South of Chang'an City, Du Kangxi.

"Good place."

Wang Mang sat down slowly under Wang Mu's careful support, raised his head and looked at the furnishings in the room, and nodded.

It was only morning, and there were no customers in the restaurant. But in order to be quiet, Wang Mu naturally asked the store to arrange a compartment on the second floor. There were only the two of them in the compartment, and even Han Zhuo was not taken by Wang Mang's side.

The furnishings in the compartment are very elegant. In addition to a screen at the entrance, there are several pottery objects on the shelves. The seats were seated beside the window, the windows tightly closed, keeping out the heavy snow and biting wind.

"Yes, disciples sometimes come here alone to have two drinks. Their food is still secondary, and most importantly, the wine is good. ”

"Good or bad, it doesn't matter anymore. It's just a state of mind......" Wang Mang waved his hand, a faint smile on his face.

"Yes. The disciple understood. Wang Mu nodded and sat down opposite Wang Mang. He had instructed the shopkeeper to hide two stoves under the table in front of them. Even though the windows were wide open, at least their legs were not exposed to the wind.

And Wang Mang's upper body was draped in a pure white fox fur, wrapping himself tightly. However, the cold wind that occasionally burrows into the cracks of the windows still seems to be a little inadequate.

"Teacher, add two more braziers." Wang Mu asked softly.

Wang Mang only shook his head, but instead stretched out his hand and gently pushed open the window. A cold wind slammed in from the window with snowflakes and hit Wang Mang in the face. His body shook involuntarily, but there was no trace of chill on his face, but infinite melancholy.

"Teacher, close the window......" Wang Mu frowned unbearably and asked Wang Mang softly. Although the fox fur is warm enough, at Wang Mang's age, if he suffers a little bit of wind and cold, he will have a headache.

"No, not necessarily." Wang Mang stretched out his hand and stood it in front of him, but his eyes were still looking at the snowy street outside the window for a moment.

“…… Be. Wang Mu sighed helplessly, so he could only lean down and stir the charcoal fire in the two stoves at the bottom of the table a little stronger.

"It's been 20 years...... Twenty years is simply fleeting. Wang Mang sighed softly, and looked at the heavy snow outside the window with his eyes, as if he was saying to Wang Mu, and as if he was just talking to himself.

Wang Mu just looked at the teacher in front of him in a daze. The wrinkles on his face, his sparse gray beard, and his cloudy eyes reminded him that the teacher was old.

Even, even the confidence and pride that used to be everywhere in my eyes have gradually passed with the years.

Wang Mu knew that he was not happy for a day in the son of heaven.

"Twenty years ago, in the winter of Xindu, there was also such a heavy snowfall." Wang Mang muttered as he stretched out his hand to Wang Mu: "Wine." ”

Wang Mu hurriedly scooped up a spoonful of wine warmed by charcoal fire from the wine bottle on the table, added it to the wine bottle, and handed it to Wang Mang's hands with both hands.

"Good wine indeed." Wang Mang took a sip and nodded: "Good snow, it should be accompanied by good wine." It's just that 20 years ago, I didn't know much about wine tasting. At that time, wine was nothing more than a tool for me to pass the time during a long wait. And now...... But I can taste the wine. I've really changed a lot in the past 20 years. ”

After speaking, he gently patted the white fox fur wrapped around his body with self-deprecation: "Power corrupts people, and absolute power corrupts people absolutely. Even I'm starting to degenerate......"

"It's just a piece of clothing, it's nothing. Teacher, isn't your body better than this fox fur...... No, is the whole world much more important? Wang Mu shook his head angrily and said.

Wang Mang smiled, noncommittal, stretched out his hand again, and pointed to the snowflakes outside the window: "Zihe, do you know what I was thinking about on that snowy night in Xindu twenty years ago?" ”

Wang Mu shook his head: "The disciple doesn't know. ”

Wang Mang sighed softly: "Twenty years ago, I was still in my own fiefdom in Xindu, waiting for the opportunity for me to return to the court. And on that day, I finally arrived. Han Zhuo brought back the news of my return from Chang'an. Although it was a few days before the official edict reached me, I managed to get out of my cage that night. ”

"At that time, the ambition in my breast was so fierce that it melted the whole world. I'm going to change the world, make it what I want it to be, make it what it should be. At that time, I was desperate for power, because I thought that as long as I had power, I would be able to make the world develop the way I wanted. ”

"But ......" Wang Mang's face flashed a bitter smile: "But at that time, I was still too naïve after all." ”

"Teacher......" Wang Mu stretched out his hand and held Wang Mang's hand. Those withered hands, cold and weak.

"You know, I don't believe in ghosts, I don't believe in gods, I don't believe in all kinds of strange things. But I only believe in one thing. Wang Mang sighed: "That...... It is the way of heaven. ”

"Yes, teacher, you often say that the destiny is on you. Can...... The disciple has never understood why you scoff at all the claims of ghosts and gods, but you believe in such a thing as the Mandate of Heaven? Wang Mu nodded and asked softly.

"Huh...... The so-called Mandate of Heaven has nothing to do with ghosts and gods. Wang Mang shook his head: "I just believe that this world has its own laws. The so-called heaven is constant, not for Yao, not for destruction...... So I prefer to call it – the law of history. Wang Mang stared into Wang Mu's eyes.