"The Change of Heaven"
Volume 2: The Edge of Heaven
Chapter 142 Guangxin Winter Moon
The winter mornings here are really early, and the chickens crow early, which reminds me of the days when I dealt with those damn chickens in my hometown of Xiangyang. Those were not very good memories. Although there are none in the palace city at present, even if there are, they have just had their necks cut in the kitchen, maybe even taken a hot bath, or even been stripped naked and hung out to dry in an indecent way, or have been burned in jars and urns. But from outside the palace walls, there are still those brave and heroic chickens that crow one after another, echoing in the distance, slowly approaching, and finally merged into a song of "Xia Li Ba Ji" that disturbs people's good dreams.
I wasn't the only one whose sleep was disturbed. When I could hear the sound clearly, I heard someone mumbling and walking quickly outside the hall. After a while, I heard someone ask with a smile, "Brother, how is it?"
"As light as a swallow!" said the elder brother very energetically.
My sister laughed, and laughed very happily.
I thought he was practicing martial arts, so I felt ashamed, and then I quickly kissed my wife's cheek while she was still asleep, then I got up, dressed, and walked quietly to the open space in front of the house to start exercising. This was not easy, you know, I worked very hard the night before.
Until one morning, Nayan, smiling silly, joined me in the practice. During the conversation, I realized that he was just going to the toilet that morning. I immediately felt cheated. And according to his description, it was an extremely large pile. When he mentioned this huge pile, Nayan even had a feeling of aftertaste. I had a stone shoulder pole in my hand at that time. It was strange. When talking about this matter, I always like to add this sentence. Maybe I think that this stone shoulder pole should have some relationship with his head, but fortunately there is no actual relationship between the two.
From that day on, morning exercises gradually became my habit, and I would be unable to sleep when the rooster crowed every day. This should be a good habit, but the reason for its formation is really hard to figure out.
I think I have adapted to the weather in Guangxin. It rains every now and then, even in winter. Although I always feel that the earthen bag will collapse one day when I look at my inner city wall, I don’t have much time to see the scenery outside. After a while, it will be dark, so it doesn’t matter. Even if I adapt, I still miss my hometown in winter. Xiangyang is mostly good weather at this time of year. It is a pleasure to read books and sleep in the yard in the sun in winter. Occasionally, it snows, which is a good season in Xiangyang. I can meet a few villains of the same path and have something to do outside for half a day. But my clothes soaked by snow water will make me kneel by the stove in the central hall for two hours.
According to the records, among all the dukes throughout history, I may be the only one who has been punished by my wife to kneel. Although it is not a glorious history, and Yinling was not my wife at that time, it can at least be recorded as an unprecedented piece of history. But after thinking about it, it is better not to record it.
It didn't rain this morning, but the sky was still gloomy. The grass here has withered, but the trees are still green, just a little gray, just like the weather here. But this is better than my hometown Xiangyang. At this time of year, most of the trees in front of my house are bare. The trees here are also very interesting. There is a kind of tree that the locals call the sheep's hoof tree because its leaves look like the prints of sheep's hooves. It is really rare in the north. This morning when I rode out, there were such trees on both sides, all the way to the open space in the north of the palace.
I heard that the north of the palace used to be the back garden of the Guangxin County King. I don't know when no one took care of it, and it fell into disrepair. Since I moved all my court residences here, it has become a training ground for martial arts. When I came that day, from east to west, I saw Deng Mao, who was smiling and looking west, Deng Mao, who was leading a tired horse, Gao Sheng, who was riding a bad horse and was a little nervous, Nan, Sun Zhong, Bian Xi, **, who were gathered together to check each other's weapons, and E Huan and Ye Jian, who were practicing archery at the west side of the city.
My appearance did not change the situation at first, but it seemed that there was still one, but it had nothing to do with me. A piece of hot horse manure suddenly appeared between Deng Mao's horse and Gao Sheng's horse. Later I thought that God was actually reminding me what Na Yan's situation was in the morning. But at that time, I just smiled casually.
But my appearance finally attracted them to come around. I was just walking around, so I had nothing to do. I just walked around and you guys continued to practice. But after walking around like this and just watching them practice, my hands still itched.
Although I didn't bring my own weapons, it was very simple. I asked for **'s fork, because this good boy knew how to listen to me; then I called Nan's name, because only this silly boy would really compete with me.
As I took off my court robe and tied it around my waist, the people around me cheered. They thought that as a big guy like me, there was nothing much to brag about except that I had a good physique. If I was really Fan Pang's son, I would be surprised.
We started fighting, and soon the two horses staggered and the two forks were entangled. This is how we started fighting. Although we were both young and ignorant, we still knew the limits; so neither of us dared to stab again to avoid accidental injury, and then we entered a state of entanglement between the forks. Nan had not practiced with him for a while, so his strength had really increased a lot. Although I felt that he was not as strong as my rogue brute force, he could still withstand it. But I was a head taller than him on the horse, so I pressed down even more roguely, pressing the fork flat with the strength of my waist and body weight, and pushed his horse so hard that it could not stand steadily, and Nan was even more tired and fell to the ground by the horse.
Nan was doomed to be unlucky today, not because he was thrown by the horse, but because he fell on the horse manure. The big brothers around him had lost their loyalty and laughed. When Deng Mao and I helped him up, we pinched our noses and patted his clothes several times, trying to shake off the hot mud. In the end, we could only roll down his coat and let him take it back to wash. Nan might have been holding his breath, so he threw the clothes away with shaking hands, but in the end, Deng Mao picked them up by himself.
When I got back, Huarong was waiting for me. It was a bit strange because he was waiting for me in the corner outside the yard with his horse. When he saw me, he let go of the reins, took a few steps forward and saluted me.
"Oh, Huarong, my Imperial Physician, haha." He dismounted with a smile and greeted him: "I wonder what the Imperial Physician is here for?"
"Please come with me, sir, regarding my lady's condition." He suddenly lowered his voice, which made me nervous.
I felt something was wrong, so I lowered my voice, followed her to a secluded place, and asked anxiously, "Zeng told me that Pei'er could recover, could it be that her condition has changed again?"
"Yue Hou is right."
"What?" I suddenly felt cold all over: "Really... it's not going to get better."
"No, I mean you're exaggerating." He also knew that I had misunderstood him: "Mrs. Yue's waist and leg have almost recovered, but she hasn't moved for many days. Even if she recovered, she wouldn't be able to detect it. Once she wants to stand up, she will be lazy and weak, so the day when she can stand and walk is far away."
"What should I do then?" I asked anxiously.
"Maybe I need to be disrespectful to Lord Yue, don't you know?" His fair face showed more and more of his father's feelings, that is, he knew the situation but was still keeping it in suspense, and there was also some cunning of a teenager.
"But it doesn't matter." I had a smile on my face. I knew there was a way, but I would have to suffer some losses. But what could I do
So, I was carried back by Hua Rong and another big soldier, blood all over my body and head hanging down. Things always have some coincidences. I always feel that this scene is very similar to the one in Xiangyang. Even the blood on my body is the same, all from pigs. But this time, two big guys came to support me, which made me feel much more comfortable. I even put my weight on it and dragged my legs on the ground. Suddenly, I thought that it might be more rubbing against my shoes, so I changed to walking on the ground a little.
As soon as I heard Huarong say, "Heart," I knew that the important matter had arrived.
"Ah, Marquis? What happened to you, Marquis?" Nalan's voice was trembling, and he must have been very frightened.
"Zirui? What's wrong with Zirui?" Guo Pei's voice rang out.
"Madam! Marquis..." The girl Nalan suddenly burst into tears.
There was silence for a long time. I didn't know what was going on. Nayan didn't seem to be there, and the three children were not there either. There was only the sound of Nalan running to Pei'er.
Huarong suddenly smiled and whispered, "Okay." Then I opened my eyes, then closed them, and even shook my head before opening them again.
Guo Pei stood up!
Her eyes were sad, and she was not wearing socks. Her white toes were swollen, as if she was trying hard to hold on to the floor. She held up the hem of her skirt and supported Nalan, who was looking at her in surprise, and moved forward with a trembling step.
Hua Rong and the soldier suddenly knelt down and saluted, leaving me there.
I raised my head and smiled, wondering how scary I looked. I looked at Guo Pei, who was also stunned. "Your legs are fine."
Guo Pei suddenly couldn't control herself, and fell to the ground with Nalan's scream and my groan.
"Pei'er, you can stand, you can stand, stand up." I stretched out my hands.
She was a little at a loss, but quickly tried to support herself on the ground with her hands and tried to stand up.
Suddenly, a messenger from the palace rushed in, and when he was still some distance away from me, he announced loudly: "The lady from Luoyang has arrived!"
"What?" I looked at my bloody clothes, but then I found that Pearl was suddenly standing on the stairs two steps in front of me, looking very tall.
She threw herself into my arms with such force and unexpectedly that I had to take two steps back before I could steady myself. She ignored everyone else present and kept crying no matter how I tried to comfort her, hitting my shoulders with her fists.
"You bad guy...what are you doing?" She sobbed, cried and cried, and then laughed and laughed.
"Don't I want you to stand up?" I am most afraid of women crying, especially my own wife. She becomes tongue-tied and hands-cold.
"Pei'er, why don't you thank the imperial physician? It was his idea." I held her waist with one hand and turned around, but found that the two people on the ground suddenly disappeared.
"Haha, don't cry, I'm fine. This was the imperial physician's idea. He wanted you to use the shock to get up." She continued to cry and laugh, but refused to speak.
Suddenly, the voice behind him rang again: "The lady from Luoyang is here!"
"I got it. It's none of your business." I waved my hand comfortably, thinking that this was Huarong's backup plan.
"You're not going to greet her?" He said sincerely and anxiously, "Lord Ye Jian has asked me to report this. Please prepare the car and go greet the Madam."
"You... weren't ordered by the Imperial Physician?" I suddenly felt a chill on my back.
"Captain Guangxin's men are outside the palace?" He looked up with a look of doubt, and then a look of horror: "Ah, Lord Marquis, what's wrong with you?"
"Quick, Nalan, get me some water." I suddenly put down my hands, almost causing Pei'er to fall again. I was so shocked that I quickly pulled her back and said, "Pei'er, you should also quickly dress up and prepare to welcome your mother."
But it was too late. I should have considered that no one would stop my mother, especially since Ye Jian knew my mother.
So when I was wiping my body, I could already hear my mother's surprised voice. My mother was surprised that Pearl could walk, but I was still anxiously searching for my clothes in the dim room, putting them on one by one, not counting the times I put them on the wrong way, the times I couldn't find the tube, and the times when the clothes were wrinkled and couldn't be smoothed out.
When I walked to the door in a panic, holding my crown and hairpin, the door opened. I had no idea what I looked like, I just knew it was terrible, but maybe not very bad. At least, my mother was not angry, she pulled Pearl to laugh.
Suddenly I saw a wooden kite flying in the sky, it was very beautiful. Many people in Guangxin should have seen it, but fortunately they could not see my embarrassed appearance.
"Then... Mother... What about Father?" I sat beside him cautiously.
"He's an old man. I'm not here. Is he afraid that no one will do anything for him? Besides, without me in charge, he can eat as much as he wants and drink as much as he wants every day. Your sister Qi will definitely not be able to control him." Yes, in fact, the mother was still a little worried: "Hey, I'll come over to see my son, it's okay, see that old fat man has been like this for twenty years, it doesn't matter if I don't see him for ten days."
"Mother, why didn't you write a letter first and have someone deliver it so that your son could welcome it?"
"We are all on our own land, what's the big deal?" Mother didn't care, but she did have a reason: "Besides, I am an old woman with nothing but a few dozen strong men. Once we get to your territory, once they know where I am, they will send out 300 soldiers. I wonder who has the interest and courage to rob us."
"Thank you for your hard work, mother. In fact, she is still very young and can't be considered an old woman." I smiled and no longer felt restrained.
"You're so sweet. I'm not tired, but taking care of your father for so many years is hard. These days I'm free and at ease. Also, the scenery in Lingnan is really nice." Mother smiled and took Pei'er's hand and asked some questions. I think most of them were those things. I could guess the general idea from Pei'er's expression. Mother also asked about Yinling. I could feel that mother was very happy. When I first saw her at the door, her eyes, which were originally a little sick, had become energetic and bright without knowing when.
My mother brought me a whole family, all from Xiangyang. In addition to Kong Ming, there was also his teacher and his teacher's daughter. Although I hadn't seen any of these old people yet, I still had a lot of associations in my mind, but I was soon called over by Yi Yue's voice.
Yi Yue was a little older, and her mother actually coaxed her to call me dad. She had taught her on the way, which surprised me greatly. In this way, Yi Yue could already speak!
However, this bad guy stammered in my arms, looking at me with a very innocent expression, and had no intention of calling me "Dad". After all our "powerful actions", he was silent for a moment, and then suddenly burst into tears. Then I smelled a foul odor coming from the bottom of his sleeves.
I had to change my clothes again and ask my mother for leave to go to the court to discuss government affairs.
I had only taken three steps when I suddenly stopped and turned to look at a maid next to me.
After a pause, he said to her, "Come with me."
Although there were some important things in the court today, most of them were boring and trivial, such as the request to move the current camp to the north, because the south of the camp might be flooded by the river when spring comes. Only one thing was surprising and interesting, which was reported by Zhao Deli, the court judge. Although this uncle looked honest, he was surprising when he opened his mouth. Of course, there was no necessary connection between the two.
"Reporting to the Marquis Yue, there are 141 people in the prison in Guangxin, and there are currently 97 criminals, of which 44 have been sent to the labor camps in the subordinate settlements of Guangxin." Zhao Deli paused. It should be admitted that this old man has put in a lot of effort. His words now are very official, but I still feel sleepy after listening to them. However, the next sentence made everyone look at each other in confusion and perk up: "But... all the prisoners are... women."
I glanced at Xu Zheng. He looked unhappy. I asked him, but he evaded the question this time, just like the first time. He said, "This matter has always been handled by the prison officer. If you have any questions, you should ask me. I don't know. I am indeed guilty. I am indeed..."
I waved him off and read the file Zhao Deli handed over. There was nothing to speculate on in terms of the crimes. There were murders, robbery, collusion, robbery, theft, disobedience and death penalty, etc. But there were no men committing crimes, which was really surprising.
I paused for at least half a moment, letting everyone discuss the matter on their own for a while, and finally gave the order: "Zhao Deli, send people to various cities to collect the case files... and send some people to various prisons to inquire about the situation. Lord Xu, don't worry. Looking at the files, many people were arrested more than 30 years ago. It seems that this matter really has nothing to do with you. I will go and check it out. Everyone present today must keep this matter secret for the time being. Before the investigation is clear, no one should come to stir up trouble."
The problem may be much bigger than I thought. Although everything seems to be fine so far - except that Jiuzhen and Rinan are still in turmoil - there are indeed some problems within my Yue country that I have not discovered.
After the court was dismissed that day, when everyone had left, I leaned against the screen, feeling a little tired, and asked the person behind it, "What do you think?"
Guangxin at the hour of You has its own flavor. If it doesn't rain, there are some clouds in the sky. With the wind, the smoke from ordinary people's homes and the local dialect on the street are blown in. I leaned against the window and watched the sky quietly. I remembered the palindrome poem: "Sitting alone by the window, the flowers outside the window are all blooming, and the fragrance is gradually falling into the hall. A lone wild goose in front of the hall, the swallow flies by and leaves the fragrance." But now, there is no fragrance outside the window, the fragrance has not fallen into the hall, and there is no swallow in front of the hall, and the swallow is nowhere to be found. And the owner of the poem is just like the swallow, also going north, and no one knows where he is. It is better to put aside all thoughts temporarily, relax occasionally, and just look at the sky, as if everything in the world, the future and the past, are all in the constantly changing clouds and cannot stop.
But I didn't completely immerse myself in it. I also knew to ask a person sitting not far away, a woman. If someone didn't know the intricacies of it, they probably wouldn't be able to understand what I said.
"Are you dead?" I suddenly laughed, but continued to look at the sky.
"Yes." The "dead man" answered.
"Your son has just been born, right?"
"Yes, only three months."
"How did you die?"
"Shipwreck and drowning."
"Oh, poor old Dad." I looked at her seriously, and this time, she smiled.
"I have a lady-in-waiting of Mr. Zhan here named Nalan. You will be her deputy first. Please bear with me for a while. Oh, what is your name now?"
"Madam brought me here to serve the prince. Since her name is Nalan, I will call myself Huolan."
"Well, from now on you have to call me Lord, don't call me Prince, it makes me seem like some ordinary bad boy." I waved my hand to stop talking and turned my attention back to the street outside the window.
The street in front of the gate runs east-west, and the east side leads all the way to the base of the palace. The top of the palace is newly built red, while the bottom is a little faded, and there are some potholes, which are like a child with acne on his face, like Chen Wu a few days ago. Chen Wu thought something was wrong with him at the time. As a person who has experienced it, I told him that this is very normal. I also had it a few years ago, but it disappeared after I went to the north. The result of persuading him like this is that he also wants to go to the north. Of course, I rejected his proposal with a smile. Now thinking about this, I remembered the wooden kite in the sky in the morning. When I went north that year, I followed the summer south wind with an ignorant and careless state of mind, like a wooden kite flying straight to the extreme north, without thinking about any consequences at the time. Now thinking about it, it was really rash to abandon everything and go north, but I was lucky, and it seemed that there was really a rope holding me like a wooden kite, and no matter how far I flew, I could eventually be brought back to her side. Thinking of this, I leaned out a little further with great interest, wanting to see if the wooden kite from this morning was in the sky.
It is still there, far away, high in the sky. Yinling once took me to fly a wooden kite. It was a spring afternoon. I ran wildly in the fields with the wooden kite, extremely excited - but in the end I didn't fly it. Yinling was much more capable. She hardly ran, but just pulled the string against the wind, and the wooden kite flew into the sky. Yinling also taught me how to pull the string. Later, I became the one flying the kite. I was very happy. I flew it for a long time that day and had a lot of fun. I didn't take it down until dusk. I don't know how the owner of this wooden kite ate lunch.
The sky gradually darkened. The kite's owner finally reeled in the kite. The kite, still reluctant to leave, circled in the sky for the last time, but eventually disappeared over the top of the palace. It seemed that someone in the palace had released the kite over the palace. Considering what happened in the morning, it was most likely the three kites.
My thoughts stopped here, and the business came. When I suddenly caught a glimpse of a bearded man next to me, bowing and waiting for me, I could only turn around quickly and pretend to be dissatisfied and said, "Don't show up so suddenly and sneakily, okay?"
"My Lord." He bowed politely, not moved by me, and said calmly, "May I take my leave now?"
"Thank you for your hard work. Come back and tell me what happens." I smiled.
An hour later, I rushed back on horseback in a rage, arrived at my house, dismounted my horse, sat at the entrance to the hall, and shouted, "Someone come!"
But when the person came to me, I changed my mind and said, "You go down."
He must have wondered why I suddenly changed from being furious a moment ago. I don't really know, but this may be politics, at least I know this.
The next morning, I went to practice martial arts. Nayan watched from a distance and did not dare to approach me. Later, he told me that I was "fierce and evil" that morning. So when I sat in the hall with a calm face and handled everything as usual, I noticed that Nayan's facial expression was unnatural, and of course the other person was also unnatural, but I didn't look for him for the time being. I didn't mention the relevant matters.
At noon, my mother asked me why I didn't come back for dinner yesterday. Pei'er knew that I came back with a bad face yesterday. She asked me on the surface, but actually tipped me off. She asked, who was the adult who sent me to report yesterday, and I left without saying a word after hearing what that person said. It seems that she covered up for me last night. I mentioned Zhao Deli, and my mother didn't say anything else, just that his name was good and very practical.
I smiled, a rare smile. I finally saw Kong Ming at the dinner table. The fat guy had lost some weight and seemed to be working hard. He smiled at me and him. Because Mr. Huang and his little girl Huang Mao were also at the table, when I asked him, he mentioned that Kong Ming didn't seem to be in a "very good" mood recently. He didn't laugh much, but his grades were good. According to a bored person's slightly disgusting guess, Kong Ming might have been very close to his female classmate recently. It must be noted that this person is me.
Yesterday, it was indeed those three guys who ran to the palace wall to fly kites. Later, Kong Ming and his female classmates joined in. When I think of this, I want to shudder.
My story was discussed at the dinner table, but it was not my story. It was a long story, but I couldn't elaborate on it. The group was resting at Xinye Post Station, but they heard someone singing loudly outside the wall. They were about to find someone to drive him away, but they heard that person talking about my story.
I was still wondering in my heart who had told me what had happened.
But I heard my mother stop and ask me, "Son, have you ever been on friendly terms with any singer?"
"Should there be?" I always feel that I have called others brothers more than once or twice. Unfortunately, my memory is not very good, so it is really inaccurate. At least I have called Sun Yu Hai brothers, but it seems better to call him sister.
"Son, don't be so reckless in the future." But my mother didn't mean to blame me, she even smiled.
The explanation is that the theme of the day of the singing was the story of "I" rescuing a pair of chivalrous thieves, mother and son, and "I" also had a meal with him. Of course the story is true, but the whole process of the incident is completely different from what he said. I know that the mother and son knew, but he didn't know, but he made everyone think he knew. I would have been very surprised, but now everything is so natural, because when it comes to a singer who has had a meal with me, I can understand how he made up these stories that everyone likes to hear, or perhaps it would be better to say "created".
Because he was praising me, my mother didn't ask anyone to drive him away. She even listened quietly on the wall and asked someone to give her a tip. My mother's face was filled with happiness, and so was my heart. It seems that sometimes emotions can be transmitted, but I just hope that what is transmitted is good, at least different from what Holland brought to me last night.
Before this matter was over, Yinling and Beihai came back, bringing a person, a woman, with them. In fact, there were many more important things. However, I remember this person clearly because she was the first to arrive with my wife's clan, even earlier than Yinling and Lao Si.
In the last few days of winter, taking advantage of the northeast wind, a group of boats of various styles sailed upstream and squeezed into the port outside Guangxin City. The people on the tower saw it early and ran to report the news. I was excited and naturally led a group of people to greet them. The port was very lively that day. In addition to us and the returning soldiers, there were also many civilians who came to watch the excitement. As Han Xian stood in front of me in a suit of iron armor that he had brought from somewhere, I saw an unusual place behind him.
"Marquis Yue, this is what the lady brought from Wu. She did not follow your orders. This is the letter she gave you." He pulled off his helmet and panted, "The son of a bitch is finally back."
I didn't dare to bring Xu Zheng with me, so I could listen to his complaint with ease. I continued to glance at that place and immediately tore off the strap on the wooden slip. The letter contained a lot of content, but only a few words. After reading it, I turned around and looked for the relevant person, and quickly added, "**, go find Huarong, quickly... Stupid, don't just run... Go on a horse!"
This is a woman lying quietly on a thick mattress, her face pale, her cheekbones dark blue, she seems to be sleeping, but her eyebrows are tightly knitted, her teeth are knocking her chin, her hands are pinching the corners of the quilt, and she seems to be suffering from severe pain. Her surname is Zhu, maybe she is from the same clan as Yan Sao; why is she like this, why Yinling brought her to Guangxin; I don't know. I can only open the bamboo slips, read it again, and remember her name: Zhu Yingtai.
Author's note: The story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is generally set in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Some folklore researchers believe that the prototype of Liang Shanbo in the story was a low-level official in the Eastern Han Dynasty, because someone found a man named Liang Shanbo in the county annals of ancient Kuaiji. Some people also studied that the prototype of Zhu Yingtai was nearly a hundred years later than Liang Shanbo. She was a female knight who robbed the rich and helped the poor. The prototype of Yan Sao in the book was studied by a folklore researcher. I have seen such a story in the folk tales she collected. This book borrows the content of folk tales to give this most famous Chinese love story a "Heavenly Change" method.