catch the rabbit

Xiluo Mountain is a small mountain nearby. People often go there to cut firewood or catch wild rabbits, but they have never heard of ginseng in the mountain.

Lin Wanke borrowed another lantern from Xiao Jin'er's house, and walked to Xiluo Mountain with Le Xin.

Wen An's parents followed behind, asking as they walked, "Will they really be there? Where did the ginseng come from on this hill?"

Le Xin said: "I also heard from the apprentices of Doctor Du's family that someone saw a ginseng doll in Xiluo Mountain. Although it may not be true, you have to look for it."

"Ginseng doll?" Wen An's father muttered, "How can there be such a thing in the world, this stupid boy, just fall into the mountains and be eaten by wolves!"

Even though he said that, he was the fastest walker among the four, and he yelled Wen'an, Wen'an along the way, which was really loud in the quiet mountain.

Although Xiluo Mountain is small, it is not considered steep, but there are many deep pits on the slope, and there are plants with branches and vines everywhere, and it will be scratched if you are not careful.

After Lin Wanke walked for a while, the lantern in his hand was cut by the thorns on the vine, and the candle flame couldn't withstand the wind, and it went out after a while.

"Come closer." Seeing this, Le Xin said to him, "I can't see the road clearly without the lantern, so be careful not to fall."

Lin Wanke leaned closer to him according to his words, and accidentally brushed Le Xin's hand with his fingertips, feeling cold under his fingertips, recalling his physical condition and couldn't help but feel worried again.

However, he was more worried about Lin Baizhi at the moment, and he didn't know where the child had gone. It was dark in the mountains, and it was no way to search for it like this.

When she was anxious, Le Xin suddenly said: "Don't make a sound."

Wen An's father next to him was still yelling, but his wife grabbed him hard before stopping.

"Someone is crying." Le Xin said and pointed to the front.

The others quieted down and listened carefully, but they heard nothing.

"Mr. Le, did you hear wrong?" Wen An's father said harshly.

"It can't be wrong." Le Xin said and walked a few steps forward, shining the lantern over.

Lin Wanke followed to look, and saw a slope ahead, full of gravel and wrist-thick leaves and vines. Because the sky was too dark, only a small area could be illuminated.

"Baizhi! Wen'an! Are you there?" He shouted, but there was no answer.

"I'll go down and have a look." Lin Wanke rolled up his sleeves, ready to climb down the slope.

"I'll go too." Wen An's father handed the lantern to his wife, grabbed a thick vine and jumped down. He only heard a "boom", before Lin Wanke could say "slow down", he fell to the ground .

"It's okay, it's okay!" Father Wen An groaned twice, "Brother Lin, just jump, I'll follow you!"

Lin Wanke also grabbed a vine and slid down the slope, his shoes were almost worn away by the gravel.

After landing on the ground, he took out a fire pocket from his sleeve, and the two of them searched around only by the light from the fire pocket.

Almost all the trees and vines at the bottom of the slope grow in strange shapes, and it looks very scary at night.

They searched for a while, and Lin Wanke also faintly heard crying.

"Baizhi! Wen'an!" He shouted loudly, "Brother is here!"

The subtle cry suddenly amplified several times.

"Big Brother... Big Brother..."

This time he heard it clearly, and rushed towards the direction of the sound.

In front of him was a pile of thorny vines that were tangled together like a ball. He and Wen An's father grabbed them away one by one, so that their palms were all hurt.

When the thorn ball was scratched and a big hole was opened, the two children who were wrapped in it were finally able to poke their heads out.

Lin Baizhi's face was muddy, and his voice was hoarse from crying. Wen An, who was next to him, was shivering with cold, half of his sleeve was torn off.

Each of them picked up one and sent them up with great difficulty.

Wen Anniang cried and laughed while holding the child, and kept saying that she was scared to death by him, tears all over Wen An.

Seeing that his younger brother was fine, Lin Wan's hanging heart finally fell down, but his anger also rose. He slapped his younger brother on the back and said angrily, "Do you know how dangerous the mountains are? I told you not to." You are not obedient to running around, what if something happens to you, what do you want me to do!"

Lin Wanke couldn't cry anymore, he howled hoarsely, turned around and hugged Le Xin without letting go, it seemed that he was really terrified.

Le Xin hurriedly took the child into her arms.

"Just find it. Baizhi is a child after all, don't blame him anymore."

Lin Wanke sighed helplessly, and pressed his brother's dirty little head with his blood-stained hands: "Next time, don't run around, you will scare the elder brother to death."

Both families finally found their treasures. Although they were relieved, they were exhausted after all. When they got home, Lin Wanke realized that the injury on his hand was worse than that of his younger brother.

Lin Baizhi changed his dirty clothes, washed his face, and ate two steamed buns. He felt much better, but his voice was still hoarse.

Le Xin accompanied them back, and saw that Lin Wanke had a wound on his hand, so he took a clean cloth and some medicine to help him bandage it.

Lin Wanke was originally embarrassed to bother him, but he couldn't do the job alone, and it was not good to disturb Sister Jiyun at this time, so he could only sit down obediently.

Lin Baizhi was lying on the table watching, his eyes were still red.

"Wen An and I heard that there are ginseng dolls in Xiluo Mountain, so we wanted to catch them to replenish Mr. Le's body. Wen An said that he made Mr. Le fall ill, and he—"

"I'm just playing for fun, don't say anything for Mr. Le, besides, where in this world do you get ginseng dolls?" Lin Wanke said in a deep voice.

"It's really not for fun." Lin Baizhi felt aggrieved, "Brother, don't believe me. We really saw a fat doll wearing a big red bellyband, but if we were not careful, we fell down, surrounded by those Plant a thorny vine, and you can't escape..."

"What big fat baby, you must be delusional." Lin Wanke said, "Forget it this time, if you run around again next time, I will lock you up and not let you go out."

"Hey, I see." Lin Baizhi responded obediently.

"If you have this kind of heart, sir will be satisfied. Study hard in the future, and don't worry your elder brother all the time." Le Xin tied the last knot, stood up and said, "I should go back too, you guys go to bed earlier."

"I send you."

Lin Wanke hurriedly stood up and went to get the lantern at hand.

Le Xin glanced at him and said, "Your hand is hurt, let me get the lantern."

When the two went out, the entire Fushou Street was completely silent, and the sky was full of stars.

At first, none of them spoke, but when they were about to reach the academy, Lin Wanke said, "Thank you very much today."

Le Xin said: "Thank you. Baizhi is also my student, so naturally I can't ignore his business."

Lin Wanke heaved a sigh of relief, "I'm really going to get sick from him in a hurry."

Le Xin smiled and said, "You brothers have such a good relationship."

During the conversation, the academy also arrived, and Le Xin handed him the lantern: "Be careful when you go back."

Lin Wanke didn't go to pick up the lantern, but held his hand.

Le Xin's hands were colder than he imagined.

"Sorry……"

Le Xin didn't break free, but just sighed softly.

"I said last time that I would never come to see you again, but... I still couldn't do it."

At this moment, footsteps came from behind the door, and Wen Jin's voice was vaguely heard.

"Is the sir back?"

Le Xin hurriedly withdrew her hand, turned around and responded.

Wen Jin opened the door, saw Lin Wanke was there, and asked, "Did you find Baizhi?"

Lin Wanke briefly explained the story, resisted the disappointment in his heart, took the lantern, and prepared to walk back.

"Brother Lin, please come to the academy for a seat tomorrow."

He turned around in surprise.

Le Xin wasn't looking at him, but these words were clearly addressed to him.

"I have something to tell you."

He foolishly agreed, and stood like a wooden man watching the door of the academy close.

Le Xin said that she had something to tell him, what could it be?

Lin Wanke didn't sleep well all night because of thinking about this problem.

I got up in the morning to make pastries. After kneading the dough for a long time, I realized that my hands were injured and I couldn't touch them.

When eating breakfast, he stretched his chopsticks into the porridge bowl to pick up vegetables, picked up the bowl and drank the porridge, and was laughed at by his younger brother.

When I told the shopkeepers of various stores that I hurt my hand and couldn’t deliver pastries for a few days, several of them asked him what happened, so many people asked him over and over again about the topic of ginseng dolls.

Then he went to deliver new lanterns to Xiao Jin'er's house, but it happened that there was no one in his house, and it was already lunch time when his parents came back.

Lin Wanke tossed and tossed like this for a long time. When everything was done and he really wanted to go to the academy, he realized that he was actually afraid.

He was afraid that Le Xin would point him to a portrait of a woman, saying that this was his sweetheart, and make him give up.

He was even more afraid that Le Xin would tell him that because he couldn't stand his pestering, he was going to close the academy and leave the capital, and never see each other again.

In short, Lin Wan was too scary, so when Wen Jin took him to the study and saw Le Xin writing quietly, he was so nervous that he couldn't breathe for a moment.

Seeing him coming, Le Xin picked up a pen and slowly wrote two lines on the paper.

The lotus turns white in the wind, and the lotus cheeks turn red in the rain.

Lin Wanke remembered that he said that this was his favorite poem of Yonglian.

"I said before that I would teach you to write this." Le Xin said while writing, "Do you still want to learn now?"

Lin Wanke nodded.

"But this sentence is about the remnant lotus, not the blooming lotus."

Lin Wanke was slightly shocked when he heard the words, and remembered that it was still the Lotus Watching Festival, when the lotus bloomed most beautifully, he dipped his finger in water and wrote these two lines of poems on the lotus lantern, and then let the lantern go away under the brilliant fireworks in the sky .

"Xiao Lin, many things... are not what you think." Le Xin said, "How much do you know about my past?"

Lin Wanke thought for a while, and said: "I heard something from Wen Jin and the tea man, and I know that the husband's family is originally in Zhizhou, he is the second son in the family, and he has an elder brother and a younger sister."

"Then you should also know that I am a concubine. I have been in poor health since I was a child, and I have always caused troubles for the family, so I am not loved by my family. In the entire Le family, only my younger sister is still close to me."

He spoke slowly, and Lin Wanke also listened quietly.

"I... was actually kicked out by my family. As for what happened, I really don't want to mention it again. I just want you to know that the Le Xin you saw was not as good as you thought."

When Le Xin said this, her voice gradually sank.

"I said I wanted to close the academy because... because someone who was acquainted with Lejia saw me in the capital, and I wanted to leave because I was worried about causing trouble. It has nothing to do with you."

Lin Wanke couldn't help but said: "Mr. Le, is someone trying to trouble you? Don't be afraid, I—"

"Don't you understand?" Le Xin interrupted him, "You can't help me, and I don't want to cause any trouble."

He slowly put away the paper and ink on the table, and sighed softly: "I also hate this academy and those children, but there is really no other way... If there is no accident, I will leave in a few days. "

He took out a stack of books and a brand-new set of Four Treasures of the Study, and handed them to Lin Wanke.

"I don't have anything else with me, these are for you."

Lin Wan didn't answer, but just looked at him fixedly.

"Mr. Le, I don't force you to tell me about your difficulties, but if you have any difficulties, I will definitely help you!"

"I understand what you mean." Le Xin forced a smile at him, "If you really don't want to embarrass me, then don't ask any more questions. I don't want to, and I can't drag you down."

He said and stuffed the things into Lin Wanke's hands: "You go back. Baizhi and other students are there, I will tell them."

"But--"

"There are some things that I can't say now, but if I meet again in the future, I will definitely tell you."

There was a smile in Le Xin's clear eyes.

"And... all this time, thank you."

Lin Wanke stared blankly at the smiling man in front of him, and all his words lost their meaning at that moment.

He knew that no matter what he said, he couldn't stop him from leaving.

The sound of copper bells from the eaves of the academy and the chattering laughter of children can be heard faintly in my ears, it is time for class.

Did those children know that this might be Mr. Le's last lesson for them?

Le Xin tidied up the poetry books, turned around and said a word to him before walking out of the study.

He didn't hear what he said, maybe goodbye, maybe take care, or something else.

But he understood Le Xin's eyes.

It was the helplessness and guilt that he was familiar with but unfamiliar.

Lin Wanke couldn't help but wonder if the reason why Le Xin didn't respond to his confession was because he knew that he would leave here one day?

Although this kind of thinking is too optimistic, he would rather think like this.

Lin Wanke held the book, pen and ink that Le Xin gave him, and secretly made up his mind that even if it was really the end of his fate, he would make the last effort to protect Le Xin.

If he can't even protect the person he likes, then there will be nothing he can do in this world.

***

When he got up and opened the window that day, Jiang Tiaotiao found that the leaves on the tree had fallen.

In the past, he never knew that time flies so fast.

The scene of Yueranju’s bustling opening seemed like yesterday, but now it’s almost November.

In a few days, it will be the day when he attains Taoism and becomes an immortal, but Jiang Tiaotiao doesn't feel happy or looking forward to it at all.

Xiaolan and A Ling were very happy, and Yueranju had a little guest recently, and they were as happy as every day for the holidays.

This guest is from Peach Blossom Valley, his name is Xiaoyeer, and his real body is a thousand-year-old ginseng.

His body is a fat doll wearing a big red bellyband, with a braid on the top of his head, clean and fresh, with silver bells on his hands and feet, so cute that everyone wants to pinch him when they see him.

Xiao Ye'er's trip is a gift for the peach fairy in Peach Blossom Valley.

Taoxian and Jiang Tiaotiao are acquainted, and knowing that he is about to become a fairy, he specially sent many good things to congratulate him.

It’s just that Xiao Ye’er didn’t seem very happy when he came to give the gift. After asking, I found out that he went to Xiluo Mountain to visit the old friend of Vine Demon before coming to Yueranju, and he was seen in real body, so the rumors spread wildly , The more he said, the more outrageous it was, causing many people to go to Xiluo Mountain to dig ginseng, and hurt many little vine demons.

"The people in the capital are too bad." Xiao Ye'er pouted, "Even the children are bad. When I went to heal the little monsters, two children saw me and said they wanted to catch me and cook them." .”

"And then?" Xiaolan and the others asked.

"I lured them into Aman's trap. Although Aman won't hurt them, he must teach them a lesson." Xiao Ye'er proudly said.

"Well done." Huang Cai boasted.

"Are these two children okay in the end?" Jiang Tiaotiao asked.

Xiao Ye'er giggled: "Of course it's okay, their family finally found them."

"Some people in the capital are really bad." Baoxiu said.

"Of course, there are also many good people!" Ah Ling hastily added.

"Although I haven't seen a good person, I know who is the worst, the worst, the worst." Xiao Ye'er climbed onto the table as she spoke, and crossed her white and tender legs like lotus root joints, "It's a little girl named Li Zhi asshole!"

"Li Ren?" Everyone's eyes widened, "How do you know him?"

"Because of Yanpu." Xiao Ye'er said, "You probably don't know that Yanpu has been unhappy every day since he returned to Peach Blossom Valley. One day I heard him tell Taoxian that he wanted to beg her to get rid of his demon. Gu, do you think he is crazy?"

As soon as he mentioned Rouge, Ah Ling and the others were silent, and each of them lowered their heads, Xiao Lan's eyes were even red.

"I really want Rouge..."

"Don't cry." Xiao Ye'er wiped her tears with her chubby little hand, "Roupu is fine, Taoxian will not unload his demon bones. But she secretly used the dreaming technique on Roupu, and then I know that Yan Pu is so abnormal because of a mortal named Li Zhen."

Huang Cai said coldly: "This person surnamed Li is indeed not a good person."

Xiao Ye'er nodded: "Tao Xian usually hurts Yan Pu the most, knowing that he was bullied, he was very angry."

"Li Zhi didn't bully Yanpu," Jiang Tiaotiao said, "he just..."

"He obviously has a fiancée, and he also knows that Roupu is a monster, and he still comes to provoke him like this, isn't it bullying?" Although Xiao Ye'er's voice is immature, what he said is not very polite, "You also know Roupu's temper Well, if others treat him a little better, he will remember everything in his heart, and it would be a hundred times better to go back to others, and now it is like this... Well, it would be great if he didn't come to Yueranju."

As soon as he said this, Jiang Tiaotiao's eyes darkened.

"I'm not blaming you, Tiao Tiao, it's none of your business." Xiao Ye'er said hastily.

Baoxiu came out to smooth things over, and reached out to grab Xiao Ye'er's braid.

"You little boy."

"Don't pull my braids." Xiao Ye'er glared at him, "Besides, I'm just a kid on the outside, if I had a choice, I'd rather be like you."

Baoxiu's body was a fat man, her cheeks were bulging like dough balls, and even Xiaolan was amused when a doll who was also chubby said so.

Jiang Tiaotiao couldn't laugh at all.

Xiao Ye'er was right, if he hadn't brought his rouge to leap forward, all this wouldn't have happened.

It's a pity that there is no way to turn back time in this world, otherwise he would never bring Yanpu out of the Peach Blossom Valley, which has nothing to do with the world.

After the congratulatory gift was delivered, Xiao Ye'er went back after staying in Yueran for two days, but the matter of Roupu was still hanging in everyone's mind.

"How painful it must be to unload the demon bone, otherwise you will die." Xiao Lan sighed while laying on the table, "Roupu seems to really like that prodigal son."

"What does it mean to like it?" A Ling asked, "I don't think Li Jian is so good to Rouge."

"Young man, if you give you another 100 years, you won't understand." Baoxiu shrugged. Yes, maybe it's the one you care about the most. Of course, the most painful thing is that you miss someone else, but that person doesn't care about you at all."

As he spoke, he glanced at Huang Cai.

Huang Cai was furious when he saw him: "What are you staring at me for?"

"It's nothing, I just want to ask if there is any way you can help Roupu." Baoxiu pretended to be innocent.

Huang Cai said: "What can I do? Yan Pu's Taoism is still shallow, and it will take at least 1000 years to become an adult. At that time, it is not sure whether Li will be a cat or a dog."

After a pause, he continued: "It's not that I'm speaking sarcasticly. It's really the fastest way to get rid of the demon bone, but even if it succeeds, his lifespan will not be longer than 20 years."

"Taoxian won't let him do such a stupid thing." Huangcai saw that everyone was depressed, and then comforted him, "It's just the first time Yanpu has seen mortals treat him well. After hundreds of years, he How can I remember who Li Zhi is."

"Speaking of which, Li Zhi hasn't come for a long time." A Ling leaned back on the chair, "I really miss him."

"He's going to get married." Jiang Tiaotiao, who had been silent all this time, said, "It will be at the end of this month."

"So fast..." Xiaolan put her hands into her sleeves and let out a breath: "It's so cold, it's winter."

Winter always seems to come very fast.

When the first snow fell in the capital, the son of the prime minister married a beautiful lady.