Sha Po Lang

After a heavy rain in the capital, the hidden chill rose up, revealing the depression and coldness that was about to turn to frost.

Chang Geng followed a group of strangers to see off the old emperor in a ignorant way. On the day of the funeral, there were eight carriages pulling the coffin of Kowloon. One hundred thousand steam horns were erected on both sides of the road, playing mourning music spontaneously, spraying white smoke like a cover , Covering the entire imperial capital, heavy armor separates the barriers that idlers cannot enter, outside the armor formation, there are huge crowds of spectators, including Daliang people, Yi people, Baiyue people, barbarians... There are even countless people from Western countries.

Countless peeking and speculative gazes either explicitly or secretly fell on Chang Geng, the fourth son of the emperor Li Min whose background was a mystery, but unfortunately no one dared to talk to him under the watchful eyes of Marquis An Ding.Chang Geng was blatantly hidden by Marshal Gu. In the past few days, except for the crown prince and the king of Wei who walked around in front of him twice, he had never touched a single idler.

After all the dust settled, Chang Geng was brought to the Marquis of Anding's Mansion.

Looking from the outside, the Hou Mansion is really majestic. The gate is opened in the shape of a horoscope, two animal heads with blue-faced fangs are hung, white steam is sprayed from the mouth and nose, 36 gears are rotating at the same time, and the heavy door latch is raised "creakingly". Then a tall and burly iron puppet was revealed on one side of the inside.

There are two sets of black iron military generals' armor hanging on the screen wall, the gas lamp is dim, and the general guards are on the side, a cold and murderous aura blows towards the face.

Of course, when I walked in, I realized that the only magnificent thing in Andinghou's mansion was the gate.

Although the courtyard of the Hou's Mansion is deep, the vegetation is very scattered, and the majesty of the facade is scary. Inside, there are actually a few old servants who don't speak much. When they saw Gu Yun, they just stopped to salute and didn't talk much.

Most of the puppets and lighters in the folk are coal, and only a small part is made of purple gold, usually big dams, land reclamation puppets and other huge objects, which are directly owned by the local government. As for those expensive small parts, there are only certain High-ranking officials and dignitaries are eligible to use them.

Of course, the regulations belong to the regulations, and it is up to the people whether they obey them or not—for example, the grade of Yanhui Taishou Guo Daren is absolutely not enough, and there is more than one Ziliu gold utensil in his family. But the mansion was unexpectedly poor and simple, except for a few iron puppets, there were hardly a few utensils made of purple gold.

The most valuable thing in the entire Hou Mansion is probably a few plaques written by Mr. Mo Sen, a great scholar of a generation. I heard that Mr. Mo Sen was the first teacher of Marquis Anding, so these plaques must have come for nothing.

Ge Pangxiao and Mrs. Cao moved here with Chang Geng, three country kids who had never seen anything in the world poked their heads, Ge Pangxiao said without hesitation: "Uncle Sixteen..."

Mrs. Cao scolded in a low voice: "That's Lord Hou!"

"Hey, Lord Hou," Ge Pangxiao approached him with a smile on his face and asked, "Your house doesn't seem to be as refined as Mr. Guo's."

Gu Yun smiled nonchalantly: "How can I compare with Mr. Guo? They were far away from the emperor that day, and they were very rich. They are not like me. In order to save some money, they have to go to the palace to eat during the festivals."

It sounded like a joke, but Chang Geng listened to him, and vaguely felt that he meant something.

Before he could think about it, Mrs. Cao whispered to Ge Pangxiao again: "Didn't the drama say that the sons of aristocratic families have garden swings and beautiful maids in their homes?"

Ge Pangxiao seemed to understand it very well, and said shyly: "The gardens are all behind. Women from rich families, regardless of master and servant, are not allowed to show their faces at will. Is it for you to see casually? If you don't understand, don't ask."

Gu Yun smiled and said: "There is no maid in my family, just a bunch of bad old men and rough old women. To tell you the truth, the most beautiful person in the Hou Mansion should be me. If you want to see me, you can see me."

As he spoke, he blinked coquettishly and showed his white teeth in a smile.

Lady Cao hurriedly looked away shyly, Ge Pangxiao didn't expect Tangtang Andinghou to be as shameless as "Shen Shiliu", and was also stunned.

With his hands behind his back, Gu Yun was playing with the old Buddha beads left to him by the late emperor, and passed by the desolate courtyard in a leisurely manner: "My mother died early, and I have never married a wife. What are you doing with such a pretty girl? She looks weird and unprincipled."

It sounded like he was a serious person.

Mrs. Cao didn't dare to look at Gu Yun - he didn't dare to look at the good-looking man, so she asked timidly from the side: "Master Hou, others say that 'once you enter the Hou family, it's as deep as the sea'..."

Gu Yun couldn't help but teased, "Why, you want to say goodbye to Xiao Lang and marry me?"

Lady Cao turned into a slender monkey butt.

Chang Geng's face darkened: "Father."

It was only then that Gu Yun remembered his status as an elder, and hurriedly calmed down with difficulty, showing a lame kindness on his face, and said: "I don't have any rules here, you can tell the kitchen what you want to eat, there is a study room, an arsenal, and a stable in the backyard." , study, practice martial arts, or ride a horse is optional. Usually, Shen Yi will come over when he is free. If he is busy, I will hire another gentleman for you—you don’t need to tell me when you go out to play, just bring your guards, and don’t cause trouble for me when you go outside... ...Well, let me see, what else."

After pondering for a moment, Gu Yun turned around and said: "Oh, by the way, there are also some old servants in the family who are getting older, so their reactions are unavoidably slow. Take care of them and don't worry about them."

He just confessed something ordinary, but Chang Geng's heart was inexplicably swept away by the rare warmth in his words - although the warmth was not aimed at him.

Gu Yun patted him on the back: "My place is a bit deserted, so let's take care of this from now on."

For a long time afterward, Chang Geng hadn't seen Gu Yun, the new emperor was going to ascend the throne, the king of Wei was going to be beaten, the sons of the barbarians who were kidnapped from the northern border were going to be punished, and the barbarians broke the contract and invaded for no reason...there were countless entertainments... , countless temptations, and so on and so on, and so on.

Chang Geng thought he was hardworking, but every morning when he got up, Gu Yun had already left, and at night when he woke up from a sleep, Gu Yun hadn't come back yet.

In a blink of an eye, the summer heat is over, and after a hurried autumn, it is time to light the stove.

In the middle of the night, the slate road was covered with a thin layer of snow like eyelids, and a white mist rose in the air. The sound of horseshoes sounded from the end of the path. Not long after, two black horses pulled a car through the mist and stopped at Through the back door of the Hou Mansion.

The carriage made a soft "poof", white steam was released from the three heat-preserving pipes around the body, the door opened from the inside, and Shen Yi got out from inside.

Shen Yi let out a breath of white air, turned around and said to the people in the car: "I don't think you should get out of the car, just ask someone to open the door and drive the car in, it's too cold."

The person in the car responded, it was Gu Yun, his face was very tired, but he seemed to be in good spirits, he told the driver, "Open the door."

The coachman trotted away.Shen Yi stomped his feet on the spot, and asked, "Has the medicinal strength passed?"

Gu Yun dragged his voice lazily and said: "It's over, it's no problem to kill a few more Calais."

Shen Yi: "What did the emperor tell you to enter the palace today? I heard that the Heavenly Wolf Department sent an envoy?"

"The old cripple presented a sheet of performance with a faceless face, his nose was almost wiped off, and he said that he would give us back [-]% of the annual Ziliu Jin Sui tribute, and let the emperor see that his son was young and ignorant. If he puts it back, the old cripple is willing to replace him with his own body and come to be a prisoner himself." Gu Yun was not in high spirits, and he didn't have any good words in his mouth, "Turtle son, you have already laid down seven or eight babies, and you are still young and ignorant. Is it because there is no good soil outside the pass, so the seedlings grow slowly?"

Shen Yi frowned: "You didn't have an attack in court, did you?"

"Where did I get such a temper? But if I don't lose my temper, then the poor and crazy Minister of the Household Department would dare to agree." Gu Yun said coldly, then he changed his tone and sighed, "Manchurian sages, I don’t even know how to write the words ‘let the tiger go back to the mountain’.”

The heavy armor and short cannon worn by the barbarians when they invaded Yanhui was mounted on the chest. It was designed by Westerners - the bones of the Central Plains people are naturally thinner, and even lieutenant soldiers are generally not that strong. Light and agile, usually do not play "chest broken boulder" on the battlefield.

Behind Yinghuo Calais is undoubtedly the group of Westerners who have always coveted the leader.

Gu Yun lowered his eyes, looked at the slightly reflective thin snow on the ground, and said in a low voice, "There are tigers and wolves outside the four realms."

He wanted to go straight into the sea, go straight down to the Western Ocean, and fight all the way to their homeland, but after years of fighting, the Daliang treasury was almost emptied by him. Now because Gu Yun supported the new emperor on the throne, he calmed down like a timely rain. The king of Wei, who was ready to move when the first emperor was critically ill, the new emperor gave him some face in everything.

But face... can it last for a long time?

Shen Yi shook his head: "Don't mention this, how is the Fourth Highness doing with you?"

"Fourth Highness?" Gu Yun was taken aback, "It's pretty good."

Shen Yi asked: "What does he do every day now?"

Gu Yun thought for a moment, then replied uncertainly: "... Shall we play? But I heard from Uncle Wang that he doesn't seem to go out much."

As soon as Shen Yi heard it, he knew that Marshal Gu treated His Royal Highness as a sheep - feeding him grass every day and not caring about the rest, but he couldn't blame him, because that was how the old Hou Ye and the princess supported him back then.

Shen Yi sighed: "How did the late emperor treat you back then, have you forgotten?"

Embarrassment flashed across Gu Yun's face, he actually didn't really understand how to get along with Chang Geng.

Chang Geng was past the age where he would act like a baby and ask for sweets, and his personality was precocious. When Yan returned to the small town, the child even took care of his not-so-good adoptive father a little more.

It is impossible for Gu Yun to play with a group of children all day long, but it is also difficult for him as an elder to guide Chang Geng.

Because he was forced to be put on the shelves, and he was not yet of the age and qualifications to be a good father.

Although Gu Yun said that he wanted to leave the Xuantieying to Chang Geng in the future, it was just a joke after all, and he knew in his heart that it was impossible.What's more, if he wants to make a name for himself in the army, he will have to suffer a lot. Gu Yun knows very well in his heart that as long as he is alive and capable of challenging the country, he doesn't want Chang Geng to go through the same hardships. .

However, at the same time, he also hoped that the little prince entrusted to him would be successful, at least able to protect himself in the future.

So how can a person be successful without suffering?

Parents throughout the ages have been asking for the answer to this question, not to mention his half-hearted adoptive father, so he had no choice but to simply let Chang Geng grow up freely.

The coachman had already opened the door, lit the lamp, and was waiting for Gu Yun to speak.

Shen Yi said to Gu Yun: "It's too demanding to expect you to be meticulous and meticulous, but he has undergone a great change, and you are the only relative left by his side. Treat him more honestly, even if you don't know what to do. It is also good to shake in front of him from time to time and write two copybooks for him."

Gu Yun probably listened to it this time, and replied patiently: "Yes."

Shen Yi unloaded a horse from the cart and took the reins.

He had already straddled his horse and was about to leave. After walking a few steps, he couldn't help turning his head and nagging: "Marshal, the ignorant young boy and the long-sick old father taught you how to become an adult. Whichever one you meet is lucky."

Gu Yun rubbed the center of his brows in pain: "Mother, you are a bachelor with a bad mouth, please, get out!"

Shen Yi cursed with a smile, and galloped away.