Chapter 75
Three days later, a boat came across the water, but it was not Mu Fulan, but Liang Tuan.
He hurried up the mountain and entered the medicine house. When he saw Xie Changgeng, he breathed a long sigh of relief. After saluting, he said that they had been ordered to wait outside the city, but there was no news of him for several days. Searching around secretly, I received a message from a village boy last night saying that others were here, so I rushed over this morning.
After he finished speaking, he held his breath and looked at the figure in front of him who was standing with his back to him. He really didn’t know what had happened in the past few days, how could he be here, he was injured, and he was even thinner. , haggard to this point.
Xie Changgeng stood outside the gate of Yaolu, looking at the shadow of the city in the distance.
It was across the water, facing him far away, like a mirage, floating on the other side of the misty water.
It looked so close, but when he tried to get close, it was so far away.
Across the water, he is here, she is there.
Once, he attacked the city and conquered the land, and even if he tried his best, he would never know what it meant to be tired, but at this moment, for the first time in his life, he felt a sense of tiredness in his heart.
How could he not know that on his way to the top step by step, an invisible shackle had already tightly imprisoned him.
This shackles imprisoned him, in addition to his ambitions, there are those who have followed him with their lives over the years.
With his position today, he was not qualified to let himself go.
He knew he was wrong.
Now, if he is not lucky enough, the biggest possibility should have become a corpse sinking in the dark water of Dongting. Since he is still alive, what he should do at this moment is to immediately end his stupid impulse and turn around.
But he was still unwilling.
Now that you have come, and you have opened this head, then let it be up to you, and do as you please.
If he left just like that, then what was the point of him crossing the Dongting at night and escaping from death?
The last time, he told himself.
“I’m fine, you don’t have to worry. You reply to the state first, you don’t have to wait here.”
“I have something else to do. When it’s over, I’ll find you to join me.”
Xie Changgeng withdrew his gaze. He turned his head slowly and said so to the people behind him.
…
Near the West Gate of Yuecheng, as in the past, people came and went, bustling.
At noon, at the end of the dirt road leading to Dongting in the western suburbs, a man walked slowly.
This man was twenty-five or sixteen years old. Although he was dressed in ordinary clothes and wore a hat on his head, he was still very conspicuous among the locals when he walked towards the city gate.
In the past six months or so, a series of major events have occurred in Changsha, and shortly after the war ended, Yuecheng’s city defense was much stricter than before. The doorman noticed this strange-looking passerby early on, stopped him from the team, and took a look.
“Who? Where did you come from? Where are you going?”
“My surname is Xie, Xie Changgeng, I want to see Master Weng.”
The doorman was taken aback.
Although they had never met anyone before, but Xie Changgeng’s name was unknown to anyone in the world, let alone in this place in Changsha?
The guards didn’t know if it was true or not, and after discussing a few words with each other, they decided to keep a few people watching, and one person quickly went to find Prime Minister Lu Lin to report the news.
When Lu Lin heard the news, she was very surprised, and even more dubious, she hurried to the city gate. When she got there, she saw that many passersby had stopped to watch.
He stood alone in a corner beside the city gate, his face was pale, as if he was deficient in blood and sick, but his expression was very calm, as if he had not noticed the dissatisfied eyes from the people of Changsha who were all around him at the moment.
Lu Lin hurriedly squeezed past: “Why is King Qin here? Please follow Lu into the city.”
Although Changsha has been at odds with the imperial court, Lu Lin still did not dare to show any disrespect towards this person.
Xie Changgeng smiled at him and said, “Please pass the message on behalf of the prime minister. If weng master sees you, I will enter the city again.”
Lu Lin felt that something was wrong.
Xie Changgeng’s appearance, at first glance, looks like a down-and-out vagabond, and there is no half of his entourage.
If it is not a family and state affair, then it is naturally a private matter with the lord.
Lu Lin didn’t want to ask any further questions. She smiled apologetically, and promised to report it on her behalf immediately. Before leaving, she glanced around and saw that there were more and more passers-by, and pointed at Xie Changgeng. He spat at him from a distance, hurriedly ordered the passers-by to be dispersed, temporarily set up a card at the intersection ahead and told pedestrians to pass through a different door. once again.
“Master Weng, although it’s a bit abrupt that he came here like this, we don’t want to offend too much, so we just arranged this. If Master Weng wants to see him, I’ll bring people in quietly, lest he won’t leave and the news will spread. , arouse unfounded suspicion, then it is not good.”
Mu Fulan stood in front of the window, and when she was in a trance, she heard a voice behind her: “Mother, if you don’t want to see her, you don’t have to go. My son will go on your behalf and let him leave!”
Mu Fulan turned her head and saw Xi’er walking in from outside the door, and said to herself.
She was stunned, and subconsciously wanted to refuse, but Xi’er said: “Mother, listen to me, he came just right, I want to see him again, and I have something to tell him.”
“Please mother’s permission.” The child knelt down and kowtowed solemnly.
Mu Fulan was stunned and helped him up.
“Mother, let me go see him.”
The child said again.
…
Outside the city gate, there was nothing but Xie Changgeng, standing there quietly.
Finally, the sound of the city gate opening came from my ears.
A child, with a long box behind him, came out of the city gate.
He stopped in front of Xie Changgeng, raised his head slightly, and stared at him.
“Thank you, sir, are you feeling better?”
After a moment, the child asked him softly.
A warm current slowly poured out of Xie Changgeng’s heart.
As soon as we parted outside the city of Guzang, it has been a year.
The child’s height, like a bamboo shoot, has grown a lot.
He looked at it, his eyes suddenly swelled, he blinked, a smile appeared on his face, he nodded, and said, “My illness is cured. Xi’er doesn’t have to worry about me.”
He turned around, walked towards the child, reached in front of him, bent over and stretched out his hand, trying to stroke his head, but the child avoided it.
He took a step back.
“Thanks, you don’t have to wait for my mother to kiss. I came by myself.”
As he said, he took off the long box he was carrying, held it, carefully placed it on the ground, and opened the box cover.
This is a sword case. Inside the box lies a long sword.
Xie Changgeng naturally recognized that this was the sword he had given him that day.
“Thank you, sir, I am here to return this sword to your lord.”
Xie Changgeng was stunned.
“My lord, they said that you have become the King of Qin, the king with the highest status. I should have called you King Qin too, but I still want to call you Lord Xie as before,” the child said.
“I asked my mother before, whether you are a good person or a bad person. Mother said that you are neither a good person nor a bad person. I didn’t understand her words at the time, and it is the same now. But I know that you are the one I admire the most. Great hero, I like you, so when you gave me this sword, even if my mother objected, I didn’t listen to her and accepted the gift you gave me.”
“It is your precious thing, you gave it to me, and I originally planned to keep it for the rest of my life. But now, in order to force my mother, you let the Fuzhou soldiers attack us. When my mother went to Yunmeng, I really It’s useless to hate myself, I can’t help her, let alone protect her.”
“I don’t understand the affairs of the court. But my lord, even if our country in Changsha offends you, you are still my mother’s enemy. You are my mother’s enemy, and you are also my enemy. So this sword , I can no longer keep it. Please take it back, my lord.”
The child stared at Xie Changgeng, tears slowly flashed in his eyes, but he tried his best to hold back his tears.
“Thank you, sir, that’s why I begged my mother to allow me to come here to see you. She won’t see you again. I hope you don’t bother her again! If you’re sick, sir, leave here as soon as possible. .”
After Xi’er finished speaking, she turned around and ran, her foot tripped over a small stone on the ground, and she jumped forward and fell to the ground.
Xie Changgeng was dumbfounded, he recovered his senses, stepped up, and picked up the child from the ground to see if his hands and feet were broken.
Xi’er clenched her fists tightly to prevent him from looking, and struggled again.
Xie Changgeng let go of his hand and said, “Xi’er, what Lord Xie sent will never be taken back!”
Xi’er tightly closed her lips and said nothing.
“Master Xie was wrong. You shouldn’t be confused for a while, let the Fuzhou soldiers attack you, and let you down. Master Xie promises you that from now on, you will never be an enemy of your mother again.”
He squatted down slowly, stared at the child in front of him, and said solemnly.
Xi’er stared at him blankly, with tears in her eyes, hesitated for a moment, and whispered, “Master Xie, are you telling the truth? You won’t lie to me?”
Xie Changgeng smiled and said: “Your mother is right, Lord Xie is not a good person, he often does bad things. But this time, the things promised to you will be counted. If you break your promise again, let Lord Xie die in battle in the future. No good end!”
Xi’er burst into tears and smiled. He wiped his eyes quickly and shook his head: “I believe in you. I don’t want to thank you for not dying well! I will tell my mother what you said to me.”
“Sir, is your illness really healed?” the child asked again, with a concerned look in his eyes.
“When mother took me away that day, you hadn’t woken up yet. I wanted to tell mother to stay until you woke up and then leave, but I didn’t dare to tell mother…”
Xie Changgeng picked up one of his small hands, lowered his head and leaned over, and said, “If you touch my forehead, you’ll know.”
Xi’er touched his forehead and said, “Your fever is gone. But the arrow wound on your back must not be healed. You need to heal it soon!”
“Okay.” He smiled.
“The guard said, Mr. Xie, you came swimming that night. They thought you were an assassin, so they shot you arrows. Why did you swim over, Mr. Xie, and you didn’t hide? How dangerous…”
“Master Xie wanted to see your mother, so he thought so much that he swam over and forgot to dodge the arrows.”
“Sir, go back to Yaolu first, don’t wait here any longer. When I go back, I will pass your words on to my mother, and I beg her to see you again. You must admit your mistake to her.”
“Okay. I’ll go there and wait for her…”
On the other side of the city gate, the sound of dialogue fluctuated high and low, and the position floated over.
Mu Fulan took a step by step, silently, slowly backing away, turned away.
The next day, she came to Junshan, went up the mountain, and wandered aimlessly along the mountain road she was all too familiar with.
On the mountain path, withered branches and fallen leaves fell, and the footsteps under her skirt made a slight rustling sound. This sound made the surroundings become more and more empty, as if the whole mountain was empty, and she was the only one walking alone.
She finally stopped, only to realize that she had come to the ancient cypress next to the cliff.
As the sun sets in the west of the mountain, the tired crows return to their nests, and the mountain wind blows, which messes up her temples. Standing under the tree, she looked up at the returning birds that were circling and flying at the top of the tree. When she was getting mad, a pair of man’s arms suddenly stretched out behind her and hugged her gently.
She remained motionless and slowly closed her eyes.
The man behind him didn’t speak or move, he just hugged her like this, slowly tightening his arms, taking her weak body completely into his arms, and making her back tight. tightly against his chest.
Time seemed to stop flowing, and the chirping of the birds above his head seemed to gradually disappear from his ears, until the man lowered his head and gently kissed her tender earlobe with his cool lips.
He said hoarsely and softly: “The person you met in Junshan in the past is me, isn’t he?”
Mu Fulan’s eyelashes trembled.
Xie Changgeng slowly tightened the palms that were holding her shoulders, and slowly turned her body around, making her face him.
“I’m so stupid that I only remember it now that I met you here before I went to ask you for a kiss. You were the girl who stopped me that day, and I helped you save it. Birdman.”
He stared at her beautiful eyes, turned towards her, lowered his head slowly, and gently placed his forehead on her forehead.
“Lan Er…”
He murmured her name, his lips softly brushing her cheek.
“Look at the birds that are homing overhead at the moment, maybe one of them is the one I rescued from the cliff for you that day…”
Mu Fulan turned her face sharply, avoiding the lips that he looked for her.
“You’re not,” she said.
Xie Changgeng froze.
She slowly turned her face back, staring at the face of the man in front of her.
“In my heart, the person who saved the bird for me that day is long gone.”
“Xie Changgeng, you are not him.”
Xie Changgeng’s face gradually turned pale, and the fingers on her shoulders slowly loosened, but soon, they grasped her tightly again, holding her even tighter.
“You clearly liked me in the past, but then why did you hate me so much that in order to get rid of me, you were so cruel to yourself?”
“If I didn’t happen to hear what Mu’s mother said to you that night, I couldn’t believe that you did such a thing to yourself! If it was after we separated, something happened that I don’t know, My fault, you can tell me, I will make up for you. But you treat me like this, heartless, so far!”
“I thank Changgeng, what is the crime?”
The corners of his eyes were red, he gritted his teeth tightly, and asked, his voice was extremely hoarse.