Xie Jinglan couldn't count how far he had traveled.
The black clothes on his body are sloppy, covered with dust and stains, his hair is messed up into chicken coops, his face has not been washed for several days, and the gray marks are intertwined. His throat was dry and smoking, like a rusty piece of iron stuck in the center, which could not be coughed or swallowed, and the saliva had a bloody smell. What makes people more tortured is hunger, the belly is empty, the stomach hurts with hunger, the mind is dizzy, and the world seems to be spinning.
Before he left Jinling, he wanted to be an earring in exchange for some entanglement, but he didn't expect that the shopkeeper framed him for stealing other people's earrings and used them as pawns. He ran out in a panic, and found that the short knife also landed in the store.
He was hungry for a long time. He was so hungry that he picked up the glutinous water brought out by the chef at the entrance of the restaurant to eat, but the restaurant would rather feed the glutinous water to pigs than to beggars, and often sent people out with brooms to drive him away.
A few days ago, he saw a child squatting in front of his house eating sugar cookies on the street. He was only five or six years old, watching the passers-by while eating sugar cookies. He stood behind the wall, staring hungrily at the candy cookie in his little palm, as if it were the last candy cookie in the world. There was a war between heaven and man in his heart, hunger urged him to snatch the sugar cake, and reason told him that it was shameful to rob a child.
When the last bite of the sugar cookie was left, he finally couldn't take it anymore, and swept past the child's eyes quickly, snatching the small cake covered with sugar. The child squatted on the spot ignorantly, still holding the sugar cake in his hand. When he realized that Xie Jinglan had already disappeared, Fang burst into tears and stumbled home and cried.
Xie Jinglan squatted in an alley not far away and swallowed the sugar cake with tears. Since then, he has wandered the streets and alleys, aiming for food in the hands of frail children, like a wild dog looking for bones. Although sometimes it is inevitable to be caught by an adult and be beaten, but it is barely able to fill the stomach.
Afterwards, he didn't know how long he walked, let alone where he went. The fields in the countryside were dry and cracked, like the dry skin of an old man. Surrounded by hungry refugees, some dragged their families with their mouths, and some staggered. Walk alone. You can't even grab food because everyone is destitute.
He sometimes sees thin children with only terrifyingly large stomachs. It is because of eating Guanyin soil, their stomachs are swollen, and they lie on the ground with their pale lips open and wait to die. Later, there were no children or old people on the road. Xie Jinglan was very afraid of being caught and eaten.
Water and food occupied his entire brain, he had no time to hate Weide and miss the past, no time to care whether Aesculus garan would find himself sleeping in a corner one night, he just wanted to fill his stomach , and nothing else.
It's just that he was still wearing the black clothes that Xia Houlin gave him, and he didn't dare to take the mask out in his arms because he was afraid that others would see it and take it away.
Later, he remembered that Xia Houlin had said that he could see him again by placing the copper plate at the highest place in the city, so Xie Jinglan climbed up the bell tower, the hot sun shone so hard that he could not open his eyes, and every step he took seemed to be stepping on cotton He climbed up with both hands and feet and put the mask next to the big clock. The pigeon in front of the big bell was startled, flapping its wings and flying away.
Perhaps by the time Xiahou Lin came, he had already starved to death. Xie Jinglan leaned against the wall and thought in a daze.
With sweet water flowing into his throat along the crevice of his mouth, he woke up suddenly, took the water bottle and poured it into his mouth. A bun was brought to the front, and Xie Jinglan grabbed the bun and devoured it.
"Slow down, slow down, don't choke." The man smiled and stroked his back.
Xie Jinglan raised his head, the man in front of him looked like a scholar, his eyes seemed to be born with a smile, as warm as water.
He swallowed the bun in his mouth and said hoarsely, "I know you."
"Oh?"
"That night in Xie's house, you let me go." Recalling the Shura killing field that night, Xie Jinglan's eyes were a little red.
"I was discovered by you," Akiba smiled lightly. "Although your body is very similar to Xiaolin's, the way you walk and the way you look at people are completely different. I often pretend to be someone else, and this little trick of the two of you is completely different. Concealing those assassins and barely able to pass the border, it is still a little bit tricky to deceive me."
"Although you let me go, you are also the murderer of the family, and I will not thank you."
"I didn't expect your thanks."
"Where's Xia Houlin, why didn't he come?"
Qiuye's eyes dimmed, and he didn't answer, "You shouldn't put your mask here, if the people from Jialan found out, you would die. Fortunately, it was me who came, otherwise Xiaolin's hard work would be in vain. already."
"What's the difference between starving to death and being killed by you?"
Qiuye put a piece of silver in his palm and said, "Take care of your own life, Xiao Rong traded his life for yours, you shouldn't let him down."
Xie Jinglan was suddenly startled: "Xiahou, he... What's wrong? Didn't he say he wouldn't die?"
Qiuye's expression became a little sad, he looked at the south and said: "He violated the rules of the Jialan Temple, helped you escape from the assassination, and was punished by the abbot with eighty-one lashes. When I came out, he was still lying in a coma on the bed. , I don't know what's going on now. No news is the best news, Xiaolin has always been firm, and nothing will happen."
"Where's Garuda? Isn't he Garuda's son? Why didn't Garuda save him!?"
"The rules of the temple are strict, even Garuda can't disobey." Qiuye looked at Xie Jinglan, his eyes were much deeper, "Xiao Rin treats you very differently, even Garuda told you that he is his mother. "
Xie Jinglan turned her head away and said, "He didn't tell me, I guessed it myself."
Akiba sighed and said: "Today is our last time to meet, don't look for Xiaolin again, you are the prey registered by Jialan, and assassins will look for you everywhere like a hound. Go to the capital, there are many noble people there. , You can't starve the capital when you are hungry, and you are not allowed to meet the nobles in the palace to open porridge and porridge."
Xie Jinglan was a little stunned.
Could he never see Xia Houlin again
"Little young master, the future will be indefinite, I wish you good luck." Qiuye stepped up to the city wall, smiled at Xie Jinglan, and slowly fell down, his ink hair flying like silk in the wind.
When Xie Jinglan stuck his head out and looked around, the autumn leaves had disappeared into the wind like a fallen leaf and disappeared.
After that, Xie Jinglan listened to Qiuye's words and followed the trend of refugees to the capital. All of them were indifferent, their faces were dusty, their eyes and lips lost their color, like clay dolls, like walking corpses. . The shoes were frayed, revealing dirty toes, but fortunately it was hot, and it wasn't cold when the toes were exposed.
Three days after being shut out of the city gate, Xie Jinglan sneaked into the capital when a group of refugees were making trouble. The corner of the city was already full of people sleeping, their clothes were ragged, and their limbs were thin to bones. Some soldiers sifted through the crowds, picked out the dead, put them on carriages, and transported them to the mass graves.
Xie Jinglan didn't take a second look, and walked in the direction of the palace blankly. It was getting dark, and the lanterns along the street were hung one by one, illuminating the street as bright as day. BMW sculpted cars filled the streets and alleys, fireworks bloomed in bunches in the air, and the deafening sound came from the sky and gradually became smaller, like the sound of another world.
It was the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Xie Jinglan didn't have the slightest ups and downs in his heart, he just squeezed into the crowd silently, and indifferently took a person's purse. The crowd suddenly separated, as if being driven out by something, and everyone stood on both sides. A four-carriage approached from the corner, its wheels running two parallel ruts. Behind the carriage were two rows of Dongchang Fanzi riding tall horses, dressed in black with black knives, and embroidered on their chests, showing their teeth and dancing claws.
Someone in the crowd whispered: "What a great prestige, Eunuch Wei is getting more and more like the sun! A eunuch can be so popular in this area, I really don't know what is the use of studying seriously these days."
"You don't want your life! Be careful of being overheard by Fanzi, and be careful about your life."
"Hey, I heard that there was a father-in-law from the palace outside the Dong'an Gate at noon who came out to recruit people into the palace as errands. You said let's try it out, and I'm not sure if we can become the director of the East Factory in the future."
"It's a matter of cutting off your sons and grandsons. You can go by yourself, and I won't join in the fun."
Suddenly, a ragged beggar rushed out of the crowd, waving a string of firecrackers in his hand, ran towards Weide's carriage, and roared loudly: "Wei Yi, the six prefectures in Shandong are dying of hunger, but you are enjoying peace here!" The firecrackers crackled and burst into splendid sparks. The man threw the firecrackers at Weide's carriage and horses. Just as the horse was about to startled, a fan caught the firecrackers in the air and threw them in the distance.
Immediately, another fan dismounted and captured the beggar. The beggar struggled hard and shouted: "Wei Yi has brought disaster to the country and the people, and the six houses in Shandong are almost dead. Oh my god, open your eyes!" He snapped his chin and twisted his hands and feet, and the beggar slumped on Fanzi's hands like rags and sacks, staring at only a pair of red eyes.
A hand wearing Canaan beads stretched out from the curtain of the carriage, and made a gesture.
When Fanzi saw the gesture, he slashed the knife horizontally, and the beggar's throat was filled with blood.
The beggar was moved away by the fanzi, the carriage slowly left, the crowd regrouped, the voices roared again, the vendors and pawns repeatedly sold their stuff, and the rattle rumbled non-stop.
In this world, being killed is like a grain of sand being swept away by a wave, leaving no trace and no one cares.
Weide, so the man in the carriage was Weide? Xie Jinglan looked at the carriage that disappeared at the corner, and clenched his fists slowly.
If one day Xie Jinglan holds great power in his hands, will he be able to take life and death like this, and waste his life! Is it also possible to take the lives of a hundred people and destroy the door of a family with the anger of one person? If Weide is below one person and above ten thousand people, then he will be below no one and above ten million people! From then on, all those who bullied him, hurt him, and took him down would lose their souls.
He raised his head, his eyes were like an unfathomable, dark abyss, and a demon slowly opened his eyes in his heart.
As the moon sets and the sun rises, the shops open their doors one after another, and the owner of the noodle stall mixes the flour into dough. Xie Jinglan made a mark under an old locust tree in a hutong and buried Xia Houlin's mask under the tree. After doing everything, he stood up, adjusted his clothes in front of Ri Ying, and turned out of the alley. There was already a long queue outside Dong'anmen.
Someone castrated himself, there was still a pool of blood on the front of his clothes, and his footsteps were vain and walked forward with the team. Some people were too old and were kicked out of the team, rolling on the ground, crying and shouting that they wanted to enter the palace as eunuchs. Xie Jinglan was finally in line, and the eunuch who wrote the pen looked up at him and said casually, "How old are you?"
"Twelve years old."
"Where are you from, what's your name?"
"Jinling people." Xie Jinglan was silent for a while, saw the jade jade pendant on the eunuch's waist, and said, "Shen Jue, the jade jade pendant."
The eunuch took the pen and wrote the word "Shen Jue" on the wooden sign and handed it to Xie Jinglan. Xie Jinglan held the sign, followed behind the other beggars who were selected, and walked towards the majestic palace gate. The vermilion palace gate opened solemnly, revealing the seemingly endless imperial road and the thousand-fold palace gate. Under the palace gate, they were like a line of slowly marching ants, small and fragile.
The Zhumen closed awkwardly behind him, Xie Jinglan looked back, the last beam of sunlight before closing hit his face, showing his face without sorrow and joy.