Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 92 Why we are always dragged down by the long past (1)
一
Dulin is a small city in Ningzhou. It has neither rich products nor glorious history worth mentioning. Many people have never heard of it.However, it is precisely because of the quietness and unobtrusiveness of Dulin, coupled with the pleasant climate, that it has gradually acquired another attribute: a retirement and leisure place for the nobles of the feathered people.

Among the permanent residents of this city, less than half are old nobles and old courtiers who come here to enjoy their old age.They stayed away from the Yu Clan's power center, away from all kinds of right and wrong, and only wanted to be clean and at ease.Therefore, in the court of the Yu clan, a customary practice has gradually formed: if a certain prince or minister wants to say that he will no longer interfere in politics and intends to be a retired elder who is harmless to humans and animals, he will Durin City bought or built a house, and lived there all year round.For the minister who made such a gesture, his enemies will no longer have entanglements with him, and will throw away all the past grievances.To some extent, Durin City is a place to avoid disasters.

Most of the tree houses in Dulin City were purely Yuzu-style tree houses. As the Yuzu absorbed more and more culture of the Donglu people, the Yuren nobles gradually discovered the comfort of the Donglu-style houses, so they built this tree house. There are more and more retired veterans with this style of house courtyard.Up to now, Dulin City looks a bit like a smaller Ningnan City at first glance. The tree houses and courtyards are mixed together, which is a unique scene.

In the north of Durin City, there is such a small courtyard in the style of Donglu humans.This house is not too big, but there are always a constant stream of visitors, that's because the owner of the house likes to collect antique calligraphy and paintings, especially those from Donglu.This is not surprising, because the owner is a human being born in the Eastern Continent.

Song Jingyan, the former envoy of the Huoqintu City-State City Affairs Department, was also one of the few human officials in the history of the Yu Clan, and lived here after retiring.In his words, I am used to staying in Ningzhou, and if I want to go back to Zhongzhou, it will be difficult to adapt to the climate, water and soil. "Besides, I have been an official in Yuren's city-state for so long, and the people in my hometown may not welcome me." .”

The city affairs department of the Yu clan is mainly in charge of various criminal cases.This Song Jingyan is gentle and incompetent in martial arts, and is dubbed by people as "only using his brain but not hands". However, he has an extraordinary brain and keen vision, and has repeatedly solved various difficult cases. Lord's approval.

Song Jingyan is 65 years old this year, but he was only 45 years old when he retired, and he is in the prime of life.The reason for his resignation is very simple. Twenty years ago, the lord Feng Baimu was killed bizarrely and dismembered. This was the biggest case of the Yu Clan in the past century.Song Jingyan, who has always been successful in handling cases, stumbled hard in this case and was still unable to find the real culprit, so that he finally had to take the blame and resign.In fact, this strange case was originally weird and difficult to understand, and people did not blame him. What's more, this person is usually kind and friendly, always friendly to others, and never competes for fame and fortune in officialdom. Excellent.When the case came to a standstill, the successor lord originally did not intend to embarrass him, and other ministers also persuaded him, but he resolutely resigned and left. For the next 20 years, he lived in Durin City, collecting antiques and caring for his life. .People occasionally pass by his door, and they will just say: "The person who lives here is the failed adjudicator."

One afternoon at the end of October, a young and beautiful human woman knocked on the door of the Song Mansion.No one paid attention to her visit, because Song Jingyan was fond of collecting antiques, and there were always various visitors coming to the door on weekdays, and it was rare for no one to come to the door.And the woman was indeed carrying a big bag in her hand, which seemed to contain some antiques.

What people couldn't see was that after she entered the Song Mansion, she immediately walked into Song Jingyan's study room. No servants stopped her along the way, and Song Jingyan was already sitting in the room waiting for her.After entering the study, she closed the door, and when she turned around again, she suddenly knelt down on the ground with tears streaming down her face.

"I beseech the suzerain to avenge me!" she sobbed.

Song Jingyan looked solemn, but the kind face that always had a smile in the past was now as hard as iron. This was a face that his colleagues had never seen in the past few decades.He stood up, bent over to take the bundle from the woman's hand, and slowly untied it, revealing a rough sandalwood box inside.

"What's in it... is Ah Heng?" Song Jingyan asked.

The woman nodded: "I cremated him. When the body was sent back, it was almost completely shattered... It was miserable!"

There was something utterly hateful about her face.Song Jingyan sighed softly, and helped her up: "But are you sure that An Xingmian did it? From what I've heard, he doesn't seem like a cruel and easy-to-kill person."

"I thought so too," the woman gritted her teeth, "In Ningnan City, I tried him in night raids. Although my martial arts skills were not as good as his, he didn't make it difficult for me, and he seemed to be a bit of a gentleman. But I never would have thought of it... I would never have thought of it..."

"Since you said that he doesn't look like that kind of person, why are you so sure that he did it?" Song Jingyan asked.

"Three reasons," the woman said, "first, I found the note left by An Xingmian in Ah Heng's hiding place, and I have seen his handwriting; second, Ah Heng's body seems to be full of trauma from various tortures. , but I checked carefully and found that he had several fractured bones, very similar to the joint technique that An Xingmian is good at, and may have been injured when he was caught..."

"Handwriting can be forged, and with the help of mystics, it is even possible to forge the handwriting without flaws," Song Jingyan interrupted her. "The articulation of joints can't explain the problem, and it can be framed by others."

"But I have a third piece of evidence," the woman said, "An Xingmian is indeed not a cruel and bloodthirsty person by nature, but this time, he did it out of necessity."

"As a last resort?" Song Jingyan frowned, "How do you say that?"

"He was coerced. Someone threatened his lover's life and asked him to find out our secret," the woman said bitterly. "If the coercion came earlier, maybe I would not be able to escape that day if I was in his hands." but it is I who would rather die..."

The woman's tears flowed down again.Song Jingyan walked back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back, deliberating carefully, and after a while he continued to ask: "Who is the person who threatened him?"

"I don't know, but it should be another force inside Ningnan City," the woman said. "In addition, the corpse dancer Sumeru also arrived in Ningnan City, and the situation is very chaotic."

Song Jingyan nodded, fell into thinking again, and finally said: "People cannot be resurrected after death, so let's do this first. Don't seek revenge from An Xingmian just yet."

"Why?" The woman jumped up all of a sudden, "I wish I could peel his skin immediately! Why can't I seek revenge from him?"

"Don't startle the enemy," Song Jingyan said, "The force that can coerce An Xingmian from behind must be very important, and Sumizi is also an extremely difficult character. Don't engage in a direct confrontation."

Song Jingyan's voice was not high-pitched, but there was a certain irresistible force in the deep and slow words.The woman wanted to talk back several times, but in the end she didn't say anything, she could only stand aside silently with her head down.Song Jingyan sighed again, walked up to the woman, and gently stroked her hair like a loving father: "I know the relationship between you and Ah Heng, but we Tianqi never live for ourselves. Many times, we have to I can't bear it, I have to wait, waiting for the day of repayment..."

He withdrew his right hand, took out an iron blue ring from his pocket, and stared at the rough and simple pattern on it, "I left my hometown incognito and came to the court of the Yu clan to serve as an official. For decades, I have dreamed of my hometown almost every night... But I endured it. Everything we did was for those five words, just those five words."

He put the ring on his thumb, held it high to the sky, and said in a low and clear voice: "The armor is still there!"

"Still there!" The woman also responded solemnly.

two

An Xingmian didn't know that he had been framed by Mr. Yuwen, and now he was in a good mood, because he finally hid with Xue Huaiqing in a relatively safe place - Boss Feng's island.It's strange to say that he was originally a respected monk who received praise from people wherever he went, but now he can only find temporary peace by hiding in the pirate's den.

Days unknowingly entered November, and Xue Huaiqing's condition was finally almost cured, thanks to Boss Feng's stubbornness.He resolutely rejected An Xingmian's plan to ask Xue Huaiqing to lie on the bed to recuperate, and asked her to go out every day to enjoy the sea breeze.In his words, the sea breeze and sea water are the best medicine for healing, and lying in bed can only make the body weaker and weaker.An Xingmian thought about it carefully, and felt that this argument was not unreasonable, so she began to accompany Xue Huaiqing to the beach every morning and evening, watching the sunrise and sunset, and picking up the shell starfish left on the beach after the low tide.Unexpectedly, since Xue Huaiqing found another practice method by accident, the spiritual power in her body has been growing rapidly. Through daily walking and exercise, these spiritual powers are exerted bit by bit, acting on the body, making her The recovery speed is much faster at once.In addition, Boss Feng sent people to send a lot of nutritious sea fish, shrimps and crabs every day, which actually made her healthier than before.

At the beginning, An Xingmian tried to persuade Boss Feng to stop working as a pirate, but later she felt that this was probably the real life and the real world.There are hundreds of people on Boss Feng's island, and I may be able to find a way to slowly help them walk on a decent path in the future, but right now, I am powerless, and thinking about it will only cause trouble.Having been away from the teacher for so long, he has long understood that the principles in books and reality are often difficult to combine, and in many cases he can only let nature take its course.

In contrast, Xue Huaiqing was happier.She has had no friends since she was a child, and the children in the village discriminate against her as a half-breed.Later, she practiced with her master, Jiang Qinyin. She was a eccentric and violent woman, and the group of corpse dancers was wary of each other, and it was never easy to make friends.So after living to be 20 years old, Xue Huaiqing has always spent a long time with the dead and short time with the living, and she is even more afraid of the complexity and change of the human heart and intrigues.Now on the pirate island, there are some straightforward and scheming pirates around her. Although all of them are rude and reckless, they are more to her liking.

"I found out that pretty girls are popular with men," Boss Feng said to An Xingmian, "Look, after I came to the island from Xiaoxue, all the little boys like me are as excited as chewing fan leaves every day." Incredible."

"Actually, it's because of her temperament. She can get along well with everyone," An Xingmian said. "Someone like me who 'speaks sourly but keeps his words in his mouth' is a little bit alienated from everyone."

"You really know yourself." Boss Feng laughed happily.

It was dusk at this time, and the pirates who hadn't gone out to sea to "do business" were gathering at the beach to wrestle and fight. Although it was just a game competition, every participating pirate tried their best within the scope of not hurting anyone. No doubt it was because Xue Huaiqing was watching from the side.An Xingmian still remembers that when she first met Xue Huaiqing, she was a girl who could only put on a fake polite smile on her face, but treated everything indifferently, and there was almost nothing that could make her truly happy.Later, as she got along with her for a long time, her temperament became more and more like a normal person.But now, under the reflection of the setting sun, her blond hair is shining beautifully, she is clapping her hands and laughing heartily, high-fiving the victorious pirates, laughing at the ugly posture of the defeated ones lying on the beach with the onlookers, even from The pirates were grabbing wine and drinking, and they were all ordinary 20-year-old girls who loved to laugh and make trouble.This scene made An Xingmian feel warm and peaceful inside.

Suddenly, a strange thought popped into his mind: Should we give up pursuing all that?Maybe it's good to live like this?He vaguely remembered that more than a year ago, when the entire Nagato fell into an unprecedented disaster, the teacher Zhang Haoge wanted to use his own strength to resolve the disaster, and he persuaded the teacher in the same way: "Don't have such absurd thoughts Yes, let the emperor destroy Nagato if he wants to, follow me to Hanzhou, we can open a ranch..."

Yes, An Xingmian is a rich man, and a smart rich man at that.No matter how powerful Mr. Yuwen is, it is impossible to spread his minions in every corner of Kyushu, and the same is true for Tianqi, who has lost power for a long time.He could definitely take Xue Huaiqing to a secluded place, to the Hanzhou Grassland, to cross the sea to Leizhou in the Westland, live in seclusion, and live a peaceful life.If it is not possible, there is nothing wrong with living on this small pirate island.At least here, both of them are having a good time.

A world without Mr. Yuwen, without Heavenly Exorcism, without corpse dancers, without soul-robbing instruments and Saxigalo, without Yuren and Sumeru... An Xingmian couldn't help but fall into a certain longing.A year ago, he also occasionally wondered whether life was too ordinary. Did he really want to be a dull and tasteless long-term monk all his life, and just spend his life peacefully like this?But in the next year, all kinds of obstacles, setbacks, and life and death will inevitably make him feel tired.Yes, this year has been very exciting and rich, but behind the wonderful and rich, there is exhaustion, sadness, anger, and helplessness.

I really hope that I can get away and escape from all these whirlpools, and... life will not become dull because of this, An Xingmian thought dazedly looking at Xue Huaiqing's smile in the setting sun.

It rained lightly on the sea that night, and the whole island was shrouded in misty rain and fog.An Xingmian woke up in the middle of the night. Hearing the sound of the pattering rain, she somehow lost her sleepiness. She simply put on her clothes and got up, pushed the door and went out.It was not raining heavily, so he didn't open an umbrella at all, and walked to a reef by the sea, watching the rolling tide under his feet, and the things he thought about in the evening came back to his mind.

I don't know how long it took before he suddenly noticed that there were no more raindrops falling on him, and when he looked back, Xue Huaiqing was standing beside him holding an umbrella to protect him from the rain.He couldn't help laughing: "It seems that you are also on my defenseless list. You have been standing for a long time before I found you."

"Why do you come here to see the sea without sleeping in the middle of the night? Thinking about life?" Xue Huaiqing teased him.

An Xingmian took the umbrella in her hand and hugged her to her side: "You really guessed right, I was indeed thinking about some issues in this regard."

He told Xue Huaiqing what he thought in the evening.Xue Huaiqing kept silent after listening to it, which made An Xingmian feel a little uneasy: "This is just a little bit of my own thoughts, I will never force you to do something you don't like. If you don't like it ..."

"No, I like it, I like it very much," Xue Huaiqing interrupted him, "Don't forget that I am a corpse dancer, and I have been used to loneliness and tranquility since I was a child. I just feel that it is not the deepest part of your heart. really want."

"Is that so?" An Xingmian was very surprised.

"You just came up with this idea because you have suffered too much in the past year," Xue Huaiqing said, "but from the bottom of your heart, you are not the kind of person who is willing to abandon everything in the world and pursue tranquility .Good wine, food, music, poetry, landscape and human relationship... Everything you like is in this lively Kyushu world, not in that remote and quiet Kyushu world. Not to mention, if you really want to live in seclusion, you Would you be willing to never see Big Brother Bai and Miss Tang again? Never go back to the dungeon to visit those Heluo friends? Or even never have any contact with Nagato again?"

(End of this chapter)