When He Yan returned to the house, the lights in the house were still on. The two girls were lying on the side of the outhouse and playing with the flower rope. When they saw He Yan, they hurriedly stood up and said, "Madam."
He Yan whispered: "It's okay, you all go to bed, I went into the room to rest. Is the young master asleep?"
Cuijiao shook her head, "Young master has been reading."
He Yan nodded, "I see, you should rest earlier too."
She pushed the door into the back room, and saw Xiao Jue sitting at the table in the back room, looking at the long scroll in her hand. He was only wearing a middle coat, and the snow-white middle coat was loosely placed on his shoulders, revealing jade-like skin, and his collarbones were thin and as bright as the moon.
He Yan closed the door, walked towards him, and said, "Captain?"
Xiao Jue only looked up at her lightly, but said nothing.
"I thought you were asleep." He Yan took off the whip from his waist and hung it on the wall. The colorful spike hanging on the handle of the whip's head swayed like a ray of sunshine with her movements, and a red ruby pomegranate flower was even more exquisite and eye-catching. Xiao Jue's eyes fell on the Caisui.
Seeing that he was watching, He Yan took off the whip and handed it to Xiao Jue's subordinate: "How is it? Governor, does it look good? This is what the Fourth Young Master of Chu gave me."
"Chu Zilan is really generous," Xiao Jue narrowed her eyes and said calmly, "It's not a waste to give you such a precious thing."
"Precious?" He Yan asked curiously, "Fourth Young Master Chu said that this pomegranate flower is fake jade and is not worth a lot of money. I only accepted it after hearing what he said."
"Oh," he frowned and mocked, "then he's still very caring."
"Is it really so valuable?" He Yan was a little uneasy, "Then I'll give it back to him tomorrow." With short hands, in case there is anything messed up in the future, it's better to distinguish between money matters.
Xiao Jue: "Take it, don't you like him very much?"
He Yan was shocked: "Do I like him?" How could she not know!
"I didn't want to worry about your business, but I still want to remind you," the young man's eyebrows and eyes were unbelievable under the light, his pupils were dark and deep, with a bit of inexplicable coldness, "Chu Zilan is Xu Jingfu's favorite Chenglong. Quick son-in-law, if you don't want to die, stay away from him."
Xu Pingting is Xu Jingfu's jewel, and seems to like Chu Zilan. Lin Shuanghe also told her about this, but what does it have to do with herself? Not to mention whether she likes Chu Zhao or not, Chu Zhao is so polite and polite, and she doesn't look down on a woman who can sit cross-legged on the bed and punch.
Xiao Jue is really worried.
"Captain, I think you're too nervous for Fourth Young Master Chu, and you even have a prejudice against me." She squeezed to Xiao Jue's side and bent over to look at the long scroll in Xiao Jue's hand: "It's so late, what are you looking at? ?"
Xiao Jue ignored her, and He Yan stood behind him and stretched his neck to look at it. After a while, he said, "It's a military defense map! How is it, do you see any problem?"
"The tone of your speech," Xiao Jue said calmly, "it seems that you are the governor."
He Yan immediately took back the hand on his shoulder, moved a stool to sit next to him, and said, "I just care too much. The matter of Princess Mengji's transfer of the people in Jiyang City these days should be very important. They will soon be known by the Uto people. When the Uto people get the news, they will soon raise troops." He Yan had a headache, "But there are too few soldiers in Jiyang City, since the Uto people dare to come to attack the city. , with no less than 100,000 soldiers at all."
20,000 against 100,000, 20,000, the city gate army who has never fought for many years, no matter how you look at it, the situation is not very gratifying.
"Weren't you a female general in your last life?" Xiao Jue leaned back on the back of the chair and twitched the corner of his mouth, "Tell me what to do."
He Yan was stunned for a moment, what is this called, what he said was the truth, but it was taken as a lie.
"In the soldier defense map, they came from the water." He Yan said, "Since that's the case, there is only... a water attack."
Having said that, she carefully raised her eyes to look at Xiao Jue's expression. The young man's expression was as calm as ever. The drinking sword hanging on the wall was as crystal clear as snow and cold as ice.
Strange to say, she and Xiao Jue, who lived and died in the water before, always had a bit of a shadow in the depths of their hearts towards the water. Another first battle was the water battle. For him, the water attack was not a good memory. But in the city of Jiyang, no matter what, such a scene cannot be avoided.
He Yan doubted whether she and Xiao Jue had some kind of fiery spirit in their previous lives, and had such a bad relationship with water.
"Tomorrow morning, I'm going to the martial arts field to train troops," Xiao Jue said, "you go too."
"Me?" He Yan hesitated for a while, "I really want to go, but won't Princess Mengji be too happy?"
In name, Xiao Jue is the commander-in-chief of the right army of the Great Wei Dynasty. No one can train troops and prepare for battle better than him, but He Yan is only Xiao Jue's subordinate.
"Don't worry about her." Xiao Jue said, "You go with me."
…
Late at night.
The man sat in front of the room, quietly looking at the flower baskets on the table.
Under the warm light of the oil lamp, the sugar painting looks red and bright. The flowers in the flower basket are dense and prosperous. In front of the flower basket, two words are written: Zilan. Right and beautiful.
There seemed to be a laughing voice in his ear.
"Zhao, it means bright, and Zilan means vanilla. The person who gave you this name must love you very much. I hope you have a noble character and a bright future, so you can choose such an elegant character."
The person who named him must love him very much
Chu Zhao never thought so.
His mother's name is Ye Runmei, the daughter of a small official's family in Qinxian County. It was the same in his memory. She was an impeccable woman with both eyebrows and eyes. She was beautiful, charming and pitiful. In her clear posture, she also had a bit of naive and ignorant aloofness.
Such a beauty will never be forgotten. How many men in Qin County hoped to marry Ye Runmei, but Ye Runmei had a crush on the same handsome Shi Jinbo, Chu Linfeng, who came to Qinxian to do business.
Even though Chu Linfeng was in Shuojing, he was a rare and beautiful man. In addition, he is generous, and after so many years in the pile of fat powder, he knows how to please people. Soon, Ye Runmei fell in love with this romantic and considerate Young Master Chu.
Not only did they secretly vote, but they also spent a good night together.
But in only three months, Chu Linfeng was about to leave Qin County and return to Shuojing. Before leaving, Chu Linfeng told Ye Runmei that she would come back to marry her. At that time, Ye Runmei was immersed in the dream of waiting for her sweetheart to marry her. Lin Feng knew nothing.
As soon as Chu Linfeng left, there was no more news.
Soon after he left, Ye Runmei found out that she was pregnant.
She was so anxious and scared that she didn't dare to tell anyone. But my stomach is getting bigger and bigger every day, and I can't hide it after all. Ye Runmei was furious and forced to ask Ye Runmei who the father of her child was. Ye Runmei herself did not know the true identity of the other party, so how could she explain it clearly, she just kept crying.
In the end, Master Ye had no choice but to hire a doctor, planning to abort the child in Ye Runmei's belly. After a year and a half, he would send Ye Runmei to marry.
Ye Runmei knew her father's plan and ran away overnight.
She didn't want to fall down on this child, whether it was because of her nostalgia for Chu Linfeng or something else. Anyway, she escaped.
Ye Runmei decided to go to Shuojing to find Chu Linfeng.
She is a woman with a big belly, how can she go so far. But because of her beauty, she met a merchant along the way and offered to help her, promising to take her to Shuojing with her.
Before arriving in Shuojing, Ye Runmei gave birth, and Chu Zhao was born at this time. After Chu Zhao was born, Ye Runmei's miserable days had just begun.
The merchant was not a kind person. He took a fancy to Ye Runmei's beauty and hoped that Ye Runmei would be his concubine. The merchant was furious and sold Ye Runmei into the brothel for ten taels of silver.
Chu Zhao also sold it, because the brothel's mother felt that Ye Runmei was born so outstanding, her son should not be bad, and he would be good-looking in the future, maybe he could make another money. If it is not good-looking, it is not a loss to be a servant.
Ye Runmei and Chu Zhao lived in the brothel together.
For the past ten years or so, the eldest young lady, who was spoiled and unaware of the dangers in the world, saw all kinds of ugly and vicious people in the brothel, and it seemed that she wanted to take back all her past good luck, Ye Runmei's life was better than death. The long-term torture changed her temperament greatly. She became irritable and irritable. She didn't dare to make trouble in front of her benefactors. Protected by the other women in the room, Chu Zhao felt that he might not survive the time when he saw Chu Linfeng.
Chu Zhao didn't understand what Ye Runmei's feelings for him were. If she didn't love her, in order to protect the flesh and blood in her belly, she left home alone, lived in a foreign land, suffered all the hardships, and did not give up on him. If it was about love, why did she repeatedly say those heart-rending words to him, and the corners of her eyes were filled with hatred.
She always beat him with a bamboo pole and said, "I hate you! If it wasn't for you, if it wasn't for you, my life wouldn't be like this! Why did you appear, why don't you die!"
After the vicious curse, she looked at the scars on Chu Zhao's body, and hugged him and shed tears again: "I'm sorry, mother is sorry for you, Ah Zhao, Zilan, don't blame mother, mother loves you..."
When he was young, he was at a loss, whether to love or not to love, he did not understand. Just looking at the crying woman, a trace of disgust passed through her heart.
He wished those days would end sooner, and he wished he could grow up quickly and escape this filthy and hopeless place.
There is more than one person who thinks this way, and Ye Runmei is also looking for opportunities.
She never gave up to find Chu Linfeng. While cursing Chu Linfeng's ruthlessness, she was full of hope for him. She always looked at Chu Zhao, as if looking at all hope, maybe she left Chu Zhao back then, so that when she sees Chu Linfeng again one day, she can stand in front of him aboveboard and tell him: This is your son. Let's recap all the hardships over the years. Chu Linfeng will feel sorry for her, and will marry her as he said to her back then, and make up for the debts they owe to their mother and son over the years.
Ye Runmei thought so, so she always took the initiative to entertain every guest from Shuojing. She was so beautiful that she easily became the top card in the brothel. Although she is not in Shuojing, there are always people from Shuojing who come and go. One day, she really told her to wait for someone who knew Chu Linfeng.
That person was Chu Linfeng's friend. At first, when Ye Runmei told her sad past, she just listened to it for fun, and sometimes accompanied her with a few words of comfort to satisfy her savior's kindness. But when he heard that the man's name was Chu Linfeng, he was handsome and handsome, and he was from Shuojing again, his complexion gradually changed.
Anyone who knows Chu Linfeng knows that this person lingers in the flowers, especially lecherous. It is not impossible to go out and hook up with a woman from a small family. It's just that this thing is not authentic enough. At any rate, I will tell the truth, so that people can stop thinking about it, and people who have been waiting for many years have become unlucky.
"My poor child... I don't know if I will have a chance to meet his father in this life." Ye Runmei covered her face and wept.
"There are children?" The friend was surprised and asked, "Can you let me meet?"
Ye Runmei asked Chu Zhao to come out.
Chu Zhao's nose and mouth are like Ye Runmei, but the eyebrows and eyes are printed in the same mold as Chu Linfeng. He is gentle and affectionate. When looking at people, he always seems to have a soft smile. If this face was said to be Chu Linfeng's son, no one would doubt it.
The friend got up, perfunctory words, and hurried out the door.
Ye Runmei was extremely disappointed.
When the friend returned to Shuojing, the first thing he did was go to Shi Jinbo's mansion to find Chu Linfeng, and asked him if he had had a dewy relationship with a beauty in Qin County many years ago. After thinking about it for a long time, Chu Linfeng finally recalled a vague impression. He vaguely remembered that she was a very beautiful woman, but unfortunately she was a bit stupid and believed what he said.
"That woman is now living in a brothel," said the friend, "and gave birth to a son for you. I have seen that child, very similar to yours, very beautiful!"
This was beyond Chu Linfeng's expectations.
Mrs. Chu was ugly and unsalted, and never cared about his affairs outside, so he was happy and comfortable, and carried nineteen concubines to the mansion, all of whom were beautiful. It is a pity that Mrs. Chu has only one condition, that concubines can be taken, and the child can only crawl out of her stomach.
Mrs. Chu gave birth to three children, and Chu Linfeng didn't have much interest in things like having more children and more happiness, so he felt that it was enough. The only regret is that none of his three sons have inherited his appearance, and his face is flat. He knows that his colleagues and friends are laughing at him behind his back. .
But now someone came to tell him that he actually had a son who was left behind, and that he was very protruding, and his eyebrows were very similar to him? This is a good thing for him to drop pie from the sky. For a while, he wanted this child to recognize his ancestors and return to his ancestry, so that if others said that Chu Linfeng couldn't give birth to a good-looking son, he would be able to slap them in the face.
But Chu Linfeng has treated his wife like a guest for many years. Although Mrs. Chu seems to be dignified, she is not easy to mess with. Otherwise, the concubines in the Chu residence would not have had a son. Chu Linfeng had no choice but to ask the old lady, his mother.
Although Mrs. Chu didn't think much of the concubine, it was always the blood of the Chu family, and it was not good to go outside, not to mention it was a place like a brothel, so she went to Mrs. Chu in person. Mrs. Chu and the old lady talked for an hour in the house. When they left the house, Mrs. Chu personally ordered people to go to the Qinglou in Dazhou and bring the concubine back.
It's just that the concubine didn't mention Ye Runmei.
Shi Jinbo was in the capital, although he could not be called a one-handed covering the sky, but he was also a dignitary, and compared to the people of Dazhou, he was even more unattainable. When the letter flew from Shuojing to Dazhou, Ye Runmei could hardly believe her eyes.
She knew that Chu Linfeng should not be an ordinary person, with such a generous hand, and his demeanor was very different from those of the men in Qinxian County, she wanted to be a good family. But I never thought that he was the current Shi Jinbo. Someone she never dared to think about in her life.
It seems that years of forbearance and planning have come to this moment, and finally harvested sweet fruits. She hugged Chu Zhao and cried with joy, "Zilan, your father has come to pick us up, we can go home..."
Chu Zhao quietly allowed the woman's excited tears to fall on his neck, and his young face was indifferent for his age.
go home? Who can be sure that this is just jumping from one fire pit to another
After all, in the past few years, the men he saw in the brothel were all greedy and vicious, and the women were all stupid and weak. There is no difference.
But Ye Runmei didn't think so. She spent all her savings, bought a lot of beautiful clothes and jewelry, and dressed Chu Zhao like a rich and noble boy, and dressed herself like a flower. She looked at the woman in the mirror. The woman was still beautiful, but her skin was no longer as smooth and smooth as when she was young. The eyes are full of innocence, and there is no more appearance in the past.
She shed tears, the spring is the same as before, but the beauty is late.
And the man who promised to marry her has not come yet.
Ye Runmei thought that since Chu Linfeng was Shi Jinbo, he would definitely not marry her, but it would be better to carry her as a concubine. Her son is also the son of Shi Jinbo. She looked at people's faces and acted in the brothel. These years have been too hard. Being an official concubine is more noble than being a prostitute here.
She wants to dress herself up very attractively, and when she sees Chu Linfeng, how to tell how pitifully she has suffered for him these years, and to tell him how determined she is to love. Ye Runmei thought wisely, all men in the world will feel proud when they hear a beauty who is infatuated with him, and this pride will make him feel more pity and love for that beauty, so as to show his heroic love.
She would not miss this opportunity, she wanted to regain Chu Linfeng's favor, even if it was a concubine, she was the one that attracted him most among his concubines.
But Ye Runmei didn't expect that Chu Linfeng didn't come.
There were two wives and a maidservant. They looked at Ye Runmei condescendingly, their eyes couldn't help but contempt, as if one more glance would stain their own eyes.
The leading woman asked, "Where's Young Master Chu?"
Ye Runmei felt humiliated and wanted to get angry, but in the end, she put on a humble smile. "In... change clothes in the next room." She instructed Chu Zhao in advance and asked him to put on the hosta, which looked elegant and cute.
"Just right." The old woman lowered her eyes and said without a smile.
A trace of unease flashed in Ye Runmei's heart, she asked, "What do you want to do?"
An old woman came over and pulled her hand back, and the other maid covered her mouth with a handkerchief. Ye Runmei widened her eyes, realizing what they were going to do to herself, she struggled desperately and said angrily: " How dare you... How dare you! Are you afraid that Chu Lang will know about you doing this? Chu Lang will kill you!"
The old woman looked at her coldly, with a cold smile, "How dare the slaves decide such a big matter without the permission of the master. Miss Mei—" She called Ye Runmei's name in the brothel, "Could it be that we are in Shi Jinbo's mansion? , will you take in a prostitute with thousands of people riding thousands of pillows in the brothel? Do you want people to laugh at your master, or do you want people to laugh at your son?"
Ye Runmei struggled desperately, but she was slender and weak, and she gradually lost her strength.
"Going to mother and keeping children is already a gift for you."
Ye Runmei's legs gradually stopped moving, and she fell straight to the ground, her eyes widening.
She waited for her husband all her life, full of joy, thinking that she was over, but she waited for her own death.
Chu Zhao inserted the hairpin on his head, looked left and right in front of the mirror for a long time, and then walked to his mother's room with regular steps. He wanted to knock on the door, but when he stretched out his hand, he hesitated and pushed it gently. Small slits, want to see what the "father" looks like.
Then he saw that the two women were carrying Ye Runmei like a dead pig, and they hung a white silk on the beam of the house and wrapped Ye Runmei's head inside. Ye Runmei's face was facing the direction of the door, and her eyes met his.
Beads are surrounded by greenery, Lixue is wearing red makeup, she hates Huangquan, and she will not close her eyes.
He staggered and covered his mouth to prevent himself from screaming.
The people in the house were still talking.
"Beautiful is beautiful, how can you be so stupid, and still expect to enter the mansion? I don't even think about it, which big family's mansion can accept someone from the brothel as a concubine."
"After all, I came from a small family, and I don't know what it means to leave a mother and leave a child. If I stayed in Qin County, I wouldn't be able to save my life."
"Tsk, it's not greed yet."
Chu Zhao slowly backed away, slowly backed away, and when he was far enough away from the door, he suddenly pulled out his legs and ran wildly. shed tears.
It seemed that a woman's voice fell in his ear, with a rare tenderness.
"Hua Caiyi is like Ruoying, and rotten Zhaozhao is like Weiyang. You can call Ah Zhao in the future. One day, we Ah Zhao will be able to be like Yunshen, wearing gorgeous clothes, beautiful appearance and boundless splendor."
"As for the character, let's call it Zilan. Lan Zhiyi, Yang Yang's fragrance. Mother, I used to like orchids the most."
He said ignorantly and ingratiatingly, "A Zhao will buy a lot of orchids for my mother in the future."
The woman's laughter gradually faded away, and his eyes fell on the flower basket in front of him.
The fire emitted a slight warmth, Chu Zhao paused for a moment, and threw the flower basket on the table into it. The flames licked the basket, but for a moment, the syrup flowed everywhere, with a burnt sweetness.
He walked away expressionlessly.