Zhou Yan

In front of the gate of the Zhou Mansion, because the gate was closed, a few broken leaves fell in twos and threes. They were baked in the sun so crispy that they would crumble into dross when stepped on lightly.

Someone knocked on the door, and after a long time, an elderly man poked his head out: "Who are you looking for?"

Inside the carriage that was not far away, Zhou Cijiu picked up Shen Xian with one hand and lifted the curtain with the other. From the gap in the curtain, Shen Xian squinted to see that this man was the housekeeper of the Zhou Mansion, and the important things in Zhou Mingchao's mansion. He took care of it all.

"Well!"

"Keep your voice down," Zhou Cijiu patted Shen Xian's shoulder and hissed, "Don't let them find you."

"Is Young Master Zhou there?" The voice of the knocker was very low, and no expression could be seen on his ordinary face: "I'm from the capital, I have something urgent to ask him."

It seems that the word "capital" is very sensitive, the butler pushed the half-opened door open when he heard it: "But my son is not here, he left overnight last night."

The man couldn't see any waves on his face, and nodded: "That's fine."

The housekeeper glanced at him and closed the door worriedly.

The man walked to the side of the carriage and nodded slightly: "My lord."

Zhou Cijiu hugged the fainted Shen Xian, and rubbed his hands on the side of his neck: "Go back."

----

When Shen Xian woke up, he just tilted his head on the quilt, and his neck felt a sharp pain.

With a "hiss", Shen Xian frowned, and wanted to touch it, but found that his wrist could not move. Shen Xian struggled for his hand, looked up, and saw a rope passing through the bedside shelf, pulling his two hands together. His hands were all tied to the head of the bed, and he couldn't move now.

Shen Xian looked at the rope on his wrist, but didn't react for a while, and then a person walked into the room.

Zhou Cijiu's gorgeous voice was more joyful than a child eating candy: "You're awake! Does your head still hurt?"

Shen Xian tugged hard on the rope at the head of the bed, raised his head from the bed and looked at him: "What do you mean!"

Shen Xian's head still hurts a lot. He just remembered what the steward of the Zhou residence said about Zhou Mingchao leaving Linzhou city overnight, and before he had time to relax, he found himself tied to the head of the bed.

This is a very insecure and dangerous action, which means that he is under the control of others, imprisoned in a square inch and unable to move. Shen Xian's face is white and tender, with crooked eyebrows and eyes. It is not unreasonable to say that he is a child who grew up in a pampering environment. However, no one has ever treated him like this.

What's more, not seeing Zhou Mingchao, Shen Xian was flustered and anxious, he pulled the two red lines on his wrist with all his strength, and there were deep and shallow red marks on his fair wrist, some places were worn out and blood oozes out, Shen Xian tearing apart unconsciously.

"Don't talk, don't talk," Zhou Cijiu trotted forward two steps, and squeezed Shen Xian's wrist tightly: "Is your head not hurting? Just make a fuss like this, be obedient, don't move."

Zhou Cijiu raised his hand to touch Shen Xian's neck, and Shen Xian flinched in pain.

The back of Shen Xian's ears was already bruised, Zhou Cijiu lifted Shen Xian's head with one hand, let him rest on his arm, and rubbed the back of Shen Xian's neck with the other hand.

"I'm sorry!" Zhou Cijiu apologized while rubbing: "You were so excited when you heard that old man's words, I almost couldn't hold you back, so you just got out of the carriage."

So Zhou Cijiu had no choice but to slap Shen Xian with a knife, and Shen Xian, who was about to get off the carriage, fell down immediately. Zhou Cijiu caught him and plucked the hair on his forehead .

"What exactly do you want?"

Zhou Cijiu's strength is very appropriate, and his neck is much more comfortable, but Shen Xian is even more tired, and the light that shines through the folds of Zhou Ci's old clothes is dull, Shen Xian can't figure out what this man wants to do.

"I really don't want to do anything," Zhou Cijiu laughed, still softly: "Before when my cousin was around, you couldn't talk to me. Zhou Mingchao protects you like an old hen protects her chicks. , I just want to have a good talk with you."

Shen Xian looked at the rope at the head of the bed and smiled inexplicably.

"It's true," Zhou Mingchao got up and untied the rope, and rubbed his wrist in his hand again: "Why don't you believe me!"

Shen Xian frowned, not getting used to his hypocrisy: "Then let's talk now, can I go?"

"That can't be done," Zhou Cijiu smiled, and his fingers slid across Shen Xian's wrist: "It took a lot of effort to get it here for you, and I haven't spent enough time with you yet."

Shen Xian lowered his eyes and withdrew his hand, the place where his wrist was torn by the red rope was hot and painful, but he didn't say anything, it was unreasonable for someone like Zhou Cijiu.

"Do you want something to eat?" Zhou Cijiu didn't care about his indifference, and touched Shen Xian on the shoulder: "Do you still want to drink with me?"

Shen Xian wanted to put the jug on his head, but sat down a little and ignored it.

Zhou Cijiu waited for a while, stretched out a finger around Shen Xian's hair: "Don't you want to eat? That's fine, I haven't eaten for a day, and I'm hungry, so we have to talk, otherwise the two of you The big living people sitting in the room have no vitality at all, they are lifeless."

Shen Xian twisted the quilt with his hands, bit his lips, and asked: "Brother Zhou, did he really leave?"

"He's gone?" Zhou Cijiu said, "Didn't you hear that in the carriage? The butler said he left overnight."

Shen Xian couldn't tell what it was like at this moment, but there was a sudden emptiness in his heart and bitterness in his throat.

"Then he," Shen Xian let go of the wrinkled quilt that was held by him, his voice was a bit astringent: "Why did you leave? Did something happen in the capital?"

Something flashed past Zhou Cijiu's eyes, and after a while, his peachy eyes blinked, and the corners of his lips curled up again: "I don't know about that, you have to ask him."

Shen Xian bowed his head again and did not speak.

Zhou Cijiu must know something, but he only said that Zhou Mingchao left, but why he left, where he went, and what he did, he didn't tell, just asked.

Shen Xian was sleepy in Zhou Cijiu's mansion for two days. At the beginning, he couldn't control his agitation, threw things, didn't eat, spoke sharply to Zhou Cijiu, Zhou Cijiu ignored him, and finally got angry. Just hit Shen Xian with a hand knife on the neck, knocking him out, and then Shen Xian became numb, and most of the time he curled up on the bed silently, seeing everything around him as air, Zhou Cijiu didn't care, sat On the bedside and Shen Xian can talk a lot.

It is said that the little flower he raised under the corner of the wall in the palace was stepped on by a little maid in the mud in front of him in the end, and mixed with the red flowers all over the ground. He also said that the hunting dog raised by Li Guipin was once Bite off a piece of meat from his arm, and later said that the maid was ridiculed in the heavy rain with a disheveled hair and face. The maid was holding a child. Both she and the child were infected, but they only asked for a pair of medicine when they went to the imperial hospital. , the palace maid gave the child food, and she herself fell on the muddy palace road in the heavy rain. Zhou Cijiu also said that the palace is so big and there are so many palace roads, it is no big deal for a palace maid to die. Come out and clean it up and it's clean again.

When Zhou Cijiu said this, he touched Shen Xian's back: "Do you want to know who that maid is?"

With his back turned to him, Shen Xian seemed to be asleep.

Zhou Cijiu said softly: "That person is my mother."

Sure enough, the figure on the bed trembled a little, very slightly, but Zhou Cijiu's sharp eyes still noticed it.

"You haven't fallen asleep!" Zhou Cijiu lifted the quilt and hugged Shen Xian, he lowered his head and looked at Shen Xian's face: "It's only been two days, why are you so haggard?"

Shen Xian frowned, his voice was hoarse after not drinking water for a long time: "What are you going to do?"

Except for the first time when he went to Zhou Mingchao's mansion, Zhou Cijiu hardly let Shen Xian leave this door, but now, Zhou Cijiu took him with him, and there was a tendency to step out of this door.

"Although I'm very reluctant," Zhou Cijiu walked out of the door regretfully holding Shen Xian in his arms: "But the city lord has already found this place, if I don't let you out, I can't compare to him in Linzhou City."

The moment he saw the sun, Shen Xian closed his eyes reflexively. He who hadn't seen the sun for a long time was stimulated to tears. When he closed his eyes, Zhou Cijiu had already brought him to the city lord.

"I'm sorry," Zhou Cijiu handed the person to the city lord: "He's been a little naughty these days, and he's been refusing to eat well."

Seeing Shen Xian, who was visibly thinner in Zhou Cijiu's arms, and his eyes were blue and black, the city lord frowned, and gently took his son into his arms.

"Father?" Shen Xian, who was rubbing his eyes, felt as if he was being held by a different person. When he squinted his eyes to look at it, he saw his father's familiar and serious face.

"En." The city lord responded in a low voice, and after holding the child well in his arms, he gave Zhou Cijiu a warning look, turned and left.

"Father," Shen Xian was a little embarrassed, he was a little embarrassed to be carried by his father on the road at such an adult: "Please let me down, I can walk by myself."

The city lord hugged the man and strode forward, the corners of his lips curled down unconsciously, which was an obvious sign of anger, but as soon as Shen Xian spoke, he withdrew his emotions.

"Your father is not old, he can't even hold a child!" The city lord saw the blood on Shen Xian's slender wrists and the large bruises on his neck, and snorted: "Go later Look at your mother, you don't see her being very nervous these days, and she hasn't fallen asleep for several nights."

Shen Xian obediently said yes, then lowered his head and pulled his sleeves to cover the red marks on his wrists, only then did he see it.

The city lord saw that some places were still bloodshot, and the wound caused by this blunt instrument was slowly hurting. After all, it was his son, the city lord's heart twitched: "How did he bully you?"

Just now at Zhou Ci's old house, it's not that the city lord didn't have a fit, it's just that it's an eventful time, and he has other things to deal with, Shen Xian has already found him, and he will settle the score later.

"It's okay, Zhou Cijiu just has a hole in his head," Shen Xian quickly covered the wound on his wrist, what he wants to ask now is not these: "Father, Brother Zhou, did he really leave?"

"Ming Dynasty," the city lord paused, "he's gone."

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