Recently, the Imperial Tutor in the palace had performed a divination for the Emperor. The divination said, "Rolling waves of peach blossoms", "Water blossoms", and "Inverted Peach Blossoms" were all fates.
The Emperor only smiled and said, "Zhen wants to perform a divination on zhen's country, not those romantic affairs."
The Imperial Tutor was half leaning on the bench of Wei Yang Building. The moon was hanging outside the window behind him and the clouds were faintly discernible in the night sky. The Imperial Tutor looked up slightly.
"Oh? Does Your Majesty not know what a disaster is? How many monarchs of the previous dynasty have lost their country because of these romantic affairs? This divination is to remind Your Majesty not to be confused by the peach blossoms and lose your mind. "
Youyu was still immersed in the memories of the past and couldn't help but sneeze.
But Youyu still had a lingering fear when he thought about it. If no one had found out at the time, would he really have killed him?
Youyu and him maintained that position for a long time. The two of them lost their focus in this tense moment. That cold blade left a red mark on his neck.
Youyu was so nervous that his mind was blank. His few memories had already run through his mind. But he gradually realized why this person had not made a move.
And from the moment he saw him, he did not plan on killing him. Not far from the courtyard, there was a hubbub of voices, poetry, and music. The moment the bright lights were extinguished, they fell onto the face of the youth in front of him.
He saw his own face reflected in the youth's eyes. It was also a stunned face.
The stalemate was created like this. So he was waiting for a way out. Finally, it came. There was a drunk person outside the door that staggered past.
So he pretended to disappear because someone had come to interrupt him.
This caused Youyu to stay where he was. Even though he was a bit confused, he was still happy like he had been reborn.
Today, Youyu was reading in his room. With a click, the window was pushed open and he saw that person sitting at the window.
"Hey, why didn't you tell anyone?" that person asked.
"No, I didn't tell anyone." Youyu put down the book in his hand and looked up at him.
"Why? Aren't you afraid I'll find you and kill you? "asked the man.
"I wish you could steal more of the treasures," Youyu said. "That way, this building might be a little less busy."
The man didn't say anything.
"What's your name?" the man asked again.
Youyu lowered his head, not wanting to tell him.
But in the blink of an eye, that person had already jumped down from the window and easily snatched the jade pendant from Youyu's waist.
He opened his palm, and his name was engraved on the warm jade — Pei Youyu.
"Oh! You're Old Man Pei's son. "The man smiled." You don't look like him. "
Youyu wanted to reach out and snatch it back, but the man raised his hand and Youyu couldn't reach it.
"What do you want? Are you here to kill me today? "Youyu was a little angry.
"I'm not an assassin. I only steal treasures. Last time, I was just scaring you," the man told Youyu.
He walked closer to Youyu. "You should know how to write. Teach me how to write my name."
"How would I know your name? If I don't know your name, how would I teach you? "Youyu asked.
"Ziqu," he said. "My name is Ziqu."
"That's good," Youyu said. "It suits your profession."
Youyu dipped a pen in ink and wrote "Ziqu" on the paper. Ziqu imitated his writing, but his writing was crooked.
Ziqu said, "Writing is so hard. It's harder than stealing."
Youyu laughed. "It's okay. Everyone has their own specialization. You're better at stealing than I am at writing."
Ziqu asked him, "Did you want to sneak out that day? You've been reading all day. It's so boring. "
"I have a sage in my heart and a beautiful jade in my book. I …"
Before Youyu could finish, Ziqu interrupted him.
"Tonight, I'll take you to see it."
"Hey," Youyu said. "Didn't you understand what I said?"
"That's settled." Ziqu held Youyu's hand and placed the jade pendant in his palm. Then he jumped out of the window.
'What kind of weirdo is this,' Youyu thought.
So in the evening, Youyu went with him.
Youyu didn't know how he was going to take him to see it. After all, his father was very strict about it.
When Ziqu let Youyu step on his shoulders and then lifted him up, he realized that they were going to see it from the roof.
They sat side by side, one tall and one short.
Youyu's heart was filled with indescribable joy. This was the first time he had climbed to such a high place. He had been taught not to be an active child since he was young.
So his world was limited to the few rooms in the backyard. From this moment on, the world began to expand. There were countless buildings in the capital, row upon row. The eaves fluttered in the wind, and the glazed roof tiles emitted a dim light in the twilight of dusk.
Even the wind seemed to have a light yellow color. Youyu and Ziqu didn't speak for a long time.
"You see this every day?" Youyu asked.
"Yes, I'm tired of it." Ziqu didn't mind and lay back.
"I don't leave this building much," Youyu told him.
"It's not bad. After all, you don't have to worry about living in the building," Ziqu said lazily.
"By the way, why did you become a thief?" Youyu turned to ask him.
"When I was your age, I could get anything I wanted," Ziqu answered him. "My ambition is to walk on the roof for the rest of my life. I don't have to worry about food and clothing anymore."
"You don't have to worry about food and clothing now, do you?" Youyu said seriously. "You couldn't choose before, but now you can choose to do serious things.
"The way you speak is somewhat similar to your father's." He sat up and told him.
Opera was very popular in the capital. Singing and dancing pavilions could be seen everywhere. Almost everyone loved to listen to a part of it and was willing to admire the flowers under the moonlight. And the most important part of the capital's opera was the Guiyu Pavilion.
Night fell, the inside of the building was brightly lit with lanterns. Outside the door, the long street was filled with horse carriages. All the high officials, dignitaries, and hedonistic sons of rich parents were gathered at this Gui Yu Lou, just to enjoy the opera of Hua Yue Sheng Xiu.
"Quick, it's about to start!" Youyu was slightly excited. He had never seen a piece performed on stage before.
In the past, he would inadvertently enter the rooms of some singers. Those elegant singers would feed him candied fruit and send him back.
Their clear voices and the light fragrance of their clothes left a deep impression on him.
Accompanied by the deafening beating of gongs and drums, music played by the wind. On the bright stage, cloud-like hair appeared, and water sleeves hung lightly. His singing voice also began to linger.
Everything in front of him fascinated Youyu so much that he couldn't take his eyes off it. After the song, Youyu realized that his eyes were a little dry because he was using too much strength.
"Was it good?" Ziqu asked him.
Youyu nodded.
"Then we should go back. If you watch the whole show, your father will definitely find out." Ziqu told him.
Youyu sighed helplessly.
Ziqu bent down slightly. "Lie on my back, I'll bring you down."
"Ah? What? "Youyu was a little flustered.
Ziqu straightened up and looked at him.
"Then you jump down yourself."
So Youyu obediently lay on Ziqu's back.
Even if Ziqu carried Youyu on his back, his body was still light and nimble, jumping left and right, very stable.
When they were about to reach the study, Youyu lay on his back and asked softly, "Then where are we going tomorrow night?"
Ziqu stopped, as if thinking about something, and then his footsteps became faster.
"We'll talk about it tomorrow night!"
Those days when he violated his father's rules and was in secret were the happiest time of his ten years.
During the day, he obediently stayed in the house, a sage.
At night, without telling his father, he followed Ziqu to go crazy on the roof. Then he ran back before going to bed. Carrying the feeling of those new things, he fell into a deep sleep.
Ziqu became the person he talked to during this period of time. Youyu told Ziqu about the contents of the books he read, about how he ran around in the building when he was a child and got lost.
Ziqu would quietly wait for him to finish before expressing his opinion. However, because Ziqu's worldview was different from the others in Youyu's life, Youyu often laughed out loud.
On the brightly lit roofs at night, jumping from one building to another, through the cracks in the tiles, the open doors, and the broken windows, he heard that the storyteller talked about three words and two beats. He also saw the shadow dance behind the cloth, ate the snacks in Elegant Tea House, the trinkets on the street, and even tasted the candied hawthorns one by one.
But good days never last.
That night, Youyu was woken up in his sleep. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and saw that Ziqu's face was different from usual under the faint light.
"What's wrong?" Youyu was a little grumpy after waking up. "What are you doing in the middle of the night?"
"Come with me." Ziqu carried Youyu and quickly went up to the roof.
The full moon hung high in the night sky, and there were only a few flickering lights left. The night wind was biting cold, and Youyu was awakened by the wind.
Ziqu put Youyu down on the roof and then sat beside him.
"Youyu." Ziqu did not look at him. "I have to leave tomorrow."
"What?" Youyu was completely awakened by this sentence. "Why do you have to leave?"
"You're so silly." Ziqu laughed. "As a great thief, you've stayed here for so long without getting anything. You should have left long ago."
"That's true." Youyu felt that it was very reasonable.
"Hey, Pei Youyu." Ziqu called him by his full name. "Do you want to leave with me? I'll take you to the underworld. In the future, you'll also be a pillar of the thieves' world!"
Youyu was stumped by his question. He thought about it carefully. Although it was indeed more interesting to go out and play at night than to study indoors, after all, he would still have to go back to the building and return to his real life.
Occasionally disobeying his father was nothing to him. But to leave the building and live on the roof for the rest of his life, an inexplicable fear descended on Youyu's head.
"I don't dare." Youyu told him. Ziqu raised his head and looked at the full moon expressionlessly.
"Alright. Let's go back. It's getting late. "Ziqu looked at Youyu and said to him.
The next day, Youyu found that his jade pendant was gone, and Ziqu had completely disappeared from the Guiyu Pavilion.
His father found that the treasure he made for Youyu was gone, and then he thought of Ziqu's disappearance. Soon, he determined that Ziqu had stolen the jade pendant.
Youyu didn't say anything. He said that he didn't know anything, because he really didn't understand.
He didn't know where the news came from, but they knew that Ziqu had appeared in Cuiya Restaurant. His father was in high spirits. He ordered the housekeeper to lead a group of servants to surround Cuiya Restaurant. As expected, Ziqu was sitting on a chair, drinking and eating happily.
He looked up at the crowd in front of him and smiled.
"Are you looking for this?" After saying that, he stretched out his hand. In his open palm lay a jade pendant with the words "Pei Youyu" engraved on it.
"How dare you!" The housekeeper roared, "How dare you steal from Guiyu Pavilion! How dare you! "
The housekeeper waved his hand and signaled for the strong men beside him to come forward.
"Take him down immediately!" The housekeeper was aggressive.
Ziqu sat on the window in the blink of an eye. He smiled at the flustered crowd in front of him and said:
"If you want to take back this thing, get your young master to meet me at South City's Elegant Restaurant tomorrow!"
After saying that, he jumped down.
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