"Whew~", Ji Lingsheng breathed a sigh of relief at a village in front of him, the journey of nearly half a day made him a little tired, more than 100 miles of rugged mountain roads, except for the freshness at the beginning, the rest of the way was a lot of sightseeing. Ji Lingsheng jumped off the horse, flicked Hei Feng's mane twice, Hei Feng's front hooves soared into the air, and ran away with a long neigh.

Ji Xuan led the horse and walked in front, and Ji Lingsheng followed slowly while twisting his sour arm. The village is not big, and the palm is big, as soon as Ji Lingsheng and the others arrived at the entrance of the village, the gossip spread throughout the village.

The people in the village all stopped at the door of their homes, looking at Ji Lingsheng and the others, and when they saw the people clearly, they raised their heads and shouted: "Come out, it's Master Ji who is here!", and there was a burst of cheers in the village, "And Young Master Ji!" The cheers immediately decreased by ninety percent.

The corners of Ji Lingsheng's mouth twitched, causing Ji Xuan to laugh.

Walking into the village, the villagers flocked up, shouting for Ji Xuan's father and son to go to the house for dinner, Ji Xuan smiled and refused one by one, the villagers' enthusiasm was undiminished, and persuaded the distinguished guests to have no reason to entertain them, forced to helpless, Ji Xuan had to perfunctory and go later, and people stopped.

Ji Lingsheng, who was walking behind Ji Xuan, had anger in his eyes, just because a few women gave him a few looks, like looking at the unlucky child next door who worried about the elders, there was no malice, which caused Ji Lingsheng to have a seizure, so he could only pretend not to see it.

After everyone asked Ji Xuan again, the enthusiasm of the villagers who were too hospitable faded slightly, and after the crowd dispersed, Ji Lingsheng was able to breathe a sigh of relief, he didn't like places that were too lively. Looking at the simple villagers who retreated but turned back to smile at Ji Xuan from time to time, Ji Lingsheng teased, "What benefits do you give them?"

Ji Xuan shook his head, sighed and said: "It's just a small envy, they haven't seen much of the world, they can't compare to rich and noble people, but they can be more people." Ji Lingsheng nodded thoughtfully.

The small village is in the northern part of Siyue country, surrounded by mountains and mountains, except for going to nearby towns to buy daily necessities, there is not much contact with the outside world, and the villagers have relied on cultivating land and cutting firewood to feed generations of people.

The Ji family is considered an outsider, the ancestor of the Ji family came here in a famine, in order to make a living as a teacher, and the Ji family, which was cursed in the eyes of outsiders, is always a single line, but unexpectedly lived extremely tenacious, and never cut off the incense.

A hundred years ago, a well-known general in the chaos of the Five Kingdoms War moved the world, the war exploits were stacked high, to the point that there was no seal, the general may be afraid of the emperor's suspicion, so he handed over the talisman with the new soldiers, and then simply went home to take the children. The general stepped into the secret realm of the monk's dream, became the powerhouse of the mighty side, and settled in the imperial city, but no one knew that he came from such an unknown mountain village.

"Brother Ling Sheng!" A cry of excitement came, and Ji Lingsheng turned his head to see that a child of about ten years old was running from a distance, stirring up dust all the way. Ji Lingsheng waved his sleeves to clear the dust and scolded: "Don't jump around, it's like a monkey on the mountain!"

The boy ignored Ji Lingsheng's stern tone, nor did he see the hint in his eyes, ran to Ji Lingsheng, and shouted: "Brother Lingsheng, my mother didn't let me go to school in the town a few years ago, but I didn't see you. Now, I asked my father to make me an iron slingshot, and I can shoot birds, and let's go to the mountains to dig birds' eggs tomorrow, and yesterday I saw a big eagle on the mountain······"

Ji Xuan heard it clearly, and couldn't help but be happy, Ji Lingsheng's face was hot, and he quickly covered the boy's mouth, for fear of saying something embarrassing about going home. Ji Xuan patted Ji Lingsheng and said that he would go to the villagers' houses to ask for some offerings, and let Ji Lingsheng wander around for a while.

Ji Lingsheng was relieved, and took a breath and said, "It happened a few years ago, what do you say it did!", the boy scratched his head, very puzzled. The boy's name is Liu Yuanqiao, Liu is the surname in the village, and the word Yuanqiao is even more incredible, it is the elders who used a basket of eggs to ask for it from the fortune teller in the town, the boy said this proudly every time, although Ji Lingsheng did not understand the meaning of the word Yuanqiao.

Ji Ling usually called the boy Maverick in his life, in fact, it was a nickname in passing, even if Maverick was very dissatisfied, he couldn't make Ji Lingsheng change his words. The two brothers met four years ago, and Ji Lingsheng was extremely arrogant in the village at that time, and most of the children in the village did not dare to play with him, but the six-year-old calf dared to stare at and provoke Ji Lingsheng.

Later, of course, the calf inevitably gave Ji Lingsheng a good beating, but Ji Lingsheng found that this kid was very suitable for his temper, not only the wit in his skinny eyes, but also some ghost ideas that made Ji Lingsheng amazed, and it was obvious that this kid was definitely not a good embryo, so Ji Lingsheng accepted this little brother very calmly.

Only then did Ji Lingsheng take a closer look at the calf he hadn't seen for a few years, his thin figure, his cloth clothes with a few holes were stained with mud, and even some on his face, the hair on his head looked like he had just been shaved, only a strand of his head was braided, and a pair of big black and white eyes looked bright.

After a few more careful glances, Ji Lingsheng suddenly laughed, the calf was puzzled, and after looking at it for a long time, he found that Ji Lingsheng was laughing at Daddy for his ingenious haircut with big scissors.

The calf blushed and defended: "What are you laughing at, the children of rich families cut it like this!"

Ji Lingsheng smiled and asked, "Who told you?", the little cow said not to be outdone: "My father said, this is still what he shaved me!", Ji Lingsheng laughed even more happily, seeing that the calf seemed to be angry, he had to hold back a smile and said: "It's good, it's good, I haven't seen you for a few years, you still haven't grown up." ”

After chatting with the calf for a while, Ji Xuan found Ji Lingsheng, Ji Xuan held a basket of fruits in his hand, the fruits were scattered, and the color was not good, but it was already good in the village. Ji Xuan said softly: "Let's go, go see your mother and your grandmother." ”

Ji Lingsheng put away his frivolous face and nodded and said yes.

On a green hill not far from Liujia Village, what makes it stand out from the surrounding mountains is not its tall mountain, but the conspicuous cliff at the top of the mountain, this naturally formed mountain peak is called Ghost Knife by the villagers. At this moment there were two men standing on the mountainside, a flat piece of land, next to the cliff, which ran from the mountainside to the top.

Ji Lingsheng looked at the two tombstones in front of him, a little sentimental.

One tombstone is engraved with his beloved wife, and the other is engraved with his loving mother, it seems that both of them are carved by Ji Xuan, because Ji Lingsheng knows that the old man has never been here, maybe because he is afraid of seeing things and thinking about people.

Because of the frequent cleaning, there is not an inch of weeds on the grave, and the surrounding area is not as clean as it can be.

Ji Lingsheng was in a trance, the death of his grandmother made him miserable, and brought Bai Yue, who was suffering from the same illness, into Ji's house. But he didn't have any memory of his mother, and he didn't know how to remember, so he just asked, "Father, what is my mother like?"

Ji Xuan didn't avoid this question this time, showed a gentle smile, and said to Ji Lingsheng: "There is no one in this world who feels more sorry for you than her, when you were not born, your grandfather said that I was unproductive, and he wanted you to take over his mantle, but your mother did not agree, and naming you Jinning is also the same meaning, I hope you will be safe and sound for the rest of your life." However, Ji Lingsheng couldn't fully understand, he could only try to imagine roughly, he sometimes thought that if the person who loved him the most was still alive, he wouldn't be this bastard now.

Ji Xuan walked to the tomb, touched his hand on the cold tombstone, rubbed his thumb on the rough stone, didn't look at Ji Lingsheng's almost sluggish expression, and said softly: "You will know when you become a parent in the future." Ji Lingsheng nodded half-knowingly.

Ji Lingsheng also approached the grave, then sat down, grabbed two handfuls of loess from his hand and sprinkled them on the grave, and asked blankly: "Where will people go when they die?" Ji Xuan frowned, and then smiled with relief, with a mystery in his eyes, and said: "You are still young, you should be a little energetic, and you will think about this when you are old." ”

Ji Lingsheng smiled slightly, noncommittal, just got up and walked to the wooden house in the clearing, which was Ji Xuan's perennial habitat. Ji Xuan still stayed in place, looking at the bulging earthen bag with warm eyes, like the love of his life.

At night, Ji Lingsheng bit a flatbread sent by a villager in his mouth, and asked Ji Xuan on a whim: "Father, have you ever thought about continuing?"

Ji Xuan stood in front of the window, looked at the moon crooked, shook his head and said, "You should ask your grandfather about this." Ji Ling was surprised, no longer asked, and then dealt with the meal with little oil and water in his mouth.

After Ji Lingsheng sat in the house for an hour, he finally couldn't bear it anymore and was ready to go out for a walk, the target was very good, and the cliff was an excellent choice.

Since he was taken by Liu Ruoxi to climb the mountain once, Ji Lingsheng suddenly became interested in this kind of thing, maybe because the journey up was bitter and fun, maybe because the scenery on the top of the mountain was good, just like that, Ji Lingsheng went up the mountain with great pleasure.

Ghost Knife Mountain is the highest in this area, but it is much shorter than Siyue Peak, and it is much easier to go down in one trip, which may also be the reason why the five stars of the zodiac make the body much stronger.

Not far away, the village with its lights became even smaller in the night, but it was also conspicuous. Ji Lingsheng found a comfortable place, found a few wild fruits at random, chewed them heavily, and then threw the kernels from the top of the mountain.

The midsummer night makes the cold stone wall particularly comfortable, the cool mountain wind blows the sleeves of the coat, Ji Lingsheng puts his legs at will, closes his eyes, and bathes his body and mind in the breeze, and in the sky, the stars shine, shining Ji Lingsheng's face is brilliant.