Moon Shadow

The smile on Mu An Ning's face froze slightly and he looked towards the source of the sound.

The sun was shining brightly outside. A young man in a bamboo-colored wide-sleeved robe was leaning against the door, watching the two of them with interest.

She had personally picked out this dress with Baoqin at the cloth shop two days ago. There was no exquisite embroidery on the collar and cuffs, only some ordinary patterns.

But the young man was unrestrained and insisted on wearing his scholarly clothes in a way that made him look naturally noble.

She admitted that there was some selfish motive behind choosing this color.

Normally he wore scarlet or crimson, those dazzling colors, and she really wanted to see him in other colors.

Seeing the corners of his mouth slightly raised and him staring at her without blinking, she suddenly felt uncomfortable as if she was exposed and quickly looked away.

Thinking back to what the boy had just said, she felt inexplicably guilty.

Why does it sound a bit like...catching someone cheating?

She pursed her red lips, and a hint of crimson appeared on the tips of her ears.

Then, she seemed to realize something and couldn't help but frowning, looking up at the young man whose face didn't show any sign of illness.

She opened her red lips slightly, a little puzzled: "Can you get up now?"

He was clearly too sick to get out of bed yesterday, and she had to bring him food and medicine to the west room.

Gu Huaizhi raised his eyebrows and said jokingly, without any guilt at all: "If I don't get up again, I'm afraid I won't even be able to give me a bowl of medicine soup."

Mu An Ning was speechless for a moment. She was on her way to boil medicine when she heard the knock on the door.

In the stagnant air, Qiao Qingsheng, who had been ignored by the two, suddenly asked in a gentle voice, "Miss An Ning, who is this young man?"

Gu Huaizhi folded his arms and continued to stare at her with a half-smile, waiting for her reply.

Mu An Ning opened his mouth: "This one is mine..."

For a moment, she was unable to explain the relationship between the two of them.

To call them childhood sweethearts is not quite appropriate, after all, although they knew each other as children, they were not always together.

It's not quite appropriate to call them an engaged couple, after all, the marriage between them will probably be dissolved soon.

She paused for a moment before saying, "My friend's surname is Gu, and his given name is Huaizhi."

friend?

When Gu Huaizhi heard these two words, the corners of his mouth, which had been raised, slowly flattened down without him even noticing.

Qiao Qingsheng nodded in understanding and said gently, "It turns out to be Master Gu." He stood up, bowed, and said politely, "I am Qiao Qingsheng, Miss An Ning's neighbor."

He didn't show it on his face, but deep down he felt that the relationship between them was not as simple as that of ordinary friends.

And...their clothes today match very well, both in the elegant green bamboo color.

"Oh, Mr. Qiao." After Gu Huaizhi glanced at him lazily, he walked straight towards the girl sitting opposite Qiao Qingsheng step by step.

She had been quite happy when she talked with this pale-faced scholar before, but why did the smile on her face slowly fade away when she saw him?

So why had she been so happy before?

When he was five steps away from her, he stopped and looked down at her, his tone a little dull: "Mu An Ning, have you forgotten something?"

This distance made the girl's long eyelashes tremble involuntarily.

Didn't she forget to give him the medicine soup? What else?

She raised her eyes and looked at the young man in front of her, only to see his bony hands stroking the black belt around his waist, fiddling with it back and forth.

She seemed to understand that today was the day to change the bandage on his wound.

But...didn't she put the cloth in the west room a long time ago?

Seeing the girl remained silent, he asked with a hint of anger: "Is this how you treat a seriously injured person?"

Qiao Qingsheng quickly tried to smooth things over in a gentle voice: "Mr. Gu, it was my sudden visit that made Miss An Ning forget what you said."

Although he didn't know what it was, seeing the serious look on the young man's face, he knew it must be something very important.

Mu An Ning also noticed that the boy looked a little strange, and said softly: "After I entertain Brother Qiao, I will..."

The young man's face became even more gloomy. He kept calling him "Brother Qiao". What did he think of his fiancé?

Although he didn't like this marriage, she shouldn't be so close to other men.

The corner of his mouth curled up with a lukewarm smile and interrupted her directly: "Okay, then you should treat your brother Qiao well." He deliberately emphasized the last few words.

Mu An Ning pursed her lips and said nothing more, not understanding why he always got angry at her for no reason.

It's just that I forgot to give him the medicine soup for a moment, and seeing how energetic he looks, he probably doesn't need it.

Qiao Qingsheng stood up again to smooth things over: "No need, no need." There was a hint of apology in his tone: "It's time for me to go back too."

Gu Huaizhi heard the gentle voice and finally glanced sideways to carefully examine this Brother Qiao.

I have to say that this guy is good-looking and has a scholarly temperament. He would be the type that is popular among the ladies in Beijing today.

And if you look closely, you can actually see that his features are slightly similar to Mur An Ning's.

He couldn't help but frown. The ancients often said that people tend to like people who are similar to themselves.

*

"You said you are Qiu Yueying?" Mu Guiling stared at the purple-clothed woman in front of him, emotions surging in his eyes.

Qiu Yueying showed no trace of flaws on her face, and smiled sweetly: "Yes, Master Mu."

Her black hair was as black as ink, which made her fair face look like white porcelain. When she smiled, the small mole under her eye made her look even more charming.

Mu Guiling couldn't help but clench the paper in his hand, his black eyes seemed to stare through her.

It was this woman who left him without saying goodbye three years ago. Now she appeared in front of him again in a different identity, acting as if she didn't know him.

He laughed at himself in his heart.

Yueying, Yinyue, aren’t they the same person?

As the two men confronted each other, no one noticed that Mu Wan'er, who was standing behind Mu Guiling, was trying hard to suppress the corners of her mouth that kept rising.

It's true that old lovers are particularly jealous of each other when they meet.

In the original novel, the two had a brief romance, which was one of the few descriptions of eroticism in the book. She couldn't help but read it over and over again.

The scene where the enemy country's witch pulled the serious and icy-faced man down from the altar was definitely what she loved most, but it was a pity that the two of them could not be together in the end.

That year, the 19-year-old Mu Guiling saved the 18-year-old Qiu Yueying from a thief on the roadside.

He was an upright man. When he learned that she had no place to live, he rented a courtyard for her near the marquis's mansion.

But he didn't expect that this woman only wanted to marry him and was eager to sleep with him after just meeting him once.

At first he avoided her, but then, as all the stories describe, he fell madly in love with her.

Qiu Yueying even gave him a strong prescription, and the two of them spent the whole night in that small courtyard brewing their love.

That was the first time that Mu Guiling fell into unconsciousness while awake, and also the last time.

He had chosen an auspicious day to marry her, even though he knew his parents would never agree to him marrying a woman of unknown identity.

However, after that night, she disappeared without a trace.

He searched the entire Shangjing, but never saw her again.

For three whole years, no one knew how he managed to get through that time.

After that, his parents arranged several marriages for him, but he rejected them all on the grounds that he had already established his own career.

He knew very well that he would never be able to fall in love with any woman again in his life.

So at this moment, he simply couldn't believe that he had met her again in Wutong City, near Shangjing.

The county magistrate beside him noticed something was wrong and asked tentatively, "Do you two know each other?"

However, the two of them said in a tacit understanding, "I don't know him."

Zhixian shuddered and kept silent. He couldn't afford to offend either of these two.

He quietly stepped aside to watch the show with Mu Wan'er, and couldn't help but ask softly, "Boy, does your master know Manager Qiu?"

Mu Wan'er had an unfathomable look on her face, with a wicked smile on the right corner of her mouth: "More than just acquaintance..."

Zhixian seemed to smell a hint of gossip.

Could it be that Lord Mu was also one of the many men cruelly abandoned by that woman?

In the end, it was Mu Guiling, who was always very frugal with words, who spoke to break the ice between the two of them: "Tell me, what exactly is going on with this murder case?"

His cold eyes stared deeply at the woman who abandoned him after getting him.

Her foxy eyes seemed to be able to seduce people, with the corners of her eyes slightly raised, which made her look charming in every move.

Thinking back to the absurd things listed on the piece of paper in his hand, he couldn't help feeling a little bitter.

She had dated so many men over the years, but it turned out that he was the only one who had been sticking to this relationship.

*

"Miss, there is a teahouse over there." Baoqin pointed to a building with the three big characters "Ming Hua Pavilion" written on it not far away, "Let's go there to take shelter from the rain first!"

Mu An Ning covered his wet head with his hands, nodded, and started jogging.

The spring rain came really suddenly. As soon as the two came out of the pharmacy, the original bright sunshine was replaced by haze in an instant.

Ever since sending Brother Qiao away two days ago, Gu Huaizhi had been finding fault with everything she did for some reason.

Finally, she finally didn't want to care about it anymore and would just leave the medicine outside his door and leave every day.

As soon as the two entered the teahouse, they ran into a familiar person.

When Mu Guiling saw his sister covered in rain, he showed a hint of surprise: "An Ning?"

Mu An Ning was also startled: "Brother...Mr. Mu."

She thought about it for a moment and immediately realized that the person sent by the Dali Temple to investigate the case was him.

Hearing this address, Mu Guiling could not help but put his hands behind his back and coughed softly: "Just like before, just call me brother."

He had been busy with official duties until the day he set off for Wutong City, when he learned that she had asked to leave the Marquis' Mansion on her own initiative. He was a little skeptical about the reason.

His sister has been gentle and virtuous since she was a child, how could she do such a thing to harm others?

He smelled a hint of medicine and saw the medicine bag in her hand. His brows darkened slightly: "Are you sick?"

Mu An Ning followed his gaze and looked down, shaking her head gently: "No." Seeing her brother's concerned look, she added: "This is for someone else."

[What is my daughter doing with this wet look? ! ]

[Why does my bt want to do everything! Why is orthopedics also so popular? ! ]

orthopedics?

Mu An Ning's expression paused, and he looked around, then he noticed the servant behind Mu Guiling.