Hearing him say this, Sang raised his nose and sniffed, "Your nose is more flexible than mine now, why did I smell nothing?"

"I once smelled this smell on Zheng Ximing," Zhao Zimai said, and quickly walked to the carriage, ordered the coachman to stop the carriage, lifted the straw covered by the oil barrel, and carefully checked the three dark, large cans filled with oil inside and out.

There was nothing unusual. There was no one hidden in the jar, but it was filled with fragrant sesame oil. The smell attracted the mulberry. After leaning over her nose and sniffing, she licked her lips, "Is this fragrance you smell?"

Zhao Zimai shook his head with a serious expression, "No, the smell on Zheng Ximing is very fresh, not as greasy as sesame oil..."

"I'm tired of it, it's quite fragrant."

Sang looked slanderous, but Zhao Zimai suddenly grabbed the straw from the oil tank and put it under his nose and sniffed it hard, "Yes... it's the smell of straw. Zheng Ximing has a fragrance of straw on his body. Yes, it's this smell."

"Straw?" Sang moved his gaze away from the oil tank, reached out to take the clear yellow straw from Zhao Zimai's hand, rubbed it a few times, and then rubbed all the ears on it. "No problem, it's just a straw."

"But why does Zheng Ximing have this smell? He is not a farmer and cannot touch straws on him. And I didn't see straws on him that day." Zhao Zimai waved his hand and asked the oil-selling man to leave, and he fell into deep thought: the fragrance of straw is very light, and it is hard to smell if he doesn't smell it carefully. However, the night Zheng Ximing came to Zhao's mansion, there was no close contact between the two, so how did he smell that smell?

"Is Zheng Ximing a scarecrow?" Sang grinned, revealing his snow-white teeth.

***

The moonlight half slanted to the city wall, and the rough bricks were coated with a cold silvery white layer. Something moved a few times against the base of the wall, and then stood up straight, looking like a person from a distance, but if you look closer, you will find that it was not a human at all, but a bundle of straw. The upper end of the straw was tied with a rough rope, which looked like a head, and the lower half suddenly opened, just like a trotter of a yamen with narrow upper and wide waists.

Will a bundle of straw placed at the base of the wall attract others' attention? Of course, it will not, so it has been parked quietly here for a long time, and the patrol soldiers did not look at him, although he was the person they were looking for.

The straw shook a few times, shook off the rice ears all over the ground, and then it suddenly let out a sigh that only humans can make.

“It’s time.”

"oh."

The rice ears suddenly flowed, like liquefied, spreading down, filling potholes and pouring high ground. They were repaired to become more and more like a person, a martial arts master with delicate body and skill.

The rice ears finally stopped flowing. Now, the shadow reflected on the city wall has become a real figure. It shook its sleeves, gently stroked its thumb on its jaw, and a faint smile hung on the corner of its mouth.

“It’s time to go.”

"good."

He nodded, turned around to face the tall city wall, and jumped lightly, and he stuck his whole body like a big gecko to the wall brick. The moon slid past, and he integrated himself safely into the darkness and climbed lightly up the city tower.

***

The arrow tower at Xibianmen was built later. The original city tower was a single-story, single-eaved hip-mounted structure, with a gray tile roof, square doors on all sides, and no windows. Later, for the need for external city defense, the city tower of Xibianmen was expanded, and a small arrow tower that was three meters wide and two meters high was built on the wall city.

There are two rows of arrow windows on the arrow tower, each row of four arrow holes and eight arrow holes up and down, just like eight eyes that are wide open, looking down at the outside of the city with a vigilant and focused look, which makes the enemy feel intimidated, so it is also called the "Eight-Glazing Arrow Tower".

Now, Xu Tianjin is standing on this "Eight-Glazing Arrow Tower" and staring at the dark and inexhaustible night outside.

He remembered Gong Mingzhu, the top scholar in the former dynasty who was born in a famous family, was so energetic, but now he was dying and lingering in sickness, as if he had been drained from all his energy overnight. No wonder he was weak-willed and could not bear such continuous blows, not to mention that these bad luck that followed fell on his children.

Xu Tianjin vaguely remembered that Lord Tan said that in addition to Gong Yucheng, Gong Mingzhu actually had a young daughter. The girl was smart and smart, able to write poetry and writing, just like her father. Unfortunately, she was lost ten years ago.

"It's just like Miss Zhao's family. Didn't it be that there were tooths in the capital that specializes in abducting girls from rich families?" Xu Tianjin shook his head and said "tsk" in his mouth: It's just that these two people who are sympathetic and sympathetic, but they have disagreements in the government affairs. They have been unable to stand on each other for a long time.

The reason is the Westernization Movement initiated by Zhao Wen'an. It uses Western technology to establish military and civilian industries, and also needs to plan coastal defense, establish new schools, and send international students to go abroad. Xu Tianjin is a rough man and doesn't understand these, but he always thinks these things sound like fairy tales. Especially those who study abroad, aren't this absurd to forget their ancestors and betray traditions? Chinese people have always read only the books of ancient sages, and they all learn foreign things like Zhao Zimai. What do they still need to do for the imperial examination?

Thinking of Zhao Zimai, Xu Tianjin suddenly felt angry. After snorting coldly, he rolled his eyes upwards: It is said that people are divided into groups, and this is always good. That boy hates it, and the people around him also hate it, and they are one by one, and they dare to scare him and make him embarrassed in front of the yamen runners.

But......

His heart suddenly became tight. Why was he so timid today? The lame man's words made him feel timid and cold behind him? Could it be that the two broken corpses I saw in the room today?

As the head of the Shuntian Mansion, Xu Tianjin's body was impossible to have never seen it. It was rotten, swelling, and it was chopped so hard to distinguish its appearance. However, when he saw the corpse of Gong Yucheng and Xiao Yunsheng being sewn with black thread today, he couldn't help but feel cold in the center of the earth and did not dare to take a closer look.

Is it because he knows someone? He is used to seeing the two of them in daily life, so he can't accept it for a while? No, it's definitely not that simple.
Chapter completed!