After about an hour, Mu Lin had memorized even the stars in the sky, and Xia finally came over with a small wooden box.
Mu Lin's eyesight was still good in the night, and he could easily tell that Xia Ya was different. Her face was still flushed, her eyes were watery, as if filled with spring water, and her braided hair was a little messy.
Mu Lin looked at her with a vicissitudes of life, "You have been gone for so long, I thought you had forgotten me."
Xia seemed a little embarrassed. "How could that be? Bale was here just now, so I was delayed for a while... Here, the small box is for you."
Under the moonlight, the small brown wood box, about three inches long and one inch wide, is made up of wooden strips and looks plain. It seems that you only need to open two drawers, but in fact, there is a mystery and it seems not easy to do.
Mu Lin suddenly laughed.
"What's wrong?" Thea asked.
"It is said that this mechanical box was designed by Master Lu Ban. It was a storage box used by women in ancient times to store valuables to avoid war. There are several versions of the legend about it."
"Lin Feng, I love listening to stories the most, please tell me one!"
"Okay." Mu Lin studied the box with a mechanism and casually talked about the interesting things he saw in the book. "The first legend is like this. In the Naxi ethnic group, if a boy proposes to a girl, the girl will give the boy a wooden box with a mechanism regardless of whether she agrees or not, and let the boy find the answer in the box. The clever Naxi girl will weave a piece of linen in advance, dye it red to accept the proposal or blue to refuse the proposal, and put it in the wooden box. The boy cannot chop it with an axe or use brute force to open it. He must open it with his heart."
"Wow, all of us in the Korta tribe confess our love at the bonfire party. Not only men confess to women, but women can also confess to men. If they like each other, they can be together."
"There is another legend set in the Central Plains. Do you want to hear it?"
"Tell me, tell me!"
"In short, a rich lady fell in love with a poor scholar. She wanted to help him but felt embarrassed. She thought of a secret box and put her private money and letters in the secret box of the secret box, and asked her maid to secretly bring them to the poor scholar. The poor scholar thought hard... But the rich lady thought the scholar didn't appreciate it, so she hanged herself out of shame. When the poor scholar opened the box, he received the news and died for love, which made a tragic love story."
Mu Lin's tone was flat, and his narration was just narration, without any regret in his voice.
"What is 'hanging' and what is 'suicide for love'?" Although Mr. Rong has given Xia and the others Chinese education, the effect is limited. Not all complex Chinese words can be understood by them.
"It's just... they all committed suicide."
"Oh... They are so stupid. They only have one life, why don't they live well? Is love more important than life?"
"I don't know." Mu Lin shook her head. She didn't understand either.
Master said that most people in the world have similar feelings, but their behaviors are very different. As long as it does not affect others and is worthy of respect from others, there is no need to dwell on it and think about it repeatedly. So she did not think much about it, but just knew that if it were her, she would never do that.
She was a little annoyed because she thought of her master again, and she couldn't help but doubt little by little: if her master was involved in love, would he be so noble
I will love you all my life.
Ah…
Mu Lin sat outside all night.
When it was dawn, she opened the secret box but did not read the letter inside. She knocked lightly on Jiang Mingyue's door, said a few simple words, and placed the secret box on the open space in front of the door.
At noon that day, she finally met the legendary poison doctor from southern Xinjiang. The moment Mu Lin's eyes fell on Jiang Mingyue, all her guesses collapsed, and she even raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Jiang Mingyue looked only about 20 years old, with messy black hair that was too dark and thick to show a little bit of strange blue, which formed a sharp contrast with the extremely pale skin due to not seeing the sun for many years - Jiang Mingyue actually looked like a pretty boy... No, a weak scholar. The black robe was loose and wide, not like a Korta, but more like a Han.
If you ignore his beautiful yet somewhat mean phoenix eyes, the Poison Doctor's facial features are very delicate, like melted glacier water flowing into a spring mountain, although his face is expressionless.
"I'm going to the Northern Frontier. You have time to convince me to help you along the way."
It was Helian Yingzhu's job to take Jiang Mingyue out and convince him. Mu Lin's task was half completed. In order to save time, she offered to help pack the luggage.
After a while, Jiang Mingyue's half-smiley eyes persuaded him to retreat. Because Mu Lin was afraid of insects, the insects that approached Jiang Mingyue began to turn pale and their limbs became stiff.
Fortunately, Jiang Mingyue didn't have much luggage to pack, so he just picked up a small black bag and placed the rest of his things in the stone house. He left without even locking the bag.
Of course he wasn't worried about losing it. After all, who would dare to enter his house if they didn't want to die? Maybe the house was full of poison gas! The poison doctor would definitely let the intruder enter vertically and leave horizontally.
On the way out of the forest, they met the giant python with blood-eyed eyes again. It saw Mu Lin standing there and didn't dare to approach. It blinked its big eyes at Jiang Mingyue. Then, Mu Lin saw him walking over.
The giant python's long neck slowly drooped, and Jiang Mingyue stretched out her pale, slender hand and gently stroked its head.
For the first time, Mu Lin discovered that the python was a very human-like creature. She even saw a hint of reluctance in its eyes, if it wasn't her illusion.
Jiang Mingyue's cold and irritable voice was rarely gentle: "Xiaohong, I'll go find that guy, you just wait at home obediently."
The giant python looked at him as if it understood something and stuck out its tongue.
Xiao Hong... Blood-eyed python? Those who don't know would think he called her Xiao Yatou. What a willful name! Mu Lin's eyelids twitched, and he pretended not to hear anything.
After leaving the forest, Mu Lin reunited with Helian Yingzhu and the others, and left the task of persuading Jiang Mingyue to them. She then lived a leisurely (? ) life on the road.
They traveled northwards and were summoned to the palace as soon as they entered the imperial capital. Mu Lin lowered her head and followed Helian Yingzhu. Not long after, she left the palace again. She certainly had no chance to see the secrets of the palace.
After leaving the palace, she returned to the Zhenyuan General's Mansion with Li Hu and others. Helian Yingzhu specially arranged a separate room for her. In her spare time, Mu Lin hung out with a group of men to drink and compete in martial arts.
Soon after, I heard from Helian Yingzhu that Jiang Mingyue readily agreed to help Empress Dowager Helian to detoxify and stayed in the palace for seven consecutive days. It was not surprising that a group of brave, strong, simple and rough men did not obey the imperial order. Jiang Mingyue was naturally afraid of the royal majesty, and it would be strange if he did not obey the imperial order.
Mu Lin didn't think so. Jiang Mingyue was moody and difficult to get along with. He was proud of himself. Why would he care about the hierarchy of the emperor? He must have reached a deal with Emperor Heng. Maybe it was related to Mr. Rong.
After Helian Yingzhu and Mu Lin finished fighting in the martial arts arena, she suddenly remembered something, "We will set off for the Northern Frontier at 1:00 pm tomorrow, so be ready."
"yes."
"General, why are you in such a hurry to go back this time? You didn't even tell me in advance."
"We are going to escort the poison doctor Jiang Mingyue on this trip. He asked to leave tomorrow. If you have any objections, you can go to him."
"… "
After Helian Yingzhu left, the brothers lamented that they could no longer live a carefree life, and at the same time encouraged Mu Lin to go drink with them, each of them smiling with ill intentions.
What kind of wine is Huajiu? Wine brewed from flowers? It sounds good. Mu Lin knew that he couldn't show his weakness in front of these men, otherwise he would be laughed at.
"We are all men, and this needs to be resolved. Brother Lin, you know..." The one who winked was Zhang Long.
In fact, Mu Lin didn't quite understand. Is flower wine so delicious? Let them be weird. Of course she wanted to see it, so she nodded calmly.
"Okay, then it's settled, let's go to Yanfang Pavilion together tonight!"
If Mu Lin knew this was a brothel, she would definitely not agree to come with them. Now she was surrounded by a group of scantily clad women, with all kinds of scents of cosmetics mixed together, rushing into her nose, which was more uncomfortable than killing her.
The madam pushed Mu Lin into the extravagant box and arranged a mature and gentle woman for him at the instruction of Li Hu and others.
"Tao Ji is one of the top ten courtesans in Yan Fang Pavilion, a beauty from the civilized imperial capital. Brother Lin, enjoy yourself!" Li Hu's teasing voice came from outside the door: "Brothers know that you are still a virgin, so we specially picked Tao Ji for you. A night of spring is worth a thousand gold, no need to thank me!"
Mu Lin pulled the locked door: “…” Thank you, you idiot!
"Miss Taoji, you sit first... There's no need to sit so close. We don't know each other very well yet. I mean, we should get to know each other first."
Tao Ji was stunned. Seeing that he had no intention of changing his mind, she slowly moved aside, but her tone was still gentle: "You are right, sir."
Mu Lin wanted to drink some water to calm down, but found that the cup was full of wine and there was no tea in the room, so she had to sit down again.
"This is my first time here, and I don't know what to do... I don't want to offend Miss Taoji, I just want to talk to you."
Tao Ji smiled, with a unique charm between her eyebrows and eyes, "Sir, you are the first person I have seen speaking like this in a brothel. Whatever you want to talk about, Tao Ji will naturally comply."
"Why did Miss Taoji come here?"
Tao Ji's first reaction was that Mu Lin was mocking her, but when she saw Mu Lin's curious and serious eyes, she suddenly felt that he really didn't understand.
This person is like a blank sheet of paper when it comes to these matters.
It was a very strange feeling, but she didn't feel offended, perhaps because she had encountered too many more inhumane offenses and bullying. Tao Ji strangely had the urge to tell her story, but she still restrained herself and smiled bitterly: "The reason why Tao Ji became Tao Ji is that her life was difficult and she had no choice. I'm sorry to make you laugh."
Mu Lin shook his head gently: "Destiny is indeed unpredictable. One moment it gives you infinite tenderness, and the next moment it will take back this gift in an even more drastic way."
Tao Ji was stunned for a moment, and looked at Mu Lin with admiration: "Sir, what you said is very good. Although Tao Ji is stupid, she also feels it."
This is a little trick to please a man, and almost no man can resist the gaze of a weak woman.