Unicorn wood

In the 26rd year of the Republic of China.

The first time Tang Huai met Zhou Tan was a few nights ago.

At that time, he was sitting in his small room, eating steamed buns bought from the street, and studying the notes left by his father under an old kerosene lamp—electric lamps were too expensive, and Tang Huai generally didn’t use them.

His father is a doctor who has returned from Western studies, and his lifelong wish is to revitalize the country.But Tang Huai lost his mother since he was a child, so he had to follow his father to the country.After his father died, Tang Huai inherited the dilapidated little house left by his father, and of course, also inherited his superb medical skills.

Just when Tang Huai was concentrating on his notes, there was a light knock on the door, hesitatingly knocking three times.

"Dong dong dong."

Tang Huai put away his notes, got up and walked to the door - he knew that the people who would come at this time must not be ordinary people.

"The shop is closed, I want to buy jewelry and come back tomorrow." Tang Huai said.

The man outside the door hesitated and walked away.

Tang Huai was still standing in front of the window without relaxing. He smelled a faint smell of blood.

Sure enough, after a while, the man came back again.

"Dong dong dong."

Tang Huai repeated it again: "The shop is closed."

The person outside the door spoke after deliberation: "Excuse me, is this Mr. Tang Huai?"

Tang Huai paused.

Tang Huai was his name, but he never told anyone. Here he always used a pseudonym——Li Song. He also sold jewelry, and most of his patrons were wealthy wives.The Japanese in the city were very strict, and he had to hide his identity and stay, leaving a place of relief for the revolutionaries who were on the same front as his father.And his real name, except for his father, no one knows.

Tang Huai opened the door.

There was a man outside the door, but his whole body was covered tightly. He wore a black hat on his head and a black scarf covered his mouth. He couldn't see his face clearly, only showing a pair of tired and bright eyes.

The man spoke first: "Don't worry, no one is following."

Tang Huai quickly pulled the person in and locked the door, then walked to the back room: "Come with me."

The man didn't speak, and silently followed Tang Huai into the back room.

The room left by Tang Huai's father has a basement. The living room is a counter for gold and silver jewelry. The back bedroom is a small bed and a table. The entrance to the basement is under the bed.

Tang Huai pulled the wooden boards away, revealing a long staircase leading to the basement. The landing was so narrow that he could only step down it sideways. The stairs were very steep. Tang Huai jumped down a few steps, turned on the desk lamp, and climbed up again.

"It's not easy to go, I'll carry you down."

The other party glanced at the stairs hesitantly, and habitually refused: "No need, thank you."

Seeing this, Tang Huai didn't force it, jumped down a few steps, and stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him.

Sure enough, as Tang Huai expected, the person stepped on the empty space and fell down when he walked halfway - except for Tang Huai, almost everyone else would step on the empty stairs.Because the old staircase is not only narrow, but also has a few steps that are shaking and have gaps. Tang Huai knows where the damage is, and can avoid it every time he walks, while others are not so lucky.

Tang Huai stood at the top of the stairs and firmly caught the person who fell from above.

The other party seemed to have no energy left to thank him, panting, a strong smell of blood came from under the thick clothes, and this blood smell was mixed with a faint fragrance, Tang Huai felt that the body in his arms was shaking.

Tang Huai frowned.

He knew the man was injured, but he didn't know the extent of the injury.Now it seems that this person's previous state was just pretending, and he couldn't hold on after such a fall.

I don't know where his injury is. Since he walks without bumps, his leg must be fine.

Tang Huai didn't think about ending it, so he started directly based on his experience.Like an apprentice, he hugged the other person's shoulders, raised his legs and hugged him, walked to the "operating table" in the basement and put him down - those who didn't know thought he was a pervert, even the person involved was scared by him jumped.

"Where is the injury?" Deng Tuzi ignored the man's embarrassment, went to a corner of the basement and rummaged through the box, taking out the scalpel and other instruments.

The man didn't seem to have the strength to speak, so he could only pant, and said weakly: "My belly... I'm sorry, sir..."

In just a few sentences, Tang Huai took out a rag from somewhere and handed it to the person on the bed: "Take a bite—there is no anesthetic."

The man obediently took it and bit it.

Tang Huai carefully unbuttoned his clothes and found that the inner garment was soaked in blood.

"Be patient, don't move."

As he spoke, he gently tore apart the cloth that stuck to the wound. There was a depression under the cloth, the surrounding flesh was festered, and there was a bullet inside.

Tang Huai stared at the wound with all his attention, and cut down steadily.

The person on the bed trembled, his hands gripping the sheets under him tightly.

"I forgot to tell you just now, I have bitten this piece of cloth before." Tang Huai kept talking with his hands and mouth.

The injured person must have no time to talk to him, so he said nonsense: "But it has been washed, don't worry."

There was a smile in Tang Huai's words, but his face was expressionless.With the knife in hand, the festering wound was treated properly without procrastination, as if he was not facing a living person, but a dead thing.

And this living person was also extremely cooperative, not saying a word or moving. If it wasn't for the uncontrollable convulsions, he would have thought he was really a dead person.

Tang Huai talked to himself for an indeterminate amount of time, and finally finished the operation. When he looked up, the person on the bed lost consciousness at some point, his brows were tightly wrinkled, his face was pale, and his head was covered with sweat.But even so, the scarf still tightly covered his mouth and nose, as if he was afraid that others would see it.

Tang Huai bandaged the wound patiently. After putting away the equipment, he helped the man take off his coat, freed the bed sheet from his clenched hands, and felt a scar on the tiger's mouth on the man's left hand.

After covering the person with a quilt, Tang Huai looked at him for a while, and felt that the scarf around his neck was strange, so he took off the scarf on his own initiative, and saw the man's face.

It was a not ugly face, with regular features, drooping eyes, frowning brows and bloodless face added a sense of weakness for no reason, Tang Huai was very bored by himself, so he found a wooden Sitting in front of his shabby operating table, leaning his chin on the bed, he looked at his injuries.

Unfortunately, it was already midnight, and Tang Huai had already started dreaming at this point in the past. The old desk lamp was unstable, and the dim light was flickering. Tang Huai kept lying on the table and fell asleep unconsciously. .

It wasn't until he woke up from the awkward position that Tang Huai realized that his injury was gone, and he was still wearing his own clothes thoughtfully.

When Tang Huai stood up with his head supported, the first thought that flashed through his mind was——

Is he a ghost?Is there no sound when you walk?

Because of the awkward sleeping position, Tang Huai had a stiff neck. He walked back and forth in the basement a few times before he gradually regained consciousness. Looking around, he found that the place had been tidied up, just like when he first came in.

The smell of blood has long since dissipated. Everything that happened just now was like a dream, and it disappeared when I woke up.

Just as Tang Huai was wondering if this was a dream, the desk lamp flickered suddenly. Tang Huai turned around and saw something extra under the light of the desk lamp.

It was a sheet of paper with a piece of wood pressed on it.

It is said to be wood, but it is actually a work of art. It is a piece of wood carving with a lifelike unicorn carved on it, with four sharp claws and a majestic majesty.The craftsman is very skillful and carved the unicorn with a fierce and fierce expression, but the wood carving itself exudes a light sandalwood. The combination of two different styles of substances is inexplicably harmonious.

Tang Huai picked up the paper at the bottom. The lines on the top were a little unstable, but they were still relatively standard block letters:

Thank you sir for your life-saving grace. The situation is urgent today, and I am short of money. I leave this Qilin wood as a mortgage, and I will come to thank you sir again another day. ——Zhou Tan.

Tang Huai burned the paper, put away the Qilin wood, and lay down to rest as usual, as if nothing had happened.

No one can say exactly how many days the next day will be, maybe tomorrow, or forever.

A week later, Tang Huai was still living his own life. He would occasionally think of that person, but only smelled a faint sandalwood like the wind, and then disappeared without a trace. Except for those bright eyes, Tang Huai even he I can't remember what I looked like.

Tang Huai didn't take the phrase "Come again sometime" seriously - he had seen too many people of all kinds, and they all became passers-by in Tang Huai's life without exception.Especially those revolutionaries who are connected through the underground - they always come with great expectations and die with their heads separated.There was hope in their eyes, and they chatted with Tang Huai with this beautiful longing; they survived Tang Huai's hands, and died under the invaders' butcher's knife.This light of hope just dimmed with death, and was buried in the loess beneath our feet forever.Those smiles and voices left scars one after another in Tang Huai's memory. He couldn't keep them, so he had to forget all the chance encounters, stop putting in too much energy, and concentrate on being a heartless and indifferent person.

However, the recent piece of Qilin wood caused troubles, and Zhou Tan's shadow would always appear in Tang Huai's dreams, carrying sandalwood, disturbing Tang Huai's mind.

He clearly knew that Zhou Tan was someone his father trusted, and if he wanted to know what happened to his father, he had to see Zhou Tan again.

But when Zhou Tan walked into his dream again, Tang Huai vaguely understood that he wanted to see him again for nothing but out of selfishness.

Is that person still alive?

Just when Tang Huai was about to curb his inexplicable thoughts, Zhou Tan came to thank him as promised.

At that time Tang Huai was sitting in front of the counter examining a new jade bracelet, and the Qilin wood was placed beside it. Zhou Tan walked in and saw him concentrating on tinkering with something, so he stood by and looked at it for a while.Helpless, he couldn't understand what kind of craftsmanship it was, but he remembered Tang Huai's frowning and pursing his lips.

Zhou Tan just waited for a long time, Tang Huai did not raise his head once.He was not annoyed, but just smiled helplessly, walked away silently and sat on the bench by the door, quietly waiting for him to finish his work.

So, when Tang Huai turned his attention away from the jade bracelet, what he saw were Zhou Tan's deep and bright eyes.

He didn't wear a scarf today.

"Mr. Li is very elegant." Zhou Tan laughed.

Tang Huai didn't quite know what his expression was, and the words just blurted out: "What's the matter?"

Zhou Tan was a little surprised, he was stunned and said with some uncertainty: "Haven't you seen me, sir?"

Tang Huai looked at him, and both of them couldn't help laughing.

That's right, he was the one who unwittingly exposed other people's disguise that day, but today he doesn't admit it.

Tang Huai got up and said to the back room: "Please come in." Then he walked in first.

"What about your guests?" Zhou Tan stood there hesitantly.

"The business of the small shop is very low, and finally a boss came, so I dare not neglect." Tang Huai walked into the back room like in the past, and when he saw the scene in front of him, he secretly screamed, and quickly put himself in a hurry. Arrange the tea cups and items, and hide the unfolded clothes on the bed, barely giving people an appearance that the host is very particular.

Unfortunately, his flustered behavior was slow, and Zhou Tan, who followed later, noticed it.

Zhou Tan took a step back, waited for him to tidy up, then walked in with a smile, jokingly said: "Mr. Li's room is different from that day."

By the way, he has seen the original appearance of this litter!

Tang Huai had 1 regrets in his heart, but he pretended nothing happened, and said politely, "Where is it?"

Zhou Tan thought it was very funny that he was embarrassed and pretended not to mind, so he endured it patiently, but couldn't help it, he burst out laughing.

Since that day, Zhou Tan has always come to Tang Huai's here from time to time, sometimes bringing some weird antiques for him to appreciate, and sometimes bringing a few bottles of wine for him to taste.Zhou Tan paid all the money, but left the Qilin wood to Tang Huai.

Occasionally, when there are a few days of leisure, Tang Huai will close the shop, and the two of them will go out to watch a play in the theater, rent a boat by the lake, climb the towering banyan tree, and if they are lucky, they can see the stars all over the sky.

Like old friends who have known each other for a long time, they talked about romance, poetry, poetry, and future ideals on the threshold, on the city wall, and by the pond.As big as the people of the country, as small as the crickets on summer nights, they talk about everything, and talk about everything.But both of them avoided their own and each other's identities by coincidence. They were both sober and cherished this hard-won encounter together.

Those days passed quickly, and Tang Huai's usual mediocre life seemed to be looking forward to it. There were still few people in the shops, the streets were turbulent from time to time, the Japanese made movements from time to time, and people still came to "see a doctor" from time to time at night.While handling his own affairs carefully, he dealt with the Japanese while waiting for the next meeting.

It was an afternoon when the accident happened, and the dark clouds that day shrouded the city like a giant net.When Tang Huai was hanging up the freshly washed clothes, dozens of people suddenly broke into the shop, wearing Japanese military uniforms.

The leader was a middle-aged Japanese officer. He squinted at Tang Huai and pointed upwards. The Japanese soldiers behind him entered and searched the house.

The Japanese officer spoke a sentence in Japanese to Tang Huai.A one-eyed man next to him listened with a bow and bow, then walked to the front and raised his head and translated aloud in Chinese: "I asked you if you are a good citizen!"

Tang Huai came from abroad and has learned various languages, and Japanese is naturally not a problem, but he doesn't need to explain.

Tang Huai put down his clothes, looked at the group of people one by one, and said, "Yes."

"A few days ago, a man stole the documents of the imperial army, did you take him in!" the one-eyed man continued to translate.

"No." Tang Huai said.

The Japanese officer stopped talking and stared at him as if he was certain of something, Tang Huai couldn't help clenching his fists.

Sure enough, after a while, a Japanese soldier came over and said, "Master, I found a basement and have gone down to search..."

"Master, there are professional surgical tools in the basement..."

"Commander, here is military penicillin...

When Tang Huai was taken away, his mind was surprisingly calm.Ever since he decided to continue what his father did, he had no illusions that he would be able to retire. It's just that this day seems to have come sooner, and he still has a lot of things he wants to do. It's not sad, but a little bit reluctant.

Compared with death, Tang Huai is actually more afraid of pain. The Japanese insisted that he was an intelligence agent of an underground organization, and asked him to tell the hiding place and personnel list of the organization. The ridiculous thing is that he did He was not an intelligence agent, and he did not know the location and list, so the angry Japanese could only use torture to deal with the equally angry Tang Huai.

There is no concept of time in the prison. From the beginning of the severe pain, the consciousness began to be dizzy. The body was cold and hot for a while, sometimes like falling into an ice cave, and sometimes like falling into a furnace. The pain never stopped. All the parts of his body were bleeding, not a single part of his body was intact, he did not know how many bones were broken, and his lungs were burning hot, the pain was so painful that he dared not breathe hard.The Japanese were extremely efficient, allowing him to experience almost all tortures in the shortest possible time.

Tang Huai didn't know if he cried out in pain, or how he survived it. In his mind, he went from not being a human being in the next life, to biting his tongue to see if he would die, and finally lost consciousness, as if it had been a long time.

It wasn't until the sounds around me gradually faded away, and when I no longer had the strength to open my eyes, those sharp pains went away, and gradually turned into bursts of dull pain.Someone dragged him up and threw him into the dungeon, whereupon the door was locked.

Then, Tang Huai fell unconscious.

He didn't expect that his health would be so poor, he had hardly been fully awake, often just fell asleep, woke up and was on the torture rack, and when he opened his eyes in a daze, he was already lying in the prison again.

The cycle goes on and on and never ends.Tang Huai was looking forward to when he would be able to hold his breath and never wake up again.But occasionally when he opened his eyes, he remembered what his father said in his ear: "You will see the day when the sun rises for me", and remembered those friends looking at him with hope and saying: "Mr. Li, we must Can drive the little Japanese devils out of China."The yellowed light pulled him into the basement of the small dilapidated house. He remembered those bright eyes and the elegant sandalwood, and remembered the man who said: "When the country stands up, I will take you to see the grassland."

He still has so many expectations, he doesn't want to die.

One night, Tang Huai couldn't sleep due to the pain in his body, so he closed his eyes to rest his mind, when suddenly he felt someone walking in.

The man kicked him and said in Chinese: "Taijun said that the hideout you worked so hard to hide has been found by the Imperial Japanese Army."

Tang Huai barely opened his eyes, it was the one-eyed man.

Seeing Tang Huai open his eyes, the one-eyed man immediately raised his head and said triumphantly, "You are no longer worthless. The Taijun asked me to inform you that tomorrow I will escort you to the street to behead you for public display!"

Tang Huai glanced at him with disdain, and closed his eyes again.

The next moment, Tang Huai felt something pass over his eyes, and the pain was relieved for a few seconds. When he realized what happened, he couldn't help but tremble all over—his eyes were gone.

Seeing his appearance, the one-eyed man let out a cold snort and left contentedly.

Panting for breath, Tang Huai touched his eyes in a broken state, only to feel the blood that flowed down.In less than a quarter of an hour, he accepted the fact that he would die tomorrow, so he didn't care what the eyes were doing.

He passed out again.

Tang Huai was awakened by the movement around him. He only felt that there were many people around him, and he couldn't hear what they were talking about. There were gunshots in the distance, and the floor beneath him was shaking. He seemed to be in a large carriage.

Is this the execution ground going to the city center?

Just when Tang Huai was about to accept his fate, a gust of wind blew, and someone walked into the carriage, carrying sandalwood.

Tang Huai sighed, he didn't expect to have hallucinations before dying, it's good.

The next moment, Tang Huai's hands were held by a pair of warm hands.Tang Huai felt that there was a scar on the tiger's mouth of those hands, and he unconsciously held his breath.

Zhou Tan took a slow breath, bent down and gently covered Tang Huai's forehead with his hands: "It's me."

Tang Huai fell asleep again.

There was no torture, no noise, Tang Huai slept peacefully, even if someone occasionally bandaged him with medicine, he was careful. In his sleep, someone had been holding his hand tightly, and there was a scar on the tiger's mouth of his hand.

It was already the fourth night when Tang Huai woke up completely.

The surrounding was very quiet. He was just about to open his eyes, but the severe pain reminded him of what happened. He subconsciously touched his eyes, only to find a white bandage.Tang Huai struggled to get up, but someone patiently pushed him back, and held his hand that was scrambling forward.

Tang Huai quickly held that hand back and touched his tiger's mouth.

"You..." His voice was a little dry, and he didn't know what to say now.

What made him flustered was that Zhou Tan didn't answer him after waiting for a long time, but just squeezed his hand tightly as usual.

"Zhou Tan...is that you?"

Zhou Tan hesitated for a while, then gently stretched out his hand, and wrote a few words on his hand.

Tang Huai held his hand.

What he wrote was: "Sorry, didn't save your ear due to infection."

Tang Huai silently asked Zhou Tan to pull him into his arms without pushing him away.

Zhou Tan is not considered an intelligence officer, he is just an ordinary new school teacher.He does not belong to any organization, as long as he is Chinese, he will try his best to help, which indirectly led to his certain connections with underground revolutionaries—especially his students.

Once, in order to cover the students, Zhou Tan was accidentally shot.After hastily dealt with it, he went to a class as if nothing had happened. He wanted to deal with it by himself, but he didn't find out that he did it improperly, so the injury became more serious.

As a last resort, he dragged himself into Tang Huai's place until late at night with great effort - he was once fortunate enough to have the help of his father, a respectable hero named Tang Yi.Tang Yi was famous for his medical skills and was invited by the Japanese to be a military doctor. They knew that if he went there, he would die if he didn't want to be a traitor.Before Tang Yi left, he held Zhou Tan's hand tightly, almost begging Zhou Tan to take care of Tang Huai, and Zhou Tan had no reason not to agree.

After Tang Yi's death, Zhou Tan traveled thousands of miles to Jingzhou, which Tang Yi mentioned, to find Tang Huai.

That day was one morning. After Zhou Tan arrived at the station in a hurry after taking the train all night, he asked people all the way to find the residence Tang Yi mentioned.

He originally thought that Tang Huai was a seven or eight-year-old child who was being taken care of. In order not to affect his work and to protect him, Tang Yi left him here.

But when Zhou Tan asked the way to find the location, he only saw a small jewelry store, not the Chinese medicine store that Tang Yi said.He thought he had made a mistake, and as soon as he entered the store to ask for clarification, he saw Tang Huai lying on the broken armchair.

Tang Huai was already asleep, with the worn-out "Compendium of Materia Medica" on his chest, his head drooping to one side, and a small blanket covering his legs. The already tough face was soft and rosy, and the eyelashes like crow feathers covered his eyes firmly. A clean white shirt made him lie crumpled, the top button was unbuttoned, and the collar was crooked. A clear collarbone is exposed.

Zhou Tan recognized that he was Tang Huai, the son of Mr. Tang Yi, and they were very similar.

He couldn't bear to break the beautiful scenery, so he just stood in the corner and watched him quietly, until the bag in his hand was too heavy to lift, then he left silently.

Zhou Tan found a residence in this city, packed up his things and moved in.

Unbeknownst to Tang Huai, a regular customer appeared on the second floor of the opposite teahouse, a regular customer who came for him.

Zhou Tan likes to sketch on the second floor of the teahouse, and he will come to sit after the class. Chun Quqiu Lai has used a whole notebook, and the paintings are all of a person—the person did not draw the facial features, but his movements are strange, sometimes squatting down Playing with cats, sometimes stretching in the store, sometimes grabbing candied haws with children at the door, sometimes making dark dishes with smoke from the kitchen, and sometimes dancing rubber bands with the little girls at the door.There is only one depiction with facial features. The protagonist sits at the door and reads a strange newspaper, smiling with the corners of his mouth curled up, his eyebrows and eyes curved.

Seeing that he came every day, the owner of the teahouse asked him what he was looking at. Zhou Tan subtly avoided the owner's gaze, looked at the jewelry store opposite, and said with a smile, "I'm looking at the scenery."

Zhou Tan has an imperceptible concern, and he dare not tell anyone. He is very satisfied with the status quo, and there is no need to make extra troubles.

Until that accidental injury.

At that time, he unconsciously wanted to come to this place, and his chaotic mind also made him take the courage to take action.

Facts have proved that his decision was correct. Tang Huai really knows medical skills, and Li Song is his pseudonym.

When he woke up and saw Tang Huai's head lying on the bed, still unconscious, he couldn't help reaching out and gently touching his hair.

I can sleep well.

Zhou Tan is in good health, except for the tingling of the wound, his body is only a little soft.After barely struggling to get up, he tidied up a little bit, and his movements were always slow so as not to disturb Tang Huai. Finally, he left behind the Qilin wood and the note, and left.

He brought money, but he didn't want to give it yet.

A few days later, after the Japanese were distracted, he found someone with the excuse of repaying the money with peace of mind.

To Zhou Tan's delight, Tang Huai did not reject him, even in the daily meeting afterwards.

This Mr. Tang always has a look of bitterness and deep hatred. He wants to be unkind to everyone, but he always shows some signs of indifference and indifference in his daily life. Candied haws for children, dancing rubber bands with the little girl when he is in a good mood, and making a kite with the old man next door when he is bored, Zhou Tan has seen these behaviors in the teahouse.While getting along with him, Zhou Tan discovered some things about him that are younger, such as poking the nose of wild cats, talking to himself in front of jewelry, and biting his thumb when he is angry.

"Bite yourself if you are unhappy, and you will be even more unhappy if you bite yourself after a while." Zhou Tan laughed at him.

Tang Huai was gnawing his thumb, reluctantly put down his hand after hearing this, frowned and thought for a while, then looked at Zhou Tan and said seriously: "It seems so."

Zhou Tan laughed out loud.

In this war-torn era, Zhou Tan seems to have found a place where he can rest peacefully. Every time Tang Huai is by his side, fear and anxiety can temporarily stay away from him. The story is like the legendary Utopia.

They occasionally climbed onto the roof and faced the cloudless starry sky, Zhou Tan would always have an illusion—as if he could bravely tell Tang Huai his feelings that should not exist, as if he had the opportunity to get closer to him.

Lying on the roof, Zhou Tan suddenly said, "Mr. Tang, I'll tell you something."

On a summer night with a breezy breeze, Tang Huai was extremely comfortable. He had already started to feel sleepy, so he just snorted as an answer: "Huh?"

Tang Huai waited for a long time but there was no sound. He raised his eyelids and glanced at the people around him, who closed their eyes at some point.

Tang Huai bumped him with an elbow, and raised his voice a bit: "Huh?"

"I want to say that the night is beautiful tonight."

Tang Huai laughed silently.

You too.

Unfortunately, utopia only exists in fairy tales.

When Tang Huai was taken away, Zhou Tan was buying candy not far away - so he didn't have to worry about someone snatching candy from the children.

There was nothing he could do, he could only watch helplessly.

After the group of people left, Zhou Tan returned immediately—it was useless to be anxious, measures must be taken as quickly as possible.

What makes him very anxious is that he only has friends on the surface, but his friends in the dark have no contact information.

Zhou Tan bought a ticket to return to his original city that night, and contacted his former student Song Chaoting. He wanted to know whether Tang Huai could be rescued.

It is impossible for him to die alone, which is called stupidity; he also cannot bet on the lives of his students, which is called inhumane and unrighteous.He just had a shaky hope in his heart, hoping that there would be a chance to save that young man.

There is no unparalleled road, and the Song court knew an opportunity.

Just two days later, the Japanese will draw eight teams from here to support elsewhere, and the revolutionaries in Jingzhou plan to blow up the arsenal next to the Manri Prison, and attack the west. Zhou Tan can take advantage of the chaos and go to the prison to save people, but Whether he can be rescued depends on his good fortune.

The odds are slim, but he'll give it a try, he's got nothing to worry about, he doesn't have to be intimidated.

He contacted the group of revolutionaries who planned to blow up the arsenal through the Song court. Fortunately, they also planned to take advantage of the chaos to rescue their personnel.

So, everything happened like this. Zhou Tan not only rescued Tang Huai, but also rescued other innocent people together with other revolutionaries.

Zhou Tan only suffered some minor bruises, but some of the revolutionaries died unfortunately. Although Zhou Tan did not want to join the army, he knew how to repay his kindness. Except for the time to take care of Tang Huai, he ran around with the revolutionaries Let's go, in order to repay this favor, I also want to do my part in driving out the invaders.

The jewelry store has been closed, Zhou Tan hid Tang Huai in his room, and took care of him carefully, but Tang Huai's condition was not very good.

Every time Zhou Tan made it clear that he was by his side, Tang Huai would always squeeze out a smile and talk to him about his childhood as if nothing had happened, often saying that he was fine and asking Zhou Tan to take care of himself.

Zhou Tan knew that Tang Huai didn't want to affect his work, nor did he want to drag him down.Although Zhou Tan wanted to take care of him all the time, he didn't want him to blame himself, so he pretended to leave.But Tang Huai took off his disguise when he thought that Zhou Tan was not around.

His leg has been broken and he can't stand up, and he doesn't cry or make a fuss, lying there like a dead man for a small part of the time, but more often he turns over and over, bites the pillow cover painfully, and occasionally makes use of it. Hitting your head against a wall is a similar act of self-harm.

Zhou Tan couldn't bear it in his heart, it was impossible to watch this kind of thing happen, so he had to open the door, let Tang Huai feel the wind, realized that someone had come in and had to stop self-harm, Zhou Tan could only pretend that nothing happened Knowing that, he walked over to hug him, and heard Tang Huai's question without accident: "Aren't you busy?"

Zhou Tan hugged him tightly and didn't let go.

Tang Huai talked more, as long as he was awake, he couldn't help but communicate with Zhou Tan, otherwise he would be so nervous that he would scratch his hair.

Tang Huai didn't know what it was like not being able to hear or see. He had no way of making up for it. He could only patiently write one story after another in Tang Huai's hand day after day, telling him about today's newspaper What is written on it, what is the weather today, is the peach tree blooming today.

At this time, Tang Huai would always smile and say, "Actually, this is pretty good. I can't hear or see it. Your voice is in the palm of my hand."

Zhou Tan would go out quietly when Tang Huai was asleep, and when he came back, he would buy ingredients to make soup for Tang Huai, but Tang Huai's increasingly pale face and hoarse voice hinted at something that was about to happen.Tang Huai sleeps longer and longer every day, and has no energy to harm himself anymore. Tang Huai often wants to drink water one second, and the next second when Zhou Tan comes back with water, he is unconscious.

On the day he was rescued from the prison, the doctor told Zhou Tan that Tang Huai was not in good health, and after such a toss, time was running out.

After all, Zhou Tan was not a revolutionary, and the student Song Chaoting couldn't bear to see him overworked every day, so he advised him to spend more time with Tang Huai these few days, and it would not be too late to help them when the dust settled.Zhou Tan agreed after thanking him.

It's winter, and the wind this year seems to be particularly cold. The charcoal fire in the dark room can't warm Tang Huai's body at all. Even under several layers of plush quilts, he is always shivering all over.

Zhou Tan got into the quilt, stretched out his arms to hug him, and wrote a few words on his back: It won't be cold in a while.

The person in the arms was so thin that his bones were aching and he was sweating all the time, but he still nodded: "It's not cold anymore."

Until one day, Tang Huai didn't wake up until the meal time, Zhou Tan set up a table of dishes as usual, and sat until the moon appeared and didn't wait for him to open his eyes.

It was the second night that Tang Huai slept. When Zhou Tan went out to buy charcoal fire and came back, he saw Tang Huai propped up and leaning against the head of the bed. The window beside the bed was open, and the cold wind blew in regardless.

Zhou Tan was so frightened by the scene in front of him that his blood became cold, and he put down the charcoal fire and was about to rush to close the window.

"Master Zhou is back," Tang Huai said when Zhou Tan opened the door, his voice was weak but much clearer, "Let it be turned on, I'm a little bored."

Zhou Tan paused for a while with his half-stretched hand, and finally let it go.He walked to the bed and sat down, silently took Tang Huai's hand, and found that Tang Huai's face was a little rosy at the moment.

"I'm not cold anymore," Tang Huai's voice was full of relief, "Is the plum blossom blooming? I seem to smell the fragrance."

Zhou Tan wrote in the palm of his hand: There is a winter plum outside the window, and it is now the beginning of winter.

"No wonder," Tang Huai said with emotion, "It's been so long."

Zhou Tan wrote: We will plant two more plants when you recover.

Tang Huai didn't speak, but flinched.

Seeing this, Zhou Tan climbed onto the bed and pulled up the quilt, hugging him and the quilt together.

After a long silence, Tang Huai said, "Mr. Zhou, do you believe in ghosts and gods?"

Zhou Tan replied: I don't believe it.

Tang Huai expected that he would say that, so he also smiled: "I don't believe it either."

Zhou Tan continued to write: How did you think of asking this?

"I just suddenly thought, if there really are hells and Hades, it might be pretty good."

How to say?

"If there really is a King of Hades, I hope that he will be a good and honest official who will detain all invaders and not allow them to be reincarnated. They will only be animals in their next life."

Tang Huai felt Zhou Tan tremble slightly, and knew that he was smiling, and continued to say