Sudden Snow Sealing Poison

Zheng Tingxue went to see his younger brother, a small wrinkled ball, as thin as a poor little animal.He held his brother in his arms without feeling any weight.

"Zheng Liaoge." His father touched the baby's face, then raised his hand to touch Zheng Tingxue's head, "His name."

Zheng Tingxue nodded.The younger brother was too young and thin, so he was quickly taken away by the wet nurse.Zheng Muzhou said to him again: "Go and see your mother."

When Zheng Tingxue walked into the bedroom, he felt inexplicably depressed.The windows in the room were closed, so no light could come in.There was a faint sour and bitter smell in the air, Zheng Tingxue couldn't smell what it was, but he couldn't smell the sweet fragrance that Zhang Xiaofeng usually emitted from his body.

He walked to the bed and watched his mother sitting on the bed with the quilt covering her body, most of her upper body was hidden in the vague darkness.

"Snow." Zhang Xiaofeng raised his hand and patted Zheng Tingxue's head.Her fingers were thin and icy, uncomfortable against the skin.But Zheng Tingxue still took her fingers with both hands and held them in his palms.

Zhang Xiaofeng finally approached Zheng Tingxue.Zheng Tingxue could see her face clearly, his mother had lost a lot of weight, her hair was disheveled, and her face was also pale, but she still looked at him with gentle eyes, no longer the hysterical yelling at Zheng Muzhou that day up.

"Have you met your younger brother?" Zhang Xiaofeng asked him softly.

"I have seen."

"Do you like your brother?"

"like."

"Snow is very powerful, no one will dare to bully you in the future. So you also protect your brother, okay?"

Zheng Tingxue nodded seriously: "Okay."

Zhang Xiaofeng gently stroked his cheeks, and his fingertips slowly warmed up.She looked down at Zheng Tingxue, lowered her head and kissed him on the cheek, "Also protect your father."

Zheng Tingxue held her hand, "Mom, I will protect you too."

"I will avenge my sister," he said.

Zhang Xiaofeng smiled.She pinched his face affectionately: "Little guy, it's not your turn to take revenge."

"Go." Zhang Xiaofeng said, "Mother wants to be alone for a while."

Zheng Tingxue said, "Mom, then I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Zhang Xiaofeng didn't answer, she just looked at Zheng Tingxue calmly, and said again: "Go."

Early the next morning, Zheng Tingxue ran to Zhang Xiaofeng's door and waited.He waited until dawn, but he didn't wait for his mother to get up.

Zheng Tingxue has always been patient, but this time he couldn't bear it anymore and didn't want to wait any longer.He pushed the door straight in.

The bed was empty.

Zhang Xiaofeng disappeared overnight, and Zheng Muzhou went crazy looking for her.He sent someone to guard on the road from Jiangbei to outside the pass, but he couldn't find any trace of Zhang Xiaofeng.

It was not until two months later that news of Zhang Xiaofeng came.

Alone, with a sword, she avoided all the eyes and ears looking for her, and sneaked thousands of miles into the Nie's house outside the pass, killed hundreds of guards along the way, went straight to the Nie's mansion, found the white-handed woman, and chopped her in half on the spot.The trail of blood stretched for hundreds of miles, like a Rakshasa released from prison.Later, Zhang Xiaofeng fell into the siege of the Nie family, and was killed by Nie Tagu, the husband of the white-handed woman and the head of the Nie family. His body was hung on a cliff, exposed for several days, and eaten by eagles and birds.

Zheng Muzhou was shocked to hear the tragedy, and his hair turned gray overnight.He is no longer the patriarch Baimei who once ruled the rivers and lakes. The successive loss of his wife and daughter made him seem to have lost all courage and hope. The remaining two sons are just the only motivation for him to survive.In just one year, he had aged terribly.The originally tall and broad shoulders shrank into a curved bone, and he was also sick. He lay in bed coughing and drowsy all day long. When the doctor saw him, he couldn't find out the cause. In the end, he could only attribute it to heart disease.

So the burden of the whole family suddenly fell on 14-year-old Zheng Tingxue.

It's not that the Zheng family has no branches.Zheng Muzhou has a biological sister and a cousin, both of whom are married, as well as sporadic distant relatives.But after all the calculations, Zheng Tingxue is the only one who is qualified and able to succeed the Patriarch.Others in the family wanted to help, but they could only play a role of helping, and in the end everything had to be decided by Zheng Tingxue.

At seven o'clock when Zhang Xiao was in the limelight, Zheng Tingxue knelt in the mourning hall alone to keep watch.

He asked Mr. Sun to look after his father and younger brother. Many family members were dismissed, and even the uncle's family members who came to help were politely invited back.Zheng Tingxue didn't let them accompany her, she just said that it was good for her mother to keep watch by herself.

Zhang Xiaofeng's bones couldn't return to his hometown, so he had to build a tomb in the ancestral mausoleum, and the plaques were listed among the ancestors of the Zheng family, in the faintly burning candlelight of the room.

Zheng Tingxue knelt in front of the hall, looking at the sign engraved with the words Zhang Xiaofeng.He looked at it for a long time, then stood up, took the sign with both hands, walked to the corner and sat down, hugged the sign in his arms, and curled up into a ball.

"Mother." Zheng Tingxue called softly.He touched the cards in his hand, it was hard and cold, and the corners hit his hand.So he hugged him even tighter, curled himself into a very small one, and hid in the darkness.

Zheng Tingxue came out of the mourning hall when the moon set on the hill.

As soon as he walked to the entrance of the main hall, he saw a person standing in the yard.

The man stood there for an unknown amount of time, and his shoulders were covered with petals falling from the tree.When he heard footsteps, he turned his head, and the petals on his body shook with his movements and fell to the ground.

"Xiaoxue." Shen Zhan called him.

They haven't seen each other for more than half a year, Shen Zhan has grown a lot taller, wearing a well-fitting black robe, holding the pity that Zheng Muzhou gave him in his hand.In the dark blue sky before dawn, under the snow-white wintersweet trees, he still has warm and handsome eyes, unparalleled in the world.It's just that under the boundless moonlight, his pupils are even lighter than before, and they are almost turning into real glazed white stones, so they also incorporate more splendor of heaven and earth, glowing with a dreamlike brightness.

Zheng Tingxue just glanced at him and continued on her own way.

There were hurried footsteps behind him, and Shen Zhan caught up, "Xiaoxue."

Zheng Tingxue walked in front without making a sound, without even looking at Shen Zhan who was following up.

"Xiaoxue, please don't ignore me." Shen Zhan coaxed him from behind him, "I was wrong, you can beat me and scold me, please don't ignore me."

"My father and I went to the Hexi branch half a year ago. There was no news there and the traffic was inconvenient. I sent you a lot of letters. Did you receive them? I only heard about your family a few days ago. Come back, I know I came back too late, Xiaoxue, I..."

Zheng Tingxue returned to the door of her room, opened the door, and shut Shen Zhan out.

The next morning, Zheng Tingxue got up very early.He has been like this for the past few days. He is busy with housework during the day, hardly sleeps at night, and gets up very early in the morning.

He pushed open the door and saw that Shen Zhan was still standing at the door of his room, his clothes and shoes hadn't been changed, his hair was stained with morning dew, and his beautiful eyes were bloodshot.Apparently stood here all night.

Seeing him coming out, Shen Zhan called him softly: "Xiaoxue."

Zheng Tingxue still didn't speak, just passed him by, walked down the steps and left.Shen Zhan followed behind him: "Why did you get up so early? You went back to your room very late last night."

Zheng Tingxue walked quietly in the corridor. The two walked one in front of the other, neither fast nor slow. Their shadows passed through the hanging vines, leaving a sudden light and shadow on the wall.

"Go back." Zheng Tingxue finally spoke.

Shen Zhan followed closely, "I won't go back, I'll stay with you."

Zheng Tingxue stopped.Shen Zhan also stopped one step at a time, keeping a little distance from Zheng Tingxue, as if restless and probing, not daring to get too close, and absolutely refusing to leave.

They stood silently in the thin light of early morning.Zheng Tingxue turned around and looked at Shen Zhan face to face.Shen Zhan looked at Zheng Tingxue's face, his Adam's apple moved, "Xiaoxue..."

"I haven't received it." Zheng Tingxue suddenly said this word out of nowhere. Shen Zhan was stunned for a moment, and then heard Zheng Tingxue say, "I didn't receive your letter."

Shen Zhan came to his senses, with a worried look on his face, "—Maybe it was lost on the way, but I did write to you, Xiaoxue, trust me."

Zheng Tingxue responded in a low voice, and stopped talking, just lowered her head, looking at the mottled ground with vine shadows, her white clothes were blown up by the wind, and her soft hair fell from her shoulders.

"Don't do that again," he said. "If you're going far away, at least let me know."

Shen Zhan got closer to him, only to find that he was crying.

Tears fell from his clear eyes, wet his eyelashes, and flushed his eyes.When Zheng Tingxue cried, she didn't make a sound at all, as if the tears had nothing to do with him, and the sadness and pain were not his intention.If Shen Zhan hadn't been looking at him, no one would even know he was crying.

Shen Zhan raised his hand and hugged Zheng Tingxue into his arms, holding his arms tightly, as if he was afraid that Zheng Tingxue would push him away.He kept apologizing in Zheng Tingxue's ear and coaxing him. His warm body and beating heart pressed against each other, so that the lonely and painful soul finally found support.

"I'm not going anywhere." Shen Zhan hugged him, "From now on, I'll be by your side."