The snow is deep in Kyoto.

In the early spring of March, the south of the Yangtze River is already peach and willow green, but in this Kyoto City, which is located in the north of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it is still a snow-capped prosperity, as if the cold winter has not left.

Next to the inkstone pond of Donghuang Academy, the sound of fencing with the sound of jingling bells and snow sounded non-stop. At first glance, it turned out to be a man and a woman competing with swords in the snow, with no golden light and no Ling Bo around, just a simple sword fight.

Even Dongfang Taiyi had to admit that Su Xiaoxiao was really a seed of sword practice, half a year ago, when she came to Donghuang Academy, she was holding a sword for the first time, and she had not yet been cleansed. Now that the two of them are trying their swords in the snow, if they don't use spiritual power spells, Dongfang Taiyi will almost find it difficult to parry the sword moves from Su Xiaoxiao's stabbing.

Just because she grew up by the sea since she was a child, she is like a sword, wave after wave, and the ebb and flow are always inscrutable. Compared with Oriental Taiyi, who has seen the snow scene in Kyoto year after year, this has an innate advantage after all.

Of course, the most important thing is that she has dragon energy in her body.

After several rounds of fighting, the victory and defeat were not scored, but Su Xiaoxiao had already stopped drawing his sword and stood under the snowy sky to breathe softly. After all, she was only in the second realm of qi refining, and there was still too much gap compared to Dongfang Taiyi, who had already stepped into the fifth realm.

In fact, she could have stepped into the Three Realms half a month ago, but Dongfang Taiyi said that she should not walk too fast at the beginning, but slowly, so that she could go further and easier in the future.

"Senior brother. Su Xiaoxiao looked at Dongfang Taiyi, who was walking towards her, and called softly.

Dongfang Taiyi smiled and nodded: "With your current swordsmanship, you are enough to rank in the top ten among your peers in the Eastern Emperor Academy, but you are too late in your cultivation, and you still need to improve more." Among the thirteen peerless secret methods of the Eastern Emperor Academy, one of them can rekindle the divine fire, but it is very costly...... This is a bit early, in short, if you want to cultivate the thirteen secret methods, it is not easy, at least you have to reach the sixth realm. ”

Su Xiaoxiao nodded, she understood what the Six Realms represented, and she also knew how far this so-called Sixth Realm was from her. No matter how difficult it is, in order for Redsleeves to wake up again, she must learn.

"Daddy told me before he left that as long as I could come back in ten years and revive the flames of Red Sleeves, she would be alive. Su Xiaoxiao looked at the sky and said seriously, as if talking to herself, and as if she was talking to someone.

"It's cold, go back to the house, I'll make you a cup of ginger tea." Dongfang Taiyi took off her coat and gently put it on Su Xiaoxiao's body, which made her body suddenly filled with a sense of warmth.

Perhaps a few more winds blew from the ice cubes, and suddenly a university fell in Kyoto City, and the snowflakes hit the faces of pedestrians, and the biting cold forced into the bottom of my heart.

Boom......

Boom......

Knock Knock......

Suddenly, the long, low sound of the bell echoed through the castle of Kyoto, as if expressing emotion for the sudden heavy snowfall.

The bell is two long and two short, and the sound is mournful and slow, obviously not the chiming of the time. Pedestrians on the road stopped and died, only to see a messenger running out of the heavily guarded Kyoto Castle Government, galloping through the Kyoto Castle.

Immediately followed by a flying sword, which broke through the green clouds and turned into a streamer and flew towards the west of the Great Zhou. Some people who have walked through the rivers and lakes can see at a glance that it is the direction to Chang'an.

The messenger galloped to a halt in front of the gate of the Eastern Emperor Academy, he was holding the City Lord's Mansion token, even the disciples guarding the gate did not dare to intercept him.

At this moment, Dongfang Taiyi and Su Xiaoxiao were standing in front of the house, talking in a low voice about the origin of the bells just now. There is a bell tower in Kyoto Castle, which can be heard within a radius of 10 miles when the bell rings, and is used to signal the time except for curfews on weekdays.

There are only two possible things other than ringing the bell to tell the time.

Great victory or great sorrow.

"Dongfang Childe. The messenger came to Dongfang Taiyi, held the token and said, "The young master ordered you to enter the mansion immediately, and there is something important to explain." ”

"What's the matter?" Dongfang Taiyi stepped forward and asked.

The messenger said in a deep voice, "Madame, deceased. ”

At the bell tower, a lightly dressed man stood under the ancient bell, and the place where his eyes looked was the end of the world.

"Young master, it's cold, come down and add clothes. A soldier in armor shouted under the bell tower, holding a still hot cotton coat in his hand, his eyes full of worry.

"Is he here?" asked the thin-clad man in a low voice.

The soldier replied, "The messenger has been dispatched, and it will be there in no moment." ”

"When he comes, I'll go down. The man on the bell tower whispered, his hands already red from the cold, and even a little swollen from striking the bell too hard.

His name is Song Zhenyan, and he is the young lord of this Kyoto City.

Although he was only a young city lord, as early as the age of eighteen, he married Zhou Qingqing, the eldest princess of the Great Zhou Emperor of Chang'an City, and took over his father's position to act as an agent for large and small affairs in Kyoto City. It's just that when he was eighteen years old, his father was seriously ill and bedridden, and there was no leader in Kyoto City, so he was forced to take this position, and he was also forced to take such a sick wife.

Zhou Qingqing has been weak since she was a child, and after being diagnosed by countless famous doctors in the Great Zhou, they all said that she would not live to be fifteen years old. Fortunately, he was born in the royal family, and he urinated on medicine and tonic since he was a child, so as to increase his lifespan. She was fifteen years old when she married Kyoto Castle.

"Young master, Dongfang Gongzi has arrived. The guards climbed the bell tower with their cotton clothes in their hands and draped their clothes on Song Zhenyan.

Song Zhenyan nodded, and with the support of the guards, he slowly walked down the city tower.

Dongfang Taiyi looked at the figure wrapped in white cloth on the bed, and he couldn't feel the slightest vitality. Song Zhenyan walked up to him and said softly: "Some people say that she was born with a hard life, and some people say that she is blessed in her suffering." At least, she had a good time in Kyoto City during all these years. ”

"Brother Zhenyan......" Dongfang Taiyi looked back, and was about to say something, but was interrupted by the man in front of him.

Song Zhenyan continued: "She has talked to me many nights, and she has also told me about her childhood, but do you know? There is a sentence that I can hear clearly, she said...... Even if she is very happy now, there are people who love her, but in her heart, she still can't let go of Chang'an. ”

Song Zhenyan sighed, and then said: "She was born a victim of power, if she could, she would rather choose to die at the age of fifteen, maybe she would not have left so many regrets and sorrows, right?"

When Dongfang Taiyi heard this, his heart was a little depressed.

Although Song Zhenyan is the young master of Kyoto City, he is too young to come to the stage. And Zhou Qingqing's distant marriage stabilized this status for him. Marrying the eldest princess is equivalent to forming a relationship with the Great Zhou royal family, which is both power and power.

"She wants to go back to Chang'an. Song Zhenyan continued, "I also promised her that when this storm and snow dissipate, I would take her back to Chang'an to have a look." ”

As he spoke, he walked gently to the side of the bed and slowly lifted the thin white cloth.

The man is gone, but he has not yet seen it.

"Brother Dongfang, do you think this is fate?" Song Zhenyan slowly covered the white cloth and asked with tears in her eyes.

Dongfang Taiyi didn't answer because he didn't know how to answer. Facing his sworn brother, he couldn't say a word of comfort, which seemed to be so ruthless.

But both of them know that words are the most hurtful at such times.

The two were silent for a moment, and then Song Zhenyan slowly spoke: "I want to ask you to send her back to Chang'an." ”

Dongfang Taiyi blinked his eyes and stared at Song Zhenyan, as if waiting for the following.

"I also hope that you can ask for a coffin for her in Chang'an. Song Zhenyan said.

Dongfang Taiyi frowned slightly, this is what his benevolent brother really wants to beg. If you just send Zhou Qingqing back to Chang'an to sleep, why do you need to do this?

"What kind of coffin?" Dongfang Taiyi asked, this coffin must not be so easy to find.

"Nine coffins. Song Zhenyan said, "Qingqing she doesn't blink to death, I don't want her to go to reincarnation with regrets." There is a coffin shop in Chang'an, and the nine coffins are from that person's hand. He has a rule that he only makes nine coffins a year, and does not do one more, does not do it for the unjustly murdered and killed, and does not do it for his daughter. As far as I know, eight coffins have been set this year. ”

"You want me to get the last coffin from him?" asked Dongfang Taiyi.

"Yes. Song Zhenyan nodded and laughed self-deprecatingly: "I know, I should have done this, but as the lord of Kyoto City, how can I just say go? In fact, she also knows that the promise I promised her will only become empty words hanging in the sky in the end." Brother Dongfang, don't you think this is ridiculous? Knowing that this is just a lie, she still thinks about this matter every morning and evening. ”

Dongfang Taiyi nodded and said softly, "I understand, I'll pack up when I go back and go to Chang'an tomorrow." ”

......

Tick, tick.

It rained in Chang'an City.

This is the first rain of spring, and the spring thunder roars through, as if to wake up this world that has been silent for a winter.

"It's raining so hard, Sui'er, you run faster. ”

"Yes, you wait for me. ”

In the alley, two seven or eight-year-old children, with a book on their heads, ran under the rain of soybeans. Suddenly, it rained so hard that the books on his head were soaked, and the little boy hurriedly took the little girl's hand and hid under the eaves of a house to avoid the rain.

"Hmm...... The clothes are wet, and it is time to be scolded again when I go back. The girl looked at the soaked dress on her body, and didn't care what the three-character scripture in her hand had already been wet, and said in a low voice.

"It's all right!" said the boy with a smile, "I still have a basket of charcoal at home, and if you go to my house in a while, burn the charcoal and dry your clothes, and then go back, your father and mother will definitely not see it." ”

"Not really. The girl shook her head and said, "My mother found out last time, and she asked me why I smelled of smoke." Also, the charcoal burned in your house stinks to death. ”

The little boy didn't know what to say, so he squatted on the ground and dipped his hands in the rain and drew a bird on the ground.

"Brother Chuyang, the bird you drew looks like the one on the roof. The girl pointed to a little swallow on the eaves and said, "You see that it is also drenched in rain, and it must not dare to go home for fear of being scolded by my father, so pitiful." ”

"By the way, the little swallows are coming back soon. The little boy raised his head, stared at the little swallow above his head, and said, "Sui'er, why don't we make a bird's nest tomorrow." ”

When the girl heard this, the joy on her face only stayed for a moment, and soon turned into a trace of sadness, "But tomorrow I will go to Yangzhou with my father and mother......

"Oh yes......" The boy nodded, and there was a sadness on his face, how quickly time passed.

As early as a month ago, Sui'er knew that she was going to Yangzhou. Dad was demoted to Yangzhou as an official, and the whole family had to move to Yangzhou together. Yangzhou City is so far away, and it is no longer a distance that can be met by sneaking out of the window and passing through two or three alleys.

"Oh no, my mother is here, what should I do?" the girl overheard of a woman walking in the alley with an umbrella, and she looked left and right as if she was looking for something.

The boy also panicked because of this, if it weren't for this rain, he and Sui'er would have stayed at least half an hour longer.

The boy thought about it, hurriedly opened the three-character scripture in his hand, and after rummaging through it, he took out a painting and handed it out, "Oh, this is for you." ”

"This is ......" Sui'er took the painting handed by the boy and asked in a low voice, "Is this painting Mulan?"

"Yes. The boy smiled wryly, "I secretly drew it in the room last night." ”

"Your painting is so fragrant. Sui'er smelled a fragrance from the painting and was surprised.

"Because ......," the boy slowly pulled out a candy man, "this is what my uncle bought for me yesterday, and I didn't want to eat it, so I wanted to give it to you before I left." ”

The brown-yellow sugar man is very similar to the pattern of Mulan on the painting, of course, it naturally looks much more spirited than the picture.

"The candy man is gone after eating, so I want to send you a painting, and you can see it every day when you go to Yangzhou. The boy said, "It's a pity that I drew ......."

"You're doing a good job. Sui'er said with a smile that she took the candy man from the boy's hand, broke half of it and returned it, "I will never forget the day when we peeked at Mulan's picture book in the school together." ”

"Each of them was beaten ten times by the gentleman. The boy took the candy man, and the two couldn't help but laugh.

"Sui'er, what are you doing here? The woman's voice approached, and she was about to go under the little eaves.

The girl panicked and stuffed the candy man into her mouth, chewed it and swallowed it in a hurry.

"You're getting your clothes wet again, see if I don't clean you up when I go back!" The woman came to Sui'er with an umbrella, took her hand, and turned away, the little figure painting in her arms was still warm.

The boy slowly climbed out of the courtyard wall, looked at the girl's departing back, and muttered in a low voice: "Sui'er, you have to send me a letter secretly when you go to Yangzhou." ”

The raindrops soaked him, and he couldn't tell whether the droplets on his face were hot or cold.

Tomorrow is farther away, and time is farther away.

The boy looked up at the eaves, and the swallows had flown away, and under the gloomy sky, a spring rain was sweeping in from all directions.

He suddenly remembered what Mr. said in today's school:

There is rain and snow in the sky, and the world is warm.