Looking to the Thirteen Rivers

The rain poured on the blue tiles on the roof of the porch, crackling, and a dark copper bell hung under the eaves, tinkling and melodious.

The sky was getting dark, and the palace lanterns were lit up everywhere, but no one came to light the lanterns here. Yin Qiu looked up at the pattern on the copper bell, and said calmly, "I guessed it."

Seeing that she didn't fix her eyes on her, Meng Jing was not too cautious, she followed Yin Qiu's gaze to look at the bell, and said softly: "I was always sick when I was young, and my family was poor, so I couldn't hire a good doctor. All I met were some wild men who wandered in the mountains and forests. After confirming that they were congenital heart disease in Qingluo City, I remembered that a doctor said so, but my parents didn’t believe it when they were beaten to death. Alarmist talk, I just wanted to take the opportunity to extort money. My father drove him out with a hunting hatchet. Maybe it was because of this incident. Since then, no doctor who passed by my house has refused to tell the truth. It just kept dragging on.”

Until the winter of last year, she coughed up blood several times and contracted a cold, and her health deteriorated. The couple were in a hurry to seek medical treatment, but they had no money. Who would go to the remote mountains and wild forests to see a doctor in the wind and snow?When he was at a loss, the Su family in the city came to the door with Yin Qiu, who was unconscious, and brought 50 taels of silver.

Meng Jing has never seen so much money since she was a child.

Palace lanterns were flickering in the rain, casting faint light from a distance, Yin Qiu reached out to take a handful of water and wiped it on the sword, took out a handkerchief to wipe it, she didn't want to talk about this topic , so asked something else: "Then why did they ask you to dress up as a boy?"

Watching her movements, Meng Jing replied: "My parents said that being a boy is easy to support, so since I can remember, they have been calling me 'son'. My real name is not Meng Jing, it was changed later. , but also to be like a boy."

Yin Qiu then turned to look at her and said, "So you came to the women's courtyard in the middle of the night to take a bath?"

Meng Jing let out a "hmm".

Yin Qiu thought for a while: "At that time, the boilers in the soup room were all turned off, and there was no hot water. How would you wash them?"

Meng Jing said: "Just wash it like that."

It's no wonder that after she came to Yunhua Palace, her heart disease relapsed more frequently. In such a cold day, she bathed in cold water every day, so it would be strange if she didn't get sick.

"I said why do you doze off every day at school," Yin Qiu said, "you have to get up to take a shower in the middle of the night, and you have to worry about being discovered... Haven't you thought about restoring your daughter's body? It will be very inconvenient if you continue like this .”

Meng Jing hesitated for a moment, then shook her head: "I'm used to treating myself as a boy, it doesn't matter if I recover or not," she paused, and then said, "I'm not very popular with you, whether it's a man or a woman, there are not many people who can understand me." I realized that if you hadn't met me during these two illnesses..." She choked when she said this, and didn't finish the rest of the sentence.

Yin Qiu showed embarrassment and cleared his throat: "I didn't mean to..."

Meng Jing seemed more embarrassed than her, her eyes dodged, and she stopped talking.

Yin Qiu sighed, wrung out the water stains on the handkerchief, and said, "But you can't live like this forever? It didn't matter that you were at home before, but now you come to Yunhua Palace and live in the men's courtyard. Wouldn't it be troublesome to be bumped into by someone?" When she said this, she remembered something and asked, "Has your mother ever taught you about the girl's family?"

Meng Jing didn't understand, so she asked, "What about the girl's family?"

Yin Qiu said, "For example, Guishui, do you know what Guishui is?"

Meng Jing raised her eyelashes, then nodded after a moment of silence: "I know...my mother said so."

Yin Qiu looked at her carefully: "Then you..."

Meng Jing answered quickly: "Not yet."

Yin Qiu looked at her worriedly: "That's troublesome. It's very inconvenient to come to Guishui. If you have a stomachache, you need someone to take care of you. It's not an option for you to stay in the men's court."

Mentioning this, Meng Jing couldn't help becoming anxious again: "Then what should I do? I don't want others to know that I am a woman."

Yin Qiu couldn't quite understand her feelings, and asked, "Why? You were originally a girl, why can't people know?"

Meng Jing scratched her hair and said a little irritably: "It's weird, I've been here since I was a child, if you want me to turn back into a daughter overnight, I can't do it."

This time it was Yin Qiu who was anxious: "Then what should I do...?"

Meng Jing was silent for a while, and finally said: "Let's just take a step and watch, now it's the only way to do it, as long as you keep the secret for me, I can keep it from being discovered."

Right now, there is no other better way than continuing to hang out with the male disciples, Yin Qiu said, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"After Fu Xiang comes back, you can't tell her, you know?" Meng Jing urged.

"I know," Yin Qiu agreed, "I won't tell anyone."

Speaking of this, both of them fell silent.

After a while, Yin Qiu asked again: "Does Senior Sister Lu know?"

Meng Jing thought for a while: "I probably don't know, although I have the most contacts with her, but I don't have very close ones." After she said this, she added, "I actually don't have many close people."

Yin Qiu suddenly felt tired for her, but Meng Jing herself didn't want to restore her daughter's body, so she couldn't persuade her much, so she could only comfort her and said: "Then you should pay more attention to yourself, and if you need any help, just let me know." That’s fine, as long as I can help, I won’t refuse.”

Meng Jing glanced at her gratefully, and thanked her in a stumbling manner.

·

"This is the list of disciples who will be assigned to post stations in various states after the New Year's Eve. Please take a look at it." Lu Huaiwei handed over the roster in her hand to Man Jiangxue, and offered her a cup of tea.

Since the beginning of spring, the snow has stopped falling, but when the spring rain comes, it will fall endlessly. Man Jiangxue covered the window, took the list and looked at it roughly, and said: "There have been too many disciples from the outer sect in the past two years. On the contrary, there are fewer disciples left behind in the palace, you should take more time to look around recently, if there are any disciples from the outer sect who performed well, draw up a list and give it to the senior sister in charge, and pick a batch to send to the palace."

Lu Huaiwei said: "Is Master Uncle going to promote outer disciples? This is a good thing."

"It's not promotion," Man Jiangxue said. "It's better for talented people to stay in the palace, but they must also meet the standards. Those who have criminal records or are not very clean should pay attention to screening. Your list Most of them are old disciples in the palace, so it is not suitable, and send out some less qualified ones, just to hone and hone."

Lu Huaiwei smiled: "It's still the uncle who is thoughtful. Before the disciples go down the mountain, I will definitely send you the newly drawn list."

Man Jiangxue looked at her, thought for a moment and asked, "When are you going down the mountain?"

Lu Huaiwei is a disciple of Wuhui Peak, and she has been in charge of personnel transfer since she came. Whether it is sent to the palace or assigned to the various states, she is in charge. She doesn't stay in the palace for long, almost every year. Leading her young children outside, if it wasn't for the injury she suffered a few years ago, she would have left the palace long ago.

Lu Huaiwei said: "There's no rush. When the head and Senior Sister Ye come back, I have to talk to Senior Sister Ye before leaving."

Man Jiangxue thought for a while, and said: "Wanshu retreats, most of the affairs in the palace are on Zhilan, she will definitely not be able to handle it by herself, so don't leave this year, stay and help her. You also share some of the affairs that Shu is responsible for, and I will tell your elders who will go down the mountain and ask her to pick someone to replace you."

There are not many people who can tell Man Jiangxue to stay, this is tantamount to a kind of recognition, Lu Huaiwei was flattered and said: "Let the uncle arrange it."

Man Jiangxue gave a "hmm", took a sip from the teacup, and asked, "How did you find out about the mask?"

Speaking of this, Lu Huaiwei's joy just now disappeared, she said with shame on her face: "I've disappointed my uncle, it's hard to investigate this matter, although more than half a month has passed, but there is still no clue."

Man Jiangxue glanced at her: "Is there not a single suspect?"

Lu Huaiwei narrowed her eyes and said, "Not really, Deputy Elder Li is superb in disguise, but he let it go, he won't accept apprentices to teach skills until he returns to the west, in order to prevent encountering xinxing. Unscrupulous people use the disguise technique to do bad things, so there are basically no disciples in the palace who have learned the disguise technique. Even though the materials for making masks have indeed been stolen, there is no evidence and it is really difficult to find out who took it. "

Even if there are disciples who have learned the disguise technique before entering the palace, they are not necessarily people from Wuhui Peak. Stealing materials is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack.

The spies in the palace were buried deep, caught one and then another, hibernating in the dark and always watching the movement of Yunhua Palace, and can tip off the Ziwei Sect at any time, this person is a hidden danger every day he is not caught.

But the difficulty is that this person is too cautious, at least no one knows who he is at present, but only knows that such a person exists, and if things go on like this, it will be hard to guard against.

The matter has come to this point, it is useless to say more, it can only be an empty talk, Man Jiangxue nodded slightly, signaling Lu Huaiwei to step back, she put the teacup down, continued to pick up the booklet on the desk, and suddenly a little flashed in her eyes Subtle golden light, Man Jiangxue looked sideways, and saw Lu Huaiwei wearing a bracelet made of black rope on her wrist, with two small golden beads strung on it, and a soft blue-gray bird feather hanging on it, very beautiful.

Xu Shi noticed her gaze, Lu Huaiwei paused, and looked at the bracelet with some doubts: "Uncle, do you have anything else to say?"

Man Jiangxue raised his chin slightly: "This bead and Toba look familiar, where did they come from?"

Lu Huaiwei suddenly showed a look of surprise: "Uncle Shi has seen this too? I bought it from a Western Region peddler in Shangyuan City last year. I thought it looked good at the time. Sister Ji gave it to me as a gift."

Man Jiangxue looked at it for a moment, then wrote lightly: "The peddler is an old man from Xiling Kingdom?"

Lu Huaiwei was surprised: "How does Uncle Master know?"

"The pattern on this bead is the totem of the Xiling Kingdom, and only members of the royal family can wear it." Man Jiangxue paused, and said calmly, "You'd better pick off the things that perish."

Although it has been more than ten years since Xiling destroyed the country, the big countries outside the customs are still chasing down the fish that slipped through the net in various small countries. Wearing such a thing that shows their status is tantamount to causing trouble. The bracelet was taken off: "I don't know about this, fortunately my uncle reminded me that if I meet someone from outside the pass one day, I'm afraid they will kill me as a descendant of Xiling."

Man Jiangxue glanced at the bracelet again, didn't say much, just asked: "Is there a letter from the senior sister in charge?"

Lu Huaiwei nodded: "It is said that we are going to return to the palace in two days. The uncle has been helping to manage the affairs of the palace since he came back. It's not too early, let's rest earlier. The disciple will arrange in advance to take over the head."

Man Jiangxue replied "Yes", and when Lu Huaiwei exited the palace gate, she looked at the golden bead in her hand calmly.

It was cool in the evening, and the scrolls on the desk were rattling. Man Jiangxue sat quietly for a while, dipped his pen in the ink, and skillfully traced the pattern on the golden bead.

Not long after, she crumpled the rice paper again, threw it into the brazier at her feet, and burned it up in an instant.

·

There have been several rains in the mountains, everything has been renewed, and the breath of spring is everywhere.

The snow before the New Year’s Eve has melted, the trees have shed all their dead leaves, and sprouted new shoots. Yin Qiu has returned to his normal routine, learning martial arts step by step every day. It is no different from the past, the only thing he still hasn’t adapted to. The only thing is that Fu Xiang has not returned for a long time, and Yin Qiu is somewhat lonely.

"Clang!" With a sound, the two small iron swords slashed together, making an ear-piercing sound. Yin Qiushun held a sword flower in his hand, deftly overturning the opponent's saber. With just the right amount of force, he knocked the female disciple opposite to the ground with no difficulty.

"Are you all right?" Yin Qiu withdrew his hand and bent down to help the female disciple.

"It's okay." The female disciple has replaced Fu Xiang these days and has been fighting against Yin Qiu two by two. There are not many people who can draw with Yin Qiu.

"You're improving so fast," the female disciple stood up, patted the dust off her skirt, and said sincerely, "You're getting better every day, and I can't catch up with you even if I try my best."

"No way, you are also very good." Yin Qiu wiped the sweat from his forehead, and was about to ask the female disciple to compete again, when the bell rang, the two looked at each other and smiled, and the female disciple cupped her hands We bid farewell and agreed to practice again tomorrow.

Yin Qiu couldn't get enough of it, and he got to know the sword moves again in the martial arts training ground. She didn't leave, and neither did Meng Jing, so they just sat on the small bench and watched her practice.

When the practice was almost done, Yin Qiu took away the sword and ran to the tea shed to pour a bowl of tea to quench his thirst. Seeing this, Meng Jing also followed, and the two stood under the tea shed, talking pleasantly.

"You've been training in a hurry these days," Meng Jing said, "The New Disciple Conference is still early, so don't be too nervous."

Yin Qiu shook the tea in his hand and sighed: "Don't be in a hurry." She glanced at Meng Jing, smiled and said, "If one day I'm arrested and sent to the Ziwei sect again, I'll only rely on my three-legged cat's kung fu." How can I do it?"

Meng Jing looked at the sword in her hand and said enviously, "You still have to practice at least..."

Yin Qiu glanced at her, and handed the hilt to Meng Jing: "Do you want to try it?"

Meng Jing couldn't practice martial arts, and naturally she didn't have her own sword. She looked down at Yin Qiu's hand, and wanted to reach out to hold the hilt several times, but in the end she just touched it lightly and said, "Forget it, Nothing to try."

Yin Qiu didn't force her, and patted Meng Jing's shoulder gently, and said, "It's okay, count your share on my head, and I will definitely work harder," she said, her eyes on On the deserted martial arts arena, "It would be great if Fu Xiang was here. With her here, I can practice for a while longer."

Hearing this, Meng Jing was silent for a moment, then suddenly said: "That Fu Xiang, I advise you not to get too close to her."

After hearing this, Yin Qiu couldn't help being surprised: "Why?"

"I always feel that she is not a kind person." Meng Jing glanced at Yin Qiu, "I have been able to do things from both sides at a young age, and I am used to seeing people's eyes and talking and doing things, and I have deep thoughts."

Yin Qiu was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "No, Fu Xiang is just quick-tempered and easy to deal with people. She is straightforward and doesn't have a heart, and gets along with everyone. I am not as good as her in this respect. .”

"It is precisely because she gets along with everyone that I think she is not simple," Meng Jing said, "She is too fake, and there is no truth in her mouth. People with shortcomings are normal, she is not normal."

All along, Yin Qiu had a very good impression of Fu Xiang, and he really regarded Fu Xiang as a friend, but Meng Jing's words at this moment can be said to have directly subverted Yin Qiu's view of Fu Xiang.

She never expected that Fu Xiang would have such an image in Meng Jing's eyes.

"Why do you say that?" Yin Qiu frowned, and said incredulously, "Fu Xiang has never harmed anyone or done anything bad. How can you look at her like that?"

Meng Jing seemed to know that she would have such a reaction, and said very calmly: "Do you think I am as easy to deceive as you? I only look at the good of people, not the bad, and I don't know when I will be betrayed."

Yin Qiu said: "Fu Xiang won't sell me, what can I sell?"

Meng Jing suddenly said coldly: "Forgot how your mother was cheated by your father?"

Yin Qiu paused and looked up at her.

Meng Jing snorted softly: "I dare say, your mother didn't think that your father wanted to harm her back then, and it was necessary to be on guard against others. Today, I am a talkative person who chews people's tongues behind their backs. Do you like it or not."

Yin Qiu looked at her for a while, put down the tea bowl, and his expression became serious: "You can say that, it can only show that you have seen something, or you have something wrong with Fu Xiang, and now I treat you both as my husband." My good friend, if you have misunderstood her, I can't turn a blind eye."

Meng Jing saw that her posture was to get to the bottom of it, so she could only say in a short silence: "Actually, the first few days when I first came to Yunhua Palace, I always felt that Fu Xiang looked familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere before." She looked back Yin Qiu said in a deep voice, "It wasn't until Ding Lian really came to look for you that day, and she left you and ran away alone, that I saw her back and remembered that I had indeed met Fu Xiang in Qingluo City. once."

Yin Qiu thought for a while, then pondered and said, "I know about this, my uncle and I were able to find you in time, and she showed us the way, what's the problem?"

"Of course there is a problem," Meng Jing said, "Sister Lu also told me about Fu Xiang's life experience. She claimed that she doesn't know kung fu, and she learned from the basics with you, but I clearly met her in Qingluo City. A little girl has fought against each other, and her kung fu is far superior to all the people in the New Disciple Academy."

Yin Qiu was taken aback: "You mean, she was already very good at martial arts?"

Meng Jing nodded: "This is the problem. A person who knows kung fu, why did he come to Yunhua Palace to learn from a teacher without telling everyone? Since she has such good skills, she should stay in Mingyue Tower. Yes, what are you doing in Yunhua Palace?"

Before Yin Qiu could think about it, Meng Jing continued: "And she is so good at making friends, why is she only intimate with you when she entered the palace? Don't you think that she intended to get close to you?"

The more Yin Qiu heard it, the more startled he became, and he said in a daze, "But what good will it do for her to approach me? Besides, we've known each other for so long, and she hasn't done me any harm."

"If you don't harm you now, it doesn't mean you won't be harmed in the future," Meng Jing said. "You have a special status, and even the Ziwei Sect is watching you. What if Fu Xiang came to the palace for you? And I'm very suspicious now. Sending someone to snatch you away from the palace, maybe she is helping in secret."

Many images of getting along with Fu Xiang flashed in his mind, Yin Qiu took a step back and said in disbelief, "No...Fu Xiang...is not this kind of person."

Seeing that her expression was not right, Meng Jing paused and eased her tone: "Of course I am just guessing, and you have to admit that what I said is correct. She concealed the fact that she knows kung fu. She has been working since Qingluo City. I met you, and became friends with you after entering the palace. She must have some purpose in entering Yunhua Palace, but I can't draw a conclusion for the time being whether it is good or bad for you. I just want to remind you, keep everything There is always no harm in the eyes of the heart."

"All in all, before you know what Fu Xiang's background is, you'd better not get too close to her."

The author has something to say: I caught a cold, and after taking the cold medicine, I felt like I was in high spirits, and I didn't have a status code word for the past two days.

When the season changes, sisters and sisters, please pay attention to your health!

Come on, let's continue to give out red envelopes in this chapter, the old rules, leave a comment before midnight!