The next day, it was just dawn, and Bo Ruoyou took a carriage out of the door. After meeting Wu Xiang and his party in the south of the city, they left the city and headed for Guzhang Village. After less than an hour of her journey, Lin Huai and his wife walked up to the Cheng family's door.

Cheng Yunzhi welcomed the two of them into the main hall. Lin Huai looked at the house and said, "This place is pure and smaller, but there are only two of you, father and daughter, and there are not many servants, so it's enough to live."

Cheng Yunzhi smiled, "It's not the same as before, it's already great."

After sitting down for tea, Lin Huai looked upright, "I saw your letter, I have told Shu Ning about this, but why did you suddenly change your mind?"

Cheng Yunzhi's smile faded and his face looked sighing, "Youyou guessed it when you and me were talking like that yesterday. Although I had not mentioned the engagement earlier, I told her that I had arrangements for her marriage, so she guessed it."

"Now that you know that Lin Zhao and the Bo family have been married, she doesn't realize anything. She said that we have been away from Beijing for a long time over the years, even if there are no Bo family girls, there will be other girls. Besides, you have been engaged to Lin Zhao for many years. In Lin Zhao's heart, the Bo family is his good match. Therefore, she doesn't want to take the marriage back, so she will just make the mistake."

Lin Huai knew that Cheng Yunzhi had been angry for many years and had already planned to discuss with Chu Shuning how to terminate the engagement with the Bo family's eldest house, but he didn't expect that Cheng Yunzhi suddenly changed his temperament, so he guessed that something had happened.

However, he didn't expect that this was Bo Ruoyou's meaning.

The couple looked at each other and Lin Huai said, "Youyou really thinks like this?"

Cheng Yunzhi nodded, "She also said that they have been engaged for many years and thought they had some friendship. Even if they really took the marriage back, Lin Zhao was probably not happy in her heart, and her situation was quite embarrassing. Since that's the case, it would be better to let them go."

After a pause, Cheng Yunzhi said again: "What I was upset with Lin Huai yesterday has been explained clearly. I think you understand that Bo's family is cruel to Youyou and has a selfish desire to get engaged with you. You think you know a little about this over the years, but you have made the marriage change. In the future, you will be your own family with Bo's family. Youyou and I will never mention the engagement in the past."

Lin Huai smiled bitterly, "I should have been sincere yesterday, but you all settled your mind? If this is the case, then this marriage will not be withdrawn. Not to mention the friendship between the previous generations of the two families, even if there is no reason now, I can't retreat."

Cheng Yunzhi waved his hand, "You can think that this has never happened."

Chu Shuning said helplessly: "Yunzhi, why is Youyou so decisive? Could she...didn't she look down on Lin Zhao?"

Everyone in the Lin family is a good marriage, but Chu Shuning didn't expect that Bo Ruoyou said he didn't want this marriage anymore. She was also a woman, so she naturally saw the key point at a glance.

Cheng Yunzhi did not hide it when he heard this, "It's true." He snorted, "You Lin Zhao are indeed young talents, but we Youyou are also an idea. First, she has only met Lin Zhao a few times, and friendship is just ordinary. Second, this marriage has been changed to others, and it has been changed to so many years. She disdains to get involved for a person who has no friendship. She will not force it if it is not her."

Chu Shuning and Lin Huai were so amused that Lin Zhao was always famous for being a talented person, but now he is looked down upon.

Seeing the expressions of her two, Cheng Yunzhi said confidently: "I came to the door yesterday to keep the faith and righteousness of the past. I will also keep my promise today. Don't worry, I will tell Youyou that I will not be capricious if I don't mention the engagement."

Lin Huai and Chu Shuning were not showing their faces, but they were relieved in their hearts. If they really wanted to withdraw from the Bo family, they would have to make a fuss. Now Cheng Yunzhi has changed his mind, and they are just a false alarm, and everything is still the same as before.

"Of course I believe you. Since that's the case, then this matter will be settled." Lin Huai said and looked at the yard again, "I didn't see Youyou, but did you go to the yamen?"

Cheng Yunzhi nodded, "Yes, there is a case in the yamen."

Chu Shuning sighed a little, "Youyou is a little girl, beautiful and beautiful. How did you let her do coroner? It's really heartbreaking to be with dead people all day long and have to work hard like this."

Chu Shuning's words were sincere and had no contempt. Cheng Yunzhi sighed, "This is what she wants to do. She was seriously ill back then, and she had no preference after she recovered. Fangze taught her a brief medical skills. Because of the incident, I didn't want to continue practicing medicine. By chance, I helped the county government to cut off the cause of death of an accidental person, and then I became a coroner. Youyou didn't know what I did at first, but later she didn't feel afraid when she found out. Instead, she felt that helping the dead was extremely meritorious."

Chu Shuning frowned, "Is it because of what happened back then-"

Cheng Yunzhi nodded, "There are some reasons for this, so she knows it well, but she just sees her preferences, how can I bear to stop it? I thought that maybe I wouldn't like it in ten days and half a month, after all, no girl likes to do these things, but later she persisted and was quite attentive. After Fangze passed away three years ago, I was in poor health, so she helped the county government to perform autopsy. Later, she had more tests and now she is even better than me."

Chu Shuning sighed, "What about you, will you keep doing coroner in the future?"

Cheng Yunzhi frowned slightly, "Actually... I don't want her to continue doing it, especially the last time she was attacked by the murderer and was seriously injured, and her life was almost hanging by a thread. I regretted teaching her the art of coronation at that time."

Cheng Yunzhi looked sore, and he breathed a sigh of relief before saying, "It was also at that time that I thought I could not delay any more, so I ordered people to inquire about you. When the incident happened, the palace investigated the Cheng family first, and some of his old enemies were staring at the Cheng family in their early years. Later, I had to leave Beijing. It has been more than ten years since then. If it weren't for Youyou, I wouldn't have bothered you."

Lin Huai sighed, "Why do you think so? The incident involving the imperial concubine and the prince was involved. There was no right or wrong at all. If someone could not be saved, someone must be responsible for it. The use of medicine is just a name. You and I understand. The Lin family could not help your father back then, but they also tried their best to speak for the rest of the Cheng family. Now, are I still taboo about what I can do?"

Cheng Yunzhi responded with a smile, and Chu Shuning asked, "Wuyou continued to do coroner for a while? Have you ever thought about Youyou's marriage?"

Cheng Yunzhi's smile faded, "This matter... needs to be discussed for a long time."

Cheng Yunzhi was a little worried, but he didn't say in detail, and he left his wife for lunch. After lunch, Lin Huai and his wife said goodbye and left the mansion. As soon as he left the Cheng family's door, Lin Huai saw a man staring at them in the distance at the corner of the street. However, after he looked over, the man quickly turned around the corner and disappeared.

Lin Huai frowned. Although he just glanced at him, he felt that the man was very sneaky.

Chu Shuning followed him to see, "What's wrong?"

Lin Huai stared at the corner of the street for a moment, but the man did not come back. He thought he was suspicious for a moment, so he shook his head and got on the carriage. As soon as he got on the carriage, Chu Shuning said, "Youyou is an idea and sensible person, and he is also a good child. He just has no fate with us Zhaoer. This time they changed their minds, but there was less trouble." He smiled bitterly, "I didn't expect that our Zhaoer would be looked down upon."

Lin Huai thought of Huo Weilou for some reason, and he laughed, "They met for a short time, and it is normal to have no other thoughts. It will be better to get along with brothers and sisters in the future. There is nothing to choose between the Bo family's big girls. This matter is settled so that Zhao'er doesn't have to let him know that it will bother him."

Chu Shuning responded with a smile.

After Lin Huai's carriage left for a stick of incense, the sneaky figure appeared on the corner of the street again. This time, he stood there and waited for a while. Seeing that there was no movement in the Cheng family, he turned around and left Changxingfang, passed through Yu Street, headed straight to Changlefang, and then turned several alleys to reach the side door of Bo Mansion's ancestral house. He called the door, and soon someone put him in.

...

The sun rose in the air, but Bo Ruoyou and his party had not found Guzhang Village yet. Bo Ruoyou couldn't help but lift the curtain of the car and asked Wu Xiang, "Captain Wu, didn't you say that Guzhang Village is in the lower reaches of the Luo River?"

They had walked twenty miles along the Luo River and looked for a section away from the river bank. However, after asking seven or eight people along the way, none of them knew where Guzhang Village was.

Wu Xiang also frowned, "It is said that the long-time craftsman in Guzhang Village is not from Guzhang Village, but knows where it is. There are many rumors about Guzhang Village. The altar he mentioned is the same. He heard from the older generation in his family. He also said that Guzhang Village believes in the river god and the water god, and this altar worships the river god and the water god."

Bo Ruoyou frowned slightly, "The abandonment of the baby by the river, and the strange rocks are like an altar, which is indeed in line with the saying of believing in the water god, but he also heard that Guzhang Village may not be in this direction."

Wu Xiang hurriedly said, "If we can't find it before sunset, we will go back to Beijing."

In this way, I had to go to the night road, and Bo Ruoyou didn't realize anything. Today, Cheng Yunzhi prepared snacks and tea for her. She rode a carriage, which was less labor-saving than Wu Xiang and the Yamamasters.

Wu Xiang said again: "I have taken people to investigate the cloth with people. There is only one family in the entire capital selling the same silk. But he said that the embroidery patterns on it were not the type they sold, so they were not bought there. Since there was no clue found on it, they could only come to this village."

Bo Ruoyou knew it again and walked five or six miles, but the ones next to the Luo River were just fertile fields. When you walked forward, there were rolling ridges. You could occasionally see several farmhouses, but when you went over and asked, they all said that this place was not Guzhang Village.

Seeing that the time was getting late, Wu Xiang ordered the yamen to scatter and searched for the mountain village west of the Luo River. After half an hour of investigation, the two yamen who went to the west to search came back.

"Captain, I asked! It was said that there were no other villages nearby, but when I went west, I passed the ridge in front of me, there was a small village, but the village was very small and was not called Guzhang Village."

Wu Xiang looked around and saw only a shadow of a mountain ridge in the distance. The long-time worker said it was twenty miles, but they had already walked twice as much as they were, and even he was a little tired. After thinking about it, he felt that today's suffering could not be wasted. He gritted his teeth and said, "Go to that village to investigate. If they don't know Guzhang Village yet, we will go back."

The group went west of the Luo River. After walking less than ten miles, a short hill appeared in front of him. As the Yamamaster said, after passing here, it was the small village.

The mountain road is a bit rugged, and the thin carriage is walking even slower. She lifted the curtain here and saw it. She felt that this place was far away from the capital and deviated from the scenery along the official road and the Luo River. It seemed a bit remote. In terms of territorial land, it seemed to have been under the jurisdiction of the county under the capital. It is now the spring season, with green trees and wild flowers blooming between the mountains and fields. Although it is boring to rush, the spring scenery between the mountains and forests is also quite interesting to walk in spring.

When the carriage climbed the ridge, the view became wider. When you looked west, you could vaguely see several families. Then you could see down the ridge and see clearly that this was a valley. There were more than a dozen farmhouses located in the valley, which felt like a paranoid hermit.

The small path made of soil in the village went down the hillside, so narrow that it was only possible to pass a carriage. Not long after walking, I met two middle-aged men in a civilian dress carrying a hoe. The yamen came forward and asked, "Brothers, how dare you ask if this is Guzhang Village?"

The two frowned, and one of them said in a deep eye: "This is Hei Shui Village."

When Wu Xiang heard this, he asked, "Did you ever hear about Guzhang Village?"

The two shook their heads one after another, "I don't know."

The two of them obviously wanted to do farm work, and Wu Xiang didn't ask much, but went to the nearest farmhouse, "Look at which old people are there, and ask for an elderly person."

While walking, Bo Ruoyou lifted the curtain and looked outside. The valley was covered with ridges on three sides, with only a gap in the northwest direction. The mountain road also extended to the northwest direction. But I didn't know where to go out. Bo Ruoyou was looking at it, but she found that the bright sky light suddenly darkened. She hurriedly looked into the sky to the west, and saw that the sun that had not yet fallen into the sky was covered by dark clouds. Although it was not yet dusk, it felt like the sky was getting dark.

Wu Xiang also saw it, and couldn't help but speed up, and soon rushed to a farmer's house.

Here, every farm household has a simple wall and a courtyard gate. Wu Xiang went up and called the door. After a moment, a gray-haired old woman appeared inside the door. She looked out with a cautious look. Seeing that there were many visitors, she opened the crack in the door smaller and said in a muffled voice: "What's the matter?"

The yamen came forward and asked, "Mother-in-law, we are from Jingzhao Yinfu. Have you ever heard of a Guzhang Village nearby?"

The mother-in-law frowned and closed the door with a "bang". "I haven't heard of it. This is Heishui Village."

The yamen looked back at Wu Xiang, and Wu Xiang looked helpless, "Go to the next household to take a look."

Everyone walked along the mountain road and soon arrived at the bottom of the valley. Most of the houses here are concentrated at the bottom of the valley. In order to facilitate the convenience of asking people, the yamen chose the most extensive courtyard to knock on the door.

The houses here are no longer walls, but solid walls with gray tiles and mud surfaces. They look quite grand among the simple houses. After the yamen call the door, a boy of seven or eight years old appears inside the door.

The boy was also wearing a cloth clothes, with a drooping bun on his head, and a collar with a peace talisman hanging on his neck. His eyes were clearly black and white, and he still looked out the door with fear. The yamen asked, "Little baby, do you have an adult at home?"

The boy blinked, and before he could speak, an old man's voice came from behind him.

"Yuer, who are you talking to?"

The boy opened the door a little bigger, "Mother-in-law, so many people-"

As the words came to an end, an old lady in a gray robe came into everyone's eyes. She limped and had several scars of different shapes on her face. Her hair was also quite sparse. Because she was particularly thin, the gray robe she was wearing was hanging down on her body, which seemed a little deformed, but her eyes were quite clear. She soon stood behind the boy and looked at Wu Xiang and the others suspiciously.

"Who are you?"

The yamen asked, "Mother-in-law, have you heard of where is the Guzhang Village around here?"

When she heard this, the old lady did not shake her head and reject it like the people she asked earlier. She was a little surprised at first, and then asked slowly: "What are you asking Guzhang Village for?"

This sentence made Wu Xiang's eyes lightly bright. He turned over and got off the horse and said kindly: "Does mother-in-law know? We are from the yamen in the capital. We want to find some old people from Guzhang Village to ask some things. Do you know about Guzhang Village?"

The old lady's face was a little cold, "You don't have to look for it anymore, everyone in Guzhang Village is dead."

Wu Xiang frowned, "Is it dead? Why is it dead?"

"Plague, about ten years ago, I suffered a plague and the whole village died." The old woman's thin and scarred face showed a little disgust, and pointed to the gap in the southwest. "After walking fifty miles from here, you can see several abandoned houses in a valley, which is Guzhang Village."

Fifty miles! Wu Xiang's eyes turned dark, "Then, are there no living people in that village?"

If there are no living people, how could there be a dead baby? Or if people from other villages know the method of the altar in Guzhang Village and then imitate it?

Wu Xiang had a lot of questions in his heart. This was the old lady saying, "It's basically gone, and some of them left their hometowns and went elsewhere. There have been plagues in their village, and people are afraid of dealing with them. I haven't heard the name Guzhang Village for many years."

Wu Xiang's heart continued to sink when he heard this and asked again: "Did you know that Guzhang Village used to have a powerful way to sacrifice gods?"

The old lady was even more suspicious, "You are from the yamen, what do you do?"

Wu Xiang said half-truely: "The people in the yamen believe in these things, and ask God to help them get promoted and make money. We are running errands for the nobles this time. If my mother-in-law knows it, she would rather tell us, and she would thank you very much."

The old lady looked at them, then looked at the carriage behind, and then saw the face of the woman in the carriage. She pointed at Bo Ruoyou, "Is that your noble man?"

Wu Xiang smiled, "That's right."

The old lady began to hesitate, but suddenly rained in the sky. Although the raindrops were not dense, they were all the same as beans. Wu Xiang and others were wet outside, and wet marks of big and small quickly spread out on their bodies.

The old lady seemed to be unable to bear it, "It's raining, come in first to shelter from the rain, and the nobles will come in too."
To be continued...