The area of ​​Changzhou is very small, so small that I don’t want to be a county town.
In fact, it is normal to think about it. After all, Changzhou is only a part of it divided from the original Wuxian territory. How big can it be?
The size of this county town is even less than that of Changping in Youzhou.
However, because it is located on the shore of Taihu Lake and is supported by the hundreds of years of Wu County, although it is not large in area, it is very prosperous.
There is only one city gate in Changzhou County, backed by Guantang River.
Songjiang passes through the city from the county town, and you can see the vast water of Taihu Lake from afar.
After Yang Shouwen and his other two entered Changzhou, they soon found the fish market. The so-called fish market is actually a wharf. Passing goods are transferred here, and with the merchants coming and going, forming a very prosperous market.
The market accounts for almost a quarter of Cheung Chau.
After entering the fish market, you will see a lively scene... In the distance, you can see ships arranged on the Guantang River.
“Eight Immortals Inn?”
When Pei Min stopped a passerby and asked about the Eight Immortals Inn, the passerby showed surprise.
He hesitated for a moment, pointed his hand towards the dock, "Follow this road and you can see it when you reach the dock."
After saying that, passers-by trot away as if they were hiding from the plague.
Yang Shouwen and Yang Sixu looked at each other and immediately realized that the Eight Immortals Inn might not be as simple as they imagined.
"Alang, something is wrong."
Yang Sixu said softly. Even at this time, he still didn't want Yang Shouwen to go to the Eight Immortals Inn.
However, Yang Shouwen smiled indifferently, "The soldiers come to block the water and the soil, and have already arrived here, just go and have a look."
After saying that, he led the horse and walked forward.
Pei Min followed him, while Yang Sixu was behind.
The three of them quickly arrived at the dock along the bustling streets of the fish market.
Sure enough, as the passerby said, as soon as they arrived at the pier, they saw an inn located on the side of the pier.
The Baxian Inn is quite large, with two buildings covering both sides of the river.
There is an arched stone bridge connecting the two pavilions, which looks very unique.
Judging from the scale of this inn, it feels good. But Yang Shouwen couldn't understand why the passerby mentioned the Eight Immortals Inn just now showed a 'hell' expression.
Compared with the bustling hustle and bustle in other places in the fish market, the Eight Immortals Inn seems much deserted outside.
Yang Shouwen and the other two came outside the inn gate, but they did not see the inn cousin coming out to greet him. So Yang Shouwen asked Yang Sixu to look at the horse at the door, and he and Pei Min stepped into the gate of the inn.
"Shopkeeper, stay in a hotel."
Pei Min walked to the counter and shouted loudly.
Yang Shouwen stood in the lobby of the inn, looking around at the situation in the inn.
“Huh?”
He suddenly let out a soft cry, walked quickly under a wall, and looked up at the portrait on the wall.
In the portrait, there is a woman dressed in an immortal. She is lifelike and has extraordinary charm. Not only this portrait, but also seven portraits are hung in the inn lobby, all of which are like female fairies. What surprised Yang Shouwen the most was that the signature of the portrait reads, "In the 20th year of Changkang Taiyuan, I passed through Taihu Lake, and met a man who traveled to Taihu Lake and painted to give it to the man."
Who is Changkang?
Who is the skull?
Although Yang Shouwen did not know the origin of this "Changkang", he could see from the painting that this is definitely a great man.
The 20th year of Taiyuan. What year was it?
Although he was full of doubts, Yang Shouwen guessed the origin of the Eight Immortals Inn.
I guess the "Eight Immortals" in the Eight Immortals Inn is the eight female immortals in this painting. This is a bit different from the Eight Immortals that people are familiar with later generations. After experiencing the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were countless Taoist gods. Who knows who are these eight female immortals?
Changkang, a son?
Yang Shouwen secretly wrote down these two names.
On the other side, Pei Min had finished talking to the shopkeeper.
"Why, don't you need to register for the office?"
When the shopkeeper heard this, he immediately laughed, "Brother is joking. Who doesn't know that this Eight Immortals Inn can come in as long as you have money? Why do you need to go through a house?"
Pei Min was stunned, nodded, and put away the house.
He walked to Yang Shouwen and whispered: "Alang, it seems that the origin of this inn is a bit strange."
"Xiao Pei, what year was the 20th year of Taiyuan?"
"ah?"
Yang Shouwen asked without even returning.
Pei Min was stunned for a moment and immediately replied: "The 20th year of Taiyuan was the reign of Sima Yao, Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and it was also the tenth year of Dengguo of the Northern Wei Dynasty."
Eastern Jin Dynasty?
That seems to have been a long time ago, at least two or three hundred years.
"Then do you know who Changkang is?"
"Changkang?" Pei Min thought for a moment, then suddenly woke up and said, "Is it not that Gu Sanjue, Gu Kaizhi, Gu Changkang?"
Gu Kaizhi?
This name sounds familiar.
"This Gu Kaizhi was a native of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was known as the Three Greatest Masters for his 'painting, literary, and crazy'. Xie An attached great importance to him and believed that he was a person who had never been seen since the people. He was collectively known as the 'Four Masters of the Six Dynasties' with Cao Buxing, Lu Tanwei and Zhang Sengyou."
Xie An!
This name is so popular.
Yang Shouwen immediately showed a glimmer of expression, nodded slightly, and then turned around and asked, "What did you say just now?"
"Oh, I said the origin of this inn is probably quite good."
"Haha, if you can hang Gu Kaizhi's paintings here so dignifiedly, what is the origin of this inn?"
After saying that, Yang Shouwen turned around and looked at the shopkeeper.
“These paintings…”
Only then did Pei Min notice the signature in the portrait and couldn't help but take a breath.
He really can't remember who Ruzi is. However, if you can hang Gu Kaizhi's paintings here like decorations, the owner of this inn must have an unusual origin. Maybe he was a descendant of the nobleman in the Southern Dynasty.
The Eastern Jin Dynasty was a famous Jiangzuo family. To this day, many wealthy families have disappeared in the long river of history.
For example, Wang Xie, the descendants of the old days, have long been wandering among the people and no longer flourished as they were back then. Therefore, the owner of the Eight Immortals Inn may be the descendants of the famous Jiangzuo family who disappeared back then. Of course, it may also be the portraits obtained by chance... But if that were the case, the owner of the inn probably wouldn't dare to put the paintings like this.
"Xiao Pei, let's just go here. Get settled quickly."
"Here."
Pei Min also came to his senses at this time and walked over to book two rooms.
The shopkeeper then yelled lazily at the back: "Where are you breathing, if you have, come out quickly."
"Here, come."
Several friends walked out of the back hall. At the instructions of the shopkeeper, they went out to take care of the mules and horses in Yang Sixu's hands.
Yang Sixu walked in with the package and whispered: "Alang, how about it?"
"Set up first."
Yang Shouwen spoke, took the Huswallow's big gun from Yang Sixu. He carried the package in one hand and followed a friend to the back.
After leaving the back door of the lobby, I saw the stone arch bridge spanning the river.
The guy took the three of them by the bridge. Yang Shouwen suddenly stopped and pointed to the side and asked, "Man, where is that place?"
On the left side of the bridge, there is a clearing space not far away, and there are many high platforms built.
The guy could understand Yang Shouwen's words, but when he answered, his fluent Wu soft words made Yang Shouwen confused.
The soft words of Wunong in the Tang Dynasty are not quite the same as those familiar to Yang Shouwen in later generations.
It sounds even more difficult to talk and more raucous.
Fortunately, a qualified young translator Pei Min followed him and immediately translated for Yang Shouwen: "In recent times, Changzhou Lu has caused trouble and people are in panic. A few days ago, Wangxianzun was poisoned and killed in the county government, and no murderer has been found. People in the county feel that Changzhou is too unlucky recently, so they are preparing to hold a ritual meeting to get rid of the unlucky.
The several high platforms over there are all for the Dharma Assembly.
It is said that after the ritual meeting, there were jugglers from all walks of life, so the town of Changzhou County was very lively in the past two days."
Yang Shouwen was stunned when he heard this and asked, "Xiao Pei, ask him, what other bad things are there besides the county magistrate being killed?"
Pei Min organized some language and asked the mate.
The guy hesitated for a moment and said softly: "There have been several murders in Cheung Chau recently.
Last month, several beggars were found outside Puhui Temple. It is said that the death was very strange. The beggars were originally trying to make a living in the fish market, but later they disappeared. After about ten days, when they found their bodies, they were all frustrated. Also, Mr. Lu, a doctor in Changchun Medical Center in Changzhou Garden, died strangely at home half a month ago. Now the yamen is in panic. Wangxianzun has been killed and cannot find the murderer. So many things have happened one after another. You say it is not bad luck, so what? So the abbot of Puhui Temple invited a monk to preach, and maybe he can kill demons and exorcism and restore Changzhou to his previous appearance."
Yang Shouwen was silent and did not continue to ask questions.
The guy took the three of them to the guest room. Yang Shouwen opened the window, but found that the Dharma Assembly Square was not far away.
He frowned and then closed the window.
At this time, Yang Sixu and Pei Min also walked into Yang Shouwen's room. After they entered the door, they closed the door.
"Alang, something is not right."
"Yes, I feel a little abnormal, too."
Yang Shouwen took a deep breath and wandered around the house.
After a while, he stopped and said to Yang Sixu: "You have heard what the guy said just now, Lao Yang, too.
Don't you think those people die weirdly?"
"What's weird?"
"What's the situation when the whole body is frustrated?"
"this……"
"Also, Mr. Lu from Changchun Pavilion... and including Wang Yuankai's death, so many people seem to be concentrated in this period of time. Will there be any special connections in it? I am very curious now."
"What should I do?"
Yang Shouwen rubbed his temples and pondered without saying a word.
After a while, he said to Pei Min: "Xiao Pei, stay in the inn and find someone to inquire about the situation of those beggars.
Lao Yang, I want to go to the charity house to have a look.”
"Yizhuang?"
Yang Shouwen said: "Mr. Lu from Changchun Pavilion is probably someone to restrain him, but those beggars may be temporarily placed in the charity village. I want to go see the body before I can make a judgment. You can go with me."
Yang Sixu nodded and agreed immediately.
The three of them cleaned up again, Yang Shouwen put on casual clothes and left the Eight Immortals Inn with Yang Sixu.
Although Yang Shouwen was not proficient in Suzhou dialect, he learned a lot of Suzhou dialect along the way. It would be a bit troublesome to communicate, but if he spoke slowly, he could understand it. He and Yang Sixu first wandered around the fish market for a while, and then found two fangdings at the entrance of the fish market and found out where the charity village was.
That Yizhuang is located in a corner of the west of the city. It is an independent small courtyard with a city god temple next to it.
The person guarding the charity house was an old man. Yang Shouwen pretended that one of his distant relatives was missing and might have died, so he placed them in the charity house to check it out. After he stuffed the old man a copper coin, the old man no longer stopped him. When the two walked into the yard, they saw a simple house with corpses parked in it.
The weather is very hot in late June.
However, this charity village is in the shade. When you walk into it, you only feel the coldness.
There was a smell of corpse stinking in the air, which made people feel disgusting.
The old man guarding the corpses said that these corpses were unknown corpses in the past month. If no one claimed them, they would be buried in the grave. Yang Shouwen covered his mouth and nose with a wet towel and walked into the morgue. After glanced over, his eyes stopped on the ragged beggar bodies, and then walked forward.
"It should be these ones."
Yang Sixu also covered a wet towel and said with a frown.
Yang Shouwen nodded, squatted down, and looked carefully on the corpse.
"Old Yang, do you see anything?"
Yang Sixu originally looked disgusted, but when he saw Yang Shouwen squatting down, he felt embarrassed to stand beside him.
He lifted a piece of white cloth and a foul smell came to his face.
However, when he saw the festering part on the corpse, his eyes narrowed and showed a thoughtful expression.
Yang Shouwen endured the stench of the corpse and looked at the corpses one by one before then stood up and signaled Yang Sixu to leave.
The two came out of the morgue and immediately took a big breath.
"How is it, are there any gains?"
Yang Sixu's slender eyebrows shook and he said softly: "Alang, let's go out and talk."
"good!"
Yang Shouwen and Yang Sixu immediately left the charity village, found a shed on the street, then asked for two pots of wine, and sat down.
"About thirty years ago, I hadn't entered the palace at that time, and I've seen this in my hometown."
"oh?"
"The deceased was also frustrated and his body turned black.
At that time, I was very scared and thought that the man was infected with evil... but later I realized that he died of corpse poison. People around me said that the man was a tomb robber. When digging an ancient tomb, he was infected with corpse poison, so he became like that.
Chapter completed!