The sun was rising and Ji Jiu woke up in a daze. He opened his eyes with a splitting headache. He closed his eyes again and lay motionless, his mind completely blank. It seems that when the world was in chaos, the sky and the earth were still a huge egg, and he was the baby sleeping in that egg, ignorant and ignorant. No memory, no past, no past, and no future. Unaware of the world's affairs, peace and joy.
But he was not a baby after all, after the hangover blank passed, the things that had happened drifted past in his mind one after another. Ji Jiu blinked and woke up completely.
Pulling the quilt and sitting up, Ji Jiu leaned against the head of the bed and opened the curtain.
The mess I thought I would see did not appear in front of my eyes. The neat table case, the folded official documents, the paper, ink, pens and inkstones, and even the tea cups were all placed on the table intact, which was not what I remembered. debris.
Ji Jiu almost thought that he was hallucinating and everything was just a dream.
Then, he saw the jar of wine.
It was dug out from the ground, the soil had not been wiped clean, let alone unopened, like a fruit just dug out of the soil, with an inherent fragrance, it stood upright in the center of the long table.
This is the spring wine he wanted. Ji Jiu remembered.
Then I naturally thought of the scene where the man sneaked into someone's yard to dig wine before dawn. I don't know if it was more funny or more sad.
It's just that his face is still calm, as if everything has nothing to do with him.
After sitting for a while, he got up, tidied up the bed, carried the mattress to the courtyard to dry, then tore off the soiled brocade and silk cloth, took a wooden bucket, and went to the river to wash it.
When doing these things, Ji Jiu's face was also indifferent, only when he lowered his head and scrubbed the suspicious marks on it, did some redness appear behind his ears, and he remained ashamed and calm.
Since then, Ji Jiu hasn't seen Yi Mo again.
Before the waiting Huang Yu came, Ji Jiu could hold his breath, drinking and painting, reciting books and building buildings, the sun rose and the moon set over the small courtyard, and a year passed.
The dumb man who took care of his daily life cleaned the yard every day and took care of his three meals. The only change is that at the beginning of spring this year, Ji Jiu's correspondence became more frequent, almost every few days someone on a fast horse would knock on the courtyard door.
Although the mute is a countryman, he also knows that the status of the people in this yard is extraordinary. If something happens, it is almost like a military.
One day, the dumb uncle brought a child, aged fourteen or fifteen, with two hanging ears in a bun, and innocent eyebrows, to look for Ji Jiu.
The mute couldn't speak, so he asked the child to speak by himself. The child was very shy, and before he could say anything, his face turned red. Seeing this scene, Ji Jiu understood most of it in his heart, so he asked, "You came to see me, do you want to join the army?"
The mute shouted "Ah" and nodded. Pointing at the child, and pointing at Ji Jiu, indicating that he wants him to follow Ji Jiu.
Ji Jiu asked him if he had any brothers, the child shook his head, then asked if he had parents, the child nodded quickly again.
Ji Jiu said: "If you join the army with me and die in battle tomorrow, who will serve the old mother? Who will take care of the old father? Who will inherit the incense in the family? It is the rule for the only son to stay at home. Don't talk about it."
Just refused.
The child's eyes were red, and he ran away without saying a word.
The mute made gestures to explain, and Ji Jiu watched for a while before he realized that the boy had an elder brother who joined the army five years ago and died later. The two brothers had a good relationship. The elder brother died, but the younger brother was determined to avenge his elder brother. He had no way out. He heard that there was a general living in the courtyard, so he asked the mute for help.
Ji Jiu remained silent, stood with his hands behind his back for a long time, and then said: "Although his elder brother died, it was for the peace of the people in the city behind him, not for the sake of one person. But he joined the army out of personal enmity, abandoning his old parents and disregarding them, it is very Loyalty is not filial piety, I don't want it."
The mute opened his mouth, nodded and left.
Such small things happen occasionally, and then the days go on as usual. But the child was attached to Ji Jiu, and ran over every three days, kneeling outside the courtyard gate, waiting for Ji Jiu to soften his heart.
But he didn't know that, as far as Ji Jiu is concerned, being soft-hearted to him is being vicious towards his parents. So I ignored him and knelt with him, Ji Jiu was rarely discharged from the hospital. When encountering such a thing, Ji Jiu is not afraid of being a bad person, and she does it with peace of mind.
It was another summer day, and swifts flew low in the air, occasionally stopping under Ji Jiu's eaves, feeding the young birds, and then hurried away.
Ji Jiu leaned over the window and looked at the little bird's nest under the eaves, wondering if the baby bird would feed back when it grew up. After looking at it for a long time, I took back what I said before.
The mute was sprinkling water and sweeping the floor in the yard, and occasionally turned his head to look into the open window, only to see a large white paper covered with a lot of red marks on the desk. It's because she couldn't see what Ji Jiu was drawing, and she occasionally brought food in, and the paper was already covered with white silk, obviously she didn't want others to see it. But not everyone can suppress their curiosity. Although the mute is getting older, his curiosity is as strong as when he was young.
He was always watching secretly, but Ji Jiu was too focused to pay attention. Still bowing his head and drawing.
The mute found that when he was painting, Ji Jiu's expression was stagnant, even... slightly sad.
Hey, what exactly are you painting? The mute hated his old age, and his eyes became more and more useless.
There was a knock on the courtyard door, and the dumb man hurried to open it, thinking that another messenger was coming, and he was still holding the broom in his hand. Unexpectedly, as soon as the door opened, two people came rushing in with Although the sword was not out of its sheath, it made the old man tremble, and the broom fell to the ground.
Then four more people came in one after another, all in black, with a cold and capable face, they drove the mute aside, lined up in two teams, and waited.
No matter how ignorant the dumb man was, he also knew that the person who came this time was a big shot, so he quickly squatted down, picked up the broom carefully, and shrank behind the door.
Ji Jiu was collecting the scrolls in a calm manner, and when he put them away, the people who were supposed to come outside the courtyard had already entered.
Dressed as a Confucian scholar, the emperor walked into the courtyard and glanced around, then turned to the closed door and shouted displeasedly: "Ji Jiu!"
The door just opened, Ji Jiu knelt on the threshold, and responded indifferently: "Your Majesty."
The poor dumb man who was hiding behind the courtyard gate almost gnawed off the handle of the broom when he heard the phrase "Your Majesty".
When the emperor entered the room, Ji Jiu got up and closed the door. When there was only a thin line between the two doors, he saw Shen Jue standing at the courtyard door and staring at him through the gap.
His throat tightened for a moment, and Ji Jiu lowered his eyes to cover the gap.
Seeing each other again after more than a year, both father and son looked flustered.
Some people, the closer you put him to your heart, the less you know how to treat him.
Sitting on Ji Jiu's usual chair, the emperor flipped through the documents on the table, then threw them aside, staring at Ji Jiu, and said for a long time, "How have you been these two years?"
Ji Jiu said, "Okay."
"I haven't been home for two years, so I don't want to?"
"Think." Ji Jiu said.
"I will come to see you today," said the emperor.
"Um."
The emperor was a little annoyed, he lowered his face and said, "Are you going to talk to me word by word like this?"
Ji Jiu said, "Don't dare."
The emperor snorted and said, "Two words."
Ji Jiu didn't bother to pay attention to him, turned his face and looked out the window, the fragrance of flowers wafted in the air, the emperor suddenly said: "I haven't eaten Sophora japonica rice for many years."
He thought Ji Jiu would say something, but Ji Jiu raised his eyebrows and asked seriously: "What is that?"
The emperor choked hard.
After a long while, he said angrily and amusedly: "Forget it, you know why I came today. You should also know about the military situation. The Xiongnu army has already dispatched. Calculated by the distance, it will arrive at the city in two months."
Ji Jiu said, "Let me go?"
"Otherwise I will go in person?" the emperor asked back.
"I think the emperor wants to provide for my life." Ji Jiu said.
The emperor was silent for a while, and said slowly: "I... may not think so."
Ji Jiu didn't expect him to say this, and was stunned.
"...All these years," the emperor looked at him, and said earnestly, "You are the only one by my side." Therefore, I don't want the last person who understands him in this world to just disappear like this.
To protect and keep it all the time, to get to the bottom of it, is just a little selfishness of the emperor.
It's just that the soldiers are approaching the city, and this selfishness has to be put aside, watching helplessly along the way, and the companions who support each other embark on the journey.
Today, he took off his dragon robe and came to visit in a micro-clothes. He is the emperor, but he is not the emperor, as if he is still the prince many years ago, and he can share the heart with his trusted companion.
However, he is already the emperor after all. The emperor of the world.
The emperor took out the tiger talisman and put it on the table, and his voice returned to his arrogance and calmness, "Hurry back to the barracks tomorrow, and from today onwards, you will be my great general."
Ji Jiu was silent, and said for a long time: "I will not disgrace my mission."
"This time the Huns are dispatched by a large army. If you can repel them, the next thing..." The emperor raised his eyelids slightly, "The emperor's order will not grant the army outside." Later he added: "Don't worry about food and grass."
Ji Jiu lowered his head, with a slight arc on the corner of his mouth: "Yes."
Before going out, the emperor turned around suddenly, and said, "Your adopted son's bodyguard has neglected his duties outside, and I've caught him and left it to you. You should be beaten and punished."
and left.
Shen Jue, the "negligent" guard, and Ji Jiu, who was abandoned by the guards for a long time, were left behind. And the mute who stayed behind the door for a long, long time.
Shen Jue stepped forward, and tentatively called out while saluting: "Father..."
Only half of the voice came out, and Ji Jiu cut it off, "Call the general."
Shen Jue lowered his head and said, "General."
"Prepare some dry food and leave tomorrow." Ji Jiu didn't hit him or punish him, and went back to his room as if nothing had happened.
In the middle of the night, Ji Jiu unfolded the scroll, and the paper was full of peach blossoms, blooming brightly. But it is not the one drawn by Yi Mo.
In the sea of red flowers, there are two people overlapped. The person below is covered with peach blossoms, his head is raised and his eyes are slightly squinted. The outline looks like a man at a glance, but there is a hint of charm. The legs are raised and wrapped around the waist of the man on his body. The person above lowered his head, his long hair was scattered, covering his face, only the curve of his waist squeezed between the legs of the person below him.
They were having sex.
The love affair in the colorful sea of fallen petals does not contain the slightest sensuality, but only indescribable tenderness.
Ji Jiu picked up the pen, added eyes to the man's face, and traced the nose and lips.
It was a face exactly like his.
But it was clearly not him.
The petals were scattered all over the place, spread all over the ground, and then piled up to the sky. The boundless bright red was dazzling, but when it fell on the two people, they felt peaceful and peaceful.
The title of the painting is "Hometown".
Ji Jiu looked at the painting for a long time. Finally, I took a new piece of paper, unfolded it, pondered for a moment, and wrote again, but it was the most concise brush and ink, and drew a tomb.
That's the general's grave.
Also called "Hometown".
After putting away the scroll, Ji Jiu took the brazier and burned the painstaking efforts of more than a year.
On the second day, everything was packed. Shen Jue led the horse and waited outside the courtyard gate.
Ji Jiu was in the room, standing beside the bed, and he didn't know what to think of, the loneliness in his eyes was clearly revealed.
In the end, he lowered his body and put his face against another soft pillow next to the pillow, gently sniffing the fragrance left by the former person.
It's the same, tender and affectionate. On the picture scroll of not losing and burning, the person with the same face as him.
Immo is here. Concealed, standing far away. With his temperament, he should come out to make fun of him.
However, he didn't move, he just watched quietly, seeing the man with his eyes closed, sniffing the soft pillow he had slept on on the bed.
Looking at what he couldn't say, he was so affectionate.
After a while, Ji Jiu straightened up, with the usual indifference on his face, he raised his sword and walked out.
A lock, locked everything that happened in this courtyard, and everything that didn't happen in time.