Storm is coming
Looking through the clouds in the sky
Struggling
Trying to escape from the big net that has already been woven
Five｜Kite
The war gradually spread to the Central Plains. The Jin army's cavalry crossed Shanhaiguan and could no longer stay in the north. Lai Siyuan fled south with Yi Ning to Chang'an Prefecture.
The weather was still very cold at that time, and there were so many people fleeing south that the crowds were squeezed together. Bones were visible on the road, and the world was like a taut bowstring that could break at any time.
For convenience, Lai Siyuan tied her hair into a crown, changed into men's clothes, and put on her father's old robe. She looked like a tall, handsome and weak man. Yi Ning was also dressed up by her as a boy.
They claimed to be brothers. Lai Siyuan called himself Lai Wu. After fleeing for several months, they finally settled down in Chang'an Prefecture.
Lai Siyuan set up a stall in the city, selling calligraphy and writing letters, telling fortunes, and calculating dates of weddings and funerals, and he barely made a living by relying on his skills.
Lai Buyi's name was quite famous. Some dignitaries heard that she was Lai Buyi's descendant, so they secretly came to her to look at the mountain and decide on her tomb. Those people were rich and their lives gradually became better.
They temporarily lived in a thatched cottage outside Chang'an City. The yard was not big, with a wooden gate and a fence. There was still a jujube tree in front of the door, which was left by the previous owner.
It was autumn, and the fruits were ripe. Yi Ning especially liked to sit under the tree and direct Lai Siyuan's paper man to help her pick the ripe and red dates.
Although life was not as good as before, it was still bearable. Sometimes Lai Siyuan would bring back some meat buns after closing his stall. She would hide them in her arms and they would still be hot when she got home.
Yi Ning often went into the mountains to hunt. She mostly hunted wild deer and rabbits. She ate the offal and scraps that were hard to sell, and sold the meat at the market in exchange for grain and rice.
They look like two young men who make a living by their skills, but in fact they are a man and a demon who support each other in troubled times.
No matter how difficult life is, I never think of separation.
The weather in Chang'an is warmer than that in Datong. Outside the thatched cottage are vast fields of wild grass, stretching all the way to the mountainside.
Yi Ning sat at the door with her chin supported, waiting for Lai Siyuan to come home. There was a kite with a broken string at her feet. She picked it from a tree in the mountains. The kite was exquisitely designed. No one knew which nobleman had released it and the string broke and it fell into the mountains.
She picked it up and wanted Lai Siyuan to help her fix it. She wanted to fly a kite with her. She remembered that when she was a child, her grandfather took Xiaowu to fly a kite once, and Xiaowu laughed happily at that time.
Xiaowu rarely smiles so happily now. She always looks to the north with a sad face.
Lai Siyuan, dressed in an old robe, strolled home. Seeing her sitting under the eaves, he smiled and admonished her, "You're sitting on the doorstep again. Isn't it said that this place is a ward off evil and shouldn't be sat on because of bad luck?"
Lai Siyuan's preaching was always ineffective. She sat up with a giggle, patted the dust off her butt, picked up the kite and said to her: "Xiaowu, can you help me fix this, please~"
Lai Siyuan took the kite and said, "Of course. Here, I'll give it to you." She pulled out an oilcloth paper bag from her bosom and said, "I'm lucky today. The family who read the fortune happened to be slaughtering a chicken, so they gave me a chicken leg with an egg inside."
Yining's eyes lit up, and he was so happy that his little tiger teeth couldn't hide. He took it and opened it. There was a hot chicken leg and a plump, round egg with the shell already peeled.
"Xiaowu, you are the best to me!" She smiled sweetly, grabbed the chicken leg and started to eat it without any hesitation.
"Your mouth is most obedient when there's meat to eat."
Lai Siyuan sat on the rattan chair under the jujube tree, put the kite on his legs to examine it, then made a handprint and directed the paper man to go into the house to get glue and thin linen thread.
This little bit of meat was not enough to fill her teeth, so she washed her hands in the water tank and squatted aside to watch Lai Siyuan repair the kite.
Yi Ning: "Xiao Wu, how come you know everything?"
"I don't know everything either." Lai Siyuan carefully covered the paste with rough paper. "Henhen, you didn't wipe your mouth clean."
"Ah?" Yi Ning quickly stood up and ran to the water tank. Her face was reflected in the water, and there was indeed oil on the corners of her mouth. She raised her sleeve and wiped it clean casually, then returned to the tree. "Hehe, it's clean now."
Lai Siyuan lowered his head and laughed at her: "Little greedy cat."
As she was speaking, the sun set in the west and the wind began to pick up, rustling the grass outside the yard. The sunlight shone through the fence and slanted onto Lai Siyuan.
The setting sun gave her a soft golden body. A gentle smile hung on the corner of her lips. The shadows of the trees swayed over her, dazzling Yi Ning's eyes.
Suddenly, she leaned close to Lai Siyuan and kissed her gently on the cheek.
She moved so fast, like the wind blowing by.
Lai Siyuan paused, dropping the sticky brush into the mud. He widened his eyes slightly and looked at Yi Ning helplessly: "You naughty boy! What are you doing?"
"Kiss you." Yi Ning said confidently, a smile on his lips, "It's not the first time I kiss you."
Lai Siyuan picked up the brush and blew away the dirt. "You were a cat back then."
"That's me too!" Yi Ning corrected her, "Whether it's a cat or a human, I'm still me!"
Lai Siyuan said angrily: "You are a human being now. You should learn to behave like a human being. If you don't behave like a human being, how can you cultivate immortality?"
Yi Ning looked innocent and tilted his head as he said, "I'm a good person. No one in the city can tell that I'm a monster."
Lai Siyuan was choked by her, raised his hand and pinched her ear, "People don't kiss each other easily."
Yi Ning's eyes sparkled, "I just want to kiss you, not casually."
Lai Siyuan looked at her without answering. He just leaned over and rubbed her head, gently pressed his thin lips on her forehead, and then lowered his head to get busy again.
In the evening, an exquisite kite rose outside the fenced yard, and its laughter spread far away. The night wind blew over the mountain and into the house. A ripe date fell from the date tree in the yard and landed in the mud silently.
The world is desolate and war-torn, and the wind cannot blow away these clouds for the time being.
Six｜Drifting
On the day Tongguan fell, it rained in Chang'an, a light and continuous rain that lasted for a whole day and night.
A curfew has been imposed in Chang'an City. Many dignitaries have fled to Yingtian Prefecture. The remaining few soldiers guarding the city are still holding on. The people are staying indoors for fear of getting into trouble.
With no business to do, Lai Siyuan sat in his thatched hut copying the worn-out family heirlooms, while a paper figure driven by magic held an oil-paper umbrella and collected clothes in the fenced yard.
She wrote on the paper: Earth Fire Mingyi.
A bird breaking its wings is not a good omen.
She shouldn't have told fortunes today. She took out the paper with a few drops of ink on it and put it aside.
With her level of cultivation, she already knew her fate. She understood clearly that she could not escape this life-and-death calamity.
She smiled at her own melancholy and continued copying. There was still some time.
When Yi Ning came into the house carrying a bunch of wild rabbits, Lai Siyuan looked up at her and said with a smile, "You're lucky today."
She giggled and said, "It's so quiet in the mountains today. There is not a single hunter. It seems everyone is hiding." Yi Ning put the rabbit on the stove, washed his hands in the water tank, dried his hands with his outer robe, and then took it off and put it aside.
She walked around the table and hugged Lai Siyuan's waist from behind: "It's windy outside, let's go fly kites, and then we can roast rabbit meat for dinner."
Lai Siyuan patted her hand and said softly, "It's so dirty. Go change your clothes and come back here. Wait until I finish writing this page."
"I'm not dirty. Xiaowu, you've been writing these things every day lately and you don't play with me." Yi Ning let go of her hand and looked at her handwriting with a pout. "Don't you have the original copy? Why are you copying it again?"
She said calmly, "The original copy is too worn out from my reading. I want to copy a new one. Besides, you always say my handwriting is beautiful, so I must write a beautiful book for future generations..."
"What are you talking about?" Yi Ning interrupted her unhappily, "What about writing a book for future generations? Bah, bah, bah, bah, say it again." She hugged Lai Siyuan again coquettishly.
"Okay, okay, bah, bah, bah." Lai Siyuan looked at the setting sun outside the window, his voice drifting far away. "But people will eventually die, Henhen. I'm a human, unlike you monsters who have a long life."
Yi Ning tightened his arms and buried his head in her back. "Hmph, if you die, I will break into the underworld, drag you back, and turn you into a zombie."
Lai Siyuan smiled lightly, looked at her sideways, and flicked her forehead hard. "What are you talking about? Don't even think about it. After a hundred years, you will go back to the mountains and forests to cultivate your immortality."
Yi Ning stuck out his tongue at her, not intending to obey. The paper man took out a clean outer robe from the house. She put it on obediently and dragged Lai Siyuan out of the house, "Stop writing, let's go fly a kite."
"good."
She has always been very indulgent to her.
The wind rustled the fence, and they ran to the slope behind the house, where the view was good, there was no tree, and the kites could fly very high.
Yi Ning ran happily among the grass with the spool of thread in her hand. The kite rose into the sky against the wind, flying very high, as free and easy as she was.
Lai Siyuan looked at her with a smile, his eyes never leaving the girl who was running freely.
After long-term companionship, they have become each other's most important and closest family members.
Lai Siyuan cherishes every moment, embraces every good time, and accepts the arrangements of fate, whether good or bad.
She lifted her hand and picked away the grass seeds stuck to the little girl's hair, took her hand, and said, "Let's go home."
The days went on like this, and Yi Ning always brought her different joys during the same days.
It was an ordinary day, the sky gradually darkened, and the birdsong in the mountains stopped.
The sound of horse hooves could be heard faintly in the distance. Lai Siyuan and Yi Ning looked towards the official road at the same time. She took out the bundle that had been prepared long ago from under the stove, blew off the ashes on it, and stuffed it into Yi Ning's arms.
"Go hide in the mountains and don't come back."
Lai Siyuan gently kissed her forehead, his eyes full of seriousness that brooked no room for rebuttal.
"Be good and listen to me."
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