King's Landing [Rebirth]

Liang Jian walked outside the Small Buddha Hall and met soldiers on patrol.The leader was very surprised when he saw him coming. Liang Jian shook the food box in his hand and said that he was here to deliver food, not to inspect, so that everyone should not be nervous.

"Recently, there have been heavy rains. In order to protect the safety of the city lord, the brothers have worked hard. I asked the kitchen to prepare ginger soup. After changing defenses, everyone remember to drink a bowl of cold."

Liang Jian repeated what she had just said to Du Ping, smiling warmly and gently.The leader was a newcomer and didn't know him well. Seeing his friendly smile, he thought he was an easy-going lord, and blushed a little embarrassedly. He said that protecting the city lord was what they should do. .

Liang Jian nodded, not delaying their patrol, and turned sideways to let them pass first.Standing in the rain and watching the patrolling soldiers leave, Liang Jian walked towards the small Buddhist hall.

The small Buddhist hall was remodeled with a water pavilion, standing in the middle of the pool, and the stone bridge leading to the Buddhist hall was washed very smooth by the rain.Liang Jian walked very slowly, counting her steps step by step, and when she stopped at the door, she took exactly eighteen steps, no more, no less.

Eighteen, this is not an auspicious number. People who believe in gods and Buddhas believe that there are eighteen levels of hell, and they will discuss merits and demerits after death, so many people will deliberately avoid this number.

Liang Jian was not the case. He read the number once, and what he thought of was not the eighteen levels of hell, but a person.A person who made him smile gently, and the number rolled across his lips seemed to be that person's name, which made his heart soften|soften.

Stepping up to the eaves, Liang Jian put away the oil-paper umbrella and looked up at the dark clouds.His eyes were distant and deep, the layers of black clouds were not reflected in his eyes, what he was looking at was farther away.

"You just happen to be this year, what are you doing?"

Liang Jian was talking to himself in the pouring rain, his gentle gaze turned into a pool of water, rippling in the rain.Standing the oil-paper umbrella in his hand on one side, Liang Jian completely restrained his tenderness and nostalgia the moment he turned around, and returned to his usual expression.

He knocked on the door three times, only to push the door open when he heard the people inside speak.

The ever-burning lamp was lit in the small Buddha hall, and in the bright light, the city lord was sitting under the Buddha statue in a plain white brocade robe.Avalokitesvara with benevolent brows holds a jade purification bottle, bows her head and closes her eyes, as if quietly listening to the prayers of the person in front of her.

Hearing someone coming in, the city lord didn't look up, didn't even open his eyes, and ordered as usual: "Just put the things on the table."

Liang Jian put down the food box according to his instructions, but instead of turning away like the usual maid who delivered things, she walked towards the city lord step by step and stood still in front of Guanyin Bodhisattva.

The footsteps that were different from the past made the city lord raise his eyes vigilantly, and saw clearly the person standing beside him. Surprise flashed in his eyes, and the anger on his face disappeared, and he said with a light smile, "Ziyi, why is it you?"

"It's not peaceful in the city recently. You are here alone, and there is no one to take care of you. I don't feel at ease. I came here to take a look." Liang Jian explained, took two steps forward, picked up the incense on the desk, and stretched it out to the candle. Light it up before lighting it, and then worship the Bodhisattva three times.

He has never believed in gods and Buddhas, no matter in the past or now.But the city lord believed, so in front of the city lord, even if he didn't have any respect for this 'eyes but no bead' clay sculpture, he would be courteous on the surface.

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva with benevolent brows and kind eyes lowered his eyes, and his compassionate face was like a dream in the dense smoke, like a fairy, sitting among the clouds.

Liang Jian stared at the statue of Bodhisattva for a long time, twice as patiently as usual, as if a rare flower bloomed on the statue of Bodhisattva, attracting him to keep looking.

The city lord was surprised, staring at Liang Jian, and said: "Every time you came here before, when I made you burn incense, it was like someone holding a knife on your neck and forcing you to light a stick reluctantly, bowing or not. .Today, you took the initiative to offer incense and pay homage seriously, but this is not your style at all.”

What kind of character Liang Jian is, the city lord is very clear.His heart is higher than the sky, and he never believed in gods and Buddhas. In front of him, the golden and precious Buddha statues are nothing but a pile of mud.He once said that he believed in the sharp knife in his hand more than believing in these illusory things.

Such an insolent person, who had no relationship with gods and Buddhas, actually bowed three times to the Bodhisattva today.If they were not familiar with each other, there was some tacit understanding, and the city lord would have suspected that he was pretending to be someone else.

Suppressing the strange feeling in his heart, the city lord stood up from the futon, guessing that Liang Jianxu was pretending to be serious, and couldn't help saying: "What trouble did you encounter? Why don't you tell me."

The castellan's figure is similar to Liang Jian, but he is more mature and stable, with sharp eyes and firm eyes.In front of the Buddha statue, even if he changed his clothes and took a bath to let go of all his murderous intentions, he still couldn't hide the sword-like sharpness all over his body.He is a person who worships Buddha, and his killing karma is still strong.In contrast, Liang Jian, who pretended to be disrespectful to gods and Buddhas, looked more like a devout believer.

Liang Jian lightly shook his head, lowered his eyebrows and eyes, and his attitude was much gentler than before: "No, I was just thinking about why you come here to fast every month. What can't be achieved by manpower, can you do it by praying to Buddha and praying to God? "

The city lord smiled and said: "I didn't come to worship it because I asked for the Buddha, but I have no shame in my heart. I think I am worthy of the conscience of heaven and earth, and the gods and Buddhas can't do anything to me."

The city lord of Jiangcheng has the highest authority. Since he took this position, he has been conscientious and has never done anything to harm the people.He respects Buddha and fasts, seeking nothing and wanting nothing, just to calm himself down.Being in a high position, he doesn't have much time to calm down and reflect, and he can only get a moment of peace by kneeling in front of the Buddha statue with the blue lantern as his companion.

Xu Shi's answer was unexpected. Liang Jian turned back to stare at his face, and after a long silence, he chuckled, apparently disagreeing with his point of view.The city lord also knew that it was difficult for him and Liang Jian to reach an unanimous point of view on this kind of matter, so he didn't delve into it, nor did he blame him for his disrespectful words and deeds.The two stopped this topic, walked to the small living room together, and sat down at the low table.

Liang Jian opened the food box on the table, and there were only a few light dishes inside, which were made according to the taste of the city lord.He brought out the dishes one by one, handed the city lord chopsticks, and then wrung out a bottle of wine himself.

The city lord frowned when he saw the wine bottle, and said seriously: "Zi Yi, you clearly know that drinking is not allowed here."

Liang Jian was taken aback for a while, staring at the wine bottle in her hand for a while, and then smiled bitterly.He blinked at the city lord, lowered his voice and said, "I'm in a bad mood, can you indulge me once?"

The voice was very soft, like coquetry and a helpless sigh.

The city lord had never seen Liang Jian like this before. In his impression, Liang Jian had always been very strong and never showed such a fragile expression.It was as if the spirit of the whole person had been sucked out, leaving only a walking dead.

The city lord had been in the small Buddhist hall for many days, and the people who came to report to him every day reported good news but not bad news, so naturally no one would notice Liang Jian's abnormality.What's more, Liang Jian has always been indestructible in the eyes of others, and she will never show her vulnerable side.The city lord had joys and sorrows in his heart. He was happy because Liang Jian trusted him with all his heart, but he was worried that Liang Jian would suffer without him by his side.

It is certainly not a small thing to knock Liang Jian down and make him let go of his vigilance and bravado. The city lord paused, put down his chopsticks, asked Liang Jian to bring up the wine, and took out two more cups to pour it.He pushed a glass in front of Liang Jian, raised another glass himself, and signaled Liang Jian to clink glasses with him.

"Only this time, the next time is not an example."

The city lord said, and drank the wine in the glass first.He was tacitly acquiescing and conniving. He always had a lot of patience with Liang Jian, and even gave up some principles for him.

Liang Jian smiled happily, her eyes were curved, she looked pure and innocent.Unlike the city lord who has gone through the world, he still retains the innocence of a young man, especially when he smiles.If he didn't know Liang Jian's origin and the pain he suffered, the city lord would have thought that he was the young master who was raised in the golden house and didn't know the sufferings of the world.

The wine enters the throat, and the aftertaste is bitter, evoking melancholy.

The city lord was still worried, so he asked again if he encountered any difficulties.Liang Jian's eyes dimmed, and the smile on his face was bitter. In the bright candlelight, his slender eyelashes drooped, and he stared at the low table in front of him and said, "It's been raining a lot lately, I can't sleep well, I'm half awake and half dreaming. I always remember the past and feel homesick.”

Homesickness is just two simple words to say.If it was someone else, the city lord could wave his hand disapprovingly and allow the other party a holiday, so that the other party could go home and have a look.But Liang Jian was different. As early as three years ago, he had no home.It was the city lord who dug him out from the pile of dead people and raised him with precious medicinal materials, only to save his life.

Over the years, living with blood and blood feud, tracking down the murderer has become an obsession in Liang Jian's heart.

The city lord let out a long sigh and raised his glass to drink with Liang Jian without asking any further questions.Some words have already been blended into the drink to relieve sorrow, so it is inconvenient to say more.

Liang Jian put the wine glass to her lips, dipped it lightly, and did not drink it.His eyes fell on the city lord, watching the city lord drink the second cup and the third cup, his eyes were dark and cold.

A jug of good wine was half gone, but Liang Jian still had the first glass of wine in his glass.The city lord put down his wine glass, a little puzzled.It was Liang Jian who drank, but it turned out that he drank the most. Liang Jian has not touched his own wine so far.

"Brother Liangchuan," seeing the city lord stop, Liang Jian also put down his wine glass, and said with a harmless smile, "The Buddha didn't bless you this time."

The joyful and joyful voice said something puzzling, and each word hit the city lord's heart heavily, causing him to feel a chill for no reason.He was just about to ask what he meant, but before he could say a word, he felt his world spinning for a while, and then his whole body went limp, his hands and feet were weak, and he collapsed directly on the low table.

Barely supporting the low table to prevent himself from sliding down, the city lord who realized that he had been tricked closed his eyes and looked at Liang Jian in surprise.Liang Jian's face didn't change, and he still smiled innocently, neither surprised nor gloated, as if the scene in front of him had nothing to do with him, he was just a spectator.

The city lord was horrified, but he still maintained his usual calmness on the face, the more he couldn't get into trouble at such a time.What's more, the poison in him is not highly poisonous, although the effect of this medicine is fierce, it is just to suppress his force and make him lose resistance.He was still conscious and showed no signs of fainting.

"Ziyi, what do you mean?" the city lord asked, with a perplexed and hurt look on his face just right.

Liang Jian picked up the wine on the table and drank it down, showed the empty glass to the city lord, and said, "Brother Liangchuan, what are you talking about? You don't think I tampered with the wine, do you?"

There was no problem with the wine, the city lord was stunned, and didn't realize how to respond to Liang Jian for a while.There were only him and Liang Jian in the entire water pavilion, and the things that were imported were all wine, so it was impossible that Liang Jian was fine while he was busy.Of course, it could not be ruled out that Liang Jian had swallowed the antidote in advance, but it was unreasonable for him to prescribe the medicine to himself without reason.

"What's going on here?" There were almost zero useful clues, and the city lord didn't waste his energy thinking about it, but instead focused on asking Liang Jian.No matter whether Liang Jian did it or not, if he knew that he was poisoned, then he must have something to do with it.

Liang Jian smiled lightly, poured himself another glass of wine, and answered the irrelevant question: "My lord, don't you think the wind and rain tonight are different from the past?"

The rainstorm continued for several days, and the small Buddhist hall was surrounded by ponds, and the sound of the water mixed with the sound of the rain, and the city lord never cared about it.Hearing what Liang Jian said, the city lord immediately became alert and listened intently.In the swaying wind and rain, there seemed to be a little different sound mixed in.It seems that something is walking across the tiles on pads, the sound of rain splashing covers it, and there is also the faint sound of clothes rubbing|rubbing.

The castellan's face darkened, and a gust of cold wind blew in through the window at an untimely time.The flames in the room danced, and even the figures trembled.The city lord's eyes fell on Liang Jian's back, his pupils shrank suddenly, and a cold killing intent radiated from his eagle-like sharp eyes.

Behind Liang Jian, his original lonely shadow had a double shadow because of the unsteady candlelight.That double image did not belong to him, but was dormant under his shadow to cover up the real figure.

Liang Jian noticed the castellan's eyes, but he didn't turn his head back. Instead, he put down the wine glass in his hand without changing his face, moved his arm forward and moved a chopstick in front of the castellan, and sighed softly: "I have been reminding the patrolling soldiers, It is necessary to strengthen patrolling, and we cannot let bad things lurk in under the cover of rainy nights, and we don’t know where they heard it. It’s really..."

Liang Jian couldn't help shaking her head, showing a look of resignation, and finished speaking slowly: "I still have to clean up the mess."

As soon as the word Zi was blurted out, the lingering lingering sound was still there, but Liang Jian's body had already moved.Unlike his slow-talking tone, his movements are quick and precise.The right hand is thrown, and the chopsticks are thrown into the crossbeam.

The city lord didn't see his movements clearly, but he heard the sound of bamboo piercing flesh, followed by a muffled grunt.A bead of blood shot out from the originally empty beam, and a black shadow fell from the beam, and fell to the ground with a slap in a five-body throwing posture.The chopsticks pierced his throat, a fatal move.

Shadow had a strange mask on his face, making him look like a mature black crow with a bird head and a human body.

Liang Jian didn't look at the shadow man he had killed, but the city lord couldn't help it. When he saw clearly, his eyelids twitched and three words came out of his throat.Probably because of being too surprised, the voice was a little out of tune, it sounded like fingernails scratching on iron, very harsh.

"Black crow!"