To the north of Jiankang Imperial Palace, Taicheng is the place where the princes and generals of the Eastern Jin Dynasty are located, and the Shenwu General's Mansion of Shi Ning is also located here, although it is not as magnificent as the Prime Minister's Mansion of Taifu Xie An and the General's Mansion of Xie Shi and Xie Xuan, but it is also a large mansion that ranks among the best in Jiankang City.

Recently, General Shenwu's mansion often has guests to visit, in front of the mansion is endless, on this day, Shangqing sent Yang Xi and others to say goodbye.

Above the hall, the main seat was always vacant, Shi Ning invited Yang Xi and others to sit in the banquet hall and arranged for Yang Xi to take a seat.

Yang Xi hurriedly got up and pushed and said: "Marquis Wuling is the master of this Shenwu General's Mansion and the leader of the Martial Arts Alliance, so he should sit on this seat." ”

Shi Ningqian conceded: "Yang Guoshi is the protector of the country appointed by the emperor, and he was my mentor, the teacher is great, please take a seat!"

Helplessly, Yang Xi didn't allow it, and the two had long lost the master-apprentice relationship, so they had to sit side by side.

"I wanted to keep Yang Guoshi to live in the mansion for a few more days, but I didn't expect that Guoshi was about to say goodbye. Shi Ning instructed his subordinates to look at the tea and said slowly.

"Yang's merits are meager, the emperor is very ashamed of such hospitality, if it is peaceful today, I will take the surviving disciples of the Shangqing faction back to Maoshan to rest. "Yang Xi these days with the Shangqing faction meritorious disciples live in the palace Taicheng, weekdays in Maoshan every morning to practice, meditation and practice, this city is prosperous where is a place of Qing cultivation, and after the battle of the water, the Shangqing faction suffered heavy losses, Yang Xi will be anxious to go back to regain his strength, otherwise the Jin Emperor's imperial gift of "the first authentic Taoist" will be exaggerated.

"Cao Long and Yuan Cen are now captains of the Beifu Military Academy, do you want to go back to Maoshan first?" Shi Ning said as he looked at the two.

Cao Long replied: "At present, there is no war in the world, and the emperor has authorized the two of us to hang this lieutenant position in the army, and we can still go back to Maoshan to deal with the affairs of the rivers and lakes, and if there is a war, we will recall it immediately." ”

Shi Ning nodded and said, "That's the best!"

After tasting a cup of tea, Yang Xi took the disciples of the Qing faction to say goodbye, and Shi Ning sent it to the door of the mansion.

When saying goodbye, Shi Ning arched his hand and said: "Yang Guoshi and all the knights take care all the way!"

Yang Xi was very uncomfortable when he heard Shi Ning take a bite of a "national teacher", and said: "Marquis Wuling still calls me Heavenly Master, now the Shangqing faction has become the weakest faction in Taoism, and the 'Protector Master' is worthy of it!"

Shi Ning said: "Whether it is Yang Guoshi or Yang Tianshi, you are the first master of Taoism!"

Yang Xi said: "The first grandmaster does not dare to be, I, Yang Xi, will definitely revive the grandeur of the Shangqing faction, if one day the Marquis of Wuling needs to be sent to the Shangqing faction, my Shangqing faction will obey the orders of the alliance leader, don't dare not disobey!"

Shi Ning didn't speak, and after seeing Yang Xi and the disciples of the Shangqing Sect walk away, he silently said in his heart: "Where am I worthy of being the leader of the Martial Arts Alliance, I'm just a reckless man." He shook his head, sighed, and walked back to the mansion sadly.

When passing through the water pavilion in the back garden, I saw four women chatting in the pavilion from a distance, and when I walked in, it turned out to be Liu Shuzhen, the wife of Ran Shu and Xie Yao, and the two maidservants, Jun'er and Xin'er, the pavilion was in the low-lying place behind the rockery, backed by a big cedar tree, Shi Ning wanted to approach and greet them, but heard what they were saying, Shi Ning said in his heart: "The girl's chat, I can't interject as a big man in the past." "Just listen to what they have to say.

I saw that Liu Shuzhen took off the golden hairpin on the headdress and said: "Sister Shu'er, you see that this is the golden hairpin that Xie Dasha gave me, do you think it looks good?"

Ran Shu took it over and took a closer look, there was a lifelike golden phoenix carved on it, which was very exquisite, and she was full of praise: "It's really beautiful, I didn't expect General Xie Ying to pick such a beautiful hairpin." ”

Liu Shuzhen said with a smile: "Don't look at Xie Yao's usual stupidity on the surface, but he is not stupid, after the decisive battle of Weishui, there is no war in the country, and there is no major event when he is idle at home, he actually learned to read and write poetry seriously, and a few days ago he attached a poem to this golden hairpin box he gave me!"

"What is written in this poem?"

It's really a love poem, Liu Shuzhen blushed, embarrassed to read it, and Jun'er and Xin'er, who were smiling on the side, read in unison: "Drunk dream battlefield armor, wake up in the house to see Shuzhen!"

"What are you two little hooves talking about! See if I don't hit you!" Liu Shuzhen said and called Jun'er and Xin'er, her face flushed.

"Oh, look, he kicked me!" Liu Shuzhen said happily as she stroked the fetus in her belly.

Ran Shu, Jun'er, and Xin'er came over to touch Liu Shuzhen's belly, and giggled: "Hehe, it's amazing!"

"Maybe it was the child in Sister Shuzhen's womb who listened to his father's limerick poem, and was unconvinced, so he just said, 'It's better to let me compose a poem for my mother!'" Ran Shu said, causing several people to laugh again. (Author's note: The son of Xie Yao and Liu Shuzhen is Xie Lingyun, a famous landscape poet in the later Northern and Southern Dynasties.) ）

After laughing, Ran Shu took the fish food but did not put it into the pond, but just stared blankly at the reflection in the pond, thoughtful.

Liu Shuzhen said: "Sister Shu'er, just talking about me, when will you and the Marquis of Wuling get married?"

Ran Shu smiled bitterly: "Don't mention him, he only cares about revenge for the country, where can he take care of me!"

"Now that the world is peaceful, everyone in the world is in the joy of victory, Wuling Marquis has made great achievements and achieved fame, why don't you become happy and happy as soon as possible!"

Although he has made great contributions to the Great Jin, his revenge for killing his father and mother has not yet been avenged, and he will not consider the love of his children. Ran Shu sighed.

"I think the Marquis of Wuling is usually very good to you, why don't I tell the emperor for you, let the emperor be the master of the marriage, how about this good thing?" Liu Shuzhen was precisely because of Princess Xin'an's matchmaking that she and Xie Ying formed a husband and wife in the same forest, she was two years older than Xie Yao, when I first met Xie Yao, I saw Xie Ying stupidly, he was a stupid general, and then I slowly understood that Xie Ying was just a little dull, and his heart was not stupid.

Ran Shu was silent, and Liu Shuzhen was inconvenient to say anything about it, so Jun'er broke the embarrassment and said, "Why don't we come and play with the calamus?"

"Okay, okay, I heard that Shu'er's sister Zhu Pu had a good time, and even Liu Yu, who was known as the first gambling god of the Beifu Army, was a defeated general. ”

The four of them laughed again and played happily.

"Don't play, don't play, it's always Shu'er's sister who wins!" Liu Shuzhen was a little tired, and after the calamus and Caimu were all cleared, the chips in front of her were lost.

"It's not early, sister Shu'er, I'll go back first, let's continue next time I go to Xie Mansion!" Liu Shuzhen saw that it was getting late, so she led Jun'er and Xin'er to say goodbye and go home.

Shi Ning has been hiding behind the big cedar tree, and as soon as Liu Shuzhen and the others left, he walked out from behind the big cedar tree, pretending to say: "Shu'er, I have been looking for you for a long time, you are really here!"

Ran Shu was not surprised, and said slowly: "As soon as this sister Shuzhen left with her front foot, you came with her back foot, I'm afraid she was hiding behind the big cedar tree and eavesdropping for a long time!"

Shi Ning touched his head, bared his teeth and grinned: "I can't hide anything from Shu'er!"

"There is no gift for you, this is for you!" I saw Shi Ning hand over a lotus flower.

"You have to be careful to give gifts, and choose fresh and good flowers!"

Shi Ning took the flower and took a closer look, the lotus flower had wilted, "Ah, how can this be!" It turned out that Shi Ning was hiding behind the big cedar tree and eavesdropping on Ran Shu and Liu Shuzhen when she said that when her husband Xie Ying gave her a golden hairpin, he didn't carry a hairpin or hairpin on his body, he looked around, and saw the lotus flowers blooming in the small pond behind him, so he made the three methods of internal cultivation come to a "dragonfly point of water" and picked the largest lotus flower. It's just that I didn't expect that after Liu Shuzhen finished playing with the calamus and colorful wood, the lotus lost its moisture and was not fresh.

Ran Shu "poofed", couldn't help laughing, took the lotus, and said, "Okay, as long as you send it, you want to wilt it!"

I saw Shi Ning looking at Ran Shu stupidly, today she put on the new clothes made of the best brocade given by Emperor Jin, the light pink robe was half covered under the vermilion mouth, and the high waist was wrapped under the mica. Tall and reverie, her charming smile, Shi Ning's heart melted!

"Shu'er, you are as beautiful as this lotus!" Shi Ning said stupidly.

"This lotus flower is wilted, and you still say that I am the same as the lotus flower, you!" Ran Shuye frowned lightly and said with a pout.

"I... I didn't mean that!" Shi Ning realized that he had said the wrong thing, and it was difficult to argue.

"Okay, I don't care about you!"

"Shu'er, I want to discuss something with you!" Shi Ning said solemnly.

"What's the matter?!" Ran Shu asked with expectant eyes.

"I want to resign from the official position of this Shenwu general, and I don't want the title of Marquis of Wuling... Shi Ning said.

"Why?" Ran Shu said disappointedly, she thought that Shi Ning was going to discuss the matter of marriage with her.

"If it's peaceful today, and there is no war, I'm used to idle clouds and wild cranes, and I don't want to be this caged bird in this general's mansion!"

"Then Brother Shi Ning, have you figured out where to go?"

"Go to the north!" Shi Ning said firmly.

"But the north is occupied by the Qin State, and besides, you defeated the Qin State for the Jin State, how can the enemy country tolerate you, the Shenwu General of the Jin State?"

"Before my father died, I promised him that I must go to the north to find the Heavenly Stone! No matter how many difficulties and dangers, I will fulfill my father's last wish!" Shi Ning's eyes gradually moistened, and he slowly faced the west, which was the direction of Wuling County.

Ran Shu took out a silk scarf and wiped away the tears that were about to roll out of the corners of Shi Ning's eyes, she lay on Shi Ning's chest, and said affectionately: "Brother Shi Ning, no matter where you go, I will follow you!"

Shi Ning put his hand on Ran Shu's soft shoulder, looked at her eyes and said: "Shu'er, you have followed me to the northeast and west all these years, and you have suffered a lot, and now it is not easy to live a comfortable life, you can't follow me anymore!"

Ran Shu was about to speak, Shi Ning waved his hand and said, "You will continue to live in the mansion, the emperor said, this Shenwu General's Mansion is my private mansion, although I resigned as an official, but I have also made great contributions to the Great Jin, and the emperor will not be able to speak!"

Ran Shu said affectionately, "Brother Shi Ning, do you remember that four years ago, when I first met you, we made an appointment to go to the north together to find relatives!"

"Remember... Remember, how could I forget, but this is a dangerous place, and I don't want you to suffer any more!"