The sky was overcast, and the howling wind was mixed with snow particles.

A two-story restaurant in the imperial capital city is as warm as spring, and the guest house is full.

... Start 1

This building is called Liuquan Building, which is a first-class restaurant in the outer city, and it is also a time-honored brand that has been inherited for hundreds of years.

On the second floor, there were two people sitting opposite each other, one of them was an old man with a white beard, looking out the window at the fine snow, and the other was a Taoist of about the same age, who was closing his eyes and recuperating.

At this time, there was a storyteller in the lobby on the first floor, one person, one table, one chair and one waking wood, compiling the emperor's generals into a story and telling the story.

At this time, it was the story of Li Xiaocheng, the general of the Great Chu Dynasty, who defended the river, and said that Li Xiaocheng beat the general of Houjian to death with one punch, which attracted a cheer from the diners in the restaurant.

The old man watching the snow upstairs lowered the curtains, retracted his gaze, and said to his companion who was closing his eyes and recuperating: "This eastern capital, I haven't been here for some years, compared with a few decades ago, it hasn't changed much, this snow is still so soft, in fact, the snow inside the gate is the same, much softer than the snow outside the gate." The snow outside the fortress will kill people, but the snow inside this pass can be used as a scenery for scholars. Of course, it is not absolute, after all, Zhumen's wine and meat stink, and there are frozen bones on the road. ”

The Taoist didn't open his eyes, but said lightly: "This is not like your temperament, how can you still learn to hurt the flower and the moon?"

The person who spoke before said calmly: "I just lamented the impermanence of the world, I didn't believe in fate before, and I always felt that one day I could change the sun and the moon into a new sky, but after going through a lot of things, I knew that I still couldn't escape a fateful word, sometimes I was thinking, if I didn't have this noble surname, but a child from a civilian family, what would be the situation now." ”

The Taoist was a little intrigued by these words, opened his eyes, and asked, "What do you think?"

This old man, who has been a lonely man for many years, finally found a person who can talk calmly, without the slightest intention of hiding it, and sighed: "If I was just born in a family of ordinary people, and there is no family background to rely on, I will never be where I am today. ”

The Taoist was thoughtful.

The old man sighed and said: "If that's the case, I won't be able to eat with you here at this time, but nest in a certain house, either lying half-dead, or trembling with crutches, it is difficult to walk, even if I am lucky, my body is still strong, and I can press a begonia with a pear flower, it is at most the life of a rich man." This is fate, some people are born to sit in the world, and some people struggle all their lives, but they still can't get on the stage. The biggest injustice in the world is nothing more than this, so there are so many people in the world who are disobedient, and some people will shout out the sentence "My life is up to me. ”

The Taoist plays with the taste: "Then do you believe in fate or not?"

The old man said lightly: "What is life? The ancient sages said very clearly, the word life, as soon as a person knocks, you believe it, obey it, and kowtow, this is the acceptance of fate." As for me, I used to disagree with my fate, and now I don't recognize it either. ”

The Taoist laughed.

At this time, the storyteller downstairs finished talking about Dachu Li Xiaocheng and began to talk about the affairs of this dynasty.

First said that the first emperor went to the grassland alone, then said that the grassland battle, said that Xu Lin sent troops, said that the flooded army, and finally said that the first emperor and the head of the Taoist sect entered the central capital in parallel.

The old man held the wine bowl in his hand, and listened to the storyteller's eloquent voice with an expressionless face, but he did not move for a long time.

It wasn't until the storyteller finished speaking that the old man drank the rice wine in his hand, looked at the gloom outside the window, and sighed softly: "Xiao Yu." ”

......

Hanfu.

Two old men of similar ages sat in front of the hall, looking at the fine snow outside the hall, and drinking hot tea slowly.

Among them, the old man sitting in the guest seat was dressed in a black crane, his slightly black white hair was tied up by a hosta, and his face was calm, which made the maid standing on the side a little numb.

As for the other old man, he is by no means an ordinary person, even higher than Duanmu Ruisheng, the master of the Han Mansion, when the second assistant Han Xuan, if it weren't for this old man to come out of the mountain again, then today's temple is still Lan Xiangye's hall.

Han Xuan took a sip of hot tea, then put the teacup aside, and asked softly, "Duanmu, when was the last time we sat together and drank tea?"

Duanmu Ruisheng didn't care about what Han Xuan called him, and said with a smile: "Wenbi, this is difficult for me, I remember very clearly, it was the twenty-third day of the twelfth month of the nineteenth year of Taiping, and it was also a bleak situation of late Tiantian wanting snow." ”

Han Xuan took a deep look at Duanmu Ruisheng, who was once a "fellow practitioner", and said with a slight smile: "That's really a few years, counting on your fingers, more than twenty-three years, which is really not short." ”

Duanmu Ruisheng sighed lightly, "At that time, Xu Yan was still alive, and the three of us enjoyed the snow and drank all night around the fireplace, and it was a great pleasure to think about it so far." ”

"Xu Yan. Han Xuan laughed, meaning incomprehensibly: "He is the successor of His Majesty's blue phase, but he has no such blessing, but it is a pity that he passed away at the age of knowing the destiny of heaven." ”

Duanmu Ruisheng gently turned the teacup in his hand, there was no trace on his face, and he also nodded and sighed: "It's indeed a pity." ”

Because of the princess's marriage, the Duanmu family and the Han family were already on opposite sides, and they almost tore the last face, and later made a fuss about Qiutai, saying that it was not wrong to regard each other as enemies, the reason why Duanmu Ruisheng put down his face and came to Han Xuan's mansion was because of his agreement with Xu Beiyou, Xu Beiyou took action to remove the sword qi of Zhuxian in Duanmu Yu's body, and he offered Wu Lezhi's hands.

At this time, there was an iron cage in the courtyard in front of the hall, which was not covered at all, allowing the snowflakes to fall on it, and there was a person in the iron cage whose hands and feet were restrained by iron chains, and his hair was unkempt, and the snowflakes stuck to it, which made him even more embarrassed.

This person is Wu Lezhi, who followed Zhang Zhaonu south to Jiangdu earlier, and now he has become a prisoner under the stairs, and he no longer has the vigor when he pointed out the country that day.

Han Xuan glanced at Wu Lezhi in the cage and asked, "This is Zhang Zhaonu's brainstorm?"

Duanmu Ruisheng said lightly: "This person's name is Wu Lezhi, originally depressed in the south of the Yangtze River, maybe because of the south orange and the north orange, and then went to Jiangbei with Zhang Zhaonu, soared into the sky, and helped Zhang Zhaonu make waves in Jiangbei and made a lot of efforts, if it weren't for Zhang Zhaonu's protection, it would be more than enough for these people to die ten times on crime." ”

Han Xuan snorted and didn't speak.

About half an hour later, the wind and snow were sudden, Feng Lang walked briskly and whispered a word in Han Xuan's ear.

Han Xuan nodded, looked at Duanmu Ruisheng and said, "It's okay to return to the south, let's go over." ”

When the two old men arrived at a secret room, the room was still filled with a bloody smell that was so thick that it could barely be dissolved.

Duanmu Yu was lying on the bed, already asleep.

Xu Beiyou's hands were covered with blood, and he reached into the copper basin to slowly wash it.

Duanmu Ruisheng frowned slightly, but Han Xuan was calm.

After Xu Beiyou washed his hands, he looked at the blood in his eyes, and said softly: "The Zhuxian Sword Qi in Duanmu Gongzi's body has been completely removed and withdrawn by me, but it only hurts the vitality, and it will be good to raise it for a few more days." ”