There were many ragged beggars on both sides of the street, shivering in the cold wind, but there was nothing they could do except standing on the roadside with a broken bowl and saying a few more words of kindness.
The road was deserted, and most of the pedestrians had lifeless eyes. Only a few wealthy people who were still wearing brocade clothes had some spirit in their eyes.
But even so, most of them looked quite tired when running.
It seemed that Xi Heng and Hong Miao were the only ones who were not affected by this atmosphere. They were still chatting about something along the way.
The topic that Senior Sister Hong Miao is most interested in today is related to Xi Heng.
"Come to think of it, since Senior Sister Zhao is your aunt, your last name should also be Zhao, right?"
"Why are you suddenly talking about this..." Xi Heng glanced at the other person.
"And you have a grudge against the Emperor of Great Zhao..." Senior Sister Hong Miao pretended to be thoughtful and asked tentatively: "So you are also a member of the royal family?"
"I guess so." Xi Heng said bluntly: "If I were in the palace now, my identity would be one of the emperor's concubines."
Hong Miao had already guessed that this would happen. Xiao Xiao said something surprising and then asked, "Then why did you leave?"
"When I was six years old, I don't know who took me away from the palace." Xi Heng answered casually: "Don't worry about what happened before, it's been so long."
"Oh...will you go back? The palace?" Then Hong Miao started asking about what would happen next.
This person seemed to be very concerned about the fact that Xi Heng was actually a princess, and was very interested in it and was unwilling to change the subject.
Xi Heng shook his head, of course: "The emperor has gone mad. I will die if I go back."
"Why?"
"He thought he could live forever by eating me." Xi Heng yawned, waved his hand and said nothing more.
"Can it be done?"
"Nonsense." Xi Heng frowned, "Do you think I'm a golden cicada or a human fruit? I'm just an ordinary person, okay?"
"Or should I try it?" Somehow, Senior Sister Hong Miao seemed to be full of curiosity today.
Xi Heng is finding it increasingly difficult to understand this guy.
In her eyes, the senior sister was quite reliable at first, but as their relationship got better and better, she gradually revealed a bit of her childishness and curiosity.
The more Xi Heng got along with this senior sister, the more he felt that he didn't understand her.
After sighing in her heart, the girl showed her disdain on the surface:
"Never."
Afterwards, Xi Heng quickened his pace, as if he wanted to leave his senior sister behind.
Hong Miao fell one or two steps behind, covered her lips and smiled lightly, then continued to follow Xi Heng's shoulder.
Seeing that Xi Heng didn't like this topic very much, she temporarily suppressed her curiosity.
However, his eyes began to be attracted by Xi Heng's exposed skin.
Although we know that it is more likely that the emperor is insane than that he can live forever by eating humans.
But now that she has heard this, she can't help but pay more attention to Xi Heng's health.
"What are you looking at?" Xi Heng noticed the inexplicable gaze and glanced at the senior sister behind him.
However, the expression of this senior sister was still as natural and smooth as ever. She casually said "it's nothing", then followed up and held Xi Heng's right hand.
"Why are you holding hands suddenly again?" Xi Heng felt something was wrong.
"Isn't it possible?"
"Of course I can..." Xi Heng hesitated and did not resist, but she always felt something was not right.
"Let's go." The eldest sister took my hand and quickened the pace again.
……
By afternoon.
Xi Heng and his senior sister returned to the sword academy carrying some packages of different sizes tied with ropes.
The price of food in the city had nearly doubled, so that Senior Sister Hong Miao didn't have enough silver, and Xi Heng had to add some more to buy enough food.
"Thank you very much." Senior Sister Hong Miao accepted the help frankly, returned to the Sword Academy and placed the purchased noodles and vegetable and meat fillings for dumplings on the table.
"You don't have to thank me, Senior Sister." Xi Heng looked at the large and small packages piled on the table and asked:
"What are we going to do next? Knead the dough?"
"If we want to make dumplings, we need to make the dough first, right?" Senior Sister Hong Miao obviously didn't have much cooking skills, so it was really difficult for her to do this kind of housework.
"Can you?" She could only ask Xi Heng for help.
"Well... no." Xi Heng spread her hands. She would not lie about this.
"..."
The two looked at each other and fell silent.
"Then how do we make dumplings?" Hong Miao rarely showed disappointment.
"Leave it to the people in the cafeteria." Xi Heng yawned and thought about running outside to practice sword.
"I want to make some myself." The other shook his head: "Just like the elder misses."
"Then let the canteen roll out the dough, divide the fillings, and you can do the final wrapping steps yourself." Xi Heng gave advice in a serious manner.
"Okay..." Senior Sister Hong Miao stared at Xi Heng's lazy look, with a hint of resentment flashing in her eyes.
……
The sun set in the west. Xi Heng practiced dozens of moves in the empty and lonely sword training field, expending his energy and blood, and completed today's training plan.
She sheathed her sword and looked at the restaurant nearby.
There was already smoke rising from the kitchen, the green smoke slowly drifted upwards and was blown away by the cold winter wind.
She slowly approached and could smell a hint of fragrance even from this distance.
"Is it ready? New Year's Eve dinner." Xi Heng thought.
This was her first time celebrating a festival with her acquaintances in this world she had traveled to.
In my second life, I worked in a pharmacy. Although I received things like mooncakes and rice dumplings, I didn’t have any friends around me, and there was no festive atmosphere.
But today is different... She has been in the Sword Academy for almost a year and a half, and has already regarded this academy as her home.
Even if it can't be called a "home", at least it's like a college dormitory where I live with my friends, and I have a vague sense of belonging.
The sense of belonging brings a festive atmosphere, adding a bit of warmth to the so-called New Year’s Eve dinner that we will eat tonight.
Surrounded by the fragrance, Xi Heng walked into the dining hall and saw four people busy in the open kitchen.
One person was lighting the fire and cooking the pot, one was washing the ingredients and cutting them into pieces for making dumplings, and one was wrapping them.
As for the other person, it was Senior Sister Hong Miao who was watching these actions with curiosity.
She also had a small piece of pancake in her hand, and was using chopsticks to pick up the filling and put it on it, then slowly pinching it with her fingers.
As I pinched the dumpling, the bottom broke.
The eldest sister blinked and tried to pinch the damaged part to fix it, but then the other piece was squeezed to pieces by the excess filling.
Xi Heng looked at Senior Sister Hong Miao, who was in an unprecedented panic, and chuckled with his hands covering his lips.
It turns out that senior sisters can also get into trouble sometimes.
……
At night, the dozen or so remaining people in the Hongxian Sword Academy gathered in the cafeteria.
There were a few small red lanterns hung in front of the hall door, and red paper was simply pasted on it and some decorations were hung. The light from the lanterns shone through, filling the hall with a slightly dim orange-red, like a candlelight party.
Everyone's seats were arranged in order, and Xi Heng sat next to Hong Miao.
The dumplings in the two people's bowls were crooked in shape and did not look regular no matter how you looked at them.
When Senior Sister Hong Miao saw that the dumplings made by Xi Heng were exactly the same as hers, she no longer showed any embarrassment as she had someone to keep her company.
She said, "Junior sister doesn't know how to pinch either, and you laughed at me just now. You're asking for trouble, aren't you?"
Xi Heng stubbornly made excuses for herself: "As a princess, it's natural that I can't make dumplings."
"Yeah." Hong Miao's obedient nod made things even more annoying.
Xi Heng glanced at her, then slowly started to finish the dumplings in his bowl.
Her cheap chef, without even touching his chopsticks, supported his hunched back, glanced at everyone in the cafeteria with a nostalgic look, and uttered a few hoarse laughs.
"Okay, okay, okay..." the elder said it many times.
Time will not linger in a warm scene like people do; it will continue to wipe away at people.
This simple New Year's Eve dinner ended quickly and people left. Xi Heng said goodbye to his senior sister Hong Miao and his cheap master.
The bright winter crescent moon hanging high in the sky reflects on the flower beds, and a few wisps of cold wind brush against clothes.
After leaving the dining hall in the courtyard, the world seemed to be left with only silence, and there was no noise at all under the cover of night.
Xi Heng looked up at the sky and saw a flickering spark flying high in the distance.
It exploded into a flash in the air, emitting its own momentary light for the world.
The sound of the fireworks exploding reached Xiheng's ears, and after the sound, there was silence again. The sharp contrast caused a long-lasting tinnitus.
"It's New Year... This is my first time celebrating New Year in this world."
There had never been any festive atmosphere before, but this time there was a little bit of it.
……
Chapter 29: Enemy at the Gate
The end of the second year of the read file.
Outside Jinshi City, the Tianliang army is approaching.
The dark clouds rolled like a giant beast, and the haze covered the earth.
The sunlight penetrated it tenaciously for a moment, and was covered by gray clouds the next moment. It seemed as if half of the sky had fallen, and the atmosphere was extremely depressing.
The broad city wall stood, winding like a long snake, blocking the enemy.
The dull heat of late summer blew the yellow dust outside the city into flying clouds, making the flags rustle.
The dry and cracked yellow earth was echoing with the heavy sound of war drums. Outside the wall, the army was almost endless and as dense as an ant colony. Although they were not arranged in battle formations like the officers' and soldiers' armies, with loose specifications and uneven armor, the number of them that could be said to be everywhere in the mountains and plains was already very impressive.
Thousands of guards stood in a row on the city wall, solemn and dignified. Countless arrows were placed in the quivers, and torches were placed on the top of the city wall, swaying constantly in the stuffy wind.
Chaos and tension filled the city, with common people either hiding in their rooms or packing their bags to flee.
This time the Tianliang Army arrived too quickly. Most people had just heard the news and hadn't even made a decision on whether to leave or stay, when the enemy was already at the gates of the city.
The doors of houses and shops on the streets were closed, and guards or soldiers were constantly walking through them.
Xi Heng was walking among them, listening to the faint sounds of war drums and shouts coming from outside the city. Even though he was not afraid of death, he couldn't help feeling a little nervous because of the atmosphere.
"Although I know that there may be news of the Tianliang Army's attack in the near future, this is too sudden..." Xi Heng sighed lightly.
Although there was not much laughter and joy in the past few days, Jinshi City was still relatively peaceful, and people were living their daily lives.
But within just one day, the news of the Tianliang Army's impending attack was posted on the city wall, causing chaos.
The people in Midtown hurriedly called a taxi and left, holding their children and taking a bunch of valuables.
When they arrived at the outer city, a group of ragged beggars rushed towards the rich carriage when they saw it. Some of them escaped from the carriage, while others were killed or dispersed by the warriors in the carriage. However, some of them were able to pull the wealthy people out of the carriage and take away every inch of valuables.
The order in the city gradually collapsed. All the soldiers, guards and city officials were focusing on the powerful enemies outside the city and had no time to manage the order inside the city.
On the way back to Jianyuan, Xi Hengxing was surrounded by several street thugs.
She drew her sword and cut off the two men's heads, and the attackers fled in all directions.
Xi Heng swung the sword in a flower pattern to shake off the blood on the sword, and the long sword was sheathed with a slightly dull sound.
She put down the medicine basket in her hand, clapped her hands, picked up the head on the ground and dragged the corpse that was still spurting blood, then turned and walked to the dark and lonely alley on the side.
The girl hummed a soft tune and used her fingertips dipped in blood to draw blood lines on the dry land that looked like rippling waves. She then drew tentacle patterns with the tips pointing at the two corpses on the ground.
