He did not follow Meng Congyi closer, but crossed his arms and saluted a few people from a distance, and then said to Meng Congyi, "My brother and I have to go to Ludong City, so we won't go with Miss Meng."
Meng Congyi said "Ah", "I'll stay here for one night before leaving."
Zhao Ning took half a step back, and Qin Keyuan said, "Miss Meng, I'm leaving."
In Qin Keyuan's somewhat forceful refusal, Meng Cong was nonchalant and did not dare to say more. He waved his hand to Zhao Ning and said, "Goodbye!"
Zhao Ning and Qin Keyuan boarded the carriage, and the horse turned away and took a side road outside the town.
The third prince and several young men also walked up.
The Xuanyi knight asked, "Why did you just leave like that?"
Another person also said, "But some people don't give us any face."
Another person answered, "Looks ordinary, not a big deal, just go and leave."
The third prince glanced in the direction the carriage was leaving, as if he was spying on something, but he didn't find the answer he wanted, so he didn't take it to heart.
He pinched Meng Congyi's little face again, lowered his head and smiled, "Friends, I don't need just one or two."
The carriage traveled a long distance, and there was unexpected silence in the carriage. Qin Keyuan used branches as a blindfold, pinched a groom outside the carriage, and he also entered the carriage.
He sighed softly and called, "Zhao Ning, what are you thinking about?"
Zhao Ning looked up at him, with mixed feelings in her heart, "Uncle Master knows."
She paused, without covering up, "When my uncle traveled to Wuming, he saw two children who were sacrificed when he passed by. One was Meng Congyi, and the other... was Zhao Ning, right?"
"Um."
Qin Keyuan said, "Although I didn't save the child who was favored by the 'Black Dragon', I had to save another ordinary child. That child was quiet since he was a child, neither crying nor making noises. He lay in the wooden basin and followed the water to the east. I I held the child in my arms and landed on the lower reaches of the Qingmo River. I saw a fisherman and his wife were kind, so I entrusted the child to them. There was a crooked-neck tree in front of their house, do you still remember it?"
Zhao Ning pursed her lips tightly and looked at Qin Keyuan without blinking, as if as long as her eyes didn't move, tears would not fall, but her slightly red eyes still betrayed her.
In the early winter of that year, the Qingmo River was about to freeze. The fishermen and their wives sat under the crooked neck tree to repair their fishing nets, hoping that they would have a good harvest before it froze, enough to survive the winter. One day, a fisherman couple saw a small boat sailing along the river.
Standing on the boat was a man in long robes. He was tall, aloof, and independent from the world. To his surprise, he was holding a baby in his arms.
The fisherman couple had just given birth to a child, and their hearts and eyes were full of children. The woman ran to the river and shouted, "Sir, the cold wind on the river cannot bring the child like this, or he will get sick."
The people on the boat lowered their eyes and glanced at the sleeping baby in the swaddling clothes, then looked at the couple on the shore, and the next moment they appeared on the shore.
The fisherman and his wife were startled and realized that they had met an immortal.
They quickly knelt down to worship, but invisible strength held them up.
They then heard the immortal say, "Qin has a heartless request. He would like to ask two people to take care of the child for a few years."
As the immortal asked, and the infant child was very cute, the fishermen couple nodded instantly. The woman even said, "My child was also born not long ago, so we can grow up together."
"That's very good." Qin Keyuan handed the child to a woman. The child woke up as soon as he entered the woman's arms, but he didn't cry. He just looked at it with his eyes wide open, and his two small hands somehow squeezed out of the swaddling clothes. Come out and grab Qin Keyuan's finger.
The woman coaxed the child, and her heart melted when she saw such a well-behaved child.
The fisherman also liked it, so he asked Qin Keyuan softly, "I wonder what this child's name is?"
"'The journey back home is stable in thirty-six days, and the flowers are condensing to the wine①', so call Zhao Ning."
Qin Keyuan knew at that time that Xiao Zhaoning was destined to be immortal, but he was about to go to the ancient battlefield and enter the battlefield with foundation-building cultivation. He didn't know whether he would live or die. Even if he was sure that he could escape unscathed, he couldn't take Xiao Zhaoning with him. , so I leave it to the care of ordinary and kind people, but I don’t want to be delayed for more than ten years once I enter the ancient battlefield.
When Qin Keyuan returned to the mortal world, the fishermen and his wife knelt in front of Qin Keyuan and said in great pain that Xiao Zhaoning was taken away by human traffickers when he was four years old, and they could not find him back no matter how hard they searched.
They knew that they had failed to take good care of their children and had failed the immortals. They were willing to die to make amends, and only asked Qin Keyuan to let their children go.
Qin Keyuan did not deal with them and disappeared directly in front of them. He remembered that the child's soul mark should still be alive.
After searching for several months in Nanjing Kingdom, Qin Keyuan met Zhao Ning in the temple of Qingxiao Sect's agency in the early winter of that year.
The little baby holding his hand turned into a delicate and graceful little girl. She was as quiet as before, but in fact her heart was full of defenses and thorns.
Qin Keyuan knew at the first sight when he met Zhao Ning after they reunited that if they recognized each other directly, it would make the little girl even more alienated and guarded.
So, he chose to start everything from scratch and let nature take its course.
A tear fell uncontrollably from her eye. Qin Keyuan sighed and stretched out his hand to wipe away the tears from the corner of her eyes like he did last time.
But Zhao Ning followed his arm and threw herself into his arms.
Qin Keyuan was startled slightly, and put his arms around her. He could feel the moisture on her chest, and Qin Keyuan patted her back very lightly.
"It's me who's late."
"Uncle Master will take care of Zhao Ning in the future, don't entrust Zhao Ning to others, okay?" Zhao Ning looked up from his arms, a tear still hanging on his cheek, "Practice, discuss Tao, experience; marry a wife , give birth to children, accept disciples; inquire about one's heart, take risks, and attain enlightenment; Zhao Ning will never become a burden to my master."
Qin Keyuan's hand that wanted to wipe away her tears froze slightly in mid-air, and he helplessly continued the unfinished action after a moment.
Tears smeared on the fingertips, feeling a little cool.
Zhao Ning looked up at him and called out again, "Uncle."
Qin Keyuan then responded, "Okay."
But he said, "Want to go back and have a look?"
Zhao Ning knew that Qin Keyuan was referring to the two places where people were born and raised on the Qingmo River.
She nodded, "Zhan Fan, why should you be afraid of passing by?"
A few days later, a carriage stopped at the entrance of Jiangfeng Village.
Looking in from the entrance of the village, you can feel the liveliness of the village, with happy people coming and going. There are about ten tables of running water mats in the open space of the village, with big red words of "happiness" plastered on the mats.
Zhao Ning glanced at it and said, "It seems to be someone's wedding banquet."
If you look along the red silk ribbon in the village, you can see the wedding banquet house at the end. The long red silk is twisted into big red flower clusters around the crooked neck tree. Even the ground in the yard is covered from the entrance to the main house. A layer of festive red paper was laid out.
There are four tables of banquets on both sides, prepared for relatives.
The wedding banquet has not yet begun, and the sedan chair has not been carried back after it was carried out of the village.
Zhao Ning and Qin Keyuan covered their bodies and stood in the shadow of the wedding banquet.
Seeing everyone in the courtyard dressed in festive attire, busy coming and going, Zhao Ning still caught the couple who were hosting the wedding banquet.
The two of them looked to be over fifty years old, with gray hair and many wrinkles on their faces, but in fact they were not even old enough to know their destiny.
The rare happy event made them smile more than ever before.
Zhao Ning followed them with her eyes, watching them entertain guests who came to congratulate them, watching them arrange for their relatives to sit down, and watching them stand at the gate of the courtyard in anticipation.
Qin Keyuan asked her, "Do you have any impression of them?"
Zhao Ning still shook his head.
Two hours later, the sound of joy and joy came from outside the town. People from the whole village crowded at the entrance of the village, but they saw a simple-looking man with a red flower on his chest, leading a sedan chair steadily towards the entrance of the village.
The children in the village poked their heads towards the sedan chair to get a clear look at the bride, while the adults blocked the entrance to the village to cheer for the bride.
The sound of joy stopped at the door for only half a stick of incense.
The fishermen couple were so anxious that they rushed out of the yard, squeezed to the entrance of the village, pushed away the crowd of people who liked them, and finally separated a road for the sedan chair to pass.
Until the bride and groom bowed three times and were sent into the cave with everyone's blessings, the fishermen and their wives cried with joy outside.
The woman wiped her tears and said, "If the child is here, he must be married."
The fisherman also said, "With the blessing of the immortal, that child will definitely live a good life. She will be happier than our family Dawen."
Listening to the couple's still slightly worried feelings and the joy that filled the room, Zhao Ning felt as if a shackle was broken in his heart.
Until the wedding banquet went into the night, after sending away relatives, friends, neighbors and guests, the couple entered their house.
Just as the fisherman was about to close the door, he saw a figure falling in the courtyard from the corner of his eye. He looked up in surprise and saw the immortal he had not seen for several years.
"Qin...xian...immortal master."
There was excitement and fear in his words, and the woman seemed to have heard the voice and trotted to the door.
In an instant, the woman grabbed her husband's arm.
They didn't know what to say. Even if Qin Keyuan wanted to kill them now, they would have no regrets.
But unexpectedly, at this moment, a figure walked out from behind Qin Keyuan. It was delicate and graceful, bright and clear, and had an immortal posture.
Zhao Ning looked at them, and they looked at Zhao Ning in shock and trembling.
Until the woman called out cautiously, "Zhao...Zhao Ning?"
Zhao Ning smiled, crossed her hands and saluted, "Zhao Ning came to see you. Thank you for raising me."
The woman no longer stayed by the fisherman's side and walked out in a few steps. She clasped Zhao Ning's shoulders with her rough hands and looked at Zhao Ning up and down, with tears in her eyes. She stretched out her right hand to touch Zhao Ning's cheek, but she couldn't. Trembling and not daring to get close, Zhao Ning leaned forward slightly and pressed his cheek against the woman's right hand.
The woman burst into tears instantly, "Yes, yes, it's that child."
The fisherman moved out in small steps. His emotions were not as strong as the woman's, but they somewhat concealed his emotions.
"Zhao Ning."
Zhao Ning straightened up and smiled at the fisherman.
The fisherman said, "As long as it's okay, it'll be okay."
The woman choked with sobs, "When we went down to the river during the summer solstice, we put you and Wen'er under the tree to play. Who wants Wen'er to be playful and run around chasing crickets, so we left you alone under the tree until we came back. , you disappeared. The aunt next door said that you were taken away by a fake businessman who came to buy fish. Their man led a few people to chase you, but when we waited until dark, we saw the men come back, but you were still missing. "
The fisherman continued, "We went to the government to report the case the next day. The official told us that the fake businessman was a habitual child abductor and trafficker in Nan County. He often secretly took away children and sent them to nearby towns in Nanjing City to sell them. They sent people to arrest them. We tried several times but failed to catch them. Later, we rushed to Nanjing City and happened to meet the new governor, Governor Renshan, and caught the traffickers who were about to escape again. However, we found seven or eight girls from their den, but none of them were I didn’t see you. We really had no choice but to go back to Nan County."
At that time, Zhao Ning ran away in the middle of the journey. Zhao Ning could not remember it. All she could remember was the rickety waterway, the bottom of the car full of dust and mist, and the direction that kept going north.
At this moment, Zhao Ning didn't have much feelings about the past.
"Zhao Ning is extremely grateful to her adoptive parents for being able to do so much for Zhao Ning."
She looked at the two old people and said, "When I came back today, it happened to be Brother Wen's wedding banquet. Here is a small gift to express my congratulations."
Turning over with your left hand, you will find a jade box containing two elixir bottles. "One bottle of elixir can prolong life, and one bottle can relieve all diseases and pain. Please accept it."
Zhao Ning put the jade box on the ground, and the woman took it tremblingly, "This... this gift... we have failed to fulfill our responsibilities of nurturing, and we are really ashamed."
"Adoptive mother, please don't say these words. The kindness of raising you is so great that Zhao Ning will remember it in her heart."
"Mother." But at this moment, the groom walked out of the house and saw two strange men and women standing in the courtyard. He stood there in shock.
"Why did you come out? How could you let Mei Niang be alone in the room on the wedding night?" The woman ran over and scolded the groom.
The groom said quietly, "Mother Mei is hungry, I want to get her something to eat." He looked at the two people again, "Mother, who are these two?"
