Lord Prime Minister

The desert is full of smoke, and the city is thousands of miles away.

Xingyuguan is a city that borders the territory of Daxing and the Huns. Although it is not rich, the tall city walls and garrisons make it impenetrable. This is one of the reasons why the Huns have not successfully invaded the city for decades, especially now. There are two generals here.

One is Long Lei, the great general who holds a heavy army, and the other is Long Lei, the vigorous cavalry general. The two are brothers, and they guard Xingyu Pass together. The most prosperous period of the Guang Empire.

"General Long, are you coming over tomorrow?" The tavern clerk asked with a smile while packing the dishes. General Xiaoqi is a frequent visitor here, and he will come here to drink whenever he has nothing to do.

Long Lei stood up. Several years of experience in the frontier made his body taller and his face more handsome. His facial features were sharp and angular, and his round and bright eyes grew from a fledgling tiger to a majestic one. lion king.It's just that this lion king has a good temper, with a smile in his eyes, and the wine in the frontier is very strong, even his cheeks are a little red at this moment.

He patted the boy on the top of the head and joked: "How can I come every day? If I run out of money, won't your shopkeeper kick me out?"

The little guy smiled. The shopkeeper really regards money as his life, and he can't lose a penny.

Long Lei staggered out of the tavern, the sky was getting late, and the wind and sand had already blown outside, so fascinated that he couldn't keep his eyes open.

Having been here for almost ten years, Long Lei unconsciously touched the sachet in his arms, thinking about going to the military camp outside the city.

I don't know how she is?

Long Lei was unwilling to be sent here forcibly by his brother, but a sentence in the letter made him stop thinking about going back, and he came to the frontier honestly, starting from a small soldier, until he is now a general of Xiaoqi.

Guard the frontier for her.

It was this sentence that made Long Lei wipe away his tears and come here.Changed the way of protection, using my own strength to support her a peaceful and beautiful life, at least behind my back, she is happy.

Every time the Xiongnu repelled them and entered the palace, a mark was engraved on the inside of the armor on their body. Now this armor is also full of notches, and Long Lei has forgotten to count how many times he blocked the possibility of ruining her happiness.

Taking a deep breath, Long Lei shook his head to clear his head, said hello to the guard guarding the gate, and went out and turned a corner.

Without the barrier of the city wall, the wind and sand blew even bigger.

Long Lei looked up, the barracks was still far away, and in the distance in the wind and sand, a bent figure walked slowly towards this side, looking shaky.

When he walked to Long Lei's side, the figure became even smaller, with his waist bent and a gray coarse cloth cloak covering his body, his entire face was blocked, only his gray hair was exposed, and his thin figure looked like it would be blown by the wind at any time. blown away.

"Auntie, are you going back to the city?" Long Lei supported her and stood firm, the wind was so loud that he had to raise his voice and asked.

The hunchbacked figure froze for a moment, and nodded.

Long Lei looked up and saw that there was still some distance from the city gate, seeing that this aunt might be blown down by the wind at any moment. "I'll take you there."

"Thank you...thank you."

Her voice was unexpectedly youthful, and it sounded out of place with her mottled black and white hair.

Long Lei felt a little strange, and helped the woman walk carefully towards the city gate.

I don't know if it was because the wind and sand were too strong, or the evil spirit on her body when she went into battle frightened the woman. She walked cautiously and her body was stiff.

"Mother, where did you come from?"

"Military camp." After waiting for a while, the woman whispered, afraid of being misunderstood, she hurriedly explained: "I...I help the soldiers in the military camp to wash...the clothes."

Long Lei turned sideways and listened, and heard that in recent years, there will indeed be women from the city going to the barracks to help soldiers wash clothes, and he once saw it from a distance.

"It's really troublesome for you. You don't have to come here in the future. Those people can wash themselves."

"No..." The woman rebuffed, her voice urgent. "I am willing to come and wash your clothes. There are no women in the military camp. How can a big man know how to wash clothes?"

"I will." Long Xiu laughed.

After a while, the woman asked again: "I... look at your armor, you are a general. Have you ever thought about marrying a daughter-in-law to help run the house?"

"Auntie, how do you know that I don't have a wife?" Long Lei turned sideways, blocking the wind and sand that was blowing harder and harder, and said with a smile, "I have a wife."

The woman was obviously taken aback, her muscles tensed, and she listened. "You... When did you marry a wife?"

Long Lei also stopped, and said frankly: "I didn't marry a wife, I have a daughter-in-law, but she married someone else."

"If you are married to someone else, how can you be considered your wife." The old woman relaxed and said in a trembling voice.I don't know if it's because of the wind and sand, but it sounds a little choked up.

"I say it counts."

The woman suddenly lost her voice, and her body trembled violently.

"Okay, ma'am." At the gate of the city, Long Xiu stood at the gate. "It's been windy and sandy these days, so you should not come to the barracks again."

The woman nodded, and slightly loosened the cloak on her body to reveal a pair of eyes, which looked familiar.Seeing that Long Xiu turned to leave, his eyes showed anxiety.

"Why don't you go to her...your wife."

Long Xiu stopped, "I'm not going, I'm here to defend her against the Huns and protect her for the rest of her life."

After speaking, he grinned again, and said, "Ma'am, speaking of it, your voice is a bit like hers. I couldn't hear you clearly in the wind and sand just now, but now it sounds really similar."

The woman quickly lowered her head and pulled her cloak to cover her face. "Yeah?"

Long Xiu lowered his head and listened carefully again, and it really sounded more and more like it, but she would not appear in such a desolate place, nor would she be an old woman who looked nearly forty years old.

Shaking his head, he turned and left, probably because he missed her too much recently.

The old woman stood at the gate of the city and watched Long Lei's figure disappear little by little in the wind and sand. She turned around and walked in slowly until she could no longer see him at all.After walking along the tall city wall for a while, she couldn't help but squat down, her beautiful eyes were already full of tears, the old woman finally wailed with her back against the wall, her cloak fell down, revealing a young but slightly The weathered face, but there was a long wound on that face, spanning the whole face, looking terrifying.

While crying, she took out a pendant from the neckline and held it in her hand. The heart-shaped stone had been rubbed smooth, but she still held it in her hand.

How could she still recognize Long Lei after she had become what she is now.

When she came to the frontier alone through hardships and saw her reflection in the water, she didn't dare to let Long Lei see her now.Even she herself would be afraid and disgusted, and she didn't want to see the same expression in Long Lei's eyes.

But she still couldn't bear to leave, she just wanted to stay by his side.He mixed into the women's team, and went to the barracks every few days to help the soldiers wash clothes. After a few years, the smooth palms were cracked and covered with calluses, the hair turned white, and the body became thinner.But if you are lucky, General Xiaoqi, whom everyone admires, will pass by the river where the clothes are washed.

She can look at him, become taller and more stalwart, become more mature and stable.Then, get farther and farther away from yourself.

He lives outside the city, and she lives inside the city. Although they are separated by a city wall, it seems like a world is separated.

Long Lei thought that he had supported a healthy side for her who was far away.

But she lived in a simple and low room, and ran around in the military camp, just to fulfill her own tiny wish.

On the other side, Long Lei finally arrived at the barracks, and Long Xiu came looking for him before he could sit still.

"I'm going back in a few days. The emperor is seriously ill, and he hastened to call me back to the palace." Long Xiu still held the letter in his hand, walked into the tent and said.

"Is it because you are afraid of the commotion among the officials?"

"Maybe, after all, the current crown prince is not the emperor's son." Long Xiu thought for a while, and continued: "Miao Tong may also go back."

Long Lei laughed when he heard that. "It's been so long, brother, you really don't have any ideas? The Seventh Princess followed you here without saying a word."

Long Xiu was silent for a while, shook his head, and handed over another letter in his hand. "This is given to you by the emperor."

"And mine?" Long Lei took a sip of tea, took it and opened it casually.

"Look first, I'll go and pack your luggage." Long Xiu stood up, thinking that he could go back to Beijing and go to Ji County to see Mu Zihuai, so he couldn't help being excited.

Long Lei looked at it, then stood up and ran out.The letter paper fell to the ground, and there were only a few short lines on it, which were written by the emperor himself.

Long Lei:

Wenmei left the capital ten years ago, so she probably arrived at Xingyuguan long ago.It's my fault that I was impulsive and didn't keep her.These years, the border war has been urgent, and I have never dared to mention it. Now that the war is stable, you must find her and treat her well.