Lin Ye Xiaoji

The streets in Xijing city are criss-crossed, cutting the whole city squarely without a trace of chaos.

Caochang Street in the north of the city is the busiest. The teahouses and wine shops facing the street are buzzing with people, and even women dressed in red and green gather in the main corridor and lean against the fence, calling out to the drinkers.The streets are bustling with murmurs of passers-by, shouts of hawkers, and laughter of urchins.The fragrance of various fruits, the greasy fragrance of rouge water powder, and the mellow fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus wine turned the originally spacious street into a bowl of glutinous rice dumplings that have been placed for a long time, sticky and crowded.

The fourth shop on the street is hung with a three-character plaque of "Dexinxuan". The shop only sells Chengxin paper. It is said to be an ancestral handicraft, and it has a smoothness and gloss that other papers in Xijing City cannot match.

A middle-aged woman wearing a crimson embroidered train came out of the shop. Her skin was fine and fair, and although there were a few fine lines around her eyes, she was still graceful. Behind her was a little girl in blue clothes, holding a freshly bought heart paper.The two master and servant walked through the busy city and turned into a diagonal alley two streets away, without even noticing that a big man was following behind them.

"Sister-in-law Lin still uses Chengxin paper to copy scriptures like before?" A young male voice sounded from behind.The woman felt her back was stiff and stopped suddenly, but she didn't dare to turn her head. "That's right, the best paper must be selected for offering to the Bodhisattva." Another slightly aged female voice replied.

"Sister-in-law Lin really has a heart..." The man responded in a low voice.

The little girl didn't know why the woman stopped, and called timidly, "Ma'am?"

The woman ignored her and hurried forward, but her steps were obviously hasty.

By the small pool in the backyard stood a little girl in red, giggling as she watched a pool of goldfish scrambling for food.Seeing the woman came back, Ruyan threw herself into her arms like a forest, but complained: "Mother, you didn't take me with you when you went out, it's been several times."

The woman stroked her hair affectionately: "In such a hot day, mother just went out to buy some paper, not to go to the temple fair, what are you doing next?"

The little girl put her arms around the woman's neck, buried her face in her bosom and said sullenly: "Mother always copies scriptures for Goddess Guanyin, why doesn't Goddess Guanyin tell daddy to come back earlier? I have a Persian cat with me, I really want my father to come back soon. Mother, have you seen a Persian cat? I dreamed about it last night..." The woman was so nervous that she was pointing again as if soaked in sweat. The wrinkled heart, like a tightly twisted handkerchief, finally flattened a little in this childish chatter.

At night, the woman who coaxed her daughter to sleep knelt in the small Buddhist hall, and the Guanyin Bodhisattva in the dim candlelight looked more benevolent.The woman clasped her hands together and said in a low voice: "Pray to the Bodhisattva to bless the second elder brother and Shao'er to be safe and happy, and also to bless the Bodhisattva to bless Yue'er to grow up smoothly. The women are willing to eat fast and copy Buddhist scriptures for the Bodhisattva every day, and there is no retribution." Repay it to the daughter of the people, and hope that the Bodhisattva will show mercy."

"Peace and happiness? Sister-in-law Lin is too confused? How about the peace and joy of the second brother and Shao'er?" A familiar male voice came from outside the door of the small Buddhist hall, and the woman slumped on the futon and stared at the closed door. the door.

The door was pushed open with a "squeak", and a man in a black night suit stood at the door.After the woman saw the man's face clearly, the man clasped his hands together and saluted the woman as he did back then.

"Zijian?" The woman's voice trembled.

"It's hard for sister-in-law Lin to remember me." Zhou Zijian's tone was full of complicated emotions. He didn't make a mistake, this is really the sister-in-law of the Lin family.Many years ago, I often went to drink with my second brother, and my sister-in-law Lin brought them drinks and dishes with a smile.Seeing that his clothes were torn, he sewed them up.When the second elder brother scolded him, he often excused him and took care of him like an elder sister.

It's just that he really didn't know why Sister-in-law Lin escaped the catastrophe and appeared in Xijing City.I don't know why she, who was so affectionate with her second brother back then, would marry someone else and have children, and why she didn't go back to see the orphan of the Lin family for more than ten years.He has changed from a high-spirited youth to a sleek and sophisticated middle-aged man, still hoping to find clues of the past so that his conscience will not be tormented.

With mixed feelings for a moment, I couldn't say a word.

"I don't know why Zijian came to visit?" The woman put away her gaffe and stood up gracefully.

Seeing that Zhou Zijian was silent, he said, "It's just that it's late at night, so it's really inconvenient. Why don't I pay a visit tomorrow in person?"

"Zijian just wanted to know why the dozen or so members of the Lin family were killed, but the sister-in-law, who was not good at martial arts, was able to escape to Xijing City thousands of miles away?" Zhou Zijian took a deep breath and put the question in his mind Spit it out.

As if struck by lightning, the woman murmured, "What did you say? Exterminate the family? How could this happen?"

There were rustling footsteps not far away, and the girl's weary voice came: "Let's walk over quickly, my mother must be in the Buddhist hall again."

"If sister-in-law Lin knows something, I will trouble you to go to Tongfu Inn tomorrow, and my elder brother and I will wait for you." After speaking, he opened the window and jumped into the thick night.

But the woman stood in the room blankly like a clay sculpture, worshiping the candles on the table, and rolled down a stream of candle tears.

The Ye family's carriage was still on its way in a hurry, and Ye Yun in the carriage was still bowing his head and recalling what happened last night.But Lin Shao, who was sitting next to him, seemed to be alright. As soon as he got in the car, he closed his eyes and dozed off, his head nodding, and a slight snoring could be heard intermittently.

It's funny to say, Ye Yun was born in a family of farming and studying, and he can obviously think highly of himself with his status.But meeting Lin Shao was like a mouse meeting a cat, he couldn't say a word, and could swallow it whole when it came to his mouth.He felt that Lin Shao was a completely different person from him, and Lin Shao's world tempted him to spy.When he was young, he was shut up by his father to practice calligraphy in the study room. The window of the study room was not closed tightly, leaving a gap. In spring, the fragrance of flowers came in accompanied by the warm wind, and newborn swallows huddled in their nests under the eaves and chattered loudly. Eager to take a look at the scenery outside the window, even if it's just from that narrow gap, but in the end I still couldn't move my footsteps.The current Lin Shao is like the scenery outside the window that inexplicably led him to visit back then, which revived his desire and made it violent.

In the middle of the road are eight tall horses, and on the horses sit fierce men with knives hanging on them. "Woo~" the coachman tightened the reins and stopped the carriage, looked at those people in horror, and shouted tremblingly: "Mr....Mr., someone... passed by... ..make life difficult for......"

As soon as the carriage stopped, Lin Shao woke up with a start. He opened the curtain and saw that it wasn't those people from last night. He told Ye Yun to keep quiet, turned over and got out of the carriage.Walking up to the big horses, he asked with a low posture, "Can the big brothers borrow a way?"

A big man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, grinning and showing a mouthful of yellow teeth, shouted in a rough voice: "Let the head of your family come out and speak."

"Our wife and young master are the only ones in the car, who have never seen the world. Please excuse me."

"It's easy to go there, leave the valuables behind." All the bandits laughed and echoed.

Lin Shao was glad that bandits had robbed him, but he was worried that he was alone after all, and he couldn't take care of the two carriages.The sad expression continued to appear on the face: "Brother, we are scholars who have returned home. Where can we get any valuable possessions, but a few broken books. Please do me a favor and let us go!"

"How about this, let me leave some money for the drinks and let you go there..." A big man with a square head and broad face, seeing Lin Shao's low posture and plain carriage, is indeed not a wealthy family, so he wanted to get some money for the drinks I don't intend to embarrass anyone.

Lin Shao thought about it, since he would not worry about food and lodging with the Ye family, he simply gave the money that his master gave him to the bandits to calm things down and hurry on the road.Just as he was about to take out his purse from his arms, the curtain of the second carriage was opened with a "snap", Ye Yun walked over aggressively, and stopped Lin Shao: "Who are you? How dare you do blackmail in broad daylight! "

The sharp-mouthed monkey-cheeked man didn't see Ye Yun as an eye-catching person, and his silver clothes made his skin white. He just felt that he was more attractive than the top card in Chunfenglou.As soon as he rolled his eyes, he opened his mouth and said, "Young master, we Chushan Eight Heroes don't know who is on the road? Passing by here, who hasn't prepared money to pay respects? Seeing that this is the first time for you to pass by, I won't argue with you guys, sir. Why don't you stay and have fun with us for a while, and promise to let your family leave without taking any money."

Ye Yun's face flushed red, and he stammered and scolded: "You...do you still have the king's law?"

After the group heard this, they roared with laughter: "Wang Fa? Haha, on this road, Lao Tzu is Wang Fa! Young master, it's best not to toast or eat fine wine."

Being stopped behind and seeing Ye Yun's bluff, Lin Shao was annoyed and funny, pulled his trembling hand, and whispered in his ear: "You get into Mrs. Ye's carriage, I will lure those bandits Let the groom drive away." Ye Yun looked up at Lin Shao, the corners of his mouth curled into an aggrieved arc, Lin Shao rubbed his face lightly with his fingers: "It's okay, don't worry, go later I will follow you."

Seeing Ye Yun leave, the big man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks put on a horrifying expression, holding the knife in his hand and was about to explode.And Lin Shao also quickly discarded the previous condescending expression, and raised his voice: "Since you are not willing to give way, you can only be polite."

As soon as he finished speaking, several saw-shaped darts flew out of his hand and stuck into the horse's throat. The frightened horses raised their front hoofs high and threw the big men on their backs angrily.The men who fell were covered in mud and swarmed up like a swarm, and chopped down with machetes in hand.Lin Shao dodged nimbly, and led the group of bandits who were already red-eyed to the side of the forest without any trace.

Ye Yun immediately ordered the coachman to leave quickly. The coachman who had been frightened into a fool just now woke up like a dream, and desperately whipped the horse, causing the luggage in the carriage to rattle.