The horse's hooves step on the snow and ice, leaving a line of hoof prints. The master's heart was still undulating, and the horse, who knew the way, had come to a familiar house. The wood-lined path, covered with fine snow, a few plum blossoms blooming, delicate in the cold wind, the north wind howling, and a little warm fire in the courtyard. Zhao Xingde turned over and dismounted, and gently pushed down, and at dusk, the courtyard had been bolted on the door, and it was not pushed away. Zhao Xingde smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and patted the door three times, he held his breath.

After a while, I only heard the gentle footsteps stepping out of the room, stepping on the shallow snow, and the sound of small clatters gradually came to the courtyard gate. Li Ruoxue stood inside and asked softly, "Who is coming?" The voice trembled slightly, a little expectation, a little sorrow, all in it.

Through this door, Zhao Xingde seemed to see tears in her eyes, he took a deep breath, as if there was a smell of the opposite side in the air, and said in a deep voice: "It's me." There was silence inside, his heart ached slightly, and he whispered again: "Ruoxue, I'm back." "It's been three years, and it's been three and a half years since the day I left Dunhuang. The beauty of the face, whether it is still the same.

In the middle of a deep groan, the door squeaked and opened. Li Ruoxue stood inside the door, looking at him with wide eyes, tears glistening in her eyes, unable to speak. Outside the door, Zhao Xingde was a lot burly, and there was ice and snow piled up on his broad shoulders. Time has tempered the fledgling scholar into a soldier who survived a hundred battles. He didn't take off his armor, and he had a fierce and fierce aura. Like most sergeants, his face was covered with thick stubble and weather. His form had changed drastically, but in the depths of his gaze, it was still as warm and soft as before.

Inside the door, the snow was falling one after another, Li Ruoxue was wearing a half-worn green fur, her fragrant shoulders trembled slightly, standing in the wind and snow, looking at Zhao Xingde, her eyes were slightly red, and she wanted to cry. The beauty of the face, no different from the dream, parting as if yesterday, Zhao Xingde felt a burst of warmth in his heart, stepped forward to hug the beauty in his arms, hugged it hard, only to feel that the delicate body was soft, and a faint fragrance lingered in his heart. "Ruoxue, I'm back." "I'm back." He muttered, Li Ruoxue nodded slightly in his arms, held back tears of joy, and choked up: "You're finally back." "I'll wait until you come back."

The two hugged each other for a long time, but they were reluctant to let go, and the snow fell on their bodies, almost becoming snowmen, until they felt cold on their bodies, and then they entered together. Zhao Xingde tied the Dawan horse to the stable, took off the bag and baggage, and moved into the room, he skillfully ununtied his armor himself, and poured the gold coins and precious stones around his waist on the table. This set of operations is very familiar, and it is no different from other sergeants. He was also like the other Sergeants of the Chengying Battalion who were reuniting with his family, with a show off look on his face. In fact, the booty captured by Zhao Xingde was far more than that, most of them were sold to merchants and exchanged for easy-to-carry Jiaozi, and only the exquisite and memorable ones were retained.

"These are trophies, captured from the enemy." Zhao Xingde said with a smile, took out an envelope containing Jiaozi and tickets, and handed it to Li Ruoxuedao, "This is military salary." Seeing Li Ruoxue looking at him with wide eyes, Zhao Xingde was stunned for a moment, and then explained, "Some military salaries are invested in friends' caravans, and the joining of the left coupon is also in it." ”

He didn't notice that in Li Ruoxue's eyes, her husband's demeanor was very different from before the expedition. A gentleman, even if he has just received his money and reward, will not shake the money on the table like he did, and still less proudly declare that it has been stolen from the enemy. Zhao Xingde has a lot of strange things on him, which are accumulated after more than three years of parting.

"Lady, put it away." Zhao Xingde said casually, sat at the table loudly, poured himself a cup of tea, raised his neck and drank empty, smacked his lips, with an intoxicated expression, and looked at his wife carefully.

Seeing Zhao Xingde pouring tea by himself, Li Ruoxue became embarrassed, bowed her head and said, "The husband and concubine are slow." Standing up and pouring tea on the empty cup in front of Zhao Xingde, his heart was chaotic, he couldn't suppress his excitement, and he wanted to take care of him. At this time, when it was already past dinner, Li Ruoxue looked left and right, and now Zhao Xingde suddenly went home, and there was nothing to eat. She lives alone, and the meals she usually prepares are very simple, not much worse than the vegetarian food in the nunnery. Serving out preserved fruits and the like is like entertaining guests. She only felt a little at a loss, her cheeks were slightly red, and she said in a low voice: "The husband hasn't eaten dinner yet, and the concubine is going to cook some side dishes." He stood up and went to the kitchen.

She hurried with her head bowed, as if to escape something. Passing by Zhao Xingde's side, he was grabbed vigorously, and his body was involuntarily pulled into his arms, and the two hugged each other again, Zhao Xingde gently raised Li Ruoxue's chin with his hand, looked at her blushing cheeks, and whispered softly: "You don't have to eat first, let me eat the lady first." Then he met her somewhat flustered and evasive eyes, and kissed the delicate lips. Li Ruoxue didn't break free slightly, so she had to let him hold it. Blowing up his cheeks, feeling the slight pain of being pricked by his stubble. Her breath was short, and her eyes were blurred.

Zhao Xingde gently bit her soft ear beads and whispered, "Ruoxue, I'm back." Feeling her delicate body change from stiff to soft, the two of them seemed to melt together. Zhao Xingde let out a low roar and hugged his wife horizontally. Li Ruoxue suddenly felt like she was in the clouds, exclaimed, but did not resist, and let her lover carry her from the main hall into the inner room.

This night, the north wind howled endlessly, like a night owl howling, and like a ghost crying, snowflakes fell outside the window, piled up on the roof tiles, window ridges, plum branches, and snowflakes gradually submerged the footprints of the people returning from the wind and snow. Inside the window, the charcoal stove burned all night, the charcoal was red, like a translucent ruby, like a volcanic eruption of lava, from time to time there was a beeping and popping sound, the stove was warm with a kettle, and the snow water collected for making tea was already boiling hot, and the fog damped the screen, and the rising fog made everything hazy and unreal, like in a dream.

The windows facing the east gradually turned white, and the morning light came through the snow-white windows. Zhao Xingde sat on the head of the bed, stretched his waist, took a deep breath of fresh air, and felt as if he had woken up from a dream, only to find that the place was more beautiful than the dream. He looked down, but saw that the beautiful woman hid her face under Luo Ji, revealing only a lock of black and soft hair, and said narrowly: "The clouds are clever, the flying stars spread hatred, and the silver man is dark." As soon as the golden wind and jade dew meet, they will win countless in the world. When I read this, I felt a slight pain in my left leg, as if I had been pinched by a beautiful woman with my fingernails.

Zhao Xingde didn't feel it, and was about to make a few more jokes, but Li Ruoxue lifted the Luo Qu covering her face, and looked at her husband with a slightly red face, her eyes were full of water, as if she was happy and angry. Zhao Xingde couldn't help but be dazzled, and couldn't read it for a while. Even he himself didn't realize that the tempering of his three-year career as a horse was like a bowstring grinding his fingers, which made his mind wrapped in a layer of hard calluses. The gentleness of this night, although it can't rub it away, has made it soft enough. Zhao Xingde in Li Ruoxue's eyes is exactly like this, although his appearance is very different from before the expedition, just like the thick and short stubble, but he is no longer so strange, but the gentle husband she is familiar with.

A ray of sunlight shines through the window to the bed, which looks so clean and so transparent, the two of them gaze at each other, only to feel that the three-year estrangement is gone, and the body and mind are reunited. After a long time, Li Ruxue covered her mouth and said, "Oops, it's terrible." He hurriedly sat up and draped his clothes over his body.

Zhao Xingde held her in his arms, didn't let her go, and said with a smile: "It's not dawn yet, what's the matter?" ”

At this time, the sky was already bright, he opened his eyes and said nonsense, Li Ruoxue couldn't help but be angry and funny, glanced at him, and said angrily: "It's all your fault, the teapot was put on the stove last night, and the charcoal fire this night must have burned out." But they didn't break free from his arms, and the two of them clung to each other for a long time. It wasn't until three o'clock in the morning that Zhao Xingde let Li Ruoxue get up and freshen up and prepare lunch. He himself carefully sorted out the letters during the Lumei period.