After Bi Han approved and Xia Houxuan wrote to obtain his father's consent, Guang Luxun and He Qia's son He Kui, who had just been engaged to Xia Hou Yu not long ago, were still sitting on the second floor of Yejia Teahouse in Jiuzifang as usual. Sitting next to the window.
In the past, whenever he had free time, he would sit in this position, order a pot of tea, and watch the scenery of Xiahou Mansion across the street from a distance.
It’s more people-watching than sightseeing.
However, the beautiful figure playing shuttlecock is missing from the palace today. And today's harmony does not seem to be as leisurely and relaxed as in the past.
At this moment, he was holding the celadon tea cup in his hand tightly, and the veins on the back of his hand popped out, as if he was about to crush the tea cup.
His thick and slender eyebrows were tightly knitted together at this moment, and his eyes seemed to be bursting with flames.
He, who had always had a gentle temperament, was now full of violence.
Who on earth caused the Xiahou family to suffer such a tragedy, leading to the tragic death of his mother-in-law? He must find out the truth!
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Ten days later, there was a sad funeral.
Above Mang Mountain.
Xia Houxuan stared blankly at the coffin in the tomb, which was being buried bit by bit by the loess. Aunt Han's gentle and peaceful smile seemed to be right in front of him. He couldn't accept this fact, and he didn't even dare to face his father. He regretted his carelessness and hated his inability to do anything. He also felt painful because he, as the future guardian of the Xiahou family, could not protect his loved ones.
But the deceased are gone. Aunt Han, Magu and the others are gone like this after all, and will never come back again...
I once thought that I could control the ups and downs of Luoyang City, but who would have thought that in the end I would not be able to protect even my closest relatives.
Thinking of himself who was still very ambitious and thinking about revitalizing the Wei Dynasty, Xia Houxuan suddenly felt endless shame. At this moment, veins popped up on his forehead, and his hands were tightly grasping the gravel and sand in front of the grave.
After a long time, Xia Houxuan was still kneeling in front of the grave with his head bowed, refusing to get up.
"Young Master, let's go back..."
Gu Ting's eyes were also red. Over the years, the Xiahou family had been valued by two generations of kings. He really didn't understand why this sudden change happened. As for himself, he was deeply relied upon, trusted and respected by his master Xia Houshang, but he failed to protect his beloved. How could he not blame himself?
"Uncle Gu... I want to stay a little longer..."
Xia Houxuan's originally cool and calm voice now became hoarse and deep.
His expression was gloomy, his eyes were red, his teeth were clenched, and his eyes were filled with sadness, anger, and loneliness.
"Da da da... da..."
At this moment, on the official road to the south in the distance, there was a rush and panic of horse hoofbeats, coming in the direction of Mangshan Tomb, and the sound became clearer and clearer.
Not long after, the sound of horse hooves turned from the bluestone official road to the dirt road in the mountains.
The sound of the horse's hoofbeats was low and urgent, like a heavy hammer hitting Xia Houxuan's heart.
Xia Houxuan knew that this was the sound of his father's horse's hooves.
After a while, the heartbreaking sound of horse hooves finally stopped behind him.
"Father..." Xia Houxuan turned around and looked in the distance. From Jingxiang to Luoyang, it was a thousand miles away. Unexpectedly, it only took half a month for his father to come back.
The figure in the distance gradually came closer, and I saw that the man was haggard due to the long journey, his eyes were bloodshot, his beard had grown a little, and even the jade crown for his hair was missing.
Xia Houxuan still remembers that his father, who was a military general and advocated Confucianism, carefully tied up his jade crown more than once and told himself the Confucian principle that "a gentleman will inevitably be crowned after death."
But now my father has become like this, which makes people feel pity for him when he sees him.
Looking at his unkempt and haggard father, Xia Houxuan couldn't help but feel sad. He finally couldn't control his collapsed emotions and burst into tears.
He remembered that since he was a child, he had only experienced this kind of despair when he witnessed his master Yu Gui die in battle a few years ago.
But now, it is still difficult for me to resist this heartbreaking pain. He still remembers that on the moonlit night after Hui'er got married, Aunt Han persuaded him sincerely that people always have to grow up and leave.
But he never expected that such a good person like Aunt Han would leave in this way.
"Xuan'er..."
Xia Houshang staggered over. The pain in his heart caused the corners of his mouth and eyes to twitch. Looking at the grave covered with fresh soil in front of him, his dry throat could no longer say a word. Come.
At this moment, he no longer had the demeanor of a general who remained unchanged despite the collapse of Mount Tai. He just held his son and cried bitterly.
Xia Houxuan remembered that since he was a child, the image of his father had always been so calm, and he had never seen him shed a tear. But now, the father in front of him was so pitiful and helpless, at a loss, as if he had suddenly changed. He became a tearful person and couldn't stop crying.
After a long time, Xia Houshang finally stopped crying. He looked at the tombstone on the cold grave in front of him infatuatedly. His voice and smile seemed to be still in front of him.
At this moment, his eyes were full of tenderness.
"Han'er... Han'er... I'm late... Let me see you for the last time, okay..."
As Xia Houshang spoke, he suddenly squatted down and, as if going crazy, began to dig up the new soil on the grave one by one. His tears fell drop by drop, and they were buried in the grave soil bit by bit.
Xia Houxuan was very surprised when he saw such a scene, but he did not stop his father. After being stunned for a moment, he squatted down and started to help his father dig.
Xia Houxuan knew that his father just wanted to see Aunt Han again!
Xia Houshang's hands were gradually covered with bloodstains. When everyone opened the coffin lid, they saw Bi Han, with a pale face, lying quietly in the tomb, like a dead butterfly.
"Han'er..." Xia Houshang called affectionately and softly, but no one responded in the tomb...
In the sixth year of the Yellow Emperor's reign, Xia Houshang, the general who conquered the south and the Marquis of Changling Township, was seriously ill and took leave of absence. He was still recuperating in Luoyang, the capital. Wei Emperor Cao Pi saw that there was no one to guard the south, so he named Sima Yi the general of the Fu army. He took over the military affairs in the south and went out to control Jingzhou. , stationed in Wancheng.
In the Marquis Mansion of Changling Township, the family is no longer as happy as before.
The head of the family, Xia Houshang, first drank for several months to relieve his sorrow, and then he began to vomit and cough up blood from time to time.
Finally, he was still lying on the hospital bed. The elegance he once joked about between curtains and the heroic spirit of drawing a sword to conquer the world seemed to have gone forever with Bihan's death. Now, at only over forty years old, he can only lie in bed and pillow, like an old man in his twilight years. on one's last legs.
Xiahou Mansion in the night was dark, lonely and silent.
"Father……"
Xia Houxuan and his two sisters gathered around the hospital bed, with tears streaming down their faces.
Xia Houhui's still young daughter was playing in the hall at the moment, unaware of what would happen to her once upright and elegant grandfather.
"Xuan'er, Hui'er... you two are already grown children... If one day, I am no longer here, you two must take good care of Yu'er... you know..." Xia Houshang's eyes were dull and angry. Ruo Yousi held the child's hand very weakly.
"Father, you must express your condolences. You will definitely get better..."
Xia Houxuan held his father's cold hand and tried to force out a smile, but he couldn't.
Xia Houhui couldn't help crying after hearing his brother's words.
They understand that Yu'er is the only flesh and blood between Aunt Han and her father in this world, and she is also the child that her father cares about most at the moment.
Xia Houshang tried his best to hold the corner of his mouth, raised his hand tremblingly to wipe his daughter's tears, and said: "Hui'er... don't cry..."
"Xuan'er... you, in order to support this family in the future, you... must remember to take good care of... your sister,... take care of your mother..."
Xia Houxuan finally couldn't hold it back and burst into tears. He listened to his father's words and nodded vigorously.
"Husband..." Cao Quejue, who was usually as calm as water, was sobbing now and holding her husband's hand tightly, as if he was afraid that the person in front of him would suddenly disappear.
"Jue'er... I have failed you in this life. If... there is an afterlife... I hope you can find someone who will treat you wholeheartedly..."
Cao Que burst into tears, clutching her husband's hands tightly and just shaking his head.
"Madam, Your Majesty has come to visit the Lord." Butler Gu Ting entered the hall and said.
"Welcome, Your Majesty..." Cao Jue led his children and servants to kneel down and salute Cao Pi.
Cao Pi walked quickly to the bedside and looked at Xia Houshang, who looked haggard and haggard. Cao Pi suddenly felt heartbroken. He held the hand of his beloved brother on the couch, but found that these hands no longer seemed like the ones he had used when he was a child or a teenager. I don’t know when, these hands became so rough...so cold...
Xia Houshang looked at the blurry figure in front of him, and for no reason, he thought of the young but smug seven-year-old child standing in the ruins of his old capital Luoyang during the Jian'an period.
He couldn't help but burst into tears and weakly called out softly: "Zi...Huan..."
The usually frosty emperor seemed to be shedding tears at this moment: "I'm sorry...Bo Ren...it's my Cao family who failed you..."
The two of them didn't say anything more, they just held hands and cried. [Note 1: "Three Kingdoms·Wei Shujiu·Zhu Xia Hou Cao Biography": "In the sixth year, Shang was seriously ill and returned to Kyoto. The emperor was lucky enough to hold his hands and weep."]
"Han'er... Han'er..." Xia Houshang looked at the birds outside the window, as if searching for something from the depths of his memory. He remembered the first time he met her in the winter of Qingzhou City, that warm A smile, like a warm flame, instantly melts away the biting cold wind...
"I promise you...if there is an afterlife, you...will be my only wife..."
In the sixth year of Huangchu, in May, Yisi day. Xiahou Shang, a Marquis of Changling Township and the general who conquered the south, passed away at the age of more than forty. His posthumous title was "Mourning Hou".
