woman's voice sounded, with some determination: "I've made a decision, thank you, Lady Huakuan, for your help tonight."

Xiao Yan raised his eyes in shock, but Wei Fanjun and Zhu Rufeng didn't know what was going on, they just looked at Xiao Yan blankly, only Xiao Yan looked stunned.

That voice unexpectedly belonged to his future queen——Sun Xuexiao!