When the sun rises, Xiao Zhang Zhenren is already sitting at the window reading a book, there is a small iron pot on the stove, boiling millet porridge, the faint aroma of porridge is permeated, every day her breakfast is a bowl of porridge, she lives alone in the backyard of Fengningguan, the Taoists in the front yard have little contact with her, only the fat Taoist who looks chubby and smiles and is also very kind will come from time to time, and only send some hot water or fresh things bought outside, or maybe or he himself thinks it is a cute little object.

In the spring, it will be a small and delicate wildflower, in the summer, it may be a flower, sometimes it is a beautiful pebble, in the autumn there will be a large, complete and beautiful maple leaf at her door, in the winter, it will be hot water or tea, and sometimes there will be a bunch of wrapped sugar gourds.

But no matter what was sent, it would not be delivered to Xiao Zhang Zhenren, but placed on the steps of her door, he seemed to be a little afraid to talk to Xiao Zhang Zhenren, and looked forward to talking to her.

Last night, His Majesty summoned Xiao Zhang Zhenren, which was not a particularly important matter, but His Majesty suddenly remembered that he wanted to give two gadgets to General Shen Leng's child, and asked her what pattern would be better to carve if she gave a jade pendant.

In fact, His Majesty just called her to ask, and she was still used to living in Fengning Temple.

Lao Zhang Zhenren entrusted her to His Majesty, and His Majesty felt that it was not the trust of the courtiers, but the trust of old friends.

Like Tuo Gu, His Majesty felt that Xiao Zhang Zhenren was like the child of Lao Zhenren, and he was always afraid of losing her.

After having glasses, Xiao Zhang's real world has become a lot clearer, she can't help but look more, the things she has learned in the past have been confirmed by seeming, she is shy, and she can't always stare at everyone's face, so she spends more time reading books, fortunately, the collection of books on Qin Tianjian's side makes her feel like she has found a treasure, but fortunately, someone from the academy will send books over regularly.

At this moment, the little fat Taoist with the true Taoist number came in from outside, holding a string of sugar gourds wrapped in oiled paper in his hand, looked left and right, and then sped up his pace and ran to the door of Xiao Zhang Zhenren, put the sugar gourd on the steps and turned around and ran.

He should be twenty-six or seventeen years old, but maybe it's because he lives in a relatively closed place like Fengningguan in Weiyang Palace all the year round, so his temperament is extremely simple.

He rarely goes out, most of the time in the front yard chopping wood, cleaning, washing vegetables and cooking, other Taoists in Fengning Guan seem to enjoy his labor as a matter of course, few people will take the initiative to help him, but the little fat Taoist never complains, and his temper is not good.

"Wait."

Xiao Zhang Zhenren's window was already looking at a crack, so when she saw the little fat Taoist coming in, she pushed the window open and shouted, "Have you had breakfast?" ”

"I've eaten it."

The true Taoist was taken aback, and when he turned to look at Xiao Zhang Zhenren at the window, he was a little cramped, his hands behind his back, standing there as if he was being punished, and his feet were together.

"Oh."

Xiao Zhang Zhenren came out of the house: "I have something to ask you, come in." ”

The person who held the truth blushed, as if he didn't dare, didn't dare to enter the house and didn't dare to say no, he entered the living room very awkwardly, and then like a student who was called to the study by the teacher, he stood obediently, and didn't even dare to raise his head.

"Why did you give me so many things?"

Xiao Zhang Zhenren thought for a while and asked directly: "I don't see you being so good to other people." ”

"I ......"

The true Taoist raised his head and glanced at Xiao Zhang Zhenren, as if he wanted to explain something, but after seeing Xiao Zhang Zhenren's eyes, he immediately lowered his head again, and his nervous hands were rubbing together, a little hard.

"I ...... Nothing, just, I think it should be given to you. ”

"Huh?"

Xiao Zhang Zhenren has always been worried in her heart, worried about whether the truth-bearer found out that she is a girl, if so, then she will not be able to live in Weiyang Palace, so she has to beg His Majesty to let her change places.

"There has to be a reason."

In order to ease the atmosphere, Xiao Zhang Zhenren went over and poured a cup of tea for the truth-bearer: "Why are you standing, you are not being trained, sit down and talk." ”

She looked at the millet porridge and broke the pot, but she burned her fingers, and the true Taoist hurriedly rushed over to take the porridge pot, and looked at Xiao Zhang Zhenren's hand nervously.

"Are you alright?"

"It's fine."

Xiao Zhang Zhenren sat down: "You haven't answered me yet." ”

"I'll get you burn cream."

"I've got it here, and it's okay to say it."

Xiao Zhang Zhenren looked into the eyes of the true Taoist: "You better answer my question first." ”

"I ......"

The truth-bearer put the pot aside and rubbed his hands nervously again.

"I have a younger brother."

He seemed to have mustered up enough courage, and his eyes were slightly moist.

"I don't remember very well, I was only two or three years old at that time, my mother gave birth to him, but my father had an accident and left us, and my mother took me and my brother to survive, until I was ten years old, my brother was seven and a half years old, and he liked to stick to the back of my ass every day, but I always hated him...... At that time, I always thought that if it weren't for him, my mother would only love me, but then my father was gone, and my livelihood became difficult, and it was rare to have some delicious food, and my mother always asked me to let my younger brother go. ”

The man of the true path looked at his hands with a misty look in his eyes.

"He couldn't see my dislike for him, he followed me like a little tail, I threw him away more than once, and even sometimes thought about throwing him away secretly, so that he couldn't find a home, in which case maybe my mother would be good to me alone."

A flash of fear flashed in Xiao Zhang's eyes.

"When I was ten years old."

The truth-bearer glanced at Xiao Zhang Zhenren and smiled bitterly.

"The family really couldn't get by, my mother did hard labor alone and took the two of us, and I couldn't eat enough, so my mother discussed with me to send me to the Taoist temple to practice, I was very angry at the time, and asked why my mother sent me away instead of my brother? But my mother didn't answer me, just cried, and couldn't wait for an answer, so I packed my clothes and left with the Taoist, and my mother cried behind me, she said that you are the eldest son, and there are some things that the eldest son needs to carry, let your brother live well. ”

The Truth Keeper let out a long breath.

"Later, I entered the Taoist monastery, and I always hated, hated my mother and hated my brother, and gradually ruthlessly killed my father, if my father was still alive, my family would not have become like that."

He paused, then laughed again, still bitter.

"At the age of ten, I entered the Taoist courtyard as a hard laborer, chopping firewood to cook and clean the yard every day, and it has been sixteen years now, and I am still chopping wood, cooking and cleaning the yard."

He looked up at the roof, as if his vision could see through the roof.

"Sometimes you really want to get away from here, become a bird, fly up and down, and be free, do you think it's strange? Whenever I feel sad, I think of my brother instead of my mother, I don't know how he is now, I haven't been in touch for 16 years, my mother is ruthless, and I left Chang'an with my brother after sending me to the Taoist Academy, I don't even know where they are. ”

"I thought, my brother was seven and a half years old at the time, and he should remember me, he couldn't continue to follow my ass and make a little tail, he should be very lonely, right? At that time, I treated him badly, and I beat him, and now I always regret it, people are really strange things, what I hated at that time, and now I miss him the most...... Mother said let him live well, he should get his wish, I hope he will be an ordinary person, marry an ordinary wife, and live an ordinary life. ”

The gaze of the true Taoist retracted from the roof and landed on Xiao Zhang Zhenren's face: "You are like him, really like." ”

He looked at the sugar gourd on the steps at the door: "When I was a child, I took him to the river to pick up pebbles, he always gave me what he thought was the most beautiful, my mother was distressed and he would buy a string of sugar gourds, he would always secretly give it to me to eat, when he left the house, my brother shouted at me and asked me what I was going to do, I said to go to a distant place to be a dead man, my brother didn't understand what a dead man meant, he just shouted and said brother, you wait for me, I will go with you, my mother pulled him to prevent him from going out, and shouted at my back that my mother is sorry for you." , you are the eldest son......"

The true Taoist let out a long breath again, and asked Xiao Zhang Zhenren with a smile: "What's wrong with the eldest son?" Is there anything wrong with the firstborn? ”

Xiao Zhang Zhenren didn't know how to answer, and even if he knew, he couldn't answer.

"If you don't like it, I won't come back to deliver anything in the future."

The true Taoist said guiltily: "It's me who is sorry for you, I always treat you as him, but in fact, I feel indebted to him in my heart." ”

Xiao Zhang Zhenren shook his head, and he didn't know what he meant by shaking his head.

"I won't bother you."

He walked out: "I'll go to the Royal Beast Garden." ”

The west side of Weiyang Palace is the Imperial Garden, most of the front part of the Imperial Garden is the garden landscape, His Majesty's Mao Zhai is there, the Mao Zhai is the Royal Animal Garden after crossing the lake, there are many rare birds and beasts in the Royal Animal Garden, and the people who hold the truth will go to the Royal Animal Garden to see those animals when they are idle.

"I'll check it out too."

Xiao Zhang Zhenren laughed: "I haven't been there yet." ”

The true Taoist also smiled: "But you haven't eaten breakfast yet." ”

"You wait for me for a while, soon."

Xiao Zhang Zhenren ran over to get the dishes and chopsticks, and really drank the porridge quickly, and then the two of them left Fengningguan side by side to go to the Imperial Garden.

"I know a shortcut."

The man of the truth said with some pride; "After going out from the back door of the Imperial Palace, walking for a while is the side gate of the Imperial Garden, which is where the people in the Imperial Beast Garden clean up the feces of those imperial beasts, and I am familiar with them."

Xiao Zhang Zhenren asked casually: "Why did you go through that door?" ”

The truth-bearer paused for a moment, as if he hadn't thought of how to explain the problem.

"It's just that I walked there by chance, and after chatting with the gatekeeper for a long time, I got acquainted with it, and I will often go there when I go in the future."

Xiao Zhang Zhenren nodded, in fact, she didn't think there was anything wrong with this, she just felt that she didn't see everything accurately, she thought that people who held the truth rarely left Fengning Temple, it turned out that he often went to the Imperial Beast Garden.

"Do you have a favorite animal?"

The Truth-Bearer asked, "For example, dogs, cats, and whatever." ”

Xiao Zhang Zhenren inexplicably thought of Shen Leng's black mastiff, the majestic black mastiff, but she shook her head: "No." ”

"I love monkeys."

The true Taoist said seriously: "Because my brother said that he likes little monkeys the most, but he has never seen them at all, but he has only fantasized about what little monkeys look like...... But every time he told me that he dreamed of a little monkey, what it looked like, so I kept thinking that if I could train an obedient little monkey and bring it to him to play with in the future, he would like it very much. ”

Xiao Zhang Zhenren snorted: "I will definitely like it." ”