Shen Yigong stood by the window at the end of the corridor and smoked, and the rain was blown in by the wind from outside and fell on the back of his hand.

Neither of them said much at the dinner table, neither girl had eaten much, and Xiaoqiang had been looking at the new two people curiously and reservedly.

Huo Zuo hadn't woken up at that time, and when Shen Yigong hurriedly went upstairs to see him with dinner, he had just opened his eyes and asked something about the mansion. He gave him Mama Xu's gold bracelet. Huo Zuo's expression was sad and his eyes drooped. He asked, "Does she look in pain?" ”

Shen Yigong didn't know how to answer this question, he could only say, "I don't know." ”

"Where is she?"

"At the door, sit on a chair at the door."

"Yes, too...... She always sat there waiting for me. Huo turned his head and turned his face to the side that Shen Yigong couldn't see. He told him to tuck the bracelet under his pillow and continued, "Let Xinyi come up to me." ”

When the girl left the table, her bowl of rice barely moved.

She dragged her steps up the stairs with Shen Yigong, walked into the room, and knelt weakly beside him when she saw the person in the mosquito net.

She said, "I did my best, Daddy......"

She burst into tears.

"I tried to bring my mother in, but she wouldn't. I want to save her...... I tried my best ......"

Huo Zuo let her lean on his shoulder, he patted her on the back, and cast a look at Shen Yigong, the other party turned around and closed the door and left.

He was waiting for the girl to release all her emotions, for her to clear her tears, for her to calm down and listen to what he was going to say next. Those—truth, or harm.

When the sobbing stopped, Huo Zuo moved his lips. He caressed Xinyi's trembling back and told her slowly and softly, "Child, you are a big girl, so I will only tell you about these things in the future, not Yaya." You know that you need to make your own choice in the future, and no one of us can help you with this choice. ”

Xinyi looked up at him.

Huo Zuo stretched out his hand to wipe away her tears, and after a short silence, he opened his mouth to tell her: "The murderers of your mother, Xu Ma, and everyone in the Huo Mansion are Japanese. This was not a simple act of retaliation against me, it was an economic atrocity of the Japanese occupation of Shanghai. And the ...... who planned and carried it all out

He hesitated. Xinyi waited for him to say the name.

"The mastermind who planned to carry it all out was ......"

"Who is it?" The girl was more eager than he thought.

Huo Zuo looked at her dark brown pupils, and finally finished this sentence: "It's your father, Cheng Changyu." ”

The girl stiffened and froze there, she lowered her head, avoided Huo Zuo's hand on her head, and then bit her lip. She kept blinking, so nervous that her breathing began to rapid.

"No...... This is not true. No...... My dad won't ...... He...... Not ......"

Huo Zuo raised his hand to touch her cheek, but she directly opened his hand. This time she met Huo Zuo's eyes and roared, "You lie!" He loves my mother, he loves us, he loves me and Yaya, he wouldn't do such a thing. If he was the mastermind of the attack on the Huo Mansion, how could he do such a thing while we were there? You're wrong, he won't! ”

"Xinyi, I hope he won't—but you know me, who can hurt me like this? Who can leave so many gunshot wounds on me but the person I trust, who is standing behind me? ”

Xinyi slid down from the side of the bed holding her stomach and sat on the ground with her legs weak. She looked up at Huo Zuo, and said weakly: "But he is not Japanese, I know...... I was born all these years...... It's true that he can speak Japanese, but he's not Japanese. I'm his daughter and I know ......."

"Are you sure, Xinyi. I've known him for more than twenty years, and I don't know yet, what about you? ”

Xinyi felt a twitch in her stomach, and she retched as she propped up the floor, but there was nothing left in her stomach to vomit. Huo Zuo sat on the bed, looking at her appearance but unable to do anything, he supported himself to straighten up, stretched out his hand and tried to touch her shoulder. The girl knelt on the ground and cried with her headache, choking and muttering, "But he obviously loves us...... Why does he know we're still there...... Does he not want us? Why...... Isn't he a dad...... Why......"

Huo Zuo said: "...... Xinyi, you can only stand up on your own. ”

She folded her hands and curled up slowly, until Huo Zuo fell off the bed and hugged her shoulders before she came back to her senses little by little. The wounds on the man's body cracked open with her movements, and blood continued to seep out. Xinyi hurriedly wiped her tears, turned her head and helped her Daddy Huo's shoulder: "You're bleeding!" ”

Huo Zuo pinched his sleeve and wiped the tears on the girl's face, he didn't care about the wound, he just told her gently: "I don't have children, Xinyi, including you and Aunt Yiman, they are the same, we regard you and Yaya as our heirs." If you were just an ordinary little girl, I wouldn't tell you the truth of the matter, but you're not. You have to stand up, you have to face it, you have to be able to hold on to everything that we have put into your hands. ”

He held the girl's face and met her red eyes.

"You can only stand up on your own." After saying that, he let out a long sigh, the morphine medicine he had taken before he left had not yet passed, and he still had little strength in his body. Seeing that Xinyi's breathing gradually subsided and her mood gradually recovered, Huo Zuo relaxed a little and turned to her, "Go and call Uncle Shen in." ”

Shen Yigong has been standing by the window since Xinyi entered, wiping the raindrops from the back of his hands, smoking and sorting out his thoughts at the same time. Liang Qingwen brought the news from You Yiman's side, as well as money and industry, about the arrangements of Cheng Changyu and his two daughters. Ma Weisan took refuge with the Japanese, and his next move should be the Japanese to control the French Concession.

Lao Jiang went to Yan'an, and in the current situation, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese army attacked on a large scale, and Shanghai had almost fallen once, and it was not surprising that it had fallen for the second time. The internal struggle has never stopped, and the external enemy is ready to move, in this situation, Shen Yigong suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness. Former friends turned against each other, and past acquaintances may be long-dormant spies...... The original most basic trust has gradually collapsed and collapsed in this stormy era, whether it is Qin Mingyue or Cheng Changyu, who will be next?

More and more people are dying, and there will only be more in the future.

There was a sound of the door opening behind him, and Shen Yigong turned his head to see Xinyi standing by the door with tears in the corners of her eyes. He quickly extinguished the cigarette, threw the cigarette butt out of the window, and asked, "Are you done talking?" ”

The girl nodded, and she said guiltily: "Daddy Huo fell off the bed......"

Shen Yigong looked nervously at the room, and without waiting for Xinyi to say anything, he stepped into the room first, picked Huo Zuo up from the ground and put him on the bed. When the man was about to ask the girl outside the door what was going on, Huo Zuo spoke first: "Let's go down to eat, Xinyi." ”

She nodded, closed the door for them, and left.

Shen Yigong looked at the bandages on his body that were dyed red again and frowned: "What did you do to fall off the bed?" ”

"I just wanted to comfort that kid." Huo Zuo said helplessly, "But I didn't expect the strength of the anesthetic to be so strong." ”

Shen Yigong was slightly stunned: "You told her the truth?" ”

Huo Zuo had not yet recovered his strength, and his voice was still weak: "Yes." ”

"Including about her father?"

"Including about her father."

Shen Yigong sat down beside him, Huo Zuo sat on the bed, and touched Xu Ma's bracelet from under the pillow.

"She's just a child, Huo Zuo. You tell her that the real murderer of her mother is her father, which is tantamount to stabbing a knife into her heart with your own hands. ”

Huo Zuo's fingertips slowly stroked the relief on the bracelet and said, "She is fourteen years old and is an older sister. Yiman and I both pinned our hopes on her. She wants to live, and to live, she must know the truth. ”

"Do you live by knowing the truth, or do you live with hatred?"

Shen Yigong's words made Huo Zuo's hand pause. He looked at him, "Does it matter?" ”

"We lived with hatred, you know what it's like—don't you think that's too cruel for a fourteen-year-old?"

"We are at war, Shen Yigong. You see. Huo Zuo raised the bracelet in his hand and told him clearly, "War is so cruel. It doesn't slow down just because the other party is a fourteen-year-old girl. ”

The room fell silent after he had said this. Shen Yigong didn't want to argue these things with him, he was still a little too idealistic sometimes. He just doesn't want his child to face this, even if he knows, even if he thinks so, it won't help.

When war comes, no one can escape just because they are young.

He stood up and said in a dull voice, "I'll re-bandage you." So he went through the drawer and looked for the bandages and potions left by the doctor.

Huo Zuo didn't continue to discuss that topic with him. They both know in their hearts that there are some things that the two of them just can't discuss, and it's the same no matter how many times they come. Shen Yigong lifted his clothes high, untied the original bandages on his shoulders, and took them off one by one. When he did this, he completely held Huo Zuo in his arms, and after so many years, it was the first time that he was so close, and his breathing was intertwined.

Close enough that the pulse can be clearly perceived.

"You ...... before"

"I didn't expect ......"

They spoke at the same time. Shen Yigong stopped talking and asked instead, "What do you want to say?" ”

Huo Zuo leaned on his shoulder and said softly: "You haven't answered me before." ”

"Incense?"

"Hmm."

Shen Yigong threw the old one on the ground, picked up the gauze and pressed it against his wound, and then wrapped the new bandage around: "I don't think you died so soon." ”

"Oh?" Huo Zuo's face rubbed against his beard, and he asked again, "What do you want to say?" ”

"I didn't expect that when I saw you again after so many years, you would be covered in blood." Shen Yigong knotted the bandage behind him, then let go of his hand and let him lie on the bed, to unwrap the bandage on his calf, "I thought you had no other way to appear than to show off your power and be invincible." ”

Huo Zuo laughed deeply: "Am I like this in your eyes?" ”

"It's always like this." Shen Yigong replied to him, "So I didn't think you could die this time." Do you know, Huo Zuo, sometimes I even think, what can a guy like you be killed by? Your impression on my mind is too ......."

Before Shen Yigong could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the other party's words. Huo Zuo stared at the roof and said coldly: "Why do you want to help me." ”

The man's hand paused slightly.

"You were lying there covered in blood."

"Then why are you helping me?"

Shen Yigong lowered his head to treat the wound for him, and replied helplessly: "Those people under your command are many and miscellaneous, if you die, the underworld in Shanghai will fall into chaos." He fastened the bandage for him, breathed a sigh of relief, and then turned his head to meet his eyes, "So I will save you, I will help you, I will help you go to the Huo Mansion and find those two girls." ”

Yes, this time he wasn't avoiding his gaze. He looked at him calmly and answered him honestly, no longer coerced by those questions, and no longer had the superfluous emotions of a guilty conscience.

Huo Zuo looked into his eyes, and after a long time, he looked away and said, "It's good." ”