Vermilion Bird City, one of the important towns of the Great Xia Border Pass.

It has been five years since the iron cavalry of the Jiang clan of Great Xia dominated the barren grasslands and established the hegemony of the southern region.

This year, winter ended exceptionally early.

Although it is only February now, even in the border areas, there is a warm taste of spring.

Peace was not easy to come by, and now it is far from the chaos of war.

Suzaku City, a military town in the former frontier area, is also becoming more and more prosperous.

There is an unnamed ancient temple not far from Suzaku Castle, I don't know when it was built, but it seems to be older than Suzaku Castle, which has a history of more than 1,000 years.

In the early years, because of the years of war with the Wolf Tinglan clan of the barren grassland, this temple has been abandoned for a long time.

With the gradual peace now, the former deserted temple has gradually resumed its former incense and become prosperous.

"Jiang Xiaoman, you run slowly, beware of angering the gods enshrined in the temple!"

"Sister Moli, it's obvious that you're not fast enough, don't rely on me!"

The girl's coquettishness came, followed by the laughter of the boy, and the voice carried a hint of laziness.

"I said two little ancestors, this is not a place for you to play, give me some peace!"

In the small courtyard of this temple, an old man who seemed to be guarding the temple looked at the two young men and girls chasing not far in front of him with a little headache, and shouted urgently.

The boy was not big, but he looked like he was eleven or twelve years old, but his body was quite athletic, and he was running around the towering ancient willow in the courtyard with a smug smile on his face.

Behind the boy, a girl of the same age, who was not very old, chased after the boy with an angry face.

The girl looks a few years older than this lazy boy, her posture is also unusually straight, with a scorpion braid standing up behind her, although she is worth cardamom but her facial features are quite delicate, a pair of slender and slender eyes, at this moment, because of the behavior of the annoyed teenager, she squints slightly and has a unique style, it is not difficult to see that she must be a beauty embryo when she grows up.

At this time, it may be too early.

There are not many pilgrims who come to the ancient temple to worship, and the temple, which is not very large, does not seem to be very noisy.

The boy was eventually caught by the panting girl, and the two looked at each other for a moment but both laughed.

"Grandpa Liu, we still have to listen to your story today!"

After the frolic, the two of them finally quieted down, sitting back to back in front of the ancient tree, looking at the old man who was sitting cross-legged on the opposite side with two pairs of eyes, and almost said in unison.

"Two little scoundrels, they've had enough of playing around and started to plague my old man again!"

In the face of two innocent teenagers, the old man was always unable to refuse, so he helplessly smiled and scolded, and then changed to a serious expression.

"That was three hundred years ago, this place was not as prosperous as it is now, I remember that at that time, it was the fifth generation of the Great Xia Dynasty who was guarding this Vermilion Bird City, he was born in the Jiang family of the Great Xia royal family, and was the sixth son of the emperor of that generation, but he did not have the majesty of the prince, and seemed to be called Jiang Ponu............

The old man's voice was melodious, with a hint of vicissitudes, and those past events hundreds of years ago seemed to come out of his mouth as if they were personal experiences.

The two teenagers listened to it with relish, although the story of the old man was not a mythical story that the teenagers loved, it was all about the past of the border land and the Great Xia Dynasty, but it did not affect the interest of the two people in listening to the story.

Unconsciously, the number of pilgrims in the temple gradually increased.

The sun was on the clock, and it was almost noon.

"Grandpa Liu, what about later!, where did the fifth-generation Zhenbian Army last command the border army and the Qin Dynasty who invaded the northern territory of my Great Xia Dynasty to pacify the Qin Dynasty that invaded the northern territory of my Great Xia Dynasty, where did he go?"

The young man was listening attentively, but the old man's story suddenly paused and stopped talking, and he couldn't help but ask eagerly.

"Later, Jiang Xiaoman, a stinky guy, took his sister to not go home and was going to be beaten by his beautiful mother!"

The old man smiled, and behind the young man stood a beautiful woman Lin raised her eyebrows slightly, and said angrily.

This beautiful woman is not very old, in her early thirties, but she is very well maintained, but at this time, it may be because of the angry young man's behavior of not going home, with a trace of anger on her face, but there is also a trace of different beauty.

"Mother, don't beat me, the barbarian knows it's wrong!"

Hearing the voice of the beautiful woman mixed with anger, the young man was clever, and he didn't get up, but turned around directly and hugged the beautiful woman's thighs and said pitifully, but a pair of bright eyes were purring and turning.

"Aunt Lin don't blame the barbarian, today is all Mo Li's fault, Grandpa Liu's story is too exciting, because Mo Li forgot the time when he heard the gods, and didn't take the barbarian home. ”

Beside Jiang Xiaoman, the girl with scorpion braids also hurriedly got up and said coquettishly to the beautiful woman, and secretly glared at the lazy young man as she spoke, if it wasn't for chasing Jiang Xiaoman today, how could she forget the time and be blamed by Aunt Lin later.

"Okay, no more scaring you!"

The beautiful young woman stared at the two of them with a pair of beautiful eyes, but in the end, she didn't burst into laughter.

"There are guests coming to the house later, and the two little ones should come home with me soon!"

Lin Mei couldn't get angry with the two little guys who were greedy for fun and forgot their time, and said helplessly.

Over the years, although there has been no war at the border pass, Jiang Yao has become even busier, not only to deal with the reproaches of those brothers in the hinterland of the dynasty and the forces behind them, but also the construction of the border has not stopped at all.

Because of this, since Jiang Moli came to Vermilion Bird City five years ago, most of the two children's diet and daily life have been handled by Lin Mei.

There is a saying that a loving mother has many defeated children, although Lin Mei loves both children very much, but Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Mo are not angry and do not become losers, but they are naughty but far better than their peers.

"Uncle Liu, these two children have made you worry again!"

For the old man guarding the ancient temple, Lin Mei was very respectful, leading Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Moli to the left and right, and bowed slightly to the old man.

"It's okay, the old man is boring and tight on weekdays, and I like these two little guys very much. The old man waved his hand and said with a smile:

"It's an old man, who has been taken care of by General Jiang all these years, so he has this place where he can spend his old age in peace. ”

What the old man said is also true, the border has become more and more prosperous in recent years because of peace.

It is precisely because of this that many people who were displaced by war and turmoil in the border areas between the former Great Xia and the barren grasslands had a place to live.

Five years is not enough time to erase the pain caused by the years of war for the people in the border areas, but it is enough for them to forget a lot.

This old man who guards the temple came here five years ago with the expansion of Suzaku City.

Later, the ancient temple was rebuilt, and the old man lived in this ancient temple, cleaning the temple on weekdays, and burning incense and wax at night was also done conscientiously.

And since the old man who guarded the temple came, for Jiang Xiaoman, this ancient temple has been the place where he has lingered the most in the past five years.

Because every time I come, I can hear different interesting stories from the old man.

"Uncle Liu......?"

"How long can a decaying ancient willow keep them?" Looking at the back of Liu Mei holding the two children away, the old man laughed at himself and said to himself, his cloudy eyes with a hint of indescribable kindness: "At least, you must hold on until you watch the little barbarian grow up!"

Behind him, the towering ancient willow tree, its branches swaying in the wind, although it seems to be lush, full of majestic vitality.

However, under the dragon-like bark on the trunk of the tree, it was already full of mottled cracks and decay.

has lived for too long, and it seems that this old tree, which has grown for thousands of years and witnessed the changes of the border land for thousands of years, is about to come to the end of its life.