It was a kind of enjoyment to examine my new weapon. When I used my fingers to fiddle with the resilient sashimi, it was as if I was back in my childhood playing with the most fun toy. I couldn't let it go and almost ignored everyone's calls.
I figured out why I like this kind of weapon. My sister cut a wooden sword for me. It was more like a short stick than a sword. The blades on both sides were round and the front was smooth. Because my sister was afraid that I would hurt someone with a blade. Sister, even the sharpness of wood can hurt people. Don't use these sharp objects against others. The blade was also very thin. I remember it broke after a few days. My sister did it on purpose, so that even if I accidentally hit someone, it would be the wooden sword that broke instead of the other person.
My thoughts went further and further. I still remember that when my sister and I wanted to make another sword, I watched my sister make the second one. The sword she made seemed to be more like a real sword. After she finished, she used chaff to polish it for me. However, she accidentally pierced her hand with a wooden thorn. I still remember that my sister frowned but smiled at me, which made me feel distressed and uneasy. Later, the wound on my sister's hand festered, and she had a high fever and fell seriously ill. For this reason, I threw away the wooden sword. Maybe it can be found somewhere in the old house now. But since then, I have never played with wooden swords again, so I have never looked for it again. If I look for it, I have to look for the places with the densest spider webs, but I really can't remember such a place in my home.
The people who came with me left first, and when I wanted to leave with them, the teacher got angry with me because they had already told me to stay first, but how come I didn't hear anything even though I was there? I must have been distracted again. Of course, I had no reason to refute this.
The three elders muttered to each other in a mysterious way for a long time, and finally, after being taught a lesson, I decided to take a nap.
"Zirui, you can actually fall asleep while sitting?" the teacher asked me in surprise and with deep meaning.
"I think there's nothing to do for now, so I'll just take a nap." I don't know when my face became so thick.
"Do you often fall asleep in my eldest brother's class?"
"Yes." I decided to admit it shamelessly since I didn't have to go to class anymore anyway.
"You bastard." The teacher didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Is this good? Ming Zirui feels safe under the protection and teaching of his teacher. He never sleeps when I teach him." The master laughed at the teacher with a strange tone and a different kind of bad taste. I couldn't tell whether the master was happy or resentful.
As a result, before they could even talk about business, the old boys started arguing again. I had my own things to do, so I decided not to get involved in their quarrel.
"You can fall asleep while we're arguing?" Uncle San was obviously impressed by my laziness.
"Sleep to wash off the hangover." I yawned naturally without any guilt.
"They are all gone, and what do you think of us?" The three elders looked at me with a nasty and interested smile.
"Of course I have to marry her. The question now is how to marry her and how to make it justifiable for me to marry her. But if she doesn't come back today, I must go find her. If she really gets married and breaks her parents' promise, wouldn't that be a great sin?"
"Look, this fool of mine has a head full of nonsense and can't think of anything. Well, you all lose." The master spoke to his two brothers with the look of a winner.
"Are you guys betting on me?"
"Yes, your teacher thinks that if you are asked about your thoughts, even though you are distracted, you will pretend to be serious and talk about various affairs in Jingzhou; your third uncle thinks that even though you are absent-minded, you will pretend to be impressed by your new weapons. But I am different. I know what you are thinking. You have been thinking about Yinling since last night, and you are such a simple fool. At this time, you will definitely admit it honestly and not think of finding other excuses to prevaricate." Master seems to have a very profound understanding of me.
"Alright, alright, we're making fun of Zirui like this, the child will get angry." Third Uncle must have noticed the change in my facial expression, and I also know that I'm not in a good mood to make a joke at the moment.
"Zirui, what do you think about the people's livelihood in Jingzhou next year? Because we are planning to set up military farms next year, do you have any other ideas? It's better to ask you now, because you have taken a trip to the north. Although I know you took the official road all the way and can't understand all the situations below, but at least you still have first-hand materials. So, I would like to ask you, what are your opinions on the measures related to restoring people's livelihood." The teacher also quickly got to the point. I must admit that after the third uncle came back, the teacher became more lively, which made me feel obviously much more relaxed.
"We can learn from the ten-year lesson of Yue State, the ten-year method of population growth. From this year on, for all newborn sons of wives, two countries will support one, three countries will support two, and four countries will support three. A cow and a bag of rice will be rewarded for a son; a sheep and a bag of rice will be rewarded for a daughter. If a man does not marry after 18 years old, or a girl does not marry after 16 years old, both parents will be punished. Old men are not allowed to marry young girls, and young men are not allowed to marry old women. Men who marry women from other countries will be rewarded, and daughters will be subject to heavy taxes when they marry... " (The original text can be found in "Wu Yue Chun Qiu", which is really interesting to read, especially when thinking about family planning, author's note)
"Wait, Zirui, hasn't your memory always been terrible?" the teacher asked in surprise, "This is almost exactly what I told you. You even repeated the parts I said wrong. Your memory of other lessons is so bad, but you remember this one so well... What are you thinking about normally?"
"It seems that Zirui is not as honest as he looks?" The master decided to laugh at me, showing no friendship between master and disciple.
"If we follow your method, your family will definitely be punished, and it will be double the punishment." Uncle San also shook his head and pretended to be serious.
"The most important thing is that if he follows his way, Jingzhou will be impoverished." The teacher deliberately said harshly, "I haven't settled the score with you for the battle in Hanzhong yet."
Before I could react, I clearly saw that the teacher must have been beaten by his two brothers behind his back. Immediately, the teacher changed the subject: "Your idea is okay, but of course you have to change some details. For example, you can't even think of changing the other country. I ask you what other countries are there next to us, you fool! As for Yinling's matter, you decided to go find her, how do you find her?"
The teacher changed the topic really quickly. It really took them so much effort. Suddenly I thought about why they did this. Maybe they thought I was narrow-minded.
"I don't know. I hope Yinling can come back today, but with such heavy snow, I don't have confidence that she can come back today."
"What if she doesn't come back?"
"Teacher, I just remembered something. Today is New Year's Eve, but no one has hung up the peach charms. So maybe we need to send more people to guard the night to calm the people, right?"
"How did you bring this up? But this is natural. Didn't we do this last year? It was a makeshift measure left over from the drought the year before last. Two years have passed, and we've been doing things the same way. Aren't we living in peace?"
"Then let me host tonight. I haven't done anything since I came back! Besides, I think everyone will feel extra relieved when I watch the night, right?"
"Then what?"
"I will go find Yinling tomorrow. I can't wait until Yinling and Cao Cao have performed the ceremony of marriage before looking for her, right?" I became extremely nervous when I thought of this possibility.
"We have just discussed this matter for a long time. What should we do? Tell the world that you are not siblings, but husband and wife. We can think of a way, but you accepted the betrothal gift last night, and the matchmaker's gifts are also ready. If you snatch Yinling back, what about Cao Cao? To be honest, we even discussed that letting Yinling marry Cao Cao would be more beneficial to us in Jingzhou, but this concerns your lifelong happiness and the orders of your parents. We will not and cannot stop you from looking for Yinling. I am afraid that only Yinling can tolerate you, so we also support you to marry Yinling, but you have to think carefully about the method." The teacher told me their discussion and results very frankly, which touched me quite a bit, but I definitely did not think of using my wife to make such a disgusting political deal.
"Brother Meng De has an open mind. I will tell him clearly and he will not blame me. You go to Brother Meng De and I may find him there."
"Hey, wait, Zirui, when I was teaching you about wedding customs and etiquette that day, did you fall asleep again?" I immediately started to stammer, obviously admitting something.
"Sure enough, let me ask you, Zirui, how much time do you spend sleeping during my class?" The teacher was a little angry.
"Children need sleep to grow." The master didn't know where this theory came from, but it finally made the teacher's expression ease a little.
"According to the rules, Yinling must stay in her boudoir for at least three months before she can get married. At that time, Zishe and his family were in the capital, and they had applied for permission to marry, so it could be done quickly. But this is a formal marriage between scholars or county marquises, how could it be so casual?"
"That is, I should go to the Shanghe County Prince's Mansion to look for Yin Ling."
"At least you're not stupid." The teacher sighed and even wiped the sweat from his forehead due to anxiety or anger: "If it were in Caotang, I would have kicked you out." But the teacher has always been a little too partial to me, and his voice soon softened: "You should also go to pay New Year's greetings to your father. If possible, you should also burn incense and worship Shen Gong Cheng'en. Shen Gongwang is a good person, although he is a little stubborn. You must not treat him as a bastard and useless prince."
"Then the student left." I thought about it and realized that there was nothing to worry about. I still had to prepare, and most importantly, get a good night's sleep, otherwise it would be a difficult night to get through.
"Wait, don't run away so quickly. What does your sister Sima do? Is she the daughter of Mr. Shuijing?"
I shook my head and added, "To take care of Kong Ming." I couldn't think of why I was asking about her.
"Yinling is Mr. Shuijing's apprentice?" I nodded again.
"Why is there such a big difference between what they have learned?... I looked at the clothes you are wearing. You have been wearing this kind of clothes for the past ten years. I know it is made by Yinling, but what you wore yesterday should be the needlework of Sister Sima, and Kong Ming and the others were also wearing the same. Yinling can tell you all about marching and arranging battle formations, but when I asked Sister Sima, she didn't know anything about it... Although the needlework thing can't explain anything, but after expanding on this, I always feel that something is strange."
"These students also felt it. In short, my sister and Sister Sima were not taught by the same person. Although the needlework thing can only be attributed to Mr. Shuijing's wife, Sister Sima seems to have not been involved in almost everything that my sister knows, and Sister Sima doesn't study much of what Sister Sima can easily argue about." I didn't expect the teacher to notice it, but I couldn't give an explanation. I believe the teacher also read the confusion and doubt from my expression, so he changed the subject. But before he changed the subject, he still pointed out that I called my wife sister again. In fact, I have been calling her sister for 18 years, and it is really difficult to change it for a while. I could only smile embarrassedly.
"What are you going to do with the people you brought back from the north?"
"Tu Jinglie left a legacy that says we can't go into battle, so we can just stay as rear-line officials. I hope Beihai and his men can go into battle as generals, but I promised them that I would give them a stable life. I thought there would be no problem on the road, but now I feel a little torn. Why don't we ask them to train our bow and crossbow army first? When the time comes, I will ask them what their plans are. Yan Rou can already be included in our army... Oh, I have another person who can be recommended to the teacher. I will go back and bring him here."
The teacher asked me who I was, and I told him about Song Yu. The teacher smiled with great interest and said, "Well, it's been a long time since anyone used arithmetic in fighting the enemy. It's actually a very complete way to analyze the enemy's and our own military situation and guide the use of troops."
"Teacher, don't we always have plans when we go into battle? Otherwise, how can we fight?"
"Well, our method is still far from the real method called counting. If you don't believe me, just wait for him to come." Then the teacher ordered someone to invite Song. I decided to call him Song Yudong from now on, or just call him Song, otherwise I would always think of "Dengtu Zi Hao Se Fu".
"Mr. Fan, I wonder what you are going to do after you get married?" Uncle San took advantage of the moment when he had nothing to do to make fun of me.
"Official business is urgent. We have to go to Xiliang and also to Wuling in the south. As for Wujun, please send someone to help as soon as possible. I'm afraid Binbin... can't hold on." I'm not taboo about the last word, but I let it slip that Binbin used such a vulgar and shameless name.
But the teacher didn't care, he just fell into deep thought.
Before Song Yudong came, we talked about some things, which I will not mention here.
After introducing each other, Yudong immediately started to show what real abacus is. He took out a bamboo piece of the same size, four inches long and half an inch wide, from his sleeve. The teacher pointed at me and said, "This is the so-called abacus, but it is a little wider than the regular ones."
Song heard it, cleared his throat, and said loudly: "My eyesight is not good, so I had to make it bigger."
"You think you work too hard and don't sleep well." The master and the teacher came out at the same time, looked at each other, and laughed together. The master continued: "Zirui sleeps well, so his eyes are very good." Of course, he omitted a sentence. I thought about it and knew that was the truth: I was not working hard enough.
"Take the Battle of Hanzhong as an example. You can calculate it. This battle should be the only one that everyone knows clearly." This sentence is mine. I want to prove to my teachers that I have freed myself from it and will no longer add to my sadness about the past. It will not help.
Song picked up a lot and began to speak slowly, coughing from time to time: "In terms of weather, the north has snow and the grass is dry, and the south has withered seedlings. In spring, war horses need fresh grass every day, and people can eat the grain of the previous year in all seasons. Dong Zhuo relies on the power of cavalry, but he only has half of the state. If he wants to preserve his strength, he must act rashly; the northern part of Jingzhou has been damaged, and the southern part is safe, so it can enjoy the power of half of the state. Here, Jingzhou has the advantage;... In terms of geographical advantage, there is no pass in the northwest of Jingzhou, and there is no dangerous and key place. The whole territory of Jingzhou is mostly low hills. Once Dong the thief enters, the infantry will find it difficult to stop hundreds of thousands of cavalry. If we defend each city, we will be defeated one by one, and we can't take care of both ends. We can only fight Dong in Hanzhong along the way between Tianshui and Jingzhou, but with 250,000 infantry in Hanzhong against 300,000 cavalry, it is more dangerous than good. Here, Dong Zhuo has the advantage... If we talk about harmony among people, and extend it to the whole world, other vassal states are willing but powerless, and only Ding Yuan may take advantage of Dong Zhuo. And it seems that Wang Hejin and his followers all hope that you will fight to the death and both sides will suffer losses. It is best if the war is delayed and stalemates, with heavy casualties. Otherwise, they will come up with some ways to help the weak fight against the strong. Therefore, once they get into a hard battle, both sides will be at a great disadvantage. But I think it may not be so simple. The thief Dong is a serious evil, but he is not punished because he has something to do with the former concubine Dong. Although the He family is in power now, Dong The Dong family is in decline, but the current emperor is a rare long-lived person among several generations of emperors, so he takes care of his mother. Therefore, the Dong family still has a lot of strength, and it also has some relationship with the He family. Therefore, once the situation becomes a tug-of-war, they will definitely help Dong Zhuo instead of Jingzhou in the end. Therefore, Jingzhou is at a disadvantage and should fight quickly. However, the strength of the eunuchs in Yuzhou is still not taken into account here. If they want to help, they are likely to help Jingzhou. But I have heard that Jingzhou has never had a good face with the eunuchs. I don’t know the power struggle in the palace at that time, so I dare not speak out. "Speaking of this, Song Yu suddenly shook his head.
"What's wrong? Very good, continue." I felt it was indeed very fresh to listen to. Although I had some ideas about this, they were definitely not as comprehensive as his.
"What's the point of knowing it later? I just found out about Jingzhou. I think the elders and nobles have also thought about the other things, and they must know more about them than I do. There is no point in talking about many factors such as soldiers' food and weather. And even if I was there at the time and knew everything, I would never have thought of using Shu's method of trapping the winter, and I don't know why Tianshui was taken by Jingzhou alone." Song seemed a little powerless, and his pale face looked a little tired. It reminded me that he had just recovered from a serious illness, and he felt a little guilty.
"My nephew Song, your words are really clear. However, you have only been here for a few days, and Zirui is asking you all these questions. I think everyone should understand. There is indeed something going on in the Tianshui incident. I will tell you when the two people who made the plan come back, because I can only guess roughly now. In fact, your words have already involved it." The teacher smiled heartily: "Okay, you will be the deputy governor of Jingzhou and Xiangyang in the future. I will order people to do all kinds of official duties. What you have to do is to assist the fool next to you. Are you willing?"
Song looked around, and I looked around too, and immediately came to my senses, realizing that the fool was me. Indeed, I had given Song a question that was not very appropriate.
"Our Zirui can't be a fool." Master decided to speak up for me, but his tone made me feel that Master had something else to say. Sure enough, Master just looked at Uncle San, and when Uncle San saw him, he immediately said, "Zirui is a fool anyway, not a melon."
I was made fun of by these three elders again, but I was very happy this time. Song didn't say much, just smiled at me, knelt down and bowed to the teacher, and nodded to accept the order.
The conversation ended here. Third Aunt came out to ask us to stay for the New Year's Eve dinner. However, I still thanked her for her kindness. Third Uncle also explained for me. Of course, it was a bit taboo, but it still made Third Aunt smile at me in a special way. She also went back to the house to get me some Korean ginseng for me to nourish myself. As a result, I felt hot all over before I even had any nourishment, especially my face. I really didn't know what I would do when I saw Yinling.
When Song and I got home, I could hardly open my eyes and almost bumped my head against the wall. I didn't sleep well last night, so I decided to have a good sleep. I asked the maid to collect the old ginseng and use it to stew chicken for everyone to have a good nourishment during the New Year's Eve dinner. I will give the rest to everyone from time to time in the future. Song asked me why I didn't keep it for myself to nourish myself. I said, "Why would a strong man like me need it?" He might not be the case. There are many people who are strong on the outside but weak on the inside. I was immediately surprised that such a thin man could integrate into the bad atmosphere of the Jingzhou officials so quickly and come up with such a very "appropriate" word of attack, and he seemed to feel it was very natural. I immediately wanted to find out who led him astray, but I put it aside for the time being. It is obviously more important to have a good sleep.
After letting him go back to rest, I went straight back to my room and told him to sleep until the New Year's Eve dinner, and not to wake me up even if there was a fire. After I finished telling him, I fell asleep. The quilt was thick and comfortable, and I fell asleep in no time.
I dreamed of Yinling and even felt like I was in a nightmare, but I didn't want to wake up.
It was an endless forest of low trees, the sun was scorching, but the trees did not cast shadows to shelter me, the sky seemed to be on fire, and the heat prevented me from having a moment of rest.
At this time, Yinling came. I didn't know where she came from or how she came. I only knew that she didn't say anything, but she blocked the hot sun for me, making me feel indescribably cool.
How could my sister block the sunlight for me? I should be taller than my sister, right? As I thought about this, I felt my whole body begin to swell, unable to restrain myself. But my sister always managed to completely shield me from her. I felt a little ashamed and guilty. I put my arms around my sister's shoulders, pulled her under me, and used my back to block the scorching heat.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment. I looked with satisfaction at the beautiful face hidden by my shadow and the red lips that were tangled with tears or sweat.
"You are my wife, do you know that?" I said this, but dared not take any more actions. I always felt that there was an insurmountable invisible wall between us. I could see her and feel her breath, but I could only keep a close yet long distance from her.
"I'm your husband anyway, what should I be afraid of?" I don't know if I was trying to give myself courage or not. Anyway, I desperately used my mouth to seal the two red pieces that seemed to want something... But she was startled and broke free from my hands.
"Yinling, don't leave me." I begged the frightened girl from the bottom of my heart. She looked at me, as if she didn't recognize me, and suddenly turned and ran away.
"Silver bell!" I sat up suddenly from the bed, but I knew it was a dream. I wiped my hair and found it was all sweaty, and my body was soaked. I don't know when the heater was lit in the house, and the door was open. It might be that I was too careless. It should be afternoon, and the sky was getting dark. I thought to myself that I should get up and talk to people for a while, and then I should prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner.
When I was about to get up from bed, I suddenly felt a strange sensation in my mouth. I casually picked up a bronze mirror from the table next to me and looked at it in the snow light outside the door. There were marks of spring color on my teeth and mouth.
After calming down my confused and dazed mind, I immediately realized that something was wrong. I had to kiss the maid who had lit the fire and tucked in the quilt for me. And she must have forgotten to close the door for me when she escaped in fear. What should I do? He did such a shameful thing just after he had his own wife. Although this was not my intention, it was done by me after all, so how could I escape responsibility
I was so desperate that I had to think of a solution. I had no choice but to do this: I continued to pretend to sleep. Just pretend that this was just a dream, and no one would blame me. Although it was a bit unfair, if I tried to explain it now, I was afraid that it would only make things worse. The most terrible thing was that I was about to get married. If this happened and it got out, Yinling would not doubt me, but how would others see me? I would just tell my wife the truth about this matter. I would be cunning this time. I made up my mind and lay down again, facing the door, hoping that the maid I had mistaken for a maid would remember to come back and close the door for me. This would also let me know who she was. In the future, if I wanted to or not, I could let her regain her freedom earlier. It would be a good thing for me to burn the official contract and marry her earlier, and I would feel at ease.
A moment later, when I was about to fall asleep again, a maid really came. Unfortunately, her plain clothes blended with the pure white outside the door, and the snow light made her fair face extremely blurry. Moreover, I couldn't move, so I could only slightly open my eyes beside the quilt and take a quick look. However, there were so many official maids in this mansion who were about the same height and dressed the same. I tried for a long time but couldn't be sure whether I could recognize who she was when I saw her again. When she closed the door, I knew that I had no chance to recognize her again.
There was nothing else I could do but continue sleeping to pass the time pretending to be asleep.
But I never dreamed of Yinling again. When I was awake and asleep, my head was full of messy things, especially Guan Lu's "strange death" made me terrified. But looking at the left hand with a broken palm, I suddenly thought of Huang Xin. That was really a man-made strange death, a "wife" who died before I even married her. In fact, I still don't understand which one of Xin and Yi Zhong is my "wife".
But, I still can’t completely let it go.
"Get up, Brother Zirui." Kong Ming rode on me without any respect and shook my arm to wake me up: "Sister Sima asked me to call you to eat."
"Okay." Seeing Kong Ming always makes people happy. I got up and found a new dress that Sister Sima made for me. I tidied up all the ribbons, put this thing on my shoulder, and walked towards the hall. This thing really never had a moment of leisure. It became interested in my braids on my head, pulling them and asking me what the use of human hair was.
"It looks good, right?" I have never delved into this kind of question, so I had no idea how to answer it and could only answer it casually. However, this bad guy actually found another use for it when he entered the hall.
It can be used as a rope to help him get down safely! I must cut my hair short next time so that this idiot dares not play like this, I swore while holding the painful roots of my hair. But I must admit that this guy's skills are not bad. He is only a few years old, but he dares to come down from a height of ten feet.
The role of example is infinite, but also very bad. At least Chen Wu and Song Qian were interested in my ponytail, so they told me to quickly roll it up and tuck it behind my coat. Although it was a bit itchy around my neck, it was better than being used as a swing.
New Year's Eve dinner always involves such courtesy and words, especially with so many people tonight, the etiquette cannot be missed, and all kinds of wishes must be good. But I can't drink anymore, and they also know the reason, so they don't force me. There are still people who want to join me, especially my Xianbei brothers. But I offer water instead of wine to everyone, and let them rest individually. Even if they want to stay up all night, they will stay with their relatives in the house. I admit that my words may not be very good, but I just had to do it. Maybe it's because I can't share the joy of New Year's Eve with my wife, so I cherish this good night of farewell to the old and ushering in the new year for others once a year.
Gan Ning was in high spirits. He stood up, put his face against his sister-in-law, and smiled as he poked Feng Cheng with his stubble, which made the half-sleeping child want to hide and even cry. Ye Jian immediately shouted, "Good, you'll be a hero in the future since you cry so loudly." Brother Gan smiled and threw off his coat, wearing only a single shirt, revealing his broad back and strong arms, which made a group of Xianbei people cheer loudly. He picked up his weapons and put on a big knife, then went to the courtyard and chopped a dozen several-foot-long thin bamboos prepared under the eaves into several sections. After a while, he had chopped a lot of bamboos, and put a few pieces of charcoal in the brazier together, and finally poured a spoonful of oil into it.
A huge crackling sound rang out after a while, and everyone's laughter and chatter also rang out with the sound. The children could not stand such a sharp and loud noise. Although most of them were still excited to get close to see, they all covered their ears tightly. Although I didn't cover my ears, I was actually afraid of loud noises and felt that my ears hurt a little, but I still had to maintain a calm image among the crowd. My ears may not be very good, but in the past, in order to show my bravery, I always took the bamboo torches during the New Year, because my sister was also afraid of noises. That was a rare moment for me to show my bravery, although I always had tinnitus for a long time after holding it.
This time, Gan Ning's method of burning was even more generous. The loud crackling sound continued, forcing me to go to a far corner of the hall and pretend to have a conversation with everyone.
Sister Sima sat very quietly in the back, only smiling and greeting people from time to time and toasting with everyone, without saying much. In the noisy hall, the table seemed to be somewhere else instead of here, which made me feel a little unreal. I found another difference between her and Yinling. Yinling always made a place so real, just because of her presence.
He sighed, sat down again, ate a few more pieces of meat, drank a few mouthfuls of chicken soup, then stood up to wish everyone a happy new year, apologized and went back to the house to prepare for the night patrol.
He took off his new clothes, found a set of clothes made by his sister, and put on the armor. He looked at himself in the mirror and thought he was pretty good, but he didn't expect Long Xing's voice to ring out from behind, "Brother, Sister Sima asked me to bring you the Tianlang. Brother, do you want me to accompany you tonight?"
"Accompany your wife." This is what I said while pressing his head. With my other hand, I tucked the tassel of the flute into my right belt. Although I felt it was difficult to pull out the blade, there was no sword ear on the flute, so I had to make do with it.
"Brother, are you still hanging the flute?"
"Do you know this is a flute?" The flute came from the Western Regions, and I was a little surprised that this barbarian chief from the Northeast even knew this.
"Shepherds should all be able to play this thing, but our tribe doesn't herd sheep, but some of our Xianbei tribes do, so I know. Do you know how to play it?"
"Won't."
"Then why do you hang it up? Oh, are you trying to be pretentious?"
"If you don't know how to use words, don't use them carelessly." He patted his head first, then showed me the hidden weapon, and only then did I, your lovely brother from the North Sea, understand. However, he also thought that I was difficult to pull out. However, before he gave me many questions and possible solutions, I decided to drive him away first.
After sending this studious young man away and putting on my cloak, I looked at myself in the mirror admiringly. After dawdling for a long time, I returned to the hall to say goodbye before leaving to prepare for the night patrol.
Behind him he could still hear the crackling sound of burning bamboo joints, but this time the sound was louder and the intervals between them were longer.
It's New Year. I walked out of the door, mounted my horse, and let out a long sigh in the snow. Although the absence of the silver bells made the night dull, another spring has come. Everything is new and makes people happy.
There was a lot of snow, and the clouds in the sky seemed much lighter under the lights of the houses on the ground. The wind was not strong, so it might not be very cold tonight. He exhaled again, staring at the long white column he exhaled disappearing in the snow, and whistled to urge his horse to go to the garrison.
It's a rare night. No matter how hard it is, everyone is happy. The occasional cracking sound of bamboo shoots shatters all the bad luck of the year. All the evil spirits are scared away by the deafening sound. It's a good day, so peaceful. Everyone is full of longing for next year, but what will next year be like? I don't think anyone knows, but no one cares tonight.
The first day of the first lunar month of the third year of Zhongping is approaching, and I will be nineteen in an hour or two. My eighteenth year has completed a year of running around and toiling at this moment, and now it is just enjoying the happiness and comfort of the new year with me.