Tian Yan

extra circle

On the first Dragon Boat Festival after the founding of the Great Wei Dynasty, the streets, which had been depressed for a long time due to the war, finally glowed with the vitality they should have had.

Cao Pi joined the bustling crowd, and from time to time, children jumped up and down between the adults' legs, leaving behind a series of silver bell-like laughter.This reminded him of his younger brother Cao Chong, who was also such a pink and tender little dumpling, who always followed him and called his brother.

"Loops, loops! Ten pennies a penny, whatever you trap!"

Cao Pi turned his head and saw a group of people around the road, all staring at it with great interest, bursting into applause from time to time.

The ferrule... Cao Pi moved his wrist, it's been a long time since he played.

He changed from the son of a courtier to the prince in one day, compared to the big brother who soon looked like a decent brother, but he still couldn't adapt to this change of status.The thought of putting on airs from now on, and suddenly becoming a relationship with his former companions as monarchs and ministers, away from the hustle and bustle of the market, and stepping into the turbulent political turmoil made him feel terrified.

Besides, he was just full.

He took out a copper coin and handed it to the boss, and took ten rattan rings. Cao Pi squeezed into the crowd with great effort and took a look. There were all kinds of things in the field, including clay monkeys, grasshoppers, and grasshoppers with no discernible texture. The pendants and so on are all cheap but very interesting things.

Cao Pi's eyes turned around, and he locked on a mask hanging on a pole in the corner of the field.The mask looked quite terrifying, with the boss's eyes wide open, but his complexion was as dark as pitch, it could be said to be ugly.

Ugly, yet chic.Cao Pi smiled and aimed the rattan circle in that direction.

The two rattan rings, one in front and one in the back, passed through the pole accurately and covered the mask.

This is all right, who is it?Cao Pi looked at the owner of the stall, who also looked at them helplessly.

"Two guest officers, there are too many people here, so I can't come one by one. You see that you are also destined, why don't you discuss it, whoever takes a step back and gives up this mask, can you throw it one more time?"

Cao Pi looked at the person who had caught the same thing as him, and saw that it was a young man, but his features were somewhat similar to that of his father's new Guo Jijiu.The man was also looking at him, and then asked the boss, "Do you still have this mask?"

"No more, all the things here are the same, otherwise why don't you look at other things?" The boss laughed along with him.

The man stopped talking and just turned to look at him.

Cao Pi is not a stingy person, but seeing the man's persistent attitude, he couldn't help being curious: "Then what should I do, I want this too."

The man squeezed all the way to his side, kindly giving up the game seats for other guests.Only when he got close did Cao Pi realize that the man looked familiar, as if he was Sima Yi whom his father had personally invited.He only glanced at it from a distance, and vaguely remembered that the man liked to look up at people, no matter how tall or short they were.

"I threw nine laps, and I won the last one," Sima Yi said with a bitter face, "If you ask me to do it again, I probably won't get anything!"

Cao Pi laughed a little in his heart. This Sima Yi, at the beginning, evaded his father and said that he had arthralgia, and it has only been a few months, and he is here alive and well?interesting.

"Well, let me kiss you, and I'll give you the mask." Cao Pi leaned close to him and smiled narrowly, seeing Sima Yi's ears blushing with satisfaction.

"What a disciple!" Sima Yi said in a low voice, but it had no deterrent effect to Cao Pi's ears.

At this moment, he truly realized the benefits of being a prince, full of confidence, everywhere.

Cao Pi couldn't help but put his arm around Sima Yi's shoulder, ignored Sima Yi's struggle, and shouted into the field: "Boss, bring that mask!"

Seeing that they were shoulder to shoulder, the boss seemed to have reached a consensus, and quickly handed over the mask, as if throwing away a hot potato.

The two squeezed out of the crowd, and reached the base of a wall with few people.Cao Pi held the mask in his hand, put his fingers in the eyeholes and turned around: "How, have you thought about it, Si, Ma, Mr., sir?"

Sima Yi opened his eyes wide: "You..."

"I don't know what kind of genius doctor Mr. Sima has found, who can completely cure the wind arthralgia within three months?" Cao Pi smiled and watched Sima Yi's face turn from red to white, and his heart was full of evil pleasure.

"You misunderstood the person, young master." After a short pause, Sima Yi raised his brows, "Today you and I put on this mask at the same time, I don't owe you, why can you make a condition but I can't?"

Unexpectedly, he didn't walk away because of being exposed. It seems that Sima Yi has a strong heart and knows the truth of acting well.The corner of Cao Pi's mouth raised a graceful arc: "If you have any conditions, tell me."

Sima Yi approached and pushed Cao Pi against the wall step by step: "Tell me, who are you?"

who are you?

Cao Pi was taken aback for a moment, his mind went blank for a moment.He used to be able to tell the other party loudly that my surname is Cao, my name is Pi, and my name is Zihuan, but now he has to decide.

Sima Yi is such a cunning person, even his father can't do anything to him. If he finds out that he is the prince who ran out to play tricks, I don't know if it will fall into his hands.

"You...why do you like this mask so much?"

Sima Yi's entire body was oppressed on him, and Cao Pi could even smell the soap locust on his body: "Why?"

"Well, because that mask is so ugly, I wonder, don't people wear masks to cover up their ugliness with beauty? Why do there still be such masks?"

Cao Pi shook his head: "Maybe, there are some people who want to cover up their original beauty with hypocritical ugliness...for example, you."

When Sima Yi heard the words, his eyes flickered for a moment: "Why not, Your Highness?"

This time it was Cao Pi's turn to be surprised: "How do you know!"

"The only ones who knew that I resigned because of wind paralysis and met me in person were members of the royal family. When His Majesty came to visit that day, although I lay down and had a limited perspective, I heard a prince calling Father Huang outside the door. I guess it's you, Your Highness."

His identity was easily exposed, and Cao Pi was a little discouraged: "I am the second prince, Cao Pi."

"Sima Yi, I was so offensive just now, please forgive me, Your Highness." Sima Yi took the mask from Cao Pi's hand and put it on for him.Cao Pi's eyes were exposed under the eye sockets of the ugly mask, blinking and blinking, which made him laugh out loud.

Suddenly, Cao Pi's heart was tickled by that unreserved smile.Lifting the mask upwards, and kissing Sima Yi on the cheek, Cao Pi gently placed the rattan ring in his hand on top of Sima Yi's head.

"It's up to you."

Fanwai Ermuren

The snow in the mountains melted late, and the accumulation of the whole winter made the upper layer of snow very soft, and it was blown by the wind to raise fine white powder.

He has lived on this mountain for many years, from the relief at the beginning to the emptiness and loneliness now.Time froze here, and the ever-burning lamp placed at the door did not know what oil was added to it, but it was always on, obliterating the only possible change here.

"what's your name?"

"Cao Pi, named Zihuan, I am the emperor."

This kind of soliloquy has been going on for too long, but he still thinks it's not enough.Although the time here is stagnant, it is like a sieve, bit by bit obliterating his mundane memories in this unchanging day and night.

If he doesn't remind himself, he is afraid that one day he will forget who he is.For a person who doesn't even know who he is, what's the point of his existence?

"Why don't you come to see me?"

Cao Pi walked up to the full-length bronze mirror. The mirror surface was a bit blurry, but his slender figure could still be reflected. He was dressed in a court dress with dark red background and black dragon pattern, which symbolized supreme dignity, showing the best years of a man.

There is only one day in the mountains, but there are thousands of years in the world, right?The man in the mirror evoked a self-deprecating smile and decided to go down the mountain to have a look.

I just don't know if you are alive or dead...Why, you don't even come to see me.

It is still a familiar road, but there are a few more bun shops along the street, and a few more cracks in the green bricks under the city wall.It's just that what people are talking about has changed from Emperor Wu, who established the country and Anbang, and Emperor Wen, who cultivated culture and laws, into one surname.

Sima.

Sima, let's be Sima, it's because he thinks everything too simply, thinking that if he has power, he will have everything.

He never thought about whether Sima Yi's heart was as firm as a rock after many years; he never thought about whether the cough he had been hiding all along would one day become terminally ill.

Only now, nothing matters anymore, he just wants to see the man and ask him one last question.

Sima's mansion is now also magnificently built, very much like the Cao's mansion, which was dominated by power in the past.

In the courtyard, there was a strong woman with grey-haired temples walking on horseback. Sima Yi declared that she was his wife from the countryside.Only he knew that it was his father's shadow guard, and after being used by Sima Yi all those years ago, he was not silenced by him.

Walking around the front yard, one can see a red plum planted behind the screen wall, which is in full bloom against the severe cold.The snow in the courtyard has not been swept away, and the white snow is covered with star-colored flower petals, extending along the winding road to the door of a house.

Cao Pi stepped on the snow and stood still outside the closed door.There are still a few red plums stuck in the window crack, it should be right here.

Zhongda, since you are not coming, then I will come to see you.

The moment Cao Pi entered the door, he was a little nervous, wondering what Sima Yi looks like now?Are they already wrinkled and old, or are they still as young as they were when they first met?

After living in the mountains for a long time, my mind has become confused. Apart from the question of who I am, I have never been clear about time.

Sometimes Cao Pi wonders if he is old and confused. Although his appearance has not changed a little, his soul is over a hundred years old.

Sima Yi was not in the room, and Cao Pi walked around inside.There was a box of ancient rosin ink on the table. He remembered that Sima Yi was not a person who liked incense. It seemed that they had been separated for too long, and he didn't even know when his preference changed.

What I don't know is not only this box of rosin ancient ink, but also since when, he also fell in love with power, just like himself.No, it was more extreme than himself. In the end, what he loved was power.

He thinks he still loves Sima Yi, and has loved Sima Yi all his life, from the day he first met.Although there have been some sacrifices in the middle, it is also for the further future.He had to meet Sima Yi, and he had to tell him something.

That day Cao Cao called him to the couch and said that Sima Yi would do his housework in his dream that three horses were eating in the trough, so he ordered him to get rid of them when the time was right.He was the one who burned the life-threatening letter with his own hands, but he didn't expect his father to make it a prophecy.

It's not that I haven't thought about this possibility, I just think he won't, at least he won't when he is alive.

He originally thought that they would have a lifetime to make up for each other, that they could sit under the red plum tree tacitly, and wait for the years to grow old together with them.But he didn't expect this day to come so fast, so fast that he was caught off guard.

I have already given you all this country, but why are you still unwilling to see me?

Cao Pi sighed, and looked up to see a screen in the corner of the room, with a picture of a cow drinking a horse painted on it.Cao Pi was a little curious, this place is not a place to put a screen, why is it arranged like this?

Going around behind the screen, his knees gave way and he almost knelt down.

There was a man sitting there, wearing a black imperial robe and wearing a king's sword at his waist, with twelve crowns hanging quietly on his forehead.

That was clearly his long-dead father, Emperor Wu of Wei Cao Cao.

Cao Pi gathered himself together and took a closer look, and found that it was a lifelike wooden figure, which was hidden in Sima Yi's room just like that.

Over the years, he had thought of many possibilities, but the only one he hadn't thought of was his father.

His father had used such cruel methods to humiliate and tease Sima Yi, and even in his whole life, he never really had a single night of tenderness with him.

So why!Why did he fall in love with Cao Cao, fell in love with this person who trampled his dignity under his feet!

No wonder, no wonder he never came to visit him, because it was what he did that prevented him from seeing his father for the last time.

He had every reason to hate himself.

It turned out that what he had spent so many years trying to achieve was nothing more than nothing.

Cao Pi suddenly wanted to cry, but found that his eyes could no longer shed tears.

Who is he... who is he?

The time that belonged to him has been stagnant for a long time, negligence began to regress, and at the end of the picture was a red plum tree in full bloom. He reached out to pick it, but only touched the bloody one.

When I looked back, the way I came from was boundless, and they all fell into chaos.

The long light went out, someone's footsteps rustled, with a little procrastination, they lit up the torch in their hands.

The flames lit up, revealing a pair of eagle-like sharp eyes, the visitor was already old, but still clear and refined.The wrinkles engraved on the corners of his eyes by the years not only did not obliterate his aura, but added a very thick one.

Standing on tiptoe, he added enough kerosene to the lamp, the lamp flickered a few times, and the tomb was bright again.

"Refueling this time will last another 20 years," the old man sighed, his deep voice echoing in the empty tomb, "Just this one time, we will never see each other again, Cao Zihuan."

The tomb is still silent, only my own echo, repeating that sentence again and again.

The old man laughed at himself, turned around and walked out of the mausoleum, and when he looked up, he saw the goshawk rising from the ground until the sky broke.

That was a height that he could never reach.