Lianhualiang

"Haha, since you know how to marry, then I'll be wronged to marry you. Anyway... there is no one else to choose but you." Indeed, there is no one else to choose. Then I gradually understood the intention of the empress mother to adopt you as a foster daughter, what kind of foster daughter did she adopt, she was clearly a child bride in the disguise of a foster daughter! ! !

It's just Liao Die, if you don't want to marry, I won't force you either. When I have only a little joy for you, don't be entangled in love, and don't choose to...leave me when you can't let go anymore.

"However... you said, can you be gentle, you lift me up to the edge of a cliff to see me make a fool of myself, I guess I will never forget it in my life"

Liao Die squinted at me and sneered, "Oh!"

I was ridiculed again, I know I am weak, but no matter how weak I am, I will still be the "pillar" of our family in the future!Hahaha, thinking of her marrying me, I'm actually... very happy?So unreserved.

Back in the house, I locked myself up and didn't eat or drink for lunch, just to carve a jade hairpin decorated with pear blossoms by myself. I haven't tinkered with it for a long time, and the craftsmanship is showing signs of rust.

When the sky was half dark and half bright, I took the carved pear flower hairpin and excitedly pushed away the next room. The room was still the same as when I was a child, but there was an extra book about dancing by the wind. I was silent in Liao Die's book. In the house until Liao Cheng came to look for it.

Sometimes easy, sometimes heavy steps are just like my emotions, and I feel a little timid when I think about it and ask questions.The sunset glow from the sky casts a gloomy light on the glazed tiles. In the brightly lit main hall, Liao Die, sitting quietly with downcast eyes, looks like a caged animal unable to break free from the cage. It is not like usual. She is cold and lonely.

"Father, Queen Mother, I'm here, are you still going to the palace banquet?" Calling someone took a new teacup and warm tea and poured a cup to Liao Die.

"Thank you" she expressed her gratitude, I put my hand on the iced tea cup in front of her, and then replied with a playful smile: "You are welcome, you are my sister"

She smiled reluctantly, and I didn't ask any more questions.

"Tsk tsk, I haven't passed the door yet, I have learned to feel sorry for Die Er."

"Passing the door? Haha" I smiled wantonly to hide the loss and anger in my heart, and continued: "Mother, you really know how to joke, this is also her house, the threshold of our house has been trampled by my sister, what threshold is there? Why don't you replace the old one with a new one? If the old one doesn't go, the new one won't come."

I endured the pain of being pinched by Liao Die and continued: "It's getting late, you two should go to the palace banquet quickly, I'll find someone to change the threshold"

Without hesitation, I slapped off the hands on my waist, and walked out quickly. Liao Cheng kept shouting behind me: "My lord, wait for me!"

After leaving the mansion, I stopped and turned around and said viciously: "Don't follow me, I'll find someone to change the threshold"

"But..."

"No, but, you go back to accompany that mother... Liao Die has the New Year's Eve dinner, I have something to go back later, follow me, and I will throw you out of the Hou Mansion"

Liao Cheng took half a step forward and then backed away. I saw his worried expression, and sighed softly. The fire in my heart raged crazily, choking everyone around me. Should it be like this or not for a dim love, this is not like me, as if I lost all my strength at once, I Yan Yan said: "Go back and have a New Year's Eve dinner with Liao Die, I want to be alone Let's go, don't worry, this son is not the dude he was half a year ago."

I am no longer the helpless playboy half a year ago. Liao Die spent half a year strengthening my body and practicing literary and martial arts, and I am no longer the indifferent to her... half a year ago.

The folk last year was very lively, but I felt the cold inside, and walked aimlessly, to Huajie, to Mingcui Building, and met Qin Xu, who was in a state of despair at the door of the luxurious and luxurious building.

"Ange?"

"Brother Xu?"

We stared at each other, almost no one knew each other, yes, I walked and squeezed for two hours, my hair was messed up long ago, and the neckline of my clothes was squeezed and skewed.And Qin Xu's face was full of stubble and his face was black and blue. If it wasn't for the bright light of the lantern in front of Mingcui Building at this moment, I would have thought I would have seen a ghost at night.

"Brother Ang" Qin Xu hugged me violently, weeping with snot and tears, his heart was broken, I opened my arms and looked at Qin Xu who was the same height, I didn't know whether to push away or hold on.

"Hahaha, Brother Ang made a joke, let's go and drink, today I will treat you"

"Well, you treat me, and then pour bitter water on me, I know"

"Hahaha, Brother An, who knows me too." Qin Xu laughed like a hysterical lunatic while crying. The people who came and went looked at the two of us with strange eyes. Qin Xu is not afraid, how have I ever been afraid?

I'm not afraid of the weird eyes of the world, what I'm afraid of is...you can't accept my slowly returning affection for you as a woman, will you hate it or loathe it?

Qin Xu's capacity for drinking has always been bad, but today he is surprisingly good. He threw the wine cup and asked someone to take the porcelain bowl, and said to me proudly: "Brother Ang, do it" If it weren't for the endless tears streaming down his face , I really thought that he had gone to the temple to practice martial arts with the generals of Beixia in the past half a year. His posture and tone lacked vitality.

"Brother An, do you know? Wanrou is gone"

"She doesn't care about you, you can't keep her, so let her be happy"

"Yeah, Wanrou's heart is not with me. I forced her to stay. If I knew this, I would never have married her back then..."

"It's not too late"

"It's late, Brother An, it's late, Wanrou is dead, dead, hahaha"

"...It's too late." My hand holding the wine cup paused in the air, my nose sore.I tried to say a few words of comfort, but I searched my stomach but couldn't find a word, so I simply changed the porcelain bowl like him and drained the wine in the bowl.

"Wanrou...has always liked my eldest brother, and even got pregnant with his child, but...my eldest brother just uses her for the purpose of putting me to death, hehehe"

"..." What a tortuous and sad hat this is!

"But, hehehe, in the end Wanrou turned against my elder brother for me, and my elder brother used her. She gave him a glass of poisoned wine, but why was she so reluctant to drink it herself?"

"She won't die, you can't protect her, you will only make her suffer more."

"..."

There was a moment of silence in the private room, Qin Xu drank viciously with his head sullen, his hair crooked and his front was wet, and he couldn't tell whether it was wine or tears.

"Yes, I can't protect her"

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Heh, today's sage is incompetent, and the court is also a faction. I plan to abandon my pen and join the army. Even if I die in battle, I will have all the hearts of the people of Northern Xia."

Qin Xu, probably what you want to say is to let the heavens send you a justifiable death, right?

"Raise your glass to invite the bright moon, and make three people with each other, let's do it." Qin Xu was drunk after all. He and I were walking around the bustling street with a jar of wine and gossiping. I was also drunk and confused. I watched Qin Xu laughed messily and said, "Haha, look at your crooked hair crown, how can you look like a gentleman?"

He laughed back at me, "Your headband is all on the top, hahaha, come on, let me help you." The drunk person helped more and more, and he picked off the headband that was supposed to survive for a while , Qin Xu stared blankly at the headband in his hand and my loose hair, and finally laughed wildly.

He threw away the hair tie in his hand, and said with a smile: "What are you talking about red tape, what are you talking about respecting relatives and obedience, joking, joking"

I pulled the cloth strips from the hem of my clothes and tied my hair behind my head. I waved his hair crown and knocked it to the ground. I hummed and said, "What kind of hair crown do you want? Joke, joke."

"Hahaha" He knelt down and put down the wine jar and tore at the hem of his clothes, I also knelt down to watch him toss, finally he raised his head and looked at me with red eyes and said: "Brother An, help me"

'Tearing' A large piece of clothes was torn off by me. The drunk Qin Xu imitated me and tied his hair behind his head. He stood up tremblingly, tears fell silently, and he said: "Brother An, stay with me!" Go and light a river lantern!"

"it is good"

On the quiet side of the bank, there are only two of us, and the two river lanterns float slowly into the distance.

"An... brother, you wrote... what?"

"I, I probably understand your pain of being happy and gentle but not getting what you want." I didn't tell Qin Xu that what I wrote was to hope that I would marry Liao Die and live in Chang'an forever.

In Liao Die's dormitory, the book of miscellaneous medical skills was blown by the wind, and it was shaken impartially to the secret art of women and women giving birth. She likes me, she will marry me just because of repaying her kindness, and repaying her mother's kindness for adopting her.

It's just that Liao Die, Liao Die, you have two plants in the Hou's mansion, what kindness does it require you to sacrifice yourself?

I... It's not that you don't want to marry me.

I was sitting under the wall in the backyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion, panting like a cow, and I had already thrown Qin Xu, who was drunk and sleepy, into his room. After leaving the Prime Minister's Mansion, I didn't know where to go, back home?Wouldn't he have to face her again when he went back?

***

May I ask, in a river of love, what could make you happier than waking up and seeing your sweetheart?My head was a little dizzy, but it didn't prevent me from smiling happily at Liao Die who was sitting on the couch and looking at me.

"woke up"

"kindness"

"Is there any discomfort?"

"Seeing you are here, all diseases are cured"

The holy cheeks were stained with a blush, and she looked at me with tender eyes, and said angrily: "Slick tongue"

I stood up and held her cheek, kissed her soft lips, let go after touching her softly, and asked, "Is it oily?"

"An'er" before she could struggle, I sealed that square lip again, pried open her mouth and invaded into her territory, and only let her go when I heard a heavy panting in my ear, "It's quite slippery." "

"You..." She twisted the soft flesh around my waist, and when she saw me showing an aggrieved expression, she let go of her hand. Her cold hands gently rubbed the place where she had twisted just now and asked: " Does it hurt?"

"doesn't hurt"

"You, you have learned from the soldiers in the army. Wait a while, I'll go and see if the medicine will heal."

"Okay" Liao Die took the soft pillow and put it on my back, and finally rubbed my head before going out.

"She has been seen by her father. She said that she will only marry the first person who sees her face. The father allows her to enter the palace as the queen. After all, she will enter the palace as the queen. She just treats you as a queen." younger brother"

"Why can't you let her go, why can't you look back at me?"

I remembered that the Lantern Festival after last year was my birthday.I took Liao Die to the street. On her hair was a pear flower hairpin carved by my own hands. She smiled at me tenderly. I was so happy that I couldn’t see anyone else anymore. She said she would give me a gift , I happily waited by the river but waited for Qingyue's words.

At that time, the moon was bright and the stars were shining, but I was shivering from the cold while wearing a heavy fur coat. I crossed Qingyue to find Liao Die in a daze, but was held back by Qingyue.

She cried out behind me with all her heart: "Liao Ping'an, I like you, and I like you more and more."

I ruthlessly shook off her hand, and returned her emotionlessly, "I don't like you"

In the past, I thought that what I wanted was the vigorous love of joy and joy. Later, when I met Liao Die, I realized that no matter whether it is vigorous or silent, the direction of my heart can't be controlled at all, and my heart has long been there. Give it to Liao Die in a daze.

I found her sitting silently by the edge of the arch bridge in the dimly lit place in the vast sea of ​​people, holding a rabbit lamp in her hand, the faint light could not fully illuminate the bottom of my heart.

I asked: "You want to enter the palace as the queen"

She held up the rabbit lantern and handed it to me, and replied, "A present for your birthday."

I took the rabbit lamp and stared at her and continued to ask: "Is it true?"

"Yes" said softly but loudly, so decisively, so simple, but it left a bloody mark deep in my swollen chest.

"You said you want to marry the first person who sees your face, isn't that person me?" I think I must have smiled very ugly, because I saw a flash of struggle in her eyes, and then recovered. It was cold, but the emotionless voice created waves in my heart, slapping me, slapping the past years with affection, slapping my panic-stricken heart.

She said, "You're a woman"

I lowered my head to look at the dimly lit rabbit lamp in my hand, and my dimly lit but scorching eyes hurt. This scorching spark burned my only remaining pity, and burned my years to come.

Raise your hand and throw it lightly, and the rabbit lamp is thrown into the stream under the arch bridge. The exquisite rabbit lamp made of bamboo paper struggles, tumbles in the flowing stream, and finally perishes.

I stretched out my hand to pull out the pear flower hairpin from her bun, saw her three thousand hairs flying like a waterfall, saw her standing still and looking at me coldly, fell heavily and fiercely to the ground, one broke at the head of the bridge, the other broke at the end of the bridge. At the end, just like me and her, the numerous stone bricks across the middle seem to be separated by thousands of rivers and mountains.

Liao Die, you put aside the defenses between men and women and ignore gossip to make me a talent; Liao Die, you are struggling to marry or not, and I endure the sadness to make a choice for you; You; Liao Die, you pushed me away and teased me again and again, but in the end you told me that you were going to enter the palace as the queen!

You are a woman.What a high-sounding and irrefutable reason.

The next day, her birthday, I left home to join the army and went to the border with Qin Xu.

***

The sky is blue, as if a misty rain is about to hit, and it is also this blue. My father was framed by the emperor's fabricated evidence at the Meridian Gate and beheaded. My mother hanged herself at home on the same day, and that day was when I was promoted to the vanguard general. Day of triumph.

***

"Brother An, when we go back this time, we will ask Brother Ming to treat you to Mingcuilou to have a good time." The old Pianpian gentleman is now tanned, and his eyes are getting more and more lively.

But apart from my dark skin, I, who was wanton in the past, had no joy in my eyes.

"Ange, do you..."

"kindness?"

"Are you... that's all, brother will find you ten or eight beauties to accompany you when you go back this time"

"Haha, then I'll thank brother Xu again first."

"Small meaning, small meaning, at least I'm one rank lower than you now"

Towards evening, the gates of Chang’an City were opened wide, and the streets that should have been bustling and chaotic were terribly silent. Everyone wore a white silk around their arms. When I appeared on a gallant horse, everyone turned their heads to look at me. , eyes pity, pathos.

"Elder Son" Liao Cheng came galloping from the opposite side on a horse, got off his horse in embarrassment and knelt on the ground crying, and said: "Master Hou and Madam... have passed away, Elder Son"

"Angel"

I grasped the reins tightly, and could still say calmly: "Qin Xu listens to the order, the leader will go to the camp to rest, and I will not go to Ding You Palace banquet at home, tell the emperor for me."

"Yes, Qin Xu took the order"

I turned my horse's head to face the tens of thousands of soldiers behind me, took a deep breath and shouted: "Long Xiangjun obeys the order, and this time I return to Beijing. If there is trouble, fifty army sticks will be given. If anyone breaks the military regulations, he will die." "

The uniform voice of "yes" couldn't shake the coldness rising from the bottom of my heart at this moment.

The gate of Jing'an Hou's Mansion is covered with plain onyx. I dismounted from my horse and hurried to the main hall. The servants and maids passing by knelt down, but I didn't have time to allow them to get up like before.

In the main hall were placed two high-quality coffins, and none of the three incense sticks in front of the coffins fell off. Liao Die knelt at the copper basin expressionlessly, laying out one piece of paper after another. Take the eunuch with low eyebrows and pleasing eyes.

I walked to the front of the coffin and knelt straight down, took off the helmet with both hands and put it on the side, knocked heavily on the head one after another, my forehead overflowed with blood when I walked around.

"An'er" Liao Die took out a silk handkerchief from her bosom and wanted to cover the wound on my forehead, I waved away the lonely sound of her putting on her armor.

"Presumptuous, how dare you disrespect the future Queen of Beixia, our family will definitely report to the Holy Spirit and punish you for your serious crime of disrespect"

I looked at the flickering candle, and said lightly, "Today, I don't want to kill anyone."

After all, the eunuch has been immersed in the scheming of the palace for many years. I am a general. A soldier who is trembling with a sword, but a decisive general who kills!

He looked at Liao Die, but Liao Die didn't respond to him at all, he saluted and went out.Liao Die pursed her red lips and looked at me, her eyes were full of rippling, like an ink painting of Jiangnan, with rising mist, flowing clouds and flowing water, a tear fell down the corner of her eye, crystal clear but scalding like boiling water My heart apex.

I smiled and said: "Liao Die, you don't have to be like this. Although you were adopted by my mother, you have only lived in the palace for three years, and you have no kindness for nurturing. Besides, your name has never been mentioned on the ancestral plate. You will not be there in the future." She is the honorable queen of Northern Xia, it is really inappropriate to weep for my subjects."

"An'er, don't chase me away"

"Oh, whatever you want"

In the middle of the night, she didn't expect Qingyue to be the first person to come. She was dressed in plain colors, and her face, which was originally coquettish, was also plain.

I changed into plain onyx, and the untreated wound on my forehead was covered by white silk, revealing profuse blood.I glanced up at her and looked down.

Qingyue walked up to the coffin with a jug of sake and wanted to pour the wine into the wine cup. I stopped her and said, "Royal wine, my father, queen and queen may not be able to drink it. I will drink this wine for them." "

Gudong Gudong I drank a small jug of wine, and stuffed the jug into her hand, "Go slowly, don't send it away"

Qingyue's voice was mournful, "Liao Ping'an, do you want to hate me too?"

I shook my head and replied, "I don't hate you"

"Liao Ping'an, you point out the distant cousin but avoid me. I am the princess of Beixia who admired you in the street but you made me lose face. Now I wish I had never been a princess, better than between you and me go farther and farther"

"Qingyue, whether you are happy or not is never up to you. It has nothing to do with your identity. It used to be, it is now, and it will be in the future. I am not your lover."

"Liao Ping'an, if I can control my heart, I don't want to...be happy with you, be happy with you...too tired"

After Qingyue left, Qin Xu and Xu Qingming came with three other people, each with a pot of wine and a dish of food.

"Ange, let's eat something"

"kindness"

He ate what they had brought and drank the wine in their jugs, and sent them away again.I leaned against the coffin and smoked the bong that Qin Xu brought. Qin Xu knew me too well, so I smoked a few puffs whenever I was worried. I learned how to kill people and also learned many bad habits.

It's just that today Liao Die didn't care about me anymore, she knelt there quietly like a beautiful and pleasing jade, not speaking, not speaking, not blaming, not angry.

It's just Liao Die, why can't I let you go even today!

When the trees fall, the monkeys scatter, and when the forest falls, the birds fly.In this troubled summer, in the first three days after the father and queen mother left, only one person came besides Qingyue and Qin Xu. The mother's biological brother, the number one emperor merchant in Northern Xia—Zhuge Xiangqi.

Qingyue and Zhuge Xiangqi each gave me a letter, the difference is that the letter is 'Qi Ze Ming' and the letter 'Qi Ze Huan'.

I burned the two letters cleanly in a copper basin. My father was loyal to the emperor and patriotic all his life, and instilled in my family the idea of ​​the country since childhood. Without the last straw that overwhelmed the camel, how could I, how could I revolt in a grand manner?Although the people in Beixia are miserable today, the monarchs and ministers are greedy for pleasure.

The last straw was - Liao Die.