The yard where he lived was dotted with dozens of green bamboos, which, against the geraniums in the corner and a cluster of faint yellow flowers, looked elegant and lingering. The Sanqi Teahouse also had such green bamboos.
Ji Liyou didn't know how the Ji family knew there were bamboos where he lived, but he thought it might be a coincidence.
This kind of bamboo is the green bamboo of Bolu, which is difficult to find anywhere else.
A perfect coincidence.
The bamboo curtain has been rolled up, and a young man is sitting at the window with his chin in his hands, lost in thought.
The storyteller walked over to him and drank a cup of tea, but saw that he still didn't respond.
He had no choice but to sit next to him and look at him with his chin in his hands.
He was looking at the bamboo in the yard, and he was looking at him with the same silence.
If it were a woman, Ji Liyou might not look amazing, but she had eyes that could speak, like a woman from the misty Jiangnan, with the gentleness that comes from the mist.
Although he was just sitting there quietly, he had an extraordinary grace and temperament, like a gentleman wearing orchid from an ancient book.
The storyteller suddenly broke the silence, "What are you thinking about?"
Ji Liyou frowned slightly and said, "I'm not thinking about you anyway."
He smiled, "I know."
"When will we return to Bolu?"
"The day after tomorrow."
"Why not today?"
"Because, your things are done well, but mine are not." The storyteller rubbed his head.
Ji Liyou frowned again, very impatient.
"You smell of blood, where does it come from?"
"I don't know." Ji Liyou said bluntly.
The storyteller sat on the chair next to him and crossed his legs, swinging the fan in his hand leisurely, and said: "Have you seen my fan? If you mess with me again, I will let it hit you."
Ji Liyou sneered, "I want to see if it dares to hit me."
The storyteller grabbed him and said, "It doesn't dare to hit you, and I can't bear to hit you."
Ji Liyou turned his head, still frowning.
The storyteller asked, "Unhappy?"
Ji Liyou stood up and walked a few steps, looking very troubled. He paced for a while and finally fell into his arms and cried.
The door was not closed, and the maid blushed and glanced from a distance, but she couldn't help but have random thoughts in her mind.
The storyteller had no choice but to gently pat his back and coax him, crying like a child. Who can refuse his hug
At night, he was lying beside the bed reading a book, turning the pages under the dim light. The storyteller took the book over and asked, "What are you reading?"
Ji Liyou raised his head and said, "A collection of spring paintings."
The storyteller chuckled and said, "Well, the garden is indeed full of spring."
Return the poetry collection to him.
The storyteller suddenly blew out the lamp, and Ji Liyou shouted, "I'm not sleepy yet, why did I turn off the lamp?"
The storyteller whispered in his ear, "I don't want you to see me staring at you."
Ji Liyou sighed and said, "I don't care anyway."
"Did you kill someone today?"
Ji Liyou blinked in the darkness, his eyes a little sore, and said, "Yes."
The storyteller smiled again and said softly: "The last time you killed someone, didn't you have trouble sleeping for several nights?"
Ji Liyou didn't reply to him. He looked for his hand in the darkness and gently hooked his little finger.
"What, you're not afraid as long as I'm here?"
Ji Liyou hummed.
"What's there to be afraid of? What's the difference between humans and ants?"
After Ji Liyou heard this, he took his hand back almost immediately. The storyteller's eyes could see clearly in the darkness. He pulled him back and held his fingers, "Do you think what I said was wrong? "
Ji Liyou knew in his heart that the storyteller was an out-and-out old god who was very indifferent to matters of life and death. He didn't care about the life and death of others, just as he didn't care about vegetation. In his eyes, killing a person would It's no different than breaking the stem of a flower.
Ji Liyou sighed again and said, "If I die one day, will you say the same thing?"
The storyteller smiled and said, "That will have to wait until the day you die."
"Did my grandfather ask you that question too?"
The storyteller's face froze, "That's good, why did you start asking about Ji Fuwei?"
"When I was a child, you taught me how to write. Wasn't it Fei who I learned first? Feiyu. Would you like to give me this calligraphy? Ji Liang, whose courtesy name is Feiyu. Later, my father said that it was not in accordance with the etiquette, so I I know this is my grandfather’s name.”
The storyteller frowned and said, "Why do you always like to think wildly? I just thought it was interesting at the time, so I gave you this word. But I didn't pick it up later and gave you the name Liyou."
"My father got this." Ji Liyou reminded him angrily.
"I'm getting older and my memory is bad." The storyteller whispered in his ear.
Ji Liyou said with a smile: "Just now you said that you are not old. Why is it that only the time in the first half of the night and the second half of the night has changed, but your words have also changed?"
The storyteller also smiled and said, "Do you remember everything I said?"
"I didn't want to remember it, but unfortunately I couldn't beat you again and again. Didn't you always say that if I turned a deaf ear to what you said, you would hit me with purple mist?"
"I lied to you. I haven't done anything to you in a long time."
Ji Liyou's eyes flashed, and he just wanted to talk back, but was too lazy to pay attention to him.
The storyteller smiled sweetly and said, "Who is the person you killed?"
"I don't know. I guess she was with the old man who was at the Hidden Scale Pavilion that day. She said she came to take revenge. When she dies, her body will become like that old man."
The storyteller frowned and said, "Besides the two of them, are there any other accomplices?"
Ji Liyou was about to say that there was a little girl, but after thinking about it, he closed his mouth again, smiled and said, "No more, she is the only one."
The storyteller's face was smiling, but there was a little needle-like thorn in his pupils. He knew that Ji Liyou always lowered his eyelashes when he lied.
But he also knew that when people grow up, they learn to lie fluently.
When he got up early the next morning, the storyteller didn't leave. Ji Liyou got up and touched his side, thinking that no one was there anymore. He got up and saw the storyteller sitting at the table.
He picked up a domino, put it down slowly, shook his head and said, "It seems there is a storm today, so it's better to go out less if nothing happens."
Ji Liyou said, "Go and come back."
The storyteller didn't stop him.
Ji Liyou left Ji's mansion and wandered around a street in Liangzhu, seemingly waiting for someone.
Finally, a carriage drove slowly over.
Ji Liyou opened his mouth and said to the people on the carriage, "While my temper is still young, come down and have a few words with me openly."
The boy beside the carriage suddenly jumped up, and the people next to him had no time to pull him. He rushed to Ji Liyou, pointed at his nose, and said loudly: "Young Master Liang, how can you be so bold when you speak to Master Ji!"
Ji Liyou lowered his head and said mockingly, "The people in the car don't dare to get out of the car, so let a boy come and deliver the message for you. What a big mistake."
When the young man saw this, he drew his sword and started to attack Ji Liyou.
Before his sword was completely drawn out, Ji Liyou had already slapped him with his backhand.
This boy was also very tall, and his heavy body fell heavily to the ground after being slapped.
"It depends on the owner when beating a dog, right?" Ji Shanjing said calmly.
Ji Liyou nodded, "This is on Liangzhu Street. If you and I get into trouble, I'm afraid the Ji family will be the one who doesn't look good. Anyway, I'll slap my ass back to Bolu and take care of your business."
Ji Shan breathed a sigh of relief, "A scoundrel is indeed a scoundrel. Without the upbringing of his parents, he became like this."
When the boy fell down, his mouth was bleeding and his head was bleeding, but he was still angry, as if he wanted to kill Ji Shanjing.
Ji Liyou didn't even look at him. He turned his eyes to Ji Shanjing in the carriage and said sternly: "Follow me."
Ji Shanjing didn't say anything this time. He slowly got out of the carriage and walked over.
Ji Liyou walked in front, and Ji Shanjing followed behind.
It just rained.
The mud on the long street has not dried yet, and when you step on it, there is a big puddle.
The wind blew from the sky, carrying raindrops.
There were gradually fewer pedestrians on the road. Ji Shanjing held an umbrella, but Ji Liyou did not.
Soon, rain fell again. Ji Liyou's shoulders and hair were soaked in the rain, and the hem of Ji Shanjing's clothes was also a little wet.
Ji Liyou strode out of the long street and never looked back.
Ji Shanjing suddenly said: "Where do you want to take me? If you survive the disaster, will you kill me when you come back?"
Ji Liyou's face turned pale and he said, "So that woman who knows how to use silver thread is really yours."
Ji Shanjing said word by word: "It's a pity that I couldn't trap you to death in Qingyou Nunnery."
Ji Liyou gritted his teeth and had never hated his family so much.
He couldn't imagine that this man had blood similar to his flowing in his body.
Now it's better, even the surname Ji is dirty.
"Did you ask Ranran to trick me into going to Qingyou Nunnery?"
"How can I say she's lying to you? Ranran doesn't know how to lie. What she said is true. If you had gone a step earlier, maybe the old nun would have drawn you a portrait of Queen Minhui. But, luck Unfortunately, when you go, she is already in the hands of Lady Mingsheng."
"You ambushed someone there and just waited for me to pass by?"
Ji Shanjing smiled, "Do you still want to ask me if Ran Ran knows about this?"
"I wanted to ask you, but is there any point?"
"It's really not necessary, because Ran Ran knows everything. She knows what I am planning, and she also chooses to help me."
Ji Liyou's heart froze and he roared angrily, "You really want to kill me?"
Ji Shanjing said, "Yes, I want to kill you. I always have."
Although his voice was slow, there was an indescribable ferocity and murderous intent in every word. Hatred was mixed with these, and it was simply not worth mentioning.
Ji Liyou bit his lip, tears fell on the ground and said, "But I... am also your brother."
"What did you say?" Ji Shanjing seemed to have heard a big joke.
"You are my brother... hahahahahahaha..."
After laughing, Ji Shanjing said coldly, "I have never regarded you as a member of the Ji family. If it weren't for my grandfather, you would be a scoundrel. You and your father will never be able to step into the door of the Ji family."
Ji Liyou clenched his fists.
Ji Shanjing sneered: "Your father is a poor scholar, and your mother, I heard she is a bitch. Your father doesn't even have the courage to bring her to his grandfather. She is shameless."
Ji Liyou suddenly became violent and punched him in the stomach.
Ji Shanjing did not dodge or resist.
He had been beaten so hard that he bent over and took seven or eight steps back. He sat heavily on the ground and immediately began to vomit, even the bitter water in his stomach. But there was a smile on his face, a cold smile, as if Waiting for this day.
Seeing him laughing wildly, Ji Liyou rushed over again, grabbed him from the ground, and said sternly: "You dare to insult my parents?"
Ji Shanjing gritted his teeth and reluctantly endured, but his smile became more and more sad and said: "That's fine, I can't kill you, you can kill me, that's fine too."
Ji Liyou closed his mouth and said nothing.
She grabbed his collar and said, "What on earth are you talking about?"
Ji Shanjing said loudly, "I told you to kill me, kill me, but you can't understand what I'm saying?"
Ji Liyou stared at her and said, "Why should I kill you? You and I can live in peace and harmony. Isn't it good to live like this for the rest of our lives?"
With tears streaming down his face and twitching, he punched Ji Liyou in the stomach, hitting the flesh with his fist. Ji Liyou groaned in pain, and Ji Shanjing seemed to like hearing this sound.
Ji Liyou couldn't help but scolded: "Your conscience was eaten by a dog. When did I offend you and you wanted to take my life again and again?"
Ji Shanjing looked at him with a fierce look in his eyes and clenched his fists.
"When did you offend me? You have offended me in many places."
Ji Liyou didn't know why he was crying like a woman and shaking his fist at him.
"Why are you crazy?"
Ji Shanjing cried bitterly and said: "I have been driven crazy by you a long time ago, don't you understand? Hahahahaha... until now, you still don't understand!" He cried so hard that his body began to tremble.
Ji Liyou never imagined that the dignified Lord Ji could also tremble.
He will cry too.
"Do you think it's funny when you see me like this?"
Ji Liyou felt terrible, very terrible.
He had completely lost his mind.
At the same time, there was a look of pain on his face, and the unwillingness and resentment that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time surged out like a spring.
"You ask where you offended me. It's really hateful. I live like a villain, but you are like a lotus in a pond, spotless. You haven't done anything, but you have blocked all my roads."
He had wiped away his tears with his official robe.
Ji Liyou rubbed the area on his stomach where he had hit him. It hurt from the muscles to the bones. Before tomorrow morning, these areas would definitely become blue and swollen.
He felt resentful and frustrated in his heart. It was obviously Ji Shanjing's fault, but now it seemed that he was the one who really did the wrong thing.
"Why did I not do what you wanted? Why do you want me to die so much?" Ji Liyou asked.
Ji Shanjing stood up from beside him and looked at Ji Liyou.
In the dim light of day, he looked a little pale and tired.
"You are not wrong. The only fault is that you are too much like my grandfather. This is the only thing you are better than me, but this alone is enough to erase all my efforts."
"what are you saying?"
"I said, if you didn't look like your grandfather, do you think your grandmother would ask you something? You have a photographic memory, and so does my grandfather. Your swordsmanship is as clear as the wind and the moon. My grandmother said that you are also like him. You love bamboo. There were bamboos planted outside my grandfather’s study. You look like him in everything, but you look like him in nothing.”
Ji Liyou's clothes were soaked, and the cold wind blew, chilling him to his bones.
Bo Lu's bamboo was planted by the storyteller, and Ji Liyou's sword was taught by the storyteller.
Ji Liyou smiled bitterly, "Maybe it's thanks to two people that I can look so much like my grandfather."
"Who?" Ji Shanjing asked.
He didn't speak, turned around and left.
One is the father, and the other is the master.
The master wanted to raise him in the way he liked best, and the father wanted to make the master realize his wish, so he became a clay figure in their hands.
(End of chapter)