Ruixue came as promised in the cold wind, fluttering like goose feathers and spreading everywhere, the landscape remains the same, beyond recognition. There was a charcoal fire in the house, and it was burning vigorously. Liu Yan stood in front of the window and tightened his clothes. Behind him, there was the sound of "bi peeling" of sparks from the brazier.

Shen Jue took some peanuts and chestnuts into the house. When the door was opened, the snowflakes and the cold wind rushed in together. He hurriedly turned around, closed the door, and threw the dried fruit in his hand into the brazier. He fiddled with the scythe, looked at the figure by the window and said, "It's cold in the night, do you want to boil a pot of wine?"

Liu Yan nodded and said to him, "I will send a hot pot to Xu Mingshi."

Shen Jue scalded two pots of wine and brought some cakes into Xu Mingshi's room. Wrapped in a thick quilt, Xu Mingshi huddled at the head of the bed half asleep and half awake as if shivering from the cold, when he heard the door being pushed open. The room with only one oil lamp was not bright. In the shadows, saw a tall figure standing by the table, leaning slightly and placing the things in his hands on the table.

Xu Mingshi opened his eyes and looked at it for a long time, until the man put out the snacks one by one and prepared to leave, and then he stopped him: "Xiaobao."

The back paused for a while, and turned around. The clear eyes that are unique to young people are also shining in the dark, like a scabbard sharp blade, shooting straight at him.

The thick quilt wrapped around his body seemed to have lost the power to keep out the cold. Xu Mingshi couldn't help but grasped the quilt again, wrapped himself tighter, and kept silent. He knew that it was time to lower his eyebrows and pleasing the eyes. The father and son treated him well, and they were generous. Moreover, in front of this strong young man, he was just a rotten and useless old man.

Maybe it was really old, faint, old and stupid, Xu Mingshi heard that he provoked him again and said, "Xiaobao."

The shadow hid Shen Jue's face very well, Shen Jue stood for a moment, did not speak, turned and left.

He walked very fast, if it wasn't for the cold air that flowed when the wooden door was opened, Xu Mingshi would even think that this was just a dream of his own. In the dream, he faced the child and called him by his nickname. If this is not a dream, then Xu Mingshi felt that he had a long dream a long time ago.

In the dream, there are his close friends, his confidantes, and the little child, who rejoices at the gift he brought and calls him with a childish voice - Uncle Xu.

Xu Mingshi felt that he was really old, so old that he was useless and could only miss the past. The details of those memories, the things that were once thought to have been forgotten, are all reappearing in front of him when he is old. So clear, so real, as if it were yesterday.

It turned out that he never forgot.

After taking a bath, Liu Yan put on a cotton-padded coat and sat beside the brazier to dry her wet hair. While stirring the pot with the fire, she picked up the roasted fruits buried in the ashes and placed them in the bowls aside. Shen Jue picked them up. Peanuts, after peeling off the husks, followed by the red clothes are also scattered in the kneading, he took a breath, the red clothes powder fell to the ground, and what remained in his palm were the warm and fragrant fruits.

When they were in the military camp, they often did this in winter when there was no war. No matter the heavy snow outside and the cold air, what floated up in the military tent was the fragrance of food and warm flames.

There is also the fragrance of wine, like a hot spring in the ice and snow, soaking the whole body.

Shen Jue said this to Liu Yan, and Liu Yan listened, drank, but laughed.

Shen Jue didn't know what he was laughing at, it was a little inexplicable. Liu Yan said: "I was always thinking of a sentence at that time."

"What?" Shen Jue asked.

Liu Yan shook his head, just smiled without answering, quite mysterious.

Seeing that his face seemed to be teasing, Shen Jue didn't ask, but said, "If you don't want to say it, don't say it, anyway, Dad is not a good word."

Liu Yan glanced at him and said, "I really don't want to know?"

"I don't want to." Shen Jue shook his head firmly.

"Really?" Liu Yan asked again.

"Don't listen to me," Shen Jue said.

Liu Yan narrowed his eyes and waited for a while before saying, "Actually, it's not a bad word, you have also learned that sentence."

"Really?" Shen Jue leaned over: "Have I learned it? Is it in the book?"

"Um."

"What is it?"

Liu Yanchang rubbed his head with his hand, and rubbed a hand of peanut crumbs on it, before he said with a smile: "I kept thinking at that time, this sentence really applies to you..."

"That sentence?" Shen Jue asked.

"'Learn martial arts, goods and emperors'."

"..." Shen Jue reacted, and her red face suddenly turned red again. She turned her face away and said in a low voice, "Dad was thinking about this back then? How serious."

Liu Yan, who was accused of being an old and disrespectful person, was not ashamed, but justly defended himself: "It's windy outside, the tent is warm like Jiangnan, there's no war, and there's no shortage of food. What's wrong?"

His mouth was too neat, and the blocked Shen Jue had nothing to say. It seemed that he had made a big fuss. Shen Jue turned his gaze back, looked at him for a while, and said, "In the last life, why didn't my father speak to my face? ?"

Liu Yan was speechless for a moment.

Seeing that Liu Yan couldn't argue, Shen Jue had a subtle sense of pride, like a child who had finally defeated the adults, and said with a smile, "I only know now that my father was not very serious in his last life, it's just that the current situation was troubled and he was not serious. It can only be in the heart, and the majesty of the general must be hung on the face."

Liu Yan pursed his lips, and the father and son glanced at each other.

Liu Yan changed the subject: "How is Xu Mingshi?"

Shen Jue didn't say what happened just now, only said: "It's okay, it's just that I'm getting old and the cold is terrible."

"Put two more braziers in his house, and send one to him if there are spare hand stoves."

"I sent it when it snowed last night," Shen Jue said, "Don't worry, Dad."

"Where's the padded coat?"

"It was also purchased earlier. The bedding and cotton clothes are all new cotton this year, which is very warm."

Looking at him, Liu Yan frowned slightly, and Shen Jue's thoughtful appearance made Shen Jue uneasy, and said, "Is it possible that Dad thinks there is something else to deal with?"

Naturally, there is nothing wrong with it, but it is too appropriate, which is why Liu Yan feels weird.

After all, Shen Jue's attitude towards Xu Mingshi has never been better since he knew his life experience. Xu Mingshi has been courteous many times, but he was scolded by the young Shen Jue. In the following years, Xu Mingshi also came less. The relationship between the two is even more indifferent.

Liu Yan asked, "Do you sympathize with him?"

Shen Jue wondered: "Why do I sympathize with him? It's normal for people to die of old age and illness. If he can't become an immortal, he will surely die."

Just as he was talking, the black snake who woke up curled up by the hand stove on the bed swam over, went around Liu Yan's legs, and climbed up.

Liu Yan diverted his attention and asked the black snake in his arms with the wine cup: "Do you want to drink?"

The black snake didn't know if it was due to sleeplessness, or was fed into a habit by him, and without thinking about it, the snake letter was soaked in hot wine as soon as it was stretched out, and then when it was retracted, the hot wine went down.

The smell was too strange, Yimo seemed to be puzzled by such a strange smell, curled up in Liu Yan's arms, and paused for a while in front of the wine cup.

Shen Jue laughed sullenly on the side, poured more wine into the cup, and whispered beside Liu Yan's ear: "Dad, let it finish drinking, will you see a drunken snake?"

Liu Yan squinted his eyes, grabbed the snake's head that tasted the wine and felt that the taste was not good and wanted to retreat, and said gently, "Drink it." Then he nodded his head and gently pressed it into the wine cup. pressed.

The black snake understood his intention, but Liu Yan asked him to drink, so he slowly licked most of the wine with the snake letter. To be honest, it's not hard to drink.

So he got drunk.

After watching a "snake drinking", Shen Jue didn't know what a drunk snake would do, but in any case, he couldn't stay in this room any longer, lest he would be punished by Liu Yan as a punching bag in case of trouble. The bad idea of ​​the snake drinking alcohol was originally his idea. Shen Jue hurriedly said, "It's late at night, Daddy should rest early." After speaking, he left.

He slipped very fast, Liu Yan looked up, only to hear his voice, but to see no one.

Liu Yan poked the charcoal more vigorously, put the scythe aside, hugged his arms and got drunk, and the black snake that was wrapping its tail around his neck walked to the bed and sat down. He was reluctant to comment on the hit-and-run behavior. He lowered his head to the big eyes of the black snake beans, and Liu Yan asked, "Are you really drunk?"

The black snake's response was to take a bite on the face that he came over, and stopped as soon as the teeth touched the flesh, and then licked it with a letter, climbed up to his face again, and played on Liu Yan's head.

Liu Yan lay back on the bed, the black snake fell on the pillow, and then tangled up again, probably really drunk, from Liu Yan's armpit to the side of his neck, and from the side of Liu Yan's neck to Liu Yan's other side. Under one arm, the tail happily wraps around something, then unclenches it, and swirls it up and down in the air. He even slipped to the other side of the bed, his tail wrapped around his calf and nibbled on Liu Yan's toes.

Liu Yan laughed out loud, only to feel that the bite was painful and itchy, and when he sat up, he was about to grab him away. The snake happily changed places, tilted its head and aimed at the soles of his feet, bit it impartially, and stretched out the snake letter to lick it, Liu Yan couldn't hold back, and shouted with a smile, "Don't make trouble, no. It’s a pity that the snake at this time can’t understand at all, and is not too drunk. Even if he understands, he may not pay attention to him. The bed was kicked in disorder, unable to sit still, and fell down again with a smile. Don't say that he has no martial arts in this life, even if he has martial arts, being bitten on the ticklish flesh may not make it open, so after a while he laughed and became soft all over, he only knew the scourge of kicking and kicking, the pillow would not turn over. Wherever he went, most of the bedding fell on the ground. Rao is so, the snake was still wrapped around Liu Yan's calf, unmoved at all, as if he had identified the piece of itchy flesh, took a bite from the left and the right, licked after biting, licked twice and then bit. Liu Yan covered her mouth and couldn't hold back her laughter. Tears fell from the corners of her eyes. Her whole body was twisted into several pieces like a twist in a pot, and each piece was twisting and rolling. After rolling until the bed was curled up against the wall, Liu Yan kicked his legs and murmured to him: "Get out of the way." He was trembling and could hardly breathe.

Drunk Snake was extremely happy while drinking. He was in a warm room and drank a lot of hot wine when he was supposed to be hibernating. He almost thought it was a good time for the warm spring in Jiangnan. He didn't stop until he was satisfied. When he stopped, Liu Yan was still curled up against the wall, his smile was full of tears, and his mind was blank like the rest of his life.

After recovering for a long time, Liu Yan sat up limp all over, grabbed the black snake wrapped around his calf and lifted it up, eye to eye, Liu Yan spoke in anger, and after thinking for a long time, he said seriously to the snake's eyes: " You are so disgusting!"

The black snake looked at him innocently for a while, stretched its neck and licked his face, and then wrapped around it again.

Liu Yan threw himself backwards, reached out to the edge of the bed with one hand, lifted the quilt to cover him, closed his eyes and fell asleep while thinking about how to settle accounts with Shen Jue tomorrow.

In the early morning of the next day, the snow had stopped, and the winter sun was imprinted on the white world, bringing out some gold, and the gold reflected a gorgeous luster. Impeccably beautiful. Liu Yan forgot what happened last night. After washing up, he spread out the paper and looked out the window to paint. After standing for a long time, he put down the pen and put away the paper and inkstone.

After lunch, Xu Mingshi rinsed his mouth with tea, walked to the yard, looked for a sunny place to sit, wrapped his cloak tightly, and basked in the sun.

His hair was snow-white, but the sun was bright and dazzling. It didn't shine on his head. Instead, it became more and more dry. Liu Yan looked at him from the window for a long time, sighing silently. phase.

Seemingly aware of his gaze, Xu Mingshi turned his head, looked at him from a distance, and grinned. After laughing, Xu Mingshi stood up, staggered as the sun slanted, moved to a corner, curled himself up against the wall, closed his eyes and fell asleep. With the breath that is about to die, like an old dog at the end of the road.

Liu Yanzheng was about to go out, when he saw a figure out of the corner of his eyes, it was Shen Jue holding a pot of hot water in his hand and walking towards Xu Mingshi. He squatted in front of Xu Mingshi, and spread out the white towel twisted in the hot water in his hands, wiping away the filth from the corner of the old man's eyes, and the embarrassment on his face.

Xu Mingshi opened his eyes in a trance, his turbid eyes looked forward for a long time, and said hoarsely, "Xiaobao."

Shen Jue did not ridicule him or respond to him. He twisted the white towel again, took the water basin and walked out of the courtyard. Shen Jue carried the basin back, and soon took out the fox fur cloak that was originally intended to honor Liu Yan during the Chinese New Year. He went out and covered it over the old man who was chasing the sun.

He is really an old man, Liu Yan thought, but he thinks again and again of that year outside the Shen mansion, the young man who used his sword to slay demons, and the young man who jumped up and down in front of his tall horse.

Fleeting years go by, nothing more.

"Little Treasure," Liu Yan heard Xu Mingshi's old voice say not far away, "Call me uncle again."

His tone was desolate, his eyes warm and kind, as if he was attached. However, Shen Jue turned around and took a step forward, but it did not slow down.