outside the imperial city

There is a group of mountains near Anliang City, and there are many precious trees growing on the mountains.If you go up the mountain in the right season, you can get some wood and sell it in the market, and you can get a lot of money. Therefore, even though the mountain blocks some commercial routes, it does not affect the economic development of Anliang City. On the contrary, some people at the foot of the mountain became rich.For example, the Ji family in Linshan has built a small attic now because of the method of selecting materials and chopping firewood passed down from their ancestors.

On this day, Ji Pengcheng, the youngest son of the Ji family, carried a bamboo basket on his back and walked on the mountain path.Because of his young age, and the fact that bandits have been raging recently, the elders in the family don't let him go out.After finally getting a chance, his parents asked him to go up the mountain to pick up some firewood and go home, so he planned to have a good tour before going back.

He stopped and walked, happily looking at the flowers and plants on both sides of the road, his mood was brighter than the sun.Before he reached the halfway up the mountain, there was not a single piece of firewood in his basket, but it was half filled with wild flowers and weeds.

Just as he was having fun, he suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes in the distance. He was startled, and immediately stood there at a loss.

"Shanshanshanshanshanshan bandit?"

A chuckle came from the front, and the man's voice was refreshing and pleasant, and Ji Pengcheng opened his eyes that had been automatically closed just now.

"I said child, you are afraid, why don't you run away?" The man who spoke rode behind him, dressed in white, with a faint smile on his lips.And the man riding the horse ahead of him had sharp eyebrows, which made Ji Pengcheng tremble again in fright.

The man in white got off his horse and walked up to him: "Child, what's your name, why are you here?"

The brocade-clothed man in front of him didn't get angry when he saw this, and got off his horse too.

Seeing him getting closer and closer, Ji Pengcheng couldn't open his mouth for a long time.

Yao Fanglan took the opportunity to tease: "Oh, don't be afraid of him, he looks like that. In fact, he is kind-hearted and likes children to be gentle with others. He has a typical knife mouth, ah no, a knife face and a bean curd heart."

Jing Shuo shouted: "Yao Fanglan, time is running out!"

"Okay, okay," Yao Fanglan hurriedly turned to Ji Pengcheng, "May I ask you, child, name, and where do you live, and why are you here?"

Ji Pengcheng tremblingly replied: "I, my name is Ji Pengcheng, yes, I am a child of the Ji family at the foot of the mountain. Today, I went up the mountain today to bring some firewood back home."

Yao Fanglan asked again: "But I heard that bandits are rampant recently, your parents are relieved to let you go up the mountain alone? You look like you, you are only eight or nine years old?"

"Yes. I'm just nine years old this year." As if talking about something happy, Ji Pengcheng showed smiling faces one by one, "I begged my parents for a long time to let me out. I heard that bandits usually hide in the upper half of the mountain." , there is no big caravan that will not go down the mountain, so my parents and I promise that we will only go back in this area."

Only then did Jing Lingshuo say, "Since you want to come out to play so much, why don't you let your parents take you out?"

Ji Pengcheng raised his eyes furtively, looked at him a few times, and said: "My parents are busy building the house, and my brothers and sisters are also helping. I am the youngest, so I can only help pick some firewood... Ah! I Forgot about this!" He turned around and looked at the half-filled bamboo basket, a little apology and helplessness appeared in his bright black eyes, "What should I do, where can I find firewood?"

"Building a house at this time..." Jing Lingshuo touched Wuhen's sword hilt, as if implying something to Yao Zanglan.Yao Fanglan seemed to understand what he meant, she tilted her head, her laughing expression restrained a lot.

"I don't think your parents expect you to chop firewood and go back." Yao Fanglan patted him on the shoulder, "It will be very dangerous when it gets dark, why don't you go home now?"

"How can this be done?" Ji Pengcheng said hastily, "There is very little I can do to help."

Jing Lingshuo helplessly supported his forehead: "Okay, okay, I'll help you chop some firewood, you can go back quickly after you get it."

The mountains in Anliang are full of giant trees. If you want to get small branches that can be carried by manpower, you can only cut them from the sky at a height that ordinary people cannot reach.Jing Lingshuo took a deep breath, tapped his toes, and jumped up.

Even a martial arts practitioner can't jump a thousand miles in a single leap.When he jumped to the highest point, Jing Lingshuo stretched out his hand and patted the branch on the side. With a little help, he spun in mid-air, and his head accelerated away from the ground.Let alone Ji Pengcheng, even Yao Fanglan gasped.

The man flipped a few times skillfully in the air before leaping to the top of the tree.Due to the extremely fast ascent, his bun was blown away, and his long hair was flying in the air.

"A real man should be like this." Ji Pengcheng let out an almost incomprehensible sound of admiration.The person in front of him seemed to be standing above everything and under the dome, looking down at everything below him. Although he was not the master of this country, he could be called a dragon among men.

Ji Pengcheng murmured involuntarily: "When will I become such an upright man?"

"Maybe wait until you grow up?" Yao Fanglan patted Ji Pengcheng's head.

In mid-air, Jing Lingshuo's body paused and stopped rising.Taking advantage of the short moment of hovering in the air, Jing Lishuo drew out the Wuhen sword from his waist and pointed it at the branch.The body quickly began to fall, and Jing Lingshuo kept waving his sword hand, and the severed branches fell to the ground in unison.Jing Lingshuo completed the task, with one side of his body falling towards the tree on the left.When he was about to hit the tree trunk, he raised Wuhen, tapped the tip of the sword, and turned around.Seeing that he was about to hit the ground, he rubbed the soles of his feet against the tree trunk to slow down his descent, and finally stood firm.This series of actions is like flowing clouds and flowing water, completed in one go, as if it happened in the blink of an eye.

Jing Lishuo handed the firewood to Ji Pengcheng, and put Wuhen back into the scabbard.Ji Pengcheng hadn't fully recovered, took the firewood, and said in a good manner: "Thank you, thank you, young master."

Jing Lishuo seemed to suddenly feel that this kid is good, he was taken aback, and then said: "Take these and go home."

Yao Zanglan twirled the long hair around her ears, and threw the bun that fell down to Jing Lishuo, asking him to tie it up. "Pengcheng, tell us, if we want to go up the mountain, how do we go?"

"Young master, don't worry." Ji Pengcheng collected all the branches he cut down, "From here, there is only one road, and you just need to follow this road."

Yao Zanglan nodded: "Understood. You should go back quickly. Otherwise..." Yao Zanglan bumped Jing Lishuo, whose hair was halfway up, with his shoulder, "This brother will be very worried."

Jing Lishuo let out a "tsk", and immediately patted the place where Yao Zanglan bumped into with his hands in disgust, as if to pat off some dirty thing.

"Okay." Ji Pengcheng said goodbye and left.

The two got on their horses, and Jing Yanshuo asked casually, "I just used the sword just now, and I just thought of asking, how is Chu Jingqing?"

"He," Yao Fanglan still said that he is serious and does not need any transition. "Although he is fine on the surface, he must be suffering in his heart. It has been a few days since we left the imperial capital. I don't know how he is now."

Jing Lishuo cast his eyes into the distance, and said faintly: "Since ancient times, the greatest tragedy is the end of a hero and the twilight of a beauty. It must be very painful for a genius like Chu Jingqing to lose his martial arts."

Even though he knew that Jing Shuo couldn't see, Yao Zanglan shook his head: "Just losing an arm, not losing martial arts. As a genius, he can reach the level of a master even if he loses an arm. However, he is doomed to struggle. It’s all over. It’s all my fault, if I hadn’t sent him out that day, it wouldn’t have caused such a result.”

Feeling the sadness that had never been seen in his tone, Jing Shuo turned his head and said, "I thought you were a ruthless person like your master, but I didn't expect you to still have feelings."

Yao Fanglan smiled wryly: "We are all human, how could we not have our own feelings? It's just that sometimes, feelings are just a burden, and there's no need to do useless things because of feelings. Qianling...His Royal Highness Li Wang, who can give up some things and sacrifice for righteousness. Some people. I don’t think he is wrong. It’s better to say, most of the time, I am the same. The emperor’s family, the ruthless tomb, is the emperor, and he is the most jealous.”

This was the first time that the two confronted each other head-on. Jing Lishuo rode his horse to stand side by side with Yao Zanglan, neither annoyed nor angry: "So, do you think it's a good thing to be ruthless? People who are ruthless can't care about the common people, and they will eventually If you lose the people, you lose the world."

Yes, they are similar.For example, both of them are scheming and good at hiding themselves until they lose themselves.Another example is that they have the world in mind, but they are unwilling to wade too much into the muddy waters of power struggle.Another example is looking forward to meeting your opponent and eager for a huge challenge.Why do these two people have completely different positions?

Yao Zanglan interjected: "Thin love is actually because of too much love. It is because of the people's heart that I have to do it myself, and I don't worry about this country falling into the hands of others. In order to achieve this goal, it is natural to use any means. You and I both know that the throne Fighting is like two armies fighting, if you are not careful, you will be defeated like a mountain, if you don't do that, how can you win?"

Jing Yushuo couldn't help it, stopped his horse and turned to Yao Fanglan: "How do you know that he has the people in his heart and not only himself? He seized the imperial power by all means for the well-being of the people, not for his own extravagance? Will govern the country with ruthlessness?"

"Of course, this is the result of my more than ten years of getting along with him. I can ask the prince the same question, and the answer must be the same. In the final analysis, our positions are all due to our judgment. I just want to tell Your lord, passionate people are more likely to mislead the country and the world." Yao Zanglan looked straight at Jing Lishuo, his deep pupils glowed with a compelling brilliance, "they have too many trifles in their hearts, and naturally they want too much. In order to satisfy themselves, If you want to, you will definitely use this country as a funeral!"

Jing Lingshuo pursed his lips, being suppressed by his momentum for a moment, he didn't know what to say, so he could only say, "Then what kind of person do you think I am?"

Without any hesitation, Yao Fanglan replied, "I thought the lord and I were the same kind of person."

How can we be the same kind of people?Jing Lingshuo suddenly felt it was funny, this kind of conversation was actually meaningless, because no one could persuade the other party to join his camp.

So, he changed the subject and rode forward again: "Did you see that Ji Pengcheng's hand just now?"

"Ah," Yao Fanglan replied, "it's not a pair of hands that have held firewood at all. In this extraordinary period, it is already unusual for a child to go up the mountain by himself. How can a child who has never picked up firewood go up the mountain?"

"Besides, it's impossible to build a new house at such a time." Yao Fanglan continued, "If it's not that Ji Pengcheng lied, then there is something wrong with the Ji family itself. No, maybe the surname 'Ji' is also fake."

Jing Lingshuo nodded, and suddenly objected: "No, I think the surname 'Ji' is still true. Didn't Hongyun say that family's surname was 'Miao' in the brothel that day. At that time, I wondered where the surname Miao came from." , now that I think about it, it refers to 'season'."

Yao Fanglan came to a sudden: "'Ji' means 'Hezi', 'Zi' means 'Shao', and 'He' and 'Shao' means 'Second'." After speaking, he laughed loudly: "I really deserve to be a strange woman. I have to visit again someday.”

"Oh, then we have to go back with our lives."

Jing Lishuo jumped off his horse and dragged Yao Fanglan aside.The two horses neighed together and ran into the distance.

Yao Fanglan was wondering, but saw two silver feathered arrows appearing where the two horses were just now.