Chapter 65
◎Honest.◎
The couple hesitated and looked at each other.
Ci Ying said softly, "Is it inconvenient? I'm really in trouble. If there's anything I can help with, just let me know."
The couple didn't realize their conflicted expressions had already betrayed them. They wanted to refuse but couldn't bring themselves to say it. Facing Ciying's pleading gaze, the woman hesitated and said, "It's not inconvenient at all, it's just that the journey is quite far..."
Ci Ying followed the couple's gaze into the distance, seeing only dense mountain bushes blocking out the sun. She said softly, "It's okay. I want to go there once, no matter how far it is."
As he spoke, Ci Ying took out a bag of silver from his bosom and handed it to the woman: "You stay at home to take care of Xiaobao. Can you please accompany me?"
Ci Ying had already given the woman a lot of things, both openly and secretly, so how could she accept this silver? She tried to refuse, but Ci Ying still stuffed the silver into her arms. The woman looked at the hunter, and Xiao Bao came over and shook the woman's arm. After hesitating for a while, the couple finally agreed.
The journey was indeed not short. Ciying and his group set out early in the morning and did not arrive until noon.
Standing in front of the cave, the hunter said, "Miss, this is it. However, hunters often take shelter from the rain and sleep here. I don't know how many people have come and gone in recent days. What you are looking for may not still be there."
Ci Ying said softly, "Thank you," bowed, and walked in.
My memory of that day is actually very vague, but it should be this.
Ci Ying looked around, trying to find something unusual, but every part of the cave was very ordinary, almost the same as she remembered. She could even remember that she seemed to be leaning against that corner. Ci Ying walked over slowly, squatted down, touched the stone that had hit her back, and then her eyes slowly fixed on the ground.
Just as the hunter said, after she left, other hunters or people from nearby must have come. It rained a few days ago, and the ground still felt wet and soft. At first glance, there were obvious intertwined footprints of Ning and He.
Ci Ying thought about the scene of that day, walked around the cave little by little, and finally sat down at the first place.
Zhu Guang stayed with Ciying all the time. After entering the cave with Ciying, she didn't say anything. She only spoke after Ciying seemed to come to her senses.
Zhu Guang asked softly, "Is this the place?"
Ci Ying nodded and said nothing else.
Zhu Guang looked at Ci Ying with his eyes lowered, his fingers touching the soil under his feet, and after a long time, he looked outside the cave.
"Is there anything unusual?" Zhu Guang asked again, his fingers lightly hooked on his sleeves.
Ci Ying shook her head.
No.
All very common.
She didn't drop anything, and it was indeed this cave. There were indeed traces of other hunters in the cave. It sounded very normal that the hunter came to the cave to take shelter from the rain and rescued the injured her that day. Even the smell of herbs in her memory matched Xiaobao's illness.
Zhu Guang roughly guessed what Ci Ying was thinking and could only sigh that the young master had done things so thoroughly. Even if Ci Ying had doubts, she could not be sure, because the hunter actually knew the location of the cave.
Ci Ying stood up again, looked around, and walked out of the cave half an hour later.
The hunter was waiting outside. Ci Ying already had the answer in her mind, so she naturally wouldn't make things difficult for the hunter anymore.
The hunter asked anxiously, "Did you find the girl?"
Ci Ying took out an earring from her sleeve and said softly, "I found it. Thank you very much. Sorry for bothering you. Please go back quickly. The mountain road is not easy to walk on."
The hunter asked Ciying if they would go back with him. Zhu Guang looked at Ciying, who shook her head, "We're going back. Please say goodbye to Xiaobao for me."
The hunter agreed, and when he saw Ci Ying and Zhu Guang's backs, he turned around and wanted to say something, but he suppressed his words. They also gave him silver and saved Xiaobao's life. How could he repay kindness with evil? Both sides had done him a favor. The hunter stood there until Ci Ying and the other person walked away, then he sighed.
On the mountain road, two people were leading horses. Zhu Guang looked at Ci Ying with wide eyes and said with a smile, "They are really kind. They saved you."
Ci Ying didn't say anything, and her expression didn't look good.
Zhu Guang's heart skipped a beat. In fact, she also understood that Ciying had feelings but could not confirm them. She bit her lip to suppress what she wanted to say, looking at the horse and then at Ciying.
After a while, Ci Ying suddenly apologized to Zhu Guang: "I'm sorry."
Zhu Guang was stunned for a moment, then heard Ci Ying say, "I wasn't in a good mood just now."
Zhu Guang felt that this was not something that needed to be apologized for, so he held Ci Ying's hand and said, "What's the big deal?"
Ci Ying whispered, "It's my fault that others are taking their anger out on you."
Zhu Guang didn't feel that he was being taken out on her at all. Ci Ying's sincere apology made her feel at a loss. She always understood Ci Ying better at times. Seeing Ci Ying's silence, Zhu Guang twisted the reins in his hand.
She really couldn't tell Ci Ying anything. After all, there was nothing she could tell Ci Ying about the young men she had met. Zhu Guang held Ci Ying's hand and suddenly wanted to say "I'm sorry."
Ci Ying did not hide her disappointment from Zhu Guang. She stopped at a hillside and let the horse graze.
The afternoon sun was a bit sultry. The two of them sat in the shade of the trees. Ci Ying looked into the distance, and Zhu Guang looked at Ci Ying quietly.
The horse bent down to eat grass, and Ciying suddenly lay down, her whole body lying on the grass.
The sun shone swelteringly on the trees above them, casting specks of light onto Ciying. One spot, glaring and burning, met her eyes. Though she was in the shadows, Ciying saw only a vast expanse of white. She glanced at Zhu Guang, who had unknowingly laid down beside her.
When Zhu Guang saw Ciying looking at her, she smiled.
Ci Ying also smiled gently.
But for some reason, when Zhu Guang saw Ci Ying smile, she couldn't smile anymore.
With a smile on her face, Ci Ying asked softly, "Zhu Guang, if it was you who saved me that night, how long would it take you to get me to Xiaobao's house?"
Zhu Guang subconsciously said, "One and a half hours."
They rode on horseback from early morning to noon. It took her about an hour and a half to travel the distance with Ciying on her back using light skills. She saw Ciying smile, but she didn't feel much happiness from it.
Ci Ying looked at her and whispered, "Then how long do you think it would take for the hunter to carry me, an unconscious man, on the muddy mountain road, with only a small donkey cart at home?"
At this point, Zhu Guang even thought that Ciying was expressing gratitude to the hunter for saving her life and the difficulties she had gone through, until he saw Ciying's eyes, which were as gentle as a piece of snow, with a cold white and confusion overflowing from them. Zhu Guang belatedly understood what Ciying meant.
There was a problem with timing! If it was true, as the hunter said, that he had saved the unconscious Ci Ying, then he would have had no way of getting back that day on the muddy mountain road without a horse and no Qinggong skills, not to mention that he was carrying Ci Ying with him. Zhu Guang didn't know how to respond for a moment, and his mind and body were stuck for a moment.
Ci Ying didn't need Zhu Guang's answer.
She just didn't want to keep it in her heart.
She just wanted to tell Xie Huaijin through Zhu Guang that there is always a loophole in a perfect plan, and why he always felt that she could not find any fault. But subconsciously, she didn't seem to want to say these things, but she didn't know what to say.
Countless questions swirled in her mind, and finally turned into silence that overflowed from inside her. She lay on the hot grass, her eyes staring straight at the light spot above her head. She didn't know why Xie Huaijin's face appeared in front of her.
Putting aside the long memories that followed, the scent of the hot grass in the sun brought a slightly bitter taste to her nostrils.
Zhu Guang didn't speak for a long time, but just hugged Ci Ying sideways.
She said to Ciying softly, "Forget it."
Just don't bother with anyone.
Now Ci Ying was silent. When the sun went down, the two of them resumed their journey. Some time ago, Ci Ying had written a letter to the governor, asking him to borrow some men, who had arrived in the past few days.
Ci Ying began to prepare to meet Yan Ji.
This is a big gamble, even if Ciying has the military command.
There are wolves in front and tigers behind. Whether it is Yuwen Shu, Yuwen Fu, or Yan Ji, they are all people she should be wary of. She already knows very well what power can do to a person: seduce, exploit, betray. Ci Ying sees it clearly, but she has to take the risk.
If you win the bet, you will make a huge profit.
If she loses the bet, her identity is her only way out, but once she is forced to take this path, everything she has, including herself, will be "eaten".
As for Xie Huaijin...
Ciying didn't know.
Zhu Guang told her to "forget it", but she didn't know what else she and Xie Huaijin had to forget about. She was riding on the horse. In the dark night, Ci Ying had a pair of stubborn eyes that she rarely showed in other days. She looked ahead and just kept going forward.
Yan Ji was surprised when he received Ci Ying's invitation.
He looked left and right, and finally found Xie Huaijin.
The strong smell of medicine only dissipated a little when Yan Ji opened the window. Yan Ji pinched his nose, feeling his limbs numb with bitterness. He threw a letter in front of the frail young man: "Hey, are you still alive? Help me identify if this is the young lady's handwriting. Ask me to meet her. Is she crazy?"
There were many scars on the young man's hands from drug testing, spreading from the fingertips little by little, and sinking into his wrists like a long red line. His slender, bony fingers flipped over the letter thrown by Yan Ji, and his eyes fixed lightly on the last two words "Ci Ying".
Seeing that he had been staring at her for a long time, Yan Ji became a little impatient: "Just tell me if it's true or not."
Xie Huaijin didn't even look at him. He tapped Ciying's name with his finger. He didn't say "yes" or "no", but only said, "Don't hurt her again."
Yan Ji uttered a light "huh". Yuwen Shu and Yuwen Fu had always been extremely wary of Xie Huaijin, but he was just a warrior and couldn't stand seeing Xie Huaijin acting so arrogant even though he was about to die. He said shamelessly, "So what if I'm injured?"
Even though he knew Yan Ji was challenging him, the young man still slowly raised his calm eyes and stared at Yan Ji motionlessly: "Then you and your Yan Family Army will die together."
Yan Ji hissed, his face grim: "Don't forget, Ci Ying is also from the Yan family."
Xie Huaijin looked at Yan Ji indifferently and said softly, "Do you think I care?"
"Madman." Yan Ji cursed and turned to leave. Halfway through, he turned back to pick up the invitation and left again. Xie Huaijin was looking at him quietly behind him. Yan Ji felt as if he was wrapped by a snake. Even when he walked into the yard and into the sunshine, the coldness in his bones had not yet dissipated.
Yan Ji grew up on the battlefield, and what he saw most since he was a child was dead bodies. He sensed that Xie Huaijin was serious when he said that, and there was no trace of joking in his words.
Yan Ji felt uncomfortable but couldn't help gritting his teeth. He should have killed Xie Huaijin once he caught him last time. He didn't care about the orders or the young lady. Now she could threaten him in his territory. Yan Ji decided to make trouble for Xie Huaijin.
He looked at the invitation in his hand and flicked it with his fingers.
In the room, Zhu brought warm medicine, but Xie Huaijin didn't even look at it. He just put it aside and asked them to leave first.
Zhu Er hesitated to speak, but finally couldn't help but said: "Sir, I have overwatered three pots of flowers."
Zhu Yi, who was always calm, did not stop Zhu Er from speaking wildly this time. He just looked at the young man in the wheelchair, and his eyes expressed the same meaning.
After "sending off" Yan Ji, the young man calmed down a lot. After Zhu Er spoke, he coughed twice softly and pushed his wheelchair to the table.
"Okay, I won't water the flowers." Xie Huaijin responded softly, without saying a word, and started coughing again.
Zhu Yi and Zhu Er both looked unhappy. They stood up to ask for a doctor but were stopped by the young man.
“It’s too bitter.”
When Zhu Yi and Zhu Er heard it clearly, they looked at each other. If they had not seen the same surprise in each other, they would probably have thought they were hallucinating. They looked at the young master together, and the young master just lowered his eyes and looked at the bowl of medicine.
Zhu Yi silently took out some malt sugar from the side, and Zhu Er followed suit and quickly went to the kitchen to get some cakes and hawthorns.
But Xie Huaijin still didn't eat. He looked at the two of them and suddenly said, "I don't think I've ever asked you what you want to do in the future."
This is undoubtedly a promise.
There is no future for secret guards, no desire to do or not to do anything.
Zhu Yi and Zhu Er did not dare to look directly at Xie Huaijin, and knelt down together.
The young man coughed, the afterglow of the sun gilding him with a warm golden hue. He rarely looked so gentle and in a good mood. He said softly, "I originally wanted you to go to Ciying, but she will have many people behind her, so it seems she doesn't really need you."
Zhu Yi and Zhu Er still didn't say anything, only their hands under their sleeves were trembling slightly.
There was the sound of a wheelchair rolling. The young man carried the bowl of medicine outside and poured it into the soil. The bitter smell was dispersed into the air by the wind. The young man lowered his eyes and looked at the moist soil. The color was slightly darker than other places. He looked at it for a while before turning back to look at Zhu Yi and Zhu Er: "You can think about it carefully."
Zhu Yi spoke up: "The day we became your secret guards, we swore an oath to you."
Zhu Yi raised his head and said: "In this life, I will be loyal to you, sir."
Zhu Er didn't say anything, but he meant the same thing.
When their father died in the battlefield, their mother took them to her mother's family. Her mother's family treated the three of them as free slaves, and they were beaten and scolded. Their mother worked all day and was scolded by her brothers. She became ill from the beatings she received in order to protect them, and eventually died because she had no money to treat the illness.
They took their mother's body to file a lawsuit, but the government office passed the buck. It was the young master who casually threw some silver and asked them to bury their mother first, and then gave their mother justice. However, their mother died of illness, and the government office finally only fined them some silver for the person they should call "uncle".
They begged the young master to give them a place to go, saying they would seek revenge someday. At that time, the young master was still very young, as delicate as ice and jade, and had not yet cultivated his later gentle appearance. His face was very cold. Very cold, but his heart was warm. When they kowtowed to him for the ninth time, the young master, with a very cold face, still allowed them to stay.
At that time, Mo Yu was still a teenager, but he had a deadpan look on his face.
Later they joined the Dark Guard Camp, and at the age of fourteen, they killed their enemies with their own hands.
At the age of sixteen, they left the Dark Guard Camp and defeated many people along the way before staying with the Young Master. They perhaps knew better than others that the Young Master had a soft heart. The boy who had always had a cold face since childhood actually had a soft heart inside.
Later, the boy with a cold face grew up and gradually turned into the elegant and gentle young master of the Xie family. Zhu Yi and Zhu Er followed behind Mo Yu, and the girl with blood on her face also grew up chattering. The four of them became the sharpest knives in the young master's hand. When Ci Ying appeared, they always felt that the story would be different.
After all, they knew better than anyone that the young master was determined to die from the beginning when he went to massacre the Elders' Hall.
The final step in slaughtering the Xie family was to dismember himself, who had become the symbol of the Xie family.
They thought it would be different.
When Ciying appeared, everything seemed different.
But it seems like they are reaching the same destination through different paths.
In fact, the young master became more miserable.
Of course, they could not blame Ci Ying, they could only blame fate. The young master was born into such a fate and grew up with such a fate. The young master's flesh and blood were strangely twisted into this mirror called Xie Family. One day, the young master looked at Xie Family and saw his own appearance.
In the study, the young man looked at Zhu Yi and Zhu Er quietly.
He coughed and said, "Silver and favors are not enough to buy a life."
Zhu Yi and Zhu Er gritted their teeth. Mo Yu was dead, and Zhu Guang went to Ci Ying. They couldn't leave the young master anymore.
Xie Huaijin looked at the two of them for a long time and then lowered his eyes.
never mind.
There are always many things in life, so just let it go.
Xie Huaijin said softly, "Go out."
It was good enough that they were not allowed to leave. Zhu Yi and Zhu Er stood up and walked out.
In the courtyard, Zhu Er said, "Brother, I know how to make the young master drink the medicine."
Zhu Yi was silent for a while and said, "Don't do that."
Zhu Er gritted his teeth and asked, "Isn't being alive the most important thing?"
Zhu Yi: "... that way, the young master will only die faster."
Zhu Er was puzzled, but Zhu Yi was always right, just like the incident with Xiao Wan. Zhu Er was deflated and whispered, "Brother, why?"
Zhu Yi rarely spoke much. Looking at his younger brother, who looked more and more like him, he remained silent: "How can it be that simple?"
In the study.
Xie Huaijin was quietly copying Buddhist scriptures. He always felt that Mo Yu was still there. When he subconsciously called out "Mo Yu's" name, he remembered that Mo Yu was dead.
He wasn't actually very sad. Even when Zhu Guang blamed him for killing Mo Yu, he would think, well, could it be just as Zhu Guang said? The elder didn't tell him that day, but told him after Mo Yu died -
The "poison" or "medicine" wasn't incurable, but the one in charge of the medicine in the Elders' Hall had been searching for a solution for years, and they might have found it in recent years...
However, when Xie Huaijin paused while copying the Buddhist scriptures, the man had already been executed by him.
He had even forgotten how long ago it was. After all, he had secretly killed some of those people in the Elders' Hall before he came to power, and simply executed them all after he came to power.
A hint of irony appeared in Xie Huaijin's eyes. He always thought that he had figured everything out, but one thing after another told him that he hadn't. The cruelty of fate was that it fooled everyone equally. Even if Xie Huaijin devoted his whole life to it, at the end of fate he still only got a pair of silent eyes.
In the lingering sound, he only couldn't bear to leave one person.
But it seems okay.
She was doing fine without him.
He was very smart and guessed where the military token was very quickly. He also saw the strange relationship between Yan Ji and Yuwen Shu and boldly made an appointment with Yan Ji. In the past, Xie Huaijin would think that Ci Ying was a bit reckless, but forget it, Xie Huaijin also told himself to forget it, Ci Ying was living well without him.
Even if there were some minor omissions, the overall work was done very well, and he shouldn't be too harsh on Ciying.
It doesn't matter, he will help her complete them one by one.
The young man coughed up blood, which splashed onto the rice paper. The words stained red were not Buddhist scriptures at all, but the two words "Ci Ying".
Xie Huaijin watched quietly, and suddenly smiled, but lost his expression as he smiled. He would think of Ci Ying's face. They had good times together in his memory, but when he recalled it, all he could see was Ci Ying's crying face.
Speak with tears, speak tiredly, speak silently, speak angrily, speak weakly.
Said, let him let her go.
Xie Huaijin covered his mouth with one hand, blood still dripping from between his fingers. He coughed while placing the Buddhist scripture with Ciying's name mistakenly written on it on the candle flame. When the rice paper turned into black ash, he leaned over and vomited again and again.
The hawthorns and pastries beside him also rolled down with the young man's movements and landed in a pool of blood.
The white pastries were stained with blood, and the hawthorns seemed to be covered with a particularly conspicuous layer of sugar coating. The young man could not support his body, so he knelt down and spit out the last bit of clean water in his body, which was mixed with blood and reflected his utmost embarrassment.
The other side.
Ci Ying and Zhu Guang were preparing for a meeting with Yan Ji. Even if they made a thorough plan, they were still afraid that Yan Ji would directly lead his troops to encircle them. Ci Ying believed in her own judgment, but she still had to make preparations for both scenarios.
Zhu Guang followed Ci Ying's arrangements throughout the process, arranged the guards nearby, and then took out the topographic map to show Ci Ying the escape route. The worst result was that Ci Ying was captured and brought back to Yuwen Fu. Zhu Guang also went to Yuwen Mansion in advance to explore it and explained the layout of the place to Ci Ying one by one.
When everything was arranged in detail, Ciying suddenly felt a panic.
She suddenly held Zhu Guang's hand. Zhu Guang asked her what was wrong, but she couldn't say a word.
Ci Ying looked at Zhu Guang, and for some reason her eyes turned red. When a tear fell, she was a little surprised.
Zhu Guang still asked her what was wrong, she shook her head. She could speak, but she didn't know what to say.
She looked at the map in Zhu Guang's hand, and then looked through their topographic map and plan. Everything seemed to be fine, so why was she feeling palpitations?
Zhu Guang was frightened by Ciying's reaction. He poured a cup of cold tea for Ciying and patted her back gently.
Ciying held the teacup tightly, took a sip of water, and took a long time to swallow it.
She looked at Zhu Guang, who was worried, and said, "I'm fine."
Zhu Guang went out to find a doctor. This time Ci Ying did not stop him. She touched her chest, her heart still beating fast. She looked at the bronze mirror not far away. The figure reflected in the bronze mirror was blurry. Ci Ying touched her eyes and found that she was crying.
Sometimes the body is more honest than the heart.
It took Ciying a long time to understand this truth.
【Author’s words】
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