The Minister of the Ministry of War acted as a matchmaker and betrothed Ministry of Rites Minister's second daughter to him. The wedding was held in the capital. The bride's surname was Shen, and her given name was a Wan character. She was not a beautiful woman, but she was well-educated and could play the piano well.. The sedan chair was carried from the Shangshu Mansion to the General Mansion. The city was filled with red silk and firecrackers were going off from morning to night. General Li Xun came to drink the wedding wine in person. Halfway through the drink, he patted his shoulder and said, "You kid, you are more promising than me."
Qin Tiexin took off the hijab in the new house. Shen Wan looked up at him, a little shy and uneasy in his eyes. He poured her a glass of wine, and he also poured a glass. The two touched each other, raised their heads and drank, Shen Wan was so angry that he frowned.
In the second year after marriage, Shen Wan gave birth to a son for him, named Qin An.
Qin Tiexin was holding that soft little thing, his hands were shaking. Shen Wan was lying on the delivery bed, his face was pale, looking at his helpless look, he couldn't stand upright with laughter.
When Qin An was three years old, Qin Tiexin took his wife and children back to his hometown to visit relatives.
Coal Smoke Alley is no longer called Coal Smoke Alley. There are three words engraved on the bluestone tablet at the entrance of the alley: Zhongyong Alley. The alley is paved with bluestone slabs, and several new shops have been opened on both sides, including cloth shops, rice shops, and tea shops.
A teahouse was built on the old site of Qin Household Blacksmith Shop. The storyteller inside told the story of General Qin Tiexin killing the enemy all year round. He held Qin An and stood at the door of the teahouse and listened for a while, with a wry smile on his lips. This was too outrageous.
The waiter of the tea house was greeting the guests at the door. When he saw him dressed gorgeously, he quickly bowed his head and invited them in. He waved his hand, turned around and left with Qin An in his arms.
Shen Wan opened the curtain in the carriage and looked at his side face. He got on the horse and said, let's go, and the carriage continued to move forward.
From then on, he never returned to Ink City. The shop was gone, and his master's grave was moved to the capital by him. He was buried with his wife and junior brother who had moved the grave. They used extremely precious stones and coffins. Every Qingming Festival, he would visit the grave, burn paper money, serve wine, kowtow three times, and say a few words about what happened that year.
The days passed like this year by year. Qin Tiexin stayed in the army for twenty years, rising from a lieutenant to a general, and from a general to the deputy governor of Zhenbei. Northern Di was frightened by him., he did not dare to commit crimes in the South for ten years. He had a high prestige in the army, and his subordinates called him "Iron General". On the one hand, it was because of his name, and on the other hand, it was because of his fighting style, which was head-on confrontation and never played tricks.
Qin An grew up and inherited his mantle. He entered the army camp at the age of sixteen and started as a centurion. Shen Wan later gave birth to a daughter named Yue'er. She looked like her mother, with gentle eyebrows, but her temperament followed his. She was very stubborn. At the age of five, she dared to ride a pony. She fell off and broke her knees without crying. She climbed up and rode again.
Qin Tiexin sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night, looking at Shen Wan sleeping beside him, and listening to the slight squeaking sound of the bed board in the next room when Yue'er turns over, and feels that his life is quite complete.
He stopped practicing swordsmanship.
No matter it was the partial generals and lieutenants in the army or the Northern Di warriors with various nicknames on the battlefield, no one could catch his three swords. After General Li Xun retired from old age and returned to his hometown, he never had a hearty fight on the martial arts field again.
Edgeless was hung on the wall of his study room. Sometimes after he finished approving military documents, he would stand up and walk over. He would touch the fine forging lines on the spine of the knife with his fingers and the grooves made by the calluses on the palm of the knife's handle. Then he would take his hand back and sit back to continue approving the documents.
He felt there was nothing wrong with it. After the battle, the knife was hung on the wall and it was not necessary to take it off. He had fought for so many years and killed so many people. It was a blessing to be able to live quietly.
Qin An was promoted to school captain when he was eighteen years old. On the day when he was awarded the title, Qin Tiexin stood on the edge of the school field and watched. His son was standing on a high platform wearing armor, with his back straight. This boy was taller and taller than him. He is handsome. The way he took over the silver seal from Li Xun's successor reminded him of himself back then. Qin An turned around, found him in the crowd, and grinned at him.
Qin Tiexin nodded towards him.
Qin An is doing very well in the army, and is more reliable than he was back then. Qin Tiexin is a fierce general, and Qin An is a Confucian general. Before going to war, he first sends scouts, draws maps, and calculates food. Damn, I never do that kind of thing of rushing into battle. Qin Tiexin Sometimes I saw my son's battle report in the Ministry of War. I shook my head while reading it, saying that this kid is too coward. But after reading it, I folded the battle report and put it away, with the corners of my mouth raised.
It's better to be cowardly, and you will live longer if you are cowardly.
Yue'er I had a sweetheart when I was fifteen years old. He was the youngest son of a household minister. He was studying in Taixue. He was weak in literature and could not speak well when he met Qin Tiexin. Shen Wan told Qin Tiexin about this at the dinner table. Qin Tiexin put down his chopsticks and thought about it for a while, then said, "It's too young, wait two years."
Yue'er kicked him under the table. He raised his head and saw his daughter pouting and staring at him, with the same expression as Shen Wan when she was young. He softened his heart and said yes, next year. Yue'er rushed over and hugged his neck, and Shen Wan laughed beside her and burst into tears.
Qin Tiexin sometimes couldn't sleep at night, so he would walk to the yard alone in his robe, stand under the old locust tree that he transplanted from Ink City, and look up at the moon. Shen Wan said he had something on his mind, but he said he didn't.
He doesn't think it's worrying, but he occasionally thinks about things he shouldn't think about, such as what happened to Lin Feng. He has been searching for him for a long time but has not been able to find his whereabouts. For example, when he occasionally goes back to visit his grandfather's grave, he will tell his grandfather that he no longer makes iron, but his life is still pretty good now. He wonders if his grandfather will forgive him.
He thought that none of these things mattered anymore. He thought that if he lived a good life, those things would just sink by themselves.
When he was seventy-five years old, he walked up the city wall of Xinyang Pass for the last time.
That day I came with the imperial inspector. The inspector was the newly appointed Minister of War. He was young and wanted to make some political achievements. He heard that Xinyang Pass was the place where Qin Tiexin had fought a tough battle, so he invited the old general to come and have a look.
The city wall was still the same city wall. The blue-grey stones were weathered. Xinyang Pass hadn't fought in nearly fifty years, and the edges and corners were rounded. He stood on the city wall and looked down, and saw the moat. The moat had been filled in., there is a row of poplar trees planted on it. The poplar trees grow very tall, and their leaves turn white in the wind. But Qin Tiexin remembers every bend and every deep hole in the trench. Those bends and deep holes were dug overnight by them.
He turned around and faced the north. The wasteland north of Xinyang Pass had been reclaimed into farmland. The wheat harvest had just been completed, leaving only a neat patch of wheat stubble, glowing with dry gold in the setting sun. But what he saw was not a wheat field, but a Black Wind Valley, a Li Zhenwei hug. The back of Helian Zheng rolling off the horse is the last roar of Shi Meng when he broke off alone. It is the blood that sprayed on the snow when Tu Dazhu's metacarpal bones were crushed by the spurge. It is the pair of gray-yellow pupils when Yelü Hongshan revealed his identity.
It's the sword Lin Feng lying alone in the snow.