Jian An Kee

Note 1: Yongning, now Wenzhou, Zhejiang

Note 2: Dongliu, aboriginal minority of Minyue

Note 3: Panyu, Nanhai County of the Han Dynasty, which is now Guangzhou City

The next day the group bid farewell to Le Ling, and the remaining five boarded a fishing boat and traveled by sea to Yongning (Note 1).

After getting along for a period of time, Sun Li barely reached a peaceful coexistence with me, at least he stopped crying in my arms.Once I see him crying, I can't help but scold him.Le Ling corrected my behavior again and again, and she didn't feel at ease when she said goodbye to me at the end.

After the beginning of autumn, the weather turned cooler, and we arrived at the border of the former Minyue Kingdom and now Jian'an County.In the eyes of all the people in the Central Plains, this place is wild and uninhabited for thousands of miles. There are layers of miasma in the swamps and jungles, and "cave hunters" (Note 2) who are hairy and blood-drinking haunt the valleys.

Ah Li has a slight cold these days, so I decided to stay in Yongning to rest.

Outside Yongning City, I met a down-and-out old Taoist priest.

At that time, a group of people were resting in the abandoned gymnasium. I put Sun Li in the rattan basket, took out the potion and wiped the marks on his face bitten by mosquitoes.The child always took advantage of my inattention to scratch the little bract. His nails grew so fast that he scratched them inadvertently. The weather in the south is humid and it will not be good for a long time.

Li Ren was gathering firewood on the edge of the woods to prepare dinner, when I heard his scolding, I turned around and looked outside.He threw an old man dressed in rags by the fire like a chicken.

Cong Cang drew out his sword and pointed it at the top of his head: "Who are you?"

This is a man with an extremely dirty appearance: the gray beard is stuck to strands of dirt; the clothes on his body seem to be twisted by scissors, and every wrinkle on his face is full of dirt ; teeth yellow like lizards.

It took me a while to see that he was wearing the unique bun of alchemists.So I bowed to him: "Master, please forgive your recklessness, and I will apologize to you on their behalf."

Seeing what I did, Li Ren had a look of surprise on his face, and when he heard the words from Cang Cang, he quickly put away his weapons and stood aside.

The old man looked pale, and lazily got up and sat cross-legged.

I smiled flatteringly: "I don't know if the master is here, what advice do you have for us?"

He gasped and wheezed in his throat: "Get me something to eat, the old man first."

I asked Li Ren to hand him dry biscuits and dirty wine, and he swept them away in a flash, and at the end he greedily licked his fingers, with a look of unsatisfactory expression.

Such a great style, he refused to say a word after appearing on the stage for an hour.I still kept smiling and stood quietly by.

After licking off the wine stains on his fingers, he rolled his cloudy eyeballs, coughed and said to me, "How do you know my identity as an old Taoist priest?"

I hurriedly knelt down, and respectfully handed over a cup of hot tea: "Little girl is not talented, so I take the liberty to speculate. I only see you, master, with your eyes like a torch, as if you are hidden in the world."

He picked his teeth with his long yellow nails and sucked his saliva: "Tsk, it can be seen that he has some knowledge. If that's the case, why don't you turn around?"

I didn't know why, so I hurriedly knelt down: "I also ask you to give me your advice, Master."

"The little old man was entrusted with a message: Your young master is beyond words. Even though the girl is his own mother, there is no reason to change his fate."

"The little girl is confused," I said in my heart, "His father has many sons, and he is not short of one."

"Hey! That's not true. May I ask the girl who can you see who is as good-looking as a child like you? Look," he poked his head forward and looked at Ah Li who was sleeping soundly in the wicker basket with scrutiny. "Glass eyes, broad eyebrows. In between, the appearance of a living emperor."

My face changed: "This is impossible, my son clearly..."

"Shh, the secret must not be leaked." The old man shook his head.

My face turned pale: "Ah Li is only so young, but he has the disease of yin and fire, and I have no choice but to take him away. I must lead him to the doctor."

"You are preparing to bring the child to Jingzhou City."

"I..." I opened my mouth to deny it, but his eagle-like eyes seemed to nail my soul.

"Little old man hasn't made a move for a long time. Today, because of you, a stubborn little girl, I have to show myself in front of the juniors. Duo! You so-and-so, take my wine gourd." He pointed to the three guards ten meters away and shouted yelling.

Hearing this, Li Ren hurriedly held up a dusty, withered wine gourd.

I watched nervously as the old man unwrapped a small gauze sac from the gourd, and then drew a firefly from the gauze sac with my fingertips and put it on my palm:

"Put this by your child's side."

I stretched out my hand tremblingly. After approaching Sun Li, the firefly emitting faint green light suddenly convulsed and died convulsively.

"This—" I looked at the stiff worm in shock. It was lying on its back after death, and the fluorescent light in its abdomen was rapidly going out. "What's going on here?"

There were five fireflies in total, all of which died the moment they approached Sun Li.

"These little bugs have been raised since the summer season, and they have managed to survive the beginning of autumn. It is said that no matter what happens, they can be regarded as the masters of fate. Since you know that your child has the disease of yin and fire, in the current situation, there is no need for the little old man. Say more, you guessed it too, right?"

I pursed my lips tightly and refused to answer.

"The firefly dominates yin, and it is bright without fire. It is yin fire. This bug and the child are like the position between the child and you. He is by your side, and he is always the most tormented. If you are not his biological mother, just I'm afraid he won't want to stay with you for a moment."

As he spoke, he drank the tea in front of him in one gulp: "The old man's heart aches when he sees such a tragic scene."

"What am I going to do?" I felt something break inside me, but I refused to admit it.I asked him, "What can I do to get rid of this stuff?"

"Hey, girl, you can't do it, let's listen to the little old man's persuasion: a child with such a special physique must be kept by someone who has dragon energy. Thank you Taiyi God. Fortunately, his father is very good. candidate."

He stood up, and even though his back was hunched, there was an indescribable majesty in his figure: "This doll was born out of Yin blood, weak and weak, and will not be allowed to get close to cold things for the rest of its life, and must be recuperated by a soul bottle. You have to live."

"I don't believe it." Reason began to leave my head, and anger took control of me.Could it be that it is the biggest mistake I have made to take my son away after all the scheming and long-term planning?

"If you don't believe it, you won't be so angry."

"No—" Those broken things began to flow through the blood vessels all over the body, and they were tearing apart my senses wantonly.

"Hey, look, the girl who does big things has a soft heart. This young man should have taken a soul bottle to keep by his side. .”

I knelt down in front of him: "Master, I will give you whatever you want, I just ask you to save my son."

He patted my head and helped me up: "Alas, why did you kneel down? I can't stand it. Just think about it, in such a big Central Plains, there are only a dozen or so people who have Long Qi, are you sure you can hand over the child to them to take care of them?"

I shook my head hard.

He walked back to Sun Li, took a string of wooden beads from his wrist and brought them to him: "Peach, the essence of five trees, hates the evil spirit. Girl, you must hurry up and put the child away." Take it to his father, this bracelet won't last forever, it's justified to bring him a soul bottle by his side."

"Yes, thank you for your advice." I nodded dryly.

He walked a few steps slowly, bent down to pick up the quinoa stick not far away, and waved his hand at me: "It's easy to say, the little old man is also entrusted by others. Now, go back quickly, the old man will leave now .”

I stopped him: "Master, may I ask who entrusted you to come here?"

He paused for a while, then threw the wine gourd in his hand to his shoulder, and sang with a big laugh: "The beauty slays herself on the bank of the Wujiang River--the war once burned the Chibi Mountain-uh, the general empty the old Yumen Pass-ah, alas, the lives of the people are ruined , a long sigh..."

The three people at the side saw him walking away without looking back, while I stood still, and they all surrounded me.Cong Cang said: "Let this old man leave like this, I'm afraid he will reveal our whereabouts."

"Ha," I laughed dryly, "it doesn't matter, whoever wants to go will go."

"Master?" He asked tentatively.

I waved my hands impatiently, "Go get some food, rest early today, and have to hurry tomorrow."

In my memory, I didn't really fall asleep that night. I hugged Ah Li and kept kissing and crying, covering my eyes with his little hands, feeling the warmth from him.

After a long night, the sun shines through the jungle and into the sparkling stream.

Cong Cang woke me up, and he said that the weather was fine, and it happened to be possible to continue southward to Panyu by sea boat (Note 3).

I rejected his suggestion: "I changed my mind, now let's go to Shangyu."

"This... Shangyu is too close to Fuchun, it is very difficult for the subordinates to avoid being discovered by the guards."

"Who cares?" I looked confusedly at the vast clear blue sky on the autumn plateau.The geese fly high and south, but my heart plummets.

Yu Lu, I put the rattan basket in front of the saddle, and looked down at Sun Li from time to time.He tried again and again to reach the edge of the basket on a bumpy horse, but his intention of "breaking out" all failed without exception.

Looking at his green eyes and full forehead, my eyes were covered with water vapor.Why must it be my Ah Li who suffers a rough fate?What did he do wrong to come to this world to suffer like this with me?

"My lord, my lord?" Li Ren interrupted me loudly. I looked up and found that my mount had deviated from the road, and Li Ren was holding my horse rein from the air: "If you don't regain your senses, the horse will hit the big horse." tree."

I forced a smile: "I'm a little tired, take a rest."

The guard behind me leaned down next to my horse and took the rattan basket from Cang, and I stepped on the guard's back and got off the horse.The one who stepped on me was the youngest and the least eloquent of the four guards. I remember his name was Li Chu.

"Thank you, Li Chu." He turned around and gave me a shy smile.

During the break, I asked Cong Cang: "Leader Cong, how old is Li Chu?"

"Well, it should be 17 years old."

I put my hand on my heart: "You are so young. Cong Cang, tell me about the specific situation of 'Bundle'."

"No. Tracing back to the source, 'Shu' originated from a hundred schools of thought in the Qin Dynasty, and the Han family established itself, and 'Shu' also contributed to this."

"Which family of the princes?"

"It's a long time ago, and it seems impossible to tell the difference. It's probably no more than Confucianism, Mohism, and Taoism."

"Okay, you continue." I picked up Sun Li and gave him water.

"Nuo. 'Shu' was the most prominent during Guangwu Zhongxing, and once won a county fief, but after the two emperors Zihuan and Ling, the party's misfortune spread, and it also suffered a great blow."

"Why?" I wondered, "The scourge of party imprisonment stems from the dispute between the Qingliu of the imperial court and the eunuch party, and we are not involved in it, right?"

"My lord, let me tell you: Although we have three religions and nine streams as our lips and tongues, it is much inferior to that of decades ago. I know the villain. I think back then, it was Lingdi Taifu Hu Guang, who was also one of me."

"You mean, those people were all lost in that one."

"promise."

I held Sun Li in my arms, and walked up and down: "Also, I remember you once said that Huan and Linghou's bundles were divided into five parts, one belongs to the current Han Dynasty, that is, Cao Cao; one belongs to Gongsun Kang of Liaodong; One belongs to Zhang Lu in Hanzhong; one belongs to Liu Zhang in Shuzhong; the last one, which is now Jiangdong, belongs to Sun Quan."

"Exactly."

"Then why is the part of Jiangdong still in my hands? You should have served General Sun as your master."

He smiled: "It is true that my subordinates said that it is divided into five parts and scattered in the territory of the princes, but there is no mention that they must belong to the princes and princes."

"Oh, you are very cunning, Cong Cang. Oops..." Ah Li pulled my hair again.

"My subordinates dare not."