After spending so much time with Ah Ran, it was the first time I had quarreled with him.

That night, I didn't sleep all night, and my mind was tossing and turning all about what had happened the day before.

What lingered on me the most was the last glance that Ling Niankong gave me before leaving.

The next day, I couldn't stay in the palace any longer. So he asked Qingdai to secretly find Liuyun.

"Do you know where he is now?"

I asked, rubbing my temples.

"Your Highness is talking about ......"

Seeing Liuyun's hesitation, I guessed that Liuyun knew where Ling Niankong was.

I sighed.

"Ah Yun, don't come to this with me, I'm tired. Your Majesty won't let you tell me, will you? ”

"Yes."

"Ah Yun, do you still think I am the master?"

I lowered my voice and looked at him.

When he heard this, he immediately knelt down on one knee, as if with great determination, and said:

"Your Highness has something to order."

"Take me to see him."

"But ......"

"I still have some accounts to settle with him, I don't want to owe him, I'll come back if I pay it back."

Seeing my tired appearance, he hesitated for a moment, but finally agreed to take me to him.

******

Because the palace has not yet been completely organized, it is chaotic, and there are often horse-drawn carriages coming and going.

The guards at the gate saw that it was Liuyun who was driving, and let them go without too much inspection.

Liuyun drove to a small forest outside Shengjing City, and asked me to wait here, and he went to find Ling Niankong.

I got out of the carriage and stood beside it waiting.

He didn't have to wait long before the sound of very familiar footsteps sounded behind him.

My heart trembled, and I was busy adjusting my mind before I turned around.

Ling Niankong was still dressed in a cyan robe, standing five steps away from me, looking at me calmly with his eyes.

I took two steps forward and said in a hard voice, "I'm here to give you something." ”

As he spoke, he handed him a folded piece of letterhead that he had been holding in his hand for a long time.

It had an address written on it, and it was on the outskirts of Night City.

It was where his mother slept.

In the past five years, under my questioning, Ah Ran told me the cause of the poisoning incident that year:

At that time, Ling's mother and son were actually taken away by the Four Emperor Uncles. After a full ten years, the Four Emperor Uncles still couldn't forget the Ling family.

Among all the brothers of the father, the one who knows the most intemperance and profligate is the Four Emperor Uncles.

He has been interested in all kinds of poisons since he was a child, and he is even more poisonous on weekdays.

Back then, although Uncle Huang arrested Ling's mother and son, in order to please Ling's family, he never treated Ling's mother and son in the same way as hostages.

Therefore, as long as the mother and son did not leave the village where they were living at the time, their movement would not be restricted.

However, the kidnapped Ling clan no longer wanted to be entangled by the imperial uncle, let alone be used to blackmail Yue Xiongqi, so he stole poison from the imperial uncle, so that Yue Lingkong, who was only ten years old at the time, put the poison in the salt that had just been transported from abroad and had not yet been distributed, and wanted to die with the Yan clan.

On that day, the emperor's uncle and the mother and son dined together. When the imperial uncle found out that the rice was poisonous, the mother and son had already been poisoned.

The Ling clan was poisoned too deeply and there was no way to return to the sky, but Yue Lingkong still had a glimmer of life.

Uncle Huang thought that he was a child of the Ling family, so he detoxified him, but he was afraid that Yue Lingkong would come to seek revenge when he grew up, so he gave him another poison.

After the emperor's uncle was poisoned, he sent someone to smuggle Yue Lingkong out of the village, but he met Leng Yihan's people on the way and was killed on the spot.

At that time, I purely listened to this paragraph as a thing of the past, but now that I know that Yue Lingkong is Ling Niankong, then I think that the poison that Uncle Huang gave him back then should be Meng Zhisan.

When Ah Ran told me about this part of the past, he had already planned to force Ling Niankong to defect at the time of the incident.

In order to ensure that the plan was foolproof, he not only concealed my Yan Zhaoran's identity from Ling Niankong, but also didn't let me know that Yue Lingkong was Ling Niankong's business, so he lied to me that Yue Lingkong had died a long time ago.

So, I guess what was really going on at the time was:

Yue Lingkong was smoothly taken out, and later worshiped under the master's door, and was taken to Yunhua Mountain by Shen Annihilation two months later.

As for the Ling family, they were buried by the emperor's uncle in a cemetery outside the village.

What I handed over to Ling Niankong just now is the specific location of the Ling Clan's tomb.

He glanced at the contents of the paper and looked up at me. "Where is this?"

I stared at him for a moment before saying, "Can't you guess? ”

Ling Niankong breathed lightly, folded the paper again, returned it to me, lowered his eyes and said in a low voice:

"I've made a note of the place, but I'm afraid I won't be able to go there for a moment.

If you want to, go and see her for me, and if you don't want to, don't force ......."

Listening to his words, I gradually clenched my fists, choked with tears:

"You asked me to see her? …… If it weren't for her, my mother wouldn't be ......."

He gasped and jerked his head up, as if he had never thought about the poison's consequences. After a while, he said, "I'm sorry, I don't know ......"

He didn't know.

He only knew that his mother had died tragically, but he didn't know how many lives it had taken as a result.

He struggled for a long time before he added:

"In that case, why do you even tell me about that place?"

"Because in the final analysis, it was because of my imperial uncle......"

I looked into his eyes again.

"Ling Niankong, I don't care what kind of entanglement they have in the previous generation, I never owe you anything, I have a clear conscience, so I want to take this opportunity to settle with you.

In the future, even if you want to take revenge on the Yan family, don't just pester me. ”

"Finished?"

His tone was light.

"That's it."

"Alright, I'm leaving."

He didn't stop for a moment, and turned away.

Looking at his distant back, the breath that he had been holding on to was finally dispersed.

I slowly crouched down, thinking back to what I had just said, and tears finally welled up.

What is "clear in the heart"? It's all!

Ling Niankong, for me, you gave up the obsession that supported you to this day;

For my sake, you put yourself in the middle of two forces and die for the rest of your life, how can I be worthy of it!?

Perhaps, in the eyes of others, we should hate each other to the core.

But the grievances of our two families, when it comes to our generation, how can it be just a simple word "hate"?

My imperial uncle shattered what could have been a very happy childhood, poisoned him, put his life in danger, and forced his mother to death;

And his parents caused me and Ah Ran to ruin our families......

This account cannot be calculated in any way.

I don't want to think about what is right and wrong, I just know that this man can really give everything for me, including his own life.

Before he left the Zichen Palace, he sneered at Ah Ran.

I immediately understood that he had seen through Ah Ran's game.

Knowing that it was a bureau, knowing that it was a trap, but he still stepped in without hesitation, just for me!

Ling Niankong, what's so good about me? Worth it for you?!

"Crying for what?"

A sudden voice came from overhead.

I was startled and immediately looked up.

When I met his eyes, I only felt that the wound that was about to heal had been opened again.

I stood up, took two steps back, glared at him sullenly, and cried out in embarrassment:

"What are you doing here!?

I was determined to get you out of my heart!

Why are you coming back? Why come back?! ”

He frowned, looked at me worriedly for a moment, and opened his arms.

"Come here, let me hug me."

I threw myself into his arms and listened to him whisper in my ear:

"These days, I really want to hug you well, and I finally got my wish......"

I suppressed the choking in my throat, but the words I could say still trembled uncontrollably:

"Ling Niankong, do you know what your cruelest point is?

It's you who know that I still have you in my heart, and you know that we can't be together, but you damn it so good to me! ”

He hugged me a little tighter and stroked my back.

Gradually, I stopped crying and parted from him, seeing that the pain in his eyes was no less than mine.

He gently cupped my face and gently scraped the tears from my cheeks.

"What else do you want me to do? Keep the agreement with Umeng and listen to that Umeng general?

And after that? How do you want me to live? ”

"Why are you so stupid?

What's important to me? Can it be more important than your own life? ”

I hugged him again.

"Silly girl, don't cry, you know I can't see you cry the most."

He patted me on the back.

"Yan'er ......"

"Hmm." I choked up in response to him.

I never realized that I liked him so much.

"You...... Forget about me......"

His voice was fluttering.

I cried even harder, and he let go of me, looked me in the eye and said:

"I don't want you to be caught between me and your brother."

Hearing him mention Ah Ran, I suddenly remembered the three swords that Ah Ran stabbed him. It felt like the sword was piercing my heart.

"Niankong, your wound ...... Are your injuries still serious? Does it still hurt? …… Does it hurt? ”

I shook my hands and groped on him, but I didn't dare to push hard.

He grabbed my hand, and his eyes were a little red.

"Fool, can you please stop fucking me like that?"

"What happened to your injuries?"

He sighed as if in compromise. "It's all right, you don't have to worry."

I was relieved.

"Niankong, don't be fine, I'm so afraid that something will happen to you......"

"Don't worry, you brother...... Haven't done anything to me yet. ”

I wanted to say something, but I was speechless.

He continued:

"But, I'm afraid there will come a day sooner or later. So ......"

He cupped my face again.

"Forget me, until then, forget me."

"I don't want it! I don't want ......"

I suddenly felt like a wayward child.

"Niankong, what should I do? What are we going to do? ”

He smiled, clearly reassuring me.

"I don't know what to do?

It's simple...... We, completely separated. ”

Sure enough, is there really only one way left for us?

He saw my sobbing silence in his eyes, and continued to say softly:

"Don't cry Yan'er, don't cry.

It's nothing, it's just separation, it's just going to be a little harder to live......

Actually, I think you're quite ruthless sometimes. You can only use half of it this time, okay? ”

I listened to him and replied, "Okay." ”

He smiled reassuringly and touched my head. "Good."

He paused and said, "I have been separated from you several times before, but I have not been able to say goodbye to you properly, and this time I can't do this again."

Yan'er, you have to take good care of yourself.

When it's cool in autumn, don't lie down in the yard and sleep.

In the future, I really can't sneak into the quilt for you. ”

My eyes widened in surprise when I heard this.

He was suddenly a little embarrassed.

"I accidentally missed it...... In short, you have to promise me to take care of yourself. ”

I sniffled. "Good. However, you also have to promise me one thing. ”

"You say."

"You don't have anything to do, you have to live well, do you hear?"

"Okay, I promise.

Even if it's for you, I'll live well. ”

I nodded reassuringly, wiped away my tears, and tried to curl the corners of my lips. "Well, let's go our separate ways."

"Okay." As he spoke, he leaned down as if to kiss me.

I closed my eyes and felt his lips gently and softly imprint between my eyebrows.

In a moment, the warm touch disappears.

I didn't open my eyes, but listened intently to the rustling of his clothes as he turned around.

And then there was the sound of his footsteps that was so familiar that I didn't have to look at it to know it was him.

As his footsteps faded away, I sketched out his appearance in my mind little by little:

High eyebrow bones and nose bridge, handsome eyebrows, clear eyes, thin lips......

Maybe compared to the last time he sneaked into the Shen Mansion and I were separated, such an ending can be regarded as complete.

Goodbye Niankong.

Goodbye, my silly man......

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