Thousands of Miles

Zhao Ji stared at the folding fan lying quietly in the box, and lost his mind for a moment.

This is the first fan, the first gift I gave to Ximeng.

How much effort and emotion did you pour into it?This fan can also be used as a pawn?Is Xi Meng really so short of money?

Zhao Ji's heart felt as if a piece of flesh had been gouged out by a knife, and he was very uncomfortable. He silently took the fan out of the box, raised his head and asked, "Ximeng, are you short of money? Why do you want to be a fan?"

"I..." I was not good at words, Ximeng lowered her head guiltily, clasped her fingers tightly and wrinkled the corners of her clothes, but didn't know how to answer.

"I understand." Seeing that Ximeng was embarrassed and speechless, Zhao Ji nodded, put away his fan and said, "Give him a thousand pieces of gold and let him leave the palace."

Ximeng was taken aback. Ever since he had seen such a big man in the official family, his young heart was frightened. In addition, he had heard people say that the king kept his word, so he had no room to bargain with him, so he had to kneel down thank you.

Zhao Ji felt even more resentful, Xi Meng really didn't remember Master.Not only did he become the fan of the master, but when he was asked to go out of the palace, he didn't know that he was reluctant to let the master ask him to stay with the master, and he didn't even know that he wanted to return the fan of the master.

Sure enough, no conscience.

Really, it hurt him for nothing.

Ximeng went back to the painting academy to pack up his things, and said goodbye to Wang Zongyuan, but Wang Zongyuan held him tightly and refused to let him go.

"Ximeng, you can't go, and I can't stay any longer if you go. Huh..." Wang Zongyuan hugged Ximeng and cried, "You can't go! I'll talk to the officials again! If you want to go, I will Walk with you! Let's wander the world together!"

"Zong Yuan, Zong Yuan." Xi Mengdao hugged him and comforted him, "It's not like we won't be able to meet each other in the future, you can come and play with me when you're on vacation."

"Woooooo... Ximeng..." Zong Yuan wiped away his tears and said to Ximeng, "I have only regarded you as a good friend this past year. If you leave me now, the painting academy will It doesn't matter if I'm left alone, so let's go clean together."

"Zong Yuan, don't be like this." Xi Meng said, "There will always be differences in life, and we will never be together in the future. This is something that we have to go through sooner or later. If you leave here, there is nowhere else to go. Just stay here."

"Xi Meng, woo woo woo..."

In front of Ninghe Hall, a tree of plum blossoms is in full bloom, as if the clouds in the sky fall to the world and turn into a sea of ​​flowers.

In the past, I couldn't help but stop to look at the flowers, but today Ximeng didn't care to look at them. He walked up the overlapping jade steps with his luggage on his back, and asked Eunuch Li who was on duty at the gate of the hall: "Is Master Zheng in?"

"Master Zheng?" Eunuch Li shook his head, "What Master Zheng? He's not in there."

Ximeng was silent, just glanced in reluctantly, knelt in front of the hall door and knocked three times, turned and left with his luggage on his back.

It seems that before leaving, there is no chance to see the face of the master again.

In the Ninghe Hall, Zhao Ji was restless, and after a while he would ask the eunuch at the door if anyone came to see him.

"Your Majesty regretted it now?" Xueshi Wang said with a smile, "Since you can't bear it, why bother?"

"I was confused just now, aren't I waiting for him here now?" Zhao Ji sighed, and said with a wry smile, "It's been a day since I can't leave that kid. Before he leaves, he must come to say goodbye to the master. Just keep him... Also, don't mention that matter just now."

Wang Xueshi shook his head with a smile: "The officials are also fascinated."

"What do you understand?" Zhao Ji said, "This is the relationship between me and him as a teacher and student, you will not understand."

"Yes yes yes. It's the relationship between master and apprentice." Wang Xueshi echoed with duplicity.

"You dare to talk nonsense!" Zhao Ji pointed to Xueshi Wang, smiled and lowered his head to unfold the fan on the desk, staring at the twelve cranes on the fan with fixed eyebrows, and picked up the brush to fill in another one on the cloud in the painting The white crane looking back.

"Now, there are thirteen cranes in total." Zhao Ji said to himself, "Xi Meng is 13 years old."

"It's not too young." Xueshi Wang said with a smile, "Some beautiful girls enter the palace at the age of 13, so your majesty can still benefit from it?"

"Wang Ze, stop talking nonsense!" Zhao Ji was blushed by Wang Xueshi's words, and scolded, "Go out and see if anyone is coming."

"Yes." Wang Xueshi got up and went to look outside the palace gate, and replied, "No one has come yet."

"No one has come yet?" Zhao Ji got impatient and pulled up Xueshi Wang and said, "Let's go and see, this kid is really good at putting on airs, even the master doesn't know how to respect him."

When Zhao Ji took Wang Xueshi to the painting academy to see, Ximeng had already left for nearly two hours. He cleaned up the paintings on the table and took them away, but Zhao Ji did not take away any of the gold, silver, pearls and jade that Zhao Ji gave him. Yes, including the gold thousand taels rewarded by the "officials".

Zhao Ji was so angry that he had nowhere to vent his anger, he was reluctant and awkward to speak, staring at the gold placed on the table without moving, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Why don't you get him back?" Wang Xueshi, who had been by the king's side for a long time, saw through Zhao Ji's thoughts at a glance, and said softly, "I can settle this matter properly."

"What are you doing here?" Zhao Ji turned around in displeasure, and walked straight to the door, murmuring to himself with a vague resentment, "Just leave! Hmph!"

Wang Xueshi didn't follow, but just stood there and shook his head helplessly.One is silent and the other is small-bellied, these two people are really a pair of enemies.

When Xi Meng returned to his "home" near the Chenzhou Gate with his luggage on his back, a thick layer of dust had already accumulated on the small wooden door. Then he took a look at the old woman's house next door, and there was a green couplet pasted on the door. , the door also disappeared Xiao Huang, who would shake his head and wag his tail to greet him as soon as he came home.

One year, whether it is long or not, is not short.

Who knows how many years you can have in your life?

Ximeng didn't push open the door of his own house, but walked to the door of the old woman's house next door, looked up at the green couplet, and the scene of going to the old woman's house for dinner with a taro in his arms a year ago appeared in front of his eyes.

It was in this very house that I sat in the dark of the evening.Under the small table, Xiao Huang hugged his legs and wagged his tail vigorously. The old woman sat across the table with a smile and served herself a meal, talking so many thoughts about her future.

It turned out that it was not lonely at that time, but now, I am really the only one left.

Don't say what you want to do in the future, who can imagine whether you have a future.

Yes, who knows if there is a future?I will never see the old lady again in the future, but can I still see the master?

I don't know whether it's feeling the scene in front of me or thinking of my master who loves me so much, Ximeng raised his hand to wipe the moist saltiness in his eyes, and turned back to push open the door of his house.

"Ahem..." The house that has not been lived in for a long time is full of dust. Ximeng coughed a few times due to the dust everywhere. He looked up and saw that every corner of the house was covered with spider webs. It seemed that he needed to be cleaned up Clean up before you can live.

After cleaning from noon to night, Ximeng finally cleaned up the room. Ximeng was quite satisfied with the fruits of his labor in the afternoon, and after working for a long time, he was finally able to lie on the bed and have a good sleep.

Just rummaging around in the house, Ximeng couldn't find a quilt to cover at night.The old quilts had been bitten by the mice, and I didn't bring out the quilts from the painting academy, so I had to take off my quilted jacket and use it as my quilt for tonight.

The moonlight passed through the cracks in the tiles and squeezed into Ximeng's already cramped small room. Ximeng opened his closed eyes again, looked at the cold moonlight shining on the bed through the cracks in the tiles, and decided to go to bed tomorrow. To send this uninvited guest out.

Tomorrow, I should go out and find some thatch to mend the roof.Ximeng thought this before going to bed, and soon fell asleep holding his cotton padded coat.

Ximeng dreamed of his master again, in the Ninghe Temple, when he caught a cold, when his master was sleeping with his arms around him.

The master arranged the room very warm every day, so warm that people felt drowsy; the master fed me medicine every day, and always blew it away to prevent the medicine soup from being too hot; the master hugged me to sleep every day, and told me stories before going to bed.

In these years, Ximeng longed for but never had the meticulous care of his parents, and the master gave Ximeng as much and even twice as much.

Like the spring breeze blowing, like the sun falling.

So warm, so satisfying, like dreaming...

It was just a dream...

"Woo—————"

The wind outside the window is tight, like a ghost whimpering.Xi Meng was shivered by a gust of cold wind blowing through the gap in the wall, and barely woke up.

There is no longer the warmth in the dream, only the cold wind and the thin cotton clothes.

No matter how cold it is, I have to sleep well, and I have to work tomorrow.Ximeng silently told himself to take a good rest and start a new day of life with energy tomorrow.