Lamp Flower Smile

The rain was still falling, and there was an eerie silence all around.

Liu Kun felt the cold wind seeping through the cracks in his bones, and the old knee ailment he suffered from selling noodles at a stall began to hurt again.

He looked at the person in front of him and said in a panic and incoherently: "How is that possible? Isn't that girl dead?"

The person in front of me only smiled slightly, and the smile was as moving as a silk painting.

Liu Kun remembered Yatou.

Cousin Lu Qilin has two daughters and one son. Because Mrs. Lu narrowly escaped death and almost lost her life when giving birth to her youngest daughter, this little daughter is especially precious. Lu Rou, Lu Qian, and Mrs. Lu doted on her. Although Lu Qilin spoke harshly, he actually treated the youngest daughter with a rare indulgence.

But the more precious it is, the harder it is to hide it. The youngest daughter of the Lu family was lost when she was nine years old. That year, Changwu County suddenly encountered an epidemic. The rest of the Lu family had just recovered from serious illness. The youngest daughter went out to fetch water one afternoon and never came back.

At that time, Liu Kun's family had left Changwu County and arrived in the capital. They only learned of the matter when they received a letter from Lu Qilin. Lu Qilin begged him to help find someone in Shengjing. Liu Kun agreed, but felt sad in his heart. In this world, if a nine-year-old girl got lost, she was probably sold by a passerby. There was no chance of her being found.

After so many years, except for the Lu family who still refused to give up, everyone else believed that the Lu family's youngest daughter had died long ago.

Liu Kun thought so too.

He looked at the person in front of him. Pinting was extremely beautiful, completely different from the fair, tender, arrogant and childish fat girl in his memory. However, if you look closely, you can see that there is a hint of beauty in her delicate features, and she is somewhat similar to her niece Lu Rou who died young.

Thinking of Lu Rou, Liu Kun's heart trembled, and he suddenly felt guilty.

He asked: "Are you really a little girl?"

The other party smiled lightly.

"Where have you been these past years? Your parents are looking for you everywhere, and your brother is also worried about you..." He was talking about irrelevant words, and he didn't know what he wanted to cover up with these words. As he spoke, he suddenly returned God, suddenly stopped talking, stared at the person opposite and said, "Did you write that letter to me?"

Why did Yatou write to him?

Fan Zhenglian was mentioned in the letter. Has she already found out about the Fan family? How much does she know about the inside story of the Taishi Mansion?

He thought with distracted eyes and shuddered involuntarily.

Until the voice from the other side woke him up from his confusion.

"I wrote it, cousin. Haven't you already met my second brother?"

As soon as these words came out, there was a deathly silence around him.

After a long time, Liu Kun heard his dry voice and said with a forced smile: "Yes... I have seen that girl Rou died. He came to Beijing to attend the funeral, and he came to my house to stay for a few days."

"Just borrowing?"

"Just borrowing it."

"It's not just that." Lu Yan said lightly, "You also betrayed him."

"I didn't!" Liu Kun shouted suddenly. The tone of his voice changed in the cold rainy night, and he was startled.

He lowered his voice and spoke briefly and calmly.

"It's not me, it's him who committed a crime and is wanted by the government. Girl, I originally wanted to hide him at home, but the arrest documents were posted everywhere. The officials found my home. I have no choice. What can I do? ?”

He said this as sincerely as if he was telling the truth.

Lu Yan smiled, staring at him with clear eyes, as if seeing through the excuses in front of him the hidden secret in his heart.

"Really? I dare to ask my cousin, what did my second brother commit?"

"Yes...it was him who broke into private houses, stole people's property, and insulted the owner's daughter..."

Lu Ye nodded: "For such a big crime, my cousin harbored a fugitive, but the official did not charge you with harboring the crime and took away my second brother alone. It's really reasonable."

Liu Kun's face turned pale and he clenched his teeth tightly. He suspected that the person in front of him already knew all the inside information, but he did not dare to reveal a word.

Lu Zhen looked at him, his eyes gradually becoming cold.

The man in front of him was timid and timid, his eyes averted. On that familiar face, poverty and downfall had swallowed up his conscience, giving rise to desire and greed.

His father, Lu Qilin, is rigid and strict, but his cousin, Liu Kun, is kind and lively. Lu Rou was quiet and quiet, and she and Lu Qian always followed Liu Kun around. Liu Kun would always pick her up and put her on his shoulders, pricking her face with thick stubble. Wang Chunzhi would also bring her a bright red candied haws when he came back from doing business at the temple fair.

They had sheltered from the rain under adjacent roofs and ate from the same pot. To this day, the two ends of the stranger's road face each other, separated by an indelible blood feud.

It rained non-stop at night.

Lu Yan said calmly: "Cousin, I've been thinking..."

"If a living person makes a mistake, will he feel guilty? Will his conscience be disturbed? Will he toss and turn at night?"

"I observed it for a long time and found that there was none, not at all."

The business of Liu Ji Noodle House on Queer Street is very good. Liu Zixian has become an official, Liu Zide is also preparing for autumn, Wang Chunzhi is getting a gold bracelet, and the Liu family is planning to move to a big house.

Everything is good, very good, so good that it makes people jealous.

Liu Kun pursed his lips: "Girl..."

Lu Yan interrupted him: "But all the good things were obtained by stepping on the Lu family's blood. How can we not make people angry?"

Liu Kun took a step back in horror.

"Girl, listen to me. At that time, the officials were searching for people everywhere and they found my house. Brother Qian didn't have time to escape..."

Lu Chen smiled.

"Cousin, you know better than me what kind of person your second brother is. Once he finds out that he is being arrested by the police, with his unwillingness to implicate others, he will immediately distance himself from you and hide in a place where no one can find him. . But in the end, I found someone at your house."

"What did you give him? Did you give him drugs?"

Liu Kun's fingers twitched.

Lu Zhen paused and stared at him with cold eyes, "After the second brother was arrested, it was you who wrote a letter to Changwu County to inform the matter. My father encountered a flood on the way to Beijing and was in trouble. Wasn't it his cousin who contributed to the trouble? ?”

"You not only betrayed your second brother, you also betrayed my parents."

There was a bang in Liu Kun's head. He tripped on a black stone and fell to the ground.

That night he handed Lu Qian over to Fan Zhenglian, but he saw the "letter" left by Lu Qian, which was the evidence that Lu Qian came back to get at the risk.

He had been timid and timid all his life, but at that moment he developed inexplicable courage and ambition. He wanted to use these things in exchange for great wealth, and use these things in a prosperous place like Shengjing to open up a splendid future of his own for the Liu family.

So he respectfully said to Fan Zhenglian in the dark room of the trial court: "Sir, although Brother Qian has been arrested, my cousin is a very stubborn person. If he finds out about this matter, there is no guarantee that trouble will not arise. Why don't we deal with it together? , to avoid endless troubles."

Fan Zhenglian raised his eyelids and looked at him: "Oh? If you have any good ideas, please tell me."

He bent his already bent back even lower: "I can write to Lu Qilin and lure him to Shengjing..."

A crow flew away from the branch, flapping its wings and tearing the silence of the night.

Liu Kun looked at her and defended feebly: "I didn't..."

"I heard that my cousin had always wanted to buy a shop on Queer Street, but he ended up being short of a hundred taels of silver because the owner went back on his word. Shortly after my second brother was arrested, my cousin rented that shop. Shop. Coincidentally, the reward for the second brother wanted by the government is one hundred taels."

She looked at Liu Kun: "It turns out that my second brother's life is worth only one hundred taels of silver."

"No, no!" Liu Kun screamed and fell to the ground exhausted for a moment.

The guilt that he had been deliberately ignoring all this time surged forward, along with panic and fear.

"The rules of the world are decided by their superiors. Cousin, I don't expect you to stand up to the Supreme Master's Mansion, but at least you shouldn't help the evildoers."

Hearing the words "Grand Master's Mansion", Liu Kun suddenly came back to his senses. He grabbed the corner of Lu Zhuo's clothes with force, as if this made his words more convincing: "That's right, girl Zhuo, you know , Brother Qian offended the Taishi Mansion, that was the Taishi Mansion! How could we afford to offend him? They forced me, they forced me!"

"We can't afford to offend any of the Qi family or the Fan family. Girl, if it were your father, he would do the same thing! Facing these people, we can only be at their mercy, right?"

"no."

Lu Chen smiled coldly: "Didn't something happen to them now?"

Liu Kun was stunned.

The woman in front of him looked at him: "Isn't Ke Chengxing dead?"

Liu Kun let go of his hand and fell back to the mud. He looked at Lu Yun as if he was seeing a ghost: "You, you..."

She laughed: "I did it."

The rain and mist in the mountains are like smoke, and the patter of rain and mist darkens the mud of the tomb.

The woman in the cloak is dressed plainly, cold and beautiful, with a plain white silk flower on her temple like a filial piety, like a lustful ghost crawling out of a coffin.

What did she just say, what happened to the Ke family...was her doing?

Liu Kun's eyes were a little dazed.

He remembered what Yatou looked like when she was a child.

There are three children in the Lu family, Lu Rou is gentle and generous, and Lu Qian is bright and smart. They both inherited the good looks from their parents and are outstanding in knowledge. Cousin Lu Qilin doesn't say it in words, but he is very proud in his heart. The youngest daughter is always a headache.

When she was a child, Yatou was not as pretty as Lu Rou, nor was she as articulate as Lu Qian. She was round and chubby, did not like to study, and often made his father very angry. Lu Qilin often said that she was "rebellious". After scolding her, he secretly asked Liu Kun to deliver sweet buns to her who was forced to stand.

As the saying goes, a child who cries gets milk. Girl Yatou is the most naughty of the three children in the Lu family, but she is also the most favored one. Liu Kun also liked to tease her at that time. The little girl's childish and round face always had a pair of smart eyes, which made people like her at first glance.

Many years have passed, and the round little girl has grown into a slim girl. If you look carefully, you can vaguely find some traces of the old days between her eyebrows, but those dark eyes no longer have the original vividness and playfulness, like a silent place. of water.

He had heard about Ke Chengxing's death and the decline of the Ke family before. At that time, he only felt sad and did not think of anything else. But now, the girl said that she did it. Liu Kun still remembered the little girl in Changwu County. She was so frightened that she would jump far away when she saw a mouse, and she would burst into tears and snot...

How could this be her doing?

He was thinking like this in a daze, and then heard the woman in front of him continue to speak.

"Not only that, I was also responsible for the Fan family's affairs."

Liu Kun's face turned white and he stared at her in fear.

She lowered her eyes and looked at Liu Kun as if he were looking at a dead person, "Now, it's your turn."

"no no……"

Liu Kun's mind exploded, and he subconsciously rolled and crawled towards the edge of her skirt. The rain was swaying on his face. He grabbed the corner of Lu Zhuo's skirt, his teeth were trembling, and he spoke excitedly and panicked, "Girl, Listen to your cousin, I can help you!"

Lu Xueran looked at him in surprise.

"Really!" Liu Kun said hurriedly: "Fan Zhenglian put Brother Qian in jail and executed him for any reason. Girl, my cousin can be your witness. I was the only one who knew all the truth at the beginning. Let's put it together. Let’s get to the bottom of Sister Rou and Brother Qian’s case, okay?” He coaxed the person in front of him, just like how he coaxed his little niece to cry after being frightened by a mouse in the Lu family many years ago.

After a short silence, she said: "Thank you, cousin."

Liu Kun forced out an ugly smile and was about to speak when the person in front of him slowly knelt down and opened his palm towards him.

Through the dim light of the lantern, Liu Kun could clearly see that in the slender white palm lay a delicate porcelain vase.

His throat suddenly became tight and he raised his head to look at Lu Chen: "What is this?"

"It's an opportunity."

"……what chance?"

"My cousin is responsible for all the sins of the whole family."

Liu Kun froze.

Lu Chen smiled and whispered to him: "This is a bottle of poison. If my cousin drinks it, I will forgive my cousin and aunt, and forgive the three of him."

"Girl..."

There was still a smile on her lips, her face was delicate and beautiful, but her eyes were like clouds falling into a cold pool, without even a hint of smile.

"Cousin," she said, "I drowned Ke Chengxing, but there were rumors outside that he slipped and fell to death while drunk. The Ke family collapsed, and all the family wealth was wiped out in one fell swoop."

"I tampered with the Gongyuan, and it was discovered that the Ministry of Rites colluded with the candidates. Now Fan Zhenglian has been sent to Zhao Prison. His reputation has been ruined and his people have been scattered."

"Look, I've done so many things and yet there's no punishment at all."

She looked at Liu Kun: "I can kill them, and I can kill you too. My cousin knows that I am very smart."

Liu Kun looked at her in disbelief and murmured: "They are your cousins..."

"I know," Lu Yan rolled his eyes, "Because we are a family, that's why I couldn't bear it. I gave you a chance."

She spoke slowly, each word poking into Liu Kun's heart.

"My two cousins ​​are now in prison. They colluded to cheat in the imperial examination. Although it is not a small crime, there is no risk to their lives. How can this be possible? So I thought, I should do something. I forgot to tell you that I am now a doctor , it is easy to kill a few people without anyone noticing. Besides, the two brothers are not smart, at least it is much easier than attacking the Ke family and the Fan family. "

"I am confident enough that I can kill them without being discovered by others."

The last sentence has a cold ending, like a ghost sighing, echoing silently among the tombs.

Liu Kun was trembling all over.

He knew the person in front of him was right.

Although Liu Zixian and Liu Zide were several years older than Yatou, in terms of mental planning, they were not as good as Lu Qian, let alone Yatou. And Wang Chunzhi, she only knows how to roll noodles and cook, but she has a loud voice but no brains or scheming. The girl was able to bring down the Ke family and the Fan family, so she was obviously well prepared. In front of her, her whole family was as weak as lambs waiting to be slaughtered, with no power to resist at all.

Lu Yan looked at him and gently raised his forearm. The medicine bottle in his palm shone with a strange luster in the night.

"Cousin?"

He stretched out his hand stiffly and picked up the medicine bottle, and looked at Lu Yan: "If I drink it, will you let them go?"

"certainly."

"you swear?"

Lu Chen smiled and said nothing.

"Okay." Liu Kun uncorked the medicine bottle and took a deep look at the person in front of him: "Girl, you keep your word."

The wind and frost are cold and the night rain is cold and silent. The cold light of the remaining lamp illuminated the nameless solitary grave in the cemetery, as if the soul of an innocent person would crawl out of the mud to seek his life at the next moment.

In the bushes, he brought the medicine bottle to his mouth and was about to drink it.

But at the last moment, he threw away the medicine bottle in his hand, grasped the sharp stone in his hand, and rushed towards Lu Zhuo fiercely.

"You forced me-"

Why?

Why did he have to be so helpless? Why should he let others slaughter him? No matter how powerful the girl is, she is only a little girl of sixteen or seventeen years old. She looks extremely weak. Just hit her with this stone and you can break her head! This mass grave is a natural place to bury corpses. No one will notice if they are buried here!

He doesn't want to die on his own, he wants to kill everyone who threatens his family, and he also wants to rescue Zixian and Zide!

Under the night, that honest face looked ferocious and ferocious. The infinite fear and madness washed away the last trace of guilt, and it became chaotic and reassembled into the face of an evil ghost.

"Girl, don't blame your cousin. He has a whole family and he can't die yet!"

He shouted like this, waved the sharp stone in his hand, and hit the man's head hard.

The movement frightened the jackdaws roosting in the distance, but his hand holding the stone failed to hit the opponent's head.

At this critical moment, there was a biting feeling of suffocation from his throat, as if someone was suddenly strangling his neck. He suddenly covered his neck and fell to his knees.

Lu Chen sighed.

He covered his neck, rolled on the ground, and said in a panic: "What did you do?" As soon as he said the words, he was shocked to find that his throat was extremely itchy, as if it was being eaten by thousands of ants in an instant.

The other person's calm voice answered him.

"Cousin, please read the letter I sent you. Where is the letter?"

He grabbed his throat desperately and said, "It's burning... it's burning."

"How cautious."

She said slowly, like a compliment, "Thank you."

"...Destroy the evidence for me."

"Have you been poisoned?" He stared at Lu Huan in horror. An unbearable itching pain spread from his throat, as if there were insects gnawing at it. He couldn't help but want to find something to use to remove the poison inside. Dig things out.

"This is called the Oriole." Her voice was calm, as if she was explaining to him patiently. "It is rumored that many years ago, there was a singing girl in the Liang Dynasty who had a clear and graceful singing voice, which was better than that of the March warbler. Later, it made her colleagues jealous, and some people The tea she usually drank was poisoned, and when the poison took effect, she picked at her own throat, which was so rotten that it looked like a net of mud, which was horrifying to see."

"I painted Yizhiying on the letter paper. Are you itchy now?"

As if to prove her words, the stinging pain in his throat suddenly became more obvious. Liu Kun was going crazy. He used his hands to scratch his throat, but after just a few breaths, his throat was scratched until it turned red, and he With a frightened look on his face, he screamed: "Help—"

Lu Yan looked at him condescendingly and said calmly: "Some poisons make people suffer, while some poisons make people feel relieved."

She walked to the porcelain bottle that was thrown on the ground, bent down to pick it up, her eyes were a little regretful.

"I gave you a chance to choose, but unfortunately, you didn't cherish it."

Liu Kun scratched his neck in pain.

I see.

It turned out that she had poisoned the letter paper a long time ago. If he drank the poison and committed suicide, he would not suffer from the bite. If he refused to drink, he would not be able to leave Wangchun Mountain alive.

She never left any way for him to survive from the beginning!

In despair, Liu Kun felt something swimming in his throat. He opened his eyes desperately, as if he wanted to imprint the face of the murderer in front of him deeply into his mind and take him to the hell of karma. His eyes were scattered. He spoke in a hoarse voice: "You are crazy...kill me, no one will testify for you. No judge will ever dare to take over the grievances of the Lu family..."

Su'er's expression suddenly changed again, and he cried and begged for mercy: "Girl... my cousin was wrong, and my cousin knew he was wrong..."

"Help me, please help me..."

Lu Chen watched him struggling painfully on the ground, his intermittent sobs and moans being drowned by the autumn rain layer by layer in the night, making the grave mound desolate and silent.

After a moment, she sighed softly. He walked to Liu Kun and squatted down, picked up the sharp stone that Liu Kun had just held in his hand in an attempt to attack her, but dropped it in the middle, and stuffed it into his hand again.

Liu Kun was looking almost crazy at this moment. Suddenly something appeared in his palm. Without thinking, he aimed it at his throat and stabbed it hard——

The night is desolate here.

"Hiss-" sound.

The shouting stopped abruptly.

Blood suddenly burst out from her neck, and a cluster sprayed onto the woman's face.

She blinked slowly, and a large drop of bright red slowly dripped down her eyelashes, then down her face, and gradually smeared on the snow-white cloak.

The man on the ground was twitching and convulsing, and after a moment he breathed his last breath and lay on his back, dead.

Lu Chen stood up and looked at the body that was no longer moving on the ground quietly. In the lantern that fell to the ground, the fire was extinguished by the night rain, the surrounding grass was blurred, and the gloom among the tombs was like a puzzle that would never be cleared away.

She didn't feel afraid, just because this might be the burial place of Lu Qian, the cemetery where the prisoners on death row finally rested.

God's retribution, sooner or later, Liu Kun died here, the fate is cause and effect, that's all.

She murmured: "Will no detailed judge ever dare to take over the Lu family's case?"

This was the advice Liu Kun gave her before he died.

Perhaps in Liu Kun's view, it was easy for the powerful and powerful people to control the lives and deaths of ordinary people, but for her, a commoner, to shake the powerful officials was like a dreamer who overestimated her own abilities.

but……

He was wrong.

The woman raised her hand to wipe away the blood on her face and said calmly, "Why should others make the decision?"

"I am the detailed judge of the Lu family's case..."

"I also want to be an executioner."