Chang'an is good

It was dark all around, Chang Ren judged by the sense of touch at first, it was only something of gold and silver.

He handed the thing over: "I hope you two will be accommodating..."

Those two people also thought that the thing was used to buy and bribe them, one of them raised his eyebrows without thinking about it and scolded: "How dare you mess around here!"

As soldiers defending the city, how could they make an exception because of a mere bribe!
If you accept it at this point, what is the safety of the city?

It depends on what Shangfeng is patrolling on the city tower!
——Accepting bribes in front of Shangfeng, do you still want to do the job?
And it was at this gap that Chang Ren could already see clearly what was in his hand.

It turned out to be a fish-shaped copper talisman, and the name written on it...

After Chang Ren was stunned for a moment, his face was slightly solemn, and he stopped bowing, and said to the two people again: "You two, please accommodate."

The two soldiers glanced at each other - why is this man so stubborn!

The person standing in front reached out and snatched the thing from Chang Ren's hand, he wanted to see what the other party was trying to get tough...

The soldier who took the object and was about to throw it into the moat in front of Shangfeng suddenly froze——

His fingers trembled slightly, he was surprised and felt lucky - if his hand was faster, he would have been the one who was thrown into the moat today!

The companion beside him had also seen the copper talisman clearly, moved his mouth, but didn't dare to say anything, for fear of accidentally saying the wrong thing.

The soldier returned the bronze talisman with both hands, and said in a low voice, "It's a villain who has eyes but no eyes... I hope you will forgive me!"

Chang Ren put away the bronze talisman noncommittally, and picked up the oar.

He didn't know whether he should forgive him, after all, he was not an adult.

The soldier asked again in a low voice: "The water is deep and the sky is dark ahead, does your lord need a light to guide the way?"

Chang Ren: "No need."

Superfluous things tend to leave clues, even if the road is not illuminated.

"Yes." The soldier said respectfully, "My lord, go slowly..."

Chang Ren rowed away.

And as soon as this adult left, another adult came over.

"Why let people out of the city privately, we know that it's already the curfew time!" the captain of the city gate, who was walking down the city tower, sternly asked his subordinates.

Don't think he didn't see it, these two beasts who had eaten the guts of a leopard just reached out to accept the benefits handed over by the boatman!
He dared to act like this in front of him, but he didn't know what kind of virtue was behind his back!
"The captain doesn't know something, that boatman is not an ordinary person..." The soldier hurriedly lowered his voice and explained: "He is holding half of the copper talisman of Cui Dadu, the governor of Xuan Ce Mansion..."

The lieutenant's face suddenly changed: "...The copper talisman of Chief Cui Dadu? Can you see it clearly?"

"The subordinates can see clearly!"

The captain looked in the direction that the small boat was leaving. This was in the capital, and no one dared to forge the bronze amulet of the general in Xuan Ce's mansion.

But the other party acted so low-key that he pretended to be an ordinary boatman...

And this afternoon, the governor Cui just left the city, and he is also wearing ordinary clothes to hide his eyes and ears...

Looking at this posture, could it be that he is investigating some secret official business that should not be publicized?

"Don't talk too much, just pretend that you haven't seen a boat leaving the city tonight!" The captain confessed to the two subordinates in a stern tone.

The Xuance Mansion is independent from the three provinces and six ministries, and only saints can intervene in the affairs of the Xuance Mansion.

The two soldiers also knew the importance of it, and hurriedly responded.

Chang Ren couldn't help asking on the small broken ship that had gone far away, "Where did this copper talisman come from?"

Ah Zhi: "The girl gave it."

"Where did the girl come from?"

"Give it to Governor Cui."

"..." Chang Ren: "Why did Governor Cui give his copper talisman to the girl?"

Ah Zhi briefly recalled what he said when Cui Dadu gave the copper amulet at the back of Dayun Temple that day, and gave a summary: "It is convenient for girls to beat people."

Chang Ren: "..."

Suppressing the confusion in his heart, he could only ask: "Where are we going now?"

"Go to the village near the lake outside the city."

Chang Ren nodded and looked forward: "When you get close, take people out of the boat first, and I will put the boat to the place where the fishing boats gather, and then go to Zhuangzi to look for you, and cover up your whereabouts along the way."

Now that it has been done, it must be done cleanly. If the fish is not caught, the matter must be done beautifully.

Ah Zhi nodded in response.

"Who is this person?" Chang Ren glanced back at the woman in the cabin while swinging the boat, and couldn't hide his curiosity: "How do you know that you can pick someone up if you stay there?"

Ah Zhi shook her head: "I don't know anything, these are the girl's confessions."

Chang Ren was speechless, no more questions.

Meanwhile, Yuzhua woke up in a daze: "Who are you..."

"Sorry." Ah Zhi raised his hand and knocked him unconscious again.

Chang Ren: "..."

Be polite, but don't delay your hand.

……

At the same moment, in a mansion in the capital, a man sneaked in silently, followed a deserted path to a study room, and entered through the wide open rear window.

The man bowed to the people sitting in the study, with a complex expression on his face: "...the female envoy from the eldest princess's mansion went out today, but disappeared after falling into the Xiqu River."

The man asked puzzledly, "Why didn't you do it?"

"In the future." The man explained: "When the subordinate was about to start, a group of beggars surrounded him and begged, and the envoy fell into the water in the chaos."

"A beggar..." asked the person sitting, "Is it really a beggar?"

"Yes." The man said: "This subordinate has confirmed that those beggars are not pretending."

"Is it such a coincidence?" The person in the chair thought thoughtfully, "If you rush into the moat along the river, the corpse might not be easy to find..."

The man said anxiously: "Do you want to send a letter back..."

"Don't worry." The person in the chair sighed, interrupting the man's words: "Let's try to check again, and wait to see if we can find anything suspicious... It's good to have an explanation when you write. "

After a while, he thought to himself and said: "If someone really planned this matter, who would it be... Who would be so interested in a crazy old man next to Princess Chongyue?"

There was a night breeze entering the room, and the flames flickered in the gauze lamp painted with the ink painting of bamboo orchids, and no one answered this question.

……

The summer night wind also blows over the copper bell hanging outside the Tiannv Pagoda, and the soft ringing full of Zen echoes in the night.

Inside the pagoda, there is a tall and straight young man standing by the white marble pool, looking up slightly at the statue of the goddess in the center of the pool.

Cui Jing came here before evening and stayed there until now.

Not long after Wujue came in, his eyes fell on the tribute case, and he couldn't help saying: "This chestnut is..."

All the tributes sent into this pagoda are fine or rare, such as those lychees, this is the first time that such ubiquitous chestnuts have appeared.

"I heard Senior Ah Dian mention it by chance." Cui Jing said.

Wujue smiled knowingly: "That's it..."

Your Highness likes to eat chestnuts.

This day, the relationship between the female statue and His Highness, and the relationship between this Highness and that Highness, this Chief Cui is an insider.

When he set up this formation, the chief governor Cui was the person who had the opportunity shown in the hexagram. As a person who had the opportunity, he naturally had to know everything.

The jade used for the statue was found by the young man from the Western Regions when he was still a teenager.

"It's sweltering in the pagoda, Cui Dadu and go out with the poor monk to talk."

Cui Jing nodded.

The two left the pagoda, and the night wind blew the green bamboos outside the pagoda rustling.

"The poor monk has been curious about something for a long time." Or the plate of chestnuts made Wu Jue feel that the young man beside him was more approachable, so he tried to ask: "Did Governor Cui... have you ever met His Highness before?"

He always felt that what the chance showed would not be for nothing.

But the other party never mentioned it, so he didn't ask too much about it.

"Yes." The young man nodded.

Wujue looked at him, really?
"Cui was still young at that time." Cui Jing looked at the night ahead, and the deep-rooted memory brought him from the scorching summer night to the snowy winter day in an instant.

As a bystander, he seemed to see his young self standing in the snow, looking up at the person sitting on the horse.

His voice was slow: "When I was seven years old, I was in danger abroad, and was rescued by His Highness."

Wujue was startled: "Seven years old?"

Ordinarily speaking, even if the eldest grandson of the Cui family is away from home, there must be no shortage of people to protect him. How could he need His Highness to help him when he is in danger?

As if aware of his confusion, Cui Jing said: "That year Cui ran away from home, and there was only one mother's old servant by his side."

Unsurprisingly.

Good guy, he started running away from home at the age of seven.

The co-author secretly joined the army when he was 12 years old. Isn't this the first time he ran away from home?
Tsk, he was a habitual offender.

Wujue looked at the young man's overly superior bones with emotion... This rebellious bone is really born from a young age.

Regarding the meeting more than ten years ago, the young man didn't seem to want to say more, and then asked casually: "Today Cui seems to have seen that Meng Dong's family from Dengtailou come here—"

When he got off his horse and entered the temple, it happened that Meng Dong's family was leaving the temple.

Wujue smiled and nodded: "Yes, that Meng Dong's family is also a Buddhist believer... Today, the incense came, and the poor monk also talked about Buddhism with him."

"Is there any connection between Meng Dong's family and Dayun Temple?" Cui Jing asked.

Dayun Temple is a royal temple, and non-clan members, officials and family members are not allowed to enter. The Meng Dong family should not be allowed to enter the temple.

"The origin is there, and it's quite deep..." Wujue said: "It's as deep as when the Dayun Temple and the Tiannv Pagoda were built, the Meng family paid half of the money."

Cui Jing was silent.

For such a large sum of money, the origin is very deep.

Wujue said with a smile: "Meng Dong's family is a very pious businessman, every time he comes, he will offer a lot of money for incense."

Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, Meng Lie is very witty and knows how to cling to the Queen's party in order to gain protection—after all, Dengtailou's business is too big, and it is inevitable that some people will be jealous.

This is the origin between Meng Dong's family and Dayun Temple in the eyes of the world.

As for the real origin, only he and Lao Chang knew about it.

It is not appropriate to talk about this truth with the young people around him, so Wujue changed the subject and asked with a smile: "Speaking of Dengtailou, my daughter's poetry meeting on the Dragon Boat Festival, I wonder if Chief Cui has heard about it?"

It's a pity that he guards this Dayun Temple and it's hard to get out. This cassock has become a shackle, otherwise he would have to drink two jars of wine regardless of his height.

"Cui was there that day."

"Oh?" Wujue looked at the young man by his side in surprise, and then asked with a smile, "According to Governor Cui, how is that painting?"

Cui Jing: "Very good."

Wujue smiled and said: "It's very good to have a word from Cui Dadu. It seems that my girl is really amazing now."

"Now?" Cui Jing caught these two words.

"That's right, this girl really complied with the phrase about the Eighteen Changes of the Great Girl..." Wujue said with emotion, "Now this face looks even more beautiful."

Cui Jing asked subconsciously: "Will the face also change?"

"Naturally." Wujue said with a smile: "The same person, when they are in adversity and prosperity, their faces must be different. The so-called face is born from the heart, which means that the face of a person will change with the situation and mood."

Cui Jing then asked: "Master just meant that Lady Chang's face has changed?"

Wujue nodded: "Appearance is also where the path of luck lies. Changing the appearance changes the path of luck... Everything in the world is connected with each other. A thought that arises and disappears, and a different choice may lead to major or minor changes."

Cui Jing thought about it.

Many images flashed before his eyes.

The girl draws her sword but fails, she never retreats without fear under the attack of the giant elephant, wins the word "justice" for him in the killing field, stands in the brightly lit building and scribbles the tiger——

And she was sitting on the stone steps outside the building, quietly watching the expressions of the two little beggars eating buns... and she told him frankly that she wanted to let the world know who Chang Suining was.

All kinds of things are vivid in this moment.

Different choices will lead to large and small changes, and thus gradually change the face...

So, did she have many different choices compared to before?
For example, in the past few people knew who Chang Suining was, but now Chang Suining wants to become famous——

Why would there be a different choice all of a sudden?

There was such a turning point in his life - it was because he met a person and learned about that person's deeds. This process gave him some kind of enlightenment and guidance, and the guidance resonated with him. A towering giant pine tree took root in his heart, and since then he has stopped moving forward.

Since then, more than ten years have been like a day, this ambition has not changed, and there will be no day of change or vacillation in the future.

I don't know what is her turning point?
Did you meet someone important, or did you experience something important?
He was a little curious, but didn't intend to pry too much.

Since she said they were friends, or when she was willing to talk about it one day, he wouldn't be too late to listen.

"Is Chief Cui going back to the city today?" Wujue's voice interrupted Cui Jing's thinking.

"The curfew has been restored tonight." Cui Jing said: "Cui wants to stay overnight in the temple."

Wujue nodded with a smile on his face, complaining endlessly in his heart.

Every time this young man stayed in the temple, he would drag him to talk about Buddhism, sometimes even all night long!
So what about the curfew, the majestic general of Xuan Ce's mansion must make use of some privileges properly!
Before leaving the pagoda courtyard, Cui Jing glanced at the weeds growing by the bamboo forest.

……

That night, Ah Che led Xiao Duan and Xiao Wu to wander among the beggars in the city until late at night, and only came back from the back door of the Chang Mansion when it was dawn the next morning.

Ah Che went back and changed into clean clothes, then hurried to the martial arts arena to meet Chang Suining.

"It's done?" Chang Suining asked him alone.

A Che nodded: "Girl, it's done!"

Good night everyone~