As the strongest empire in the south of the Western Continent, the interior of the Liang State is divided into six states, the imperial capital is located in the middle of Liangzhou, such as the heart of the people, the importance is self-evident, looking up, the two states of Youyan are each other's horns to resist foreign enemies, such as people's hands, bearing external pressure, down, the left and right sides are Yong, Jiang Erzhou, like the chest and abdomen of people, the richest, but also the most peaceful and prosperous place, Confucianism prevails, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and then down, is the legs, Haizhou, which is adjacent to the sea, has a heavy army to guard, in the sea boundary, the mainland is only two east and west, and the rest are the vast sea, among which there are the shark people and dragon clans that Gu Xuan met back then, There are all kinds of alien races in the sea, often harassing the border, and the fishermen and people are miserable, so Haizhou is sitting in the town of the Navy, one of the nine armies of the Liang country, which is extremely good at naval warfare and guarding the security of the entire Haizhou border.

Da Liang sits on the southernmost part of the entire Western Continent a huge area, its imperial capital is naturally extremely prosperous, Gu Xuan has also visited himself on weekdays, but has not yet taken the whole picture of the entire imperial capital, the capital of Liang Kingdom is composed of three traditional parts, the center is the imperial city, the east and west two areas are evenly separated by a wide avenue from the imperial city to the gate of the city, this avenue, on weekdays will only be used when important festivals or royal travel, whether it is a dignitary, or a flat-headed commoner, can only cross the avenue in a specific place, to and from different urban areas, those who run on the avenue without authorization are a capital offense。

The inside of the east and west two urban districts is divided into hundreds of temples by the streets of the smaller one, the two urban districts are respected by the east, which is the place where the dignitaries live and the major institutions of the imperial court gather, while the west is slightly secondary, it is the first class of the imperial capital, the place where the gambling house and the tavern are gathered, and it is also the place where the commoners live, and the terrain of the entire imperial capital is very symmetrical, showing the aesthetic concept of the builders.

In an inconspicuous small restaurant on the western edge of the imperial capital, Gu Xuan asked the shopkeeper for a private room, drinking ordinary tea while sitting quietly and waiting for someone.

Although it is not as expensive as the expenses of those brothers to build a mansion outside, he can still afford to eat in a small restaurant in the west of the imperial capital, and the owner of this restaurant is also one of his few friends in this world.

Gu Xuan had just sat for less than half an hour, and the door of the private room was pushed open, and an old man who was no more than four feet old strode in, looking at his age of more than seventy, with gray beard and hair, braided some exotic pigtails, his eyes were still full of energy, and there was no trace of turbidity, even if his face was full of wind and frost wrinkles, he couldn't hide it, the old man was stocky, his muscles were knotted, his brown eyes were born, his earth-colored skin, his eye sockets were deep, and the bridge of his nose was short, which was very different from the face of the people of Liangguo.

"Master Xuan. ”

When he opened his mouth, it was an authentic Liangguo accent, but his throat was a little hoarse, as if he had been injured by something.

Gu Xuan saw the other party walk in, and hurriedly got up to greet him, he opened his mouth and read a language that was not Da Liang official dialect at all, with a different kind of breath, the old man with a collapsed nose suddenly smiled when he heard it, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth, and even his eyes narrowed, with a warm face.

"You are really smart, you learned the language of the Eastern Continent in less than half a month. ”

Gu Xuan smiled and said with some emotion: "I don't have an official body, so I have more time every day, so I can naturally learn quickly." ”

"Come, congratulations on your eighteenth birthday, you have the qualifications to build a mansion abroad, have a drink. The old man poured a bowl of spirits for each of them, and then took the bowl in his hand and drank it all.

This is a unique wine-making technique from the Eastern Continent, and it is also the foundation of the old man in the cold country of a foreign land, the taste is the most spicy, it is a first-class spirit, what I like is the feeling of burning through the throat, what I hate is that it smells disgusting, and there is no wine glass to drink here, it is a large ceramic bowl, and it is the bold energy to drink.

Unexpectedly, after leaving the palace, there would be people talking about it, Gu Xuan could only show helplessness, pick up the wine bowl and raise his head to do it.

The old man stood on the chair again, lifted a jar of wine very easily, and poured a full bowl for each of them, and then asked, "What's the matter, you don't seem to be very happy to look at you." ”

Gu Xuan smiled bitterly, tore off a piece of chicken leg with an exotic aroma from the whole roast chicken on the table, and nibbled on it in small bites, in the end, it was a member of the royal family, and etiquette was engraved in his bones.

"Lao Huo, do you say that the troubles are chasing people, or are the people themselves constantly chasing troubles?"

The old man with a collapsed nose sat on the specially raised seat, breathed a long sigh of relief, looked at Gu Xuan with vicissitudes of life, muttered in his mouth, as if he was organizing the language, and said after a while: "Well, this question depends on how you understand it, in the words of your people in the Western Continent, fate is determined by heaven, since everything is set by God, then just go on obediently, don't think too much, you have to learn from us, eat meat, drink wine, think about what will happen tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, just live the present." ”

"Is it true that sometimes you have to accept the so-called fate of things that you don't want to do?" Gu Xuan made another bowl, and then took the initiative to add wine to the two of them.

"Fate doesn't like or dislike people, you need to look at things with a normal heart. Lao Huo didn't ask much, just shrugged his shoulders and continued to say in his heart, "No one can live as he wants. ”

"You see I have a lot of beard now, I was also a handsome guy when I was young, I was very famous in many tribes of our tribe, my father was an elder of the tribe, I thought my life could be smooth sailing, live step by step, every day drunk and dreaming, hunting, bubble girl on the line, who would have thought that I spent most of my life in this foreign country?"

Gu Xuan said helplessly: "Lao Huo, you didn't understand what I meant, to be honest, I have always had a feeling of hesitation, there seem to be a lot of shackles on my body, and I feel like I am being controlled like this, moving in a small place, I have a heart that yearns for freedom, but I don't have the courage to break the shackles, can you understand what this means?"

"Oh, I understand, you hate the life of the royal family, but sometimes that's it, there are some innate things that you have to accept, do ugly people have to resent God? Can people who are born poor choose to refuse? On the contrary, it is these things that make us different, everyone has their own life, if everyone is the same, then what is the meaning of living?" Lao Huo said sincerely, " My life experience tells me that when you have to make some choices, if you choose to stay put, if you don't have the determination to do something you want to do, then you will definitely regret it in the end, especially if you are still young, and when you reach my age, you will understand, to be honest, I regret not being the eldest daughter of the chieftain back then, that girl, but 。。。。。。 ”

Lao Huo's boasting was interrupted by Gu Xuan before it began.

"What is the Eastern Continent like, can you tell me more?"

Lao Huo drank a big sip of wine again, his face was a little ruddy, he wiped the wine stains on his beard, and then said: "It's not good, the earth clan, the spirit clan, we fight every year, we don't stop fighting, I was a slave after the defeat, I drifted all the way across the sea, and died all my life, and finally escaped here, Liangguo is very good, at least it gave me a stable life, which the Eastern Continent can't give, child, there is no need to envy others, maybe you just need to change yourself." ”

"Change something. Gu Xuan asked casually, he looked ahead, his eyes were already a little confused.

Wine is not drunk, everyone is drunk.

"Whatever, maybe you just need to change the environment. Old Huo Dao, "If you want to do it, do it, if you don't do it now, will you wait for the next life?"

Gu Xuan finally confided in his heart: "But I can't help myself, some people want me to be a pawn, and I think what he said is also very reasonable, but my mother will spend her whole life in this palace, if you do it, my disadvantage is too great, our mother and son will be easily crushed to death, but if you don't do it, it seems that they don't like me very much, besides, I can't guess what my father thinks, he arranged those people around me, to be honest, I don't understand." ”

"Maybe he just wanted to protect you, or maybe he really wanted to see how far you could do in the end, I remember when I was a child, when I was eight years old, my father threw me into the wilderness and left me alone to hunt a wolf, I remember it was winter, it was cold, I was going to freeze to death in the wilderness, I don't know why my father did it, but I didn't have the energy to think about it at that time, I had to do it. Lao Huo Dao, "If you have to do it, it's better to take the initiative yourself, so that you don't regret it at that time, why didn't you work hard at the beginning." ”