Chapter 7 Chapter 6 Jon

On some occasions—not many, but still there—Jon Snow secretly congratulates himself on being a bastard.When he picked up the sent flagon and filled the glass he had just drunk, he realized with a start that this was the occasion. He turned back and sat on the bench, sitting with the young attendants, sipping the fine wine in the cup.The sweet and fruity aroma of summer red wine in his mouth drew a smile at the corner of his mouth. The halls of Winterfell were steaming, filled with the smell of roast meat and freshly baked bread.The gray stone walls of the hall are covered with banners of various families. The white is the ice wolf of the Stark family, the gold is the crowned stag of the Baratheon family, and the crimson is the roaring lion of the Lannister family.A singer in the hall was strumming the harp and singing ballads, but he, sitting at the end of the long hall, could not hear clearly amid the din of roaring fires, clinking wax dishes, and drunken conversation.

The welcome dinner held for the king to clean up the dust has been going on for four full hours.Jon's brothers and sisters sat across the hall from him, and they sat with the princes and princesses, just a seat below the high platform where the Duke and Duchess of the Starks sat with the king and queen.On special occasions like this, his duke father would allow each of the children a glass of wine, but no more.On the contrary, if he was with the servants like him, no one would care how much he drank. He found himself drinking like a grown man, and was encouraged by the cheery young men around him, who urged him to have another drink every time he drank a glass.Jon was happy to be in their company, and relished hearing their tales of war, hunting, and love affairs to one another.He believes that this group of partners is definitely more interesting than princes and princesses.He had satisfied his curiosity earlier when visitors filed in through the gate.The team happened to pass not far in front of his seat, so he took a good look at it.

His father, the duke, escorted the queen, who was as beautiful as the rumors said, with a gem-encrusted tiara against her long golden hair, shining brightly, and the emeralds inlaid on it matched perfectly with her bright blue eyes .Her father helped her up the high platform and led her to sit down on the seat, but she never looked at him from the beginning to the end.Although Jon was only fourteen, he could still see that the Queen's smile was only a facade. Then there was the King himself, who entered with his arm on Lady Stark.Jon was disappointed when he saw the king.Father used to speak of Robert Baratheon, the matchless warrior, the Demon of the Trident, the bravest and best warrior in the land, a man so distinguished among lords and nobles.But in Jon's eyes, he was just a red-faced, long-bearded, sweaty fat man who walked like he was in a glass.

The children came in after him, little Rickon first, trying very hard to look as majestic as a three-year-old could.He stopped in front of Jon to say hello, and Jon had to urge him to go.Robb followed closely, wearing the gray fleece with white trim, the colors of the Stark family, and holding Princess Myrcella's hand.She was a little girl, not yet eight years old, with golden curls cascading from a jeweled net.As they passed, Jon noticed the shy smile she gave Robb.His conclusion was that the girl was probably boring.But Robb didn't see how stupid she was at all, and he looked at her himself, smiling like a fool.

Then his two half-sisters escorted the princes in, and Arya walked with plump Prince Tommen, whose long platinum hair was longer than hers.Sansa, two years her senior, was with the crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon.Joffrey was twelve years old, younger than both Jon and Robb, and taller than both, and Jon was unhappy thinking about it.Prince Joffrey had his sister's long hair and his mother's deep blue eyes, golden curls covering wide gold cravats and stately velvet collars, and Sansa beamed as she walked beside him.But Jon didn't like Joffrey's pursed lips as he looked at the halls of Winterfell with contempt at all.

He was more interested in the pair walking behind the Dauphin: they were the Queen's brothers, both Lannisters of Casterly Rock.No one will confuse who is a "lion" and who is a "little devil".Ser Jaime Lannister was Queen Cersei's twin, tall and handsome, with flowing blond hair, shining blue eyes, and a smile as sharp as a blade.He wore a scarlet silk gown, jet-black high boots, and a long black satin cape.A roaring Lannister lion was embroidered in gold thread on the breast of the tunic.They called him "Lion of Lannister," and whispered "Kingslayer" behind his back.

Jon found he could barely take his eyes off him.This is what a king should look like, James thought to himself as he walked past. Then he looked at Jaime's brother, who was waddling and half-hidden beside him.Tyrion Lannister is the youngest and ugliest child of Lord Tywin.Everything that the gods gave to Cersei and Jaime, they didn't give to Tyrion.He was a dwarf half his brother's height, trying to keep up with his misshapen legs.His head was disproportionately large, with a distorted face beneath a bulging brow.Eyes, one green and one black, peered out from under a head of long, straight blond hair that was almost blond to white.Jon watched him pass with great interest.

The last of the nobles to enter were his uncle, Benjen Stark of the Night's Watch, and his father's young adopted son, Theon Greyjoy.Bunyan smiled softly at him as he passed, and Theon ignored him completely, but it wasn't a day or two.After all the distinguished guests were seated, everyone toasted each other and exchanged congratulatory messages, and then the dinner officially began. Jon has been drinking since then and hasn't stopped. Something rubbed against his feet under the long table, and when he looked down, he saw a pair of red eyes staring at him. "Hungry again?" he asked.There was half a honey-roasted chicken in the middle of the dining table. Jon reached out and tore off a chicken leg. Suddenly, he had a plan, cut off the whole chicken with a knife, and then let the remaining chicken bones slide from between his legs to the ground . "Bai Ling" bit the bones brutally but quietly.His brothers and sisters had not been allowed to bring their wolves to the banquet, but there were more dogs than Jon could count at this end of the hall, and no one had said a word about his pup.He told himself that this is also a special blessing.

There was a sudden sting in the eye, and Jon rubbed it roughly, cursing Smokey.He took another swig of wine, and watched as Ghost devoured the whole chicken. The dogs walked up and down the tables, following the waitresses around.One of them, a black mixed-breed bitch with big yellow eyes, smelled the chicken and stopped, ducking over the bench for a piece of the pie.Jon watched the confrontation between the two sides with cold eyes, and saw the bitch let out a low growl from her throat, and slowly approached.Bai Ling raised his head silently, staring coldly at the other party with those blood-red eyes.The bitch let out an angry challenge. She was three times the size of the direwolf pup, but Ghost didn't move. He just grabbed his food and opened his mouth to show his fangs.Seeing this, the bitch barked again, and finally decided that it was better not to fight.So it turned and slid away, barking haughtily to maintain its pride before leaving.Bai Ling continued to chew with his head down.

Jon smiled smugly, reaching under the table to feel its fluffy white down.The little wolf looked up at him, tenderly bit his hand, and then lowered his head to eat. "Is this the famous direwolf?" A familiar voice asked beside him. Jon looked up happily, and Uncle Ben put his hands on his head, stroking his hair like he had been stroking Ghost's fur. "Yes," he replied, "it's called Ghost." A servant who was telling a low-level story stopped and made room for the Duke's brother.Benjen Stark straddled the bench and took the goblet from Jon. "Summer red," he said slowly, after a sip. "There is nothing sweeter than this wine. How many have you had tonight, Jon?"

Jon laughed but didn't answer. Benjen Stark smiled and said, "As I expected. Hehe, forget it. I remember the first time I got drunk myself, and I was younger than you." He picked from the wooden dinner plate next to him. Pick up a roasted onion dripping with brown gravy and bite into it with a crunchy click. His uncle was sharp, lean and craggy, but there was a perpetual smile in his gray-blue eyes.He was dressed in black like all the night watchmen, and tonight he was wearing a thick velvet gown, high leather boots, a wide belt with silver-plated buckles, and a heavy silver necklace around his neck. .Bunyan looked at Bai Ling with interest as he ate the onion. "A very quiet wolf," he concluded. "He's very different from the others," said Jon, "and he never speaks, so I call him Ghost, also because of the color of his coat. The other wolves are very dark, either gray or black. .” "There are direwolves outside the Great Wall, and we often hear them howling when we go out on patrol." Benjen Stark looked at Jon meaningfully, "Don't you usually eat at the same table with your brother and the others?" "That was on weekdays," Jon replied flatly, "Madam thinks it would be an insult to the royal family if the illegitimate child were to dine with them tonight." "I see." The uncle turned his head to look at the dining table on the high platform at the end of the hall. "My brother doesn't seem to be in the mood to celebrate tonight." Jon also noticed that the illegitimate child must learn to observe words and expressions, and understand the emotions hidden in people's eyes.His father was courteous in all his manners, but there was a restraint in his expression that Jon had never seen before.He didn't talk much, and kept scanning the whole hall with low, empty eyes.The king, who was two seats away, drank happily all night, his big face behind his beard was flushed, he kept raising his glass to toast, he fell back and forth with joy after hearing every joke, and he ate every dish like a hungry ghost. Eat endlessly.But the queen sitting beside him was like a cold statue. "The queen is angry too," Jon whispered to his uncle. "My lord father took the king to the catacombs this afternoon, and the queen didn't want him to go." Bunyan examined Jon carefully, and said, "Jon, nothing escapes your attention, right? Our Great Wall defenders really need someone like you." Jon said proudly, "Robb is stronger than me with a spear, but I'm better with a sword, and Hullen says I'm the best horseman in town." "It's really not easy." "When you go back, take me with you." Jon suddenly became excited, "As long as you go and tell your father, he will definitely agree, and I know he will." Uncle Benjen looked at his face again. "Jon, the Wall is a tough place for a boy." "I'm almost of age," Jon argued. "I'll be fifteen next name day, and Maester Luwin says bastards grow faster than other children." "It's true." Bunyan's mouth turned slightly down, he picked up Jon's wine glass from the table, filled it with wine, and took a deep breath. "Daeron Targaryen was only fourteen when he conquered Dorne," Jon continued.The legendary young Dragon King is his hero. "That battle lasted all summer," reminded my uncle. "The young king you speak of killed ten thousand men in order to take Dorne, and another fifty thousand men in order to hold it. Someone should have Tell him war is no joke." He took another sip of his wine and wiped his mouth, "And Daeron Targaryen died young at the age of eighteen, you won't forget that part, will you?" "I haven't forgotten anything," boasted Jon, emboldened by the alcohol.He tried to sit up straight to make himself look taller. "Uncle, I want to serve in the Night's Watch." For this decision, he had already thought about it over and over again. At night, when his brothers were sleeping soundly beside him, he was tossing and turning.Robb will inherit Winterfell one day, and command thousands of troops as Warden of the North.Bran and Rickon will become his vassals, owning their own manors and managing the internal affairs for him.The younger sisters, Arya and Sansa, will marry the heirs of other powerful families and go to their territories in the south as noble wives.Only him, a mere illegitimate child, what can he expect? "Jon, I'm afraid you don't know. The Night's Watch is a group that regards death as home. We have no family bonds, and we will never have children. We take duty as our wife and honor as our concubine." "Honor as a bastard," Jon said. "I'm ready to be sworn in." "You are only a fourteen-year-old child," Bunyan replied, "not yet an adult. Before you touch a woman, I'm afraid you can't imagine the price you will pay." "I don't care about that!" Jon raged. "If you knew, you would probably care about it." Bunyan said, "My child, if you knew the consequences of taking this oath, you wouldn't be so eager to join." Jon was even more annoyed when he heard this: "I'm not your child!" Benyan Stark stood up, "It's a pity that you are not my child." He patted Jon on the shoulder, "Come to me after you give birth to two or three illegitimate children outside, and see what you will have idea." Jon shuddered. "I will never give birth to an illegitimate child outside," he said slowly, "never!" He spit out the last sentence like venom. At this moment, he was startled that the whole table fell silent for some time, and everyone was staring at him.He felt tears fill his eyes, and finally he stood up. "Forgive me to leave first." He said with the last bit of dignity, and then ran away like a whirlwind before the others saw his tears fall.He must have drunk too much, his feet seemed to be knotted, and immediately bumped into a waitress, spilling a jug of spiced wine on the floor, and everyone burst into laughter.Tears rolled down Jon's cheeks, and someone tried to help him, but he shook off the kind hand, and with eyes that couldn't make out the ground, he continued running towards the gate.Ghost followed, racing off into the low night. The empty courtyard was extremely silent, and on the battlements on the inner wall there was only one guard who pulled his cloak against the cold, huddled up in a corner alone, although he looked bored and had a sad expression, but Jon wanted to exchange with him out of thousands and tens of thousands. location desires.In addition, the entire lonely city is dark and full of loneliness.Jon once visited an abandoned manor, where there was no one in sight, silent and gloomy, and the surroundings were awe-inspiring, only the huge stone was silently telling the past owner's situation.Winterfell tonight reminded Jon of the scene at that time. Sheng, singing, dancing and music flowed out from the open window behind him, it was the melody that he didn't want to hear at the moment.He wiped away his tears with his sleeve, annoyed at how he couldn't hold it back, and then turned to leave. "Boy." Someone called him.Jon turned his head. Tyrion Lannister was sitting on a ledge over the front door of the great hall, looking down upon the world like a gargoyle.The dwarf smiled at him: "Is that guy next to you a wolf?" "It's a direwolf," Jon said. "It's called Ghost." He looked up at the dwarf, curiosity replaced by disapproval. "What are you doing there? Why aren't you at the dinner party?" "It's too hot and noisy in there, so I drank more wine," the dwarf told him. "I learned a lesson a long time ago that it's not polite to throw up on your brother. I can take a closer look at you." The wolf?" Jon hesitated, then nodded slowly: "Can you come down by yourself? Or do you want me to get a ladder?" "Go, look down on me?" the little man said.He pushed his hands back hard, and his whole body rolled into the air.Jon, gasping for breath, gaped as Tyrion curled into a ball, landed lightly on his hands, and flipped back to his feet. Bai Ling took a few steps back hesitantly. The dwarf patted the dust off his body and said with a smile, "I think I must have scared your little wolf. I'm so sorry." "He's not scared." Jon said, bending over and calling, "Ghost, come here, come here, my dear." The pup strolled over, nuzzling Jon's cheek affectionately, but kept his guard on Tyrion Lannister.When the dwarf reached out to touch it, it drew back immediately, bared its sharp teeth, and let out a silent growl. "Quite shy?" Lannister said. "Ghost, sit down," Jon ordered. "That's it, sit still." He looked up at the dwarf. "You can touch him now. He won't move unless I tell him to move." .I'm training him." "I see." Lannister scratched Bai Ling's down between his ears, which was as white as fine snow, "Good wolf wolf." "He would have ripped your throat out if I hadn't been here," Jon said.In fact, this statement can't come true right now, but it won't be too long to see how the little wolf grows. "In that case, you'd better not go away," replied the dwarf.He tilted his oversized head and looked at Jon carefully with those eyes of different sizes. "I am Tyrion Lannister." "I know," Jon said, standing up.He stood so much taller than the dwarf, and couldn't help feeling weird. "Are you Ned Stark's bastard son?" Jon only felt a chill piercing through his body, he pursed his lips tightly, and did not answer. "Did I offend you?" Lannister hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, gnomes don't always know how to read words and expressions. Anyway, the senior gnomes who have always been jugglers are all dressed casually and speak freely, so I will follow suit. .” He chuckled, “But you are indeed an illegitimate child.” "Lord Eddard Stark is my father." Jon finally admitted. "Well," said the Lannister, looking into his face, "I can tell. You're more of a northerner than your brothers." "Half-brother," Jon corrected, secretly pleased at the dwarf's statement. "Then illegitimate son, let me give you some advice." Lannister said, "Never forget who you are, because this world will never forget. You have to turn resistance into strength, so that you have no weakness. Use Arm yourself with it, and no one can use it to hurt you." Jon wasn't in the mood to listen to lectures: "And you know what it's like to be an illegitimate child?" "The dwarves in the whole world are no different from illegitimate children in the eyes of their fathers." "You are your mother's own son, a Lannister through and through." "Really?" The dwarf smiled bitterly, "You can tell my father about this. My mother died of dystocia when she gave birth to me, so my father is still not sure if I am his own." "I don't even know who my mother is," Jon said. "Anyway, it's a woman." He smiled sadly at Jon, "Kid, please remember that although dwarfs in the world may be regarded as illegitimate children, illegitimate children do not necessarily have to be regarded as dwarfs." After finishing speaking, He turned around and hunched back to the banquet hall, humming a little love tune.The moment he opened the door, the lights in the room cast his back clearly in the courtyard.At that moment, the figure of Tyrion Lannister stood up like a king.