I Am Dying

Near Bei'an County, the weather is much warmer than before, and the vegetation is lush and prosperous everywhere.

Since leaving Sujia Village last time, until now, Su Liang finally experienced the feeling of being free again.

It was already afternoon when they entered Feiyan Town.

Both of them dressed up as men and went to Luoyan Restaurant for dinner. The signature dishes were still the ones whose recipes they bought from Su Liang. Su Liang and Ning Jing ordered all of them, and they tasted good.

After dinner, the two bought some daily necessities and took them back to the village.

Halfway through, they separated. Ning Jing took the small road to avoid people, and Su Liang found a place to remove his disguise and walked alone on the main road.

Near the entrance of the village, they saw many people coming out of Sujia Village, in groups of three or five, all dressed neatly and beaming with joy.

Su Liang saw the heavily made-up matchmaker, her blush was very bright, her eyebrows were dancing, and her handkerchief flew up in the air, "Nowadays, which girl in the surrounding area doesn't want to marry to our Sujia Village? Girls from the town and the county are willing to marry! Our village is a blessed place, and we have produced two top scholars!"

This matchmaker was the one who arranged for the original owner to marry Ning Jing.

Su Liang had only been gone for more than half a year, and the matchmaker had gained a lot of weight and was panting when she walked. It was obvious that her business was very good.

Today, someone in the village was holding a wedding to marry a daughter-in-law. Now that the guests had dispersed, the matchmaker was going to the village entrance to see off the relatives.

Many people noticed Su Liang riding on horseback.

But because most of the people leaving the village at this time were from other villages who came to the banquet, no one recognized her for a while.

Until the matchmaker looked up and screamed, scaring everyone, then she opened her bloody mouth, the powder on her face fell down, her thick black eyebrows trembled up and down, her eyes narrowed into a slit, her expression was exaggerated as if she was singing an opera, and she shouted in a three-way turn, "Su Zhuangyuan is home!"

Su Liang suddenly became the focus, and even an old man subconsciously wanted to kneel down to her, because it was rumored that she was a high official in the capital.

Su Liang turned over and got off the horse, reached out to support the old man, and smiled and said, "I just came back to see, no need to be polite."

When the old man stood firm, Su Liang led the horse, and walked through the archway at the entrance of the village under the eager eyes of everyone, and her name could still be heard being mentioned constantly.

Everyone in the village knew Su Liang, and soon the news of the return of the martial arts champion spread.

It was autumn when Su Liang traveled here, and soon it was the season of depression.

It is summer now, and the stream that runs through the village has risen a little. It is clear, with lush water plants and children playing by the stream.

Green mountains and clear water, quiet and peaceful.

Su Liang saw the bridge that was destroyed by heavy rain and Ning Jing participated in rebuilding.

Then he quickly walked to the bridge to go home.

A surprised call came from the other side, "Liang girl?"

It was Aunt Bai who was carrying a basket to cross the bridge. She was full of joy and came to meet him in two steps.

"Auntie, I'm back." Su Liang felt very close to Aunt Bai when he saw her, and his smile was the same as before.

Aunt Bai looked her up and down, her expression excited, "Why did you come back at this time? I heard from the head of the village that you won the first place in the martial arts exam and became a general!"

Su Liang nodded, "Well, the emperor allowed me to take a leave to visit my family, so I came back to stay for a few days."

"That's great!" Aunt Bai was going to go to the fields, but she didn't go, and followed Su Liang home, "Where's Mr. Ning? Didn't he come back with you? Did you get married?"

Su Liang shook his head, "Not yet. He didn't come back this time."

Qi Jun is still in the capital pretending to be Ning Jing, and he can't let people know that Ning Jing is in Sujia Village.

"How long will you stay here? Are you leaving soon? My two boys keep talking about you every day, and my ears are calloused!" Aunt Bai said with a smile.

"How is Zhuzi? Where are the two of them?" Su Liang asked.

Aunt Bai nodded repeatedly, "Zhu Zi is fine, now he is wilder than his brother! You are his savior! Thanks to you and Mr. Ning, our two boys are now studying and in school!"

"Is their second uncle married?" Su Liang chatted with Aunt Bai and saw the gate of his own house appear in sight.

Aunt Bai said happily, "He got married last month and married a girl from the town. The second son is still thinking about studying and plans to take the exam next time! His father-in-law and his family are also very supportive. Our family does not expect him to work to earn money, so let him be!"

Bai He once studied, but later gave up because his family was poor and his nephew was sick and needed money. Now he has a family and is well-off, so he picked up the matter of studying and taking the imperial examination again.

Su Liang thought it was a good thing, and it was never too late to have a dream.

Aunt Bai was even happier when she heard Su Liang's affirmation. She also specifically mentioned Liu Huilan, the widow Bai He had loved, saying that she had a good life after marrying a carpenter in Liujia Village. Now she was pregnant and everyone said she was having a big fat boy.

"That's great." Su Liang said with a smile.

"Xiao Hu's mother is pregnant too. We are all looking forward to having a little girl this time!" Aunt Bai was much more talkative than before.

Su Liang hurriedly congratulated her.

As they were talking, they reached the gate. The door was locked and there was dust on it. Aunt Bai went up to wipe it and said to Su Liang, "It's not worth cooking for you to come back by yourself. Just come to my house and eat. Aunt Bai will cook whatever you want!"

Su Liang whispered, "Actually, I have a guard with me. He doesn't like to see people."

Aunt Bai immediately understood, "Okay, then you can watch it. You can go home anytime you want. Xiao Hu's mother is not working in the fields now. She is at home. Then I will go back first and tell your uncle. He always misses you!"

After she finished speaking, Aunt Bai didn't even enter the house, but left with the basket.

Su Liang opened the gate, led the horse in, and closed the door.

At the same time, he heard the sound of the back door opening, knowing that Ning Jing had also arrived. He took a detour, farther away.

Su Liang stood in the yard, feeling that everything was so familiar.

The pine trees planted last year seemed to have not changed much in height, but had become a little "fatter" and had a few more new greens.

There were a lot of weeds growing sparsely in the yard, some of which had grown very tall. Su Liang leaned over and pulled out a dogtail grass, which was finely wrapped around her fingers.

She unloaded the things on the horse's back and led the horse to the backyard. She saw that although the unattended vegetable field was full of weeds, there were also many vegetables grown from the seeds that fell last year.

There were two eggplants that were round and purple, and they were ripe.

The pumpkin vines climbed up to the roof, and the tender green pumpkins hung on the vines. The sun shone, and the wet fluff on them seemed to dance lightly in the wind.

Su Liang and Ning Jing tied up their horses in the stable. She shared with Ning Jing the happy news she had heard from Aunt Bai in a cheerful voice.

Ning Jing nodded slightly after listening, "Very good. I saw a lot of mushrooms in the forest at the foot of the mountain."

Su Liang chuckled, "It's also a happy event. I'll pick some and stew chicken after I clean up the house."

When the two returned to the front yard, in addition to the ingredients that were originally placed on Ning Jing's horse, Ning Jing also held a large eggplant in one hand, which he had just picked.

The kitchen was dusty and had to be cleaned. The two put the ingredients under the eaves first, and some vegetables could not be dried.

Ning Jing took the bucket and planned to go to the backyard to fetch water, and then come back to clean up the kitchen first.

Su Liang still had a dogtail grass wrapped around his finger, and rolled up his sleeves, ready to pull out the weeds at the kitchen door first.

At this moment, the sound of the door of the room that was originally the firewood room and later cleaned up for Yan Shiba to live in was suddenly heard, which made the originally relaxed and pleasant atmosphere suddenly change.

Su Liang turned around and looked over, thinking that it was Yan Shiba who happened to come.

As a result, a person came out from inside, and it was not Yan Shiba.

Ning Jing frowned and called out, "Uncle Liang."

The thin old man in gray clothes looked over Su Liang's face, and when he saw Ning Jing, his expression was happy, "Young Master!"

"Why are you here again?" Ning Jing looked at the old man and asked.

The old man glanced at Su Liang again, "I wanted to go to the capital of Gan State to find the young master, and I came here to rest my feet."

Su Liang understood the old man's eyes, they wanted to talk, so she asked her to avoid it.

She walked to Ning Jing's side and took the bucket away, "You guys chat, I'll go get some water."

Watching her figure disappear in the backyard, the old man came over and looked at Ning Jing, "Young Master has lost a lot of weight."

Ning Jing shook his head lightly, "I haven't."

"Let's talk inside." The old man said.

The two entered the room, and the old man looked out again and closed the door.

"Young Master, sit down." The old man pointed to the only chair.

"I don't want to sit." Ning Jing refused, "Didn't I tell Uncle Liang not to come here again?"

"Coincidence." The old man explained, "I was going to the capital of the country, and I passed by here to see if the young master still lived here. What if the Ning Jing in the capital was a substitute? I didn't expect that the young master would come back today!"

"What do you want to see me for?" Ning Jing asked.

"That Su Liang, she doesn't know the identity of the young master, right?" The old man lowered his voice.

"You don't have to worry about this, answer my question." Ning Jing's voice was a little cold.

The old man sighed, "It's not a long-term solution for you to hide like this. Why don't you go back to Liang with me? There, you can walk around openly and do whatever you want. You don't have to put yourself in such a difficult position!"

Ning Jing shook his head, "I've said this before."

"But..." The old man hesitated. After a moment, he bent his knees and knelt down in front of Ning Jing. He raised his hand and slapped himself hard, "This old slave deserves death! His Royal Highness the King of Yue found me and asked about my whereabouts. I saw that he missed his grandson so much, so..."

Seeing Ning Jing's eyes turn cold, the old man hurriedly said, "My son has a prejudice against His Royal Highness the King of Yue, but he really cares about me, otherwise he wouldn't let me take him there. He definitely didn't think of using me to achieve any purpose!"

"Go away. I don't want to see you again." Ning Jing looked indifferent.

"Young Master..." The old man's face was grim, "This old slave is doing this for your own good! Are you bewitched by that woman? She hid so deeply originally, she must have a big plan, maybe one day she will betray you!"

Ning Jing narrowed his eyes slightly, "Get lost! I don't want to say it again!"

The old man's eyes dimmed, and he slowly stood up, "It's all my fault. I did something that made you unhappy. I'm leaving now, and I'll go back and tell His Royal Highness the King of Yue that you don't want to be disturbed."

After saying this, the old man walked out of the door, walking very slowly, looking back every three steps, but he didn't hear Ning Jing calling him, and left with a disappointed look.

...

Su Liang came back from the backyard to fetch water, and just happened to see the old man's back jumping over the courtyard wall. She felt that something must have happened, but she didn't eavesdrop on the conversation between Ning Jing and the old man.

"What does Uncle Liang want you to do?" Su Liang asked.

Ning Jing's face was calm, "Nothing."

Su Liang didn't believe it was nothing, and was surprised that Ning Jing planned to hide it from her, but she didn't ask any more questions, and went to the kitchen to clean up with a bucket.

Ning Jing was weeding in the yard.

When Su Liang finished cleaning the kitchen, she heard a knock on the door and walked over to open it. The two little guys called her in unison, "Sister Su Liang!"

Both brothers Bai Xiaohu and Zhuzi have grown taller. They look different after going to school. They wear the same blue cloth shirt, carry a small schoolbag, and put one hand behind their backs.

Su Liang rubbed his little head with one hand and said with a smile, "We have all grown up."

Then, the two brothers showed their hands behind their backs at the same time, and two bunches of bright wild flowers appeared in front of Su Liang, making her eyes light up.

"For sister Su Liang!" Zhuzi said with a smile, "We heard that sister Su Liang was back after school, so we ran back quickly, and my brother fell down!"

Bai Xiaohu kicked Zhuzi's foot lightly. The boy has reached the age of loving face and doesn't want people to know his embarrassing things.

Ning Jing was in the backyard. Su Liang took the flowers and called the two little guys in. He took out the gifts bought for them, which were two sets of four treasures of the study.

Bai Xiaohu and Zhuzi were very happy to receive the gifts. Now they like reading and writing very much. They are already "other people's good children who love to study" in the eyes of the villagers, which makes Aunt Bai very proud.

In fact, it was because of the influence of Su Liang and Ning Jing. They became the best role models in the minds of the brothers, making them have a deep yearning for the distant places without leaving Bei'an County, and determined to study hard and become powerful people like their sister Su Liang and brother Ning Jing.

The little brother wanted to help Su Liang clean up the yard, but was persuaded by her to go away and promised to play at their house in the evening.

Zhuzi ran out, ran back, opened the door, squeezed in a little head, and said with sparkling eyes, "Sister Su Liang must come!"

Su Liang smiled and nodded, "I will definitely go."

After she finished speaking, she watched Zhuzi leave, took two bunches of wild flowers to the backyard, and handed one of them to Ning Jing, "For you."

If they knew Ning Jing was back, they would definitely give Ning Jing a gift.

Ning Jing had removed the makeup on her face. She took the bouquet and held it up to her nose to smell it.

Su Liang picked a small yellow flower with a little stem, broke it off, stood on tiptoe, and put it on Ning Jing's head. She stepped back two steps, looked at it and nodded repeatedly, "It's beautiful."

Ning Jing couldn't see the small flower on her head, and didn't mean to take it off, let alone get angry. Instead, she returned the favor to Su Liang, broke a flower, put it in her hair, and said, "It's okay."

Su Liang hummed, "Yes, you are the most beautiful." After saying that, he went back to the front yard.

Until the evening, the two of them cleaned the house, and the two bouquets of wild flowers were also inserted into the vase and placed on the windowsill. The small flowers on their heads did not fall off.

As usual, Ning Jing made the fire and Su Liang cooked.

In the middle, Bai Xiaohu brought six hot, white and plump big buns with a bowl, three of which were filled with shepherd's purse and eggs, and three were filled with radish and pork.

Compared to the past, the life of the Bai family has really improved from this bun.

But in fact, it was because Su Liang came back today, and Aunt Bai specially steamed buns with pure white flour fillings, and also made two kinds of fillings, meat and vegetables, thinking that she would like to eat. Usually, the family mostly eats mixed noodles, but they can often eat meat, which is much better than before.

Su Liang made Ning Jing his favorite crispy eggplant, green vegetable and shredded pork noodles, and paired them with the buns sent by Aunt Bai. The two sat in the original position to eat dinner, making Su Liang feel as if he had never left.

The moonlight outside the window was just right. After Su Liang finished eating a bun, he saw the small yellow flower on Ning Jing's head and smiled and said, "I will make you a small yellow flower hairpin? You gave me a wooden hairpin before, and I didn't return the gift."

Ning Jing nodded, but said, "I won't wear it if it's ugly."

"I'll try my best." Su Liang said that he must let Ning Jing wear it, otherwise it would be in vain.

After dinner, Ning Jing cleaned up the dishes and went to the kitchen to wash them, and boiled hot water at the same time.

Su Liang went to Bai's house and sat for a while, chatted with Mr. Bai for a few words, checked Xiaohu's mother's pulse and came back, saying that she would go to eat tomorrow.

After returning, Su Liang made the bed and took out the damaged medical book given by Master Puqing from her bag, intending to finish reading it.

Ning Jing bound a blank book for her. Su Liang copied down the contents that she could distinguish while reading it, and supplemented some of them based on her own understanding. Unfortunately, there were still many contents that Su Liang was very interested in, but because the paper was too damaged, there was nothing she could do.

Su Liang was focused, reading and writing at the same time. After writing three pages, she heard Ning Jing knocking on the door.

"Come in." Su Liang didn't look up, she was drawing a herb she had never seen before.

Ning Jing walked in and sat down, without saying a word to disturb her.

It was not until Su Liang finished drawing the herbs, put the bookmark in place, closed the book, and carefully placed it on a piece of silk that he looked at Ning Jing, "Is there something wrong?"

Ning Jing nodded, opened his thin lips, and said four words, "I'm dying."

Su Liang was shocked and subconsciously leaned forward, grabbed Ning Jing's arm across the table, and felt his pulse.

But in a flash, he realized that he couldn't have suddenly contracted a terminal illness or been poisoned, that's not what he meant.

Su Liang let go of Ning Jing's wrist, threw it back, frowned and asked, "Uncle Liang came today, could it be that he told others your identity and hiding place?"

Ning Jing lifted up the arm that Su Liang had thrown on the table, adjusted his sleeves, and nodded, "Yes."

Su Liang sighed deeply, "Big trouble. You have to escape quickly and give up this identity, otherwise I don't know what will happen."

Now there are more and more people related to them. If it was just Su Liang, it would be fine. After she got her revenge, she would hide under a different name. But the Qin family, Xing family, Lin family, Wan family, and even many people in Sujia Village who were close to them could not afford the consequences of being involved with the traitor Gu Ling.

Su Liang realized that Ning Jing did not tell her immediately during the day, not because he wanted to hide it, but because he did not want to affect her good mood.

But if this matter is to be done, it must be done as soon as possible. Before Su Liang returns to Beijing, let "Ning Jing" die. As long as this identity no longer exists, even if someone knows that it was Gu Ling who pretended to be him, there will be "no evidence".

"It just so happens that I have spent the past half month on a vacation with the emperor. I will stay in Sujia Village. You can work hard and kill yourself when you return to Beijing." Su Liang looked helpless. "By the way, 'frame' Duanmu Sheng and wait for me to return to Beijing to seek revenge on him."

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