Chapter 61

During the break, everyone went to Qinglan Garden for a visit, and the old housekeeper came forward to invite Xiao Ziyu to the lounge on the second floor.

Xiao Ziyu's photographer followed behind, but was stopped politely by the old butler: "Sorry, the second floor belongs to the gentleman's private lounge, it is inconvenient to take pictures."

Xiao Jinchuan has always been a low-key person, so it is not easy for the program crew to invite him out. During the filming, they will accommodate his living habits. The corners of the living room on the first floor are filled with cameras, but the living room on the second floor is never involved. The photographer stopped where he was and watched Xiao Ziyu go upstairs alone.

The second floor is deep and divided into three rooms, providing great privacy. The old housekeeper opened the door for him and stood outside with his hands hanging down: "Mr. Xiao, please come in."

Xiao Ziyu took a deep breath, stepped in, and walked around the carved screen. Xiao Jinchuan was standing by the window with his hands behind his back. Looking out from the second-floor window, you can just see the lush green scenery of the mountains behind.

Xiao Ziyu was not sure whether his former senior brother still remembered him, so he said respectfully: "Teacher, you are looking for me."

Xiao Jinchuan turned around, but his expression was far from as indifferent as Xiao Ziyu thought. He called her by her name: "Nanzhu, is that you?"

Xiao Ziyu felt like he was hit on the head with a stick. He stood there in a daze. The mountain scenery in the distance blurred and the corners of his eyes became moist in an instant. After a long while, he moved his lips and said, "Brother?"

Xiao Jinchuan sighed softly: "It's really you."

Xiao Ziyu's voice choked with sobs, and he stood there at a loss.

When he was in the East Palace, he had imagined countless times the scene of reuniting with his master. Later, his mission failed and his hopes were gone. Years of guilt and self-blame overwhelmed him. On the day when Shu Kingdom broke the city, he felt he had no face to live, so he burned himself to death in a fire, just to atone for his sins.

If it weren't for him, the Pear Garden wouldn't have been implicated and controlled by the King of Shu, and Xiao Jinchuan wouldn't have had his legs broken while escaping and become unable to stand again. If he could restrain Yuan Heng, the other party would not be so determined to march south to attack Shu, where his homeland would be destroyed and he would be deserted by his friends and relatives.

He couldn't count his sins, and in the end he was in debt. When he suddenly saw his old friend, he felt more worried than grateful. This blow was so strong that it seemed to have stunned him. His legs and feet became weak and he was about to kneel down.

Xiao Jinchuan quickly stepped forward to catch him, put his palm on his back, and held him tightly in his arms. After all the feelings settled down, only the heartache was left: "Nanzhu, don't be afraid."

"Don't be afraid, my brother is here."

The small piece of cloth on the chest gradually became wet, and the white crane pattern was stained by water, losing some of its cold and aloof appearance and gaining some of the human touch. Xiao Jinchuan felt sad in his heart and shed tears with his eyes closed. Nanzhu was only fifteen years old when she married Liang, and the chubby cheeks were still there, but now she has grown up to be so handsome and beautiful.

The child who had to cover his eyes when seeing chickens and fish being slaughtered, the King of Shu actually asked him to kill someone, and the person he killed was the cruel and ruthless Crown Prince Changfeng. How could he not be afraid?

After a long while, Xiao Ziyu stood up, his eyelids slightly red and swollen. He looked so embarrassed when he first met his brother. He didn't care about being ashamed: "Brother, where are the others in the Liyuan? Where is Master?"

Xiao Jinchuan shook his head and sighed, "The matter of reincarnation is impossible to explore. I have been looking for them for many years, but there is no trace of them."

It was a gift from God to find the destiny of the previous life in such a vast sea of ​​people. Xiao Ziyu did not dare to ask for too much. His voice was wet, but he still could not calm down: "I met Yuan Heng."

It was still too early for Xiao Jinchuan to recover his memory, and Yuan Heng was a public figure, so he had been paying attention to him since early on. It was not until a few months ago that Xiao Ziyu suddenly appeared in the public eye. He secretly sent someone to investigate and learned that Xiao Ziyu had signed a contract with Yuantai.

Xiao Jinchuan's face was not looking good: "You signed a contract with Yuantai, but did that thief Yuan force you to do it?"

"No," Xiao Ziyu explained, "Yuan Heng hasn't recovered his memory. We are just spending time together normally."

"You are together?" Xiao Jinchuan keenly grasped the key point, "You live together."

This has to start from his experience in the Meng family. Xiao Ziyu said anxiously: "It's a long story. I will explain it to you slowly later. Back then..."

He lowered his eyelashes, as if he was timid and pleading, and finally asked cruelly: "After Prince Yuan conquered Shu, were the fellow students in the Pear Garden dismissed?"

This was already the most tactful way of asking. The palace of King Shu was destroyed, and no one was spared from the court officials to the servants. In serious cases, even their entire families were implicated. A small opera theater was merged into a music hall. In times of chaos, it would be disastrous.

Xiao Jinchuan looked blank for a moment, his thoughts seeming to have returned to the years of war and turmoil. He came to his senses and said with confusion in his tone: "The Liang army did not embarrass us."

Xiao Ziyu was suddenly stunned. This sentence made his usually smart brain freeze up: "What does this mean?"

Xiao Jinchuan would not be mistaken. When the Liang army attacked the Shu palace, they only captured the nobles and did not affect the servants. A deputy general came to the music hall in person, holding a list and selecting the young men from the opera garden one by one, and brought them to the military tent to settle down.

He was disabled at the time and could not move much, so the deputy general arranged for a soldier to carry him the whole time and took good care of his food and clothing.

"At that time, we thought that it seemed that the thief Yuan really cared about you, so he saved our lives," Xiao Jinchuan gritted his teeth and let out a trace of grief and anger, "but when we arrived in Beiliang, we saw people hanging mourning clothes along the way, and then we knew that the king had passed away."

Xiao Ziyu was stunned for a moment, feeling a tightness in his chest and a feeling stuck in his throat: "Then, you..."

"Yuan Heng placed us in Guanwa Palace, and took charge of both performances and teaching, paying us a monthly salary," said Xiao Jinchuan.

Living in troubled times, being able to get a position in the palace was a godsend, and the opera world gradually settled down. Xiao Jinchuan was unable to move around easily, so he ran around the palace with a cane, inquiring about the cause of Xiao Ziyu's death and searching for Xiao Ziyu's belongings. However, the people in the palace were very secretive about the king and refused to reveal a single word.

He decided to go all out and simply knelt outside the Qingyun Palace to ask for an audience with Prince Liang. Yuan Heng ignored him every day when he was in court. On the third day, he had someone carry him back and locked him up in the Guanwa Palace for seven days.

Xiao Jinchuan recalled: "Since then, Yuan Heng has been acting strange. The palace does not allow memorial services for the king, but on the anniversary of his death, he returns to the East Palace alone and sits there all day without eating or drinking, and goes to court as usual the next day."

Xiao Ziyu's voice was hoarse: "Is it like this every year?"

"I have only been in the palace for a year," Xiao Jinchuan shook his head, "I am a useless person and have little use in Guanwa Palace. Since I can't find any news about you, I will resign and leave the palace and travel around."

There was another reason that was swallowed. Yuan Heng treated them well as compensation to Wang Jun. Xiao Jinchuan knew it clearly, but the person was gone and he couldn't let it go. That was the peace that his youngest fellow apprentice had exchanged his life for, and he was not worthy of it.

Xiao Ziyu was absent-minded the whole afternoon, and Xiao Jinchuan felt sorry for him. He knew Xiao Ziyu's taste, so he asked the kitchen to add an extra dish of green vegetables and tofu, and a clear fish head soup. Xiao Ziyu only ate half a bowl of rice and could not swallow any more.

When the truth was revealed, he was not as relieved as he had imagined. Since Yuan Heng intended to preserve the Pear Garden, why didn't he see him before sending out the troops? He clearly wanted the throne, so why didn't he ascend the throne? Did he go on a pilgrimage like his senior brother, or...

He didn't dare to think further as he was still in the classroom with the camera pointing at him. When he came to his senses, Xiao Jinchuan had already started teaching the next move. Lu Yan and Eric couldn't keep up. He, who was always agile, even forgot how to move his limbs and almost tripped himself with a jump.

"Xiao Ziyu, go and have a rest over there," Xiao Jinchuan quickly closed the folding fan in his hand, with worry in his eyes and eyebrows. Xiao Ziyu had not yet made clear to him his relationship with Yuan Heng. The latter had a long history of bad deeds and might have bewitched his junior fellow apprentice.

When the filming was over, even the director noticed his abnormality and took the initiative to come forward and said, "Zi Yu, if you feel unwell, take a rest first. Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"Let him stay at my place tonight," Xiao Jinchuan suggested. "Qinglan Garden has a private doctor who can help with the examination."

Everyone went home along the same route. Luo Li stayed with Xiao Ziyu. He was prepared to take care of the person, but he didn't expect that the garden had a nanny and a cook. The old butler took them to two adjacent guest rooms on the west side, which were in a secluded location where they would not be disturbed at all.

Xiao Ziyu drank half a bowl of white porridge for dinner and barely recovered his complexion. Xiao Jinchuan went into the house to accompany him personally. As soon as he sat down, Xiao Ziyu's cell phone rang, and Yuan Heng's name popped up clearly.

It was still a video. Xiao Jinchuan was furious: "What does he want from you?"

"It might be something about work," Xiao Ziyu had a feeling that something might go wrong if the two met, so he shamelessly played the victim, "Brother, can you please go out for a while? I'll be back soon."

In the past, Xiao Ziyu called him "brother" or "senior brother", but never called him "brother" affectionately. Xiao Jinchuan's face was a little tense: "At most ten minutes."

Xiao Ziyu coughed lightly, trying not to let anyone see any clues, and then he answered the call: "Hello?"

Yuan Heng was still in the office. In order to put pressure on Wu Xianyong, he reviewed the project managers who had problems one by one and increased their criticism, creating a tense atmosphere in the business department. The investigation of senior executives is no small matter. Some directors have expressed dissatisfaction, and someone has to bear the pressure.

He took a sip of iced Americano and pretended to be unbreakable calm: "Have you finished shooting today? I thought you wouldn't answer the phone at this time."

Xiao Ziyu forgot about the time he had agreed with his senior brother. He wanted to hear Yuan Heng's voice more. He changed the topic: "Then you still want to fight."

Yuan Heng said as a matter of course: "Nothing is absolute. If you accept it, I will see your face and hear your voice, then I will have gained something."

Xiao Ziyu could never get used to such straightforwardness. Before he could figure out how to reply, he saw Yuan Heng suddenly approach the screen and look him over with overly clear eyes. His facial features were clearly defined, his nose was high and his eyes were deep. Even if you zoomed in, it was hard to find fault with him.

His heart was pounding, and he was afraid that someone would notice something was wrong. He was 50% guilty and used the remaining 50% of his acting skills to support himself: "What are you looking at?"

As he spoke, Yuan Heng leaned back lazily: "My eyelids are a little swollen."

Xiao Ziyu cried for five minutes at noon and applied an ice pack before the afternoon shooting. Now there is basically no trace of it. He didn't expect Yuan Heng's eyes to be so sharp.

He came up with a new word to describe it: "Your eyes are like searchlights."

"Don't scare me," Yuan Heng asked, "Why are your eyelids swollen? Do you have crying scenes in your reality show?"

"I just didn't sleep well last night," Xiao Ziyu said.

It would be easy to expose flaws if he continued to argue, so he decided to strike first: "Why did you call me suddenly?"

Yuan Heng: "Next Monday is the eighth anniversary of Yuantai Culture. All artists must come back to participate in the anniversary celebration."

Xiao Ziyu thought about it. They had just finished their classical dance study plan next Monday. After handing in their homework, they would have three days of rest and could move freely. He agreed: "I will attend."

Yuan Heng picked up a pen from the desk and spun it around, as if teasing someone's finger: "So refreshing."

Xiao Ziyu stared at his posture, but thought in his heart that when Yuan Heng got impatient while reviewing memorials, he also liked to swing his pen, but he used a brush at that time, and the ink spots splashed all over the table. Whenever this happened, he would snatch the pen from Yuan Heng's hand, wash it, dry it, and put it where he couldn't reach.

After I left, when Yuan Heng was working at his desk late at night, was there anyone who would help him wash his brush and grind ink? When he had a headache, who would give him a soothing massage?

Xiao Ziyu pulled his thoughts back and said seriously, "Things like the anniversary celebration are always arranged by Luo Li. The fact that you, Mr. Yuan, personally notified me shows that it is very important."

"You're thinking the opposite," Yuan Heng pointed the tip of his pen at the screen, slightly better, "The person being notified is just more important."

Xiao Ziyu was speechless. He had said everything he could and the notifications were in place, but he still didn't want to hang up. It was getting late, so he asked, "Aren't you going home yet?"

"I'll be leaving right away." After reporting, Yuan Heng asked sharply, "Why are you so clingy today? Are you irritated? Or do you miss me?"

If Yuan Heng had asked this question in the past, Xiao Ziyu would most likely have avoided the question, but this time he was a little hesitant because he couldn't fake his feelings. At this moment he really wanted to see the person in front of him in person. It was an urgency that could not be conveyed by a smartphone.

Seeing him like this, Yuan Heng subconsciously slowed down his breathing. His tone remained the same, but he was very careful: "Why aren't you talking?"

"I did prepare a gift for you," Xiao Ziyu admitted what happened yesterday with a wandering look in his eyes.

Yuan Heng followed up and asked, "What have you prepared?"

"One copy is kept secret," Xiao Ziyu said, "and the other copy... did you like the song "Moon over the Bridge" that I sang last night?"

How could Yuan Heng not like it? He nodded so attentively that he put his two fingers together and tapped the table: "I like it."

Xiao Ziyu got a positive answer and felt relieved. "I choreographed a dance for it and gave it to you."

The young couple will meet tomorrow

PS: The relationship between the big and small beauties is pure brotherhood! Highlight!