After being mistaken for a fellow by Long Aotian

The man in gray followed Old Man Shen, walking in the corridor.He's a little short, and takes longer steps when he walks.So when approaching the alleyway, there was wind and snow blowing up the corner of the robe, revealing the skirt embroidered with patterns inside.

The man in gray walked very, very quickly.He took some detours and arrived at the most deserted small courtyard in the Duke's Mansion that he thought was his target.In the depths of the small courtyard, there is a fire that flickers on and off. The fire comes from a brazier, and someone is burning paper.

"You're here," the man in gray heard someone say in a low voice.

It was a woman's voice—a woman's voice in old age.There was a tongue of flames trying to evoke the skirt of the woman, so large areas of embroidery were displayed from the skirt.

The skirt fluttered in the wind, as if petals were rolling.

"I thought you wouldn't come." It was another voice, an old, man's voice.

The woman gave a low laugh, and after a long time, she held her head up and said, "Do you think I won't come? This is the No. 40 year—the No. 40 year when he died, on the third day of the Lunar New Year. He is a traitor , was also what I thought... my future husband."

The old man said nothing.The woman then sighed and said: "It's been 40 years ago. We used to meet here when he was still alive... so fast, time has passed. Even my own child is now 26 years old. gone."

The old man lowered his head and sighed, "Yes, time is so fast, Fukang."

Only then did the woman's face emerge from the half-darkness of the flames.She looked at the man in front of her and suddenly smiled: "According to this, this is the first time we have met in ten years. After that incident, you never dared to see me again. But why are you so guilty? Brother Liu , You didn’t do anything wrong. The one who did the wrong thing was Li Zhiwei, your senior brother. He wants to treason and you want to kill him. It’s between you and him—the court. He fled to the Northern Wei Dynasty with information. You intercepted and killed him on the way—although the information was leaked, fortunately, the Northern Wei Dynasty was victorious. The Northern Wei Dynasty suffered a great loss, and since then there have been occasional counterattacks, but they have never succeeded again. Xiao Liu, you did the right thing , The wrong person is him, your senior brother."

"...But I still often dream. I often dream that when we were young, you were a little girl who was not yet ready, and you were here, smiling at butterflies, and hitting dates with a pole." The old man said, " I am still young, and my brother is still alive, we are standing here...together..."

He paused, and then said: "Sometimes I think, it would be great if I didn't take over the position of Black Clothes Envoy. Originally, this position should have been born between the two of us..."

The woman also smiled: "That's right, the three of us were young and wandered around the capital all day long. I still remember that my father asked you all to learn from a master. You are a pair of brothers. He learns fast and always laughs at you. You learn slowly and always gets angry with him... You say you miss those days, who doesn't? But—"

"Little Sixth Brother, don't pretend, the emperor asked you to go back and take over the command of the Black Clothes Envoy, right?" The woman said suddenly, "The matter over Xizhou has been found out, it was bought by the people of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The big witch, poisoning the water, is meddling... so you're planning to go back, right?"

"Fukang. You..."

"I'm not going to say anything, but I hate this position, I hate your job. You said you were going to retire completely...but who can retire completely? Li Zhiwei can't come back. Butterfly's little girl can't come back either..."

"I thought about raising someone." The old man said, "He is very similar to Senior Brother...in fact, Gao Zong didn't believe Senior Brother, so Senior Brother left in a fit of anger. But he won't. The position should have been given to the senior brother. If it wasn't for the senior brother..."

The woman shook her head lightly and said: "In fact, I have never understood that when Zhiwei did such a thing back then, why did the father not punish the Duke's Mansion in the end? Even, there was no news of his defection. Falling on the bright side... just because the matter of the black clothes envoy is destined to live in the dark? In fact, I really hate my father, he knows me...but still let him..."

After finishing speaking, she smiled to herself: "Forget it, it was a long time ago."

The old man was silent.Fukang's smile, her mournful expression, and the memories of the three of them seemed to have let go of his defenses.

"No such thing will happen now." He whispered, "It will get better and better."

Fukang said: "After so many years, are the remnants of the Black Clothes Envoy still alive?"

"Now they...in the Northern Wei Dynasty...the emperor may be planning to do something..."

The two were still chatting, whispering.It was the matter of these two people—perhaps three—one of whom was dead, but was still a haunting phantom in the air above them.

Today is the third day of the Lunar New Year, but it is the No. 40 anniversary of the death of that person.That person's name remained in the mouths of the two of them, and it was a taboo that could not be mentioned.If it weren't for this, Fukang would suddenly change his mind and go to the Protector's Mansion, which he hadn't set foot in for ten years.Old man Shen also heard the news that Fukang was coming, so he suddenly changed his plan and came here.

In this uninhabited corner, at the right time and place, they finally let go of each other's defenses and started talking about those things.

The man in gray stood on tiptoe.He hid in a corner where no one would notice, his eyes secretly staring at the two people in front of him.He held his breath, squinted his eyes, and remembered every sentence... every sentence of the two of them in his heart.

until……

"what are you doing here."

Zhou Xun's voice fell into his ears like a piece of ice.

The man in gray was caught off guard, Zhou Xun's palm had already landed on his shoulder.Zhou Xun grabbed his shoulder and said coldly, "Who are you? What are you trying to eavesdrop on with Shen Shoufu?"

The man in gray didn't look back.Zhou Xun's voice became colder: "Answer me!"

As he spoke, he grabbed the opponent's shoulder and forced him to turn around.The touch of this shoulder surprised him—he didn’t think he was the type with enough strength, but the man in gray turned around so easily—even though he clearly felt that the other party was resisting with all his might—

It is really remote here, and no one else passes by.Now it seems that the old man Shen and Princess Fukang who are talking inside are bound to be alarmed.Although it is really inappropriate to startle these two people.But Zhou Xun's intuition told him that the gray-clothed man must have no good intentions to sneak up on these two people, not to mention that the conversation between the old man Shen and Princess Fukang also involved the matter of the black-clothed envoy.

But he didn't expect that he hadn't made a sound to the two of them.He had already seen the face under the gray hood.

On the side of that face, there was a scar - but when he saw the facial features of that face, Zhou Xun felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

"you……"

Just for a moment, the man in gray shook off him and fled into the distance!

"you!"

Zhou Xun couldn't even make a sound, his mind went blank for a moment.The man in gray ran very fast, and seemed to be more familiar with the terrain here than he was. His figure shuttled through the low wall, and soon disappeared.Zhou Xun gritted his teeth after a moment of sluggishness, and quickly chased after him.

He ran, ran, and ran very fast, but he didn't say a word, and he didn't call anyone.He ran with flowers blowing willows, and with the wind, and when he ran to a place, he bumped into someone who came...

"What are you doing!" the man yelled.

The person who came was Li Miao, Xu Mingrui and another person standing beside him.But Zhou Xun didn't even look at them, he just kept running, kept running.

Another person hastily helped up Li Miao who was knocked sideways: "Damn, why are you crazy?!"

Li Miao gritted his teeth and touched his shoulder.His shoulder hurt from the impact, and he could only see Zhou Xun's back galloping past.He glanced at the back, and said to the people next to him: "Forget it, you go on your own."

"go alone?"

"I have something to do." He said hurriedly.

Li Miao didn't understand why—he saw Zhou Xun running, so he followed.He comforted himself because of Zhou Cai——to see what happened to this sinister Zhou Xun suddenly.

Zhou Xun ran very fast - it was a pity that he had been tossed for two years, and it was winter, so his health was not very good, otherwise he could run faster.Countless corridors stretched and unfolded before his eyes, and countless flowers, plants and trees appeared and changed on both sides of him.He followed the gray shadow and the gray hem of his clothes, running and running.Someone saw him startled, it seemed that someone who knew him was asking him what he was chasing - Zhou Xun didn't say a word.

He chased that figure, and left the Duke's Mansion through the most remote path.Then there are the streets outside the Duke's Mansion, many streets, and finally, a block.

A bustling neighborhood with many people walking.

Zhou Xun knelt down, wiped the sweat off his head, supported his knees, and panted continuously.He looked at the street in front of him and thought, he was lost.

His eyes are still fixed, looking at the street, looking at the pedestrians on the street... looking at every familiar and unfamiliar face on the street, looking at every shop door and every place-every one that where a man may hide—

He heard the beating sound of his heart as if it was exploding, and the more painful, almost exploding brain——

Although the face under the gray clothes is old, although it is a little strange, although it is quite different from the previous expression, but...

is a woman.

A... a woman he was most familiar with.

His... mother... the mother who should have died... Lin Yan! !

He has seen the tomb of his mother's clothes with his own eyes, heard the news of his mother's disappearance in the mountain torrents, and seen the Biezhuang that was half buried by mudslides.His mother was dead, there was no doubt about that.

But it never occurred to him...

...the one in gray, who was sneaking in the conversation between Princess Fukang and Old Man Shen at the Duke Protector's mansion...

Actually... unexpectedly... so like his mother?

Is this a coincidence?Zhou Xun's mind is in a mess, could it be a coincidence?Is there any coincidence in this world?

If it wasn't a coincidence... If "she" was only regarded as a stranger, who would secretly listen to the conversation between Princess Fukang and Old Man Shen?At the same time, after seeing him coming, he turned his head and ran away?

He stood under this cloudy sky for a long time, until snow fell on his shoulders——Luoluo's entire shoulder.In such a huge daze, he was suddenly patted on the shoulder.

"What are you doing here?! Just ran so fast, did you see the devil?"

Li Miao chased after him all the way.He really didn't understand why he saw Zhou Xun running, and he followed him out of the Duke Protector's Mansion—it was still on his grandfather's [-]th birthday.But now he finally caught up with Zhou Xun, but the other party stood in a daze at an intersection, as if lost in thought, very different from the disdainful and majestic attack on him just now.

Li Miao didn't like the way Zhou Xun stood here.He felt that he hated Zhou Xun, but he didn't like the way he stood here.

Sure enough, after Zhou Xun saw him, the indifference returned: "What's the matter with you?"

... Damn, this person doesn't even mention his honorific title!Li Miao was furious in his heart.

"What's none of my business? You are a guest of the Duke Protector's Mansion, and you suddenly ran out of the Duke Protector's Mansion like a madman and onto the street. Why is it none of my business?" Li Miao replied, "You just now What do you see, keep running?"

But Zhou Xun didn't answer his words.He just lowered his eyelashes, and after a while, he said lightly: "It's nothing."

Li Miao: "Nothing??"

Zhou Xun: "I'm just tired from sitting, and I really want to run."

"Depend on!!"

The perfunctory meaning in Zhou Xun's words made Li Miao's scalp almost burst from anger.He is a dignified son of the protector of the country, with good intentions... No, he didn't have good intentions either, but he ran out with Zhou Xun.As a...a disciple of Mr. Shen...well, a Zhou Xun, shouldn't he be given a reasonable explanation?A reasonable explanation full of scheming and excuses...

"Who are you lying to?" Seeing that Zhou Xun had already walked back, Li Miao sneered and followed, "'I'm just tired of sitting, and I really want to run.'? Such an excuse, do you think Would anyone believe it?"

Zhou Xun just kept walking.Li Miao followed behind, even more reluctantly said: "You..."

Zhou Xun stopped.

He stopped and pointed to the writing on the white wall on the right: "Look for yourself."

Li Miao: ...

He looked to the left of the fence, where a new slogan had been painted: "Knowledge is power, listen to Inches."

He looked to the right side of the fence, where another slogan was painted on the right side: "Night running can increase life span, and rowing can also be used."

Beyond that, is a garbage collection point.There is a row of slogans written on the storage point: "Garbage must be sorted."

Li Miao: ……………

Well, he remembered that these were publicity activities carried out by the emperor in this pilot civilized block. It is said that the lectures and daily sports here are held in full swing, which is quite reliable.

Li Miao held back and held back, but in the end he couldn't say a word.The two returned to the Duke's mansion one after the other. Seeing that Zhou Xun was about to go to the small gate again, Li Miao tugged at his sleeve.

Zhou Xun looked back at him.

"You want my son to accompany you through the small gate? Are you kidding me?" Li Miao said impatiently, "Go, go out through the main gate with my son."

In the courtyard of Duke Protector's Mansion, there were still a few people chatting.

"Of course the son hates Zhou Xun, you know, Zhou Cai is his good friend." Wei Yuanzhou sneered, "What Zhou Xun did..."

When he said this, his fingers trembled suddenly, thinking of those men in black from the emperor who came to his house a few days ago.He paused, and finally held his breath and said, "Forget it, anyway, Zhou Xun is not a good person."

"I seemed to see him outside just now, and he went out from the small door." Someone said, "Could it be that he knows he has been treated coldly and has no face to stay here?"

"Probably so." Wei Yuanzhou smiled, "So what if we deliberately snubbed him just now? He shouldn't be here in the first place."

The people who gathered here to chat were all friends of Wei Yuanzhou.This very limited group of people get together just to make small talk.

Seeing the silver bell-like laughter coming from a distance, several people looked over, they were all a bit distracted.One of them said: "The one who laughed just now is Miss Fang?"

"Listen, it's Miss Chu."

"Miss Chu is more than beautiful, but her family is in business after all..."

"Miss Chu's beauty is enough, and I don't know whose family Miss Chu will marry!"

Several people chatted quietly.In the garden not far away, a dozen girls dressed in pink and purple were visiting the garden.They are dressed luxuriously, and most of them are famous ladies in Beijing.

Men and women are not allowed to give or receive each other in private.Therefore, birthday banquets, flower viewing banquets and other opportunities became the time for these famous sons and daughters of famous families in Beijing to meet.Duke Huguo's Mansion let the young people play in the garden, and it was necessary to create opportunities for these young men and women to see each other's meaning from a distance.

Where there are many people, relationships are built quickly.Where relationships are built fast, rumors travel fast.So soon...

"Li Shizi and Mr. Zhou came back from the main gate together?"

"Li Shizi personally met Mr. Zhou and walked back from the main gate?"

"I heard that Mr. Zhou was neglected during the birthday banquet and left angrily. Mr. Li personally welcomed him back!"

"Li Shizi invited Zhou Gongzi to visit the garden..."

Soon, the news, which was more than ten times more embellished, reached the ears of everyone.And Wei Yuanzhou also saw...

Li Miao personally led Zhou Xun back to the garden.

Wei Yuanzhou: ...

But compared to their small group who hated Zhou Xun, there were more young people who knew nothing about the inside story and only knew that Zhou Xun was a celebrity in front of the emperor and Mr. Shen's beloved disciple.In order to be arty, some of them asked the boy to set up a shelf similar to the branches of a plum tree, took a lot of flower paper, wrote poems about plum and snow on the flower paper, and stuck it on the treetop as "ten thousand plum blossoms". ".Seeing Zhou Xun coming now, several people looked at this unfamiliar talent and booed him one after another, asking him to write poems.

"Our theme today is Yongmei. Can Zhou Caizi present a poem?"

Seeing this, Li Miao, who was still holding his breath, sneered at Zhou Xun: "Are you as good as your brother in writing poems? At that time, A Cai stood out among many talents in Jiangzhou with a poem. The lord's appreciation..."

He originally wanted to provoke Zhou Xun, but Zhou Xun ignored him.He just smiled faintly, socializing with everyone, and fit in very well - it seemed that what he saw at that intersection just now were all hallucinations.

He picked up a pen and wrote a poem, and it received applause from all the halls—even Li Miao, who was as prejudiced as Li Miao, had to admit after reading it that he was not as good as him.

It's just that when he looked at the handwriting and words of that poem... for some reason, he felt a sense of familiarity.He frowned and thought for a long time, but couldn't remember.

In the indoor room, the Huguo Gong, who had temporarily stopped socializing and rested for a while, heard the "plum making" activity outside, and said with a smile: "These children are really interesting."

After a while, he said: "Speaking of which, it's the third day of the first lunar month, but Rongfen is still there... Forget it, he likes poetry and prose. After a while, I will give him the 'tree' as a New Year's gift." Give it a gift."