After bidding farewell to Zhang Mengtan, you and I drove the carriage side by side in the wilderness of the eastern suburbs.

The east side of Yongcheng faces near Weishui. In the spring, groups of young girls come here to pick kudzu apples and play and play. The amorous boy would quietly hide in the half-man-high reeds and peek at the girl he liked. But by this time, it was almost the middle of winter, and the originally green meadows had already turned into an endless wasteland under the severe cold, ice and snow. There is no delicate face, no laughter, only an indelible gloom and an unbreakable silence.

"Youyou, what has happened in the Prince's Mansion in the past two days?" I asked.

"The affairs of the prince's mansion have been taken care of, and the noble lady does not need to worry. It's just ......" from the servant to the words and stop.

"Just what?"

"It's just that the mastermind behind the assassination of the prince has not been found, and the king is extremely angry about this. Now in the Qin Palace, the crown prince strongly advocated attacking Jin, and the general and Gongzi Li were fully opposed. The meaning of the monarch is not guessed by everyone. Wu Wangfucha's army was almost on the border of the Jin Kingdom. If the Qin State really wants to participate in the war this time, I am afraid that it will have to make plans early and garrison troops in the east as soon as possible. ”

"You also hope that the Qin State can fight the Jin State this time?"

"Taking advantage of the crisis in Jin to attack it, although it is not moral, but the opportunity is rare." Yu's tone was firm and calm, and it seemed that in this matter, he actually supported the crown prince.

"The middle of winter is bitter and cold, and the earth is withered. Now, people outside Yongcheng are starving to death and freezing to death every day. If there is another war at this time, how can the poor people still live? Besides, this year is not a good year, and the grain in Yongdutun is not enough, and once there is a war, it will be very unfavorable to the Qin State. ”

After listening to me, you were silent for a long time. Perhaps, for many soldiers of the Qin army like Youyu, it is more important to go into battle to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions than anything else.

"The battle of Qin and Jin, whether to fight or not, leave it to the monarch to decide!" I didn't want to continue struggling with him on this issue, so I asked instead, "Do you know how Lan Ji, who danced with Yao Girl that day, is doing now?" ”

"There is the power of the powerful people of various countries behind that woman, and the prince doesn't dare to do anything to her, so he has already released her yesterday."

"That Yao girl......" I hesitated for a long time, but still asked this question.

"Dead." You frowned and spit out two words.

Although I had expected such an ending, when I heard it, I was still shocked: "Dead...... How did he die? ”

She was tortured for many days in the Prince's Palace, but she never said who was behind it. The prince felt that it was useless to keep her, so he pulled out her tongue and strangled her. The prince said that since she was not willing to say anything when she was alive, she did not need to speak with her tongue when she died. ”

Yu's words made me a little trance-like, and the gentle and beautiful Yao girl in my memory was gone, leaving only an empty, bloody mouth that kept shaking.

No matter where people live now, after this vast life, there will always be a time to meet again. At that time, how will the tongueless Yao girl face the lover who understands, pities her, and harms her in her heart? Qingqing Zijin, my heart, now I can't even say this waiting thought?

"Would you like to go somewhere with me?" Seeing that I was stunned, the servant turned her head and asked softly.

"Where are you going?"

"You'll find out when you go." Seeing that I had no objection, he suddenly turned around and drove away to the right.

The carriage ran for less than a quarter of an hour when it came to a small river, and the servant tightened the reins and stopped the carriage.

"Where is this? Why did you bring me here? I stepped out of the carriage and looked around.

The servant tied the carriage and stood in front of me and replied in a deep voice: "This place is called Taohuadu, and I want to bring a noble girl to meet someone." ”

"Who?"

"She's under the peach blossom tree over there, and the noble lady will know when she sees it."

I felt a sigh of sorrow in my heart, picked up the hem of my skirt and ran over.

Peach blossom crossing, falling peach blossom empty branches. A river of cold water, silently around the lonely grave. In the cold wind, under the peach tree with twisted branches, no one was waiting for me, only a lonely new grave.

"I found her in the mass grave yesterday, and although she has a tongue, she can at least have a place to live." You Yu didn't know when he had walked up to me, his face was neither happy nor sad, but his voice revealed a trace of sadness.

"Well, it's good here." I touched the peach tree beside me, looked at the river in front of me and nodded.

"It's spring and the view is unique. In March of this year, I came with her once, and I saw that there were bright peaches at one end and the other end, like clouds. ”

Yao Nu and him, once accompanied You Chun? I was taken aback by the girl's words, and when I looked down, I saw that the wooden sign in front of the grave was impressively engraved with the words "My Wife Yao".

"You and Yao Nu ......" I looked at Younu and didn't know how to answer.

"When I was in the house before, I asked her to marry in private, but unfortunately she didn't like me." You Yu smiled bitterly, squatted down and grabbed a handful of new soil and added it to the grave, "Now that this sign has been erected, maybe, she is still not happy." ”

"Before...... It's hard for you. "When Wu Feng was away, after I learned that the Yao girl was a fine work of the Jin people, I was the first to tell Youfu. Since then, all designs have been the result of consultation with him. He not only has affection for Yao Nu, but also has to be loyal to Wu Feng, under the intersection of personal feelings and loyalty, he was tortured a hundred times more than me at that time.

"I was blinded by personal feelings, and I almost harmed the head of the family, and I deserve to be punished! You swear to the heavens here, only when the remaining wish in your heart is fulfilled, you will apologize with death! He fell to his knees, his grief-stricken eyes full of red threads.

"If it's your fault, who of the people in the house, including me, can escape? No one can doubt your loyalty to the head of your family! I leaned over to help him up, but he was still on his knees.

"Thank you for your attention, it's just that you still have one thing to do, I hope you can tell the truth!"

"What's the matter? You ask. I helped the servant up, and he stared into my eyes and said word by word: "Why did the noble lady come today to ask to see the Jin people's advisors?" Could this have something to do with the beast-faced man? ”

"You just want to ask this before you brought me to see Yao Nu?"

The servant bowed his head and was silent, which was considered a tacit acquiescence. At the beginning, in the face of selfishness and loyalty, he reluctantly chose loyalty. Now, he ventured to bury Yao Nu's body, and let me see his infatuation again. In the face of such a person, how can I still deceive him with lies.

"When I went out with Gongzi Li a month ago, I bumped into the Yao girl who had a private meeting with the Jin people, and planned to assassinate the prince. I told you about it afterwards, and I told the general. But there is only one thing that I did not tell the truth. That day, in the dark alley, the beast-faced man had actually discovered me, and he wanted to kill people, and it was at that time that I smelled the strange fragrance on his clothes. Yesterday, I happened to get this spice at the market. I just heard Zhang Meng talk that this spice is the favorite incense used by Zhi Yao, the sect leader of the Zhi clan of the Jin Kingdom, and it was bought from the Western Regions worth thousands of gold and used exclusively by him. Since you are close to the Yao girl, you must know that she was the kabuki given to Gongzi Li by the Zhi clan of the Jin Kingdom. Therefore, it is very likely that this beast-faced man is the new sect leader of the Zhi clan, Zhi Yao. ”

"Sect Master of the Zhi Clan, Zhi Yao? Yao Nu ...... She was using his name! ”。

"Well, that's the only clue I've found right now related to the beast-faced man."

Hearing my answer, Yufu suddenly began to laugh, and his originally plain and calm face had a smile that was even more ugly than crying. The laughter grew louder and louder, and then burst into tears. "It turned out to be him...... Silly girl! He's taller than the sky, how can you be so stupid. Zhishi Zhiyao? Haha......" You Yu took one last look at the tomb of the Yao girl, looked up to the sky and laughed.

Looking at the figure of You Gu gradually moving away, I couldn't help but think that if the person who saved Yao Nu under the peach tree back then was not Zhi Yao, but Yu Yu. Then, she is gentle and kind, and at this moment, she must be a husband and wife in harmony, and her children are around her knees. She will have a warm home, a husband who loves her, instead of lying in the dark and cold underground to remember her hopeless love like now.

Unfortunately, there are no ifs in life. Some people, the flower in her heart only blooms once. Later people, with all their love and pity, could only watch her die in desolation.

What exactly love is, I suddenly began to wonder.

On the way back, I agreed with you that from now on, the lonely grave next to Peach Blossom Ferry would be an eternal secret for the two of us. In the future, every year when the peach blossoms bloom, we will bring a pot of wine to meet an old man there.