"Everyone comes into this world and says goodbye to the people they love."
"Just like leaves will eventually leave the branches, just like snowflakes will eventually leave the sky."
"Nothing lasts forever, so we have to seize the moment."
"Cherish every minute and every second with the one you love."
"My A-Zhu is a good boy, so don't cry and send dad off with a smile, okay?"
"Dad likes A-Zhu who smiles."
"When you grow up, remember to protect your mother, just like your father protects you, okay?"
…
"Mrs. Xu, there is nothing we can do about it. Mr. Gu wants you by name. You also know that he is a popular man in Baiyi Mansion now. We don't dare to offend... you... just commit yourself for one night..."
In the room with swaying red candles and gauze tents, the girl hid in the corner, looking at her mother with a sullen face as she listened to Xiao Si's plea in the building.
The woman who in a girl's mind could remain calm no matter what kind of events she encountered was now gritting her teeth and holding the corners of her clothes with both hands, her knuckles turning white.
After a long time, the woman finally gritted her teeth and nodded.
The young man thanked her profusely and left the room, but the woman walked to the wooden table in the room in despair and sat down with an expressionless face.
The girl hurriedly walked up at this moment, holding her mother's hand and looking at her mother worriedly. She had guessed something, but she couldn't really think about it.
"Mom! Don't be afraid, A-Zhu will protect you! A-Zhu opened the third vein yesterday..." The girl comforted her mother in the best way she could think of.
The woman turned her head to look at the girl, and finally there was some sparkle in her empty eyes.
She smiled, stretched out her hand to touch the girl's hair gently, and said with a smile: "Well, Mom is not afraid. A Zhu will protect Mom."
"But A-Zhu also has to promise mom that no matter what happens, you have to be strong, okay?"
The girl didn't doubt that he was there, she just laughed along with her mother's smile. She nodded and responded crisply: "Yes."
…
That night, the boy in the building enthusiastically took the girl for a walk on the street, bought her sugar-coated haws which she had not eaten for a long time, and also prepared fireworks for her for the New Year. She was very happy.
Holding a large piece of harvest in his hands and reluctant to finish it, the candied haws, which he wanted to share with his mother, jumped open the door.
Then, the things she said were scattered on the ground, creating a mess in the brothel.
Inside the house, a pair of women's feet were hanging in the air, dangling leisurely, their bodies were stiff, their makeup was scrawled, and they had long since lost their sound.
…
"mother!"
Qingzhu let out an exclamation and sat up.
Sunlight streamed in through the window, her figure swayed, and there was a jolting sensation underneath her body, as well as the sound of horse hooves.
Qingzhu was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that she was on the carriage.
"Senior Sister Wen Jun, you are finally awake." A voice came from the side. Jiang Yu came over with a worried expression, looked at Qingzhu and asked.
Qingzhu was still in a daze. She looked at Jiang Yu in confusion. Before she could ask questions, Jiang Yu could already see the confusion written on her face and said, "Senior sister, you fell into a coma after we escaped from Yingshui City yesterday.
, the dean and the others have to deal with... deal with other things, so they asked me to take care of senior sister for the time being..."
When Qingzhu heard these words, everything that happened yesterday came to his mind overwhelmingly.
She jumped up, grabbed Jiang Yu's arm, and asked, "Where is Jing Shui...how is she?"
This question made Jiang Yu's face darken and his head lowered.
…
Qingzhu got off the carriage and came to the front of the team. He saw Li Danqing and Xia Xianyin walking side by side in front of the team. Everyone looked a little lonely. Only Li Danqing and Xia Xianyin were talking about something.
Qingzhu didn't have time to think about why Xia Xianyin appeared here, so he just walked forward quickly.
Her arrival interrupted Li Danqing and Xia Xianyin who were talking. Xia Xianyin looked at her with a strange look. She wanted to ask something several times, but she hesitated.
Qingzhu, who was just thinking, didn't notice this. She looked at Li Danqing and asked anxiously: "Where is Jingshui?"
Li Danqing frowned slightly when he heard this, looked at the other of the two carriages brought by the crowd and said, "Let her stay alone for a while."
Qingzhu was stunned and looked at the carriage. He hesitated for a while, then gritted his teeth and said, "I want to see her."
"Your body has just recovered, please rest for a while..." Li Danqing advised.
But Qingzhu, who had always obeyed Li Danqing's words, interrupted Li Danqing's words at this moment: "I failed to protect Mrs. Tang. Let me go and see her."
Qingzhu's attitude was unusually firm, and Li Danqing was a little surprised. He hesitated for a while, and finally nodded.
…
Zhou Jingshui on the carriage buried his head very low and sat there, motionless.
Qingzhu's arrival did not break Zhou Jingshui's silence.
Qingzhu walked up to her, sat down next to her, stretched out his hand and wanted to say something, but for a while he didn't know how to speak, and he stopped talking several times.
"It's not your fault."
But right there
At this time, Zhou Jingshui, who had his head lowered, suddenly said.
"it's me……"
"I thought that if I learned some skills, I could take my mother out of the devil's cave..."
"Actually, I should wait a little longer."
"Zhou Ganyi is right. I chose to start before I was ready. My mother... was ultimately killed by me."
Zhou Jingshui's words reached Qingzhu's ears, and Qingzhu's face changed slightly, and she took back the words of comfort that she had already drafted.
"My mother is also dead," she said.
Zhou Jingshui was stunned and looked up at Qingzhu. He saw a bitter smile on Qingzhu's face and a dazed look in his eyes, as if he had returned to a long time ago, a past that she didn't want to mention.
"I was only twelve or thirteen years old at the time, and I was wondering if I didn't do a good enough job to protect my mother."
"I felt sorry for myself for this for a long time, until one day I met someone." Qingzhu said this, looking at somewhere outside the carriage intentionally or unintentionally.
"He told me that people cannot ask themselves to do things at the age of fifteen or sixteen that they would do at the age of thirty or forty."
"When we are young, we should play. When we are older, we have to start growing. Then we have to carry something..."
"Of course this process will happen sooner or later, but our parents must hope that we will experience it like ordinary children."
"Some choices will indeed bring consequences that we cannot bear, but this does not necessarily mean that the choice itself is wrong."
"I dare not say for sure what kind of choice is good for Mrs. Tang and what she cares about. But what I know is that for her, you are the most important."
"So don't doubt and resent yourself. Then you will truly let down Mrs. Tang."
"You have to cheer up..."
"Treasure your anger and remember the unforgettable pain of this moment. It will be the sharpest knife and the most vicious sword when you are in desperate situation. Carry her hope and remember her laughter and tears. It will be your best disguise.
The most deceptive mask."
"Live on, wear a mask that doesn't show your true face to anyone, carry the sharpest knife, and then at the most appropriate and foolproof time..."
"revenge."
Zhou Jingshui's pupils dilated and she looked straight at the girl in front of her.
The senior sister who was usually taciturn had a stern look on her face at this moment, and the depths of her pupils seemed to be reflecting flames.
She looked so familiar, but at that moment, she felt so strange...