It's a dream.

The dream that still lingers, the fire that still lingers, and the unspeakable pain.

The monstrous flames were layered and the fire snakes sprayed out made a loud noise, constantly devouring the people and things in the courtyard. The beams of the house that fell from the height, the hundred-year-old trees in the courtyard, and the people who struggled and screamed...... They were all destroyed in the fire. The flaming arrows pierced the night sky, accompanied by the pale moonlight, and fell straight into the courtyard, taking the life of the courtyard without emotion.

It's this dream again.

Li Xiao didn't know why after arriving in Jingshi, he encountered this dream more often, it seemed to be because of the wailing of the dead, and it seemed to be a call in the dark.

Unlike the previous dreams, this time he saw no more tragic scenes. Although he could still feel the raging fire, the place he was at the moment did not seem to be eroded by the flames, and the emotionless fires became blurred when they arrived here.

It was a room, a room that shimmered in a dim light, a room that was out of place with the outside world.

Li Xiao looked at this room left and right, very strange and familiar. A simple washstand, a few dying candles, the blurred furnishings around him, and the emaciated woman on the sickbed in front of him. Looking at this room that had never appeared before, he didn't know why it appeared so suddenly, and the woman on the sickbed, her face was pale, almost bloodless, he didn't know who the woman was, but a corner of his memory seemed to keep telling him that the woman in front of him had a relationship with him called relatives.

Looking at the woman in front of me, my heart was extremely excited. In two lifetimes, this was the first time he had seen his mother, one was an orphan, the other had never seen his parents, everything in front of him was just a dream, and it was just a memory hidden deep in his mind, but he only knew that the person in front of him was his mother. He wanted to take his mother out of the yard, out of the place that was about to be destroyed.

But dreams are just dreams after all, even if you struggle hard, you can only be in place, powerless to be a bystander.

"Madam, little master, he cries fiercely." With sobbing, a trembling voice came.

Li Xiao, who was decadent and bowed her head, wiped her tears, and looked for a middle-aged woman, holding a baby in her arms who kept crying, but when Li Xiao looked up, the baby also stopped crying.

The lady on the sickbed got up with difficulty, leaned weakly on the bed, and when she saw the baby in the woman's arms, her pale face finally showed tenderness.

"Aunt Wang, what's going on outside?" Madame coughed twice and spoke slowly. There was desperation in his tone. Obviously, she already knew the ending, and she could imagine the hellish situation outside.

The woman named Aunt Wang did not speak, but kept her head down, and her body trembled. As a civilian, although I have entered this courtyard to work and have seen many officials in the court, today's scene is the first time and should be the last time I have seen it.

She didn't know what crime the owner of the courtyard had committed, she didn't know why the soldiers with sharp blades outside appeared, she knew that only today, it should be difficult to escape, but she didn't regret it, and I believe that everyone here would not regret entering this courtyard. It's just that I pity this newborn young master.

The lady looked at the baby in front of her, felt guilty, touched the child's immature little face, and smiled. Then he looked at Aunt Wang and said, "Today's matter has affected you, if you take the heads of me and my master, you can actually ......"

Before Mrs. finished speaking, Aunt Wang interrupted: "What's the matter, although Mrs. Wang is only from the market, she also knows how to be grateful, the old lady is so good to me, she once saved me from fire and water, and the old man also saved tens of thousands of lives in Beijing, if you sell your master's family for your life, then it is not as good as those who call the street." ”

Aunt Wang choked up and said, in just a few words, there is no so-called benevolence and morality, let alone those impassioned words. That's ordinary, that's sincerity.

"You guys." After listening to Aunt Wang's words, Mrs. didn't know what to say for a while, today's matter was a foregone conclusion, and her husband was not guilty, but just on the wrong side.

The emperor needed a reason, and this courtyard became the so-called reason.

"Qing'er, how is he?" Madame coughed twice and said.

"The eldest young master, he didn't want to leave, but the master still sent him out." Aunt Wang held the child in her arms, thinking of the teenage young master in the house, and she couldn't help but feel sorry in her heart.

Gentleman? Li Xiao looked at Aunt Wang who was holding the child, and was surprised by the young master called Qing'er that they were talking about. Do you still have a brother? But why after so many years, I haven't heard my father-in-law mention it, and I haven't received any news from him, is it possible that my brother, whom I have never met, is also buried in this fire?

The lady on the sickbed smiled weakly, the eldest son she gave birth to was really as stubborn as his father.

"Well, how is the master?" Although I already knew the result, I still had hope and asked. Husbands and wives who have been married for more than ten years can now be regarded as being able to go to Huangquan together.

yes, where is my father? I have been wandering in this dream for so long, but I have never seen my father, at this time, where is he, does he know everything that happened in the courtyard, and how is his father? He was curious to know.

Before Aunt Wang could answer, an angry roar came from outside the room.

"Horse!"

Just one sound, majestic and majestic, like anger and hatred.

Horse boy? Why is there such an advanced name in this world, who is this person called Ma Zai, who is the person who speaks, and what happened outside the door.

Li Xiao wanted to break free of this inexplicable shackle and go out to have a look, and even more wanted to carry the woman on the sickbed and leave this courtyard filled with death, but she was still just as weak and difficult to move half a step.

At that moment, his eyes suddenly went black, and everything in front of him turned into nothingness in an instant. When he opened his eyes again, what appeared in front of him was reality. In the gazebo of the Miss Lu family.

……

Looking around, the poetry meeting was still going on, and Ma Yanyi, who was sitting in the center, was unhurriedly evaluating the poems of the talented scholars in Xiaozhuzhong. A few beautiful words came from you, which attracted the praise of everyone present.

got up from Chu Chu's soft legs, shook his head that was still fainting, and kept recalling the dream he had just had.

When I saw my mother for the first time, I was very excited and reluctant. For the first time in two lifetimes, he felt his mother's presence, but a home that could have lived and worked in peace was destroyed in a fire.

And the name that appeared in the dream - Ma Zai.

Who is he, why is he like this, and what does it have to do with the fire?

Li Xiao wanted to know all this, and wanted to know the cause and effect of the fire, this was the first time he wanted to know everything that happened in this courtyard.

"Horse boy." Li Xiao muttered softly.

"Horse-loaded?" Chen Ziye on the side didn't write a poem, so he didn't pay attention to the poems discussed in front of him, and only drank a little wine by himself, just when he wanted to prostitute the wine on Li Xiao's table for nothing, he found that the latter suddenly woke up, and after a short break, he muttered something, well, Ma Zai.

"Brother Li knows Master Ma?" Chen Ziye sat comfortably with his slightly chubby body, and then asked.

"Master Ma?" Li Xiao didn't know who Chen Ziye was talking about, but it sounded like he knew the horse.

"Lord Ma of the Imperial Horse of the Horse Administration?" Now Chen Ziye was stunned, how could it be that Li Xiao said that he was not a horse? But if it's not this Lord Ma, who is it?

Chen Ziye took the wine jug on Li Xiao's table, dipped it in some wine, and wrote Ma Zai's name on the table.

"Ma Zai", Ma Zhengyuan, Imperial Horse History, Ma Daren. Looking at the two words in front of him, Li Xiao fell into deep thought.

Ma Zai, the president of the Ma Zheng Yuan, why did he appear in his dreams, and why was he reprimanded. And in the dark, he could feel that the roar in the dream came from his father.

In this way, this Master Ma should be inextricably linked to the fire, or rather, what role he played in the fire, and it is more likely that he was involved.

raised his head, and happened to meet Ma Yanyi in front of him. The latter smiled politely at Li Xiao, and then went on to evaluate the poem he had just handed over.

"Ma Gongzi's father?" Looking at Ma Yanyi, Li Xiao asked.

"Yes, it is Ma Gongzi's father, who is now the history of Wupin Yuma, the dean of the Ma Zheng Yuan, Ma Zai. Don't Brother Li know each other? Chen Ziye took a sip of wine and comfortably took a full breath.

It seems that Brother Li doesn't know Ma Zai, but why, he would say this name, you know, Master Ma's name is unique in the whole Hao country, and there is no second one. It is rumored that His Majesty has deliberately marked Master Ma when he inspected the officials, and said: Good name.

When Master Ma became the dean of the Ma Political Academy, the officials of the Beijing Division were still teasing in private, and Master Ma really used a good name to get a career.

I don't know if it's boring, but it's probably because of this.

Li Xiao looked at Ma Yanyi not far away, and a touch of coldness slowly appeared on his face. He was not interested in the gossip in the court, and he was not interested in whether Ma Zai got this career because of his name.

At this moment, his mind was blank, and everything in front of him seemed to be only Ma Yanyi. In other words, Li Xiao's current state is very impulsive, the first time in his two lives that he has been so impulsive.

It seems to be a voice in the bottom of my heart, which has been saying, kill him and avenge the people in the house.

It was difficult to restrain it, Li Xiao at this time, as if his body was not his own, his every move was very stiff and mechanical, he slowly got up in front of Chu Chu and walked forward.