Your Majesty, come back

The hiding room is full of secrets and secrets. Behind the seemingly ordinary stone wall is a bottomless tunnel. The general is a rough man. He pushed a large and a small wound into the tunnel roughly, and said: "Your Majesty, Don't come out, we will come to open the door when it's all right, don't come out no matter what happens!"

The stone wall was closed with a bang, Ah Mi climbed up from the ground, holding Chu Xiao's leg in horror, and just about to call his father, Chu Xiao covered his mouth with one hand. Next to the mouth, the other hand continued to seal the child's mouth, to prevent the child from crying. He put his ear on the stone wall, the tunnel was pitch black, he couldn't see his fingers, his eyes were useless, and his ears were fine. use it.

The situation outside was very bad. Chu Xiao cautiously stayed away from the Shimen, and carried the girl to explore the depths of the tunnel. Ah Mi clasped tightly to Chu Xiao's chest with one hand, and asked softly in the darkness: "Father, can I speak?" Is it gone?"

After getting used to the darkness, his eyes gradually became able to see things. Chu Xiao found the place where the fire was set, and suddenly, the fire lit up one side, and new smoke floated, as gorgeous as the fireworks blooming in the night sky of the capital at the end of the year.

Ah Mi's immature face showed a healthy and beautiful color under the light of fireworks. Her nose was small and slightly collapsed, but her pupils were bright, untouched by the dust of time. She had eyes that could make people smile.

Holding the fire folder, Chu Xiao bent down and lightly touched her forehead with his forehead, just like what he did to his son before.

The sound of the beating heart was warm and dry. At this moment, his heart stopped fluttering. Chu Xiao rolled out a vague sound from his broken throat. He could only hold the child tightly and feel the only remaining Temperature, to be sure that you really exist in this absurd world.

This is not a dream scene, so he can't fail, can't be discouraged, and can't be self-pitying, he is still needed by others.

This is simply a war.

Once a person loses his beliefs and thoughts in battle, he is easily knocked down, not by others, but by himself. The first fight of a person is always dedicated to himself.Chu Xiao has seen those people who were dug back from the pile of dead people after the war more than once, and they survived with half a breath.

The enemy's sharp blade is not scary, what is really scary is the cowardice and hesitation in the hearts of the soldiers. Chu Xiao once warned his soldiers over and over again that if they want to be invincible, they must have no worries.

There is no second reason to live.

The secret road is winding and winding, with no end in sight. This is not a place that can be built in a short period of time. So where does it lead to?Outside the city, temples, houses, or... the royal palace?

Chu Xiao was amused by his own guessing, his laughter was weird and horrifying, it made the girl in his arms even more nervous, Ah Mi didn't know what his father was laughing at, she was still young and couldn't hear any laughter It's a foreign voice, but a smile always means good: "Father, where are we going?"

She knew that her father couldn't answer her, so she guessed to herself: "Master Yaping is gone, everyone is gone, hey, if they don't know where we are, what should we do, alas——"

Ah Mi exclaimed, it turned out that Chu Xiao squatted down without warning, and with a movement of his wrist, the fire fold was close to the ground, and the light of the fire flickered, enough for people to see the ground that was gradually getting wet.

There is a water source nearby, which means that the exit is around.

Chu Xiao put down Ah Mi, and patted her on the head. Now that Ah Mi and him have a heart-to-heart connection, she squatted down in a decent manner. In order to show her sensibleness, she even tried her best to synchronize her expression with that of her father. .

Chu Xiao dipped a little soil with his finger. If the water can seep into here, there must be a big river nearby. He knows the terrain of Nanman City well. So, he should be in the north of Nanman City at this moment.

After about half a stick of incense, the space in the secret passage became narrower and narrower. From being tolerant to three people to now only enough for one person to walk alone, the underground soil became softer and softer. Chu Xiao put Ah Mi down and placed it at his feet, and then Use all your strength to push the stone door blocked at the end of the secret passage.

Chu Xiao made a roaring sound, and with the last effort, light gradually penetrated through the cracks in the stone, a few rays of daylight flashed, and the gap widened. His eyes, which had not seen the sun for a long time, were sore from the scorching light, and tears filled his eyes. He used his hand to block the too dazzling light, Ah Mi happily took his hand and drilled out.

The birds chirped loudly, Chu Xiao wiped the dust and tears off his face, and laughed too.

Inside the Nanban Palace.

Everyone looked so solemn that it was almost ugly, and the news brought back from the capital made them even more uncomfortable. The emperor is now in such a state, how did he go back?

This matter was only reported to the prime minister and several Chu Xiao's confidant ministers. They can stabilize the situation for the time being, but it's hard to say how long it will be stable. Now there is only the young prince in the palace. King Yue went south with the emperor. Last time when the emperor was seriously ill after taking the elixir, there were unrest in the court. Although the emperor dealt with it drastically in the end, greed always breeds in the invisible. Who knows that yesterday's hero is not today's traitor?

Not to mention the capital city, but only the generals in the army, there is already an undercurrent surging, thousands of threads are pulling each other, it seems to be balanced and peaceful, if the line is suddenly broken, the situation will be like a rock collapse Uncontrollable.

However, the more tense the situation became, the emperor lying on the bed remained motionless. All kinds of healing methods and medicinal materials had been used, and he was still getting thinner day by day.

Ruan Jin spread out a map of Nanman City, unfolded it on the table, and said loudly: "Now the city has been closed for three days, and no one can enter or leave Nancheng during these three days, so the witches are definitely in the city."

Some of the generals present asked a question: "General Ruan, the one who rescued the Nanman king was also a witch?"

"Yes." Ruan Jin picked up a pipe-like object with his fingers: "This is the smoke they used to stun the jailers at that time. The materials in it have been proved to be unique to the Nanban royal family, and the Nanban witches Using poison and witchcraft, it is not surprising that people can be robbed."

Chu Yue took the objects in Ruan Jin's hands, frowned, his thin lips were tightly pressed into a line, resolutely unreasonable: "Do you know anyone who escaped from the Nanman palace?"

The official in charge of this matter immediately opened the scroll in hand and said: "Hui Yuewang, I have checked the list one by one, and now there are 76 people whose whereabouts are unknown, including 35 palace ladies and guards..."

"Speak the key."

"Cough...yes." The official wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "There is only one princess among the women in the palace, and the two concubines are gone, so it's not on the list."

"This king remembers that the Nanman king cut off his daughter's arm, but it was that princess?"

"Yes, this princess is one-armed, the sign is obvious, and she will never admit it wrong."

"There are too few people who have seen witches. In this way, you should search more places where there are many children. Since they want to save the king, they will not abandon the princess."

As soon as the crowd left, Chu Yue couldn't wait for a moment, Ruan Jin rushed ahead of Chu Yue, stopped Chu Yue, and took out a letter from his bosom.

Chu Yue looked at Ruan Jin suspiciously.

"Yue Wang, the prince asked someone to bring this."

Chu Yue forced a smile, took the thin letter paper, and put it in his arms: "General Ruan's complexion is not very good, pay more attention to rest."

"Prince, too." Ruan Jin knew that he had no position to say these things, but he still couldn't bear it. He had always been silent, but now he could only persuade: "My lord, just leave some things to the servants."

Chu Yue let out a long sigh, and waved his hand to signal that it was unnecessary: ​​"It's nothing, it will be fine in a few days, and I will sleep well when Brother Huang wakes up in a few days."

"My lord is going to the emperor's place?" Ruan Jin asked knowingly.

Chu Yue's eyes were originally pitch-black, but due to exhaustion these days, his eyes are full of red threads, and his hair is neatly tied up. Even in the hot Nanman, he is still dressed in a regular black long royal robe. , tied with a long golden belt, still tall and straight.

He really didn't want to be too embarrassed when Chu Xiao woke up.

It's best that when Brother Huang wakes up, he can sit neatly beside his bed, and then hug him with the best and most energetic appearance.

Chu Xiao was still obediently lying on the bed today, and a group of court ladies were melting the ice cubes that had been placed in the Nanman Palace. When Chu Yue hurried over, he saw Chu Xiao's clothes slightly opened, and he remained silent. With a cold gaze, he glanced at the court lady holding a veil to wipe the emperor's body.

"Who allows you to do this?"

The palace maid knelt down and begged for mercy: "My lord, this servant is seeing that the emperor is sweating, so..."

Chu Yue took the cold handkerchief and said in a deep voice, "Go down."

Chu Yue rolled up his long sleeves and wiped Chu Xiao's whole body once with a handkerchief. He changed the water several times during the process. He was so hot that he was covered in sweat. He rubbed against Chu Xiao's cheek. The cold touch made him feel cold. Satisfied and relieved, Chu Yue took out the family letter sent by the prince from his clothes, and slowly opened it in front of Chu Xiao.

He smiled: "Brother Huang, it's a letter from Ying'er."

The prince misses his father, and he can't wait to use the words and sentences learned from the Taifu in the family letter. A letter will come in almost two days, and people will rush to send it to Chu Xiao.

Along the way, Chu Xiao and Chu Yue read the letters from Chu Yu together almost every night. Chu Yu didn’t know what happened here, so the letters these days were all written by Chu Yue imitating Chu Yu. Xiao Xiao wrote back and forth to his little nephew.

In fact, children are so young, even if they don't imitate, they won't reveal their secrets.

When Chu Yue answered the letter for Chu Xiao, he would guess what his nephew would look like when he received the letter, and Chu Yue would also laugh when he thought of his nephew's happiness when receiving the letter.

He folded the letter written by his nephew, put it in Chu Xiao's hand, looked straight at Chu Xiao's pale face, and said, "Brother Huang, today Ying'er learned another line of poetry, do you want to know?"

He held Chu Xiao's hand, together with the folded letter, in his palm.

"There is no other words in the journey, the only way is to return home early."

When he kissed Chu Xiao's lips, he tasted bitterness. It was because the tears couldn't be restrained, and he ran down his cheek in a very embarrassing manner, and landed on Chu Xiao's lips.

The young man with his face choked up didn't see a drop of water rolling out of the other's eyelashes.