smile to heart

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When all the dark shadows dissipate, the sky is clear and the willow forest is sparse.

Chu Yan woke up, looking at the empty surroundings, only the ancient willows on the hillside, the emerald green flowing in her eyes, it was full of mockery.All thoughts were lost, she stood up staggeringly, and went down the mountain in a daze.

Reminiscent of the drowning death in the mouth of the river god, Qi Zhong and the two followed Chu Yan back to Liuxi Town.

A lot of people suddenly surrounded the bulletin board on the street.

"Hey, I passed, I passed the exam."

A scholar rushed out of the crowd excitedly, shouting happily.Another person was dejected and sighed: "The fleeting time is unfavorable, and the name is lost to Sun Shan."

All kinds of passers-by passed by the distraught Chu Yan, and the passing wind brought a noisy or sad or happy voice to her ears over and over again.

"Today is the day when the results of the rural examination will come out." She suddenly remembered something, remembered the promise of the man, suddenly her eyes lit up, and she squeezed into the middle of the crowd with all her might, only to see a piece of rice paper full of densely written names, only the beginning to explain The two characters at the back of Yuan are written in vermilion ink.

It was Yang Zhan's name.

It pierced into Chu Yan's eyes, she covered her mouth, unable to cry, and got out of the crowd.

His first step in life was so successful, and his blueprint for the future has not yet been realized. Why did he die so miserably due to sudden changes and tricks from heaven and man?

Furious and angry, Chu Yan passed the knife shop, took a dagger while no one was looking, and hurried to Jia's mansion.

But at this moment, Jia Hai has not realized that the disaster of killing his life is coming, and he is losing his temper in the house, throwing precious porcelain.

"Waste, you can't even look down on individuals, they are all idiots, idiots."

The young man hurriedly came out from under the table and cried, "Master calm down, he has already sent someone to look for it, and he will definitely find it before dark, just wait."

"Fart, this woman should know something, and went outside to find her."

The little servant flattered and slandered: "So what if she knows, the one who stabbed the knife is ours, and I guarantee that the book will not survive. The young master puts his heart in his stomach. Although this woman ran away, but once the form is over, the people in the town will die." You already know that she belongs to you, and when you find her, you can only recognize her, and after a long time, you will naturally forget about the scholar."

"That's right, even if you are smart, the idea this time is not bad... Oh, hurry up and send more people to look for it."

The boy Nuonuo nodded, wiped his sweat and ran out the door.

Inside the house, Jia Hai was still daydreaming and dreaming sweet dreams.

"Hey, beauty, you're back."

Just as she was finishing her thoughts, she saw Chu Yan enter the room expressionlessly.

He approached greedily, trying to embrace the beauty.Chu Yan smiled coldly, and before he could react, she indifferently drew out the knife and pierced it into his heart quickly, and the white blade turned bright red.

Jia Hai was dumbfounded, he was breathing heavily on the ground, and wanted to call for help.

Chu Yan looked at him condescendingly, and stabbed his dead body repeatedly with a knife. The bloody corpse was already warm and cold, and Chu Yan was numb.

The next day, people from Jia's family found Jia Hai's body, were deeply saddened, and arrested Chu Yan.However, she was not handed over to the government, fearing that her family would be disgraceful, so she had to take advantage of the night to secretly sink her into the pond, and announced to the outside world that she had contracted some kind of disease for which there was no cure, and she died.

From that day on, the entire Liuxi Town fell into a kind of uneasy panic, but no one could tell what the uneasiness was, until later, a newlywed couple had just tied the knot, but the bride died suddenly for no reason.

Afterwards, similar incidents happened one after another, and the rumor of the newlyweds spread. Before that, people spread word of mouth about the good relationship between the wealthy gentry of the Jia family and the troupe master. Get a stigma.

Sometimes irrelevant people do not make comments, which is the greatest kindness to the victims, but the boring people just like to gossip about others aimlessly after dinner, so as to pass the long days of boredom and harmonize the atmosphere of chatting among their own families .

Seeing this, Qi Zhong suddenly understood the reason why Mu Yun didn't like to listen to gossip like them on weekdays.That may be a kind of disrespect for the protagonist of the story without knowing it.

"It seems that there is no such thing as a wedding evil spirit at all, it's all caused by the evil spirit." He sighed regretfully.

Mu Yun was still rational: "It's really a pity that there is no destiny. But it is also a crime to destroy the marriage and life of innocent people."

"It's said that this scholar has become a mountain charm, so he shouldn't be able to stay away from the mountains for too long, but he is also very clear about those people who secretly get married, and the time of each visit is so accurate." Qi Zhong pinched out doubts again.

"The old man who raised sheep also lost his mind and acted as an accomplice." Mu Yun sighed helplessly.

"It was said earlier that he is not a good person, that he is a good person for tipping off the news and acting as a minion for a tiger." Qi Zhong sneered.

During the conversation, the mountains shook suddenly, a gap was opened in the sky, and the illusion suddenly dissipated.

The two returned to the river, and it was already dawn in the sky.

Qi Zhong looked around in emptiness and silence, and couldn't help muttering: "The illusion has failed. It seems that He Bo helped Chu Yan get away."

After hearing this, Mu Yun felt a little ashamed. After all, he had never done this kind of sneak attack from behind. At that time, he didn't use much strength. In addition, the two of them stayed in the illusion for a long time. In the middle of the night, He Bo woke up and noticed Qi In the end, the two were not good people, so they quickly released the memory in the bottle.

"It's cheaper than Hebo. Such a parallel importer can run faster than a rabbit when he is beaten."

Qi Zhong stepped on the broken bottle on the ground a few times and said angrily.

"It's not a good thing that she regained her memory." Mu Yun sighed worriedly.

When the two returned to the inn, Min Zhi and the others were having breakfast.

"Hey, where have you been? Why did you come back?"

As soon as Fang Yanxiao saw Qi Zhong, her worries all night were finally relieved, and she went to greet the two of them with a happy smile.

"Uh... We went out to patrol the city last night, afraid that during the new moon period, some monsters would come out and do harm."

Qi Zhong was still unfamiliar with her, so he replied cautiously.

Fang Yanxiao didn't ask any more questions, she was no longer interested in these things, and silence was the best way to avoid suspicion.

Min Zhi lowered his head and continued to drink the porridge, deliberately pretending to ignore it.

Qi Zhong mistakenly thought that she was still angry, touched her nose, sat down beside Mu Yun honestly, and had breakfast quietly.

……

During the break, Qi Zhong explained to everyone the truth about what the two of them observed last night.Finally decided to get up early tomorrow to prevent this year's river god sacrifice.

"Oh, yes, one more thing."

During the silence, Min Zhi suddenly reminded: "This Liuxi Town was originally called Liuxi Town, because the traditional culture here is opera, and many schools in the capital originated here. However, with the loss of people, no one learned such an art anymore. Instead, due to the benefits of developed transportation, commerce has become active. Since it faces Shengjing, which is in the northwest, it was directly renamed Liuxi Town."

"Isn't it just a name? Changing the name doesn't change the place." Qi Zhong didn't care.

"Changing the name also changes the original intention. If the meaningful inheritance from the ancestors can be discarded casually, then the present looks at the past, just like future generations look at the present. They don't care, and they have lived in the world for many years."

Min Zhi agrees with Mu Yun's opinion.

She continued: "That's the reason. The most important thing is the theater troupe. The ancestors were also here. They went to the capital to study and came back, in order to let the local people accept their own culture again. It's a pity that people in the world love money and profit. It's just a drama if you look at it twice."

Pursing his lips, Qi Zhong sighed, "It seems that the leader of this class is quite sentimental. No wonder he is looking for poor scholars."

"What is this? The bull's head is wrong." Min Zhi pouted.

……

At dawn the next day, there was another suona playing music on the street, and the sorceress shouting again.A group of people carried their bodies and rushed towards the river with great momentum.

Qi Zhong opened the window and looked at it. He felt sleepy all at once. He searched for clothes everywhere with his shoes on. He walked around the house but found that the only clean clothes left last night had disappeared. He wondered: " Where are my clothes?"

Thinking that time was running out, he quickly tugged on his coat, and ran to the nearest Mu Yun's room and knocked on the door.

Mu Yun just tidied up and heard that it was him who knocked on the door, so he opened the door without saying a word.But I saw him rushing in suddenly, without even putting on his clothes.

"You! In broad daylight, with disheveled clothes, how decent you are."

"Oh." No one said it was okay, but after hearing the lesson, Qi Zhong suddenly blushed, ran into the dormitory, hid under the mosquito net, and complained.

"I, I didn't do it on purpose. My clothes are gone, so I can borrow one from you, okay?"

"Have you no other change of clothes?"

"I washed it all last night. It's too hot these days and I sweat a lot. I wash it frequently."

"..." Mu Yun was skeptical, and turned to get the burden.

Qi Zhong pouted, not knowing whether he agreed or not, and yelled: "Is it going to work? Speak up."

Mu Yun pretended to be deaf and didn't answer his words.

"Hi, stingy." Mistaking him not to borrow, Qi Zhong muttered.

Just as he was about to leave, he saw Mu Yun turned back, holding a set of light silver clothes in his hand.

"You...thank you."

After receiving the clothes, Qi Zhong quickly went back to his room and changed them, but he didn't know that the clothes looked plain, but the workmanship was meticulous, and the styles were so complicated that he couldn't even fasten the concealed buttons.

Seeing the person waiting for him in front of the door, he became more and more flustered, approached awkwardly, and hesitated: "Uh... your clothes are a bit big, and the hidden buttons are always loose, please help me to fasten them."

Mu Yun was slightly taken aback, opened his eyes wide, looked at him innocently, and nodded honestly: "Let me see."

The original slightly spacious robe was tightened by hidden ropes, and the slender waist was outlined by the Chinese clothes. Mu Yun hurriedly lowered his eyes, and his hands that fastened the buttons trembled uncomfortably, and asked softly, "Is it suitable?"

Qi Zhong was still in a daze, when asked by him, he panicked again: "Yes, it's a little tight."

Mu Yun loosened his belt again, touching some itchy flesh, which made him purse his lips and suppress a smile.

At this time, several urgent calls came from outside the door.

Before the two of them could react, Fang Yanxiao hurried past the door, stopped again, looked at the scene in front of her in surprise, and blinked in disbelief: "You, you..."

From her point of view, it really looks like a scene of undressing each other and cuddling each other.

Mu Yun backed away again and again, opening the distance between the two of them.Qi Zhong panicked: "No. I... I don't know how to wear clothes, and then..."

Fang Yanxiao coughed lightly to cover up her embarrassment: "Then why do you insist on wearing Mr. Mu Yun's clothes? It doesn't fit you well."

"I don't know who stole my clothes last night."

"Ah? I took it..."

Fang Yanxiao didn't finish her explanation.Mu Yun didn't listen in, and said politely: "Talk slowly, I'll go downstairs first."

Seeing that she was holding his clothes in her hand, Qi Zhong was a little annoyed, and snatched them back: "Why are you messing with me?"

"I didn't. I saw that your rotator cuff was damaged and wanted to mend it for you." She explained in a gentle voice.

Qi Zhong suddenly felt ashamed, and his momentum weakened: "Oh, sister, you don't have to do these trivial things in the future, I will handle them myself."

Fang Yanxiao looked down, and nodded regretfully.

……

When Mu Yun and the others came to the river, the ceremony was halfway through.

The body of the God of the River Sacrifice is a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl, who is being tied alive to a big rock, crying like pear blossoms and raining, her face is smeared with some strange white ashes and pink powder, and she looks at the surrounding people in horror. crowd.

The sorceress was chattering, shouting to the sky for a while, yelling to the ground for a while, slurring her speech, and all the people on the river bank knelt down piously, watching her "perform" on the altar.

There are only slight waves on the water surface, but there is only a commotion on the shore, and everyone is pious and even devoid of humanity.

"Shen——, the god of the river."

The sorceress suddenly shouted, and several strong men went to lift the stone, and everyone stood up, ready to witness this moment of miracle.

Shouted in unison: "The God of the River blesses you, and the God of the River will honor you."

The voice of the woman screaming for help was miserably heard by Qi Zhong and the others, and everyone was full of sympathy.

Fang Yanxiao glanced at the group of ignorant and foolish people in disgust, and secretly suppressed the urge to kill people in her sleeves. In order to hide her identity, she withdrew her jealous eyes and stood silently out of the sight of several people.

When the ghost body was about to approach the end of the river bank, a flash of sword light struck and instantly cut off the ropes that bound her. The girl was freed, turned over in a hurry, and hid in panic next to her weeping parents.

Leng Jian returned to its sheath, Mu Yun put away the sword effortlessly, and walked slowly towards the altar.

Before everyone could react, the sorceress panicked first and shouted: "They, they let go of the sacrifice, the river god will be angry, the river god will be angry."

"Ah, what to do?"

"Who are they?"

"Witch, what should we do now?"

The words of the sorceress exploded, and the crowd became agitated, uneasy and cramped.

"Catch them and use them to appease the wrath of the river god." The sorceress gritted her teeth and spoke disrespectfully to Qi Zhong and the others who came down.

"Bewitching words to confuse the crowd. Believe it or not, this heroine cut off your tongue." Min Zhi glared at her, then raised her sword coldly.

The battle was unexpected, and the sorceress fell silent guiltily.

Qi Zhong stepped forward to face a squire, and persuaded loudly: "Folks, this sorceress is a liar. The river god doesn't eat people at all. You don't need to engage in these worships. It is useless except to murder one more life."

"But the river is not safe these years, it's He Bo who got angry."

The ignorant old man No. [-] spoke.

"You have to ask yourselves, have you ever killed someone for profit, and caused the water to be full of unjust souls?" Qi Zhong replied.

"This is the rule left by the ancestors. There can be no mistakes. You are talking nonsense."

The ignorant old man No. [-] said fiercely.

"Hey, next, I don't talk to stubborn people."

Qi finally answered lazily.

"You." Old man No. [-] choked.

Seeing that her prestige was destroyed, the sorceress became angry and wanted to sneak attack. Fang Yan glanced at her, and a red thread secretly flew out of her sleeve, tripping her into the river.

Everyone heard a splash and looked back, only to find that the sorceress was already splashing in the water.

Qi Zhong snorted coldly: "Alright, you go down for a swim by yourself first, and see if there are any creatures you have harmed down there."

Seeing that the sacrificial ceremony was destroyed, the common people became more flustered and were at a loss for discussion.

At this time, the original green river suddenly turned black, and the inexplicable air pressure was low, making everyone's hearts feel uneasy.

Mu Yun said vigilantly: "It's not suitable to stay here for a long time. The people by the river must be retreated before they can use the formation."

Qi Ding Ding nodded, and turned to find someone to ask for help, Min Zhi responded heartily: "Leave it to me, you guys deal with the evil spirit as soon as possible, we will meet at the inn."

The people were successfully evacuated, but the eerie atmosphere by the river continued to rise. Gradually, noon came, and the moment of deepest resentment came.