Chapter 43 Dodder (Part 7) A Guilty Heart
The fog in the fields was thick and swirling, like spilled paste, so sticky you could squeeze water out of it. Beside the country road, in a haystack, lay four people lying haphazardly, a truly eerie sight.
Song Qiling slowly opened her eyes, staring at the thick white fog in front of her, her mind blank for a moment.
Beneath me was soft, moist earth, and in front of me was a similarly damp mist.
He slightly clenched his fingers and touched a clump of wild grass.
They used the sky as their blanket and the earth as their bed.
Did she actually sleep in the fields all night?
Staring blankly into the void for a long while, she slowly frowned and reached for the hidden pocket at her waist.
The fingertip touched a few round, hard objects, and the finger froze in place. After hesitating for a moment, the fingertip picked up the object and brought it close to its eyes to examine it closely.
Red, thin-skinned peanuts.
With a bang, the scene of last night's wedding procession flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern.
Song Qiling's chest heaved as she gasped for breath.
When did she become so unguarded that she failed to notice anything amiss?
Who would get married on a moonlit night, and who could see through her disguise with just their sense of smell?
In retrospect, the villagers who blocked the road yesterday were probably not goblins from the mountains. And these few people must have accidentally stumbled upon someone else's wedding.
"Hmm." Yu Qi sat up sleepily, rubbing the back of his neck and muttering, "Last night I dreamed that I was being married off in a grand sedan chair carried by eight men, but all the sedan chair bearers were foxes with pointed snouts and monkey-like faces, it was terrifying..." He suddenly realized something was wrong, raised his arms, looked at his muddy, wet clothes, paused for a moment, and then raised his hands to slap his face.
Drinking is supposed to lead to trouble, so how come you're also having hallucinations?
The slap landed with a crisp sound, startling the crows on the treetops into flapping their wings and flying away.
Suddenly, a strange "squeak" came from the bushes. Yu Qi was startled and hunched his neck to look back. He saw a brown shadow dart past like lightning.
Judging from its shape, it is a four-legged animal.
It was missing a tuft of hair on the back of its neck, and when it turned its head in a hurry, its eyes gleamed with an eerie green light, looking just like two moldy mung beans.
Startled, it instantly scurried into the depths of the grass.
Startled awake by the noise, Liu Dai also sat up, supporting himself on the ground, his face filled with confusion. "Is this the Yellow Springs?"
"Pah, pah, pah, what nonsense are you talking about!" Yu Qi quickly stood up, walked to his side, and offered him a hand. "Liu Xingchuan, didn't you see it just now? There was a weasel over there."
He gestured towards the bushes behind him, his smile more like a grimace, "Tell me, have we encountered a ghost?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Dai breathed a sigh of relief, "It's good that I encountered a ghost, at least I didn't lose my life."
How can a person be so open-minded?
Yu Qi suspected he wasn't fully awake, and resisted the urge to slap him. He stood up, turned around, and looked at Song Qiling and Gu Lianzhou. "Song San, is Gu Si still asleep?"
Seeing that the man was still lying on the ground, several people worked together to help him up. They were relieved to see that he was breathing.
"Get out of here, get out of here! What kind of place is this? I'm never coming back."
Yu Qi had sharp eyesight and, through the thick white fog, spotted Ma Cong not far away. He then helped Gu Lianzhou, stumbling along, towards the carriage.
-
As dusk settled, two winding ruts were left on the muddy road by the wheels of vehicles.
Song Qiling huddled in the corner of the carriage, bumping against the wall with a "thud" as it jolted along, wincing in pain: "This lousy road, it must have been neglected for a long time, right?"
"It must have been washed away by the heavy rain last night," Liu Dai agreed.
Springtime brings frequent rain, and last night's rain came suddenly, soaking the soil until it was soft. As the wheels rolled over, it felt as if they were sinking into a cloud of clouds.
After exchanging a few jokes, Song Qiling looked up at the man sitting upright opposite her and couldn't help but say, "Junior brother, you don't look too well. Should we have Physician Liu take your pulse?"
As soon as he got into the carriage, Gu Lianzhou woke up. He didn't say a word, just stared blankly at her shoes with his calm, unwavering eyes.
I don't know what's so appealing about those mud-covered, tattered boots...
Thinking this, Song Qiling shrank her feet and turned to look at Liu Dai with a helpless expression.
Liu Dai immediately understood, rolled up his sleeves, and stretched out his arm to grasp Gu Lianzhou's wrist, "Brother Gu..."
But his hand grasped at empty air.
The man, who had seemed lost in thought just moments before, suddenly bent down, picked up an inconspicuous pebble from the ground, straightened his back, and gave Song Qiling a smile. "There's something dirty here."
Song Qiling: "..."
You look like something dirty to me.
For no reason, he's been possessed again.
What a terrible thing to do.
Yu Qi cracked his whip outside the carriage, and the outline of the city wall in the distance was already faintly visible. Rubbing his eyes, the young man chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Well, another illusion."
As the carriage approached the city and followed the crowd inside, a red-tasseled spear suddenly stretched out horizontally, its tip flashing coldly as it was pressed against the horse's nose.
The horse snorted in fright, its front hooves raised high, causing the carriage to lurch and shake violently.
Beneath the red-tasseled spear, the city guard, with his eyes slanted and nostrils flared, looked at Yu Qi, who was driving the carriage, and asked, "Where's the travel permit?"
Yu Qi paused, glancing at his waist, and saw a wooden plaque polished to a shine, engraved with the four large characters "Southern City Patrol Inspector".
Have we really arrived in the southern part of the city?
Is it not an illusion?
Seeing his hesitation, the guard impatiently urged, "There are other people waiting to enter the city. If you don't have a travel permit, please turn back and don't delay others."
What travel permit? Nobody told him he needed a travel permit to enter the city.
Yu Qi hurriedly reached for his sleeve pocket.
My sleeve pockets were full of odds and ends; there was no way I could find that damn travel permit.
Seeing that the red-tasseled spear was about to strike him, Yu Qi quickly turned to the side and shouted into the carriage, "It's extremely urgent! Which of you has a travel permit?"
Of the four, only Song Qiling is reliable.
Unfortunately, the people they picked up along the way turned out to be a burden.
"How can your travel permit be enough for just one person?" The guard rolled up the travel permit made of mulberry paper and handed it back, looking suspiciously at the others. Seeing their dusty and dirty faces, he asked warily, "Are you perhaps refugees?"
Yu Qi hurriedly waved his hand, "No, sir, we are law-abiding citizens."
"Do you know that those without a travel permit are considered criminals?" The guard was an incorruptible man. Seeing that these people were still arguing, he waved his hand and signaled the people behind him to step forward. "Since you don't have a travel permit, please go back."
How can you refuse someone entry when they're at the door?
Yu Qi immediately became anxious, "Sir, what's wrong with you making an exception? It's almost dark, where are we supposed to go?"
The guards also lost their patience. "I don't care where you go. Go wherever you want, but don't stand here and get in my way."
There is no room for maneuver.
Just when everyone was losing hope, the sedan chair door was suddenly opened from the inside, and a tall man returned. He jumped off the carriage and came to the guard, handing him a square jade token.
The guard took the item with a complicated expression, and couldn't help but glance at the man in front of him a few more times.
He looks like a decent person, how come he's an idiot?
“If you don’t have a travel permit, you can just go back. There’s no need to bribe anyone like this…” he said, looking down at the jade token in his hand.
Perhaps due to external impact, although the jade pendant is of excellent quality, there is a crack running through it, separating the four characters "Tianshui Gu Family" on it.
Suddenly remembering something, the guard's expression hardened. He examined the jade tablet from all angles, then pulled his colleague over to study the Taotie pattern on it. Suddenly, as if he had just realized something, he raised his hand and bowed to Gu Lianzhou.
"So you are from the Tianshui family of Huaidu. Forgive my poor eyesight for not recognizing the young master of the Gu family." He returned the jade token with both hands, his attitude becoming much more polite. "Since you have been introduced by such an esteemed person, this jade token can be considered a travel permit. Please, everyone."
The remaining three all turned their gazes to Gu Lianzhou, secretly giving him a thumbs up in their hearts.
Unexpectedly, Gu Lianzhou's identity proved to be so useful at this crucial moment...
-
"Brother Song, where are we going?"
As soon as he entered the South Gate, Yu Qi was overjoyed and even inquired about the purpose of Song Qiling and his brother's trip.
Song Qiling had no intention of hiding anything, so she simply answered truthfully, "I'm going to the Murong family to find my martial uncle."
"The Murong family..." Yu Qi pondered for a moment, "Is it the residence of Murong Xiao, the family of Ten Thousand Weapons Sect and the family of treacherous blades?"
Upon hearing this, Song Qiling raised an eyebrow in surprise, "You actually know so much about the Murong family of Nancheng?"
Seeing his dazed expression, she couldn't help but tease him, "Could it be that you and the head of the Murong family are old acquaintances?"
Hearing her say that, Yu Qi felt as if she had swallowed a dead fly, and said with her neck stiff, "Who is he an old acquaintance? The Murong family is so famous, I just heard it from others."
Liu Dai glanced at him and said calmly, "Seventh Brother Yu, I remember you should also be from Nancheng."
Wow, there really is some connection between them.
"That's great, Yu Qi, so you've come home." Song Qiling grinned. "Since you're already here, why not come with me and see the world?"
Who wants to see this wretched world?
Yu Qi followed the group with a straight face until he saw the familiar Murong family plaque in the distance, and suddenly exclaimed "Ouch!"
"What's wrong now?" Liu Dai couldn't help but twitch his lips as he saw the fellow clutching his stomach and making a grimacing face. "Don't tell me it's a stomachache. You've had it hurt several times on the way here..."
Song Qiling shook her head helplessly and said, "Yu Qi, stop stomping your feet, the soles of your shoes are about to spark."
Could it be that a demon lives in the Murong family? Otherwise, why would Yu Qi be so afraid of it?
"You don't know, the Murong family is full of swords, axes, and halberds, and there are eighty-one torture instruments. It is a living hell. I am too scared to go..." Yu Qi retreated again and again, almost as if the words "I have a guilty conscience" were written on his face.
"That was too clumsy." Song Qiling stopped and sighed deeply. "As soon as you heard we were coming to the Murong residence, you had a hundred excuses. What could be the reason you're so hesitant? Could it be...?"
Blinking, as if understanding the key point, Song Qiling turned around hesitantly, saying incredulously, "You're not from the Murong family, are you?"
Seeing Yu Qi's face turn deathly pale, looking as if his secret was laid bare, Song Qiling's temples throbbed with barely visible veins. "Did I really guess right?"
No wonder he has a guilty conscience.
So it turns out that the closer one gets to home, the more timid one becomes...
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