In a corner of the south of the Yangtze River far away from the court, deep in the mountains of Xishan Island in Taihu Lake, a village stands on a cliff and lives in a valley. The vegetation and trees in this valley are lush and green, and the flowers are blooming. The scenery along the way is also beautiful, which is rare to see in the world.
A holy place with beautiful scenery, Xiaoxiang is famous among people in the valley.
Many of the older people living in the valley are people who were once famous in the world. They are tired of the disputes in the world and have retired to this paradise. The younger generation in the valley are either descendants of the valley, or orphans adopted for various reasons over the years.
There are also many villages on the island with the same general situation.
An old woman wearing a scarf and dressed as a village girl walked slowly towards her wooden house, carrying a basket of fresh vegetables picked from the vegetable field and several eggs just taken from the chicken coop.
Suddenly I heard the whistling sound of the wind in the dense forest behind me, and I seemed to guess who was coming behind me, so I didn't look back and continued moving forward.
"Chen'er also went to pick mountain bamboo shoots today. I'm so interested. Now we can have bamboo shoot soup to drink." When the young man stepped down in front of him, he caught a glimpse of a pile of herbs in a bamboo basket behind him.
The mangosteen shoots standing out from the middle said with a kind smile.
"Well, okay." The young man who was called Chen'er replied, and then "grabbed" the basket from the old woman's hand, held her hand and accompanied her forward.
The old woman's name was Huo Yinniang. She was not that old. She only had gray hair on her temples and her face was slightly haggard, making her look a bit old. However, her sharp eyes seemed to have seen through all the vicissitudes of life.
This is a young man with tied hair, dressed in light blue cloth, with light eyebrows and sharp eyes. He has an ordinary appearance and still has a childish look. He is Huo Yinniang's adopted son, Jiang Yichen.
He didn't have many memories of Jiang Yichen when he was a child. He only had a vague memory of the kind face of an old man. Unfortunately, he already knew that this old man had passed away for more than ten years. People in the village also knew very little about Jiang Yichen's life experience. Many people in the village knew very little about Jiang Yichen's life experience.
Such young people on Xishan Island can be summed up as "miserable orphans" in four words. Therefore, as long as Jiang Yichen can remember, he has been dependent on Huo Yin's mother and son, and was named after her. The elders on the island call him "Chen'er"
, those who are slightly older or similar are called "Yichen", and those who are younger are called "Brother Yichen".
The energetic figure in his eyes jumped out to fetch water and chop firewood, but the kitchen knife dancing lightly in his hand slowly stopped. With a sigh, the old woman fell into deep thought, remembering the first time she met this young man thirteen years ago.
screen.
That year, she had been hiding on the island for three years. During those three years, she lived in a state of confusion, like a zombie.
She really couldn't forget that her husband and son, who were the most important to her in her life, abandoned her on a rainy night three years ago.
Although last year, Old Bert came to tell her that the great revenge was avenged and took the enemy's belongings to prove it, the deceased relatives could not return after all, and it was still a lingering nightmare that haunted her heart day and night.
, unspeakably miserable.
Until that day, she caught a glimpse of the boy in front of her. Yes, just a quick glance, she perked up as if she had been struck by lightning, and determined to treat this child and raise him up.
That day, the sky was dark, the air was suffocatingly low, there was thunder and lightning, and a thunderstorm was about to come.
It just so happened that the old man brought a dozen more children for the villagers to adopt. Considering her condition after arriving on the island, the old man never called her to come and he did not dare to let her adopt them.
That day, when she returned from paying homage to her husband and son, she happened to catch a glimpse of the boy and saw that his face was pale and blue. Different from the children next to him who were either crying or looking around, he had his head buried.
She closed her lips tightly, trying to suppress something.
Tuberculosis! Yes, this child actually contracted tuberculosis at such a young age! He seemed to be trying his best to hold back his cough, yet he was so stubborn.
As if she had lost her mind, she pushed aside the villagers gathered in front of her, rushed into the group of children, fell to her knees and hugged the boy, trembling and sobbing.
He held the child's cheek with both hands, tears already flowing from his eyes.
The surrounding villagers seemed to be frightened by her, but because the old man had not expressed his position yet, they did not pull her away.
The boy was a little panicked, but finally couldn't suppress his discomfort. He turned away and coughed hard. Some saliva fell into her hand and splashed on her face. She was shaken all over, as if she was afraid of losing some treasure.
He held the child's head in his arms and looked back at the old man, "Old man, I will take care of this child!" It seemed like a plea, but extremely firm.
After a trace of confusion flashed in the old man's eyes, he immediately showed a look of relief, sighed softly, and acquiesced to her plea.
Thirteen years later, in a blink of an eye, the boy's tuberculosis was not completely cured, leaving some hidden diseases, but he was still growing vigorously.
Originally, she thought she could spend the rest of her life comfortably with the child, but now it seems that this may be a luxury. Staying away from the world does not mean leaving the world. People on the island cannot escape the world, and neither can the child.
Two days ago, the ship transporting supplies to the island was actually mixed with the secrets of the Twelve Heavenly Evil Sects. Although they were discovered in time and captured, they were not stopped from committing suicide. Although this incident has not caused any losses to the people on the island,
Or harm, but it also shows that this paradise far away from the world has entered the sight of outside forces.
What worried her was Yi Zhongren, the old man's right-hand military advisor. He couldn't resist the news revealed by everyone's concerns. Shifu, the southwest capital of Chongqing, suffered a big change more than a month ago. This was the result of attacks on many branches of the Daoyi League in recent years.
It was even the epitome of being defeated and destroyed. The destruction of Shifu this time can be said to have made the Daoyi Alliance even worse. What is disturbing is that the shadow of the court can be vaguely captured in many recent conflicts. With the help of this huge undercurrent,
The forces of the Alliance of Justice and Friendship have repeatedly suffered losses, but are unable to effectively counterattack. The original iron-barrel-like rivers and lakes system has repeatedly shown flaws and is on the verge of falling into pieces.
The situation in the rivers and lakes is tense. The Daoyi Alliance is surrounded by enemies from both sides and is besieged on all sides. The old man does not want this news to spread to the island, but Yi Zhongren is forced to compromise and let go. Everyone on the island is frightened, and many people want to return to the rivers and lakes to share the old man's worries.
After much thought, Yi Zhongren finally agreed to select some elite soldiers and generals from the island, as well as several young talents worthy of training and training, to help the Daoyi Alliance get out of the current predicament, and was scheduled to leave the island in three days.
…
After lunch, Yinniang finally spoke, "Chen'er, please follow your uncle Ren this time to see if there is anything I can help you with, and also to see the wonderful world outside the island.
"
"But, mother..." Jiang Yichen frowned. He learned from the villagers that Yinniang's mental state had improved a lot since she adopted him. However, during the rainy season, she often drank to drown her sorrows, and her body and bones were even worse.
One year is not as good as the other, and in such a situation, if he leaves, wouldn't it be unfilial?
Before Jiang Yichen could say the next words, Yinniang already knew what he was worried about and interrupted, "My child, if you can take good care of yourself, you will drink less. I know that you want to stay with your mother until you grow old, but
Don’t you want to find your biological parents? They had no choice but to abandon you in order to protect you. Over the years, I have only heard that they last appeared in the Southeast Bay area. They are probably still alive, and you don’t want to see them.
See them?"
"I..." The words came to his lips, but he didn't know where to start. Yinniang's words touched Jiang Yichen's heartstrings, and he couldn't help but have a lot of thoughts. He only knew that his parents had to entrust him to save the folks in the village.
The two villagers fought in a roundabout way with the Japanese bandits to buy time and hope for more people to escape. Rumor has it that his parents fought with the bandits for seven days and seven nights, but the reinforcements from the bandits were endless, so it was almost impossible for them to escape.
He escaped with his life during the enemy's encirclement and suppression. Now what Yinniang told him now is indeed the information that was discovered later, or does Yinniang have some hidden worries and insist on getting him away?
Regarding the child she raised by herself, Yinniang had already understood what Jiang Yichen was thinking, and sighed with a wry smile, "Silly boy, you have too many doubts in your heart. In the world of martial arts, you should be careful about everything, but when it comes to judgment,
If you are hesitant, you will pay the price. If you go out in the future, you must change your mind. Either firmly choose to believe it, or choose to explore the truth. The news about your parents was indeed told to me by my uncle himself. How could my mother think of putting you
Go away, mother also hopes that you can stay with me forever, but that is just the past, Jianghu, after all, you can't leave just because you want to."
Yinniang sighed and decided to tell her whole thoughts, "Xishan Island is no longer hidden, and I am now under attack from both sides. As expected, the connections between the forces of the Daoyi Alliance will be gradually isolated and broken one by one.
Sooner or later, Xishan Island will become one of the battlefields where various forces collide. The people on the island also need to gradually evacuate and find another place to hide. There is still the strength to fight. If you want to come forward to help the old man, you will
Re-enter the world. You go out to practice in advance now, so that you can better deal with various situations in the future, and you can also take this opportunity to find news about your parents. Listen to mother, go out of the island, and have a try."
His dissociated eyes struggled in the long silence. After a few moments of hesitation, he slowly became firm and said no more. Jiang Yichen chose to follow Huo Yinniang's decision.
The next morning, Jiang Yichen picked up the luggage that Yin Niang had prepared for him the night before and set off on his journey. When leaving, he, who did not like to talk much, just said to her, "Mom, my child comes back to see you every year."
Don’t look back anymore and move forward resolutely.
Yinniang laughed, laughing at the child's filial piety, but also laughing at his stupidity. People in the world can't help themselves. After embarking on the road of the world, time is no longer under their control.
As Jiang Yichen's back disappeared from the field of vision, tears blurred her vision. Yinniang couldn't help but recall what her old man had said to her after she adopted the boy. The child's parents hoped that the child would stay away.
In the hustle and bustle of the world, at least don't get involved in the world, so she named the child "Jiang Yichen". Jiang is the surname of the old man, and the word "Yichen" means that she hopes that he can stay away from the world and enjoy himself in peace. However,
Things are unpredictable.
He turned his back, not letting the tears fall, and comforted himself, letting Chen'er go on his own, it would be better than falling into an inexplicable desperate situation in the future.