under the tower

"...I didn't." Yan moved his lips and pushed him with his hand, "Get up."

Ji Xi blinked, his water-blue eyes stared at him for a long time, maybe it was because of the light, Yan Yi felt that the color of his eyes was no longer like the bottomless ocean when he first saw it, but more like a patch of sunshine A beautiful lake shimmering in the light.

There was still a little bit of sunset in the martial arts hall, which dyed the floor under them a bright orange red.

"Really?" Ji Xi said softly, he couldn't see his current appearance, he looked like a seductive goblin, a siren who seduces and commits crimes in mythology.

"..." Yan Yi said with difficulty, "My little ancestor, stop making trouble."

He looked extremely helpless and had nothing to do with him.

Ji Xi's Adam's apple rolled up and down in a circle.

He blinked quickly, raised his arms with a slightly unnatural expression, and suddenly got off Yan Yi's body sideways, sitting with his back facing him.

This... what's going on?

Ji Xi's heart was pounding.

Yan Yi let out a long sigh of relief, and sat up with the support of his hands.

The two sat with their backs slanted, no one looked at the other, and no one spoke.

Outside the window, the setting sun was sinking little by little, slowly elongating their shadows until the dim light covered the entire floor.

After a while, Yan Yi said uncertainly, "Let's go?"

"Yeah." Ji Xi patted his pants and stood up from the ground, "Let's go home."

A few days later, Yu Chengyuan scolded Ji Xi for asking for leave the last time. He became more honest in a short time, and went to work in the grocery store step by step every day.

On this day, Yu Chengyuan went fooling around somewhere, and Ji Xi was alone in the store, taking care of 24 children.

Sometimes his own job is more like a nanny than a buddy.

Whether those children are hungry, thirsty, or acting like a monster again, Ji Xi has to deal with it.

Of course, most of the time they are quite obedient, Yu Chengyuan is already quite good to them, giving them a place to live, providing them with food and drink, and trying to meet their needs as much as possible, but that's all.

They just "live".

Except for occasionally chatting with the friends in the same room, they don't have any spiritual life, they are really just alive - they can breathe, eat, and excrete, and they are no different from those small animals in cages in pet shops, except that they are not Not locked up, they were voluntary.

After working in the grocery store for almost a month, Ji Xi was at a loss from the very beginning and didn't even know how to talk to them, but now he is gradually getting acquainted with them.

It's funny to say that these children have degraded their language skills because they have not been in contact with the outside world for a long time. Sometimes they can only stumble out a few words when they speak, and they often fail to express their meaning. This is understandable. After all, they The only teaching resources available are those phonics picture books that teach children how to read at the grocery store.

But Ji Xi, an adult who seems to be very normal in all aspects, actually committed the same problem as them - in a new environment, if no one took the initiative to talk to him, he would never learn how to do it. Be friends with each other.

The first person who became acquainted with Ji Xi was a boy named Dai Changting in Room 13. He is [-] years old this year, and he is considered to be the oldest among the children Yu Chengyuan adopted.

Probably because of his age, Dai Changting took the initiative to play the role of "big brother". When his "little brothers" had any problems, Dai Changting would pat his strong chest with a "thud, thud" in an exaggerated manner. Then he said angrily: "Put it on me!"

Once, when Ji Xi was patrolling the wards as usual, it was Dai Changting who suddenly said, "Brother, my little brother accidentally broke his knee when he got out of bed, please get a Band-Aid?"

Ji Xi reacted for a second before realizing that Dai Changting's "brother" was actually calling himself.

Ji Xi really never expected that he would be called a "brother" by a 13-year-old kid. This little guy really has a bright future.

"Okay, I'll get it later." He said, took a pen and wrote two notes on the paper, "Also, my name is Ji Xi."

Dai Changting was not embarrassed at all, he spoke with a gangster air, really like a big brother with a bunch of younger brothers, he changed a new address very familiarly: "Oh, okay, thank you Brother Ji Xi!"

Ji Xi didn't know whether he would use it or not, so he went downstairs to get him something.

After a few days, everyone started calling him "Brother Ji Xi".

Didn't expect Dai Changting to be quite influential?

Ji Xi thought silently, in short, among so many people, he always had a deep impression on him, and Dai Changting was one of them that he remembered first.

So, after getting acquainted with each other slowly, he sometimes went to make rounds and chat with them briefly.

One day, when Ji Xi went to Room No. [-], Dai Changting asked, "Brother Ji Xi, what are your names?"

"The season is the season of the season, and the seal is the seal of the jade seal."

Several children blinked their eyes in confusion: "What is Yuxi?"

"The jade seal is..." Ji Xi thought for a while and explained, "Before the end of the world began, many hundred years ago, our country was ruled by the emperor, and the jade seal was the emperor's seal. Only the document stamped with the jade seal can represent Emperor's order."

"Wow." The others made admiring voices in unison, "Sounds so interesting, so amazing."

Dai Changting listened with gusto, and asked again: "Brother Ji Xi, you know a lot, can you tell us more about the outside story?"

"The story outside?" Ji Xi pondered for a moment, remembering that Chi Miao had talked with him about similar topics before, and he racked his brains for a long time, but it was a pity that Chi Miao said that his storytelling was very bad.

He said: "When I was your age, I was almost the same as you are now. I stayed in a room all the time and couldn't go out. My biggest wish at that time was to go out and have a look, because I thought it was too boring. You would think Are you bored?"

"No, there are many of our little friends here, and the outside world is too scary, it's better here."

"Okay." Ji Xi said, "My family's rhetoric is similar to yours. It's too dangerous outside. They did this to protect me."

Ji Xi strangely shares a common language with these children, because even though they live in two worlds, their childhood situations are surprisingly similar.

"Yes." Dai Changting said like an adult, "I think Brother Yu will definitely agree. He has protected us from the threat of starvation and death. It is a wise choice to stay here. It is also our greatest blessing to be chosen by him." Lucky."

Everyone else nodded.

Ji Xi found that these children have a strange trust in Yu Chengyuan's concept, or the word "faith" is more appropriate, even Chi Miao, even though he has been away from this place for so long, he still sincerely believes that Yu Chengyuan is a very rare nice guy.

He found that there was a special word in Dai Changting's mouth - "choose".

This made him vaguely feel that he had touched some clues that might reveal the truth and answer the questions in his mind.

Ji Xi asked: "How did you all come to Brother Yu? What is his selection criteria?

Dai Changting said: "I met Brother Yu when I was begging on the road. He gave me a whole piece of rice cake. I was so touched that I almost cried holding his leg, but he just waved his hand and left. .Then one day he asked me if I would come over and he would give me a place to stay and never go hungry again, and I happily agreed."

Another boy named "Xu Xiao" said: "I am similar, but I found Brother Yu by myself. I was so hungry that I was dying, and I had a severe flu, and I had no strength at all. I heard that there was a Good-hearted people, I just want to try it out. Who knew Brother Yu not only cured me when he saw me, but also arranged for me to stay. He kept saying that I was very lucky, because when I went, someone just left and it was vacant. A bed, otherwise he can only helplessly watch me die in front of his shop."

"Someone left?" Ji Xi asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's just that there are other better places to go." Xu Xiao said, "For example, if you are spotted by the tailor shop owner, you can become an apprentice or something. Many big bosses will come here to pick people."

"Choose someone?" Ji Xi frowned, "Are you voluntary?"

"Of course, if there is a better place to go, such as being an apprentice or something, with a master teaching, and earning money after learning a craft, then of course it would be the best." Dai Changting said, "Oh, it's a pity that no one wants me. , I have lived here with Brother Yu for three years..."

These children didn't look like they were lying. The more Ji Xi heard it, the more strange he felt. The doubts in his heart were not answered, but became deeper and deeper.

According to these children, Brother Yu has no criteria for picking people for adoption, he just "runs into" or "seeks him out", and there happens to be a bed in the store, so he will accept people.

He didn't use these children for profit, and was even willing to match them up to find a better way out in the future, and then willingly sent them away. It seems that he is an image of a kind person who does not ask for anything in return.

……real or fake?

Ji Xi was a little shaken by her previous judgment.

Based on his understanding of human nature, he doesn't believe that anyone is willing to do such a difficult and difficult business to lose money, not to mention that Yu Chengyuan himself is almost dying of poverty.

But he couldn't think of a reason that could fit into all the missing points to answer all the doubts.

Of course, he wasn't very interested either.

After all, Yu Chengyuan, these people have nothing to do with him.

However, Ji Xi did not expect that his question would be answered soon.

This day he went to Brother Yu's shop as usual, Yu Chengyuan was still sitting by the counter, but there was an unexpected person standing by the shop door, the two of them were probably talking.

Ji Xi's footsteps stopped.

The man by the door was wearing a dark red Tang suit, the delicate dark patterns on the hem of the clothes glistened under the light. He had a pair of naturally affectionate peach blossom eyes, like a pool of spring water.

——It was the man Ji Xi met in Mingyue District, and Ah Han called him "Mr. Xiao Lu" at that time.

The moment he saw this person, many thoughts flashed through Ji Xi's mind, but his expression didn't change at all, as if a strange customer just came to Brother Yu's shop.

"Ming Xiu, someone is here." Yu Chengyuan pointed to Ji Xi and said to the man.

Lu Mingxiu had seen Ji Xi a long time ago, he was lazily half standing and half leaning on the counter at the door of the store, smiled at Ji Xi, and said four words in a familiar but meaningful tone: "...Long time no see. "

"Long time no see." Ji Xi nodded slightly. After seeing this person in Mingyue District, he had expected that Lu Mingxiu would come to him, but he didn't expect that it would be in Yu Chengyuan's shop.

What is the relationship between Lu Mingxiu and Yu Chengyuan?

Yu Chengyuan caught something else from their words: "So you know each other?"

Ji Xi nodded and said concisely: "I have seen it."

Yu Chengyuan said again: "Do you want to talk about something? Go to the third floor and talk, I'll watch from below."

"No need." Lu Mingxiu said, "It's the same in the shop, anyway, there is no one."

Ji Xi's eyes fell on Yu Chengyuan, and then back to Lu Mingxiu.

Obviously, Lu Mingxiu trusted Yu Chengyuan very much.

Compared to Ji Xi's cautiousness, Lu Mingxiu didn't intend to practice Tai Chi with him. He raised his eyebrows, curled his thin lips, and quite bluntly threw a bomb in front of Yu Chengyuan: "The youngest grandson of the Ji family—"

"You are not staying in Shencheng, what are you doing here in our North City?"