Side Story
In the study, Xiao Yingzhu paused for a moment and looked at the man sitting upright in front of her.
Meng Jian must have dressed carefully for his visit today, as if he was facing a grand opening sacrificial ceremony. He dressed himself appropriately, holding scissors in his hand, standing on the platform with a smile, trying to cut the colorful thread that represented solemnity.
And piled under the platform are piles of white bones and flesh that have been eaten and skinned.
Looking at the man's deep and silent pupils, Xiao Yingzhu seemed to see something from the depths of his eyes, and raised her lips lazily.
"'After the battle, the two boxes are divided into white and black, and there is no loss or gain on the chessboard.' I didn't expect it to end like this. Are you planning to stop?"
Meng Jian raised his eyes thoughtfully and looked at a certain point outside the window.
The shadow that had just existed had now completely disappeared, accompanied by the rustling of the treetops.
"...A complete beginning and an end are the only way to achieve perfection. This farce should end."
“It’s no use filling the gaps in the past now, so it’s better to just go with the flow.”
When he answered, his face was full of smiles, and his humble and gentle brows were relaxed, which seemed to imply that he "didn't care about winning or losing".
Xiao Yingzhu pondered for a long time, and his eyes fell on the chessboard that he had previously placed on the bookshelf after playing chess by himself.
Bamboo shadows dance beneath the window, a charcoal fire burns faintly in a small red clay stove, and the aroma of tea wafts through the air.
"Whether new or old friends, play a game of chess to explore their true nature."
"What do you think, Your Highness?"
The elegant tea ceremony of Huandu, a tradition that spread from south to north, was a favorite activity among scholars and literati. When encountering a close friend or confidant and wanting to understand their intentions, they often used the chessboard as a metaphor for conversation, using the placement of the pieces to understand their underlying intentions.
Cicadas chirped at night, and moist water vapor soaked into the edge of the teacup. The bright arc reflected the scene of the two sides playing chess in the study.
Meng Jian finally agreed with Xiao Yingzhu's wishes, and the sound of chess pieces being taken out and put down could be heard continuously.
—
The clear sky fell on the eaves.
The dark night was his most suitable camouflage. Nothing could be seen from the pitch-black sky, just like the confusion deep in his mind about his surroundings.
He and Yu should be the same as Yan and Yu, who were under Master Qin.
Their identities were different, however. They had nowhere else to go and were seeking refuge. Yu and I, on the other hand, had simply lost the place where we had grown up. We had escaped from the nightmare hell, leaving the blood-soaked village shrouded in black fog and heading for a new world.
The oil-paper umbrella was in the man's hand. When Qing saw the man, she would think that everything related to him might be accompanied by continuous rain or constant wind and snow.
His eyebrows were as black as ink, his nose was steep, and there was no hint of a smile on his lips, but he looked like a gentle and easy-going gentleman.
There was a town not far from the village. The man seemed to have lost his way in the dense forest and wanted to rest here, but he met him and the rain.
From the tattered clothes and bloody mud spots on the face, you can tell what kind of tragedy happened.
But the young man seemed unconcerned with the situation. The various colors he saw were nothing but black and white to him. He only had that chilling smile on his face as he asked:
"The one at the back, is it for the nobles who come to visit from afar?"
Qing didn't understand, so she could only grab Yu's hand, raise her head, and stare at him blankly.
The young master did not answer, but slowly raised his head and looked towards the village.
The lifeless village is only surrounded by vibrant vines, and further away is the broken bridge.
The noble young man from a foreign country originally came from this place.
…
Then the missing second prince must have found a new home.
The man brought them back to a brand new world.
Next to the wooden house is a deep green bamboo forest, and a gurgling stream flows towards it.
Qing stood beside Yu, looking at this world of life that seemed to be isolated from the outside world.
After escaping from the village, Yu's face was expressionless.
Seeing the vibrant green life, he also looked silent and stunned, and there was no expression on his face that could be called "emotion".
It's all blank.
It's like being in a bubble, with my thoughts drained away by others, leaving only an empty shell of flesh and blood, silently exploring the world with my eyes.
The man told them that from now on, they should learn some skills to take back the lives of others in order to protect the bond of family affection between them.
Similarly, they should also transform themselves into sharp swords and become weapons in the hands of men.
With nowhere else to go, helpless souls find refuge in this small and secluded courtyard.
They don't need feelings, nor do they have the mood to regain the emotions that should belong to them but have been taken away by others.
Until the man led them out of the courtyard and into the town, the streets and alleys were bustling with people, as if they had returned to the village before the bloodbath. The scent of fireworks once again stained their lonely brows, the light of fire rose in their dark and empty eyes, and the crackling of firecrackers could be heard in their ears again.
The aroma of freshly baked rice cakes mixed with icing sugar wafted through the streets dotted with orange and red six-shaped lanterns.
Qing's eyes suddenly lit up for a moment, and he raised his eyes and looked at the dark sky - that was the brilliant light bursting out by the fireworks rising into the sky.
Only with the arrival of the new year do they return to this boring world again.
—
The next day, Jiang Nian got up early and wanted to call Qing to ask about Sun Dun's progress, but he didn't see her, so he had to call Yu again.
The young boy Yu is Qing's younger brother.
This is something Jiang Nian only learned about recently.
Previously, the twins had remained silent, only working silently on their tasks. Jiang Nian wanted to find some topics to approach them, but their silent personalities were like clams, leaving her at a loss as to where to start.
Fortunately, after asking me to help Qing deliver the notebook, Qing has become more easy to talk to than before.
But the rain remained silent.
Jiang Nian was a little curious about what Xiao Yingzhu had said to Qing that could make Qing's lifeless personality improve a little - become more sunny.
However, when she thought about how Wanqing had just casually said something Xiao Yingzhu had told her to do, her heart was shaken. Jiang Nian decided to put this curiosity aside for now and wait until everything was settled before sorting out her feelings.
The map on the desk danced with circles of light. Jiang Nian turned around and said to Yu, who had appeared silently, "It was said before that Sun Dun was in the village next door. Will he be here in the next two days?"
Yu nodded, stretched out his hand calmly, and pointed to one of the points on the map.
That spot wasn't far from Pingzhou; if you had a carriage, you could get there in less than half a day, but if you walked, you wouldn't arrive until evening.
"So close. It's almost here."
Jiang Nian breathed a sigh of relief, closed the map on the table, and tucked it back between the other loose pages.
All developments did not deviate much from what she expected and were all within her control.
She was worried that Sun Dun would come to visit her early, so she couldn't take care of the discount activities recently launched by the drugstore. But because of Yu's answer, she suppressed her worries.
With her mind made up, she continued with the task she had assigned to herself before leaving Cang County - to get closer to Qing and Yu.
The young man beside him did not move, still standing there, Jiang Nianzhu asked:
"Qing...where did he go? He didn't come home last night, and I was a little worried about him."
"Qishan Mansion."
"...But I only gave him a letter last night, nothing else."
It was precisely because the letter did not contain much content and it was not something that Xiao Yingzhu could reply to her immediately that Jiang Nian became a little worried about Qing's slow speed.
When I asked him to pick up the notebook before, he was fast... Generally speaking, this was the first time he was so slow.
Yu pursed his lips, and his drooping eyelashes obscured the thoughts in his eyes, making it impossible for Jiang Nian to see what he was thinking.
"It'll be alright. Don't worry, miss."
After a while, his face turned pale, but he only uttered these few words and stopped talking.
"Why don't you go to the mansion and take a look?"
"……Need not."
"Without the master's order, I cannot leave."
Yu turned his eyes slightly, as if avoiding Jiang Nian's sight, but when Jiang Nian looked over, his eyes were still empty, without much emotion, let alone the ability to detect any subtle emotional changes.
“…”
Jiang Nian opened his mouth, but found that he could not find any words to persuade this seemingly stubborn boy.
After a moment, she could only sigh and say, "If you are worried, I allow you to go and investigate."
“…”
Yu did not give a clear answer, but simply lowered his eyes again.
Jiang Nian was sometimes curious about whether he had listened to her or not. Although her reactions were always so ordinary, she always felt empty, unpredictable, and easily out of control because she could not feel or observe their emotional changes.
She subconsciously lowered her eyes to look at her hands.
On the surface, these hands were still clean, just like those of an ordinary girl.
But she went to Cang County, used these hands to steal information, and personally stabbed someone's heart with a knife.
It was difficult for Jiang Nian to tell whether he had changed in some way.
It was as if she didn't understand Xiao Yingzhu's desire for control before, but now she was trying to make Qing and Yu become people she could control.
Jiang Nian sighed softly, raised his hand helplessly and patted Yu's shoulder gently.
The boy was worried but didn't show it on his face, but Jiang Nian remembered how inseparable he and Qing were in the past, so he naturally showed more concern for this seemingly emotionless boy.
"Don't worry, you can handle anything related to Qing on your own. I've already prepared the real and fake insect repellent formulas, so you don't need to spend the whole day guarding here."
With little time left before leaving the pharmacy, Jiang Nian said something to Yu again -
Most of her words were words of comfort, as she felt the child was quite depressed. However, she didn't know what they had been through, so she had to intervene by using other means, allowing them to gradually feel the kindness of the people around them.
Even after Jiang Nian finished dressing and stepped out of the mansion gate and into the carriage, he was still thinking about the expression on Yu's face after he finished talking to her.
Her empty eyebrows and dark pupils were lifeless, reflecting her expression as she lowered her eyes and spoke softly without any emotion. She was like a pool of stagnant water, even if a stone was thrown into it, only the slightest ripple would appear.
“…”
The scent of agarwood lingering in the carriage reached his nose, and the neighing of the carriage brought Jiang Nian back to his senses.
There are so many things I want to know, but it is easy to become a matter of "one move affects the whole body". Instead of groping forward on my own, it is better to ask someone who is familiar with them later.
At least you won't hit any wall.
And using this as a starting point...can we explore Xiao Yingzhu's past?
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