At dawn, before the sky was clear, two fast horses stepped out of Xifu and went straight to the outskirts of Chongdu City.

Fifteen miles east of Chongdu City, there is a small hill. Mr. Lin, who Xi Yan came to visit on this trip, lived in seclusion in this hillock.

Tie the horse to the mountain gate and follow the path up the steps. About half an hour, Xi Yan and Xi Yun came to a very elegant thatched cottage.

After handing over the name card to the scholar, Xi Yan and Xi Yun stood outside the door and waited.

"Mr. Lin, please let you in."

There were a few ancient pines in the court, and when Xi Yan saw Lin Zhiheng, he was sitting cross-legged under the Panasonic reading a book. On the small stove beside him, a pot of tea was cooking on the charcoal fire that was clearly extinguished.

Seeing Mr. Lin, who had not been seen for a long time, Xi Yan bowed forward and said respectfully: "Sir, the student has come to see you." ”

Lin Zhiheng didn't seem to hear it, and still flipped through the ancient books in his hand. Waiting until the water in the teapot boiled and churned, he said unhurriedly, "Come and pour the tea." ”

"Yes."

Xi Yan knelt down beside Mr. Lin, reached out to pick up the teapot, slowly poured boiling water into Mr. Lin's cup, and poured the teacup in front of him with hot tea, and the light fragrance of tea instantly overflowed.

"I haven't seen Mr. for a few years, but Mr. is still in good health?"

"Hmph," Mr. Lin looked a little displeased, "you still know to come back?" When he left without saying a word, he was so angry that the old man... Tell me about you as big a person, why don't you know how to be flexible at all? Three years... You're just a waste. ”

Xi Yan lowered his head slightly, and echoed with a smile: "What Mr. blames is that the student has been away from Chongdu for three years, but Mr. has also lived in seclusion in this mountain for more than ten years. Mr... Why do you do such asceticism? ”

When Lin Zhiheng heard him say this, he put the book aside, raised his eyes to look at the thousands of miles of stratus in the sky, and said slowly: "I, Lin Mou, have been a teacher all my life, and I think that I am cold. But my students almost became thieves. Secluded here... Because I have no face to see the world..."

Xi Yan heard the teacher blame himself like this, so he comforted: "Mr. Xie's incident back then, Mr. was not half responsible. Kong Sheng has 3,000 disciples, and there are only 72 sages, let alone Mr. Yu? ”

"You kid can talk," Lin Zhiheng also laughed, "But in the past ten years, I have looked down on it." What power and admiration, what jewels and jades, are just a fleeting cloud. Only this one piece of tree shade, half of the moss traces, is enough. ”

"Mr. is detached, and he can naturally be indifferent to the world, but the student... It's not as good as Mr. Xi Yan groaned and stopped talking.

Seeing this, Lin Zhiheng already knew it in his heart, so he put the tea cup in his hand aside, "Fratricide has always been the most despicable thing in the world. You didn't come today to ask about this, did you? ”

Xi Yan shook his head in denial, and the smile on his face was still the same, "The student is just sick." ”

Lin Zhiheng looked at Xi Yan insightfully, "I studied the art of applying the world in the first half of my life, and in the second half of my life, I devoted myself to the way of transcendence and the outside world, and I never knew any medical skills." ”

"You will."

Lin Zhiheng and Xi Yan looked at each other for a long time, and finally smiled: "You... Tell me where the trouble is. ”

"In the past six months, students have often been angry for no reason. After thinking about it, the student found the medicine very suspicious, so he thought about bringing it to his husband. ”

As he spoke, Xi Yan turned around and took the medicine residue and a prescription in Xi Yun's hand, and respectfully handed it to Lin Zhiheng.

Lin Zhiheng first browsed the prescription and said: "Continuation, bone fragmentation, angelica, and atractylodes are all medicines that need to be taken after trauma, are you injured?" ”

"Yes."

Lin Zhiheng bowed his head slightly, "The formula is very safe, you just obey it." ”

As he spoke, Lin Zhiheng put the prescription aside and carefully probed the bag of medicine residue with a teaspoon. As time continued, Lin Zhiheng's brows became tighter and tighter.

"Hand out."

Xi Yan handed his wrist to Mr. very obediently, and Lin Zhiheng stretched out three fingers and probed into his pulses. After a while, Lin Zhiheng got up again and walked to Xi Yan's right side, stretched out his hand and pressed it to his ribs.

Lin Zhiheng pressed this, Xi Yan suddenly felt some pain, and unconsciously "hissed".

"Have you been losing your appetite lately, and sometimes you have some abdominal pain and fatigue?"

Xi Yan thought about it carefully, nodded and said, "That's true." ”

When Lin Zhiheng heard him say this, he already knew it in his heart. He slowly sat back and asked, "Did you bring the potion?" ”

"Bring some." Xi Yan hurriedly took out a porcelain vase from his arms and handed it to Mr. with both hands, "This is from last night, but is there something wrong?" ”

Lin Zhiheng opened the porcelain vase, sniffed it gently, and took another sip, and his face suddenly became cold: "You are really careless." As he spoke, he looked at Xi Yun with some anger, "As his left and right, why can't you even manage these things in his courtyard?" ”

Before Xi Yun could explain, Xi Yan stretched out his hand to stop him, "Forget it, sir, Xi Yun is not the manager of Haitang Academy." I haven't been back for three years, and it's inevitable that there will be some snacks in the courtyard, so I'll just pay attention when I go back. However, Mr. Fang Cai said that I was careless, please make it clear. ”

Lin Zhiheng sighed lightly, and there was some helplessness in his eyes, "The medicine you have taken for more than a month is not the medicine on the prescription at all." ”

Seeing Xi Yan's searching gaze at him, Lin Zhiheng said again: "There are two pairs of medicines in this package of medicine residue, one is Xiaoyaosan, that is, the one on the prescription, but there is no problem. But there is another one, which is a real poison..."

Hearing this, Xi Yan's heart was basically clear. The medicine that I should have taken was mostly poured out before I got better. As for what he has been taking all this time, it is another pair of poison. Therefore, in the residue of medicine, there will be two pairs of dregs.

Thinking of this, he asked again, "What poison?" ”

Lin Zhiheng looked at the pitch-black dregs and explained: "These gallics, tripterygium, green wood incense, and this Qianli light are all medicines that hurt the liver. If you take it for a long time, you will naturally get poisoned. You have been eating every day for more than a month, and you still have such a large amount, and your liver is naturally damaged. ”

"That's... Why are students still angry? ”

"It is said that anger hurts the liver, and the reverse is the same. If your liver qi is damaged, you will naturally become angry. If you hadn't discovered it earlier, if you had taken this medicine for another half a year, I was afraid that you would have died violently. ”

Hearing Mr. Lin say this, Xi Yan was also a little scared in his heart, and then arched his hand and said, "Thank you, Mr. for saving me." ”

Lin Zhiheng waved his hand and sighed lightly, "Does your younger brother want your life like this?" ”

Xi Yan lowered his eyes and did not answer.

It wasn't until a moment later that he said helplessly: "According to the rules, the concubine... It is not possible to inherit the position of head of the family. My brother is inconvenient and uninterested in political affairs, and he should not be the head of the family. Kill me, he is naturally the only choice for the Xi family. ”

"Alas..."Lin Zhiheng sighed again, "Of all things in the world, only this desire for power can most capture people's hearts and teach people to kill..."

Lin Zhiheng glanced at Xi Yan meaningfully, "You remember, if you want to take it, you will give it to you." Let's go, go back to where you belong. If you still have any doubts in the future, feel free to come to me. ”

"Students... I see. Take care of yourself, sir. ”

……

On the way back to the city, Xi Yan was silent and didn't say a word.

He was just thinking that all the clarity in this world was above the darkness, and if he wanted to stir up the turbidity and promote the clear, he could only climb to the top of the darkness first. It's just that at that time, even if you are open-minded, will you still be able to keep your heart and mouth open? Is it possible to hang the mirror above the nine heavens?

After thinking about it for a long time, there seemed to be no answer in Xi Yan's heart.