The days go by so fast, and the Dragon Boat Festival is approaching in a blink of an eye.
During this period of time, even if Gu Mang worked hard, his memory was still lost like the sand between his fingers. He still remembers some things clearly today, but Mo Xi will mention them tomorrow, but he finds that he has no impression anymore. This undoubtedly made Mo Xi very uncomfortable. Every time he watched Gu Mang sitting in the study, flipping through the thick stack of letter paper with a green lantern, he would feel very distressed.
Although he hadn't read those letter papers, he knew that what was written on them were things Gu Mang didn't want to forget, and Gu Mang would read them from beginning to end every day—even though he tried his best, he still couldn't keep it. The shared past of the two.
But other than that, everything else is reassuring. Gu Mang's body was gradually recovering to health, his consciousness was still fairly clear, and there was no sign of the black demon aura in his body that could not be suppressed for the time being.
Anyway, I can live in peace for a while.
On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, the emperor sent someone to send a secret letter. When the secret letter was delivered, the two of them were brewing a jar of green plum wine together in the yard. Mo Xi opened the letter and glanced at it.
"... Your Majesty gave it to you."
Gu Mang bit a chubby green plum between his rosy lips, he was stunned when he heard this, and then pointed to himself: "Me?"
"See for yourself."
Gu Mang rolled his tongue and put Qingmei into his soft mouth. A small bag was bulged on the right cheek, which looked very cute. He carefully read the letter with his eyelashes down, and finally put on a plump and said a word vaguely: "... oh."
After your Majesty met Mo Xi that day, he has been ill for several days. Later, maybe the illness was too serious to be able to meet with foreign ministers, or maybe the emperor really didn't know how to face Gu Mang—what should I say? He sent Gu Mang to the torture platform of the black devil trial, but Gu Mang always kept the secret between them. I want to know how embarrassed you are.
The blue eyes were raised, with a wry smile: "He asked me to go to Zhanhun Mountain to worship on the Dragon Boat Festival."
"I saw it." Mo Xi paused, "Are you going?"
"Don't go."
"You don't want to see him?"
"I think I know what he will tell me. In fact, we are both doing these things for our own purposes, but when he saw me, he couldn't help but be affectionate, and I had to cooperate with tears. "
As he spoke, he picked a green plum from the bamboo basket next to him and stuffed it into his mouth, muttering, "Except for being sad, nothing can change."
Mo Xi didn't speak immediately, he knew the pain in Gu Mang's heart.
Gu Mang actually hated the identity of a "traitor". It used to be like this when he lost his consciousness, and now it is even more so.
He remembered that just one night not long ago, it suddenly started pouring downpour, with lightning and thunder. Gu Mang had slept in the master bedroom before, but that night he suddenly wore a thin coat and ran out of the rain curtain. He went to the next room and got into his arms.
He was sleeping soundly at the time, when suddenly a wet body shrank into his quilt and woke him up completely. Then he saw Gu Mang's pale face, trembling while pressing against his chest. Mo Xi was shocked and anxious to ask him what was wrong, if there was any discomfort.
Gu Mang just shook his head, he was so cold, his lips were blue. He said I was dreaming. A ghost is chasing me.
This lone wolf clings tightly to Mo Xi, huddled in Mo Xi's warm arms, he kept choking and said, they are all chasing me... Mo Xi, they want to kill me.
On weekdays, Gu Mang had always looked like he was not afraid of ghosts and gods, but that night, in the midst of the angry thunder and the desolate rain, he seemed so real and vulnerable when he woke up from a dream.
Gu Mang, who was biting on the plum, felt uncomfortable being stared at by Mo Xi. He turned his eyes and said, "Why do you keep looking at me like this."
Mo Xi was silent for a while and said, "I'm sorry, I still can't give you a clear name. But if you want to go to Zhanhun Mountain to worship, I can also—"
Before he could finish speaking, Gu Mang interrupted him.
"I dont go."
"… "
"Anyway, I killed those people, and I beat those cities. I have too many innocent people's blood on my hands. Eight years ago, when I was innocent, I already told my brothers. Farewell, I don't want to go there now."
Mo Xi raised his head abruptly, his eyes hurt: "You were forced to stain the blood when you were protecting them."
"Others don't think so. Whoever kills will pay for it, otherwise what should I do? Many people hated me for eight years and five years because my son died in my hands, my husband died in my hands, and my father died in my hands. , Day and night want to bring me to justice. Then suddenly one day, you tell them, no, Gu Mang was forced, he should not be a prisoner but a hero - who do you think will believe it."
When Gu Mang said these words, his expression was light, like a well-warmed wine: "Mo Xi, have you ever thought that if you take away their most direct object of hatred, those people will collapse. They won't let me go just because one sentence explains a truth... It's easy to hate someone, but it's too hard to let go. You and I are both people who walked down the battlefield, you won't be clear about this."
"I won't go to Zhanhun Mountain. Whether it's your Majesty or you, whoever accompanies me, I won't go again." Gu Mang said, raised his head, and glanced in the direction of Zhanhunshan. There is still the delicate fragrance of plums in the mouth, but the throat is sour. He sighed.
"In the eyes of living people, I'm already notorious, but if I don't go to Battle Soul Mountain, at least in the hearts of the 70,000 dead Paoze, I'll still be Gu Mang with a clean conscience."
"That's enough."
So they rejected the emperor, but in the end they didn't close the door and spend an undisturbed Dragon Boat Festival in Xihe Mansion.
Because the day before the festival, they received an invitation from the second person.
"Who is it this time?"
Mo Xi said, "Jiang Yexue. I asked if I would go to his house to make zongzi with him."
"Ah." Gu Mang was slightly surprised, his eyes widened, "I invite you?"
"Invite us both."
Gu Mang smiled and said, "He doesn't think I'm a villain either."
"Have you forgotten?" Mo Xi rolled up Jiang Yexue's letter and tapped Gu Mang's forehead twice, "He helped me repair the jade slip, and he saw my reaction at the time. —You are no longer a traitor in front of him. He has always been very smart, and although no one explained the cause and effect to him, I think he should have guessed it closely."
"..." Gu Mang said nothing.
Mo Xi rubbed his bun smoothly, "Go, you haven't had fun with others for a long time. Do you miss Brother Jiang?"
Gu Mang nodded.
"Brother Jiang must also miss Gu Shuai very much. Even at his wedding, he didn't care about the little lunatic who played a song for him. He must be very happy that you can come over."
Gu Mang lowered his soft and slender eyes, as if the past had been pryed off a corner of the rock, revealing the grievances he was holding back. At that moment, Mo Xi saw that the tip of Gu Mang's eyes turned a little red.
Jiang Yexue's private house is located in a secluded and clean corner in the north of the city. It is the small courtyard that Mo Xi gave him when he got married. After so many years, he is now the grand elder of the school, and he is well paid, but he has always been frugal and a person who is nostalgic, so he has not changed it again.
During the Duanyang season, people sprinkled realgar on the road, sold sachets, danced with calamus leaves to exorcise evil spirits, and the streets were full of people. In order to avoid people's eyes and ears, Mo Xi and the others came by carriage. After arriving at the Jiang Mansion, they both couldn't help but startled.
They thought that Jiang Yexue would only be at home alone, but before entering the door, they heard the crunchy laughter of two young offspring—
First, a young man was talking: "I'm not a monster, it's no use for you to sprinkle realgar wine on me."
Then came a more childish voice, giggling and laughing, it was a little girl, she sounded only seven or eight years old, and her voice was soft and judo: "Then look at me, let me see if I am a monster."
Turning to the screen wall, I saw that the small yard had already hung wormwood and cypress, and hung the dragon boat lantern. One of the people who were playing was a big one and the other was a small one. The big one was wearing clothes with gold rims on a white background, with golden rings tied with braids, with gold and silver dotted emerald beads on his forehead, and a plum blossom sachet woven with colorful silk around his waist, it was Yue Chenqing.
The small one is a girl in five poisonous colored clothes, with Yansheng ornaments made of five-color silk threads on her arms, and a small paper kite in the shape of a centipede in her hand. Yue Chenqing is dipping realgar and drawing on her forehead." King" word.
When she heard the footsteps, she turned her head, and when she saw Gu Mang, she couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Aiya! Big brother!"
It turned out that this little girl was none other than Changfeng-Jun's daughter who suffered from madness. Gu Mang didn't expect to meet the two of them at Jiang Yexue's house, so he couldn't help being a little surprised and at a loss: "Xiao Laner...why are you here?"
"Sir asked me to come. I have been staying at your husband's house recently." Xiao Lan'er was still shy and timid, but she looked a lot more cheerful than before. She opened Yue Chenqing's hand and jumped up and down like a rabbit. In front of Gu Mang, "Sir said that big brother will come to accompany us over Duanyang today. I thought he was coaxing me, but I didn't expect it to be true!"
Yue Chenqing also looked like she knew they had come back for a long time, and nodded with a smile: "Xihejun, Gu... uh..." He didn't know why he should call Gu Mang. It was because he touched the emperor's inverse scale. If he was called Big Brother Gu Mang or something, it sounded like he and Mo Xi had become the same generation, so he considered it for a moment, then smiled, "Uncle Gu."
Mo Xi was a little surprised and said, "Are you here to celebrate the festival with Brother Jiang today?"
"yes."
"Then your father..."
"Oh, don't mention it, I wanted my eldest brother to come home to Duanyang before, but after only one try, I was scolded by my father and told me not to follow—" Yue Chenqing said this, and looked at the inner court Glancing at him, he lowered his voice, "Tell me not to be mixed up with sloppy people."
After finishing speaking, he hurriedly added another sentence: "Xi Hejun, don't mind, my father is such a person. In addition, he has been getting worse and worse recently. He always loses his temper and is suspicious. He even scolds me. It's very unpleasant. My uncle and I have discussed it, and when this time is busy, I will take him to the Huntian Cave in the old fief to cultivate his spirit. If he is in better health, his speech will not be so unpleasant. already."
Mo Xi said, "Are you finally willing to recognize him as a big brother?"
Yue Chenqing was a little embarrassed and scratched her head: "Brother Jiang, he is a good man, he is good to me, to the fourth uncle, the Yue family treats him like this, and he never speaks ill of the Yue family. I used to listen to the wind as rain. Treating him like that is what I did wrong."
Gu Mang squatted beside him and played with Xiao Laner while listening to Yue Chenqing's remarks. At this time, he raised his head and smiled at him: "If you are willing to recognize him and come to accompany him, he must be very happy. We said that it would be nice if we had some relatives during the holidays. You, Murong Chuyi, it would be nice if you could accompany him."
Upon hearing Murong Chuyi's name, Yue Chenqing's eyes dimmed a little.
"Fourth Uncle... Don't talk about Big Brother Jiang. He hasn't been very good to me recently. According to the people in the house, Fourth Uncle seems to want to move out of Yuefu to live alone."