Pihanjin

As the season approaches autumn, the days are getting shorter and shorter, but in the evening, the sky in the northwest gets dark.

Xie Changgeng came back from the outside, passed Jiaocheng on the way, and then returned to Guzang. When he saw the gatekeeper rushing to meet him, he hesitated, slowed down his horse, stopped at the gate of the city, leaned over slightly, and asked him in a low voice, "Weng" Has the Lord arrived yet?"

The door official replied, "My lord, I haven't seen the Lord Weng return during your absence."

Xie Changgeng stopped talking, sat up straight, entered the city on horseback, and returned to Jiedu Shifu.

There is something wrong with the housekeeper. He left last month on leave and hasn't come back yet. Xie Changgeng went in and saw the old woman who was in charge of taking care and guarding hurriedly coming over, bowing, and hesitatingly said, "Sir, that child has been sick these days and has a fever..."

Xie Changgeng was startled and stopped, "Have you asked Lang Zhong to come and see?"

"I've called," the old woman hurriedly said, "I've already called the best husband in the city. Even if I take medicine, it's not good..."

Xie Changgeng stopped for a while, "Take me there!"

The old woman led the way and took Xie Changgeng to a small courtyard behind.

Jiedushi came back more than a month ago, and when he came back, he brought a child with him. The child was disheveled, with a small face and hands and feet covered in dirt. At that time, the steward was still in the mansion, and Jiedushi did not say who the child was, but handed the child over to him and ordered him to guard against escape.

The steward cleaned up this small courtyard that had a single door, let the child live in it, and arranged for the old woman to take care and guard.

A dim oil lamp was lit in the house, and when I went in, I smelled the stench of drowning urine.

The old woman smelled it too, hurriedly rushed forward, and hurriedly took out the drowning pot in the corner that had not fallen for two days.

Xie Changgeng frowned, walked to the bed, and saw the child lying on the pillow, his eyes were closed, his cheeks were thin, and his face was burning red.

He leaned down, raised his hand and pressed his forehead, the tentacles were hot, and patted his face again, his eyelids moved a few times, and then he didn't respond.

Looking at it like this, it turned out to be a burn.

In front of Xie Changgeng's eyes, there seemed to be shi Mu's eyes staring at him fiercely, and his heart skipped a beat.

He straightened his body, turned his head, and asked the old woman, "What's the matter?"

The old woman heard his stern tone, but didn't dare to let out the air, and whispered, "I don't know... After the manager left, I took good care of him, and he himself is like this..."

When the old woman was talking, Xie Changgeng's eyes fell on the quilt on the bed.

The weather has changed abruptly recently, the day is fine, but the temperature drops sharply at night. When Xie Changgeng was out, he wore a single shirt, and at night, people also felt cold.

The quilt on the bed was very thin, and it was clearly the summer quilt from a while ago.

Seeing that he stretched out his hand and squeezed the quilt, the old woman became more and more guilty.

When the child was brought back, he was like a little beggar. Jiedushi handed the person over to the steward, and said nothing, only ordered the prisoner, not to let him escape. After that, he was busy, leaving early and returning late. Ask a question. This old woman didn't pay much attention to it, and only remembered the three words "the prisoner".

The steward was fine when he was there, but the steward left on leave, and Jiedu was not very common. These days, the old woman gradually became lazy. In order to save trouble, except for three meals a day to deliver meals, the rest of the time simply The door was locked with a lock and the child was locked inside. As for the weather changes, the night is cold and cold, and I don't care. It was also the day before yesterday, and found that the child hadn't eaten much, and the food that was brought in was barely moving. Only then did the old lady find out that he was ill, and hurriedly called Langzhong to see a doctor, but it didn't seem to be good. Today, people are still lost in the past. Du Shi is back, let me know immediately.

"In this weather, you still cover him with such a quilt? How do you do things?"

Xie Changgeng shouted sharply.

The old woman was frightened, knelt down with a thud, and reluctantly defended, "Sir, calm down, you haven't brought children, you don't know... As the old saying goes, spring covers autumn and cold... This is how children should be brought..."

Xie Changgeng was furious, and before the old woman could finish speaking, he kicked the person away, leaned over and picked up the unconscious child on the bed, walked out of the dim room that smelled of feces, and hurried to his own. Put the person on the bed, and ask them to call all the gentlemen in the city, and order the child on the bed to see a doctor.

Lang Zhong arrived one after another, and seeing Jiedushi's gloomy face, he didn't dare to neglect.

After the medicine was boiled and delivered, the child was still in a daze. Xie Changgeng asked someone to help him sit up and forcibly fed the concoction one by one, and ordered Langzhong to stay overnight in Jiedu Envoy's Mansion, ready to be called at any time.

Xie Changgeng asked someone to make another bed in the house, and moved the study into the bedroom.

The child was lying down, still in a deep sleep, but the redness on his face seemed to have subsided a little, and the sound of breathing was smoother than in the evening.

He reached out and touched his body temperature, it wasn't as hot as before.

Xie Changgeng breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to withdraw his hand when he suddenly saw his eyelashes tremble slightly, his body moved, his hand touched and grabbed one of his fingers.

The hand was small, soft, fleshy, and had an abnormal body temperature.

Xie Changgeng paused for a moment and tried to slowly withdraw his fingers. The strength of the little hand was unusually strong, and it was grasped tightly, as if feeling his intention, and the body moved uneasily. coming.

Xie Changgeng didn't move immediately, held his breath, and when he calmed down again, he finally pulled back his hand slowly.

That night, Xie Changgeng was suddenly at a loss when he heard the breathing sound of the child on the bed.

In July, he became angry for a while and had evil thoughts in his heart, which forcibly took the child away from Liancheng. After hitting the road, I didn't want to deal with my mother's questions at home, so I didn't go to Xie County, but went back to Hexi.

When he first arrived, he just waited for the woman to chase after him, and let out a bad breath in his chest. It had been so long, and before the woman had arrived, just tonight, he suddenly felt that he was extremely stupid. How could such a child be brought to the side in the first place, and he was looking for a lot of things out of thin air.

Early the next morning, Xie Changgeng woke up, subconsciously turned his head to look in the direction of the bed, and saw that the child was already awake, lying on the edge of the bed, looking at himself with wide eyes that were still a little bit worried.

The two looked at each other, and he seemed startled, slid, and quickly retreated into the bed, motionless, and pretended to be asleep.

Xie Changgeng pretended not to see it and stood up.

During the day, he had something to do, so he asked Lang Zhong to see the disease again, and asked a subordinate's wife to take care of it on his behalf. A few days later, the child's condition gradually improved, and Xie Changgeng was going to go out for a few more days. Knowing that the woman had something to do at home, she simply took the child with him.

Hexi is rich in horses. Under the Beishan Mountain not far from Xiutu, there is a vast horse farm with tens of thousands of horses, which is owned by the garrison. After Xie Changgeng came, he expanded the cavalry, always attached great importance to horse affairs, and often asked about it himself. This trip, the first place to go is the horse farm.

He took Xier to the racecourse and gave it to a groom. After patrolling the horse farm in the evening, I asked the child I brought with me, and when I learned that he was in the stable, I went to look for him.

He walked outside the stables and heard a burst of cheerful laughter from children inside.

Xie Changgeng looked up and saw that the boy had his back to him, standing beside a few months old foal, holding food in his hand to feed him. The colt was greedy, and when it was finished, it followed him, reluctantly. The child hugged its neck and laughed very happily.

Xi'er was playing with the pony when she suddenly heard the voice of the groom meeting Jiedushi. She turned her head and saw the man coming. She stood behind her and slowly released her hand, the smile on her face disappeared. .

The groom said, "My lord, I saw that the young master was fine, so I brought him here. Don't blame me, my lord."

Xie Changgeng nodded, and in the silent gaze of the child opposite him, he walked up to him, leaned over and asked him, "Do you like it?"

Xi'er hesitated for a while, but still didn't speak.

Xie Changgeng slowly stood up straight and said, "It was born a month premature. It is the same size as him, and already taller than it. It has grown up, and if it can't become a qualified war horse, keeping it would be a waste of food and grass!"

He drew his sword and walked towards the foal.

"don't want!"

Xi'er let out a cry, ran over quickly, opened her hands, protected the pony behind her, raised her face, and looked at Xie Changgeng nervously.

"Don't kill it, please! I can eat less and give it my meal!"

Xie Changgeng put the sword back into the sheath, squatted down, looked into his eyes and said, "If you don't speak, I don't know what you think, so I will kill it. Now you speak, I know what you think. , I can promise you. Not only promise, but also give it to you."

Xi'er's eyes slowly shone with joy, she turned to hug the foal, hesitated, looked at Xie Changgeng, and whispered, "Thank you for not killing it."

"When it grows up, it will definitely become a war horse!"

He added another sentence.

It was the first time I heard this kid talk to me in such a long time.

He was not dumb, but he refused to speak to him before, and he knew without asking, that Mr. Mu must have said something in front of him.

At this moment, Xie Changgeng felt the bad breath that had been stagnant in his chest, as if it had finally come out.

He hummed softly and turned away.

He stayed at the racecourse that night, sharing a room with Xi'er.

He didn't come back from playing with the pony until late. Xie Changgeng was in the room, and he could hear his laughter. When he had played enough, he finally touched it and saw that his face and hands were covered with mud and grass. Call someone for water and say, "Wash your face and feet yourself! Wash and go to bed!"

Xi'er snorted, washed indiscriminately, with a few mud marks on her hands, climbed onto the bed, and lay down.

Xie Changgeng didn't care either. The night was getting darker, he was sitting in front of the lamp, still flipping through the official documents, the child was lying on the bed.

While reading the official documents, out of the corner of his eyes, he occasionally catches glimpses of the child sleeping and waking up, as if he is quietly observing himself, and when he sees him, he quickly closes his eyes.

After repeating this several times, Xie Changgeng snapped the file closed.

"You're still not sleeping, what do you see me doing?"

Xi'er closed her eyes tightly, her eyelashes fluttered, and after a while, she probably knew she couldn't hold it, opened her eyes, and whispered, "I can't sleep."

"why?"

"I think my mother kissed..." Xi'er bit her lip and whispered.

"Can you let me go back?"

He got up from the bed and looked up at him.

Xie Changgeng wanted to say, she won't want you, she will come over sooner or later, when the words reached his lips, his eyes fell on the child's beautiful eyebrows, his heart hardened again, and he snorted.

"When you go out from the horse farm, it's all barren hills and fields, and wild wolves. If you dare to sneak away, you won't be able to see her when your mother comes!"

"sleep!"

He picked up the quilt, threw it on Xi'er's head, blew out the light, and lay on the outside of the bed.

The side crawled around for a while, as if there was a little bug, and after a while, it finally quieted down.

Xie Changgeng closed his eyes and heard a voice from under the quilt, "I'm not running. I want to beg you again. When my mother comes to find me, can you be nice to her and not bully her?"

Xie Changgeng was stunned for a moment, and the face that had never shown a good face to him appeared before him, and he didn't say anything.

The little man under the quilt started to move again.

"You said what I said, and you only know what I think. Don't bully my mother, I can do things for you."

"I can do a lot of things. Really!"

Xie Changgeng felt disturbed for a while. He raised his arm and pressed down through the quilt, pinning the person firmly on the bed, and said coldly, "Sleep for me!"

The child was held down by him and struggled a few times at the end. He probably felt his displeasure and stopped talking.

Playing with the foal drained his energy, and it was quiet for a while, and soon fell asleep.

The next morning, Xie Changgeng woke up.

Xu was cold last night, and this little boy was close to him, and he was still sleeping soundly at the moment.

He got up carefully, covered him with the quilt, and walked out. Before leaving, he called the steward of the horse farm, saying that he would go to the slaughter, and let the steward take care of it for the past few days.

"Be sure to take care of good people for me, and I'll ask you if I'm out of luck!"

The steward nodded and reassured.

…

Guzang City is right in front of you.

After many days of delay on the road, it finally arrived. As soon as Mu Fulan entered the city, he went straight to the Jiedu Envoy's Mansion.

The concierge was surprised and delighted to see her group suddenly coming, and immediately opened the door to welcome them.

Mu Fulan opened her mouth and asked Xi'er. Seeing that there was no response from the concierge, she said, "A boy! Jiedushi came back earlier, did he bring a boy with him?"

Only then did the concierge understand, and nodded hurriedly, "Yes! Indeed!"

"Where are the others? Can they be in the mansion?" Mu Fulan said, and hurried inside.

"Unfortunately, a few days ago, Jiedushi was taken to Xiu Tu City."

Mu Fulan stopped in her footsteps, calmed down, turned around and ran out without saying a word.

When the horse-drawn carriage she rode had finished the road in the wilderness, and finally arrived at Xiu Tu, it was already dark and the city gate was already closed.

The carriage stopped outside the city gate, and she looked at the tall city wall outlined in dark black in front of her, and ordered her entourage to knock on the door and shout.

After a while, the city gate opened, and the gatekeeper hurried over, bowed and said, "Why did Lord Weng come here late at night? Please come in."

"Where's Jiedushi? Are there others?"

"I'm here! I arrived a few days ago! I'll take you there!"

The gatekeeper led the carriage into the city.

Xiutu is a military town. There are no residents in the city. The straight horse road built along the city gate is full of barracks. After walking the horse road, turn right, not far away, there is a square building with a tall gate, this is the Xiutu Ya Office, and Xie Changgeng is here.

The door officer patted the door to announce that the door opened, and when Mu Fulan came down, she felt as if her bones were about to fall apart.

She held onto the carriage, stood firm, and walked in.

A person who looked like a steward came out to receive her, took her to the room, and said that Jiedushi was discussing matters with General Liu and others, and asked her to rest first.

After the steward left, Mu Fulan waited in the room until late at night, but Xie Changgeng never showed up. He couldn't hold back any longer. He opened the door and walked out. I looked for it.

There was still the light of candles on the windows and doors.

She asked the sergeant on duty at night and learned that General Liu and others had already left. She immediately ran to the front, went up the steps, and pushed open the door. His black silhouette was reflected on the screen behind which was painted with the roar of a tiger, and it was as deep as a painting.

It was Xie Changgeng.

He raised his eyes and glanced in the direction of the door, as if he didn't see her at all, raised his hand, dipped it in ink, then lowered his head and continued to write his own things.

Seeing that he was still acting as if nothing had happened, Mu Fulan rolled with anger in her chest, hurried in, went straight in front of him, tried her best to resist the urge to draw a sword and cut a transparent hole in him, and asked, "Where's my Xi'er? where is he?"