"The Change of Heaven"
The second part: The Edge of the Sky
Chapter 131 Journey to the West
I stood up, slowly, holding my breath, perhaps even forgetting how to breathe.
"Brother Zishi, why don't you go and rest first?" I was a little confused and didn't know what to do, but I still said firmly: "I know, I will definitely find a way to save Ziyu."
"Okay, okay... okay... quick... quick... quick..." Zishi repeated again and again, and gradually turned into a mumble or a stammer. Finally, he lowered his head and slowly collapsed. He was really too sleepy. After he finished what he needed to say, he almost couldn't stand up, and finally he fell asleep in front of the hall of my house.
I ordered someone to carry Li Zhen to the side room to sleep first. When he was carried away, he muttered a few "quickly", but he didn't have any complaints about the people who carried him, and he might not even know that he was being carried. Just like I didn't know what to do, when he left our sight, I finally turned to look at my wife, with an inexplicable guilty look on my face.
"sorry… "
"Nothing, you should go, go ahead." She said with a smile, "Since your teacher has designated you to go, and Ziyu is your good brother, I won't stop you. You didn't take me with you last time, and now I'm a cripple, how can you take me with you?"
She cried. After she said this, she really cried, just as I expected.
I couldn't say anything to comfort her. I could only go forward and hug her, as if to make a promise. Although it was only a promise for an unknown future, it was really the only thing I could say at that time: "I will come back, and when I come back, I will never leave you again."
I galloped all the way to the governor's mansion. At that time, Brother Chen was discussing government affairs with the people who stayed in Xiangyang, but I couldn't wait any longer, so I apologized to the officials of all ranks and asked Brother Chen to talk with me in a private place behind the hall.
But after hearing my news, Brother Chen was not in a hurry, and even said coldly: "I guessed it long ago. He insisted on doing this. What can I do?"
"Lend me a battalion of soldiers, and I will go to rescue Ziyu. I will definitely be able to rescue Ziyu." After hearing this, I must have been anxious.
"No! If you're making trouble, and we go to rescue him, doesn't that mean we're going to rebel?" Brother Chen was furious. I had recovered somewhat, but when I begged him again, he continued to scold me relentlessly, "Zi Yu brought this upon himself. What can I do? If you can't persuade him, then he is determined to die and you can't stop him. If he wants to do this, don't let us get involved."
Although I felt that my request was a little inappropriate, I still had some luck and pleaded, "Help Brother Ziyu? He has been with us for many years. We studied together and grew up together."
"I am twenty years older than you, but I didn't grow up with you." Chen Liang seemed to realize that his voice was too loud just now, so he raised his voice a little, but it also became much colder.
"Oh, by the way, you are much older than us, so you naturally don't understand these. I just ask you, can you help me?" He shook his head and even said, "I won't send a single soldier without the teacher's order."
I am really numb. Brother Chen actually disregarded the life and death of Brother Ziyu. I even respectfully called him Brother Chen for so long. If I had known the Yellow Turban Rebellion, I should have known that his heart was cold. I thought he would change after he opened his heart to me. I was so naive and stupid.
I was indeed too naive and stupid.
I left the government office in a daze, got on the horse, and no longer galloped, but could only slowly follow the horse all the way home.
I feel very uncomfortable and don't know what to do. Normally, I don't feel this way at this time. I should have the most ideas, but today I really don't know what to do. It's like I'm a different person.
I closed my eyes, and all I could see was Chen Liang’s face, and all I could hear were his words.
I don't know how it happened. How did the feelings between the brothers in Jingzhou become like this? How could it be like this? I asked myself loudly, but no one answered for me.
But when I got home, I had already made up my mind. "Marquis of Ping'an, I am the Marquis of Ping'an after all!" I gritted my teeth and said, "I don't believe that I am useless."
I took down the wolf brought back by the people on the boat from the gun rack in the main room, but I didn't take the gun. I gently peeled off the animal skin on top of it, and the dull silver-gray thing appeared before my eyes. "Brother, maybe there are only two of us."
"And me." A firm and teasing voice sounded behind him.
My heart warmed, and I turned around. Beihai was standing behind me in full armor, holding an axe and carrying a longbow.
"No, no, you have children and a wife, no, no, if anything happens to you, how can I face you... How can I face my brother and sister-in-law."
"It's okay, I've already had it with Wan'er... Well, as a woman, she cried, there was nothing I could do, but she still packed all my clothes for me."
"Then it's you, but don't tell Nan."
"certainly… "
"That's good." He felt a little relieved from the guilt he felt towards his brother and sister-in-law.
"No, of course I told Nan." He took it for granted.
"He's only sixteen!" I almost jumped up.
"He's already sixteen." I admitted that there was some rift between us, but he continued, "Brother, weren't you only seventeen when you fought in Hanzhong? Anyway, you just ordered him around, and didn't ask him to make decisions."
I was speechless, because immediately afterwards, a man named Nan, carrying a mountain on his back, rushed in with a pitchfork in his hand, extremely excited, completely losing the quietness he had on the boat. It seemed that the Huns' aggressive temperament could not be concealed after all.
"Sister is such a hassle. You asked me to carry this and that. Brother-in-law, these are all yours. You're almost crushing me to death by taking them away."
I waved my hand and said with a smile: "It's up to you." Suddenly I thought of something, "How did you know?"
"This morning, Wang Wei was patrolling the city and ran into Li Zhen. Wang Wei didn't know him, and seeing that he looked strange, he stopped him. Other soldiers who knew Li Zhen told Wang Wei, and that's why Li Zhen wasn't thrown into jail. Wang Wei asked him what he wanted to see you. Wang Wei was afraid that you were still resting, so he brought Li Zhen to me, his brother. Li Zhen and I have a good relationship. When he saw that it was me, he was very happy and told me the situation, and I naturally went to help."
"This..." Hearing this, I suddenly understood and cursed myself for being so careless. I didn't have the quick wit that I used to be proud of. I should have thought that at this time, none of us should show up, otherwise, it would be a real rebellion. In fact, it would be better for me not to show up at that time. I can now understand what the teacher meant. Perhaps the teacher meant that I should take all the brothers I have collected from all over the world to set off together. Then it would be really just me. This may be the reason why Li Zhen saw that Po Liu Han Lie Ya was so happy. So, my mind immediately thought of one of my brothers, who was in the west, a brother I hadn't contacted for a long time, the foreigner from the west: Spartacus. I immediately began to blame myself. I actually forgot about this matter. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel sad. Thinking of my attitude with Brother Chen just now, I was really too reckless. He couldn't help but sigh and shake his head, then turned to the two heroes with hope on their faces: "Okay, we will prepare immediately. Go and mobilize all the people you can mobilize, and prepare some civilian clothes. Prepare more dry food and horses, but you are not allowed to reveal any secrets, especially Nan, not to anyone, no one. Get rid of all the clues related to us, and don't bring the flags of Jingzhou. We will set off late at night."
"Yes!" They went to set up first, and after they left, I shook my head, sighed, laughed at myself, and slowly put the wolf back far away, as if to comfort him: "Brother, you should take a rest this time."
I slowly pushed open the door. I knew she would be here, and I even knew what she would do. She sent me away like this last time. But this time she didn't cry. She pushed the package to me, but refused to look at me. She turned her head and said, "Take care, take care on your journey, and come back as soon as you are done."
I stayed there for a long time, but finally left with just one sentence: "I'll be back soon."
I hope I can come back earlier this time. I really think so in my heart. I just left Yinling and returned to Xiangyang, but I didn't expect to leave Pei'er again. This separation seems to be normal to me. Maybe my name should be A Li, or A Bie.
When I left, I took the spear with me, and casually found a soldier's armor to put on, leaving behind everything that could prove my identity. I didn't say goodbye to anyone, and even specifically told Pei'er that no one else could do this. I didn't tell Brother Chen, I believe he understood.
There were still people resting in the quiet streets at night, but after a hard day's work, they would not care about a person passing by quietly. I asked everyone to go out alone to avoid attracting attention. The three of us plus a dozen of the best Xianbei warriors were all the people I could mobilize now.
It was not difficult to get out of the city gate. Wang Wei was there. He knew that I was going to do something big, but he was very sensible and didn't ask anything.
We agreed to meet at the river three miles out of the city. The horse couldn't stand the heat and dragged me to the river to drink water, and I let it go, thinking, you will have a hard time in the next few days, you should take a rest first.
The brothers were scattered in the grass, but now they all gathered around me. Nan Zi was the fastest one, and he pulled the reins back and forth with both hands to avoid hitting me. He held the fork in one hand and said anxiously, "Brother Zirui, what should we do next?"
Young people really have endless energy, I thought like a 50-year-old. But I spoke in the tone of a 30-year-old man: "Where is your brother-in-law?"
Without his answer, following the sound of horse hooves, dozens of heroes lined up in a row along the river bank under the moonlight.
Without my saying anything, Beihai brought me a message: "When I leave the city tonight, Lord Chen Liang wants us to take over a group of volunteers who have just been recruited."
"Why didn't I hear it in Xiangyang?" I thought to myself, and then something brightened up in my heart. Ignoring Nan's complaints, "It's already late, and I still have to do work for him first."
"Where?" I regained some of the energy I had when I was twenty years old.
"Just walk fifteen miles upstream along the river and take them to Shangyong. He will not be responsible for the rest."
I clasped my hands together and bowed towards Xiangyang, but in my heart I was as happy as a teenager.
It would be completely foolish to believe that there would be any real militiamen along the Xiangshui River 18 miles outside Xiangyang City, just like believing that the heat on Nan's head was his hair on fire. It was more than ten miles away from any town, and after the flood, it was a wasteland with only weeds. The only people there would be my acquaintances, but I didn't know which ones they were.
So half an hour later, when Nan was screaming in fear and Beihai was standing there laughing, I had already walked straight into the militia camp to find someone to talk to.
"Militia." There was laughter from the audience, and I continued, "Who is your leader?"
"The big head is still the head." There was another burst of laughter.
"To be honest, the head is too big and the head is too small." The laughter got louder.
"Keep the big head and cut off the head." I answered calmly, and immediately the laughter that could almost flatten the place swept the two people out.
"This is from Lord Chen." A man who spoke E Huan's voice immediately came close and handed me a scroll of silk, and then handed me a torch, so that I could be sure that this person was him and could read the silk book in his hand. In addition, Song Yudong also appeared with a smile: "We just came back and sent someone to report to Lord Chen Liang in Jiangling. As a result, when we were halfway back to Xiangyang, he sent us a silk book and asked us to come here."
"How many people are here?" I asked them as I unfolded the silk.
"One hundred, as requested by Lord Chen, all of them are the best." E Huan patted his chest and showed me the brothers behind him, his face flushed.
The silk was not big, and there were only these few words on it: "All that can be given to you, I will give to you." Below it was the signature: "Shao Diao."
I immediately wrapped the silk around the torch, and in a moment it illuminated the place red, revealing the innocent red faces with smiles. Good brothers, I must bring everyone back, I swore with gritted teeth. I clasped my fists and bowed in the direction of Xiangyang. Brother Chen was really thoughtful. Think about the group of people they were traveling with. If ** was transferred here, it is hard to guarantee that nothing will happen. Zhou Xin is new, so Brother Chen can't help but feel uneasy, but this person can still help. However, maybe I should bring Yu'er and his mother this time, but I really don't know where they are now. I haven't seen them since I came back, and I didn't know Brother Chen would have this trick at the time.
After the remaining silk was burned and it was a little dark around, I let everyone rest for a while. I went to a distance with them and started to discuss. I explained the situation clearly, and they started to discuss it. However, when they had their own opinions, such as Beihai's method of directly entering the pass from Wancheng, Guanjun, and Yecheng to Luoyang, and E Huan's plan to cross mountains and build bridges when encountering water, and even the plan of pretending to be the Xiongnu to rush into the pass. Song Yudong suddenly decided to ask for a fortune to predict the good or bad luck. The result was really interesting, but it was the same as what I thought.
"To the north now." Song Yudong looked at the hexagram in the firelight. People around him were discussing with each other. Zhen Yan said, "It's very bad."
"Today, face east." Song Yudong continued to look at the hexagram under the firelight, but there was no sound around him. Zhenyan said, "It's bad luck."
"Today, go west." Nan looked at the hexagram in the firelight. There was still no sound around, but Song Yudong said, "Move your head away. Oh, it's half auspicious."
"Where is Nan now?" Nan asked curiously, closing his head and waiting for the hexagram under the firelight. There was still no sound around, but I thought: "Good luck."
"It's really a good omen." Songtou.
"Brother, you were outside, how did you know?"
"Luoyang is in the north, let's go south. Even if Brother Ziyu dies of old age, we won't be able to reach Luoyang. Of course, that's a good thing." In response to this stupid question, I even stretched lazily with some satisfaction.
Everyone laughed and said, "Where are we going now?"
"Xiangxi, I'm going to take you to meet someone you haven't seen but you should have heard of. Relatively speaking, this route is the most auspicious." I said with a smile, and the horse was already taking me around everywhere without any hesitation.
"But Luoyang is in the north, and we are heading west, so what about Brother Ziyu?"
"Since I am the only one who can save the teacher and he let me know, he will definitely drag me down." I sighed. I had already thought about this: "It's no use for me to be anxious. In order to successfully enter and return safely, I need help from people in two places. It doesn't matter. There are still twenty days until autumn. There is still time."
"Which two places?" Beihai asked with a puzzled look on his face, "One is where the Qing people are, right? It seems to be in Xiliang."
I looked around and saw the situation.
"What about the other one?"
"You'll know when the time comes."
Someone else asked what it had to do with this autumn. I just looked at him and he was slapped by his righteous brother-in-law, who scolded him, "Don't ask questions without permission." But later, his brother-in-law also asked me this question secretly, and I slapped him again. Later, I asked myself this question, thought about it, laughed, and slapped Nan again. Nan didn't understand why, but I did. But I didn't: he was closest to me and I could hit him at will.
I believe there are many people who will be on guard against us, and they will certainly find someone to watch us. We need to save people and prevent them from catching us. Therefore, I have been thinking about how to enter Luoyang and how to get out, and I also need to think about the route before entering the pass. Going west first is obviously the best way at the moment.
The summer nights north of the Xiang River were hot and dry. Because the road was long, we decided that we had to drink water and rest every time we crossed the river. At the command, many people took off their clothes and pulled their horses into the water. At the whistle, they rushed out without wiping their bodies, got on their horses and continued to walk. They went back and forth several times, so that as soon as they heard the sound of water, some people began to take off their clothes, and some even wore only knuckles. When resting, they plunged into the water with their horses to cool down. No matter whether they were thirsty or not, they all wanted to drink some water. When they were in the water, some people even had cramps. I thought it must be because these brothers who had just returned were exhausted and exhausted, so they were not physically strong enough. But when I asked them, they were fine. In the end, they all took a boat and rested for a day in Jiangling. It was nothing. The symptom was probably because their bodies were too hot, and they got cramps when they entered the water and became cold. When I heard the accent and found that Mingzi was among them, I felt nervous and determined to bring everyone back.
The sky gradually brightened up. There was no fog around. We were all exposed in the wilderness without any shelter, as if a gust of wind could sweep us all away, floating in the sky and never coming back. There was indeed wind at that time. The wind blew from the front, with a blue-gray color - that was the color of the Dawn Mountain, and this was the only color that came into view. Farther away was the dark blue sky. There were no farmlands on both sides. If there were, they were wastelands. Otherwise, it would not be an empty field now. There were only crisscrossing paths and roads. At this moment, most of the farmers were doing corvée labor on the construction site in the south, or they were slaughtered by Dong Zhuo as the Yellow Turban Army in the seventh year of Guanghe. What is this? I suddenly cursed. But along the way, no one noticed what I was doing.
Many people are really strange. They like the heroes of the past, the heroic spirit, the powerful, and the maneuvering. But behind the heroes of the past, there are thousands of miles of bones and rivers of blood. How much benefit can the common people get? The rise and fall of the country is glorious, and the people are sad. What are they envious of? In fact, even if there is no war, the people are already overwhelmed by natural disasters, not to mention that there has been no peace in the past few years! Maybe it is the saying: As long as it does not concern me, I don’t care how many innocent people are displaced. Let’s ask, when the future comes, let’s see how you are arrogant!
I believe that true heroes are born in peacetime or rise in times of national crisis, rather than in internal disasters caused by personal selfishness. I must correct the bias in my thoughts just now. Li Guang, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing are still the true national heroes of our Han Dynasty. And my own biological father is also a true hero. He is upright and incorruptible. He once frightened corrupt officials. When he passed away, the people cried like they lost their father. Imagine when my father stood on the high ground and called for help, he was really a hero at a young age and full of vigor. But my hands are stained with the blood of my Han people. I have not been able to bring a comfortable and prosperous day to the people of this place, but I am unjustly called a hero. This is shameful and embarrassing. I have no face to face my biological father in the afterlife. I am ashamed.
I can only shake my head and return. After all, many people still like this tune. Even myself, when I was young, I was also thinking about the achievements of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, and thinking about the Xiongnu invading the south again, and I would join the army and do something great. Now I can think about the common people, mostly because of Yinling's achievements. I don't know where Yinling is now, so I quickly dispel my thoughts of children. After thinking about it, I think it was still the two prime ministers Xiao He and Cao Shen who did the best: "do nothing".
If it is really for the good of the people, just like in the past, sympathizing with the people's strength and governing by inaction, what else is there to do? It is better to live a good life at home with my wife. Thinking about it, I want to laugh again, and I laughed.
While I was thinking, there was gold and red in the wind, and there was the sun and sunset before my eyes, and the day passed like this.
On the third day, I was revisiting an old place. I had only drawn a circle in the air, but now it has become a real pass and town: the hillside is lined with tents, flags are flying, various workshops and houses are dotted around, smoke is curling, and birds are chirping. It is really harmonious and quiet under the sunset. But maybe this is only when there is no war.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from the northwest, stirring up sand and rocks that startled the horses. I turned around and said to my brothers who had been driving with me for two days and two nights, who were looking at the majestic passes and military towns ahead with admiration, "Hurry up and continue on the road. Rest well in Hanzhong tonight, change horses, and bring dry food. We still have a few days to go. Don't rest now. If you rest, we won't be able to reach Hanzhong today. Hurry!"
I had no plan to meet Zhou Cang. Although I didn't want my brother to be stupid, he was still a bit careless in my impression. I was afraid that he would accidentally leak the news. Once they knew I was here, the soldiers here would come to watch me or spread my affairs. Once this happened, my whereabouts would eventually be known to everyone in the world who wanted to know. However, in Hanzhong to the west of Jingzhou and Xiliang to the north, the management of horses was all in the hands of our army. Therefore, we had to show up again, but this time I didn't have to be included.
The scene in Hanzhong shocked me. There was nothing special about it, but there were so many graves in the east of the city. I thought it was the place where the bones of the soldiers in the Battle of Hanzhong were buried, but all I saw were people crying, and there was no soldier at all. It was the middle of June, which was a day for sacrifice, which might explain the scene. But the key question is, why are there so many graves? What kind of big thing happened in Hanzhong? Why didn't I hear any news in Xiangyang
I didn't dare to delay, so I hurried into the city first, settled everyone down, and then found someone to talk to and ask questions. But this time, I didn't take the lead. I was like an ordinary soldier hiding among my brothers. But this didn't stop me from taking a closer look at this city. Last time, it was still a scene of tents and flags, and piles of warriors everywhere. I can still remember that our soldiers were fighting with Amazon women under this wall, and suddenly one of our soldiers ran over and chased a girl in front. These scenes are still in my mind, never forgotten, and even very clear, as if they happened yesterday.
Now the city is full of newly built or renovated houses, and it looks like a city. But it has lost the vitality I once had. It is still late summer, but the city has become a bit bleak after autumn. There are few people on the road. The dark green leaves and gray-brown trunks of the locust trees on the sidewalks look even more wilted in the wind, without the vitality they should have. There is a faint smoke in the wind, perhaps the sad traces left by the paper money and horses burned by the tomb sweepers.
The sun is approaching dusk.
Song Yudong is not a warrior, so his frail body was naturally worn out by the two-day journey. Although he still wanted to insist on working with us, we persuaded him to go to sleep.
We are not scholars, so we all continued to work with inexplicable excitement. But since I am not the leader, it is understandable that we have to wait a little longer. Especially seeing how ferocious E Huan is, I would let them wait outside for a while. Po Liu, Han Lie Ya Jia Hu Salie, and Nan Guo, this pair of brother-in-law and brother-in-law carrying axes and pitchforks, and both carrying bows and arrows, do not look like good people. At this time, the person who looked the best in the team was sleeping at the post station, and I was just a soldier hiding in the team. This round of waiting was a bit helpless and boring. This period of time even made me yawn all the time, and Nan was almost dozed off due to my influence, but the two were still very energetic, talking about war very enthusiastically, and even wanted to gesture to each other, which made them look even more terrifying.
After a man with strange clothes and an even stranger appearance left, it was finally our turn to go in after chatting for a long time. As soon as we entered, Zhou Mi's eyes were immediately filled with wonder and surprise. Seeing that I didn't say anything, his eyes were conveying information to him. He sent all the guards away according to my instructions, and then smiled and sat in the middle, "Brother Zirui, I haven't seen you for more than a year!"
Zhou Mi has gained weight again. He used to have a chubby face, but now he looks more like the young scoundrel of a landlord. This gives me reason to believe that this person has been enjoying a good life recently. I cannot speculate what kind of good life he has. I thought he would suffer a lot here, but it seems I was too serious. However, I also felt that it was a bit excessive to keep him here, and he has been here since the Battle of Hanzhong until now, which is enough time to raise another white head, and then put it in the pot again. It is simply a torture for such a child. Maybe my metaphor is not quite right, but when it comes to white, I think Zhou Mi's eyes are a bit like it now. Suddenly I remembered that it seemed that I was the one who gave all the orders at that time, and I actually felt that I had the talent to be a cruel official.
Or next time when we start raising pigs again, I can choose a new pig that looks like him, as long as he doesn't mind. After thinking about it again, I said with a relatively complicated smile: "Yes! I still think you were eating pork at my house yesterday."
"Ah, Bai!" He finally smiled like a child. It seems that the relationship between Bai and I is not deep, at least not as deep as these two fat guys, because it took me a while to remember that it was the name of a pig that our family once raised. Maybe it was because it was often thought of and described as the same thing as me in my sister's mind, which made me very dissatisfied. Maybe we felt like sworn enemies or even competitors.
However, for these two sentences, although I was imagining freely in my mind, the brothers I brought with me must still be confused and didn't understand. And the two of us seemed to have some ulterior motives, and we smiled at each other. And everyone looked at us, perhaps guessing the connection between a thing called white and a thing called pig meat.
"Zixiang," I spoke first, "Why are there so many graves in the east of the city?"
"Which door did you come in from?" he asked me first.
"The South Gate, of course."
"Oh, if you go in through the north gate, you'll know it at a glance." He still didn't, but he was grinning.
"Then you have to tell me. I came from Xiangyang, so of course I entered through the South Gate. Do you think I would go through the North Gate to enter Hanzhong?"
"Not necessarily. You entered Luoyang through the north gate, and you were heading north from Xiangyang." It turned out that I was the fool. This guy was actually setting a trap for me. Seeing the group of people around me laughing foolishly, I had to change the topic to go further.
"What's going on?" I asked with a serious look.
"There was a fire." He regained some composure, even a little depressed, "It was set by someone. A few Xiliang devils pretended to be Xichuan people and came in from Shushan Pass. These beasts set fire to the market and official residences in the north of Hanzhong. It started more than ten days ago. It happened to be windy that day. Two miles of the north city burned, and half of the west market was burned. Almost all the property of many merchants was destroyed. We didn't put out the fire until midnight. Many people died. It was in the east city. You should have seen it... The bastards who set the fire were caught a few days ago. They were just slaughtered and hung at the Shushan Pass."
He didn't look like his age, but like Brother Chen, he mentioned the fate of the arsonists with a hint of cold disgust.
"What's the situation in the city now?"
"This fire has little impact. Most of the people in our city are refugees from Xichuan, including many businessmen. Many of them were killed in the fire. Some others ran away. The autumn harvest and the future harvest will be very troublesome. There is a huge gap in rice, cloth, salt and iron. I asked Brother Chen to help, but I don't know how he can fill this gap for me." He even shook his head as if he was thirty years old and spoke in the tone of a forty-year-old man.
I feel like I am a little cruel, or maybe the teacher is a little cruel, or maybe it is this era where many of us shouldn't have to bear so many troubles. But we are doing it, and this era is really wrong, but we don't know where it is wrong.
We were all silent for a while, but Zhou Mi interrupted the somewhat dull atmosphere with another piece of good news: "Zhou Cang got married."
"Oh." This was really beyond my expectation. I had been very worried about the marriage of my silly brother, but I didn't expect that he was so capable.
"However, when we meet, you may be more surprised." He looked at my face and suddenly added with that sly boyish smile that he should have.
In late summer, although the sun doesn't get dark so quickly, it's already groggy and dark just after the hour of You. The burned streets seem to be unable to recover for a while. The further you go, the more pungent the smell of the furnace becomes. In addition, there are few lights on the street, which makes it very deserted and even a little scary. If it were the right time, I would never dare to walk this road alone. But now, Zixiang, my brothers and I walked on this road together. There were a lot of people lined up in front and behind, and I was no longer afraid of the dark. I only had various fantasies about this road: the people I met might all be from Xichuan. I felt guilty about them and couldn't stop. There was always something pressing on my heart, and there was no way. Maybe I could only let it go after I entered Shu and eliminated Dong Zhuo, or maybe I would never let it go. I finally decided to go see Zhou Cang, not for it, but because I had to see him. Because these two Zhou brothers usually have a very clear division of labor and never overstep their authority, one is in charge of the city's political affairs, and the other is in charge of the army. Therefore, we must still handle our affairs through me, the former foolish brother. Although he was still a child a year ago, he is now General Zhou, a descendant of the Zhou family in Lujiang.
Along the way, no one talked much, and Zhou Mi turned around and told me something: "Brother Zirui, let me tell you something, I have a new name. The Zhou family of Lujiang, Jiangdong, went to Xiangyang to find my father to continue the family tree. I don’t know how it was continued, hehe... Later, someone came to Hanzhong and added Zhou Cang, and it seems that Zhou Yu was also added. Those people were reluctant at first, but Zhou Cang refused to agree. He said directly that he would not join if his sister was not brought along. Later, it was like this. The Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall gave my new name Wenhe according to my genealogy, and Zhou Cang’s name was Wenshi."
"Oh, the Zhou family is really quick." I exclaimed. Suddenly I thought of Zhou Xin. He is new here, and he may not be able to work with us. Brother Chen thought about it and decided that it was right not to send him. Brother Chen is indeed much better than me.
"Hey!" Zhou Mi thought I was unhappy, so he pretended to be unhappy and joked to ease the atmosphere: "Don't have any opinions about the Zhou family. After all, my last name is Zhou too."
Finally, Zhou Mi actually brought us to a courtyard that seemed to be unburned and facing north. The reason why I was so surprised was that this was a dark courtyard without any lights, which made all of us have doubts from the bottom of our hearts. However, there were still some soldiers guarding the courtyard, which at least made us sure that there were still people living here. But it was dark, and although the moon was bright, there was no lamp, fire or other kind of light in the whole courtyard. If it weren't for the neatness of the courtyard, it would look like a long-abandoned courtyard. Outside, I noticed that the south side was still intact, divided by this road, but the north side was basically burned to ruins by the fire. Because it is not possible to save lamp oil to this extent, so I think the reason why there is no fire here is probably because it was scared by the fire. But it is a bit too much to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but in any case, it is mostly because of this woman.
"This is an empty garden, right? Why did you bring us here?" Zhou Mi asked my brothers to keep quiet and walked inside very quickly, motioning for everyone to follow his steps: "You will know soon."
He walked into the hall and shouted inside: "Sister-in-law, is brother back?"
"Wenhe?" After a while, a woman's hoarse voice came from inside.
"Yes, sister-in-law." Zhou Mi stood politely in the corridor of the outer hall of the inner hall and greeted respectfully inside.
"Your elder brother is still at Shushan Pass, right? But it's getting dark now, right? He should be back today, or maybe soon." This woman should be my Zhou's sister-in-law, but her voice sounds like she is in her forties. Could it be that my brother has this kind of hobby? I quickly dismissed my ridiculous idea and started waiting outside the hall with Zhou Mi.
Waiting in this courtyard was not so comfortable. At least everyone felt a little uncomfortable. Most of them were surprised by the current appearance of this house. Under careful suppression, they kept whispering whether it was time to light the lights, but no one did it. In fact, except for the soldiers at the door and the first entrance to the courtyard, no one else walked around in the courtyard. Only this middle-aged woman greeted us from time to time, which made us feel that there was still a sense of vitality here.
I asked Zhou Mi, but he didn't tell me and told me to ask Zhou Cang myself.
Zhou Cang returned home half an hour later, when it was already dark. When I saw his calm and solemn dark face as he walked out of the hall, I saw another person, who was also called Zhou Cang and was a general.
Time flies, yet it is so slow that it makes people irritated. However, this period of time will pass, I feel, even to the point of being certain.
It was the third quarter of an hour on the twilight hour on the fifteenth day of the sixth lunar month in the late summer of the first year of Chuping. I was eighteen years old that year.