38 The journey begins
Huo Yan: They will come home.
Huo Yan's gambling house was doing very well, and he was soon planning to open a health club that promoted longevity. He was determined to serve every age group of the powerful and wealthy and try his best to squeeze them dry.
As his wealth accumulated, he soon bought both Huo Qubing and Wei Qing larger tortoiseshell beds and new fish-scale soft armor. After Huo Qubing's hand healed, he frequently wore the armor, spending time at Shanglin Garden and the polo fields. Wei Qing had no idea what kind of bed he was sleeping on, but he found it uniquely patterned and surprisingly comfortable.
Because he had played polo, Liu Che knew the benefits of these horse harnesses better than others. With the steel pouring method in hand, he directly organized the official steelmaking techniques and prepared to prepare new horse harnesses for the army.
Huo Yan still made money and studied, or engaged in verbal battles with Confucianists, or followed Huo Qubing in riding and shooting, but there was always a little Sima Qian by his side.
Time passed, and a gamble was made at the end of June, the outcome of the Battle of Mayi.
Huo Yan won the bet.
And then failed miserably.
This was his biggest defeat.
The Mayi plot, which had put all their efforts into it, failed, not because of the betrayal by the Wei Shi as in history, but because the lack of anyone around aroused the suspicion of the Chanyu, who decisively withdrew his troops without even looking for the Wei Shi. Wang Hui, as in history, thought that his army was no match for the Xiongnu army and retreated to Mayi.
When Huo Yan heard this news along with Liu Che's rage, his blood almost froze.
It seemed as if God was playing a joke on him, easily shattering all his expectations.
He had clearly avoided all possibilities and had clearly given everything he had.
There were no officers, no abandoned cattle or sheep, new horse harnesses, and plenty of silver and money.
They can win!
Why didn’t I win!
Is history unchangeable? This is all a predetermined ending!
He looked at Huo Qubing, who was hanging his head in sadness. Fear gripped his heart tightly, making him seem as if he was nailed to death in the hall. Only his eyes were left with gray mist, and tears were still flowing down.
So is it still impossible to change the fate of my brother’s early death?
So what's the point of me being here?
He just felt that he was ridiculous, like a grasshopper jumping around in an infinite sea. The water had already flooded over his body, but he was still jumping tirelessly.
It doesn't make sense!
He covered his face to hide all the bitter smiles.
The butterfly was trapped in the spider's web, and he was powerless to save it.
Liu Che was angry but sighed a little. When he saw him, he softened his voice and called him over.
"Ayan, don't cry. You will win in the future!"
Huo Yan subconsciously touched his face and found a hand full of tears. He tried to wipe them away, but the more he wiped, the more tears appeared.
It was as if at this moment, the things he had been holding on to finally broke him, leaving him with no other way to vent this unspeakable pain except to cry softly in front of those who loved him. He wanted to ask his uncle, who had treated him like a father, his beloved brother, and his uncle, who treated him like a son now but would tear everything apart in the future: If things turned out the way they had, what would he do?
My uncle and my brother will die young, my aunt will hang herself, and my Wei family will fall apart. Those I love and those who love me are like sand in my palm, and I can never grasp it.
What should I do?
Where am I going?
Huo Qubing couldn't bear to see him cry, and neither could Liu Che, Wei Qing, or even all the attendants in the hall.
Wei Qing held him in his arms and patted his shoulders gently.
Sang Hongyang almost rushed over and wiped his tears with his sleeves.
"Dear child, don't worry about paying the money, don't cry!"
Huo Yan suddenly pushed them away, knelt straight down in front of Liu Che, bowed deeply, and kowtowed heavily.
"Uncle, I want to go out for a walk to relax. Please agree."
I'm going to take one last gamble. I'm going to bet that the Yellow River won't flood! I'm going to take a gamble with fate!
If one failure can defeat him, then he is weak.
He should not be weak.
Liu Che straightened up and looked into the pair of almond-shaped eyes that he had seen countless times. In an instant, it was as if a sword was drawn from its sheath.
Wei Qing hugged Huo Yan tightly again. He didn't know how to persuade him, so he just stroked Huo Yan's long hair bit by bit.
Huo Qubing turned his head immediately. He could hardly restrain himself from moving forward and trying to grab Huo Yan's hand.
Why didn't you take me with you! You bastard brother, you broke your promise.
But he swallowed the last sentence "Will you take me with you?" He took a step back and knelt straight down, "Uncle, please help Ah Yan!"
It started to rain outside, the night was as dark as ink, thunder rumbled, and the flashes of lightning replaced the dim lights and illuminated the Weiyang Palace brightly.
Huo Yan raised his head and saw Huo Qubing kneeling in front of him, and tears began to fall again.
The only sound in the inner room seemed to be the faint popping of lights.
It was so quiet that Huo Yan was distracted.
He wondered, are the flowers damaged by tonight's rain the same as in history?
Unfortunately, no one has counted them in detail, and he doesn't know how to compare them.
His face turned frighteningly pale under the lightning, and the sharp light in his eyes was extinguished, leaving only inexplicable sorrow and deep fear.
After a long moment, the emperor at the top broke the unspeakable silence. His eyes were still all-seeing, his breath was still warm and gentle. He asked the child below him whom he had watched grow up, "What are you afraid of, Ah Yan?"
It seems like a sigh, like an inquiry, but it is not a question.
He is still the uncle who loves Huo Yanruozi.
"I'm not afraid of losing, so what are you afraid of? I don't believe that in ten or twenty years, you and I won't be able to defeat a single Xiongnu!"
Huo Yan lowered and raised his head, his hands clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white.
"I'm not afraid of losing! I'm not afraid of waiting! I'm not afraid of external enemies. Uncle, you should know that I, like my uncle, am no less brave when it comes to wielding a knife. If it's for the world, if it's for Your Majesty, I'll spare no expense, even my life!" He bowed again. "I just want to prove something that's very important to me. Your Majesty, Uncle, Brother, I'll be back soon."
Liu Che raised his hand to let Huo Yan stand up, and sighed, "That's enough, you can go."
Wei Qing was unwilling. He held Huo Yan tightly and told Liu Che how young Huo Yan was and how he had never left home.
Huo Qubing lowered his head and didn't even look at Huo Yan behind him.
Huo Yan's tears fell again.
It seemed that he had once again hurt his uncle and others because of his own persistence.
But this time, he must go.
September, the second year of Yuanguang.
The wind is strong in the evening, the wild geese are flying by, and it is late autumn again.
On the path to Dongqiu, an old farmer who had just finished harvesting beans saw an extremely old and skinny horse pulling a cart, moving slowly forward in the undried mud, taking one deep step and one shallow step.
There was sparse yellow grass piled on the broken cart. At first glance, the old farmer found a child lying on the cart. His hair was half loose and his face was covered with mud, as if he had just crawled out of the mud pile. He was holding grass in his mouth and sitting with his legs crossed. If he hadn't been writing and drawing with a piece of charcoal, he would have been no different from those children who were exchanged for cannibalism during years of disaster.
Alas, I guess a family somewhere suffered a disaster, leaving only a child to find his relatives.
The old farmer was a kindhearted man. He quickened his pace and shouted at the top of his voice, "Don't go any further, kid. We're almost at the Huzi River. If you try to cross it alone, you'll be swept away! Naigong will cross the river again to sell fish later. You can stay at Naigong's house and then cross with him."
The child jumped up, looked around, pointed at himself and asked the old farmer, "Old man, are you talking about me?"
Only then did the old farmer notice the boy's slender fingers, completely calloused except for those from reading. He wore a small dagger inlaid with gold and jade at his waist. He was dressed in a bright yellow brocade robe, embroidered with silk. The white fox fur around his neck and chest was clearly of the highest quality. He was no refugee at all; he was clearly a young master from a wealthy village.
The old farmer immediately hoped that he would leave soon and not lose his temper, as a single unhappiness could cost his entire family their lives.
Huo Yan knew his clothes weren't popular with the farmers; after all, everyone would shy away from him. It was just that the coarse cloth he'd brought with him had all been worn out by his recent washing, and since it was cold, he was afraid of getting cold, so he had to wear the clothes his uncle had prepared. It had to be said that his uncle liked these extravagant clothes. By the time they reached Dunqiu, they'd all been thrown away.
"Weng Weng." He jumped out of the car, took the old farmer's hand, and smiled. "Come on, let's go inside. It's getting cold outside."
It was the first time that the old farmer had seen such a shameless young man, and he had no choice but to be dragged back to the house by him.
The old woman in the room lit the kang and was just putting a bunch of dried sunflower leaves in a large jar hanging over the fire. When she saw Huo Yan, she was startled and quickly knelt down.
Huo Yan refused to let her kneel, saying that the clothes were given to him by a kind-hearted person, and that he was not a rich young man, and with his demeanor, it only made things more obvious.
The house was poor, with few furnishings except for a loom and a bed.
Huo Yan thought of Wei Ai fiddling with the loom in the past, and couldn't help but step forward and touch her lightly, with a gentle look in his eyes.
He knelt in front of the old woman, smiling like the lucky doll in the New Year picture, so adorable that the old woman couldn't help but relax and talked to him while cooking.
"My mother-in-law's loom is very similar to the one my grandmother used to use."
The old woman smiled. Her knuckles were swollen like dry tree knots, covered with purple sores that always itched when it was cold.
This was a hand that Huo Yan had been accustomed to seeing along the way, and even the women in his family had experienced it before.
This is caused by washing clothes in winter, dipping your hands in ice water and rubbing them bit by bit, until even the skin and flesh are exposed to the cold.
When the old woman saw him looking at his hands, she thought he had never seen them before and quickly put his hands behind his back.
Huo Yan was stunned for a moment, pursed his lips and said nothing. He took out a small ceramic bottle from his arms, pulled her hand out, dipped his fingertips in the dark blue paste, and applied it on the scar little by little. After carefully instructing her on some matters concerning the use of the medicine, he placed the ceramic bottle next to her hand.
The old woman refused to accept it.
Huo Yan smiled and said softly, "Mother-in-law, it's getting cold, and I want to stay here for a long time! Don't refuse."
The old woman then happily put it away. Her son had been conscripted the year before last, on the pretext that His Majesty was going to fight the Huns. Only her and her wife were left to tend the small fields at home. After paying the taxes that came every now and then, they could barely make a living, and sometimes not even enough to support themselves.
Normally, it was just her and her husband at home, like a snow cave. But today, Huo Yan came to visit and spoke so gently that she couldn't help but talk more, and she started to cry as she spoke.
She only had this one child left, who was barely twenty years old. She had heard that the Huns were vicious and cruel, and she felt worried day and night.
Huo Yancai suddenly realized that they were not old farmers or old women at all. They were only in their thirties. They were obviously still young, but now they seemed to be integrated with the land, carrying unspeakable pain on their bodies.
Huo Yan didn't know how many mothers like this he met along the way. This wasn't a difficult birth or a situation where he couldn't afford to raise his child. He couldn't comfort them with medical skills or gifts. He could only speak powerless words, telling her over and over again that God would bless your child, the emperor would also favor him, and that after defeating the Huns, he would be able to go home soon.
His words were gentle and soothed the old woman's heart.
The old farmer stopped stirring the jar, wiped his face, went out, and came back soaking wet with a fish in his hand.
But the one who greeted him was not the handsome young man in brocade clothes, but his wife who was holding two golden pills and crying.
【Author’s words】
①Sunflower was the main vegetable at that time. Its leaves were edible and were often cooked or made into soup.
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