After returning to Xiangyang, my sister and I immediately went to report to Teacher Wei and explained the government affairs clearly. The teacher asked my sister to go down and rest first. I knew that the serious work was just about to begin.
"You have done a good job in recruiting Pei Yuanshao. However, you must remind them to be careful when continuing to recruit people, because all places are hunting down the remnants of the Yellow Turbans. If you do it too ostentatiously, you will inevitably arouse suspicion."
I reported what I had told Pei Yuanshao to the teacher, "You did a good job. The Yellow Turban Rebellion has come to an end, but the trend of heroes rising together has emerged, and the world will be even more chaotic in the future." The teacher lowered his voice at the end. "Are you going to ask me about Zhang Mancheng in Nanyang?"
"That's right. I saw in the court report that Zhang Mancheng was dead and his Yellow Turban Army was destroyed. But unlike other Yellow Turban Army annihilations, why didn't it mention who destroyed them?"
"This is exactly what Zisheng came up with. He wants to whet your appetite."
"Destroyed by us?"
"Very good, you understood what I said. However, it is definitely not us who are going to destroy them. If Zhang Mancheng had sent troops to Wancheng in March, he would have been free to attack Huangfu Song directly. In addition, with Zhang Jiao's main force in Hebei, as long as Lu Zhi did not go to reinforce, or the reinforcement was delayed, the Yellow Turbans would probably have occupied most of the world today. Therefore, when you went to find Huangfu Song, we set up a soul-stirring formation for Zhang Mancheng, robbing his food and grass, pretending to attack his base, and tricking him into not moving until June. However, by then, Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo's Liangzhou army had already arrived behind Zhang Mancheng. Zhang Mancheng wanted to move, but he was already deeply constrained. In July, the Liangzhou cavalry broke through Zhang Mancheng's northwest defense line in one fell swoop, causing the Yellow Turbans to be completely defeated. We were at this time. We secretly took in the scattered Yellow Turbans and gave shelter to their generals. However, Zhang Mancheng would rather die than hide in our city. He led his own soldiers to fight Dong Zhuo's army and all died in the battle. After you came back, we found that something was wrong with you. We all knew what happened to you. We also knew that the government troops were evil, and although the Yellow Turbans were not well disciplined, they were basically kind to the people. We didn't know who the thieves were. So, we pretended that we didn't know about some of your actions. In fact, we were doing the same thing as you. We were also joking with each other. We are now a Yellow Turban thief without Yellow Turbans, because most of the soldiers and generals in Jingzhou are from the former Yellow Turban Army. "
"Will He Jin from the imperial court not blame us?"
"Don't worry about this. Zisheng has a solution. I asked you to come back for another reason. In two days, you, Zishe, Zisheng, and Wendong will accompany me to Luoyang."
"What's that?"
"Everyone has made great contributions in pacifying the Yellow Turbans this time, and you will be awarded titles this time. We should not be too ostentatious. I will only take the four of you who have made the greatest contributions. The others can wait for us to bring back the rewards." I nodded in agreement.
"Teacher, do you know Huang Zhong, Huang Hansheng?" I told him everything about how I went to learn skills from Huang Zhong, as well as the words Huang Zhong asked me to bring to him.
"This big buffalo is trying to steal my students and yet he's so arrogant. I wonder where this guy has run off to? I can't find him anywhere, but it turns out he's hiding in Jingzhou. This big-nosed guy actually has a daughter. Zirui, this dress on you was made by her, right? You can tell from the needlework that it was passed down from his wife to her daughter. Why don't you become a live-in son-in-law?" Suddenly the teacher seemed to have become a lot younger, but our teacher has a baby face and looks young no matter how you look at her. But what I find interesting is the way they address each other.
"Ah, no... Teacher, will you go and invite him?" I was at a loss.
"It seems that we have to go. This stinky bull is so stubborn that he won't let anyone go. It's a pity that this guy is not needed. But we can't go now. There are only two days left. It's too late. I will write a letter to him first and go back when I come back. I'm so busy, but he still makes trouble for me. Does he take me, his elder brother, seriously?" It turns out that the teacher is older than the master. It's really hard to tell. But thinking about my sister and I, we can't tell who is older, so it's not surprising. I think it must be very interesting for the tall and strong master with a beard to stand in front of the teacher with a baby face who is half a head shorter than him and call him elder brother.
"Zi Rui, it seems like tomorrow is your birthday... Zi She told me that we are going to celebrate for you in the academy tomorrow. Remember to come with your sister, and remember to show everyone what you learned from that bull tomorrow. You should go back first. Zi Sheng will look for you in a while. He wants you to discuss something with your sister. I won't go with you. You will understand when we get back."
I bowed and went home immediately. Before I could sit down, Zisheng came in a carriage. I went out to greet him, "Brother Zhong, your teacher is back. You come so quickly." Zisheng put his finger to his mouth, signaled, and pulled me into the house.
"What's the matter?" I also lowered my voice.
"I came to give you and your sister something." Zisheng smiled, "Where's your sister?"
I called my sister out.
"You know about the Liangzhou Army's victory over the Yellow Turban Army?" I nodded. "But the Liangzhou Army burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of evil in the Nanyang area, leaving a mess. We can't do anything about it. Now we can only take in refugees. There are many orphans. Teacher Wei ordered that all officials and wealthy families in Jingzhou are obliged to adopt orphans. But even so, it shouldn't have been your family's responsibility. Sister, it's hard for you to take care of this big guy, but this one is special. When we found him, he was crying on his sister's body. When we wanted to take him home, we found that their village had been burned down. Later, this guy kept silent and we didn't know what to do. Then I thought that my sister's age and figure are somewhat similar to his sister. I wonder if..."
"Okay, let him stay at my house." My sister agreed with a loving expression on her face. I certainly had no objection, and I also liked children. "What's his name? How old is he?"
"Five years old. What's his name? I've been in charge of this recently. I have too many people in my mind to remember, so I can't remember." He took out a list from his arms, "Oh, his name is Zhuge Liang, and his courtesy name is Kongming. It's really strange that such a person has a courtesy name, but it is indeed embroidered on the inside of his clothes. He is sleeping in my car now. Go and get him down. Be gentle. Uh, sister, you should go and get him." I wanted to get angry, but I was also afraid of waking up the child. I glared at Zisheng, who made a face at me, "Don't forget to come tomorrow night. Bring Kongming with you when you come, in case he gets scared when both of you come. I'm leaving now."
My sister gently carried Kong Ming to her bed. The five-year-old boy was completely unaware of the concern and love the two people next to him had for him. He was a very handsome boy, with very regular features on his delicate face. He turned around and leaned against the bed with his pouty mouth, drooling. If I did this, my sister would definitely make fun of me and I would be so depressed that I couldn't raise my head. But now she should feel the same as I do: this guy is so cute.
My sister asked me to go out so as not to disturb this guy's nap. In the living room, we started discussing this guy. "He is so handsome. He looks much better than when you were five years old."
"He will be a great man in the future, right? He will be popular with girls, right?"
"Oh, Zirui, you're not jealous at all. You've always been very competitive. You've always argued with me about who's smarter or who's more handsome than you. But this time, you didn't argue with me at all."
"I don't know," I shrugged, "but I suddenly had a very strange feeling, as if he was my most lovely brother, and as if he was my own son. I just wanted him to live a happy life without crying or sadness, that would be the best."
"Oh," my sister seemed to have a deeper understanding of me, "it seems that you have really grown up a lot."
At this moment someone suddenly came.
"Ziyu, why are you here when you are not serving as governor in Jiangling?"
"It's your birthday tomorrow. I heard there's a party. How can I not come? I'll leave after dinner tomorrow night. I'll also discuss the establishment of a navy with the teacher. Besides, I also want to avoid the one in our family."
"who?"
"You should know about adopting orphans, right?" I nodded to indicate that I knew.
"This devil from our family is only eleven years old. If I tell him to go east, he goes west. If I tell him to chase a dog, he insists on killing a chicken. I gave him a nice name, Wen Chang, and sent him to the academy in Jiangling. On the first day, he drove his teacher away in anger. Now he is definitely the bully in Jiangling. Because I am the governor of Jiangling, no one dares to touch him. So, this time I announced in public that I was going to Xiangyang and told him not to make trouble. I don't care if he hurts himself. What I mean is that everyone should teach him a lesson. But I still have to deal with my men. Just don't let him be beaten to death or seriously injured. Let's see if this kid will cause trouble everywhere in the future."
"What's the name of this Overlord?"
"Wei Yan! I should let you adopt him and teach him a lesson."
"We already have one at home, and I don't want him to bully our Kong Ming."
At this time, Kong Ming woke up, squinting his eyes, and came out from his sister's room, looking at us. When Zi Yu saw us, he shouted, "Zi Sheng is too partial. Why did you give you such a beautiful doll, and a bully came to our house?"
"Hey, you, can't you be quiet?" My sister got angry. He walked over and stretched out his hand to hug Kong Ming. When Kong Ming saw my sister, he also stretched out his hand. It seemed that he had accepted my sister. However, he looked at me and turned his face away, which made me feel a little disappointed. He leaned on my sister's arms and soon fell asleep again. The room was so quiet that no one said a word, as if they were afraid of disturbing this guy's sleep.
Ziyu waved goodbye and left, and we just sat in the hall.
The next afternoon, we were preparing for my birthday party, and Ziyu came again. He told me that the teacher had agreed to the navy matter. However, he thought it was difficult to find a navy coach, so he asked me to take over first. I said "hmm", which was considered an agreement.
"Listen, teacher, you are very capable now, where did you learn it from?" I told him about Huang Zhong, and he was envious. "If Huang Zhong comes to Xiangyang, I must ask him to teach me."
"Zi Rui, come here and give Kong Ming a bath. Don't use violence."
"No need for violence, why are you looking for him?"
"That's right, then Ziyu, can you come and help me?"
"With great pleasure."
I walked over to find my sister out of boredom. I heard the sound of water and Kong Ming's laughter from being tickled. My sister was looking through something. "Ah, I found it."
“This looks like the clothes I wore when I was young.”
"Yes, this is your five-year-old clothes. Wow, you are such a big baby. It's too big for Kong Ming. Find another one. Don't stand here and get in the way."
"Let me help you."
"Your coming will only make things worse."
So, I sat on the steps with nothing to do. Today is my birthday, why am I the superfluous one
My sister and I behind me: "Why do you still keep these clothes? I can't wear them anymore."
"You grew up too fast. I was afraid your child would grow up the same way, so I kept it for him. When you were seven, Aunt Zhang wanted to tear down all your old clothes and make them into other things. I didn't let her because I was already twelve at the time, so Aunt Zhang followed my lead."
"You were eleven years old then," I corrected, turning away.
“Twelve”, “Eleven”, “Twelve”, “Eleven”, “Twelve”, “Eleven”, “Twelve”, “Eleven”, “Twelve”, “Eleven”, “Eleven”, “Twelve”, “Eleven”, “Eleven”, “Eleven”, “Eleven”
"That's enough, that's enough. Why do you two siblings always argue about such boring things?"
"Are they siblings?" This was Kong Ming's first sentence in our home.
"Yes" The three of us said at the same time, my sister and I were filled with excitement.
"Nothing like them." Although immature, he was very serious. My sister and I could only smile at each other.
We went to our old school together. A lot of people were there. I didn’t feel like they were celebrating my birthday. It seemed like everyone just wanted to find some time to get together and have some fun.
And the focal character in the middle was obviously Kong Ming. Even the maids passing by had to tease him. Kong Ming was indeed too cute. Soon, everyone began to complain that Zisheng was too partial.
Some people were very interested in the iron bow and the Heavenly Wolf I brought, but except for Chen Liang, Zi Yu and a few other strong men, the others could not draw the bow more than 50%. Someone kept swinging the Heavenly Wolf, and as a result, a hole was smashed in the floor because it slipped out of hand. Then everyone started talking about poetry and songs, and even wrote poems and lyrics, as if nothing had happened, as if these two weapons did not exist at all.
"Zirui was born in the year of the sheep." Zisheng.
"No, it's a chicken," said Ziyuan. Then there was a big argument, but Zishe and Zisheng were familiar with me and insisted that "it's a sheep." "No, it's a chicken," another group of people refuted.
"I am a sheep." I think it's time for the person involved to speak up.
"Oh" everyone said this in the same tone of sudden enlightenment, and I suddenly realized that I had been tricked.
Then, a sheep was dragged up with a wooden sign hanging on it: "Xie Zirui."
Just when I was wondering what to do, Kong Ming suddenly came over, picked up the pen on the table, and added two words on the sign. Although the handwriting was childish, everyone could see the changes on the wooden sign, "Thank Zirui for the Sheep."