Warm blood splashed on his hands.
A hoarse cry came from the masked man's throat, and the strength of his struggle was astonishing. Xu Feng gritted his teeth and only pricked the hairpin deeper. After this blow, he didn't have the strength to hold back the masked man, and finally let go of his stiff left hand.
And the rope was still tied to him, and the horse ran fast, dragging him forward.
Ahead is the cliff.
Xu Feng knew he couldn't cut the rope, so he fell off the cliff and died - not too bad. He took a breath and looked up at the sky. The weather was very good today, the sky was as clear as blue, and there were no clouds in the sky. Only one or two birds and a hand that suddenly came into view occasionally passed by.
hand
At this critical moment, that hand grabbed his collar and lifted him up. The rope on his body was too tight and broke in an instant. He staggered forward a few steps and crashed into a warm embrace.
Zhou Yan's voice rang in his ears: "Brother Feng."
Xu Feng was stunned for a moment, unable to believe it for a while, and then slowly raised his head after a while.
It was that familiar face that caught my eye.
A cold, expressionless, unremarkable face.
However, it was his brother Zhou.
He couldn't help but tighten Zhou Yan's skirt, looked him over carefully, and asked in a trembling voice: "Brother Zhou... is everything safe?"
Zhou Yan didn't speak, just pressed Xu Feng's head down.
Xu Feng hadn't recovered yet, his feet seemed to be stepping on the clouds lightly, his forehead was pressed against Zhou Yan's chest, and he heard the beating heartbeat coming from there.
His heart also came alive.
But it feels unreliable, afraid that it is a dream made in a trance. It wasn't until the heartbeats of the two gradually merged together that a real joy surged up from the body.
Xu Feng leaned against Zhou Yan's arms for a while, then backed away a little and said, "Last night... I saw with my own eyes that the well was blown up..."
"Well," this frightening incident was only a few words in Zhou Yan's mouth, "there is another secret door at the bottom of the well. I hid in it at that time, so I was not affected. I was just trapped in the well." In the end, it took some effort to get out."
He said touching his chin.
Xu Feng happened to catch a glimpse of it, and hurriedly asked, "Brother Zhou's face was injured?"
Zhou Yan paused and said, "No."
Xu Feng didn't really believe it, he looked at his face again and again, and saw that there were no scars, so he was relieved. It's just that maybe because of not sleeping all night, I always feel that Brother Zhou's face is a bit swollen than usual.
Zhou Yan didn't let him watch it any longer, and said, "If I hadn't caught up in time just now, you almost fell down again."
"again?"
Zhou Yan frowned and said, "Didn't you almost fall into the well last night?"
Xu Feng had nothing to say, so he could only say: "I thought Brother Zhou was killed by them..."
"Whether I live or die, your own life is always the most important thing. You can't take such risks in the future." He said, gently stroking Xu Feng's back.
Xu Feng flinched in pain.
"injured?"
Zhou Yan withdrew his hand and looked, and saw a little blood on his palm.
Xu Feng said: "It's just a skin trauma."
Zhou Yan didn't make a sound, stared at the bright red on his hand for a while, and then slowly closed his five fingers. He turned to Xu Feng and said, "If you are injured, stop running around and wait here for me to come back."
"Where is Brother Zhou going?"
Zhou Yan waved his hands casually, and said in the most ordinary tone, "Go and kill a few people."
When he said the last word, he already practiced lightness kung fu, and disappeared in a blink of an eye.
Xu Feng couldn't catch up even if he wanted to, so he had to wait where he was. Fortunately, Zhou Yan didn't make him wait too long, and quickly turned back. He had changed into black clothes long ago, and he didn't try to avoid it. The hem and sleeves of his clothes were stained with dark red blood. Murong Fei followed behind him, he seemed to be slightly injured, his face was very ugly, his handsome face was as white as paper.
Xu Feng went up to him and said, "Mr. Murong, are you alright?"
In order to kill the masked man, he also put in a lot of effort.
Murong Fei shook his head and said, "It's nothing, it's just..."
He glanced at Zhou Yan and asked, "Do you, Big Brother Zhou, kill people in that way every time?"
"Which way?" Xu Feng only knew that he was not used to using the sword, and had always used the palm.
"You'll know when you see those corpses." Murong Fei's face paled a little after saying this, "Forget it, you'd better not look at it."
Xu Feng was at a loss.
Zhou Yan didn't care, and said to Xu Feng: "Hurry up and go back, the injury on your back needs to be healed."
But Murong Fei said: "I want to take a look at the face of that masked man, maybe it's someone I recognize."
Seeing Zhou Yan, Xu Feng felt no pain from the small injury on his back, and of course it was time to get down to business. He recalled the place where he let go of the masked man, and took Murong Fei to search for it, but he couldn't find it anyway.
"Strange, that horse ran all the way here at that time, it should be nearby, unless..."
Murong Fei guessed: "Unless the masked man is not dead, he escaped by himself or an accomplice rescued him."
Although Xu Feng used all his strength in that blow, he used his right hand after all, and he was not sure whether he was killed or not. The three of them searched carefully again, Murong Fei had sharp eyes and picked up something in the grass.
It was a token made of iron, with a circle of simple and simple patterns on the side, and engraved characters in the middle. Xu Feng took a closer look and found that it was the three characters "Elysium Palace".
Although he had already guessed that the incident was caused by the Palace of Bliss, Xu Feng still felt his eyelids twitch when he saw the word Bliss Palace, and his blood rushed straight up. Only because Zhou Yan was by his side, he didn't want to lose his sense of proportion, so he endured it.
Murong Fei didn't have any scruples, and immediately began to curse, scolding the Palace of Bliss from top to bottom. Especially the palace lord, who was scolded by him sores on the top of his head and pus on the soles of his feet, and he didn't know how he, a handsome and handsome young man, knew these vulgar words.
Xu Feng didn't say anything, but secretly echoed a few words in his heart.
Zhou Yan's face sank like water, and he only held the token in his hand and looked at it a few times.
Xu Fengjiu had also seen this token in the Palace of Bliss, and said, "It looks real."
Zhou Yan shook the token and said, "Even if the token is real, it seems too deliberate to happen to appear in this place."
"Brother Zhou suspects that someone has framed him?"
Before Zhou Yan could answer, Murong Fei was the first to say: "The Palace of Bliss is already notorious, so there's no need to frame it?"
"Because everyone thinks so, pushing everything to the top of the Palace of Bliss will not cause people to be suspicious."
"But… "
Murong Fei was about to argue with him, but he heard someone calling "Young Master" a few times from a distance. When those people got closer, they could see clearly that they were Murong Fei's subordinates.
They were guarding outside the Yingxiang Pavilion yesterday. They wanted to break in when they heard the loud noise, but they were knocked unconscious by someone's black hand, and they slept all night in a daze. They were not woken up by Zhou Yan until this morning, and followed him Find them and save them.
After hearing these words, Murong Fei felt more and more confused, and he didn't know who knocked his subordinates unconscious, but didn't hurt their lives. Could it be that other than the Palace of Bliss, is there someone else involved in this matter
He couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he didn't think about it any further. He just put away the token and asked his men to send the rescued women back to the city.
It was only then that Xu Feng realized that Zhou Yan had tapped the sleeping points of those women before he made a move, and he couldn't help saying, "I didn't expect Brother Zhou to be so careful."
Murong Fei glanced at Zhou Yan, and muttered in a low voice: "Tearing people in half, the heart, liver and lungs ran out, and the intestines flowed all over the floor. If the girl saw it, wouldn't she be scared to death?"
Xu Feng didn't hear what he said clearly, and wanted to follow him to have a look, but Zhou Yan caught him back and said, "Go back and treat the wound first."
Murong Fei had a separate hospital in Lin'an, and when he heard that Xu Feng and the others were looking for a miracle doctor, he kindly invited them to stay temporarily. It's a pity that Zhou Yan refused. He only wanted a fast horse, and he and Xu Feng rode together, and returned to Lin'an first.
As soon as he entered the city, Zhou Yan was in a hurry to find the genius doctor to treat Xu Feng's injury, but was stopped by Xu Feng desperately. It was just a little skin trauma, so I made a fuss to find a miracle doctor, and it was the juncture of the Chinese New Year, and I didn't want to be beaten with a stick.
Zhou Yan had no choice but to give up, first found an inn to stay, then went to find a good medicine for golden sores, and came back to give Xu Feng the medicine himself.
Xu Feng felt a burning pain on his back all the time. When it was time to apply the medicine, he found that his back was bloody and the wound was stuck to his clothes. The injury was really serious.
Zhou Yan gently lifted the clothes on his back. Although Xu Feng tried his best to endure, he still gasped in pain.
Zhou Yan looked at the wound, and said with a straight face, "How did you hurt yourself like this?"
Xu Feng was lying face down on the bed, feeling the fingers sticking to the ointment caressing his back, bringing a piece of coolness, and said in a low voice: "After the loud noise last night, the whole well was blown up, the masked man said …you were blown to death in the well.”
Zhou Yan stopped applying the medicine for a moment, and asked, "So what?"
"I've been thinking all night, only thinking about how to kill him to avenge you. I can't match him in martial arts, but I can die with him. It's worth my life in exchange for his life."
As soon as the words fell, Zhou Yan's hand pressed heavily on his back.
Xu Feng cried out in pain.
"It's not worth it at all." Zhou Yan said coldly, "There will be no next time."
"Brother Zhou..."
"If one day I really die... at someone's hands, you don't have to worry about it." Zhou Yan's action of applying the medicine became gentle again, and the way he looked at Xu Feng was even more gentle. Thousands of times, "You just pretend that you have never known Zhou Yan, heal your injuries, practice martial arts, marry a wife and have children, and live your whole life in peace."
Xu Feng was taken aback, and turned around and said, "Brother Zhou, what are you talking about? If there is any serious enemy, you and I will not be able to deal with it, and I will die with you. When we were sworn brothers, we clearly said Well, let’s share the difficulties and share the blessings.”
He added another sentence secretly: "We live together and die together."
Zhou Yan could not be fooled by him, and said, "There is no such sentence."
Xu Feng just said: "In short, since we are bound to Jinlan, we will be brothers in this life. Is there any reason to separate halfway?"
There seemed to be reluctance in Zhou Yan's eyes, but the light disappeared in a blink of an eye, and he sighed: "There is no banquet in the world that never ends."
It was only then that Xu Feng remembered that Zhou Yan and him were just sworn brothers, and he had another biological brother whom he had been looking for all these years. If one day, Big Brother Zhou finds his own younger brother, his sworn brother, what is it
Xu Feng was taken aback by this thought. Could it be that deep down in his heart, he didn't want Zhou Yan to find his own brother? No, no, it would be great if Brother Zhou could reunite with his brothers. In the future, when he found his younger brother, he would inevitably feel a little cold towards his adopted brother, which is also human nature.
Anyway, he was lonely since he was a child, and he lived like this for the past twenty years, but he will just wander around the rivers and lakes as usual, and seeing his eldest brother Zhou a few times a year is enough.
Xu Feng's thoughts drifted so far that he didn't even know that Zhou Yan had finished administering the medicine to him. It wasn't until Zhou Yan called him that he came back to his senses. His back was icy cold, and the burning pain really eased a lot, but there was a dull pain in his left rib, probably because of being kicked a few times earlier.
He was afraid that Zhou Yan would be worried, so he didn't bring up the matter, thinking that it would be better after a while.
Zhou Yan gently covered him with the quilt, knowing that he hadn't slept all night, so he didn't stay any longer, said a few words to him, and went back to his room.
Xu Feng was sleepy and tired, but his back was injured, and he could only sleep on his stomach if he wanted to rest, so he didn't sleep well this time. He had many bizarre dreams, and finally dreamed of torrential rain, the ground was muddy, he walked with one foot deep and one foot shallow, closely chasing a person's back. The man was not tall, even a little thin, but he kept walking in front of him, sheltering him from the wind and rain.
Xu Feng wanted to keep up with him.
As they walked, the two gradually grew taller. Xu Feng called "Brother" and finally walked side by side with the man and held his hand.
The man turned around—
Xu Feng's heart skipped a beat, and he saw Zhou Yan's face.
Then he woke up.
When I woke up, the sky was bright and it was already the next morning.
Xu Feng was lying under the quilt and was reluctant to get up. He thought about the dream carefully, and for some reason, he felt a little lost.
Later, when Zhou Yan came to ask him to have breakfast, he hurriedly put on his clothes.
Not long after eating, Murong Fei came to visit. He mentioned that after returning to the city yesterday, he found that the Yingxiang Hall was set on fire, and the old bustard had committed suicide, but he found a token of the Palace of Bliss on her body, which was exactly the same as the one they found in the mountains.
Zhou Yan sneered after hearing this, and said, "It really is."
Xu Feng said: "Brother Zhou still suspects that this is a means of framing?"
"If it was really caused by the Palace of Bliss, then the old bustard would just leave. Why did he die in the Yingxiang Pavilion?"
"Maybe it's because she's not good at handling things, and she's afraid of being punished by the Palace Master when she goes back." Murong Fei said, "I heard that the Bliss Palace has a lot of tricks to torture people."
Murong Fei only heard it from hearsay, but Xu Feng experienced it himself, his face turned pale, and he pressed his right hand unconsciously.
Zhou Yan looked in his eyes, his eyes darkened a bit, and said: "Now that the clues have been broken, we can't jump to conclusions, but no matter who did this, there will always be a day when the truth comes to light."
It means that I don't want to talk more.
Murong Fei didn't want to start a conflict with him, so he changed the subject and chatted with Xu Feng. The two of them went through adversity twice, and Murong Fei had already introduced Xu Feng as a confidant, and after talking, he invited him to stay in his other courtyard for a while.
In order to get rid of Murong Fei, Zhou Yan went out for a walk in the afternoon and had already found a house when he came back. Although the place is not big, it is clean and tidy, and it is beside the West Lake. The most important thing is that there is a kitchen where you can cook by yourself.
The end of the year is approaching, and I don't know how Zhou Yan found this house
When Zhou Yan heard Xu Feng's question, he simply explained: "I can ask a friend for help."
Xu Feng didn't doubt him either, and the two moved in the next day.
When Murong Fei heard about this, he even came here specially to grab a meal, but before the meal was finished, his subordinates found him first, saying that someone from Suzhou had come, and told him to go back as soon as possible. new year.
Xu Feng counted the time and found out that the day after tomorrow is New Year's Eve. He hurriedly dragged Zhou Yan to clean the house again, and collected some things for the New Year. When he was free at night, he took red paper and cut window grilles under the lamp. His fingers are dexterous, and the patterns he cut out are vivid and very pleasing.
Zhou Yan was not in a hurry to rest, so he just sat aside and watched.
As soon as Xu Feng looked up, he saw Zhou Yan looking at him, and couldn't help laughing: "Brother Zhou, do you want to try?"
Zhou Yan said, "I won't."
"Brother Zhou didn't cut it when he was a child?"
"I lost my family since I was a child, and although I was adopted later, I only focused on practicing martial arts."
Only then did Xu Feng remember that he was just like himself, and said, "I also learned from Master."
After he finished cutting a picture of a magpie, he handed the scissors to Zhou Yan, beckoning him to try it.
Zhou Yan had no choice but to take it in his hand. His hands were merciless even when killing people, but now he was holding a pair of scissors, but he became a little clumsy, and he didn't know where to start.
Xu Feng looked at it amusedly, and looked at him from the side with his chin up. He saw that under the dim candlelight, he narrowed his eyes slightly, with a particularly focused expression. Xu Feng looked at it, unconsciously lost in thought.
I don't know how long it took before Zhou Yan cut the window grilles. Xu Feng unfolded it and saw that there were two round heads next to each other. Although they were crooked and out of shape, they could vaguely recognize their eyebrows.
Xu Feng looked at it for a long time on purpose, and asked Zhou Yan, "Are these two buns? Brother Zhou wants to eat this tomorrow?"
Zhou Yan was choked by him, wanted to speak but couldn't, so he threw the scissors away, turned his head silently, and turned his back to Xu Feng.
Xu Feng laughed for a long time by himself, smeared some paste on the red paper, and then stuck it on the window next to it with a "snap".
Zhou Yan heard the voice, glanced back, and said, "It's the window of your room, what are you pasting it on?"
Xu Feng looked at the two heads close together on the red paper, and said, "I just like it."
Zhou Yan didn't speak any more, silently put Xu Fengjian's magpie picture into his arms, got up and went back to his room.
Xu Feng packed up his things and lay down to rest. He slept very deeply this time, and woke up early the next day, hearing the biting cold wind blowing on the window. He opened his eyes and looked at the window grilles that Zhou Yan had cut yesterday, and hid in the quilt for a while, then got up and got dressed.
Before going to the kitchen to make breakfast, Xu Feng went around to look out of Zhou Yan's window. Seeing that the window was brightly red with the magpie picture he cut last night pasted on it, the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously. He reached out and knocked on the window, calling out, "Brother Zhou."
Zhou Yan was looking at the mirror in the room, and when he heard the sound, he pressed the mirror down, and asked sideways, "What's the matter?"
Xu Feng only saw his silhouette reflected on the window, and said, "May I ask what you want for breakfast?"
"Anything you want." Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, "Except for Baozi."
Xu Feng smiled and said, "Okay."
He said again: "Brother Zhou's voice is a bit strange, did he catch a cold at night?"
Zhou Yan coughed twice and said, "No, it's just that my throat feels a little uncomfortable."
Xu Feng made some light food in the morning, went out to buy pears at noon and came back, stewed pear soup with rock sugar for Zhou Yan to drink.
The day passed quickly, and the next day was New Year's Eve.
Although there were only the two of them, it was Chinese New Year after all, so Xu Feng got up early on purpose, and started to prepare the meal at night from the morning.
When he was on the mountain before, he and his brothers took turns lighting a fire to cook, and he didn't think his craftsmanship was so good. Later, Zhou Yan praised him a few times, but he took it seriously. After a busy morning, he bought all the vegetables that should be bought, slaughtered chickens and fish, and finally got a little free time to sit down and make some dumplings by himself.
Zhou Yan wandered around a few times, because of the window grille cutting yesterday, he refused to touch his hands again. But Xu Feng couldn't help stuffing dumpling wrappers into his hands, and said, "Brother Zhou makes a few too."
Zhou Yan said: "I won't."
Xu Feng shook his left hand and said, "My hand is so sore that I can't hold it anymore."
Zhou Yan had no choice but to pack one. But he put too much stuffing, and the pinching gestures were not right, the dumplings made were fat and ugly, and I'm afraid they would fall apart after a while.
Xu Feng couldn't hold back his laughter for a moment.
Zhou Yan's face turned dark, and he refused to touch it again after making this, so Xu Feng finished making the remaining dumplings by himself. When he finished making the last dumpling, he stuffed a copper coin into the dumpling, hoping to win the prize.
The weather was fine in the afternoon, Zhou Yan moved a chair to bask in the sun in the yard, Xu Feng had been busy all day, and in the evening, he fixed a table of dishes, and they were all Zhou Yan's favorite food.
Zhou Yan held up his chopsticks and said, "It's too much."
"It doesn't matter if you can't finish it, there is more than enough every year."
After Xu Feng finished speaking, he opened a jar of green plum wine and drank a glass with Zhou Yan. He doesn't have a good capacity for alcohol, and only one drink is enough, so Zhou Yan drinks it by himself.
When the dishes were almost eaten, Xu Feng went to the kitchen to heat up the chicken soup in the pot, and put down the dumplings made during the day. The dumpling cooked very quickly, and it floated up after a while. Xu Feng was careful when he picked it up, and scooped the fat and ugly dumpling into his bowl.
The steaming hot dumpling tasted very good, Xu Feng swallowed that special dumpling as if he was afraid of being robbed, and felt that it was tastier than others. Zhou Yan ate half of the dumpling and bit the copper coin wrapped in the dumpling. He frowned and slowly took out the copper coin.
Xu Fengxi said: "It's a lucky start, Big Brother Zhou will be able to do everything well and be satisfied next year."
Zhou Yan seemed to be stunned for a moment, his eyes turned on Xu Feng's face, and then he smiled to himself, raised his head and drank the wine in the glass.
After eating, the sound of firecrackers rang out one after another outside.
Xu Feng also bought some the day before yesterday, so he ran to the yard and let them crackle, just to join in the fun. After the sound of the firecrackers, the smoke hadn't cleared away, Xu Feng was looking at the wisps of green smoke, Zhou Yan suddenly walked over and said, "Stretch out your hand."
Xu Feng didn't understand what it meant, but he obediently stretched out his left hand.
Zhou Yan stuffed something into his hand.
Xu Feng looked down and saw the cleaned copper coin lying in his palm.
Zhou Yan didn't say a word of nonsense, just looked at Xu Feng and said: "Everything is as you wish."
Xu Feng's heart felt hot, and he tightly held the copper coin in his hand.
Someone next door set off firecrackers, and nothing could be heard except the sound of firecrackers. Xu Feng and Zhou Yan looked at each other, and said amidst the rumbling sound, "I hope next year today, I will still celebrate the New Year with Big Brother Zhou. "