Something is strange today.
After seeing off the two children, Qiu Qiu and Gulu, yesterday, Ningning made an appointment with Pei Ji to go to Wangyue Peak to watch the snow the next day. However, when the agreed time came, Ningning waited in front of the door for a long time but did not see any sign of him.
There was a huge thunderstorm that day. She knew that Pei Ji's old injury had not healed yet, so she couldn't help feeling worried. She went to his room and knocked on the door.
No one answered. There was only the sound of falling snow in the courtyard. The silence was almost eerie.
Ningning subconsciously sensed something was wrong, took out the key from her storage bag, and hurriedly pushed the door open.
There was no one in the main hall or the study. She looked around and finally came to the bedroom.
Pei Ji's bedroom was clean and tidy, without any fancy decorations to block the view. Ning Ning could see the entire empty space at a glance.
No, not "empty".
On the wooden bed in the corner, a wave of undulating curves is hidden in the thick off-white bedding.
It looked like there was someone lying in the quilt, but the figure was too small. It didn't look like Pei Ji, but more like a child.
Ningning frowned and walked quickly towards the bed. Perhaps hearing her footsteps, the person under the quilt trembled slightly.
Ningning immediately opened the quilt. His eyes were stinging from the dazzle of sunlight and he curled up even tighter, becoming a small ball like a bent shrimp.
This turned out to be a thin little boy.
And it was a little boy wearing Pei Ji’s pajamas.
Her loose black hair was as black as ink, as if it had not been trimmed for a long time, and spread out in a disorderly manner, like a rugged and winding path with flowing water.
Some long hair fell on his face, covering most of his features. Through the gaps between the hair, one could see his pale, bloodless skin.
Like fragile porcelain, it will break at the slightest touch.
I don’t know why, although his face is mostly covered, this child always gives Ningning a strange sense of familiarity. She leaned forward and tried to speak softly, "Are you okay?"
The boy lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Pei Ji had a slender figure, so his clothes were inevitably too loose for a child. The boy's slender neck seemed to be covered with only a thin layer of flesh, and his collarbone was exposed outside his clothes, looking excessively bony.
Even though he tried his best to suppress it, he still couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Ningning glanced at the scabbed old scars on his body, and the location of each one was extremely familiar.
A weird thought came to her mind, and she called out inexplicably: "Pei Ji?"
The boy shrank back again and lowered his head even lower.
...No way.
"Do you remember who I am?"
Her heart was beating fast. She reached out to brush away the black hair on the side of his face. When her fingertips touched the boy's skin, she could clearly feel him trembling even more violently.
Tiaotiao's black hair suddenly fell down, and as expected, Ningning saw a familiar face.
Pei Ji was very thin when he was a child. There was not a trace of extra fat on his face. He almost starved to death and became unrecognizable.
His facial features have not yet fully developed, but he already has the sharp and cold outline of the future, with sharp eyebrows and a high nose bridge. His expression is timid, with his eyes tightly closed and his thin lips stretched into a straight line.
So what is the situation now? If this was Pei Ji as a child, the wounds on his body had clearly healed.
Ningning was suddenly startled.
Could it be that Pei Ji, like the sect leader, suddenly turned into the appearance of a child due to damage to his sea of consciousness and poor spiritual power?
But what about memory impairment? Judging from his appearance, he obviously had forgotten Ningning's name.
"...Don't be afraid."
Ning Ning saw that he was afraid of being touched, so she tactfully withdrew her right hand: "I won't hurt you. Your name is 'Pei Ji', right?"
The boy lying on his side on the bed twitched his eyelashes.
He still hadn't figured out the current situation. To him, everything that happened today seemed like a dream.
Last night his mother scolded and whipped him as usual, and his whole body was in pain and cold. Pei Ji lay in the cellar in a trance, shivering in the biting winter cold.
He fell asleep in a daze, and never imagined that when he opened his eyes the next day, what filled his vision was not the dark cellar, but a long-lost ray of light from a winter morning.
Pei Ji hasn't seen the sun for a long time.
In that dark cellar, he had longed like crazy to see it, but now that he was really in the sunlight, the boy actually felt a little panic and confusion.
Like a rat in the gutter, it is only fit to sneak around in the night. Once it sees the light, it will realize how miserable and pathetic it is.
He was used to the darkness and was blinded by the sunlight, so he closed his eyes and could only smell a whiff of fragrance that suddenly approached.
That voice did not come from his mother. His mother would never speak to him so gently.
——Did she finally get tired of him and abandon him to someone else?
Chengying's voice was no longer there, and everything in front of his eyes was dark. All that surrounded him was confusion, panic, despair and endless fear. Unexpectedly, the fragrance moved closer to him.
Something warm fell on Pei Ji's forehead.
"Pei Ji."
The man's voice was very light, incredibly soft, and it slowly slid down his eardrum and landed directly on his heart: "Don't be afraid, just open your eyes."
The boy fisted the sheets with his fingertips.
In the past in the cellar, his mother would occasionally order him to beg for mercy or apologize, but Pei Ji rarely responded. Most of the time, he just gritted his teeth and endured it.
But this voice at this time was like a bewitching voice, with an indescribable sense of familiarity that made him want to get closer.
Pei Ji slowly opened his eyes.
The dazzling sunlight from before disappeared completely, replaced by a soft glow that enveloped the entire bedroom.
The window had been tightly closed at some point, and the man placed his thumb on his forehead, with his palm tilted downward, casting a thick shadow in front of his eyes to block out the unbridled light.
"My name is Ningning."
Ningning smiled at him. Because she was facing away from the light, her dark almond-shaped eyes were like a pool of water at night, with ripples spreading out lightly. She was too gentle: "Your mother is not here, I won't hurt you."
She considered her words and asked him in a low voice, "Can I touch you?"
Pei Ji pursed his lips and still did not answer.
The stranger in front of the bed hesitated for a moment, sighed silently, and suddenly leaned down even lower, saying in a voice so low that it was almost a whisper: "Come here."
Seeing her reaching out her hand, he instinctively wanted to protect his head and dodge, but unexpectedly, neither the curse nor the slap came.
One hand rested on the back of his head, and the other gently rested on his arm. With a slight pull upwards, the boy's entire body fell into Ningning's arms.
Pei Ji was so nervous that he didn't know what to do, and his heartbeat began to accelerate faster than ever before.
He was still trembling, his small body was so thin that Ningning held him as if she was holding a thin skeleton.
This is what Pei Ji was like when he was a child. He grew up unloved and was ignorant about everything, like a quiet little beast that had not yet grown fangs.
Ningning felt depressed and uncomfortable. She covered his protruding butterfly bone with her left hand and touched Pei Ji's head with her right hand.
The feeling of being touched was very wonderful. Pei Ji couldn't tell whether it was comfortable or itchy. This was the first time someone did such a thing to him.
The warm embrace, with a hint of fragrance, gradually soothed the trembling. Pei Ji didn't dare to move until he heard her voice: "How old are you this year?"
He bit his lower lip.
The boy's voice was young and clear, but with a hoarseness that was inconsistent with his age. It timidly echoed in my ears, so low that it was almost inaudible: "Twelve years old... or thirteen."
*
“Tsk tsk, was Pei Ji so soft and cute when he was a child?”
He Zhizhou looked at the little kid sitting on the stool and raised the corners of his lips with interest: "Come on, Pei Ji, call me brother."
Pei Ji lowered his head and didn't look at him.
"Don't bully him."
Ning Ning stood in front of Pei Ji and said, "Be careful that he recovers his memory and draws his sword towards you."
After discovering that Pei Ji had become smaller, she quickly sought help from her master. Tian Xianzi was quite experienced in this matter. After some investigation, he said that it was not serious and the patient would recover after resting for a period of time.
Then, because Pei Ji was too thin, Tian Xianzi insisted on taking the two of them to the cafeteria, where they happened to meet He Zhizhou and Zheng Weiqi.
Junior Brother Pei usually looks like a killing god, but now he is well-behaved and shy. Zheng Weiqi is overwhelmed with maternal love and smiles like a strange auntie: "Little Jiji, ignore that uncle and come play with my beautiful sister."
He Zhizhou: "Don't think I didn't notice that you deliberately got the generation wrong!"
"Pei Ji's sea of consciousness has not yet recovered. He must have secretly practiced swordsmanship, causing his spiritual power to become disordered and his meridians to become turbulent. His body has become like that of his childhood, and his memory has also returned to that time."
Tian Xianzi stroked his chin and looked at him: "This is not a big deal. As long as he is allowed to recuperate well, and his spiritual power is back on track, he will be able to recover as usual - come on, Pei Ji, call me Master!"
The more he talked, the more he enjoyed it. He squatted in front of Pei Ji and made faces: "Repeat after me, the best in the world, Master——"
Ningning was standing beside Pei Ji. She didn't hear him following Tian Xianzi in reciting "Number One in the World". Instead, it seemed like someone suddenly grabbed her sleeve. The force was so light that it was almost imperceptible.
She lowered her head and saw Pei Ji's dark eyes.
He was not used to such a noisy environment, and felt even more awkward being stared at by so many strangers.
The child's eyes were clear, without any gloomy murderous look, like unpicked black grapes covered with morning dew. He seemed a little scared, pinching her cuffs with his thumb and index finger. The moment he looked at Ningning, his face turned red and he lowered his head hastily.
Super cute crit.
Ningning's heart turned into a pool of water.
"Damn it, even if he turns into a child, this brat only sticks to Ningning."
He Zhizhou ate lemons like crazy, his face twisted with sourness: "Aren't our sisters, uncles and grandfather good enough?"
Tianxianzi’s grandfather kept hitting him on the head.
"It's probably the fledgling complex. He's unfamiliar with the place and will be particularly dependent on the first person he meets."
Ningning squatted down and looked up at him: "Are you hungry? The porridge will be ready soon."
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard Zheng Weiqi shouting, "Hurry, hurry, the porridge is ready!"
Pei Ji didn't like greasy food, and according to his current physical condition, he couldn't stand too spicy taste. After much deliberation, the group of people finally ordered a bowl of sweet rice porridge for him.
"Be careful with the heat, my good disciple. Come, come, let the master blow it for you."
Tian Xianzi seldom took care of children, and his movements of feeding him porridge with a spoon were very unskilled. When the porcelain spoon touched the boy's pale lips, Pei Ji's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and his whole body stiffened as if hesitating.
Suddenly, someone gently held her right hand. In the reassuring warmth, Ningning whispered to him, "It's okay, don't be afraid."
So Pei Ji opened his mouth and swallowed the sweet rice porridge.
Tian Xianzi was so happy that he seemed to have obtained a peerless sword manual. The corners of his mouth almost curled up to the sky. He laughed wildly in secret voice transmission: "Look, he ate it, he ate it! I fed him!"
The sweet porridge was a little hot, but not unpleasant, and instead diffused the heat just right. The sweet and warm aroma of white sugar filled the air, causing him to look blankly again.
So warm.
The warm current flows down from the tip of the tongue, passing through the mouth, esophagus and stomach in turn, overflowing and filling every cold and dry corner of the body.
The pain, suffering, hardship and loneliness were all washed away by this warm current.
Ningning placed his little hand in her palm and asked gently, "How does it taste? Do you like it?"
He must be dreaming.
Pei Ji nodded confusedly, his tongue tip rising quietly to lick the remaining sweet fragrance in his mouth.
How could he dare to hope for such fragrant and warm food? In winter, as long as he could fill his stomach with a steamed bun, it was enough for Pei Ji.
Not to mention... there were several people gathered here, all of them smiling and incredibly close to him.
He is clearly a disgusting, neither human nor demon monster. How could anyone be willing to smile at him and be so nice to him?
Tian Xianzi fed him spoonful by spoonful, and Pei Ji ate mouthful by mouthful. Zheng Weiqi probably knew about Pei Ji's childhood experiences, and whispered, "His mother is really... Junior Brother Pei is so thin. When I wanted to touch him before, he actually stepped back subconsciously to hide. How many times must he have been abused?"
He Zhizhou sighed: "After his mother passed away, Pei Ji had a hard time."
Both of them were born into families of cultivators. It was like they were born with a golden key. They grew up smoothly and never suffered any hardship.
Ningning listened in silence, and held Pei Ji's hand tightly with her right hand even more forcefully.
It's all bones, covered with scars and calluses. Novels, movies and TV dramas always say that children feel "soft and tender" to the touch, but he doesn't look like that at all.
Pei Ji didn't like crowded places and was too reserved to speak in front of everyone. Tian Xianzi and others were very understanding. After feeding the child porridge, they said goodbye to him in a gentle voice.
Zheng Weiqi loved the child the most. She gave him many instructions before leaving, and glanced at Junior Brother Pei's pale face from time to time: "Ningning, you must take good care of him. When it's cold, remember to add more clothes and quilts for him, and tell him to drink more hot water."
Ningning smiled and said "Okay".
After they left, she and Pei Ji were the only ones left in the cafeteria.
The boy seemed uneasy and raised his eyes to look at her quietly. When Ningning turned to face him, he hurriedly lowered his head.
He heard footsteps getting closer and closer, and his heart was hanging in the air with the sound.
Ning Ning said, "It's time to go. Is there anywhere you want to go? Um... read a book, drink tea, sleep, etc."
Pei Ji didn’t know.
In the past, he spent almost every day in the cellar, either falling asleep due to pain, or being in a daze or talking to Chengying.
"Anything... is fine."
He answered awkwardly, annoyed by his hoarse voice, and tried to jump off the stool while choosing his words: "I——"
The word got stuck in his throat awkwardly.
Before Pei Ji could leave the wooden bench, his waist and back were suddenly held down. The soft touch made his brain go blank, and when he came to his senses, he was already picked up by Ningning.
His whole body was stiff and he dared not move.
It was a very close hug.
When he was younger, Pei Ji had longed for this action. The children from the neighboring families can always get it easily, and every time they are held in the arms of their parents, they will smile from the bottom of their hearts.
But my mother never bothered to give it to him.
Even the simplest contact with him made her feel sick.
"Let me think, this action should be..."
Ningning's breath fell on the side of his neck, and she said with a smile: "You have to put your arms around my neck, otherwise you will fall."
So Pei Ji raised his hand timidly.
The skinny little hand passed over the clothes and came to the girl's fair and slender neck. When his fingers touched the skin, he held his breath nervously.
It turns out this is how it feels to be held gently by someone.
The hard thorns on his body disappeared completely. He didn't want to think about anything anymore, let alone put up any resistance. He was willing to drown in it.
Pei Ji took a deep breath quietly.
Smells so good.
"Where should we go?"
Ningning thought for a long time, and finally asked him with a smile: "Pei Ji, do you want to see the mountains and snow?"
*
Ningning brought Pei Ji to Wangyue Peak.
They agreed to watch the snow here. Although the one who accompanied him today was a smaller version of Pei Ji, at least they both kept the appointment.
Wangyue Peak is high and the temperature is extremely low. After arriving at the destination, Ning Ning put Pei Ji down from her arms, and held his left hand tightly with her right hand, continuously transmitting warm spiritual power.
"Come with me."
She was very familiar with this place. She walked through a bamboo forest with intertwined branches and leaves, and led Pei Ji forward step by step to the highest and steepest peak of the mountain.
The bitter winter wind blew hurriedly, and in the flying snow, the boy opened his eyes in surprise.
He had lived in the dark underground for a long time, and the only place he had ever seen was the mountain village where he had lived for many years.
The scene before him was majestic and vast, with thousands of mountains and valleys stretching endlessly, like a deafening morning bell and evening drum, shattering his small world.
Looking from the top of the mountain, the hills one upon another look like a soaring dragon, outlining a magnificent momentum that swallows the sky and blocks out the sun, and with a swing of its giant tail, it goes straight into the sky.
There is a vast mist between the mountains, water flows against the ravine, and the white fog is wrapped around the flying snow, surging like the tide and the sea. Looking from a distance, it looked like layers of snow waves blown up by strong winds. The sky and the earth were all white, stretching as far as the eye could see, with no end.
In such a scene, everyone seems particularly insignificant.
Ning Ning and Pei Ji sat on a rock and turned to look at him: "Have you ever been to the top of the mountain?"
He shook his head.
“I see.”
She paused and said in a calm tone: "Do you like it?"
Pei Ji looked at her in a daze.
The strong wind on the top of the mountain lifted up her skirt and long hair. Ningning stared at him with a smile, as if she would disappear in the wind at any time.
That unreal, dream-like feeling came back.
His breathing was disordered and he responded with a low "hmm".
"As long as you like it."
She smiled even more deeply, and suddenly said to him: "Pei Ji, do you see that cluster of flowers on the opposite hill?"
Pei Ji didn't understand the meaning of this question, so he followed Ning Ning's gaze and looked into the distance.
Under the heavy snow, everything was covered with a layer of moonlit white, except for a cluster of small flowers on the opposite mountain top, which was different from the others, showing a light pink color.
As he was looking at it carefully, he suddenly saw a ray of white light flash across the sky and cut off one of the small petals.
What was even more incredible was that in a flash, white light carrying flower petals appeared in front of him.
"Catch it."
It's Ningning who is speaking.
He stretched out his hand as he was told. The sword energy was cold and sharp not long ago, but when it approached him, it became as gentle as the spring breeze.
The petals swirled and floated down, and when they fell into the palm of my hand, they brought with them some new snow from the distant mountains.
"A little gift for you."
Ning Ning burst out laughing at his horrified expression: "I'm awesome, right?"
It’s really amazing.
Pei Ji thought, even though they were separated by a long distance and she hardly made any movement, everything in the distant mountains and rivers seemed to be under her control.
He was about to respond when he heard Ning Ning say, "You will become this powerful in the future."
The boy was stunned and looked into her eyes blankly.
He wanted to say no.
From birth till now, he has been growing up in a small, isolated village, knowing nothing, and his body is covered with illnesses and scars.
He was good for nothing, the only thing he had was a bloodline so low that even he hated it.
But Ningning stopped smiling, her eyes were gentle and serious, she raised her hand to brush away the snow that had fallen on his head, and said to him slowly: "The mountains and rivers of Xuanxu seem unattainable, but in the future you will be able to stand far above them, and will not be blocked by any distance or obstacles - just like now."
Pei Ji stood there in a daze.
The mountains were filled with the howling of the wind, but he could only hear his own increasingly heavy breathing.
"Your bloodline is not lowly. When you grow up, you will become a very good person."
She smiled and touched his head randomly: "No, Pei Ji is already a very good kid now - everyone likes you very much."
like.
This unfamiliar word weighed heavily on his heart. Pei Ji was at a loss. He spoke without thinking: "What about you? Do you like me too?"
The boy realized he had said something wrong after speaking so hastily. His pale face suddenly turned red and he bit his lip and lowered his head.
The top of my head was touched again, and soon a pure and clean girl's voice sounded in my ears: "I am the one who likes you the most."
The wind was roaring harshly, but everything was silent.
The small, thin boy clenched the petals in his hands, and a barely perceptible curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
The heart that had been numb for so long began to beat violently at this moment.
In the cold winter, Ningning gave him a handful of fresh snow from the distant mountains, a soft petal, or a stretch of mountains and rivers, a small world that brought peace of mind.
And an unknown and hazy future, but full of hope.
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