Sapphire case

one,

In the winter of 1923, Jinzhou, Xichengshan.

At the end of November, a new snowfall just fell in the north of Beijing. The horse farm under Yugu slope was covered with a thin layer, and the dead branches and yellow leaves covered the entire vast foothills. Scattered hunting sheds and high platforms were hidden in the dense Xicheng Mountain. In the pine forest, as far as the eye can see, geese are chirping, the sky is washing green, and the chill of the late autumn and winter solstice is coming.

Standing on the outer edge of the pine forest is a group of men and horses in brocade clothes and mink fur, with brand-new firearms on their backs or shoulders, and the horses whose hair has been combed to be smooth and smooth follow the lead of their masters. Follow the rider's gaze from side to side.

This day is the birthday of Gu Jin, the eldest son of Gu Hou, a wealthy family in the south of the Yangtze River. Gu Hou and his wife went north to hunt, and will use a horse as a gift for his son to grow up.

These handsome and beautiful horses on the racecourse are all thoroughbred horses specially imported from England by Gu Hou. Each of them has a detailed pedigree record and official qualification certification from the Great Britain Racecourse. He originally wanted to get these ten or so horses The horses also took a lot of work, among which the most high-quality racehorses were carrying a vigorous young man. He was the focus of today's gathering, enjoying the envious attention of his relatives and brothers.

The female relatives were sent to the shed next to them by hand, and Shang went into the back room because she felt unwell. Madam Gu and her sister-in-law stood outside the house wearing cloaks. Every time the boys turned their horses, they waved and smiled at them from afar.

Gu Sheng fell behind, looked up at his brothers, and the day laborer at the horse farm beside him reminded him: "Fourth Young Master, the horse is brought over here."

Gu Sheng nodded casually, followed his support to pull the rein, was slightly startled when his hand touched the rope, and then almost subconsciously glanced at the shed not far away.

The gaze was extremely short, as if it was a very casual glance, then he turned his face, nodded and smiled at the laborer: "No, help me bring the half-blood horse over there. I got used to it when I was practicing at home. I'm afraid that the pure-blooded horse will be too fierce and difficult to control."

"No, no! These horses are domesticated, you can..." The day worker paused and retreated after speaking halfway, "Just wait a moment."

The Gu family has a special school in the south of the Yangtze River. The four boys under Gu Hou's knees have to learn riding and archery. It's just that there is no such superior natural environment in northern Beijing. Today, it is rare to have the opportunity to show off in front of the guests. Naturally, Gu Jin will take the lead and pass the pine tree first. Lin greeted the back: "Father! Come quickly!"

Gu Hou responded casually, but in no hurry to drive the horse, he disassembled the barrel of the gun, and showed the clip and chamber to the young man next to him: "Look, just fill it like this, the shooting range at home is not equipped with guns, right? No, it’s okay, I’ll ask someone to get you a crossbow later, the bow here is not bad, I’ve tried..."

He carefully demonstrated to Gu Sheng how to use the imported new sight. Gu Sheng reined in the horse and lowered his eyelashes. The morning light came out from the pine forest and fell on his slender neck. The eyes looking at the barrel of the gun looked unpredictable .

Gu Hou shoved the gun to Gu Sheng, and Gu Sheng held the hardwood butt of the gun, trembling unconsciously.Gu Hou always liked this bookish young son, teasing him: "Hey, are you scared?"

Gu Jin waited for a while, stopped and turned to look, and saw such a filial father and son.

Gu Hou likes his youngest son from a concubine, not only the three brothers of the Gu family, but even the cousins ​​who often study together can tell.

They all felt that Gu Hou had never had a daughter in his whole life, and he had never had both children. It was a bit of a pity. The youngest son was born extraordinarily delicate and beautiful, with a quiet and gentle temperament. Well, most of them were pampered and raised as daughters.

Only Gu Jin knows it is not, and this sense of crisis is always accompanied by his growth trajectory, his other two younger brothers are basically determined to divide the family property in the future and do not think about making progress, so there is nothing to be afraid of, but Gu Yan is different.

Although Gu Hou never made any statement, nor revealed his real thoughts, Gu Jin just felt that Gu Hou's liking for his younger brother Gu Yan was sincerely training him to be his successor.

Since when?

Gu Jin also couldn't tell.

Maybe one day when he went to look for Gu Yan, he saw the same textbooks and exercise books as his on the desk in his study.

That happened two years ago. Gu Yan, who was probably less than ten years old, stood at the door of the study, looked at him very calmly, walked over to close the book, and said, just flipping through it for fun.

Gu Jin has never forgotten the look in his eyes at that time. His younger brother grew up to be Zhou Zheng, and his eyes were watery and gentle, and he intuitively knew that Gu Yan must have understood his thoughts at that time, because when he went again later, those books It's all gone.

I don't know if it's a coincidence.

You have a heart, and the superior also intends to support you. There is nothing more terrifying and threatening to your status than this. Even if the other party is the child of a singing girl, you still cannot take it lightly.

The only fortunate thing is that he is much older than Gu Yan, the six-year gap is enough.

Although you see, like today, it is Gu Jin's birthday. His father held this wild hunting for him, and everyone's eyes were on him, the young master. Beside his youngest son, he taught him how to change bombs.

And Gu Sheng seemed quite careless - he's always been like this, and it's the same on the shooting range, he always tries his best to complete the task and then it's over, it's very perfunctory.In contrast, he prefers to stay in his room, read books and listen to records.

It really looks like a girl, doesn't it?

"...No," Gu Sheng rubbed the cold barrel of the gun slowly, then raised his eyes slightly to look at Gu Hou, "Father, elder brother called you, today is elder brother's birthday, you are usually busy, in the future elder brother will go outside I can’t see each other when I go to school, so I’ll go there by myself later.”

His tone was calm and gentle, like a spring breeze injected into the whistling wind by the side of the racecourse.

Gu Hou didn't say anything, the third young master Gu Xing drove over to greet him, Gu Hou sighed, pressed Gu Sheng's shoulder, and walked over in response.

Gu Sheng lowered his eyelashes, and reloaded the magazine and sights. Gu Xing paused for a second to meet his expressionless gaze, then leaned closer to his ear, and rubbed his thumb against the spot that was illuminated by the sun. With warmed skin, he whispered: "New sights? Look up, do you see the dots that light up on the mountain from time to time? That's what my brother and I prepared for you. It's for military use. If you dare to mess around, you should He was shot in the head by a sniper who was on standby."

With a "click", Gu Sheng closed the butt of the gun, and Gu Xing took a step back subconsciously, and said vigilantly, "What are you doing? Be good, follow us obediently, don't make trouble, do you hear me?"

"It's okay." Gu Sheng said, shaking his head, "I just feel a little..."

Before he finished speaking, the smoke from firewood burning in the distance rose up, and with a shout, a few wild deer galloped down, and suddenly slammed into the hunters' field of vision!

"Brother! Let's go!"

"Accepted! Drive!——"

The few people in the front row rushed out like arrows leaving the string, and there was a chaotic sound of hooves and smoke and dust everywhere.

The juniors of each family and some accompanying guests who came to have fun followed closely behind, each of them was separated by four to six lengths, they surrounded them and left, only heard a "bang", Gu Jin fired the first shot of the siege!

——It’s almost winter, even if you are hunting in Xicheng Mountain, which is famous for its many wild species and lively, it’s not uncommon to wait for several hours to see a deer and a muntjac. It is a wild interest, and it is definitely not for freezing for a few hours in the outer suburbs of the cold weather.The hunting ground owner sent people into the mountains to investigate early in the morning, and knocked down deer, wild boars, badgers, etc., for the group of old men and young men to hunt for fun.

The smoke rising from all over the mountain is the work of the long-term workers of the hunting ground to drive away the wild animals.

The hunting dog had already loosened its chain, barked and ran towards the spotted deer that was shot. The remaining wild deer were frightened and fled in all directions. He turned his horse and joined the revelry.

Generally, hunters would dig out their prey and put it in the water, but Gu Hou and his party obviously wouldn't do this by themselves. If the hunting dogs dragged the dead deer back, there would be someone to pick it up, and the distinguished guests could trust their horses to chase wild beasts without hesitation.

Gu Sheng was not satisfied with this activity, because Gu Hou had been following him all the time, aiming a few shots casually, the best one was to touch the antlers, Gu Hou stroked the heads of two of them, quite amazed He praised him for his talent, maybe he can really bring one back today.

Gu Sheng was noncommittal, riding his horse and trotting to follow the footsteps of the large army.

Gu Hou didn't care whether he wanted to listen or not, as he walked the horse's hooves, he babbled about the first time he rode and hunted when he was eight years old. Yang directly threw him off the saddle, falling off the horse and breaking two ribs.

"But," Gu Hou introduced to him, "The horses we ride are all well-trained now, and ordinary gunshots can no longer startle them."

Gu Sheng looked at his older brothers from a distance, then glanced at the woman outside the shed, then stopped his pace, half-raised his gun and fixedly looked up to the sky.

It was the clear blue sky at the beginning of the twentieth century that had not been completely swallowed up by modern industry. A stream of cotton-like thin clouds straddled the two ends of the city far away, and the lone geese migrating south passed by in the chilly air, their gracefully curved wings scratched. The sound of the air.

When he raised his head, the outline of the entire upper body was extremely graceful, the ups and downs of the throat followed by the side lines and submerged into the collar in zigzags. Gu Hou followed his eyes to look, and first saw the white and moist cheeks and the tip of the nose of his youngest son. The curly eyelashes scratched his heart like a wild goose's feathers across the blue sky.

Gu Hou felt a little warm in his heart, and asked him softly behind him: "Do you like it?"

Gu Sheng didn't react, and gave a questioning "hmm", but suddenly there was a burst of bullets breaking through the speed of sound in his ears, the clear sky suddenly saw blood, and a brown-feathered wild goose wailed and fell with a "pop" In the haystack ahead.

The half-blood horse didn't know whether it sensed the rider's emotions or was frightened, and took a step back.

Gu Hou returned the cartridge, and looked at Gu Sheng quite proudly: "It seems that I am not old! Mosin Nagant is quite useful, this goose is for you!"

Gu Sheng turned his head abruptly, every trace of panic was evident in his eyes.

Before he could put away the frightened look on his face, a bullet whizzed past and passed through the gap less than one meter between the two of them!

Gu Hou pressed his neck down instinctively, the two of them leaned over at the same time, and a row of bullets spread across and swept over!

Gu Hou rolled over and fell off the horse with his arms around Gu Sheng, furious: "There is a killer?! Are snipers just for nothing!—"

The author has something to say:

There will probably be two or three extra chapters (well...a relatively long interlude...), to make up for the protagonist's background and personality a little bit

Then there is a little cute TVT who left me a message and cast mine, wow, I am so touched, the mother-fetal stand-alone star is trembling, I will work hard (clench fist)