zero o'clock

【Senior Sister Qingci】

At ten o'clock in the morning, the sky over the city of Beijing was covered with overcast clouds, and the sky was as gloomy as evening.The snow that fell the night before yesterday was quite unstoppable. The goose-feather flakes covered the sky and the sun, and seemed to swallow up the entire city. The meteorological department urgently issued a blizzard warning message, reminding citizens to go out Pay attention to traffic safety.

The quaint Shichahai Lake was covered with heavy snow. A group of children wrapped in down jackets into balls were skating and having snowball fights on the ice.But it is this kind of hustle and bustle in the world, against the background of the special environment in winter, the laughter spreads far, and only the deeper and deeper emptiness is left in the end.

A little boy in a cartoon monkey coat laughed and ran up the Yinding Bridge, because he wanted to go to the lake to skate quickly. He stood on the top of the arched bridge and looked at the ice, and then turned his head impatiently to greet the taxi just got off. Che's mother turned around again and bumped into the person who appeared in front of her unexpectedly.

There was a thick layer of snow on the bridge deck, and there was ice on the bottom. The child had a poor sense of balance, so he lost his center of gravity in such a collision, slipped under his feet, and immediately rolled down the steps.

The young mother not far away exclaimed in shock, and hurried over to help her son to check the situation.

The little boy was dressed thickly and was not hurt. He didn't pay attention to his mother's nagging, but turned his head to look at the top of the Yinding bridge, pointed there with a woolen gloved hand and said, "There was an aunt in black there just now. I bumped into her." It just fell off."

Hearing this, the young mother stopped brushing the child's clothes immediately, and looked into her son's dark eyes with a hint of surprise.Even if it was far away before, the length of the Yinding Bridge is only a few meters, and it is impossible to miss anything at a glance, let alone a living woman...

Thinking of this, she subconsciously looked back at the top of the bridge. The snow there had not been trampled on, and the surface was very flat. There were only a series of footprints belonging to children—she suddenly realized something, her complexion changed slightly, and she hurriedly lowered her voice and said: " Don't talk nonsense, where is there any auntie? You fell down because you ran around disobediently!" After speaking, before her son could argue, she picked up the child and covered his mouth tightly, bowed her head and hurried away.

The heavy snow was thick and fast, and at this moment, there was a soft "bang" sound in the quiet air, and the snowflakes that fell from the sky suddenly suspended in the air, outlining an inverted arc bit by bit, as if there was something wrong. The qualitative but invisible thing stood there quietly, watching the backs of the human mother and child who were drifting away.

A dry bird's cry came from the sky, and a big bird with black wings and dark blue streamers came through the snow, flapped its wings and landed lightly on the bridge pillar.

"It was discovered by a child," Blackbird twisted its flexible neck, opened a pair of round black eyes and looked at the open space next to it, and said sharply in an indistinguishable voice, "Tsk tsk tsk, two Miss, there is something on my mind!"

Its voice faded away, and the transparent air beside the bridge pillar rippled like a lake, wisps of black air were generated out of thin air, fell on the snow, and slowly condensed into a pair of smooth black stiletto boots.Graceful and sexy lines continue to climb, gradually revealing the woman's slender legs wrapped tightly in leather boots, the hem of the windbreaker, her straight waist and hips, her right arm is bent, and her hand wearing a leather glove is firmly holding a long-handled umbrella With a curved handle, in the other hand he carried a heavy snack box.

It was a tall and slender young woman dressed in black.

Under the black umbrella, the woman's fair face was covered with a layer of shadow, her cat eyes painted with charming smoky makeup were slightly drawn down, and her lips, thickly coated with dark red lipstick, showed a slight smile.She seemed to be wearing a mask of heavy make-up, but the face under the mask revealed a quiet and graceful face that was completely opposite.

"That child has good spiritual power, and most likely he will be selected by the Demon Subduing Masters Association in the future, and it will become a disaster sooner or later if he stays." After finishing speaking, the woman stepped up to the stone bridge, without any intention of stopping the mother and child.

The black bird flapped its wings and flew up to her shoulder, stood obediently, poked its head and asked, "Second Miss doesn't want to do anything, so do you need a subordinate—?"

"Stop meddling in your own business!" The woman's voice dropped instantly, and she gave the bird a threatening sideways glance, "This is Shichahai, even if you want to move every plant or tree, you have to ask the teacher first, let alone a Living people? Raven, are you tired of living?”

The raven gave a meaningful "oh", buried its head under its wings to comb its feathers, cooed and said, "Second miss is thinking about Lord Nine Tails, so she accidentally got caught by a man with a little spiritual power. The kid sees through the illusion~"

"In the past two months, the teacher was seriously injured in the Mulan paddock, and last night I heard that he fought against the Qinglong soul in the spiritual domain. Right now, he only has one soul in his body. Even a high-level monster will inevitably have insufficient energy. How can I be at ease? Down?"

"From what you said, it means that you have some complaints about Master Jiuwei's practice of using one soul to suppress the demon soul in Master Huan's body?"

"I know why, but I strongly opposed this approach back then. Now that the current situation is chaotic, I certainly hope that the teacher can return to the body, at least not to be implicated for no reason." The woman sighed softly, "It's a pity that he is too partial to Huan Brother, you simply don’t listen to other people’s dissuasion.”

One person and one crow walked across the stone bridge with an umbrella, and went straight into the secluded alley behind Bar Street.

The aunt in the commissary was wielding a broom to sweep away the snow in front of the door, and scattered the black scum all over the place.

The woman was obviously a bit obsessed with cleanliness, and she couldn't help frowning calmly when she saw this, and without her speaking, the raven took the lead in flying into the air, flapping its wings to disrupt the airflow.

In an instant, a cold wind blew inexplicably in the alley where there was no one else in the eyes of human beings. The aunt was blinded by the blown back snow foam. The tiles that have long been aged are shaken to the point of falling, almost ready to fall off at any moment.

The woman calmly walked past the human woman who couldn't see her, and reminded without looking back: "Don't hurt people, or I will keep you if the teacher blames you. Don't forget, he didn't like you in the first place." A monster from hell."

The raven stopped at the right time, flew over and landed on the master's shoulder again.

The woman climbed up the steps, and respectfully knocked on the door of the tea house on the other side.

At the same time, Li Huan was leaning on the sofa and holding up his mobile phone to play the new season's Hearthstone qualifying match. Qi Jingyu and Xing Yi were playing Go on the opposite side of the booth. These two seemingly indifferent guys are silently killing each other in an elegant way.

So when the knock on the door rang, the three people who were each focused on the matter at hand were slightly taken aback by coincidence.

"Are there any guests today?" Li Huan looked up at the teacher.

Qi Jingyu said: "Words have been passed down for a long time that guests are not allowed to see guests during the first month. It should not be a monster in the capital."

Li Huan put away his phone, got up and put on his coat, and took out the Tang knife from his backpack: "I'll go and have a look."

Xing Yi also stood up and said briefly, "Together."

The two left the main room, walked through the courtyard, and stood in front of the gate. Li Huan said, "Who is it?"

"Brother Huan, it's me." The female voice outside the door responded, "The mission is tricky, I'm late this year, please greet the teacher."

Li Huan was overjoyed when he heard the sound, and quickly threw the Tang Dao to Xing Yi, opened the door latch and pushed the door out: "Senior Sister Qingci!" He stepped forward and hugged the woman holding the black umbrella, "You are back! Last time I heard It was a matter of years ago that you would come back, but it was delayed until the Chinese New Year and there was no news, which caused the teacher to miss it for a long time."

Ji Qingci put away the black umbrella, stretched out his hand to touch the head of the little junior, and said with a sweet smile: "A child of your age really changes every day, senior sister has only been out for less than a year, and you have grown a lot taller " After finishing speaking, she looked up at Xing Yi inside the door, "This must be Mr. Xing?"

Xing Yi didn't speak, but nodded slightly at the other party.

"This is my second senior sister, Ji Qingci." After Li Huan introduced Xing Yi, he looked at Qingci again and said, "Teacher mentioned him to you?"

Ji Qingci said: "That's not true. The teacher always only talks about tasks and not personal matters when contacting me. It's what the elder brother said."

Li Huan let his senior sister in, and shaved the raven's beak casually.The raven cooed and turned its head, then flapped its wings and flew up to the eaves.

"Don't pay attention to that stupid bird, this little demon has no spiritual roots, and he is very stupid now." Ji Qingci took Li Huan's arm, and dragged the junior brother who was about to go back, "Brother Huan, senior sister is going out this time. It's been a long time, and I'm a bit greedy for hot pot, go buy a few catties of mutton slices and boiled vegetables, and let's have a good meal when you come back."

Li Huan was stunned, and subconsciously looked at Xing Yi who was standing behind her. The latter also had a different expression, but after a short moment of stunned, he nodded very calmly. Li Huan understood, and hurriedly responded: "Okay, I will go immediately."

"Then I'll go in and report the mission to the teacher," Qingci said, "Don't run away, go and come back quickly."

After the three of them finished speaking, they went to the inside and outside of the tea house.

After exiting the alley, Li Huan stood beside the frozen water of Shichahai Lake, and couldn't help looking back.

"She intends to dismiss us?" Xing Yi said.

Li Huan thought for a while and said, "Maybe there is something I want to talk to the teacher alone. In fact, they would deliberately avoid me in the past about the hunter mission. After all, most of the incidents involved are relatively sensitive, and they have lived too long. , In their eyes, I will always be a child, so naturally the less I know, the better."

Xing Yi felt that it didn't make sense, but he didn't point it out. He just said, "What are your plans now?"

"Go and buy what the senior sister wants. Monsters also need to eat anyway." Li Huan was actually puzzled, but subconsciously he didn't want to think too much about himself. First, the conversation in the teacher's bedroom touched him. It's huge, and it still hurts to think about it now.

Li Huan concentrated his mind to block out the inexplicable thoughts, then walked over to hold Xing Yi's hand, his eyes curled up with a smile, and said: "Don't be too sensitive, I just want to go out for a walk, the room is too warm and easy to get sleepy. It will be better."

Xing Yi held his hand instead, and the two walked side by side towards the nearby supermarket.

The palms of the man were warm and dry, probably because the Demon Subduing Master had extremely high requirements on the sensitivity of his fingers. They were clearly well-maintained hands. There was no dead skin or calluses. The skin was very smooth, and the fingers were well-proportioned and slender.Li Huan liked the clean and well-defined hands very much. He thought they looked good without looking feminine. On a whim, he took Xing Yi's hand, bowed his head and kissed the back of his hand.

Xing Yi didn't refuse either, and looked down at him with his usual expression, and said lightly, "What is this for?"

"I suddenly thought, if we get along well, we will definitely not be separated, and we can consider moving out of the teahouse to live on our own in the future, just like senior brothers and senior sisters." Li Huan said softly, "Then we can hold hands like this every day Going to the supermarket to buy groceries, except for immortality, is not much different from ordinary human couples, which is pretty good."

Hearing this, Xing Yi slightly raised the corners of his mouth, and said with a half-smile, "Are you willing to leave Nine Tails?"

"I can't bear it. I have been with the teacher since I can remember. I have never left. He has punished me many times. Every time, he beat me to pieces with a small rattan cane. But the relationship is deep. I know that the teacher cares about me, so I don't want to leave. No matter how hard you fight, you can’t hate him.”

Xing Yi felt a little uncomfortable when he heard this, and felt that Qi Jingyu really took advantage of the right time, place and people. The most difficult thing to shake in this world is the teacher-student relationship with the kindness of nurturing. It can be said that he guided Li Huan to know this world where humans, demons, and demons coexist. One can imagine the importance of his status.

Li Huan saw that this guy was distracted, he was silent for a while, and added: "But now, I am sure that I love you - people in the world mistakenly believe that demons can't have true love, because too long life will wipe out all enthusiasm and that lover But it is also because of immortality that demons cherish the person who taught them to love, after all, the first love is the most loyal, and this person of mine is you."

Mr. Jiang Yaoshi was slightly stunned, and felt that although this guy was very enchanting most of the time, it felt completely different when he was serious.

Then, a certain evildoer sighed, and continued: "Of course, it would be great if the way we got along at the beginning was not so wretched. When we are not familiar with each other, we just kissed, hugged and touched each other directly. It shouldn't be done." I have done the same thing, I always feel that I was provoked by you!"

Xing Yi: "..."

"Hey, hey," Li Huan stopped suddenly, and said very seriously, "If you tell me frankly, your purpose was not pure in the first place, or why don't you remember anything and still molested me every day?!"

At that moment, the customers who passed by at the entrance of the supermarket all showed extremely horrified expressions, wantonly despising Xing Yi with the eyes of a scumbag, and it was rare for Mr. Mr. Demon Subduing Master, who had always shown little emotion, to be a little uneasy.

At the same time, Ji Qingci pushed open the door of the tea house amidst the ringing of the bell, and the nine-tailed demon fox sitting on the sofa was still concentrating on the black-and-white sub-game that was halfway through, and seemed not at all surprised by the identity of the visitor.

Ji Qingci couldn't figure out what the teacher was thinking, so he walked lightly to the booth, bowed respectfully, and called, "Teacher, the apprentice is back."

Qi Jingyu was holding a sunspot in his hand, and without even raising his eyelids, he said calmly: "What went wrong with Mutation Aoyin's mission, why did you report false information, do you have a clue about this matter? "

Ji Qingci said: "Teacher Hui, Yao who was in charge of handing over this task in Shanghai was dealt with on the night Brother Huan was attacked."

Qi Jingyu was not surprised, and asked again: "Have you checked the body?"

"Tu'er personally inspected it," Ji Qingci said. "The corpse has no external injuries, but..." She raised her eyes to Qi Jingyu, "The three souls are gone."

"Three souls have been extracted." Qi Jingyu repeated lightly, the sunspot in his hand settled down, and he threw the ground with a sound. He finally looked at the ray of life on the chess board, and then looked up at the second apprentice standing beside him with his head bowed, and said coldly Said, "There may be a lot of speculation involved in the loss of the three souls. It seems that the people who did it are very aware of our current situation."

Ji Qingci's thoughts flickered for a moment, and he tentatively answered, "Teacher, you mean... the inner ghost?"

Qi Jingyu gave a flat "hmm", and a cold light appeared in his clear eyes, and he said sarcastically: "I never thought that my subordinates could raise this kind of thing. I really don't take this deity seriously."

- To Be Continued