Mustang

Five months after I left the capital, Mr. Zhang suddenly appeared in the music workshop.

"Why did you come to Suzhou suddenly?"

"I went to Jiangning to visit my brother, and I came to see you by the way. I have something to tell you."

Something very disturbing came to me.Maybe it was to allow time to calm down, or maybe it was just to avoid delays, so I invited him to sit and talk in the backyard of the band.

We sat down in front of the stone table in the courtyard, Mr. Zhang took the long wooden box that his entourage had been carrying, and pushed it in front of me: "This is from Chunchuan."

I breathed a sigh of relief, and opened the box to look at the piano inside: "Is he okay? When you go back, thank him for me——"

He hung his head, not responding.

"What's wrong?" I sensed something was wrong, "What happened?"

"He's gone."

"What does it mean that you're not here?" I stared at him, "Didn't you and he... both say that the little prince likes him and won't kill him?"

"It's not the little prince, it's—" he couldn't say it, "it's someone sent by the Ninth Prince."

"Father?" I was extremely confused, "Father has passed away, how to send someone to kill him?"

"The prince entrusted this matter to others before his death, so people have been chasing Chun Chuan."

Mr. Zhang said that shortly after I left, the palace was attacked by assassins.The assassin went straight into Chun Chuan's room in the middle of the night, raised his knife at the person on the bed—unexpectedly, another figure sprang out from the window, turned over and went to the bed, and blocked the knife for the person sleeping on the bed.

The person lying on the bed is the little prince, and the person who was cut is Chunchuan.

"At that time, he was bleeding a lot. After the bleeding was stopped, he was in a coma for three or four days. The doctor said that he might not be able to hold on. In the end, he still woke up. I went to see him. He had a fever, crying and thinking about it. Going to Jiangnan, I want to see you."

I can't speak.

Mr. Zhang went on to say: "I really couldn't stand it anymore, so I bribed the doctor and asked him to make Chunchuan's condition more serious. Then, I told the prince that I don't know how long Chunchuan can last, why don't you let him see you for the last time, He fulfilled his wish. Unexpectedly, the prince really agreed, arranged a carriage and accompanying doctors, and planned to send Chunchuan to you personally."

"And then? Why—"

"The night before leaving Beijing, when they were resting on the side of the road, another assassin came. The prince said that everyone else was sleeping in the car at that time, and only he and Chunchuan were sitting on the embankment. During the fight, Chunchuan wanted to protect The prince fell off the embankment, and the assassin fled when he saw it."

"Did you find him later?" I asked.

Mr. Zhang nodded: "I found it. They walked more than ten miles downstream along the river and found it on a rocky beach. But when they found it...the whole body was already soaked in water. , and his face was bloody and bloody because he hit the boulder. The prince didn't bring the body back to the capital, so he cremated it nearby."

Suddenly my chest tightened, my mind was in chaos, my throat was dry and astringent, and I couldn't make any syllables with my mouth open.

"After the prince returned to Beijing, he burned all his belongings, and only this qin was left behind. This qin—" He stroked the strings of the qin, "after you left Beijing, he bought it with the reward for his first performance. At that time, he never expected to see you again, so he left it with me and asked me to bring it to you when I went to Jiangning. Later, thinking that I could come to Jiangnan to find you, he happily asked me to send it back to him, saying that he would Hand it over to you."

He smiled wryly: "Probably... there is no destiny."

After Mr. Zhang left, I took the qin he brought and went to the Pingjiang River.

My horse left me a sword, my crane left me a harp.Is this really a dream?I questioned the slowly flowing river.If it wasn't a dream, why the ups and downs so far?If it wasn't an inexhaustible dream, why did you give me the most lingering and charming scene first, and then suddenly smashed all of them, leaving me alone to be engulfed by love and fall into this boundless sea of ​​bitterness forever?

Fate, destiny, and impermanence, I can't think about such grand life questions.At this moment, I am just selfishly and cowardly letting myself indulge in the memories, and the emotions and love that can no longer be suppressed are gushing from the bottom of my heart.

I regret.Why do I always have to run away?And why didn't they run away with him?Even if he is unwilling, even if he is worried about me, even if he wanders all the way and ends up in pieces, I should tie him up, tie him up, and let him be with me.

At sunset, I returned to the music workshop in a daze.

As soon as the little girl learning pipa saw me, she shouted, "Master Yun is back!"

Master came over and took the qin in my hand: "Have you seen that little brother?"

"I have seen."

"Is he staying with you today?"

I shook my head: "I have set off to go back to Jiangning. He brought a carriage and servants, and my house can't accommodate him."

"You mean the Mr. Zhang who came in the morning? I'm not talking about him, but the little brother who came alone at sunset."

"Perhaps it was sent by Mr. Zhang to deliver the letter." I said.

"Probably not. With a burden on his back and a sword on his waist, he seems to have just come here after driving a long way. I asked him where he came from and what he wanted from you. He said he was your friend and came from the capital, but His accent—it doesn't look like a person from the capital."

The little girl also came over and pointed to her eyelids: "That man has a mole here!"

I was taken aback.