Wu Yu

The sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy ran in a hurry and aimlessly. The street near the west of the town was empty. He held the torn paper tightly in his hand. After a moment of trance, he turned back to the attic again. This time he walked very quickly. Slow down, from a distance, I saw that the attic was very lively, with people coming and going.

Through the half-closed casement, he saw the young master holding a folding fan inside. The young master seemed to have thought of something happy and was joking with his entourage.

Ah San looked at it without blinking. He remembered that this entourage was wearing coarse clothes yesterday, but today he had changed into an elegant green robe. He still had a medical book in his hand, and he had a discussion with his young master neither humble nor overbearing.

Ah San has been watching them quietly for a long time. Mr. Xie is humble, unlike those "nobles" who stand on high places and don't care about their life and death. When he was doing odd jobs in the building, he heard that there had been new progress in the prescription. With a young master under pressure from the outside world, how can doctors devote themselves to medical books?

However, this young master still went door-to-door to help every day, and went to Luomei Mountain every few days to collect herbs.

And to deal with troublemakers...

If some news spreads, can the Young Master really be able to withstand it?

It's not that he doesn't trust the young master, it's just that he doesn't dare to gamble, and he doesn't want to lose more relatives.

Ah San's eyes gradually turned red, and he stood looking at it from a distance for a long time. After a long while, he slowly released the hand that had been tightly holding the paper, bent down and pressed it under a stone.

The words on the paper were slightly scribbled, as if seeing the trembling of the person who wrote the letter, it said: The younger sister in the family is young, please ask the son to take care of it for a while, just eat what you can.

Sign up, Ah San.

Ah San looked at the small piece of rot in her hand, her eyes were a little dazed.

It all started a few days ago.

When he met other townspeople while collecting medicine, he didn't pay much attention at the time. The man accidentally cut his arm with a dagger, and was so scared that he apologized repeatedly, and bandaged his wound guiltily.

The strange thing is that two days after Ah San came back, he felt weak all over his body, and then developed pustules. The ominous premonition in his heart became stronger, and he began to deliberately avoid contact with people, and quietly went to several other nearby towns to observe. Make him feel wrong.

The plague may have invaded the entire Nanling City long ago, but most of the people in the town did not know that General Lin made things difficult for Mr. Xie, and maybe when the news came, it would cause even greater riots, or maybe Mr. Xie and the others had already obtained There was news, but there was no way to announce it to the public.

Although he can also go to Zhenxi, that is the place he should go. He is young and has just been infected for a few days. in town, but...

Was the person he loved the most at that time really still there?

In the plague, everyone seems to be covered in a layer of ashes. They can only scream and resent. With riots, is there really a way to go?

Ah San raised her head, resisting the desire to look back again, resisting the thought of going to Zhenxi, and walked forward step by step, her thin body swaying in the wind, as if to be blown away, his figure gradually disappear.

The wind lifted a corner of the paper, and it was faintly visible that there was a line of small characters that had been erased on the back.

Xie Lingyu raised his eyes as if feeling something, but only saw a gray corner of his clothes. Qingqiu Jue paused with his fingers turning the page, and looked where his eyes could see, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing..." Xie Lingyu shook his head, inexplicably feeling a little weird, "Just take a look."

Qingqiu Jue stared at him, saw the creases on his brows, and suddenly smiled, "Frowns get old quickly."

Xie Lingyu subconsciously smoothed out the wrinkles between his brows with his fingers, but when he raised his eyes, he saw Qingqiu Jue's playful eyes. He put down his hand in embarrassment, but saw Qingqiu Jue get up slowly, pull him to push the door out.

Smoke was rising from every house outside, and it was almost noon, Qingqiu Jue led him to the place he was looking at before, "If you think it's weird, go to verify it, what's the use of always thinking about it?"

"No one's judgment is always right. This is not a war of grass and trees. If you have doubts in your heart, you might as well go and see for yourself."

Xie Lingyu's heart trembled slightly.

He looked up at Qingqiu Jue's brows smudged by the sun, feeling agitated in his heart.

Why can he always know exactly what he is thinking?

This is the first time someone told him not to be afraid of making mistakes.

As the eldest son of the prime minister's mansion, and the eldest son who was taken back after growing up, he knew four words from childhood—be careful in words and deeds.

Maybe his father didn't care, but when others looked at him with malicious intentions or temptations in his eyes, he did so subconsciously, be cautious in his words and deeds, and behave in a polite manner.

This concept has long been engraved into the marrow of his bones. Xie Lingyu doesn't care what others think of him, but he just doesn't want to lose face to his father. His mother died because of him. His greatest wish in this life is to be a good son to his father.

Do you want to say that you hated your father?

He hated him for not taking a few glances at him, so he threw him to Daddy He.

He hated it, but Father He took him to visit his father secretly, and he saw the portrait of his mother hanging in his father's bedroom through the window, and wept alone.

Later, he learned that his favorite rattle and candy man were all bought by his father himself, but every time he came from a long distance, he dared not meet him, and only stopped in front of the yard for a while, watching He was playing and laughing with He Wei.

When he was a child, he was very talkative, and when he saw such a person with his sharp eyes, he actually stopped the servant and asked, "Who is this uncle?"

He remembered the back view of his father leaving in a panic, and he also learned at that time that this was his father.

Xie Lingyu stared at the wall for a long time in a daze, when suddenly there was a warm touch on his hand, Qingqiu Jue gently grabbed his wrist and shook it, without saying a word.

But this action was against him, like a proud wild fox that would lower its head to rub against human knees, showing a cute expression.

Xie Lingyu's thoughts suddenly stopped, and a strange feeling spread in his heart, like a fast-growing vine, after occupying a place, it stretched towards the dark place at an extremely fast speed, as if it would never be satisfied.

He grasped Qingqiu Jue's hand with his backhand in a strange way, but woke up the next moment, Xie Lingyu's fingertips trembled a few times, and he couldn't get off the tiger for a while, he couldn't let go, and he couldn't let go.

At this moment, his hand was tightly squeezed, Xie Lingyu's heart skipped a beat, a little inexplicably hot, he looked up, but found that Qingqiu Jue's face was not right, and his phoenix eyes were staring at the corner without blinking. , seems to have found something.

Xie Lingyu's expression changed, and he also looked there, only to see a piece of paper pressed down by a stone, and words could be vaguely seen on it.

Not caring about anything else, the two strode over, Qingqiu Jue's expression was a little dignified, he gently picked up the unremarkable stone with his fingers, and wiped off the dust on the paper, revealing a slightly scribbled line on it.

——It was what Ah San left behind.

The words are scribbled, with imperceptible tremors, which shows the mood of the owner when he left this line of words. It must have been difficult, even fearful and helpless.

Xie Lingyu found that this piece of torn paper looked strangely familiar. With a flash of inspiration in his mind, he turned the note over with Qingqiu Jue's hand, and sure enough, he saw a line of small characters that had been erased on it, and he could faintly see the other words. The original look.

"It can be destroyed by burning..." Xie Lingyu muttered to himself, this is the paper from that medical book, and this line of writing is actually on the medical book they found at the beginning.

Qingqiu Jue closed his eyes, a slight annoyance flashed across his face, and soon he returned to normal, he immediately got up and said: "Notify the officials, count the number of servants in the attic immediately, see who is missing, let the gatekeeper The guards are watching, don't let people slip out."

Xie Lingyu nodded, and ran back to the attic to give orders immediately. The servants did not dare to delay, and the place that had been calm before suddenly became panicked.

This Ah San should have discovered something, the reason why he left the note was that he trusted them extremely, but for some reason, he had to make a sacrifice.

But what is it?

What exactly is it that made him give up his life to do it... and the reason may be related to them, otherwise he would not have left such an endless note.

Xie Lingyu looked up at the place where the sleeves disappeared.

He walked over and stood still, looked at the attic, where he and Qingqiu Jue could be seen through the window just now, he didn't think it was a coincidence.

Qingqiu Jue looked at him and nodded slightly.

Xie Lingyu became more and more uneasy. Today's matter may not be that simple.

------

It was getting late, and the sky was getting darker and darker. From the sunset to the moon, the town was not as quiet as it used to be, but cold and brightly lit.

Everyone found the present at noon, and only got sporadic information. At present, they only know that he is a boy of sixteen or seventeen years old. His parents died early, and he lives with his younger sister. He usually does odd jobs in the attic. He is a very good boy.

And this is the only one missing today.

When Xie Lingyu heard that this was a half-grown child, the sadness between his brows became even worse. The sky was getting darker, and the commotion outside also alarmed the townspeople. Everyone came out in outer robes. They heard that Ah San was missing. They all followed suit.

Qingqiu Jue was not as careless as in the past, he was holding the piece of paper in his hand, his lowered eyebrows made it impossible to see any emotion, Xie Lingyu walked over to him, without saying a word.

The two of them leaned together quietly. In front of the table was a picture drawn by Xie Lingyu. It was a simple map of a small town. On it, the names of many places had been removed.

They searched almost all over the town, and Qingqiu Jue's people had gone outside the town to search not long ago, but it was not easy to find such a person, and he was still a person who already had the will to die.

"My lord... my lord!" came the boy's eager voice, which could almost be called a roar, "I have news... Ah San is in a dilapidated wooden house outside the town, but he won't let us approach, saying he Waiting for someone!"

Qingqiu Jue and Xie Lingyu set off immediately, and ran to that place with the boy, the sleepy people in their outer robes immediately cheered up, and a group of people ran out of the town in a mighty manner.

Not far outside the town, it was damp and dilapidated. The wooden house had long since been eaten away by moths and was creaking in the wind. Ah San held a torch in his hand, and a group of acquaintances who also showed concern stood in front of him.

"Ah San, go back with Uncle!"

"What are you doing, little brat, stop making trouble."

"Ah San..."

Everyone moved forward a little bit, wanting to take him back. Ah San glanced at everyone's faces. The one with the mole on the corner of his mouth was Uncle Li, who had been taking care of their brother and sister. Sister Bao was selling breakfast. "The steamed buns and pickles, and the children of Aunt Zhou's family always have "torn clothes that can't be worn"...

Ah San laughed suddenly, and involuntarily took a step forward, raising his arms as if he wanted to hug them, his vision suddenly became blurred, and something flowed from his eyes.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but smile.

But in the next second, he waved the torch, which seemed to have exhausted all his strength, Ah San's voice was hoarse, "Don't come over..."

Ah San didn't dare to look into the eyes of the crowd, so he staggered back three steps. The moment he raised his eyes, he froze for a moment, seeing the flames jumping in the distance, and many, many people were running towards him.

There are two leaders, one in white and the other in green robes. Behind them is a large group of people, all of whom are familiar and friendly faces. They are holding torches, and some of them have not had time to put on their robes.

They... all came for themselves.

"That's great." Ah San murmured to herself, with the warm color of flames imprinted in her eyes.

It was the most beautiful scenery he had ever seen in his life. A group of people came with fire, like shooting stars across the night. In his barren life, he finally had something shining besides his sister.

Unfortunately, he was never seen again.