After talking for a long time, Xia Houlin did not agree, and Shen Jue gave up the persuasion. Although the two of them have completely different temperaments, they are the same stubbornness. He couldn't beat Xia Houlin, so he had to talk about it later.
The goose feathers and snow fluttered one after another, falling on the eaves of the window and making a rustling sound. It was too cold on a winter night, and the market was gradually dispersing, leaving only scattered vendors packing their things, and a few porters carrying their burdens home, leaving mottled footprints in the snow. Three jugs were empty, Shen Jue was a little drunk, and his mind was not sober. He sat at the table of the Eight Immortals for a while, propping his forehead, before he remembered that it was time to go home.
"It's so late, I can sleep at my house." Xia Houlin said suddenly.
God knows how much effort Xia Houlin had to utter these words casually. He hid his unreasonable thoughts, and felt guilty in his heart, but he felt that he just slept all night, just like before, it was not beyond the norm.
Shen Jue was stunned for a while before she realized it, and smiled, "Okay."
Under the dim candlelight, the slightly drunken Shen Jue's face was covered with a thin layer of red, with a fair complexion, like a piece of transparent jade dyed with rouge, unprovoked beauty. Xia Houlin looked away with difficulty, and suddenly felt like a beast, taking the drunk and good family Erlang home to warm the quilt.
Shen Jue could not walk steadily, Xia Houlin put on a cloak for him and carried him home.
Xiahou Lin's house is in a hutong, and he has to walk through the wide avenue, turn another corner, and go around to the back of Fuxiang Temple. The snow drifted silently, the iron horse on the eaves of Fuxiang Temple was blown, and there were faint bells, Lingling Dingding, a long string of tiny pieces. The factory guards followed far behind, Xia Houlin carried Shen Jue on his back, and walked in the snow with one foot deep and one foot shallow. Shen Jue's head rested on Xia Houlin's shoulder, the world was very quiet in his ears, and it was a little lonely.
"A-Lian, do you think it's very similar to when you were in Xie's residence?" Shen Jue murmured.
Xia Houlin looked up at Xue, "It's very similar. That time you were punished by Mrs. Xiao for kneeling, and I went back with you behind my back."
"At that time, I felt terribly bitter. I tried my best to get out. My head was hanging from the beam, and I would stole it. If I didn't have a book, I would steal it. I couldn't sleep a night with a book, so I wanted to eat it all at once." Shen Jue smiled. Laughing, "I didn't expect that now, the days I miss the most are actually when I was in the Xie Mansion. Auntie is here, Lianxiang is here, you are here, everyone is here, how wonderful."
Xia Houtong thought of Shen's house and Shen Jue's yard. The two jars of dry lotus below the well supported a small empty yard, very much like the Qiuwu Courtyard. There is also a pond in the garden. In winter, I am afraid it is very similar to Wangqing Pavilion. Shen Jue missed the old days, in fact, he too, he also missed the days long ago, there was no blood, no swords, only the troublemakers who were digging for bird nests in the mountains and fields of Jialan Mountain. The so-called nostalgia, in the final analysis, is to find the past time that will never be returned.
But it's actually fine now. Xia Houlin walked slowly, Shen Jue leaned on his shoulder, the soft strands of hair scratched his cheeks and neck, itching slightly. The snowy road has been spreading out, leading to the invisible night, as if there is no end. He just kept walking with Shen Jue on his back, never stopping.
It would be great if this moment never ended.
"A-Long." Shen Jue hugged XiahouLin hard.
"Um?"
"Actually, I lied." Shen Jue's voice was low, "I don't want you to leave. Don't leave, Ah Lin, no matter what, don't leave."
Xia Houlin stopped and turned to look at Shen Jue who was close at hand. They looked at each other in the snow, time hurriedly passed, and they shuttled like arrows, but it seemed that they couldn't pass through their fixed gazes.
Xia Houlin said, "Okay, I'm not leaving."
Never leave.
———
Tang Shiqi huddled in the corner, trying to integrate himself with the wall behind him.
There was a lot of people in the Xingyi, but they all stood against the wall with a tacit understanding, leaving the space in the middle. The tables and chairs have been emptied, and they are stacked behind the curved ruler counter, making the station even more cramped. It was snowing outside, but it was warm inside.
Tang Shiqi was on the second floor. The second floor was actually just a narrow passage, with a railing on the left and a cabin for the guests on the right. In front of each house is a jujube wooden sign, which elegantly writes names copied from ancient books, such as "Viewing the Canghai", "Begonia Spring" and "Falling Snow". Of course, Galan couldn't be so elegant, because this Xingyi used to be a brothel, and the house was full of prostitutes.
Now the brothel belongs to Galan, and the prostitutes and the prostitutes are buried in the deep well in the backyard. Tang Shiqi watched them die with his own eyes. Fortunately, the Galan Assassin's methods were neat, and they died without pain. Tang Shiqi sighed and turned to look downstairs. Through the railing, you can see the scene of the first floor. In the middle of the clearing were three men with sluggish heads and wobbly heads, tied tightly with ropes.
There were three more men in Shenjing, Tang Shiqi mourned for them and recited Amitabha in his heart.
The door of the house where the "Goose Returns" was hung opened, and a group of men in black robes and white porcelain masks came out. The man in the middle was very tall and went straight to the railing, overlooking the underworld children on the first floor.
Tang Shiqi only recognized half of these people, but he knew that they were the new eighth members of the Galan. Kinaro was an old acquaintance of his, but he had long been afraid to speak to him. Garuda was not among them, and he did not know where he was sent. The one who can be Garuda has always been the strongest assassin of Garan, probably to kill some important person.
As soon as the black-robed man came out, all the underworld gangsters seemed to be dumbfounded, and Xingyi suddenly became silent. The dim candlelight shone on the black-robed men on the second floor, their shadows were eerie and tall, reaching to the roof. The sensible white porcelain mask looked blankly at the people below, making people feel frightened.
A man with a big sword came out boldly, looked up at the black-robed man in the middle, and said, "Mr. Duan, half a month ago, you Jialan issued a hunting order to hunt down Jialan's traitor Xia Houlin. , the fruit of bliss you promised us, it's time to give it!"
Duan Jiu's eyes swept around the three people below, and said indifferently: "Three Xiahou Lin? I only know that Xiahou Lin can disguise, but I don't know that he can clone."
"The nameless ghosts are so varied that it's really hard to tell them apart. These three are the most similar to the nameless ghosts we could find." , I like to use Dongying swords, and the swordsmanship is also very outstanding. The villain broke more than ten disciples before he was caught. The middle one can change the face and shrink the bones. The rightmost organ is very good, it is said to go He has studied art in Bashu. We searched for so long to find these three, and there is always one of him."
Duan Jiu chuckled twice, the laughter muffled under the mask.
"None of them is Xia Houlin." Duan Jiu said, "However, Ning killed 10,000 by mistake, not letting one go."
Duan Jiu raised his right hand and made a gesture. Jin Naluo stood up straight, and the scorpion turned over from the railing. He landed steadily on the ground and pulled out a long knife under the black robe. The three people changed color and begged for mercy loudly. One, the man shivered like a pheasant to be slaughtered in his hands.
As soon as he cut the long knife, Tang Shiqi heard a cold and sticky voice, as if silk and silk were torn apart. He could even imagine that the texture was cut by the blade, and the muscles were slowly separated under the blade. The blood was like a spring, and the corner of Jinnaruo's white porcelain mask was dyed red.
Duan Jiu's voice sounded:
"I originally wanted to make Xiahou Rin the abbot's successor, but who knew that this person had obtained the antidote for seven and a half months and betrayed Jialan. According to the rules of the Jialan Temple, those who resisted were drowned, those who fled were whipped, those who rebelled were killed, and those who rebelled were punished. Xiahou Rin defected and fled. It has been more than four years now, and it is regarded as Jialan's rebelliousness and killing without mercy! Whoever brought Xiahou Lian's head, the fruit of bliss to Jialan, is inexhaustible and inexhaustible! Today, although you have not obtained Xiahou Lian First class, but in order to thank you all for your dedication, Galan still offers the fruit of bliss, and I hope you will continue to be loyal to Galan in the future."
After Duan Jiu finished speaking, Gandharpo and Luo Jia took out a half-person-height sandalwood box from the room, which was filled with dense black pills, gleaming in the candlelight, and the people below quickly showed a greedy look.
Bliss fruit, garan is used to replace the addiction drug of July and a half. I heard that its ingredients are the same as those of July and a half, but the addiction is ten times greater. But the most fascinating thing about it is not its addiction, but the unimaginable happiness it can bring, which is countless times better than sleeping with a woman. It can make people see hallucinations, as if to enter the blissful world, which is the yearning of everyone's life.
Last month, Tang Shiqi saw an assassin who forgot to lock himself in at Yajiao Mountain Xingyi. After eating the fruit of bliss, he ran frantically out of the house and climbed the cliff, plunged into the clouds. No one knew what he saw, and Tang Shiqi didn't want to know. He touched his purse, which contained five bliss fruits, which were his share for the next year.
The bliss fruit poured down like a tide, and the people below quickly went crazy, scrambling to fight for it, and some people slammed it into their mouths after they grabbed it. The crowd was surging frantically below, and the heads were crowded together like densely packed fish eggs. The fruit of bliss rolled on the ground, someone lay down to pick it up, and was soon trampled to pieces. Those who couldn't squeeze through the back drew their knives and chopped down those in front, and those in the front, sensing the danger, also drew their knives to fight. The sound of slaughter in the small and small post was loud, and blood spurted out in the darkness, like a beautiful blooming peerless flower.
Jinnaruo had already climbed back along the beam and was wiping the blood from his body with a towel. All the assassins were expressionless, and the white porcelain masks remained motionless.
"Look, this is an ant, greedy and stupid." Duan Jiu didn't know who to speak to, he smiled softly, and led the person back out of the back door.
In the early morning light, the world outside was pure white, and the sky and the earth were the same color. The snowfield in Shuobei is flat and vast, and it seems that you can see the horizon at a glance. The snow went underground silently, and the chaos in the back post seemed to be a matter of another world and had nothing to do with this world.
In the distance, a carriage came slowly, its wheels rolling in the snow without sound, leaving deep ruts.
The assassins all knew who was sitting there, and Tang Qiqi also knew that he had seen the shadow of that person once in Jiubian from a distance, but he only remembered a piece of white, like an ice sculpture, with a bright moon, unattainable. That person's family has been passed down for a long time, and he has been all-powerful, and the world is looking forward to it. Hiding in the rivers and lakes for a hundred years, reorganizing Jialan, the fruit of bliss was born, and after the assassin finally became a complete puppet, no matter how difficult it was to rebel, he finally stepped out of the shadows.
Last month, the dark pile of Jialan set off from Shuobei, and the Daqi underground city has been restarted. Jialan's post offices, brothels, banks, gambling houses, and black markets are all over Daqi, as far as the Western Regions. A steady stream of gold pours into Shuobei from all parts of Daqi day and night. If all of them can shine, a dense network of light will be woven on the map of Daqi.
Tang Shiqi didn't know the name of that person, only that he was the real master of Jialan, the master behind Daqi, and the emperor in the dark. Some people call him - the emperor of Yama.
Jialan has rules, when encountering Yama, you can't look at it up close, you can't pay attention, you can only bow down.
The assassins fell to their knees, looking like Qi Qi had his knees chopped off, bowing their heads deeply in the snow. Tang Shiqi couldn't contain his curiosity, he raised his head slightly in a low voice, and glanced at the carriage. A hand pressed his head heavily into the snow, and the snow slag smeared his face. He heard Kinnaro whispering, "Are you going to die!"
He dared not move. Duan Jiu's deep voice came from the front, like a humble prayer and a solemn chant.
"I would like to spread out prostrate, abandon the liver and brain, sink into the ashes of the calamity, and welcome your arrival, my Bodhisattva, my Buddha."