Du Xuan brought tea and placed it on the stone table in the courtyard.
Song Qingtang looked at Shen Lie who was sitting opposite and said, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Shen Lie said, "Master Zhu is awesome. I thought the situation in Beijing would be difficult to control. After entering the city, we came all the way and it was better than I thought."
"These are not things that we can learn," Song Qingtang picked up the tea and said, "Master Zhu didn't learn it either. He relied on practice and spent half his life as an official."
This way of being an official is not about the ups and downs of officialdom, glib talk, and flattery, but the real experience of governing the world.
Shen Lie nodded and said, "What are your plans for the future? I will leave Beijing in three days."
"Three days?"
"The world is in chaos, and it is impossible for my grandfather to stay out of it. My uncles are urging me to go back," Shen Lie said, "What about you, where are you going next?"
Song Qingtang frowned and said: "Dongping Academy wants to move to Hengxiang. Maybe I will send them all the way, or maybe I will continue to stay in the capital."
"Where are Master Zhu and the others?"
"Master Zhu wants to continue to be in Beijing. I have advised him, but he must leave these people behind unless he dies."
As he spoke, Song Qingtang became irritable: "But you also know that what he did on Da'an Road was the crime of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan. In these days, the emperor issued several imperial edicts in succession, summoning him to Hejing."
Dai Yu on the side really couldn't listen anymore and couldn't help but said: "How can he still have shame? He just ran away after pooping. It's rare that there is someone willing to wipe his butt from behind. It's good for him not to let others do it." He tied his pants afterward!”
"Cough." Shen Lie coughed lightly.
Du Xuan quickly elbowed him: "What are you talking about!"
"I'm so angry!" Dai Yu shouted.
"Actually, I still don't understand," Song Qingtang said, "I don't understand who I am guarding for now. I say it is for Da Qian, but the emperor has run away. If it is not for Da Qian, then why do I keep guarding? ?”
"Then why are you still guarding?" Shen Lie asked back.
"This is what gives me a headache!" Song Qingtang said angrily, "I don't want to guard, but I want to guard. If you really want me to leave now, I simply can't do it. But if you ask me to guard, I I’m very unhappy again, I’m so angry with myself!”
He raised his hand to pour tea, drank it down, and continued: "The refugees are easy to deal with now, but when the mighty rebels come all the way to the capital, it will be impossible to defend it with the strength of the city. If In the unlikely event that we can really defend it, what then? Open the city gates and welcome the emperor back? Then, wait for the emperor to chop off the heads of a few of us? Especially what Mr. Zhu did, the emperor is afraid that he will He will not forgive his hatred even after four or five times."
These words have been accumulating in Song Qingtang's mind for this period of time. No one can say them to him, which makes him particularly distressed.
He is a military commander in the imperial court and a citizen of Daqian. His father is the minister of the court. His sense of belonging and identification with Daqian has been ingrained in his bones since he was a child.
But after the incident at Dongping Academy, he fell into deep confusion and cognitive doubt.
After drinking another cup of tea, Song Qingtang calmed down, looked at the young man opposite who was silent and thoughtful, and said: "What experience have you had during this time? You said you were going to chase someone, but you caught up. ?”
"Yes," Shen Lie nodded, "I caught up."
"Who are you chasing? Is everything okay? Are you seriously injured?"
"Fortunately, I can't die." Shen Lie said.
A gust of wind blew, and the withered leaves fell from the trees and fell on their stone table. Shen Lie looked at it, paused, and said, "Ah Li should come to the capital."
"She left Beijing?" Song Qingtang said.
"Well, we met."
"I'm telling you! I haven't been able to find her in the past ten days. She really left Beijing!" Song Qingtang shouted, "It's a shame I worried about her for so long!"
"She should be here to help Mr. Zhu," Shen Lie said, "but she has been seriously ill these days, and she will not recover well when she returns to Beijing. If she needs help, please help her."
"Should I help her?" Song Qingtang snorted, "She used to be as alive as a loach, but I couldn't do anything about her. Finally, she got sick, and I had to find her way back."
Shen Lie curled his lips and said lightly: "So Song Lang will only be able to find his place when someone is sick?"
"It's so shameless," Song Qingtang didn't care, "It's her fault. You don't know how much I suffered at her hands!"
But as he spoke, Song Qingtang suddenly smiled.
He hadn't smiled for several days, but suddenly he smiled happily and relaxedly.
Seeing Shen Lie's gaze, he raised his hand, waved it, and said with a smile: "I still miss her."
As long as nothing happened, he was really worried that something would happen to her.
God knows, when he slept on the hard wooden bed in Zhibei Yamen these past few days, he tossed and turned and couldn't calm down.
There are a lot of thoughts in my mind, and eventually these thoughts will turn into a face. The girl is standing on the snow, holding an umbrella in her hand, her eyes are clear and bright, looking at him across the crowd.
Although he suppressed his smile, Song Qingtang still had a smile in his eyes. These days, the city was full of lifelessness. When he went to defend the city, he saw death everywhere. The refugees launched three fierce attacks with concentrated firepower. , forcing him to fight back with swords and guns against these poor people in the cold. He had lived a really depressed and exhausted life, but now, just hearing that she was about to appear made him feel happy and comfortable.
Shen Lie sat opposite him, frowning slightly.
Song Qingtang's appearance seemed familiar to Shen Lie, as if he had seen him somewhere...
Du Xuan and Dai Yu looked sideways at their young master, as if they could read his mind.
The two of them silently said in unison: Master, isn't that you?
"You," Shen Lie said, "you treat Ah Li..."
Song Qingtang came back to his senses, raised his eyes and said, "What?"
Shen Lie shook his head: "That's it, it's nothing."
"Okay," Song Qingtang said, "Are you sure you will leave Beijing in three days? When will it be?"
"The sooner the better, maybe we can leave in time."
"Hey," Song Qingtang sighed and said, "It's a pity. You must be going to Zuilu. Zuilu is extremely far away from the capital or Hengxiang. I don't know when we will meet next time."
"We'll see you again."
"I hope I will still be alive at that time," Song Qingtang suddenly smiled, "Although the Emperor's Tianrong Guards cannot defend the city or fight the war, they are very capable of chasing and assassinating people for thousands of miles. My father, I, and Mr. Zhu, Gentlemen of Dongping Academy, we really can’t guarantee that one day we will fall asleep and never wake up again.”
"Exaggerated." Shen Lie said.
"I hope," Song Qingtang stood up and said, "You should go and rest. You will have to travel a long distance after this injury, which is unbearable. I originally planned to ask you to analyze the world situation, but you look like this. I can’t bear to nag you anymore. I’m going to patrol the city first, and I’ll come back to you when I have some free time.”
