Spring has come early in Xiangyang in recent years. That night I couldn't help but miss Xiangyang, but when I thought of Xiangyang, I couldn't help but miss another person in Xiangyang. But when I thought of her, I could only put Xiangyang aside and only pay attention to the feeling of spring here.
But I suddenly remembered that I made up for the days this year. Obviously, there is something wrong with this idea. So, spring has come early in recent years. But thinking about the late arrival of winter in recent years, it can make up for the lack of days in recent years. So the winter in recent years can only be too short. After thinking about it, I still think that the weather in recent years is a bit strange.
I didn't have much to do in Yecheng, and I had to listen to Yunshu tell me that story to reach the highest state of happiness. So, early the next morning, I said goodbye to Ye Jian and left. When I left, I passed by the place where I sang yesterday, but I had some ideas. I was thinking that I should be in his story next time.
Heading south, I felt a special feeling when I saw the fortress passing by from time to time on the right. But I was in a hurry to get to the champion, so I didn't have time to climb the fortress to express my feelings.
All the way to the championship, there is no need to be polite, and directly asked Fang Han where General Fang Yunshu was. But in his heart, he was muttering how Fang Han had nothing to do with the word general.
The man was familiar with me, so in addition to saying hello, he also directly expressed his discomfort with Yunshu's use of the word "general". I asked them what to call Fang Han for now. He looked around and asked me not to go out. I smiled and agreed, but they thought this new name was very funny, and they almost laughed. I didn't think it was funny, just very ordinary, just called "monkey". We use all kinds of disgusting words, how could we be so uncreative.
Jokes aside, he still brought me to Monkey. Fang Han was very thin, so when I first entered the academy and chose a seat, I was determined not to sit behind Fang Han, but insisted on sitting behind Ziyuan. Facts have proved that sitting behind a fat person is very useful, especially when I am lazy and sleep.
"What are you doing, you big bastard? You're going to bang your head against the wall when you see me, right?" Hanhan is always so frivolous, but he dares to do so, he must know everyone's character inside out, so he immediately yelled, "If you dare to hit me, I'll tell my sister, ah, it should be my sister-in-law, haha."
"Your sister-in-law was taken home by my father-in-law." Before I had time to get angry, this sentence made me feel a little sad.
"Oh my god, isn't that Mr. Shui Jing?" Another characteristic of Fang Han is that he can swear at everything, and he often uses different dialects together. "This guy is really fucking interesting."
"Where did you learn this dirty word?" I am no longer surprised by this. It is quite interesting that our Xiangyang Academy has such a funny guy.
"That Li Beihai you brought back from the north, he seems to be able to say anything." As expected, it was this bastard Beihai. At that time, I wanted to kill his whole family and take away his power. It seemed too cruel, so I asked him to treat me to a meal, but it seemed too light.
"Why don't you study hard?" I expressed a hint of dissatisfaction.
"Do you want to learn archery from him? Let's see, is it me who pulls the bow, or the bow that pulls me?" The thin man pointed to his slender arms and quickly won my sympathy.
I was going to ask him the disgusting version of how he got the three cities, but he mentioned the silver bell, and for a moment I completely lost interest in listening to him again.
As a result, that night I talked to him all about things before and after marriage. With Fang Han's extremely disgusting words and the profound knowledge I had just learned from my father, the conversation was very successful and lively. It also helped me to dispel some of my homesickness and have more visions for the future. We talked until the second watch.
I started to feel sleepy and gradually fell asleep when Yunshu suddenly asked me seriously why I came back. I told him the whole story in a disjointed manner.
He jokingly called me stupid. I was stupid. I agreed and asked vaguely, "Who taught you that?" Before he answered, I turned over and went back to sleep. Before I fell asleep, I heard him say, "It's a pity for you."
I don’t know if he heard what I said later, and I don’t know if I really said, “It’s nothing to regret. I don’t regret anything, so why should you regret it?”
Then I knew nothing.
I left the next day. Yunshu didn't understand why. He always felt that there was something wrong with me, but after scolding me for a while, he had no choice but to let me go.
The weather was good that day, and I changed horses at Guanjun, thinking that if I continued this itinerary, I would be able to reach Xiangyang tonight.
I lazily followed the horse into the mountains, and urged the horse for a while out of boredom. This is the disadvantage of traveling alone. My friends below cannot talk to me. Suddenly, I reined in my horse in the bushes, held my breath, and pricked up my ears. I heard someone trying to confide in me, and it was like the sound of nature that was lingering and holding me, a person returning home, so that I could not move at all. The clouds and the sky were hidden in it, and the wind and clouds were changing. The high places were like a waterfall falling into the water, the subtle places were like maple leaves floating in the breeze and disappearing, the happy places were like swallowtail butterflies dancing in the bushes, just like turning into butterflies and dancing with the wind with my beloved, and the sad places were just sad and helpless. For a moment, there was only sorrow and resentment in my heart.
I abandoned my horse and walked forward at slow pace, seeking the source of the good news. The sound lingered in the woods, as if close at my ears, yet as if far away in the horizon. I looked left and right, hesitated forward and backward, searched up and down, yet I did not know where it was.
I dared not make a sound to disturb them, and could only go in the direction of the sound. Suddenly the sound of the music changed, and I felt as if I had transformed myself into a tree or a stone in the forest, no longer moving an inch, but just sitting there leisurely watching the spring breeze pass by.
After a long time, he came back to himself and realized that he was still himself, so he went to look for the trace of this wonderful sound again.
When I saw the source of this wonderful music, it was already half an hour later. If they had stopped playing, I might have been lost or even starved to death in this roadless forest. But when I saw them, I didn't want to thank them for saving my life. Instead, I sat down respectfully beside them and continued to listen to their music.
This is a thin young man and woman, dressed in plain clothes, but with a noble and elegant temperament. They were both intoxicated and didn't notice my arrival. The man played the qin and the woman played the xun. The sound of the qin was sharp and the sound of the xun was long. The sound of the qin was clear and the sound of the xun was heavy. They were a perfect match, which could not be described in words. For a moment, I felt clear in my mind, and the silver bell occupied all my thoughts. She danced around me, but I couldn't hold her hand. She whispered in my ear, but I couldn't hear a word.
"Sir, you..." I don't know when the music stopped, but I was still lost in lovesickness and couldn't extricate myself until the man asked me.
"I heard the good news and couldn't help but come here. Please forgive me for disturbing you." I hurriedly bowed and saluted, thinking that it shouldn't be considered rude for me to be distracted and thinking about my own things while sitting next to someone.
"We didn't expect there was someone around. My father once said that if someone eavesdropped on the sound of a zither, the strings would break immediately. I didn't expect you to be around for so long and the zither was not damaged." The man was very dull and sincere.
It seems that I am not human.
"My dear husband, please don't laugh at me for speaking in a sarcastic way. You see, your white clothes have turned gray-green. You have been walking in the bushes for a long time, right? Are you looking for us?" This woman was indeed attentive. I also knew that the two people in front of me were indeed a couple. Listening to the affectionate tone, I felt that this couple must be husband and wife, or, the wild couple that Fang Han mentioned.
"It is just as you said. I have traveled so many times, but this is my first time walking. I didn't expect there would be two masters like you here. Their music is like heavenly music."
"Sir, your praise is great. My wife and I live in seclusion here because we both love pleasure. We need to indulge in the mountains and rivers every day and express our feelings through music."
"A virtuous couple (the origin and time of this term are to be discussed, the key is when they become husband and wife, which will be explained again in this article later, author's note) is indeed rare, but I, a commoner, have a question I want to ask, and I wonder if I can answer it." As soon as I heard them say this, I remembered this matter.
"You're welcome, sir. Please go ahead."
"How do you two make a living?" Living like them all day long might be elegant, but starving to death would be normal.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that, but since you've made way for me to come and listen to my music, I'm sure you'll understand me. I'll just go with you, and please don't laugh at me."
"No, no." My interest suddenly piqued.
"We go out of the mountains every winter, and during this twelfth month, sacrifices in various places require rituals and music. My wife and I were ancestors of musicians in the Heluo area, so we often perform these rituals and music for some wealthy families we are familiar with. We get some money for the year, which can be used for a year's food and clothing. We hire people to go into the mountains and store food in caves. We get up early every morning to cook for the day and bring our musical instruments out. When we see a strange sight, we think about something and stop to compose a song. When we rest, we eat something..." This young couple was obviously afraid that I would laugh at them, so they did it simply and quickly, as if they hoped that they would finish all the reasons that could be used to belittle them when I wasn't paying attention. But I didn't have such an idea. I just thought that these two people were miserable as human beings, and eating and sleeping was probably a helpless waste of time for them.
"If you two become immortals, you won't have to deal with these worldly things, and you can travel around everywhere, coming when you feel like it and leaving when you feel satisfied."
"The gentleman laughed." Both of them couldn't help laughing, but I still remained serious.
But looking at what was in the woman's hand, I suddenly had a new idea.
“Can you… help… me…” I wondered if this request was too much, but then I figured it out and without any hesitation, I bowed down right then and there, immediately making these two “idiots” of music fanatics panic.
"Sir, what's the matter? My husband and I will do our best to help you, and we will never refuse." They are really nice people, so silly. I like this word very much, and I also like people like this.
"My dear friend has just passed away. He loved the sound of the xiao in his life. However, I am not good at music and have never heard such beautiful music. I would like to invite you and your wife to travel around Jingzhou together. If you have time, please sing a song for my old friend. I will never forget it." He bowed again. Although this otherworldly person was a little dull, he was indeed a respectable person. It would not be an insult to himself to bow to him.
The two looked at each other and muttered. After a while, the man said what I thought was the most "stupid" thing I heard today.
"For friendship, sir, you are really a man of affection. Let my wife go with you. It's nothing worth such a big gift." I thought to myself, you are really open-minded. I am embarrassed. But for a fool, I can only become a fool, but add words like a yogi.
"To the west of Jingnan and to the east of Bashan, the mountains and rivers are magnificent, and the scenery is indescribably beautiful. The two of you have come south to see this fairyland this time, and you may find the fairy music again, and you two can also take care of each other."
"But I'm afraid the two of us can't afford the money for traveling." Obviously they were tempted, but looking at their clothes I could tell that they really didn't have any extra money to spend. But this is not a problem for me. Although I am a commoner, I am still a local rich man at present.
"Leave it to me. I have some assets." I stood up and high-fived them, as if they had already agreed. This was some experience gained from years of bargaining with Yinling, and sure enough, they agreed.
It was strange that they didn't even think of asking my name. I thought that these two people would be in a lot of trouble in Jingnan in the future. Being sold was a very possible danger. In addition, the possibility of being cheated, slaughtered, robbed, etc. was really unpredictable.
They didn't have much luggage, so they just packed some clothes and set off. There was a road behind the mountain that led to the outside. It was then that I remembered that my horse was still in the mountain. Other things didn't matter, but I felt sorry for the clothes that Yinling and Guo Pei made for me. However, I was not very nervous. After they left the mountain, they would be in Xinye territory in a few dozen miles, and it would only take a few hours to get to Xinye City. When I got to Xinye territory, I would be the boss.
A road is better than no road at all. The three of them chatted and laughed, and soon they were out of the mountain. They told me that we were now in Runan, Yuzhou (there are some geographical problems, but they are intentional. The author knows it very well, but has to note it). After going around the mountain, we will enter Xinye.
Runan, my real hometown, makes me look at this land greedily. I will greet the farmers passing by, I guess they must think there is something wrong with me, but I don’t care, because these are really my fathers and fellow villagers.
The two people accompanying me must have sensed something, and they asked me what was going on. I told them that this was my hometown, but Jingzhou was my home.
They finally asked me my name. It was probably because I was so confident and arrogant when I said Jingzhou was my home. Asking me my name showed that they were still wary. But I calculated the time. According to common sense, these two people should have been sold by now.
I suddenly remembered that I didn't ask their names. If they were bad guys pretending to be stupid, wouldn't I be in danger? But then I remembered that I was the Marquis of Ping An Feng Yun. Although I'm not the Marquis of Ping An Feng Yun now, at least I was once one. What should I be afraid of? But I felt that my excuses were untenable.
He then gave the following brief self-introduction: "My name is Xie Zhi, a commoner from Jingzhou."
Then I asked them their names again, but they obviously did not introduce their ideas immediately, and Xie Zhi's name obviously interested them more.
"Xie Zhi... Which Xie Zhi? Marquis Ping An Fengyun?" I didn't expect that they seemed to know me too.
"You know me too? But I have already resigned from my official position." The word "abandoned" was nothing more than an attempt to make myself look nobler. I made a deep self-analysis and thought that I was still unable to let go of things, but the analysis was over and I still did so resolutely.
"Quit your official duties?" They didn't know what to say. Coincidentally, I didn't know what to do with this matter either, so I forgot to ask them their names, and they didn't introduce themselves either.
They knew me, but the way they knew me was also related to what they did. When I was with a group of musicians, in addition to music theory and tunes, we often talked about the situations of people at banquets or sacrifices. It made me feel that there was no one in the world who was not tainted by worldly things.
But I can't remember why they knew me, and I have to tell them. But when they mentioned the handle of the Yong bell, I remembered what happened. They heard about this matter from someone else. When I thought about it, I thought of Yuan Shu, and when I thought of Yuan Shu, I remembered that Runan seemed to be his territory. I immediately felt disgusted, feeling that such a good place was tarnished by someone. I thought of everything at once, but I didn't care what they said. I guess they were just praising my strength, nothing else important.
We held our breath all the way into the territory of Jingzhou, and had lunch in a market town when the sun was setting. Of course, it was also fine to treat it as dinner, because everyone else was having dinner. After settling them down, I asked someone to prepare their horses and clothes. When everything was ready, I entrusted them with the things and let them have a good rest. I asked others for the direction of the road and rode back to find my horse on that road.
A bunch of people thought I was timid. They all knew that it took a lot of courage to walk through the mountains alone at this time of year, but I didn't feel that way. I asked them what they were afraid of, and they said they were afraid of robbers and wild animals.
Their well-intentioned persuasion really made me a little excited. I went to the blacksmith again, threw some money down, and took away an iron fork.
To be honest, I am a little afraid of the dark. As the sky darkened, I felt a little uneasy in the forest. And I once again unmanly pushed the blame on my wife Pingguo, because she was afraid of the dark, but I remembered that the title should be revoked because of my exile.
The fork in my hand reminded me of Nanlai. I wondered how this Xiongnu was doing recently. Would he have married Wenwen? Thinking like this made me feel brave.
There are wild animals in the forest, and I can hear their low roars from time to time. In this regard, I thought: I don’t know how these two people can survive until now. I suddenly thought of a very bad scene: a group of jackals sitting in front of the table, the two on top were stewing people, and a group of jackals complained that they were too thin and could only gnaw bones. Suddenly I felt that these two people were not treating me as a fool, and they kept pretending to be stupid with me, but actually wanted to deceive me. No, I immediately overturned myself, who is so bored that he came to such a place to deceive me, and used such an elegant method.
Comparatively speaking, I am more afraid of people. Wild animals will not set traps for you. If they want to rush at you, they will rush at you. But people are not so direct.
Suddenly I heard a horse neighing, and I immediately spurred my horse to gallop over. Then I felt a figure standing up beside the horse in front of me. I immediately became alert and shouted, "Who is here?" But in my heart I wondered if it would be better not to shout, and I immediately clenched the fork in my hand.
"Who?" The person on the other end was not vague and his voice was loud enough, but it seemed to be one person. At least in the moonlight, I only saw one figure.
"This horse is my horse, why are you standing next to it?" I looked at the horse clearly and was sure that it was the flower on my horse.
"What's the proof?" The man approached, holding a fork, and he looked like a hunter from his attire.
"The bag is full of clothes."
"All my clothes are mine. Why should they be yours?" The speaker was a young boy, and his childish voice was very obvious.
"Why isn't it mine?" I was a little annoyed, so I got off the horse. My height immediately frightened him, and I took advantage of this to ask him to take out a pair of large ones. Then I also talked to him about the reasoning. If it wasn't for my horse and baggage, who would go up the mountain at this time? Then I started to figure out what this person did.
“Oh, so that’s how it is. I’ve seen your clothes, they are very big. I guess they can only be yours, and… Well, then you can take the horse away.” After saying that, he was about to leave. I was surprised by his straightforwardness.
"Wait, how long have you been next to my horse?" The tied reins were loosened to the roots of the tree. I held onto the place where he had just sat and could feel the stones were hot.
"It's been a long time, and all we've been eating is dry food." He seemed a little disappointed.
"Then why don't you take the horse away?" I felt that there was a good boy around, so I asked with a very interested and friendly tone.
"I don't know if you will come to pick up the horse. If you don't come back by tomorrow morning, I will take it away. With a horse like this, it will be much more convenient for me to go out of the mountains. And these clothes can be sold for a good price, but I don't know if anyone can wear them..." Although it was an answer, it was actually a grumble of displeasure and impatience.
"Tomorrow morning. Why tomorrow morning?"
"These clothes belong to scholars. If a scholar stays in the mountains for one night, he will definitely be fed to the wolves." I immediately thought to myself that it was a bit strange that the musician had stayed in the mountains for several years without being eaten.
"But I know two people stayed in the mountains for a long time and didn't feed the wolves?" I asked him with a smile.
"Those green-eyed guys don't come out until the evening. That silly brother and sister went back before the sun sets, so nothing will happen. The only ones that come out during the day are tigers. My father said he hasn't seen one in more than ten years. He killed them all."
What a good hunter's son! He is simple, brave, honest, and cute.
"Is anyone else home?" I lifted the reins and faced him again.
"There's no one left, so it's just me. Why else would I be waiting for someone so late at night? I'll just come back tomorrow morning to see if the horse is still there. But it's very likely that it's been eaten by wolves."
"Aren't you afraid?"
"Don't be afraid. My father once told me that wolves are brave. As long as you can tame one of them, the others will be afraid of you. Wolf meat is not tasty. I release all the wolves caught in my traps, so they don't dare to provoke me, even if there are a lot of them." This is a very fresh truth.
"Are you doing well here?" I feel like I've been a little too complicated lately, and I've been beating around the bush more often.
"That's it, I can fill my stomach. Are you annoying? I'll give you the horse and I'm going back to sleep." He yawned and turned around with the fork in his hand.
"Wait, thank you for watching the horse for me? This bag of money, it's not much, is yours." As soon as he turned around, I threw him a bag of money, waiting for his response.
He was very skilled. He turned around and copied everything down without hesitation. He didn't hesitate to open the bag and take a look. He exclaimed, "It's really a lot."
However, he did not thank me, but said, "This much money is enough to buy a few more horses and so much cloth. You don't need so much. Just give me the money for a horse." He laughed.
"No, they're all yours." He thought to himself that he could buy a lot of horses and cloth, but the value of these clothes to me was far greater than the money.
Seeing him turn around and walk away again foolishly, I became a little anxious.
"Brother, are you willing to follow me from now on?"
He turned away.
"Where should we go if I follow you?" I complained in my heart why I met only such fools today.
"That is..." I suddenly remembered that I was already a commoner, so what was the point of doing this? But then I thought about it again and put other things aside.
"Oh, I want to protect you, right? Okay, since you gave me more money, I will protect you down the mountain." He suddenly acted smart.
"You get on your horse and go back first." There was no way to explain this to such a person. The experience I got from Zhou Cang and Nan made me get up directly.
"What are you going back for?" It was indeed this sentence.
"Pack your things."
"Pack up, what for?" I decided to correct one of my mistakes. Those two musicians were extremely smart people. If I wanted to know where the real fool was, there was one in front of me.
"Follow me, follow me from now on, be my servant first, and then be an officer." I think I have to use the simplest sentence structure and very naked words.
"Oh my god, are you an official?" This guy's mouth is not very clean.
"Yeah." I decided to admit it first, "Are you willing?"
"Then can you give me a large forest to hunt in from now on?" This request was probably the strangest one I have ever heard, but I immediately thought of Beihai and the others, and agreed again. He immediately responded and happily mounted his horse. Although he was a little uncomfortable at first, he was able to control the horse quickly with his skills, and then he smiled at me and left.
"What's your name?" I suddenly remembered this matter when he was still there.
"My name is **." The word "Lin" really came from the jungle.
I really like this guy, but suddenly I felt ashamed of myself for acting like a big shot when I'm not even 20 years old. But then I said to myself, "So what?"
But this wait was a bit painful for me. If I had known I would be with him, I would have gone down the mountain first, just looking at the moon and going down without any regrets. I still couldn't wait for that bastard. During this time, I urinated five times and my stomach growled for three hours, but this bastard didn't come back for some reason.
Did he cheat me out of my money and run away? No, how could this person wait for me for such a long time by my horse? But this thing didn't come to me for such a long time, could it be that he moved? I kept thinking about it, got off the horse, got on the horse again, and felt uncomfortable everywhere. I should have set a time limit earlier.
The sky was already beginning to turn white and my temper was rising. I had originally planned to wait for him to come and beat him up, but now I was thinking that if he didn't come back, I would leave immediately.
He finally appeared in the light mist, but the "mountain" behind him I saw was not some other mountain, but a mountain of neatly bundled luggage, including various animal skins, clothes, simple furniture and other items. It was a magnificent sight of layered mountains, which made me feel really amused and helpless. The horse was struggling to drag such a mountain forward, and he finally had some conscience and was helping to pull.
He shouted loudly when he saw me. Suddenly he scratched his head and asked me, "Brother, what's your last name?"
This is another commodity that all human traffickers love. Faced with this scene, I can only understand why he came so late, and I can't get angry anymore.
"My last name is Xie. You can just call me Brother Xie, or Brother Zhi."
He was not surprised at all. I thought he should at least open his mouth and shout. He just said smartly: "So my brother's name is Xie Zhi."
It seems that some people still don’t know what Ping An Feng Yun Hou is. At that time, I didn’t know how I felt either.
I led my horse over, hitched it to his cart and helped to pull it, only to find that the cart seemed to be newly made.
"Is the car new?"
"Well, there are too many things, so I have to do this." No wonder he made a car after such a long delay. By this calculation, he was quite fast. I no longer had the energy to teach him a lesson. He just followed me with all his belongings. I should have been mentally prepared. Moreover, I was a little touched. He was able to do this, obviously trusting me completely, because he entrusted his entire fortune to me.
But this trip down the mountain was very tiring. The problem was that there were several hundred kilograms of stuff in the back. When going downhill, I was always afraid that the bike would be shaken to pieces, or it would not be able to be controlled and would rush down the mountain and be smashed to pieces. At least I thought my eyelids could not support me to stay alert all the way.
But at least we had a safe journey without any trouble, except that I almost fell down on his car. It was just a strong musty smell that almost drove me up the mountain again. Since then, I have felt much better.
When I got back to the town, it was already daybreak. I passed by the blacksmith's shop again. The blacksmith seemed to recognize me and the young man, and he greeted me. When the young man thought he wanted to talk to me, the blacksmith came closer to me and said to me, "You gave me too much money yesterday. Please take it back."
I didn't take the money back, I just praised him, but he was still embarrassed, saying it was the right thing to do. The local customs are so simple, and staying up late was a great pleasure.
I asked him to buy three cars for me and gave him some money. The sooner the better. He accepted the offer very sincerely. I was completely relieved.
But when I returned to the inn, a new situation occurred: the couple fell ill again. This made me panic. I kept thinking about what was going on, but I couldn't figure it out, so I quickly found a doctor.
During this time, the idiot kept making way for me and others under the porch. He also asked if there was anything he could do. I couldn't think of anything, so I let him go to sleep. As a result, after a while, the whole inn could hear a thunderous snoring, which almost made me beat him up. He could sleep at this time, but he still had time to snore. It would be fine if he just snored, but he still had the energy to snore so loudly.
After the doctor took the pulse and examined him, he asked the man who was still able to hold on if he often ate cold food. The man was naturally the head, and I immediately understood. Later, the doctor diagnosed that it was indeed a stomach problem.
The doctor turned to me and said, "This is a long-standing illness. It was cold last night and the bedding was very damp, so the two of them caught a cold and it was triggered. I'll prescribe some stomach-warming medicine. Please eat on time and don't order cold meals or skip meals." Then he shook his head and left, as if he was scolding me. I thought to myself, what did I do wrong
I turned around immediately and saw that the couple knew it was their fault and lowered their heads. The man kept causing trouble for me every time he came out.
"Trouble is secondary." I lost my temper because of this silly couple: "What is your relationship with Jie Zitui? There is no need to commemorate him every day." I smiled to myself, took a calmer breath, and continued: "From now on, you need to be careful. I will find someone to take good care of your diet."
They thanked me again and I asked someone to boil some medicine for them. I watched them drink it before I let them rest. I also asked someone to light a charcoal fire in the house to make them feel more comfortable. When they were about to leave, I finally remembered and asked them their names.
The man's surname was Xing, and he had no name. The woman's surname was Xi, and she also had no name. This was really strange, so I had to ask what other people called them.
He was Mr. Xing, Madam Xi; they called each other Xingxing, hehe. I didn't ask them about the rest, they told me themselves, but they were thick-skinned enough to tell me so much that it gave me goosebumps.
I couldn’t do that. What if they had children in the future? As a result, the couple was so upset that their faces turned red.
After all this nonsense, considering that they were indeed in poor health, they said goodbye and left.
Standing in the yard, watching the fog slowly dissipating between the mountains not far away in the sunshine, my heart gradually became cheerful, feeling that everything would pass, and good days would soon be here.
Suddenly I remembered that I hadn't slept all night and was still here sighing about something. I felt ridiculous, so I quickly found a place to curl up.
Maybe I was too sleepy. Although the bedding did feel a little wet, I couldn't stand up once I lay down. I could only curse these people for being lazy and soon fell asleep.
The next day, the cars were ready, one for the couple, one for me and that idiot snorer, and another one for that guy's luggage.
These three people were all from the mountains, and I knew them. It didn't take me much effort to talk, and they were able to talk to each other and successfully kicked me out of their topic. In the end, I just felt like I was taking care of my younger brothers and sisters, and I felt a sense of accomplishment. I also bought a horse and set off.
There was no road below, because we reached Xinye at noon that day.
The city guard was a newcomer, and I didn't know him, but he knew me, and that was enough. After introducing myself and exchanging a few pleasantries, I left. In fact, I forgot his name again soon after leaving Xinye.
But I didn't forget that incident, because I kept thinking about it. So, in the warm sunshine that afternoon, I led the two men to Brother Pei. As for the rough man, I asked him to guard the carriage and horses, and he honestly agreed.
When they reached that place, they bowed again and asked them to sing a song for them.
They did not refuse, but I noticed that after they saw the name on the tombstone, they seemed to be thinking about something. The two of them looked at each other, as if they were thinking about the origin of the name.
I ignored their somewhat doubtful looks and just talked to Brother Pei: "Brother Pei, we haven't known each other for long, and I don't know what your hobbies are, but we have similar temperaments. My friendship with you makes me feel open-minded and safe. Now I have met two musicians with outstanding skills, and I earnestly ask you to appreciate them."
So, I bowed again. I wondered if Brother Pei could understand what I said, but I was afraid that being too straightforward might hurt the self-esteem of these two people. In short, Brother Pei should not do anything, just enjoy the music.
The two of them thought for a moment, and then the man closed his eyes and started playing the zither. Soon, the woman followed the rhythm of the zither and played the xiao.
I was smiling as I spoke, as if Brother Pei was right in front of me. But they described the hero's end, and I burst into tears. I couldn't breathe for a moment, and I went through the tragic scene in my mind again.
After a long while, the music stopped, and I slowly returned to this world. It was almost dusk, and I wiped away my tears, turned around and asked them to go on their way, but I saw Guan Hai holding the Xun in his hand on the way.
So, I returned to Xiangyang. I didn’t know what day it was in the leap month, and few people were aware of it. I heard several teachings, but I couldn’t remember them all. The whole month was like a big dream, and I didn’t know whether I was happy or sad. But after I came back, I knew I was awake. (I don’t know what the readers think of these several long paragraphs of dream-like words above. I was quite satisfied when I wrote them, but I always felt that my creation was too stream-of-consciousness, and the author was uncertain)
After the teacher left, Xiangyang was handed over to Brother Chen. He was so busy that he almost went crazy. He was so busy that he lost a lot of weight, although I couldn't see it. In addition, this very strange sentence had to be traced back to Beihai.
I placed the three people I brought with me in the Prince of Ping'an's mansion, and that made that completely stupid guy realize that Xie Zhi had some background. But he just looked around and always wanted to get into the room. The couple was not surprised at all, and told someone to send them hot meals and soup every day. I won't go into details here.
Brother Chen was not polite to me and assigned me an important task that day. I was not that squeamish and just told me to go as soon as I got married.
That night, I met Guo Pei. I just said one sentence in front of everyone: "I will marry Sima Pei." Amid the noise of the crowd, I approached her and said only one sentence, "I know everything, but please allow me to marry someone else."
She was not shy, nor did she avoid it. She just replied softly, "As you wish."
Kong Ming asked me directly where my sister was. I was with my sister's father. This guy was thinner this time. At least when I hugged him, my hands felt lighter.
Most of the old friends in Xiangyang are not in Xiangyang. Yan Rou was given a new position, but he is guarding Wancheng. Beihai has some great talents. Brother Chen asked him to train archery and horse for Jingzhou, which is not far south of Xiangyang. Nan and Wenwen went out to play. They went out two days ago and their whereabouts are unknown. I always feel that something is going to happen to these two people.
That day, I was too tired and rested quickly. The next day, Beihai came with his wife from the southern barracks. When he saw me, he asked me what happened to my sister. I didn't hide it from him, so I called Guo Pei and told him everything. But when someone framed me for having an extra daughter, I suddenly found a problem. The bulge on my sister-in-law disappeared!
"Beihai, you gave birth?" I asked happily, but suddenly realized that there was something wrong with my words: "No, no, your sister-in-law gave birth? Then why did you ask your sister-in-law to come over? Is it a nephew or a niece?"
"Daughter, it happened to snow that day, so let's call her Xue'er." Only then did she notice that he had been so excited that something was wrong. She was so busy with her own business that she didn't notice it and secretly cursed herself for being so stupid.
"At my father-in-law's house. It's windy outside recently and it's hard to bring him out." This happy man now seems to deserve a beating.
"Congratulations, I'll go see my goddaughter right away."
"No, no, brother, why don't you tell me your story?" he asked with great interest, looking more and more like he deserved a beating.
After I finished telling the story, he started to say that I was a tall tree that attracted the wind, and that I was also very attractive and could be easily misunderstood. I didn't know whether he was comforting me or criticizing me. Then he said that such a thing would never happen to him, and in the end even my sister-in-law felt that her husband deserved a beating.
But that's exactly what happened.
A guard came in and said to me in a very nasty tone: "Marquis Fengyun, there is a beautiful woman with a child outside looking for you."
I jumped up at that moment, thinking that this wouldn't happen again. Beihai stopped joking and said seriously, "Brother, you wouldn't...really..."
I looked at Guo Pei, but she didn't look at me, as if she was thinking about something else. I hurried out, cursing in my heart, which bastard did this bad thing and blamed it on me.
I immediately breathed a sigh of relief when I came out. It was the female thief and her son named Yuer. They came to ask me to take them in.
It was a strange idea to keep thieves in our house, especially two of them at once. I thought it was a bit scary. If there was anything good in the house, it would be gone in the blink of an eye. But I decided to let them stay, so I led them in, made up some pitiful stories for them and told them to everyone, and then let them go down to rest. Suddenly I felt that I was quite powerful and had great courage in making decisions.
Because of Yu'er's age, no one thought he was my son. I also thought that I couldn't do such a difficult thing when I was five years old.
Just after sitting down, Beihai started talking again in a provocative manner. I felt that he had integrated very well into the Jingzhou officials.
"My sister-in-law is here today, but I still want to say something. Although I am a little frivolous and often talk nonsense in front of everyone, I have never done such a thing, and I have never done anything to let Wan'er down. Now you are going to marry two, and if you marry more in the future, disputes are bound to occur." He smiled, and I looked at his neat and beautiful beard, but I was very interested in pulling out all of it.
Then, this person's retribution came, and the guard who delivered the message came in and reported: "General Li, there are a group of beautiful girls outside arguing and looking for you."
This time even I could hear the faint laughter beside me. The Xianbei man who was beaming with joy just now froze immediately, including his hand gestures suspended in mid-air. He glanced at the woman with a somewhat cold face, then changed the position of his hands in mid-air, indicating that he wanted to go out and take a look. The woman indifferently said that they should go out together.
I nearly fell to the ground laughing, but my wife was beside me and I couldn't be disrespectful, so I had to hold it back.
There were only two of us in the lobby, and neither of us seemed to have anything to say.
I felt like I should do something but didn't know how to start. I was troubled by this matter all the way, but in the end there was no result. This is a very rare situation.
"Let's get things done in the next few days. I still have to go to the south to settle the barbarians." After thinking for a long time, I said this softly, and I seemed to feel even more oppressed.
"It's as you say." She didn't refuse. She said the same thing as before. There was nothing I could tell from her tone. I was lost in my thoughts.
"Why didn't you do that then?" He managed to squeeze out this sentence after a long while.
"Because..." At that moment, Beihai came back in high spirits. She spoke faster and lowered her voice: "Because you like her."
I sighed, but Beihai seemed to have gotten redress for his wrongs and complained, "Brother, your guard at the gate is too bad. A woman from my tribe came to see me for something, but he reported it to me like this."
"Let's go see my goddaughter." I stood up, looking around and talking about something else. I didn't look at Pei, but bowed and said politely: "Madam, please rest first, I will prepare the next things."
She also nodded in response without saying a word.
When they were leaving, Beihai lowered his voice and asked in confusion: "Brother, what's going on? You..."
His words were interrupted by his wife, and he turned around but didn't know what to do. When I saw this scene, I just nodded to my sister-in-law, then turned and left.
Girls seem to be ugly when they are young, at least Xue and Yi Yue are the same... It's hard to find words to describe it, I can only feel that there is some problem with the matching. I think they were very good-looking, very pretty and fair-skinned girls when they were young, but they have become a little salty now. I still remember Zuo Ci made a gesture to express the big gap, with one hand pulled to the highest and the other hand pulled to the lowest.
Of course I have to say nice things, but that may not be the case if my brother and sister-in-law are not around.
Fortunately, my wife Pingguo received a lot of silver bell salary as a princess, so I didn't have to be short of money to do things. To be honest, it is easier to get things done with money. Song Yudong also took time to help me, which allowed me to organize things in a few days.
The children had nothing to do, so the lady had been teaching them their lessons as usual these days. Song Qian and Chen Wu were still discussing why they hadn't been allowed to relax these days.
That evening, I finally finished taking care of everything. I was waiting for the wedding the next day. I ordered someone to send Guo Pei the phoenix coronet and bridal veil for the wedding (note by the author, I feel that too many notes would affect the reading, but if I don’t, someone would definitely come and do something. It’s not that I don’t understand, but I just want everyone to understand. The author has no choice but to add this note after thinking it over), and I sat alone in the room.
I felt a little more at peace, and then I felt that I was being a bit silly. Although I didn't mean to be silly, I still felt that something was wrong. This was not like a marriage. My new wife and I didn't even look at each other, although I know that many marriages between wealthy families are like this. But for me, I think this is very inappropriate.
I fell heavily on the bed, thinking back and forth, my hands stroking the dress for tomorrow's wedding, I didn't know what I felt in my heart, was the dream real or illusory, why did I feel like I was in a dream, I was made a marquis in Luoyang, met Qianshan by chance, learned my identity, was granted marriage by Luoyang, and had a daughter before marriage, and now I am getting married again. I once said that I would only marry one person, and I broke my promise. I pounded the couch hard, feeling an inexplicable sadness.
On a certain day in the leap month of the first year of Chuping, I never forgot what day it was, although I remembered that Brother Chen picked this day from Zhang Kai, and it was a good day. But I still forgot it, because something big happened on that day.
That morning, the maid came to report that Guo Pei had disappeared. I entered her room somewhat numbly, only to see the phoenix coronet and bridal robe neatly placed on the couch.
It was my wedding day, but my wife was missing.