64.
It has the aroma of sugar cake.
It smells like blood.
Erica awoke to two entangled scents. The mattress under her was harder than the one at home, but softer than thatch. The dirty clothes on her body were gone, and the new clothes didn't fit very well. The starched fabric rubbed against the neckline, causing a slight itchiness.
The neck was hurting, the arms were hurting too, every bone was screaming, the boy's chest was overwhelmed, and he finally coughed out a moan.
Moans were a sign of weakness, and he quickly shut up.
But the person not far away had obviously heard the movement, and a figure was walking towards him from far and near.
"Are you awake?" The bleeding had stopped, and the bandaged shoulder was inconvenient to move, and Hailian didn't bother to put on his shirt, "Do you recognize who I am now?"
The boy didn't answer Hai Lian's question, but said directly, "...Ding Leshui is sick and is about to starve to death."
Hailian was startled: "Erica?"
"Can you save him?" Erica asked.
Although aware of the strange state of the other party, but life is at stake, Hai Lian nodded, "I can. Where is he now?"
"In the shabby shed on the corner of Denning Street."
Denning Street, only two streets away from Anning Hall, had long since been the cemetery of the poorest of the poor. Hailian hummed, went to call Kunji outside the room, gave her a few instructions, then turned and returned to the room, only to find that Erica had already sat up.
"Lie down again," Hailian frowned, "Or do you want to meet Ding Leshui together?"
"Why did I see that little trash?" The boy sneered meanly, "You threw him to our house, and now I've given it back to you, and we're both settled." After finishing speaking, he grabbed the dagger beside the pillow and Gun, get up and go.
Hailian grabbed him with her uninjured hand: "Where are you going?"
Erica finally raised her head and looked directly at Helian. The boy's face, which had been wiped clean of filth, had soft features similar to his elder brother's, but the accidents in the past six months have long since faded his once charming appearance, and replaced him with the sharp corners of a young man's mouth and a pair of extremely indifferent eyes.
"What's none of your business?" Erica asked back.
Hailian frowned even tighter: "You are Flo's younger brother, of course I want to..."
"Where were you when my brother was beheaded?"
Hailian's breath was stagnant.
"Where were you when Ding Leshui and I were beaten by gangsters?"
"Where were you when I killed someone?"
Erica stared at Hailian for a moment, and gave him a sarcastic smile, "What right do you have to control me, Dongzhou guy?"
The wound on the shoulder was still hurting, but Erika's words were like firing another shot into the bloody hole. An awkward silence flowed in the small room, he couldn't let the boy go, but he couldn't answer the boy's question either. After a long time, Hai Lian said, "Sorry."
Erica thought of a hundred words that Hailian would refute or fight back, but she didn't expect the other party to apologize, and the corner of the boy's lips fell down suddenly.
"Sorry, I'm too arrogant." Hailian repeated, "I don't even know what happened to you and Ding Leshui in the past six months, so I just want to protect you for granted." He slowly let go Hand, "I will no longer be an adult, a friend of your brother, let's change the way."
"In what way?"
"Just... people I know? I think we have a common language," Hailian tilted his head, "After all, I was about the same age as you when I killed someone for the first time."
This topic was too jumpy, and Erika couldn't change it for a while, "What..."
"I still remember what it felt like." The memory he didn't want to relive was forcibly dug up from the depths, and Hailian knew that he had to go on now, otherwise he would just watch the boy in front of him fall into the dirt like him. In the mud, "The knife belongs to my landlord. There is still a little bit of minced pork that she cut up during the day. It is a bit heavy, and there is a gap on the pointed end."
Erica fell silent.
"The man I was going to kill was a drunk. He strangled my landlord, Mama Gran. Although Mama Gran was not a good person, she didn't deserve to die like this. The drunk was tall and strong, lying on Gran's My mother was like a bear, I wanted to kill him with a knife, but I woke him up because I was too scared."
"His cry was like a bear, and his fists were like a bear. He rushed towards me, and I was knocked to the ground by him." Hailian's voice was flat, as if talking about other people's business, "Fortunately, time is In the dark night, he can't see me clearly, but I can see him clearly."
The boy who is as light as a cat is like the silent running water in the dark night.
"One cut, two cuts," Hailian pointed to his arm, lower ribs, and finally his neck. "He fell down on the third cut. At that time, I had no strength. He poked me again and I could move." No. Anyway... winning is not very honorable, but also very embarrassing." Hailian finally concluded, and then asked Erica a question again, "Did you use a knife too?"
Erika opened her mouth, and answered in a low voice after a while, "...it's a gun. The one my brother gave you."
The dirty doctor outside the door seems to have welcomed a new patient, and the whimpering and pain leaked in through the crack of the door. This kind of sound should be extremely far away from his life, and Erica is now used to it. . I don't know if it's because of Hailian's memories just now, the sharpness on Erica's body seems to have subsided a bit, he glanced at the wooden door, and then turned back: "Will you cure Ding Leshui?"
"I can't make such a guarantee." Hailian answered truthfully.
"If you can cure him, don't let him be bullied again," Erika lowered his eyes, "he's just a waste, he can't do anything. If he doesn't have money, he just steals, and he doesn't even know he's being followed .”
"You saved him?"
Erica shook her head, "He saved me."
After witnessing the nightmare in Amber Square, Erika fell into a high fever of collapse. Ding Leshui was at a loss for what to do about it. Seeing his companion getting sicker and sicker and desperate, Ding Leshui decided to steal the "relief" from the Red Hat businessman.
He lied that he had hidden a silver buckle in his hand when he escaped from the White Bird District, and exchanged it for the potion, so he coaxed Erica to drink it. The medicine was very effective, and the hot flush on Erica's face faded a lot, and she even felt hungry and wanted to eat.
But where is there anything to eat
After much deliberation, Ding Leshui decided to go to the gathering place of the Red Hat merchants again. This time, the adventure almost cost them both their lives.
"...I've never shot so accurately before," Erika looked down at the firecracker in his arms. He hadn't talked to anyone for a long time, and the ending of every word had dry corners. It's like holding my hand—but I know my brother is dead, right here in Amber Square. I pulled the trigger, I killed people."
After one shot, he becomes an adult. Now he has to take care of his companion. After all, his companion knows nothing, but he is different. He is Flo's younger brother, the youngest son of the noble Lord Qiyun.
Erika raised her chin again to Hailian, "I can do a lot of things, reading, fighting, spear skills..." Bargaining, stealing, robbing.
At this moment, he was like that high-ranking kid again. Erika waited for the other party to lecture him again, and he cursed back with the dirty words he learned in the mud zone. But Hai Lian just stared at his expression for a while, and then brought over the candy from the side.
"Eat?" Hailian asked.
Erika blushed for a moment—after all this talk, this man still treated him like a child! He was about to open his mouth to curse, but Hailian spoke again one step ahead of him: "After I killed someone, my teacher stopped me. Although I sank half of my body in the mud because of this, at least Not drowned. I'm not as much of a jerk as my teacher, so I'll give you two choices now."
"First, eat the sugar cake. I'll send someone to send you back to Qiyun City. No one will know that you killed someone. You can continue to be your little master and stop fooling around in Jiumeng City."
"Second..." Hailian paused, pulled out his dagger from his waist and handed it to him, "Stop bragging, your fighting and spear skills are really bad, let me teach you the real skills .”
The thin wailing sound outside the door weakened, probably because the patient had fallen asleep, and the surroundings were not as quiet as in the mud area, but as if he had returned to the magnificent mansion. My brother once asked him a multiple-choice question.
"Does Erica want to be a gentle person when she grows up, or a brave person?"
The child answered without hesitation: "I want to be like my brother!"
"I'm past the age of eating candy." After a long silence, Erika picked up the dagger.