[Seven Five] Sword Que Merry

The two stared at each other for a while, then Nian Yi suddenly said softly:

"That, your hand..."

Zhan Zhao lowered his head slightly, pulled her up, and then said, "I'll go and bring the carriage back, wait for me here."

"Ah."

But seeing him pointing to his toes, several turned over and ran towards the out-of-control horse. After a while, he reined in the horse, turned over, got off the carriage and walked back.

Nian Yi was walking towards here, when he saw the broken skin wound on his hand from a distance, he felt guilty suddenly.

"I'm sorry, if I hadn't learned this on a whim, you wouldn't have been injured."

"It's because I didn't take a good look at the road, so I don't blame you." Zhan Zhao glanced at the injury on the back of his hand, and didn't care too much, "Besides, it's just a skin injury."

"Skin trauma is also an injury, even if I hit my head, I won't die." Nian Yi took off the veil from his sleeve, lowered his head and carefully wiped off the ash near the wound, "Why do you need to protect me. "

Zhan Zhao looked down at her bandaging the wound, and suddenly said softly, "...that's different."

"Huh?" Because his voice was too low, he couldn't hear Nian Yi, and looked up puzzled.

He turned his head to change the topic, "It's nothing, get in the car, we'll be at the station soon."

After rectifying the horses, the car still wobbled forward as before.

About half an hour later, in the twilight of dusk, the cover next to the post station was swaying in the wind, and several horses were grazing with their heads down. It seemed that there were quite a few travelers passing by to rest.

After the carriage was parked, the store clerk came forward and took the horses to the backyard to feed them. Zhan Zhao asked for two guest rooms, fetched clean water, and went back to the room to treat the wound just now.

The farther you go west, the more desolate the surrounding area becomes. Although it is already mid-spring, the flowers and trees around here are very scarce. At first glance, it looks no different from winter.

As for the Qilian Mountain grassland, he himself has never been there before. He only heard people say that it is endless. Most of the Dangxiang people living nearby herd horses and herd cattle. There are many fertile pastures at the border with the Song Dynasty.It's just that the relationship between the two countries has been too delicate these years, and I don't know whether it is good or bad at this time.

Not long after, Xiao Er knocked on the door lightly, reminding him that the food is ready, Zhan Zhao responded, then put on his robe, opened the door to look for Nian Yi.

Although it was already dark, there was no light in her room, so Zhan Zhao raised his hand and knocked on the door.

After a while, a voice came from the room, "Brother Zhan?"

He had no choice but to ask through the door: "The meal is ready, do you want to eat?"

"Wait...I'm not very convenient now."

Thinking she was changing clothes, Zhan Zhao turned around in embarrassment, "Then I'll go downstairs and wait for you."

"No need!" Nian Yi said anxiously, and then heard footsteps, and then the door creaked open.

The room was really dark, only a dim oil lamp was lit on the table, Nian Yi smiled shyly at him, "I can't leave right now, I'll eat later, do you want to come in and have a seat?"

Can't go away?

He couldn't tell anything strange with his naked eyes, but since she was used to acting weirdly, Zhan Zhao didn't ask any more questions, walked to the table according to his words, and looked around.

There was a plate of fried peanuts in front of him, and the tea was steaming hot, as if he was entertaining someone.

"What? Is there a guest?"

Nian Yi was pouring tea from a cup, when he heard this he was surprised and said: "It's amazing, can you see it?"

He smiled and shook his head, "No, guess."

Putting hot tea in front of him, Nian Yi poured another cup, "There are a lot of wild ghosts around here, and I often can't find anything to eat. Because I have a healthy body, I buy some occasionally to fill their stomachs." She lowered her head and smiled, "Don't look at the emptiness around the house, but there are already about a dozen ghosts inside."

"So many?" This was beyond Zhan Zhao's expectation.

"Ghosts are actually everywhere, for example..." Nian Yi put down his teacup, turned and pointed at his shoulder, "You have one here."

Zhan Zhao turned his head subconsciously, but there was still nothing behind him, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, "Really? What kind?"

"It's a dryad." She laughed. "It has a big head, and it looks cute."

"Is it looking at me?"

"Watching you all the time."

It's kind of creepy when you think about it...

"It's talking to you." Nian Yi couldn't help laughing, "Do you want to see it?"

"How do you see?" As soon as the words finished, Zhan Zhao remembered the situation in Taiyuan City that day, and his heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

While he was in a daze, Nian Yi had already walked up to him, then stood on tiptoe and kissed him lightly on the face.

Different from last time, she touched the corner of her mouth this time, like a superficial touch, her lips were slightly cool.

In the blink of an eye, a room full of weird and weird things suddenly appeared, big and small ghosts were sitting on the bed, or standing by the cabinet, all tilting their heads to look at him.

In order to make himself less embarrassed, Zhan Zhao turned his eyes away to look at these ghosts.

Somewhat different from the ones seen during the Ching Ming Festival, the ghosts here are even thinner, with a timid look on their faces.

He turned his head slightly, and sure enough there was a tiny creature standing on his left shoulder, neither human nor beast, staring at him with both eyes.Suddenly it grinned, leaned close to peck his face, jumped into Nian Yi's arms, and buried its head in her arms.

Zhan Zhao couldn't help wondering, "What happened to it?"

"Shy." Nian Yi hugged the child and smiled, "It likes you very much."

Hearing this, he shook his head, and sighed half helplessly and half funny, "Is this the only way to let the living see ghosts?"

"No." Nian hugged the dryad in his arms to the bed, "I should have given you some ghost energy, but I'm afraid of hurting your yang energy, so this method can last half a stick of incense at most."

A kid who only ate peanuts jumped down from the table, held a handful of dark mushrooms in his arms, raised his head expectantly, and handed them to Zhan Zhao.

"He can't eat this." Nian Yi stepped forward and squatted down, took away the thing in his hand, and said softly, "If he eats it, he will feel uncomfortable."

Hearing this, the kid seemed very frustrated, silently held the fungus in his arms, then turned to look at Zhan Zhao.

"Ah, ah... ah..."

Seeing the puzzlement in his eyes, Nian Yi explained embarrassingly: "It can't talk."

The kid hastily grabbed another handful of peanuts from the table, and brought them up like offering treasures.

Zhan Zhao also bent down, stretched out his hand to take them one by one, raised his eyes and smiled slightly at the kid: "Thank you."

Hearing his thanks, the little ghost looked at him with a happy face and smiled foolishly.

Looking at Zhan Zhao's actions, Nian Yi couldn't help feeling grateful: "Aren't you afraid of them? Don't you hate them?"

"I don't find them annoying."

She hesitated, "But...they are ghosts."

"Aren't you a ghost too?" Zhan Zhao smiled lightly, "You think you're scary? People hate you?"

Nian froze for a moment, unable to answer for a long time.

The little ghost in his arms was still joyfully hugging Zhan Zhao's arm, he lowered his head and looked tenderly, and stroked its head like a kitten.

Skinny to the touch.

He couldn't help feeling distressed, "They have nothing to eat, is it because they have no money?"

"Well, and it's too young, so it's often bullied by other ghosts." Nian Yi followed him and gently stroked the little ghost's head.

Zhan Zhao suggested lightly, "If that's the case, why don't you burn some paper money for them?"

With a smile in her eyes, she nodded and said, "Okay."

After a simple dinner, the two of them went to the store to ask for some yellow paper, found a leeward place in the backyard, brought a brazier, and threw the paper money into the fire one by one.

The warm light of the fire was reflected on the face, and there was a touch of soft orange. When Nian Yi threw down the paper money, he unconsciously roasted it on the fire with his hands, and could vaguely feel the slightest warmth.

Zhan Zhao threw the last handful of yellow paper into the basin, and said softly, "It would be great if I could burn some for you someday."

Nian rubbed her hands together, then looked sideways at him when she heard the words, the clear profile of her side face flickered with the flames, she watched quietly for a long time before she said: "Actually, it doesn't matter, Shiyin is rich, I won't starve to death." .”

He shook his head, only looked at the brazier, and said nothing.

"Brother Zhan..."

Nian Yi was still looking at him, but his voice seemed to be far away, "Send me to Qilian Mountain, you can go back, I will walk the rest of the way alone."

Zhan Zhao's eyes froze, he turned to look at her, and frowned unconsciously: "Why?"

"It's such a waste of time for you to accompany me running north and south like this." Nian Yi smiled awkwardly, "I am a ghost, and I am immortal, but you are different. You are a human being, with family members and people who care about you. I I have no idea about this matter.”

She turned her head and looked sadly at the gradually extinguishing flame, "It's been so many years, what can I find out? It's been so long, who still remembers me? So what? Is the truth really what I know? No one can tell me... Maybe I'm destined to be a ghost for the rest of my life, but I can't bring you in."

Zhan Zhao's face sank like water, and he was silent for a long time before he said in a low voice, "How can I feel relieved if I leave you alone?"

There was a clear sigh in his voice. It was the first time Nian Yi heard such a tone. She was stunned for a moment and asked, "Where is your family? I don't seem to have seen you send a letter back."

"My family is in Changzhou, and there is only one elder brother in the family. He has already married and is busy with affairs on weekdays, so we get together less."

Nian Yi nodded thoughtfully, "What about your sweetheart?"

"Sweetheart?"

"Yes." She patted the ashes on her hands, "Don't you have a sweetheart?"

"I..." He lowered his eyelids, watched her quietly put the few pieces of paper money scattered around into the brazier, and said in a cold voice, "Probably not."

Nian Yi gave him a strange look, and said with an embarrassed expression: "Really, I thought..."

The paper money was burnt, and there were still fragments of sparks in the ashes.

Zhan Zhao said casually, "What about you?"

"Me? How can I have it." She laughed without thinking, "I'm a ghost, I can't be with people."

He said lightly: "Have you never thought about being with ghosts?"

"He ghost?" She frowned, as if she had never thought about this question before, she bit her thumb and thought about it for a while.

The shadow of a person flashed in front of him.

No one spoke around, and Zhan Zhao waited extremely patiently.

Nian Yi finally sighed softly, "I don't know, if possible, I should want to be with people more, right?"

As the breeze blew, only black ash remained in the brazier, and white smoke slowly lingered.

Back in the room, Zhan Zhao closed the door, turned his back, leaned against the door, and let out a long sigh.

He touched his heart with his fingers and squeezed it tightly, a kind of depression that he had never experienced in his life surged up.He has become increasingly unable to control that emotion, and even asks for no reason. At this moment, his mind is unusually chaotic, and he closes and opens his eyes to see the scene just now...

But how could he, how could he...

Tossing and turning at night, Zhan Zhao simply put on his clothes and got up, fastened the huge door, opened the door and went to practice sword outside the courtyard.

The bright moon shone coldly, and the sky was full of sword flowers. The dust rolled up by the night wind wrapped around the side of the long sword, with a fierce momentum, which covered his face with a layer of blueness.

In the guest room, two little ghosts opened the curtains and watched while eating melon seeds.

Er Xiaogui turned around and walked to Nianyi's bedside, stretched out his hand and pushed her.

"Read one, read one..."

"Huh?" The voice of the person on the bed was vague.

"He's practicing swordplay."

"Um……"

Seeing that she was sleeping too soundly, the second little ghost didn't want to disturb her any longer, so he only took a sympathetic look into the courtyard.

The next day, the sky was high and the clouds were light.

Read together early, when I went out, I saw Zhan Zhao sitting downstairs drinking porridge. As she went downstairs, she said in surprise:

"Brother Zhan, you got up so early?"

He responded lightly, and greeted Xiaoer to serve meat porridge and steamed buns again.

Nian Yi sat down opposite him, just took a pair of chopsticks, looked up and saw his eyes were black and blue, and asked with concern: "Did you not sleep well last night?"

"No...why ask that?"

She reached out and stroked her eye circles, kindly reminding: "Your complexion is not very good."

"Maybe it's because of the weather." Zhan Zhao said simply.

Although he was a little worried, Nian Yiduo glanced at him a few times, but still lowered his head to drink the porridge.

After the time of day, the number of travelers coming and going in the station gradually increased. This place is close to the frontier, and there are all kinds of people, including many Liao people.

As soon as Nian finished eating, Zhan Zhaofang put the money on the table, "Dude, pay the bill."

"Here we come!" Xiaoer ran out from the kitchen, took the money, and smiled all over his face, "Master Ke, your horse is still in the backyard, so I'll bring it out for you."

"it is good."

Just as he was talking, he suddenly heard someone walking in noisy outside the door. Because the two of them were talking loudly, all the diners in the store turned back frequently.

"I told you, don't live here!"

The one who walked in was a girl with gossip patterns printed on her light blue gown, her hair raised high in a bun.

Behind her was a young man, who seemed rather helpless: "It's still some distance from Jian'an, where is there any place to stay in this area of ​​hundreds of miles? You don't live here, do you plan to sleep outside?"

"But this place is so simple, and there are so many people, look... there is not even a stable!"

"Just make do with it, why don't you think of a way after dinner?"

The tone was so familiar, Zhan Zhao and Nian stared at each other for a while, and hurriedly followed the tone.The man outside the door was dressed in white clothes flying wildly, with a flamboyant jade fan on his waist, a pair of peach blossom eyes, and his eyes were flowing, handsome and picturesque.

Coincidentally, when the other party shook his head, he saw both of them.

Each paused.

"Bai Yutang?"

"Zhan Zhao?!"

He was half happy and half worried, "Why do you..."

Before he finished speaking, the woman beside him suddenly pulled him aside, with the long sword out of the sheath in his hand, and his face was cold.

"Well, you female ghost, you dare to come out in broad daylight!"