Looking at the mountains and rivers

A red charcoal fire was burning in the room in the south courtyard, and the whole hall was as warm as spring. Tang An knelt inside, feeling like he was about to sweat.In the room, apart from the crackling sound of silver bone charcoal burning, there is only the rustling sound of pen falling on paper.The young master who was sitting in front of the case was lowering his head and writing something. He suddenly stopped writing and called softly, "Tang An."

"The little guy is here."

Yang Yan whispered, "Pour a cup of tea."

Tang An hesitated a little and said, "Young man, invite Manager Fang to come." He knew that although there were many servants in the courtyard, the fresh water had to go through Fang Ming's hands before it could be used by the young master.

Yang Yan smiled lightly: "Why, I will die of thirst without him, go and pour."

Hearing what he said, Tang An could only carefully pour out a cup of tea and hand it to him. Yang Yan took it, sipped it, and asked, "Tang An, are you literate?"

Tang An was just about to peek at the case, but when he heard this sentence, he shrank a little in fright: "Little man... only knows a few words."

Yang Yan smiled and nodded: "I see that you are usually quick-witted, so it would be a pity to just be a gardener. Now that you can read and write, you will naturally have a better place to go in the future." He seemed to ask casually, "You are now in the South Courtyard How much is the monthly salary?"

"Five hundred dollars a month."

Yang Yan lowered his eyelids: "Five hundred yuan is not too much."

"Young Master, what are you talking about?" Tang An laughed dryly, "The villain lives in the mansion for food and clothing, and there are no other expenses. Five hundred dollars is enough."

"It's true, you don't have other expenses, and you have the reward from the palace, so it should be enough."

Tang An was slightly startled when he heard the "reward from the palace", and he said in astonishment, "So the young master knows."

Yang Yan tilted his head, looking innocent: "Know what?" He smiled again, "Do you know that you are summoned by He Changshi every month?"

"My lord, forgive me!" Tang An suddenly knelt down, "When He Changshi sent me to serve you, he privately told me to keep an eye on the movement here, and I dare not refuse."

"Oh? What does He Changshi ask?"

"It's just my son, what do you do on weekdays, what people do you meet, and... what do you write in your copybook on weekdays, he also asks." Tang An finished speaking, and hurriedly said, "Damn the villain, I will never Back to these things."

Yang Yan shook his head with a smile: "No need, what He Changshi asks in the future, you just answer him according to the truth, you don't have to hide anything, you know?"

Tang An was a little puzzled, and agreed sullenly.

"Apart from you, is there anyone else who wants to speak back to He Changshi?"

Tang An replied: "There is also Liu Rongsheng, the cook." He paused, "Master, you have to be more careful with him."

"how?"

"In order to get more rewards from He Changshi, he described everything in the South Courtyard in detail. Although you usually keep your own place, young master, there is no excuse for committing crimes. He also said a while ago that Fang Guanshi He always went to Yimozhai to mount paintings and calligraphy, and wanted to follow him to have a look, but I deliberately joked a few words before he let him go."

Yang Yan seemed a little surprised, he said amusedly: "You and him are both He Changshi's people, why do you want to speak for me?"

Tang An lowered his head and said in a muffled voice, "Because you are very kind to our servants, young master, and often reward you with money and things. To be honest, if you are harmed by others, I'm afraid I will never meet such a good master in the future."

Yang Yan almost laughed, he nodded and said: "It turns out that you are afraid that I will be harmed by others, and no one rewards you with money or things." After laughing, he seemed to be a little emotional, "Don't worry, they still don't understand me now. kill me."

Hearing what he said, Tang An became more and more uneasy: "Actually... I also know that I shouldn't do things that sell the owner to seek glory. Previously, it was nothing more than seeing profit and forgetting righteousness. For that little reward..."

"Didn't you say that you don't have any expenses, so why are you short of money?"

"I……"

Seeing him stammering, Yang Yan smiled: "When you were not in the mansion, it seemed that the place you often went to was Yueming Tower. It was a gold-selling cave, no wonder the monthly money was not enough."

Seeing his strange smile, Tang An hurriedly said, "My lord, I didn't go there because of lust, but..."

"Just because there's your crush there, isn't it?"

Tang An was stunned for a moment. He had heard that the Fourth Young Master was a blind man who couldn't see. He didn't care about things and didn't understand anything.But he suddenly discovered that although this person couldn't see, he knew very well in his heart. There was nothing he didn't know, but he never said it.

"Tang An, do you like that woman from Yueming Building?" Yang Yan asked in a low voice.

Tang An was taken aback by the question, and he said awkwardly: "I don't know if I like it or not. She is the daughter of my former neighbor. She married an official a few years ago and became a concubine. Who would have thought that the official's stolen money was stolen?" The family and the female relatives were all enslaved and sent to be official prostitutes. She did not escape. I passed by the Yueming Building that day, and she called my name upstairs. I saw her and knew about it. When he said this, he scratched his head, "You shouldn't tell the young master about these things."

Yang Yan didn't show a look of regret, but asked plainly: "Do you want to visit her often like this, or do you want to redeem her body and marry her back?"

Tang An suddenly became embarrassed: "I originally wanted to redeem her, but who knows..." He lowered his head helplessly, looking at the floor, "She is an official prostitute, she has not been registered, so she cannot be redeemed at all."

"Well, that's impossible."

Thinking of that woman, Tang An felt a dull pain in his heart. Although he knew that it was impossible to redeem her body, he still felt a slight chill when he heard the young master's indifferent and indifferent tone. He lowered his head: " Young master, if there is nothing else, I will take my leave first."

"Well, go." Yang Yan waved his hand, "You can take the paper on the case."

Tang An responded inexplicably. He looked at the case, which was just an ordinary copybook.

"It's not the one I wrote, but the one pressed by the paperweight next to it." Yang Yan said again.

Tang An moved the paperweight away, and as soon as he saw the paper clearly, his eyes suddenly widened: "This...this is..."

"Registration documents," Yang Yan finished, and smiled again, "There will be no Liu Rongsheng next month, so remember to ask for more money for He Changshi's reward. After all, if you have a woman, you have to buy a house for him. Yes or no?"

Fang Ming had been running around for a whole day, and as soon as he entered the mansion, he saw Tang An coming out of Yang Yan's room weeping bitterly, and almost tripped over the threshold.He felt a little funny, shook his head, opened the door and walked in, saying: "My lord, here is the battle report from Anyang."

To the west of Anyang, five hundred miles past Yunxia Pass, is the Wusuli Snow Mountain near Yanyu Yazhang.The climate here is colder than that of the northwestern border of Jokhang. It snowed heavily all day and night, and the man tied to the wooden pole outside the tent was almost piled up into a snowman.

Wei Changxuan woke up in the extreme cold. He opened his eyes, but he couldn't move his body. The rawhide rope bound his hands and feet firmly.

Not far away, there were three or two fur-wrapped Yanyu people warming up by the fire. Wei Changxuan kept his eyes half-closed and tried to touch his lower back with his fingers.His fingers were numb to touch due to freezing, he managed to touch the protruding copper teeth on the belt, but he couldn't pinch it.

When he was moving, the wooden pole he was leaning on was suddenly kicked hard by someone: "Be honest!" The man spoke Dazhao's official language, which was not blunt, but he could still hear the accent of a foreigner.

Wei Changxuan realized that he was captured by a Yanyu team, he coughed twice: "Ahem...I want to see you, General Ashina."

"You want to surrender?" the man asked.

Wei Changxuan closed his eyes, just said: "Let me see General Ashina, I have something important to do."

After he finished speaking, the wooden pole behind him shook suddenly and was pulled out from the soil.Wei Changxuan was almost mentioned by him, so he couldn't help being slightly surprised. He looked at this foreigner with amazing physical strength, his eyes were full of defense.

"The eyes of a wolf cub let you meet Ashinanur, will you bite off his neck?" The other party said mockingly. It was a tall Yanyu warrior with brown slightly curly hair. In the fur hat, the brow bone and bridge of the nose are deeply outlined.

Since he dared to call Ashinanur's name directly, it could be seen that his status in Yanyu was not low, and his eyesight was sharp, he didn't look like an ordinary person, Wei Changxuan could hardly figure out his identity.

The warrior looked at Wei Changxuan for a while: "You are the Wujisur they said?" He smiled, "I thought it was some powerful person who was caught by me."

What he said made Wei Changxuan unconsciously annoyed, his throat was dry and thirsty, his voice was hoarse, with a hint of ferocity: "It's just a sneak attack, what a hero."

The samurai laughed loudly: "You people from the Central Plains said that soldiers never tire of cheating. If you are not convinced, we will fight again."

Wei Changxuan stared at him fiercely: "Hit it, I'm afraid you won't succeed!"

The warrior's smile suddenly froze on his face. He fixed his eyes on Wei Changxuan's chest, and suddenly stretched out his hand, pulling out the dagger with half of its sheath exposed from his arms: "Why do you have this?"

Wei Changxuan looked at the Yanyu man's expression, as if he knew the dagger, he was puzzled and didn't answer for a while.

The warrior looked back and saw that other people were still chatting and laughing by the fire a few feet away, so he lowered his voice again: "What is your relationship with Prince Mu's Mansion?"

Wei Changxuan was even more surprised, he couldn't help but said: "Why do you ask that, who are you?"

The warrior avoided answering his question, but stared at him suspiciously: "You are not Yang Ye's son, who gave you this dagger, Yang Dai? Or Yang Jue?"

Since he was able to name these two names, it can be seen that he knew a lot about Prince Mu's mansion. Wei Changxuan looked at him with great doubts in his heart, who is this person?

The samurai studied his expression carefully, and finally asked tentatively: "Is it possible, is it Yexi?"

Wei Changxuan finally changed his face. There are only a handful of people in this world who can call "Yexi". He blurted out almost instantly: "Are you Tuoba?"

The other party's amber eyes trembled slightly, and he suddenly smiled: "Have you heard of me?"

Wei Changxuan found it unbelievable, he thought that Tuoba was from the Tuoba clan, even an old servant, but he didn't expect that the other party was not only a young man about his own age, but also a Yanyu man.

He became suspicious again: "Are you really Tuoba?"

The other party didn't answer, he grabbed Wei Changxuan from the snow, carried it with one hand, and strode into the tent.The Yanyu people outside the tent looked at them with a look of gloating, and smiled lowly, not knowing what they were talking about.

There was a fishy smell of mutton in the tent. The source of the smell was probably half a sheep roasting on the brazier. The warrior threw Wei Changxuan by the brazier, and then cut the leather rope on his body with a knife.

Wei Changxuan subconsciously wanted to turn over and stand up, but he was horrified to find that his hands were bent stiffly, his fingers were black and purple, as if they were frozen there.

"Your hands are freezing," the samurai said in a casual tone, "I heard that you are a good archer, and you shot He Lu to death with one arrow. If your hands are useless, how can you shoot arrows in the future?"

In fact, there was no need for him to sarcasm, Wei Changxuan was already panicked, he hurriedly stretched out his hands to the fire, the flames almost licked his fingers, but it was still useless.He knew he had to snap his frozen joints apart, but he couldn't even pinch his fingers.

The warrior squatted down and looked down at his hands. He suddenly reached out and wiped the half-roasted mutton, and suddenly grabbed Wei Changxuan's hands with a large amount of hot sheep fat. At that moment, he Almost thought he was holding a piece of ice.Sheep oil soaked Wei Changxuan's cracked fingers, and he could vaguely feel the touch of the other party holding him. At this moment, the warrior asked again: "Who are you?"

Wei Changxuan said in a low voice, "I am his companion."

"Companion." The samurai repeated in a low voice. He exerted a sudden force on his hand, and his knuckles made a dull sound.

Wei Changxuan let out a cry of pain, cold sweat dripped down his forehead like rain, just now, he thought his finger was broken by the other party.

After straightening his fingers, the warrior let go of his hand. He took a piece of dirty leather and wiped the snow-white mutton fat between his fingers.After a while, he asked again, "Is he all right these years?"

Wei Changxuan rubbed his slightly recovered hands, and slowly shook his head.

The warrior was startled, and smiled wryly: "That's right, how can you live well? I heard that King Mu died a year ago, and Yang Dai took over. I just thought that he must suffer more."

Wei Changxuan asked after deliberation: "What is your relationship with him...?"

The other party was a little surprised: "Didn't he tell you?"

Wei Changxuan shook his head: "He seldom mentioned you, and he never talked about you."

The warrior was silent for a moment: "When I was young, I was fostered at his mother's house. When his mother got married, he took me to Jian'an. But a child of Yanyu cannot be brought into Prince Mu's mansion, so they pretended that I was born The Tuoba family even deliberately called me Tuoba." He looked at the flickering fire in the brazier, a little lost in thought, "I was born watching Yexi, watching him being ignored and ridiculed because of his blindness. , was bullied. None of his elder brothers is a good thing. That Yang Jue is a born bad seed, and Yang Dai..."

The samurai's eyes suddenly ignited with hatred: "It's even more of a wolf-hearted thing!"