When Mo Xi came to the main hall, Gu Mang was already there.
"I said a few words to him in the morning. Although he ignored it, at least he didn't run away." Li Wei said, "It seems that he is used to it. From tomorrow, I will arrange something for him to do."
Mo Xi's tall and stern figure stood silently at the entrance of the hall for a moment, with no hint of joy on his face. After a while, he asked coldly, "Why is this person sitting in my seat?"
The huanghuali wood table in the main hall was where Mo Xi ate his meals. Although there were usually two seats, that seat was always empty. No one had ever sat there before. The chair was removed, but it made Xi Hejun extremely unhappy. The following people have two speculations about this. First, this position is reserved for Princess Mengze. Second, the Lord is just obsessive-compulsive who likes symmetry. Of course, even Li Wei didn't know what the answer was.
As for the other honorable seat, it was always Mo Xi's seat.
But at this moment, Gu Mang sat in the seat belonging to Mo Xi with peace of mind, and turned his head to look at Mo Xi lightly.
Mo Xi's face was frosty, and he said, "Get up."
"… "
Li Wei coughed lightly, and hurriedly went to tell Gu Mang, "Get up, the lord is angry."
"..." Gu Mang frowned slightly, he didn't quite understand the meaning of "Master", there were only guests and stewards in Luomei Bieyuan. He looked at Mo Xi for a while and thought that the Master was Mo Xi's name, so he asked , "Do you call the Lord?"
Seeing his unstained appearance, Mo Xi's brows became more and more furious. He didn't answer, walked over, and looked down at Gu Mang with condescending eyes: "I'll let you get up."
Gu Mang didn't move, Mo Xi simply started to carry the person, but before his hand touched the front of Gu Mang's clothes, the other party had already jumped down from the chair like a shadow, and stood beside him very vigilantly.
Although Mo Xi hated Gu Mang, he would not bully him too much, because he was very cold and upright, he was not pushed to the extreme, and he couldn't do anything extremely distorted, let alone doing things like Murong Lian. The act of sending people to Watts.
But at this moment, he got up in a rage, and his expression towards Gu Mang was naturally worse than usual by three points. Seeing this, Li Wei was afraid that something would happen if the two of them disagreed, so he preemptively reprimanded Gu Mang: "Look at you! It's not good to sit in such a huge mansion, but you want to sit on the throne of Xi and Jun. Who do you think you are? Learn the rules from me in the future! You are so stupid!"
Mo Xi frowned in disgust: "Take him down."
"Yes."
But Gu Mang refused: "I want to be here."
He said, and went to pull the chair opposite Mo Xi again, intending to sit on that chair.
Mo Xi's eyes moved slightly, as if he was touched by some secret thoughts, and suddenly said angrily: "That's also... That's not where you can sit.... Why do you want to stay here?"
Gu Mang pointed at the table: "Rice."
"… "
"I've seen it, there are meals here every day." Gu Mang said, "Someone brings it to you, it's delicious."
He calmly met Mo Xi's cold eyes: "I'll wait."
Mo Xi said with a gloomy face, "Are you here waiting for dinner?"
Gu Mang nodded.
Mo Xi looked at him silently for a moment, then suddenly sneered: "Gu Mang, who do you think you are?"
Yan Bi turned around and sat down, straightening the silver hidden weapon case on the side of his sleeve, and said without raising his head, "Li Wei, let him get out."
"Yes, my lord." Li Wei paused, then asked hesitantly, "What about the meal?"
"Isn't there a pile of corn on the cob in his cellar? Let him go back and eat it."
This time, before Li Wei spoke, Gu Mang said, "No more."
Mo Xi: "Huh?"
Gu Mang said, "I'm done eating."
Mo Xi raised his eyes and said, "You also moved two baskets of steamed buns, four or five strings of sausages and seven cakes into it."
"eaten."
"… "
"I don't know the people in the kitchen. There are too many people, so I won't go in." Gu Mang said after a pause, his eyes were clear and piercing, "I can only come here."
"…Why are you here?"
"Because I know you. You gave me water." Gu Mang paused and continued, "You taught me that it is better to live than to die. You still prostitute—"
With a bang, a wine cup flew and hit the wall, interrupting Gu Mang's "whoring with me".
Mo Xi's eyes flickered, gritted his teeth and said, "Shut up."
Gu Mang was silent.
Li Weichu was beside him, looking at this, then at that, for the first time he didn't know how to round up the field.
Mo Xi crossed his arms and sat at the table with a cold face. He looked at him with a gloomy expression. After a while, he suddenly raised his chin slightly and asked slowly, "Do you remember anything else?"
Gu Mang tilted his face for a while, and finally shook his head.
Mo Xi lowered his eyelashes, suddenly sneered, raised his eyes and said lightly, "Then get out."
Gu Mang didn't roll, he looked at Mo Xi's face quietly, neither like begging nor asking for instructions, there was no emotion attached to his tone, he was just stating one thing, telling Mo Xi to know.
He just stood straight in front of Mo Xi, his eyes were almost rude, and he said stubbornly—
"I'm hungry."
The two of them stared at each other for a while, as if they were in the dark with something other people didn't know about. In the end, Mo Xi spoke first: "...Okay. But you have stayed in Luomei Bieyuan for two years, so you should be very happy. Knowing that the sky will not drop the pie by itself, if you want to eat, you have to do something."
He leaned forward slightly, his sharp eyes were like a knife swiping across Gu Mang's pale face, Huo Di's sword, light, sword and shadow pried into the shell, trying to stab into the tender meat that no one could reach, and his voice was low and slow: "Senior Brother Gu, I Give you a chance to recommend yourself. Tell me, what can you do for me?"
"… "
The black eyes stared at the blue eyes, and there was a gleam of suppressed hatred in the black eyes: "What do you want to do for me, what can you do for me, if you say it well, I will grant your request. You yourself speak."
Gu Mang stared at him without saying a word, and after a while, he suddenly stretched out his hand.
Mo Xi's eyes moved slightly: "What do you mean?"
"I'll hit you, you won't die anyway." Gu Mang said expressionlessly, "However, you can't just beat and eat without eating."
"..." Mo Xi said, "Is it the rules of Luomei Bieyuan again?"
"Yes."
Mo Xi straightened up, turned his face away, and said, "Remember. This is Xihe Mansion, not Wangshu Mansion, nor Luomei Bieyuan. I have no interest in bullying you at all."
"Then what are you interested in about me?"
A strange wave appeared on Mo Xi's handsome face, as if he was recalling an unspeakable old past, but he quickly regained his composure, with a cold and arrogant expression: "How do I know. You might as well recommend yourself."
Gu Mang said in confusion, "Mao Sui..."
Mo Xi sullenly said, "It's you who said it yourself."
Gu Mang thought for a while, and continued to show his "use": "Then do you like scolding people?"
...why are you either beating or scolding
Mo Xi suddenly felt annoyed that he was being looked down upon, and he turned his head back in anger: "Do I fucking look like this kind of person?"
Li Wei: "…"
Gu Mang thought about it again. This time he thought for a long time, and then he seemed a little dazed: "I don't know. I don't know what else I can do."
He looked at Mo Xi with honest blue eyes that were even a bit irritating, and the Qing Jun face, who had always been calm and unwavering, was a little nervous at this moment.
"But I don't want to go back to Meibie Garden."
"… "
"I don't want to go back."
Seeing him like this, Mo Xi couldn't help but get angry, but he didn't know how to scold him. He was suppressing it when he heard Gu Mang recommend, "I'll still sleep and eat, are you interested?"
"… "
Seeing that Mo Xi didn't answer, Gu Mang continued, "I will still..."
But he tried hard to think about his usefulness, and his face turned red when he thought about it, but he didn't know what else he could do.
He used to be so strong and agile. He used to be the most amazing young general in Chonghua. He was like a scorching fire, always bursting with inspiration, strength, hope and love. The former Gu Shuai was in Mo Xi's eyes. There is simply nothing possible.
But his soul was ruined, his mind was damaged, and the fire was extinguished.
He was just a piece of scorched earth left behind by Gu Shuai after he was burnt to ashes.
"I can't do anything else." Finally, he said slowly, raised his eyes to look at Mo Xi, resigned, "I only have this."
Gu Mang's expression was like that of a poor child, eager to buy a steaming steamed bun, but he dug all over his body and found only one mottled shell coin. With trembling lips, he handed out the only coin.
"Do you want to use me?"
After thinking about it, he thought it would be better to add Mo Xi's "name", so he sincerely added another sentence.
"Lord?"
Mo Xi was still fiddling with the concealed weapon box that was cuffed around his cuff, and when he heard this, he almost cut his fingers.
"..." He was speechless for a long time, and felt that something was tingling in his heart, something was wrong. He vaguely knew what it was like and felt dangerous, so he immediately turned his eyes away from Gu Mang's face, With a sullen face, he said, "Don't yell. You know me before, my name is Mo Xi."
After deliberating for a moment, he said impatiently, "You still call me Xihejun."
Mo Xi fastened the hidden weapon box, paused for a while, looked at Gu Mang's face again, and said simply: "Listen. Xihe Mansion is different from Luomei Bieyuan. No one here will beat you and scold you, but you You are a sinner, everything is up to you, if you want to eat, you have to do things.”
"But I won't—"
"You used to know that." Mo Xi said, "If you don't remember, Li Wei will teach you again. You can do as he said, and as long as you're done, you can come and pick it up."
"Have you eaten when you're done?"
"Yes, but you mustn't be lazy. Got it?"
Gu Mang nodded.
"Then you can go." Mo Xi glanced at the water leak on the slip, "When today's work is done, come here for dinner."
Li Wei hurriedly asked, "My lord, are you going to add another chair?"
"Add what." Mo Xi glanced at him, "There is no ready-made empty space here."
"..." But isn't this chair that has been without an owner, as rumored, you left it to Princess Mengze
Although Li Wei was bewildered, he still agreed and took Gu Mang to leave, but before he got to the door, Mo Xi called him again: "Wait, come here."
"What else does the Lord command?"
Mo Xi glanced at Gu Mang thoughtfully, then said to Li Wei, "Go to the kitchen and tell the chef, I have a request for dinner today." He lowered his voice and said a few words to Li Wei. , and then said lightly, "That's it, do as I say, go."
The first task that Li Wei arranged for Gu Mang was very simple, but it was also very laborious - chopping wood.
"Although Xihe-Jun is an immortal monarch, there are many handymen in the house who are ordinary people. They can't raise their hands to summon a fireball, so our house is still short of firewood for winter." Li Wei pointed at the hill in front of him. The pile of wood, "You chop all these up, and you will be rewarded with food after the chop."
Gu Mang stared at the pyre in front of him, then looked back at Li Wei without saying a word.
Li Wei asked: "Do you understand? If you don't understand, ask!"
"… "
Seeing that he still didn't speak, Li Wei rolled up his sleeves and made a few chopping movements: "Chop. Chai. Do you understand chopping wood? Chop all this wood."
Gu Mang seemed to understand what he heard, but he still grasped the most important word "cut". He didn't say anything, he stepped forward and swung the axe that was slanted on the ground, and turned back to confirm with Li Wei: "Chop these ?"
"Yes, cut these."
"all?"
"all."
"Can you eat after cutting?"
"You can eat after cutting."
After Gu Mang ended the conversation, he turned his head and started to chop wood with his axe in silence.
This job doesn't have any big tricks, but it's time-consuming, labor-intensive, and boring. No one in Xihefu likes to do it. However, Gu Mang did it without saying a word or complaining. He pursed his lips slightly, his long eyelashes were wet with sweat, and he chopped down the tree trunks with all his strength. Something like a deep hatred - he was very motivated, and every time the pyre fell, he felt that he was getting a little closer to his ration.
When the twilight was over, the piles of log piles finally turned into piles of wood sticks. Gu Mang threw the axe, and he didn't even bother to wipe off the sweat on his head, and went straight back to the hall to receive his "reward" for today.
Although it was snowing in the night outside the window, and it was even bitterly cold, the lights in the main hall were bright, the food with warm lids had been placed on the small rose pear table, and the soup pot being simmered in the small red mud stove was simmering outside. Silky heat.
Mo Xi was sitting there, waiting for him.