The New Year was relatively lively and peaceful, and Zhou Minhai never appeared again after that.
Except for that day in the third year of junior high, Cheng Muyun disappeared for another whole day. When he returned in the evening covered in snow, he didn't say a word.
They didn't even go upstairs; they sat in the lobby downstairs all night.
For several days afterward, he drank with Chen Hede and Xu Jixin, returning home very late.
After returning, he clung to Xu Zhuohua, demanding her very much, which caused Xu Zhuohua to have back pain for several days.
However, Xu Zhuohua didn't think much of it. He just felt that Cheng Muyun needed to release some pressure after dealing with Zhou Minhai's matter.
Although life was monotonous, it was fulfilling, and Xu Zhuohua felt very satisfied.
On the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Cheng Muyun went out with his men, and Xu Jixin rushed to Cheng's mansion in a great hurry.
"Master Yunxu is about to embark on a journey to travel the world. If you don't go to see him now, you'll miss your chance."
Xu Zhuohua hurriedly followed Xu Jixin up the mountain.
The snow on the mountain road was shimmering with the light of melting water. As the cold wind lifted the curtain of the carriage, Xu Zhuohua caught a glimpse of the eaves of a Taoist temple in the distance, appearing and disappearing in the morning mist.
Xu Zhuohua jumped off the car through the half-melted snow, her shoes instantly soaked with dark water stains.
The snow covering the mountains and fields is melting into trickles and seeping into the soil. Only on the winding mountain road, a series of footprints, some deep and some shallow, extend into the depths of the clouds.
The footprints, deeper on the left and shallower on the right, clearly showed the traces left by the same person going up the mountain and then turning back, appearing particularly clear on the wet mud.
Xu Jixin squatted on the ground, puzzled. "Wasn't Baiyun Temple closed? Why are people coming up the mountain?"
Xu Zhuohua pulled her cotton cloak tighter around herself and hugged the hand warmer in her hands. "Perhaps some people don't know and want to pray to the gods, but they go up and come back down empty-handed."
Xu Jixin stared at the footprints on the ground. "These footprints are blurry, but they look somewhat familiar."
"You can even tell who left the footprints; you should become a detective."
Xu Jixin gently touched the blurry footprints on the ground and said thoughtfully, "Footprints can reveal a lot of information about their owner, such as height, weight, walking posture, and dominant foot."
Xu Zhuohua looked up at the trail of footprints disappearing on the mountaintop and asked, "So, do you know whose footprints they are?"
Xu Jixin patted the dirt off his hands and stood up nimbly. "I don't know."
Xu Zhuohua stared at the crisscrossing footprints on the mountain path, her eyelashes casting shadows under her eyes, and she rolled her eyes inwardly.
Xu Zhuohua's cloak swept across the icy stone steps. "I'm going up the mountain first." Before she finished speaking, she was already stepping up the half-melted snow, her skirt, covered in ice fragments, fluttering in the cold wind.
Xu Jixin hurriedly loosened his scarf and chased after him, his leather boots crunching on the thin ice with a crisp sound: "How can I trust you to go up the mountain by yourself? Today, Young Marshal Cheng specifically instructed me to protect you!"
Perhaps because Xu Zhuohua's frightened appearance at the ancestral hall last time was too terrifying, Cheng Muyun clearly took Xu Zhuohua's trip to Baiyun Temple to heart.
"But how did he know that Master Yunxu was going on a pilgrimage today?" Xu Zhuohua asked as they walked.
"Young Marshal Cheng has a very powerful information network. In the entire Xinhai City, there is nothing he doesn't know if he wants to."
Oh, so Cheng Muyun is really amazing.
The sticks made from broken branches were deeply embedded in the half-melted mud and snow. Xu Zhuohua had to use them for support with every step. The rough bark made his palms numb. The cold wind, carrying the remaining snow, hit his face and made his cheekbones numb.
She raised her hand and breathed out white mist, only to see her bright red fingertips trembling in the cold air, making it difficult for her to even hold the wooden stick firmly.
The mountain road winds upwards, and the snow crunches underfoot.
All she could think about was Cheng Muyun.
She had heard too many rumors about the "cold-faced young marshal".
History books say he was an iron-fisted military leader who executed traitors without batting an eye.
But all of this is a world away from the Cheng Muyun she remembers who would bend down to tie her shoelaces and always had a smile on his face when he spoke.
Xu Zhuohua paused on the stone steps, her wooden stick piercing the thin ice and splashing water. The wind howled through the pine forest, but Xu Zhuohua gripped her stick tighter and continued on.
She suddenly became curious: what kind of look would that young marshal, who could turn the world upside down with a flick of his wrist, have when he gave orders? Would it be like the rumors said, where even the warmth in his eyes would freeze into frost? And was she the only one who had ever seen him hide his sharp edge and show his gentle side?
"Second Brother," Xu Zhuohua suddenly called out to Xu Jixin, who was walking ahead.
Xu Jixin had already slung his woolen overcoat over his shoulder, and the treads on the soles of his leather shoes were filled with mud and snow. He had just stepped onto the third step when his foot suddenly slipped, and he stumbled and crashed into the pine tree next to him.
The rough bark scratched his palms painfully. He gripped the gnarled branches, panting heavily, the veins in his neck throbbing with each rapid breath.
"What is it? Dear sister, can you walk faster? Otherwise, when will we ever get to Baiyun Temple?"
Xu Zhuohua took three steps at a time and walked to Xu Jixin's side, leaning against a tree to rest.
"Have you seen Cheng Muyun when he's angry? Is he very fierce outside?"
Xu Jixin wiped the sweat from his forehead, his leather boots making a screeching sound as they pounded on the stone steps covered in a thin layer of ice.
He looked at Xu Zhuohua beside him with a hint of inquiry and amusement in his eyes, raised an eyebrow and scanned him up and down: "To be honest, the Cheng Muyun I remember is always cold-faced, doesn't care about feelings, is autocratic, and will resort to violence if he's unhappy."
As he paused, the sound of pine trees along the mountain path, carrying remnants of snow, swept past them. A gust of cold wind blew by, and Xu Zhuohua felt the sweat on his body instantly turn into ice crystals.
The two of them shivered from the cold.
Xu Jixin smiled and said, "But you might not believe it, because when the two of you are together, he seems like a completely different person, gentle, considerate, and tolerant."
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