Lamp Flower Smile

The lights were dim.

The wooden windows were slightly closed, and the gentle sound of the night breeze could be heard outside the door.

The young man walked towards her step by step under the ignorant lights.

Lu Zhen's heart was beating very fast.

She had already guessed that her identity would be exposed sooner or later, there was no doubt about it, but she didn't expect it to come so quickly.

Afraid of being discovered by the Taishi Mansion, and afraid that her identity would be exposed on the way to revenge, she kept hidden from the whole incident. She went to Ke Chengxing's house to ask for a dowry, visited Wu Xiucai's mother, and performed acupuncture for Mrs. Xiangguan. He didn't directly confront the people from Taishi's Mansion.

Qi Yutai, whom he met only once, didn't even see her face clearly that night.

In all events, she removed herself without leaving a trace, like an insignificant passerby in a farce, a mediocre and insignificant ant in front of the grand drama, unable to withstand anyone's attention.

Pei Yunying happened to notice it.

He even knew her earlier, before she took action against Ke Chengxing, before she started her first revenge plan, and the moment he came to help downstairs in Baoxiang, the two of them were destined to have a bad relationship.

He crashed into this game from the start.

Pei Yunying stood still in front of her.

Lu Yan's whole body was enveloped by his figure. The young man even smiled, flicked the name scroll between his fingers, and asked, "Why do you write my name?"

Why write his name?

Lu Zhuo's eyes fell on the roster.

There are many names written on the roster, the Ke family, the Liu family, the Fan family... these are crossed out.

There are also many new additions, such as Taishi Mansion, Qi Yutai, Hanlin Medical Officials Hospital... these have not been crossed out.

The daily habits, anecdotes and trivial matters of the people involved were carefully written down in a whole list, and in this densely written list, the name Pei Yunying was among them.

"Just curious." She heard her own voice.

"What are you curious about?"

"I'm curious as to which side Mr. Pei would be on if faced with this situation today."

Pei Yunying was slightly startled.

Lu Zhuo raised his head and stared at him calmly.

Pei Yunying and his party were suspicious of her at Wan'en Temple, and then they tried her many times. Before Wangchunshan framed him, Lu Zhuo thought that he might as well kill him.

It's just that the other party is the commander-in-chief of the palace. Not to mention whether he can approach smoothly, it is also very troublesome to deal with official duties after taking action.

Later, she rescued Pei Yunshu and her daughter, and the relationship between the two eased. In the eyes of outsiders, such as Du Changqing, she and Pei Yunying had a good relationship and could be called friends.

But Lu Zhen never really trusted him.

She had a natural repulsion and hatred for the powerful, whether it was prejudice or stubbornness, deep down in her heart, Lu Zhen never believed that the aloof Prince Zhaoning could understand her determination to take revenge.

So she wrote down the name of this person. She didn't know whether this person was a friend or an enemy. Even though they can drink together under the moon, as long as he blocks her, he will be her next enemy.

This piece of paper was supposed to be burned today, but Du Changqing and his party arrived so suddenly that she didn't have time, so she had to hurriedly clip it among the poem pages on the table, but she didn't expect to be discovered by him.

He's always been sharp.

The wick burned for too long and the candle flickered. In the dim light, Pei Yunying looked at her with a half-smile but not a smile: "You don't want to kill me too, do you?"

His eyes were beautiful, and when he lowered his eyes to look at her, her shadow was clearly reflected in his dark pupils.

Lu Zhuo smiled slightly, walked past Pei Yunying to the window, and used scissors to shorten the wick on the table.

The light froze.

She picked up the lamp again, lit the half-burned incense in the incense burner in the room, and then turned to look at him.

"It depends on which side you want to be on," she said.

He raised his eyebrows slightly: "What if I stand on the other side?"

The room fell silent for a moment.

The warm candlelight spread inch by inch, and the woman stood in the shadow of the lamp without speaking. Her frail shoulders seemed to be made of ice and snow, about to dissipate into the world under the torment of winter.

After a long time, she said: "It's expected."

Lu Chen sneered in his heart.

Shouldn't expect that.

We should not expect anything from any powerful or so-called superior person.

He is the commander of the front department of the palace, the eldest son of Duke Zhaoning, and a family like the Grand Master's Mansion. Fan Zhenglian tries to please him in every possible way, and the Ke family treats him like a god. He and Qi Qing were officials in the same dynasty. On that day when they met in the Immortal Tower, Qi Yutai broke in to talk to Pei Yunying, and his words were all about wooing him.

Maybe they have been colluding for a long time, and in the future he will become the son-in-law of Chenglong of the Taishi Mansion. They are a family.

The woman sighed, but a slight smile appeared on her face. She slowly walked up to Pei Yunying and said softly: "Now you know my secret."

She raised her head, and her voice was soft and ambiguous: "Are you going to send me to see an official? Like Liu Kun sent my brother?"

Pei Yunying paused.

The woman stood under the light of the lamp. She was light-bodied and weak-waisted, with a slender posture, as fragile and cold as a winding stream after melting snow in spring. Her beautiful eyes looked at him like a pleading, and her brows were light and pityful.

The scene of beauty's spring sorrow suddenly made Pei Yunying feel strange in his heart. It was like something was passing by quickly. As his thoughts flashed, Pei Yunying took action suddenly.

"boom--"

The sharp dagger drew a streak of silver light in the air, and the woman's hand holding the knife was tightly clamped by Pei Yunying and pushed away violently.

"You won't change your nature." Pei Yunying took back her hand and looked at Lu Yun coldly.

She was pushed back a few steps and almost hit the table behind her. The slender, white hand that seemed to only know how to play the piano and embroidery took out the dagger from its sleeve at some point.

While she was speaking softly to him, murderous intentions emerged.

There was no pleading, no resignation. The look she looked over was gloomy and cold, with a bit of madness that would destroy both the stone and the stone.

That was not a fragile and calm stream at all, it was a whirlpool, a crazy and terrifying whirlpool that could tear people apart.

"Your response is so quick, sir," she mocked.

Pei Yunying was about to speak, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he suddenly felt his body stagnant for a moment and his heart tightened. The next moment, the incense burner on the table was swept by the strong wind and rolled to the ground. The half-burned incense stick was broken into several pieces. There is a faint fragrance of lilies floating out from it. It is very clear, but it makes people feel dizzy for a moment.

"Despicable." His face turned cold.

She never thought about having a good conversation from the beginning. From the moment Lu Huo lit the incense, she had already started murdering him.

His steps were unsteady for a moment, but the woman had already grasped the dagger again and stabbed him!

There was no expression in her eyes, as cold as looking at a corpse.

Pei Yunying's face sank, and Yin Mo's long sword was unsheathed. The numb and stiff feeling was forcibly broken by internal force, and the long sword brought strong wind and rushed towards the opponent.

"I have warned you before, sir," she said without any fear in front of the long knife, and even said sarcastically, "The medical center is full of poisons. If you accidentally break in and die, you can't blame others."

He smiled instead of getting angry: "You think I'm as useless as them?"

With a slight wave of Yinmei Dao, the dagger in Lu Zhuo's hand was broken into two pieces.

Her heart sank.

It's too short.

The time for burning incense is too short.

This person is keen and alert too quickly, and the incense stick has not had time to exert its full power. Otherwise, after half a stick of incense, no matter how skilled Pei Yunying is, he will only be able to be slaughtered here.

If it had been anyone else, he would have fallen by now.

"My lord is naturally different from those trash. Don't worry, after you die, I will bury you under that plum tree. After all, your body is much more beautiful than that piece of dead pork. If you use it as flower fertilizer, it will definitely make the plum tree bloom." It’s more touching.”

He was pushed and hit just now, and the dagger was cut by the wind brought by the silver knife, and his fingers were covered with blood. However, Lu Zhu didn't care at all, and only held the broken dagger and rushed towards him, his eyes bright. Horrifying.

She doesn't avoid it at all.

Like a desperate fire, burning like crazy.

"If you block the road, you will die -" she said.

The sharp edge of the dagger shot straight towards her fragile heart. Just at the last moment, he stopped suddenly, turned the tip of the knife, faced the oncoming person, grabbed her arm hard, and pushed her with his backhand.

Lu Zhuo was pushed back and knocked down on the altar table. The kind-faced Guanyin in white couldn't withstand such a strong impact, staggered, and fell down from the Buddhist cabinet.

"Snapped--"

"No -" the woman was suddenly startled.

In the cold night, there was the crisp sound of broken porcelain, and in the next door house, there seemed to be the faint sound of Yin Zheng's drunken sleep, and the silence soon returned.

a mess.

The incense ashes on the altar were scattered all over the floor. It was probably early in the morning when the incense was offered. There were red letters on the orange persimmons, which rolled to Pei Yunying's feet.

The young man's eyes were shocked.

The white-clothed Guanyin that had been enshrined in the small Buddha cabinet was broken into several pieces on the ground. There were actually several palm-sized porcelain jars hidden in them. There were four in total. They were also broken. Mud was poured out from them, and one jar was filled with water. , scattered all over the ground.

"This is..." He stared.

Lu Yan was fishing out the soil from the porcelain jars.

She fished in a panic and anxious manner, as if she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to fish it out if it was too late. She even tried to retrieve the spilled jar of water. The water ran away between her fingers and dripped into the dirt, making it impossible to tell which jar was which.

Blood flowed out from the wound on his finger. Lu Zhu didn't notice it at all, and he also forgot about Pei Yunying beside him. It seemed that in this world, the only thing in front of him was the most important.

It was the first time Pei Yunying saw her panic.

Even when he was asking questions aggressively at Wan'en Temple, and after the tribute case, he was forced to break into the hospital at night by the police patrol, and even earlier, when Baoxiang was held hostage by robbers downstairs, and she was on the line between life and death, he never showed signs of panic.

But now, she was fishing for the broken soil, and she was lost and panicked.

Pei Yunying narrowed his eyes.

A ridiculous idea arose in his mind.

Looking at the woman who was carefully picking up the soil, the young man hesitated and said, "Is this... grave soil?"

The secret letter sent by Qing Feng mentioned that all four members of the Lu family were dead. Except for Lu Rou, who was laid to rest in the grave, the remaining three people had no bones left.

Mrs. Lu was destroyed in a fire, Master Lu was buried under the water, Lu Qian was executed and his body was dumped in a grave and eaten by wild beasts. Even though Lu Rou was buried in peace, as the daughter of the Lu family hiding in the dark, Lu Yan could not Go to pay homage blatantly.

Pei Yunying glanced at the four porcelain jars on the ground.

Four porcelain jars, surrounded by spiritual tablets.

No wonder she enshrines such a Guanyin in a small Buddha cabinet in her house.

Although her hands are stained with blood and she does not believe in gods and Buddhas, she still pretends to worship Guanyin, because what she worships is not Guanyin at all, but the tablet of the Lu family.

Lu Chen didn't answer.

She tried hard to reach out and fish out the grave soil mixed together.

Those graves that she had searched for from everywhere, perhaps with the atmosphere of family members.

She brought back the embers of the fire from her old house in Changwu County, scooped up the rolling river water from the waterway boat to Beijing, dug up the wet black mud soaked by the rain in the graveyard surrounded by wild dogs, and secretly went to visit her sister who had no one. To pay homage to the cemetery, take away a small piece of loess.

She couldn't find any other relics they left behind, so she could only put the muddy water into porcelain jars and put them in the house, as if she could be together with her family.

But now, the mud and river water were mixed together, turbid and chaotic, slipping from her fingers like stained tears.

Nothing can be retained.

The movement to retain the mud gradually slowed down until it finally froze. She sat on her knees and stared blankly at the mess on the ground.

Suddenly a blurry picture flashed before his eyes.

That was probably a scene from a long, long time ago.

There is a father, a mother, older brothers and sisters. In the small courtyard on a summer evening, she was sitting with her sister and brother, talking about a recent lawsuit in a neighboring county.

A wealthy gentleman took possession of the young and beautiful daughter of a long-term worker. The magistrate of the Yamen County interrogated the case, and the lawsuit spread throughout the county.

As a young girl, she bit into wild grapes that had been dried in the well water and sighed: "It's so hateful. What if one day someone like a wealthy gentleman wants to harm our family?"

"It won't happen." My sister replied.

"What if there is one?"

"Then just report it to the official!" Lu Qian disagreed, "The law will make the decision."

Mother smiled and said: "Yes, we don't make enemies with others. Who would harm us for no reason?"

She was not satisfied with this answer. After thinking about it, she clenched her fist and said, "If someone really wants to harm our family, then I will take revenge!"

"Pfft -" Lu Qian pinched her round face, "Kid, you are not as tall as the table, and you still want to take revenge? What revenge can you use to take revenge? Take revenge with the slingshot I bought for you?"

Everyone laughed.

The laughter gradually faded away, became blurry, and finally turned into the loess and mud on the ground in front of her, and the drop of crystal like broken jade on the back of her hand.

Pei Yunying was startled.

She sat on the ground in silence, sitting in the mud, like a flower that was about to wither.

He finally spoke: "You want to enter the Imperial Medical College to deal with the Taishi Mansion?"

"Didn't you find out clearly?"

"Qi Yutai is Qi Qing's son. Killing him is an idiot's dream."

Fan Hong is just a judge of the court, while Qi Yutai is the son of a grand master. Anyone who comes close to him will be investigated repeatedly. Using the same method, Lu Zhen could get close to Fan Hong, but he may not be able to get close to Qi Yutai. Even if she entered Hanlin Medical Academy, revenge would be difficult.

"so what?"

"Our family is an ordinary family, how can we just let a few lives go to waste? Why?"

She smiled miserably and said in a cold voice, "Only in the eyes of you noble children, talents are divided into three, six or nine levels. In the eyes of the King of Hell, there are only distinctions between the dead and the living."

"Killing for life is a matter of course."

Pei Yunying frowned slightly and said, "Don't you want to be fair?"

"fair?"

Lu Zhuo raised his head.

Her black and white eyes showed an amazing transparency under the dim light, making her look determined and stubborn. Just like when she was pushed down and injured just now, she would not rush up again immediately after shouting in pain. Just like she was in the embarrassing predicament of being shackled now, she did not show any weakness.

He just looked at the person in front of him coldly.

Lu Yan said: "Your Excellency knows very well that even if this case is handed over to Dali Temple, it will not be any different."

She thought of the lawsuit that spread in Changwu County many years ago. The lawsuit was actually very simple, and anyone with a discerning eye could see the truth. But in the end, the county magistrate acquitted the gentry. The defiled girl went to assassinate the gentry with a hatchet in her arms and was beaten to death with sticks. Her old father was hanged on his daughter's grave.

Lu Chen clenched his fists and dug his fingertips into his palms.

She will never be a lamb to be slaughtered.

"He is the son of a grand master, and there are many scapegoats who have stood up for him. Even if he is really convicted, he will be picked up heavily and put down gently. Behind closed doors, they are all his own."

"He's not going to die."

"It doesn't matter what the truth is, nor does it matter if my family's grievances are cleared. As long as they live, justice will never come."

"fair?"

She sneered, her tone filled with desperate paranoia, "Let me tell you what fairness is. Qi Yutai killed my sister, and I killed Qi Yutai. One life is worth another. This is what fairness is."

“I don’t need help, I can find justice on my own.”

Pei Yunying looked at her.

She knelt on the ground numbly, her voice was calm, and there was a hint of crying that she was trying to hide. He knew very well that this cry was not because her secret was discovered, nor was it because of the helpless predicament at the moment, but because of the people in the graves on the ground.

Lu Chen lowered his head.

The rusty silver ring was still lying in her medical kit. If she took it out, she might gain Pei Yunying's sympathy for a moment.

However, sympathy never lasts. He already knows all the secrets. Whether his identity is friend or foe, his future is unclear.

Only a dead person wouldn't reveal secrets.

She could take advantage of the opportunity to take out the silver ring to lower his guard, or poison his tea, or pierce his Jianjing point with a poisonous needle... There were poisons hidden everywhere in the house, she There is a handful of poisonous powder in his sleeve, which can be used to blind his eyes.

At the far end of the street, there was faint laughter and the sound of firecrackers, drifting into the small courtyard with the wind.

Lu Chen looked at the table.

It's almost midnight, Acheng said, to celebrate the festival, fireworks will be set off at Dechun Terrace tonight.

The curtains reflect the plum branches outside the window, and the bright moon quietly climbs over the flowers. On New Year's Eve in Shengjing, ordinary people and nobles will share the splendor of the prosperous age at this moment, regardless of high or low.

"Tick tock—tick tock—"

It was the sound of dripping water.

Soon, it will be midnight.

Her fingers had already touched the poisonous powder in her sleeve. She peeled off the medicine paper little by little, and she was about to touch the fine, gray powder between her fingers...

Suddenly, a handkerchief embroidered with a goshawk was handed to him.

Lu Zhen's hand hidden in his sleeve froze.

"boom--"

At this moment, smoke and flames exploded brilliantly from the night sky of Shengjing City on the distant Dechun Terrace. Like thousands of candles lighting up from the sky, the splendid scenery and five colors alternated in an instant.

The small courtyard was also illuminated by this moment of splendor.

Lu Yan was shaken so much that he narrowed his eyes slightly.

At midnight, on New Year's Eve, the Spring Terrace is filled with smoke.

It's a new year.

She looked up blankly.

Pei Yunying stood in front of him, and the light from the fireworks outside the courtyard illuminated his beautiful eyebrows, making the sharpness and coldness around him disappear, making him look bright and soft.

The young man bent down, handed the handkerchief closer, and motioned for Lu Zhuo to bandage the bleeding finger.

"Wipe it," he turned his face away, his voice flat.

"I'm convinced by you."

Six Barrels: Kill every stumbling block on the road to revenge equally (including the male protagonist)