Khitan, West Building.

In the early morning, the summer sun poured in from outside the courtyard, shining on Yerod Guang, who had just opened the door, and set off his figure holding a scroll with dazzling outlines. Yelu Deguang was dressed in a Chinese-style plain robe, his tall body was a little more elegant, and his long hair was tied with a strip of blue cloth, and he was still casually behind his head. He glanced up at the morning sun, and a soft smile appeared on his clean face, such a sky always makes people feel good, because everything is full of hope.

In the courtyard there is a large tree transplanted from the south, with lush branches and lush greenery, and there is a round stone table under the tree, and there are four stone benches in front of the table. Jerod walked to the stone table and sat down, spread out the book in his hand, and read quietly. The title of the book, "University", was borrowed by Yelu Deguang from a Han official in the Southern Yuan not long ago, and Yelu Deguang has been reading this book for several days.

The door of the house was not closed, and when you looked through the courtyard, you could clearly see the layers of bookshelves in the house, and the shelves were full of books. These books are not new at all, but they look old, and it is obvious that they have been read a lot. In front of the bookshelf, there is a desk, there are also several books on the table, in front of an inkstone, press a piece of rice paper full of words, the breeze enters the room with the sun, turn up the pages, you can see that the handwriting on it is dense.

A peaceful morning.

In such a peaceful morning, Yerod light has passed an unknown number of days, and in more than a year, he seems to have forgotten what time is. This mansion, this courtyard, and these books in this house are the things that he has been with him day and night for more than a year.

In the past year or so, Yerod has stepped out of the courtyard only a handful of times, which is almost impossible for someone of his status. As the generalissimo of the Khitan soldiers and horses, and one of the two most accomplished princes of Yelu Abaoji, all kinds of affairs, all kinds of rights and wrongs, have always been Yelu Deguang's need to deal with.

But as early as a year ago, Yelu Deguang resigned from the position of generalissimo on his shoulders, and he also unloaded his burden and right and wrong. He settled in the downtown area, lived in seclusion in the center of power, closed his doors, only accompanied by books, occasionally went out of the house, and only rode a horse on the grassland, and never even went on a safari.

Such a pure-hearted and desireless day is still difficult for ordinary people to do, let alone his Yelu Deguang? But he did. Today's Yelu Deguang, if he is in front of someone who doesn't know his identity, others will only think that he is a scholar, a layman, and an ordinary person with a peaceful mind, but they will never think that he is the prince of Yelu Abaoji.

The elder of the family came in to report to Jerod, and a guest came to ask for an audience.

Yelu Deguang's gaze left the page, he looked at the old family, showing a gentle and tranquil smile, and did not feel the slightest unhappiness because he was disturbed, "The old family, the house has not been entertained for a long time, and the guests who come on weekdays are also greeted and declined by you, and now that you have come to pass the word for the guests, I guess the person who came to meet me?" ”

"Indeed, Your Highness." The old man bowed slightly, looking at the young man in front of him, with a look of concern and kindness in his eyes, this young man he watched grow up, when he gets along with people now, he can always make people feel calm and relaxed, like the breeze on the grassland, like the clear river water in the field, "Your Highness only receives Confucian scholars these days, and the one who came to visit today is a great Confucian scholar." ”

"Oh? Who is it? "Jerod Light is interested.

"Han Yanhui." The old way.

"It turned out to be Mr. Han, please invite him in."

This is not the first time Han Yanhui has visited Yelu Deguang's mansion, but it was a long time ago, this year, Han Yanhui has never set foot here, today he came to visit, originally the other party refused, when he said that it was not an official of the Southern Courtyard who came out to visit, but just a scholar, the old man went in to report.

Walking in the mansion, although the high platform pavilion is the same as always, Han Yanhui found that the breath flowing in the air is different, in the past, the people in this mansion all looked arrogant, looking down at people, making people feel stinging, but today, people who come and go are calm, and when they see him, they will stop, salute him, and let him pass first.

Han Yanhui was a little emotional, but at the same time, he was even more curious, he suddenly wanted to see Yelu Deguang soon, and wanted to see what this young man, who was originally the most promising young man in the Khitan, had become after a year of disappearing silence.

The old man took Han Yanhui outside the courtyard, bowed and retreated, signaling Han Yanhui to enter the door by himself. Han Yanhui stopped at the gate of the courtyard for a moment, straightened his clothes, and walked into the courtyard.

He saw that under the big tree in the courtyard, a young man with an elegant temperament was concentrating on reading, his demeanor was calm and calm, usually like an ordinary son, but elegant like the most knowledgeable scholar in the world. Han Yanhui's eyes were in a trance for a moment, even if he was mentally prepared, but under the huge contrast, he still couldn't believe everything he had seen.

Yelu Deguang noticed Han Yanhui entering the door, stood up and greeted him, "Mr. Han, please come in and sit down." ”

Han Yanhui bowed and saluted, "How dare His Highness Lao personally greet him?" ”

Yelu Deguang pulled Han Yanhui to sit down in front of the stone table, his demeanor was easy-going, not pretentious at all, the closeness seemed extremely natural, and he smiled: "There is neither Lord Han nor His Royal Highness the Prince here, there are just two scholars." ”

Han Yanhui no longer stuck to his identity, looked at the book on the stone table, and opened the conversation, "Your Highness is reading "University"? The way of the university is in Mingmingde, in being close to the people, and in stopping at perfection. Your Highness has a broad mind, and you will gain something from reading this book, so I wonder if you can give it advice? ”

Yelu Deguang said modestly: "Khitan North and South Courtyard, who doesn't know that Mr. Han is the master of the "University"? Dancing and writing in front of Mr. is no different from an axe in the class, so Mr. Han doesn't have to laugh at me. As he spoke, the conversation changed, "However, when I was reading "University", I did encounter a lot of doubts, and I hope that Mr. Han will give me advice and solve a few doubts for me. ”

The old man brought tea and pastries, and Yelu Deguang invited Han Yanhui to feel free.

Han Yanhui thanked him, and studied the book with Yelu Deguang on tea, and the more they talked, the more they went deeper, and they unconsciously forgot the passage of time.

It wasn't until mid-day that the elders came to persuade them to eat, and the two woke up like a dream.

Yelu Deguang said with a smile: "Today, I sat down with Mr. Han to discuss learning, and I unexpectedly became so excited, but unfortunately Mr. Han didn't come early, otherwise I wouldn't have to scratch my ears and cheeks because I couldn't understand the meaning of the book." ”

Han Yanhui sighed: "Your Highness is extremely talented, and one year of study is worth ten years of ordinary people's work. Your Highness's state of mind when reading is tranquil and peaceful, but I never thought of it before! ”

Han Yanhui is telling the truth, in human life, many times when we go on the road, there is no way to stop, although at some times, I can strongly feel, and even clearly understand, that only by stopping, can we move forward better, but there are always too many interferences, so that we can't stop, we can only drag a heavy body, carry a heavy burden, and continue to move forward step by step. Many years later, when we are faced with a more difficult situation and want to stop and recuperate again and set off again, we will regret it, we will be annoyed, we will blame ourselves for why we didn't stop in the first place, and if we had stopped at that time, the road would be much easier now. At this time, after we regret it, we still have to move on, but we don't give ourselves a chance to stop at this time. Only then will we realize that what we thought was the hardships and obstacles, the things that prevented us from stopping, were so worthless compared to the long and glorious road that followed. But alas, we didn't have a second chance to start over. And at this time, even if we are aware that at some point in the future, we may blame ourselves for not stopping now. But the more we feel powerless, the more we feel that we can't stop, because the distraction around us is much worse than before.

Han Yanhui's admiration for Yelu Deguang lies in his position, after being able to endure setbacks last year, he did not collapse due to defeat, let alone "catch up" in annoyance and anger, but with great perseverance and extremely long-term insight, he unloaded the title of generalissimo of the world's soldiers and horses in the eyes of the entire Khitan, except for Yelu Abaoji, and kept the empty building alone, in front of several rows of bookshelves and three-foot desks, and calmed himself down.

After this year's silence, the current Yelu Deguang has become sharp and restrained, and the whole person is no longer impetuous, frivolous and frivolous. When Li Congjing made Yelu Deguang deflated in Danzhou, the reason why he was able to break the game, and the reason why he was able to say that Yelu Deguang was forced into a desperate situation was because Li Congjing knew that Yelu Deguang was unwilling to suffer losses, unwilling to admit defeat, and wanted to win him Li Congjing too much. Therefore, Li Congjing was able to see through Yelu Deguang's layout, and finally turned defeat into victory. But now it is different, the light of Jerod in front of him has made people unable to see his weaknesses. Even at this moment, Han Yanhui felt that Yelu Deguang had no weakness.

This is an almost unreasonable cognition, and Han Yanhui is even a little reluctant to admit that there will never be a person without weaknesses in this world. Fortunately, Han Yanhui had a card in his hand that could test Yelu Deguang, and he glanced at the sky and felt that it was time to release this card.

Han Yanhui bowed slightly, and said to Yelu Deguang: "Your Highness, the officials are here to be ordered by the emperor, and I have something to inform Your Highness." Saying that, Han Yanhui stared at Yelu Deguang very rudely, and said word for word: "His Royal Highness Yelubei has succeeded in his western expedition and received the emperor's order to triumph, and now it has reached thirty or fifty miles east of the city. After saying this, Han Yanhui hoped to see some clues from Yelude's bare face.

But he was disappointed, Yelu Deguang's face was no different, not only that, Yelu Deguang even nodded approvingly, and said: "The imperial brother has been fighting for the country for more than a year, and has made great achievements for my Great Khitan in the fine line, not only to promote the prestige of our country, but also to actually seek countless benefits for my Great Khitan State, and he is a great hero of my Great Khitan." Now that the hero is triumphant, we, as Khitan people, should go out of the city to greet us. ”

Yelu Deguang's reaction was greatly unexpected by Han Yanhui, "Your Highness has agreed?" ”

Jerod smiled, "Why didn't I agree?" ”

Han Yanhui was silent, and after a while, he got up and left his seat and bowed deeply to Yelu Deguang, "Today's Highness, after baptism, has turned into a phoenix, and the subordinates have congratulated His Highness first!" ”

Yelu Deguang motioned for Han Yanhui to get up, and his smile became more and more gentle, "Mr. Han's praise, I will accept it, thank you Mr. for your kindness." ”

Immediately, Yelu Deguang changed into a court dress, went out of the house with Han Yanhui, met the civil and military officials in front of the palace, went out of the city together, and went west to greet him.