It is almost five o'clock, the moon is bright as a disk. The night sky is cloudless and filled with twinkling stars.
Su Si was enjoying the breeze on the roof of Sun's mansion.
He held the sleepy Bai Ye in his arms and stared at the sky in a daze. His daze was also full of street spirit. He did not forget to take some melon seeds and sweet fruits from the house and eat them casually. When he got tired of eating, he used his hand to flick the shell of Bai Ye's mouth, which made Bai Ye so annoyed that he almost twisted Su Si's wrist to bleed.
The food was halfway eaten when there was a sound of wings breaking through the air and another person leaped onto the roof.
Yan Qing brought two jars of wine and sat down next to Su Si. He was still hot from practicing martial arts, and the heat was particularly scorching.
"Your Qinggong has improved." Su Sixing took the jar of wine and opened the seal. "It's really wine? What's the matter? Don't you hate these things the most?"
"You are worried." Yan Qing wrinkled his nose at the smell of alcohol, "I specially asked for some wine for the servants, so it won't be a problem."
Su Si said "oh" and took a few big gulps. The two were silent for a while.
"We used to count stars like this, and I taught you to find your way in the mountains by looking at the stars." After a while, Su Si sighed. "You have been stupid since you were a child, and I have to protect you. I have been like this all these years. Today, Sanzi, you are much more ruthless than me."
Yan Qing: “…”
"I like to be cruel to others, and you like to be cruel to everyone. It's only been a few months, and you've been practicing martial arts day and night without caring about your life. Your kung fu is not much worse than mine."
"The sword is good, and the sword manual is good." Yan Qing answered honestly. "Besides, fists and feet are afraid of laziness. Ah Si, you don't want to move. But I'm chasing you, so I must be faster."
Su Si pretended to hit him with the wine jar: "What nonsense are you talking about? You are the one who doesn't know. You have the protection of the demon master and disciple above. You can be a servant and you won't die. You said that you only have half your life left after training every day. Who are you going to help?"
"I want to be worthy of this sword and the care that Abbot Juefei has given me."
"The person is dead, and he doesn't have eyes to look at." Su Si muttered.
"what did you just say?"
Su Si yawned in a serious manner: "Nothing. I just saw a lot of people in this world. People from Taiheng are born well and live well, and they are naive. I understand that. I met your red-eyed relative a few days ago. He was a Lingjiao leader and was still considering whether to hurt innocent people. It sounds like he is not afraid of being laughed at."
After saying that, he drank half a jar of wine and let out a long sigh.
Su Si's tone was particularly harsh, making people feel uncomfortable. However, Yan Qing turned his head, his expression only worried: "Are you in such a bad mood?"
"I'm in a bad mood?"
This time, Su Si's harshness was directed at himself.
"Our leader is really cruel. He still saves people when he should. Senior Yin has always been so careless and doesn't care about anything. His inner demons are as big as a mountain. It shows that he has a conscience. As for you, you are a rare kind-hearted person in the world. You risked your life to practice martial arts and do good deeds for a dead monk. We are all good people, very good people. If you say you are in a bad mood, it's not my turn, who is so heartless."
"You don't have bad intentions..."
Su Si asked Yan Qing: "Do you know how many people I killed when I was in the Chi Gou Sect?"
Yan Qing answered the question irrelevantly: "I remember that the Red Hook Sect and the Red Scorpion have many rules and will not accept good targets."
"Whether the person deserves to die is one thing, and whether the killer cares is another. Yan Zheng... Yu Zheng killed an enemy who killed his father and mother, and he was able to hold it in his heart for so many years. I just felt refreshed when I killed people, and I didn't think much about it afterwards."
Su Si drank the jar of wine, his eyes were faintly red. The teardrop mole looked dark in the night, as if it was on the darkest ink.
"I followed you before because you were my brother, and my protection of you was chivalrous. I ran away even though the evil cult was chasing me. Now you don't need my protection, and there's no one chasing me anymore, so...what can I do to continue pretending to be a gentleman?"
Yan Qing said nothing.
Su Si hugged Master Bai tightly in his arms, and the goose demon flapped its wings wildly. Su Si pretended not to notice and strangled him even more tightly: "I can deceive the world, but I can't deceive my own thoughts. If I force myself to act, I will be the first to get sick."
I killed someone when I was nine years old!
Su Si heard his own voice again. At such a young age, he knew to bring up this matter to provoke Wuxue Po. When he said this, he was not bluffing, and his tone was even proud.
That was the first time Su Si saw someone die.
At that time, he was still called "Su Si Gou". Su Si finally killed a wild boar and gave Yan Qing, who was half-starved, a meal of meat. Who knew that Yan Qing had listened to a few sage books in the study and had filled his head with foolish filial piety. Su Si had originally left some meat for him to take with him, but he gave it all to his drunkard father at home.
Then Yan Qing was beaten half to death by his drunken father, for the same ridiculous reason as always - his father thought the meat was not enough to go with the wine and food, and he couldn't enjoy the drink. If Su Si hadn't waited for his playmates to rescue the half-dead Yan Qing, the Mercy Sword would have no successor.
After applying medicine to Yan Qing, who looked like a skeleton, Su Si was so angry that he ran directly to the Yan family yard to reason with Yan Qing's father.
I want to take him away. Su Si was not afraid of the tall Yan Ziren at all, and he scolded him confidently. If it weren't for me, he would have been tortured to death by you! The cripple is not without hands and feet, and he needs a child to take care of every day, what a shameless lazy dog!
Who do I think I am? Isn't this the bastard that the Su family didn't sell out
Yan Ziren was drunk and confused, and did not take the nine-year-old Su Si seriously at all.
His grace is greater than heaven, he is going to take care of me in my old age and see me to the end of my life. Being unfilial is a great sin, I am not like you who is ungrateful and does not know the rules...
Take him away? Just because of you? His father is still alive, you ask him if he is willing to let you go? If he sheds tears and surrenders, he will have to come back to serve me... I don't know, hiccup, I don't know who he inherited this temper from, maybe it's from his silly mother.
Yan Ziren burped a series of burps with his tongue, and relying on his tall stature, he pushed Su Si out of the house. The latter dodged nimbly, but Yan Ziren's head was soaked with alcohol and he continued to push the air.
After taking a few steps, he pushed the door crookedly and missed, and hit his head on the threshold, leaving a big bloody wound on his head.
Blood gushed out all of a sudden.
Yan Ziren felt the hot blood and sobered up instantly. Unfortunately, he had drunk too much and his hands and feet were weak, so he couldn't even crawl. Yan Ziren first ordered Su Si to find someone to rescue him, but when Su Si didn't move, he shouted "Help!"
It was not the first time that Su Si had seen such a pool of blood. He had killed many animals in the mountains to fill his stomach. However, it was the first time that he had seen a person injured like this in front of him.
He was not afraid or panicked, he just stood there watching the pool of blood gradually grow bigger. Then he seemed to wake up from a dream, came to his senses, and walked to the door.
Right! Yan Ziren thought he was going to call for help, so he raised his voice. Quickly... Quickly call for help! You can call anyone, Yan Qing, where did that stupid kid Yan Qing go
Su Si walked to the door and bolted it neatly. He leaned his back against the two wooden doors, staring at Yan Ziren who was lying on the doorstep.
It was noon, and there were many people coming and going outside. Hearing Yan Ziren's roar, a passerby knocked on the door and asked: What's going on? Why is it so noisy
Su Si cleared his throat and imitated Yan Qing's voice in an unskillful manner: I'm sorry, uncle, daddy is fine, he just drank too much and acted crazy.
The person outside the door spat when he heard this, and walked away muttering something.
Yan Ziren, who was covered in blood, had his eyes half closed and no longer had the strength to call for help. He could only curse Su Si with various vicious words. As more and more blood flowed, he could no longer curse and began to beg for mercy, trying to persuade Su Si with reason and emotion.
However, Su Si just smiled.
He squatted down in front of Yan Ziren, his nine-year-old face was bright and cute, but reflected in the pool of blood, it looked a little more eerie.
Uncle Yan, I will still take the person with me. Su Si said happily, we will stay far away from this village and never come back.
You are... killing me... I will not let you go even if I become a ghost... You will never sleep well in your life...
So what if you kill someone? I'm not afraid of you. You're a useless person who only relies on your body when you're alive, so what can you do when you're dead
Su Si rubbed the blood mud on the ground and smiled brightly.
Uncle Yan, I am very happy.
Now that he thought about it, he was so ignorant of good and evil that he could even say some ridiculous things to Yan Qing, such as "I will become a hero". He never told Yan Qing about this, and now that all the people in Xizhuang were dead, Yan Qing would never know the truth.
Now I even drink with him.
Su Si put down the empty wine jar in his arms, but still didn't mention Yan Qing. Even when he returned to Lotus Mountain, he was obsessed with it, but there was no such scene.
He has never regretted it and still feels happy about it.
"If I had died in the North before, it might have been a good thing." Su Si whispered softly, "At least you can still regard me as a hero."
Yan Qing suddenly put down the wine jar and took out a thing from his pocket: "Stretch out your hand."
Su Si casually spread his hands and felt a slightly cool touch in his palms. He focused his eyes and broke out in a cold sweat, and the alcohol in his body was completely gone.
That was the mountain ghost coins left by Yan Qing's father. Yan Qing kept it very clean and beautiful, and even tied a red ribbon around it.
"… what do you mean?"
"I'll give it to you." Yan Qing said with a smile, "If you decide to leave, you won't say goodbye properly. You and I are as close as family, so you have to carry some trust with you."
After saying that, Yan Qing took the Mercy Sword beside him. A cheap longevity lock was hanging in the place of the sword pendant, which looked out of place. It was clearly the one that Su Si bought at the market before they were separated.
When Xizhuang was attacked, Su Si exchanged coins for money in a hurry to warn Yan Qing. After the chaos in Yuanxian Village, Yan Qing had been saving it seriously.
Su Si quickly looked away: "This thing caused us to get separated. Don't you think it's unlucky?"
Yan Qing smiled and said nothing.
"Okay, you must give it to me. Let's go out and buy something else tomorrow. Forget about using this mountain ghost money as a serious letter of credit." The mountain ghost money belonged to Yan Qing's father, and Su Si just felt something was wrong.
"This is a weapon that can ward off evil and keep away disasters. It's perfect with your meat-carving knife." Yan Qing said with a smile, "This is my most valuable thing."
"This is your father's stuff."
Yan Qing answered calmly: "It's mine."
"I don't want it." Su Si stretched out his hand to return it, but his fist was stopped by Yan Qing.
"Now, even someone as dull as me can see that there are only so many things a kind person can do. If Ah Si hadn't taken me away, I would have either died from my father's abuse, or I would have accidentally killed him first and then been killed... I'm not as carefree as Ah Si, so there are only a few paths I can choose."
Su Si's movements froze.
"Ah Si is different from me, but I think you are extraordinary - I don't hurt people, but I can't bear the regret and guilt afterwards. Doing evil must be extremely painful. Ah Si has no such concerns, but is still willing to follow the right path. Isn't this not easy?"
“…Heretical doctrine.” Su Si whispered.
Yan Qing pretended not to hear: "From now on, when you take this mountain ghost money, it is like taking my promise. Even if no one in the world believes you, if you speak, I will believe you. And if you hurt me, I will not blame you."
Su Si almost said "Aren't you afraid that I will kill you" but then found that he couldn't even say it. This person really targeted his weakness, and for a moment, he thought Yan Qing knew everything.
Su Si quickly withdrew his hand and held the silver coin tightly: "Alright, it really matches my meat knife."
For some reason, the bloody smell that was blocking his heart suddenly dissipated. It was just a Kushan sect, he could leave if he wanted to, or stay if he wanted to. Who else needed to approve it
Seeing Su Si's raised lip, Yan Qing's expression brightened up. He opened his own jar of wine and poured half of it into Su Si's jar: "We have known each other since we were young. It would be too much if we lost to the headmaster and Senior Yin in terms of friendship."
Su Si: “…”
Su Si: "Do you think that's their 'friendship'?"
Yan Qing was still immersed in emotion: "Yes, eating and sleeping together, as close as brothers, how wonderful it is."
Su Si drank silently and touched the goose beside him. He was definitely too much, what could Yan Qing think? I'm afraid that only when the head of the sect and Senior Yin wore wedding clothes and bowed to heaven and earth three times in front of him, this person would find something wrong.
He was really worried about leaving such a big fool here, so he decided to let him stay for a while.
Sect Master Shi was not wearing wedding clothes. He was alone in his room, flipping through books related to Sun Wang. As a descendant of Sun Wang, every room in the Sun family was filled with biographies related to Sun Wang, with all versions and eras available. Shi Jingzhi took out the oldest and rarest copy of "The Biography of Sun Wang" and leaned back on the bed, reading while waiting for someone to come back.
He and Sun Huaijin didn't have much friendship, so it was better to let "Su Zhi" talk about it. Anyway, everything had been seen by others, so there was no need to hide it anymore. Although it was awkward, they would definitely sleep together tonight.
The biography was full of dry praise and battle records. After reading half of it, Shi Jingzhi yawned loudly. Perhaps some muscle was pulled, and his chest hurt, and he vomited several mouthfuls of blood.
This time he vomited more blood than before, and the handkerchief couldn't hold it. Shi Jingzhi was so sleepy that he lost consciousness, and a large pool of blood stained the pages of the book.
… This is an antique!
Master Shi's scalp exploded, and he woke up instantly. He immediately got out of bed, diluted the blood with tea, and dried it with candlelight. The pages of the book slowly dried, and Shi Jingzhi's brows gradually frowned.
This book has been revised. Someone specially used thin and smooth "paper patch" to correct the words. Once it was exposed to water, the outlines of the covered words began to show.
Regarding the "Battle of Shafu" before the founding of the People's Republic of China, this book initially wrote the time wrong, which was one month earlier than Shi Jingzhi knew.
Shi Jingzhi had heard of this edition of "The Biography of Sun Wang". This was a book printed during the founding period of the People's Republic of China. The printing plates were universal and there was no possibility of copying errors. This edition was not printed in large quantities, but the month was written incorrectly. Did it need to be corrected with precious "paper"
Shi Jingzhi thought for a while and decided to pack up the boring book and put it in his luggage.
Say something nice tomorrow and ask for this book.