Going to Xiahe Village again, it is much quieter than before.
Xia Yunhe was dressed in regular clothes with a dark gold pattern of silver rats, a white jade belt around his waist, and a double-breasted cotton-coloured soap-colored gold-flowered armor. The clothes covered his waist. He didn't have to worry about his identity being exposed, and he wasn't afraid of the cold. Zhenniang always had a way to help. She keeps warm, blends in with the crowd, and no longer stands out.
It's just that her face is pretty and handsome, which makes her stand out compared to others, and passers-by will look back at her from time to time.
Seeing her turn into the alley, he showed disgust again.
Continuing to walk deeper into the alley, the long, narrow alley was quiet, and the only sound was her footsteps. The surrounding tile eaves are drooping, the walls are eroded, and the stone pavement is cracked, just like a dilapidated and lifeless painting.
And Xia Yunhe is the only embellishment in this picture.
Sanniang's courtyard had a new door. The door was closed tightly. Xia Yunhe tried to push it, but it didn't open.
So she stood outside the door and waited. Passers-by glanced at her occasionally, and then glanced at the door of San Niang's house a few times, and then left with a strange smile on her lips.
Everyone knew what Sanniang did. Xia Yunhe looked up at the sky. The sky was clear and blue, with floating clouds. She looked at the clouds and waited slowly.
I don’t know how long it took, but I suddenly heard a crisp, silvery laughter.
"Lang Jun, you are here."
As soon as I turned my head, I saw Sanniang's smiling face, as clear as jade. She was wearing a snow-green cotton robe, with a small basket made of rattan between her arms. She walked over and opened the door skillfully.
Xia Yunhe lowered his head and saw what was in the basket: green amaranth, two fat white radishes, a few juicy green onions, a handful of wilted dried beans, and a pack of open chestnuts mixed with melon seeds, leftovers The candied haws of iceberg is quite abundant.
The displays in the courtyard were as before. Sanniang opened the door and followed her into the house. The room is simple, with a small table, a small stool, a narrow couch and nothing else.
The room was cold and slightly damp, and Xia Yunhe couldn't help but sneeze. Sanniang asked her to sit on a square stool and asked, "Did you come here to see Mr. Xu today?"
Xia Yunhe nodded, "Let's see how well the calligraphy imitates it?"
"Your surname is Xia?"
Xia Yunhe looked up at her and remained silent.
Sanniang laughed awkwardly, "The slave family heard rumors in the market that a Mr. Xia once came to our place."
She cut off Sanniang's words and replied with a smile, "I'll use the wooden ladder to climb over the wall today. It's really uncomfortable to lie on the top of the wall."
Then he stood up, turned around twice, patted his clothes, and said, "Today's clothes are more suitable for climbing walls."
Sanniang chuckled and saw that Xia Yunhe was not angry and did not look at her sideways like others. She was no longer afraid and poked her cheek with her finger, "Black clothes are easy to get stained with dust. Don't bring another layer of mud with it."
The two chatted for a while and then went to move the ladder.
Climbing up the wall, I saw Xu Xing leaning against the stone table flower waterfall and basking in the sun, his face still pale. Looking closely at the courtyard, I saw that the blood stains from that day had been cleaned up, and the whole courtyard was refreshing and quiet.
She called out, "Mr. Xu."
Xu Xing turned to look at her, stood up and bowed, "Your Excellency is very punctual." After saying that, he returned to the house.
Xia Yunhe took the Sanniang wooden ladder down to the courtyard, and Xu Xing also came out of the house with two more silver-red wax papers in his hand.
She reached out to take it, but Xu Xing withdrew his hand, walked slowly to the foot of the flower waterfall, sat on a stone bench, basking in the sun and asked, "Master Xia, I heard that you are a noble person and are proud of your talents. Why..." He lowered his head. Think and find the right words.
"Mr. Xu stays at home, but he is well-informed." While he was not paying attention, Xia Yunhe took the wax paper from his hand, turned around and sat on the stone bench on the other side to carefully compare the handwriting.
As soon as she unfolded the wax paper, she was immediately stunned. From the beginning, peak, and end of the writing, to the strength of the pen, as well as the arrangement, line order, and charm... they were exactly the same.
[Xia Yunhe, open your eyes and see clearly whether this was written by you. 】
【no. 】
[It was written by you. 】
【no……】
[It was written by you. 】
Painful memories hit her mind over and over again like a wave. She clenched the wax paper in her hand tightly, and her hands on the stone table trembled unconsciously, sending chills down her back.
Seeing Xia Yunhe's pale face, Xu Xing asked cautiously, "Master Xia, are you okay?"
He stretched out his hand to check out the situation, but before he could get close, Xia Yunhe suddenly raised his head, eyes filled with evil, staring at him. Xu Xing shuddered and took a few steps back.
He froze on the spot. He was fine just now, but when he glanced at the imitation words, he reacted so badly.
Hearing another noise from behind, Xu Xing turned around and found Sanniang's head peeking out from behind the wall. She sat on the top of the wall with her arms supported, holding on to the wooden ladder, looking anxious, "Quick, quick, Xu Lang, let Mr. Xia come over. Then The evil spirit turned to the entrance of the alley and I saw it when I was pouring water."
Of course Xia Yunhe heard Sanniang's voice. She tried her best to calm down and kept telling herself that the incident in Zhaojing was over and she shouldn't react so violently. She shouldn't feel so painful.
But she couldn't climb over the wall like this. Xu Xing looked around the courtyard and saw that Sanniang had moved the wooden ladder to the other side of the wall. Sanniang laughed twice and whispered, "I'm scared."
Xu Xing looked at the house, gritted his teeth, said "offended", helped Xia Yunhe up, pushed open the door, walked to the bed, and stuffed Xia Yunhe under the bed.
"Master Xia, I'm sorry. Please calm down here first." He reached out to grab the wax paper in Xia Yunhe's hand, but it slipped several times, and Xia Yunhe held it tighter. Xu Xing tried a few more times, but couldn't get it out at all, so he had to put down the bed towel to cover Xia Yunhe and smooth the corners of the bed.
Suddenly I heard Sanniang shouting from outside, "Master Chen, do you want to eat chestnuts?"
Immediately afterwards, there was a sharp sound of "swish--" and the sound of falling tiles.
Sanniang was so frightened that she screamed, "No more questions, no more questions, I'm leaving, I'm leaving first."
There was a rustling sound of a saber and a rope rubbing against the hem of clothes, and the half-open door was thrown open with a "clang".
Chen Haizhou squinted his eyes and looked around the room. There was no trace of Xu Xing blocking the bed.
"You're not feeling well, why don't you rest?"
Xu Xing turned pale, raised his voice, tried his best to keep his voice calm, and said, "What are you doing here again?"
Xia Yunhe, who was under the bed, held a piece of wax paper in her hand. At this moment, her mind returned to normal, and her consciousness gradually became clearer. She rubbed the paper, and suddenly an alarm bell rang in her heart, and she secretly thought, "Oh no!"
"Zihuai, it's been sorted out over there, when will you move there?"
"I won't leave, get out of here."
Chen Haizhou walked around the room a few times and suddenly picked up a piece of red paper from the ground. There were a few footprints on the paper. He blew on it and wiped it clean. However, he suddenly stopped and turned the red paper over and looked at it carefully. , frowned and looked up at Xu Xing.
Xu Xing swallowed, nervous and at a loss.
Chen Haizhou recognized Xu Xing's handwriting, and the elegant and flying characters in his hand were definitely not written by Xu Xing, so he said, "Why are you helping others imitate handwriting again? Didn't I say that I support you?"
"I am now working for the emperor, and my monthly salary is worth what you can write so many words."
Chen Haizhou wanted to continue talking, but Xu Xing was afraid that he would notice if he stayed any longer, so he gritted his teeth, grabbed the wax paper with his hands, and pushed Chen Haizhou away, "Get out of here and don't bother me."
The two left the house, but the sound of conversation still fell into Xia Yunhe's ears.
"I am a rough man with blood on his blade. If you like to recite poems and compose poems, I will learn them. If you like poems, lyrics and music, I will listen to them. If you say that I don't know the words, I will slowly read and learn them. I just ask you to look at me, and please don’t drive me away.”
There was no sound, just uncomfortable silence.
"Zihuai..."
"Go away! I said don't kill people, have you listened to me?! Do you think I don't know what you are doing? The Nanyuan Gold Case, the Pingwu Dinghou Case, the Linzhou Lacquer Carving Case, and Yuanzhou... Bloody clothes, involving more than a thousand families, many people died unjustly, you snare innocent people, fabricated evidence, you killed people again and again, tortured and imprisoned with cruel methods. I really shouldn't give you a bowl of rice, but asked you to repay kindness and imprison me here. .”
Xu Xing talked a lot in one breath.
At the end, there was a hint of trembling at the end of the words, which suddenly turned into hatred.
"I really shouldn't have saved you that day, I should have let you die in the mud."
Chen Haizhou didn't respond for a long time, and Xia Yunhe knew that the two of them were still confronting each other.
The floor was cold in winter, and after lying here for a long time, her limbs were stiff and she huddled under the bed, eavesdropping on whispers in the corner. This kind of thing was extremely disgraceful. She silently muttered in her heart, "Don't eavesdrop when someone is whispering." No eavesdropping.
After a long time, I heard Chen Haizhou's calm voice, "I'm a little surprised that you suddenly told me this today, Zihuai. You used to say you wanted to get ahead, but now I have the trust of the emperor, which is the same as your success. You don't have to..."
"Get out!" Xu Xing was short of breath and coughed for a long time.
Chen Haizhou smiled and said, "I'll come back tomorrow." After saying that, he left without looking back.
Chen Haizhou's words inspired Xia Yunhe. Chen Haizhou said that what Xu Xing said today had never been said before. Perhaps Xu Xing's words today were not meant for Chen Haizhou, but for her.
A student who went to Beijing to take the exam was tripped into the quagmire by Chen Haizhou, sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire. His life was like raindrops, and he himself seemed to be rootless. Xu Xing had nothing and hoped that he, an adult who suddenly appeared, could help him.
Or maybe she guessed wrong and Xu Xing was just venting his frustration.
The bedclothes were lifted and bright light shone under the bed. Xia Yunhe saw Xu Xing's pale but beautiful face. Xu Xing dug her out from under the bed and helped her to the bench next to the table.
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, turned even paler, and asked, "Mr. Xia, are you okay?" He touched Xia Yunhe's sleeve and saw it was cold. He was startled and quickly poured a glass of water and handed it to her to drink.
"If he finds you here, he will definitely kill you. That person is a madman. You'd better not come here these days."
The young man's concern was somewhat sincere. Xia Yunhe chuckled. The cracked plain white porcelain cup was cold and stinging his hands, just like it was impossible to tell the truth from the lies.
She lowered her eyes and slowly sipped the water, warmed it in her mouth for a while, swallowed it slowly, raised her eyes and stared into Xu Xing's eyes, and asked, "If someone asks you to imitate... a letter about collaboration with the enemy, will you imitate it?"
Xu Xing was suddenly startled, his face turned pale with a blush, and he covered his lips tightly and coughed violently. The dull hoarse sound made Xia Yunhe's throat itch, and he coughed with him for a long time.
After a long while, I just listened to Xu Xing's words and replied through gritted teeth, "Although I, Xu Xing, have little talent and knowledge, I will never do such a despicable thing."
Seeing that he was very angry and his overly pretty face turned red and turned white, Xia Yunhe asked him again, "What will happen if someone forces you to write?"
"Scholars are inherently fragile. If someone really forces me to imitate something I don't want to do, I will hang myself from the rafters to prove my heart."
Xia Yunhe chuckled and praised, "What a strong character."
Rather be upright and unyielding, hey, if you want to be like ice and snow in the clouds, you will be crushed into dust and mud.
After resting for a while, Xia Yunhe regained his composure, adjusted his sleeves, dusted off his robe, and stood up to say goodbye to Xu Xing.
If you go back today, you will definitely catch a cold, and Zhen Niang will talk about her again.
Exiting the alley and walking through the market, Xia Yunhe was slowly submerged in the crowd.
What she didn't know was that there was a pair of eyes watching her come out of Xu Xing's house, watching her leave the alley and disappear at the other end of the street.
The owner of these eyes is Chen Haizhou.
