"Master, I've recited it!" Li Wenlan excitedly jumped in, "Master, it only took a moment!" Li Wenlan looked at the water clock in the corner of the room, her excited face flushing with a layer of red.

  "Has Lian'ge recited it? Recite it to me." Guo Sheng replied subconsciously, with a warm smile, looking very serious as he listened to Li Wenlan reciting the book. In fact, what Li Wenlan had recited was already gone, echoing in his ears for a moment before disappearing.

  "Wenlan's back is pretty good, this time there's been a lot of progress." Li Wenlan's voice stopped, and Guo Sheng hurriedly praised.

  Li Xia's pen paused, and she looked up at Guo Sheng. Sixth Brother had misremembered two and a half sentences, but he hadn't noticed... hadn't seen it, and yet he was such an incompetent good-for-nothing!

  Li Xia felt a wave of disappointment and sighed, "Let's take a look at this matter in Xigou Town first and see how far he can investigate."

  ………………

  Guo Sheng returned to his small courtyard, closed the door, and slowly fell into a chair, recalling Li Xia's words bit by bit.

  There is a place called Xikou Town on the upper side of Zixi Salt Field. In Xikou Town, there is a family with the surname Zhao, who are merchants. The head of the household is Zhao Huqing, and his wife's surname is Meng. Go ask about this family, the more detailed the better.

  He knew that Xigou Town, adjacent to Yanchang, was much more barren than other places. The people in the town were mostly small business owners, and some worked in the salt fields or did business, with many going to Yangzhou and Xuzhou to sell tea leaves...

  What's so special about this place and these people?

  Guo Shengduan sat in the chair, sometimes concentrating and thinking carefully, sometimes absent-minded and distracted, sitting until midnight, the cold air from his feet to his legs, all the way up to his waist, was icy cold, before he slowly got up, supporting himself on the armrest of the chair, and slowly moved his legs and feet for a while.

  After the blood vessels were unblocked, I moved to the next room, opened the stove, lit the water, and squatted in front of the stove, watching the lively and jumping flames. I felt that this fire was so warm, these sparks were so lively and lovely, this stove, this pot, this water, this fire, this room, this world, were all so lively and interesting.

  The next day, Guo Sheng found an excuse for inspection and borrowed a horse, riding straight to Xikou Town.

  Lao Zhao's family is in Xikou Town, and they are considered to be one of the top families. Almost everyone in town knows them, so it would be easy to ask around and gather all sorts of gossip about his family, which can be found everywhere.

  However, after half a day's effort, Guo Sheng had figured it out. He sat in the small tea shop across from Old Zhao's house, ordered a large bowl of mutton soup, a plate of sliced boiled mutton, two baked buns, and ate while keeping an eye on the movements at Old Zhao's house. At the same time, he furrowed his brow, deeply thinking about what Li Xia wanted him to investigate this family for, what she wanted to know, or rather, what she wanted him to find out. What he had found out so far, was it enough?

  It's definitely not ordinary, having heard about it until now, it's all normal, too normal. Since she let him investigate, this family must have something different from others, a place worth investigating, where is it?

  Kuang Sheng was eating his bread and meat, drinking his soup, without any taste or zest, going over in his mind the messages he had just heard, and after repeating them to himself seven or eight times, he began vaguely to feel that there was something not quite right.

  In front of the old Zhao's house, outside the two black lacquer doors with red borders, an old woman wearing a somewhat strange Taoist robe came forward and knocked on the door ring several times.

  Guo Sheng's back suddenly straightened, and he chewed the meat in his mouth with a sudden pause, staring intently at the large black lacquered door opposite him.

  The door creaked open silently from the inside, and a slit was opened in the direction of Guo Sheng's seat. From the slit, only one hand stretched out to pass half a string of cash to the old woman wearing a strange Taoist robe.

  Guo Sheng immediately pushed away the bowl of soup, stood up, and followed the Taoist woman at a distance.

  The Taoist woman walked along the street, and visited several more houses, all with similar results. Most of them gave her a few copper coins, while one or two households gave her a piece of fine silk cloth and a package containing something unknown.

  The Taoist nun's carrying pole looked heavy, she turned into a small alley, all the way forward, passing through several vegetable fields, along the ridge of the field for more than half a mile, entered a courtyard that looked like a mansion but also had some strange features.

  Out of the alley, the view is broad, and Guo Sheng can see the Taoist woman from afar. He doesn't need to follow closely, nor does he dare to follow closely, but instead trails behind her from a distance, watching as she enters the courtyard, whose gate remains wide open.

  Guo Sheng circled around in a big arc, with an air of idleness, and made his way to the entrance of the courtyard, poking his head inside to take a look.

  The woman from just now had moved a small stool and was sitting in the courtyard folding something, in the center of the courtyard stood a large incense burner half the height of a person, Guo Sheng instantly understood that this place which looked like a residence was strange because it wasn't a residence, it was a temple for lustful worship, only he didn't know what god was being worshipped.

  Guo Sheng had a plan in mind, and he directly entered the courtyard as if he hadn't seen the woman. He walked straight to the incense burner, bowed his hands towards the main hall, took out some money and threw it at the woman, "I didn't expect there was still an offering here, I didn't have time to prepare incense, would you mind helping me light some incense later?"

  "It's all right as long as you're willing." The woman took the money, stood up and went into the inner room. A moment later, she brought out a stick of incense, lit it, and inserted it into the incense burner.

  Guo Sheng has begun to wander around the yard at will, turning around and looking at the trees, houses and surroundings. After a circle, he pointed to the three main rooms with his fan and asked the woman, "Can we go in today?"

  "It's a bit inconvenient at the moment, the master is performing a ritual, sir, please wait for a while, it will be fine in a moment." The woman was very polite.

  Guo Sheng nodded and turned to leave the courtyard, walking along the wall of the house. From inside, the three upper rooms seemed to be directly connected at both ends, but from outside, they were surrounded by a wall in the middle. Behind the main building, there was another row of five lower and more humble back houses.

  Behind, on either side of the half, there is a very small angle door, with thick and heavy doors, and sturdy brass locks.

  Guo Sheng walked around in a circle and returned to the entrance of the courtyard, looking at the three rooms with uniform roofs on both sides from the entrance. His heart sank, and he vaguely knew why the girl wanted him to come over and investigate that Zhao family.

  Guo Shengchong walked into the courtyard again, looking at the still closed door of the upper house, and appeared to be very bored. He stood beside a woman who was slowly folding paper flowers and chatted with her, "I'm an outsider, I heard that in this Creek Mouth Town, there is a family named Zhao?"

  "There are several families with the surname Zhao." The woman looked like a honest and down-to-earth person, without any ulterior motives.

  His family's old master does business in Yangzhou.

  "That's the Zhao family at the street corner. When you arrive in town, follow the main street to the end, and the house at the head is the Zhao's. It has a green brick gate tower, very luxurious." The woman carefully gave Guo Sheng directions.

  "Has Zhao's husband been home these past few days?" Guo Sheng looked at the woman, seemingly asking her, yet also seeming to be talking to himself.

  Complete works txt download, full text free, e-book, remember 77 reading books