The night is dark and windy.

Twin Peaks, a new crossing below the South Peak.

A passenger ship is moored.

The passenger ship only docked for half a quarter of an hour, put down one or two strange passengers, and then set off again, heading towards Xunyang City, a city not far away with thousands of lights.

The parking time is far less than half an hour at Xunyang Ferry.

This new ferry with double peaks is not far from the Xunyang Ancient Ferry, which has a huge passenger flow. It was originally just a temporary ferry to transport materials in the city and assist in the construction of the Xunyang Grottoes.

Therefore, most guests who travel here ignore the cargo ferry here and simply get off the boat at Xunyang Ferry. When you get off the boat, you can directly experience the rich nightlife of Xunyang, headed by Xunyang, on the banks of the Xunyang River.

Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang, who led Dongmei off the boat, were strange guests in the eyes of the boatman and his fellow passengers.

We were obviously so close to Xunyang Ferry, but we got off the boat at the ferry outside the city in the middle of the night in the wilderness.

As a result, an experienced boatman couldn't help but nag a few words, telling the handsome man and beautiful woman that the two people who seemed to be lovers should be careful when walking at night and avoid some pheasant inns in the lonely countryside.

The "handsome man and beautiful woman" looked at each other and both laughed.

However, I sincerely thanked the old boatman before leading his horse and leaving.

The old boatman glanced at what seemed to be an expensive Dawan rouge horse from the Western Regions held by the man, and watched the two figures of them "in white Confucian shirts and red skirts" go away with a worried look.

However, when he then thought that this place was near Xunyang City, the old boatman breathed a sigh of relief, muttered a few times, turned around and continued sailing.

"Elder brother, the old boatman praised you just now."

"I'll wear a hat next time."

After leaving the ferry, on the dark night road, Xie Lingjiang was riding on a rouge horse, and Ouyang Rong was leading the horse for a walk below.

"That's not it." She glared at him for his narcissistic tone.

"Oh, what is that?"

"It means that the public security in Xunyang City is good. Didn't you hear what the old boatman just said? He said that it seems that it is because the chief official of this state has done something good. He is a long history man named Ouyang. I heard that he is also famous in the south of the Yangtze River.

A gentleman who keeps upright will govern well."

Xie Lingjiang smiled sweetly and remembered clearly. She reached out to pinch the ear of the senior brother who was distracted, moved closer, and exhaled like a blue:

"The old boatman also boasted that he has traveled through so many poor and rugged prefectures and counties, but Jiangzhou still has good public security and is ranked among the entire Jiangnan. Everyone can come here with confidence... Senior brother, is it okay to be praised by others?

not happy?"

"happy."

Ouyang Rong raised his head, smiled, and gave a simple response.

"I think senior brother didn't listen at all."

Xie Ling Jiang Xiang's cheeks were slightly bulging and his eyes were suspicious.

Ouyang Rong smiled and said nothing.

He led the horse and continued forward, turning his head to glance at a pitch-black camp on the other side of the ferry. From this perspective, there were only scattered lights left on the camp.

"Let's go, senior brother, go take a look, your neck is almost bent."

Xie Lingjiang showed a disgusted face and said:

"You don't have to act like you're talking what you mean. Senior brother disembarked here. Don't you just want to see more of the Xunyang Grottoes... It's not that I don't agree. I accompanied you back from the front line without even saying a word. I refuse to be the commander of the Chinese Army.

Battalion Commander Shi didn’t even try to persuade you, so what do you do that I don’t support?”

She bit her red lips lightly, looked at the profile of the man in front of her who was determined to have his own way, and continued:

"I'm just afraid that after you politely decline, you will go back to Jiangzhou, work as an idle Sima, and be wronged again."

When Ouyang Rong heard this, he showed an embarrassed expression:

"The main reason is that I'm afraid that you might find it troublesome and come over there in the middle of the night."

Xie Lingjiang pouted and said:

"No matter how troublesome it is, would you mind accompanying you to the front line?

"Although Uncle Li, Mother Weibo was afraid that Qin Jingqin would steal her love and not let you come back, so she asked me to follow you to prevent their tanlang from being robbed...

"However, I actually feel from the bottom of my heart that Senior Brother Shi is not bad at serving as the commander of the Chinese Army Battalion. He can also use Senior Brother's fists and kicks. I can't say that he has a better future than Jiang Governor Shi. It's a pity..."

Xie Lingjiang looked regretful, looked down at him, and asked:

"Eldest Brother chose to stay in Xunyang City because he was just worried about the palace, or..."

Ouyang Rong suddenly raised his head and added:

"Actually, when we get off the boat here, we also want to go to the outskirts of the city to visit Brother Huang. There is something I want to ask him."

"What words?"

Xie Lingjiang couldn't help but look at him more.

Ouyang Rong murmured: "What's in my heart."

When Xie Lingjiang saw this, he knew it was inconvenient to ask more questions and changed the subject:

"We'll be out of the city for a few days. Is everything going to be alright at the palace?"

Ouyang Rong waved his hand casually:

"Don't worry too much about this. According to what I have observed these days, Wei Shaoqi's visit to Jiangzhou is not entirely for the palace. Otherwise, Da Lang would not have let it go so easily when he accidentally touched Princess Wei."

Ouyang Rong shook his head.

"It can be seen that Wei Shaoqi was obviously very restrained in dealing with Prince Xunyang's Mansion. This is extremely inconsistent with his temperament. In addition, before Wei Shaoqi and Lin Cheng came, Wang Lengran had been shrinking for a long time. It is conceivable that someone

Suppressing them.

"It seems that the Wei family is not as unified as we thought. Well, there are still smart people."

After Xie Lingjiang listened carefully, he breathed a sigh of relief. Senior Brother's judgment was always good.

"That's true. But just in case... well, Dalang is still here. He drank the talisman water from Master Yuan..."

There was silence for a while.

Xie Lingjiang thought of something, blinked his eyes and said:

"Elder brother, when we were parting, why did Uncle Qin keep praising you for your good looks..."

How could Ouyang Rong say that? In addition to this separation, the old man had already repeated it three times.

"Senior's joke." He said seriously.

Xie Lingjiang tilted his head and glanced sideways:

"Do you think it's possible that Uncle Qin asked Miss Qin to stay in Xunyang City not because he wanted to get in touch with Dalang, but because he wanted to get in touch with someone else..."

"It's impossible." He said immediately.

Xie Lingjiang seemed not to have heard, "Actually, senior brother, I think Miss Qin is quite a nice person, and I'm very familiar with her..."

"Ahem, hurry up."

Ouyang Rong suddenly got on his horse, grabbed the reins with one hand, hugged Xie Lingjiang's waist with the other, and ran towards the Xunyang Grottoes in the distance with some urgency.

Stopped the latter's words.

Because of the relocation of the Donglin Giant Buddha, the focus of Jiangzhou Hall is currently on Xingzifang. The investment in Xunyang Grottoes has been transferred away by Wang Lengran and Lin Cheng, leaving only a few sporadic positions to maintain the grottoes. The entire construction of Xunyang Grottoes

, temporarily suspended.

Without the payment of wages, the workers who originally worked in the grottoes naturally dispersed and returned to Xunyangdu to find new jobs.

However, Ouyang Rong heard from Yan Liulang that Lin Cheng, Wang Lengran and others, together with Pei Shisanniang and other merchants from the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce, had cooperated to recruit new workers in advance at Xunyangdu in preparation for the start of construction of the Xingzifang Giant Buddha in the near future.

A lot of the labor force that originally worked in Xunyang Grottoes was eaten there.

Ouyang Rong was noncommittal about this.

When we arrived at the Xunyang Grottoes Camp, we looked around and saw that the autumn wind was blowing coldly and it seemed empty and deserted.

There were only a few fires far apart, and one or two government officials sitting on vigil were either dozing off, or standing up and watching them vigilantly.

Ouyang Rong dismounted silently, chatted for a few words with the yamen servant who looked in awe, and then went for a walk. Halfway through, he suddenly saw a familiar figure of a bearded man.

"Brother Huang?"

I saw Huang Feihong squatting on the ground in an imageless manner next to the nearest fire under the not yet fully formed cliff-carved Buddha, holding a pot of rice wine in his hand, chatting with an old government servant.

At the same time, they exchanged drinks with each other.

In the middle of the night, Huang Feihong's face was red from drinking. He turned around in confusion and looked at Ouyang Rong who suddenly appeared. He rubbed his eyes and said a little drunkenly:

"Master Ouyang?"

Ouyang Rong walked over, took the jug, glanced at the bottomless wine in the jug, and frowned:

"Why are you still here? It's so late at night."

He looked at the old alcoholic yamen servant who was drinking with him. The latter quickly stood up respectfully, waved his hands vigorously and said:
To be continued...