Taohuaxi

Chapter 50 Father and son recognized each other but parted ways

The door of Zhang Mansion is open.

All the servants in the mansion stood neatly in the courtyard, with their hands hanging down.

Silent.

Fanzi announced: Mr. Feng has arrived——

The sharp sound swirled and floated to the eaves, the golden rubble, and the plaque of "Yuan Fu Good Minister" given by the emperor.

Feng Gao held a piece of royal silk in his hand and a bottle of Hedinghong in his arms. He walked unimpeded all the way to Master Zhang's study in the backyard.

The door is ajar.

With a gentle push, it opened.

Mr. Zhang was sitting leisurely on the Taishi chair, drinking wine and eating crabs.Hearing the sound, he raised his head slightly and said: "The autumn wind blows, and crabs' legs are itchy. The chrysanthemums are blooming, and you can hear the crabs coming. The crabs in this season are the most delicious."

Feng Gao smiled softly and stood in front of him: "Master Chief Assistant is so elegant."

Mr. Zhang broke off a crab leg and handed it to him: "Mr. Feng, do you want to eat some together?"

Feng Gao did not answer it, but shook the imperial silk in his hand: "I'm afraid that the chief assistant will not be in the mood to eat crabs after knowing the content of this."

Mr. Zhang put the crab legs into his mouth and chewed on his own: "I have received the imperial edict for a lifetime, no rush, no hurry. Just leave it. Let me finish the crab."

Feng Gao moved a stool and sat opposite him, looking at the old man with interest.

Mr. Zhang took a sip of wine and looked at Feng Gao with a slight smile: "You are twenty-one years old this year. You are very busy with official duties in Dongchang. Your Majesty is moody. Power and wealth are good, but they cannot last long. I have thought about it for a long time. , you have done this important thing for His Majesty, and retired with great success. Either Jingzhou, Dongchang, or Yangzhou, no matter which place you look for, live a peaceful life. Adopt a few children, and when you are old, you will have them by your bedside. Fuck. If there is a woman who is willing to marry her, it is okay to marry one. She must be willing to do so, and cannot be lured with money or forced by force. Being able to find her is fate... The virtuousness of a woman is the most important, and the appearance is secondary. "

These words are very much like the instructions from fathers to their sons.

However, Feng Gao had never felt such warmth since he was a child, so he was very awkward.

He waved his hand: "Our family's affairs don't need your guidance, sir."

There is a bowl of glutinous rice cake on the table.

Mr. Zhang carefully peeled it open and continued: "When I was a child, I grew up in Jingzhou. Jingzhou is a good place, a land of plenty. You should go and see it. There are many people walking by the river at dusk, but there is no Jingzhou on the top of the mountain... My daughter stopped to visit Maowu. Xin, open the door and sweep the floor among the tung flowers..."

He squinted his eyes and seemed to see the river in his hometown, red rice, white fish, tung flowers, stream smoke, and the girl who opened the door and swept the tung flowers.

Feng Gao put his hand into his arms.

Master Zhang said: "Don't pay for it. I know it's crane-crested red. I don't have to go to this point when you and your majesty, teacher and student are talking. Your majesty is still too young."

Feng Gao was stunned.

When Wansui gave him the secret edict, there was no one around.How does Zhang Taiyue know that the crane's crown is red?Could it be that among the close servants in the palace, are there any of his own people whom he has placed?

Master Zhang seemed to have understood what he was thinking, and said with a smile: "I became an official during the Jiajing period, served the kings of three dynasties, and fought against countless ruthless people such as Yan Song and Gao Gong. I taught your Majesty the emperor's skills. It's a pity. At one point, your Majesty did not understand. He was too impatient. I should have died of illness, not poison. If I took this crane crown red, one day, the body would bleed from all its orifices and turn black and purple. How could your Majesty explain to the world? I'm afraid? We have to kill a large number of people again to silence them. Why bother, why bother? Your Majesty cares about your reputation through the ages, and you shouldn’t do this."

Feng Gao's palm moved slightly.

He didn't know what Zhang Taiyue would do next.

His Majesty issued a secret edict that Zhang Taiyue must die today.

Zhang Taiyue said that His Majesty should not poison him. Could it be that he wanted to resist the decree?

While he was hesitating, Mr. Zhang raised his head, drank a few more glasses of wine, and said, "Don't be anxious, don't be anxious, just sit down and talk to me."

Feng Gao suppressed his thoughts and looked at the person opposite him calmly.

The four walls are bejeweled and the hall is full of embroidery.

The sunlight flicked through the window, and the shadows of the flowers moved forward.

Mr. Zhang's chest suddenly rose and fell. He patted it with his hand and tried his best to smooth it down.He said to Feng Gao: "When I saw you before, I thought you were extraordinarily beautiful, but I didn't think about it deeply. Waves rippled across the distant mountains, and your smile captivated the city. You...have you never thought about your biological life? Who are the parents?"

Feng Gao grabbed him by the collar: "Why did you kill the acrobatic class leader? Did you hold some handle on me so that you could threaten me today and let you go? I tell you, it's absolutely impossible. Even if it's mine, Even if your biological parents are in your hands, I won’t let you go! Since they abandoned me and don’t care about my life or death, why should I care about their life or death?”

Master Zhang did not resist, tears burst into his eyes.

"My child, your biological parents did not abandon you. They have their own difficulties. They do not ask for your forgiveness, they just want you to be safe."

Feng Gao said angrily: "Say! Where are they?"

Master Zhang raised a piece of glutinous rice cake and said, "You eat it, and I will tell you."

Feng Gao brushed his hand away.

The glutinous rice cake fell to the ground.

"Don't even think about playing tricks with me! I've interrogated countless people in the East Factory, what kind of tricks have I never seen?"

Master Zhang stared at Feng Gao closely and said word by word: "There is a red palm-shaped birthmark on your heart. You were born in the winter of the 39th year of Jiajing, in the Qin family of Yangzhou Prefecture. Your biological mother is Qingyao, Cai family of Jingzhou. You His biological father..."

He was choked with sobs.

"Your biological father was born in Jingzhou, Huguang. He was a Jinshi during the Jiajing period. In the first year of Longqing, he was appointed as the left minister of the Ministry of official affairs. In the sixth year of Longqing, he became a bachelor of Jinzhong Jidian. In June of the same year, he was appointed as the chief minister of the cabinet. His nickname was Shuda and his nickname was Tai. Yue..." Mr. Zhang burst into tears.

Master Feng relaxed.

Mr. Zhang fell down on the Taishi chair.

"Your father and your mother are distant relatives from the same hometown. In the early spring of the 39th year of Jiajing's reign, they fell in love in the back garden. Due to a sudden quarrel between their parents, one month later, the Cai family married your mother to the Qin family in Yangzhou. Your father went to Beijing to seek an official position. From then on, Missed in life. Old travels are nowhere to be found. There is no place to look for but the youthful heart."

Feng Gao smiled coldly.

He raised his hand and said: "The story is well written. You are worthy of being the chief assistant."

Mr. Zhang's face became paler and his breathing became more rapid: "Your Majesty asked you to execute me. Only if I die can Your Majesty not doubt you. I...I'm sorry for you. Your Majesty is determined to execute me. I cannot escape death and cannot be implicated." You. However, patricide is a major human crime, the first of the ten evils, and you will fall into eternal hell. I...I cannot let you bear the shackles of your life. My child..."

Feng Gao looked at Mr. Zhang blankly.

He wanted to find any clues of lying in those old eyes.

However, no.

He only saw sadness, only frankness, only infinite regret and love.

Mr. Zhang smiled: "I have worked hard for state affairs all my life. In these years, I have never slept when the rooster crows, and I have never gone to bed before the third watch. Now I am fine, I am free. Free... My child. I can have a good time The child is resting. Go find your mother, she is at Sang Yu's place. Don't scare her, and there is no need to tell her the truth. She is a weak woman, and we should protect her..."

In an instant.

The face of that beautiful woman flashed in Feng Gao's mind.

Waves ripple across the distant mountains, and a smile captivates the city.

No.

This is not true.

Feng Gao closed his eyes.This is just the storyteller's words. "I am an orphan without a father and a mother! I have no father! I have no mother!"

He yelled, as if he wanted to convince Zhang Taiyue, and also as if he wanted to convince himself.

Master Zhang was shaking like chaff.

"When I got up in the morning, I took a medicine for treating hemorrhoids. I have stopped taking this medicine for a long time, and it has caused great damage to my body. The last time I got sick, it was because of this. Also, I ate three persimmons. Persimmons and crabs , things that are in conflict with each other. Don’t worry about giving this old life away. After I die, tell Banzai and ask him to send an imperial doctor to take a look. And send my body to Dali Temple for examination in court. I am Died of illness. Really died of illness. No official in the world will say anything. Your Majesty does not need to silence anyone. When teachers and students are fighting, I will give you one last lesson: benevolence and righteousness must not be lost, only then can you fulfill your destiny. He will understand this In a word..."

"Your Majesty cannot bear the name of a butcher. You cannot bear the crime of patricide. It is best if I bear it alone. My child, I am so sorry that I could not teach you to read and write in person, never cared for you, and never watched you grow up with my own eyes. Adult, it's my fault..."

Mr. Zhang's eyes widened, and he burst out from his throat: "I hope God will punish me alone and don't hurt my son!"

Feng Gao walked forward in a panic, tripped over a stool and fell to the ground.He crawled on the ground, groped around, picked up the glutinous rice cake that he had just knocked down, held it in both hands, and brought it to Master Zhang.

He desperately stuffed the glutinous rice cake into his mouth: "Old man, don't die, just watch, I'm eating the glutinous rice cake, I'm eating it."

He was clumsy and reckless, not knowing how to face this huge truth, this huge father's love - something he had never felt before.Something extremely strange.Something that had never happened before in his world.

A smile appeared on Master Zhang's lips.

It seems that I have never been so happy in my life.

"Son, being a father can only go so far. You have to walk the rest of the way by yourself."

Feng Gao broke off his head, lost his plan, lost his viciousness, and said tremblingly: "Old man, you can't die, you owe me, and you just want to forget it like this? You are dreaming! Impossible! I won't agree!"

The old man in front of him closed his eyes.

Close your eyes forever and ever.

It is recorded in the history books that Taiyue was a man with a slim figure and beautiful eyebrows, and his beard was as long as his belly.Serve bravely and be a hero.However, there is a city in the depths, which is impossible to predict.For all eternity, no one dares to whiten Taiyue.After his death, the emperor resigned from the court and ordered him to offer sacrifices to the Nine Altars, treating him as both a duke and a master.

Feng Gao stretched out his hand, felt his breath, and retracted it as if it was touching fire.

"Old thing, old thing, old thing..." Feng Gao muttered and stood up.

When he walked outside the door, he ran around again, facing the corpse on the ground, and opened his mouth. He couldn't even shout out "Dad".

After a cup of tea, he walked out in a daze, repeating over and over again: "Dead, dead..."

All the servants in the courtyard knelt on the ground, covering their faces and crying.

Zhang Mansion seemed to have been prepared for a long time, hung with white silk.

Feng Gao walked out of the white snow.

"Dead, dead..."

He mounted his horse and ran towards Cheng Mansion without realizing it.

"I have no relatives, no relatives. My sisters and Wandou are my relatives... I don't have any, I don't have... I have no father or mother, I am an orphan, I have always been..."

Chengfu.

The autumn wind is rustling.

The sky is high and cloudy.

"Sister, sister——"

he shouted.

I looked sick and was half lying on the couch.After the miscarriage, my body has been weak.It was as if the most precious thing in his body had been taken out of thin air.Lost the soul, lost the soul.

He ran to my bed and held my hand: "Sister, the matter is over. I will take you and Wandou away. Let's go."

Xiaoyin half-opened the brocade quilt.He saw my flat stomach.

His eyes were as dark as a lamp blown out at midnight.

a long time.

He smiled.

That smile was empty and ethereal.Just like the autumn day in Dongchang Mansion, there is heavy fog all over the city.

"Pea was playing hide and seek with me. He was the closest to me. I was the first to know that my sister was pregnant. I gave him his name. He was naughty. I had to find him. He couldn't see my sister, and he couldn't see her. If he doesn't see me, he will be lonely." He said firmly.

I cried, stretched out my hand, and held him: "Bean sprouts——"

He raised his eyebrows innocently: "What are you doing to me, sister? I finally have relatives, why don't you ask me to have them?"

"Bean sprouts, the peas are gone. My sister will have children in the future. My sister's children will all be your children..." I pressed my face against his hand.His hands were like ice.

"Sister is coaxing me again. You are all coaxing me."

He pursed his lips, suddenly withdrew his hands and held his head.

"I killed the peas. I killed the old guy. It's all me. It's all me."

I got off the bed and hugged him tightly.

His gaze touched my belly, like a thousand arrows piercing my heart. I screamed and stepped back.

"I killed the pea. I killed the pea. I killed my family. I deserve to be alone forever. I deserve it. I deserve it. I deserve it..."

Mrs. Qin in the west wing heard the noise and walked in.

Feng Gao rushed towards her like crazy.

Mrs. Qin looked at him tenderly.After a long while, I touched his face, tears streaming down my face before I could speak.

She got it.

No one hid it from her.But she still got it.She was never stupid, she was just aloof from the world.The things you most want to fight for are gone, so what else are you fighting for?Now, she understands that for twenty years, she has been living in the Qin family's scam.She stroked Feng Gao's eyebrows, eyes, and lips inch by inch.Eyebrows, eyes, lips similar to hers.

She couldn't utter a word.

Feng Gao raised his head and laughed several times.

Suddenly, he vomited blood and fell to the ground.

Outside the court, the amber dusk was hazy, and tiny bits of sunlight danced through the gaps in the leaves on the screen windows.

A leaf left the branch, groped and tested, and finally swayed and went away with the wind.

Endless affection.

The endless late autumn.

(End of this chapter)