A spring rain rained unhurriedly for two days, and the sky finally cleared.

The streets of Kyoto are occasionally dotted with apricot trees, and after two days of light rain, many petals fall to the ground. The pink petals are light and soft on the apricot branches, which is pleasing to the eye, but when they fall on the wet street, they can only be trampled under the feet of the city dwellers who come and go through the streets, stepping into the cracks of the stone slabs, and rotting in the mud.

Flowers bloom and thanks, things flourish and decline, even if this falling all over the ground is the apricot that has been named the national flower, when it walks on the track of nature, it is naturally easy to ignore.

Cen Chi closed his eyes again after Shi Xin left, but he couldn't fall asleep anymore. This feeling of weakness but clarity of mind lasted for a long time, and as the blank space in his mind became wider and wider, the door suddenly creaked open.

The footsteps of stepping into the threshold were small and gentle, and Cen Chi knew that it was the sound of Xiao Qiang walking.

Lying on the bed, he also opened his eyes silently, and tilted his head slightly to the side of the door.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he wanted to look at Xiao Qiang who walked in, but when his gaze passed through the door of the open bedroom and landed a little in the hall, the ray of sunlight reflected in the hall shook his eyes. Maybe it was because he had closed his eyes for too long, although the rays of sunlight did not hit his face directly, but it still made him feel dazzling, but he didn't see the slight surprise in Xiao Qiang's eyes.

After the bowl of soup brought in the morning was accidentally spilled, Xiao Qiang hurried to boil another bowl according to the requirements of the three young people of the Shi family. When she walked into the house, she wondered if the gentleman, who was accustomed to getting up early, had woken up, whether he would wake up early in the morning and not see the servant, and that he would go out of the house again and disappear.

After entering the house, she saw Cen Chi sleeping on the bed, and her heart was a little more stable. But I saw him suddenly open his eyes. And there was no such confusion in her eyes as that of someone who had just woken up, and she couldn't help but feel a little afraid, feeling strange, and feeling that she had a feeling of breaking into the house without saying hello.

After thinking about it for a while, Xiao Qiang couldn't help but ask softly, "Sir, have you woken up a long time ago?" ”

"Hmm." Cen Chi stretched out his fingers and pinched the corners of his eyes, he was stabbed by the sunlight just now, and he only felt a little dizzy at this time.

Xiao Qiang noticed this carefully, and hurriedly approached the bed to rub his forehead for him, and Wen Yan asked, "Is your head still dizzy?" ”

"It's fine. It's just because I've been lying down too much. Cen Chi spoke calmly, and after taking a deep breath, he said again: "It's sunny." ”

Xiao Qiang remembered that a few days ago, Cen Chi said that he didn't like to stay in the house for too long. smiled and hurriedly said: "It has rained for two days, and the cabinets and clothes in the house are damp, so I'll open all the doors and windows!" This also allows for ventilation. ”

"No......" Cen Chi hurriedly stopped Xiao Qiang, and then said slowly: "Sunshine...... It's too dazzling. ”

Xiao Qiang was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but wonder in her heart. I feel that the gentleman in front of me seems to have changed from a few days ago. She thought it was because of his illness, but when her eyes fell on Cen Chi's face, she saw that red bloodshot appeared in the eyes that had been quietly closed for two days, and she couldn't help but be shocked.

His gaze always drooped made her feel like he was more than physically ill. Lianxin seems to be sick too.

Xiao Qiang didn't know if she had the ability to comfort Cen Chi as a maid, so she could only purse her lips, and then said warmly: "Then I'll help you sit up and drink medicine!" ”

Cen Chi glanced at Xiao Qiang. Then he quickly sat up, and he didn't need Xiao Qiang's hand at all, or he naturally refused her help.

Xiao Qiang's heart fluttered for a moment, and she quickly pulled the pillow to cushion his back, and then picked up the medicine bowl and handed it over. Cen Chi took the bowl. Drinking medicine is like drinking water, and it seems that it is because of drinking too fast. He let out a long breath after drinking the pill.

Xiao Qiang held the empty bowl handed back by Cen Chi, and looked at him with a little sluggish gaze.

Cen Chi noticed that Xiao Qiang's eyes were hiding words, and after a moment of silence, he slowly asked, "What are you thinking?" ”

Xiao Qiang hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm thinking, what are you thinking." ”

"Nothing." Cen Chi sighed softly and said slowly: "I just feel that my mind is blank now, and I don't want to think about anything." I've never felt this way before, maybe this time I'm really sick. ”

"Sir, your words make Xiao Qiang feel a little scared in her heart." As Xiao Qiang spoke, the fingers of her hands holding the thin porcelain bowl gradually clasped tighter and tighter, and the knuckles of her slender fingers became more and more prominent, "You didn't talk like this before. ”

"Because I'm sick." In the direction that Xiao Qiang was afraid of, Cen Chi said something more direct, so direct that Xiao Qiang felt that she was almost a little nervous at this time.

But immediately, the familiar smile on his face showed the same familiar smile as before, and he asked softly: "How many days do Lang Zhong want me to drink this medicine?" ”

Xiao Qiang was stunned, this familiar and warm scene made her almost think that the slightly neurotic appearance of the gentleman in front of her just now was just an illusion.

"There are two more pairs of medicines, and they can be stopped tomorrow." Xiao Qiang replied, she thought about it and added: "Lang Zhong diagnosed that you are a liver fire offender and lungs, and you stay up late and consume too much mind, so the illness comes urgently, but the problem is not big, and it is natural to rest more." ”

"You say it's not a big deal." Cen Chi glanced at Xiao Qiang, then his eyes fell on the empty bowl she was holding, smiled and said, "But that Langzhong has such a bad medicine, do you think I am at a loss?" ”

Xiao Qiang had a happy smile on her face, and she was also relieved in her heart, she felt that the gentleman in front of her had regained his usual peaceful but funny appearance, which was really good.

But she turned to think of the way he drank the medicine just now, and the uneasiness that had settled in her heart floated again, and she said softly: "I see the way you drank the medicine just now, and you don't seem to feel bitter. ”

"Because it's so bitter, I want it to pass quickly." Cen Chi muttered, but what he said didn't seem to just refer to the taste of the bowl of medicine. He exhaled a deep breath of turbidity, and he said: "But when this medicine is swallowed in the abdomen, the mouth is still full of bitterness, it is really too bitter." I've never felt so bitter about medicine as I do today...... Maybe I'm drinking too little......"

Xiao Qiang heard his words, and the fear that had just settled down due to worry came back to her heart. But this time, she didn't continue to be silent and speculate, and only put the empty bowl in her hand on the table beside her. Then he squatted down close to the edge of the bed, raised his head slightly to look at Cen Chi's drooping eyes, and asked softly, "Sir, what's wrong with you?" Did something happen to you when you left the house that day? ”

Cen Chi raised his eyelids slightly, staring at Xiao Qiang, but did not speak.

Xiao Qiang bit her lip, then stretched out her hands to the bed, grabbed one of Cen Chi's sleeves, looked at his slightly pale and sickly face, and said seriously: "I remember what my mother said." When you have something sad, saying it is like pouring it out of your heart, but your friends who hear it may not reply to you. Because when the people on the other side hear these sad things, they may not also be sad, so this sad thing is naturally digested by them. ”

The look in Cen Chi's eyes moved slightly, seeing that Xiao Qiang's gaze was no longer as sluggish as just now, he said lightly: "Little Qiang girl." I remember once asking about Shi Sangongzi, and he said that you sold yourself to bury your mother into the Prime Minister's Mansion. ”

Hearing this, Xiao Qiang's body stiffened. Thinking of her mother's death, a trace of sadness welled up in her heart. But that was a few years ago, and in the past few years of being a maid in the Prime Minister's Mansion, although all the things I have done are humble things to serve people. But she also met many hard-working women who had similar experiences to her, and they were able to develop a common language and often exchange comfort with each other. It also reduced the pain of losing a mother a lot.

So at this moment, another emotion in Xiao Qiang's heart that is even more sad than sad is surprise.

Shocked that Cen Chi's words suddenly became extremely direct, he was surprised that he didn't know what Cen Chi meant.

Facing Cen Chi's quiet gaze and waiting for an answer, she nodded.

Cen Chi fell silent after receiving the reply. After a long time, he asked, "What will come to mind when Ling Tang dies?" ”

This sentence was more direct than the one he had said before. However, Xiao Qiang calmed down at this time and began to adapt to Cen Chi, who was in a somewhat abnormal mental state today. After taking a deep breath, Xiao Qiang silently peeled open the shell of her heart that had been woven through the years, and thought back to what had come to her mind a few years ago when her mother breathed on the couch covered with straw and a tattered linen blanket.

After a long time, she said in a calm and cold tone: "I didn't think about anything, I just felt that my heart was empty, and I didn't know where to go, and then as if a hole had been broken in a place, bursts of cold wind poured into my heart...... Dull pain. ”

After she finished saying this, she didn't see Cen Chi speak again, and she suddenly felt that what she said was a little familiar in the quiet atmosphere of the room, as if someone had just said it.

In an instant, she remembered that Cen Chi had just said this, and her heart couldn't help but sink.

"No......" She let go of the hand that was holding Cen Chi's sleeve, and slowly clenched it into a fist on the sheet, and the words in her mouth were innumerable, "Is it ......?"

"It's only now clear to me that I can't accept it, I can't find my feelings." Cen Chi's voice began to tremble slightly, and he slowly shook it through the hand that was flat on his lap, pulling out the soft quilt.

He lowered his head and swallowed dryly, and his shallow Adam's apple moved, as if he was trying to suppress something.

After a while, he raised his eyes to look at Xiao Qiang again, and said in a deep voice, "I want to tell you what I am sad about, is that okay?" ”

The trills in his voice faded a lot, but his voice became hoarse.

Xiao Qiang was slightly stunned, and nodded silently after a moment.

After Cen Chi let out a sigh, the hand holding the brocade quilt on his knee slowly let go, and Wen Yan said again: "Please close the two doors outside first." ”

Xiao Qiang walked out of the bedroom, first closed the door outside the hall, and then stepped back and closed the door of the bedroom. When she turned around and walked back to the bed, she was stunned to find that Cen Chi was sitting on the bed with his knees crossed, his originally straight back curled up at this time, and his shoulders were obviously trembling.

Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, Cen Chi raised his face, and on his slightly bloodless face, Xiao Qiang clearly saw two water marks, overflowing from her eye sockets to her jaw, and her heart tightened unconsciously.