red cliff top

The candle flames on the lamp stand flickered, and the night was already deep.Shen Zhi's body leaning against the head of the bed slowly went limp, as if his strength had been exhausted by a few jokes, even his eyelids were barely holding up.

Shen Si awkwardly helped him up, and removed the soft pillow behind his back: "Third brother, go to sleep, I'll watch over here, if you have anything to say, let's talk when we get up early tomorrow."

Shen Zhi lay down well according to his words, but he raised the corner of the quilt and patted the bed board: "Don't just stand there, the ground is cold, come and sleep together." Seeing hesitation in deep thought, he teased in a low voice, "Could it be that you pretended to be Others, are you not close to your elder brother? Xiao Wu, you and I are siblings..."

"What did the third brother say!" Shen Si argued aggrievedly, "I was afraid that I would be dishonest after falling asleep, and what would happen if I kicked you again."

Seeing that his brother was still waiting for him with the quilt, he didn't think too much about it, he took off his outer shirt and rolled on the bed, and got into the quilt like a loach.This room is the upper room of Tianzi, the bed is spacious and luxurious, the third brother sleeps alone and it is empty, but it is a little crowded after adding a little meditation.Pensive is a tall man with big hands and long legs. In order to make the third brother lie comfortably, he had to deliberately bend his waist and arch his back, twisting and turning to adjust his sleeping position.

This scene can't help but bring back Shen Zhi's childhood memories: "Xiao Wu, do you still remember the time when we set fire to the chicken coop of the Master's house, and Dad punished us to kneel in the ancestral hall all night. It was so cold at night. Come on, I'll take you under the altar and go to sleep. Think about it, the table is only narrow, but the two of us can sleep peacefully. Alas, in the blink of an eye, you have grown so big Let alone the altar, I am afraid that even this big bed would not dare to straighten his legs."

"Yes, I did sleep soundly that night, but didn't my father find out early the next day? He was also punished for not eating for a day." Thinking about it, hehe giggled, "I was only four or five at the time. You are only ten years old, how tall can you be? There is more than enough for a table. You know, I didn’t know about big plans at that time. The first priority of the day was three meals a day. Make me hungry, cut..."

Shen Zhi bent his index finger knuckles and lightly tapped his younger brother's forehead: "Shen Xiaowu, you are so heartless, didn't I go up a tree to dig out bird eggs and burn them for you to eat? Besides, if you weren't too dishonest in your sleep, kicked him Turning over the incense burner, rolling it all over with incense ash, how could Dad find any flaws."

"A total of four bird eggs, one was broken, one was burnt and exploded, and you and I are left with one, which is not even enough to plug the gap between our teeth..." Shen Si stared at the ceiling, and his mind seemed to fly back. Carefree childhood, "I don't know if the old elm tree at the gate of the courtyard is still there. The year you left home, the nest of magpies on the tree also flew away. It is said that animals are spiritual, and they must have been Foretelling the miserable fate of the Shen family..."

Shen Zhiyou sighed: "Yes, how many years has it been, Liaohaiwei, Kaipingwei, Yifuwei... last autumn, this autumn, 15 years of turning around, life is letting go..." He deliberately pretended to be relaxed but he couldn't hide the sadness in his tone, "Xiao Wu, after I die, you can ask someone to send me back to my hometown for burial. Remember to choose a sunny hillside with a wider front, you know Third brother's temperament, I am most afraid of being depressed."

Shensi's chest rose and fell violently, and he tried his best to suppress the turmoil in his heart. It took a long time to utter a word with difficulty: "Okay." Turning his back to his brother and rubbing his eye sockets vigorously, he turned around and grabbed Shen Zhi's hand, "I will also bury you with you in the future." Together, to accompany you as a companion."

Seeing his younger brother's serious expression, Shen Zhi couldn't help laughing: "How old are you, I can't wait. The third brother also hopes that you can live a long life. Father and brothers have no chance to enjoy the world again. If you are happy, you can enjoy it for our whole family. After three to five years, if you can come to see me and burn some incense and candles for me, I will be satisfied. Don’t just Remember that 'old broken sleeve' and forget about my brother."

Shen Si frowned displeasedly: "How could that be!"

Shen Zhi scratched his nose: "Why not? Haven't you become a complete 'little broken sleeve' now?"

Being teased by his elder brother with the word "broken sleeve", Shen Si didn't feel embarrassed at all, instead he enjoyed it.Compared with the sudden family ruin and homelessness at that moment, and the loneliness and inseparability of those days, being teased and laughed at by my brother, even being reprimanded and scolded, is already a rare pleasure.Facing his lost and regained relatives, he didn't dare to fall asleep for a while, he was afraid that when he woke up early tomorrow, he would find that this unexpected reunion was just a big dream.

Even with his eyes closed, Shen Zhi could clearly feel the uneasiness in Shen Si. After all, he was a child brought up by himself, and his temperament could not be clearer. He felt a pang in his heart: "Xiao Wu, is your relationship with King Jin really like this?" Are the rumors normal?"

Shen Si hesitated for a moment, and answered vaguely: "Just... about the same."

After a moment of silence, Shen Zhi murmured, "That's good...that's good..."

It was only then that Shen Si came back belatedly: "Am I being unfilial? Actually, when I first knew the truth, I planned to kill him with a sword, but later... Anyway, I can't tell the reason, it's I can't kill him, not only can't kill him, but I can't help thinking about him secretly. If someone else wants to kill him, I think I will do my best to protect him..."

"Then what if I want to kill him?" Third Brother asked calmly, but caused Shen Si to panic for a while, opening and closing his mouth not knowing what to say.

"Forget it, forget it, my Xiaowu is no longer the stupid kid who only knows how to practice martial arts and fight." Shen Zhi smiled, "I was lying in the smelly pile of corpses that day, and I realized that I was not dead. The first thought that flashed in my mind was to take revenge, to kill the dog emperor, to kill Gu Mingzhang, and to restore father's innocence. When I woke up from a long sleep, you had already cut off the head of that traitor Gu Mingzhang. Because I was worried about your safety, I got in touch with an old friend and learned a lot of confidential information from him. Knowing that the man behind the scenes that caused my father to be suspected by the emperor and feared by Gu Mingzhang was Prince Jin, I wished I could immediately His corpse is broken into thousands of pieces, even if he loses an arm, even if he is so sick that he is dying, I will seek justice for my father and brother!"

Shen Si trembled slightly imperceptibly: "Third Brother..."

Shen Zhi patted him on the shoulder reassuringly: "But not long after, I heard rumors that it was King Jin who rescued you from the capital city that was surrounded by heaven and earth. At that time, I thought, if the news is true, I will spare King Jin for the time being." It's a dog's life, just teach him a lesson. In the end, I followed your trail all the way to the north, and halfway there, there were discussions in the streets and alleys, saying that the king of Jin killed the imperial envoy and rebelled, and he rebelled himself because of you, Mr. Shen. I heard Afterwards, I was shocked. If this happens, I’m afraid I’ll kill him too... Xiao Wu, as long as I can live in this world, I will definitely take you away from that old guy. If you don’t want to, I will break your leg. Dragging you away, carrying you away... But the third brother is useless, I really can't accompany you for a few days. After I die, there must be someone who loves you and protects you, right? So even if I hate King Jin again, I won't kill him, and I won't separate you... There must be someone in this world who treats my brother well, so that I can leave with peace of mind..."

Shen Si had mixed feelings in his heart, like a knife twisting: "I know I was wrong, I am doomed to be a criminal in this life, I am sorry to my father, I am sorry to my brothers, I am also sorry to my sister and brother-in-law, I just don't want to let even the guard down."

Shen Zhi pulled up the quilt, and wrapped it tightly around the two brothers: "Okay, boy, there are so many right and wrong in one's life. You can do whatever you want. You have been used to doing whatever you want since you were young." , is it necessary to detain you this time? If father blames you in the spirit of heaven, I, elder brother, and second elder brother will take care of it for you. If you want to be beaten or punished, you can do whatever you want. There are dead people on the left and right, so can you die again? No..."

On the second day, King Jin woke up early, and after calling his attendants to ask questions, the two brothers from the Shen family woke up even earlier.The attendant couldn't help but replied that Mr. Shen was like a child presenting a treasure, and sent someone back to the mansion to fetch the little fox he raised and the treasured knife given to him by Zhan Shitai, and he was proudly showing off in front of Mr. Shen at the moment.

The King of Jin didn't know the taste of the third brother of the Shen family, so he ordered people to prepare breakfast according to Shen Si's preferences. The brothers were close since childhood, and their habits of food, clothing, housing and transportation were almost the same.

After tidying himself up neatly, King Jin walked to Shen Zhi's room with square steps.Open the door and go in to see how lively the room is. The third brother of the Shen family is half leaning on the head of the bed, Chen Liudao is sitting in front of the Eight Immortals table, and Niu Huang is standing by the wall holding a chubby fat fox. The three of them are looking at the center of the room together. , Shen Si was enthusiastically demonstrating how his knife cuts iron like mud and made a decisive decision.

Don't look at Shen Si who is calm and sophisticated in the face of thousands of troops on the battlefield, and he is ruthless when dealing with that girl, but at this moment standing in front of his brother, it seems that he has rejuvenated and turned into a five-year-old child. The hozen's nature is exposed It's ten to ten.

Hearing the sound of the door, Shensi turned around and greeted hastily: "Shouzhi." Then he gestured again with the knife in his hand.The little fox also jumped out of Niuhuang's arms to the ground, swayed to King Jin's feet and sniffed, then moved to the foot of the bed with his body full of fat.The main character who loves the zodiac animal, no matter he is meditating or a little fox, his indifferent attitude makes King Jin very tasty.He smiled wryly in silence, took off his coat and draped it over the foaming, contemplative shoulders: "Seeing that it's winter, especially in the morning and evening, you, you, can't take care of yourself, how can you take care of the third son?" .Pick up and wash up, breakfast is ready."

Seeing King Jin's doting tone and considerate demeanor, the eyes of the third brother of the Shen family became more and more complicated.

With the sound of footsteps outside, an attendant walked to the door with washing water. Just as he was about to bow his knees to salute, King Jin stepped forward to take the basin and put it on the shelf himself.The attendant thought he had done something wrong, so he hurriedly knelt down and buried his head cowardly, not daring to speak out.Upon seeing this, King Jin waved his hands casually: "Go down, and ask someone to bring breakfast."

Shen Si stared blankly at King Jin wet the cloth and handed it to the third brother, muttering softly beside him: "Shou Zhi, you don't have to do this."

Shen Zhi also half-truthfully declined and said: "The lord is a man of dragon blood and phoenix marrow. Shen Zhi is a grassroots person, and he would never dare to work for the lord."

King Jin put on an ordinary smile: "The right is for Nianqing, he is too careless, how can he take care of others."

The third elder brother cleared his hands, got up and sat down with Shen Si's support, and looked at King Jin with a half smile but not a smile: "Don't worry, my lord, Shen Zhi is dying, but I don't have the energy to speak ill of you in front of Xiao Wu, so don't worry about it." It took a lot of effort to buy people's hearts."

Tasting Shen Zhi's hidden ridicule, King Jin pursed the corners of his lips mockingly: "The third son is over-hearted, and this king has absolutely no intention of doing so. Since you are Nianqing's elder brother, no matter what you say or do, you will naturally be ashamed." It's for his sake." At this point, the King of Jin raised his eyebrows intentionally or unintentionally, paused for a moment before speaking again, "The third son is weak, and it is inconvenient to stay in the inn for a long time. I have ordered someone to tidy up a place in the mansion. It is a quiet building, please move after dinner later. Firstly, eating and living will be more comfortable, and secondly, it will be easier for Nianqing to take care of you."

The third brother smiled and shook his head: "Shen Zhixin accepted the kindness of the lord. Whether you did it on purpose or not, the hatred of killing your father is irrelevant. I came to Jinyuan with all my strength to see Shangshe again. Brother, I'm not coveting the fine clothes and fine food in your palace. Since time is running out, please allow me to keep this bit of integrity."

Although Shen Zhi's tone was relaxed, his words were extremely serious, and he was in a dilemma when he heard it pensively: "Brother, just keep him..."

It was Jin Wang who patted the back of Shen Si's hand and stopped him: "It is true that this king has not thought carefully, please don't blame the third son. Wei Lu is very grateful for the third son to forgive me and Nian Qing regardless of the past."

"What's the matter, please don't be offended by the prince." Shen Zhi said with a hearty smile, "From now on, Xiao Wu will be taken care of by the prince. My younger brother has been unruly and unruly since he was a child. The lesson is, if you don’t obey, you can use a whip, anyway, if you have rough skin and thick flesh, you won’t be badly whipped.”

Jin Wang couldn't figure out whether the other party was serious or joking, he was quite embarrassed for a while, and was about to laugh in response, when he saw the third brother of the Shen family turned his head and whispered to his younger brother pretending to be mysterious: "If he really dares to whip you, Just deal with him with the eight-fold fist that the third brother taught you, the 33-style 'grab the back and lie on the cow', and focus on the lower three-way, don't worry, he is not your opponent."

The voice was so loud that it could be heard clearly from across the table, so naturally it was not a whisper, seeing Shen Xiaowu being stupefied by his brother, and nodding with a sullen little face, King Jin couldn't help but laugh.Maybe it's because of growing up with such a big brother, no matter how competitive the little hozen looks, he is still pure and open-minded in his heart.

After the meal, the attendants removed the dishes, served hot tea, and presented a secret report of eight hundred li urgently to King Jin for review.King Jin glanced at ten lines to play the newspaper, and snapped it on the table. Then he picked up the teacup and carefully blew off the froth. He drank slowly, with unpredictable sadness and joy on his face.

After Chen Liudao and Niu Huang retired one after another, Shen Si eagerly asked King Jin: "Shou Zhi, Gu Mingzhen has been defeated, and Zhending Mansion has been unable to attack for a long time. Is there any next step for the court?"

Jin Wangfeng glanced at Shen Si playfully: "There are countless generals and generals in the government and the public, but there are very few who the little emperor really trusts. He originally wanted to hand over the counter-insurgency army to the veteran Liu Mao, but Liu Mao is old. Gao, who was sitting in the southwestern part of the country and lacked skills, recommended his son-in-law to the little emperor..."

"You mean... Bo Ling?" Shen Si frowned, his eyes were erratic, and the scene he was most worried about was finally about to appear.

King Jin saw the change in his pensive expression, and didn't say much, but he didn't use enough force when he put the tea bowl back on the table, and a few drops of tea splashed out.With a smile on the corner of his mouth and drooping eyelids, he casually wiped off the water stains stuck to his cuffs: "Isn't it the son-in-law of the Uncle Guo's family who rides the dragon quickly."

On the contrary, the third son, Shen Zhi, hummed lightly: "It seems that Wei Boling is about to make it to the top. Once he has the military power in his hand, he is a very intelligent person, he will be like a dragon entering the sea, and there will be a lot of troubles in the future." The wind is surging. I just lament that he was with you back then, and wished he could be a better person. Now that my Shen family is ruined, he has disappeared. It is useless for my brothers to support him in every possible way. When it comes to judging the situation, the world I'm afraid no one will be able to match him."

Shen Si knew that the third brother had a lot of misunderstandings about Wei You, so he couldn't help but want to help him out with a few words: "Bo Ling can't help himself, and if he reveals the slightest flaw, he will not escape the disaster of his family. It's hard work to hide your courage and bear the burden of humiliation. It is beyond the comprehension of others. Before the Emperor Dog took action, he sent a letter to warn him, which was a huge risk, and I was trapped in the capital, thanks to his trick to escape."

"Send a warning letter? What letter did you send?" Shen Zhi's pensive eyes widened instantly, and he looked at his younger brother suspiciously.

Shen Si was shocked: "Why, before the Gu brothers besieged the city, you didn't receive Bo Ling's secret letter?"

"Secret letter..." Shen Zhi squinted his eyes and tried to recall, "Is that what you are talking about? Dad did receive a letter before the siege, and I don't know who sneaked into the handsome tent and left it on Dad's desk. ..." He pressed the corner of his mouth hard, "It's just that the letter is blank, there is neither writing nor pattern when it is opened, it is completely blank."

"How could this be so!" Shen Si stood up in astonishment, and accidentally knocked over the tea bowl with his elbow, so frightened that King Jin ran over and rolled up his sleeves to check if he was scalded by the hot tea, while Shen Si lowered his head and thought, "This... ...There must be some misunderstanding... If he was afraid of being implicated, he simply chose not to send the letter. Why bother to send a blank letter to the past? Wouldn't a slight mistake give others a reason for nothing? What's the matter? Weird..."

King Jin couldn't see that Shen Si was in chaos because of Wei You, so he said lightly, "I'm afraid I won't be able to digest it when I just ate, Nian Qing, help the third son go downstairs first."

As soon as he reminded him, Shen Si came back to his senses, and immediately helped the third brother go downstairs and walked around the courtyard.Shen Zhi was still in good spirits, but his physical strength was weak, he was out of breath after just a few steps, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead, so he had no choice but to go back to the room to rest.

Not long after, several famous doctors from Jinyang City arrived, and Shen Si led the doctors into the inner room to diagnose the pulse of Third Young Master Shen, while the King of Jin sat at the outer table and drank tea.I don't know when a brush, ink, paper and inkstone were added to the table. The ink in the inkstone has not been dried, and the brush has not been cleaned up in time.King Jin casually picked up the brush and took a look, it turned out to be Shanlian Hu brush, the so-called "the price of a purple hair is as precious as gold", no need to ask, it must be a good thing that Hu Buxi brought from the mansion.I think the old eunuch is clever, he knows how to flatter the most loudly, if he wants to please his master, he can't go wrong if he puts his efforts on Mr. Shen.

There was still a crumpled piece of letter paper under the paperweight. The King of Jin glanced over it inadvertently, but saw a few words written on it: "Brother Bo Ling, I am right, the years don't live, the seasons flow like a stream, and it has been counted since the first part of the capital." The month is very deep.Taking the liberty of writing today, Gein...

The letter was only written up to this point, and the rest of the letter was full of large ink marks left by the pen tip indiscriminately, which showed that the writer was disturbed.The King of Jin recognized that it was pensive's handwriting, and the brushwork was a little clumsy, and every stroke seemed to be too forceful.It seems that Shen Si wanted to write a letter to inquire about Wei Youning City, but for some reason she gave up.

King Jin narrowed his eyes coldly, and gradually exerted force with his fingers holding the pen, only to hear a crisp "click", and the pen shaft broke in two...