That year, there were outbreaks of epidemics in Linhai County, and six or seven people in a household of ten people died. Shen Ce took her to escape from her father's family, and took advantage of the moonlight to carry her to the deep mountains. "Brother... I want to go back to Linhai," she lay on her brother's shoulder. "It's cold in the mountains."

March is cold in spring, very cold, especially in the mountains.

Shen Ce was wearing thin clothes, so she gave her all the last clothes. She was not cold by herself, but because she was afraid that he would be cold.

"We can't go back," said the brother behind her back. "They won't let us go back."

...

There is a temple in the mountain, and people who pass by at night refuse to enter the temple, and he does not bring himself in, but sleeps on the tree. She slept in her brother's arms and asked why everyone didn't go in, preferring to sleep in the forest. "Here can be sheltered from the wind and rain, and there are often bandits and bandits sleeping in the open at night, which is even more dangerous for ordinary people," said the elder brother, "and there is a Buddha in the temple, and everyone thinks it is disrespectful not to bring tribute."

She thought about it: "Mother said that Buddha was a prince from the beginning, and he became a monk to save all beings. How can a Buddha who saves all beings punish people because he has no tribute?"

He looked at the ruined temple from a distance, as if he saw a Buddha statue sitting cross-legged, and felt that his sister was right.

That night, Zhaozhao's condition was the most dangerous. It was really cold outside. He carried her into the temple, and he really met a group of deserters who were robbers. Those people saw Shen Ce, a young boy, wrapped his forehead and unconscious. , gave them a corner of the bonfire. Seeing the kindness of others, Shen Ce informed that his sister in his arms had contracted the plague, and after avoiding the Buddha statue, he rested in the corner.

She woke up in the middle of the night and saw the vicious faces of those people in the light, as well as the knife, she thought of the bandit that her brother said and grabbed his hand.

"Don't be afraid." He comforted.

"Brother, if you can't carry me on your back, drop me first," she tightened his grip on him instead, "leave it and run fast."

A young bandit who was not sleeping over there listened with a smile: "Even if your brother doesn't leave you, you won't be able to survive for a few days." The bandit's family all died from this plague. Cover up.

Only then did she understand that she didn't want to marry her brother and sister-in-law. It's because she can't live for a few more days and is raising wasteful rations. She stopped uttering a word, and burrowed into Shen Ce's arms, resting her head on his shoulder. Since then, whether it is because of the unpleasant illness, the pain of the wound, or the tiredness, or the cold, he has not made a sound. Knowing that she was hurt by Kou Bandit's words, Shen Ce whispered to comfort her. The five-year-old sister's little hand grabbed his collar and shook her head, but she still refused to speak.

He carried her for a day, tired and fell asleep in his arms. When dawn woke up, his sister was no longer in his arms. After a moment of silence, realized that the little man was afraid that someone would steal the burden, so he slept on it alone. She didn't know much, but she knew that it was brought out by her brother, the only belongings of the two, and she stayed there all night after her brother carried it all the way.

"This burden is worthless," he carried her back and checked her forehead wound. "If you lose it, you will lose it. If you are carried away, my brother will fight with others."

"They say that no one can see a person when they die. No matter how close they are before they die, they will never see them after they die."

"who said it?"

She pointed to the firewood that had burned out early. Before the group of bandits left, she followed and asked.

He took out the clean cloth that he had prepared, and wrapped her forehead again. Seeing her red eyes staring at him, he couldn't help laughing and coaxed her softly: "I haven't slept all night, just for this? I'm afraid I won't be able to see my brother if I die. ?"

She nodded and leaned against his shoulder, tears streaming down his neck.

"Brother won't let you go on the road alone," he said. "If you go to heaven and earth, you will follow. Where is Zhaozhao, where is my brother."

She burst into laughter.

At the age of five, it is easy to cry, and it is easy to laugh.

She didn't understand that the plague was severe, and she didn't understand that her brother took her into the mountains because she was afraid of infecting innocent people. She only remembered that both of them were sick, sometimes good and sometimes bad. The elder brother taught her every sentence that the boy had learned, from "Heaven Xingjian, a gentleman is self-improvement" to "The terrain is Kun, a gentleman carries things with great virtue", to the speeches of hundreds of schools, to the Spring and Autumn...

She asked her brother why she always lived in the mountains, and her brother replied that frost and snow were pressing on Mount Lu, and there was nowhere to go. He took her into the mountain, waiting for the snow. The two entered the mountain in early spring and left in midsummer. She didn't want to leave: "Don't you want to wait for the snow in the mountains?"

"No wait," he lied to her, there was always a way, "Go to Chaisang first, and come back in winter."

She believed it to be true, put her arms around her brother's neck from behind, and left Mount Lu.

The brothers and sisters who lived in the deep mountains for several months were as embarrassed as homeless beggars on the roadside.

On Chaisang's day, in the backyard of my aunt's house, several cousins, hearing that it was Shen Ce from the Linhai County clan, came to watch. People in the clan often say that at the age of eight, my elder brother can dance the bronze halberd that an adult can lift. Everyone says that elder brother is born with divine power and will be a famous general in the future. It is also said that in ancient times, heavy weapons were used by famous generals of the party, Xiang Yu's Overlord Spear, Lu Bu's Fangtian Huaji, and even the legendary gods in the sky. One enemy thousand, breaking the city is like walking on the ground." She imitated the words of adults, and she was careful.

His cousins ​​had been admiring him for a long time, and when they saw his disheveled appearance, there was a burst of laughter. The men from the Shen family in Laihai County were so down and out, they were far worse than Chaisang Shen's son. Zhaozhao couldn't hear anyone making fun of his brother, and his eyes were red with anxiety. Shen Ce laughed when he saw that his sister was forced to cry by this kind of thing. In order to relieve his sister's annoyance, he had to shave, change clothes, and then come out. It was a handsome young man, and his appearance was far better than that of women.

But when the cousins ​​were kind to him, Zhaozhao's eyes were red again, which made Shen Ce laugh.

Both mother and father belonged to the Shen family, but one was in Linhai County and the other was in Chaisang.

The two Shen clans didn't get along well decades ago, and the mother family was not willing to take in the siblings. Since the death of his mother, he and his younger sister have been relying on others, both in Linhai County and in Chaisang. In order to support his sister, he had to join the army early.

The brothers and sisters get together less often, and whenever Shen Ce returns home, it is like a New Year for Zhaozhao.

One day two years later, Shen Ce returned from the military camp at night, quietly took her away from Chaisang, and fostered her to a distant aunt's house. He left a year's salary for the army, and told his aunt not to tell the public that this was Shen Ce's sister, hide her well, and he would be grateful in the future.

From this day onwards, for several years, apart from the silver taels sent regularly, there is no home book.

He wants to start unifying the southern border, annexing the counties, and he will make countless enemies. This arrangement is to keep her safe.

At that time, she was seven years old. She seemed to understand her brother's arrangements, but she began to understand one thing:

Shen Ce is not the only one, he also has the ambition of a man. When he left home and her, he not only wanted to make a living, but also had the ambition to pacify the war and bring peace to the Quartet.

In the past few years, she could only rely on the good news again and again to know that he was still alive and made extraordinary achievements.

Seeing his fame, his aunt did not go back to his hometown, leaving his sister here alone, complaining again and again, deducting all the silver taels that Shen Ce regularly sent, and not giving her a penny. At that time in the southern border, a household with a woman who was over thirteen and still did not get married would be punished by an increase in taxes and silver.

My aunt was patient, and when she passed the age of marriage, she still did not see Shen Ce coming back, complained more, and began to find a matchmaker to talk to her. Zhaozhao was afraid that he would be forcibly married off, so he finally couldn't help it. He sent a letter to the barracks and asked when his brother would return home. This letter from the family sank into the sea, and there was no reply. A few months later, someone passed by here and sent a message back to Shen Ce, with only four words: I will reply soon.

That day, she was copying the military book in the house in the backyard, and the sound of hurried footsteps entered her ears, and it was her cousin's maid who opened the door. This maid is close to her, and every day I hear her talk about her brother, but she is also infected, and when she encounters something related to the word "Shen Ce", she will blushed and excited: "Come on, your brother is here. Bringing soldiers, everyone will No, only you!"

As if her heart was about to burst out of her throat, she almost fell to the ground and ran out in a hurry.

For the provincial family, Zhaozhao only wears wooden sandals throughout the rainy season. It is really fatal to run. On the pebbled ground, the knocks are so loud that the soles of his feet are numb.

As soon as they entered the yard, four men in rough clothes, holding the hilt of the knife in their hands, looked at them all.

These men are Shen Ce's confidants, and they all know a secret: the new general of the chariot and cavalry has a sister hidden somewhere, in order to prevent the enemy's revenge, the general will miss his sister again, and he will not dare to visit him again, or Get a home letter.

At that time, except for his brother, Zhaozhao had never seen a real soldier, Meng Yi and a few fierce generals confronted each other, stopped and did not dare to go any further... until the wooden door was pushed open.

The elder brother who has been thinking about it all the time, standing in the open wooden door, he is no longer the young man who participated in the leadership when he left. In the past few years, he has gone from a cavalry general, to a third-rank general for the country, and then to today's second-rank car. cavalry general.

In just a few short years, he has galloped all over the world, and he is only one step away from the position of "Great General" as the head of the generals.

The siblings looked at each other.

She still remembered what her brother looked like when she left. At that time, the spirit of the youth was gone, and now the youth's spirit has faded, and only this chariot general, who is famous for destroying the main army of the enemy country with a red gold smashing spear, is left in the world...

"Brother..." She lowered her head and smiled with tears in her eyes, "Do you still recognize me?"

She only waited for him when she was a child when she was of marriageable age.

Tears fell on the clogs and on her toes. She couldn't stop crying, and she couldn't stop laughing. In front of these strangers, the back of his hand kept rubbing his eyes.

"I still like you when you were young," he said in a low voice, "will take the initiative to run over." Hug me.

The girl who amazed the whole hospital's confidants, without any hesitation, didn't even have time to kick the clogs, stumbled up, hugged his waist tightly, and refused to let go: "There is nothing, only good news, all good news... They You are about to marry me, you will only fight..." The more she cried, the more aggrieved she became, "You lied to me when you said where I was and where you were..."

Shen Ce wanted to wipe her tears, but she refused to live or die, so she wiped all the tears on his face: "If I had known this, it would be better to die in Mount Lu, which is better than here. Otherwise, I would be buried by my uncle and die. If you can go to my grave every year, it's better than here..."

The crying is getting worse and the words are getting more and more outrageous.

The crowd laughed.

Men in the field of life and death, laugh whenever they want, no matter what kind of honor he is, he is very presumptuous.

Shen Ce also laughed, the laughter rustling, like the wind passing through the bamboo forest: "Your brother has been prestige for many years, and you are almost finished crying."

She was blushed by the laughter behind her, and her red turned to red, and she refused to let go, for fear that he would leave immediately.He patted the back of her hand: "Time is running out, there's no time to say more."

Her heart sank: "Can't you stay with a stick of incense?"

"right."

Her fingers tangled behind his belt: "Next time..."

"If your hiding place is exposed once, you can no longer live there," he said. "If there is no next time, you will come with me this time."

Thinking she heard it wrong, she pushed him away, her chest heaving slightly, and looked at him in huge surprise.

"This time, regardless of life or death, you will follow your brother," he asked her with a smile, "Why don't you pack your things?"