Copper Coins Chapter 58: Silk in the bone (3)

On the outskirts of Qingping County, a long horse team is marching forward. It is really rare for this team to dress up. They are all wide robes with large sleeves, embroidered with ferocious beast patterns on the front and back, but other than that, the entire robe is a watery white, stirred by the wind brought by the running of horseshoes, and the sleeves are like clouds. It also shows a mixed beauty of ferociousness and cleanliness.

These people on horseback can't tell their age just by looking at their robes and bodies. They seem to be restrained by various manners all the year round, and at first glance they are all straight and straight. As for the face... they all wore a simple animal face mask, so they couldn't see their faces clearly.

The long cavalry consisted of about 100 people, in two parallel rows with three carriages in between, with the curtains closed. On both sides of the three carriages, a high flag is supported, with a total of six sides. The black bottom surface is faintly embroidered with complicated patterns, which are indistinguishable at first glance, but the outlines of silk lines can only be faintly seen under the sunlight. In the middle of the black flag, there are two dragons and pythons with large characters - too often.

In the previous dynasty, Taichang was in charge of the rituals of heaven and earth, ghosts and gods, bad luck, yin and yang, and Taichang Temple and Shaoqing were set up to control everything. Since Da Taichang was in the hands of the national teacher, the powers of these people were very limited, and Taichang Siqing became the deputy of the national teacher. And when the national teacher of the dynasty was so old, no one could tell, and the deputy beside him had already changed several positions.

It is said that in addition to selecting one or two children with Buddha nature every few years, the national teacher will also select a group of high-quality boys and girls to be taught by Taichang Temple, and they will be raised until they are ten years old. At that time, he was used as the performer of the Nuo ritual, and the largest one could not exceed sixteen. When they pass sixteen, some of them will be transferred to other positions in Taichang Temple.

As a result, the entire Taichang Temple, especially in the past two tenures, from the ministers and Shaoqings of the Taichang Temple, to the people of Taizhu and Taibu, down to the Qizi, etc., are almost all related to the national teacher. Deep, it is not an exaggeration to be regarded as half a disciple.

The group of people divided into two groups at the fork, and more than 20 of them took a carriage to the main urban area of ​​the county. This was a team ordered to drive away the epidemic. The other 120 people turned to another road that went around the mountain. In addition to a string of copper coins with oily yellow leather, the two leaders also had a jade plaque with a tassel hanging on their waists.

The carved patterns on the jade plaque are different. The man on the left has a mysterious turtle carved on the jade plaque, and a long-feathered bird stands on the turtle's back. . On the jade plaque of the man on the right, a long-horned animal face was carved with a small octagonal bell hanging on the face of the beast, and two small characters were also circled between the two - Tai Zhu.

Taibu and Taizhu belong to Taichang Temple, Taibu holds the yin and yang divination, and Taizhu holds the Nuo ritual.

As soon as the horse team walked up the mountain road, the leader with the Taibu Jade plaque raised his hand to signal. The entire team did not rush into chaos, but stopped quietly.

Taizhu turned his head to look at him, and there was a trace of doubt in his eyes from the mask: "What?"

Although this man has a calm tone, his tone is very young, sounding like a man in his early twenties.

"I'll confirm the position again." Taibu responded, his voice was female, equally young, and his tone was clean and gentle with a neatness.

As she answered, she took off the rough and simple animal pattern mask on her face, revealing a delicate face that was completely different from the mask. Just looking at her appearance, she should be younger than her voice suggests, maybe only seventeen or eighteen years old. Fortunately, she has beautiful eyebrows and a pair of eyes as black as a lake, which suppressed her too young temperament a lot, revealing a sense of tranquility and stability.

The position of Taifu is slightly different from others, because the matters in hand, whether it is divination or interpretation of dreams, are related to talents, so most of the people who can be Taifu are people with special aptitude and fate, regardless of gender, age, and age. And because women are more sensitive in this regard, women have made up the majority of officials in recent tenures.

Taizhu nodded and agreed: "Alright, make sure nothing goes wrong. After all, it is closely related to natural disasters. If it is wrong, it will be difficult to explain it later." Pointing up with his finger, "That one will not be happy."

Taibu glanced at him, then turned to look at the clouds in the sky carefully, and said: "The national teacher has always been a matter of fact, and the rewards and punishments are clear, so why are you happy or not? No, you think too much..."

"You girl, hey, I just said it casually, can you not be so serious?" Tai Zhu said without temper.

"Can't."

Taibu replied without changing his expression, and as he spoke, he took out a knot of grass, a turtle shell, and a piece of paper with the smell of bamboo leaves. She unfolded the paper carefully, the ink on it had already dried, and it could be seen that it was written a long time ago. The content is only a few numbers, very concise, the sign is a red seal, and there are only two simple words on it - the same lamp.

She confirms the location mentioned on the paper and carefully folds it away. Then he arranged the grass knots and tortoise shells he had touched before in the palm of his hand, and while fiddling, he said to the people around him, "Be careful with your words and deeds, especially don't talk about the national teacher in front of me, maybe I will turn your face against you if I don't like it. What?"

Taizhu shook his head helplessly and said, "I don't dare to talk about the courage to put on my hat again."

Although both the top and bottom of Taichang Temple are closely related to the national teacher, there are still some differences.

It's like these two side by side. More than ten years ago, they were brought back by the national teacher together. They were taught together in Taichang Temple and grew up slowly. The location, the experience are similar, the age is the same, Taizhu is more fearful than respect for the national teacher, but Taibu is more revered than feared... far more.

Taibu concentrated on his calculations and ignored him.

After a while, Taibu stared at the grass knot in his hand, glanced at the sky again, and gave a soft "Huh".

"Huh? Don't you go in the wrong direction?" Taizhu turned his face and asked.

Taibu raised his beautiful eyebrows slightly, hesitated for a long time, and muttered: "I count...but it shouldn't be."

"You girl don't always talk half a sentence, say it all, what's the matter?" Tai Zhu followed her to look at the sky, except for a large cloud of gloomy clouds, he didn't see anything. , and stared at the grass knot in her palm, except that the grass knot was loose and looked a little old, and there was no other problem.

"It's nothing, it's just that someone who shouldn't be there is in Qingping County, but it's impossible..." Taibu explained in a slow voice, then shook his head, "Well, Ben just noticed that they were very similar, I'm not sure, I must have made a mistake. Regardless of this, the business is important, I have already confirmed the direction, and follow this mountain road all the way to the southwest."

"Where do I go?"

Taibu took another look and said, "Have you seen that mountain over there that looks like a dustpan? Go there."

Taizhu raised his hand and gestured to the horse team behind him. He clamped the horse's belly and said, "Let's go."

At this time, in the Fang's backyard, everyone was talking about other things-

The reason is that when Jiang Shijing gave the three sleepy beggars a fever, he found that one of the little beggars who looked like a skinny monkey was actually a little girl.

"It's a bit of a pity..." Jiang Shijing raised her hand and gestured on her left cheek, and said, "The two rashes, one old and one small, are still stuck on the neck, but that little girl has a large patch on her left cheek. , this rash is not just broken skin and bleeding, it is about rotten flesh. Those broken skin and flesh have to be cleaned up, even if it heals later, that girl's face..."

Everyone has seen the scary appearance of the rash and the extent of the little beggar's injuries. Naturally, they can imagine how scarred the little beggar's face will be in the future. Basically, half of his face will be destroyed. After all, this child is still young, so it is terrifying to be so old, what can I do in the future?

The troublesome temperament can be said to be inherited from the Jiang family's ancestors. Jiang Shijing is worried about this little girl who is not a relative or an ancestor.

Xue Xian was rolling his chair to pass by, but he stopped when he heard Jiang Shijing's words.

For him, when it comes to what he can or can't do, he mostly relies on his mood. Sister Chen is a real craftsman, and he was very satisfied with a table of hard vegetables in the morning. Once a person has eaten and drank enough, his mood will be much more relaxed, and he can even forget about the basket he stabbed.

He never likes to eat and drink for free, but he seems to be treating this place as an inn by digging for gold beads in person. He was thinking about what to order when he heard Jiang Shijing's words, and he suddenly had an idea in his heart.

"That girl's face, I have some ideas." Xue Xian answered smoothly.

Jiang Shijing and the others were stunned for a moment, then turned to look at him: "What's the way?"

He can get a paper body for a helpless person like Jiang Shining, and naturally he has a way to write something on the little girl's face, but...

"I can't make some flesh for her out of thin air, so I have to get something to replace it." Xue Xian briefly explained.

Jiang Shijing is not stupid either, and Jiang Shining, an experienced person, was making a point, so in a few words, he discussed his eyebrows, "The substitute... something that can close a human face... hiss-mask Is it possible?"

Stone Zhang held the bowl and raised his hand: "I can carve this! Make sure to carve a rich one for her!"

Roll the calf.

Xue Xian glanced at him angrily, "You can't stop your mouth with rice, have you ever seen a rich and blooming flower on a person's face?"

Stone Zhang silently cooks rice.

"I'm talking about the kind that Yi Rong can use." Jiang Shining was also confused by Shi Shi Zhang, and quickly explained, "It can fit the face, but the mask is a mask after all, and I have to rely on you in the end... …”

As he spoke, he looked at Xue Xian.

Xue Xian nodded, "That's pretty much what I'm referring to."

"But... who would?" Jiang Shijing asked rather awkwardly.

Stone Zhang quickly swallowed the food in his mouth and said, "I will."

"You really know? Aren't you a stone carving?" Xue Xian looked at him suspiciously.

"Some things are interoperable." Shitou shook his hand, "I've seen people do it before, and I'm handy and can do it meticulously."

It's very eye-catching to see a fat and slightly bald short fat man say that he is skillful in such a sullen tone. However, the others present were indeed not as skillful as him, nor had they seen Disguise with their own eyes, so this matter had to fall into his hands.

Stone Zhang didn't delay, and immediately explained the raw materials he needed, and went to wash his hands carefully.

During this period, no one else was idle either. Lu Twenty-seven was alone in a corner of the yard early in the morning. I scribbled and painted on the ground, pondered for a while after painting, and then erased it all again...

Stone Zhang didn't need a lot of materials, but fortunately Fang Cheng's family didn't say anything else, there was no shortage of raw materials, especially those related to medicine. Except for the most special one, the rest were prepared early.

"What's more?" Jiang Shijing asked.

Stone Zhang coughed and grunted like a toothache: "X glue."

"What glue?" Xue Xian suddenly turned around.

Stone Zhang broke the jar and said: "Dragon glue."

"..." Xue Xian wondered, "How come I don't know what Longjiao is?"

"It's the glue boiled from the dragon skin." Shitou Zhang felt that after saying this, his life would be lost. He silently slapped himself on the mouth and said in his heart: Let you live and die.

Xue Xian's face darkened: "Fuck! Whoever dares to boil glue with dragon skin, I will recognize it when I bring it out!"

"No, just, that's what it's called." Shito Zhang hurriedly explained, "You know, as long as there are some strange things that don't know the origin, they like to have a very big name. Jiudu likes to stick it on the real dragon, but it's not at all. That kind of glue came from the merchants in the Western Regions, and it should be boiled with animal skins..."

Xue Xian heard that the dragon skin and keel was about to explode, and said without a word: "What kind of glue is used, and boil it with pig skin!"

"Okay." The ancestors said what they said, and Shitou Zhang had no opinion at all.

As soon as Xue Xian finished speaking aggressively, he turned to see Xuan Min standing behind him. He silently glanced at Xuan Min, turned his head and hurriedly rolled his chair and ran away.

Xuan Min: "..."

In fact, the glue from the pig skin is not bad, but the timing of the heat needs to be grasped correctly.

Stone Zhang Shou waited beside the pot, guessing that it was almost there, he was about to fish for glue, but was held down by a hand stretched out beside him.

As soon as he saw the snow-white sleeves, he knew who the hand belonged to, and immediately turned his head respectfully and said, "Master."

Xuan Min didn't say much, just glanced at the pot and said, "Boil for another moment."

Stone Zhang Yi was taken aback, "Master, can you also make that kind of mask?"