dragon pen

"Fei? Is it Mr. Fei? White head, snake-like tail, only one eye, looks like a cow...' There are many gold and jade frames on Mount Tai. There are beasts, whose shape is like a cow with a white head. Snake tail, its name is Fei'—that's what it says in the "Shan Hai Jing"."

A bright full moon hangs in the sky, and the cold moonlight shines into the quiet courtyard.

Under the moonlight, there was a black-haired teenager lying on the edge of the window sill of the simple and chic hut. At this moment, his brows and eyes were relaxed, and his chin was resting on one hand, trying to talk to someone—there was only one boy in the room. It's just that at this moment, on the window sill in front of him, there is a small wooden box. What is surprising is that there is a one-eyed white beast kneeling in that small wooden box!

The little beast in the box is about the size of an adult's palm. Looking closely at its body, it is not difficult to find that its fur is covered with scars and the color of blood coagulation... At this time, it seems to be completely unaffected by the youth's thoughts. Intrusion, unscrewed his head to the side against the bottom of the wooden box, the only golden eye closed, as if drowsy.

However, its indifferent attitude does not prevent the boy from persevering in continuing to talk——

Zhang Ziyao tilted his head, and followed suit on the window sill: "Master Fei, you must be angry because you ignore people, right? The previous earthquake was also... yes, yes, it is really wrong to lock you up and use it. But mortals are like this, because they are too weak, so they naturally want to chase after stronger powers to arm themselves... Hey, can you see that for the sake of us being so weak, adults have a lot of power? Don't be so angry? Anyway, you are free now, you can come out of the box, and then-errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) of the place, do what you want, no one can restrict your freedom in the future Now, please treat everything that happened before as a nightmare..."

"—Tsk."

The impatient twitching sound from behind made the chattering boy pause for a while.

After a short pause, he looked as if he didn’t hear anything, he just raised his head to look at the sky, and at the same time found that the candles in other courtyards in the distance were also extinguished——Juvenile Consciousness Now it's really time to go to bed... Eyeballs rolled around in the eye sockets, he pouted his buttocks slightly, and the tip of his nose almost touched the edge of the box: "It's really time to go to bed, Fei My lord, you can sleep peacefully? You will be in a better mood when you wake up. Let me tell you a bedtime story? My mother always told me when I was a child... I just said it if you have no objection. It has been a long, long time Once upon a time, there was a princess who embarked on a journey in order to find the elixir that could bring her dead father back to life, but she got lost with her maidservant and father-in-law during the journey. A forest of thorns, and behind that forest of thorns, I saw a majestic city with roses blooming on the walls..."

"—The thorns scratched the whole body of the princess, and the princess died of excessive blood loss. The story is over."

Behind him, the man's low and mocking voice sounded again.

Zhang Ziyao turned a deaf ear and continued without changing his expression: "The princess knocked on the city gate, wanting to ask for help. After a while, the city gate was opened from the inside, and she saw a bustling city with many, many people. , men, women and children, all of them looked very happy and healthy! The person who came to open the door told the princess, welcome to Wushang City, everyone here has escaped the suffering of reincarnation, no longer need to experience birth, old age, sickness and death... ..."

"—Hmph, ridiculous."

The sound of dismantling the stage... came countless times very appropriately.

Zhang Ziyao stretched his neck and looked at the little beast in the box. Sure enough, the pair of golden eyes opened and closed as if their eyelids were starting to fight, and after a while they closed completely and fell asleep. Picking up the box, turning around—

At the same time, the dragon's tail, which covered his head from head to tail like a plantain fan, slowly withdrew from his head.

Looking at the picture scroll on the wall not far away, the man sitting on the treetop lazily moved his feet that were numb from holding a posture for too long, and stretched out his hand to flick the non-existent ashes on the emerald boots. Put the wooden box back on the table, and said softly: "One night, you just jump up and down behind to add drama to yourself."

"That's because I was forced to listen to you talking nonsense in front of that broken wooden box in front of the window sill all night." Zhu Jiuyin snorted, "If you don't come out, just stay inside, why are you coaxing it? Look, this little bastard is capable of listening to stories to sleep——how long has this gentleman been taken off the shelf by you, why have you never seen you tell me a story?"

"How old are you?"

"A thousand years old is not allowed to suffer from insomnia?"

"Have you ever suffered from insomnia?"

"No." Zhu Jiuyin said calmly, "But this does not prevent me from listening to bedtime stories."

"Next time, I'll tell you," Zhang Ziyao said, "How about the grievances and hatreds that the ancient dragon, the twelve ancestors of the twelve witches, Lord Zhu Jiuyin, and the queen of the twelve ancestors, Tu Niangniang, have to talk about in those years?"

Hearing the words, the man who was lowering his head to straighten his robe raised his head in shock as if he heard something hot, stared at Zhang Ziyao and said in a strange way: "I should let those logs fall and insert them into your head, by the way. Fill in too many brain holes inside."

"It's a pity that those logs didn't fall down." Zhang Ziyao pointed to the top of his head, and said as if he remembered something, "Jiujiu, now I wonder if Lianxiang's death is not as big as that of the beast. Relationship? Look at the little beast squatting in the small wooden box, looking harmless to humans and animals, I talked to it all night tonight—"

"It's what you said all night," Zhu Jiuyin sneered, "Nobody paid any attention to you."

"..." Zhang Ziyao scratched his head, "I've watched what I should see tonight, and said what I should say, and I'm still standing here."

"Yeah, think about how stupid you were when you touched this box a few hours ago and you would foam at the mouth and die on the spot. Did you suddenly feel that you who was crying and howling with that fat cat seemed so stupid? What? You even recognized on the spot that such a thing that can’t be slapped is called Dad. I’m not taller and mightier than him? In the end, whether it’s when you rescued you from under the collapsed beams with a show of power, or when you hold your tail tonight When I didn't move all night and blocked your head, I never heard you cry bitterly at any time: Zhu Jiuyin's father.

"...Jiujiu, why do you have to compare everything with others?"

"Because I am narrow-minded." Zhu Jiu said calmly, "Isn't it mentioned in the folk notebook?"

"mentioned."

"Very good, let me inform you now, it didn't lie."

"..."

One person, one drawing, you, one, and I were bickering, but they both lowered their voices as if they had made an agreement, as if they were afraid of disturbing something——on the table between them, in a small wooden box The little beast was probably fast asleep, and the body that had been tense before finally relaxed. Little by little, its little head made vague "snoring" and "snoring" sounds from its throat, and Zhang Ziyao stretched his neck to look at it again. After looking at it for a while, it said from the bottom of its heart: "The cockroach is a little different from what I imagined, it looks so cute."

The man in the painting sneered and flicked his sleeves lightly. A cold autumn wind blew in the courtyard outside the house. Several fireflies floated into the room with a rose in full bloom. Under Zhang Ziyao's gaze, the fireflies scattered and threw the rose into the room. In the small wooden box—under Zhang Ziyao's gaze, I saw the rose gently falling, and the moment it touched the sleeping beast in the wooden box, it quickly withered and turned yellow and finally turned to scorched black!

Zhu Jiuyin: "Putting your finger down is also a fate, do you want to try?"

Zhang Ziyao: "..."

Zhu Jiuyin: "Still cute?"

Zhang Ziyao: "..."

Zhu Jiuyin said expressionlessly, "Go to sleep."

Zhang Ziyao yawned, and glanced at the Feishou in the wooden box worriedly. Then he climbed onto the bed step by step, and lay down on the bed. What should I do if I ran away quietly?"

Zhu Jiuyin remained expressionless and said, "Tell Tai Lianqing to set off a set of firecrackers tomorrow morning, and a set of firecrackers as big as a washbasin is needed to express the joy in my heart."

Zhang Ziyao thought for a while: "Then what if it's still there?"

"Make it a nutritious breakfast that can grow taller? How does this gentleman know? Zhang Ziyao, do you sleep or not?"

Zhu Jiuyin finally became impatient.

The man wrinkled his nose and slightly narrowed his red pupils, which was a bit intimidating, so Zhang Ziyao stuck out his tongue, said "good night" and shrank his head back... After a while, there was a sound from the bed. The young man had a slight sound sleep: Although he slept enough this afternoon, he was really tired at the moment because he danced and sang a one-man show around the broken wooden box all night, and fell asleep easily.

Sitting on the branch, the tall man yawned lazily. Looking at Fei and Zhang Ziyao who were sleeping peacefully on the table and bed, he always felt like he had two more dragon princes out of thin air. Endless heart——

"...At the end of the day," Zhu Jiuyin lowered his eyes and looked at the calf in the wooden box and said, "It took a lot of trouble to rescue you, so how can you be so cheeky and not leave?"

As soon as the words fell, the sleeping beast sneezed a little, "Ah sneeze", at the same time, the sound of the young man sleeping soundly on the bed sounded like he was about to be awakened, the man on the treetop immediately straightened his waist and took a look. Looking here and there, he finally closed his mouth with a frightened look on his face.

The house returned to tranquility.

The night is dark.

Only the wind speaks softly.

……

The next morning, Zhu Jiuyin was awakened by the smell of salted egg yolk and the sound of porcelain colliding.

Opening his eyes in a daze, he touched the hungry dragon's belly, which was already on his chest and back. The man stretched out his hand and pushed aside the lush pine branches that had been pulled to cover his face last night. On the table in the lower room, a big fat cat was facing away from him, licking the fresh milk in the saucer in front of him with its back arched and its tail curled up. The little milk tiger added milk to the fat cat's licked saucer, put down the milk jug after adding milk, picked up a carrot cut into strips, and threw it into the wooden box on the right.

In the end, the boy who had finally "finished his work" grabbed a steamed bun, brought it to his mouth, and took a bite.

——What a harmonious picture of a happy and harmonious breakfast.

The corners of Zhu Jiuyin's eyes twitched. He had a pet, and then this pet arbitrarily recruited two other pets to be his own pets. Among the pets, not counting the dog leg, who has no dignity and milk, it is a mother, and the other one doesn't really buy it.

Zhu Jiuyin watched with glee as the carrot sticks were pushed out of the wooden box intact.

——As the saying goes, one learns one's wisdom by eating a ditch. After being imprisoned for so long and suffering so much torture, the beast finally grew its brain.

Don't eat the food that comes from you?

He has backbone, and he deserves it if he starves to death.

"I don't call you Benjun for breakfast, a group of selfish people—come to give me a red bean paste bun, um, bah, where is this stuffing? I didn't get a bite, and I passed after another bite." Sitting The man on the treetop held a steamed bun in his mouth and muttered vaguely, at the same time he didn't forget to stretch out his tail and stomp on the boy's back, "Little idiot, don't bother eating, at least think about it. How do you deal with this scorpion—it was brought back by you.”

Zhang Ziyao hadn't delivered a spoonful of porridge to his mouth yet.Zhu Jiuyin shook and sprinkled most of it, but put down the spoon helplessly and said, "It doesn't want to come out of the wooden box, what can I do?"

While speaking as if to prove his point, he grabbed the wooden box and turned it upside down and shook it——

The little beast inside made a sound of vigilance, and Zhu Jiuyin quickly covered Zhang Ziyao's head with his big tail, as if a wooden stake would fall from the sky in the next second. Zhang Ziyao raised his hand and gently pushed the tail on his head away. Turning the wooden box over again, I saw that the little beast in the box was supporting the wooden box with its limbs, shaking and shaking.

"Look." Zhang Ziyao said, "I don't know what's going on."

"Oh, really?" Zhujiu Yin said, "Or does it smell the smell of its predecessor in this flat peach wood box, and feel more secure and reluctant to come out? Ha, that would be interesting—"

Zhang Ziyao glanced at Zhu Jiuyin, and really didn't find it interesting—such a god of disaster is like a hot potato by his side. Not only does he have to worry about logs falling from the sky and sticking his head in his head at any time, but he also has to worry about disasters and chaos in the world. There will be no adverse effects on this essential problem, it is simply exhausting, but this beast is silent, and behaves extremely resistant to humans, Zhang Ziyao has nothing to do with it, so he can only keep it by his side for the time being.

"At least eat something." Zhang Ziyao put a new carrot stick into the wooden box, "How can you not eat anything?"

The commotion in the box was quiet for a moment.

Zhang Ziyao stretched his neck expectantly, and after a while, the carrot stick was pushed out again.

Zhang Ziyao: ""

Zhu Jiuyin: "I just watch your hot face sticking to your cold butt."

After breakfast, Zhang Ziyao took Zhu Jiuyin out to bask in the sun.

The Mountain Resort said it was not big, but it was full of palace people at the moment, Zhang Ziyao didn't dare to wander around for fear of bumping into someone who couldn't afford to offend, so he walked around a few roads near his other courtyard. The waist was swaying, and there was a dissatisfied voice in the picture scroll: "Basking in the sun is very private, and it is an important moment for me to relax in a day."

Zhang Ziyao: "Oh."

Zhu Jiuyin: "Oh what? What do you mean by dragging your family?"

Hearing this, Zhang Ziyao lowered his head and looked at the big fat cat bouncing around his feet. Hearing what Zhu Jiuyin said, the big fat cat cocked its tail. Are you too free? No one in the capital is praying to you?"

"Recently, everyone doesn't have time to make small romances like prayers, after all, they are very busy, meow," said the big fat cat, "so the little god is not busy."

There is a wooden box firmly on the head of the big fat cat. In the wooden box, the little beast yawned comfortably in the warm sunlight—it seemed to feel that someone was watching it—it blinked its golden He closed his eyes, closed his mouth, and returned to the previous stubborn look of refusing to cooperate, "Master Fei, haven't you been in the sun for a long time?" Zhang Ziyao squinted his eyes with a smile, and naturally he didn't get a response, but he seemed to be used to it and was lazy Lazily said, "Jiujiu, don't lose your temper, who doesn't know anyone in this womb, it's not good to put it in the room for others to see No see, how nice."

This time, he was responding to Zhu Jiuyin's dissatisfaction, but this response caused a certain dragon to make an unhappily twitching sound. After thinking for a while, he said, "No, it's really not an option to make it thick-skinned."

"Then you should think of a way."

"Ask someone."

"Who should I ask?"

"" Zhu Jiuyin closed her mouth again.

"Who?" Zhang Ziyao asked, "I said earlier that someone would be able to inquire about you. Why didn't I tell you sooner? I didn't sleep well last night because I was so worried, did you do it on purpose?"

"What did you do on purpose? It's because of your poor brain, Fei. Of course, you have to ask Fei to get the answer."

"It doesn't talk!"

"Ask you to ask it?"

"What do you mean by asking Fei and not asking about it? I've made you confused."

"Fei Ke is not the only one in the world who is locked in a wooden box and behaves abnormally and plays with his temper." Zhu Jiuyin's voice lowered, showing that he is not only in a bad mood but also quite reluctant, "This little beast is not If you are willing to explain the reason why you don’t want to leave the wooden box, then go ask that old beast who was released from the flat peach tree—”

Zhang Ziyao paused.

He lowered his head to look at the picture scroll hanging on his waist.

There was silence in the picture scroll, and then, Zhu Jiuyin's calm voice sounded: "What are you looking at?"

"Fei, who you locked in the flat peach tree for hundreds of years, is still alive." Zhang Ziyao used a declarative sentence.

"This bastard is immortal for thousands of years, of course he is still alive. I will offer him delicious food and drink, which may prolong his life!" Zhu Jiuyin said in a bad mood, "Why are you cursing him to death?"

"But Tai Lianqing said that Feishou changes every 500 years—"

"The change of office doesn't mean that the predecessor is dead. Don't people retire after working for a long time?" Zhu Jiuyin said in surprise, "You don't know? To be precise, the beasts should be called the Fian Clan, and there are not many people in this group. There are only a dozen or so people who inhabit the Taishan Mountain in the eastern part of the ancient map all the year round, and for 500 years, one person is in charge of the world's disasters."

"I'm just a mortal."

"That's right, you didn't even know what a flying beast was before this—this is a good reason for you to be confident and ignorant." Zhu Jiuyin snorted.

Zhang Ziyao was about to refute. At this moment, he noticed that in the box on the head held by the big fat cat, the little beast that was lying on its stomach suddenly raised its head and looked at the sky with a sense of feeling——

Zhang Ziyao followed suit.

Then the next second, the originally clear sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds. Zhang Ziyao was stunned for a moment, but before he could react, a pea-sized raindrop landed on the tip of his nose.

The downpour came slowly.

Zhang Ziyao said "Hey", stretched his neck and looked around, and almost saw a cool pavilion nearby for shelter from the rain, so he didn't even want to run there—the rain was really kicked by the Jade Emperor. As if turning over a footbath, Zhang Ziyao was so wet that he couldn't see the road ahead. He bumped his head into the pavilion like a soaked chicken. When he raised his head, he realized that someone was already in the pavilion.

"Zi Yao?" Lou Hen seemed a little surprised.

Zhang Ziyao could almost guess the appearance of a certain dragon in the picture scroll, whose eyes were about to roll to the sky.

"My lord, why are you here?" Zhang Ziyao blinked, pretending to be very happy.

"I just came back from my father's place." Lou Hen still had a gentle smile on his face, and the corners of his lips curled up into a smile, "It's really a destiny, this king was about to find you, but it rained heavily on the way , I thought it would be delayed for a while, but I didn't expect you to send yourself to this king when you were thinking about it."

Zhang Ziyao seems to have been used to the strange words used in Louhen, and now he doesn't refute the statement of "send it to the king", but just raised his finger and pointed to the tip of his nose: "The prince is looking for me?"

"Well, I'm looking for you." Lou Hen said, "This king has something to ask, and I don't know if Ziyao agrees or not."

"The prince will speak first."

"The earthquake disaster in the capital caused countless losses of silver. However, this matter is not big or small. Somehow, the bad news has spread thousands of miles. These days, the soldiers on the border of the Taihang Mountains are worried about their families. The morale of the army is inconsistent, and there have been several accidents, large and small... The small country in the border area is also ready to move, wanting to invade our border, the father ordered the king to order the family letters of the soldiers, and escort them to the border area together with the soldiers and weapons. , stabilize the morale of the army, and defend against the enemy together."

"..."

Zhang Ziyao listened seriously, thinking what next?so what?What are you looking for?

"I thought to myself, some soldiers' parents are old and illiterate, and it is of little use to find someone to write a family letter for them. Why not ask a painter to make a post-disaster map, carefully restore the original appearance of the capital, and include the parents of those soldiers? "More Vivid and Intuitive" also saves them from thinking about it day and night, after all, it is not a serious matter, but it makes them think horribly."

"Oh."

Zhang Ziyao thought for a while, and then realized that he was the ready-made and easy-to-use painter, and he didn't need it for nothing—well, the reward for doing things for the Tian family is self-evident, and this is not a difficult task at all, but Think about it carefully, he drew those stick figures, can those soldiers recognize which one is their parents from inside?

Zhang Ziyao rubbed his chin in embarrassment, and was trying to find a way to say no. Suddenly, a key word flashed in his mind, and he suddenly raised his head and asked Louhen: "Where is the place you said we were going to?"

"Taihang Mountains."

Zhang Ziyao lowered his head and glanced at the big fat cat who couldn't see the building marks at his feet. The big fat cat with the wooden box on it also raised his head to look at him. At the same time, the little beast in the wooden box also opened its eyes—since For the first time last night—looked straight at Zhang Ziyao.

The royal chariots and horses must be faster than hiring a horse-drawn carriage all the way, not to mention eating and drinking well with Louhen, it seems that there is nothing wrong with it... Zhang Ziyao hesitated, and threw an ambiguous sentence "Let Ziyao Go back and think about it." Lou Hen was naturally delighted when he saw him let go, and agreed to give him three days to think about it without much persuasion.

At this time the heavy rain has not stopped.

This rain is somewhat familiar.

Thinking about the earthquake in the past few days, Zhang Ziyao looked again at the beast in the small wooden box who was staring at the rain curtain outside with his head twisted, thought for a while and said: "My lord, the rain is pouring cats and dogs, and it doesn't mean to stop at all. The city of Rijing is flooded..."

Lou Hen: "?"

"Ziyao suggested that it is better to prevent and drain floods as soon as possible to avoid further troubles." After Zhang Ziyao said, he always felt that he frowned inappropriately as if he had leaked some secret, bit his lower lip and turned his head to look at the building mark Waving his hand, "I will think about what the prince said, and I will reply in the future."

After finishing speaking, he simply jumped back into the rain and disappeared from Louhen's sight after a while.

Lou Hen was the only one standing in the gazebo, looking at the gradually blurred back, his gaze settled, not knowing what he was thinking.

……

In the evening, the heavy rain outside was still pouring down, and after a while, water accumulated up to ankle height in the yard.

When the sun went down, the stagnant water almost overflowed the first steps, and the result of rushing back in the rain was that Zhang Ziyao contracted a cold and had been sneezing continuously since dinner... At this moment, he was sitting at the table, sitting at the candle Under the eyes of Jiu Yin's extremely disgusting eyes, he pinched a small half of the mung bean cake and stuffed it into the small wooden box at hand. While sucking his nose, he said in a nasal voice: "Eat as much as you want, take a look, if you are full, eat and drink." Only when you have the strength to go home—Master Fei, where is the Taihang Mountains, is it your home? Do you want to go home? Have a good meal, and I will consider taking you home."

"You'll find trouble for yourself."

"I'm going to Mount Tai anyway," Zhang Ziyao replied to the man in the scroll behind him without raising his head, "Who are you going with?"

Mung bean cake falls in a wooden box.

The little beast in the box unscrewed its head.

Only this time, it didn't throw out the food it threw in again.

"Look, it didn't come out!" Zhang Ziyao exclaimed in surprise, feeling that this was an improvement.

The man in the picture scroll behind him threw a mouthful of mung bean cake into his mouth, chewed dryly, and rolled his eyes.

Zhang Ziyao finished his meal contentedly, and then drank the decocted medicine. He felt hot and sleepy all over, so he simply washed up early and went to bed full of thoughts——

The candles were blown out inside the house, only the light from the stagnant water outside reflected in the house, the whole house was dark, only the sound of wind and rain.

instantly.

The boy on the bed fell into a drowsy sleep, sounding slightly sound.

From the small table where the wooden box was placed, there was a small commotion...

The man in the painting, who had closed his eyes and rested his mind, opened one eye vigilantly, and looked in the direction of the table calmly, so he saw——

A layer of faint white light suddenly appeared in the small box. After the crackling sound of "Kala Kala", a small white hand suddenly grabbed the edge of the wooden box. Wearing a blindfold, a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy with golden eyes poked out half of his head from the edge of the wooden box. The little boy had a straight nose and pink lips, and his appearance was surprisingly delicate and beautiful.

The child was still lying on the edge of the wooden box, looking in the direction of the sleeping Zhang Ziyao for a while, and after a short pause, he raised his hand and waved in the direction of the boy——

Zhu Jiuyin frowned slightly, just about to move——

However, at this moment, all he could see was the thin quilt kicked away by Zhang Ziyao flew into the air, and then landed on him gently.

Zhu Jiuyin froze for a moment, then turned her head to look at the wooden box, only to see that the little head that was lying on the wooden box had shrunk back, and the child in the white robe was sitting on the edge of the wooden box, hugging the wooden box. He opened his mouth wide and took a bite of the mung bean cake that Zhang Ziyao threw in during dinner, which was almost as long as him.

It looks very cute.

So cute that Zhu Jiuyin had the urge to push him back to the Taihang Mountains tonight, and it was hard to calm down for a long time.