Sha Po Lang

Xu Jiazu handed down a bit of land, and Xu Baihu was also a military household, and his life in the local area was pretty good. The family had a small income, so they raised an old lady who did some cooking and cleaning.

When the sky turned white, the Xu family's old cook slowly prepared breakfast and knocked on the door of Chang Geng's study: "Master, Madam asked if you would eat in her room."

Chang Geng was concentrating on writing the post, when he heard the gesture of picking up the pen, he paused, and replied as usual: "No, she likes to be quiet, so I won't bother, please tell my mother all the time, just say that my son is greeting her. "

The old cook was not surprised by his reply, the daily question and answer between mother and child was routine, nothing new.

Strange to say, logically speaking, Xu Baihu is just a stepfather, and Chang Geng and Xiuniang are the biological mother and son, but this mother and son will only eat at the same table during the few days when Xu Baihu is at home. Save, pretend to be kind, filial, and happy, as long as the male master leaves, they will be strangers than strangers, no one will talk to each other, they live in the same courtyard, Chang Geng does not even leave the main entrance, and passes through the corner gate every day Running to the next door, the mother and son may not see each other for ten and a half months.

Even the serious illness that cost Chang Geng half his life years ago, Xiu Niang just looked at it indifferently, and didn't care whether the only son was dead or alive.

In the end, Master Sixteen took him away and took care of him personally.

The old cook always suspects that Chang Geng was not born by Xiu Niang, but just looking at the appearance, the mother and son look alike, so they must be related by blood.

What's more, if it's not her own, a weak woman like Xiu Niang is exiled in another country, and she can't protect herself, so why does she keep bringing that child with her?

It doesn't make sense at all.

After a while, the old cook brought a food box and said to Chang Geng: "The master will probably be returning to the city today, Madam asked the young master to come back early."

Chang Geng understood what she meant, and when Xu Baihu came back, they were going to pretend to be a loving mother and filial son again, so he nodded in response: "Got it."

His eyes fell on the food box, and suddenly, Chang Geng saw a long hair sticking to the handle of the food box, and immediately retracted his outstretched hand.

The old cook's hair has already turned white, and this black and soft long hair can't be hers. Xu Baihu hasn't come back yet, and there are three living people in the family, including master and servant. Damn.

Chang Geng has a strange obsession with cleanliness - he only dislikes his own mother.

In the next door, let him eat the leftovers from the bowl his adoptive father used, but when he gets home, as long as Xiu Niang has touched something, he will not touch a bite.

Knowing his strange temper, the old cook carefully removed the hair, and said with a smile, "Madam accidentally dropped it on it. No one will touch the pastry once it's out of the pot. Don't worry."

Chang Geng smiled at her very politely: "It's okay, I happen to have some questions to ask Mr. Shen today, and I'll go to my adoptive father to eat later."

After finishing speaking, he didn't pick up the food box. He grabbed the book on the table and put it under his arm, and went out with the heavy sword hanging on the back door.

Mr. Shen was rolling up his sleeves, busy in the yard oiling several dismantled steel armors.

The steel armor is sent by the officers and soldiers of the city, and the officers and soldiers of Yanhui also have their own "long-arm divisions" who specialize in maintaining the military steel armor. However, there are too many armors in the army, and they are always too busy, so they will also find civilian long-arm divisions to contact them. live.

"Long-arm masters" are those who repair steel armor and lighters, and deal with those iron guys all day long. They are considered craftsmen. Belonging to the "lower class", even if you don't have to worry about food and drink in this line of work, it's not very honorable.

Mr. Shen is a first-year scholar, somehow he has this peculiar hobby. Not only does he like to fiddle with things, but he often uses this craft to earn a little money in an insulting manner.

And Shen Shiliu, who accidentally fell into the boy's dream, was sitting on the threshold with his long legs stretched out doing nothing, leaning against the door frame with his whole body boneless. Know to brush clean.

Shiliu Lai stretched his waist in a jerk, waved at Chang Geng half-deadly, and ordered: "Son, go and bring me the jug."

Mr. Shen was full of motor oil, sweating profusely and said to Chang Geng: "Don't talk to him, have you eaten yet?"

Chang Geng: "Not yet."

Mr. Shen turned his head and roared at Shiliu: "I woke up early in the morning and waited for food! Can't you do some work? Go wash some rice and cook a few bowls of porridge!"

Shen Shiliuyi tilted his head, he was deaf just right, and said slowly: "Ah? What?"

"Let me do it," Chang Geng took it for granted, "What kind of rice do you put?"

This time the sixteenth master heard it, he raised his eyebrows, and said to Mr. Shen: "You are a child, why don't you go yourself?"

Mr. Shen, a gentleman, is so angry with his bastard prodigal brother every day: "Didn't you agree to take turns? Manly man, it's fine if you can't hear, what's the matter if you talk too old!"

Shen Shiliu repeated his old trick and "couldn't hear" again, and asked, "Why is he barking there?"

Act like the real thing.

Chang Geng: "..."

In fact, being deaf is also strangely convenient.

"He said..." Chang Geng lowered his head, and met Shiliu's playful gaze, and the dream from the night before flashed back in front of him, and he suddenly realized that he was not so indifferent.

Chang Geng's throat was suddenly a little dry, he quickly collected himself, and said expressionlessly: "Your old man, you'd better sit down, don't bother to play tricks early in the morning."

Shen Shiliu hadn't had time to get drunk that day, and his only conscience was finally not soaked into wine lees. He held Chang Geng's hand with a smile, stood up with strength, patted the boy on the back of the head affectionately, and stumbled into the kitchen .

He was actually ready to work—it is rare for Master Sixteen to be able to do some human affairs once in a hundred years, which is rare, comparable to the blossoming of a cycad tree.

Chang Geng hurriedly followed in, only to see his adoptive father swaggeringly grabbed a few handfuls of rice, threw them into the pot, and then scooped water to wash the rice, causing water to splash and white waves to fly. Condescendingly stretched out two fingers, stirred them casually in the water, took them out to shake the water drops, and announced: "Halfway done washing, Shen Yi, come and take turns."

Mr. Shen: "..."

Shen Shiliu picked up the wine pot from the stove with his hands, raised his head and took a sip, flowing and precise.

... Sometimes Chang Geng suspects that he is even pretending to be "blind".

Mr. Shen may have given it up, stopped doing unnecessary struggles, washed his hands with soap locusts cursingly, ran into the kitchen, steamed pastries, and started to clean up the mess left by Shiliu.

Chang Geng took out the posts he wrote early in the morning and showed Mr. Shen one by one. After Shen Yi finished reading the comments, Chang Geng stuffed the pages into the stove and helped light the fire.

"The handwriting is very advanced, and I have put in a lot of effort recently," Mr. Shen said, "I see that what you are facing is the Changting Post by Gu Yun, Marquis of Anding?"

Chang Geng: "Yes."

Hearing the words, Shiliu, who was idling by, turned his head suddenly, a strange color flashed across his face.

Mr. Shen didn't raise his head: "The fifteenth Marquis of Anding led the army. He became famous in the first battle. The seventeenth was in command. He was ordered to march west. He passed by outside Xiliang City and saw the remains of the ancients. He felt that the scenery of the previous dynasty was still the same, but the country has been around for a hundred years. I wrote a pen. The handwritten "Changting Fu" was originally written, but it was secretly left behind by the sycophants around him and engraved on the stone tablet—speaking of which, Gu Yun's handwriting was trained by Mr. Mo Sen, a contemporary scholar. The saving grace is that when he was writing Changting Posts, he was still young, and he was a young man, so he was a bit ignorant of the heights and depths. Since you are practicing calligraphy, there are so many ancient posts that are not posted, why do you want to post the posts of today's people? ?”

Chang Geng rolled up the paper full of words, and stuffed it into the stove without hesitation: "I've heard people say that the three major black iron battalions, Xuanying, Xuanjia, and Xuanqi, were wiped out in the hands of the old Hou Ye. The eighteen tribes of the northern barbarians, and later passed on to the Xiaohou Lord, and made the Western Regions bow their heads - I don't like his handwriting, but I just want to know, the handwriting left by the hand holding the three big black iron battalions What is it like?"

The spoon in Mr. Shen's hand was unconsciously stirring in the pot, but his eyes seemed to have drifted away. After a while, he said slowly: "Anding Hou's surname is Gu Mingyun, and his style name is Zixi. His only son, his parents died young, he was pitied by his superior, he was raised in the palace, and he was given a special title. He was born to be rich and idle, but he insisted on going to the Western Regions to eat sand. Heroes are not heroes, I don’t know , I'm afraid my brain is not very good."

Mr. Shen was wearing an old long gown that had been washed white, the corners of which were still stained with oil stains from steel armor, and an unlucky apron was hanging around his neck—these two brothers had made do together, and there was no woman in the family. As the saying goes, I don't know if the apron has not been washed since it was brought back.

Only the face was clear-cut.

Shen Yi's nose was straight, and when he was not talking or laughing, his side face was almost indifferent. His eyelids trembled slightly, and he suddenly said: "Since the old Hou Ye left, the master of Xuantie Yinggong has made great achievements, which is taboo , coupled with the rampage of courtiers and courtiers who flatter their superiors..."

Shiliu, who had been silent all this time, suddenly interrupted him: "Shen Yi."

The two people by the stove looked at him together, and Shiliu was staring at a small spider web on the door frame.

Shiliu couldn't look good after drinking, his face became paler the more he drank, all emotions were absorbed into his eyes, and he couldn't see clearly.

He whispered: "Don't talk nonsense."

The Shen brothers are usually not big or young. Brothers don't respect their elders, and their elders dote on their brothers like no one else. They quarrel from morning to night every day, but their relationship is very good.

Chang Geng had never heard Sixteen speak in such a blunt tone.

He was sensitive by nature, and he frowned deeply when he didn't know what to do.

Shen Yi's teeth clenched for a moment, realizing that Chang Geng was watching him, he managed to restrain his emotions, and said with a smile, "I've made a slip of the tongue—but isn't slandering the court a snack after dinner? I'm just talking casually."

Chang Geng sensed that the atmosphere was awkward, so he cleverly changed the subject and asked, "Who will be in charge of the Black Tie Battalion during the ten years between the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition?"

"Nobody cares," Shen Yidao, "After the Northern Expedition, the Xuantie Camp was silent for a while, and there were only a few old people in the army, and most of them were disheartened. It has been changed for a long time, and the equipment has not been replaced for many years, and it is also very old. It was not until the Western Regions rebelled a few years ago that the court had no choice but to let Marquis Anding be ordered to restart the Xuantie camp. Tie Ying, it’s better to say that he re-sharpened a group of strong troops in the Western Regions, if you have the opportunity, you can learn his current characters.”

Chang Geng was taken aback: "Could it be that Mr. Shen has seen the handwriting written by Marquis An Ding later?"

Shen Yi said with a smile: "Although it is rare, there are occasionally one or two pictures that come out in the market, and they all claim to be authentic. Anyway, I can't tell whether it is true or not."

As he spoke, he blew white air and brought the food to the table. Chang Geng stepped forward to help with a wink. When he passed Shen Shiliu with the porridge, he was grabbed by the shoulder by the sick man.

Chang Geng grew up earlier than ordinary teenagers. He was tall among his peers. Even though he was not yet full of flesh and blood, his height was almost as high as his little adoptive father. When he raised his head so slightly, he looked into Shiliu's eyes.

Shiliu actually has a pair of very typical peach blossom eyes, which can only be seen when his eyes are wandering around lazily, because when his eyes are concentrated, there seems to be a pair of misty abyss in those pupils, which makes people see Indistinct, dark.

Chang Geng's heart trembled again, he lowered his voice, and deliberately called himself a name that he didn't usually use often: "Father, what's wrong?"

Sixteen casually said: "Children, don't always think about being a hero. What's the end of being a hero? As long as you have enough food and clothing for the rest of your life, and you don't have to worry about waking up, that's the best life, even if you're struggling. Take it easy, it doesn't matter."

Shen Shiliu often pretended to be deaf and dumb, and rarely spoke a few human words, but he poured Chang Geng's cold water when he opened his mouth.

He is a cripple who is half deaf and half blind, so naturally he has no ambitions and no vigor.But how can young people listen to such frustrating words that are just passing by?

Chang Geng felt a little uncomfortable, because he felt as if he looked down upon him, and he thought angrily: "I'm just messing around like you, who will support the family in the future? Who will take care of your food and clothing? It really doesn't hurt to stand and talk."

He avoided Shiliu's hand and said perfunctorily: "Don't move around, be careful that the hot porridge will burn you."