It took three days for Ji Jiu to restore the yard to its original cleanliness. Rotting doors and windows, broken water tanks, overturned stone tables, pitted earth walls... Quietly restoring everything to its original state, Ji Jiu sat in the sun basking in the sun. The sun was warm, and the breeze carried the fragrance of flowers. He drank tea with a peaceful expression. It seems that the world is quiet and beautiful, impeccable.
Those despair and sorrow, sadness and joy are all illusions.
Last year there was a severe drought in the south of the Yangtze River, and there was a plague of locusts in the northwest the year before last, and the torrential rain the year before last, flooding many grain fields. In such a year, the local gentry opened warehouses together with the government to provide disaster relief, and they barely survived. It was not until this year that the weather became smoother. In such years and months, when the army goes out to fight, it is a waste of money and harm to the people. When the army marches out, food and grass go first, and without food, they cannot move. Therefore, the emperor and Ji Jiu are waiting, waiting for a good year and more money and food to deal with an epic battle.
Ji Jiu yawned, rubbed his eyes, got up and went back to the room, sat in front of the desk and opened the pile of letters to read.
There were a few letters that had already been opened, and Ji Jiu took out the paper again. Most of them were nothing more than military matters. There were only a few lines in the letter, which were all ordinary trivial matters. Only one of them, Ji Jiu read for a long time, found that there was no There are only two lines of words, but the things described are unusual. The letter said that the Xiongnu army has changed recently.
Ji Jiu thought for a long time, and the first thing he can be sure of is that he hasn't gone to find the enemy yet, the enemy has come by himself. Then, he can also be sure that since even he can receive this message, the emperor must have received it too. In the end, Ji Jiu couldn't be sure of the emperor's intentions—whether he wanted to hide him here and let him come back when the final battle came, or... didn't want him to fight this battle at all
If it is the former, if the Huns come to attack, Ji Jiu is sure that he can lead the army to fight this time, if it is the latter... Ji Jiu thinks about it, but he doesn't quite understand why this is the case
Didn't we agree? He was the emperor, he was his general.
Didn't we agree? He sits in the world, and he is safe for him all over the world.
Didn't we agree
Ji Jiu threw away the letter, not knowing what else in this world can be trusted once.
Can only wait, waiting for the imperial decree to come. In fact, he is not impatient, Ji Jiu always feels that if the Huns attack, he still needs to meet in person in this battle. Looking at the government and the opposition with cold eyes, no one knows the Huns better than him.
The two years in the yellow sand are not a waste of time.
It was getting dark and there was a knock on the door, Ji Jiu got up to open the door, a wrinkled old man handed him a greasy package and a jug of fresh wine.
Ji Jiu smiled and said, "Thank you dumb, I've been bothering you recently."
The old man who was called dumb quickly waved his hands, opened his mouth and yelled "ah", but couldn't say a complete sentence.
Ji Jiu put the food on the table, the mute gestured to go to work, closed the door, and retreated to the courtyard.
Turning on the oil lamp, Ji Jiu sat at the table and ate his own dinner silently. The pancakes made by the farmer should be made for him, so he put in more oil and added a lot of diced meat. Opened on the table, the oil stains flow along the veins of the lotus leaves. Ji Jiu didn't have much appetite, but he didn't want to disappoint the dumb family's wishes, so he ate big mouthfuls, swallowed most of the water and wine, and swallowed most of it.
I couldn't eat the remaining half, so I put it aside, filled the teacup with wine, and drank it with my head raised.
The wine is cold, but it is warm in the stomach, and then warms the whole body. He has always been a good drinker, and he will not get drunk easily.
He poured himself and drank until late at night, there was a wind in the closed room, Ji Jiu paused with the hand holding the wine bowl, spilled a few drops of hops, and landed on the green robe.
Yi Mo also held a jar of wine and placed it next to his wine jar, one jar next to the other, as if shoulder to shoulder.
Ji Jiu put down the teacup slowly, looked at the two jugs of wine standing side by side on the table, and said after a while, "There are no appetizers."
Sitting opposite him, Yi Mo took an upside-down tea bowl, poured himself wine after putting it away, and said, "No need."
Ji Jiu smiled, nodded and said yes, and said, "What's the matter?"
"I'm here to say goodbye." Yi Mo said.
Something seemed to flash in Ji Jiu's eyes, but it was too fast, even Yi Mo couldn't catch it. I'm afraid only Ji Jiu himself knows what was going on in his mind at that moment.
But Ji Jiu didn't say it, but just raised the wine cup and said lightly: "In this case, this glass of wine should be practiced for you."
Immo drank it.
They didn't speak for a long time, each poured their own drinks, and occasionally met their eyes, but soon separated. Ji Jiu always looked away first, looking to one side or the other, always unwilling to meet his gaze, maybe because he didn't want to, or maybe because he didn't dare.
Ji Jiu drank a lot in the first place, so his wine jar was lit up first.
Shaking the empty wine jar, Ji Jiu said, "It's gone."
Yi Mo filled up his own wine for him, then poured it for himself, put down the jar that was also not much left, and said: "It's divided."
Ji Jiu thinks he can drink very well, and doesn't care what kind of wine he poured for himself, but after drinking three glasses in a row, Ji Jiu feels a little dazed, and at the same time, his heart beats very fast, and he can even hear the noise of blood flowing in his veins . Ji Jiu rubbed his forehead and asked, "What kind of wine is this? It's so powerful."
"Spring wine." Yi Mo said, and added: "It's also called Nvnvhong. I stole it. The woman in that family is ugly and crippled. No one wants it. The spring wine her father brewed for her has been buried for more than forty years. Years. Anyway, no one will drink it, so I brought it."
Ji Jiu supported his forehead and stared at him at first, but then he couldn't help but "puchi" and laughed lowly.
With this smile, his blood surged even more, and his head became a little dizzy.
Ji Jiu said, "Is there any more?"
Yi Mo picked up the wine jar and shook it again, "There is still a little left."
"Give it all to me." Ji Jiu rushed to say, and hugged the wine jar into his arms.
Yi Mo looked at his empty hands and sighed, "Do you want me to dig another altar?"
As usual, Ji Jiu would definitely refuse this question without thinking about it. But tonight, as if it suddenly became complicated, Ji Jiu thought about it for a long time and finally said: "Did her father brew a lot?"
Yi Mo said: "Three altars."
Ji Jiu said "Oh", and then said: "Then I want another jar." After a moment, as if he had a disturbed conscience, he asked him: "Anyway, she won't marry again, will she?"
Yi Mo thought for a while, and finally became firm: "In her situation, it is very difficult to get married."
Ji Jiu is at peace.
After drinking the last bit of wine, Ji Jiu lay down on the table, his face was flushed, and his breathing was a little urgent, which is the sign of a drunk person. The eyes are also blank, and at the same time have a wet color.
After laying down for a while, Ji Jiu muttered, "What kind of person is Shen Qingxuan?" He was so drunk that he couldn't speak clearly. Yi Mo listened, and it took a while to understand what he was asking.
After thinking about it, Yi Mo said, "Bad guy."
Ji Jiu lay on the table, laughing loudly. I don't know what I thought of, I kept laughing and laughing, tears came out, but I still couldn't hold it back.
Yi Mo leaned over to look at him for a while, "Drink too much?"
"No." Ji Jiu said immediately. Usually, those who drink too much say that they did not drink too much, and Yimomo is gone.
Talking to drunk people is usually the most difficult, because their thoughts are wandering, east, west, south, north, you never know what he will say next.
Yi Mo encountered this problem.
One moment Ji Jiu was still affirming that he was not drunk, the next moment, Ji Jiu asked: "What are you doing to force me?"
Yi Mo straightened out his thoughts and was about to answer when Ji Jiu jumped to another question and asked, "Who do you want me to be?"
Because he was drunk, Yi Mo also confessed that he didn't think about it this time, and said directly: "Of course it's Shen Qingxuan."
Ji Jiu raised his eyes, stared at him blankly for a while, and then asked him in a particularly innocent tone: "Then what should Ji Jiu do?"
Yi Mo was embarrassed for a while, and said honestly: "I don't know."
Hearing this, Ji Jiu stretched out his hand and pointed at his nose, as if he was about to yell at him, Yi Mo leaned back, instinctively trying to hide, but Ji Jiu pointed at him for a moment, then withdrew his hand without any hesitation. A merciless ridicule: "Idiot."
"..." Yi Mo didn't know where his thoughts went.
Ji Jiu propped his head with the hand that was pointing at him just now, and asked drunkenly with his eyes closed: "Before you looked for Shen Qingxuan, did you ever think that you would meet someone like Ji Jiu?"
Yi Mo said, "Thought about it."
"Then have you thought about how to solve it?"
Yi Mo said: "I thought about it, but there is no way."
Ji Jiu laughed "hehe", as if it was very funny, he kept laughing, and when he had enough, he said again: "Idiot." Yi Mo blinked, and heard Ji Jiu chanting: " You can't even think clearly, so you just look for it blindly. So what if you find it? There is no strategy in doing things, idiot."
"..." Yi Mo graciously refused to argue with him.
"Ji Jiu became Shen Qingxuan, what should Ji Jiu do?" Without looking at him again, Ji Jiu propped his head, thinking hard about this problem with his brain that had already started to knot, and murmured: "Ji Jiu entered the palace at the age of nine, Sixteen years old and Chen Ming forced the old emperor down, and the lives of a hundred and ten of his family were on his shoulders. Later, he became a general in the military camp, married a wife and had a son, um... and promised Chen Ming to be his wife. The general of soldiers and horses went to fight the Xiongnu." After a pause, Ji Jiu slammed the table and cursed: "The emperor is a liar!"
Yi Mo was stunned for a moment, "How did you lie to you?" This topic drifted away again.
"He said he asked me to fight the Huns." Ji Jiu stood up, stumbled to the case, threw a stack of letters to him, and said fiercely: "Look, the Huns are almost at the door, and he still asked me Nest here!"
Yi Mo opened the letter and was about to read it, but Ji Jiu snatched it away, and said to him with a serious face: "You are spying on the military situation!" Then he shouted: "Come here, tie him up for me, he is a secret agent !"
Yi Mo sighed, feeling a little headache.
Standing up and grabbing Ji Jiu's shoulder, Yi Mo shook him and said: "See who I am."
Ji Jiu stopped calling for someone, looked at him for a while, and suddenly said three words: "Old Demon Snake!"
Yi Mo: "..." It's okay, I still recognize it.
Ji Jiu pushed him away, because it was a sudden force, Yi Mo was not careful, and was pushed away, Ji Jiu stood there, shaking slightly, looked at him for a while, and said: "What did you do all those years ago?" Did you go? Why didn’t you come to me when I first entered the palace? When the princes were trying to find ways to torment us, they didn’t see you. What’s the use of looking for you now?”
Yi Mo said, "Is it useful to find you earlier?"
Ji Jiu chuckled: "It's better than you looking for now. At that time, I have time to be a dandy."
"Yi Mo." Ji Jiu suddenly raised his voice, and shouted loudly: "Ji Jiu has no time to turn around and become a playboy, you are too late!"
The quiet courtyard was no longer calm because of his sudden yelling, and even alarmed the dogs of the farmers' house not far away, and there was a burst of dog barking.
But Yi Mo stood there for a while, and said: "You can't be a dandy." Then said: "Because you are the only son of the Ji family."
Ji Jiu was dumbfounded, and asked back: "Really?" Seeing Yi Mo nodding, he was dumbfounded again, and then said: "Yes."
Yimo said, "Yes."
But Ji Jiu waited for a while, and said: "Anyway, you are looking for Shen Qingxuan, what does it have to do with you whether Ji Jiu is a dude?" It was reasonable, and he quickly added: "That's right, what does it have to do with you?"
Emer paused, and said, "For me, it's no different."
"Nonsense." Ji Jiu immediately retorted, plausibly saying: "Then I will make you immortal, why don't you go?"
"But..." Shen Qingxuan asked me to go, but I didn't go either. Before he could say this, Ji Jiu waved his sleeves and summed it up in one sentence: "You want to treat me as Shen Qingxuan, but you have never heard my words. If I say no, you just say yes. Is that the case? After all, you just use me as a tool for thinking."
This time, although his thoughts jumped quickly, Yi Mo knew what he was talking about, and immediately said: "Shen Qingxuan never said 'no'."
Ji Jiu blinked and said, "But I'm not Shen Qingxuan." Another innocent look.
"You are." Emer said.
"No." Ji Jiu said.
"Yes."
"no."
"Yes."
"But I didn't even know you ten years ago! My memory is only thirty years old!"
"But... I have two hundred years of memory, and you from the previous life."
Ji Jiu squatted down like a deflated ball, then covered her face and sat on the ground.
After a long time, I heard him say: "What about Ji Jiu? What about Wang Jiu, Chen Jiu, and Li Jiu in the future? If they don't treat you as well as Ji Jiu, what will you do? Keep looking?"
Yi Mo was silent for a moment, walked over to sit on the ground with him, and replied: "I don't know."
"Think about it." Ji Jiu lowered his head and murmured, "Shen Qingxuan is dead, gone, only his bones are left. If you want to accompany him to die, you go. If you don't want to, go and become a fairy." There are only two ways to go, you can't keep looking for it, even if you find it, you have to face a different Shen Qingxuan, maybe hate you, maybe fear you, maybe ignore you, you are not ready to face the opposite You said 'no' to Shen Qingxuan."
Yi Mo lowered his eyes and said softly: "Is there no other possibility?"
"No more." Ji Jiu also replied softly: "I've thought about it for a long time, no. Even if you find him in a certain life, at the right time and the right place, you are together again. But it's only a few decades, and you will be lost. And then it will go on and on.”
"Yi Mo," Ji Jiu said, "my days are numbered, and a man's words are good even when he is about to die, so just trust me. Go and become a fairy."
Yi Mo looked at him, first glanced casually, and then his eyes became serious, with the meaning of scrutiny. After looking at him for a long time, Yi Mo said, "You really want me to go?"
Ji Jiu said, "Is it meaningful for you to keep it?"
Again there was silence.
Yi Mo said, "Stay with me one more night."
Ji Jiu said, "Get lost."
Yi Mo said, "Ji Jiu is with me."
Ji Jiu was silent.
The author has something to say: Explanation about yesterday’s convulsion and the recent controversy: writing "Meeting the Snake" was not a whim. At the beginning of writing, I just wanted to draw an arc, from the beginning to the end, to grind away all the edges and corners. Pay blood and tears, and then the two people can really be together. So there are three parts.
But in the process of writing, I also raised some unclear questions before myself, such as why I love, why I give up if I love it, and why I never say it if I like it. Etc., etc.
So what is love? Love is tolerance, love is patience, love is compromise—even a compromise that pulls out one's own thorns dripping with blood one by one.
Some people love Shen Qingxuan's madness because he brings out the selfishness of love to the fullest; some people love Yi Mo and his pursuit because he shows his persistence. There are also people who love Ji Jiu, because he started to change from hatred, from the pity on the surface to the quiet heartbeat hidden in the depths—and he is always sober, knowing that he can only be Ji Jiu.
Everyone has different preferences and views, so you are all right and not wrong.
However, they all have thorns. Some thorns grow on the surface of the skin, and we can see them at a glance, such as Ji Jiu. Some thorns are covered up in the name of love, like Yimo. Some thorns are also hidden in the name of love - such as Shen Qingxuan.
These thorns make them strong, but also make them weak, because the one they love cannot really get close to them, and they have no real liberation, and they are always "as if something is lost" and cannot be fulfilled.
What I want is such a bloody process. I want them to appreciate the pain and live a happy life. I want them to know that if they want to get something, they must pay. Open it and see what is inside, and what does this heart want. Because there are no fairy tales in this world.
Nor do they believe in fairy tales. —This is the reason why this article is written today: Humans and monsters have different paths. If they want to return together, they have to pay a price. They have to learn to face reality and learn to compromise with this world.
This process may be cruel, but we all know that the warmth and tranquility after the cruelty is what the heart desires.
——
Therefore, many people care subjectively, such as: Ji Jiu is not Shen Qingxuan, the second part has been replaced, Orochi is too pitiful, Shen Qingxuan is better, etc.
Both me and me are false. What I care about is how such a man and a demon can get back together through different paths and overcoming obstacles.
The process was of course brutal. Also of course I have been very restrained and write carefully to avoid such tragedy.
So, stop arguing. Those who are willing to watch such a tragic story, calm down and walk with me.
If you don't want to, goodbye in Jianghu.