Yongmingyan Extra [Yongmingyan]1

(I) the sound of cicadas

My name is Yong Qinghui, and I am the fourth son of the Yong family, a cavalry general, but no one expected that... I will also become the last child of the Yong family.

The day I was born was in mid-autumn.

My mother said, the moment I fell to the ground, accompanied by my crying, it was a team of geese flying by outside the window, leaving behind the sound of wild geese.

The wild goose flying high is a good omen.

Therefore, my father gave me a nickname: Mingyan, which commemorated the unique sound of geese when I was born.

My father said that I will be very promising when I grow up, just like my eldest brother.

The eldest brother's name is Yong Qingyao, who is 13 years older than me. When I was born, he was already walking in front of the imperial palace. Because of his skills, he was deeply appreciated by the emperor.

My parents also hope that... I can become a promising person like him. So when I almost started to walk, I practiced light kung fu and started with something. The first thing I came into contact with was the bow and arrow.

Daddy once saved the life of today's saint because an arrow hit the enemy's head, so this bow and arrow has become a must-learn of the Yong family. Even though I was young and didn't have much strength to pull the bow, even so, while ordinary children were still playing with toys, I had begun to practice day after day.

I don't think it's hard.

I always felt that as soon as I raised my head, I could see my father's loving eyes, and then I saw him take an arrow and pull the bow and say, 'Look, be like Dad!' Then as soon as he let go, the arrow flew out with a 'bang' and hit the red heart.

This memory seems to always appear in dreams.

But in the end, as long as you hear the familiar words spoken by your father, his image will disappear in an instant.

Wake up.

From childhood to age, I don't know how many dreams I have had about many things, but... most of them are about the past of childhood.

Fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters will all appear in their dreams.

However, it can only be in a dream.

And those who dream of their families usually end with a big fire.

Yes, it's not that I don't remember.

I just... don't want to think about it anymore.

In the early summer when I was four years old, although it had just started to heat up, the sound of cicadas on the trees was still very noisy. In my memory, it seemed that in that summer, I could hear nothing but the sound of cicadas. The cicada was so noisy that I couldn't sleep peacefully because I was supposed to take a nap... But at this moment, the nursing mother suddenly rushed into the room, picked me up and stuffed me into the cabinet beside me. Then it seems that something was said...

said something that didn't allow me to come out.

In the dark, I only heard the sound of cicadas.

The noise is almost dizzying.

The cabinet was so dark that I didn't even know how long it had passed until I heard the voice of the eldest brother in the hoarse and sharp sound of cicadas...

"Qinghui! Qinghui, where are you!?

I carefully pushed open a small crack in the cabinet door, and I also saw the eldest brother's figure.

He seemed to see me and immediately stepped forward and suddenly opened the cabinet door.

I almost didn't know the person in front of me... His face was stained with blood, and his clothes became bloody. His right arm had been opened, and blood kept flowing along his wrist towards his hand.

The sound of cicadas suddenly rose, and I seemed to hear nothing.

He didn't say anything, just left the knife in his hand, picked me up, and then grabbed the door. When the officers and soldiers hid, they trotted all the way to the remote road, and then stopped. His blood dripped all the way from my cheeks to my face, with a strong fishy smell.

He staversed and finally knelt down.

And when he knelt down, he never got up again.

I squatted beside him, shook his body hard, and almost tried my best to call him: "Brother! What's wrong, big brother? What happened to the family? Where's my parents?"

"Don't quarrel... Qinghui... Don't quarrel." His face was pale, and the corners of his mouth were dripping with blood: "You secretly... walk through the back door... Xiyuan's corner door, there, there... go quickly..."

"I'm not leaving!! Brother... I won't leave!!" I grabbed his sleeve and tried my best to pull him up from the ground, but my strength was so small that he knelt there from beginning to end, motionless. Big brother...Big brother, let's go together...Wow...Big brother, let's go together!!" While shouting, I cried for some reason.

It may be because he saw that his legs were blurred.

It may also be that he saw his body, as if he had been cut with a knife without a piece of good meat.

But he still looked at me, trembling his lips, gritted his teeth and scolded, "Let's go!! Go!"

"Brother!! Qinghui won't leave! Don't go!!" I stubbornly grabbed his sleeve, and tears came out of my eyes, blurring the familiar midsummer scene. The eldest brother followed Qinghui, together... Let's go together... Qinghui is so scared, so scared!!"

But the eldest brother suddenly stretched out his hand and pushed me aside: "Our Yong family's children... There are no bastards, you remember... Don't cry! Don't cry!!"

"But big brother... big brother..." I wanted to come forward again, but I saw a dark shadow suddenly fall in front of me. The next moment, my body had left the ground and was picked up.

Big brother's eyes have been blurred, as if it was because of the summer sun. You're here..."

"Hmm."

"I beg you to help me...take him away." The eldest brother's voice has become weaker and weaker, even with a little trembling. He...he is the last bloodline of our Yong family... The only hope of our Yong family..." With that, he had spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Don't worry, I'll help you with this."

"...good brother, thank you..." His last ending seemed to have exhausted his last strength, knelt there and did not move.

"Brother!! Brother!!" I struggled desperately, but I couldn't get rid of it.

I can only wave my arms and kick my feet in vain, but to no avail. I was held in the man's arms, and no matter how hard I cried, I couldn't hold the eldest brother's hand.

In the end, the man took me out of the house, and when I left, the cottage had been set on fire.

The fire extinguished all the sounds, including the crackling sound of wood burning, the sound of Zitz when the blood meets the flame, and the whining of the person who has not yet died.

But I didn't hear anything about it.

All I can hear is the sound of cicadas.

In that summer day, the noise of cicadas.

I never know who saved me. Looking back, I always feel that he is probably my eldest brother's friend. At that time, he was so young that he didn't even have any impression of him.

And that man later brought me to the master and said that he would give me to the master to raise, and I have never seen him since I grew up.

This accident made me lose all my relatives. I don't understand why the Yong family, which was still beautiful the day before, suddenly suffered a sudden change in one day.

This means that for a four-year-old child, his whole sky has collapsed.

At that time, I didn't eat or drink. I sat there all day and looked up at the sky. No matter how he shouted, there was no response... The whole person seemed to be stupid.

The sound of cicadas in my mind kept ringing, and even made me unable to sleep at night.

But until one day, he suddenly said to me, "Are you a child of the Yong family?"

"I am."

"You are not." He was resolute: "General Yong... but there is no son as promising as you."

I looked at him in a daze, and the cicada in my mind was even more panicked: "What is that... promising?"

"Live, have you forgotten what your brother said before his death? Living, you are the last hope of the Yong family. Master looked at me and said so.

......

The sound of cicadas in my mind stopped abruptly.