Pei Gonggui

Jiang Yue paused and turned around: "Who did you meet?"

"A little girl, just ran over here." Pei Jun looked at his expression, and walked towards him, "I said Jiang Yue... You didn't give birth to a little princess secretly in this palace, did you? I see She has a soul bell that is exactly the same as Xuan'er. Didn't you just give the soul bell to the emperor's grandson? She is also the emperor's grandson?"

Jiang Yue was taken aback when he heard the words, and after thinking about it, he seemed to know who he was talking about, and couldn't help smiling: "You should be talking about A-Lian. I didn't give her the soul bell, but she gave it to me. She It's not my daughter, it's the child of a stranger in my house."

"Strange?" Pei Jun's brows were slightly frowned, "What stranger?"

Jiang Yue thought for a while and said, "Last year when Hezhe fought, do you still remember that I led the troops to kill Hezhe's high priest?"

"Of course I remember." Pei Jun still remembers this clearly, "It is said that the high priest instigated the Hezhe army to start the rebellion, and the imperial court used this priest as a scapegoat to reduce the crime of King Hezhe. Tell me to sit down and negotiate a peace with them and ask for money. I heard that this high priest is a well-known warlock from the Jiangshen Sect in the Hezhe area... he is extremely ruthless, and he is the best at cursing."

"That's right." Jiang Yue nodded, seeing that he knew, he continued, "After the army invaded Hezhe, I sent someone to find out that it was he who instigated Hezhe's change, so I decided that he would definitely be killed, so I copied it first. The priest's family took down a hundred and ten people from his family. Once the family fell, many people who were forced into slavery by him escaped. Among them is the family of the little girl you met."

Pei Jun asked: "Their family...is also a warlock?"

"No." Jiang Yue shook his head, "They should be called shamans."

"Shaman?" Pei Jun was shocked for a moment, and it seemed that what Cui Yu said to him a few months ago immediately sounded in his ears——

"...Shamans are all evil spirits... The one with the blue face, yellow hair and black horns is a Suk shaman. If you ask him for anything, you will lose your life... If you ask for some peace of mind, Just pay respects to the temple, don't get involved with the shaman."

Jiang Yue didn't see any change in his complexion, so he led him to the inner courtyard again, and continued casually with him:

"The son of the high priest used his power to humiliate and kill several women in the shaman's family. The old shaman in the family killed the son of the high priest for revenge. The high priest arrested the family and tortured them severely. tortured, and cursed the shaman's family with the technique of overwhelming, to let the old shaman be his slave for a lifetime, and experience the same pain of bereavement as he did... This is strange to say, Since then, the children of this shaman's family have really started to get sick, get in danger, and die young one after another. In just seven or eight years, eleven of them died..."

The "shamans" in Jiang Yue's words made Pei Jun feel heavy and unwilling to answer. At this time, he followed Jiang Yue and heard Jiang Yue say again: "The army killed the high priest for the shaman's family. The curse was lifted and the line continued, so the family felt grateful. When the army set out to return to the court, they actually followed the team all the way, praying for the soldiers every day, doing things for them, and singing for them... …When we camped for the bonfire overnight, A-Lian also gave me a bunch of soul bells, saying that they could protect children. That’s why I brought the soul bells back to Beijing, and later distributed them to the younger generation.”

Speaking of this, he glanced sideways at Pei Jun and smiled faintly: "It's not uncommon for you not to know about this matter. After all, at that time...you were at the forefront of the army, so you couldn't see these things."

At this time, the two had returned to the courtyard, and Jiang Yue's still pale face reflected the afternoon sun, quite haggard.But the eyes he looked at Pei Jun gently were very similar to the calm and deep eyes that Pei Jun saw in the camp after He Zhe's peace negotiation was successful in the early seventh year of Yuan Guang when he saw him recuperate from his wounds.

Under such gaze, Pei Jun poured the words to his lips, but suddenly couldn't ask any questions. After following Jiang Yue into the room and sat down, he quietly watched Jiang Yue who was peacefully wiping his hands and applying medicine, for a long time, Then he held Jiang Yue's fingertips with his backhand and said, "Jiang Yue, this time I heard that something happened to you, and I was so frightened that I almost lost my mind. If one day I die, you will—"

"You're talking nonsense again." Jiang Yue interrupted him, shifted his eyes from the back of his hand to his face, looked at him without hesitation, and warned: "You don't have to say this again in the future. I won't let you die, You can't die."

The "no" and "can't" hit Pei Jun's heart like a heavy bell, causing Pei Jun to vibrate like a copper chime. If he couldn't continue, he just answered him dryly and shut up. No words.

Jiang Yue quickly dispensed the medicine for him, and wrapped his hands with gauze. As soon as the medicine box was packed, several attendants came over with food.

Pei Jun had been hungry all day and night in the palace, and now he should be able to eat a good meal with peace of mind now that he escaped from the palace, but at this time, after hearing about the shaman in Jiang Yue's mouth, he thought of the time when he was summoned by the shaman The horrible strange dream, but the back gradually pulled out the cold sweat, looking at the delicious food on the table for a while, and then looking at Jiang Yue, only faintly felt bitterness in the mouth and chills down the spine.

"What?" Jiang Yue was concerned about him, "Not to your liking?"

Pei Jun shook his head quickly.After silently looking at Jiang Yue for a while, he calmed down first, raised his chin to him, and said in a low voice: "You can eat it too. It's precious that we both have gone through such twists and turns to eat this meal."

Jiang Yue then followed him to pick up the bowl and chopsticks, but he didn't know what to think, and suddenly laughed.

Pei Jun put a bunch of green leaves in his bowl: "What are you laughing at?"

Jiang Yue looked at the bowl, suppressed a smile and sighed softly: "I'm just kidding that every time you invite me to dinner, I must go to the gate of hell... I don't know what kind of luck it is."

This was just a casual remark, but when Pei Jun heard it, his heart felt astringent. Although he had already thought of making a joke at this time, when it came to the end, he gave a wry smile: "I'm afraid it wasn't God who specially sent me to restrain you..."

After all, he picked up another piece of fish for Jiang Yue, lowered his head to pick up the rice, and finally managed to pass the conversation, and asked another question:

"Are you really thinking about treason?"

Jiang Yue nodded: "If I hadn't thought about it well, I would never have risked myself by taking this move."

"What are you going to do next?" Pei Jun picked another piece of ribs for him, "Do any of the gentlemen in your family have a good plan?"

Jiang Yuedao: "Zhao Guqing advised me to turn from the light to the dark, go secretly to the fiefdom, quickly collect soldiers and horses, food and pay, gather at Jingguan, and force the king to abdicate; the Guo brothers think that the time has not come, if they pretend to die, in the end they are deceiving the king If you are guilty of innocence, then you will be an unrighteous soldier. If you come out of no name, it is safe to hide in the capital, instigate the courtiers, and then gather soldiers from the Jingguan, conspire internally and externally, and take advantage of the actions of the generals. Most of the rest similar."

After finishing speaking, he put down his chopsticks: "I also want to hear what you think."

"What I'm thinking... Maybe I'm going to run counter to them." Pei Jun raised his hand to hold the soup, and smiled, "Could it be that they are all trying to persuade you to stay in the dark, and none of them can turn your dark into bright?"

"Turn darkness into light?" Jiang Yue put down his bowl and looked at him, "You want me to 'live' again? Don't you want me to be the target of public criticism?"

"Whether it's the target of public criticism, whether the tree is beautiful in the woods, or what the people want, I don't think it can be generalized. These are all human-made." Pei Jun handed the soup to him, "Do you still remember the vision of water coming out of the ground in the west of the city?"

Jiang Yue took Tang and said, "Of course I remember."

Pei Jun raised his hand to signal him to drink the soup obediently, and when Jiang Yue gradually drank the bowl and swallowed it down, he slowly said: "I thought, since the vision came from the sky, good or bad can't be distinguished, and now it's a coincidence, You just pretended to die in front of people, then we may turn this vision into good fortune, and create momentum for you when you are resurrected in front of people, to show that this is the choice of destiny, and you... are the person of that destiny."

"Destiny..." Jiang Yue suddenly smiled, "I thought you didn't believe in ghosts and gods, but why did you think of this theory of fate before that old pedant Mr. Zhao?"

"Then do you believe it?" Pei Jun held the bowl, and looked at him seriously because of the words, "Heavenly palaces and hells, ghosts, gods and human souls, curses overwhelm, reincarnation... In your opinion, do they really exist?"

Jiang Yue imitated how he served himself vegetables, and also added some fish to his bowl. Hearing his solemn question, he answered him seriously:

"Suppressing the curse, I saw a few in the palace when I was young, and even heard a lot of it in the Hezhen tribe. In the end, it was revealed that it was man-made chaos, driven by desire, and there was no natural law other than conspiracy. .As for ghosts, gods, heavenly palaces, and reincarnation, they are things that can only be known after one lifetime. There has been no conclusion since ancient times. Now that I am not really dead, how can I answer you?"

"You don't believe in the theory of asking the spirit to suppress the victory," Pei Jun leaned forward slightly, "then why do you keep the shaman in the mansion?"

"I remember I told you when I was in Dongshou that this family of shamans was just a chance meeting with me..." Jiang Yue sighed helplessly. I was stopped by someone. Only then did I know that their lineage of shamans had already been banned by the imperial court in the customs because of their insidious spells. I couldn't bear to ask a doctor to take medicine, so I bailed them out and asked Alian's family to take her to the palace for treatment. After that, Alian recovered from her illness, and somehow she lived in the mansion for a long time. People are also getting used to it. I expected that there would be a lot of these few mouthfuls of food in the house, so by the way, all nine members of her family stayed here until today."

After saying this to Pei Jun, he looked at Pei Jun with strange eyes: "You seem to be very concerned about A-Lian's affairs, and you have been asking questions since just now."

Pei Jun lowered his head to avoid his gaze, and began to eat: "Well... Now that there are troubles, I suddenly see that there are still foreigners in your house. I'm just worried that there will be troubles."

"Is that so..." Jiang Yue turned his head slightly to follow his expression, but Pei Jun looked up at him as if nothing had happened, his face was extremely peaceful, and he even smiled at him with relaxed eyebrows.

Jiang Yue let go of his heart, and only told him: "To this family, to me... If you have any doubts, just ask me, and I will definitely answer you."

Pei Jun had almost finished eating, when he heard this, he wiped his mouth with a towel and laughed with him: "Okay, then I really have a question."

Jiang Yue nodded: "You ask."

Pei Jun raised his hand to support his chin, and looked at him with a smile: "I want to know... tonight, will the Jin Palace have any guests?"

Jiang Yue was stunned, and sat up slightly: "If you want to stay, there are still plenty of empty courtyards in the atrium—"

"What if I don't want to live here?" Pei Jun stretched his legs under the table, hooked his ankles and pulled him towards him, but his arms were still calmly crossed on the table.

Jiang Yue stepped on his instep with his foot, pushed him back, stood up and smiled: "Even I will live here these days, where do you want to live?"

After speaking, Jiang Yue walked out of the room with his hands behind his back, as if he wanted to call someone to clean up the dishes.

For a while, he stepped out of the threshold and down the stone steps. Just as he walked across the low pontoon bridge over the pond in the courtyard, he suddenly heard Pei Jun's voice behind him: "Jiang Yue, wait a minute, I'll go around with you."

At this moment Jiang Yue turned his head, and saw Pei Jun, about ten steps away, wearing his old pine green shirt and picking up his robe, stepping out of the threshold across a lotus leaf green pond, standing on the other side of the fir wooden pontoon bridge, looking towards He seemed to be at ease in his appearance, but his whole body was also tall and straight.

This scene seemed to pass through the years in the blink of an eye, and in a trance, Jiang Yue felt that he had returned to eight years ago, when he had just returned to Beijing from his first victory in northern Xinjiang.