Spring River Flower Moon Night: Set of 2 Volumes

Chapter 35
"It's a portrait of my wife. Since she lost her footing, I have never forgotten her, so I made a portrait to express my love." After he said that, he carefully unwrapped the cloth bag, only to see a lifelike portrait presented in the dim candlelight .

The wooden statue is exquisitely carved, the hair is made of real people's hair, the face is rosy, and the eyes are full of spring waves. It doesn't look like a doll at all, but like a shrunken living person.

"Oh? This puppet can still move?" Fei Xiao has sharp eyes, and carefully lifted up the puppet's hand, but saw that the joint was wrapped with transparent filaments. With a slight pull, the puppet's hand was lifted up .

"Yes, this is all my painstaking effort. Of course I made it look like a real person." Zhou Tianwang looked pale, grabbed the puppet, twisted a mechanism behind it, and the puppet clicked. , Walking around in a clattering manner, walking more than ten steps.

"It's unbelievable that there is such an exquisite skill in the world." Wang Zijin was amazed when he saw it, and just about to say a few more words, he saw Fei Hongjun's face turned cold, he raised his sleeves, and instantly extinguished the candle.

Hearing only small noises coming from the courtyard, the three of them carefully approached the window and looked out through the gap.Under the silvery moonlight, there was a slim woman digging soil in the yard with a hoe.

"What, what is she doing?" Wang Zijin couldn't help trembling when he saw this strange scene.

"Digging a hole! She's digging a hole, she's going to bury me!" Zhou Tianwang was more frightened than Wang Zijin, and his face turned pale in an instant, "There are only two of us in this room, isn't she going to bury me? ?”

As soon as these words came out, the room suddenly became deadly silent, and the three of them had their own concerns, so they stopped talking.

Only Fei Xiao stood under the moonlight, looking at the terrifying scene outside the window, with an imperceptible smile on her lips.

五

The moon was shining like snow, and the night wind was blowing. Everyone in the room held their breath, not even daring to take a breath. In the quiet night, only the sound of the woman digging the soil in the yard echoed softly.

She first checked the courtyard carefully, and then went to the waterwheel to search. This time, even Wang Zijin, who was always dull, could tell that she was indeed looking for something.

I don't know how long it took, she turned over the small courtyard, she sighed, tidied up the ground, and tiptoed back to the house.

At this time, the bright moon is going west, and it has passed Yinshi, and it is not far from dawn.

"Help me, both of you, even if you can't help me, just persuade her to leave." Zhou Tianwang sat on the ground with his knees softened, his head in his hands, his voice choked up, "I'm so scared, such a situation It has been going on for a year, and I can't do anything, I can't even ask for a good night's sleep. As long as I can get her to leave me, I will pay any price."

"Brother Zhou, don't be anxious." Wang Zijin helped him up, "Auspicious people have their own auras. The two of us have seen many strange people and strange things along the way, which are many times more difficult than what happened to you. There are also. Feixiao has a unique talent, and she will definitely help you solve your doubts."

Zhou Tianwang heaved a long sigh of relief after saying those words, but when he looked at Fei Xiao again, he was sitting leisurely at the table playing with the doll he brought, with a cynical expression on Jun's face, as if he was interested in the two. Human conversations fell on deaf ears.

"Prince Wang, are you referring to him?" Zhou Tianwang was suddenly disheartened, and looked at Wang Zijin blankly.

"Feixiao, what are you doing?" Wang Zijin couldn't help but ran over a few steps, stretched out his hand and pulled Feihong's sleeve, "Hurry up and say something to reassure Brother Zhou."

However, Fei Xiao ignored him, looked at Zhou Tianwang, then looked at the lifelike doll in her hand, her beautiful eyes looked forward, and her eyes were full of glances, "This doll is a bit old, even the joints are severely worn."

One sentence was without a clue, and he talked about him from left to right.

"I miss my wife every day, and I can't help but take out this puppet and look at it again and again. Naturally, it is inevitably worn out. These old joints should also be replaced." Zhou Tianwang said, carefully wrapping the puppet with cloth Alright, get up and leave, "I would like to ask the two young masters to persuade that woman more, I have nothing worth coveting, and please don't waste time in my burrow."

After he finished speaking, he hugged his wife's doll tightly, opened the door and walked out.

It was the darkest time before dawn, and the night was like a black ink that could not be melted away, and it swallowed his lonely figure in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace.

"What a poor man." Wang Zijin walked over and closed the door, facing the desolate cold wind, heaved a long sigh.

"It's really a strange thing." Fei Xiao was unmoved at all, rubbing her forehead lightly, seeming very troubled.

"You are so indifferent, why don't you have any compassion?" Seeing his serious face, as cold as frost, Wang Zijin was very disappointed, and went to bed with his clothes on.

"Human emotions are like flowing water, ever-changing and unpredictable." Fei Xiao glanced at him sideways and said indifferently, "I'm not interested in that kind of uncertain things, no matter how touching they are. Instead of paying attention It’s better to pay more attention to the real things like these illusory images.”

However, Wang Zijin was so sleepy that he fell asleep almost as soon as he got on the bed, and turned a deaf ear to Fei Xiao's soliloquies.

There was only Feixiao alone, sitting in the darkness with frowning eyebrows. Her white clothes were more snowy than snow, and her black hair was like ink, like a strange light in the middle of the night, blooming lonely and confused.

This sleep made the prince's body and limbs feel comfortable, and when he got up again, it was already a warm noon in the winter sun, and Fei Xiao was still sitting alone at the wooden table as if she was last night, obviously she hadn't slept all night.

"Fei Xiao, why don't you take a rest?" He stretched, straightened his crumpled clothes, and stood up unsteadily.Seeing that the courtyard was stained with hoarfrost, the scenery looked like a scene, thinking of what he saw and heard last night, it seemed like he had a nightmare.

"Because the bed is dirty and hard, I can't sleep well." Fei Xiao changed her indifference from last night, and smiled at him, "Zi Jin, let's say goodbye to that carpenter surnamed Zhou tonight, I can't wait to eat chicken Go to sleep."

"You left like this? No matter what, you should ask his wife to see if she is real or not?"

"Is there even a need to ask this?" Fei Xiao snorted contemptuously, "Of course it's a lie. As for why she came here, I've already guessed a lot. The only thing I need to do now is to confirm her identity." identity."

"Ah? What did you guess? Let me hear it?" Wang Zijin never imagined that overnight, what the two saw and heard was exactly the same. Why did he guess the answer, but he didn't even have a clue? less than?

"The secret must not be leaked." Fei Xiao stretched out a finger and shook it in front of him, "But you are right, since you are here, it is really necessary to have a chat with the fake wife, and I have to ask my son-in-law about this matter." Come on, after all, dealing with beauties is your specialty."

Before he finished speaking, the smell of rice wafted from outside the door, and a woman's crisp and sweet call sounded: "Guests, please move out to eat!"

The Zhou family is not rich, so naturally there are only some porridge and side dishes on the table, but the pine branches in the courtyard are like umbrellas, and the waterwheels are rolling.From time to time, the cries of wooden birds and the sound of splashing water can be heard, which does not have the taste of a paradise.

Zhou Tianwang's wife didn't eat, but stood aside with a smile, waiting for their orders.

"This dish is really delicious." Wang Zijin tried his best to incite Fei Xiao, "Try it quickly."

Fei Xiao looked at the vegetarian dishes on the table. She was obviously very disappointed because there was no chicken he liked. After sitting for a while, she got up and said goodbye. After walking around the yard twice, she went back to her room to rest.

"Sister-in-law Zhou, don't mind. My friend loves chicken very much and doesn't eat vegetarian dishes on weekdays. It's not because he dislikes your cooking." Wang Zijin hastily apologized.

"It doesn't matter, Tianwang doesn't eat my cooking, I've gotten used to it in the past year." Zi Mo shook her head helplessly, and sat opposite Wang Zijin to pour water for him.

"There is a sentence, I don't know if I should say it now..." Wang Zijin looked at her delicate and beautiful face, hesitant to speak.

"Prince Wang wants to ask, am I his wife?" Zi Mo's eyes rolled, and he guessed his intentions.

"This...Brother Zhou has been telling us that you are an imposter, so we came here specially to persuade you." The prince's intention to see him was clearly explained, and he scratched his head embarrassedly, "If you are really not him My wife, why stay here? Why don’t you leave early.”

"It's really because of this matter." Zi Mo's eyes were lonely, "If I wasn't his wife, how could I have endured the humiliation and stayed here for a year? And the neighbors around me know me, but he still doesn't believe me."

"I know why, because you haven't found what you're looking for, so naturally you won't leave here." Wang Zijin blurted out the truth in a moment of urgency.

"You, how do you know that I'm looking for something?" Zi Mo was startled suddenly, her brows were full of fear, "What else do you know?"

"This is just my guess." Wang Zijin knew that his guess was right, and said to the beautiful girl earnestly, "What do you really want, even to come to this house under a false name? I think Big Brother Zhou is a good man, you He will definitely give you whatever you want, so why make such a bad move?"

"No, he will never give me what I want." Zi Mo shook his head and sighed, "Come with me, I will show you something, maybe you will know what kind of person he is."

After saying that, she walked towards the backyard, Wang Zijin looked at her slim figure, and followed behind her in a daze.

What the hell is she going to see for herself?
Why do you say that you have to see something like that to know what kind of person Zhou Tianwang is?Is there something else hidden about this matter?
六

Zi Mo walked to a low room in the backyard, looked around, saw that there was no one around, and then carefully opened the latch to let the prince in.

All kinds of wood and stone are displayed in the narrow room, and the table is also full of chisels and sharpeners, with almost no place to stand.

"Could this be the place where Big Brother Zhou carves wooden utensils?" Wang Zijin looked around with novelty in his eyes.There are many unfinished works displayed in the corner of this room, including birds of various shapes, lifelike animals, and other novelties that cannot be named or used.

"Yes, but he doesn't make these things anymore recently." Zi Mo carefully avoided the sundries on the ground and walked to a huge wooden box.

"I heard from him that it was because of your coming that he was terrified and kept awake at night, so he stopped working on the craft."

"He's lying, he never stopped his craft." Zi Mo said with a cold face suddenly, "The reason why he didn't do it is because he has been secretly completing a work for a year."

"Ah? What is it? Why do you want to hide it from others?" Wang Zijin was even more surprised. Under the same roof, the husband and wife actually have their own secrets, which is really interesting.

"His works are hidden in this box." Zi Mo pointed to the huge wooden box and said, "It's almost the end, you'll know when you see it."

Wang Zijin was dubious, walked to the huge wooden box, stretched out his hand to grab the handle, and opened the box lid forcefully.

But it would be good not to open it, but when he opened the box, he was almost scared out of his wits, because under the dim light, it was clearly visible that there was a woman curled up in the wooden box.

The woman was dressed in a rough linen singlet, with long hair reaching her waist, and her exposed skin was extremely white, without even a trace of blood. Against the background of the brown wooden board, she looked very strange and terrifying.

"This, what is this?" The prince took a step back, feeling the blood in his heart freeze instantly.

"Puppet..." Zi Mo looked coldly at the woman in the box and said, "Isn't it scary? He actually spent a year making this kind of thing."

Only then did Wang Zijin stabilize his mind, and carefully looked at the woman in the box. He saw that she was beautiful and lifelike, and her face shape and eyebrows were extremely similar to Zi Mo.

"This, this puppet, I seem to have seen it somewhere?" Wang Zijin remembered the small puppet that Zhou Tianwang brought last night. The two puppets are indeed extremely similar, but the size is different. "Is this Brother Zhou?" Made to commemorate his deceased wife?"

"I don't know, it's just that I feel nervous when I see this puppet." Zi Mo said tremblingly, "Don't you think it's scary? Especially when he always sneaks into this room in the dead of night to do this Kind of thing, the more you think about it, the more scary it becomes."

"How could it be?" Wang Zijin stretched out his hand to pull the puppet's face, "I can only see that it is so ingenious and lifelike. What is this skin made of? Why is it just like a real person, but the temperature is lower? Maybe it's because he misses his dead wife so much. , and I’m afraid of you, so I made this kind of thing.”

"Really?" Hearing what he said, Zi Mo felt a little relieved, "Maybe I was thinking too much, he really misses his wife."

Although Wang Zijin was open-minded, but seeing the puppet curled up in the box, he couldn't help feeling chills down his spine, he hurriedly closed the box lid, and walked out of the small room with Zi Mo in a panic.

But Zi Mo neither admitted nor denied her identity, Wang Zijin talked to her in circles for a long time until the sun was setting, but he didn't persuade her to leave here.

"Zi Jin, let's go quickly." Fei Xiao walked around the courtyard impatiently, scratching her ears and cheeks, as if she couldn't help but want to eat chicken.

"Fei Xiao, wait a little longer." Wang Zijin said dryly, still refusing to give up, "I want to persuade Mrs. Zhou again."

"Zi Jin, the days ahead are long, and there is no rush for a moment. If you have something to say, you can come back tomorrow!"

Seeing that the long day is approaching and the setting sun reflects blood, it would be impolite to stay any longer, so Wang Zijin had no choice but to stand up and leave with Fei Xiao reluctantly.

Zi Mo sent the two of them to the door, with the same modest smile on his face, which was unpredictable.

Unwilling to be reconciled, Wang Zijin looked back at the closed wooden door behind him step by step.In the flowing sunset light, the two thin door panels reflected a faint golden red, which seemed to hide endless mysteries.

"Fei Xiao, why are you so anxious to leave all of a sudden? Just give me a little more time, and I will be able to persuade her." The prince began to complain as soon as he entered the house.

"Because if you really persuaded her to go away, things would be really bad." Fei Xiao stopped suddenly, turned her head and smiled mysteriously at him.

"Ah? Why do you say that? Isn't our trip just to persuade her to leave? If she doesn't leave, what will Brother Zhou do?"

"You mean that carpenter?" Fei Xiao still had a smile on her face, and said frivolously, "I almost forgot if you didn't tell me, we have already made an appointment to meet at that restaurant in the market tonight, let's go there and wait for him Bar."

"When did you get in touch with him?" Wang Zijin opened his mouth wide, extremely surprised, "Didn't he hide in the house all the time?"

"Just when you went to the backyard with that woman."

"But that was only a moment."

"If I hadn't gone to look for him, do you think the two of you would have gotten in and out of that room so easily without being noticed?" Fei Xiao triumphantly waved her fan, "Sometimes a short time can do a lot of things, let's go to the restaurant right now , I haven’t eaten for a day, and I’m so hungry.”

Fei Xiao seemed to be really hungry, her steps were like the wind when she walked, and whenever the prince asked him any questions, he could go around and talk about food.

It wasn't until the two of them sat down in the restaurant that the waiter brought out the steaming steamed chicken in lotus leaves that Fei Xiao was willing to talk to Prince Jin while eating chicken legs.

"Zijin, I didn't ask you just now, why did she suddenly bring you to the room in the backyard?"

"She asked me to watch something, and said that it scared her." Wang Zijin waited for him to ask this question, and couldn't help being excited, "Guess what she showed me?"

With oily flowers hanging on her lips, Fei Xiao took a sip of the wine from her glass and replied with a smile: "Could it be a puppet?"

"Ah? How did you know?" Wang Zijin was taken aback, "I clearly didn't even reveal anything."

"Because he showed us a small doll the night before, and it was so exquisite and lifelike. If there are small ones, there will naturally be big ones."

"But why did he make so many dolls?" Wang Zijin was at a loss, "And he did it secretly?"

(End of this chapter)