In early spring and March, the imperial capital Chang'an palace is continuous, the pavilions are scattered, the Qujiang Pond in the south of the city is sparkling, and the hibiscus garden is full of green leaves. The emperors and concubines, official eunuchs, literati and prostitutes, and a large number of small jasper families who came to the city were plump and enchanting, exposing most of their breasts.

In the Zichen Hall behind the Daming Palace, Emperor Taizong dragged his body, which had been plagued by illness since the crusade against Goryeo, and only accompanied by two old slaves, summoned the new military department Shangshu Gao alone.

Looking at the person kneeling at the bottom of the stairs of the hall, who was less than thirty years old, Emperor Taizong seemed to see another person. But he then shook his head, "Gao Jun, what reward do you want?" As long as I have, you can ask. ”

"Your Majesty, Weichen has just arrived in the capital, and he urgently needs a mansion...... It's just that there are many wives and concubines of Weichen, and there is nowhere to settle them...... Can't always ...... You can't sleep with six or seven people crammed together, it's really hard for Weichen to do that. ”

Emperor Taizong laughed and forgot about the majesty. "Exactly. Anything else? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, no."

"But I originally wanted you to be the left servant of Shangshu, so that you would be promoted from the third rank to the second grade. There is a way to go out and enter the phase, and you have this qualification. ”

"Your Majesty is very kind, but Weichen's ability is not enough to take on this important responsibility. Even the position of the military department is barely difficult. ”

Entering the Yanxing Gate of Chang'an City, and then going west along the wide street for about six miles, in the Yongning Square in the north of the road, a wide mansion with undulating pavilions occupies most of the square area. It is two miles away from Dongshi, six miles away from Qujiang Pond, and four miles away from the Imperial Palace, so I have to admit that this is a good terrain in Chang'an City.

Emperor Taizong rewarded Gao Jun with this mansion, reflecting his deep love. As soon as they moved in, the lady and several concubines were busy taking their daughters and sons to Qujiangchi to play. And the task of cleaning up the new mansion was all left to the housekeeper.

He called the butler over and said, "I'll go to the backyard, and don't disturb me except when summoned by the emperor." ”

He walked through the layers of houses, ignoring the garden rockeries and small pond fountains, and walked straight to the northeastern corner of the garden as if he knew the way. There was a small house, shrouded in the shade of a few ancient locust trees, and a rusty lock hung from the door that had not been opened for many years.

He walked over, stared for a moment, reached out and unscrewed the lock, pushed the door in.

A chill instantly enveloped his whole body, and there was a slight musty smell. The room was ten feet long and six feet wide, with a bed and a table, and an iron furnace burning coal on the floor. The futon on the bed remains the same. Everything is saved because it is inconspicuous.

On the north side of the hut there is a small window that is not open all the year round, and outside the window is the tall wall of the Guogong Mansion, and outside the wall is another street, and the hustle and bustle of traffic can be faintly heard, but nothing can be seen......

His chest was full of waves and uncertainties, and his mind went back to that year......

One evening in the seventeenth year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, Jiaohe County, Xizhou, there was a heavy snowstorm.

Forty miles northwest of the county seat of Liuzhong County, there are dozens of families in a small village on the edge of the valley. The wind swept the snowflakes and landed like an overwhelming white bird.

In the evening, a group of sixty convicts who had been exiled to Lingnan for serious crimes and who had been transferred to Xizhou by the new decree of Emperor Taizong had just arrived in the small village and were soon settled in vacant houses scattered throughout the village.

Seventeen-year-old Hou Jun and twenty-something Liu Shiju were among the convicts. At this moment, the two of them had just been placed in a low hut at the far end of the village.

Outside, the wind and snow were blowing, and the occasional creaking and creaking sound could be heard on the thatched roof. There was only a click, and the only dead tree on the east gable outside the house was devastated by the wind and snow, and it fell against the gable, and there was a sound of dead branches breaking and falling snow falling. The door leading to the outside of the house, along with the door frame, seemed to shake a few times.

Liu Zheng walked in from the outhouse with two bowls of gruel. Hearing the movement outside the house, the delicate-looking young woman's hands trembled slightly, and the hot gruel that had spilled from the bowl poured on her hands on her slightly faded but well-made cotton dress.

Hou Jun was unmoved, and he didn't even raise his eyelids. He has a handsome face, medium stature, an oil lamp in the room shines on his angular face, and he has practiced martial arts for four years, so that he occasionally raises his eyes to reveal the essence of internal strength, he sits on the kang and reaches out to pick up a pair of chopsticks, his knuckles rattle.

He looked up at her, in the past month, the morning dew of Lingnan and the wind and sand outside Yumen Pass, and the wind and snow of Xizhou have invaded each other, but there is no trace on her face, it is still so white and delicate, and it is a little exquisite. If there is a change, it is only that her originally plump body has lost a little weight, but it looks healthier.

He didn't know what he was going to do with her in the days when the two of them were alone. She is no longer a noble lady, and she is no longer the eldest son of the Chang'an Mansion, they are exiles, according to the law of the Tang Dynasty, the punishment is divided into five levels: flogging, rod, apprenticeship, exile, and death. He and Liu were sentenced to exile, only slightly better than the death penalty.

Thinking that from now on, there will be no distinction between the two of them, she can no longer be high, and she no longer has to look at her cold face, Hou Jun's heart suddenly rose with a burst of happiness. He looked at the young and beautiful woman and snorted softly, the grievances between him and her could finally be settled in this broken hut on an equal footing.

Liu wiped his hand on his cotton skirt and sat down at the square table across from him. One bowl of gruel per person, that's all they have for tonight.

She peeked at Hou Jun and didn't dare to squeak—this young man, whom she had never looked at before, was now sitting there like an old man, enjoying her waiting. A nameless anger suddenly surged up, turned into tears and swirled in her beautiful eyes, and slowly endured it again, how could it have been like this before?

She has always been a person who stretches out her hands for food. This evening was the first time she had used her tender hands to pull the firewood out of the snow outside the courtyard, to wash the rice with cold water with ice stubble, to make the porridge with the choking smoke from the wet wood, and to serve it to the boy like a ring, and he would not say a word of thanks, but was waiting for her with chopsticks.

Hou Jun saw that the ring finger and little finger of her right hand were burned red by the porridge that had just been spilled, and now she still pretended to have nothing to do with the inferior coarse porcelain bowl in front of her and drank the gruel silently, retaining a little grace in her crampedness.

Where did the Liu family suffer such a sin? From Chang'an to Lingnan, from Lingnan to Xizhou - the northwest wilderness of the Tang Empire, she, a former noble lady, lacks only those jewels that have been ordered to become officials, and without the foil of those things, her face is more and more vivid.

"This house...... Even...... I can't stand it," she said cautiously.

The words fell, and suddenly saw Hou Jun sitting cross-legged opposite, his eyes flashed, and then a gust of wind threw something at her, Liu almost screamed, subconsciously covered his head with both hands, after the wind, although he did not feel pain in his head and face, but felt a grievance for no reason hit his heart.

She didn't dare to express her dissatisfaction, Xizhou people and land are both alive and earth, her crystal bead-like mind, in this pasture of sand and barren grass, what is the use of facing those livestock! The guy in front of her, who she had always regarded as a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh, that sturdy and somewhat savage body was the only thing she could rely on, and she thought of her ten-year-old son, Hou Wushuang, tears gushed out uncontrollably, didn't she just say a word that was almost flattering.

There was only one pair of bamboo chopsticks left in Hou Jun's hand. The oil lamp on the table flickered for a while before it stabilized. He noticed that the bowl of porridge in front of Liu Shi had drunk a small half, and she didn't use chopsticks, which meant that she gave herself the relatively thick porridge.

"So kind...... It's really fresh", thinking of the shame she had imposed on herself before, as well as the coldness of her father that followed, and the humble faces of those servants in the courtyard of the Chen Guogong Mansion in Chang'an City that seemed to be respectful, but in fact revealed disdain all the time, what was it.

Ever since she embarked on the path of exile, Liu felt that she had become a frightened bird, and she hurried up before she finished her porridge, and when she turned around, she saw a scriggy mouse still wriggling with wooden chopsticks by the adobe wall of a wooden cabinet behind her.

Liu's face turned red, although the oil lamp was dim, but she was still afraid that he would see her crying, so she hurried to the innermost room and untied her clothes for a while, and fell asleep silently.

Not long after Xizhou was returned to the Tang Dynasty, the empire urgently needed a large number of people to enrich this place, and even prisoners who had committed serious crimes were transferred here from all over the country. After they arrived here, they looked like civilians, but they were not allowed to leave this place for six years, and they had to feed the horses in the pastures of the Tang Empire, and maybe tomorrow he and the Liu family would go to work in the pastures northwest of the village. From this point of view, they are still inferior to civilians, but isn't it too happy to be a normal person with a fixed occupation instead of being a prisoner?

How could Liu's reddish eyes escape Hou Jun's eyes, he felt a little sympathy, the wind and snow outside the house were as old as before, this was the first day they arrived in Xizhou, will this ghost weather indicate that they will live without ghosts after they arrive in Xizhou?

Someone quietly walked outside their house, knew it was the idea of beating them with firewood without listening, and took it without telling them. But the thick snow on the ground revealed his whereabouts, probably also went to cook, the man took the firewood but did not leave, Hou Jun'er listened to the man tiptoe to the window.

Hou Jun used his peripheral vision to see that the window paper was gently stabbed open, and a thief slipped through a white spot and peeked into the house through the window paper hole. Hou Jun didn't move, and he couldn't help but throw the remaining wooden chopsticks on the table, now his identity is different, everything has to be low-key. But I really don't know what else can be remembered in this little hut.

As soon as Hou Jun got up, he heard the man panic and stepped on the snow and left. He plucked the chopsticks with the mouse from the earthen wall, opened the door and wanted to throw it, but after a moment's thought, he went to the stove and threw it in, where there was still an unfinished firewood and charcoal.

In this place of Xizhou, there were many Han people before, who were officials, soldiers and their families and descendants in the Han and Wei dynasties. This place was renamed Xizhou after the Marquis of Chen Guo Junji gathered in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan and conquered it as the general manager of the Jiaohe River March.

As soon as he pushed the door, the cold wind and snow came to his face, the firewood thief had left, the night was dark, and a series of footprints in his firewood pile and in front of the window had gradually been covered by fresh snow, Hou Jun heard a familiar voice, lowered his voice and asked, "Charcoal, is it you?" ”。

A horse with red body and black hooves quietly came to his side from the shadows, rubbing and rubbing his cold body against him, spewing a stream of white gas. "You're from Shanzhou? Oh, my God! He stroked the snowflake-covered fur of the horse, and felt several wounds, from stabs to scratches. The ribs are a little handy.

The wind and snow became more violent, and he looked around, and felt that it was not good to put it anywhere, so he simply took it into the hut, let it lie down by the stove, closed the door and went out, and found some thatch and put it in its mouth.

"Why are you here? How did you find here? He looked at the charcoal fire with pity and lowered his head to eat, "It's thousands of miles from Shanzhou to here!" Hou Jun felt that an old friend had come from thousands of miles away in the snow, and he was a little happy.

Liu Shi was alarmed, also dressed, and also made a surprised sound after seeing the charcoal fire, seeing Hou Jun wipe the dirt on the charcoal fire with a dry cloth, Liu took the initiative to boil a pot of hot water, let Hou Jun dip the hot water to scrub the charcoal fire clean, and put a mattress that needed to be covered at night on the body of the charcoal fire.

This is a wild horse they encountered in the Chiling Mountains when they came to Xizhou through Xiping County, Shanzhou, at that time, the Tang Empire and Tubo, Tuyuhun often went to war, and some ownerless military horses wandered in the deep mountains and valleys. At that time, dozens of sergeants of the Heyuan Army were unable to catch it before and after, and at a glance they knew that this was not an ordinary horse, and they would not have been like this without going through a hundred and ten battle formations, and the mane had not been trimmed for a long time, and it was unkempt, and as soon as people approached, they suddenly started, and broke out from the crowds of people who were blocked in front and back, and they picked up more than a dozen people in a row.

At that time, their group of prisoners happened to pass by, it ran in front of Hou Jun, lowered its head and gnawed on the weeds in the rocks on the hillside, and when Hou Jun approached, it only flashed a little vigilantly, and did not run wildly, and finally let the soldiers take it away.

Liu interrupted his thoughts, "Your futon was given to it, what should you do at night?" As he spoke, he reached over and held a piece of scorched object, and asked curiously, "What is this, it smells so good."

The mouse was already roasted to the outside and tender on the inside, and it was impossible to tell what it was on the surface, Hou Jun said without thinking, "It was a crow I just hit", he took it, looked at the flash of light in Liu's eyes, and tore off a piece of meat and gave it to her. said: "It's over after a while, what are you afraid of?" ”

"Wow, there are crows to eat! How do they look like they're four-legged? Liu expressed his suspicion and put it in his mouth and chewed tentatively.

A noble lady eats roasted rats as delicious, and it's interesting to think about.

They blew out the oil lamps and lay down on their beds. There were only two rooms in the house, and there was only a curtain between them, and Hou Jun lay down with his clothes together, and he didn't say a word with Liu, and there was nothing to say, it was all a trick of fate, so that they could sleep together in this situation.

I don't know how long it took, Liu's screams woke Hou Jun up, only to hear the roof "creak" down, the air was compressed and walked away, and a burst of things mixed with earth smoke, cold air, and snow foam made people cough involuntarily. He was quick with his hand, raised his hand to block a purlin that fell on their heads, and held it together with the roof, and Liu rolled to his side, and said urgently: "Quickly find a way to get out!" ”

She was only wearing thin pajamas and wrapped in a quilt, and she shivered from being scared or cold. Outside, there was the intermittent shouting of some people in the wind, and it seemed that he was not the only one who had fallen the house.

"Go out and get cold?" Hou Jun said, "Sleep, it's better than outside, but I don't know how the charcoal fire is", he really didn't hear the movement of the charcoal fire, but he didn't want to get up to check, it was not so easy to go out and come back.

Hearing Hou Jun say this, Liu's deer-like heartbeat slowly calmed down, and they huddled together like this, in the narrow space held up by Hou Jun, continuing to sleep in the middle of the night.