Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Treating Guests

When autumn came, the Han Dynasty’s war against the Xiongnu ended. Although the army led by General Wei Qing captured more than 10,000 Huns, the army led by the former general Xihou Zhao Xin and the right general Weiwei Su Jian encountered the Xiongnu Shanyu’s army. After one day of battle, the Han army was completely killed and wounded.Although the ancestor of the former general Zhao Xin was a barbarian, he had belonged to the Han Dynasty for a long time, and he has always been loyal and brave, otherwise he would not have been reused by the emperor.But I don't know what Yi Zhixie said to Zhao Xin, anyway, the result is that under Yi Zhixie's persuasion, Zhao Xin ignored his wife and children in Chang'an City and surrendered to the Xiongnu.

When the news reached Chang'an City, the emperor ordered Xin Zhao's family to be executed. When the soldiers arrived, they found that Xin Zhao's two young sons had disappeared. .With an almost reckless and disregarded military discipline attitude, Huo Qubing privately led 800 men who were as passionate as him to abandon the army and pursue the Huns privately. Xiangguo and the head of the household killed Shanyu's grandfather, Ji Ruohouchan, captured Shanyu's uncle Luo Gubi alive, and beheaded 2,028 people. In one attack, Huo Qubing defeated many with less, and even captured and beheaded four important ministers and dignitaries of the Huns alive.Under the shadow of defeat in which all the sergeants of the two routes were killed and one general surrendered to the Huns, Huo Qubing's record became more and more prominent.The emperor was so happy that he granted Huo Qubing the title of Marquis of the Champion, with a total of 1,600 households in the city.For General Wei, the merits and demerits are equalized, and there is no reward or punishment.

When I heard all this, I was a little more confused.Since Yi Zhixie was able to rescue Xin Zhao's two sons from Chang'an City, he should be able to use the forces in the dark to kill me directly, why bother to hire a killer from the Western Regions? Huo Qubing stared at Yipinju in a daze, there were three floors above and below, filled with people inside and out, most of them were young women.Hearing the sound of Yingying and swallows, seeing colorful sleeves fluttering, and smelling all kinds of rouge and gouache, he remained silent.I bowed my head and smiled. He suddenly turned around and dragged me into the carriage again, I shouted: "Hey! Hey! Champion, you want to invite me to dinner at Yipinju."

He said angrily, "I invited you, not all the kabuki in your dance studio." I smiled and said: "The girls in several gardens have never had a chance to get together to maintain their relationship. I intend to treat everyone to a meal, but it is cheap to invite people to laugh, and it is expensive to invite. It is really distressing. Rare At that time, you asked me to pick up rare things, and I told Yipinju to do my best to buy them. Why are you so stingy? You went out and walked around, and you were sealed off. It’s better to treat hundreds of us to a meal. Please afford it."

"Going out for a walk? That's an understatement! Next time you take a walk with me, I'll give you half of what I get, how about it?" He stared at me closely. I avoided his gaze and looked outside the carriage with a smile: "Where are you going? I was hungry for a long time in order to eat more good food. Also, whether you go to Yipinju or not, you will pay the bill .” There was a smile on the corner of his mouth, and he looked at me quietly, neither saying pay nor saying no to pay. After more than a month, he seems to be the same as before, but he seems to be different.I was a little inexplicably flustered, and I couldn't help shrinking back, my back tightly pressed against the wall of the carriage.

The carriage stopped, he turned around neatly and beautifully, he had already landed on the ground, and he stretched out his hand to help me.I smiled and raised my chin, avoiding his hand, and the moment I got out of the carriage, I put my hands on the seat of the carriage, and with the help of my strength, I soared into the air, and lightly touched the roof of the carriage with my toes. A circle, with skirts flying and sleeves fluttering, fell lightly in front of him, looking at him proudly. He laughed: "Such a competitive spirit? But, it's really pretty." The driver drove the carriage away, and I looked around. We were in a quiet alley, with high walls on the left and right sides.I wondered, "What is this place? What are you going to do?"

He said, "Climb over the wall and go in." I stared wide-eyed and looked at him: "Look at the style of this fence, it's not like anyone else. If I'm caught, I'll be caught. You're a great champion now." He said: "Now it really depends on your means. Such a high wall, I can't go up without tools." I was a little curious, a little amused, and even a little excited. I muttered: "What a pity! Eating a meal is so troublesome." A round red gold bead looks like a decoration, but actually it has other magical functions.With a wave of his hand, the golden bead slid across a beautiful golden arc, curled up and wrapped around the pagoda tree protruding a little from the fence.

Huo Qubing followed the silk belt, stepped on the wall with his feet, and turned over neatly and sat on the locust tree.I took off the silk belt, wrapped it around my wrist, hooked the branch of the locust tree, and looked down at the courtyard carefully. Huo Qubing said with a muffled laugh, "I see you are having fun being a thief." I whispered: "Who in Chang'an City dares to play the ideas of these dignitaries easily? Anyway, I don't have to worry about my own life, I can play as I like, and you ordered anything to happen. If you are caught, it will be even more difficult." It's fun."

Just as Huo Qubing and I jumped off the locust tree, several big black dogs rushed up silently.With a wave of my silk belt, the golden beads hit their heads, and Huo Qubing who was behind hurriedly pulled me, and I fell into his arms. go. I was in a state of surprise, and several dogs had already reached our feet, circling around us, wagging their tails desperately at him.I said angrily, "Don't tell me. This is your own mansion." His arm around me didn't relax, but instead he leaned against me, his chin resting on my shoulder, and said in a low voice: "Unfortunately, you guessed it."

I struggled hard, but couldn't break free.The warm breath from his mouth and nose brushed over his skin faintly, making it itchy and numb.He has a masculine smell that is completely different from his daughter's powdery smell, like green pine and sunshine, lingering in his nose, I feel a little out of breath.His body was weak and his head was a little dizzy, as if he couldn't think of any tricks. In a panic, he was thinking of simply swiping the golden bead, knocking him unconscious and knocking him down, but hesitating, he couldn't control his strength well, wondering if he would be crushed to death?But he relaxed, as if he hadn't done anything just now, dragged my hand to squat down, and said to the big dogs: "Get to know each other, don't accidentally hurt my people in the future."

I helplessly let a few dogs sniff around me: "How many of them can hurt me? It's a joke! You are insulting us wolves." He patted a dog's head with his hand and said: "If I wasn't here, the moment you landed, they would not only attack you, but also call out to their companions. It seems that you wolves are good at winning with more. There are people who follow." I snorted, shook off his hand, stood up and said, "Why did I come to you secretly? There is no chance to fight them." He whistled, and the dogs quickly dispersed.He clapped his hands, stood up and looked at me, with a faint smile, he said, "I see you like to go over the wall at night, maybe you will want to visit me one day, first I will show you the familiar path , so as not to alarm people, you will not come if you are thin-skinned." My face was a little hot, I tied the silk belt back to my waist, and asked with a straight face: "Where is the gate? I want to go back." He ignored me, and walked slowly ahead: "I brought back a cook from the Huns, and he roasted good meat. The sheep that run from spring to autumn on the grassland, the meat is neither old nor tender, fat nor thin, just right. It is served with cumin from Kucha and pepper from Yanqi, and the chef roasts it on the side. When it tastes the best, eat it while it is hot. How do you describe the taste?" I swallowed, my face was still stern, but my feet had already stepped out behind him.The mutton in Chang'an City is mainly stewed. When I am really greedy, I have roasted it myself, but my craftsmanship is probably only us wolves. I squatted beside the charcoal fire, propped my chin on my hands, and stared at every move of the Xiongnu chef eagerly.The Hun chef was only sixteen or seventeen years old. I don't know if it was because of the charcoal fire or my eyes. His face became redder and redder, and his head hung lower and lower. Huo Qubing pulled me up from the ground: "If you keep staring at me, we should eat burnt meat." I sniffed the smell of charcoal and mutton in the air, and reluctantly followed him to sit on the mat. The chef put the meat with a strong aroma on the table, and I immediately took a piece and stuffed it into my mouth.Huo Qubing took a few mouthfuls and asked, "What did you do when I was not in Chang'an?" While eating, I said casually: "There is nothing interesting, just doing business. Oh! By the way, I went into the palace and saw Your Majesty..." Before I finished speaking, I was already slapped on the head.Huo Qubing said angrily: "Why are you crazy, what are you doing in the palace?" I rubbed my head and yelled angrily: "You want to control? I can do whatever I like!" He stared at me bitterly for a while, then suddenly asked, "Does it hurt?" My eyes were wide open, and I stared at him: "Let me give it a try!" Unexpectedly, he actually moved his head closer, I was angry and laughed, and pushed his head away: "I hit you, and my hand hurts when I hit you back!" His face sank like water, staring at me and asking, "What did Your Majesty say?" I tilted my head and said while thinking: "I praised me a few words, saying that thanks to my timely appearance, I drove away the sand robbers and rewarded me with some things. I also said with a smile that I can often enter the palace to accompany Li Ma'am, talk." "How do you feel about Your Majesty?" After contemplating for a while, I shook my head. Huo Qubing asked, "What do you mean by shaking your head? You don't feel anything?" I said: "How is it possible? Such a person feels too complicated to describe. Your Majesty's actual age should be thirty-seven, but his appearance looks like a person who has just turned thirty, and his eyes look like a person who is forty years old. He has the air of a twenty-year-old man, and he speaks to us softly, kindly and wittily, but I know it's just one of his thousands of tones. Everything in him seems to be contradictory, yet strangely unified. He despises He doesn’t care about Mrs. Li’s background, so he treats me extremely kindly. But on the one hand, he is high above the others, and his majesty does not allow anyone to offend him. I always kneel when I answer.” After finishing speaking, I frowned. frowned. Huo Qubing snorted coldly: "You can stand outside, but you want to run in and kneel, you deserve it!" Seeing that his face was still serious, I couldn't help but said: "Don't worry, Mrs. Li is by my side." He shook his head, with a disapproving expression: "I'm tired of seeing hibiscus flowers, and sometimes I want to pick a dog's tail grass to play with." I laughed angrily: "So I'm just a dog's tail grass, but it's hard for you..." Suddenly, I realized that my words were wrong, so I quickly stopped talking. A smile overflowed from the corner of his mouth: "This one of mine? What is this one of mine?" I hummed, ignored him, and lowered my head to eat the meat, but my mind was full of Li Yan's smile that day.The emperor and the princess knew that Huo Qubing and I were old friends, but she was the only one who heard that Huo Qubing and I had such a relationship.The emperor was here, so I didn't dare to look at Li Yan more, but when I glanced occasionally, I always felt helpless and thoughtful under that perfect smile. Huo Qubing asked: "What are you thinking?" I let out an "ah", raised my head to meet Huo Qubing's sharp eyes, shook my head, and immediately added before he had an attack: "I'm thinking of Mrs. Li." There was a vague smile on his lips. I soaked my hands in the basin and wiped them with a silk handkerchief, thinking about the discussions behind those literati.Ning Cheng persuaded General Wei to spend five hundred gold to celebrate Mrs. Li's birthday. After the emperor found out, he made Ning Cheng the captain of the East China Sea because of this. Mrs. Li's extraordinary honor and favor can be seen.I put down the silk handkerchief, and said softly, "It is absolutely not Madam Li's original intention to ask General Wei to distribute 500 gold from the thousand gold rewards he received to Madam Li, and she has nothing to do with those people who are running around everywhere to please His Majesty." Huo Qubing sneered: "Is it the five hundred gold that I care about? Ning Cheng dared to say something like 'the general didn't have much meritorious service. In the eyes of outsiders, it is only because of the queen. At the beginning, the uncle may have been reused because of the aunt, but for so many years, he has been born and died many times, and has not lost a single battle. Could it be because of the aunt? But the pen of the literati has always refused to let us go , Sima Qian said that I was arrogant and reticent, and when I met them rotten scholars, I really didn’t know what else to say besides looking up at the sky.” Seeing how helpless and injustice he looked on, I smiled softly: "So you also have people who are helpless. I thought you were not afraid of anyone! A man should act in his own heart, regardless of what others say? Sima Qian said The general is "soft and flattering the master", is it possible that General Wei has to imitate Sima Qian and talk to His Majesty just because of his words? The character is commendable, but how can the whole family be inferior? And Sima Qian is always the same in everything he does. As a literati, His Majesty will be angry, but he will not guard against it, let alone be afraid. General Wei has a heavy army in his hands, and His Majesty must be carefully watching his intentions, and the consequences will be dire if he is not careful." Huo Qubing sighed softly and said nothing.Seeing his frown slightly, I felt a little uncomfortable, tugged at his sleeves, and said solemnly: "Sima Qian is a gentleman, you don't deserve people's praise for what you do." He looked at my hand and said, "It doesn't seem like a gentleman would appreciate you for teasing me like this, but..." He came to hold my hand, "But I like it." I pretended to be angry and opened his hand, but he retracted it with a smile, and the corners of his brows and eyes were flying again, my heart relaxed, and I also pursed my lips and smiled. "Delicious barbecue, very authentic grilling method on the prairie, I will enjoy it when I am sick." The figure has not been seen yet, but the voice of a person has already been heard from a distance. I stood up immediately in surprise, Huo Qubing smiled and shook his head: "It's okay, it's my uncle." If I knew I should not have come, I said angrily: "Your uncle? Your Majesty is still your uncle! Is it General Gongsun?" Huo Qubing lightly nodded and stood up to greet him.Gongsun He and Gongsun Ao walked side by side, and when they saw me standing behind Huo Qubing, a trace of surprise flashed by, which was almost impossible to catch.I praised in my heart, it really is an old fox. In the evening, when I returned to the garden, I was not in a good mood, and of course I couldn't say it was bad. I wouldn't be affected by irrelevant people, but I felt a little bit more sad and vigilant. Gongsun He was very surprised when he saw my gesture of holding a knife to cut flesh, and asked me if I had lived in the Huns.I was nervous for a while, I didn't think carefully, and I answered "never".Gongsun He himself is a Hun, how can he not see that I am skilled in hand gestures?Although he didn't ask any more questions, he obviously knew that I was lying, and his eyes immediately turned a little colder towards me.Thinking about it now, if I could calmly say that I had lived with a shepherd for a period of time, nothing would have happened.I was so evasive, but Gongsun He was suspicious and looked down upon me.Gongsun Ao seems to dislike me even more, even a bit disdainful. Huo Qubing sensed the emotions of the two of them, he didn't say anything, but his manner became more and more friendly to me, he even took the knife from my hand, divided the meat for me, and put it in front of me.Only others have ever served Huo Qubing. Gongsun He and Gongsun Ao were shocked when they saw Huo Qubing serving others.Seeing Huo Qubing like this, Gongsun Ao, who was originally arrogant, had no choice but to be polite to me and suppressed his dislike. In the past few days, when it was time to eat, I remembered the delicious roast lamb and the skilled cook, and the dishes in the case suddenly became dull.If Huo Qubing knew that I ate his delicacies, but was so greedy that he thought about how to get that cook into his own hands, he wondered if he would call me a greedy wolf. I was still dreaming of my gourmet dream, and the maid Xinyan rushed in crying: "Master, go and see, Li Sanlang came to smash the garden, no one can stop him. I was pushed and fell, The clothes on the new upper body are all torn." As she spoke, she fondled the tear in her dress, crying more and more sadly.I laughed, and twisted the veil to wipe her face: "Don't cry, isn't it just a set of clothes? I'll give you a set, and I'll call the tailor to make you a new one tomorrow." Xinyan smiled through tears, and said timidly: "I want to choose my own color." I said: "Okay! Tell me what's going on!" She still had a look of shock on her face: "We don't know why, but Li Sanlang is a very gentle and refined person, he speaks kindly and gives many rewards, we all like him the most on weekdays. But today he will kill him as soon as he enters the garden Honggu went to see him, and then she smashed things, smashing everything in the whole place. We tried to hold him, but he pushed us away, looking like he wanted to hit someone, we They all ran away, and they must still be smashing things now!" Just as I was talking, Aunt Hong came in with disheveled hair, I couldn't help it, and burst out laughing.Honggu scolded angrily: "You still have the mood to laugh, if you smash it down again, everyone will drink the northwest wind this year." As soon as she spoke, her messy hair dangled like a bird burrowing inside. Even Xinyan beside him lowered his head, bit his lips and smiled.Honggu was so angry that she wanted to pinch Xin Yan, but I winked, Xin Yan quickly turned around and ran out of the room. "Okay, don't be angry, Li Sanlang wants to smash, what can we do? Not to mention his martial arts, we can't beat him at all, but if we can beat him, don't we dare to beat him out? Let him smash it! Tired of smashing him It won’t be smashed.” I dragged Honggu to sit on the couch, and showed her the bronze mirror.She screamed and quickly picked up the comb to comb her hair. "I've never lost such an adult in my life, being pushed and shoved by a young man who called me a poisonous woman." A bad feeling surged up in my heart: "Is it because of Li Yan?" Hong Gu nodded unexpectedly: "Do you still remember the handkerchief that you burned? Li Sanlang somehow found out that the handkerchief belonged to Li Yan, and he came here today to ask for trouble. At first, he pretended to be very nervous. Calmly asked about the veil, I said that it was indeed the girl who told me it was the owner of the workshop, and he immediately exploded, angrily scolding us for being a snake and a scorpion, for ruining a woman's life for his own glory and wealth. He shouted for you When I went to see him, I saw that his eyes were full of hatred, and the situation was not right, so I excused that you went out and would not come back for a while." I sighed, Li Gan knew that the owner of the veil was Li Yan, but he didn't know that Li Yan wanted to enter the palace on his own initiative, and it wasn't that I deceived him in order to climb the dragon and become a phoenix. I burned the veil just because I didn't want him to become Li Yan's pawn , but people are not as good as God. Hong Gu wept and said, "How did Li Sanlang know that Mrs. Li is the woman he is looking for? Only you and I know this. How did he know? Didn't you burn all the handkerchiefs?" "I burned the old handkerchief, and Li Yan made a new handkerchief. Li Gan probably saw it by accident. He would try to ask Li Yan. With Li Yan's quickness, she can understand what Li Gan said in a few words. If you think about it, you will naturally figure out how to make the best use of the situation and make everything work for her." I held Hong Gu's hair so that she could braid it into a bun, "Hong Gu, from today onwards, you must completely forget about the handkerchief. This matter has never happened, and it must not be mentioned again under any circumstances." Honggu and I looked at each other in the mirror. Honggu's eyes were full of shock, even a faint fear. After a while, she said nonchalantly, "I've forgotten all about it." The maid came in with hot water, with a sad face on her face: "Li Sanlang is still smashing it!" When Honggu heard this, her eyes were about to bleed.I giggled and said, "Don't feel bad, don't worry, I will pay Li Gan as much as he ruined." Hong Gu said in disbelief, "You still dare to ask him for the bill? I don't dare. If he sees you now, you must be the one who smashed it." I laughed and said: "Why should I ask him to ask for the bill? The father will pay for the fault of the son. General Li Guang is a man of righteousness and justice. It is said that if the soldiers are hungry, he will not eat first, and he will share the rewards with the soldiers. , Will such a person still renege on the bill? We just need to send the bill to General Li, will he pay us?" Hong Gu thought for a while, finally dissipated the sadness on her face, and nodded with a smile: "The two elder brothers above Li Gan died young, I heard that General Li was very sad, Li Gan became more filial to his father because of this, and never violated anything. Rebellion. If General Li knew about this, no matter how resentful Li Gan was, he would not be able to make trouble again. Yu'er, you're smart enough to hit a snake and hit seven inches." I took the rouge to her and said, "Give me an extra list of the smashed items later." Hong Gu gave me a puzzled look and nodded. Li Yan, I don't know how you lit the fire, and it burned to me, so you have to pay me a share of the money.If you smash something, you will get double the compensation.General Li is a person who donates money with righteousness. I am sorry to bully honest people too much, so I can only let you go.