"She's leaving?" In the study, hearing Lian'er's report, Cao Ming stood up from behind the bookcase.

Lian'er lowered her eyes lightly and said, "Yes, Childe." She wanted to leave without permission this morning, but was stopped by the porter, so she asked me to come to the son to let her go. ”

"She wants to leave without notifying my master in advance, which is really rude! Go back and tell her that it's okay to go, but she has to come to me in person! ”

After a pillar of incense, Lian'er's gentle voice sounded again: "Childe, she's here." ”

"Lian'er, you step back first!"

"Yes."

Lian'er gently closed the door from the outside of the house, and only Cao Ming and Xiao Ruixue were left in the study.

Cao Ming was the first to speak: "I heard that you are leaving, but do you have the consent of my master?" ”

Xiao Ruixue couldn't help frowning: "I'm not a slave of your family, why do I need your consent?" ”

"Don't you understand the truth that the guest is as he pleases?"

"I don't understand!" Xiao Ruixue's tone was very tough.

Cao Ming touched a nail, and his brows furrowed: "I also saved your life, and your attitude towards your benefactor is the same?" ”

Hearing this, Xiao Ruixue fell silent, her eyes a little erratic.

Cao Ming saw that she was entangled, so the corners of her mouth were slightly hooked, and she softened her tone and said: "As the saying goes, it is better to settle a grievance than to settle it, I don't like people who have always held a grudge against me!" ”

Xiao Ruixue smiled disdainfully.

Cao Ming didn't care, but continued: "Since there are grievances between you and me, why don't we offset the grievances and turn enemies into friends?" ”

"Turning enemies into friends?" Xiao Ruixue was slightly stunned, she really didn't expect Cao Ming to say this, but she didn't think about it for long, and said, "It's impossible!" When you took off my molars and forced me to take poison and swear, I will never forget all this humiliation! ”

Cao Ming sighed, with a hint of remorse in his eyes, and he said in a gentle voice that he had never had before: "Then what do you want?" ”

"What do I want?" Xiao Ruixue seemed to ask and answer herself, and then was silent for a long time.

Cao Ming silently waited for her reply, and after a long time, he waited for her to speak: "I can't turn enemies into friends, but what you said is right, it is better to settle the grievances, and for your sake, save my life!" ”

The corners of Cao Ming's mouth rose slightly.

"Well, if you are willing to give me the permanent antidote to the 100-day hook kiss, then first, I will continue to keep the poisonous oath I made before! Second, I also promise that if I happen to run into you in the future, I will immediately retreat and not cause you any trouble! What do you think? ”

"Retreat?" The corners of Cao Minggang's raised mouth suddenly fell, and his expression became flickering and dark.

"Yes, I will do what I say!"

"Humph!"

"What do you mean by sneering?"

Cao Ming's face showed a hint of sarcasm: "I laugh at you as a woman, what do you say to me?" Even Confucius said that only women and villains are difficult to raise! You women are not strong-willed, and your oaths are light, if I give you an antidote, then can your oath be taken seriously? ”

"You!" Xiao Ruixue didn't know why Cao Ming suddenly turned her face, she was simply playing with herself in the palm of her hand, she couldn't help but be angry, and said: "I see that you are narrow-minded and capricious, with all due respect, I am afraid that you are not even as good as a woman!" ”

Cao Ming sneered slightly, his expression indifferent.

Xiao Ruixue had nowhere to go, so she had to flick her sleeves, turn around and open the door, pull her legs and leave.

Cao Ming looked at her back, and her sneering expression suddenly disappeared, replaced by a kind of melancholy of gaining and losing.

Lian'er walked in from outside the house, she looked at Cao Ming, shook her head and said, "Childe, you shouldn't say that to her!" ”

"What did I say about using you as a slave to teach?"

"Slaves don't dare!" Lian'er suddenly fell to her knees, but she continued to look at Cao Ming and said, "Childe, the slave maid has followed you since childhood, and some things can't be seen more thoroughly, please listen to the slave maid!" ”

Cao Ming's expression moved slightly: "Let's talk about it." ”

"Since Childe likes Xiao Xiaoniang, he should confide in her true feelings, even if he doesn't treat her as gently as Mr. Luo, he should treat her kindly, doing what you just did will only deepen the misunderstanding between each other, and eventually push her farther and farther!"

Cao Ming was a little annoyed and angry: "Shut up, how could my son ever like her?" ”

Lian'er had tears in her eyes: "Childe, you are still so young, why do you have to suppress your emotions so much?" If you continue like this, you will regret it one day! ”

"Get out!" Cao Ming said two words coldly, and when the sad Lian'er withdrew from the study, he sat down in a gloomy manner, and a trace of loneliness and numbness gradually rose in his eyes.

Ten years ago, in the late autumn, when the sun was setting, on the banks of the river with golden light, the young Chen Qi set up a kite, jumping and laughing happily.

"Childe, run slower, I can't keep up with you!" Behind him, Lian'er, a servant girl about his age, was chasing after him.

"Haha, Lian'er, hurry up! My dad is coming back today, and he must have brought me a lot of fun gadgets, and I can't wait to go back and meet him! Chen Qi stopped with a smile, turned around and waited until Lian'er caught up with him, then he threw away the kite directly, took Lian'er's hand, and continued to run forward.

Lian'er's little face was slightly red, and she said as she ran: "Son, next time you can't be so far away from home, otherwise the lord and the lady will definitely scold you!" ”

"My father and mother are reluctant to scold me!"

"But they'll punish the slaves!"

"Don't worry, I'm here! As long as I speak for you in front of my parents, they won't do anything to you! ”

"Thank you, Childe!"

In front of him is a big mansion, when Chen Qi pulled Lian'er back, the sun just set, different from the usual atmosphere, there were two white lanterns hanging in front of the mansion that day, illuminating the dim night a little bleak.

"Childe, what's written on the lantern?"

"It's a 'lay' word." Chen Qi frowned, he seemed to have sensed something wrong at a young age.

"Childe, you're back!" The door of the house suddenly opened, and a middle-aged man walked out, and when he saw Chen Qi, he took out a white linen robe and put it on his body.

"Uncle Cao, what is this for?"

"Childe, this is filial piety, the lord he-immortal has gone!"

Chen Qi was stunned, the eight-year-old already knew what it meant, and suddenly he broke free vigorously and shouted, "How is it possible? You must be lying to me! I don't want to wear this, I don't want to wear this! ”

At this time, a young woman walked out of the door, and when she saw Chen Qi, she immediately burst into tears, and said in a weak voice with a little hoarseness: "Qi'er, don't make trouble!" ”

Chen Qi rushed into the woman's arms and cried loudly: "Mother, this is a lie, isn't it, how could my father die?" ”

The woman picked up Chen Qi and shook her head with a bleak face: "Qi'er, your father is really gone, and only our mother and mother will be left to depend on each other in the future!" ”

As soon as the picture turned, the green smoke of the incense burner curled, and Chen Qi sat cross-legged with an old monk with a timeless face.

The old monk looked indifferent: "Qi'er, I have sent someone to get rid of the thief who betrayed your father." Now that your father has settled in the ground, but the Chen family will continue, as his only son, you will take on the future of the Chen family in the future! ”

Chen Qi nodded ignorantly: "Third grandfather, Qi'er knows!" ”

"You said you know, then tell me, what does the word 'burden' mean?"

Chen Qi thought about it with his dark eyes, and finally shook his head.

The old monk smiled bitterly, gently closed his eyes and sat up in meditation, and he said in a slow tone: "From now on, you are the master of the Chen family, and no one will continue to regard you as a child!" Burden, for you, will mean loss, loss of innocence, loss of joy, loss of freedom, loss of many, many more—"

After another four years, Chen Qi grew from an eight-year-old child to a twelve-year-old boy, but this time, he and Lian'er were punished to kneel in front of the old monk.

The old monk's voice was fierce: "How many times have I warned you, you are no longer a child, you can't play with things, and you still don't change!" ”

"Third grandfather, Qi'er doesn't dare!"

"Don't you dare? This time, you and your maidservants deceive me together, it is simply bold! Someone came, and the son was whipped twenty times, and then locked up in a dark room for three days! ”

Chen Qi's face was afraid: "Third Grandpa, you can double the number of whips, but don't put me in the dark room, that place is too dark and cold, I can't stand it!" ”

Lian'er cried: "Master, Lian'er is willing to be punished for her son!" ”

", you hide your mistakes for your son, and you try to intercede for your son, believe it or not, I beat you to death?"

Lian'er was so frightened that she couldn't possess her body.

"Don't, Lian'er and I grew up together, you can't kill her, Qi'er is willing to be punished!"

"Well, for her sake, I won't kill her! I will punish her by starving her in the woodroom for three days, and she will be reduced to an ordinary servant, and she shall not stay with you again!" ”

The picture turned again, Chen Qi stood in the corner, eavesdropping on the conversation between the old monk and a middle-aged man in the house.

"Cao Ping, how have you been reading Qi'er's books recently?"

"Childe is gifted and intelligent, and it is easy to read a lot of obscure articles, and he can often draw inferences!"

"Don't always praise him! The so-called strict master is a high apprentice, you are still his uncle now, if he is stubborn, you should be punished according to the law! ”

"I'm sure I'll be punished when it's time to do it, but-"

"Why, seeing that your face is difficult, isn't someone making a hindrance from it?"

"Not really! It's just that Mrs. she loves her son, and sometimes if I punish me heavily, she will count me down in person, so that I can't retreat! ”

"She complained not only about you, but about me. Hmph, Qi'er is still a little childish, and it has nothing to do with her! ”

"Hey, this is also human nature, after all, Childe is only twelve years old."

"Woman's kindness! Since ancient times, loving mothers have lost many children, if this continues, when will Qi'er become a weapon? ”

Three days later, when Chen Qi looked at his mother hanging on top of the three-foot white silk, he was already crying to the point of collapse.

The old monk gently stroked Chen Qi's head from behind, and his face showed a trace of compassion that he had never felt before: "Qi'er, this is your burden, and this is also your destiny!" ”