smile to heart

=====================

In the inn, Min Zhi was sitting at the table drinking water, when he suddenly saw two familiar figures at the door, he hurried forward and said cheerfully, "You guys are back? How did the investigation go? Do you have any clues about what we're looking for?"

"I didn't find out anything. I only know that a troupe in the town was burned a few years ago. It must be that the colleagues were jealous and played tricks behind their backs."

Qi Zhong sat at the table, poured a glass of water, and handed it to Mu Yun first.

"Coincidentally, I went to the street today to inquire about the news, and I also asked about this."

Min Zhi added: "And I also heard that the head of the class was a talented girl, she was good at singing and dancing, but later she became an apprentice to a rich family, and died within half a year. Hey, God is jealous of beauty."

"Oh. We also know this, but this news is not very useful to us."

Qi Zhong tilted his head, propped it up with one hand, and spoke lazily.

"Oh, when I came back today, I also found out that there is a childhood sweetheart in the house next door. They are going to get married tomorrow, but they will be quietly. I don't understand. Could it be that the evil spirit will find someone unrelated? You said it will this time Nothing will happen?"

Min Zhi mentioned it again.

Mu Yun put the teacup aside silently, with a pensive expression on his face.

Qi Zhong looked at him with a smile: "Then it looks like we have to go watch tonight."

"Miss Biao, you lead the way. I don't believe that evil spirits are blocking the marriage. It must be a monster. We will go there tonight and wait to catch him."

Min Zhi nodded, and felt that it was strange to be shouted at.

After a short rest, Min Zhi came back with another ceramic cup, and smiled at Qi Zhong: "Hey, I just learned a new dialect word here, do you want to know?"

"what?"

"Cup cup."

Qi Zhong frowned, and asked in confusion, "Are you... calling me by my nickname?"

"Pfft, cough..." Mu Yun was drinking water and almost choked.

Min Zhi rolled his eyes speechlessly: "You think beautifully."

"Cup cup means cup."

Hearing this explanation, Qi Zhong suddenly came over, curled his lips, and didn't argue any more.

"Finally..."

At this time, Mu Yun whispered quietly to the side again.

Qi Zhong heard it sensitively, and cheered, "Hey, you also think it's a homonym, don't you?"

Mu Yun was embarrassed for a moment, blushed slightly, and pursed her lips silently.

Qi Zhong, who was supported, immediately turned his face: "Well, you crazy girl, you actually metaphor that I am a teacup!"

Min Zhi twitched her mouth in shock, and snorted, "You! You are sick. I won't share anything with you from now on."

After the person ran away, the two sat silently at the table, drinking their afternoon tea peacefully.

In the middle of the night, the lights inside the courtyard wall were turned off.

Qi Zhong and the other three lay in ambush under the dark wall, waiting for their prey to take the bait.

Suddenly, a black shadow rushed in front of him and crossed the upper wall.

Qi Zhong suddenly woke up sleepy, and said in surprise: "It's that shadow again."

"Let me just say, there must be some evil spirits at work. Follow me quickly."

The three of them followed closely behind, and saw the black shadow jumping over the high wall, and when it was about to attack the newlyweds, it was bounced back by the formations that had already been set up by Mu Yun inside and outside the courtyard.

"Hmph. With us here, you still want to go in and harm people? Xie Chong, let's get caught without a fight."

Qi Zhong, who rushed over, threatened the shadow without politeness.

However, he saw that he had no intention of surrendering at all, and in the blink of an eye, he fled as black smoke.

"Where did you go?"

Min Zhi waved his hand to disperse the black mist.Qi Zhong was also quite shocked, and let the prey escape from under his nose.

"Chase."

"Where are you chasing after?"

Before Qi Zhong could react, Mu Yun had already chased after the smoke.

The three of them watched the shadow floating in front of them on the road, appearing and disappearing from time to time, it no longer looked like a monster, but like a shattered soul.

After a while, they left the town and passed the willow tree again. The black shadow circled in the woods. The three of them chased harder and harder, and finally lost it again.

"It's gone? You're running so fast." Min Zhi frowned unwillingly.

"This thing is elusive, and it's doing it again." Qi Zhong sighed.

……

In the mountain forest, the black shadow ran in a panic, and unintentionally, almost bumped into a bright red figure hurriedly approaching the road ahead.

Fang Yanxiao, who followed Qi Zhong and the others all the way, finally got the news, and rushed to Liuxi Town, but unexpectedly encountered such a monster on the road, she couldn't help slowing down, and looked at the black shadow vigilantly.

"Glamour?"

She asked lightly.

The black shadow was surprised for a moment, hesitated, and suspected that Mu Yun and the others were planning to encircle him. Facing Fang Yanxiao, he became even more hostile.

The two of them crossed each other, and a black shadow suddenly attacked. Fang Yanxiao's skill was extraordinary, and she flashed her dexterity.

Immediately furious, he drank coldly: "Looking for death."

Within three or two moves, Soi Ying suddenly sensed the opponent's attack was ruthless, and it was difficult for him to parry, so he pulled away and ran away.

Fang Yanxiao was enraged by the hostility for a long time without reason, and refused to let the shadow go easily, and galloped after her.

Coming to the mountain, there are quite a lot of old trees, especially the ancient willows ringed layer by layer, which is strange.

The shadow seemed to have gained a terrain advantage and disappeared immediately.

Fang Yanxiao fell into his trap by mistake, and came to a dark place, surrounded by a lot of phosphorous fires faintly, illuminating the willow trees all around with green light and blue light, confusing people's eyes.

Fang Yanxiao couldn't swallow the anger, she pulled out the red silk and beat her to death.But the ghosts kept reuniting in a short period of time, coming towards her wave after wave.

……

At the three-way intersection, several people chased after the shadow to no avail, and prepared to return.

"Did you see this shadow clearly just now? What is it? A monster is not like a monster, and a ghost is not like a ghost."

Qi finally broke off the willow branch, held it in his hand, and asked casually.

"Anything that can disappear in smoke can be any monster, but the one that moves quickly like this shadow, and that appears and disappears from time to time, is probably a charm."

Mu Yun expressed his thoughts.

Qi Zhong threw away the willow branch, stepped forward, and repeated: "Mei? But as far as I know, Mei Ruo wants to harm people, but it does not distinguish between men, women and children. Why does this shadow only target newlyweds?"

"The world is so big, there are no surprises. And I am also guessing, so I can't jump to conclusions."

Mu Yun shook his head, unable to explain.

Min Zhi was exhausted after chasing him for a long time, and said: "I think tonight is about the same, whoever he is, he has escaped anyway, why don't we go back first."

Then the three reached an agreement and returned along the road.At this time, an old man in rough clothes suddenly appeared at the left intersection under the willow tree, which surprised Qi Zhong.

I saw the old man holding a hemp rope in his hand, staring at them with dull eyes.

Qi Zhong swallowed, looked the old man over, then turned his head nervously and said: "I think we have encountered a supernatural event, this old man is probably not human, the rope in his hand is a magic weapon, we Or beat him to the ground while he is not paying attention, and leave directly."

"You are not human!"

Suddenly, the old man yelled at him in a nasty tone.

Qi Zhong blinked and stared at him strangely.

"You're human, in the middle of the night. Why did you come out to scare people? You keep staring at us." Min Zhi said angrily.

"It's you who are blocking my way, who are you looking at?" The old man became angry and yelled loudly.

The three of them didn't say anything, they respectfully stood aside and gave him the narrow road.

The old man saw that they stepped aside sensibly, showing his sparse old teeth, and said with a smile: "Baa, let's go."

"Oh, where is my sheep? Why is it missing?"

Before the old man finished laughing, he turned his head and found that his sheep was not there, and he dragged the empty rope halfway, "Uh, what's the trouble?" Qi Zhong touched his nose, not knowing.

Min Zhi's expression was a little impatient: "Leave him alone, give way and don't leave, let's get out of this weird place."

Qi Ding nodded, and moved his steps in agreement. In a blink of an eye, he realized that Mu Yun wanted to meddle in other people's business, so he immediately reacted and grabbed him.

As soon as he was leaving, the old man suddenly stopped the three of them and sat on the ground, crying: "Oh, my ghost."

"Hey, why are you blocking our way?" Min Zhi frowned angrily.

The old man rolled his eyes and said in a nasty tone, "You brats, what are you doing here in the mountains? You must have disturbed the mountain god. He needed sacrifices, so he took my sheep away... You pay for my sheep .”

"Heh, you still rely on the old to sell the old, right? You lost the sheep, so it's none of our business?" Min Zhi was so angry that he had a headache.

The old man refused to let go, and continued to cry: "I don't care, if you pay my sheep, you must pay!"

"Old man, we have never seen your sheep, the ground is cold, you should get up first."

Mu Yun stepped forward to help him, but the old man grabbed his sleeve and refused to let go.

"Then help me find the sheep, young man." Seeing that the visitor was easy to talk, the old man quickly changed his face and begged.

Mu Yun nodded and helped him up: "Okay."

Qi Zhong, who was standing aside with arms folded, pursed his lips and said in a low voice: "This kid will definitely ask us to go back first again later."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Yun turned around and said with a light smile, "You..."

"Hey, look for it together. Don't try to fool us, let's go back first."

Before the other party finished speaking, Qi Zhong quickly refused.

……

"Baa, baa, come out soon, your father is looking for you."

Qi Zhong yelled up and down, then glanced at the old man again, deliberately yelling and shouting to express his dissatisfaction.

The old man stared, and looked at Qi Zhong bitterly: "Little devil, call my baa well, don't scare it."

"Humph."

Qi Zhong wanted to retort, but Mu Yun's eyes on his side signaled him not to worry too much, so the two stopped fighting.

In the willow forest, Fang Yanxiao finally cleaned up a group of obtrusive dead spirits, and she was quiet for a while, when she heard the sound of calling sheep, she listened carefully, and she was quite impressed by the sound: Is it them?I was looking for you, but I sent it to your door.

Why not take this opportunity to infiltrate them and find out the whereabouts of their spiritual consciousness.

After thinking about it calmly, Fang Yanxiao made up her mind.

At this time, a lamb cry suddenly came from the grass beside him: "Baa, baa, baa."

Fang Yanxiao seized the opportunity and tied the lame sheep with a very thin red silk to attract Qi Zhong and others.

Immediately, when the footsteps approached, she quickly retracted her red silk, messed up her bun, and covered her face with mud, pretending to be in a coma.

……

"The lamb is here." Qi Zhong exclaimed in surprise.After several twists and turns, everyone followed the sound of the sheep and finally came to the depths of the ancient willow forest.

As soon as he stepped here, Mu Yun suddenly felt the cold atmosphere around him. After careful observation, there seemed to be traces of a fight.

"Hey, come and see, someone has fainted here."

Min Zhi's shout called the figures of the two over.

Qi Zhong helped Fang Yanxiao up, checked his pulse, and found that there was nothing serious: "Fortunately, I just passed out."

"Then let's take her back first." Min Zhi suggested.

"Well. Hey, what about the old man and his sheep?"

Qi finally carried the man on his back, but in the blink of an eye there was nothing, and he couldn't help but wonder.

"Let's go, don't worry about it." Min Zhi urged.

After they left, deep in the willow forest, a pair of cold eyes blinked in disgust.

……

The next morning, Qi Zhong and the others had breakfast downstairs.

Fang Yanxiao supported the fence and walked down the stairs step by step, her eyes wandering over several people.

"Hey, girl, you're awake. Come on, sit down, it's just in time for breakfast, and I planned to send it to you later."

After a bored glance, Qi Zhong was the first to see her going downstairs, quickly put down the porridge bowl, and greeted her warmly.

Others at the table couldn't help but glance back, Fang Yanxiao was taken aback for a moment, and then passed with emotions brewing.

"My benefactors, thank you for your life-saving grace last night."

She tried her best to put on a gentle and innocent attitude.

"Small things, just small things, don't worry about them."

Qi Zhong scratched his head, quite puzzled, this woman thanked a group of people, why she just stared at herself and said, which made him feel embarrassed.

"Girl, sit here."

Min Zhi got up and pulled out a stool for her. Fang Yanxiao understood and walked over with small steps.

"What's your name?"

Min Zhi felt that there were a lot of people present, and they were always called by girls and girls. She was afraid that she would be embarrassed, so she asked for her name so that it was easier to address her.

Fang Yanxiao lowered her eyes and whispered, "The little girl's surname is Fang, and the small character is Yanxiao."

"Oh, Miss Fang, let's eat first, Miss Fang."

Qi Zhong took the opportunity to answer, while comforting him, he signaled Min Zhi not to ask more questions for now.

Fang Yanxiao hummed, and couldn't help but look at Qi Zhong a few more times.

After breakfast, everyone continued the topic and continued to cross-examine.

"Hey, so Miss Fang is near Liuxi Town because she escaped from disaster?"

Min Zhi was still asking, although Fang Yanxiao had just told her a lot about her experiences, she didn't dispel her suspicions.

"There was a famine in my hometown, and I had to be displaced. I ran all the way, and I didn't know where to go. I lost my way in the mountains and forests last night. Thanks to the rescue of several benefactors."

Fang Yanxiao knew that these people's defenses would not be dispelled so easily, so she continued to deal with it patiently.

"But I don't think the girl's temperament and clothing fabrics are like those of ordinary farmers' girls?"

Min Zhi frowned slightly, always feeling that she had seen this red-clothed aura somewhere before.

"Miss Min, don't mention this sad thing... On the way to escape, I was deceived by someone and sold to a brothel. I got this outfit and finally escaped, but I don't know where I am. Only after hearing the news, did I realize that my hometown has long been deserted, and now I am alone.”

Fang Yanxiao buried her head and pretended to cry, making it difficult for everyone to ask questions.

"Oh, crazy girl, look at what questions you are asking, you only mention other people's sad things."

When Qi Zhong saw this, he felt like a villain who bullied the few because of the number of people.

Min Zhi tactfully didn't ask any more questions.

Fang Yanxiao saw that everyone's sympathy had already risen, she felt relieved, and took the opportunity to say: "I will tell you all, I actually have an unfeeling request."

"Tell me, we'll help you." Qi finally agreed, eager to comfort her.

Fang Yanxiao wiped away her tears, and said again: "I have been looking for my lost younger brother all this way, but unfortunately, I am a soft-spoken person, traveled to many places, and was bullied by others. Hurry up and take care of each other, I will be safe and not cause trouble."

"This……"

Qi finally looked at Mu Yun with some embarrassment, regretting that he had promised earlier.

"No." Min Zhi resolutely refused.

After pondering for a while, Mu Yun also said: "Please think again, Miss Fang."

After being rejected by the two of them, Fang Yanxiao was taken aback for a moment, guilty of not daring to meet Mu Yun's eyes, for fear that he would have a hole in his heart and expose her.

"I, I just want to find my relatives." After a moment of stalemate, Fang Yanxiao used the trick of gaining sympathy.

Min Zhi's attitude was firm: "Miss Fang, we saved you, but we have no obligation to take you in, and we are not knights who just come out for sightseeing. If you follow us, you will encounter more dangers. You should choose another Think about it."

Mu Yun also agreed: "Miss Fang is anxious to find relatives, we can understand, but... life is more precious, please think carefully."

hateful.Fang Yanxiao was annoyed and didn't know how to refute, so she cast her eyes on the hesitant Qi Zhong, and said pitifully: "After all, you just think I'm a burden. If I can't find my brother, what's the point of me living in this world?" Meaning? Instead of losing my family and living this life alone, why don't I end it first, and then go to Huangquan Road to wait for him..."

"what."

When Qi Zhong heard these sad words, he immediately felt the same, and couldn't bear it to the extreme.

Quickly got up, grabbed Fang Yanxiao, who was out of control, and promised: "Miss Fang, don't leave yet. I promise you, I promise you to stay with us."

"Rogue Qi, why do you want to promise her on our behalf?" Min Zhi asked angrily.

Qi Zhong hesitated for a moment, then firmly said: "I am not representing you, I will take care of what I promised myself. Just ignore it."

"Thank you, thank you." When Fang Yanxiao wiped her tears secretly, she couldn't help feeling proud, a little acting made him feel soft.

At this moment, Mu Yun stood up and said, "In this case, I might as well say it bluntly. In fact, there is another reason why I rejected Miss Fang's request just now... Our mission is arduous. We must not take it lightly and trust anyone by mistake."

"You..." Qi Zhong looked at him in disbelief. For the first time, he felt a little uncomfortable with the other party's rejection, but he also calmed himself down and felt that his words made sense.

Min Zhi also echoed: "That's right. Her origin is unknown, what if there is a conspiracy?"

Fang Yanxiao's eyes were slightly cold and sullen. She really underestimated the sharpness of Mu Yun's words.

"It's okay, I don't need to be present to listen to what you discuss in the future."

In desperation, she took a step back.

Min Zhi snorted coldly: "What do you mean you can? It's because you are not qualified to begin with."

Qi Zhong frowned, and said resolutely: "Enough is enough. I just like being tricked. You guys are really suspicious and endless. How can she, a weak woman, harm us?"

"Are you crazy? You have only known her for a few hours, and you actually quarreled with us because of her? Hmph."

Min Zhi was so angry that he tossed his hair and left.

Mu Yun secretly understood the meaning of Qi Zhong's eyes, knowing that he deliberately set up a trap to relax Fang Yanxiao's mind, to match the doubts he had just said, so as to facilitate future exploration.

"Hmph. Then you can do it yourself."

Mu Yun snorted coldly, and left with a dark face.It's rare for him to get angry, even though it's a disguise, it still surprised Qi Zhong a little bit.

Since Fang Yanxiao couldn't see Qi Zhong's face, she didn't know that the two had such a tacit understanding, and secretly whispered tricks.Still relieved and relaxed, he said in his heart, this silly boy is really easy to deceive.

"Miss Fang, you can rest assured. Wherever we go in the future, you can go. I will accompany you to find someone."

Qi Zhong turned around and continued to comfort him.

Fang Yanxiao's mind was numb at first, and she wanted to agree casually, but seeing the other party's sincere eyes, her heart skipped a beat for a moment, and she recalled that her younger brother looked at her with such innocent eyes.

"Hmm. Thanks."

She rarely gave a non-calculating smile.