After breakfast, Ling Xiang was led by Ling Su and sent back to the small yard behind the blacksmith shop, and bought half a cooking cake for her along the way.

"My brother is going to work, so you just play at home and don't run around. If you're hungry, eat the pancakes first, and I'll come back in the afternoon to make something for you. Ling Su instructed her.

"I remember." Ling Xiang's chick nodded vigorously as if he was pecking rice.

After Ling Su went out, she trotted two steps and lay on the courtyard door, quietly watching Ling Su's figure disappear into the corner of the front wall through the crack in the door. The thin two lips were pursed tightly, and he didn't say a word.

In the next few hours, Ling Xiang lived like a year.

She couldn't remember how many times she had heard the slightest movement and ran to the courtyard gate to watch, but every time it was not her brother, so she could only purse her lips and return to the firewood room dejectedly, sitting alone on the mat in a daze.

Ling Xiang waited and waited, and woke up from a sleep, but he didn't see Ling Su come back.

Half a pancake was placed at the head of the bed, but she was surprisingly unappetizing, and she didn't even feel hungry.

"Why hasn't my brother come back?"

Ling Xiang panicked.

She walked outside the firewood room, and the sun in the sky flew from her left hand side to her right hand side.

Just when she couldn't bear it anymore and was about to go to the courtyard gate again to take a look, a long-lost shout finally came from outside the door: "Nan! ”

"Brother!" Ling Xiang's eyes brightened instantly.

Without thinking about it, she ran towards the gate of the small courtyard, only to see Ling Su carrying something she didn't know in her hand and pushing the door in.

"Nan Nan is very well-behaved today, I have been staying at home, and I haven't run around." Ling Xiang rushed in front of Ling Su, his little face full of excitement and asked Ling Su for credit.

"Just look at the way you look."

The boy pinched her nose and smiled.

As soon as he shouted, he ran out, obviously impatient.

"You're hungry at home alone, aren't you? Let's go, brother will make you something to eat. Ling Su grabbed her left hand and walked towards the firewood room.

The two people who were more than twice as tall left two oblique shadows in the sunset, and the small figure of the one was bouncing, accompanied by the laughter of silver bells, and the years were quiet.

In the days since, this has been the case almost every day.

During the day, Ling Siong plays by himself at home, watering the vegetable bed, sweeping the small yard, picking up some stones to play, or sitting on a small bamboo bench with his chin in a daze.

The little person is well-behaved and sensible, not noisy or noisy, and when he is bored, he can talk to himself with the birds on the courtyard wall for a long time.

In the afternoon, she will take a nap, in addition to the growing body needs to keep sleeping, the more important thing is that sleeping can make time pass faster, and her brother can come back early.

By the end of the evening, Ling Su had finished helping in the blacksmith shop and returned to this small courtyard for the miscellaneous goods, which became the warmest harbor for the brother and sister.

The days went by, and before you knew it, it was the end of summer.

In the evening of that day, according to the usual time, Ling Xiang came to the gate of the courtyard as usual to wait for Ling Su, and after a while, he saw Ling Su's figure appear not far from the door.

"Brother!"

"Nan Nan ......"

The brother and sister greeted each other through the courtyard gate.

"Brother brought you something fun!" Ling Su had a mysterious smile on his face.

"What?" Ling Xiang asked subconsciously.

Before she could react, she saw Ling Su, who was holding her hands behind her back, suddenly took out a bronze copper mask and covered her face, and at the same time suddenly leaned in front of her: "Wow!! ”

"Yikes!!"

Ling Xiang was taken aback.

"Hey, how's it going? Is it fun? Ling Su made a sneak attack, took the mask off his face and handed it to Ling Xiang, full of pride.

"It's fun!"

Ling Xiang held the mask and looked over and over again.

This is a grimace mask made of thin copper sheets, and the face pattern on the mask is not actually scary, but rather a little strange. It seems to be smiling but not laughing, crying but not crying, as if there is sadness in the smile, and there is a faint smile in the sadness.

Very peculiar.

The overall outline of the mask is rough in workmanship, as if it had been cut from some kind of object, with some raw edges, and the hollows of the eyes and mouth have been dug out with chisels, and only a simple polish has been made.

But even so, it made Ling Xiang full of curiosity and a little lovely.

In her limited memory, she had never seen anything so interesting.

"Is this for Nannan?" Ling Xiang asked with a small face.

"Of course!"

Ling Su explained, "There was a guest in the blacksmith shop today who wanted to sell a copper wine jug to the boss as scrap, but the boss thought it was too small and didn't want it, so the guest was useless with it, so he simply threw it away."

I saw a portrait of this human face on the copper kettle, and it seemed to be good, so I picked it up.

Remove the spout and handle, crush and flatten it and make it into this mask, do you like it? ”

Ling Su spoke very carefully.

Because he knew that Ling Xiang was bored to stay at home every day, even if it was an ordinary thing, the little girl could relish.

"I like it!"

Ling Xiang replied neatly.

She grabbed the mask with both hands and put it on her face, and then looked at Ling Su: "Is it good-looking?" ”

"Poof......

Ling Su couldn't hold back a smile, "Silly girl, this is a grimace mask, how can it be good-looking, you should ask me if I'm afraid of you." ”

"Is that so?"

When Ling Xiang heard this, a pair of small eyebrows couldn't help frowning slightly.

"Actually, the face on the mask was pretty good when it was on a copper kettle, but when I made the mask, it looked weird. If you don't like it, my brother will make you a more beautiful one next time. Ling Su scratched his head and said.

"Hee-hee, I like it very much." Ling Xiang grinned and showed a few small crystal teeth.

She just frowned, but it didn't seem good to hesitate to wear a grimace mask to scare her brother.

"Then I'm relieved, you've called my brother for so long, and I've never given you anything funny, and I've been worried that you'll not like it when I come back." Ling Su said with a smile.

"Hmm......" Ling Xiang suddenly became a little embarrassed, she hugged the mask and said glutinously, "However, Nan Nan has never given anything to my brother." ”

"Haha, then you can wait until you grow up to buy something and give it to me."

"But now I have a fun grimace mask, but my brother doesn't." Ling Xiang pouted slightly, wanting to be angry with himself, why couldn't he grow up quickly?

"Who says I don't?"

Ling Su reached into his arms with his right hand and touched it, and quickly took out a little finger ring.

"Look, this is a little wrench that my brother made for himself."

Ling Su put the little finger ring made of bronze on her thumb, showed it to her triumphantly, raised her eyebrows and said, "I used the spout of that copper kettle to make it, it's not big, it's just right." How's that, not bad, right? ”

"Beautiful!"

Ling Xiang's eyes were shining.

The little ring is quaint and rough, and it looks plain, but it was made by my brother, so it is worth affirming.

"Hehe, let's go, go wash the vegetables, my brother will cook cauliflower porridge for you, and we'll play when we're full." Ling Su smiled and rubbed Ling Xiang's head lightly, and pulled her into the room.

Because of the grimace mask, the dull days made it easier for Ling Xiang to spend some time alone at home in the future.

In the blink of an eye, autumn has arrived.

A few months passed, and Ling Xiang's size also jumped up a little, and the clothes that didn't fit him could not be worn at all. Ling Su took out almost all of her savings and went to the tailor's shop to change her into a new coarse cloth dress.

But on the day when the new clothes were just put on, the shopkeeper in the blacksmith shop, who had never existed only in the mouth of his brother Ling Su, appeared in the small courtyard of the miscellaneous goods.

"I'll give you a day to move out of here, or don't blame me for being unkind."

The big-shouldered blacksmith shop owner only said this to the brother and sister, and then turned and left.

Ling Xiang watched the boss come and go, blinking, only to feel that the other party was so tall, like a small mountain.

As a young girl, she didn't understand what consequences her boss's words would have for her and her brother.

"Brother, why did that uncle let us move from here?" She asked in a childish voice.

"The boss's son is going to Taiwei Blessed Land to worship the immortal master to learn the way of cultivation, and he needs to raise money, and he wants to sell the entire blacksmith shop, so we can only move from here."

Ling Xiang noticed that his brother's tone was very low, and he didn't explain things in detail as usual, and only explained the general reason.

As if thinking of something, Ling Xiang also became nervous.

She carefully took Ling Su's hand and asked timidly, "Then my brother won't leave the girl, right?" ”

"What do you think?" Ling Su smiled reluctantly and rubbed her little head, "No matter how difficult it is, my brother won't leave you." It's a big deal, my brother will take you back to the small village where my brother grew up.

We can always survive by farming our own land. ”

"Well, it's okay, Nan Nan is not afraid of hardship, Nan Nan can help my brother farm together." Ling Xiang patted his small chest, looking full of energy.

This optimistic attitude also infected Ling Su to some extent, making the smile on his face a lot easier.

The boss only gave one day, and the brother and sister did not dare to delay and soon began to clean up.

Actually, there's nothing to clean up.

Except for a few coarse cloth clothes, all that was left was pots and pans.

As for entanglement......

Just a dozen copper plates.

This little money, leaving this small courtyard, is not enough to stay in the inn outside for one night.

Night falls.

The brother and sister lay side by side on the mat after washing, thinking that this was the last night they had stayed here, Ling Xiang didn't feel too much emotion, but he was also a little reluctant.

"Brother, you said that the son of the uncle's family is going to worship the immortal master to learn the way of cultivation, what is the way of cultivation?" Ling Xiang lay on his side on the bed, his hands pillowed under his face, looked at Ling Su and asked.

"I don't know." Ling Su shook his head slightly.

"What about the Immortal Master?"

"Immortal masters, they are immortals, they can fly in the sky and live for a long, long time."

"That's amazing!" Ling Xiang's eyes widened, not aware of the Ming calendar.

"Brother, can we become immortal masters in the future?" She asked.

"What do you think? Even the owner of the blacksmith shop has to sell the shop to raise money so that his son can get a place to practice with the immortal master, where do we have a chance? ”

"That's going to be a lot of money." Ling Xiang sighed dejectedly, with so much money, she and her brother would definitely not be able to take it out.

"Actually, there are also those that don't cost money, I heard that if the root bones are good enough, those immortal masters are rushing to accept apprentices. But I don't know the specifics, I listen to others. As he spoke, Ling Su lay flat on the bed with his hands behind his head, and raised one foot on his knee.

In the dark, Ling Xiang saw that when his brother mentioned the immortal master, there seemed to be a faint yearning in his eyes.

"Okay, hurry up and go to sleep, tomorrow morning we will leave for the village, and in the future, you will have to live a hard life with me." Ling Su let out a long sigh, his tone extremely abrupt.