Chapter 60

  The summer night sky is dotted with stars, as if scattered with gravel on a black canvas, looking at it gives off a rich and luxurious flavor.

  Little Phoenix girl lay on her back on the roof of a small shop, gazing at the stars.

  Tonight is windy and the stars are very beautiful, it's suitable for stargazing on the rooftop and feeling the cool breeze.

  Zhan Zhao appeared on the rooftop, but Lu Xiaofeng ignored him.

  "Has An Le Hou's marriage been settled?"

  "Are you asking despite knowing?"

  "Grandma Jiu's case is also about to be closed."

  "I didn't ask."

  Zhan Zhao smiled and said, "I thought I'd tell you."

  "What brings you here?"

  "Come and see you."

  Lu Xiaofeng sat up halfway from the rooftop, Zhan Zhao stretched out his hand to support her, fearing she would fall.

  "I'm not missing an arm or a leg, what's so great about it?"

  Zhan Zhao took advantage of the situation and pulled her into his arms, looking up at the stars in the sky, saying: "I was thinking of you, so I came to take a look. It's been days since we last met, why are you still quarreling with me?"

  "When did I ever mess with you?" Little Phoenix felt that she was too naive.

  "Want to go see Bianliang's night view?"

  Lu Xiaofeng looked at him suspiciously, was this cat asking her out on a date? Did this cat have romantic cells?

  It's simply unbelievable!

  "Are you going?"

  I want to go see Cuiling Manor.

  Zhan Zhao was taken aback for a moment.

  "What's wrong, can't be done?" She remembered that bastard Wen Yaoting led the troops to slaughter the Cui Ling Village, and didn't know if the plot had already passed.

  "Let's go." Zhan Zhao smiled and pulled her into his arms, took a deep breath, and leaped over the roof of the house.

  Little Phoenix Maiden thought a certain cat would use his lightness skill to take her across, but soon realized she was overthinking.

  Zhan Zhao led a horse out of Kaifeng Mansion and rode with her to Cuiling Manor.

  Lu Xiaofeng sat sideways on the horse, leaning against Zhan Zhao's chest without any mental burden, and was blown by the night wind to be a little drowsy.

  "We're here."

  It was unknown how much time had passed when Zhan Zhao suddenly whispered in her ear.

  Lu Xiaofeng opened his eyes in a daze and saw a mansion standing not far in front of him, the lanterns at the door casting a glow on the three gold-painted characters on the signboard - Cui Ling Zhuang!

  When he saw the gate of Cuiling Manor, Lu Xiaofeng suddenly recalled some vague plots from "Yin Yang Judge", where Wen Yaotian led his troops to massacre the manor.

  But looking at it now, it seems that it hasn't been washed away by blood yet, and there are still a lot of people.

  Lü Xiaofeng's heart was slightly at ease.

  "Shall we go in?"

  "I don't even know them, what's the point of going in?" Lu Xiaofeng thought that certain cat was asking a really strange question.

  Zhan Zhao smiled and asked: "Then why did you think of coming to Cuiling Manor?"

  "These days, Kaifeng Prefecture's cases have all been related to Cuiling Manor, haven't they? So I'm quite curious, isn't it normal to come and take a look?"

  "It doesn't matter, you don't know me but I know him," Zhan Zhao said as he prepared to dismount.

  "Hey," Lu Xiaofeng grabbed his hand, "Zhan Xiaomao, I didn't say I wanted to go in and take a look."

  "Really won't go in?"

  "Not going." Lu Xiaofeng was very certain, what would she be doing running to someone else's house in the middle of the night if nothing was wrong? She wasn't sick!

  "Old Mrs. Nine of Cuiling Village is very hospitable," Zhan Zhao said with a hint of teasing.

  "So I really went in, how are you going to introduce me?" Lu Xiaofeng replied with a smile.

  "What about the adopted sister of the Five Rats of Trap Island?" Zhan Zhao asked calmly.

  Lu Xiaofeng burst out laughing, "Zhan Xiaomao, I'm really getting more and more afraid to recognize you now." You're completely destroying the heroic chivalrous image of yours that's been set in my heart.

  Zhan Zhao said: "Being with you, I naturally don't need to hold anything back."

  "Should I feel honored?"

  "What about you?" he replied with a counter-question.

  Lu Xiaofeng snorted, "A dignified appearance."

  Zhan Zhao couldn't help but smile, his arm around her waist tightened slightly as he raised an eyebrow, "Is that so?"

  Lu Xiaofeng patted him on the shoulder twice, "Hey, be serious for once and pay attention to your image."

  Zhan Zhao smiled, but his smile soon faded away, and he turned his head towards the end of the main road in front of the village.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Some people have come, and a large group at that." Zhan Zhao's expression turned slightly solemn.

  Lu Xiaofeng was shocked in his heart, could it be that Wen Yaoting would lead the troops to massacre Cuiling Manor tonight?

  "Zhan Zhao, hurry up and enter the village, let everyone in the village evacuate immediately."

  “……”

  "Hurry up, or it will be too late." It was a massacre, a human hell, the ultimate tragedy.

  Zhan Zhao's mind was made up, and with the fastest speed, he made a decision, scooped her into his arms, jumped off the horseback, and rushed straight to the gate of Cuiling Mountain Manor.

  The red embroidery of the mountain villa recognized Nan Xiaozhao and also knew the imperial cat, Master Zhāng of Kaifeng Prefecture.

  "Why withdraw?"

  "It's dangerous." Zhan Zhao could only say this much.

  "We in Cuiling Village are not afraid of trouble."

  Lu Xiaofeng couldn't help but say, "Although the Cui Ling Manor is not afraid of trouble, there's no need to make unnecessary sacrifices. Don't you Jianghu people always say 'as long as the green mountain remains, we won't worry about having no firewood'? Now that Ninth Madame is not in the manor, if something goes wrong with the people inside, how will you explain it to her when she returns?"

  "This girl is——"

  "You don't need to care who I am, just hurry up and get the people in the village to evacuate, if you're late it will be too late."

  "I won't do it if things aren't made clear."

  "As the old saying goes, 'listen to advice and eat a full meal', Hong Chui girl, you're also an old hand now. If it wasn't for something truly urgent, Xian Zhao, such an honest and serious person, would not be so careless as to advise you to withdraw your personnel?"

  Hong Chui said proudly: "With the reputation and status of Cuiling Manor in the Jianghu, who dares to offend us lightly?"

  "What about the government?"

  Hong Chuan was stunned.

  Zhan Zhao was shocked, "Xiao Feng——"

  Lu Xiaofeng sighed and said, "Hong Chui girl, I don't care if you believe me or not. Let me put it this way: if you don't immediately order the people in the manor to withdraw, then tonight the manor will be led by soldiers and blood will flow, and Cui Ling Manor will be destroyed."

  Hong Chou was shocked, "Government troops?!" She didn't believe it!

  "A cornered dog will jump over a wall, what more can be said of a man."

  Zhan Zhao raised the Longquan sword in his hand and said, "I'll go outside to block the incoming people. Hongyu, quickly lead them away." Whether others believed him or not, he didn't know, but he did, as Xiaofeng was never an imprudent person.

  "Zhan Da Xia - " Red embroidery was not in time to stop Zhan Zhao, who flew away with his body. Looking at the young lady in front of him, dressed as a wealthy family's daughter, he stomped his foot loudly and shouted: "Someone, pass on the order to the mountain villa, withdraw."

  But they had delayed for a moment, and the soldiers in front had already killed their way in.

  Even with the noble cat Xing Zhao in front of him, he could not resist the thousands of officials.

  Hong Chui protected the unidentified Lu Xiaofeng as they fought and retreated with the people from the Zhuang residence.

  Fortunately, most of the people in the village were old hands at roaming the world, and although they were injured, most of them managed to escape.

  "What about Zhang Da Xia?" Hong Chuan subconsciously asked Lu Xiao Feng beside her.

  "Don't worry about him, let's go to Kaifeng Prefecture and find Judge Bao."

  "Good."

  A group of defeated soldiers from Cuiling Village fled in disarray all the way to Kaifeng Prefecture to seek help.

  Zhan Zhao was entangled with Wen Yang in the camp, preventing him from pursuing the people of Shanzhuang.

  When the people of Cuiling Village beat the drum and shouted grievances, startling the sleeping Kaifeng Prefecture crowd, Bao Zheng was shocked.

  Government soldiers besiege Cuiling Village?

  What a big deal is this?

  It shouldn't have happened like this considering Ninth Granny's reputation and prestige in the Jianghu, as well as her relationship with the Eight Virtuous Kings of Nanqing Palace.

  Bao Zheng immediately ordered the four chief constables of Kaifeng Prefecture to lead their men to summon Xue Zhao, while also sending someone to report back to the Southern Palace.

  That was quite an exciting and thrilling night.

  Finally, Nan Qinggong Bazhen Wang, Pang Taishi, Zhongmi Yuan Tongzhi Sun Wenhui, and Wang Chengxiang all arrived.

  Later, Zhan Zhao also returned with Wang Chao, Ma Han, Zhang Long and Zhao Hu.

  Na Wenyaoting naturally followed behind and came over as well.

  Pang Taishi was surprised to see his own daughter there too, "Yuer, how are you also here?"

  Lu Xiaofeng's head is already big, isn't it going to make her tell Master Tai that his daughter ran out at midnight to meet with the royal cat and then coincidentally encountered this disaster, which is simply rushing into the muzzle?

  Absolutely not!

  "Dad, I couldn't sleep at night because it was too hot, and then I heard the drumming sound from the Kaifeng Prefecture side, so I came over to see what's going on."

  Kaifeng Qi Zi: Girl, you shouldn't speak nonsense like this.

  Cui Ling Zhuang and others present: Do they want to expose her lies?

  Considering she's also a benefactor of Cuiling Manor, forget it.

  Pang Taishi didn't notice the flaw in his daughter's words and couldn't help but say with a tinge of heartache, "I've always said let you stay safely in the manor, why did you have to run over here to live on your own? Look at how much danger you're in. If your mother finds out, she'll worry again."

  "Dad, I know, next time I want to see the excitement, I'll wait till dawn."

  Pang Taishi: "......" Can't you just not be so eager to join in on everything?

  The first to arrive was Bao Zheng and others, but what the Eight Wise Kings heard was not the case. However, the Eight Wise Kings suspected in their hearts but said nothing with their mouths, only looking at Bao Zheng and others again and again.

  Bao Zheng slightly shook his head.

  Then, the wise King understood that this matter should be treated as if he didn't know about it. Whatever Princess Pong said was true.

  About this adopted daughter of Pang Taishi, the Eighth Highness also knew a little bit about her. He was still quite curious about her skills, but because he never had the opportunity to learn more, in fact, he didn't really understand what kind of temperament this girl had.

  In the past, I occasionally met at the palace banquet, and it was a decent and ordinary lady's appearance, but today it seems to be different.

  Once it reaches the mouth of the noble cat, it becomes a different version altogether.

  "I went to Cuiling Manor tonight to see Hong Xiu, intending to discuss some matters about Ninth Aunt. Who would have thought that I'd encounter the soldiers' massacre at the manor? I suspect there's more to this matter than meets the eye, so I intervened on behalf of Lord Wen."

  Hong Chui: Zhang Da Xia is clearly going to take this Pang girl away, not mentioning her appearance at all. There seems to be a somewhat unusual taste between these two people.

  This matter involves the Ministry of Justice, the Imperial Court, and a certain Cuiling Manor that holds an extraordinary position in Jianghu. It's indeed a major event.

  It eventually reached Emperor Renzong of Song.

  Regarding the matter of officials and soldiers going to surround the Cui Ling Mountain Villa without authorization, the Emperor was extremely enraged and severely questioned Wen Yaoting, as well as Sun Wenhui, the Minister of Justice and the Vice President of the Imperial Secretariat who were involved in the case.

  As for Little Phoenix, she naturally didn't go to the palace to get scolded, she just played a supporting role and after finishing her part, she went on with whatever she was doing.

  After repeatedly assuring Tai Shifu that he would absolutely not go out to join in the excitement at midnight, Shengli continued to stay at the small shop.

  It's not lively at midnight, but she is in Kaifeng Prefecture during the day.

  It's not that Little Phoenix Maiden loves to join in the excitement, but rather she was invited by Judge Bao.

  Because Grandma Jiu wanted to thank her in person.

  "Many thanks for your help, young lady."

  "The old lady was serious about this matter, it's just like a blind cat running into a dead mouse, it was just a coincidence."

  Zhan Zhao: "......" You always bring up cats and rats when talking about things, don't you really think there's anything wrong with that?

  "You're being too modest."

  "No big deal, I'm just a straightforward person who speaks the truth."

  Zhang Yifen smiled on one side: "Ninth lady, you see, I said it would be, there must be a noble person to help, this Pang girl is the great noble person of your Cuiling Manor."

  Lu Xiaofeng looked over in surprise, "Zhang Niang... is your divination technique really that amazing? Can you see that I'm actually a transmigrator? Does it count as borrowing a corpse to return a soul? Will borrowing a corpse to return a soul inherit the original owner's memories?"

  It's all messed up!

  Zhang Weifen stood behind Lu Xiaofeng, circling around him a few times, and in a mysterious tone said: "Miss's fate is extraordinary, I can't calculate it, but from Miss's facial features, I can see that she has accumulated good deeds, blessings, longevity, and good fortune, and will be protected by heaven."

  Little Phoenix Maiden: I think out of ten Taoist priests, nine of them are good at using this phrase to deceive people. How much of Master Ou Yang Ling's skills have you actually learned?

  "Really?" Little Phoenix Maiden asked out her doubts straightforwardly.

  "Of course it's true, a maiden born with an auspicious face that turns calamity into good fortune."

  "Is there a feeling of treading on auspicious clouds and wearing a halo of glory with a dignified and majestic appearance?"

  Everyone: ……

  Zhang Yuafen however smiled and pulled her hand, saying: "Could it be that Miss also has some understanding of my Xuanmen's skills?"

  "I just know a little about it." In the vast amount of information in later generations, there are things like this. I have indeed seen some and deeply doubted some anti-natural phenomena, but unfortunately, I couldn't find the answer.

  "Wow, you understand this too?" Zhang Yufen was truly a fellow countryman in a foreign land.

  "Just a little bit." I'm self-taught, which is to say I've reached the level of "the whole bottle doesn't make a sound, but half a bottle makes a big fuss."

  "So do you understand yin and yang, the five elements, and the eight trigrams?" Zhang Yufen excitedly pulled someone to one side to discuss.

  Two young girls were so excited that they simply danced with joy, completely without any reserve.

  Gongsun Ce walked over to Zhan Zhao's side, glanced in that direction and said: "I just realized that Pang young lady is much more lively than we imagined."

  Zhan Zhao: She's more than just lively, sometimes she's simply out of tune!

  Gongsun Ce listened for a while and couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect her to really understand yin-yang and the five elements."

  Zhan Zhao was also unaware that Lu Xiao Feng's knowledge and learning were actually quite extensive.

  "Where did you say the descendants of the Wei family are? I really feel sorry for Ninth Granny that we can't help her."

  Lu Xiaofeng held his cheek with one hand and tossed a pearl pendant with the other, somewhat absent-minded. What's the use of finding it again? It would only confirm a tragic human relationship.

  "Pang girl, can you help me shake the divination blocks?"

  "Huh?"

  Zhang Yuafen looked at her seriously and said, "Master once said that I'm not talented enough, some divinations are inaccurate for me, and there are some that I shouldn't casually divine, but I can feel a spiritual aura on you."

  Lu Xiaofeng: Could it be because of Zhuo Yihang's cleverness?

  Zhan Zhao's heart was slightly tense, he deeply understood the principle of "an innocent person is not guilty, but a precious jade can be a source of trouble". The pearl called Xiao Ling could no longer appear in front of people.

  "But I don't understand."

  "Just help me shake it off, I want to borrow the spiritual energy from your body."

  Lu Xiaofeng nodded, "Alright."

  Zhang Weifen then took out an ancient and simple old coin for her to silently recite a phrase, then shook the coin.

  "Got it!"

  As soon as Zhang Yufen saw the divination symbol thrown out by Lu Xiaofeng, she was overjoyed. "Miss Pang, you really have a talent for this! Even my master said that this kind of divination requires good luck."

  Lu Xiaofeng could only smile.

  "In front of Qilin Hall, a dead end is met; under the slope of fierce tigers, Mingzhu is sent off. The sky is split apart due to fame and gain; the intense sun dissolves frost on emerald bamboos."

  Lu Xiaofeng was stunned. These four lines of poetry seemed familiar, as if they had appeared in the original plot, how could they be spoken by Zhang Aifen at this time?

  It's settled then, her interference changed the course of events, so the time and place where this divination appeared also underwent a change.

  Jiuniang was also stunned, because her maiden name was Cui Zhu.

  "The Meng Servant who died at the Qilin Hall was the one who led the murderer to his own death, and the bright pearl is still under the Tiger Slope." Lu Xiaofeng sighed softly.

  Zhang Yuafen furrowed her brow and thought, "Daring to be reckless is only for fame and gain, but the scorching sun melts the frost on the emerald bamboo..."

  "My humble name is Cui Zhu."

  Everyone was stunned.

  "We're going to Měng Hǔ Pō." Zhǎn Zhāo concluded.