The twelfth year of the great cause, the year of the second year of the lunar calendar.

The heavy snow at the end of the eleventh year fell intermittently for four days, Li Yuan and others did not rush back for the New Year after all, and there were more than a dozen people in the Li Mansion who spent the New Year together. On the same day, everyone did not distinguish between respect and inferiority, and below the Wan family, each had a reward, and the Li Mansion, which had been deserted for a long time, finally had a lively day during the New Year.

Of course, all this was Li Xuanba's idea, and Wan Shi thought it was funny, so he let him mess around.

On the second day of the first lunar month, Li Xuanba forbade people to clean up the snow in the courtyard, and forced Li Gou to accompany him to build a snowman in the courtyard.

On the third day of junior high school, Li Shimin returned to the house late.

After returning home, Li Shimin first went to see Wan Shi to fulfill his filial piety, and then went to Li Xuanba's room.

"The snow in the courtyard is exquisite." After entering the room, the two brothers were polite and sat down, and Li Shimin spoke first: "It's just that I don't know how the third brother came up with such an interesting way to play." ”

"When I was in Luoyang, I saw the snow falling on the stone lions and pavilions, each with its own form, and occasionally felt it." Li Xuanba replied with a smile: "It's just some children's things, which makes the second brother laugh." ”

Li Shimin hid something on his mind, and said a few more perfunctory words, then said with a smile: "Xuanba, you tell the truth with the second brother, where is Li Zhu hidden by you?" ”

When Li Xuanba heard this, he was shocked and said: "Didn't Li Zhu return to the second brother, Xuanba is still thinking, if the second brother comes back, he will ask the second brother where this Li Zhu is." ”

Li Xuanba's surprise was not pretended.

In Li Xuanba's view, since Li Zhu is Li Shimin's person, after leaving him, he will inevitably return to Li Shimin. Now, when Li Shimin asked him if he wanted to get up, he would naturally be surprised.

Li Shimin smiled and said: "This Li Zhu is just a well-educated person whom the second brother met by chance, since he didn't say goodbye, he must have gone to find his own future." ”

"That's a shame." Li Xuanba sighed, but he didn't feel too sorry, and instead said, "Second brother, why are you free to come back?" ”

"Outside affairs, with my father and eldest brother to deal with, I am naturally much more leisurely." Li Shimin explained: "In fact, I wanted to rush back on Chinese New Year's Eve, but the snow did not stop, and I couldn't rush at all, so I had to give up. ”

In fact, Li Shimin had already purged the remnants of the traitors in Jinyang, and the reason why he stayed in Jinyang was just to make friends with the local magnates.

Li Xuanba replied casually, without thinking much about it, after all, Li Shimin had just turned eighteen years old, and in his eyes, he was just an adult child.

There was nothing else to say for a while. Li Shimin saw that Li Xuanba's expression was a little uncomfortable, so he stood up and pretended to look around, and at the end, his eyes fell on the desk.

"Xuanba, what are you writing?" Li Shimin asked curiously as he walked to the desk. Li Xuanba began to read and write, and Li Shimin already knew about it, so he was not surprised.

"When I'm bored, I'm writing to pass the time." Li Xuanba grabbed ahead of Li Shimin, crumpled the paper on the table, hid it behind him, and said with a smile: "Xuanba has only practiced calligraphy for more than a month, it is too ugly, I am afraid of staining the eyes of the second brother, so the second brother should not look at it." ”

"You and your second brother still say these polite words?" Li Shimin feigned anger, and casually pulled out a piece of paper from the side of the desk, only to see some words written crookedly on it, and if you look closely, it is actually the content of the "Tao Te Ching".

Li Xuanba scratched his head in embarrassment, and said abruptly: "The word Xuanba, compared with the second brother's I word, one is in the sky and the other is underground, and I hope the second brother will not make fun of it." ”

"It's rare that you've only been sick for two months and you've been able to practice words like this." Li Shimin sincerely praised: "As long as you practice hard, you will definitely not lose to me." ”

Seeing that Li Shimin was so honest, Li Xuanba nodded, the two looked at each other and smiled, and chatted for a while, and Li Shimin prepared to go back to the room to rest. Li Xuanba sent him outside the door.

After Li Shimin left, Li Xuanba breathed a sigh of relief and went back to the room.

The paper ball was still in Li Xuanba's hand, and when he returned to the desk, he spread the paper ball on the table.

It was written on the paper: It is difficult to say goodbye when we meet, and the east wind is powerless. The spring silkworm is dead to the end, and the wax torch turns to ash and tears begin to dry. Xiaojing but the clouds and temples are changed, seven characters are a column, no punctuation, a total of five columns.

Li Xuanba thought carefully for a long time, but still couldn't remember the next few sentences, hesitated for a moment, and crossed out the last sentence.

I read it softly, I thought it was quite smooth, nodded with satisfaction, took a new piece of rice paper, and carefully copied the first four sentences. The handwriting is still a little ugly, but compared to the previous content in the Tao Te Ching, it is much neater.

After Li Xuanba finished writing, he waited for a while, and when the ink was dry, he carefully hid it under the bed, and then sat back at the desk and continued to copy the content of other parts of the Tao Te Ching, as if Li Shimin had never been here at all.

Li Shimin returned to the room, his face instantly gloomy, he waited in the room for a while, and then a person sneaked in.

"You send someone to Lingnan to make a trip to Jiaozhi to inquire about the mansion of the judicial secretary and see if Li Zhu is there." As soon as the man entered the door, Li Shimin ordered: "Also, let the people of Luoyang pay attention to Gaofu." ”

The man answered, bowed and retreated, and when he went out, he looked left and right for a while, and saw that there was no one around, so he quietly left and disappeared into the darkness

In an inn more than 20 miles away from Li's house, a carriage stopped, before and after the carriage, there were more than ten rides each, on the side of the carriage, Li Yuanji held a horse lance, heroic and cool.

"Since Shimin has already gone back first, I'll rest here for the night, and then I'll go back tomorrow." Li Jiancheng's voice came from the carriage: "According to his temperament, he will definitely return to Jinyang tomorrow." ”

"Big brother, what are you afraid of him doing?" Li Yuanji was unconvinced: "Now that the third brother has become a waste, what else does he have to rely on at home?" ”

"Shut up, Xuanba is your third brother, how can you say such a thing?" Li Jiancheng scolded: "When my brother didn't stop him, he caused a big disaster, and I have always regretted it." ”

"Brother Li, Yuanji is young and open-mouthed, don't be angry." Someone in the carriage reassured.

"Ugh." Li Jiancheng sighed and got out of the carriage. followed by a person, who was about the same age as Li Jiancheng and had a handsome demeanor. got out of the carriage and said to Li Yuanji with a smile: "Yuanji, you also have to pay attention to it, remember: disaster comes from the mouth." ”

Li Yuanji replied disapprehantly: "Got it, Brother Wei." ”

Entering the room, Wei Ting saw that Li Jiancheng was still stunned, and said slowly: "Yuanji has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and he is arrogant, but in front of Xuanba, he has no power to fight back, and he has some resentment in his heart, which is also the norm. ”

"I don't know." Li Jiancheng said weakly: "It's just that he has no words, if it reaches the ears of the third brother, I'm afraid it will make him even more alienated from me." ”

"Xuanba is immortal, but I didn't expect His Majesty's grace to be on him has not diminished in the slightest, so it is indeed not appropriate to offend." Wei Ting thought for a while and said, "Fortunately, he can't remember what happened before, and Gongzi doesn't need to worry." ”

Li Jiancheng remembered that he pretended to block it at that time, and a trace of uneasiness arose in his heart.