The question was asked by a man of about thirty years of age. He had a thin face, a gray garment, and the appearance of a seasoned traveler, but his eyes were very attentive.

The third sister said with a smile: "Your Excellency Lao is worried, it's just some family matters." If it goes well, I'll be back tomorrow. ”

She is a girl traveling with her young sister, and obviously she will not easily tell strangers and discusses. The man was not surprised, but nodded. Chen Song observed from the side and found that he was wearing a cloak at his knees, and a long sword with a sheath was wrapped in it. She was curious, and couldn't help but look at it for a while. When she looked up again, the man was looking at her. Seeing Chen Song raise his eyes, he smiled slightly, and his expression was quite kind.

A handyman served his food on a wooden table, with vegetable soup and pastries, and a small plate with a few small slices of dark jerky. The third sister didn't take the jerky, but only broke the bread for her. Chen Song tasted the soup, and the raw material was about beans, so there was no taste at all. She thought that she would have to eat like this for decades in the future, and suddenly her future was very bleak. Eat a little and never want it again.

Abu sat aside, his eyebrows cheerful, and secretly waved his hand under the table. It can be seen that she is very happy to see a girl of the same age. Chen Song thought it was funny, but if he wanted to ignore this enthusiasm, he couldn't bear it. So he also stretched out his hand and quietly held her at the table.

The third sister saw that she didn't eat much, so she didn't say anything, and after using up her share, she said goodbye to the people in the hall. Ying's mother came in from outside, persuaded the two children to leave, and took Chen Song out. When Chen Song turned around, he saw that there was still a seat on the opposite corner of the swordsman, two middle-aged men with serious faces, and wine cups on the wooden table. Sitting next to them was a child, who looked older than Abu, with a white linen cloth sewn into one sleeve.

She hadn't seen whether the child was male or female. Ying's mother had already carried her out and went straight up to the second floor along a small escalator. Upstairs, a cloister surrounds the wall, and when you walk on it, you can see the snow-covered courtyard outside. Ying's mother opened a room, which was quite wide, but empty, with only two sleeping couches with curtains, a wooden table, and an oil lamp on it. The luggage is neatly arranged on the side. There was a mullioned window on the wall facing the cloister, and the sky light was shining in, and it looked like it was almost sunset.

The third sister said: "Xiao Qi and Ying's mother sleep together, if something happens, Zhang Wang's two guards are in the compartment. ”

She looked preoccupied, sat down on the couch and took out some notes to read. Ying's mother put Chen Song on another couch, wiped her face with a cloth towel, and gave her medicinal tea. Although Chen Song didn't do anything, he felt lacking in energy, looked at the figure of the third sister, and soon fell asleep.

Chen Song had nightmares for half the night, and he always heard someone whispering in his ear and saying some vague sentences. She wakes up with a hint of fantasy that her experience as "Little Seven" is only part of those nightmares. But before she opened her eyes, she felt a big hand from Ying's mother on her stomach, which was very heavy. She sighed to herself, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the cold moonlight shining through the mullioned window on the empty couch in front of her.

There was not even a futon on it, and it seemed that the third sister had never been lying down at all.

Chen Song was puzzled for a while. She carefully pushed Ying's mother's arm away and got up. She stood in the center of the room and looked around, but there was still no shadow of the third sister. The door was closed, and a wooden latch was attached. None of the bags were opened. If the third sister went out, it must have been Ying's mother who closed the door. She should know the whereabouts of the third sister. Chen Song thought of this and felt relieved. She walked to the side of the wooden table, and saw a small inkstone on it, pressing a few pieces of paper with ink, she hoped that she could recognize a few, but the few numbers on it were all blackened by ink.

At this time, I heard a soft sound outside the door, as if someone was about to open it. She guessed that the third sister was back, turned around and ran back to Ying's mother. I wanted to lie down as it was, but I saw that Ying's mother had already half sat up, sleepy-eyed, and asked, "Is the third lady back?" ”

There was two knocks on the door. Ying's mother then got up and walked to the door, lowering the latch.

The door opened with a soft sound, and there was a person standing outside, masked in a black scarf, tall, obviously not the third sister.

Chen Song only saw the light of the knife. Ying's mother fell backwards with a thud, her mouth rattled, and blood gushed out from her neck, meandering like a stream on the ground.

The masked man stepped into the room, saw a few bags on them, and went straight forward to grab them. After taking a few steps, I saw Chen Song. He didn't seem to expect a child in the house, and he was taken aback.

Chen Song pulled his legs and ran towards the door, and the other party grabbed a backhand, and there was a corpse in the middle, but he didn't catch it. She threw herself out the door, feeling the heat on the soles of her feet and her socks soaked in fresh blood.

She remembered that the guards were next door, trying to scream for help, but when they opened their mouths, all they could do was babble. She ran to the door, threw herself on it with her hands and feet, and the door opened immediately, but it got stuck in the middle, and a man in the door was lying on the ground with his back up, bleeding all over the ground, and he was also a dead man.

Chen Song's mind went blank. There was a sound of footsteps behind him, and the man caught up. She ran down the cloister, banging on the door all the way. But his hands and feet were weak, and he couldn't make a sound.

She ran to the corner in one breath, only to see that the entrance of the stairs led to the lower hall, and there was a black hole inside. She looked out of the cloister again, and saw a large road on the outside, and a shack a few feet below. The masked man chased after him, his steps heavy and the planks rattled. Chen Song didn't have time to think about it, passed through the gap in the railing, and jumped down.

She didn't know the technique of jumping, so she landed on her back and rolled a few times in a row. She grabbed her hands wildly, but she didn't grasp anything, and when she looked down, she saw that she was already hanging from the edge of the roof tile, and then her body slid and the whole person fell down.

There is a shallow layer of snow on the ground. Chen Song fell to the ground, dizzy, but not injured. She landed in the stable behind the inn, and behind her the lights on the second floor were lit, and there were voices of mutual inquiry.

There were two horses in the stables, trampling the ground restlessly. The outward fence was halfway open and shook in the wind and snow. In the shadows, there also seemed to be a figure lying on the ground. She didn't dare to look more, so she ran out of the fence and into the dark official road.

At this time, it was already the second half of the night, the moon was dark, and the wind and snow were filled. There were shadows on the road, and the dry branches of the trees were like rugged ghosts. Chen Song stumbled forward for a while, and the cold wind cleared his mind for a moment, and he understood that it was not a good strategy to be too far away from the post house. She slowed down, and was about to turn back, when she suddenly tripped over something and stumbled forward.

It turned out that there was a ditch on the side of the road, but there was no water in winter, so it became a deep ditch. Chen Song rolled in with a heel bucket. This time her ankle hit the ground, and the pain was so painful that she couldn't move. She lay on her back at the bottom of the ditch, cold and hot on her body, and the thought of her situation in just one day was like falling into a dream.

At this moment, a figure suddenly appeared on the edge of the road a few feet away.

It was the masked man who actually caught up with him!

Chen Song looked up the slope and saw a lot of fresh snow reflecting a dim white light, which was faintly mixed with pink blood marks, and it was her blood-soaked socks that left marks in the snow. Chen Song couldn't help but feel cold in his heart, seeing that the black shadow was holding a flashing dagger in his hand, slowly stopping at the edge of the ditch, and the snow slid down with his movement.

But he didn't seem to see Chen Song, but bent down to check something.

Right here and now. The sound of people, weapons, and crackling torches came from behind at the same time. Someone shouted, "There! "A number of footsteps mingled with the sound of weapons clashing, from far and near. The masked man looked up, turned and walked away.

Chen Song lay at the bottom of the ditch, seeing his figure disappear into the darkness, but he felt even more frightened, as if the snow-white blade would appear from the darkness behind him at any time. She froze in place for a long time, hearing what seemed to be someone calling her name, before she struggled to her feet and crawled up the ditch.

The slope is deep, but not steep. She dragged her sprained foot to the top of the slope and lay half-naked on the edge of the ditch, sweating profusely in pain. Someone saw her not far away. Chen Song wanted to wave his hand, but first saw a swarthy thing in front of him. It was the one that made the Man in Black bend down to inspect and let her escape.

Chen Song stretched out his hand and touched it, the thing flipped to the side softly, and a cyan face with closed eyes flipped over and faced Chen Song.

This body looks the same age as Chen Song, with small eyebrows and a distorted expression, it turns out to be a dead child!

A beam of fire shone on her face, and someone arrived.

It's the weather-covered swordsman in the inn. He stretched out his hand, and Chen Song felt for a moment that he was afraid that he was already dead, and it was his soul that was watching the other party reach out and pull her corpse. But the swordsman grabbed her and pulled her from the edge of the ditch to the road.

He saw Chen Song staring at the corpse on the ground, and he also looked down. Under the firelight, Chen Song could see that the corpse was yellow and thin, and his clothes were not covered, which was completely different from himself. But in the darkness of the night, he suddenly saw the body of a child about the same size, and the masked man was confused.

The swordsman said, "This starvation has saved your life." ”

He pushed away a thin layer of snow beside him, revealing the half of a corpse, a thin woman with loose hair and one hand clutching the corner of the child's corpse.

This action shattered the sticky snow and disrupted the balance, and the woman's body slid downward, thudging to the bottom of the ditch, where Chen Song had just been lying.

Chen Song was in a trance for a while, not knowing whether the object in front of him was illusory or real. She grabbed the swordsman's hand and straightened up. By the crackling red firelight, I looked down the slope again: within a few feet, a black shadow emerged from under the snow, a shriveled arm. Further on, there was another sallow bare foot protruding from the snow, and half a sad face. And further into the depths of darkness, the rugged strange shadows are endless, as if there is no end.

There were so many dead people on the side of the road she had just passed by in her car not long ago!