It had just rained heavily the day before, and the city was still wet and the sky was gloomy.

Since the day when the Hun army retreated from the city, the city in the clouds has recovered little by little from the heavy damage suffered, on the street, the smoke of war has not completely dissipated, turn the corner, at any time you can meet one or two people who have lost an arm or a leg in the war, the wound is still hideous, but the face has been raised full of hopeful smile. The old city in the clouds has been given a new lease of life.

At this time, Liu Ying is also about to return to Chang'an.

"Master." Shen Mo stepped forward and gently persuaded, "It's time to go." ”

Ever since the Empress Mother disappeared again, the Emperor has been in a sick state of mind. Although his words and deeds seem to be normal every day, the orders he gives are also well organized. However, everyone can see from his back that he misses and worries about Queen Zhang.

"Packed up?" Liu Ying came back to her senses and asked lightly.

"Back to Your Majesty," Guan Sheng replied respectfully, "it's all packed." The guards were also outside. "Just wait for Your Majesty to go out, and then you can go.

"Hmm." Liu Ying sleeved her hands and turned around, "Got it." But instead of going outside, he walked in the direction of the inner house.

Guan Sheng couldn't help but get anxious, "Everyone......"

"Let them wait outside," Liu Ying instructed without replying, "I'll come out in a moment—"

……

The small courtyard is still paved with water bricks and a green tile promenade. Somehow, the vibrant scene in front of his eyes in the past is now missing Ah Yan's smile, and he feels withered. The osmanthus tree in the courtyard has passed the best season of blooming, and in the feast, it shows a momentum of decay.

There is a pool of water outside the flower, which once stood low. It's like the smell of clothes. Judas came out of the forest.

……

The clear and shallow small pond once reflected Ah Yan's young and charming face. Ah Yan's hair was slightly fragrant from her fingertips, as if it was still stained with the grass and trees in the courtyard, she closed her eyes, imagining that she was still by her side, and walked out from under the open curtain, curling her figure, just like back then.

……

I have received the law of heaven, and God can be separated. Hold on to the comer. Yours sincerely.

……

Even if she is now far away from him, when she closes her eyes, she can still feel connected with her. He was willing to suffer any heavenly punishment in this world for her sake. Just beg her not to leave his side.

However, she finally left her.

And he will always stand in that place, waiting for the news of her return.

"Smack", a voice came from Zhang Yan's bedroom.

Liu Ying walked along the corridor. Seeing that in the open room, a corner dressed in green and green clothes stood in front of the box in the room, and shed tears in a daze.

He coughed.

Qingkui turned around, saw Liu Ying, and hurriedly wiped away her tears and turned around and said, "Lang Jun." ”

At this moment. No matter what identity he and Qingkui are, what kind of person they are, when they miss the same person. They are the same.

"The lady's box was taken away by Lang Jun, and the slave just wanted to come over and miss it."

Liu Ying said softly, "If Ah Yan knew that you thought of her like this, she would be happy in her heart." ”

Qingkui looked at Liu Ying and stopped talking.

"How?"

Xu is because he was not by Ah Yan's side for half a year. It was this girl who stayed by Ah Yan's side and took care of her. After losing the news of Ah Yan, Liu Ying was a little more indulgent to Qingkui.

"Lang Jun." Qingkui asked hesitantly, "Is there a 'Yan' in the name of the eldest lady?" ”

"yes." Liu Ying was silent for a while, and Fang replied, "Yan Ran's Yan represents the meaning of a smile. ”

"Smile." Qing Kui chanted again, with a shallow depression, "I never knew the name of the eldest lady. However, the eldest lady smiled beautifully, which matched the name very well. The eldest lady is a good person, our mother and daughter are slaves she bought after coming to the Northland, the maid has been poor since childhood, and she is careless in her work, and she has not been well served several times, and the eldest lady has not punished the maid, and the maid thinks in her heart, she must follow the lady well in this life. I didn't think ......."

Qing Kui's tears fell, and she reached out to wipe them away, with a slightly choked voice, "Originally, if she wanted to go back to Chang'an, we should follow her." However, she gave us the freedom to decide where to stay. A good person like her will definitely have a good reward, and there will be no trouble. ”

Liu Ying was silent for a long time, and Fang reluctantly smiled, "Thank you for your auspicious words." INTERVIEWER How is your family doing? ”

Qingkui was in a depressed mood, "Brother Xu Huan has passed the news for me before, grandpa cangtou and my mother are fine, but the knife is ......." I heard that when Shanan fell, there was a panic in the city, my aunt was old, and she broke her foot in a panic, and the knife carried my aunt to find a place to hide, but he himself was captured by the Huns, and now he doesn't know whether he is alive or dead. ”

“…… Please mourn. ”

"I'm not sad." With a shallow smile on her lips, Qing Kui said softly, "The eldest lady once told me that she hoped that I would make a green sunflower plant, even if it was windy and rainy, it would be able to resist it and not fall." The knife is for my aunt to encounter this danger, this is his kindness to our mother and daughter, I will remember his kindness, stand at home, waiting for him to come back alive. ”

When she said this, her back was straight, and the smile on her lips was light, but with the perseverance engraved in her bones.

Unexpectedly, in such an illiterate slave in the north, seeing a kind of female loyalty, Liu Ying suddenly gave birth to a trace of respect.

His mother, Lu Hou, was born in Weimo, first in hardship, and then in wealth; His wife Zhang Yan was born in the rich and noble of Ayaluo when she was young, but when she just met with her husband and wife, she encountered the great disaster of the Xiongnu invasion; And the girl named Qingkui in front of her has always been just an insignificant slave in the eyes of a nobleman. But he saw the same thing in these three women with completely different identities and experiences, a kind of steadfastness that would not be destroyed after a thousand turns.

Perhaps, this kind of steadfastness is born in a woman's bones, and it can only be reflected when it comes to difficult times.

"Lang Jun—"

When Liu Ying walked out of the screen door, she heard the voice behind her, so she stopped and turned around, and saw Qingkui chasing along the corridor, panting. Qingkui knew that if the eldest lady came back, she would definitely return to Lang Jun's side. Qing Kui didn't dare to see the eldest lady again, but Qing Kui would wait in the north, and hoped that Lang Jun would remember to send a message to Qing Kui when the time came, and Qing Kui would be able to put his mind at ease. ”

Liu Ying glanced at her deeply and replied, "I'll remember." ”

"Also," Qingkui said hurriedly, "the incense of the eldest lady is placed in separate boxes. Incense is the most taboo smell mixed, if one is mixed. It's all abandoned. On the way back, please take care of it. ”

"Got it."

Liu Ying replied, thoughtful. "Does Ah Yan like incense very much?"

"yes." Qingkui said, "The eldest lady loves to make incense when she is idle, and she often says that incense, like people, should have life." So. She also gave a name to every fragrance she made, and in May this year, she made a fragrance for her grandmother, named Fanghua. said that he was expressing his heart for his mother. ”

Liu Ying groaned, "Fanghua." "Listening to the name is a gentle fragrance to the bones, just like the feeling that Princess Lu Yuan gives people.

"The eldest lady also made a juvenile tour. Yan Zhao, Haruno ......" Qingkui counted with his fingers, "said that it was given to relatives and friends." Yes. That's right. He exclaimed slightly, "There is also a tassel of sweet rosin." ”

Liu Ying's breath suddenly stopped.

"That was the first incense made by the eldest lady after she first arrived in the Northland and settled down at home." Qingkui didn't understand the meaning of his words, and only understood the Tao in ignorance. "At that time, she didn't know anything. I have failed many times, either because the amount of this vanilla is too much, or that is insufficient. But she was not convinced, and it took half a month to make this sweet rosin fragrance......"

For a while, Liu Ying's heart was as sad as death.

He recalled what happened when the Xiongnu retreated:

……

Liu Ying tried her best to wake up from the coma and bit her lip fiercely. Under the stimulation of blood and pain, this can resist the power of the medicine a little.

When he finally opened his eyes, he saw that the room was empty, and a wisp of fragrance on Ah Yan's body was still wrapped around the tip of his nose, but the person was long gone.

"Ah Yan."

He tried to open his mouth to call, but found that his throat was hoarse, and his voice was so weak that he could barely hear it. The medicine in the body did not subside, his hands and feet were sore, he struggled to get up, and fell to the ground hard.

"Master." Guan Sheng came in when he heard the sound, and saw him lying on the ground in embarrassment, his face turned white with horror, and he hurriedly stepped forward to help.

"Where's the Queen?"

Guan Sheng Nuonuo didn't dare to speak, and changed, "Your Majesty, you are injured, let's rest first." ”

"What a big bold." Liu Ying's eyes were cracked, and she slapped him in the face hard, "I ask you, where is the queen now?" ”

Because of the medicinal properties, the strength of his slap was not very strong, and Guan Sheng's face did not feel pain, but he looked at Liu Ying's face with a terrifying expression, panicked in his heart, and prayed like garlic, "Your Majesty forgives your sins, Your Majesty forgives your sins, Niang Niang she ...... It's out of the city gates. ”

……

In an instant, although reason had already guessed, but after being confirmed, Liu Ying only felt that her eyes were dark, and her heart sank to the bottom. After a moment, he gently asked, "What time is it?" ”

Guan Sheng replied cautiously, "It's already unitary time." ”

Unitary time.

He and Ah Yan were drinking in the wrong way, and now that more than an hour has passed, even if he has another hand, he can't chase Ah Yan back.

……

Outside the dormitory, a large cheer suddenly came from the sky above Cloud City:

"Withdrawn, withdrawn."

"The Huns have retreated—"

……

After besieging the city in the clouds for nearly ten days, seeing that the arrows in the city in the clouds were about to be exhausted, the young and strong were all seriously injured and tired, and the city was about to fall, the Huns of the Lou Fu Department outside the city rode on horses, turned the horse's head, and began to go south in an orderly manner.

The crimson sunset burned the entire sky, and the dark brown color of blood showed the ecstasy of the rest of the catastrophe on the faces of every inhabitant.

In such ecstasy, Shen Mo, the deputy general of Langzhong, came down from the city gate, climbed on his horse and galloped back to the house, entered the door silently, took off the helmet on his head and put it aside, and knelt in the courtyard.

After a while, Meng Junshou also rushed over and knelt beside him.

The courtyard gradually knelt down in one piece, and the birds did not listen.

It wasn't until the moon was in the middle of the sky and there was no light in the sky that Liu Ying's angry voice came from the room, "Come in for me." ”

"That's a real deal." He looked at the courtiers kneeling under the hall, "The ancients still had clouds, 'Those who are ministers are worried about their ministers, and the lord is humiliated and killed.'" 'You are all big men, and you are all from the military, and you actually let a little woman go to life and death for you? What use do I want you? ”

Meng Shu, Shen Mo was blushing when he was said, and he didn't dare to defend himself.

Liu Ying said in a fit of rage, and kicked over the incense burner in the corner of the room, "I really want to kill you one by one." ”

"Send troops," he commanded, "I myself will lead people to recover the queen's mother." ”

"Your Majesty, no." All the ministers were shocked, and they all stopped in unison.

Liu Ying chuckled, "Why, the master mother fell into the hands of the enemy, but you don't have the courage to die?" ”

Shen Mo slammed his head on the ground, there was a bang, and after a while, blood stains appeared on his forehead, "Your Majesty, if you let the minister lead the army to chase after you, you can really save Niangniang." Even if the minister fought for his life, he didn't dare to complain. It's just that the enemy army of the Huns is heavy, and the Han army in the city is still reluctant to defend the city. If you go out of the city to pursue, you are afraid that the whole army will be wiped out, and you will not be able to get your mother back. The queen's identity is noble, wise and talented, she can say that the king retreats from the army, it can be seen that she has the power of self-preservation. On the contrary, if we act rashly, the Huns will suspect the identity of the queen, which is not conducive to the safety of the queen. ”

"The queen mother has a heart, but she wants Her Majesty to be safe. I sincerely hope that Your Majesty will cherish this piece of Niangniang's heart. Take care of yourself. ”

……

The night is over, and the dawn of the morning pierces through the sky.

Meng Shu and Shen Mo knelt in the courtyard all night, looking haggard.

Outside the city, the Huns had retreated cleanly, leaving only an empty and complicated battlefield, just like the original city in the clouds.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the man of tongue debate could change the situation of the war with a single word; In the past, Han Xin, the Marquis of Huaiyin, led the order to attack Qi, and Li Shiqi said more than 70 cities in words, and the generals were afraid of it, saying, we have fought with blood and sweat all our lives, and we only captured a few cities, but we can't resist the words of Li Shiqi's tongue.

However, the Xiongnu were different from the Warring States countries, and the people of the Central Plains did not belong to the same ethnic group since ancient times, they advocated force and heroes, and did not pay attention to those who were united and horizontal, and did not have too many interests with the Han Dynasty, so they only came to rob the rich people in the city. Empress Zhang, as her own weak daughter, disguised herself and entered the Hun camp alone, she could say that she was annoying to the king and gave up the city in the clouds at her fingertips at the end of winter, and turned to leave.

"I really don't know how Empress Zhang did this."

At this time, everyone who knew about it had a sense of respect for the weak and beautiful girl queen in their hearts.

The bedroom door clicked and opened from within.

Guan Sheng walked out and said, "Your Majesty has an edict, let you get up." ”

"- The military situation is urgent, what is the matter of kneeling like this? If you really have a heart of repentance, you will fight a good battle with the Huns. ”

"No." The crowd replied with a loud voice.

Bingzi, Quzhou Hou Lishang led 30,000 Bashu officials to Shangjun;

Ding Chou, the general Yingyin Marquis Guanying led the army to set off, and the Xiongnu vanguard cavalry met in the wilderness, and the Huns were defeated and retreated;

Gengchen, the Xiongnu left valley Liwang rendezvous West Road Loufu, Aries two;

Xin Si, Changle Palace Lu Hou issued an edict, telling the world, the emperor's eldest son Hengshan Wang Yi and three days later as the crown prince, the temple to see the ceremony. The system said, yes.

——4233 words, revised on May 14, 2011

***********

Note: In the Han Dynasty, the slaves in the family called the male master Langjun.