How clear is life

***

Long Yi farewell, on the upper floor of Jingshu, the bright moon is like water.

Fine wine and clear songs, you can't linger, and the moon follows people thousands of miles.

Don't come three times, lonely and full, who will get drunk when left out?

Rolling bead curtains, looking sadly at the shadows, there is no sleep in the Ming Dynasty.

***

"Mr. Qi, this is a dog—" someone else introduced.

The young man looked at him, his eyebrows were raised, he knew everything without saying anything.

The young man who hadn't seen him for three years seemed to be more mature and stable. There was a distanced smile on Mianshan's face, and there was a folding fan on his right hand. When he opened it, he saw a green and black ink landscape painting on the front.

Xiao Nian didn't know that the other party still had this interest. It can be said that he didn't even know enough about the young man to know that the other party was a counselor.He is obviously only three years older than himself, and is even more playful than himself, but why...

Why……

***

Three years ago, in the bustling downtown, there were pedestrians everywhere, Xiao Nian cleverly avoided all the streets where the guards at home might exist, threw off his personal guards, and hid under the big tree to secretly watch those anxious homes. The guard searched for traces of himself, and couldn't help laughing.

Thinking of this, I can buy the bows for children on the market that I have been wanting to buy for a long time.Crossbow, my heart is jumping for joy.After jumping for joy, he touched his sleeve pocket and looked for his money bag, only to find that he didn't even have a copper coin except for the jade bracelet on his wrist. Everything is paid for by the guards.

Too bad, how can I buy this?This bracelet was given by my mother, it is impossible to pawn it off, and he dare not pay it on credit.

"Hey, kid, did you sneak out?" A refreshing voice came over, matched with the swaying leaves, the sound of salad, originally quiet and nothing happened, suddenly startled Xiao Nian .He raised his head, but his eyes were covered by the falling leaves. After frantically pushing aside with his hands, he found that it was a young man sitting on a branch of a big tree with his legs dangling in the air, covered by a light blue robe. With the boy's original attire, the family crest of the original boy's family cannot be seen, which also conceals the boy's identity along the way.

"I, I didn't sneak away!"

"It's from Xiao's family." The young man nimbly jumped down from the tree, stood taller than Xiao Nian by half a head, squinted his eyes, "Why, didn't you bring any money?"

Xiao Nian: "It just happened to be spent!"

Boy: "It's not good for children to lie like this."

Xiao Nian: "Aren't you a child too!"

"Me? I'll be crowned in three years." After tidying up his own robe, the boy laughed.Although there is nothing to be proud of, growing up for a few years still gave him a sense of superiority.

Xiao Nian said angrily: "I only have a few years left." I just don't know if six years count as a few years.

"Okay, okay, then now I'll call the guards to come and pick you up, you brat who has no money, stay at home for a few more years, and come out when you reach the crown."

After finishing speaking, the young man pretended to shout.

"Hey!" Yan Nian panicked and stretched out his hand to cover the other person's mouth, his voice became quieter, "I just want to go out to buy something, if the guards are around, my father will definitely scold me." He thought of his father's eyes wide open and his mouth crooked Get up and complain that he "only knows how to play children's games" and "is not a talent".

The boy smiled and asked, "Then what do you want to buy?"

Yan Nian licked his lips, hesitated for a while and said, "The Zhuge bow and crossbow in the market over there..."

Pfft, the boy really wanted to laugh so shamelessly, that thing would be called Zhuge Gong.crossbow?To be able to call it a bow is to be worthy of it. At most, this craft is to cut the wood, put on a small leather stick, and shoot it a few feet away.You must know that the Zhuge crossbow is a continuous crossbow, one crossbow with ten arrows. Compared with this kind of little thing that deceives the little ghosts in the countryside, the craftsmanship is not known to be many times more cumbersome.Should it be said that he doesn't go out all year round and can't even figure out the door, or that he is innocent, lively and cute and always curious about things?

"Hi, I'm Shan Nian, what's your... name!" Shan Nian wanted to call him but didn't know what to call him, and didn't want to call him "Hello" rudely, so he asked after hey.

"The major general of the Xiao family... Just call me Ayan." The boy didn't react much when he heard the other party's name. He curled the corner of his mouth and said something that he didn't know if it was a nickname or a baby name, but he didn't say his last name. .

It may be due to the disparity in status, the other party said so to avoid embarrassment.Therefore, Xiao Nian was very sensible and didn't continue to ask, but he was thinking about the son and young master of the nearby family who were about the same age, who seemed to have no name...

"If you want to buy it, I have some money here..." The young man ignored him, and reached out to dig in his pocket. Seeing him digging, Yan Nian couldn't help but stare at his pocket and swallowed it. Saliva: How much money will there be in it?A piece of silver, gold, or something else?

Sure enough, there are others.

A Yan took out a few copper coins from his purse, and he smiled when he took them out: "Ah, I didn't expect to be rich, I thought I didn't have any."

What kind of money is this!It's obviously just to tease myself!On the spot, Yan Nian wanted to scold the other party and leave with his sleeves.

Seeing the other party's face getting more and more ugly, A Yan said, "Don't do this, I'm serious, I'm rich."

"where is it?"

"Come on, come with me!" With a smirk on his face, A Yan stretched out his hand to hold his hand, and then quickly sprinted back and forth from the narrow path.At the beginning, Yan Nian was afraid that A Yan would be spotted by his own guards and arrested if he walked around like this, but after walking a few turns, none of the guards caught up.It was a coincidence as if the route had been planned intentionally.

They finally stopped by a small square, where several old men were leisurely setting up a chess game, and a small flag next to it marked the word "chess".

The mess?Xiao Nian has seen this kind of place more than once.

"Uncle Zhou, here I come again!" A Yan smiled and sat on the futon opposite an old man, with a chess board between them.With his legs crossed leisurely, he lightly dropped the only copper plates in his hand into the money tube one by one, and said slowly, "I don't have enough money today, so let's start with the simplest ones!"

The old man known as Uncle Zhou twisted his face and said tremblingly, "Master..."

"Hey, hey, don't be fooled, but when you get to the back later, please be merciful to Zhou Bo's subordinates. The money you brought this time is not much, it's only enough for the next game, and you can't afford to lose." A Yan Smiling, he piled the chess pieces on the opposite side.Hearing that the opponent insisted on playing, the old man had no choice but to grit his teeth, and without further ado, set up a game from the side bit by bit.

Looking at the old man's game, Xiao Nian's eyelids twitched. Although he has seen the game played by other people, but this kind of game...is it "simple"?Could it be that he was cheated.He just wanted to remind Ah Yan to be careful of deceit, but he saw that the other party picked up the chess piece lightly, just like when they first met, with a well-thought-out plan.

The car is on the three-way horizontal line, and the double elephant is on the center line.After seeing it, A Yan lightly moved the rook, forming a situation on the chessboard where the rook beats the horse.This is the basic skill, the old man has already dealt with it like flowing water, silently killing a carbine.

……

... In the end, Ayan won a big victory, and then won the old man game after game.Xiao Nian didn't even know how he won. He usually came with his uncles, but they had no power to fight back at the end. Every time they came, they were defeated.Enough is earned here, and the two of them will take the money they have earned back to the place where they play Go to break the mess.

Xiao Nian is now more and more curious about who the other party is, at most it is a commoner, and it is definitely not a related class such as farmers in the mountains.A Yan not only shines in chess, but also earns a lot of money in Go.The old people who provoked the situation yelled that he would just mess things up if he came again.If Xiao Nian hadn't come back to his senses and pressed his shoulders and said that the money was enough, the young man might have made these old men faint.

"Those old men are very narrow-minded, and the game needs to be magnanimous, otherwise how can this chessboard hold it!" A Yan curled his lips, "What's more, those games are very famous, and they are much more boring than wild games. But this time It's been a long time since I broke the game, and I'm a lot rusty, and I have to study hard when I go back." At the end of the sentence, the voice became smaller and smaller.

But his dissatisfied expression was like those old men begging him to play chess, Xiao Nian couldn't laugh or cry.A Yan raised his head, carried the bulging purse with a smile and said, "Xiao Xiao, let's go."

"Ah? Oh." It was only then that Yan Nian realized that the young man's chess skills had reached the point where he could not hold a candle to him, and the old man's Chuhehan world was just a child's play for him.

Dang Xiaonian took over the cheap bow that the other party bought from the market.When he touched the crossbow, he couldn't help smiling.He borrowed money from the other party and returned it later, and finally got what he had been thinking about for so long. He thanked him repeatedly and wanted to go home and have fun.

Back in the banyan forest where we met, I read the Zhuge bow hidden in my clothes.The crossbow was plugged and plugged again and again, and after repeated confirmation that it would not be discovered, it was ready to go out to call for guards.Suddenly someone behind him shouted: "Xiaoxiao, when are you coming again?"

Oh oh oh I forgot to pay back the money!

Yan Nian squinted his eyes and thought about the time, then shouted at the other party: "Tomorrow is not the time!" After waving, he thought about whether he could ask for some money from the guard, and then ran away.Halfway through the run, I suddenly remembered that I hadn't asked the other party's identity and family name. When I turned back, there was no sign of anyone up and down the large banyan tree.

As soon as we got back to the square, the guards ran over and complained respectfully: "Major General, where have you been? The general promised you to come back in half an hour. Now that the time is up, the general will definitely be angry!"

Thinking of his father's appearance when he was angry, Yan Nian was terrified: "Yes, yes, we will go back now." After finishing speaking, he paused, looked at the guard and said slowly: "Um... do you have money?"

"Money?" The guard looked suspiciously at the major general who asked him for money for the first time.

In the late afternoon of the second day, Yan Nian just went out and used the excuse of going to the toilet. After finally getting rid of the guards, he immediately dodged under the banyan forest, calling Ayan loudly, and just after calling three times, there was a "pop" beside him, It seemed that something had fallen on the ground, kicking up pieces of dust. After the yellow sand slowly dissipated, he realized that what fell on the ground was a book—"Eternal Endgame"—the book that the old man used to play chess last time. of.He followed the place where the book fell and looked up.

The boy in the light blue robe grabbed the trunk of the big banyan tree and hesitated whether to jump down, and smiled awkwardly: "Xiao Yan, oh, it's a good thing you're here, pull me down quickly, I don't seem to be able to get down. "

"Then how did you get up there?" Yan Nian looked at him and asked.

A Yan smiled: "Don't look at me like this, I am a top-notch tree climber! It's just that if you change a tree, you can go up, but you can't get down."

Xiao Nian didn't wait for him to say a few more words of defense, jumped up into the air, tapped his toes on the branches, and leaned into the tree three times and two times. After sitting firmly, he wrapped his right hand around the other party's waist and said, "I said three times." Jump down."

A Yan was a little flustered seeing the other party's posture, and quickly stopped: "Hey, hey, hey! Wait, wait, let me prepare, this tree is quite tall. Don't scratch your waist first, I am more ticklish, you scratch like this It makes me feel itchy, but to tell you the truth, I am also quite afraid of this height, although I like to climb trees, but when I get down from them, I just—————————————

Xiao Nian impatiently waited for the other party to finish yelling, and leaned forward hugging the other party, and jumped straight down from the tree.A Yan's heart rose to his throat and pressed against his teeth. He almost flew out and fell back to his left chest. When he stepped on the ground, he didn't feel it. It took a while before he remembered and asked Xiao Nian: "Say yes." What about three? Let’s forget about one or two, not even three!”

"I counted them in my head."

A Yan looked at this stubborn boy who was three years younger than himself, and couldn't help but reached out and patted his head: "Thanks anyway."

If it weren't for him, I might not know if I fell off, and my brother would read the borrowed robe if it was torn.

He bent down to pick up the book on the ground, patted the cover and put it in the tree hole of the big banyan tree without looking at it, pretending not to care.

A money bag with an elegant light patina pattern suddenly blocked his sight.

Xiao Nian: "For you."

"What?" A Yan took his hand away and looked into the other's eyes and asked.

Yan Nian curled her lips: "I'll pay you back." She thought to herself, maybe this guy forgot.

"..." Ayan's eyes were blurred for a while, he really forgot, and it took a long time before he suddenly realized: "Oh, I treat you as my invitation."

"I'll give it to you." Yan Nian stuffed the money bag into the opponent's hand.He could see that Ayan's martial arts were far from being weak, they couldn't reach the level of being unsatisfactory, and he couldn't even climb down a tree. This kind of kung fu is definitely not a child of a big family, who can learn "Eternal Endgame" and the like The chess book, at most, can be regarded as a companion boy or something.Xiao Nian thought, if you borrow someone else's money, you should pay it back. How can there be any reason to take advantage of others and not pay it back?I also stuffed a little extra money, so I used it as a subsidy for the other party.

A Yan said, "I'm sorry, you're welcome," and put the money bag into his arms.

Then he said, "Where are we going to play?"

ha?

"Play?" Yan Nian thought that if he paid back the money, he would be driven home by the other party.What's more, as a book boy accompanying me, it's really good to be so free!I don't know why, but now he is very firm in his identity as the companion of the other party's book boy.

"The penniless young master of the Xiao family doesn't want to go out to play? Every day he is locked at home, or goes out to practice martial arts, and there are guards following him all the time. Isn't this more lively than going to the market?" A Yan raised his eyebrows, with a smile that was not a smile, "What's more, the emperor recently sent a favorite minister here to be an imperial envoy to investigate the people's sentiments. There must be many new and interesting things in the market. You really don't want to go and see it?"

Although the other party's statement made him a little uncomfortable, he did agree with the second half of the sentence. Every time a high-ranking official came, the place was a little busier than usual.Last night, there were fireworks exploding in the sky, and red, yellow, blue, and colorful sparks flew in disorder. The flowers at the turn of spring and summer are not as gorgeous as them, which is really beautiful.

Because of his father's strictness towards him as an only seedling, he has never had a chance to make friends who can go to the market together to make trouble.His friends are all stern-minded guys who only know about martial arts and books.And I have wanted to go crazy and play for a long time.

Xiao Nian hesitated for a while, then nodded in agreement.After agreeing, he did not forget to make a request: "However, only play for half an hour." If it was later, the guard would scold him, right?

All the way along the road is a remote path, A Yan is not good at climbing over the wall, every time he encounters a dead end, Xiao Nian will take him there skillfully.I don't know if I have poked the other person's itchy flesh, A Yan couldn't stop laughing every time he was wrapped around his waist.

Arrive in no time.

The bazaar was indeed much more lively than the previous few days. After noon, many people came out to open shops and set up stalls.Yan Nian felt jealous when she saw this, and she also wanted to see that. She wanted to play with everything, and she didn't know how to refuse or bargain with the shopkeeper.But when he came this time, he didn't bring any money except for paying back the money, so A Yan acted as a money bag again.

"A Yan, I'll pay you back tomorrow." Yan Nian embarrassedly bit a bit of candied haws, and straightened the mask he was wearing on his head.

"Okay!" Ayan waved to him.

The two separated again, waiting for the next meeting.

From then on, Xiao Nian's guards figured out that his major general threw off the guards and sneaked out for half an hour, and then pretended to come back, so he simply turned a blind eye to him.Every time the major general urinates, he doesn't bother to mobilize people to find him, because he will definitely come back in half an hour, and then obediently go to the martial arts training ground to practice with him for two and a half hours, and the attitude and efficiency of martial arts training are more muddled than a few days ago I don't know how much better my condition is.

The Major General has more smiles and energy, which is a good thing.

Recently, the major general asked himself for some money, but he asked several times and said he would pay it back.Mysterious for so many days, go out to play every day, bring money every day, and then pay back the money every day?Can't you make some snacks and bring more yourself?

Anyway, he was also his master (son), and the guards didn't ask any more questions, and helped him hide the general very well.In the report, it was only said that they went out to practice martial arts every day, and the major general worked very hard, practicing for half an hour at a time without rest.

Xiao Nian and A Yan meet under the big banyan tree at the end of the day, and occasionally A Yan would call "Xiao Xiao Xiao Xiao" to let Xiao Nian take him down from the tree, and he couldn't stop laughing after being hugged.He went to the market every day, bought all kinds of things, and saw a lot of things in the world. He remembered that he forgot to bring the extra money every day, and returned to him every day.

They also sometimes talk about their future ideals and goals. Ayan’s favorite poet is Su Dongpo, and by the way, he also likes to eat Dongpo’s meat the most; Yan Nian wants to defend the territory, protect the country, and do a good job seriously. The duty of the family.

The two have different temperaments and different identities, but they are not talking about each other, but they are discussing from people's livelihood to rivers and lakes, poverty to wealth, and the warmth and warmth of human relationships.Xiao Nian has never discussed this kind of topic with anyone so enthusiastically, but he thinks that even if the other party is just a bookboy-like person with a lot of fireworks, it is good to talk to him.No matter the content or the object, I don't mind.

Later, Xiao Nian often thought that she always didn't bring her own share of money, maybe it was because she wanted to find an excuse to hang around the other party, and it took a day to grind.

In this way, the two met every day for nearly a month.

until one day.

The two played for half an hour, and Yan Nian was about to go back to find the guards, but A Yan suddenly said: "Tomorrow...no, don't come here in the future."

Yan Nian took a bite of the warm meat buns, and still held a pile of meat buns in his arms, all of which were bought from Wang's Baozi Shop, which specializes in bun business, and the two of them queued for a long time.He was puzzled: "Why?"

"In the future...the weather will be bad."

A gust of wind blew by in response to the occasion, and Xiao Nian reflexively protected the bun in his arms.

"I still have to pay you back... A Yan, you...don't want to lend me money anymore? Don't lie to me."

"No, it's not about this." A Yan looked away, although he might not be out of money, but there were still few things he kept from him.

"Ayan," Yan Nian called out again, "I'm curious about your home. If you keep it from me, I can keep it in my heart and not ask. But if you have any doubts, you don't have to keep it in your heart. You can tell me of."

Why don't people worry about you like this.Yan Nian still wondered, did A Yan suffer wrong at home in the mansion, was beaten and scolded by his master or something?If the other party is also willing, he can make a request to his father to ask or buy A Yan to be by his side.The family property and reputation of the Xiao family are well-known in the state, even the prince of the princess has to give some face.After thinking about it again and again, this kind of thinking simply slandered the other party and made him a bit worthless.

His Ayan is a living person, not a measurable commodity.

"Yeah." A Yan responded, then said weakly and softly, "Anyway, don't come. I have disturbed your practice for so long, and General Xiao will find out in the future that you are not easy to deal with." Then he continued: " It's getting colder recently, and I won't come here again...it's cold on the tree."

Xiao Nian didn't know what to say, when the time came, if he didn't go back, the guards would find him directly.He had no choice but to nod, turned around and left with the meat bun in his arms.

A Yan stood under the tree, watching the figure of the other party shrink and then disappear from sight.He let the autumn wind blew by, causing the blue robe to swing left and right, revealing half of the clean light emerald collar.

There seemed to be something in his eyes that wanted to pop out for a long time, he quickly raised his eyes, held back those shiny things and pretended to be looking at the weather, the corners of his mouth curled up, thinking, well, didn’t Su Dongpo also say "make a return date" God has promised."

Then he closed his eyes and said with a smile: "It's really... the sky is going to change."

One didn't hold back, and tears flowed down from the corners of his eyes.

As a return date has been promised.The spring shirt is still the same, Xiaoman's needlework, once wet from the rain in the West Lake.

When Yan Nian saw the guard, he immediately slapped the buns in his arms onto the opponent, and the guard hurriedly caught them one by one.

"You eat it all!"

The guard was stunned when he heard this sentence: "Major General, how much money do we need to bring tomorrow?"

"I won't go." Yan Nian hangs his head in front of him, his back looks so lonely and lonely.

"Ah?" The guard gnawed on the meat bun, secretly praised the deliciousness of the meat, and then asked quietly, "Could it be that you and that young master...have a problem?"

Xiao Nian understood instantly, and was a little annoyed: "Are you following me again?!"

"The humble job is also the responsibility, but I look at that young man with a very kind face." The guard followed Xiao Nian with Baozi in his arms.

"You know Ayan?"

"Ayan..." The guard wanted to say something, but when a name popped up, he immediately denied it, "I don't know about the humble job..."

People from the small family may not be remembered even if they are young masters, let alone someone who is accompanied by a book boy.Xiao Nian knew, so he had to wait for the other party to say it in the future.

On the second day, there was a strong wind outside the window, thunder and thunder, and the bean-sized rain hit the ground. The carriage outside passed by, and the wheels turned and splashed water and mud.Yan Nian looked at the rain outside at home, thinking that he really worried too much yesterday, the other party just said that the weather was bad and he could think wildly.Today is just the autumn rain that fell after the fire in July.

He curled the corner of his mouth and smiled: "As expected of my Ayan, he has a clever plan."

On the third day, when Xiao Nian went back to the banyan tree, he only saw "Eternal Endgame" in the hole of the familiar big banyan tree, which was brittle due to the rain all day. The small sachet was bought by two people who went to the market together a few days ago to take care of the little girl's business.Miss that sachet that was exactly the same as him was still hanging on his waist.

He stretched out his hand to untie the other party's sachet, took a look inside, and then twirled the contents with a few fingers

The little girl used all good materials, but even the best materials lost their original luster.Calamus, Angelica...all lackluster.The charming aroma of the dark red petals is gone, and there is no taste at all.

Fragrance, like his master, was completely gone.

From that day on, no matter when Xiao Nian went, he could never find the lazy figure reading and sleeping on the banyan tree.

He also didn't hear the other call his name, tell him to carry himself down from the tree, and then laugh because he scratched the itchy flesh.

There are more and more friends he can go to the market with, but the original people are gone.

He occasionally read Su Dongpo's poems, and then tasted the other party's favorite Dongpo meat.It was the first time I was persuaded by A Yan to poke two chopsticks in the restaurant, and I felt very tired. This meat is not the taste of the general's mansion, nor does it suit my taste.Now I can swallow it without any water, and now when I go home, I ask the cook of the general's mansion to serve a plate of Dongpo pork every week.

He had looked for him, and asked the guards to ask him from door to door, but unfortunately, the guards accompanying the bookboys of every family in the county didn't know about this "Ayan".

He never expected that he would experience the story of "the wave is soft and the wind is soft, but the old man stands in the fog for a long time".

He thought he would never see "A Yan" again.At most, he carries a sachet to see things and think about people, and then gradually forgets the touch that has appeared in his life as time goes by, and piles it up in the corner of his memory like all the people who accidentally appeared in his life Wait until it turns gray.

Until three years later, he appeared in front of him with another identity.