Dark and cold nights.

Under the candlelight, Lan Zhijun and Bai Ling sat opposite each other. Bai Ling insisted on black first, but Lan Zhijun did not fall for a long time.

Bai Ling's gaze slowly moved up from the chessboard, and Lan Zhijun was sitting precariously, not looking like he was about to reach out to the chess basket to get a piece.

She gently withdrew the chess pieces between her index and middle fingers in the palm of her hand, and then sat silent like Lan Zhijun.

Lan Zhijun sighed very softly.

"I don't want to play chess today, let's talk." He whispered, "You should have ...... from both ends to now."

"Forty-seven days." Bai Ling replied softly.

"Does the golden man feel sorry for you?"

"Nope."

"Are those Zhou people sad for you?"

“…… No. ”

Lan Zhijun looked at Bai Ling's godless eyes, "I feel like I don't know you anymore, the kind of energy you used to have in Baihuaya...... Where did it go? ”

Bai Ling did not answer, and did not seem to have to. It sounded more like Lan Zhijun's muttering than a question, and it didn't need any response.

The winter wind and snow seem to freeze people's nerves, and the wind and snow cover everything, not only burying people's hope, but also burying pain. It seems that if you forget the good things in your mind, the bad in front of you becomes no longer unbearable - this seems to be fair, otherwise, how would people spend this long winter.

Bai Ling looked at herself, she was already aware of the wall of her own defenses, but at the moment she only hoped that the wall would be thick enough to help her withstand all the cold.

Faced with such a Bai Ling, Lan Zhijun also lost interest in playing chess.

The two of them sat quietly in the room, and I don't know how much time passed, and the sound of singing came from a distant place.

At first it was a woman's whimper, and then gradually, it had a rhythm, a high and low, and even a melody.

Bai Ling couldn't hear what the song was singing, but the woman's old and sad lamentation seemed to drill directly into the human heart, causing the whole heart to be lifted in the air, and then the woman's song was thrown to the ground with a heavy blow.

Picked up again, dropped again, picked up again, fell again...... The fate of the world seems to have a concrete appearance between these ups and downs.

This zigzag whimper, with its clear crying and accusation, is like a fierce shrew at one moment, like a widowed mother at another time, and yet it sounds ten times stronger than the joys and sorrows of ordinary people...... Some hysterical screams also completely lost the rhythm and rhyme of the song, and only the roar of the mad man remained.

"Who's singing?" Bai Ling asked suddenly.

"Priest of the Golden Man." Lan Zhijun replied, "Today is the festival of their dead spirits. ”

"Festival of the Dead......" Bai Ling muttered in a low voice.

No wonder this song is sung so coldly.

The distant singing ceased for a moment, and then became a more majestic, gentle harmony in which there were men, women, and children.

"Do you understand what they're singing?" Bai Ling asked again.

Lan Zhijun shook her head.

Bai Ling listened with his eyes closed for a while, and the melody had gradually become regular, becoming a repetitive lyric song.

In the midst of the ghostly harmony in the distance, Bai Ling suddenly whispered.

"Youth is thanked, and the sun is shining. Spring is full of energy, and everything is only ......"

Lan Zhijun looked at Bai Ling, this poem came out of Bai Ling's mouth word by word, she always lowered her head slightly, and her eyebrows were slightly wrinkled.

"The soul is gone, and there is no escape. Soul returns! Far away, only ......"

I don't know why, such a distinct Zhou script can be reconciled with the sacrificial song of the Jin people, and the rhythm on both sides is very slow, with a certain solemn and solemn atmosphere.

Thinking of this, Bai Ling shuddered unconsciously.

The song was like a strong and powerful procession that marched along the snow-capped mountain that everyone had built with sorrow, and then shook the snow along with the dust that had been buried in it.

"Soul Return! No east, no west, no south, no north, only ......"

Bai Ling took a deep breath, she heard continuous cries in the distance, and Lan Zhijun also looked sideways.

"At this time, it should be time to send the Yin soldiers back to the Immortal Heaven." Lan Zhijun went down and down from the soft collapse, "Let's go out and have a look." ”

Outside the tent, Bai Ling raised his eyes and saw countless white paper lamps rising in the sky.

Fang Cai's tears were exposed to the wind and snow, and there was a burning pain, but Bai Ling didn't have time to care about it. She looked at the little spark rising in the dark sky, and smiled a little self-deprecatingly.

"I have heard that gold thieves use the corpses of their companions as bait and ambush, so they disrespect the dead...... It doesn't seem to be. ”

"It's really not the same as the Zhou people." Lan Zhijun raised his head and replied, "They believe that the essence of human beings is a ball of soul fire, and the physical body is just a skin for temporary residence in the world, and once a person dies, the pure soul fire will return to their immortal heaven, and the skin will retain the sins of their life. ”

"This is a good deal, all the evil done in the world is left in the corpse, and when a person dies, he will be ruined, is that true?"

"......," Lan Zhijun smiled, "yes." ”

In the distance, Bai Ling saw the bonfires in the north, and young women dancing in costumes, her hats high and adorned with silver ornaments, and young maidens dancing around the bonfires, dancing strangely but with a certain striking beauty.

Bai Ling stared at the men and women who were wiping tears from the crowd.

In the eyes of the inhabitants of the northern border, the Jin people are almost all fierce and vicious Yamas, they are evildoers who do all kinds of evil, and they are robbers who disregard human life.

However, in the Jin people's own narrative, the dead are warriors, heroes, sons, husbands, and fathers...... They wept too.

The song is so touching, and the girl's dancing under the moon is so moving, and everything is so beautiful.

It's not that they don't understand what life and death are, it's not that they don't understand what good and evil are......

Bai Ling's fist clenched again, his nails digging deep into the flesh, but his frozen hand didn't notice it.

Probably, in the eyes of the Jin people, these Zhou slaves who went to the country and left their homeland in the wind and snow are not "people" in any way.

"What did you just read?" Lan Zhijun asked, "There is no east, no west, no south, no north." ”

"It's Qu Yuan's "Big Move"."

Bai Ling didn't explain anything, she looked at the night sky, couldn't help but fold her hands in her heart, and muttered a few words in a low voice.

The song in the distance rang out again.

"It's too cold in here." Lan Zhijun frowned and said, "Let's go back and talk about it." ”

Bai Ling turned around, "Lan Zhijun, there's something I don't understand......

Lan Zhijun turned around and walked a few steps, and when he looked sideways, he saw that Bai Ling was still standing in the wind and snow, and he tightened his robe.

"What do you want to ask?"

"Why did you start playing chess again?" Bai Ling looked at him, "You clearly said back then that playing chess was not interesting, and you will never play this game in the future." ”