Huaigui

The pain that broke the whole body, and the eyes are dark.

It's like falling into an ice cave, but there is a fire burning in my heart.

A voice colder than an ice cave rang in my ears: "I don't understand, why should this king keep your life!"

He opened his eyes suddenly.

He raised his hands, except for a thin layer of calluses and a few superficial scars from holding the sword all year round, there were no chilblains or welts as imagined.He breathed a sigh of relief, and realized that only his muscles were sore all over his body, so he turned over and sat up.

There is a little light from the sky through the window, the sun has not risen yet, and it is not the usual time to get up.

He covered his head and shook it vigorously as if trying to drive out the weird dream, but got up when he failed.Pushing open the door, there is a small courtyard with a well in the corner.He walked over, fetched a bucket of well water, and then poured it directly over his head without any hesitation, finally dispelling the nightmare for a short time.

This movement alarmed the people in the next room, the wooden door opened with a "squeak", and a slender young man walked out.In the year of the weak crown, the shoulders and backs have grown up, and the thin muscle lines cover the whole body.

The person near the well rubbed his eyes carelessly: "I don't know who it is, so it's you again! Mingyue, taking a cold water early in the morning is not afraid of getting sick."

"Brother Yun." The boy called "Mingyue" said calmly, "Thank you, I'm used to it."

Compared with the Murong Yun in front of him, he is several years younger. Not only does he have a delicate and girly name, but his appearance is also different from the other's big and three thick, thick eyebrows and big eyes. He is extremely delicate and handsome——

With a high nose and thin lips, her skin is as white as snow, and a bit of Fanbang style can be seen vaguely.His eye sockets are deep, but the corners of his eyes are slightly drooping, and the originally sharp outline suddenly becomes much gentler because of this curvature.

It just has a wooden expression, like a realistic doll.

At this time, he was naked/topless, drenched by the bucket of water, and stretched indifferently.His waist-length black hair was braided and hung behind his back, and when he turned his back to his companion, the hideous scar on his spine was exposed.

From the left and right shoulders, crossed at the back of the heart, there is a slanted "ten", dark red in color, like bloodstains, it always seems to be incomplete, and people feel that they can see into his bones from these two scars .This scar seems to be imprisoned, and it is also like a butterfly wing breaking out of a cocoon, leaving an ugly wound on the back.

At the beginning of the dynasty, the slave trade was maintained, but even though the law was abolished later, nobles still kept them secretly.The status of slaves has been passed down from generation to generation, and to this day, a small number of royal mansions still keep slaves as coolies.

The ancestors of this group of people have been branded, and they will never be freed.And this oblique cross scar was made when a special long whip was applied with a special ointment when they were young, and it was burnt hot. After that, it has been dark red for many years, tied to the back like a rope, and it has become a proof of their inferiority.

Every time he saw it, Murong Yun couldn't help being frightened, feeling that he was still in pain.

The young man named Mingyue had eyes behind his back, but he knew Murong Yun was staring at him before he turned his head, and turned his head slightly: "Why, I was injured during training yesterday?"

"There are a few bruises that linger, making you afraid of pain." Murong Yun stepped off the donkey, walked over quickly, and put his arm on his shoulder affectionately, "Can Brother Yun help you push it away? Otherwise, you will be injured today Worse."

"No need." After he declined, he walked towards the bedroom.

"Hey, Mingyue!" Murong Yun yelled, seeing the young man paused, he added, "Last night when you fell asleep, the prince came over to our yard to have a look, and asked me to tell you to follow him into the palace today."

"Want me to follow?" Mingyue asked.

"I don't know about that." Murong Yun said, "But the captain of the guard will go with you."

There are not many opportunities to follow the prince into the palace, which is an expression of extreme trust.But Mingyue only said that she knew it, and didn't make any indication of this honor, she turned her head and closed the door.

Murong Yun stood where he was, smiled and said to himself for a long time: "This brat!"

The small courtyard is surrounded by the east wing where Murong Yun lives, and another owner in the west wing. The center of the courtyard facing north and south should be the main house. Now there is a small wing room, which is Mingyue's territory—he has no right to be alone. The room, with a bed squeezed next to the main house, is already the greatest courtesy the owner of this room has given him.

The wing room is about ten feet square, with a few simple cabinets and a bamboo bed leaning against the window.

The sky was shining through the crack of the window, and the boy sitting at the end of the bed turned his head to glance at the shadow on the ground, letting the wet hair keep dripping, blurring the dark marks.He stayed in a daze for a while, gathered the braids, slowly unraveled them from the bottom, and dried them carefully with a towel.

A small bronze mirror behind her reflected the scar on her back, and Mingyue squinted, thinking of that dream again for no reason.

But he knew very well in his heart that those were fragments of memories, and they were real.

The slave mark on his back originated in the winter when he was four years old, and has been deepened every few years since then.At that time, Luoyang was cold, but it was not as good as the place where I grew up.

Mingyue can't remember his hometown, but he only knows that there is often snow in August, it is not prosperous, and the merchants on the street are hawking, but they are not worse than anyone else.It seemed to be a peach blossom garden isolated from the world, but there was not such a scene of peach blossoms and willows. In his vague memory when he was young, all he saw was yellow sand except snow.

Later, those things were all annihilated, his family was ruined overnight, his eyes were covered with bloodstains, and finally he was fished out from the dark prison, and he saw a majestic man.

Holding the green teacup, he looked at himself with a half-smile, and then asked, "Do you still remember who you are?"

With a trembling voice and hoarseness like dehydration, he spit out two words.

The calm expression on the man's face suddenly cracked, revealing his ruthless inner: "Who is allowed to say that surname! From now on, you are just a slave of my Prince Yu's Mansion! Come on, drag it down!"

In the freezing season, he was stripped of his clothes in public and knelt in the courtyard.

I don't know how long it took, but the still immature back suddenly hurt, one whip, and another whip.The vest seemed to be split open, and the severe pain was coming out of his body, placing him in a double world of ice and fire.

"Why do I ask you this question? I don't understand. I don't need to save your life!"

These words were deafening, but after all he was too young to hear them clearly.Mingyue only remembered that she passed out in the end, and when she woke up, Murong Yun was sitting beside the couch.

Murong Yun couldn't be older than him, barely the same age. Seeing him wake up, the other party said with a worried face: "You made the prince so angry...it's really rare that he's still alive."

But how can a young child who can't speak clearly make the royal relatives feel anxious?

At that time, he didn't understand anything, and he had to lie on the ground for three months before he managed to recover from the injury on his back.Since then, the scar of the oblique cross has been engraved into his blood, and this identity cannot be released until death.

Murong Yun told Mingyue that he was the son of a guilty minister and was going to be imprisoned for life, but the prince saw that he was young, so he made a special trip to ask His Majesty to come and imprison him in his palace to teach him.

With a pure heart, Mingyue naturally asked, "What is my father's crime?"

Murong Yun was stuck and didn't answer. I don't know if he didn't even hear about it or deliberately concealed it.

The injury on his back healed, and he saw the man for the second time—still under the elegantly decorated eaves, he was kneeling in the middle, not daring to look up.The man had a better temper than the previous meeting, and slowly counted his crimes.

"The soldier fled the battle and implicated his family." He took a sip of tea, with a smile that was not a smile, "The men were exiled, and the women were sent to the various mansions as slaves. From now on, you can call Mingyue—remember this name, and don't forget it. "

He said the last sentence in a strange tone, with a haughty smile.

It's a pity that Mingyue was still young at that time, and she couldn't even remember things, so she had to accept her fate scribbled, and was pinned down on the ground by her neck to thank her.

For the next five years, he never saw that "prince" again.

Living in the most inferior bedroom in the palace, he got up to work before dawn, and only had a moment of rest in the middle of the moon. What he ate was not as good as the kittens and dogs raised by the concubines in the backyard.He is young, and the adults who work with him are still protecting him. He has never been hungry, but he has no meat or vegetables. He still has a body like bean sprouts when he is ten years old.

The prince found him again, Mingyue was dragged away to wash up, her messy hair was tied up, and she changed into a fitted dress.He walked into the hall with his back slumped—there was a plaque on the eaves, and a couplet with elegant strokes, but it was a pity that he had never read a book and could not read.

This time, apart from the prince who had met twice, there was also a thin young man.

"What do you think of him?" the prince said, his tone seemed to be evaluating an animal.

The young man went down the steps, he walked silently, squatting down and his eyes were level with him.He ignored the prince's question, smiled with a pair of slender phoenix eyes, and spoke softly: "Son, what's your name, how old is this year?"

The prince sneered: "It's unnecessary."

He hurriedly looked away from the young man, and rationally told himself that this person must be of noble status, and he needed to answer the question quickly.But when he opened his mouth, he choked up a little.

No one has ever spoken to him in such a gentle tone in the past five years. Coupled with those affectionate eyes, he immediately felt a huge grievance—the memory of his childhood is better than nothing. I don’t know who his parents are, but he vaguely remembers them The surname is also diluted by the day-to-day labor, and I don't live like a person, let alone a child.

There was no sound for a while, the young man had been waiting patiently, seeing his eyes were red, he suddenly said: "Brother Wang is really ruthless this time, could it be that he is afraid?"

"If you want to make trouble, you can go back to your palace city, don't play wild with me." The prince took a sip of tea lightly, "Didn't you want to see him once? After reading it, I will ask someone to take him down."

The young man stood up: "It's been five years, but the wolf nature in these eyes has not been completely worn away. Should I say that I am worthy of being the son of the wolf king? Brother Wang, how can you say that you are the same as him..."

The prince was silent, the teacup made a crisp sound when it was placed on the table, and a corner was broken.

The young man looked at his words and changed his words immediately: "Brother Wang, is he planning to let him carry the slave seal on his back for the rest of his life? Wouldn't that be a waste of that name?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I heard that Brother Wang has a 'Shadow Guard', all of whom are young men from the Hu tribe who were raised since childhood. If it were me, I would put him in and train secretly for several years, and he will be successful. At that time, he will be yours. A sharp sword, isn’t it good?” The young man’s voice softened, “Brother Wang, just count it as a virtue for yourself, and you have nothing to lose.”

Another was noncommittal.

He listened blindly, completely bewildered, with a little despair of not knowing why he was here.But at the next moment, the young man suddenly leaned towards him on his knees, and reached out to touch the top of his hair: "Your name is Mingyue, but everyone must have a surname."

His whole body tensed suddenly, his throat moved slightly, as if thinking.

Sure enough, the next moment, the corners of the young man's eyes curled up: "I know your last name—"

The teacup was violently overturned to the ground.

"High dive!"

"Remember, your surname is Helan."

"Pull him down!"

Helan family, Xianbei surname.

After Mingyue met the young man, he was imprisoned and starved for five days and five nights. Although he was young, he no longer had the helplessness that he only knew how to cry all day long.He sat in the corner of the dark room, watching the little light leaking from the ground.

The five years of living like an animal made his only little memory fall into chaos. Today, the young man made it clear, and he suddenly remembered something——Helan, this surname made the high-ranking and calm prince every time. If you hear it, you will be confused.

But he never heard those people who live with him say that there is such a family in the world.

Perhaps they were fellow slaves with themselves and had no way of knowing these things.Furthermore, Helan is not a particularly rare surname, probably the prince was frightened by the ghost in his heart, and vented his anger for no reason.

He felt relieved, and forgot to think about his girl-like name for the time being.

On the morning of the sixth day, Mingyue was dragged to the prince.He didn't drink any water, his lips were chapped and chapped, and his whole body was as thin as paper, fragile as if it would break with a little force.

The prince who was furious a few days ago hid back in his reserved and noble shell, and asked him, "Have you figured it out?"

Mingyue didn't know what he was talking about, she lowered her neck and said nothing.

The prince said: "Your master will always be this king."

He responded hoarsely, "Yes."

The prince said: "With the slave mark, you will be the slave of this king for the rest of your life. You must obey what the king says."

Mingyue stared at the ground, feeling black in front of her eyes.

And the next moment, the prince's voice softened: "But Mingyue, now there is an opportunity in front of you to make you different from those people. You can practice martial arts, and in the future you can also leave the palace, or even enter the palace..."

The man pinched his chin with his strong fingers, forcing Mingyue to raise his head - the lineage of the Xianbei tribe left a clear outline on his face, those eyes were as transparent as glass, light gray, and they were motionless at the moment , I couldn't see the emotions in my heart, and the man's heart jumped for no reason, as if I couldn't grasp the child in front of me suddenly.

He was agitated by this emotion, and his temples hurt slightly, and he stepped up: "Speak."

Mingyue's chin was pinched with red marks, and tears welled up in his eyes from the pain, but there was still only one word: "Yes."

The prince suddenly let him go.

"From today onwards, you don't have to go back to the original room! Come here and give him to Lu Yi."

He saw Murong Yun again that evening.

The man made a fuss and asked him many things like a noisy bird, such as why you have stayed in the palace all these years and why I have never seen you, such as who do you know who Lu Yi is and what the Shadow Guard is, such as what are you doing? What is the name of the surname, how many people are there in the family, and why come here.

These questions came one after another, and Mingyue had no time to answer them, only remembering that he ate his first meal with meat that day.

He also knew that the master he was forced to swear allegiance to was not an ordinary prince, but the elder brother of His Majesty, Xian Jingwen Emperor's eldest son, Prince Yu Gaohong.

Nowadays, the situation is changing, and there are many scenes of private soldiers in noble families, but the ones in Prince Yu's Mansion are different from other private soldiers.Gao Hong has a shadow guard team trained since he was a child. The captain of the guard is called Lu Yi. He is from Gaoche. He is from the north. This secret team.

As the name suggests, the shadow guard lives like Gao Hong's shadow, and he will die if he gives him an order.Some of them are easy to hide, some are good at assassination, they are all illiterate barbarians, it is said that they are for the convenience of Gao Hong to control.

Mingyue moved from the straw mat next to the stable to a corner of the small courtyard, and spent five years with Murong Yun through the wind and rain, and unexpectedly achieved something small.

Lu Yi, the captain of the guard, said that he was born to be a warrior, and Mingyue was noncommittal, day after day, in a daze.Only occasionally, when he fell into samadhi in the room and woke up sweating profusely, did he feel "alive" for a moment.

The word "Helan" was like a curse, trapping him within a square inch and he could not be freed.

Mingyue braided her hair again, got up and put on her coat to go out.

"The Helan family, rebels, criminals...slaves." He thought, "I will always know what these are all about."

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↑Although the name is a bit naughty, he is indeed Gong.I originally wanted to write a secret guard attack, but after the outline, I found that it has nothing to do with the dark guard, so I just treated it as a guard attack who was a loyal dog in the early stage (dbq don’t scold me