Placid Chang'an

"So that's how it is." The great monk sat by the well and spat out a mouthful of melon seeds. "The young lady of a wealthy family in the capital is gone. You are worried that she is hiding here, so you came here to have a look."

"Otherwise, do you think anyone is willing to go to your monk's temple?" Qu Ling'er leaned on the big monk, "Is there any more, give me some too."

The monk took out a handful of pumpkin seeds from his arms and handed them to Qu Ling'er, and the two of them sat by the well and chatted.

The great monk said: "Then you are really guessing wrong, we have never seen any girl in the temple, and it is the devil Song Fan who is imprisoned, it is said that he has killed many people before, we originally planned to kill him The ground was slaughtered, but the host said that the monks were merciful, so they were locked in the bottom of the well."

"But Song Fan is obviously in Chang'an City," Qu Ling'er frowned, "Isn't that Song Fan you're talking about born with a low-key face, who smiles foolishly at people every day?"

"Isn't it!" The great monk slapped his thigh, "You said he was in Chang'an City?"

Qu Linger nodded.

"Then what is the first pass here?!" The great monk stood up, shaking off his melon seeds, "I'll call someone to come, so I can be a witness!"

"Hey..." Qu Ling'er hastily called people to stop.

The great monk thought he was afraid, so he waved his hands and said, "Don't be afraid, I'll be back in a while."

Qu Ling'er stretched out her hand, "Give me some melon seeds."

Great monk: "..."

"Huang Wan'er?"

Su Cen looked at the person in front of him by the light of the fire. His body was weak and his face covered with blue hair. He seemed to be terrified of the fire. He waved his arms and hid back until there was no way to retreat. He curled himself up against the stone wall, head tightly Buried between the arms.

Su Cen thought that she might be afraid of the light after staying at the bottom of the well for so long, so she turned off the fire again. After her eyes got used to the darkness, she slowly stepped forward and asked in a slow voice, "Are you Huang Wan'er? Your brother asked me to come." Looking for you."

Hearing the word "brother", the man was obviously taken aback, slowly raised his head to look at Su Cen, and repeated: "Brother...brother?"

"Your brother, Huang Mian, do you still remember?" This person seems to have some mental problems, but it is probably not normal for a person to be locked up at the bottom of a dark well for six months. Su Cen didn't dare to provoke her, and approached tentatively , as soon as Huang Wan'er showed a little resistance, he stopped.

"Brother." Huang Wan'er said it again, but this time it was no longer a question, and the words were more clearly pronounced.

"And your father, Huang Ting." Su Cen took out the jade earrings from his bosom, "Are these yours?"

Huang Wan'er moved her fingers, but she didn't dare to reach out.Su Cen put the earrings on a rock beside Huang Wan'er, and after waiting for a while, Huang Wan'er carefully took the earrings over and held them tightly in her hands.

After an unknown amount of time, there was a soft weeping sound from the empty stone cave, the sound was very small, but the whole body was shaking violently.It was a suppressed, suppressed, but uncontrollable sob squeezed out from under his throat.

Su Cen calmed down and let Huang Wan'er finish crying, and stretched out a hand, "I'll take you home."

The great monk called everyone over in a short while, a group of bald heads stood around the well, and Qu Ling'er stood guard at the mouth of the well, eating melon seeds, holding a peacock feather in his hand, and whoever dared to approach him would die with them.

The big monk from before leaned closer and said: "Little benefactor, we have no malicious intentions, everyone else has already gone down, and we can't fill the well, why are you still covering it so tightly?"

"You still said that you didn't have any malicious intentions, and you can think of such a cruel trick of filling a well!" Qu Ling'er gave him a fierce look, "It doesn't matter whether my brother Su brought back Huang Wan'er or the big devil, we all know this person today." It's a deal!"

The great monk didn't want to show anything in front of so many people, but he was flattered in his heart, take it away, take it away quickly!In the future, he finally won't have to guard here in the middle of the night.

During the stalemate, the rope at the bottom of the well moved, and Su Cen called Qu Linger's name from the bottom of the well.

Qu Ling'er immediately turned around to face the mouth of the well, almost crying with joy, "Brother Su, you're still alive!"

Su Cen: "..." Why can't he be alive?

He and Huang Wan'er stood in a difficult situation underground, since Huang Wan'er held his hand just now, he never let go, it is impossible for Qu Ling'er to pull two people at once, even if he could pull him, he would not dare to take risks, in case The rope broke halfway, and the fall would mean two dead bodies and three lives—he just found out that Huang Wan'er was pregnant, and he didn't dare to ask who it was, for fear of irritating Huang Wan'er, but he could guess well.

But at this moment, Huang Wan'er would not let go of his hand, and whenever he showed signs of letting go, Huang Wan'er would grab him hard. Su Cen never thought that such a young girl could have such strength in her hands, and he was alive when she grabbed him. pain.

It's not going to go, it's not going to go, Su Cen frowned, and persuaded softly: "Wan'er, brother is up there, we can see brother when we go up, okay?"

Huang Wan'er's hands loosened a little when she heard the word "brother". Su Cen hurriedly pulled out her hands, picked up the rope and tied a knot.Huang Wan'er was pregnant, so she couldn't tie it around her waist, so Su Cen could only let her sit on the rope, and to be on the safe side, she gave her a few laps under the armpit, and after confirming that the knot would not loosen, she called out: "Ling'er, pull! "

Qu Ling'er rolled up her sleeves and tried her best to shake the pulley head--after a while, she gave up, he couldn't move...

At this moment, he could only plead with the Great Monk with a stern face, and now he was flattering as much as he was just now, and he didn't know what a face was at all.

Fortunately, the great monk didn't bother with him, spit on his hands twice, and slowly pulled up the well rope with a hey.

Qu Ling'er was not worried that the monks would play tricks at the moment, so she leaned into the group of monks, hooked her shoulders and said, "Would you like to bet whether the one who comes up later is a girl or your big devil?"

The monks glanced at each other, and finally one of them came out and saluted Qu Ling'er with one palm, "We monks quit gambling."

"Why do you quit everything? If you don't bet big with you, just... a prayer bead. If I win, you will give me a bead. If I lose, I will pay you one," Qu Linger said anxiously, " Hurry up, people are about to come up."

The monks looked at it again, but before they could make up their minds, the big monk wheezed and shook the well rope and said, "I bet you, I bet the big devil, how could it be a girl who is so heavy!"

The monks all agreed: "We bet on the big devil!"

Qu Ling'er wanted to cry, "You guys are cheating!"

The monks joked that Qu Ling'er couldn't afford to play, and when people came up, they were all dumbfounded.

Especially the head monk, with a shake of his hand, almost sent him back to the bottom of the well.

"Is... really a girl?"

There was an explosion in the monks' pile. It was obviously a man who was sent in, but why was it a girl who came out?Where did that big devil go before?How did this girl get in again?

Qu Ling'er turned from sadness to joy, went up and hugged Huang Wan'er, she never wanted to be smelled by Huang Wan'er's body, and almost vomited - anyone who lives at the bottom of the well for six months can't still be warm and fragrant nephrite .

Huang Wan'er looked around at the group of people, all of them were bald, without her brother, and being hugged by such an unknown person, she immediately became emotional, screaming loudly and struggling to escape.

Qu Ling'er was forced to have no choice but to untie the rope quickly, resisting Huang Wan'er's sour smell and dared not let go.

Huang Wan'er didn't calm down until Su Cen was pulled up, and then timidly hid behind Su Cen and took his hand and didn't let go.

Relieved, Qu Ling'er went to the monks to collect his spoils.The monks could only untie the beads resentfully, and each gave one to Qu Ling'er.

Just as it was bustling, the bell suddenly rang in Lengbuding Temple.Everyone stopped.

"Why is the clock striking at this hour?"

"What happened?"

The lingering sound of Dangdang echoed in the bamboo forest, and everyone held their breaths, but the bell seemed to ring endlessly, hitting people's hearts one after another.

It was only after the bell stopped that everyone came back to their senses. Someone asked, "How many times?"

Someone cautiously replied: "Eighty strokes... or ninety strokes?"

"One hundred and eight," Su Cen counted, "what does this mean?"

The monks were all taken aback and knelt down one after another.

The great monk said: "Presiding over him... passed away..."

Su Cen took Huang Wan'er and Qu Ling'er back to the monastery with the monks. There were only heavy footsteps along the way, and no one spoke.

Su Cen really couldn't understand why the host Hui Kong, who was fine during the day, suddenly passed away?There is no way to comfort these monks, so they can only follow behind and meditate silently.

I met Li Shi and Qi Lin at the door of the Sutra Pavilion, and there were two corpses beside them - one was hosted by Hui Kong, and the other was dressed in black, Su Cen didn't know who it was.

Su Cen nodded at Li Shi, probably only after the two parties get together the news can they know what happened that night, and now is obviously not the time.

Li Shi raised his eyebrows behind Su Cen.

Huang Wan'er held on to Su Cen all the way, and Su Cen could only hold her hand, but she still hasn't let go.

Su Cen's heart skipped a beat, his heart felt cold...

When the monks saw the host's body, they all sat around the mat and silently recited the mantra of passing away.The monks look down on life and death, thinking that death is a liberation, which can remove all karma and lead to bliss.But Su Cen still heard a few suppressed sobs from the chanting.

Su Cen led Huang Wan'er to Li Shi's side, probably because Li Shi's aura was too strong, Huang Wan'er was terribly frightened, and she pinched Su Cen's hand like she was about to strain him.

Su Cen frowned slightly, but before saying anything, Li Shi glared back, "Release."

Huang Wan'er shuddered, and after a moment of stalemate, she silently let go.

Su Cen rubbed his hands, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, if he knew that Li Shi was so easy to use, he wouldn't have to suffer all the way.

"The man in black killed the host?" Su Cen asked.

Li Shi shook his head, "He was already dead before the man in black attacked. Cutting off his meridians should be suicide."

"Suicide?" Su Cen was surprised, "Well, why did you commit suicide?" Combined with Huang Wan'er's incident, Su Cen lowered his voice and said, "Could it be that he knew that his affairs were exposed, so he committed suicide in fear of crime?"

"Abbot Hui Kong is an eminent monk." Li Shi looked at the corpse in front of him with a serene expression on his face, and said, "The last sentence he left before his death was: 'I don't go to hell, whoever goes to hell'."