1

It was late autumn, and the people in the southern city were preparing their winter belongings.

The girl in red and white clothes was bouncing down the street, half of a string of sugar gourds in her hand glowing red in the faint autumn sun. The string of brass bells tied around her waist rang with the girl's steps, and the sound of the bells passed through the crowded crowd, and the boy in blue not far behind her followed the bells, but he was not in a hurry to lose them.

"Brother, something like that happened in the house last night, why did you still bring her out." The brown-clothed young man beside Xue Ling, who looked similar to him, wrapped his hands around him, his face was full of displeasure, as Xue Ling's only younger brother, he Xue Qi was very worried about Xue Ling's body, which was injured after fighting with the assassin last night.

Xue Ling, who was walking a little ahead, covered his mouth and coughed lightly, obviously suppressing his own pain: "This matter is going to make a big fuss, it is inevitable that people will be panicked, I still need to recuperate these days, and the affairs in the house will be handled by you." ”

Xue Qi sighed, he could see that Xue Ling received the palm of the black-clothed assassin last night, and his injuries must have been not light, and he even had the leisure to accompany his cousin out to go shopping, so big that even he, the younger brother, couldn't stand it. This time she was injured again, and she pushed the affairs of the mansion to him together, and Xue Qi naturally couldn't excuse herself. Although he is usually negligent in management, playing outside all day and all night, and even staying all night, he is a veritable gentleman in the eyes of outsiders. But he didn't really care about the affairs of the house, so why bother to use this trick to tie him up in the house......

"Alas, how could I have such a brother as you." Xue Qi followed in Xue Ling's footsteps and sighed to himself that other people's brothers all cared for their own brothers. But this elder brother of his own, I am afraid that his younger brother has nothing to do, no matter what big or small things, as soon as he finds an excuse, no matter where he is, he will send someone to find him, press him in the council hall to look through and deal with all kinds of trivial matters in the house. But except for the distant cousin who came from nowhere, his brother did everything himself, and he had to accompany her to go shopping without being hurt, and he had to bring Xue Qi over with him. Xue Qi once thought that she was a little peach blossom that Xue Ling had touched when he traveled around the world in his early years.

The wind suddenly became stronger, a little cold, Xue Ling quickened his pace, and listened to the bell and soon found Qian Xun who was scurrying excitedly in front of the candy man's shop.

"Qianxun." Xue Ling walked over, hung the cloak in his hand on her shoulders, pressed her shoulders with both hands to signal her not to move, Qian Xun took a bite of the sugar gourd in his hand and quieted down, and let Xue Ling tie the strap of the cloak for himself.

Xue Ling turned to see that Qianxun's bun was a little loose, and it happened that there was a stall with hairpins on the side, and took a small butterfly golden hairpin for her to wear. On weekdays, this girl doesn't like to tie her hair the most, she wears her hair all day long at home, and she doesn't learn to comb her hair in the mirror like other girls, and only when she wants to go out does she remember to tie her hair at will.

Qianxun raised his eyes, touched the hairpin on his head, took it off and asked the vendor, "How many silver taels?" ”

"Miss has good eyesight, this is a golden hairpin of pure gold, and the shop only accepts three taels of silver from you."

After hearing this, Qianxun put us back.

"Don't like it?" Xue Ling wondered.

"No, this hairpin looks good, and it's not very useful. If you have this money to buy hairpins, you might as well buy more food. ”

"It's fine. Then I'll make a butterfly hairpin for you next time. ”

"Really?"

"Hmm."

"Then I will definitely tie my hair every day in the future." Qian Xun began to stomp his feet excitedly again, and ran to the small stall in front of him, as if he had never seen a sugar man: "Cousin, cousin! Look, what a pretty sugar man! Let's buy a few more and go back, Xiao Wu must like this too! ”

Xue Qi, who had just followed up, listened to it and retorted to Qianxun: "Xiao Wu won't like this kind of childish thing." ”

Qian Xun pursed his lips and was angry with Xue Qi: "Xue Qi, you are naïve!" If you can't get a sugar man, you can say that the sugar man is naïve. ”

"You! You yellow-haired girl! I'm your cousin! Xue Qifang wanted to raise his fist to scare and scare Qianxun, but when he raised his eyes, he saw Xue Ling's gaze, and secretly put his fist down and hid it behind his back.

"I don't want you as a cousin, or Brother Ling is good to me." Qian Xun took Xue Ling's hand and shook it from side to side, and raised his eyes from time to time to see Xue Qi's reaction, "Cousin, is it okay to buy it for me." ”

"Okay." Saying that, Xue Ling began to dig into his pocket, took out a few pieces of broken silver and handed them to the candy merchant.

Qian Xun looked at Xue Qi's angry expression, and was very proud in his heart, he stuck out his tongue at Xue Qi, and took a few sugar people wrapped in sugar paper and seemed to have to run to another place.

Xue Qi, who was in place, was speechless for a while, and when he looked at Xue Ling, he saw Xue Ling take a string of sugar people from the vendor. In a daze, Xue Ling stuffed the sugar man into the stunned Xue Qi's hand. A smile crossed the corner of his mouth, and he hurried in the direction where Qian Xun had just walked.

"I ......" Xue Qi looked at the sugar man in his hand, unable to say a word for a long time. looked at the sugar man, and then looked at the two distant backs, so he had to lick the sugar man in his hand, not to mention that it was really delicious, sweet but not greasy, so Xue Qi stuffed the sugar man into his mouth in one go......

When the three of them returned to Xue's mansion, it was already dark, and the sunset was like a flame about to die, dim and dim.

Xue Qi sat in Xue Ling's room, still licking the remains of the sugar man stuck to his teeth......

I watched Xue Ling find a bottle of medicine from the locked cabinet, poured out a few dark red pills, and swallowed them without water.

"Brother, you are so seriously injured, and you only take a few quick pills, can your body hold it?" Xue Qi smashed his mouth, seemingly absent-minded, but he was worried to death in his heart.

Xue Qi heard Xue Ling say that in the middle of the night last night, the man in black broke into his room, and after a few moves, he found that this person's martial arts were unfathomable, and Xue Ling was not his opponent, so he slapped him hard. But the man didn't seem to mean to kill him, but just wounded him, jumped out of the window and left.

Because people were sleeping soundly at that time, no one heard the sound of fighting in Xue Ling's room. Only Xue Qi, who lived closer, heard the movement, and ran to take a look, the black shadow flickered, and even he didn't see it clearly, what a fast speed it was. When Xue Qi pushed open the door of Xue Ling's room, Xue Ling was half-kneeling on the ground, and the corners of his mouth were dripping with blood that had not yet dried. He hurriedly stepped forward to help Xue Ling to lean on the bed, and went to Xue Ling's medicine drawer to get the medicine for internal injuries and gave it to him.

"Brother, what's going on?"

Xue Ling, who was half-seated, frowned and did not answer Xue Qi's question: "Don't make a noise about this matter." ”

Xue Qi was puzzled, their Xue family never offended people on weekdays, but today an assassin broke in, and he was able to seriously injure Xue Ling. You must know that although Xue Ling has not been involved in the rivers and lakes in the past few years, his kung fu internal strength is also well-known in the rivers and lakes, and there are probably only a handful of people who can seriously injure him in the rivers and lakes. But these people have no grievances with the Xue family, and even have some contacts, most of them are far away from these worldly disputes, how could they break into the Xue Mansion and attack Xue Ling?

Xue Qi looked at Xue Ling's appearance, who this assassin was, it seemed that Xue Ling had long known what was in his stomach. But as long as Xue Ling didn't say it, even if he put a big knife on his neck, he wouldn't spit out half a word. So Xue Qi didn't ask, swallowed the matter back into his stomach, and helped him tidy up the house before leaving.

"If you can't hold it, you will be in charge of the ancestor worship next month."

Xue Qi almost fell off the chair when he heard this, you must know that such a family event as ancestor worship must be done by the master.

"It's not so serious, you have a good rest, I'll take care of all the official business these days......"

"Okay, by the way, I will also prepare the things to worship the ancestors."

Xue Qi was shocked to find that he had dug a grave for himself, and excused himself: "I am still doing some things to move my mouth, this ancestor worship ...... Or brother, you are proficient. Besides, the ancestors were in charge of the affairs and worship the ancestors, so we can't break the rules, right? ”

"Ancestor worship, sincerity is good."

Xue Qi's curiosity was sometimes heavier than that of Qian Xun, so he changed the subject: "Who was that assassin last night, who actually entered the gate of the Xue family, and there were guards in the mansion at the door?" ”

"They're drugged." Xue Ling went out this morning and saw last night's guards, and when he saw that they were all dizzy, he knew that they had been drugged, no wonder there was a noise last night, only Xue Qi heard it, "It's not early, go back." ”

Xue Qi, who wanted to stop talking, was defeated again, but Xue Ling couldn't speak, so Xue Qi had to go back to the room mournfully.

When Qian Xun went to look for Xue Wu with the sugar man in his hand, he saw Xue Qi who was drinking water in the house from afar, and he was curious for a moment and ran over to see what was going on.

"Xue Qi! Why do you drink so much water? ”

Xue Qi, who was pouring water into his mouth, was so frightened by Qianxun that the water rushed up, choked hard, and coughed hard.

Seeing that Xue Qi was choked by someone and his face turned red, Qian Xun laughed heartlessly: "What are you doing in a weak heart?" ”

"Ahem...... Ahem, you conscienceless, still ...... Laugh out! ”

Qian Xun, who laughed, covered his stomach: "Ouch, I can't do it, hahaha!" ”

Qian Xun, who was about to collapse from laughter, propped up the table, and his waist bent down with laughter. Since beating Qianxun to Xue's mansion, he has always been idle, and the only fun is to play with Xue Qi. As long as she saw Xue Qi fall into the small trap she carefully arranged and suffered a little, she was happy in her heart, and when she was bored in the future, she would take these Xue Qi's troubles in front of him, pointing at his nose and laughing at him Why is he so stupid, he can't even see through some small tricks and traps in the rivers and lakes, and he is still the second son of the Xue family.

Sometimes Qianxun really can't figure out whether Xue Ling and Xue Qi came out of a mother's womb. Look at the people Xue Da is in charge, the instrument is lofty, the people are polite, and the gestures are all elegant children; Looking at Xue Qi in front of him, who had no image of coughing, God gave him this skin that looked like Xue Ling, and he made a little trouble outside all day long, and sometimes went to the green building on the other side of West Street.

Forget about molesting other people's girls, she was once again approached by other people's girls, and the girl was a big girl from other places at that time, and she had never seen the head of the Xue family and the second young man, and the girl's father rushed into the Xue Mansion with a group of people, holding a wooden stick and iron rake in his hand, and threatened to ask Xue Qi to come out and give an explanation. It just so happened that Xue Qi was not at home, and Xue Ling happened to be going out, so the family surrounded Xue Ling, saying that they would not return the girl's explanation, and they would smash Xue's mansion today.

Fortunately, Xue Ling's good reputation spread far and wide, and neighbors came to mediate, which eased the situation a little. After learning about it left and right, I realized that it was a misunderstanding, the girl was not yet an adult, and she was teased by a few gangsters on the road, and the second young man of the Xue family saw it and stepped forward to stop it.

Originally, it was a legendary story of a hero saving beauty, but the girl said that Xue Qi picked her chin, took her hand, and said that she wanted her to make a promise. This matter was seen by her family, thinking that Xue Qi was molesting his female doll, and when Xue Qi hurriedly fled, he saw the Xue family's jade pendant pinned to his waist, so he came to Xue's mansion to ask for an explanation. Who wants to be in a hurry to blame Xue Da for being in charge, but the girl is still a little interesting to Xue Qi.

However, Xue Ling is also a person of yin affairs, not so much yin affairs, but the master of his younger brother. He apologized on behalf of Xue Qi for the girl's gift, and said that if the girl was still interested in Xue Qi after the girl became an adult, he could bring a guarantee he wrote to ask for his relatives, and when the time came, he couldn't tolerate Xue Qi's willingness or not, and he Xue Ling recognized this brother's daughter-in-law.

The family admired Xue Ling's decisiveness, and after saying goodbye, Xue Qi came back to learn about the incident, kicked Xue Ling's door to theorize, and returned to the house in mourning.

After learning that he was engaged in an inexplicable marriage before he was a minor, Xue Qi's heart was almost broken, and he was locked in his room in those days, and Qianxun was turned away from going to him for fun. But then he somehow figured it out, and started the second young man of the Xue family to do whatever he wanted all day long, Xue Ling saw that even marriage couldn't tie up his prodigal heart, so he tried every means to let him handle the affairs of the house.

For Xue Qi to do something that he felt desperate and boring, Qian Xun was happy to see it in his eyes.

"Second Brother Xue, I'm going to find Xiao Wu to play, you take it easy and cough slowly." With that, Qian Xun staggered out of the door, and the sound of the bell faded away. Xue Qi sat on the bench and patted his chest, thinking that the sugar man was really sticky to his teeth, and after drinking so much water, he was still stuck in his teeth, so he simply didn't know about it, otherwise he would have no place to put his face, and he would have to be laughed at by her for ten days and a half months.

The sound of the piano is melodious, the rockery in the garden is murmuring, there is no half-minute color has been thick of the bleak meaning, still full of vitality, the bluestone slab on both sides of the osmanthus tree is planted, the double laurel is in the court, the golden wind sends incense, together with the sound of the piano, it makes people feel like a fairyland, at ease.

Following the sound of the piano, Qian Xun held the bag of candy man, trotted to the person who stroked the piano behind the curtain in the court and sat down, the copper bell on his waist did not disturb the original melody in the court, but added a vitality to this scene.

At the end of the song, Qian Xun put down the sugar man and clapped his hands: "Xiao Wu's piano skills are getting better and better, and people like me who don't know the rhythm are fascinated by it." ”

"Qianxun don't want to make fun of me, this song is composed by the big brother, and it is naturally a fairy song in the world when it pops up." The woman in the moon-white dress is as gentle as water, sitting cross-legged at the table where the plum blossom qin is placed, her fingertips are faintly moist, like a waterfall and ink hair is half laxative on the waist, and the mutton fat jade pendant engraved with the word "Xue" carries a long tassel with a light color and falls on the waist.

"I know that this song should only exist in heaven, how many times can I hear it in the world."

Xue Wuxiupa covered her mouth, and her tone was as gentle as ever: "I can't imagine that I haven't seen you for three days, and there are more ink scriptures in Qianxun's stomach." ”

"Naturally, oh yes, look what I brought you." As he spoke, Qian Xun took out the sugar man he had prepared for a long time, opened the wrapping paper and handed it to Xue Wu.

Xue Wu, who always lives in this deep boudoir, is naturally very interested in these gadgets brought from outside. It's just that because of the strict family rules, the woman is not allowed to show up outside before the ceremony, and the door is not out of the door, so she simply has Qianxun to bring some novelties from outside for her to tinker with, otherwise she will be friends with the piano all day long, and the tree will be a companion, which is really boring.

Xue Wu took a candy man and was about to put it in his mouth to taste it, but for some reason, he stopped.

Qian Xun saw through Xue Wu's concerns, and hurriedly said: "Don't worry, the servants have been kicked out by me, and the second cousin is thinking about his crooked thoughts in the room and has no time to take care of us, as for the cousin, he is still dealing with some accounts in the house." ”

After Xue Wu listened, he put the sugar man in his mouth, the little sugar man, melted in his mouth, tasted it carefully, the sweetness lingered, and it didn't disperse for a long time. The cherry-like little mouth floated into a smile, a smile sweeter than that of a sweet candy man, and Qian Xun supported his chin with both hands, enjoying this time very much.

"Xiao Wu, I still want to hear you play a tune." Xue Wu nodded, rested his clothes, and raised his hand to brush the piano, "I am willing to be an idler in the world, and I can listen to the music on the piano." ”

Xue Wu turned his head slightly and said with a smile: "Good poetry, a lot of progress." ”

Qian Xun leaned on the table, smiling stupidly, showing a picture in his mind, in the picture, under the falling flower tree, the canvas on the table, the fairy on the cloth, smiling skillfully, and plucking the strings with his fingers. The boy in blue inscribed on the canvas, and there were petals falling on the painting, embellishing the face of the fairy, everything was so natural.

"I saw this sentence on a painting in my cousin's study, and the girl on it seems to be the eldest lady of the Yu family on the next street." Qian Xun remembered that he was idle and bored that day, so he sneaked to Xue Ling's yard to play, but he happened to see Xue Ling painting. When she ran over to take a look, Xue Ling had already put away the scroll, no matter how she knocked on the side, Xue Ling didn't explain the painting word by word.

This suffocated the curious cat Qianxun, so the next day, while Xue Ling was out, he secretly went to the study to open the picture scroll and take a look. The girl on the picture scroll had a very kind face, and Qian Xun thought about it, and then remembered that half a year ago, a big family came to the Xue family as a guest, and it was the master of the Yu family who was doing business on the next street.

Yu Jing, the master of the Yu family, brought his baby daughter Yu Nian to visit the first sword-casting master in Nancheng, Xue Ling, the head of Xue Mansion.

The Xue family has cast weapons for generations, and now there are several famous weapons on the rivers and lakes, and at least seven of the ten are from the hands of the Xue family. And the Xue family's sword-casting skills are about to become one of the best sword-casting families in Kyushu, such as the famous Kyushu Beixia Shi Qingyun holds the Qingyun Sword in his hand is the first sword that Xue Ling built when he was fifteen years old, although it was cast when he was young, it is really amazing, extremely hard, and can break ordinary weapons.

Qingyun Sword Fang Fang did not have a name when he was born, but he directly took Shi Qingyun's name as the sword name, and the relationship between Shi Qingyun and Xue Ling at that time can be seen. Coupled with the powerful power of Shi Qingyun's self-created Qingyun Decisive Time, a blue light went straight into the sky, and the chivalrous man was paired with a sword, and the sword was matched with a secret note, which can be said to be unparalleled in the world. Because of this incident, coupled with Xue Ling's distinction between right and wrong, his reputation spread farther and farther in Kyushu, and his reputation became great for a while, and the Xue family, which was gradually lonely, finally ushered in the hope of revival of its weapons shop, whose business was declining.

Listening to the older generation of Yu Jing keep saying some words complimenting Xue Ling, Qian Xun, who was present at the time, almost dozed off and fell asleep. Later, I vaguely heard that the Yu family and the previous generation of the Xue family were world friends, and they had a marriage contract. Qian Xun woke up in shock, which means that Xue Ling and Yu Nian, the eldest lady of the Yu family, had already had a marriage contract.

No, seeing that his daughter was about to reach the age of talking about marriage, he came to visit with the marriage letter signed by the previous generation.

Xue Qi, who had been forcibly married by Xue Ling on the side, secretly rejoiced in his heart, originally thought that only he had to obey the arrangement of his elders for such a miserable marriage, but he didn't expect that his brother's marriage had been set up in the first few years after he was born.

Xue Ling's gaze swept over and happened to fall on Xue Qi, Xue Qi coughed a few times and sat upright.

However, people with yin eyes can see that in the past few years since Xue Ling became famous at a young age, the Xue family's business has flourished, and most of the silver in the gold and silver treasury is rich and rivals the country, who doesn't want to marry into the Xue Mansion, if you enter the Xue Mansion, you will not have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of your life. This master of the Yu family came to remind Xue Ling of his marriage at this time, and he really deserves to be a businessman who knows when to make the most profits.

Later, Qianxun heard that Yu Nian and Xue Ling were childhood sweethearts, but later Yu Nian's father took the family to other places for business, and it took nearly two years before returning to his hometown. That year, Yu Nian was in the prime of jasper, and his appearance was dignified, and even Qian Xun couldn't help but take a second look when he saw it.

Since ancient times, childhood sweethearts have been affectionate, and Qianxun didn't think so until she saw that painting, but she didn't know why Xue Ling refused to respect that day.

She remembered the mixed tastes in Xue Ling's eyes that day, and she didn't know how many emotions were contained in it, and she couldn't escape. Later, Xue Qi stubbornly said that he was unfilial to his face, and even refused the marriage that his father had engaged, Xue Ling rarely did not refute Xue Qi, but only listened to him criticize himself over and over again. Qianxun is not easy to say anything, the Xue family usually values the rules set by the ancestors the most, and now Xue Ling has rejected this family matter regardless of the ancestral teachings, and Qianxun also feels inappropriate.

Although half a year has passed, Qianxun still feels that Xue Ling has something hidden in her heart, and she really wants to make a white statement.

"Miss Yu Nian?" Xue Wu smoothed the vibrating strings, she still had a little impression of this Miss Yu family. She remembers that she flew kites with Yu Nian when she was a child, and she was also a childhood playmate. It's just that she has strict family rules and rarely has the opportunity to play with Yu Nian. However, she knew that every time Yu Nian came to her house as a guest, her two brothers were very happy, so it was always the two brothers who accompanied the guests.

It was also when Yu Nian was eight years old that their family moved north, and the Yu family compound across the street was empty until the year before last. One year, on the night of the Shangyuan Festival, Xue Wu and a few maids went to play across the street, and when they passed through Yu's home, they happened to see Xue Ling sitting in the restaurant opposite and drinking alcohol.

Xue Wu went upstairs to ask the reason, she had never seen her eldest brother drinking, tonight was a day of singing and laughing, but I don't know why Xue Ling was sitting here alone and drinking.

There were also a few times when the messenger came to deliver the letter, which happened to be delivered to Xue Wu, and after inquiry, I learned that it was Miss Yu Nian who sent a letter to Xue Ling, and it turned out that they exchanged letters every year. Later, Xue Wu recalled that Xue Ling was smiling and silent in the restaurant at that time, and only silently glanced at Yu's house with the door closed, and realized that his eldest brother was moved.

Xue Wu told Qianxun everything he knew in recent years, and Qianxun was shocked: "There are such things!" ”

Xue Wu nodded and continued: "However, it seems that it started four years ago, and their correspondence seems to have been broken. ”

Qian Xun calculated, she was the Xue family three years ago, and she didn't know anything about the Xue family four years ago. However, if she wanted to find out the reason why Xue Ling refused to do this family business, she had to go to Yu Mansion on the next street and ask Yu Nian for details in person.

After saying goodbye to Xue Wu, Qian Xun returned to the room and tightened the door, prepared some tools to climb over the wall, and ran to Xue Ling's study, stole the painting, and ran out of the back door.