Zhu He

"It's so late, are you practicing?" Dong Qinghe asked, pulling his eyes back from Chang Jiaci's forehead.

Jiaci quickly shook his hands, originally wanting to say that he was too tired to practice tonight, but in the end his complaint was replaced by "I'm just washing clothes..."

It was only after I spoke of the blessings that I realized that I had just left my clothes in the water in a hurry to chase the peacock. I was about to turn around and hurried back to get them, but found that the clothes flowed to me along the side of the stream.

Although Jiaci hurriedly picked it up quickly, without even bothering to wring it dry, even though it was wet and cold splashing all over his body, he wanted to hold it in his arms, but Dong Qinghe still saw a hole in the clothes, and there was still Uncleaned bits of blood foam.

Facing Shang Jiaci's hiding eyes, Dong Qinghe shook his head helplessly, and grabbed the child's hand.

Jiaci was startled, and felt a warmth coming from the palms of the two, and it spread to the whole body, steaming all the wet clothes on the chest in an instant, and even burning the heart in the chest.

Before Jiaci realized that he wanted to thank him, Dong Qinghe let go of him and went to unbutton the other party's clothes, which made Jiaci instinctively take a big step back, and stared at the person in front of him in disbelief.

Only then did Dong Qinghe realize that he had frightened the other party, and smiled apologetically: "I just want to see your injury."

Chang Jiaci's eyes swayed, he was overwhelmed by flattery, he pinched the corners of his clothes with both hands like a little daughter-in-law, and nodded embarrassingly after struggling for a long time.

"I, myself... come."

After stumbling with his fingers, he unbuttoned the outer shirt, revealing the young man's thin body.In terms of appearance alone, Jiaci is actually not bad looking, with clear features and good facial features, but with a dark complexion, he looks like a healthy child from the village.But I don't know if the moonlight tonight is particularly bewitching, the gleaming white light softens and delicates the young man's appearance, covering his face and body with a layer of light and faint color, making the facial features that have no edges and corners look softer It became clear, especially those eyes, which were as black as lacquer, so thoroughly black that it made Dong Qinghe think of a kind of... innocent feeling that belongs only to small animals.

Moving his gaze down, he passed Chang Jiaci's quivering throat, stiff neck, and slender collarbone all the way, and finally landed on his tight shoulders, where two obvious scratches lay there, one of which was still curled up. Faintly oozing blood.

Dong Qinghe took a step forward and asked, "Is this done during the day?"

Jiaci thought of the scene in the spiritual field before, and hummed a little shyly: "It's nothing, I just fell, and I would like to thank the sect master for sending someone to rescue..."

Seeing the fear in the boy's eyes, Dong Qinghe said "Don't be afraid" and gently applied his palm to the wound.

Jiaci only felt a coolness coming from his shoulders, the two of them were very close, Dong Qinghe's body had a kind of faint fragrance lingering in it, and when he spoke, the breath brushed Jiaci's forehead, making him feel The wound on the forehead was hot and itchy, and his mind was a little dazed.

But Dong Qinghe's next sentence made Jiaci sober up a bit.

"Now, do you feel that this place is not better than the human world?"

Jia Ci was taken aback, but he didn't expect the other party to say that, so he quickly retorted: "This, here is still very good..."

"Oh," Dong Qinghe chuckled, "It's a lie."

Jiaci blushed: "...I think there are still good people here..."

Dong Qinghe sighed softly: "Naturally there are good people, but there are also many bad ones. Many people envy those who have cultivated the truth and enlightened the Tao with strange magic and long-term vision. In the endless years and years, how much patience can withstand the dull trials, and how much heart can resist the temptation of vanity...People's hearts are fickle."

Jiaci blinked, as if he didn't quite understand Dong Qinghe's words, but he seemed to understand: "The door, the head of the door is saying that they were originally good people, but after a long time, did they become evil people?"

"Maybe he's not a villain," Dong Qinghe slowly lowered his hand, and the bruise on Chang Jiaci's shoulder was gone, "but he's not a good person either."

Chang Jiaci pondered for a while, but did not speak.

Dong Qinghe straightened his clothes for him: "If you don't want to stay in the Ministry of Water, I can send you to the Ministry of Gold."

Chang Jiaci was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

Dong Qinghe asked: "Why? Are you reluctant to part with your friend?" The boy who practiced sword with him that day.

Chang Jiaci bit his lip, and said in a low voice: "I don't want to go to the Ministry of Finance." As if afraid that the other party would be angry, Jiaci looked at the face of the person in front of him while talking.

"Then where do you want to go?" Fortunately, Dong Qinghe was still smiling.

Just as Jiaci was about to answer, he saw the beautifully embroidered Osmanthus flowers on the sleeve of the man in front of him, so he closed his mouth.

Dong Qinghe was not in a hurry, he just said: "You can tell me after you think about it." As long as there is no harm, he can answer him within the eight departments.

I..." After a short silence, Jiaci said, "I can rely on myself. "

Dong Qinghe was surprised, as if he couldn't believe that such stubborn words came from this child who was always trembling.

"You want to rely on yourself?"

"Um……"

"Okay, okay, it's just... aren't you afraid that someone will bully you again?"

When Bai Jian passed on his words, there must be no one on the surface who dared to provoke again, but Dong Qinghe could not help the secret fights and exclusions among his disciples. The world of cultivation has always been weak and strong, and only by being strong can he truly convince the crowd.

Chang Jiaci nodded: "I'm afraid, but I also know...such villains are not the most terrifying."

"Oh? Then what kind of villain is the scariest?" Dong Qinghe was curious.

Chang Jiaci raised his eyes and looked directly at him: "The hypocritical villains... are the most terrifying."

There was a penetrating power in that gaze for a moment, which stunned Dong Qinghe, and blurted out: "Who said that?" Such words are not like what a small villager would say.

Chang Jiaci lowered his eyes, and when he raised them again, he was in a daze.

"Well, it was said in the drama I watched before, ah, no," he scratched his head again, "it was... the gentleman at the entrance of the village told me, the gentleman said that a hypocrite is worse than a real villain..."

Dong Qinghe looked at him scratching his ears and thinking hard, his smile softened again: "That's right, your sir...you're right."

********

When Jiaci woke up, he still remembered Dong Qinghe's words and deeds when he met Dong Qinghe last night, and it felt like a half-real dream.

Chang Wang came in from outside the door, brought a basin of water, and asked his younger brother why he got up so early.

"Did someone come yesterday? I just went out to work and they didn't let me go, saying that I got someone's order to let me rest one by one. It's really interesting, thank you, so that we can steal You're lazy..." The stocky farmer wrinkled his facial features together in joy, as if he had picked up some great bargain.

Chang Jiaci got up and got out of bed, squatted at the table and washed his face with the water brought by Chang Wang. Hearing this, he couldn't help but look at the face reflected in the basin. The forehead that had a big bump last night was flat this morning. There is no trace of injury at all, except that the eyes are a little black and blue, and he looks not energetic.

Chang Jiaci raised his head and looked at Chang Wang: "Brother, do you like this place?"

"What?" Chang Wang threw himself on the thin bed, rolled happily on it, then rubbed his stomach and stood up, looking for something to eat.

Chang Jiaci asked: "Just... I want you to stay here and become a god, are you willing?"

Chang Wang laughed: "Yes, why don't you want to, now we don't need to work, how great."

"But we are mortals, and we will be bullied by others." Chang Jiaci looked at the back.

Chang Wang didn't turn his head back: "This... This bullying is better than starvation. The white steamed buns here are better than the roast pork in the village, and brother, don't you still have that pill in your stomach? You are going to grow up. , so no one dares to bully my brother, maybe after a while, my brother can practice kung fu, live another 200 years, and become a god!" Chang Wang thought more and more vigorously, laughing until his shoulders kept shaking , full of stupidity.

Chang Jiaci still looked at him, and smiled for a moment, and said solemnly: "Yes, brother, don't worry, I will improve."

"Hey, that's good." Chang Wang nodded again and again, then he was puzzled again, "It seems that the steamed buns are finished..."

Chang Jiaci walked over, searched around on the second floor of the small broken cabinet, and found out a bag of things: "Why don't you eat this first, when I went to get rice noodles a few days ago, the other end said that there was something in stock in the door. There are not many more, I will go to the human world to buy it in a few days, and then I gave this to me, it seems to be a wild fruit."

With that said, Jiaci took one for himself, and then distributed the rest to Chang Wang.He has the inner alchemy, so it doesn't matter if he doesn't eat, but his brother can't miss a meal.

And the fruit was sweet and juicy, Chang Wang was not polite, he swallowed it in two or three mouthfuls, and couldn't stop praising it while eating.

Jiaci ate slowly, as if reluctant to part with the taste.

……

At noon, Dong Qinghe was meditating in the room. After two weeks of qi circulation, he opened his eyes and looked towards the door.

Sure enough, after a while, there was a light knock on the door, Dong Qinghe waved his sleeves, and the door opened in response, and Po Ge stood outside the door with a solemn expression.

Po Ge said: "Master, those two mortals... something happened."