In the eleventh year of Yuan Sui, on the ninth day of the first lunar month, the sun rose in the rain, and the sky was clear and blue.
Just after the New Year, no one came to sweep up the red paper used to set off firecrackers all over Yunzhi City. They were scattered all over the streets, like colorful fallen flowers. Overnight, countless golden flowers suddenly bloomed on the plum trees in the city.
Plum trees add a little bit of life to the lifeless branches, and also indicate that a new spring has quietly arrived.
However, none of this made Leng Jiayun happy.
Although three months had passed since she entered the city, she heard on the city wall that day about two assassins from the Ye Kingdom sneaking into Yunzhi, but nothing was said about it. Now everything in the city is as usual, although the Duke of Fu has strengthened the defense.
They also sent people to secretly investigate for a long time, but in the end they still found nothing. To this day, even the woman herself began to wonder whether she was hallucinating because she was drunk.
Perhaps it has been a long time since I received news from Ye State. There are even rumors that even the boat division cavalry that broke into the territory of Fu State earlier have been evacuated. But the more this happens, the more uneasy Leng Jiayun feels in her heart.
The yearning for Xiang Baili grows more and more day by day.
On the day of entering the city, Xiang Baili appeared in front of the woman after being drunk. His voice and smile were hazy but real, which even made her naively believe that her lover had not left, and that as long as she could get drunk, she could meet him again.
So that day, she picked up the wine jar again, planning to get herself drunk.
Although the yellow plum wine produced in Fuguo is not as overbearing as the Qingli Shao brewed by Leng Jiayun himself, it has a sweet and mellow taste. Although it is not noticeable at the first entrance, it has a strong aftertaste. After half a jar of wine, Leng Jiayun already feels that
, I feel like I have returned to twenty-three years ago and become the young girl selling wine in Ye Licheng wine shop...
In the spring of the thirty-sixth year of Emperor Huan's reign, the city of Yeli was destroyed. The 30,000 rebels in the city were defeated by the king's 5,000 elite troops. After being defeated, they abandoned their weapons and surrendered. The people of Yeli, who had suffered from years of war, also opened the city gates and laughed.
Looking forward to welcoming this belated peace.
The road into the city was crowded with dark crowds, including many young girls of sixteen or seventeen years old like Leng Jiayun. They all heard that the five thousand elite soldiers who fought the rebels to the death were led by a young and handsome boy.
The generals led them, so they all wanted to see his face on the roadside.
Yeli City is far away from the southern end of Yizhou, with congested transportation and little contact with other countries in the Central Plains. It has never seen such a majestic army. When the soldiers wearing white armor representing the Great Sheng Emperor's family held high the three-legged
As soon as the huge royal flag of the Golden Crow appeared at the gate of the city, the crowd began to cheer and applaud thunderously.
Leng Jiayun's eyes were quickly attracted to a young general in the team. The man's hair was not tied up, but hung messily on his shoulders. He was not wearing armor, but was wearing a green
He wears a long robe with two long knives, one black and one red, hanging on his waist. He looks out of place with the soldiers around him, but deep down, there is clearly a sense of wantonness and uninhibitedness. It is precisely this kind of attire that makes the other party stand out.
He seemed out of place among the team.
"Hey, could this be General Baili who defeated the rebels yesterday with a small victory over a large number?"
"It seems so. I heard that he also dressed like this on the battlefield."
"If you don't wear armor in battle, aren't you afraid of getting hurt?"
"How could he be injured? It is said that Master Baili's martial arts skills are very good, and he can defeat a hundred people on the battlefield. Have you seen the two long knives on his waist? It is said that on the battlefield yesterday, he was
He wielded these two sharp weapons and entered and exited the enemy formation ten times without getting hurt. Those rebels were already dead and missing before they could get within five steps of him!"
"But if we met him on a daily basis, we would never expect that he is so powerful."
"Yes, he looks like he is only seventeen or eighteen years old, not much older than us, but he has already made outstanding achievements in battle."
"It would be great if one day I could be favored by such a young hero and be entrusted with him for the rest of my life."
The chattering chatter of several young girls beside her drifted into Leng Jiayun's ears on the wind. She watched the green-clad general riding in front of her without blinking, and suddenly felt like
He was hit hard by something.
Xiang Baili's figure gradually walked farther away, and the girls on the street followed the horse like a flock of sparrows. However, Leng Jiayun shook her head mockingly, turned and left:
"If he can be favored...it's a pity that such a hero can't fall in love with a Dongli wine girl..."
A few days after the king's army entered the city, news could be heard everywhere that the green-robed general had allocated part of the army's food and grass and distributed it to the people in various parts of the city. The lives of the people in the city soon returned to normal. Leng Jia
The business of Yun's wine shop is getting better day by day.
However, the store was busy and the girl Dongli, who was secretly interested in her, did not get another chance to go out. However, she did not dare to expect anything extravagantly. She just looked outside the store door from time to time every day, hoping that the young man would come out of her door.
I passed by him, even if it was just to let her take another look.
"Girl, please bring me a pot of wine and a plate of meat."
A strange voice sounded in her ears, which brought Leng Jiayun, who had her head down in front of the cabinet in a daze, back to her senses. She suddenly raised her eyes and saw that the young man in green clothes who made her think about her day and night, actually seemed to be at this moment.
Standing in front of him as if in a dream. The opponent did not carry the two swords originally hanging on his waist today. He lost a bit of vigor and seemed more approachable.
"Sir Baili - why did you suddenly come to our little shop?"
The sudden encounter made the Dongli girl extremely nervous. She felt a little fever on her face and stammered in Dashengguan dialect with a slight accent.
"You actually recognize me?"
The young man's eyes were very bright. Hearing Leng Jiayun's question, he laughed a little sheepishly. His smile was as bright as the warm spring sun and melted into the girl's heart.
"The name Xiang Baili has been spread throughout the city for a long time. What would you like to drink, General?"
The Dongli girl smiled shyly, then led the other person to an empty table, took off the rag from her waist and wiped it carefully. This was the first time she was so close to the other person, and she felt her heart pounding.
Jumping wildly.
"I once heard that there is a famous wine in Dongli called Qinglishao?"
"General, you are right. Many restaurants in Yeli City sell this Qingli Shao, but our wine is brewed from the snow water on Hezhai Mountain. It is soft in the mouth and sweeter in the aftertaste."
"Okay, okay! Get a jar first -" the young general said and went to touch his purse at his waist. However, when he reached halfway, he suddenly retracted in embarrassment, "I'm really sorry, I came out in a hurry today.
I forgot to bring my money. Can you do credit here?"
"Of course you can, as long as you leave something of your own as compensation." Leng Jiayun nodded and agreed without thinking.
Unexpectedly, the green-robed general became more and more embarrassed. He turned around and walked quickly towards the door: "Oh, I even forgot to bring my sword today!"
"Hey, it's okay if you don't have anything to offer as a countervail -"
Seeing that the other party was about to leave, the Dongli girl suddenly became anxious and opened her mouth to keep the other party. Unexpectedly, the young man turned back in the blink of an eye, holding a blooming flower between his fingers:
"Girl, I saw that the crabapples outside the house are in full bloom, so I will use them to pay for drinks today. From now on, no matter you or your store need help with anything, just bring the crabapples and send a message to my camp, and Baili will be settled
All requests are answered.”
"Sir, how did you know that my daughter likes Haitang?"
Leng Jiayun suddenly froze on the spot. After a long while, she took the flower, as happy as a child.
"The serene beauty makes the spring clear, and the fragrance is still there after the rain. I have long heard that this flower grows in Yizhou. It is beautiful and stubborn. Ye Li besieged the city for half a year, but he did not expect that it would regain its vitality so quickly. I suddenly felt that I was born here.
You, the girl in troubled times, are just like this flower, beautiful and strong."
Xiang Baili suddenly sighed with emotion, and before the girl could react, he actually took the wine jar in his hand, cut open the seal, raised his head and drank heavily.
"What a good wine! It's strong and fragrant enough! Get another jar!"
"Sir, this wine is very strong, you cannot drink it like this!"
After much hesitation, Leng Jiayun still took a jar of wine and stepped forward. She also wanted to persuade the young general not to drink too much, but she saw that the other party's face had already turned red, and he actually grabbed her wrist and pulled her down.
Sitting next to him:
"Girl, you and I are about the same age, so there is no need to hide it from you. Before, I and my mother wandered here. If I hadn't been taken in by kind people in the city, I would have turned into a withered skeleton in the wilderness today. These days, I have been dreaming about my mother every night.
I was told in my dream that I must do something for the people in this city. But now, I can’t even find my mother’s remains!”
Two lines of hot tears poured out of Baili's eyes without warning, and fell on the table. At this time, the girl Dongli didn't know what kind of changes had happened to the young man in front of her, but she saw the other person suddenly crying like this.
Feeling sad, she let him hold her wrist tightly and watched as he drank the wine in front of him in one gulp.
As if trying to drink away his sorrows, Qingyi Ginseng soon became extremely drunk. Even though he was lying on the table, he was still saying something vaguely. Maybe he missed his relatives, or maybe he was cursing this person.
The world of cannibalism. However, from the beginning to the end, Leng Jiayun never interrupted him. Because she knew in her heart that perhaps only being drunk could make the other person temporarily forget the pain that once penetrated the bone marrow.
"What kind of world is this? Can a crabapple flower be used to pay for a drink?!"
Suddenly, a man yelled angrily, causing the girl to stand up from her seat in shock. The speaker was the owner of the wine shop and Leng Jiayun's adoptive father. He had been in the wine cellar at the back.
I was busy, and I was coming out with two jars of new wine. When I saw someone actually exchanging flowers for two jars of good wine, I was furious.
"Dad, this is Master Baili who defeated the rebels a few days ago. Their army has now been stationed outside the city. It's just a few drinks on credit. I won't give it away."
The Dongli girl quickly explained to the young general, but she seemed to be quite afraid of the adoptive father in front of her.
"Are you familiar with him? Why are you talking to outsiders?" The man stood up reluctantly, grabbed the girl's hair and dragged her away from the table, "If it weren't for these dog officials from Yujing,
How could the rebels rebel and cause trouble if they exploited me, Ye Li, in every possible way? If it weren’t for this group of soldiers who suppressed the country, how could so many people have died in the city? There are so many customers in the store, but you are the only one accompanying this one
You're a deadbeat, you're a drunkard, I didn't buy you here just for you to pick up the pieces and go against me!"
"Dad, what you said has nothing to do with Master Baili, and there is nothing he can do about it! Now I only know that it is thanks to him that we were not trapped alive and starved to death in Yeli City. It is also thanks to him,
Only then can our family's wine shop be reopened. He is kind to the living people, so why can't he give a few drinks on credit?"
Unexpectedly, Leng Jiayun, who has always been gentle and courteous, would confront her stingy adoptive father face to face for the first time. When the drinkers at other tables in the store saw this, they also took her side - after all, what is the fate of this world?
Is it true that the Bai Jiang clan's world has nothing to do with the common people? As long as you don't have to worry about it every day, and you can have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a house to live in, it is already a great gift.
In this way, under the glare of the wine shop owner, the girl from Dongli used the little money she had to hire a carriage, and together with a drinker, helped her up to Baili and sent her back to the camp.
It was only then that she discovered that the drunken young general had left a worn-out official boot on the table.
"He - will definitely come back again, right?"
The girl who had just begun to fall in love secretly prayed in her heart, hoping that God would bless Xiang Baili and be safe, and she also looked forward to meeting him again.