After learning the news that Chen Zhang was dead, Chen Chong wandered on the streets in a daze. At that moment, he felt that he was in a bad mood, but he felt that there was nothing wrong with him. After all, the nightmare he had a few days ago made him mentally prepared. It's just one thing to be prepared. The moment he heard the news, Chen Chong still felt unspeakably depressed. It couldn't be said that he was sad or mournful. He just felt that he should go for a walk, so he also told his cabinet ministers and guards that he wanted to go for a walk.
Once he started walking, Chen Chong gained a sense of reality from nothingness, as if he was chasing something and looking for something. But what exactly? Chen Chong couldn't figure it out, or he didn't think about it carefully. He just felt that maybe he should keep going. The result of going on would be some kind of relief. But is there really relief? As soon as this thought emerged from my mind, it was covered by the scent of osmanthus on the street. Chen Chong looked at the fine yellow flowers dotted on the green branches and couldn't help but stop for a moment. Several children were shaking the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers into sachets. They were laughing, but Chen Chong felt that he couldn't fit in.
Chen Chong then continued to walk out, just walking without thinking about anything. This feeling made him feel comfortable, just like a wooden leaf between heaven and earth. Although it was drifting in the wind, nothing could make him feel worried. What do all things add to me? And what do I add to all things? Even if I am in the midst of thousands of waves, I am still me, and my heart will not be moved at all. I don't know when the sky changed, and he left Luoyang City and passed Yangqu. When he came to his senses, it was already late at night with the bright moon hanging high, and he was on Beimang Mountain, surrounded by lush grass. , the trees are quiet, but most of them are simple tombs. Hundreds of celebrities and nobles are buried here, and the wealth has turned to dust. Fortunately, after moving the capital back to Luoyang, the Sili Mansion sent guards to clean it. It will never become a lair of wild beasts again.
When Chen Chong realized that he was in it, he then realized why he came: he wanted to find his wife's grave, but Cai Yan and Wannian's coffins were both buried in Chang'an, and he was destined to not find it here. Until this moment, he was finally struck by the sorrow of pursuing him. His whole body was trembling with chills. Then he slowly bent down and covered his face with his incomplete palms. A feeling of vomiting rose from his throat, but again He was suppressed by Chen Chong. Death, death again, is this destiny? Or by chance? Is it your own sin? Or is it a trick of nature? At this time, he thought of his father Chen Kui, an ordinary scholar who had not achieved any achievements in his life. When he saw him come back for the funeral, he threatened to put him under house arrest. In the past, he only thought that his father was cowardly, but now he can understand that his father wanted to put him under house arrest. His reason. People are so fragile and can disappear in a dream at any time. Now, there is no need to get entangled in the messy household chores that I said I didn't clean up.
Even after enlightening himself in this way, Chen Chong still wet his blue shirt with tears. He started to keep walking. Although he could not find his wife's tomb here, he knew that Xuande's tomb was at the foot of Mang Mountain. In that mountain mausoleum called Zhaoling, he could still get some comfort in his heart.
By the time Chen rushed to Zhaoling, the night had come to an end. A faint white light appeared on the eastern horizon, and the starry sky was also dyed with a vague purple light. The soldiers guarding the mausoleum were startled when they saw the prime minister coming at this time. Fortunately, Chen Chong just gave a brief greeting and went to the main temple alone. There is a statue of Liu Bei on the temple, and there are also the spiritual tablets of some ministers around it, including Duan Xuan, Xun You, Zang Hong, Chang Xi, Kong Rong, Bian Rang, Liu Xuan, Xu Huang, and Taishi Ci. However, some of the spiritual tablets are still there. empty. Chen Chong knew that the first position in the queue was actually his own. As he stood in the center of the hall, many memories came back. Countless months seemed to have turned into a tombstone. He felt increasingly older. So old that he no longer belongs to this world.
Chen rushed to a stick of incense and couldn't help but wonder, what is the world after death like? He would never think about this issue originally, and he didn't believe in spirits in the past. But sometimes he had to waver, otherwise why would he exist? Why do the others exist? After death, can you get a new life? Chen Chong didn't know, but he did have this hope at the moment. Even if it wasn't true, he still hoped it was true. After all, if a person dies, there will be nothing left. This is indeed a cruel thing. Chen Chong thought that if all his friends were still there under Jiuquan, he hoped they could take good care of Hanzhen and make up for their mistakes.
Thinking of this,
Although Chen Chong still didn't feel relieved, his heart finally calmed down. He sat down, leaned against a pillar in the temple, and fell asleep in a daze. When he woke up again, it was already noon that day. The sun shone in and fell on his shoulders. Chen Chong raised his head and saw the eyes of Liu Bei's statue. He smiled unconsciously, stood up and said to himself, "I'm telling you a joke."
After cleaning up briefly, he asked the guard to borrow a horse and walked back slowly. Only then did he have the energy to pay attention to the road he came from, and he couldn't help but find that there were many ragged children catching insects in the fields along the way, and in the streets along the way, there were also many peasant women with rough cloth and hairpins, but not many men. Ding, thinking about the reason, probably many people died south of the river. Seeing this situation, Chen Chong thought that there were hundreds of thousands of people suffering the same grief, and he was not even half as important as them. It doesn't matter that he is an old man, but what about the women who have lost their husbands and the children who have lost their fathers? You must also be responsible for them.
While he was thinking, Chen Chong suddenly heard someone making a loud noise to the south. He was startled. When he opened his eyes, he realized that a child had fallen into the water. There were a dozen children around, shouting for help, and five or six adults rushed over, but seeing that the water was deep and the river was wide, no one dared to save him.
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The situation was critical. Chen Chong didn't have time to think about it, so he immediately jumped off his horse and jumped into the river. The river water in early autumn was only slightly cool. After Chen Chong got used to the water, he swam towards the child who fell into the water. The drowning boy was already in a panic. He was flopping around in the water, moving his hands and feet wildly. His little face sometimes appeared out of the water, and then was quickly washed down by the current. Seeing this, Chen Chong could only take a deep breath, then dive into the water and lift the boy up with his back. The child gradually stopped panicking now that he had someone to rely on. It was just that he was holding Chen Chong tightly with both hands, which made him feel a little heavy.
Fortunately, the child was only four or five years old and was not too heavy. Chen Chong spent a little time and brought him to the shore. People on the shore hurriedly picked up Chen Chong, and then someone said: "There is another one in the river." Chen Chong was shocked when he heard this, and without time to rest, he continued to go back to the water to search, but he arrived too late, and The eyesight in the water is very poor, and many things appear dark. He breathed three times and dived three times. Even though he was exhausted, he still couldn't find another drowning child. At this point, he finally couldn't hold on any longer and fainted as soon as he landed. Thanks to someone pressing his chest a few times, he regained consciousness.
At this time, the mothers of the two children rushed over. The one who found that the child had been rescued was ecstatic, while the one who couldn't find the child cried loudly on the spot, hugged Chen Chong's legs and said, "Benefactor, please look again." Look, look for it again!" Chen Chong also felt guilty, but he really didn't have the strength, so he could only take out the seal from his waist and ask them to find the local pavilion chief, and then they went to the river to fish for people together. Everyone looked at his prime minister's seal and fell silent for a moment. No one thought that the old man in front of them who was soaked and dressed in ordinary clothes was actually the prime minister of the current dynasty.
Someone whispered: "The Prime Minister looks like an ordinary person, there is nothing extraordinary about him?"
In an extremely tired situation, Chen Chong waited until the pavilion chief came over and directed them to build a raft, then cast a fishing net on the river and fished for almost an hour before finally fishing out the child from the bottom of the river. Chen Chong returned the child's body to his mother, but the peasant woman was speechless. She held the child with her lips trembling, and she bowed her head deeply to Chen Chong. Chen Chong also felt sad about this, so he sent someone to the mansion to get a piece of gold cake and gave it to the local pavilion chief, asking him to exchange the money for food to support the widows and widowers in the pavilion.
After doing this, Chen Chong was exhausted and couldn't think about anything. He called a bullock cart and after telling him the location of the prime minister's residence, he fell asleep quietly in the cart. But unlike the one he slept in Zhaoling, this time he slept very peacefully. There was nothing in his dream, only soundless silence.
When he woke up again, Chen Chong found that he was already on the bed and had changed into a plain gauze dress. Sure enough, Dong Bai was also in front of the couch, cooking a bowl of minced meat to warm him up. Chen Chong glanced at his wife, and his first words were: "Abai, Hanzhen is gone." Dong Bai looked back at him, nodded slowly and said, "I know, you didn't come back last night, Taichung came here specifically to pass the letter."
Chen Chong added: "Then let Zhinu and Zhongcheng (Zhao Qiu) come over
. "
Chen Xiu had no idea what was going on. He was as carefree as usual. When Chen Chong held him in his arms, he looked into his eyes, trying to find the mark of Chen Zhang in the past, while Chen Xiu touched it with his hands. Touching the old father's incomplete brow bone. Chen Chong smiled, then turned to Zhao Qiu who was sitting beside him and said, "Have you brought your flute? How about playing "Qingque Helan Mountain" again?" Zhao Qiu naturally nodded in agreement. He took out the flute from his arms and played it to The willow tree outside the door sat down. After a while, melodious tunes rang out from the courtyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion. The autumn wind also blew up, making the willow leaves rustle and the swallows and sparrows on the trees also chirped in harmony. The thoughts of Prime Minister Chen Chong traveled up the long river of time and returned to the distant past.
