The thief seemed stunned when he heard my words, and then shook off my hand impatiently: "No, no. What Ah Li, Ah He, I haven't seen it. You quickly agreed to my deal. In this way, our debt is written off. ”

"Good, good, I promise you! In the future, if you are in trouble, as long as I can help, I will definitely risk my life to save you. But haven't you really seen a man named Quinoa? Did you go to that secret room again? I heard that Zhiyao's mansion has been closed up for medicine, and he specializes in taking blood for medicine, will it be ......?"

"You're endless! It's long-winded! Even if I left something quinoa in the secret room, and the Zhi gang used him to bleed and cut his flesh whenever he had a headache and foot pain in the past ten years, would he still be alive today? When that old man is about to die, if you have any of your brothers and sisters in your hands, you won't cook him alive? It's you heartless person, since you know that Zhiyao's gang is beating you, how dare you run to his mansion? If you die in his hands, Lao Tzu will save you in vain! ”

"You really ......"

"Oh, damn, women are just annoying! I'm leaving! The thief shook his hand impatiently and strode out of the hut. I hurriedly chased him out, and asked left and right behind him, but he didn't bother to say a word to me.

In the valley, Wuxian and Si'er were having a good time, and when they saw me and the thief coming back, they rushed up together.

The thief Xu negotiated the deal with me and was in a good mood, so he first practiced the sword with Wuxian for a while, and couldn't help but show off his swordsmanship with Si'er. I looked at the three people smiling in front of me, but my heart sank lower and lower. Is the medicine man in Zhifu really irrelevant to me? As the thief said, even if there was a child named Quinoa in the secret room, he must be dead by now. The blue-eyed orchid that day must have been the blood of the medicine man that Zhiyao poured into it. A big living person is taken blood every day like this, let alone more than ten years, even ten days may not be able to survive. Maybe what Wu Xian said is right, the medicine man in Zhiyao's Mansion is not a person at all, but a group of people who have nothing to do with me.

"Ah Shi, the red-haired uncle said he wanted to teach me how to practice swords!" I was in a daze, Si'er suddenly smiled and pounced, her round face was flushed and sweating in the sun, and the whole person was like a bird out of the cage was extremely excited, "Uncle's swordsmanship is very powerful, don't wait for Zhao Wuxian to teach you, let's learn it together now!" She dragged me by the hand and tried to pull me up.

"You go, I won't go. This thief's character is not very good, but his swordsmanship is very good, since he is willing to teach you, you should go quickly, lest he change his mind temporarily. ”

"Then why don't you go? When your clothes get dirty, they get dirty, and I'll wash them for you again when I get home. Si'er squeezed my hand and sat down beside me, "Your face is not very good, is there something uncomfortable?" ”

"Dead girl, do you practice or not?" Innocence shouted in the distance.

"Don't make any noise!" Si'er yelled.

"I'm fine, I'm just a little sleepy from the sun. I'll sleep under the shadow of the tree, and when I wake up, I'll see you practice my sword. ”

"Okay, then you remember to put the wolf cub's clothes over your belly, but don't catch a cold."

"Well, there you go." I got up and moved to the shade of the tree, and Si'er covered me before turning around and running to the thief.

I lay down in the shade of the trees next to the pool and watched the waterfall all day. The snow-like waterfall in the sun was like an ethereal cloud of smoke pulled by the mountain wind, sometimes breaking in half, sometimes turning into a dazzling white light. It is obviously the freest water in the world, but because of its smallness, it is so teased by the mountain wind. Everything in the world is respected by the strong, and perhaps only if you are strong enough can you control your fate in such troubled times. Otherwise, no matter how beautiful and beautiful it seems to others, it is just a cloud of smoke at the mercy of others.

The sun sinks in the west, people wait to return, and birds return to the forest. Si'er, who had been tossing all day, had fallen asleep on the innocent back, and the thief carried a sword and a lamp to send us out of the valley.

"I'm going to leave for Qi soon, and the jar of wine I brought in the morning is the antidote to the rest." I walked behind the thief, trying to avoid the waist-high ferns on both sides of the road.

"What are you going to do in Qi Country?" The thief asked.

"Nothing, I just want to see it. When are you going to do that fateful event? The people of Zhifu have been looking for you, and it will take half a year for me to go back and forth to Qi State, so don't let me even have a chance to repay your favor. ”

"Don't worry, I won't cheapen you." The thief shoved the oil lamp in his hand into my hand, "Let's go, you should recognize the road ahead." Qi Country is not a good place either, be careful not to send your own life there and lose my deal. ”

"Got it." I saluted the thief. He sneered with great disdain, and walked into the valley without looking back, carrying his sword.

"Hey, he carved such a puppet, but he didn't ask me if my aunt was alive or dead, and where she went after leaving him......" I looked at the back of the thief.

"What did you say?" Innocence turned back.

"It's nothing, do you know what the thief is going to do?" I walked over to Innocent and lit the way for him in the night.

"I don't know what he's going to do, I just know that the uncle stole a lot of valuable things in Xinjiang City, but he was taken away by people a few days ago."

"Taken? Who took it? ”

"I don't know, the uncle only said that what he has to do is very expensive."

"A big deal that costs a lot of money?" I looked at the flickering path in the darkness and fell into deep thought again.

By the time we got back to our accommodation, it was midnight. Si'er was still asleep, and I couldn't sleep after tossing and turning, so I put on my clothes and went out of the room.

The night outside the house was quiet, and the night sky above me was so high that it seemed as if I was about to leave this filthy world. I think of the long eyebrows I met in Jinyang City that night, the strange "light room" of Zhiyao, his greedy eyes and scarlet mouth. Those horrible images shook alternately in front of my eyes, and I couldn't suppress the fear in my heart and screamed violently.

In the darkness, the cry of terror echoed in circles. I clutched my pounding heart and gasped. After a while, his forehead was full of broken sweat, and when the wind blew, it was cold and swishing.

"Ah Shi, what's wrong with you?" Innocent sat down beside me with his curly hair loose and rubbing his eyes.

I didn't even think about it and plunged into his arms.

"What's wrong with you? Are you cold? Innocent tightly circled my trembling body, "I'm hot, and you're warm by sticking to me." ”

"I'm not cold, I'm just scared."

"Afraid of what?"

I'm afraid that someone will drink my blood and eat my flesh, and I'm afraid that someone will lock me up like a mother and eat my children. I'm afraid that I will never be able to become stronger, and I am afraid that if I am not careful, I will die in front of Zhiyao. I can't die, I can't die until the Chi clan dies!

"Ah Shi, are you having a nightmare?" Innocent hugged me and asked in a low voice.

"Hmm." I took a deep breath and sat up from my innocent arms, "I dreamed that I was dead, and I now know that I was so afraid of death. ”

"What is there to be afraid of death, in this life, I must die before you can die. I'll pick you up in Huangquan, so you don't have to be afraid of anything. Innocence hugged me, his hand gently patted my back, and the promise of life and death was so light and so deep.

I closed my eyes and nodded.

Anger in the daytime is fearless, but darkness reveals buried vulnerability. Fear and cowardice are like two beasts lurking in the dark, always looking for every opportunity to devour people's fragile hearts. And the only thing that can drive them away is the most beautiful things in this world, such as friendship, such as love......

This night, I fell asleep on the shoulders of innocence, and in my dreams there was no blood, no medicine men, no entangled power struggles, only the singing mountains and the boys running like the wind in the forests.

Si'er is determined to practice swords this time, and since the valley for a day, she will follow Wuxian to the valley every morning to find thieves to practice swords. They weren't there all day, so I simply lived in the Taishi Mansion and concentrated on helping Shi Mo write books. On this day, Bolu sent someone to invite me to come to the house to enjoy the spring, and I was about to ask Mingyi to inquire about Yu An's whereabouts, so I rode away.

The housekeeper of the Zhao Mansion asked the maidservant to lead me to the garden in the palace, saying that at this time, Bolu and Mingyi were waiting for me in the garden. At this time, it is close to mid-spring, the green trees and flowers in the garden, the purple and red, all the way, the insects and birds are singing, the wind is soft and the flowers are fragrant. Walking through a garden path, there are curved shelves on both sides, and purple vines are full of branches, and bunches hang overhead, obscuring the blue sky and white clouds, leaving only a gorgeous purple and the wings of wild bees. I walked through the vine flower path and walked for about half an hour, when the little maid beside me suddenly stopped with her head down: "Wizard, further on is the inner garden, and slaves are not allowed to enter." ”

"If you don't lead the way, how can I find the son of the world in such a big garden?"

"The prince brought a leather drum into the garden early in the morning, and the sorcerer only needs to look for the sound of the drum to see my family." After speaking, the little maid bowed and retreated.

Drumbeat? In addition to the sound of running water, all I have in my ears at the moment is the sound of birds, where is the sound of drums?

I walked a little further along the stream in the garden, and there was a little drumming or two in the warm wind that greeted me. Further on, the drums grew brighter.

Drumming to enjoy spring, heh, these two people are really interested. If you want to come and stay for a while, there will definitely be delicious food and wine. I was thinking about it, but the drumming of the rain stopped abruptly, and when I looked around, I still didn't see Bolu and Mingyi, but I saw two girls, one blue and one pink, standing on the long bridge of the stream not far away.

"May I ask the two girls, do you know where the prince is?" I bowed and asked softly.

The two women stood motionless with their backs to me, and I coughed a few times in confusion, but they ignored me. Helplessly, I had to step onto the wooden bridge and walk to the side of the two, only to find that the two delicate and lovely Huaichun girls had two pairs of eyes and a heart all fell on the hem of a flying dress in the green bushes opposite.