As time approaches noon, the ice particles falling in the city gradually turn into snowflakes, dyeing the streets of Chengdu a little white.

It was still the first snow in the southwest this year. Mu Xue’s pedestrians on the road did not show much embarrassment, and most of them showed novelty. Many people didn’t play umbrellas and walked with laughter; there were also laughing children chasing and fighting on the streets, even if their families were calling on the streets, they were unwilling to go back.

In the Sifang Teahouse, it was the most warm time between the public opinion field. In the private rooms, there were voices of discussion.

"...In front of the current situation, how many calm ways can Mr. Dai have?"

"So what is the current situation? The Jurchens have already gone north. It's always easier than when they went south a few times. When you talk about today's saints, they betrayed their own people for the second time..."

"However, who is the opponent Dai Gong faces? There are Jurchens in the north and the Chinese army in the south!"

"Originally, Liu Guangshi was not good at conspiring with him, he could only escape..."

"... These remarks are really shameless! Brother He said that Dai Mengwei betrayed his own people for the first time. Shang Ke said that he was trying to save many people. This time he betrayed Liu Guangshi is really shameless!"

"...Don't pretend to be confused with your understanding, Confucianism is about to be finished!"

"...Strangely speaking, our Confucian scholars can still drink tea, eat, and chat here, how can they say that they are going to be finished? Although the Chinese army calls it a destruction of Confucian scholars, it is actually not overdoing it..."

"But fire? What Ning Yi is doing now? Can't you understand? He is dividing the fields!"

"So what about the land? The Jiangnan Fair Party has just begun to have internal strife."

"How can the Fair Party be compared with the Chinese army? Now, the southwest divides the fields to attend classes and have to do exercises. When he was in class, he promoted the literacy movement, allowing everyone to put their children in the school. When the rural farmers entered the school, they would tie them up with the Chinese army in the future. The three times before the division of the land, he wanted to implement the so-called militia system in various places. The literacy movement allowed children to tie them up, and the militia system allowed adults to obey their orders. Ning Yi wanted to jump away from all scholars, and his destruction of the Confucians was playing the real thing!"

“…If everyone can read, then everyone is like a dragon. How can it be said to be a bad thing?”

"Haha! Haha! Is it so easy to teach people to understand and understand. Is it so easy to teach people? If those children who know three or five words can really understand something, of course I have nothing to say, but Ning Yi is just a means to seize power. Since the establishment of the Chinese Army, he mentioned the so-called human rights, the so-called democracy, and the previous imperial examinations, he screened the accountants and the like, and now he mobilized everyone to read, and every one of them was jumping away from the scholars sitting like this. How many people have read the books of sages for decades in this world? He has attracted a group of people who have never read books, let them read, and put aside all of you and others... Don't think I am jealous, but - if such a person can make the world better, why should you and I learn those subtle words for thousands of years... But Ning Yi is really determined, he wants to destroy Confucianism..."

"The Chinese Army developed papermaking and wanted everyone to study. In the past two years, it has been vigorously expanding its good learning and rural learning, but at the beginning, it can only do some literacy enlightenment. These things are nothing, I think they are nothing..."

"Confucianism does not oppose enlightenment. In the past thousand years, papermaking has not been developed, and the research on things has developed too slowly. If Ning Yi is really selfless, everyone knows that it is better to use the mature Confucian system to assist rural enlightenment first. Ning Yi is just a prejudice and wants to drag someone who only knows a few words to fight against Confucianism. He does not get blood on his knife and is better than everyone else's hand. It's ridiculous that he has been boiled by warm water and seems to have not realized it..."

"Even so, what does it have to do with Mr. Dai..."

"How much time does Dai Gong have? He joined forces with such wastes as Liu Guangshi, what can he do in the future? After the war in the Southwest, Ning Yi was in Sichuan and Shu to rest and recuperate. It looked lively outside, but who doesn't know that once the Chinese army leaves Sichuan, no one in the world can do it? But will the entire Central Plains suddenly become clear after this step of Dai Gong? In the dying situation, he has a chess goal?"

"I think you looked up to Zou Xu. After all, he was just Ning Yi's disciple..."

"He was Ning Yi's most trusted disciple back then. There is no one in the world who understands Ning Yi's way better than him. Now Dai Gong is in charge of the Confucianism. Zou Xu understands the art of investigating things. The art of Taoism is in line with each other. If you want to compete with Ning Yi, there is no more suitable world than the two of them..."

"But listen to his words and observe his actions. Ning Yi's arrangements in Chengdu over the past two years have the atmosphere of a sage king..."

"Yes, the atmosphere of the Holy King, then I want to ask you a question today - you have no land at home!? You have no land at home!?"

"You, you...I'm waiting to talk about the truth, how can you speculate so dirtyly..."

"Okay, Ning Yi broke out of Sichuan and Sichuan, first of all, the land at your home-"

One by one, noisy sounds came out. In the small box on the other side, Yan Daolun and Yu Hezhong were drinking tea while listening to the tones coming from the next door. Sifang Teahouse, as the core public opinion field in Chengdu, Yan Daolun and others who operated this side often listened to the public's arguments like this. At this time, Yan Daolun sighed: "Look, this is what many people from the outside world think of what Dai Mengwei did this time."

Yu Hezhong drank a sip of tea: "This Master Tang Qitang is usually hypocritical, but this time he seems to be furious. Isn't this saying that he supports Dai Mengwei and opposes the Chinese army, but because he has land at home."

"He's not just talking about this." Yan Daolun shook his head, "What he said is, how many people in the world will support Dai Mengwei... To be honest, brother Yu, my Yan family also has land."

"Brother Yan means..."

"It's not interesting, it has nothing to do with the overall situation. It's just overturning all night. Brother Yu, I'm a little confused..."

On the morning of the day, the two sides met. Yu Hezhong was anxious and wanted to go directly to find Shishi, but Yan Daolun was left behind. He first talked about whether there were senior officials in the Chinese army with Long. Then he listened to the noise next door and said a lot of words about the current situation. Yan Daolun is a deep-minded person. He talked with him today much more than before, but Yu Hezhong thoughts and was difficult to guess one by one.

He has been a relationship broker in Chengdu in the past year and it was too smooth. Most of the others were asking him for work. If there was any implication and hidden, he would naturally be too lazy to do it. Even if some people had sinister intentions and had to live a round of the Chinese army, they would have nowhere to hide.

At this time, I had lunch in various troubles. Until I was about to leave, Yu Hezhong gritted his teeth and asked directly: "Brother Yan, actually...if this matter really cannot end, have you considered it? Let's... let's vote for the Chinese Army?"

Yan Daolun stared at him for a moment, sighed: "This matter... let's talk about it again."

Among the falling snowflakes, Yu Hezhong left Sifang Teahouse and headed towards the Propaganda Department.

He went to Li Shishi's residence the day before, but he was unable to see anyone. On that day, he went to the office of the Propaganda Department. After reporting his name, he was told that Vice Minister Li did not work in the Propaganda Department recently, and as for what he had done, he had nothing to tell. Yu Hezhong and Shishi were usually considered private friends. Although he occasionally asked someone to do something, he did not take him to the Propaganda Department and was not familiar with it. He left here and went to the other side of the residence.

Shishi's formal residence in Chengdu is a small courtyard near Mahachi. The residents here are all senior officials of the Chinese Army, and there are unified services, receptions, and reception rooms outside. Many people come here every day, either for official or private affairs, waiting in the living room outside, and waiting until after review or notification, they will be led in. Yu Hezhong is familiar with the road here and is already familiar with the receptionists outside. It is not time to get off work. The senior officials of the Chinese Army who are busy with official duties are usually not at their residence. Yu Hezhong finds the receptionist to register, and then exchanges greetings for a while and asks: "You said, Vice Minister Li will come back tonight, right?"

"This, usually...

"Then I stayed until night last night, why didn't I see you?"

"Since a department has not been busy, I have sent more than 10,000 people out for the sake of dividing the land. Look, Chengdu has sent more than 10,000 people, so how many people are there in office here? Mr. Ning is not in Chengdu recently..."

"I know this, but... Deputy Minister Li, did she come back last night?"

"..." Yu Hezhong has come a lot in the past, and it is very easy to go in every time, but when he saw him asking here, the receptionist hesitated, "This, Mr. Yu, we are disciplined..."

"Okay, don't ask." Yu Hezhong waved his hand, "When she came back, you told her that I had something urgent."

The other party nodded and agreed with a smile.

The snow fell outside that day, and the waiting room was gathered. The window was opened, but it was not cold. Yu Hezhong sat by the window listening to the bustling voices, watching a visitor dressed in different clothes gathered in the room and talked, and some even talked about the "big events" that happened in the Central Plains. An old woman with patched clothes brought three yellow-faced and thin country children to sit in a corner of the room waiting for people. The two children were probably hungry and cried loudly. The orderly soldiers took some snacks to coax people - this was probably a poor relative of a senior Chinese military official. Seeing that he had been in short order from outside Yanmen Pass, he stirred the room like a vegetable market.

Similar things are not uncommon in this waiting room. In the past, Yu Hezhong would go to other places to stroll, or first go to the nearby teahouse for a drink, and then come over when the time is almost over. But today, there is no such psychological leniency. He put his hands in front of the window and only used the snow scene outside as a small pastime in boredom. He wanted to recite a few poems, but he thought hard for a long time, but he had nothing to gain.

I couldn't help but think of Bianliang nearly twenty years ago. At that time, my literary talent was still good. I met Li Shishi and often participated in various literary gatherings with Chen Sifeng. At that time, there were limited seats for high-end literary gatherings in the capital. A group of scholars often recited poems and essays in the lobby of the Alum Tower to make a name for themselves. He and Chen Sifeng's literary talent were only the best, but with Shishi, they often tried to let them go in together. At that time, the prosperous atmosphere of celebrities gathered and poetry and essays was often missed in harmony.

At that time, among the countless celebrities in the capital, he still had his imagination of the future. At that time, he even thought that he might be the person who would bring peace to the ages.

In the next twenty years, the land of China was sinking, and people were wandering around in the world. What he saw were all kinds of intrigues, bloody battles, and the rise of warlords, scoundrels, all kinds of barbarians and ordinary people. Yu Hezhong found relationships and knelt down for others. In the past two years, he saw Shishi again in the southwest, and then he once again enjoyed the environment of straightening his back. But in his heart, Yu Hezhong still regarded himself as a literati. Even if he was a middle-aged man, he could not reach the upper reaches, but what really made him feel comfortable and even intoxicated was the environment of Bianliang back then.

He even complained about Ning Yi in places where no one knew. They were too pragmatic, lost the grace of cultural people, and lost the beauty of the ritual of harmony of words.

Ning Yi was like this back then. Even if he could write first-class poems, he had no fear of everything in his writing. Chen Sifeng once said in private that he was not a truly romantic person.

More than a year after arriving in Chengdu, he did not take the initiative to visit Ning Yi, who everyone wanted to visit. In the final analysis, in his heart, he and the other party were always two types of people. He grew up from the Confucian atmosphere, wanted to write good poems, save the world and the people, wanted to show himself in one essay, and wanted to maintain everything that is respectable and declining. And Ning Yi...

Ning Yi... He has a brilliant literary talent and excellent martial arts skills, but he is a frivolous person from beginning to end. He married into a business, plotted, and killed people. Even Shishi once said that he was too unyielding and even criticized the poems in those beautiful articles. But why do these people always let them be ahead in this world?

And thinking of Shishi...

That was the most beautiful dream in his heart.

It is not difficult to recognize reality clearly.

But occasionally, he dreamed of it at midnight, even if there was a beautiful woman by his side, he still thought with great annoyance that Shishi... was eventually occupied by the man who was Meng Lang Wuxing.

In life, when I was in my twenties, I always felt that the future was full of infinite possibilities and that there was always full of hope in my heart. But gradually, these possibilities narrowed in front of me. At a certain moment, I suddenly realized my incompetence and realized that there was only one or two narrow ways out in the future, which was the darkest moment.

When he came to the southwest and saw Shishi again, God almost gave him a second chance. If there was a hint of possibility, Shishi had him in his heart, then how perfect he would have been in his life as he gradually reached forty. Even the more than ten years of wandering after he was twenty years of age seemed to have full meaning.

But these thoughts were just illusions after all. Shortly after the reunion, rumors about Shishi and Ning Yi became real. After Shishi cleverly admitted it while laughing, the perfection of life finally left him. If there was Chen Jie, his life in Hezhong would be favored by Li Shishi at his early twenties and had several major literary meetings. Then, for more than ten years, he was mediocre and miserable. When he was almost forty, he was pitiful again and was lucky enough to be a mediocre gangster who was at the top of the board.

There is no magnificence of poetry and essays, nor the sweetness of love.

There was nothing worth writing about in his life.

For some reason, at this moment, he thought of these things as he looked at the snow outside the window.

As the snow was flying, the sky was gradually getting dark in the afternoon, and some people were gradually being led out in the noisy waiting room. This was a symbol of the senior Chinese military officials who lived in this area coming back from get off work. Yu Hezhong looked at these people who went out, estimating who the other party was looking for, estimating their identity, status, and purpose... When the bell of the hour of You rang, there were lights under the eaves of the nearby courtyards, and more people were led out. Most of the people who were brought in during this period had to have a meal with others, which showed their closeness and distantness. A laughing sound came, but no one came to call him.

Shishi has not come back yet.

After halfway through You hour, the receptionist taught people to send refreshments to the room here. When he came to ask Yu Hezhong to close the window, Yu Hezhong asked Shishi's itinerary again: "Have you not come back yet?"

The other party's eyes were complicated and ambiguous: "Oh, yes, who knows this... By the way, Mr. Yu hasn't eaten yet. We have a canteen here, otherwise we can eat some at will?"

"No, no, no." Yu Hezhong thought for a while and stood up, "Someone is waiting, I'll go to have a meal and come over later."

He didn't want to make people feel that he had a very urgent idea of ​​meeting Shishi. He left here and ate a few bites of rice on the nearby quaint commercial street. He waited until the passing of Xu hour, and roughly sorted out his appearance before going back.

"Is Shishi back?" He felt that the time was almost over.

"Where did you get the letter?" said the receptionist.

Yu Hezhong thought for a while: "I didn't get the letter... Is it because I didn't come back or I didn't call me."

"Uh, anyway...Mr. Yu, I've sent you a long time ago..."

"Then... is Xiaoling here now?" Yu Hezhong asked about the whereabouts of the life secretary beside Shishi.

The receptionist thought for a while: "Uh... I didn't see you in the daytime."

That night was the same as the previous day's experience: until late at night, no one came out to tell him that he could go in.

As the hour of Hai was about to end, the receptionist began to persuade the three or five people left in the waiting room. Yu Hezhong went out in a daze. An ominous premonition finally came: Something happened.

The impact of Liu Guangshi's fall may be greater than he thought, so that Shishi was unwilling to see him again?

He had such an idea in his mind, but when he thought about it carefully, he was unwilling to admit that Shishi would be such a person.

That night, he was still calm and then returned to the yard of another confidante Gao Wenjing to rest. Gao Wenjing was a northern woman with a cool and arrogant look, which was somewhat similar to Shishi who always smiled in major literary gatherings more than ten years ago. Yu Hezhong pursued him for a long time before he got rid of him. When he was serving him to sleep at night, Gao Wenjing also asked about Liu Guangshi: "After Liu Shuai is gone, what is the attitude of the Chinese army? Have you ever asked the Li sister?"

"Of course I have to ask." Yu Hezhong said, "But the Chinese Army has been busy recently. For land reform, they have dispatched more than 10,000 people to leave in the working group. In the past few days, I will find a better time to meet her. In fact, this matter has nothing to do with me. Yan Daolun and the others are really... Liu Gong has gone, and they have become real rootless Pings..."

That night, he tossed and turned, slept for a while and woke up for a while. The next morning, he suppressed his random thoughts and went to Mahachi shortly after dawn.

I stayed in the reception room for another day, feeling upset and had all kinds of random thoughts.

December 13th, repeat this.

This was the fourth day after the news of Liu Guangshi's death reached Chengdu. Various views on the public opinion field were fermenting. Yu Hezhong even felt that the reception staff looked a little arrogant when they looked at him. In the past, he became a striking figure in Chengdu with Yan Daolun because of the largest arms deal between Liu Guangshi and the Chinese Army. Now that the stove under the furnace was extinguished, they also became the most embarrassing group of people. Even though they had not deliberately inquire about it these days, Yu Hezhong could imagine how others were talking about them.

And if Shishi doesn’t want to see him again, what kind of person would he be in Chengdu?

All kinds of thoughts were intertwined in my mind. I thought I might as well make a big fuss here, saying that Li Shishi turned against him when he saw someone down. It was too realistic, but he was timid and dared not do anything randomly. I thought I might as well find an excuse to meet Ning Yi, even if I really wanted to curry favor with him, but when I thought about it carefully, I realized that Ning Yi had not come back...

The Central Plains have turned upside down. The two biggest enemies of the Chinese army are about to form an alliance. Ning Yi has not come back to take charge of the overall situation just for the little things that happened in a hundred villages!
To be continued...