It was late at night, and in the already empty Jia Yun Zhai, the red-haired girl sitting in the corner yawned loudly, held up her cheek with her left hand, and stared blankly at the pair of crescent moons outside the window.
"Xiaoyue, are you waiting for someone?" Just as she was about to close the door, Sister Jia smiled and poked her head out of the kitchen and asked slyly.
"No, no, I just feel a little tired." Ning Yue obviously lost her energy, turned to look at the closed store door, and murmured to herself, "These two guys today - are they still there?" Are you coming or not...have they really forgotten?"
The girl felt extremely disappointed and feebly fiddled with a bunch of red hair by her ear with her fingertips. However, just when she was about to give up waiting and go back to the house to sleep, she heard several soft knocks on the door from outside. Hearing the sound, he immediately became happy and jumped up to greet him:
"You two are finally here. I thought I was completely forgotten!"
"It's your birthday, how can we forget it? I only blame me for wasting a lot of time preparing gifts during the day. In fact, Ziyin has been waiting outside for a long time."
Jiang Yan took the lead in entering the room as he spoke, and piled the gifts in his hands on the ground in front of the girl.
They were two large cages filled with food boxes. Unfortunately, he had to go back to the palace today to work on errands. The young man had no time to choose and buy some suitable gifts, so he had to temporarily exchange the two gold bahts that he had exchanged for a hundred pips. He ordered some famous snacks in the city. At the moment, he rubbed his fingers that were white from the rope. He was afraid that what he bought would not be what the other party wanted, and he did not dare to raise his eyes to look at the pair of green and blue clothes opposite him. eye.
However, it turned out that he was overly worried. When she saw the food box in front of her, Ning Yue immediately clapped her hands and cheered:
"Wow - this is the fried breasts from Nanxunmen, the sugar ice and snow cold Yuanzi from Dongjiaolou, the crispy crystal turtle from Panjiafang, the honey-fried carvings from Maxing Street... The little stutter is the best! How did you know I wanted to eat it? These things have been around for a long time? However, the snacks in these stores are so valuable that I have never been willing to part with them. Where did you get so much money? Could it be that it was specially saved for me? "
"I still have this little money."
Seeing that Ning Yue liked it, a smile finally appeared on Jiang Yan's face. He shook his head deliberately as if it was not worth mentioning, and then used his fingers to pucker up his cheeks. However, when he caught a glimpse of Qi Ziyin standing next to him, he was smiling. He took out a small plum-red box from his sleeve, but he couldn't smile anymore.
I saw the words Huijinlou clearly engraved on the front of the box. After opening it, I found a drop-shaped object inside, lying quietly in the middle of the brocade pavement, crystal clear. Yan Fei tried his best to buy the pendant named Siren's Tears, but was still snatched away for love!
"Zi Yin, where did you get this?"
Ning Yue's smile suddenly condensed on her face, and she asked in a murmur. Qi Ziyin thought that the other party was worried that the gift he gave was too expensive and refused to accept it, so he took another step forward, blushing and handed the box in his hand to the girl. In front of you:
"I hope you can accept it. I asked a craftsman in the city to put a chain on it today. How about I put it on for you now?"
However, to everyone's surprise, Ning Yue screamed on the spot: "No, take it away! Get this damn thing away from me!"
She looked as if she had seen the nightmare that haunted her late at night come true, and she almost knocked over the box in the hand of the boy in white.
Qi Ziyin was introverted by nature, and his face suddenly lost color. He was a little surprised, and looked at the rude girl in front of him with confusion. He didn't know what he had done wrong. After a while, he asked again: "Are you Qian Qian?"
Don't be angry with me. If you don't like it, I'll go to the store and return it tomorrow..."
Seeing the other party lowering his head at a loss, the red-haired girl suddenly felt that she was too rude. After calming down a little, she shook her head guiltily and asked:
"I'm sorry, Ziyin, I, I'm not angry with you. But can you tell me first, where did you get this thing?"
"Huijinlou..." The young man in white stammered out three words.
"Idiot, there are so many beautiful and interesting things in Huijin Building, why did you choose this one?"
As the girl spoke, she unusually leaned forward and looked at the deserted street outside the shop door. It was as if the pendant in Qi Ziyin's hand would attract some monster lurking in the night.
"Yue'er, wait a minute. Isn't this just an ordinary jewelry? How come you feel like you've seen a ghost?"
Jiang Yan suddenly felt lucky that the person who gave the sea demon tears was not him, and then forcefully dragged Ning Yue, who seemed possessed, back to the store, wanting to find out what happened.
But the red-haired girl only said some confusing words in her mouth:
"This object will never appear in the city for no reason! I can't live here anymore, and I can't drag all of you down! The origin of this pendant must be found out immediately, otherwise everyone will be in danger!"
"Yue'er, are you hiding something from us? Is someone trying to harm you?"
Jiang Yan wanted to ask more questions, but Ning Yue had already rushed out of the house without looking back.
"Oh, by the way, why did you three little devils suddenly get into a quarrel?"
Sister Jia also ran out of the back hall following the sound, looking at the two young men looking at each other in the store door in surprise, but she immediately reacted and shouted, "Why are you two still standing there? Xiaoyue has already run away.
There is no trace of him, why don’t you two go chase him back together!?”
"Still - let's chase Yan."
The young man in white was struck and stood there blankly, shaking his head in embarrassment. The young man with black eyes finally couldn't help it anymore and reached out to push his shoulder hard from behind:
"Ziyin, don't be stupid! What Yue'er said just now was not directed at you at all. Her reaction is so strong now, she must recognize this strange water drop. It's difficult to travel at night, no matter whether the store in Huijinlou is there or not.
What kind of manipulation has been done to the pendant? Now if a person like Yue'er is allowed to run around in the city, what should I do if I encounter danger?"
His companion's words finally made Qi Ziyin, who had been desperate, come to his senses. He nodded vigorously, and ran out the door with Jiang Yan, but he always held the small plum-red box tightly in his hands.
Ning Yue ran out of the door and ran far away, and her mood gradually stabilized. She knew that the shops in the street had already closed at this time, but she still stood in front of the Huijin Building like a man possessed. At the same time, in order to find her
However, Qi Ziyin, who went out with Jiang Yan, took the lead in catching up under the moonlight, but the dark-eyed boy disappeared.
The young man in white stood beside the girl and panted and advised:
"Ning Yue, you'd better go back with me first. Even if the sky falls, Jiang Yan and I will protect you."
"Zi Yin, you don't understand. It's not that someone wants to hurt me. The reason I'm so scared is that the person who brought the pendant will hurt both of you and the whole city!"
The red-haired girl turned her head, but the tears in her eyes couldn't be stopped at all, and they fell straight down. Qi Ziyin looked at the person in front of him whose life experience was a mystery, and did not continue to delve deeper, but took out a clean sheet from his arms. With a small handkerchief, he gently wiped away the tears on the other person’s face and advised softly:
"When I bought the Siren's Tears yesterday, the store owner at Huijinlou told me that this item has been in the store for several years, but I have never met a customer who knows the item. How long has your general Yancai been in the city? I'm sure that one The pendant must have nothing to do with what you're worried about."
"Idiot, did you deliberately tell a lie just to comfort me?"
The girl was still shaking her head, somewhat unable to believe her companion's words. Upon seeing this, the boy in white immediately raised three fingers and said solemnly:
"I, Qi Ziyin, swear to the sky that I will never, ever tell you a lie! This heart can be expressed by the heaven and the earth, and can be seen by the sun and the moon!"
After looking at the other person's face full of sincerity for a long time, Ning Yue finally turned her face away with embarrassment: "People look ugly when they cry. Don't stare at their faces anymore!"
"You look beautiful when you cry!" Qi Zi secretly thought, suddenly feeling his heart beat a few times. However, he was afraid that his impulsiveness would make the girl in front of him unhappy again, so he quickly changed his words before he left his mouth. Topic: "Let's go find Jiang Yan quickly. He is clearly in front of me, but why haven't we seen him yet?"
On the way from Jiayunzhai to Huijin Tower, they passed through a narrow alley at the entrance of Zitong Street. Qi Ziyin and Ning Yue finally found Jiang Yan in the alley, but they saw him hunched over, hiding beside the road. In the shadows, he looked deep into the alley.
"Little Stammer, why are you staring at this shop that hasn't closed yet? It was my fault before, I shouldn't have run out like this. Let's go home quickly and don't let Sister Jia worry."
Ning Yue apologized softly, but when she saw that the other party didn't respond for a long time, she suddenly slapped the black-eyed boy on the head from behind like a prank. Unexpectedly, Jiang Yan suddenly dragged her and Qi Ziyin into his hiding place. In the shadow, a low voice signaled the two of them to be silent:
"Keep quiet! I see someone is in that shop!"
Seeing that her companion's expression was wrong, Ning Yue squatted down against the wall very cooperatively. Only then did she see that the door of the shop that should have been closed long ago was actually open. There seemed to be a figure inside the house, so Running back and forth in the flickering firelight.
"It's probably a thief, right?" The girl couldn't help but added, "This kind of thing is not common in the city. Why do you care so much about this shop, little stutterer?"
"Of course I care. Yesterday I pawned Baipi here." The black-eyed boy said quietly, but his eyes were fixed on the shop door, never moving away for a moment.
Ning Yue was suddenly startled and stared at the other party in surprise: "What are you talking about? How could you pawn the short knife that Uncle You left for you? Is it just to buy me those snacks - you said Are you stupid?"
Facing the girl who was also anxious, Jiang Yan did not respond. Instead, he clenched his fists and rushed out, heading straight for the pawn shop: "You two hide here, I'll go in first." Look! If it is really a thief, it will be bad if my Baipi is stolen!"
He had traveled far away in the blink of an eye. Ning Yue had no choice but to shrink her head and hide back, looking at her companion with bated breath.
When he got close to the store door, Jiang Yan saw a fat figure leaning sideways beside the counter. It was the fat shopkeeper who had given him so many looks during the day. Now he was sitting on the ground with his legs stretched out. At every turn, there was a flat wound several inches long on his neck. In the dim firelight, dark brown liquid soaked into the shopkeeper's clothes and the ground. His throat had been cut, and he had already died!
On the other side of the shop, another figure swaying in the light was a man wearing night clothes. He was rummaging through boxes and cabinets looking for something. He never expected that someone would come here in the middle of the night. He just heard footsteps coming from behind him. He immediately stopped what he was doing and turned his head suddenly as if frightened.
The man's face was covered with a piece of black cloth, but he had a strong physique and did not look like an ordinary thief. Jiang Yan felt more and more that something was wrong, and immediately shouted and stepped forward to block him, but saw the man in the store. The man's eyes showed a fierce look, and without saying a word, he waved his fist towards his face to greet him!
The young man was already prepared for this, and was about to take the attack. He never thought that the masked man was just a false shot, and actually turned around and ran towards the back hall of the shop, without any intention of fighting. Jiang Yan was afraid that the other party would run away from the back door. , so he followed without hesitation.
The owner of this pawn shop didn't know how many things he had collected from the impoverished people, and he actually transformed the entire back hall of the shop, which was not originally small, into a huge warehouse. There is currently no candlelight in the warehouse. Any corner may be a good cover for the masked man to launch a sneak attack.
The black-eyed boy had no choice but to light a fire and continue to search carefully in the darkness. But Qi Ziyin, who was supposed to stay outside, followed him in at some point: "You can't go in again! Did you hear that?" , there seems to be some strange noise in the house? Be careful, there is a scam!"
It was only then that Jiang Yan noticed that there was indeed an inconspicuous hissing sound coming from the darkness. At first, the sound sounded like a poisonous snake spitting a message, but when he listened further, he realized that there was no priority in it, but a sound. There was a constant, unchanging tone that was obviously artificially produced.
He felt strange in his heart, but thought it was just the thief who was playing tricks and refused to leave easily. However, his companion who caught up suddenly grabbed his clothes and pulled him out of the shop:
"Danger, move quickly!"
Soon enough, the two of them had just stepped out of the pawn shop door when they heard a loud thunder-like "boom" from behind them. In an instant, the private roof in the back hall of the pawn shop was blasted by a wave of energy from the inside out. The huge force flipped it open, and a raging fire broke out on the spot!
The black-eyed boy who luckily escaped with his life looked at his companions in disbelief: "Zi Yin, how did you know there would be danger? What the hell was that thing that exploded in the house?"
"I don't know, I don't know either! I just smelled a strange pungent smell in the warehouse, and I had an ominous premonition in my heart, so I quickly pulled you away... "The young man in white shook his head vigorously, "But one thing is for sure, this trap cannot be set up in a short time. The masked man may have already made up his mind and does not want anyone to discover his true purpose of killing and stealing. .No matter what the other party is doing here, it will never be as simple as an ordinary burglary!"
"Could it be that the other party is really here for my Baipi?! I just pawned the knife yesterday, and the masked man came to my door today - this is too much of a coincidence!"
The ominous premonition from before once again arose in Jiang Yan's heart. But before he could finish speaking, a series of violent explosions rang out in the pawn shop. The young man only felt a surge of heat hit him head-on with the blast of air. Come on, before I could even get up from the ground, the fire in the back hall had already spread along the roof beams to the front hall of the pawn shop.
The wooden house was instantly engulfed in raging fire. In the firelight, you could only vaguely see some black wooden citron pillars twisting and struggling in the gaps between the flames, making a creepy roaring sound. The fire became stronger, and the fat shopkeeper was also involved. His corpse burned everything in the pawn shop, not to mention the slightest trace of clues left.
Frightened neighbors began to hear the sound and rushed over, but they could only keep pouring water from the canal onto nearby houses to prevent the fire from spreading. It was only then that Qi Ziyin suddenly realized:
"It's bad, I haven't seen Ning Yue since just now. Where is she?!"
The two of them shuddered at the same time, as if they were electrified, and quickly looked towards the entrance of the alley. However, in the light of the sky, Ning Yue, who should have been visible at a glance, actually disappeared!
Thank you for your tasteful attention to "Twin Moon". I hope the wheat grown by Xiaoli will suit your appetite.