Short story

In the millennium of the Tang Dynasty, it goes without saying that Kyoto is prosperous, but the small villages on the border have to pay the price for this prosperity.

It was the end of autumn, and the busy harvest time in Xiaogu Village was almost over, but for the military households, now was just the beginning.

There are many peach trees in Xiaogu Village. At this time, the peach blossoms are all withered, and the yellow leaves flutter and fall to the ground. There is a shallow layer, and occasionally there will be a crackling sound when you step on it. It is the peach branches that have fallen on the ground. .

"Crack." The small voice made Shen Zhige's movements pause, but after a while she understood again, and continued to swing the sword.

The pretty girl still thought that the young man in front of her didn't know her existence, so she crept in from behind the dilapidated door, trying to get behind the young man under the cover of the peach tree.

As soon as he got behind Shen Zhige, the young Qingyue's voice sounded, "Here I am, I'm thirsty."

Surprised, Liu Xi paused on the spot, and immediately realized that she had been discovered.

In the end, it was distressing, Liu Xi obediently took a glass of water for Shen Zhige, and then complained: "You found me a long time ago! You deliberately scared me!"

"I thought you were coming to wipe my sweat." Shen Zhige looked back innocently, with a trace of bewilderment on his handsome and immature face.

Liu Xi tilted her head slightly, not daring to look directly at the young man, muttering in her mouth, but didn't say anything, but her fair face was a little blush.

Shen Zhige was indeed thirsty, he drank several sips of water, handed the cup to Liu Xi and raised his sword to practice again.

Liu Xi didn't bother her anymore, she stood by the side, and Shen Zhige handed her water when she was thirsty, and wiped her sweat when she was sweating, just like the previous ten years.

In this way, one person practiced and the other watched, and the noon sun fell to the side of the west mountain.

When it was time to leave, Shen Zhige didn't make any movement. Liu Xi was a little disappointed, hesitated for a long time, and squeezed the handkerchief she used to wipe sweat tightly, "I'm also sixteen this year. Daddy said, you want to make a promise for me." Reliable people."

Is it reliable?Shen Zhige was slightly dazed, stopped his movements as if he was tired, took the handkerchief in Liu Xi's hand to wipe off his sweat, "Well, that's good."

very good! ?

Liu Xi stared at Shen Zhige with wide-eyed eyes, puffing up her baby-fat cheeks angrily, but with the unique cuteness of Cardamom Nianhua, it can only make people feel extra cute.

Facing the girl's silent accusation, Shen Zhige just frowned, as if he hadn't seen anything, and returned the veil to the girl.

Angrily snatching back the handkerchief, the girl glared at Shen Zhige again, turned around and ran away from the path, leaving only a retaliatory sentence, "Then I'll marry Second Brother Wang!"

Seeing the back of the girl leaving, Shen Zhige didn't react too much, but just clenched the hilt of the sword in his hand.

There is an order from the Tang Dynasty: Anyone who joins the army must be sixteen years old, be healthy, and have been married for more than one month.

There are different opinions among the people about the need to be married to join the army. Some people think that married people are more responsible. They would rather die for their wives and family members than become deserters and traitors. Some people think that it is because they are afraid of frequent wars. .

But once the law is issued, it must be obeyed!

Xiaogu Village is a small village on the northern border of the Tang Dynasty. It is not far from the border defense line. It is one of the important exports of soldiers in the north. Therefore, there are many military households in Xiaogu Village, and the Shen family is one.

The end of autumn is coming, winter is coming, winter is coming, and the lone wolf of the north is not far away.

Two months after the conscription, in winter, it was precisely to resist the plunder of the Di tribe in the north.

Father Shen was a little anxious, Shen Zhige would definitely join the army, but she had to get married first!

Get married, who will you marry?

It stands to reason that among the children of this generation of military households, Shen Zhige is the least afraid of being married. She is handsome and handsome, and she is the most beautiful girl in the village. She is both civil and military, and she once protected the village from bandits. Well, if anyone in this village didn't go to the battlefield to die but served as a general, it must be Shen Zhige.

But it's only reasonable to say that Shen Zhige is actually a woman.

When Shen's father joined the army, he didn't return for many years, leaving only his young wife and mother-in-law Wang to live together.

At that time, the family still had some thin fields, and Shen's mother and mother-in-law worked hard to cultivate them together. Fortunately, military households were exempted from miscellaneous taxes and taxes were halved, so they could barely live.

Not long after Shen's father joined the army, Shen's mother found out that she was pregnant, and her mother-in-law was also very happy. Although she wanted an extra meal, she couldn't live without her grandson!

Pregnant in October, Shen's mother gave birth to a daughter, it was Shen Zhige, but Shen's father still failed to get off the battlefield at this time.

The Wang family was afraid, afraid that her son would never come back. If Shen's father died in battle, Shen Zhige would be the only heir of the Shen family, and Shen Zhige was just a girl, and girls were not allowed to join the army. The Shen family will no longer be a military household, and naturally they will not be able to enjoy the benefits of full exemption from miscellaneous taxes and halved taxes for military households. At that time, just exorbitant miscellaneous taxes would be enough to bend their backs.

After thinking about it again and again, Wang immediately gave money to Mrs. Wen and asked her to tell the outside world that she gave birth to a boy.

In this way, Shen Zhige became a "boy".

Later, Shen's father was injured on the battlefield, his leg was severely injured, he became lame, and was forced to return home.

This is a good thing for ordinary people. Returning from the battlefield alive is what ordinary people long for.

But Shen's father didn't think so. He had been on the battlefield, was bullied by military officers, he had also been to a bustling big city, and he had seen the luxurious life of those high-ranking military officers. He was not reconciled!

Shen's father, who wanted to become a general, was not happy when he returned home. He wanted to drink every day when he was not working, beat people when he was drunk, and complained every day that God was cruel to him. Master.

The Wang family was happy that his son came back alive, but he has also changed. The son who said he would come back alive to honor him back then has now become a drunkard who can only daydream.

Mrs. Wang fell ill, she was already old and weak and tired all the year round, and her son still eats and drinks for free every day, asking her to pay for the wine, she was going to die of anger!

The illness came like a mountain, and Wang never recovered from this illness. Even though Shen's mother took care of her day and night, she still closed her eyes unwillingly.

Wang's illness and Shen's father's daily drinking, the family's only savings were gone, Shen's mother buried Wang, Shen's father was still drinking, and even attributed the mother's death to Shen's poor care.

In this way, within a few months, Shen's mother passed away. She had to take care of the family's fields, and also take care of her alcoholic husband and young daughter. She was too tired.

The death of his wife finally woke up Shen's father. No one cooked for him, no one let him beat and scold him, only the strange daughter looked at him from a distance.

After selling the family land, Shen's father buried his wife. With the convenience of the military household, he used the remaining property to become a blacksmith. He usually beat two kitchen knives for the villagers and repaired them. will this.

Regarding the tragedy at home, Shen's father has no heart of repentance, he just thinks it's all because he failed to become a general, if he became a general, how could his wife and mother die of exhaustion.

Looking at the small Shen Zhige dressed in men's clothing, Shen's father rekindled hope.

As soon as Liu Xi came home, she went straight to the boudoir angrily, and took out all the swords used by Shen Zhige from the wooden box under the bed, the gapped ones, the wooden ones and the iron ones, all piled up together Like a small mountain bag.

Staring at the abandoned sword, Liu Xi thought of Shen Zhige's indifference again, does he really not care about marrying someone else?

Liu Xi could still recall the first time she saw Shen Zhige, when Shen Zhige was still a small ball, chopping wood piles with a wooden sword taller than herself.

Liu Xi, who accidentally discovered that there was a small door panel between her home and Shen's home, became curious about Shen Zhige.

The boys in the village are all bullheaded, but they have strength but like to bully girls. Liu Xi, who looks weak and weak like this, is one of the key targets of their bullying, so Liu Xi actually doesn’t like boys very much, but Shen Zhi Ge is different, she is prettier than those boys, and she never bullies anyone!It's just very boring, chopping tree stumps every day.

From the occasional disturbance of Shen Zhige at the beginning, Liu Xi would run to the Shen family's backyard almost every day.Others don't know these things, except for the two of them, no one knows that there will be a small door connecting the two families behind the wall covered with green creepers.

The first time Liu Xi realized that she was attracted to Shen Zhige was about two years ago, both of them were fourteen or fifteen years old, young and ignorant.

At that time, bandits came nearby, most of them were poor people who couldn't survive, and the leaders didn't look like deserters.

Datang was very strict with deserters. Those who were caught would be demoted to slaves, or hanged. As for relatives, immediate family members would also be demoted to slaves.

The leader was tall and burly, and failed to capture Xiaogu Village the first time, and then harassed him every day without giving up.

Although the villagers in Xiaogu are tough, and most of them are young and underage men, the bandits can't take down for a long time, and even the leader was shot in the arm by Shen Zhige for the first time, but only a thousand days of thieves can't be a thousand days of defense. Thief, Shen Zhige decided to take the initiative to attack.

But taking the initiative to attack will inevitably cause someone to be injured, and may even die!

Shen Zhige patted his military letter, and made a plan to invite the king into the urn, and capture the thief and the king.

It was Shen Zhige's first time to kill someone. The sword he usually used for practice was across the neck of the bandit leader. The blunt sword was not sharp, but the moment he swung it, the blood still splashed on her face, reflecting in her dark eyes. more condensed.

The villagers were not afraid of Shen Zhige because of this, they were used to life and death, relatives, friends, if death didn't happen to them, it wasn't scary.

The same is true for Liu Xi, it's not that they don't cherish life, in this era they can only cherish the lives of themselves and those they care about.