fluttering night wind

In June of the first year of Jianping, the summer solstice had just passed due to the wind and rain. The city of Ganjing was rarely bathed in sunshine for a few days, and on the ninth day of the lunar new year, it began to rain again.

The palace is closed, and a middle-aged man in white cloth and deep clothes and a plain onyx crown is waiting to be called under the corridor.The dark clouds turned to ink, and the white rain jumped to the bead, which wet his robe sleeves in a short while.He looks fresh, looking thoughtfully at the swaying olive trees in the royal garden.The wind and rain were heavy, and many unripe green fruits fell from the tree.

There was a sour taste in his mouth, and his heart was even more miserable.

A palace supervisor came out and respectfully said: "Prime Minister, Your Majesty has already taken a nap."

He was slightly stunned, then pushed the person in front of him away, and strode into the hall with the sword on his waist.

The prime minister and general of the Cheng dynasty, Pei Lie, the Duke of Zhou, was bestowed by the imperial court, but he was not famous for his praises, and he went to the palace with his sword.

It was miserable and rainy outside, and the house was not much better.Inside the gloomy hall, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old young emperor sat on the dragon chair, looking through the memorials on the desk boredly.These memorials have the same tone over and over again: Zhou Guogong Pei Lie expelled the northern captives and cleared the two rivers. He did not reward him. Please follow the example of Yao and Shun, and Zen is in his place.

Pei Lie walked into the hall, did not kneel down to salute, but just cupped his fists and said, "Long live..."

As soon as he uttered this word, the young emperor raised his head, raised his eyebrows, and lazily said: "Long live? Since ancient times, there is no such thing as a long live day. Please stop talking nonsense."

When Pei Lie saw his too similar eyebrows, he felt restless, so he lowered his eyes and said: "I just received the urgent report, and my brother Pei Shao decided to make a desperate plan. He crossed the Yinping Road three days ago, and the soldiers came to Jinguan Under the city, the destruction of Shu is just around the corner."

"Hmm~" Jianping Emperor Bai Qiongyu replied, with not necessarily much joy on his face.After a moment of silence, he said lightly, "Remember to bring my sister Huang back safely."

"Yes."

"What reward do you want?"

Pei Lie looked up at him violently, his eyes were far and deep, and three words kept rolling on the tip of his tongue, but Tianwei should not be offended.

Emperor Jianping sneered and said nothing, suddenly swiped his elbow, and swept a seal stone on the imperial case to the ground.The jade stone fell to the ground with a clang, Pei Lie's face changed drastically, and when Fei flew forward to copy it in his hand, a small corner of the jade seal had already fallen off.

When the man was alive, he said to them: We want peace in the world, not a family.

Success doesn't have to depend on me, jade broken righteousness is not alone.

He is everywhere in this hall.

"Three days later, I will hold a celebration ceremony for Jin Guogong Pei Shao. Ten days later, the Zen throne will be with you." Emperor Jianping said calmly, "I can't give you anything else. Kneel down."

The emperor was lying on the tall dragon chair without interest, thinking about his thoughts. He is only 16 years old this year, and he has only been emperor for less than half a year. He will be forced to usurp the throne by powerful officials.

If time could go back 30 years, he would be very curious about what his wise and powerful father, the founding emperor of Dacheng and Emperor Xuanwu Bai Yansheng, was doing and thinking about when he was his age.

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In the [-]th year of Emperor Chongming of Yuan Dynasty in Daxia, Yingchuan County, Qingzhou, in February and March in the early spring, the weather outside Yongcheng was clear and peaceful, and the scenery was leisurely and beautiful. Scholars went out together, white clouds were in the sky, Nanshan was there, and the waves in the endless paddy fields were as smooth as a mirror. Ridge seedlings form a row.

The passage of carriages and horses attracted many farmers who were plowing in the fields to stand up and watch, but they felt the fragrance bursting, the bells ringing, and the prayer flags floating, and they were all envious.Only a young man in a blue shirt in the northwest corner did not bend over. He skillfully pulled out weeds and snails, splashing a lot of mud on his arms and rolled-up trouser folds.The warm spring breeze blew a strand of his hair down to cover his eyes, he brushed it away with the back of his hand, and threw a handful of weeds on the edge of the field.

There was a shout of "Brother" from a distance, and he stood up, but at the age of fifteen or sixteen, the sky was full, and his eyebrows and eyes were picturesque.A girl came running on the ridge of the field, dressed in green and yellow, with white cheeks and dangling buns, holding a bamboo basket in her hand. The two of them had almost [-]% similar eyebrows, but the girl was a little thinner.

The neighbor laughed from a distance: "Yan Sheng, your sister delivered the food on time."

The young man's name is Bai Yansheng, and his younger sister is Bai Yanrong, they are twin twins, they looked at each other and smiled at this moment.Yan Sheng patted his hands on the mud, wading over, Yan Rong stretched out his hand to pull him, but he didn't want to get his sister's hands dirty, so he just pushed on the stem lightly, turned over and landed beside Yan Rong.

When the weather was fine, Yan Rong took off her apron and spread it on the floor. She took out a bowl of mustard biscuits and a plate of pickles from the bamboo basket, as well as clay teapots and teacups.The two sat down on the edge of the field.

Yan Rong propped her hands on both sides of her body. They were at the height of the terraced field. At a glance, the field was like a chessboard, and the people were like chess pieces, as small as ants. She couldn't help sighing: "People are so small. I don't know Huishuo, the mayfly is only three days."

Yan Sheng also looked forward, casually said: "I saw you kneeling for a long time in front of your mother's spirit last night, what did you promise?"

The wind blows in the mountains, the pine waves burst, and the springs wash the stones. Only a lonely voice said: "First, I wish my father a healthy body. Second, I wish my family happiness. Third, I wish the world peace."

This day, because I got up early on purpose, Yan Sheng quickly finished the farm work in the field after dinner, and Yan Rong also cut and picked some spring leeks and mountain mushrooms nearby, and put them in a basket. Grab medicine.

Their Bai family can also be regarded as a local rich family. Although they came from a poor family, their ancestor Bai Jian made great military exploits at the beginning of the founding of the Great Xia Dynasty.However, in recent times, the number of children who entered the imperial court as officials has decreased, and their official positions have gradually declined. When Bai Heng, the father of Yansheng Yanrong, was an official in the defense of Yongcheng, he was just a city gate official, which meant that his family was in decline.

The brothers and sisters walked arm in arm for a while, and gradually saw a mottled gray wall with mixed brick and soil, a round arch in the middle, and a stone plaque on the door, with the word "Yongcheng" written on it, and people flowed in and out of the arch. out.This day caught up with the rally, and a market spontaneously formed at the gate of the city.As soon as the two entered the city, they were stopped by someone. A village soldier with his helmet hanging crookedly ran down from the city gate. He was Bai Heng's former subordinate and came to ask Yansheng about his father.

Yan Sheng exchanged pleasantries with him, and Yan Rong walked towards the market with a basket.There were many people kneeling and sitting in the dusty sky, with miscellaneous things in front of them, both sides of the bargaining were ragged and dirty, and they were futilely haggling over one or two copper coins, which made Yan Rong's eyes sore.She was born and raised here, and the town wasn't what it was just ten years ago.The people were clean and not unkempt, their faces were disheveled, the market was peaceful, there were not so many refugees, and the supplies were fairly abundant, including chicken, duck, fish, sea and land delicacies.

She was about to wipe away her tears, when she lowered her head and put two pairs of bright yellow satin cloud-toed shoes in front of her, with the word "Buddha" embroidered on them, a person in front of her said: "Brother, look, these leek buds are very fresh."

Yan Rong looked up and saw two well-dressed gray-clothed monks pointing into her basket, she cried out inwardly, took half a step back, and whispered: "This dish is not for sale."

Hearing her words, the man raised his eyebrows and raised his eyes and said loudly: "Is it for sale or not? Do you dare to give it to the Buddha?" Seeing her hiding the basket behind her back, the other man was even more annoyed, and raised his sleeves high. As soon as she raised her hands, Yan Rong's eyes flashed a sharp light, but when she heard a clear whistle, the monk's hand was instantly held back, and a figure flashed forward.Bai Yansheng stood in front of his younger sister, stood still, and immediately withdrew his hands, so fast that the monk didn't know what was blocking him, and his arms were thrown away.

The two of them settled down before listening to Bai Yan's voice: "Buddha is merciful, this girl is an idiot, it's hard to enlighten me." As they spoke, they pulled the bamboo basket and handed it to the two monks: "The cause of all suffering is greed. Eliminate greed and have nothing to rely on. May the Buddha bless you."

He gave up his belongings and greeted people with a smile on his face. The two monks also saw a Chengmen Lang running over, and they didn't bother to make troubles. They grabbed the basket and left cursing.

With a flick of Yan Sheng's sleeve, he easily took out an Emei thorn from Yan Rong's palm, and put it in his arms calmly.Yan Rong didn't dare to look at him, but stared at the distant figure, his eyes hardened.

The city gate man on duty was familiar with the Bai family, ran over and spat on the ground, and said, "These old bald thieves are used to being lawless and waiting for their retribution. Sister, are you alright?"

Yan Rong responded, and peeked at her elder brother, Yan Sheng was expressionless.

It has been ten generations since Buddhism was established in the Central Plains.There are thousands of image pagodas and temples.Ever since the Yuan Emperor crossed the river, he had been a believer in Buddhism. In order to go to the Paradise of Ultimate Bliss, he built magnificent temples everywhere, which caused endless damage. More than [-] monks and nuns were buried in mud and sand.The laws of the Xia Dynasty stipulated that if monks and nuns violated the law, they would only be punished according to the internal laws of the monastery.Yan Rong knew that she almost made a big mistake in a fit of anger, she waited for her brother to say goodbye, and followed behind without daring to speak.

The crowd dispersed, and there was a tall man leaning against the city gate, with a felt hat wrapped around his head, the brim of the hat was so low that half of his face was covered, he was unshaven, and he held a sword in his arms. Attracted, he stopped and saw the actions of the two brothers and sisters in private. He felt it was funny, and said lightly, "What a pair of interesting twins."

On the gray street, Yan Rong tried her best to catch up with her elder brother, sticking out her tongue to please her: "Brother, return the Emei stab to me, I won't dare next time."

Yan Sheng stopped to look at her, with a smile in his eyes, and said: "There is something wrong with the road, why don't you dare to go to the restaurant with a knife. This thing is dangerous, I will keep it for now, let's talk about it when I go home."

Yan Rong walked with him for a while, and suddenly yelled, attracting everyone's attention, Yan Sheng said helplessly: "What's the matter?" Seeing that her eyes were red and crying, she said: "Before I left, I also put the purse on the bamboo. It's in the basket, the money to buy medicine for Dad."

Yan Sheng was also dumbfounded at this moment. After he was stunned, he saw that his sister was about to gnaw her silver teeth into pieces with tears in her eyes, so he sighed, took her hand and said, "Let's go, I have a solution." My younger sister turned into an alley, and there was a shop at the bottom of the alley, with the word "Dang" on the banner.

Bai Yansheng entered the pawn shop, untied a dark dagger from his waist, and handed it over.There was no one in the shop at this time, Yan Rong stopped crying and said timidly: "Brother, this is the ancestral sword of the Bai family, why not take it as my Feiyan Concentric Jade." As she spoke, she pulled out a section of red rope from her chest, and the rope At the end, a white suet jade ring is tied, and a pair of geese are carved in the ring, with overlapping plumes and feathers flying across the ring.

Yan Sheng hurriedly stopped her, stuffed it back, and said: "Don't show others the dowry your mother gave you." The two siblings tugged, and a bunch of copper coins were patted on the counter above their heads: "Eight hundred yuan."

After buying the medicine, it was getting late, and the brother and sister hurried to the thatched cottage outside the city.In the evening of spring, the breeze was warm, the sound of insects was fresh, and Yan Sheng heard Yan Rong nagging along the way: "What a pawnshop, I don't know the goods, it's only [-] yuan", with a smile on his lips all the time.He and Yan Rong are twins, their facial features are not as beautiful as Yan Rong's, but their temperament is more gentle. Both of them are described as resembling their mother, like a boy under Guanyin's seat, and they are the famous "human appearance" in this eternal city.

On the way home, Yan Rong found a blood-stained pheasant in the grass. She cheered, raised her feet and shook wildly. The pheasant was attacked by wild animals and managed to escape here. After rolling his eyes a few times, he simply died.Yan Rong wrapped the pheasant in an apron and jumped all the way home.

There is a small village at the foot of the Nanshan Mountain outside Yongcheng, which is called "Baijia Village" because most of the residents are Bai surnamed.The three cottages of Bai Yansheng's family are in this village.Before he reached the door, he heard a baby crying in the courtyard, Yan Rong went to the kitchen in the east wing, and the sound of geese went to the main room.

The kitchen was dark, except for the fire on the stove. A seven or eight-year-old boy was forking grass behind the stove to light the fire, with a baby on his back.Seeing Yan Rong come back, she hurriedly jumped out from behind the stove.Yan Rong saw that his head was covered with straw like a monkey, she rolled up her sleeves and said: "I'll cook it here, Yanfeng, you go to clean the pot, what happened to the geese, are you hungry or did you bully him?"

The third child of the Bai family curled his lips and said, "No, he just peed on me."

Yan Rong ordered him to change the diaper for the youngest. Before going out, Yan Feng saw the cloth bag on the stove, and he reached out to lift it, and asked Yan Rong to slap him, but he was very happy when he saw the dead chicken. Said: "Sister, where did you come from? Isn't it forbidden to kill?"

Three years ago, the Yuan Emperor issued a ban on killing and hunting for meritorious deeds, and all fishing and hunting activities were banned. Therefore, there are no live animals in the food baskets of the common people in the market. This devout Buddhist has been a vegetarian for three years, and everyone looks disheveled.There are even hunters and fishermen who have no way of making a living and are in great pain.

Yan Rong quickly lit the fire while snorting: "Damn it, I picked it up on the road, don't want it for nothing."

Yansheng entered the main room and offered incense to his mother first.His mother was also a well-known lady in the Northland, she had a lot of bleeding when she gave birth to the twins, and she left before the full moon of the siblings.They were brought up by concubine Teng brought by their mother. The two brothers and sisters became Bai Heng's continuation after they became sensible, and gave birth to two brothers, Yanfeng and Yanxing. Not yet one year old.

After offering incense, he went to the back room to greet Bai Heng.The room was lit with soybean oil lamps, and it was dim and yellow, reflecting the face of the patient on the bed even more haggard.In his early years, Bai Heng adhered to the tradition of "earning fame immediately" of the Bai family, and was also well-known in the army. It happened that the northern captives were raging, and the Yuan Emperor moved three times. When the army came, I had to go back to my hometown and do a small garrison.In the early years, the root cause of the disease fell in the army, and then it turned into tuberculosis, which was very troublesome.

When Yansheng entered the room, he just heard his heart-piercing coughing, and hurried over to rub his father's back and rub his chest, and told him that the soldier who went to the countryside at the city gate today said that the master agreed to pay his salary in a few days .Bai Heng was only in his early forties, and he contracted this disease, but he was as old as if he was over fifty years old. When he raised his eyes and saw Yan Sheng's waist was empty, he asked, "Where's the sword you carry?"

Yan Sheng habitually touched his waist before remembering to stay in the pawnshop, and then said: "I went to work in the fields today, and I forgot to bring it when I got up early."

His father nodded and told him: "Our Bai family are the descendants of military generals. We should not learn from those vagrants, who spread powder and smear Zhu, and act like women in motion. Swordsmanship must be practiced frequently. If you don't practice for three days, you will grow thorns in your hands. .”

Yan Sheng nodded yes.After a while, Yanrong cooked the food and brought it in, and put it on the cattail mat in the house. Each person had a bowl of barley rice, a plate of pickles, a few pancakes, and a large pot of inexplicable soup, with a layer of oil floating on the surface of the soup. Exudes a seductive fragrance.

Yanfeng knelt on the cattail mat and swallowed a big mouthful of saliva, but he didn't dare to move his chopsticks.Yan Rong took a Hubing, filled a bowl of soup, put it on a plate and brought it to Bai Heng.Yan Sheng helped Bai Heng to sit up, and Bai Heng asked: "What kind of soup is this?" Yan Rong said in a low voice: "Fresh mushroom and chicken soup."

Bai Heng took a sip, frowned, and said solemnly: "Did you kill?"

Yan Rong looked at Yan Sheng as if asking for help, Yan Sheng said: "It's a pheasant picked up on the road. It's been dead for a long time, so it's fine."

Bai Heng was originally in poor spirits due to illness, but at this moment his eyes suddenly became sharper, Yan Rong didn't dare to gnaw, and just lowered his head.Bai Heng knocked down the food plate with a wave of his hand, and the soup spilled all over Yan Rong's body, and he drank it: "I don't respect the king's order, I don't listen to my father's words, I am not loyal, I am not filial, I am not a woman, I, Bai Heng, don't have a daughter like you."

Two lines of tears fell down Yan Rongxiang's cheeks, and Yan Sheng wiped the soup off her body, only to hear Bai Heng sigh and say: "Eating it is breaking the law, telling it is not allowed, take it and bury it. Yan Rong, you at night Stop eating."

Yan Sheng hurriedly patted the girl, and said softly: "Go quickly." Then he turned to Yan Feng and said, "Hurry up and eat, pack up and feed the fourth child." The big pot of soup was brought out.

Yan Sheng served Bai Heng to eat, Bai Heng stopped after a few mouthfuls, suddenly remembered something, and said to listen to Yan Sheng.Yanfeng was frightened that night and lost his appetite. He ate two bites hastily and packed up the dishes. go down.Yan Feng rubbed over, saw her face was wet from crying, and said: "Sister, I left you a pancake..." Before he finished speaking, Yan Rong suddenly reached out to fish out half a chicken from the puddle of water He picked it up, took off a piece, put it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed, and handed the rest to Yanfeng and said loudly: "What kind of world is this, let people live. Xiaofeng, eat it, and the married girl will eat it." The water that goes out will be retribution and retribution on me, anyway, I am not a Bai family."

Yanfeng was so frightened that his face turned livid.Yan Sheng served Bai Heng to sleep, and was going to cook medicine in the East Kitchen, when he came out, he just heard these words, and leaned against the door in a daze.

From the splendor of Chunhua to the cold smoke of green grass, this autumn, the little Yongcheng garrison passed away suddenly, with a worried face and unfurled brows when he died, leaving behind four children to face the stormy storm that would never end in the summer At a loss.

When Bai Heng died, the oldest child was only fifteen years old, and the youngest was just over one year old. He became an orphan in the blink of an eye.Fortunately, the Bai surname is also considered a rich family, and the funeral ceremony was performed by the respected elders of the township party clan, so Bai Heng's funeral did not lose dignity.When it was time to return to the burial, the parents joined the tomb, and Yan Sheng carried the mound of the grave by himself and planted pines and cypresses without the help of the villagers.Yan Rong carried the geese on her shoulders, holding Yan Feng in her arms, and wept miserably, and everyone who heard it was heartbroken and wept.

According to the law of Xia, the parents will keep their filial piety for 25 months. After the burial, the Bai family will close their doors and keep quiet.After more than a month like this, Yanrong was sweeping the courtyard at dawn, and saw a man in Tsing Yi outside the courtyard gate, about forty years old, with a big burden on his shoulders, dusty and dusty, he couldn't stop looking into the courtyard.

When the man saw her, he quickly saluted and said, "Excuse me, is it Master Bai Hengbai who is the garrison of Yongcheng?"

Yan Rong answered yes, and opened the bamboo fence, the man was overjoyed and took out a famous thorn from his arms, saying: "I am a member of Li Wenbo's mansion in He County, my name is Li San, and the master of the family has ordered me to bring it to Lord Bai. "

Bai Heng's spiritual tablet was parked in the main room. After Li San kowtowed, he took a piece of earthen ritual right with him as a thin offering, and Yan Rong put it in the west chamber, and searched here and there for a gift in return.Yansheng boiled water and made tea for the visitors.Sitting on the mat, Li San saw two small heads protruding from the door, and couldn't help asking: "Is it the third and fourth sons, how old are they?"

Yanfeng retracted his head again.Yan Sheng came over with tea and said: "The boy is rude. One is seven years old and the other is two years old. How is uncle and aunt? How is Hejun doing now?"

Then Li San thanked him quickly, and said: "Master and Madam are in good health. The master was favored by the Lord the year before last, and he entered the capital to serve as the servant of the Ministry of Industry. He was burdened with mundane affairs, and his relatives and old friends neglected him a lot. I thought of Master Bai a month ago. , I ordered the villain to come to say hello, who would have thought that the villain came to the Yongcheng government office only to find out that Master Bai had just left, this is a pain for the young masters." As he spoke, his eyes turned red, and he looked sad.

Li Wenbo was originally an ordinary magistrate in Hejun's prefect's mansion. At that time, Li's family was not as good as his own, and his father often helped out. Unexpectedly, Li Wenbo was later promoted to prefect, and his walking became less and less, until three years ago, the news was cut off. , It turns out that the whole family has moved to Beijing.He saw that although this servant was dusty and dusty, his clothes and shoes were half new, and his behavior and speech showed that he had seen the world.From being the fifth-rank prefect to being the fourth-rank servant, let alone being a Beijing official, it's no wonder that he is so arrogant.

He knew in his heart that high-ranking officials and nobles only allowed them to condescend and be intimate with others, and did not allow others to be presumptuous and impolite, so he was very careful in dealing with them.

Then Li San wiped his tears for a while, and suddenly said: "Before I came, the master wrote a handwritten letter, and I told the villain to bring it to Master Bai to personally open it. Now I will leave it to the eldest son." He dug out a letter from under the bag. .

The author has something to say: It seems that if I open a hole, I will die. . .