In the middle of winter, it was cold, and a thick layer of snow had accumulated on the bricks and tiles. The maid looked at the snowflakes falling from the sky, thinking that this year is really cold, and I don't know how many people will freeze to death on the streets.
She stomped her feet, sighed, and was about to go to the kitchen to serve a bowl of hot soup, but who would have thought that she saw a young man in white sitting on the porch, and hurriedly ran forward: "Master, why are you sitting here, you are ill from the cold? But how good!"
The boy was only eleven or twelve years old, but he was taller than the little girl. Gongsun Zhuoyu was sitting on the steps, his mind was still a little confused, he and Du Lingchun were sleeping under the covers, why did he return to Jiangzhou when he opened his eyes.
Gongsun Zhuoyu touched his face, looked at his tender hands, and found that he was eleven or twelve years old. He thought that he must be dreaming, right
As if he didn't know the cold, he sat on the steps alone, wondering, scratching his head, and tugging at the sleeves of his clothes, as if he had some serious illness.
The maid was a little worried, and said timidly from the side: "Master? Young master?"
Gongsun Zhuoyu reacted when he heard the words, looked at her subconsciously, and finally pointed at her happily: "Xiao Tao?"
Xiao Tao hurriedly said, "What is your order, young master?"
Gongsun Zhuoyu got up from the ground and patted the snow on his body: "It's nothing, I just didn't expect you to be pretty when you were young."
After he finished speaking, he looked around: "Where's the old lady?"
Xiao Tao was stunned for a moment: "Did you want to ask Mrs.? She went to the county government to deliver meals to the master, and it is estimated that she will be back in a while."
master
Gongsun Zhuoyu was stunned for a long time when he heard this long-lost name, and subconsciously lowered his head to look at his hand. The bone age was about twelve years old. I thought it was really a dream. My father passed away when I was nine years old, how could I live to this day...
But even though it was a dream, it would be good if I could really see him...
So Xiao Tao saw that Gongsun Zhuoyu suddenly turned around and ran out of the courtyard, and disappeared in the blink of an eye. She chased after her with the hem of her skirt, and said anxiously, "Master! Master! It's still snowing outside!"
Gongsun Zhuoyu didn't hear it at all, he hurried out of the house, looked around, trying to identify the direction in the vast expanse of whiteness, and accidentally found two gray-faced little beggars huddled in front of his house, and he didn't care.
"Child," Gongsun Zhuoyu brushed off the snow on his body, smiling freely, like a young man. He pointed to his house: "I have to hide in the snow, there is a girl in pink shirt, and ask her to give you some hot steamed buns."
After saying that, he turned and ran in the direction of the county government.
One of the beggars was a little girl. She hesitated to get up when she heard the words, but was pulled back by another beggar: "Don't believe me, sister."
It was a thin and gloomy little boy with a pointed chin and a dirty face. Only one pair of eyes were slender and raised, the eyebrows flew into the temples, and the pupils were pitch-black.
Hearing this, the little girl had to sit back and hold him in her arms, and the two of them cuddled with each other to keep warm. Snow was falling all over her body, and even her eyelashes were white.
Gongsun Zhuoyu was already a little unfamiliar with Jiangzhou when he was a child. He ran for a long time before finding the yamen and went straight in. The yamen on duty recognized him and did not stop him.
Gongsun Zhuoyu asked them subconsciously, "Where's your father?"
The yamen cupped his hands and said, "Your Excellency is interrogating the prisoner in the prison. Young master might as well go inside and wait for a while."
Gongsun Zhuoyu didn't want to wait, what if he woke up from the dream. He should have said it, but he secretly ran to the door of the dungeon, and the head of the prison quickly stopped him: "Little son, you can't enter inside."
Gongsun Zhuoyu said, "I'll find my father, take a look and leave."
The prison head slipped him back: "Your Excellency is interrogating the prisoner who stole the past few days, but you must not cause trouble."
A few days ago, the warehouse of a member's home in Jiangzhou was stolen, and tens of thousands of taels of silver were stolen. Gongsun Lianjing used a trick to capture the thief and is currently interrogating him in the prison, but he has not yet come out.
Gongsun Zhuoyu said, "I'll just hide at the door and take a look, but I won't go in."
He had a stubborn temper, and the head of the cell didn't dare to stop him, but he ran in because of a wrong god.
Gongsun Zhuoyu was fairly familiar with the dungeon, so he covered his nose and walked inside, only to see an elegant man in a green official robe sitting behind the table, narrating the prisoner's confession, and it was Gongsun Lianjing.
Opposite him is a prison cell, which contains a young man in a white prison uniform, with a arrogant tone: "Grandpa can't change his name, sit, don't change his surname, Shi Qianqiu, Master Shi, dog officer, if you have any tricks, just do it. Make it out!"
Gongsun Zhuoyu was going down the steps, when he heard that one of them lost his footing and almost fell a dog and ate shit. He hid in the dark and looked intently, but saw that the man detained in the prison turned out to be Shi Qianqiu!
Oh my God. Gongsun Zhuoyu was shocked. Grandpa is a chivalrous man, so he would actually steal
#Looks like I've found some great secret#
Gongsun Lianjing was not at all angry, calmly copied something, and the handwriting was correct: "Shi Qianqiu, you stole 12,000 taels of silver from Chen's house three days ago, according to the law of Daye, you should be a 60-year-old cane, tattooed and sent to the army. "
Shi Qianqiu snorted coldly: "If you have the ability, you can kill grandpa!"
Gongsun Lianjing put the pen lightly and blew off the half-dried ink marks: "If you can return the silver tael, you can deal with it lightly, but it's a pity that you distributed all the silver to those poor people, I'm afraid you won't be able to get it back. "
Shi Qianqiu didn't regret it at all, but laughed: "The man surnamed Chen took advantage of the famine to raise the price of food, earn black money, and sell the old and rotten rice to us. Now he is bankrupt, which is also very pleasing!"
Gongsun Lianjing walked up to him with his hands behind his back: "This government knows that he has been punished, but it's not worth it for you to put yourself in for it."
Shi Qianqiu didn't appreciate it: "Nothing is worth it, you will be punished if you want!"
Gongsun Lianjing said silently for a moment: "In this case, I will sentence you to six years in prison. This official heard that your mother is seriously ill, and you are allowed to go back to the bed to show filial piety to her death, and then come back to be sentenced after a hundred years."
The sixty-spine stick went down, even a man of iron could not stand it, Gongsun Lianjing was considered a light sentence.
Shi Qianqiu heard the words and looked wrong: "You..."
Gongsun Lianjing didn't wait any longer, folded the confession, put it in his sleeve, instructed the prison head to release Shi Qianqiu, turned around and left the dungeon.
He doesn't seem to be worried at all that Shi Qianqiu will escape, or that he intends to let the other party go, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't come back.
Gongsun Zhuoyu had already run out of the cell when Gongsun Lianjing turned around. He stood at the door, pretending to meet by chance, and his voice was pleasantly surprised: "Father, why are you here!"
Gongsun Lianjing glanced at him: "This is the government office, why do you think I am here?"
Gongsun Zhuoyu sneered, wondering why his brain didn't work very well today, and scratched his head: "I went to the dungeon just now."
Gongsun Lianjing raised his sleeves, blocked Fei Xue for him, and instructed the servants to get a cloak to tie it. He didn't look surprised, and walked out together: "How, what did you see?"
Gongsun Zhuoyu thought that he had seen everything: "Father is not afraid that the person will run away after returning home?"
Gongsun Lianjing didn't seem to care: "Do you think he will come back?"
Gongsun Zhuoyu looked up at him, thinking he would.
Just a few years later, when Shi Qianqiu kept his promise and came back to be punished, Gongsun Lianjing could no longer bear the filth of the officialdom, resigned from office and retired, and died in depression.
Gongsun Lianjing saw that he didn't speak, and sighed lightly: "Let's go, it's cold outside, let's go home."
Gongsun Zhuoyu asked, "Where's your mother?"
Gongsun Lianjing patted his head: "Your mother went back to the mansion after delivering the meal. It must be you who ran around and missed her."
Gongsun Zhuoyu snorted and followed behind him step by step, like a child. The government office is not far away, Gongsun Lianjing rarely sits in a sedan chair, so the two of them walked all the way back to their home.
In front of Zhu Hong's gate, two little beggars were huddled, but they were frozen to the point where they couldn't feel anything. The white snowflakes fell on them, and they were almost covered by the snow.
Gongsun Zhuoyu only realized that something was wrong when he entered the door, and stepped back, only to see that the two little beggars just now were still there. I thought that I was so stupid, no wonder I was a beggar and asked you to go in and hide, instead of squatting at the door.
He glanced at Gongsun Lianjing, who had already entered, and reached out and patted the little girl: "Hey, are you still angry?"
The little girl's lips turned purple from the cold, her teeth were shivering, she nodded shiveringly, and hugged the little boy in her arms tightly.
Seeing this, Gongsun Zhuoyu simply took off the cloak on her body and covered her: "Let's go, go to my house to hide from the snow."
The little girl was so cold that she tried to get up after hearing this, but she fell directly to the ground. The little boy in his arms was already frozen unconscious, and he didn't respond when he fell on the snow.
Gongsun Zhuoyu frowned and touched his forehead, but felt that his hand was hot, and shouted: "Xiao Tao!"
Xiao Tao ran out immediately: "Master, what's the matter?"
Gongsun Zhuoyu picked up the little boy from the ground and motioned her to hug the little girl: "Bring them to my room, let the kitchen boil some cold medicine and prepare some meals."
Xiao Tao immediately understood what he meant, and hurriedly responded, picking up the girl in a hurry and carrying it into the room.
Probably because of the cold weather, the little beggar does not stink. Gongsun Zhuoyu didn't dislike it, he put the little boy on his bed, wrapped it in a quilt, and poured the hot decoction medicine directly into him.
The little boy was young, but he was not too wary, his teeth were clenched, but he couldn't open his mouth. Gongsun Zhuoyu could only break it apart with force, but the harder he tried, the tighter the opponent bit.
The little girl was wrapped in a quilt to keep warm on the other side, but when she saw this, she quickly crawled over to him: "Brother! Brother!"
Gongsun Zhuoyu couldn't open his teeth, so he took a breath: "Why doesn't your brother open his mouth?"
The little girl didn't speak, and only said after a while: "He was stuffed with mud in his mouth by those bad beggars..."
He's not fierce, he's scared...
Gongsun Zhuoyu heard the words, and unconsciously slowed down: "What's your name?"
The little girl's voice was dull: "Aqiu."
This name is too common, and there are three maids named A Qiu in the house.
Gongsun Zhuoyu asked, "Where's your brother?"
Little girl: "A Chun..."
Simple enough.
Gongsun Zhuoyu didn't ask any more questions, and let the little boy lean on his shoulder and pat his back lightly, his strength relaxed. After the medicine was warmer, it was fed into his mouth.
The little boy's vision was blurred and he couldn't see anything clearly, but instinctively gritted his teeth.
Gongsun Zhuoyu lied to him: "Open your mouth, I'll feed you rice cakes."
His embrace was warm and thick, with a faint scent of pine and ink, and his voice was gentle, which made people feel relieved unconsciously. The little boy's teeth finally loosened a little, but what poured into his mouth was not the rice cake, but the warm and bitter concoction.
It was so bitter that he didn't want to drink it,
But it was so cold that he drank it anyway.
Gongsun Zhuoyu finished feeding the bowl of medicine, and then touched his forehead: "Child, are you feeling better?"
The embrace was so comfortable that people didn't want to open their eyes. The little boy fell into a drowsy sleep and didn't respond. The gloomy eyebrows also seemed to be well-behaved.
Seeing this, Gongsun Zhuoyu put him back on the bed and covered him tightly with the quilt, thinking that if he fell asleep and sweated, he should be fine. He asked Xiao Tao to take good care of him, and he went to the front yard to find Gongsun Lianjing.
He still thought it was a dream and wanted to stay with his father a little longer, but he didn't wake up until the sun went down.
Gongsun Zhuoyu went back to his room and sat on the stone steps by the door, feeling a little depressed. Shouldn't he really cross over, wouldn't he still have to take the imperial examination to become an official, and wait ten or eight years before he can meet Du Lingchun
isn't it...
Gongsun Zhuoyu suddenly had a headache, and was hesitating whether to hit the pillar to see if he was dreaming, but when he heard a movement behind him, when he turned his head, he saw that the little boy came out at an unknown time, looking gloomily. self-
Of course, it may not be gloomy, the other party's eyes are naturally like this.
Gongsun Zhuoyu patted his clothes, walked up to him and squatted down: "Child, why don't you go in and lie down?"
The little boy stared at him, clenched the corners of his clothes with both hands, lowered his head, and didn't know why, he just kept silent.
Gongsun Zhuoyu always felt that he was very familiar, the kind he couldn't tell, so he asked, "Want to find your sister?"
The little boy nodded. Although he was a beggar, his eyes were soft and delicate, like a girl.
Seeing his bare feet, Gongsun Zhuoyu picked him up from the ground: "Your sister is in the next room, I'll take you to find her."
He is a rich and noble son, with a clean white coat and fox fur, smoked with light spices, which is incompatible with the dirty little beggar.
Gongsun Zhuoyu wrapped his cloak around him and went to the next door. Who would have thought that Xiao Tao was bathing A Qiu, so he had to wait outside the door. He hugged the little boy and didn't let go. Through the cloak, he touched the other's sunken belly: "Are you hungry?"
The little boy had a sharp temperament and was difficult to approach like a hedgehog, but at this moment he became inexplicably obedient. He clutched Gongsun Zhuoyu's collar and said one word in a hoarse voice: "Hungry."
Gongsun Zhuoyu asked him, "What do you want to eat, roast chicken or roast duck?"
The little boy was silent for a while, then pursed his lips and whispered two words: "Rice cake..."
Gongsun Zhuoyu heard the words and looked at him subconsciously. The more he felt that the other party's dirty face was a little familiar, he unconsciously raised his hand and pulled the little boy's shirt down, only to see a red cinnabar mole on the other's neck. .
"… "
After a long silence, Gongsun Zhuoyu finally said slowly, "Oh, then..."
He said, "Then eat rice cakes..."
The snow from the outside blew into the corridor, blowing the corners of his white clothes into an arc.
Gongsun Zhuoyu remembered,
Turns out they had met before.
Not only in the imperial prison of the seventh year of Yongjing,
And the old year scene of heavy snow in Jiangzhou...