Entering the pavilion, the moment the pavilion door opened, it was like a lifetime ago, and Zhou Ranzhuo was a little surprised.
The furnishings in the pavilion are not much different from those of Xia Jingsheng and others. They are all arranged according to etiquette. There is nothing obvious about these, but there is one thing: in such a large pavilion and in such a large courtyard, not a single servant can be seen.
Xia Jingchen, the great general, is there no one to serve him?
Zhou Ranzhuo was suspicious, but he didn't say anything. He helped Xia Jingchen into the house first. Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened the door, he came even more confused.
Xia Jingchen's house was filled with all kinds of rare treasures, as well as a bunch of boxes with no idea what was inside. They were all so messy that there was almost no room to put them down, and no one even cleaned them up.
"What are these..." Xia Jingchen was also full of doubts, and with the help of Zhou Ranzhuo, he lay down on the couch first.
"General, aren't these your belongings?" Zhou Ranzhuo asked in surprise. Could it be that besides Xia Jingchen, anyone else could display them wantonly in Chengxiao Pavilion?
"No..." Xia Jingchen frowned and stared at the pile of objects and thought for a long time. After a while, Xia Jingchen suddenly thought of it. He breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his head and smiled, shook his head and sighed, as if helpless.
.
"What's wrong, general?" Zhou Ranzhuo followed Xia Jingchen's instructions and came back with soju. When he saw this scene, he asked.
"It's nothing, I just thought of it. No wonder there are so many objects in the house. Today is my birthday, and they are all gifts from the ministers." Xia Jingchen untied his clothes.
"birthday?"
"yes."
Zhou Ranzhuo was even more doubtful. He had never seen a general with real power and high position, and no one was waiting for him. His birthday was so quiet. This was unreasonable. If he didn't know Xia Jingchen, Zhou Ranzhuo would probably know it.
I feel that this is a person who has been "relegated to the sidelines" and others treat him harshly.
Just as he was thinking of this, Zhou Ranzhuo suddenly heard a "hiss". Looking back, he saw that Xia Jingchen's wound was stuck to his clothes. When he took off his clothes, Xia Jingchen screamed in pain, and Zhou Ranzhuo hurried up to help.
"Bring the soju and pour it on the wound." Xia Jingchen lay down and said to Zhou Ranzhuo.
"Ah! Just pour it?" Zhou Ranzhuo was at a loss as he held the shochu.
Pour directly? That won’t hurt!
"What's this?" Xia Jingchen, on the other hand, felt that Zhou Ranzhuo's reaction was strange, as if he was used to pain, "Hurry up and pour it down." Xia Jingchen tightly grabbed the clothes on the side, closed his eyes and "accepted his fate"
.
Xia Jingchen had already said this, and Zhou Ranzhuo had no choice but to do it. He tilted his wrist unbearably, and the soju poured on Xia Jingchen's wound, and the blood and rotten flesh flowed to the ground. It hurt to look at it.
Xia Jingchen was stunned and didn't say a word. Veins popped up on his neck and the back of his hands, and his face turned red. It wasn't until the soju was poured that he took out a breath and couldn't stop panting.
"General..." Zhou Ranzhuo then sat next to Xia Jingchen with a twisted expression, his hands trembling beside Xia Jingchen.
"It hurts me, not you, so why are you shaking so hard?" Even though the pain was extreme, Xia Jingchen still didn't forget to tease Zhou Ran.
Zhou Ranzhuo didn't say anything, but took another look at Xia Jingchen's back. He didn't know it before, thinking that Xia Jingchen was a spoiled child, but he didn't know he had so many injuries.
Xia Jingchen's back was full of wounds, large and small. There were almost no good spots. Some looked like old wounds and there were new wounds. Zhou Ranzhuo was worried when he looked at them. There was also a spot where there was a palm.
Large purple bruises.
How old is Xia Jingchen? Where did he get so many injuries? It's like he was abused.
"General, why do you have so many wounds on your body?" Zhou Ranzhuo couldn't help but ask.
Xia Jingchen turned his head and glanced at his back, "Making a fuss, that's what you'll do if you go to the battlefield and fight more."
Xia Jingchen seemed to have adapted to this situation.
"Today, there is another Xijiang invasion. Cao Shun, who is not worthy of his virtue, has been defeated again. I really don't know what brother Wang said about keeping him. Sooner or later, I have to defeat him. But before that, I have to
Get ready, I guess it won't be long before I go on an expedition again." Xia Jingchen muttered.
"The general is injured, how can he go out to fight now?" Zhou Ranzhuo was worried for Xia Jingchen.
"You think I'm thinking, there are quite a few generals that can be used in Dongjiang, like Brother Qiechen, but this battle is between two rivers, it's not a trivial matter, so I can only go."
"What about the general's injuries?"
"Bear with it." Xia Jingchen sighed, "If we really want to start a war, let Brother Qie Chen take the lead for a while, fight him for a while, and I will take advantage of this to recuperate, and then rush to the front line immediately."
"I will go with you."
Xia Jingchen looked over, as if he thought Zhou Ranzhuo was stupid, "The battlefield is dangerous, are you sure?"
"The general can go, but I can't go. I won't be afraid." Zhou Ranzhuo's face was extremely firm.
"Okay." Xia Jingchen turned his head and stared at the cricket carved on the couch in a daze. Not to mention, he was quite touched by Zhou Ranzhuo's words, "I have no problem here. It's okay if Brother Wang says it's okay."
"Oh, by the way, is the general's birthday today?"
"yes."
"But I heard from the prince that your birthday is next month?"
Xia Jingchen was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head, as if hesitating for something. After a while, he spoke again.
"Today...is my birthday, and next month is the day that Brother Wang took me back to his hometown." Xia Jingchen lowered his head and hesitated.
"Then why is the general's birthday so silent? How could the prince remember the wrong date?" Zhou Ranzhuo continued to deal damage, constantly exposing Xia Jingchen's old wounds without even realizing it.
"Brother Wang remembers it right, I always celebrate my birthday next month, because the day Brother Wang took me back to my hometown was also the day of my rebirth, and today... is my birthday, but it is also the anniversary of my mother's death..."
Xia Jingchen's eyes turned red for a moment, and his inferiority complex seemed to be aroused for a moment. Such a proud person could no longer hold his head up.
Zhou Ranzhuo was stunned when he heard this. Xia Jingyan never mentioned this! It's over, it's over...
"I don't know the details of this matter, and I have made the general sad. I am willing to be punished." Zhou Ranzhuo quickly admitted his mistake.
"It doesn't matter, he who doesn't know is not guilty. Besides, I don't care too much about this matter. My mother passed away early and I don't even remember what she looked like. Later, the wet nurse said that she was killed on my first birthday.
Only then did I know that my father ordered to be killed with a stick..."
"What about the wet nurse?"
"Because she treated me harshly, Brother Wang ordered her to be sold. Now I don't know where she is. It doesn't matter. I don't care anyway." Xia Jingchen lay on his side and looked at Zhou Ranzhuo as if he was relieved. Zhou Ranzhuo frowned.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, I just feel that the general is really aggrieved." Zhou Ranzhuo whispered.
This sentence actually made Xia Jingchen laugh out loud, "How could I be wronged? Now that I have Brother Wang taking care of me, and I have real power in my hands, I don't even feel that I have been wronged."
Zhou Ranzhuo still looked at Xia Jingchen like that. He knew that Xia Jingchen didn't care about power and status at all. All Xia Jingchen wanted was family affection. He just said that because he didn't want people to worry.
"It's just a birthday, that's all. In the past, when the battlefield was so dangerous, it was normal to not care about birthdays." Xia Jingchen shook Zhou Ranzhuo's arm.
Zhou Ranzhuo still didn't say anything, still feeling pity for Xia Jingchen. He lost his family when he was eight years old, and he always hated the Xia family, but Xia Jingchen lost his mother when he was only one year old. This father was also a nightmare. In the end, he still wanted to
Use your own life to atone for your father's sins.
"Hey, you really want to see someone celebrate my birthday?" Xia Jingchen was amused by Zhou Ranzhuo's frowning and silent expression. How could he know what Zhou Ranzhuo was thinking, and why he was still thinking about Zhou Ranzhuo?
No one celebrated his birthday, "Really, I haven't wronged you..." Xia Jingchen pursed his lips, took a long stick from the side of the couch, avoided Zhou Ranzhuo, and used the long stick to open the window.
The moment the window opened, Zhou Ranzhuo heard the bustle of people. He glanced at the window in surprise, then looked back at Xia Jingchen.
Xia Jingchen motioned to him to go to the window and look into the distance, and Zhou Ranzhuo walked over.
Xia Jingchen's Chengxiao Pavilion is different from other places. It has a large courtyard at the entrance. There are long corridors on both sides. Next to the long corridor is a high ladder. Only when you go up the high ladder can you enter the dormitory. When the courtyard was first built, it was based on Xia Jingchen's favorite standing
Looking at the building in the distance from a high place, as soon as he opened the window, he could see a large dense forest in the back pavilion, lush and green, and the moat behind the dense forest. When he was young, there was only scenery, but later, a red house suddenly appeared.
.
"Look at the red house." Xia Jingchen gestured to Zhou Ranzhuo.
Zhou Ranzhuo looked towards the red house, and it turned out that the sound came from there.
Red walls and gold columns, jade dishes, silver bowls and chopsticks, silk and brocade clothes, and the sons and daughters of many high-ranking officials gathered there, bustling and chatting and laughing. How could they care about the current situation in the court? It seemed that the demise of the Yuan Kingdom had nothing to do with them.
"Isn't that where it is? It's like this every year. Brother Wang knew that none of our brothers loved birthdays, so he built an auditorium in the backyard of the palace. Those who wanted to send gifts could go directly to the pavilion, and those who wanted to go to the auditorium were just a formality.
"Anyway, just don't bother us. I'm tired of socializing with others, so I never go, and I don't even bother to meet each other." Xia Jingchen muttered.
Zhou Ranzhuo turned around and looked at him without saying a word.
"There are only five or six servants who sweep in my pavilion. I find it too noisy if there are more. Today is a hunt and a birthday party. I guess they are all busy. That's why the gifts have piled up and no one has to take care of them."
"That's how it is..." Zhou Ranzhuo responded.
"There are sacrifices in the box next to the door. I can't get up. Go to the corner of the front hall and burn them for me. My mother calls her Chen Xinrou and writes her name on it." Xia Jingchen said in a low voice.
With.
"Okay." Zhou Ranzhuo watched Xia Jingchen bury his head in the quilt.
Opening the big box, there was a gold basin inside and a bag of sacrifices, all of which were the brocade robe that Mrs. Chen was supposed to enjoy.
But Xia Jingzhi beat her to death in order to protect his reputation.
Zhou Ran picked up the bag of sacrifices and went out, taking the gold basin with him to the corner of the front hall and burning it.
The servants from Sasou came back and hid and whispered while watching Zhou Ranzhuo's actions.
"This year, Mr. Zhou replaced the general to sacrifice his mother? How can it still be like this?"
"Hi, Mrs. Chen is a brothel fireworks girl. It must be the general who knew it was embarrassing, so he asked Mr. Zhou to burn it."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Hey, I heard that the late king beat Mrs. Chen to death in this courtyard."
"Stop saying it's so scary."
"You dare to talk about this! I'm not afraid that the general will hear it, cut out your tongues, and then sell them."
"Okay, okay, stop talking and get to work."
Zhou Ranzhuo could actually hear all of this.
Mrs. Chen was beaten to death, and all she heard were rumors and abuse. It was pitiful.
Xia Jingchen lost his mother when he was young, and all he got was flattery and loneliness, which is sad.
Zhou Ranzhuo burned the sacrifices and left. Perhaps Xia Jingchen would still cry silently on the high Chengxiao Pavilion, sighing that he was born to be miserable and that he was born to be lonely, but that was nothing like Zhou Ranzhuo.
It doesn't matter anymore.
No one has any choice but to live in this world.
Zhou Ranzhuo was walking on the road. He really didn't know how he felt in his heart. Looking at Xia Jingchen at this moment, it was like looking at himself when he was a child.