Pei Gonggui

The first spring star hangs, and the bright moon shines brightly. Two shadows, one in front and the other in the back, walk into Zhongyihou's mansion.

Greetings from servants sounded in the front yard, and the lights on the corridor were immediately lit up a few more, and the light was reflected on the swords lined up in the corridor, forming bright white shadows.

Pei Jun asked someone to bring him a robe, and at least he changed into a stinky one. After asking, Liu Jin said that Jiang Xuan was still teasing the dog and couldn't bear to sleep, and now he followed the dog to the backyard. Then he said in response: "Then let's sit there too, and you ask someone to bring tea."

Liu Jin was ordered to go immediately.

Jiang Yue and Pei Jun walked all the way in along Dao Bing, and the steps on the right hand side were filled with bluegrass of various colors "sent from elsewhere" in Pei Jun's mouth, and a few tall holly plants were planted in the corner of the courtyard.It was early spring, and the grass and trees hadn't bloomed yet, but when he walked outside the hanging flower gate, he suddenly smelled a faint fragrance--stepping over the threshold and looking back, he saw a few bunches of opposite-growing branches of vine leaves lying across the eaves. Like Ling Xiao, you can't see clearly in the dark night, you can only vaguely see some flower buds floating among the leaves.Maybe a few of them have already bloomed.

Walking to the South Garden, the walking corridor cuts the courtyard in half, and the two sides are covered with soft tendrils of silk vines, half-covering the left and right like hanging curtains, forming a long curtain.Looking through the curtain, you can see that there are clumps of shrubs planted all over the road in the courtyard outside the corridor, and they rustle when the night wind blows.

Pei Jun saw that Jiang Yue was concerned about the view of the inner courtyard, so he also chatted a few words while walking:

"My mother used to love flowers, so there are hibiscus planted here and there. In July and August, it's full of red, white, blue and purple, and it's very lively. It's a pity that it's time now, and the flowers haven't bloomed yet." He stopped suddenly and rushed Jiang Yue pointed to the stone wall covered with vines and grass in the north and said, "Guess what it is?"

There are too many flowers that can climb the wall, and it is really difficult for Jiang Yue to identify them through the shadows, so he shook his head and looked back, only to see Pei Jun smiling:

"Then I'd better not talk about it, I'll invite you to have a look when the flowers bloom next time."

After he finished speaking, he dragged Jiang Yue, who was slightly stunned, to the round door in the north wall, pointing to the left and right: "Passing here, to the north is the backyard. The west side of the yard used to be where my parents lived, and the east side was my residence. Before she got married, Yan lived in the courtyard above me, and Xuan'er was supposed to sleep in his mother's room when she came, but the child was too afraid of giving birth, so she didn't dare to sleep alone, so she insisted on squeezing me, whimpering. You can't even drive away."

While talking, I heard a milk dog barking, and a child yelled not far away: "Where is the puppy? Why can't you see it?"

As soon as Pei Jun raised his head, he saw Jiang Xuan running wildly on the west corridor with short legs, with two servants guarding him carefully.Dong Shu was sitting on the railing watching them while coughing, and now he called impatiently: "Slow down!" But he suddenly saw Pei Jun leading Jiang Yue coming, and hurriedly got up to salute.

Over there, Jiang Xuan heard Uncle Dong say "Wanfu, the Prince of Jin", and looked back in an instant. When he saw that Pei Jun was really Jiang Yue, he couldn't even care about his uncle who hadn't seen him for half a month, and shouted "Uncle "He ran happily, and knelt down in front of Jiang Yue: "Xuan'er, pay respects to uncle!" Then he called Pei Jun in a dragged voice: "Uncle."

Jiang Yue bent down to pull the child up, took out a snow silk to wipe the sweat on his forehead: "Xuan'er has a puppy? Where is it? Show my uncle, okay?"

The servant who followed Jiang Xuan just now just found the running dog from the grass, at this time he respectfully hugged Jiang Yue, and called Pei Jun to look at the corridor light, but he saw a mass of black paint. hair.

He couldn't help frowning and asked Uncle Dong, "...is this the dog that Young Master Mei sent?"

Uncle Dong replied in awe: "Young Master Mei sent it from the other day, and he also brought Xiaoshizi's new clothes. There are eight sets. Along with the clothes, I added a box of children's playthings. It's a delicate object. I wanted to pay him, so I asked him for the bill, but he said no, and he didn't want to give him money. Yesterday I went to the prison of the Ministry of punishment to see the eldest lady, and there were more of him in the prison. What did you send?"

Dong Shu's voice was low, but Jiang Yue still heard it.For a while, he looked back at Pei Jun, shook his head with a smile, and teased Jiang Xuan's dog with his hands down.But the deep meaning in the eyes made Pei Jun suddenly realize and waved his hands: "Hey, lord, this is not Mei Liu bribing me. Mei Linyu and I are good brothers, he is always unwilling to accept money from me. I was like this before I became an official, and this is not asking me to do things for him."

"Then how does Jing Zhaosi explain the land allocated to the Mei family at the base price for the past two years?" Jiang Yue took the dog from the servant's hand, scratched the dog's head calmly, and glanced at Pei Jun lightly, "You are also the official Was it like this before?"

Pei Jun blushed without heartbeat, and walked a few steps towards Jiang Yue: "Isn't that just a coincidence, how can everything have something to do with me?" But as he said, his right hand was behind his back and he swung vigorously at Uncle Dong With a gesture, he signaled Uncle Dong not to mention this matter.

Uncle Dong knew that he had made a slip of the tongue, so he hurriedly resigned and wanted to leave, but he remembered another matter, and whispered to Pei Jun: "My lord, the palace knew that you were coming back today, and they gave you food early in the morning. It's a big table."

Hearing this, Pei Jun couldn't help smiling slightly, and said after a while, "I've eaten outside, so let's take those away." After speaking, he asked in a blink of an eye, "Where's Qian Haiqing?"

Uncle Dong said: "I just finished the exam today, I guess I went crazy with the supervisor's child, and I haven't returned yet."

Pei Jun nodded when he heard the words, and let Uncle Dong nod his head and backed away. At this moment, he looked around and saw that Jiang Yue had led Jiang Xuan to sit by the stone table in the backyard, and the little black dog was lying on Jiang Yue's lap and wagging its tail. , with a small red tongue sticking out of his mouth, he was obviously tired from being crazy with Jiang Xuan.

Pei Jun walked over and sat opposite Jiang Yue, and looked carefully at the dog's head. He saw that the puppy was all black, with two balls of scorched yellow hair lying horizontally on the brow bone. He couldn't see the "beautiful" he wanted, so he couldn't help sighing: "I'm afraid that Mei Liu has misunderstood the word 'beautiful'..."

Jiang Yue laughed when he heard the words: "This dog will be beautiful when it grows up."

Jiang Xuan's ears perked up, and Pei Jun also asked, "How do you know?"

Jiang Yue put the dog into Jiang Xuan's arms, raised his finger and hooked the puppy's chin: "I used to be stationed in the Northwest, and there was a dog like this in the camp. It was used by the border people to herd sheep. This dog is wary of strangers, so it can guard the tents." He is brave but docile, and can accompany children. He is not even a match for wolves in fights, but he is a very good dog. But..." He slowly looked at Pei Jun again, "People in the Central Plains live in high-rise buildings, You don't need this dog to lock the door, and most of the dogs brought back by the dealer from outside the customs are used for dog fighting. Pei Jun, where did you get this dog from?"

Pei Jun immediately pretended to be confused and shook his head: "Mei Liu found the dog, I don't know where he came from."

Jiang Yue narrowed his eyes slightly, and was about to ask again, when Jiang Xuan rubbed the dog's hair and asked him: "Uncle, how big will this puppy grow?"

Jiang Yue had no choice but to let Pei Jun go, and answered seriously: "It's very big." After that, he gestured at a place higher than his knees, which caused Jiang Xuan to scream excitedly: "It's so tall!"

Pei Jun looked at it but got a headache: "I clearly told Mei Linyu that I want a puppy—"

"This is a puppy." Jiang Xuan himself was quite satisfied, and held the dog up to Pei Jun's nose and shook it, "Look, uncle, he's younger than me."

Pei Jun pushed the dog away, feeling tired, but seeing that Jiang Xuan really liked the appearance of the dog, he didn't say anything else, just let him and Jiang Yue play with the dog for a while, and then barked The servant went to ask Mother Han to clean up the child and go to bed: "It's getting late, you go back with Mother Han to wash up first, and uncle will come later."

Jiang Xuan reluctantly grabbed Jiang Yue's clothes and said, "But uncle just arrived, I want to play with uncle."

"You still have to go to court tomorrow, and your uncle should leave later." Pei Jun raised his hand and patted his small face, "Hey, come and say goodbye to your uncle."

Jiang Xuan reluctantly hugged the dog and bowed to Jiang Yue, and was taken away by Han Ma.But when he reached the corner of the corridor, the child turned around and waved at Jiang Yue again.

Jiang Yue also kept watching the child's back. Seeing Jiang Xuan turning around at this time, he raised his hand and waved at him. Finally, he called Jiang Xuan but was dragged to the east courtyard by Han's mother as he wished. Then he relaxed and looked away. But he saw Pei Jun staring at him and smiling:

"Jiang Yue, I wanted to ask you a long time ago—do you like children, or do you only like Xuan'er? You don't treat other nephews and grandchildren that well."

Jiang Yue thought for a while and said, "Maybe I like children, I just prefer Xuan'er."

Hearing this, Pei Jun leaned against the table and propped his chin, and asked with a smile, "Oh? Why?"

Jiang Yuetiao opened his eyes: "Of course it's because Xuan'er is so cute."

At this time, a maid came with a clay stove, hot water and tea sets. Pei Jun moved away with a smile and let them put the things on the table. Why do you like children? You don’t think they are noisy? When Xuan’er is chattering, I wish I could stop him.”

Jiang Yue turned his eyes to look at the luxuriant vegetation in the courtyard, and sighed softly: "I used to think that, but after staying outside the pass for a long time, I have seen a lot of life and death, and I don't feel noisy when I see children."

He was silent for a while, and continued: "Some things—even if they are right, even if they know they have to be done, but after persisting for a long time, people will inevitably start to doubt, thinking about what all the persistence will bring in exchange for, and what is the meaning of it. …What’s the point of thinking about war? What’s the point of government? Rescue the friendly army, only to find that the friendly army has been completely wiped out, and only the bones gnawed by wild animals are left in the mud... This makes all the suffering and tiredness even more meaningless. At that time, people will lose all hope. The scene will be thousands of times worse than that of the enemy army. Thousands of swordsmen are even more determined to kill... I don’t know why I am so tired every time. If I can see the children of the resident people making trouble and laughing, seeing that they can run, jump, cry, and come to ask the camp cook for food It's - I'm still alive, and I feel the vitality, and then the sleepiness and depression will dissipate a little...it seems to be able to continue."

After listening to Jiang Yue's words carefully, Pei Jun put the tea cup put down by the servant girl in front of him, and said calmly, "Then you are a kind person."

Jiang Yue didn't expect him to make such a comment suddenly, so he couldn't help laughing and said: "Could it be that if you like children, you are a kind person? Then where do I count the countless murders in my hands?... You must know that the enemy's rebels died in my hands. A soldier, but also a child of another family, or the father of a child of another family."

"But you went to kill them to protect our children. That's a situation where you die or die, you have no choice." Pei Jun lifted the porcelain lid of the tea cup, and took out a flower from it. Carefully put it in his cup, "I think those who fight to protect someone are good people."

Jiang Yue asked him back: "Then what is an unkind person?"

Pei Jun took out another flower and put it in his own cup, and said with a light smile, "Me."

Jiang Yue looked at him puzzled, but he saw that he seemed to be talking about homework, and while lifting the kettle from the hot clay stove, he said lightly: "Let's talk about killing the enemy. You heard it last time." Xiao Lin said - if my mother didn't allow me to join the army, I would have gone to the battlefield with you. But Jiang Yue, at that time I would not have killed the enemy to protect anyone. I killed the enemy only because I I want them to die, I want them to die miserably. Because they killed my father, I hate, so I want them not to live-I kill to let them die, not to let anyone live .In my opinion, I am an unkind person, maybe I can just call it 'evil'."

He poured boiling water into his cup, but as expected, he drowned the flowers in the cup. He couldn't help stopping the conversation, and called out: "Hey, Jiang Yue, teach me too. How can this flower grow?" Open? I’ve wasted half a can of it for nothing, and I haven’t done it once.”

Jiang Yue regained his senses from his words, looked at the objects on the stone table, and realized that it was the tea set he gave Pei Jun, and couldn't help being surprised: "I'm just sending you tea to apologize, but you still take it seriously up."

Pei Jun hurriedly complimented him: "My lord Jin rewards all good things, so I naturally get some good things." Then he pushed the water bottle to Jiang Yue's hand, "Please give me your advice, my lord."

Jiang Yue shook his head and smiled, and only put the hot water back on the stove to warm up. After a while, the water boiled again, and he took down the kettle, and then just poured it into the cup without any reason——in an instant, Pei Jun saw The safflower in his cup was in full bloom, brilliant for a moment, and after a while, it turned into crimson water, and it was soaked again.

He was waiting for Jiang Yue to talk about the trick, but Jiang Yue put down the kettle, but said honestly: "I don't know how to make it."

"...So this tea really depends on luck?" Pei Jun raised his glass and drank his own cup, feeling that the fragrance was weak, and he felt a little unwilling.

Jiang Yue paid attention to his expression, so he pushed the cup he brewed to him and said, "You can drink this cup too. I don't feel thirsty at night, so I should go back."

But Pei Jun suddenly held the finger he pushed, looked at him for a moment, and asked him suddenly: "Jiang Yue, why did you fall in love with me in the first place?"

Jiang Yue was taken aback for a moment, and before he could take his hand back, he saw that Pei Jun had put the teacup he pushed back into his hand again, and even wrapped his hands around his fingers holding the cup, rubbing it lightly, touching him After drinking the small cup of Scarlet Color with his hand, he looked down at his fingertips and said in a low voice, "Hey, if I didn't realize your intentions, do you think I've lived my whole life in vain?"

The boiling water on the clay stove at hand was gurgling, and Jiang Yue felt that the sound had been poured into his cavity, and the hot air from the spout seemed to hug his cheeks: "...that shouldn't be my life in vain I. If you don’t know, what does this have to do with you?”

These words made Pei Jun's eyes ache, he suddenly let go of Jiang Yue's hand, stood up against the table and held his blushing face, across the table, bent down and gave him a seal on the corner of his lips.

The kiss was fleeting, not lingering.He backed away and looked at Jiang Yue close at hand, and caught a trace of confusion in Jiang Yue's eyes. The next moment, Jiang Yueqiang calmly asked him: "Pei Jun, you treat me like this... What is it?"

Pei Jun rubbed his earlobe with his thumb, pressed against the tip of his nose and asked, "What do you think?"

Jiang Yue took a deep breath, probably knowing that he would not be able to get an answer from Pei Jun's mouth, so he finally pushed him away, got up and said, "Forget it, I'm still going to court tomorrow, I really should go."

"Then I'll see you off." Pei Jun went around the table, grabbed his sleeve without any suspicion, and pulled him from the back yard back to the south yard.

Jiang Yue exerted a little force a few times, trying to pull his hand out from between his fingers, but once Pei Jun noticed it, he insisted on grabbing it back again. Let Jiang Yue break free from his hand.

"Just send it here. You should also go back to take a bath and rest. See you tomorrow morning."

After Jiang Yue finished speaking, he turned and went out to get on the carriage, but Pei Jun still followed him out, stood at the gate of the mansion watching his carriage go away, and then turned back and walked into the inner courtyard.