Chapter 33 Chapter 33 She couldn't turn back. ...
Gu Zhi just lowered his eyes, holding the ink stick with his bony hands and slowly circling it on the inkstone.
He had come today without thinking of anything else. But seeing... her leaving with her junior brother, he felt inexplicably unhappy.
I went to the Buddhist temple to copy scriptures, but I still couldn't calm my mind.
So, like a broken jar, I decided to give up. Since I had no desire to do anything, I might as well do nothing. Then, just as Senior Sister came to invite me, I remembered that I had publicly insulted Senior Sister a few days ago, which was really wrong, so I came.
When he looked up, Song Yaojie lowered her head and blushed. She was usually a cold person, but she seemed to have softened her attitude. He was stunned for a moment.
"Senior Sister, are you really not feeling unwell?" Why is your face so red?
Song Yaojie just shook her head, not looking at him. "No problem, just paint." Then, with a shy anticipation, she blinked her eyes and asked him, "How about this?"
In fact, he was still as tense as ever, his whole body standing straight like a pillar, like a flower rising from the ground.
But I couldn't go into details. If I said too much, she might get suspicious. So I smiled and said, "Okay."
My senior sister is too arrogant. Just looking at her figure, she is as stubborn and noble as a plum blossom, and sometimes she is almost aggressive.
Jiaojiao would never be like this.
Not only his attitude, but also his tone of voice, his demeanor, his manner of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down—all were soft and light, like the drifting clouds on the horizon, or the first spring breeze that brushed the hills, carrying the fragrance of flowers.
Sometimes when looking at her, one would wonder how such a frail person could have survived alone before meeting him.
Such a fragile body...
He dipped his brush in ink and meticulously sketched on the paper, his mind drifting away. With such a fragile body, he wasn't sure how to treat her in the future. If he hugged her, would it hurt? But she was so delicate, if he didn't hold her tighter, he was afraid his arms would still feel empty and uneasy.
If you hug from behind...
From behind, perhaps it wasn't impossible. Perhaps he could pass under her armpits and hug her, letting her back lean against him, wrapping his arms around her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder, and then, within the limits she allowed, tightening, tightening until he could turn a soft flower into a bud that would bloom only for him.
And then... you can kiss her.
Kiss her jawline and the side of her neck closely.
Or, kiss all the way down to the two lips he has coveted for so long, and keep his lips gently against them all the way.
"Huai Jin."
Gu Zhi didn't answer, but was absent-mindedly writing on the paper.
"Huai Jin." She called again.
Gu Zhi was startled and shuddered. Hearing the voice, he suddenly realized, "Senior Sister?"
Song Yaojie: "Why don't you look at me?"
Gu Zhi smiled and said, "I am too familiar with my senior sister. Even if I don't see it, I can still draw it."
Song Yaojie's cheeks suddenly flushed and she pursed her lips shyly.
If you have a plan in mind, you can paint bamboo quickly. Then, when you paint her, you can move your brush quickly, which is...
But across from him, Gu Zhi was staring at the half-painted portrait in silence for a long time.
After a while, he came back to his senses from his daze and said with an apologetic smile, "This painting today is not good. I will draw it again."
Song Yaojie: "Your painting is not good, how bad can it be? Why not show it to me first?"
However, before she came over, Gu Zhi tore off the paper and held it in his hand, saying, "This is truly a shameful work. I can't face others. Senior Sister, please give me another chance."
Song Yaojie was full of confusion and sat down again with suspicion.
On the opposite side, Gu Zhi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She is said to be a painting senior sister.
However, the more I painted, the more she looked like me.
Just as he was rinsing his brush, adjusting the ink and color, and preparing to show off his skills again.
There were two knocks on the door of Shuyuzhai.
When the door opened, it was Asong.
He said, "Young Master, Senior Brother Xuanbai sent someone to report that... he and Miss Chu were traveling together at Hualongtan. In a moment of carelessness, Miss Chu... fell into Canglongchi."
*
The fire was out. The phosphorus balls in her bracelet were almost gone, and the fire kept burning, making the already thin air seem even more scarce. Perhaps it was a psychological effect, but she began to find it difficult to breathe, so she let the fire die out.
However, once the light disappears, everything in the darkness becomes chaotic and difficult to distinguish.
Especially, the underground palace is full of those things.
She seemed to be wrapped in endless darkness, so suffocating that she could hardly breathe.
Just now, she tried to enter the water and walked back a little along the iron chain. The bone-chilling cold of the underground water was not a big deal. The key was that when she came in, she was going with the current, but when she left, she was going against it. The current was so strong and turbulent that even with the iron chain, it would be difficult to walk far.
What's more, the water was so cold that she walked down for a while, but after just a few steps, she was numb from the cold and had to turn back.
Based on her years of experience struggling on the line between life and death, she knew that this underground river could not be crossed by wading.
If the way we came is the only way, then there is no way left to go.
Only then did she understand why the place where the key to the Star Pavilion was hidden had no defenses at all, and there was only a wellhead that was unobstructed and could send Buddha to the west.
It turns out that how to prevent people from coming in is not important.
As long as no living creature that comes in is allowed to leave, the key to the Star Pavilion can be kept forever.
She was careless. Knowing it was a well, she let her guard down because Wu Dao was watching over her not far away, and was pushed down by someone unknown.
She sighed. After the only source of fire was extinguished, the underground palace became even colder and colder, becoming unbearable.
Those unlucky things were already filled with a sinister aura, and this was underground, unseen for hundreds of years. Here, clothes soaked by the icy groundwater couldn't possibly dry out, sticking to the skin with a damp, cold feeling.
She trembled almost uncontrollably, her bones colliding violently.
Will someone come to rescue her?
Mist knife?
In the darkness, she curled her lips almost in self-mockery.
Don't even think about it, it's impossible. He wasn't the type to risk his life for someone else's. Finding out she couldn't get out would only make him feel even more fortunate that he hadn't followed her in.
If she disappeared, he would be the first to report it to the Rebirth Sect. Once they had sent someone to investigate and were sure she was trapped with no way to escape, they would be satisfied and leave without worry.
As for her life or death?
No one cares.
She laughed softly in the darkness, accompanied by the Ten Kings of Hell in the darkness, and felt that all of this was so funny.
She treated human life as worthless, so now she is just a piece of worthless grass, as she should be.
As for Gu Zhi and Li Xuanbai?
She smiled slightly, picked up a nearby stone, and tossed it with her palm. In the darkness, it was difficult to catch, and after one toss, the stone rolled away without a trace.
How could she expect someone she had only known for a few days to go to such great lengths to save her? Wu Dao had been with her for thirteen years, raising her from childhood to adulthood, spending thirteen years with her day and night, and yet it was still like this.
This is how human beings are. Smart people know to have fewer expectations. Love is nothing but nonsense that deceives both oneself and others.
If you want to go out, you still have to rely on yourself.
She took a deep breath and covered her face.
Leaning against the wall, she slowly squatted down, thinking, let me take a rest and recover some strength.
*
She wasn't cold in her dream, the sun was warm. It was her day off, a rare opportunity to walk in the sun, so she changed into casual clothes and flew to the glazed tiles of the General's Mansion, basking in the sun.
After a while, Sui'an flew up wearing the night clothes of a secret guard and nudged her with his elbow. "Look what good stuff I found?"
She closed her eyes and didn't bother to pay attention.
Sui'an shook her: "Please take care of me, sister, sister——"
Nan Qiong Shuang sighed, "I finally have time to bask in the sun..."
Sui'an smiled at her in the clear blue sky and sweet breeze, his hair rubbing against his eyebrows, "Don't sleep, look at this!"
"What?" She sat up, sat cross-legged on the tiles, and shook the book in her hand with a smile.
"Classic of Mountains and Seas! Have you read it?"
"Where did you get it? Did the general give it to you?"
Sui'an nodded like a chick pecking at rice, and his eyes reflected the sky, as if they were filled with two pools of clear water.
"I won't read it." Nan Qiong Shuang lay back down firmly and closed her eyes. "Why read on a day off? It's time for a nap. Go, go, go."
“‘The first mountain in the Classic of the South China Sea is called Que Mountain. Its summit is called Zhaoyao Mountain, which overlooks the West Sea and is rich in laurels, gold, and jade.’[1] Have you heard of it? The Mountain of Gold and Jade!”
"How could there be gold and jade on the mountain? Can I just take one piece away and redeem myself?" Nan Qiong Shuang was a little surprised.
"Yes! I really want to go and see it. But I don't want to redeem myself. I want to stay with the general." She pouted her lips with a childish grievance.
Although he was a secret guard, Sui'an was different from her. Sui'an was favored by the general.
It's not just the favor between superiors and subordinates. It's the love between men and women.
She was originally sent by the Wangsheng Sect to assassinate General Hu. Logically, she should have tricked the man into falling in love with her before she could kill him.
General Hu loved Sui'an, and if she was smart, she should have killed her.
Nan Qiong Shuang gave her a scolding smile, "Why don't you leave when you can? Are you serving as a secret guard here every day? You're just licking blood on the tip of a knife, with no tomorrow? You have a childish temper."
Sui'an wrinkled his nose and smiled, like a raccoon who only wanted to please others, and came over to rub her cheek, "I like the general, the general likes me, I am willing to go through fire and water for him. But -"
Nan Qiongshuang frowned at the girl who kept nuzzling her chin, feeling helpless. She only heard Sui An say, "But if I go to that place, I will definitely bring you some gold and silver and redeem you as soon as possible."
Her heart was like a lake that had been broken by a stone. The words were blown away by the wind, but the ripples still spread out in circles, rippling endlessly.
Then, suddenly it was the day of her punishment, she knelt at the feet of the angry general, her nightgown cut open from the back by a knife, revealing her shiny back.
"Take him away and flog him, thirty lashes."
She knelt there with her eyes lowered, without a trace of emotion, and was calmly led away.
Sui'an suddenly knelt down on the stone floor with a deep thud, "General, it really wasn't my sister. Don't blame her wrongly. I..."
General Hu didn't say anything, just looked at her coldly.
At that glance, all the secret guards in the room knelt down and lowered their heads.
Sui'an was still clutching the general's sleeve sadly, sobbing silently.
Nan Qiongshuang raised her head, exchanged a difficult look with Sui'an, and shook her head imperceptibly.
Don't ask for favors. It's useless and not worth it.
Sui'an understood what she meant, because after that glance, tears immediately welled up in her eyes, her lips trembled for a long time, and she stopped talking.
Nan Qiong Shuang felt relieved, turned around calmly, and stepped back to accept the punishment.
The girl behind him, who was as stubborn as a young animal, suddenly spoke again.
With a crying, angry, unwilling and aggrieved voice, she said word by word, "General, if you want to punish my sister, then punish An An too."
Nan Qiong Shuang turned around in surprise.
In the darkness, General Hu remained silent for a long moment. Moonlight streamed through the window lattice, illuminating the room like a prison. His expression, veiled in the moonlight's shadow, was unclear.
He said, "Sui An, could it be that I have spoiled you too much these days, causing you to become arrogant and even forget the principle of following the general's orders?"
He shook off Sui'an and walked away without even glancing at her mournful expression. He said coldly, "Qianlongwei, teach me the rules."
That night, General Hu beat Sui'an to death.
Nan Qiong Shuang suddenly opened her eyes, her back wet with sweat.
A mountain of gold and jade.
That night, Sui'an choked on his last breath and refused to let it out, and endured until she got down from the bench after enduring thirty lashes.
She dragged her broken body, unable to even stand, and crawled step by step on her knees to the dying Sui An. The ground was covered with blood, and it was impossible to tell who owned it.
Sui'an panted softly, her weak breaths ruffling her hair like the wind that day. Tears fell from her eyes, and the corners of her mouth twitched as blood trickled down her cheeks. Nan Qiongshuang panicked and reached out to catch the tears, only to see the corners of her lips tremble for a long moment before she smiled mournfully.
She said, "Sister, I really thought the general loved me."
"Sister, can you help me get revenge?"
"Once you've avenged yourself, leave. Never trust love, never trust men, and never end up like me."
She was shaking slightly, like a piece of porcelain covered with cracks and about to break, tears streaming down her face.
"To see... the mountain of gold and jade. Sister, I want to see it now."
"Go and see. Then, remember to bring me back a piece of...gold. Help me...buy my freedom."
In the darkness, Nan Qiong Shuang closed her eyes, trembling slightly, and remained silent for a long time.
Finally, he opened his eyes and squeezed the last phosphorus pill in the wooden bracelet.
She still had bigger places to go and more things to do. For that day, she had done everything, no matter the cost, no matter the means, good or bad, and there was no turning back.
She couldn't die here.
no way.
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