immortal person

He went back to his boyhood.The surroundings were very quiet, and the fragrance of the citrus trees flowed in the air. He slept on the gentle grassy slope behind the garden, with his arms crossed in front of his eyes to block the hot sun above him.Occasionally, the sound of "chirping" birds can be heard not far away, and the dry wind brushes over his cheeks, sweeping away the scorching heat.Immersed in the warm early summer in Tuscany, he felt the long-lost relaxation and joy. His body was completely relaxed, without fatigue, full of vitality, as if sleeping on a cloud.

Suddenly someone arched his arm lightly, like a deer suddenly crashing into his arms. "Brother, brother," he heard Giuliano's voice, soft and indistinct, "... let's go."

He opened his eyes: "Who wants to go?"

"Mom and I," his younger brother knelt beside him, rubbing his face with his head down.He was so small, about three or four years old, that Lorenzo could hug him as soon as he reached out.Giuliano continued softly: "I will miss you very much..."

always like this.Their mother spent most of the year recuperating in Careggi, and even if she returned to Florence occasionally, she would leave soon.She didn't like the atmosphere in the palace, and she didn't like being in the same room with his grandfather.It's disrespectful to say that, but—who would like that?Of course he does too.But whenever she left, only Giuliano was with her.He must stay and continue to be taught by the teachers.

Giuliano looked down at him, his dark blond curls raised slightly like a cherub in a painting.Looking at those blue eyes that were exactly the same as his own, he burst out with an inexplicable impulse, and yelled that sentence for the first time: "Don't go!"

Giuliano's eyes widened.

"Don't go," he had never been so ignorant, but now he didn't care.He stretched out his hand forward, trying to grab the corner of his brother's clothes, "Stay here! Don't take me..."

He saw a pair of grown-up hands stretching forward blankly and helplessly.On the ring finger of his right hand, he wears a ruby ​​ring engraved with the family crest.

He woke up.In front of him was a familiar bedroom, with the curtains closed tightly, and a white candle burning faintly by the bedside.In the confusion of waking up, he looked blankly at the pattern on the bed curtain, wishing that he had just had a long dream: it must be so, as long as he opened the door now, he could see Giuliano; The younger brother would be sitting in the sunlit studio next door, feeding Giulio with milk.Maybe as soon as you see him, you will look up and say good morning with a smile.as long as he-

Lorenzo immediately propped himself up.However, he only moved slightly, and the young man beside him woke up immediately.Giovanni, who was lying on the bedside of Lorenzo, almost jumped up at this moment, and subconsciously grabbed his hand.Under the dim light, Lorenzo recognized his face, saw the bloodshot eyes and deep fear in his eyes. ...Of course, everything is true.

He let out a slow breath.

Giovanni grasped his hand tightly, kissed it, and looked up at him again, as if afraid that if he closed his eyes, he would disappear suddenly.Lorenzo stared at him silently. After a while, he stepped back and let the bed out: "Come up."

Giovanni was lying beside him, and Lorenzo put his arms around his waist.

"What time is it now?"

"The noon clock has just passed." Giovanni pressed his body that was about to get out of bed. "Don't move! You must rest."

To his surprise, Lorenzo didn't struggle.He fell back on the pillow again, looked at the golden tassels above, and sighed, the wound on his leg throbbed with pain from the action just now.He closed his eyes, "What happened this morning?"

Appalling killing.

The reckoning begins in the morning.At sunrise, the great bell of the town hall rang to commemorate the assassination, and the members of the guild came together to pass the sentence of the conspirators.Poliziano ensured that all sinners were duly sentenced to death.As the bells rang again and again, people cleaned the cathedral where the tragedy happened with wine, and the blood flowed out along the cracks in the marble stone bricks, congealing into black dirt between the paving stones.The prisoners in the prison were led to the square, pushed to the gallows, and then one after another corpses were unloaded from the city gate, and a dozen bullock carts pulled them out of the city gate, and a flock of crows lingered above the field.As the masterminds, Salviati and Coronafelli were hanged in front of the high window of the Municipal Palace, with a group of wild dogs watching from below.The body of François Pazzi has undergone both punishments and is finally mutilated.The townspeople gathered to witness it all, feeling a heavy and silent menace in the midst of unspeakable horror, and finding a secret thrill in escaping it by choosing to side with the victor.They picked up Pazzi's scattered corpses, and no one knew what would happen to this once powerful nobleman—Giovanni briefly mentioned what happened, choosing his words carefully: Renzo must not be delighted by this.

"Once upon a time, when the Bentivoli of Bologna were betrayed, they nailed the betrayer's heart to the door." Lorenzo said a long time later, "100 years later - in Florence, it will still be This happened."

He closed his eyes: "And I am actually indifferent to these things."

Giovanni looked at him, distressed and helpless.Lorenzo whispered, "Hold me."

So he took Lorenzo tightly into his arms.Lorenzo rested his head on his neck, almost greedily feeling the heat from the young man.In the gloomy silence, he heard Giovanni's powerful heartbeat, which came from a full and strong heart, which was a little panicked by anxiety at the moment.He listened quietly, and suddenly said, "I really don't know what I would do without you."

"Have you had a nightmare?" asked Giovanni.

"It's a good dream." Lorenzo shook his head.

"Do you remember?" he said, "At Carreggi, I said, I was jealous of Giuliano once in a while."

Giovanni nodded.

"I lied," said Lorenzo, "in fact, I was—very often jealous of him."

His lover hugged him tighter.

"They always leave me, and this time too," he murmured. "I'm really, really mad."

"I'm still here," said Giovanni hoarsely.

"People like me are cowardly and selfish. Lying is my habit." Lorenzo seemed to have never heard of it. "But what I told you the night before yesterday was not false. You should go."

"Lorenzo!" Giovanni almost shouted.

"Don't worry. There are some things that I must tell you." Lorenzo looked at him.

Giovanni fell silent.

"Florence is no longer worth your stay." Lorenzo continued, "I know that His Majesty has always wanted to invite you to Paris... Don't be surprised, I know he has written to you. In Florence, there are very few letters. I don't know the source. Let alone you. I know who wrote to you, who spoke to you when, and you can probably guess that your little apprentice—is his name Petey? ? From the first day he came to you, he has been receiving my commission."

"So what?" Giovanni grabbed his wrist.

"You need to know what a big mistake it was to choose to stay here," Lorenzo said softly. "I was doomed to hell—look at the people who died because of me. I paid for my mistake." It is almost the biggest price I can pay. And the crisis is far from over. If this is not handled well, Florence will soon go to war with Rome. Why do you stay here and suffer?"

"I say this selfishly, Jo," he looked into Giovanni's eyes, "and not only because I love you."

"Even if I win," he paused for a moment, "what can I gain? Wealth, fame, authority? These are too vulnerable. And you? I still have to say——you are much more precious than me. We You can bet that after a hundred years, or even just a few decades, people will only say that I am the nobleman who supported you when people mention me. I have been very sure a long time ago that people like you will not be affected by time. Your name will live forever, and it will be one of the first names that will be listed when people speak of our time in the future. And my name will live on because of you, even if no one knows our relationship. "

Because people like me will come around again and again, and you are the star hanging in the sky.

"That's enough for me," Lorenzo said softly. "But first, you have to live. So I want to make sure that you really know what you're going to do and you won't regret it."

He suddenly frowned: "What are you laughing at?"

"I... I just found out," said Giovanni, smiling, "that we were thinking exactly the opposite."

He thought of his first encounter with the young duke, many, many summers ago.It was the first time that the young eagle looked directly at the rising sun, and the uncontrollable longing was almost ecstatic.What was he thinking at the time?Feeling like I've stumbled across a god, determined to fly from day to day...or, let me be a halo around the sun.

How ridiculous, it turned out that from the very beginning, their positioning of each other in their hearts was reversed.Inopportunely, he suddenly felt satisfied, even happy.His hand reached in from under Lorenzo's robe, slowly stroking his thin spine, like stroking a piano.The warm palms moved along his body, which did not arouse the passion/desire, but made Lorenzo feel that he was also getting hot slowly.

"You've been thinking too long and too much." Giovanni's lips rubbed against his ear. "You've always had inexplicable confidence in me, but who knows what will happen in the future. Just look at the present— — now you want to push me away?"

"……of course not."

"Then don't move and let me stay with you. If you feel guilty, just remember it's my choice." His voice was low and gentle, "and you don't want me to go at all. You think I can't see Come out?" said Giovanni, with a long sigh, "if you want to hear it, I can say it a thousand times..."

He seldom said so many words in one breath, and couldn't help his cheeks getting hot, but he still said: "I will always be with you."

Before this moment, Lorenzo would not have believed that he could find peace in such a critical moment.Half a day ago, he had thought that the dove of the Holy Spirit had flown away from him, but if there really was a Garden of Eden in this world—it would be here and now.

Even if he will be expelled in the next second, he will not hesitate.The moment before falling asleep again, Lorenzo was in a trance.

Outside the window, in the northwest of the city, a monk in black finally broke free from the guards and rushed out of the monastery.He ran all the way, ran across the gallows lined up in the square, and pushed away the crowd who tried to stop him.He rushed to the Lord's Palace, looked up at Salviati's drooping body, and a look of fury immediately appeared on his face.

"Who dares to treat God's servant like this?" He fell to his knees and roared to the surroundings, "Who is it?! My Lord—please witness—"

He walked close to the palace wall on his knees, smashed his forehead on the rough wall, raised his hands and shouted: "O Florence, woe to you!—"

Like a prophecy.For the first time, Girolamo's prophecy was immediately fulfilled - Riario was found dead in the Medici palace that night.