Qi Yan soon found out too.
He stared at the Viper, calmly, and slowly stood up from the ground.
He moved very lightly, trying not to make any noise.
The Viper spit out the snake letter in a gloomy manner, and watched Qi Yan's every move with black eyes.
Xia Xun knew this kind of snake. People in Douzhou called it Huafanshank.
It is highly poisonous, and if bitten by it, it will die quickly.
Qi Yan took a few steps back, separated some distance from the Viper, picked up the saber from the table, and slowly pulled out the blade.
The blade was less than an inch out of its sheath when Xia Xun held down his hand.
Xia Xun whispered:
"No, this snake has a ferocious temperament. If it is attacked, it will spray venom from its tongue. This sap is extremely poisonous. Even if it touches even a little bit, it will die of heart failure."
Qi Yan lowered her voice:
"I know that this snake is called Huafanshan. It is a unique poisonous snake in Lingnan. Although it is very poisonous, it doesn't like to attack people actively. I just want to pick it up and throw it out of the window."
Xia Xun was a little surprised.
The flower fan handle only appears in the south of the Five Ridges, and Qi Yan stays in the capital all the year round, how could he understand it so clearly
He didn't ask further, shook his head and said:
"Let it go, even if it can't bite us, it may hurt others. I don't know how it appeared in Binzhou, but I can't let it leave alive."
He reached out to snatch Qi Yan's saber.
Qi Yan held on tight: "What are you going to do?!"
Xia Xun said calmly, "Of course I killed it."
Qi Yan frowned and said:
"Are you crazy? Do you want to die?! Ordinary people encounter poisonous snakes, and it's too late to hide! You actually want to meet them—?!"
The two people's voices startled the handle of the flower fan. It observed for a while, and thought that Xia Xun's figure was thinner and more suitable for attacking prey.
It aimed at Xia Xun's direction and suddenly jumped forward.
"Be careful!"
Qi Yan shouted loudly and stood in front of him.
Taking advantage of his unpreparedness, Xia Xun snatched his saber, pulled out the blade, walked around him, and headed towards the poisonous snake.
He poked the flower fan handle with the scabbard.
Sure enough, it was fooled, wrapped it around and gave a sharp bite to the scabbard, the two rows of fangs were on the wooden scabbard, leaving deep tooth holes.
Xia Xun took the opportunity to send her hand forward.
The handle of the flower fan raised the snake's head high, opened its mouth wide, aimed at his hand, and was about to bite it off.
"Xia Xun!!"
Qi Yan rushed over suddenly, trying to stop Xia Xun's bite with his arm.
Xia Xun remained calm, holding the sword in the other hand, and raised it into the air.
Qi Yan's saber was forged by a famous master, the blade was extremely sharp, Xia Xun could even hear the sound of clanging metal and stone when swinging the sword.
The sharp sword easily sliced through the scaled snake skin on the handle of the flower fan, and cut off its hard snake bone.
Xia Xun raised the sword in his hand and dropped it, the viper's head and body were separated, and the triangular snake's head fell to the ground with a "click".
Huafanshan's eyes were wide open and his mouth was wide open, didn't he realize that it was dead.
Snake blood splashed out, sprinkled Xia Xun all over, and more blood flowed onto the floor.
The snake's head fell not far away, and the snake's body was still bending and circling. Together with the snake's blood dripping on the ground, they formed a tragic and terrifying scene.
Qi Yan froze in place.
Xia Xun thought that Qi Yan would not be frightened. When he cut off Xia Hongxi's head, the blood that flowed from his neck was far more than it is now.
Xia Xun pushed the snake's head away with the sword, and returned it to him together with the scabbard:
"Dirty your sword, ask Qi Hui to wash it for you."
Qi Yan looked undecided, and took it bluntly.
Xia Xun turned and went out, called Xiao Er, told the cause and effect, and asked him to clean up the mess.
When Xiaoer saw the blood all over the floor, he was startled and dared not clean it up. He ran to the kitchen and called the chef who could butcher pigs.
It is common for the chef to take a few old rags and suck up the blood in two or three strokes.
Xiao Er then found a mop, soaked it in water, and took it off several times.
The strong smell of blood in the room has been lingering for a long time.
During this period, Qi Yan sat aside, wiping his sword silently, neither raised his head nor spoke to Xia Xun.
After Xiao Er left, Xia Xun took off her blood-stained coat, sat on the side of the bed, and wanted to lie down again.
Qi Yan put down his sword and came to him.
Xia Xun asked him, "What's the matter?"
Sitting beside him, Qi Yan took out a handkerchief from his arms:
"You still have snake blood behind your ear, let me wipe it off for you."
Xia Xun refused: "No need, I can do it myself."
He raised his hand, intending to wipe it off with his sleeve.
Qi Yan surrounded him from behind and pressed his hand:
"...don't move, let me do it."
He put a handkerchief on the skin under Xia Xun's ears, and gently stroked it back and forth.
Xia Xun soon became impatient:
"It's alright! Just a few drops of snake blood, it doesn't take so long!"
Qi Yan's subordinates kept moving, he said to Xia Xun:
"... I remember, you used to be very afraid of snakes."
Qi Yan was right.
At that time, the lake in Qi Mansion was still dry, and the bottom of the lake was covered with weeds.
In autumn, when the weather is getting colder, a grass snake hides in it to keep warm.
Xia Xun took Yuzhu down to the bottom of the lake to play. Yuzhu had a sensitive nose and was the first to smell the snake. She barked excitedly and asked Xia Xun to watch.
The grass snake is non-venomous, emerald green, coiled in the grass like a jade necklace.
Not to mention Yuzhu, even Shaobo is not afraid of it.
But Xia Xun was so frightened that Tianling Gai was about to fly away in fright, and even crawled to Qi Yan's side, telling him to get the snake away quickly.
Qi Yan said to him: "It's not easy for a small snake to survive the winter, and it's not poisonous, so it won't hurt people. Why don't you just let it stay here? When the weather gets warmer next spring, it will leave on its own."
Xia Xun thought it was really pitiful, so she reluctantly agreed.
For the next few months, he didn't dare to take the jade beads down to the bottom of the lake, so Shaobo could only take it there.
Every time she sees Shaobo having so much fun with Yuzhu, Xia Xun is always worried and terrified.
He didn't want to be so cowardly in front of Qi Yan, he hoped that he had no shortcomings in his eyes.
But Xia Xun was really afraid of snakes.
So he always secretly looked at Qi Yan's face, guessing what he thought of him.
Qi Yan never laughed at Xia Xun, but instead apologized to him, saying that Xia Xun was so nervous because he pitied the little snake.
In order to comfort Xia Xun, he always asked Qi Hui to buy pagoda leaves parfait for him to eat.
This kind of pastry is expensive, Xia Xun ate it a few times, and told him not to buy it again.
Qi Yan's family background is so poor, and he lives in such a dilapidated courtyard, how dare Xia Xun let him spend money.
In order to prevent Qi Yan from seeing that he was sympathizing with him, Xia Xun began to bring her own snacks.
He can't get much monthly money, can't afford delicacies, and can afford daily snacks.
later…
Looking at the moonlight in Binzhou City, Xia Xun calmly said:
"The snake bones and snake gallbladder of the flower fan handle can be used as medicine. They are extremely precious medicinal materials. I used to go to the mountains with others to catch them in order to make money. How can I be afraid in front of money?"
Qi Yan paused and asked:
"... did you catch it?"
Xia Xun snorted:
"No, the person who went with me was bitten to death by a snake. In order to carry his body out, I lost my way in the forest and almost died in it."
What was Qi Yan doing at that time? Perhaps he had been forgotten.
Qi Yan's breathing stopped, and the movements of his hands stopped immediately.
He swallowed with difficulty, only to feel that his throat was sore, and his chest was as hard as if it had been stuffed into an iron plate.
Xia Xun didn't notice his strangeness, and asked him instead:
"What about you? It's extremely rare to see this kind of poisonous snake outside of Lingnan. How do you know it? You still know its habits so well?"
Qi Yan took a deep breath and continued to wipe the snake blood for Xia Xun.
"I… "
He seemed to be choked up, cleared his throat, and just said:
"A few years before your death, I couldn't see anything related to Lingnan at all. You should know that the fiefdom of Lord Chen County is in Lingnan. I even felt disgusted when I saw him in the court. I Maybe that's why I had a bad relationship with him. I hate that place, and everything related to it, and hate it to the bone."
He gritted his teeth and spoke every word with difficulty.
"I always feel that the land swallowed you up, took you away from me, and made me never see you again no matter how much I wanted..."
He couldn't go on.
After a while, his mood calmed down a little, he sighed lowly, and said wistfully:
"Later, I changed my mind. I thought, Lingnan is your burial place after all. Your soul may still stay there. How can I do it if I don't know anything about it
"So I searched again, and I found all the texts that mentioned Lingnan, whether it was topography or travel notes, as long as there was a few words about Lingnan, I found them all, and I read them countless times, and I knew them by heart.
"Although I have never set foot on that land before, I know more about the customs, products and landforms there than anyone else, just like the handle of a flower fan. I have never seen it with my own eyes, but I can recognize it at a glance."
His voice dropped so low that Xia Xun could no longer hear what he was saying.
Xia Xun was silent for a while, then suddenly said:
"...Why did you go to Douzhou then?"
It's been seven years, and Qi Yan has never been here, why did he suddenly appear in front of Xia Xun's grave
Qi Yan didn't speak, he pressed Xia Xun's wrist and moved his hand, his thumb slowly moved up, into Xia Xun's clenched palm, his warm fingertips gently stroked Xia Xun's palm.
He asked him:
"How did these come about?"
Xia Xun's palm was covered with criss-crossing scars and calluses.
He and his eldest brother used to weave straw baskets for a living. The banana leaves they used were quite sharp, and no matter how careful they were, injuries would inevitably occur.
His hands had been scratched countless times, and those wounds that penetrated into the skin healed and were damaged again.
Healed again and again, broken again and again, and finally turned into an indelible scar, left in Xia Xun's palm forever.
He avoided Qi Yan's hand, trying to break free from his embrace:
"How did it come about? It came out of hard work, do you even need to ask?"
Qi Yan didn't push away, her hand was still on Xia Xun's waist.
He gradually exerted force, turning the hug into a tight hug.
"Xia Xun..."
He murmured his name, and put his lips against Xia Xun's ear.
Xia Xun didn't know if it was a kiss or not, he stood up abruptly:
"Enough! You don't want to say it, but I don't want to know either! That's it!"
Against Qi Yan's gaze projected from behind him, he lay down on the floor between the quilts.
"Leave the bed to Master Zhongshu! I'm used to sleeping in the open air, but I'm not used to sleeping on high beds and soft pillows!"
He covered his head with a quilt and curled up in the artificial darkness.
That's how he feels safe.
While breathing, he could faintly smell the remaining snake blood smell, and he fell into a deep sleep in this faint blood smell.