"My wife Su'er... My daughter... Azuma Soo... My daughter..."

Somehow, after Tao Xueqi finished reading the two lines on the paper, she repeated it in her mouth, muttering to herself upside down.

Thinking of Long Xinze's words: "The better ones will probably have some willfulness left, maybe they can restrain a little less and have fewer heirs, so as not to create evil." ”

Tao Xuanming married a full wife before and after, and accepted three concubines, two of which were pregnant, the first was born and died early and could not be saved, and the third was the third brother.

Compared with the previous head of the Tao family, he is not unrestrained, and he is already much better.

Because she remembered things when she was born, she always felt that this father was a mercenary person since she was a child, but such preconceived notions made her ignore many things.

For example, the loneliness that occasionally flashes in his eyes, such as the sometimes strange avoidance outside of his hospitality...

If it's to get close to Tai Sui, wouldn't it be better for him to take care of her himself? In the eyes of outsiders, Tao Xuanming is indulgent to her, but there is another meaning in indulgence, that is, staying away.

Tao Xuanming actually didn't want to kill his wife? He didn't really want to use his daughter to do those things? Is he actually restraining himself?

Who knows, even now, who can be sure?

Tao Xueqi chuckled softly, and the paper in her hand turned into pieces and fell to the ground soon after taking it out due to the weathering of time and malicious corrosion, like a parting snow.

Ji Ran couldn't bear it, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Xue Qi..."

Tao Xueqi hung her head and ignored it, like a child closed in her own world, cut off from all contact with the outside world for a while, immersed in feelings for some reason.

Zhang Qining said that she and Tao Xueqi are very similar, but they are not the same. These days, I have probably understood some of these words.

They are such similar people, beautiful with evil, evil with innocence, innocent with cruelty, sick and weak with a sense of charm. At first glance, it is ordinary and beautiful, but when you look closely, it looks like a flower that is covered by the night, and the more you look at it, the more flavorful it becomes, and it is both good and evil.

The difference is that Zhang Qining is more inclined to the distorted personality created after tomorrow, and is paranoid about a certain truth and feelings, which is more prone to extremes.

For life, she insists on having similar hopes, beliefs, loves... Such supports, the experience of being isolated and ostracized at a young age, made her disguise many faces.

Some seem normal, some are lazy, some love to laugh, some are shy, some are messy; Some are insecure, feel helpless in life, and even some are empty.

Tao Xueqi's evil is pure evil from the gods, mainly aimed at people other than herself, and she will never punish herself with her actions.

But after meeting Ji Ran, he liked to let her give birth to a private relationship, so the malice was no longer pure, and it was mixed with selfishness. This relationship is not like she was able to refuse Jia Xuan at the beginning, she was reluctant.

Even if Ji Ranshan sometimes seems a little stupid, it is because of the dullness that he himself is not aware of that makes him clean and beautiful.

Even if everything was stabbed by Zhang Qining, Tao Xueqi also understood that Ji Ran might be depressed, but he would never do evil. He may hesitate, but he will never give up on goodness.

People are wonderful and interesting because they are complicated and entangled, not to mention that he chose himself in the end.

How willing she was to let go, how could she let go. She doesn't mind the regret of a short time, and she doesn't expect a marriage in the next life, as long as his heart is herself in this life, she just needs to be by his side until the last moment.

Tao Xueqi may take pleasure in abusing people, but in Zhang Qining's eyes, it is just a means to achieve the goal. The same cruelty, but the subject-object relationship is different subjectively.

In addition, the two are actually more similar in that although they don't expect family affection for various reasons, they are very eager in their hearts, but they both miss it.

Ji Ran pressed lightly on Tao Xueqi's shoulder, and slowly squatted down beside her, and the countless night pearls emitted a cool and soft light, quietly wrapping around the two.

He grabbed Tao Xueqi and patted her lightly on the back.

In silence, Tao Xueqi's laughter gradually stopped, and a line of tears slipped down from her eyes, soaked in the placket of Ji Ran's chest.

"I thought I had no feelings for him, but the first thing that came to mind when something happened was him..."

Ji Ran didn't speak, and listened carefully to what she was saying.

"He asked me if I was his daughter, why wasn't I? I am Tao Xueqi, I am really Tao Xueqi! To be buried in front of Ji Ran, his hand couldn't help but grasp his clothes, "I don't want this Tai Sui, Ji Ran, do you like me?" Or is it the one you think I am? ”

Ji Ran: "What do I think Tao Xueqi looks like?" ”

"Well-behaved, weak, kind." Tao Xueqi said words that were almost diametrically opposed to herself, and when she heard Ji Ran sigh lightly, the whole one hung up.

How is it?

Ji Ran sighed lightly and looked at Tao Xueqi in his arms who was trembling faintly because of his answer. People are really too complicated, he really didn't understand anything before, and he only relied on being lonely and brave, and insisted on going his own way.

"I like the old snow qi. I like it too. No matter how long it takes, no matter what kind of snow it becomes, I will like it. ”

That being said, he took off the pair of white jade bracelets that Tao Xueqi had sent out on his wrists.

Before Tao Xueqi could react, she didn't even say a word before she saw Ji Ran help her up, holding the jade bracelet in the palm of her hand and kneeling down on one knee reverently.

"Remember what I said when I gave them to you?"

Tao Xueqi remembered that Ji Ran was so nervous at that time that he couldn't even say a complete sentence, so he could only stammered a short sentence.

He said he liked her. There is nothing else, not a single superfluous love word.

Ji Ran smiled softly and said, "I said, I like you." People are fickle, but I will pull you, I will hug you, and I will be with you.

If you don't want Tai Sui, then don't, I'll be with you for the rest of the month or two. After that, I'll leave with you. ”

Looking at Ji Ran's smile, Tao Xueqi was suddenly stunned, and the meaning of leaving together was-

"Ji Ran, you're going to die."

"I know."

Ji Ran really didn't care and said: "If there is really Nai He Bridge and Meng Po soup, we will drink it together." The first thing I saw after drinking it was you, and even if I didn't know what kind of person you were, I would definitely like you. ”

"Whether it's good or evil, beautiful or ugly, as long as it's you, I admit it."

"Why?" Tao Xueqi didn't understand, "I don't know what kind of person the other party is, why do you still like it?" ”

Ji Ran couldn't explain it, he only knew that there was such a sentence in the world: "I don't know what to do, I go deep." ”

"Xue Qi, if you really don't do evil, you can't do it, I'll accompany you."

"Do evil with me?" Tao Xueqi raised her eyebrows and said.

Ji Ran shook his head and stroked her head. "Accompany you out of this world that does not tolerate evil, thousands of mountains and rivers, hell and pure land, I will go anywhere."

Ji Ran... Is this pampering yourself?

"There's no place for me, I don't want to go anywhere." Tao Xueqi raised her head, looked at him seriously, put her hands around his neck and stood on tiptoe. Ji Ran bent down and touched her forehead with her forehead.

Tao Xueqi's closed eyes slowly opened, like a pool of quiet and beautiful autumn waves, the fallen leaves fluttered on the water surface and rippled, silently telling the whole autumn completely - it was the silence of the water, the fluttering of the fallen leaves, the undulation of the ripples, quietly disturbing people's hearts.

"But only by your side, I want to stay."

No expected heartbeat, no surprises, nothing. Everything is natural and natural, as if he has become a little old man in just a few days, without the impulse and courage of his youth, he just wants to look at the person in front of him and guard the person in front of him.

He guards goodness, justice, and the world - she is also in his world, and he is also his world. It's good that a person is selfish, he can insist on justice, he can also insist on her, and he can also let go of the world for her.

He looked at the bones of the head and body, and felt that Tao Xuanming must have been a depressed person before his death, even if it was just a skull, he seemed to be able to see the shallow gully left by his frowns between his eyebrows.

It is possible that this person has guarded Tao Xueqi for sixteen years with the only trace of conscience and warmth in his heart, and tried to be a father, but in the end he still lost.

lost to the greed of many leaders of the Tao family, and lost to his own life.

"Buried it." Tao Xueqi followed his line of sight.

"Good. Where are you buried? Ji Ran asked.

Tao Xueqi thought for a while, then looked at the night pearls that lit up the darkness around her, and said, "Here it is." ”

"Here?" Ji Ran was a little puzzled, "You... Are you sure? ”

Tao Xueqi nodded. "Although I guessed, he didn't go anywhere in the end, and he didn't even care about his own life and just stayed here quietly, where there were so many night pearls that could see in the dark, and the light was soft and hazy like moonlight. I think there's only one reason. ”

Tao Xueqi thought of the paper that Tao Xuanming kept close to him until he died, and thought of the line of words on it: My wife Su'er.

"My mother, it could be somewhere here."

Ji Ran was stunned. ... Tao Xueqi's mother?

Back then, Tao Xuanming was manipulated like a marionette to disregard the life and death of his wife, and disemboweled.

After regaining some consciousness, I remembered what I had done, and I estimated that I received a lot of blows. The stomach was dissected, and of course such a dead appearance could not be seen by others, where was it buried?

There is a dark room in the courtyard of the Tao family's house that suppresses malice, and ordinary people can't find it.

Thinking of this, he moved the body here, and where...

Tao Xueqi thought about it, she remembered that when she saw Tao Xuanming for the last time twenty years ago, her eyes were on her for a long time. Before she came in, when she turned to go up, Tao Xuanming's eyes were always on the coffin in the center.

It looked like he was looking at the most precious treasure of this life.

Tao Xueqi walked towards the coffin. "Ji Ran, open it."

"Huh?" Although he was slightly stunned, Ji Ran still did it. Standing at the head of the coffin, luck lifted the lid of the coffin, opened a gap in the sealed lid of the coffin, and then slowly removed the heavy lid of the coffin.

There was also a body in the coffin, and the other party was a woman in terms of the size of the bones.

"What is this?"

Tao Xueqi: "It should be my mother." ”

They stood outside the coffin and took a closer look, the woman was wearing a big red wedding dress, and even the phoenix crown and xia veil were neatly worn. This wedding dress was not purchased at random, maybe it was the one she and Tao Xuanming got married.

Su'er is a woman who gave birth to Tai Sui, and there is a remnant of Tai Sui's breath on her body when she is pregnant in October. Tao Xuanming wanted to hide Su'er, but he didn't know that in this dark room where there was no light of day, in addition to his Su'er, there was also the malice of the mansion that was attracted by Tai Sui's breath.

"This is a double coffin, and he must be willing to be here. Although he killed her with his own hands, he heard that people can know the truth of this world after death, and they don't blame him in their hearts. ”

Tao Xueqi paused, "Ji Ran, put him in." ”

"Okay."

Tao Xueqi picked up Tao Xuanming's skull with both hands, wiped the dust on it, and then kept holding it in his hand and watching it quietly.

Ji Ran moved the parts of Tao Xuanming except for the skull into the coffin and put them into the coffin lightly.

"Xue Qi, it's okay. You..."

He looked at the skull she was holding in her hand and didn't speak for a moment.

"Hmm. Just come. ”

Tao Xueqi took her eyes off it and blinked to dissolve the sourness in her eyes.

Tao Xuanming, you may not be a good father, and I am not a good daughter. If nothing had happened and my mother was still alive...... Could things have been different?

Sixteen years of hypocrisy and indifference, closeness and convergence, thirty-six years later, the once contradictory and seemingly sincere pictures flashed through my mind, and finally the dust settled, unable to stir up half a wave, and sank into a calm sea with the passage of time.

She placed the broken skull in the coffin. Because it was not steady, the head turned sideways like a woman's face. It looked like a husband and wife who were still separated, and the husband couldn't wait to turn his head and lean over to kiss his little wife's cheek.

Tao Xueqi was slightly stunned when she saw it, and the corners of her mouth hooked up a slight smile, as if she was moved by these two lifeless white bones. Giving up the idea of realigning the skull, I decided to let him lie in the coffin like this.

"Ji Ran, close the lid of the coffin."

"Okay."

Ji Ran lifted his breath and moved the coffin lid back to its original place, pushing it hard from the other end. Just as the lid of the coffin was on the verge of almost covering the skulls of the two, he couldn't help but stop.

"What's wrong?"

Tao Xue Qi saw that Ji Ran didn't move, and couldn't help asking.

Ji Ran thought for a moment and said, "You, do you want to stay alone with them for a while?" ”

Tao Xueqi's eyes were slightly stunned, and she gradually came back to her senses. She smiled, the sadness in her eyes was only a moment, and it quickly disappeared.

She said calmly to Ji Ran: "It's okay, twenty years have passed, I don't have anything to say, and I can't think of anything to say." Cover it. ”

When she said this, Ji Ran didn't persuade much. Tao Xueqi is not the kind of person who knows that he can't do it but is reluctant.

"Okay."

After that, Ji Ran completely covered the coffin lid.

Tao Xueqi watched as the coffin was completely sealed little by little, and everything in the past seemed to disappear.

"Dad, are you happy to be buried with your mother?" Tao Xueqi looked at the coffin that had been resealed, and said silently in her heart.

"Let's go."

Tao Xueqi closed her eyes and opened her eyes again, raised her eyes and smiled at Ji Ran, "Let's go, go back to the inn." You and I ran out suddenly, Miss Zhang was afraid that something would not find anyone for a while. Let's go. ”

Tao Xueqi walked out of the ruins, and finally turned around and looked deeply, and there was nothing else after that. The two of them rode their horses not as quickly as they came, and returned to the inn a little faster than a walk.

At this time, Zhang Qining and Zhan Suiyu were coming out of the door, as if they were going out.

Zhang Qining saw that her eyes were slightly red, and said, "I'll go out with Lin Zhao, let's talk about it tomorrow." ”

Tao Xueqi is also a thoughtful person, and after laughing, he said, "Thank you." ”