(2-in-1 chapter, together today and tomorrow)

Hearing Shangguan Xue's words, Niko's consciousness seemed to have been hit by something, and the whole person shook, and even the table shook.

Niko got up in a panic, grabbed Shangguan Xue's hand and said, "Go!" ”

Shangguan Xue raised her eyebrows: "Where are you going?" ”

Neko said in a trembling voice, "I'll take you to Master Chino, and whoever wants to kill you, you tell him!" He will definitely help you! ”

Shangguan Xue grabbed Niko with her backhand, her body trembled slightly, obviously holding back a laugh, and finally laughed: "Hahahaha!" They always say you're as stupid as a rabbit, but I didn't expect it to be true. ”

Now it was Nico's turn to be confused, and she said a little angrily, "What do you mean? Have fun with me? ”

Shangguan Xue helped Nico sit down, took out a hanging plate from her arms, and said with a smile: "I didn't fool you, but when I say death, I don't mean that someone wants to kill me, but that I mean a hanging plate - I calculated a "death hang" for myself." ”

Niko didn't know much about the Far East, and asked suspiciously, "What is death?" ”

Shangguan Xue shrugged her shoulders: "It's a sign of great evil, implying that death is not far away." ”

Niko suddenly became nervous again, and grabbed Shangguan Xue's hand with her backhand: "Isn't this terrifying? Hurry up, I'll take you to the adults. ”

This appearance made Shangguan Xue laugh: "I can't imagine that you still believe this?" It's really superstitious. ”

An onmyoji who controls the power of the Xuan Ming and says that others are superstitious, and this scene has an indescribable sense of comical.

Niko was confused, and finally cautiously asked, "Are you going to die or not?"

Shangguan Xue held her cheeks and said lazily: "Life and death are all in the sky, how can mortals predict it?" Maybe I'll live to be a hundred years old, maybe I'll choke to death tomorrow by drinking water, who knows. ”

Niko couldn't help but mutter, "Then what are you doing with hexagrams?"

Shangguan Xue played with the hanging plate and said lightly: "It's okay to be idle, just play." Of course, although fortune-telling is a superstition, I sometimes use it as a supplementary reference. ”

"For example, when I feel confused about the future and don't know what to choose, I will let the hexagram make a choice for me."

Niko heard the meaning of the words and asked in a low voice, "Then what choice did you make this time?" ”

Shangguan Xue stared at the death hanger on the hanging plate, and her tone became gloomy: "My choice is, maybe it's time to leave." ”

Niko asked blankly, "Where are you leaving?" ”

Shangguan Xue smiled slightly: "Who knows, take a step and see one step at a time." Maybe wandering the world, the four seas are home. Maybe he is hidden in the wilderness and doesn't ask about the world. ”

"All in all, the Far Eastern Dynasty has long been unable to tolerate me, and Dogurand has become a land of right and wrong, and I don't want to be in the vortex anymore."

Niko stopped talking, lowered her head and asked, "These things should be hidden in my heart, right?" Why tell me."

Shangguan Xue's gaze was slightly confused, and she murmured, "Yes. I didn't intend to tell anyone, but when I saw you sitting in the sunset today, I had an inexplicable urge to say it. ”

"Maybe I hid it once, and I know how uncomfortable it is to keep things in my heart. After all, people are social animals that need to be talked to. ”…

"Those people who came out of Twilight City together ten years ago are now dead and gone, and only you can let me confide in them."

Niko pursed her lips, and her eyes became a little complicated: "You're not afraid that I will tell others?" ”

Shangguan Xue chuckled: "You won't, you're too honest to do this kind of thing." ”

Niko puffed out her cheeks and gave her a blank look.

After a moment of silence, Niko's eyes became lonely: "But. Are you so good? Don't you feel sorry for Chino-sama? ”

Shangguan Xue couldn't help but smile, and her demeanor became serious: "Why are you sorry for him?" When I defected to Doguland, I used Ouchi's intelligence as a bargaining chip, and I relied on myself, not by anyone. ”

"Besides, over the years, I have helped him do so many things and fought so many battles, not to mention any great credit, at least I can say it with a clear conscience - I have no place to be sorry for him."

Niko was speechless, because Shangguan Xue was indeed right.

Himself, Lugo, and Paladin originally had no status, nor did they have any extraordinary ability, and it was all thanks to Chino's support that they had their later achievements, and no matter how they repaid their kindness, they should be repaid.

Shangguan Xue is different, she fell down, Chino doesn't accept her, other nobles rush to collect it, she can shine on her own anywhere.

At most, Chino provided Shangguan Xue with a choice about where to return, as long as she didn't stab her in the back, she would do her duty, not to mention that she had done a lot of work along the way, which can be said to be exhaustive.

When Niko was silent, Shangguan Xue looked at the dark red sky outside the courtyard and said faintly: "I, ah, will not become a traitor like Baiza, but I also don't want to be a fool like Lugo, and I don't want to become like Paladin. ”

"I just want to live well with my brother."

Niko lowered her head and sighed, "I understand your distress and respect your choice. But. I beg you, can you leave a few days later? ”

Shangguan Xue shrugged: "It can be, but is there any special reason?" ”

Niko lowered her eyes and looked very lonely: "Just like you said, everyone dies and goes, except for your brother, you and me are the only ones left by Chino's side." ”

"I'm not sure if I can help in any way, but one more person will give him more security, at least don't let him find that there is no one available when he wants to hire people."

Shangguan Xue couldn't help but laugh after hearing this, and pinched Niko's face with her hand: "You still take yourself very seriously, with Chino's current strength, do you think there is any situation that must be used by you and me?" ”

Niko blushed and said, "I didn't mean what if."

Shangguan Xue really couldn't do anything about this stupid girl with a straight brain, and said lazily: "Okay~ I promise you, I'll stay for another month, okay." ”

"Hmm" Niko looked grateful, but soon became sad, "You say, what is going on lately, I can't understand more and more, how did the two of them become what they are today"

Shangguan Xue sighed, took a teapot and boiled some water, and said while making tea: "It's just an inevitable result, I saw early on that they would come this far." ”…

"It's not who has become 'what they are today', it's that they have always been the same version of themselves."

"In the beginning, the two of them were able to move side by side because they were on the same path."

"Chino needs Solandale's rightful heir to the top, to take control of everything."

"Solandale needs Chino's strength to take the throne of his own and realize his ideals and ambitions."

"They need each other on the same road, and they have the same enemies, so they can advance and retreat together."

"But when they reach a fork in the road, the two go in different directions towards their respective goals, and it is inevitable that they will drift apart."

"Obviously, Solandale saw this clearly, so she was able to deal with it. On the contrary, Chino, who has always seen everything, is blinded by the illusion of walking side by side. ”

Niko's eyes widened and asked, "You mean he hasn't reacted yet?" ”

Shangguan Xue nodded: "The sound of the piano says it all. ”

Niko muttered, "I don't understand his piano. Everybody doesn't understand, do you understand? ”

Shangguan Xue lifted the lid of the pot, used it to scrape off the tea foam floating on the water, and said with a smile: "Of course, the imperial court is very strict in the selection of onmyoji, in addition to the five elements of yin and yang, we also have to practice qin, chess, calligraphy and painting, poetry, hops and tea." ”

Niko hurriedly asked, "Then what did you hear?" ”

"I heard-" Shangguan Xue poured the tea into the cup, stared at the clear liquid, and slowly said two words, "Collapse." ”

"Crash?!" Niko was stunned, but she actually thought it was a little funny, she really couldn't imagine that these two words would have anything to do with Chino, thinking that Shangguan Xue was talking nonsense.

"Yes, crash. Of course, I'm talking about an "idea" breakdown, not an "emotional" breakdown. Shangguan Xue put a cup of tea in front of Niko and asked silently, "Do you know math?" ”

Niko nodded, "I've learned a little." ”

Shangguan Xue dipped some tea with her fingertips and wrote the arithmetic formula on the table: "Imagine such a scenario, you are solving an arithmetic problem, your initial conditions are correct, the formula is correct, and the operation process is also correct, what will be the result?" ”

Niko didn't hesitate: "Of course it's the right result." ”

"That's right, if all the preconditions are absolutely correct, you will definitely get absolutely correct results, this is mathematics, and mathematics does not deceive." Shangguan Xue's eyes became deeper when she said this, "However, Chino is now in another situation-"

"The initial conditions are correct, the formula is correct, the calculation process is correct, and finally the wrong result is calculated."

"I don't know what Chino's past is, but I can feel from his methods that he knows how to dominate people's hearts."

"Chino's rule of domination is actually very simple - to know each other at an early age, to give care when he is most helpless, to give mercy, to give everything he wants, to slowly occupy the whole of life, so that the other party sees him as the only light in life, and finally absolutely obeys."

"My original master, Ye Lingchen, used this set, but the level is much worse than that of Chino. I believe that Chino has used the same means to dominate many people, and all of them have succeeded without exception, and this is his "mathematics". ”…

"But now, an unexpected thing has happened, and that's Solandelle."

"Chino used the same method on Solandale, but the result is now that the person who is supposed to be absolutely obedient ends up going against him."

"It's like if you do a math problem, you do the same problem 1,000 times and you get it right, and when you do it 1,001 times, the algorithm doesn't change, but the answer is wrong."

"You can't believe it, you go back and forth and you see that all the conditions, all the processes are fine, but the answer is wrong. You don't know what's wrong and why it's wrong. ”

"Chino is the same, he can't understand at all, how could a little girl who was controlled by himself at the age of 12 betray a person who has been with him for 14 years for the sake of the so-called people."

This kind of unreasonable and impossible mistake completely shattered Chino's concept, because a mistake here means that his "mathematics" is not the truth, and the same mistake will appear again in the future.

"It's even possible that the mistake had already occurred, but he didn't notice it at all."

Niko felt that Shangguan Xue's statement was too illusory, and wanted to refute something, but the picture of the past flashed in her mind.

Everything Chino did to her seemed to be in line with what Shangguan Xue said.

Those memories left in the past made her suddenly feel like a world away.

Niko tugged at the corners of her mouth and squeezed out a wry smile: "Then do you think that in his "mathematics", am I right or wrong?"

Shangguan Xue shook her head: "I can't answer this, whether it's right or not is relative to him." For you, the answer is in your own heart. ”

Niko's eyes were closed, and the silent dusk was only the setting sun, the withered vines, and the faint smell of tea.

I don't know how long it took, but Niko reopened her eyes, and there was only clarity in them: "Whether it's right or wrong, I only know that everything I have is given by him, and I will never leave him." ”

Shangguan Xue showed a faint smile: "I said, the answer is in your own heart, just identify and firmly believe." ”

Niko let out a long breath and stretched out her hand to Shangguan Xue and said, "In short, let's stick to it together, especially when he is in danger." ”

"He's in danger?" Shangguan Xue shook hands with Niko, but her expression was very puzzled, "What do you mean?" ”

Niko said straightly, "That's it! Isn't it dangerous that Solandelle suddenly attacked and eradicated his forces little by little? ”

Shangguan Xue didn't speak for a long time, she suddenly reached out and grabbed Niko's face, kneaded it into various shapes, and muttered solemnly: "Aren't you really a rabbit?" It's too stupid. ”

"What are you doing! You're the rabbit," Niko shook her head from side to side, shaking off Shangguan Xue's hand.

Shangguan Xue held her chin and raised her eyebrows and said, "I said, you don't really think that Chino is 'in trouble' now, right?" ”

Niko asked rhetorically, "Isn't it?" He was so helpless that he could only play the piano at home every day, and many people even said that he was crazy."

"Helpless. You. Haha you. You're going to laugh at me." Shangguan Xue covered her mouth and twitched, she couldn't hold back her laughter, and only after a long time did she say with a straight face: "You have been with him longer than me, let me ask you, has he ever sat still?" ”…

Thinking back to Chino's past, first of all, there are very few scenes that can be called "in distress".

The worst one was the fourth extraterrestrial invasion of the year, and he was made insane by a mysterious extraterrestrial visitor.

However, even though he was suppressed by the other party throughout the whole process, Chino has always seen the move and did not sit still.

Other times it is even more so, and any form of provocation is met with the most callous response.

It was then that Niko's dumbfounded head realized that Chino's recent actions had been extremely unusual.

Solandale is crazy about his forces, he plays the piano all day long, and he is cut and slaughtered, without the slightest counterattack, which is similar to the original him.

Shangguan Xue smiled meaningfully: "Have you reacted?" If it had been before, whoever had done such a thing to him would not have lived the next day. ”

"Do you really think Solandale has done a good job with security? If Chino really wanted to kill her, she didn't know how she died. ”

"The reason why he plays the piano all day long like he is now, and there is no reaction, is not that he is crazy or afraid, but that he wanted to do it in the first place."

"Chino acquiesced to Solandelle's behavior, asking her to take revenge on her and make her trouble, and it was also in this way to convey his heart that he didn't know how to express - maybe I had something wrong with the past, let's make trouble, stop when we have made enough trouble, and let us go back to the past."

"Can you believe it? Chino actually made concessions on the issue of principled interests," Shangguan Xue looked at the courtyard at sunset, and her misty eyes seemed to be smiling.

"Our Lord Reaper, there may be some. Feelings he didn't even realize of himself. ”

Niko asked dumbfoundedly, "Then what's next. What will happen? ”

Shangguan Xue squinted slightly, and her gaze became gloomy again: "Now, Chino is giving Solandel a chance, a chance to turn back." ”

"If Solandale can accept this intention and let go of the grievances after the trouble, then everything can go back to the way it was, and nothing will change."

"But if, she chooses to push Chino away completely, turn around and leave, and never look back."

"Then she'll lose everything, everything."