without me

When I came back to my senses, I didn't feel regret hovering in my heart, but I just insisted on saying something at this moment.

Don't say it will definitely be painful, so let's get rid of it first.

Wen Liu's voice faded away until he gathered his thoughts again.

I maintained the movement of covering with both hands, without pressing the person into my arms, and it was impossible to just let go.

The person who is qualified to stand in front of you to comfort you may not be me, and I even said some words that cut off the retreat...

But at the most lost moment, Qiufeng came to see you holding my clothes.

I am here, and you happen to be here, this is the most tender bequest given to me by the unknown.

"I like you, that's what I must tell you today."

Wen Liu pressed against his chest and kept sucking in air, whispering to himself in a low and cowardly voice.

"This is too abrupt..."

I let out a long sigh. I thought that my liking for her was just because I saw all the shadows of comfort in her that I passed by.

But when Wen Liu also revealed a timid look, I didn't lose any feeling as I imagined, on the contrary, the distance was closer.

"It's really awkward—"

I swallowed the "untruth" in the second half of the sentence, and after deliberation, I still showed all my thoughts just now.

"Maybe I took it for granted." Afraid of harm, I began to retreat, but at this time I made up my mind to say it, "But this kind of reason, which can be called a coincidence, was constructed in my heart in a very short period of time. The existence of 'Wen Liu'."

She is alive, she is close at hand.

Wen Liu shook her head imperceptibly against my clothes.

"it's me……"

"It was me who was so abrupt..."

Maybe, maybe it's because of this "coincidence", but I really don't dare to make my own decisions and entrust the planned tomorrow to someone other than the "plan".

And this one was just out of plan, not unexpected.

She was more and more affected by the confession just now, what if she didn't say it this time?

I would never bear to send it to the grave with my own hands.

"I like you," Wen Liu's strength left me silently, becoming cooperative and easy, "I am suddenly, without any special place, but with special feelings on you."

She didn't know whether her tears had left, but she just covered my side face with her eyes.

"I don't want this relationship to be nameless, and I don't want you to be ignorant of its existence."

"I know it's selfish...but Liu'er can't stay in obscurity until you have nothing to do with me anymore."

I patted the other person's back lightly, feeling the deep ups and downs, and the voice was rare and unconsciously soft.

"As long as you think about it, Jiang Xue has always been related to Wen Liu."

"Except for friends, I will definitely take you away when you are alone."

Not probable nor probable, I'm pretty sure I'll marry you.

It's just that until now, I don't dare to do anything...

The wind was flowing under our feet, and there was a sound except for the ending. My heavy clothes made the sound of stepping on fallen leaves in the hands of the other party, which was extremely fragile.

Even if there is no words to stop this loss, the confession will not bring loss, the two of them will not bother to wait, waiting for whether she will speak, even if they are more clear than the other.

Wen Liu suddenly had a strong desire to stop something, maybe it was the choking in his throat, so he made a louder voice, almost giving up struggling, to resist.

"...Take me away."

As soon as the words fell, before I could utter the next sentence to blame myself for my selfishness, Wen Liu looked at me slightly in a daze.

Not automatically, but the answer is already there and clearly visible.

I nodded, smiling unknowingly firm.

"it is good."

It is very likely that she will not be able to live a good life, and it is very likely that she will be a drag.

But I... am also a selfish person, more cowardly and more incompetent.

"I don't have any money with me."

Is this the only way my life will begin?With such naive and irresponsible thoughts, I looked at Wen Liu in front of me.

"You're going to be dragged into the water by me."

Wen Liu didn't expect to agree so quickly, she was surprised at first, then lowered her thin eyebrows relaxedly, joyfully helpless.

"We'll go ashore."

"Do you want this? I'll support you as you support me."

……

The farewell at this time was not reluctant, and the time of the next meeting was finalized in the decisive discussion, just before the marriage expected by the Shen family-in a way that was expected by me, Shen Shijie got Shen Jun She agrees.

As a result, they couldn't find it in time, so they met in this little-known woods, and we left.

Even thinking of such a stupid way, Shen Shijie didn't dare to go to Hongxinglou to make trouble after the matter was revealed. After all, the consent of this big marriage was cheated.

Up to this point, I was still worried, and said that if Ruuo really couldn't bear it, if Jiang Youwei still didn't tell his other wives and children about his decision, then I would do it before I left.

It's just that the days keep passing by, but the wind doesn't get into my ears at all.I, on the other hand, shrank back and hesitated.

Jiang Youwei was afraid that if he told the rest, it might leak out, and that would be a big deal.

After I weighed it several times, I called Jiang Ci.

"Old five..."

You put down my crispy meat first.

I stared at him and couldn't stop chewing, trying to say something, but finally compromised, "... Forget it, you can eat whatever you want."

His eyes were shining brightly, and he was rarely obedient and relaxed, "Sister, what's the matter?"

"It's your inquiring agent," I hesitated, "Does he usually do a lot of work?"

Jiang Ci tilted his head and weighed it for a moment, "Well...the business is pretty good, although it's secretly, there are more contacts."

"Sister, what are you asking He Huang for?"

After hearing this, I thought about it, and then said, "Old Five, what are your plans?"

"What plan?" He reacted for a while, "...I plan to go find Zhuiyan, I have this name."

"She is still in Yuanshan Temple now."

I shook my head, "Zhuiyan wrote a letter a while ago, I asked specifically, and brought it to Huguo Temple."

Jiang Ci was dazed for a while.

"Huguo Temple? It's really crazy, and now my father probably has nothing to do with her."

"Well," I replied, "I happened to meet the abbot, Wen Ren, who said that she had a predestined relationship with the Buddha, so she settled down there first, and was accompanied by Master Gudeng."

"That's pretty good," Jiang Ci suddenly "hissed" and frowned, "Gudeng...?"

"What's wrong?" I couldn't help being vigilant.

"No, there's nothing wrong with it," he said hastily, "I just seem to have heard of this dharma name before."

Seeing that it was not a big problem, I let go of my hanging heart.

"Is that all right for you?"

Jiang Ci replied: "Let's take one step at a time."

"Um……"

I pressed the sides of my forehead uncomfortably.

"Old Five, I plan to leave."

The other party was just as stunned as before, and the crispy meat in his hand almost fell to the ground—fortunately, he didn't, otherwise I would have dragged him to the shop to repay me twice.

It took a while to barely digest, Jiang Ci was visibly at a loss, his face was full of worry.

"Where are you going? Are you going by yourself? Are you coming back?"

I laughed at myself and shook my head, "They can't overthrow it... There are signs of it everywhere. In fact, the people don't necessarily want a new master."

"No, the people hope that a master who will not rise to power due to the war and will not make any changes will appear."

Blood exchange also means change, which means that a peaceful life will experience another period of unrest, while most suffering people will continue to suffer, or suffer even more.

"Today's world is not a tyrant, weak and incompetent but always in control and in control of everything."

"How would you define him?"

I think this question should be handed over to Jiang Wenru. He will definitely be willing to take a look at the numbness and compromise under the surface, and he will also decide that there is no way to escape.

In short, no matter what the reputation of King Guangxian is, it can't be [-]-[-].I don't see his advantage at all, the support isn't overwhelming, and Holy Mountain has more, more out of sight...

"In short, I don't see any hope in my father's downfall."

I bluntly tell the other party my own judgment, although it is not absolute or destined.

It is doomed now that only Shen Shiyun's following of King Guangxian, which cannot be shaken by the naked eye, will definitely be the main force.Once it fails, the Shen family will be the first to suffer consecutive disasters.

"The kid is at the downtown entrance now? Hongxinglou is still in the alley next to the pawn shop."

Jiang Ci blurted out, "Hongxinglou, He Huang should join in the fun over there now."

"..."

I paused for a moment, "What excitement."

The other party was shocked when he realized that he had leaked his words and remained silent. He puffed up his cheeks and looked a little regretful and sad, "Sister...you will know when you go and see."

He knew that I would not let it go, even if he concealed it, he would probably go by himself.As he expected, I bit off a few pieces of crispy meat from the oil paper, leaving the rest for Jiang Ci to chew on, and got up and walked outside by myself.

"...Eh, wait!"

I looked back at him, Jiang Ci hesitated to say: "Will you go to us?"

"Besides me, Chasing Yan is the only one you have."

He waved his hand quickly, "I don't want to involve you, it's just...you are very important to us, very important."

"..."

I helplessly brought out a smile from my snort, and lifted the corner of my mouth.

"You are also very important to me, very important."

"By then, hopefully we'll all be there."

It was completely different from the previous situation where people were making trouble. Not only were the passers-by watching, they all covered their faces with their hands in an unbearable state, and there was deep disgust and disgust, and they couldn't help feeling pity.

In addition, some people shouted: "I'm going to report to the police!"

Everyone stopped in place, and some stepped forward decisively.

I caught sight of an inconspicuous corner, where a familiar figure was indifferently sticking his face against the wall, watching everything inside and the commotion of the crowd.

what happened?

Pushing away the messy crowd, I stretched my head and looked inside.

I saw the girls in Hongxinglou ignored the distorted rouge on their faces, some covered their faces and wept, and some even wailed loudly.They seemed to be heart-piercing, but they were still tightly packed together in a row to block their sight, as if they were covering something.

I stood closer to them, looked over their heads to the blocked place, and suddenly trembled.

The floor that should have been dark brown was occupied by blackened red, and the area was not too large. After thinking about it, I could understand that someone controlled it on purpose or by accident.

A bloated woman was quietly lying in the pool of blood, and she couldn't tell whether the pattern of her clothes was just so bare or bloody.

It's not the first time I've seen this kind of scene, but the shock is not lost just because you have experienced it.

The madam is dead, man-made.

This idea kept spinning in my mind, I only felt the disappearance of life for a moment, but I couldn't help but think of Wen Liu.

This is her mother, and now she is dead.

The woman kneeling next to her had a purple sachet pinned to her waist, and she was the one who cried the most in this group.Her throat is no longer able to make a sound, but she is still whispering weakly like a demon.

"I just saw her sitting on it, so I reached out and touched her to say hello, how could..."

From the other door, Shuitao came out with a pale face, just like when she entered the confinement, no, even worse.

She must have not passed the time, or it has already passed, but she just couldn't accept the sudden tragedy unfolding before her eyes, so she chose to relax in the room.

Shuitao looked at the scene cruelly and refused to let go, drawing her eyes, unbearably lowered her body, but forced herself not to express herself like those crying girls.

"..."

She bit her lower lip and stood up, took unnatural steps to pat the group of people, as well as the shoulders and back of the kneeling woman, and said softly: "Don't panic...you can do it well!" very good."

After all, he turned around and began to take care of this unbearable situation, and settled the girls who were at a loss and only knew to cover up first.

I squeezed beside He Huang who was about to leave, without first explaining why.

"What's going on here……?"

He picked up a weed in his hand and threw it on the ground casually. Seeing that I was really clueless, he replied: "A good son-in-law doesn't want to recognize anyone anymore."

I couldn't understand the meaning of this sentence for a while, and then I thought of my previous speculation around Wen Liu, thinking that Shen Shijie would not foolishly commit cruel acts after the incident, because it would undoubtedly be exposed to Shen Junshe.

Recalling the scene I saw just now, I suddenly felt that I had captured some details.The bustard's position is close to the upstairs seat, maybe she was pushed down...

That's not quite right either, the scars don't match.

"How did you know?"

He Huang snorted and said contemptuously: "There are still people who want to report to the officials, but they don't know that Mr. Shen has already sent the silver taels. It's heavy and safe."

Thinking about it this way, I can understand that he probably heard Shen Shijie's order, maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe he heard it.

I didn't get dazed and asked why the other party didn't testify, otherwise the bowl for eating would be smashed.

"It is said that it is not yet dawn, and I saw that young master found a time when there was no one to book the venue."

If he really heard it, he continued to explain it, but his eyes didn't seem to be looking at anything.

It was a young servant, who was often ordered by the old bustard to go on long trips, which was rarely seen on weekdays.

Naturally, it wasn't just the girl's family who picked it up, this guy was mostly doing physical work here, so it wasn't enough to attract attention.

That day, he stayed in Hongxinglou occasionally, and it was not uncommon for Shen Shijie to book the venue, and the old bustard had to be sensible not to leak the news.Apart from Shen Shijie's obsession with Zhangtai's people, which makes people slightly disgusted, this kind of private house is definitely the most profitable for Hongxinglou, a Zhangtai that has no good business.

But this day was different, the servant served tea and water but moved silently. In the middle of the night, he saw Shen Shijie leading a large group of people in Hongxinglou, and when it was time to rest, he just stayed by his side several.

The servant just thought it was weird, if it was just to protect Mr. Shen, Shen Shijie actually sent the girl upstairs to watch until the old bustard went to check whether the door was still closed tightly.

In the name of paying, he called the old bustard up, only to see that the greasy smile on the other side was impeccable.

"A person who only wants to marry his daughter is still hanging out in the flower street." Shen Shijie put his hands behind his back in the depth of the servant's sight, and his voice was quite clear, "Are you feeling very uncomfortable?"

The old bustard's face suddenly turned pale, but the corners of her mouth, which were painted bright red, were still lifted.She waved the round fan at the other party, "Hey, how can it be, Mr. Shen, stop joking, we are just doing such a dirty business, how can we have the qualifications to marry you."

"Really? That would be great."

Shen Shijie immediately showed a very happy smile, and applauded the old bustard with satisfaction.

"Great, really, great..."

He laughed more and more happily, his voice couldn't help but restrained deliberately, so that the girls and guest officials in the room would not hear it.There is no door or wall between the boy and him, and his ears are always very clear, so he put everything in his ears clearly.

Shen Shijie's hands kept striking each other, but the smile on his face suddenly disappeared, his eyes were fierce and sharp at the old bustard, and he bowed and stretched forward.

"But I'm worried."

"In order to fool that old man, I have already put your prostitute in the old house of the old housekeeper."

"Fortunately, fortunately, the old man has made a lot of contributions to our Shen family before he left, and father will only compromise in comparison."

The old bustard subconsciously felt that the situation was wrong, and was afraid that shouting would disturb the other party and do something terrible, so he had no choice but to stand still under the pressure of several people around him.

"...But this old man is very shrewd. As long as your biological mother is still around, he will know sooner or later."

Having said so far, the old bustard took a step back quietly after seeing the danger implied in it clearly.Unexpectedly, those guys' eyes were very vicious, and they immediately pinned their shoulders to the spot. The old bustard groaned in his heart, and waved his two fat arms and began to struggle desperately.

"Come--!"

As soon as the mouth that was trying to shout was opened, it was pressed tightly against the face by a thick cloth, making it impossible to make a sound, and it became impossible to breathe as time went by.She kept tearing out the small humming sound from her throat, except for the few people who were moving, only the servant could vaguely hear it, and even suspected it was an illusion.

Struggling like this, with his hands and feet bound, his movements gradually became more difficult, until finally he was completely still, and the old bustard, whose eyes were completely dark, lost consciousness just like that.

Looking at the comatose madam who was completely unable to move, Shen Shijie looked around to make sure no one saw him, and waved his hands to let the people he brought to deal with the aftermath.

I saw that they carefully placed the bustard next to the upstairs seat against the pillar, and the fat buttocks fell high to fit the backrest.One of them took out a dagger glowing with silver light from his pocket, and picked a spot on the fat on his neck under the thick cloth.

The red liquid flowed out along the traces and along the edge of the blade, and the lower abdomen and chest, which were still ups and downs before, were completely still.From the servant's point of view, the whole body seems to be sitting quietly on the attic, looking down at the dim emptiness of Zhangtai.

"...!"

The boy was in a turbulent state, he covered his mouth and didn't even dare to take a deep breath, for fear of disturbing the group of murderous ghosts.

"You," Shen Shijie took out something from his pocket, which was so dark that he couldn't see it, "go, send it to the government...you know what to say, they won't 'appreciate' you."

The man bowed deeply and neatly, stuffed his things into his sleeves, and walked towards a certain room, thinking about going out the window.

"Notify everyone, all will be withdrawn in a while, the suspicion can be reduced, and we can't make it difficult for them, can we?"

There were small and dense footsteps going everywhere, and the boy hurriedly hid in the shadow at the corner and did not dare to move until the movements were far away from him.

He has also experienced suffering in the world. The biggest advantage at this time is that he will not be at a loss. He quietly suppressed the chills on his body and moved slowly.

At this time, Shen Shijie suddenly spoke again, which really frightened him, only to realize that he should be talking to himself.

"Now, the old man can't care about it."

"Now Wen Liu is officially withdrawing from the world." Shen Shijie stared at the old bustard's motionless back, "There is only one Liu'er, the only daughter of the former housekeeper of the Shen residence."

"Okay, that's great."

……

I couldn't digest the extreme sense of unreality that He Huang said.

I saw the other side's face was very calm - too calm, he used to be either playful or full of sarcasm.

"Where's that boy?"

He Huang didn't raise his eyes, "I should have said that it was before dawn, he told me."

"What time is it now?"

I hissed, raised my head to estimate the color of the sky, and said, "It's almost noon in the middle of the day."

I thought I would only reveal some insignificant details, but I didn't expect the other party's expression to darken.

"Can't find it."

"Varied……"

Surprise was quickly replaced by greater disgust, and I quickly guessed that this was also Mr. Shen's handwriting.

He Huang explained: "The group of beggars next to the pawn shop, I always feel uneasy after the other party anxiously confessed everything, so I asked them to help keep an eye on them."

"It's just that I didn't expect...it's still over."

I really wanted to comfort the other party with the words "You are just asking around, how can you have such a great ability to cover everything", but after thinking about it carefully, there was some ironic meaning in it, and I still didn't make a sound in the end.

The government probably won't make decisions about it anymore. Hongxinglou's hemorrhage this time is not comparable to the previous case of Shuitao.

The bustard is gone...Wen Liu has also been crowned with a new identity.She is not stupid, she has already sensed it, and told me her dissatisfaction and helplessness.

At first, she just thought that at least the old bustard was still there, Wen Liu was still Wen Liu, and she wouldn't have the surname Shen, that was a lie.

The crying still didn't stop, I calmed down and smiled ironically.

They said they stayed voluntarily and left as soon as they wanted.

They are from Zhangtai, and they are not accustomed to rewarding wealth and wealth like other places, and their fingers are not touched by spring water; but they have never been rich until now, and they do not recruit chefs or thugs. It is hard to imagine how the business is done now—— —

Perhaps it is because of this that disasters have come a few times.

Hongxinglou is a special existence to them, but the person who established it left today.

How many people will leave Hongxinglou tomorrow?

Wen Liu...everything is messed up.If you knew, you would definitely be more sad than the day you left.

"By the way, Young Master Jiang."

He Huang suddenly changed the topic, "You asked me last time, and I noticed one thing."

I froze for a moment, just as I had reached my original intention, I signaled to continue.

"A few days ago, Shen's residence suddenly picked up the carriage. Some people said it was a woman with a mask," he said, "It happened to be those few days. Take care."

"Master Jiang must have some clues."

He Huang paused for a moment, then said, "I suspect it's Wen Liu, who's bound to Shen's house."

"Ah."

I lowered my head and thought, "But it's too abrupt to relax my vigilance in a short period of time."

I always feel that it is not a good thing, she will not encounter any difficulties...

"Please pay more attention to the specific situation."

The other party nodded, "If what you find is too huge, I hope you can loosen your wallet and make up for it 'casually'."

……

"Well, whatever," I raised my eyes and asked, "There are more."

He first inhaled as if he was about to speak, then paused in his throat for a moment, and said nonchalantly, "It's already...cough, it won't be long before the scene is cleared, and we need to hurry up when the curtain ends."

"Lao Wu is going to Huguo Temple to meet the little girl, so the date is not clear."

From the corner of his eye, He Huang felt as if a boulder had finally fallen from his heart, and his expression immediately became much more relaxed.

I didn't stay long, sighed with worry, and left the noisy crowd.