A glance at the spring breeze

Days passed, and the baby girl in her infancy had grown into a big girl, probably because she was used to Meng Qishan's cold "speak" since she was a child, Qiao Aifen didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with Meng Qishan's eccentric behavior Well, on the contrary, he pays more and more attention to this big brother next door who is different from ordinary people.

As long as she can remember from birth, Ah Shan has been mute.Ah Shan is obviously talented, with red lips and white teeth, but his personality is so aloof.

Maybe a woman would naturally feel pity for such a man, and she felt more and more that Ah Shan was eye-catching and a priceless treasure in the world.

Qiao Aifen turned 15 and said she wanted to marry him.

He refused.

However, as the days passed, even Meng Qishan himself realized that when he was with the Qiao family brothers and sisters, the shadow of chaos in his childhood memories seemed to have dissipated a lot.

Especially the elder brother of the Qiao family, who was very kind to him. Sometimes he would go out and bring him some specialties that were not available in the capital.When his father was busy in the herb shop, the Ruan brothers would come up with interesting things to amuse him.

Although he seldom responded, and most of the time, he just sat there motionless, but he could feel in his heart that the Qiao family brothers and sisters treated him very well.

And after Qiao Aifen experienced a rejection, she was not discouraged or ashamed at all, and still said she wanted to marry him.Once the Qiao family brothers and sisters invited Meng's father and son to their home for dinner, Qiao Aiqing vaguely mentioned the matter of getting married.Looking at Qiao Aifen's blushing face and feeling Qiao Aiqing's eager gaze, Meng Qishan finally nodded.

"Ah Shan! Haha..." Qiao Aifen jumped up holding him, "I knew you liked me too."

Marriage is not a trivial matter, and his father has selected an auspicious day for him to hire.

He was over twenty years old, but because of the nightmare he experienced when he was young, he was bored in the room all day long and never traveled far. At this moment, he realized how depressed he had been for half of his life.

Therefore, he decided to take a look outside the capital before getting married.

Qiao's elder brother prepared food and clothing for him outside, and also reminded him "don't run too far, come back early".

Father didn't say anything.Just looking at him, and then the eyes are red.

What's there to cry about?It's not like I'm not coming back.Meng Qishan thought.

Neither the Qiao family siblings nor his father mentioned that he was dumb and that it might be extremely inconvenient to go out.

So he set off with the package on his back.

During the days when he left the capital, he met a person who changed his fate.

He accidentally met Cui Hong, his only playmate and neighbor when he was young.In my memory, Cui Hong and his mother left without saying goodbye many years ago. Meng Qishan, who was young at that time, suddenly lost his partner. He was very sad and cried for several days, so Meng Qishan had a deep impression on Cui Hong. , I still remember his appearance until now.

In addition, Cui Hong was a few years older than Meng Qishan, and he was already a young man when he parted, and his facial features had already been opened. After so many years, although he got older, his appearance did not change much, so Meng Qishan recognized him at a glance. .

It's just... Meng Qishan saw it.

——Cui Hong became a cripple.

After hearing what happened to Cui Hong over the years in the inn, Ah Shan felt very resentful.Unexpectedly, his childhood playmate would fall into such a situation and be treated so unfairly.

Even... even... even more tragic than what he had suffered.

He is only one person after all.But at this moment, behind Cui Hong, all of them are entrusted with the future and the hope of the family.

He is ruined now, but there is hope for his friend.

There is hope.

Meng Qishan secretly made a decision in his heart - he had to help Cui Hong.

So, he lied to Cui Hong and communicated with Cui Hong with a pen, saying that he had acquaintances in the opera troupe used by the royal family in the capital, and that when he sneaked into the palace with that troupe, he could find a chance to meet the saint.

"The Son of Heaven will definitely not sit idly by." He wrote slowly on the paper.

The ink dries quickly, and the paper is poorly textured and crumpled.

Cui Hong followed Meng Qishan back to the capital, found a low-cost run-down house to live in, and quietly waited for the day when Meng Qishan sneaked into the palace.

Ah Shan hates his more delicate and delicate appearance than ordinary men, especially when he goes to a theater troupe, he is afraid that he will be misunderstood by others.So he deliberately wore thick black eyebrows and a small mustache to look more masculine.

This was the first time that Meng Qishan took the initiative to deal with strangers in more than ten years. In order to get involved in the theater troupe, he did odd jobs in the theater troupe every day - whether it was serving tea or cleaning the toilet, there was nothing he couldn't do.

It's just that, maybe because he can't speak and has a dull temper, people around him think he's easy to bully and leave all the chores to him.

"Ah Shan, hurry up and take a look, the hut in the backyard is too smelly..."

"Ashan, ashan, the sister over there is too makeup, hurry up and get some water with a bucket."

……

"Ah Shan, come here and do me a favor. The class leader asked me to give these things to you, and you can help me give them to Ah Fu on the next street."

When Ah Shan hurried to Ah Fu's place, Ah Fu took it and opened it, and suddenly found that there were several pictures of erotic palaces inside, and a few earthworms slowly wriggling and entangled.The earthworms were covered with mud and had obviously just been dug out of the soil.

"Stinky boy! I'm so sick of you, how dare you give me such a filthy thing! How dare you!"

As he spoke, he lifted his leg and kicked him.Meng Qishan was kicked to the ground, his stomach hurt unbearably, and he lay on the ground for a long time before he managed to get up.

He heard someone laughing in the troupe from a distance.

Meng Qishan clenched his fists tightly, and the veins popped out of his arms.After a while, he lowered his head and swallowed a mouthful of blood foam, and returned to the theatrical troupe as if nothing had happened.

Dr. Meng was shocked and delighted by his son's new-born appearance. Although the theater troupe was not a serious place, Ah Shan had the idea of ​​starting a new life, and he was very pleased.

In the evening, Meng Qishan met Qiao Aiqing who came to look for him. Qiao Aiqing said to him: "Dr. Meng went to the north of the city to see a doctor these two days. If you need any help, just come and tell me."

Ah Shan stared out of the window with his dark eyes, and did not answer with gestures.There was a long silence between the two before Qiao Aiqing spoke again: "When you marry Ai Fen, you will be a member of my Qiao family. No matter... no matter what you have encountered before, I will definitely protect you in the future. I won't let you suffer any more grievances."

Meng Qishan looked up into Qiao Aiqing's eyes, and found a different emotion in them.

I hope he thinks too much.

——In two days, he will go to Qiao's house to propose marriage. In addition, the plan to meet the saint secretly is also progressing smoothly, so there must be no accidents.

*****

The next day, it rained lightly outside the window, and the cool north wind blew away the fallen leaves on the trees.

The troupe was much more lively than before, and everyone became busy. Those who usually had the leisure to make fun of him, all looked serious today, and took up the airs that they usually did not have, and no one deliberately dumped their work to He did.

Meng Qishan was tidying up the troupe's sundries in the room, when the voice of the troupe's daughter Gillian suddenly sounded outside the house, "Ah Shan! I'm going to the palace to celebrate His Majesty's birthday in two days. Let's rehearse this scene first, come and help me."

Unexpectedly, before Meng Qishan went out, Gillian actually said: "Ashan, you want to go out these two days? But the day of His Majesty's Dragon's Birthday is coming soon..."

When Meng Qishan came back to his senses, he realized that Gillian was talking to him.

Gillian said again: "In this case, you should go back early. You have to come back quickly on the day we enter the palace. The things you want to take have already been allocated for you. Wouldn't it be a panic for others to take them?" ..."

The voice gradually drifted away, but Meng Qishan was dumbfounded when he heard it. When did he say that he was going out?Could it be that Gillian was talking to an empty stone wall just now?

Just as he was about to run out to stop Gillian, he suddenly felt his right arm tighten, and looked down, it turned out that someone was holding him back.

But when is there anyone else in this room? !Meng Qishan was shocked and looked back——

A strange man dressed in black suddenly appeared in front of him, with a half-smile on his face, making it impossible to guess his purpose.

"Don't be in a hurry to get out." The man's tone was frivolous, the corners of his mouth raised slightly, like a prodigal who flirts with a good family woman. Seeing that man raised his hand and was about to touch his eyebrows, Meng Qishan suddenly felt nauseated. He took a step back like avoiding snakes and scorpions.

The man's hand also retracted, and with a "thud", Meng Qishan felt a pain in the brow.When he wiped it with his backhand, he realized that the false eyebrow stuck under his forehead was gone.

"Heh..." The man gave a low chuckle, his bottomless eyes rolled on his face, "Yi Rong, I'm afraid no one can compare to me. Your trick is too clumsy, so you can only lie to me." Just lie to those common people."

After finishing speaking, the man swept the eyebrows of his hand on Ah Shan's face lightly and slowly twice. Ah Shan wanted to back up again, but the man grabbed his shoulders.

"Dumb...a dumb is good. There's nowhere to find it. It's easy to get here." The man grabbed his arm that was trying to break free, narrowed his eyes and blew in his ear, and he was gone. Perception, fainted.

……

When Ruan Lan opened her eyes in a trance, she suddenly heard someone shouting in surprise beside him: "Master Daoist! My lord is awake! Master Daoist!"

Ruan Lan, who was originally delirious, was completely awakened by the sound next to her ear.

He sat up with a bang and looked around.After looking around, I realized that they are all in the secret passage of the city wall now.The gate of the secret passage seems to be completely airtight, blocking all the external sunlight outside the door, and the only light inside the secret passage comes from the burning fire in Li Quanfeng's hand.

The yell just now was made by one of Li Quanfeng's hidden guards.

It stands to reason that these are well-trained royal guards who are not alarmed, but at this moment, their whole body exudes an atmosphere of panic and uneasiness, sitting or standing, battered, and under the yellow firelight, they look especially terrifying frightened.

One person in particular seemed to be dazed by fright, his hands trembled slightly, and he was still holding a small blue flower tightly in his right hand. The petals on the bone were already soaked, as if they had been soaked in sweat, and there were few pieces left.

Only Taoist Priest Xuanmo, dressed in white, sat cross-legged quietly four or five steps away from Ruan Lan, closing his eyes and resting his mind.

Ruan Lan rested her right hand on her forehead, and gently rubbed the brows that were still aching, trying to remember how he came in, but she had no clue.

Sweat dripped from the top of his head as far as his fingertips could reach.

Let's hope that's just a nightmare.

"Why...why did I pass out?" he asked.

Li Quanfeng was the calmer one among the group of people. He supported Ruan Lan's arm, let him lean against the wall, and then replied: "My lord, just after you opened the door of this secret passage, you were caught by an unknown person in the secret passage. Something attacked."

attack? ... Ruan Lan frowned, and finally shook her head, "Sorry, I really don't remember."

"My lord passed out afterwards. However, even before we had time to see clearly what the evil thing was, it immediately ran into the depths of this secret passage. Unexpectedly, just as we were about to chase forward, the door unexpectedly It fell down in an instant, and it can no longer be opened." Li Quanfeng raised the map in his hand, and gestured to Ruan Lan: "The gate organs shown on the map have been completely destroyed by people. And... the strange thing is that it was obviously opened at the beginning. , some of us were still standing outside the door, but the moment the door fell, we seemed to be transferred into the secret passage unknowingly."

"Transferred to the secret passage in an instant..." Ruan Lan looked towards the closed door in front, "I still remember this incident. It seemed that only the Taoist priest, me, you and two of the guards came in at that time. All three of us stood outside the door waiting for orders, and—”

Ruan Lan rolled her eyes, turned her head, and looked at the small blue flower in the hand of the dark guard. Under the firelight, the flower became more alluring and magnificent.Ruan Lan recalled: "Just now, there seems to be such a bush of indigo flowers growing at the entrance of the secret path."

The hidden guard suddenly shook his hand, and then said: "My lord, just now, when my subordinates were waiting outside the secret door, they saw that the flowers beside them were very beautiful, so they picked one at random. It was suddenly closed! But, but the three of us were originally outside! But none of us knew what was going on, and we were suddenly transferred to the secret passage without knowing it, and we were imprisoned here together with you... It seems, as if this secret passage is alive, it can expand and contract freely, that door is its mouth, and we... are all in his stomach now..."

The voice of the hidden guard became more and more trembling. If someone was talking nonsense like this, most of them would be ridiculed by others, but now, everyone is silent and their faces are full of gloom.The surrounding atmosphere suddenly became cold, and Ruan Lan seemed to be able to hear the echo of other people's breathing in the secret passage.

At this time, the Taoist priest sitting outside the crowd said: "Master Ruan, what did you see in your dream just now?" As if afraid that Ruan Lan would want to go somewhere else, he added: "And here related to secret passages."

Ruan Lan had known for a long time that Daoist Xuanmo possessed supernatural powers, so the reason why Daoist asked him this was probably because the dream he had just now had a solution.So, Ruan Lan closed her eyes and concentrated on recalling the dream after he passed out.

Suddenly, a chilling memory flashed past.

Ruan Lan opened her eyes in an instant, with a dignified expression: "Master Dao, I remembered. The one buried under the flower bush at the door——

"It's Meng Qishan's body..."