- When the southern cities and counties have entered spring, the vegetation has recovered and the temperature has risen, but in the north of Zhaoguo, it is still like the middle of winter, although the snow has stopped early, but the temperature is still close to freezing.

There is nothing new in this land, and the dry grass has been disturbed by the dry and cold wind for a whole winter, and it is almost unbearable. Even a light breeze sweeping the floor can pick up a cloud of dust.

However, three years ago, Lin Shan, who had not recovered from a serious injury, insisted on leaving Beijing, but he came to this place.

In fact, he insisted on coming to the Northlands with low temperatures and long winters, not only to facilitate his control of certain things west of the realm, but also for business reasons. At that time, the area of his wounds was too large, and I was afraid that as the hot and humid climate in Kyoto increased day by day in late spring, it would not be conducive to recuperation, so he planned to go to the dry and cold north.

Fortunately, Lin Shan has always had Liao Shi by his side.

This old man with an ugly face and a rickety back was ruthless and fierce in his medicine, but he was able to hold people's lives, and Lin Shan, who had a plan to go north, had also discussed with him, and had his final consent, so he had the confidence to set off.

Three years have passed, and the injuries on Lin Shan's body have all healed, in fact, more than a year ago, the most serious burns on his back have been completely healed, and the newly grown layer of skin and flesh has also been solid, which does not hinder his usual strenuous exercise of practicing swordsmanship.

It's just that for some reason, Lin Shan's physical fitness after the injury is much worse than in the past, just a person in his early thirties, who used to have good black hair, is now nearly half white. People who have seen him as he used to be, and when they see him now, they can't help but be a little shocked.

And only the two people who came to the north in the same car with him knew the reason for his gray hair. It's because of the hanging ginseng soup. Liao Shi once said that the medicinal properties of that kind of ginseng are too strong. Although it can save the dying person, the adverse effects are also strong and appear after a few years of medication.

This undesirable effect is the excessive stimulation of human body functions, resulting in premature aging.

However, with Lin Shan's condition when he was seriously injured, if Liao Shi didn't use this fierce medicine, he might not be able to save his life. Or to put it another way, if it weren't for Liao Shi squatting in Dafeng Ridge for a few years, he happened to get this ginseng. Then maybe he is by Lin Shan's side. Couldn't save his life.

For the exhaustive description of the matter. Three years ago, the two people who traveled north in the same car with Lin Shan were shocked and distressed. But there is no reason to blame Liao Shi for anything.

Although Liao Shi's method of applying medicine is as rumored in the world to criticize him. But I have to say that he is the only one who can do this. People die like lights out, and he can save Lin Shan's life. It's already a big achievement.

As for Lin Shan, although he has already shown signs of accelerated aging on his body. But at present, it is only manifested in the characteristic of graying hair. And at the repeated request of Lin Shan. Liao Shi, this strange old man, didn't know what method to use. Mixed with a black pigment to hide this anomaly in his hair as much as possible.

But Lin Shan knew very well in his heart that the cover-up method was not the solution after all. But even Liao Shi couldn't think of a way to improve this matter, so the only thing he could do was what he could do. It is to seize the time, while you still have enough energy, and be sure to complete the major events that have been planned for a long time.

In a small town more than ten miles away from the northland and the border army camp, in a second-entry house, next to the study of the main house. Smokeless bamboo charcoal bakes the inside of the house as warm as early summer. However, the charcoal-burning house should not be completely sealed, and at least half a window should be left to keep the air circulating, so that a trace of cold air penetrated into the house through the window hole outside the house will be even colder than the warmth inside the house.

Reading an unnamed book for a morning, Lin Shan already felt unbearable tiredness disturbing his spirit, three years ago he often stayed up all night, now it is absolutely difficult to do, even if he reads a book for a long time during the day, he will be a little mentally divergent.

He didn't like it, but he couldn't stop it from dwindling.

With his left hand, he stretched out a finger and pressed it on the page he saw, covering the cover, while his right hand supported half of his face, bowed slightly, and he was about to take a nap and rest for a while, but he didn't expect that this closed eye fell asleep quickly, and gradually lay down on the table on a stack of books.

However, this tranquility did not last long, and he suddenly woke up and sat up straight, with a slight look of panic on his face, as if he had just seen something that frightened him.

Although in recent years, due to the weakening of his physical strength, Lin Shan has clearly felt that his ability to withstand the harsh climate and environment is not as good as before, but lying on the desk and squinting for a short while, he will suddenly wake up, not because of the cool breeze rushing in through the ventilation window, but a fragment of a dream, which his nerves.

It turned out that what I had just encountered was just a dream.

After waking up, Lin Shan looked at the things on the table as before, and then suddenly came back to his senses, the scene he was in just now was a phantom, he was able to breathe a long sigh of relief, but he took a deep breath of cold air into his lungs, and immediately coughed uncontrollably.

Subconsciously stretched out his hand to the tea cup resting on the corner of the table, and his tentacles were warm, only to find that half of the residual tea had long since lost a trace of heat. And when he looked a little farther away, he saw that in the cast iron basin in the corner of the room, the charcoal fire had been burning for an unknown amount of time, and it was much weaker at this time.

Slightly contemplative, Lin Shan called: "Jiang Chao." ”

His voice was a little obscure because he forcibly suppressed his cough, but the guard who had been guarding the door had become sensitive when he heard a sudden cough from inside the house, and when he heard the man in the house call his name, he immediately strode in.

Jiang Chao was the first and only guard sent to him by Li Gai at the beginning of Lin Shan's entry into Beijing three years ago, and after the accident in the Lin family's old mansion three years ago, he was supposed to stay in Beijing to recuperate from his injuries, but then he quietly followed Lin Shan's team to the north, and was not discovered until he was about to reach his destination.

At that time, Lin Shan saw that his injuries were already showing signs of deterioration due to the bumps in the road, so he did not send him back ruthlessly, and took him with him on the same road. Because the injuries of the two are relatively close, leaving him with them is also to facilitate the treatment of Liao Shi in the team - I am afraid that Liao Shi is the only one who can find someone around in this world who can treat that terrible injury.

Now both of them have healed from their injuries. But even Jiang Chao, an outsider, could vaguely notice that Lin Shan's physical condition was different, but this was the sequelae of the injury that even Liao Shi couldn't tell the reason, and Jiang Chao didn't know the reason.

All in all. With the instructions given by Lord Lin Shan, Jiang Chao, who stayed by Lin Shan's side, felt that what he could do now was not only to protect Lord Lin's personal safety, but also to consider taking care of his needs at any time.

"Big Brother ......"

Living in seclusion in the small town of Northland, not only Jiang Chao, but also the rest of the soldiers who came and went with Lin Shan, all under his advice, did not use official titles. Someone who knows the hermitage of the forest cedar. It's all his old ministry. That's what I shouted in the early years, and it's natural to call it that way now. Jiang Chao is in such an environment. I've gotten used to it for three years.

It's just that. Jiang Chao, who had just walked into the house, saw Lin Shan's first glance, and found that he was sweating on his forehead, and his always calm voice suddenly became hesitant.

-- The inside of the house was much warmer than the outside of the house, although it was roasted by charcoal. But it's not so hot that it doesn't make people like this.

"Tell you to stay outside. You're really at the door. It's just a private house. You always think of it as an official. I can't change the habit at all. Lin Shan gossiped, and when he said this, he suppressed his cough. After breathing a sigh of relief, he got back to business: "Change a cup of hot tea for me." ”

Jiang Chao hurriedly approached the desk, picked up the tea cup that was no longer hot, and when he was about to go out, he glanced sideways at the charcoal brazier in the corner of the house. I probably have a plan in mind.

Even if there was no charcoal fire in this house for heating, Lin Shan might not care, but as the closest guard to him, Jiang Chao felt that even if he didn't give orders. It is necessary to do something about it yourself.

Not long after Jiang Chao left, Lin Shan coughed intermittently again, but he still looked at him steadily, unaffected by the cold air in his lungs, opened an untitled booklet in his hand, turned to the page he had just seen, and continued to study carefully.

After a while, Jiang Chao's steady footsteps did not sound at the door, the footsteps of the person who came were slight, and even his breathing was light, and Lin Shan didn't need to look up to know who this person was, and the corners of his mouth had faded into a smile.

In the study, which is mixed with paper and ink and the smell of bamboo charcoal, the faint aroma of wine carried by the person who came here is particularly obvious, as well as the bowl of peanut and bean kernel porridge held between her delicate fingers, and the natural aroma of food is also particularly attractive.

"Wine." Lin Shan closed the book and moved aside, looked up at the woman with light makeup standing in front of the desk, and said with a smile: "Why are you here?" ”

Jiu'er is Jiu Niang, the chief steward of Dongfeng Building three years ago, and when she followed Lin Shan to the small town of Northland three years ago to live in seclusion, she restored her original boudoir name, and her surname was Chen Dan. After no longer living in Dongfeng Tower, no longer wearing heavy makeup every day, the fat powder fragrance of the old wine has gradually faded and almost disappeared.

A year ago, when Lin Shan's trauma was completely healed, her tense heart relaxed, and she suddenly felt that life was quite boring, so she returned to her old business, but not to those businesses in Dongfeng Building, but to make wine. Before being forced by life to sell herself into Dongfeng Building, Chen Jiu was the daughter of the owner of Chen Go, who was quite famous in Kyoto. Because Chen Lao Wu was only one daughter, when she was only five or six years old, he began to teach her winemaking techniques.

If there is no war, there is no decay of the current situation of the previous dynasty, and the life of Chen Jiu should at least be rich and peaceful. However, turbulent times are like earthquakes, which can destroy everything, especially small businesses, which will be the first to collapse and disintegrate because of this turmoil.

The war has made all living materials scarce, what else to make wine? How can people who can't even afford to eat have the heart to buy wine to eat? The winery went bankrupt in a very short period of time, and as the owner of the winery, Chen Jiu's father couldn't stand the blow and became seriously ill, and the Chen family even the head of the family collapsed, and the tension of the situation can be imagined.

In order to raise money for his father's treatment, Chen Jiu left home to find a living. She has done laundry for large families, serving dishes in restaurants, and even going up the mountain to chop wood. But because she is a woman, she is not less discriminated against, and she obviously does the same amount of work as men, but she often has to spend a lot of time to get the same wage.

Just because she's a woman...... Just because she is a good-looking girl who is only a teenager, even if she just wants to work to earn money to treat her father's illness, she inevitably receives discrimination and harassment from the male patron and the cold words of the female patron.

If there is not enough power to protect her, a woman's beauty is likely to be a mistake and will bring her more trouble than ugliness.

Although Chen Jiu also knew that a woman like her would encounter more troubles and threats if she wanted to make a living in troubled times, she was always on guard, but in the end she did not escape the persecution of reality, and in order to get urgent money to save her life, she finally paid a price of ten taels of silver. Sold himself to Qinglou.

The predecessor of Dongfeng Building is a veritable green building, Chen Jiu is sold here, she has no special skills, the only specialty is that the face is beautiful, and it is difficult to escape a fate.

Chen Jiu herself knows this, although she resents that her fate is so miserable, but after crying for a night, she can only reluctantly accept it, and she is ready.

Wait for the ten taels of life-saving money to reach my father. She then took matters into her own hands.

Fate seems to be so fond of playing tricks on people. What he is best at is to trick people to the brink of desperation, and then scatter a ray of dawn with his backhand, so that people can continue to survive, so as to screen out the weak.

The request of the mother of the bustard in the green building to the aged wine. It was she who had to earn fifty taels for the Qinglou, otherwise the ten taels of selling money could only be cashed out for three taels. She has been a girl who has served tea in the Qinglou for a few days, her face has been recognized by those who often come to the Qinglou, and her reputation has been ruined for most of it.

In misfortune, she had a chance to meet the Oiran in the building at that time, that is, Ziyu, the sister of Shisu, the new owner of Dongfeng Building more than ten years later. After some conversation, although he didn't save her, he showed her the way.

At Ziyu's suggestion, Chen Jiu resigned to his fate and decided to take advantage of the only advantage he could still use. A once-in-a-lifetime virgin. It was really reluctant to sell fifty taels at that time, but this was her only bargaining chip, and she only had one chance to try.

The bustard's mother also hoped that the newly bought girl could make more money for the building, and she didn't urge her to hurry up and sell it at first. In this limited time, fortunately, with the help of Oiran Ziyu, Chen Jiu, who had no experience at all, entered a private room. The three people in this private room are all distinguished guests, and if they are greeted well, they are likely to earn fifty taels—although this is earned by their bodies, but this is a rare glimmer of hope in the cruel reality.

However, she didn't have any foundation for foxy tricks, and the few tricks that Oiran Ziyu kindly taught her were even more difficult to master, she deliberately spilled a glass of wine on the guest with red lips and white teeth and a slightly sharp voice among the three, obviously to pretend to be unintentional, but because of her clumsy acting skills, she spilled the wine on the other person's face, and attracted a reprimand from a guest on the other side with a voice as thick as a hammer-

(To be continued.) )