Endless darkness, endless pain. She woke up to a miserable cry, and didn't know what night it was.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying in a very simple thatched hut, covered with a thin, shabby plain quilt. Her mother watched her with tears in her eyes from the bedside. It's good that she's still alive.

Ji Shu's beautiful face was covered with dazzling scars, and his right arm was bandaged with a thick cotton cloth. She saw that her daughter woke up slowly, although her face was as pale as paper, at least she had spirits, unlike the previous days when she was groggy and her pulse was weak, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, stroked her daughter's face and asked, "Yan'er, do you see who I am?" ”

In Ji Shu's expectant eyes, Yan'er weakly called "mother".

Ji Shu was even more happy: "Sister-in-law, are you hungry?" Thirsty or not? Does the wound still hurt? ”

"Hungry."

Ji Shu wiped the endless tears on his face, and said happily: "Okay, okay, you wait, my mother will bring you food!" With that, Ji Shu walked out of the grass hut quickly, and soon, there was her voice of thanks and a joyful but calm chanting, followed by the sound of the temple bell ringing, and the aftermath was long. A new day has arrived.

Ji Shu quickly took a bowl of clear porridge, and while carefully feeding his daughter porridge, he told his story about his experience in the past few days. It turned out that there was a temple in this deep mountain and old forest, and there were only two old abbots and apprentices and a pair of grandchildren who lived here in the temple.

A few days ago, Master Abbot Huiming took his apprentice to quit the little monk who went down the mountain to buy tribute incense, but before he got home, it was late, he got lost, and happened to meet a mother and daughter who were injured lying in a pit buried with thick weeds.

The mother was not seriously injured, but the little girl had an arrow stuck in her chest, and she did not see that she would survive. Thinking that this place was inaccessible and infested with wild beasts, he left these two people to death, so he tried to save them. It is said that the little girl also had a big life, she was in a coma for so many days, lacked medical treatment, had a high fever, and miraculously survived.

The abbot said that it was the Buddha who appeared, and Ji Shu said that her daughter's life should not be extinguished.

Yan'er asked, "Is it that Daddy is no longer chasing us?" ”

Ji Shu's hand holding the bowl shook violently: "Let's not call him daddy in the future, okay?" ”

Yan'er twitched in her heart: "What is that called?" ”

"Hou Ye Li."

"Okay......" Yan'er touched the most painful part of her chest and agreed.

After eating something, Chang'er fell asleep again, and this sleep was another day. When I woke up the next afternoon, I didn't see Ji Shu, but I saw a small figure hidden behind the dilapidated wooden door. The little shadow was cast on the ground, slender and nimble, with a handful of pigtails tied around its head—it was evident that it was a little girl.

The little girl saw Yan'er staring at her behind the door, a little cowardly, as if she wanted to leave, but was called by Yan'er: "Who are you?" Can you please stop going? ”

The little girl finally stopped her footsteps, walked in slowly, and moved to the head of her bed, a little reserved.

"You're coming to see me?" Yan'er looked at the other party, saw that she was dressed simply, her eyes were lively and beautiful, and she thought it was interesting, so she tilted her head and asked her.

The little girl nodded, twisted and took out a red wild fruit, and stuffed it into her hand.

"Thank you. What is your name? ”

"Fang Miaoju. You can call me Miaomiao. "The voice is pitiful.

This is the first time that Chang'er has seen Miaomiao's feeling, smart and shy. And Miaomiao felt that Yan'er was very brave and pitiful.

"Do you know where my mother went?" Yan'er asked.

Miao Miao shook her head: "I only know that the abbot's grandfather came back last night and said a few words to her, she cried very sadly, and then went out and never came back." My grandfather said that something might have happened, and he was worried that you would be alone, so he asked me to come over. ”

"My mother hasn't come back...... "Chang'er's heart tugged, "I'm afraid it's ......"

Suddenly, the neighing of war horses and the shouting of people came from outside. Miao Miao hurriedly looked outside the temple from the door, and saw a team of people standing outside the courtyard. The middle-aged man led by him has a dark complexion and a beautiful beard - it is Li Xingzhi. The abbot stepped forward to reason with these people, but was pushed aside by a young sergeant on the side. Immediately afterwards, Miaomiao's grandfather came out, Li Xingzhi was stunned for a moment, then dismounted, and said "Master" respectfully.

Fang Miaoxi's grandfather Fang Yanqing is a highly respected and famous old man, who has been up and down in the sea for more than 30 years, and then because of many political disagreements with the emperor, criticizing the emperor for specializing in Taoism was degraded and deposed, and soon resigned angrily and went into hiding. The emperor remembered that his only son died early and was an old minister, so he decreed that no matter the court or the rivers and lakes, he was not allowed to embarrass him, but he didn't expect that the great Confucianism in the world, who was about to be forgotten by the world, would live in such a deep mountain and broken temple.

Li Xingzhi was once employed by Mr. Fang, and this "master" sounded sincere and respectful, but he never thought that the old man didn't buy it: "Don't dare." Li Houye has great ambitions, he was different from other students when he was young, and he threw his pen early from Rong, how can he be compared with the laymen of my generation? It's just that I don't know, what is the reason why Hou Ye visited this broken temple in the deep mountains? ”

Li Xingzhi straightened his waist and replied calmly: "Last night, I caught an assassin, and this time I came here to search for the assassin's accomplices. ”

"Oh? According to Hou Ye's meaning, Lao Yu is an accomplice of the assassin who assassinated Hou Ye? ”

Li Xingzhi didn't answer positively, but just asked his subordinates to guard the old gentleman and the abbot and lead people to the temple. Fang Yanqing couldn't stop it, and secretly sweated.

Miaomiao had already seen that Li Xingzhi was not good, and it would definitely be unfavorable to Chang'er, so she quickly turned her brain and thought about how to hide her Chang'er, but the whole room was only a bed made of adobe bricks, and the bed was covered with a few rough wooden planks and two thin quilts. What to do?

When Li Xingzhi led people to search this dilapidated house, he saw a simple bed built up in the dilapidated and empty grass hut, with a small head exposed on the bed, with his head facing inward, quietly, as if he was asleep.

Sister-in-law? His sister-in-law? Li Xingzhi was a little at a loss, he didn't know how to face his daughter.

Yes, yesterday he killed Ji Shu, and his daughter will not forgive him. But the daughter is still his daughter. Li Xingzhi thought that if Yan'er was willing to go with him and leave this haunted house-like place, he would protect her.

"Sister-in-law......" Li Xingzhi called softly.

The little girl was motionless. Fang Yanqing, who followed closely, said that it was not good.

Li Xingzhi walked to the bed, brushed away the broken hair sticking to the little girl's cheeks, noticed that something was wrong, and turned his head to look again, this was an unfamiliar face, not a concubine.

Li Xingzhi panicked, what about his sister-in-law?

"Who are you?!" Li Xingzhi suddenly let go of the magic cut and asked loudly.

Miao Tailor seemed to be disturbed by his good dreams, and glanced at his grandfather, who was firmly trapped, and cried very shamelessly. Fang Yanqing first breathed a sigh of relief, and then hurriedly went over to comfort his baby granddaughter.

No one knew that Fang Yanqing couldn't help comforting the clever judge in his mouth, but in his heart he admired the two children's cleverness and ability, and he didn't know what method he used to steal the beams and change the pillars.

"Are you looking for a child named Chang'er?" Fang Yanqing coaxed his granddaughter for a while, stood up and asked Li Xingzhi.

"Do you know where she is?"

"She's dead." Fang Yanqing said calmly, "The child was already out of breath when she was picked up, and her mother held the child and cried for several days, and finally took her away." As for where to take it, we don't know. ”

Li Xingzhi frowned slightly, did not show any obvious expression, adjusted his breath, maintained his usual arrogant posture, and went home.

When Li Xingzhi walked away and everyone was happy, there was a suppressed sobbing sound from the bed. The sound was faint at first, but slowly grew louder and louder until it howled. When Fang Yanqing and the abbot pushed open the wooden plank spread on it, they saw the little girl who was crying silently.

Why she is crying, she can't tell who she is crying for, and she can't tell who she is crying for - maybe it's for herself.