[Seven Five] Sword Que Merry

After staying for a full afternoon, I finally found an excuse to come out after dinner.

"Xiao Liu, it's so dark outside, you should remember to come back earlier."

The old woman held her hand, nodded in response, but felt ashamed in her heart.

On the way back to the inn, it was already dark, and both of them were silent, not speaking.

Looking down at the lantern given by the old woman in his hand, Nian Yi couldn't help but sympathize and say:

"That old man is really pitiful. At such an old age, the white-haired man gives away the black-haired man. It should be a time when the house is full of children and grandchildren, but now the house is still so cold..."

Zhan Zhao absently hummed.

"Why?" Seeing his strange expression, Nian Yi asked casually, "Could it be that you don't think that embroidered girl hanged herself?"

"I didn't see the dead body, so I can't tell." Zhan Zhao shook his head, "However, even if it is suicide, there must be a reason to seek death. There is no reason for her to commit suicide for no reason."

"Well, also..."

Walking to the street of the inn, the surrounding area was extremely quiet, many shops had already closed their doors, it was pitch black, only the two lanterns in front of the door were still on.

As soon as Nian walked down the steps and was about to go in, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a three or four-year-old girl standing on the side street.Her hair is black and long, with thick hair on her forehead, covering her eyebrows, there are no whites in her eye sockets, just black pupils, but she is wearing a bright red skirt, which is particularly eye-catching in the dark night.

As soon as Nian stood there, the girl over there seemed to have seen her, turned around, and suddenly ran towards her with open arms, calling out as she ran:

"Mother."

Nian stood quietly on one side, and when she ran close, he stretched out his hand and slapped her away.

The girl was staggered by her, and fell straight on the ground, she seemed a little puzzled, covered her face and raised her head to look at her, after a while, she snorted coldly:

"It turned out to be a ghost, I said."

She slowly got up from the ground, straightened her clothes, put away her innocent face before, and took a step back with a half-smile.

"I'm still busy, so I won't waste time with you."

After she finished speaking, she tilted her head and smiled, her figure didn't move, but she got farther and farther away from Nian Yi, and suddenly disappeared.

The street was empty and silent again.

Nian Yi frowned and looked at the direction when she left, and said softly:

"Ghost baby..."

"Nian Yi." Someone above her head called her name, and when Nian Yi turned her head, she saw that Zhan Zhao had already entered. She looked away and followed him to the inn with a nod.

At night, when Zhan Zhao was still packing up the sundries in the room, Bai Yutang walked in and crossed his arms, looking at him strangely.

He was really looked at with hairs on his back, so Zhan Zhao could only ask, "What are you doing? Are you busy?"

"Let me ask you, read one... What is her identity?"

His hand holding the object froze for a while before he said nonchalantly, "Didn't I tell you earlier? Do you want me to say it again?"

"No, I always feel that she looks very familiar recently, and I feel more and more that I have seen her somewhere before." Bai Yutang leaned against the wall, closed his eyes and pondered, "Speaking of which, why do you two always act together?"

He opened his eyes, "Don't you... You don't have a crush on him, do you?"

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, nodded and looked at him, "Don't say such nonsense."

"If you want people to keep silent, you have to do nothing." Bai Yutang snorted coldly, and suddenly said solemnly, "Think about it for yourself, anyway, you are also a person of courtesy, how can you be so casual with a girl who hasn't left the court Have you ever been alone with your family? When did you care so much about a girl's family again?"

Hearing this, he sighed lightly and shook his head, although sometimes he felt it was inappropriate, but Nian Yi had a special status, so he really couldn't treat her like an ordinary woman.

"You don't understand, I have my own measure."

"You have your own measure." Bai Yutang said in a low voice, "Is there something you guys are hiding from me?"

"Hiding it to you?" Zhan Zhao said with a flat face, "You came here by yourself, but now you say we are hiding it from you?"

Seeing that there was nothing unusual on his face, Bai Yutang thought about it for a while, and felt that maybe he was supercilious.

"Okay...don't put words on me. You know, I don't like being lied to."

In the middle of the night, the clapper on the street knocked three times, and the surroundings were completely silent.

Nian Yi slept on her side with the quilt wrapped around her, and she heard the faint sound of the wind in her ears. She was still not awake, so she frowned unconsciously.

In the dream, it was the outskirts of Kaifeng. It was raining, not too big or too small. There were short pavilions on both sides of the official road for passers-by to shelter from the rain.

Inside the pavilion was a young woman looking around anxiously.

Suddenly, a person came running in the misty rain, and her eyes lit up suddenly.

"Why did you come here?"

The man was dressed in brocade clothes, his hair was already wet from the rain, and even his shoulders were covered with raindrops, so she had to stand on tiptoe to wipe it for him.

Hearing this, the other party smiled and said, "There were some accidents on the road, how could I know it would rain halfway."

She shook her head, "It is said that there is a lot of rain during Qingming. How can Qingming be called Qingming if it doesn't rain?"

"You are right."

The two sat down next to each other in the pavilion, and the man in brocade suddenly mysteriously took out a brocade box from his arms, "Xiao Liuer, let me show you something nice."

She poked her head curiously to have a look, and saw an extremely crystal bead lining the red background of the box.

"what is this?"

"Bright moon bead, it will glow at night." The man in brocade clothes said and covered the box a little bit, and really saw the orb glowing brightly in the dark, she was amazed and casually said curiously:

"Ye Mingzhu? I remember hearing from my father that this was a tribute from Gaoli to the Holy Majesty. How could you..." Before he finished speaking, his mouth was gently covered by him.

"Hush—" He looked around and said in a low voice, "Hush your voice."

She blinked, and although she didn't quite understand, she still nodded obediently.

The man in brocade clothes raised his eyebrows, smiled at her and said, "When you get married, this will be yours."

With that said, he opened the box, took out the beads, and put them in her palm: "Play first, see if you like it?"

The stone is as white as jade, cold and smooth, before she can take a closer look, she suddenly turned around.

It's snow again, snow all over the mountain.

Mountains, tree trunks, branches, all of them.

On the snow-covered ground, something seemed to be crawling, and there were bloodstains winding along the way.

Only half of the man's body was left, and his fingers dug into the snow, leaving a deep fingerprint.

The window creaked wide open, Nian Yi woke up suddenly and sat up abruptly.

Under the opposite table, a fair-skinned little girl was looking at her with her chin in her hands, her eyes were dark.

"Sister." She smiled and called sweetly, "You smell so good, have you been dead for 50 years?"

It's her again.

Nian Yi was still in a state of mind, panting and said in a cold voice: "What are you doing here?"

"Don't do anything, just look at you... I saw the dream you had just now." The little girl approached her and raised her long sleeves, "Is that what you looked like before you died?"

"What did I look like before I died?" She was startled suddenly, her breathing became short of breath, "You know?... How did I die?"

The little girl tilted her head and smiled, "Although I don't know, I just ate a dream eater, so I can help you ask."

As soon as she approached, Nian Yi could smell that unpleasant breath.

"I don't need it, get out."

"You really don't need it?"

She frowned and shouted sharply: "If you don't leave, I will eat you!"

The little girl's eyes sank, and she tugged at the corners of her mouth, unwillingly shadowed in the darkness.

Silence returned to the room, Nian Yi hugged her knees, but her head was full of white, foggy white, she finally couldn't help but put on her coat and opened the door to go out.

There was no light on in the corridor, she couldn't see the outline of the surroundings clearly, and the silence made her feel flustered for no reason. There were clearly some things in her memory that were about to jump out, but she couldn't remember them no matter what.

Holding the jade pendant, Nian Yi called out in a trembling voice:

"Shiyin, Shiyin...can you hear it?"

"Where are you……"

There was no answer in the silent air.

She is a ghost, logically speaking she shouldn't be afraid, but for some reason, her chest is full of fear.

"Time tone, time tone!"

The opposite door was gently opened, she was stunned for a moment, then raised her eyes to see Zhan Zhao standing by the door in a coat.

The torch flickered, the candles were lit, and the room was suddenly enveloped in a warm light.

Zhan Zhao picked up the teapot on the stove and reached out to test the temperature. Fortunately, the water was still warm, so he took a teacup and filled it up for her.

"What, have a nightmare?"

Nian Yi first nodded while holding the teacup, then shook his head and looked at him apologetically: "Did I disturb you?"

"It's okay, I just fell asleep."

"Practice sword again?"

Zhan Zhao paused, "...No."

"No?" She was surprised this time, "That's..."

"It's nothing." Zhan Zhao looked away unnaturally, "I was just thinking about something... What did you dream about?"

"I can't remember, I just remember dreaming of snow." Nian Yi looked down at the water in the glass, "I keep having the same dream these days, dreaming about something that happened a long time ago, and then there was heavy snow."

"Big snow?"

This is the first time Zhan Zhao heard her mention it.

"It seems...it seems to be the place before I died." Her hand holding the teacup suddenly tightened, her expression complicated, "But how did I die, why can't I remember..."

Splitting headache.

Seeing her pressing the center of her brows fiercely, and the area between her forehead was reddened by fingers, Zhan Zhao stretched out his hand and gently took her hand off.

"Since you can't remember it, then don't think about it."

Nian Yi casually nodded, "Yes."

Knowing that although she agreed, she must still be thinking wildly, still remembering Shi Yin's previous reminder, so Zhan Zhao searched for something to chat with her:

"By the way, Qingming will be in another day. Since it's a festival, what do you need to buy?"

Nian thought for a while and said, "Paper money, it doesn't matter, it's all for Shiyin."

"Well, do you know where to buy it?"

"Where...where can I buy it?" Although she went to the street today, she never paid attention to her surroundings.

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly: "It's near the blacksmith shop, can you find it?"

She was silent for a while, then shook her head honestly.

"That's right, I also want to change the saddle, let's go and have a look tomorrow."

Nian Yi followed him with a smile and said, "Okay."

……

After chatting for a while, seeing that her attention had been diverted, Zhan Zhao secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

The water on the stove was already boiling, so he turned around and put a piece of tea cake into it, and boiled it for a long time, only to find that Nian Yi had fallen asleep lying on the table some time ago when he turned his head.

The candle was too close to her face, illuminating the whole skin extraordinarily delicate, probably because she lacked some popularity on weekdays, and now the light made her complexion extraordinarily good.

Zhan Zhao stood quietly beside him.

The candle was brightly lit, a large candle wax formed, and suddenly fell, he was stunned for a moment, and just about to take it away, the candle wax had already dripped on the back of her hand, but Nian Yi didn't feel it.

She is a corpse, without feeling.

No wonder...

Zhan Zhao lowered his eyelids and tried his best to gently wipe off the candle wax on the back of his hand for her. Just as he was about to extinguish the candle, he suddenly remembered what Bai Yutang had said before. He frowned slightly and put the candle back where it was. He bent down and hugged Nian Yida horizontally.

Fortunately, the door of her room was still ajar, under the faint moonlight, Zhan Zhao carefully put her on the bed, pulled the quilt to cover it tightly, and then closed the door and went out.

The room was quiet, and the two little ghosts on the bench were eating melon seeds leisurely, taking a panoramic view of this scene...