After asking the passers-by on the street several times, he finally confirmed that the house in front of him really was the old house of the Su family.
The Su family had left this old house more than ten years ago. After they left, the regicide shook the world, and 'Inner Demon' Ning Yi became the most taboo name in the world. Before the Disgrace of Jingping came, there had been a round of liquidation of various things related to the Ning family and the Su family, but it didn't last for long.
After the Disgrace of Jingping, Prince Zhou Yong of the Kang Kingdom came to power, and the year was changed to Jianshuo. In Jiangning, the so-called land of prosperity, the old house of the Su family had been sealed. During this period, the disaster of the Female Enlightened Master's army reached Jiangning twice, but even though the city was breached, the old house remained quiet and undisturbed. There was even a rumor that Wanyan Xiyin or some Female Enlightened Master had specially entered the city to visit the old house.
Throughout the Jianshuo period, although the 'Inner Demon' Ning Yi had always been a great threat to the imperial court and the leader of the rebels, some people still vaguely maintained a positive view of his regicide and resistance to the Jin Dynasty — at least in the eyes of Crown Prince Jun Wu, who was in charge of the defense line between Jiangning and the Yangtze River, these words weren't very rebellious. Even the Eldest Princess's residence, which was in charge of public opinion at that time, didn't put too much emphasis on this kind of thing.
Of course, the house was destroyed after the Fairness Party entered the city. In the beginning, it was a large-scale looting, burning, and killing. The mansions of the rich families in the city, as well as the storehouses of the shops, were the hardest hit. This house, which had been covered in dust for a long time and didn't have many valuables left inside, didn't suffer too much damage in the first round, and one of the forces under the banner of Heavenly King Gao even occupied this place as a stronghold. But slowly, people began to spread the word that this was the former residence of the Inner Demon Ning Yi.
A few groups of scattered forces cast their gazes in this direction.
A group of madmen under Zhou Shang first waved their banners and tried to set fire to the house. They tried to burn down the symbol of the "Inner Demon" Ning Yi. After being chased out by Heavenly King Gao's men, Shi Baofeng's men, Xu Zhaonan's men, and even those under the banner of the "King of Justice" He Wen all came. For a while, there were several rounds of negotiations, and then there were fights.
A few bloody massacres took place. When people calmed down and took a closer look, they realized that although the forces involved in these fights were flying the flags of the various factions, they were not the main forces of the various factions. Most of them were similar to small gangs that had randomly planted their flags. Meanwhile, none of the five largest factions of the Party of Fairness, not even Madman Zhou Shang's side, had a single general say that they wanted to occupy this place.
It was hard to say if there were any of the five factions operating behind the scenes, but on the surface, there didn't seem to be any important figures who had clearly stated their views on the "Inner Demon" Ning Yi. They were neither protective nor hostile. This could be considered a continuation of the ambiguous attitude that the Party of Fairness had shown toward the southwest factions for a long time.
Sensing the existence of this attitude, the other small factions became more active, treating this house as a trial ground that they didn't care about.
In the first month or so, ferocious dragons would occasionally try to occupy this place, hoping to leave a deep impression in the eyes of the upper echelons of the Party of Fairness. For example, the recently famous "Supreme Chief" had once sent out a group of people to occupy this place for three days, saying that he wanted to open his doors here. Although they were later chased out, they still made a name for themselves for a few days.
After that, there were all sorts of tangled warfare, until the matter grew larger and larger, nearly resulting in a fight involving over a thousand people. The "King of Fairness" was enraged. Under his command, "Virtuous Dragon" of the "Seven Virtuous Sages" led a team and sealed off the entire area. No matter what kind of banners they flew, most of them were arrested. Afterwards, they publicly executed them in a nearby plaza. Each person was flogged twenty times, and it was said that several dozen sticks were broken. Only then did the large-scale fighting on this side stop.
After this, the scale of the fighting in the old Su family residence became much smaller. Most of the time, there were only a few dozen people confronting each other. There were small groups using the banner of Zhou Shang to open casinos, and there were people using the banner of Shi Baofeng to run a black market. Some ferocious dragons would run over here to occupy a courtyard and occupy it for ten days to half a month. Some people would tear down the brick walls and sell them. After a period of time, they would discover that the Su family's bricks could not be counterfeited or verified. They would either be completely fake, or they would bring a seller over to make a selection. All sorts of business appeared.
"Young lad, you can't go in there. It's very messy."
When he dragged a kind-looking granny of the Party of Fairness to ask on the street, she kindly persuaded him.
"I want to see the old residence of the Great Devil in the Southwest. Granny. "
"The old residence of the Great Devil? Everyone says it's an old residence. Which one is it? I can't find it … "
The granny said so.
But of course, he still had to go in.
It was already evening. Ning Ji spent fifteen copper coins at one of the entrances of the big residence and bought a broken flag from a man of Jianghu. It was said that he could pass through. The flag belonged to the "Lifeless Army" under the "King of Chakra". It was a small faction under the Lifeless Army called "Evil Spirit". They claimed to be very powerful.
"With this flag, you can walk on the main road inside, but you can't enter some courtyards without a door. Seeing that you look kind, I advise you to come out before it's dark. You can pick a brick you like and bring it with you. If something really happens, shout loudly … "
Ning Ji nodded obediently. He took the flag and stuck it on his back, then walked toward the road inside. This used to be the side of the old residence of the Su family without a door. But the wall had been torn down, so the courtyard and the road inside were revealed.
The old residence of the Su family had been built and expanded for nearly a hundred years. It was composed of more than forty courtyards. It was not as big as a palace, but it was definitely not small either. The passage between the courtyards was paved with old and thick black bricks, which seemed to have a trace of steadiness in the past. But the air was filled with the smell of defecation and decay. Most of the walls beside him were broken in half, and some of them had a big hole in them. The people in the courtyard leaned against the hole and looked at him fiercely.
Ning Ji did not care about this. He looked into the courtyard and found that the surrounding courtyards were occupied. The trees in the courtyard had been chopped down, probably chopped into firewood and burned. Many of the houses with traces of the past had collapsed. Some of the doors were open, and it was dark inside, showing a sense of coldness. Some people of Jianghu were used to setting fire in the courtyard, so the place was a mess. Beside the passageway paved with black bricks, people poured the filth from the toilet into a narrow ditch, and the stench lingered.
There were also other pedestrians on the road. Some people pointed at him and looked at him, and some, perhaps like him, came to "visit" the former residence of the Inner Demon. They were surrounded by some people of Jianghu, but they could not help shaking their heads when they saw the chaos inside. At a fork in the road with half-broken walls, someone said that the house beside him was the former residence of the Inner Demon, and he could only enter it after paying 20 copper coins.
Ning Ji paid the money as well.
There were many people living in the courtyard inside. Some people had set up sheds to wash clothes and cook. The main houses on both sides were relatively well preserved. They were two rows of houses at a right angle of 90 degrees. Someone pointed out which house was the former residence of Ning Yi. Ning Ji just looked at it silently. Someone also came to ask, "Young man, where did you come from?" Ning Ji did not answer him.
Now the old residence was mixed with crooks and honest people. With the tacit consent of the five parties, there was no law enforcement inside, so anything could happen. Ning Ji knew why they asked him, and he also knew what the people in the alley outside were thinking, but he did not care about it. He returned to his hometown and chose to be polite before resorting to force.
If this courtesy was not respected, he would not give face to anyone in his old residence, and he would not have any scruples.
Perhaps because his silence was too unfathomable, the people in the courtyard did not do anything to him. After a while, someone was attracted by the "former residence of the Inner Demon" stunt, and Ning Ji turned and left.
The sunlight gradually tilted.
Only a few leaves and old tree branches extended from the courtyard wall to the top of the passageway, casting a dim shadow. Ning Ji walked along the passageway of the old residence and looked around. In his mother's memory, the beautiful gardens in the Su Family's old mansion were long gone. Some of the rockery had been pushed down, leaving behind stone ruins. There seemed to be all kinds of people in this dark mansion. Some swordsmen with swords on their backs brushed past him. Some people were sneakily discussing business with others in the corner. On the other side of the wall, there seemed to be some strange movements coming from the other side …
There were three courtyards inside, and they all said that they were the former residences of the Inner Demon. Ning Ji looked at them one by one, but he could not tell whether these words were true or not. In the small courtyard where his parents used to live, there used to be two small buildings facing each other. Later, one of the small buildings burned down, and they all lived in the other two-story building.
Of course, he could not find any traces of the two small buildings, and it was impossible for him to see the ground left after one of the buildings was burned down.
These memories of his mother were actually stories from before he was born.
Since then, spring rain and autumn frost had descended on this house an unknown number of times. Winter snow had covered the ground an unknown number of times. At this moment, the things of the past had been submerged in the ruins, and it was already difficult to distinguish them.
There were also some slight traces left.
Ning Ji saw a series of scratches on the old bricks of a courtyard wall, which seemed to be used to measure his height. The scratches only reached his shoulders, and he did not know which house or which child's parents left them here.
On an old table that only had three legs left, someone had left strange graffiti. There were many words around it, and one of them seemed to say "Xiao Qi is stupid". Someone had also carved the words "Hello, teacher". There were the sun, flowers, and also strange boats and crows in the graffiti.
The sun had set. The light in the courtyard faded away. Bonfires were lit in some courtyards. In the dark, people gathered in their own houses. Ning Ji sat on the wall of a courtyard. Occasionally, he heard a man shouting from the opposite house, "Jin E, bring me some wine …" The dead house seemed to be alive again.
He walked around this large house twice, and most of the sadness he felt came from his mother. He thought, "If one day my mother comes back, she will be so sad that she can no longer find the things of the past …"
After a round of this, he went out from a fork on the other side of the house and went to the road outside. At this time, the big round moonlight was hanging in the sky, as if it was looking down on the world more intimately than before. With a flag on his back, Ning Ji slowly walked through the crowded road. Perhaps because of the rumor of the "God of Wealth", there were some stalls on the streets nearby, with lanterns and torches lit to attract customers.
After walking for a while, Ning Ji's attention was caught by a voice among the noises in front of him.
"I … I hit the head of the Inner Demon, Ning Yi … I hit the head of the Inner Demon, Ning Yi …"
In the flickering torch, there was a beggar in ragged clothes kneeling on the side of the road. He was rambling to the people on the side of the road. A group of people seemed to be very interested in what he was saying. The old man leading them squatted down in front of him.
"You said … you hit the head of the Inner Demon?"
"Please … give me something to eat … give me something to eat …" The beggar stretched out his hand.
The old man took out a few coins from his arms and gave him a coin first. "Tell me, and I'll give you more if you tell me a good story."
"I, I hit the head of the Inner Demon, Ning Yi. Hehe, my … my name is Xue Jin. Jiangning … everyone knows me … My Xue family's' Da Chuan Cloth Store ', which … was on an equal footing with the Su family … Da Chuan Cloth Store …"
The beggar wore a tattered felt hat on his head, and he seemed to have been injured, for he spoke intermittently. But Ning Ji had heard of the name Xue Jin. He sat down at a stall on the side, and the group of people led by the old man also found a place to sit down. They even ordered snacks and listened to the beggar talk. The snack stall owner said with a smile, "This lunatic often comes over and says that he hit the head of the Inner Demon. I think it's true that he hit the head himself. Don't be fooled by him."
The old man just smiled. "It's just for fun."
"Back then … I … hit the head of the Inner Demon, Ning Yi … Why did I hit him … Back then, the young lady of the Su family … Su Tan 'er, she was very beautiful and capable. In the future … she would inherit the Su family's business. I … hehe, wanted to marry her, but who knew … that bookworm married into her family …"
"That Inner Demon, Ning Yi, was a bookworm back then … It was because I hit him that he became enlightened … I remember … that year, when they got married, the young lady of the Su family, hehe, ran away from the wedding …"
The beggar talked intermittently about the things that happened in the past. He talked about how beautiful and charming Su Tan 'er was, and how silly Ning Yi was. From time to time, he added the identities and names of their friends, how they knew each other when they were young, and how they dealt with each other … Even though he hit Ning Yi, he and Su Tan' er did not really become enemies. Then, he talked about the luxurious life back then, how he lived as the young master of Da Chuan Buxing, and what kind of good food he ate …
When the people around heard this, some of them laughed at him for losing his mind. If Ning Yi was really a fool, how could he have lived to this day?
Someone mocked, "Then Ning Yi has to thank you for becoming smart …"
Someone also said, "This person was indeed extravagant in the past, but the world has changed! Now it's time for fairness! "
These words did not interrupt the beggar's memories of the past. He rambled on and on about the details of that night when he beat up the Inner Demon, what kind of brick he took, how he walked behind him, how he hit him with the brick, and how silly the other party was … The old man at the stall even asked the stall owner to give him a bowl of food. The beggar held the bowl of food and said some nonsense in a daze. He put it down, picked it up again, and put it down again …
"The Inner Demon …" he said, "It was said that the Inner Demon was called the number one scholar of Jiangning … The first poem he wrote was … I was the one who asked him … That year, the moon … Look, it was such a big moon, so round, I remember … That was the Pu … Puyang family's six boats, Puyang Yi … Where did Puyang Yi go … It was his family's boat, Ning Yi … Ning Yi didn't come, so I asked his servant girl …"
"I asked her … Why didn't Ning Yi come, was he … too ashamed to come … I then asked that Su Tan'er … You guys don't know, Su Tan'er is very beautiful, but she wants to inherit the Su family, so she let that bookworm marry into her family … I asked him, you chose such a bookworm, he is so good, he must be able to write a good poem, why didn't he come, he even said he was sick … Then that servant girl took out the poem written by her son-in-law …"
"I still remember that poem … it was about the moon, that poem was …"
The beggar knelt in front of the bowl of food, staring at the moon in a daze. After a while, his hoarse voice slowly sang out the poem. Perhaps it was something that was often sung in the brothels of Jiangning, so he had a deep impression of it. At this moment, in his hoarse voice, the melody of the poem was still intact.
"When will the moon be bright …" he sang slowly.
"… I ask the clear sky with a cup of wine."
"… I wonder in the heavenly palace, what year is it tonight …"
"I wish to ride the wind back home."
"Yet I fear the jade palace …"
"It's too cold at the top, dancing with the clear shadow …"
"It's like … in the human world …"
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