In the middle of the night, Xia Xun woke up from her dream.
He opened his eyes and was stunned for a long time before he remembered where he was.
The fire had long been extinguished, and the cave was pitch black.
He calmed down, he didn't sleep well, but he didn't feel cold.
The moonlight shines through the clouds and shines into the cave.
With the faint light, he saw Qi Yan's face, which was only a few inches away from him.
He was so startled that he sat up immediately, it turned out that he had been lying on Qi Yan's arm just now.
Xia Xun didn't feel cold because of his body temperature.
Qi Yan seemed to be touched. Although he was still awake, he stretched out his arms as if instinctively, and hugged Xia Xun's waist tightly.
"Xia Xun, don't go..."
Xia Xun stiffened her body and let him hold her until he fell asleep again, and the hands around his waist gradually loosened.
He moved Qi Yan's arm away, put it aside, and looked at his face involuntarily.
Qi Yan is very thin, much thinner than when Xia Xun first met him.
Even in his dream, there was a thick layer of gloom between his brows, as if he couldn't sleep peacefully.
There was a deep furrow between his brows, and even if he didn't frown, there were still shallow thin marks between his brows.
Xia Xun didn't understand.
He got revenge for his vengeance, and he was promoted to a noble. He should be proud of the spring breeze and be beaming with joy.
Why are you so sad
He Cong already has two children, and even his eldest brother is married, but Qi Yan is still alone.
He moved, as if he was about to raise his hand to hug Xia Xun again.
Xia Xun got up and fell asleep further away from him.
He turned his back to Qi Yan, shook his head, and stopped thinking about anything about him.
With her arms under her pillow, Xia Xun fell into a deep sleep again.
It was the chirping of birds that woke him up.
In the nearby woods, there was a strange-sounding bird that chirped before dawn.
There are many of them, and their calls come from all directions.
Xia Xun sat up, blinked her eyes, and her mind gradually became clear.
He was the only one left in the cave, and there was a faint voice coming from outside the cave, he lifted the coat that Qi Yan had covered him, got up and walked out.
Qi Manor's carriage had already parked outside the cave, and Qi Hui was talking to Qi Yan.
His expression was very serious, and Qi Yan became more and more serious the more he listened.
Xia Xun took a step in the direction where they were, and accidentally stepped on something that hurt her feet.
He picked it up and saw that it was a string of red tassels on a jade pendant.
The rope is bright and unfading, and it must have fallen here not so long ago.
Qi Yan would not use this color of rope, it would not be his.
From this point of view, other than the two of them, someone else passed by here last night.
Xia Xun was feeling strange, when she looked up, she suddenly saw the jade pendant on Qi Hui's waist.
—The piece of jade is still there, but the tassel under the jade is gone.
He paused, slowly reacting.
He walked towards them with the tassels.
Seeing Xia Xun, Qi Hui immediately shut up and bowed his head to salute him.
Qi Yan turned around, saw him, opened his mouth, and wanted to say something.
Xia Xun ignored it, held up the tassel and asked:
"Qi Hui, is this something you dropped?"
Qi Hui looked at it, then at the belt.
"It seems... it is indeed my subordinate! How could it be in the hands of the young master?"
Xia Xun said, "I picked it up."
Qi returned his thanks and wanted to take it.
Xia Xun refused.
"Qi Hui, when did you find this place?"
Qi Hui replied eloquently:
"Earlier today, I led people to search this place. I saw footprints on the ground. Following the footprints, I found the adult and you in the cave."
Xia Xun asked again:
"When did it stop raining last night?"
Qi Hui told him that he played it intermittently for a while, and stopped before it was dark.
Xia Xun put the tassel in his hand:
"So... you found us last night, didn't you?"
Qi Hui feigned surprise:
"Young master, why did you say that? This subordinate just came this morning."
Xia Xun looked at the ground and said leisurely:
"Last night there was a short drizzle, and the soil on the Assassin's ground was almost completely dry, but your tassels were still wet, even stained with mud. If you arrived this morning, how could the tassels be wet? Will there be wet soil?"
Qi Hui was taken aback for a moment, speechless for a moment.
Qi Yan finally spoke:
"When did your eyesight get so good?"
Xia Xun ignored him and persistently asked Qi Hui:
"You found this cave last night, why did you come to pick him up this morning?"
Qi Hui glanced at Qi Yan, made up his mind, and said:
"My lord doesn't know something. In fact, yesterday—"
Qi Yan interrupted him:
"It's my order. I want to stay alone with you for a while and let them come back at dawn. Don't blame him, blame me if you want to."
After he spoke, Qi Hui stopped talking.
Xia Xun snorted coldly, mockingly said:
"I don't understand the tricks of your master and servant. I just didn't expect that Mr. Zhongshu still has such a good taste? He likes to eat in the wind and sleep in the open? If there is such an opportunity next time, don't take me with you!"
He bypassed the two of them and went straight into the carriage.
Qi Yan explained a few words to Qi Hui, and soon sat in.
On the way back to the city, Qi Yan was uncharacteristically, not saying a word to Xia Xun, nor explaining a word to him.
He looked out the window the whole time, thoughtful all the way.
When the carriage arrived at Qi Mansion, Xia Xun jumped out of the carriage, but Qi Yan did not move.
"I still have something to do, you go back first and have a good rest."
He told Zhi Gui to take good care of him, sat in the car, and took Qi Hui to leave together.
Xia Xun didn't sleep well last night. When she returned to her room, she felt sore all over and her back was cold.
Zhigui immediately asked someone to bring a bowl of ginger soup, and Xia Xun took a few sips when Yuzhu rushed over and grabbed him on his knee, asking him to hug it.
Xia Xun picked it up and put it on her lap, and it curled up and lay down.
Its breathing still had a heavy noise, Xia Xun touched its back, and it turned over, exposing its belly.
In the afternoon, it slept soundly, snoring so loudly that it couldn't wake up even after pushing.
At night, it becomes energetic and runs around the room, changing places constantly.
The footsteps that had been decided to lie in front of Xia Xun's bed, lay on the bed for a while, stood up again, smelled all the way to the door, and finally climbed behind the door, was satisfied.
It wasn't going to sleep either, with its head resting on its paws and its eyes wide open in a daze.
At 3:00 PM, when Zhi Gui entered the room to blow out the candles, Qi Yan hadn't come back yet, and Yu Zhu wasn't even half sleepy.
Xia Xun was lying on the bed, watching Zhigui put down the bed curtain, her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, she fell asleep unconsciously.
Half asleep and half awake, he vaguely heard movement in the house.
He thought it was Yuzhu who wanted to go out and was pawing at the door with his paws, so he didn't pay much attention to it.
After a while, there was another sound of soft footsteps approaching, and it was still Qi Yan who came.
He didn't want to meet him face to face, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The sound of footsteps stopped in front of the bed, followed by the sound of clothes rubbing against each other, and the sound of bed gauze being lifted.
Xia Xun closed her eyelids, but could still feel a faint light in front of her eyes, as if Qi Yan was shining something on his face.
He opened his eyes suddenly.
He didn't see Qi Yan, but met a pair of light brown pupils.
The owner of the pupils was covering his face, holding a small luminous pearl in front of his face, identifying his facial features in the dark.
The man was dressed in black, with strands of curly brown hair sticking out from the edge of the mask.
Not Qi Yan! Is it a barbarian? !
Xia Xun woke up suddenly, sat up suddenly, and asked sharply:
"who?!"
The man didn't panic at all, and bent his eyes at Xia Xun.
Xia Xun was startled, he actually smiled at him under the mask.
He yelled, "Come on!"
Hu Ren raised his index finger and put it next to Xia Xun's mouth:
"Shh... don't shout, did I make a mistake? Didn't you leave this thing behind?"
He took out a piece of cloth from his waist and put it in Xia Xun's palm.
Xia Xun paused.
This piece of cloth was torn from his belt.
After waking up in the cave this morning, after thinking about it, he felt that Qi Yan was behaving strangely.
From his insistence on taking him out of the car for a walk, to his insistence on staying overnight in the cave, every decision is not in line with his usual style.
At first, Xia Xun thought it was because she hadn't seen Qi Yan for many years, so she didn't know him anymore. Maybe after seven years, he was no longer the Qi Yan he knew.
Maybe he just liked hiking in the country, maybe he just had a whim and wanted to sleep in a hole.
Xia Xun said to herself that he was thinking too much.
It wasn't until he picked up Qi Hui's tassels that he realized that Qi Yan's actions must have other meanings.
When he recalled Qi Yan's every move, it was strange inside and out.
Xia Xun thought carefully, all this started when Qi Yan glanced out of the car window.
Xia Xun guessed that he might have seen someone.
He may not know the purpose of the man, but he must think that the man knows his carriage, so he deliberately split up with Qi Huibing, let Qi Hui drive on, and he took Xia Xun to change the path in the forest and leave .
That person, could it be the one who hid the note in the pastry
When Xia Xun wanted to understand the key point, he was already standing in front of Qi Yan and Qi Hui. He didn't have time to continue thinking, so he pretended to be angry and asked Qi Hui when his rope tassel fell off.
Taking advantage of his master and servant's attention being distracted by his question, he covered it with his sleeves, secretly tore off a piece of cloth from his belt, and threw it far behind him.
His belt is dark green with dark patterns of back characters on it.
Different from ordinary Hui characters, the Hui characters on this tape, the half of the upper right corner, are all embroidered in the opposite direction.
Xia Xun was betting blindly.
He bet that his guess was correct, and he also bet that the person who followed Qi Yan was nearby.
If that person was there, he would have noticed Xia Xun's movements.
After Qi Yan left, if that person searched nearby and found the mark left by Xia Xun, he would know that Xia Xun was trying to contact him.
That night, in the main room of the Qi Mansion, Xia Xun looked at the barbarians who barged in, raised her eyebrows and said:
"On the way to Wuyuan, Qi Yan saw you? Are you following him?"
The Hu man did not answer his question, but said:
"You are very smart, who are you from Qi Yan?"
His official speech is very standard, if you don't listen carefully, you can't hear the accent.
"It's my turn to ask you this question." Xia Xun looked at him vigilantly, "Why did you follow Qi Yan and enter Qi Mansion at night?"
The Hu man thought for a while, then suddenly changed his original appearance, put on a particularly sincere tone, and said sincerely:
"For what? Of course it's for you! Although I don't know who you are from Qi Yan, I don't think you and him are of the same mind, otherwise you wouldn't try to leave a mark to contact me. How about it? I'll take you away ?”
Xia Xun was unmoved:
"If you don't tell the truth, I will call someone."
The barbarians waved their hands again and again:
"Don't! There's nothing to say, I'll give you something."
He took out a small medicine bottle from his waist and threw it to Xia Xun.
Xia Xun caught it.
"what is this?"
The Hu man said proudly:
"It's my special fragrance. Just a little bit of it can stun a whole room! Give it to Qi Yan, and keep him so drunk that even the hailstones won't wake him up! When the time comes, you can slip away whenever you want. Kill him, stab him to death with one knife! How about it? Am I sincere enough?"
Xia Xun pretended to think.
"—It's not impossible, it's just..."
He moved his mouth, but made no sound.
The Hu man approached a few steps and asked:
"What did you say? Louder."
Xia Xun said: "I mean—"
Before he finished speaking, Xia Xun grabbed the Ye Mingzhu in his hand and threw it out of the window when the barbarians got close enough.
The luminous pearl fell on the outer corridor, making a crisp sound of shattering.
Xia Xun shouted outside the house:
"Come here! There are assassins!!!"
His voice startled Yuzhu, it stood up and looked around vigilantly.
The barbarian suddenly pulled out a dagger from his boots, and the sharp edge of the sword caught it's eyes.
Yuzhu woke up instantly, let out a low growl from the depths of her body, bared her teeth, and rushed towards him roaring.
Not to be outdone, the barbarian raised his knife high and turned to meet its attack.
"Jade beads!"
Xia Xun was terrified and got up straight away. He moved too fast and didn't have time to pay attention to his feet. He tripped over the hanging bed curtain and fell heavily on the ground.
The fall was so solid that he was dizzy and his eyes turned black.
He didn't have time to slow down, he rolled and crawled, using both hands and feet, and rushed to Yuzhu's body in a drowsy manner, protecting it tightly behind his back.