It has been raining for days, and the water level in the canal has soared, almost overflowing the breakwaters on both sides. Nearly half of the streets in Mulu City are also soaked in water more than two fingers deep. As long as a car or horse passes by, people will be splashed all over.
muddy.
The city has not experienced such torrential autumn rain for many years, and the number of pedestrians on the road has become increasingly rare. However, in the mist where only the sound of pattering rain seemed to be left, a carriage slowly stopped in front of the gate of Jiayunzhai.
Come down.
A middle-aged man wearing a bamboo hat and a raincoat jumped out of the car. He held the bamboo hat low on his head, obviously not wanting to be recognized, but threw a gold baht to the driver behind him to send him away.
.However, when he saw that his guests were spending a lot of money, the coachman, who had been unable to get any decent business for several days, immediately smiled apologetically and asked:
"Sir, the road is slippery on a rainy day, so it's inconvenient to find another carriage. If you go to the store to have a drink, can you wait in the back street?"
"No need." The man waved his hand, "I should stay at an inn nearby. Just take the money and leave quickly."
Seeing that the guest was resolute, the coachman had no choice but to take the money and drive away with a little disappointment. The man wearing a bamboo hat did not delay any longer, turned around, lifted up the curtain in front of the Jiayun Zhai door, and walked away.
Go in.
The whole store was packed with seats. Even the heavy rain could not extinguish the enthusiasm of these loyal diners. When the proprietress saw someone coming to the door again, she immediately put down the feather duster she was playing with, smiled and greeted them with a little Dongli.
Asked in Mandarin accent:
"May I ask what this guest would like to eat?"
"A pot of clear lychee roast and half a pound of soy pork knuckle. Please ask the landlady to bring it to the Yage upstairs in person."
But the visitor walked straight upstairs without looking back, seeming to be familiar with all the furnishings in the store. For a moment, Leng Jiayun couldn't remember which regular customer the other party was, so she had to
He responded and quickly ordered the kitchen to prepare food and wine.
Unexpectedly, the man walked halfway, but suddenly raised his hand and threw a heavy object. The object landed on the counter in front of the woman in purple. When she lowered her head to look, her expression suddenly changed.
It was a gold baht that still contained some body temperature, which was several times the price of the food and wine that the visitor had just ordered. There was a red cotton thread threaded on the gold baht, and a brightly blooming crabapple was tied to the end of the thread.
.
Leng Jiayun's eyes and brows showed a look of surprise. She immediately took out the food and wine from the kitchen, holding a shallow plate in both hands and sent it to the elegant pavilion upstairs. The man had already sat down in the pavilion.
After taking off his bamboo hat and raincoat, his wet green satin robe was revealed. Most of the soldiers and horses in front of him who had never come to the store to buy wine in person were escorting Baili.
Hearing the soft footsteps of a woman behind him, General Qingyi said without turning his head: "Those flowers are the new branches I planted in the flower house a few days ago when the weather was still warm, so I thought that when the flowers bloom,
Sent to you."
The woman calmly brought the food and wine in her hands to the other party, and looked at the man with a short beard and disheveled hair in front of her, but she frowned:
"Why did you come here without saying hello? What if someone recognizes you?"
"It is precisely because of the heavy rain recently that I came here in person. Don't worry, the diners sitting in the hall are probably secretly thinking about how to go home later, and will not pay attention to an ordinary traveler like me."
Xiang Baili said, filling up the exquisite white jade wine glass in front of him, raising his neck and taking a big sip, "Xiaojia, the Qinglishao you brewed by yourself is still delicious-"
"Okay, the dignified Protector came here despite the wind and rain. Isn't it just for a sip of wine?"
The woman also knelt cross-legged opposite the man, raised her head and stared into the man's eyes and asked seriously.
The man in green shook his head: "Of course not. You should have heard about the fire in the city a few days ago, right?"
"Hmm. There are rumors that the fire was not an accident. Is it true?"
"The cause of the fire in the pawn shop is closely related to Jiang Yan's dagger. Unfortunately, we were a step too late. Although the dagger is still there, the map inside the knife has been taken away."
"Then why don't you hurry up and send someone to chase her back!" Leng Jiayun couldn't help but become nervous. The general opposite just remained silent and put the half glass of wine back on the small case:
"The bodies of the three galloping wolves were completely burned by a fire, and the only witness, Luo Jianli, also died in the human bones underground palace outside the city. I want to find out who is behind all this. I'm afraid
It will become more and more difficult. This is why I am willing to take risks and come to see you today."
"What's the use of seeing me? I'm just a shopkeeper, I don't know how to investigate cases, and I don't have tens of thousands of imperial troops at my disposal. Besides, if you hadn't brought it up twenty years ago in front of the civil and military officials of the court,
There may not be a third person in the world who knows about this ancient map. Now if we look for it, we may not encounter so many obstacles."
"From the day the knife-wielding man disappeared, the secrets hidden in Baipi were destined to no longer be safe, and were destined to rekindle a bloody storm in the world. Even if I didn't say it back then, sooner or later that picture would still be revealed
Being discovered. Moreover, if we had not obtained Duke Ye’s help through this method, how would we have ships and men now, let alone how we would have been able to live a stable life for these twenty years?"
"Baili, you'd better listen to my advice and leave this place of right and wrong as soon as possible while you can still go! Wouldn't it be nice to go back to Yizhou with me and live a peaceful life beside the Male and Female Sea?
good?"
"No! Now that the map has fallen into the hands of outsiders, how can I leave at this time? I must abide by the promise I made!"
"But what about the promise you made to me? Why did I come all the way to Mu Lu with you? I'm tired of your crabapples, tired of sending messages quietly through wine jars every time, tired of
I’ve been with you for the whole twenty years since I came to Mu Lu!”
Leng Jiayun suddenly became angry. Her voice was still so light when she spoke, but her eyes were red, and her curved eyebrows were twisted together. A tear slipped down her face and fell on the small case in front of her.
, arousing a crystal tear.
"Since you don't care what I'm thinking at all, and you don't care what kind of life I want, why did you marry me in the first place?!"
Facing the woman's question, Xiang Baili's Adam's apple moved slightly and his lips parted slightly, but he couldn't say a word. The two just looked into each other's eyes and fell into a suffocating silence.
"But let's forget it. All the people and things that I have known, cherished, and devoted my life to in the past twenty years all exist in this huge Mulu City. In fact, I can't leave long ago. Just
Like fallen leaves falling from a tree, once they are detached from the branches they will never grow back."
In the end, Leng Jiayun was the first to break the silence. The woman sighed softly, but the look of sadness and anger on her face disappeared without a trace. This was the first time in twenty years that she had lost her composure in front of a man in Tsing Yi. Although
She is nearly forty years old, but she is still beautiful and charming. Sometimes she is still as sensitive and fragile as a girl, but in the blink of an eye she can return to being as lonely and strong as ever.
Xiang Baili was surprised that the other party could restrain his emotions in an instant. He looked at the woman whose face was still stained with tears, and couldn't help but feel a little unbearable. He picked up the remaining half glass of wine again, but did not drink it.
Give it to your mouth:
"Xiaojia, I promise you, three years at most, give me another three years. No matter whether I can achieve what I want, I will leave here with you, okay?"
"Forget it, it's impossible for you and me to calculate what will happen three years later. Let's talk about the present." Leng Jiayun lowered his eyes, as if he was disheartened, "Before, I heard that Jiang Yan
Did you say that you have already started teaching him how to break mountains?"
General Tsing Yi hesitated for a moment, then nodded and admitted, "Yes. This kid is extremely talented. He almost hurt me the first time he fought."
"But don't you think you are too impatient? You could have taught him some Zhongzheng and peaceful skills first. Do you have to find a successor for this fierce and domineering sword technique?"
"I have my own reasons."
"Just because that kid looks like you when you were young?"
Facing the woman's continuous questions, Xiang Baili did not answer any more. He just turned his head and looked at the pouring rain outside the window, seeming to be reminded of the past many years ago.
Raindrops drifted in through the cracks of the half-open window with the wind, soaking half of the small case and the man's cuffs. But he didn't take it at all. After a long time, Fang spoke again:
"Yes, that child who refused to surrender to fate - he had resentment, anger, ambition and determination in his heart, very much like me when I was young - I don't want to see him repeat the detours I have taken.
, I want to help him and teach him some useful things so that he can protect himself in this troubled world."
"But even if you can save him for a while, you may not be able to save him for the rest of his life... The child has a very strong temper. What should we do if the mountain-destroying power leads him astray?"
"What is the wrong path? Can what you and I are doing now be accepted by the world? Not everything can be distinguished between good and evil, right and wrong, but as long as you have something in mind, you will not lose your way easily. That child,
After all, he will not be an eagle willing to be trapped in a cage. For the current plan, we can only take one step at a time. What's more, the person we need to worry about right now is not only Jiang Yan, but also the young master.
.”
"What happened to Ziyin?"
"Did you know that after escaping from death in the underground palace that night, this kid actually begged the king to issue an edict and ordered me to teach him some martial arts skills in fists, feet, and swords?"
"It really seems like something that child would do... But you have never told me in detail what happened in the woods to the east of the city on the night of the little girl's birthday? How did those Chilangs get burned alive?
dead?"
"The fire was indeed very strange. Not to mention that the children had no time to care for themselves at the time, and they did not have any tools to light the fire. Even if it was indeed an ordinary fire to burn Chilang to death, is there any method in the world that can control the fire?
It was so accurate and didn’t hurt the three of them at all?”
"But if it's an unusual fire, what do you mean-" The woman opposite was suddenly startled and looked at the other person with wide eyes, as if she already knew what she was thinking.
Xiang Baili nodded and continued: "Yes, this is clearly the fire of the spell! And the person who cast the spell has deep magic power. He has been practicing this technique for at least dozens of years!" Xiang Baili, who had been playing with the wine glass in his hand, Suddenly he raised his neck and drank the rest of the drink in one gulp.
"It seems that the opponent's background is getting more and more complicated... I'm afraid -"
"No, it is absolutely impossible that this fire was caused by the man behind the scenes. He released the galloping wolves from the underground palace with no intention of leaving any alive. But this fire only burned those few wolves to death. But the three children he wanted to kill were unharmed. Moreover, when Mo Lingwei found the young master and Miss Ning Yue, they fell in the middle of the fire."
"Are you trying to say that the curse was cast by those three children? How is this possible?"
"It's not that I want to doubt them, but this is the only explanation left that makes sense at the moment. Besides, I'm especially concerned about the red-haired girl."
"You mean Xiaoyue?"
Leng Jiayun looked at the man opposite with some disbelief, as if she didn't believe that these words came from his mouth.
Xiang Baili smiled bitterly and shook his head, but asked in reply: "The origin of that girl has always been a mystery. I guess you understand this better than me, right?"
The woman didn't deny it, she just sat quietly.
"That fire-like long hair alone is rare in the world. I can often feel an unusual aura from her body. I must have noticed it during this time."
"Then what do you want me to do?"
"This girl has lived in Jia Yun Zhai for a long time. I think maybe you can help me pay more attention to it."
"I promise you. Do you have any other instructions?" Before Xiang Baili could finish speaking, the woman in purple agreed, as if she had already expected that such a day would come.
"Also, I learned from Young Master Ziyin that on the day of the fire in the city, he bought a Siren's Tear as a birthday gift for that girl Ning Yue. I also saw that thing with my own eyes, and there is no way it is Ordinary jewelry that can be easily sold in ordinary gold shops. So, if we can find a chance to trace the origin of this object——"
"Ok, I see."
"Xiaojia, now that the map has fallen into the hands of outsiders, we don't have much time left."
Faced with Xiang Baili's instructions, the woman did not speak any more. She just nodded and went downstairs. But as soon as she took a few steps, she suddenly stopped in front of the stairs, lowered her head and asked softly:
"Baili, have you ever thought about what today's conversation would have been like if we had not left Yizhou?"
General Qingyi did not expect that the other party would ask this. He was stunned for a moment, and then he wanted to drink wine from the cup, but he spilled it all over the table: "There are not so many ifs in the world. Now that I think about it so much, You can only ask for trouble..."
But Leng Jiayun still kept chattering, as if she didn't even hear what the man said:
"Baili, sometimes I can't help but think that maybe you and I will never really be able to go to that place and find what we are looking for in our lifetime. Maybe our original decision was wrong from the beginning? "
"Xiaojia, don't talk nonsense. The legend is true and that place also exists. I have said before that you wait for me for another three years, the last three years."
The woman's words obviously made Xiang Baili become anxious.
"But what if, I mean what if, things don't go as you expected? For example, this time -"
"That's worth a try! Now for that map, countless people have sacrificed their lives, as well as the two of us for twenty years. Until now, I can't think about so many what-ifs, and I don't have any
There is no turning back! People need hope, and even if this hope requires me to place more bets, I must give it a try!"
Xiang Baili circled his index finger on the rim of the cup and murmured thoughtfully. But when he raised his head again, the woman's figure had disappeared at the top of the stairs, as if she had never appeared in front of him.
The rain outside the window was falling faster. The raindrops hitting the window were like the rapid beating of drums on the battlefield. This scene made the man suddenly think of himself when he was in Yeli City twenty years ago. He looked at the rain outside the window.
In the water vapor, he seemed to see the five thousand soldiers who fought bravely with him to fight the enemy and put down the rebellion of Dongli, standing among them.
General Tsing Yi couldn't help but reach out to his lower back and fumble around, but what he pulled out was not the polished white wine gourd, but an egg-shaped object with holes.
It was a nine-hole pottery xun.
Xiang Baili raised the Tao Xun to his lips, suddenly puffed up his cheeks and blew a long ancient tune. Tao Xun's tone was simple and plain, just like an old voice telling those unknown things.
The past is like the hourglass of time, placing heavy and vicissitudes of fate on everyone's shoulders bit by bit, making them exhausted but unable to compete at all.