The night breeze blows slowly, the inside of the house is warm, but the outside is cold.
Qianzhou, which is thousands of miles away from the capital city, has begun to feel cooler with the arrival of September.
In a courtyard with green bricks and green tiles, a bamboo pavilion with four corners and overhanging eaves shines faintly under the moonlight. If you look down at the moonlight, you can see a wine glass in hand and a building beside it.
Drawings of a gentle boy.
The boy had just reached the age of weak crown and looked a little immature, but his eyes had an extraordinary determination. Only his straight eyebrows were slightly frowned today.
He did not drink all the wine in the glass, but pointed it at the moon in the sky, and there seemed to be a hint of disappointment at the corner of his mouth.
After a long while, he sneered, changed the direction of the wine glass in his hand, raised his head and drank it all.
Putting down the wine glass, the young man was about to get up, but saw a black figure coming from under the pavilion.
"What's the point of drinking alone? How about I drink with you?" Xie Qing looked at the young man in front of him who had only drank one glass of wine but was already half drunk. He smiled and stepped forward. Without waiting for his answer, he sat down.
I poured two more glasses of wine.
Looking at the sudden appearance of the person, the young man seemed to wake up for a moment. He quickly stood up and bowed: "Miss Xie..."
"Mr. Su." The visitor sneered, "You and I have been working together for so long, why do you still call me Miss Xie? Do you want me to call you Mr. Su?"
"I'm not..." Su Zijin was startled for a moment and shook his head quickly.
"Sit down, I'm just kidding." Xie Qing waved his hand and pushed the wine he had just poured, "It's rare to see you not reading with the door closed at night."
"That's because today..." Upon hearing this, Su Zijin's eyes flashed with loneliness, and he paused mid-sentence, as if he was afraid of something.
Unexpectedly, Xie Qing smiled and said with clear eyes, "I know what you mean."
Not just him, why isn't it also because of this?
Since he requested to return to Qianzhou, he and Su Zijin were assigned to work in the Ministry of Industry together. Counting the days, they have known each other and worked together for nearly a year.
When she first came to Qianzhou, Su Zijin was not familiar with the place. However, she relied on some memories from her childhood to gain a little understanding of the people and the world of this place. After stumbling and climbing, the two of them supported each other all the way to this day.
Su Zijin had nothing to offer, so she proposed to buy the courtyard. Together with Wu Chang, who came with her, she now had a place to stay in Qianzhou.
Wu Chang has always been accustomed to living wherever he goes, so he doesn't come back to live there very often. Most of the time it's just the two of them.
One lives in the east wing and the other lives in the west wing. They are quite distinct.
What I didn't expect was that when I went out for a walk tonight, I would meet fellow travelers.
Su Zijin's eyes flickered, he looked at Xie Qing and chuckled, then picked up the wine in his hand and said, "The ninth day of September is a good day."
Xie Qing was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand and touched the wine glass lightly, "Yes, the life is good and the wine is good, why not get drunk?"
"Drunk?" Su Zijin's pupils opened wide. He had a miserable life experience. He always followed the rules in doing things, and the few arrogance he had was gone...
"Why, don't you dare?" Xie Qing shook the wine glass in his hand, "Since we can raise a glass to the bright moon and make three people in the shadow, can't we have wine today and be drunk today, and worry tomorrow?"
"Hahaha, Mr. Xie is indeed a hero among women!" Su Zijin narrowed his eyes and suddenly burst into laughter, "As I said, if you have wine now, you will get drunk now. In that case, please!"
"Please!" Xie Qing glanced at Su Zijin, raised his head and drank, filling his stomach with a glass of wine.
"Good drinker!" Su Zijin seemed to be infected by the woman in front of him. He couldn't help but clapped his hands and poured another drink for himself and the other party.
Xie Qing lowered his eyes and took it again.
The two of them went back and forth and drank a whole pot of chrysanthemum wine without knowing it.
…
Su Zijin rarely drinks alcohol, and his excessive behavior just now made his eyes look a little dazed, and the women in front of him seemed to have changed from one to two, or three...
Although Xie Qing had drunk wine in the mansion in the past, it was only a brief taste. He had never been as bold as tonight. He was a little confused for a while, and his eye circles were reddish.
But her mind seemed to be clearer. Thinking of what Su Zijin had just said about herself being a hero among girls, she couldn't help but smile, with emotion and regret, "A hero among girls? What kind of hero am I?
She is the only one who is called a hero among women...only she."
Su Zijin was already slightly drunk at this moment, but Xie Qing's words entered his ears without missing a word, and the words were clear, and he couldn't help but feel startled.
She didn't say who that person was, but how could he not know?
"Yes, she is really amazing." Su Zijin murmured a few words, then nodded with a smile.
She is good, so what's the point of praising her for being so shameless?
Xie Qing raised his head slightly, glanced at Su Zijin with squinted eyes, put his hand to support his chin, suddenly raised his finger, and said mysteriously: "Guess how many times I have seen you? Before coming to Qianzhou."
"Once." Su Zijin hesitated slightly, "That time at the Kyoto Poetry Festival."
They were in different examination rooms for the scientific examination, and later Xie Qing did not need to go there for the palace examination.
Xie Qing didn't expect that he actually knew that she had been to the Kyoto Poetry Society, but when she thought of his answer, she couldn't help but smile and shake her head, "Wrong, not once, but three times."
"Three times?" Looking at the woman holding out three fingers in front of him, Su Zijin was a little confused, "How could..."
Seeing that he was confused, Xie Qing suddenly moved forward and said, "Come closer and I'll tell you."
The woman's sudden approach caught Su Zijin off guard, especially the girl's scent mixed with the smell of alcohol, which made him suddenly lose consciousness.
He knew that he should stand up and leave immediately at this moment, but her words seemed to carry a different kind of temptation, making him want to stop or even move forward.
"Say." Su Zijin took a deep breath.
"There are two more times, one is in front of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the other is in front of the Wei Mansion." Xie Qing burped lightly.
"You..." Su Zijin froze. Although he once proposed to marry her in public in the court, she is now the noble princess, and he is far away from Shangjing City. Everyone is afraid that they will also forget about this matter.
Clean and tidy.
When someone suddenly told him what had happened in the past, he was not embarrassed at first, but was afraid of causing trouble to her.
Su Zijin was a little overwhelmed by Xie Qing's reaction, but he heard her continue to speak in a tipsy tone.
"Because you are not the only one who always wants to see her..."
"Xie Qing, you..." Su Zijin was suddenly startled and sober from any alcohol.
"However, she is so good." Xie Qing shook her head, "We can just watch her from a distance."
Just look at it from a distance and it will be fine.
Su Zijin thought about this sentence over and over again, and suddenly felt extremely relieved.
Yes, that's how it should be.
We are both fallen people at the end of the world, so why should we have known each other before.
"Hey, Su Zijin... I wrote a new poem, do you want to hear it?" Suddenly, Xie Qing stood up, swaying a little.
Su Zijin quickly grabbed her arm and said, "Be careful!"
"It's okay." Xie Qing slapped his hand away and staggered outside the pavilion.
"On the eighth day of the ninth month of the Double Ninth Festival, all the flowers will bloom. The incense array will penetrate Chang'an, and the whole city will be filled with golden armor!"
"The whole city is covered with golden armor..."
Xie Qing raised his head and looked at the crescent moon in the sky, "Tonight... the whole city is filled with festive red."
And another thousand miles away, a man covered in scars held a bottle of wine, looked at the crescent moon in the sky, and drank it all in one gulp.