After bidding farewell to Wang Zhongsi, Zhou Jun left the Governor's Mansion.
A few days later, An Sishun took Li Guangbi with him, and when they were having sex at the Exchange Office, they found Zhou Jun and said that they were having a banquet at An's house.
Zhou Jun remembered Wang Zhongsi's advice, nodded and accepted the invitation.
Riding a horse to Anzhai in Liangzhou City, Zhou Jun stood at the gate, looking at the house in front of him, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.
Even in Chang'an City, it is rare to see such a magnificent mansion.
After entering the house, unlike the courtyards of the Tang Dynasty, the courtyards of large Sogdian households are more similar to the structure of grid courtyards. Each grid courtyard is connected by a corridor, and there are green plants and flower beds on both sides of the corridor.
Entering the courtyard where the banquet was held, Zhou Jun saw that the huge courtyard was filled with servants and maids, and there were curtains and arbors scattered around.
The head of the An family, An Bozhu, and a group of Sogdians were waiting in the center of the courtyard. When they saw Zhou Jun walking in, they hurriedly greeted him.
Zhou Jun met with everyone in the courtyard and listened to the introduction. Only then did he realize that these Sogdians were all Zouzheng of the nine surnames of Zhaowu.
After being led to the seat by An Sishun, Zhou Jun sat down and found that the table in front of him was made of a whole piece of jade. He didn't feel any heat when he put his hand on it, but it was cool and pleasant.
The wine set is made of glass, the container is made of gold and silver, and even the hangings are strung with countless East China Sea pearls.
Zhou Jun thought to himself that the Sogdians are rich and like to show off their wealth, which is indeed good.
After everyone was seated at the table, An Bozhu first waved his hand to the maids to fill the glasses with wine, then made a toast and prayed, and finally drank the wine in the cup.
An Bo looked around at the guests and said: "It has been a hundred years since the Sogdians came to the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty has treated foreigners like us like their own children, and has never driven them away or killed them. Our children can study and live here."
Even being an official is something that has never happened elsewhere."
When the Sogdian emperors heard this, they couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Anbo added: "It is the nature of the ancient people for the Sogdians to seek wealth. However, following their nature, sometimes things go too far, which will lead to mistakes. But the Sogdians will learn from their mistakes and use them as lessons.
This prevents us from making mistakes again and allows us to try our best to make up for the losses caused by mistakes.”
Zhou Jun listened on the sidelines and understood in his heart that the first half of what An Bozhu said was for the Sogdians, but the second half was for himself.
Ultimately, An Bozhu's purpose for today's banquet was to show his goodwill to the King's Protector and to ask for leniency regarding Liangzhou's food shortage.
At this time, the Sogdian priests at the table also talked about it: "During this food shortage, more than a hundred Sogdian merchants lost all their money. Some even sold their houses to repay their loans."
"A few days ago, someone took his whole family and committed suicide."
"Most of our life's wealth has been lost in food, and we will never dare to do this again."
"Please also ask Zhou Jiancheng to say a few kind words in front of Wang Duhu and leave a way for us poor people to survive."
Listening to these words of the Sogdian, Zhou Jun said nothing, but slowly drank the wine.
When other people at the table saw this, they felt uneasy.
An Bozhu looked at his son An Sishun, and An Sishun looked helplessly at Li Guangbi. Li Guangbi scratched his head and whispered: "Zhou Erlang..."
Zhou Jun put down his wine glass and finally spoke: "The food shortage in Liangcheng is not the fault of the Nine Surnames. It is actually caused by the young people among them who coerce others into doing evil."
After everyone heard Zhou Jun's words, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhou Jun added: "For those young people with ulterior motives, everyone in the world should condemn and punish them. As for those blinded followers, they should be warned and given a chance to start over."
After hearing Zhou Jun's words, the Sogdians present all echoed loudly, and some even clapped their hands.
An Bozhu looked at Zhou Jun with a look of relief on his face. He smiled at the servants behind him and said, "Let the acrobats perform on the stage."
The servant nodded.
Soon, a group of men and women wearing short robes and beard hats entered the courtyard.
Among them, some people can spit fireballs from their mouths, some people can separate the water in the basin with their hands, and some people can actually take off their heads, throw them into the air and catch them again.
Zhou Jun was quite surprised when he saw it. Li Guangbi looked wary and whispered to the former: "The Sogdians worship Zoroastrianism, and many Zoroastrian people are good at illusions. It is said that those who have reached the peak of cultivation can capture people's hearts. The Tang Dynasty called them
Be evil."
Zhou Jun was amused and couldn't help thinking that it was just some magic and acrobatics, and they were so mysterious, so he said to Li Guangbi: "It's just a deception. The theory of evil is a bit too much."
After the acrobats performed, the atmosphere of the banquet gradually increased. Anbo smiled and said: "Let the dancers come up to entertain the guests!"
Not long after, six beautiful Hu Ji wearing brocade boots and colorful clothes entered the courtyard and danced the Hu Xuan Dance along with the sound of music.
The Sogdian priests around him kept making congratulations and toasts to Zhou Jun, who all drank.
When Hu Xuanwu entered the main stage, a peerless beauty wearing a plain white robe, like a fairy who had been banished to the mortal world, slowly fell into the field from mid-air.
I saw that she was wearing a gauze face, with black hair like a waterfall, and a graceful figure. Although her appearance could not be clearly seen, the graceful appearance of her gestures outshone all other dancers.
When the song ended, the dancers retreated one after another. The beauty in white looked back at Zhou Jun, stretched out her hands towards him, made three gestures of "three", "four", and "eight" in turn, and then disappeared.
At the exit of the yard.
Zhou Jun saw it and suddenly reacted.
Those three gestures clearly refer to the third year of Tianbao, the eighth day of April, the day when Zhou Jun first came to the Tang Dynasty.
He quickly stood up from the table and followed him outside the courtyard.
An Bo thought that Zhou Jun had drunk too much and wanted to change clothes, so he asked An Sishun to accompany him to the backyard.
Zhou Jun, who was full of doubts, left the courtyard where the banquet was held. Faced with An Sishun's offer to accompany him, he shook his head and declined. He followed the direction in which the woman left, passed a courtyard filled with water, and finally entered.
A long corridor.
I saw the peerless beauty wearing a veil and plain clothes, standing at the end of the corridor, bowing to Zhou Junshi, with a bright red Zoroastrian Fire badge exposed on her skirt.
Just when Zhou Jun was about to walk forward, the woman's figure suddenly disappeared, the bright sky gradually dimmed, and the corridors on both sides began to change shape.
The original earthen walls and masonry were gradually replaced by cement paint; the blue sky was obscured by the huge ceiling; fluorescent lamps glowing with blue-white light were hung in the space above the head.
Zhou Jun looked at everything in front of him in surprise. This was obviously not a house in Liangzhou City, but more like... the corridor of a later hospital.
Just when Zhou Jun was surprised, a nurse walked out of the ward at the end of the corridor and asked loudly: "Who is Xu Xiao?"
Zhou Jun was startled and looked at the nurse. While hesitating, a man's voice suddenly came from behind him: "I am Xu Xiao."
After Zhou Jun heard this, he turned around with a shocked expression, only to see a man with a unshaven beard, bloodshot eyes, and wearing a police uniform, passing by the former and walking towards the nurse.
This person is Zhou Jun's previous life.
Zhou Jun couldn't believe what he was seeing, and watched helplessly as this "former self" walked to the nurse's side.
The nurse said to Xu Xiao: "The patient is awake, you can go see him."
Xu Xiao nodded, opened the door and entered the ward.
Zhou Jun's heart trembled. Everything that happened here was exactly the same as what he had experienced in his previous life, but he didn't know why it happened again here.
Zhou Jun moved his feet and arrived in front of the ward. He hesitated for a moment and finally raised his legs and entered the room.
In a bright and tidy ward, a middle-aged man with a haggard appearance was lying on the bed, with various catheters inserted into his body and connected to various instruments.
The doctor standing next to the hospital bed was saying to Xu Xiao: "The operation is not ideal... You should stay with him more."
Xu Xiao clenched his fist tightly and nodded slightly.
Zhou Jun heard this and closed his eyes weakly.
After the doctor left the ward, Xu Xiao came to the bedside, looked at the frail middle-aged man, and called softly: "Dad."
The latter slowly opened his eyes, looked at Xu Xiao beside the bed, and asked with a smile: "You're here? Isn't the unit busy?"
Xu Xiao: "It's okay."
Father Xu: "Work is important, pay more attention to it, and don't think too much about other things."
Xu Xiao took a deep breath and whispered: "The doctor said..."
Father Xu interrupted him: "It's okay...I know everything."
Xu Xiao was speechless.
Zhou Jun stood behind Xu Xiao and looked at his father on the hospital bed, his whole body slowly falling into pain and sadness.
Father Xu: "What is supposed to come will always come."
Xu Xiao: "I heard that there is a new drug in Capital Hospital..."
Xu's father shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it. Save more money now so you can get married and start a family later."
Xu Xiao was a little annoyed and asked: "Dad, if the money is gone, you can make more money. If the disease is not treated, you will die! Aren't you afraid?!"
Xu's father looked at Xu Xiao, was stunned for a while, and then said with a helpless smile: "Afraid, of course I am. Every time I close my eyes and fall asleep, I am thinking about whether I will have the chance to drink a pot of Wenjia Osmanthus Wine in this life.
, go to the Tianshan Mountains that I have longed for. There are obviously many things that I haven’t had time to do, but I’m afraid I won’t have the chance.”
Xu Xiao: "I will apply for transfer to another hospital today..."
Xu's father raised his hand with difficulty, patted Xu Xiao's arm, and said: "Listen to what I have to say. Whenever I am afraid or regretful, I will read a book."
Following Xu's father's line of sight, Zhou Jun saw a thick stack of history books on the bedside table.
Father Xu continued: "Read those, and you will find that compared with thousands of years of history, life is like a flash in the pan, it is too short. Perhaps, for a person, birth can only be regarded as a journey.
The inn, reincarnation is the whole journey."
Xu Xiao sat by the bed, his body trembling, but he didn't know what to say. He just buried his head in his chest to prevent his father from seeing the expression on his face.
Xu's father stretched out his hand, slowly touched the top of Xu Xiao's head, and whispered: "From now on, if you are tired, confused, and don't know what to do with yourself, try to open the pages of a book and see what the predecessors did.
…”
Zhou Jun continued what Father Xu said and completed the following: "You will find that your worries, sorrows and pains are not worth mentioning at all. When you leave those mundane things behind and think about the world again, your vision will
Being infinitely expanded, you will slowly awaken to some truths beyond yourself in your heart."
What Xu's father said was exactly the same as what Zhou Jun said.
Looking at the scene in memory in front of him, Zhou Jun had mixed feelings and tears filled his eyes.
At this moment, a cry came from behind Zhou Jun: "Tuesu Lang, Zui Lang!"
A sharp pain invaded Zhou Jun's brain, causing him to squat down and hold his head tightly.
When the pain subsided a little, Zhou Jun slowly opened his eyes. There were no wards or hospitals around him, but it was still the corridor where he settled down.
An Sishun walked to Zhou Jun's side and asked anxiously: "Zhou Zhoulang, are you feeling unwell?"
Zhou Jun stood up straight and looked around, seeing that the woman in white had long since disappeared.
He turned his head and asked An Sishun: "The Hu Xuanwu just now, the seventh dancer on stage, who is she?"
An Sishun was startled and replied: "The song just now is called 'Su Mozhe'. It was originally choreographed by six people. Where did the seventh person come from?"
Zhou Jun was stunned.
next chapter
This chapter has been completed!