"Long Ling—Long Ling—"

Zhao Qingxiu, who was about to return to Beitian Nursing Home, was walking on the corridor between two red walls when she suddenly stopped.

She tilted her head and stared blankly at the red wall next to her.

This subtle but special sound comes from this direction.

Zhao Qingxiu initially wondered if she had heard wrongly.

In this Qingdeng Ancient Temple, it is still early in the morning, how come there is the special jade sound that is made by the tokens worn by the women of the hometown clan?

However, as the sound of "Long Ling" not far away in the southeast became louder and louder, Zhao Qingxiu hesitated for a moment and followed her involuntarily.

She really hadn't heard this voice from her hometown for a long, long time.

I can't even recall it from my dream.

But as soon as I heard it, the deeply buried memories came out again.

Zhao Qingxiu was very sure that this was it.

In this world, there are some sounds that cannot be imitated. You cannot describe them and may even forget them. But the moment you hear them again by chance, you will remember them as new, as if it happened yesterday.

"Long Ling—Long Ling—"

This special jade sound was about ten feet away from her, about seven or eight houses and halls apart.

However, this area of ​​the temple is crowded with buildings and winding roads. Some houses have people waking up and washing in the courtyard. It is not convenient for Zhao Qingxiu to jump directly, so she can only find the road and walk in the shadow of the alley before dawn.

She was still a little hesitant to go over and find out the source.

After all, she had deviated from her original plan of returning to the Beitian Nursing Home and continuing to hide. Now she was within the enemy's sphere of influence. She might be in danger if she went too far. Moreover, at dawn, she was running around as a mute girl, blindfolded, so she could easily be discovered. Suspicious whereabouts.

However, the owner of the "Long Ling" jade jade collision sound seemed to be moving, and the speed was not slow either.

The sound of "Long Ling" gradually became farther and farther away from her.

Zhao Qingxiu's heart suddenly jumped up, and she couldn't help but continue to follow it, keeping her distance. Therefore, she was kept hanging by this voice and headed in the same direction as it.

Along the way, Zhao Qingxiu's little face, which was blindfolded with azure ribbons, was a little distracted. As she was rushing, under the light that switched between light and dark, a trace of memory faintly appeared on her little face.

I remember that in the Nanlong Zhao family, every Zhao girl who was ready to marry would be given a special ice-white jade hairpin.

Zhao Qingxiu has longed for this piece of jewelry as long as she can remember.

But very early in the morning, her family told her that she would not have it, because it was something that only women from the direct lineage of the Nanlong Zhao family were qualified to wear, and the clan elders would not give it to women from the collateral lineage.

What's more, her family is one of the poorest in the Zhao family in Nanlong, and she is a disgusting little mute.

As a result, an icy white jade hairpin has become an enviable item in childhood fantasies, and at most it is worn in dreams.

Later, the closest and only opportunity was when I was extremely lucky to be chosen by my mother-in-law as Tanlang's child bride, so I could serve her well.

According to the customs of the Zhou Dynasty, child brides do not prepare a banquet or hold a wedding ceremony when they get married. Usually, their parents' family makes two or three sets of new clothes and take them back to their in-laws' family. Child brides who have been engaged since childhood must not regret it, otherwise they will be condemned by public opinion from all over the country.

The day when her mother-in-law came to pick her up in person was also the happiest day in Zhao Qingxiu's life.

Mother-in-law Zhao is the legitimate daughter of the Zhao family in Nanlong. She is considered her clan aunt. She is the same generation as her father. However, she is highly valued by clan elders and married the local Ouyang family from a scholarly family very early. As far back as I can remember, this

My mother-in-law is the female role model of the Zhao family among the tribe.

In her memory, her father, who always sat on the threshold with his back to her all year round, blocking the sky outside, was wandering at the door that day, rubbing his hands nervously, and from time to time craning his neck to look at a certain sedan chair in the distance.

The grandmother, who was wearing a gray apron and always opening rice jars and sighing, smiled at her with a long-lost smile on her wrinkled face, and mended her new clothes that she had used.

That day, Zhao Qingxiu, who was as thin as a bamboo pole, rarely served the table. She folded her hands and lay on the table. She looked longingly at her mother as she served a plate of pork, which was only eaten during the Chinese New Year... The neighbors all praised her for her good fortune, and she was not losing money.

Yes, my father and mother also showed their long-lost smiles.

Although there are rumors among some peers that he is some kind of mute and a sick young man.

But Zhao Qingxiu didn't care at all. She went to see Tanlang once, and she was willing to stay by his bedside for the rest of her life.

I remember the first time I met my mother-in-law, what impressed me most was the ice-white jade hairpin she was wearing.

At that time, she was standing at the back of the family, lowered her head, and quietly glanced at the ice-white jade hairpin from the corner of her eye...

"Long Ling——"

It sounds so nice.

On the day her mother-in-law took her home, she was wearing a heavy crown, but she tried to straighten her back and sit on the bumpy and swaying sedan chair without looking away. Her mother-in-law suddenly reached out, touched her head, and took off the ice cream.

The white jade hairpin was inserted into her tied hair, and she compared her left and right, and smiled at her face, which was red and bleeding, and said:

"It's so beautiful. My mother-in-law will wear it for a while and leave it to you in the future..."

"Ah!" she replied slowly, feeling happy and shy at the same time.

"Long Ling——"

The carriage bumped, and the ice-white jade hairpin pendant in the mother-in-law's hand swayed left and right in front of Zhao Qingxiu. Her eyes were tired from following it, but she was also happy.

But later...

On the dim corridor, Zhao Qingxiu walked silently with a look of loneliness on her face.

At this time, she came back to her senses and found that she seemed to be approaching that special jade sound.

"Long Ling——!"

Turning the corner lightly, we were already very close to the sound.

Zhao Qingxiu quickly hid in the darkness in a corner, her little blindfolded face tilted her head slightly towards the direction where the special jade sound came from.

It looked like a man's footsteps.

The footsteps were vaguely familiar, but at this moment, they were in a hurry, rushing forward.

At this time, the man's footsteps suddenly stopped. Just when Zhao Qingxiu felt something bad and was about to retreat, "whoosh", a sound of fireworks exploded in her ears.

Zhao Qingxiu trembled all over.

"Long Ling——"

The morning wind seemed to make the ice-white jade hairpin pendant in the man's hand rustle, but... there was only the sound of jade, not the sound of footsteps.

He's not moving?!

Zhao Qingxiu took half a step back.

It seemed like he was vaguely aware of something.

Her body froze for an instant, and she heard the sudden acceleration of her heartbeat in her chest, and she couldn't breathe...

Under the dark blue sky, the first ray of light pierced the dawn. Many ancient buildings in Xunyang City, including Chengtian Temple, were still dark.

In the corner of Chengtian Temple, in the alley, the atmosphere fell into silence. The fireworks were fleeting, but they illuminated the two people at the end of the alley.

Ouyang Rong saw the slender girl's figure clearly, and he stared at Zhao Qingxiu with a blank expression on his face for a while.

From head to toe, every detail was not spared, including her eyes covered by the azure ribbon, and the long cloth bag she was holding in her hand... Ouyang Rong, who was so frightened that he ran away early in the morning, first

He frowned, then relaxed, and turned to look in the direction of the carriage that he had just mistakenly thought was being searched by the female officer Si Tianjian. There was a sudden look in his eyes, and he nodded quietly.

Ouyang Rong immediately turned back and his eyes fell directly on Zhao Qingxiu not far away. He opened his mouth many times, but thousands of words were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't speak. He didn't know what to say.

Until, in the shadow at the corner of the alley, a slender girl blindfolded with a ribbon turned around and tried to run away.

"That...you, wait!"

She heard this voice that was a little hoarse but still very familiar to her.

Zhao Qingxiu was so frightened that she walked even faster.

Until a curious and doubtful voice came from behind:

"Hey, why is it you? Mute girl, why are you here? Long time no see."

Zhao Qingxiu was stunned, then hesitated and slowly stopped.

At this time, she heard footsteps approaching, and Tanlang walked over with a voice that sounded like he was very happy:

"Mute girl, before I go back to the Beitian Almshouse in Donglin Temple, I looked for you and the old Taoist priest once. You are not here, so I am still very worried about you."

Zhao Qingxiu couldn't help but stay where she was.

"ah?"

Her little head was a little down... Although it seemed that he was still kept in the dark, the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer, and the familiar manly scent that hit her face, still made Zhao Qingxiu's heart beat.

When her voice reached her throat, she subconsciously took a step back.

After a while, she realized that Tan Lang in front of her also stopped naturally and did not approach her any further.

Zhao Qingxiu breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and tried her best to show him a confused look.

"Ah...um...ah?"

Ouyang Rong continued with a concerned tone: "Don't you recognize me? I'm the idiot in the underground palace who refused to listen and wanted to climb up. That's what Taoist Master Sun said. Haha, do you remember it?"

Zhao Qingxiu grabbed the sword-wrapped cloth bag with both hands and carried it behind her back. Her small face was lowered, revealing only a thin neck like white porcelain and a throat like a mosquito:

"Um……"
To be continued...