Quick Wear: Under the Skirt, All Beings Are Equal

Xie Yun looked at the post-war inventory data with an expressionless face. Those numbers had now made her numb.

A gust of wind blew and the room was plunged into darkness.

She sat there until the deputy general pushed the door open.

The deputy general relit the candle and said, "The princess's body will be transported to the capital tomorrow morning. The conditions are limited and the weather is getting hotter. I'm afraid there will be a strange smell when it arrives."

Xie Yun hummed softly. She seemed calm, but the water in her heart was shaken.

Li Limu's death had a great impact on her.

Xie Yun had no awe for the royal family, and never took these delicate princesses seriously.

She looked down equally on those women who only knew how to manage the household, embroider, take care of their husbands and raise their children, and looked down on them for trying to please men carefully for a little wealth and glory.

She has seen the Yellow River, the desert, the most spectacular sunset, felt the blood of the enemy splashing on her face, felt the power of swinging a knife, and she has also been to the prosperous Twenty-Four Bridges, seen the spring snow, and heard the gentle whispers by the Rouge River...

She has seen too many sights that others have never seen.

She has too many things she wants to pursue. For her, love is icing on the cake, but it doesn't matter if she doesn't have it.

So she can't understand or empathize with those people, but that doesn't stop her from helping them if she can.

It didn't stop her from teaching a lesson to that dandy boy who abused his wife or favored his concubine over his wife, nor did it stop her from stabbing those scumbag men and women who liked to destroy other people's innocence, and it didn't stop her from wiping the tears of those women while frowning.

After Xie Yun finished dealing with the matters at hand, he wrote a military report and gave it to someone to send it to the capital as quickly as possible.

She went to see Li Limu's body.

Xie Yun didn't know much about Li Limu. She only knew that she was frail and sickly, had been taking medicine since she was a child, and was loved and pampered by the emperor and empress.

Xie Yun's eyes outlined Li Limu's facial features.

She thought it was a pity that she and she didn't know each other when this person was alive and they didn't become friends.

It's really heartbreaking to see him so thin.

When Tang Ran learned that Li Limu committed suicide as a sacrifice, she looked dazed, as if her soul had left her body. However, the crisp sound of Li Wenqing falling to the ground beside her brought her back into her body.

Li Wenqing's face turned pale. He twitched the corners of his mouth, wanting to say something, but no words came out.

The surroundings were terribly heavy. After a while, Li Wenqing finally found his voice and said, "She,"

She bit her lips hard until the blood spread. In the end, she could only let out a mournful cry like a crane. She pressed her chest tightly with her hands, but still felt as if her whole heart was being squeezed by someone's hands. The pain made her feel worse than death.

She wanted to ask her sister if she had any last words.

I want to ask about that war.

There are so many questions...

But I couldn't ask a single question. I could only let the tears flow and listen like a wandering soul.

Li Wenqing didn't know how he returned to the palace, and unknowingly walked to where Li Limu lived.

The Queen Mother was sitting on the ground alone, her eyes empty and numb. When she heard the footsteps, she turned around and said softly, "Xiao Shi is here."

Li Wenqing walked to her side and looked at the white hair on her head, feeling very sad.

"Mother."

"I'm fine. With Li Mu's personality, he will never live in humiliation."

All kinds of emotions mixed together, making the Queen Mother feel like her heart was about to burst.

She is proud of her daughter.

I feel sad again.

She sighed softly and continued, "This is all fate, Li Mu's fate, the helplessness of being born into an imperial family. I hope that she will be healthy and have good luck in her next life, and grow up safely."

Li Wenqing felt more and more bitter in her heart. Obviously the person in front of her was the saddest, but she was comforting herself instead.

The Queen Mother continued, "She is braver than the late emperor and I thought. We were too cautious in our daily lives, which caused her to lose a lot of happiness. We owe her a lot."

For the first time, Li Wenqing felt the meaning of the sentence: love is always a feeling of indebtedness.

The Queen Mother pulled the slightly distracted Li Wenqing over, looked at her gently, and said softly, "Mother doesn't have much time left. Wenqing, you are cautious, smart, and know how to be patient. You never get involved in those things, but mother knows that you love Northern Qi as much as your brothers and sisters. Now there are many bad names for you outside."

Li Wenqing shook his head in fear, with a trace of unprecedented fear in his eyes, and said hurriedly:

"My queen mother will surely live a long life, and Northern Qi will surely become better and better."

The Queen Mother patted her hands and said, "Silly child, I just praised you for your intelligence, why are you so confused now? Although you are not my child, I still treat you as my own child."

The Queen Mother knew everything about Li Wenqing, and even participated in the Tang scam organized by Li Wenqing and Tang Ran.

Li Limu died, and she lost hope of living.

The Queen Mother looked at Li Wenqing tenderly: "Your father is a tyrant who is despised by everyone. I am his legally married wife. We have been together for decades, so long that I have almost forgotten many of my memories. It is reasonable for me to be called a witch queen."

She had already lost one daughter, and she didn't want her daughter to bear the stigma.

Tang Ran is a man. It is already difficult enough for him to bear the stigma, and his future is even less promising.

Not to mention Princess Li Wenqing, if she touched the interests of those people, they would never care whether she was a princess or not and would pounce on her and tear her flesh.

The Queen Mother was not afraid of Li Wenqing's death.

What I’m afraid of is that Li Wenqing’s life will be worse than death in the future, and even the right to die will be deprived.

She will bear all the charges.

She knew that during this period, Li Wenqing's reputation had been shaky. Although it had not yet surpassed the reputation of the treacherous minister Tang Ran, if things continued in this way, the final result would be eternal infamy.

The Queen Mother looked at Li Wenqing with a touch of tenderness in her eyes, and occasionally a little dazed, as if she saw Li Limu, whom she loved as her own eyes.

She suddenly felt that the word "Li" was not a good choice.

It was their fault as parents for not giving their child a good name.

The Queen Mother came to her senses and saw the girl in front of her clearly.

Li Wenqing has experienced several assassination attempts during this period. If he hadn't been lucky, he would have died long ago.

Li Wenqing's voice choked with sobs: "I have nothing left, I have nothing, mother, I have nothing, now you don't want me either?"

She also regarded the Queen Mother as her mother.

The word "Mother" was definitely not just a name.

Li Limu died, and the Queen Mother could no longer live.

She became visibly thinner.

But in just a few days, he was already seriously ill.

She said she was waiting to see her daughter for the last time.

When Tang Ran saw her in the palace, he could hardly recognize this haggard woman.

"Tang Ran." The Queen Mother also looked at Tang Ran. She was supported by her personal maid and walked slowly forward: "Accompany me to the Imperial Garden for a walk."

Tang Ran followed the empress dowager silently. Suddenly, she saw her stop. Looking up, she saw her stopping in front of a cluster of flowers in full bloom.

The Queen Mother looked sad: "The flowers in the Imperial Garden are all precious. These humble wild flowers were dug by Li Mu and her sisters on the roadside. The late Emperor specially made a piece of land in the Imperial Garden for them to plant flowers and build a swing."

Tang Ran did not participate in the wild flower matter, but the swing next to it was made by him himself back then.

At that time, the emperor was young, the empress was graceful and elegant, and even Tang Ran's father was still alive. Several people stood not far away and watched the children, and from time to time there were bursts of laughter.

Tang Ran's eyes also held a hint of nostalgia, and she said, "I didn't expect that the Queen Mother still remembered these things."

"Maybe the person is about to die. The vague memories I had before are now vivid, as if they happened just yesterday." The Queen Mother did not shy away from this and reached out to pick a wild flower.

She smiled and said, "Just like when you were just a little kid with a somewhat reckless personality, now you have grown up."

Tang Ran now has a tall figure and a handsome face. He has lost the immaturity of a few years ago. His authority has become more and more powerful. An extremely oppressive look from him can make people sweat profusely and make people respect and fear him.

The Empress Dowager and Tang Ran's father are old acquaintances, and if you count carefully, they are somewhat related.

However, if one really wants to sort out the relationships in the capital, except for those students who have just been admitted from poor families, the rest are all related.

The Queen Mother asked Tang Ran to come just to chat.

There are many things that can only be discussed with Tang Ran.

The empress dowager was in poor health, but she stubbornly went to the pavilion where the late emperor loved to cool off in the summer, and then asked the maid to leave.

The empress dowager suppressed her momentary reverie and started chatting with Tang Ran.

Finally, she said, "It's hard for you."

"We are too selfish and have placed all of Northern Qi on your shoulders, Tang Ran. Northern Qi owes you this, and my Li family will never be able to repay it in this lifetime."

Tang Ran said calmly: "All of this is Tang Ran's choice."

He loved Northern Qi, loved the land beneath his feet, and loved every seed grown from this land.

That's why he resolutely embarked on the path to death.

He had been decadent, collapsed, and suffered, but he had never thought of giving up Northern Qi.

Suddenly remembering the night when he opened his heart to the late emperor, the cold knife pierced his heart once again, causing him excruciating pain.

He once felt sorry for the late emperor.

He knew clearly the frustration in the late emperor's heart, that he had great talent but could only work in a muddle-headed manner, and he knew the pain he felt when the poison took effect and he killed his own relatives.

He worshipped this king as he worshipped his own father.

But the past dealt him a heavy blow.

There was pain and helplessness in his eyes. The king had gone from being wise to being incompetent. His father, whom he respected, admired and was proud of, was once the executioner who killed 500,000 troops of the Northern Qi Dynasty and the murderer who destroyed so many families.

He loved them, but he also loved Northern Qi.

They taught him, but they didn't do it.

So he felt betrayed.

Tang Ran came back to her senses, met the Queen Mother's worried gaze, and smiled gently: "I came naked, and I leave naked. It's heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather. I just want to have a clear conscience."

The world is actually a huge coffin. He lies down every day and practices funerals until one day he can no longer lift the quilt.

Tang Ran set off for the border without waiting for Li Limu's body to be transported back to the capital.

This was his first time at the border, and it seemed as if the air was filled with a faint smell of blood.

"The Emperor of Chen Kingdom is here too."

Xie Yun glanced at Tang Ran, nodded silently, and said, "These days, it has been a constant stream of wars, big and small, but they are all waiting for Zhao Lianye."

Everybody knows.

But Xie Yun had no choice but to guard the place.

She didn't expect that Tang Ran would come here.

I heard that the treacherous minister Tang Ran is most afraid of death.

Now the treacherous ministers who fear death the most have come to the battlefield, while those who usually shout about their loyalty to the emperor and their country are still living in wealth and luxury, enjoying fine clothes and delicious food.

Tang Ran went out for a while and found an acquaintance.

"Hey, hey, hey, Tang Ran, what are you doing?"

Tang Ran was speechless, and Xie Yun was also speechless as she looked at the Ninth Prince in his soldier's clothes.

The Ninth Prince still had that heartless look. He looked at Tang Ran who was pulling at his clothes with dissatisfaction and said, “Tang Ran, you are committing a crime of insubordination. Hey, hey, hey, I’m wrong, I’m wrong. Be gentle and give me some face in front of outsiders…”

Xie Yun found her voice again and asked, "Ninth Prince, why are you here?"

The Ninth Prince snorted and ignored Xie Yun.

Xie Yun, back then, beat! Him!

It was not so easy for him to forgive her. After all, he was a vengeful and petty man. As for the saying that a real man could bend and stretch, it was just bullshit to the Ninth Prince.

Xie Yun looked at him like this, curled her lips, turned her head and asked Tang Ran: "Do you want to send him back?"

Send it back?

The Ninth Prince immediately became anxious: "Why do you want to send me back? I won't go back. Even if you two tie me up and take me back, I will crawl over here. Don't avenge my sister."

With tears in his eyes, he looked at the blood-stained flag on the city wall. A gust of wind blew, and the flag fluttered in the wind. The two words "Northern Qi" deeply hurt his eyes.

His sister must have known he was coming.

She was supporting him and encouraging him.

Xie Yun rolled her eyes at the Ninth Prince's remarks and said bluntly, "Ninth Prince, have you ever thought that your identity will affect many people, and that they will subconsciously protect you?"

"But... I may not be the Ninth Prince, but I cannot not be a commoner of Northern Qi."

The Ninth Prince raised his head and stared at the flag stubbornly, saying softly, "I can be a nobody, I can be anyone. Fame, fortune, and leaving a name in history are never what I pursue."

He laughed at himself: "Don't be afraid of being laughed at by others. Before these things happened, I just wanted to live a stable life. If I couldn't live, I would die. If I fell into a hole, I would lie down on the spot. I seem to be busy every day, but I don't know what I am busy with. I seem to be very fulfilled but also very empty. I can't find any meaning."

"But now I know."

His eyes were bright, showing an extremely excited look.

He will grow up, but this growth will be tragic.

Xie Yun and Tang Ran nodded and let him stay, but they also made a request that he must not reveal his identity as a prince to anyone.

Xie Yun said coldly, "If you bring me any trouble, I will abandon you or kill you without hesitation. Don't think that I will be cautious because of your status as a prince. When a general is away from home, he is not subject to military orders, let alone just because of his status."

She really does what she says.

As for whether she would be held accountable later, Xie Yun didn't care.

The Ninth Prince nodded heavily: "Don't worry, I will never cause any trouble, Xie Yun, thank you."