"... wake up... wake up quickly! It's getting late!"
A voice sounded in Jiang Yan's ears.
"Am I-dead?"
The young man opened his eyes with difficulty, and found that his whole body was shrouded in haze, as if separated by a layer of gauze, exuding a faint halo. The warm sunshine shone into the room through the window lattice, but no one could feel a trace of warmth.
.
"Oh, there is no such thing as death. Today is Beizi's wedding day. When I meet the bride later, you can't say such unlucky words again!"
It was a woman in the palace who woke Jiang Yan up. The young man felt that he had seen her somewhere before, but he still couldn't remember her name. The woman in front of him couldn't help but delay him any longer.
With only a slight tug, he pulled him up from the couch and sat him down on a small stool. Then he untied the slightly skewed bun on the young man's head and scooped up water from the copper basin with his hands.
Moisten it little by little and comb it carefully.
The water in the copper basin was cold, and occasionally a few drops fell on Jiang Yan's face, making him shiver. The fine teeth of the comb ran through his hair, and occasionally they made a crackling sound when they encountered any irregularities.
It was pulled so hard that his scalp hurt. After a while, the young man finally couldn't sit still anymore, struggled to break free from the mother-in-law's hand on his head, and asked:
"Mother-in-law, how did I get rescued ashore? Where are my friends? And the soldiers on the ship, are they all okay?"
The mother-in-law did not respond, but raised her finger and pointed to the sunny outside. The black-eyed boy turned his head and saw that the high platform outside the door specially built for weddings was already crowded with people. One of them was wearing a
The young man in white was looking at him with a smile and waving frequently.
Jiang Yan lowered his head and realized that he had changed into a bright red brocade robe at some point, with dragons and phoenixes embroidered with gold threads flying up and down. It was the workmanship of the top craftsmen in Mulu City.
"Beizi, what are you still waiting for? The bride has been waiting impatiently for a long time!"
Seeing the young man's face full of astonishment, the mother-in-law laughed, reached out and pushed him hard on the back, and Jiang Yan staggered out of the house. Under the gaze of everyone watching, he walked towards the high platform in a somewhat confused manner.
Go up and climb up. Standing vaguely on the top of the stage is a girl wearing a fox fur, with her back to him. The young man no longer climbs up, but looks at each other quietly from a distance:
"Your Highness, please forgive me. I originally just wanted to win the ring for my friend, and I never thought about getting married."
Although young Beizi's voice was not loud, it caused an uproar in the audience.
Jiang Yan knew in his heart that he had personally agreed to the marriage to the king in the Zichen Palace. If he regretted it at this time, it would not only disgrace the Shuodi people who came to get married, but also commit a serious crime of deceiving the king. However,
, but at this moment, the shadow of a red-haired girl lingered in his heart, as well as the agreement he had made with her.
Because of this, the black-eyed boy did not accept his fate due to the repeated boos. Instead, he raised his voice and shouted at the crowd in the audience:
"I once promised Yue'er that I would accompany her to Yujing and see the beautiful scenery and eat all the delicacies in the world together!"
"Hehe, it turns out you still remember..."
Unexpectedly, the girl in fox fur suddenly spoke, and a few strands of crimson hair came out from one side of the fur hood. She turned around, her bright blue eyes looked up and down playfully.
Yan, which surprised him inexplicably:
"Yue'er—how could it be you?"
"Hehe, does Little Stutterer really plan to marry Princess Di? Okay, okay, come here quickly, they won't eat you."
The red-haired girl smiled, took the boy's hand and climbed to the top together, kneeling down face to face, and handed him half of the bottle that had been cut open in the middle.
Jiang Yan held the cup filled with wine in his hand, and happiness overflowed from the bottom of his heart in an instant. After living in Mulu City for so many years, he often imagined in his mind what it would be like on the day he got married. But I didn't expect that this day would come so suddenly and unprepared.
But this happiness did not seem to be as pure as the young man had expected. From beginning to end, he vaguely felt that everything in his eyes was dream-like and a little unreal. At first, he did not know where this feeling came from. But just as he and Ning Yue were kneeling face to face and kowtowing to each other, something came into view that suddenly made them freeze in place.
It was an exquisite necklace hanging around the other person's neck. On the sterling silver pendant, which was only larger than a pea, a smooth and translucent crystal was embedded in the hollow ball. The sunlight passed through the crystal, scattering colorful patterns like a rainbow. The color also makes the eye-catching pure red in the center become more vivid.
That red color looked like a lifelike little fish, but it made Jiang Yan feel as if he had been doused from head to toe in a bucket of ice water. And the blurred and incoherent past in his mind was overwhelming at this moment. It emerged from the depths of my memory, vividly in my mind, as clear as yesterday.
When the young man came back to his senses, he noticed that the palace, high platform, crowds, and ceremonial guards around him had all disappeared without a trace. Instead, there was a simple fishing boat at his feet, and an endless sea of flowers surrounding the boat. The sea. And the young girl wearing furs opposite her also turned into a female doll of only five or six years old in the blink of an eye.
The little girl's face seemed to be covered with a layer of gauze, and no matter how hard Jiang Yan tried, he could not clearly see her facial features. Only a small black mole on the tip of her nose was particularly clear.
"Brother, brother, when do you think father and mother will come to look for us?"
The female doll tugged at Jiang Yan's sleeves hard, and there were still tears left on her face not long ago. The young man could clearly see that there was a ring exactly like the one on Ning Yue's neck hanging on the other man's delicate and slender neck. necklace!
Countless doubts suddenly arose in Jiang Yan's heart, and he gradually felt a sense of panic. He faltered in his mouth and stretched out his hand to pull the rope on the sail. However, he heard a loud roar and the crossbar on the mainmast unexpectedly moved on its own. Falling from a high place!
Jiang Yan quickly wanted to pick up his sister and hide away, but when he lowered his head, he found that his sister was missing, and the fishing boat under his feet turned into a huge broken warship. The giant ship slowly sank towards the dark seabed. The water was full of moving heads, like a nest of ants whose nest had been dug out. And he himself suddenly became a member of the ant colony.
The strong sea breeze picked up the waves one after another, which were more than ten feet high, and smashed them down on the crowd. Even if they dived into the water with all their strength, it was impossible to escape. The huge waves formed countless vortices under the water, and it was difficult for a single manpower to escape. The powerful force of resistance pulled up the young man's body and pushed him straight towards several rocks on the seabed!
Darkness, endless darkness enveloped Jiang Yan, and the cold seawater seeped into almost every pore on his body. In the midst of nothingness, he suddenly realized that he might have reached the end of his life.
However, after a while, a soft and warm feeling gradually surrounded the young man. It felt like honey melted on the fire in winter, sticky and warm, and like a warm sheepskin jacket, smooth and Soft. In the dark night, it seems that there is an erratic light, pulling it back to the human world from the gate of hell.
Jiang Yan instinctively moved his arms and hugged the warmth in his arms tighter...
I don't know how long it took before Jiang Yan woke up again. At this time, he was lying in a low cave. Although there were clouds and huge waves outside, it was dry and warm in the cave, and there was a cloud rising beside him. A bright bonfire.
There was a smell of burnt fish in the air. Following the smell, the boy turned his stiff neck and saw Ning Yue squatting by the bonfire not far away, with the branches in her hands flying up and down. He noticed that his companion had woken up, and the girl's face was He immediately blushed, walked nervously to his side, and asked softly:
"Little Stammer, how do you feel?"
Jiang Yan struggled to support his body, but suddenly found that the clothes on his body were dry, but they were not as neatly dressed as before. The clothes were loose and loose, as if someone had taken them off. When he went to see Ning Yue again, , I saw that the other party was also disheveled, and the button in front of his collar was in the wrong position.
The dark-eyed young man realized at this moment - it turned out that the warmth he felt in the dream was actually the girl in front of him who did not hesitate to kiss his skin, and used her body temperature to save himself from nearly freezing to death. But he did not understand. How could the girl's weak body survive such a stormy sea? But she suddenly felt a fever in her ears. She raised her head and looked at the other party in surprise, and called out her name:
"Yue'er——"
"Oh, don't ask, don't ask! If you dare to reveal anything about today's events to others, I will make you look good!" The red-haired girl immediately tore off a piece of tender fish and stuffed it into her companion's mouth. The blush became more and more obvious.
The girl's reaction confirmed that Jiang Yan's guess was correct, and her mind immediately fell into a blank for a long time. She was even more moved and nodded repeatedly, chewing the grilled fish in her mouth. The fragrance of fish oil mixed with it immediately spread between her lips and teeth, and it was salty. There is also a hint of sweetness mixed with the fishy taste, which is indescribably delicious.
"How is it? Is this girl's cooking skills pretty good? Although the kitchen on the island is not as good as that of Jia Yunzhai, these cyanotic sea breams are delicious without adding salt. You can take this piece first, I also baked a lot of it. !”
Ning Yue said and went back to the campfire to get busy. Looking at the other person's back, the black-eyed boy reached into his arms and touched the necklace the girl gave him, swallowing back all the doubts that had reached his lips. In the stomach, he picked up the fish and ate it without saying a word——
After waking up, those illusory and real dreams always lingered in his mind, lingering. But facing the sea of death outside the cave, no matter how important he wanted to ask at the moment, at least he had to ask Let’s wait until we return to Ye State alive!
The flesh of the blue sea bream was thick and fleshy, and it quickly dispelled the last bit of chill from Jiang Yan's body. After he regained some strength in his limbs, he stood up and walked to the entrance of the cave, looking at the raging sea that was still raging in the Tianwu Strait outside. Stormy Rain murmured:
"Yue'er, have you found anyone else alive?"
"No... maybe most people are already in danger at this time..."
The girl who was still squatting by the campfire playing with the grilled fish suddenly tensed up, and then lowered her head. The faint smile that appeared on her face because of Jiang Yan's awakening also disappeared in an instant.
"Zi Yin has learned to be watery since he was a child——"
"I don't know, I really don't know! You are the only one I can drag ashore. When I tried to rescue Ziyin, he had already been swept away by the waves! Everything floating in the water was Corpses, they are all corpses!”
As she spoke, Ning Yue's shoulders began to tremble involuntarily, and when she raised her head, tears were already streaming down her face.
The black-eyed boy felt as if he had knocked over the five-flavor bottle, and he felt very uncomfortable. Even he didn't quite understand why he blurted out a stupid question that was obviously impossible to answer. He didn't know whether it was out of respect for the other person. The concern of a companion may be due to some other reason that is difficult to express.
Jiang Yan said nothing more, just stared at the black water shrouded in thick fog outside the cave in a daze. Chanyinghai foamed in the wind, like an angry monster. And the small island under their feet also It's just a small place among the countless islands and reefs in the Tianwu Strait that can be devoured by the monster at any time.
The rugged pure black reef is like a claw protruding from the bottom of the sea. It is ugly, rough, but as sharp as a knife and an axe. There are countless broken wooden boards that fell from the shipwrecks floating nearby. In order to To prevent seawater corrosion, these woods are coated with a thick layer of tung oil, so that they remain dry even after being soaked in water for a long time. The wood that Ning Yue used to make fires also comes from this.
However, apart from this bit of good news that can be comforted, the entire island is completely barren. It is extremely difficult to find anything that can be used to survive across the sea!