Zhong Qi opened his eyes suddenly. - It's still this dream!

It's been eight years, and I've grown from a toddler to a tall teenager, but I'm still often woken up by this dream. Zhong Qi shook his head in annoyance, trying to get rid of the things in his dream. But he himself knows that this nightmare has haunted him for so many years, and it may not be so easy to get rid of it.

Zhong Qi stared at the darkness in front of him with wide eyes, the horror he saw in his dream just now was still making his heart palpitate, until he heard Ji Bohu's snoring sound next to him, which made him feel at ease a little.

This year is the seventh year of King Mu of the Great Zhou, and Zhong Qi has come to Biyong Hall to study, and it has been a year.

The Biyong Pavilion where Zhong Qi studied was built in Youjing, which was sixty miles away from Hojing, the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty. According to the historical data, it was ordered by King Cheng to build, requiring "secluded as a water museum, the gift of shooting and drinking banquets in the countryside", and specially digging a pond next to Luoshui, communicating with Luoshui. It lasted more than 20 years and was built in the seventh year of King Kang. After its completion, King Kang named it the Biyong Pavilion, most of which were built around the Bichi, which was used to teach the royal family and the children of the princes with the surname Ji to learn the six arts, and later the children of the princes with different surnames were also included. Of course, it was also to gather the legitimate heirs of the vassal states in Wangji as a "hostage" to strengthen the control of the imperial court over the princes.

Zhong Qi's country, Tao State, is a country that cannot be smaller, with a narrow fief and a sparse population, which may not be as big as a city in those big countries. But because the monarch of Tao is the Son of Heaven sacrifice, this identity has been passed down from generation to generation since the Yellow Emperor period, so when King Wu divided the world, there was also a family among the princes of the eight hundred countries, and they were the earl. Zhong Qi, as the prince of Tao Guo and the successor of the future Son of Heaven sacrifice, is also qualified to come to Biyong Hall to study.

However, although he is nominally an earl, he is completely incomparable to the counts of those big countries. Zhong Qi's country is too small, and even the monarch's family does not have slaves, Zhong Qi can't have slaves around to serve like other classmates, and his three meals a day can only be solved by the public chef in the museum.

Today's morning food is millet porridge. Although the name is millet porridge, most of the porridge is made up of millet. Zhong Qi doesn't care, that's what he usually eats at home. He looked at the two roommates sitting next to him, both snoring and eating sweetly, and couldn't help but feel a strange feeling.

The one sitting on Zhong Qi's left is called Ji Bohu, the crown prince of Yu Kingdom. He was originally the eldest son of Duke Yu, but when his mother died, Duke Yu straightened Mrs. Fang, and the son born to Mrs. Fang changed from a concubine to a son-in-law, and he also became the second son. Fortunately, Duke Yu missed his deceased wife and still retained his status as the crown prince. Originally, according to his status as the prince of the principality, he could live in the upper house of a single dormitory, and there were four slaves to serve, but this prince of Yu Guo went to the lower house where students from a small country like Zhong Qi lived, and became roommates with Zhong Qi. Ji Bohu is bold.,There's no shelf of the prince of the principality.,I like to dance with guns and swords on weekdays.,The talent for archery and the two classes is extremely high.,It's the favorite student of the gentleman who teaches the archery class and the royal class.。 He was born tall and big, and he was born with divine power, and in the weekday fighting training, he had no opponent in the whole hall students, and he could be called the first person in the entire Biyong Hall students.

The one sitting on the right side of Zhong Qi is called Bo Jiang, and he is the son of Qing Hebo, the secretary of Qi State. Qi is a big country, the only country with the right to conquer among the eight hundred princes, and it is the head of all the princes. The identity of the prince of Qi State, although he may not be able to live in the upper house, at least there is no problem in living in the middle house of the double bedroom. But this prince of Qi is also the same as the prince of Yu State, and he went to live in the lower house alone. According to his own words, it was because there were too many students from their Qi country, and he was disgusted with how noisy people were, so he came here to hide in Qingjing. Bo Jiang is a smart and clever person, but he is very lazy in his studies, and his grades in each class are at the bottom, according to the evaluation of Mr. Pavilion, he is "unable to open a bow on a horse, unable to hold the reins when getting on a car, and a mess of etiquette", and has become a representative of the backward students in the Biyong Pavilion.

With the dignity of these two brothers, they must be dressed in fine clothes and jade food at home, but at this moment, they are accompanying Zhong Qi here to eat millet porridge mixed with more than half of the millet, and they are actually willing to eat it, and Zhong Qi's strange feeling comes from this.

The general ate slowly, and when he saw that Ji Bohu had finished eating, he said, "What are you anxious about, there is no class this morning." ”

Ji Bohu said excitedly: "There is no class, and the morning is the ceremony to welcome the new batch of students." ”

Zhong Qi and Bo Jiang knew that what made Ji Bohu excited was not the arrival of new students, but that among the new students in this class, there were female students.

Since its establishment, there has never been a female student in the building. The reason why I was able to have female students to study this time was Wang Ji of the Great Zhou Dynasty - Ji Man, the sister of the son of today and the ruling Zhou Gong. Ji Man has turned fifteen years old this year, and when he reaches the age of Ji, he should be married according to the etiquette system, and the princes of all countries are staring at Wang Ji, after all, the Son of Heaven and the Duke of Zhou are such a only sister-in-law, if they can marry, then the status of the country must be much more noble. It's a pity that this Wang Ji made a lot of noise when she heard someone talk about marriage to her, and she didn't obey, and the two brothers came to persuade to no avail, and then she was annoyed by others, and she was even more willful, and wanted to go to Biyong Hall to learn the six arts, according to her own words, it was "the boy who is there, I will win". After making trouble like this a few times, the Son of Heaven and Zhou Gong still doted on this sister after all, and finally allowed her. However, the more than 200 students in the Biyong Pavilion were all men, and Wang Ji, a female student, was too disagreeable, so in addition to finding Ji Wuyu, the daughter of Hou Qinghou in a few rooms, to read to Wang Ji, he also selected ten school-age female sons from various vassal states to study with Wang Ji. In this way, the Biyong Hall ushered in the first batch of female students since its completion.

As early as before the spring break, the news of a female student coming to study had already spread among the students of Biyongkan, and it became a hot topic for a while. After the spring break, the young men in the museum are looking forward to the arrival of new students day and night, in fact, they are looking forward to the arrival of female students - this boring study life can finally add some fresh colors.

The wind in late spring and March still had a little coolness, but it couldn't extinguish the heat in the hearts of these male students. The square outside the pond was densely packed with people, and everyone was looking forward to seeing what the new female students were like.

Because Yafu, the priest of the Biyong Pavilion, was still fighting on the front line of the Northern Underworld with the Duke of Zhou at this time, this year's welcome ceremony was presided over by the deputy priest Lifu. This old man is a native of Lu, who once served as a teacher in the imperial court, taught etiquette, and attached great importance to etiquette regulations. As usual, he first led all the teachers and students to look at Hojing and worship, and then exhorted the students to be grateful for the kindness of the Son of Heaven.

The new students lined up in two rows and slowly walked in. At the front were thirty male students from various countries, and after the male students, there were twelve long-awaited female students. The two led by female students, dressed luxuriously and dignifiedly, thought to be Wang Ji Ji Man and Qinghou's son-in-law Ji speechless. Behind Wang Ji was a woman dressed in black, with a face like frost and her eyes not squinting. Next to the woman in black, a woman in colorful clothes stared left and right with a pair of big eyes, as if she was very curious about her surroundings.

Ji Bohu poked the general beside him and asked, "Look at the one in black behind Wang Ji, look at her clothes, she seems to be a witch!" ”

General Bo has always been the most well-informed, and he replied: "That's right, this woman of the Wu clan, whose name is Wu Ping, is the daughter of the envoy of the Zhou envoy of the Wu Sect. I heard that when she was in Hojing, she lived in the Linfeng Pavilion of Wu Ru, the preparatory elder of the Wu clan, and her status was very unusual. ”

Ji Bohu asked again: "The one next to the witch man, is that demon clan?" What's her name? ”

Bo Jiang said: "That demon woman, her name is Ya Li, I heard that she is the daughter of an elder of the demon clan. ”

Among the female students this time, there are two international students from the witch clan and the demon clan, and many well-informed students have long known about it. Legend has it that the demon people are unrestrained by nature and informal, and the demon women are also very casual in their clothes, often wearing only a few strips of cloth on their bodies, exposing most of their bodies. Most of the expectations of these male students are on this female student of the demon clan, and they really want to see the strange costumes of the alien race, and those clothes that can't be covered......

However, these male students were disappointed, the female student of the demon clan in front of them, although the clothes she was wearing were colorful and exotic, but like other female students, she was tightly wrapped from top to bottom, and she really couldn't see anything. Just when everyone was disappointed, suddenly a light breeze blew, and the clothes on the demon schoolgirl's body floated up, revealing snow-white shoulders and arms, and it turned out that her clothes were only tied around her wrists and waist. There was a low cry among the male students, and they all craned their necks to watch. The female students of the demon clan didn't care either, looking forward to their posture and smiling smartly. The old man had to shout and restrain these rude disciples.

Just as the eyes of many male students were attracted away by the female students of the demon clan, Zhong Qi's eyes were firmly fixed on the person at the end of the team from beginning to end. The schoolgirl was slender, not wearing the same luxurious clothes as the people in front of her, and wore a red gold mask on her face, the mask was the image of a ghost, with a green face and fangs, which made people shudder to look at. Such a delicate little person, but wearing such a vicious mask, makes people feel very weird to watch.

Zhong Qi knew that the female student wearing the mask was the daughter of the monarch of his country's neighbor, the Qin State. Before returning to Biyong Hall at the end of spring break, his father repeatedly told him that Tao Guo and Qin Guo have been friends for generations, and his son is younger than him, and he must take good care of him when he goes to school away from home this time. However, his father forgot, or deliberately ignored it, that this son was precisely the source of Zhong Qi's nightmare.

At this time, Ji Bohu also noticed the strange man wearing a red gold mask, so he asked the general: "Look at the person at the back, wearing a mask, mysterious and mysterious, which country is she from?" Why do you need to wear a mask? ”

General Bo glanced at it and said, "It seems to be from Qinguo...... Hey, Qin Guo and Tao Guo are next to each other, why is she wearing a mask, you can ask Zhong Qi about this, he must know. ”

Ji Bohu turned to Zhong Qi: "You heard it all, tell me about it." ”

Zhong Qi had no choice but to say: "Qin Kingdom, like our Tao Kingdom, the monarch is the sacrifice of the Son of Heaven, and the descendants of the monarch are also the heirs of the sacrifice. According to the tradition of the Qin Kingdom, the face of the sacrifice itself was part of the ritual of the festival, and their female sacrifices, before the first formal ceremony, the face was not allowed to be seen by men other than the clan, so masks were worn. Red gold masks are worn only in formal occasions, and they usually wear other, lighter masks. ”

Ji Bohu said curiously: "There are such strange rules." Then he joked to Zhong Qi, "Zhong Qi, you are also a sacrifice, why don't you also wear a mask?" ”

Zhong Qi said angrily: "Why am I wearing a mask?" I'm not a woman, and that's not the rule of our Tao country! ”

Ji Bohu smiled, and asked Bo Jiang to ask for information about other female students.

Zhong Qi returned his gaze to his son and sighed softly.

Zhong Qi finished the elective spell class in the afternoon, and as soon as he returned to the dormitory, he was caught by the uncle and Ji Bohu, and pressed to the couch and sat down.

I saw Ji Bohu smiling and said, "You kid, you are very dishonest!" ”

Zhong Qi didn't know why, and asked in amazement, "What are you doing here?" ”

The general said: "In our house, there are people who are not righteous enough and have something to hide from their brothers. Zhong Qi, who do you say this person is? ”

Zhong Qi's heart sank, knowing that he couldn't hide it, so he could only ask stubbornly, "What are you talking about?" ”

"Still unwilling to be honest?" Bo Jiang approached Zhong Qi and said with a narrow face: "You say, what is the matter between you and the female priestess of the Qin Kingdom?" ”

Zhong Qi saw that the general had already said this, and he knew that he could no longer hide it, so he said honestly: "Our Tao country and the neighboring Qin country are both responsible for the sacrifice of the Son of Heaven, and they have always been sacrificed together by husband and wife, so our two countries have intermarried for generations. I and the ...... of Qinguo" Zhong Qi paused, and then said: "That son-in-law, the two of us have had a marriage contract since childhood. ”

Seeing that Zhong Qi honestly admitted it, the eyes of the two generals Ji Bohu and Ji Bohu looked at him with a bit of sympathy.

"Alas, at a young age, marriage has already become a certainty, and manpower cannot be changed." The young general patted Zhong Qi's shoulder and said in an old tone, "Xingye? Isn't it lucky? ”

Zhong Qi didn't care: "Lucky or unlucky, who knows?" ”

Bo Jiang nodded, originally wanted to praise Zhong Qi's attitude, but suddenly thought that his future marriage match would also be decided by his father, probably to marry a certain secretary or family in China, the best case is to marry the daughter of a monarch, they are beautiful or ugly at the moment, what is the difference between themselves and Zhong Qi? I couldn't help but sigh heavily.

The young general did not know that youth limited his imagination, and his future marriage was far more wonderful than his reverie at the moment.

Zhong Qi stood up, saluted General Ji Bohu, and said, "This matter, please keep this matter secret for me, don't spread it." ”

"Don't spread the word?" The general laughed and said, "Both of us heard it from the outside!" There are many people in this Biyong Pavilion who have hands and eyes to the sky, and this bit of thing about yours is only afraid that the entire Biyong Pavilion will know about it at this moment. ”

Sure enough, as the uncle said, on the second day, the son of Huo Guo Ji Trance and the son of Yang Guo Yao Chong next door came over to Zhong Qi to ask about the marriage contract, and in the next few days, there were familiar classmates who came to ask. Later, even some classmates who were not familiar with it found opportunities to ask around the bush, which made Zhong Qi very annoying, but he could not avoid it. Whenever he encountered such a situation after that, he simply admitted it honestly, and it saved trouble. Fortunately, Zhong Qi is usually low-key, and the son of Qinguo is not public, and after a long time, everyone's attention and topic will return to Wang Ji and the two international students.

The Biyong Pavilion is built according to the mountains and rivers, with Luoshui in the south and Bishan in the north. The Bishan Mountain behind the museum is not tall, its height is not more than 100 miles, and the mountain is full of green trees. What is rare is that there is a small red leaf forest at the top of the mountain, and this red leaf forest is very similar to the Danlin in his hometown of Zhener Mountain, which makes Zhong Qi very surprised. He wrote down the words "Danlin Place" on the tallest tree in the autumn leaf forest, and whenever he was homesick or troubled, he would come here and sit on the high branches of the red leaf forest and watch the sun go down. This secret base, he didn't even tell General Bo and Ji Bohu, this is a world he wants to enjoy alone.

At this moment, Zhong Qi was sitting on the tree in the "Danlin Place", bathed in the dim light of the setting sun. Thinking of these troubles he had encountered recently, Zhong Qi let out a long breath. He was about to stretch a big waist, but out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a figure climbing to the top of the mountain, towards this red leaf forest. When the man got closer, Zhong Qi looked intently and saw that the man was slender and wore a leather mask on his face.

I saw that Xizi came to the red leaf forest, chose a tree not far from Zhongqi, and climbed it neatly with his hands and feet. The branch that the son climbed was a little lower than where Zhong Qi was, and Zhong Qi hid his figure among the dense leaves, wondering in his heart: What is she doing here?

Zhong Qi's mind spun a few times, and he suddenly understood. I like to come to this autumn leaf forest because the scenery here is similar to that of my hometown Danlin, and I can talk about homesickness here. Tao and Qin are both located at the foot of the Chener Mountain, so why is Danlin not the hometown of Xizi!

Thinking of this, Zhong Qi was relieved. He is willing to share this "Danlin place" and the sunset in front of him with people from another hometown. He was light and did not allow himself to make a sound, so as not to frighten his son.

He leaned lightly against the trunk of the tree and adjusted into a comfortable position. At this time, half of the sun had sunk behind the distant mountain, and half of the sky was dyed red, and Luoshui, Pichi, and Mingtang Palace under the mountain were shining golden under the light of the setting sun.

The Biyong Pavilion ended the hustle and bustle of the day and ushered in another ordinary night.