For four or five days in a row, He Yan did not go to the martial arts field to practice.
In fact, she didn't take the injury on her leg to heart, but the lady Shen Muxue, a doctor from Liangzhou Wei, came to deliver medicine to her every day, and repeatedly told her not to exercise vigorously. Hong Shan was also booing: "Just listen to the doctor. If you mess up again, you won't be able to win the first place when you fight for the flag, and you won't be able to enter the forward camp. Don't cry then."
He Yan thought about it, and then gave up, not in a hurry for a day or two.
But these days, as long as she gets off the martial arts field, her room is basically full, and there are endless people coming to see her. People often come to visit. Today, Jiang Jiao brought some sour plums, and tomorrow Huang Xiong brought a bunch of roasted quails. The most speechless is Wang Ba, who can't hold his face. When he came, let the recruits in his room bring half a gnawed dry bun, which at first glance was the spoils of war plundered from the hands of others. He really regarded the military camp as his own hilltop.
Instructor Liang came twice. Both times, he saw He Yan surrounded by the crowd with a spring face, and looked at the food that was pushed like a mountain on her table, and threw a sour sentence: "Oh, you have a good life. After leaving again, He Yan was also helpless.
It was so noisy and noisy. By the time He Yan's elbows were all scabbed and scabbed, and his legs could jump on the ground, seven or eight days had passed, and the day of fighting for the flag was getting closer and closer. .
On this day, before the sun set, Hongshan and the others came back. He Yan was surprised and asked, "Why did you all leave before the next martial arts field?"
"Today is the fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Mid-Autumn Festival," Mai Mai answered first. "The chief instructor asked us to leave the martial arts field early, and after dinner, we went to the river to put water lanterns to worship our ancestors."
"This Liangzhou Guard is not bad, but it even gave time to let people worship their ancestors and relatives." Hong Shan sighed.
He Yan smiled, thinking that this is the tradition in the military camp. When she was in the Fuyue Army, every year on the Mid-Year Festival, the local government in the garrison would teach people to set up a dojo to pay homage to the sergeants who died in the war. Nowadays, Liangzhou Wei is backed by mountains and rivers, so it is very convenient to put water lanterns.
"My eldest brother and I are going to put water lanterns on for my parents," Mai said when talking about his dead parents, but he didn't feel sad, only a touch of sadness. Maybe his parents left too early, and his memory was already faded. He asked Hong Shan: " Is Brother Shan going to worship?"
"Go, my mother left early, I'll go and put a cup for my mother."
Several people looked at He Yan in unison: "Brother Ahe, are you going?"
Here, He Yan's identity is probably the most mysterious. She doesn't like to talk about family affairs with Mai and the others. Hong Shan also only knows that He Yan joined the army because her family was desperate. With a confident appearance, he felt that He Yan was not a child from an ordinary family.
"Me? I'll go too." He Yan lowered his eyes and lowered his voice, "I also have someone to worship."
Wheat and the others sensed that the atmosphere was wrong, so they didn't dare to ask further questions, and they were about to divert the conversation and talk about something easier.
After dinner was over, the sun had completely set, and the moonlight shone through the dark clouds, almost all of the Liangzhou Guard recruits came out.
The water lanterns had to be folded by themselves, and the paper was piled up in several big baskets in the martial arts field. He Yan also went to get one. She was not very good at doing these manual things, but Miao saw it, and folded it into the shape of a lotus lantern for her in three or five times, and then dropped a short white candle in the center of the lotus lantern and handed it to her. He Yan: "It's done!"
"Thank you." He Yan praised, "Your hands are so skillful."
Wheat smiled embarrassedly: "During the Mid-Yuan Festival, I folded a lot of lanterns with my eldest brother and sold them. I'm used to folding them. If the paper is bigger, I can fold a more beautiful and bigger one!"
Stone knocked on his head and said disapprovingly, "This is not the time for you to show off."
Mai stuck out his tongue and ran to the Wulu River with the water lantern in his hand: "I'm going to set off the lantern first, Brother Ahe, hurry up!"
After the beginning of autumn, the weather in Liangzhou became cooler at night. It rained in the morning, but the cool air did not disperse. The dense forest on the mountain gave birth to cool frost and dew. The moon and stars were thin, and the river was white.
The riverside was already crowded with people who came to worship their ancestors, and the candles swayed like ten thousand silver flowers all over the river, reflecting the beating flames. The fiery red lotus flower floated into the distance carrying the thoughts of the worshiper, turned into a bright spot of light where the sky and water met, and gradually disappeared.
"Just here, Brother Ahe..." Mai turned around and was stunned, "Where's Brother Ahe?"
Hong Shan and Shi Shi looked at each other, "I don't know, I was still here just now."
In the farthest place by the river, He Yan was sitting on a rock. This was not the most open place, so few people put lights here. He Yan silently looked at the lotus lantern in his hand, his heart sour beyond words.
He suddenly remembered the moment before He Wanru drowned her in the water, and said to her, "You are pregnant."
At that moment, she was actually more happy than at a loss.
It's just that the joy didn't last for a moment, and she and her unborn child sank in the Xu family's pond together.
He Yan always felt that in her last life, she never felt sorry for anyone. She did everything she could to the He family, He Rufei, and Xu Zhiheng, but the only thing she felt guilty about was the flesh and blood in her belly. She gave him life, and before she brought him into the world, she killed this possibility because of her own reasons. Perhaps when she was a military general, too many people died under her hands, causing countless murders, and God would punish her like this. You should punish yourself, so why punish innocent children? She didn't even know whether it was a little girl or a boy who was born in her womb, so she died.
He Yan took out the fire book, and the spark from the fire book splashed a little on the candle, and instantly lit the candle. The water lantern slowly bloomed in her hand, and the firelight reflected in her eyes, forming a small flame, as if tears were about to fall, and it was quickly blurred.
"I'm sorry," she said in a low voice, sadly, "you and I, mother and son, have no fate in this life. If there is an afterlife, you must be reborn into a good family, and you will be happy and worry-free in your life. Never meet me again."
"Me too..." She put the water lantern into the river, "I will avenge you."
The river was gurgling, and it gently wrapped the little water lantern and walked forward. He Yan stared at it, and swayed until it converged with countless light spots. rubbed his eyes.
"Brother He, I didn't expect you to be here!" An excited voice sounded behind her, "It's a coincidence, you're here to set the water lantern too!"
He Yan turned around and saw a young man with red lips and white teeth holding a lamp in his arms, walking towards her happily, it was Cheng Lisu.
His clothes were neat and fresh, and when he walked to He Yan, he carefully lifted the corner of his robe, for fear of being splashed by the river water, so he gave He Yan a handful of water lanterns in his arms.
He Yan asked: "...Are you going to put a water lantern?"
"yes!"
"Why so many?" He Yan was speechless.
"I didn't have so much to put away, and I don't know the ancestors of our Cheng family. But I don't think my uncle will come today, so I'll put it away instead of him. This is my great-uncle's and this is my uncle's. Grandfather's, this is me..."
He counted them one by one, but there was no trace of sadness. He was so happy that people mistakenly thought that he was putting on Lantern Festival Lanterns instead of Zhongyuan Water Lanterns.
"Wait," He Yan interrupted him, "Why do you let your uncle go? Can't he come by himself?"
"With so many people, he won't come." Cheng Lisu sighed, with a broken heart, shook his head and said, "I'll come if I come, who called him my uncle."
He Yan looked a little funny, but the pain that had just appeared due to the past was diluted a lot. Although Cheng Lisu seems to have two less brains than ordinary people, he is still very serious about putting out the water lanterns. He lit the water lanterns in his hands one by one, solemnly put them into the river, and prayed extremely nervously that they would not be blown out by the wind or overturned by the waves. Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and the water lanterns gradually floated into the distance.
Cheng Lisu breathed a sigh of relief after putting out the last lamp, took out a piece of coarse cloth from his arms and placed it on the stone before sitting up.
"Lianzhou Wei is quite cool at night," he muttered, "It was hot to me a few days ago. I have grown up so much, and I have never experienced such a hot summer."
He Yan laughed in his heart, Cheng Lisu used to be in Shuojing, Cheng's family must have ice cubes to cool off in summer, staying in the house every day, the sun can't shine, of course it is not as hard as Liangzhou Wei. She said, "If that's the case, why did you come to Liangzhou with your uncle to endure hardship?"
"There's no way," Cheng Lisu spread his hands, "If I don't come out with my uncle, I'll get engaged."
He Yan was stunned: "What?"
"Tell you a secret, I escaped from the marriage." Cheng Lisu pouted, "I'm still young, how can I get married? Besides, I didn't like her, so I ran away."
He Yan: "..." This child is really straight, but what surprised He Yan even more was that Xiao Jue agreed to take Cheng Lisu with him. He was not afraid that the Cheng family would be dissatisfied with him. The young master also helped the young master to escape from marriage. Even if it is a relative, I am afraid that there will be resentment in his heart.
"You and Dudu Xiao have a very good relationship." He Yan said carefully.
"It's okay," Cheng Lisu was very proud: "I took the initiative to pester him."
He Yan felt unbelievable, "Your uncle's temper is so bad, how could you still take the initiative to come over?" It's amazing, who said that Cheng Lisu was a "waste son", and this kind of humiliation is not something everyone can do.
"My uncle is very powerful. If it wasn't for him when I was young, I might not be where I am now."
Xu is the moonlight tonight is very good, Cheng Lisu talked about the past with great interest.
Cheng Lisu's mother, Mrs. Cheng, was actually a few years younger than Xiao Jue's mother. Therefore, when Xiao Jue was born, Mrs. Cheng was already married, and although Cheng Lisu and Xiao Jue were different in seniority, the difference in age was not very big.
Although the Cheng family and the Xiao family did not move around frequently, they were definitely not cold. However, Cheng Lisu didn't actually see Xiao Jue very much when he was a child. Most of the time, he saw his eldest uncle Xiao Jing more. Xiao Zhongwu has two sons. Xiao Jing, the eldest son of Xiao, was too weak to practice martial arts when he was young, but when he recovered his body later, he was past the best age to practice martial arts. And Mrs. Xiao didn't want Xiao Jing to join the army, so Xiao Jing went the way of a civil servant.
After Xiao Jue was born, Xiao Zhongwu paid special attention to this son.
Xiao Jue did not live up to Xiao Zhongwu's expectations, and he already showed his talent at a young age. Xiao Zhongwu took Xiao Jue to the mountain and was taught by the four high scholars. As for what mountain it was on, and who was a high scholar, Cheng Lisu was not very clear. After all, it may only be seen once a year, and sometimes not at all.
After Xiao Jue was fourteen years old, he went down the mountain and returned to Shuojing, entered the Xianchang Pavilion, and studied civil and martial arts with the children of the nobles in Shuojing. Cheng Lisu was nine years old that year, and was kidnapped by kidnappers when he and his friend went out to play on the Mid-Autumn Festival. At his age, it stands to reason that a kidnapper would be considered too big, but he was born so delicate and delicate, like a silver doll in a New Year's picture, the kidnapper kidnapped him out of the city, Cheng Lisu called Tiantian not to be called Didi Spirit, hiding in the carriage and shivering.
He cried when he woke up, ate something with tears in his eyes, and then went back to sleep. It didn't take long for him to wake up. There was the sound of fighting from outside the carriage. Cheng Lisu was bruised and bruised.
He hurriedly opened the curtain of the carriage and climbed out, and saw the dead people who fell to the ground, all with a sword in their throats. There were not only one kidnapper who kidnapped him, but there were dozens of people in total. The kidnapped children were all tied up and stuffed in the carriage. At this moment, some fell out, and some were still in the carriage. In the chaos, Cheng Lisu crawled out tremblingly, and came across a white corner of his robe.
He raised his head and looked up, and saw a handsome young man with a silver crown and white robe standing in front of him, holding a long sword, the sword was like frost and snow, dripping blood. The color of blood was gorgeous, not as bright as this young man's lips, his expression was calm, and his eyes fell on him.
This was supposed to be a very fierce painting, but Cheng Lisu felt a little reassured inexplicably. He shook his head and hugged the boy's leg, imitating his mother's tongue-in-cheek flattery when speaking with others, "Dare, If you dare to ask who the hero is named, and where he lives, I am the young master of Yousizhilang’s mansion, and if you save me, our mansion will definitely reward you.”
The corner of the boy's mouth twitched, he looked down at him condescendingly, his clear eyes did not ripple, and he said coldly, "I am your uncle."
"I only knew then that he is my little uncle that I never see." Cheng Lisu looked at the moon with her cheeks raised, "I thought at the time, this little uncle is really amazing."
Xiao Jue rescued him and the children who were abducted by kidnappers. Cheng Lisu felt that there was such an uncle, and You Rongyan wanted to stick with him. But Xiao Jue didn't like this little nephew very much. After sending him back to Cheng's house, he never saw him again. Cheng Lisu sent him a post asking him to come to the house as a guest, but Xiao Jue never came. Besides, Xiao Jue was also very busy, so when Cheng Lisu saw Xiao Jue, there were very few of them.
He Yan wanted to laugh inexplicably when he thought of the scene described by Cheng Lisu. It is really helpless to think that Xiao Jue has such a nephew.
"Then how did you get close later?" He Yan asked.
If it was just a life-saving grace, as Cheng Lisu said, it did not improve their relationship much, then something must have happened later, and the pair of uncles and nephews can only come to Liangzhouwei together now.
"Actually, our Cheng family, including my mother, as well as relatives and friends who know the Xiao family, don't like uncle very much." Cheng Lisu said, "They prefer the eldest uncle."
The two sons of the Xiao family were born to be one of the great Wei, and the eldest son of Xiao, Xiao Jing, also gave birth to a good-looking son. The son is like jade, modest and clear. From the perspective of temperament alone, it is definitely more comfortable to get along with Xiao Jing. But it's not that he doesn't like Xiao Jue.
"Why?" He Yan asked, "Didn't Governor Xiao saved your life, even if you were the savior, your mother definitely wouldn't dislike him, right?"
"That's the case, but the time for my uncle to meet with our relatives is too little, and everyone doesn't know him."
Before Xiao Jue was fourteen years old, he seldom stayed in Shuojing. After fourteen years old, he entered Xianchang Pavilion again. Not to mention relatives and friends, even Mrs. Xiao was not very close to this son. Cheng Lisu knew that there were several times when Mrs. Xiao talked to her mother, and she was worried during the conversation, not knowing how to get along with this young son.
If you don't know how to understand it, you will naturally have a lot of prejudice when looking at people. Xiao Jue was lazy and didn't like to socialize with people, and compared with his warm and jade-like brother, the contrast was even more stark. But as He Yan said, this is not a dislike, the real dislike should be after Xiao Zhongwu died in the battle of Mingshui.
The sudden death of Xiao Zhongwu was a great blow to the Xiao family. Mrs. Xiao has never experienced wind and rain, and her husband is the sky all her life. After Xiao Zhongwu's death, Mrs. Xiao took advantage of the unexpected and committed suicide by hanging herself. She followed her husband and left behind only two sons.
The two sons of the Xiao family, Xiao Jing and Xiao Jue, Xiao Jing was devastated, but Xiao Jue did not shed a single tear. After the general and his wife were buried, the first thing Xiao Jue did was to go to the Golden Throne Hall to make a petition, and to hold the military power of the Nanfu soldiers in the palm of his hand.
Before Mrs. Xiao had passed the first seven, he took the Nanfu soldiers to pacify the Nanman Rebellion. Xiao Zhongwu died in the battle of Nanman that day. Some people said that he was avenging his father, and some people said that he was eager for quick success. Whether it was the death of his father or the death of his mother, Xiao Jue did not show excessive sadness. So the sign of indifference and hard-heartedness was imprinted on him.
There is no second son of the precious and precious Xiao in the capital, and others can only learn about Xiao Jue's current situation from the few words uploaded back from the battlefield. It is rumored that he killed generals as a young man, and that countless people died under his sword, and he was even more harsh and inhumane at all.
"Have you heard of Zhao Nuo?" Cheng Lisu asked.
He Yan faintly felt that the name was familiar, but he didn't know where he had heard it before, so he shook his head and said, "I don't know."
"Zhao Nuo is the eldest son of the current minister of households, and he was once the military governor of Jingzhou." Cheng Lisu said this, his expression became sad, "Actually, the Cheng family and the Xiao family's relatives and friends misunderstood the uncle, so the matter is It is because of this man.”
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