News came from Jiangnan that Fu Naichuan was dead, and the Xuan family invited people from each family to go to Siyin Pavilion for the banquet ten days later.
After Bai Xia heard the news, she couldn't stop crying, took a four-wheeled vehicle, and left silently first. Xuan Ziyuan pulled Qi Yue and looked back to see Tang Zhuo standing quietly under the armor-piercing city. The lifeless giant city was empty, the sky shrouded in cloudy clouds, and the empty sand and dust.
Going from Jiangxi to Jiangnan, in order to relax, the group slowed down. The premonition that everything is about to come to an end has taken root in Tang Zhuo's heart. Since Huajian Town Youlin officially announced his return, after so many things, Tang Zhuo gradually has a clear plan for his future. If Nothing unexpected happened, it should not be shaken. The innocence of his family can be washed away, and the next thing only needs to be handed over to Xuan Ziyuan and the others, and there will be no more worries.
… is really coming to an end.
Leaving Jiangxi, came to the territory of Jiangnan. The streets on both sides of the river are very lively and full of people. From time to time, there are boats rowing across the river, rushing to the streets to sell fruits and other things. Shi Jin, Shi Yichen, Bai Xia, and Qi Yue sat in a very stylishly decorated store. Tang Zhuo walked out of the store, and Xuan Ziyuan followed him without saying a word. At this time, Tang Zhuo suddenly saw, under the dizzying sunlight, a man trotted across the street with a lotus leaf on his head. The man was wearing purple clothes, with thin cheeks and long hair scattered. When he looked up, he saw Tang Zhuo, overturning the lotus leaf. He rushed like a gust of wind, picked up Tang Zhuo and said, "Boss!!!"
Passers-by looked sideways. Tang Zhuo was also taken aback, and hurriedly said: "Okay, let me down!!"
Tang Zhuo's feet finally touched the ground. Tang Zhuo asked, "Xiao Hei, have you sent those acquaintances away safely?"
Xiao Hei laughed "hehe" and said, "Yes, boss!! I sent them to Jiangnan! Didn't I meet you!"
Tang Zhuo smiled slightly and said, "That's good." At this time, Xiao Hei ran a few steps forward and saw Shi Jin who was sitting in the shop eating watermelon, and Shi Jin saw him at a glance. Xiao Hei waved his hand and said, "Master Shi!!!" Shi Jin also said, "??? Big Black Brother!!!" As soon as the two met, they started to make trouble again, running around on the street. Shi Yichen slapped the table and chased out: "You two are running around again!!! Beware of knocking over other people's stalls and losing money!!! Go back and sit down!!!"
Tang Zhuo watched this scene. It was still April in the world, and now it's summer.
At this time, a small boat passed by the river, and the boatman rushed to the shore and the two of them shouted, "You two sons, are you taking the boat?"
Tang Zhuo turned around when he heard the sound. He didn't expect that this time, Xuan Ziyuan would speak first and said, "Sit down."
So before Tang Zhuo could react, Xuan Ziyuan grabbed his waist and swept into the boat a little, and the boatman said, "Sit firmly." He waved the pole, and the boat slowly sailed on the river.
The two sat down in the boat, and Xuan Ziyuan said to the boat's family: "The boat's family, where are we going?" The boat's family said: "Walk around this river, where did you go just now? Where are you parked?" Xuan Ziyuan said, "How much." The boat family said, "Three cents of money." After speaking, Xuan Ziyuan threw the money over.
Tang Zhuo watched quietly. He didn't expect that in the past, he was in charge of speaking, and Xuan Ziyuan was in charge of his expressionless face. Thinking of this, some want to laugh.
Finally, there is space for the two of them to get along. Xuan Ziyuan was silent for a while, then pulled Tang Zhuo's hand and said, "How is it?"
Tang Zhuo felt a little tired, tilted his head, put his head on his shoulder, and said, "Too many things have happened recently, and I can't digest it."
Xuan Ziyuan said, "Where are you going from now on?"
Tang Zhuo opened his eyes slightly and said nothing. Xuan Ziyuan said, "You came back for something other than to clear your innocence."
Tang Zhuo was silent for a while, then hesitantly said: "I... I just want to come back... "
Xuan Ziyuan said, "Also."
Tang Zhuo said "Oops", sat up straight, looked at Xuan Ziyuan and said, "Why are you chasing after me?? I just don't say it."
After finishing speaking, he looked down at the ring on his hand, sighed, took it off, and said, "Give it back to you."
Xuan Ziyuan was stunned for a moment, and then put it on again, regardless of Tang Zhuo's struggles, and said fiercely, "Don't pick it!"
At this time, facing the boat, another boat passed by. There were several girls in colorful clothes selling garlands on the boat. Xuan Ziyuan bought one and put it on Tang Zhuo's head. Tang Zhuo blushed and struggled. : "I don't want this kind of thing!! Hurry up and get it for me!!!"
Xuan Ziyuan forcibly pressed him back, and Tang Zhuo said, "Xin Ziyuan!!! You are so domineering!!!"
The boat's family smiled and said without looking back: "Listen to this atmosphere, did the two young masters have a conflict just now? Alas, as someone who has come here said, you young people will always fight over trivial matters, but it's true that the relationship is true. It's not good that things are going smoothly. If it's been quiet for a long time, and suddenly there are some turbulence, it won't be able to bear it. There is a little conflict from time to time, it can be regarded as a kind of taste. ?"
Tang Zhuo scratched his face, looking away from Xuan Ziyuan. Xuan Ziyuan actually said: "You are very reasonable."
Tang Zhuo turned his head abruptly and rushed to Xuan Ziyuan to show his dissatisfaction with him.
On the shore, from time to time there are children laughing and chasing each other. Tang Zhuo touched it, put the garland upright, lowered his head and said nothing. Xuan Ziyuan said, "What did you dream about that day?"
It could be heard that Xuan Ziyuan must have thought about it for a long time before asking. After a few days of running around, he finally found such an opportunity to ask. Tang Zhuo knew that Xuan Ziyuan definitely didn't want to let himself suffer from something unpleasant. Tang Zhuo smiled and said, "If I wasn't 'Tang Zhuo', would you still like me?"
Tang Zhuo deliberately said not "you", but "you". He felt that there was still a layer of window paper in the two-person room that had not been pierced, and he did not want to pierce it, and did not want to say it deliberately. Xuan Ziyuan was stunned for a moment, looked at Tang Zhuo, and said, "I don't know what other people will do, but for me, yes."
Tang Zhuo's eyes were a little red, and he clenched his fingers and said, "...If I was a dead person, I just forcibly occupied this body."
Xuan Ziyuan slowly let out a breath and said, "So what? No matter who you were before, where you came from, or what you have experienced, the one who is by my side now is 'Tang Zhuo'. I care about everything about you, not Just a name, or a body. You are you."
Tang Zhuo wanted to cry a little, but couldn't help but want to laugh. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, but he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth, wiped his tears, hugged Xuan Ziyuan's neck and said, "I wanted to cry very much, but in the end, When I see you, I want to laugh, and when you talk, I want to cry again, but when I hold you, I can't help laughing."
He really laughed and said, "Yeah, 'I am who I am'."
Tang Zhuo let go of Xuan Ziyuan, and the gems on the evil spirits emitted bursts of brilliance. Tang Zhuo lowered his head and touched the evil spirits, and said, "But I... I am a half-evil creature. I am not a ghost or a ghost. After all, I will not enter the stream."
Xuan Ziyuan said, "But you have one more choice than others."
Tang Zhuo twitched his eyelashes.
Xuan Ziyuan looked at Tang Zhuo, his eyes were deep and said: "Either spiritual power or evil spirits, since it is inevitable, don't be trapped by them, but make the best of them, don't use evil spirits as a stumbling block, but a stepping stone. What's more, in the entire Xuanmen, you are one of the few people who possess both spiritual power and evil energy, you can have two choices, two ways of living, and they are all part of you."
Tang Zhuo closed his eyes quietly.
The bamboo pole was lifted, splashing water in the air. The boat turned a corner in the river, and another scene was revealed head-on.
That year in Tangmen Bay…
The picture when he fell into Soul Eater Valley gradually became clearer.
Lu Chunqiu said to him, "Mother shouldn't have given birth to you."
Pushed away with a force, Tang Zhuo fell into Soul Eater Valley.
Lu Chunqiu had a tearful face, with pain, despair, and reluctance in his eyes.
Also, a glimmer of hope.
If he hadn't fallen into Soul Eater Valley that day, the ending he could imagine would be life. He hated and despaired at the fact that he was a half-evil creature. Since then, he has given up on himself. He has been chased and killed all his life. Life, even if he can live forever, he will eventually be unable to bear it and choose to end his life. The second is death. After being caught by others, they are executed.
But after falling into Soul Eater Valley, Tang Zhuo miraculously did not die. He survived in Soul Eater Valley with the evil energy in his body, and was lucky to meet Xiao Hei and others, and finally left Soul Eater Valley and returned to the world. .
After six years, the picture when he fell into Soul Eater Valley is still as clear, but Tang Zhuo didn't dare to think about it for a while, afraid that he would find the knife hidden in those pictures again, and stabbed a bloody knife in his heart. superior.
Six years later, for the first time, Tang Zhuo really tried to face those pictures again. Tang Zhuo stared blankly at Lu Chunqiu and saw that she opened her mouth, as if she had said something to him.
What she said was-
The picture was magnified countless times, and a sound that was almost inaudible and would be blown to pieces by the wind blowing from the ear almost accidentally said—
"Live."
Tang Zhuo suddenly whimpered, couldn't hold it any longer, and burst into tears.
Never abandoned, never forgotten.
Over the years, his emotions towards Lu Chunqiu were so complicated that he couldn't even tell them apart. I can't believe that my mother's kindness to me is fake, and I can't believe that it's true that my mother wants to kill myself. He lives in a self-splitting state, and every time he wakes up in Soul Eater Valley, and wakes up in a solitary world that is completely different from before, he will hate himself a little more in his heart. There was nothing more painful for him than being hated by the people and people he held dear.
But it all turned out to be a turnaround. It turned out that the person he wanted to stay by his side forever never left.
Tang Zhuo suddenly felt relieved, pretending to be strong to hold back the tears for so long, and finally got the moment of complete indulgence.
Tang Zhuo remembered asking Lu Chunqiu when he was a child why he gave himself this name. Lu Chunqiu said to him at that time, "It is warm in the dark, it bursts out in the silence, and it blooms out of the ashes. It's 'burning'."
And he did. Even if he was in pain and despair, even if he had given up on himself, even if he had wanted to end his life between sobriety and chaos again and again, he still persevered. Moreover, not only did he persevere, he also finally did what he wanted to do and got the results he wanted.
The boat moved slowly for a while, and docked.
It is dusk.
The crowd stayed in the inn. Tang Zhuo first took a nap, and when he woke up, he seemed to be much better. It's been a long time since Xiao Hei couldn't help but sing again. Shi Jin tried his best to applaud, but when Xiao Hei opened his mouth, his smile froze and his expression gradually became painful. After being tortured by the singing all night, the next day, it was getting closer and closer to the Siyin Pavilion.