Life

21.

When Zhao Jiu opened his eyes, it was already dawn. He sat up and subconsciously searched for Jiang Yuan.

Outside the house was a vast expanse of whiteness, and the heavy snow had stopped.

He touched his forehead, and the temperature had returned to normal.

After putting on his clothes and getting out of bed, as soon as the door was opened, a gust of cold wind came in from his collar, making him shiver.

Jiang Yuan was not in the yard, only two snowmen, one big and one small, stood in the middle of the yard.

Hearing noises outside, Jiang Yuan poked his head out from the stove and saw Zhao Jiu standing in the cold wind, frowning and ran towards him.

"Why did you come out?" Jiang Yuan touched his forehead, and said: "The fever is gone, but you still have to be careful, go back to the house, it's cold outside."

After finishing speaking, he forcefully pushed Zhao Jiu back to the house, but he turned around and entered the kitchen.

Zhao Jiu was sitting by the bed and hadn't recovered yet, when Jiang Yuan opened the door again and came in.

"Drink some soup to dispel the cold."

He was holding a bowl of lotus root pork rib soup in his hand, which had been boiled for a long time, exuding the aroma of lotus root and boiled bones.

"Thank you."

Zhao Jiu took the bowl of soup and drank it while breathing.

Jiang Yuan stood and watched him until Zhao Jiu finished eating the last rib, then he nodded and couldn't help rubbing Zhao Jiu's head: "Good boy."

Zhao Jiu handed the bowl to Jiang Yuan, his face was a little red, he didn't know if it was frozen red or what.

The atmosphere between the two was a bit delicate, but they both tacitly said nothing about what happened last night.

"Drink another bowl, press your stomach first, and I'll cook right away."

Jiang Yuan filled a bowl of soup from the stove and went back to the house, and closed the door for fear that Zhao Jiu would catch a cold.

He put the soup bowl on the table and sat beside Zhao Jiu.

"The soup is still hot, it doesn't matter if you drink it after cooling down."

The distance between the two made Zhao Jiu a little at a loss, so he just nodded slightly.

Jiang Yuan kept looking at Zhao Jiu with his head down, and couldn't hide the smile on his lips.

"Old Zhao..."

Jiang Yuan was about to say something, but before he finished speaking, he suddenly heard a steady knock on the door.

Zhao Jiu raised his head suddenly, and looked at Jiang Yuan with a puzzled expression.

Jiang Yuan frowned slightly, and asked in a low voice, but just enough for the people outside the door to hear, "Who?"

The person outside the door did not answer, and continued to knock on the door in a steady manner, and the sound of knocking was endless.

Jiang Yuan felt something was wrong in his heart, and Zhao Jiu seemed to have sensed something, and shrank his body towards Jiang Yuan's side.

The knocking on the door stopped, Jiang Yuan stood up, and was about to investigate the situation, but sensitively heard the rustling footsteps around him, not just one person, but many people.

The house is surrounded.

22.

Jiang Yuan looked uncertain, and was about to open the door, but Zhao Jiu grabbed him.

Zhao Jiu shook his hand and shook his head at him: "I'll open the door, you sit down."

After speaking, she pressed his shoulders to let him sit down, and went to open the door without saying a word.

He opened the door a very small crack, and saw many officials from the government outside his door.

The leader was a middle-aged man dressed as a headhunter with a long knife on his waist and official boots on his feet, looking at himself.

"Is it convenient for me to come in and sit down?"

Although this is a question, there is a faint air of irrefutable tone in the words.

Zhao Jiu froze and was about to say something when Jiang Yuan's voice came from behind: "Let them in."

Zhao Jiu bit his lip and turned his head, but Jiang Yuan gave him a comforting smile, but this smile was a bit bitter in Zhao Jiu's eyes.

Feeling flustered, he could only take a step back. The middle-aged policeman bypassed him and walked directly in front of Jiang Yuan.

"Jiang Yuan, come with us."

Jiang Yuan raised his head slowly, the corners of his lips gradually curled up, with a strange and cold smile.

"The nose is really good, how did you find it?"

The policeman looked directly at Jiang Yuan, but still answered the question: "The amount of reward offered for arrest is not small, so naturally someone will go to the government to report it."

The room was quiet for a while, and the policeman broke the silence first.

"Jiang Yuan, follow me back to the government."

Jiang Yuan's expression was very calm, even a little relaxed, he laughed out loud, and asked the police: "Why should I go with you?"

The policeman quickly glanced at Zhao Jiu behind him, and said in a reasonable tone: "Because you killed someone, you will pay for it with your life."

"Killing for life?" Jiang Yuan's tone was emotionless, with a little madness in the corner of his eyes, "Killing for life? Only his Jiang Mingzhe's life is valuable, only his Jiang Yuanwai's life is life, and my mother's life is worth it." Can it be treated as worthless? If my mother was killed by him, there is no such thing as killing and paying for her life, right?"

The policeman shook his head and said, "I don't know what's going on with your mother. The case I've received now is that you killed Jiang Yuanwai, so you have to go back to the government with us."

"Oh, people are poor and life is cheap." Jiang Yuan sneered, his eyes suddenly sharpened, "What if I say I won't go with you."

The policeman faintly felt a bit of oppression, "I can't help you, think about this little brother, harboring a fugitive is not a small crime."

Noticing Zhao Jiu who had been silent all this time, Jiang Yuan's eyes were cold and frightening, "Threat me?"

"Our purpose is to take you back. If you follow us obediently, I will naturally not involve others."

"Don't go." Zhao Jiu was in a hurry, he strode to Jiang Yuan's side, grabbed his sleeve and shook his head violently.

Jiang Yuan's complexion softened, and the coldness in his eyes gradually melted, turning into a pool of spring water.

"I should go, I have troubled you for so many days."

Zhao Jiu didn't know what to say, he just kept shaking his head: "Don't go."

He was begging Jiang Yuan to stay, his eyes gradually became moist.

Jiang Yuan smiled at him, still the same tenderness.

Slowly pulling away Zhao Jiu's hand, Jiang Yuan smiled at him, the smile was bitter and helpless: "I also want to stay, but we can't do anything."

"God can't tolerate me, it has always been like this."

Jiang Yuan left without looking back.

23.

When Zhao Jiu chased them out, the group had already left on horseback. After chasing for a while, he stumbled and fell into the snow.

No, he was going to find Jiang Yuan, Zhao Jiu had only one thought in his mind.

He turned around and went home, packed his luggage, took out all his savings, walked for an hour and a half in the cold wind, and finally reached the city.

The arrest warrant at the gate of the city had been torn off, Zhao Jiu asked for the way for a long time before he found out where the yamen was, but he was blocked at the door when he wanted to go in.

The gate guard blocked his way, Zhao Jiu could only ask him anxiously: "Is that Jiang Yuan here?"

The yamen servant thought for a while, and seemed to be thinking about who Jiang Yuan was, and it took him a long time to remember: "Oh, the fugitive who was wanted a few days ago was sent to the capital for interrogation..."

As soon as the words fell, the young man in front of him who asked him ran away in a hurry.

Zhao Jiu wanted to find a carriage to go to the capital, but the coachman said that the road was slippery in the snow and it was not easy to travel, and he would have to wait a few days before leaving.

Naturally, Zhao Jiu couldn't wait so long, so he had to ask family by family. After asking for more than half a mile, he found someone who was willing to go to Beijing, and then he paid the money and set off.

The carriage didn't go fast, it took a day and a night of bumps to reach the capital, and it was already the afternoon of the next day when Zhao Jiu got off the carriage.

As soon as he got out of the car, he pulled passers-by to ask for directions, sweating coldly on his head. Seeing him in a hurry, passers-by couldn't help but chat up a few more words with him.

"I see you are not a local, why did you go straight to the yamen as soon as you came here, and come to join an acquaintance?"

Zhao Jiu took advantage of his breathlessness to answer the passerby: "I'm looking for someone named Jiang Yuan."

The passer-by looked suspicious: "You mean the fugitive who was suppressed overnight?"

Zhao Jiu was overjoyed when he heard about this person, and was about to ask where he was, but the passer-by's next words seemed to pour a bucket of cold water on him.

"You are late. You will be beheaded for public display at noon today, on the execution platform in the market over there."

A passer-by pointed in a direction, and Zhao Jiu's body began to tremble, and his legs ran towards that direction recklessly.

There were some rotten vegetables and rotten eggs on the edge of the execution platform. Zhao Jiu climbed up numbly, not paying attention to the strange gazes of others.

There was still dried blood on the stage, Zhao Jiu reached out to touch it tremblingly, he could even imagine what happened here just now.

The man knelt here, indifferent and desolate, when the switch knife fell, he didn't have the slightest fear, and the smile on his face was the one he was most familiar with.

Zhao Jiu finally couldn't bear it and fell to his knees on the ground, he lay down and began to choke, the tabletop was icy cold, but he seemed to be able to feel the scorching heat of the blood, just like Jiang Yuan's body temperature.

What Jiang Yuan said before leaving rang in his ears again.

"God can't tolerate me, it has always been like this."

God can't tolerate you, I can tolerate you.

Zhao Jiu's eyes began to dry up, and the words he had not said echoed in his heart, and strong emotions hit his heart.

Jiang Yuan, I am pleased with you.

This unspoken sentence, with the fall of that person, can only disappear in the world without a trace.