A year later.

It's winter, and Hua Ying is going down the mountain to return to her hometown.

Before leaving, she held a handful of white chrysanthemums, ran to a tomb in the back mountain, placed the white chrysanthemums next to the monument, knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times.

"Master, Ying'er is going home today, this is the white chrysanthemum planted by Ying'er herself, I hope Master can like it."

"Master, over the past year, my sister and I have missed you very much, and we miss you very much. Wait for the spring of the next year, after visiting relatives, Ying'er will come back to accompany you, and the master is not strange for the departure of these few months. ”

"Master..... Ying'er is going...... I ......"

Although she had tried very hard to restrain her mood, after a few words, Hua Ying couldn't help but burst into tears. Wiping the corners of his eyes, he took one last look at Master's tombstone, and finally turned around and left.

The tomb of the mentor Chai He.

Closing his eyes, the column of handwriting engraved on the stele was forever remembered by Hua Ying. It wasn't until the day she carved the monument for Master that she first came to know Master's name, but it also became a name that she could hardly mention anymore.

Once I went, this Qingya Mountain was uninhabited, and I don't know if the master can endure the loneliness here.

was about to leave, a sad feeling lingered in Hua Ying's heart, she wiped away her tears, took solid steps, and returned to the bamboo house.

There, a girl with black hair and white clothes had been waiting for a long time.

"Senior sister, can you say goodbye to Master?"

Qin Xiangzhi looked at the tears on the faces of the people who came and had not yet dried up, and sighed in his heart while inevitably feeling a trace of pain.

It's been a year, and it's been a full year since the departure of their masters, and everything that has happened during this time is a painful memory, and neither of them wants to think about it anymore.

"Hmm."

Hua Ying adjusted her mood, nodded, and then asked, "I'm about to leave soon, isn't Senior Sister going to talk to Master?" ”

"No need."

Qin Xiangzhi shook his head and said, "I have already finished talking about it last night, let's go immediately." ”

"Okay."

Hua Ying suddenly realized why she didn't see her senior sister when she got up this morning, it turned out that she had been guarding the master's grave last night and didn't return.

Come to think of it, Senior Sister must have told Master a lot.

After packing their bags, the two of them came to the master's room together, solemnly closed the door, and then inspected the courtyard to make sure that everything was in order, and then officially closed the courtyard door and left the small courtyard side by side.

Carrying the memories of four years, Hua Ying was quite reluctant to look back again and again, and finally walked down Qingya Mountain under the urging of her senior sister.

"Senior sister, let's go separately, and come back next year after each of us go home to visit our families."

Qin Xiangzhi's eyes were stunned, she reached out and touched Hua Ying's cheek, and said regretfully, "Be careful on the road, Senior Sister won't send you." ”

"Senior sister, you must have missed your father and mother after being away from home for a long time, go home early, I can do it alone." Hua Ying shook her head and said disapprerovitically.

She has been on the mountain for four years, Qin Xiangzhi has been for a longer time, and she has not returned to her hometown to visit her family during this period.

"See you next year!"

"See you next year!"

The two sisters said goodbye to each other, and after leaving the foot of the mountain, one went east and the other west, each facing one side.

Hua Ying's goal is very clear, first return to Dongqing County, then to Qingyang Town, and then go home, Yangshan Village. This road is long, at least four or five hundred miles, the direction is very clear, all the way to the east.

Embarking on the journey home, she has both the sadness of parting, and the longing for her hometown relatives, all the way to stop, since the martial arts practice, but will not feel too tired because of the rush.

It's just that the foot strength is limited, and the road for half a day every day is only two or three hundred miles. Although there is a map of the territory of Huaiguo, the pipes of small counties and towns are not very detailed on the map, and it is inevitable that there will be some detours during the period.

A day later, I entered the boundary of Dongqing County, and after half a day, I finally arrived at Dongqing County.

Dongqing County is the easternmost county among the six counties in Yongzhou, and Qingyang Town is the easternmost town in Dongqing County, almost close to the border of neighboring countries.

This county is the same as Xiqing County, where Hua Ying has been to once, and the population in the city is quite a lot, because it is late, Hua Ying simply no longer rushes, so she will stay here for a while.

said that it was a temporary stay, but in fact, she could go directly into the jade pendant space to sleep, and she didn't have to spend money to stay in the inn at all.

However, considering that there are many people here, it is not like the wilderness where there are no people who can enter and exit at will, if the jade pendant is accidentally picked up by others, it will inevitably cause some unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, after Hua Ying entered the city, she first found a medicinal herb shop, picked a yellow ginseng of low age from the herbs she carried with her, and after some bargaining, she got five or six taels of silver.

How can I use so much to live in the hotel, basically ranging from dozens of Wen to 100 Wen copper coins, five or six taels of silver is enough for her to live for two or three months.

Excluding the cost of living in the hotel, the remaining silver Huaying plans to buy some gifts and other things to take home, and has not been able to honor her father and mother for many years after leaving home.

Five or six taels is definitely not enough, wait until you arrive in Qingyang Town, sell a few more herbs, and then buy a few more cattle and sheep to go home, and drive three carriages back.

Thinking that she would be home tomorrow at the latest, Hua Ying was so excited that she didn't sleep well all night.

Early the next morning, she got up and hurried, and after leaving the city, she rushed to Qingyang Town before noon.

Looking at the tall earthen city wall outside Qingyang Town, thinking back to the scene when the carriage of the knife gate into the city four years ago, she couldn't help but feel a slight sour nose.

Two stunned... Dog Baby ......

Thinking of these childhood playmates, Hua Ying only felt like a world away, if there was no Dao Gate four years ago, and there was no what happened that day, I am afraid that she would still be playing happily with these friends in the village at this time.

And now, she is the only one left of the seven or eight children who left their hometown together.

"The Knife Gate... Flying Fox Gate ......"

Hua Ying muttered these two names, and couldn't help clenching her fists, "It won't be too far, Erdi, I'll avenge you." ”

After entering the city, Hua Ying still found a medicinal herb shop to exchange some silver taels, and then came to the market in the town, selected a few good cattle and sheep, bought a lot of goods and daily necessities, and then went to the car rental shop to prepare to hire a few carriages.

The steward of the carriage shop was an old man of sixty or seventy years old, and when he saw that she was going to carry so many things, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Girl, which village are you going to, these things are worth a lot of silver, our side has not been peaceful in the past two years, beware of being robbed by horse thieves on the road." ”

"Uncle, I'm going to Yangshan Village, you should know Yangshan Village, right? Do we still have horse thieves here? I hadn't heard of it before. Hua Ying said with a smile, and the joy of returning to her hometown immediately was all on her face.

"There are a lot of horse thieves, since last year's drought, the villages in the vicinity of ten miles and eight townships have finished the food shortage and the plague, and the plague has been caused by the thief famine, bitterly, many villages are about to be wiped out by the horse thieves."

The old steward sighed and said, apparently because of this matter, his business in the car rental shop had been greatly affected.

"Alas, this carriage is not easy to find now, it has been requisitioned by the government. Girl, don't you see if the donkey cart will succeed, old man, I'll help you call a few more coachmen, you can't drive so many carts alone. ”

"The donkey cart is also done." Hua Ying is not so particular, don't care about the carriage and donkey cart, just be able to pull goods.

"Okay, okay, I'll arrange it right away, go to Yangshan Village, then Yangshan Village should be in the East ......"

The old steward suddenly froze when he said this, and then his eyes widened, and he said in a strange tone, "Girl, Yangshan Village was plagued last year, are you sure you want to go to Yangshan Village?" ”