fictional spring

When the summer was coming to an end, my father had to go to Huofu Thief to change his place again due to business.

It was dinner time when he told us this, and I looked up at him, then at the boy sitting next to me.

Father's voice seemed to sound quite ordinary——

"Pingzang said he hasn't seen you for a long time, and Ah Shun misses you a lot, so if you have a chance tonight, come and walk with me."

Ah Shun is the daughter of Master Hasegawa Heizo, who is a few years younger than me. Every time we visit, she will pester me to play Temari together. She is a lively and cute little girl.

Although my father said so, I could understand that if he just wanted to take me out, why did he have to wait until nightfall to open his mouth?

It should be that Hasegawa-sama also wants to meet Qing Zhi - after all, he is the child of an old friend.

I nodded in agreement with my father's proposal, and then asked, "Qingzhi will go with us, too?"

In fact, after getting along for a few months, I also understood some of Qingzhi's preferences. Even after I knocked on his barrier door during the day and got a response, I seemed to have obtained the tacit permission to enter his room.

——In the daytime, his barrier will also leave a small gap, as if it was deliberately opened for me.

So during the day, I would occasionally take some books and run to his room to read with him.

Most of the books were taken out of my father's study room, and besides the travel notes, I would occasionally pick up a few ancient books—written in Chinese characters, poems and songs from the Tang Dynasty in the past.

It was a bit contradictory to the sentence "I don't know" when I first asked him if he knew all the characters in the book. After a long time, I realized that he seemed to have far surpassed me in all kinds of knowledge reserves.

Even I had to read Bai Letian's collection of poems several times before I could barely read Bai Letian's collection of poems smoothly, but Qingzhi could speak out the poems in it casually.

So that one time when I was sitting on the tatami and heard Qingzhi reciting those verses in that low and shallow voice, I couldn't help but be stunned.

It wasn't because he was surprised by his knowledge, but when he read that line of the poem, he suddenly felt almost palpitations.

Putting other things aside for the time being, when I asked that sentence, my father was also nervously waiting for his answer.

In this silent and high-profile atmosphere, Kiyona raised his eyes and stared at me.

The plum red eyes were calm and unwavering, but those eyes looked at me as if they were asking for my opinion.

So I held his hand, looked back into his eyes, and asked tentatively, "Will Qingzhi go with me?"

He lowered his head, his eyes seemed to fall on the hand I was holding him, and then he replied softly: "Yes."

But when I was about to take my hand back, I found out——he also held my palm.

Just like I hugged him that day, he also responded to me.

Most of the time, I can’t understand Qing Zhi’s thoughts. He seems to be indifferent to everything, looking at everything in a cold and calm manner, but at other times, his behavior makes people care about it. My quiet gaze, or an unexpected response.

I didn't break free, and I didn't ask him to let go. After looking at each other for a few seconds, we got up like this.

That night, I was the one who took Qingzhi's hand and took him to visit Mr. Hasegawa with his father behind him.

When he arrived at Lord Hasegawa's residence, he could clearly see the bright moon in the sky.Mrs. Hasegawa's wife, Mrs. Hisae, brought us tea and snacks. There were pattering footsteps on the wooden porch, and a small figure ran over and jumped into my arms.

I was a little unsteady by her sudden pounce, but there was a force from my waist—someone supported my body that fell backwards.

And that feeling of not being able to feel any warmth when you are very close, I am also very clear about who it is emanating from.

The little girl with neck-length short hair raised her head from my arms, smiled and raised the temari in her hand: "Sister Mutsuki, will you play with me?"

"Ah Shun still likes Mu Yue so much."

Master Hasegawa's voice sounded from the side, followed by hearty laughter and his father's agreement.

"Qingzhi also likes Muyue very much. When she came, she always held her sister's hand, as if she was afraid of getting lost."

Father laughed and joked.

Hasegawa-sama also cooperated and said: "Oh——well, it seems that Mutsuki is a very competent sister, and everyone likes you very much."

Although Hasegawa-sama has the title of "Onihira" on the outside—especially among the robbers, in my opinion, he has always been an amiable and good person.

My father once told me that I seemed to be very close to Mr. Hasegawa when I was young. The reason is that when he was too busy at that time, he would occasionally leave me with Mrs. Jiurong and ask her to take care of me.

At that time, I often climbed on Hasegawa-sama's back and pulled his hair.

It is very interesting to say that when I was young, Hasegawa-sama's hair was longer than it is now, even if it is combed into a bunch, you can still see its slightly curly curvature.

Then maybe I grew up slowly, and Hasegawa-sama also cut his hair short, so that kind of thing didn't happen.

I seem to have a little impression of this, but more of that slightly curly long hair—it’s just a little strange, in my memory, there seems to have been loose slightly curly long hair, slightly bowed Looking at the thin back of the body.

Master Hasegawa has always been in good health.So that figure...is it really him?

After joking, my father touched my head and said to me: "Take your younger siblings to play in the yard."

Ah Shun jumped down from the veranda obediently without further words, and I followed Qing Zhi's hand.

They said they wanted to discuss things, so they drove us down, but in fact, I could guess what they would discuss when my father spoke.

"What's your name?"

When I put my eyes on my father, trying to figure out what they said from their expressions, Ah Shun looked at Qingzhi curiously—after all, it was the first time we met, and they were of the same age. Boy, it's normal for Ah Shun to be interested in him.

However, Qing Zhi didn't intend to answer her at all, not only that, he still maintained that indifferent expression, so that the smile on Ah Shun's face gradually disappeared, and finally even looked like he was about to cry .

I had expected such a situation a long time ago, so I took a few steps forward to block Ah Shun's view, and introduced him on my behalf.

But to be honest, in fact, I can't stand Ah Shun's character.

She is so lively and energetic that she can even run around all day - I can only play with her for a while at most, and then I can't play very much.

However, perhaps because there are no playmates of the same age at home, every time I come, Ah Shun can be happy for a long time, even if I say I am tired from playing, she will play small games beside me when I sit down and rest. Cloth bag.

But today is a bit strange.

Naturally, Qingzhi would not participate in our games, but he often looked at me silently, which I knew very well.

Not long after I played Temari with Ah Shun, Ah Shun pursed his lips tightly, as if he had no interest in it.

I was about to ask her what was going on, but a young and hearty male voice came from the door——

"My lord father, my lord mother, I'm back!"

A boy with a wooden knife in one hand and a small oiled paper bag in the other appeared in front of us.

"Ah Shun, I bought it for you... Eh? Mu Yue, when did you come?!"

When he saw me, he showed a very surprised expression, and even felt like he was taken aback.

This is Hasegawa-sama's eldest son——

"Brother Chenzang."

He scratched the back of his head, and realized that he was still carrying something in his hand, so he handed me the oiled paper bag, and said with a little embarrassment: "This is the brown sugar I bought in Tongya when I came back, here it is .”

I looked at Ah Shun, "But isn't this brought to Ah Shun?"

Before he could answer, Ah Shun took the greased paper bag first, and stuffed it into my hand: "Next time brother can still buy it for me, so give this to Sister Muyue!"

Now that I've come to this point, I didn't refuse anymore, I patted Ah Shun's head: "Thank you, Ah Shun."

Not just Ah Shun, "Thank you Brother Chenzang too."

Brother Chenzang, who was standing upright, didn't seem to know where to look. He looked around for a long time before his eyes fell on me.

"No, you're welcome."

Brother Chenzang didn't stay with us for long, so he said he had to go back to his room to change clothes.Looking at his back, his father said with a little emotion: "When we were still practicing in the gymnasium, we were about the same age as Chen Zang..."

Master Hasegawa smiled: "That was a long time ago."

After Brother Chen Zang left, Ah Shun also ran to the inner courtyard with him, I looked at the oiled paper bag in my hand, raised my face and saw that Qing Zhi was also staring at the things in my hand.

This look...

"do you want to eat?"

In fact, I didn't really think that Qingzhi would like to eat candy, but I couldn't think of any other reasons, so I opened the oiled paper bag, took out a piece of brown sugar and handed it to him.

The straightness and sharpness of the eyes faded away, and he seemed to be looking at me in a daze.

Seeing this expression on his face, I couldn't help but smile, stretched my hand over, and stuffed the brown sugar into his mouth.

"Is it tasty?"

I asked him.

Qingzhi didn't speak, and didn't know what he was thinking, and the expression on his face was a bit elusive.

I also stuffed a piece for myself, and the not-too-cloying sweetness spread in my mouth, making people feel a little brighter.

Maybe because of seeing the expression on my face, Qing asked me, "Do you like it?"

"Brown sugar?" I replied while wrapping the remaining candy, "I like it."

It's just because of my body, I rarely eat these...

"I can buy it for you too."

I froze for a moment, blinking at him.

The boy with black hair and red eyes looked at me seriously and said, "I can also buy this kind of thing for you."