Broken Iron Clothes

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Halfway through the closure of the city, the surface of the pool is as calm as if there is no wind, but the bottom of the water has long been disturbed by pond fish.Osmanthus fragrance is floating all over the streets and alleys, cut off by knives in the ups and downs of his clothes, and swept by his mouth and nose with the wind of fists and feet, Zhang Ling kicked and beat him all the way at the end of the alley, but he was still caught by several sharp knives Hold the neck.

Xu Yixu looked at Zhang Ling who was restrained from a distance, and slowly approached, "It's a good thing to attract the imperial army, no, I forgot, you climbed up to General Lu, how could you still do it?" Afraid of the Forbidden Army, if someone backs you up, it’s arrogance, not to mention the Governor’s Mansion, even the Yuzhou Camp can enter.”

Zhang Ling didn't bother to look at him, and just said, "Without Lu Xiu, we are just two people who have nothing to do with each other. I am not a big person who needs your attention, and life and death are not up to you."

Xu Yixu sneered: "This attitude is very different from when Lu Xiu was here. Why, you forget your old friends when you climb up to the new master. Could it be that you, Zhang Ling, want to follow Lu Tianrui to change your ways? Bar?"

"None of your business." Zhang Ling's eyes suddenly turned cold, and the knife around his neck tightened even more.

Xu Yixu said: "For Lu Xiu's sake, I don't blame you for taking refuge in Dudu's Mansion or Yemenzhuang, but then again, I gave you a lot of money because of Lu Xiu's affection. I want you to help Xu Bin get rid of Jiang Yu, but now Jiang Yu is still sitting in a high position intact and wants to have nothing to do with me, so what you haven't done for me should have a beginning and an end."

"You think I'm Xu Bing's man, so even if things don't go well and get exposed halfway, I can't blame you," Zhang Ling sneered. Get that shit out of the way."

"Tell me," Xu Yixu laughed slowly, "Empty talk is useless, let's see where the trouble can go. Jiang Yu should have seen you when you and Xu Bin went to Aozhou together, at worst he showed up Testify that you are Xu Bing's dead man, let's see who will be dragged into the water first, anyway, I will not lose if I have you on my back before death."

After Xu Yixu led the group to retreat, his voice haunted his ears like a ghost, until Shen Shi, Zhang Ling was waiting for someone outside the palace gate, his footsteps still revealed restlessness, and he had walked around several times in less than a moment.

Many officials had come out of the doorway. Zhang Ling looked down at the ground, stepped on a fallen leaf that was about to be swept away by the wind, but followed and saw the figure passing by himself.At the moment when he was about to pass by, he looked up and saw the astonishment flashing in those eyes, like a wild cat meeting an enemy, his fur stood on end.

Jiang Yu recognized him.

Zhang Ling stood where he was, facing that unabashed gaze, as if his flesh had been peeled off layer by layer.He clenched his fists warily, and the fallen leaves were gradually crushed by the strength accumulated under his feet.

"Jiang Taiwei."

When a word came from behind, Zhang Ling loosened his fingers suddenly, and felt that someone had grabbed his shoulders, and immediately restrained his vigilant posture.

Lu Tianrui patted him on the shoulder, withdrew his hands and bowed to Jiang Yu: "Excuse me, Taiwei, this is my younger brother. He was found by his side not long ago. I haven't had time to teach him etiquette. I'm rude."

Jiang Yu replied: "General Lu speaks seriously, it's getting late, I will take my leave first, and we will meet again when we have time."

"Take a walk, sir."

Jiang Yu nodded as a signal, but he still had doubts in his peripheral vision before getting into the car.Lu Tianrui caught the strangeness, and did not slap Zhang Ling on the back of the head until he watched the figure slip into the car curtain: "Boy, I am freezing here, and I don't know who to call me, wait for me!" How long has it been?"

Zhang Ling was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Anyway, I have nothing to do, so I just waited for an hour."

"Come on, what are you waiting for me to do?" Lu Tianrui looked at his expression carefully and didn't ask much.

"Go home, do you have to go home when the officials are on duty?" Zhang Ling raised his foot and kicked the fallen leaves away. "I have been hungry all day just to wait for my brother."

"The food in the house is not to your taste, don't you know how to buy something to eat yourself?"

"I can't die of hunger."

"For scolding," Lu Tianrui pinched the back of his neck and led the people towards the horse, "Let's go, it's so cold outside, I'll buy you a roasted sweet potato mat first."

Zhang Ling shrunk his neck and said, "The sweet potatoes in the city are not as sweet as those picked by Ji Dong, and I can't get used to them."

"If it's not sweet, it's because you're unlucky and can't choose well. This time I'll choose for you."

Zhang Ling smiled eagerly: "Then buy a roast chicken and try it."

"It's up to you." Lu Tianrui pulled the rein and passed it to his hand, but saw that the man had large and small wounds on the knuckles on the back of his hand. When he wandered around looking for other places, he saw the scratch on the side of his neck. The blood that has come out has congealed.

"How did you get the injury on your body?" Lu Tianrui's face darkened a little, and his hands moved a lot slower.

"Smashing walls, hammering people, how you think you came here." Zhang Ling was afraid of him asking again, and after getting on his horse, he lifted the rope and ran away.

Towards evening, the smoke from the fireworks added to the cold, and the mist from the boiler was a warm milky white. Zhang Ling and Lu Tianrui guarded the scones and sweet potatoes, and went to bring a hot roast chicken back.But since returning to the city, the eyes that stared at him seemed to be constant, and he felt strange. He deliberately avoided the sight of a certain place and went around the street, but there was a man holding a knife in his arms on the way ahead, walking leisurely around the corner. Come.

When the man turned his back to the wall, Zhang Ling saw that his high ponytail had pushed up the brim of his hat at the back, and the hat in front was pushed down very low, only the lower half of his face could be discerned.

Zhang Ling was very disturbed, and when he turned his head to leave, another figure jumped down from the high wall and blocked the other party's way out. Zhang Ling recognized that face, but he couldn't help but clenched the greased paper in his hand.

The man holding the knife walked towards him and said, "Don't be nervous, we are not here today to interrogate you, nor to kill people. This little brother has been with you for two days, so he is considered an old acquaintance. Since you are familiar with General Lu , you should know where he is from.”

Lin Song is growing fast at this age, and now he is nearly half a head taller than before. When Zhang Ling was still beside Xu Yixu, he had seen him outside the Jiang residence. After thinking about it, Zhang Ling slowly turned to the side. body, intending to see the face under the hat.

"Who are you?" Zhang Ling asked.

The man stopped suddenly, raised his lips and smiled: "I forgot to say."

Covering the top of the hat with both hands, the brim of the hat has passed through the eyebrows, and the eye patch on the right eye is still covered by broken hair, but it is inevitable to be exposed to the sky together.

"The acting leader of the dark guard, Gu Nanxing," Gu Nanxing twirled his hat in his hand, and there was still a smile in Yu Yu's left eye, "Shall we talk?"

-

When Zhang Ling went back again, the roast chicken in his hand was only half-warmed by the wind. He followed the original road to find Lu Tianrui, but in the dark sky, he saw the man waiting for him with folded arms at the corner of the street, simmering in his arms. It was still the sweet potato I picked for him.

But when he returned to Lu's mansion, the sweet potatoes were still cold, and when they were reheated and served again, Lu Tianrui never asked anything, he just brought the medicine box as usual, and applied the medicine for him.

"Where did you spend so much money?" Lu Tianrui seemed to think for a long time before asking this question, but he didn't say it out of his mouth.

"It's all gone," Zhang Ling didn't rush to break the sweet potatoes, but just looked at his hands, "Brother, do you still want to ask, who did I meet today?"

The hand wiping the medicine obviously stopped for a while, and Lu Tianrui didn't dare to look up at him.

There will be suspicion between them.He couldn't forget the way Jiang Yu looked at Zhang Ling, and he couldn't figure out where the inexplicable wounds on Zhang Ling's body came from. The five-day closure of the city had made everyone secretly tense, so he had to continue to guess.

"Call me brother, you can't tell me anything." Lu Tianrui waited for his response in fear, even more afraid that he would avoid answering.

The yellow melon flesh burst out from under the skin, and the aroma rushed all over the face, a taste that can only be tasted in Yuzhou.But Zhang Ling had just woken up from a dream in the cold wind of the day. He knew that these days with Lu Tianrui were all given to him by Lu Xiu. He was still the same Zhang Ling brought back from the northwest by Xu Bing, forever It cannot replace Lu Xiu who was separated from Lu Tianrui.

Now that he wakes up from the dream first, he can't lie to Lu Tianrui for the rest of his life.

"The sweet potatoes I picked are also sweet, do you want to have a bite?"

Zhang Ling escaped, and Lu Tianrui got the answer he didn't want to hear, so he just pushed back the hand in front of him: "No, you can eat it yourself, if you like it, you can buy it tomorrow."

Lu Tianrui got up to leave, but he didn't have time to notice that the hand holding the sweet potato had been burned red.The pain from the scalding gradually became numb. Zhang Ling stuffed his mouth full of sweet potatoes, and then ate the melon pulp bit by bit with his hands. He didn't realize that the plaster was also in his mouth.

It doesn't matter if it's bitter, he won't want to eat it in the future.

The courtyard was filled with cold wind, and Lu Tianrui watched the candles in the room gradually go out. When the last light was still flickering, he returned to the room feeling cool.

There was only one candlestick lit in the room, and there was no other sound. Zhang Ling was lying on the couch alone with his back on his side, and a lot of cool air had already entered under the corners of the upturned quilt. Lu Tianrui tucked the quilt tightly for him He lay down lightly at the mouth where the air leaked.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to meet an acquaintance, so I won't come back to sleep, and I don't know which day I'll come back, it depends on my mood." Zhang Ling still turned his back, motionless.

Lu Tianrui looked at him through the light outside the window, and asked after a while, "Will I come back before I go to the northern border?"

"Hard to say."

Lu Tianrui was silent for a long time, and he remained silent for a long time. When he felt sleepy, he felt that the back was gradually separated from him. He tried to keep people with words, but he couldn't make a sound. The silhouettes overlapped, went away on the horse, and disappeared in the setting sun, but never said goodbye to him, he reached out to grab it, and caught the clothes while the horse was moving fast.

The feeling of touch extended from dream to reality, and suddenly felt that Zhang Ling was squirming to leave in the middle of the night, Lu Tianrui was palpitated, and in the half-dream and half-awake state, he grabbed the figure that was rolling over him.

"where to?"

Zhang Ling still stepped on the couch: "Get up at night."

Lu Tianrui couldn't see him clearly, even through the dark light projected into the room, he still couldn't see him clearly.He groped for the desk, wanting to get up and light a lamp, but he heard that the man had already walked to the door.

"My brother died working for others. I learned kung fu with him for a few years longer than him. The money was saved by the two of us together." Zhang Ling held the doorknob, bowed his head and smiled, "...His name is Lu Xiu, you may recognize him."

Zhang Ling didn't come back again, the closed door never opened again, the residual temperature on the side of the couch dissipated before dawn, Lu Tianrui lay with his eyes open all night, only waiting for dawn.

-

On the day Zhang Ling left, Jiang Yu and Wen Kaisen also disappeared. However, that day was a time of rest, and the officials of the DPRK and China were resting, and there was not much communication, so the situation did not expand.Wen Yao was also invited to the residence by Xu Yixu in the afternoon of this day.

Wen Kaisen's personal belongings are still placed on the table, but many black and white chess pieces scattered around are still rolling down.

The chess game on the chessboard has been turned upside down by Wen Yao angrily waving his sleeves, Xu Yixu calmly cleared up the game, and said: "Jiang Taiwei and Wen Cifu's son are both sitting in the mansion of Duke Yu. The son is not just sitting in the same place all the time, and he is not sure where he is being invited now. Considering that Master Cifu is eager to find a son, the official is also very anxious to remind Master Cifu, after all Princess Jingping also had an accident after she was left in the palace by the Empress Dowager."

As he spoke, he slowly raised his eyes to pay attention to Wen Yao's expression, and seeing that the sullen eyes remained undiminished, he waved someone to serve hot tea.Wen Yao was furious and silent, raised his hand and waved the teacup down.

Looking at the broken porcelain thrown all over the floor, Xu Yixu slowly picked up the fragments that fell beside him, threw them away, then moved the chess box silently, dropped a piece on the chessboard, and raised his hand respectfully. Yao played chess.

Wen Yao remained silent, but Xu Yixu didn't take it seriously, and said: "Master Cifu can't solve the problem if he doesn't speak. I know that now I will look at His Majesty with admiration. If he dares to seal the city, you must have discussed it in secret." What kind of plan has been prepared, but His Majesty’s failure is because he thinks too kindly of us. If we can make him sick, we can definitely make him seriously ill. If the emperor is lingering in his sick bed, there will be an empress dowager in charge of politics, and there will be a lieutenant under the empress dowager , but if even the Taiwei is down, the high-ranking and powerful person will be the chief assistant of the cabinet."

"Master Cifu once supported the former crown prince, so it is understandable to help him win the reserve position now, but in chess, there is no right or wrong, only success or failure," Xu Yixu picked up another piece by himself and landed on the chessboard , "Da Liming's surname is Liu on the surface, but secretly, his surname is Yan. If Mr. Cifu wants to protect his son and wife, wouldn't he consider other options?"

The black and white princes set off each other, Wen Yao fixed his eyes on that place, and heard the person sitting opposite say again: "I think Mr. Cifu still has a good reputation with the previous prince. If you don't mind sending a message to them, I will wait for you." After tomorrow, Mr. Wen may be safe and sound."

-

Since the fainting on the city tower that day, Liu Zhaoyu has never been out of the bedroom, and the Empress Dowager has stayed here for more than four days.In a blink of an eye, it was the eve of Kaicheng, Liu Zhaoyu sat on the bed, and only coughed out after the Queen Mother was persuaded to go back to the bedroom.

Everyone in the dormitory was expelled, Chang Yi took the medicine bowl alone, knelt in front of the couch, and offered it with both hands.He had already lifted the edge of the bowl but did not take the medicine bowl away for a long time, Chang Yi raised his hands sorely, his eyes couldn't help peeking through the food table, but happened to meet Liu Zhaoyu's gaze.

"Your Majesty, forgive me." Chang Yi bowed his head and pleaded guilty, keeping his hands steady.

"Forgive which crime?" Liu Zhaoyu stepped on the bed lightly, and only sprinkled the soup and medicine in the bowl into the potted plants.Chang Yi's heart beat fast, he knelt down with his head on the food table, but he didn't dare to make a sound.

Liu Zhaoyu covered his mouth and coughed a few times, and said, "Should I call you Feng's underdog, a rebel who turned to Duke You and intended to kill the king, or Chang Yi who watched me grow up?"

Sweat dripped from Chang Yi's forehead, he secretly heard Liu Zhaoyu put the empty bowl on the table, and then he gradually felt footsteps gathered on his side, and when he raised his head, a cold light pressed against his neck.

Liu Zhaoyu raised his hand to stop the hidden guard, and continued: "When I was young, you persuaded me to play around, and when I was the prince, you have been the only company around me so far. I think your old mother is difficult to support. When I ascended the reserve position, I met you. You will definitely be rewarded during the holidays, and when your biological mother passes away, you will also be given a generous burial. I believe that I have treated you generously, and I have a relationship with you even if I don't think of favors. You will be grateful. I have given you many opportunities."

"Your Majesty is so kind to this servant that I dare not forget that it was a fact that this servant admitted that he belonged to the Feng family, but even if His Majesty did not pursue it, Duke Yu and Xu Shangshu could still use this as a threat. If this servant wants to find a way out, it will be lost and never return. Now that His Majesty is suffering from illness, this servant has never dared to use poison again recently, but this servant," Chang Yi tremblingly said, "... this servant is a slave to a tiger, and deserves death! This servant has done heinous things, and dare not speak again Difficulty, I know that sophistry is useless, and please Your Majesty give me death!"

"Death is easy to say. If I keep you till now, why would I let you die tonight?" Liu Zhaoyu smiled lightly and shook his head as he walked towards the window, seeing that Ye Ying was trapped in the city and locked into the palace wall. It can only be reflected lifelessly on the windowsill.

The only thing that can dispel this gloom is the morning light at dawn and the howling wind.

He closed his eyes and listened, but saw that the night was approaching, galloping horseshoes galloped towards him, and the sound of gongs and drums shook the sky.The gates of the city are about to be opened, and the gates of the palace are about to be broken!The dead disciples return, the country changes hands, and the thunder will break the sky!

After the shocking bang, the magnificent momentum returned to the sky. From dawn to eve, Liu Zhaoyu slowly opened his eyes, but he was never happy. He only hoped to be relieved. After a long silence, he sighed through the window: "Tomorrow , Jacheng is about to blow wind."