Still pity the grass and trees

Five days later, Ji Tanyin returned to Yushan to ask Lingfeng.

I haven't seen him for half a year, and the path leading to the top of the mountain has been submerged in weeds because no one cares about it. Ji Tanyin is timid at home, coupled with seeing things and thinking about people, he lingers at the foot of the mountain.

Knowing that he was depressed, Xie Wufeng intentionally explained it, pointing to the shadow passing by in the grass, and asked: "Is there a squirrel there?"

Ji Tanyin took a look and nodded with a smile: "It should be, there are many small animals in the mountains."

He was recalled by Xie Wufeng's words, and the conversation started: "There is also a weasel! When we were young, we raised six chickens, starting from fluffy chicks that were half the size of a palm. The second senior brother and I Watching them, feeding them several times a day, only to be eaten by weasels!"

Xie Wufeng joked: "Did you cry for two hours?"

Ji Tanyin was a little embarrassed, her cheeks puffed up, like two soft bubbles, and reluctantly admitted: "I haven't eaten all day, and I made a few traps with my second brother, trying to catch weasels."

"Have you caught it?"

"Of course not, they are too cunning..." Ji Tanyin couldn't help laughing as he spoke.

They cut off the bushes and weeds with sharp swords, and led Chasing the Wind and Moon up the mountain. Along the way, Ji Tanyin recounted interesting childhood stories in a nostalgic and gentle tone, whispering among the mountains.And Xie Wufeng listened intently, rubbing his head from time to time.

The pain didn't go away, but it turned into something tougher, calmer, more powerful, and it was delivered through laughter.

The forest was getting denser and the hillside was getting steeper and steeper. When those dilapidated and desolate wooden houses appeared in sight, Ji Tanyin's footsteps stopped obviously, and his lively expression turned quiet.

He took a deep breath: "It's almost here."

In order to divert the discomfort in his heart, he lightly bumped Xie Wufeng's arm, half joking and half earnestly exhorting: "You must not dislike the dilapidated house."

"How could it be?" Xie Wufeng raised his brows, and argued bitterly, "I am a person of peace and happiness."

Ji Tanyin pursed his lips, looking very distrustful.

They stopped talking, and slowly approached the vegetable garden amidst the chirping of birds.The vegetable garden was opened when Ji Tanyin's mistress was still alive. Fences were erected around it, and a scarecrow was tied in the middle. Since Ji Heng retreated to the present, no one has taken care of it for many days, and the vegetables have mossed.

Ji Tanyin felt that it was difficult to breathe, so she took a rest for a while, tied up the horse, and walked around the vegetable garden.

There was an open space in front of the wooden house, near the edge of the forest, a tall and thin figure stood with his back to them.

"Second Senior Brother!" Ji Tanyin rushed forward.

The man turned around, also very emotional, and hoarsely called: "Little brother!" He grabbed the edge of his jacket with both hands, as if he was carrying something, at this moment his hands loosened and fell to the ground.

Ji Tanyin rushed forward to hug him, and when they separated again, their eye circles were red.

"You—" Kong Yulin hesitated to speak, but Ji Tanyin suddenly jumped up, stepped back in a panic, pointed to the bones under his feet and asked, "What is this?"

"This is..." Kong Yulin pointed behind him. There was originally a tomb, but now it was dug into a big pit. It was deep and wide, and inside was a familiar coffin with exquisite workmanship.

"Isn't this Madam's grave? Where's the grave? Madam's coffin—" Suddenly, Ji Tanyin paused, lowered his head in disbelief, and looked at the scattered bones.

Kong Yulin was heartbroken: "When I came back, my wife's tomb had been destroyed, and the bones were scattered all over the mountains... I think it was because Master was framed by others. Someone went up the mountain to look for him, but they couldn't find him, so they dug up my wife's grave to vent their anger."

Ji Tanyin clenched her fists, her teeth trembling, and asked, "Do you know who did it?"

Kong Yulin shook his head: "I can't find it. Fortunately, I searched Lingfeng and found all the remains. Now Master also... just happened to bury the two of them together."

He knelt down to collect the bones, tears dripping down his face.

Ji Tanyin said: "Master is still thinking about you when he is dying."

Kong Yulin didn't look at Ji Tanyin, and kept wiping his tears with his sleeves, his Adam's apple rose and fell, and he couldn't stop swallowing.Ji Tanyin quietly accompanied his senior brother. For some reason, although he still felt sad, he couldn't cry like the other party.

After a long time, seeing that Kong Yulin's mood had returned to calm, Ji Tanyin asked, "Did the leader Xiong tell you about the situation that day?"

Kong Yulin nodded.

"I have killed Hua Yueying with my own hands, Master's revenge has been avenged."

"I know." Kong Yulin stood up with his wife's remains in his pocket, Ji Tanyin took the wooden box beside him, the two brothers carefully packed the bones, covered them with silk, covered them with a lid, and placed them next to Ji Heng's coffin.

They stood in front of the pit, silent for a long time.Ji Tanyin saw two stone tablets beside the pit, with sharp edges and stone chips in the engraved handwriting. Knowing that they were newly made, he couldn't help but ask, "What's going on?"

Ji Heng didn't like fame and pomp, and he had told his apprentices in the early years that funerals should be kept simple, and there should be no stele or memorial tablet, so these two steles must not be Kong Yulin's idea.

Kong Yulin said: "Master Zhai and Li Escort each sent a piece. I don't know if it's an agreement, but we can make a match."

I saw four big characters engraved on the two stone tablets: chivalry, righteousness and courage, reflecting the past and the present.

Xie Wufeng walked around the wooden house a few times, saw that the two brothers and sisters were still in a daze, and coughed: "Pile the grave, do you need my help?"

"Oh," Ji Tanyin remembered that he had left Xie Wufeng behind, bit his lips apologetically, and pulled Kong Yulin to introduce him: "This is my second senior brother Kong Yulin, this is a non-regular customer, it's mine..."

He hesitated, not knowing what to say, Kong Yulin interrupted: "You don't need to explain, I know all about it. Besides, the master never objected, so why should I say anything else?"

After all, hand over to Xie Wufeng.

Ji Tanyin was a little embarrassed, he wasn't afraid to admit his relationship with Xie Wufeng, but until now he still didn't know what they were.

Xie Wufeng returned the gift and looked at Kong Yulin carefully.This person is tall and dark-skinned. Perhaps he has been in the Western Regions for a long time, so his face looks rough, and his body exudes a strange herbal smell.Xie Wufeng couldn't help but want to laugh when he thought that it was this young man who had obviously never been in love secretly telling Ji Tanyin about that incident, and also told him to "only do it once a month".

Kong Yulin had an introverted personality, and was embarrassed by Xie Wufeng. He cleared his throat and said, "It's getting late, let's fill in the soil."

The first shovel was the hardest, and it took a long time to drop it.Later, the jerky movements gradually became smooth. Although they were still full of tears, they all restrained and no one stopped.

Master, wife, Ji Tanyin said silently in her heart, rest in peace, no one will disturb you again.

That night, they rested in those dilapidated wooden houses.Kong Yulin cleaned the room, Ji Tanyin brought firewood, squatted in front of the stove to light the fire, and bubbling porridge was cooking in the iron pot.

Xie Wufeng was a guest, sitting idly by the oil lamp, looking at the simple furnishings in the house.In a corner full of dust and cobwebs, he also saw a few fallen teeth.

"It was my tooth that was replaced when I was a child," Ji Tanyin said embarrassedly.

In this way, a new tomb was added on the dark Wenling Peak, while the oil lamp in the cabin was still persistently lit.These seemingly dilapidated houses have been standing upright, and they are still sheltering the younger generations. Xie Wufeng cannot but be moved.He stopped and walked around the wooden house, like doing a treasure hunt, and found traces of Ji Tanyin's growth and life in many corners.

They lived on Wenling Peak for ten days, and Ji Tanyin and Kong Yulin took turns guarding Ji Heng's spirit.Every night, when everything is silent and the lights are extinguished, the loneliness that belongs to the mountains and forests is particularly highlighted. It is the deepest and most vast silence without any smoke and fire, shuttling through the rustling wind.

On the tenth day, Xie Wufeng lit a branch with a flint and came to Ji Heng's grave with a torch.Ji Tanyin sat with his back against the big tree, hugged his knees, turned his head when he saw the fire, and asked Xie Wufeng, "Why don't you sleep?"

Xie Wufeng inserted the torch into the soft soil and said, "How can I sleep without you here?"

Ji Tanyin was full of guilt: "The life on the mountain is harder than outside, are you not used to it?"

"It's not this," Xie Wufeng took off his robe and put it on Ji Tanyin's shoulders. He looked quite distressed, and he hesitated to speak several times.

Although Ji Tanyin didn't understand why, he looked at him in Chicheng and waited patiently.

"Ayin," Xie Wufeng breathed out, "Have you ever thought about what you plan to do in the future?"

Ji Tanyin was taken aback.

He suddenly realized where the emptiness in his heart came from after killing Hua Yueying that day.

"In the future", it's not that he hasn't thought about it, in fact, before leaving Wenling Peak, he always likes to dream.What he imagined was the rivers and lakes of happiness and vengeance, the colorful capital, men and women in fresh clothes and angry horses, but after experiencing it himself, and experiencing the departure of his loved ones, he understood the turmoil and changeability of the world.

Everything has become very ethereal, where else can he go, what else can he grasp?Ji Tanyin couldn't figure it out, and turned his head to look at Xie Wufeng, keenly aware that the other party was preoccupied.

He had a bad premonition, and asked nervously, "Do you... want to leave and ask Lingfeng?"

Xie Wufeng looked at him silently, without denying it.

Ji Tanyin had mixed feelings in his heart, and a sense of disappointment that he couldn't dispatch seized him, but after experiencing so many things, he was no longer as self-willed as before, staring at the dancing flames, pretending to be indifferent: "You can leave if you want Go, I won't stop you."

Xie Wufeng said: "I want to go back to Chiwei Islet. In fact, this trip south, I planned to go back to my hometown. My master is old and alone, I should go back and take care of him."

Chiwei Island...Ji Tanyin lowered his head, picked up a dead branch and scribbled on the ground restlessly. Before he met Xie Wufeng, he didn't know this place at all, and Xie Wufeng told it that it was a small island in the sea, far away. far away...

"Your master still..." He paused, "I thought..."

Xie Wufeng seldom talked about his own affairs. Ji Tanyin once thought his master had passed away, but he didn't expect that he was still alive.

"He's still alive, but he's approaching his seventies. He has a very weird temper," Xie Wufeng looked at Ji Tanyin with a smile, "You two should get along very well."

Ji Tanyin's scribbled lines stopped, he didn't understand the meaning of Xie Wufeng's words, so he gave a vague "hmm".

"Would you like to come with me?"

"Ah?" Ji Tanyin's heart was slightly hot, he looked at the graves in front of him, and he heard the clear heartbeat in the silent night.After a long time, he replied: "No, my master's bones are not yet cold, and he has no heirs. According to folk customs, I have to keep a filial piety for him for three years."

Xie Wufeng remained silent, the torch was burned out, and the darkness shrouded the forest again.

"But you have to go back!" Ji Tanyin said flusteredly but firmly, "You can't stay at Wenling Peak. There are only a few three years in your life. It's right for you to go back and accompany your master..."

Xie Wufeng interrupted him sullenly: "What about you and me? How many years do we have? Let me ask you, what do you do when the filial piety period is over? Will you end up in Yushan?"

Ji Tanyin murmured: "The filial piety period is over, I'll go find you again."

"Three years is not short," Xie Wufeng became angry, a little bit happier, his voice became loose and lazy, deliberately provoking him, "Then what if I fall in love with someone else?"

Ji Tanyin broke the branch in his hand, and said in an angry and anxious tone, "You——Xie Wufeng! How could you do this?"

"I'm teasing you," Xie Wufeng hugged him, and regardless of Ji Tanyin's angry resistance, he kissed Ji Tanyin's soft lips hard, and finally whispered in his ear, "The day before the martial arts conference, I I met your master. He asked me who you were, and I answered him that I was a lover. When he was dying, he entrusted you to me, indicating that he had agreed to us being together."

Ji Tanyin stopped struggling, and breathed heavily on Xie Wufeng's neck.

Xie Wufeng said softly: "You should understand your master, if he is still alive, how could he have the heart to let you be trapped in the mountains, bound by those red tapes."

Ji Tanyin was silent for a while, pushed away Xie Wufeng's embrace, and lowered his head a little bit: "Master can't bear it, it's the master's will. I keep my filial piety, it's my will."

Xie Wufeng frowned, and when the words reached his lips, they turned into a helpless and low sigh.

"In that case, then I won't force you."