Kyushu·Dendrobium Lady
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
In the east of Yuezhou, there is a sea of sharks in the vast Hainan, with a radius of only a hundred miles.There are sharks in the sea, who live in the water like fish, and when their eyes cry, they can produce pearls.There are sharks guarding the sharks, and when they smell blood, they will go crazy and can eat small boats.Emperor Xu loves the beads, local officials flatter him, and ask for the beads harshly.The pearl people can't pick enough to pay tribute, so they tie the children's waists with ropes and let the sharks float up, and then kill the children, so that the sharks can see them.Mermaids are kind and gentle, and every time they weep, they become pearls when they see the wind, and there is light in the night.In order to prevent children's blood gas from causing sharks to bite people, the method of strangulation is adopted.
——"Requisition for Books Empress Dowager Huan Yi"
I
The pearl fishing boat came out of the port and sailed with the wind for two days.On the sea in early autumn, the shimmering golden sunlight dazzled Hai Shi blindly.
Dad sat on the side of the boat, holding the child close to him: "Haishi, do you remember what Dad taught you?" on the rope.It was the first time that Abba took Haishi out to fish for pearls, and she remembered Abba's instructions firmly. "As long as you dive down and see a beautiful sister, pull her up, she will give us a lot of pearls, and our tribute pearls for this year will be settled, right?" With a dark body and flat chest, and salt flowers on the ends of his tanned hair, he is no different from a boy.Only the singing voice proved that she was a little girl: "Abba, Uncle Jin, Uncle Zhu, I'm going down."
Abba's purple-colored face suddenly wrinkled: "Haishi, you're not afraid, are you?"
Haishi laughed crisply, took a big breath, turned over and plunged into the sea, sparking splashes as bright as molten gold, and then disappeared like a fish dragging the rope around his waist.
Dad knelt on the side of the boat, tightly clutching the rope that bound the mirage.After a while, Haishi was probably caught, so he pulled the rope under the sea, urging him to let it go longer.Abba tightened the rope in his hands, hesitating.Ajin sat with his head depressed, and only stretched out one hand, patting Abba's shoulder.After stopping for a while, Ajin saw no movement, so he put in more effort.Abba struggled with his body, and as soon as he let go, the rope slid down.Dad's tendons seemed to be pulled out along with the rope, and he collapsed.After a while, he hissed and said: "Mother Haishi still doesn't know that I took Haishi to the Shark Sea...she must hate me to death..."
Ajin said nonchalantly: "I didn't dare to say that before we went to sea, the officers and soldiers who collected the tribute pearls arrived at Xiyu Village. Xiyu Village was only half a liter of beads missing, and all the houses and boats were burned by the officers and soldiers." Now, men, women and children are tied together with anchor chains, saying that they are preparing to sell them in the autumn market and go to Hanzhou to be slaves to barbarians. These tribute pearls are... really compelling, and this year's pearls are so damn rare. No, otherwise, how could we Take the child..." After all, he didn't finish.
Ah Zhu murmured to his father: "When Haishi brings the sharks up later... I'll do it, you can't do it well, Haishi's mother will hate you to death."
My father buried his head in his knees, murmured with straight eyes: "No matter who you do it, I will hate you for the rest of your life. My good girl in Haishi, I won't cause trouble in the future... I will do it myself. Come on..." The voice gradually lowered and turned into a sob.
Both Ajin and Azhu didn't dare to pay attention to this man who had been scorched by years of torment at sea, and turned their heads away.
A black-tailed gull flies by.There is a vast expanse of smoke and waves, and there is no limit to the vast expanse.
Even though the world has been turned upside down thousands of times, starved to death or flourishing in prosperity, there is always such an indifferent vast sea around this continent.Because of its vastness, it was born in the desert, and it is long-lasting, which is better than any dynasty or country.
The small boat is like a drop in the ocean, floating and sinking three ragged Zhumin and their sorrows.Although one day the sea will dry up and become a field of mulberry, but their existence like dust and mustard seeds cannot see such a day.Their misery is just like the misery of all the rogues in the world, drowned in the never-moving tide of the sea, without sound or trace.
"In the east of Yuezhou, in the vast south of Hainan, there is a sea of sharks, with a radius of only a hundred miles. There are sharks in the sea, and the water lives like fish. Their eyes cry, and they can produce pearls. There are sharks as guards for the sharks. When they smell blood, they will go crazy. Devouring small boats. Emperor Xu loves pearls, and local officials flatter him, so the pearls are harsh. The pearls collected by the people are not enough to pay tribute, so they often tie a rope to the waist of a child and let the shark float up, and then kill the child, so that the shark sees it Sharks are kind and gentle, and every time they weep, they become pearls when they see the wind, and there is light in the night. To prevent the blood of children from causing sharks to bite people, they adopt a method of killing them."
——"Requisition for Books Empress Dowager Huan Yi"
Thousands of green and blue lights are intertwined and dark. Looking up, the thin sunlight penetrates the water lines, changing and blurring.Haishi touched the skin on his chest, put it to his mouth and took a breath, slowly exhaling the air bubbles.The bubbles floated crystal clear to the surface of the sea, and finally turned into sparkling shimmers.She dived into the deeper darkness.
When people drown, they often hug the rocks at the bottom of the water.Haishi knew that it was because there was light at the bottom of the water, so those poor people desperately went there, grabbing something and refusing to let go.Gradually the darkness dissipated, and the road ahead became brighter.It's almost there, she told herself.Swimming against the light, the toes touched the soft white sand.
Haishi seems to have fallen from the sky and stepped on the land of another world.The deep sea isolates all sounds, only the water waves flow, and the divine light separates and reunites.Schools of fish swim, coral branches flutter like willows.Among those white and agate-red soft branches, Haishi could distinguish several strange colors, wondering: how can there be azure coral?
Carefully bypassing the coral bushes along the current, Haishi suddenly opened his mouth, almost choking.
The softly fluttering thing is not coral, but the woman's long green hair.The woman was lying among the corals, lazily raised her hand, and with her fingertips stirred out strands of tangled clear green blue from the sea water.The woman spreads the clear green meridian line in front of her face, uses the cold blue as the weft, and shuttles her slender fingers, spinning those colors into an almost invisible light silk, with a graceful posture, just like picking countless dreamy empty flowers.
Isn't that what Abba said, the sister who can give them pearls?With both legs together, Haishi jumped straight over.
The woman was startled.But Haishi had already jumped onto her lap, with air bubbles escaping from the corners of his mouth, which was grinning happily, like an innocent little dark sea beast.The woman also seemed to be fascinated by this lovely creature, and stretched out her bewitching fingers to caress Haishi's short hair, with crystal blue webs rippling between her fingers.
The air in Haishi's chest skin was running low, he didn't dare to delay, he immediately took the woman's hand, kicked his feet and floated up.The woman's figure is light and boneless, and she can bend freely in the water.Haishi was envious, and circled around her several times, the woman seemed to find it interesting, and also circled around Haishi, one big and one small had fun, floating all the way to the surface of the sea, intertwining each other endlessly.Sometimes the rope tied around Haishi's waist almost entangles the woman, but the woman swings her waist lightly, soars up and dodges.Gradually they left the bottom of the water, surrounded by the heavy black like velvet.In the dark, there is sometimes a fire, drifting uncertainly.There was a star of fire coming straight at them, Haishi moved her face closer to look at it, and the strange fish with a lantern hanging above her head was startled by her, and then turned around and swam away.Haishi wanted to reach out to catch the fish, but the woman stopped her sideways.As if to appease the unwilling Hai Shi, the woman spread her arms, and the pearly white halo slowly lit up all over her body.Numerous strange fishes surrounded them like fireflies, circling around them, and they were so beautiful and bewitching.After all, Haishi was a child, so he immediately forgot to catch the fish, and stared with wide-eyed surprise.
The surrounding sea water changes from black to black, and the sunlight leaks from the waves, dyeing it a melting blue.Haishi held the woman with one hand, and climbed up the waist rope with the other hand, feeling more and more relaxed on his body, finally with a splash, they came out of the water together.
"Abba, Abba!" Haishi waved and shouted.
Abba stretched out his hands towards her and fished her into the boat.Haishi was ticklish under her armpits, curled up in her father's arms and giggled, but felt three or two drops of hot and heavy things hitting her head and face.Without waiting for her to look back, Abba suddenly reached out and grabbed Haishi's slender neck from behind.Hai Shi was in pain, and called out: "Abba! Abba!" Abba didn't answer, but the strength in his hands became stronger, and he almost lifted her small body off the ground.She wanted to shout, but only a hoarse voice came out of her throat.Haishi was kicking, trying to break off the skinny hand of his father with both hands, but he couldn't move, and there was a faint humming sound in his ears, like the echo heard from the shell of a snail before the hurricane came, and it was vaguely mixed with the voice of his father : "Haishi, Haishi, be good...don't go back to the village to make trouble...Abba will give you offerings for Qingming, Purdue, and July and a half every year, and won't make you starve down there..."
Are you going to die?
Dad, who loves her the most, wants her to die at this time?Since he wanted her to die, why did he choke up?
Haishi exhausted all her strength, turned her head and bit her father's hand hard, the hot blood flowed into her mouth, and there was a rusty salty taste.Abba's hands suddenly lost strength, Haishi fell down and sat on the board, coughing.Through the tears in her eyes, she saw that Uncle Zhu and Uncle Jin jumped into the sea at some point, and were up and down beside the woman, fishing for something.
That woman!
The woman floated up and down on the water, looking anxiously at Haishi, tears fell from her blue eyes.When the tears met the wind, their brilliance was bright, and they sank when they entered the water one by one. Even if they sank to a foot or two below the water surface, the precious light still flowed.Haishi is the daughter of Zhumin's family, but she has never seen such a high-grade pearl.Uncle Zhu and Uncle Jin floated up and down in ecstasy, constantly picking up the pearls made from tears.
None of them noticed that Abba was standing at the bow of the boat with a dull expression, staring at a certain point in the sea.On his rough and thin hands, there were several ocher black marks from the blood bitten by the sea market.
Sin, sin...
Abba looked at the drop of blood in the sea that had already melted without a trace.The faint fishy smell spread to the unknown deep sea.Under the calm blue waves, invisible undercurrents arose.
A small noise caught Ah Jin's attention, and when he raised his head, his face suddenly changed.Under the clear and calm sky in the distance, there were huge waves for no reason.As far as the eye can see, the entire ocean for several miles is boiling in all directions.The roiling white foam quickly surrounded them from all directions, and on the top of the waves, dozens of huge iron-gray dorsal fins appeared eagerly.
The name of this sea is Shark Sea.
In a flash, a big wave was approaching, but suddenly eased its momentum, and it stood in place like an emerald wall, rising foot by foot, blocking the sunlight.
"Abba, abba!" Haishi's sharp childish voice screamed, rushing towards her ashen-faced abba.With a jerk, Abba came back to his senses, his face was full of tears, and he moved his withered lips, as if he wanted to say something to her.At that moment, the waves, already two or three people high, began to collapse, covering Father's face.Haishi's eyes went blank, and his ears rang loudly.
I don't know how long it took to open my eyes again, only to realize that the person has been swept into the sea by the waves. Looking up, the turbid green sea is like the sky of another world, and the wreckage of the pearl fishing boat is scattered and sinking.A gigantic shadow came straight up from the bottom of the sea, brushed past Haishi, jumped out of the water with thorns, slammed down again, and dived into the dark depths.Amidst the foam and turbulence, Haishi could still see the shadow clearly.It was a mackerel shark longer than a pearl fishing boat, without scales, and its iron-gray skin glowed blue in the sea water.
Immediately there was another bang, something fell into the water from a high place and sank in front of the sea market.
The thing turned around, and Haishi almost screamed in the water.
That was clearly Abba, but there was only the upper half of him left.
The little girl jumped over, desperately grabbed the sinking body of her father, and swam towards the sea surface with a thin red mist of blood.He vaguely felt the rushing water behind him, thinking that the sharks sensed the blood and came up from the bottom of the sea again.She gritted her teeth and looked back, there were three of them in the distance!The water flow became more chaotic and violent, and the bloodthirsty giants approached.Tears of fright and despair gushed out of his eyes, scattered in the sea water without a trace, and the warmth in his body seemed to flow away.
She finally surfaced, gasping for breath, but there was nowhere to go.The sky and the sea are vast and vast, and there is nothing to look around.Nothing to rely on, nothing to cling to.
Holding her father's body tightly, she closed her eyes.
The undercurrents all around gradually subsided.
Haishi opened his eyes in surprise, and after a long time, Fang puffed up and buried his head in the water.In the depths of Shen Qing, there is a rippling white light.That strange woman's hair was fluttering like seaweed, and she was extending her hand to block the way of five or six sharks.Those ferocious sharks were overwhelmed by the white light in the woman's hand, they flinched and dispersed in a moment.The sea gradually calmed down, and the pieces of wood and clothes swirled and slowly sank.
It was only then that Haishi realized that she had exhausted her last bit of strength.His hands and feet trembled, and his left arm, which was holding Abba, was rigid and could not move a little.She gave up struggling, closed her eyes again, and her limp body sank down.
For a while, Haishi was still lying on the bottom of the pearl fishing boat in a trance, just waking up from a deep and sweet sleep.He closed his eyes and didn't look, and closed his ears and didn't listen, but he still clearly felt the undulating waves below him, and the warmth of the sun hitting his face.Immediately, however, the pain from broken skin and flesh, the soreness from overworked muscles and bones, and the dull pain from swelling in the brain gradually came to him.
She frowned and opened her eyes.
In front of him is the endless sea, with an iron-gray fish ridge and a flag-like dorsal fin.Haishi realized that he was actually riding on the back of a shark, and that shark was about to dive into the water!She wanted to escape, but was tightly held by her waist, screamed and struggled, and choked on water.After a while, the shark came to the surface of the sea again, and Haishi calmed down a little. He looked down and saw the hands holding her from behind, with crystal blue webs between the fingers.
It was that woman.It was only under the sunlight that she could be seen clearly. Her pointed ears, wet skin, and curly green hair. There were only black pearls in the blue eyes, but no whites. Her slender ankles were exposed under the light gown—the ankles grew outwards. With two small fins, it sways happily with the splash of water.Haishi couldn't help being startled.The woman was not human.What is it that Dad told her to go to sea to find?
Seeing Haishi turning her head, the woman pointed to the front.There is a faint gray shadow on the horizon ahead.Land is not far away.
Shark sharks swam up and down.Haishi's heart was empty, it wasn't that he didn't think about anything, but he didn't dare to think deeply, he just shed tears, which didn't even leave a mark on Shark Shark's back.
After more than an hour like this, there were still three to five miles from the shore, the water became shallow, and the shark could not move forward.After hitting her, the woman took out a bundle and tied it on Haishi's body.The burden skin is light blue and light blue, I can't tell what color it is, but it is extremely thin, there are about seven or eight handfuls of pearls in the burden, and it still shines in the daytime.The woman took Haishi's hand and wrote on the palm of Haishi's palm with her fingers. Where the fingertips touched, white light diffused, and the word "Langjiao" was written, faintly shining on the palm of Haishi's palm.It turns out that this woman's name is Langjiao?
Lang Ya gently pushed Haishi off the shark's back, pointed at the shore, as if wanting her to go home.As soon as he entered the water, Haishi noticed that the word "Langjiao" on his palm was shining brightly. He dived for a while without getting bored, and simply swam another half mile without needing to take a breath.The mirage emerged from the water, looking back.Lang Jiao rode on the shark's back, his clothes fluttering in the blue waves, he didn't speak, even if he wanted to, he just looked at the sea market quietly with his blue eyes.
Haishi tightly held the burden belt tied across his chest, and swam towards the land without looking back.
"That's all?" A leader among the officers and soldiers dipped his hand into the wooden barrel containing pearls and grabbed a handful.
"My lord, that's all..." the head of the village replied tremblingly.
The leader withdrew his hand and flicked a pearl as thin as a grain of rice from between his nails. "Is this called a pearl? The sand is bigger than this!" He looked around at the surrounding villagers from his bearded beard, and shouted, "You lazy and troublesome people!"
The head of the village bowed his head and replied: "My lord, there are many hurricanes this year, which disturbed the pearls and mussels, and the pearls can't grow big. Our males go to the sea day and night, and only a little bit can save this much. In previous years, the tribute pearls in our village were all Excellent, since we have always..."
The leader flew up and kicked the barrel into Chang's face, and the beads scattered all over the ground. "Take everyone away!"
On the hill in the distance, a green oilcloth carriage is rumbling towards.
The people in the car opened a corner of the curtain on the window, and asked in a low voice, "Is it for collecting tribute beads?" The seemingly plain green oilcloth curtain is actually lined with bright yellow satin, which is very strange.
A handsome young man hurried to the window, and replied respectfully: "Yes. The officers and soldiers are arresting people in that village. It looks like they are going to burn the house."
"Let's take a look again." The person in the car ordered.In the distance, there was a commotion in the village at the foot of the mountain, so the hand that lowered the curtain stopped.
A small figure rushed into the village entrance, blocked between the officers and soldiers and a woman, his dark face was full of stubbornness: "Don't lock up my mother!"
Without waiting for the officers and soldiers to attack, the woman suddenly raised her body from the dust and fishing nets, and stopped the child behind her: "Haishi, run! Go find your uncle, don't come back!"
Haishi didn't move, he untied the burden behind him, took out a handful of pearls, and showed them to the officers and soldiers: "Look, isn't this a pearl?"
Those fleeing, chasing, weeping, and scolding people suddenly forgot what they were doing.Their spirits were all taken away.
The beads are not huge, nor are they rare colors such as golden yellow, pigeon green, black black, etc., but they are rare even and round.However, in the evening sky, the handful of pearls became more and more radiant, casting a faint shadow of mirage on the ground.Ye Ming shark beads, a thousand gold is not easy.But this child's hand is full, how much is in the bag?
The leader of the officers and soldiers stepped forward and slapped his hands, and Haishi put a handful of pearls into his hands.The leader's dull face was illuminated by pearl light.After a while, he finally woke up, blinked his eyes, and laughed: "Brothers, have you seen it?"
"Master Lieutenant, we didn't see anything."
Haishi heard it in his heart, and Ji Lingling shivered.
The leader's eyes were like sea slugs clinging tightly to the burden in Haishi's arms: "Then tell me, have all the tribute beads in this village been paid?"
"It's far away." A suppressed laugh came out sparsely.
"How can there be any pearls in this dilapidated village?" The leader said as he tore open his skirt and put the pearls in his hands into his bosom.
"No, Captain, we searched everywhere, but there are really no pearls!" The officers and soldiers held their knives and surrounded the sea city step by step, their eyes were full of green phosphorous fire from the underworld.
Haishi couldn't help but hugged his burden and took a step back, but was blocked by an unwoven fishing net hanging between the trees behind him.
Her hand touched a bit of sharp coldness on the fishing net, and she felt an inexplicable certainty in her heart, so she held that bit of coldness tightly in her palm, and waited with bated breath.She doesn't want to die, she wants to live.
The leader slashed at Haishi's wrist holding the burden.At the moment when the saber slashed, Hai Shi jumped towards the leader, who was holding onto something, and the ten-foot-long fishing net hanging from the tree was torn apart in half.Because of her small stature and quick movements, when she threw herself on the leader's chest, the big knife in the leader's hand just barely swept across Haishi's back and cut through the air.
"Everyone, don't stay here, run away!" Haishi raised his head and shouted, the villagers woke up like a dream, and helped each other to flee in a hurry.
The leader held the back collar of the sea market with his left hand, and was about to use his strength, but felt a faint itching in his stomach, and then a sharp pain.He stared angrily, let go of Haishi, and covered his wound in disbelief.A twine was pulled out of the wound, along which the blood slowly condensed into a drop and fell.
Haishi took another step back, seeing that the leader was about to swing the knife again, but she just wrapped the twine around her hand and pulled it back fiercely.A dot of blood sprayed onto her immature face.
The leader's body fell forward slowly following the pull.He didn't know until he died that the thing that fell into his belly and finally killed him was just the long hardwood shuttle used by Haishi's mother to weave fishing nets.
Haishi shook off the twine in his hand, turned around and ran up the back hill.
There was a clamoring sound from far down the mountain, and the man in the car asked, "Zuo Ying, what's the matter?"
"That kid killed an officer and is running towards us." The young man named Zhuo Ying spoke in a calm manner, but his voice was a little tense.
"Then, let's try his luck and see if he can come to us. If this kid has no luck, following us will be a dead end." The voice in the car was still calm.
Zhuoying bowed lightly, and remained silent.The sky was getting dark, and I listened intently, only to hear a few people rushing towards the mountain, stepping on the grass and rustling.In less than half a cup of tea, the sound of people was several zhang away. Hearing the sound, an officer and soldier seemed to be chasing the child, but he screamed in pain as if he had been bitten by the child.Immediately there was a sharp gust of wind, probably the officers and soldiers rushed forward and slashed sharply with their knives, there was another hiss, the child must have been stabbed, the footsteps immediately staggered, the footsteps were messy, but it didn't stop for a moment.
Zhuoying tightly held the golden knife handle at her waist, her palms gradually became thin with sweat.
The person in the car whispered: "It's almost there, let's go."
"Decree!" Before Zhuoying could finish her voice, the person had fled two zhang away, she heard the voice to identify her position, she stretched out her hand to pick up the child and threw it in the direction of the carriage, but she stepped forward without stopping.The golden knife was unsheathed, and the cold light rolled faintly in the night, and there was the sound of five or six clothes being torn and blood splashed, and the officers and soldiers fell to the ground one by one.The last horizontal knife slashed to the right, using the force of the knife to circle half a circle, and landed lightly, he raised his eyes to look for the child, but couldn't help but suffocated.
The child fell to the ground, the burden on his chest was scattered, and what rolled out was unknown, and it was dazzling in the darkness.That precious light is alive, undulating and surging like a mirage.A bead rolled all the way under the wheel, making a crisp sound.The curtain of the car was lifted, and one person got out of the car, and immediately stretched out a thin hand to pick up the beads, and brought them to the eyes for a closer look.The pearly light shone brightly on the man's face, with narrow Danfeng eyes, and a half-inch-long old knife mark on the right corner of his mouth that was slightly raised, forming a plausible smile on his regular and gentle face. .
The child prostrated on the ground, looked up at him, his body was motionless, but his hands were not idle, slowly and lightly gathering the rolled pearls back to his chest one by one.The child's eyes were the eyes of a beast. Although they looked frightened, they were extremely sharp.It's not that you don't want to escape, it's just that you have to judge the situation and wait for the opportunity.As long as there is a slight movement in him, the child will instinctively turn over and run away, and maybe throw a handful of dirt at him.
The man squatted down slowly, stretched out a finger, and firmly held the child's wriggling little hand.Where the two hands touched, the child's body trembled.With all his strength, the man hugged the child to his chest, but the child resisted, staring at the man with almost hostile eyes.The man didn't dodge, but just reached out and caressed her immature face that was not full of palms.The child's resisted arms trembled for a moment, and then he buried his head into the man's shoulder socket, tightly hugging his neck.A faint smile appeared on the man's lips, he hugged the child tightly, stood up straight, and let the pearls roll down from their bodies.
"What's your name?" The man asked in a calm voice.
With a hoarse and small voice, he answered with sobs: "Haishi."
"Would you like to go north with us?"
Haishi never let go of his hands holding the man's neck, and thought for a while: "Go to the north, can I make money to support my mother?"
The man was silent for a moment: "To be my son, you have everything but ease; to be my daughter, you have nothing but ease."
"Then, I will be your son." The dry and soft cloth on the man's chest had a faint fragrance.Haishi buried his head deeper, his sore muscles relaxed little by little, his voice gradually became blurred, and he fell into a deep sleep.
Zhuo Ying cleaned up the scattered shark pearls, lit a white silk lantern, and drew up the curtain.The man boarded the carriage with Hai Shi in his arms, Zhuo Ying jumped onto the shaft of the carriage, and the carriage and horses moved forward silently.The lantern swayed, and the curly hair and pupils of Zhuo Ying reflected a dark golden luster from the pure black.
"Zuoying, when I picked you up in Hongyaoyuan's [-] rebellious army, your eyes were also like this, like a beast."
Zhuo Ying simply replied: "Yes."
"Four years in the blink of an eye."
"Yes."
They all stopped talking, and the night covered them.
II
The young man was sitting in front of the chessboard with a firm posture, twisting a black glazed chess piece between his fingers, but his mind seemed to be far away, and his eyes drifted out of the window in ecstasy.
The Forbidden City is high on the top of the mountain, and this chess room has an excellent location. Looking out from the window, you can have a panoramic view of Tianqi City.In the evening, the outline of the city wall disappeared, but the lights came on one by one.In the eyes full of twilight, the appearance of roads, lanes and alleys is gradually connected, stretching for tens of miles, piled up with gold and colorful.
"Am I old? When you played chess with me when you were young, sometimes you would cry in a hurry." The man on the other side of the chessboard stretched out two thin fingers and silently dropped a white piece. There is even time to be dazed."
The young man was still looking out of the window, and sighed in an inaudible way: "In a few days, I won't be able to see it anymore."
"The night of Apocalypse is indeed extremely magnificent. The Dazheng Dynasty has ruled the world for 660 years, which is an unprecedented long time since ancient times. But this Apocalypse City is the imperial capital of the Eastern Continent that has not changed for 2000 years. Generation after generation of kings abolished and established, the world Life and death are just for fighting for it." The person on the opposite side of the chessboard picked up a copper pick and flipped the lantern.The candle flame in the wind exploded slightly, and brightened again, exuding the strong fragrance of ambergris. "Perhaps it would be safer to stay away from it."
The young man turned around suddenly, and the sunspot in his hand fell off the chessboard without thinking. With a crisp sound, it was like a nail being hammered into a stone wall in the extremely quiet room.The sunspot penetrated deeply into the influence of the white man and became a lone son.
"Chess must be played according to reason, not by force." The lamp picker put down the copper stick and said.
The young man in white raised his face. He looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, with McGinn complexion and long eyebrows. "I'd rather give up the number of sons than lose the first one. Isn't this what you have always taught, foster father? Right now, foster father is not sure to eat me in one bite, and he can't tolerate me walking away. What are you going to do?"
The man on the opposite side of the chessboard had a clear face and a calm demeanor. When he smiled, there were fine lines at the corners of his eyes, showing the signs of his age.He picked up a white piece from the chess box, dropped it unhurriedly, and shook his hand.
The young man gave birth to another son without hesitation.
The man tapped the chessboard lightly with his right index finger.
Seeing the position he was pointing at, the young man couldn't help but his face changed slightly, but he still said forcefully: "It's not over yet, if I argue with you, I might lose."
Hearing this, the man raised his eyes, and a half-inch-long old knife mark on the right corner of his mouth was slightly raised, and a plausible smile was drawn on his regular and gentle face: "So, Haishi, I'm afraid After all, you are still too angry, if you are not feeling well, this general of the Underworld Camp, you might as well come back to the imperial capital, and I will arrange a way out for you and marry a good man."
Haishi twisted the chess pieces and remained silent.
There was a respectful knock on the door, and Zhuoying said through the door: "Haishi, the clothes you ordered have been delivered, and the weaving workshop is waiting for you."
Haishi quietly put the chess pieces back into the chess box, and said, "Father, if I can't marry the person I want to marry, then I would rather stay outside the customs for a lifetime and never return to Tianqi."
The vertical lines between the man's brows were fleeting, and he still lowered his eyes. The chess piece in his right hand was clutched in his palm, but he refused to let it go.
Haishi pushed the chair, got up and opened the door to leave the study, Zhuoying was waiting outside the door.The man looked up at them leaving side by side, finally let out a long breath silently, and opened his right hand.In the palm of the hand, a new wound came from nowhere, and the baizi made of colored glaze had been dyed bright red.
The man was silent and didn't bandage up, just watched a trace of blood dripping down on the green shirt, smudged with an ominous dark ocher color.
On the way to the vestibule of Jifeng Pavilion, Haishi and Zhuoying walked side by side.
There were palace servants from other places who came to Jifeng Hall to give gifts. On the way, they saw Zhuoying in the uniform of a sixth-rank military officer from a distance, and they all stood aside and bowed their hands to salute.They were all sixteen or seventeen-year-old girls, with a natural nature, and when they walked a little far away, they started talking in low voices.
"The Habayashi army is exposed to the wind and the sun, where did such a fair and good-looking person come from?"
"Shh, don't make fun of yourself by winking at others. That's the adopted son of Eunuch Fang, the head of the Fengting Court. The tall one is the eldest son. He has a bright future in the Yulin Army. It's no problem to marry a famous lady in the future. I like you."
In fact, both Zhuoying and Haishi are martial arts practitioners, they have keen hearing and can hear every word clearly.Haishi suppressed a smile, and stabbed Zhuoying with his elbow, only to see Zhuoying's fair face flushed slightly, and her strides were extremely big, as if she could shake off those gossips, but there was still a sentence or two indistinct. After catching up: "It's a pity that the young Fang Haishi has just been appointed and is going to the northern border, so it's rare to see him from now on."
Zhuo Ying couldn't help laughing out loud, and let Hai Shi blushed, dragging him to the weaving workshop.
Seeing them coming, Shi Lin, the master of the weaving workshop, hurriedly put down the tea bowl, got up and bowed, took out a piece of clothing from the tissue paper package, and shook it off to them, his face like dough was full of color.
"Oh, Uncle Shi is so eccentric!" Zhuoying blurted out.
It was originally a soot gray satin short gown with arrow sleeves, apparently the size of a mirage, with a falcon embroidered with various blue and purple silk threads on the back, with feathers and claws fluttering realistically, with a little emerald green in the eyes, and a flash of inspiration.Fang Zhu, the chief manager of Fengting, gained power, and he brought two adopted sons. The older one entered the Habayashi Army for eight years, and was awarded the six official positions of Habayashi Qianqi before he was 24 years old; Beijiang went to serve as a general of Huangquanying.Their weaving workshop has always been deliberately flattering, and the tailoring and stitching of all clothes and quilts are top-notch.
Haishi felt embarrassed, and said: "The clothes are pretty, but Uncle Shi dressed me up like an actor, and when I arrived at Huangquanguan, people had to make a joke, but how did he lead the army?"
Shi Lin urged Haishi to change into a try, Haishi took the clothes and hid in the wing room.
Zhuoying's clothes are the official six court clothes of Yubayashi Qianqi, with a black base, embroidered purple flying beasts, and blue and white three-color sea wave patterns on the lower lapel.Zhuoying was only wearing a robe with narrow arrow sleeves, and put on a court dress in court, which was really fit and slender. She didn't wear a martial crown, but only tied with five-color ribbons, which set off his fair complexion, high nose and deep eyes, very gorgeous.
While he was admiring, Haishi came out from the wing room.The short robe was pinching the young man's slender waist, with a handsome physique, his skin color was darker than Zhuoying's, and it was glamorous and charming. The falcon embroidered on the back seemed to be alive, and a pair of sharp eyes seemed to be staring at him. .
"A while ago, King Chang came to my weaving workshop and saw Zheliu's embroidery manuscript. He yelled that Zheliu embroidered after the falcon he raised, and this dress should belong to him. Hey, don't say that the ancestors' rules are not good. You are allowed to bring eagles and dogs into the palace, that's right, how can Zheliu see it? I can say that this embroidery is embroidered with fine copper thread from the Southwest Leizhou Zhucharian National Tribute. Although it is shiny and beautiful, it is very heavy. Very, it’s thick and thorny, it’s nothing more than a general’s clothes, it’s absolutely not worthy of King Chang’s extravagance. I’d better wait for the new silk to be reeled out, and ask Zheliu to embroider a soft, dense and vivid one for him. It’s a good job Flattery, he is now at ease. This prince..." Shi Lin refolded his clothes while nagging.
Haishi couldn't respond well to his words, so he could only smile.Dixu has no offspring so far, and his only younger brother, King Chang, is extravagant and not a great weapon. It has only been 14 years since the great empire was unified from chaos and separation.
Zhuoying didn't say anything, just reached out and caressed the falcon on Haishi's back, the bird of prey seemed to be about to tear its silk, and its divine light was shining brightly.
Shi Lin smiled and said: "Don't dare to neglect the eldest son, the Fei Lian on your robe is also from Zheliu's men, this girl really worked hard for the clothes of the two sons, she buried her head in the dark room alone Embroidered wow."
"Why is that so? It's not something important." Zhuoying blurted out.
Haishi turned around, fixed his eyes on Zhuoying, just smiled and didn't speak, seeing that Zhuoying's snow-white face flushed.
"Young master will be stationed at Huangquan Pass with the army tomorrow, and the idlers will not be able to go to see you off. Here is my auspicious wish for you. The two young masters will also send greetings to Director Fang for me, so I will take my leave now." Shi Lin babbled. After all the instigation, he cupped his hands, turned his stocky and chunky body and exited the door.
The thick blue water flows through the fingers and hair, thousands of sparkling and finely divided air bubbles swaying and bubbling up like silver sand.
And she was falling, in the viscous sea water without sound and light, as if being pulled by an invisible hand, she sank slowly towards the dark and unknown depths, but she could never reach the bottom of the sea.
Haishi raised his head in a daze, the turbid green sea was like a sky of different colors, getting higher and higher, gradually untouchable.The huge body shining with steel blue luster passed in front of her silently and disappeared into the depths of darkness.A streak of bright red color spread slowly, brushing over her cheeks with the rippling water, leaving a cold and greasy touch.
Lang Ya stretched out his hand to her, with an anxious look on his beautiful face.
She also tried her best to reach out her hand to Lang Ya, but she just caught a gap in the sea water, and still fell slowly and irretrievably.She looked at her hands in despair, they were young and soft, as if they had returned to the age of a child, in the dark, the palms of the hands glowed with a hazy white light, and with each stroke, two beautiful characters were about to be completed.
Haishi suddenly opened his eyes, his hands and feet were icy cold, and the slightly cold wind in the night brushed his cheeks like water.Ten years later, this nightmare is still haunting her.
She turned slightly on the pillow, and saw the window of the bedroom was wide open. In the vast night, countless lights streamed continuously, outlining the two avenues of the imperial capital, Yong'an and Yongle.
"It's time to get up too." Fang Zhu turned around from the window, wearing a dark green arabesque-patterned court attire.
Haishi was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I'm dreaming again."
"You are so big, are you still afraid of nightmares?" The man smiled slightly.
Haishi lowered his head and looked at his palm, which was not unusual, and finally got up in his cloak, walked over, and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.As the Huangquan, Chengcheng, and Wuwei battalion's five-year defense period is approaching, this year's borders will be tight, and each will increase by 18 troops. A total of [-] troops will be paraded outside the Chengji Gate tomorrow morning.This is the apocalypse of the city that never sleeps, and it is getting more and more noisy.
There is no peace in the palace.Maple and maple trees are planted all over the Forbidden City. Every autumn, in the thick place, under the deep blue sky, clumps of red clouds and brocades ignite, reflecting the black, pink and white palaces and pavilions. beauty.It is night now, and the glazed lanterns in the palace are weaving like weaving, and the shadows of the trees are swaying, illuminating the bustling red leaves. Only the Jincheng Palace where Emperor Xu lives is lonely.Although the courtiers have all got up and dressed, they probably know that Di Xu will not go to the military parade tomorrow as usual, but it is hard to say that he may have a change of heart and really want to parade at Chengji Gate, so the great apocalypse is still going on all night People and horses were mobilized to sweep the curtain, lest there be mistakes.
"There are so many people running for their lives because of an idea that the emperor can't say for certain—but, it's really beautiful." Hai Shi sighed.
"It's time for you to get ready. In the middle of the night, it's time to enter the camp and transfer troops to Chengji Gate. Although there are old generals to take care of you, you must not neglect."
The court clothes of Haishi are the uniforms of the eight military officers, which are neatly placed on the head of the bed together with the five layers of green gauze inner robes from light to dark.She shook off the innermost layer of smoky blue underwear and put it on, trying to cross the inner ribbon to the back.Since she was six years old, she disguised herself as a man and never asked for personal service. However, the court clothes were overlapping and complicated, and it was extremely difficult to wear without help.
"Father..." Haishi called out in embarrassment.Night Breeze combed her waist-length hair that fell down, and her usually indistinguishable face was very charming at this moment.
Fang Zhu turned his head to one side, and said, "I'll ask Zhuo Ying to clean up for you."
Haishi smiled slightly and said, "I think he's busy getting dressed too."
Fang Zhu shook his head: "Even if you have been dressed as a man for ten years and have fought with Zhuo Ying till the end, you still have to remember that you are a girl and you will marry sooner or later."
The tears in Haishi's eyes were full of tears, but he held back and refused to shed them. Instead, he smiled and said: "When the adoptive father was on duty in the palace, didn't he often take care of the maidens? Elder brother Zhuoying is a man anyway, so there are many differences in etiquette. Alright, I'd better ask foster father to help me."
— At any rate, he was a man.In the ears of the eunuch, I am afraid that there is no more sharp and mocking words than this.
In Fang Zhu's eyes, it was as if the mirror lake was frozen, and he kept his expression, he just walked around behind Haishi and tied her robe tightly.
It was the time when the night was extremely dark, and the cool wind of the cold dew solar term was blowing. I don't know where the palace people spent the long night, faintly playing the pipa once or twice.Haishi stretched out his arms, like a delicate doll, and let him wrap himself in layers of gauze and brocade clothes.Fang Zhu gently touched her cheek with his fingers, steady and warm, even if a hot and heavy teardrop shattered directly on his hand, it just made his hands stop and did not tremble.Her sandalwood black hair was also carefully tied up by him, and she was covered with a military officer's crown of black satin. The silk ribbons on the crown were divided into five colors, and were tied tightly under the chin one by one. The card hangs from her waist.There are three pearls the size of soybeans on the fringe of the waist tag, which glows brightly under the dim light, and Haishi recognizes that it is a huddle of pearls given to her by the sharks when she was young.When she pursed her lips and turned back, she was clearly a brave and handsome young military officer, her eyes were as cold as frost, and there was no trace of affection.
Fang Zhu and Zhuoying sent Haishi away, and then went to Jincheng Palace to wait for Emperor Xu to get up.
At the time of Lanzhong, word came from the palace that the emperor was tired from reviewing the memorials last night and would not go to Chengji Gate for military parade today.
Before dawn, the sky and the earth are like splashed ink, 18 elite soldiers knelt on the mountain and shouted long live, the sound of ten-mile battleaxes clanged, the torches on the top of the city continued, and the armor undulated like the waves of the sea in the dark night.Under the guidance of banners, the divisions of the army left Tianqi in order. The Wuwei camp took the Hexi route to Mohe Pass, the Chengcheng camp went to Mohe Pass, and the Huangquan Camp went west to Huangquan Pass. They changed their defenses.
Before the Qiyue pass, Haishi stopped his horse.From Tianqi to the north, the Mingluo Mountains are shaped like a strong bow, becoming a natural barrier for the Imperial Capital Basin. Only the wide pass in the middle of the ridge can be crossed, pointing to Huangquan Pass across the sea. "After passing here, I will never see Tianqi again. When I went to Huangquanying for the first time when I was 15 years old, I was still a small soldier, and I cried when I got here." Zhang Chengqian walked side by side with Haishi, seeing Looking at the sky and said.Zhang Chengqian was 32 and three years old, and he was a general sent by the Huangquan Camp to hand over the roster and fodder.
"Why, Brother Zhang was afraid at that time?" Haishi responded in a manly voice.
Zhang Chengqian smiled and showed his white teeth: "Where, finally, I don't have to learn how to butcher pigs from my father in the village, and I can fight and make meritorious service. Just thinking about it makes me cry with joy."
The grand capital is still sleeping on its own, and in the morning light, the red maple outside Chengji Gate is like smoke.Maybe this is the last time I saw the red leaves in the imperial capital.Forget it, after saying such harsh words, so what if we meet again?Haishi laughed at himself, turned the direction, urged the horse to trot all the way around the pass, and left Tianqi behind the mountain.
(End of this chapter)
In the east of Yuezhou, there is a sea of sharks in the vast Hainan, with a radius of only a hundred miles.There are sharks in the sea, who live in the water like fish, and when their eyes cry, they can produce pearls.There are sharks guarding the sharks, and when they smell blood, they will go crazy and can eat small boats.Emperor Xu loves the beads, local officials flatter him, and ask for the beads harshly.The pearl people can't pick enough to pay tribute, so they tie the children's waists with ropes and let the sharks float up, and then kill the children, so that the sharks can see them.Mermaids are kind and gentle, and every time they weep, they become pearls when they see the wind, and there is light in the night.In order to prevent children's blood gas from causing sharks to bite people, the method of strangulation is adopted.
——"Requisition for Books Empress Dowager Huan Yi"
I
The pearl fishing boat came out of the port and sailed with the wind for two days.On the sea in early autumn, the shimmering golden sunlight dazzled Hai Shi blindly.
Dad sat on the side of the boat, holding the child close to him: "Haishi, do you remember what Dad taught you?" on the rope.It was the first time that Abba took Haishi out to fish for pearls, and she remembered Abba's instructions firmly. "As long as you dive down and see a beautiful sister, pull her up, she will give us a lot of pearls, and our tribute pearls for this year will be settled, right?" With a dark body and flat chest, and salt flowers on the ends of his tanned hair, he is no different from a boy.Only the singing voice proved that she was a little girl: "Abba, Uncle Jin, Uncle Zhu, I'm going down."
Abba's purple-colored face suddenly wrinkled: "Haishi, you're not afraid, are you?"
Haishi laughed crisply, took a big breath, turned over and plunged into the sea, sparking splashes as bright as molten gold, and then disappeared like a fish dragging the rope around his waist.
Dad knelt on the side of the boat, tightly clutching the rope that bound the mirage.After a while, Haishi was probably caught, so he pulled the rope under the sea, urging him to let it go longer.Abba tightened the rope in his hands, hesitating.Ajin sat with his head depressed, and only stretched out one hand, patting Abba's shoulder.After stopping for a while, Ajin saw no movement, so he put in more effort.Abba struggled with his body, and as soon as he let go, the rope slid down.Dad's tendons seemed to be pulled out along with the rope, and he collapsed.After a while, he hissed and said: "Mother Haishi still doesn't know that I took Haishi to the Shark Sea...she must hate me to death..."
Ajin said nonchalantly: "I didn't dare to say that before we went to sea, the officers and soldiers who collected the tribute pearls arrived at Xiyu Village. Xiyu Village was only half a liter of beads missing, and all the houses and boats were burned by the officers and soldiers." Now, men, women and children are tied together with anchor chains, saying that they are preparing to sell them in the autumn market and go to Hanzhou to be slaves to barbarians. These tribute pearls are... really compelling, and this year's pearls are so damn rare. No, otherwise, how could we Take the child..." After all, he didn't finish.
Ah Zhu murmured to his father: "When Haishi brings the sharks up later... I'll do it, you can't do it well, Haishi's mother will hate you to death."
My father buried his head in his knees, murmured with straight eyes: "No matter who you do it, I will hate you for the rest of your life. My good girl in Haishi, I won't cause trouble in the future... I will do it myself. Come on..." The voice gradually lowered and turned into a sob.
Both Ajin and Azhu didn't dare to pay attention to this man who had been scorched by years of torment at sea, and turned their heads away.
A black-tailed gull flies by.There is a vast expanse of smoke and waves, and there is no limit to the vast expanse.
Even though the world has been turned upside down thousands of times, starved to death or flourishing in prosperity, there is always such an indifferent vast sea around this continent.Because of its vastness, it was born in the desert, and it is long-lasting, which is better than any dynasty or country.
The small boat is like a drop in the ocean, floating and sinking three ragged Zhumin and their sorrows.Although one day the sea will dry up and become a field of mulberry, but their existence like dust and mustard seeds cannot see such a day.Their misery is just like the misery of all the rogues in the world, drowned in the never-moving tide of the sea, without sound or trace.
"In the east of Yuezhou, in the vast south of Hainan, there is a sea of sharks, with a radius of only a hundred miles. There are sharks in the sea, and the water lives like fish. Their eyes cry, and they can produce pearls. There are sharks as guards for the sharks. When they smell blood, they will go crazy. Devouring small boats. Emperor Xu loves pearls, and local officials flatter him, so the pearls are harsh. The pearls collected by the people are not enough to pay tribute, so they often tie a rope to the waist of a child and let the shark float up, and then kill the child, so that the shark sees it Sharks are kind and gentle, and every time they weep, they become pearls when they see the wind, and there is light in the night. To prevent the blood of children from causing sharks to bite people, they adopt a method of killing them."
——"Requisition for Books Empress Dowager Huan Yi"
Thousands of green and blue lights are intertwined and dark. Looking up, the thin sunlight penetrates the water lines, changing and blurring.Haishi touched the skin on his chest, put it to his mouth and took a breath, slowly exhaling the air bubbles.The bubbles floated crystal clear to the surface of the sea, and finally turned into sparkling shimmers.She dived into the deeper darkness.
When people drown, they often hug the rocks at the bottom of the water.Haishi knew that it was because there was light at the bottom of the water, so those poor people desperately went there, grabbing something and refusing to let go.Gradually the darkness dissipated, and the road ahead became brighter.It's almost there, she told herself.Swimming against the light, the toes touched the soft white sand.
Haishi seems to have fallen from the sky and stepped on the land of another world.The deep sea isolates all sounds, only the water waves flow, and the divine light separates and reunites.Schools of fish swim, coral branches flutter like willows.Among those white and agate-red soft branches, Haishi could distinguish several strange colors, wondering: how can there be azure coral?
Carefully bypassing the coral bushes along the current, Haishi suddenly opened his mouth, almost choking.
The softly fluttering thing is not coral, but the woman's long green hair.The woman was lying among the corals, lazily raised her hand, and with her fingertips stirred out strands of tangled clear green blue from the sea water.The woman spreads the clear green meridian line in front of her face, uses the cold blue as the weft, and shuttles her slender fingers, spinning those colors into an almost invisible light silk, with a graceful posture, just like picking countless dreamy empty flowers.
Isn't that what Abba said, the sister who can give them pearls?With both legs together, Haishi jumped straight over.
The woman was startled.But Haishi had already jumped onto her lap, with air bubbles escaping from the corners of his mouth, which was grinning happily, like an innocent little dark sea beast.The woman also seemed to be fascinated by this lovely creature, and stretched out her bewitching fingers to caress Haishi's short hair, with crystal blue webs rippling between her fingers.
The air in Haishi's chest skin was running low, he didn't dare to delay, he immediately took the woman's hand, kicked his feet and floated up.The woman's figure is light and boneless, and she can bend freely in the water.Haishi was envious, and circled around her several times, the woman seemed to find it interesting, and also circled around Haishi, one big and one small had fun, floating all the way to the surface of the sea, intertwining each other endlessly.Sometimes the rope tied around Haishi's waist almost entangles the woman, but the woman swings her waist lightly, soars up and dodges.Gradually they left the bottom of the water, surrounded by the heavy black like velvet.In the dark, there is sometimes a fire, drifting uncertainly.There was a star of fire coming straight at them, Haishi moved her face closer to look at it, and the strange fish with a lantern hanging above her head was startled by her, and then turned around and swam away.Haishi wanted to reach out to catch the fish, but the woman stopped her sideways.As if to appease the unwilling Hai Shi, the woman spread her arms, and the pearly white halo slowly lit up all over her body.Numerous strange fishes surrounded them like fireflies, circling around them, and they were so beautiful and bewitching.After all, Haishi was a child, so he immediately forgot to catch the fish, and stared with wide-eyed surprise.
The surrounding sea water changes from black to black, and the sunlight leaks from the waves, dyeing it a melting blue.Haishi held the woman with one hand, and climbed up the waist rope with the other hand, feeling more and more relaxed on his body, finally with a splash, they came out of the water together.
"Abba, Abba!" Haishi waved and shouted.
Abba stretched out his hands towards her and fished her into the boat.Haishi was ticklish under her armpits, curled up in her father's arms and giggled, but felt three or two drops of hot and heavy things hitting her head and face.Without waiting for her to look back, Abba suddenly reached out and grabbed Haishi's slender neck from behind.Hai Shi was in pain, and called out: "Abba! Abba!" Abba didn't answer, but the strength in his hands became stronger, and he almost lifted her small body off the ground.She wanted to shout, but only a hoarse voice came out of her throat.Haishi was kicking, trying to break off the skinny hand of his father with both hands, but he couldn't move, and there was a faint humming sound in his ears, like the echo heard from the shell of a snail before the hurricane came, and it was vaguely mixed with the voice of his father : "Haishi, Haishi, be good...don't go back to the village to make trouble...Abba will give you offerings for Qingming, Purdue, and July and a half every year, and won't make you starve down there..."
Are you going to die?
Dad, who loves her the most, wants her to die at this time?Since he wanted her to die, why did he choke up?
Haishi exhausted all her strength, turned her head and bit her father's hand hard, the hot blood flowed into her mouth, and there was a rusty salty taste.Abba's hands suddenly lost strength, Haishi fell down and sat on the board, coughing.Through the tears in her eyes, she saw that Uncle Zhu and Uncle Jin jumped into the sea at some point, and were up and down beside the woman, fishing for something.
That woman!
The woman floated up and down on the water, looking anxiously at Haishi, tears fell from her blue eyes.When the tears met the wind, their brilliance was bright, and they sank when they entered the water one by one. Even if they sank to a foot or two below the water surface, the precious light still flowed.Haishi is the daughter of Zhumin's family, but she has never seen such a high-grade pearl.Uncle Zhu and Uncle Jin floated up and down in ecstasy, constantly picking up the pearls made from tears.
None of them noticed that Abba was standing at the bow of the boat with a dull expression, staring at a certain point in the sea.On his rough and thin hands, there were several ocher black marks from the blood bitten by the sea market.
Sin, sin...
Abba looked at the drop of blood in the sea that had already melted without a trace.The faint fishy smell spread to the unknown deep sea.Under the calm blue waves, invisible undercurrents arose.
A small noise caught Ah Jin's attention, and when he raised his head, his face suddenly changed.Under the clear and calm sky in the distance, there were huge waves for no reason.As far as the eye can see, the entire ocean for several miles is boiling in all directions.The roiling white foam quickly surrounded them from all directions, and on the top of the waves, dozens of huge iron-gray dorsal fins appeared eagerly.
The name of this sea is Shark Sea.
In a flash, a big wave was approaching, but suddenly eased its momentum, and it stood in place like an emerald wall, rising foot by foot, blocking the sunlight.
"Abba, abba!" Haishi's sharp childish voice screamed, rushing towards her ashen-faced abba.With a jerk, Abba came back to his senses, his face was full of tears, and he moved his withered lips, as if he wanted to say something to her.At that moment, the waves, already two or three people high, began to collapse, covering Father's face.Haishi's eyes went blank, and his ears rang loudly.
I don't know how long it took to open my eyes again, only to realize that the person has been swept into the sea by the waves. Looking up, the turbid green sea is like the sky of another world, and the wreckage of the pearl fishing boat is scattered and sinking.A gigantic shadow came straight up from the bottom of the sea, brushed past Haishi, jumped out of the water with thorns, slammed down again, and dived into the dark depths.Amidst the foam and turbulence, Haishi could still see the shadow clearly.It was a mackerel shark longer than a pearl fishing boat, without scales, and its iron-gray skin glowed blue in the sea water.
Immediately there was another bang, something fell into the water from a high place and sank in front of the sea market.
The thing turned around, and Haishi almost screamed in the water.
That was clearly Abba, but there was only the upper half of him left.
The little girl jumped over, desperately grabbed the sinking body of her father, and swam towards the sea surface with a thin red mist of blood.He vaguely felt the rushing water behind him, thinking that the sharks sensed the blood and came up from the bottom of the sea again.She gritted her teeth and looked back, there were three of them in the distance!The water flow became more chaotic and violent, and the bloodthirsty giants approached.Tears of fright and despair gushed out of his eyes, scattered in the sea water without a trace, and the warmth in his body seemed to flow away.
She finally surfaced, gasping for breath, but there was nowhere to go.The sky and the sea are vast and vast, and there is nothing to look around.Nothing to rely on, nothing to cling to.
Holding her father's body tightly, she closed her eyes.
The undercurrents all around gradually subsided.
Haishi opened his eyes in surprise, and after a long time, Fang puffed up and buried his head in the water.In the depths of Shen Qing, there is a rippling white light.That strange woman's hair was fluttering like seaweed, and she was extending her hand to block the way of five or six sharks.Those ferocious sharks were overwhelmed by the white light in the woman's hand, they flinched and dispersed in a moment.The sea gradually calmed down, and the pieces of wood and clothes swirled and slowly sank.
It was only then that Haishi realized that she had exhausted her last bit of strength.His hands and feet trembled, and his left arm, which was holding Abba, was rigid and could not move a little.She gave up struggling, closed her eyes again, and her limp body sank down.
For a while, Haishi was still lying on the bottom of the pearl fishing boat in a trance, just waking up from a deep and sweet sleep.He closed his eyes and didn't look, and closed his ears and didn't listen, but he still clearly felt the undulating waves below him, and the warmth of the sun hitting his face.Immediately, however, the pain from broken skin and flesh, the soreness from overworked muscles and bones, and the dull pain from swelling in the brain gradually came to him.
She frowned and opened her eyes.
In front of him is the endless sea, with an iron-gray fish ridge and a flag-like dorsal fin.Haishi realized that he was actually riding on the back of a shark, and that shark was about to dive into the water!She wanted to escape, but was tightly held by her waist, screamed and struggled, and choked on water.After a while, the shark came to the surface of the sea again, and Haishi calmed down a little. He looked down and saw the hands holding her from behind, with crystal blue webs between the fingers.
It was that woman.It was only under the sunlight that she could be seen clearly. Her pointed ears, wet skin, and curly green hair. There were only black pearls in the blue eyes, but no whites. Her slender ankles were exposed under the light gown—the ankles grew outwards. With two small fins, it sways happily with the splash of water.Haishi couldn't help being startled.The woman was not human.What is it that Dad told her to go to sea to find?
Seeing Haishi turning her head, the woman pointed to the front.There is a faint gray shadow on the horizon ahead.Land is not far away.
Shark sharks swam up and down.Haishi's heart was empty, it wasn't that he didn't think about anything, but he didn't dare to think deeply, he just shed tears, which didn't even leave a mark on Shark Shark's back.
After more than an hour like this, there were still three to five miles from the shore, the water became shallow, and the shark could not move forward.After hitting her, the woman took out a bundle and tied it on Haishi's body.The burden skin is light blue and light blue, I can't tell what color it is, but it is extremely thin, there are about seven or eight handfuls of pearls in the burden, and it still shines in the daytime.The woman took Haishi's hand and wrote on the palm of Haishi's palm with her fingers. Where the fingertips touched, white light diffused, and the word "Langjiao" was written, faintly shining on the palm of Haishi's palm.It turns out that this woman's name is Langjiao?
Lang Ya gently pushed Haishi off the shark's back, pointed at the shore, as if wanting her to go home.As soon as he entered the water, Haishi noticed that the word "Langjiao" on his palm was shining brightly. He dived for a while without getting bored, and simply swam another half mile without needing to take a breath.The mirage emerged from the water, looking back.Lang Jiao rode on the shark's back, his clothes fluttering in the blue waves, he didn't speak, even if he wanted to, he just looked at the sea market quietly with his blue eyes.
Haishi tightly held the burden belt tied across his chest, and swam towards the land without looking back.
"That's all?" A leader among the officers and soldiers dipped his hand into the wooden barrel containing pearls and grabbed a handful.
"My lord, that's all..." the head of the village replied tremblingly.
The leader withdrew his hand and flicked a pearl as thin as a grain of rice from between his nails. "Is this called a pearl? The sand is bigger than this!" He looked around at the surrounding villagers from his bearded beard, and shouted, "You lazy and troublesome people!"
The head of the village bowed his head and replied: "My lord, there are many hurricanes this year, which disturbed the pearls and mussels, and the pearls can't grow big. Our males go to the sea day and night, and only a little bit can save this much. In previous years, the tribute pearls in our village were all Excellent, since we have always..."
The leader flew up and kicked the barrel into Chang's face, and the beads scattered all over the ground. "Take everyone away!"
On the hill in the distance, a green oilcloth carriage is rumbling towards.
The people in the car opened a corner of the curtain on the window, and asked in a low voice, "Is it for collecting tribute beads?" The seemingly plain green oilcloth curtain is actually lined with bright yellow satin, which is very strange.
A handsome young man hurried to the window, and replied respectfully: "Yes. The officers and soldiers are arresting people in that village. It looks like they are going to burn the house."
"Let's take a look again." The person in the car ordered.In the distance, there was a commotion in the village at the foot of the mountain, so the hand that lowered the curtain stopped.
A small figure rushed into the village entrance, blocked between the officers and soldiers and a woman, his dark face was full of stubbornness: "Don't lock up my mother!"
Without waiting for the officers and soldiers to attack, the woman suddenly raised her body from the dust and fishing nets, and stopped the child behind her: "Haishi, run! Go find your uncle, don't come back!"
Haishi didn't move, he untied the burden behind him, took out a handful of pearls, and showed them to the officers and soldiers: "Look, isn't this a pearl?"
Those fleeing, chasing, weeping, and scolding people suddenly forgot what they were doing.Their spirits were all taken away.
The beads are not huge, nor are they rare colors such as golden yellow, pigeon green, black black, etc., but they are rare even and round.However, in the evening sky, the handful of pearls became more and more radiant, casting a faint shadow of mirage on the ground.Ye Ming shark beads, a thousand gold is not easy.But this child's hand is full, how much is in the bag?
The leader of the officers and soldiers stepped forward and slapped his hands, and Haishi put a handful of pearls into his hands.The leader's dull face was illuminated by pearl light.After a while, he finally woke up, blinked his eyes, and laughed: "Brothers, have you seen it?"
"Master Lieutenant, we didn't see anything."
Haishi heard it in his heart, and Ji Lingling shivered.
The leader's eyes were like sea slugs clinging tightly to the burden in Haishi's arms: "Then tell me, have all the tribute beads in this village been paid?"
"It's far away." A suppressed laugh came out sparsely.
"How can there be any pearls in this dilapidated village?" The leader said as he tore open his skirt and put the pearls in his hands into his bosom.
"No, Captain, we searched everywhere, but there are really no pearls!" The officers and soldiers held their knives and surrounded the sea city step by step, their eyes were full of green phosphorous fire from the underworld.
Haishi couldn't help but hugged his burden and took a step back, but was blocked by an unwoven fishing net hanging between the trees behind him.
Her hand touched a bit of sharp coldness on the fishing net, and she felt an inexplicable certainty in her heart, so she held that bit of coldness tightly in her palm, and waited with bated breath.She doesn't want to die, she wants to live.
The leader slashed at Haishi's wrist holding the burden.At the moment when the saber slashed, Hai Shi jumped towards the leader, who was holding onto something, and the ten-foot-long fishing net hanging from the tree was torn apart in half.Because of her small stature and quick movements, when she threw herself on the leader's chest, the big knife in the leader's hand just barely swept across Haishi's back and cut through the air.
"Everyone, don't stay here, run away!" Haishi raised his head and shouted, the villagers woke up like a dream, and helped each other to flee in a hurry.
The leader held the back collar of the sea market with his left hand, and was about to use his strength, but felt a faint itching in his stomach, and then a sharp pain.He stared angrily, let go of Haishi, and covered his wound in disbelief.A twine was pulled out of the wound, along which the blood slowly condensed into a drop and fell.
Haishi took another step back, seeing that the leader was about to swing the knife again, but she just wrapped the twine around her hand and pulled it back fiercely.A dot of blood sprayed onto her immature face.
The leader's body fell forward slowly following the pull.He didn't know until he died that the thing that fell into his belly and finally killed him was just the long hardwood shuttle used by Haishi's mother to weave fishing nets.
Haishi shook off the twine in his hand, turned around and ran up the back hill.
There was a clamoring sound from far down the mountain, and the man in the car asked, "Zuo Ying, what's the matter?"
"That kid killed an officer and is running towards us." The young man named Zhuo Ying spoke in a calm manner, but his voice was a little tense.
"Then, let's try his luck and see if he can come to us. If this kid has no luck, following us will be a dead end." The voice in the car was still calm.
Zhuoying bowed lightly, and remained silent.The sky was getting dark, and I listened intently, only to hear a few people rushing towards the mountain, stepping on the grass and rustling.In less than half a cup of tea, the sound of people was several zhang away. Hearing the sound, an officer and soldier seemed to be chasing the child, but he screamed in pain as if he had been bitten by the child.Immediately there was a sharp gust of wind, probably the officers and soldiers rushed forward and slashed sharply with their knives, there was another hiss, the child must have been stabbed, the footsteps immediately staggered, the footsteps were messy, but it didn't stop for a moment.
Zhuoying tightly held the golden knife handle at her waist, her palms gradually became thin with sweat.
The person in the car whispered: "It's almost there, let's go."
"Decree!" Before Zhuoying could finish her voice, the person had fled two zhang away, she heard the voice to identify her position, she stretched out her hand to pick up the child and threw it in the direction of the carriage, but she stepped forward without stopping.The golden knife was unsheathed, and the cold light rolled faintly in the night, and there was the sound of five or six clothes being torn and blood splashed, and the officers and soldiers fell to the ground one by one.The last horizontal knife slashed to the right, using the force of the knife to circle half a circle, and landed lightly, he raised his eyes to look for the child, but couldn't help but suffocated.
The child fell to the ground, the burden on his chest was scattered, and what rolled out was unknown, and it was dazzling in the darkness.That precious light is alive, undulating and surging like a mirage.A bead rolled all the way under the wheel, making a crisp sound.The curtain of the car was lifted, and one person got out of the car, and immediately stretched out a thin hand to pick up the beads, and brought them to the eyes for a closer look.The pearly light shone brightly on the man's face, with narrow Danfeng eyes, and a half-inch-long old knife mark on the right corner of his mouth that was slightly raised, forming a plausible smile on his regular and gentle face. .
The child prostrated on the ground, looked up at him, his body was motionless, but his hands were not idle, slowly and lightly gathering the rolled pearls back to his chest one by one.The child's eyes were the eyes of a beast. Although they looked frightened, they were extremely sharp.It's not that you don't want to escape, it's just that you have to judge the situation and wait for the opportunity.As long as there is a slight movement in him, the child will instinctively turn over and run away, and maybe throw a handful of dirt at him.
The man squatted down slowly, stretched out a finger, and firmly held the child's wriggling little hand.Where the two hands touched, the child's body trembled.With all his strength, the man hugged the child to his chest, but the child resisted, staring at the man with almost hostile eyes.The man didn't dodge, but just reached out and caressed her immature face that was not full of palms.The child's resisted arms trembled for a moment, and then he buried his head into the man's shoulder socket, tightly hugging his neck.A faint smile appeared on the man's lips, he hugged the child tightly, stood up straight, and let the pearls roll down from their bodies.
"What's your name?" The man asked in a calm voice.
With a hoarse and small voice, he answered with sobs: "Haishi."
"Would you like to go north with us?"
Haishi never let go of his hands holding the man's neck, and thought for a while: "Go to the north, can I make money to support my mother?"
The man was silent for a moment: "To be my son, you have everything but ease; to be my daughter, you have nothing but ease."
"Then, I will be your son." The dry and soft cloth on the man's chest had a faint fragrance.Haishi buried his head deeper, his sore muscles relaxed little by little, his voice gradually became blurred, and he fell into a deep sleep.
Zhuo Ying cleaned up the scattered shark pearls, lit a white silk lantern, and drew up the curtain.The man boarded the carriage with Hai Shi in his arms, Zhuo Ying jumped onto the shaft of the carriage, and the carriage and horses moved forward silently.The lantern swayed, and the curly hair and pupils of Zhuo Ying reflected a dark golden luster from the pure black.
"Zuoying, when I picked you up in Hongyaoyuan's [-] rebellious army, your eyes were also like this, like a beast."
Zhuo Ying simply replied: "Yes."
"Four years in the blink of an eye."
"Yes."
They all stopped talking, and the night covered them.
II
The young man was sitting in front of the chessboard with a firm posture, twisting a black glazed chess piece between his fingers, but his mind seemed to be far away, and his eyes drifted out of the window in ecstasy.
The Forbidden City is high on the top of the mountain, and this chess room has an excellent location. Looking out from the window, you can have a panoramic view of Tianqi City.In the evening, the outline of the city wall disappeared, but the lights came on one by one.In the eyes full of twilight, the appearance of roads, lanes and alleys is gradually connected, stretching for tens of miles, piled up with gold and colorful.
"Am I old? When you played chess with me when you were young, sometimes you would cry in a hurry." The man on the other side of the chessboard stretched out two thin fingers and silently dropped a white piece. There is even time to be dazed."
The young man was still looking out of the window, and sighed in an inaudible way: "In a few days, I won't be able to see it anymore."
"The night of Apocalypse is indeed extremely magnificent. The Dazheng Dynasty has ruled the world for 660 years, which is an unprecedented long time since ancient times. But this Apocalypse City is the imperial capital of the Eastern Continent that has not changed for 2000 years. Generation after generation of kings abolished and established, the world Life and death are just for fighting for it." The person on the opposite side of the chessboard picked up a copper pick and flipped the lantern.The candle flame in the wind exploded slightly, and brightened again, exuding the strong fragrance of ambergris. "Perhaps it would be safer to stay away from it."
The young man turned around suddenly, and the sunspot in his hand fell off the chessboard without thinking. With a crisp sound, it was like a nail being hammered into a stone wall in the extremely quiet room.The sunspot penetrated deeply into the influence of the white man and became a lone son.
"Chess must be played according to reason, not by force." The lamp picker put down the copper stick and said.
The young man in white raised his face. He looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, with McGinn complexion and long eyebrows. "I'd rather give up the number of sons than lose the first one. Isn't this what you have always taught, foster father? Right now, foster father is not sure to eat me in one bite, and he can't tolerate me walking away. What are you going to do?"
The man on the opposite side of the chessboard had a clear face and a calm demeanor. When he smiled, there were fine lines at the corners of his eyes, showing the signs of his age.He picked up a white piece from the chess box, dropped it unhurriedly, and shook his hand.
The young man gave birth to another son without hesitation.
The man tapped the chessboard lightly with his right index finger.
Seeing the position he was pointing at, the young man couldn't help but his face changed slightly, but he still said forcefully: "It's not over yet, if I argue with you, I might lose."
Hearing this, the man raised his eyes, and a half-inch-long old knife mark on the right corner of his mouth was slightly raised, and a plausible smile was drawn on his regular and gentle face: "So, Haishi, I'm afraid After all, you are still too angry, if you are not feeling well, this general of the Underworld Camp, you might as well come back to the imperial capital, and I will arrange a way out for you and marry a good man."
Haishi twisted the chess pieces and remained silent.
There was a respectful knock on the door, and Zhuoying said through the door: "Haishi, the clothes you ordered have been delivered, and the weaving workshop is waiting for you."
Haishi quietly put the chess pieces back into the chess box, and said, "Father, if I can't marry the person I want to marry, then I would rather stay outside the customs for a lifetime and never return to Tianqi."
The vertical lines between the man's brows were fleeting, and he still lowered his eyes. The chess piece in his right hand was clutched in his palm, but he refused to let it go.
Haishi pushed the chair, got up and opened the door to leave the study, Zhuoying was waiting outside the door.The man looked up at them leaving side by side, finally let out a long breath silently, and opened his right hand.In the palm of the hand, a new wound came from nowhere, and the baizi made of colored glaze had been dyed bright red.
The man was silent and didn't bandage up, just watched a trace of blood dripping down on the green shirt, smudged with an ominous dark ocher color.
On the way to the vestibule of Jifeng Pavilion, Haishi and Zhuoying walked side by side.
There were palace servants from other places who came to Jifeng Hall to give gifts. On the way, they saw Zhuoying in the uniform of a sixth-rank military officer from a distance, and they all stood aside and bowed their hands to salute.They were all sixteen or seventeen-year-old girls, with a natural nature, and when they walked a little far away, they started talking in low voices.
"The Habayashi army is exposed to the wind and the sun, where did such a fair and good-looking person come from?"
"Shh, don't make fun of yourself by winking at others. That's the adopted son of Eunuch Fang, the head of the Fengting Court. The tall one is the eldest son. He has a bright future in the Yulin Army. It's no problem to marry a famous lady in the future. I like you."
In fact, both Zhuoying and Haishi are martial arts practitioners, they have keen hearing and can hear every word clearly.Haishi suppressed a smile, and stabbed Zhuoying with his elbow, only to see Zhuoying's fair face flushed slightly, and her strides were extremely big, as if she could shake off those gossips, but there was still a sentence or two indistinct. After catching up: "It's a pity that the young Fang Haishi has just been appointed and is going to the northern border, so it's rare to see him from now on."
Zhuo Ying couldn't help laughing out loud, and let Hai Shi blushed, dragging him to the weaving workshop.
Seeing them coming, Shi Lin, the master of the weaving workshop, hurriedly put down the tea bowl, got up and bowed, took out a piece of clothing from the tissue paper package, and shook it off to them, his face like dough was full of color.
"Oh, Uncle Shi is so eccentric!" Zhuoying blurted out.
It was originally a soot gray satin short gown with arrow sleeves, apparently the size of a mirage, with a falcon embroidered with various blue and purple silk threads on the back, with feathers and claws fluttering realistically, with a little emerald green in the eyes, and a flash of inspiration.Fang Zhu, the chief manager of Fengting, gained power, and he brought two adopted sons. The older one entered the Habayashi Army for eight years, and was awarded the six official positions of Habayashi Qianqi before he was 24 years old; Beijiang went to serve as a general of Huangquanying.Their weaving workshop has always been deliberately flattering, and the tailoring and stitching of all clothes and quilts are top-notch.
Haishi felt embarrassed, and said: "The clothes are pretty, but Uncle Shi dressed me up like an actor, and when I arrived at Huangquanguan, people had to make a joke, but how did he lead the army?"
Shi Lin urged Haishi to change into a try, Haishi took the clothes and hid in the wing room.
Zhuoying's clothes are the official six court clothes of Yubayashi Qianqi, with a black base, embroidered purple flying beasts, and blue and white three-color sea wave patterns on the lower lapel.Zhuoying was only wearing a robe with narrow arrow sleeves, and put on a court dress in court, which was really fit and slender. She didn't wear a martial crown, but only tied with five-color ribbons, which set off his fair complexion, high nose and deep eyes, very gorgeous.
While he was admiring, Haishi came out from the wing room.The short robe was pinching the young man's slender waist, with a handsome physique, his skin color was darker than Zhuoying's, and it was glamorous and charming. The falcon embroidered on the back seemed to be alive, and a pair of sharp eyes seemed to be staring at him. .
"A while ago, King Chang came to my weaving workshop and saw Zheliu's embroidery manuscript. He yelled that Zheliu embroidered after the falcon he raised, and this dress should belong to him. Hey, don't say that the ancestors' rules are not good. You are allowed to bring eagles and dogs into the palace, that's right, how can Zheliu see it? I can say that this embroidery is embroidered with fine copper thread from the Southwest Leizhou Zhucharian National Tribute. Although it is shiny and beautiful, it is very heavy. Very, it’s thick and thorny, it’s nothing more than a general’s clothes, it’s absolutely not worthy of King Chang’s extravagance. I’d better wait for the new silk to be reeled out, and ask Zheliu to embroider a soft, dense and vivid one for him. It’s a good job Flattery, he is now at ease. This prince..." Shi Lin refolded his clothes while nagging.
Haishi couldn't respond well to his words, so he could only smile.Dixu has no offspring so far, and his only younger brother, King Chang, is extravagant and not a great weapon. It has only been 14 years since the great empire was unified from chaos and separation.
Zhuoying didn't say anything, just reached out and caressed the falcon on Haishi's back, the bird of prey seemed to be about to tear its silk, and its divine light was shining brightly.
Shi Lin smiled and said: "Don't dare to neglect the eldest son, the Fei Lian on your robe is also from Zheliu's men, this girl really worked hard for the clothes of the two sons, she buried her head in the dark room alone Embroidered wow."
"Why is that so? It's not something important." Zhuoying blurted out.
Haishi turned around, fixed his eyes on Zhuoying, just smiled and didn't speak, seeing that Zhuoying's snow-white face flushed.
"Young master will be stationed at Huangquan Pass with the army tomorrow, and the idlers will not be able to go to see you off. Here is my auspicious wish for you. The two young masters will also send greetings to Director Fang for me, so I will take my leave now." Shi Lin babbled. After all the instigation, he cupped his hands, turned his stocky and chunky body and exited the door.
The thick blue water flows through the fingers and hair, thousands of sparkling and finely divided air bubbles swaying and bubbling up like silver sand.
And she was falling, in the viscous sea water without sound and light, as if being pulled by an invisible hand, she sank slowly towards the dark and unknown depths, but she could never reach the bottom of the sea.
Haishi raised his head in a daze, the turbid green sea was like a sky of different colors, getting higher and higher, gradually untouchable.The huge body shining with steel blue luster passed in front of her silently and disappeared into the depths of darkness.A streak of bright red color spread slowly, brushing over her cheeks with the rippling water, leaving a cold and greasy touch.
Lang Ya stretched out his hand to her, with an anxious look on his beautiful face.
She also tried her best to reach out her hand to Lang Ya, but she just caught a gap in the sea water, and still fell slowly and irretrievably.She looked at her hands in despair, they were young and soft, as if they had returned to the age of a child, in the dark, the palms of the hands glowed with a hazy white light, and with each stroke, two beautiful characters were about to be completed.
Haishi suddenly opened his eyes, his hands and feet were icy cold, and the slightly cold wind in the night brushed his cheeks like water.Ten years later, this nightmare is still haunting her.
She turned slightly on the pillow, and saw the window of the bedroom was wide open. In the vast night, countless lights streamed continuously, outlining the two avenues of the imperial capital, Yong'an and Yongle.
"It's time to get up too." Fang Zhu turned around from the window, wearing a dark green arabesque-patterned court attire.
Haishi was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I'm dreaming again."
"You are so big, are you still afraid of nightmares?" The man smiled slightly.
Haishi lowered his head and looked at his palm, which was not unusual, and finally got up in his cloak, walked over, and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.As the Huangquan, Chengcheng, and Wuwei battalion's five-year defense period is approaching, this year's borders will be tight, and each will increase by 18 troops. A total of [-] troops will be paraded outside the Chengji Gate tomorrow morning.This is the apocalypse of the city that never sleeps, and it is getting more and more noisy.
There is no peace in the palace.Maple and maple trees are planted all over the Forbidden City. Every autumn, in the thick place, under the deep blue sky, clumps of red clouds and brocades ignite, reflecting the black, pink and white palaces and pavilions. beauty.It is night now, and the glazed lanterns in the palace are weaving like weaving, and the shadows of the trees are swaying, illuminating the bustling red leaves. Only the Jincheng Palace where Emperor Xu lives is lonely.Although the courtiers have all got up and dressed, they probably know that Di Xu will not go to the military parade tomorrow as usual, but it is hard to say that he may have a change of heart and really want to parade at Chengji Gate, so the great apocalypse is still going on all night People and horses were mobilized to sweep the curtain, lest there be mistakes.
"There are so many people running for their lives because of an idea that the emperor can't say for certain—but, it's really beautiful." Hai Shi sighed.
"It's time for you to get ready. In the middle of the night, it's time to enter the camp and transfer troops to Chengji Gate. Although there are old generals to take care of you, you must not neglect."
The court clothes of Haishi are the uniforms of the eight military officers, which are neatly placed on the head of the bed together with the five layers of green gauze inner robes from light to dark.She shook off the innermost layer of smoky blue underwear and put it on, trying to cross the inner ribbon to the back.Since she was six years old, she disguised herself as a man and never asked for personal service. However, the court clothes were overlapping and complicated, and it was extremely difficult to wear without help.
"Father..." Haishi called out in embarrassment.Night Breeze combed her waist-length hair that fell down, and her usually indistinguishable face was very charming at this moment.
Fang Zhu turned his head to one side, and said, "I'll ask Zhuo Ying to clean up for you."
Haishi smiled slightly and said, "I think he's busy getting dressed too."
Fang Zhu shook his head: "Even if you have been dressed as a man for ten years and have fought with Zhuo Ying till the end, you still have to remember that you are a girl and you will marry sooner or later."
The tears in Haishi's eyes were full of tears, but he held back and refused to shed them. Instead, he smiled and said: "When the adoptive father was on duty in the palace, didn't he often take care of the maidens? Elder brother Zhuoying is a man anyway, so there are many differences in etiquette. Alright, I'd better ask foster father to help me."
— At any rate, he was a man.In the ears of the eunuch, I am afraid that there is no more sharp and mocking words than this.
In Fang Zhu's eyes, it was as if the mirror lake was frozen, and he kept his expression, he just walked around behind Haishi and tied her robe tightly.
It was the time when the night was extremely dark, and the cool wind of the cold dew solar term was blowing. I don't know where the palace people spent the long night, faintly playing the pipa once or twice.Haishi stretched out his arms, like a delicate doll, and let him wrap himself in layers of gauze and brocade clothes.Fang Zhu gently touched her cheek with his fingers, steady and warm, even if a hot and heavy teardrop shattered directly on his hand, it just made his hands stop and did not tremble.Her sandalwood black hair was also carefully tied up by him, and she was covered with a military officer's crown of black satin. The silk ribbons on the crown were divided into five colors, and were tied tightly under the chin one by one. The card hangs from her waist.There are three pearls the size of soybeans on the fringe of the waist tag, which glows brightly under the dim light, and Haishi recognizes that it is a huddle of pearls given to her by the sharks when she was young.When she pursed her lips and turned back, she was clearly a brave and handsome young military officer, her eyes were as cold as frost, and there was no trace of affection.
Fang Zhu and Zhuoying sent Haishi away, and then went to Jincheng Palace to wait for Emperor Xu to get up.
At the time of Lanzhong, word came from the palace that the emperor was tired from reviewing the memorials last night and would not go to Chengji Gate for military parade today.
Before dawn, the sky and the earth are like splashed ink, 18 elite soldiers knelt on the mountain and shouted long live, the sound of ten-mile battleaxes clanged, the torches on the top of the city continued, and the armor undulated like the waves of the sea in the dark night.Under the guidance of banners, the divisions of the army left Tianqi in order. The Wuwei camp took the Hexi route to Mohe Pass, the Chengcheng camp went to Mohe Pass, and the Huangquan Camp went west to Huangquan Pass. They changed their defenses.
Before the Qiyue pass, Haishi stopped his horse.From Tianqi to the north, the Mingluo Mountains are shaped like a strong bow, becoming a natural barrier for the Imperial Capital Basin. Only the wide pass in the middle of the ridge can be crossed, pointing to Huangquan Pass across the sea. "After passing here, I will never see Tianqi again. When I went to Huangquanying for the first time when I was 15 years old, I was still a small soldier, and I cried when I got here." Zhang Chengqian walked side by side with Haishi, seeing Looking at the sky and said.Zhang Chengqian was 32 and three years old, and he was a general sent by the Huangquan Camp to hand over the roster and fodder.
"Why, Brother Zhang was afraid at that time?" Haishi responded in a manly voice.
Zhang Chengqian smiled and showed his white teeth: "Where, finally, I don't have to learn how to butcher pigs from my father in the village, and I can fight and make meritorious service. Just thinking about it makes me cry with joy."
The grand capital is still sleeping on its own, and in the morning light, the red maple outside Chengji Gate is like smoke.Maybe this is the last time I saw the red leaves in the imperial capital.Forget it, after saying such harsh words, so what if we meet again?Haishi laughed at himself, turned the direction, urged the horse to trot all the way around the pass, and left Tianqi behind the mountain.
(End of this chapter)
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