Seeing them frolicking in the water, the sun was shining and the spring breeze was warm, and I couldn't help but laugh.

The burned tea was poured into the celadon teacup, and when they picked the lotus flowers, the tea was just a little cold, and the Shenqiu buffalo drank a few cups, and his expression was refreshed.

Chu Nantang sat on the ground, a pleasant smile on the corner of his mouth, and slowly tasted the tea in the cup.

"Suspicious?"

I raised my eyebrows and looked at Chu Nantang: "What's wrong?" Is it hot? Or is it cold? ”

He tasted it again and said with a smile: "The temperature of the tea is just right, I wonder if the tea you brew is extraordinarily sweet, or the water here is sweeter?" ”

Shen Qiushui blinked, puzzled: "Doesn't the tea taste like this?" Can you still taste the Tao? ”

"People who like to drink tea can really taste a long story, I'm Xiaoya."

After drinking tea and eating snacks, Chu Nantang wandered around again, and suddenly became interested and said that he wanted to paint lotus flowers.

I propped up the painting tools I had brought and held him the inkstone. After standing for a long time, he was a little tired, and when he saw me shaking twice, he raised his head and said, "You go to play with the autumn water, I will call you if there is something." ”

"Well, I'm really going."

He laughed: "You really go." ”

Shen Qiushui was playing with a little yellow dog, and when he saw me coming, he stood up and asked, "Do you want to ride a horse to play?" ”

"I don't know how to ride a horse."

"I'll take you!"

I looked back at the person who was concentrating on painting lotus flowers by the lotus pond, thought for a moment and said, "Well, but I probably can't go too far." ”

"No, just go and walk around the nearby meadows."

Shen Qiushui didn't seem to be able to stop for a while, he was very active, just the opposite of Chu Nantang.

Shen Qiushui's riding skills are indeed very exquisite, and he took me to the grass for more than an hour, and he felt very comfortable, as if all the boredom pressed on his chest had disappeared.

He let me ride alone for a while, and I learned it very quickly. When I was tired, I lay on the grass, looking up at the blue sky, chatting with each other.

"Autumn Water ......"

"Huh?" He turned his head to me with his arms folded, confused.

"You and Nan...... Young Master Chu, did you grow up together? ”

He seemed to think of something interesting, and nodded: "Yes, I grew up with Young Master Chu." ”

"Honestly, do you think others are good?"

He let out a long sigh with a sad expression: "It's the most unscrupulous young master I've ever seen, but the young master is this person...... The old man said that he had no ambitions, and the young master himself did not love fame, and sometimes he really couldn't see through him, and the literati didn't know what they were thinking. ”

"But you don't hate him?"

He twisted his eyebrows: "Of course, the young master treats me so well, how can I hate him?" In the future, I will also follow the young master, protect his safety, and be loyal to the Chu family like my father. ”

But why, did it come to the last step? Suddenly, the sky was clear, and rolling dark clouds came, and Shen Qiushui and I rolled over from the grass and had to rush back before it rained.

As a result, it was still raining on the road, and when he returned to the lotus pond, Chu Nantang just tidied up his things and hid under the eaves of the farmer, and patted the water droplets on his body.

Seeing me and Shen Qiushui coming back from a distance, he showed a gentle smile.

The three of them huddled together under the eaves, and the rain extinguished the afternoon heat, and the rain, which was as thin as a cow's hair, formed a line, washing everything and the sky spotlessly.

The torrential rain soon subsided, and the washed sky was like a pure blue and white porcelain color, cobalt blue.

Suddenly, I heard Shen Qiushui mention seemingly casually: "Next time, let's ask Miss Rong Wan to come out to play together, isn't it more lively when there are more people?" ”

Chu Nantang said: "Rong Wan is a Peugeot lady, she doesn't like to go out." ”

"Young master, you have a daughter-in-law, and my daughter-in-law doesn't know where she is."

Chu Nantang sighed lightly and said, "Don't worry, our Shen Gongzi is a talent, Yushu is in the wind, and there will be many beauties in the future." ”

I glanced at Chu Nantang, and then at Shen Qiushui. Sure enough, no matter how elegant a man looks like him, once he is with another man, he is still talking about women.

Shen Qiushui snorted coldly, he didn't believe it, and said jokingly: "I can't please my daughter-in-law, so I ask you for Zen Heart, and then Zen Heart should also be allowed to others." ”

As he spoke, he reached out and touched my face, and Chu Nantang suddenly dragged me behind him, staring at Shen Qiushui with a reproachful expression.

"The gentleman doesn't move his mouth, you touch the face of the Zen girl, has she agreed?"

I shook my head at Chu Nantang: "I didn't agree, he was a hooligan." ”

Shen Qiushui smiled unashamedly: "I touched my daughter-in-law." ”

I glared at him: "Don't talk nonsense, who's going to marry you?" ”

Shen Qiushui looked clear: "I know, do you like Young Master Chu?" ”

My heart tightened, and I subconsciously looked at Chu Nantang, but I saw that he quietly packed up everything and stuffed it into the hands of me and Shen Qiushui.

"Go back, and the rain will stop at this time."

It was already dark when I went back, Chu Nantang had a lamp in the house, we exchanged a look, Chu Nantang paused and said, "You are guarding outside the house, and you will be called if there is something." ”

"Okay."

He lifted the hem of his robe and quickly entered the house.

As I stood at the door, I faintly heard a woman's voice, gentle and dignified.

"Where did you go?"

"Mother."

Mrs. Chu sighed; "Look at you, at this age, you should have begged for a daughter-in-law, but you are not qualitative. I don't know where to go, look at this clothes are all mud. ”

Chu Nantang smiled: "Where can I go?" There is chaos outside, and this deserted town is quite quiet. I just went to enjoy the lotus flowers with Qiushui, and now the lotus flowers are blooming beautifully. ”

Mrs. Chu said, "How many times have I said that?" Qiushui is always a subordinate, and the subordinate is different from the master. ”

"Mother, what kind of subordinate master? Now they are all gone......" The words were full of loneliness.

After a period of silence, Mrs. Chu said again: "Your father has been nagging you again these days, wanting you to do something serious." ”

Chu Nantang smiled: "What's the right thing?" Defending the country is the right thing, saving the people of the world from the sea of fire is the right thing, exposing the uprising is the right thing, overthrowing the unequal system is the right thing......"

"Be quiet!"

"Mother, I can't do these things if I want to, it's better to idle clouds and wild cranes and not do business."

Mrs. Chu sighed: "You are a backbone, and I don't know who to learn from!" ”

"Zen Heart!"

Hearing Chu Nantang's call, I hurriedly lowered my head and walked in: "Young Master? ”

"Prepare hot water, I'm going to bathe."

"Yes."

As he spoke, he had untied his satin coat and rolled up his sleeves. The string of red beads on the fair-skinned left wrist is particularly eye-catching.

I took the satin coat and stared at the string of soul beads in his hand, and he took out the scroll he had painted today and prepared to frame it.

Mrs. Chu didn't look at me, but just said to herself: "Your father said, it's better to let you go to Liuyang and see the world." When the time comes, the consulate will find a job, you see......"

"Liuyang, okay. The world of flowers outside makes people happy to stay abroad for seven or eight years. Mother, you can't look down on me for seven or eight years, hey......"

"What? How long is it going to take? Mrs. Chu thought about it and said, "No, how can I let you go out alone for so long and not come back?" Now that it's so messy outside, I'll think about it with your dad again. ”

With that, Mrs. Chu turned around and left helplessly.

I pursed my lips and turned to ask him, "Why don't you want to go out and stay abroad?" Staying in this town, you didn't do anything in your life. Don't you feel regret and pity? ”

He asked me, "You want me to leave?" ”

I was stunned and subconsciously shook my head: "Of course not." ”

He took the jade paperweight and pressed down the ink lotus picture. He hurriedly looked up and said, "Actually, people are very fragile, and I don't know when they will be gone." I don't really have any big ambitions. Being able to live well, make the people around you happy, and have no regrets when you get old, I think this is the biggest achievement in my life. ”

He smiled at me, a hint of warmth spreading from the bottom of his heart: "I'll go and prepare hot water for you." ”

After eating something in the evening, I went to sleep, Chu Nantang slept in the inner room, there was a small couch outside the inner room, I slept on it, and if he needed anything at night, he would call me.

But I generally sleep deeply. I guess I can't hear him call me, but tonight, thinking about what Mrs. Chu said, always echoing in my mind, I didn't feel sleepy.

I vaguely heard the sound of tossing and turning on the bed in the inner room, presumably Chu Nantang was not asleep.

I got up, put on my clothes, lifted the beaded curtain and looked in the middle of my eyes, and saw him meditating on the bed.

I crept over to his bedside, his eyes gently closed, his long thick eyelashes casting a silhouette under his eyelids, his inky hair soft and fluffy just over his ears.

Chu Nantang when he was a teenager was really white and good-looking! There is a little bit of man's tenacity and fortitude in the delicate and gentle. Sitting with his eyes closed, like a beautiful splash of ink.

When he came back to his senses, he stared at him for a long time unconsciously, and he didn't know if he was asleep or awake when he sat like this.

Before he notices me, let's slip away.

As soon as I turned around, my wrist tightened, and when I looked down, one hand grabbed me and pulled me back, and I staggered two steps. He slammed into his bed with a low cry.

Then the shadow covered me, and met his playful eyes, and I was at a loss for what to do, and there was nowhere to escape.

"Less...... Master? You didn't sleep? ”

"Didn't you sleep too? Not only did he not sleep, but he also quietly ran into my room and stared at me for so long. ”

I secretly gasped and replied truthfully, "You are good-looking, and you have been fascinated unconsciously." ”

"The autumn water is also good-looking, and you will also stare at the autumn water?"

I frowned, and I looked embarrassed: "I don't like the type of autumn water." ”

He smiled and rolled over and lay down beside me.

I looked at him sideways, thought for a moment and asked him, "What about Miss Jiang?" Didn't you praise her for being a Peugeot lady? ”

He said: "It just so happens that I don't like the kind of Peugeot ladies who are Peugeot. ”

"Then you ......" I wanted to ask him what he liked, but I didn't ask any more.

He didn't ask, just shook my hand, smiled and closed his eyes, and pulled the covers over each other.

My heart was beating a little fast, even though I knew nothing was going to happen.

"Zen mind, I don't know why, when I was with you, I felt very comfortable, as if we had been together for a long, long time, you say, why is this?"

I clasped his hand and said movingly, "Me too." ”

After Jiang Rongwen moved to the West Courtyard, I rarely saw her face, but Mrs. Chu was very attentive to this future prospective daughter-in-law, and she didn't forget to send her anything good.

Later, I overheard Mama Sun mention that Mrs. Chu and Jiang Rongwan's mother had a deep relationship, like sisters, the two got married on the same day, and Mrs. Chu married the Jiang family on the first day she gave birth to Chu Nantang.

Chu Nantang seems to be out of the way. never asked about his fiancée, Jiang Rongwen didn't seem to have a good impression of Chu Nantang, and she never took the initiative to look for him.

When Chu Nantang turned sixteen years old, the Chu family began to face up to this marriage, and Chu Nantang unhurriedly repaired a letter to his master.

I was sent out, and I don't know what the letter says.

When I came back, I saw him cleaning up the room in person.

"Young Master, what do you want?"

He happily said to me, "When Master comes, I will have to follow Master to practice in the Taoist Temple, and it is estimated that I will not come back for a long time." ”

"Taoism? Practice? Does the young master want to be a Taoist priest? ”

"Daoist?" He thought for a moment and said, "It's good to be a Taoist priest." ”

There is yearning written in his eyes, Chu Nantang is also an extremely free and easy person. He doesn't like to be entangled in earthly thoughts, he has always lived so uncannibalistic.

"Why? What is good about being a Taoist? ”

"It's not good, it's not bad, at least I don't have to marry so early."

This finally got to the point, he just didn't want to marry Jiang Rongwan, so he thought about going to the Taoist temple to avoid it.

"You can avoid it for a while, but you can't avoid it for a lifetime."

Chu Nantang smiled and said, "Who knows if I will still be alive in a few years? ”

I was stunned and asked, "For...... Why? ”

Chu Nantang said calmly: "Master once made a hexagram for divination, and the hexagram said that I would not live to be twenty-three years old. That way, I only have seven years left to live. ”

He had long known that he would not live to be twenty-three years old in this prophecy.

How broad a person's mind must be, knowing that he only has seven years left to live, he accepts it so calmly.

"Can I go with you?"

He looked back at me, thought for a while, and said, "The Taoist temple is very boring, far away in the mountains, and you have to walk for a day and a night to go down the mountain. ”

"I can ......" In fact, as long as he is there, it is good to go anywhere, and it doesn't matter what kind of predicament he faces.

Seeing that I was so persistent, he said, "If you really want to go with you, it's not impossible. ”

On the day that Xuanming Dao Chang went down the mountain, it was the fiftieth birthday of Master Chu. The front hall was too busy, so Grandma Sun asked me to help.

That Master Chu and Chu Nantang are slightly similar, but Chu Nantang inherited more of his mother's appearance, Master Chu was wearing a dark red satin coat with gold patterns, a cyan gown, and a round jade pendant hanging from his waist, which did not look old at all.

Standing with Mrs. Chu, she is talented and beautiful, and she is a good match.

They were very respectful and polite to Daoist Xuanming, invited him to the table, and also came to many distinguished guests who were good friends in the old days.

I watched from afar. Chu Nantang rarely wore a calm dark horse coat, combed three or seven to divide the sea, and was gentle and elegant to welcome relatives and friends who came from afar with Master Chu.

Talking and laughing calmly, talking eloquently, showing confidence and dignity in every gesture. It's not at all like what we look like when we were mixed up.

He turned his head suddenly, and his eyes were so caught off guard that I forgot to look away.

His eyes grew hot, and his heart beat wildly until he withdrew his gaze without a trace......

Remember, he once said, 'Zen mind. I am only in front of you, and I am the real me'.

In that way, he seems to be carefree, naïve and straightforward, willful and reckless, drunk today and drunk tomorrow, like an immortal who is out of the world, and like a prodigal son who sees through everything, sometimes willful as a big child.

After the banquet, he returned to the room, and I stepped forward to help him: "Young master." You okay? ”

He leaned over me, "Not so good. ”

"What's wrong?" I asked him nervously.

He suddenly hugged me and whispered, "I've been looking for you for a long time, but I can't find you......"

I laughed, "Didn't you find it now?" ”

He let out a long sigh: "It's out of my sight for so long. You don't know how much I hate dealing with those people, and if I can look back at you, I don't feel so uncomfortable, and I'll show you well. ”

At that moment, my nose was sore, and I reached out and gently hugged him, patting him on the back: "I'm sorry, I will definitely stand in a place where you can see in the future to make you feel at ease." ”

Only then did he smile: "Zen heart, I seem to be drunk." ”

"I'll help you go back to your room to rest, and I'll cook the sobering soup for you to drink later."

I helped him into the house, and he lay down and muttered, "I want to drink the sour plum soup cooked by Grandma Sun now." ”

"Okay, I'll talk to Grandma Sun later, you lie down and rest for a while."

He had excellent wine, so he lay down quietly when he was drunk, and after he fell asleep, I went out to find Grandma Sun and told her that Chu Nantang wanted to drink sour plum soup.

Mama Sun looked embarrassed: "How can there be black plum at this time?" However, in the past, in the house in Beijing, a few black plum trees were planted, and every summer, I would cook sour plum soup for the young master, chill it into the well, and then give it to him to drink. ”

I see, maybe he didn't want to drink sour plum soup, but just wanted to 'go home'.

"So, can I use other plums instead of soup?"

Mama Sun thought for a while and said, "There are precocious bayberry, and there are wild hawthorns in the mountains, and I don't know if I can pick them?" ”

I looked at the sky, it's evening, and now I don't know if it's too late to go out to look for it?

"I'll pick it up."

"Where are you going to pick it at this time?"

Before it gets dark, you might be able to find some wild hawthorns in the mountains. When I was a child, my grandmother also took me to pick wild hawthorn in this mountain, although after so many years, the mountain is still this mountain, and I will definitely be able to find it.

By the time I got to the mountain, it was already dark, and I could only see vaguely in the moonlight.

I knew that I should have a lamp in my hand when I came, the mountain is so big, where to find it?

I looked around and saw that there were bushes, and suddenly a white figure floated through the bushes.

I was startled and staggered to the ground: "Who...... Who's there? ”

After a while, the white figure floated in front of me, with a blue face and long hair, not like the Ah Piao I usually saw, with a hideous face.

She watched me cry softly, and shed two bloody tears, which was very terrible.

"You...... Don't come here. If you have a debtor, you go to them. ”

She raised her hand to wipe her blood and tears: "Girl, you are kind enough to help me find my Langjun." We made an appointment to elope together, but he missed the appointment, and I just wanted to see him one last time, and I wanted to ask him why he didn't come that night. Do you regret it? ”

"You, who is your Langjun?"

"His name is An Shaohua, and he used to live in this town."

"Uh...... But finding someone doesn't happen in a moment. ”

The female Ah Piao said: "It's okay, as long as you can find An Shaohua for me, I will also help you do one thing, do you think it?" ”

"But why do you have to look for me?"

The female Ah Piao wiped two more handfuls of blood and tears: "I have been waiting in this mountain for ten years. Only you can see me. ”

I shuddered, I see!

"You've been in this mountain for ten years, so it must be familiar, right? Do you know where there is wild hawthorn? ”

"I know where there is, and there are many of them, you come with me."

Ah Piao beckoned to me, I nodded, got up and walked around with her for a while, and sure enough, I saw a few wild hawthorn trees, full of fruits.

I didn't want too much, so I picked two sticks and put them in my sleeve, and let Ah Streamer take me down the mountain.

Walk halfway up the mountain. Two faint green rays shot out of the bushes, and I was stunned, swallowing my saliva, vaguely feeling that something was wrong.

Ah Piao sighed: "I can't help you with this." ”

The thing came out of the bushes, its mane standing on end, its teeth approaching, and it was clearly a wolf that had been separated from the pack and was very hungry.

I was so frightened that my legs went limp, and I fell to the ground with a layer of cold sweat oozing from my back.

I used to hear that there were wild wolves in this mountain, and my grandmother told me about it when I was a child, but then many hunters came to this mountain to hunt for game, and it has long been extinct.

I forgot when I came that this place was not a hundred years later, but a hundred years ago!

When the wolf pounced, I screamed in fright and hugged my head, and there was a 'bang' of gunshots, and the wolf wailed and fell to the ground with a pungent smell of blood.

In the distance, someone strode over with a torch, and when I looked at it, it was Shen Qiushui!

Ah Piao can't see many people. The yang energy is too strong, and I don't know where to go. Shen Qiushui put the gun on his waist and helped me up: "You don't want to die?" Running to the mountains so late! Come back with me. ”

"Wait a minute!" I shook off his hand and picked up the wild hawthorn that had fallen from the cuff.

Shen Qiushui stared at me with a surprised face, took the torch in the hand of the family, and helped me shine a light: "You came to the mountains at night just to find wild hawthorn??" ”

"Isn't that weird?"

"Of course it's weird!! Did you know that you were almost bitten to death by that hungry wolf just now?! ”

I pursed my lips and was embarrassed: "I'm sorry for the trouble." Thank you also for saving me just now. ”

"Forget it, go back quickly, the young master is dying, I can't find anyone after looking for you for a long time, and then I heard from Grandma Sun, I guess you came to the mountains." I don't know what you're doing in the mountains so late?! ”

Although Shen Qiushui has been blaming, there is a trace of concern in the blame.

Although he sometimes doesn't want to face Shen Qiushui, the current person is very kind, very upright, and has no bad intentions.

When Shen Qiushui went back with me, I saw Chu Nantang sitting in the room with a solemn face, and the celadon teacup in his hand was already cold.

When he heard the footsteps, he suddenly looked up, stood up, and hugged me without saying a word.