Unspeakable and strange

While they were talking, an old woman came in with a child.Her clothes were tattered and dirty, but the child's clothes were clean and tidy, and she looked white and tender. She had a braid on her head, and she was holding a piece of malt candy in her hand. With hands full, a pair of big eyes moved around agilely.The woman lined up two copper coins on the counter, ordered a cake and a meat bun, then sat down in a corner seat, and asked the waiter to fill her with a pot of water.

She wrapped the meat for the child, poured a bowl full of water herself, broke off the cake and soaked it in water to eat.It was such a shabby meal, but she ate it neatly, meticulously, and very cleanly.In fact, if you look closely, you can see that her hands and face are very clean, but it's just that she has been exposed to the wind and sun all year round, which makes her look dark and haggard.

The child, Xu, had just eaten candy and was not hungry, so he wriggled around in his seat, looking around.Seeing Yan Ning looking at him in a blink of an eye, she opened her mouth to show her glutinous rice-like teeth, and couldn't stop smiling at him.

Yan Ning was amused by him, and couldn't help but look at them a few more times.

The shopkeeper brought them the menu booklet, Qin Hongfeng showed it to Yan Ning, Yan Ning and Hu Feihuan never went to the table when they were outside, and stayed in the room.Seeing so many strange names now, he couldn't make up his mind at once, so he pulled Qin Hongfeng's sleeve and asked him to choose.

Qin Hongfeng chose a few dishes, and the shopkeeper shook his head in embarrassment and said no, saying that the dishes were too delicate, and no one would order these now, so he didn't prepare.Qin Hongfeng randomly ordered some home-cooked dishes and sweet-scented osmanthus cake.

When the dishes were ready, Qin Hongfeng didn't move his chopsticks, instead he asked the shopkeeper to invite the mother and son to sit down.

The shopkeeper hesitated, "That female beggar is a little crazy, I'm afraid I'll scare you two."

"It's okay."

Yan Ning wondered why Qin Hongfeng invited them over, Qin Hongfeng turned to look at him and said softly, "Don't you like that child? I also think that child is clever and cute, you might as well get to know him."

Yan Ning was very happy, and deliberately moved the plate of sweet-scented osmanthus cake from in front of her to the empty seat next to her.

Seeing that the shopkeeper went over there to invite someone, the woman kept shaking her head timidly, the shopkeeper was a little impatient, and pointed at Yan Ning and the others, the woman looked over, Yan Ning smiled at her, but the woman seemed like Seeing a ghost, his eyes widened and he let out a scream.The child was frightened by the cry, and then burst into tears loudly.This time, there was screaming and crying, and the eardrums were buzzing.Fortunately, as soon as the mad woman heard the cry of the child, she quickly turned around and hugged him in her arms, murmuring what she was talking about.

The shopkeeper covered his ears, stepped back, and complained to them, "That woman doesn't want to come, she's always so neurotic, she treats everyone as a bad person."

Qin Hongfeng nodded, took out the money and handed it to the shopkeeper, "Then I will trouble you to give this table of food to them." Then he said to Yanning: "Let's go."

Yan Ning nodded, hurriedly followed behind him, and said in a low voice, "You have a kind heart. Hu Feihuan never gave charity to these beggars before. He said that these people are healthy but lazy. They only know how to beg for food. When he was worse than them before, he never ate a bite of food."

"They are not the same." Qin Hongfeng explained, "The woman herself was not fully clothed, but she tidied up the child, which showed that she was very kind to the child. Although the clothes on her body were dirty, her face and hands were washed very clean , which shows that she is ashamed. She soaked the pancakes in plain water to increase her satiety. She was so hungry, but she still ate very politely, which shows that she had a good tutor. Her hands and feet are all labor The scars and calluses show that she has always been diligent, but now she is in trouble. People like this can help a bunch."

Yan Ning was taken aback for a moment, "Can you see so much?"

Qin Hongfeng said, "Actually, the world is impermanent, and everyone has their own secrets. You don't know the suffering of others, so you can't make common sense."

After speaking, Qin Hongfeng raised his eyebrows and smiled again, "However, what Hu Feihuan said is not accurate. He really doesn't eat the food that comes from him. He stole it openly."

They lifted their feet and stepped out of the restaurant, Qin Hongfeng walked two steps faster than him, Yan Ning just wanted to catch up, but felt that his back was being pulled.He thought his clothes were caught by something, but when he turned around, he saw a pair of eyes staring at him, white and black, turned up like dead fish, very close to him, almost clinging to him.

He was so frightened that he took two steps back, knocked on the threshold, and nearly fell to the ground, but fortunately Qin Hongfeng helped him.

Taking a closer look, the owner of those dead fish eyes is the crazy woman just now, and her hideous hands like chicken feet are holding on to her back. Yan Ning tried to pull, but she couldn't move. .

Yan Ning raised her head, so frightened that she forgot to struggle, a shadow was reflected in the woman's rolled up eyes, her mouth moved, as if she wanted to speak, but she didn't make a sound.

Qin Hongfeng took a step forward first, separating Yan Ning and the woman.

He didn't move much, the woman's hand had been loosened quickly, and she retreated a little bit timidly.

Qin Hongfeng turned around and held Yan Ning in his arms, reassuring him and asking if he was okay, Yan Ning couldn't breathe, and grabbed Qin Hongfeng's wrist tightly, only to realize that his palms were covered in cold sweat.

Leaving the restaurant and walking on the street for a while, Yan Ning always felt chills on his back, turned around and saw the child holding a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake, standing at the door of the restaurant, smiling and waving at him, his teeth still stuck Slices of yellow osmanthus.And the woman stood upright and quietly beside the children, watching them go with her blind eyes.

The whole picture is indescribably weird.

Yanning didn't dare to look any further.He lowered his head, recalling the woman's lip movement just now, and tried to spell out the mouth shapes, only to realize that what the woman said was: run away.

They went to the old site of Xie's house and saw that the door was dilapidated and weeds were overgrown.It is expected that it was a magnificent building in the past, with blue bricks and black tiles, a tall screen wall, and a stone lion in front of the gate, but now even the black paint on the gate is peeled off, full of insects, and termites are crawling around the corners. Slippery moss snakes its way.

Qin Hongfeng put his hands behind his back and said softly, "Xie Qixiang, a native of Quanzhou, was born in Hansu, quite talented. After you single-handedly promoted him, he became the number one scholar hand-picked by you in the Longyuan period, and later became the imperial doctor. He is upright and sharp-tongued. Have the courage to speak out. He has always been loyal to you, and you used to trust him the most, and he is an important force for you to counter the prince's power in the court."

Yan Ning listened to him, and it was nothing at first, but as his voice hit his ears, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head. He took two steps back in pain, bent his body, covered his head with his hands, and occasionally flashed a few words in his mind. Blurred images, figures with faces erased and messy human words, chaotic light and shadow in front of the eyes, sunlight refracted through the diamond-shaped panes, someone crashed headfirst on the pillars, blood stained the front of the steps.Yan Ning let out a long howl, in unbearable pain, his body fell to the ground and rolled over.

When he managed to slow down, he put his hands on the ground, his fingers dug into the mud, and his body was sweating profusely.

At this time, the door of the Xie Mansion suddenly opened a small crack, and the person who came out was dressed in homemade clothes, and looked very light, only about twenty, with a frail figure, and he clenched his hands into fists against his mouth and coughed slightly. There is a morbid paleness.He came out across the threshold, turned and closed the door.When they passed by the two of Yan and Ning, they lowered their heads slightly, not looking aside, and hurried to cross the alley and go to the street.

Yan Ning stared blankly, and couldn't help calling, "Qi Xiang?"

The young man was startled, turned around to look at them, recognized them for a while in confusion, then walked up to them, bent over to them, and said softly, "I'm Xie Yiyue, the name is Xuanyuan. Are you A friend of my father's?"