Chu Zhixia only felt hot and cold at first, and then fatigue and nausea. It wasn't until she realized that the breath she exhaled from her mouth and nose was hot like magma that she realized she was suffering from the plague.

As the leading assassin den in the rivers and lakes, the Nine Shadows have eyes and ears all over the towns and cities. Chu Zhixia didn't dare to act rashly, so he walked along the old site of the deserted mountain village to Binzhou City. If Cheng Yuan is lucky enough not to die, he will inevitably return to Binzhou City first to find someone to search for her whereabouts, but whoever finds her first between the assassins and the rescuers will have to depend on her fate.

Chu Zhixia only had a thin robe on his body, which was washed by Xiaoyuan and faded and white, with soft raw edges. Chu Zhixia hurried at night, and rested in the deserted house during the day.

There are many newly dug tombs in the countryside, and there are countless mourners, and the crying is intermittent. Chu Zhixia carefully hid his whereabouts with the meager offerings in front of the grave. However, the weather was always cloudy and rainy, and she had to take shelter from the rain in the mortuary.

High fever, pain, and fatigue deprived Chu Shixia of almost all other senses, and she often couldn't even hold her sword steadily.

On the third day after Chu Zhixia left Luojia Village, it was raining outside again. The air was humid and cold, and Chu Shixia leaned against a coffin and looked at the crackling raindrops outside the window. Her internal organs and bones all over her body were painful, as if they had been fried in a pan of oil.

"Hey, you're so good-handed, why are you here to ask for food?" A dirty little boy called Hanako kicked Chu Zhixia and said arrogantly, "This is my territory, if you don't get out again, don't blame me for being polite." ”

Chu Zhixia held his sword and smiled weakly, "This is Yizhuang, the territory of the dead, how can it be your territory?" At a young age, you are impatient to curse yourself to play? ”

Xiao Huazi was annoyed and angry, and she pounced on Chu Zhixia to scratch Chu Zhixia, but Chu Zhixia grabbed the back of her neck and threw her into the rain, and fell into a dog eating.

"Stay away from me," Chu Shixia said, "Don't blame me for not reminding you." ”

Xiaoxiao, Hanako, broke the jar and turned over and sat in the rain, patting the rain on the ground and crying and scolding. His words were mixed with the local dialect of Binzhou, and Chu Zhixia couldn't understand a word, but it could be seen from his expression that he was scolding very dirty.

Chu Zhixia was pondering whether to smoke this boy who didn't know the height of the sky, when he saw someone walking in with an umbrella. The man wore a black hat, like an ordinary passer-by in the rain. But Chu Zhixia could see at a glance that his posture was wrong—there seemed to be something between his elbows.

Seeing that one didn't leave and another came, Xiaoxiaohuazi completely collapsed, and pointed at the person who came and scolded. Chu Zhixia rushed into the rain with an arrow step, pressed his shoulder and pushed him backwards, and the snow slipped out at the same time, hitting the slender blade solidly.

The man had a sword hidden under his sleeve, two inches from his wrist to his elbow. If you hadn't deliberately paid attention to his posture, you wouldn't have seen it at all.

"Miss Chu, don't come unharmed." The assassin's voice was hoarse, "Gongzizhou chased us like a mad dog, killing many of us. Is this reckoning with him, or is it with you? ”

Chu Zhixia's face was pale, but his cheekbones were flushed sickly. She barely pulled out a smile, and said in a hoarse voice: "There are more people who want to settle accounts with me." What's your father's surname? You've got to go to the back. ”

The Assassin didn't care, and kicked her hard in the heart. That kick was broken into countless flawed slow movements in Chu Zhixia's eyes, but her joints seemed to be rusty, unable to move, and fell alive. Chu Zhixia flew out upside down and slammed into the shrine, and the statues, melons and fruits, and incense burners smashed to the ground.

Chu Zhixia didn't hold back his breath and spit out a mouthful of scarlet blood.

The assassin was a little surprised, he carefully looked at Chu Shixia for a moment, and affirmed, "You are suffering from the plague?" ”

Chu Zhixia raised the back of his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, glanced at the trembling little Huazi hiding behind the coffin, and said with hatred: "What are you looking at?" Don't run yet! ”

"If you knew this was the case, why bother." The assassin laughed heartily, "This money, our mountain ghost clan has earned easily, but we are a little embarrassed. ”

The assassin approached with a sword, and Chu Shixia leaned on the shrine to breathe slowly, but the high fever for days made her eyes bloom.

Suddenly there was the sound of feathered arrows breaking through the air in the wind.

Chu Zhixia was in a trance for a moment, thinking that he was in the martial arts arena in the clouds. The sound of the arrow was four in a row, it was a series of arrows taught by the Chu clan in the clouds, and the four feather arrows were stacked one by one, and they landed on the same soybean-sized point before they were counted as a teacher.

Four feathered arrows were pointed at the center of the Assassin's eyebrows, and the Assassin swept away with his sword, forcing him to retreat to the gate of Yizhuang. A slender and slender killer sword pushed from behind him, and he ducked away, and the man was turning over from him, separating him from Chu Zhixia.

Chu Zhixia couldn't see clearly who was standing between her and the assassin, and who was the person who jumped from the roof with a bow. Chu Zhixia only felt that the smell of blood between her mouth and nose lingered, and it burned her limbs and limbs. She tilted her head slightly, looking at Xiao Minghua, who was stunned and did not move, a little suspicious, but her brain had burned into a pulp, and there was no room for thinking.

The change happened in an instant.

Xiao Huazi suddenly pounced, and Chu Zhixia slid down two inches because of weakness in his limbs. The knife that went to Chu Zhixia's heart pierced deeply into her shoulder blades, and the severe pain made Chu Zhixia wake up for a moment - for example, she rested here for a long time, why did the rain stop, and this little flower that appeared out of thin air came to mess around; For example, why is the Nine Shadows so powerful, and it is easy to find it.

This little name is Hanako, and it is the "seed" of Jiuyousi that has not yet matured, and it is the bait that delays Chu Zhixia's departure.

"First killing, right?" Chu Zhixia held the half-inch blade and showed a bloodthirsty smile with a beast, "I will improve again in the next life." ”

Chu Zhixia held the drinking stream snow with his right hand behind his back, and brushed his throat with a fluttering arc. Xiaoxiao, Hanako didn't have time to make a sound, so she clutched her neck and fell down. Chu Zhixia pulled out the knife and threw it out, raising his eyes to look at the person who rushed forward.

"Miss!"

Chu Zhixia looked at the unfamiliar jade bead in front of him in a trance, the long hair standing up high, the sharp black casual clothes, and the bloody sword in his hand. The only thing that made Chu Zhixia feel familiar and warm was Yuzhu's warm rippled tears.

Chu Zhixia wiped away her tears and said weakly, "Stay away from me, I'm suffering from the plague." ”

Yuzhu held her hand and shook her head vigorously.

Chu Zhixia thought that it was really a trick, and his gaze involuntarily crossed Yuzhu's shoulder and looked at the people in the courtyard.

The man was handsome and tall, dressed in a black robe. Grabbing the kneeling Assassin's hair, he held the bow in his other hand and slowly twisted the Assassin's neck with the bowstring until half of the Assassin's neck was cut open and he fell limply.

Chu Shixia felt that the back was very familiar and unfamiliar, as if he had seen it in a dream for thousands of years.

But when he turned around, it was not the face that did not want to fall asleep in the summer of Chu Zhixia—the face of the man was wearing a ghostly mask of gilt silver, gorgeous and cold.

Chu Zhixia fainted in the rising heat.

——

"Emperor Ling died, the crown prince ascended the throne, and the era name was changed to Jingtai. Your second brother was born in the first year of Jingtai, and the prince personally named him 'Xiu'. Xiu is the surname of Shaohao's descendants, and Shaohao is the eldest son of the Yellow Emperor. ”

"Passing on the throne to your eldest brother is just hindering the name of the eldest son. But your eldest brother won't live long, and this throne is still Chu Mingxiu's! ”

The little Chu Zhixia sat on the steps, holding a rattan ball wrapped in colorful silk threads, and calmly listened to the little fat dun on the opposite side finish this bullshit. She is still young, but her rebellious nature has appeared, and Chu Mingyan has taught her self-cultivation.

Chu Zhixia went through the big truth in his mind, and instructed her earnestly in Xiao Fat Dun: "You still have to be closer to your second brother, otherwise one day, the Beidi people will call, and your second brother will send you to kiss, and some of you will cry." ”

Chu Zhixia couldn't bear it anymore, threw away the rattan ball and pounced on the little fat dun, raised his fist and smashed it on his newly grown front teeth.

"When the Beidi people call, I will scrape off your oil and light the beacon!"

This fight was earth-shattering, and the adults in the front hall were all alarmed. Chu Zhixia beat the little fat ghost and howled wolf, and the maids didn't dare to go up and pull the fight. Chu Mingxiu, who had just returned from military training, rushed over with an arrow step, picked her up like a little chicken, and pressed her neck to apologize to the little chubby dun's parents.

Chu Zhixia's teeth were sharp, but he didn't bother to sue, just glared at the little fat dun viciously. Little Fat Dun was crying and was wiped with tears by his mother, and when she stared at her, he timidly restrained his crying.

"It's just a child's trouble, the prince doesn't have to care." Little Fat Dun's father turned pale, but he still said to Chu Mingyan, "Our family will leave first." ”

Only then did Chu Zhixia realize that she had done anything bad to Chu Mingyan, and looked at Chu Mingyan who was still wrapped in a big coat in late spring. Chu Mingyan wiped the stains off Chu Zhixia's face with a faint expression, and ordered the maid to send their family out.

At noon on a sunny day, Chu Zhixia knelt in the ancestral hall.

"Why are you beating that little pig?" Chu Ming took off his armor, he was still a young man who was about to grow up, and he leaned in half of his body through the window, holding a straw butterfly in his hand.

"Is your father partial to you?" Chu Zhixia pounded his sore knees and asked sullenly.

"Who told you?" Chu Mingxiu asked rhetorically.

"Otherwise, why did he name you after the surname of the emperor's eldest son?" Chu Shixia said sullenly, "They all want to bully the eldest brother, if you also bully the eldest brother, I don't want you." ”

Chu Mingxiu squeezed his eyebrows and smiled at her, "You have such intentions, why didn't you say it to your eldest brother just now?" ”

"I had already beaten the son of that family, and when he came home and asked why he was beaten, he was naturally weak-hearted. If I shout on the spot, his face will be gone, and the dog will jump off the wall in a hurry? Chu Zhixia was even more angry, "Isn't it that I'm asking you, why do you keep asking me?" ”

Chu Mingxiu just looked at her behind her and laughed vigorously, laughing so hard that Chu Zhixia's scalp was numb. Chu Zhixia turned his head to look, Chu Mingyan was standing at the door of the ancestral hall, and the spring light was plated on each of his hair, like the gorgeous glaze of porcelain.

Chu Zhixia turned around awkwardly and buried his whole body in the futon, without saying a word.

"If someone else provokes a few words, you have to do it. There are thousands of tongues in the world, can you beat them one by one? Chu Mingyan patted her on the back and sighed, "It's clear that I raised a child, how can I have a dog temper with Chang'an." ”

Chu Mingxiu shouted aggrieved on the side.

Chu Zhixia only felt ashamed, and he was red from his face to the root of his ears, but he refused to raise his head.

Chu Mingxiu said, brother, don't care about her, let her kneel if she wants to, just have a long memory. Chu Mingyan said, you were punished a lot when you were a child, and you didn't want to let her escape once in a while.

Chu Mingxiu said again that the family had bad intentions, and if they wanted to turn their faces, they would turn their faces, how could that little fat pig in his family be worthy of my sister. Chu Mingyan said, I didn't think about agreeing to this marriage contract, can you shut up, the noise gives me a headache.

In a drowsy state, Chu Zhixia fell asleep like this.

Chu Shixia tried his best to open his eyes, but those voices gradually faded away like a distant spring that passed with flowing water, and finally disappeared. The little strength she had managed to gather collapsed without a trace.

On that spring afternoon, the hot sunlight that fell on her eyelids, the peach blossoms floating on Chu Mingyan's armor, and the pages of the book that Chu Mingyan's fingertips turned over collapsed into ashes and drifted away with the wind.

——

Binzhou City.

Yuzhu walked into the room with a medicine bowl.

The rooms necessary to contain the plague must be ventilated, and wormwood must be burned in the morning and evening, and lime must be sprinkled around it. The room was filled with all kinds of smells, and it was hot and bitter. Shen Zhou sat in front of the bed like a stone statue, holding Chu Zhixia's hand.

Chu Zhixia's shoulder wound had been bandaged, but the most fatal thing for her was not the knife, nor the assassin's kick in her heart, but the plague.

From Shen Zhou and Yuzhu finding Chu Zhixia to now, it is already the fourth day.

Chu Zhixia did not wake up for a moment.

Shen Zhou didn't close his eyes for a moment.

"She's dreaming." Shen Zhou held Chu Zhixia's hand against his forehead, and there was a fragility in his voice that was about to collapse, "She calls her brother in her dreams, Chu Changan, and sometimes she calls me...... But she just couldn't wake up. ”

Blood threads wrapped around Shen Zhou's eyeballs, and he asked almost desperately, "What should I do?" ”

Yuzhu held the medicine bowl, and her heart was filled with great fear and confusion.

"I don't know."

"It's a little longer today, so it's a little late."