Chapter 2 Chapter One

Today is the fourth time I have run away from home this month, and it is also the eighteenth time I have quarreled with Master this month. When I rode Xiaofeng away, Master stood on the cliff looking at me calmly. He is always like this, wearing black clothes all day and night, and wearing a black eyepatch. When the clothes are blown against the wind, they make a snapping sound, which seems to be very powerful. I flicked my whip violently, and shouted angrily at Master: "I took Xiaofeng and wandered around the world, and I will never come back!" The voice was very loud, the wind was also very strong, and the master was very high, so it was probably not heard.

Xiaofeng is my mount, a little white horse.It was a living creature brought to me by my master from outside on my tenth birthday. After I got it there, I felt that life was a bit more interesting. I rode Xiaofeng for a long distance, and I didn't calm down until Master turned into a small black spot in my sight.After getting off the horse, he went to the stream to wash his face, Xiaofeng was also a little thirsty, so he lowered his head and drank water. As long as I can remember, I thought I was boring because Master was boring.He is reticent, talking to him is better than talking to Xiaofeng.

I stroked Xiaofeng's mane and said to it: "I can't blame me for this, you heard it just now, what did he say?" Xiaofeng raised his head slightly, blinked at me, and then continued to drink water. I feel that it is on my side, and I feel a little more at ease. Anyway, with me, the situation has turned one-sided. I grew up in Xuan Valley since I was a child, and I only knew two men: one is my father, who seems to be a very powerful official, he will come to see if I am alive every few years; the other is the man who has lived with me for sixteen years master. Thinking about the past sixteen years, I was the only one by my side. It is indeed a bit miserable, but this is not a reason for him to try to make my life equally miserable, and it cannot be an excuse for him to often confront me. .

When I was four years old, he taught me to learn how to recite poems on the piano. I didn’t like it, so he made me kneel outside the house. Fortunately, I was very smart since I was young, so I pretended to faint and fell asleep on the ground until midnight. I remember in a trance He picked me up and took me back to the house. When I was eight years old, I got enlightened and wanted to go outside to see, this idea has become my obsession to this day. At first I didn't want to do activities privately, so I kindly asked Master if I wanted to be together, Master, you are also quite bored, aren't you?He sat on the bed holding the sword and glanced at me without saying a word.I became angry immediately, so I packed my luggage, walked for a day, and then came back, because I am a road idiot, and I spent most of the day I left trying to find the way back.When he saw me, he snorted softly, half a smile but not a smile.

When I was twelve years old, he taught me how to practice swords, saying that it was for self-defense, but this is really not a reason to persuade me to learn. Self-defense?In this Xuan Valley, from birds to beasts, who doesn't know that there is a little girl in the valley who cannot be messed with?What's more, the sword was dead and heavy, I only danced it a few times before it flew out, and I was so scared that I hugged my head and yelled for help.Afterwards, he even ordered me to kneel with the sword raised. I maintained a stiff posture until dusk, my neck was cramped, and I never saw him come to rescue me, so I immediately made up my mind to break up, and simply ran away from home. .At that time, I already had Xiaofeng, and I thought I could escape from Master's clutches, but Xiaofeng...it didn't know the way!It took us two days, master and servant, to find our way home.

When I was sixteen, I ran away from home frequently. Master seemed to be used to it, so he always stood on the cliff and watched me leave coldly. After a day or two, when I came back, he still stood in the same posture. There, it seems that I have never left.Could it be that Master does not eat or go to the toilet? He stood on the edge of the cliff every day, pretending to be cool for whom? Although the outside world is wonderful, the food is not rich enough.Every time I go home, the master will always cook a delicious meal for me, so I don't care about it anymore, as a human being, it's always good to be open-minded.

Yesterday was my sixteenth birthday. Master pointed to the pile of treasures in front of him and said to me, "Xiao Shisan, choose one." Little Thirteen is the nickname he gave me. When I asked him why he chose the number Thirteen, he coughed slightly and said that it was because I was his thirteenth apprentice, and Thirteen represented innocence.I thought it was very reasonable, and Xinxin accepted it. During the year, he would accommodate me only on my birthday, so I pointed to the box I had been coveting for a long time. He froze for a moment, but nodded in agreement. Speaking of my origin with that box, it dates back to two years ago.

My master knows everything, he can cook, he can see a doctor, he can play the piano, and he can fly over walls, but I don’t envy all of these. With him around, what else can I learn?Stupid is not.But he can also disguise disguise and poisoning, I have studied these two seriously for two years. I've always had a great passion for fun stuff, and I've had great success.I remember the first time I turned into a master, even he was taken aback.But as the number of times increased, he no longer raised his eyes to look at me, and even Xiaofeng was no longer surprised, and I, feeling more lost, shifted my energy to poisoning.

Although I hate that Master is not good at speaking all the time, it is impossible to kill him; Xiaofeng is one of his own, so naturally he can't do it.When you are bored to the extreme, you have to do it to yourself.Nausea, vomiting, and fainting are minor symptoms that I can still handle, but once I accidentally vomited blood, and I didn’t find the antidote for a while, and when I crawled up to Master and hugged his thigh, his face turned blue Well, after I recovered, he got mad at me, and then fined me to copy ancient poems for a month, and I was not allowed to touch those things ever since.

Nowadays, only Yirong can entertain me physically and mentally. His box is full of Yirong tools, and this time he finally took advantage of my birthday to get it, which is considered to have settled my worries. I was sitting by the stream, throwing stones boredly, recalling the reason why I quarreled with Master today, I slapped my forehead, and then remembered that he said to me very suddenly today: "Xiao Shisan, we are going out." I was so excited, thinking that the long-cherished wish of these years has finally come true today.So I packed up my baby like a flash, whistled, and Xiaofeng came running fast, I put all my luggage on Xiaofeng, turned on the horse, the movement was done in one go, and then waved

Hand said: "Master, let's go!" He stood by the door, looked at everything I did very calmly, raised the corner of his mouth and said: "I left the valley, I returned home, and I want to get married." I almost fell off the horse, although I don't know much about the worldly affairs outside the valley, but I still know about getting married, it's written in those books. I don't think there is anything wrong with being married, but as long as I can remember, I have lived with my master in this valley. As soon as I turned sixteen, my master let me go out of the valley. I thought it was the time, but I didn't know it was In order to get married, it really didn't meet my expectations for the ups and downs of my life. So I sat down firmly, looked ahead and said, "I don't want to marry! But I want to go out of the valley." He shook his head, he didn't know whether he disagreed with me going out of the valley, or disagreed with me not getting married, his body language was always so unpredictable. "Why should I marry, why should I marry as soon as I leave the valley, why should I listen to that dead old man, why..." Master has become accustomed to my hair blowing, but when I got angry, he said lightly: "That's not a dead old man." I let out a sigh of relief, my throat was a little tired, and I asked with some annoyance: "Who are you marrying?" He shook his head. "Master, you...you don't know?" He shook his head. This irresponsible answer ignited the anger I had just calmed down: "You don't know anything, so you let me go out to die. I really didn't expect you to be so cruel and merciless. What is the difference between you and that dead old man? ...is not human!" He walked to Xiaofeng's side and stroked Xiaofeng's mane: "Go out and have a look." My heart softened, thinking that he was just cold on the outside and hot on the inside, but he still loved me: "Then if I don't like it, I won't marry, right?" He shook his head and said, "I still want to marry." My eyes were sour, and I stared at him and said: "I'm so angry!" With the horse's belly clamped, Xiaofeng galloped obediently.I was on the horseback with tears in my eyes, thinking that his nurturing and taking care of me for many years was just for me to marry. What is the difference between raising a pig and killing it when it is fattened? When I turned my head and saw his calm demeanor standing on the edge of the cliff, I became even angrier, so there was the previous declaration: "I wandered away with Xiaofeng and never came back!" This time I left, not blindly, at least I brought my baby.I took a few puffs of air with the branch and headed for my secret cave. The cave was by the stream, hidden by a tree, and I marked it so it was easy to find. I went in, built a fire, made a clean haystack, and spread out the babies to count. A pink ribbon bow, a jade hairpin, a rattle, two shadow puppets, and a bell... I counted all these treasures, and carefully put them into the small box containing the disguise tools. Suddenly, there was a small wind whistling outside the cave entrance.My heart tightened, could it be that it caused trouble again? Xiaofeng has always been restless and often fights with wild animals in the valley. So I hastily covered the box, picked up the branches on the ground, and then ran out of the cave. I saw Xiaofeng lowering his head and pulling towards me, it turned out to be a person... When it comes to wolves and bears, I can calm down a bit. After living in Xuangu, I have had many chances to see wild beasts, and they are familiar to me.But when I saw someone suddenly, I trembled with fright. You know, apart from Master and my father, that dead old man, I have never seen anyone else. When Xiaofeng saw me coming out, he neighed softly again, then lowered his head and continued to pull the man's shoulder towards me, it seemed that he was very excited. I stretched out the branches in front of my head, and tremblingly walked towards the man. The man was lying on his stomach, and he didn't know what he looked like. It seemed that Xiaofeng dragged him out of the stream. He was covered in water and there was blood on his clothes. It was shocking. I looked up and looked around. There were cliffs, and there were a few trees growing out of the cracks in the cliffs.It is not easy for this person to fall from such a high place. I reckoned that he shouldn't have any lethality, but I was still a little scared, so I slowly approached him and poked his back with a branch, but he didn't respond. I poked his head again, but there was still no response.Now I am more courageous, and I was about to signal Xiaofeng to stay away, but when I looked up, I found that it had already hid in the distance. I rubbed him lightly with my toes, and then turned him over vigorously. Seeing that his face was covered with blood, I was afraid that he might lose his appearance, so I couldn't help but feel some sympathy for him. Kneeling down in front of him, she held her chin and stared at him, not knowing if he was dead or not.So I followed Master's example and stretched out my hand to feel his pulse. After holding it for a long time, I didn't feel the pulse beating. I don't know if the position of the pulse is wrong or he is dead. I sniffed his breath again, but I couldn't feel his breathing, so I bent down, tilted my head, and put my ears against his nostrils. I didn't know that the man coughed suddenly, which made me sit on my buttocks in fright. I fell on the grass next to me and couldn't get up. There were wet things all around my ears, and I complained in my heart why this person was so unhygienic and spit at people casually. Xiaofeng ran to me in an instant, and bared his teeth at the man, showing that he was not easy to mess with. After the man coughed, there was no movement. I wiped my ears with my sleeve disgustingly. I was startled by this wipe, and the cuff was full of blood. The corner of this man's mouth was continuously oozing blood, it seemed that his internal organs were seriously injured, and it was pitiful. I grew up in Xuan Valley for the past sixteen years, although I suffered from headaches and fever, Master decocted medicines for me, and I was too lazy to learn those medicines, so naturally I don't know how to save him now. Suddenly I remembered that a few years ago when Master came back from outside Xuangu, he was seriously injured and covered in blood. At that time, I was so anxious that I burst into tears.He asked me to find some purple grass, half of it was decocted, and the other half was applied externally. After a few months, Master became alive and well. I was very impressed with the medicine. Later, I heard from my master that the grass is called daylily. The purple daylily has a miraculous effect on healing wounds caused by weapons. It is hard to find in the outside world, but it is very common in Daylily Valley. I rode a small wind across this creek, and there are many on the other side of the stream.I picked some, put them in the cave, and together with Xiaofeng, dragged and dragged the man into the cave. After lighting a fire, he washed the man's face with water, only to find that he had delicate features.Seeing blood oozing from his chest, he unbuttoned his clothes, looking at the wound, it seemed to be wounded by a sharp weapon.I wiped it clean for him, applied the crushed day lily to him, and held my chin to wait for the medicine to be cooked. I wholeheartedly hope that he will get better, so that there will be one more person to talk to me in Xuangu, and life will not be so boring.The man coughed a few more times, and then he seemed to pass out, but he was still breathing. I also figured it out myself, if he can't wake up after three days, I have no choice but to take Xiaofeng back to find Master to save him, and now I just finished arguing with him, I can't be ashamed to go back. So the past two days have been extremely busy. I used to run away from home, and I always went back because I couldn't bear the loneliness. Now I finally found something to do, so I don't feel bored anymore. On the third night, the moon was bright and the stars were thin and the clouds were scattered. I sat on the swing at the entrance of the cave with the dogtail grass and watched the stars.I still remember that I found this cave when I was away from home at night for the first time. I lay down in the cave and fell asleep, and when I woke up the next day, there was this swing outside the cave. The surrounding area is very quiet, with the gurgling stream and the chirping of cicadas. This atmosphere reminds me of my childhood. At that time, whenever the master was meditating, I would rub next to him, put my head on his lap, and look at the stars with the dog's tail grass in my mouth.Master often wears a blindfold, and I always have the urge to take it off, wanting to see the eyebrows behind the blindfold.But thinking about the consequences might not be good for me, so I usually just lie on his lap and swallow.At first, he frowned to express his dissatisfaction with me being by his side, but after a long time, he accepted it as a tacit consent. It was a wonderful time. He was meditating with his legs crossed, and I lay there like that, and asked him some questions from time to time: "Master, am I the most beautiful, smartest and cleverest of all your disciples?" "Master, how do you think people outside Xuan Valley live?" "Master, are your legs numb while sitting like this?" I often fell asleep while talking, and Master would always hug me back when I was in a daze. I remembered the time when Master was injured, he was covered in blood, and in his chest was the shadow puppet that I begged him to bring back to me before he left the valley.At that time, I especially liked to play with casting shadows on the wall with my hands. He said that there were shadow puppets selling outside, so I begged him to bring them to me when I went out of the valley.The puppet was stained with his blood, and it couldn't be wiped clean. Later, I made up and performed a play praising him, but he didn't watch it, and I was so angry. I still remember the words I wrote at the beginning: "The wind blows gently, the leaves fly slowly, I am under the tree, the small wind returns slowly, and we wait for the master to return." I read this poem softly, remembering that I was a little scared when I was riding a horse at first, and I fell off Xiaofeng, and he flew to support me, and my long hair floated in front of my eyes, with a faint smell of daylilies. From then on, I didn't learn those martial arts and swordsmanship anymore. If I learned it, he wouldn't protect me anymore. I wouldn't do this kind of unprofitable business. Thinking of all the things in the past, my eyes are sore, I don’t know if Master misses me, but this time is the longest time I have been away from home, he has remained indifferent to this day, and he doesn’t know how to come to me, I have not gone far . I shook my head and walked into the cave. The man was still asleep. I was lying on the clean haystack next to me, with my legs crossed and dogtail grass in my mouth, thinking about what to do tomorrow. Running away from home for three days was enough to let Master know my determination.Before I went back, I made my face miserable, as if I had suffered outside.He must love me, and while he loves me, I will tell him clearly that it is okay to marry, but you have to see it clearly before you can marry. If that person lacks arms and legs, no matter how heartless, I will never marry , I hope he can push himself and others, and understand my feelings as a girl. I suddenly felt that these three days of experience really made me grow a lot. Thinking of this, I fell asleep beautifully... Early the next morning, after I finished washing, I looked at the man for a while. Although he was not awake, he could still talk nonsense. It seemed that daylilies were indeed effective. I wiped the wound for him, changed the medicine, helped him drink a bowl of soup, rolled his eyelids, patted his face, and said to him: "Boy, sleep well, I Find someone to save you." This man seemed to be able to hear, he pursed his lips, and I heard it clearly when I leaned closer, he said: "No...don't..." I didn't care if he wanted it or not, seeing that nothing serious would happen to him for a while, so I packed up my baby, whistled, and the little wind who was drinking water by the stream ran over joltingly. I turned over and said, "Don't jump around like this when you go back. You have to pretend to be tired. We're not here to play." As I said that, I scratched my hair again to make it a little messier, and rubbed my eyes, hoping Eyes are red.I've been so busy these days that I haven't eaten, I guess I don't look good, this is the best. Xiaofeng also cooperated with me in taking a roundabout route to show that he was also very hungry and exhausted. So I rushed home confidently, thinking about what kind of posture I would faint when we met.When I was about to arrive, I habitually looked up, and there was no one on the edge of the cliff! My heart tightened, did I go the wrong way?No, I take this route every time I go home.Looking around, I found that there was really no one, and tears flowed out all at once. Could it be that the master is angry and doesn't want me? Xiaofeng neighed, but found that Master was not attracted, so he rushed home even harder.When I got to the thatched hut, I stumbled into the house, and when I opened the door, I found that Master had really disappeared. "Master! Master..." I yelled several times heart-piercingly, but I couldn't see him appearing, and I really panicked. When I returned to the main room, I found that there was food on the dining table, so I laughed through my tears. Fortunately, he didn't want me, otherwise why would he still leave the food for me. I picked up my chopsticks and was about to eat, but the food was cold. I smelled it, and one of the dishes was broken.Only then did I find that there was a piece of paper under my favorite braised pork, and I pulled it out to have a look—Xiao Shisan: Going out of the valley as a teacher, after you come out of the cave, if you want to go out of the valley, follow the route below to find me. Remember, Yirong. Then there is a very detailed road map, the end of the road map is written with Tseng Mansion. Zeng Mansion is my nominal home, a home I have never met in the past sixteen years. But this note was very strange, and it didn't say who to go to, what to say when I saw someone, and where Master would pick me up, nothing at all. I was confused. He also left notes before, but they were all "Xiao Shisan: Go out of the valley for the teacher, don't forget to eat, don't run around". Today is fine, let me come out of the cave... Wait, how did he know about my secret cave?Master is really broad and profound, and knows everything. Oh, by the way, there is still a person in the cave, I don't know if he is still alive, but I don't know where Master is, how should I save him?Before leaving the valley, I have to deal with that man. I stuffed the note into my sleeve and went to the cave again with a little wind. The man in the cave seemed to have moved. I looked at him and he seemed to be getting better. I fried the day lilies I picked on the road and poured him another bowl.He finally had some reaction, opened his eyes in a daze, but couldn't make a sound with his mouth. Seeing him like this, I hurriedly persuaded him: "If you have anything to say, wait until your health recovers." He nodded, looked at me gratefully, and then the corners of his mouth curved beautifully, and there were two small dimples around his mouth.My face was slightly hot, no man had ever smiled at me like this before, it was terrible, so I trembled when I spoke: "You...you should rest well, ha...haha..." He was lying on the haystack, but his eyes stopped on me, wondering if it was my ugly appearance that attracted his attention so much, and he was very disturbed. He smiled again, and said slowly, "Thank you... Miss... for helping me." The six words stopped four times intermittently. I waved my hand boldly, expressing my gratitude, and then turned my back to decoct the medicine seriously, in fact calming my heartbeat. "Girl's name?" He asked softly. I looked at him and thought that no outsider had visited Xuan Valley for sixteen years, so there must be something strange about him appearing half dead.Besides, why tell him my name?I am going out of the valley, there is no shortage of people to play with me. Seeing that I didn't answer, he said, "My...Chu Xin, thank you...girl..." Unexpectedly, the one who was rescued was a stutterer. I was a little annoyed, so I turned to him and said, "Okay, okay, you can rest, I'm going out of the valley, this medicine has been decocted for you, you can ask for more blessings." Bar." He looked at me with some surprise, and I realized later that this beauty must save the hero to the end, and there is no reason to give up before saving half of it. Tremblingly, he took off a jade pendant from his waist and said, "Girl...I..." I didn't intend to ask for it at first, but the jade pendant he handed over was a fish, so green and so cute, I couldn't take my eyes off it, so I said embarrassedly: "Ouch." Then he stuffed the jade pendant into his pocket.Thinking of the book saying "There are comings and goings", so he threw all my babies on the ground. He looked at me in fear, probably because he was fascinated by my babies. I pointed to the ground proudly and said: " These are my treasures, which one do you like, I will give it to you and exchange it with you." He smiled and shook his head. Taking other people's things for nothing, Master will definitely scold me when he knows, so I picked out a pink bow and said: "Here, I will give it to you." On the head, he was blushing at the time.However, the color of this bow has faded a lot. When I see Master, I will ask him to buy me a new one. I will give this one away. It is not a loss to exchange it for a jade pendant. I didn't wait for his answer, so I stuffed the bowknot into his hand and said, "I didn't take you for nothing." Then I patted the dust off my body, and said, "I have something important to go out of the valley." "Girl, Fang's name..." he asked, "From now on..." It seemed that he was still not very willing to part with his jade pendant. He was probably wondering how he could be fooled if he saw me one day and would ask to go back. So he smiled and said, "My name is Zeng Meili, goodbye." In the Xuan Valley, the wind blows the leaves rustling, and the slanted branches split the sky into several pieces. I went out of the valley according to the map left by Master, and when I reached the mouth of the valley, I almost cried. It's not because of my nostalgia for this land, but because I found that every time I run away from home these years, I run into the valley, so of course I can't find the exit.In fact, the exit is not far behind the house. It turns out that I have been going in the wrong direction all these years. I stood at the exit of Xuan Valley, condescending, and saw its whole picture clearly for the first time. It is really a treasured land with beautiful mountains and clear waters.Suddenly I heard a wolf howling, and the whole Xuan Valley seemed to be moving. All of a sudden, birds and beasts appeared. They all looked at my direction and made various noises. They're here to see you off. Xiaofeng raised its front hooves in the air and neighed twice. I knew it was showing off to my friends and wanted to go out with me, so I patted its head, signaling to keep a low profile, then waved to the bottom of the valley and said: " I will definitely be back!" Originally thought that Xuan Valley was the whole world, and the outside was just a larger circle of Xuan Valley. Who knew there would be such a bustling market, noisy crowd, and all kinds of horses and horses.In the days when no one cares about me, the sky is blue, the water is green, and people are happy. What made me happiest along the way was the teahouses in various places. After facing the master who had been quiet for 16 years, the first time I saw the non-stop mouth of the storyteller in the teahouse, tears filled my eyes, which was very kind.So wherever I go, I will come to the local teahouse to have a rest. Storytellers love to talk about gossip in the imperial court, and what I like to talk about the most is a court coup sixteen years ago. It is said that the first emperor was a wise man with great personality. He felt that there was nothing wrong with following the ancestral rules, but it was not brilliant to always follow the rules.So he changed the rule of establishing the eldest son as the prince, and wanted to establish the virtuous and capable as the king, and called on the ministers to investigate with him.For a moment, everyone felt that the Emperor Shengming gave them the right to speak, what a great thing this is. This investigation lasted for a lifetime, and the first emperor did not announce the results of the investigation to the public until his death. The first emperor left only one prince, who should have inherited the throne logically, but the rule of "establishing a virtuous person as a king" has led to an inevitable fight in history. The prince is more enfeoffed, and Han Luo, the eldest son of the Han family, the elder of the three dynasties, each has his own supporters.The followers of Yuefeng are the royalists, who believe that the prince is the orthodox in the world; the supporters of Han Luo are the reformers, who think that the former emperor had only one son, and the reason why he has not established a prince is because he dislikes the prince, and the prince Han Luo has both talents and talents. In order to protect China's land and mountains forever, Han Luo should be made emperor. When the two sides were at war, there was a turning point—everyone in the opera knew that it would be lively when there were many people, so the aunt of the prince Yuefeng, as the only heroine in this play, pushed the play to a climax. The Eldest Princess assisted the former emperor's government in the past, and won the hearts of many people in the court, and had all the connections and financial resources.So her faction stepped forward at the right time, saying that everyone actually misunderstood the meaning of the emperor. Since the former emperor hated following the rules, he should be completely different and have an unprecedented female emperor.And claimed that this was the fulfillment of the late emperor's wish. This was originally a bloody palace coup, but it seemed much easier to me. It was just a big family grabbing inheritance.The eldest princess is also in a hurry, the world is originally a man's world, and it has never changed since ancient times. She is a woman, why join in the fun? It took me three cities to hear the end of this story. Facing the powerful influence of the eldest princess, the other two parties made the smartest decision: to unite and finally eliminate the influence of the eldest princess. After failing to seize the throne, the eldest princess hung up the southeast branch, and the three-foot white silk let her die fragrantly. , willing to be Lian Lizhi on the ground." The couple left behind a young daughter.There are even more rumors about this little daughter.One said that she was killed by the power of the prince and the prince at that time, in order to wipe out the roots; The official adopted him silently, but unfortunately, the official couldn't protect himself later, so the little girl was sold into a brothel... As for the ultimate ownership of the throne, there is no doubt now, it is the prince Yuefeng. There are only two versions of the legend about the handsome gentleman Han Luo: one is that he witnessed too many court battles and went away in seclusion; Although I couldn't understand how Han Luo could see through the red dust, that wasn't the point. The point was that after listening to the story, I was still far away from Chang'an, so a great sense of emptiness came over my heart.