Beacon Fire Siege

Beacon Fire Siege

Sword light and sword shadow, the flames of the flames lit up the sky.In Xuanliang City, there was a sea of ​​corpses and blood, and wolves from Saibei poured in through the open city gate. The pedestrians and city guards who had no time to escape turned into a pile of blood and flesh under the sharp wolf teeth.

Holding the hem of her skirt, Song Youran struggled to run among the pile of dead people lying on the ground.Along the way, she didn't know how many corpses she stepped on, and how many times she tripped over spread human legs and hands.The dress was already stained with dark red blood, some belonged to others, and some belonged to her.The pain in her abdomen was like burning, but the fear overflowing in her chest forced her to get up no matter how hard the fall was, and run wildly with all her strength.

"Youran..." Someone at the foot of the city wall called her with a strong breath.who is it?Before she could react, relief and joy welled up in her heart.

She happily called out: "Bai..."

White what?The gunfire was booming, and she herself didn't hear the last word clearly.

The man smiled: "Youran, come here."

She slightly relieved the breath she had been holding, and ran towards that place.The blinding white light in front of her eyes prevented her from seeing the face of the person leaning against the wall weakly, but she knew clearly and desperately in her heart that he was going to die.

He quickened his pace, and when he was about to rush to the city wall, a wild wolf the size of a bear suddenly flew out from behind the wall, its eyes were blood red, its sharp teeth gleamed coldly, and it rushed towards the man's pale and long neck with swift speed. go--

"do not want!"

Song Youran woke up suddenly from the dream, her breathing was short of breath, and her clothes and bedding were soaked in cold sweat.It was getting dark outside the window, and the watchman was walking slowly downstairs. She held her breath and listened quietly, and it was the third watch.

Getting out of bed and pouring a glass of cold water, Chu Chun's cold tea poured into her stomach, which made her shiver a little, but also calmed down the beating heart in her left chest.

It was the sixth day that she had this same dream in a row.

The Xuanliang City outside the window was still shrouded in the quiet night, completely different from the purgatory on earth in the dream just now, but it didn't ease the uneasiness in her heart at all.The moonlight penetrated through the window lattice, reflecting her pale face in the makeup mirror.The cool night breeze came in through the window and brushed against her cheeks, carrying the fragrance of peach blossoms and the astringent fragrance of green grass, but she somehow smelled a hint of gunpowder smoke.

The war in Jiangbei has not stopped yet, and she has a premonition that something will happen in this small Jiangnan city.

Xuanliang, Xiangluan courtyard.

A piece of nephrite jade is warm and fragrant, lingering and tender.The crystal clear jade liquid is swirled from the porcelain bottle held by Su into the ice-cracked porcelain cup, exuding a rich aroma of wine.The woman's Wu Nong's soft words and silk and bamboo string music spread in a room. The man in rich clothes and jade belt drank wine from the hands of the two women beside him.He squinted his slightly drunken eyes, smacked his lips and frowned: "This song is too soft, please change it."

Song Youran sat behind the curtain, and when she heard the words, she calmly stroked the trembling strings of the lingering sound, and the arpeggio stopped immediately: "What do you want to hear, my son?"

"Whatever you are good at, just play it."

Yu Ning, who was serving the wine, said with a charming smile: "Sister Youran's Flying Daggers is the best, even Mr. Bai An, who is well-known in the capital, can't fault it."

"Oh?" The humanoid pig known as Shizi's eyes lit up, "Then play this!"

"I can play other pieces, but I can't play this one."

Zhu Feng snorted: "Didn't you play it a few days ago, why can't you play it today?"

There seems to be a chuckle coming from behind the curtain: "Probably due to lack of practice, the tune is forgotten. There is another one that is good at it. Would you like to listen to it?"

"Oh? What song?"

"Written by Empress Li of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Yushu □□flowers."

The meaning in her words was so obvious that everyone gasped when they heard the words.After all, last year, that is, the winter of Anlong's 13th year, it was really not peaceful.

In the northern Xinjiang outside Yumen Pass, the Tartars, who had been coveting the land of Daliang for many years, finally found an opportunity and swarmed out.The barbarians were so red-eyed that they swung machetes and rode fierce horses, beating the corruption-ridden Daliang army to the point of defeat.The triumphant song of the foreign race drove all the way from Saibei to the capital, and the pack of wolves drinking wind and blood on the grassland tore apart the Forbidden Palace, which was gloomy with dragon spirit.

At the feet of the emperor, the wind and rain are precarious.For the National Day, the last emperor of the Liang Dynasty beheaded the harem concubines and princesses with tears, and hung himself on the crooked neck tree in Meishan by a white silk.After the emperor's death, all officials supported Prince Yu, the younger brother of the first emperor, to go south from Beijing. On the way, he hastily supported him as emperor, changed his Yuan to Qianfu, moved his capital to Jinling, and named him Nanliang.

The war in the north has been raging for five months, but in the south of the Yangtze River, it is a good time when the grass grows and the warblers fly, foggy and rainy.Mingqian tea has reached the node of picking, and the young leaves just picked from the Longjing tea garden are selected three times and four times, and sent to Jinling Palace as a tribute via ships on the canal.The warm wind from the Qinhuai River softened the tired bones of Emperor Nanliang and the officials, and it seemed inappropriate to mention the late emperor and the survivors of the capital who were still alive.After cutting down several civil officials who had appealed to send troops to recover the capital, the national humiliation of years ago was written down as an understatement, and was carried away from the official historian's wolf hair.Xuanliang is located in a corner of the south of the Yangtze River, and it has not been affected by the war in the north. Except for a slight increase in prices, everything in the land of fish and rice is as usual.Xiangluan Pavilion, the largest brothel in the city, also sings and dances day by day, warming the air.At this moment, Youran's words clearly meant something, and it was hard not to let people think about it.

Although the Prince Xiang looks like a waste, there is still a little ink in his head, he was taken aback when he heard the words, and immediately reacted, the cup on the table was thrown out before the anger in his mouth.

"Bitch! What a guts!"

The transparent ice-cracked porcelain cup shattered at Youran's feet, and since then lost the chance to pass it on to future generations.Zhu Feng and Yu Ning, who were sitting on both sides of him and serving wine, lost their colors and knelt on the ground shivering.Youran stood up unhurriedly and put the pipa aside, then knelt down on the ground.

"My son forgives my sins, I don't have that intention." The tone was stiff, no matter how you heard it, it meant that.

The son put his fat face sideways, and spat fiercely: "It's just a kiln sister, who is pretending to be so chaste and nine-strength? Do you think you are Li Xiangjun or Liu Rushi? For a guy like you, I hold it in my hands." There are still ten dead!"

"Master!" The old bustard heard the movement and knew something was wrong, and walked over gracefully, twisting her waist, "This girl is young and neglected to discipline, and there are too many people who praise her, so she is inevitably arrogant and can't recognize her identity. It’s old, isn’t it. If you beat it, it’s not worth it if you get angry. If you trust me, hand this girl over to me to discipline. How about I let Miss Xiangtan accompany you? It’s been so long See, she thinks you're thinking too hard!"

The prince was still angry, so the bustard hurriedly sent a girl to call the oiran Xiangtan who was accompanying the guest, and the beauty coaxed the prince to smile with a few words of soft words, and followed happily.The old bustard breathed a sigh of relief, immediately collapsed into a smiling face, and coldly glanced sideways at the trembling Yuning and Zhu Feng on the ground: "Get up." When he turned his head and saw You Ran who was still kneeling on the ground, Suddenly, anger welled up in his heart, and he raised his right hand and slapped her hard on the face.

"You don't want to kill yourself, I haven't lived enough yet, don't drag in people from No. 54 of Xiangluan Courtyard!" She pointed at Youran's fingers trembling with anger, "If you give me some color, I dare to open a dyeing workshop. I can afford you, and I can also praise others! In the eyes of these aristocratic masters, killing you bitch is like killing a dog in the mansion!"

Youran's face was turned to one side by force, and five red and swollen fingerprints were clearly printed on her fair face.She laughed softly: "What about death? Sooner or later, we will die together."

"What did you say?"

"Could it be that you all thought that the Tartars would occupy the capital and settle down in a corner in a proper manner, and never go south again?" She seemed to be amused, and there was a light in the dark pupils that even the old bustard dared not look directly at, "so far Thinking of Xiang Yu, I refuse to cross Jiangdong. When the late emperor’s white silk was hung on Meishan Mountain, the last bit of blood in Daliang had already died. Under the brocade clothes and jade robes in Jiangnan, there are a group of humanoid corpses full of brains! Liang, even if you look at the Jinling Palace, no one is worthy of listening to the Flying Daggers!"

Another heavy slap was slapped on her face, You Ran's ears were ringing, her eyes turned black, a fishy smell escaped from her throat, and she swallowed it forcefully by gritting her teeth.

"It's disrespectful to talk about the imperial court! You are really crazy!" The old bustard's eyes were red, and his whole body was shaking. "Go back to the room immediately, and you are not allowed to go out without my permission!"

The little girl Yinxiang shrank and got up to help her. All the way, she felt that Youran was drenched in sweat and staggered. At the end, almost her whole weight was leaning on her.She was puzzled, and when she returned to her room, she found that Youran had just knelt on the broken porcelain, and the blood on her knees had already soaked her trousers and skirt, she couldn't help being shocked.

"girl!"

"It's okay." You Ran shook her head, signaling her not to make a fuss.

"Girl," Yin Xiang was both scared and confused, "You've never contradicted mother like this before, not to mention that he is the son of King Xiang, and if he doesn't serve you well, he will lose his head. I just broke into a cold sweat. Girl ,What happened to you?"

"What's wrong with me?" You Ran smiled wryly, and turned her head out of the window, "You should look outside, what's going on."

Yinxiang looked out, and saw the grass growing and flowers blooming in the early spring, and the white catkins wafted in the wind, which made people's noses itchy, and she couldn't help sneezing.

"Girl, what are you looking at?"

Leisurely and calmly, he took the ice towel and applied it to his face.

"Look at the beautiful rivers and mountains of the beams," she chuckled, "there are no bones left."

That night, she had the same nightmare again.

The gate of Xuanliang City was blasted open by artillery fire, and half of the city wall collapsed.The wolves of the alien race have red eyes, and they wait around the streets of the city, their sharp teeth dripping with blood of unknown origin.Rivers of blood flowed, mountains of corpses piled up, and vultures and wild dogs reveled in carrion.She carefully searched for the feet in the gaps between the corpses, and she could hear the cries of the young son, and a dying woman stretched out her thin hands to grab her ankles.Fear made her tremble like a sieve, but she still walked hard through the pile of corpses with only one desperate thought in her heart.

She wants to find him.

who is he?She was completely lost in thought, but her desire to find that person grew stronger.A voice kept repeating in her head—he was going to die, it was too late.

The heart beat violently, almost jumping out of the chest.

"White……"

White what?

Under the city wall in the distance, a familiar voice called her weakly: "Youran." The voice sounded like a mosquito, but somehow, she heard it.

"Bai..." The name was about to come out, but what was the next word?

She anxiously turned her head to look at the city wall, his figure looming in the dazzling white light.He was seriously injured, and half of his body was almost stained red, but his amber eyes still shimmered softly, and his pale and handsome face gave her a comforting smile.

"Youran, don't be afraid."

At this moment, in a blink of an eye, a hungry wolf sprang out from behind the wall like lightning, and rushed towards the bloody figure.Her whole body shook violently, and she rushed forward without thinking. At that moment, she could only hear the anxious cry of the man and the howling of the hungry wolf.

"Leisurely!"

"Bai Qi!" You Ran yelled, waking up from the dream, only to realize that she was covered in cold sweat.The violent throbbing of her heart made her breathe heavily, grabbing the precious air greedily.There is no dawn outside the window, and it can only be touched by the second watch.Yinxiang woke up with a start when she called her out, and got out of the bed from the outer room in a daze to look at her.

"Girl, are you having a nightmare again?"

"It's okay," Youran nodded with a pale face, and smiled in relief, "Go back to sleep."

"Tomorrow, I'll go buy some soothing incense. No matter how bad it is, I can go to the Qinglong Temple in the suburbs to burn incense sticks to drive away evil spirits. It will be better. It's still early before dawn, girl, hurry up and go to sleep." Yinxiang was probably really sleepy. I yawned and went back to my room. When I went out, I tripped over the threshold and almost fell.

Leisurely couldn't help laughing.After such a toss, she lost all sleepiness. She lay back on the pillow, staring at the dark ceiling, her thoughts racing.

What she didn't tell Yinxiang was that this was the seventh night she had had this dream in a row.During these seven nights, except for the clearer outline of Bai Qi, the details of every dream were exactly the same.All the turmoil, turmoil, tragedy, despair and grief in the dream are as real as if they were experienced personally.She also had this kind of dream before, but she didn't take it seriously at first. She never thought that after a while, the changes in the family, the death of her eldest brother in battle, and the serious illness of her father... All the things that appeared in these dreams turned into reality one by one. brutal reality.

Perhaps this is not just a simple dream, but more likely an omen.In the dream, the dead city with bones exposed in the wild and no chickens crowing is Xuanliang not long after.

But in this dream of hers, why did she get up in vain?

The Bai family and the Song family are family friends who live next to each other. Bai Qi is the only child in the family, who is two years older than her, and they grew up together.When Bai Qi was nine years old, Bai's father sent his son to the mountains to learn martial arts with his master. Ten years later, he learned martial arts and returned.A few years ago when he was in the army, he often sent her a few letters, and sometimes he even asked someone to bring some small things he saw during the march: dried flowers in spring in Jiangbei, a few strands of pasture grass in Saibei grassland, Populus euphratica branches in northern Xinjiang, red willow leaves , and even the Autumn Wind on the Gobi that he sent in a bulging empty envelope, and in that envelope, he also enclosed a note.

"The wind and sand in Saibei are very bitter, and I would like to use this body as a solid wall to block the way it blows to the south of the Yangtze River." The handsome handwriting of the young man in military uniform seems to be contaminated with the thousands of geomantic tenderness of his hometown when he wrote his family letter.

She learned from one letter after another that Bai Qi was promoted to be a centurion, and later promoted to Li Jin's lieutenant for his meritorious service in killing the enemy.He only chose good news and anecdotes to tell her about the trivial matters in the army, and he never mentioned his injuries.Until two years ago, General Li Jin, the only good general capable of fighting in Daliang, was imprisoned unjustly and sentenced to Ling Chi, and she never heard from Bai Qi again.

Miss him?How can it be.But in troubled times, longing is too extravagant. The dilapidated ship of Daliang has carried too much sorrow and hatred, and it can't carry her little daughter's love anymore.When the war in the north was in full swing, Xuanliang's family also suffered drastic changes here. Bai's father and Bai's mother passed away one after another, and the Song family assisted in handling the funeral.After the Tartars entered Yumen Pass, Youran's eldest brother died in the battle in Huaiyuan, and his body has never been found.Song's father was injured and fell ill suddenly. The second brother of the Song family took over the pork shop run by his father, but the family still had no money for medical treatment. In desperation, she sold herself to a brothel to learn piano skills.But in just a few years, everything has changed, even if Bai Qi came back alive from beyond the Great Wall and stood in front of her, she would not dare to recognize him.Now the only thing she still has in her hand is his few handwritten letters and the Saibei autumn flowers and leaves that she gave to her. When she stroked the powerful pen with the sharp hook, she seemed to see the clear eyebrows and eyes of the young man that she had never seen in a lifetime.

After thinking about it, I couldn't sleep all night.The next day Yinxiang got up and saw the black marks under her eyes, she was shocked, but Youran didn't seem to see her ghostly eyes, she picked out a few heads and a bag of gold leaves from the dowry box and handed them to her.

"I'm currently banned by my mother and can't go out. You take these and go to Hulu Alley to find the butcher Song who sells pork for me. Just say that I gave them to my father and ask him to accept them."

"Hey." The little girl responded crisply, and came back gloomy not long after going out, her pretty face turning green and pale.

"Girl, that second brother of yours is not very kind," she muttered, apparently aggrieved, "He said that although the pork shop was smelly and greasy, the coppers in the past were cleaner than the gold leaves in the brothel, and the Song family was a clean family. Don't earn dirty money from a prostituted daughter. He also said that if you have any orders, don't ask the servant to do it for you, but let you go to see him yourself." After delivering the message, she put the small package in her hand that was returned in its original form into Youran's arms He stuffed his mouth and pursed his mouth, "I still want to say that you are a showman but not your body, but he picked up the bone cutter and kicked me out. It seemed that even looking at me would make me feel dirty, which made me feel ashamed."

Leisurely laughed: "My second brother has always had such a bad temper. I didn't think carefully, so I shouldn't have let you go."

Yin Xiang stared at it: "Girl, do you really want to go in person? He looks like he can kill you."

"Why do you think I entered this man-eating ghost place? If my second brother and my father were gone, I would really have nothing to think about," she smiled when she saw Yinxiang's worried eyes, " The second brother is still angry with me because of this matter, his temper is like this, and he is always unforgiving."

"But... Mom didn't ground you..."

"Foot grounding is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, anyway, it's not the first time for me," You Ran shrugged, "You know what to do, right?"

Yinxiang rolled her eyes, and obediently responded: "I know." So she took off the hairpin, put down the curtain, and got into Youran's bed to pretend to be sick.Youran snickered, changed into Yinxiang's clothes, went downstairs secretly, and slipped away from the backyard with ease.

The pork is the freshest in the early morning, and the customers who got up to buy meat gathered in front of the Song family's pork shop in twos and threes, all had strange eyes when they saw You Ran, and whispered.You Ran turned a deaf ear and walked straight to the young butcher who was buried in the chopping board.

"Second brother."

Song Heng didn't lift his head, but the force of chopping the meat was stronger than before.

Leisurely took a deep breath, suppressing the impatience in her heart: "Second Brother, how is Dad's illness? You should take a look at me."

Song Heng raised the knife and simply chopped off a pork rib.

"Ignore me, right?" You Ran folded her hands, stared at him for a while, then turned and said, "Look, take a look, the pork from Butcher Song has been mixed with water, and a catty of pork shrunk to eight taels in the pot. Everyone who passed by—" Before finishing speaking, Song Heng quickly wiped his hands with a cloth, and dragged her aside viciously.

"Are you still letting me do business? Are you willing to kill our family?"

"Why did I force our family?" You Ran said coldly, "The money you earn is money, but what I earn is not? I am my father's daughter, and I should know how the old man is doing and whether he is in good health. Why do you say a word? Won't you tell me?"

"The neighbors almost pierced the backs of my father and me, do you still have the face to mention father?" Song Heng saw that the customers who bought meat pricked up their gossip ears, waved them away impatiently, and lowered his voice, "The ancestor of our Song family was an official family. Although it is in decline now, it is also a family that teaches children according to righteousness. You dragged into that dirty Xiangluan courtyard, so angry that my father vomited a lot of blood. If you still have your father in your heart , and our family, don’t appear in front of him again!”

You Ran smiled wryly: "Brother, I didn't come here to argue with you today. I'm afraid the situation won't be too good recently, I want you to sell these things, take Dad out of the city as soon as possible, and escape as far south as possible."

"The situation?" Song Heng sneered, the bone chopping knife sliced ​​through the pork, and sank deep into the cutting board, "You are a brothel girl, what do you know about the world's situation?"

You Ran tried her best to suppress the anger in her heart: "I'm here today to talk to you about something serious, can you talk well."

"I sent a little girl here to make a film before, and she was talking about business with me? The girl Youran from Xiangluan Academy became popular in Xuanliang City, so it's such a big show?"

You Ran was successfully aroused by him: "It's not that you think I'm dirty and don't want to see me? Why are you so angry at a girl?"

"Yes, I think you are dirty." Song Heng's face was as black as charcoal, and he stuffed the bag of small parcels that she had stuffed into her back to her, "I still say the same thing, even if I starve to death and freeze to death, I will die." A copper earned by a girl who won't sell her body. Father has already removed you from the genealogy, and the Song family has nothing to do with you!"

As if a sap fell on the head, You Ran's face turned pale instantly, and her hands trembled so much that she missed the small bag.The whole bag of things hit the ground heavily, the gold leaves were scattered, and the heads of several gold ornaments were also smashed to pieces.

Leisurely stared at the ground in a daze, Song Heng didn't expect such a consequence, so he was also dazed.The butterfly inlaid on the golden step shaker fell off, and the enamel butterfly that was supposed to fly was powerlessly on the ground, and the broken wing could no longer lift up.

"She's not dirty."

When she was about to bend down to pick it up, a figure covered the glare of the sun shining on her face, and pulled her behind her with firm arms, and the clear and clear voice of the young man rang in her ears, full of anger.

This voice had appeared countless times in her midnight dreams, so it was too familiar.You Ran froze for an instant, and hurriedly raised her face to look at the people around her, where she could see his well-defined chin and straight nose bridge.Between the handsome eyebrows, the amber eyes contained a deep anger.

"Bai Qi!" She lost her voice.

It turned out that he came back.The young man who had always been in the depths of her memory, after experiencing the snow and sandstorm in Saibei, and the barbarian's cold arrows, knives and guns, actually came back.

After a moment of excitement and ecstasy, what came to my heart was deeper fear and timidity.Does Bai Qi know that he has entered the brothel?Will he see himself like his second brother and father?Does he feel sick too?Just thinking of one of these questions gave her chills.You Ran hastily lowered her head, not wanting to see the disappointed look in his eyes.Bai Qi didn't notice her timidity, and protected her behind him, like a protector.He stared at Song Heng with a frosty face, and every word was powerful.

"Song Tongzhi, you keep saying that she is dirty, but you have thought about who she fell into the fireworks for! If it weren't for Shibo's serious illness, how could she be willing to commit herself to selling herself into a brothel! You know her It is heartless to utter evil words and hurt her deeply; it is unrighteous to discard a piece of sincerity and kindness she offered like dung; as an elder brother, he can't even protect his younger sister, this is incompetence! Brother Ran Si loved You Ran the most when he was alive, and if his heroic spirit knows it, he will definitely cast aside your words and deeds today!"

Song Heng was so choked by his words that he couldn't speak, and stood there blankly.After the eldest brother passed away, it was the first time in a long time that You Ran heard someone defending herself with such arguments, her heart felt hot for a moment, and her eyes were covered with mist.

"Bai Qi." She gently tugged on the hem of his clothes and walked out from behind him.Facing Song Heng's shocked and confused eyes, she stretched out her left hand, palm up, in front of him.The girl's fair fingertips were covered with thick yellow calluses, and under the calluses were crisscrossed with some old slender scars, shocking.

"Second brother, when my father just fell ill, the daily medical fee was five yuan. The elder brother's pension is only so little. You are busy managing the butcher shop by yourself almost day and night, but you can't earn that much by selling pork. , does not enough money have to fall from the sky? Such things as integrity are too extravagant for people like us. I am in Xiangluan Yuan, and all the money is spent on practicing Sanjiu in winter and Sanfu in summer. , earned from four strings. The origin of every copper here is engraved on my hands. At least I think that they all came upright and have a clear conscience. If you still want to say that I am dirty, then I I can only admit it. Since you dislike me, I will call you second brother for the last time today, and put the conversation aside for now, we will return to the bridge and return to the road from now on, let's each go halfway."

Song Heng pulled out the kitchen knife embedded in the cutting board silently, but his heaving chest showed that he was not at peace either.Looking at him leisurely, she suddenly felt tired.In my memory, the second brother who sang out-of-key songs all the way, carried her on his shoulders to watch a social drama, and carefully returned her warm Yunpian cake, seemed to be no longer the person in front of him.

Bai Qi squatted on the ground and picked up the scattered gold leaves and jewelry piece by piece.Leisurely stopped him: "Don't pick it up."

"No." Bai Qi frowned, picked up all the gold ornaments and wrapped them carefully, "You saved them all so hard, you shouldn't leave any of them behind."

She smiled leisurely: "Haven't you heard that Du Shiniang sank the treasure chest in anger? There are so many treasures in the dowry box."

"Don't say it so harshly," Bai Qi shook his head and frowned, with reproach in his eyes, but he held her hand firmly, and solemnly handed the small package to Song Heng with the other hand, "Tong Zhi , I was in a hurry just now, and my words offended me a lot, please forgive me. Since she gave you these things, please be sure to accept them, and buy some good medicinal materials for Shibo in the future. Every piece inside is a piece of my daughter's house Sincere and filial piety. However, even if they are relatives of flesh and blood, this kind of heart and soul can't stand being trampled on several times."

The palm of his hand was dry and warm, and the heat came continuously, carrying a reassuring force.Leisurely lowered her head and let Bai Qi lead her, and followed him step by step, without looking back at Song Heng.

Bai Qi took her back to the small courtyard of the Bai family.He has been fighting abroad for many years and has not returned home. Since Bai's father and mother passed away, no one has lived here.Unpopular courtyards always fall into disrepair quickly. The dilapidated wooden doors are almost eaten away by termites, and the paper pasted on the windows has holes.

The only thing that has not changed is the tall pear tree in the courtyard.There is a word "pear" in Baimu's boudoir name. This tree was planted by Bai's father before his only son was born. It has grown to 26 years now, and the person who planted the tree has passed away, and the flower tree has become graceful as a cover.Garden feng shui is particular about the homonym of the word pear, so it is unlucky to plant it at home, but Bai's father has a rebellious body, so he doesn't care about it.When she was a child, You Ran often lay on the wall of Bai's house and watched Bai Qi practicing sword under the tree. The breeze blew by, bringing a pear tree, and the snow petals fell on the young man's black hair and thin but somewhat stanced shoulders.When she was fascinated by the wall, the young man practicing sword raised his face and smiled sassyly at her, lightly tapped the tip of the sword, and caught a flower petal hanging from mid-air, and the sword wind sent it to her with the fragrance of the flower, she smiled happily One day, my mother saw her elder brother and second brother holding her up under the wall in her yard, and she was so angry that she picked up the thin wicker in the corner and drove the three children to run around the yard.

In a blink of an eye, Bai Qi has grown into a heroic young man. Both her mother and elder brother are separated from her forever. Only this spring's pear tree seems to be unaware of the sufferings of the world, and it is full of flowers. Bai Qi is neat and tidy In a blue shirt, a small stool was placed under the tree, and that figure made her see the flying boy from before.

Time flies, things change.Now both the Bai and Song families are fragmented and have experienced life and death.It can be seen that sayings such as garden geomantic omen are not credible after all.

"Sit down," Bai Qi smiled, "I searched all over the room, and only found these two benches, which are still usable."

He has been abroad for many years, so he can't help but have a northern accent, but fortunately, the word 踅感 is not difficult to understand.Leisurely leaned against him and sat down under the tree, the clear masculine breath of his body and the fragrance of flowers enveloped her together.

"Have you met Uncle Bai and Auntie?"

Bai Qi hummed: "As soon as I came back, I went to the outskirts of the city to sweep the grave. Did you plant that crabapple on the grave?"

"My aunt liked crabapple the most when she was alive. It blooms in spring and bears fruit in autumn. She always says it looks happy."

Bai Qi chuckled: "My father always thought that my mother liked pear blossoms. Only you know that what she loves is actually crabapple. Before my father got married, he planted this pear tree in the yard with great interest. My mother couldn't bear to splash it He was cold water, he just pretended that he likes pear blossoms, and he cheated for 27 years."

"Uncle and aunt are so affectionate, which is enviable," said Youran, "Although they left early, luckily they passed away not too long after each other. My aunt said that my uncle was lonely under the spring and urged her to pass quickly. Everyone smiled. At that time, the news that you were promoted to the deputy general of the Hussars Battalion just came over, and the two elders knew that their only son was a successful person, so they had no regrets about leaving."

"I am a son, but my parents passed away but I couldn't be filial at the bedside. Fortunately, I have you, otherwise there would be no one to bury them," Bai Qi sighed, holding her left hand in the palm of his hand, gently rubbing the fingertips Yellow thick callus, "These, don't you want to tell me?"

"What's there to say," leisurely said sullenly, "Now that my father and brother don't recognize me, I asked for it anyway."

"When I came back this time, I found that the people around me have become unfamiliar," Bai Qi said, "Ransi, who used to play horse songs together, only has a clothes tomb left. Shibo used to have sex with my father when he was in good health." Chess, now he just lies on the bed and drinks too much. That boy Song Heng has become such an idiot, so it’s worth not mentioning it. As for you..." He sighed softly, "In the past, you would cry to me and Ransi when you broke your skin, but now Being choked up by Song Heng so much, how come you won't even shed tears?"

Leisurely didn't say a word.The reason for shedding tears is to make people hurt. There are no more people who hurt her, so it's useless to cry anymore.

"Youran," Bai Qi seemed to have read her thoughts, sighed slowly from his chest, and held her in his arms, "When I'm not around, is it true that no one loves you?"

These words made her heart ache, and the depression and grievances that had been accumulated in her heart for several years suddenly found an outlet, and rushed out tremblingly.For a moment, Bai Qi was a little flustered, and he clumsily wiped away the tears on her face, but unexpectedly, he wiped more and more, so he simply stopped and held her tighter in his arms.

"Bai Qi," she cried out of breath, "You know, when I was a child I was tone deaf, and I couldn't even sing properly."

"Well, I know." Bai Qi said.

"Practicing the piano depends on boy's skills. When I first came in, I was already too old, and I couldn't understand the rhythm. The master teacher didn't want to teach me. I knelt in front of his room for two days and two nights before he reluctantly nodded. In order to catch up with the progress of other girls, I can only practice three times more than them. When I think of my father still lying on the sick bed and the house is empty, I can’t sleep all night and my hair is falling out. A lot," she gestured, "there are so many."

Bai Qi said: "Those scars were also cut out by the strings?"

Sobbing and nodding, she nodded: "It's not impossible to play silk strings, but they are not as powerful as iron strings. But iron strings are thin and hard, and when the strength is heavy, your fingers feel like you are scratching the tip of a knife. Calluses appear." After that, I won’t break my fingers, but the thick calluses will affect the feeling of the fingers on the strings, and I have to use a silver knife to cut off the thick calluses. It’s really painful.”

Her last sentence seemed to be coquettish.Bai Qi knew in his heart that it had been a long time since she had confided in someone acting like a baby like this, and at the moment her heart was sore, she brought her lips to her fingertips and kissed lightly: "Do you blame me?"

"What are you complaining about?"

"If I could have been by your side these few years, you wouldn't have had such a hard time."

"You go out to drink wind and sand, go through life and death, if I still blame you, then what have I become?" You Ran wryly smiled, "But after General Li Jin's accident, you have not sent back any news. What happened after that? Where have you been for two years?"

Bai Qi lowered his eyelids to hide the bitterness in his eyes.

Two years ago, the hussar battalion had won ten battles in a row, and their morale was greatly boosted.At that time, Li Jin was about to take advantage of the setback of the Tartar army and capture Khan alive in one fell swoop, the imperial court suddenly sent eighteen urgent beacon orders to recall Li Jin back to the capital without any explanation.

Even five-year-old children know the truth of letting the tiger go back to the mountain.Manzi and Daliang have been enemies for generations, and they were defeated in this battle. It is absolutely impossible to kill this evil spirit who coveted the territory of Daliang. If he has time to recuperate, he will make a comeback with even more ferocity.Bai Qi remonstrated in Li Jin's tent, saying that he would not accept the orders of the emperor abroad. At this time, he should consider the overall situation, ignore the beacon order, and wipe out the remnants of the barbarians in one go, and then return to Beijing to accept the crime.

"The pawns and horses of the hussars battalion are Daliang's army, not my Li Jin's army, let alone your army raised in vain! What are you talking about?" Li Jin roared, "The king is the minister! Gang! Do you have half of these four characters in your stupid head?"

Since entering the hussars battalion, Bai Qi has never seen this iron-blooded but friendly general lose such a big temper.For this matter, he was fined fifty army sticks, and was cut off from the position of lieutenant general, and expelled from the hussar battalion.All the soldiers under him secretly defended him, but Bai Qi was very puzzled, feeling that this matter was really not like Li Jin's usual style.Sure enough, that night, Li Jin sneaked into his tent with a bottle of Jinchuang medicine.

"Zisi, do you blame me?"

Bai Qi struggling