I am the last princess of Nanxu. Before the age of
sixteen, my life was like a dream, not my dream, but a dream of thousands of Nanxu
people.
That Chen Guang, the world chaos, Gaozu laid down the world, bit by bit by the ancestors defeated
a clean, finally in the hands of the grandfather, is already a small court in a corner, those
old Xuanhe, have become a joke.
But the more so, the more drunk, grandfather had eighteen concubines, nobles ate piglets fed by human
milk, beautiful white peacocks perched on the top of the palace, looking coldly at the hungry and beggars in the
streets.
They waited in despair, waiting for the iron heel of Beigan to come and break the dream
.
I was born at this time. The night
I was born, the prince, my father, was beheaded by General Beigan,
Nanxu lost the city and the crown prince, and lost the backbone of the last resistance, grandfather sent envoys
trembling peace talks, and mother rose from the pool of blood after crying hysterically. I became a star in the sky, the palace was in a mess, and my eight-year-old brother held me clumsily in his arms.
“Xihe, don’t cry.”
My grandfather indulged me very much. He had a splayed eyebrow and always looked sad when he smiled. He held me on his knee and told me how imposing the emperors, generals and ministers were in the old days. He said, I am old, and no one likes to listen to me, only Xihe. The elder brother timidly reminded Grandpa that Xihe had fallen asleep early. He was stunned. He looked at my sleeping appearance and smiled again. He said, “It’s good to fall asleep. Xihe can eat and sleep. He is more blessed than Grandpa.”.
In such an environment, even if the new life is like old age, my brother and I naturally grew into a standard dandy. My brother was less than fifteen years old, and he had five ladies. Those little beauties only dressed in lotus leaves danced in the hall, while I liked to destroy things, such as the best silks and satins. I wanted to cut a piece of exquisite porcelain, but I wanted to drop it one by one. My grandfather couldn’t control me, but my brother was the crown prince after all. He thought about it and decided to marry a wife for my brother. The
future prince’s wife is called Helan Zhiqiu. The Helan family has a long history of poetry and etiquette than our Dynasty. The girl raised by her is naturally the best of the best. Grandfather hopes that she can take care of her brother who is more and more improper. By the way, he also teaches me how to have a girl’s appearance. When
she first entered the palace, I was losing my temper. I made a kite out of silk and wanted to send it to the sky. But no matter how the slaves ran, it couldn’t fly. Now I think it’s probably because I tied too many snacks on it.
“Princess Ben just wants to see the kite fly. Since the kite can’t fly, you can fly for me!”
I told them to jump down from the roof, wrapped up in silks and satins, dressed up in strange shapes, for fun. The slaves, who dared not disobey the order, sobbed and lined up to jump down. I laughed when I saw them dancing in the air and falling on their buttocks.
“What are you doing?” Seventeen-year-old Helan Zhiqiu snapped at me. She wore a palace skirt with the color of autumn fragrance, and her appearance was pale. There had never been such a plain girl in the palace.
“Miss, this is Princess Xihe.” Some Mammy reminded her quietly. Her
eyes were clear, but she still looked at me sternly. “If they make a mistake, they will be punished. Why do they play these tricks to fool people?”
Because they are slaves and I am a princess. It’s their honor to die for my happiness! I raised my head and said loudly, “You dare to teach me a lesson!”! I’m going to tell my brother.. Not giving an inch,
she said, “What is royalty?”? Set an example for all the people! The first crown prince sacrificed his life, and the first crown princess was pure and simple. And do you deserve to be worshipped by all the people today for the sake of pleasure? Is it worthy of the good name of the former crown prince and crown princess? It was quiet all around
for a moment. I stared at her dumbfounded. Then I squashed my mouth and cried loudly.
I didn’t know at that time that my grandfather had been scolded by the old prime minister of Helan in the court. I only knew that no one had ever scolded me so severely. I wanted to find my brother
. I cried all the way to his palace. He had just finished smoking Wushi San and was lying on the bed with his chest bare. The little snow-white beauty crouched beside his bed like a lamb.
“Brother,” I cried and shook his hand.
“Well, what’s the matter?” He straightened up with difficulty and stroked my head. “Don’t cry. Who bullied you? Brother, go and kill him.”
“Helan, Helan knows Qiu. She’s a scoundrel. Brother, don’t marry her!”
My brother smiled lazily, and so did the little beauties around him. He picked me up and put me on his lap to wipe away my tears. When I finally stopped crying by leaning on his chest, I heard him say, “What is she? She is worth crying for my sister.”
My brother finally helped me get my revenge. On their wedding night, he summoned his favorite lady Ru to have fun in his wedding bed, while his bride, the future queen Helan Zhiqiu, was thrown out.
As absurd as it is.
I want to see her decadent appearance, hum! Let you stand high above, let you frown and scold me, let you-what
I didn’t expect was that what I saw was a very calm Helan Zhiqiu. In the side hall,
she took off her Huan Pei Lin Lang, turned her plain face to the sky, and painted by a lamp. The
autumn wind was so cool and gentle that I poked my head out and cried, “My brother doesn’t want you, you’re so ugly!”! After laughing, I quickly shrank back and hid.
She turned around and asked, “Is that the Xi River?”? You come here.
Come here, I’m not afraid! I waltzed in, and she showed me her
painting.
Ah, that pink skirt, flying step shake, that is me, ah, just, is a more delicate
me.
“Why did you draw me?”
“Make a kite.” She said, “I picked up the kite you tore up and looked at it.
You want to show the Crown Princess in the sky what you look like now, don’t you?”? Although
the drawings are a little poor and the writing is not clear.
I was so angry that I almost tore up her painting and tried to hold it back. After all
, it was me, and it was so beautiful that I had never seen before.
She picked up her pen and dipped it in ink. “What else do you want to say to the late Crown Princess?” She said. “Come on, I’ll
write it down for you.”
I put my chin on the table, thought for a moment, and then said sullenly, “Tell my mother that I am very good
.”
“That’s a lie.”
“You!” I was so angry that I turned around, but I didn’t want to leave. She drew the outline of the kite and said, “If
you’re good next time, I’ll write it on the kite for you.”
“What about this time?”
“Look.”
She picked me up and put me on her lap. I saw the dessert on the plate. I
clapped my hands and smiled happily.
“Yes, yes, I heard from my grandfather that Ah Niang loves to eat five-petal cakes!”
That night, the wind was so strong that the glass lamps in the palace were shaking. Mammy could not
open her eyes, but she had to watch the future empress and Princess Xihe flying kites in the palace.
“Hey, do you think Ah Niang really became a fairy in the sky?”
“I don’t say hello. I’m your sister-in-law.” When she looked back at me, her unruffled bun
was scattered by the wind, but it was much more vivid and bright: “But you can also tell me to know
autumn.”
“Zhiqiu,” I said, “Does Ah Niang miss me? Am I the only one thinking about her?
“There’s no mother who doesn’t want to have a child. The Crown Princess has been watching you from the clouds.
So, Xihe, be a good child.” In
the misty eyes, there was really a woman who gently stroked my head and held me in
a soft and warm embrace. I couldn’t figure out for a moment whether it was the mother on the cloud head or
Zhiqiu. On that day, the moon was lonely and clear, and my kite was sent very high.
Helan Zhiqiu is a famous virtuous queen in history. She is known for her poetic talent. She is diligent, thrifty and kind. She governs the
harem with leniency and strictness. Everyone praises her except her brother. The reason why
my brother didn’t like her was very simple. He loved beauty, but she was too
weak, and she didn’t have a gentle and modest temperament. She always controlled him strictly, and her grandfather, who usually followed our everything
, always stood on her side. Of course, my brother regarded her as an eyesore
.
Almost every time I went to the East Palace to find her, I met them quarreling.
The elder brother threw something, and the jade and agate were broken all over the floor. The palace people kept silent like cicadas in cold weather, but
they knew that the autumn face was as heavy as water, and they would not give an inch. It is not a good thing that
five stones scatter the mind of a person. Your Highness must give it up. What are
you! Why do you care about me?
“I am Your Highness’s wife and subject.”
My brother left in a huff with a pillow under his arm, but she didn’t seem to be happy that she had won. She sat there for
a while, then pulled herself together and smiled at me: “Hsi Ho, have you practiced
your calligraphy today?”.
…… Confucius will not be so diligent even if he is reborn!
I went over and showed her what I had written. I tilted my head and asked her, “Am I good?”
“Just fine.”
“So, where are you taking me to play?”
I like her very much. She was my first friend, though she was so strict with me. She taught me calligraphy and reading, weaving and embroidery, and went to the folk to find interesting crafts and craftsmen everywhere. Before I knew her, I thought I had a lion cub on my chest, often baring his teeth and growling angrily, but now the lion cub was smoothed by her and turned into a contented kitten.
“If only I were a man,” I said with a worried sigh, “I will marry you for my brother, and I will treat you very well.”
She was looking at the kiln, and just when I thought she would ignore me, I heard her reply, “If you were a man, you would hate me too.”
“Why?”
“The kiln has been opened.” Forgetting everything,
I rushed to the front and asked, “How’s it going?”? Is my little rabbit ready?
At that time, there was a saying about the firing of porcelain: “Seventy-two things can be done before they are finished.” When something went wrong in the seventy-two processes, all the previous efforts were wasted. Chih-chiu brought me here for a few months and painted dozens of little rabbits, but none of them were finished. He turned over his
head for a moment and happily held out a sweet white glazed porcelain bottle, which outlined a naive rabbit sleeping under the laurel tree.
“Princess, it’s burned!” I don’t know what I
like. I want to reach out and hold it, but I’m afraid of breaking it, so I have to jump around it happily.
But Chih-chiu took it over and said, “I’ve heard that the white porcelain is broken like jade. Why don’t we break it and hear the sound?”
“No!” I was so scared that my face turned white. I jumped up and grabbed it. “That’s mine!”!
She didn’t listen. Avoiding my hand, she turned around and smashed it down
. I was so frightened that I covered my eyes, but I didn’t hear the cracking sound for a long time. I peeped through my fingers and saw her squatting in front of me and handing me the little rabbit.
“It’s very easy to destroy something, but it’s very difficult to shape it. So in the future, Hsi-he can’t regard destroying things as fun. It’s all someone else’s work, isn’t it?”.
I nodded vigorously, hugged the rabbit tightly, and refused to let go again.
That day I walked on the way back to the palace, holding my favorite rabbit in one hand and holding my favorite autumn in the other hand. I was caught off guard and saw the orange sunset on the horizon blending with the sapphire blue sky, which was as beautiful as a dream.
That is my memory, about the dream of Nanxu, the most beautiful and last glow.
The eunuchs were eagerly waiting for us at the gate of the palace. They didn’t even have time to salute us. They shouted, “Princess, the emperor has fainted. Hurry up and go!” Dissatisfied with paying tribute
, Beigan raised a sensational figure, but Grandfather could not afford it. After sending envoys to pull and pull several times, they were bored and sent back a box.
It’s the envoy’s bloody head.
Grandfather immediately fainted.
By the time he woke up, it was already the middle of the night. My brother and Chih-chiu were sleeping on one side, and I was the only one who was awake. Grandfather looked very energetic. He shook his eyebrows and smiled at me, saying, “Xihe, are you cold?”.
“It’s cold.”
He moved the quilt a little and said, “Come, come to Grandpa to get warm.”
I held the little rabbit in my arms and got into his arms. His withered hands patted me again and again, just like when I was a child. I
thought he had recovered from his illness, so I said, “Grandpa, when it’s dawn, I’ll take you to the place where the porcelain is fired. It’s fun there. You can turn the earth into a rabbit..”
He smiled and murmured, “Grandpa is not going. Grandpa is going to find Grandma and your father.” I have forgotten your grandmother’s appearance, but she was young, riding a purplish red horse under the persimmon tree, so beautiful, and on the day of the expedition, your father wore armor, beautiful and imposing, I was so happy at that time, I wanted to tell the world that it was my prince! He was the son of Mingzhu and me, but I kept a straight face. If only I had seen more of him..
The quilt was very warm, and I dozed off. I snuggled up to him and slowly fell asleep. Half asleep and half awake, I heard his old voice. He said, “I’m sorry, Xihe. Live on. Promise Grandpa and try to live on.”
I had a beautiful dream all night. In the dream, there were grandfather, brother and Zhiqiu. There are also father and mother who can’t see their faces clearly. We ride horses together, fly kites together, and roll on the grass full of rabbits together.
When I woke up, I found myself wrapped up in a soft quilt, and my grandfather was gone.. Accompanying me is Zhiqiu.
“Where is Grandpa?”
Zhiqiu, dressed in plain clothes, reached out and hugged me.
Grandfather’s life, strictly speaking, is not a qualified king, he is too weak, so that the delicate balance between Nanxu and Beigan was broken, Nanxu completely became a vassal of Beigan. But it has to be said that he has played his only talent for governing the country. Although he governed Nanxu in a corner, he was able to keep the treasury full and the people live and work in peace and contentment for 30 years while paying tribute to Beigan Lion.
But it’s too hard for my brother.
For the first sixteen years, my brother devoted himself to being a standard dandy. He lacked the ability to govern the country. He didn’t even have the ability to preside over his grandfather’s funeral. After he succeeded to the throne in a hurry, he was overwhelmed by the questioning of courtiers and the complicated state affairs, even with the support of the Helan family. He was often laughed at for asking naive and stupid questions in court.
And I suddenly grew up overnight, no one taught me, but I suddenly understand that there is no father and mother in the sky, there will be no grandfather, death is death, even if I make more kites, no one is watching me on the cloud. The dream that my grandfather had crafted for my brother
and me was suddenly torn apart, and we fell on the scorched earth, and the world was full of the flames of hell.
I began to have nightmares all night long. There were many terrible scenes in my dreams. Finally, my grandfather’s thin and pale face said, “Xihe, live, promise Grandpa, live..”
I suddenly got up and ran out crying. I wanted to find my brother.
But at the gate of the palace, there was no palace guard, and in the half-closed door, there was a suppressed cry.
It’s brother.
He was the noblest man in Nanxu and my omnipotent God, but in the middle of the night, he curled up in Zhiqiu’s arms and cried like a wronged child. The first snow of winter
had just fallen, and the moonlight was as cold as the snow. I stood there, watching Chih-chiu hug him like a little mother, saying, “Your Majesty, I will accompany you, and I will accompany you forever.” The
palace people took the cloak to catch up with them. I turned around and took them away. At that time, I didn’t know that everyone regarded my brother as a laughing stock. What was more terrible was that there was already a powerful civil rebel uprising, and it was overwhelming and went straight to the capital. The land of our ancestors is about to be destroyed in the hands of my brother.
I just suddenly understood the way my grandfather looked at me at the moment of his death. Why did he say sorry? My brother could not save the decline of Nanxu. We were doomed to be buried for this Dynasty full of holes. That was my brother’s fate as a monarch, but it was also my fate.
Unexpectedly, the elder brother, who had always hated the military, decided to go on a personal expedition to restore his low morale. On the day of the expedition, the elder brother, wearing armor and riding a black horse, looked back under the wall and was somewhat heroic. Zhiqiu, wearing a noble and fussy dress, stood on the wall to see Wang Jun off.
At that moment, all things in the world no longer existed, leaving only such a pair of emperors and empresses facing each other in the distance. In
a trance, I saw my father and mother, the heroic crown prince who went to war in my grandfather’s mouth, and the crown princess who was pregnant with his child, must have looked at each other so tenderly and tragically. After the
elder brother left, Zhiqiu dealt with all the trifles inside and outside the palace alone, which was too exhausting for a weak woman. All the lights inside and outside the imperial city went out, except for the lights in the main hall. When I got up in the morning to see her, she often fell asleep on her desk wearily. When she woke up and saw me, she rubbed her eyes and asked, “Xi He?” Have you practiced your handwriting today?
I nodded, sat down beside her and asked, “Chih-chiu, when did you say your brother would come back?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed wearily. Then she bowed her head and said, “I’ll wait for him any time.” Later,
I found that Zhiqiu, a plain and cold woman, was deeply in love with her brother who was dissolute and foolish in the eyes of others, perhaps because of the instinct of the woman to love her husband at that time, perhaps because her brother was born good-looking, there was an unknown moment that made her move, in short, she loved him, loved the man who had never treated her well. Like every woman loves her sweetheart. When the first rain of
spring came, my brother came back, and he came back with the news of triumph!
I was running in the spring rain, and the palace people couldn’t keep up with me. I fell into my brother’s arms and looked up and asked him, “Why did you come back so late?”! If I don’t come back, I’ll forget what you look like!
My brother picked me up and smiled reluctantly, saying, “Hsi-ho has grown taller. If he grows any bigger, I won’t be able to hold you.” Only
then did I realize that he was surrounded by a very strange man in black, with a pair of brown eyes and a frightening nose. He was looking at me with interest and saying, “Is this the legendary Princess Xihe?” I
don’t know why, but I was so scared that I buried my head in my brother’s arms and heard his heartbeat, so violent and flustered. The
elder brother came back and held a grand banquet, but Zhiqiu didn’t look happy. I sat beside her and kept making her happy: “Zhiqiu, why did that man sit in the elder brother’s seat?”? He looks like an eagle with a human face.
Chih-chiu gently covered my mouth and said, “Don’t talk nonsense, Hsi-he.” But
the man stood up. Many years later, I knew his name was Dan. He came to us with a glass of wine in his hand. His face was red because of drinking.
“Why is the queen so unhappy when she is feasting like this?”
Zhiqiu lowered his eyes as if the person in front of him did not exist. Do not know when to start, the hall is silent.
Dan Chi tilted his head and looked at Zhi Qiu. Then he slowly poured a glass of wine and said, “a toast to the empress.” Instead
of drinking, he brought the glass to Zhiqiu’s lips. Zhiqiu’s face was pale and her whole body was trembling. She had always been so dignified and calm. This was the first time I had seen her in such a mess in front of everyone.
“If the queen doesn’t drink, let the princess drink instead!”
Dan Chi smiled lazily and turned to look at me. I was puzzled and reached out to grab the glass.
“If I drink, I drink. Don’t bully Chih-chiu!”
“Know Autumn!” My brother, who
had been quiet as if he were dead, stood up and shouted.
Zhiqiu looked at her, then glanced at the Dan in front of her, then reached for the glass, looked up and drank it, and two lines of tears flowed down.
Dan smiled, as if he had seen something interesting. He laughed so hard that he couldn’t stand up. I suddenly felt afraid. I went to grab Zhiqiu’s hand, only to find that her hand was as cold as ice.
That night, Zhiqiu disappeared from the palace. For three days, I cried and ran to every palace, but I couldn’t find her.
“Where is Chi-chiu?” I cried and asked my brother, whose face was haggard, his eyes were red, and his face was covered with stubble. He held out his hand and hugged me tightly, like a man at the end of the road holding his
last treasure.
“Xihe, don’t cry.”
On the third day, Zhiqiu came back, and I went to look for her with great joy.
She was lying on the bed, her hair was loose, her face was black and blue, and her eyes were closed, as if
she had fallen asleep.
“Chih-chiu!” I was so scared that I reached out to shake her hand. She dodged gently and smiled at
me as if she were extremely tired.
“Don’t touch it, it’s dirty.”
I stared at her. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know that Beigan had sent troops to suppress the rebellion for us
. The price was that the tribute had doubled.
I didn’t know that that man name Dan was the most cruel king in Beigan.
He unified all the tribes in the north and established the most powerful Pekan regime
in history. At the same time, wherever his army went, such as Shura, it crossed the border.
I only know that my Zhiqiu has disappeared since then.
I can’t find her anymore. In fact,
I didn’t know what had happened to Qiu at that time, although I had understood the love affair between men and women for a long time
, but the literati and the beauties who played with my brother made me
feel that it was a very happy and elegant thing, and it shouldn’t be like that. When
she reluctantly stood up to take a bath, blood slowly flowed down her legs, meandering all over the floor, bruising all over her body, without a good piece of flesh, losing two teeth, and she had a high fever for a whole month, even screaming hysterically when she fell asleep.
I stayed up all night by her side, giving her medicine, wiping her body, crying and begging her in a low voice, “Zhiqiu, please don’t die, I beg you.”.
Occasionally, when she was sober, she looked at the door unconsciously and murmured nonsense: … … Your Majesty has gone to war. I will wait for his return.
But the elder brother did not come once, a whole month, the hall came day and night music, they drink all day long, drunk.
And my Zhiqiu is struggling between life and death.
I don’t know which God my prayer touched, but she survived, but the Zhiqiu I knew, the wise and gentle girl, died forever.
She always looked at people with a kind of indifference, as if she was no longer interested in everything, and sat in the room every day until late at night.
At this time, the doctor said that she was pregnant.
Later, I learned that it was the tradition of Beigan. Men and women who wanted to have children would stay together for three days in spring. They believed that this would increase the probability of women becoming pregnant.
Dan Kui was intentional, just as the Victor wanted to trample the vanquished under his feet, he castrated the king of Nanxu spiritually by humiliating the queen of Nanxu. Know autumn, know how innocent autumn is.
“Knock it off.”
But.. The empress is weak, and I’m afraid she can’t resist that kind of medicine.
“Knock it off.”
Chih-chiu’s eyes were motionless. “Knock it off,” she repeated.
I dare not speak in the side.
Zhiqiu drank one bowl of abortion pills after another. In the middle of the night, I heard her suppressed
cry, only to find that she was in great pain. She covered her abdomen, curled up in a circle, bit her
knuckles and bled.
I couldn’t do anything but hold her in my arms and whisper, “Chih-chiu, will you bite me if it hurts
?”
A month later, the doctor felt the pulse, and the child was still there.
The Imperial Physician told me with great trepidation that, knowing that Qiu was weak, he had already used the heaviest medicine
. The child and his mother were in the same mood. If they took the heaviest medicine again, I’m afraid both mother and son would be damaged.
“Chih-chiu, why don’t you give birth to him? If you don’t like him, I’ll raise him, okay
?” I said cautiously.
Zhiqiu didn’t say anything, but looked at the void. Suddenly she jumped and ran
. I didn’t know a pregnant woman could run so fast!
It was a late night, extravagant and gorgeous banquet on the other bank, and here only a lonely moon reflected in the lake, and Zhiqiu jumped down into the bottomless lake.
I jumped down without hesitation.
I want to catch my moon, even if it is broken, she is still my moon.
We were all rescued by the palace people. Zhiqiu was leaning at the head of the bed with a haggard face, while I was wrapped in the quilt and sneezed constantly. She looked at me and smiled.
It was the first time she had smiled at me since the accident.
Then she said, “Xihe, will you let me die?”
I was so anxious that I wanted to shed tears. I grabbed her cold hand and said, “No, please don’t …” You said that shaping is more difficult than destroying a thing. You are so good. Zhiqiu, you are so good. Don’t destroy yourself, OK? I beg you to know the autumn.
Chih-chiu shook his head and smiled sadly, “It’s not that simple. There’s no impermeable wall in the palace. What have I been through? How did this child come to be?” Many people know that once this child is born, it must have the characteristics of an alien race, and then the emperor will put me to death for the crime of fornication in the palace, and the Helan family will be implicated, and the reputation of the Qing Dynasty will be destroyed in a moment. Even all over the house. Do you want to see me become a sinner of the Helan family, Xihe?
“No, my brother wouldn’t do that.”
She smiled coldly and said, “Is there anything in the world that he can’t do?”
I stumbled out. I wanted to ask my brother, but I found him standing in the doorway with a pale face.
“Brother,”
he didn’t look at me, but went straight to the house. When Chih-chiu saw him, he turned his head to the other side in disgust.
He knelt down in front of her bed and said softly, “Sister, I won’t run away.”
Zhiqiu was older than him, and before anything happened, he kept joking and angrily calling her sister. Give birth to your
child, and do not spoil your body. He is my hindrance, not yours.
On that day, the elder brother issued an edict to make the child in the abdomen of Zhiqiu the crown prince. It was the first prince who had not yet been born since the founding of Nanxu. The elder brother used this way to prove to the people of the world that his queen was innocent.
Zhiqiu, on the other hand, had no expression from beginning to end.
This child, who was not expected by his parents, was born in June of the following year. One evening, just after a rainstorm, he knew that Qiu was extremely tired. Before he fainted, he took me by the hand and said, “Xihe, go and see the child.”
The setting sun dyed the clouds all over, and the palace people held him for my brother and me to see. Abortion pills and his mother’s bad mood still affected his growth, he was much weaker than average child, pitiful, like a kitten. Brother, look at him, he’s so good! What are you going to name him? I said excitedly
.
“Take it down.” My brother rubbed his brows wearily.
“Wait.”
The palace woman stopped, and I took the baby from her arms. I looked up and
laughed again innocently. I like the baby very much, so I prepared a wet nurse and a servant
for him early in the morning. Knowing that Qiu was weak, my brother gave the baby to me. After that, food, clothing, shelter and transportation.
I’ll take care of everything myself, and my brother can rest assured.
My brother looked at me steadily, and I looked at him with a smile.
That year, I was nine years old. There was no more innocence. There was only
the bloody truth for me. I knew that if I flinched, my brother would kill the child
. If the prince dies early, he can make a second prince.
But I have to protect him.
Zhiqiu is already like a walking corpse, like half a soul has gone to hell, this child
is her only concern, I can’t let her wake up and see a small corpse
.
The elder brother finally sighed and said, “Xihe has grown up.”
He dragged the king’s long skirt into the twilight, and his last words to me were,
“Since you like it so much, you can choose the name.”
He indulged me again.
The child was born in the evening of summer, so I named him Xia La. May he be as prosperous as the vegetation in midsummer, and may he be able to keep the one I cherish. The most important reason why the
elder brother could tolerate the existence of Xia La was probably that Xia La’s body was very weak. In those years, many babies died early, and even strong children could hardly live to adulthood. Besides, Xia La was congenitally deficient and learned to take medicine before she learned to eat.
Apart from Zhiqiu, I really like him, even though he has no blood relationship with me. I take care of him all night. He always has a fever and cries hoarse in my arms. I feed him medicine little by little with a small spoon. His small hand pulls my skirt tightly, as if to say, aunt. Don’t let me go back to the sky.
“Auntie won’t let you die. When you grow up, Auntie will take you to fly kites and see the beautiful rivers and mountains. You have to work hard to live, do you know?”
I murmured and murmured, and I couldn’t fall asleep. I hadn’t slept for five days. Just like that, when I open my eyes again, the day will be bright.
The child is on one side, silent, my whole body is cold, jump up to see him, but see him open round eyes, is quietly biting the small fist, see me come over, wrinkle the little face and smile.
“You scared my aunt to death, you little bastard,”
I muttered, holding him up high.
He thought I was playing with him, so he waved his little hands and giggled.
The skin is white, the facial contour is not deep, and the pupils are black. The northerners have dark skin, high nose, high cheekbones, and brown pupils. It was a difference that could be recognized by the naked eye, and Xia La did not have the aggressive appearance of a northerner, but was born delicate and graceful, like the little son of the Helan family, but only one thing, his eyes were a little lighter than brown amber. In fact,
this is not an alien feature, after all, there are also southerners whose pupil color is not pure black, but. His eye is a thorn in the side of a man who knows the inside story.
After Zhiqiu was in good health, he took Xia to raise him personally. She was very strict with him. She used the most harsh standards to control him. When he was three years old, he began to read and read. When he was five years old, he began to practice martial arts. He was very smart, but once he made a mistake, Zhiqiu’s ruler would not hesitate to play down. He never cried. He just knelt down on the ground and said, “Mother, don’t be angry. It’s useless.”
In addition, she lived in seclusion in the Buddhist temple and did not care about the affairs of the palace. At this time, Beigan was ready to move, and the people complained about the high taxes. Her brother was dealing with government affairs day and night. He was less than thirty years old, and already had white hair on his temples.
They don’t see anyone, but occasionally when I come to find Zhiqiu, I will see my brother standing outside the door, listening to the sound of Sanskrit in the Buddha Hall, which makes people sad.
National crisis, internal and external troubles, I had to deal with some government affairs for my brother to share his worries, and occasionally I had to go to Zhiqiu to sit there.
It was an autumn afternoon. The persimmons in the palace were ripe. I ordered people to pick a basket full of persimmons and send them to Zhiqiu. She was reading a book, and when she saw me coming, she smiled and said, “Make tea for the princess.”. Call Hsia to come and talk to my aunt.
I don’t know if it’s my illusion, but every time I see her, I feel that she is thinner, and the tiredness of the world is more obvious in her bones. I pretended not to notice anything, happily from Qiu new married the tenth room concubine room, said which literati made a peerless good word, I wish I could tell her all the interesting things in the world. But she never spoke to me. Only when I really couldn’t go on, she would smile faintly and say, “It’s getting late. The princess should come back earlier.”
My smile froze on my face, and I quickly pretended not to notice anything. I went over to her and said, “It’s getting late, so I’ll stay and sleep with you, just in time to taste your vegetarian food. Look at my belly. It’s as fat as fried lard.”
“Is it all right, Chih-chu?” I shook her arm.
She sighed clearly and said, “Xihe, you don’t have to do this. I won’t..”
Suddenly, there was a loud noise outside the door
: “Your Majesty, the empress doesn’t see guests..”
“Go away!”
I looked at the door in amazement. My brother came in smelling of alcohol. As soon as Zhiqiu saw him, he frowned in disgust and looked at the other side.
“Brother, what are you doing here?” I stood up uneasily.
He looked at Zhiqiu’s drunken smiles, which were crazy and cruel.
“I have come to discuss a matter with the queen.” A flash of lightning flashed across the sky, and a dull thunder sounded in the distance.
“Somebody, take Princess Xihe down and lock the door. No one is allowed to come in without my order
.” What
are you doing? Elder Brother I struggled desperately, but I was dragged down. I
threw myself on the door and heard the voice of Zhiqiu trembling with anger inside.
“What are you going to do?”
“I have no children. I have come to ask the queen how long she is going to let that bastard be the crown prince!”
You go to be born with someone else! Be born with someone else!
Zhiqiu’s voice had panicked, and she wanted to run, but she was hugged by her brother.
“Helan Zhiqiu, don’t you look down on me?” He gnashed his teeth and said, “I’ve been wanting to tear you to pieces for a
long time. I dare you to show me this haughty face again!”!
Want six roots to be pure? In your dreams, if you are my queen, you will live forever with me
! What do
you want? You let go of me!
With the thunder, the rain poured down, and I beat the door desperately: “Brother
, don’t, that will kill her!”! Brother, I beg you not!
The palace man came up and pulled me. I grabbed the steps hysterically. There were two blood
stains on the ground. The tearing of the cloth and the crying of Zhiqiu came. It was quiet again. I finally stopped
struggling and sat in the rain. The
door was opened, and my brother staggered out, bleeding from his shoulder blades. He looked at me and tried to say something, but he didn’t say anything and staggered away. When
I wanted to go in, I heard Chih-chiu’s voice, which sounded faintly, “Hsi-he, you can go. I’m all right.”
That night, Chih-chiu inserted a long hairpin into her brother’s shoulder blade. For her, it was almost violent resistance.
I look down on you? So who thinks highly of you? The first emperor? If he looks up to you, he won’t name you Xizhao! If he thinks highly of you, he will discipline you instead of letting you be a useless person! Her eyes were burning with fire, but her smile was so cold: “Yes, I despise you. What I despise most is myself. Sunset, I actually loved you!”
I didn’t go in.
I have no face to go in.
I lost my mind and walked in the rain, with one foot deep and one foot shallow, until I couldn’t support myself and sat on the ground.
An umbrella stopped on my head, I found that I do not know when to start, Xia has been following me, he wore a white glass gown, quietly looking at me, like a small Bodhisattva.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m with my aunt.” He was a gentle and silent child. I smiled wearily and said, “My aunt is so useless
.”
The cherished person was hurt in front of me again and again, but I couldn’t do anything.
“Auntie, don’t cry,”
Xia said softly, wiping my tears. “When I grow up.. Kill all the people who make my aunt cry
. After I went back to my bedroom
that day, I had a serious illness and had many ominous
dreams in a daze. I dreamed that a huge white bird flew across the field at dusk and then fell to the ground
, igniting a black flame. In my dream, someone kept calling me, “Auntie, wake
up!”
It was Xia La, kneeling at the head of my bed, clumsily putting the hot and humid towel on my head to cool
down.
How many more days? Why are you here alone? Where are the palace people?
“It’s the middle of the night. Yesterday the Pekan troops reached the capital, and many of the palace people fled
.” He said calmly. In
the second chapter
, I suddenly stood up.
That year, when I was sixteen years old, Nanxu’s drunken dream finally came to an end, like
a dream of Huangliang, and like waiting for many, many years.
I ran outside with Xia Luan. In the darkness, there were palace people fleeing in a hurry everywhere. Only my brother’s main hall was lit up with a light.
“Go to your mother and tell her to lock the door. She’ll be right behind you.”
When I walked into the hall, my brother was sitting on the throne with rickets. I don’t know when he started. He looked like his grandfather.
I had planned to never speak to him again in my life, but I couldn’t help feeling a little sour. I went over and said, “Brother, let’s go. General Ho Su-lung is still guarding Linnan. Let’s go and join him.”
“The capital will fall tomorrow at the latest. How long can Lin Nan hold out?”. He looked ahead, where there was nothing but autumn fog and darkness. He said, “Sooner or later, the Pekan people will destroy Nanxu. This is Nanxu’s destiny, and it is also my destiny.”
He looked back at me and said gently, “It’s just a pity. I wanted to find a good husband for my Xihe, but I didn’t have time.” I had
tears in my eyes, and I tried to smile to keep them from falling. “No, I’m not the kind of person who can be anyone’s wife.”
“How come? My Xihe is the best girl in the world.”
“The best girl in the world is Helan Zhiqiu.”
The elder brother smiled and said softly, “Well, don’t be a good girl.”
Don’t be brought up by the family to be the best girl. Don’t fall in love with your fickle and cowardly husband. Don’t hold on to your last breath for the sake of your children and live in this miserable world
.
“Xihe, take Chih-chiu away and tell her to live for herself for the rest of her life, and to forget that I’m useless.”
I pulled Zhiqiu and Xia Luan and fled from the palace in a hurry. Under the rising sun, it was still so lofty, as if nothing would change, but the time there would never come back.
We haven’t had time to run out of the city, the north dry army has entered the capital, so we witnessed what is hell, they kill all the civilians indiscriminately, in the streets of the obscene women, set fire to play with the fleeing crowd, protect our QinBing one by one dead, we blackened the face, He was in a constant state of anxiety and hid Xizang. On
the third day, when the slaughter finally stopped, the Pekan soldiers urged the survivors, “Come here!”! Or I’ll kill you! Hurry up! Zhiqiu and
I were pushed to the front of the palace by several Beigan soldiers, so I saw my brother again. In a strange position,
he crawled on the ground like a dog, dragged by the neck of a Pekan man, wearing a dragon robe, and his knees and elbows were stained with blood from crawling.
His expression was very strange, smiling all the time, as if he was humming silently, but he could not make a sound, because his tongue had been cut off, leaving only a black hole in his mouth.
This dog! You are the king of Nanxu! “If you don’t obey the orders of the Northern King Dan, this will be your fate!” The leader of the Pekan people shouted in a stiff Nanxu dialect.
The crowd did not dare to look up, I desperately covered my mouth, listening to them while laughing crazily, while kicking my brother on the back.
At dawn, the sky is not yet clear. Xiaoshuang people have not come yet. There is only the remnant of Chengtou. I can say it all. I have lived all my life. Chih-chiu suddenly began to hum softly beside me. When I turned around, she smiled at me and said, “The first time I saw the prince, he played and sang this song at the banquet. It was really nice.”
“Know Autumn..” But
she didn’t look at me again. Instead, she said to the woman beside her, “Nothing really belongs to me in this life. Only you are my flesh and blood. You must accompany Xihe for me and never leave him alone. Promise your mother, okay?” Before
I could react, she got up and stood proudly in the midst of the kneeling crowd, saying loudly, “I am the Empress of Nanxu!”! Do you dare to kill me? Most of
the Beigan soldiers could not speak the southern language. They were stunned for a moment. The leading general looked at her hesitantly and said, “You say you are?”? Does Helan, the Empress of Nanxu, know autumn?
The elder brother raised his head in the dust and shook his head desperately, while she ran over with a smile, just like a girl rushing to a date.
The next moment, the long hairpin in her hand ran through her brother’s chest, then pulled it out and inserted it into her chest again. They hugged each other tightly, as if they had returned to the beginning of everything. The young emperor hugged his queen tightly
. Everyone thought he was a waste, but she was not.
“My concubine will always be in the palace waiting for Your Majesty’s return.”
“Well, when I come back, give me a prince.”
She never waited for her hero again. He lost
the girl who loved him with her life.
They were lost in this way all their lives. The bodies of the last kings and queens
of Nanxu were exposed in front of the palace, and their bones were trampled
by the hooves of Beigan horses and flew into the distance.
On the tenth day, the North Army finally stopped the massacre and began to clumsily build a new
country on the ruins. I took Xia to flee to Lin Nan, where General He Sulong was guarding. He Jun was brave
. That was the last land of Nanxu.
Along the way, there were all the bones left by the raging Union Army, some of which were mothers holding their children
, some of which were thin old people, their hands holding money were cut off, and they died with round eyes and angry
eyes. We walked all the way, all the way to collect the skeletons on the roadside.
Why are you doing this? Aunt.
“Because we don’t know how long we can live. If we can do one more thing, we can do
one more thing.”
I had a high fever on and off, and every step I took, I felt that I would fall
down in the next second, but Xia’s little hand held me so tightly, as if the cold world
had finally involved me.
“Xia La, if your aunt dies, you don’t have to go to Lin Nan. You just have to work hard to live, marry and have children, and tell your children that there used to be a place called Nanxu, which was a very beautiful place..”
Hsia quietly shook her head and said, “I’m alive when my aunt is alive.”
I don’t know how many days and nights I’ve been walking, but Hsia raised her hand and pointed to the front. “Auntie, are you coming?”
I raised my head, the sunset residual blood, not far from the dark mountains outlined Phnom Penh, my tears flow down like this, Lin Nan Duoshan, we are really coming. Months
of weariness and pain knocked me down, and I sat down on my knees. I had never walked more than a mile before, but now I had crossed mountains and broken several pairs of shoes. I had refused to eat the meat that was not right before, but now it had become a common practice to turn over dry food on the dead. Once an insect was enough to frighten my tears. Now in the night when the wolves are following, I can still eat the dry food calmly. It turns out that when no one treats me as a princess, I am just a piece of dust and silt. How to rub it flat and round, I have to live in vain.
That night, we were resting in a cave. It was deep winter. I lit a firewood to drive away the cold and held Xia in my arms. When we were sleepy, I suddenly heard intermittent crying. When I got up to look, I found a woman half submerged in the swamp, wailing hysterically.
Big Brother, please! You are a good man, you help me! Please, please! Help me! Trembling, she held out her hand in my direction.
I took a branch and stretched it out to her, and she climbed up trembling and rancid, like a ghost climbing up from hell.
Big Brother.. Eldest brother Can you give me a bite to eat? I haven’t eaten for three days.
I hesitated for a moment, but Xia pulled aside and said softly, “Auntie, don’t create any complications.” Along
the way, we disguised ourselves as beggars with leprosy, and I glued my beard and belly to match Xia’s father and son. In order to avoid being discovered, try not to walk with others.
“I’m from Nanxu..” The woman wailed, “Our kingdom is lost …” Our whole family has been killed. I’m going to Linnan to find my son. Please, I can’t die.
I was stunned.
Nanxu people, there is no Nanxu people
, only those who lost their homes because of the incompetence of the royal family.
We took her back to the cave, baked the last piece of dry food, and gave her half.
She is in her fifties, and when she eats, she rolls her eyes and cries: “Elder brother, you are my great benefactor. What’s your name? When I get to Linnan, I will repay you well!”. I
shook my head, afraid that my voice would be exposed, so I didn’t say anything. “No need,” said Hsia. “We’re not going to Linnan. Tomorrow we’ll go our separate ways.” After a thousand thanks, the
woman curled up and fell asleep. In her dream, she kept sobbing and sobbing like a wild animal. People who have
experienced the massacre seem to have a nightmare problem, and many, many years later, I still wake up crying in my sleep.
By the time we woke up, it was already the next morning. The woman was already on her way. There were less than ten miles to go. I mended Xia’s little shoes and went on my way in high spirits.
…… Then, on the official road stood a group of Beigan soldiers and the woman.
Master Jun! That’s a white-footed sheep (young girl)! I watched it while she was sleeping! She has no Adam’s apple, and her skin is white! The remaining one is not sick, and he is a little boy with fine skin and tender flesh! How much do you think you can get?
I was pushed to the ground by several soldiers. They rudely wiped my face with a rag and pulled down my pants. With tears in their eyes, the woman flattered and counted the money.
Still a Bodhisattva face (good-looking girl).. It’s a pity to do it here. Go! Take it back! They said cheerfully.
“Why does this kid look like our Pekan seed?”
“Take it all back!”
I was pushed and sent to the barracks of the Union Army. I finally looked at Xia Luan. I saw him cry for the first time. The child, who had always been so quiet, cried hysterically and struggled towards me, but the soldier slapped him in the face.
I moved my lips silently, I’m sorry. Xia La, live. Live by fair means or foul.
In front of everyone, I was stripped of my clothes by several Beigan women and washed with a basin of water. I was judged like an animal by a group of people, and they gave me a thin coat to put on, which should have just been pulled off some dead girl, and it smelled of blood.
Then I went into the camp, where I could hear the young girl’s wailing far away. Pekan people have no sense of avoiding people, and I have seen another kind of purgatory on earth.
“Here comes another Bodhisattva face!” Laughing loudly, a bearded man pulled me into his arms and said, “Come and vent your anger!”! Don’t do it like the last time! Twice, I’m dead.
The crowd burst out laughing.
I raised my face and smiled. “Master Jun, be gentle. I haven’t been married yet!”
“How can you speak Beihua?” He pinched my face in surprise and said, “Aren’t you afraid of me?”
In the past two years, when I helped my brother deal with the government, I learned the Beigan language.
“My father did business with Peikan in his early years, and I followed him to learn the northern dialect. This time I came to Linnan to look for my father. Master Jun, can you let me go?”.
“All right, I’ll take you to look for it when I’m done,” he said carelessly as he took off his pants. Seeing that my expression was stiff, he explained
, “Oh, Ho Su-lung surrendered two days ago, and Lin Nan is now ours.”
He Sulong has come down.
I just felt a roar in my head, and I couldn’t hear anything. In numbness, his smelly mouth
arched over me. I slowly closed my eyes
in the screams around me, and a tear slipped down the corner of my eye.
“Xihe, live.”
But Grandpa, what’s the point of living? The so-called human world is just another
kind of hell.
Suddenly, the door of the camp was opened. I opened my eyes and saw a young
general come in. His face was like frost. Everyone stopped moving. The
bearded man on my body also got up and stammered, “General..”
The general took one look at him, turned his hand and chopped him down with a knife. I had never seen such a fast
knife. The bearded man didn’t even say a word, so he fell on me in his grave.
The whole camp was as silent as a cicada, and even the girl’s screams stopped.
Linbei is an important place for making porcelain. I’ve issued a military order to preserve the porcelain factory. What
is this now? Are you tired of living?
He glanced coldly at everyone in the room,
who trembled and bowed their heads as if they were under the gaze of a wolf. “I’ve said that occupation is only the first step. We want to live a good life on this land
like the people of Nanxu. You don’t understand what I’m saying, but I think you’re at least afraid of
death!”
He took the blood-stained sword and turned away, but he couldn’t.
It was me. I clung to his feet and shouted in the northern dialect, “General..” I am the daughter of Zhou Yao’s family in the capital
! I can make porcelain! I know how to make porcelain!
He looked at me and took his hand off the handle of the knife.
“How many processes are there in making porcelain?”
“Master Huijun, there are 72 procedures.” How many famous kilns are there
in the world? What is green and what is white? The
world’s famous kilns can be roughly divided into five major kilns and eight major systems. For example, the Chou family can produce azure,
light yellow, moon white, egg white, and other colors. The owner of the family is proud of the azure glaze color after the rain, while the Wen kiln
is famous for its white porcelain, firing black glaze, sauce glaze, and green glaze. The Ting kiln is known for producing all kinds of colors. It can
produce rose purple, crabapple red, azure, white moon, and so on. Among them, rose purple is praised by the poet
as “a rose is like a rosy cloud in the sky, and the sound of burning is silenced,” and is most sought after by the world.
In the commander in chief of the camp, the general sat on the main seat staring at me, I have guessed his
identity, the vanguard general of the southern expedition, the eldest son of the north king Dan, Chen Dong.
“You read a lot of books?” He asked.
“It’s okay.”
He stood up and stared at me. I could smell his body, the smell of iron, the smell of blood.
You don’t have any flaws, but you don’t know why. You make me feel.. His eyes were the brown of a wild animal. “That’s not good. We northerners hunt by instinct. You’re trembling, but you’re not like a rabbit.”
I was indeed trembling, sweat streaming down my neck, and the soldier behind me gently pulled out his knife, the shrill sound of which made me almost unsteady.
“They said there was a child with you. Who is he to you?”
“It’s me..”
No, there is a rumor among the people that Xia and I are not dead, and it is impossible for Beigan soldiers not to know. “It’s my brother,”
I mumbled.
He told his men, “Call her brother.”
My heart suddenly tightened, and all this did not have time to communicate with Xia. Even if he asks, “What’s your father’s last name?” We’re all finished.
My cold sweat slowly flowed down, I had expected the scene of flesh and blood flying later, maybe I should tell them about Xia’s life experience.
Xia La was brought in and looked at us in ignorance. I trembled and said, “Xiaoxia, don’t be afraid. If Master Jun asks you, you can tell the truth!” The soldier at the back gave me a sharp poke in the back with the hilt of his knife and said, “Shut up!”
Chen Dong tilted his head and looked at him. “Who is she to you?” He asked.
Don’t say aunt, don’t!
“She’s my sister..” Xia La raised her head, and her voice was already full of tears:
“You..” Why did you arrest her?
Chen Dong scolded impatiently: “Why are you crying?”
Xia did not dare to cry any more and looked at him timidly with tears in her eyes.
“What are you doing here in Linnan?”
“All my family members are dead, and we’ve walked a lot of places, but I can’t find my father
anywhere.”
“What does your father do?”
My heart suddenly tightened.
Xia La looked at him blankly. “Father is father.”
Chen Dong put his hand on Xia La’s neck. He continued to ask, “Let me ask you again. What does your
father do?”
I knelt down hurriedly and said in a loud voice, “Master Jun, I told Xiaoxia not to reveal
his business at home at will. Xiaoxia..” You tell Master Jun that we are — “
My family makes porcelain. If you let me go, I’m afraid.” Hsia cried loudly.
Chen Dong let go of him, and at the same time, the tent door was lifted, and a small soldier came in to announce: “General, Your Majesty’s emissary has arrived.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Before he left, he took one look at me and ordered, “Send the child to Old Ge to help him, and leave the girl with me.”
“Yes!” Before
she could say a word to me, she was dragged away by the adjutant, and when I was the only one left in the tent, I finally couldn’t hold up and sat down on the ground.
I survived?
I could hardly believe that I had survived in a desperate situation that was almost impossible to survive. But I did not have the joy of the rest of my life. After the nervous relaxation, I was at a loss and desperate.
He Sulong surrendered, which means that the last piece of land belonging to Nanxu no longer exists, no matter how self-deceiving, Nanxu’s number of gas, has been exhausted. What else can I do when the goal that has
supported me to the present has gone up in smoke? Live in vain. Muddleheaded? So why did I survive from the day of the destruction of the country until now, just to die in a more cruel way-you know, a frightening crisis is at hand, I can’t make porcelain. When I
was young, in order to let me know that porcelain was not easy to come by, Zhiqiu once took me to the porcelain kiln to watch the process of porcelain manufacturing over and over again, so I knew a lot of knowledge about porcelain making. However, this does not mean that I really have the ability to rebuild Nanxu’s porcelain industry from scratch. Chen Dong will know sooner or later that I am lying to him. What should I do
then?
Just as I was thinking about it, the door of the camp was opened, and the adjutant came in and threw me a thicker coat, saying, “Here you are. Take good care of the general.”
I stopped him at once and said, “Master Jun, wait a minute. I have something to ask you.”
He was a middle-aged man in his forties, with eagle-like eyes. In front of such eyes, any disguise was superfluous. I said carefully, “Master Jun, I know I shouldn’t ask anything, but my brother and I have come to this point by living together. Can you pity me and tell me what old Ge does?”?
My brother.. Can you still live?
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. Old Ge is Gru of our camp.” Seeing that I was puzzled, he thought for a moment and said, “Just place the wounded, do you understand?” I didn
‘t know what Gru meant, so I took it to be a medic. With a sigh of relief, the adjutant suddenly asked me, “Are you in your teens?”
“I just turned 16 this year.”
He sighed and said in a low voice, “I’m afraid our little girl is so old, and I don’t know if anyone is bullying her at home.” Looking up
again, he had a pair of sharp eyes, but he said a few more words to remind me: “The general is moody. In the early years of war, he fell ill. He always couldn’t sleep at night. The more he couldn’t sleep, the more irritable he became. Once he killed more than ten people in the middle of the night for no reason. You can see that he tossed and turned, so he stayed away.”
I nodded, and he reassured me, “Actually, it’s nothing. The general likes the people of Nanxu. If you serve them well, you may have a great fortune.”
“Like the people of Nanxu?”
“I guess. Otherwise I couldn’t let you serve him closely. When Your Majesty was his age, how many children did he have? The women in his clan didn’t even look at him.” He looked at me in a long voice and said, “The general doesn’t say anything. I think he just likes Nanxu women.”
I pretended to be shy and lowered my head, but my mind was spinning fast, and something was stirring in my heart.
The adjutant stood up and said, “I’ve said too much already. It’s time for me to go. I’ll join forces with Your Majesty’s army in a few days. I have a lot of work to do.”
「…… What?
My eyes widened. He looked at me in bewilderment and repeated, “In a few days, we will have an audience with Your Majesty.” King Dan of
the North.
Some images I deliberately forgot appeared in my mind, beast-like pupils, laughing men, trembling fingers of Zhiqiu, and blood flowing down my legs.
I still don’t know why she miraculously answered the question correctly, but I understand at that moment why we can miraculously survive in a series of desperate situations.
Dan is still alive, how can I die? After
the adjutant left, I prepared a set of impeccable words, nervously waiting for Chen Dong to come back, and so on until midnight, when there was a noise outside the camp.
When Chen Dong came in, the two adjutants behind him were holding down a beigan soldier who had been tied up. Still unconvinced, they struggled and shouted, “When I followed Your Majesty!”! Kill whoever you want! Sleep with as many women as you want. Before he
had finished speaking, the adjutant kicked him in the face, and he fell to the ground, convulsing in pain. The
door was wide open, which meant that all the soldiers could hear and see it.
Chen Dong, playing with a dagger, looked down at him and said, “I made an agreement with He Sulong that if Lin Nan surrendered, the Beigan soldiers would not hurt a hair of the people of Lin Nan. Do you think my military order is a joke on you?”
Big prince, I know I’m wrong! I didn’t mean that. I was just confused for a moment! Please..
Chen Dong raised his chin with an expressionless face and said, “You’ve been with me for three months, and you still don’t know what to call me?”
No.. General.. As soon as
his hand moved, the man’s jaw disjointed, and he could only open his mouth in a wail of fear
. His hand rose and fell, and with a horrible scream, the man
‘s tongue fell to the ground, and his whole mouth turned into a bloody stain.
The adjutant took the knife, cut off his ear with the second knife, then the third and the fourth.
Knife.
Such a tall and strong man, in front of my eyes, turned into a bloody
skeleton.
“I don’t care if you were my uncle’s soldiers or the king’s soldiers..” He slowly
played with the sword in his hand: “In my camp, those who do not listen to me will die.”
The man, unable to speak, shook and nodded desperately.
All of a sudden, there was a dead silence in the camp. Chen Dong threw his knife on the ground
with a clang and said, “Hang him at the door so that some old soldiers won’t forget. I want to rest
.”
“Yes!” The
two adjutants dragged the mangled man out. The door finally closed.
Chen Dong turned his head and was stunned for a moment before he realized, “Oh, it’s you.”
I answered and went over to help him take off his armor. I wrung a hot towel to wipe his head
and face. As he did so, he frowned and asked me, “What’s your name?”
“My name is Chou Hsiao-hsi.”
“You’re not afraid of me?” In the midst of the vomit-inducing smell of blood in the room, he looked at me. The charcoal fire lit up his
eyes, and he looked more and more like a wild animal. I tried to suppress the trembling of my body. I bowed my head and said with a smile
, “I was afraid of the general, but the general took me and my brother in. He is a good man.”
“Mmm.”
He threw the knife on the bed at random, then pulled me on his lap and kneaded my hand through
my skirt. His hand was cold and calloused. Although I knew it would
happen sooner or later, I couldn’t help trembling.
“Nanxu woman is really ***ing..” He said in my ear that the strength of his hands was heavy
again.
I couldn’t help it. My eyes were full of tears, not because of humiliation, but because of
pain. His strength was so great that I felt my chest would be crushed.
He stopped short and said, “You don’t want to?”
“I’m willing to serve the general, but it’s too painful.”
He pulled his hand out and lay on the other side.
“You are too young.” He thought for a moment and then added, “Young.”
…… I don’t know what to say for a moment.
“It’s boring. Go to sleep.”
The camp bed was so small that we had to be close together. The smell of
blood and iron on his body frightened me, but it was so cold that he was warm. I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t dare to move. He wasn’t asleep either. I thought of his insomnia and felt more
and more afraid. But suddenly
he said, “Nanxu, how many books do people like you have to read?”
Book? Nanxu Chongwen, both men and women have to read and write from an early age. Because my grandfather did not
control me, I did not have a serious class with my husband, but there was a huge library
in the palace, and Zhiqiu always took me there to pass the time.
“If you have a collection of books at home, you can read them if you want to.” I weighed my answer.
He pulled a book from his pillow and gave it to me.
“Have you read this?”
I took it over and looked through it, and found that it was a broken book. I
haven’t finished reading it. It’s called The History of the East Forest. There are 56 volumes in all. You should
be.. It’s the third volume, and it tells anecdotes about the famous generals of the former Dynasty.
“Read it to me in Beiyu.” He said.
I half sat up, and by the light of the charcoal fire, I began to recite softly. This book was only a middling one in the
collection of books in the palace, but he listened very carefully, and occasionally asked me a few questions
: “What is the way of the sage?”. “What is chastity?” When I was a child
, I dozed off as soon as I read. I played my forehead a lot because of this.
I still do. As I read, I felt sleepy. I yawned a few times and fell asleep
on him. When I
woke up, Chen Dong had already left, but the charcoal fire was still burning vigorously. My quilt was covered with a layer of animal skin, which was very warm and comfortable. I had to force myself to get up from the quilt.
I lifted the door of the tent and saw the body hanging high. One night was long enough for his blood to run out. There was a layer of frost on his face. Several soldiers were putting him down.
Warmth is just an illusion. This is the truth.
I asked the guards where “Gru” was, but they kept pretending to be deaf and dumb and refused to answer my question. I had to use the excuse that I was going to fetch water and wash. As I walked slowly to the river, I looked for the figure of Xia La.
Just as I was sinking the bucket into the river, suddenly, the wind sent an intermittent song, “Body..” Since death, the spirit of God, the soul.. Yi Xi is the Ghost Hero.
The barrel fell with a splash into the river and floated away with the water.
That is Qu Fuzi’s “National Martyrdom”.
No Pekan man would sing such a song in the barracks!
I stood up suddenly, looking around for the source of the sound, the back is full of fine sweat, but the sound disappeared without a trace, like a ghost disappeared in the sun.
Since then, I have been looking for the source of the song and the whereabouts of Gru, but the barracks are very strict, there has been no clue. Chen Dong did not touch me again, I like all the rough maid in his side to serve, I
am not good at serving people, he is not picky, but occasionally I inadvertently raised my head
, can always meet his eyes.
He’s been suspicious of me. But why do you doubt me and let me stay with him
?
One day I went back to fetch water and wanted to rest at the gate of the camp for a while, but I didn’t want Chen Dong to
come back. I happened to hear his conversation with the adjutant.
“We can’t start with the kiln until we get to the city. Before that, let me find
out who she is.”
“Yes!” The adjutant who
said I looked like his daughter asked cautiously, “But
the general thinks there’s something wrong with her?”
“In my tent, there are a lot of things that southerners think are good. There are jewels and jade worth less than half of the city
, and there are antiques that have been handed down for thousands of years. Don’t move, she hasn’t even
looked at them. There are some things that can’t be hidden.” “A 16-year-old girl raised
by an ordinary shopkeeper cannot do it,” he said.
The adjutant added, “Well, if she’s been lying, she’s probably an assassin trained
in the south. The general’d better not take risks and kill her directly.”
Chen Dong was silent for a long time, and I heard my heart beating almost crazily.
“No,” he said.
At that moment, the horn suddenly sounded, which was the alarm of the enemy. The basin in my hand fell to the ground. Chen Dong came out of the tent and ran into me. “Go!” He snapped.
His voice did not fall, an arrow with flame shot over, the camp quickly jumped up flames, he looked at the direction of archery, there should be guards guarding the hill, ambushed a row of archers, crossbows with flame shot over. Another wave of men had infiltrated the camp and were fighting with the Union army.
“Protect the General!”
Guards roared to gather in front of him, with a knife to block the arrow, I gawked at everything in front of me, trying to identify these attackers-Nanxu officers and soldiers have been defeated on all fronts, and where did these people come to attack the barracks of Beigan! Before
I could figure it out, Chen Dong pulled me behind me and said, “What a daze!”! Come here!
These sneak attack people do not seem to have received any training, combat effectiveness is not strong, but the platoon was very resourceful, without armor, only relying on rough fighting blade, quickly hit Chen Dong in front of-this is the most elite troops in the whole Beigan. The
leader was a strong man, nine feet tall, who looked like a giant bear. He held a long knife and shouted, “The northern dog will die!”
Chen Dong drew his sword to greet him. “Who are you?”
The strong man smashed the guard’s shield with a knife and laughed loudly, “Lao Tzu, a man from Nanxu!”
Chen Dong jumped to the front of the guards and fought hand to hand with the strong man. His bright long knife collided with the strong man and opened a gap. The bravery of the Beigan people really lived up to its reputation, and the strong man did not fall behind at all. However, after several rounds, the defeat was decided. When
they dare to sneak in, they pay attention to the word “fast.” Flame crossbows and suicide hand-to-hand combat are all designed to allow strong men to quickly approach Chen Dong and kill him with one blow, but once the Beigan army reacts..
The strong man was attacked by a group of soldiers, who pierced his abdomen and crushed him to the ground. A soldier with a knife was about to cut him down, but Chen Dong stopped him: “Let him live!”
The soldier’s eyes were red, and the hand holding the knife was shaking. His comrades had been killed countless times, but he still obeyed and threw the knife aside.
“Are you a bandit?” Chen Dong asked.
“I’m your grandmother!”
The strong man turned pale because he was bleeding too much, and he almost spit on Chen Dong’s face.
“Your skill is good, but Nanxu is already dead, and the King of the North gives preferential treatment to his warriors. Why do you want to die?”
The strong man’s face was pressed to the ground, and he pulled his neck and laughed wildly: “Kill your mother’s head!”! Nanxu people are here! Nanxu will not perish!
Chen Dong waved his hand and said, “Take him down and let him live. I want to find out who is behind this.” The strong man was pulled by the Beigan soldiers, and his abdomen was bleeding profusely. He was still full of anger and cursed
all the way: “Damn Beigan dog!”! *** your grandma! Have the ability to work one-on-one
with me! The camp, which was still calm in the
morning, was covered with blood. Everyone was busy. Chen Dong
hurried up the mountain with people to investigate the location of the attack. No one paid attention to me.
I stood there in a daze, and the words “Lao Tzu Nanxu people” rang through my ears like thunder
. The
soldiers dragged a seriously wounded man behind me and said, “Let’s send it to Gru
.
” Gru?
I finally woke up from my unexamined state and followed the soldiers
carrying the seriously wounded to a tent on the edge of the camp, which looked ordinary, but not capped
.
I stood in the doorway and looked inside, where there was a statue of a wolf-headed Buddha, a unique belief formed by the fusion of many tribes of the Beigan
people, one side of the wolf-headed horror, the other side of the Buddha’s
compassion. There was a brazier burning under the
idol, and the seriously wounded were placed on the ground, all twitching
, and one of them groaned the most.
A thin hand covered his face.
“The body dies here, the soul rushes to the sky, the wolf travels thousands of miles, only waiting for the return date.” It was a thin, black-robed old man, half crouching on the ground. The wounded man twitched a few times, but there was no
sound. After a while, his body shrank visibly, and then quickly
turned into a pool of water and a few bones.
It’s the legendary sorcery of the North.
“Pick up the bones.” As the old man ordered, he walked over to another wounded man.
“Yes,”
answered a tender voice, and a child picked up the remaining bones with long chopsticks and threw
them into the brazier.
“Xia La!” I cried out.
The old man looked over quickly. Under the shadow of his black robe were a pair of white eyes.
“Who are you?” He snapped! Gru gave it away and dared to see it!
“Master, this is my elder sister. She doesn’t know the rules of Pei Gan
. Don’t be like her.” If you
don’t understand the rules of Peikan, can you go around peeping! This is blasphemy! Trembling with anger,
I rushed in and shouted, “What rules!”! Wantonly killing people is the rule of your
Beigan! It is the rule for you Beigan people to go to other people’s homes to burn, kill and loot. Oh,
now your soldiers are injured, and they can’t be cured! It’s the rule to let them die! You
don’t deserve to talk about gods! One of you deserves to go to the 18 levels of hell!
Because I was in such a hurry, I said it in the southern language, but the old man couldn’t understand. “What did she
say?” He asked! You tell me! What did she say? “Master, my sister is apologizing to you,” she said.
No! You’re fooling me! I’ll tell the general!
I quickly switched to Beiyu and shouted, “You go to sue!”! Just in time for the general to kill us! I
‘d rather die than let my brother do something so insidious!
I waited for him to fly into a rage, but he seemed to have been poked into some soft rib, no longer had the momentum
, mumbling did not know what to say, Xia pulled a soft voice to beg a few words, pushed me out
of the camp.
“Auntie, I’m fine. Master has been very kind to me. You don’t have to worry.”
“Fart!”
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