In that year, he and Murong Chuyi were still very young, and they were even tender and green.
He didn't know that the young man who looked younger than him was, in fact, his uncle. He thought it was a young gentleman who was brought in as some guest, and secretly ran to the yard to enjoy the flowers.
Murong Chuyi's mood didn't look very good. He was watching the plum blossoms attentively and didn't notice who was coming behind.
It wasn't until the shadow of a blue oil paper umbrella like a crane in the clouds in the sky came out from behind his head, covering him from the snow and blocking his view from the flowers, that he was surprised and turned back suddenly.
Jiang Yexue smiled at him with a brother's gesture. "Whose child are you? Why don't you hold an umbrella when it's snowing?"
Murong Chuyi opened his eyes. First, he took one step back, then stepped back two steps. The expression on his face gradually changed from surprise to indifference. Instead of answering Jiang Yexue's question, he said directly:
"... Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The question was simple and rude, and the other person didn't seem to want to talk to him.
But Jiang Yexue had a good temper. The gentleman was like jade, like a chisel. Although he was young, he was always tolerant and caring for others. So he smiled and said, "My name is Yue, Yue Yexue. As for why I came here… Because this is my home. The plum you are looking at is also my favorite."
The other person heard the words and did not know why he narrowed his eyes. "Oh? You are Yue Yexue, Xie Yilan's child?"
Jiang Yexue suddenly heard that such a small child actually called his mother's
name, but also said it wrong. In good self-restraint, he could not help but feel
somewhat amused and somewhat annoyed.
But he didn't attack. He just reached out and pulled the young man under his broad oilpaper umbrella and gently taught him. "Listen, my mother's name is Xie Lanyi, not Xie Yilan. Besides, it's snowing. If you stand like this, you'll catch cold. Go, I'll take you back to the flower hall to find your elders."
However, the other party opened his hand with a slap. "No rules, no manners. Do you know who you're talking to?"
Jiang Yexue laughed in spite of himself and said, "You child..."
"Child?" Murong Chuyi took off the cape brim, stroked some disordered forehead hair, and looked at him seriously. His thin lips opened and closed, and said seriously, "Yue Yexue, I'm your uncle."
Jiang Yexue suddenly opened his eyes wide. "..."
After a while, he burst out laughing and reached for the boy's forehead.
"You," he said with a smile, "You're freezing, yet burning your head...?"
How did this farce finish in the end? There were more details. Jiang Yexue couldn't remember clearly, but Murong Chuyi left unhappily at last. After the wedding banquet, he went with his mother to visit the furen in the main room and offered tea to her. He found that the young man from under the plum blossom tree was standing beside Murong Huang, looking at him indifferently.
Until then, he finally knew that the young man in white, who was his age, was really his uncle.
He was called Murong Chuyi.
Although Murong Chuyi lived in the same house as him, he didn't normally like to contact people. It's very rare for him to show up three days in ten days. Jiang wants to talk with him at the beginning of the snow night, but there are many cold nails, that's all.
Master Song taught him that the friendship between gentlemen was as light as water. Murong Chuyi was bent on self-cultivation didn't want to have too much contact with him, so he didn't try to force him.
However, not all the people in the world were as peaceful and kind as his Master Song. After Murong Huang and Yue Juntian got married, he could keenly feel the change of their attitudes at home and outside. Those who had always flattered him and fawned on him were the first to disappear, and then some elders no longer smiled as warmly as they used to.
He was just a kind man, not a dull man. In his eyes, he knew the reason. However, he was gentle with others and didn't care about gains and losses, so it didn't matter.
Only thanks to the madam's resentment becoming more and more serious, he felt some worry and distress. She always told him what kind of jewelry Yue Juntian gave Murong Huang today, how much they cost and how precious they were. Or for him, what kind of clothes did Murong Huang buy today…
The longer time went by, the worse her words would be, sometimes even to the point that they couldn't be heard. Jiang Yexue frowned slightly, but because she was his mother, she could only sigh in her heart. He did not not comfort her, but when he said something to enlighten her, she would stare at him and scold him, saying that he "did not seek progress" or "did not know the pain."
As time went on, Jiang Yexue could only say so much.
Later, Madam Xie's jealousy for Murong Huang became more and more serious. When Murong Huang was pregnant, her hatred distorted her face.
Murong Huang was from the royal family and the main wife. Everyone picked the stars and the moon to coax her. It was the preferential treatment Madam Xie never felt even when she was pregnant with Jiang Yexue.
When the servants saw the wind, the difference between their attitudes towards the two madams became more and more distinct. Even some of the little boys who had taken care of Jiang Yexue in the past began to act strange. Madam Xie hated her so much that she said to Jiang Yexue, "You see, what do you say about serving people by virtue, and what do you say about letting things go according to circumstances? Who do you serve? What's the matter with you?"
Although Jiang Yexue felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, he still insisted that his way of dealing with people wasn't wrong. It's easy to be rich, but hard to have a clear conscience.
But gradually, even his father showed a sense of alienation in order to take care of his feelings. Except for Master Song, no one in the whole residence was willing to approach him actively.
His heart was more or less miserable.
It was in the late spring of that year that Master Song was ill and bedridden, so he couldn't teach him the skill of weapon refining for the time being. Jiang Yexue thought about doing some refining work by himself, but he always respected and cared for his teacher. He could not bear to disturb the sick man, so he took these implements to find other weapon refining staff in the mansion.
What could be obtained, however, was all avoidance and pretending to be helpless refusal.
"I'm sorry, Master Yexue. I have a lot of business to deal with today."
"I'm sorry, Master Yexue. I'm not fit. I'll compete with you after I'm better. Do you think it's ok?"
"I'm afraid I can't teach you, because I'm not good at it."
When asked, none of them were willing.
Jiang Yexue held the wooden machine armor he made, and walked in the empty corridor with his head bowed in some loneliness. When he was at a loss, he suddenly heard someone call him from behind.
"Yue Yexue."
He looked back, his face still with that expression of loss and sadness, at the face of Murong Chuyi.
His uncle frowned. "What's your expression?" he said. The man in white clothes came from behind the arch and looked down at the armor in his arms.
"You made it?"
"En."
Murong Chuyi picked up one of the small drips and looked at it carefully. "Dongzhu blood crystal for sand, sandalwood for the body… Did you think of that yourself?"
At that time, Jiang Yexue also knew his reputation as a weapon refiner. He said awkwardly, "Yes."
Murong Chuyi didn't laugh at him. He put down the little drip and said, "I'm sorry… Come to my forge, I'll teach you."
In any case, Jiang Yexue did not expect that Murong Chuyi would be willing to take the initiative to order him. He could not help but open his eyes and stare at the original place.
Murong Chuyi spoke and walked on for a while. When he saw him not moving, he turned back quietly. "Still not keeping up?"
"... Oh, yes, yes..."
After this period of time, until the birth of Yue Chenqing, it could be regarded as the most fulfilling and happy period of Jiang Yexue's life.
Although Murong Chuyi was not much older than him, he was very accomplished in refining weapons and taught him many techniques and secret methods of refining weapons that he had never imagined before.
Between the two of them, Murong Chuyi never went his own way and didn't care about other people's eyes. It didn't matter what position Jiang Yexue had in the family or whether he was unpopular. And Jiang Yexue had the kind of consolation of having a childhood friend. No matter what his mother said, he still went to the refining room of Murong Chuyi every day to find him.
For this reason, Madam Xie's words became more and more unpleasant, and her disappointment with him became more and more serious. She said that he was "not filial" and "turned his elbows out." She even thought that Murong Chuyi was sent by Murong Huang to divide mother and son and called him a "little bitch."
Once, after she scolded Murong Chuyi for being stopped by Jiang Yexue, she was furious with him. She would never pay attention to him again, would not listen to any of his explanations, and would not let him return to her other courtyard to live.
Jiang Yexue didn't want to quarrel with his mother or make a joke on his mother. So he had no choice but to ask Murong Chuyi if he could live in his courtyard
first.
Murong Chuyi glanced at the furnishings in the courtyard——
Jiang Yexue had a set of cutting tools, a set of stools, and even some Murong Chuyi didn't like at all. Jiang Yexue's usual essays were placed on the desk.
Murong Chuyi replied coldly, "Did you think it would be different if you asked me?"
Jiang Yexue: "…"
When the two teenagers had special leisure time, Murong Chuyi was not as interested in the outside world. He would also buy the palm sized bamboo warriors loved by the roadside children, and then lie on the bamboo couch lazily and ask Jiang Yexue to fight with him.
When he was fighting, he would think of some new magic weapons and would go to draw it. He would spend the whole night drawing, often lying on the ground holding the diagram and going straight to sleep. When he woke up, he would continue to draw.
And almost every time Murong Chuyi fell asleep, Jiang Yexue couldn't help but look at him more.
How could this man be his uncle?
He was is so tender and green. When he laid on the ground holding the pen and sleeping, he often accidentally touched the ink stains on the tip of the brush with his face.
So silly.
Once when Murong Chuyi was half asleep, he was about dreaming about something, and he woke up in a daze. Half awake and half asleep, he found Jiang Yexue looking at him. He asked impatiently, "What are you looking at?"
Jiang Yexue surprised him mildly.
He smiled and whispered, "I'm looking at my uncle. I feel he's so dignified."
Murong Chuyi probably didn't understand his joke at all, or didn't hear what he was talking about at all. He just snorted, his long eyelashes trembled, and then he went to sleep again.
Jiang Yexue remembered that he was looking at him at that time. He had a kind of dark and terrible impulse, which made him shiver and even want to run away. At that time, he did not dare to think about it at all. If he thought about it, most people would think, "How he could be so heinous? Even if he had no blood relationship, even if Murong Chuyi was just an abandoned son picked up by Murong Huang, his status was here. If he had such an idea about Murong Chuyi, how could he have been a gentleman in vain?"
In this way, Murong Huang is in labor after a few months.
With the loud cry of the baby, two people in this distinguished family had been in hell since that moment.
One was his mother, Madam Xie - because Yuefu ushered in its real orthodoxy, the son of his main wife, Yue Juntian named him Chenqing.
Chenqing, Chenqing… Murong Huang's son was bright, which meant he was named for the clear sky and rising sun. What was her child? A long night of white snow. Even if it had been thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, when the sun came out, it would all be changed to nothing.21 How could she not be cold hearted and resentful?
And the other one who fell into hell was Murong Chuyi——
Because Murong Huang died from childbirth, he suddenly lost the "sister" and
"mother" who adopted him and gave him a second life.
He had no more benefactor.