Yun Yun was also there, she looked around at the surrounding environment, and then stopped her eyes on Zeng Fu's sister-in-law, seeing that she was wearing simple clothes, her expression was shy, her eyes were gentle, and she suddenly had a good impression and happily took her home. After changing her clothes and dressing her, Yun Yun looked again, although she was not the daughter of a rich family, she was also demure and elegant, although her appearance was not good, she had two-thirds of the appearance of Sister Katoriko, which was not bad.

"How old is my sister?" Yun Yun asked.

"Twenty-two." She said.

"What's my sister's name?"

"I don't know much literacy, I only know my mother's surname Chen, everyone calls me 'Qi'er', and I don't know what word it is."

Yun Yun thought about it for a long time, so she only thought it was the word "Qi".

Seeing that she was timid and demure, everyone was shh ”

"Yes, she is very important, she is the bridge between me and 'Zeng Lu', you usually take care of her."

Katoriko looked at her, "um", and still ate.

Rong Cangsuke was thinking: "When Beiyan reaches a certain status, it is inevitable to review the identity, this woman is the most critical, she will either disappear or keep her mouth shut, otherwise it will cause disaster, and I have to spare a little energy to focus on her." ”

After dinner, Chen Qi'er was in a hurry to go home, and Yun Yun asked, "Isn't it good to sleep here?" ”

"How can I do it if I have children and an old mother at home?"

"Little children?" Yun Yun asked in surprise, "How old are you?" ”

"I'm more than a year old, and I can't walk or talk."

Yun Yun couldn't do it, and said, "Okay, I'll pick you up another day, and you can bring her to me to see." ”

Chen Qier agreed.

Beiyan came over and asked, "Is the money enough?" ”

Chen Qi'er bowed her head and responded: "Enough, more." ”

"When it's not enough, call someone to tell me."

She only nodded, not daring to look up at Beiyan.

Zhuang Yuncheng's name was Ju'an, and Beiyan also called Fujitahara Takeshi and sent her home together.

It was dark, Xiao Jinyu was still spending time here, he intentionally or unintentionally mentioned Yun Yun and asked, "Yun Cheng, your Yun'er is eighteen years old, are you engaged?" ”

"No, what's wrong?"

"I know that the right person is my eldest wife's younger brother, and he has also reached the age of marriage......"

Zhuang Yuncheng smiled and said: "It's not me, Yun Yun was engaged three years ago, who knew that his father died later, and he couldn't marry during the filial piety period, and now that three years have passed, I wanted to still negotiate with the Yan family, but I heard that Wei Wen had already married, so the matter was put aside." She is in school now, I don't know what to think, every time I ask her, she always avoids it, and I don't force it, so I have to let her go. ”

Xiao Jinyu nodded, and didn't ask anymore, and then his wife Jinni sent someone to pick him up, and Xiao Jinyu went home.

The next day, Beiyan and the others moved a street away, which was originally the mansion of an old official, and I don't know how Xiao Jinyu got it.

After a month of excitement, the sudden coldness made Yun Yun uncomfortable, especially when Zhuang Yuncheng said that he and Fluttershy were going out for a while, which made her even more upset, and asked anxiously, "You all leave, what if I'm home alone?" ”

"After eighteen, you will be nineteen, you should have your own ideas, and ask us?" Zhuang Yuncheng said unhurriedly, "It's not that there is no one at home, Zeng Fu, Ju'an, Lianhua, Aunt Li and Aunt Qin are all at home, if you are still bored, you can go to Beiyan's house; Besides, at your aunt's house, Bai Chenxuan often calls you to go; Maybe you can also go and see your godmother and Teacher Wen, when you grow up, you should pay more attention to the number of human favors and etiquette. ”

Yun Yun didn't have anything to say, and took a pair of chopsticks and fed them into her mouth one by one, looking gloomy.

Fluttershy and Zhuang Yuncheng know her personality and just smile at each other and ignore her.

Liu Zhen had already explained the mission of this trip two days ago, Zhuang Yuncheng and Fluttershy set off today, he brought a parchment letterhead, and this Browning pistol that Xiao Jinyu gave for self-defense, their purpose was a hermit in the mountains and forests - Qu Tianlin.

More than 20 years ago, the Westernists who adhered to the idea of "mastering the country and governing the country, and applying the Chinese style to the West" were in full swing in the exploration of military reform, and in order to achieve self-improvement, they advocated the development of "Western studies" and "foreign affairs," the establishment of military factories, the production of new weapons, and the establishment of a new army. Qu Tianlin was a magistrate of the Western-style faction at that time, and he participated in assisting in the establishment of a new navy and supervising the process of shipbuilding and shipbuilding. The Qing government was politically corrupt, and the old school and the Westernists were incompatible, and the collision was extremely fierce, so there were problems in the military expenditure for naval construction and ship construction, and a large amount of military expenditure was embezzled, resulting in rough naval construction and particularly weak combat strength. In 1894, the First Sino-Japanese War broke out, China was defeated, the Beiyang Naval Division was annihilated, and the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, with huge losses.

The movement launched by the Westernists, which lasted for several decades, went bankrupt, and the old faction attacked wildly, accusing the Beiyang Naval Division of lacking training and incapability, and the ships were like foam, which would be sparse when they exploded, and the cannons were like yellow mud. The central government is holding accountable, and Qu Tianlin is among those who are being held accountable. Zhuang Yuncheng's father** maintained neutrality in the struggle between the old school and the Westernists, but in fact he was an old school, but he was ordered to patrol the place and make friends with Qu Tianlin. Since his hometown was in Beijing, he returned to the capital from the local area and became a hermit in the nearby mountains. Zhuang Yuncheng learned that he was in Quanshan, more than 50 miles outside the city, and his family would regularly send him some daily necessities.

This spring mountain is a mountain within a mountain, surrounded by other peaks, but the highest, jutting out of the mountains, Zhuang Yuncheng and Fluttershy first hire a horse-drawn carriage to the station, and seeing that there are still several miles to go, and the road is rugged, so they go on foot.

"According to Brother Liu Zhen, Mr. Qu Tianlin is practicing at the foot of Quanshan Mountain, and we only need to turn over the mountain in front of us." Zhuang Yuncheng looked up at the lush mountain and said.

"Since he still has contact with his family, there must be a convenient path to his residence, otherwise we may not be able to reach the foot of Quanshan before dark." Fluttershy says.

"Yes," Zhuang Yuncheng gritted his teeth, already so hot that he was smoking.

From here, the sun gathered a few feet from the summit of the spring, and the scorching sun shone brightly on the green hills.

The two searched for a long time at the foot of the mountain, but they didn't find a way up the mountain, "Brother Liu Zhen said that Mr. Qu Tianlin didn't want to be disturbed, but his family had to visit him from time to time, so he had to order someone to go out of a hidden path, which was rarely known. Zhuang Yuncheng said, "It is difficult to cross the mountain, if you force out of a road, I don't know when it will go." ”

"The sun was so strong that I didn't see it when I walked by, but now you see," Fluttershy says, pointing to a path that looks like a line halfway up the mountain, "it's a road." ”

Zhuang Yuncheng squinted his eyes, as if yes, so he walked there, brushed aside the bushes, and a narrow path slowly appeared.

"Can you leave too?" Zhuang Yuncheng pestle and said, "The shrubs on both sides are crossed, and they are sharp leaves and poisonous thorns. ”

"You're more delicate than me?" Fluttershy laughs, "Not as good as a woman." ”

Zhuang Yuncheng smiled and said, "It's been more than 20 years, and I've never taken this kind of road. ”

Fluttershy still has the habit of carrying the little dagger with her, and she cuts a branch for Zhuang Yuncheng.

Zhuang Yuncheng walked in front, using branches to open the bushes on both sides with one hand, and pulling Zhuang Die towards the looming path with the other, and not long after, he lost his strength, his knees burned and ached like fire, "I can't walk anymore." He put the branches in the ground, panting, in the woods, the tall trees had long blocked the view, and he couldn't see the distance at all, Zhuang Yuncheng complained: "I don't know how far it is." ”

"It's only a few steps, it's early," Zhuang Die looked at the light yellow light shining in from between the leaves, and said, "While the light is still bright, hurry up, a little later, it's not so bright here, I don't know if there are any beasts or anything in this place." ”

Zhuang Yuncheng glanced at her and said, "Come on." ”

Fluttershy hands her hand, and the two continue their climb up the path.

When the light darkened and they reached the halfway slope, there was suddenly no way out of sight, a patchwork of weeds on the right, vines and shrubs crisscrossing upwards, and a tightly intertwined thorny low bush on the left.

"It's good now, there's no way."

"How so?" Fluttershy leaned over and looked down, but Zhuang Yuncheng stopped her and said, "It's a cliff, and the surface is covered with vines and weeds, so you can't see it, it's all empty." He poked it with a branch, and sure enough, it was empty.

"Yes, this path must be used to confuse people, and it looks like this, and no one has gone from here for a while." Zhuang Yuncheng smiled bitterly and asked, "What should I do?" ”

"It's halfway downhill, and you can't go back, you see-" Fluttershy said, pointing to the top left, "It's a broken wall, the height of two people, and luckily there's an old tree on top of it, so you can climb it up, but there's a thorny bush in front of you, and you have to go over it." ”

These bushes and vines are intertwined and tangled, forming an inseparable network, which cannot be pulled away by the branches alone, and if you walk on them stubbornly, you may prick your legs and feet to blood.

Since they couldn't walk a road, they had to pave a road, they saw a lot of broken branches that were dropped by the wind, so they collected them, threw them on the bushes, and pulled a lot of grass on them, and made a lot of grass on them, and finally paved a road, Zhuang Yuncheng went up to step on the road, and the two were able to go over and come to the broken wall, there was some fine grass growing on the surface of the broken wall, and there was nothing to support, the tree grew in a high place, and it was impossible to reach it.

"This tree looks hanging and hanging, can it work, don't break it when people go up." Zhuang Yuncheng's heart was suspended.

"Just try it," Zhuang Die bit her lip and said, "I can't reach it either, I have to think of a way." ”

She cut a few branches to the length of an arm, sharpened one end, and nailed it to the wall, a total of four, and she reached out and pressed it, and it was quite strong.

This ladder is in the position of Zhuang Die's waist, and she can't jump up at once, Zhuang Yuncheng held her feet with her hands and lifted it up, she held the broken wall up, and then pierced into the broken wall with a dagger, and used her hand to exert force, Zhuang Yuncheng worked hard at the same time, she jumped on the branch ladder, she just reached the hanging old tree, and pulled a few times in a row, the trunk shook slightly, it seemed to be very strong, Zhuang Die held the trunk with both hands, hanging in the air, her body fell down, the trunk also fell down, and then rebounded, she borrowed this force, Climbing up the tree trunk, Zhuang Yuncheng was frightened below, and he didn't dare to breathe.

When Fluttershy gets on top of the broken wall, she chops a wrist-thick branch and pulls Zhuang Yuncheng up, and Zhuang Yuncheng walks and climbs, rolling the grass all over.

"Look." Fluttershy says, "The sun is getting darker, hurry up." ”

She pulled Zhuang Yuncheng up from the ground and patted the weeds on his body.

It was full of trees, and there was no dense bush, so it was much easier to walk, and they climbed all the way until evening, to the highest point of the mountain.

"If you don't go, you'll be tired if you go again." Zhuang Yuncheng walked on a big rock, looking at the cloudy sky, as well as these extremely low and extremely red clouds, they seemed to be within reach.

To the west, a red sun hovers farther afield, signaling the end of the day.

"The sun is setting...... Fluttershy, don't you see beauty......"

"Beauty." She also lay down next to each other, and when the afterglow dissipated, she saw a wisp of cooking smoke lingering on the high mountain in the north, and when she looked down, it turned out to be rising at the foot of the mountain, and she knew that Qu Tianlin was at the foot of the mountain.

Zhuang Yuncheng witnessed the sky change from red to yellow, then white, then gray, then black, and he fell asleep unconsciously.

Moments before dark, he awoke, and the two of them found some hay and spread it under a large leeward rock, ready to spend the night here.

The darker the sky, the brighter the big moon, a few rare stars twinkling, the two of them lying down and looking at the sky, Zhuang Yuncheng squeezed Fluttershy's hand, felt the scars formed after the small wounds healed, he raised it up and looked at it, and sighed: "These slender jade hands, just this afternoon, are drawn like this." ”

"This is not a slender hand, and the hand that is used to knives and guns will not be so beautiful."

Zhuang Yuncheng turned his head to look at her silver face, and asked in his heart: "Is this a fairy, why is it so dusty, and so nostalgic for the world?" ”

Thinking about it, looking at the moon that was getting bigger and brighter, he thought of Chang'e, so a strange conjecture came out of his heart: "She won't fly away, will she?" Then he clenched her hand even tighter, and in this strange and mysterious state of thought, he fell asleep slowly.

Zhuang Die leaned sideways on his arm, and soon fell asleep.