The weather turned from warm to cold, and overnight there were strong winds and showers. The spring flowers faded in a hurry, and Wangxuewu was quietly covered with plain white flags.
Another person was added to the new monument, and the whole garden burst into tears.
Xie Queshan was still discussing matters in the government office at this time. Nan Yi walked down the street in a daze, her footsteps wandering. It took her a long time to walk a block away. She found that she did not have the courage to tell him Xie Xiaoliu's obituary. .
Maybe she was still expecting something, maybe as long as she hesitated, it would be revealed that this was an oolong reversal, and Xie Xiaoliu, dressed in bright clothes and angry with his horse, would triumph in the next moment.
Or is this just a nightmare?
The noise around him was vague and uncertain, and suddenly a bright and clear voice appeared.
"Sister-in-law!"
Nan Yi suddenly turned around and looked around. He saw a vast sea of people and passers-by walking in a hurry, but that familiar face was missing.
The hallucinations are getting stronger and stronger.
It seemed that a young girl was holding her hand, and said with a sad face and extremely seriousness: "Sister-in-law, the next task will only be more difficult."
She rushed to her again and shouted with the momentum of taking the lead: "No one can bully my sister-in-law!"
Then she turned to bright eyes, shy and timid: "When the world is settled and the new emperor ascends the throne, we will get married."
Suddenly, Xiao Liu looked back at her in confusion.
"Sister-in-law, why are you crying?"
Nan Yi touched her cheek. Tears burst into her face at some point. She stretched out her hand towards Xiao Liu in front of her, but as soon as she pressed hard, the illusion disappeared. She suddenly returned to this noisy world, but she didn't have Xiao Liu's voice, appearance, or smile. Her feet finally lost strength and she squatted on the roadside and cried.
Nan Yi couldn't accept it. She didn't even say thank you to Xiao Liu. Her miserable life began to be rebuilt with Xiao Liu's kindness. She didn't have time to confess to Xiaoliu that she had lied to her in the first place. She was not Yan, but Yan was the brother she had hated for so many years.
She was always afraid of being exposed and didn't dare to get so close to Xiao Liu, so they lost so many opportunities for intimacy. They should hold their heads and cry, they should close the door and whisper the girl's thoughts, talk about love and hate under a warm candlelight, and the flashing tears will be smoothed away by laughter and curses.
Xie Xiaoliu is the plumpest ear of rice in the field. The sunshine and sweet rain are embodied in her body. As soon as people see her, they will believe that the prosperous harvest will eventually come.
But how could that ear of rice disappear in the wind first?
Nan Yi cried so hard that his heart broke, which attracted passers-by's side glances, but people just glanced at her and passed by. The most valuable thing in troubled times is tears. Such crying will be performed countless times on the streets every day.
Parting before death seems to have become a common thing.
Suddenly, there was a sound of horse hooves passing by, and passers-by screamed one after another as they ducked.
Nan Yi raised his head out of nowhere, tears still gathering in his eyes, but he saw He Ping rushing home in a hurry.
He Ping also saw Nan Yi and pulled the reins hard to stop.
"Ms. Nan Yi——"
"What happened?" Nan Yi wiped her tears and realized something was wrong.
He Ping's face was full of anxiety: "The young master was discussing something in the government office just now. After learning that the sixth girl was ambushed and killed by the Qi people and fell into the cliff of Zhejiang Ridge without any trace of her body, he snatched a horse without saying a word and even left the family at home. He didn’t even return to the mourning hall, but he walked out of the city gate and no one could stop him!"
Where is he going? Where else could she go?
Nan Yi had a guess and rushed to Zhejiang Ridge overnight, where he saw Xie Queshan's horse.
He wants to take Xiaoliu home.
This is a steep cliff where the river is blocked by towering peaks and turns suddenly, hence the name Zhejiang Ridge.
If a person falls from a cliff and falls into a rushing river, his body will almost be shattered into pieces and his traces will be hard to find.
It was getting dark, and there was a row of faint footprints left in the shallow sand on the shore. Xie Queshan had already waded into the water from the narrow shore, and was searching for them inch by inch alone.
The dead trees on the shore, the rocks in the river, the caves carved by the stormy waves, he was crazy, trying to miss all the clues.
Although he was mentally prepared, Nan Yi was still stunned. She had rarely seen Xie Queshan look so desperate and paranoid. After experiencing the death of her teacher, she thought that he had already developed the ability to deal with death.
It turns out that people are still vulnerable in the face of life and death. They have just spent a long time to prepare themselves, presupposing the worst scenarios again and again, and risking death to survive.
But what about the unprepared parts?
Xie Queshan never expected to receive the news of Xie Xiaoliu's death.
He could die, but those he tried so hard to protect...how could they die?
His sisters are both lucky and brave women. She has absolute kindness, she believes in fairness and justice, she has not let anyone down, and has done nothing wrong. She is still blooming in the best season, so she should not be the first to bear the brunt.
He even wondered if the change in his identity had put her in a difficult situation. She didn't know whether to hate him or forgive him, so she decided in a decisive way. She has always been a person with no middle ground.
He has never been very expressive. He has never said many things and has no intention of saying them. But he regretted it very much. He should have gone to coax her that day.
He should have shamelessly reconciled with his sister on that day and cleared up all the past grudges.
Nor will I rely on the word "no bones left" at this moment.
Without the body, is there any hope of survival?
You want to see people when you are alive, and you want to see corpses when you are dead.
Looking at Xie Queshan's searching back, Nan Yi felt a strong pain swell in his chest, followed by a surge of hope, and his heart beat faster and faster.
She also rolled up her trouser legs and waded into the river.
Her powerlessness suddenly found a place to put it. Maybe they didn't have to face this cruel separation. It could be an escape, or it could be the madness of a dying person grabbing the driftwood. What if? , just in case it can be found.
Even if she was rational, she knew that the court must have sent people to look for him, but found nothing. She knew that several days had passed and how futile this search would be. But at this moment, these were forgotten. They only focused on the river flow in front of them, and gained a little strength to stand up in the mechanical search.
In the past, they also had moments when God favored them and saved the day.
Xie Queshan saw Nan Yi, and they already had a tacit understanding, looking for miracles in every moment of abandonment. He didn't say anything, just walked in tandem with her, searching silently.
The river was slowly receding, revealing more shoals, but still nothing could be found.
Xiaoliu, stop hiding.
go home.
Xie Queshan had the illusion that his body was numbly and hopelessly searching, but in reality he was floating far away, looking down at them under the cliff. In front of the mountains and rivers, people as small as mayflies could not get an answer no matter how much they shouted.
Suddenly, an unexpected big wave hit him, and Xie Queshan could barely stand still. He subconsciously looked back, but Nan Yi could no longer be seen.
A certain fear of loss suddenly gripped his heart, and before he even had time to think, he frantically waded into the water in the direction of Nan Yi.
Wow - when I got closer, I heard the sound of water being poured. Nan Yi stood up unsteadily from the water. Xie Queshan quickly grabbed her hand, fearing that she would also be washed away by the river.
He wanted to say something, but when he saw her particularly sad eyes, he stopped.
"I seem to have seen something." Nan Yi said in a daze.
The last wave faded away quietly in the words, and Xie Queshan looked at the exposed rocky beach. In one place, the stone was fragmented, and a shallow pit was vaguely visible. There was a broken arrow stuck in the rocks, only the arrowhead was missing.
Xie Queshan knelt down and carefully, almost tremblingly, picked up the remains of the arrow. This is a weapon used by the Qi people, and it is engraved with the unique patterns of Black Crow Hall.
It had been forcibly broken in the middle, and blood could still be seen seeping into the heart of the wood.
The tragic and silent scene at that time can be glimpsed here.
Xie Queshan's reason began to return to his body inch by inch, and he gradually woke up.
This may be where Xie Xiaoliu fell. The body had been washed away by the river, leaving only half of the enemy's arrows.
The sharpest part of the other half has been left in her body forever, and she will use her flesh and blood to rot it and obliterate it.
That was her determination.
Xie Queshan knelt on the shallow beach, holding the half arrow, lowered his head and wept. His sister was so determined that she turned into a rolling river and passed away, and he could never find her again.
Nan Yi stepped forward to comfort and hug Xie Queshan, and he held her tightly without moving. The tide washed over his trembling back over and over again, and he seemed to want to gain a glimmer of certainty in this huge illusion and loss.
There are fewer and fewer things he can hold on to.
……
On the way back, they all lost the strength to ride their horses and just led the horses forward slowly.
Halfway through the journey, someone galloped forward on horseback, looking anxious.
The person who came was Song Muchuan. He got off his horse and took a few hurried steps towards them.
Xie Queshan had noticed a hint of urgency in his expression.
"Chao En, there is an urgent report from the front line. The Qi army is led by Han Xianwang. The 50,000-strong army has passed Shangyang Pass and forced the tiger to kneel on the mountain. Half a month earlier than we expected."
Xie Queshan and Song Muchuan had already guessed that Qi Ren's next move would be to invade the territory with a large army, and began to prepare for the battle to defend the city. However, they calculated that Qi Ren would send troops from Bianliang and would have to march for more than twenty days anyway, but they did not expect that. It will come so quickly.
I'm afraid that when Wanyan Puruo learned that Xie Queshan had not been removed, he expected that there would be changes in Lidu Mansion and had already made secondary preparations.
After Bingzhusi defeated the Qi soldiers in Lidu Mansion, Wanyan Puruo killed Shen Zhizhong and left Jinling quietly. The last battle to intercept the officials was all done by her to confuse the public. Various means were used to keep the new dynasty in the south busy with itself and unable to quickly assemble an army, while the other side sent its own troops southward.
She was extremely fast, and she quickly found a way to break the situation even though she was at a disadvantage.
Xie Queshan slowly raised his head, and all the sadness in his eyes turned into bitter hatred. It was the first time that he showed such clear murderous intent.
A sword that has been drained of blood, just waiting to be unsheathed.
New and old grudges are in this battle.
Word by word, he expressed his determination: "Pu Tian shares the same hatred, so he will be punished quickly."
