That night, Tang Zhou slept extremely unsteadily. When the sky outside the window just turned white, he was awakened by a flute. This flute sound is like weeping and complaining, low and sorrowful, and the person playing the flute seems to have endless sadness. Tang Zhou put on his robe and involuntarily followed the sound, only to see that the courtyard he had explored last night was empty, but a large pit appeared on the ground.
Holding on to the scabbard, he slowly approached.
I saw that the pit was covered with a shallow layer of peach petals, which was buried by Master Shen last night, but the petals were no longer fresh and tender, and had become dry and wrinkled. He lowered his body and used his sword to open the layer of petals. He could see a hand underneath, which still looked white and soft like ceramics.
The people buried below may still be alive!
Tang Zhou didn't have anything he could dig with, such as a hoe, so he could only dig with the long sword in his hand. Fortunately, the burial was not deep, and after a while, the man's face was slowly exposed. He reached out and probed his breath, but there was no breath left. Tang Zhou raised his sleeves and gently wiped off the sand on the man's face, gradually revealing a clear face.
It was a woman's face, with picturesque brows and a smile on the corner of her mouth, three points of playfulness and seven points of well-behaved, as if she was still alive.
Tang Zhou paused, and suddenly there was a slight sound of footsteps behind him. He looked back and frowned slightly: "How did you come out?"
Yan Dan held a piece of talisman paper and shook it: "I told Miss Shen that the paper outside the door is too ugly, it's better to tear it off, and she did as she did." She approached the pit and looked inside. The person who was there, snorted softly: "What's going on? Could it be that you are destroying the corpse and destroying the traces?"
Tang Zhou looked at her: "Don't you think the people here are familiar?"
Yan Dan squatted down and looked at it carefully for a while, then supported Yi with one hand: "Yeah, I seem to have seen it somewhere..."
"... This person looks exactly like you."
Yan Dan was startled, stood up and said, "You say that, it's very similar. How can there be someone who looks so similar to me in this world?"
Tang Zhou said slowly: "Not only looks alike, but also looks the same. Do you really believe that there are such people in this world?" Yan Dan looked at the woman buried in the pit and murmured: "It's true that there won't be." She raised her head slowly with sadness in her eyes: "So, I'm actually dead, and I don't know?"
Tang Zhou was silent, only to see Yan Tan's face pale and muttered: "So it is, so it is..." She suddenly turned around and grabbed Tang Zhou's sleeve, with a smile on the corner of her mouth: "I will do this, it's all about you. Damn it! You said, how do you repay?" Her fingers were pale, and blood was slowly oozing from her body: "If it wasn't for you... If it wasn't for you, how could I have ended up like this? You owe me, and you plan to When are you coming back?!"
She looked sad and her eyes were full of despair, something he had never seen before.
Tang Zhou didn't break free, and he didn't want to break free at all. He just asked, "What do I owe you? What do you want from me?"
Yan Dan looked at him deeply, before slowly saying for a long time: "You owe me half of your heart, I want you to spit it out and give it back to me... You give me back this half of your heart..." Her voice was no longer warm. Soft, with a cry, even more pitiful.
Tang Zhou was horrified and inexplicable, he took a step back, but he didn't know what he bumped into, and his head hurt.
He opened his eyes and found himself lying on the bed in the guest room, the pillow fell to the ground, and he was knocking on the head of the bed. Tang Zhou sat up, raised his hand and rubbed his temples. It turned out that it was just a dream. But why do you dream of Yan Dan? A nightmare within a nightmare. He got out of bed, washed with water in the basin, and slowly put on his robe.
Suddenly I heard a few bird calls from outside the room, and a girl's silver bell-like laughter, I thought it was Shen Xiangjun coming. Tang Zhou thought of what he saw last night and couldn't help but hesitate.
Only Yan Dan's warm and soft voice sounded: "Miss Shen, you got up so early."
Shen Xiangjun said with a smile: "The early bird catches the worm, it's the one that made me get up early."
"Miss Shen, can I say something to your bird?"
"You say it, but if it doesn't understand, I don't know."
Tang Zhou gently walked to the door of the room and pushed it open a little bit, only to see Shen Xiangjun standing in front of Yan Dan's room, with the piebald parrot that he saw yesterday on his shoulders, with a smile as delicate as a spring flower.
"Birds, birds, do you also think the torn papers at the door are really annoying? Do you think I should tear them all off?"
Tang Zhou immediately understood that this lotus spirit was trying to escape the prohibition of leaving the door through the hands of Shen Xiangjun. He was calm and stood there still, wanting to see what she would do next.
Shen Xiangjun couldn't help but chuckle: "The bird said, these pieces of paper are really ugly, why didn't you tear them up earlier?"
Yan Dan sighed: "This is a painting by my senior brother, my skills are low, and he is afraid that I will be entangled by evil spirits." She rolled her eyes and smiled again: "It's okay, although it looks unsightly, it is also the hard work of senior brother. After she finished speaking, she took a few steps forward, and suddenly slammed into the door.
Shen Xiangjun stepped forward and stepped on a talisman paper on the threshold: "What's the matter with you, are you not feeling well?" She took another step forward, and the talisman paper was glued to the sole of her shoe and was torn from the threshold. separated.
Yan Dan smiled and said, "It's alright, just now, for some reason, I suddenly felt dizzy." Each of the talisman papers that Tang Zhou put on was very particular. A very deep demon. Yan Dan smiled and walked lightly, but stopped for a moment when he stepped out of the threshold, and then smiled and said, "You are so early too, Senior Brother?"
Tang Zhou folded his arms and smiled, "I woke up when Miss Shen first came."
Yan Dan smiled very endearingly: "It turns out that my brother is worried that I will bully Miss Shen. How could I do this? Miss Shen is beautiful and kind. If she becomes my sister-in-law, I will be very happy."
Tang Zhou's mouth twitched slightly: "Junior sister, you think too much."
Yan Dan immediately put on a confused look: "Really? But I still really want Miss Shen to be my sister-in-law."
I just heard Shen Xiangjun ask the parrot on his shoulder, "What is the sister-in-law?"
Tang Zhou sank his face, grabbed Yan Dan's wrist and walked outside, and when he got to a place that Shen Xiangjun couldn't see, he stuck a piece of talisman paper on her wrist: "I just drew this one yesterday. , I don't want to use it so soon."
Yan Dan watched helplessly as the talisman paper turned into a bright light, and his wrist was clasped by a heavy bracelet. She weighed her wrists and didn't care: "This time it's a few steps to ban? Even if we are brothers and sisters, we still have to avoid suspicion between men and women. I can't have the same room with you, right?"
Tang Zhou smiled slightly and said, "This time it's just that I can't leave the Shen family."
She thought about it for a while, but still wasn't angry: "Anyway, it doesn't seem too bad to me."
Tang Zhou looked at her and saw that she still had a very flattering smile, so he turned and walked to the flower hall, took a few steps, and then turned around and said, "I forgot to say it just now."
Yan Dan was still looking at the bracelet in his hand, and said casually, "What?"
"It's like this, when I drew this talisman yesterday, I suddenly felt that if I just drew a ban from the Shen family, it didn't seem to be enough." Tang Zhou said slowly, "So I added another one and blocked it. Most of your magic. If you are really entangled by evil spirits, the rest should be able to deal with it."
Yan Dan gritted his teeth, pulled out a blade of grass on one side, and threw it behind Tang Zhou. Tang Zhou turned sideways to avoid her, only to hear her whimper and stare down at the soil, as if she saw something. He has been with Yan Dan for some time, and every time she does this, it's probably not a good thing, so she just pretends she hasn't seen it.
Yan Dan watched for a while, then took a deep breath: "Tang Zhou, come and see."
Tang Zhou didn't even think about it: "Just tell me directly."
Yan Dan raised his head with a complicated expression: "You bring back that grass, I'm not talking to you to play with it. I'm afraid there will be other changes in this matter."
Tang Zhou understood that the "this matter" she said was referring to him expelling ghosts from the Shen house. He picked up the grass on the ground and walked to Yan Dan's side. She said slowly: "I have long wondered why the flowers and plants here grow so well, but no other place in the town can grow such flowers and plants."
Tang Zhou looked down and saw a piece of black soil showing something white, like... a finger bone! He remembered the dream before, and couldn't help turning his head to look at Yan Dan, only to see her eyes lowered, her eyelashes covered her eyes, and her dark eyes stared at him without blinking.
Tang Zhou looked at her eyes and couldn't take his eyes away. There was no joke in her eyes, her pupils were dark and transparent, much like a docile little animal. Suddenly I saw her smile slightly: "Why do you have blue and white on your face?" She touched her cheek and said to herself, "Why are people always scared by me recently? Could it be that I look too majestic?"
Tang Zhou raised his hand and put the grass back to its original position, and brushed off his sleeves: "I don't have the majesty, it's probably too scary."
Yan Dan whispered something, raised his hand to twist his hair, and pouted: "Occasionally say something nice and you'll die?"
Tang Zhou snorted softly: "That's not true, but why should I say something against my heart? This way you feel comfortable, but I feel uncomfortable, are you right?"
Yan Dan stood with his fists clenched, and after a while, he smiled like a toothache: "That's right."
The Shen family is a well-known family of rich people in the town, so a breakfast is naturally very rich.
Yan Dan gently broke the lotus seed buns and took a small bite, and then took another bite. Although it looked good, one bun disappeared soon, so she used chopsticks to hold a mutton stuffed one.
Seeing that she was only holding buns, Mr. Shen smiled kindly: "Miss Yan, this bun is to fill your stomach, why don't you have some porridge? The butter tea over there was brought back from the northwest, and the taste is very unique. If you are not used to it, drink it. Ginseng tea is also good.”
Yan Dan shook his head: "I've never eaten steamed buns before, I like them very much."
Master Shen immediately said: "Could it be that the girl has been practicing Taoism since she was a child, and has practiced to the point where she can stop eating?"
Tang Zhou sighed.
Yan Dan thought about it for a while, and actually said, "It's possible to go without food for seven or eight days."
Master Shen was in awe: "The girl already has this cultivation at a young age, I really admire it, I admire it."
Tang Zhou couldn't help it: "Master Shen, don't believe her. My junior sister is so naughty, eight out of ten sentences are just for fun."
Yan Dan raised his chopsticks and put a beef-stuffed bun for him: "Senior brother, I know you like this most."
Tang Zhou looked at the bun, wondering whether to eat it or throw it back to her. After thinking about it, he decided to swallow it. He had just finished eating when another bun came over. Yan Dan said obediently, "Senior brother, let me help you with it."
Master Shen looked at them like this, and touched his nose: "Young Master Tang and the girl really have a deep friendship." He sighed and said, "Originally, this old man still wanted to... Well, it seems that there is no need."
Yan Dan smiled when he heard the words, and then blocked it with a bun to Tang Zhou: "Master Shen, my senior brother and I are just brothers and sisters. Did you misunderstand something?"
Master Shen's eyes lit up, and he stroked his palms and said, "Actually, it's like this, what Xiangjun said to me just now about your sister-in-law. My little daughter is thin-skinned, she should like Tang Gongzi very much. Tang Gongzi is such a talent, it is rare to treat Xiangjun again. Well, I was originally in favor of this marriage. It's just that Xiang-Jun, she... Sigh, she's a silly child after all."
Just as Tang Zhou was about to speak, Yan Dan immediately grabbed him first: "If I have a sister-in-law like Miss Shen, I'd be very happy. Besides, Miss Shen is very smart and kind, and my brother will definitely not dislike it."
Tang Zhou coughed lightly: "Master Shen, in fact I..."
"I grew up with my senior brother since I was a child, and I have never seen him be so devoted to that woman."
Tang Zhou put down his chopsticks: "You..."
"You are a dignified man. If you like it, you like it. It's no big deal if you admit it."
He lowered his face: "Junior sister, have you said enough?"
Yan Dan spread his hands and continued to deal with Baozi: "It's over."
Tang Zhou paused for a while, before slowly saying: "Master Shen, the daughter is beautiful and kind, and should be a good person. It's just that there are still some things to do in the lower body. I can't settle down and start a family. I'm really sorry."
Master Shen waved his hand and said with a smile: "I understand, I understand. It's enough for Mr. Tang to have this heart, Mr. Xiang... I don't think she can get married. If Mr. Tang finishes everything, remember me. This stupid daughter, even if I accept her as a side room, I feel at ease."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a slender figure walking into the flower hall. When Master Shen saw the figure, his face suddenly turned pale, and even the hand holding the chopsticks shook.
"With a father like you, Xiang-Jun is really pitiful." The woman who walked in had the exact same face as Shen Xiang-Jun, but her expression was gloomy and her eyes were vaguely fierce.
Tang Zhou suddenly thought that the person he met last night was not Shen Xiangjun, but the woman in front of him.
Yan Dan caught a glimpse of Master Shen's every move from the corner of his eye. From his expression to his subconscious little movements, he could clearly see everything. Why is he so afraid? That woman looks exactly like Shen Xiangjun, it should be his eldest daughter, why should he be afraid of his own daughter? Why are two people who look so alike so different