It was early spring, and the night temperatures were freezing. The cold wind blew in my face, and the ice pierced my bones.
Mingzhu asked the maid to borrow a cloak, wrapped her daughter tightly, hugged her tightly in her arms, and took her home.
The little girl was sleeping soundly, her face was flushed, and her body exuded a sweet smell.
Mingzhu put her on the bed gently and checked her body carefully. She was relieved when no obvious injuries were found.
Mingzhu broke out in a cold sweat, and the single shirt she was wearing was soaked with sweat, and it clung to her skin, causing a sudden chill.
She turned around and saw Hong Ling, who was tied up and didn't dare to step forward. She sighed in her heart and couldn't say something too harsh to her, "Next time, you must not be so careless."
Hong Ling was scared to death during the day, and now she feels like crying just thinking about it. She was always so carefree, and she hesitated at what to say. Her face turned red and she felt extremely ashamed. "I don't dare to take you alone again in the future." She's out."
"You've been tired for a long day. Please sit down and rest for a while."
Hong Ling listened to her obediently and sat on the edge of the couch, rubbing her stiff and sore thighs.
Mingzhu went to change into clean clothes, pulled up her long hair with a wooden hairpin, and then took the already cold food on the dining table to the kitchen to heat it up.
It's a pity that the chicken soup doesn't taste very good after it's heated. Mingzhu put the heated food back on the table and said, "Hongling, come and eat."
Hong Ling buried her face and said in a low voice, "Okay."
She took small steps and walked to Mingzhu and sat down. For a while, she still couldn't get over the problem in her heart. She raised her head shamelessly and her stomach growled with hunger.
Mingzhu helped her fill a bowl of soup and pushed it in front of her, "Have some soup and have an appetizer."
There is also her favorite chicken drumstick in the bowl.
Hong Ling raised her hand and wiped the corners of her eyes with a bit of force. Her already red eyes became even redder when she rubbed them. She said thank you and drank the soup in silence.
Mingzhu herself wasn't very hungry. She was overtired and couldn't bring herself to eat, but she still ate some food with Hongling.
After dinner, Hongling took the initiative to wash the bowls. It was late, and she should have gone to bed after finishing her work. After all, she couldn't get over the problem in her heart, so she knocked on Mingzhu's door slowly, and said sorry to her several times with red eyes, "Zhuzhu, I'm so sorry." It wasn’t intentional.”
"I know." Mingzhu felt uncomfortable seeing her like this.
Hong Ling raised her red eyes and said pitifully, "Can you please stop being angry with me?"
Mingzhu was stunned, then smiled, "I'm not angry anymore."
When I first heard that she had lost the child, I was really angry and anxious. Later, I was so busy looking for the child that I didn't even care about being angry. She was also at fault for this matter. When Xiaoman clamored for her hug in the afternoon, she should have made time to hug her.
Hong Ling calmed down a little and said, "As long as you don't be angry with me."
She was afraid that Mingzhu would be angry and not want her anymore.
"You should go back to your room and sleep quickly."
"Well, Zhuzhu, you go to bed early."
…
Zhao Shi stood in the dim night, unable to regain consciousness for a long time. His dark pupils stared at the direction where she disappeared. He slowly frowned, not sure what was the illusion that appeared in front of him. , is true .
It was cold and windy in the spring night, so he wore very little. His thin shirt had wide sleeves, and the skirt of his clothes swayed slightly in the wind. The man's black hair was tied up lazily in a jade crown, he had a delicate snow-white face, and his picturesque eyebrows seemed to be covered with a touch of frost. On the surface, he looked calm as water, but in fact he had a tight jaw and stiffness. The edges had given him away.
An unnatural red gradually appeared in his eyes, and his Adam's apple slipped twice. He turned his face and said in a hoarse voice, "Who was that person just now?"
The maid replied: "Sir, it's the child's mother, here to pick him up."
Zhao Shi's head was a little dizzy, and his jawline was cold and sharp. He clenched his fists, as if he made a sound of dislocated joints. He enunciated the words clearly, word for word, "Child...mother?"
"yes."
"What does it look like?"
Zhao Shi was afraid that he had seen it wrong. The night was hazy and dark, so it was possible that he had seen it wrong.
The maid thought about it carefully and didn't know how to describe it, "It's very beautiful."
Zhao Shi glanced at her coldly. The little maid was frightened, and her voice became tense as she spoke, "The eyes are round and there is a small mole at the end of the eye."
The small silver bracelet in Zhao Shi's hand was squeezed out of shape by him. He clenched his teeth tightly and there was a faint trace of blood seeping through his teeth. He swallowed the smell of blood, and the expression on his face became quite complicated. There was hatred in his beautiful eyes. I was excited, and the blood circulating in my body seemed to be burning hot. He said lightly, "I know."
Then, he ordered: "Call the people from the Yamen over here."
The prefect and the head catcher on duty tonight were both summoned.
There was a pot of cold tea on the desk. Zhao Shi's slender and fair fingers gently rested on the handle of the pot. He poured himself a cup of cold tea with an expressionless expression and took two sips. Question: "Do you recognize the person who lost the child?"
The prefect had never seen it and said he didn't know.
The catcher recognized her, so he blurted out nervously, "Beautiful."
Two young girls, both good-looking. Especially when he saw that one later, the light was not good, and he could see that she was a rare beauty. After the two people left, he realized where he had seen her.
"One of them looks very similar to the girl in the portrait two years ago."
The tea cup in the man's hand was crushed by him, and the sharp blade cut his finger. He didn't care at all, but instead sneered and said "Yeah".
She was indeed not dead.
How dare she lie to him, play with him, tease him, and even have a child. I have been hiding in Yangzhou for so long.
"Two people opened a pastry shop and the business is pretty good. They live in an alley in the south of the city and don't go out much on weekdays."
Zhao Shi didn't listen carefully to what he was saying. He was a little out of control emotionally. In the past two years, he always woke up in a cold sweat and woke up from nightmares, dreaming about her day after day. Sometimes he looked in the mirror. I felt that he had been tortured beyond human form.
The blood lines in his eyes became darker and darker.
…
When the daylight dimmed the next day, the little man in Mingzhu's arms woke up. The little girl rubbed her eyes with a dazed look in her eyes. There was a wisp of small curly hair sticking up on her head, which was very cute.
Mingzhu was awakened by her, endured sleepiness and exhaustion, helped her daughter get dressed, and asked softly: "Xiaoman, what do you want to eat this morning?"
The little girl lay obediently on her mother's shoulder, and spoke so softly that the hearts of those who heard her melted. She said, "I want to eat steamed buns stuffed with red bean paste."
Mingzhu hugged her and said, "Mom, I will take you out to buy some."
After exiting the alley, there is a long street selling food, full of aroma.
Xiaoman was fat and white because of Mingzhu, and it was heavy to hold. Her arms were a little sore, but she couldn't bear to put the child down. She walked to a steamed bun shop and bought a basket of steamed buns with red bean paste filling. Minced meat.
Mingzhu paid the money, looked down at her daughter, and asked with a smile: "What else does Xiaoman want to eat?"
The little girl shook her head, "Nothing else."
"good."
After buying the buns, Mingzhu didn't want to stay outside any longer and was about to go home. Xiaoman hugged her neck and pointed his little thumb at the stall opposite, "Wind!...Fly!...Feifei!"
Mingzhu turned around and saw that he was selling kites.
Last time she made a kite for her to play with. The little girl was only playing with her new toy and had long forgotten that this flying thing was called a kite.
Mingzhu touched her hair and said, "Can my mother make you a more beautiful one when you get home?"
The paper kites put out at the stall were not very pretty in shape, and they were made of paper that could not withstand the wind and would be blown to pieces after just a few uses.
Xiaoman nodded, and his little body that had just bounced back down obediently, his voice was soft and waxy, "Okay."
Mingzhu carried her home and locked her courtyard door before letting her go.
The little girl was walking around in the yard with her short legs. She fell down and was stunned for a long time. Then she grinned and burst into tears, sobbing and feeling aggrieved.
Mingzhu thought it was funny, so she helped her up and gently patted her body clean, "Does your butt hurt?"
"pain."
"Walk slowly."
The little girl pretended not to understand and looked at her with big moist eyes, "Xiaoman is hungry."
Mingzhu sighed, took her little hand and went to the house to have breakfast.
Mingzhu didn't realize that she had been targeted. The carriage stopped at the alley, and the man sat in the carriage for a long time before he slowly said: "Let's go."
The secret guards he brought from the capital naturally stayed behind.
The man ordered, "Be careful, don't let her find out by being too hasty."
"My subordinate understands."
Zhao Shiqi didn't think about what to do with her. He could hardly restrain himself and rushed out to catch her. He endured it again and again before he regained his composure.
She has gained some weight and looks good. Looking at her face, you can tell that she has lived a good and carefree life in the past two years.
Zhao Shi has long been tired of the tricks of running away from me. Last night, he thought of thousands of ways to lock her up so that she would never have a chance to escape him again in this life, but he didn't let her Afraid of means.
But just now I saw her holding her child with a smile on her face, standing under the dimly bright sunshine in the early morning. All other thoughts can be left behind, as long as she is alive.
He just wants her to live.
Zhao Shi's heart seemed to be twitching again, and the dull pain came over him in waves. He opened the car curtain and let some air in, and his pale face softened slightly.
In the past few days, Mingzhu always felt like there were eyes staring directly at her from behind. She felt anxious and uneasy, fearing that something would happen.
It was a rainy day in spring. In the evening, there was a heavy spring rain in the city. The sound of rain was soft, and the force of the rain fell a little after half an hour.
Mingzhu put the child to sleep and found an unused oil-paper umbrella from the box. She took the umbrella and said to Hongling, "I'm going out."
Hong Ling was puzzled, "It's raining so heavily, do you want to go out?"
After going back and forth, my clothes must have been soaked.
Mingzhu glanced at the sky. Raindrops hit the ground one by one. The turbid rainwater flowed out along the cracks in the rocks on the ground. She bit her lower lip and said, "He didn't bring an umbrella."
Hong Ling was stunned, "Who?"
Mingzhu's face turned red obviously, and she whispered three words: "Wei Chiyu."
"Oh, then go quickly!"
Mingzhu took another oil-paper umbrella and ran out. There was no one on the road in the heavy rain, but she still felt like a light on her back. She stopped and looked back, but the street was empty.
Mingzhu suppressed her confusion and walked forward.
Halfway through the journey, Mingzhu met Wei Chiyu. The man was holding an umbrella handle in his hand and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed. He seemed surprised to meet her here, "Zhuzhu, why are you here?"
The man was wearing a green shirt, and the expression on his face could not be clearly seen in the fading daylight. From a few steps away, you could feel the calm and authoritative temperament on his body.
Mingzhu couldn't even hide her oil-paper umbrella behind her back, so she lowered her head and said the truth, "It's raining too hard. I thought you didn't bring an umbrella, so..."
Wei Chiyu asked: "Just what?"
Mingzhu blushed at the magnetic voice, and she couldn't say anything.
Wei Chiyu gently held her slender wrist and brought her under the eaves. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the water marks on her face. He said, "Come to pick me up, right?"
Mingzhu's wrist was held in his hand, and her red neck betrayed her shyness, "Yeah."
Wei Chi Yu Wen explained to her: "I didn't bring an umbrella, my colleague lent me one."
Mingzhu said, stumbling, "Oh."
Wei Chiyu hadn't spoken to her for several days. He suddenly took out a pair of earrings from his sleeves and placed them in her palm, "I got them two days ago."
With jade beads embedded in gold threads, these earrings look quite expensive.
Mingzhu's charming eyes were shy, her cheeks were hot, "Would you like to give it to me?"
Wei Chiyu smiled and asked, "What else?"
"Oh." After a while, she was finally willing to raise her head and look at him with a straight face. She looked shy and naive, and said, "I like him very much."
She also had something to give him.
It's a pity that I didn't bring it out today, so I had to give it to him another day.
The two of them waited under the eaves until the shower stopped.
Mingzhu was clasped tightly by his fingers, and she acquiesced to this action. Suddenly, she said: "I saw a girl delivering a letter to you the other day."
There is more than one, Wei Chiyu is really popular in Yangzhou City.
Wei Chiyu said quietly: "Is there any?"
Mingzhu said firmly: "Yes."
"I forgot."
"Then what do you remember?"
Wei Chi said seriously: "You."
Other people and other things are far less important than her.
Mingzhu was so elated by this simple word that she couldn't help but raise her tail. After saying this, she walked out of the courtyard gate.
Mingzhu reluctantly said goodbye to him. Suddenly, she didn't know where she got the courage. She turned back and hugged him, touched him lightly, then turned around and quickly entered the house.
She seemed to like Wei Chi more and more.
The courtyard was quiet and eerie.
Mingzhu called Hongling several times, but no one answered her.
A man walked out from the corridor, his eyes were clear and his expression was as cold as frost. There was an unpredictable smile on his lips, and his eyes were dark and emotionless.
Mingzhu was frightened and fell to the ground.
The man walked up to her, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her up. He asked: "You are so capable, why do your legs become weak when you see me?"