Ghost Swallows Buddha
"Poisoned." Xu Ning saw it, and Tang Xixu didn't want to hide it from her anymore. She would know it one day.
Xu Ning thought for a while: "Is it Zi Kui Powder?"
Tang Xixu curled the corners of his lips and smiled, his tone gentle: "Yes, but it will be better soon."
Silly girl, I was kidding you, of course not.
What was poisoned was not Zi Kui Powder, but a more potent poison - Ghost Devouring Buddha.
Tang Xixu didn't tell the truth because he didn't want to make Xu Ning worry.
As for when it happened, that was quite a long time ago.
When?
It was probably the day he had just come to power, when someone provoked Buhuocheng, and the enemy took advantage of his inattention and put something in his wine glass.
In the past, Tang Xixu didn’t care and didn’t want to care, but now he seems to care a little.
Xu Ning breathed a sigh of relief, her eyebrows relaxed: "Oh. That's good."
There was only one candle lit in the room, and the moonlight was like water. It was still a little chilly in the south during the twelfth lunar month. A thin layer of snow fell tonight, and the wind carried the tiny snowflakes onto the woman's hair.
Tang Xixu walked over and brushed the snowflakes off the girl's hair. Xu Ning was stunned and couldn't move for a moment.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you." The two were silent for a long time. Tang Xixu always felt something was wrong because he was the one who hurt someone.
Xu Ning looked at the wound, a series of teeth marks, but it wasn't actually deep. The woman didn't care at all and didn't take it to heart: "It's okay, it's just a minor injury, and you didn't mean to do it. Just apply some medicine and it will be fine."
It was inappropriate to sit quietly like this any longer. Tang Xixu was very reluctant to leave, although he did not show any of his inner peace.
"I'm leaving now. You should get some rest early."
"Um."
Tang Xixu had just stepped halfway into the door when Xu Ning suddenly called out to him, "Every night I feel like there's someone in the room, but as soon as I open my eyes, they're gone. And I don't feel like they've done anything inappropriate. That person, is it you?"
Tentative, with affirmation in the tentativeness.
The young man stopped and admitted quietly, "Yes."
"Can't you sleep either?" Xu Ning was not angry. She just thought that Tang Xixu had other reasons.
In fact, Xu Ning was very afraid that he would answer "I can't sleep", and then say "I can only sleep next to you". Xu Ning would not refuse a "patient".
After a while, "No, I just have nothing to do and I'm bored." Tang Xixu made up an excuse casually, turned his head and smiled faintly.
Hearing this answer, Xu Ning felt a chill down her spine. "You can't sleep, right? There are plenty of things you could do. Why do you have to stare at me? I'm not a fairy." Being stared at in the middle of the night was truly terrifying.
Xu Ning glanced at himself in the bronze mirror. Although he was not a beautiful woman, he had sharp eyes and a heroic demeanor.
Tang Xixu really couldn't sleep, and Xu Ning gradually fell asleep, but he was reluctant to go to sleep. Only at night did he dare to look at Xu Ning openly, as if he could never see enough of her.
Tang Xixu did not stay tonight, and it was already midnight when Xu Ning fell asleep.
There was no one around that night, and it was the most peaceful night Xu Ning had ever slept.
The next day, Xu Ning was woken up at daybreak.
"Brother, what's the matter? Why do you have to wake me up so early in the morning? Do you know that this is very rude?" Xu Ning was still sleepy and didn't want to open his eyes. To be more precise, he didn't get enough sleep, and his liver fire was strong and his temper was a little bad.
Tang Xixu had no temper in front of Xu Ning. Remember, don't call her when Ning Ning is still asleep.
The young man simply held open his robe, and the girl frowned and squinted her eyes, putting it on reluctantly and skillfully.
"It snowed all night last night. Although it has stopped, it's still much colder outside than usual." Tang Xixu prepared a cloak yesterday and put it on Xu Ning's outer robe, and tied the ropes on both sides of the fur collar into bows.
The young man held the girl's hand, stepped on the broken snow, and walked on the gravel road.
After galloping for a few days, they arrived at the place. It was an old house with no people and had been abandoned for a long time. The plaque was loose and covered with cobwebs, with a few flying insects occasionally stuck on it. There were two big words written on the plaque - Pan Mansion.
"Squeak" Tang Xixu was the first to push open the door.
"Pan Ruyi? You are not dead!" Xu Ning saw the face that should have been dead as soon as he stepped into the main courtyard.
Pei Shan helped Pan Ruyi sit down. Pan Ruyi covered her handkerchief with her hands and coughed softly. She said softly, "Thank you, Master Tangxi, for saving me in time that day. Otherwise, I would have died long ago."
Xu Ning raised an eyebrow, looking somewhat incredulous. She glanced at Tang Xixu. "I didn't expect you to be so kindhearted. Even after falling like that, you still wanted to save me."
From then on, Xu Ning's opinion of Tang Xixu changed a little.
Tang Xixu felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by Xu Ning, "Ahem."
Seeing this, Pan Ruyi and Pei Shan looked at each other with a smile.
The Pan Mansion was old and dilapidated. After the winter snow had cleared up, the house had been in disrepair for a long time. The room was damp, the good wood was rotten, and there was a hint of mold in the humid air. Spider webs as big as brocade handkerchiefs hung on the beams.
"Miss Pan, what did Uncle Pan give you before he passed away?" Tang Xixu said in a serious and gentle tone.
Pan Ruyi frowned and thought for a long time, but she had no recollection. "No. Father didn't do anything unusual. He was only worried when the Armored Guards used it as an excuse to temporarily store the disaster relief money at the Pan Mansion. I remember the night before my father was imprisoned, I happened to be passing by and heard him say to my mother, 'I've let you down in this life. Find a chance to hide this.'"
Obviously, the focus is on "this".
Xu Ning frowned, thinking about the case: "Did your mother do anything special before she left?"
Pan Ruyi thought about it and realized that her mother was normal and didn't do anything strange. She prepared dinner early as usual and waited for her husband to come home.
But her husband didn't return, and what awaited her was the armored army. His mother remained calm, as if she had anticipated all this. She locked Xiao Ruyi and her maidservant in a dark room behind the murals in the main hall, and that's how they escaped.
While thinking, Xu Ning saw the brocade handkerchief held by Pan Ruyi. It was green and had a simple pattern of a narcissus.
"Miss Ruyi, this brocade handkerchief of yours is very beautiful. Your mother's craftsmanship is truly excellent."
"Yes, my mother has always been good at needlework. This is the only thing she left me before she left." Pan Ruyi spread the handkerchief on the wooden table.
The stitching is unique, but the inscription next to it has nothing to do with "Daffodils".
She loves beauty by nature and doesn't like to embellish herself. She changes her clothes at will. She may have daffodils in her belly, which others admire in front of her.
"This is the answer to the riddle. I saw it during the Gods' Parade." Xu Ning hadn't figured it out then, but now she could answer it straight away: "A vase."
Pan Ruyi looked at these words for a long time without understanding them, but now she suddenly realized: "Miss Xu really means what she said."
"Vase, vase. Do you have a vase at home?" Such a strange answer must be no coincidence. Xu Ning looked around and found not a single decent ornament, let alone a vase.
"The Armored Guards turned the Pan Mansion upside down that day and confiscated everything." Pan Ruyi smiled bitterly, her pupils unfocused.
Xu Ning always felt that something was wrong, "Miss, think about it again, what did your mother say before she left." There must be no clues to such an important matter.
Pan Ruyi thought for a moment, fearing she would disappoint everyone, and recalled the insignificant words Madam Pan had said before she left. "I remember my mother said before she left, 'Take care, Yi'er. If you need anything, go find Granny Ping.' Granny Ping was my mother's maidservant who came with her dowry. After my mother left, she treated me like her own daughter."
"What was her original name?" Xu Ning asked.
Pan Ruyi hadn't seen Granny Ping for a long time since she got married. After a while, she remembered, "Huaping, Cui Huaping."
Vases, painted screens.
The four people suddenly realized that the evidence was not in the vase but in the hands of a man.
"Crack"
The brittle wood seemed to be broken by a heavy object.
"Who?" Xu Ning looked towards the source of the sound and saw a black shadow passing by.
Tang Xixu took Xu Ning and ran out of the door quickly, while Pei Shan and Pan Ruyi led the way, galloping on horseback.
"Ah Xu, this is about the truth behind General Mo's tragic case. You go first and I'll cover your retreat." Xu Ning seized the opportunity, pulled the reins, and spoke sternly to Tang Xixu.
"You..." Tang Xixu looked worried. Xu Ning reacted quickly and jumped off the horse immediately. He took the Xilin sword hanging on the horse and patted the horse's butt again.
The horse neighs and is about to gallop away in a cloud of dust.
Tang Xixu was a little confused. He grabbed the reins and wanted to jump off the horse, but Xu Ning stopped him: "You have to find out the truth, otherwise I will never forgive you in this life!"
The woman's words were sonorous and forceful, like an order but also full of hope. Was Xu Ning thinking about her mission? She didn't know. She only knew that at this moment, she just wanted to clear the Mo family's name.
Tang Xixu did not look back. He believed in Xu Ning, the girl who had resolutely decided to accompany him on this thorny road.
The horse was galloping in the woods, the wind was whistling in my ears, and the leaves were rustling. I don’t know if the wind blew sand into Tang Xixu’s eyes or what, but a few clear tears floated in the wind.
It was the fifteenth year of Zhenning, on a starry night, Xiaotang Xixu met his brother while passing through a dangerous place.
Tang Xixu searched for a long time and finally found him in a pile of dead bodies. Mo Tingzhou's face was mixed with black ash and blood, and he was still breathing his last breath.
Tang Xixu hugged his brother and cried out in pain, his voice hoarse: "Brother! Brother! Waaaaa——"
"Brother Zhao, don't, don't cry." Mo Tingzhou had no strength left, not even the strength to speak. He just felt that his trachea was blocked and he couldn't breathe.
Tangxi Xu's courtesy name was Yinzhao, which was the name given to him by his father and brothers when he was just born.
Yin Zhao, Yin Zhao, lead you to the light of this world.
"Brother, brother. Hold on, I'll take you to see a doctor right away." It would take three and a half hours to get from here to the city by horseback. Even if they brought the person there, the body would be already cold.
Mo Tingzhou wiped away the tears on Tang Xixu's face and opened his eyes with difficulty. His chin was covered with blood. "Zhao'er, go forward and live a down-to-earth life. Help me save your sister-in-law and her unborn child. Tell her I'm sorry. I can't give her a wedding..."
"No, no. Brother, I won't let you die." The twelve-year-old boy shook his head desperately.
"You must live well, live well..." Mo Tingzhou gave the young man his final words, taking his last breath and slowly closing his eyes. The flames of war continued to burn, the yellow sand still flew, the sand serving as coffin lids, the earth as coffins, burying countless brave and heroic bodies.
When Xu Ning fell to the ground, he rolled around and was covered in dust.
The man in black was not riding a horse. As expected, he was chasing us at a fast pace, climbing walls and running along tall trees.
Xu Ning stepped onto the tree trunk and pointed her sword at the enemy's back. The girl's eyes were sharp, like two ice spikes in the deep winter.
The man in black sensed a flash of cold air behind him, stopped, turned around, and drew his sword.
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