Touch the cold

"I knew I'd find you here."

The next morning, the morning was bright, and Ah Xue climbed up to the roof and patted Mo Zijin who was still asleep.

Mo Zijin lay on the room, rubbed his eyes lazily, yawned, then turned to A Xue and smiled, "You still understand me."

Ashe curled her lips, moved closer to Mo Zijin's side, and said, "Uncle Ren knew you were back, so he told you to go see him."

"I know." Mo Zijin stretched his waist a long way, "I'm going down now." After saying that, he got up and walked downstairs.

"Hey..." Ah Xue stopped Mo Zijin from behind.

"Huh?" Mo Zijin turned to look at her, squinting against the morning light so she couldn't see Ah Xue's face clearly.

A Xue's hand was hanging in the air, and after a pause, she whispered: "Forget it, you can go to Uncle Ren first, and I will tell you later."

Mo Zijin frowned slightly, nodded hesitantly, and went directly to Uncle Ren's room without saying anything.

Ah Xue sat on the ridge with her lips pouted, looked down at Mo Zijin walking across the yard, and sighed deeply.

Uncle Ren's name is Ren Xiuqi, he is an old man with white hair and pale face, but don't be fooled by his friendly appearance, Ren Xiuqi was his own when he was young. He came out of the underworld bit by bit, so he gained prestige and led a group of people in this courtyard.

"Uncle Ren, I'm back." Mo Zijin pushed open the half-hidden door, the door creaked, Ren Xiuqi sat on the soft chair in the room, and smiled at Mo Zijin when he saw Mo Zijin come in laugh.

"Have you got the things?" Ren Xiuqi asked.

"I got it." Mo Zijin nodded, took out a thin letter from his pocket, and handed it to Ren Xiuqi.

Ren Xiuqi took the letter, squinted his eyes and looked at the sun carefully, then nodded, turned around and opened a cabinet behind him, grabbed a silk pouch inside, and threw it into Mo Zijin's arms .

Mo Zijin took the silk purse, weighed it in his hand, and said to Ren Xiuqi, "Uncle Ren, I'm going to rest for a while, don't look for me if you have any more tasks."

Ren Xiuqi stroked his beard with a smile and said, "That's a pity. Although you have just been here for a few years, you are more stable than those outside. I wanted to take on more work for you."

"Let's wait a while." Mo Zijin smiled, raised the purse in his hand and waved it to Ren Xiuqi and said, "These are enough for me for the time being."

"Forget it." Ren Xiuqi nodded, "You are alone, and you don't need so much property. When the day is used up, I will give you some work."

"Thank you, Uncle Ren." Mo Zijin nodded and said.

Ren Xiuqi waved to him, put the letter into the cabinet, turned around and asked him again: "By the way, who is that person you brought in yesterday?"

Mo Zijin was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "Ah Xue told you?"

"How dare she hide something from me." Ren Xiuqi said.

Mo Zijin put the silk pouch in his waist and said, "It's just a stranger I met on the way, and I've already chased him away."

Ren Xiuqi glanced at Mo Zijin, and said slowly with a sullen face, "Next time, don't bring strangers to our yard. This is not a place where you can see the light."

"Yes." Mo Zijin answered with lowered eyes.

This "den of thieves" is actually not as simple as doing petty theft. They are often assigned by merchants or officials to follow some information or tokens. Because of this, the officers and soldiers of Yongcheng have never I won't trouble this place, on the contrary, I often ask them for things.

Mo Zijin didn't know how long Ren Xiuqi had established this organization, but since the day he came, Yongcheng has been like this.

After coming out of Ren Xiuqi's place, Mo Zijin felt a little hungry. Although he watched A Xue bring porridge and side dishes and passed in front of him, he didn't want to take them. Instead, he turned around and walked out of the yard to Yongcheng roamed the streets.

No matter where he is, Mo Zijin's nature of hanging out can't be changed, and the various things in the market are always very attractive to him.

"Xiaoer, I want a bowl of wontons." Mo Zijin sat on the bench of the wonton stall by the street, tapped the table with his finger and said to the waiter.

"Guest officer, wait a moment." The waiter in the shop responded, and quickly filled a bowl of wontons and brought it in front of Mo Zijin.

The wontons were steaming and smelled delicious. Just as Mo Zijin was about to move his chopsticks, he heard a noise from the street. Looking up, he saw a steamed bun vendor chasing someone in front of him with a bench on his back. He was beaten alone, and Mo Zijin knew the person who was beaten. He was the same Lingyou who thought he was a thief last night.

Lingyou probably ran too fast, but was tripped by his flustered footsteps and fell to the ground. Now that the peddler had seized the opportunity, he swung a few chairs up and kept cursing: "Take it!" The steamed buns don’t even give you any money, you stinking beggar.”

Lingyou was beaten into a mess, but Mo Zijin just watched from the sidelines with a calm expression.

The peddler struggled for a while before venting his anger, carrying the bench and went back arrogantly. The people who watched sighed for a while and then dispersed. inside.

"Don't you still despise me as a thief? Why did you start doing this yourself after so long?" Ling You was shrinking on the ground when he heard someone talking to him with a familiar voice above his head. He looked up. In the past, I saw Mo Zijin looking at him calmly.

Lingyou glared at Mo Zijin, got up from the ground, patted the dirt on his body, and said firmly, "I didn't do anything."

"Oh, do you call it that too?" Mo Zijin shook his head and smiled, "I stole quietly, but you steal it openly. But I have enough to eat, but you can't."

"You..." Ling You was so angry that Mo Zijin couldn't speak, so he could only stare at him.

Mo Zijin didn't look at him, but just picked his chin at the wonton stand beside him, and said, "I paid for that bowl of wontons, if you eat them, no one will hit you with a bench." After saying that, he turned around and went As for whether Lingyou ate the bowl of wontons in the end, Mo Zijin didn't know, and didn't want to know.

Mo Zijin wandered the streets all day and didn't go there until evening. As soon as he walked through the low door and entered the yard, he saw Big Brother Qi greet him with a smile on his face, and slapped him on the shoulder hard. Then without saying anything, she brushed past him and walked out the door.

"What's the matter?" Mo Zijin rubbed his shoulders and frowned, then asked Ah Xue who was behind him.

A Xue wrapped her fingers around a strand of her hair, weighed her toes and said casually: "I just took a job from Uncle Ren, ten thousand taels of silver, and I am very happy."

"I said so." Mo Zijin smiled, "What work?"

"I don't know too well, it seems that I went to the capital and came back with a pass, because I wanted to sneak into the palace, so I was given a lot of money." A Xue said.

Mo Zijin pursed his lips, gave a faint "hmm", and said, "But I don't usually see him doing this for ten thousand taels of silver."

Hearing this, Ah Xue lowered her eyes, put her hands behind her back and said, "He is very short of money recently, for...in order to send me away."

Mo Zijin was startled, and looked at A Xue blankly. Brother Qi and A Xue were brothers and sisters, and as far as Mo Zijin knew, they had been by Ren Xiuqi's side all the time.

"Send away?" Mo Zijin said in surprise, "Where is Brother Qi going to send you?"

"Go...go..." Ah Xue hesitated for a while, "He wants me to marry someone."

"Marry..." Mo Zijin was stunned again, "Marry? Why so suddenly?"

A Xue raised her eyes, the circles of her eyes were a little red, "He said that I shouldn't stay with him in this place all the time, he told me to find a good man to marry and enjoy happiness, but I can't even meet the man I want to marry I haven't seen it before, how can I enjoy myself with a stranger?"

Mo Zijin sighed slightly, and didn't know how to comfort Axue, so he just smiled and said: "Brother Qi is also for your own good, you really can't stay here forever, you can't always be here with him Are you staring wide-eyed?"

Ashe bit her lip, with sadness hidden in her eyes, she just said lightly: "Forget it." Then she turned and left.

Mo Zijin originally wanted to call Ah Xue to stop, but after thinking about it, he decided not to. The people here are all involuntary, so there is no use in persuasion.

------

Capital City, Qin Mansion.

Qin Yi stood on the corridor, blowing the wind, and his crescent-white clothes danced gently in the wind.

"Master..." A servant of the Qin residence stood beside Qin Yi, frowning and said: "Master, let's just take a business order, if this continues, we really can't hold on to this account."

Qin Yi held the piece of Eryu in his hand, rubbed it carefully with his thumb, slowly shook his head, and then gestured to the boy: "Go to the account and receive your salary, and you can go. "

"But... but master, if I leave too, there will not be many people left in the Qin residence." The young servant said with a bitter face.

"I know." Qin Yi gestured.

The young servant lowered his head and sighed, he stopped persuading Qin Yi, and went to the accountant's room with a hard heart.

Since Mo Zijin left, Qin Yi has not received another order of goods, but still has to supply soldiers and armours to the imperial court. In this way, he only pays the bill but does not receive the money, until now he is almost exhausted.

After the boy left, Qin Yi looked down at the jade in his hand, the jade was still moist, but it was worthless to him.

Qin Yi raised his hand in mid-air, and then threw it down. The jade fell on the bluestone floor and broke into two halves from the middle. Qin Yi bent down again, picked up the two halves of jade, and rubbed the crack on the jade.

The Qin Mansion is now empty, and so is Qin Yi's heart. It has been empty since Mo Zijin left quietly three years ago, until now.