Also in Xuzhou, not far from the path taken by Chu Lu and others, a low-key green-roofed carriage was slowly moving along the official road.
The driver was a middle-aged man with a fierce look on his face. The way he looked at the road ahead with an expressionless face made people even more timid.
I'm afraid that if this man changed his clothes and stood in the middle of the road, people would shout "Please spare my life, sir" and hurriedly hand over all the silver and money in their hands.
But if you look closely, there is nothing in this man's eyes.
The man seemed to be looking at the road ahead, but he seemed to be looking at nothing.
The endless sea of flowers seemed to be invisible to his eyes, and the beautiful scenery along the way could not touch his heart. Those eyes seemed to have lost their guiding sign, empty and silent, just like its owner.
The near silence was interrupted by an old voice, coming from the carriage behind him, "There is a new governor in Jiaozhou. After I return to Beijing to report, I am afraid I will return to my hometown to retire... What about you, Xiaoxuan?"
"grown ups."
When this voice sounded, the confusion in the driver's eyes instantly disappeared.
He lowered his eyes, and the muscles on his face were stretched. After adjusting his expression, he somehow looked honest and sincere. He even looked a little dull because of his overly strong and tall figure. He said, "Of course I will follow you."
An old hand was placed on the car curtain, which had turned white after being washed countless times. The owner of the hand was moving out with difficulty.
——At his age, it is always not so convenient to move around.
In fact, if he had not found that he could not hold on any longer, he would not have submitted three petitions in a row to beg for rebirth.
Old, he is indeed old...
He was no longer young when he took office, and he has grown even older over the years.
Li Hou saw his action, quickly slowed down the car, and pulled the reins to stop.
But the old man waved his hand to stop him. He said in his old and slow voice: "It's good to get some fresh air and take a look now... I'm afraid it will be hard to see you later."
Li Hou seemed to want to say something, but the old man did not give him the chance. Instead, he continued what he had not finished saying when he was sitting in the car just now, "My old bones are useless... You don't have to waste your time on these old bones..."
Li Hou maintained a dull expression, and said in a terrified manner: "Sir, what are you talking about? It was you who saved my life, Hou..."
The old man let out a long sigh, "I'm afraid it wasn't me who saved you."
Li Hou paused, his eyes were sharp for a moment, but soon he regained his composure, his expression and tone were full of confusion and shock, "Sir?! Why do you say that? If you hadn't been kind enough to give me a bite of food back then, I would have starved to death in the wilderness."
The abnormal expression on Li Hou's face changed only for a moment, which was difficult for ordinary people to catch, especially since the person sitting next to him was an old man who was nearly 70 years old.
The old man's eyes had long been covered with thick turbidity due to the accumulation of years. A few months ago, he could not even see the official documents written by his subordinates with enlarged fonts, and had to have others read them to him.
Li Hou had been following the old man since he first arrived in Jiaozhou, so he naturally knew all this.
However, the old man didn't need to judge anything based on his expression.
He shook his head and said in a sighing tone: "In Jiaozhou, there are few gray wild birds, so where do the white pigeons come from?... But Prime Minister Huo's mansion seems to have raised quite a few..."
Li Hou accidentally pulled the reins hard, but fortunately the car had slowed down at that time and no problems occurred. The old horse was unable to make any excited resistance and just stopped obediently on the side of the road.
The old man was well prepared and grabbed the edge of the car. He didn't suffer any accidents due to the not-so-violent bump. He still kept his head tilted and looked at Li Hou. His eyes, which should have been cloudy, revealed a hawk-like intensity because of his unblinking gaze.
Li Hou then remembered that the man in front of him was not the kind-hearted old man at the beginning. He was once an iron-willed censor who dared to smash his tablet in front of the emperor, was taken to the Ministry of Justice and tortured for three days and three nights, and still had the energy to curse during the retrial.
The muscles on Li Hou's face twitched twice, and he returned to his original expressionless and ferocious look.
But the old man's expression did not change. Li Hou was a little confused as to whether he had known it for a long time or because he couldn't see clearly. But there was no point in thinking about it now.
He lowered his head and said calmly: "I was not careful enough."
If the master was still alive, a secret guard like him whose identity was exposed would have been dealt with long ago.
But now, he didn't even know where to go to receive his punishment.
The old man shook his head with a smile and did not tell the young man that he only vaguely recalled a few white shadows from his memory and had never seen them clearly.
He was not sure what the white shadow in his vague memory was... maybe it was rice paper, or maybe it was white linen clothes blown away by the wind... It could even be a clue he made up for himself in his memory when he later discovered something unusual.
after all……
Isn't it normal for older people to misremember some things from the past?
And the most important thing is that his friendship with the young prime minister was far from enough to know that the other party raised homing pigeons in his house.
Such a weak relationship...
He really has no virtue or ability.
They have supported and accompanied each other for decades in Jiaozhou, a wild place far away from the capital. No matter who the other party is, who he is under, or what his original purpose is, the old man has long regarded the other party as a junior.
Looking at Li Hou's expression at this moment, he couldn't help but smile kindly and tolerantly.
He raised his head and looked at the road again, his slight smile deepened, and even the wrinkles on his face became more obvious.
He looked at the flowers all over the hills and fields, and the tamped and leveled road, and smiled, "It's much better than it was back then... isn't it?"
Li Hou was stunned for a moment, then looked in the direction ahead.
Without much explanation, he immediately understood the old man's ambiguous words.
The emptiness in my eyes seemed to be pulled by an anchor.
The fierce face softened, and he nodded slowly, responding with a single syllable, "Yes."
So much better...
Compared to what he saw when he followed the old man to take up his post, the official roads were crowded with numb refugees; compared to the devastation of the wilderness when it was clearly the farming season; compared to the withered mountains and rivers at that time, the despair that could not see the end...
Everything before our eyes is like the pointed green seedlings sprouting from the fields in spring, which makes people feel endless longing for the future.
The old man: "It must have taken him a lot of effort to save me back then, right?... It's hard for him to come up with a solution..."
"I dare not speculate on the Prime Minister's thoughts."
…
…………
"...Did he really give you the idea of pretending to be a bandit and robbing disaster relief funds?"
"yes."
"...Hahaha, when I was young, I also called myself a lunatic, but I never did anything so heretical... Great, haha, great! The young are to be feared, the young are to be feared!...Haha..."
This hearty laughter seemed to carry some deeper meaning. The old man laughed for a long time, so much so that tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.
His laughter gradually faded away and finally disappeared among the flowers and trees in the forest.
After a long silence, he maintained a lookout posture and spoke slowly: "If you haven't decided where to go, why don't you walk around and take a look... bear witness for him. Now this world..."
Li Hou remained silent, his half-closed eyelids hiding the fluctuating expression in his eyes, but his hand holding the reins tightened little by little.
After a long while, he finally gave an answer: "...Okay."
…
…………
After all, the old man was old and his energy was running low. Both the conversation and the laughter just now were too exhausting.
He did not force himself. When he felt tired, he leaned against the wall of the car and looked out at the scenery of the mountains and rivers that had been renovated.
Beautiful, indeed, it is extremely beautiful.
It is like seeing a corner of a girl's veil lifted by the wind when you were young, which makes you think about it and dream about it.
He was once heartbroken by the devastation and wanted to use his body as a sharp blade to seek a peaceful and prosperous world, but human beings are mortal after all, and he only asked for a bloody and scarred body.
That……
How should we do it? What should we do?
The barbed iron whip hits the body, but what makes people more despairing than the pain in the body is the confusion in the heart.
He wanted to be a good official, but the things he ordered were shirked one by one; he wanted to be a good minister, but the memorials he submitted could hardly see the light of day; then at least, at least be a good person? But the victim came to him and begged him to stop investigating...
…
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In this world, it seems like everything is wrong.
A rotten tree that has rotted to the root cannot be saved by a leaf.
He is like that leaf that doesn't fit in, either withering off the branch or rotting along with it...
So what should we do? How should we do it?
He had been asking questions for most of his life, and finally someone gave him the answer -
Taking root in the deepest part of the mud, using flesh and blood as nourishment, it nurtures a new tender seedling.
…
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The sun was shining brightly, and it was a bit dazzling for the old man who hadn't been outside for such a long time. He couldn't help but raise his hand to block the sunlight.
After a long while, the old man asked in a very low voice, "You have his tablet with you, right?"
"... Let's go into the city later and buy some incense, candles, and paper money..."
His voice was a little hoarse, "Find a place...I should offer sacrifices to him."
Everyone in the world owes him a tribute.
…
…………
"……good."
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