Horse-head Wall Reflects the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 74: Spring has passed so easily, the autumn moon is now so dazzling

Spring is easy to go, pretending to be careless, the autumn moon comes over the mountain easily. There are music everywhere, songs everywhere, and shadows dancing.

Only this side was deserted. Liu Jiaoan and Ling Xiao sat together, looking at the empty wine in their cups. No one took the initiative to reach out to pick up the jug and refill the other's cup.

"You..." They stretched out their hands at the same time and clasped them around the wine jug, and the two men began to be humble in unison.

In the end, no one touched the wine jug, which should have just enough space for one cup. Everyone turned around and looked at the screen in front of them, silent for a long time.

The opaque screen can still carry the melodious sounds from the other room, as attractive as a kitten's curled up paws gently scratching you - this captivating feeling is not just for the opposite sex.

"I thought that since I had the ability to play and sing, I didn't need to show off my beauty to others. But now I see, I have been waiting for someone for a long time... and I have wasted my youth."

A crescent moon was flowing into the house through the gap between the windows, and was flowing halfway across the ground near the window, looking a little lazy, just like the half-drunk Miss Lingxiao.

It wasn't just Ling Xiao's half-loose hair that was messy and listless, it was also Ling Xiao's words that jumped far away.

"There will always be people who are superficial. You can only hope that the person you love is not superficial."

“How many men are not superficial?”

"Then why don't you just burn the letter he left for you."

Noticing that Liu Jiaoan's gaze was fixed on the small table not far from the eight-immortals table, Ling Xiao's pupils shrank suddenly because of the wax tears that were about to drip onto the paper. He stood up abruptly, and then sat back heavily on the round stool without a backrest because of the former's meaningful words.

Fortunately, Liu Jiaoan noticed Miss Ling Xiao's loss of composure in time and supported her waist before she fell backwards.

"Thank you." Ling Xiao never hesitates to say thank you.

Perhaps everyone who could give her even a little help had received a "thank you" from her.

"You don't necessarily need a man to rely on you." Liu Jiaoan was very smart, because Ling Xiao's small, deliberate action made her understand what the latter wanted to express to her, "Your sister Yin Yun can do it, so why can't you do it yourself?"

"I didn't have as good a past as hers."

"Her past...may not be as good as you think."

Yes, whose past was so smooth that he ended up in the music school - the more perfect the past, the more terrifying the low point will seem.

Ling Xiao understood what Liu Jiaoan meant, so he stopped talking. His eyes were still focused on the small square table not far away, watching the wax tears devour the originally clean and flawless paper bit by bit.

"How is he now? If he passes, will he be in the same class as Cheng Jianwei?"

"he?"

"Now he has recognized a high-ranking official as his adoptive father. He just told me not to worry and that he would definitely take me to Beijing after I pass the exam."

"Adoptive father?"

Liu Jiaoan chuckled and thought: I don't know if this girl in front of me is really stupid or just pretending to be stupid.

"If I have a foster father, doesn't that mean I also have a foster sister?"

"He said that the adult's children had already been married, and the younger one was ten years younger than him... The youngest girl was still in her infancy."

Ling Xiao seemed to really believe the man's promise. When he said these words, his eyes had already moved from the small square table over there back to Liu Jiaoan: "If you don't drink this wine, I will drink it."

The moon moved and the shadows flickered. A gust of wind outside the window made the people in the house, who had just felt warm from a few glasses of wine, shiver.

Liu Jiaoan stood up, walked around Miss Lingxiao to the bedside, gently removed the wooden block supporting the window, and barely closed the window - years of humidity had deformed the window that was originally flat, and now it could not be closed tightly.

"Have you ever thought about what would happen if he didn't change his mind and you went to the capital?"

"Getting married, having children... watching him rise step by step, feeling helpless and ashamed because I can't help him?"

Liu Jiaoan was very smart, and every word she said could get straight to the heart of the matter. Ling Xiao tried several times with a dazed gaze to focus on the former's face, but failed.

"And then? Did you watch him go in and out of brothels and music houses again? Or..."

"Have you never thought about your future?"

"At least, it's better to keep the money you earn in your own hands than to live on a man."

Liu Jiaoan is very smart and has a clarity that does not belong to this era, which also destined her to be unhappy - sometimes, when you are powerless to do anything, ignorance is actually a kind of "luck".

"That's a matter for the future." Perhaps because he had no way to escape from Liu Jiaoan's aggressive words, Ling Xiao finally spoke, "It's a matter for the future. I have a child in the future, and he can't be looked down upon by others just because his mother is from the music school."

"Have you lived your whole life just to be a mother?"

"A mother is honored by her son."

The wind outside the window was whistling as if it was trying to join in the fun, as if it would tear the paper pasted on the window into pieces any moment, and it went straight in between the two girls, urging them to continue talking.

But the two were very disappointed and no one said anything. Liu Jiaoan even snatched the wine glass from Ling Xiao without hesitation, divided half for herself, and swallowed it in one gulp.

Ling Xiao just stared blankly the whole time, without trying to stop them, nor did he think of asking someone to fetch another pot...

"Won't Sister Yin Yun be worried if you come out like this?"

"She is not your sister Yin Yun. You should have seen that a long time ago, right?" Liu Jiaoan did not answer Ling Xiao's words, but even asked the question back.

"Yes."

Ling Xiao changed his words after a moment: "No."

"Originally I just thought... Now that you ask me, I know it's not true."

"who is she?"

"Forget it, who she is doesn't matter."

Liu Jiaoan didn't say a word, Ling Xiao just kept talking to himself.

"Are you done?" Putting down the wine glass that he had been playing with for a while, Liu Jiaoan's gaze returned to Ling Xiao, "So that letter was not written by you, right?"

"Letter? What letter?" Ling Xiao was a little confused by this question, "When was the letter sent? Who was it sent to?"

Seeing Ling Xiao's reaction, Liu Jiaoan was certain that her beloved had no hand in this matter. Then the only thing left was the Liu family... The Liu family, it seemed that she had to find an opportunity to go back and take a look no matter what.

"This wine is good. Do you have any more?" Before Ling Xiao could come to his senses, Liu Jiaoan had already changed the subject.

"No."

"If you want to drink, you pay for it yourself."

"There is a saying in ancient times, 'A horse with five colors, a fur coat worth thousands of gold, I will call my son to go out and exchange it for good wine, so that we can share our eternal sorrow'. I wonder if you have heard of it?" When he was a child, Liu Jiaoan read a lot of books both openly and privately.

He also understands a word: hide one's shortcomings. "I don't have a horse with five colors or a fur coat worth thousands of gold."

"But I am a little worried."

The stars and the moon never favor the sleepless people. When it is time to leave, let the sun come.

When a familiar orange-red color appeared outside the window, Ling Xiao was already lying on the eight-immortals table, sleeping unconscious - it could be seen that Ling Xiao didn't drink much on weekdays, and he really wasn't on guard against Liu Jiaoan, whom he had just met for the third time, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten drunk so easily.

Liu Jiaoan was certainly not asleep, and there wasn't even a hint of confusion in her eyes.

"Keep your voice down and find something for your daughter to wear." Seeing the little girl coming in, Liu Jiaoan recognized her at a glance as the young child who followed Ling Xiao that day.

In less than half a year, she has grown more and more like a spring flower. Liu Jiaoan doesn't know whether to be happy or worried for her - every year is better than the last, and the old ones leave without knowing when, and the new ones come one after another.

The girl in front of him was still as reckless as usual, and Liu Jiaoan was a little worried... If Ling Xiao really left this music school one day, where would this little girl go?

"Water, water..."

The little girl heard Sister Ling Xiao calling her and quickly poured half a cup of warm water and handed it to her. But when the water reached the latter's lips, she was pushed away in a daze.

"Pah! Dangdangdang, crash..."

Soon after the sound of the cup falling to the ground, the porcelain cup, which was not of good quality, shattered to the ground. The short and rapid sound did not wake up the sleeping person, but instead a few whispers came out of Ling Xiao's mouth: "Water! Water... Go away, go away!"

This time, the voice went from desire to terror, and was still soft and trembling.

Liu Jiaoan knew what was going on. She stood up and walked to the window. While she was propping the wooden block that had been removed yesterday back onto the window sill, she told the little girl to leave and go downstairs to rest.

"This broken porcelain piece..."

"You go back, I'll take care of this place."

"Then madam, please don't hurt your hands. We don't have any good medicine here." The little girl was reckless but also delicate. Perhaps it was because she had seen too many of the girls' daily habits and their usual temperaments, and she unconsciously moved closer to them.

"Well, let's go."

"Okay." The little girl's voice was still crisp, with a hint of timidity, "Madam, be careful."

Squatting down, the moment Liu Jiaoan's hand touched the broken porcelain pieces, a thought suddenly appeared in her mind: "Will I bleed if I touch the sharp part?" Coincidentally, at this moment, Ling Xiao's murmur came again: "No, go away, don't..."

Liu Jiaoan realized what he was thinking just now and quickly withdrew his hand in fear, laughing at himself: "It's always easy to persuade others."

"Ding, ding."

There was no horrifying noise like when the porcelain was smashed just now. When Liu Jiaoan was picking up the broken pieces, the sound of the pieces hitting each other was crisp and pleasant, even so moving that ordinary music could not replace it.

"Well……"

"What are you..."

"you're awake?"

"Yeah." In order to prevent the wind from the open window from blowing on Ling Xiao, Liu Jiaoan had already pulled up the clothes that the little girl had prepared for Ling Xiao before pushing open the window, blocking the latter's hair from approaching the window.

Therefore, Ling Xiao could only blame the alcohol that gave her a hangover for her headache at this moment.

She can only blame herself for being greedy for the momentary "forgetfulness" that alcohol brings her.

"Aren't you going back to look for her? Even if she's not Sister Yin Yun, she'll be anxious... They clearly look like the same person in many ways." Ling Xiao quickly came to his senses, sat up straight and looked at Liu Jiaoan who was still squatting on the ground, "Be careful with your hands, don't be distracted."

Liu Jiaoan raised her eyes and looked at Ling Xiao, her eyes saying: If you say less, I won't be distracted. Ling Xiao understood, so he kept silent again.

"Ding, ding..."

“Where do we put these?”

Seeing Liu Jiaoan holding a pile of broken porcelain pieces in front of him, Ling Xiao, who was half asleep, was completely awakened: "Put it on the table."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jiaoan did not do as Ling Xiao said, but found a place where some garbage was piled up, and pulled out a piece of hard-looking paper from the small square table behind, carefully wrapped the broken porcelain pieces, and threw them together with the garbage.

Next, I just sat down and looked at Ling Xiao.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Ling Xiao felt a little uneasy when Liu Jiaoan looked at him. He began to wonder if he had said something he shouldn't have said after getting drunk, or if he had done something that violated the taboos of the person in front of him.

"So you came here from your home upstream because of the flood?"

"Ah..." Ling Xiao's words seemed perfunctory, as if he didn't want to continue talking about this topic.

But when it was really brought up, Ling Xiao didn't seem to care anymore. He looked very clear-headed and began to explain things to Liu Jiaoan.

"There are unexpected events in the world, and people are subject to misfortunes at any time. It's all in the past... I don't know if there is anyone else at home. Even if there is, how can I go back after I have been in the music school for so many years?"

"This flood..." A flood, how many are natural disasters, and how many are man-made disasters? Liu Jiaoan suddenly didn't know what to say.

Farmers are working hard on the land.

People who do business are working diligently.

People who read read day and night.

Everyone is doing what they are supposed to do, doing what outsiders tell them is right, but why do they still end up with an unsatisfactory outcome? Is it just because of those one or two people who climbed up but lost their original intention?

There are so many honest officials in the history books who have benefited so many people - Liu Jiaoan suddenly felt that secretly reading those two books might not be a good thing.

"Do you want to drink?" Ling Xiao held a glass of water in his hand and passed it to Liu Jiaoan. "Don't worry about me. You should know that I can't read or write. I can't find them even if I go to look for them."

Liu Jiaoan suddenly understood why Guan Yin always frowned when he saw those things that seemed ordinary to her...

"Dang Dang Dang."

There was an unexpected knock on the door.

In fact, it was not really abrupt. After all, a series of faint footsteps had already reached my ears.

It's obviously not the same person.

"Come in." The two people said in unison, having already anticipated who might appear at the door.

"Miss Lingxiao, someone is here to see you."

"Who's here to look for someone so early in the morning?"

Ling Xiao asked this question knowingly...

The girl was sitting at the door. She leaned sideways and pushed the door half open. The figure behind her appeared in front of the two people in the room. "It's Sister Yin Yun from that day."