He snapped and opened his eyes; All around was pure darkness. Cold, dead silence. He touched the hard bricks beneath him, so cold that they almost stuck to the skin of his fingertips. The air smelled of frozen dust. He was all too familiar with the smell of the darkroom.

Why is he here? -- Everything that just happened was just a dream. The father is not dead; Qing'er didn't come to him; Even his aunt never came to his rescue. Everything was just a nightmare; Wake up from a nightmare, and the reality is still a nightmare; His father had just beaten him, and this time, it seemed that the beatings were more vicious than the previous ones combined, and he actually fainted. But they can't sleep forever; When I woke up cold, I was lonely and locked in this icy and snowy, impermeable darkroom, and my whole body was weak and painful. It should be night outside, and there may be another snowstorm; Otherwise, it wouldn't be so cold; He could hear the howl of the cold wind outside; The door of the darkroom is tight, and there is no light or wind through; The coldness of the cold night could still seep through the thick walls, and he shivered all over.

When and what month can I be liberated? When and when will my father's hatred be removed—is it really only when he dies that I can be freed? But he is my father, my biological father......

But how could he really treat me as his own flesh and blood? Has there ever been a moment like this?

He moved slightly, and his right leg immediately hurt his heart, and he couldn't help moaning, and suddenly he was full of excitement, and then he really woke up coldly.

He dreamed all the time; Even though it's the same nightmare - even though the reality after waking up is still the same nightmare. My father was dead after all; A year ago, just here, in this same darkroom, after beating him badly, when he returned to the East Courtyard, my father drank poisoned wine—someone had poisoned it.

He struggled to sit up, gritted his teeth and endured the heart-rending pain in his leg, crawled in a random direction for a while, touched the wall, and sat down against the wall. He reached out and touched his right leg; There was a large swelling there, and the tibia had been broken; His whole body was almost frozen, but the pain did not abate, and because of the continuous effect, he felt more and more unbearable. He groaned softly; The sound relieved the pain for a moment, causing him to moan twice. Then he held back. In the dead north courtyard, in the dead dark room, the moans seemed to be constantly echoing. He gagged his ears and was silent for a moment.

"Daddy?" He whispered. He hallucinated his father in the darkroom, and his father's soul was staring at him in the darkroom where he had been punished.

"Dad, I'm home today," he smiled bitterly and said softly, "I told you a long time ago that he was a demon, and you didn't listen." ”

He paused for a moment. There was no movement in the darkroom, but he felt that there was a constant roar in his ears, as if there were thousands of people around him. He covered his ears and called, "Daddy, Daddy, where are you?" Daddy, mother......"

He stopped again. There was a sudden silence in my ears. He clung to the wall in horror, his eyes wide open. Everything that had just happened came up at this moment, and the scenes flashed in front of me.

He and his uncle were drinking; Qing'er is going to marry herself at night. Uncle suddenly got drunk inexplicably; The third uncle came in, but found that the uncle had been poisoned and died; A medicine bottle fell out of the uncle's body, and the third uncle searched for another one from himself; Next, the third uncle summoned all the clansmen to the courtyard and tortured himself in front of everyone in the ice and snow; The third brother is in charge.

He had a splitting headache and couldn't understand how it could happen; Why is the bottle of poison that the third uncle regards as a treasure actually on his body; Why did he drink a pot of wine with his uncle, and the uncle was poisoned and died, but he was safe and sound; I don't understand why the bottle of antidote is actually on the uncle's body. Everything was a deliberate conspiracy, but it was so perfectly designed that he not only did not notice it beforehand, but also had no way to justify it afterwards.

In the eyes of everyone, everything seems to be clear. Uncle abolished his martial arts, he held a grudge, and he wanted to force Qing'er to have no way out but to marry him. He poisoned the patriarch, but he himself was unharmed; The poison was hidden in him, and all the evidence was ironclad.

He refused to admit it no matter what, and the third uncle was determined to beat him to death. He has no martial arts, and he no longer has the power to parry and defend; The third brother finally got the opportunity to wash away the jealousy and resentment accumulated in the past, and when he came up, he broke his right leg, and he had to relentlessly trample and crush on the broken bones. In the end, he couldn't stand it, and deduced that he had found a loophole for the third uncle, and asked the eldest brother to take out the uncle's unfinished poisonous wine, and he wanted to expose the third uncle's conspiracy; As soon as the eldest brother handed him the glass, he took it and drank it all. But he could not even ask for death; The third uncle immediately took out the antidote and poured it into him, as if it was a fire in his abdomen, and the pain was severe, and after he vomited a few mouthfuls of blood, he didn't remember anything again.

At this moment, the severe pain in his abdomen had subsided, but the continuous pain in his leg had brought tremendous pressure to his chest, as if his heartbeat could stop at any time under that pressure. Too cold, too cold...... In vain, he gently covered the wound with his hands, not daring to press hard against the broken bones; He didn't dare to let go of his hand—it was clear that the cold air was like the tip of a knife that penetrated mercilessly into his wounds, cutting inside—but it was not in vain for him to hold on, for his whole body was frozen and stiff, and his hands were like ice cubes, without the slightest warmth.

But it's not the coldest, it's not the most painful. If he hadn't been alone, even if it was the same darkroom, the same torture, everything would have been much better than it is now. No one helped him, no one - the whole cottage, except for He Qingqing, the little clan sister who was locked in the room by the third uncle, everyone stood under the eaves of the snow, motionless, silent, watching him suffer in the heavy snow and turn a blind eye. No one questioned the third uncle's questioning, and no one believed in his innocence.

He can't blame anyone else; Several clan brothers have always been cowardly by nature, and it is not surprising that they are silent at this moment. The eldest sister He Shenshen is the daughter of the third uncle, and eighty percent is an accomplice with him. Fan Sheng later turned around and ran out of the courtyard by himself, not knowing what he was thinking; After all, he was too young to expect a child to judge right and wrong—even a mature adult could judge anything!

Even if you grow up together, get along day and night, know each other from the bottom of your heart, and even love each other sincerely, what can you judge! Big brother, Qing'er - what can you judge......

The deepest wound in his heart, bloody, was not framed, not the beating, not the impending death; is not from the third uncle and the third brother, but from the eldest brother and Qing'er, the two people he loves the most. His eyes widened, and it was pitch black all around, but he could still clearly see his eldest brother's face distorted by resentment and suspicion, and he shook his shoulders and roared to question why he was so ruthless; still saw Qing'er's sad and hateful eyes, with her cowardice, she could stand there quietly all the time, watching herself in the snow and being beaten. What is ruthlessness; Desperation is the gaze of the two of them, like a sharp knife stabbing straight into the heart.

Why is this happening; He has been withdrawn since he was a child, and he has never been demanding of the understanding of others; But they are different, they are not outsiders; Since he was a doll, they, as well as the second brother, the four of them have been glued together; The second brother is gone, and there are only three of them left, and it has always been like this. Could it be that after so many years, the result is that they are not willing to give him even the least trust, and they are worse than a stranger.

What kind of wrongs did he do to them that would make them not want to believe in his innocence? If there is, it can only be that he should not possess Qing'er. The sins that began half a year ago are the root of all the misfortunes in the past six months.

There are also swings.

After drinking the same pot of wine, the uncle was poisoned, but he was fine, there was only one explanation: there was a problem in the cup. But how does He Yu know which cup the uncle will use? He didn't show up, only Wooden Swing placed the cup in front of the two of them and poured them wine.

Where did the medicine bottle hidden in the clothes come from? He didn't know, he only knew that the clothes on his body were picked and washed by the swing and sent to his room every day.

Shen Ruoyu hugged his head and whimpered in pain: "Impossible, impossible, impossible......"

Could it be that everything she has done before, everything they have met, got along, and known each other since they met, is just her seamless acting skills as a pawn in front of him? The innocent and beautiful smiling face, two cute and innocent dimples, a mouthful of white and neat teeth, and two eyebrows are as lively and beautiful as the small fish in the ink painting. He regarded her as a confidant, his best friend and greatest luck in the sixteen years since he was born. Is this the truth? Is this his retribution? For what exactly?

He felt very tired, tired, physically and mentally exhausted.

Swings, swings.

He Yu's methods are really unguardable, and he will use you. And you did it so naturally and purely, that I didn't have any suspicions.

I'm going to die tomorrow. He Yu has planned for so long, and finally succeeded; He would make me die inch by inch, he would think that I would die of pain, and he would come up with all kinds of torture to torture me.

He won't use ** incense anymore. What a small bottle of poison has made a great achievement! First the father, then the uncle. Killing chickens with cattle slaughtering knives; After all, there is only one small bottle of incense; The uncle said that it was brought back from Lushan by the third uncle and a gift from his grandfather. To deal with me, he was reluctant to use ** incense.

Suddenly there was a sound of unlocking on the door. The door opened, and a cold wind poured in; It was already night outside, and the faint light and the reflection of the snow seeped into the darkroom, still making Shen Ruoxiao, who was accustomed to pure darkness, unable to open his eyes. He blocked his eyes and heard the footsteps of the third uncle walking in, and it seemed that he had brought in some flying snowflakes. The door closed again. After a long time, Shen Ruoyu dared to remove his arm from his eyes.

A lamp glows dimly in the corner. He Yu sat down across from him and brought a lunch box to him.

"Hungry, huh? This is a snack made especially for you by the swing, so let's eat a little. It's too cold in the darkroom, so I've got you a padded jacket. ”

When Shen Ruoyu heard the word swing, his head swelled with pain. What's more, he suffered a baptism of poison, and when he saw the food, he felt even more cramping and sick to his stomach. He turned his head away and didn't take his jacket. He Yu smiled kindly. He put the lunch box and clothes aside, crossed his arms on his knees, and carefully examined Shen Ruoyu for a while. In the dim light, the young man in front of him was leaning against the wall, his hair was scattered, his face was pale, his bitten lips were swollen, trembling slightly, and his eyes were a little hazy and confused. It didn't take the blood stains on his body to see what kind of catastrophe he had endured.

He Yu said softly: "Xiao'er, why do you have to drink that cup of poisonous wine? No one in this cottage believes in your innocence anymore. If you don't confess to death, but you drink poisoned wine by yourself, the result can only be to strengthen everyone's judgment of you, thinking that you committed suicide in fear of sin. What is the difference between you recruiting and not recruiting? You have to force me to beat you like this. You're a pretty smart kid, why are you so confused today that you have to ask for your own hardship? ”

Shen Ruoyu hugged his arms and curled up tightly, but he couldn't retract his right leg; He shivered against the wall. He Yu heard the small collision between his teeth, sighed, and shook off the cotton coat to put it on him.

"Silly boy," he sighed, "you and your father are carved out of the same mold." Let you lower your heads, it's harder than begging the emperor. ”

"Why are you hurting my father?" Shen Ruoyu asked in a low voice.

"What?" He Yu didn't hear clearly.

"Why did you kill my father?" He repeated, "You poisoned Uncle because you want to be the master of the cottage yourself; You planted the blame on me, because I can't protect my uncle, and I can't see through your tricks; I admit it. But why did you kill my father? He has never been ambitious, and he has never turned a blind eye to things that have nothing to do with him. He just wants to guard my mother's spirit by himself, and die of old age alone. What did he threaten you? Why do you have to kill him? ”

He Yu smiled faintly.

"You're talking nonsense, Xiao'er; The owner of the village is obviously poisoned to death by you, everyone has stolen goods, everyone is watching, you are dying, why do you still deny it? Your dad is even more. On my birthday, I was drinking with your dad and was so drunk, and all of a sudden I was poisoned and collapsed with him. Just because your aunt saved me first with the antidote and failed to save your father, do you suspect that I did it? How well do you know about the toxicity of incense? Do you know the risks? Why should I poison myself too? ”

"You have done a good job of deceiving everyone, but don't try to deceive me," Shen Ruoliao gritted his teeth and said, "Don't try to deceive your aunt." Why do you think she left? Do you think she didn't tell me anything before she left? ”

He Yu smiled deeply, stared at the large blood stain on his swollen right leg, pondered for a moment, and stretched out his hand. Shen Ruoyu was startled, and instinctively wanted to retract his legs, but this movement pulled the broken bones, and a heart-wrenching pain made him tremble again.

He Yu retracted his hand, shook his head gently, and said, "Xiao'er, your father has not refined you in vain for more than ten years; Your bones are so hard that they can break a strong training stick. But no matter how hard the bone is, there are times when it can't be endured, otherwise it won't break. Is that right? ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "It can be broken, it can be broken, don't dream that it will be soft." ”

"Child," He Yu's soft expression did not change at all, "You are very similar to your father, too similar." But what's the point of all this? You can't carry the training stick after all. Your father's martial arts are so strong, after all, he can't carry the ** incense. Whatever Su Ge said to you, it doesn't make sense. Because she can't tell you the truth. After all, we have been married for twenty years, and I know her too well. She is a bodhisattva, even if she can be ruthless enough to leave me and my two children behind, and leave, but she can't be ruthless enough to tell you everything. After all, Xiao'er, do you know why she left? ”

"You poisoned my dad, she can't stand you anymore. Isn't that obvious? ”

He Yu shook his head, sighed in disappointment, and said with a faint smile:

"I'm not wrong; She didn't dare tell you anything. Xiao'er, the reason why your aunt left quietly is that your father's death is a trigger; But in the end, it wasn't because she couldn't stand me. She's because she can't stand your dad anymore, she can't stand herself. The reason why she was able to ruthlessly abandon her daughter was precisely because she could no longer face Qing'er's innocent eyes. It's been eight years; Su Ge and I seem to be extremely affectionate, but the rift in our hearts is only growing day by day. Qing'er grows up day by day, and sooner or later she must understand things and see the clues. It is my father who has a clear conscience; I've always wanted to share it for her, because it's not her fault; But I can't; All the burden is on her heart, she volunteered to do so, I can't help her. After all, it was your father who hurt her—his sister, your aunt, and your father who hurt Qing'er. He's done it to my family. ”

"I don't understand," Shen Ruoyu said coldly.

He Yu looked at Shen Ruoliao's eyes bluntly.

"Xiao'er, Qing'er is your own sister."