The rain in early winter in Jinling is very cold.
In such a cold and rainy season, it is naturally more joyful to stay in the room and boil a pot of wine. And if you can sit in the warm houseboat and drink with many women, it will naturally be even more joyful.
As before, there are many pleasure boats floating on the Qinhuai River, and in the boats are the dignitaries of Jinling City as before. On such a rainy night, it is certainly a great pleasure to invite a few good friends, sit around the fire, watch dance, listen to music and have tea.
Such joy can only be found in other pleasure boats, but Hongxiuzhao is deserted and empty.
The Hongxiuzhao on the Qinhuai River in Jinling has not received any guests since its reconstruction.
The Huqin Hu family no longer brewed wine, and Tianxiang wine became a thing of the past.
Now, Hongxiuzhao is just a name left. Even Liu Yaner, the only singer in Hongxiuzhao, was sent away by Mr. Hu at some point.
She seemed tired and exhausted.
She had no heart to compose music anymore. She was like an old person in her twilight years, sitting at the bow of the second floor of the pleasure boat all day long, brewing a pot of tea or a pot of wine - the wine was Xishan Tianchun, and then she would drink and eat with a plate of peanuts while looking at the Confucius Temple.
It seemed that the Confucius Temple, which had a hole blown open and had never been filled up and was no longer guarded by anyone, contained her nostalgic past.
It rained in Jinling that night.
Hongxiuzhao's lantern is still lit, lonely as if waiting for someone to come back.
Huqin was sitting in the spacious hall on the second floor with a zither in front of her.
She stared at the piano for a long time without putting down her fingers, so naturally no sound of the piano came out. She got up and left.
She sat down in front of the window at the other end, lit the wine stove on the table, put a pot of wine in it, and turned to look out the window.
Outside the window is the vast Qinhuai River. There are still many pleasure boats drifting on the river, and the sound of stringed instruments can still be heard from those boats.
It was light and gentle, occasionally broken by the night wind, and then connected again... What they played and sang were the lyrics written by Fu Xiaoguan.
She took a deep breath, thought of Fu Xiaoguan, and a smile appeared on her face.
Just then, she looked up at the door curtain.
The door curtain opened and a middle-aged man in green walked in.
He was not wearing a straw raincoat or a bamboo hat, so he was covered in the early winter rain.
Huqin's gaze suddenly focused, and her face, which had not shown much emotion for a long time, was suddenly moved the moment she saw this man!
She stood up but didn't walk over. The man came gracefully in her sight.
"It's been nearly twenty years since we last met. Are you okay?"
"Eighteen years, four months and twelve days!"
The man was startled and smiled dumbly, "Your memory is still so good."
"Ji Yungui, since you decided to leave back then, why did you choose to come back today?"
He is Ji Yungui!
He came hurriedly from the city of Ninsang on Wofeng Road.
"...I was passing by Qinhuai and happened to see Hongxiuzhao's lantern, so I came up to see you."
Huqin was stunned. "Just take a look?"
“…”
"Since you're here, please take a seat. I'd like to treat you to a drink of Xishan Tianchun, brewed by me."
Ji Yungui sat opposite Huqin. Huqin filled two glasses of wine but did not look up. She handed him one glass without saying anything.
Because he just came up to take a look.
Time flies, people grow old and ugly, look... even with that stunning beauty back then, he was not able to stay. Now that I am old, he must be disappointed after seeing her.
Ji Yungui's eyes were always on Huqin's face. He suddenly smiled and drank the wine in one gulp.
"Wine is fragrant when it is mellow, and people are charming even when they are old... The way you look in my heart has never changed, whether it was eighteen years ago or now."
"You have deceived many people with your mouth."
"But I never lied to you!"
Huqin fell silent again. She turned her head to look out the window. The drizzle that came in moistened her hair and her heart.
The youth at that time seemed like a dream. I wanted to forget it, but it is still fresh in my memory.
"How have you been these years?" Huqin asked lightly.
"It's good. The young master has grown up and is almost the same as what the young lady said back then."
Hu Qin turned her head and looked at Ji Yungui, "I remember the young lady said that year...you and I don't need to take care of the young master's affairs."
"After all, I'm still a little worried."
"But since you're watching, let me ask you, what's going on with the avalanche on the snowy mountain in Guanyun City?"
Ji Yungui was silent for a few breaths, then whispered, "I think the course of history has changed."
"What?"
Hu Qin looked at Ji Yungui in shock. "You mean... that avalanche shouldn't have happened?"
"Or perhaps someone deliberately created that avalanche to change history."
“…”
"I suspect something."
Huqin frowned slightly, "For example..."
"For example, the young lady knows the Turtle Breathing Technique, and the young lady also taught Emperor Wen the Turtle Breathing Technique!"
“…”
That night, another fire broke out at Hongxiuzhao.
The Red Sleeves Dance, which had existed on the Qinhuai River for more than 20 years, disappeared completely from then on.
The great erhu player Hu Da, who was once famous in the Qinhuai River, was said to have been buried in the sea of fire, and even his body has never been found.
Five days later, on the tenth day of the twelfth month of the tenth year of the Xuanli calendar, the first snow fell in Jinling City.
That night, Xu Shaoguang, the head of the Xu family and Xu Yunqing's father, lay on his bed, muttering Xu Yunqing's name, and passed away.
He left a relic to Fu Xiaoguan.
That was the wooden fish he had been beating for almost twenty years.
…
…
Banyanxuan in the imperial harem of the Yu Dynasty.
The heavy snow painted the world into a vast expanse of white.
Two pots of charcoal fire had been lit in Banyanxuan, and wisps of tea smoke were rising.
As Empress Shang brewed tea, she said to Emperor Xuan, who was standing by the window admiring the snow, "Ji Yungui has left. He said... he wants to investigate that past event."
Emperor Xuan was startled and turned around. "It's already been settled. What else is there to investigate?"
Queen Shang was silent for a moment, "Perhaps, we can really find out something."
"...You and Xu Yunqing were very close back then. Have you ever seen the book 'Nan Ke Ji'?"
Empress Shang shook her head and poured two cups of tea. "Only a handful of people in the world have actually seen that book. And now, eighteen years have passed, and there has been no news of 'The Story of the Southern Branch'. I guess Xu Yunqing destroyed the book long ago."
Emperor Xuan did not take this matter to heart. He was originally thinking about Fu Xiaoguan.
"The young official is back." He said lightly.
"The Lunar New Year is almost here, and he should come back to see his wife and children."
"But the place he went to was Fenglin Mountain."
“…”
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