July.

In Lingzhou, the heat is still unstoppable during the day.

Although the beginning of autumn had passed a week ago, Xu Yan and the others did not feel even a trace of coolness after the beginning of autumn during the continuous journey for more than 20 days.

The area of ​​Jingning Town is very large, with a total of twenty-four towns, of which there are only six towns south of the city, and the remaining eighteen towns are all north of the city. After almost a month of travel, Xu Yan and his two men finally walked out of the scope of Jingning Town, because they were about to enter the northernmost end of Jingning Town, the last town, bordering Wuyang Town, Qiulu Township.

There are thirteen villages in Qiulu Township, among which only Qiulu Village, which has the same name as the township, contains a market, so the population is the largest, with about hundreds of families.

After Xu Yan and the others arrived at Qiuluhou Village, it was three o'clock in the afternoon. Therefore, after reaching the entrance of the village, the two men who were sweating profusely entered a tea stall next to the entrance of the village and began to rest for a while.

According to Xu Yan's own route, he originally didn't need to pass here. He just walked straight into the area of ​​Wuyang Town in Meiqi Township and then continued to go north along the official road. However, he learned from Gu Xueqing that her hometown was in a place called Yanxi Township, and there was only a distance of more than 200 miles away from here, so he decided to send her back first.

For him, although choosing to enter Qiulu Township from Meiqi Township was a big turn, it would take him at most about a day to arrive at Wuyang Town, and the impact was not great.

In Qiulu Village, there are not many strange passersby here on weekdays. The reason is that this village is far away from the official road outside, but is in the deep mountains. At the same time, there is indeed no shortcut here. If it were not for people who lived in this mountainous and rivery siege since childhood, almost few people would come here. Therefore, a young man like Xu Yan, dressed as a scholar and was very close to the village, immediately attracted a curious look. Of course, although everyone here gave him a curious look at his appearance, and even young women whispered and whispered to it, Xu Yan did not feel any malice in them.

Ignoring the curious gazes that passers-by came and Xu Yan and the others chose a square table to sit at the tea stall under the straw shed. He smiled at the shop in charge of the tea stall and shouted: "Shopkeeper, come and quench your thirst."

The tea stall is very small in size, with only two tea tables set up, and all of them are placed in the open air (although it is in a straw shed), which is completely incomparable to Lao Qiao's Songyang Teahouse. However, in Xu Yan's opinion, it is much better than Lao Qiao's teahouse, that is, the name written on the guise of it fluttering with the wind.

The tea stall is called "官网". This name seems to be very funny. People who don't even know the inside story will be amused and laughed at it because it contains another meaning, which is to marry into a married woman...

Xu Yan didn't know why the shop in this tea stall had to give such a name. If it was because the other party had never attended a private school, it would be a big joke.

The shop at this tea stall is a middle-aged man who looks over forty years old. He is extremely tall and probably about an inch shorter than Xu Yan. However, his body is extremely thin, like a monkey, just like a skinny person.

When the store heard someone shouting, he was used to not seeing a few passers-by visiting his tea stall day after day and was drowsy. He suddenly felt excited and stood up. He shook his head and confirmed that he had no illusion. Then he quickly replied with a smile: "Okay!"

The tea is ready-made because Xu Yan saw that the shop was just scooping out a pot of tea from a large porcelain jar to deliver it to them. It was not like the teahouse in the market, which required on-site brewing, and even had to go through tedious processes such as washing tea. However, this is understandable. After all, this is just a tea stall for passers-by to temporarily rest and quench thirst. A pot of tea is only sold for a few cents, far from the way in the teahouse. The shopkeeper can also provide some snacks such as peanuts and melon seeds for people to discuss or enjoy for a long time.

After the middle-aged store brought a pot of tea and placed it on the table, he then took out two upside-down porcelain bowls from the table and washed them with tea. Then he poured 70% or 80% full tea into the two porcelain bowls and handed them to Xu Yan and Gu Xueqing respectively. On the other hand, he continued: "Look at your outfit, are you going to study in the county town?"

After leaving Songyang Town, Gu Xueqing disguised herself as a man and turned into a young scholar like Xu Yan in order to conceal her identity and caused unnecessary trouble. Therefore, she kept silent for most of the time, especially when facing strangers.

Xu Yan took a sip of the tea in the bowl and felt extremely cool. It was obvious that the other party had soaked it in advance early in the morning to let it cool. After hearing the other party’s question, he replied with a smile: “The store owner has such a good eye. My brothers are going to study in the county town.”

After hearing this, the middle-aged shop owner smiled and asked: "Then why did you brothers come to our remote countryside? Why don't you walk outside the official road? The road outside is much easier to walk than the mountain road here, and the distance is shorter than that here."

Xu Yan replied bluntly: "To be honest with the store, we have always been walking on the official road before. Now, my cousin thought that before going to the county town, we could go to Yanxi Township to visit a relative who lives there. We could only turn the way from Meiqi Township to come to your place. But the weather is so hot. It is already autumn, but it is still as hot as it is in the heat."

While speaking, Xu Yan couldn't help but wiped off a string of sweat dripping on his chin with his hands.

The thin shop owner heard this and nodded deeply. He looked up at the thick cotton-like clouds floating in the sky, which had a hint of darkness, and then replied: "Although the weather is cloudy today, it is unusually sultry. It is obviously a sign of heavy rain. Since you two brothers are going to Yanxi, you have to leave our Qiufu early, otherwise the mountain road behind will be difficult to walk after the heavy rain. Not to mention that the entire mountain road will become muddy, even after entering the junction of the two towns, you have to pass through a stream. If the amount of rain is slightly larger, and the water surface of the stream fills the anchorage in the stream, you can only wait until the water volume retreats before you can cross the stream."

Xu Yan attached great importance to this kind of kind reminder from strangers, and immediately thanked the latter: "Thank you for the reminder from the store. Then my brothers set off immediately after drinking tea, hoping to try to pass the stream smoothly before the rain fell."

When the store heard this, he smiled and nodded again, but before he could say anything, a young woman with a very special look on the street walked into the tea stall.

The reason why this woman is called a special style is first of all because her appearance is extremely beautiful, and secondly, the clothes she wears are colorful and completely different from ordinary people. For example, on her neckline, sleeves, and right collar, they are all inlaid with colorful lace, which looks colorful overall. However, Xu Yan can also see that the main color of the woman's clothing is still mainly blue-blue; in addition to dressing, on the woman's head, there are red velvet threads wrapped around her 3,000 black hairs, tied into braids and then wrapped on the top of her head.

Seeing this scene, there is basically no need to think about it. Xu Yan knew that the other party must have come from a special ethnic group on the Wuzhou continent, rather than an ordinary woman in the city.

When the thin shop saw the woman, the smile on his face gradually faded away, and then he left Xu Yan and the others to talk to each other. It was not until a cup of tea that the woman left the tea stall with a bag of tea that the shop returned to Xu Yan and the others' table and smiled awkwardly.

Xu Yan couldn't help feeling a little surprised when he saw the young woman leaving, seeing him intentionally or unintentionally, and the corners of his mouth were smiling, but on the surface, he could only respond with a smile.

After the young woman left the tea stall completely, the store seemed to feel the doubts in Xu Yan's heart, so she took the initiative to explain: "She is my own sister, and she came to the village to pick up tea."

When Xu Yan heard that the woman was the other party's sister-in-law, he stopped thinking about anything. He just smiled and nodded and said, "So that's it." But then, after drinking a bowl of tea, he suddenly remembered the name of the tea stall and stopped talking.

Seeing that Xu Yan wanted to speak but it seemed difficult to speak, the store continued to fill his bowl with tea, and said with a smile: "Young Master, do you have anything to say to me? If you want to know something from me, you might as well say it bluntly."

Seeing him say this, Xu Yan asked, "Actually, it's nothing important. He just wants to ask the store, why do you want to give this tea stall a name like "entry"? You must know that the word "entry" means..."

Seeing that Xu Yan had not finished speaking, the store owner who was over 40 years old smiled and said bluntly: "Because I am a married man, I have chosen such a name. However, most of the people living here are poor people who have never attended private schools, so there are not many people who know the original meaning of "being into a house."

When Xu Yan heard that the other party was deliberately choosing this name to make fun of himself, he couldn't help but laugh and cry, so he said again: "It turns out that the store owner knows the meaning of these two words, and I thought you..."

"Do you think I've never read a book?"

The shop owner who was quite thin chuckled and interrupted Xu Yan's intermittent words. Then he said calmly: "Actually, when I was young, I was a scholar like a young master. However, when I went to the exam for fame and fortune, I failed many times and died. Later, in order to make a living, I had to go back to Qiulu Village where I gave birth to me and raised me to grow some tea and sell it, and set up a tea stall. However, scholars are good at everything, but there is a little bad. They often regard themselves as noble and self-righteous. Therefore, at my high spirits, I looked down on the girls in the villages. It was not until I was nearly thirty that I realized that I had missed the golden time to marry and have children in this life. In the end, I could only find a girl in the She village to marry into my family."

While speaking, the shopkeeper who mentioned his past and sighed suddenly felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Xu Yan, who was sitting on the bench, saw that he felt something was wrong and gave him a hand at the critical moment. However, he didn't know that with just a gentle grip, Xu Yan felt something was wrong in his skin and bones.

So, Xu Yan immediately controlled his perception and entered the other party's body directly, wanting to find out.

After almost five breaths.

It was not until the thin-skinned store owner recovered that he completely understood the reason.

Seeing that there was another physical problem in his body and the latter was implicated in helping him, the store owner couldn't help but feel guilty and said, "I'm really ashamed. I've gotten my old habits again."

After hearing this, Xu Yan shook his head calmly, indicating that he didn't mind, and then asked quietly: "I wonder how the shopkeeper's body has become so skinny?"

After the store pulled out an empty bench next to him, he sighed and replied: "I accidentally suffered from a strange disease when I was young. Although my condition was relieved later with the help of my insider, for some reason, my figure became thinner and thinner, and my spirit became more and more depressed." When the store said this, he paused tone and smiled far-fetchedly and continued: "I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. In fact, before I got sick, I was a little fat, and I looked stronger than the young master now."

Xu Yan did not ask him about the specific cause of the disease, but then asked: "I wonder when the store first started to get sick?"

Seeing that the other party showed a hint of suspicion, Xu Yan took the initiative to explain: "The store owner doesn't have to worry. I have no other intentions. It's just that my grandfather is a country doctor, and I grew up with him since I was a child, so I learned some bad medical skills."

When the store owner heard this, he felt relieved and said, "I didn't expect that the young man is so knowledgeable and talented. You are much more promising than me back then. As for my illness, it actually happened shortly after I got married to my inner wife."

The shopkeeper pondered for a moment before adding: "To be precise, it should be the third month after marriage."

When Xu Yan heard this answer, he immediately turned his head and looked at Gu Xueqing, who had always been silent, and then sent a message to the latter: "It seems that the cause of the disease of the old man in Zhangjia Village is exactly the same as that of the old man in Zhangjia Village, but judging from his current condition, he should be saved."

When Gu Xueqing heard Xu Yan say this, she couldn't help feeling a little surprised and asked in a voice transmission: "Is your younger brother planning to save his life?"

Xu Yan replied calmly, "I'm afraid that if I can save him for a while, he may not be able to survive. Moreover, I met him by chance, and there was no friendship, and there was no enough reason to save him. However, since he was kind to us at the beginning, then..."

Xu Yan did not continue, but Gu Xueqing then saw him take out a poison-avoiding pill from his storage bag and hand it to the middle-aged man, and said to the latter: "If the store owner believes me, you might as well wait until you close the stall and go home in the evening, and you will take this pill. Perhaps it will have some effect on your disease, but I am not sure whether it can cure your disease."

When the middle-aged store owner saw that the other party suddenly gave him elixirs, he was at a loss, not knowing whether he should take it or not. However, Xu Yan had no time to waste time with him, so he took out an empty porcelain bottle and put the elixir on the table, then stood up and said to him: "Okay, the time is almost done. My brothers still have to continue on the road, so don't stop for too long. The store owner doesn't have to care too much. Just choose whether to take this elixir or not."

Looking at the backs of Xu Yan and his two people, they slowly entered the village. The shop owner who runs a tea stall was still a little hesitant, but in the end, he carefully put away the elixir in his hand.

...

After passing through the entire Qiulu Village, there was indeed only a narrow mountain path for Xu Yan and the others to walk. Even within the range of the stream, they had to walk along the ridges on the farmland by the stream in most locations.

It was not until the two of them walked deeper and deeper along the mountain path, and about two hours passed, that they had truly approached the junction of the two towns.

Xu Yan looked at the cloudy sky above his head and said to Gu Xueqing behind him: "According to the map, we are not far from the stream mentioned by the store, and there are about two miles away. I believe that we can reach it as long as we pass through the bamboo forest in front. Therefore, although the rain will soon fall, it should not affect our passage through the stream. As long as we pass the stream, even if the sky will immediately become dark, we can find a place to shelter from there and camp for the night with peace of mind.

Gu Xueqing had no objection to this, but just briefly replied: "Okay."

Seeing that she had no objection, Xu Yan kept entering the bamboo forest. But then he took out the bamboo hat from his storage bag and put it on his head. At the same time, he continued to say to her: "Sister Gu might as well take out the bamboo hat and put it on as soon as possible, as the rain may fall down soon."

After hearing the other party's proposal, Gu Xueqing nodded softly, then took out a bamboo hat from the storage bag and put it on the sky above her head.

And the fact is as expected by Xu Yan, just half a quarter of an hour after they entered the bamboo forest, Sasha's sound of slapping leaves sounded from their ears.

Immediately afterwards, heavy rain poured down, and lightning and thunder were roaring in the sky.

"Zheng!"

The sound of an guqin was extremely out of date, and it even suddenly rang out from the bamboo forest.

This made Xu Yan, who was rushing in the heavy rain, shocked both of them.

So, Xu Yan looked in the direction of the piano and realized that in this bamboo forest where birds do not shit, there was a very elegant bamboo house built. In the bamboo house with open doors, a beautiful woman playing the piano could be seen.
Chapter completed!