Only after returning to the house did he find out that Shuqing had escaped. At that time, in a hurry to save Shen Jue, Xia Houlin forgot that Shuqing could shrink his bones, and the rope could not tie him. Shen Jue and Xia Houlin were both seriously injured, only Chi Yan was slightly injured. When the medicine was applied, Shen Jue asked the doctor to diagnose Xia Houlin's pulse, but the diagnosis was still the same, and there was no improvement at all. Shen Jue didn't say anything, lay down and fell asleep, just having nightmares about Xia Houlin.
Taking advantage of the injury, he rested at home for several days, while continuing to send people to look for famous doctors. Even so, the official documents were still sent from the palace to pile up on his desk. Unable to get up, he asked Shen Wenxing to read it to him next to him. The people of Linbeihou’s mansion went to Lou Kong. The chaos in Liaodong had not been settled, and he needed to make up his mind on many things.
Xia Houlin didn't let Shen Jue know that he had raised his mother's ashes. Anyway, Shen Jue wouldn't go to the ancestral hall for a while, how long could he hide it. He asked Ti Qi to send Seventeen's coffin back to Hangzhou, wrote another letter explaining the reason, and sealed all his savings. The coffin car set off and disappeared at the end of the vast loess ridge road. Xia Houlin suddenly had a feeling that maybe one day, he will also embark on such a return journey.
Back home, Shen Jue was reading the official documents in the study, and Xiahou Rong went to find Chi Yan. Shen Jue asked Chi Yan to choose a courtyard to live in, but the guy chose the most remote one, and he stayed in the courtyard and didn't go out for the first four days. As soon as he walked into the yard, he saw Chiyan squatting under the willow tree to feed the cat. I don't know where he attracted so many wild cats, black, white and yellow, rubbing against his feet, and a stray cat crawling on his shoulder.
Chi Yan is poorer than Xiahou Lin. Two days ago, Lianxiang wiped her tears and came to Xia Houlin, saying that Jialan is too bullying, such an honest child has no half a copper in his purse, only a handful of silver coins on his body, and he doesn't even have a change of clothes. After speaking, he took all his clothes away. Xiahou Lin had no choice but to ask Shen Jue to borrow clothes to wear.
Maybe it's because of the dullness, and the disgust is especially popular with women. Yesterday, Shen Jue went to visit him in his courtyard and saw several maids vying for food. Chi Yan was sitting at the bottom of the corridor with a tabby cat in his arms, watching them pull each other's hair. He looked a little flustered, obviously frightened. He probably didn't expect women to be more mad than assassins.
Shen Jue was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, and with a wave of his hand, he replaced all the people serving in the courtyard with men. I wanted to say a few words to Chiyan, but after all, he was the elder brother-in-law, and he was very polite. The two sat and stared at each other for a long time, before Shen Jue went back to the house to approve the official document.
Chi Yan saw Xia Houlin, put down the civet cat in his arms, and the two sat on the stone table under the flower stand, looking at the begonia flowers in the garden, and did not speak for a long time.
"Is your injury healed?" Chi Yan asked him.
"It's almost there," Xia Houlin said. "Are you used to living here? I'll take you to our house tomorrow. Mother left it for us."
Chi Yan said lightly: "Okay."
Xia Houlin turned to look at him, "You haven't told me yet, why did you go back to Jialan? You were in Shuobei, why did you disappear?"
Chi Yan didn't answer, but asked, "Xiao Lian, are you afraid of death?"
Xia Houlin looked at him quietly.
"If you're not afraid of death," Chiyan stretched out his hand and caught a falling begonia petal, "then I can tell you."
six years ago.
Thick winter snow enveloped the world, and the snow on the ground was deep enough to cover the calf. There was no one in the early morning, the alleys and streets were empty, only the whistling cold wind.
A sound of xun drifted over with the cold wind, and someone opened the window and stuck his head out. The sound of Xun was hidden behind the snowflakes and flew far away. People listened in their quilts, and inexplicably felt that the sound of the xun was very cold, as dry and astringent as a cold pond in winter. A whimpering cry.
At the end of the song, Xie Xin put down Tao Xun and said to Chi Yan beside him, "This is the last song I taught you, Chi Yan."
They sat under the eaves of other people's houses, with the charring of the charcoal fire in the darkened stove beside them. Well-meaning people will set up a stove at the door for passers-by to bake their hands.
"I have drawn the map of the snowy mountain behind you. This is the crystallization of the secret investigation of several generations of the abbots of Jialan. Following it, you can escape all the guards on the snowy mountain and find where Yama is." Xingxin said slowly, " Just remember, the medicine I gave you will only last for less than five years, and you have to hurry."
Chi looked at him with disgust, his dark eyes reflecting his sad smile.
"A real sharp blade must be forged with hatred and forged with blood. I am the last drop of blood that was forged into Xiaolan," Xie Xin brushed off the snowflakes on Chi Yan's body and said, "When you hear the news of my death, go to Qixia. The temple looked for him, and the man with the bandage on his head is him, you can recognize it. You go to the snowy mountains together and keep each other company, so that you will not lose your way in the vast snow."
"Do you have to die?" Chi Yan asked.
"Children, Duan Jiu has too many eyes and ears, you have to leave Jialan to go to the snowy mountains. In order to clean up the people who are chasing you, my people are almost dead. If I want to send Xiaolin away, I will be the only one lying down. Bloody way. Only by defeating me can Xiaolin be qualified to challenge Yama."
"I'm enough alone."
Murderer touched his tired head, and the silent young man had soft hair, like a child.
"You don't want me and Xiaolin to die, do you?"
Tired of nodding.
Xingxin smiled, turned his head, and pointed to a gray shadow standing outside the wind and snow, "Chiyan, you see, that is the snow mountain, where Jialan's ancestors rested forever, and where Jialan's real knife mound is. Our ancestors went forward one after another. , Some walk alone, some go together, but after all, they are buried in heavy snow and no one survives. Their names have been forgotten by everyone, even I only remember the twenty-sixth generation Garuda Soma, the twenty-fifth generation Gandhar Po Arina, the 23rd generation Mahu Luojia Zhang Xiaolian... I'm getting old, and the old injury on my right arm makes it impossible for me to start a lotus. Chian, you and Xiaolin are our last hope.
"You have to remember that when you enter the snow-capped mountains, the ancestors of Jialan will protect you to the end. When you step into the long spring, me, Qiuye, Xiahou Pei, Du Xin... All the ancestors of Jialan will watch over the other side and point them out for you. Light up the lights to go home. Death is not a journey, but a homecoming."
Chi Yan lowered his eyes and muttered, "Go home..."
"Yeah, go home." Xingxin replied with a smile, he helped Chiyan pull up the black ge cloth scarf to cover his mouth and nose, and helped him put on a gray cloth hood, only revealing a pair of dark eyes, "I'm going Qixia Temple used to hide in the mountains. Yan Luo and Shuobei Dongchang have colluded. The search for Garan Assassins is very loose here. Don’t show your face when you go out, let alone show your money. You need to save some money for you. If you meet If you like a woman, you can talk to her, but don't sleep with her."
He nodded lightly.
"I'm leaving."
Xing Xin stood up and walked towards the vast snow field outside the town. His jet-black shadow was like a thin old pine, a little dazzling in the whiteness.
"Will we meet again?" Chi Yanyao asked.
Murdering Heart paused, looking up at the hazy mountains in the snow. He said, "No way. If Xiaolin can't beat me, just run away, hold on to it, and do what you want to do." He turned his head, his smile was blurred in the snow, even a little transparent, " Just don't be afraid, hold on to it, all farewells in the Yang World are for the reunion after death."
The memory of the Crow Feather went away with the wind, and Xia Houlin looked down at his palm. The spring sunshine is not strong, and through the flower vine shelf, it is separated into many bright lights shining on the body. The wound under the bandage was numb and itchy, a sign of healing.
"So that's the way it is, that old bald donkey can't be so kind. It turns out that we have always been the two knives he left behind Jia Lan, and Duan Jiu still doesn't know him well enough." Xia Houlin smiled indifferently, " I didn't see you at Qixia Temple, were you stopped on the way?"
Chi Yan said: "The abbot estimated the wrong time for the effect of the medicine. I took the medicine two years earlier than you, and the effect of the medicine only lasted me until the third year. I fell ill for the first time at Zijing Pass, and fell into a coma on the snowy field. Picked up me." Chi Yan whispered, "She gave me the fruit of bliss, and I paid for it in an instant. I didn't have a knife. I tried many other methods, but I couldn't kill her."
"Bai Liyuan used the fruit of bliss to delay the onset of July and a half?" Xiahou Ran said, "Is it a way to increase the dose of the flower poison and fight poison with poison?"
Chi Yan nodded, "The fruit of bliss can temporarily give us a strong body, so that the poison can be delayed again and again. But the fruit of bliss is almost useless, my body is decaying, Xiaolin."
Xia Houluo said in a low voice, "Is it like burning life? The more the fire burns, the sooner the firewood will burn out."
"Are you afraid, Xiaolin?"
"I'm not afraid." Xia Houlin looked down at his toes.
He was just afraid of how uncomfortable it would be to leave Shen Jue alone in this world. He has left him alone for ten years, and this time they parted, probably they would never see each other again.
"How long can you take it once?" he asked, raising his head.
"It was six months at first, then three months, and then one month," Chi Yan lowered his eyes, "now it's seven days."
"You're addicted, bored."
"Um."
"When are you going to leave?"
Chi Yan shook his head and said, "The sooner the better, I'm running out of time."
Xia Houlin was silent for a long time and asked, "Do you have the fruit of bliss on you?"
Chi Yan took one from his purse and pushed it to the center of the table. A dark pill, like a moth on the table, hides endless darkness.
"Have you made up your mind?"
"Bai Liyuan's hand on Shuobei should not be underestimated, the imperial court cannot fight on two fronts." Xia Houlin stared at the small pill, "Since he will not live long, this life will naturally be used on the blade, at least so that the young master can go out with peace of mind in the future. Go down the street."
"Is the young master your new brother?" Chi Yan asked him.
"No, it's my daughter-in-law. You want to call him my sister-in-law, how about it? It's pretty, and it'll be more honorable to take it out." Xiahou Lin smiled lightly and stretched out his hand and patted him on the shoulder.
Chi Yan didn't react for a while, looked at him blankly, and fell into a long sluggishness.
Xia Houlin picked up the fruit of bliss and walked into the room, waved his hand with his back to Chiyan, and said, "Help me guard the door."
Closing the door, he sat in the sun shining through the window panes, he put the fruit of bliss on the crescent table and stared at it for a long time. The orange sunlight plated it with a golden edge, and the luster was flowing, as if hiding an unknown dream.
He thought more than once, does the bliss that Buddha said really exist? Bliss, what does that golden dream look like? He heard that the person who takes the fruit of bliss will see what he most wants to see in his life. The world becomes a phantom, the soul transcends the body, and ascends into boundless bliss. At that moment, people have no worries.
Some people say that the fruit of bliss is the remnant treasure left by the Buddha in the world, and it gives people in the yang world a chance to glimpse the bliss of the West. And those who witness it, without exception, will die.
After all, death is the destination of all people. Xia Houlin poured a glass of water and swallowed it with the fruit of bliss. He just walked faster than ordinary people.