The light of the setting sun shone down, Meng Lang knelt on the battlefield with the enemy sword in his right hand, the thick blood blocked all his breathing, and he could no longer smell anything other than blood. Beside him, there were many people lying horizontally, including soldiers of the Tang Dynasty and soldiers of the Empire. His body was soaked in blood, and he couldn't tell whether it was his own or someone else's.

"Meng Lang, are you okay?"

Dressed in red with red sleeves, he shook off the blood on his black nails, walked in front of Meng Lang and squatted down.

"It's over, you can go back to camp."

Meng Lang raised his head, looked at the red sleeves, and the corners of his mouth grinned slightly, but he quickly closed it.

"This is my first time in battle, and I thought I was going to die here."

"It's not the first time I've killed someone, but it feels different." Red Sleeves looked at his nails: "I said, your life is mine, and you can't die under the enemy's knife or horse's hooves until I decide whether to kill you or not." ”

"Red Sleeves, thank you." Meng Lang got up with the handle of the knife, and the whole person swayed in the afterglow of the sunset: "If it weren't for you, I would be lying here." ”

"Someone is coming, I'll go first." Red Sleeves turned around and disappeared into the blood-colored battlefield.

Meng Lang turned around and saw the reinforcements of the Tang Dynasty, he took a few steps forward, looked at the war knife in his hand, let go, and threw it aside.

The general on a war horse came to him majestically, condescendingly, looking at this soldier covered in blood, and after seeing the color of his clothes clearly, he asked: "Are you my soldier of the Tang Dynasty?" ”

Meng Lang didn't speak, but knelt directly on the ground.

"The general asks you something, answer!" The adjutant general on the side pointed his spear at Meng Lang.

"I am a soldier of the Tang Dynasty, and my name is Meng Zilin."

"Check!" The general did not look back.

"Yes!" The deputy general took the order and left, and soon turned back: "Back to the general, there is indeed a man named Meng Zilin in our camp tent, who is a recruit who just came this year. ”

"Very well, Meng Zilin, lift your head up."

Meng Lang raised his head and looked at the general's face. The general's face was dark, and there was a scar on his face. That scar should have been left on the battlefield as well.

"Meng Zilin, are you afraid of death?"

"I'm afraid!"

"If you are afraid of death, why do you fight bravely?"

"Because if I don't kill him, he will kill me, and I can't help it." Meng Lang replied honestly, and then heard the general on horseback burst into a hearty laugh.

He said, "Well, I like you to be so afraid of death." Come on, reward our Datang, a brave soldier, and reward our Datang, a Meng Zilin who is afraid of death. ”

Meng Lang looked up at the general, his mind was dizzy, and he didn't seem to understand the general's words at all.

After this battle, Meng Lang lay in the tent for three days. For the past three days, he has been lying down, not going out, not talking, and barely eating. Three days later, he got up from the bed and said to the red sleeves standing beside the bed: "In the future, you will still call me Meng Zilin." I'm afraid that I won't be able to do Meng Lang anymore. ”

Redsleeves looked at him and nodded.

Meng Lang has been on the battlefield a total of five times, each time it is a matter of life and death, but each time he can escape death with the help of Red Sleeves. Soon, he was promoted to the deputy general of the army, and his identity became exactly the same as the person who bullied the red sleeves at the beginning. The first thing he did after becoming a lieutenant general was to visit the red tent and release all the girls from good families inside. Although, because of his eventfulness, he was reprimanded by the general, but he won the favor of Red Sleeves.

After the war subsided, the general asked Meng Zilin to return to Luoyang with him, but Meng Zilin did not refuse. He didn't like the life at the border, and he was even more afraid of fighting again and again. Although he is protected by Red Sleeves, Red Sleeves can't always protect him, he knows very well that only a small half of his military exploits belong to him, and the other half belongs to Red Sleeves.

Before leaving the barracks, Meng Zilin went to the burial place of Red Sleeves, he originally planned to dig up Red Sleeves' body, and send it back to his hometown with Red Sleeves after it was burned into ashes, so that she could really be buried in peace. But when he dug up the dirt that covered Redsleeves, he found that Redsleeves had not changed his body in the same way as when he first died. Not only does the body not produce the slightest bit of corruption, but even the skin is elastic. At that time, not only Mencius was blinded, but even Red Sleeves himself was blinded. None of them could have imagined that when the earth was dug up, they would see such a scene.

To burn or not to burn, Red Sleeves hesitated, and Meng Zilin also hesitated.

In the end, Meng Zilin decided to secretly transport the body of the red sleeves to Luoyang without hiding from the general and all the soldiers in the barracks. Luoyang is the capital of the gods, there are many capable people, and there are many masters, he thought, maybe Red Sleeves is not dead at all, maybe she can still live.

In this way, he set up the small courtyard where he now lives in a remote part of the city, and placed the body of the red sleeves in it. But after only a few days, Redsleeves' corpse began to decompose, and even began to emit an unpleasant smell, and in order to hide these smells, he began to buy large quantities of spices and comfrey paste.

Under the bitter pleading of the red sleeves, Meng Zilin finally decided to let her be buried again. This time, instead of burying her in a desolate place, he buried her in the courtyard and let her live with those peonies.

When Meng Zilin told Xing Ruyi this story, it was when he took the red sleeves to the rouge shop to buy rouge. He knew that even if he bought it, Red Sleeves might not be able to use it, but he still wanted to buy it, and he still wanted to give it to Red Sleeves.

He asked Xing Ruyi: "Do you believe the story I tell?" Do you believe that the girl in my story is standing by my side now? ”

"Believe it." Xing Ruyi nodded, looking at the girl in red who had been standing beside Meng Zilin and tried her best to dissuade him from spending money.

"Don't persuade him, it's normal for this man to buy things for his beloved girl. You didn't let him buy it, because you wanted him not to spend money indiscriminately, and keep the money so that he could marry his daughter-in-law in the future. You have a good heart, but he may not want it now. What he wants is for you to accept his gift and accept his heart with a happy heart. Am I right? Meng Gongzi. ”

"The shopkeeper, you can also see the red sleeves?"

"Can you see me, and you can hear what I'm talking to Zilin?"

"Hmm!" Xing Ruyi nodded happily, and then beckoned to the two people mysteriously: "You two, have you ever heard of yin and yang eyes?" I am, my eyes are born to see ghosts and gods, and I can also distinguish demons and evils, is it powerful? ”

"Really?" Meng Zilin asked with Red Sleeves.

"Of course it's true, why don't I describe to you what Red Sleeves looks like?" Xing Ruyi circled around the red sleeves and carefully explained the current appearance of the red sleeves. "What, the red sleeves I saw are exactly the same as the red sleeves you saw Meng Gongzi."

"Can the shopkeeper really see the red sleeves?" Meng Zilin was a little excited: "Does the shopkeeper know why the body of the red sleeves did not show any signs of decay when it was buried in the barracks, but after arriving in Luoyang, it ...... Am I doing something wrong? ”

"It's not your problem. As for me, I haven't been to the place you mentioned, but I'm guessing that the place where you buried Redsleeves in the first place must be a gathering place. The corpses buried over there were kept intact because they absorbed the local yin qi. You buried it for a short time, if you bury it for ten or eight years and then dig it out, it is estimated that she will become a zombie. ”

"What is a zombie?"

"It's a living corpse, free to move, but without a mind of its own. If it becomes the climate, it will be even more terrifying, she will bite people everywhere, suck human blood, and become a monster who is in trouble. Luckily, you dug her out. Such a good girl with red sleeves can't become a monster. ”

"The girl laughed, and the red sleeves were just ordinary people." Red Sleeves stretched out his hand from the sleeve cage: "These hands of Red Sleeves have long been stained with blood, and they are no different from the zombies that the girl said, they are all evil." ”

"It's different, you killed the people who bullied you in the barracks, you are avenging yourself, not indiscriminately killing innocents. Except for those who stand by and watch and die a little unjustly, like the lieutenant who bullied you, he is simply innocent. This kind of scum, if you don't kill him, he will definitely bully more innocent girls like you in the future. Thou hast done evil for the people, and thou hast not done evil. On the battlefield, you are also forced to do so, in the words of Meng Gongzi, the two armies are fighting, if you don't kill him, he will kill you. ”

Hearing the girl say this, Red Sleeves felt much more comfortable. Redsleeves hid his hand: "These days, Redsleeves has been thinking about it, thinking about what happened in the past. The more I thought about it, the more apprehensive I felt, lest I would affect Zilin because of what I did. The Buddha said that the reincarnation of cause and effect is unpleasant. The people who Red Sleeves killed and the sins they did should be counted on Red Sleeves themselves. ”

"Don't worry, the person below is not a fool, whose responsibility is whose responsibility is whose responsibility." Xing Ruyi pointed to the ground: "Don't say these disappointing words, the red-sleeved girl should first see what she likes." ”

"I'm a lonely ghost, what's the use of rouge."

"If this Meng Gongzi bought you rouge from another shop, it must be useless, but he was lucky enough to enter my wishful rouge shop. The things in my shop are different from those in other places, not only for the living, but also for the dead, for the lonely souls, wild ghosts, goblins and beasts. ”

"Red Sleeves, the shopkeeper said so, you go and choose something you like. You don't have to worry about money, although I am idle at home, I am still the deputy general of the imperial court. You also know that I don't have a lot of money to spend, and it is just right to use this money to buy you rouge gouache. ”

"I don't want rouge." Red Sleeves looked at the dazzling array of goods in the shop, and gently pressed his lips with his hand: "I just want to buy a lipstick, my lip color seems to be a little too scary." ”