Tianque Tower People
Fan Lingzhang, dressed in a scarlet brocade robe, acted ostentatiously and overly familiar, making it seem as if this was his home.
He walked up behind Sui Zhixu with a smug look on his face, took her hand affectionately, and spoke in an even more tender tone.
"Did you enjoy your shopping this afternoon, my lady?"
Mingyi was shocked. She had been gone for a year, and Xu had gotten married?
Wen Ke turned her head away, too lazy to see him.
"fine."
Sui Zhixu pointed at Wen Ke, "Come over here and help me push it."
"Who? Me?!" Wen Ke rolled her eyes, sword in hand. "Lu... Sui Zhixu, are you crazy?"
"My shoulder is injured, I don't want to push, hurry up and push me." Sui Zhixu closed her eyes and said confidently.
Wen Ke looked at her closely and noticed that her face was indeed somewhat pale; she wondered if it was just her imagination.
She resigned herself to her fate and stepped forward, giving Fan Lingzhang a cold look that forced him to back away.
Where to?
"Let's go outside, come back when we eat." Sui Zhixu said casually, as if he were talking about nothing more than a trivial matter.
Liu Lü was worried, and Fan Lingzhang wanted to go along. Mingyi noticed Wen Ke's dark expression and quietly raised her hand to indicate that she also wanted to go.
Sui Zhixu was surprisingly good-tempered at this moment. He glanced at Wen Ke, who had a dark face, and generously told them to follow.
Wen Ke gritted her teeth, "You've got some nerve."
Sui Zhixu knew what she was talking about. Sima Xian was also in Miao territory, and he was bound to be surrounded by Jin Ling from Tianque Tower, each of whom was highly skilled in martial arts.
"If I weren't brave enough, why would I have come? You're right, I'm indeed determined to go down this dark path."
Her smile was glaring. Wen Ke stopped what she was doing. If Sui Zhixu hadn't been prepared, she would have been thrown out long ago.
"What? You can't even push the wheelchair steadily now?"
Wen Ke's face was ashen, and Fan Lingzhang behind her hadn't expected their encounter to turn into such a tense standoff.
"By the way, why did you come here to keep Mingyi company? Doesn't he need you anymore?" Sui Zhixu asked casually, chatting with her as if they were old friends.
"What do you think?" Wen Ke said, "He has Qi Bao by his side. I don't have any missions lately, so I just came to take a look. I didn't expect to run into you."
Sui Zhixu looked up at her for a few seconds, then suddenly lowered his head. "Since we're already here, come with me to the village to offer incense at their graves. Lately, I've been dreaming about things from the past, things from back then. It's such a coincidence."
Wen Ke silently nudged her without saying a word, while Sui Zhixu didn't care about her and continued talking to herself.
The three people behind him remained silent, creating an inexplicably strange atmosphere.
Fan Lingzhang said that his wife is not usually like this.
When the group went out for a stroll, Mingyi stayed there for a while, and the older women she met along the way would chat with her for a bit, which dispelled the eerie and gloomy atmosphere.
When Sui Zhixu mentioned that she had paid respects to them, she held up a bottle of wine, implying that they were drinking together.
A sinister aura surrounded Sui Zhixu. She stared straight ahead, and her words couldn't help but penetrate Wen Ke's mind.
"It's a pity you're not here."
"You went missing at the time, and I searched for their bodies alone and erected a monument for them. Guess what kind of monument I erected?"
She smiled faintly, then uttered the words, "The Wordless Stele."
"You'll see when you come with me."
Wen Ke lowered her eyes, and through them, one could see her profile, the jade pendant swaying by her ear, and the layers of green ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) she wore.
She still prefers to wear long and elaborate earrings on one ear, while keeping the other simple and straightforward, just to prevent the ear piercing from closing up.
She still prefers green clothes; it seems she has never changed from beginning to end. She is still the same Ah Ling from back then.
But things seem to have changed between them.
"good."
Wen Ke replied, and Sui Zhixu's body visibly stiffened for a moment, but she quickly shrugged as if nothing had happened.
There was a time when they were complete strangers.
As the host, Mingyi diligently introduced the local customs and culture. Especially after noticing that the atmosphere between the two had eased, he spoke even more enthusiastically, afraid that the atmosphere would suddenly return to freezing point.
"Ah Xu, would you like to try some of our local pastries? Ciba (glutinous rice cakes) and fried dough are local delicacies from Wanping Town."
"And also, Ah Xu can have a good time here."
Mingyi turned her back and walked in front of the group to introduce herself, then suddenly spoke, startling them.
"You two are really together!"
She calmed her heart and turned to look at the angry person who had come to her.
Once again, I followed the traveler from Chu.
Oh no, I was so focused on coming out that I forgot about him.
"Sui Zhixu! You bastard, do you think you're so great just because you're the young master? You used the Mo family's dormitory and then ran away. I chased you all the way here. Don't you know what kind of lousy place you came to? If I hadn't passed through Jingzhou and learned where you were going, I would have almost lost you."
Following Chu Ke, he swept the injured Sui Zhixu up and down, wishing he could criticize him from head to toe.
Seeing Mingyi out of the corner of his eye only fueled his anger.
"So this is how you treat my brother?! And you're supposed to be his junior sister, yet you're siding with him. You and she are like sisters, and my brother is just an accident, right?"
Sui Zhixu closed his eyes, letting his words go in one ear and out the other.
She was exasperated with this simpleton; she had followed her all the way here simply because she was angry with her.
Seeing that he was tired, she said, "Your brother knows."
"What?"
As Chu Ke and Ming Yi spoke in unison, she realized that she hadn't had a chance to tell Ming Yi what had happened after Wen Ke took her away.
"Alright, it's getting late, let's talk about it when we get back."
In the distance, the sky was ablaze with red clouds, as if the heavens and earth were burning with their last light, and the brilliant afterglow enveloped the entire town.
The orange-red light fell on Sui Zhixu's face, making his cold and aloof expression softer and gentler.
She recounted in detail what happened on the seventh night after her death, and also mentioned that Mingzhuo went to Chang'an and beat up Cheng Zhijie.
"Why are you meddling in other people's business?"
Sui Chu Ke bristled, "That's my brother!"
"Even if Cheng Zhijie is your brother, you're unmarried, unengaged, and without a wife. How could you possibly know what your brother is thinking?"
"Don't do this! I'm not getting married, I'm happy to do it! Anyway, I'll tell him in this godforsaken place that I don't understand, but once I tell him, he'll understand, right?"
Everyone fell silent: "..."
Only the Chu guest thought himself clever and was very pleased with himself.
If she could, Mingyi really wanted to kill him, but at the same time she felt a little relieved. Since he knew she was still alive and hadn't bothered her this past year, he should be fine.
With Chu Feng's witty banter, the atmosphere around Sui Zhixu improved considerably, and the place became more lively.
When the group returned to the Ming family home, Ming Zhuo and his father also rushed back. Ming Zhuo immediately ran to Ming Yi, pulled her around, and looked her over, as if afraid that she had been bullied.
Ming's father greeted them with a smile as they entered. Among them was Sui Chuke, who glanced at him and thought he looked quite similar to the young lady, so they must be family. He just didn't know why he hadn't seen him earlier.
But it's a good thing we didn't see each other just now.
"Come in quickly, dinner is ready."
Fan Lingzhang took the wheelchair. This time, Wen Ke didn't speak to him sarcastically and let go readily, probably because the eerie Sui Zhixu had hurt her quite a bit earlier.
Fan Lingzhang felt that his wife must be feeling terrible. He remembered very clearly the time when they gathered together.
At that time, they had been married for less than a year. He had gone through the process of being kicked out of bed repeatedly and then sneaking back in in the middle of the night, until he could legitimately lie in his wife's bed.
Of course, this was all because one time when they were playing chess, his wife accidentally knocked the chessboard onto his head. In addition, during his recovery, his wife was doing accounts for him and accidentally threw the abacus onto his lap.
He used this as an excuse to sleep in his wife's bed, relying entirely on his shameless tantrums and whining, until Ah Ling finally gave in to him.
After recovering from her injuries, Ah Ling suddenly came to Yunlai Tower, but not to see him. Instead, she chatted and ate with a few of her sisters.
When his wife came, Fan Lingzhang naturally sent her the best of everything.
He leaned against the railing opposite the private room, and when the door opened, Ah Ling could see him directly from her seat.
Not only did A-Ling see it, but all three of her wives saw it too.
Cao Ning teased Lu Kou, "Why is he so inseparable from others?"
Wen Ke: "A clingy person."
"It's a good thing that my sister and brother-in-law love each other!" Thirteen Niang threw herself into Lu Kou's arms, and Lu Kou affectionately patted her head.
"Eat quickly." Lu Kou served Cao Ning some food, including her favorite gourd chicken.
"And you too." She picked up some fish for Wen Ke, and when she heard Wen Ke mutter that she was smart enough to know her place, she couldn't help but chuckle.
"Are you never going back to Tianque Tower again?" Thirteen Niang nestled in her arms, looking charming and adorable, making one want to protect her.
Lu Kou pinched her cheek and shook her head, saying, "I don't know either, maybe."
"Fine, if he treats you badly, I'll kill him and take you back."
Wen Ke spoke up abruptly, and Cao Ning nudged her with his elbow, his eyes narrowing, "Although Madam Wen's words are a bit rude, they make sense. I'll toast you."
Lu Kou sighed helplessly as she drank with them. She was not good with words and always spoke the least, but fortunately, they were talkative and she could listen.
"Sister, can I follow you like before? I'll be your maid."
"Nonsense." Lu Kou gently scolded Thirteen Niang, "You have your own path to walk, you have to grow up, you can't always waste your time on me. I treat you like a younger sister, so naturally I hope you can be well. When you reach the right age, I will ask my master for a reason to allow you to leave, whether you get married, go back to Miao territory, go to the martial world, or come to Chang'an... there will always be a path you want to take."
"Hmph, I'm getting angry. You think about Thirteenth Sister but not me!" Cao Ning pretended to be angry and turned her back.
Lu Kou was slightly stunned, genuinely thinking that Cao Ning was angry.
"A-Ning, A-Ning... don't be angry with me, I'm thinking of you. I've been searching for news of your family in Chang'an, but I haven't found them yet." Lu Kou tugged at her clothes and swayed gently.
Cao Ning couldn't stand it, and when he looked at Lu Kou's beautiful yet not seductive face, he trembled all over.
"Stop, stop! Where did you learn all this? If you keep this up, I'm really going to start doubting whether I'm even a man."
Wen Ke: "If you were missing those two ounces of flesh, you could only dream of becoming a man."
"Wen Ke! Be careful, one day you might poison yourself to death."
Wen Ke shrugged, and Lu Kou turned to look at her with gentle eyes.
"It seems you haven't had any other hobbies besides martial arts all this time."
Wen Ke looked away and said quietly, "That's right, my goal is to kill you and become the next Qibao."
"Oh dear, why are we talking about things in the building again while we're eating? I'm exhausted just talking about it. Jinling and Qibao are simply beyond human capabilities. You are all prodigies. A-Ling is among the Seven Treasures, Wen Ke is close to being a Seven Treasure, and only Thirteen Niang and I are ordinary."
Thirteen Sister imitated Cao Ning's sigh, drawing out the sound, "Ah—"
There was a chuckle from the audience.
"Sister, you're laughing at me." Thirteen Sister puffed out her cheeks.
"No, Thirteen is very cute, like a bright yellow orange."
"I know that, Bai Xian (a type of citrus) also smells like citrus when it's burned! My name is too!"
Lu Kou smiled faintly. When she named Shisan Niang, Bai Xian was the first thing that came to mind.
Six-year-old Lu Kou said to her playmate, who was two years younger and didn't have a name, "If you don't have a name, then take my surname and be called Xian! Lu Xian!"
After the meal, Lu Kou took them for a stroll along Chang'an Street, where Cao Ning played around with Thirteen Sister while holding a candied hawthorn.
"Ah Ning! Give it back to me."
"No, no, I just won't!"
"You mean Ah Ning, I'm not talking to you anymore."
"Okay, I was wrong, please don't ignore me."
Lu Kou and Wen Ke walked behind them, strolling leisurely. The street was crowded, and someone accidentally bumped into Lu Kou, muttering "A Ning" under their breath.
Lu Kou glanced at him subconsciously when she heard the familiar name. Looking at his back, she noticed that his leg seemed to be in bad shape, and he was stumbling.
Wen Ke said with dissatisfaction, "Don't you know how to apologize when you bump into someone?"
"I'm fine, maybe he has something urgent to attend to." Lu Kou glanced ahead and saw that the two people who were having fun ahead had long since disappeared from sight.
"You've been very good-natured since you got married. Besides your flowers and plants, you also appreciate the good qualities in others."
"I didn't."
"hehe."
After dinner at the Ming family's house, Fan Lingzhang chatted with his companion Xu, mentioning a time when the four of them had gathered together and won a lot of lanterns that night.
Her eyes trembled. No wonder she had always felt that Cao Ning's name sounded familiar. At first, she thought it was her past memories playing tricks on her.
Actually, that's not all.
Furthermore, the missing woman of Cao Chunfeng, a jailer of the Dali Temple, is also named Cao Ning. She carefully recalled the time when she went missing, and the calculations matched up. Cao Ning, who had been searching for her family at Tianque Tower, is very likely the child of Cao Chunfeng, who had spent half his life searching for the missing woman.
How ingenious!
Lu Kou used to only selectively tell Fan Lingzhang what she knew, but that night, she dreamed of the past.
Cao Chunfeng, who was stumbling along the streets of Chang'an searching for the girl, brushed past Cao Ning, who was laughing and joking.
Everything in the past was incredibly clear in the dream, even the moon that night seemed exceptionally round.
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