Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 154
It rained heavily all night, and it didn't lighten until the next morning, but it was still raining like weaves.

Lu Shoushan woke up very early, and he didn't sleep well that night.It has been six years since he was escorted to Beijing with the Xu family in the 43rd year of Qianlong.He never imagined that he would one day return to his native land.

He asked Shen Jingdan privately yesterday how far it was from Shanghai to Dongtai.Without even thinking about it, Shen Jingdan told him to go four or five hundred miles by water along the Wusong River to the north, passing Nantong and Rugao, and then Dongtai. If the wind is favorable, the boat will arrive in four or five days.

Today's Lu Shoushan is no longer the cautious servant of the Xu family in Dongtai.Since meeting Zhao Xin on Xiong Island, after more than half a year of experience, his vision has changed from the past.

Tossing and turning on the bed all night, Lu Shoushan felt that there was a fire burning his internal organs, which made him restless.

How to do?Ask Zhao Xin for leave and go back to Dongtai to kill Cai Jiashu and his son to avenge the Xu family? !But he also knew that as long as he set foot on Dongtai now, his personal safety would be hard to say.

So tormented, the night passed.When the sky was getting dark, Lu Shoushan heard the sound of the rain outside the door becoming quieter, so he got up and got dressed.Xu Dayong on the other bed was still sound asleep.Lu Shoushan shook his head, then went out to the well in the front yard to fetch water for washing.He was washing when he heard light footsteps coming from the corridor, and when he looked up, it was Pan Xiucheng.

"Why, didn't you sleep all night?" Lu Shoushan with red eyes looked at Pan Xiucheng who also had dark circles under his eyes.

Pan Xiucheng didn't speak, but nodded slightly.He looked up at the rainwater falling from the eaves, and after a while he said softly: "Shoushan, how about we ask Mr. Zhao for a few days off?"

Lu Shoushan said in a daze: "What do you want to do? Go back to Dongtai?"

"Yes! My father, my mother, and my wife and children have been together for six years. I don't know how they are doing now."

"I'll tell the master when we finish the matter in Yangzhou."

"Actually, I..." Pan Xiucheng hesitated for a while, then suddenly said viciously: "I want to kill the Cai family the most!"

Lu Shoushan remained silent, just staring at the other party.

Today's Pan Xiucheng is different from the past. Ever since he followed Zhao Xin, more than a dozen Qing soldiers have died under his command;He was no longer the honest coachman he was back then, and his words were tough.

"Forget it!" Pan Xiu suddenly discouraged: "I just think about it. Dongtai, we can't go back."

The two were sighing, when they suddenly heard someone banging on the courtyard door.Lu Shoushan put down the towel, quietly walked to the gate of the courtyard and looked out through the gap, there were two young men in coir raincoats.

"What happened early in the morning?" Lu Shoushan asked with a cough.

"We are fellows of 'Huang Shengtai'. Master Huang asked us to deliver breakfast to the family."

This Mr. Huang is really good at flattering!While Lu Shoushan was thinking, he opened the small door on one side.

Outside the door, two guys in coir raincoats were holding a heavy three-layer food box in each hand. Seeing that the courtyard door was opened, a middle-aged strong man came out, and said: "We are guys from the Huang family. Send it early."

Lu Shoushan nodded with a smile, reached out to take the two food boxes, and beckoned the two guys to come in.The three of them went all the way to the front hall, and after putting down the food box, the two guys from the Huang family left.

"What's the matter?" Wang Yuanfang came out from a side room.

"Oh, Master Huang sent someone to deliver breakfast."

Wang Yuanfang was a little curious, and he wanted to give it away earlier. What the hell is that fat man doing?He walked to the front hall, opened the food box, and couldn't help being amazed.

The first thing that catches the eye is a jug of wine!Wang Yuanfang reached out to touch the jug, and it was still warm.He lifted the lid and smelled it, it was rice wine.Remove the layer of rice wine, and underneath is a large pot of steaming fried rice with eggs.

The first layer of another food box is a large bowl of dry rice and some salted vegetables; the second layer is amazing. When I took it away, it turned out to be a large pot of chicken soup!Wang Yuanfang swallowed his saliva reluctantly as he smelled the fragrant chicken soup.He noticed that the mouth of the jar was wrapped in damp tissue paper to prevent spills.

He didn't care about looking at other food boxes, and hurried back to the house to greet Liu Sheng and others to get up and have breakfast, while he went to fetch water to wash up.

Liu Siting in the main room on the west side was woken up by Wang Yuanfang's voice. She didn't sleep well that night, mainly because she couldn't sleep well after moving to a new place.I got up in a hurry, tidied up the bedding, got dressed, took out the toothbrush and facial cleanser, and left the house.

After a while, everyone except Zhao Xin got up.The porch in the front yard was full of people, brushing their teeth and washing their faces in a mess.

"Don't grab it, I'll wash it first."

"Hate!"

After everyone finished their work and sat down at the Eight Immortals table in the front hall, Zhao Xingang yawned and walked out of the main room on the east side.It is said that I don't need to run and exercise today, so happy!

Without waiting for him, they opened the other two food boxes, and they were as amazed as Wang Yuanfang.

The third food box has a cage of soup dumplings on the upper and lower layers, and a small jar next to it contains the mixed sauce and vinegar.When the drawer was opened, a smell of crab roe came to my face.Everyone looked at the fourth food box, which was also a jug of wine and a large bowl of fried rice with eggs.

Liu Zheng said strangely: "The fried rice is fine, what's the point of having two bottles of rice wine in the morning?"

Xu Dayong, who was standing at the door, quickly explained: "Master. Here in Shanghai, they pay attention to eating hard rice in the morning, and sometimes it is served with rice wine."

"What about the chicken soup?"

"It's used to make rice, and it's a good breakfast with salted vegetables."

"I see!"

The three of Lu Shoushan did not dare to sit at the same table with Liu Sheng and the others, and shirked, each served a bowl of fried rice, some salted vegetables, and a jug of wine; they went back to the porter's room and drank rice wine while eating.

After Zhao Xin finished washing slowly, there was a plate of salted vegetables, half a can of chicken soup, two steamed buns with crab roe, and half a bowl of dry rice left on the table.Seeing that there was no egg fried rice to eat, Zhao Xin had no choice but to use the leftover chicken soup to soak the rice, and ate it all with salted vegetables.The crab roe buns were eaten one bite at a time, and they entered the stomach before tasting any taste.

Zhao Xin heard Wang Yuanfang say that the breakfast was brought by Lao Huang, so he smiled and said that the fat Huang really tried his best to please him.

After everyone had breakfast, they saw that the rain still didn't stop.When I arrived here last night, although there were lanterns shining, I still couldn't see many places clearly, so I took advantage of the daytime to walk around and looked around the front and back of the house with an umbrella.

It was like this lazily mingling until noon, when Lu Shoushan, who was sitting in the gatehouse, heard someone knocking on the door again.When I opened the door, I saw the same two guys who came in the morning, still carrying two food boxes in their hands.Here comes lunch!
The two men delivered the lunch box to the front hall, cleaned up the breakfast bowls, and were about to leave.Zhao Xin stopped the two of them.

"Go back and tell Mr. Huang that we want to go to the city to visit the Town God's Temple in the afternoon."

The two guys hurriedly bowed and left with the food box in hand.

The thinking of Zhao Xin and others is that, taking advantage of the rain today, there must be fewer people on the street.It's better to go to the city for a walk, and then prepare to go north to Yangzhou tomorrow.

Everyone had a hasty lunch, and it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon. Lao Huang and Shen Jingdan arrived with a few hired carriages and brought "raincoats" for everyone.

The best raincoats in the Qing Dynasty were made of silk and painted with tung oil, so they were called "oil coats".Oil jackets have excellent water-repellent performance, which is very close to modern raincoats.In addition to the raincoats worn by men, there are also "oil coats" and "oil skirts" worn by women when they go out; oil skirts are wrapped around skirts.

Zhao Xin and the others put on blue oil coats, oil caps, and black oil boots; then they waited for Liu Siting from Westinghouse to also get dressed, and then they went out together and got into the carriage.

("Great Qing Huidian" stipulates that the royal family and first-rank officials wear red raincoats, and the second-rank civil and military officials to the military and civilians are all blue. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, oil boots were divided into two types: clips and cotton, both of which were black. Cotton can waterproof , can also keep out the cold, oil boots for winter; clips can be worn in different seasons. The soles of oil shoes are twice as thick as ordinary shoes, and the uppers are lined with multi-layer cloth, and the seams are fine. The tung oil is repeatedly applied to make it hard, so that it is waterproof and the shoes are not easy to deform. There are two ways to wear the oil shoes, one is "slip-on", which is put on the oil shoes after wearing the shoes; Wear oil shoes directly after wearing socks.)
In the county town of Shanghai in this era, there are many waterways.Two main waterways pass through the city from east to west, one is Zhaojiabang in the south and the other is Fangbang in the north.The Town God's Temple is on the north side of Fangbang, the Yuewang Temple and Mengjiang Temple are next to the east, and the Yu Garden is on the northwest.

At this time, it rained heavily again.Several carriages entered the city from the "Crossing Dragon Gate" in the south of the county seat, and there were very few pedestrians on the street along the way.After entering the city, go north and cross the Yuxing Bridge, pass the Xuegong, and turn left after crossing the Changsheng Bridge, and then you arrive at the Town God's Temple on Miaoqian Street.

During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Shouyue, the magistrate of Shanghai at that time, rebuilt the Jinshan Temple in Shanghai, which was dedicated to Boluhou Huoguang, the god of Jinshan, into the Shanghai City God Temple, dedicated to Shanghai City God Qin Yubo (Qin Yubo is the eighth grandson of Qin Guan, check it yourself if you are interested) .)
People like Zhao Xin have all been to Shanghai and the Temple of the City God in another time and space.However, the Town God's Temple in the Qianlong period is still very different from that of later generations.In addition to several fires, the most important reason is that during the Xianfeng Knife Association uprising in the third year, the West Garden of the Town God's Temple was used as a command post, and the Qing army was destroyed when it attacked; after the Taiping army attacked Shanghai, the Qing court sought foreigners. In support of the suppression, the foreign troops stationed in the West Garden completely destroyed the landscape of the garden, and it was not restored until the Tongzhi period.

Just now Liu Sheng saw that the Yuewang Temple was next door, and he himself had no interest in the Town God's Temple, so he told Zhao Xin that he wanted to go there and have a look.Wang Yuanfang wanted to go as soon as he heard it, so Liu Sheng, Wang Yuanfang, Ding Guofeng, Wu Siyu and Pan Xiucheng went to the next door under the leadership of Lao Huang.

After Zhao Xin and his party entered the temple through the side door, Lu Shoushan heard Zhao Xin tell Liu Siting that there should be a Cihang Hall behind the main hall to enshrine the real person of Cihang—that is, Guanyin, so he said he wanted to put incense on Guanyin. Pray to the Xu family and bless the two young masters.Zhao Xin also agreed.

Unexpectedly, Lu Shoushan and Xu Dayong had just walked to the main hall, and when they were about to go around behind, a slightly old voice came from the rain curtain.

"Thank you, Daoist! Thank you, Daoist!"

Lu Shoushan was shaken all over, turned his head to look, and saw an old man in his 50s in oilcloth standing at the entrance of the main hall, bowing to a Taoist priest.When the old man straightened up and turned around to put on his hat, Lu Shoushan had already seen the face clearly.

A rush of hot blood surged from his chest and rushed straight to Tianling!At this time, Lu Shoushan's ears were buzzing loudly, his eyes were darkened, and he could not stand still.

"Brother Lu, what's the matter with you?" Xu Dayong, who was following at the side, saw Lu Shoushan swaying and asked quickly, supporting him.

"He, he!" Lu Shoushan's voice trembled, his eyes seemed to burst into flames.He raised his forearm and pointed at the old man who was about to leave with a trembling right hand.

Xu Dayong looked at Lu Shoushan, then followed his fingers to look at the old man.Quickly asked: "Brother Lu, what's the matter?"

"Follow him, don't let him find out." Lu Shoushan leaned against the gable of the main hall, tremblingly said.

"Ah? Hey!" Xu Dayong was taken aback, followed the old man?But when he turned his head and saw Lu Shoushan's posture of wanting to eat people, he felt chills, quickly agreed, and quietly followed.

On the way to Shanghai, Liu Sheng and the others briefly explained some tracking skills to Lu Shoushan and the others in order to facilitate the completion of the task.Xu Dayong listened very carefully at the time, but he didn't expect to use it soon.

After the old man got out of the Town God's Temple, he got on a small sedan chair, and then went west across the Chen Shi'an Bridge. When he was approaching Guangfu Temple, he turned right and entered the Old Jiaochang Street.

Because of the rain at this time, there were very few pedestrians on both sides of the street except for a few vegetable and meat sellers.Xu Dayong didn't dare to approach, so he followed at a distance of seven or eighty meters from the old man.

The sedan chair turns left at Chuanxin Street, and runs out of the city from the old north gate.

Lu Shoushan, who was squatting under the gable of the main hall in the Chenghuang Temple, felt better after a while.He got up slowly, and searched for the sound all the way to find Zhao Xin and others who were about to go to the West Garden to play.

"Master." Lu Shoushan walked behind Zhao Xin and called in a low voice.

"Oh, Shoushan." Zhao Xin responded casually, and as soon as he turned his head, he saw a big gray face. "Huh?Why do you look so bad? ! "

"Master, take a step to speak."

"What's the matter?" Zhao Xin followed Lu Shoushan to the corner between the front and back yards, and was very surprised to see Lu Shoushan looking around.

"My lord, I saw a man."

Zhao Xin stared at Lu Shoushan, and saw that his eyes were wide open, as if he wanted to choose someone to eat.So he tentatively asked, "Who did you see?"

"Tong! Zhi! Lin!"

Zhao Xin was taken aback for a moment, thinking why does this name sound so familiar?Suddenly my heart moved, and I asked quickly: "You mean Dong."

Lu Shoushan nodded heavily before Zhao Xin finished speaking.

"What about others?"

"It's already gone. I asked Xu Dayong to follow."

"Are you sure you saw it was him?"

"I can recognize him even in ashes!"

Zhao Xin thought for a while and said, "Wait for Xu Dayong to come back."

After Xu Dayong left the city, he finally followed to the gate of a small courtyard near Sanmao Pavilion Zhi Street, only to see the sedan chair stop.The old man got off the sedan chair and paid the money. After the bearer left, he knocked on the door.

Seeing a grocery store across the yard, Xu Dayong walked quickly to the door of the store, pretending to go in and buy something.While rubbing the mud on his feet on the bluestone steps outside the shop door, he paid attention to the movement behind him.

There was only a creaking sound from the courtyard door, and the person who opened the door said to the old man, "Housekeeper Tong, are you here?"

"I got it! I got it! The talismans there are very effective, and the master is saved now!"

Soon, as the courtyard door closed, the sound disappeared.Xu Dayong glanced back and saw that the courtyard door was closed; he just walked around the shop and chatted with the shop clerk, only then did he realize that the old man was the housekeeper of the opposite house.After leaving the shop, Xu Da looked around for a while, making sure that the location of this place had been recorded in his mind, and then walked quickly into the city.

Half an hour later, when Xu Dayong returned to Chenghuang Temple to meet Zhao Xin, he went to him and murmured for a long time.

At this time, Liu Sheng and the others had already returned to Chenghuang Temple from Yuewang Temple.Zhao Xin thought for a while after listening, then waved to Wu Siyu: "Old Wu, come down."

Everyone felt very strange seeing Zhao Xin, Xu Dayong, and Lu Shoushan's mysterious appearance.What is Zhao Xin doing again?
Wu Siyu came over with a puzzled look on his face, Zhao Xin leaned into his ear and talked for a while, then Wu Siyu asked in surprise: "Are you sure?"

"Sure, you and Xu Dayong go over and watch together, and come back and tell us personally if you have anything to do."

"You go home?"

"No." Seeing that Liu Sheng and Shen Jingdan were all looking at him, Zhao Xin quickly walked over to Shen Jingdan and asked, "Boss Shen, we want to find a place nearby to discuss things right away. Where do you think is suitable?"

"Go to my house. From here, follow the main street to the east, just out of town."

"Okay." After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he turned to Wu Siyu and Xu Dayong and said, "Do you all remember the location of Boss Shen's house?"

Wu Siyu and Xu Dayong nodded.

"Find us there if you have anything to do." After finishing speaking, Zhao Xin waved to Liu Sheng and the others, turned around with a stern expression, and left.

Half an hour later, in the flower hall of Shen's second entrance on Taiping Street.

"Who is Tong Zhilin?" Liu Sheng asked in surprise.He didn't notice that when Shen Jingdan heard this name, the blood vessels in his forehead thumped; while Pan Xiucheng's eyes showed a fierce look.

Zhao Xin glanced at everyone present: "Let Shoushan explain to you."

After Liu Sheng and the others listened to Lu Shoushan's narration, they couldn't help looking at each other in astonishment.What a coincidence? !
(Tong Zhilin, a native of Rugao, was originally from Taizhou. In his early years, he wanted to enter the state school in Taizhou. At that time, Xu Shukui, who was at home in Zhongju, said that Tong Zhilin was born in a military household. Just this sentence made Tong Zhilin hate this for many years. The Dongtai literary prison So the world was shaken, and Tong Zhilin had a lot to do with it. It was he who brought Cai Jiashu's son Cai Hu to Liu Yong to sue.)
"Crack!", Liu Sheng slapped the table and shouted angrily, "Kill him!"

"I asked Angkor and Xu Dayong to watch that family. Xu Dayong heard that family called Tong Zhilin or the housekeeper."

Shen Jingdan, Lu Shoushan and Pan Xiucheng were taken aback: "Could it be?"

Zhao Xin nodded, and said lightly: "It is very likely that it is the Cai family."

(End of this chapter)