Mo Dongyang

It has been more than two months, and the time for Li Shu to return to the palace has been delayed little by little. I don't know how long this battlefield will last, so I can only go to the gate of Tai'an Hall to ask the little eunuch there every day, hoping to get Know something about the battle in the Northwest, whether it was lost or won, and whether the casualties were tragic.However, the information I have received is pitifully little. I just learned that the results of the battle in the northwest battlefield have not been good in recent days, that's all.

It is the end of May, and the palace is already full of green shade, and birds are singing and flowers are fragrant everywhere.The palace was as peaceful as usual, but less popular.I leaned on the pillar beside the corridor of Zhilan Hall and looked at the emerald green.

I told myself that summer is here again.

This wait seems to be far away. I don’t know anything about those two people who are far away in a foreign land. I can only pray silently to the missing or round moon outside the high wall every night, regardless of the war. Win or lose, you all will return safely.

In the past two months, the Zhilan Palace has been almost the same as usual, but the master is missing, and the servants have become more indulgent. A Xing, Fulu, who used to be the elders of the Zhilan Palace, and I did not follow Lishu to the northwest. .Ever since Li Shu left, A Xing and A Qing came to Zhilan Palace to spend the night every now and then, and I couldn't go back to my residence to disturb their Qinghuan, so I had to move into Li Shu's bedroom.And Fulu is always missing, I know he must have gone to other palaces to gamble.Although I am the master of Zhilan Palace, I don't want to blame them too much. Since these days are rare time to sneak in, let them go.

And besides urging a few palace attendants to clean up Zhilan Hall every day, I stayed in the hall to read. From time to time, I would sneak into Zhang Lei's small room and help him tidy up the house that had been accumulated for many days. Dust left behind.

Time passed by like this, I thought I would wait like this forever, until the day I was hurriedly found by a little eunuch, he told me out of breath, General Zhang is back, he wants to see you.

When I trotted all the way to the hut behind Xinzheku, the room was full of people, including soldiers of all sizes. Panting, I pushed aside the walls in front of me, and saw Zhang Lei half lying on the bed, Blood-stained gauze was wrapped around the left shoulder and waist, and fresh scars were shocking on his body.

"You're here."

When he saw me, he smiled weakly, trying to prop up half of his body, and I saw the sweat dripping from the veins protruding from his forehead.

Regardless of the eyes of the people around me, I rushed up and held him down without even thinking about it.

"Don't move!"

I groaned in distress.

He just stretched out a hand and gently stroked my side face, and kept smiling without saying a word. He smiled so happily that the corners of his mouth were cracked, revealing his white and neat teeth, until the wound was pulled from his smile. Still couldn't stop smiling, grinning and pulling the corners of his mouth, it was very ugly.

"Don't laugh, the wound is bleeding again."

My nose was extremely sore, I choked a little, and tears came out of my eyes.

"They're all gone."

Zhang Lei obediently suppressed his clumsy laughter, and gently wiped away the tears that were streaming down my cheeks.

I turned my head and realized that the people in the room were all gone in a blink of an eye.

"How did it become like this?" I asked distressedly.

"Kingdom is defeated." He sighed heavily.

"Defeated?" I couldn't help but wonder, "But the emperor hasn't come back yet, how could he be defeated?"

"In two months, the country lost [-] cities in a row. The enemy army has already approached Langya Pass in Kunzhou. It will be a matter of time before they are defeated." He shook his head in despair.

"But isn't the emperor always guarding there? How could this happen?" I couldn't help worrying about Li Shu.

"It's useless. There were heavy casualties on the front line. I was sent back only after being seriously wounded. My brothers died and were wounded. There are not many troops left. It is impossible to win."

After finishing speaking, his face was covered with dark clouds, and he frowned as if he didn't want to infect me with his grief, so he lowered his head deeply.

"Stop talking about this, come, I'll change your medicine for you." I cupped his face distressedly and said to him.

I don’t know if I read it wrong, Zhang Lei just looked at me like this, his deep eyes were gradually covered with a layer of mist, I couldn’t believe what I saw, are these tears, there are actually people in this world I would care so much about such a humble me. For the first time in my life, someone actually shed tears for me, just because of a word I didn't mean.At that moment, my heart was instantly engulfed by a huge heat wave.

I closed my eyes and kissed the corner of his mouth lightly, and he hugged me, deepening the kiss.

"Qi Xin, you are the only one left for me."

he told me.

From that day on, I took care of the affairs of Zhilan Temple every morning, and went to the row of huts behind Xinzheku to change Zhang Lei's dressing in the afternoon. Sometimes I stayed all afternoon, Zhang Lei was always reluctant to let me go, and I also Worried about being injured, he didn't have anyone to take care of him, so he stayed.I was just helping him wipe his body, and after applying and changing dressings, I basically had nothing to do. In the end, I found out the plain clothes or inner lining he usually wears, sat on the bedside and mended them, while Zhang Lei lay on the bed and smiled. He stared at me for an entire afternoon. Sometimes I was so red-faced that I couldn't help but scold him. It was just mending a piece of clothing, so there was nothing to see.

But he said, I like to watch and want to watch for a lifetime.

Zhang Lei's injury gradually recovered, and the time I stayed in the row of huts behind Xinzheku became longer and longer, and sometimes I didn't sneak back until after dinner.Therefore, every time A Xing sees me, she always secretly laughs at me and says, go stealing fish again.

And every time Fulu meets me, he always smiles at me with malicious intentions.

We all know what we have done.

We all know each other's ulterior secrets, but no one will reveal them.

In mid-June, the war that lasted for three months finally came to an end, and the country still lost.

This can't be blamed on the generals who participated in the battle this time. They and the dead souls have already paid a lot.This northern tour did not play a big role. The emperor sat in the barracks all day long, watching the deteriorating situation day by day. Must go back to the emperor's tent to accept a scolding for no reason.Since the emperor's northern tour, the entire northwest garrison was almost shrouded in a depressed atmosphere.Some people suggested that if the emperor went out in person, the morale of the soldiers might be restored.

"Go out in person?" The emperor said with a sneer, "Do you want me to die?"

Until the defeat, the emperor, who had been doing nothing in the military camp all day long, finally did something decent, sending envoys to ask for peace from the enemy country.Although the enemy army did not look good to the country on the surface, they finally accepted it.After all, the long and protracted battle will seriously damage the vitality of both sides. Even if the enemy army wins the war, they will not be able to capture the hinterland of the Central Plains of the Kingdom of Qi. Intend.

June 12th, Jiahe Year [-], will be an unforgettable day for all the people of the country. The country accepted all the treaties of humiliating the enemy country. Since that day, the country is no longer an independent country, but has become a minority in the grassland. The vassal state of the national allies, all the cities in the north were ceded, and one-third of the territory of the country that was originally the country disappeared completely from the territory of the country, and there were huge war reparations and expensive tributes every year.These are completely unbearable for the country that has already been riddled with holes.But they have to accept, because at the same time that the country paid a high price, the country also got some chances to survive-the enemy country promised that the two countries would never invade in the next ten years.It's just that while the people of the country are glad that their homeland was not overthrown by the war, many people of insight have already understood that it is not necessary to wait ten years for the country to perish. As long as the enemy country rises again, the country will be wiped out overnight.

All the soldiers on the frontier retreated to the Maoshan Pass area in Liangzhou. Although there are mountains blocking this place, the capital is behind the Mao Mountain, and the distance between the two places is less than a hundred miles.

In addition, a few months after the defeat, the number of Beimin fleeing south continued to rise, reaching the highest peak in history.

On June 23, the emperor set off to return to Beijing. Of course, the emperor had no time to travel, and the escort team arrived at the foot of the imperial city in less than fifteen days.

On July [-]th, as usual, I walked from Xinzheku towards Zhilan Hall in the dusk. To my surprise, at the corner less than a few feet away from Zhilan Hall, I saw A Xing standing There, looking around anxiously, she obviously saw me and ran towards me in a hurry.

"Master Yan came back in the afternoon and has been looking for you. He is getting angry now, so hurry over!"

she urged anxiously.

As soon as I heard it, my heart skipped a beat, and I ran towards Zhilan Hall.

"I told Master Yan that you are going to supervise the work of the Garment Bureau, so don't wear clothes."

Ah Xing shouted from behind again.

The Zhilan Hall was brightly lit. As soon as I entered the hall, I saw debris scattered on the main hall, tea dregs everywhere, uneven water stains on the carpet, and the trembling palace servants standing by the door.

"What happened?"

I was surprised and said, since I stayed in Zhilan Temple, I have never seen such a big fire from Lishu.

"Everyone back off, go out and close the door."

Li Shu, who had a gloomy face, saw that I finally showed some good looks, and she waved her hand irritably, telling the servants to disperse.Those palace people who had been reprimanded finally breathed a sigh of relief, and retreated in fear.

The palace servants in Zhilan Palace have never seen their master who is meek and has no airs of a noble concubine get angry. Not only them, but even I were really scared when I saw them today.Looking at this battle, Li Shu must have been very sullen, and all the majestic aura that had been perfectly hidden all this time broke out.

It wasn't until this moment that I realized that no matter how gentle and kind the cat in front of me was, it was a pity that she was always a tiger raised in this huge harem enclosure, and the nature of a tiger could not be changed.

Facing the unpredictable Lishu in front of me, I was a little at a loss, and even had a lot of fear, because I had never seen such a Lishu.

But it was my fault after all, I made Li Shu unhappy.

I cautiously rubbed it up, knelt beside her, with my head down and a pitiful expression on my face.

"Lishu, I was wrong."

"Oh, what's wrong?" Li Shu asked me back with a long voice.

"I shouldn't be playing around on the road, and I missed the time to come back, making Lishu wait for me." I lied guilty.

"Playful?" Li Shu emphasized her tone again, "Who on earth is so capable to make Qi Xin so playful that she doesn't want to come back!"

Li Shu's words were quite harsh, and there was an inexplicable sour smell in them, which made me feel panicked, and it was very unpleasant, but Li Shu had never spoken to me in such an unpleasant tone.

"Qi Xin ran into A-Qing by chance on the way back from the Garment Bureau. A-Qing said that her master was watching a play in Liyuan, and wanted to invite me to be a companion, so I went, and was fascinated by the play. , I missed the hour and made Master Yan wait for a long time, please punish Master Yan!"

In a fit of anger, I pieced together what I knew today and made it up, with thorns inside and outside the words.

Li Shu seemed to be aware of the incompetence in my words, and hastily stretched out her hands to hold my face. Seeing me pouting and looking aggrieved, she hurriedly got up and knelt beside me and hugged me.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said those words. I was really angry. Those words were really not intentional. Really, I'm sorry, don't be angry, okay, your mouth is almost ready to hang oil bottles."

Lishu kept saying sorry to me like a child, like she made a huge mistake.

Now it's my turn to lose my knees, the whole thing happened because of me, how can I make Li Shu apologize, she just spoke a little too strongly and said some angry words unintentionally.As for me, what dirty things I did behind Li Shu's back, only I know, so what position do I have to blame Li Shu.

"Get up quickly, this is my fault in the first place, Li Shu is a dignified master, what's the matter with kneeling down, if you want outsiders to see it, it will cause trouble again."

My heart was full of mixed feelings, and I hurriedly pulled Lishu to get her up.

"If you don't forgive me, I won't get up!"

Li Shu thought I was still angry with her, so she knelt on the ground stubbornly and refused to get up.

"There is nothing wrong with Lishu. I know that Lishu came back in a hurry and wanted to see me the most, but because I was playing outside, Lishu, who was originally happy, was not only in vain. You have waited for me for so long in vain, Li Shu should be angry."

I knelt beside her again and gently hugged Lishu, and said to her seriously.

"but I····"

Li Shu wanted to say something else, but I interrupted her.

"you lost weight."

With my right hand, I gently combed the strands of hair that fell from her forehead, and couldn't help but caress her fair and delicate cheeks, which were plump three months ago, but after seeing each other again, her cheeks have already sunken.

Li Shu apparently still didn't recover from the self-blame, she stared at me for a while, as if she was digesting the three-character sentence.After a while, she finally realized that her melancholy expression suddenly changed, the corners of her mouth raised, and her smile was like a flower.

She jumped up and hugged me.

"It's good to be back at last."