Xu Qing looked at the sky outside. It was dusk. She looked at Hsu Fengnian, who looked like he was about to pay and leave, and said gently, "Why don't you eat before you leave?"
Hsu Fengnian shook his head. "Forget it."
Little Sweet Potato suddenly asked, "Do you have any fried cicadas? The crispy kind! "
Xu Qing shook her head.
The little scholar Zhao Yousong slapped his forehead. So she was a heroine!
Little Sweet Potato asked again, "Do you have rice? Big bowls! "
Xu Qing nodded lightly.
Little Sweet Potato patted his stomach. "Eat and drink before you leave!"
After closing the shop, Zhao Yousong wanted to send the little girl home first, so Xu Qing led Little Sweet Potato home. Hsu Fengnian could only stand obediently on the other side of Xu Qing.
Xu Qing asked, "Did your father give you the wooden saber?"
Little Sweet Potato patted the long and narrow wooden saber lightly and snorted coldly. "No, I made it myself!"
The child quickly added, "I made it for myself! I didn't give it to anyone! "
When they reached the small courtyard, Xu Qing brought the little girl to prepare dinner. The little girl was probably happy to stay with her father.
Hsu Fengnian sat on a small stool in the courtyard and looked up at the sunset, unable to take his eyes off it.
Zhao Yousong quickly ran home and stared blankly with Hsu Fengnian.
When he called them to eat, Zhao Yousong realized that Little Charcoal seemed to have cried and looked pitiful.
After sitting at the sumptuous table, Zhao Yousong quickly realized that the little girl was wolfing down the rice. Her chopsticks flew like they were flying, like a hungry ghost reincarnated.
Hsu Fengnian didn't say anything, but Xu Qing occasionally told her daughter to eat slowly and not to rush.
When Little Sweet Potato was full, Hsu Fengnian had only eaten a few mouthfuls.
For some reason, the little girl's taut bowstring seemed to have suddenly loosened. Then, it was obvious that she was mentally exhausted. Almost unwillingly, she lay on Xu Fengnian's back, closed her eyes, and fell asleep, snoring softly.
Xu Qing immediately covered her mouth so that she wouldn't disturb the pitiful child's life.
Earlier, when they were preparing dinner together, although Xu Nianliang didn't say much, when he talked about the past that the child thought was very interesting, Xu Qing felt extremely sad.
Although she had never been educated, the principles of the world were interconnected. She was a woman who had endured the hardships of life. She roughly knew that men and women in the world, after growing up, would suffer and suffer, and would not be able to blame the heavens and accuse others. But how could such a young child talk about such things?
If he found it interesting, how could he be so enraptured?
She looked at the two figures as they walked out of the house. For the first time, she was angry at him. "Can't you let the child sleep on the bed?!"
At that moment, the man suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Zhao Yousong was at a loss and a little scared.
In the end, Hsu Fengnian returned to the house and gently handed the sweet potato to Xu Qing.
She carried the child to her room and covered the child with a quilt. She stood at the door and said softly, "Tonight, you will sleep in the room on the right pine."
Hsu Fengnian shook his head and said, "No, I will go to the courtyard."
She wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, she silently turned around and sat by the bed.
Hsu Fengnian sat in the courtyard. Zhao Yousong chatted with him in a low voice for a while, then said that he was going to do the homework left by the private school teacher. Hsu Fengnian said softly, "Study hard. In the future, you will pass the imperial examinations. Don't let your mother down."
The child nodded vigorously and then tiptoed away.
Hsu Fengnian didn't say a word.
He sat until the sun set and the moon hung in the sky.
Hsu Fengnian recalled many things from his childhood. Some memories were vague, but some were still vivid.
After arriving at Mount Qingliang in Beiliang, the past, especially when he was young, became much clearer. However, at that time, his mother was no longer around, and only Xu Xiao was left.
Hsu Fengnian didn't move from the beginning to the end.
Only when he became a father would he understand his father. No matter how much he had done for him, he would never feel that it was enough. He would always hate that it was not enough.
My little sweet potato, Father has let you down, but Father really loves you.
Perhaps in the future, when she grew up and met the man she loved, he, as a father, would still reluctantly give her away, hoping that she would be happy for the rest of her life.
He hoped that after he died, when he could no longer take care of her, she would continue to be happy.
He didn't know when Xu Qing came out of the room and sat beside him.
After Hsu Fengnian came back to his senses, he immediately turned his head and carelessly wiped his face with the grass.
Xu Qing said softly, "She didn't sleep well. She woke up a few times in a daze, but soon fell asleep again. Twice, she cried and asked me where you were. I told her that you were in the courtyard, then she was willing to go back to sleep."
Hsu Fengnian nodded.
Xu Qing lowered her head. "I … I'm sorry."
Hsu Fengnian shook his head. "Don't think too much. I should be the one thanking you, really."
Hsu Fengnian said in a hoarse voice, "I don't know how to take care of her … I've never been good at it. Whenever she doesn't speak, I'll be very scared … "
Xu Qing leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands. She looked at the entrance of the courtyard and said, "I was like this back then. The more sensible the child is, the more the parents feel sorry for them and the more they owe them."
Hsu Fengnian listened quietly.
Under the moonlight, she said a lot, until her eyelids started to droop.
Hsu Fengnian turned his head and saw Little Sweet Potato walk to the door and look at them. Then she sat down and waved at him.
Xu Qing suddenly woke up. She shook her head and followed Hsu Fengnian's line of sight. She saw the little girl.
Xu Qing stood up and walked to Little Sweet Potato. She asked gently, "Why aren't you sleeping?"
The little girl also stood up and smiled brightly. "I had a good sleep!"
Xu Qing smiled. "Then remember to come here to play in the future."
Little Sweet Potato stretched out her little finger. "Come, pinky promise!"
Xu Qing gently pinky promised her.
Hsu Fengnian smiled and squatted down, waiting for the child to lie on his back.
Little Sweet Potato lay on his back. After Hsu Fengnian stood up, she turned and waved her hand at Xu Qing. She smiled and said, "Pinky promise!"
Hsu Fengnian reminded her softly, "Hold on tight."
Little Sweet Potato snorted.
Hsu Fengnian turned and smiled. "Let's go."
Xu Qing stood at the door and nodded.
The two figures flashed and disappeared.
Like a rainbow, they flew to the south of Youzhou. After about a hundred miles, Hsu Fengnian noticed something wrong with Little Sweet Potato. He stopped and asked worriedly, "What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?"
Little Sweet Potato struggled to leave his warm back. She stood on the ground with her head lowered and didn't speak.
Hsu Fengnian knelt on one knee in front of her, not knowing what to do.
She suddenly covered her eyes with her hands, as if she didn't dare to look at her father. She sobbed, "Sorry, I miss Mother … … sorry … … I'm not angry at you … … even if I am, it's only a little! Little Sweet Potato only blames herself for being useless … … Father, Little Sweet Potato didn't do a lot of the things Mother told me to do.
To … … "
At that moment, Hsu Fengnian covered his mouth and slowly lowered his head.
This man who had never retreated half a step outside the Imperial Astronomer of Great Peace City, outside Beiliang's Fengbei City, was afraid that his child would feel that her father wasn't the hero in her heart.
Little Sweet Potato put down her hands and stopped crying. She took a deep breath and suddenly hugged her father's neck and said loudly, "Father! You're not allowed to cry! Good men bleed and don't cry! "
— —
She rode on his neck again. This time, he slowly headed south.
"Father, what are my grandpa and grandma like?"
"Your grandpa, his temper is the best. Your grandma is the most beautiful."
"Then when you were disobedient, did Grandpa hit you?"
"Haha, he couldn't bear to."
"Then if I'm disobedient in the future, will you hit me?"
"I also couldn't bear to."
"Then if bad people bully Little Sweet Potato in the future, what will you do? I mean, there will be a lot of bad people, even more than last time we were in the north! A lot more! "
"Father will beat ten Tuoba Bodhisattvas until their parents won't recognize them."
"En? What does that mean? "
"You'll understand when you grow up."
"But I've already grown up!"
"In Father's heart, Little Sweet Potato will never grow up."
"Then if a woman doesn't like Little Sweet Potato, will you not want Little Sweet Potato?"
"Of course not. Because Father likes Little Sweet Potato the most. "
"Sigh, back then, Mother must have been tricked by you like this."
"… …"
"When I'm angry in the future, I'll call you Hsu Fengnian. Father, will you be angry?"
"Little Sweet Potato, Father will never be angry with you in this life."
"What if you don't keep your words in the future?"
"Don't you have a wooden sword?"
"That's right! Can you accompany me to the roof in the future? Can we go find those things called fireflies together? Do we have drumsticks at home? Is the blanket at home thick enough? "
"Anything is fine! Everything is fine! "
"Father … …"
"En?"
"Don't die, okay?"
"… …"
"Don't pretend to sleep!"
"Okay."
"Father."
"What now?"
"Hey, I'm just calling you."
— — —
Outside the city, smoke rose everywhere.
Inside the city, chaos was everywhere.
One must know that this city was called Great Peace City!
For more than two hundred years, there had never been a foreign army that attacked this Liyang capital!
What made him feel the most sorrowful was that the reason why the enemy had not attacked the city was because they wanted to prevent the battle of Liang Mang from ending too early!
The Emperor of the Zhao clan, Zhao Zhuan, sat alone in the diligent room where all the previous monarchs had studied and learned to read. At the door stood the Left Scattered Cavalry Officer of the province, Chen Shaobao Chen Wang.
The young emperor sat in the seat he sat in when he was young and studied. He raised his head and looked at the place where the diligent teacher taught.
No one knew whether this young monarch, who originally had lofty ambitions, was angry or regretful in the depths of his heart.
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