Relief

After entering the city, the streets were bustling with traffic, and there was an endless stream of merchant convoys, and Xu Hui's carriage slowed to a crawl when it merged into the crowd.

A tall, mighty horse passed by, with a shiny coat and a high-spirited posture, it shuttled across the street, and the surface of its black pupils slid past Xie Zhixu's face sticking out of the car window.

"What a beautiful horse." Xie Zhixu praised.

Xu Hui snorted coldly in the car: "It's just Hou Daizhao's superficial effort to gain his reputation. After he became the castle master, he was recruited by Jiangling Mansion Yin and was awarded the position of pacifier and commanded the Jiangling Mansion's [-] garrisons. At that time there were still rumors circulating among the people that Hou Daizhao laid off the general of the cavalry battalion and returned the horses to civilian use.

Xie Zhixu stopped talking.

Passing the market in front of Baoqing Temple, it was even more noisy than Xie Zhixu’s impression. Many shops were newly opened in recent years, and I had never seen it before. Compared with the scene he was used to seeing in his 18 years of life, it was much bustling and bustling. .

The nine-storey brick pagoda with square pavilions and the Daguan Pagoda in Baoqing Temple are still the tallest buildings in the city. They stand out among the tiled roofs, but they are the familiar symbols of Xie Zhixu’s hometown.

Xu Hui's family lived at the foot of the mountain villa, and he could have passed through the city without having to take the long way to go through the market, presumably because he wanted to bring Xie Zhixu back to the memories of his life in Jiangling as he himself said.

What a waste.

But after two years away, what can I forget?

The carriage stopped suddenly, and the two people in the carriage couldn't sit still.

"What's going on?" Xu Hui lifted the car curtain, Xie Zhixu saw his back stiffen, then got out, put down the four corners of the car curtain to block the light tightly.

The sound of conversation from outside came in.

"Why are you here."

"Vice Castle Master Xu, you deliberately got rid of me in Suzhou, did you have any special mission in private?"

The intonation of this voice fluctuated so strangely that Xie Zhixu would never forget it for the rest of his life. He knew who the people outside were almost immediately.There is a layer of Han in the palm of the hand, holding the handle of the Qingjingtian sword.

"What does it have to do with you?" Xu Hui asked not very friendly.

"The castle lord ordered me to go with you. You caused me to disobey the castle lord's order. Why has nothing to do with me?"

"So you're here to question the crime? Wang Suiqu."

That tone became even more annoying, as if there was always something to be said, twists and turns, unable to communicate well: "Vice Castle Master Xu, the two of us went on a business trip to Suzhou together, and now you are returning to the city alone, but you took a high It's five deep, eight wide and four wide, enough to accommodate six people. What's the matter? Is there an extra guest?"

Wang Suiqu, Xie Zhixu knew that his father disliked him very much in the past, so he was suspicious and cunning. Once he was in charge of patrolling the village, and handed over a guest's lottery, saying that it contained a hidden weapon and a poisonous needle to accuse the guest of evil intentions. .It turned out that the silver needles were real, but they were the toothpicks that the customer used to pick his teeth. Because his teeth were too large to get stuck when eating, he always carried a toothpick with him.Wang Suiqu forced the guest to show his innocence by showing the food scraps between his teeth. He became angry from embarrassment and almost cut off contact with the villa.

The insidious see all beings as insidious.

Xie Zhixu's mother once said, no one should try to play tricks in front of Wang Suiqu, because even if you have no other intentions, he already regards you as ulterior motives. If you still try to hide something, it must be a heinous crime. .

Xie Zhixu used to be his bright and upright young master, he could hate Wang Suiqu aloofly, but now he has to feel worried and fearful, for fear that Xu Hui will see something wrong with Wang Suiqu, as long as the curtain is opened, he will be killed. Hou Daizhao's followers captured it on the spot.

Ge Ge Ge -- Ge Ge Ge --

There was a slight noise in the carriage, and Xie Zhixu became more and more nervous. He listened carefully, but found that it was his hand shaking Qing Jingtian.

"........."

However, the tense atmosphere outside suddenly relaxed.

"Wang Suiqu, you are brave enough now to even check my carriage?"

"Don't dare, Deputy Castle Master Xu, how dare the villain commit an offense. The villain just saw that you have not returned so late, so he came here specially to confirm your personal safety. The villain will make way now, please, Deputy Castle Master Xu."

Xu Hui went back to the carriage, glanced at Xie Zhixu, seeing that he didn't intend to ask any questions, his eyelids twitched, and he didn't say anything.

Xu Hui used to work under Xie Zhixu's father, Xie Wen, and was responsible for the villa's external liaison. Although it was an important position, it was far from the level of the deputy owner.In fact, none of the close brothers who followed Xie Wen to conquer the country became the deputy owner of the villa. Even Wu Tao, who was picked up by Xie Wen and raised as his own son, was called the young master jokingly in the village, but he didn't get it. What an honored post.

The only exception is the outsider named Hou Daizhao.In the past, he was the deputy owner of the villa, but now he is the owner of the castle.

Under Xie Wen's hand, Xu Hui only got a job as a foreign liaison, but after Hou Daizhao came to power, he became the deputy castle master.

Xie Zhixu didn't say a word, he knew that the one who was truly loyal to Xie's family died early in the fire two years ago.

The carriage drove through a field, and a hill rose from the flat ground in front of it. At the foot of the hill, there were dense forests. There was a stone archway and a stone road extending into the mountain.

The carriage neither went up the mountain nor entered the forest. It stopped in front of a small square courtyard at the junction of the forest and the ridge, and immediately a servant came up to lead the horse.

Xie Zhixu can picture the scenery here in his heart even with his eyes closed.When he was living here, he was very noisy, and every inch of land from the mountain to the foot of the mountain was touched by him.

The servant and doorman leading the horse were obviously stunned when they saw Xie Zhixu.

"Little little little little young master?!!"

Xie Zhixu was also able to call Xu Hui Erbo in the past, the relationship between the two families is as close as a family member, and the servants inside and outside the Xu family all know him.

Xu Hui led him in, and warned the servants to be careful not to hang their heads on their heads if they dared to speak nonsense.

As in the past, the Xu family did not expand or renovate because of Xu Hui's promotion to the deputy castle master. The four courtyards, the front courtyard and the back yard have three entrances and three exits, which can be seen through at a glance.

On the crooked-neck tree in the courtyard where Xie Zhixu spent countless afternoons, he fell asleep in the branch of the tree, with his robe covering his face. At first glance, he thought it was the reappearance of Xie Zhixu from two years ago.

"Xiao Tao," Xu Hui said with a smile on his face, "wake up and see who is here."

That's Xu Tao...

Xu Hui's son grew up with Xie Zhixu. The two bullies in the village climbed trees, picked out bird eggs and went down rivers to fish for fish and barbecued pork. Their relationship was so good that they could swim naked together.

The person in the tree branch was motionless, as if he had fallen asleep. After a while, a muffled voice came from under his clothes: "Zhang San? Li Si? Or Wang Wu?"

Zhang, Sanli, Siwang and Wu are all children from the Zhuanglimen family. Everyone has been messing around together since childhood, and they are all friends in Xu Hui's mouth.

Xu Hui: "It's the young master."

"Young master? The son surnamed Hou who just had a birthday party? How did you pick him up?"

Xie Zhixu remained silent, he did not expect Hou Daizhao to be married and have a child two years later.

"It's not Hou. It's the young master surnamed Xie."

The one lying on the tree almost became a humanoid sculpture, stiff for a while, then slowly sat up, the outer robe slipped off his face, revealing a face lacking edges and corners, round eyes, two years seemed to be gone No change in his face.

It made Xie Zhixu feel very familiar, but also a little regretful, which meant that the fire was only burning in his heart for a long time, and everyone else had forgotten it.

Xu Tao seemed to be extremely shocked, he froze on the tree with his eyes wide open, staring at Xie Zhixu.

Xu Hui cleared his throat, and then he came back to his senses a little bit, and read out word by word: "Xie, Jing, Hui..."

It seemed to be confirming that it was a real person and not a hallucination.

"You're back..." Xu Tao murmured.

Xu Hui cleared his throat again, sounding a little dissatisfied with his son's performance.

"It's me." Xie Zhixu said, thinking that at this moment you should immediately run over and hug me, lest Er Bo keep coughing and coughing up his throat.

"Oh my god," Xu Tao continued to mutter, completely unresponsive, jumped off the tree, walked up to Xie Zhixu and pinched his face, "Oh my god!"

Xie Zhixu patted his hand away, and Xu Tao changed it from pinching to touching, and deformed Xie Zhixu's face: "Oh my god! It's really really really really you!!"

Xu Tao hugged Xie Zhixu, so hard that Xie Zhixu rolled his eyes.

"It's really, really, really, really me." Xie Zhixu patted him on the back, the feeling was the same as before, and his eyes were a little sore for a moment.

At this moment, the two of them are still friends who have never experienced any changes. They are familiar with each other, have quarreled and reconciled, have experienced joys and sorrows, and their friendship has been tempered by the years to become the true gold of Zhicheng.

"Xie Jinghui!" Xu Tao hugged him and slapped him on the back of the head.

"Hey!"

"You brat! You left without saying a word! I thought you were dead inside!"

"I didn't. I ran for my life."

"I really thought you were dead! I searched the villa all over the place, and I ran to question Hou Daizhao, and I was almost hacked to death by him!" Xu Tao sniffed, "I also crippled an arm because of you!"

Xie Zhixu immediately pushed him away: "What happened to your arm?"

Xu Tao shrank his hands: "It's nothing."

"What's going on!" Xie Zhixu raised his voice.

"It's okay, you dare to yell at me!" Xu Tao also shouted.

"Show me!" Xie Zhixu pulled his hand behind his back, Xu Tao is a lazy boy, he doesn't like to practice martial arts, but loves to sleep, he can't carry his shoulders or lift his hands, and he is useless in martial arts competitions. Hypocrisy is useless.

Xie Zhixu grabbed his hand and rolled up his sleeves to reveal his forearms, his flesh was knotted and hideous, shocking.

Xie Zhixu was taken aback, before he had time to take a closer look, Xu Tao cursed and got the hell out, pulled his arm back and covered the wound with his sleeve.

Xu Hui looked at the two of them from the side, and said to Xie Zhixu at the right time: "The villa caught fire two years ago, he rushed into the fire to save you, but was hit by a burnt fire stick, and fell into a coma for three days and three nights. It didn't come through."

Xie Zhi bluffed and opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

Xu Tao turned his face away, and suddenly wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

Xie Zhixu moved his hand hanging by his side, grabbed Xu Tao's shoulder, and apologized against his ear: "I'm sorry..."

I don't know if it's because of my leaving without saying goodbye two years ago, or because of the estrangement and distrust in my heart when I met two years later.

"Sorry, I'm back."