That year, that cicada, that sword

Chapter 581

The sky was gloomy, and the howling wind was mixed with snow particles.

In a two-story restaurant in the imperial city, it was warm as spring and full of guests.

The name of this building is Liuquan Building, which is a first-class restaurant in the outer city and a time-honored restaurant that has been passed down for hundreds of years.

There were two people sitting opposite each other by the window on the second floor, one of them was an old man with white beard and hair, looking at the fine snow outside the window, and the other was a Taoist priest of about the same age, closing his eyes and resting his mind.

At this time, there is a storyteller in the lobby on the first floor, one person, one table, one chair and one Xingmu, who weave stories about emperors and generals.

At this time, it was the story of Li Xiaocheng, the general of the Great Chu Dynasty who guarded the river to the death. When it was said that Li Xiaocheng beat the general Wanyan Guang to death with one punch, the diners in the restaurant applauded.

Upstairs, the old man watching the snow put down the curtains, looked away, and said to his companion who was resting his mind with his eyes closed: "I haven't been here in this Eastern Capital for some years. Compared with decades ago, it hasn't changed much. The snow is still like this." In fact, the snow inside the pass is the same, much gentler than the snow outside the pass. The snow outside the pass can kill people, but the snow inside the pass can be a scenery for scholars. Of course, it is not absolute, after all, the rich Wine and meat stink, and the road has frozen bones."

The Taoist didn't open his eyes, but just said lightly: "This doesn't seem like your temper, how come you have learned to hurt flowers and mourn the moon?"

The person who spoke before said calmly: "I just lament the impermanence of the world. I didn't believe in fate before. I always thought that one day I could change the sun and the moon into a new sky. But after experiencing many things, I realized that I still can't escape a word of fate. Sometimes I was thinking, if I didn't have this distinguished surname, but a child from a commoner's family, what would I be like now."

The Taoist was aroused by these words, opened his eyes, and asked, "What do you think?"

This old man who has been a widow for many years, finally found someone to talk to calmly, without any intention of hiding it, he said with emotion: "If I was just born in an ordinary family and had no family background to rely on, I would never There will be me today, maybe I will be an idler, and I will be old and alone, lonely, even if it is a small family that is slightly inferior, it will be the life of a dude at best, and it will not be successful."

The Taoist is thoughtful.

The old man sighed and said: "If that's the case, I won't be able to drink with you here at the moment, but I will be nested in a certain house, either lying half dead, or trembling on crutches, walking No matter how lucky you are, your body is still strong, and you can crush a begonia with a pear tree, that is at best the fate of a rich man. This is fate. Can't get on the stage. The biggest injustice in the world is nothing more than this, so there are so many people in the world who refuse to obey orders, and some people shout that I can't help myself."

The Taoist played with taste: "Then do you believe in fate or not?"

The old man said indifferently: "What is fate? The ancient sages said it very clearly. Once someone kowtows at the word of fate, you believe it, accept it, and kowtow, and you accept your fate. As for me, I didn't accept my fate before, but now I don't." deny."

The Taoist laughed.

At this time, the old storyteller downstairs finished talking about Da Chu Li Xiaocheng, and began to talk about the affairs of this dynasty.

First, it is said that the first emperor went to the grassland alone, then it was said that the grassland war, that Xu Lin sent troops, it was said that the army was flooded, and finally it was said that the first emperor and the Taoist head teacher entered the central capital.

Holding the wine bowl in his hand, the old man listened to the scholar's eloquence with a blank expression, and did not move for a long time.

It wasn't until the storyteller finished that the old man drank the rice wine in one gulp. Looking at the haze outside the window, he sighed softly, "Xiao Yu."

……

Han House.

Two old men with similar ages were sitting in front of the hall, looking at the fine snow falling outside the hall, drinking hot tea slowly.

Among them, the old man sitting on the guest seat was dressed in a black crane cloak, his slightly black white hair was tied up by a jade hairpin, and his face was serious, which made the maids standing beside him feel a little dizzy. Duanmu Ruisheng, who stopped crying, was the majestic Chief of the Dark Guard Mansion, with a gloomy power, feared by both the government and the public.

As for the other old man, he is by no means an ordinary person, even higher than Duanmu Ruisheng. The master of the Han family, Han Xuan, the second assistant of the dynasty, if this old man hadn't come out of the mountain again, then the temple today would still be Master Lan's words.

Han Xuan took a sip of hot tea, then put the teacup aside, and asked softly, "Duanmu, when was the last time we two sat together to drink tea?"

Duanmu Ruisheng didn't care about what Han Xuan called him, and said with a smile: "Wenbi, this can't help me. I remember very clearly that it was the 19rd of the twelfth lunar month in the 23th year of Taiping, and it was also a bleak scene that came late."

Han Xuan took a deep look at Duanmu Ruisheng, who was once regarded as a "comrade in the same way", and said with a slight smile, "That's really quite a few years ago. Calculated with your fingers, it's more than 23 years, which is really not short."

Duanmu Ruisheng sighed softly, "At that time Xu Yan was still alive, the three of us sat around the stove to enjoy the snow and drink wine all night long. Looking back, it was a great pleasure."

"Xu Yan." Han Xuan laughed, and said with incomprehensible meaning: "He is the successor of Lan Xiang appointed by His Majesty, but he has no such blessing, but it is a pity to pass away at an age when he knows his destiny."

Duanmu Ruisheng gently turned the teacup in his hand, without showing any marks on his face, he also nodded and said with emotion: "It's really a pity."

Because of the princess's marriage, Duanmu's family and Han's family had already stood on the opposite side, and they almost tore off the last face, and then there was an incident of Qiutai. It is not wrong to say that they regarded each other as enemies, Duanmu Rui The reason why Sheng put down his face and came to Han Xuan's mansion was because of his agreement with Xu Beiyou that Xu Beiyou would take action to remove the sword spirit of Zhuxian from Duanmuyu's body, and he offered Wu Lezhi both hands.

At this time, there was still an iron cage in the courtyard in front of the hall, without any cover, allowing snowflakes to fall on it. In the iron cage, there was a man whose hands and feet were bound by iron chains, with unkempt hair and snowflakes stuck to his head, making him even more embarrassed Unbearable.

This person is exactly Wu Lezhi who followed Zhang Zhaonu to the south of Jiangdu earlier, but now he is reduced to a prisoner, and he no longer has the vigor and vigor of the day when he was pointing the country.

Han Xuan glanced at Wu Lezhi in the eye cage, and asked, "Is this Zhang Zhaonu's think tank?"

Duanmu Ruisheng said lightly: "This man's name is Wu Lezhi. He was originally depressed in the south of the Yangtze River. Maybe it was because of the oranges in the south and the oranges in the north. Later, he went to the north of the river with Zhang Zhaonu. He soared into the sky and helped Zhang Zhaonu make waves in the north of the river. A lot of strength, if not for Zhang Zhaonu's protection, this kind of people would be more than enough to die ten times for their crimes."

Han Xuan hummed, but did not speak.

About half an hour later, the wind and snow suddenly turned violent, Feng Lang walked over quickly and whispered something in Han Xuan's ear.

Han Xuan nodded, looked at Duanmu Ruisheng and said, "Nangui is fine, let's go there."

When the two old men came to a secret room, the room was still filled with a bloody smell that was so thick that it could hardly be melted away.

Duanmuyu was lying on the bed, already falling into a deep sleep.

Xu Beiyou's hands were covered with blood, and he dipped them into the copper basin to wash them slowly.

Duanmu Ruicheng frowned slightly, but Han Xuan looked calm.

After washing his hands, Xu Beiyou looked at the blood in the eye basins, and said softly, "I have removed all the Jade Immortal Sword Qi from Mr. Duanmu's body, it just hurt his vitality, and it will be fine after a while."

(End of this chapter)