MTL - Perfect Encounter-Chapter 76
Xie Gang asked about this in detail. Jiang Hongqing described them one by one. According to the custom of Zhonglan City New Year's Eve, lucky lanterns should be put on during the Chinese New Year to pray for good weather, good health and good luck in everything next year. So the prefect simply ordered people to set up lampstands by the river in the outskirts of the city every year. The ten-mile-long platform along the river was covered with blessing lanterns, which were as bright as daytime. This arrangement has been going on for seven years.
An Ruochen nodded, as a resident of Zhonglan City, she knew about it. Every year on the night of the first day of the lunar new year, their family would go to the lamp stand to enjoy the lanterns and put them on.
"This year's table has been set up. Yesterday, the craftsmen went to finish the inspection and reinforcement work, and the common people rushed to hang the headlights. Every time this kind of time is chaotic, the prefect sent two teams of yamen to maintain order. Unexpectedly, it was still impossible to guard against. Some people crowded and made trouble. The table had not been reinforced yet, and a piece of it fell, and many people fell into the water. The government officials went to the river to rescue people. The people were all right, some were frightened and slightly injured. But two yamen servants died in the line of duty. The prefect has ordered us to take care of their families and take care of the aftermath."
Xie Gang glanced at An Ruochen, and asked about the situation of the other yamen servant who died in the line of duty.
It was an eighteen-year-old boy, a local, and he had just become a government servant not long ago. He is not familiar with Jiang Man, and they are not in the same group. The young man was actually quite good at swimming, he rescued several people to get up, but maybe because of too much physical exertion, in the end he couldn't get up by himself and sank. The others hurried to rescue, but it was too late. It was out of breath when it was picked up. Jiang Man's situation is almost the same.
The host Bo Jiang Hongqing sighed lightly at this point, feeling very sorry. "It's all Haoerlang. Jiang Man made a great contribution before, and he was so brave this time. Unfortunately, he died. The prefect will reward him heavily."
An Ruochen went to the river, and the place where the lamp stands were still quite lively. Many craftsmen are trimming the table and strengthening it for safety. Someone lit candles and burned paper money, and someone hung up a white blessing lamp with the names and eulogy of Jiang Man and another government servant written on it. Everyone spontaneously mourned and praised the two government servants.
An Ruochen carefully asked about the accident that happened yesterday, and asked the craftsman about the condition of the blessing lampstand. There is no doubt, everything seems to be an accident, reasonable, and there are many witnesses. An Ruochen was sad for the deceased and also depressed about the case.
Helplessness weighed heavily on her heart. There is no way to prove that Jiang Man died of murder, and there is no way to prove that Jiang Man perjured himself before, especially after he became a hero and died. Whether Li Changshi is a spy in the army or is being used by others because of his utter loyalty, there is no way to prove it.
Long Da came back earlier today, after dinner, he heard Xie Gang's report on today's events, so he went to find An Ruochen.
An Ruochen was listless and in a daze, and was carried out by Long Da for a stroll.
An Ruochen was also exhausted from walking, so Long Da broke a branch for her. An Ruochen felt that the general was very considerate, and she just needed to vent her depression, so she twitched the bushes on the side of the road, but thought that this was too rude, and she still had to maintain her temperament in front of the general, so she quickly threw the branch away, she But a dignified woman, remember to remember.
Long Da felt his face twitch when he saw it, what does this mean! Just lost it? ! After walking for so long, I finally saw a small flower blooming on a branch, the only one! Did you give it to her for her to whip and play and then throw it away?
Long Da didn't speak anymore, he really couldn't say anything to her.
The two of them walked for a while, and walked to the school grounds. An Ruochen asked: "General, can you sit down for a while?" She felt tired.
Long Da nodded, and An Ruochen took him to sit on the hill beside the school field and looked at the school field.
"Do you like it here?" Long Da asked.
An Ruochen nodded.
Long Da hesitated for a while and asked, "Why?"
If she said that she enjoyed eating meat and drinking with General Zong here, he would stop talking.
"Because the general taught me many skills here."
Long Da cleared his throat and straightened his face.
"I never knew what I could do before, but I learned it all here." An Ruochen didn't notice Long Da's expression, and continued, "But there are many things I want to do, but I can't."
Long Da looked at her.
An Ruochen lowered his head and plucked the half-dried grass under his body. "General, Jiang Man is dead."
"I know."
"The clues are broken again. And he was not killed, not silenced, at least on the surface. He died a heroic and glorious death, and there is no fault at all."
"Um."
"So many people died, one after another. And we haven't caught the real murderer behind the scenes." An Ruochen was depressed, "Even though you taught me to untie me last time, I still can't help but think, If I had been more decisive and capable, would I have been able to get ahead of them? If I hadn't been afraid of spies in the army, I would have asked General Jiang to arrest Liu Ze..."
It was Zong Zeqing who relieved her last time, but Long Da didn't intend to correct this. He said: "Jiang Song will first check you clearly, and then send messengers to report to me on flying horses, and surround the restaurant and Liu's residence at the same time. At this time, the spies in the army have already reported the situation to Mr. Min, and Lou Zhi will also act. You Maybe you can't even get the name Min Gongzi."
Long Da said again: "It may be another third situation. If it doesn't happen, you won't know. You can't always use good possibilities to negate the results you have achieved. Maybe it will be worse. By then you will He would say again, if he had known that I would hold my breath, I would have done better not to do this." He imitated An Ruochen's tone.
Indeed. That's why she was upset. An Ruochen sighed. Thinking about Long Da's last tone, he felt a little funny.
"But you're right. If you don't do some things in time, you may regret it in the future."
An Ruochen looked at him.
Long Da cleared his throat, opened his mouth as if to say something, seemed to hesitate again, and closed his mouth. Then he opened his mouth again, and he said: "I haven't told you. When I was very young, I was stationed at the border with my father and grandfather. I never went to the battlefield, but in the barracks and at home, I always heard them talk about the battlefield. How, killing the enemy and defending the country is full of pride. I feel in my heart that if you practice martial arts well, killing people is very easy. When I was twelve years old, my father took me to the front line and let me learn a lot. There was no war, but the two armies The confrontation was quite far away. At that time, the atmosphere was quite tense, and I was very scared, so my horse started to stir. You know that the formation of the army was very brutal, and a little hairy boy was moving around on the horse..."
An Ruochen "puchi" laughed out loud.
Long Da smiled shyly: "The other party withdrew before the battle started. After I came back, my father asked me what happened, and I said it was a bad horse."
An Ruochen couldn't help laughing.
Long laughed at her. Then he straightened his face and said: "In fact, in the capital, many sons and daughters of officials and dignitaries were engaged to get married early. When I was sixteen or seventeen, someone came to marry me. My father said, how old is this? I have never made any contribution to the country, so how can I get married. But there are still many people who come to talk about marriage. In addition, many people I know are married, so I think it is not difficult. When I am free, I will married."
So how many wives and concubines does he have now? An Ruochen really never thought about these things about the general. Now that he suddenly mentioned it, she felt very flustered. After a while he talked about his wives and concubines at home, she must say some compliments. In fact, she is quite good at flattering, and she has accumulated a lot of compliments, but now her mind is in a daze, blank, and she can't think of anything.
Then An Ruochen heard herself asking: "You can't ride a horse well, what happened later?"
She was immediately glared at by the general.
An Ruochen was very guilty, this is not to help the general divert the topic that he diverted himself.
Long stared at her for a long time, but actually continued. "Later, my father said that bad horse riding was due to lack of practice, so he asked me to practice. Sitting on the horse to practice long sword, but the horse had to be restrained. I was fined for three days."
Then he continued to stare at An Ruochen: "What else do you want to ask?"
"Are you ready?" An Ruochen didn't know what to do, so she continued to ask.
"What do you think?" This is not nonsense.
An Ruochen shrank his neck: "Then what happened later?" The general wanted to say that getting a wife is easy, so he said it. She also thinks that it is not difficult to get married, and she can marry when she has time, but she has been serving the country and has not found time. Humph. Yes, she said the same after a while.
"And later?" Long stared at her, "In the year of the fourteenth year, I went to the battlefield to fight against the Eastern Chu Kingdom. I thought I would be afraid, but in fact my mind was empty, and the other deputy general rushed towards me with a gun , I rushed over with my horse belly, I thought that must be the first person I would cut down, I knew his name, and I would remember him. But before I could kill him, a small soldier rushed beside him I slashed at the belly of the horse, I didn't even think about it, I swung the knife over, and chopped off his head..."
An Ruochen shrank in fright. She was thinking about her marriage, and she was talking about cutting off her head, but she really didn't catch the general's way of talking.
"Are you scared?" Long Da asked her.
An Ruochen nodded, then shook his head again.
Long Da frowned, unable to figure out what she meant. He said: "Killing the enemy on the battlefield is like this. Hundreds of thousands of people surround the battle. If you don't kill your opponent with one blow, you will put yourself in danger. That day in the gambling house, I was also in a hurry..."
An Ruochen remembered that Long Da really chopped off people's heads as soon as he came. Thinking of that scene, she shrank her neck again.
Seeing her like this, Long Da became a little annoyed: "That's why I asked you to go first, because I didn't want you to see the **** slaughter. I'm not a cruel person, and I don't want you to think about the bad. That's why I let you get on the horse, no Thinking of you being such a waste."
Blame her? An Ruochen was innocent. She shouted: "Then I really didn't see anything in the end, and the general has fulfilled his wish."
Still stubborn! Long stared at her.
An Ruochen was wronged by the stares, and didn't know what to do. It's really strange, why don't you always talk to the general recently. In the past, discussions had always been tacit and pleasant.
Long Da suddenly stood up irritable and turned around, as if he wanted to leave. An Ruochen stood up hurriedly, looking at Long Da's generous shoulders, a little at a loss.
Long Da stood still, with his back to her, and An Ruochen didn't know what he was thinking. If he doesn't leave, she naturally doesn't dare to move. He is really tall, if she took two steps to lean up, she would probably only be able to reach his shoulders... Wait, what a mess, it is impossible for her to lean over and lean up, it must have been just a visual height.
Just as he was thinking wildly, Long Da suddenly turned around, An Ruochen was startled guilty, took a step back and subconsciously said: "I didn't."
Long Da didn't care if she was inexplicable or not, he just said: "I didn't finish what I just said."
"Oh." An Ruochen regained his composure and hurriedly said, "Please tell me, General."
Long Dao: "Before going into battle, I decided on my opponent. I thought I would remember the name of the first person I killed in my life, but in fact I didn't even know the name of that soldier. At that time, he was not my target at all. I rushed out. I thought I would be the first to cut down the lieutenant general. We met many years later. At that time, we had diplomatic relations with Eastern Chu, and we toasted and talked together. I thought I could fight side by side with my father Ten years, but he died when I was eighteen. I thought that many people married early and had children, and I was probably no exception. But in fact, many things were not as they thought. I thought getting married was very simple Yes, make a decision on a girl, okay, okay, okay, let’s get married. But in fact, when I really meet a girl I want to marry, I don’t know how to tell her.”
An Ruochen lowered his head, feeling a little sad in his heart. General, I really don't want to hear about your wife, General. I really don't want to know how you met, how you got engaged, and how you told her.
"No." Long Dahu said angrily again: "I actually told her, but I couldn't find a good time, but I told her, and then she always interrupted and went to the horizon."
An Ruochen felt that this lady was really wrong, you listened carefully to what the general said, and dared to interrupt.
"Are you listening to me?"
"Listen, listen." An Ruochen hurriedly responded. She is a conscientious and good steward, and she listens carefully to every word the general says. Although she didn't like to hear it, she didn't interrupt.
He didn't look up at all. Long Da stared at the top of An Ruochen's head dissatisfied. Her hair is black and soft, moist and attractive under the moonlight, her ears are slender and cute, the earlobes look pink and tender, and they seem to be easy to pinch, her neck is curvy and slender, and when she hangs her head, she can see under the collar There also appeared to be a light pink scar. That should be left behind by her father beating her.
"She has suffered a lot." Long Da put his hands behind his back as he said, his fingers were itchy, but now is not the time to act rashly. "I didn't have any special feelings for her at the beginning, I just thought she was smart and brave, and she was a talent."
"Oh." An Ruochen stared at the toe of the shoe. Although he didn't know why, it was really sad to hear the general praise his wife.