City A, on the outskirts of the city, away from the glitz and bustle of the city, has a pristine and mysterious forest.

Although it is far from the city center, it is gradually surrounded by steel forests as the city develops.

It was long speculated that the forest would not escape the city's development plan in the near future, but decades have passed, and the forest is intact.

Locals who were born and raised know that this is a 'no-go zone', and that only certain high-ranking officials can cross the checkpoints and enter the forest.

.

The sunlight struggled through the gaps in the leaves of the towering giant tree, peering into the forbidden realm hidden in the deep forest with the few rays of light that remained.

Hidden under the leaves is an ancient Chinese house, and in the woods that do not see the light of day, the ancient house with blue tiles and white walls is also dyed with a mysterious dark green.

Across the wall, a man in a suit and leather shoes stood respectfully in the courtyard waiting for something.

It was nearly dusk, and there was no light in the woods, except for a few faded red lanterns in the courtyard that emitted a faint light.

The man rubbed his arms, feeling a little cold.

"Stepping on ......"

The man breathed a sigh of relief as footsteps sounded near and far, and he looked to the end of the corridor that stretched from the yard to the house.

If he doesn't see him today, he can't explain.

In a moment, a young girl wearing a cyan cheongsam appeared at the end of the corridor, adding a touch of vitality to the courtyard.

The girl did not enter the courtyard, and when she saw the man from a distance, she whispered.

"Come with me."

"Quick, the ancestor finally woke up, and he didn't have much energy to look at, and you won't be able to see him today."

The girl turned and went into the house.

"Yes, yes, yes." The man hurried after him and followed him into the house.

"There's Teacher Laurin."

This house is already a little old, and someone will be sent to repair it every year or two.

In the past few years, the more he has not come, the less he likes to see people, and the house has been dilapidated a lot in recent years, and as soon as he settles down, he hears a frightened creaking.

I heard that this house has a history of one or two hundred years, and the house was specially built for that person by a certain big man.

The man wiped his sweat, he only dared to listen to such rumors, but he didn't dare to say it, and he didn't even dare to think about it.

"Here we are." The girl led the man to a room and pushed open the black carved door of the room.

"Shizu is inside, you can go in." The girl stepped back and stood aside, gesturing with a gesture of invitation, without any intention of going in.

The man looked at the dark room, Ping Bai was a little nervous, tidied up his clothes, and walked in with a stiff face.

The room was empty, and there were candles, but the light didn't seem to illuminate the shadows inside.

In the center of the room was an old man sitting on a chair with a cane, his pale hair hanging down to the ground.

The old man seemed to be asleep with his eyes closed.

The man stood aside playfully and did not bother.

I don't know how long it took.

"The kid asked you to come?" A weak voice of vicissitudes came from the silence.

Wake up the man who is in a daze.

The old man opened his eyes, and his eyes were exceptionally bright in the dimly lit room, which was the clarity that did not belong to a dying old man.

The old man pointed with his cane at the man holding the box.

The man hurriedly stepped forward, bent down and said

"Yes, it was Chief Zhou Qing who asked me to come, and when I came, I specially instructed that this box be sent to the seniors by hand."

The old man snorted, closed his eyes, and spoke quietly for a long time.

"That kid is very good, but he thinks about it too much."

The man didn't know why, and he didn't know how to answer for a while, so he stood aside, and silence returned to the room.

Time passed minute by minute, and when I looked at the old man again, he seemed to have fallen asleep with his eyes closed.

"This? ……”

"Put down the box, the ancestor has received it, you can go."

The girl appeared at the door, and the man hesitated for a moment before placing the box beside the old man.

He always felt that the chief's purpose was not just to send the box, but the chief really didn't explain anything else.

He could only turn around and leave the house helplessly, and the girl still didn't say much, and quietly closed the door

Just as the door was about to close, there was another sound coming from inside.

"Alas, your uncle is also old, Lin'er, you can go with him to have a look."

…………

Inside the house.

Qingruo was holding the box in a daze.

The box was made of ordinary wood, with a pair of mandarin ducks carved on it, painted with red paint, and when Qingruo opened the box, the box contained a white stone and two strands of hair.

One of those strands was her hair.

Her hair used to be black, too, but that was more than a hundred years ago, and she doesn't remember it.

I only remember a young man who took her hand and sat under the locust tree and asked her if she would like to grow old with him.

Because of this, she went to learn disguise witchcraft, and after that her hair gradually turned white.

She really grew old with him, only now that she was alive, he was a dry bone.

From then on, she was reluctant to change back to her original appearance.

The boy's fuzzy face sent a ripple through her heart.

The man was a leaf that had fallen into the torrent of her long years, and sank into time without even stirring up a splash.

Zhou Qing is the descendant of her and his adopted child, who lived here for a few years when he was young, and rarely came afterward.

Zhou Qing has sent the box now, I'm afraid it won't work, Qingruo only remembered now, Zhou Qing is also old, and he will be 80 in a few days.

————

The stone in the box was an ancestral heirloom of the Zhou family, and when it reached him, he gave it to her.

He told her that the stone was a treasure that could be broken to fulfill his wish, and as he spoke, they both laughed, and his tears could not stop flowing when he laughed.

She coaxed him, put the stone into the box, and never touched it again.

He thought she was reluctant to give him up.

He thought that her wish might be to find out who she was, or to leave this world.

Where to go? In short, not to live with him.

He didn't know that she didn't really have any wishes, and she didn't even want to ask him to be as immortal as himself.

She knew that he didn't care about this and just wanted to accompany her, but she couldn't.

He always looked down on her, and he didn't believe that she really wouldn't die, so he always wanted to block the sword for her.

Mortals are the most vulnerable, and they can't stand the slightest injury, and if he doesn't block those swords for her, he may be able to stay with her longer.

However, no matter how human life is, it is very short, just like him, she has not seen him for many years, and she will never see him again.

She couldn't remember how she spent the long years before she met him, and she couldn't remember how difficult the days had been after he left.

Qingruo denied that it was love, and felt that she was suffering because no one in this world could make her as interesting as him.

In this way, this day has become difficult, every time I think of this, Qingruo is like sitting on pins and needles, I hate to die, but if she can die, she doesn't have to suffer so much.

Now the box was back in her hands, and the stone was in her hands again.

Qing Ruo thought about taking out a dagger, looked at the stone again, frowned, and slashed shallowly in the palm of his hand,

Bright red blood flowed out and dripped onto the stone, blooming into a blood flower.