wind geese

As night falls, the town is lit up with bright lights. Warm red lanterns illuminate the cobblestone roads and green tile roofs.The wine shop was fragrant, the peddlers set up their stalls, people came and went on the street, and from time to time, there were children running around in the crowd, excited and joyful, and the night market in the small town became so lively.

Luo Xunfeng was wearing a moon-white gown, and strolled down the street, his blue hairband fluttering in the wind, regaining a bit of a leisurely gentleman's demeanor.He turned his head and glanced at Su Yu who was closely following him. The young man was always dressed in black, with narrow sleeves and waist, neat and straight.Luo Xunfeng's eyes fell on the scratch on Su Yu's left cheek, and his brows frowned slightly.The fine marks were not deep, but they scratched the skin and scratched along the side of the face to the chin. It always felt a bit dazzlingly red, like a blemish on a beautiful jade.

He recalled how Su Yu asked him for punishment when he returned home half an hour ago.

"So you just helped her, and she reacted so much?" Luo Xunfeng frowned as he stared at the scratches on his face.

"Su Yu made a big mistake, please punish him, young master." The young man lowered his head with guilt on his face.

"How did you support it?"

Su Yu raised his head to look at him, Luo Xunfeng raised his hand and tapped on his shoulder, the young man pursed his lips, then reached out to support his shoulder, palms outstretched, and they touched each other.

Luo Xunfeng shrugged his shoulders, watched Su Yu let go of his hand, and asked, "Did Shadow Hall teach you how to protect female relatives?"

Su Yu lowered his head and said, "Yes, men and women can't kiss each other."

"..."

"Su Yu offended the young master's friend today, please the young master tie Su Yu to Miss Ping'er to punish her."

Luo Xunfeng sighed softly, walked up and down, and said, "If a man and a woman are not close, it's courtesy; if a sister-in-law is drowning, it's power to help her. If a sister-in-law is drowning, she's a jackal." He walked to Su Yu's left Stop and ask him, "Do you know what that means?"

"..." Su Yu raised his head, his eyes were a little confused.

"Stupid! If you only know one thing but don't know the other, don't learn how others hang book bags. You want me to tie you in front of Ping'er? This is really going to scare her to death." He raised his hand halfway , then moved back and touched his chin, and said, "Actually, what's strange to me is that you said that Ping'er looks a little strange today, and you also said that you want me to introduce her to her job."

"Yes, she looks like she has been wronged, should we go to her?"

Luo Xunfeng looked at the sky and said, "It's getting late today, let's go to the town first, and I'll go to her house tomorrow to find her."

"Will the young master not punish me?" Su Yu asked.

"If you don't make it to the evening market, let's see how I punish you!" Luo Xunfeng reached out to Su Yu, paused, and flicked his forehead lightly with his fingers.

Before the young man could react, he had already walked out of the courtyard with his hands behind his back.

The shopkeepers shouted one after another, and the street food stalls sold sugar figurines, glutinous rice cakes, and rice tofu. Luo Xunfeng looked back and forth, and then at Su Yu. The young guards were beside him, not looking sideways.

At this time, several young couples passed by them while talking and laughing. In front of the jewelry booth, a man was inserting pearl flowers he had just bought on the woman beside him.

Luo Xunfeng walked to the jewelry stall, picked up a jade bracelet, and the stall owner hurriedly started selling it to him, "Master, you have a good eye, the jade bracelet you are holding is the best in my house, give it to your sweetheart, and you will be sure to marry her." joy."

Luo Xunfeng turned his head and saw Su Yu standing behind him, still expressionless, he didn't seem to care about the excitement around him, only when he felt himself looking at him, he cast a look of asking for instructions.

Luo Xunfeng put the jade bracelet away, turned around and left the stall, the boss was still shouting behind him, "Hey, young master, let's have a look again."

Su Yu felt that Luo Xunfeng quickened his pace, so he followed closely. As he was walking, Luo Xunfeng in front of him suddenly stopped. Su Yu might as well bump into Luo Xunfeng's back.

Luo Xunfeng turned his head, with a displeased face, Su Yu's heart sank, and he was about to apologize, when Luo Xunfeng stared at his cheek and said, "You're so ugly, I'll buy you a mask to cover it up."

"..." Su Yu's eyes darkened, she lowered her head, and followed Luo Xunfeng to the mask stand beside her.There are many styles of masks on the stalls, including those of gods and ghosts, as well as exquisite and ingenious ones.

Luo Xunfeng took off a mask with a painted face, a red forehead, and black and white staggered facial features. He covered Su Yu's face with the mask, and the beautiful appearance of the young man disappeared immediately, leaving only a pair of black eyes peeking out from behind the hideous mask. It was exposed, and the crow eyelids blinked slightly.

Luo Xunfeng let out a "poof" laugh, and the young man looked at him with docile eyes, and a hint of grievance that was not easy to detect.

"Oh, the two gentlemen are so handsome, why did you choose the mask of 'Zhong Kui'?" At this time, the voice of the stall owner came over, and he took a pair of silver masks from the shelf and handed them over, "This mask is very special. , Give this son a try."

Luo Xunfeng took it and took a closer look. It was a mask that only covered the left half of his face. The mask was engraved with dark patterns of flowing clouds and flowers, and the eyes were hollowed out and slanted.He put the mask on Su Yu's face, the mask covered from the left brow bone to the cheek, the remaining half of the young man's face, the delicate and heroic outline was completely highlighted, and the bright lights from far and near outlined his eyebrows, eyes, nose and lips. The half-covered features, like the deep eyes of the youth, are mysterious and introverted, inviting people to explore.

Luo Xunfeng's eyes moved slightly, and he didn't put down the mask for a while, but the stall owner praised, "This mask looks really good on this young master's face!"

"En." Luo Xunfeng came back to his senses, put the mask down and stuffed it into Su Yu's hand, and said to the boss, "This is what I need."

"Okay." The boss looked at the two people in front of him while collecting the money, and couldn't help reminding, "This young man has a cheek injury, and he will wear a mask after he is done, otherwise it will not be easy to cover it."

Su Yu had just put the mask on his face and was fastening the straps at the back, but he didn't stop at all after hearing this.He followed Luo Xunfeng out of the stall, and within two steps, Luo Xunfeng turned around and said, "Take off the mask."

Su Yu took off his mask obediently, but his eyes were clearly puzzled.

Luo Xunfeng glared at him, and said, "Didn't you hear that person just now said that it's not easy to wear it if you have an injury on your face! Put it away first, and I won't forgive you if you lose it."

"...Yes, master."

Seeing Su Yu put the mask in his arms, Luo Xunfeng's mood seemed to improve a lot, and he continued to walk around the street.But he didn't see that Su Yu, who was following behind, raised his hand to touch the mask in his arms, and rubbed it through the clothes a few times.

The night market in the town is brightly lit, and the distant mountains outside the town are secluded and quiet.

The sound of chaotic footsteps broke the silence in the mountain. The girl gasped for breath, panicked, and suddenly tripped over something and fell to the ground.

The eardrums buzzed, and the girl felt weak all over, and she couldn't get up after several attempts.The surrounding mountains, forests and vegetation trapped people like a net, and the full moon hung high, like a pale eye looking at the ground, and two figures appeared on the ground in front of the girl.

"No, don't come here, ah—" The girl backed away in horror, and the screams rang out in the mountains.

……

"Luoyang flowers, Liang Yuanyue,

Good flowers must be bought, and bright moons must be credited.

Leaning on the railing, the flowers bloom brilliantly,

Yue Zeng asked the wine for the reunion night. "

Sanqu a cappella came from the wine shops along the river, singing about flowers blooming and full moon, singing about the joy in the world.

Luo Xunfeng brought Su Yu to eat in the wine shop, and walked onto an arch bridge after coming out. Su Yu saw river lanterns floating under the bridge, flowing like bright stars.

Luo Xunfeng suddenly asked, "Do you want to let it go?"

Su Yu was startled, Luo Xunfeng had already said "Let's go" and walked down the bridge.

Luo Xunfeng bought more than a dozen river lanterns in one go, the two of them walked to the river, and found that none of them had any fire pockets on them, so Su Yu ran back to the place where the river lanterns were sold to borrow them.

The mother-in-law who sells river lanterns smiled at him while looking for fire discounts, "Young man, your accent is not from a local, right? Our town only has a night market on the [-]th day of every month. It's fun when you catch up."

Su Yu paused for taking Huozhezi's hand, and a thought came to his mind, making his heart beat half a beat.He thanked his mother-in-law and returned to the river with the fire bag.

A lot of people who set off river lanterns gathered by the river, Luo Xunfeng stood by the river, his slender figure reflected a vague reflection in the river.

Su Yu bypassed passers-by and walked towards him. Luo Xunfeng seemed to feel him approaching. Looking at him, the two looked at each other through the passing of people.

"Did you borrow the Huozhangzi?" When Su Yu approached, Luo Xunfeng asked, he saw the rippling lights in Su Yu's eyes.

"Yes." Su Yu nodded, blinking his eyelashes slightly, hesitatingly said, "Young master, today... did you specially bring me shopping?"

"..." Luo Xunfeng glanced at him, then turned his gaze forward.

Just when Su Yu thought that Luo Xunfeng would not answer, he heard the man snort softly, and without looking at him, he folded his arms and said, "Didn't you get punished for wanting to go shopping? Experience. What, the small town in western Xiangxi is not as prosperous as the foot of the villa, right?"

"No, oh, it's..." Su Yu began to speak incoherently, his heart seemed to be warmed by thousands of candles, burning with joy.

Seeing the obvious brilliance in the young man's eyes, Luo Xunfeng twitched the corners of his mouth unobtrusively. He took the torches from the young man's hand, lit the river lanterns, and put them into the river one by one.Su Yu hurriedly knelt down to help.

After Luo Xunfeng put three or four lamps on, he suddenly asked him, "Did Xunqiu ever marry a wife or take concubines?"

Su Yu said, "Second young master married a wife last year, but has not yet taken a concubine."

"Oh, do you know his wife's surname?" Luo Xunfeng asked.

"My surname is Qin." Su Yu replied.

"Then does he have any heirs?"

Su Yu shook his head.

Luo Xunfeng stopped asking, lit another river lantern, put his hand into the water, and when the dozen or so river lanterns were all set off, Luo Xunfeng closed his eyes facing the river water.

With the bright moonlight and the overflowing river water, Su Yu looked at Luo Xunfeng's profile, and suddenly felt that he was so far away from him at this moment, so far away that he couldn't touch his emotions.He also closed his eyes and prayed in his heart, wishing the souls of everyone in the villa to rest in peace, and wishing Luo Xunfeng a happy and safe life, and if his wishes come true, I will sacrifice myself and my life.

The wind blows, and the smell of rain is mixed with it.

A few pieces of paper with writing were blown over, one happened to hit Luo Xunfeng's clothes, he reached out and grabbed it, before he could take a closer look, someone picked up the paper, looked at it and said, "Oh, again A man is missing, and the person written on this piece of paper has not been seen in the official notice a few days ago."

"It's really not peaceful recently. Why are men always missing? It can't be some monster."

"Don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense, let's put the river lanterns for peace."

"Hey, what kind of river lanterns are there? It's raining, let's go—"

As the raindrops fell, people dispersed to hide from the rain. The vendors on the street closed their stalls, and those holding umbrellas held up their umbrellas.

The people around him seemed to say something, Luo Xunfeng nodded absently, and unconsciously crumpled the piece of paper in his hand, his knuckles turned white.

The surrounding lights were dim, and figures were swaying. When he came back to his senses, he realized that the young man who had been by his side had disappeared.

Lyrics are vaguely heard from the wine shop on the opposite river bank, "The moon is full and the flowers are blooming. I think the hardest parting in life is the hardest parting. The flowers are withering for three years, and the moon is missing, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is here. When will people go?"

Sing that the moon is full and there is a shortage, sing that the flowers are blooming and thank you, and sing about parting from the world.

When Su Yu rushed back to the river with an umbrella, he saw Luo Xunfeng was still standing there, the raindrops had already wet his shoulders.

"Master!" Su Yu opened the umbrella while running over.

"Where did you go?!" Luo Xunfeng asked loudly when he saw him come back.

Su Yu was startled, put the umbrella on top of Luo Xunfeng's head, stood in the rain and bowed his head, "I'll go find the umbrella, I made the young master wait so long, please punish me."

"Why didn't you say anything when you left?" Luo Xunfeng frowned.

"I..." Su Yu swallowed the words of explanation, and bowed her head silently.

"You..." Luo Xunfeng seemed to think of something, shrugged and said, "Forget it, you don't have to report everything to me."

"Su Yu would never dare to disobey the young master!" The young man was in a hurry. If he hadn't held the umbrella for Luo Xunfeng, he would have knelt down on the ground at this moment. The rainwater slid down his cheeks. He clenched the handle of the umbrella tightly, his eyes burning , and said, "I will never leave the young master!"

"Heh, will you never leave?" Luo Xunfeng repeated softly.

"..." The decision I made in my mind during the day suddenly came to my mind, how can I get the best of both worlds, clearing the villa and being with Luo Xunfeng? Su Yu was speechless for a moment, unable to answer in time.

Luo Xunfeng saw the young man's hesitation in his eyes, he took a step forward, Su Yu hurriedly followed, Luo Xunfeng turned around and took the handle of the umbrella, moved it between the two of them, and said lightly, "Stay by my side , nothing good will happen."

"No, young master!" Su Yu shook his head with wide eyes.

Luo Xunfeng showed a self-deprecating smile, and said, "There is no need to say more, you should think it through yourself."

"..." Su Yu wished he could put his heart out in front of Luo Xunfeng, but how could he explain his hesitation just now?

The mountains were raining, and the night was dark. The two people on the return journey were silent all the way, but they didn't know that a sad news was waiting for them ahead.