The autumn wind gradually began to rise, and the white dew turned into frost. On the tenth day after the Qiqiao Festival, a large group of swan geese flew into Mulu City from the north and settled in Huaqin Pond. What followed was the bleak night wind and the early morning grass.
There was a touch of white frost left on the branches. Only then did people still wearing summer clothes realize that the autumn mood was gradually getting stronger without even realizing it.
As the sun sets, under the still green pines and cypresses, a leisurely ancient tune can be faintly heard in Zheliu Pavilion. The nine-hole pottery xun plays a simple scale on the lips of the green-robed general with a short beard, bringing joy to the already cold courtyard.
A touch of sadness was added to it.
A few days ago in the main hall, Xiang Baili felt more and more because of the capriciousness of the king that this hasty dispatch of troops might be the result that Jinghai Marquis Qi Shouyu wanted. However, he could not guess the deep meaning behind the other party's move.
Toru. What is even more disturbing is that the king has been ill since that day, so that he went to the palace several times to seek permission without success.
Seeing that the army was about to leave in the near future, the hope of persuading the king to stop the army became increasingly slim. General Tsing Yi was in a complicated mood and locked himself in Zheliuxuan for three days in a row, saving several jars of Qingli.
It also quickly bottomed out.
A sudden knock on the door made the ancient music in the courtyard stop abruptly, and frightened several squirrels squatting in front of the house to drop their pine cones and fly up the tree.
Xiang Baili inside the house did not move, and had no intention of getting up to greet him. However, a moment later there was a knock on the door again, followed by a woman's slightly anxious voice:
"Baili, I know you are at home, please open the door for me quickly!"
General Tsing Yi frowned, put on a pair of black official boots that had been worn to white but were very clean, and ran to the courtyard door in three steps. The wooden door opened slightly, and the person standing outside the door was
The graceful woman in purple clothes, with a wine jar in her arms, was none other than Leng Jiayun, the hostess of Jiayunzhai.
Xiang Baili immediately pulled him into the courtyard, then turned around and closed the door tightly, shouting in a low voice:
"Why did you come to me without permission?!"
"Don't worry, I was very careful along the way so that no one could see me." Leng Jiayun was pulled almost off balance, but she still tried to remain calm. The silver ornaments on her head swayed and bumped together, jingling like wind chimes.
Facing this willful woman, the man in Tsing Yi seemed a little helpless: "It's okay if someone sees me! Why are you looking for me in such a hurry?"
"I heard from those two children that you have not returned to the palace for several days, and you have not continued to teach them martial arts. I know that you will panic when you have a wine bug in your stomach if you don't have wine, so I specially brought you a jar of new wine.
Kill greedy."
Leng Jiayun pursed her lips and smiled, and handed the wine jar in her hand to the opponent who spoke sternly. However, she never thought that the general who always loved wine was uncharacteristic and did not immediately open the mud seal and take a few sips, but just stared at the woman's flowery face.
Smile asked:
"Xiaojia, just tell me. When you come here today, do you still intend to persuade me not to lead the army into battle? I am the commander of the navy, so there is no reason why I should not go with the army. Besides, I have never eaten anything since I joined the army.
If you fail, you can rest assured."
When Leng Jiayun was told the central matter, a smile suddenly appeared on her face. Then she lowered her eyes, and something flashed in her eyes, bright and clear:
"You will say that it is useless. It is too strange to send troops, but the king fell ill at this time. It is obvious that someone wants to take this opportunity to drive you away from the palace. What's more, you and Qi Shouyu are
There has been a long-standing grudge between the two. Regardless of whether he was behind the scenes, he was going to attack the Peng Kingdom, which was thousands of miles away. If anything went wrong on the way, he would definitely take the opportunity to slander the government and the public. This is a matter of life and death.
How can people not worry about big things?"
General Tsing Yi turned his head and did not dare to look at the woman again. As if he was afraid that he would be persuaded by the other party, he murmured: "So during my absence, I will leave the affairs of the city to you, as well as the three children.
.”
"Please? Baili, we have been planning for more than 20 years, and the people in Qingwan have been impatient for a long time. Why don't we take advantage of the country's military dispatch and the lack of coastal defense to go to sea and fulfill my brother's legacy?"
,Leave here forever——"
The woman asked back. However, before she finished speaking, Xiang Baili interrupted her: "But if we leave like this, what will the soldiers who went to attack Peng State do?"
"What should I do?" Leng Jiayun asked in surprise.
General Qingyi let out a long sigh: "Xiaojia, it's not difficult for you and I to go back to Qingwan together, but many of the soldiers in Baisha Camp were brought out by me myself. If the general escapes during the battle, they will probably
In Pengguo, he even lost his life on the way to Pengguo!"
"But those people waiting in Qingwan are the ones we can't give up! They have waited for so long just to one day find a land of bliss and a home that truly belongs to them!"
The woman finally couldn't help but refuted it. But after hearing this, Xiang Baili just shook his head:
"But now, in my eyes, the young people in Baisha Camp are no different from the people who stayed in Qingwan. They are all living people, but you asked me to choose between the two, so what can I do?
It can be done easily! Qingwan can still wait now, but we are about to go into battle to kill them, but we can’t wait any longer!"
"Baili, don't forget, when you made your promise to them personally and brought me to Mulu City -"
"Back then, I was too naive and thought of everything too simply. What I thought was correct back then may not be the truth now. And what I thought was wrong back then may not be all fallacies."
The two people who were arguing suddenly fell into silence. After a long time, Leng Jiayun spoke again, but did not try to persuade the other party:
"Baili, you are right... After all these years, many things are no longer as simple and pure as they were back then. It's just that we were in it and didn't have time to notice it, let alone realize that we had already
It’s changed. If you insist on going, I won’t stop you anymore. I will also take good care of the three children and won’t bother you to worry about them. It’s just that the child of Yan Yan——”
Before the other party finished speaking, the man had already guessed what the other party wanted to say: "You don't need to remind me, I can already feel it. Ever since that kid learned how to destroy mountains, the hostility in his body has become stronger and stronger."
The woman nodded and continued hesitantly: "Yes. I always feel that there seems to be something pushing him from behind, and he runs forward desperately. Since he killed the Di man outside the city last time, he
He became even more taciturn..."
"The power to destroy mountains is limited after all. The reason why the child is like this is probably more because of the knot in his heart. Therefore, I hope you can enlighten him more for me. At least compared to me, those three children seem to be more powerful. I like to talk to you."
After giving instructions to the woman, General Qingyi suddenly stopped talking, turned back to the house, took out two small cups, placed them on the bluestone table in the courtyard, and then opened the wine jar in his hand. Suddenly there was a refreshing feeling. The aroma of wine overflowed in the courtyard, and he poured the wine and said:
"Let's not talk about this. We won't be able to contact you for at least the next few months. Xiaojia, you can have a drink with me today."
"Baili, you clearly know that I won't-"
Leng Jiayun suddenly stopped in the middle of her words. She immediately picked up the porcelain cup on the bluestone table, raised her head and poured a full glass of strong wine into her stomach. She choked on the spot and started coughing repeatedly.
A rare smile appeared on Xiang Baili's face, and he drank the wine in one gulp:
"I don't know how to drink, but the Qingli Shao I brew is the best in Mulu City, no, in the whole of Dasheng!"
"It's still a lot worse than when I was in Ye Li. It's just that you've gotten used to drinking over the years..."
Under the influence of alcohol, a faint blush appeared on the woman's face. When illuminated by the golden sunset, she looked as charming as a girl waiting to be married in a boudoir.
"Xiaojia, you are still so beautiful. It's a pity that the last begonias in the courtyard in late summer have faded, and the new seedlings that were cut before autumn have not bloomed yet. Otherwise, I would definitely pick a few branches and give them to you with my own hands. Put it on your head.”
"Just like when you and I first met?" Leng Jiayun's eyes were hazy, as if he was reminiscing about the past.
"Yes, just like when you and I first met."
General Qingyi smiled and filled the small cup in front of him with wine: "I remember when I first led the army into Yeli City, I wanted to go to the wine shop to buy wine and only then realized that I had forgotten to bring money. But I didn't. I thought there would be a pretty wine-selling girl who would agree to give me credit, as long as I use one of my belongings as payment."
"So you went to pick a blooming crabapple from the tree outside the store, and then sat down and got drunk. The girl had no choice but to pay for the wine first and let you sleep in the store. One night, I even mended the boots on your feet with my own hands -" Leng Jiayun then noticed the old pair of shoes on the feet of General Qingyi, covered her mouth and smiled, "A pair of stinky boots, How many years have you worn it and still you can’t bear to throw it away?”
"There are traces of the girl's sewing on these boots, so how could I be willing to throw them away? I still remember that after I sobered up, I learned that the girl was the adopted daughter of the wine shop owner, so I came to propose marriage with a betrothal gift. But I never even dreamed that the girl would agree right away! But over the years, she never told me why she agreed in the first place?"
Xiang Baili also became excited as he spoke, and gently took the woman's hand.
"Okay, okay, let me tell you now. The reason why that girl agreed to this marriage back then was all because you acted like this when you were drunk. You grabbed her hand and refused to let go, and you talked to her endlessly. The strange things in this world. The girl has been suppressed in Yeli City for a long time, so she naturally wants to see this world with you."
"So from then on, Xiaojia, you have been willing to wander around with me and endure so much hardship..." General Qingyi suddenly stopped smiling, and his words were full of guilt.
"It's hard to say. If I hadn't followed you out, I might have been taken as a concubine by the wine shop owner, or sold to a foreign country to marry a farmer I didn't know, and I would have been trapped in Yizhou forever. This
There are countless possibilities in the world. Now that I have chosen it, I will never regret it. Moreover, even if I can really turn back, I will still make the same choice. Why are you suddenly saying this? Drink your wine.
yes."
The woman in purple couldn't help feeling a little emotional. While comforting the man in front of her, she took the wine jar from the other man's hand and poured a full cup for herself.
"Xiaojia, if I had known you had such a large amount of wine, I should have brought a large jar of wine."
Xiang Baili made a joke about the other party. It was as if he had become the unruly young man who chatted with the wine girl and scolded Fang Qiu in the Yelicheng wine shop again. For more than twenty years, he and Leng Jiayun had been very close.
We rarely see each other, and we don't even have the opportunity to drink together. At this moment, he suddenly felt that his heart was full of endless words.
"Even if I deliberately don't give you more, I will ask you to think about this wine and me when you are out leading the army. When you go into battle, you won't -" Leng Jiayun suddenly choked up and hurriedly finished the second half of his sentence.
She swallowed it back in her stomach, fearing that what she said had become a motto. However, the man in front of her had already guessed her thoughts, and just shook his head and smiled:
"Don't worry, it won't happen. I am the strongest general on land, Xiang Baili. When the begonias in this courtyard bloom again next year, you will hear the news of my victorious return. I promise you!"
Leng Jiayun didn't say anything more. She seemed dizzy and sat down on the small stool next to the bluestone platform. She stared blankly at a crabapple tree next to her that had just sprouted a few buds. She softly hummed a melodious ballad in her mouth.
:
“Mandarin birds fly in pairs, and colorful butterflies fly together.
When we are ready to sip, why don’t you return?
Throw your eyebrows in the light of the moon, and comb your hair in the mirror.
Huafa has a single lifespan of a hundred years, and the open window opens to the branches.
The land ends and the sea ends.
Life and death are settled, I only hope for your return.
The vast sea is difficult to make water, but the old place is still like a harp.
I miss you so much, but I can only promise you a lot of money in the past."
The song is exactly the same as the ancient tune that Xiang Baili played with a pottery xun before, but with the lyrics, it shows a bit of reluctance and the tenderness of lovesickness.
In this way, the two of them drank and chatted in the courtyard until the night was getting darker and the moon was in the sky. However, they did not know that under some towering pines and cypresses not far outside the courtyard, there was always standing a mysterious man wearing the pattern of a marine falcon.
The figure of A. The man had been guarding the forest for a whole day, and it was not until he saw the woman in purple coming to visit that he quietly approached.
As the night passed, the voices in the courtyard gradually became quieter. The figure just confirmed that Leng Jiayun was not planning to leave Zheliuxuan tonight. He angrily squeezed the long handle of the broad-backed saber in his hand and made no sound
He turned around and walked towards the foot of the pine hill. The moonlight shone on his livid face, showing a fierce look with bulging eyes.
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