In the underground secret passage, the only light came from the newly added oil lamp on the wall. Mu Qing leaned against the wall and sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. Zhang Shaoyao squatted in front of him, leaning closer and blinking at him quietly. , the light was shadowy, and the shadows of the two people were intertwined on the ground.
Suddenly, Mu Qing's shoulders trembled, and he opened his eyes, just in time to meet the girl's eyes, "Peony?"
"Ah, brother Aliang, why did you suddenly wake up?" Zhang Shaoyao was startled. He didn't want Mu Qing to see her shy face, so he simply sat on the ground with his back against the wall.
Mu Qing squinted at the secret passage, "How many days have I been sitting here?"
There was no reference for the passage of time in the selection space. Mu Qing was so selfless in learning that his face looked a little tired.
Zhang Shaoyao's right shoulder was next to Mu Qing's. He put his white and tender left hand to Mu Qing's mouth and said crisply: "It's only the afternoon of the second day."
Mu Qing smelled the fragrance in Zhang Shaoyao's palm, swallowed the Wanhua Dan with a slurp, and a stream of clear water slowly melted in his body. He felt better and said with a sigh of relief, "I feel much better. Fortunately, I didn't waste time. "
Zhang Shaoyao looked at Mu Qing's side face with a pair of clear and bright eyes, fluttering his eyelashes and asked curiously: "Are you practicing? Uncle Master said that you may have practiced a meditation method that hides spiritual consciousness, so I never dared to wake you up."
If Mu Qing hadn't been in a coma for three days and was in a similar state just now, Zhang Shaoyao and the others wouldn't be so relieved.
Mu Qing muttered: "It's a long story to talk about."
Zhang Shaoyao puffed up his cheeks and let out a "hum", Mu Qing raised his hand and gently rubbed the girl's bun, and said with a smile: "On the way back to Suzaku City, I have plenty of time, what secrets can I hide from you? "
The fire light flickered, but the girl's eyes were a little cooler, "Okay! Then brother, you have to tell me all the big and small things that happened along the way. If you have enough time, tell me twice."
"Uh--" Mu Qing smiled bitterly in his heart. This was really putting a stone on his own foot. There were some things that he really hadn't thought about how to talk to the girl.
Zhang Shaoyao had an idea, knelt down and stretched out his hands to explore Mu Qing's forehead.
Mu Qing suddenly enjoyed the girl's "flattery". The gentle and soothing fingering was like a spring breeze blowing on the bed. His nose also smelled the girl's unique faint body fragrance. His mind gradually became clear, and he thought that he had always regarded Zhang Shaoyao as his own. My sister looked at it normally and nodded in agreement, "Okay."
Mu Qing took the girl's wrist and stood up together, asking: "How is auntie doing? Has she woken up?"
The little bit of joy that had just arisen in Zhang Shaoyao's heart was immediately washed away completely. He wrinkled his little face and said depressedly: "I watched the second half of the night, but the master didn't show any signs of waking up."
As Mu Qing walked towards the secret room where Huai Fenghua lived, he frowned and said, "It seems that it is as expected by my uncle. Without the second half of the earth spirit root, it would be difficult for my aunt to wake up in a short time."
"elder brother--"
"Um?"
Zhang Shaoyao followed Mu Qing in small steps and walked side by side with him. He lowered his head and said softly: "Uncle Master said, you must not be in danger of losing your life because of Master's affairs. If..."
The girl couldn't speak what happened next.
One is her childhood sweetheart brother who she grew up with, and the other is the master who treats her like a mother. Zhang Shaoyao is heartbroken because she doesn't want to lose anyone.
"Uncle Master told you?"
"Yes. It's not just uncle, senior sister and I are also worried..."
Mu Qing felt warm in her heart and said in a slower voice: "Don't forget, she is your master, and now she is also my aunt."
The corners of Mu Qing's lips curled up. Even if there was no such blood relationship, he would still save her, because Huaifenghua was one of the few warmths that he could clearly feel since coming to Hidden Valley.
"It would be great if I could help more..." Zhang Shaoyao now regrets when he thinks of practicing laziness.
Mu Qing tilted his head to explain to the girl who was blaming herself and worried, "You are two years younger than me, only sixteen third-grade. Anyway, I have never heard of any girl who is as talented as my sister."
"And... you also know that my aunt should know something about my life experience and my relationship with your parents."
"Uncle Master also said that without the remaining half of the earth's spiritual roots, my aunt will be unstable even if she wakes up in half a year."
As the brother and sister spoke, they entered the secret room. Mu Qing stood silently beside Hanyu's bed, and Huaifenghua lay quietly.
Mu Qing stretched out his hand to cover the center of his chest, where there was now a piece of cyan jade pendant that was joined together under the skirt of his clothes.
At first, the jade pendant he gave to Shaoyao was only half, with a herring carved on it. Now when combined with the jade pendant of Huai Fenghua, the two herrings are connected end to end, seeming to silently tell a story of separation and reunification after passing through the years. …
It's a pity that he didn't understand.
The situation was urgent that night, and Mu Qinggen didn't have time to ask Huaifenghua, but now he was constantly troubled by questions in his heart.
Is his mother, the woman named Bai Xueyue, as beautiful and gentle as his aunt?
And why did his father, the man named Lin Xiao, fail to protect his family?
Lin Xiao, Lin...
Mu Qing's eyes narrowed slightly. He could finally have a surname in front of his name, but before he fully understood the past of the previous generation, Mu Qing planned to keep it the same.
Zhang Shaoyao took out a drawer from the medicine cabinet next to the secret room and brought it to Han Yu's bedside.
Mu Qing looked at the drawer and saw that more than half of the Wanhua Dan was missing. He thought the girl was going to start an attack, so he scratched his head and said awkwardly: "Shaoyao, after I woke up from the coma, I was worried about you..."
Zhang Shaoyao's face was extremely serious. He picked up the elixir, which was as white as mutton fat, and quickly put it into his purse one by one. After putting about twenty pills in, he breathed a sigh of relief and looked extremely cool. The ground was handed to Mu Qing.
"You...this is?"
Zhang Shaoyao said crisply: "This is what I prepared for my brother to travel around the world."
"The Ten Thousand Flowers Pill in that drawer was accumulated by saving one or two every time I made it. Later... when the master knew about it, she would also put one or two in after she made the Ten Thousand Flower Pill."
Zhang Shaoyao looked at her master, who had not said a word to her for several days, and said sadly: "Master must be fine, and you must be fine too."
The girl stubbornly did not let go of her hand. After Mu Qing took over this heavy heart, he suddenly remembered that he had not seen Ning Chu and the others, and asked, "Where are they, Uncle Master?"
Zhang Shaoyao raised his face and saw the tiredness on Mu Qing's face. He opened his mouth and lowered his head without saying anything.
Mu Qing felt something was wrong, his mind was spinning, and he frowned and asked: "Jiang Shangxiu said before leaving that the outer disciples from Wanhua Valley should be back today. Did they go to meet those people?"
Zhang Shaoyao shook her head. She was not good at hiding her thoughts. She said intermittently: "Junior Sister Bai and the others, none of them came back...and none of the people from the outer sect came back. Uncle Junior felt something was wrong. He left alone. In the end, senior sister found out and left me alone."
The girl said this, her voice was full of helplessness and grievance, her big eyes were already a little misty in the lingering scent of calming incense at the corner of the bed.
"Senior Sister said that Master and you need my care, but besides adding fragrance on time, what else can I do..."
Mu Qing gently held the girl's thin body in his arms, patted her back and comforted her: "Auntie, I really can't live without you."
Zhang Shaoyao didn't understand the other layer of consciousness in Mu Qing's words. He struggled to raise his head and said angrily: "You want to go too, right?"
Mu Qing nodded silently.
Zhang Shaoyao opened Mu Qing's chest, sat beside Han Yu's bed angrily, lowered his head and said, "Then go quickly..."
For the girl, her father is dead, and the memory of her mother’s gentle face when she held her is becoming increasingly blurry. As long as the master behind her, who looks more and more like her mother, is still there, and her senior sisters and the others are still there, she will still be there. Have a home.
"Then...just stay in the secret room and don't come out. There might be danger outside."
"Go." Zhang Shaoyao raised his head and showed a somewhat pretentious smile.
…
…
When Unitary Time first arrives, the sun begins to set in the west. The afterglow of the setting sun that spreads over the Ponderosa Pine Valley slowly moves away as the sun sets, like an orange-red gauze being slowly lifted away.
The sky was slowly getting dark. On the flat bottom side of Ponderosa Pine Valley, on the hillside covered with yellow pine trees, two slender figures were slowly approaching downwards.
"There are still signs of them being stationed tonight." Huai Caoshi was wearing a black turban, his brows and eyes slightly furrowed above the turban, and he was quickly scanning the situation in the camp.
Ning Chu and Huaicao Shi hid behind two adjacent yellow pines, watching the bonfires being lit one after another, and said with unspeakable doubts in their soft voices, "Jiang Shangxiu shouldn't be able to deceive people, right? What went wrong?"
Huai Caoshi squinted at the largest tent in the center of the camp. There were the most law enforcement patrols in black robes there, and it was in the hinterland...
Ning Chu also followed Huai Cao Shi and looked over. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Uncle, why don't you wait until it gets darker and sneak in to make sure?"
"It's not there." Huai Caoshi's eyes wandered around the camp, and suddenly he saw the southwest corner of the camp, which seemed to be an isolated tent. His eyes moved and he said: "There are several doubts. First, things did not develop as Jiang Shangxiu said. Not even one of the outer disciples has returned, why is that?"
Ning Chu nodded quietly, knowing that Huai Cao Shi probably had her opinion.
"Second, since no one has returned to Ten Thousand Flowers Valley, why are they still in Ponderosa Valley?"
"Third, Jiahe and Jianwen are probably not together. Are they all in the camp, or have they left?"
Ning Chu whispered: "Uncle, are you saying this is a trap?"
Huai Cao Shi frowned and said coldly: "It's an obvious trap."
Ning Chu was condescending and carefully scanned the defenses on one side of the camp. "There are five black-robed law enforcement teams in the open, with ten people in each team. As for the dark... there are some suspicious places in the southwest."
After speaking, she looked at Huai Cao Shi.
Huai Caoshi muttered: "Don't sneak into the camp with me. If something happens to me and I fall into an ambush, you will leave immediately."
"If...I mean if..." Ning Chu looked at Huai Cao Shi and asked, "If we can save one or two people, who can we save?"
Huai Caoshi raised her chin, "Each of their children are good, and they can save anyone. I'm afraid, they have been transferred."
As he spoke, the sky became a little darker. Huai Cao Shi jumped up and hid behind a yellow pine in front. Seeing Ning Chu following closely, he said solemnly: "Shaoyao is still too young, and Wanhua Valley is still too young." I need you, you can’t keep up anymore.”
Ning Chu shook his head and said with a smile: "The peony is as good as the wood. Uncle, don't forget that we in Wanhua Valley are one family."
