Chu Zhaozhao stood in front of the door of the inn's wing, his brows furrowed and his expression hesitant.
More than ten days have passed since the Wuling incident.
She stayed with Chu Qingxiao at the old site of Wuling City for eight days.
Gather the bones left behind by the war that year.
Only twelve years have passed, and many of the corpses have either been used as food for the beasts, or they have been torn to pieces in the rampage of the Yin beasts.
The rest are difficult to identify because of their age.
There were even some bones, and it was impossible to piece together a human form. Chu Qingxiao could only bury them together, which was better than exposing them to the ground and being exposed to the wind and sun.
After doing this, he agreed to go to Tianxuan Mountain with Chu Zhaozhao.
But along the way, Chu Qingxiao has been silent.
Chu Zhaozhao was somewhat worried about him.
After settling everything in her private room, she came to Chu Qingxiao's door.
I wanted to comfort the other person, but when I walked to the door, I suddenly hesitated.
She is not good at words, and Chu Qingxiao's experience is far beyond common sense.
Those general truths that just anyone on the street can tell you over and over again cannot relieve the pain of losing a loved one, nor can they relieve the pain of being alone.
Those words...
It's just empty words after all.
Chu Zhaozhao understood this, but she still felt it was wrong to see Chu Qingxiao so depressed.
Thinking of this, she seemed to have made up her mind. She took a deep breath, raised her hand again, and was about to knock on the door in front of her.
Squeak.
But at this moment, the door of the room was suddenly opened from the inside, and a young man in green clothes stepped out.
The two collided.
Chu Qingxiao blinked, a little surprised that Chu Zhaozhao would be here: "Miss Chu, what is this?"
Chu Zhaozhao's face looked slightly embarrassed, his eyes evasive: "I...I..."
She looked for an excuse in embarrassment and looked around frantically, when she suddenly caught a glimpse of many diners dining downstairs in the inn.
Her mind became hot, and without thinking too much, she hurriedly said: "I just came to ask you if you want to have something to eat together..."
"Huh?" The young man looked puzzled and asked a little strangely: "Didn't we have dinner together downstairs half an hour ago?"
"Ah?" Chu Zhaozhao was stunned, and quickly changed his words: "I...I mean...do you want to eat more..."
"We martial arts practitioners all... have a larger appetite than ordinary people. It's normal to be hungry if we don't eat for half an hour..."
Chu Zhaozhao! What on earth are you talking about!
After Chu Zhaozhao said this, her cheeks suddenly turned red. She turned her head and covered her face with her hands, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to get in at this moment.
When Chu Qingxiao heard this, he was also stunned. He looked at the girl in front of him in surprise, and the next moment he suddenly smiled: "Okay."
…
Qingshi Town is not that big, and the entire town does not have more than 6,000 households.
But it is located on the strategic road of Muzhou, so there are not only a few traders and bodyguards coming and going.
Although it was already midnight, there was still an endless stream of pedestrians coming and going on the street.
Thanks to this.
There are also many vendors who are still selling their goods to the surrounding pedestrians enthusiastically, and the not-so-wide street is very lively.
Chu Zhaozhao was walking on the street with a bunch of candied haws in his hand, but his eyes were carefully looking at the young man beside him.
Chu Qingxiao's face did not have the loneliness and self-pity that she imagined. Instead, she looked around the street intently, as if she was very curious about everything around her, and she seemed to be in a good mood.
Suddenly.
Chu Qingxiao seemed to feel Chu Zhaozhao's gaze. He turned his head and looked over. Chu Zhaozhao was so excited that he quickly turned his head to look to the other side of the street. At the same time, he took a bite of the candied haws in his hand, pretending to be careless.
For a while, she twisted her neck so much that it felt sore. She didn't see any movement from Chu Qingxiao, secretly thinking that her quick reaction had deceived him.
She breathed a sigh of relief and turned her head, but she met Chu Qingxiao's smiling eyes.
Chu Zhaozhao was so frightened that his body trembled. After realizing that his poor acting skills had been seen through by the other party, Chu Zhaozhao was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered the widely circulated stunt in the world-preemptive strike.
With her cheeks flushed, she decided to say something: "You...why are you staring at me?"
Chu Qingxiao was stunned when he heard this, but soon understood what Chu Zhaozhao was thinking.
He smiled, shook his head, retracted his gaze, and continued walking along the busy street.
Chu Zhaozhao felt a little guilty. As she quickly followed him, she wanted to say something to ease the embarrassment at the moment.
But before the words came out of her mouth, she heard Chu Qingxiao say quietly: "Miss Chu, don't worry about me."
"My life was bought with the lives of eight thousand Xizhou sword armors and tens of thousands of people in Wuling City."
"I will cherish him."
Chu Zhaozhao was stunned when he heard this, and realized that his little thoughts might have been seen through by Chu Qingxiao.
"I...I'm not worried about you." But she still said stubbornly, looking at Chu Qingxiao again.
There was a smile on his face, but it felt inexplicably bitter.
He was obviously moving through the crowd, but at a glance, it made people feel that he was alone.
People were coming and going on the street, and the lanterns lit in the restaurants and restaurants on both sides illuminated the street as if it were daytime.
There were so many noisy gongs and drums, and so many voices of people, but the young man standing here was incompatible with the bustle.
Chu Qingxiao also stopped at this time, turning his head and looking at everything around him.
The smile on his face turned bitter: "I have made up my mind to cherish my life and live well."
"Can……"
"This world is a little strange to me."
"I don't seem to know him very well..."
Chu Zhaozhao's heart trembled. After a slight hesitation, he pretended to be relaxed and said: "You're just not used to it yet!"
"Actually, the world is still the same as before. Look at these towns and streets, aren't they still the same?"
"Just treat yourself as having a nap, um..."
"That kind of long sleep..."
As Chu Zhaozhao spoke, his voice gradually became quieter, and in the end it was almost inaudible.
She rubbed her clothes in frustration and muttered: "Okay... I'm really not good at comforting people..."
Seeing her appearance, Chu Qingxiao nodded in agreement: "I can tell."
Such a straightforward evaluation made Chu Zhaozhao somewhat dissatisfied.
But before the words were spoken, Chu Qingxiao was heard saying again: "I just don't know what the meaning of my life is anymore."
"What I thought before was..."
"I can earn a lot of money and buy my father a big yard so that he can feel proud in front of those guys who laugh at my yard as it is only as big as a palm."
"Or join the army and become a general. When you return to Wuling City in triumph one day, everyone will come to welcome you, especially that bastard Wang Che. I want to show off my power in front of him."
"No matter what happens, I will marry a beautiful wife and have a few fat boys so that my father can experience some family happiness."
When he said these words, there was a smile on the young man's face, but the next moment the smile suddenly dimmed a bit.
"These thoughts are a bit vulgar."
"But for me, it is something that is really conceivable."
"But now..."
"My father is gone, and those people who I could use to show off my power, or who were envious of me, are also gone."
"Of course I want to live, I promised them."
"But I just..."
"I just don't know what the meaning of living is..."
Chu Zhaozhao listened quietly to the young man telling his troubles.
She could understand his mood very well.
A moment ago, there was a father who protected him at home, and there were kind neighbors around him. Everything was not too wonderful, but at least, it was everything he had been familiar with since he was a child.
But suddenly, his family was destroyed, and everyone he knew and was familiar with died overnight.
This world has also passed through twelve spring and autumn periods in the blink of an eye.
Everything is so strange to him.
In twelve years, nothing was given to him except painful memories that gave him hundreds of reincarnations.
It was as if God was playing a prank on him intentionally.
Everything was taken away from him overnight, not even a sword was left, leaving him alone to face this strange world with bare hands.
"At least...at least your junior uncle is waiting for you!"
"She has never forgotten you in all these years, otherwise she would not have sent me to Wuling City to look for you!" Chu Zhaozhao said at this time, trying hard to help Chu Qingxiao find some meaning in life.
The meaning of living.
It sounds like a somewhat pretentious rhetoric.
Especially when, for most people, life itself is hard enough.
But the fact is that when you can live and work hard without any distractions, you actually have a meaning of life that you are not aware of but that really exists.
And Chu Qingxiao.
But no.
Chu Zhaozhao's words made Chu Qingxiao stunned. He nodded and said nothing more.
Chu Zhaozhao frowned when she saw this. She didn't want to look at this guy like this.
She suddenly thought of something and her eyes lit up: "Follow me!"
After she said this, she reached out and took the other person's hand.
Under Chu Qingxiao's surprised gaze, she pulled him and ran quickly.
The crowds of people were passing by in front of him, and the lights around him were bright. The boy following the girl looked at the other's ponytail that swayed as he ran, and felt the tenderness from the hands holding each other.
For a while.
His heartbeat was a little happier.
…
Chu Zhaozhao and Chu Qingxiao ran into the inn where they were staying and came to the door of Chu Zhaozhao's room.
"Miss Chu?" Chu Qingxiao was still in a daze, not quite understanding what the other party meant by this move.
Chu Zhaozhao did not respond. He just pushed open the door of his room and walked in quickly. He came to the bed and took out his luggage, looking for something in it in a hurry.
Chu Qingxiao followed him into the room full of doubts, and was about to ask a question when he saw Chu Zhaozhao take out a package from the salute.
It's not too big, about the thickness of an adult's arm, and more than two feet long.
"Here, here you go." Chu Zhaozhao's forehead showed a little sweat as she trotted along, but she didn't notice it and just handed over the thing in her hand anxiously.
Chu Qingxiao took the package and felt a little heavy.
He didn't think too much. At this moment, when he opened the package, what he saw made his body tremble and his pupils dilated.
"This is..." Chu Qingxiao looked at the things in the package and murmured.
There were four or five broken swords.
The edge of the sword has long been missing, and there are still many cracks criss-crossing most of the sword's body.
Chu Qingxiao almost subconsciously looked at the hilts of these broken swords at this time, where there were several words engraved on them -
The spring is not late, the second watch is in the sky, the water of everlasting regret, the swallow in front of the door...
These are the swords of Xizhou Jianjia.
"That day after the candle dragon retreated, I took you to escape from the Evernight Realm. I saw these swords scattered on the ground on the way, so I took you out together."
"But most of them were crushed by the candle dragon, and there were still some that I didn't have time to restrain..."
"I heard that Xizhou Jianjia has always had the tradition of sending the sword of the dead back to Xizhou Jianling Mausoleum. They believe that the souls of those who died in battle will follow the sword and return to their hometown to meet their families."
"Although……"
"I know that their souls have been shattered by the candle dragon, but there may be a ray of residual soul attached to their swords..." Chu Zhaozhao said at this time.
"If you are willing, after you go to Tianxuan Mountain and meet your junior uncle, you can send these swords to Xizhou..."
"Even if their souls die, their families may still be waiting for them..."
Chu Zhaozhao said, carefully looking at the young man in front of him.
But Chu Qingxiao stared at the broken swords in a daze and did not respond.
Chu Zhaozhao suddenly became anxious, and she quickly added: "I don't know what the meaning of living is to you."
"But at least, these broken swords can give you some goals. If you walk around and take a look, you might find the meaning you want along the way?"
Speaking of this, her voice suddenly became a little softer: "No matter what meaning you need, you have to look for it before you can find it, right?"
At this time, Chu Qingxiao finally turned around. He looked at Chu Zhaozhao and said sincerely: "Thank you."
Chu Qingxiao's burning gaze made Chu Zhaozhao a little unable to resist. Her cheeks felt a little hot. She lowered her head and said, "It's nothing. I thought at that time that these things might be very important to you, so..."
Halfway through his words, Chu Zhaozhao suddenly felt something was wrong and quickly stopped talking.
She raised her head to look at Chu Qingxiao, whose expression became a little strange, and her heart became more and more mixed, and she quickly explained: "What I mean is that the Xizhou Sword Armors are all very respectable people, and their relics must be kept in check...
"
"Don't think too much, I have no other intention..."
"There's still a generation gap between us!"
After her explanation, which was getting darker and darker, she did not get a response from Chu Qingxiao. She suddenly felt strange and raised her head to look at Chu Qingxiao.
But she saw the young man suddenly tilted his body and fell straight towards her...