birthday
During this period of time, Xiao Jin completely resolved the matter of Qu's family, and also realized how big a mistake he had made over the years. He didn't dare to think that if A Yue had been treated like this by Qu, would she not be able to bear it and leave him. He had already lost one sister and could not lose a second one.
After that, Xiao Jin no longer stayed in the military camp day and night, and returned home every day to have dinner with A Yue and her mother.
The servants in the mansion came to report that for some reason, the mother had been able to eat her meals obediently recently and her headaches were not as severe. However, she was muttering about the second young lady more and more frequently and clamoring to see her.
After hearing this, Xiao Jin sighed. If possible, he would also like his second sister to be still alive.
When the enemy invaded, his father took him to fight on the border. The battle was fierce and everyone thought that the Duke of Zhenguo and his son would never come back. If they died, the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion would be without a man to support it and would surely collapse. So his grandmother came up with a plan and teamed up with the wet nurse to replace his sister with a baby boy.
The grandmother never imagined that after switching the baby boy with his sister, the baby boy would die. Fortunately, his father survived the battle with him. The mother was sad for a long time about her son's death, but she got through it.
After the baby boy died, the grandmother went to look for the family that had exchanged the child with her, but the family had already left. The grandmother did not dare to seek justice and wanted to look for him alone, but she searched for seven years and still couldn't find him until the third sister was born.
Later, my grandmother passed away. Without her to stop her, the nanny told the whole truth.
The mother was shocked after hearing this, and asked the wet nurse in a trembling voice why she did that, but the wet nurse just kowtowed and kowtowed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
After that, my father mobilized everyone to look for it, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, and no information was found.
After that, the mother had dreams every night. She said that she dreamed that her daughter questioned her why she didn't realize that she had been replaced and why she didn't save her.
Later on, the mother was always in a trance, trembling and shouting: "It's all my fault, it's all my fault. If I had found it in time, Yan'er would not have been lost."
The name Xiao Yan was given by Xiao Jin. He always hoped that his mother would give birth to a younger sister, so after his mother became pregnant with a younger sister, he named her himself.
Later, unexpectedly, the baby was a boy, and the mother no longer used this name.
The father held his mother down and said, "Madam, it's not your fault. We will definitely find our daughter."
Gu: “It’s because of me.”
Xiao Jin looked at his mother who was becoming increasingly thinner, and wished he had died on the battlefield. If he had not been captured, his father would not have fallen into the enemy's trap in order to save him. They would not have returned so late, and his sister would not have been exchanged.
During that time, the whole family fell into endless self-blame. They continued to look for their sister's whereabouts, but there was no clue at all. They were unable to find her until their father died.
His mother had gone crazy a long time ago, and Xiao Jin felt that he was about to go crazy too. It was the young A Yue who hugged his thighs and looked at him with worried eyes that pulled him back.
His father was dead, his mother was crazy, and there was A Yue at home. He couldn't fall down again.
But over the years, Xiao Jin has been filled with regret every day. He feels that he was the one who killed his sister.
Thinking of this, Xiao Jin took out a bracelet from the house. One of the wooden balls had the word Yue engraved on it. He handed it to Xiao Yue: "I made this with rosewood by myself. It was consecrated in Lingguang Temple. I never had the chance to give it to you before."
Xiao Yue was very happy and said, "Thank you, brother."
Xiao Jin looked at the smile on Xiao Yue's face and prayed in his heart: "I couldn't wear the bracelet I gave to A'an personally. I hope this bracelet can keep A'yue safe."
Lin Yi rushed back to Beijing three days before Lin Yan's birthday. When Lin Yan saw him coming back, he couldn't help but say in a dashing manner: "Our Young Master Lin is willing to come back."
"If it weren't for someone's birthday, I would have liked to stay in Nanshan for a few more days." Lin Yi remained calm in the face of Lin Yan's suaveness.
Lin Yi asked: "How do you plan to celebrate your birthday this year?"
Speaking of which, it has been many years since they got together to celebrate one of their birthdays. Either one person was not there or that person was not there.
Especially in the past few years, many of Lin Yan's friends passed away, and she spent her birthday looking at the bright moon and drinking a jar of peach blossom wine.
Lin Yan doesn’t care much about his birthday. “I don’t have any plans. I just want to keep things simple.”
"How about inviting all the good friends we know in Beijing to have a small birthday party?" Lin Yi suggested.
Hearing that Lin Yan agreed to this proposal, Lin Yi asked Lin Yan to write to him the names of the people he wanted to invite.
Lin Yan handed the guest list to Lin Yi. Looking at the familiar names on the list, Lin Yi was not surprised. However, he noticed a stranger and pointed at him and asked, "Song Xuan, isn't he Prince An? Why was he invited?"
Suddenly she remembered that she had not yet told Lin Yi about Song Xuan, but she was too lazy to elaborate on the story of how she met Song Xuan. She only said that she met him when she passed by Sangzhou a few years ago and he was a close friend of hers.
Although it was unexpected that Lin Yan knew Song Xuan, Lin Yi was not curious and asked too many questions. He just sent someone to write invitations and send them to various mansions.
As for where to hold the birthday party, it would of course be held in Mingju Tower. Lin Yan had always kept his connection with the Regent Song Yizhou a secret from her, so the birthday party must not be held in the mansion.
Mingju Tower can hide from people's eyes and ears.
Zhenguogong Mansion
Xiao Yue received an invitation. Azhu said it was from the Lin Mansion. She opened the invitation and saw the date and place of the birthday party clearly stated.
"There are still a few days left, and I can prepare a birthday gift for Master Lin," Xiao Yue thought happily.
The name at the end of the signature came into view. It was written by Lin Yan himself. Xiao Yue was stunned for a moment. "Yan".
She had never asked Master Lin's name, but she heard Aning and the others always call her "A Chang", so she subconsciously thought that Master Lin's name was Lin Chang, but she never thought that Master Lin's name was "Lin Yan".
The invitation card stated Master Lin’s birthday, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In half a month, it would be her elder sister Xiao Yan’s birthday. Isn’t all this too much of a coincidence?
But Mrs. Lin has family, and Lin Yi is her younger brother. She has a father and a mother. What's more, her elder sister was exchanged away by her grandmother in the capital, and Nanshan is far away from the capital.
Xiao Yue clenched the invitation card between her fingers, her mind full of thoughts, and she muttered to herself, "Am I really overthinking it? Is this just a coincidence?"
In the end, Xiao Yue stopped thinking about it and smiled bitterly, "How could Master Lin be my elder sister? Although it is the same Yan, the pronunciation is different. It's just a coincidence."
It was dark at this time, and a full moon hung in the sky. The moonlight sprinkled on Xiao Yue's face. A few tears fell in her eyes. She looked up at the moon and said, "I wish Master Lin was my elder sister."
On the eighth day of the twelfth month, in the wing room of Mingju Tower.
Everyone entered the room one after another and handed the prepared birthday gifts to Lin Yan.
Zhong Ningning was the first to take the brunt of the effort and introduced all the things to Lin Yan at once, "This bottle is for detoxification, this bottle is for wound medicine, and this bottle is..."
Lin Yan was helpless, "Aning, I'm not that easily injured, there's no need to prepare so much."
Zhong Ningning: "No, that won't work. Just in case, I can't be by your side all the time. What if you get hurt?"
There were too many people giving gifts today, so Lin Yan did not open them one by one. Instead, he sent someone to send all the gifts back to the Lin Mansion.
During this time, Lin Yan looked back and forth between Song Jing and Zhong Ningning without any expression, and found that the two did not say a word, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
The invitation to Song Yizhou's house was delivered by Lin Yan himself. After Lin Yi returned home, Lin Yan still had dinner at Azhou's house. The reason, of course, was that the dishes at Azhou's house were more to her liking and could not compare with those at Lin's house.
Lin Yi was speechless. How could it be bad? Song Yizhou would probably invite the best chef in the entire Song Dynasty just to keep Lin Yan for dinner.
Song Jing was also there when the invitation was delivered. At first, Lin Yan didn't plan to let Song Jing come. After all, she didn't want him to meet Aning. Unfortunately, he found out, so Lin Yan had no choice but to invite him to come.
Not everyone present knew each other. For example, Xiao Yue had never seen Song Xuan and Song Yizhou. She had seen Zhang Bai, and Zhong Ningning had brought him out, so she had seen him.
There was also Song Jing, but Xiao Yue only knew that he was a student from the academy next door, named Xie Jing.
So Xiao Yue asked Lin Yan in a low voice, "Who is that person wearing a moon-white robe and the other one wearing a black cloak?"
Xiao Yue had already been classified as one of Lin Yan's own people, so there was nothing he couldn't say. So he said, "The one in the moon-white robe is the Regent, and the one in the black cloak is Prince An."
When introducing the two of them, Lin Yan pointed at them. Song Xuan saw it and winked at Lin Yan.
Song Yizhou didn't know that Song Xuan would appear here at first, so the moment he saw him, Song Yizhou's face was not very good, but it quickly disappeared.
Now seeing him flirting with Ah Yan again, Song Yizhou's anger rose again.
Lin Yi watched with great interest from the side. What a pleasant surprise. Song Xuan was obviously very interested in her elder sister... Yizhou was in danger.
Tang Yuelin had met Prince An in her previous life, but she didn't know that Lin Yan actually knew him, and was stunned for a moment.
Looking at the people at the table, in the end only Lin Yan and Song Jing were left in her previous life, and most of them were Lin Yan's friends. Tang Yuelin remembered Lin Yan's bloodshot eyes, and only then did she understand why she was so crazy to kill through this imperial city, because all her relatives and friends were dead.
The situation at the table was tense. Xiao Yue exclaimed, "!!!!" She almost spit out the tea in her mouth. Who could tell her why Master Lin knew these two people?
Seeing Xiao Yue so shocked, Lin Yan was not surprised. He smiled and said, "Don't be so surprised. Song Yizhou, Ayi and I grew up together. As for Prince An, I met him when I was traveling in my early years."
Xiao Yue took a long time to calm herself down.
Lin Yan did not reveal the true identities of Song Jing and Song Xi. She felt that if she told them, Xiao Yue might faint from surprise.
Everyone drank together to celebrate Lin Yan's birthday. Today was a good day, and even Lin Yi, who usually didn't drink, drank a little.
In the end, no one could hold back. Lin Yi was so drunk that he passed out, and the others who couldn't hold their liquor were almost as drunk.
After the banquet, Lin Yan ordered people to escort them all back. Before leaving, Xiao Yue still asked the question she wanted to ask most: "Master Lin, are you and Lin Shaoqing siblings?"
"No," Lin Yan was surprised, "Why do you ask this?"
When Xiao Yue heard Lin Yan say no, her heart jumped into her throat, "Could it be..."
However, Lin Yan's next words poured cold water on Xiao Yue, "Ayi's father is my master. My parents are farmers in a certain village. One year there was a flood and I was washed away and rescued by my master. After seeing my extraordinary talent, he accepted me as his disciple."
"So that's how it is. I see that Master Lin and Shaoqing Lin don't look alike at all, so I asked this question." Xiao Yue smiled, but the smile was a bit forced.
"It's getting late, go back and rest early," Lin Yan urged.
"good"
After sending everyone away, Lin Yi and Tang Yuelin took a carriage back to the Lin Mansion together. Lin Yan didn't want to disturb the couple, so he planned to walk back to the mansion alone to digest his food.
However, Song Yizhou stopped her and asked her to go with him to the palace.
Lin Yan didn't understand why, but Song Yizhou refused to say what he was going to do until they reached the palace, so she let Song Yizhou pull her into the carriage.
After getting off the carriage, Song Yizhou took Lin Yan's hand and walked to an attic. Lin Yan looked at him with confusion and did not notice the two people's shaking hands.
Song Yizhou felt triumphant in his heart, but he did not show it on his face. The two of them came to the attic, where eight objects were placed.
Lin Yan looked at them one by one. Among them were precious swords, famous knives, soft whips...all of which were well-known weapons in the martial arts world.
Although she likes to use the sword the most, she is also proficient in other skills. Lin Yan's eyes lit up and he walked forward to touch it.
"This is a birthday gift," Song Yizhou's voice came from behind her.
"So many birthday gifts?" Lin Yan said helplessly, "Azhou, it's just a birthday, there's no need to spend so much money."
"These are the birthday gifts for the past eight years, Ah Yan. After I left eight years ago, I wanted to deliver the birthday gifts to you personally every year, but things did not go as I wished. These are the birthday gifts for the past eight years." Song Yizhou's voice was more gentle than ever before. His voice penetrated Lin Yan's ears and struck her heart.
The lights in the attic were bright, and somehow, they hurt Lin Yan's eyes. Song Yizhou's face, which she had seen countless times, made her heart beat faster for no reason.
Lin Yan lowered his eyes, turned to look at the birthday gifts, hurriedly concealed his emotions, then turned to look at Song Yizhou, smiling brightly, "Azhou, can you accompany me on my birthday every year from now on?"
Song Yizhou's heart skipped a beat and the corners of his mouth curled up: "Okay."
Lin Yan didn't realize that she had never said this to anyone else, and had never let anyone stay with her all the time, but when it came to Song Yizhou, she took it for granted that Azhou could do it. In her heart, Song Yizhou had already occupied an unusual position.
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