Snake Tale

Mrs. Zishuo was only 17 years old when Duke Huan made her his wife.Like Li Ji, she is rumored to have a bewitching beauty.They are also in a foreign country, facing the princes who have grown up and gained power, they are in a helpless situation.But the misfortune of Mrs. Zishuo is that at that time, the state of Qi was showing signs of its prosperity and decline: Guan Zhong was dead, the courtiers were in power, and the former overlord of the Jiuhe princes, Duke Huan, was old and unable to give her long-term protection.Before Mrs. Zishuo had time to manage her own power, she was involved in the chaotic situation of the princes vying for the throne. In order to save Gou's life, she had to flee Linzi in a hurry.In the following years, this beautiful and fragile woman was like flying catkins, floating with the tide involuntarily.

"In order to avoid being chased by the princes, I once lived among the people and begged for food many times from the concubines of Hanyang who had submitted to Qi. In those years, I had no power or power. The only thing I could rely on was the name of Duke Huan's widow. It's a kind of life under the fence... I don't intend to hide it, you can imagine—"

This is not difficult to understand.Worse than a distressed lady is a beautiful lady in distress.Nobility prevents her from belittling her own status, and she is willing to live a life of the poor; her beauty prevents her from rejecting others' covetousness. All pretentious reserved and indifferent gestures are futile.To this day, all kinds of unimaginable love stories between Mrs. Zishuo and the princes and royal families are still rumored in the market.However, according to the person concerned, those were just helpless acts of lingering.

Her voice was almost inaudible, rather than talking about the past, she was talking to herself, "...In this situation, I can't even protect myself, let alone protect the baby in the swaddle! Perhaps it is I have committed too many sins in my previous life, and all kinds of misfortunes are not enough for me, and it has even happened to my two innocent flesh and blood—”

"Wait a minute!" Shen Yuzhu was startled suddenly, and interrupted: "You said 'two'—?"

The lady's silhouette froze on the tent for a moment, "That's right!" She said softly, "When I escaped from the Qi Palace, I was pregnant with... a pair of twins."

"...Twins?!" Shen Yuzhu suddenly stood up and said incoherently, "This, how is this possible—?"

Mrs. Zishuo said: "...that night the rebels were chasing after them, the mountain road was bumpy, and the guards were killed and injured one after another. I escaped from death, but...unfortunately, one of the babies was left behind..."

The madam nearly choked with sobs, and said in a low voice: "According to the situation at the time, I expected that he must have unfortunately died at the hands of the rebels. I am distraught. If there is still a child in my arms that needs to be nurtured, I really want to die. Although I He escaped to heaven, but he didn't have anything, and he didn't dare to show his face, so he took his youngest son to hide his name in the countryside, and lived a few years of poverty and peace..."

Shen Yuzhu listened to his wife's mourning, and thought of the pair of noble mother and son living in the countryside with short clothes and food, poverty, and having to hide in Tibet, worrying all day long, fearing that people would find out their whereabouts, he couldn't help feeling sour, and thought: "He It is said that he hates poverty and lowliness the most. It turned out that it was because of such ups and downs in his childhood. What was I doing at that time? Probably under the master’s wing of the Qingyan Mansion, I lived a life without worrying about food and clothing, and indulged in books.”

I also heard Mrs. Zishuo say: "... Who would have thought that there would be no pity, but in a few years, our mother and son were discovered by people, and they were tied up by the local villagers and dedicated to the local monarch. The monarch of that small country is greedy for money and power. I want to exchange my mother and son for gold and silver treasures from the King of Qi. I pretended to be perfunctory and said to him: "My lord, your calculation is wrong! The King of Qi regards my mother and son as a thorn in his flesh. If you expose our whereabouts to the Qi State, not only If you can't do anything, it will lead to the pursuit of the Qi State, please think twice!" Unexpectedly, he laughed and said: "Madam, please don't deceive me. It is not you who the King of Qi regards as a hater, but the young master next to you." .Although the former king of Qi inevitably met his brothers in the battle for the succession, he was given the posthumous title of "filial piety" only because he was able to restrain and bury Duke Huan properly in the end. The current king of Qi must be very willing to meet wise men Qi, welcome back father's wife to make offerings, so as to win the reputation of 'pure filial piety'?"

Shen Yuzhu pondered: "The monarch of this small country is very clear-headed."

Mrs. Zishuo said again: "I understood what he meant. I was so frightened that I trembled all over, and begged: 'My lord, please don't hurt my child! I have already tasted the pain of being separated once, Ruoqing The slave also made the slightest mistake, I am determined not to live!'"

Shen Yuzhu said: "Young slave?"

Mrs. Zishuo said: "Although my two children were born from the same family, the colors of their pupils are different. Keep the one beside me. His eyes are the most beautiful blue in the world."

Shen Yuzhu's heart skipped a beat, and he responded softly: "I know."

There are thousands of hues in the world, but Shen Yuzhu loves blue the most.It can describe the boundless sky, the unrestrained ocean, and the hair in full bloom. It often reminds him of living alone in the mountains when he was a teenager, and looking at the lush green forest through the window, and the companionship when there is no one in the middle of the night. Fluorescent lamp shadow.

He looked at the blue veins on his wrist, and thought to himself: "The same blood flows in our veins... Maybe this is the reason why I can't part with him after all."

The lady said: "The monarch said: 'Looking at the deep love of the lady, I will definitely not hurt the young master. Just to ensure that the lady will go to Qi State for me sincerely, I must leave the young man here. My side is a hostage." I have no choice but to submit. This small country is far away from Linzi, but in order to redeem the young slaves as soon as possible, I dare not delay the slightest. However, the road is difficult and dangerous, and there are wolfish and ambitious people who harass me endlessly. When I moved to Qi to rescue soldiers, I found out that the small country had been broken by barbarians. It is said that those savages who drank blood broke into the palace and burned, killed and looted for dozens of days. Show it to the public, and my young slave is also missing in this catastrophe."

Shen Yuzhu's heart was clenched tightly, and he asked: "Then he—?"

The madam mourned: "I returned to the Qi Palace with a desperate heart, and used the resources of the Empress Dowager Qi to search for his traces in the world. Heaven pays off. After many years, I finally found a figure among the six ministers of the Jin Kingdom. A familiar young man... Mr. Shen, you have seen him too, haven't you?"

Shen Yuzhu was in a trance, thinking: "For so many years, he has actually... been looking for me."

"Perhaps because of suffering too much wandering in the rivers and lakes, Qingnu's temperament has changed drastically, and he even refuses to recognize me as a mother..." Mrs. Zishuo cried, "Mr. Shen, if you see him again, can you persuade me Persuade him? What kind of rift is there that cannot be resolved? After all, I am his mother—we are blood relatives!"

The waves swayed gently, printing the mournful outline of Mrs. Zishuo on the curtain.Suddenly, an unprecedented impulse surged in Shen Yuzhu's heart.He wanted to see Luo Yi immediately.He wanted to see those gloomy and unpredictable pupils under the thick eyelashes, and he wanted to stretch out his arms to hug him tightly, like hugging that humble and homeless child in childhood, like hugging that child who was always out of place. , Walking alone.He even had a strange feeling that Shen Yuzhu was Luo Yi, and Luo Yi was Shen Yuzhu.They were originally one body, separated from the mother body by accident, and were separated by harsh fate.After all the hardships and obstacles they have gone through to find each other, why waste time on meaningless feuds?Shen Yuzhu suddenly felt that he could forgive Luo Yi for all the harm he had done to him, and he even had a kind of naive expectation that if he treated him honestly, Luo Yi would be willing to fight the past and accept him wholeheartedly...

His heart was shaking, his thoughts were running wild, and he didn't know where he was for a moment.But Mrs. Zishuo said softly: "Mr. Shen, I am a woman with no virtue and no ability. The most proud thing in my life is to have a pair of brilliant children like you and Qingnu..."

Shen Yuzhu seemed to have been stung, and his ears turned red: "How can you be sure that I am—?"

Madam smiled and said: "You think I have been inquiring and searching for so many years, is it all fake?"

She said softly: "Have you heard of the green clam? This kind of small insect lays eggs on the grass blades. No matter where the grass leaves fall, the mother green clam can always recognize the scent of her young. There are even legends that the mother and child The blood of the two insects is painted on the coins, and the coins will still fly back to the same place to meet after being used. I used to think that this was just nonsense, until I saw you... I didn’t believe it, this world will never Mistakenly admitting to my biological mother—it’s a pity that Xuan Weizi was killed by a traitor, otherwise, I would be able to restore the truth of the year and verify that what I said was true.”

Shen Yuzhu's heart was surging and he didn't know how to answer.Madam waited behind the tent for a long time, then sighed softly: "If that's the case, are you still unwilling to come back to my side?"

Shen Yuzhu murmured: "When I come back to you, I have to go to Linzi and compete with Wugui for the throne of King Qi?"

His tone was loose, obviously his defense had been shaken.The madam was overjoyed, but she didn't reveal anything on her face. Instead, she sighed and said, "You have good concerns. My situation is not as glamorous as it appears on the surface. The so-called supreme queen mother is just a ritual embellishment. That's all! Power minister Cui Zhu stares at me covetously, Zhong Lichun is wary of me in every possible way, I am alone in the deep palace, with emptiness under my knees, struggling to move, why would I have the face to drag others into the water and go to a dangerous situation together?"

She complained to herself and said, "What's more about this child whom I have not done enough to raise? It's a fluke that he doesn't hate me. How dare I have extravagant hopes that he will be willing to lend a helping hand and save me from the fire and water? "

This move of retreating into advance is very effective, and Shen Yuzhu really comforted him: "Madam, don't think so. As far as I am concerned, although I don't know my biological parents, I have never felt resentment towards them in my heart. If I can, I will Naturally, I am willing to share worries and relieve labor for Madam..."

"Really?" Mrs. Zishuo couldn't hold back the joy in her heart, and said in a trembling voice: "My good boy, right now I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. call……"

Shen Yuzhu said: "But the theory of the Nine Cauldrons is nothing, it's just a joke of the old master."

As if being struck by lightning, Madam said in shock, "You—what did you say?"

Shen Yuzhuyuan originally told the truth.In order to make Shen Yuzhu obey her orders, Mrs. Zishuo first used lures and then threats, but they failed to move her. The last move of reminiscing about the past and moving people with affection completely removed Shen Yuzhu's defenses.He didn't doubt him, and revealed all he knew.There are many curtains between him and his wife, so he naturally didn't know that Mrs. Zishuo's complexion changed violently, and she returned to her impeccable gentle smile, and sighed softly: "...In this way, Xuan Weizi has never I will tell you the whereabouts of Jiuding."

This sigh was so touching that Shen Yuzhu couldn't help feeling slightly disappointed, and thought: "If I really know the whereabouts of Jiuding, can I make her smile?"

He has always adhered to Huang Lao Yang Zhu's learning, with "lighting things and valuing oneself" as the standard, denouncing fame and wealth as rotten rats.But now that he knew his own life experience, he deeply felt Mrs. Yu Zishuo's earnest expectations, so he unknowingly gave birth to such thoughts.He fiddled with the peaches in the fruit plate unconsciously, and pondered: "There is another possibility, that is, I haven't figured out the mystery left by Master. It is said that before he died, he mentioned not only Jiuding, but also 'blue eyes'..."

He heard a faint chuckle from behind the tent.Mrs. Zishuo said softly: "Son, it's hard work for you to tell me so much. About this 'blue eye' story, let me help you clarify."

Shen Yuzhu was slightly taken aback, but Madam Zishuo said softly, "The story begins with Xia Yu..."

Everyone knows that Yu is the founder of the first dynasty "Xia" since the creation of the world, and the emperor respected by Kyushu Xian. "Yu" and "snake" are similar sounds, and in the ancient hieroglyphs, they are written as the same kind of winding and coiling footless insects.In ancient times, there were floods and it was the prosperous period of snakes.During the flood control process, Dayu kept company with this water-dwelling animal all the year round, and took it as an important sign to predict floods and droughts, and even invented the "Yu step" for surveying terrain under its inspiration.Xia Yu went out to control the floods for more than ten years. He was respected by Kyushu for calming down the floods that had been raging for a long time, and was elected as the co-lord of the world.In order to express his awe and gratitude to the snake, Xia Yu worshiped the "snake" as an auspicious auspiciousness for protecting the country. On the jade wares unearthed today, there are horned dragon totems transformed from snakes everywhere.

According to legend, Xia Yu had two sons, the eldest son was named Bao, and the youngest son was named Qi.Qi inherited the position of monarch and was in charge of military and political campaigns; Bao assumed the post of shaman and mastered sacrifices, divination and blessings.In ancient times, the wisdom of the people was not developed, and it was necessary to communicate with the gods through witchcraft to obtain guidance and answers, ranging from military and political decision-making to minor disputes between neighbors.Qi and praise support each other. On the one hand, they provide legitimacy for the royal power by monopolizing the divine power, and on the other hand, they use the armed forces of the royal power to maintain the inviolability of the divine power. Hold the power of the earth and the power of heaven firmly in your hands.Since then, the loose tribal alliance has gradually evolved into a country with a supreme will.

However, with the passage of time, Qi and Bao, brothers who were supposed to be close, developed suspicions and suspicions.Qi further expanded his territory in an attempt to establish a unique authority. In the end, he even mobilized troops to demolish the shrine and exterminate the descendants of Bao.Bao's descendants escaped from the capital, settled in a corner, and survived.Although the power has been weakened, it is still secretly accumulating power, trying to subvert the political situation and regain power.Later, Zhong Hui—a sage who was born on a thunderstorm night with a red snake tattoo on his body—assisted Shang Tang to overthrow the Xia Dynasty, and the Bao family once stood at the pinnacle of power.However, with the change of generations, the Shang Dynasty was destroyed by Zhou Wu, and the Bao family went into the dark to hide their strengths and bide their time.Until the reign of King Li of Zhou, the country was in turmoil, and the power of the Bao family, which had been dormant for a long time, rose up, inciting the riots of the people of the country again, and driving King Li out of the capital.However, due to the efforts of the princes of the Zhou Dynasty to turn the tide, the Zhou Dynasty narrowly saved the country.

"However, how could the Bao family give up so easily? After the failure of the abolition of King Li, the Bao people are actively preparing for the next subversion. The hero who rewrites history this time is a woman with green sleeves and a red dress. She planned every step of the way. It's a world-renowned show where mountains and rivers change hands. My child, have you already guessed who she is?"

Shen Yuzhu hesitated and said, "You mean...Baosi?"

Mrs. Zishuo said: "That's right. 'Hehe Zongzhou, praise and destroy it', overthrowing a dynasty with one person's strength, how many people are there in the world with her skills and courage?"

Shen Yuzhu was quite surprised by the undisguised admiration in Madam's tone, and said in his heart: "Although the history Madam said is quite different from the official history, there are many similarities. What's the eye' got to do with it?"

Madam seemed to have read what he was thinking, and continued: "The people of the Bao clan used to live in isolation for a long time and did not interact with other clans, and their physique gradually changed due to this. The most notable feature is that the pupils are often blue. Although The Bao clan has produced outstanding people and has lasted for hundreds of years, but our revival of the hegemony has not been smooth sailing. The most difficult thing is that there is an annoying force that opposes us everywhere. This is a group of hard-boiled silverfish that dominates the Bao clan , The feat of reforming the old and reforming the old has been obstructed in every possible way. Over the years, the leader of this force is a cunning and wise old man. He recruited a group of disciples who love to make trouble, recruited disciples from all over the world to teach vertical and horizontal spells, secretly cultivated his own power, and plotted to eradicate The forces of our clan lurking in various countries..."

Madame paused meaningfully.The cabin became silent for a moment, leaving only the outline of the woman carved on the tent, like a dark sky filled with rain.

Shen Yuzhu suddenly felt a chill, as if a huge thousand-legged centipede had crawled up his back.He forced a smile and said, "There seems to be no other such a bad old man in the world..."

Madam smiled and said: "That's right. Who can I learn from such a disgusting old man?"