Fragments of Tales of Central Continent

"I heard orchid leaves in the past according to the dragon picture, and the orchid forest in Fudao attracts young phoenixes. Honggui swallows go to the purple neck to rest, and the green leaves dry when exposed to frost." In the government office, in a quiet place in the back garden, spring orchids grow, why Gu Jing watched for a long time , Momentarily sentimental.

"Why is the military commander so pessimistic?" The voice came, and Shen Chengshan appeared in front of him again.

He Gu didn't answer, stood up and cupped his hands, "Congratulations to the general for winning the soldiers and horses of the four states, and will soon control the entire eighteen states of Jitong."

"Hahahahaha, the military advisor is too polite. If there is no military advisor, how could things go so smoothly?" In one sentence, it was a compliment or irony.

He Gu just remained silent.

"Okay, the military division has been here for a day. Counting the time, the other three commander-in-chiefs should be arriving soon. Let's go and complete this last step."

He Gu raised his head to look at the sky, and under the yellow sun, a red light was beginning to appear. It turned out that he had been here for a day without knowing it.

Shen Chengshan's footsteps were fast, and He Gu felt his excitement and eagerness.Walking from the back garden to the vestibule, in the lobby, He Gu saw the anxious look on the prefect's face, and at this time the people beside him were no longer the entourage of the past.The moment the magistrate saw He Gu, his anxious expression was replaced by helplessness and unbearable.In any case, he never thought that this storyteller would have such an identity, let alone that he would put the entire Jitong Mansion in danger.But...he still had expectations for He Gu, and there was a look of expectation in his eyes again.

But He Gu didn't react at all, with a calm and indifferent face, he followed behind Shen Chengshan very silently, Shen Chengshan sat down, and he stood respectfully aside.

Shen Chengshan was very satisfied with this.Tormented by the Heart-eating Poison Gu, the impact of the past, seeing the dejected look of the man who once conspired with gods and ghosts, he felt that he had defeated him, and he felt the pleasure of revenge.Then, news came that made him even happier.

"Report! The three chief soldiers have arrived and are waiting outside the door."

"Hahahahahahaha, good, good." Shen Chengshan clapped his hands and smiled, "Let the three of them come in."

"Yes."

In a short while, the three chief soldiers had followed the passer into the lobby.And from the moment they entered the lobby, the atmosphere immediately dropped to freezing point, and the air suddenly became tense.

"Who are you? Dare to sit on the lobby!"

"Oh, me? Who am I?" Shen Chengshan spoke lazily, with arrogance and a little complacency. He crossed his hands and pointed three o'clock with his right index finger. He stood up and stood on the lobby. Slightly squinting his eyes, looking at the people outside the hall, he showed a sinister smile, "Hey, who did I think? Isn't this General Xu Ji? Why, I haven't seen you for a few years, so you don't recognize me?"

The other party was also calm, and returned a contemptuous sneer, "The general of the defeated army, the king of the subjugated country, Shen Chengshan of Beixiao is already a dead man. Who knows where are you!"

A few or two sentences, a sharp knife and a spear, all stabbed at the most sensitive pain in Shen Chengshan's heart.Shen Chengshan's expression changed drastically immediately, and he didn't say any more. He gave an order, causing swords to come out, and blood spattered on the spot.

"kill!"

But the next moment, amidst the more turbulent voices, a look of astonishment appeared on the face of Shen Chengshan who ordered.Surprised, he took a few steps forward and looked at the open gate of the government office. The large number of soldiers pouring in were all dressed as officers and soldiers. It's officers and soldiers.And then, among all the officers and soldiers, he finally saw a few familiar figures tied to the ground.

In an instant, the situation reversed.

Shen Chengshan's face was full of disbelief, he took a few steps back, and the regained sense made him understand who was behind the trick.A pair of angry eyes looked at He Gu behind him, "It's you!"

In stark contrast, He Gu was unusually calm. He raised his head slowly, his eyes were as quiet as the deep sea, and he said in a cold voice, "Chengshan, have you forgotten, the love between you and me?" During this time, I have always been the master planner."

"Qi Huan!" Shen Chengshan, who had tasted betrayal again, was furious, and he raised his palm to strike He Gu!But the rushing fist was easily blocked in front of He Gu, and with another blow to fight back, Shen Chengshan was knocked out of the hall.

The prodigal son is merciless.

"Are you okay?" Looking back, Feiqing said another word of concern.

"It's okay, thank you." He Gu thanked him, walked out from behind Feiqing, looked at Shen Chengshan who had been bound outside the hall, and said with a sad sigh: "Chengshan, Jitong has four quarters of the military power in the eighteen states, and it is me Who do you think it was prepared for to remonstrate with Emperor Liang?"

It turned out that the four divisions of military power in Jitong's eighteen prefectures were an illusion. As a military fortress in Central Continent and a natural barrier, the division of military power was not conducive to fighting against other enemies.However, He Gu remonstrated that the four divisions of military power are just a trap, and it is also a cover to prevent someone from commanding the military power to rebel. On the one hand, this will allow the ambitious people to see an opportunity, and on the other hand, it will trap them in how to remove the military power of the four directions. In the trap of deliberation, time is wasted.But in fact, the military power of Jitong's eighteen states has never been dispersed, and Emperor Liang secretly sent people to take charge of it.And this person is Xu Ji, who has been in secret contact with He Gu.

"Qi Huan! Don't be complacent, you think I really trust you, I still have soldiers..."

"Chengshan!" He Gu interrupted him, "You are still so easy to be complacent, thinking that you have the chance to win, you spent a whole day waiting here. No one was going to invite the other three general soldiers today. What is General Xu Ji doing?"

"No, it's impossible, how do you guys know?" Shen Chengshan looked at He Gu in disbelief, and suddenly noticed the prodigal son beside He Gu, "It's...it's you?"

"Chengshan, you have no chance, admit defeat."

The overall situation has been decided, and all games are lost.The original hatred and self-confidence in Shen Chengshan's eyes sank down, turned into consternation, into panic, into despair, and fueled even more intense hatred.He struggled to stand up, struggled to break free from the rope, struggled vigorously, and roared at He Gu, roaring, "Qi Huan! I will not let you go! You die too! You die too!"

Seeing him almost insane, General Xu Ji ordered someone to take him down.

At this time, the sky has darkened again.He Gu looked at Shen Chengshan's unwilling and frantic figure when he was taken away, and listened to the furious roar, all of this declared: he succeeded, successfully pushed the brother who once lived and died together to death again.Suddenly there was a surge of energy and blood in his heart, and a certain feeling surged again, he tried his best to suppress it, and murmured in Shen Chengshan's direction: "Don't worry, I will accompany you."

Feiqing beside him felt something was wrong, and when he went to see him, he was vomiting a mouthful of blood.

"He care!"

The moon star is thin, and the black dragonfly flies south.

In the guest room of the government yamen courtyard, the doctor frowned, why did he take care of it.

Feiqing stood aside, looking at the pale-faced He Gu, lost in memory——

Just last night, He Gu, who knew Feiqing was hiding in the dark, called him out.At that time, He Gu changed from the previous night's coldness, and returned to his usual gentle and easy-going.He thanked Feiqing with a smile and apologized for what happened the night before.And when he opened his mouth, he still used the title "friend".

Feiqing glared at him at the time, but He Gu pretended to be surprised, "What's wrong? Why is my friend unhappy? Friend? Friend?"

"You!" Feiqing was about to be pissed off by him, and he gritted his teeth and reiterated: "I said before, the prodigal son Feiqing will never make friends with others all his life, we are not friends."

When he said this, He Gu's face immediately turned ugly, and his words returned to his coldness, "Oh? So that's it, then Your Excellency wants me to pay it back. I never like to ask others for help. I owe it to you." Your Excellency also knows about other people's favors. But when we meet by chance, we are neither relatives nor friends, so if you help me in this way, you are forcing me to embarrass me. Fortunately, I have prepared wine." When he got angry, He Gu raised his hand and wanted to drink the wine The altar was smashed to the ground.

Feiqing rushed to stop her, "You! Why are you so stubborn?"

"how about you?"

"If I am stubborn and refuse to be helped by others, then what is your self-isolation?"

"I... I didn't close myself."

"No? Then why don't you want to have a deep friendship with others? You can help others to this extent, why don't you admit that you are friends? Why don't you dare to face it?"

Feiqing dodged his eyes, refused to answer, and turned to leave.

"You can go. But why don't you like to owe favors to others, and I will definitely pay you back tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow is the finale between you and Shen Chengshan, what do you want to do?" It was the first time Feiqing saw He Gu's aggressive appearance, and he was more determined than the previous coldness.

"You know my story, can I understand yours?"

One sentence is tough, one sentence is gentle.

Unable to resist He Gu's hard and soft tactics, Fei Qing returned to his seat, filled a glass of wine and drank it, and after a long time, said slowly: "In the early years, I used to have a very good friend. We were young and unrepentant, with the same spirit, and shared life and death. It was a very pleasant time. But later, due to some reasons, we broke up. From being in the same boat, to not being able to communicate when we were old and dead. This made me very sad for a long time. It is also because the relationship was so good at the beginning, That's why I was so sad in the end. Later, I saw that in this arena, those people who occasionally talked a few words and drank a few times can also have the opportunity to meet again and have a good talk. The worst, at least break up It won't be so sad. I think it's ironic. How can this deep friendship be like a casual acquaintance? Therefore, I warned myself that I will not make deep acquaintances with people in this life. Just meet by chance, a casual acquaintance. In this way, a person has been away for many years , I didn't feel anything bad."

"really?"

Feiqing smiled wryly, and drank another glass of wine, "At least it was before I met you. After I met you, it was really a pleasure to drink and chat with you. Then I began to feel dangerous, so I stopped going Looking for you, avoiding you."

"Ha...it's rare for you to say everything so honestly."

"you!"

"I know, I forced it."

Feiqing turned her head away, ignoring the fox.

"Sorry." He Gu became serious again, and sincerely apologized, "I let you talk about these sad things. But, since you have already developed feelings, what's the use of deceiving yourself? How long will you torture yourself with the past? What does it feel like to be broken...but there is no need to be so desperate..." He Gu's voice became lower and lower...

With the world people……

The sinking voice made Feiqing suddenly remember that He Gu and Shen Chengshan were also brothers and friends who had known each other when they were young, and the final breakup was more complicated and more painful, and tomorrow, they would fight to the death again.

Another burst of silence...

"Maybe I should learn from you." He Gu broke the silence that was easy to fall into, and said jokingly: "Stop interacting with others and close yourself up. In this way, at least it won't affect another person in the end. You who are also self-closing, if we meet by chance and then break up, I don't need to owe you favors..."

"Hey!" Feiqing couldn't stand him talking about favors, "Stop talking about favors."

"So are we friends?"

"...have a drink."

"what……"

Memories and reality are intertwined in a trance.

——"This poison, the old man can't do anything about it."

——"It's good to be able to walk with you." After drinking for three rounds, Feiqing finally confessed his feelings.

——"What do you mean powerless!" Xu Ji's dissatisfied voice.

——"Ha... You can untangle your heart, which is enough to make people happy." At that time, his smile was not pleasant, as if he was hiding something.

So that's the case—so you acted both hard and soft, and worked hard, just to help me untie my knot at the last moment?

"Shen Chengshan once said that after the incident tonight, there is no chance of Mr.'s life, so there is no antidote. What should I do?" Having said that, in fact, as a warrior, Xu Ji knew that there was another way He Gu can be saved, that is to find a person with deep inner strength and detoxify him.But this method is tantamount to exchanging life for life.

"Go out, I will save him." When Xu Ji was hesitating, Feiqing who had been silent all this time said.

"You..." Xu Ji immediately thought of what he was going to do.

"Go out."

Having understood his intentions, Xu Ji led the others out of the room and couldn't say anything more. Finally, when he was about to leave the room, he turned around and hugged Feiqing.

The next day, it was ten minutes before dusk.He Gu Youyou woke up, he was surprised that he had nothing to do, he patrolled for a week and saw no figure of Feiqing, suddenly a lot of nervous, "Where is Feiqing?"

"He left without telling us where he was going."

"No, no." He Gu showed a rare flustered expression, muttered to himself, and suddenly thought of something, "The general borrowed a horse!"

I don't know when, the sky has completely darkened, Feiqing came out from the east gate with a pot of wine and walked for a long time, the outside of the city is wide open, and there is no way to distinguish at night, the wind blows in the wilderness, there is no shelter, Feiqing was surprised Feel a little cold.He opened the wine jar, swallowed it mouthful, stopped at a big rock, and leaned there, feeling a little warmer.At this time, the moon was shining brightly, and he looked up at the starry sky, feeling unexpectedly beautiful.

He smiled self-deprecatingly, and took another sip of his drink.

The wilderness is silent, only the sound of the wind is clear in my ears.Suddenly, amidst the pure sound of the wind, an anxious cry broke in, "Unfeeling!"

Hearing the voice, Feiqing suddenly trembled, "It's you?" The figure of He Gu in front of him gradually became clear, "Why are you here?"

"Shouldn't I come?" After confirming the truth, He Gupu knelt on the ground and asked with concern, "How are you doing?"

"No, I asked how you found me?"

I don't know if it's because of qi deficiency or weakness, but He Gu feels that the ruthless words are not as cold and cold as before.He touched the wine jar in his hand and said: "Because of this wine. I think you will definitely go to buy wine. When you arrive at the wine shop, they say that you have continued to go east, so they thought you would go out of the city, so they chased you outside the city. When I was at a loss, I smelled this strange aroma of wine."

"Ha...is this a tacit understanding?"

"Why?"

"Because we are friends."

He Gu's fist clenched suddenly.It has always been his wish to let Feiqing admit that they are friends, but now that this wish has finally come true, it is accompanied by these.It was him who killed him.

"It's very embarrassing to say that you want me to untangle my heart. And after I got out of the self-enclosed, what's the matter with you turning around and leaving?"

"I...you can make more people, why do you want to do it for me..."

The other party shook his head, "No, all this time, you were the only one who bothered to help me and make friends with me. I've traveled alone for so long and met so many people, only you..."

"Actually, I'm very happy. I've been alone for half my life, and I can finally make you a friend. I don't have any regrets."

Have no regrets?After tossing and turning for half a lifetime and being alone, the friends I finally made, the colleagues I couldn't make in time, do you really have no regrets?

——Even if life is full of hardships, there will be a hundred years of desolation in the end.

"Unfeeling..."

"Okay, no matter what, this is the last time I will help you... and cherish the last time, and have another drink with me." He took a sip of the wine and handed the wine jar to He Gu.

Trembling hands took over the wine jar.The aroma of the wine was tangy, and I drank it in one sip, the familiar mellow aroma burned all the way down the throat, the hot, scorching pain filled my chest, tears slipped down, intertwined with the past scenes, those drinking times, from the first acquaintance to the escape , and then to honesty.Now, he finally waited for him to untie the knot in his heart, and he finally admitted that they were friends, but he had to face the parting of life and death.

This is always the case in the world, a happy meeting is followed by a sad parting, never willing to stop in the most beautiful place.He Gu, who had talked about so many joys and sorrows in ancient and modern times, suddenly felt a great sadness.

Feiqing wanted to move her body, but in the end she didn't have the strength. Time was running out, and her consciousness was a little fuzzy, "He Gu, just help me, face it for me, and live well. People say: Life is rare in seventy years of age. ...But you bear the lives of the two of us, so you should live to be 70 years old. You can't die, you have to live well, live..." His voice became lower and weaker...

"Unfeeling! Unfeeling!"

"Okay...friend..."

"Unfeeling!"

"puff!"

"Master! Master!"

When the story came to a critical point, Mr. Duanzhang was as excited as the person in the story. After he said "unfeeling", a mouthful of blood gushed out, and the scene suddenly became chaotic.The disciple hastily hugged him, already breathless.

Under the care of the disciples, the funeral was carried out step by step.A few days later, standing in front of Mr. Duanzhang's grave, the disciple understood everything.He understood who He Gu was in the story.I understand why the master, who has always been in good health, suddenly lost all his vigor and toughness after his 70th birthday. Maybe he has been waiting for that day, when he can let go of the loneliness and sadness of living alone for decades.I also understood why the master talked about it out of context, only about encounters, not about endings, only about happiness, not about sadness.

I remember when my master taught me storytelling when I was young, and when I was curious about the follow-up story and asked him, what he said to himself: "Be a good storyteller, tell the story until they meet and walk together, don't talk about the follow-up. Be a good story listener, just hear the story there, don't ask about the ending."

Artificially stop the story at the most beautiful place.

I see……

He told the broken chapters of his whole life, but he told a complete story for the last time. From meeting to parting, he exhausted all his strength.Finally, die with those who died in the story.