090. Out of the Group
On the way back, the rain finally subsided. Zeng Zhu was covered in mud and followed behind to talk to Qing Ling several times.
"Young Master, what happened just now?"
"Where's that...that ghost?"
"Did you save me?"
But Qing Ling didn't want to say more, and simply responded: "It's okay."
Until he heard the last question, his lips moved but he couldn't answer.
So they remained silent until they returned. Zeng Zhu's mother was still in the delivery room. She could hear the woman's cries of pain inside before she even reached the gate of the hospital. Zeng's father was still guarding the door. When he saw Zeng Zhu, who came back alive but in a dishevel, he immediately rushed out in tears despite the rain. He first pinched Zeng Zhu's shoulder, then turned around and thanked Qing Ling profusely.
Qing Ling didn't say anything, just said "no need". His cold attitude made it clear that he didn't want to say more, and he went straight into the hut where they could take shelter from the wind and rain.
"Young master, you're back." Zhu Lezhi poked his head out of the door, and noticing that Qingling didn't look well, he made way.
Qing Ling nodded, walked into the room and sat on a small stool against the wall. He placed his hands on his knees, revealing his slender white wrists. His arms were hidden under the sleeves embroidered with light silver patterns. The words "Don't talk to me" were written all over his body.
Zhu Lezhi sat on the small wooden bed and wondered, "Everyone is alive and well, what happened to you?"
Qing Ling raised his hands and buried Lian between his palms without saying a word.
...Perhaps they were not destined to have this disaster.
Or maybe... he attracted evil spirits and almost harmed the whole family.
How could he have the nerve to accept thanks from others?
"It's okay." Qing Ling rubbed his face, and when he put his hands down, his face turned a little red. He shook his head wearily, and repeated as if in a trance: "It's okay."
In the second half of the night, the loud cry of a baby suddenly sounded in the rain, accompanied by the woman's surprised cry. The noisy sounds of excitement and joy blended together. All living things grow and decline, and the demise of one life brings about the birth of another. All living things are constantly reborn in this cycle.
Not long after, Zeng Zhu, who had already cleaned up, came to the hut. Without saying a word, he knelt down and kowtowed to Qingling. Qingling, who was leaning against the wall in Shang Changheng's arms, didn't react. After a moment of stunned silence, he hurriedly got up to help him up.
"Thank you very much for saving my life!" Zeng Zhu had gone through great sorrow and joy, and his hands were still shaking, but he had already figured out the whole story. He did not expect that the passerby he took in for a night would actually become his savior, and the first thing he said was "I have been treated like a slave for a lifetime and I cannot repay you for your kindness."
Qing Ling couldn't accept his thanks, and just as he was about to speak, Zeng Zhu asked shyly: "Without you, my benefactor, this child would be dead tonight... You can tell from your appearance that you are well-educated, so... considering our fate, can you give my girl a name?"
It turned out to be a girl.
Qingling once heard Zhu Lezhi mention that newborn babies rarely have names because they are afraid that they may not survive, so they are usually just given a nickname, such as the ubiquitous "Tiezhu", "Tiedan" and "Daya". However, Zeng Zhu wanted to name his newborn daughter this, which shows that he cares a lot about his child.
Just now, this man nearly lost his life while trying to ward off an evil spirit alone for the sake of his wife and daughter.
After a moment of silence, Qing Ling politely declined: "I...have never taken your class, so why not——"
His eyes turned and looked at Miao Yuan who was sitting on another small stool with his eyes closed and silently chanting, and then fell on Zhu Lezhi who was sitting beside the bed.
"Donor Qing." Miao Yuan shook her head. "It's okay. It's just a name. It was you who saved their lives."
Zhu Lezhi also nodded, "Yes, you two are destined to be together. You probably won't see each other again in the future, so let's leave some good karma."
Qing Ling pursed his lips and thought for a while, then suddenly looked at the sky outside. It had been raining recently and he had hardly seen the sun, so he said, "Why not call me... Zeng Xin."
"The dawn is here, and when the sun rises, its light shines across the vast expanse of land."
This child suffered a disaster before he was born, and there are signs of flooding. We can only hope that the rain will stop and the sky will clear up at dawn so that the people here can live in peace.
Zeng Zhu nodded repeatedly: "Oh, okay, okay, thank you very much, benefactor. The child is still young, I am afraid I can't hold him. You saved our whole family, do you want to go and see the child?"
Zeng Zhu's room looked quite large, and it might be divided into two rooms, east and west. He probably wouldn't let a man from outside enter the room of a woman who had just given birth to a daughter. But Qing Ling still shook his head and said, "No need. We just met by chance. If we are destined to meet again in the future, we may meet again."
Qing Ling knew that the less contact he had with living people, the better. A brief meeting was fate, so it would be better not to see the newborn girl... and not to let her be implicated by his unlucky fate.
.
Qing Ling did not go to meet the girl he had given a name, but at dawn, the rain that had been falling for several days actually stopped.
But the sky did not clear up, and the three of them, who had rested all night but had no rest, took advantage of the rain to set off.
Before leaving, Zeng Zhu insisted on returning the money. He was embarrassed to ask for money from his benefactor again, otherwise he would not let them go. Qing Ling had to pretend to take it back, and after leaving, he asked Shang Changheng to secretly put the purse back into the hut.
Further southwest of Dingzhou is Ningzhou, which borders Tongzhou. In fact, if you go north, you will reach Songyun Mountain where Miaoyuan learned his craft.
In the carriage, Qingling's face was not very good.
In fact, he usually spoke little, and spent most of his time resting with his eyes closed or reciting his incantations. But after leaving that small fishing village, Qingling was different from his usual silence.
He leaned against the carriage with his eyes downcast, and no one knew what he was thinking about.
Zhu Lezhi felt that... he seemed very sad.
"Ningzhou has many rivers and branches, and the mountains are high and steep. The terrain is far more complex than Cang County." Miao Yuan said solemnly, breaking the silence, "Whether you go by water or land, it's not safe in this rain. The nearest place to Rongzhang Ridge is Rong County. I think... we might as well settle down in Jingrui City."
Qingling said nothing.
Zhu Lezhi asked incredulously: "When did you learn to read a map?"
Miao Yuan choked up, then said quietly: "I have discussed this matter with Mr. Shang..."
Zhu Lezhi was distressed, "When did you two secretly talk to the young master behind my back..." She quickly glanced at Qing Ling again and continued, "When did you two secretly talk to the young master behind my back?"
Miao Yuan's forehead jumped, unable to bear it any longer, "Just before we set off, you fell asleep unconscious! Donor Qing also fell asleep! We were right at the door!"
The two of them talked back and forth, and Qing Ling finally raised his head and said softly: "Since it has been decided, let's go."
In the end, the dispute was ended with Qingling's final decision.
The cramped carriage fell into depressing silence again. Qingling felt a little listless. In his ears was the sound of the carriage wheels rolling over the flooded road and the sound of thousands of raindrops falling on the earth and grass. The vast mountains and rivers of Daxia were once the land under the feet of the people of Dazhou thousands of years ago. War, blood, and death once soaked this vast land, and all the treacherous conspiracies started from then on.
The cause of Shang Changheng's death, the cause and effect he talked about, the erased history books, Taizhu Qingjie, were like sticky and cold threads that crisscrossed and woven a vast net, and Qingling was almost unable to breathe in this ever-shrinking net. He had never realized so clearly that he was different from ordinary people. He had no way of staying among the crowd and could only live alone in the most remote corner.
None of the lights in the world are for him.
He is also the person who does not belong to the mortal world. The so-called Xuanmen talent has advantages and disadvantages. Qingling is born to be targeted by all kinds of evil spirits. His extremely bad fate makes his luck extremely bad. The reason he can live to this day is because he has Shang Changheng, an evil spirit that appears once every thousand years, protecting him.
Qingling remembered the little fish lantern.
The small fish lantern with dim candlelight that he gave to Shang Changheng in his dream was a lantern that people traveling far away would follow to find their way home, but Qingling didn't even know where his home was at the moment.
.
The further they went, the lighter the rain became. Three days later, the carriage stopped in a forest in the wild mountains. The people ate, drank, and rested.
Qing Ling held a piece of cold dry food and nibbled on it bit by bit. He had been too silent these past few days. With Miao Yuan and Zhu Lezhi around, he had little time to be alone with Shang Changheng. So for several days in a row, the only words he spoke to Shang Changheng were simple "um" and "ok", and rarely more than three words.
At this moment, he casually put a piece of clean cloth on the ground, leaned against the tree with his head down, the light shining through the branches and leaves fell on his temples and long eyelashes. His long hair was half-tied up with a jade hairpin, and he wore a dark robe with narrow sleeves. Shang Changheng stood not far away and watched him, and felt that Qingling was like a small tree that was about to be bent under pressure.
He is still so young.
A pot of water was handed to Qingling.
Qing Ling raised his head and saw Shang Changheng squatting in front of him. He said softly, "Forget it if you can't eat. I'll find a village and make you something hot."
Qing Ling said nothing, but took the kettle and held it in his hand without eating the dry food.
When he lowered his eyes, his features looked softer and more delicate, and also... with an inexplicable pity. Shang Changheng looked at him for a while, took the water and dry food from his hands and threw them aside, then grabbed Qingling's arm and pulled him up into the bad place.
"Shang——" Qing Ling was startled, and quickly lowered his voice, "What are you doing?"
"This is the first time you've spoken so many words to me in these few days." Shang Changheng sighed, and a grayish-white mist quietly emerged.
Qing Ling's eyes blurred, and when he looked around clearly again, he found that Shang Changheng had brought him to the shady side of a hillside.
"You..." Qing Ling leaned against Shang Changheng's shoulder and turned his face away, "Why did you bring me here?"
"What do you think I want to do?" Shang Changheng pinched Qingling's chin and asked him to turn around. Their eyes suddenly met. His expression was firm and unyielding, but there was resentment and unwillingness that he could not suppress, and there was even... pity and love.
Qing Ling's grievance and sadness could no longer be hidden in this gaze. He pursed his lips and said softly, "I don't know."
"Qingling, look at me carefully." Shang Changheng changed his shackles to holding up his face, still not allowing him to refuse, "You said it yourself, you want to live a good life."
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