Zha Gong's evolutionary path

The moon and stars were sparse, and a dog barked once or twice from a distant street, and the sound of the watchman beating his bang gradually faded away.

The oil lamp was still on in Lin Gongru's room.

The man was leaning against the table, half bent down, with his left hand resting on his right wrist, concentrating on the rice paper on the table one stroke at a time.

He had a large bundle of rice paper stacked half a person's height in his hand, and he had already spent more than half of it; beside the rice paper was a pair of landscape inkstones, and the ink that had been grinded inside had been consumed overnight and had already bottomed out.

A few portraits that had been painted dozens of times to make them slightly outline were carefully pressed by the window facing the street with a paperweight, blowing the evening breeze to dry the wet ink stains on them.

He is really not good at painting, even though when he was the son of the capital, he played with pen and ink for a period of time in order to be arty, but after all, he was more opportunistic and rarely studied hard.Landscape figures, flowers, birds, fish and insects, drawing a rough outline is enough to make the old dandies complacent, bragging for a long time among a bunch of cronies and friends, who would have the heart to work hard.

Now that the critical juncture is coming, he clearly has in his mind the clear eyebrows and expressions of those people, or their smiling or slightly annoyed looks, which seem to be vivid in front of his eyes, but the writing is sluggish, and he can't describe their charm/spirit/charm/one of thousands.

He drew and messed up, messed up and drew again, over and over again, back and forth, and there were paper balls and confetti on the bottom of his feet, but he couldn't draw the truly unforgettable eyebrows and eyes.

Lin Gongru almost plunged into the brush, ink, paper and inkstone, wishing to paint with blood.

The few sheets of rice paper kept by the window were the ones that barely resembled the ones he selected from hundreds of portraits with all his efforts.His desk case is facing these portraits spread out, and he continues to paint with a brush according to the similar model, trying to get closer in outline and expression, and to be more like those people.

The rice paper pressed by the paperweight flipped gently under the cold wind blowing by the window, like a white butterfly flying up and down.

In the bronze-colored oil lamp, the lamp oil that had been added several times was gradually unable to support it, and the light flickered, and the flame gradually weakened.

Lin Gongru stopped the brush and turned to look for lamp oil.He had already made full plans to paint until dawn, so he asked the waiter in the shop for a sufficient amount of tung oil to keep in the room.

After he refilled the oil lamp, when he turned his head, a gust of cool wind suddenly blew, and the rice paper on top of him was blown loudly.

The wind was really strange, the direction of the blowing was obviously from the outside to the inside, it suddenly lifted a corner of the rice paper, and slowly got out of the range of the paperweight; at the moment when the portrait fell, it suddenly changed the direction of the wind, flitting the page of rice paper out of the window blown away.

Lin Gongru immediately reached out to grab it, but failed, the rice paper slowly floated out of the window.

On the rice paper is a handsome young man with picturesque features, with a high ponytail and two small dimples on his cheeks smiling sweetly at the person outside the picture.

Lin Gongru suddenly owed his family, he moved fast enough, in fact, he almost reached the corner of the paper.

However, the wind was faster than him. His fingertips slid across the thin paper, and suddenly a strong whirlwind blew from his fingertips, blowing the insignificant portrait directly downstairs, into the silence. On the silent street, a tall figure stood.

The snow-white rice paper fluttered towards the figure standing with his back to the inn, like a fallen leaf returning to its roots, and lightly fell to the man's feet.

The man seemed to be aware of it, and turned around, a pair of bright eyes met Lin Gongru who was leaning forward upstairs.

He showed a slightly stunned and shy expression.

Lin Gongru clutched the window sill with both hands, and held his breath the moment he saw the face of that person.

His brain was in a daze, and his temples, which were drowsy and uncomfortable due to the endless drawing day and night, suddenly ached sharply, and the pain made his eyes black for bursts, and he could hardly breathe.

A dark cloud drifted across the dark night sky, releasing the moon toad that was hidden behind it, and the soft and bright light fell on the street.On the spacious and quiet street, there was only that one person, who pursed his lips, raised his head, and looked at Lin Gongru with moist eyes.

The bright yellow clothes on his body seemed to be decorated with golden borders, lining his whole body in the warm light, and a bright red rope was tied around the high ponytail.

Black-haired and snow-skinned, she was fifteen or sixteen years old, the most reckless and frivolous age, her lips were as honey-colored, and her watery eyes were full of unspoken warmth.

Ye, Ming, Jue.

Lin Gongru stepped on the window sill and almost slipped off due to her unsteady figure.

His hands were covered with thin sweat, he firmly grasped the window lattice to stabilize himself, then took a long breath, without saying a word, he jumped directly from the second floor.

The young man stood quietly on the street, at his feet was the piece of rice paper that Lin Gongru had painted for most of the night.Inside and outside the painting, the two Ye Mingjue raised their beautiful brows, with a look of inexperienced but trusting expression, looking at the man who jumped down from the second floor without blinking.

Lin Gongru was too impatient when he jumped down, the sole of his foot sprained, and there was a sharp pain in his ankle.

He didn't bother to check, and after straightening up, he hastily quickened his pace and ran towards the boy.He ran in a hurry, like a hungry and thirsty person in the desert who finally saw an oasis. With the despair and joy of risking his life, he went straight to the source of life, but when he was about three feet away from the boy , Shengsheng stopped in his tracks.

The evening wind blew again, lifting the boy's sideburns and blowing them in the half-cool night.

Lin Gongru raised his fingers, wanting to grab his hair, but he raised his hand halfway, then flinched and stopped in mid-air.He still wanted to touch the boy's cold-looking cheek, but he didn't even have the courage to get any closer.

"Ye Mingjue...?" He trembled, "Is that you?"

The young man tilted his head slightly and looked at him, with a look of pure innocence on his face, he only looked at Lin Gongru, but never moved towards him.

"I'm Lin Gongru... your big brother Lin."

Lin Gongru's voice trembled more and more, and he couldn't help clenching his fists.

The wound under the bandage cracked due to excessive force, and there were strands of blood oozing out. He didn't realize it, "We tied a red thread in front of the statue of the old moon and carved our name——you were killed by your elder brother in order to save me." ...do you remember me?"

Ye Mingjue looked at him with a smile, the young master's bright eyes were full of a gentle smile, and the dimples on both sides of his cheeks seemed to be filled with wine, making people want to drown in it just by looking at him.

He just smiled at him.

Lin Gongru's footsteps were weak, he summoned up great courage, and took another step towards him.

He whispered, "Are you here to find me?"

"Do you want to take me away?"

"Ye Mingjue, talk to me..."

The young master looked down at the piece of rice paper at his feet, then raised his head again, and turned his eyes back to Lin Gongru's face, with a bit of helplessness and nostalgia in his expression.He looked at his long white hair hanging down to his waist, and in the night, he could still distinguish the tiredness that was far from the romantic and easy life in the past, and the state of mind that had already changed from when they first met.

Ye Mingjue opened his mouth, his voice as thin as a mosquito was like a wisp of gossamer in the night wind, seemingly absent, and gently brushed against Lin Gongru's ear: "Brother Lin..."

The boy's crisp voice remains the same.

Lin Gongru was in a daze for a moment, and when he came to his senses, he had already desperately opened his arms towards Ye Mingjue, intending to hug the young master tightly into his arms.

But Ye Mingjue easily avoided it.

He only took two steps back, and his figure was so fast that even Lin Gongru couldn't see what he was doing, so he floated away from the spot in an instant, and hid under the dark eaves of a shop on the street.

Lin Gongru stepped on the rice paper on the ground, he paused for a moment when his toes touched the paper, and he leaned over to grab the rice paper into his hand.

Looking up again, Ye Mingjue's figure was like the unknown night wind that brought him to appear, and disappeared without a trace.

He clutched the rice paper that was stained with night dew in a daze, the thin ink stains on the paper were a little wet, and it was unreal to be wet in his hands.

Lin Gongru tried to look around, searched around in despair, turned every corner of the whole street, but couldn't see the bright yellow figure of the young master again.

He is almost like one of the many ghosts released from the underworld before the Ghost Festival. When he comes to this world and takes another look at the person he misses in his heart, he will disappear under the sun like rain and dew, never to reappear.

Lin Gongru stood there for a long time in vain in the long night, until the east gradually turned pale, and the town's rooster crowed one after another, from the south to the north.

Ah Liang knocked on the door impatiently and with great strength, as if he wanted to kick the Taoist priest's door open.

Luo Huang yawned loudly, and while wearing a Taoist robe, he went to open the door listlessly.

He has two thick dark circles under his eyes, and his messy hair is more like a chicken coop than when he was on the mountain. He scratched it a few times, and even his temples turned up.He slumped on the door and looked at A Liang weakly: "You better give me a reason to wake me up just after the cock crowed."

"You slept all night last night, but I couldn't wake you up no matter how hard I called the door, are you still sleepy?"

Luo Huang asked strangely: "When did you call me?"

"Just yesterday, in the middle of the night, I knocked on the door of your room. The snoring in your room is so loud that even the dead can wake you up, okay?" A Liang said angrily, "Why did I never know that you snort while sleeping?" Snoring?"

Luo Huang rubbed his nose in doubt, he really never had such indecent problems.

But thinking about it, I spent most of the day exorcising ghosts and sending souls away. I was shocked and scared, and I don't know if I slept soundly.

He thought about it again. After Lin Gongru left last night, he wanted to continue to ask Ying Moyan about his past, but his head suddenly became dizzy, and he fell asleep leaning against the bed without knowing it. It seemed that he was really sleepy. To a certain extent.

"Well, it's rare to get a good night's sleep once in life." He said, "Why are you in such a hurry? What's the big deal knocking on my door in the middle of the night?"

A Liang said: "I am not thinking for you."

He approached him and lowered his voice, "That white-haired man is not easy to get along with at first glance. I thought about it for a long time last night. You promised to summon his soul. Spectrum. We still have to make a living on the road. It’s not worthwhile to waste time on messing with this man. If you give him a bad reputation, you won’t be able to go out and deceive other people in the future. So last night I planned to call you overnight slip--"

Luo Huang stared at him, and woke up so sleepy that he couldn't laugh or cry.

"Can you make something of yourself?"

A Liang also stared at him, and said solemnly: "A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall, and does not do something incompetent, do you understand? All these years I always love to be brave, and one day I will get myself in."

Luo Huang waved his hand and yawned: "I have a sense of proportion, so please stop bragging—"

"No, I came to call you last night. I accidentally glanced at the man's room. The light was always on. Out of curiosity, I took a look through the crack of the door..."

"Ok?"

A Liang said solemnly: "I saw that man leaning against the window, his whole body leaning out of the window, and he froze there as if he had seen a ghost. Before I could react, he jumped out of the window! Jumped! Then But the second floor!!"

Luo Huang said: "That man's name is Lin Gongru. So what if he jumped from the second floor, he's pretty good, you can't kill him if you fall."

"Aren't you curious why he jumped from the second floor when he was in good shape?" A Liang shivered, "On this day when the ghosts are walking at night, he stays awake with the oil lamp on, and jumps from the room to the street in the middle of the night. , Did you bump into something unclean?"

This young guy is used to pretending to be a ghost, and once he encounters someone with real knives and guns, he will be persuaded first: "It is said that this kind of guy whose appearance and hair color is inconsistent with ordinary people is the easiest to recruit evil spirits; god stick, you can at most I have a pair of yin and yang eyes, but I don't have more three heads and six arms than others, if I get entangled in some dirty things..."

"Go, go, there is no one who is afraid of ghosts in this business, don't scare yourself!" Luo Huang scolded him, but he started to mutter in his heart.Indeed, ordinary people are fine, but they really don't run around in the street in the middle of the night.

Lin Gong was different from him. Even if he was skilled enough to single out three of them, he was not an ordinary physique who could see a ghost if he wanted to.

Luo Huang couldn't help turning around and glanced at Ying Moyan who was sitting at the table. The man lowered his eyes, quietly watching the gradually brightening sky outside the window, without any disturbance on his face.

He thought to himself, could it be this guy who sneaked up to Lin Gongru yesterday after he fell asleep?

Ah Liang watched him talking, his mind seemed to drift away; he also turned his head to look at the empty table in the room, with a strange and unpredictable expression.

He remembered that Luo Huang always talked to himself before, and yesterday he was talking to the air downstairs, and he couldn't feel his heart trembling: "God stick, beside you, there is really..."

"Yes, yes, it's okay to tell you. It's this good brother—" He pointed at Ying Moyan, Ah Liang stared like a bull, and couldn't even see the edge of Ying Moyan's clothes, " If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have meddled in the matter of that man named Lin Gongru."

He shrugged, "You don't have to worry about me, this good brother is very capable. Not to mention one or two ghosts, even if a hundred ghosts come to this inn to walk at night, he can protect the few of us from hurting everyone." a hair."

Ying Moyan raised her eyes, and met Luo Huang's half-smile.

Luo Huang looked at him, the Taoist priest's listless eyes shone with shrewdness, and said with a soft smile: "His status in the underworld must not be too low."