Chapter 21 of the long martial arts novel "Seven Killings"

?Chapter 21? Grandchildren

?On the most prosperous Dengshikou West Street in the capital, there is a Washington Palace, which is the residence of the right prime minister Liu Yangzheng. . The palace is long from north to south and wide from east to west, with high walls and glazed tiles, and stone lions squatting on the door. It is the most majestic in this street. The main courtyard, study room, studio, and embroidery building in the mansion are all decorated with carved beams and painted beams. On both sides of the corridor are hanging parrots and thrushes of various colors. Even though it was a severe winter, every room in the mansion was decorated with hanging brocade vines and was incense-burned by the heater, so it didn't feel cold at all. After Liu Yangzheng came down from court, he wandered into the boudoir of his beloved daughter Ziyu, and saw her practicing "Fei Bai Shu" at her desk, and he couldn't help but admire her. When Ziyu saw her father, her expression was indifferent. Without saying a few words, he abandoned his brush and went out.

? Liu Yangzheng looked at the sky outside the window. The sky was gloomy and the leaden clouds were hanging low. He couldn’t tell whether it would snow or not. He said something to stop him: “It’s almost noon. Don’t you want to be with your parents?” "Where are you going to go by yourself when you're eating?"

? Ziyu put on the blue fox fever coat and walked out while casually replying: "I'm not hungry, I'm worried about Jiang." Grandma's body, I want to see her."

Hearing this, Liu Yangzheng slapped the table and shouted, "Stop!" He looked at his beloved daughter's back and said patiently: "How many times have I advised you not to get involved with the remnants of the Jiang family..."

"The remnants?" Ziyu chuckled and turned her head. A cold light shot out of Liuye's eyes, showing no respect for her words. : "Dad, have you forgotten that you and Uncle Jiang were close friends for eight years? You were both going to take the exam and you met on the way. Uncle Jiang learned that you were robbed by bandits and you were penniless, so he gave you a special gift of silver. Encourage your confidence and come with you to the capital to take the scientific examination. You won the top prize, and he got the second place. You two promised to marry each other and promised that your future children would marry Qin and Jin. Okay, okay, okay, but now you call me Uncle Jiang. Mother is the remnant!"

Liu Yangzheng choked and said angrily: "Is this the way you talk to dad? What do you know about Jiang Xinian's affair? Party, angered the emperor, and had his house confiscated and his family destroyed. I thought that for the sake of loyalty, I had to clear many channels and put in a lot of effort to save his mother's life. For so many years, I have arranged for her to be provided with food and clothing, and I have already exhausted my kindness to you. What do you want your father to do? Do you want to force your father to throw away his hair and endanger the nine clans? "

Ziyu sneered and said, "Dad, there is only one person in this room. You and I, why do you want to hide your biological daughter? I didn’t know that Uncle Jiang had selflessly collaborated with the party. But who wrote the memorial to impeach Uncle Jiang? You know it and I know it. ...I'm not trying to atone for your sins!" After she finished speaking, she walked out without looking back.

Liu Yangzheng let out a long sigh and slumped down on the Eight Immortals Chair with his forehead in his hands.

Ziyu rode in a soft red sedan until she reached a nunnery and then stopped. She got off the sedan chair, ordered the bearers to wait outside, and entered the nunnery carrying a food box. There are not many female nuns in the nunnery, only a young nun who is seventeen or eighteen years old and an old nun who is more than seventy years old. Ziyu gently opened the food box, took out a bowl of ginseng soup, handed it to the old nun, and said softly: "Grandma Jiang, this is the ginseng soup stewed by Ziyu herself. It has been stewed for two hours. Drink it while it's hot. That’s it.”

The old nun’s face was covered with wrinkles, but her smile was very kind. She took the ginseng soup but didn't drink it. She put it aside and looked at Ziyu and said, "Good boy, grandma hasn't seen you for a few days. Where have you been?"

Ziyu stretched out her hand and tapped it lightly. He hugged the old nun's legs and said with a smile: "I went to Hubei with my cousin for a few days. As soon as I returned to Beijing, I missed you. Grandma, the weather is too cold, so Ziyu made you a thick and warm cotton-padded jacket. After you drink the ginseng soup, how about Ziyu wait for you to try it?"

The old nun said with a smile: "Grandma is not cold. Grandma's heart warms up when she sees you. You have been here every now and then for so many years. I came to visit grandma, and she was very considerate. It's a pity..." She paused and her face darkened.

Ziyu asked: "What's the pity?"

The old nun was silent. After a while, he took out a "Diamond Sutra" from under the futon, handed it to Ziyu and said: "My child, you are simple-minded and benevolent. It's a pity that you are too obsessed. In this world, you can't get past thoughts, present thoughts, and future thoughts. If you have time, you should study Buddhism more. You need to know that all dharma is selfless. It can be achieved by Bear it."

Ziyu was confused and asked: "Grandma, what are you talking about? I can't understand it. If Ziyu doesn't do something right, just tell Ziyu directly. ."

The old nun smiled hoarsely, patted her on the shoulder and said: "My child, you are good at everything, but grandma loves you so much.

You're such a pretty girl, why don't you think more about your life? "

Ziyu woke up, blushed immediately, and said coquettishly: "Grandma..."

The old nun took a sip of ginseng soup, nodded with satisfaction, and said : "Child, grandma is already at the bottom of the dark sea, without me or the light. If he can sit down and pass away one day, he will have no worries. Grandma is just worried about you, fearing that one day when I am gone, you will not be able to do nothing but have few desires and follow the fate of gains and losses. That would be so sad. "

Ziyu looked at the old nun blankly, and couldn't help but ask: "Grandma, can you really let go of everything in the past? "

The old nun had a calm expression and an extraordinary temperament, and said slowly: "Grandma has forgiven everything a long time ago, what is there that she can't let go of? "

? Ziyu's heart tightened, she hugged her waist, buried her in her arms, and cried: "Grandma... I have been hesitant to tell you that Brother Bailu is still in the world. ..."

The old nun smiled in relief and said: "It's fine if he is in the human world. As long as he is in the human world and lives a good life, it is the best. "

? Ziyu shed tears again and said: "But he refused to recognize me, and he was unwilling to follow me back to the capital. When I mentioned you, he didn't say a word. I originally wanted to use my method to bring him back to see you, but who knew he ran away again..."

The old nun was silent for a while, but his face was still calm and said: "He doesn't It's his freedom to come back, why should you force him? "

"Grandma, don't you want to meet Brother Bailu? "Ziyu raised her head and asked.

"I've thought about it, really thought about it. Grandma not only wants to see him, but also wants to see his father, his mother, and the old and young of the whole family. Later, grandma realized that giving up thoughts meant putting an end to disaster. Ziyu, look at the curtain hanging on the pole outside the window. Is it moving? "

? Ziyu stared at it and said: "Yes, the wind is blowing and the flags are moving. "

? "Then do you think it is the flags that are moving or the wind that is moving? "

?" This... can be said to be the movement of flags or the movement of wind. "

?" Wrong, child, in fact it is neither the flags nor the wind, but your heartbeat. The old nun said meaningfully: "Ziyu, at grandma's age, in this situation, if I can know that the egret is safe and smooth, my heart is already full and happy, and I won't ask for anything else." Just what you want, do you know? "

? Ziyu was dumbfounded and didn't know how to answer. When she left the nunnery, it happened to snow in the sky. The snowflakes were as big as goose feathers and as fast as catkins. In a short time, the houses and streets were covered with snow. It was covered with a thin layer of white. Ziyu sat tiredly in the sedan chair and opened the sedan curtain. There were few people walking on the street in the ice and snow. Ziyu sighed sadly when he saw two beggars. , took out a piece of silver from his purse, handed it to a bearer from the sedan curtain, and asked him to give it to a beggar squatting in the snow in front of him. However, when the beggar received the silver and raised his head, Ziyu's eyes widened in shock. With her eyes wide open, she suspected that she had seen it wrong... Isn't that exactly Jiang Bailu's face?

"Stop the sedan! Ziyu ordered the sedan bearer. She rushed out of the sedan and rushed to the beggar eagerly. The beggar had disheveled hair and ragged clothes. He was holding a broken bowl in one hand and a bamboo stick in the other. He said to Ziyu: "Thank you, Miss." . "

? Ziyu only heard her heart pounding in her chest. She looked around, dragged the beggar to the corner of the alley, and said excitedly: "Brother Bailu, why are you here? here? "

? Jiang Bailu smiled bitterly and said, "Aren't you always looking forward to my coming back here? "

When Ziyu saw that he admitted her identity, she was so happy that she almost shed tears: "Brother Bailu, I have been thinking about you for eleven years. Do you still remember when we were young, we caught crickets and flew kites together? ? I wear the golden gardenia you gave me all the time! "She pulled out a gardenia-shaped gold hairpin from her temples and waved it in front of Jiang Bailu's eyes, proving that it was a token.

Jiang Bailu said "hmm" and said, "Come on. I once said that my grandma is in Beijing. Where is she? Please take me to find her. "

? Ziyu agreed again and again, and looked at him from head to toe and said: "But you are dressed like this... well, it is safer this way! "

When Jiang Bailu appeared in front of the old nun, although the old nun had practiced cultivation for many years and didn't care about life and death, she almost fainted in an instant. Jiang Bailu hurriedly pinched her hand and waited for her to wake up. Come. The old nun burst into tears and stroked Jiang Bailu's cheek, crying: "My dear grandson... My dear grandson... It turns out you are really alive..."

? "Grandma, grandson Fortunately, he was rescued by the Holy Maiden of Tianshan and accepted as his disciple. The grandson will remember the words of his parents before they left, never tell others about his life experience, and always remember that living is the most important..." Jiang Bailu's eyes turned red, and he recalled eleven years ago, when the Jiang family was in trouble and the emperor's decree was issued , all the men in the Jiang family were executed, and the female family members fled thousands of miles and were not allowed to return to the Central Plains. His father, Jiang Xinian, ordered someone to find a beggar of the same age as Jiang Bailu from the streets. His cronies took him out of the capital and fled to Tianshan.

Although he was young at the time, he was unwilling to live an ignoble existence. He had originally decided to live and die with his family, but his mother Xue Runwu grabbed her shoulders and ordered: "You are the only child of three generations of the Jiang family. You are not qualified to raise money." Die! You have to live and live well. It depends on you whether you can clear the grievances of the Xuejiang family in the future!" After hearing this, Jiang Bailu gritted his teeth, knelt down and kowtowed three times to his parents on his way to escape. Suffered all the frights, experienced all the hardships. Even if they come to Tianshan Mountain, they will still be hunted down. His father's cronies shed their last drop of blood to protect him, but at the critical moment of his life and death, he saw a white shadow passing by. Immediately afterwards, Jiang Bailu only heard a few "Puff, puff, puff..." A beautiful woman who looked like she was made of ice and snow performed a unique sword move, and in a matter of seconds, the pursuers were dismembered. She asked Jiang Bailu about his life experience, but Jiang Bailu seemed to have lost his memory and didn't mention a word. The beautiful woman did not ask further questions, but took him to Shenbi Palace in Tianshan Mountain and accepted him as her third apprentice.

?As the past events unfolded, the grandfather and grandson suddenly seemed like a dream. Ziyu cried and wet her sleeves. She wanted to tell them that the initiator of all this was her father. She didn't dare, and she couldn't. She could only quietly close the door and leave the nunnery quietly.

Seeing that Ziyu was gone, Jiang Bailu asked his grandmother: "Grandma, is there any news about my mother?"

The old nun lowered her eyes, tears gurgling down her cheeks: " As early as the day when your father was beheaded at the court, she had thrown herself into a trap and died for love... Dear grandson, you and I are the only ones left in the Jiang family... God is so pitiful that I can still see you. Thank you Bodhisattva and thank God..."

Jiang Bailu pondered for a moment and said: "Grandma, my grandson was young at the time and didn't know why the Jiang family suffered such a disaster. Now that my grandson has grown up, if grandma knows the truth, I hope to tell him."

The old nun's body trembled and she opened her eyes. A spark appeared in her pupils, which gradually seemed to spread. She was breathing heavily, her face was flushed, and she seemed to be choking on her chest, unable to get up or get down. Jiang Bailu hurriedly stroked her chest and patted her back, and it took her a long time to relax. The old nun gasped and said, "My dear grandson, your father was really wronged back then!"

When Ziyu returned to the Liu Mansion, it was already time to turn on the lamp. She originally wanted to go back to the bedroom to rest, but when she heard that her cousin Shen He was here, she became curious, so she slipped outside the study door and leaned against the window to eavesdrop. I could only hear my father's angry voice faintly coming: "Prince Ning has gone too far this time. The matter of Dongchang is Dongchang's matter. If he doesn't enjoy the blessings in the fiefdom, why should he interfere!"

"My uncle doesn't know that Prince Ning's move was not because of the "Eight Tigers" chaos in government, which confused the emperor to indulge in wine and sex day and night. Now the power is in the hands of Liu Jin. In the name of the emperor, he compiled a list of "traitors" and included them. Xie Qian, Liu Jian and Wang Shouren were all brought in. They also forced all civil and military officials to kneel at Fengtian Gate to conduct self-inspections one by one. They also included influential leaders in the martial arts circle and wanted to recruit them to become official officials in the East Factory. , in order to stabilize the situation. But King Ning's interference caused misunderstandings among the six major parties and the court." Shen Heyuan held a cup of blue and white tea and took a sip of the Longjing inside.

? "Prince Ning is full!" Liu Yangzheng said with two walnuts in his hand: "He built a large vassal government in Jiangxi, collected taxes, wasted people and money, it's hard to enumerate. Over the years, Jiangxi has The tax debt has been accumulated for many years, and it is not a gift from him. He has been meddling in his own affairs, and he is not afraid of getting himself into trouble. Otherwise, Prince Ning will definitely be blamed. "< /p>

"Haha, uncle, you are too worried. If the Holy One knows about this, I'm afraid he will feel happy in his heart. Eunuch Liu has great power. Although he can share the Holy One's worries, the Holy One will inevitably be concerned about his power. Ning Since Wang intends to become an enemy of Eunuch Liu, the Holy Father may be happy to have a balancing force and turn a blind eye! The key is, once a confrontation situation arises, which team will we stand on? ”

"You are the governor of Beizhen, and you are in the same system as Dongchang, but you are also the nephew of Prince Ning. Which team will you be on?" Liu Yangzheng smiled slightly and plated the walnuts with a loud bang: "My good Nephew, I always like that you are smart, but I am afraid that if you are too smart, you will be misled by your cleverness. Of course, being able to play both sides is a natural ability, but being wise is the long-term way."

"Hey... "Shen Heyuan sighed: "Uncle, I am also a pig in the bellows, and I have been criticized by both sides. No matter how close the relationship is, nothing can be compared to blood relatives. But if you look at it from a long perspective, Zhandongchang and Prince Zhanning are far inferior. The prince is the prince, right?"

"Prince?" Liu Yangzheng said with a scornful smile: "It was a palace scandal. The few people who were suppressed learned about it, but it has already reached the ears of the emperor. The emperor was worried that he would have few children, so he did not abolish him, but just banned him in the prince's palace. If the emperor's harem could give birth to a prince again, now this one. It doesn’t matter how many days he can be the crown prince.”

“Uncle, do you think the emperor can still have an heir with his current physical condition?” Shen Heyuan laughed loudly and suddenly said in a serious tone. : “Not long ago, I was assassinated by an assassin, who was sent by the prince.

It can be seen that the prince is still reluctant to settle down! ”