The first rain of late spring poured down and opened a majestic curtain between heaven and earth. The dark clouds in the sky in the distance are overwhelming, and there is a looming thunder, like a dragon ascending to the sky.

The place to shelter from the rain that He Jianshuang said was a cave he found during the final assessment some time ago.

The second after the two ran to the cave, the pouring rain fell, and the entrance of the cave completely became a water curtain cave. Daylight is obscured by clouds, making it very dim.

The cave is on high ground, so you don't have to worry about rain and mud flowing in if you climb up. The cave that is recessed is not deep, but it does not rain.

There was hay under the cave, some firewood piled up in the corner, and stones to make a fire.

Yan Ling said in surprise: "Are these things left by you?"

When they came in the rain just now, their bodies were still a little wet, and they were easily infected with wind chill in late spring. He Jianshuang bent down to pick up the firewood, piled it at the door, lit a fire to keep warm, and said, "That's right. I spent the night here during the previous exam. ”

Yan Ling sighed. He Jianshuang's slender and powerful fingers deftly rubbed a few times with the fire-making stone, and the spark jumped, igniting the dead wood, and the golden flame soon came up, and the jumping firelight made the cold air warm and dry, and also gave a glimmer of light to the pitch-black cave, so that it would not be blackened by both hands.

Yan Ling touched the placket of her clothes, and when she ran over, He Jianshuang intentionally or unintentionally used her sleeves to block most of the rain, so it was He Jianshuang's coat that was more wet now. I saw him take off his coat and lay it on the edge of the fire to dry. Because the fire took up part of the space, the two of them had to go as far into the cave as they could, and sat on the hay with their knees crossed.

He Jianshuang sat facing the dead branches, making a fire. The firelight outlined the bridge of his nose, and the light and shadow lingered on his face with indescribable beauty. When he took off his coat, he was just the figure of a teenager. But by looking at the skeleton and fingers, you can know that his future figure will never be shorter.

When the dead branches burned, there were occasionally one or two explosions, and they were speechless.

Yan Ling touched her chin and suddenly wanted to ask a question: "When is your birthday?"

"April 23. ”

April 23 of the old calendar, converted to the new calendar, is about the end of May. Isn't that only a little more than a month? Yanling remembered this day in her heart, and muttered secretly in her heart - it turns out that this kid is a Gemini.

Half light, half dark, both good and evil, unpredictable, unwilling to show sincerity, affectionate and rational, sophisticated and naïve, good and evil are one. It's really a bit like that.

Resting his head on his knees, Yan Ling looked at He Jianshuang thoughtfully, and suddenly found that his eyes seemed to have a faint inky blue, not like a purebred Central Plains person.

If you hadn't been so close, and you couldn't have seen it in this particular light.

After finishing the fire, He Jianshuang sat down and looked up at her: "What's wrong?"

Yanling smiled and said, "I suddenly think that your eyes are very good-looking, a little blue." ”

He Jianshuang's eyelashes trembled slightly, a little stunned. Yan Ling moved her buttocks, got closer to He Jianshuang, and asked curiously, "By the way, I don't know where your hometown is? Is it the Western Regions?"

"Hmm. He Jianshuang nodded slightly, as if she didn't want to elaborate.

Yan Ling didn't force him, everyone had something they didn't want to say, so they just smiled and changed the topic: "It's so far away from my hometown! I haven't seen what the Western Regions are like, and I don't know if I will have a chance to go there in the future." She wasn't lying—neither in real life nor in the book world, she had never been to that vast and mysterious land.

He Jianshuang said unexpectedly: "However, the distance between Danzhou and the Western Regions is not very far, how can there be no chance?"

Realizing that she almost missed her mouth, Yan Ling unhurriedly turned her head back: "Because from birth to the present, I have never left Yanshan, and the Western Regions are unfamiliar to me, so I feel very far away." If I had the chance, I'd really like to check it out. ”

He Jianshuang smiled lightly: "The people of the Central Plains say that the people of the Western Regions are barbaric and ruthless, and you still want to see it?"

Yan Ling shook her head and said seriously: "There are good people and bad people in every place. It's unfair to judge a person whether he is good or bad, and why judge him based on where his hometown is? The criterion for judging should be the person himself. After a pause, she said with a smile: "At least, no matter what Li Cheng, Wang Cheng, and Zhang Cheng of Na Laoshzi say, in my heart, you are a very good person from the Western Regions." ”

I don't know where I've read such a passage before, to the effect that a person, even if the world says he is not good, as long as he is good to you, you have to say that he is good. A person, even if the whole world says he is good, as long as he is not good to you, you don't have to conform to outsiders who say he is good. Only by distinguishing small grievances can we determine right and wrong. Now that I think about it, it is.

He Jianshuang stared at her eyes for a while, then smiled lightly, under the firelight, his eyes were rare gentle, and he turned his head to look at the rain curtain: "In this case, if you have the opportunity, you can go with me to take a look." It's not impossible for me to be your guide. ”

Yan Ling was stunned, but she was a little sad in her heart.

In fact, the day He Jianshuang returned to the Western Regions was when he rebelled against the Tianxiao faction. Then, it didn't take long for him, with his hands covered in blood, to explode and die in the secret room. Therefore, it should not be possible for the two of them to travel to the Western Regions or something together.

But the atmosphere is so good now, if you follow his words and form a small agreement, it can give him a warm thought in the future, so that he will not give up on himself, which is a good thing. So Yanling couldn't bear to break this vision.

Yes, self-defeating - this is Yan Ling's description of him in the later period.

When reading the book, Yan Ling always felt that He Jianshuang, who returned to the Western Regions and dominated the martial arts in the later period, gave people a feeling of letting go of the demons - "Anyway, you all say that I am a bad star, and I will slaughter the world to show you."

And his tireless cultivation of martial arts is also one of the reasons why Yan Ling feels that he has given up on himself - this person is not going to die at all. You must know that the martial arts of the Takikyo are very powerful and infinitely powerful, but if you practice too much, it will make people's lives suddenly shortened. The higher the cultivation, the more longevity will be. Therefore, He Jianshuang, who has practiced at the top level of martial arts, even if he does not blow himself up and dies, he will definitely have a short life, and his death will be very miserable.

In fact, He Jianshuang, who had cultivated to the middle level, was no match in the martial arts. But he still cultivated desperately, and did so much, was it just to have full confidence to recapture Mo Rui beside Chu Yiheng?

It's okay to say that if she has never been in contact, no matter how she looks at it, it is hard to imagine that He Jianshuang finally became completely black for a woman, and even went crazy to give up her life.

Could there be something going on here?

Or is it true that the word love will make people so catastrophic?

However, it is useless to think about it so much now. Yan Ling sighed, raised a smile, and followed He Jianshuang's words: "Okay, we said that we must go to the Western Regions together in the future, you have to take me to eat a lot of local snacks, and you have to be responsible for taking me to play the Western Regions to the bottom!"

The corners of He Jianshuang's lips curled slightly, and he nodded. Yan Ling suddenly had a whim, and stretched out the little finger of her right hand: "Okay, let's pull a hook." ”

He Jianshuang raised his eyebrows: "Pull the hook?"

"That's it. Yan Ling couldn't help but take the hand on his knee. When her warm and silky fingertips touched his rough scarred palm, He Jianshuang's heart moved slightly.

Since he was a child, he did not believe in the destiny of heaven, and only believed that everything must be fought for by himself. There are also several layers of defense when dealing with people. What didn't enter his defense, no matter how good it was, he couldn't be interested in getting it. But if something penetrates his defenses and is finally recognized by him as his own, then, even if it costs a qiē, he will seize and occupy it, and even if it is destroyed, he will never let it fall into the hands of others.

However, for so many years, most people have been hovering in the outermost layer, and even if someone tries to touch the first layer of defense, they will soon leave.

And now, He Jianshuang felt that the heavy heart defense built in his heart, the outermost place, was suddenly shaken, and at that moment, a small figure broke in.

Over there, Yan Ling commanded: "Then, stick out your little finger, like me." ”

The two hands of one big and one small hooked together, and Yan Ling took his hand and shook it three times, smiling brightly.

……

Many years later, He Jianshuang still remembers this day.

Although, in fact, he has long forgotten what kind of weather it was, what kind of time it was, and even forgot what he said. However, every word Yan Ling said, and her smile and smile, have always been deeply imprinted in his mind.

At that time, he didn't know that today's figure that shook his outermost heart defense would eventually enter the innermost layer of his heart step by step, rooted in his heart, and could not be peeled off or separated. even became a demon in his life, so paranoid that only by firmly controlling people in his own hands can he calm the beast in his heart.

Even if there is no return, the past is gone.

-- "Vol. 1: Artemisia Mountain School, Spring" ・End-