The night wind was filled with the fragrance of the forest, blowing on their clothes. After Dongfang Shiming finished speaking, he turned his eyes back to Jia Qian, waiting for his judgment on his guess.
After hearing what he said, Jia Qian didn't come back to his senses for a long time.
After a moment, he nodded as if he had woken up from a dream: "...What you said is absolutely correct."
"I'm just worried that those extremely vicious guys won't be able to restrain themselves one day and discover my whereabouts, and that will be the end of me."
As Jia Qian spoke, his body couldn't help but tremble slightly, and he looked extremely worried, "I am still in my prime, my ambitions have not been fulfilled, my fame has not been achieved, and I don't even have a wife. To be on the road to hell like this... is so miserable. "
Dongfang Shiming originally felt sad for him, but he didn't know why he wanted to laugh.
I heard him say in a low voice: "The sage once said... that, it is better to die than to live. I think what he said... that is quite reasonable."
"Yes, who is not afraid of death?" Dongfang Shiming kicked another stone away from his feet and listened to the muffled sound of it rolling and jumping into the grass beside the road. "Your feelings are not shameful."
"Well, I also know how to sacrifice one's life for justice. But to end up like this without knowing why someone else is at fault, I always feel... it doesn't quite feel right." Jia Qian was afraid that Dongfang Shiming would laugh at him, so he hurriedly explained to him again. But only halfway through his words, his momentum was diluted by the worry and fear in his heart.
Dongfang Shiming also felt a little pitiful for him. No matter what kind of thing happens to any ordinary person, the fear in their hearts should be greater than the illusory sense of honor it brings.
He looked at the starry sky, hesitating in his heart and began to think about countermeasures.
The two fell into a brief silence again, with only different breathing sounds between them.
Jia Qian felt uneasy and glanced at Dongfang Shiming from time to time, wanting to see how he would react after learning about his bad luck.
Suddenly, Dongfang Shiming stopped. Jia Qian also stopped quickly and looked back at him.
Dongfang Shiming bent down and broke off a piece of dogtail grass and played with it in his hand. He raised his head and asked Jia Qian: "By the way, you probably won't let this kind of rumor spread forever, right? Have you taken any measures before?"
Jia Qian grimaced: "How could it not be? But it failed several times."
"How?" Dongfang Shiming asked immediately.
Jia Qian scratched his head: "That's right... when this rumor first started, I planned to stay up in the middle of the night and stare under the window to see who was playing a prank on me."
"However, a while after the third watch, I didn't see any sneaky figures, but I don't know when, there was...an extra body at the door." Jia Qian couldn't help but feel frightened when he recalled it. , "The corpse couldn't have come to me on its own. It must have been done by ghosts."
Dongfang Shiming frowned, wrapped the grass stems around his fingers, and looked at him incomprehensively: "Is that all you did?"
"No, no, no, there are further measures." Jia Qian shook his head repeatedly and continued to recall, "In the next few days, such rumors became more and more serious and appeared everywhere. That day I was so heartbroken that I simply sat at the door of the inn at night. Wait for the body to be delivered to your door."
Dongfang Shiming nodded and expressed his approval: "That's right. What happened next?"
"Later..." Jia Qian's expression became even more bitter, as if he was crying in the dark night.
"It's so bizarre. During the third watch, I didn't know why I was in a daze for a while, in a state of half-asleep. But when I regained consciousness and regained consciousness, then... The corpse came on time again!"
Dongfang Shiming tightened the grass stem in his hand. In such a situation, the person behind the scenes was probably using some tricks. After all, Ecstasy Incense, Sleeping Powder, etc. all have such effects. It is more than enough to hypnotize an ordinary scholar like Jia Qian who has no inner strength.
"When I faced this scene, I almost fainted from fear. However, I didn't care about anything at that time, so I plucked up the courage and just... dragged the body away."
Jia Qian trembled with his hands, as if he still had lingering fears, which could even be regarded as a psychological shadow: "I dragged the dead body alone in the middle of the night. It was really scary... I dragged it so far that it felt like nothing happened anymore. , I just returned to the inn."
"But, you know, when the next morning came, the corpse came back again!" Jia Qian suddenly patted his thigh anxiously, looking very excited, "It was the one I threw away, and he actually followed me back. Inn! Thinking about it now, I feel chills running down my spine."
Dongfang Shiming walked over and gently touched his shoulder, signaling him not to get excited.
But he didn't make any immediate conclusion, because Jia Qian had indeed done what he could do. It seemed that the person behind the scenes was determined to play this joke on him.
"What else can I do? I can't stay up all night every day, right? I have to travel during the day. This is really teasing." Jia Qian calmed down his mood, and his attitude fell back to the previous depression, and he sighed one after another. .
I don't know when the moon has gradually climbed to the zenith, and the sound of dogs barking has gradually become silent.
The night wind was chilly, which aroused Jia Qian's tiredness. He yawned. After all, it was normal to be tired after traveling eighty miles a day.
Dongfang Shiming obtained the currently lacking information and made a more mature guess about the current situation. Seeing that Jia Qian had the idea of going back, he stopped forcing him, and they walked back to the inn together.
On the way, Jia Qian turned his head quietly and suggested to Dongfang Shiming in a pleading tone: "Brother Xian, how about this? You will be on duty at midnight, and I will be on duty at midnight. Let's catch the mysterious man behind the scenes together." , but this will involve you..."
Before he could finish speaking, Dongfang Shiming smiled and shook his head.
There was pity in his eyes, and he said calmly to Jia Qian: "The matter is now over, Brother Jia, the most important thing is not the mysterious man or the corpse. The man behind the scenes has great powers, how can I catch him with you and me?" What's more, the reputation of the scholar who eliminates evil has already been extremely famous. Even if he successfully removes the body once, it will be in vain and will not help."
In fact, he also considered another point, which was the purpose of the person behind the scenes.
With such an extraordinary ability, he would definitely not be so bored as to amuse a mediocre scholar. He must have his own plan. In this case, he simply made a bet with that person and helped him move forward. The bet was that Jia Qian and his own life were safe.
"Then what should we do?" Jia Qian heard what he said made sense and tried to ask for a countermeasure.
Dongfang Shiming looked at him, pondered for a moment, then suddenly tore off the warm grass stem in his hand, and said gently but firmly: "Have a good rest, and continue on your way tomorrow morning."
Then, he gently let go, and the two pieces of grass stems flew to the ground in the distance with the night wind.
The moonlight rested on the treetops, and behind the quiet coolness, the colors of the mountains gradually faded into the dark night.
