fluttering night wind

Bai Yansheng moved slightly, suddenly felt hot all over, his limbs were weak, he usually maintained his strong body and solid foundation, never thought that he would be hit at this time, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.The Sun brothers comforted him a few words, then they also left and returned home.He looked at the window at this time, it was pitch black outside, the moon was in the sky, and it was already midnight.

Mencius Ying sent the man away, brought in a bowl of medicine, handed it to him, and went to the side to wring a wet towel.

Bai Yansheng leaned on the couch, drank the bowl of medicine, and asked: "Sect Master Sun came so late, maybe it's not because of my illness, is there something important?"

Meng Ziying wiped the corners of his mouth with a towel, and said, "Let's talk about it when you are better."

Unexpectedly, Bai Yansheng grabbed his wrist and said solemnly: "Is there news about Pei Xiu, don't hide it from me."

Ziying was taken aback for a moment, thinking that this could be guessed, so she had to tell the truth: "Dongping Mansion got a court copy during the day, saying that Pei Xiu's subordinates rebelled and voted for Meng Ye on the sixth day of the first lunar month. He was cut off and hung on the gate of Jingzhou City."

The empty porcelain bowl in Bai Yansheng's other hand lost his grip and fell on the mat, breaking it.

Seeing his pale face, Meng Ziying couldn't help annoyed that she shouldn't tell the truth, just think of any excuse to get over it.He hurriedly changed his words and said: "The residence report hasn't arrived yet, maybe it's just rumors, don't worry, I'll find someone to inquire about it tomorrow."

Bai Yansheng only felt that his mind was empty, and his heart was beating like it was about to struggle out of his chest.In the past dynasties, the words and deeds of the emperors and ministers were recorded in daily notes, which were originally not made public. At the end of the Xia Dynasty, due to various reasons, some of them were passed on in a public and semi-public form, which is called court copy.Different from more official official documents and palace newspapers, court transcripts are often only a record of a few words in court discussions, and they are not authoritative, but they sometimes play a role in detecting public opinion.For example, the center wants to implement a certain policy, but is afraid of local opposition. If it wants to test the truth, it often releases the court copy first. If the reaction is expected, then it will be logical. The mansion responded squarely.In the reign of Emperor Yuan, the north fell, and there were news of defeat every day. The courtiers felt ashamed, so all unfavorable news were only sent out to the court, and no official reports were issued. In fact, it was just deception and self-deception. As a result, the vulgar officials shook their heads secretly when they heard that the court copy was coming again.

Bai Yansheng said in a hoarse voice: "It has been one or two months since the sixth day of the first lunar month, why did Ting Chao arrive?"

Mencius Ying said: "The first month is the Empress Dowager's birthday, so she rests as usual. At the beginning of February, Concubine Qi gave birth to a prince, and she rested for another ten days. Jingzhou is thousands of miles away. Only the emperor and the three princes know the news. So what if they want to hide it?" transfer?"

Bai Yansheng thought to himself, even though Pei Xiu had foreseen today before leaving, it can be said that she died generously, but the imperial court treats the life and death of such a loyal old man so contemptuously and disrespectfully, it is chilling.Although Pei Xiu died in the hands of the traitor, she was not discouraged by the court.Loyal ministers and warriors, either constructing curtains, or rushing to compete in the battlefield, if they are a little careless, they will die at the hands of the master, which is really a great tragedy in life.

He struggled to get up, but Meng Ziying hurriedly stopped him and said, "I'll help you get what you want."

Bai Yansheng supported his arm, panted and said: "Bring me a thicker robe, and help me to the stables, I want to go back to Yongcheng."

Meng Ziying was so startled that she couldn't even finish her sentence: "You, have you lost your mind?"

Bai Yansheng clutched his chest, his face showing pain, Ziying had known him for almost a year, and he had never seen him so restless.Yan Sheng also knew that he didn't even have the strength to walk to the stables, let alone riding a horse, so he had to recount the situation in his dream, and finally he heard him mourning: "I'm worried about Yan Rong, I'm afraid that something will happen to her. matter, so entrusted a dream."

Meng Ziying didn't believe in the theory of strange powers and chaotic spirits at first, she didn't think so, and said: "Dreams are inaccurate, sometimes the opposite is true. Caring is chaotic. You must be too worried about my sister. I will find someone to go to Yongcheng tomorrow." Pick up Sister Bai, you can recover from your illness with peace of mind."

Bai Yansheng shook his head again and again, his face was blue and white, his forehead was full of sweat under the high fever, and he said tremblingly: "Since I received two letters from her in Dongping last year, there has been no reply since autumn. You don't know, Yan Rong and I are twins, sometimes it seems that there is God's will in the dark, and she hurts me too. I really don't feel relieved."

Meng Ziying was silent for a while, and said decisively: "If you don't worry about other people going, I will go to Yongcheng to pick them up tomorrow, do you think it's okay?"

Hearing what he said, Yan Sheng also felt that he was too unkind, so he lay down and kept silent.

Meng Ziying said so, but in fact, most of them were acting out of anger.He had a rough life since he was a child. He saw many brothers scrambling on the wall and sweeping the snow in front of the door. It was unreasonable to see the sound of wild geese, and he wanted to meet the famous Bai Yanrong. Even Yan Sheng didn't say hello, but only told Sun Shuye to send someone to take care of him, and set out on the road in anger.

From Dongping to Yongcheng, it will take 20 days at the fastest, but it will take one or two months at the slowest.Ziying walked half of the journey that day and settled in a place called Qing County.Although this county is not big, it is located in a thoroughfare and is very prosperous.Ziying led two horses into the city and walked all the way to the city.He was in a hurry, but he had all the things prepared. In order to arrive quickly, he specially brought two horses and changed trains along the way to save horsepower.I found the largest inn, settled the horse properly, booked the room, and asked for food in the lobby.

There were a lot of people walking back and forth in that store, and there was a mess of people's voices, only someone said: "You don't know, the heads of the dozen or so members of Pei Xiu's family are all hung on the city gate, and their bodies are exposed to the sun under the city. Thieves are not allowed to collect corpses."

Another person asked, "Was the woman also beheaded?"

The man put the wine bowl on the table, opened his eyes wide and said, "Not only is it a woman, but even his five or six-year-old grandson is hanging on his head."

Then someone laughed and said: "What nonsense are you talking about? Pei Xiu has only one son, named Pei Sixuan, who is not yet married. Where is the grandson?"

The man's face was slightly red, and he said: "Perhaps he is a child from his clan."

Meng Ziying took the steamed stuffed bun in one hand and the beef soup in the other, listening while eating.The person sitting at the table in front of him had just finished eating and paid the bill, and the waiter dumped a few plates of leftovers outside the shop, and a group of beggars who had been squatting and waiting in the corner swarmed up to pick them up and snatch them from the ground.Meng Ziying glanced outside, and saw a child standing in the corner of the wall, only about ten years old, not as tattered as a beggar, and his body was still neat, looking at the group of people and the things on the ground eagerly, with greedy eyes. Ruthless, but stood there motionless.

Meng Ziying felt that he was pleasing and kind-looking, so she took a chopstick and shot it from a distance, pointing at him, seeing him looking this way, waved to him again and again.Although the child didn't know why, he still came over.Meng Ziying waited for him to come to the front, took a meat bun on the table and handed it to him, the child's eyes were hesitant, his cheeks were flushed, after a while he whispered "thank you" and took the meat bun.Ziying pointed to the stool in front of her and said, "You can leave after eating here." He was afraid that if he returned to the group of people, his food would be robbed again.

The child was afraid that the dirty clothes would rub against him, so he carefully sat next to him, lowering his head and munching on the meat buns.

Meng Ziying was amused, put the beef soup in front of him again, and continued to eat her own food.At this time, the person from before said again: "It is said that Xiao Yuanzao, the great general of the Xianbei Conquest to the South, heard that there was a change in Jingzhou, and led an army of [-] to the south, and went straight to Xiangyang. I dare to discuss it with the old thief Meng. Grandma, is this so? Is it true that the naivety is going to be turned over?"

Meng Ziying took a mouthful of steamed stuffed bun stuck in her throat.

Someone echoed, "Now that Jingzhou and Qingzhou are all in Meng Ye's pocket, it depends on whether he can resist the invasion of Suolu."

"Although Jingzhou is rebellious, Meng Ye may not be able to take the hinterland of the Central Plains of Qingzhou. I don't think he can resist it, so he will definitely retreat upstream."

"You don't know the inside story. From the north to the south to Yongcheng, Qingzhou changed its flag last winter. I just came from the edge of Yongcheng and saw it with my own eyes."

Meng Ziying stood up abruptly and poured down the beef soup on the table, which shocked the children around her.While pressing the child's shoulder, he beckoned the waiter to clean up, and while the other was cleaning, he whispered to him about the situation in Yongcheng.

The waiter in the shop spoke very quickly, and said: "I also heard recently that the Shu generals burned and looted all the inside and outside of Yongcheng, and no fish slipped through the net, so there was no news all winter. After the spring, there are businessmen from there. Passing by, I was terrified when I saw the tragedy."

Mencius Ying felt her heart beating extremely fast, and asked, "Which general of Shu will occupy Yongcheng?"

The waiter in the shop said: "I don't know either, only those passing by said they saw the Chen Ziqi hanging."

Meng Ziying thought about it messily, there were several generals surnamed Chen under Meng Ye's command, and she didn't have a clue for a while, so she asked the waiter in the shop, "Which way is the shortest way to go from here to Yongcheng?"

The waiter in the shop was taken aback, and quickly waved his hands and said: "Guest officer, it's too late for people to hide, and you still go to the Hell of Hell, which is the road to the east. No one dares to go now, maybe they are all blocked."

Meng Ziying thanked him, and didn't bother to eat. He took the luggage and whip from the table and was about to go on the road, when suddenly his sleeves were pulled.It was the child sitting next to him. Ziying thought that he was not full, so she pointed to the table and said, "I have already paid for this. You can eat here slowly. I told the store not to drive you away."

The child shook his head, but asked: "Master, are you going to Yongcheng?"

Meng Ziying nodded.

The child suddenly knelt on the ground and said: "Master, please do me a favor and take me with you. I just escaped from Yongcheng. I can lead you the way."

Mencius Ying's heart moved, she pulled him up, and said, "Then why do you want to go back to Yongcheng?"

Tears immediately fell from the child's eyes, two lines of tears ran out of his ashen face, he choked up and said: "My sister and little brother are still in Yongcheng, although I escaped alone, I don't worry about them."

Mencius Ying saw that his face looked alike, and couldn't help trembling all over: "Is your surname Bai, and your name is Bai Yanfeng, and you have a sister named Bai Yanrong, and a younger brother named Bai Yanxing?"

The child suddenly opened his eyes wide and said, "How do you know?"

Mencius Ying said shyly and shyly: "I am the person sent by your brother Yansheng to pick you up."

It took a long time for Bai Yanfeng to react. With a twist of his mouth, he rushed forward and beat and beat, crying almost out of breath in desperation: "Why did you come, why did you come, brother, did you forget us all?"

Meng Ziying picked him up by the waist, put him under his arm, and walked to the manger, saying as he walked, "You are a masculine man, and you are not ashamed. Don't cry. Let's set off and find the manger." Your older sister and younger brother." Bai Yanfeng stopped crying, but kept sniffing, Meng Ziying got on the horse, protected him in front of him, pulled the reins, and the two horses rushed out of the market.

Along the way, Meng Ziying listened to him intermittently saying that it turned out that Meng Ye's troops had invaded Qingzhou in late autumn and early winter last year. Looting, the village where the Bai family was located was sifted three times, regardless of whether it was valuable or not, it was looted.The young people were taken away by the Latin men, and the patriarch took the old and the weak, women and children to hide in the mountains.Bai Yanrong and her two younger brothers also stayed in the mountains with the patriarch for the whole winter.At the beginning of spring, he returned to the village because he was worried that the harvest would be delayed for a year if the fields were barren.There was no food left at home, and the youngest Bai Yanxing had chickenpox, so Bai Yanrong gave Yanfeng all the useful things left, and asked him to go to Dongping to find Bai Yansheng. Yanfeng was only ten years old this year, and he struggled all the way. In Qing County, it is almost the same as a beggar.

Mencius admired secretly in her heart, as expected, women do not give up to men, Bai Yanrong's plan was right, smallpox is very contagious, there is a lack of medical care and food, it is better to leave one by one than die together.He thought again, Bai Yansheng was doing well in Linxi, if he knew that the family was in such a miserable state, how would he feel?

He and Yanfeng lived and slept all the way without stopping. It took Yanfeng ten days to walk all the way, and it only took them four days and three nights to go back. When they bypassed Yongcheng, Ziying glanced at the rammed city wall from afar. , Seeing that the flags are flying on the city gate, there are big Shu characters written on one side in the middle, and another flag with Chen characters beside them.

Bai Yanfeng saw the dilapidated house from a distance, before the horse stopped, he rolled off the horse and ran all the way into the yard.Ziying saw that the row of loess thatched huts, the east and west rooms had collapsed, and only the middle three rooms were still visible. Half of the roof tiles had been torn off, and the courtyard door was long gone, so he simply led his horse in.I only heard Yanfeng yelling in the main room: "Sister, sister, wake up, brother is here." He stepped into the room with one step, the walls were desolate, the roof leaked, and there was half a straw mat on the ground, lying on it. A five or six-year-old boy was unconscious, his face was flushed, his breathing was short of breath, and his face was covered with bean marks. Beside him, there was a young girl kneeling, leaning on the small table with one hand, as if she had fallen asleep.Yanfeng gently pushed her, but she didn't respond.

Feeling ominous, Ziying quickly stepped forward and pulled Yanfeng away, saying: "Your brother is sick, you are careful to catch the infection, go find some water and grass to feed the horses, I will come and see your sister and brother."

Yanfeng stepped aside and stood aside.Zi Ying touched Yan Rong's back, felt that the girl's body was still warm, so she patted it lightly, Zhi Yi's arm suddenly dropped, and she fell on the small table.Ziying hurriedly went to check her breath, her heart felt cold, and then took her wrist to hold her pulse, feeling at a loss.

After a long time, he turned around and said to Yanfeng word by word: "Your sister has already gone."

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