In front of the North Gate

In the following period of time, Shi Jichang came for a few days, and also did not come for a few days.

He still brought some small gifts for Lou Huaiyu, Lou Huaiyu said twice that he didn't need to bring them, but Shi Jichang still wanted to bring them, so he didn't say anything, put them away one by one, and hid them in the closet together with the previous gadgets.

I don't know when spring has quietly entered Pingcheng, it is no longer so cold, and the snow is slowly disappearing.

When Lou Huaiyu was waiting for Shi Jichang to come several times, he wondered if the snowman they had made had been melted, and he struggled a while whether to take a look, and finally persuaded himself that it was just a snowman, not worth it. Risk your life.

But there is always something worth it.

Shi Jichang came several times, but he didn't mention Lou Huaiyu's help again.

But Lou Huaiyu could hear some of the wind in the backyard. Even he knew that there were more and more Japanese in the yard, and the security was getting stricter. Watanabe Yugawa was coming soon, maybe he had already arrived.

When Lou Huaiyu thought of this, he heard very slight footsteps coming down the yard.

After a few seconds, there was a light knock on the door.

Lou Huaiyu went out to open the door, and Shi Jichang stood at the door with another branch of bright red wintersweet in his hand.

Before Lou Huaiyu could speak, Shi Jichang had already handed the wintersweet over, and while closing the door for him, he said, "I don't have time to buy anything else today, I didn't plan to bring anything, but I happened to see it on the way here, and it's too late The other flowers are late, so I picked them."

Lou Huaiyu reached out to take it, and was a little torn between whether to hide the flowers in the closet or stick them up.

Before he could think about it, Shi Jichang had already sat down on the chair and called him: "I have something to tell you."

Shi Jichang looked more serious than the previous few days, although Shi Jichang's face seemed to be hard to associate with other emotions except seriousness.

He is tall, and ordinary sitting is also a big sword, the person is reflected by the candlelight on the table. The orange outline, looking at Lou Huaiyu seriously and formally, reminded him of the old days when Ji Chang sat here and wrote something. day and night.

It was only then that Lou Huaiyu realized the meaning of Ji Chang's phrase 'too late to buy something' just now, and felt inexplicably nervous.

"What's wrong?" Lou Huaiyu also pulled up a chair and sat down.

I heard Shi Jichang say, "I'm going to stay here tonight."

There was no hint of a joke on Shi Jichang's face, and he continued without stopping: "There should be a big banquet tomorrow night, and Yamaguchi will clean up the dust for Watanabe Yukawa, and you should be allowed to appear at that time."

Lou Huaiyu was startled: "Shankou didn't tell me..."

Shi Jichang hummed, "Probably I'll talk to you tomorrow."

When he assigns tasks and talks about serious matters, it is very different from usual. He speaks quickly and flatly, with a kind of undeniable cruelty, which is very similar to when he first met Lou Huaiyu.

Before Lou Huaiyu said anything, Shi Jichang said again: "I want to hide here with you. Tomorrow, when everyone gathers in the front yard, I will confront them from behind."

"I," Lou Huaiyu opened his mouth, "what am I going to do?"

Unexpectedly, Shi Jichang slowed down and answered him: "You don't need to do anything, you can sing well and hide in a corner when the time comes, I have greeted them, once I see you, I will take you out as soon as possible. "

Lou Huaiyu's mouth opened again.

He looked at Shi Jichang puzzled: "...Didn't you want my help?"

Begging him for so long, giving him so many things, but in the end it was just asking him to perform well?

"Do you think I don't agree?" Lou Huaiyu frowned, and he explained, "I was angry last time, and I can help."

Shi Jichang smiled inconspicuously: "No, originally I wanted to arrange for someone to directly assassinate Watanabe Yukawa and ask you to cooperate, but later I still felt that this was too risky, so it is better to catch him by surprise."

Lou Huaiyu was silent for a while: "Then you—"

Before he finished speaking, Shi Jichang reached out and touched the top of his head.

"You are willing to take the risk of letting me stay, which is already a great help." Shi Jichang said, and rubbed Lou Huaiyu's loose hair back and forth as he spoke.

These days, Shi Jichang always had to touch his head, probably touched the ground a lot, and finally became more proficient, and his strength was no longer as ignorant as the first time.

He touched his head, paused, and pinched Lou Huaiyu's face again.The strength is between making Lou Huaiyu feel pain or not.

"Don't be nervous if you get caught," Shi Jichang said again, and he put down his hands, "Go to bed early."

Lou Huaiyu didn't go to bed early or sleep well, but it wasn't because of nervousness, it was because after many days, Shi Jichang shared the same bed with him again.

At dawn and night in winter, Lou Huaiyu didn't have to put down the bed curtain when he didn't have to be afraid of others suddenly breaking in and seeing Shi Jichang.

Therefore, the thin fabric has some inconspicuous folds at the hook and loop, which are particularly obvious under the candlelight.

Lou Huaiyu stared at that place, and after turning off the lights, stared at the void again, staring at the ground with sore eye sockets, and the breathing of the people around him finally became even and long.

Lou Huaiyu quietly turned his body sideways, releasing his motionless and almost stiff back and arms.

It was too dark, Lou Huaiyu couldn't see Shi Jichang, but it seemed that he could easily outline his profile.

Shi Jichang's nose is very straight, his jaw line is like a sharp straight line, and his facial expression is usually tense and scary; Shi Jichang's lip peaks are also obvious. When the beard is not long, it is a little more delicate, but when it grows, it becomes more aggressive; Ji Chang's brow bone is very high, his eyebrows are thick and his eyes are deep, so when he frowns, he seems very unhappy.

Shi Jichang still had a scar that healed on his brow bone.

Shi Jichang's injuries always healed quickly, as did the gunshot wound on his thigh, and the scar on his brow, so he seemed invulnerable, yet he was so easily injured.

Lou Huaiyu stretched out his hand, and landed on the scar lightly and accurately.

He touched it almost as gently as through a layer of air, all the way up, imitating Shi Jichang's appearance, stroking his rough hair, and all the way down, imitating Shi Jichang's pinching movements, Gently pinched Shi Jichang's face.

"Talking about me," Lou Huaiyu said softly, "It looks hard, isn't the flesh on the face also soft?"

Shi Jichang slept deeply, did not wake up, but murmured.

Lou Huaiyu immediately withdrew his hand.

On the second day, as Shi Jichang said, Shankou came early in the morning, so he came over in a hurry, interrupted Lou Huaiyu's morning exercise, and asked him to sing a section with his half-opened voice.

"Not bad." Yamaguchi said after listening, "We can dress up for tonight's banquet."

Lou Huaiyu pretended not to know and acted surprised: "Mr. Watanabe, have you arrived yet?"

Yamaguchi glanced at him, without any doubts: "Well, I arrived yesterday, and I will welcome him today. You sing well, and you will be rewarded if you sing well."

Lou Huaiyu's heartbeat quickened unconsciously. He didn't know whether he was looking forward to the upcoming performance or was afraid, but he just smiled and asked Shankou what he could give him.

Shankou didn't have time to say more, he just said whatever he wanted, and left, leaving Lou Huaiyu alone, with the corner of his mouth down, staring at the ground in a daze for a while.

It was only for a short while, because soon, strange faces were led into the yard by Xiaodong.

The strange face was very delicate and thin. He was only a little taller than Lou Huaiyu, but he was carrying a wooden box half the height of a person on his back, which seemed to almost bend him.

The man was probably tired from walking all the way and was panting badly. Seeing Lou Huaiyu panting and laughing, he said, "You are Boss Lou, right?"

"Hello, my name is Zhou Liang," he continued, walked towards Lou Huaiyu, and reported his family name, "I used to sing Huadan in the troupe. I'm sorry to bother you today, so I can rest up."

Lou Huaiyu understood what he meant, walked over, told Xiaodong to help quickly, and also said hello: "Boss Zhou."

"Why do you come here in person, what are you moving?"

Zhou Liang gasped and said, "Mr. Yamaguchi said that there is air leakage in the temporary backstage, you are weak, let me bring this guy over to your room to put on makeup with you."

"Mr. Yamaguchi is really kind to you." Zhou Liang said again.

If it was someone else, Lou Huaiyu would think that the other party did it on purpose, but Zhou Liangren looks good, his eyes are big and bright, clear and free of impurities, it's hard to make people feel that he is acting weird.

Therefore, Lou Huaiyu just glanced behind the bed in a complicated mood, and did not speak.

He helped Zhou Liang put the things down: "That came too early, didn't it start at night?"

It takes some time for them to put on makeup for singing, but it doesn't take a day. Besides, Yueju opera is not like Beijing opera, and the makeup is not thick.

Zhou Liang smiled embarrassedly when he heard the words.

Lou Huaiyu watched him sneak a few glances at her, and then said in a low voice, "Mr. Yamaguchi... said that I look about the same size as Boss Lou, and I'm afraid I'll be frozen too."

He paused: "Let me take a look at your yard, too, to see if I like it."

Zhou Liang looked very young, his face turned red after he finished speaking, and he lowered his head to look at the ground, not daring to look at Lou Huaiyu.

It looks like she's just shy, but it's hard to see whether she's happy or not.

Lou Huaiyu didn't know how to answer the words for a moment, it was just a little bit born just now, and the guilt for Yamaguchi disappeared quickly.

Yamaguchi may be nice to him, but being nice and having selfish desires does not mean that he is really a gentle Japanese.

It doesn't mean he didn't have human blood on his hands.

It doesn't mean that Lou Huaiyu is so special.

Seeing that he hadn't spoken for a long time, Zhou Liang was trembling, so he used the honorific: "Are you angry?"

"No." Lou Huaiyu smiled and asked him, "Then do you like it?"

"What do you like or not?" Zhou Liang said in a low voice. "In this world, we stinky opera singers, if we have this blessing, we don't have to run around, be bullied, have a bed to sleep, and have food to eat. alright."

Lou Huaiyu was silent for a while, and then said softly: "That's it."

If it wasn't for someone else, he really wanted to go to the bed and catch Shi Jichang out, and ask him if that was the case.