Beiya.
With a soft creak, the dusty door of the document library was pushed open, and a ray of light from an oil lamp shone in. The stacked bookshelves were blurred in the darkness.
Shan Chao closed the door with his backhand and walked in.
This is the document compilation place of the Beiya, but it is not too confidential, because the secret decrees issued by the emperor over the years are kept separately by the commander of the imperial army. Only the records left by personnel changes and troop dispatches are kept here, and they are arranged in order of year and month. put.
Shan Chao held the oil lamp in his hand, and his footsteps were as light as a falling feather. He shuttled almost silently among the rows of bookshelves that went straight up to the roof, and finally stopped.
A seal is pasted on the wooden frame - from the 20th to the 23rd year of Zhenguan.
Shan Chao took down the already yellowed and brittle record book, flipped through the index by item, and ran his fingertips across the densely packed words "such and such a person led the Geng class on a certain month and a certain day to leave Beijing for Guizhou by order", from beginning to end. , and then close it and put it back on the wooden shelf, and then take down another one.
In the dark and vast space, there is only one star oil lamp burning faintly, and occasionally it shakes for a while due to Shan Chao's movements, and the huge black shadow cast on the wall also swings accordingly, full of ghostly and gloomy atmosphere.
Time passed by minute by minute, and the night sky as dark as thick ink had faintly revealed dark gray. However, Shan Chao didn't panic, and still took off the record book one by one to read it, until the action suddenly stopped.
His eyes fell on a certain line among countless petty prints:
"At the end of February, Deputy Commander Song Chong brought things to Jinshan."
Mobei Jinshan.
Shan Chao finally found the information he needed, closed the book and let out a long sigh.
During the last years of Zhenguan, it was the first time that the imperial guards of the Beiya went far to Mobei, and the deputy commander set out in person, and it was also the first time that the word "Fengzhi" was not written down.
Xie Yun didn't lie to me, he thought.
I was born in February after all.
·
More than ten years ago, in the desert, the young Xie Yun went to the market, tied the prey he had hunted to the horse, and brought back rice, flour, oil and salt, and a peach branch that he did not know where.
He saved half a sip of water and put it in a bowl, put the peach branches in it, turned around and went to the kitchen to knead the noodles with water, and rolled out half a catty of noodles. When his little black and thin apprentice came back from practicing martial arts, there was already a steaming bowl of egg noodles with chopped green onion on the table.
The little apprentice was so excited, he took a big gulp of the soup regardless of its boiling heat, his mouth was so hot, he asked repeatedly: "Master, where did you get this noodle, why don't you eat it?"
Xie Yun sat by the low broken window of the earthen house, writing the Analects of Confucius silently on the stone slab under the yellowish and dim light, and was about to teach it to his disciples after the beginning of spring, when he heard the words he casually said: "Today is your birthday, so I will make longevity noodles for you. "
"... birthday?"
Xie Yun brought out the water bowl from the window, "Here, I'll see you off."
Xiao Danchao took it in a daze, and saw the peach blossoms in the bowl were in full bloom, fragrant and brilliant, and the green leaves were floating in the water waves.
It was the first ray of spring in the thousands of miles of desert.
"You were born when the peach blossoms first bloomed." Xie Yun poked the little apprentice's dusty forehead smoothly: "In the future, you should be a life that provokes peach blossoms."
·
In the depths of winter in Chang'an, the dark night has gradually receded, and the silhouette of dark clouds gradually appeared in the dark blue sky.
On the overlapping eaves of the Beiya, Shan Chao leaped forward, swept away for a few feet without sound, and landed on the ridge of the roof in the air. In the distance, the red lantern hanging in front of the palace gate was emitting a faint halo.
He took a deep breath, and was about to stand up and rush forward, when suddenly a strong wind struck the back of his head!
Shan Chao did not turn his head back, blocked with his backhand, and fought with the attacker behind him like lightning for several moves. Hair, charming figure, impressively Jinxin!
Jin Xin was dressed in a crimson female weapon with a white background, and she looked even more heroic and handsome. She seemed not surprised to see Shan Chao here, and rushed over with a dagger in her back. Shan Chao misplaced one step to avoid the blade, and shot straight for her back, but Jin turned and opened it with extreme agility, and the two exchanged dozens of moves in an instant.
I don't know which side courtyard wall this is, deserted and secluded, overgrown with weeds. Murderous aura raged across the square inch, and the light of the knife in Jin Xin's hand drew a bright arc in the darkness, and then Shan Chao seized the opportunity extremely fiercely, and cut her wrist bone hard with his palm, and immediately only heard the joints. Misplaced clicking sound!
"what!"
Shan Chao firmly caught the falling dagger, grabbed the back of Jin Xin's neck and pressed her to the ground, bang! There was a loud bang, and then the cold blade pressed against her neck.
"Long time no see, Miss Jinxin," Shan Chao said slowly.
The strength of Shan Chao's ability to split a person's head in half is very terrifying. Jin Xin almost lost his breath under the gravity of that fall, and it took a long time to regain consciousness after coughing and laughing intermittently: "You This bastard... don't you know what it means to pity the fragrance and cherish the jade?"
The gloomy sky before dawn reflected on Shan Chao's face, as hard and cold as a black iron rock, and he couldn't even hear the slightest looseness in his voice: "I knew it in the early years. Later, during the war in Qinghai, one year when Kucha surrendered, the sent Women and children came to open the city gate. The vanguard marched in without any doubts, but a large number of them were burned to death by the kerosene and torches thrown by the women and children... From then on, men and women are the same in my eyes, and there is no difference."
Jin Xin mocked: "Then why does your master know how to cherish women? It can be seen that you have not learned any of his benefits."
"Maybe he has never suffered from a woman," Shan Chao said flatly.
"Wrong, your master has been taking advantage of women all his life." Jin Xin stretched out her hand to straighten her misplaced wrist, but it was difficult to do this position of being pushed down on the ground, so she said "hey": " I won't call anyone, you let me up."
Shan Chao didn't move, and finally let go of his grip after a while.
Jin Xin turned over and sat on the ground, gritted her teeth with a click, straightened her wrists, and let out a breath dripping with cold sweat.
"Are you referring to Empress Wu?" Shan Chao asked suddenly.
Jin Xin smiled charmingly, she didn't deny it, but she didn't admit it either, she just squinted at him and asked, "Why are you here?"
Shan Chao originally wanted to refute why you are here again, but after thinking about it, it was logical that Yang Miaorong could not tolerate her, so he stopped asking, and said: "I just came to look through old things from the past."
"There are many dark secrets in the Bei Yamen, which one are you looking for?"
Shan Chao played with the dagger. Although his movements seemed sloppy, Jin Xin knew that as long as she made any abnormal movements, the knife would definitely pierce her throat in the blink of an eye.
After a while she heard Shan Chao say: "Forget about a past event that only Xie Yun knows about."
"Oh," Jin Xin said meaningfully, "is it your background?"
Shanchao made a quick move.
"how do you know?"
"General Zhongwu," Jin Xin held her snow-white cheeks, her eyes full of teasing: "If anyone in Chang'an City knows that the pampered, arrogant and wealthy Xie Yun used to stay outside the Great Wall and eat sand for several years, just to take care of him. When I raised you up, I would probably go crazy to investigate your life experience. You also feel that it is very normal for you to be curious. From the first day when the Khotan Mission arrived in Beijing, I felt that you would come one day sooner or later. , look, you really came, right?"
Shan Chao's brows tightened, and before he could say anything, the sound of patrolling footsteps came from outside the fence.
The sky was already dimly lit, and the guards on shift were on duty.
As the soldiers walked away, Shan Chao narrowed his eyes and stared at Jin Xin, and asked in a low voice, "What do you know? Please tell me, I will thank you."
Jin Xin seemed to have heard some terrible joke, she raised her slender fingers to cover her red lips, her naturally charming eyes narrowed: "Thank me? What do you give me to thank me, money? Land? Strange Precious treasures? Don't blame me for being straightforward, General Zhongwu, your family wealth may not be as good as mine."
"What's more," Jin Xin paused, and slowed down her tone to play with taste: "You are not a prince, nor an emperor... Even if you want to reward me as a queen, you don't have it now."
Shan Chao seemed to hear something, his pupils narrowed slightly.
"On the contrary, you are only in trouble now," Jin Xin said with a smile, "As long as I shout out loud, even if I have wings..."
The footsteps moved from far to near again, the guards passed by the wall, and the sound of the clash of armor and soldiers was particularly obvious in the silence before dawn.
"If you wanted to yell, you would have yelled just now." Shan Chao raised one eyebrow, pointed to the outside of the wall, and said, "Shout louder, keep it quiet so they won't hear you."
Jin Xin didn't make a sound.
With clanging footsteps, they headed towards the palace gate, gradually disappearing into the dim sky of early morning.
Shan Chao looked condescendingly at Jin Xin, smiled and withdrew his finger pointing away from the wall.
"One day you will find my thanks very useful, of course it depends on whether you believe it or not, at least everything you tell me will be safe now." Shan Chao stared at Jin Xin, the man's narrow and deep eyes exuded infinite excitement. The sense of oppression pressed straight into her eyes.
He asked slowly word by word:
"More than 20 years ago, Song Chong, the deputy commander of the Beiya Forbidden Army who went to Mobei, where is he now?"
Jin Xin was silent for a long time, and the dark blue sky in the distance glowed with sky light, like light blue fuel gradually spreading on the huge curtain, and birds flew from the horizon overwhelmingly.
"...you have to promise one thing."
Jin Xin paused for a long time before continuing: "No matter what happens in the future, no matter what position you climb to, you can't do anything against your master, let alone hurt him..."
"Once you break your oath, you will lose your children and grandchildren, and you will be struck by lightning. Do you dare to swear?"
"I swear." Shan Chao leaned back against the low fence, crossed his arms, looked down at her and uttered three words, and then said: "I can still swear that I will repay you in the future."
The corner of Jin Xin's mouth turned up, with a trace of ridicule and disapproval: "Really?"
Shan Chao didn't try to argue with her at all, only heard her fascinated for a moment, then rolled up his sleeves, and said leisurely: "I've only met Song Chong once..."
"It was the day I met your master for the first time, on Zhongzheng Avenue, outside the Ci'en Temple."
·
In the depths of the night, on Zhongzheng Street, a teenage busker girl hid in the shadow of the street corner, looking at the open space under the high gate of Ci'en Temple not far away, her eyes full of fear.
Standing in the open space was a scarred young man, covered in white clothes and blood stained all over. He was emaciated due to the long journey, his chest was heaving violently, and he could only support his body with his sword on the ground. But even so, he still stood very straight, his back was thin and straight, and even because of this, he showed a sense of oppression full of murderous aura, which made people feel fear from the bottom of their hearts.
He was supporting a young man in his arms. Because of the darkness of the night, he couldn't see his face clearly. He could only vaguely discern that the young man was motionless with his head down, and he must have passed out.
"...As expected of the notorious secret door messenger," an old monk in cassock and holding Buddhist beads stood on the steps, looked downcastly, and said coldly: "He was able to get rid of the thousand-mile pursuit of the elites of the Beiya imperial army!" , brought people back to the capital under the eyes of that woman... I really admire, admire."
"Thank you, I've betrayed the secret door." The young man's voice was very nice, slightly hoarse and very soft, making it hard to forget after hearing it. But the words spoken by such a pleasant voice at this moment are not soft, even a little cold: "But thanks to the compliment, I brought him back to the capital just to give it to you. Now that I'm done, I'm satisfied—you just come and take a look." Does he look like the baby who was sent out of Beijing in a basin more than ten years ago?"
"Shut up!" The old monk yelled angrily, "It's all his fault, everything is his fault! If it wasn't for him, how could everything have fallen to where it is today?! Why did you bring him in front of me?! "
"Because I will put him in the Ci'en Temple," the young man said coldly.
The old monk gasped heavily, and his hands that were holding the prayer beads were trembling.
A corner of the moon was exposed in the dark clouds, reflected on the young man's profound and beautiful side face, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Don't you think he is very similar to your destiny, Zhiyuan? Everyone thought he had already Died in Mobei, just like everyone thought you died in Jinshan back then; no one knew that you were hiding in the Ci'en Temple, and your whole family pretended to be dead to escape by fire, and now you live in seclusion in the suburbs of Beijing, only twenty miles away On the Zhuangzi..."
The old monk's complexion changed drastically.
"I passed that Zhuangzi on the way back to Beijing," the young man smiled, and the cold cruelty in his eyes was clearly visible in the moonlight: "Your only son and eldest grandson have just reached the full moon, and they are white and fat. I still laugh when I see them."
"What did you do to them!" Monk Zhiyuan roared angrily.
"Nothing," replied the young man serenely.
He walked up the steps, stepping on the gorgeous and wide white stone steps of Ci'en Temple with muddy and blood-stained footprints, brushed past Monk Zhiyuan, and then gently placed the boy in his arms on the vermilion tall temple of the temple. under the threshold.
"You don't do anything, and I can't do anything. If you save my apprentice's life, I will naturally keep your whole family in peace." The young man didn't look back, and whispered: "Don't worry, Song Chong, the pair It's a good deal for you."
The monk's complexion was pale, and after a while he finally forced out a voice from between his teeth, and said word by word: "Song Chong is dead, now there is only monk Zhiyuan in the world!"
The young man turned around with a smile and said, "Okay."
At this moment, the silver light was sprinkled on his side cheeks. Although his whole body was soaked in blood and dust, the silhouette at that moment did not seem like a person in the world: "Then there is no Shanchao in the world right now, only Monk Xinchao."
Zhiyuan gasped for breath, and after a while finally forced himself to calm down, and put down the Buddhist beads that had been almost snapped off.
"...I will save his life." Zhiyuan gritted his teeth and said, "It's just life. I will open the door tomorrow morning and come out to pick him up."
After saying that, he never looked at the young man again, walked away, and slammed the gate of the monastery heavily.
The long street returned to silence, the moonlight shone on the bluestone slabs, and the faint chirping of insects could be heard in the distance.
In the shadows, the busker clutched the corner of her clothes tightly, not daring to make a sound. The young man turned his back to her, and finally moved after a long time, but gently placed the sword by the unconscious young man's hand.
Then he lowered his head, and lightly touched the boy's blood-stained forehead with his beautifully shaped and cold lips.
The busker girl was stunned.
The young man stood up, his tensed shoulders finally relaxed slightly, turned around and staggered down the steps. At this time, his steps were already shaking very badly, and the dizziness caused by ischemia made it difficult for him to see. When his toes touched the ground, he finally became unsteady and fell down!
"...!" The busker girl subconsciously covered her mouth.
It took a long time for her to react and resume her breathing carefully, only to see the man lying on the ground in the night, not even moving.
... Is it dead
The girl didn't know where she got the courage from. After hesitating over and over again, she finally walked out of the corner, stopped a few steps away from the young man, and squatted down.
"Hi," she trembled.
no answer.
"... Hey, are you dead?"
The girl walked forward tremblingly, the young man finally moved his fingertips on the ground and opened his eyes.
His eyes were beautiful, like transparent glass in the moonlight, and then a gentle smile like warm water floated up. The girl's fear eased a little, but she was still very vigilant, and asked, "You... do you want to hire a doctor?"
The young man held out his hand to her.
"Can you help me?" He asked with a smile like that.
The girl hesitated and struggled for a long time, and finally took the hand and helped the young man up.
"… What's your name?"
"Xie Yun."
"I... My name is Jinxin. Jinxin's name is Jinxin."
At the end of the long street, the wind is cold and the dew is heavy. The majestic Daming Palace rose from the ground in the distance, and the two figures supported each other, slowly disappearing into the depths of Chang'an City where thousands of households lived.