Chapter 113 [VIP] Shadow Guardian (Extra)

Ye Qiuchen was in a good mood today. He was holding a bag of medicine in his right hand and a live fish he had just bought from the market in the other hand. It was really a coincidence this time.

When old man Li, a fishmonger, saw him, he smiled particularly warmly. He greeted him as he walked along the street and asked him why he hadn't been to the market recently. He said that the sound of him arguing with others was missing on the street and he was not used to it. Those women were too arrogant and only this boy could control them.

Ye Qiuchen smiled and told Old Li that someone in the family was sick and couldn't leave recently. When Old Li heard this, he was very righteous and picked out the biggest and fattest live fish for him. Then he smiled and said that it was not good for Madam Ye to be sick. This fish was sold at a low price. Take it back quickly to nourish Madam Ye.

When Ye Qiuchen heard what Old Li said, he couldn't help but smile. He also thought that her appetite was not very good during the past few days when she was sick, so he had to make some delicious food for her to replenish her body. Seeing that her chin had become thinner, he didn't hesitate and immediately took out a handful of copper coins from his pocket and handed it to her.

Before leaving, he said hello to the man and told him that he would come again tomorrow and to remember to leave him another fresh product. Mr. Li raised his head, counted the copper money in his hand, and agreed happily.

Ye Qiuchen also carried the fish home excitedly. All the way, he was thinking happily that he could use the fish to make fish soup for her to nourish her body.

He also thought about how she was about to vomit from taking so much medicine recently. Every time she saw the bowl of brown medicine, she would frown and glare at him. She wanted to refuse but couldn't. In the end, she could only close her eyes and drink the medicine obediently with a look of fearless fear.

Every time Ye Qiuchen saw her drinking medicine, he thought she was very obedient. The more he watched, the softer his heart became, and he couldn't help but want to feed her something more.

He thought to himself, and couldn't help but smile softly. Really... How could there be such a lovely master? I can't get enough of him.

Ye Qiuchen quickened his pace. The live fish on the rope was still jumping around trying to escape. Before he even reached the door, he couldn't help but shout inside.

"Yanyan, I bought some fish today. I can make you some fish soup tonight to change the taste."

Ye Qiuchen pushed open the gate and didn't hear anyone respond from inside. He felt a little surprised and thought she was resting in the room.

But when he opened the door, he found the room was empty. There was no one in the room. The bedding was neatly folded there, just as it was when he left in the morning. Nothing had been moved, but the person in the room was gone.

Ye Qiuchen was a little anxious for a moment, thinking that she had gone to do something out of depression, and almost subconsciously went out of the door to look for her, but when he rushed into the yard, he saw a plain white note on the stone table, which said that she and Seventeen were going to attend the City God Temple Fair tonight, so he didn't need to worry.

After Ye Qiuchen saw it clearly, he was stunned for a moment. His eyes fell quietly on the note. He was silent for a long time before he sat down on the stool in a daze.

Ye Qiuchen felt an emptiness in his chest for a moment. Even his breath was chilly and chilly. Is she really going to leave this time...?

They had clearly agreed to let go, but for some reason, when he saw her really follow Ying Shiqi away without hesitation, he still felt an uncontrollable depression in his heart.

My heart felt like it was pricked by a needle. It started with a slight sting, but eventually the tingling pain spread and became more intense.

He didn't know whether she would come back or not. Just a few days ago, this courtyard seemed warm and touching because of her presence. But now, he was the only one left in the empty courtyard. It seemed so lonely everywhere.

He even thought, why did she leave so quickly? She hadn't even finished taking the medicine yet. He wouldn't cling to her and wouldn't let go. Besides, there was the fish he had just bought home, which cost him more than ten copper coins. He had originally thought of giving it to her to nourish her body, but now, wouldn't it be a waste if he didn't eat it?

Can’t you just... drink the fish soup before leaving?

It was such a pity to waste his good craftsmanship. She was still thinking about it two days ago. Ye Qiuchen suddenly felt so sad. Her eyes felt a little sore, as if something was about to overflow.

Ye Qiuchen was immersed in his own thoughts and did not hear the sound of the door being pushed open for a while. When he heard the slight sound and turned around, he thought he was hallucinating, otherwise how could he see her standing at the door looking at him?

She smiled at him...

Liar, fake! He was hallucinating again.

Ye Qiuchen's eyes were filled with mist, and he looked over with a mocking look. His eyes suddenly became resentful, and he didn't know whether he was blaming her or mocking himself. "What are you doing back again? Didn't you leave Ying Shiqi?"

He stared at the figure without blinking, and suddenly he felt like crying.

Especially seeing her pale face, saying such cruel and unforgiving words, but unable to help showing hope in her eyes,

"I'm telling you, I just bought a particularly plump fish today. I won't let you drink any of the fish soup I'll make later. I'll feed you to death!"

After hearing this, Nan Yan couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth, revealing a faint smile.

Her face turned pale and her brows were slightly furrowed. She took a few steps forward, but this time she really couldn't hold on any longer. She stumbled and fell straight to the ground.

Ye Qiuchen was stunned by this sudden change.

He originally thought that he was too sad and had hallucinations, but until he saw her walking towards him, he realized that the person in front of him was not fake, she really appeared in front of him, and she did not leave...

Ye Qiuchen couldn't tell what he felt for a moment. He was nervous and excited at the same time. Especially when he saw her fall, his body reacted almost subconsciously. He rushed forward and cushioned under her, then held her in his arms with his backhand.

Then his back slammed into the gravel on the ground. Ye Qiu groaned in pain and his expression was distorted.

He held the person tightly in his arms, like a drowning man grabbing his last straw, but he was still unwilling to give up. He deliberately put on a stern face and muttered, "Why are you running around when you haven't recovered yet? I wonder if anyone will worry about you? You can't even walk steadily. What will you do if I'm not by your side to watch over you in the future?"

Ye Qiuchen had just finished speaking when he looked down and saw the bright red blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. His expression changed instantly.

"Yanyan, what's wrong with you? Where are you injured?"

He hurriedly grabbed her wrist hanging by her side, his hands shaking with nervousness. He originally wanted to feel her pulse, but when he saw the gauze wrapped around her wrist and the bloodstains on her clothes, he became panicked. "What happened to your hand? Why did you get yourself into this state again? Did you do this on purpose? Did you do it on purpose to make me feel so heartbroken?"

He staggered to stand up, but lost his balance and fell to the ground again. Fortunately, the person in his arms was kept safe by him.

Nan Yan reached out and touched his face. Only then did Ye Qiuchen see that her fingers were covered in blood. It was warm and sticky when pressed against his face. Then he heard her hoarse voice saying,

"I... gave him the life-saving dragon, so I accidentally... ended up like this..."

Ye Qiuchen's expression froze after hearing this. His mind was confused for a moment and he couldn't react to what she said. But when he remembered what she meant by the life-sustaining dragon...

The whole person was completely stunned.

"Impossible, impossible..."

How could she just give away something so deadly?

Ye Qiuchen tightly grasped her hand. At this moment, he was so worried that his heart almost stopped.

"You lied to me, you lied to me..."

Ye Qiuchen looked at her wound with trembling hands and feet. When he saw that the plum blossom mark of the insect had completely disappeared, the expression on his face became distorted due to excessive tension.

Then he lost control of himself, tears streaming down his face like crazy. "Are you crazy?"

"How come you can give him everything?"

"Don't you know that will cost you your life? How could you…"

Nan Yan raised her hand weakly, curled her fingers slightly, and then gently wiped the tears from his cheeks, "Because his sweetheart is sick, after all, I owe him..."

Her voice was intermittent and getting weaker and weaker. "If... I hadn't been so selfish and let him elope with me, he wouldn't have encountered so many things. Now... he has someone he likes... This is also good."

As she spoke, blood flowed out of her mouth again. She leaned her head gently on his chest, tears rolled down her nose, and her weak voice was a little hoarse and apologetic. "It's just... the only person I feel sorry for... is you. In fact, I really wanted to live this kind of ordinary life with you..."

She looked at him, a hint of hope in her tear-stained eyes, "Do you blame me? Blame me... for breaking my promises time and again, and then..."

"No, I don't blame you!" Ye Qiuchen trembled, and almost subconsciously grabbed her hand, and then pressed it tightly against his face, "I have never blamed you, never, you never need to apologize to me, everything is my own will..."

His tears seemed to have broken off the string, and he hugged her tighter, "It's me, I'm so sorry for you, I was the one who was causing trouble from the beginning to the end, I'm the one who hurt you."

Seeing the blood flowing out of her mouth, Ye Qiuchen felt as if a big hole had been broken in his heart. He was terrified and said, "You won't die. I'll find someone to save you. I'll find someone to save you now..."

“你別說了好不好？留着力氣，我現在就帶你去找大夫，我帶你去見影十七，我幫你教訓他，我讓他和你成婚，從今往後再也不逼你了，你想怎麽樣都可以的……”

“求求你了，不要死……好不好？”

南嫣把頭埋在他胸口，咳嗽了幾聲。

後頭葉秋沉說的話，她其實已經聽不大清楚了，因為這具身體從取出藥蠱的那一刻起，支撐到現在也已經是極限了。

南嫣感受到面皮上那滴滾燙的眼淚，緩慢擡起手，輕輕觸碰他的眉眼，眼神朦朦胧胧，越飄越遠，“對不起了……葉秋沉。”

她眼睛緩慢合上，聲音呢喃着，“等下輩子……我再重新補償你好不好？下輩子，你早一點找到我，然後，我就會先愛上……”

她最後那一個“你”字，甚至都沒有說完整，原本輕碰着他臉頰的手掌便瞬間如同脫力了一般，軟軟地從空中滑落。

這一瞬，葉秋沉好似要崩潰了。

他慌忙抓住她泛白的指尖，用力貼在自己的臉頰上，眼淚如泉湧，“不要！我不要下輩子，我不要下輩子！下輩子的事情誰說的準？這輩子好不好？我就要這輩子你賠我，你起來，嫣嫣，我求求你了……你起來好不好，起來聽我道歉……”

“我還沒有跟你說聲對不起，所有的事情都是因為我，是我太自私了，我害了你們不能在一起的，是我的錯啊，你起來罵我好不好？”

“你起來啊，嫣嫣……”

葉秋沉眼淚如泉湧，心口疼得快要窒息了，可是不論他怎麽呼喊，懷中的人依舊沒有絲毫動靜了，安靜地好像睡着了一般。

這一刻，他仿佛聽見了天崩地裂的聲音，他不明白，真的不明白啊？

為什麽？為什麽他早上離開時還好好的一個人，轉瞬之間就變成這樣了。

是騙他的吧，一定是在騙他的……

明明該死的人是他才對啊。

都是他的錯，是他太自私了……

他自私地以為只要自己拆散他們就可以得到她她的喜歡，明明他們可以很幸福地生活一輩子的，都是他才變成這樣的。

……

葉秋沉渾渾噩噩癱坐在地上。

也不知道他坐了多久，一直到第二天天明，直到眼淚淌幹，直到懷裏的人徹底失去溫度，然後，他聽到門口傳來沉重的腳步聲。

有人艱難地推開門……

他擡頭，看到狼狽不堪的影十七。

他臉上滿是血污跟泥土，眼淚混着泥漿，跌跌撞撞地着從門口的沖了過來。

“嫣嫣，我來找你了……”

“……我全都想起來了。”

他踉跄着跪倒在地上，然後艱難爬到了她的身邊，小心翼翼地握住那雙早已經冰冷僵硬的手指。

葉秋沉不知道他經歷了什麽，但是這一刻，心中積攢的情緒似乎終于攀到了頂點。

他眼裏爆發出濃烈的殺意，仿佛再也忍不住，轉身抽出石桌下那柄長劍，用力刺上了對方的肩膀，“為什麽死的不是你啊，你為什麽還要活着回來！”

他大聲喊着，眼睛通紅，“你知不知道，我們已經要重新開始了，她都已經答應要給我一次機會了，為什麽你還要活着回來，你活着就活着，為什麽還要傷害她……”

那柄長劍用力刺中的十七的肩膀，可是對面那人卻是渾不在意。

好似沒察覺到痛一樣，身體也只是稍微停頓了一下，雙手仍緊緊地抱着懷裏的人，下巴親昵地蹭着她的額頭，嘴裏念叨着，

“對不起，對不起……”

他小心翼翼摸着她的臉，眼淚不停流着，“是我不好，是我太笨了，讓你受了那麽多委屈，嫣嫣，你起來懲罰我好不好？”

“我怎麽能那麽笨呢，怎麽能沒有第一時間想起你呢？嫣嫣，你起來打我吧，怎麽懲罰我都可以的，我知道錯了，我全都想起來了，我是你的十七，不是什麽時栖，也不是什麽世子，我就是你一個人的影衛……”

他一遍遍地重複着，狀若瘋癫，可是懷裏的人早就已經毫無知覺了。

葉秋沉手指輕顫着，那劍仿佛再也刺不下去了，其實最該死的人是他才對啊。

他用力一抽，長劍拔出，連帶着一絲血液飛濺而出，這一刻，葉秋沉只覺得自己渾身的力氣好像都被抽幹了似的。

明明……造成這一切的人都是他。

他才是最該死的那個人啊！

原本跪在地上的十七身體搖晃了下，他緊緊摟着懷中昏睡的人，撐着無力的雙腿站起來，然後抿着唇，小聲哄着，“嫣嫣，我帶你回家好不好？回我們自己的那個家……”

他旁若無人的哄着，完全沉浸在自己的思緒中，“你不是說買回來禮燭跟紅綢就能成親了嗎？我那天其實都已經買回來了，我還買了一支很漂亮的釵，攤主跟我說，哄娘子都要送這些的，我待會給你戴上好不好？”

“我還想吃你做的槐花糕了，等回家，你給我做好不好，要是你嫌麻煩的話，那我給你做也可以的……”

“我在影衛樓學過很多東西，我可以給你做很多好吃的，你累了就先睡會吧，等回家了我再叫你起來。”

他說着，聲音越來越輕，動作也越來越溫柔，像是怕吵醒了懷中昏睡的人一樣，然後小心翼翼地抱起她朝着門外的方向走去。

……

趙時栖失蹤了，失蹤前一天他回到了平南王府，面色平靜地将那只藥蠱交給了王府的下人，之後他又告訴王妃，他已經徹底恢複記憶了。

他不是平南王府的世子趙時栖，他是栖霞山莊影衛樓裏的一名影衛十七，最重要的是，他告訴王妃，他其實早已經娶妻了，往後也不會再待在王府了，他會和妻子一起離開這裏，去過自己想要的生活。

王妃夫婦出乎意料，他們沒想到這孩子恢複記憶後的第一件事情就是離開王府，雖然心中極度不舍，但看這孩子從未有過的堅定決絕的态度，王爺夫婦也只能無奈放手了，他們虧欠這孩子太多了，任何他想要做的事情，他們都沒辦法罔顧他的意願去反對，曾經還想把這孩子跟玉顏湊成一對的，但事到如今，也只能放棄了，只是不知道這孩子娶的是哪家的姑娘，人品樣貌怎麽樣？

對此，十七也沒有過多透露，只是談到成婚一事的時候，他嘴角彎了彎，然後說他娶的是這世上最好的姑娘。

……

從此之後，影十七就徹底失去消息了，好像這世上從沒有出現過一個叫影十七的人一樣。

往後數年，再沒有人知道他去了哪裏，就連王府也查不到他的任何蹤跡。

葉秋沉曾去過他們倆之前隐居的那個小村子，他在那間院子外停了很久。

後來聽附近的村民飯後談論，這間小院已經很久沒有人居住了，三年前有個年輕男人帶着妻子來這裏隐居，不過那家娘子身體不好，常年累月的不見人。

直到後來村裏人才知道，什麽身體不好、不能見人都是假的，那娘子其實早就死了，好像還是因病去世的，只因那男人傷心過度，就把娘子的墳埋在了院子裏，然後成天一個人自言自語的，還以為自己娘子還活着，其實每日都是與這一座枯墳相伴，吓得這附近的小孩最怕的就是這間院子了，平時路過都要繞着走的……

不過那男人也很可憐，去世的那一天還倚着墓碑，手裏握着一塊碎成兩半的玉佩，後來村民們就把他跟他娘子葬在一起了。

如今，這院子裏的野草都長得比人還深了，而在那雜草從裏，還立着一座孤孤單單的枯墳。

葉秋沉往前走了幾步，身旁有幾個小孩嬉笑打鬧時不小心撞到他了。

小孩子還挺有教養，說了聲對不起後，轉頭看見這間屋子眼裏閃過一絲害怕，又趕緊招呼小夥伴對他說道，“老伯，你是外來的不知道，這間屋子是村裏有名的鬼屋，不能進去的，否則要被女鬼給纏上了。”

不過三年時間，葉秋沉早已鬓染華發，他轉過身來朝着小孩笑了笑，然後啞着聲音說，“是嗎？裏面真有女鬼嗎？”

小孩子把腦袋一昂，語氣十分肯定，“那當然了，我以前還偷偷趴門縫裏瞧過的，裏面的風嗚呼嗚呼的，有烏鴉，還有蛇，非常可怕的……”

旁邊的小屁孩們一起附和，“就是就是，裏面還有狐貍，那些都是女鬼養的，老伯你可千萬不能進去的，進去了就要被吃掉的。”

葉秋沉又忍不住笑了，他伸手摸了摸小孩的腦袋，語氣卻是止不住地輕松，“是嗎？那可真是太好了，被纏上才好啊。”

“老伯我啊，都等她好久了，你們瞧瞧，我等得頭發都白了，如果真纏上了，就讓她帶我一起走吧。”

“反正下輩子，我都已經跟她約定好了。”

……