57 Ancient City (12)
◎ His gaze fell on the two clasped hands, dark emotions swirling in his eyes.◎
Suddenly, a slight itch appeared on Li Jintang's waist. Her face felt hot and she immediately turned her head away. However, she was afraid that any excessive movement would hurt him, so she had to maintain her strange posture and asked cautiously, "Xie An?"
He finally said "hmm", released his hand from her waist, and stood up with his back hand on the ground.
"Stop, stop it!"
Suddenly there was an angry shout, and everyone stopped what they were doing and turned around in horror. They couldn't understand why their city lord, who had just been ready to kill his enemies in an instant, suddenly showed kindness.
Seeing this, Qu Lingfei and his companions still did not dare to let down their guard. They quickly took a few steps back and huddled together with their backs facing each other.
"Junior sister, you... don't you remember me?" The city lord seemed to have lost his soul for some reason, and walked towards them with a staggering gait. The swords pointing at him with cold light seemed to not exist. There was only one person in his eyes at this moment.
"Junior Sister, I'm Senior Brother Qi..." He stretched out a hand, as if wanting to touch her, but stopped a few steps away, his eyes filled with disbelief. "Junior Sister, I'm Qi He. I've been looking for you for so long. Have you... really forgotten me?"
Li Jintang turned his face away, his staggering figure reflected in his pupils.
Is he... calling himself?
Confusion appeared in her eyes, and she asked uncertainly, "Are you... talking to me?"
With just these few words, the other person's face instantly turned pale, as if something had irritated him. The surrounding citizens didn't even dare to breathe. This was the first time they had seen the city lord lose his composure like this.
Li Jintang looked at him blankly, feeling uneasy. Why was he looking for her? Could it be for some good reason? Was he trying to silence her?
She took a step back and instinctively reached out to grab the edge of the boy's clothes. She tilted her head slightly, her eyes seeking help from him.
Xie Changyan stood between the two of them, showing no intention of giving in. He glanced sideways and smiled slightly, completely ignoring Qi He. "Atang, do you recognize him?"
Of course she wouldn't recognize him. Li Jintang shook his head and then asked tentatively, "Should I know you?"
"City Lord Qi, Atang isn't from the demon world. You must have mistaken him." Qu Lingfei had just experienced the power of the folding fan and was worried that he might suddenly attack Li Jintang, so he hurried forward to interrupt. "As for the statue, we were only trying to protect ourselves and didn't want to hurt anyone. Your citizens also hurt us without explanation. I wonder if you can just let us go..."
But Qi He stood there with his eyes wide open, not paying any attention to what others said. It seemed that the question just asked by the girl had hit him hard.
He suddenly lowered his head, rubbing his fingers between his brows. He chuckled softly at first, then burst into uncontrollable laughter. Everyone looked at him in fear, wondering why he had suddenly changed his nature and acted in a rather confusing manner.
"How could you not recognize me? How could you have forgotten me..." He muttered to himself, like a puppy who finally found his owner but was cruelly rejected. He wanted to go forward but didn't dare to get too close.
"Maybe the City Lord has poor hearing," Xie Changyan said, raising his arm slightly, his white robe sleeves falling to cover the girl's chest. He remained stationary, not letting her get even a step closer, his eyes etched with a cold, unapproachable look. "Since she said she doesn't recognize you, why bother approaching her?"
Qi He turned a deaf ear to her, but for fear of scaring her, he just stood there and didn't move forward.
"Forget it, then forget it. As long as you are still alive, it doesn't matter if you never remember me..."
When Li Jintang heard this, he felt a chill in his heart.
When did she die again? Perhaps this man missed his old friend too much and went mad.
Is it just that she looks so crowded? First, Sister Alan claimed to be her own sister, and now there is Qi He who claims to be "senior brother"... Li Jintang is almost doubting himself.
Qi He suddenly took a few steps back, raised his arms around his body, and instantly rolled up the weapons in the hands of several city residents into the air. With a bang, all the weapons turned into ashes and fell down.
"I apologize for offending you all these past two days." Qi He changed his ferocious demeanor and politely bowed. "I'm sure you've all been extremely tired these past two days. Why don't you stay a few more days? I'll definitely have someone treat you well."
"Stop! You mean you want us to stay?" Qiu Yan had just seen him go crazy for a while, and now he was spouting even more outrageous words. She couldn't stand it any longer, so she asked, "Do you think we're fools? Where are you planning to take us tonight?"
"You can go first, no one will stop you." Qi He said calmly without even moving his eyes. "As long as Master... Miss Li stays, you can do whatever you want."
“…”
Li Jintang suspected he had misheard, "Me?"
"Atang, don't pay any attention to him," Qiuyan frowned and immediately interrupted, "Who knows what you're thinking? I don't think we can stay here a moment longer. Brother, let's go."
"Are you sure you want to leave?" Qi He leaned over and said coldly, "My puppets are all poisoned. If you don't want to die suddenly and inexplicably after leaving, you'd better stay here." His eyes turned, and when they met Xie Changyan, they suddenly turned sarcastic. "Especially this young master. If you don't take the antidote, I'm afraid you won't have much time left."
"Just some low-quality poison," Xie Changyan said with a smile, his expression unchanged. "Do you think you can threaten me with such a small thing?"
"Xie An, just listen to him." Li Jintang gently tugged at his sleeve. Ever since he was injured by those puppets, his condition was obviously not right. He could not be the protagonist and his life would be ruined because of her.
"Why are you still kneeling? Take them downstairs and arrange for good rooms." Qi He glanced at the two men's hands, which were very close together, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said almost through gritted teeth, "Five rooms."
"Yes." The citizens responded in unison and stood up in a hurry. The crowd surrounded the five people.
"City Lord, your subordinates..."
Before Si Yun could finish his sentence, he was grabbed by the neck. Qi He's veins bulged on his hands, his eyes filled with anger. "What's a statue? Do you know why I did this in the first place? I did it all for her. I wanted to become stronger for her. I would give up anything for her, and yet you almost hurt her..."
Her face was flushed red from being pinched, and she seemed unable to breathe. Her hands hung limply, and she did not resist at all.
The force on her neck suddenly loosened, and she leaned back suddenly, supporting herself with her elbows. After a few dry coughs on the ground, she managed to raise her head. In her blurred vision, she saw the city lord with his back to her, slightly raising his head, as if sighing.
"Never mind. I've dreamt of her countless days and nights, and each time, her figure would eventually turn to nothing but foam, and I could only watch her depart. This time... I finally saw her alive. Even if the price is destroying ten more statues, and all my years of hard work go to waste, I... have no regrets."
*
"What on earth was the City Lord thinking?" Qiu Yan restlessly circled the room three times before finally stopping. "And my senior brother refused to hurt those citizens. Otherwise, we would have escaped long ago..."
Li Jintang sat on the couch and looked at her, pursing his lips and smiling, "Sister Qiuyan, please don't blame Brother Qu. If it were me, I wouldn't want to hurt them either."
Qiu Yan stopped, her eyes filled with worry. "Just now, Qi He called you Junior Sister. I don't know what he wants to do. I'm afraid... I'm afraid it will be bad for you."
"Don't worry, sister. If he wanted to hurt me, he could have done it just now. Why would he have gone through so much trouble to keep us here?" Li Jintang said, frowning slightly. "But he's nowhere to be found now. As for the antidote... where are we supposed to find it?"
"Don't worry about the antidote," Qu Lingfei said with a smile, leaning against the door. "Don't forget your fellow Daoist Nangong. He has quite a few elixirs. I agreed to stay just now only to temporarily calm him down. We'll leave later, when the others are sound asleep, at night."
The three of them seemed to be in good health, nothing serious happening to them… Li Jintang blinked, stood up and said, “I’ll go check on Xie An.”
After going out and taking a detour, he arrived at Xie An's room. He just didn't know why there were two guards standing in front of the door, one on the left and one on the right. Li Jintang paused for a moment before realizing that there were also two guards in front of his own room.
"Young lady, please wait." The two men stretched out their arms to stop her. "Our city lord has ordered that you cannot enter."
"Why?" Li Jintang felt increasingly puzzled. She listened carefully, but there seemed to be no movement in the room. She became even more anxious. "The person inside is injured. I want to go in and see him. Please get out of the way."
The two men looked embarrassed. "Please forgive me, young lady, but if we let you in, we will have a hard time explaining to the city lord later."
"If we don't tell him, how would he know?" Li Jintang laughed in anger. "Didn't your city lord promise to treat us well? I just want to see my friend. Why won't you allow me to do so?"
After arguing for a while, the two men refused to give in no matter what. Li Jintang was angry and anxious, but there was nothing he could do about them, so he had to turn around and go back into the room.
It was late at night, but she didn't put out the candle on the table and just sat on the couch.
"Kid, are you worried about that kid and can't sleep?"
Li Jintang did not deny it: "He was injured because of me."
The Book of Destiny said gruffly, "You saved his life at the beginning, and now we're even. Why are you feeling guilty?"
"That's different..." she whispered to herself.
The Book of Destiny was about to say something else when a slight sound interrupted it.
Li Jintang looked suspiciously in the direction where the sound came from, only to see an arrow firmly stuck in the wooden window. She went over and pulled it out, and found a note tied to it.
"If you want the antidote, come back in half an hour following the above route. Remember, only you can come."
Her fingers trembled and she put the note away.
"Junior sister, you are here."
At the end of the silver glow, the moonlight focused on a huge castle. As if sensing something, the moment her hands touched the door, the door slowly opened inward automatically. The person inside turned around and faced her with a smile.
"I'm not your junior sister." The air here was so cold for some reason. Li Jintang shivered and looked up at him. "Can you give me the antidote now?"
"Brother wants to reminisce about the past, but why are you so focused on the antidote?" Qi He sighed, slowly walked down the stairs, and approached her step by step. "Miss Li, are you so anxious for them, or... for him?"
Li Jintang didn't understand what he was saying. She took out the note she had kept safe and said, "It's written clearly here. If you want me to come, I'll come. But where's the antidote?"
He stopped talking, and the two of them looked at each other in silence for a long time.
"Now that you have the antidote, can you please stay?" Qi He stood in front of her, his eyes filled with pleading. "Since you've forgotten me, then forget everything. Stay here, and I'll treat you very well. You shouldn't recall the past anymore."
Li Jintang didn't answer, but just looked up at him.
This person is so weird... She felt a little regretful that she shouldn't have listened to him and come here alone.
Qi He suddenly turned and left. A moment later, he came out of a small room with a black bottle in his hand. "The antidote you want is inside."
"Thank you very much." Li Jintang stretched out his hand tremblingly, and he could no longer tell whether it was because of the cold or because of fear.
His fingers had already touched the bottle, but he moved his five fingers down and grasped her slender wrist.
His eyes lit up, as if he had seen hope again: "If you don't let me call you Junior Sister, then how about I call you Tang'er from now on?"
"If you like, you can call me whatever you want." Li Jintang struggled a little uncomfortably, but failed to break free.
Anyway, according to Brother Qu's plan, they will leave here forever soon and will never meet again, so what is the "future"?
"Look, he's here." Qi He smiled slightly, holding her hand and refusing to let go.
Li Jintang was stunned and turned to look at the door. He saw a tall figure cast in the moonlight. The young man stood at the door with a calm expression, like a shadow that had lost its breath.
His gaze fell on the two clasped hands, and dark emotions surged in his eyes.
【Author’s words】
I hope my manuscripts can last until the end of the final week [poor]
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