They say it's sick

The village was already in chaos. Some people rushed to put out the fire, while others thought it was bandits who had made a comeback and dragged their families along to escape.

Yun Zhi led a few of his men through the chaos and came to the end of the village first, and saw the village house being engulfed by the fire, and the young man standing alone in front of the sea of ​​flames.

After staring at the thin figure for a while, Yun Zhi finally remembered his name——Li Yan.

It's not that he has a bad memory, it's just that this man has changed the bloody clothes from the day before, and all the blood on his face has been washed off, revealing a white face with a little sickness, a small burden on his body, and a Standing there tall and straight, he was completely different from the bloody "Raksha" the day before yesterday.

I don't know how much it is pleasing to the eye.

The sound of footsteps startled Li Yan who was thinking about something. He turned around and saw Yunzhi and his party, and he was not surprised. He cupped his hands and greeted with a smile on his face: "We meet again, benefactor!"

The last two words deliberately emphasized the tone, no matter how they sounded a bit yin and yang, even Chen Jin, who was out of the situation, could hear it, so he leaned into Yun Zhi's ear and whispered: "Why do I think he is scolding you?"

Yun Zhi glared at him, turned his face but was very calm, he walked up to Li Yan, his tone was gentle as if reminiscing: "Is there anyone inside?"

"Inside?" Li Yan shrugged, "I don't know, your benefactor is so good at it, why don't you go in and see for yourself?"

Yun Zhi squinted her eyes, and turned her gaze to the fire field that was blazing into the sky.

"My lord..." Chen Jin took a look at Li Yan, then reached out his hand to stop Yun Zhi, "The fire is too strong, I can't get in."

"Don't worry, even if you want to go in, I will bring this guy with you..." Yunzhi nodded at him, "Put out the fire first..."

Chen Jin responded, and the villagers who had arrived one after another scattered around with several people in his entourage and got busy.

The fire is burning hotter and hotter, and you can feel the scorching heat even standing several feet away. Fortunately, it was clear and windless at the beginning of the snow, otherwise the fire would spread and the whole village would not be spared.

"If you want me to tell you, don't bother, there is nothing valuable in this dilapidated house..." Li Yan crossed his arms, and the firelight reflected his pale cheeks. Now there is no wind, so the fire will not spread to other houses no matter what, and it will be extinguished when everything that can be burned is burned."

"It's all right to just sit on the sidelines, let's not talk sarcasticly..." Looking at the relaxed face of this man, Yun Zhi snorted softly, "At least I live in the same village, so if the owner of the house hears it, it's somewhat inappropriate .”

"Owner...it may have been burnt to ashes by now..." Seeing Yunzhi frowned, Li Yan laughed, "Don't look at me like that, I was killed by bandits, you touched it with your own hands yesterday. Pass."

There was only one corpse that Yunzhi had personally touched the day before—afterwards he asked someone to check it out, saying that it had been taken away by his family.

family?

Yun Zhi frowned, looking at the young man with more inquiring eyes: "What's your relationship with him?"

"He and I..." Li Yan lowered his eyes slightly, and the corner of his mouth curled up into a smile, but his tone was ridiculed, "In name, father and son depend on each other for life."

Father and son?

Whether it was yesterday or now, there was no trace of grief on this man's face, and even a bit of undisguised impatience.

Yun Zhi stared at Li Yan's eyes and didn't speak for a while.

He didn't pay attention to it yesterday, but now he realizes that although this man's clothes are shabby, he looks very good, especially his face.

Although his complexion is pale and a bit sick, but his eyebrows are exquisite, his figure is thin, and his back is straight. Whether he is facing the bandits yesterday or facing the fire scene today, he can display a calmness that is difficult for outsiders to see through. and calm.

In this impoverished village where there are few visitors except bandits in the cold winter months, it is somewhat out of place.

"It's hard to persuade ghosts who want to die, you can save them if you want..." After being stared at by Yun Zhi's overly bright eyes for a while, Li Yan was inexplicably uncomfortable, and cupped his hands, " I have something else to do, so I won't accompany you."

After saying that, he turned around to leave, suddenly a flash appeared in front of his eyes, and then he realized that his wrist had been pinched, and two warm fingers just rested on the pulse gate.

The fingers are fair and slender, but the fingertips have a thin layer of calluses, which are the marks of those who have been drawing bows and archery all the year round.

"What?" Li Yan subconsciously clenched his fist, then slowly let go, he tilted his head, looked at the face that was so close, and smiled, but his tone was not polite at all, "You can't walk, Is the benefactor too lenient?"

The skin under the finger is slightly cool, and the pulse is also very weak. The moment the fingertip falls, it is very rapid, but it calms down quickly.

"Still sick..." Yun Zhi didn't understand medical principles, but he also sensed that the pulse was abnormal. He raised his eyes slightly and looked over with a smile, "Is he leaving in such a hurry because he is afraid that the murderer who set the fire will be found later?"

"Don't try, I set the fire..." Li Yan stretched out his other hand, and lightly flicked away the two fingers that made him feel burned, "My poor family can't afford a coffin, and even after death Seeing him rotten, he burned it down."

There still seemed to be a warm temperature on the wrist, Li Yan put his hands behind his back expressionlessly, but still felt uncomfortable, couldn't help rubbing them quietly a few times: "No one would have thought that it would be like this after it was fired, but now it's so bad. I was homeless and had to go to relatives."

With a smile on Yunzhi's face, he repeated every word: "You didn't think of that either?"

"Yeah, who would have thought of that. But it's all burned, and there's nothing valuable anyway, and I admit it, there's nothing wrong with your kindness and ability to put out the fire..." Li Yan covered his lips and coughed twice, his face getting more and more serious Pale, "But I look like a tuberculosis ghost, so I don't need to be together?"

"Of course not, I see that your complexion is not good, so I asked a lot..." Yunzhi looked down at her fingertips, and made a gesture of invitation, "It's freezing cold, take care of your body."

"Thank you benefactor for reminding!"

Li Yan bowed deeply, took a last look at the sea of ​​fire behind him, turned around and walked out of the village without looking back.

Chen Jin ran over from afar, just in time to see the figure in the distance, and couldn't help being curious: "My lord, do you know that person?"

"I told you that yesterday..." Yun Zhi looked away, took the wooden barrel from Chen Jin's hand, "put out the fire first..."

It was difficult to fetch water in winter, but fortunately there was thick snow all over the place, and Yunzhi and his party helped. Even so, it took less than half an hour to completely extinguish the fire.

The fire almost burned the whole house, together with the odds and ends in the yard, leaving only a few mud walls, a few remaining wooden beams, and a charred corpse beyond recognition.

"I just inquired about it. This family is an outsider. There are only two fathers and sons. The father was killed by a bandit yesterday, and the body seems to have been left at home before he could collect it..." Chen Jin patted the burnt ashes on his hands, "It is said that he is crippled, so I just took a closer look. The bones of the two legs are indeed different. Do you want to ask another foreman to confirm?"

"No need..." Yun Zhi pulled up the hem of his clothes, squatted down in front of the charred corpse, and took a closer look at the burnt ashes, "I saw this wound yesterday, it was him."

"Then inform the government to come and investigate the cause of the fire?" Chen Jin picked up a section of charred beams, "There are traces of firewood piled up in front of and behind the house, including the inside of the house, and oil was poured on the beams... also I don’t know how big the hatred is, burning down other people’s houses in the twelfth lunar month of winter.”

"People's own house, if they don't want to live in it, they burn it down, even if the government comes over, what can they say?"

"You burned it yourself?" Chen Jin couldn't believe it, "You mean it was the son of this family who set the fire... Wait a minute, let that kid go first?"

"It's him..." Yun Zhi took out the scarf from his sleeve, wiped his fingertips, looked up at the rising sun, "help me clean up, we should go too."

From the village to Pingzhou City, there is a distance of [-] to [-] miles, and it takes at most half a day for ordinary people to go there. However, it just snowed heavily the day before, and Li Yan was sick again.Even if he gave up the spacious official road and deliberately took a shortcut, it was already dusk when he entered the city.

As the sun set, the afterglow shrouded the entire city of Pingzhou.

Li Yan walked through unfamiliar streets and alleys for a long time, and finally came to a magnificent mansion—compared with ten years ago, there seemed to be no obvious changes here.

Li Yan stared at the vermilion door for a while, then stepped forward to knock on the door knocker.

The days of winter are short, and there are few pedestrians on the street before the curfew, and every household bolts their doors early to prepare to rest.

Therefore, the door rang for a long time before there was the sound of procrastinating footsteps. After the door opened from the inside, the porter with a beard poked his head out, looked up and down at the shabby young man in front of him, and said impatiently: "Where are you so poor?" Kid, don't even look where this is, you knocked on the door of the General's Mansion casually?!"

"It doesn't matter if I can knock you..." Li Yan covered his lips and suppressed his cough, "I want to see Li Xuan."

"It's up to you?" The porter said contemptuously, "I'm telling you, boy, if we didn't have a distinguished guest in our house today, we would have ordered someone to arrest you and beat you up, and get out of here as soon as possible, don't be an eyesore here!"

After so many years, the servants of the Li family really haven't improved at all.

Li Yan laughed, took out a token from his pocket and handed it over, repeating: "Say it again, I want to see Li Xuan."

"you……"

In front of him is obviously just a half-child who looks poor and destitute.But for some reason, when he met those dark eyes, he felt timid unconsciously in his heart. The concierge hesitated for a moment, swallowed the words of reprimand, took the token and looked at it carefully, and looked at Li Yan's face. His gaze was even more suspicious: "What's your name?"

"Li Yan..." Seeing the porter's expression, Li Yan laughed, "It doesn't matter if you don't know, Li Xuan must know the name he chose."

The porter looked at the token in his hand, pointed to Li Yan: "You stay here honestly, I will go in and report."

The door was slammed shut, and the sound was particularly harsh in this clean street.

Li Yan rubbed his frozen fingers, lifted his clothes and sat down on the stone steps, took out a hard-frozen steamed bun from his small bag, and ate it slowly.

Outside the door is a desolate and lonely person, but inside the door there is a banquet, which is very lively.

The servants came and went, delicacies, osmanthus wine and pepper paste came in an endless stream. Chen Jin was amazed by the sight, and couldn't help whispering in Yun Zhi's ear: "Don't look at General Li as a groom, life is really real. Pay attention, I think our Marquis should really learn from others, at least we are the hereditary Marquis Mansion!"

"Okay..." Yun Zhi was reaching out to pour himself some wine, when he heard this, he glanced at him and raised his lips, "I'll pass on your suggestion to my father when I get back."

While drinking, a fire was lit in the room again. Yun Zhi took off the heavy fox fur and only wore a light-colored gown with small sleeves.

He held up the wine cup and pointed at the superior: "We are presumptuous here today, and we are causing trouble to Uncle Shi!"

"My nephew said this too far, and besides, this bandit was my negligence, so I let my nephew work hard!" Li Xuan picked up the wine cup and took a sip, "Just now I was too busy talking about the bandit. Son, I haven't asked my nephew why he wants to come to Pingzhou, does your father have any orders?"