Xiao Jingrui accompanied his mother, Princess Liyang, to go out that day, and it was late when he came back, but after hearing Xie Bi talking about Mei Changsu's attack outside, he immediately rushed to Xuelu to greet him. But when I got to the front door of the guest house, I found that the lights inside were extinguished, and the people in the courtyard were obviously resting. If it was before, maybe he would just ignore it and break in like this to make trouble with them, but for some reason, the relationship between friends has become more and more divided these days, and the etiquette and courtesy are more than the first few days. many. At this time, looking at the dark courtyard gate and the branches under the night shadow, this feeling is even more profound. It seems that this friend who is quite admired by him has really gone further and further away. He is no longer the one who walked all the way and talked and laughed. Brother Su.
With a long sigh, Xiao Jingrui turned around and walked slowly towards his residence following the stone-paved corridor. The night was quiet and windy, and the air had a heavy smell of tide, and it might snow again in the second half of the night. The first time we met was in the snow of Qinling Mountains, with Mei meeting friends and drinking wine, but it was only one year old, and personnel changes had come to this point, and people couldn’t help but feel sentimental, and the pace became slower and lighter. . Just turned around the side of the rockery, and suddenly felt a cold on the face, when I reached out and touched it, it was already water droplets. He raised his head and looked around, the sky was dark and he couldn't see anything at all, but his skin and nose had already taken a step forward, and he noticed the thin snow that began to drift down gently.
Before the third watch, the snow has already fallen, and it seems that tomorrow will be a world of glazed ice crystal powder. If you don't have this worldly disturbance, you can invite two or three friends, drink and enjoy the snow around the fireplace, and enjoy the scenery. Unfortunately…
Sighing again, Xiao Jingrui shook his head, as if he wanted to shake off the boredom in his chest, he reached out and wiped the wet snow on his face. Just as he took another step, a dark shadow seemed to pass by faintly at the edge of the field of vision at the corner of his eyes, passing quickly, like an illusion. When Huo Ran turned back to capture it, there was no movement in front of him.
Whether it was because of premonition or vigilance, Xiao Jingrui stopped all his actions and just stood quietly behind the rockery, staring in the direction of Xuelu through the gap between the rocks.
Sure enough, before a moment, a black shadow flashed again. This time, because of concentration, I can see more clearly. The black shadow came from the side facing the east wall of Xuelu. After jumping up to the courtyard wall, it crouched down on the roof ridge and remained motionless. After a while, a second shadow swept in. This was repeated several times. There were nearly ten people on the roof of the hut. Xiao Jingrui was wondering why Feiliu was silent when the window of the west wing of Xuelu suddenly shook, and almost at the same time as the window sash was shaking, there was a muffled groan on the roof, and one person had already fallen into the hospital with his head down. At that time, a slender and flexible figure appeared, and in the ghostly flashing, the remaining shadows had been forced back to the roof of the east wing, and they were embarrassed to resist.
Xiao Jingrui just had a smile on his face, admiring Fei Liu's skills, and then froze again in the next instant. Because another group of attackers appeared in the line of sight, they came up from the south wall and just avoided Fei Liu, which was slightly hindered by the group of people at the beginning. Before Xiao Jingrui could think about it, he flew up and shouted, "Who dares to break into Xie's mansion at night!"
Because there was no weapon around him, Xiao Jingrui could only pick the one at the front while shouting and chop down with his fleshy palm. The other party obviously knew something about Xuelu's situation. He didn't expect a second person besides Fei Liu. He was a little surprised at first, but he regained his composure. Xiao Jingrui, himself and the other subordinates rushed to the main house where Mei Changsu usually lived.
Although the Assassin leader's decision was decisive, he made two mistakes.
First, he underestimated Xiao Jingrui's martial arts. The two men in black who were assigned by him to block Xiao Jingrui had their weapons taken away in the third move, and both fell to the ground in the fourth move, which only slowed the progress of this young master a little; , he underestimated Fei Liu's ruthlessness. Because Mei Changsu had always restrained Fei Liu from hurting others, he gave some thoughtful bystanders the illusion that this young man was only high in martial arts. Unexpectedly, in the dark night, he is like a god of killing, recruiting to kill, without leaving a trace of vitality, not only fast but also frightening to deal with the surrounding people.
But at the same time, Xiao Jingrui and Fei Liu also made a mistake, they both underestimated the strength of the leader.
After realizing his inferiority, the leader quickly ordered everyone to go to face Fei Liu, and face Xiao Jingrui's attack by himself.
The knife is a steel knife, but the move is a sword move. Because it was a captured weapon, it was not very easy to handle, but the sword attached to the sword soul was still incomparably sharp. The palm has been slapped hard.
A palm was placed on the chest, and the opponent's body flew like a kite with a broken string. Xiao Jingrui realized that something was wrong at this time, but before he could withdraw his hand, the leader had already tried his best to take the palm of his hand, and his body collided like an arrow. Smashed the door panel and shot straight into the main house.
As far as Xiao Jingrui knew, in this main house, there was always only a weak and weak Mei Changsu, and there were no servants.
"Brother Su!" With a hoarse voice, Xiao Jingrui rushed up the steps, stepped on the splintered wooden shavings of the door, and entered the dark room. The blood was blowing in his face, and with his amazing night vision, he could only see a figure standing in the middle. Before the next response in his brain, a fire flashed in front of his eyes, the lamp on the table was lit up, and the yellow light filled the room, Mei Changsu was wearing a long fur cloak, and stood fluttering on the table. , Deng Ying swayed on his pure face, even more chilling.
Xiao Jingrui's gaze swept across Mei Changsu's body and landed on a small crossbow that he casually dropped on the table. The red bow and ink string, the white jade buckle, and the pattern on the crossbow body dripped like tears.
"Can't draw?"
"Yes, this is the crossbow made by the Ban family 'can't be painted'," Mei Changsu said indifferently, "Jinling is really different from other places, it can force me to use it."
Xiao Jingrui lowered his head, the corpse of the assassin leader lay not far from his feet, and a small and delicate arrow was inserted straight into the middle of his Adam's apple. Although his chest was red and bloody, it was obviously spewed out after he was hit by the palm of his hand, and the wound in the throat was stimulated by the sharp arrow, which made the muscles of the deceased tighten, and no blood was splattered. You can imagine sitting upright at that time. How good is the eye of the arrow shooter in the dark, how steady is the hand.
"You'd better not look." Seeing Xiao Jingrui seem to be trying to lift the black turban covering the deceased's face, Mei Changsu stopped him in a low voice, "It's so late, I didn't expect you to come."
"I heard that Brother Su was attacked outside today, and I was a little worried. After I rushed over, I realized that it was too late." Xiao Jingrui had already pinched the corner of the towel with his fingers, but there was some inexplicable hesitation in his heart, and he did not lift it immediately.
He is not Xie Bi. He has been in contact with Jianghu since he was a child, and he has learned about Jianghu. He has also personally killed people, and he has also seen the scene of a vendetta full of corpses. He is not afraid of corpses, no matter how badly the person died. It's ugly, and it won't frighten Young Master Xiao, who ranks second on the Young Master Langya list.
But Brother Su said... "You better not look at it"...
The assassin was lying in front of him, his face was covered under a black veil, whether he looked at it or not, it was the same face. Just like some truths, whether you know them or not, those facts are always there and will not change with them.
Xiao Jingrui gritted his teeth, and finally lifted the face towel that was as thin as nothing but as heavy as a thousand pounds.
With just one glance, his eyes jumped. His fingers slowly clenched into fists, and the muscles on his cheeks twitched with tension.
It was a face that seemed unfamiliar and yet familiar.
Said he was unfamiliar because he had never greeted him, spoken to him, didn't know his name, and didn't know his position.
Said he was familiar because he was often seen, right next to his father, he was often seen following, obeying and executing some trivial instructions.
If such a face doesn't explain anything, then the silence around at the moment is more like a slowly tightening net, inch by inch tightening Xiao Jingrui's heart.
The purer the silence is, the more various sounds are mixed in it. The sound of the night wind blowing, the sound of falling snow, the sound of thumping heartbeats, the sound of ups and downs breathing... I heard all the sounds that should be heard, but there was no sound that should be heard.
The dignified Ningguohou mansion was attacked in the quiet night. The cries of killing and swords were long enough to shred the night sky, but it was like a stone falling into an ancient well.
Fei Liu outside the hospital had already cleaned up all his opponents, but he didn't come in, and he didn't know what he was doing. The diffused blood qi became weaker and weaker in the night wind, so faint that it could be ignored.
No one came to support, no one even came to check, the entire Xie Mansion seemed to have heard nothing, fell asleep quietly, waiting for the dawn of the next day.
"Jing Rui," Mei Changsu's voice sounded steadily, as if ignoring the dazed expression of the young man in front of him, and he spoke in a calm tone, "I went out to see the house today and was recommended by Commander Meng, at Changzhifang. It's clean and sturdy, with all the furniture and utensils, and the garden is not so good, just enough for me to completely double it. So... I should move... "
"Move away..." Xiao Jingrui still stared blankly at the corpse in front of him and muttered, "Yeah, it's time to move out, this Xuelu is really hard to live in..."
"Jing Rui, listen to me," Mei Changsu put his palm on the young man's shoulder, exerting a little force, "Go back to your room now, and pretend that you haven't been to Xuelu tonight, what you have seen , is just a fantasy. Ask Yujin to go out to play tomorrow, relax, everything will be the same as before. Don't make your mother worry about it..."
"Everything...is it really possible that it's still the same?" Xiao Jingrui stood up and looked back into Mei Changsu's eyes, "I don't want to know why my father killed you, I just want to know...why did you get involved in the vortex of Jinling City? Come? You are the kind of Jianghu person I admire most, unrestrained and free... "
Mei Changsu smiled miserably, looking at the lights on the table like beans, "You are wrong, there are no free people in the world. As long as a person has feelings and desires, he can never be free."
"But you can obviously avoid..."
"Jing Rui," Mei Changsu raised his eyes with a cold look on his face, "You are not me, don't judge for me. Go back, I will leave early tomorrow morning. I have taken care of you in Xuelu these days. When I settle down in my new home, you are welcome to be a guest at any time if you wish."
Xiao Jingrui looked at him blankly and asked, "In the future, can we still come and go?"
Mei Changsu smiled, "Why not? I'm afraid you don't want to come in the future, I don't know."
Xiao Jingrui thought of the current foggy situation, and thought of his father's hostile position with him, as if he was stuffed in a mess, at a loss. I originally thought that it was just Xie Bi who was caught in the situation, and that he would not hurt the overall situation. Even if there were mistakes in the future, he could still rely on the status of Ning Guohou and the eldest princess to protect him. Today, he suddenly found out that his father is not as neutral as he appeared. Only then did I understand Xie Bi. How deeply is the family involved in the struggle for succession. Although he has always left his hands behind, and although he often travels outside at leisure, he is always a part of the Xie family, and it is impossible to not care at all. Thinking about it now, what Caochangbian Yanyujin persuaded him to be so prescient.
"Things haven't reached that stage yet, so why worry in advance?" Mei Changsu smiled faintly as if he knew what he was thinking, "As long as you keep your true temperament, what can't you get through? It's like the snow outside. Although it seems to be getting bigger and bigger, you and I both know that it will eventually stop."
As if to match his words, a gust of snow swept in from the knocked-open doorway, bringing with it bursts of cold air and a silhouette. Fei Liu reached out and dragged the corpse on the ground and pulled it out easily. Xiao Jingrui followed to the door and saw that he threw it out of the wall, and then looked at the ground in the courtyard, it was clean, and the mess was long gone.
"Just throw it out like this?" Xiao Jingrui asked in surprise.
"Okay," Mei Changsu answered, "Put it outside and someone will take care of it."
Xiao Jingrui heard his voice as icy as ice, and did not look like the gentle brother Su who had known each other every day.
Fei Liu had already returned and held Mei Changsu's hand: "Together!"
"Okay," Mei Changsu smiled softly at him, her expression changing so quickly, yet extremely natural, "Brother Su will go to the Westinghouse with you to sleep. Would you like to send Brother Xiao out first?"
Fei Liu turned his head and glared at Xiao Jingrui who was still in a daze, "Not good!"
"Flying..."
"No, no," Xiao Jingrui came back to his senses, with a bit of bitterness in his heart, and said sadly, "You rest, I'll go first. In the middle of the night... Be careful too."
Mei Changsu smiled and nodded, watching Xiao Jingrui turn and walk outside the courtyard with heavy steps, the smile on his face gradually turned into a faint sadness. Looking from the back, the young man's head was lowered, and his originally upright figure was slightly hunched, as if some invisible weight was pressing on his shoulders, which he must bear, but it was so difficult. What he will face in the future, maybe only he knows, but the obsession in his chest is clearly saying that even if he knows, everything that should happen will still happen according to the predetermined track.
"It's just the beginning... Jing Rui... I hope you can make it through..." Murmuring, Mei Changsu put away the sympathy that was inadvertently pouring out of his heart, and took Fei Liu's hand and slowly walked into the West Wing .