Amidst the howling of the cold wind, lanterns lit up one after another in the corridor below the small building and under the eaves.
A few orange lanterns lit up the dark courtyard. Tan'Er crossed her arms and looked down from the railing. Ning Yi came up with a lantern. "The first time I came here, I thought it looked like the small courtyard in Jiangning."
Tan'Er was a little confused at first, but now she smiled. "What do you want?"
"What else can a couple do? Since you came here, I brought you here to take a look. I brought some food." Ning Yi smiled, picked up the bag again, and pushed open the door.
The furnishings in the room were simple. It seemed to be a woman's boudoir. There were tables, chairs, beds, cabinets, and other things. Perhaps it was prepared beforehand, there was not much dust in the room. Ning Yi took out a brazier from under the table and the machete he carried with him. He chopped the two stools in the room into firewood.
Tan'Er found his actions funny. She had not seen Ning Yi so casual in many years. She took two steps forward and squatted down to help unpack the bag. "This house is someone else's. It's not good for you to mess around like this, right?"
"It's not good. That's why I didn't bring anyone else."
The knife skills he learned from Hongti, Watermelon, and the others were very smooth when used to chop firewood. The firewood was very neat, and after a while, the fire was ignited. The room was very warm. Tan'Er opened the bag and took out a pile of food from a small box inside: small steamed buns, marinated chicken wings, meat slices, a few meatballs, half a fish, some vegetables … two plates of stir-fried side dishes, and wine …
She couldn't help but smile. When the family gathered, Ning Yi would occasionally make a round of barbecue. He had done a lot of research on food, and the taste was not bad. However, in the past few years, the Huaxia Army did not have enough supplies. Ning Yi set a food quota for everyone by example. Even if he wanted to save some meat and eat it in large bites, it would often take some time. However, Ning Yi was never tired of it.
The couple had been together for so many years. Although there were days when they were apart more than together, they were already very familiar with each other's pace. Tan'Er placed the dishes and wine on the round table in the room, then looked around the room that didn't have many decorations. The world outside was dark, but the courtyard was bathed in a warm yellow light because of the lanterns below.
Ning Yi put the fish over the fire and said, "This building looks like the one that burned down."
Tan'Er turned her head and said, "It was burnt by fire."
"Yeah." Ning Yi nodded.
"You're so familiar with this place. How many people did you bring to scout?"
"Not many, Hongti … Juan'Er … Little Hu and Little Zhang from the Secretariat … Auntie Tiantian from the Women's Union, and …" Ning Yi counted on his fingers in the flickering light of the fire. He looked at Tan'Er's eyes, which were beginning to grow round with a hint of a smile, and couldn't help but smile. "Alright, I brought Hongti here last time …"
"Why are you so happy after winning a battle?" Tan'Er gently asked. "Don't get carried away."
"I'm pleased, but also not pleased." Ning Yi sat on a stool and looked at the roasted fish in his hands. "I had many ideas for this battle with the Woman Zhenren. When I mobilized them, I could have been very bold, thinking of cutting off all means of retreat, but now, there's finally been a development. The battle of Yu Yu Creek gave Zong Han a fierce blow. They won't retreat. Next, these fellows who have brought disaster to the world will bet their lives on the southwest. Every time something like this happens, I want to separate myself from the situation and take a look at these things. "
As he said this, his expression was not one of complacency, but of solemnity. Tan'Er sat down. She was also a decision-maker who had experienced many major events. She knew that when people were in a situation, they would inevitably lose their clarity because of the entanglement of interests. Perhaps Ning Yi's current state was because he had really withdrawn himself from a higher position and discovered something. Her expression also became solemn.
Ning Yi smiled. "I recently remembered that when I was in Jiangning, the building hadn't burned down yet. Sometimes … when you came back at night, we would chat in the corridor outside. At that time, you probably couldn't have imagined what would happen later. The matter of Hangzhou's Fang La, Liangshan, resisting the Jin, killing the Emperor … if you want to play tricks, the most you can do is become the head of the Su family in the future and make the cloth business flourish. Do I count as … messing up your life? "
"You really weren't prepared …" Tan'Er thought for a moment. "Especially after the rebellion, all the preparations of the first half of my life were for naught. Later on, I was forced to leave … Before you killed the Emperor, I still thought of many plans for the Su family. After we left the court, our family would return to Jiangning and experience those major events. With family and children, there would be nothing to be afraid of in the world."
"At that time." As she thought of this, the eyes of Su Tan'Er, who had been the mistress of the household for more than ten years, began to shine. "… Those were truly the most practical of thoughts."
Ten years ago, in the days before the regicide, although they had encountered all sorts of problems in the capital, as long as they were solved, everything would be settled once they returned to Jiangning. These were still considered plans. As Su Tan'Er said this, she felt something in her heart, but she didn't quite understand why Ning Yi had brought it up. Ning Yi stretched out a hand and grasped Tan'Er's hand.
"Thank you," he said.
"Husband …" Tan'Er hesitated slightly. "You … just thought of this?"
"All these years, the decisions I made have changed the lives of many people. Sometimes I can take care of them, and sometimes I have no time to take care of them. In fact, the impact on the family is more. Your husband suddenly changed from a businessman to the leader of the rebellion. Yunzhu and Jin'Er probably thought of a stable life in the past. These things are all valuable. After killing Zhou Zhe, I went to the front, and you had no choice but to go to the front. There was no buffer period. More than ten years passed just like that. "
Tan'Er's face reddened slightly. "Actually … you don't have to say these things …"
"I'm not sorry. Maybe I didn't have more choices, but it's still a pity … "Ning Yi smiled." Think about it. If there was such a world where there were no Jurchen from the beginning, you might still be managing the Su family, and I might still be teaching, slacking off, going to parties to see a bunch of fools writing poems, and on festivals, fireworks on the streets, fish and dragons dancing in the night … It would be very interesting to continue like that. "
As Ning Yi said this, Tan'Er's eyes suddenly turned red. "You're … making me cry."
"It's almost the New Year. It's quite interesting to think about these things when we were young."
Ning Yi barbecued the food in his hands. Sensing that her husband had indeed come out with the mood of reminiscing, Tan'Er finally stopped talking about business. She helped Ning Yi to barbecue something and talked about the recent situation of the children at home. The two of them picked up their wine glasses at the round table and clinked glasses.
The day had quickly entered the boundary of the night. Through the open door of the room, there were spots of light floating in the distance of the city, and the lanterns under the courtyard were swaying in the wind. Suddenly, there was a sound, like an overwhelming rain, but it was heavier than the rain. The pitter-patter sound enveloped the house. The brazier in the room shook a few times. Ning Yi threw firewood in. Tan'Er got up and walked to the corridor outside. Then she said, "The particles have fallen."
Ning Yi's eyes flickered, and then he nodded. "It's snowing in other places in the world."
At this time, the Central Plains and Jiangnan had long been covered by the heavy snow. Only the Chengdu Plain had been rainy this year. But it seemed that the time had come. Tan'Er returned to the room. The couple ate and drank in front of the falling snow while chatting about the interesting things at home and the gossip in the army.
Ning Yi talked about the matter of Xu Shaoyuan and Yong Jinrou.
"Xu Shaoyuan from the Secretariat is a bit dull, but he is still very capable. He took a fancy to Teacher Yong's sister, Yong Jinrou, right? She's in her early thirties, very beautiful, educated and reasonable. She's been a widow for seven or eight years, and now she's a teacher in He Deng. I heard that many people in the army have taken a fancy to her, but it's useless to propose marriage to Teacher Yong. They said that she should choose for herself … "
"Xu Shaoyuan fell in love with Yong Jinrou at first sight, but how would he know how to pick up girls? He found a guy from the General Staff Department to give him ideas. A bunch of lunatics, none of them reliable. You know Zou Lie, right? He said that I had more ideas, and secretly came over to inquire about how to make girls happy. How would I know that it was Xu Shaoyuan who wanted to pick up Yong Jinrou? I told them a few stories about a hero saving a beauty. After that, Xu Shaoyuan went to meet up with Deng Xiaoping, and in three days, it was a mess. From writing poems, to finding someone to act as a hooligan, to pretending to have internal injuries, to confess … He almost used force … Li Shishi saw it, and she got a few female soldiers to beat him up … "
"After the beating, he came to me to complain, saying that the people from the Secretariat were acting like hooligans. I went to ask, called Xu Shaoyuan out, and confronted Yong Jinrou. After the confrontation, I asked Xu Shaoyuan to make a sincere self-reflection in front of Yong Jinrou … I also helped him organize a sincere confession. Of course, I didn't help him write it, I helped him sort out his feelings, and used self-reflection to confess again … Wife, I'm smart, right? Li Shishi cried at that time, and she was so moved … In the end, Yong Jinrou rejected him with ten emotions, tsk, it's really … "
"Ten emotions … rejected him …" Tan'Er interrupted, "What do you mean?"
"Very moved — and then rejected him."
"Is there such an idiom …"
"I just recently invented it." Ning Yi smiled, "Then, I asked Miss Shishi to help solve Yong Jinrou's emotional problems. She has a good relationship with Yong Jinrou, and after asking around, I found out about one thing …"
The husband and wife talked about these trivial matters in the room. After an unknown amount of time, the dishes were already cold, and he was slightly tipsy. Ning Yi sat on a stool, looking at the snow that filled the sky outside.
"Before the battle of Yu Yu Creek, the general idea of the southwest campaign was to first defend and then wait for the opponent to reveal a flaw. After the battle of Yu Yu Creek, Wanyan Zonghan was really the enemy in front of us. The next idea was to use all methods to defeat his army and cut off his head — of course, this was also his idea. "Ning Yi smiled lightly," Thinking about it, I feel a little excited. "
Tan'Er turned her head to look at him, and then gradually understood.
She held his hand, "Nothing will happen to you."
"Of course."
In the past ten years, starting from the small Su family in Jiangning, to the incident with the imperial merchants, to the danger in Hangzhou, to Liangshan, disaster relief, regicide … for a long time, Ning Yi felt a little alienated from many things. After regicide, in the eyes of outsiders, he had more of a spirit that looked down on the world, and many people were not in his eyes — perhaps in the eyes of Li Pin and the others, even the glory of the Wu dynasty and the Confucian school was not in his eyes.
When facing the powerful Western Xia and Jurchen, he would more or less put on a polite and courteous attitude, but that was just a formulaic approach.
Facing Li Qianshun's army of a hundred thousand, Ning Yi only said to the envoy sent over, "The people of Huaxia do not surrender to foreign countries," and then defeated the entire Western Xia army.
Wanyan Loushi aggressively attacked the northwest, and Fan Hongji delivered the heads of Lu Yannian and the others as a demonstration. Ning Yi said to the Huaxia soldiers, "The situation is stronger than the people. Be friendly." When Loushi directly approached Yanzhou, Ning Yi also said to the troops, "From today onwards, the entire Huaxia army will fight against the Jurchen."
After killing Loushi, there was no room for negotiation. The Jurchen's side fantasized about winning without a fight and then came to persuade them to surrender, threatening to slaughter Little Canghe into a pit of ten thousand people. Ning Yi directly said that it would not be a pit of ten thousand people, but a pit of a hundred thousand people, or a pit of a million people.
When showing weakness was useful, he would show weakness in words and small tactics. But in terms of action, no matter who Ning Yi faced, he was extremely strong.
For a long time, the Huaxia army was at a disadvantage when facing the whole world, but in her husband's heart, he had never been at a disadvantage. He had incomparable confidence in the future. In the Huaxia army, this kind of confidence was also passed on layer by layer to the people working below.
Faced with Zong Han and Xi Yin's aggressive southern expedition, the Huaxia army, under the influence of Ning Yi's attitude, only treated it as a "problem that needed to be solved" to solve. But the moment after the battle of Yu Yu Creek ended, when Tan'Er looked at Ning Yi, she finally saw some tension in him. It was the liveliness and nervousness of the contestants on the martial arts field before they went on stage.
From the perspective of the whole world, after Wanyan Agu had fought, Zong Han and Xi Yin were indeed the most valiant and terrifying giants on the stage of this world. For the past twenty to thirty years, wherever they looked, no one could resist their sharpness. Over these years, the Huaxia army had some achievements, and in the whole world, many people had paid attention to it. But in front of Zong Han and Xi Yin, whether it was the Huaxia army or the inner demon Ning Yi, they were always one or two levels lower.
The other party was a demon king who could suppress the world, and there was still the Wu dynasty in the world, which was incomparably huge but never fell. The Huaxia army was only a powerful military force that was gradually transforming into a country.
But at this moment, Ning Yi had a murderous intent towards Zong Han. In the eyes of Tan'Er, if Zong Han was said to be the most terrifying giant of this era, then her husband in front of her, had finally stretched out his muscles and bones, and was about to face the other party with the same giant posture …
Such a scene flashed through her mind, and the falling ice particles outside the window gradually became smaller.
The feather-sized snow was about to fall, and the world was about to become the one that the Perfected Woman was once familiar with …
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