Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 171 Breathing and Walking Rivers (2)

The horseshoe stepped on the ice and snow, leaving a line of hoofprints.The master's mood is still ups and downs, but the horse that knows the way has come to a familiar house.The chaifei trail is covered with fine snow, and several plum blossoms are blooming. They are beautiful in the cold wind, the north wind is howling, and there is a little bit of warm fire in the courtyard.Zhao Xingde got off his horse and pushed it lightly. At dusk and night, the door of the courtyard was bolted and he didn't push it open.Zhao Xingde smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and patted on the door three times, he held his breath.

After a while, I heard light footsteps stepping out of the room, stepping on the shallow snow, and gradually came to the gate of the courtyard with a crackling sound.Standing inside, Li Ruoxue asked softly, "Who is the visitor?" Her voice was trembling slightly, with a little bit of anticipation and a little bit of melancholy in it.

Across this door, Zhao Xingde seemed to see tears in her eyes, he took a deep breath, as if the air also carried the smell of the opposite side, and said in a deep voice, "It's me." There was silence inside. There was no sound, his heart ached slightly, and he whispered again: "Ruoxue, I'm back." Three years have passed, counting from the day he left Dunhuang, it has been three and a half years.Whether the beauty is still the same.

While pondering, the door creaked and opened.Li Ruoxue stood inside the door, staring at him with wide eyes, tears glistening in her eyes, unable to speak.Outside the door, Zhao Xingde's figure was much bigger, with ice and snow piled up on his broad shoulders.Time has tempered the fledgling scholar into a soldier who survived many battles.He had not taken off his armor, and he had a fierce and aggressive air.Like most sergeants, his face is covered with thick stubble and weathered.His appearance has changed drastically, but the depths of his eyes are still as warm and soft as before.

Inside the door, heavy snow fell one after another. Li Ruoxue was wearing a half-worn green fur, her fragrant shoulders trembling slightly, standing in the wind and snow, looking at Zhao Xingde, her eyes were reddish, and she was about to cry.The beautiful woman's face was the same as in the dream, the parting seemed like yesterday, Zhao Xingde felt warm in his heart, he stepped forward and hugged the beautiful woman in his arms, he hugged her tightly, he felt tender and soft, and a faint fragrance lingered in his heart. "Ruoxue, I'm back." "I'm back." He murmured, Li Ruoxue nodded slightly in his arms, holding back tears of joy, choked up and said, "You're finally back." "I waited until You're back."

The two hugged each other for a long time, and they were reluctant to let go. The snow fell on their bodies, and they almost became snowmen. They didn't bring each other in until they felt cold.Zhao Xingde tied the Dawan horse to the stable, took off the luggage and supplies, and moved them into the room. He skillfully untied the armor himself, and dumped the gold coins and gems around his waist on the table.This set of actions is very familiar, just like other sergeants.Like the other Chengying camp sergeants who were reuniting with their families, he had a showy look on his face.In fact, Zhao Xingde captured far more loot than this. Most of them were sold to merchants in exchange for easy-to-carry jiaozi, and only the exquisite and memorable ones were kept.

"These are spoils of war, captured from the enemy." Zhao Xingde smiled, took out another envelope containing the handover and coupons, and handed it to Li Ruoxue, "This is the military salary." Seeing Li Ruoxue staring at him with wide eyes, Zhao Xingde was taken aback for a moment, and then explained, "Some of the military pay was invested in a friend's caravan, and the contract to join the group was also included."

He didn't notice that in Li Ruoxue's eyes, her husband's behavior was very different from before the expedition.Even if a scholar has just received his salary and reward, he will not shake the money on the table like him, let alone proudly announce that it was snatched from the enemy.There are many strange things in Zhao Xingde's body, which are accumulated after more than three years of parting.

"My lady, please put it away." Zhao Xingde said casually, sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, swung his neck to drink it up, smacked his lips, with an intoxicated expression on his face, carefully Looking at his wife, looking at the beauty under the lamp, the more beautiful she looks, the more beautiful she is.

Seeing Zhao Xingde pouring tea by himself, Li Ruoxue became embarrassed instead, bowed her head and said, "My husband forgives my concubine's insignificance." Standing up, she poured tea into the empty cup in front of Zhao Xingde, her heart was in a state of confusion, she couldn't restrain her excitement, I also want to take good care of him.It was already past dinner time, Li Ruoxue looked around, and now Zhao Xingde came home suddenly, unexpectedly there was nothing to eat.She lives alone, and the meals she usually prepares are very simple, not much worse than the vegetarian food in the nunnery.Bringing out preserved fruits and the like is like entertaining guests.She felt a little at a loss, her cheeks were reddish, and she said in a low voice: "My husband hasn't had dinner yet, so I'm going to cook some side dishes." After saying that, she stood up and went to the kitchen.

She walked hurriedly with her head down, as if she was trying to escape from something.Passing by Zhao Xingde, he was grabbed by a strong force and pulled into his arms involuntarily. The two hugged each other again. Zhao Xingde gently lifted Li Ruoxue's chin with his hands, and looked at her blushing face. Cheek, softly whispered: "Don't eat first, let me eat my wife first." Then, meeting her flustered and avoiding eyes, kissed her delicate lips.Li Ruoxue struggled slightly but did not break free, so she had to let him hold her.The cheeks that were blown torn, felt the slight pain from being pricked by his stubble.She was short of breath, her eyes gradually 'blurred'.

Zhao Xingde gently bit her soft earballs, and said in a low voice, "Ruoxue, I'm back." Feeling that her tender body changed from stiff to soft, the two of them seemed to melt together physically and mentally.Zhao Xingde let out a low growl, and hugged his wife horizontally.Li Ruoxue seemed to be in the clouds, she exclaimed, but she didn't resist, and let her husband carry her from the main hall into the inner room.

That night, the north wind howled continuously, like night owls howling, or ghosts crying. Snowflakes fell outside the window, accumulating on the roof tiles, window edges, and plum branches.Inside the window, the carbon stove burned all night. The charcoal was red, like a translucent ruby, or like lava from a volcanic eruption, making beeping popping sounds from time to time. A kettle was warmed on the stove, and the snow collected for tea The water was already boiling hot, and the mist wet the screen window, and the rising mist made everything hazy and unreal, like a dream.

The windows facing the east gradually turned white, and the morning light came in through the snow-white windows.Zhao Xingde leaned on the head of the bed, stretched his waist, took a deep breath of fresh air, feeling extremely comfortable, feeling as if waking up from a dream, but found that the place was more beautiful than the dream.He looked down, but saw that the beauty had hidden her face under the quilt, only a lock of black and soft hair was exposed, and said narrowly: "Slender clouds are tricky, flying stars spread hatred, silver men spread their hatred all the way." Darkness. Once the golden wind and jade 'lu' meet, they will win but there are countless people in the world." After reading this, I felt a slight pain in my left leg, as if pinched by a beautiful woman with her nails.

Zhao Xingde smiled unconsciously, and was about to make some more jokes, but Li Ruoxue lifted off the quilt covering his face, and looked at her husband with a pink face, eyes full of water, seeming to be happy and angry.Zhao Xingde couldn't help being dazzled by it, he couldn't read it for a while.Even he himself didn't realize that the three years of military career had been hardened, like a bowstring grinding his fingers, which had covered his mind with a hard callus.The tenderness of this night, although it can't wear it away, it has made it soft enough.In Li Ruoxue's eyes, Zhao Xingde was exactly like this. Although his appearance was quite different from before the expedition, just like the thick and short stubble, he was no longer so strange, but the gentle husband she was familiar with.

A ray of sunlight shines on the bed through the window sill, it looks so clean and transparent, the two of them stared at each other, feeling that the three years of estrangement had disappeared, and their bodies and minds were reunited.After a long time, Li Ruxue covered her mouth and said: "Oh, it's too bad." He hurriedly sat up and put the Luo Yi on his body.

Zhao Xingde hugged her in his arms and didn't let her go down, he said with a smile: "It's not dawn yet, so what's the matter?"

At this time, the sky was already dark, and he opened his eyes to talk nonsense. Li Ruoxue couldn't help being angry and funny. She rolled her eyes and said angrily, "It's all your fault. The teapot was put on the stove last night, and the charcoal fire this night must be burned." It's broken." But they didn't break free from his arms, and the two cuddled each other for another long time.It wasn't until the sun was high that Zhao Xingde let Li Ruoxue get up to wash up and prepare lunch.He himself carefully sorted out the letters during Lumei.