The late autumn wind carries a bleak atmosphere, but it has the power to destroy everything. It ruthlessly rolls up the dense clouds in the sky and squeezes the rain out of the clouds.
A strong wind blew by, and the sand and gravel rolled up blinded the eyes of pedestrians. Before they could rub their eyes clean, heavy rain followed, catching them off guard.
The originally bustling streets in the south of the city suddenly became deserted. Pedestrians were only looking to take shelter from the rain, and after a while they all ran away like wind and residual clouds.
There were only twos and threes of people hiding under the eaves to take shelter from the rain. They were all like chickens with hunched necks and hands in their sleeves, curling up to resist the coldness brought by the autumn rain. Ji Yutang and Xie Huaichu were also among them.
Ji Yutang was afraid of the cold, and she wished she could retract all her exposed skin into her clothes. Only her eyes were exposed, and her delicate nose and mouth were hidden in her clothes, like an old man over sixty years old.
But it was still cold, and Ji Yutang shivered from the cold. The water vapor splashed by the rain falling on the ground seemed to contain a stream of cold air, which stuck to her clothes and penetrated into her body silently.
Xie Huaichu silently borrowed his coat and put it on Ji Yutang. When he came out last night, he was wrapped in an extra robe with a green bamboo branch pattern.
Ji Yutang was wandering in the sky when she suddenly felt something on her shoulders. A robe with body temperature wrapped her tightly from top to bottom, as if she had fallen into a warm embrace. She couldn't help but let out a cry. Whisper softly.
"Haha, you can't stand the coldness of Bianjing, can you?" Xie Huaichu said with a smile.
Ji Yutang nodded, she stretched out her hand to wrap her robe tightly, and gently smelled the scent of lotus root on it. This was the scent of Xie Huaichu, fresh and elegant, just like him.
"You can get used to it after staying here for a few years. Bianjing has four distinct seasons. It will be very cold in winter, but it is better to be cold than cold. When it snows heavily in winter, you can make snowmen, have snowball fights, skate, and even go to Beijing. Even better is to enjoy the snow in the suburbs and light a fire. The sweet potatoes and chestnuts are on top, roasted until they are fragrant, and it will be so fun to drink some osmanthus honey wine with friends, which is as sweet as honey. "Actually, Xie Huaichu wanted to ask Ji Yutang to go drink and enjoy the snow together in winter, but he put this aside. After pressing the button, he didn't dare to talk to Ji Yutang.
Hearing what he said, Ji Yutang couldn't help but smile empathetically. She showed her face and nodded towards Xie Huaichu: "Now that these things are over, let's go to enjoy the snow together in winter? I haven't seen heavy snowfall yet. "
Xie Huaichu's heart jumped up and down with these words, like Monkey Sun who had just escaped from Wuzhi Mountain. He nodded eagerly and smiled: "Okay, let's go together."
The atmosphere between the two was warm, but the passers-by under the same roof with them were looking at them one after another.
Xie Huaichu suddenly turned his head and looked at that gaze. His eyes were gentle and strong, grasping the man's gaze like a gentle big hand.
"Uh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, no offense intended." It was a middle-aged man with a white face and no beard, with a pair of slender eyes that became a slit when he smiled.
Xie Huaichu knew that this man, like the waiter at the inn, regarded them as having that kind of relationship. He couldn't argue, so he could only gently shake his head at the middle-aged man, saying it was nothing.
The heavy rain that had been brewing for a long time finally fell, and it was not willing to stop easily. It rushed from the sky to the world like a galloping wild horse, never willing to stop for a moment.
Ji Yutang's legs and feet were stiff as he stood, and the rain showed no signs of stopping.
"There is a teahouse next door, let's go have some hot tea?" Xie Huaichu suggested. He saw that the rain would not stop for a while, and seeing that the water vapor was too heavy, he was afraid that the cold air would invade Ji Yutang's body and cause her to fall ill.
Ji Yutang glanced at the chaotic world disturbed by the rain and nodded. The teahouse was not far away from them, and it was connected to the eaves where they were sheltering from the rain, so they didn't have to get wet in the rain.
The two of them walked step by step along the rain-proof eaves to the teahouse, and found that many people gathered here to take shelter from the rain. Everyone was trapped by the heavy rain. When we got together, we easily had a common topic. We started chatting with each other, and it was full of people. Ji Yutang looked around and sighed that fortunately the teahouse was large enough to accommodate them.
The two of them found a clean and refreshing table to sit down, and ordered a pot of jasmine tea, a stack of mung bean cakes, and a stack of osmanthus cakes.
Ji Yutang ate too many pastries and missed all kinds of modern puffed foods. The pastries became unpalatable.
Xie Huaichu noticed her low mood and asked with concern: "What's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"
"No." Ji Yutang shook his head, "I feel a little homesick."
Xie Huaichu was not good at comforting others, so he could only tell her not to worry. When he left last night, he told Jing Mo to go to her house to help Wenjuan, a pregnant woman. But he didn't know that the home Ji Yutang thought of was not the home here.
"I heard that the leader of the Taiping Religion entered the palace and became the national preceptor. He is so majestic."
Ji Yutang moved his ears and looked over, following the sound. It was a small table crowded with people, sitting there were six ordinary people. Judging from their clothes, they didn't belong to a wealthy family.
"What a show of authority. I heard that he was able to become a National Preceptor because he gave the Taiping Sect's treasure, the elixir of immortality, to the officials. He used this only treasure to get the position of National Preceptor. At first, he boasted that he wanted to join the Imperial Preceptor. Everyone in the Taiping Sect can live forever Lao, in the end, he changed hands and dedicated this treasure to the officials. It can be seen that everything he did before was just for his own fame and fortune, and he did not have the ambition to lead everyone to live forever. "
"Bald Li, what are you talking about? The leader has become a national master, which means that he has been certified by the government. It also shows that the leader is wise and powerful, and it means that we are right to follow the leader. As for the elixir of life, since If you can refine one, you can have a second and a third, and the leader didn’t say that was the only one.”
"That's right, Baldy Li, what are you planning to do to disturb people's hearts here?"
"Bald Li, are you afraid that you have no hope of joining the Taiping Cult? You can't bear to see others being able to join the Taiping Cult, so why don't you encourage others not to join the Taiping Cult?"
"Hey, if that's really the case, you're so messed up."
In an instant, everyone at the table surrounded Baldy Li, who questioned the Taiping Sect and its leader. This showed that the Taiping Sect had penetrated into the hearts of the people. If anyone questioned, they would attack in groups.
Xie Huaichu also followed Ji Yutang's gaze and saw that the man named Baldy Li was already sweating profusely and shivering as the people at his table were talking about him. His big face was red and purple, like a frost-beaten eggplant, lifeless.
"What are you thinking about?" Xie Huaichu added some hot tea to her cup.
Ji Yutang thanked him and drank it in one gulp. She whispered: "The Taiping Religion has gradually gained popularity among the people. It is not an easy task to eradicate it completely. What I am more afraid of are the people who are obsessed with the Taiping Religion, fearing that they will become a sharp knife controlled by the people behind the Taiping Religion. . We can attack the people behind the scenes, but we cannot attack the ordinary people. The people are the foundation of a country."
Xie Huaichu nodded solemnly: "You are right, this is not a simple matter. So I doubt the Queen's motive of sending the two of us to deal with it. Does she really want us to handle this matter?"