Looking to the Thirteen Rivers

"Use your wrist hard, lift your arm up for me, this is a sword, not a broom!"

Dark clouds covered the top, cold wind swept across the martial arts training ground, and the days became even colder after the snow stopped. The new disciples stood in the arena with their swords in their hands, already crying from the cold and unable to stand still.

It's just a small iron sword. At first the disciples were very excited, but they didn't expect that after practicing it for a few hours, they would be so tired that they would feel pain all over their bodies, and their arms seemed to be filled with lead. It hurts once and for all.

The teacher teacher is still observing everyone with an indifferent expression. These days, almost every disciple has eaten her whip, even Yin Qiu is no exception. No one is afraid of this teacher teacher, no matter how cold and tired it is at this moment , also gritted his teeth and followed the practice moves, not daring to relax at all.

The sky was gloomy and oppressive for no reason, and even the familiar wind sound was indescribably dull at this time. Yin Qiu's back was wet, and the cold wind blew, making her whole body tremble, and she followed with difficulty. The senior brother who demonstrated the moves in front stabbed the sword, the back of his hands and cheeks felt like being cut by knives in the wind, and the pain was burning.

Half an hour later, the bell rang, and the teacher teacher spoke, and all the disciples wailed, dragging their tired bodies to the disciple courtyard.

"How about it, can we still go?" Fu Xiang shook his arms and squeezed up over the crowd.

Yin Qiu squeezed the hilt of his sword, wiped the sweat from his neck, and said out of breath, "You can go, let's eat first."

The two of them went to the dining hall to receive food, and went to the soup room to take a bath together. Yin Qiu was physically and mentally exhausted, and fell asleep accidentally while sitting in the warm soup pool. When he woke up, Fu Xiang was already in the pool by the pool. After waiting on the bench for a while, there was a wooden tub by his feet, and there were two sets of washed clothes in it.

"Why did you wash my clothes again?" Yin Qiu hurriedly got up and dressed in a hurry.

"Is it a matter of convenience." Fu Xiang leaned on the chair with a relaxed posture.

"You should wake me up." Yin Qiu said.

"Seeing that you are sleeping deeply, I want you to sleep longer," Fu Xiang said, throwing a dry handkerchief to Yin Qiu, pointing at her, "The water on your back hasn't been wiped off yet, so be careful not to catch a cold. "

Yin Qiu pulled down the collar, his hands were so sore, he could only wipe the back of his neck vigorously, Fu Xiang saw that she was inconvenient to move, so he stepped forward and said, "Stand, I'll wipe it for you."

The whole body is full of heat, like a thick morning fog, there are no other people in the soup room, only two people are together.

"You're too thin," Fu Xiang said with a sigh, "I usually don't eat much, it's like feeding a cat, eat more."

Yin Qiu just woke up, her mind was still a little confused, and she couldn't stand still. He only smiled slightly when she heard this, but didn't say anything. She tried her best to support the wall to stabilize her figure, and closed her shivering eyes.

After staying in the soup room for a long time, it was a bit stuffy. Yin Qiu's breath was uneven and a little short of breath. Fu Xiang glanced at her, then moved his gaze to her back, and gently stroked the skin with the handkerchief, sweeping away the messy drops , revealing Yin Qiu's back with intertwined scars.

They're all old wounds.

Fu Xiang looked at those scars, frowned, and said, "Were you often beaten before?"

Yin Qiu raised his head slightly, half-hidden his face with his thin hair, revealing a pair of slightly red eyes, and said "um" in a soft voice.

Fu Xiang threw away the handkerchief, spread out his palm, touched Yin Qiu's back, and said, "It looks like the beating was pretty hard."

Yin Qiu turned sideways, gently pulled the collar around his waist up to his shoulders, and said softly, "It's quite ruthless, and now I still have nightmares. I often dream that someone beats me."

Fu Xiang's gaze followed Yin Qiu's hand, and finally fell on her smooth and fair face, he paused for a moment and said, "Who beat you, and why did they beat you?"

Yin Qiu pursed the corners of his lips and said, "If you make a mistake, say something you shouldn't say, or bump into someone in charge who is in a bad mood, even if you don't do anything, you will still be beaten."

Fu Xiang looked at Yin Qiu's drooping eyebrows and lowered his voice: "You used to have a bad life?"

Hearing that there was some sympathy in her tone, Yin Qiu smiled and said, "It's not easy to have food, but that's all in the past, and it's all in the past."

A row of paper lanterns swayed outside the window, and the light crossed the window paper and cast it on Yin Qiu's face, reflecting a little pink in the corner of her eyes, which was very conspicuous. Fu Xiang looked at her for a while, slightly raised the corners of his lips, and said in a slightly frivolous tone: "You are so beautiful, those people can do anything to you, it shows that they don't know how to pity you."

Yin Qiu laughed embarrassedly and said, "Don't talk nonsense, let's go."

·

The sky became darker with the passage of time, and there were not many rooms with candles burning in the courtyard. Haishi was approaching, and most of the disciples had already fallen asleep. Yin Qiu said goodbye to Fu Xiang, and walked out of the room alone through the verandah Before he could open the door, there was a sound of soft footsteps behind him.

Yin Qiu looked back, and a snow-white dress came into view instantly, Yin Qiu was greatly surprised, hurriedly went up to the person who came, and shouted: "Uncle!"

Man Jiangxue opened his arms and hugged Yin Qiu into his arms. The two hugged for a while before Man Jiangxue said: "It's cold outside, go in first."

Yin Qiu pushed the door open, put down the wooden basin in his hand, hung up the clothes, then hugged Man Jiangxue, and said, "It's so late, why did Master come here?"

Man Jiangxue said: "I want to leave the palace and see you before I leave."

Yin Qiu poured a cup of tea, pulled Man Jiangxue to sit down at the table, and asked, "Where are you going this time?"

Man Jiangxue took a sip from her teacup and said, "I have something to do." She looked at Yin Qiu and said with concern, "You don't look well, are you sick again?"

Yin Qiu shook his head: "I'm not sick, I'm just too tired."

Practicing martial arts and swords in the cold wind all day, many disciples suffered from the wind and cold. Although Yin Qiu felt tired, she was used to the days of hunger and cold since she was a child, but she was very tenacious. She only had some mild headaches and fever, but no serious illnesses. .

The homework written by Yin Qiu today was placed on the table, Man Jiangxue checked it, praised Yin Qiu as usual, and finally said: "How is the sword practice?"

Yin Qiu originally wanted to show her the last two moves, but his whole body was sore and he couldn't even hold the sword at the moment, so he said angrily: "I saw that you danced the sword very easily, but it was not easy for you to do it yourself. How can a sword be so heavy?"

Man Jiangxue took Yin Qiu's small iron sword and weighed it, with a slight smile on his face, and said: "It is indeed a bit heavy, but the disciples who are just getting started have to practice with heavy swords, and they are used to light weight swords from the beginning. , I won’t be used to holding an epee in the future.”

Yin Qiu suddenly realized, pointed to the dagger at Man Jiangxue's waist and said, "Then is it heavy?"

Man Jiangxue took off the dagger, threw it at Yin Qiu, and said, "Try it."

Yin Qiu saw that the dagger was exquisite and small, only about seven inches in size, so he expected it to be not very heavy, so he stretched out one hand to catch it, but unexpectedly it sank when he received it, and Yin Qiu was almost thrown by the dagger. somersault.

"Why is it so heavy?" Yin Qiu was surprised.

Man Jiangxue laughed, took the dagger and shook it again, revealing the original appearance of the Ningshuang sword, and said: "It looks small, but there is still a piece of the sword hidden inside, so naturally it will not go lightly."

Her fingers were slender and white, and she gently pulled out a few beautiful sword flowers while holding the hilt, which was exceptionally graceful. Yin Qiu compared his own small iron sword, and said enviously, "Master's sword is so beautiful."

"You will also have your own sword," Man Jiangxue withdrew the dagger and hung it on his waist, "It's late at night, you go to bed earlier."

Yin Qiu kicked on his boots and climbed onto the bed, moved inside, motioned for Man Jiangxue to come up, but Man Jiangxue didn't move, saying, "I'm leaving soon, I won't be with you tonight."

Yin Qiu was surprised: "Are you leaving now? In such a hurry?"

Man Jiangxue sat down by the bed, tucked Yin Qiu under the quilt, and said, "It's not in a hurry, I can leave after you fall asleep."

Yin Qiu was indeed sleepy very early, but she took a nap in the soup room. Now that she saw Man Jiangxue, her sleepiness no longer existed. After a long time, she kept staring at Man Jiang with her eyes wide open. Xue couldn't stop watching.

"If you don't sleep, you won't be able to wake up tomorrow." Man Jiangxue said.

Yin Qiu huddled in the quilt, with dancing candlelight in her eyes, she gently grabbed Man Jiangxue's sleeve, and said in a low voice, "When will Master come back when I go down the mountain this time?"

Man Jiangxue held Yin Qiu's hand back and said, "I don't know yet."

Feeling the warm warmth of Man Jiangxue's palm, Yin Qiu was quiet for a moment, begging in his tone, and said: "Then can you hug me for a while? It will be fine in a while. I will fall asleep soon, so I won't delay you." of."

Man Jiangxue looked sideways at the sky outside the window, thought for a while and said: "Okay, but you are not allowed to be lazy, you have to sleep if you say sleep."

Yin Qiu nodded like pounding garlic, quickly lifted the quilt and let it in again, Man Jiangxue lay down in his clothes, stretched out his arms to hug Yin Qiu, when Yin Qiu was touched by her, he suddenly trembled, with a slight expression on his face The color of pain.

Man Jiangxue noticed it immediately and asked, "What's wrong?"

Yin Qiu smiled and said, "It's nothing, my arm hurts a bit."

"It hurts?" Man Jiangxue frowned slightly, raised her other hand to touch Yin Qiu's arm, "Here?"

Yin Qiu said "Yes": "When I practiced the sword in the afternoon, my posture was wrong, and I was whipped by the instructor."

"Let me see." Man Jiangxue lowered her head and gently pulled Yin Qiu's collar away, only to see a red and swollen welt on her arm below her shoulder.

"It's okay," Yin Qiu buried his head in Man Jiangxue's arms, "It won't hurt if you don't touch it."

Compared with the other disciples, Yin Qiu was beaten less, and even Fu Xiang was beaten a few times more than her. The pain was unbearable at first, but once you get used to it, you can ignore it.

"I'll ask someone to bring you some ointment," Man Jiangxue pulled Yin Qiu's clothes, and took her to lie down, "Just apply it and you'll be fine."

Yin Qiu nodded, sniffing the fragrance of Man Jiangxue's hair, gradually fell asleep, and soon fell asleep. Man Jiangxue heard her breathing calm down, and waited for a while before lightly extinguishing the candle , pushed the door away.

The cold wind was howling, and the courtyard was covered with silvery white inside and outside. The wind was wrapped in fragments of dead branches and fallen leaves, like a different kind of night rain. The ghostly figure quietly appeared in the corner of the dim corridor after Man Jiangxue left.

The man quietly watched Man Jiangxue's back, until Man Jiangxue completely disappeared from sight, then he stepped out of Yin Qiu's room, and pushed open the two wooden doors without making a sound.

The noise of the wind intensified for a moment, but the man resisted behind him, and did not rush into the room to disturb Yin Qiu who was sleeping soundly.

He stood at the door and looked at Yin Qiu for a moment, then raised his hand and threw a small blue medicine bottle on the table, and then this person disappeared into the darkness like a gentle night wind.

The door closed automatically without making any sound, as if nothing had happened just now.

The night was quiet again.

·

At dawn the next day, Yin Qiu woke up to the familiar bell.

The smell of Man Jiangxue's body still seemed to be lingering on his side. Yin Qiu took a deep breath towards the mattress there, feeling that his fatigue had been relieved a lot, and his mood was very clear.

Putting on her clothes and getting off the bed, Yin Qiu went to the courtyard to fetch hot water and went back to the room to wash up. When everything was cleaned up and she was about to pick up her homework and go to school, she found a small green porcelain bottle on the table at some point.

What's this?Yin Qiu was puzzled, picked up the porcelain bottle and smelled it, and smelled a faint bitter taste.

Could it be the ointment given by the uncle?Thinking of this, Yin Qiu's eyes lit up, he immediately pulled out the cork and poured out some viscous liquid medicine, and rubbed it on his arm in front of the bronze mirror. A burst of comfortable coolness dispelled a lot of pain.

Yin Qiuwu pursed his lips and smiled, as if he had won some treasure, he stuffed the small porcelain bottle into his bosom, planning to give some to Fu Xiang when he saw her later.

However, the whip wounds on Fu Xiang's body were all on his back, and it was not good to take off his clothes and apply medicine in public in the dining hall, so he had to wait until he returned to his room in the afternoon.

The morning passed quickly, and the master left homework as usual and announced that school was over. Yin Qiu took the books and waited for the students to leave the classroom before heading out alone.

A sixteen or seventeen-year-old female disciple was waiting outside, and when she saw Yin Qiu, she approached her and asked, "Is it Yin Qiu, is it Junior Sister Yin?"

Yin Qiu had never met this female disciple before, but when she heard her call his name, he said politely, "I am, is Senior Sister looking for me?"

The female disciple smiled kindly at Yin Qiu and said, "Uncle Man asked me to come, she asked me to give you this."

After finishing speaking, the female disciple took out a small pure white medicine bottle from her sleeve pocket and handed it to Yin Qiu.

Yin Qiu paused, reached out to take the small medicine bottle, looked at it, and asked, "This is it?"

The female disciple explained: "Uncle Master said that you were whipped by Senior Sister Xu, no, he specially asked me to bring medicine, this medicine is very effective in treating whiplash, apply it three times a day, and you will be fine in two days. "

Yin Qiu was stunned, pressed his chest and said, "When did she ask you to give it to me?"

"I ordered it last night," said the female disciple, "Okay, the medicine has been delivered, remember to use it, I have something to do and I will leave first."

Watching the female disciple leave, Yin Qiu looked at the medicine bottle in her hand, and took out another medicine bottle from her bosom. She looked left and right, and then smelled each of them, and found the smell of these two medicine bottles. Same, apparently the same drug.

Since Man Jiangxue left medicine for her last night, why would someone send another one over?

Yin Qiu looked at the two medicine bottles in his hand and fell into deep thought.