It gallops on a rainy night, horse hooves step on the muddy official road, rain, cement and water splash, and only lightning can you see the road ahead clearly.

After Xu Buling left Chang'an, he turned back to Yufeng Mountain and arrived at the small market at the foot of the mountain. It was already very late.

In the middle of the night, heavy rains were pouring, and the small market was like a dead town flooded by rain, with no lights, no fires and no one.

Xu Buling walked straight through the town with a hat, hesitated at the fork in the stone street, and did not go up the mountain directly, but turned his horse's head to the summer resort near Yufeng Mountain.

Step on the pedal-

The horse's hooves made a crisp sound on the stone road. When passing a small inn at the market, lightning flashed in the sky. Xu Buling's eyes suddenly saw a white-haired old woman standing under the eaves of time.

The lightning flashed, and the surrounding area fell into extreme night and dead silence again, and there was nothing else except the sound of rain.

"Wow—"

Xu Buling frowned, grabbed the horse and stopped on the stone street, turning his head to look in the direction that he had just glanced at.

thunderbolt--

Soon, another lightning flashed by, illuminating all kinds of things in the small market.

Under the old eaves of the inn, there were empty wine jars, firewood and other items. The white-haired old woman in a gray cloth skirt was hunched back and hunched over her waist, her face was covered with wrinkles, standing in place like a wooden man, her eyes narrowed into slits, and she looked at the street in front of her.

The lightning was very short, and the surrounding area was once again in extreme night.

Xu Buling stopped in place, and he felt the slightest movement of his ears, but only the sound of breathing from the horse under his crotch.

Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow w

The heavy rain hit the tiles, stone bricks and hats, making crackling sounds.

After a while, a hoarse voice sounded from under the eaves of the old inn next to it:

"Mengzi is back?"

The voice was weak and a little vague.

Xu Buling frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, took umbrellas, flint candles and other objects from the side of the horse, turned over and dismounted, walked to the eaves of the old inn, and used his feeling to insert the candle into the gap of firewood, stretched out the umbrella to cover the rainwater leaking from the eaves, and knocked on the flint.

Da----

The surroundings were dim and the sound of rain covered all the sounds.

Xu Buling felt the straw raincoat on his body being touched, and the sparks burst out from the flint brought out a faint light. You could see an old face leaning forward, but it quickly retracted, and the faint sound rang out again:

"Not a man..."

"Old lady, it's raining heavily, why don't you enter the house?"

The candle was lit, and the dim light lit up in the rainy night, illuminating a few feet under the eaves.

The old woman's eyes were not good, but she still felt light. She turned her head and looked at the candle. Her face was shriveled and wrinkled, with yellow skin and white hair cleaned up. She pinned it with a wooden hairpin and felt a smell of Chinese medicine on her body.

"…Mengzi ran out again…waiting for him to come back…”

Because the teeth are basically falling off, the wind is vague.

"It's so heavy rain. If you go out to work, you will definitely not be able to come back tonight. Come in and wait."

"Pneus...can't sleep..."

Xu Buling sighed softly, looked around, picked up two large jars from the side, turned them over and pressed them on the ground, sat down with an umbrella, and chuckled:

"Sit and wait. The rain is so heavy, I'm afraid I won't be able to come back for a while."

"Oh...thank you..."

The old woman looked around and touched the dry fingers on the jar before she could determine the position. She sat down tremblingly, and her eyes moved to the heavy rainy street again.

The heavy rain covered the world, and only a light was like beans under the old eaves. The white-haired old woman sat next to her straw raincoat wearing a straw hat. She sat upright with her waist and back. She stretched out the umbrella with her left hand to cover the old woman's head. Drops of raindrops slid down the straw raincoat and straw hat, and merged into the rain curtain that was close to her.

Da-da-da-

After a moment of silence, the old woman seemed a little demented and had no intention of speaking.

Xu Buling looked at the empty rain curtain in front of him and thought for a while: "Is the old lady a foreigner? She doesn't have the accent like a nearby one. She just came to Chang'an?"

The old woman seemed to remember that there was someone around her. She moved a little, facing the direction of the sound, and couldn't tell whether she was smiling: "The first time I came... I seemed to have been here a few days ago..."

"What are you doing in Chang'an? My son takes the imperial examination?"

"Haha... Mengzi has never studied. After a few days in the village school, he was disobedient and was driven out by his husband..."

The old woman's eyes were pale and white. The only place to focus was the candlelight. She said slowly: "...I got sick a few years ago. The doctor in the Murakami couldn't see it well. I took me out to find the doctor... I thought I was going to the county town, but I had been away for more than two years. The wheat planted in the fields was not yet collected, so I'm afraid it would be wasted..."

Xu Buling listened quietly, and thought for a while: "The son is filial."

"Oh~..."

The old woman shook her head and sighed softly: "I am unfilial and have never been obedient since I was a child. When I was a child, I asked him to study. Like the county master, I grew up and became an official... I gave two chickens to the husband in the village. But after two days of school, I beat someone else's children and beat him... The husband said that he couldn't teach him, so go home to farm..."

Xu Buling thought for a while and shook his head: "In this world, there are not many people who can read, and even fewer people who can become talented in their studies. There is nothing wrong with farming and supporting their families."

“Yes~”

The old woman nodded and spoke very slowly: "He was not happy to let Mengzi farm. He said that farming was useless and the man's family wanted to do big things. At the age of twelve or thirteen, he ran to the county town, mingled with those ruffians, fought everywhere, and ran back several times with injuries... Alas~ Many years ago, I took Mengzi a wife. The girl at the village head was married for a few days, and she felt that there was nothing in the house and there was nothing. Mengzi got angry, beat her wife, and then left, and her wife ran away...

...I waited at the entrance of the village every day. I waited for a long time but didn't see Mengzi come back. I thought he wouldn't come back. In the end, I came back, with a lame leg, like beggars... But I did earn a lot of money, bought a few acres of land, rebuilt the house, and took a beautiful girl to the village head every day to show off..."

When he said this, the old woman laughed, even though her face was so old that she couldn't see clearly, she could still see that she was very proud.

Xu Buling shook his head and chuckled: "It's good to have a future."

The old woman was silent for a while and sighed again: "But I am useless as a mother. I have a serious illness and can't cure it no matter how I treat it. I have spent all the money that Mengzi has saved. The house and land were sold. My wife said a few words and was driven out of the door by Mengzi. I advised me at that time, but she would not be cured. Mengzi insisted on stubbornness and ran out to look for a doctor everywhere with me on my back...

...I have been to the county town before, but I thought it was not far away, but I didn't expect that I could not finish the journey no matter how I walked... Mountains, water, different, and... Well... the big river, big boat, a boat that is as high as a small hill, Mengzi took me to sit for a while...

...At the end, I forgot what my home was like... Once I encountered a forest where flowers were everywhere, so I asked Mengzi to bury me there. Mengzi was disobedient and said that people were good, how could they be buried? Alas~... People are old and don't die, it hurts people..."

The voice was vague, and I said several times that I forgot the front and started from scratch again.

Xu Buling took a light breath and looked at the wind and rain in front of him. He was silent for a long time, but he didn't say anything.

Rush rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rust rus

The lightning flashed occasionally, and the whole world seemed to be not angry, only the endless heavy rain in front of us.

The candle became shorter and until it went out, and another one was lit again.

"...Mengzi ran out secretly again just now. He used to be like this. He didn't listen to advice and ran out secretly to fight..."

Xu Buling's eyes swept across the empty streets, listening to the unclear words, he felt a stone pressing on his heart. Perhaps the same is true for the old woman who is recalling the past...

--------

Crack-

I don’t know how long it took, but a little noise rang out in the rain.

Xu Bu made his ears move slightly and looked at the source of the sound.

In the heavy rain, I couldn't see anything, but I could clearly hear the uneven breathing sounds, and the sound of my clothes dragging in the rain.

clap--

The lightning flashed again, illuminating the earth.

Xu Buling narrowed his eyes slightly and saw a black shadow walking slowly with a wooden stick at the end of the market street, limping, dragging his left leg on the ground with a hunched back, and a long shadow dragged out from the rain behind.

Xu Buling has killed many people, and even if he only saw a black shadow, he could recognize that it was blood.

“…Mengzi is back?”

The old woman noticed Xu Buling tilted her head and came to her senses a little. Her turbid eyes looked twice in the confused rain curtain.

Xu Buling smiled a little and inserted the umbrella on the stack of firewood, blocking part of his sight.

"Not yet, I'll get some water to drink..."

"Oh...it's too late, you go back early, I don't have to accompany you..."

Xu Buling took a breath, turned around and walked into the rain curtain, and walked quickly across the street with his memory, and came to the dark shadow just now.

“Hu—Hu—”

The sound of heavy breathing continued, and the figure stopped in front of him, and a hoarse voice with blood foam sounded:

"Thank you, hero..."

Xu Buling frowned, and with the feedback of the sound of the rain, he determined the man's position. He raised his hand and touched it, but his hands were covered with warm blood.

"Are you a madman?"

The black shadow in front of him was gasping for breath, and after a moment of silence, he remembered the chuckle mixed with blood foam:

"Yes... I took a job and something went wrong... Thank you for being with my mother, and I just secretly walked away, thinking she was asleep."

The lightning flashed, and the scenery in front of me fell into my eyes - the black clothes were covered with sword scars, and several places were worn by them. The left leg was tied to stop bleeding with a cloth strip from the clothes, and the cloth was wrapped on her body. She probably just found some herbs and chewed them and applied them on her face, her face pale.

Xu Buling raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, his eyes a little annoyed: "Who has a family and a house, what kind of world can he go into?"

The man's eyes focused on a little fire that was blocked by an umbrella in the distance, breathing heavily, and sighed:

"It's a last resort...it's obvious that it's cured soon, God doesn't have any eyes..."
To be continued...