Chapter 2 Chapter 1 The Way Back

The sky is low and the clouds are heavy, and the earth is boundless. It was the twelfth lunar month of winter, and the bitter north wind was blowing the pure whiteness between the sky and the earth, like a white veil covering the sky and the earth fluttering blankly in the wind. In a trance, it was like a shattered blurred dream. On the official road outside the pass, a horse and a donkey meandered from the white snow all over the sky, bringing some vitality to this vast land. In a blink of an eye, the two horses were getting closer and closer, the green donkey on the left was very lively, hooves raised its hooves and neck, shook its head while walking, making the girl in red on it giggle non-stop.The young man in white sitting on the white horse on the right looked at her cheerful smile, shook his head slightly, looked down at his empty right sleeve, raised the wine jug hanging around his waist with his left hand, and took a shallow sip. , and put it on the belt again, ignoring the mottled wine stains dripping on the clothes.The white horse under his crotch is also skinny, looking as desolate as its owner.

"Xifu, have we arrived yet?" the girl asked the young man in white while teasing the green donkey under her crotch.She is only seven or eight years old, her little face is flushed by the north wind, she is very cute. The young man in white frowned slightly and said, "How many times have I told you that it's the master, not some kind of happiness. You yelled joyfully one after another. If you don't know, it's still your servant who is your master." "Scary?" The girl blinked her round eyes, pouted her small mouth in disbelief, "Xifu, Huan'er is so cute, she only treats people happy, why is she scary?"

The young man in white said patiently: "Ming Huan, the servants mentioned by the teacher refer to servants and domestic servants. This is about going up and down, not frightening." Ming Huan said in surprise: "Xifu, Huan'er I love you the most, Huan'er and Xifu respect each other as guests, and I dare not insult Xifu." The young man in white had a headache and was funny at the same time: "Nonsense, treating each other like a guest is a phrase that can only be used between husband and wife, how can you use it as a teacher?" Then he said seriously, "Huan'er, the Central Plains is not like Korea. The etiquette system is complicated and there are many rules. A single word difference can cause a catastrophe, please remember to speak less and listen more, the world is dangerous, others do not spoil you like a teacher."

Nodding with vague understanding, Ming Huan asked again: "Xifu, you always talk about paste paste, what exactly is paste?" "This river is a river of rivers, and this lake is a lake of lakes. It's not paste." The young man in white laughed. Ming Huan clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Huan'er knows, so it's Jiang Hu Wei?" He pointed to the side of the road. The young man in white looked up, but saw a quiet small lake beside the road. The vast lake was clear and snowy, so beautiful that it was unspeakably beautiful, just like the scenery in the south of the Yangtze River.

He watched silently, vaguely as if he saw a naughty boy jumping around in the early winter snow, and accidentally slipped and fell in the snow, but it was a girl in white who gently lifted him up and held him with a piece of white cloth. handkerchief to wipe off the snow on his face.The young man stood there in a daze, feeling the tenderness like the first snow wholeheartedly. Senior Sister, I don't know that you have been well for the past four years... In a trance, the eyes of the young man in white fell on the empty right sleeve, and his heart seemed to be hit hard by a whip, and the warm tenderness disappeared in an instant like the snowflakes flying down on the palm.There was a wry smile on his lips, and the young man in white was at a loss: "Yun Jisang, Yun Jisang, Senior Sister Zhuo is as bright as the moon, even if you have all the brothers and feet, you are far from being worthy of her. Now that you are already broken, why bother?" Do you still have that sliver of fantasy?" (Note: For details on the relationship between Yun Jisang and Zhuo Anjie, please refer to my book)

This white-clothed young man is Yun Jisang, the only disciple of Shen Heng, the most wise man in the world. After the case of the death of Xiangsha in Bashanzhuang, he was invited by Xue Hao to go to Koryo to help the Ming army resist Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Fusang The army, after four years of the Battle of Renchen, the allied forces of Ming and Goryeo finally defeated the Fusang Army in the 26th year of Wanli, and drove all the 100,000 Japanese pirates into the sea. However, Yunjisang lost his right arm in the bloody battle in Luliang .Although it is said that he went to the disaster for the country, he had no regrets, but he became a person with a broken arm at a young age, but he was also saddened.Fortunately, he rescued Cui Minghuan, an orphan girl from Korea, during the rebellion. Seeing her weeping bitterly over the corpse of her relatives in a pool of blood in the fierce battle, he resolutely accepted her as his disciple out of pity. Word.Ming Huan is sweet and lively by nature, coupled with his smattering knowledge of Chinese, he often made a lot of jokes, which helped him resolve a lot of depression in his heart.

After the war was over, Yun Jisang embarked on a journey south to the Central Plains, not interested in offering rewards from the court. "Xifu, you're the one answering the question. Is it Jianghuwei?" Ming Huan, who was sitting on the donkey's back, tugged at his sleeve unwillingly and asked. It looks very cute when it rises up. Yun Jisang came to his senses and smiled slightly: "The so-called rivers and lakes are just a general term for the places where all living beings work hard in the world. Zhuangzi once said in the great master: "The spring is dry, and the fish are on the land. It is better to be wet and to be wet. Forget about rivers and lakes. That is to say, the springs have dried up, and the fish have to struggle on the land. They blow each other with the moisture in their mouths and moisten each other with the foam from the corners of their mouths, so that each other can survive. It's touching, but it's not as good as although they don't have each other in their hearts, they can swim freely in the rivers and lakes..." I can't help but think of all the things between myself and Zhuo Anjie, and my mood at the moment is not right. Is it the hope that I can forget this senior sister who is outstanding in swordsmanship and elegant in the world?

But... Can I really forget her? "Xifu, those fish are so pitiful, but if they really forget each other, they are also very lonely?" Ming Huan blinked his round eyes and said naively. Yes... If one day I and Senior Sister Zhuo can really forget each other in the Jianghu, will my heart be filled with loneliness?Yun Jisang thought silently. Where's Sister Zhuo?In the world of mortals, will she feel a little lonely?When I left my senior sister that day, she gave me the gourd on my waist, and that small gourd contained clean water. Love is like water. This sentence with profound meaning accompanied him through four years of long military career.Can't sleep every night.He would rub this small yellow gourd, recalling the faint feelings that he and Zhuo Anjie seemed to have.But now even this watery feeling is out of reach.

"Xifu, why don't you talk." On the other hand, Ming Huan tugged at his sleeve and said in disbelief. Yun Jisang touched Ming Huan's little head, and looked at the dark sky in the distance: "Let's hurry up, it's getting dark..." Ming Huan pouted her mouth, a gust of wind blew the snowflakes past, she couldn't help shrinking her neck. Yun Jisang smiled, stretched out his sleeves, and rolled her up from the donkey's back in front of him. Ming Huan's small face suddenly burst into a smile like deep snow and early sunshine. Her small body tried hard to curl up in Yunjisang's arms, rubbing her face against Yunjisang's chest, and chose a comfortable one. The position, unexpectedly just dozed off like this.

He didn't know how far he had gone, but Yun Jisang suddenly let out a soft moan, reined in the horse, and stared fixedly at an old tree not far from the side of the road. The branches and leaves of the old tree have withered in the cold winter, and a black crow is standing desolately on the steep branch.Under the tree, a woman in a black hibiscus samurai uniform looked at him quietly. The woman's pitch-black hair dragged to the ground, her pale face was lifeless, traces of blood continued to overflow from her seven orifices, and there was a strange smile on the corner of her mouth.Yun Jisang's heart skipped a beat, he closed his eyes tightly, and when he calmed down a bit, he looked up again, and the woman had disappeared.

There is a red silk thread tied to a horizontal branch there, and at the end of the thread is a small copper bell.A grimace was engraved on the ancient yellow copper bell. Different from those common ferocious grimaces, this grimace is quite handsome, but it has no eyebrows, eyes slightly closed, and the expression is not crying, not angry, not smiling, it is indescribably weird. A gust of cold wind blew by, and the copper bell made a "ding" sound. The voice was cold and long, like a faint singing voice in a deep alley at midnight. The horse under the crotch raised its head and neighed suddenly, stamping its hooves uneasily. Yun Jisang's heart trembled, he stroked the horse's head, and comforted the frightened horse. Looking at the copper bell swaying by the wind, an ominous premonition rose from Yun Jisang's heart. "Xifu?" Ming Huan in his arms raised his face in confusion. "It's nothing..." Yun Jisang said casually, shook the reins lightly, and continued walking.While riding the horse, he looked back at the copper bell. In the north wind, the copper bell was blown obliquely, and the intermittent bell sounded so lonely in the wind. After walking another two miles, the footprints of pedestrians in the snow gradually increased.Dozens of deep ruts are intertwined together to form a winding path extending into the distance.Yun Jisang knew that the destination of his trip - Ping An Town was not far away.An elder he had not seen for a long time, Wei Shengzeng, a great scholar in the world, lived in seclusion there. Wei Sheng used to be from Hejin, Shanxi Province. He used to be an official to the Minister of Rites.He is a disciple of Xu Jie and a loyal believer of Yangming Theory, and he often regrets that he cannot see Wang Bo'an in his life.He is also the only one who has achieved great success in Yangming's philosophy of mind since Wang Shouren.Yun Jisang was deeply influenced by him in terms of life and character, even surpassing his master Gong Shenheng in some aspects. "Xifu, look!" Ming Huan suddenly pointed to the front and said. Yun Jisang opened his eyes, but saw in the snow in front of him, a few shadowy people were gathering around several solitary graves, and he didn't know what they were doing.I couldn't help but secretly sighed in my heart. I was hit by Fusang Daren Iteng Bozhao's heart-shattering palm half a year ago, so that I suffered internal injuries and my skills were greatly damaged. I like this kid's sensitivity. After a short time, Yun Jisang and the two had already walked not far from those people.From a distance, Yun Jisang had already seen the clothes of those people clearly, and couldn't help being shocked: It's the police! Sure enough, several people were wearing soap-colored official uniforms and thick official boots, presumably they were all the county government's arresters, and there was one with pheasant feathers on his head and a tin plate on his body, but he was a solicitor. Archers.Several people were looking around a dead body in the snow. Yun Jisang's eyes fell on the man in the middle, he was about thirties, he was very tall, his cheeks were slightly bearded, his eyes were like lightning, and he was very capable.It was a cold day, but he didn't wear a hat, his hair was tied up in a net towel, his official uniform was full of mud, and he was wearing a yellowed old sheepskin vest instead, which was very sloppy.This person was also looking up and down at Yun Jisang and Ming Huan, when a yamen servant said in a low voice: "Boss Wang, look at these two..." But this person raised his hand and blocked the next words. "This brother, where did you come from?" The big man asked in a deep voice. "Outside the customs." Yun Jisang replied briefly. Although it was only two words, the big man's face changed slightly: "Where is outside the pass?" Yun Jisang said, "I have my origins, but you didn't ask me." The head catcher smiled, and suddenly took a step forward, with the five fingers of his right hand like hooks, he grabbed Yun Jisang's left leg. "Strong eagle claw skill?" Yun Jisang's expression changed, and he kicked the catcher's wrist with his left foot. When the catcher's claw slowed down, Yun Jisang touched the stirrup, and the man flew up and stood on the saddle. "Good skill!" The head catcher yelled, and flew up to two feet into the air, twisted his waist in the air, with his feet up and his head down, his claws attacked Yun Jisang one after the other. Yun Jisang stood on the horse's back with one foot on his left foot, leaned back suddenly, centered on his left foot, and turned almost flat with his body half a circle, avoiding the opponent's moves. After Ming Huan in his arms twirled so swiftly, instead of being afraid, she was very excited and screamed with joy: "Happy! Happy! Do you want to do it again?" The head catcher circled around and lightly landed on the ground, but he was not annoyed, he smiled slightly, raised his hand, and signaled to let him go.He let him go, but Yun Jisang refused to go, reined in the horse, and asked casually: "This head catcher didn't even ask, but let us go, isn't he afraid to let the traitor go?" Wang Butou clasped his fists together: "How dare you, Mr. Wang is not talented, but he also knows that not everyone can ride the military horses of the Shandong Commander Siyamen. This brother must be a soldier under Master Xing's command?" "I don't dare to be a soldier, but I have served as a military counselor next to Mr. Xing. It's just that I have always had a job but no title, and I can't be regarded as a member of the public family." Yun Jisang didn't expect that Wang Butou was so shrewd that he could guess from the horse. Knowing his own background, he had to answer with a smile. Wang Butou smiled slightly: "Since Xiongtai can serve as a military counselor with a detached status, he must be a great talent. As far as Wang knows, there are only a few people with such status around Mr. Xing. And he is as young as Xiongtai. There is only one person. Dare I ask if your surname is Yun?" "Don't dare, it's Yun Jisang." Yun Jisang didn't expect that he was so famous, even this little head catcher had heard of it. "Sure enough, it's Shaoxia Yun! Chief catcher Wang Yansi of Yifeng County has seen young hero Yun!" Catcher Wang seemed very excited. After giving a deep salute, he shouted for his servants to come over and greet him. Yun Jisang hastily got off his horse and helped him: "Wang Catcher, Jisang is young and inexperienced, how did he deserve such a great gift, get up quickly! Everyone, please get up!" Wang Yansi said with emotion: "Young Xia Yun and Hero Qu Wujie fought bloody battles in Goryeo, and their heroic deeds of defeating Japanese pirates have already spread throughout the world. Anyone who has been in the rivers and lakes for a few days has never heard of the name of Shuangjie Yun and Qu. I didn't expect Wang's fate to be so good, and to see her true face today, she is really lucky!" Yun Jisang has been in Koryo for these years, but he doesn't know that all the people of the Ming Dynasty have been attached to this expeditionary army of the Ming Dynasty far away in Koryo.Every move of the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty concerned the hearts of countless people of the Ming Dynasty.On the day of victory in the Battle of Imchen, the government and the public shook, and the whole country celebrated. The deeds of the Ming Expeditionary Army defeating the Fusang Army spread throughout the land of China like a whirlwind.Not only literati and poets sang praises, but also people in the rivers and lakes celebrated with their foreheads and hands.Yun Jisang and Qu Wujie were known as the two heroes of the Ming Dynasty in the expeditionary army, they were one of the best young heroes, Wang Yansi didn't know why. After being polite, Wang Yansi asked, "I don't know why Shaoxia Yun is here...?" "Oh, one of my elders lives in Ping'an Town not far from here, and his 60th birthday will be in three days. I'm here to celebrate his birthday." Yun Jisang replied.As he said that, his eyes fell on the corpse, "Boss Wang, this is..." Wang Yansi sighed and said: "This is the problem that gives Wang a headache...Young Xia Yun, please take a look!" As he said, he walked quickly to the corpse and turned it over. "Ah!" Ming Huan screamed, turned her face away, and threw herself into Yun Jisang's arms. Yun Jisang patted her shoulder lightly, comforting her with Wen Yan.It's no wonder that Ming Huan was afraid, the expression on the dying corpse in front of him was too terrifying.The limbs of the whole person are completely twisted, the eyes are protruding high, and the eyeballs are turned up, revealing almost all the whites of the eyes, the cheeks are tightened, the lips are wide open, the corners of the mouth are drooling, and the tongue is sticking out stiffly.It looked like something had forcibly pulled the life out of his body.Yun Jisang had never seen such a strange situation since the case of Bashanzhuang's death of Xiangsha, and he couldn't help being shocked. "Xifuwei, Huan'er is so scared, let's go, okay?" Ming Huan kept pushing his little head into his arms, weeping authentically.Yun Jisang hugged her tighter, and comforted her: "Don't be afraid, Huan'er, she's just a dead person. Aren't you going to be a heroine in the future? You're so afraid after seeing the dead body, how will you walk on the rivers and lakes in the future?" "Young Xia Yun, in your opinion, what is the cause of this person's death?" Wang Yansi asked in a deep voice. Yun Jisang got off his horse, put Ming Huan down, and walked up to the corpse.He first looked at the corpse's eyelids, then pried open the corpse's mouth for a while, frowning slightly: "There is no blood in the seven orifices, the spots on the corpse are normal, the tongue and teeth are intact, the pupils are clear, it does not seem to be poisoned. Are there any scars?" "Wu Zuo has experienced it, and there are no obvious injuries on his body." "If it's not an injury, and it's not poisoning..." Yun Jisang thought deeply, rubbing the thumb and middle finger of his left hand lightly.This was the habitual movement of his right hand when he was thinking, but since he lost his right arm, he changed to his left hand to do it. "Could it be that he died of a sudden illness?" Wang Yansi asked tentatively. Yun Jisang shook his head: "Judging from the pace of the deceased running, he ran extremely fast, not like someone who was seriously ill. Moreover, there were no signs of struggle on the snow around him. Instantly killed." "Yiyun looks..." Yun Jisang said in a low voice, "This person seems to have encountered something extremely terrifying and was frightened to death." "Scared to death?" Wang Yansi's expression changed immediately. "Boss Wang, could it be..." a policeman couldn't help but whispered. Wang Yansi raised his hand to prevent him from continuing. "Look, Boss Wang, the deceased obviously walked through this place at night..." Yun Jisang pointed to the lantern on the snow not far away, "The lantern of the deceased fell hundreds of feet away, and the footprints are hundreds of feet away." The inside is obviously too big, and it is obviously running fast. During the period, the footprints were chaotic several times, and the snow was messy, which was obviously caused by him falling in a panic. How can a person walk well without any reason? Sudden sprinting, and getting so restless that you fell several times?" "Could it be that he saw something..." Wang Yansi's eyes flashed. "That's right, there must be something that frightened him so much that he suddenly dropped the lantern and ran as hard as he could." Yun Jisang said decisively. "However, what is it that can make the deceased so terrified that he ran in a snowy night, fell down several times, and was even frightened to death?" "Yes, what exactly is it?" Yun Jisang sighed softly, looking up into the distance. The sky is filled with white snow, and the land is as empty as a dream, leaving only a few chaotic and winding pedestrian footprints.A few dozen feet away, there is a sparse forest, which seems to be covered with numerous winter fruits. Yun Jisang walked slowly in the direction of the sparse forest, stepping on the knee-deep snow, quite strenuous.Suddenly, his figure stopped and stood there stiffly.Where is the winter fruit on the tree, it is clear that countless copper bells are densely packed and hung between the branches with red threads. "This is..." Yun Jisang took a deep breath, and the bitter air went straight into his chest, stimulating his already injured meridians, and he couldn't help coughing lightly. Wang Yansi hesitated for a moment, looked at both sides, lowered his voice and said: "Young Xia Yun, have you heard the three words ghost winding bell?" "Ghost winding bell?" Yun Jisang barely suppressed the urge to cough , shook his head, but still stared at the sparse forest without moving. In my mind, the little bell just now was shaking alone in the north wind. Wang Yansi hesitated to speak, remained silent for a while, and finally sighed: "It's not that Mr. Wang is hard to talk about, but that this matter is so weird that even Shaoxia Yun can't figure it out. It's freezing cold, don't delay For your itinerary, Yun Shaoxia should hurry up and get on the road." If it was Yun Jisang four years ago, he would definitely be full of curiosity, and he must ask the root cause to find out.But at this time, he had gone through a big change and was already disheartened, so he just nodded, looked back, glanced at the corpse, picked up Ming Huan, and urged the horse to go. A yamen servant's face suddenly changed, and he said to Wang Yansi: "Boss Wang, the one who will celebrate his 60th birthday in three days in Ping'an Town, isn't that..." As soon as Wang Yansi raised his hand, he didn't let him continue talking. Looking at the back of Yun Jisang going away, the head catcher was thoughtful, his expression changing. Yun Jisang silently looked at the empty sky in front of him, the little bell and the horrible corpse kept circling in his mind.Suddenly I couldn't help laughing again, thinking: Why do I still miss them?Now that I'm a useless person, most of my skills have been lost, and I can't even take care of myself well, so how can I have the energy to take care of these idle things?Looking at the frightened Ming Huan in his arms, feeling pity in his heart, he thought: "I don't ask for anything, if I can raise Ming Huan, Yun Jisang's life will be enough." At this moment, the horse under his crotch seemed to have sensed something, and briskly ran up a small high slope on the snowflakes.Yun Jisang only felt that his eyes suddenly opened up.On a vast plain, dotted with a few wisps of faint cooking smoke, an ancient town was quietly sleeping in front of him like a reclining Buddha. "Ping An Town..." Yun Jisang said softly. "Xifu, is this called Xipingan Town?" Ming Huan immediately lifted his spirits after hearing his words, "Is there any fruit or fruit in the town?" Yun Jisang knew that the "guoguo" in her mouth refers to all the snacks that Miss Cui can eat, so she nodded with a smile: "Yes, the fried pine nuts from the teacher's house are very fragrant. When I was young , and often steal food without telling the teacher's wife." "It turns out that Xifu and Ming Huan are of the same family!" Ming Huan immediately became happy when he heard this. "It's been more than ten years, I don't know if the teacher and the old man are still safe..." Yun Jisang sighed, and urged the horse to run towards the destination of this trip. Under the lonely sky, Ping An Town was quietly waiting for him.