As the night progressed, the candles on the table began to burn out, and the candlelight became increasingly dim.
The only person who was still awake in the wine shop seemed to be Wen Jirou.
He looked at Uncle Ayi in the distance, who seemed to be sleeping more deeply than before, so he took out some broken money from his arms and put it on the table, and helped the woman who was sleeping at the desk beside him.
The green bamboo slats hissed a little with the breeze in the night.
The village was extremely quiet late at night, except for the occasional gentle calls of birds.
On the winding path under the moonlight, there was only one man walking slowly, with a woman in white lying on his back, quietly and motionless.
As if he was afraid of disturbing her sleep, the man walked very slowly.
Passing by Uncle Ayi's house, thinking that his owner was back, the puppy squatting in the yard barked excitedly. Wen Jirou quickly made a shushing gesture to him. When she saw that the person passing by the door was not her owner, the puppy lay down on the ground without interest.
"You really don't treat me as an outsider." Wen Jirou looked at the puppy who was not wary of him at all. "Uncle Ayi would be depressed if he knew that you were so wary of us."
The head lying on the shoulder moved at this time.
"you're awake?"
The village was silent under the moonlight. Gu Jianghe wanted to jump off his back, but Wen Jirou stopped her.
"Don't move. You need to sober up. I'd better carry you back. Otherwise, that girl of yours will see you and I'm afraid I'll have to chew on you."
Thinking of Jiuxia's increasingly nagging appearance since Qingyang left, Gu Jianghe couldn't help but laugh. He became calm and lay quietly on Wen Jirou's body.
"Your drinking capacity seems to have dropped a lot. When I saw you in the Central Plains, you were not like you are now." Wen Jirou hesitated for a while and then asked. He remembered that he had just met her at that time. At that time, she often held a wine bottle and drank. At that time, she seemed to never get drunk.
"I used to drink to resist the pain caused by cold illness," Gu Jianghe's muffled voice whispered from behind, "Later, in Mingyue Sect, although Qingling removed part of the cold poison from me, my It seems that the body can no longer withstand the aftereffects of strong alcohol.”
When the Mingyue Sect was mentioned, both of them seemed to fall silent.
It actually didn't take long to walk home from the wine shop in Zhaitou, but tonight the road seemed particularly long.
"By the way, you haven't told me yet, haven't you been tickled by the neighbor's aunt? Why did you end up in the Central Plains again?" Thinking of the last question he asked before falling asleep, Gu Jianghe suddenly remembered that she seemed to I didn't hear the rest of the story.
"You remember clearly," Wen Jirou chuckled. He looked up at the moon. The moon seemed to be particularly bright tonight. "After my mother died, my aunt wanted to bury her for me, but the second time Oh my God, her body is missing."
Gu Jianghe's thoughts moved and he asked hurriedly: "Did Qing Ling do it?"
He nodded: "Yes, it was Qingling who took away my mother's body. But I didn't know that at that time, she was my only relative in those young years, although she was not very good to me -
After she died, I didn't know what to do for a while. My aunt probably took me in because she felt sorry for me. "
"But, she abandoned you again?"
Unknowingly, the two of them had returned to the small bamboo house where Gu Jianghe lived.
The dim candlelight shone through the half-open window, reflecting the looming appearance of the woman sitting by the window.
She held her cheeks with her hands, but kept lowering her head, and her long hair swayed with her movements.
Gu Jianghe jumped off Wen Jirou's back and saw the sleepy Jiu Xia through the window. He made a shushing gesture to Wen Jirou and stopped him from quietly walking into the small courtyard. He sat down on the stone bench in the courtyard.
"That girl has been nagging a lot lately. Let's sit here for a while and wait until the smell of alcohol has dissipated before we go back."
After spending this time together, Wen Jirou seemed to have gotten used to Gu Jianghe's temperament, and she did not refuse to sit down.
Although the nights in southern Yunnan are much cooler than the days, they are still accompanied by scorching heat.
"Do you know why I was bald when I was a kid?"
Gu Jianghe looked at his white hair and suddenly realized something.
Albinism is rare in the world.
Not to mention that she, a doctor who has been practicing medicine for many years, has not seen a few real cases, let alone those ordinary people who only know how to farm. When you see such a person, you will probably think of him as a monster.
"Shaving your head is probably your mother's way of protecting you."
"That's right," Wen Jirou sighed softly. This was the rare tenderness between his mother and him in those years. I'm afraid it's also the reason why he is so obsessed with it now. "When I was young, my eye color was not as bright as before." Now it is so obvious that I only have this hair color. In order to prevent others from noticing my difference, my mother shaved off my hair——
But since my mother died, I followed my aunt back home. My aunt didn't know my situation, and I didn't know either. "
A sad look seemed to flow out of Wen Jirou's pale pink eyes.
"In just a few months, all my hair grew out. The color of my hair was as white as snow, but it made my aunt see a monster." Wen Jirou laughed at herself, "Because my hair color is strange. Compared to ordinary people, even the whole village thinks I am an alien, and my aunt can’t stand it, and she finally understands the reason why my aunt shaved my head.”
"So in the end, she abandoned you?"
"Yes," Wen Jirou nodded, "She couldn't stand that her usually kind neighbors were now avoiding her, so in the end, she abandoned me, the second year after my mother's death."
Even though he later became the master of the wind and rain, even one person was inferior to ten thousand people in the court, but the pain he suffered when he was young could not be forgotten so easily.
Just for the few warmth that supported him through so many years, Gu Jianghe couldn't help but think of her brother. The time he spent in the Mingyue Sect for so many years was probably even worse than that of Wen Jirou. Not much better.
She didn't know how to comfort the person in front of her. After thinking for a while, she suddenly got up and went to a heather tree planted by the courtyard. She picked up the small hoe on the side and dug under the tree, mouthing while digging. Li also murmured: "I remember that I was buried here."
Seeing that she was struggling to dig, Wen Jirou quickly stood up and said, "What are you digging for?"
"Yes, yes," a touch of red appeared in the soil. Gu Jianghe happily threw away the hoe in his hand, pulled out the touch of red with force, held it in his arms and showed it excitedly to the people behind him. ,"look."
What was held in Gu Jianghe's arms turned out to be a jar of wine.
Wen Jirou was a little bit dumbfounded.
"You've just sobered up, are you planning to drink again?"
Gu Jianghe hurriedly made a shushing gesture: "This is the wine brewed before Qingyang left. It is our Yaowang Valley's exclusive secret recipe Haitang wine. I secretly hid this jar here, but I must not let Jiuxia Discovered. Believe me, after drinking Begonia wine, your mood will become much better."
Wen Jirou took the wine jar from Gu Jianghe, opened the seal, and took a sip.
A faint aroma of wine penetrated from the lips into the lungs.
"What a special wine." Wen Jirou admired sincerely.
"Not bad," Gu Jianghe said happily, "This was my favorite wine before. It's a pity that I can't find Begonia flowers as good as Yaowang Valley here, otherwise this wine would taste better."
The woman in front of him talked happily about the wine in his hand, but Wen Jirou noticed her pause when she mentioned Qingyang and Yaowang Valley: "Do you miss your master and Qingyang?"
Gu Jianghe was stunned for a moment, but did not deny it: "It has been almost half a year since Qingyang returned to the Central Plains with Nanli Luo. I don't know if she is well. I thought I could drink her wedding wine, but it is impossible. Master also I wonder if it’s okay?”
"The days are still long, and there will eventually be a chance."
Wen Jirou raised her head and took another sip of the wine in her hand, smiling and comforting the woman in front of her.
The moonlight shone on the two of them through the gaps in the heather trees, and everything around them was silent as if time had stopped.
The woman in front of the window was still drowsy.
The two people chatting happily under the heather tree.
Gu Jianghe thought she would stay in southern Yunnan for the rest of her days, living such a peaceful life. Maybe she would never step foot in the Central Plains again in this life, but she never thought that in just two days, Wen Jirou would bring her news about an old friend she thought she would never have any interactions with again.
The evening glow was as red as a blazing flame, dyeing the bamboo building she lived in a bright red.
When Wen Jirou knocked on the door of Zhulou, Jiuxia had just finished cooking.
"Brother Wen, you came just in time, dinner is about to start." When Jiuxia saw the person coming, she quickly reached out to greet him, but without stopping, she took out bowls, chopsticks and vegetables from the kitchen back and forth.
Wen Jirou's face was a little solemn.
"What happened?"
The glow gradually faded away and the room began to get dark. Gu Jianghe reached out and lit the candle on the table.
"There is news from the Central Plains that the leader of Perak Sect Zhou has passed away."
"Huh?" Gu Jianghe raised his eyebrows, "I have heard of his name before. He is very famous in the world. What is your relationship with him?"
"I have nothing to do with him, but Ranchen has something to do with him."
Hearing this name that he had not heard for a long time, Gu Jianghe's candle-lighting hand seemed to pause.
"In order to save him, I told him the secret that I was the son of the underworld. In order to make me believe in his sincerity, he also told me his secret -
He is the deceased son of the Zhou Sect Master of Perak Sect. "
Jiu Xia, who came back from the kitchen, was a little shocked when she heard this. She put down the dishes in her hands and sat down at the table: "I heard that the Master Zhou of Perak Sect once had an extremely angry person. My son, everyone in the world said that if he inherited the Perak Sect, the Perak Sect would be even more victorious than it is now, but unfortunately he was assassinated later."
Jiuxia shook her head slightly as she spoke, seeming to feel sorry for the legendary young pride, but then she remembered what Wen Jirou had just said, and asked with some shock: "The city lord turned out to be the legendary assassin who was assassinated." The dead young master of the Perak Sect?"
"That's right." Wen Jirou nodded, "Just a few days after Clan Master Zhou was buried, his widow, Mrs. Zhou, disappeared. I guess it has something to do with Ranchen. I'm a little worried about him."
"Do you want to see him?" Gu Jianghe looked at the person in front of her. She could see that he was really worried about him.
"Yes, I am very worried about him. Ranchen is the first true friend I have made in my life."
"Since you are worried about him, let's go back to the Central Plains to see him."
Gu Jianghe smiled slightly, picked up the bamboo chopsticks on the table and handed them to him.
"I do have such a plan, so I came here today to ask you two if you are willing to go to the Central Plains with me?"
Jiuxia was very happy when she heard Wen Jirou's suggestion: "Okay, girl, Qingyang has been gone for so long. I really miss her. If we go to Yunzhong City, can we drink from her?" Have a wedding?"
Gu Jianghe hesitated.
There are people she cares about in the Central Plains, but there are also people she has to care about in southern Yunnan. But how long can her body really support her? If we see each other again, is it better not to meet again?
At that time, Qing Ling's words seemed to come to her mind again.
"Has the weather here made you feel much more comfortable recently?" After the silver-light spirit butterflies circled Gu Jianghe's side for several times, they all flew back to Qing Ling's hand, and he placed them on Gu Jianghe's hand. The hand in front of him was retracted, and the ray of silver light slowly disappeared in his hand.
Gu Jianghe nodded. The unique warm climate in southern Yunnan made her body, which had been eroded by cold illnesses over the years, feel a rare sense of comfort. Even the method of keeping warm by drinking alcohol before came here, but I gradually started to give it up after coming here.
"I told you before that your cold disease has been in your body for too long and I can't completely pull it out for you."
"I know. Master once told me when he saved me that the cold enters the Yin meridians, the lungs are bone-chilling, and the disease is deep into the bones. There is no cure."
"The doctors in Yaowang Valley really have the holy hand to save people," Qing Ling said with some admiration, "You should have only had one breath left at the beginning, but she was able to save you from such a serious condition. It must have cost a lot of money. Less strength."
Speaking of her master, she became happy: "That's true, my master is the best doctor in the world."
"But no matter how good the doctor is, he is not a fairy." Qing Ling sighed. The woman sitting in front of her looked very much like her mother, but she also had a gentle aura that the woman from southern Yunnan did not have. "You will do your best. When you were treating the Lord of Yunzhong City, I warned you not to waste your life."
"I won't live long, right?" As if he expected it, Gu Jianghe didn't look surprised, but raised his head and looked at him, and said quietly, "I have been practicing medicine for so many years, how could I not know whether I can survive?" As for my fate, if it weren’t for your help, I would have died in the Mingyue Sect.”
Qing Ling was silent.
Gu Jianghe is indeed very different from his Ayouduo. She seems to be more transparent about the world and takes her own life and death more indifferently.
"Can you tell me how long I can live?"
"Five to ten years."
"Five to ten years," Gu Jianghe murmured to himself, "that's enough. I still have time to spend time with my brother and Jiuxia."
Seeing that Gu Jianghe was a little distracted, Qing Ling didn't say anything more and wanted to get up and leave.
"Priest Qingling." Gu Jiangheque called out to him.
"Um?"
"Can you please not tell my brother about this?" Gu Jianghe hesitated for a while and then spoke, "We have been separated for too long. If he knew that we would not meet again, I might die and he would be sad. of."
"Okay." Qing Ling nodded.
The long and somewhat pale fingers held the bamboo chopsticks in his hands in trance.
Jiuxia found Gu Jianghe who was stunned and pushed her gently with her hand, and her thoughts came back from her memory in an instant.
"What's wrong?"
"Girl, we are talking about returning to the Central Plains. Why are you so dazed?"
Jiuxia looked at Gu Jianghe who was in a daze, and said angrily and funnyly: "You see the food is cold, I'll take it in and heat it up, you two wait a little longer.
"I know what you are hesitating about," Wen Jirou suddenly said when she saw Jiuxia walking into the kitchen, "You are afraid that if you go back to the Central Plains, you won't have the chance to come back to see your brother, right?"
"You-" Gu Jianghe looked at Wen Jirou in shock.
"I know everything about Qing Ling's treatment for you, and I also know that with your body, I'm afraid you won't be able to live as long as a human being," Wen Jirou said in a low voice, as if she was afraid that Jiu Xia would hear it, she paused, Suddenly he looked at the woman in front of him and said, "I know you don't want them to know, so I never mentioned it, but I want you to tell me honestly, how long can you live?"
She has always kept this secret in her heart, fearing that the people closest to her would know about it. At this time, she was exposed, but she was not angry at all. Instead, she seemed to have finally found an outlet to confide.
"Five to ten years."
"Okay, then let's go back to the Central Plains to meet your master and Qingyang. If Ranchen is fine, we will return here immediately. In this way, you will not have any regrets in the rest of your time."
"Okay." Wen Jirou's words seemed to give her great confidence. Her eyes curved into crescent moons and she smiled.
