Ling Ai didn't speak, just gently shook Yu Moji's hand.

"Actually, my dad and my mom ...... I sometimes feel like they wrote their lives themselves. Yu Mojin raised his face, "No one thought that my mother would die...... She had been beaten very hard before, and she was fine, as if she only needed to cry for a while, and take a break to quickly start dealing with the kind of ...... we had at that time There is no day to rest at all. Her vitality is so strong, as if she can withstand any kind of abuse. ”

Ling Ai gripped her hand tighter.

"My father too, he was just a little short-tempered, but when he met my mother's gentle temperament, he could evolve into wanton, scoundrel, and reckless. On the day my mother died, it was said that he was still drinking outside. Yu Moji said slowly, "I often feel ...... If the wrong thing goes unchecked, it's easy to mistakenly think that there is no problem. Anyway, it seems like this is the case for our family. ”

"Actually, everyone has moments like this." Ling Ai may be due to her temperament, and when she doesn't smile, her tone will also carry an intention to comfort others. "The gears of the glaive also rotate most smoothly when they are empty."

"Anyway, that's what happened," Yu Mochen quietly let her hold her hand, motionless, "I don't want to follow my mother's old path, and I hate my father too." I don't like to be a Qi person, and I don't like to be a Tusu person. ”

Ling Ai was silent for a long time, and finally said, "When we heard your name, we thought you liked to be a Qi countryman. ”

"I have a Qi name, but it's because it was chosen by the master of the seminary...... People call me that, and I feel like I'm still studying. Yu Mojin showed a smile that even he couldn't convince, "Ling Ai, you probably haven't experienced it...... In some people's lives, every way out is precious, so they always want to seize it. ”

Ling Ai smiled, obviously trying to show that she understood the experience.

She just didn't say it.

"Although I am very reluctant to believe in fate, I may have really had good luck in recent years," Yu Mojin slowly regained his composure, "Although the Cardinal is not the kind of place where I used to imagine that everyone was only obsessed with the study of Yanjia, it is indeed the way out that I have been looking for for a long time. I'm satisfied. ”

"Maybe you shouldn't say anything bad at this time," Ling Ai gently withdrew her hand, "I guess you don't want to go back to that sad place." Her always bright face showed a rare look of embarrassment, "But with it, I persuaded Mr. Lao Lu and Lao Lu to persuade the Cardinal to accept you, in fact, in order to send you back." ”

Yu Moji looked at her with some puzzlement.

Ling Ai looked at Yu Moji's eyes very calmly, "Didn't he ever tell you why he recommended you to enter the Cardinal's House?" ”

Yu Mozhen nodded, very apprehensive.

Ever since he received the good news from the Cardinal, Yu Mochen had a little doubt in his heart. Although the good news was extraordinarily sloppy, it also represented the affirmation, trust and expectation of the Cardinal. She wasn't sure if she was up to it.

In the place of Aige, her strength is far better than that of the gentlemen around her, but Yu Mojin herself knows that it is not particularly difficult to win the top spot in such a small place.

The Cardinal Council is different, this is the holy place of the Great Qi Empire's Yanjia Learning, and it gathers outstanding talents from all over the country. At the time of Yu Mojian's application, there must have been countless people across the country who were also aspiring to become Yanshi, dreaming of one day entering the Imperial Court.

Compared to these people, can she really be worthy of the cardinal's blue eyes? Even Yu Moji himself did not have a definite answer.

Even if even Master Xu recognized her strength, Yu Moji still had little confidence. She didn't know whether the Cardinal's willingness to hire her was based on her ability or because of Yuan Yizhi's face. Ling Ai's words undoubtedly pierced the doubt in her heart that she had never dared to face.

Ling Ai glanced at her, suddenly smiled, and said, "Don't think nonsense, although he is a celebrity in the court, he has not reached the point of covering the sky with one hand." You can come to the Cardinal, relying on real skills. ”

Yu Moji still lowered his head, "There are many people who have real skills. ”

Ling Ai said, "There are not many people who can speak Tusu dialect. ”

Yu Moji's eyelids jumped, and he heard Ling Ai continue, "Do you know why you want to mourn back then?" ”

"I heard that it was a prospecting ......," Yu Mozhen recalled, "I thought it was strange back then, he was a general, and he taught martial arts classes on his behalf, and he could also prospect for mines...... How could there be someone like him who could do so many different things at the same time. ”

"He doesn't really know much about prospecting, but he's a very knowledgeable person. Did you know that he is very good at drawing? Ling Ai nodded when he saw Yu Moji, and continued, "This is the reason why the imperial capital sent him." With that, he followed the sergeant who was prospecting for the mine to Aige, in order to draw a map of the south of Aige. ”

"I mean," Yu Mochen smiled as he remembered some old things, "why is he always running around." ”

She thought for a moment and asked, "But what is there south of Aigza?" Our place is actually very barren, and even the yield of thousand-year-old gold is not high. ”

Ling Ai said, "You must have heard a lot of legends west of Chilu Mountain, true or false, it's hard to say, but it can barely be used as a reference." She thought for a while, and then said, "Now that the overall situation has been decided, you don't think of yourself as a Tusu person, you might as well tell you about these things - the imperial capital has been sending all kinds of capable people to Xiliang to explore the truth of these legends since a long time ago, and speaking of which, there is also a father who relies on it." ”

"General Yuan's father......" Yu Mojian's heart jumped, "Also surnamed Yuan?" ”

"What's the problem," Ling Ai laughed, "of course the surname Yuan." ”

Yu Mochen remembered the events on Chilu Mountain, and was speechless for a while.

Ling Ai only said that Yu Moji was still stuck in his sad past and did not come out, patted her lightly, and continued, "Anyway, the final conclusion that these people came to is that the source of all the thousand-year-old golden veins should be in the deep sea south of Xiliang. ”

Yu Moji was stunned for a moment, "South of Xiliang...... Is it the sea? ”

Aige is already the southernmost village west of Chilu Mountain, but there are also many small villages inside; Yu Mochen was not a person who liked to go out when he was mourning in the past, and he had never even been to the third village a little farther away, and he naturally wouldn't want to go and see the place further south.

But the natives around her never mentioned it. If you want to come to the border of the sea, I am afraid that it is still far from the mourning.

"You've never heard of it, have you?" Ling Ai's gaze also became distant, "I don't know how the former Kanyu Scout did it—in a country that does not belong to him, and there is not even a land where there are no people, he has gone so far away; However, their footprints had to be buried in the cardinal's file because they involved the secret of the Chitose Gold. ”

"These things ......," Yu Moji groaned slightly, "Tell me, it really doesn't matter?" ”

"You'll always know after all," Ling Ai looked at her steadily, "because this matter involves the reason why we must take you into the Cardinal's House in conjunction with Mr. Lu, and my father—and maybe even me." ”

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Yu Moji didn't notice the shaking of his fingers at all, "Let me think about it, is that the case...... Actually, it doesn't matter who you are, all you want is a very keen scholar and a longing for the Cardinal...... Someone who happens to be able to speak Tusu...... Isn't it? ”

"Not exactly." Ling Ai's gaze was very honest, "This matter could have been completely completed by relying on it. Although he can't speak Tusu, he has many ways to mingle with the locals. So at first, we didn't even think about going to a local. She paused, and then said, "But the reason why the Great Qi Empire opened the lecture hall and the lecture hall all the way to Xiliang is to educate the local aliens and assimilate them into Qi people from the inside out. The initial intention of the Enlightenment Yanjia was naturally not to cultivate a Yanshi who was born in Xiliang, but to lay the foundation for the unification of the Great Qi Empire. This is not a one-day effort, but over time, it has always achieved some results. ”

Yu Moji didn't speak.

Although she yearns for the study of Yanjia, she never understood in the past, what is the use of Aige setting up a martial arts hall, in Aige, most of the Tusu civilians have always made a living by selling physical strength. For them, the study of Yanjia is the same as reading and reading, it is unreachable, and it is an ornament used by rich people to decorate the façade, and it is difficult to have any practical use except for a little decency.

But Yu Moji just wants to have that dignity. Her own life, from the very beginning, has been framed by countless gray words. "Lonely", "exhausted", "displaced", these descriptions are cold and narrow iron cages, forcing her to move. Only "decency" is boundless, generously showing a kind of freedom to control one's own life.

This word stood firmly on the opposite side of Yu Mojian's life, and it was not until Yuan Pingzhi lit a gold-burning gas lamp for her that night that Yu Mojian felt that his struggling life had something to do with this word for the first time.

"I don't think I would have thought that I would meet you there. This incident also made the people in the DPRK and China who supported the implementation of military education in Xiliang see some results, including my father. So when you entered the Council earlier, although you were a long time late, the process went quite smoothly. ”

Yu Moji looked at Ling Ai in a daze, and his heart was mixed.

Ling Ai smiled and continued, "As for relying on it, in fact, he already had the intention of retiring. He had said many years ago that he wanted to find someone to take his place, and he didn't want this person to be bound by his background, so it was impossible to choose among those who came from the families of nobles and powerful ministers; However, it is difficult for him to find talents who are keen on this in the people, so it has always been very rare. But then he fell in love with you in the most unlikely place...... I didn't believe it at first, but I always felt that after all, you were a person who had the opportunity to come into contact with the study of Yanjia, how could you really have no background at all. It was only after listening to you talk about your life history that I realized that this was really the case. ”

Ling Ai said, with a little admiration on his face, "This is the so-called chance." She smiled and glanced at Yu Moji, "Providence has never been difficult to ask, but when the opportunity comes, you have to have the ability to grasp it." ”

Yu Mochen was stunned for a moment, and then said, "General Yuan is already quite famous at a young age, and now he is also proud of the spring breeze in the court, it is the time to show his ambitions, why do you want to find someone to replace him?" ”

"He has his grievances." Ling Ai sighed, "Not everyone wants to be a general. With his talent, he pushed him to his current position, but gradually forced him to get farther and farther away from what he really wanted to do. He has long had the intention of retiring, but there are too many burdens on his body that he can't get rid of them. Good thing you showed up. She looked at Yu Moji, showed a smile mixed with hope and pity, and said, "From now on, these burdens will be yours." ”

"That's a coincidence. I happen to be able to speak Tusu again. What the Cardinal valued was her origins as a lamenting aborigine, and this matter had been tightly tied in Yu Moji's heart, and I was afraid that she would not be able to untie it for a while. Yu Moji's voice was low, "So, go to battle...... Also to prepare for this? ”